Managing Your Money

Why is the subject of money important to me? I realize the mandate on my life to help people with a heavenly wisdom for financial increase in their lives. I am truly more interested in your success than your affection. Managing money usually requires more skill than it does with making it. It behooves people to work hard at becoming good money managers because you are the only one that will do it free for yourself. Wealthy people or people without money concerns think and act differently about money from those who are poor and middle-class. Wealthy people play the money game to win while other people play the money game not to lose.

Poor, Middle Class, and Wealthy Mind Sets

People with a poor money mentality play the survival and security game. The big goal of those with a poor money mentality is to have enough to pay their bills on time and pray for a miracle just to afford a vacation. A healthy money mentality steers you in the direction of learning ways to amass wealth. These people are committed to being prosperous while poor people want to be prosperous. Middle class people are committed to being comfortable so they achieve being comfortable relatively easy. If you are not totally committed to creating wealth, chances are you will not. Most Americans know exactly how it feels when your money is funny. However, there is nothing funny about not having enough money for your basic needs.

Changing Tracks

If you want to change your money condition, you have to change what you are doing. The information in your memory bank or subconscious mind is what channels you in the direction your life is moving. Your thoughts are the railroad tracks that your life travels. You move from one place to another and from position to position based on the kind of thoughts running through your mind. Your life can only move in the direction the tracks are going. Trains do not travel far without tracks. Give me five minutes in a person’s life and I can tell you if they are going to do anything significant with their life. If a person is not happy about their financial situation, he or she will do one or two things. They will either complain about it or shut up and do something about it.

Altering Your Mentality

Become passionate about changing your mentality about money. A healthy mentality about money is the beginning of understanding it. Wanting more of it does not mean that you are greedy; you are simply responding to a deep-seated desire of want. Without this natural drive “to want,” knowledge in any given area will no longer be pursued. It is this intrinsic quality that causes our eyes to search for images, our hands to reach for touch, our ears to stretch for sounds, our tongues to connect with taste and our minds to explore the vast universal for why. I strongly believe that a healthy money esteem transmute into a healthy self-esteem.

Technorati Tags: money, money management, wealth

I can respect the person who owes a debt and pays it before they splurge money on themselves, especially when that debt has to do with God, a relative or a friend. I am not undermining the importance of debt owed to department stores or credit card companies as though they should be lastly considered.

Pay Day! Yippee!
Usually when married couples are experiencing financial problems, it is because one of the spouses is looking to spend money just because it’s payday. Payday does not suggest that money is available before bills and needs are taken into consideration. If spouses have this impulse, they are usually in denial.

Who’s to Blame?
They will blame their spouse, their IRS income tax refund for not coming by a certain time; the dog ate their checkbook, and a list of other ridiculous excuses. However, one thing is certain among people that are debt-ridden from their lack of control; they will not fully accept the blame for their problem. Although a person is single and in debt, this characteristic is pervasive with people that continue to repeat the same financially destructive habits. Here are a few indicators that may help you assess if you are one of these people:

7 Financially Destructive Habits

1. You become unusually happy when you have money.
2. You start spending money before you get your hands on it.
3. You become protective and defensive when money is the focus of discussion.
4. You look at family income as your portion.
5. You seldom ask about the family bills.
6. You inwardly think that your spouse is hiding money from you.
7. You are judgmental on how others manage their money.

These are just seven markers, but I can name more. Some people may periodically slip back into a state of sanity just long enough to get a glimpse of their problem, but not long enough to do something about it. This is when you need to cry out for help without bashfulness.

Now What?
What if you can understand and change 10 of your most common, annoying, puzzling, self-defeating behaviors and habits? If you were unconscious, you would not feel the pain of a cut or the insult of a naysayer. However, if you were completely conscious, you would feel the discomfort and seek to stop the cause immediately.

It is not that you want to cause yourself pain, you just are not always aware of the significance and detriment of your actions. When you are no longer in the dark about your behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs, you will no longer act out of habit. Do not be afraid to examine yourself on a daily basis. If you are fair and honest with yourself, you will not only help yourself, but you may possibly save your marriage or friendships.

Technorati Tags: budgeting, debt management, Finances, money, money management

If no one read the Stimulus Bill proposed by the President who himself has not read it, why did he sign this bill into law? The founding fathers of this nation would be appalled with today’s congressional leaders and would have argued their point of negligent leadership – who are ill equipped to vote on national policies concerning the American people.

The American public deserves better than quick fixes with duct tape and cover ups that shield the incompetence in our leadership. Most people in America have worked hard to better their lives, send their children to college, and retire with a nice nest egg. What did our politicians do—they rewarded the working class citizens with taxes, more taxes, and even more taxes while BIG government spent, increased spending, and spent even more. No one in Congress listens to the real solution.

If the United States can print more money, why can we not use the newly printed money to cover for the six months of taxes that Americans can defer? The United States currency is no longer backed by gold, but a weak economy. If the Stimulus Package is designed to put an additional twelve dollars a week in the pockets of working and unemployed Americans, this will not stimulate the economy and restore consumer confidence.

