If it were a rocket science, many more of the people you see in financial services would be unemployed. Many people are employed in financial services because money, fear and greed overwhelm most people easily.

People in general don’t relate to time all at once. You can clearly point to this by the simple fact that everyone you know or have ever known will die. This includes you. However, when we hear this ourselves we never really think about ourselves dying. We push it off and pretend that it is a long way off....even though we don’t actually know how far off death is. This is a direct result of not relating to time all at once.

Tomorrow. It’s later. Not now. Someday.

When it comes to money, saving, investing and thinking about the future, people generally have a problem relating to time all at once. They think, “I will begin saving in January 2010.” Maybe they say, “I don’t make enough to save anything.” Perhaps you know those who say, “Saving is something I can begin later. It’s optional for me right now.”

Honestly, it is time to ask why savings is NOT optional. How do you do that? You begin by talking about why you may save money. Do you do it because you want to be rich? Do you do it because you want options for your family? Do you do it because you may lose your job? Do you do it because you have fear?

How long will it take you to become a millionaire? Check out this calculator and get an eye-opener for yourself and your family:

http://bit.ly/36FkdL

Once you look at the facts in your own life, you have to determine if it is time to make sure you and your children understand that saving is not optional.

Scroll back and look at our “1% Saving Plan” and other aggressive savings strategies. You can do it – if you are ready.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

You know we do it from time to time. We report money saving websites. Of course, as with all things on this blog, we recommend you do your own research and we do not endorse anything.

Want to save money? A little research (working for yourself) can go a long way.

www.priceprotectr.com

www.gasbuddy.com

www.gaspricewatch.com

www.groupon.com

www.retailmenot.com

www.gottadeal.com

www.wisebread.com

www.goodhousekeepingrewards.com

www.dealtaker.com

www.alice.com

www.bugmenot.com

www.cheaptweet.com

www.savings.com

Please remember our “guidelines.” If you “save” a percentage shopping on something you normally purchase, you are not actually saving money unless you put what you saved in ACTUAL SAVINGS.

You can save more than you think.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

Some people get confused about what saving is. It’s easy to do. We thought we would add our two cents in on some specific things we believe when it comes to “saving” Vs. Really saving. Read this entire blog and see if you can squeeze out extra savings as soon as your next paycheck. We bet you can!

If you use a coupon to purchase something you ordinarily use and need, you may have saved money. However, this will only be true if you put the percentage you saved into actual savings. Otherwise, you have only participated in marketing.

If you use a coupon but don’t compare your purchase to other non-coupon items so that you compare units or volume and price, you are participating in marketing. If you compare how much you get vs. what you are spending, that will tell you the true amount of “savings.” However, remember: You are only saving if you push the money out of your checking account and into actual savings.

If you use a coupon for something you don’t normally purchase and don’t really need, you have not saved any money at all. You have only participated in marketing.

If you negotiate on purchases, make sure you are “earmarking” the percentage you saved and pushing it to an actual savings vehicle. If you don’t move what you saved into savings, you will probably fail to accumulate anything substantial.

If you are not negotiating on all purchases, welcome to 2010! It’s time. Consumers rule this economy, but we won’t rule unless we take the power.

Negotiate. Negotiate more. Always push the savings to real savings vehicles. Force growth to your emergency savings fund until you have 15 to 18 months of expenses in actual savings. At that point, you can begin to participate in investing. Then, you can focus on elimination of fees or reduction of fees and diversification.

Until then, stay close to the curves. Save, save, save. You can do it!

OTHER KEY FACTORS

If you are focused on how much you earn or how much is in your checking account, you have already lost in the saving and investing game.

Checking accounts are MONEY LAUNDERING ACCOUNTS FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.
Use any excuse you have to push money out of checking and into savings. The entire goal is to get money working for you – not to “just work for money.”

If you get your personal financial value from how much you make, you have lost before the game even begins. It’s not at all about what you earn. It is entirely about how much you save by percentage of what you earn.

Debt is the # 1 problem for middle class families that want to grow their savings and assets. Get rid of the debt and you will build wealth faster than you think.

Forget about how much money you are saving. Most personal finance blogs won’t tell you that, but that is exactly what you should do! Focus on what percentage of your money is actually going into a savings account (money market savings or certificates of deposit). What percentage of your income goes to savings? Focus on moving that up by percentage and you will find that is a path to build savings.

Automatic savings is the best. All of the above information is bonus ways to save. And, yes, you should take the advice and save. It will come in handy.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

Everyone looks for shortcuts. Everyone wants to get ahead. However, it is not always that simple. The rules seem to change and saving and investing can be overwhelming.

My dad used to say that luck is hard work and nothing else. I think of it this way: luck is hard work and being watchful for opportunities in your life.

If you build your personal finance life out of hard work and a willingness to look for opportunity, you might look for opportunity to make money. However, if you want to really build wealth, you should think strategically in terms of automatic savings from each paycheck. Savings is not optional, but it is easier if you make it a game.

You can begin by rolling back money from your spending thru our “1% Savings Plan.” (See earlier blog entries to see how 1% eventually becomes 20% of your income in savings).

If you want to help your children build a better life than you have today, you should teach them that saving is not optional.

So, are there other non-optional things?

1. Saving is not optional (automatic every-paycheck-saving).
2. Building a proper emergency savings fund (15 to 18 months of expenses) is not optional.
3. Once you have completed building your emergency savings fund, investing is not optional.
4. Investing is about low fees and diversification. It’s also about dividends. And it is not optional.
5. Negotiation is not optional (not anymore).

It’s time to take control of your income. It’s not about what you make, it is about the percentage of your income you save. It is about building your own plan to boost savings and build wealth.

And you can do it. START NOW.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

You hear it all the time: “Pay yourself first.”

