While doing a project for my current job, I stumbled across this wonderful site that represents 11 key categories of well being and allows you to rank their importance to you. It then visualizes the countries that best fit your criteria across the world, in sort of a flower visualization design. It is not only beautiful, but highly functional and useful for those that care about this sort of thing. I was intrigued myself, having lived in and loved New Zealand, to see it high up on the list for me. I must admit I was also surprised to see Canada, as it is really just around the corner from my neck of the woods.

How does this relate to my journey towards financial freedom? I think its important to constantly re-evaluate if my life is going in the direction I want it to, and this can largely be impacted by the opportunities, government, quality of life and financial system that surrounds you. This chart serves as a starting point for me to explore other places that we may want to visit or possibly move to in the future if our dreams align with our actions. Which one can only keep hoping and working towards.

Random Posts

• January 24, 2010 -- Best Online Goal Tracking Tools for 2010
• November 18, 2009 -- Budgeting for the Holidays and Avoiding Holiday Impulse Buys
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist
• November 19, 2009 -- Review of Free Online Money Management Tool: moneyStrands
• December 30, 2009 -- Year in Review: 365 Days to Financial Freedom Top Posts

For a while now, I have, rather pessimistically, been saying that I will never retire. Mainly because I haven’t been saving as much or as often as I should (I am currently the sole income in our household), and because most of the investment accounts that I have attempted, from mutual funds to stocks have gone in the negative.

I’ve decided to look further into this with my amazing returns (14-15%) from Lending Club (This is not the average return at Lending Club, the average is around 9% I believe. My returns are based on taking on more risk and opting for quite a few longer term loans.) All of my prior assumptions were that I would not even be able to reach the 8% return that most investment calculators use for predicting your retirement date.

Right now, if my Roth IRA at lending club continues to perform with my carefully selected loan options, even given an expected default rate over time, I would get well over 12% returns. So, perhaps things do not have to look as doom and gloom now that I have found a good investment vehicle?

This chart shows that I would have to save hardly ANYTHING every month with the funds I currently have in my No Fee IRA retirement savings, plus the help of social security at $15K/year (will that be an option when I retire?).

According to this chart, all that I need to do to retire and live off of $80K/year plus $15K Social Security (well over what I currently live off of), is keep earning those incredibly high returns. Is it possible? Only time will tell.

But over at Mint.com, I tried their GOALS retirement calculator, and they will only let me plug in 11% as the maximum return amount. According to Mint, I will need to contribute $150/month at the 11% return rate to retire at age 65, comfortably. So, my conclusion from all of this is, I’d like to have a goal of saving at least $150/month when we turn into a 2-income household next year sometime. I would also like to have a few more diversified investments, preferably under IRA protection. For those of you that don’t know or have a Roth IRA, you MUST read up on it, it is by far the most useful investment option for anyone under 45 at least, and in 2010 only you can convert your Traditional IRA to a Roth this year and choose whether you want to pay the tax consequences this year or split and defer tax consequences to the next two years (2011 & 2012). More Info.

I encourage you talk with your tax or investment professional before taking my advice at face value.

Random Posts

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• January 24, 2010 -- Best Online Goal Tracking Tools for 2010

TIME

We all know this to be true, and I have said this repeatedly, but it never gets old.

Time is your most important asset. It is a gift. How you choose to use it every day is up to you.

It often seems like time disappears in non-choice related activities and distractions. But every moment you are making choices with how to use your time.

Random Posts

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• November 8, 2009 -- Best Kept Secrets of How to be a Millionaire & Other Trust Buster Phrases
• July 13, 2010 -- Financial Check In – Celebrate Progress!

I’ve written a few posts on this blog on the topic of happiness, since as we all know, ‘money can’t buy me love’ – or happiness for that matter. Financial freedom will free me to have time, and I still believe it to  be the first step to focus on the intentional life that I want. But if I’m not in the right place mentally, its useless to have financial freedom. I keep searching for ways to attain what I’ve been calling sustainable happiness.

Yesterday, my husband, quite nicely mentioned to me that one thing I might have a hard time doing is living in the moment. This is why I married him, because he is all to good at this. And it is a quality that I want more of in my life, but struggle finding because of my personality type and ingrained habits.

Today I happened upon and took a short quiz on Oprah’s site, the happiness test, and after answering just a few short questions in this quiz, the insight that I received as my result was amazing to me. To the point where I printed it out in large text and put it on my wall. I reached the category right under the you are always happy category. Here’s what my result said:

You need to recognize the difference between chasing after happiness and choosing happiness.

Happiness is not outside you; it’s not a destination; and it’s not about “getting there.”

When you stop chasing happiness, you allow yourself to be more present, more available and more open.

This way you find happiness wherever you are.

The old saying “Life is journey, not a destination” has a similar meaning. Its not about being happy. Because if I reached the elusive happiness consistently, I wouldn’t be growing or changing, and I would become bored eventually anyway.

The overall concept that I am hearing applied to my life is this:

I need to LET GO of my need to control everything and this will allow me to be able to enjoy the moment.

I need to have faith that tomorrow will bring joy and sorrow alike, but that I will have the strength and courage to not only survive, but also come out a little bit smarter, and happier, than I was before.

I’ve realized, that’s all that I can really ask for.

Related Posts

• April 6, 2010 -- 5 Months in, I’m a Lot Closer to “What I Want”
• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist

A while back, I wrote a post that I still find to be an extremely valuable, but somewhat idealistic, way to manage your finances on Eker’s Jars budgeting. One of the accounts he recommend setting up is called a Long Term Savings for Spending account. He recommends saving 10% of your income towards this ‘jar’ and you can divide it into sub-jars if needed.

I also found and use the amazing site SmartyPig for Long Term Savings for Spending accounts. This amazing system has gained so much in popularity, its now being bought out by BBVA Compass.

So, now that I am fortunate enough to be making a little more income with my new business, I am eager to get beyond debt and expense payoff, and focus a little more on the long term savings for spending accounts. However, I think I have gone of the deep end. When I actually make a list (ie mini savings accounts) of all the things we want to save for, it is daunting and frankly, way more than 10% of our income. I have reached $5K in a Contingency Fund and have decided that is enough for me to warrant putting funds towards long term savings for spending now.

Here’s All the LTSS Funds I’ve Got Set Up:

I’m thinking this is largely because of the stage of life we are in. Not quite thirty, wanting to make large purchases and build a family. We have our house on the market, and ideally would like to have 60 to buy the next house we want. But that is so unrealistic when you actually look at the numbers. Needless to say, I’ve decided that Eker’s Jar’s needs an upgrade that should be different based on your AGE and/or STAGE in life.

Also, I have so many graduations, weddings and gifts, that my jar for GIFTS is truly for gifts, not charity or giving in the sense that Eker intended.

So, ideally I would like to mimic the jars theory that Eker has, but in reality, I believe it is better suited for a higher income, slightly older demographic than my family.

Random Posts

• July 13, 2010 -- Financial Check In – Celebrate Progress!
• December 30, 2009 -- Year in Review: 365 Days to Financial Freedom Top Posts
• February 23, 2010 -- How to Choose? Pay Off Debt, Save, Invest or Build a Business
• November 21, 2009 -- Review of FiLife: Your Financial Lifeline
• December 26, 2009 -- Online MLM Recurring Passive Income Stream Techniques: Trust Busted

In responding to a comment on this site, I noticed a sentence that I wrote a few months back that still resonates strongly with me:

As Americans, the only way to get out of a recession/depression is to face our fears, and start doing, not just saving.

So many of us have been burned by loss of jobs, loss of their home, loss of their health care, etc that people are struggling to get by and losing hope. But we cannot lose hope as a collective. What our happiness, our lives, our families, our economy and everything around us needs is for us to have HOPE, motivation and drive to move things FORWARD.

If you are frantically saving and paying down debt, good for you. I’m not saying that’s bad. But getting your finances in gear is not all that is needed to make your life, and all of us as a collective’s lives better, what is needed is to start DOING.

If you don’t spend any money, the economy can’t get any better. Spending, in the right ways, is a very good thing. Spending and doing creates jobs and wealth in an economy. We just need to be more conscious about WHERE we are spending our money and what impact it has on our lives. Put your energies into putting your thoughts and what you might want to do and making them a reality. You will never know what could be unless you try.

I am now a firm believe that where your energy goes, results show.