I believe that the answer to repairing our economy is right under the noses of the financial intelligentsia that are too smart to think simple. Robert Green Ingersoll said,

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.

When you lack common sense, you will not create cents out of what is common. Henry Ford made millions using common sense. While other carmakers had high prices and low production, Mr. Ford developed an assembly line system to manufacture high volume automobiles and low prices. One system catered to the elite and limited the income of the stockholders, while Henry Ford’s structure catered to most Americans and produced unlimited residual income. Simple is usually better.

We have a long way to go and a short time to get there and it does not seem like we are moving any faster, nor working smarter. The philosophy of one generation should be the common sense of the next one.

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Doing nothing will only leave you with the same amount; nothing! Being idle during these recessionary or perhaps financial depressive times is not practical, nor is it wise. Americans cannot afford to wait and see what will happen with our economy. We must be diligent about the business of money. If you have half of a brain, use it to create money. Take your hobbies or skills and generate additional income besides your daily occupation. Plan, strategize, and pray to God to open your eyes to your gift and ability to create wealth.

Now is the time to be serious about your future and that of your children. When President Hoover was in office during the Great Depression, though he was blamed for doing too little too late, he gave speeches on how the government was starting a new initiative to turn the economy around.

These pep talks did nothing as Wall Street stocks crashed and banks failed and the effects of this ripped through the lives of Americans with the force of a Cat-5 hurricane. This generation can be smart and learn what many Americans did not do before the Depression ensued; or we can be just as they were, unsuspecting.

People, you still have time. How much time, I do not know. So, start with a small business, have garage sales, find odd jobs that other people would rather pay someone to do, sell your arts and crafts, become a consultant, sell your family recipes, etc. Making additional cash and stashing it away is important. Make sure your cash is in the safest place possible. That may not be the nearest bank or the biggest insurance company.

Short-term Treasury securities, despite their low yield, must be the primary vehicle as some financial experts suggest. Oh, and do not forget to keep some cash with you at all times because if the economy continues to experience a downward spiral, your money will be worth more. Find friends and family members with your same passion for securing their future as you have for securing your family’s future. Together, you can buy, buy and buy when practically everything is at bargain basement lows. So when the economy bounces back, your assets will have increased, and you and your family can perhaps live the rest of your days being a blessing to families and friends.

Friends, join me as we strategize together and move towards a more prosperous future despite the state of the economy. When people panic and fear, the mentality is “every man for himself.” But when people pray, listen and plan, their mentality is “every man helping man with God’s help.”

The national unemployment rate is approaching the double digits and it is slotted to hit these figures by June 2009. Some of the major cities are already in the double digits with their unemployment rate and people are starting to panic.

President Obama is pushing his proposed stimulus package through Congress that can potentially reach 920 billion dollars; which Congress does not seem to be biting on. What financial genius initially thought of the stimulus package? Whoever he is, he ought to be slapped for insulting the American public. This nation can do without quick fixes that only result in patch jobs, but it defers the real issue.

Our government bailouts have only bailed out the large banks and large conglomerates. America has become more vulnerable to the world’s economy and with our present housing market plummeting, we have moved from a crisis to a catastrophe. What has happened to this nation is that it has become dependent upon debt.

For anyone to preach living debt free can easily become a target for ridicule because Congress is pushing people to spend and create more debt. American families should push to lower their debt structure as much as possible and this will help our economy. It may not do anything immediate for the large companies that depended on supply without demand and hired new workers and built new factories based on projections, but it will help your family. The American public should start focusing on three things:

1. Sincerely pray for the nation and your family.
2. Prioritize your needs vs. your desires.
3. Pray for the strength and wisdom to get out of debt and stay out.

Large companies will be forced to realistically budget, just as the small businesses have done for years. The majority of small businesses know how to operate on a shoestring budget and still meet salaries. God has not abandoned America, but America must not abandon God. The United States has on its currency the phrase stamped, ” In God we trust.” America must Trust in God and not in money.

Technorati Tags: debt, Finances, financial, Get out of Debt, money

Of course, the stories are not true, but it is a story they can believe which shifts the blame from themselves of under performing. Henry Ford once said, “The man that believes he can and the man who believes he can’t are both right.” Most people have had money problems and most people do not give up on life, they continue to march on until they can either find a solution or make up another story.

These concocted stories become the reasons or excuses for the lack of passion, which is in my opinion, sheer fear. There is no easier lie to believe then the one that places the blame on God. This propaganda is one of the most believable because it can easily disguise a person’s lack of self-confidence. If God gave you the ability for intellect, strength and a will, did He not also give you the ability to use it as you deem necessary?

In just three months, you can free up some of your cash that can go towards other bills, if you can believe. The basic element for debt reduction is “Start.” I have heard people say, “But I don’t know where to begin.” My answer is simple. How did you start getting into debt? You started collecting credit cards and systematically using them. Reverse the process, start collecting your bills and pay them systematically. Do not be afraid to examine how you got into your financial mess. Retrace your steps and you will end up where you started: debt free.

