Are You Tired Of Your Lingering Debt?

That's the big question that many of us want to be answered. I have been there. It's only fairly recently that I am seeing changes in my finances. Would you believe that I have savings or should I say some investments now in the Stock Market? It's not BIG but compared to when I was working in Makati, I now have some!!! And I know it will grow. That's it, you need to know how to grow your money in order to get out of DEBT!

Here's an encouraging news that our mentor, Bo Sanchez, sent to all members of the Truly Rich Club. You see, I decided that I needed a mentor to help me grow my money. So, I joined the Truly Rich Club and since then I had taken advantage of every lesson being taught by Bo.

You will be informed and you will have to also make a decision when you read this very good article by Bo Sanchez.

Want Of Create Your Future Millions Through The Stock Market?  Now Is The “BESTEST” Time Get In.

          Forget my bad grammar.

          I’m making a very important point.

I believe that everyday is the BEST time to start investing in the Stock Market.  No kidding.  Because to start is glorious.  So many people don’t start!  All they do is talk about starting.  (Does this sound familiar to you?)

But there are days that are BESTEST than others.  (My Grammar teacher in grade school is rolling in her grave right now.)  And this month is one of those BESTEST days.

Why?  Because the Stock Market is down.  You see, in the past four months, we saw the Stock Market go up like a turbo rocket.  It went berserk.

But now, it MUST go down before it goes up again.  That’s just its cyclic nature.

That’s why—if you haven’t started investing in the Stock Market, get into it NOW.

Is This For You?

By the way, my letter today isn’t for everyone. 

Please disregard if this isn’t your concern.

I don’t expect everyone to join my TrulyRichClub.  

If this isn’t for you, I apologize for bothering you with this letter.

Because today,I’m specifically writing to people who want to grow their financial life—and who want my guidance in investing in the Stock Market.

Are you tired of being stuck in a rut in your finances?

Are you tired of your lingering debts?

Are you tired of feeling the pain of wanting to help people you love, but can’t, because you don’t have the resources?

Are you tired of your big fears and uncertainty?

Are you tired of working very hard everyday, only to realize that you don’t really have any savings for your future?

Just in case you’re that person, let me help you.

To know more about my TrulyRichClub, click the link below:

Yes Bo, teach me how to grow my money!

Tell me more aboutthe TrulyRichClub

May your dreams come true,

Bo Sanchez

PS. Don’t Miss This Window Of Opportunity When The Stocks Are Low.  To know more about the TrulyRichClub, click the link below:

Yes Bo, teach me how to grow my money!

Tell me more about the TrulyRichCl

How Can You Benefit From The Exuberant Stock Market

This is the best thing that happened to the Philippines! Our economy is growing and the stock market is exuberant. Yesterday it hit pass the 7000 mark!

So what's in it for you and me? You must not let this opportunity pass you by. How? Learn and be informed, that's how.

I made it a point to learn. We never stop learning isn't it. I became a member of Truly Rich Club and I am now being mentored by no less than Bo Sanchez.

You to can learn and benefit from the improving economy of our country. You are just a click away from it right now.

I am printing an article by Bo Sanchez. We receive this from him on a regular basis, as members of the Truly Rich Club. I know you will learn from this. Enjoy reading and let's learn together.

Money 101: Q & A with Warren Buffett

Here's an article by Aaron Task which was published at Yahoo! Finance. There is something we can learn specially if it comes from the Warren Buffett.

You and your children will benefit from this interview with the famed investor, Warren Buffett.

To commemorate Financial Literacy month, Yahoo! Finance is proud to bring you a Q&A about financial education for kids with famed investor Warren Buffett. 

One of the world's richest men, Buffett is also the voice of a new animated series entitled "Secret Millionaires Club," which offers kids tips on investing and basic business concepts. "The more you learn, the more you’ll earn,” Buffett says in the series, which also features the voices of Jay-Z and Shaquille O’Neal. The first DVD of the series was recently released and is available for purchase on Amazon.com. More information can be found at www.smckids.com.

In addition to the Q&A below, we invite you to check out our newly refreshed Financial Education hub: Money 101. 

Every day Yahoo! Finance helps you make financial decisions with confidence and we also want to be your one-stop shop for financial education. 

As always, you’re feedback is welcomed: Let us know what you think.

— Aaron Task, Editor-in-Chief, Yahoo! Finance


Yahoo! Finance: How did you get involved in the Secret Millionaires Club?

