Cashflow Blog

In all my financial interactions -  be it planning for clients, training, teaching or writing, people have come to me with some problem which they think is unique.

In all the financial problems, I am able to find a pattern. Believe it or not, people more often than not choose the problem by their behavior. It is easy for me to find a pattern and say, “Well you choose your problem, did you not?“

Your financial problems would have been caused by some (or all) of the following financial behavior:

1. Not planning: The single biggest problem for most people is that they just do not plan their finances. Even if they are not happy about the results of what they have done so far, they do not change the way things are done.
2. Overspending: Many people with not very high incomes have very high ambitions. Most of this problem is because the salesmen in most shops do not tell you the price of a product, they only tell you the EMI - so anything from a plasma TV to a luxury home on the outskirts of the city are made to look cheap!
3. Not talking finance at home: Children are kept away from the finance topics at the dining table. Finance is perhaps the second most taboo topic at home! So many children grow up without knowing how much of sacrifice their parents have gone through to educate them.
4. Parents spending on education and marriage: There are just too many kids out there who believe that they need to worry about savings, investment and life insurance only at the age of 32 plus. This means your father, father-in-law or a bank loan has funded your education and marriage. Kids should take on financial responsibility at a much younger age than what is happening currently.
5. Marriage between financially incompatible people: Most marriages under stress are actually under financial stress. Either the husband or the wife is from a rich background and the other partner cannot understand or cope with the spending pattern. It is necessary to match people financially before marriage.
6. Delaying saving for retirement: “I am only 27 years old why should I think of retirement“ seems to be a very valid refrain for many 32-year olds! Every year that you delay in investing the greater the amount that you will have to save later in your life. Till the age of 32 it might be feasible for you to catch up, but after some time the amount that you need to save for retirement just flies away.
7. Very little life insurance: With all the risks of life styles, travel, etc. illness and premature death are common. We all have classmates who had heart attack at the age of 32 but still pretend that we do not need life or medical insurance.
8. Not prepared for medical emergencies: Normally big emergencies - financially speaking - are medical emergencies. Being unprepared for them - by not having an emergency fund is quite common.
9. Falling prey to financial pitches: The quality of pitches has improved! Aggressive young kids are recruited by brokerage houses, banks, mutual funds, life insurance companies, etc. and all these kids are selling mutual funds, life insurance, portfolio management schemes, structured products, et al.
10. Buying financial products from `obligated persons`: This is perhaps one of the worst things you can do in your financial life. A friend, relative, neighbor, colleague who has been doing something else suddenly becomes a financial guru because they have become an agent! You are saddled with a dud product for life!
11. Financial illiteracy: Most people do not wish to know or learn about financial products. They simply ask, Where do I have to sign? So buying a mutual fund is easier than buying life insurance!
12. Ignoring small numbers for too long: What difference will it make if I save $100 a month? Well over a long period it could make you a millionaire! So start early and invest wisely. It will make you rich. That is the power of compounding.
13. Urgent vs important: Most expenses, which look urgent, are perhaps not so important - the shirt or shoe at a sale. That luxury item which was being offered at 30% discount is such an example. These small leakages are all reducing the amount of money you will have for the bigger things like education or retirement.
14. Focusing too much on money: Money is no longer a commodity to buy things. It is a scorecard of one`s life. That will cause stress, and yoga might help. However if you will seek a branded yoga teacher - so that your friends think you have arrived, yoga it self could cause financial stress!

PV Subramanyam is a financial domain trainer and can be contacted at pv.subramanyam@irisindia.net

Here is the original:
14 Common Financial Problems!

Most people out there always talk, or worry about how much money they make.  They compare salaries for jobs.  They get second jobs to supplement their income.  They leave jobs to go make more elsewhere.  Everything they do in life is based on the final end of year income.  How much did that W2 or 1040 claim you made for the year?

Well, I’ve learned that this is the absolute worst way to judge your financial situation.  In fact, it doesn’t matter how much you make.  Your financial situation has very little to do with your income.

It has everything to do, though, with your expenses, or what I like to call your ‘outcome’.

