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SUCCESS WITH MONEY
DO YOU HAVE YOUR LIFE
FIGURED OUT?
So many of us wander through life
thinking we have everything together. I have
a fool proof way to see if you really
do have it together. You will be able to
tell with one question.
Are
you successful with money?
I don't mean are you wealthy beyond
belief. I'm talking about are you drowning
in debt? (You may be and not even know it.)
A good way to tell if you are in over your
head is to list all your debts in a column
and then all your assets and/or things that
actually go up in value (like a house or an
investment) in another column.
Now compare. Which column has the largest
number after adding it all up? If we do this
we may find that we are not as "together" as we appear to be?
So the question again, "Are you having
success with money?"
The answer for most of us is... [Imagine an echo with this
response.]
NO! (((no
no no)))
Myth: If we ignore our financial
responsibilities, they will either go away
or take care of themselves.
Fact: Most of America wander through life
living day to day, paycheck to paycheck.
Most of America are about two major
financial setbacks away from
bankruptcy and don't even smell the danger.
Myth: The more stuff we have, the more
wealthy we are.
Fact: The more stuff you have the more
stuff you have. In most cases, the more
stuff you have, the deeper the hole is being dug
to make you even more
B-R-O-K-E.
Myth: If my neighbors can afford it, I
can too.
Fact: Your neighbors are about 2 steps
away from bankruptcy too.
Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not cutting
you down or trying to make you angry. I'm
just trying to get your attention. Becoming
successful with your money is easier than
you think. But it's difficult at the same
time. Let me explain.
You have the power to pay off all your
debt.
You have the power to start building gobs of
wealth. You have the know-how but you just
may not know you have it. You see, building
wealth and paying off debt is nothing more
than common sense.
Here's the common sense and the easy
part. To pay off debt means you stop
borrowing money (that includes using linès
of crèdit). When you stop borrowing, you
start paying higher amounts than the minimum
payments. Much higher if possible.
Here's some more common sense and the
hard part. Will you actually DO it? Most
everyone reading this will read it, think
"nice and true" but then will go out to
lunch or shopping or fill up their gas tank
and use a crèdit card. Habits are hard to
break and we are marketed to thousands of
times every day. Those marketing messages
work.
They have been engrained in our minds so
vividly and so deep that we think it's okay
to put our kids happy meal on a line of
crèdit. See what I mean? Read that last
sentence about the happy meal out loud and
tell me if it registers as common sense to
you.
Challenge: Go one week without using any
lines of crèdit. When you want something,
pay cash. Keep the receipts. At the end of
the week, add up all your receipts and see
how much you REALLY spend in one week. You
may be surprised. You may be even MORE
surprised on what you spent your hard earned
cash on.
My wife and I have done this little
exercise and it led to us building a nice
little budget that we currently live by.
Consequently that little budget has led to
us paying off over $24,000 of debt in 18
months. Rowdy, huh?
Living successfully can seep into every
area of your life. Which areas are you
holding out on? Financial? Relationships?
Family? Career?
To really grab hold of your money and get
as much control as you can, here are a
couple of resources you may want to check
out.
http://forward-living.com/debtBgone.htm
OR
http://forward-living.com/ratraceBgone.htm
Now if you're married, get with your spouse
and do this stuff. Spend less. Save more.
One day, you'll wake up and realize you have
less money stresses and you will be in a
position to do something unheard of. You'll
give some away.
Won't that be fun?!
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