If you’ve lost your job, see it as an opportunity to DO. Check out this video: http://www.lemonademovie.com/

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• March 26, 2010 -- Simple Way to Organize Your Day in Your Mail or Calendar Tool

Day 161 of my First 365 Day Journey to Financial Freedom

On day 1 of my 365 Day Journey towards Financial Freedom, I charted a short list of what I wanted in order to find a more ‘sustainable’ happiness.

In reviewing my list, I am proud to say that I am a little, or maybe even a lot, further along in my journey than I would have predicted. This blog, and my dedication to not lose my drive and focus, have helped me stay on track and get inspired. This transformation of my life is real, and I want to thank those that are reading and following me along in my journey. I hope some of my stumbling thoughts have helped you.

Let’s take a look at what I said I wanted and if I am now doing or feeling these things:

Excerpt from First Entry Oct 26th 2009

To begin my journey, I wrote a list of some of the key answers to the question: ”What do I want?” Here are my answers in no particular order:

I want to be FREE to move my life forward

Through much reflection, I’ve learned that freedom is really a perception. Though I felt very stuck for many years prior to starting my journey, I was only as stuck as I allowed myself to be. Things don’t always move or change as fast as I want them to in order for me to feel more free, but many things have changed. Most namely, I quit my FT job and I am choosing to pursue my own business! That is a big step for me toward my freedom.

I want to get my POWER back

The main thing I was looking for was an inner confidence in what I am and what I will add to the world. In my journey so far, I’ve learned that success is almost entirely based on your confidence, attitude and sense of purpose.

I want to WRITE

I am writing – a lot! I’m writing on this blog, I’ve written articles that have been published on Wisebread and in magazines, and I’m in need of a lot of how to guides and documents for my new business. I also cannot wait to write a series of ebooks on SEO & usability and other web marketing tips I’ve learned along the way.

I want to LOVE what I do for a job

Guess what – I now do! I didn’t love the politics where I used to work, they impeded on me enjoying my work. The design and business building of what I am doing is super fun, but my passion is lead generation and marketing. I was discussing it with my husband and realized its a matter of an inner desire to help others combined with a need to influence. Successful online marketing is all about beauty, simplicity and influence. Beyond this, I am looking forward to getting into the health industry once I have started being more successful with business building.

I want to feel comfortable and at PEACE

Not quite there yet. I move at such a fast pace, and I have a 2 year old for goodness sakes. Finding time for balance of mind, body and spirit is always a bit of a struggle. Still an important goal for me however.

I want to take CONTROL of my own destiny

I feel that I am doing this much more than I used to, though many things always still seem up in the air. I have realized that you can only control things so much, and after a certain point you have to trust and believe that things will shape themselves for you.

I want to spend more QUALITY time with my family and activities I want to do

I don’t know that I am spending MORE time, but the time I have with my family is better spent with me happier. Step in the right direction.

I want to find SUSTAINABLE happiness

Sustainable? Not yet. Happier? Yes.

I want to live an INTENTIONAL life

I think everything I am doing is getting me much closer to this. The largest thing that I have to do is manage my most precious asset, time, as best as I can and filter out what is and is not a priority toward my intentional living.

So, overall, I think I am a lot closer than I expected to getting where I want to be at this stage in my life. Hooray!

Related Posts

• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness

Overcome Fear to “Win Some or Learn Some”

Today is my last day at my job, and I am taking a step into the unknown. For the last four years, I have worked at the same full time position. In my last post, I outlined the logical and emotional reasons for making a decision on what to do next with my life and career. I also explained that, if all fear was pushed aside, I would choose to follow my heart and do my freelance web design and online marketing, as well as build other business ventures.

The fearful side of my still keeps saying, are you crazy? In this economy?  What happens if you fail? How do you know you will succeed?
And of course, the truth is, I have no idea what is coming next. All that I can do is keep my mind in the right place, and put my best foot forward.

Fear and doubt have a tendency to sneak back into your mind at the most stressful and insecure times in your life, when what you really need are feelings of confidence and strength.

For me, though I still experience feelings of doubt and fear, I am now able to recognize my fear as a trigger for the fact that I am out of my comfort zone, and that this will be a good learning and growth period of my life.

The Steps You’ll Need to Overcome Fear and Doubt:

1. Recognize the emotional trigger that caused you to feel fear, doubt, etc
2. Accept that there are some logical reasons for the feelings
3. Acknowledge that, though there are some reasons that you are feeling fear, there is also the strong possibility that things will go the way you want them to
4. Accept uncertainty and the unknown as a constant part of life
5. Think positive and be confident in your decisions
6. Move forward with your best foot forward
7. Mission Accomplished: Fear is Overcome

What are the Possible Outcomes of Pushing Past Your Fears?

1. You Get What You Hoped or Even Something Better
2. You “Fail”, but You Learn From Your Mistakes and Move On

Or, in the words of Jason Mraz: “You Win Some or Learn Some”

I’ve made my decision to give it a try. I have the ability so I am going to take a 2 month test period to see if I can truly build my businesses to support my family.

Here’s My 2 Month Plan:

• I already have a few new and a few big projects lined up, including my other recurring work for clients.
• I am going to re-brand my business, which is currently called AGR Web Designs, to Lead Online Marketing. This will include moving from a sole proprietor model to an LLC, a new website/branding/blog, etc strategy, marketing and better packaged offerings. I have also started to get better with software for my invoicing an estimates (I may to a post/review on those tools)
• I may also do a bit of additional part time work during this time as I build my business
• I will continue to build my timeline/planning templates business
• I’m considering building another small site that focuses on wordpress and/or thesis design, as this market is really booming and I enjoy working in that area

I am afraid, but I am also very excited. And though it is a slightly uncomfortable place to be, it makes me feel more alive and happy about my career than I have been in the last 4 years.

Random Posts

• January 9, 2010 -- Are Commodities The Right Investment Choice?
• August 8, 2011 -- What Country Should I Live in? A Better Life Visualization
• October 31, 2009 -- Trust Agent Inspired Term: Trust Busters
• November 21, 2009 -- Review of FiLife: Your Financial Lifeline
• December 2, 2009 -- Why Does Every Serious Blog Seem to Use Thesis and Is It Worth The Money?

Well, its official. I have turned in my two week notice at my current position and I am pursuing other options. We have enough of a padding to last long enough for me to sort this out. (My fear is talking there)

I’m very happy about this first decision and I have lots of options. Nonetheless, I am very much struggling with this life decision. The lucky part is that I can actually make this choice with the career path that I have in web design and online marketing. Here are my options:

Option 1: Accept a FT Corporate Job - The “Logical” Choice

Pros

• Steady income to support my family, benefits (health, dental, paid time off)
• Opportunity for learning from others and new environment
• Career growth potential
• Escape from the cubicle and florescent lighting

Cons

• Not enough time to do my freelance work, be a mom, take care of the house, etc
• Potential to be ‘more of the same’ in terms of politics and personalities
• 401 K hasn’t been a reliable investment vehicle for retirement

Option 2: Accept PT Work + Freelance/Businesses - The “Tempting” Choice

Pros

• Flexible hours, variation in work
• Ability to pursue many projects and avenues (web, businesses, writing)
• Pontenial to be happier by feeding my creative outlets, feeling of acomplishment
• Ability to help many small businesses and increase networking
• Ability to be there for my daughter more, especially when she is sick

Cons

•  Inconsistent income, no protection from month to month, no paid time off
• Have to work at ensuring I have additional work
• Location of jobs may vary, though remote is very possible in my industry
• Administrative duties increase, have to take care of own taxes, health, investments
• Might be lonely working alone majority of the time

I want to live every day as if it was my last. I want this thing called life to matter. And I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to do that if I can’t do more of the things that I want to do with my time. Having a little 2 year old means that I don’t have any ‘down time’. The time I have is absolutely precious.

But whether I’m following my heart and whether I’m taking care of my responsibilities might be two separate things. I am the sole bread winner right now in our household. Is this just a timing issue or is it the right time to make the leap?

I’ve made a hard choice which is to quit my job to start to really craft the life that I want to lead. But now I need to get more specific and really play out what my life will look like depending on what path I choose.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it is that there are no black and white answers. I’ve  also learned that people are willing to be flexible working with you if they truly value what you offer.

Often times its fear that prevents us from taking a leap. If I can get past the fear, what choices would I make?
Option 2 hands down. Can and should I overcome this fear?