Technorati Tags: debt, debt reduction, financial, money, money problems

God gave man the ability to monitor change, to casually slow down its progress or to speed it up. For instance, aging and death are inevitable; but maintaining good health slows the aging process and possibly defers death for a time. In other words, good health, due to eating right and exercise, is the slowest possible rate of death. Imagine what happens to the human body when exercise is abandoned and eating right is discarded. The body deteriorates and the rate of death accelerates. Well, this is what happens to our finances.

Our money problems cannot be fixed left to its own. Anything left to its own weakness will eventually be devoured by the devastating power of change to reduce its quality to its lowest possible condition. Forcing change to increase the probability of something changing for the better takes a well thought-out and calculated effort on the part of the individual. Ignoring bills will not make them go away, but acknowledging them and attacking their onslaught of attack, will weaken its defenses. When bills are dealt with and paid, one payment at a time, despite the amount, it neutralizes their effects.

You have the ability and authority to impinge upon change in the direction you want it to go. Impose your will onto your negative financial situation. Making calls to your creditors and informing them of what you will do will cause them to negotiate with you because they want their money. Do not be intimidated about writing all your bills down on a sheet of paper. Moreover, do not avoid any of them despite how shocked you are with the amount you owe. Remember, its not how much you owe that matters; what matters is how much you own. When you owe, it creates a deficit. Paying off what you owe generates an asset.

Technorati Tags: Finances, financial situation, money, money issues, money knowledge, money problems

Most people only look at money as something they work to get and to spend. However, money is more than a spending device that is only meant for consumption. If you always look to spend the money you make every payday, you will never have any money for your future. Unfortunately, this is the plight of most Americans.

When a person views money as only spending power, they generally have no clue as to how much of it they are throwing away. The wealthy respect money and realize that money is better with serving than mastering. These people know the secrets about money that is hidden in its purpose.

When you do not know the purpose of money, you will abuse it. Therefore, debt and financial hardships will follow you throughout your lifetime. Learning how to make money work for you instead of you working for it, is first learning to master it.

Some people become incited with rage when they see how some people use their ingenuity to get more money. You can get more money if you know where you hide it. You do not need a raise in order to pay down your debt. You need the key of knowledge to unlock the money you already have.

Did you know that if you look at your phone bill every month, you can probably pull $50 dollars monthly by simply cutting back or canceling phone services you never use. You have had these fifty dollars all along.

Become a good steward and join the “Taking Charge of My Life in 2009 Campaign” by getting tips and tools that will help you discover where you are hiding money. Sign Up at the top of this blog.

Technorati Tags: Finances, financial hardship, money, money knowledge

Seemingly, all of our problems started long before the Bush Administration took office. The problems began when the government, banks, and other lending institutions softened the financial guidelines for the sake of the dollar. Bankruptcies have allowed companies and individuals to shift the responsibility onto consumers. Who do you think eats the cost of money mismanagement? America has a history of finding the easiest solution to solving its financial crises: increasing taxes. If the backbone of the American economy is the small business, then why pass legislation that does not benefit small businesses? Small businesses need more than just tax advantages; they need the same kind of stimulus packages that large companies have received in order to get their companies and the economy moving in the right direction.

I do not claim to be a genius on money issues; but I do have common sense when it comes to business. If I cannot repair the American economic system, I can at least start repairing and improving my own financial situation. There are ways you can improve your income by starting with your outgo. This may not fix the whole matter, but you will at least have more money to pay off more bills. If you manage what goes out and limit unnecessary expenses, you can keep more money for your charitable giving, bills, and investments. If you smoke, stop smoking; if you drink liquor, stop drinking; if you are wasting money on pornography, stop watching it. You may find yourself saving at least $500-$700 monthly.

You can start repairing the nation’s economic crisis by repairing your own financial situation. If you would like to hear more on how you can save more money by cutting back unnecessary expenditures, comment below.

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• $10,607 the first year
• In four years, sales jumped to $168,304
• and in four more, to $730,041

In 1919, Ford bought out the minority stockholders for nearly $106 million. They had invested $33,100.

During Model T’s lifetime (1908–1927) production added up to 15,458,781 cars – more than the total for all other cars for those years. It has been called the “most widely-used vehicle in human history.”

57 Varieties
When the will of Henry J. Heinz – wealthy distributor of the famous “57 Varieties” line – was read, it was found to contain the following confession:

“Looking forward to the time when my earthly career will end, I desire to set forth at the very beginning of this will, as the most important item in it, a confession of my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I also desire to bear witness to the fact that throughout my life, in which there were unusual joys and sorrows, I have been wonderfully sustained by my faith in God through Jesus Christ. This legacy was left me by my consecrated mother, a woman of strong faith, and to it I attribute any success I have attained.”

Success is living what God intended for you to be.
I strongly believe that God gives humankind the capacity to create wealth, but God is not the determining factor of how much of it you are to have. The individual is completely responsible for living his or her own dream. God provides the dream; when lived, the dream provides the means.

Both of these men made extraordinary achievements and were able to help thousands through their philanthropic giving. If you want to be a blessing to others, live the dream God gave you; and you will have treasures beyond riches.

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