Is your Bank Account Sobbing?

Have you spent years developing a career only to feel trapped in it? Earlier generations believed that the secret to long term security was to get a good education, select a stable company, work hard and expect the company to provide for a comfortable retirement. That is no longer true. With corporate downsizing, more and more jobs moving off shore, and corporate closures, the corporation is no long a symbol of security.

Are you working long hours and sacrificing time with your family under the impression that you will receive a generous pension? United Airlines just announced it will abandon the pension plans for its 120,000 employees and retirees. (“Pension Plans in Corporate Cross-Hairs” by Jack Rasmus). This action set off a chain reaction by other airlines. Unfortunately airlines are not the only corporations abandoning pension plans.

According to Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki in their book “Why We Want You to be Rich,” social security will be bankrupt in 2013. Unfortunately, 80,000 baby boomers reach retirement age within the next ten years. That fact alone will overload an already seriously fragile situation.

If you are living paycheck to paycheck now and no longer have confidence in your corporate retirement plan, how do you plan to retire? The average 50 year old today has saved $50,000 and is seriously upside down with credit card debt. No more paychecks, no pension, no savings, and no social security; however, your expenses continue. How do you plan to retire? When do you plan to retire? Being a greeter at Wal-Mart is not an attractive option. How do you plan to maintain the standard of living already established for your family? Decision time is at hand now.

Your best thinking placed you in this financial hole. Do you think the same thinking will bring you out of this mess? Probably not. You need to do something different and you need to do it now. What is holding you back? How long are you willing to wait? Even more important, how much time exists between now and your forced company retirement age?

Are you ready to consider an alternative? Trump and Kiyosaki recommend starting your own business. You can spend a few hundred thousand for a franchise and work sixty plus hours a week for two or three years before you even break even and still have the loan to repay. Or you can start a brick and mortar business and do much the same as a franchise. Consider starting a network marketing business for closer to $20,000 and turn a huge profit within the first year.

The 4 critical criteria to selecting the right business.
1. Choose a product and a business with a huge expanding market.
2. Select unique products which are not readily available anywhere else.
3. You need the right timing.
4. You need leverage for your time, effort and money.

Fortunes are being made with home based business income opportunities. Millions of people will start a home based business this year alone. While not all of them will succeed, a surprising number of them will produce a 6-figure income. Whether a home business succeeds or not has everything to do with the business opportunities their owners chose.

If you choose the right home based business income opportunities, your chances for success go up. Choose opportunities with companies that do not require prohibitive start up investments. Choose a company that does not require you to stock a garage full of products. Select a company that provides you with support in building your business. Choose opportunities with companies that work with you to make your business succeed, that have resources for continuing education and that have products you can believe in.

In the competitive world of home based business income opportunities, select a company with a solid reputation for integrity. Determine that the support and training is ongoing. Frequently in the Australian 2 up system, as soon as you pass up the two sales to your sponsor you become their competition. Support ends. Select a compensation system where the sponsor has incentives to continue support and training for years. Choose a company where you will have a personal mentor available to you to guide you in your efforts. Choose products which are life changing, so you can feel good about representing them. Select essential products people are seeking. Lotions, potions and pills are fine, but are they truly essential and unavailable elsewhere? The right network marketing company will teach you how to use the business to become wealthier than you ever thought possible.

The time is right to start your home based business. You will not find another income opportunity that provides a total package for success and immediate return on investment like the right network marketing company. This is your chance to make your millionaire dreams come true.

If you are ready to take action for the present and plan for a reliable retirement, the time is now. Stop your bank account from sobbing and give it a big smile.

Always Be Grateful – Fear Holds Back Prosperity

Fear is false expectations appearing real. We all deal with fear on some level at various times in our lives. To say that you have never ever been afraid of anything means you are either one in ten million or perhaps not totally honest with yourself.

We all experience fear. An interesting statistic is that most people fear public speaking even more than death. Since joining Toastmasters, I find that I absolutely love public speaking. For me, that is not a fear.

Whether it is a fear of not being loved, or not being successful or any of a myriad of other things, every one has fears. In this economy, it is the fear of not having enough money to pay the bills for over 80% of Americans. That is a very real fear for far too many people right now.

The problem is that focusing on the negative and the fear only brings more of the negative. You will always get more of whatever you give your time, energy and focus. Shift your thoughts and feelings to concentrate on your desired outcome. Is it difficult? At first it may be; however, what do you truly desire? If you want more lack and desperation, then go ahead and focus on that. I believe you want and deserve prosperity.

I do not believe for a moment that a small child says, “I want to grow up to be poor and never have enough to eat.” Of course not. That thought starts slipping into our conscious mind as an adult. Then we focus on the lack of money to pay the bills and the lack expands.

Am I saying that all we have to do is think about money flowing in and it will flow into our bank accounts? No. Thinking positive thoughts about abundance and being grateful for what we do have will trigger our subconscious mind to create ways we can either earn more money or make wiser use of the money we do have.