Random Posts

• November 5, 2009 -- Review of Online Personal Data Organizer Tool: Orggit.com
• March 26, 2010 -- Simple Way to Organize Your Day in Your Mail or Calendar Tool
• January 12, 2010 -- Does Opportunity Come to You or Do You Have to Create It?
• January 1, 2010 -- Review of Conspiracy of the Rich Book by Robert Kiyosaki
• November 24, 2009 -- Review of Free Credit Score Analysis Tool: Credit.com

Dying  Your Hair at Home without it Turning Green or Orange

Rainbows Might be Pretty, but Its Not What I Have in Mind!

This post is for the ladies, but if you’re a guy, send it to your friends, girlfriends or wife, they’ll thank you!

First off a note: Use this ‘advice’ at your own risk. I take absolutely no claims for your own use or misuse of hair dying products. This post is simply a few tips I’ve learned that have helped me save some money without compromising my style too much.

I have experimented with dying my own hair for years now, and I’m not going to lie, I have had some green and orange experiences.

For the dying products that I use, I like to go to Sally’s and get the professional grade products. They are very cheap, and if you know how to use them much much much more affordable than the boxed kind at the super market. Plus, the boxed kind often don’t work or leave you with the orange/green issue.

If you have golden toned hair, use products with gold in the title. If you have more grey or ash colored hair use products with ash in the title. I personally avoid all ash related products as they without a doubt can turn my hair green. I’d prefer orange to green anyway.

When things typically go wrong and leave you with orange or green hair is because you are trying to do something too drastic to your hair, your hair is over-dyed, or you aren’t using products that go well with your hair. If you get products at Sally’s ask them to help you find what goes with your hair type.

There are so many chemical factors that go into dying hair, this is why many people would prefer to go to a stylist, they don’t want to mess around with their hair and potential side effects. I forgo this to save money and take the risk. I have it down pretty well at this point.

My Most Recent Results. Not too Bad.

Using the Wella hair dye products with the developers at Sally’s has been consistent for me.  Typically I use a 1:2 ratio. One part dye to 2 parts developer. For doing highlights, I can get away with using just 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce developer. So that ends up costing me about $2 or so per time for the dye and developer used. The developer works this way: 10% will do more deposit and less lift, so its good for dark colors. 40% will do more lift so its good for lightening hair. I typically use the 40% developer for adding golden highlights to my hair.

I use a cap for highlights and then cover my head with aluminum foil. I sometimes add heat with a hair dryer to speed up the process. It can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to get the results I want with lightening. I check often to see how its doing.

Its always good to do a sample on your hair before doing the full thing. This will prevent many many problems.

The typical rotation that I like to use to save money on hair expenses is this:

Month 1:

• Professional Hair Stylist: Color, 3/4 Highlights and Cut. Cost: About $145 + Tip
• Wash with slightly nicer than lower end Color Enhancing Shampoo / Conditioner. Deep Condition Once / Week. Cost: $15-25

Month 2:

• Semi-permanent hair shine or rinse wash to enhance the color. Cost: $5-10

Month 3 or 4:

• Do my own hair highlights with sally’s products. Cost $5 (Once you’ve purchased all the products needed, its very inexpensive to continue, but you will need to buy a brush, cap, plastic gloves and the color/developer at first)

Month 5 or 6:

• Semi-permanent hair shine or rinse to enhance color. Cost: $5-10
• Hair cut. $30-50

Month 7 or 8:

• Depending on how it looks, its back to the salon or I’ll do it myself again.

You get the gist. Again, this system isn’t perfect, but it helps me to save a lot of money without compromising on my style.

photo by mogret

Random Posts

• November 24, 2009 -- Review of Free Credit Score Analysis Tool: Credit.com
• April 1, 2010 -- Opening Financial Accounts Online – Easy to Difficult
• January 9, 2010 -- Are Commodities The Right Investment Choice?
• December 30, 2009 -- Year in Review: 365 Days to Financial Freedom Top Posts
• December 12, 2009 -- Practical Gifting for Friends & Family

I am curious if life is made up of Either / Or choices or if it is truly possible to have a life full of ANDs. I’d like to believe it is possible to keep adding ANDs to your life, yet I know that at some point your plate gets full and you have to take things off.

So, what do I mean by leading an AND life versus an OR life?

Do you agree with this statement?:
In life, you can either have a fulfilling career or a great marriage or you can have children.

Or do you agree with this statement?:
In life, you can have a fulfilling career and a great marriage and you can have children.

There are only so many ANDs you can add to your list. Yet how do you know when enough is enough? Is it possible to just get more and more efficient with your time to the point where you can have all the ANDs that you want?

Here’s some of the financial top gurus family status:

Suze Orman – No Kids

Robert Kiyosaki – No Kids

David Bach – Unknown (Please let me know)

Dave Ramsey – 3 Kids

Okay. Point conveyed. Is it possible to reach any sort of financial freedom when you have the responsibilities, be it financial, time, energy, love, that you have to devote to your little ones? I’m not sure. I hope so. However, it does bother me a bit that many of the top advisers on financial education and wealth don’t have a family. Suze Orman recommends investing in your retirement before sinking too much to save for your child’s college, but that is a very difficult choice to make in my opinion. As parents, you often have the instinct to take care of your children as much as if not more than you take care of yourself.

Its difficult for me to listen to some of these gurus talk about how to get rich because I feel they are already too far removed from me and my life. Not to mention my age group. I prefer to read many of the blogs out there at the moment.

I have a little toddler and the question that has entered my mind lately is just that: can I have this AND that, and to what degree. Can I truly find balance? Right now, it seems that all that I am doing is adding to my plate, with out enough focus, and I am not taking enough away.

What do you think? Is it possible?

Random Posts

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• November 9, 2009 -- Eker’s Jars and the Millionaire Mind Philosophy
• October 12, 2010 -- Business Electronic File Cabinet: Review of ShoeBoxed.com

If you haven’t happened upon it, check out the site Wordle.net. Its a great free tool for fun, or to use as part of your process to visualize your goals. Somehow making a nice picture out of words from what you are working on can really help you focus.

The one above is a tool that categorized weights not to TAGs like a TAG cloud does, but as a word cloud from the most frequently used words on my blog feed. Guess you can tell what I’ve been writing a lot about lately: GOALS.

You can enter words, a blog feed or a de.li.cio.us bookmark list and it will automatically add frequent words. You then can sort colors, direction of words, and play around with the settings on the fly. After which you can print, save or share the wordle publicly if you want to.

Pretty fun tool to get the creativity started! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Random Posts

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• July 6, 2011 -- Best Goal Tracking Tools for 2011
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• July 30, 2010 -- Selecting Life Insurance for Someone in Late 20′s
• July 13, 2010 -- Financial Check In – Celebrate Progress!

I had the privilege of listening to a thoughtful free webinar by “conscious” entrepreneur Max Simon in which he interviewed Vishen Lakhiani on the concepts of creating a wealthy mind. He also spoke about how to turn a business from performing so-so to really reaching a ‘turning point’.

Some of the most insightful points of the audio (available for free below) were the following:

• The biggest mistake that most marketers make is that they have a lack of understanding of what Eugene Schwartz says is called “Market Sophistication”. Market Sophistication is the not the same as the buyers life cycle. The traditional marketing concepts that I was taught in my marketing undergraduate work was regarding reaching your customers at certain stages in the buyer life cycle: awareness, interest, preference, adoption. Instead, Market Sophistication refers to the stage that the buyer is at in terms of their awareness of the types of messages already available for a particular product. If it is a relatively new product, your message needs to be much different than a message for an much more saturated market. For a saturated market, you will have to offer much more to differentiate yourself. I love this concept and it gives me a lot to ponder in my marketing efforts.
• Succeeding in life, whether it be in wealth, health, relationships, etc is really all about your MINDSET. We all know this, yet it is entirely different to consciously, day in and day out, make sure our mind is in the right place. It is so easy to let it veer off in the direction of doubt, uncertainty and loss of focus.
• By setting a clear purpose and vision for what you want to do with your business, you will be able to focus your efforts and achieve much better results. Seems obvious? Large businesses do this, but you can apply this concept to your small business OR your personal life, and achieve great results as well. (Goal tracking tools help with this)

No matter what business you are in, if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, you can’t avoid needing to also learn the tricks of the trade of marketing. Personally, I love the ever changing dynamic of the marketing world, and the endless possibilities that are presented by the concept of reaching your market in the best, fastest and most efficient ways.

In my opinion, much of the laws of attraction and success can be boiled down to these 3 things: Confidence, Purpose & Marketing.

