Discover Your Path
From the category archives:
Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and talks about why he works with coaches. Right in the beginning he points out that it’s not always about hiring someone. Coaches can be found in seminars and books, too. I think Michael’s a pretty smart guy and he shares valuable advice learned from years of experience.
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A quick tour of my house and it’s no secret I’m a Dr. Seuss fan. I love his creativity and the life lessons he always manages to sneak into the story regardless of how zany the words and characters may be. One of my all time favorites is The Sneetches, a story about a group of silly looking yellow creatures, some with green stars on their bellies and some without. Those with the green stars are deemed “the cool crowd” and those without are sad and desperate to be included. One day a “fix-it-up-chappie” by the quirky name of Sylvester McMonkey McBean arrives and seeing the moping Plain Belly Sneetches, quickly sets up a star-on machine. For a mere $3 each, the Plain Belly Sneetches can take a quick ride through this machine and come out with a star on their belly, giving them the appearance of being “cool”. Well as you can imagine the original Star-Belly Sneetches are none too pleased, so Sylvester McMonkey McBean puts together his star off machine. For only $10 they can have that star removed so they can once again declare themselves to be the best kind of Sneetch on the beach. The Sneetches get so caught up in their appearance they keep running through both machines “until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one or that one was this one or which one was what one or what one was who.”* While they finally came to realize they were trying to discriminate and/or impress each other based solely on physical appearance, they spent every last dollar they had doing so.
Are you trying to impress people with things and stuff? Are you living paycheck to paycheck (or worse going into debt) trying to be somebody you aren’t? Is this the life you want? Or would you rather your friends be people who love you for being you, not whether or not you have a star upon thar.
* Dr Seuss. The Sneetches and Other Stories (Random House, 1961)
(photo by B3OK)
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We teach our children to share, to find the joy in giving, and that the world doesn’t revolve around them. Just as we try to model the social behaviors we want our children to take into adulthood, financial ideas and habits start developing at a young age. Whether we are conscientiously teaching them or they are merely observing our dealings with money, they are learning. However, I’m about to tell you to be selfish and teach your kids to do the same.
As parents we want the best for our children, but do we want to leave them with the financial burden of caring for us in our later years? We cannot sacrifice our retirement savings to “benefit” our children. I watch people put off their own retirement savings to put money in a college fund, pay for an extravagant vacation, or buy a new car, but who is going to pay your bills when you retire? Unless you plan on retiring in the next few years, the only thing you can be certain of is that the future of social security is uncertain. And with an enormous and continuously mounting national deficit we cannot expect the government to cover our expenses in retirement. So assuming you are debt free and have a comfortable emergency fund, what should you do with the extra money you have each month? First and foremost you should be putting money in a retirement fund. Yes, this means before you contribute to a college savings fund. If you work for a company that matches some of your 401k contributions, start there until you receive the full match (it’s free money!) and then put any other money you can into a Roth IRA*. Once you maximize your retirement investments, then you can start putting money away for college. Remember, your children can always get loans and scholarships to help pay for college, but nobody is going to give you a loan to pay your monthly bills in your retirement years.
*assuming you are eligible to contribute
(photo by scottwills)
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In the month of August I spent 26 hours in seven airplanes. And not one of those seven airplanes was absent a complimentary copy of Sky Mall, the shopping catalog so transcendent, so magnificent they can’t even keep it on earth. It can only be enjoyed at 32,000 feet.
Have you ever found yourself wondering what to do with your pet when company comes to visit? “Where to put Fluffy? Where to put Fluffy?” I’m sure you’ve asked yourself before.
Well, why not order an end table pet cage? That’s right! It looks like a sofa end table – you can even set your drink and a table lamp on top – but Fluffy can rest soundly below, behind the luxurious amber-stained oak cage bars.
It’s awfully uncomfortable sleeping on an airplane, isn’t it? If only there were a sleep system designed to make a coach seat feel like your living room sofa… But wait, there is a way! Enter the inflatable tray top pillow! Just manually inflate the wedge-shaped pillow, rest it on your tray, lean forward and sleep away the friendly skies! (Drool collection system sold separately.)
What’s ironic to me about Sky Mall is that, in the midst of me thinking that 93.6% of their products are absolutely ridiculous, they continue to put out catalogs.
Someone is buying this stuff!
So, what do we learn about ourselves when we read Sky Mall? Is Sky Mall in some form or fashion a commentary on who we are?
I think Sky Mall shows how much we love luxury and convenience, even if we have no luxurious or convenient place to put the luxury or convenience items. Plainly: Sky Mall helps us pretend we are something we aren’t.
Which makes me think of teenagers, because isn’t that the MO of most teenagers these days, to pretend you are something you aren’t? So, maybe it’s teenagers who keep the Sky Mall kingdom afloat.
Because adults would never have those kinds of image problems. Would they?
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Did you have a hard ti
me picking a name for your baby? Maybe you already have names picked out for your unborn children. What about your savings account? College fund? Vacation fund? Behavioral finance experts have found that earmarking your savings for a specific goal can have a big impact on your savings rate. In a 2009 study done by Amar Cheema and Dilip Soman, they found that labeling a college fund with a childs name nearly doubled how much was saved compared to those without a name attached. Cheema recommends opening multiple accounts and giving them labels to help motivate you to reach your goals. So, what will you be naming your savings account?
(photo by Vanderlin)
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I know I know, organizing is no fun. Well unless you’re a Type A like me who actually considers it a sport. Last week I alluded to your organized file cabinet and this week we’ll delve into that a little further to get you on the right track if you aren’t already there.
First you’ll need a place to hang file folders. No, you don’t need an industrial sized metal clunker. The first file cabinet I ever had was something I picked up at one of those super stores for around $5. It’s plastic and fits in the bottom of a closet, perfect for a small space. Obviously you’ll need to get some hanging folders with a tab at the top to create labels. Find an hour or two, a good friend to help or some great music to listen to then get to it. The following list includes the basic categories you should start with. I recommend keeping each primary category in alphabetical order and the subcategories also in alphabetical order behind it. And you guessed it, keep papers in chronological order when applicable.
Banking (savings & checking)
Children (bank accounts)
Credit Card Debt (hopefully you don’t need this one!)
Household (mortgage/rent, utilities, phone)
Insurance (auto, home owners, life, disability)
Investments (brokerage accounts, college savings, retirement)
Legal (alimony, child support, copy of wills)
Medical (bills, claims, copy of power-of-attorney, receipts)
Tax Returns
I understand that space is often at a premium, but there are some documents you will need to keep forever. In the previous list I reference keeping a copy of some of the below documents in your file cabinet so they’re easy to get to, but originals should be stored in something more secure such as a fire proof box.
Birth and death certificates
Passports
Immunization records
Marriage papers (and divorce papers)
Will and Living Trust
Health Care Proxy
Insurance Policies
Real Estate
Once you accomplish this task, give yourself a pat on the back or a little treat as a reward. My hope for you is that you will start to find that peace and order in your environment will promote peace and order in your financial life.
(photo by jono dot com)
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