Archive for February, 2010

Are You Suddenly ‘House Poor?

Five Steps to Get You Back on Track

The housing market is in shambles and every day the bleak news seems to get worse. With foreclosures at a record high, economists predict the pace won’t slow down for at least another 6 months. Behind these grim statistics are families who are struggling and desperate, trying to figure out how to hang on to their homes and ease their money woes.  If you’re one of those families, you probably feel like you’re stuck in a losing situation.  But you can take some steps to regain control of your finances and get back on track!

“While the Federal Reserve cut the interest rate in an effort to prevent the housing slump from spurring a recession, you should look into the other measures the government is taking,” says Barbara Williams – a self-made millionaire, success coach and spokesperson for the Success Institute of America.  “For example, investigate the possibility of re-financing a problematic loan through the government’s FHA Secure loan program. This program may help if you’ve suddenly found yourself ‘house poor’ due to creative financing that’s taken an ugly turn and sent your adjustable mortgage rate payment skyrocketing.”

But don’t rely solely on the government to save you from financial ruin. If you’re one of the millions of Americans consumed with stress over finances, it’s time to take action.

Five Key Steps to Regain Your Financial Health

1. Assess your financial situation: Make an honest assessment of your current income including the how, when and where of your spending.  Determine how much money you’re forking out each month for bills, but don’t forget to take into consideration the spending on everything from prescriptions to lunches, haircuts to dry cleaning.  It all adds up!

1. Decide where you want to be financially: By setting financial goals you will be able to focus on what you need to do in order to get there.  Is taking a second job a good idea?  Assess if there are corners that you can cut in your spending which will help you become financially fit.  Believe it or not, cutting out the daily latte may be one of the keys to reaching your financial goals faster.

1. Make goal-based decisions: Don’t just make any financial decisions – make decisions based ONLY on whether they bring you closer to achieving your financial goals.  Do you really think that signing up for premium cable TV package when you are struggling to pay the mortgage brings you any closer to your goals!  Make sure to take into consideration that better financial decisions move you forward on the path to success!  Stop rationalizing expenses.

1. Do something every day to move you closer to your financial goal: Knowledge is power and in order to stay motivated, why not keep finding new ways to stay on track?  Attend a money management workshop, read a financial advice book, find helpful internet based newsletters or possibly even ask for professional help.  Doing this everyday will keep you focused on your goals and prevent you from slipping into bad habits.

1. Learn to manage the money you have now: Money management is the most critical factor in building wealth, so it is time to learn how to live on par with your income.  If you are really motivated to make a change, learn how to live beneath your means.  This is a surefire way to accumulate wealth!

As a financial expert, Williams understands why so many Americans feel anxious about their finances. She firmly believes financial health is about more than money. She says when people are under financial duress it affects all areas of their lives. That’s why it’s so critical to take action.

“Financial problems hurt more than your bank account,” says Williams. “When you feel stressed about money, that anxiety has a negative impact on all areas of your life—your relationships, your job and your health. I bet you find yourself snapping at your family and constantly distracted by thoughts of how you’re going to pay each bill. It’s definitely not a healthy way to live.”

Williams says it’s important to start your roadmap for the future as soon as possible. “Carve out some time to sit down, grab all of your bills and outline your roadmap. Simply taking that first step will instill a sense of relief.”

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About Barbra Williams

Williams is a highly successful entrepreneur. She built a million dollar company from the ground up with just $500 cash. She is also a success coach and mentor, specializing in personal and financial development training.  Through the Institute for Success, she has helped thousands of businesses, professionals and individuals achieve their goals.

Williams is a highly sought after lecturer/instructor who teaches management, marketing and entrepreneurship for many college and government programs. In addition, she’s popular on the guest speaking circuit.  Countless network marketing representatives, real estate agents, and other professionals including doctors, athletes and various business owners have turned to Williams for her vast expertise.

Williams and her husband Steve have three daughters.  She is very proud that her entrepreneurial efforts have allowed her to raise her girls personally- no daycare or babysitter. .  Visit www.incometoday.net for more information about Barbra Williams.

Important Announcement From My Bank

I was just notified that my bank was changing some of the ways it would handle transactions in my account and that this would lower my fee’s and rates.

So I thought to myself when has my bank or any bank done something for the customer that would take money out of their pockets?  NEVER!!!!!!