1) Confidence: Free your mind from doubt, fear and worry. Doubt is the #1 thing getting in your way towards success. Hold true to your intuition, but do not let doubt cloud your belief in yourself.
2) Purpose: Define and hold true to your purpose and vision for yourself and your business efforts
3) Marketing: Brand yourself first, your business second. Your personal brand will get you farther than all the efforts you can put into your business. Start with yourself, then build from there.

Listen to the recorded webinar, and let me know your thoughts.
The audio is also available here: http://www.getselfcentered.com/turningpoint/replay.html

Related Posts

• January 12, 2010 -- Does Opportunity Come to You or Do You Have to Create It?

Science has proven that people who express their gratitude daily are 25% happier and significantly healthier than those who don’t—and doing it takes as little as a minute a day! – Gratitudelog.com

GratitudeLog.com is a fun social site that takes the basic concept of short updates from sites such as Twitter, and applies it to a specific concept, Gratitude.

You are able to mark someone’s comment as “Awesome!” or reply to it. You can follow people and they can follow you. Beyond that, you can send people “Appreciation” gifts (for free), which are simply little icons with a thoughtful note (like you can send on Facebook).

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• People on this site really seem to respect the type of content that can be posted and shared, you will find inspiration from what other’s are saying!
• It can integrate with your Twitter account to post your updates
• There is something both cool and scary about publicly sharing your personal thoughts on your gratitude for your life

Cons:

• The list of updates on the main page shows those that you follow’s comments, but I find it somewhat difficult to navigate as a running list.
• If someone isn’t a member of this site, you can share a gift with them, but you can’t really interact much further than that… So, I suppose they’ll have to join!

I have made a pledge to myself to login and put something that I am thankful or grateful for every day. So far, day 5, I’m doing pretty good. Reflecting on what I am grateful for on this site has been  great, but the best part is that I am starting to expand that further into other aspects of my life through out the day. My husband and I have made a commitment (thanks to a posting I saw on this site) to express something we are grateful for to each other every day as well. Already, this starts off or ends the day with a smile.

No matter your religion, your spirituality or your place in life, it is without a doubt helpful to give thanks for what you have in your life that you appreciate. I am convinced that a commitment to maintaining a pattern of expressing my gratitude will play a key part in keeping me motivated and maintaining my perspective.

Related Posts

• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist

I’ve noticed a lot of blog posts and a growing movement on Twitter and the blogosphere about the topic: “move your money.” (See the site: MoveYourMoney.info). Full disclosure: I work for a local credit union in my area, and I prefer the credit union not-for-profit business model. I typically try to avoid any direct reference to where I work because that’s not what my journey is about, its about my personal finances. However, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the concept of “going local” with anything you buy, including where you choose to bank. To me, going local is an important part of making conscious decisions and choosing where and how to spend your money. Choosing to shop local has many benefits which I will explain in a moment.

This particular movement is coming from consumer’s anger at the big banks for being bailed out and spending OUR tax dollars for often times wasteful and frivolous purposes. Many people, including big names such as Bill Maher (watch a video from Maher), and Suze Orman are endorsing and making public statements about going local and moving your money. They believe that if enough people actually do this, it would mean that we are actually doing something big to INFLUENCE change, one individual at a time.

I have not always been a large proponent of ‘spending local’. I admit that I still (shamefully) have a BofA credit card. I don’t always remember to shop at the farmer’s market. However, the more I start to learn and educate myself about the current financial system in America, the more that I learn about the awful things that are put into my child’s toys that are from China, and the more that I truly understand the impact of shipping my hard-earned dollars out of my local community, the more I realize that choosing to spend your money local is one of the most useful things you can do for YOUR local economy and the stability of those around you.

So, if you are already choosing to shop local, or if you are considering taking it one step further, start to think of other places that you can make the choice to spend local and invest in your own community instead of communities outside of your influence.

Here’s a few suggestions for spending & keeping your money local:

• Go to your old town, specialty shops, or craft fairs for buying gifts, these stores need your support
• Stock up at the farmer’s market from local growers
• Look for local produce at your regular grocery store
• Choose a local bank or credit union (find a credit union) to save and borrow money from
• Consider going thrifty – to thrift stores and garage sales to buy things that you don’t need brand new (Better yet, swap! Check out SwapMamas.com for local swap options)
• Consider a Staycation this summer – there are many uncharted territories in your state to be discovered, its often less expensive to stay in town on your time off, and you spend local
• Eat at locally owned restaurants instead of big chains

You don’t have to give up things that you love to go local. And you don’t have to do all of the items on my list. Mainly, all that I plan to do and suggest you try, is to think twice about the options for where to spend your money, and consider making a more conscious choice when you do decide to spend.

Random Posts

• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• November 9, 2009 -- Eker’s Jars and the Millionaire Mind Philosophy
• February 1, 2010 -- Visualize with Wordle
• November 5, 2009 -- Review of Online Personal Data Organizer Tool: Orggit.com
• November 15, 2009 -- Giving Mint a Run for Its Money? Just Thrive

Do not wait for an opportunity to be all that you want to be; when an opportunity to be more than you are now is presented and you feel impelled toward it, take it. It will be the first step toward a greater opportunity. There is no such thing possible in this universe as a lack of opportunities for the man who is living the advancing life. – Wallace Wattles

Do some people just have it easy while others always struggle to get ahead?

In the past, I’ve often felt jealous or a bit resentful when I look at certain other people that seem to have everything in life fall into their lap. I always thought that wealth, jobs, boyfriends, and the works seem to just naturally happen for some people more than others. Social and economic factors are certainly a big part of why people have opportunities in life initially, but beyond that, when you are truly on your own, what makes opportunity happen?

Recently, I had a realization. Ever since I’ve started writing my blog, and putting myself out there more in the world, I have had small but steady opportunities start knocking on my door. Its what I wanted, but I didn’t really know what to expect or believe that it would happen. We’re not talking a big book deal or achieving financial freedom in 2 months. Its a different sort of opportunity that I am CREATING. I’m connecting with amazing new people from all over the country. I’m sharing stories. I’m offering up what I’ve learned for someone else to hopefully gain some insight from. For instance, my simple but useful free time line template is now getting 5-15 downloads a day in just a short few weeks of its existence. It makes me feel great to give something useful to a lot of people that will help them plan. It inspires me to do and give more. Giving is definitely addictive.

Lately, I have had a much more positive outlook on my life because I feel like I have gotten my power back. No more white flag, no more self-pity, I am taking control and doing something every day to make a difference, education myself, set goals and make tiny steps in the direction I want to go in life. I am making more conscious financial choices in spending, saving, budgeting, and in what I spend my free time doing.

I’ve realized that opportunity, though it may seem like it just falls into some people’s laps, is usually a result of a few key things:

• Having the right attitude and mind set to SEE the opportunities when they appear
• Taking ACTION – Small steps are better than nothing at all
• Putting yourself out there, meeting people, networking
• Offering something(s) of true value to others
• Having confidence in yourself, your purpose(s) and going after what you want

So tell me, are you one of those fortunate that have had opportunity come to you, or have you had to do something different to find it?

Related Posts

• January 28, 2010 -- Confidence, Purpose and Marketing: Ingredients for Success

Can You Really Find Personal Finance eBooks for Free Download?

It can be hard to find any summarized information online for personal finance education without having to give away your email address or buy something. I have been reading a lot of blogs and websites and books, but for some reason, I do enjoy the occasional ebook. Often times, ebooks offer a great compressed version of key information from people’s blogs or books.

Here are some resources that I have found that offer truly free ebooks or PDFs of some very useful information and education on personal finance and a wealthy mindset. (Some of them do want to sell you something also, but you can still get these for free without purchasing anything).

List of Free eBooks on Personal Finance & Motivation

• Dream Manifesto from Thomas Herold -Herold offers an amazing site with topics ranging from Mind and Body to Personal Finance, to Simplifying Your Life. I also find his blog very refreshing. Download his free eBook, The Priciples of Successful Manifesting, right now. [PDF]
• Mint.com found 30 Free eBooks for Personal Finance – This list offers free ebooks from accross the web on topics ranging from personal finance to credit to privacy and consumer advocacy. What can I say? Thanks Mint for compiling such a great list. It will take me a while to get through it.
• The Incidental Economist Offers a link to an eBook on Roth IRAs from Blogger J.D. Roth, host of Get Rich Slowly – Great resource for Roth IRA information.
• Jess & Graeme Stuart Showcase Some Great Wealthy Mind Free eBooks – The Stuarts mainly want you to join their sales team, but the ebooks they have compiled on their site are really nice and timeless for matters of wealth, laws of attraction, and business.