Warren Buffett: My friend Andy Heyward, who is a producer of kids entertainment, and I came up with the idea to help educate kids about financial matters. I thought the idea of using the power of cartoon characters to carry a message was a good one, as is  teaching financial lessons at an age when it can help them.
 
YF: What does the term "Secret Millionaires Club" refer to?

WB: In the pilot episode, a group of kids come together to save their local youth center. In the process, they come across a valuable baseball card which they sell to save their youth center. They ask my help to help them understand and manage their money. In the process we form the Secret Millionaires Club, and have lots of fun adventures together learning about money and business.
 
YF: Is the goal to help kids understand finance and related concepts — or to help them learn how to amass wealth? Or both?

WB: The goal has nothing to do with amassing wealth, and everything to do with helping kids understand money, and develop healthy habits from a young age. Someone once said, “the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they’re too heavy to broken.” We’re trying to help kids develop healthy habits that will help them their whole life.  
 
YF: What are some of the key financial terms and business concepts you hope kids learn from the series? How did you learn them?

WB: Some of the lessons you’ll hear in this series are: “The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself.” “The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.” “Learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of others.” “Great partnerships make any job easier.” “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” “With business as in life, get to know people before you judge them.” “It’s not just the outside that counts, it’s the whole package."
 
YF: Is there anything you can share about how you taught your children about business and finance that other parents might adopt?

WB: All the lessons in Secret Millionaires Club are lessons I taught my own children. We produced this series to try and teach other kids, and in some cases, their parents! They are simple lessons that can help you in business and in life, no matter what age you are.

YF: What is the #1 thing parents should teach their kids about money — and #1 thing they should NOT teach them?

WB: Secret Millionaires Club has lots of good lessons about money such as learning not to spend more than you have, and saving for the unexpected, and not borrowing money unless you have a plan to pay it back. The series shows the consequences that can happen if people don’t make wise decisions. We’re trying to help kids develop good decision-making skills from a young age to avoid some of these pitfalls.
 
YF: Is the series aimed at kids specifically or is it designed for kids and parents to watch together?

WB: We created Secret Millionaires Club for kids, knowing it would also help parents. And it has. It provides stories that kids can relate to which help them understand different situations in business and in life, and hopefully help them develop the skills to make good decisions their whole life.
 
YF: Why do you think financial education is so important for kids?

WB: So many adults get into financial trouble, in business and in their personal lives, because of bad decisions. We hope to influence kids at an early age so they learn to think about their actions, and the consequences of making bad decisions. It doesn’t just influence success in business, it influences your family life as well. We want to help guide kids toward leading more productive lives.
 
YF: Have you reached out to the DOE or other government agency to discuss building a curriculum for financial education in the public schools?

WB: We already have a program that is in thousands of schools and youth organizations. Every year, we have a contest called the “Learn and Earn” challenge. Thousands of kids use what they learn in Secret Millionaires Club episodes to come up with their own business ideas. The finalists come to see me in Omaha and present their business plans, showing what they have learned from Secret Millionaires Club. It’s a lot of fun for the kids, their teachers, parents, and most of all for me! It shows that at a very early age, kids not only understand financial matters, they come up with some pretty terrific business ideas themselves!
  
YF: What's an appropriate age to start teaching kids about money?

WB: It’s never too early. Whether it’s teaching kids the value of a dollar, the difference between needs and wants, or the value of saving. These are all concepts that kids encounter at a very early age, so best to help them to understand it.

Photo credit: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/money-101--q-a-with-warren-buffett-140409456.html

Choose To Make Your Money Make More Money

I am amazed at the response of people whenever I talk about "Managing Your Resources", a quick view of how people can create wealth through the resources God has given us.

I teach this lesson mostly to our workers going to Japan as interns under the JITCO/POEA program.

Their response? Their eyes brightens up and I feel hope starts to swell in their hearts!

Using Robert Kiyosaki's "Cash Flow Creating Wealth" and "Cash Flow Creating Poverty", they realized that it is possible for them to be millionaires if they can manage their money well by making "savings" a priority in their budget. Then, learn how to make their money make more money by "investing".

They don't teach this in school.

How To Save Money Every Month

I just can't let this article pass us by. So I am re-posting it here. Here's some practical ways we can save on money monthly. I love what Moneymaking's idea to stop bringing your credit card for a month. I feel this is a real challenge to all of us. There's a false security in bringing our credit card with us, in our wallets, isn't it. We often tell and even convince ourselves that we might need it, "just in case". So we end up using it. If there is a supply, we usually create the need.

