What Motivates Good Savers?

When it comes right down to it, the whole thing is about what motivates you. When it comes to thinking long-term (which is really what developing a steady and regular savings plan is all about), you could start by thinking about the carnage of the last few years. You could think about the jobs situation or how slowly the economy is recovering. I’m not being negative, but it is important to point out that so many experts are suggesting the future will be nothing like the last thirty years.

What can you do?

Just by reading this blog or focusing on people who are interested in saving regularly will be helpful to you.

Brainstorm with your family. Lay out all the reasons that you want to adjust your spending and regular savings. You might be amazed at how good your own family can be at coming up with savings ideas.

If you’ve been reading our blog for any amount of time, you know we believe in negotiation. But we also believe in soaking up spending reductions and making them a part of regular savings.

In other words: Save 12% on your grocery shopping this week using coupons or purchasing “buys”? Take the 12% and push it into a very real savings account as if you had spent it. That’s savings.

Talk to your cable company and reduce your monthly “nut?” Take the amount you saved and add it to what I call “The 1st Bill.” That is a bill you “make-up” and put in the payment column of your family budget each month. The “1st Bill” can be used this way:

Save money by reducing your spending on a bill? Add that amount saved to the “1st Bill.”

Save money by refinancing your mortgage? Take the amount you reduced in your mortgage and add it to the “1st Bill.” This “bill” will increase as you find additional ways to save (or when you get a raise). This increases your regular monthly savings.

But don’t stop there. Brainstorm with your family. Keep a keen eye on ways to save. You will be shocked how quickly you can develop serious savings.

It’s worth it. And you can do it.

HELPING YOUR KIDS GET AHEAD

If you think I was born saving money, you are wrong. My own family didn’t believe in saving. They don’t believe in having a 401k. Our people have had “emergencies” all our lives. These emergencies always get in the way of saving money regularly, and our family is not different than millions of other good American families. I was not brought up to save and invest regularly and I have made every mistake you can think about when it comes to money. My parents thought they were shielding me from the realities of bills and worry. In fact, they were isolating me. I have had to learn from my own mistakes over time. I have had to learn the absolute hard way how to get savings on track and make it a part of your life without killing your lifestyle or allowing “it” to overwhelm you. It is my mission to share what I have learned about regularly saving with my own children and also share it with you. That’s why we have a lot of “free” (blogs like http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com and http://www.stickyasset.com/blog and groups on Facebook like “Coupons & Coupon Codes”) associated with our mission!

It is our goal to encourage everyone to teach our children about money, managing money, and saving regularly (and automatically. Children should receive lessons about compound interest and steady investing for a long-term future before they face the hard choices of adult life while being subjected to the consequences of the high-speed marketing culture we live in. As a parent, we are always concerned that they get a good education and go to a good college so they can make a lot of money or have a valued career path. The truth is that we could do our children the biggest favor by simply sharing with them sound saving and investing principles.

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. You can get our free e-saver newsletter by signing up at http://www.StickyAsset.com/blog.

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 it for only $4.95 at http://www.middleclassmoney.com.

Good luck to you and your children.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth
http://www.stickyasset.com

Connect with us on Facebook with these free groups:
“Coupons & Coupon Codes”
“Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves”
All on Facebook – join. It’s free.

The Future Of Your Money

When you are in your twenties, you don’t think about the future. Most people are adjusting to the freedom of being an adult and trying to figure out what they like about being on their own. By this time, your major marketing influence is from credit cards saying you can have it all.

It’s in your twenties and thirties that people start to get married and develop their own families. That’s when the responsibilities set in and you slowly begin to be like that lobster in the tank of warm water. Ahhhh. You don’t actually notice the rising debt and the difficulties you will see in a few short years.

If you are reading this and you are in your twenties, consider this a message from your future self: Develop your own savings program that includes a 401k if that is available to you, a Roth IRA and the continuous development of emergency savings.

The earlier you begin saving regularly, the better your life will become in terms of balanced financial security.

If you begin early saving 20% of your after tax income (paychecks) every time you get paid, you will not miss this money and it will help you to have freedom most people don’t have by the time you are in your “middle age.”