Enjoy, and let me know if you know of other great free reads to add to the list, besides all the wonderful websites and blogs in the financial blogosphere that is!

Random Posts

• January 24, 2010 -- Best Online Goal Tracking Tools for 2010
• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom
• October 28, 2009 -- Review of Free Online Money Management Tools: Mint.com
• October 13, 2010 -- Could I Really Retire at Age 65?
• November 28, 2009 -- Is It Possible to Make Money On Your Website or Blog?

I came across five simple steps to be happy and appreciated the simplicity of them. Often times, greed and corruption overcome people’s desire to do good when they are on a quest toward financial freedom. If your moral and/or ethical compass is overlooked or compromised on your journey to earn more and save more, you risk the loss of balance in other areas of your life, such as happiness and fulfillment.

So, the following are my thoughts on how to combine your quest for financial fitness with your quest for happiness using these 5 simple steps.

Step 1. Free your heart from hatred.

There are often negative and petty emotions which cloud our day, contribute to our stress, and keep us from feeling happy. Letting go of some of the anger you feel towards your boss, your co-worker, your spouse, or your ‘enemies’ leads to you being able to be happier. Sometimes it seems impossible, but I have noticed that if I allow myself to achieve this, I am able to be more productive with my life. How to apply this to personal finance? From personal experience, I have felt a lot of anger/hatred at the state of the economy, political climate, and the greed of our society. It is an age-old tale of humanity that often the greedy take more than their share and the division of classes becomes more and more evident. I have to constantly remind myself that the anger that I feel does nothing to change my financial situation in life, and I am the only person that has the power to change.

Step 2. Free your mind from fear and worries.

Worry and fear are the often the top 2 things that stop most people from taking risks. Taking risk is the surest way to earning more passive income. You can control that risk by having a sound financial education and taking financial moves that are in your best interest. But you will always have risk. The fear of the unknown and the future is also a reason that people worry. These days, the financial guide Suze Orman says that you should save 8 months worth of expenses in your ‘emergency’ or what I prefer to call contingency fund and only pay minimums on your credit card if that will help you reach your contingency fund goal. The fear of the unknown, of security and monthly income to pay the bills is one reason that so many people stay with thier jobs instead of doing something on thier own that may be riskier. We as a society have been taught to be responsible and believe that safety and security are more important than almost anything else.

Though I believe its important to have a contingency fund,  I think its more important to play an active role in daily financial education, awareness of your budget and your spending, and taking action to improve your financial situation. Don’t spend all of your time focusing on paying off debt, because then you are spending your energy on debt rather than on increased wealth.

I cannot say that I am free of fear and worry. Far from. However, what I am able to do right now is take action, start learning, and push through my fear toward doing something in the right direction. As long as your fear and worry aren’t crippling you from action, you are still on the right path.  The less fear and worry that you let into your mind, the wealthier your mind will be, and you will be able to take more action to succeed in your financial endeavors.

Step 3.  Live simply.

This one is the key that so many Americans have missed for so long, but are  just now starting to value. Frugality and thriftiness are in these days as opposed to the recent days of excessive spending, huge homes and lots of vacations.  The more recurring debts that you add to your life, the more your bills seem to control you. I am making many conscious efforts to simplify our lifestyle, determine what is truly important to us, organize, reduce clutter, and not buy new things that we do not need. For me, having only what I need, having things in their place and being able to spend my time on the important things in life like family, education, etc, are all made more possible by reducing some of life’s distractions. Technology has the power to make things more complicated and provide us with over-stimulation, but when used carefully can also help you organize and simplify your life.

Step 4. Give more.

Given the fact that my family struggles to get by month to month right now, its difficult to donate a lot of money. However, sometimes I think monetary donations are not always as valuable as giving other things, your time, your wisdom, your teachings, etc. If you put thought into what you are giving, it can often have a larger impact than simply writing a check. Giving someone a smile and brightening their day is giving. Volunteering is an amazing form of giving. In the online personal finance world, I love all the cool sites like FiLife which allow people to answer financial questions that you might normally have to pay a financial advisor to get an answer to. That’s a pretty cool forum for giving. Some of the most successful people acknowledge that giving is a win-win because it helps someone and makes you feel better as well.

Step 5. Expect less.

This step could almost go hand in hand with living simply. Expectations are the stories that we tell ourselves and hold others or ourselves accountable for. Often they are not based on a true reality other than our own. For so long in my life I had an expectation of what my life SHOULD look like, and I made decisions according to the shoulds. I have now realized that there are many options, and the less that I require out of the specifics of my life, the more I am able to see the opportunities and possibilities that are right in front of me, and the closer I can get to being happy in the present.

Have you found happiness in your journey toward financial freedom? What contributed to it?

photo by nosha

Related Posts

• November 12, 2009 -- Who Am I Writing For?
• June 23, 2010 -- Stop Chasing After Happiness – Choose Happiness
• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom
• December 21, 2009 -- Be the Change You Want to See in the World

What Does it Mean to Be Financially Free?

I’ve been writing about my journey toward financial freedom through organizing my finances and education for months now, but realized that I didn’t ever define the specifics of what it was I want in saying that I want to be financially free. What does it mean?

Definition of Financial Freedom:

Passive Income – Expenses >= 0

Passive Income Minus Expenses is Greater Than or Equal to Zero

Now, let me explain what this means to me. Being financially free does not have to mean that you are a millionaire. All of us want to be millionaires in theory, but that’s not always easy to come by. So, following the advice of many great financial thinkers like Eker and Kiyosaki, I would rather set my sights on something tangible to begin with, so that I have a goal that is attainable. My goal is to make enough in monthly passive income to equal or outweigh my monthly expenses. This is something that many retiree’s are used to. Or, at least they were before some of the crazy stock market crashes of late that hurt their 401 K and retirement plans. However, I don’t think this has to be a goal of only those that are retired. I don’t plan to retire when I reach this goal. Instead, I plan to be able to start using my most precious resource, time, in more efficient and better ways because I’m not slaving away the days trying to earn an hourly income to ‘survive’ or ‘pay the bills’. My goal, essentially, is not to be a slave to my bills.  I am also working to decrease the dollar amount of our monthly expenses. I want to make sure that we are living within our means so that my goal of a passive income to meet our expenses becomes even more attainable.

I believe that there are many ways of reaching this goal. First, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve started getting organized and playing an active role to take control over my family’s finances. Secondly, I’m working to reduce whatever is in our control of expenses. Next, we need to increase our income sources, most importantly through passive income. Passive income is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot in the financial world, as its the “gold mine” towards financial freedom. However, it is not easy to come by in large quantities and involves a lot of financial knowledge, hard work, and conscious decisions towards achieving it. Generating large amounts of passive income can difficult, because of risk. Almost all investments that generate a passive income also come with risks which can sometimes eat into or diminish your gains. I do believe there are many creative ways of making passive income and I have started to research them as part of my journey. Many network marketers and others believe that the internet presents the best opportunity for generating automatic, recurring income (residual or passive). I believe the internet can do this as well, however as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, this is not always done in a way that I believe to be trust worthy sales practices.

Definition of Passive Income: Income derived from investments in which the investor does not have to be actively involved

(Examples: Income from a vending machines, parking lots, a certificate of deposit among countless others)

Definition of Residual Income: Income derived from recurring sales, in which the investor is not involved actively beyond the initial sale.

(Examples of residual income businesses: web hosting, Comcast cable, basically anything that charges a monthly recurring fee for use of their services)

Passive income will be an important part of my journey. My journey has just begun though, as I am still actively learning and have not yet picked which path to focus on.

What are your thoughts on Financial freedom and passive income?

