Home 2007 Archives for August 2007
August 23, 2007 6 Comments

StopDoingDebt: Top 5 ways I am killing my debt today

I am huge fan of a debt free life. And you should be too. You’d be hard pressed to convince me the merit of the phrases “good debt” and “bad debt”. It is debt, and you need to be on a mission to kill it every single hour of every single moment.

Here are my very simple ways of how to do it every single day:

1. Automate: I don’t trust myself to remember anything any more. Not to invest. Not to make a payment on time. Not to save for a rainy day. So I use my banks automatic transaction feature and I put all of my saving and investing on autopilot. I spend the money in my checkbook well ahead of time. All of the bills are on autopilot. I can probably disappear for a year and all of my finances are taken care of. Nothing will be late. If you want to stop stressing out about money and debt put everything on auto pilot. Especially savings and investing.

2. Put ‘em away: You cannot use it if you don’t have it on you. DO NOT CARRY YOUR CREDIT CARDS. As I open my wallet right now and look I do not have a single credit card on my. I have 2-3, but they are over in my desk drawer (I hope). I don’t have them on me so I cannot do that quick mental justification of using one when I see a deal. If I am out shopping and I don’t have my regular debit card and I need to use the CC then I am SOL. I’ll have to come back and buy it later. But by that time I will have found the debit card or usually gone to the ATM for cash.

3. Be happy with what you have: A lot of credit card debt comes from material acquisions. I want more stuff. Gimme Gimme Gimme NOW. Even if you don’t have the cash a credit card gives you a great way to get it all now… NOT (80′ s  joke thrown in for effect). If you look around your life and your abode you will realize that you have what you need to survive. A roof over your head, a decent job, and (hopefully) another person to keep you happy. Everything else is gravy and sprinkles on top. If you look at it all with what you have vs. what you have not your outlook and your pocket book will be a lot happier.

4. Nothing but the cash: Learn to live off of the greenbacks. Going for groceries? Cash only. Going for Gas? Cash only. This is a great way to get an idea of the physical amount of money you are spending. You will subconciously get greedy and want to spend less. For some reason parting with a bunch of Benjamins is a lot harder than a single credit card swipe.

5. Rinse, Lather, Repeat: Are you living a LIE? You should be. Go to your computer desktop right now and start A-LIE file for July 2007: Assets Liabilities Income and Expense. 8 columns. First one is the title of the asset, 2nd is the cash amount. So and so forth for the liabilities, Income and Expenses. As much as possible document every dollar that you know about that is coming or going in the house. Look it over and see where you can trim the fat. Then add a reminder to your calendar to update it monthly starting in August. Make sure you keep the ones from the previous month. Once you have a picture of what your numbers are doing you will subconciosuly pay more attention to the dollars you spend every day. You can’t help it.

I am curious as to your top 5 tips. Let’s hear ‘em!

Filed Under: Attitude, Finance
August 20, 2007 4 Comments

StopSavingNothing: Is financial management software worth using?

What is the point of using Quicken, Microsoft Money or any other personal financial management software?

They help you keep track of what you are spending your money on and what you are not spending it on. But for the most part they fail miserably at one of the most important things that we are told over and over again – yor goals. They just don’t ‘get you anyplace’. They are all centered on just tracking what you having, not where you want to go. They do have some small goal setting features, but nothing that really helps the layman set an goal and that becomes the center and complete objective of the financial picture. If there is I have completely missed it – and I look at alot of financial management software.

What tools do you use or how do you manage your money so everything you do is goal based? Inquiring minds want to know.

Filed Under: Finance
August 10, 2007 2 Comments

StopReadingNothing: 5 books you should have read by yesterday

If you are over the age of 10 here are 5 books I see right now on my bookshelf that you should have read by yesterday. These will give some great perspective on life, and give you the basic rules to handle just about anything that is thrown your way. Enjoy being smarter and getting more out of life. Smart people make me smile !


 How to Win Friends & Influence People – I have read this book time and time and time again and I love it every time. The title sounds corny and fake, but I promise you that the information inside is not. This is just a good basic set of rules when dealing with other people. How to get people to talk, how to get people interested in what you are saying – all great stuff. If you abide by these rules and are sincere in your efforts you cannot help but get along with people. Isn’t that what we were put on this planet for anyways ?
How to Lose Friends & Infuriate People: Leadership in the Networked World – Yeah – I know. Kind of the opposite of the last book. But this book is about going against the grain and doing your own thing in business and in management. By doing that you are bound to isolate people and piss them off. After all – you will be making some great progress in life and they will be tooling along living their same old live by their same old rules. Break the mold. You might lose some friends and piss them off along the way. But it is all about you anyways right ? :-)
What Matters Most : The Power of Living Your Values – There is a reason that Hyrum Smith and Franklin-Covey got involved together. When you have million things that you have to get done this book (to me) is a calming reminder of some very simple processes you can use to define yourself and what you want. It is not the least bit complicated. When you are done you will have learned alot more about yourself.
The Speaker’s Handbook – If you have a pulse then you have to communicate. Personally I love the verbal kind and I am pretty good at it. Whether you are great or looking to get there this book is always good to have around for reference. And… now that I am looking at it again… it is not bad for reference when writing also. It gives advice on humor, presentation, timing and other things to make your speech memorable. Get it and refer to it often before and presentation – verbal or otherwise.
The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion – You are good at something – everybody is . Sometimes however it is a challenge to figure out how best to convince other people that information and advice that you have is valuable and worth listening to. This is a book that I bought right after I started my own company in 1998 and it has served me well. It gives you some great ideas on how to find your place and how to make sure that what you have to say is understood and accepted. It may not always be agreed with, but the important thing is to make sure that your clients get what they are paying for. Your goal is should be to convince them that your advice (whether they use it or not) is worth paying good money for.
Filed Under: Attitude, Productivity