Start with our “1% Savings Plan” if you want. (You can check this out in previous blog entries or in “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” at http://www.MiddleClassMoney.com).

Think about the head start you will have if you begin now.

You should develop an emergency savings fund that is appropriate for 2010: 15 to 18 months of expenses in money market savings and certificates of deposit. This will happen faster than you think if you focus on steady savings.

After you have your emergency savings, you should “focus your savings guns” on steady investment. We call this building the “asset train.” Assets – not credit – help you build wealth. When you see marketing for credit cards, think the opposite and you have the answer.

Cash is king. Your checking account is a money laundering account for other people’s money. Use any excuse to push money out of checking into savings. You’ll be glad you did over time. Checking accounts are leaky instruments.

If you are past your twenties and thirties, remember this: It is never – NEVER – too late to begin and develop a REGULAR savings program. If you already have kids, get them involved in your savings program. Brainstorm with them. Prepare them.

Start now.

HELPING YOUR KIDS GET AHEAD

If you think I was born saving money, you are wrong. My own family didn’t believe in saving. They don’t believe in having a 401k. They have had “emergencies” all their lives. These emergencies always get in the way of saving money regularly. I was not brought up to save and invest regularly and I have made every mistake you can think about when it comes to money. My parents thought they were shielding me from the realities of bills and worry. In fact, they were isolating me. I learned nothing until I had made many of the mistakes they made. I have had to learn the absolute hard way how to get savings on track and make it a part of your life without killing your lifestyle. I have had to learn the hard way how companies mislead with marketing. It is my mission to share what I have learned about regularly saving with my own children and also share it with you. That’s why we have a lot of “free” (blogs like http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com and http://www.stickyasset.com/blog and groups on Facebook like “Coupons & Coupon Codes”)!

In this country we don’t do enough to teach our children about money, managing money, saving regularly (and automatically), compound interest and steady investing for a long-term future. As a parent, we are always concerned that they get a good education and go to a good college so they can make a lot of money or have a valued career path. The truth is that we could do our children the biggest favor and one of the best things by sharing with them sound saving and investing principles.

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 it for only $4.95 at http://www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth
http://www.stickyasset.com

Connect with us on Facebook with these free groups:
“Coupons & Coupon Codes”
“Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves”
“Saving Money”
“The Money Store”
All on Facebook – join. It’s free.

Now Money – Later Money

Fast money is hardly ever money that lasts.

People always want the shortcuts. How can I get rich quick?

Think about the things in your life that have real value. If you want to become wealthy because you think it will solve all your problems, you are probably wrong. Money equals choice. There is nothing wrong with using money to do good things for your family and the people you love and care about in your life.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, chances are you are starting to think about how you can find and apply principles that will help you and your family save more money. This is an excellent place to start. Our blog today is not going to tell you a secret. We will tell you that the first secret is out in the open.

That secret is “begin.”

And remember that the more you sacrifice now and trick yourself into pushing more of your income to savings for later, the more you will truly build wealth.

Spend some time thinking about how you want to build your financial life. Start building your own plan from the ground up. You can do it.

Make a difference in the lives of your own kids. Take a stand and recognize that the corporate world is geared against us in the middle class. However, they need us as much as we want some of the things they tempt us with.

So, today we start with this word: START. You can do it.

GIVE YOUR KIDS A CHANCE YOU NEVER HAD

In this country we don’t do enough to teach our children about money, managing money, saving regularly (and automatically), compound interest and steady investing for a long-term future. As a parent, we are always concerned that they get a good education and go to a good college so they can make a lot of money or have a valued career path. The truth is that we could do our children the biggest favor and one of the best things by sharing with them sound saving and investing principles.

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 it for only $4.95 at http://www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth
http://www.stickyasset.com

Do You Have A Personal Finance Plan For Your Family?

People are saving more than they were two years ago. That’s a fact. There is a serious credit pullback in the country as well. However, the main question is this: Do you have a plan?

What is your plan for regular and automatic savings?

What is your plan for your debt? Do you have a goal for paying off your debt?

What is your plan for credit cards?

What is your plan for retirement? Are you prepared to live off of Social Security (even though you may hear that this program is running out of money)? Do you have participation in your company 401k plan?

