Why You Must Start Now

When it comes to saving and investing, time is your enemy (or your friend). Delaying is a nightmare that you will see later in your life. If you have children, one of the most important things you can ever do for them is to teach them to save a strong percentage of their income from their first part time job all the way thru their lives. If they establish that saving is not optional early, they will be wealthy on the back end of their lives (when they will need money the most).

Americans focus on education. Get into a good college. Get the degree. But most American children don’t get a good education in personal finance. As a result, they often feel saving and investing is optional. Even if they discover the importance of saving and investing, it is often after 40. Remember what we said about time and money?

We preach this all the time: save and purchase dividend producing assets early and you will be saved from a lot of crisis later. Instead of the lifestyles of the 80s and 90s, we should be focused on owning assets that produce more assets. It is as simple as that.

For most of us, we wish we have begun saving and then investing earlier. Consider that time + regular and automatic saving + automatic and regular investment = wealth creation.

Most everyone is looking for the fast way to wealth. Most of us will never play in the NBA, NFL or MLB. Most of us will never stand in front of 25,000 people singing our greatest hits. Most of us will never win the lottery. However, there are paths to gain access to personal stability and wealth growth.

If you don’t have a proper emergency savings fund, start. It will build faster than you think. We believe a proper emergency savings fund is 15 – 18 months of expenses. That breaks down like this: Six months of it should be in pure cash (money market savings). The balance should be in laddered certificates of deposit so that you are earning as much as possible but remaining as liquid as possible.

Even though people are down on their 401k investments, you should participate if you company has a program. However, the new days ahead will involve happiness for those who launch a Roth IRA with steady savings in addition to their 401k and contributions to emergency savings.

Every penny you save matters.

It will build faster than you think. GET STARTED.

Thank you for reading our blog. If you want, you can get our FREE monthly e-saver by going to http://www.stickyasset.com/blog and signing up in the e-mail block at the right-hand side of our main blog!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

How Do Some People Save And Others Don’t?

I have to give some credit to HSBCDirect.com for the following:

• Active Savers, a group of people characterized by their dedication to saving, entered the recession better prepared than others because of their savings lifestyle. They have not had to take drastic measures to adapt to uncertain financial times and are less likely to have had to cut back on spending, eating out, and making large purchases.

• For more than half (57 percent) of Active Savers, learning to save started at a young age. Putting money away is a value their parents instilled in them (73 percent).

• Savings comes first for nearly half (46 percent) of Active Savers. They’re willing to make sacrifices in order to be able to put money away.

Overall, a majority of the population has not allowed the economy to hamper their savings plans—81 percent have been able to put the same amount away, if not more.

Here’s the idea: Steady savers are better prepared for the downturns that always come in economy and personal situations. Steady savers that are most successful are those who save AUTOMATICALLY. This can include:

401k
Roth IRA
Traditional IRA
Emergency Savings

And you should have each one of these with automatic savings everytime you get paid.

Savings should be put away in FDIC-insured banks that offer the best interest rates.

Want more? Check out or main blog at http://www.stickyasset.com/blog.

Good luck. You’re on the right path thinking about putting money away for the future. Now…take more steps to protect your future by putting the automatic savings into action in each of the categories above.

Thank you.

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

Life Moves When You’re Not Watching (Why Strategic Savings Work)

You’ve seen the national insurance company say, “Life comes at you fast!” It’s funny, right? Well, it can be funny if you are prepared. Are you prepared? Let me explain.

It’s easy to look back on the moment you met your wife if you’ve been married for twenty years. How about looking back on your graduation from high school or college? Remember the moment you had your first kiss? How long ago was thall that?

Time moves faster than we are regularly monitoring. The longer you live the faster time seems to “slide right along” as a friend of mine says all the time.

If you develop a strategy that depends on automatic and steady savings, you will learn over time that it adds up faster than you think. Thinking strategically about problems like proper savings, automatic ways to save thru work (payroll) or home (checking to savings transfers) along with investing in low cost no-load mutual funds (once you are reached your proper emergency savings fund), will make your life better over time. This is because you will have more options.

If you have a job today, you must not see savings as an option. You should build your own plan to boost savings thru automatic savings. Seek out resources like this blog and http://www.stickyasset.com/blog to help you build the path you want to take.

Good things and bad things happen to everyone. You can’t change that. You can change how you react to those events of your life. That means planning to succeed.