Expenses are the key to getting rich. As Robert Kiyosaki said in his book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, the definition of wealth is how many days you can live without working.  In order to live everyday without working, you must have more passive income than expenses.  Passive income is defined as income you gain without having to do any physical work (i.e. collecting rent checks, music royalties, stock dividends, etc.).

In our education system, they teach us to do well, go to college, and get a prominent job with a great salary.  However, let’s look at some of the jobs.  Most doctors go to school for umpteenth years, and then get out and have to build their practice.  They make nice incomes, but they also usually have very high expenses due to student loans and the cost of their education.

A doctor may make over $200,000 / year.  But add in a family, education bills, insurance cost, taxes, natural debt, and everyday expenses, and your ‘Outcome’ is maybe about $50,000/year.  Now let’s take a cop. A cop does not have to go to school for that long, if at all.  He makes a salary of somewhere b/t $60 -$100k (at least in NJ). That sounds like a lot less than the doctor, but it’s not.

The cop has very little, if any, expenses.  Being a cop, he gets a lot of ‘privileges’ and connections in the town.  He spends very little money on anything except everyday expenses.  He also only works 4 days/week, so he has 3 days to do something else to supplement his income.  At the end of the year, he probably had the same ‘outcome’, if not better, as the debt-ridden doctor.

Now, not every doctor is left with student loans.  Not every cop is debt free.  It is not necessarily the job I am criticizing.  I am speaking about the thought process this country teaches in its education system.  They expect you to want to go out and make the highest salary, but they don’t teach you anything on how to handle your expenses, how to properly buy a home, or how to balance your finances.  They expect you to learn it on your own.

Until a good friend handed me ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, my financial education was non-existent. I thought you got rich by making the most money every year.  I didn’t know anything about passive income, balancing finances, or even what the real definition of being rich is.  After I read this book, and countless others like it, I started to understand what it means to be wealthy.  I made it my goal to further my financial education every day.

This made my goals easier to choose. It made decisions easier to make. I now had an education to base them on. The one thing that definitely stood out was….it’s not your income, it’s your ‘outcome’. It does not matter how much money you make, it’s how much you keep. Controlling your expenses is the key to getting rich, not your income.

I’m curious about everyone else’s take on the lack of financial education most Americans have.  Feel free to comment on any situations you have experienced in your life that may be related.  I’d love to start a discussion on this topic so we can all learn a little more…..

~ yinvsyang.com

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It’s Your ‘Outcome’, not Income that Matters.

Late payments can turn an otherwise normal credit card balance into an unbearable burden.

Some credit cards charge incredibly high amounts as punitive fees when you fail to pay on time.   Thus, you should avoid such situations as the road to bankruptcy is a one way path and late payments are the first steps.

You may think it somewhat overstated but the truth is that most people who end up defaulting and ruining their credit score for many years start by missing payments and paying late.   Fees pill up, interest rates grow and before you know you can’t even pay the minimum.   Believe me when I say, if action is not taken, that’s the beginning of the end.

The advice would be then: Avoid paying late and NEVER miss a payment.

If your financial situation is complicated you may find the following guidelines useful to avoid penalties and bad notes on your credit report that may compromise your ability to get finance in the future:

Don’t just pay, pay in time.

Lawyers have a saying “he who pays wrong, pays twice”.  Pay before payment is due, if possible a week before or more.   Otherwise, if something comes up you won’t have enough time to solve it and you’ll get penalized.

What you may think justifies your late payment surely doesn’t make it for the credit card issuer. Within your credit card bill you’ll find all the instructions regarding payment.  Follow them accurately; pay where you are supposed to pay, how you are supposed to pay and when you are supposed to pay.

Can’t pay full? Always pay the minimum!

If you don’t have money to pay the whole balance, don’t worry.  But you should always pay the minimum.

In fact even if you’ll be able to pay more in a week or two, pay the minimum amount required first. You can always add up to it by sending additional payments.  As soon as your credit card bill arrives you should have the minimum set aside and you should pay it immediately.

Once you are sure you won’t be charged a late fee, you can always consider paying a higher amount. But you’ll rest assured that no additional fees will be added to your next bill.

Skip-a-payment services

Make sure your credit card issuer offers this service.  A Skip a payment service let’s you request a waiver on your payment that month when something unexpected happens and you can’t pay on time or in full.

