Normal Is Broke...Be Weird

I have moved my blog to a more user friendly site.  To access the blog, please click here.  www.fpucheetahchasers.blogspot.com

We are all such creatures of habbit and especially procastination.  It is easy to "wait" until January to start your new diet.  However, we even take it a bit further.  We wait one day extra and start the diet on January 2nd, because the first is still a holiday.  Let's face it, discipline is never easy.  Whether you are hoping that 2009 will be a year of improved finances or improved health, you will have to endure some difficult life changes.  At the end of the day what we all need to recognize that in life you reap what you sow.  I am no personal trainer.  What I am though is a Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Counselor.  What does that mean to you?  Nothing unless you are looking to improve your financial position in 2009.  If you have any credit card debt, auto loans or department store cards; if you have a house payment that is sucking you dry...If you live paycheck to paycheck and see no end in site...if you feel like a victim in this economy instead of the one in charge of your future, then you need to look into Financial Peace University.  Last year my wife and I personally helped people pay off over $500,000 and save $265,000.  More on this soon....

If you have not already been to my FPU page then click here to visit.

FPU has literally changed the lives of now over 40 families in the Chino Valley and beyond.  This is the weird thing.  You are not taught to borrow money, but to stop borrowing money.  Why on earth would a mortgage guy tell you to stop borrowing money?  That makes no sense.  But really, it does.  Too many of us know people who are suffering today because of the financial decisions they made in the past few years.  Continuing to borrow money is not the answer.  When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!

Financial Peace University will teach you to get out of debt, stay out of debt and to build wealth.  Don't be naive and think that you do not need this class.  The numbers do not lie.  Common sense actually works.

Senators Dodd and Conrad are among the government officials who scored V.I.P. loans from C.E.O. Angelo Mozilo. An exclusive Portfolio investigation.
Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota, chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans.

Other participants in the V.I.P. program included former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Jackson was deputy H.U.D. secretary in the Bush administration when he received the loans in 2003. Shalala, who received two loans in 2002, had by then left the Clinton administration for her current position as president of the University of Miami. She is scheduled to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 19.

Do you have an “I Love You Drawer”?

If you are married, especially if you have kids, you need to consider doing the following. It’s called an I Love You drawer. The ILD is basically the single best thing that you can do today to prepare for the unthinkable. It’s almost a little morbid but so necessary. Here is how it works.

Gather your life insurance information, all of your important passwords to things like financial accounts, important websites, and your will or trust. Either bundle them up, or put them into a single envelope and let your spouse know exactly where it is. Another great touch is to write your spouse a letter. Tell them all those things that you would want them to know in the event that you never had a chance to say goodbye. What about your kids? Write them too. If you have young kids consider writing them letters that they should open at certain milestones in life. How awesome would it be for your kids to open a letter from you when they graduate from high school, college, at their wedding, or the birth of their first child.

Death is something that few people want to talk about. Especially those of us who consider themselves far from having to worry about it. The reality is that our number could be called at any time. Be prepared to leave a legacy of love that will put the ones you love at ease when you are gone.

God Bless,

Alex

Recently I discovered Dave Ramsey.  Dave has been around for years.  He is a national radio talk show host and New York Times best selling author.  He created Financial Peace University to help people get out of debt, stay out of debt and build wealth.  His course is created to teach you how to follow his 7 baby steps.

1. Establish a $1,000 cash emergency fund.  Stop using credit cards and establish a budget that accounts for every single penny of your income. 

2. Pay off your debt using the debt snowball method.  List your debts smallest to largest.  Make the minimum payment on all of your debts except the first.  That first debt will be aggressively persued until payed off.  Once paid, you roll over the extra payment to the next debt and so on.

3. Fully Fund your emergency fund.  Make the payment you making to your debt to yourself and fully fund your emergency fund with 3-6 months of expenses.  Doing this provides a safety net from layoffs, disability and other 'stuff' that happens to us that we are usually not prepared for.

4. Put 15% of your income away toward your retirement.

5. Fund your children's college. 

6. Pay off your mortgage

7. Give more money away.....

Want to know more about Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University?  Check out my website or go do www.daveramsey.com