Monthly Archives: November 2009

November 29, 2009

Want To Make New Year Resolutions That You can Keep?

2010Do you realize that New Year’s Resolutions are the number one way to consistently set yourself up for failure? It probably starts with the fact that we can never have just one (resolution that is), there’s always two or three things that we feel need to be done or done better in the New Year.

Why is that do you think? Did you (your life, your clothes, your health, whatever) really suck that bad in the old year that you need to make a list of ten things to change right now or die trying? And sure you may get  to scratch one thing off the list, but what about the other 9?  Come to think of it – why are New Year’s Resolutions usually the same from year to year? Isn’t that kinda creepy in a Groundhog Day sorta way?

When my children were young I started Christmas shopping in January. I was able to buy presents for just about everyone (including extended family and  employees) without taking out a bank loan to pay for it all.  My strategy was simple, buy a few  presents each month – out of season and at a very low price. In December I would buy each child one “it” gift like a cabbage Patch kid or Teddy Ruxpin.

I think that we would all be more successful in our personal make0vers if we applied a similar strategy. Need to blog more? Start today, create a stockpile so that you will have posts that you can schedule well into the year. Want to quit smoking? Smoke one less cigarette every day or week  for the rest of the month, you may find that you’ve already quit by New Year’s.

Weight loss and fitness are huge and one or the other will probably appear on your resolutions list.  People often say that they need to lose the weight that they gained during the holiday season or need to get back into the fitness routine that they neglected during the holiday season. Don’t blame the holiday season for the bad habits that you let yourself fall into because it’s the holidays.  Get your fitness in when and where you can – 10 minute walk after lunch, hit the weights for 10 minutes after dinner (or do this free  boot camp workout)

Believe me, I know how  hard it i s to say “No” to all the Christmas cookies and other goodies at work and at home.  That’s why  I used  Cheat on all of my Thanksgiving food, I just sprinkled a little bit on everything and it absorbed 25% of the calories that I ingested.  For example if I ate 5000 calories then the Cheat helped me to eliminate 1250 of those calories.  A good strategy would be to enjoy all the holiday goodies and use a little Cheat when you do.

Bottom line – whatever your New Year’s resolution – to see more clearly, love more dearly, follow more nearly – don’t wait for January 1st, start now and do it day by day  to ensure success!

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November 24, 2009

Honestly, Why Are Scammers Targeting You?

NEW YORK - JANUARY 14: Accused financier Bern...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

11/24/2009 – I just saw a story on TV where an older woman was scammed out of $3000.00 by two women who claimed to be illegal immigrants with a winning lottery ticket that they could not cash. She bought the ticket from them thinking that it was worth $50,000.00!!!! Of course it was  a useless ticket and she got what she paid for – nothing for something. This being the season for scammers and get rich quick schemes I thought that I should repost this article as a reminder that you really can’t cheat an hones man, but….

If I had a dime for every person who has told me “I’ve been scammed before”, I could retire to my New York penthouse.  But you know if you have been scammed, you do realize that you have no one to blame but yourself?

I hope that didn’t come as a shock and surprise, you see you can only be scammed if you are open to being scammed, meaning you’re looking for easy money or a way to “get rich” overnight with little or no effort.

You can’t cheat an honest man, it just can’t be done. But you can find the man who wants something for nothing, and give him nothing for something. – Michael “Mickey” Foster

Mickey Foster is a con artist, his job is to find people who want something for nothing and give it to them.  Like you, I have lost a ton of money in various “schemes”, for example I invested 10K  hoping to get a 25% return. It was 2007 and before i could say “money for nothing” my investment had vanished into a home that could not be sold because the market had tanked.   I wanted something for nothing and I got just that – nothing.

You’ve heard about the Nigerian scam, my Dad was forced to leave the country, there are millions in the bank and we can’t get it out, Mum is dying and we need the money to get her out of the country, my brother was run over by a lorry and lost his leg…the long and short of it – you give me a small amount of money and when we get our money we will give you 50K. This scam is as old as the hills and people still fall for it, why?

Probably because, it’s got a sympathy and empathy factor so that you don’t feel guilty for getting such a large payout for your small investment and you get to feel that you are doing a good thing. You may think that you’re an honest person, but honest people know that good things come to those who work hard for them. An honest man would delete the first  email after reading it and send all follow ups to his spam folder to be deleted later.

Of course a scam can be much more subtle “i can show you how to make money in your sleep”, “I made $6,326 in one day and I can show you how”, “attract endless leads with this system” and on and on. Here’s a clue:

  1. Only lottery winners make millions overnight, so if you haven’t won the lottery
  2. To make money while you sleep requires a lot of work on your part
  3. If you paid hundreds or thousands for a sure fire business opportunity.
  4. If you are having trouble finishing what you start  (jobs, businesses, relationships)
  5. Then you just may be an opportunist, that guy or gal who is looking for lots of return with little or no investment of time, energy, emotion, or dollars.

Don’t get me wrong , you get into the right business and put some muscle in it, you will make money in your sleep. But you have to be consistent and persistent, you have to be willing to do what it takes, you have to read some books and learn some things, attend a seminar or two or three, hop on some of those guru calls, manage your time well and learn how to be productive, and you can’t give up if you aren’t rich in six months , because then you’re just proving that you’re an opportunist, right?

And who the heck is Mickey Foster you ask? Well he’s just my favorite character on a Brit show called “Hustle“. It comes on AMC, I watch it On Demand so i have no idea when it airs, great show though.