Well, here's what I want to focus on: what activities should we do. My friend from Fiji, Savenaca, always tells me, "No more theories, theories. Just do it!" So here goes:

1. Stop bringing your credit card. At first, you will feel very restricted but you will slowly realize where you are spending money on. It’s amazing that we remember our purchases so much better when we pay in cash.

Areas of My Finances I Need To Review

I was hit with two, yes two costly bank charges because of insufficient fund. I felt bad, really bad, because it's really a simple matter but I missed it. The charges cost me a lot. The money could have been used to put petrol on my car for 2 weeks. Whoaaaa!

How did I addressed of this problem? First, I immediately went to my bank and enrolled my checking account to their "back up plan" where they will take money on my savings account to fund my checking account if their is insufficiency. I should have done this a long time ago!

Do You Manage YOU?

This is true. I always tell my students in our Work Ethics And Values Seminar at Uno Overseas Placement that they are running a business whether they like it or not. And that business is their LIFE.

Looking at my own life, I think I can honestly say I am having an exciting but hard time to make my "business" a  profitable one.

When I read this article from someone I admire, I was encouraged by Dave Ramsey when he wrote this wonderful and practical article entitled: "You Inc: Manage Your Money Like A CEO". He knows what it is to be in debt and how to get out of it as well.

You will certainly appreciate his ideas and it will help you start a good habit of managing your money well. So, here it is for you.

"If you managed money for ‘You, Incorporated’ the way you manage money for you now, would You hire you?"

Top 3 Free Budgeting Tools For You

You want to be serious about making your financial house in order but don't know where to start. Well, here's a starting point for you. Find out what's happening to your finances, Take an inventory of where every cents go by listing all expenses you do daily for a month. Categorize the expenses by type e.g. Food, Gas, Utilities, etc. Tally.

The result will give you an idea how to set your budget for each category. Budget is very important. It gives you a parameter of how and when you can spend your money. It helps you to be disciplined in the use of your hard-earned money.

5 Tools For Teaching Your Kids How To Save

I love this article by Carol J. Alexander at the Christian Personal Finance. I would like to post it here to guide you, if you're a parent. You will benefit a lot if you try to use it on your kids. I have seen some of her ideas worked on my children. Now they're all professionals and saving is part of their finances. You must teach them while they're young. 

5 Tools For Teaching Your Kids To Save Money

All children are different. My six children may all look the same on the outside, but on the inside they all march to the beat of a different drum. I have naturally hard workers, and I have those we trained to work. I have a son who breathes music, and I have another son that needed his music lessons.

Likewise, I have a few who squirrel away every penny they get and a few whose pennies slip right between their fingers. Yet as a parent, you want to do your best to train your children to have positive character qualities—and saving money is one of them. Here are 5 tools for teaching your kids to save money.

Budgeting For The Starters

I had a wonderful time with my eldest daughter, Rache, just before she left for a vacation in China. One of the things we talked about was how she will have money ready every time an opportunity to travel presents itself to her. She has realized that she must be serious in her finances from that time on. I am an advocate of having a family budget. I have been telling her to have a budget of her own so she can manage her finances well. I think that small talk we had will change the way she values her money. I have a guest post here about starting to make a budget. It's simple you can easily do it. I am proud of Rache. She will be a millionaire someday if not soon. Here's a guest post from Financially Poor:

Budgeting: For The Just Getting Started

So you have come to the realization that you need to control your finances. Well I’m here to help you get started. Starting a budget is somewhat easy but there are a few steps that can trip you up. What I’m going to do is walk you through the mine field so you can have a budget that you can call your own.

Starting out

What your first step needs to be is make a list of categories of bills that you have every month like rent or mortgage, phone bill, etc.  Here’s what mine looks like:

The reason to list those first is so when you decide how much goes into each category you can get the necessary bills out of the way first and know how much you have left over for the rest of the categories.

Next make a list of all of your monthly variable expenses like this:

If you want to make the categories more detailed go for it. You can make eating out into breakfast lunch and dinner if you want. Customize it to whatever works for you. Don’t worry about making it perfect the first time around though. Budgets tend to evolve over time so just make a first one that will get the ball rolling. The Spouse 1 and Spouse 2 is for fun money for each person FYI. Be sure when you put the two groups together that you add a line for savings between them.

Divvying Up Your Money

After you’re done making categories for your spending it’s time to find out your spending. This step is to find out how much money you spend in each category. There’s a few different ways to do this.