Have you seen our recommendation for the appropriate emergency savings fund for a middle class family in 2010?

Do you know that we recommend participation in a 401k and either a Roth IRA or traditional IRA as well?

Here’s the bottom-line: You don’t have to be overwhelmed with these questions. You do have to have a plan. You can help yourself develop a plan to reduce and eliminate debt, expand emergency savings and plan for retirement. Yes, even with the recent financial meltdown.

HELP YOURSELF & THEN HELP YOUR CHILDREN

In this country we don’t do enough to teach our children about money, managing money, saving regularly (and automatically), compound interest and steady investing for a long-term future. As a parent, we are always concerned that they get a good education and go to a good college so they can make a lot of money or have a valued career path. The truth is that we could do our children the biggest favor and one of the best things by sharing with them sound saving and investing principles.

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 it for only $4.95 at http://www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth
http://www.stickyasset.com

The 2 Most Important Keys To Personal Financial Success Right Now

There is a lot of talk about the financial crisis and its’ longer-term impact on our economy and your lifestyle over the next thirty years. Everyone is focused on how much money has been lost and the stress businesses and families are under in the current economic environment. In fact, everywhere you look people are focused on how to get your investments to “return” or “perform.” Because of this, it would be easy to miss where your focus should be placed now to best survive the current economy and keep your family on safe footing. And you should definately focus on the keys to getting through this period with as little difficulty as possible because there is a lot of stress and strain still coming.

There are two (2) keys that can best propel your personal financial success over the next ten (10) years of your financial life.

1. Keep your job, stabilize your income. Of course, you should do everything you can to be valuable and point out your value where you work. While many businesses are better positioned in terms of debt and effeciency than in past downturns, the current economic slowdown is one of the more serious downturns in history. The world is connected in ways that it has never been connected, and all of this can impact local jobs of any kind. Believe it or not, keeping your income is one of the two (2) most serious keys to surviving and even thriving in the next decade. While making sure you are creating value at work and that value is coming to light with your higher up managers, make sure you network with other people in your company, your industry and similar industries. In addition to keeping your job, you want to be open to ideas and ways to increase your income. You also want to position yourself to take advantage of any opportunities that will eventually come your way – especially if you are networking and building friends. You can network in so many ways in 2009. Use every tool, but recognize that you need to be open but don’t want to appear to be searching for new employment. Your goal is to be open to opportunity – not create the need for a new job. So, when you are posting on Facebook or other social networking sites or having contact with networking “friends,” just remember your image is important and these kinds of new social networks are more visual and open than people think.

2. While the “smart people on tv” (a questionable series of words) are focused on the stock market and investments, you must make sure that you understand the second important key to getting ahead in the next ten (10) years: Make sure you have a right-sized emergency savings fund. That means – brace yourself – your goal should be to build 15 to 18 months of savings in an FDIC-insured bank. The first six (6) months of that savings can be put in the highest interest money market savings account you can find (again – FDIC-insured). The balance of this “liquid money” should be put in very short-term certificates of deposit (nothing over 6 months). This recommendation is made because replacing your income may take much longer than you think in this economy or the economy that develops over the next ten plus years in the U.S. We constantly talk in both http://www.stickyasset.com/blog and http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com about how important systematic, automatic and regular savings is today. You will not likely do better than paying yourself first. To many, the question is how to do a good job of paying yourself first. We talk about this in depth in the free monthly e-saver we send out to members of our e-saver. You can sign up for free at http://www.stickyasset.com/blog.

These are the two (2) big keys to keep your family on firmer financial ground in the next ten (10) years. Of course, debt reduction is also important. We give you regular tips on saving and investing on this blog and our other free blog http://www.stickyasset.com/blog. It’s just time for the middle class to take action and control what we can about our financial future.

The only product we sell associated with any of our blogs or personal finance groups is “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” ($4.95 at http://www.middleclassmoney.com). A lot of people ask us why we charge so little. Our response is that we want this information to be accessible to everyone who has an interest in increasing their wealth in the next ten (10) years. We also tell you that it is available for a limited time only at this price because we think people put more effort into something they purchase. That’s why “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” is not free. If you want free, stick to our two blogs and our FREE Facebook group you can join. Just do a search on Facebook for “Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves.” Join there.

