Ever Present Money

According to this article, it appears that the credit crisis is coming to a conclusion. That said, it’s time to party like it’s cinco de Mayo…well, probably not.

This is good news for two groups: banks and investment brokers. Here’s why…

Banks will welcome this because they are now more attractive as an investment. Investment brokers are happier because they can make more money hyping banks!

The rest of us little folks are screwed because 1) its harder to get credit, 2) we lost money because our funds held banks and investment firms that wrote off a lot of debt and resulted in lower fund prices and 3) the results of unemployment, the credit crisis, the mortgage crisis and huge drops in our various investments–along with higher energy and food prices–our pocketbooks are lighter, our money isn’t going as far and we have less to fall back on. Rebuilding our investments will take a lot of time because the amount of money we have AFTER necessities like food and gas and house payments has shrunk significantly, so there’s less to put away.

But look for opportunity! There will be opportunities to make money. Keep looking for them.

I don’t have much to say today…there’s a bunch of news out and about. One of things I’m writing as part of Breathe Money is how we tie our finances to our level of happiness.

Quite simply, emotion should be left out of finances, politics, religion and when telling your wife that dress makes her look…”plump.” Unfortunately, emotion is all-too-much involved with these things, especially the dress topic.

There’s a really good review on a book that was written by a psychology professor that explains this relationship between happiness and money. Check it out here.

Later everyone. I won’t be posting anything until next week so I hope you all have a great week!

I’ve been getting comments from folks saying, “Like the site, like the stories…but WHERE’S THE MEAT?” Essentially, I tell a good story but where’s the stuff that everyone can use?

So here I am, giving you some of the info in a series. Here’s the Principles of EPM, part 1.

Your Money Allies.

As you bob from having to not having money, you find money is COMPLETELY out of your control. Due to some bad decisions or bad management, you find that you are continually trying to keep up with your obligations, only to feel completely worn out from all the worrying you do about money. It just seems like there is NOTHING ON YOUR SIDE when it comes to money. And that’s where you are wrong!

Your money has allies, whether you believe it or not. What’s the purpose of an ally? Generally, an ally is a person, group, or entity that strengthens you or your objective.

What are your money allies? Going back to the example of the abundance of air around us, here’s what the allies are:

1. Abundance through numbers. The air around is a byproduct of a lot of vegetation-trees, grass, flowers and the like. Unfortunately, most individuals have one major source of money: a job. In order to really have EPM, you need to branch out and find other ways to add an income stream into your finances.

2. Growth. When I referred to vegetation above, these sources of air weren’t created overnight! Some of these plants needed years in order to contribute significantly to the atmosphere. The same is true with our money…it might take years for some of our other income streams to become truly viable and significant sources of money. So give it time and allow your money to grow and multiply.

3. Let nature take its course. The production of air is a naturally occurring phenomena; the production of money for most of us requires time and energy and just plain hard work. Discovering methods to automatically grow your money will take time and effort, but once you have a system created, money will surround you. There you go…EPM.

4. Seasons. Nature’s production of air follows a yearly cycle; you might understand it more if I say plant growth is seasonal. There’s a time for planting, for growing, to harvesting and to renew the land. Markets have seasons as well. If you’re making money automatically, you may be do some through stocks, or precious metals, or through real estate. The thing about any of these methods, or any others you use, you’ll find that there are times to be strong in a certain area. Or you may have to pull back and do some renewing.

You may find there are other money allies available to you. Let me know what you consider a money ally by making a comment. But quite simply, you can do more with your money other than spend it. You might be one of those people who thinks that money is spent, no matter what you are doing with it. The simple fact is you can either consume it all or consume what you need and built other income streams with the rest of your money.

Hey, everyone.

Got volunteered at my kids’ school to make up some collection boxes. So I went to the local Michael’s craft warehouse.

I found a display of a bunch of boxes that I really liked but they were over $12 a box so I kept looking for other boxes (more notably, less expensive boxes!) I wandered through the store and in the clearance aisle were the SAME BOXES! There was a tag there saying 50% off on top of prices on the tag.