One thing is absolutely certain. Time passes faster than any of us thinks about it. Time will move along. Thinking strategically and building a plan to save and invest wisely will make you the genius in your family. More than this it will build a safety net for your family and make your eventual retirement easier on you.

Your life shouldn’t be about a crisis. Your life should be about a plan. That will help you enjoy your life with your family. If you want more help, check out the e-book “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” at http://www.stickyasset.com and continue to do your research on personal finance on the internet. It is good investment you are already investing in now!

It’s the best gift you can give yourself and your family.

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

The Plan For Surviving The Great Recession

We are all hopeful that a depression has been avoided. Of course, the serious economists are still watchful of the possibility that the government cannot hold on and keep us away from still slipping into a modern version of the 1930’s style depression. If you are someone who likes to plan for the future, you shouldn’t be sounding the all clear to your friends and family either.

We continue to watch company earnings, unemployment, home sales and a variety of other factors in determining if we can truly “turn the corner.”

The truth has not changed. You must have a plan for surviving the “Great Recession.” This plan should include a reality view of the world YOU live in today.

You should have or work to build an emergency savings fund that includes 15 to 18 months of expenses in money market savings or certificates of deposit (or best in both). Now is NOT the time to pull back from a 401k unless you are carrying extra credit card debt and cannot afford to pay that debt off and push ahead in your 401k.

You must work to eliminate credit card debt and see these guys for who they are: The devil. That’s right – I said it. They are the devil. Your enemy. You should always treat them as such. Too many millions of Americans are still chasing their credit score when CASH IS KING.

Once you have secured your debt (eliminated or highly reduced it) and you have the proper emergency savings fund, work to steadily invest in mutual funds and diversify. We like no-load mutual funds. Look for low fees.

See your home for what it is: your home. Many millions of Americans refuse to see their home for what it is in terms of your wealth or poverty – your BIGGEST LIABILITY. Work to pay even small amounts extra in principle if you can because it will save you more than you realize in the life of the loan. In fact, if you steady-up on paying principle in addition to your monthly house “note,” you could knock YEARS and many, many thousands off of your debt. Homes are to live in. They are not speculative investment.

Invest in yourself. This means personal education. You can do it at the local community college or on-line. You can do some formal learning or training or teach yourself about saving and investing and work to generate passive income streams in addition to your “day jobs” to fund savings and investing.

People often only think to save when trouble comes. Steady and automatic savings will add up faster than you think.

You can do this. Develop wealth as a hobby. Be serious about it. Look to purchase things that begin to generate money on their own. This can be savings or mutual funds. It can – eventually be more.

Sign up for our FREE E-SAVER now at our main blog (www.stickyasset.com/blog). Good luck!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

Some People Are Finding A Way Around The Recession

None of us can control the economy. You and I cannot control economic downturn where we work. While we have some control over how we are perceived at work and how that may impact our job status in a downturn, for the most part we cannot control who is downsized and who stays as it relates to our own personal job.

What can you control?

1. Reduction in spending. You can review your expenses over the last three months and look for where you can cut spending and apply that money to savings for “future trouble” or short, medium or long-term goals (depending on your planning up to this point).
2. Money Diet for bills. Start a process with credit cards first and then all of the businesses that send you a bill on a monthly basis. Your goal is to do what good businesses do: reduce bills or expense by a percentage. Perhaps that is 10 or 15%. You are simply going to start with the question: “What can we do to reduce your bill by 15%? I want to keep doing business with you. Please help me.” Don’t take no for an answer. Ask for a supervisor. Put the savings to actual savings. That is the real bottom line.
3. Automatic Savings. Everyone talks about “paying yourself first.” It’s the hardest things to do until you make the decision to do it. You can do automatic savings thru work or your checking account. It is the most organized way to pile up savings (faster than you think). Do your research. Make sure your bank is FDIC-insured. Look for the highest rates on money market savings. Don’t just leave this in some local bank account getting .0000234% interest.
4. Emergency Savings Fund. In today’s world you should have a 15 to 18 month emergency savings fund. That means 15 to 18 months of expenses in savings incase you are laid off from work or experience one of the many other things YOU WILL EXPERIENCE over time in today’s world. With automatic savings (see #3), you can build savings faster than you think. You just have to get started!
5. 401k. This is a savings vehicle that is best judged over a thirty-year period of time. If you are not doing this today and your company offers it, you should begin —- even if you start with a 2% contribution. We are big believers in STARTING. Don’t wait. Go, go, go!
6. Roth IRA or Traditional IRA. If you qualify for the Roth IRA, you should do it. Yes, in addition to the 401k. If not, go traditional. Do your research on the internet and always look for low fees. Low, low, low is the way to go.
7. Negotiating. In the old days (the 1990’s), it was okay to be a little shy about negotiation. You are standing in front of someone selling you a product. They are applying a certain amount of pressure (as they have been trained to do). You blink. That’s the way it has always worked, right? No, we now live in an era of the CONSUMER. You must do your research before a purchase. You must seek multiple places where you can get the same product. You must make them emotional. You must frame the issue so you can gain the advantage ahead of time. Eliminate emotion and time table from your purchases (patience) and you will save THOUSANDS.

