A road map to personal independence
1. Zero debt
2. Sufficient income from investments to meet your needs without having to work
3. A portion of your savings in untouchable conservative safe investments
4. Insurance in place to protect assets (catastrophe insurance)
5. At least 50% of your time freed from mundane tasks (outsource everything except the checkbook)
6. Ability to make income other than a 9 – 5 job or hourly wage
7. Avoid any and all activities or associations that put you and your personal financial fortress at risk (don’t hang out with losers)
David…
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Debt is evil because:
Debt is evil because:
1. The power of compound interest is used against you
2. Every dollar you bring in is needed to contribute to servicing your debt
3. It is a habit forming. It’s too easy to get good at juggling bills. It gets in the way of your “success” skills
4. It forces or encourages you to do things you wouldn’t normally do
5. It provides stress, worry, and frustration
6. It makes you vulnerable to money crunches (severe cash shortages)
7. There’s no such thing as good debt. Any debt can put you under or worse yet, bankrupt
David…
1. The power of compound interest is used against you
2. Every dollar you bring in is needed to contribute to servicing your debt
3. It is a habit forming. It’s too easy to get good at juggling bills. It gets in the way of your “success” skills
4. It forces or encourages you to do things you wouldn’t normally do
5. It provides stress, worry, and frustration
6. It makes you vulnerable to money crunches (severe cash shortages)
7. There’s no such thing as good debt. Any debt can put you under or worse yet, bankrupt
David…
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
A debt killer you should know about
Most of us have been taught that you just can get ahead without borrowing. We are continually inundated with advertisers telling us we can have it right now just use your credit card.
This has also added to our impatient attitudes. We want it right now!
Always remember and never forget. It is not how much money you make that counts, it’s how much you keep.
Some people believe there is good debt and bad debt. Good debt is something you can sell at any time and repay the debt and maybe even make a profit. Bad debt, of course, is all the other types of debt especially credit cards.
The big myth about good debt is the notion that you break even or make money on the sale of the asset your debt is secured from. But, if you’re making payments you need to add those payments into the mix. When you do you’ll almost invariably find that almost every kind of debt imaginable is really and truly BAD debt.
Debt kills you. It saddles you down. It forces you to make a certain amount of money every day just to get by.
What folks won’t tell you about there so called good debt is if you can’t make a payment you’ll lose that asset of yours and be forced to pay off your debt even if the sale doesn’t cover the money you owe.
Debt can kill you. Use the philosophy of staying out of debt and living a stress-free life.
David…
This has also added to our impatient attitudes. We want it right now!
Always remember and never forget. It is not how much money you make that counts, it’s how much you keep.
Some people believe there is good debt and bad debt. Good debt is something you can sell at any time and repay the debt and maybe even make a profit. Bad debt, of course, is all the other types of debt especially credit cards.
The big myth about good debt is the notion that you break even or make money on the sale of the asset your debt is secured from. But, if you’re making payments you need to add those payments into the mix. When you do you’ll almost invariably find that almost every kind of debt imaginable is really and truly BAD debt.
Debt kills you. It saddles you down. It forces you to make a certain amount of money every day just to get by.
What folks won’t tell you about there so called good debt is if you can’t make a payment you’ll lose that asset of yours and be forced to pay off your debt even if the sale doesn’t cover the money you owe.
Debt can kill you. Use the philosophy of staying out of debt and living a stress-free life.
David…
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tax refunds...How to get less back and save more now
My friend’s been bragging to me about how much he’s getting from the government. He’s also pretty excited about the Government Stimulus Package that’ll get him another $600 bucks.
One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is a debt free lifestyle. I told my friend about my strategy for tax returns and how you should get zero back and save more during the year.
Here’s how it works. Saving money and living debt free is a life-style choice. To begin your life-style choice requires discipline and changing habits. Check out my 7 day strategy to changing a habit.
My friend figured he’d be getting $1,000 dollars refund. First, don’t forget, it’s your money you’re getting back. It isn’t the government’s money it is your money! They had free use of your money for the entire year interest free and you have to fill out papers (better fill them out accurately) and get to wait a few weeks plus to get your money back.
All you have to do is make an adjustment to your deductions for the amount either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on how you’re paid. If you’re paid monthly you’d make an adjustment of $83.33 (I’d round it up to $100 per month). If you have direct deposit you can have that portion sent to a savings account for you and you’ll have not only $1,000 plus in a year but also a reserve fund and some interest to boot.
