George Tak

Category: Big Purchase

Can You Afford It?

Can You Afford It?

Big Purchase Chiara L. Waterman

Everything in our society is geared toward how you can afford it.

Low payments are the key. If they can just get you to think you can afford it and make it easy, they know you will buy.

But what are you really purchasing?

Life long debt.

Reconsider your life. Think about all the things you have, what you need and your debt. What do you have that is important? Your home? Your car? Check out recommendations on true debt levels on the internet. Remember: These recommendations are likely to be higher than your debt should actually be, but looking at them and calculating the percentage of your after tax income it takes to pay your mortgage or rent and your car note should give you an excellent starting point.

Review all your bills. Look at your spending for the last three (3) months. Put your spending in only these three categories:

Buy-what-you-can-afford

1. Spending I have to spend to live (groceries, et all).

2. Spending I could do without.

3. Bills (that must be paid).

Be honest with yourself.

Ask yourself the most important question: Are you ready to begin an adventure in boosting savings and building wealth on your current after tax income?

Yes, I said it. Start where you are. Begin to build your own plan. Don’t believe you can start where you are? See our past blog entries for our “1% Savings Plan” or check it out at www.MiddleClassMoney.com.

Take a hard line with your bills. Call everyone who sends you a bill. Tell them you are having a difficult time and “want to keep them.” But tell them you need to reduce your expenses 12 – 15%. Ask for a supervisor right away if they give you grief. Be persistent. Call back. Ask for the supervisors’ supervisor. Be patient. Be nice. Ask for help. Be open to their suggestions – as long as it results in a reduction.

Take the money from any reduction and add it to a new spending category. Call it “Essential Bill” and pay it at the first of each month. Take the “essential bill” money and put it in ACTUAL SAVINGS away from your checking account.

Then, come back here and get more suggestions. Why? Because we are at war with the corporate American culture of debt and spending.

We want to be helpful to anyone who wants to put in the work to save regularly. You can do it, too.

TIPS:

You should be saving 15% of your after tax income. If you are not, you need to “make room” by eliminating spending, reducing and then eliminating debt and/or boosting income. And you can. You will be shocked how quickly it can add up.

Your emergency savings in 2010 should be 15 – 18 months of expenses in money market savings and certificates of deposit (FDIC insured). If you start saving regularly – even small amounts – you will be shocked how quickly it can add up.

Your checking account is a MONEY LAUNDERING ACCOUNT for other people’s money. Use any excuse to pull money out and stick it in savings (real savings). You will be shocked how quickly it can add up.

Are you ready? Start right now. Call a family meeting. Time is on your side. We are a consumer society. Take charge because YOU HAVE THE POWER.

YOU CAN CHOOSE

You can choose to take specific and steady actions to change your life, change the lives of your children and change the future of your family tree. Yes, you have the power yourself.
All the corporations, the private equity companies, crooked politicians and rich people can’t stop you if you really have a systematic plan that starts with regular savings and steady investment along with your regular bills.

If you are willing to take the time with your family to make a plan for reducing and then eliminating debt over time, you can gain more control over your finances and you can teach your children how to become wealthy over time.

If you are willing to make people work for the money you spend with them, you can build savings and then wealth.

These things are within your reach. You just have to start and you have to be encouraged.

You can join our free Facebook group (or have your children do it, too) by searching in the Facebook bar on your “wall” for “Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves.” Click on “become a fan.” It’s free and it ties our free blogs into that group.

If you want to give your children the same information we are giving ours, you can purchase the only thing we sell on any of our blogs or groups. It’s called “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” and you can get …

The Big Purchase For Your Family This Year

Big Purchase Joy Scuri

17035820_5885What do you want?

I mean, what thing would you like to purchase if money was no object?

Would it be a car? Would it be a watch? An iPad? Something for your kids?

How about purchasing a secure future?

Can you purchase a secure future for your kids?

It only takes a strategy.

People say all the time that they can’t save money. Several years ago my wife and I bought a glass jar to use for collecting the money we simply find on the ground. If you have followed this blog any length of time, you know we are about to announce what we have actually found on the ground in 2010. Last year it was about $62.00. This year I can tell you that we have beat last year’s total. At the end of every year, we cash in the “jar” and put the money we found in a 12 month CD. We have done this for several years now and are making more and more money from “other people’s money.”

SAVE MONEY

You can save money by focusing only on what you are spending. I’m not even talking about reviewing what you spend (although you should review what you have spent in the last three months and see where you can limit spending in the future to save money). I’m talking about your normal grocery shopping or just purchasing the things you normally purchase.

MAKE YOUR LIST

Consider grocery shopping. Make your normal list out before you go shopping. Then, go to the web. Look for coupon codes on every single ordinary purchase. Source coupons from all potential places you can reference. Keep in mind that you are after “shaving” actual savings off of your spending systematically. Take the money you save with coupons & coupon codes and put that money in savings just as if you had spent it. Do this every time you shop for groceries or anything else.

COMPARE

You can also price check and you should be comparing at least once a year where you purchase your groceries with other shopping “environments.” .Only purchase what you normally purchase.

BRAINSTORM

Get your family involved. Work to identify areas where you can save inside your normal spending. You will be shocked what you can find or who will come up with the best idea for saving the most money.

Rick Warren says, “We overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in ten.” The real point to this is how humans think: We get excited about immediate change, but the truth is that most things of value become valuable over time. Your savings is the same.

Set your system for saving regular and steady money from your paycheck and from your checking account (we believe that a checking account is a leaky instrument; it is a money laundering account for “other people’s money”)! Use any excuse you can to take money from checking and push it to savings.

HOW SERIOUS IT REALLY IS

You should have 15 to 18 months of expenses in real savings (money market savings and certificates of deposit). Why? Because it’s not 1977 anymore. Jobs have changed. Corporations have more power and individuals have less. How long would it take you to replace your income if you lost your job right now? Perhaps longer than you think.

Keep reading this blog and we will help encourage you to get 15 to 18 months of expenses in your own savings faster than you think it’s possible.

It’s not how much you make.

It’s what percentage of your after-tax income you are SAVING and INVESTING that will determine the height of your building wealth.

If you have not started REGULARLY and always saving a percentage of your regular income, check out our “1% Savings Plan” at www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com or at www.MiddleClassMoney.com.

Get busy and develop your own family plan. You can do this with your own team (family) members. Set goals. Get involved. Educate yourself and your children on the impact you can have over the next ten years – not just next year.

You’ll be SHOCKED what you can accomplish. Begin.

2011 is coming only moments away. Take advantage of this time and get your family engaged in “the great wealth experiment.” Ask them, “What can we do in the next 12 months?” Set the goals together. Brainstorm together. Make it a game. And change the lives of your spouse and children….forever.

YOU CAN CHOOSE

You can choose to take specific and steady actions to change your life, change the lives of your children and change the future of your family tree. Yes, you have the power yourself.
All the corporations, the private equity companies, crooked politicians and rich people can’t stop you if you really …