8 Ways To Ensure Financial Security

8 ways to ensure ..............

Eight ways you can ensure financial security.

Kiplinger wrote, that many of us reexamined what really matters in our lives. Things that seemed so important before the tragedy of 911 now pale in comparison. It says, “financial security may not have seemed a high priority at that time, but it is the cornerstone of a well led life that makes so many other good things possible for your family. Kiplinger gives eight for your family.

Let's blog on 2 of them:

1. Invest In Yourself – Your earning power is the most valuable asset you’ll ever own. Keep your earning power growing through continuous education, training and personal growth.

2. Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones – Before you attempt to acquire ANY financial assets, make sure you have enough insurance against life’s big risks: serious illness, disability, and even death. My personal experience with this is that it’s so confusing. Trusting someone to give you sound advice on life and other insurance seems impossible.

Mike Silberstien, Northwestern Mutual told me once, “You can only buy insurance when you don’t need it. And the best time to buy it is when you least need it – when you are youngest and healthiest.”

A younger healthy person can get more than five times the coverage than a slightly older smoker with fair to poor health, and pay the same monthly premium. Save yourself a bundle and get protected at an early age.

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and The Kiplinger Letter.

7 Baby Steps For Financial Peace

The 7 baby steps for financial peace according to Dave Ramsey's website.

Get out of debt the same way you learned to walk—one step at a time.

1.) $1000 to start an emergency fund

2.) Pay off all debit using a debit snowball method.

3.) Build 3 to 6 months of expenses and savings

4.) Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRS's and pre retirement.

5.) College fund for children.

6.) Pay home off early.

7.) Build wealth and give.

He explain in detail how you should proceed. Problem with most people is that they fail to start, because they fear failing.

New Credit Card Stratigy

Susie Ormans New Strategy:

Interesting point of view. Edited without the fluff or the why. Just do it. If she said it, you know, like she says stuff, firm and straight forward, and you trust her, and you know you do, then just do it without explanation. Ask why when you get your own planet.

Her theme: "Hope for the best, Prepare for the Worst."

"Pay the minimum due on your credit card balance and instead make it your top priority to build as much of an emergency cash fund as you can. Why? Rising unemployment. Having a big emergency cash fund is vital."

"The credit card industry is taking actions to protect themselves with no regard to your needs or how good you have been in paying your bills on time. The problem is that most credit card companies are either reducing your credit limits, revoking your credit cards all together, raising your interest rates and are even paying you to close down your account."

"Here is the problem. If you do not have a stash of cash and you have been using all your extra money to pay down your credit card debt and they keep closing your cards down- what are you going to live on if you lose your job?"

"Action Step: If you do not have an emergency savings account that can cover up to at least eight months of living expenses, you need to get very serious about funding that account ASAP."

"To come up with the money for your savings fund, I want you to just pay the minimum on your credit cards, nothing more."

"She wants to be very clear: She still believe getting out of credit card debt and making sure your FICO score is as high as possible is incredibly important. For those of you with a fully-funded emergency account please make it a priority to pay off any credit card balances as soon as possible. Her new advice is solely for those of you who do not have an emergency savings account, or too small of an account. The single most important ACTION to take in this severe recession is to build savings so you and your family will have money to cover your basic necessities if you no longer have an income coming in. As you have heard me say before: Hope for the best, Prepare for the Worst. And right now we all need to be redoubling our preparation efforts."

Click Here - It's interactive and fun: Debit Eliminator Calculaor
Click Here - You will need - Use it: Expense Tracker

"Here is your financial saying to help you: I am a warrior and I am not going to turn my back on the battlefield.”

Should They Get Paid So Much

The WSJ reported recently that over 38 top U.S. banks and securities firms are are expected to pay their people $145 billion, according to newspaper’s analysis.

The public is angry over the banker pay, led the New York Times to call on Congress to pass a one-off windfall tax on banker bonuses.

Banks, which now face President Obama’s bailout tax, have so far been successful in beating back other reforms, including plans for a consumer protection regulator.

The resistance of the banking industry to roll back pay is infuriating and short-sighted to some, especially with high unemployment and people losing homes to foreclosure.

11.9 Percent Interest on Credit Union Credit Card

Today I went to the credit union at work to follow-up on previous blog that credit unions had better interest rate than do banks. Amazingly the articles that I've been reading are extremely accurate. Also, no penalties, and their rates are without regard to your BAD credit rating.