Taking one of the boxes up to the checkstand, I got the price checked and it came up “$12″ on the display. Asking the lady to walk with me and showed her the display I saw. Her response was, “Oh, I forgot to get those tags…they were for the weekend sale we just had. But I’ll honor the discount.”

“Really?” I asked. She nodded. I picked up 4 boxes. Instead of paying $48 for them, I only got them for $17 with all the discounts.

So, when you shop for things, make sure to look around, take your time and don’t be afraid to ask for something that is on a big sign on top of the display! Like the checker told me on the way out, “You’re not a slimeball…you’re just a smart shopper because of my earlier mistake!”

Ever wonder why the processes and policies around the credit card came into being? Universal defaults, low or zero intro rates, transfers and the like?

I once happened to be flipping through channels one night and came across this episode of Frontline on PBS. It only caught my attention because they were interviewing Ben Stein when I came across the show. (Ben Stein is one of EPM’s featured writers over at Yahoo! Finance.)

This episode revealed the behind-the-scenes thinking of folks at the credit card companies and how they are providing you a “service” therefore they can change all the rules.

The episode is an hour long, but there are 4-15 minutes segments if you can’t commit to a whole hour. Give it a watch…you’ll be glad you did.

Click here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/

Let’s see, going out to the mailbox and I have no less than 8 different offers to refinance my mortgage, a couple of home equity loan offers and some coupons for saving on things from pizza to my internet service. That’s right…I have no friends who send me anything. Poor me.

Are you receiving the same kinds of offers in the mail? You and I are not alone.

Look…I will admit that there are times where these type of programs will help you. My warning to you is to make you understand all the factors. Payment options, amount of money you get or can borrow, the interest rate, what will cause the rate to change…these are all things to keep foremost in your mind.

One of the principles of EPM is “Cashflow Discipline.” You need to make sure that getting any kind of loan fits into your overall plan to breathe money. Cashflow discipline is part savings, part priority spending, part avoiding temptation. Quite simply, a person who can control their financial impulses will come out ahead and will seldom need one of these special loans.

I have to apologize to all of you reading this. The passage of time seems to go by too quickly when dealing with your children’s school projects, tests and performances. Between that and getting the downloads ready for my e-book, “Breathe Money,” I just haven’t been getting to the blog to give you the regular information you need to help you with your financial picture!

So…sorry all. I’ll do better to get more regular posts here.

If you’re looking for some more info, I am going to suggest looking at mint.com. They have a lot of resources available for getting your personal finances in line. There are a ton of articles there that complement EPM.

Hope to talk with all you soon.

Mike

Hello, all.

Sorry it’s been a while since I wrote anything but went on a little trip to see my folks and my wife’s family in Oregon while the kids had spring break. It was an interesting time…not so much with visiting but with the things one puts up with on the road. Hail, snow, sleet, drunk guys breaking down doors in the middle of the night at hotels, pools closed to maintenance, overturned trucks, blizzard conditions for an 8 hour stretch of road…ah, the wonderments of the road trip!

It’s interesting…but while on our little road trip, the Big Oil execs are on Capitol Hill talking about…gas prices! I had a chance to drive from Idaho, to Washington, to Oregon. I thought gas was already high…$3.29 here in Idaho, but along the way to Washington, it was higher…approaching $3.47! It backed off a little near my folks’ town…it was just $3.34. But when I got to the Oregon coast, the price had gotten up to $3.59! I couldn’t believe how much it cost for this road trip in gas.

I’m sure some of you did the same thing and went for a trip during spring break! Here’s what I tried to do to control my spending somewhat.

First off, I can’t control the price of gas. It’s out of my control and the system for getting gas to all of us is geared to make a ton of profit along the way. (Don’t get me started with gas prices…really! How many companies do you know charge themselves for their raw materials?) What I could control was my vehicle’s use of gas. So I got the minivan serviced (it was time) and checked things like air pressure and the like to make sure the van was optimized for gas consumption!