So here’s what they said:

Overdraft Services – they will not charge a fee on overdrafts $5 or less at the end of the business day.  This is good because I’ve see horror stories of people that were $1.00 over due to a debit transaction and they were charged at $25 or $30 overdraft fee.  So this is good.

They will charge a $34 fee if the account is overdrawn by $5 or more by the close of business.  This is an increase from the $25 fee.  Plus an additional $15 per occurrence if the account remains negative for 5 consecutive business days.  Because most accounts are overdraft more than $5 they will not be missing any money at all with the changes.  They will actually be making more money.  If an individual is overdrawn by $5.01 at the close of business they will be charged the $34 + $34 if a check was returned = $64.  This is up from the old $50 charge.

I actually think that this is good and that its up-to us as clients to not get ourselves into these types of financial situations.  If we know and understand the consequences we should do our best to avoid them by handling our finances better.

Cash Deposit Fees – this is a biggie for me because I was tired of being charged a fee for them counting my money when I deposited.  I would deposit $5,000 or $10,000 they would charge me an ‘Immediate Cash Fee”.  It was just an extra charge for recounting my money that I deposited.  I disliked the fee but it was so small I just learned to deal with it, plus it was tax deductible.  The fee usually ranged from $1.50 for every $1,000 deposited.

They have decided to do away with that fee for cash deposits up-to $10,000.  So this is a good thing in my opinion.  I haven’t figured out the angle by which they will get their moneyback for dropping this fee.  But I’ll keep my eye’s open.

Greenfield Wisconsin Man Threatens To Blow Up Neighborhood

A Greenfield Wisconsin man threatens to blow up his house and the entire neighborhood because of money problems and upcoming foreclosure of his home.

After letting his problems build up he decided to unhook the gas lines to his stove and allowed the entire home to fill up with gas.  The entire neighborhood could have blew up because all of the homes are attached to the same gas lines.

His reasoning was because of financial problems and his home was scheduled to be foreclosed on Monday Feb. 22, 2010.  I call this panic mode, most of us would probably do something that be considered an emotional response, but we have to start thinking instead of reacting when faced with emotion.

If you find yourself in financial trouble the first thing you should do it start thinking of a way out not hurting yourself or someone else.  Stop Spending Money!  Stop Charging The CREDIT CARDS – and close them and cut them up.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve experienced financial trouble and my first reaction was emotional and then I learned that emotional responses can only hurt your chances.  Emotional responses can make your think illogical about how to fix the problem.  Emotional responses lead to only thinking of the problem not the solution.

My advice figure out your situation and make a plan.  You’ll find a solution to your financial problems, be prepared to downgrade your lifestyle in the meantime.

Get Out Of Debt Fast!

Why Should You Care About Your Debt & Credit Report?

I’ve recently been hearing a lot of clients and individuals that I come into contract with saying that potential employers are starting to check their credit reports to see if they are in debt and/or have bad credit.

This use to be illegal years ago, but now the rules have changed.  So why would a potential employer want to see how much debt you are in and your credit report?

First let’s talk about debt.  A potential employer is going to look at your debt load because statistically people with debt have:

• Family problems – the number one reason for divorce is money.
• Health problems – because of they worry about debt their job performance will be low and they usually suffer from weight and depression.
• Potential theft – we’ve seen a lot of employee’s embezzling money to pay their mortgage, credit card payments and gambling.

A potential employer would like to check your credit report because:

• They will have an understanding of how you handle your own money.  If you handle your money poorly they might think you’ll handle their the same way.
• They can see if you’re potentially headed for personal problems due to your debt.
• They can illegally see if you have medical bills and they might disqualify you because they don’t want an employee with health issues.

If you find yourself in this type of situation you should start working on eliminating your debt.

Greenfield Wisconsin Man Threatens To Blow-up House Over Debt

Several residents in the 6300 block of Leroy Ave. in Greenfield were evacuated from their homes Monday afternoon after a 45-year-old man told police he was trying to fill up his house with gas, Greenfield Police Capt. Paul Schlecht said.

The man was described as distraught when he called police at 1:48 p.m. and made the threatening statement, Schlect said.

Officers arrived and could smell gas outside the house where the man was located, he said.

The fire department and We Energies were called and several nearby residents who were home were evacuated, Schlecht said. As that was taking place the man, who was originally uncooperative, came outside the home and turned himself over to police, Schlecht said. No one else was inside the house, he said.

Schlecht said he did not know if the man was armed. Police were questioning the man, and investigation is continuing.