Related Posts

• December 26, 2009 -- Online MLM Recurring Passive Income Stream Techniques: Trust Busted
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist
• December 21, 2009 -- Be the Change You Want to See in the World
• November 12, 2009 -- Who Am I Writing For?
• November 11, 2009 -- Financial Ignorance and Conspiracy of the Rich

Key Points from Conspiracy of the Rich

I am reading a lot of financial books right now, and I plan to provide the key take aways that I get from the books, not necessarily a full review of each chapter. In fact, I’m not even going to outline the full “8 New Rules of Money” from Conspiracy of the Rich, instead, simply the main points that I found of value and how I’m going to apply them to my life. I have seen a lot of controversial blog post about whether Kiyosaki offers sound advice or just fluff, whether he has a legitimate story for his background or not, etc. My feeling is that he offers some good big picture suggestions that you then have to spend time researching on your own and deciding what will work for yourself.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Historical Key Points:

There is a lot of information about the history of the dollar, why banks can ‘print money’ and how our government will essentially never stop the bail out cycle because its in the federal gov’t and rich classes’ best interest to bail out the big banks. The purpose of outlining his beliefs of the conspiracy is to motivate those that read his book to action. To take control of their own financial situation, make educated and sound financial decisions, and increase their financial IQ as he calls it.

Financial Education Key Points:

Key Point #1 - Invest in all four areas of investment for true diversification.

1 – Business (Owning one)

2 – Income producing investment real estate

3 – Paper Assets (Stocks, bonds, funds)

4 – Commodities (Gold, silver, oil, platinum)

This may be easier said than done, but it makes a lot of sense to me. If you simply own your home (a liability as I have found out as of late) and have a few savings and a 401k accounts, you are putting all your eggs in very limited baskets.

How I’m applying this: The items from above that I have control over now are #1, #3 and #4. I am and have been a small business owner, but I want to be more strategic about a business plan in 2010. I own stocks, bonds and funds in my 401k,  but I am not happy with them. I’m going to move my Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA when I can figure out how to do it, and determine what is best to invest it in. I plan to look into and research investing in commodities because this is something that can be done with a smaller initial investment.

Key Point #2 – Learn how to sell. Him & Trump recommend doing a network marketing type of business to learn the ins and outs of selling.

How I’m applying this: Whether you agree with this point or not, it is inevitable that to be successful you have to build confidence in yourself, who you are, and what you offer. Don’t mistake confidence for arrogance or not being humble. They are  different things. I’m working on building my brand for myself, and what that means. I am in the marketing profession right now, and understand that if you don’t get people’s awareness and interest in your offerings, your business will not succeed. I believe you can sell your products or services without compromising integrity, value and trust with your potential customers. That’s what I plan to do.

Key Point #3 – Derivatives. Kiyosaki discusses how money can be a derivative of your financial knowledge. He defines derivatives as simply being a off shoot of something or something that comes from something else. So, instead of selling his own books by himself, Kiyosaki sells licenses to reprint his books to many publishers, and gets a derivative of his book, the product, through royalties.

How I’m applying this: I like this concept when applying it to yourself and what you can offer the world. Stop thinking about your hourly wage and start thinking about what value you bring and how to make it into value for others. This will lead to derivatives of, well, you. I have already been thinking of ideas for some time now. Applying all or any of these iddeas, and focusing your efforts (which Kiyosaki also says is key) is the hard part!

Key Point #4 – He challenges his readers to push the boundaries that they have set in their life. He says that you shouldn’t think, look or act poor because the world treats you as you treat yourself. This concept gives me a lot to ponder. He uses examples such as: he managed to drive his dream car by bartering services. He managed to live by the ocean by trading services as well. This point was of interest to me. As humans we often don’t think of creative ways to solve our biggest problems because we are so stuck in what we know or believe. However, there is always another way, it usually just involves accepting different options, and putting yourself out there. The concept of bartering is back big time these days since so many of us are struggling financially, and cool websites like Swap Mamas and various others make it easy to do nationally or locally. When you don’t have enough money to get what you need, its a great idea to find someone willing to trade you for something you do have or can do that has value.

How I’m applying this: I have often traded my design services with others for what their business offers. This is a win-win for both of us. I’m interested in finding new, creative ways to make what I want happen in life.

Despite the fact that Kiyosaki spends a little too much time (1/2 the book) on the history, and a little too much time discussing his game, Cash Flow, I found this book to be very useful and thought provoking for my next steps towards learning and improving my financial knowledge.

What are your thoughts on Conspiracy of the Rich? What are you going to apply to your life?

Related Posts

• November 11, 2009 -- Financial Ignorance and Conspiracy of the Rich

Gandhi knew what he was talking about. This simple, but powerful phrase has become my mantra as of late. I wake up hearing it in my head. I think about it at random times of the day. I don’t  know why it popped into my head, but it rings true as a mantra for a path towards both sustainable happiness and financial freedom.

I’ve Figured Out What I Want

Through much self reflection over the past 3 months, I’ve finally found myself at a point in life where I have a good idea of the direction I want to go, the goals I want to set, and I have a very vague idea of how to get there. Up until recently, all that I have been doing is driving my life on auto pilot, doing the things that I’m supposed to do, trying to ‘survive’ and following in the traditional cultural patterns of the US family. This is not to say that I’m not happy with the family, friends, and other aspects of life that I have built, however, I have finally realized what it is I want to DO with my life, and this has been an inspiring and enlightening process.

But I Don’t Have the Resources to Get There Very Fast

The only problem I have now is that my mind is very focused on this new direction (yes, I admit, practically obsessed to the point where I’m sure I’m annoying everyone I know talking about it), but the rest of my life is not even sort of ready to catch up to where I’d like to go. I still don’t have those same resources I’ve blogged about in the past, time, money, etc to just up and start my new business idea, or focus my efforts to reaching my ultimate dream. I still am relatively stuck financially, and its slow going to get ourselves out of the mess we are in. Feeling stuck is still a pretty real thing if your income outweigh your expenses, even when your mind is on its way towards a brighter future.

So, I’ve been telling myself to just do what I can, get things written down, keep learning, etc. However, I feel compelled and compulsed to do more. I’ve never before felt so clear about what I want to do with my life.

So HOW do we be the change we want to see in the world?

I believe the answer is through a serious of small, but important choices that lead us in the right direction. I know this, but sometimes I really, really wish I could make big ‘ol giant leaps all at once.

Small and steady wins the race, but the energy and passion I feel towards what I have discovered makes me oh so conflicted on why I can’t just sprint to the finish line.

I can’t do everything I want to do all at once, but the New Year is always a good time to think of the things I’ve accomplished and assess where I want to go.

What I Want To “Be” More Of in 2010

• I want to remember my cloth bags more often when I go shopping
• I want to read and go to the park more with my daughter
• I want to read & write more and continue my financial education
• I want to keep getting more organized
• I want to develop at least 1 full clear business plan for my new inspiration
• I want to act on my knowledge, whether small or large steps, some type of action is better than none at all!

What will you do to be the change YOU want to see in the world?

Related Posts

• November 12, 2009 -- Who Am I Writing For?
• November 11, 2009 -- Financial Ignorance and Conspiracy of the Rich
• October 26, 2009 -- 365 Days to Financial Freedom
• January 6, 2010 -- 5 Steps to Happiness with a Personal Finance Twist
• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom

Not long ago, I admit that I wanted lots of “things” for birthday and holiday gifts. It is really nice to get something that you wouldn’t ordinarily buy yourself for the holidays such as lotions, electronics, books, etc.

Lately I’m a big fan of practical gifts. When you are on a tight budget, things that may once have seemed normal to spend money on such as socks, nice shampoo, getting your hair done, going to the car wash, etc, are all pushed out and minimized. What once seemed like a norm to purchase has become a luxury.

For my birthday this year, I asked my parents for a gift card to a hair salon. I just got back today and am very pleased with my do. I couldn’t think of a better gift, as I really can’t make myself justify spending the money myself, but I really, really want to get my hair done every 4 or so months.

I have had a difficult time taking care of my ‘wants’ vs. ‘needs’ list since I have had a child and we are only on my income. However, it is so great to have those things that I have had to let go be given to me on occasion.

So What’s a Practical Gift?

If you are still searching for a meaningful gift for the holidays for your family or loved ones, I suggest something creative-ly practical such as:

• A full service car wash
• Contribution to someone’s specfic savings funds
• A gift card for a restaurant + offer to baby sit
• Gas card gift certificate or auto maintenance service
• Gift card to their hair salon
• Gift card to a specialty grocery store
• Some of their favorite, but expensive snacks such as nuts, dried berries, etc

Any other creative but practical gifts that you can think of?

photo by kevindooley

Related Posts

• November 18, 2009 -- Budgeting for the Holidays and Avoiding Holiday Impulse Buys

We are in the age of the next .com era. There is practically limitless opportunity with the internet for business success. You “just” have to find your niche, and break a few rules in terms of doing something unique.

Initially, since I started this journey, I’ve been very interested in the concept of doing an online business further than what I have done so far with my consulting and job. That is what I have been mulling over and researching.