A friend of ours has Discover Card and their rate is 29.99 % not including penalties and other charges. Imagine having to pay only 11.9 % even on balance transfers up to $10,000. That's about 2/3 less. One could continue to pay what they were paying on that bank card (a.k.a. bad debit) and pay off that balance transferred in no time.

Discipline and consistency is the key though.

Credit Unions May Have Lower Interest Rates

The Credit Card Disclosure Act which goes into effect on Feb 22, 2010, prohibits raising the interest rates during the first year a credit card account is opened, ban interest rate hikes on existing balances and require promotional rates to last at least six months.

Congress gave the industry nine months to prepare for the changeover. Many banks, as expected, used this time to put the squeeze on their current customers and boost income from new cardholders.

My bank that I have been with for nearly 20 years, notified me by mail on Christmas eve. Angry, I thought I would check into credit untion rates and move all of my accounts as soon as possible. I'll post a blog on my findings soon.

You’d be smart to check a few credit unions. The Safe Credit Cards Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts compared credit cards issued by the largest credit unions to those from the biggest banks. Credit unions had both lower interest rates and lower penalty fees.

“The advertised interest rates were 20 percent below what they were at the banks and penalty fees were half as much,” says project director Nick Bourke.

You can compare rates at sites such as lowcards.com, bankrate.com, credit.com, cardratings.com and creditcards.com.

Free Credit Card Payment Calculator

I found this free credit card payment calculator on the web on procalcs.com .

Punch in the numbers and get shocked. Copy and paste all of the following link into your address field.

http://www.procalcs.com/credit-card-payoff-calculator.html?CURRENTBALANCE=%248%2C000.00&PAYMENT=%24200.00&INTERESTRATE=15.00&COMPUTE=COMPUTE&CALCULATORID=PC02&TEMPLATE_ID=www.procalcs.com_1&PostBack=true#results

Do something for 2010 and call the credit card company and ask them to reduce your interest rate.

I put in $8000 owed @ 29.99% interest and paying $200/month and it calculated that it would take about 26 years to pay off and $56,000 in interest over that time. These are real numbers that should prompt someone to address their spending.

Top things to Do In January to Start Your Year Off Right

Be specific with each goal.

1.) Contact your human resources department and make sure they have your home mailing address correct. They'll need to send you your W-2 for the tax year.

2.) Exercise at least 30 minutes each day.

3.) Update your beneficiaries for life insurance policies.

4.) Set your health goals for 2010.

5.) Set your financial goals for 2010.

6.) Schedule six month dental check-up.

7.) Schedule your 2010 preventive medical exams.

7 Steps To Overcome FEAR

7 Steps to Overcome Fear

Many times what keeps us from succeeding, or even starting something that will change our lives is FEAR. Eliminating debt, creating wealth, loosing weight, quitting smoking, exercising, etc., are avoided because of FEAR. We make excuses, but really it is FEAR.

Dani Johnson writes "7 Steps to Overcome Fear."

1. Doubt – don’t open the door or make an agreement with it. Make a decision whether you are going to agree with faith or agree with doubt.
2. Be 100% committed. Commitment destroys fear and doubt. Stay with your plan and fight through adversity.
3. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals, people with vision and dreams who are awake and stirred to do great things.
4. Keep yourself moving forward in action mode. Lack of action creates idleness which opens the door to fear.
5. Stay involved by plugging into tools that increase your skills and feed your belief system. Listen to conference calls and CD’s, attend seminars. Protect and feed the growth that you are experiencing.
6. Practice your core skill sets daily. Focus on your highest and best use of time, the activity that gets you the greatest results. If you’re in any kind of sales profession, that means spending most of your time attracting (advertising and interviewing) and talking (presenting) to new prospects.
7. Make the decision to never quit. Once quitting is not an option, there is no room for fear.

You can’t afford to live in fear. The future of our families and our nation are relying on you stepping up to your potential, taking action and building a future. Get the skill you need to get more and do more and you will fear nothing.

What Good is Wealth Without Health

What good is wealth if you aint got your health? If you are loaded with doe and can't walk through a Nordstroms or Gucci store to spend it, what good is your money? If you are loaded with doe and can't help others, what good is your money?

Health Tip - Make a few changes to your diet over time and make a big difference. Reduce your consumption of bleached white floor and bleached white sugar. Instead switch to organic.

Wealth Tip - Many poeple tend to save money in traditional very low interest generating instruments. A better option would be to eliminate debit with any extra money. It may not be wise to invest money at 2% to 4%, while paying on debit at 10% to 29.99%.

Famous Quotes

Famous Sayings

The richest people in the world look for and build networks. Every one else looks for work.