Don’t Believe The HYPE? New Credit Card Rules Take Effect

Everyone’s cheering today because the new credit card

rules will go into effect.  Here are the quick bullet point changes:

New Credit Card Laws In Effect

• They can’t increase your interest rate for 1 year.
• They can’t increase your interest rate on old purchases.
• They must inform you how long it will take to pay off your current balance if you continue to pay the minimum monthly payment.
• They must give 45 days notice for any major changes that they intend to make to card holder accounts.
• They must get your payment request mailed out with 15+ days before due date.

Other provisions of the bill include:

• Fines of up to $5,000 for card issuers that violate the act.
• Banning universal default and double-cycle billing.
• Prohibiting over-limit fees unless consumers agree to allow transactions that exceed their credit limits to go through rather than be denied.
• Fees for late payments, over-limit charges or other penalty fees must be reasonable and related to the violation.
• Extending the life of gift cards and gift certificates so that they cannot expire within five years of activation. Banning dormancy or inactivity fees on gift cards unless there has been no activity in a 12-month period.
• Banning credit cards for people under the age of 21 unless they have adult co-signers or show proof that they have the means to repay the debts. College students must get permission from parents or guardians to increase credit limits on joint accounts they hold with those adults. The new law will ban those free pizza and T-shirt giveaways — popular on many college campuses — if students sign up for credit cards. Colleges, universities and alumni associations would have to disclose the nature of contracts they sign with credit card marketers allowing access to student and alumni contact information.
• Requiring that card issuers disclose how long it would take to pay off credit card balances if cardholders make only minimum payments each month and how much users would have to pay each month if they want to pay off their balances in 36 months.

Fool’s Gold?

We’ve seen gold rise to an all time high in 2010.  But I have a word of warning!  Before I give you the warning I would like to say that my wife and I actually predicted the economic crash of 2008.  We figured not because of financial data from the news or wall street, we came to our conclusion do to interaction with real people, families that were having problems paying their bills.

They were refinancing their mortgage over and over to get money to live on or to buy more things.  Credit card debt was breaking records with card holders transferring balances to 0% cards and charging up the previous card back up to the max.

I’m seeing the same thing with gold.  I’m not saying that gold hasn’t been a great investment from 1994 ($400 an ounce) to now ($1,094 an ounce) but it’s getting close to the time of a big boom possibly upto $2,000+ per ounce, but with in months maybe even days it will drop drastically.

I’m predicting that by the end of 2012 gold will probably fall to $400 an ounce.  My reasoning is due to an actually need for individuals wanting to cash in on their investment.  Regardless of how good an investment is at some point investors need to take some profits to live on and buy some things that they want.

So for all of you that are holding on to gold as a long investment you better get ready for a crazy ride.  And if you can’t afford to get hurt get out ASAP!

Get Out Of Debt Faster

More Banks Close – But Media Quite!

More Banks Closing – BUT the media has been very quite!!!

CLICK HERE!

Real Housewives of Orange County’: Lynne Curtin Get Evicted!

This is another example of ‘Debt Gone Wild’ Lynne Curtin of the Real Housewives of Orange County and her husband have been having financial trouble since last year.  On last weeks episode her oldest daughter was served an eviction notice because her husband didn’t pay the $10,000 deposit on the house they were renting.

Lynne’s husband expressed that Lynne didn’t want to know the truth about their financial problems.  She just continued spending money, including expensive plastic surgery for herself and her youngest daughter when they were being sued by former business partners for real estate deals gone bad.

On tonight’s show Lynne continued her “Debt Gone Wild’ with the purchase of a $1,195 jacket while the girls shopped in San Francisco.

Broke: The New American Dream

A new documentary Directed by Michael Covel has been released that takes a hard look at the decisions we as a country make about money. Broke: The New American Dream is a study in Behavioral Finance — how and why people do the things they do with their money — or avoid it all together. The result is a shocking expose on the belief systems behind how Americans handle their money and what drives our decisions from the regulator, the money manager, the guru, and the end-user…the American public.

This documentary was so so!  It really lacked the true definition of what it takes to become successful. Michael Covel tried his best to show how stupid most American’s are when it comes to making money, risking their money and investing their money.  I did like the way he pointed out that the so called investment guru’s don’t know JACK!  The only one’s that win are the one’s that participate in “Insider Trading”!  My opinion…

The only solution is to become debt free and stop giving away your hard earned money to companies 1 monthly payment at a time.

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