Look the Other Way

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized something. More and more people are doing as much shopping as they can online. The trend will only continue that way. So, the natural progression is for people to offer online offerings. So, what if, during the time that everyone is looking one way, you, the new business starter, look the other way?

What if in the future “brick and mortar” is going to be a key area of opportunity for the RIGHT products because everyone else is so focused online for everything else?

Its obvious why you would want to start up a business online as your up front costs are much less, overhead and ongoing costs are significantly less, etc.

But I’m not actually interested in doing something easy or cheap. Of course those factors affect me, a lot. But what I’m more interested in is finding a path for my life that would involve doing something worthwhile. I want to live a life with out regrets. And for me that means finding and starting a business that is good for me and my values as well as something that will be wildly successful.

Online Still Matters

I plan to have an online element to my business, as every successful business these days has to have many channels and offerings that it serves. However, for what I want to do, online is not the best option. In fact, the business model I have in mind is focused on in person options, sort of like Starbucks is.

Now, I’m not going to blog about what my business is going to be, as I don’t want to speak to soon. As soon as I actually launch the business and get my t’s crossed and i’s dotted, I will blog about it. However, I have come up with a few ideas, and the general area of where we want to focus our efforts. I can say, though, that its a product. Probably no surprise there.

What’s Next

My next steps are product development and business education. I’ll be starting an LLC or a Corporation of some sort, and I want to make sure I do it right. I want to take the right precautions, ask the right questions and follow the right steps. At the moment, I have a huntch, but I don’t really know, so I’ve bought some books on how to start a business. I reserved my domain name, and checked the trademarks on the name that I’ve come up with. I’m not 100% certain that I have the exact idea nailed down yet, but its helpful to think about the idea itself to keep motivated and excited.

I already have a business right now, its a sole proprietor business though. I’ve heard that LLC’s are great, but I’m not certain that that is right for us without reading up.

This is not an immediate plan, but it something that me and my husband are excited about and committed to, and that was missing in my life up until now. I didn’t have something to motivate me for the future that I could latch onto. It feels good to have a general direction. I know that it will change in one way or another, as my life always does, but that’s okay as long as I focus on my ultimate goals. I didn’t use to believe that everything happens for a reason, but I do now and finding this new idea is part of that reason.

The difference between who I was before and who I am now is that I am determined to use the direction and ideas of my life to move to action, rather than just thinking, “What If?”

Is there a business that you want to start? What’s stopping you?

photo by wit

Related Posts

• May 11, 2010 -- 2 Months Later – A Look at Non-Corporate Life

Top Habit Changes That Help You Stick To a Budget

It can be a struggle to stay within your budget, especially around the holidays. I’ve been more actively monitoring my budget and income/expenses for a while now. I’m proud to say we did decrease our spending significantly in November. We also shifted some spending to more quality things such as education and investments.

However, unfortunately, on one income, we still spend more than we make. Not good. I’m confident our plans will take us where we need to go with this, including lifestyle changes, awareness & monitoring, conscious spending, and increased income from other areas.

1) Watching the Little Dollars – For us, its not about ‘skipping the latte’ specifically, but instead the things that you buy as habit that there are alternatives for. For example, making lunches and cutting back on eating out, even if its fast food, is healthier and cheaper.

2) Sharing the Knowledge – One of the most significant changes has been a true evaluation of what’s important to us, and a family goal of working towards our future. I have previously been managing the money more than my husband, and he is now playing a more active role. Sharing the ‘burden’ helps us be more aligned with our goals together, and has significantly minimized some of the confusion or disagreements.

3) Gotta Love Coupons – And of course, there’s nothing like the good old fashioned coupon. Its my personal belief that I have to save at least $1.00 off of something to make it worth my time. And I only use coupons for something I would have bought already.

4) Awareness & Monitoring – I’m actively monitoring my spending and money habits on Mint and Thrive, and I have weekly email reminders and alerts being sent to me. Even if I wanted to forget, too bad, I have now made it a habit not to.

5) Conscious Spending – I wrote a post about How to Curb Impulse Shopping, and for me, the online shop-a-holic, unsubscribing from tempting emails was the trick. It has significantly helped me from thinking about or wondering if I’m missing out on a good deal. Its helped me from justifying why I just have to buy something because of the bargain, since I don’t actually know about the bargain. My husband is great at sticking to the grocery list, and this saves a lot on impulse grocery buys. Overall, I’m trying to wait at least 1 day to 1 week on purchases outside of the norm to determine if they are impulsive or not. I’m not perfect at this, but this is my goal.

6) Setting Expectations with Friends & Family - This is a tough one, but it helps. I talked with my family and friends this year about cutting back on holiday spending, most of us are in the same boat, so it makes it easier. Its almost a relief when you talk about it that everyone says you don’t have to spend too much. This doesn’t mean you can’t do something thoughtful. I’m already finding that I have more quality time lined up with friends and don’t have to worry about the gifts, but instead can spend a little on the event itself.

Finally, I definitely recommend that you don’t push too hard and cut yourself some slack with changing habits. You can’t change habits overnight, or you won’t stick to them. I know that I’m too hard on myself about this, and it is okay to slip as long as you stay true to your goals overall.

Anything I should add to this list?

photo by girlonaglide

Random Posts

• September 23, 2010 -- Creative Investments Of the Future?
• March 11, 2010 -- Making a Choice Between Entrepreneur or Corporate Life
• October 29, 2009 -- Shopaholic? Put a Halt to Retail Therapy
• November 15, 2009 -- Giving Mint a Run for Its Money? Just Thrive
• October 11, 2010 -- Review of LearnVest – Personal Finance Tools for Women

Free Finance Quizes:

Its always a good idea to take the time to test your knowledge to find out where you are with financial education and what you still need to learn.

• Rich Dad Financial IQ Quiz
  I’m pretty sure Robert first coined the term Financial IQ
• MSN – Can You Manage Your Finances?
  Offers some good insight on budgeting
• Bills.com Quiz – Credit, Debt, Budget, Wealth, Life Plan and Resources
  I liked the structure of this, gave me some ideas of areas to focus on including an insurance review, and getting our will notarized. I scored an 81% B on this quiz.
• Money Saving Expert
  15 to 20 minute quiz assesses your saving skills compared to others (UK based however)
• Rutgers Financial Fitness Quiz
  Looks at financial management, saving, investing and yes, impulse shopping habits
• ProProfs Financial Literacy Quiz
  You lost me at CPF and zakatable. I have a lot to learn.

I plan to continue adding to this list.

What other quizes have you tried and found useful?

Related Posts

• November 14, 2009 -- Top 3 Barriers in My Journey Toward Financial Freedom
• November 12, 2009 -- Who Am I Writing For?
• October 26, 2009 -- 365 Days to Financial Freedom

Sustainable Happiness Can’t be Tied to the Material and Transitory

I’ve come to the conclusion that happiness should not be tied to material or transitory experiences or things.  But mine has been for as long as I can remember. This is why I don’t seem to be able to find sustainable happiness. If your happiness is tied to some thing than you lose it when the newness of that thing wears off. If its tied to an experience, experiences are also fleeting, and you tend to spend your time remembering the past, or gearing up for a future experience, but not enjoying the present.
So, financially speaking, can financial freedom bring you happiness? The simple answer is no. What it can bring, though, is more options to do what you want with your most precious asset: TIME.

I have come to realize that my entire life has been filled with these transitory or passing forms of happiness. I’ve known this, but haven’t been able to articulate it or figure out the how of changing that pattern.

The only thing that I can think of is to tackle my lifestyle, from financial education, to simplifying and organizing, and see where it leaves me. As The Happiness Project says, “Outer order contributes to inner calm.”

Simplifying my life is a top priority in order to get some of that precious resource, time, back. Making intentional choices towards a more education financial future is also a good step in the right direction. However, in the end, finding happiness doesn’t lie in things or experiences, but in your overall mental state of mind. Is more meditation in my future?

what brings me (temporary) joy

• Giving
• Receiving a Thoughtful Gift
• Shopping
• New Stuff (clothes, distractions, stuff)
• Travel
• Making Something (crafts, art, design)
• Spending Quality Time with Family and Friends
• Simple lifestyle choices
• Plain old fun

So many of these above things are harder to come by in my financially frugal lifestyle: shopping, travel, TIME for anything fun. So, I need to find ways to find happiness without them. This is a core-shifting change for me.