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November 10, 2009

Struggling? Here Are 10 Steps To A New Home or Just a New Mortgage Payment

NACA.com promotes home ownershipMany of us were hurt by the fallout from failed banks, failed mortgage companies, and failed financial strategies.  First home prices fell, then salaries fell – and shortly thereafter we realized that we were :

  1. In the best real estate buyers market ever with no way to take advantage of it – OR-
  2. Carrying a mortgage payment that we could no longer afford

Before we go any further let me make one thing clear – millions of people across America didn’t just wake up one day and each make the same bad financial decision to get into a mortgage they could not afford. I know that this is what some of you believe (and very strongly at that)  because it’s what the media tells you, it’s what your favorite talk radio guy tells you – but that don’t make it true people.

The fact of the matter is that you can have a low interest rate mortgage with a low monthly payment – but if you do not have  the same income that you did 3 years ago (or you have no income at all) no one and I mean absolutely nobody is going to help you when you’ve fallen 3 months behind, five months behind or even 6 months behind. The mortgage companies’ idea of  “a workout” is  often laughable; to you an dI it would make sense for them to look at your current income/debt and give you a payment that you could actually afford so that you and your neighbors can stay in their homes. But, nooooo, instead tey will attach the six months sans interest to your existing monthly payment and give you a payment that is basically double the amount that you couldn’t pay in the first place!

In some parallel universe this strategy makes total sense, unfortunately we do not live there, we are ere in tis universe where we end up losing tat home to foreclosure and then the bank sells your $100,000 home for $20,000. That’s right twenty thousand dollars! Now why couldn’t they just give you an affordable payment instead? If one of  you, my dear  readers , understands why this is please tell me so that I can explain it to my cousin who lost her home in just this way.

To add insult to injury, we also have companies who will take what little you have left in your savings account to assist you in getting a “loan modification” . I like to call this something for nothing, they take your money and promise you salvation, and you end up with the same deal that I mentioned earlier – that wonderful “workout” thing.

Well thank God for “The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America” and founder Bruce Marks who believe that neighborhood stabilization means getting people into home ownership and keeping existing homeowners in their homes.  NACA is a non-profit group that advocates for homeowners and would be homeowners. Their Home Save program can help you to get into an affordable mortgage situation if:

  1. You live in your home
  2. You only have one property in your name

To get help from NACA you must :

  • Visit NACA.com and find a Workshop near you
  • Fill out the forms on the NACA website and get an appointment with a counselor
  • I suggest filling out the forms after you have attended a workshop as the workshop will teach you how to fill the forms out correctly
  • Become a part of the solution. NACA is all about giving back, so don’t just take your new low mortgage payment and walk away. Volunteer to help out at workshops, help the advocacy effort by  advocating for economic justice to politicians at the  local , state, and national levels.

NACA is not a  government handout and no one gets something for nothing.  It is the kind of program this country desperately needs, so tell all of your friends and families – no one should lose their home when help is so close at hand.

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November 1, 2009

Is There Life After Debt?

blisshopeThe ability to dream sustains us for the long haul, gets us through the rough patches, carries us over the bumps in the road – or at least that’s what it should do.  But I got to thinking the other day, that sometimes just when we need our dreams, our faith,  and a strong belief system that’s when we lose them.

I had a business partner who was doing great, recruiting new team members,  marketing  our products and services and just movng up in pin levels and income like crazy. Joe had lost his job back in ’08 and was working to supplement his wife’s income. They had gotten behind on a few bills  and were living paycheck to paycheck.  So you can imagine why Joe threw himself into the business in a no holds barred way, and was experiencing success and getting checks in the mail. Then his wife got laid off and Joe felt so overwhelmed that he stopped working the business and eventually quit. When I asked him why he said that with all of the financial problems they had , he just couldn’t focus on the business at all.

This happens all of the time, some people call it quitting before the blessing, but I know better.  I know that what really happened is that Joe  suddenly  lost his ability to dream of a life after debt. That’s what debt will do to you, it throws up this wall between you and the things you used to dream about, the goals that you had previously set for yourself. Debt whispers insistentlyinto your ear that what you really really need to  do is forget all this six-figure income nonsense and go get a a real job  with a steady paycheck.  And, hey I’m not knocking jobs, after all  I have one of those too and I can honestly tell you (like I told Joe, but he was too far gone to get it) that  you will need a king sized salary (or more than one job)  to conquer debt in the short term and that’s why you should not quit working your business.

Anyway I’m not here to talk about jobs and debt really. What I wanted to ask you is “Do you still believe? Are you still dreaming?” If you close your eyes and all you can see is your pile of bills dwindling, then I gotta tell you that the answer is probably no.  Do me a favor, go lay down close your eyes for a bit of a bit and dream a big dream that involves cruises and traveling and designer clothes and big houses all paid for with cash. Visualize yourself driving a Lamborghini on the autobahn, having lunch in Dubai, or whatever trips your trigger.

I want you to do this a minimum of once a week, more often if you can. Take it a step further and start a dreamboard or two(just cut pictures and quites out of magazines that represent your dreams; paste them on a piece of posterboard and put it someplace that you can look at it everyday). Here is an example and here is another (I love examples more than instructions  don’t you?).

Soon you will see that there is life after debt if you persist and above all keep on dreaming. Come back and let me know if  this helped you…

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