Thank you for reading. Our goal is to help people develop their own plan for saving and investing to build a safety-net and then wealth for the future. We’re gonna need it.

Loyd Ford
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.stickyasset.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth

The Best Advice You May Ever Get On Money

The Numbers

10.6% – The charge-off rate on credit card debt in May, the highest on record.*

2.9% – The delinquency rate for prime mortgages in the first quarter, up 20% from the previous quarter.*

49% – The portion of recipients who have exhausted their unemployment benefits BEFORE finding jobs, as of May vs. 37% a year ago.*

These numbers speak for themselves. Our biggest concern at this blog is the millions who feel they would like to save but don’t because they think they can’t.

YOU CAN save no matter who you are and no matter what you earn. Most Americans gain a certain identity from their job and what they earn in their paycheck. If that identity shifts to saving and investing, the course of future history can be completely altered.

Think about this: You don’t need to change future history for many. You can focus on how you can change future history for your family and all that it touches in the future. You can change the way you educate your children on personal finance.

Regular savings + Investing in assets that produce other assets of the same kind + commitment to reduction and elimination of debt + time = wealth.

Do you really want to grow wealth? If you do, you will follow this formula and seek more informal and perhaps some formal education to always learn more about how the rich put money under pressure

Saving Is Not An Option

Because we focus on what we would call “other education” in the United States, millions and millions of children grow up to think that saving is optional. The truth is: Saving is only optional if you want to guarantee poverty when you are older (or even sooner).

If you are serious about learning the path of the rich when dealing with money, you should spend more time learning what they already know and pass along to their own children. You can utilize our blogs (www.stickyasset.com/blog and http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com).
If It Is Free, It’s For Me

Sign up for our FREE monthly e-saver @ http://www.stickyasset.com/blog. Look for the e-mail sign-up window. We will not sell your e-mail address or share any of your information. We are all about you and your family developing your own plan to boost savings regularly, lose or eliminate fees and waste and grow long-term wealth.

A BONUS FOR YOU
Finally, the only thing we sell of any kind is “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis.” You may purchase this for $4.95 for a limited time only at http://www.MiddleClassMoney.com. We don’t apologize for charging people. It is a very small fee, and it is totally worth it. Inside “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” we share direct secrets with you about strategies used by the rich to propel wealth. If you are not interested in these secrets, don’t purchase it. If you are, it cost about the same amount as a cup of coffee at Starbucks. You can do this.

Join our FREE Facebook group Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves™. The only thing we ask is that after you join you invite at least five (5) additional people you care about to join as well.

No matter who you are – you can do this. If you want to build savings, it won’t happen overnight. However, it will grow A LOT FASTER than you think.

Get started. This is the best advice you will ever get. Take it and run with it. Start today.

Thank you.

Loyd Ford
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.stickyasset.com
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth

Don’t forget to invite others to join Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves™ only on Facebook.

*from the July 20, 2009 Fortune Magazine. Sources: Moody’s office thrift supervision: Department Of Labor.

Stack Your Money Automatically

Money does not solve all problems. Money can bring your problems toward you faster than you think. The key is to bring balance to your life. That does not usually happen with a big lottery score.

If you want to be successful in life, strive for balance. That includes making regular savings anything but optional.

Automatic savings is the very best way you can claim your place at the table of balance. You should be saving because you want to have options for you and your family down the line (beyond today).

Reduction and elimination of debt (especially credit card debt) is essential to long-term security. Then, building and purchasing assets instead of liabilities that tie you to the grown.

Want the inside secrets on saving more and wise investing in any economy? Sign up for your FREE monthly e-saver @ http://www.stickyasset.com/blog. Go to http://www.middleclassmoney.com and purchase “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” for only $4.95. Join our FREE group on Facebook: Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves.

Thank you for reading our blog. Want the best advice you will ever get?

Don’t wait. Seriously. Don’t wait.

Begin now. Start. Go. As Nike says, “Just do it!”

Loyd Ford
http://www.stickyasset.com/blog
http://www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
http://www.middleclassmoney.com
http://www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth