Monthly Archives: March 2010

Can’t Remember All of Your Bills? Give them a KISS!

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As I looked at my debt snowball for April, I saw that I now have 4 major debts left. 2 credit cards, a line of credit and a loan.

Suddenly, I feel relief. I feel I can focus on getting out of debt and I feel like it’s way more attainable than it was before. I feel like my head will be above water soon and it fills me with joy I’ve never felt before.

For this new found focus, I give credit to the principle of KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid). KISS is a slogan that echoes around the halls of IT firms everywhere. It reminds us that complexity is the enemy and that the best solution is the one is usually the simplest.

When I used to look at the debt snowball listing, I had 8 or so debts. It was overwhelming. They didn’t even fit on one page. I had to scroll across to see them all.

But now, ah yes, now relief comes closer! Silence is near. Calm will be mine!

We should all strive for financial simplicity. Throw out the garbage. If you have too many bills, get rid of some! Pay off debts! Get rid of subscriptions you don’t pay! Be ABLE to know exactly how much money comes in and where it goes each month. Once you can recite these things with ease, you’re on your way my friend!

Good luck and let’s make out…. Err, KISS!

-MG

Which Comes First… Strippers or Rent?

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When I was fresh out of college, it was easy to depriroritize important things like rent and bills and instead, put irrelevant things like drinking and going to stip clubs at the top of my list.

If you’re in the same situation now, you’ll be feeling the pain of financial responsibility soon enough. It will be a rough transition for some, but one you’ll eventually have to make.

To avoid being stupid enough to put strippers before rent, run from these two enablers:
1. Impulsiveness. Part of my problem was being impulsive. I WANTED something. I wanted a good time. I wanted laughter. I wanted instant gratification. And that was good enough to go hog wild with spending.
2. Entitlement. Another problem was entitlement. I thought “it’s my money” and “I’m young, I deserve to have fun!”

But these traits enabled the pissing away of THOUSANDS of dollars.

The key is to stop thinking of what you want NOW and start thinking of what you want in the FUTURE! Visualze it. Feel it in your hands. Know how great it will feel when you finally get what you worked hard for.

Notice how terrible it feels when you ruin that plan by spending impulsively or with entitlement.

This an easy tip to get yourself climbing to success.

Now get started. See it. See the millions in your hands. The pool in your backyard. The beautiful wife by your side. See it and feel it. Feel the joy, the love, the warmth, the excitement!

Make it happen.

-MG

My Top 5 Crappy Financial Decisions

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I thought instead of lecturing, it would be fun to look back at my own financial mistakes over the years.

College:
1. Credit Cards. I came out of college with 20 grand in credit card debt. What should I have done instead? Not apply for a credit card! Not use credit cards for books and food and beer and all sorts of bs!
2. Student Loans. I could have drastically reduced my student loans by not taking as much money as possible from my loans, but every semester, I ended up with an extra grand in my hand for books and paying off credit cards. I paid down the credit card, but then racked the bill back up and suddenly owed a lot more on my school loan.
3. Drinking. Drinking cost me such an absurd amount of money. It’s sad to think about it.

Post College:
4. Moving out of my mom’s house too soon. I moved out of my mom’s house within weeks of graduating and getting a full time job. I had no idea how badly taxes would hurt or how much utilities would cost. We rented a 3 floor house for 600 a month. Super cheap. But paying the utilities? Super expensive!
5. Buying a car before paying off my previous loan. I owed 10K on my car when decided to take a loan on a 20K Mazda 6s. Ah, it was the sweest car and it ruined my life. I rationalized the hell out of buying the car and thought I could easily live without certain expenses to afford it. Wronnnng! This is what triggered me to fall down a massive financial hill for the next 5 years. The key to this is that yes, my windshield wiper broke. But that wasn’t a good enough reason to go 30K in debt. And it would have been MUCH cheaper to fix it than buying a new car.
6. Cashing out my 401k. Don’t ever do this. Ever! You’ll pay. Literally. No matter what.

The moral of the story? You live and you learn my friends. Learn from your mistakes and don’t ever make the same mistake twice.

