Eliminate Financial Uncertainty Once and For All

Are you uncertain about your financial future?  Let’s face it; we are living in uncertain times, but that doesn’t mean we have to be.

This one principle, if harnessed and applied will reduce stress, nervousness, lethargy, fearfulness, physical illness and or depression.  It’s your bottom line.  Bottom line is also know as: net income, disposable income or income minus expenses.

Bottom line is one of the single most important concepts to learn in life for your business or household.  Without understanding or harnessing this principle, one could easily just live life working paycheck to paycheck, never getting ahead and certainly having a decreased chance of becoming debt free.  Do you have a budget?  Do you know how much you need to make every month to just live?  Some of you are living well beyond your means – on credit – mortgaging your life away and it has lead to suicide for some.

Did you know that since we entered the recession calls, to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline have increased by 36 percent in 2008, and another 15 percent in 2009. [1]  This trend has been compared to the Great Depression and the increased rate of suicide during economic uncertainty. [2]  So, how do you reduce the chance of becoming another statistic of increased stress, fearfulness, depression and suicide?  Take responsibility for where you are and stop asking for bailouts – you’re not incompetent.

We are where we are because of our best financial decision making.  So if you’re in a bad situation, accept responsibility for it, pick yourself up and get going.  It’s going to likely take a big shovel to get yourself out of the financial hole you’re in.  You might need to get another job or two to increase your income, but here’s some insight on how to master the concept of your bottom line:

Spend less than you make.

That’s it.  It’s not rocket science and you don’t need a degree to understand this concept.

Spending less than you make will increase the size of your bank account which will give you greater certainty in your life, health and dependency on “Granny Mae” for money.  The increase in your cash can also serve as an emergency fund for you or your family.  So, if something happens that you’re not planning on; and it will, then you will have the money to take care of the problem.

Ok, so how do you do it?  Follow the action steps below…

Take Action with a Budget:

1.  Download this form [Download PDF] if you have consistent income.  Download this form [Download PDF] if you have irregular income.

2.  Fill in your income and expenses.

3.  Figure out what’s leftover and that’s your bottom line.

4.  Have a set day and time that you review your budget every month to see where you’re money’s going and what changes need to be made.

Questions:  Are you living within your means? If not, what do you need to cut out of your lifestyle in order to get certain?

Sources:

[1] Huffington Post. 2010.

[2] LA Times. 2011.

Importance of Teamwork

Are you on a team?  Do you know your role?  Do you know where the team is going?

Not knowing the answer to all three questions could be detrimental to your reaching your goals.

Have you ever seen a rowing competition?

If you’ve seen any kind of rowing competition on tv is was likely a side by side race or regatta.  The regatta is a race where 2-6 boats start at the same time from a stationary position and the winner is the boat that crosses the finish line first.

Rowing consists of the body, the boat and the water working in perfect harmony.  If, on a boat, any of the three are out of sync by the slightest bit then the outcome of the race will be affected dramatically.  So how can you relate rowing to your financial situation?

I began my journey of paying off my college loans while still in college.  I knew that I wanted to be debt free, but I had to start and that was the key.  Just like rowing, the start is the most important part.  If you fail to begin, you’re like a floating buoy lost at sea.

When my wife and I were dating we talked about my loans (which I wanted to pay off before we got married) and she said she wanted to help me pay them off as a team, but I wasn’t ready to let her help.  I wanted to pay them off myself, because in fact, they were my loans anyway and not hers.  But, we eventually got married and used teamwork to get this paid off as soon as possible.  Our goal was to have it paid off in 2 years.

158 days later (less than 5 1/2 months), the remaining balance on my student loans was gone.  We both took extra jobs, worked late at night, on weekends, and cooked at home rather than eating out to pay off the $22,000 balance.  But the most important part was teamwork, We did it together!  When you have a goal and the team comes together in harmony, you have a greater chance at achieving your goal.

Here are 5 tips to help ease the payoff process:

1.  Write it down.  We wrote down our goal to view it daily just in case we got distracted.

2.  Post it up.  We also created a chart where we colored in our payments toward the debt total every time our income exceeded our budget.