As an excerpt from a posting on the PositivityBlog states, it is possible to attain positive emotions, which in turn can help with finding happiness through the things that bring you joy.

As we all know, when we have a big goal, it helps to break it down into smaller pieces. If we think of happiness as an overarching emotional state that is created by the presence of other, positive emotions, the process of achieving happiness becomes less daunting.

Joy, contentedness, love, interest, and satisfaction are some of the positive emotions that lead us to feel happy. The more we experience these positive emotions, the happier we’ll be.

My question is how do you sustain happiness when the negative and mundane of life gets in the way?

Useful Sites:

• PositivityBlog
• The Happiness Project

photo by cmefish ( new camera ) Eos 7D

Random Posts

• July 6, 2011 -- Best Goal Tracking Tools for 2011
• January 19, 2010 -- Review of GratitudeLog – “The Happiest Place on the Internet”
• January 10, 2010 -- Truly Free eBooks for Wealth, Inspiration and Education
• April 21, 2010 -- Start Doing, Not Just Saving
• November 14, 2009 -- Top 3 Barriers in My Journey Toward Financial Freedom

Its everywhere you turn, on every newspaper, on countless blogs, in every book store. The drastic changes that have happened to our financial system and our economy can be pointed at many reasons including excessive debt by consumers and government, greed, separation of the wealthy and poor, and the dollar not being tied to gold back in the ’70s. Whatever the reasons, its more imperative now than ever for every person in the US to take control of their own future, to get more educated and make sure they are making active decisions, intentional decisions, not just following along the patterns of the societal norm.

It won’t necessarily be doomsday if you do not wake up as I have. However, your financial education is a key factor in ensuring the strength of your family and your future, certainly your 401k and your government aren’t anything to rely on.

I still want to honor the tradition of taking a moment to say what I am thankful for, as I don’t pause to do it often enough.

• I’m thankful for my family, my daughter, my friends and those people in my life that support and help shape my future
• I’m thankful that I still have some equity in my home, when I read yesterday that 1 in 4 Americans owe more on their home than their house is worth
• I’m thankful that I have the desire and passion to learn and improve my life
• I’m thankful that I have been given many resources, the education and upbringing that I have had to allow me to be where I am now
• Even though I get the strong sense that tomorrow may present such frightening futures as global warming disasters, economic and political disasters, and a truly different norm than what we have know in America for so many years, I feel that I have the strength, passion, ethics and willingness to be proud of the life that I lead.

What are you thankful for?

Random Posts

• October 12, 2010 -- Business Electronic File Cabinet: Review of ShoeBoxed.com
• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom
• October 30, 2009 -- Review Free Online Budgeting Tools: Yodlee MoneyCenter
• August 6, 2010 -- Catching Up on Goals for Achieving Passive Income
• November 30, 2009 -- Free Financial IQ Quizes

Credit.com Offers a Different Perspective from CreditKarma.com

Credit.com offers an additional resource that can complement your use of CreditKarma.com (read my review) or other credit report services.

Though Credit.com doesn’t offer as much detail or tools as CreditKarma.com, it did give me a higher overall score, which I found interesting. It ranked me as A to A- for all categories, where as on CreditKarma.com I had D in a few different categories such as length of open debt. From what I’ve read, the discrepancy is based on the recency of the data as well as which credit agency it is using to determine your score, and supposedly CreditKarma doesn’t go back in date as far as Credit.com does.  This factor alone is enough to take a closer look at Credit.com for accuracy.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Credit.com determines your score to be based on the following categories:

• Payment History (35%) Simply put - you have to pay your bills on time.
• Debt Useage (35%) Keeping low balances and having higher limits for your debt increases this value.
• Credit Age (15%) If you have accounts that have been opened for a while, this helps this score. (CreditKarma and Credit.com have very different perspectives on this)
• Account Mix (10%) Types of debt that you have (mortgage, credit cards, other loans)
• Inquiries (10%) Its a good idea not to have too many inquiries to your score (I’ve read that if you shop around, say for a mortgage, and have multiple pulls of your credit in a 2 week period, this doesn’t affect your score as much, but don’t quote me on this)

Keep in mind that for the full detail on actual accounts that are included on your credit report you’ll have to purchase one or get your free annual report. Under the FACT Act you are required to have access to at least 1 free credit report a year, and you can get that at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. This looks at the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. They will also report on court records for lawsuits, judgments and bankruptcy filings.

You can also possibly obtain your free credit report from your local credit union. The one I work at in Boulder provides a review of your credit report free to its members.

Its always a good idea to check your credit report, if at minimum to monitor and ensure that you don’t have any fraudulent activity. Also though, to learn how to improve it as I am.

Here’s a nice comparison: http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/09/30/credit-report-cards-credit-com-vs-credit-karma/

What do you use to monitor your credit score and credit report? Do you use a credit monitoring or  identity theft service?

Related Posts

• November 23, 2009 -- Review of Free Credit Score Analysis Tool: Credit Karma

Think Twice Before You Cut Up Your Old Credit Cards

A Truly Free Credit Score and Helpful Analysis of the Factors Affecting Your Credit

Unlike many of the ‘free’ credit score sites out there that say they are free, Credit Karma truly is free.

Credit Karma provides secure access to your credit score with many features that help you analyze how your debt and payment has affected your overall score.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Not only does this tool provide you with your credit score, it shows you:

• A Report Card of the factors that affect your score and where you fall
• Your score and how it shifts over time with charts and graphs
• A snapshot of where your score is compared to the national average
• A comparison of your credit to other members of the Credit Karma community
• A credit simulator that suggests how changes will impact your credit score (My score went up 8 points if I added a new credit card with a 3500 limit, crazy!)
• They also have helpful debt calculators such as mortgage affordability, debt payoff calculators, etc

What I found most interesting was the section called “Report Card”. It ranks certain criteria that is used to determine your credit score from A through F. It was very helpful for me, because I realized something critical in the way I have been managing credit cards and how I will manage them moving forward.

I have to admit, I was one of the typical college students that fell prey to the open 3 or 4 credit cards during the freshman orientation. I didn’t spend a lot on these cards, but when I wised up, I took the advice of someone that I should close any cards that I’m not using as that negatively affects my credit. So, I’ve been doing that over the years. When I don’t want a card any more, I close it. WRONG!

It turns out I have a “D” score on my credit score (which is overall “good” right now at 729) for Average Age of Open Credit Lines as well as Total Accounts. I’m very intrigued by the fact that doing something as simple as keeping some of my unused credit cards open will improve my credit score. I had NO idea. And as such I always close old cards that I’m no longer using.

Another thing I found interesting was that if you opened and did a balance transfer, with the simulator your score went down. However, if you just open a new credit card, your score goes up. I suppose this is because it indicates that you can handle more debt.

I highly suggest trying this tool out, if you are willing to overlook the offers and sales pitches on the page, it is a great way to actively monitor and improve your credit score.

Related Posts

• November 24, 2009 -- Review of Free Credit Score Analysis Tool: Credit.com

I recently took a leadership development class at my job that focused on developing others. It applied a very simple 3 step process: assess, aquire and apply to the concept of developing others.

I related to this concept on a more general level of the process to change in general, because I find that there would be value in making conscious decisions about what stage we are at in the process of learning and applying knowledge to our lives. Putting some structure around my process towards financial freedom will help me focus my efforts.

A key point that was made is that this is a circular process was that you have to keep re-evaluating and assessing, acquiring and applying your knowledge. Once you apply, you have to go back and assess where you stand.

What  I liked about this concept is how it can be used as a tool to structure almost anything you are wanting to learn about or do in your life.

ASSESS

Make a list and seek out the people, leaders, books, articles, blogs and groups that you want to learn from.

AQUIRE

Spend the time, process what you learn, and truly try to absorb and evaluate the good and bad of what you find. This is where I tend to lose focus. I read a little before quickly moving on to my next topic or trying to apply it without all of the necessary tools.

APPLY

When you feel like you have the knowledge, its very important to try to apply it, at least at some level, right away. One of the top reasons for losing information and knowledge is that it isn’t applied to your life soon enough to really get value or absorb.

I’ve been starting to document where I’m at in this process with different topics, and it has helped me to gain focus on what I want to do next.  Right now, a lot of my “Apply” phase is going to be geared around small, simple, but progressive HABIT changes. Making sure that I am monitoring my budgeting, setting up my financial accounts and contributing, even a very small amount to them.

Related Posts

• December 21, 2009 -- Be the Change You Want to See in the World