Actually, learn from OTHER peoples’ mistakes. It’s a lot less painful! :)

-MG

8 Surefire Ways to Help You Find the Money to Survive

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You might find yourself scoffing at my ideas on automating your financial life so that you can save money. You may feel that you simply don’t have enough money for saving. Or maybe you follow the credo “the more I make, the less I have.”

Well, it’s time to wake up! Put your finances first, stop being stubborn and make money appear in your life! Stop NEEDING things that will supposedly fill the emptiness inside but don’t do anything for you in the longrun!

Instead, focus your money on creating a stable future for you and your family. Pay down debts. Get bills paid on time and save your way to financial freedom!

Here are some ways to free up money immediately:
1. Admit your mistakes. Be real, be humble. Don’t be defensive. You’re not perfect and somewhere along the line you probably bought something you couldn’t afford, got stuck in an unrealistically high priced contract for a gym or a phone or a car or got fired for being a wise ass. No one is perfect so don’t pretend you are. If you need to reneg on those agreements, it’s ok, but realize you may be in for legal or moral issues if you do. Is the agreement stopping you from feeding yourself and your family? It might be time to get out of it.
2. Cancel every recurring bill. Look through you bank statement for charges you get each month. If it’s not keeping the lights on or food in your stomach, cancel it. Cable, cancel it. Audible, cancel it. Any monthly subscription for a website, cancel it.
3. Stop drinkng. Are you finding yourself drinking each weekend and wondering where your money went? Stop! You’re probably dealing with stress and anxiety by drinking. Find a counselor or AA in your area to help you with motivation and strength. Face your fears. Stop drinking and reap the financial reward of having hundreds of dollars extra!
4. Stop Smoking. Think about how much you spend on smokes. They’re ten bucks a pack! What the hell?!? If you smoke two packs, that’s 20 dollars a week, 40 a month and over 400 per year! There are plenty of ways to quit at this point in time and when you do, you’ll be saving a lot of money. Do it for your financial health AND your physical health.
5. Reduce rent. Is your lease up? Find a new place. Find the cheapest place you can and make sure to take other utilities into account.
6. Move to a lower cost area. Are you living the city life? Maybe you should move to a lower cost suburb or a city with lower living costs.
7. Refinance your morgage. This MIGHT cost you more in interest if you refinance your 20 remaining years into 30 years, but is it going to reduce your monthly payment significantly and is it going to stop you from doing something regretable like not paying your mortgage?
8. Investigate extreme options like foreclosure and bankruptcy. Sometimes it’s your only option. Sometimes you just don’t have another choice. You’ll think about this long and hard and wonder whether you should do it. But it comes down to quality of life. Can you currently live life to the fullest or are you totally unable to provide a quality life for you and your family? Proceed with caution. This is a slippery slope and involves a lot of soul searching.

I believe every situation has a path to financial freedom. But it’s up to you to seek the help and make the decisions that will get you there. But you definitely can do it!

-MG

The Most Overlooked Money Tool for Never Forgetting Your Bills

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Want a quick and often overlooked method for making sure you’re never late on your bills again?

Two words: Bill Pay!

Yes folks, this is the easiest thing you can do to make sure you are paying your bills on time every month. But why, you ask? Why do you want to do such a thing? As I discussed in my post about systemizing your financial life, it will provide many things to your life. 1) is peace of mind. 2) is relief from the anxiety and stress of worrying about paying your bills and 3) is a sense of confidence that you CAN handle your money and expenses.

Just about every utility you have from cell phones to electricity have websites. They also have a way to let them deduct the money from your account automatically each month.

You may ask “but what about bills where there is no website like my landlord?” Great question Kimosabe. In that case, if you have a bank with online billp ay, you’re in luck(if not, get a better bank pal). You can setup your landlord as a new payee and setup an automatic payment to them each month. Your rent will be on time every month and you’ll feel the relief of knowing you won’t be getting evicted this month!

PRAISE JEBUS! Get it started NOW to get rid of some financial stress.