Fear is never a positive reaction unless you are being chased by a tiger or some such valid experience. Concentrate on the positive things you desire to have in your life and be open to receiving them. Open your mind to receiving solutions rather than focusing totally on the problem.

Ok skeptics; is it at least worth consideration? Stuff the fear in a corner and tell it to shut up and go away so you can put all of your mental energy into positive solutions.

You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.

Sarah Ban Breathnach ~ Simple Abundance

Always Be Growing - Pain or Pleasure

What motivates you to do the things you do in your life? Most people are either seeking pleasure or seeking to avoid pain. It is generally accepted that people will do more to avoid pain than to seek pleasure.

In this current economic situation, people are experiencing home foreclosures, job losses, and sky-rocketing credit card debt. The drastic stock market decline of 2008 has had dramatic reductions in their investment accounts. Pain is an understatement. Over 80% of Americans are upside down. Don’t give up, there are financial solutions.

There is hope and there is help.

1. Do not cut up all of your credit cards and close all of your credit card accounts. Having credit is a valuable asset to be preserved.

2. Pick the card with the highest interest rate and start paying it down. The problem with most people is they keep running up the balance to the maximum and paying minimum payments until all they are paying is part of the interest, not even any of the principle balance.

3. Cal the credit card company and negotiate a lower interest rate or waive penalties. Work out a payment plan with them. They would much rather you pay it off gradually rather than file bankruptcy.

4. Even small steps will provide financial help. If it is easier for you to swallow, call it a spending plan rather than a budget. Plan out what is available and exactly where it will go. Yes, it will take discipline. How badly do you want financial solutions?

5. A friend of mine, Brian Fanale, said, “If you have to, put your couch on e-bay. Another friend sold his car. Did it take time and discipline, yes. Is it worth it to lift that thousand pound financial weight off your shoulders, yes. Think about a garage sale. There must be something you can part with to jump start your financial freedom,

6. Give up that tasty Starbucks coffee or the beverage with the boys. You can always have those later after you are financially free. Buy one less treat at the grocery store and use that money to pay even a little on the credit card debt.

7. Give up a few short term pleasures to avoid a long term pain.

8. Think of rewards for yourself which don’t cost money. Take your spouse for a moonlight walk or sit together watching a sunrise or sunset. You will be surprised how good you will both feel spending close time. Make it a project you do together for the future of your family.

What gives me the right to say this? I have been so broke in my life that I did not have enough money to feed myself and my two small sons. They ate and I pretended to be on a diet. I was so broke I had to look up to see the basement floor. I used these very measures myself. The only difference is that I took the walks with my 2 little guys while they rode in their little red wagon. We sat together at the sunrises while they sipped their morning juice.

I lived it. Now I’m fine and you will be. There are financial solutions. There is hope.

Passed the Half Way Mark in 2009

How are you doing with your goals and plans? We are now entering the 8th month. We still have 5 months to go so it is not too late.

Think about those New Years Resolutions you made 7 months ago. Have you looked at them lately? Many people start out the year with great intentions. Some resolve to exercise more, others to lose weight, and others to earn more. Finances seem to be a major problem for the majority of folks right now. At the start of 2009, over 80% of American citizens were upside down. Our entire government is upside down. People owed more than they owned. The people who used their home as an ATM were particularly hard hit. Many of them now find that their mortgage is higher than the resale value. That is if they could sell it anyway.

How are you doing? Have you maxed out your credit cards and exhausted your savings? If so, you are not alone. There are solutions.

First, it may be tempting to get rid of all of your credit cards. You could cancel them and/or cut them into little pieces but that is not the best solution for the long term.

I do not have financial planner licenses; however, I have access to the industry leaders in evey financial specialty. I also have practical steps you can implement right now.

What I can tell you is to stop charging. The first rule of holes is "when you are in a hole, stop digging." Pick out the card with the highest interest rate. Yes, they do raise your interest rate when you exceed their magic line. Some cards start increasing rates when you are over half of your credit limit and others wait until about two-thirds. The fact is that if your credit limit is maxxed or even close to it, your rate will go up. Pick the card with the highest rate and start paying that one down first. Plan to pay as much over the minimum amount as you can scrape up. Yes, give up a Starbucks coffee or take a sack lunch. Do whatever it takes.

Frequently if you talk to the credit card company and explain your circumstances, they will work with you. What do you have to lose by asking for a reduced interest rate or reduced penalties? The worst they can say is "No." They may grant you a concession in exchange for a promise to pay a set amount each month.

Do not destroy the cards because it is very important to have credit and a high credit score is even better. Ok, so your score may not be as high as it once was but at least you still have credit. Once you cut up and cancel all of your cards, it will become extremely difficult to get another card. There are some purchases, especially online, where your only option is to pay with a credit card.

There is hope and there are also other solutions. Write to me and I will help you. There is always help and hope. Never give up. Yes, I do know what it feels like. I was at that point once in my life.