3.  Monthly Meeting.  We still meet monthly on our finances to hold each other accountable to our expenses and spending patterns.

4.  Budget.  We created a household budget to have certainty on where we stood with our expenses on a monthly basis.  Everything we earned that exceeded our spending was applied towards our debt.

5.  Have fun!  You can be totally crazy and just pay off the debt, but I think it’s important to still have fun, while staying focused on your goal.  We created milestones with small rewards along the way.  Once we hit the milestone, we got the reward and that made it fun!

Just like rowing, we knew the direction we were going.  We both had a mutually desired outcome – payoff my student loans – and a list of items in our tool belt.  Our mortgage is all we lack to becoming debt free, and we’re using the tips above to knock that out as soon as possible.

Question: Do you have any creative ways that you are paying off your debt with your spouse?

Source:  (1) Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_(sport)

Overcoming Financial Obesity

Are you overweight?  Are you broke?  Are you at the end of your rope?  What do you continue to choose to believe about your life?  What picture do you continue to paint?

I often watch NBC’s The Biggest Loser, and last nights episode was great!  If you didn’t have a chance to see it then I’ll bring it front and center. This week the contestants had to run a full marathon – that’s 26.2 miles for you non-runners out there. So what do I do now you might ask?

RUN!  Each one of these contestants had to start running the full 26.2 miles.  Do you think they were excited – NO!  Do you think their outlook changed knowing the winner would receive $25,000? Of course it did!

Some of you are financially obese while others are really out of shape.

Getting out of debt takes time and it’s similar to a marathon.  It takes a unique combination of some, if not all of the following:  a plan, training, patience, determination, focus and endurance.  Do you see someone with a sedentary life having any of those characteristics?  Most likely not.

The marathon is not going to be easy. What will get you through the tough times is your purpose.  This is the single most important aspect of getting debt free.  When the times start to get tough or when you become discouraged – your purpose will pull you through.

Everyday you have a choice to paint your reality.  What is it going to be?  Are you going to continue to charge up your credit cards or are you going to do something to start.

Here are a few ways to start your marathon towards debt freedom:

  1. Put all of your cards in a Ziploc bag full of water and freeze until you pay them all off.
  2. Cut up your credit cards up (without the numbers) and make pretty ornaments for your Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
  3. Toss your cards in a blender with some Red Bull and blend on high until desired consistency.

What are you going to do NOW – today – that’s going to get you started on your marathon towards debt freedom?

Freedom to Fly

Have you ever dreamed of complete freedom? Do you know what that would feel like?  I think it would feel a lot like flying.

This blog will be dedicated to helping people achieve their financial destiny.  I hope you enjoy my first post and will hang around for more.

In the video below Seb Montaz and his friends perform a series of highlining and baselining for their documentary called I Believe I Can Fly. Highlining is tight rope walking at large distances above the ground or water. Baselining is when you combine highlining with a parachute. This ability to free fall and “fly” embodies the idea of complete freedom with the safety net of a parachute at the end.

Seb and his team are highly trained professionals and they didn’t get to where they are overnight.  Their feats of freedom have required extensive amounts of planning, discipline and training.  So, what can you take away from this as it relates to your own personal finances?

3 Steps to Attaining Financial Freedom:


1. Write Down Your Goals with a Deadline. This frees up your mind up from continually thinking about your goals so you can be laser focused on the outcome. It also serves as a written contract to yourself to keep you accountable. There are many ways to do this whether it be the Things App, Omni Focus or Backpack which are just a few of my favorites. It might just be a legal pad for you.

2. Create a Plan. How are you going to get there? This is where you iron out and research the necessary steps to reach your goals. Do you know how much you’re spending each month on eating out and shopping? If not, creating a budget is critical.

3. Take Action. This is by far the most important step in the process because without action you will never experience true freedom. Depending on your situation, this could take a while.  You might even need to pick up some extra income by freelancing, cutting yards or delivering pizzas to get there faster.  Here’s what New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews has to say about action: “intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.”

Questions:  What are you actively going to do today to get closer to truly experiencing financial freedom? What tools are you using to help you get there?  How would you use your new found cash flow to impact the lives of others around you?

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