Second, I minimized my trip checklist. Namely, snacks for the road. You know what I’m talking about: chips, candy, pop, gum, nuts, chex mix…road trip stuff. I tend to purchase a ton of stuff at the store before heading on the trip, only to stuff our pantry full of most of the stuff I bought. The only thing I missed was my blessed sunflower seeds, but only because I left the buggers on the counter before leaving the house.

Lastly, my name is Mike, not Mario. As in Andretti. You know, that race car driver. You see, I’m a fairly sedate driver and while I am an impatient driver at times, on long trips it really helps to not drive like you are behind the wheel of an Indy car. But taking things easy on the road, I maximized my fuel efficiency. Pumping gas in the morning, filling up on a half tank, using gravity to help speed up in the mountains…it all helped out!

The lesson I want you to pull from all this is even though you might not be able to control the price of something you really need, there are still conscious choices you can make that will make your dollar stretch a little further than you first imagined!

Until next time…

Got a couple of things to look at today, which really interested me for some reason.

First is this article from MSNBC. It talks about how the rising costs of energy are causing people to make “tough” choices. The thing I found VERY interesting was the comment near the end of the article, where a person was saying if it was just one thing, gas price increases would be okay. But they are trying to sell a house, but if you haven’t heard, the housing market is a little down right now.

With things today, we are looking at increases in EVERYTHING, not just in gas prices: food, clothing, tires for our vehicles, heating bills, health care, education…do I really need to list more? Looking at some of the things in the article, some of the people interviewed can’t seem to let go of some things because “I really wanted it” or “I really worked hard for it.” Unfortunately, it’s sucking the money out of them…preventing them from breathing money. (That’s why living with EPM would help so many people out there… Note to self…need to tell more people about EPM!)

The second article is about wasting money. I don’t know if you heard about this story. Seems like the government is needing places to spend tax dollars. It sounds like the people over in Montegomery County, Maryland are upset about rising taxes and have become unruly about it. This has raised concerns that the County Executive might be in danger from these folks. So what do they do? They’re going to spend tax dollars to the tune of $65,000 to build a private bathroom for the guy…equipped with a seating room AND a shower!? I find it appalling that the guy says, “I don’t see this as a big expenditure.” Does this man have NO IDEA that people live on less money in a year? Does he not see the power of the dollar?

Folks, both stories point out two big things that you need to remember with your finances: you are only in control of your time and your money, and you understand and can identify what is a financial need vs. a self-fulfilling desire. The prices on items will always go up. People will always do stupid things with money.

Good luck to you as you try to breathe money!

Are you trapped without air everyday? Can’t do the things that you want because the more you exert your body, the more air you need…and you don’t have enough air to begin with. Of course not. If you want to run a mile, you go out there and run, breathing all the air you want.

But it isn’t that way with your money. There’s usually not enough to go around. It stifles your life; it controls your actions.

EPM is about freedom. Part of it is to reset your thinking in terms of money. Another part is getting the money resources built up that you need in your financial life, so money is more like the air we use in order to breathe.

But in order to get those resources built up, you have to reduce the debt you have that is dragging you under all the time. It is suffocating your finances. Simply put, you need to shed debt in order to live with more freedom.

This article talks about some guidelines to get out of debt. It is a good article, something those who practice EPM can relate to. It doesn’t really discuss priority spending or building up wealth; it just talks about getting rid of debt. This goal isn’t really a good one; this is just a milestone as part of your overall goal of being wealthy!

For most people, getting out of debt is just a fantasy. I don’t want you out of debt; I want you to become wealthy! Believe it or not, this is something everyone can do. I point to an old guy who went around pitching his wares to anyone who would listen to him. All he had was an idea and a Social Security check. From town to town, he would set up and pitch his product to interested folks. Everyone agreed he had a great product to sell.

At age 65, Harlan Sanders started what is known as KFC today. Do you think the Colonel started his chicken empire with the goal of reducing his debt? Heck no! He was building freedom and living in abundance. Don’t settle for just keeping your head above water (although you do have to start there.) Break free from your debts and BREATHE MONEY!