And put that money in savings.

Now get out there and save and invest like a smart consumer (remember to do your research first).

Good luck.

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

What If The Financial Crisis Was An Adventure?

Suppose that you were charged with the responsibility of representing a group of people on an important mission in a foreign country. What if your assignment was to learn as much as you can about the local culture and develop relationships to get ahead and bring the rest of your “group” along to success in this new country. Maybe their are people in your own family tree who did this in the 1700’s, the 1840’s or even more recent.

What would you do?

I guess you would find out as much about the people and how they get along, right? You might read as much as you can on how to become a part of the community. You might research and learn as much about the people as possible, right?

Okay. We’ve had a meltdown. Some people lost everything. Some people didn’t have anything to begin with. Some lost money in 401ks or in pure stocks. What about you?

Well, today is a new day. You have the power to begin something new. You can begin a new adventure. The “group” you will represent will be your family. The foreign country will be your process of building a more secure financial life.

How do you do it?

The same way you would do it if you landed in a foreign country on a mission for your “group.” You would learn all you could about the people and the mission.

If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you know we are big believers in doing your own research, spending an hour a day or an hour every other day working for “just yourself.” You know that we believe in automatic savings and building assets that generate income for now and in the future. But you should know about our philosophy of “getting to know the people and the ways of the foreign country” (known as wealth-building). After all, many people with money for some reason don’t want you to know how to really get ahead. So, we recommend that you make it easy on yourself.

That’s right. Check out sites like http://www.bloomberg.com, http://www.wsj.com, http://www.kiplinger.com and more. We recommend that you have regular subscriptions for Money and Kiplinger. Work to understand people that save and invest regularly. This is not so you leap off the deep-end and start buying penny stocks (we recommend AGAINST that) or the latest hot thing. We recommend that you have these types of magazines in your home so that you spend time getting to understand and think like richer people.

Oh, and I should say that we are not recommending that you boost automatic savings and build wealth for the sake of becoming rich. You boost savings to increase the safety net around your family, and you build wealth so that your family will have options. Times could become worse for the average family. If you have a job, you have opportunity to save.

Take the opportunity. Start automatic an savings program. Start learning how rich people think. Take advantage of their “showing off” how to increase savings and build wealth.

If you haven’t already signed up for our FREE monthly e-saver, you can do it now @ http://www.stickyasset.com/blog.

Good luck on your new adventure. I hope your “group” does very well indeed.

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

Looking Back On What You Did In The Financial Crisis

When you look back on this time, will you remember a time spent building savings and investing? Yes, these are difficult times. If you have a job, you have to think you are in a better position than some to find ways to save money.

You have to consider with unemployment on the rise that you could end up without a job for a period of time in this downturn.

It also takes longer today to get back in the workforce. You can usually depend on an average of one month for every eight thousand dollars in income as a guideline for length of time it may take you to find that next job.

What can you do to improve your situation should you become unemployed? If you don’t have an emergency savings fund, you should begin to build one immediately. We recommend that you work to build 15 to 18 months of expenses in an emergency fund savings (money market account). Make sure your bank is FDIC-insured. If you cannot spare part of your income to savings, you must put your life “on a money diet.” If you haven’t already sat down and gone over expenses in of the last three (3) months, you should do that. Look for areas where you can cut expenses. This could include eating out less or cutting deductables on insurance. You can bundle services for phone, cable and internet.

We live in the era of the consumer. Unfortunately, most don’t take advantage of it. So much research on costs and pricing is available to you on the internet. You are now in a better postion to take advantage of on-line coupon codes and to negotiate for each purchase you make.
There is no embarrassment in asking for a discount. Do your research on costs and get busy in terms of putting the emotion and pressure on THEM and not you.