One way is to guesstimate how much you spend in each category. Your regularly monthly bills will be pretty accurate but your variable spending will probably be pretty off. With this method you’ll be adjusting your budget a lot and can be frustrating so I wouldn’t recommend it for most people.

The other way is to track your spending for a few months and fill in the categories with those amounts. If you have a debit card I would use that because then you can see your transactions online and it’s so much easier to keep track of. If you don’t have a card and you just use cash then think about getting a small note pad and writing your purchases down. This isn’t the most fun step but it is the most eye opening experience. When you actually see how much you spend a month you may be very surprised.

At the end of each month put all of your purchases in their different categories. This will give you an idea about how much you spend in each category. Now comes the meat and potatoes part. The point of a budget is to control your money instead of letting it control you. So this is where you decide how much you want to cut back on variable spending. I’d recommend you cut back slowly so that it’s not a big shock and turns you off. If you spent $300 on entertainment try to cut back to $250. If you cut back a lot you might get frustrated that you can’t stay within budget and could cause you to give up. so each month just cut back a little more and eventually you’ll figure out where a comfortable level is for that category.

Once you figured out your budget write it down on a piece of paper or put it in a spread sheet. I write down my budget in a notebook so I can carry it around wherever I want to and work on it. I have mine set up like this:

Another reason I write in a notebook is because I fill out, on the page after my budget, columns with the different variable spending categories and amount budgeted. Then through the month I write down the expenses as they occur in the correct category. This helps me save a lot of time.

That’s pretty much it. Not hard at all. Over time your budget will be customized to your situation. What you just created is a gateway to a better financial life.  This is a tool that’s going to help you get control over your finances.

How was your experience setting up your first budget?

I hope you have made one budget for yourself and your family. 

To your debt-free life,

Jimmy

Does Cruise Control Save Gas And Money?

This is a rejoinder to my earlier article about saving money of gas. This article is written by John Frainee on the Christian PF. As I was reading it, it sounds doable. I often do cruise control on my way to and from work along Commonwealth Avenue. As you know that road is too wide and has slopes of more than 5 kilometers going down.

I would like to post this here for our benefit. Here goes.

I’ve been called by some a “grandpa” on the road. They mean to say that most grandpas are old men, and that most old men drive slowly. Well, I’m not sure that’s a logical argument, but I admit that I do drive slower than most.

Today I’d like to make the case that “driving slowly” (aka, going the speed limit) and using cruise control can actually save you money.

How Using Cruise Control Saves You Money

1. Cruise control helps you avoid the need for acceleration.

Whenever you accelerate, you’re using gas. When you’re using gas, you’re losing money. Turning on cruise control will help you avoid the craving to hit the gas when your favorite dubstep song hits the radio.

2. Cruise control will help you maintain a constanteconomical speed.

According to the US Department of Energy, gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph:

        You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional   $0.28 per gallon for gas.

Yikes. That’s quite an increase in price to get to your destination a bit faster. If you’re the kind of person who complains

3. Cruise control, set at the speed limit, will help you avoid tickets.

I’ve never received a ticket (I guess “grandpas” don’t get tickets, ha). But for those of you who have, I’ve heard it isn’t a pleasant experience.

Tickets are expensive. Many states are over $100 per ticket. It’s not uncommon to see a $300 ticket. Ouch. That’ll put a dent in your 7 Baby Steps.

4. Cruise control results in less maintenance costs.

Taking corners fast is damaging to tires and overall hard on your vehicle. Cruise control gives you a constant speed and helps you avoid accelerations that give your engine more work to do.

When To Use Cruise Control

The natural answer is as much as possible. Here are a few places I use cruise control:

The Highway or Freeway

On long stretches of road cruise control comes in handy. Typically you want to go the same speed on the freeway and don’t have to worry about speeding up or slowing down (unless you live in Los Angeles).

Low Traffic Areas

There is a certain amount of hesitation factor when it comes to turning off your cruise control. Make sure that if you turn on your cruise control you also have the ability to turn it off quickly in the event you have to change speeds. The last thing you want to do is rear-end someone because you forgot which button to push.

On my Honda, there are three ways to turn off cruise control:

1.    I can push the master cruise control button.

2.    I can push the accelerate and decelerate buttons simultaneously.

3.    I can tap my brakes.

Now, I’m not one to make decisions quickly. If you give me several different ways to do one task I freeze up. This is exactly what happens when I have to choose a method to end my cruise control session. Therefore, I realized that I had to decide beforehand which method I would use to quickly bring the vehicle out of cruise control. Now I push the master cruise control button.