Use this service wisely as it usually can be used only once a year.  So make sure the current situation is really an emergency and you have no other means to solve your problem.  Obviously this service has a cost and you’ll have to pay it the following month so ensure that the fee for such a service is not larger than the amount you’ll be saving for not paying late fees.

Change your due date

Finally, if your credit card bill arrives at a time on the month you don’t have enough money to cover it and the due date is just too close to your payment date, just contact your credit card issuer and ask them to move the due date to a more comfortable day on the month so you can be sure you’ll have time to arrange payment if there is any problem.

Bryan Quinn is a financial advisor with more than thirty years of experience in the field of finance who aids people undergoing financial problems and helps them obtain personal loans, home loans, student loans and grants, consolidation loans, car loans and many other financial products regardless of their credit situation. For more smart tips on Credit Cards and Bankruptcy you can visit www.badcreditloanservices.com

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Avoid Credit Card Late Fees!

I just finished watching Robert Kiyosaki and Steve Forbes speak on “Stocks, Politics, and the Economy: Prudent Strategies” at the Forbes.com iConference.

Here are a few bits of wisdom Robert offered:

“The biggest thing about financial intelligence is knowing when to save and when not to save.” (He pointed out that in today’s economy, he’s not saving — he’s investing!)

“Banks will always give me money for real estate.” (Banks typically won’t give you money to invest in stock)

“If you’re going to invest today, invest globally.”

“The tax code incentivizes the entrepreneur and punishes the employee.” (Become an entrepreneur to build your wealth and to take advantage of the tax breaks the tax code offers.)

In a comment about today’s political situation, Steve Forbes noted: “Never underestimate the power of politicians to muck things up.”

A concise summary of the discussion is: Increase your own financial IQ so that you can take care of yourself regardless of what happens to the economy.

Originally posted here:
Robert Kiyosaki and Steve Forbes on the Forbes.com iConference

“Poor people have jobs, Rich and Successful people have careers.” - Colin Cowherd ESPN Radio

I heard this over the radio one day and it took me a while to figure out what he meant. It was one of those days where I just had a few minutes to tune into the radio. As soon as I turned it on I heard this. I don’t know what lead up to this statement but it struck me and stuck with me.

I brought up this statement with my students, most of whom fall into the poor or poverty social class, and they all understood exactly what I was saying.

I explained it like this:

Poor people have jobs. They work for money and nothing else. So what happens? Is a person who makes $250,000 a year poor? Maybe not by money standards but what is their life like? How much do they work? How much do they enjoy themselves?

If they just have a job that pays well they are probably not completely happy. Actually if they are like most of us they have a job that they just don’t like. It is nice to make a lot of money but are they happy?

What is the sense of making a lot of money when all they do is work? Then what happens? When people work in a job that they are not happy in they need to supplement this unhappiness with something. Some buy toys, a bigger house, new cars, and more. Then what happens? They have to keep working to pay it off. Some are more destructive and turn to alcohol or drugs. Still others take their frustrations out on others.

Rich and successful people have careers. What do they work for? They typically don’t work for money, they get money as a result of their effort and their hard work. Instead of working for money they work to learn. They learn what it takes to get to the next step. That next step may be the next rung up the corporate ladder (something I have no interest in). For some the next step is to open their own business. For others it simply is a case of lifelong learning.

These people may not be rich with money, but they are rich and successful with their life. They are happy because they are doing things that they love to do. They are successful not because they work hard, but because they enjoy their work. Since they enjoy their work they tend to spend more time with it, and they tend to do a better job.

So what are you doing? Are you happy with your job? If you are maybe you should begin to learn and turn it into a career. What is the next step? Where will it take you in the future? If you are just starting out don’t worry about the money right now. If you work for money you will rarely get ahead. If you work for your career then you will find the opportunities will come to you and you will get paid soon. The money comes as a secondary result of how well you develop your career.

Be patient, I know it is hard, I fell into those same traps, but there is a payoff in the end.

~~~

source:http://www.coachkip.net/2008/05/21/poor-people-have-jobs/

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Poor People Have Jobs