They are not your friends.

You should also be careful to develop strategic shopping plans. In other words, don’t purchase things you don’t plan to purchase ahead of time. You want to seek out ways to save on things you ordinarily purchase. Take the percentage or amount you saved on each purchase and put it in a money market savings account. If you don’t remove the money you saved from your checking account, YOU HAVEN’T SAVED A DIME!

Do all you can to identify ways you can save automatically thru 401k contribution, IRA or Roth IRA and steady contributions to emergency savings.

You may not always have a job. If the harder times come, you will be better off taking these strategic steps and having a backbone of savings.

It will make your life better.

Tons of people read advice like this and never follow up. Don’t let that be you. Start taking action TODAY. You’ll be glad you did.

You can check out our main blog and sign up for our FREE e-saver to save you thousands @ http://www.stickyasset.com/blog.

Good luck!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog

How Can I Save Money?

It’s the question on everyone’s lips. How can I save money? How can I save MORE money? How can I help my family thru this financial crisis?

WHAT IF YOU DROPPED 10 – 15 % OF YOUR EXPENSES STARTING FEBRUARY 15, 2009?

A lot of companies are now experiencing downsizing, re-sizing, outright layoffs and asking their employees to take across-the-board pay cuts to survive the credit crisis and consumer pullback. Get yourself and your family ahead of the curve by reviewing your family budget. Give a hard look to your expenses to see if you can shave 10 – 15% of your overall expenses. The key is to look at the last three (3) months. Review everything with the goal in mind of reducing your expenses by 10 – 15% across the board. Some of this may be accomplished by:

Reviewing your grocery shopping and going to SAMS and/or WALMART instead of your regular grocery store.

Eliminate Starbucks.

Downsize from restaurants. Check out fast food vs more expensive restaurants. Reduce the number of times you go out at all. When you go to a sit-down restaurant, consider

Bundle for savings with cell phones, cable and internet. Shop it to different companies. Remember – competition is an excellent thing.

Save on gasoline. Prices go up and prices come down, but you should be doing research on where to get gas near you at the lowest prices. Little amounts add up.

Check your bank statement. Compare banks to see if you can save on fees. The same is true for credit cards (although we are very negative about credit cards in general; see the info on “You can’t own credit cards – credit cards own you” at http://www.STICKYASSET.com).

Review all your insurance and consider shopping it to a variety of insurance companies and raising your limits on deductibles to give you more freed-up cash.

Everyone wants to know how they can save without living like you’re poor. Of course, the more you trim now, the more you will have to put into money market and CDs to begin earning you money.

The truth is that our country is in trouble because of debt. We have gone from a country of savers to a country with high-debt. That has a poor payoff. It is ruining our lives. If you focus your efforts for even a short period of time, you will benefit from the development of cash savings.

But let’s give some examples of saving while you still spend:

Can’t stay away from CONCERTS?

Why pay what everyone else pays? Seriously. Check out http://www.STUBHUB.com. Here you can search for discounts off of what you will “usually” pay. Do your research. Remember: You are not saving unless you take the money between what you would have paid and what you actually paid and put that money in money market savings.

Google your favorite stores and look for coupons. All retailers are getting serious about offering value.

Check out standbys such as http://www.shopittome.com or http://www.retailmenot.com. And save, save, save.

The best advice we can give at this point is: Don’t chase credit ratings. Build emergency savings. We recommend that you work toward having 15 – 18 months of expenses in emergency savings. You think the old world way of having 3 to 6 months of savings is okay? How long will it take you to replace your income if you are downsized?

Don’t have an emergency savings fund? Sell the DVDs that you have that you really don’t cherish. Sell compact discs. Sell other things in your house that you really don’t use or cherish. Things are just things. In these times, it will pay for you to start an emergency savings fund. Work on your expenses and begin by saving even as little as 1% of your next paycheck. Increase this by 1% each time you get paid. Automatic savings is always best, but there are many ways to “trick yourself” into saving. More tips are available on this blog and on http://www.STICKYASSET.com.

It is time to get serious before it is too late.

Remain positive by saving and finding ways to increase your savings to debt ratio. You can do it, and it will make a HUGE difference in your FUTURE. It’s not about what you make. It’s not about what is in your checking account. It is about what you save.

Thank you and good luck! Check in with us at http://www.STICKYASSET.com to find more ways to save that go way beyond simple discounts.

http://www.STICKYASSET.com