It’s a simple way to save money and you can change your tax habit of loaning money to the government and keep it for your self.
Now, for the $600 stimulus package. It’s free found money and it’s yours and the government decided to give it back to you. Take the money and place it in the account you’ve formed for you new tax strategy and by the end of the year you’ll have more than $1,600 saved.
Unfortunately, my friend isn’t saving his money. Yes, he agreed to spend a portion on his credit card bills but wants to spend the rest on a weekend trip.
Like I said before it is a life-style choice. You can deprive yourself of this new found money so you can enjoy yourself more later or you can blow it now like the majority 80% percent who does everything with a herd mentality.
I prefer to be in the 20% percent crowd that has less stress now and more money later on.
David…
One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is a debt free lifestyle. I told my friend about my strategy for tax returns and how you should get zero back and save more during the year.
Here’s how it works. Saving money and living debt free is a life-style choice. To begin your life-style choice requires discipline and changing habits. Check out my 7 day strategy to changing a habit.
My friend figured he’d be getting $1,000 dollars refund. First, don’t forget, it’s your money you’re getting back. It isn’t the government’s money it is your money! They had free use of your money for the entire year interest free and you have to fill out papers (better fill them out accurately) and get to wait a few weeks plus to get your money back.
All you have to do is make an adjustment to your deductions for the amount either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on how you’re paid. If you’re paid monthly you’d make an adjustment of $83.33 (I’d round it up to $100 per month). If you have direct deposit you can have that portion sent to a savings account for you and you’ll have not only $1,000 plus in a year but also a reserve fund and some interest to boot.
It’s a simple way to save money and you can change your tax habit of loaning money to the government and keep it for your self.
Now, for the $600 stimulus package. It’s free found money and it’s yours and the government decided to give it back to you. Take the money and place it in the account you’ve formed for you new tax strategy and by the end of the year you’ll have more than $1,600 saved.
Unfortunately, my friend isn’t saving his money. Yes, he agreed to spend a portion on his credit card bills but wants to spend the rest on a weekend trip.
Like I said before it is a life-style choice. You can deprive yourself of this new found money so you can enjoy yourself more later or you can blow it now like the majority 80% percent who does everything with a herd mentality.
I prefer to be in the 20% percent crowd that has less stress now and more money later on.
David…
Sunday, April 6, 2008
You've paid off your debt, now what?
Once you’ve paid off your debt, now what? Establish a reserve fund immediately. If you’ve gone this long without a reserve you need one just in case. Life tends to happen and emergencies go with life. Use the $15 dollar a day strategy.
One of the interesting things about being in the pay-off-all-your-debt-mode-of-thinking is once it’s paid off it is difficult to change channels. Yeah, sure, you feel tons better and the monkey is now off you.
But it is difficult to go into the next mindset. The mindset that is in between the paying off and the saving mindset strategies is what I call no-man-land. Once you’ve paid off your debts you’re so used to paying cash for everything you can get stuck in the wrong mindset.
Once your debts are paid off you’ll discover you’re running a heck-of-a surplus. It’s time to make a strategy change. You’ll need 3 accounts not counting your reserve fund. One account is short term, one is medium term and the other long term.
The next step is to get your goals in order. Short term saving is under 5 years, medium term saving is under 15 years and long term is 20 plus years (most view it as retirement).
The idea is to match the amount of time you save to the item you want, need, or must have, such as cars, clothes, etcetera.
Whatever you do the day you’ve paid off all your debt immediately start saving even if you have to use those same strategies that got you out of debt to get you into saving.
David…
One of the interesting things about being in the pay-off-all-your-debt-mode-of-thinking is once it’s paid off it is difficult to change channels. Yeah, sure, you feel tons better and the monkey is now off you.
But it is difficult to go into the next mindset. The mindset that is in between the paying off and the saving mindset strategies is what I call no-man-land. Once you’ve paid off your debts you’re so used to paying cash for everything you can get stuck in the wrong mindset.
Once your debts are paid off you’ll discover you’re running a heck-of-a surplus. It’s time to make a strategy change. You’ll need 3 accounts not counting your reserve fund. One account is short term, one is medium term and the other long term.
The next step is to get your goals in order. Short term saving is under 5 years, medium term saving is under 15 years and long term is 20 plus years (most view it as retirement).
The idea is to match the amount of time you save to the item you want, need, or must have, such as cars, clothes, etcetera.
Whatever you do the day you’ve paid off all your debt immediately start saving even if you have to use those same strategies that got you out of debt to get you into saving.
David…
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