You can generally avoid this panic by using cruise control in very low traffic areas. Ensure you keep good distance between you and the car in front of you, and you’ll be just fine.

How Do You Save Money on the Road?

Using cruise control is just one idea that can save you money. Do you have any other vehicle tips you could share in the comments section below that save you money?

I used to see my brother-in-law driving too slow on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. I keep on wondering why? Then I found out that he was using cruise control to save on gas. This may sound unbelievable but I tried it and it helps me save on gas.

To your debt-free life,

Jimmy

Photo

Save Money on Gas Tip

I have learned something new last week. Gas is a big part of my expense since I use my car (Corolla GLi) in all my travels. I am thankful for that car, a 1994 model, which I faithfully keep on top condition, thanks to my friend Chief Ruel of Exalta Car shop in Banawe, Quezon City.

Now back to my discovery. Usually when I fill my car with gas, I just let the gas attendant fill it up the way the used to do. They press on the "automatic" mode and let the pump to its work.

I learned that when they do that, the gas pumps the gasoline and the "air" together so I get less gasoline in effect.

My dear friend, Adel, shared with me that I can save money on my gasoline expenses by asking the gas attendant  to fill my car using the "pure" way or "Puro" in tagalog. The next time I went to my gas station, I asked the attendant to fill it pure. I noticed that they press the pump slowly and taking their time doing it.

What they are doing was making sure that no air or less air is mixed to the gasoline. To better imagine what I am saying, when I fill my car with a P1,000 gasoline, the "automatic" way takes less that 2 minutes. But when I request to fill my car the "pure" way, it takes them some 5 minutes to fill the same amount of gasoline.

As a result, I save money with more mileage added to my car somewhere in the vicinity of 20 kilometers.

Why not try it yourself and see how much you can save. Surely the savings will help you reduce your debts.

Here's to our debt-free life,

Jimmy

Photo credit:
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-holding-petrol-pump-nozzle-in-high-res-stock-photography/BB1111-001http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmgimages/4882451256/sizes/m/in/photostream/

To Love It Or Love It Not

I would like to post this very good article on the love of money by Dave Ramsey. He says that our view of money is important if we plan to get out of debt. How we spend our money is directly related to our perspective of money. So here goes "Love It Or Love It Not" by Dave Ramsey:

A lot of people love Benjamin Franklin.

Oh, come on. Admit it. You're probably pretty fond of Benjamin Franklin, too. He's the guy on the front of the $100 bill, and you're not going to say you don't love $100 bills, are you?

If we're honest, most of us love money. Actually, we love money we don't have. How else can you explain our addiction to credit cards? Our culture loves money so much that we have television shows dedicated to showing off people's million-dollar houses and garages full of luxury cars!

Every day, we see thousands of ads that promote the dollar as the end-all-be-all ticket to a happy life. But we know better than that...don't we?

Wait a minute, you say. Doesn't Dave Ramsey talk about building wealth all the time? He sure does. But Dave is talking about a healthy view of money. The foundation of Dave's ideas of wealth building are that you get out of debt and build wealth so you can help your family and others … and leave a legacy after you're gone.

It's also okay to want to make a lot of money and to enjoy spending it! But what's the end goal? Is it to own stuff, or is it to help others and to change your family tree?

A lot of us have an unhealthy view of money. The Bible says that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." It's that type of "love" that drives us to buy stuff with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.

For some people, the "love" of money is more like an obsession or an addiction. It can drive a wedge between spouses and teach kids that stuff is more important than anything else. It can lead to divorce and broken families. When we talk about changing your family tree, that's not what we have in mind!

Think of money as a tool. You can use it to help yourself and others, or you can use it to tear all of that down. You can use it to save for your kids' college fund, help your church or favorite charity, or you can use it to buy a bunch of stuff that will be collecting dust two years from now.

A healthy love of money will drive you to get gazelle intense about working through the Baby Steps and getting out of debt. It will motivate you to make better decisions with your money—decisions that involve only spending on needs, not wants. You will view life through a new lens, a lens that puts your future and the well-being of your loved ones first. Don't let money and stuff run your life.

There's no need to obsess over Benjamin Franklin. Plenty of other people will do that. With Valentine's Day just a few days away, remember who and what is important in your life, and keep that in perspective this year.

Thousands of other people are on their way to making better decisions with money this year. With hundreds of Financial Peace University classes starting across the country, now’s the perfect time to join them on the road to Financial Peace!

A healthy perspective of money will help you spend it wisely and sets you up to a debt-free life.

To your debt-free life,

Jimmy


Photo credit