Run through this quick checklist and make sure that "All Systems are a Go!"

Personal Finance:

• Emergency Funds are in place. At least three to six months of living expenses - locked in and keys hidden away till a real emergency comes into your life (hopefully never!). Read the article on Emergency Funds to understand its importance.
  
• Have established the Savings Habit - 20% of gross income at least. It is even better if you can hit the 30% of gross income mark. More you save, more you invest, the faster you become totally free! It also implies you are living a reasonably frugal life and developing good money habits. The Frugal Living article provides some useful tips for this.
  
• Debt-free except for house, automobile and student loan. In other words, no credit card debts left, and preferably no home equity lines of credit. The best situation is to not have any debt at all, or only house debt. But wealth building can begin in earnest even as these three areas are dragging you and slowing you down. Over time, you will drop this baggage and begin zooming forward!
  
• You have all the basic insurance needs in place. Health & Wealth protection are necessary before you begin earning wealth earnestly, and the cost of the insurance must be factored into your income and savings equation as the "cost of doing business". Read this E-Book on all your insurance needs, and here is a quick checklist of your insurance needs.
  

Career Development:

• You have a job (or two) that delivers $50,000+/year. This may seem trivial to some, and like a mountain to others, depending on your own situation. But it is important that you have income north of this number to be able to save serious sums of money and work towards financial independence. If your first job is delivering only $30K/year, then either seek a higher-paying job or you may have to work two jobs (for at least some time) till your income exceeds this number. Eventually, with an extra income business delivering substantial profits to you, you can give up on this extra job.
  
  
• Your Career Portfolio is ready - that is you have listed out completely all the projects you have done in the past, your role in them, challenging problems you have solved, and your list of contacts in each one of them. See the C&W Journal on the importance of maintaining your career portfolio.
  

Extra Income:

• Skill set listing is complete and ready. This is the first step in determining where you can turn to for generating some extra income quickly. Read this article to understand this notion clearly.
  
  
• Begin listing out market needs - areas where you can clearly see the market being underserved. Try and understand why is it underserved? What do people do to overcome that need? Do you have a better solution?
  

Investing:

• Investing Basics is well-understood. Read articles on "What are Stocks", "First Document in Investing", and E-Book on "Journey to Highly Effective Investor" for starters. Read through the E-Book "Investment Newsletters - Best of Breed" and begin reading the Free Resources listed in there. Finally, pick a paid service to begin your investing work with.
  
  
• Understand mutual funds, and how to evaluate them. You will have to deal with mutual funds at some level, and so becoming good at knowing the management style, returns and expenses will stand you in good stead.
  
  
• Understand retirement options available at work, through Roth IRA, and through taxable accounts. Early retirement is not possible through 401(k) and Roth IRA because you cannot touch that money until 60 years of age (effectively). Think through all the implications of investing in different vehicles.

Once you have these elements lined up - then you are ready and raring to start some serious wealth building!