Why? What does it mean? How can I pay myself first? How can I build my savings on what I make?

Time is usually the one element that people say can work against you if you didn’t start early with saving money, but it is also an element that you can use in your favor in paying off debt and in building up savings. Time can also be used to help build investments and place markers on your personal financial life.

Consider that most people allow themselves to be overwhelmed when it comes to saving for retirement or building savings in general. After all, there are a lot of competing priorities in adult life: kids, bills, medical issues, job, social life, church, mortgage, family life and more.

How do you tame the beast?

Sit down at your kitchen table and repeat these words: “I am fed up and I am not going to take it anymore.” Then say, “I am going to take charge; I am going to learn how to set savings strategy and grow our family a safety-net. Then, I will grow savings and wealth for our family. Finally, I will teach the children.”

And you can really do it. However, let’s start by REDUCING what you pay. Sound good?

THE BILLS

Look at your spending and bills first. Review everything and think like a company would think – work to reduce spending and bills by 10 – 15% (after all, the company tells you we are in a recession). Why shouldn’t the consumer (you and me) pull back if companies all across the United States are doing the same?

What if you went to every company that sends a bill to your home and told them you were fighting to NOT go bankrupt and needed their help by reducing your XXXXX bill by 10 – 15%?

What if you kept after them? What if you talked to supervisor after supervisor? You don’t think they know what is going on? Of course, they do.

CREDIT CARDS

Remember when you owed no credit card anything? They make it look so good when you are younger, don’t they? What if you could pay off your credit cards?

How?

Investigate consolidating your credit card debt into one low interest credit card, but be careful. There are a lot of tricks. The rule is this: If you don’t understand it, don’t do it. Think about the long-term consequences of every action. Your goal will be pay off, pay off, pay off!

You must use a new rule with credit cards. Our rule is: You can’t own credit cards; credit cards own you. The sooner you reduce and eliminate use of these instruments in your life, the better off your family will become.

Call them. Go after them to help you reduce or eliminate your interest rate while you pay off the debt. Systematically pay off the highest interest rate card first (making more than the minimum payment) and make the minimum payments on the other cards. Once you pay a card off, push it into your family safe and remove the temptation.

THE CHECKING ACCOUNT

Much of the fix that we recommend to help you gain control of your personal financial life is MIND SET. We are about to recommend a major shift in how you think about your own checking account and we think you should teach it to your children early! Change your mind and become aggressive in the way you think about money – yours and theirs. Don’t leave it to the boss to think aggressively – you do it! Checking accounts are money laundering accounts for other people’s money. Do all you can to aggressively move money regularly and automatically from checking to savings vehicles. It is my goal to have only $15 in our checking account at any time. Why? Because the money in our checking account is not a good indication of how we are doing financially. It’s not a good indicator for you either.

STEP OVER THE MISTAKES

In fact, most middle class families look at their individual paychecks and their checking accounts to see how they are doing financially. Neither is a good indicator and it is a part of what is killing the middle class.

The rich don’t do that. They only look at true assets. Rich people don’t want to work for money. They move money into a column where it can work hard for them.

It’s time for you to begin doing this. If you have to begin with our “1% Savings Plan” (check past blog entries for info on this), fine. Do it.

It’s not about what you make – it is about what you save and what you invest. If you are beginning your savings journey, you need to start with savings. What is the recommended emergency savings fund? For us, that number is 15 to 18 months of emergency savings. You think that’s too hardcore? Think about this: If you lose your job, it may take 24 months to find a good job and even more time to replace your income. Can you afford to NOT have savings?

Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed either. Remember time? Time is not just something that can be used against you. You can use time to mark the building of your emergency savings fund, and time will fly by. If you use strategy to save, you will build savings faster than you think.

AUTOMATIC SAVINGS IS YOUR FRIEND

You should be saving a percentage of your income each time you get paid (we say 20%).

The Truth: Most middle class families treat savings as optional and bill paying as a set-in-stone priority. If you follow this blog, we will aggressively ask you to use your power as a consumer (consumers drive 70% of our economy in the U.S.) against the system and work to get your bills reduced while you continue to pay them. We will attempt to get you to change your mind set so that you use any reduction you win in a bill, any negotiation that allows you to save a percentage on something you regularly purchase and any automatic savings to pump up your financials.

You can take control. You can use your God-given talent in your personal life to boost savings and give yourself and your family options.

We recommend that you use one hour every other day of your personal time to work on additional ways to save money or produce what we call an “asset train™” no matter how small so you can gain traction and push your savings.

Eventually, your goal will be to push actual assets and drive real wealth.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. It can become fun after you’ve done it awhile though. We are actually in control – not the corporations. However, we have to take that control by setting a plan for ourselves and our families. We must make saving and investing regularly and automatically a mission for ourselves and our children.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

Once you start really focusing on ways to save, you may find it is easier than ever. One of the most fun ways it can be actually easy for you to save more now than ever is technology. Now, you can’t be a 20th Century person for this. You have to step up and say, “I’m going to be a part of the now.”

Join Twitter.

Maybe you already have joined. Consider this: Would you rather be a consumer or a retailer in an environment where consumers can social network with one another and find out which retailer has the best deals on what, where to get it and how to score the best deals on exactly what they want?

Once you’ve joined Twitter, start by looking for people who make it their life to find the best deals on the things you purchase the most. Believe me, you can do it. Consider it a new money saving tool.

Of course, if you save money on something you ordinarily purchase, you must put that money in savings to truly “save” it. Otherwise, you have only participated in marketing. The same is true if you see a coupon or a “savings” on something you don’t usually purchase or need. You haven’t saved – you have participated in marketing.

Once you take a moment and realize what it means that consumers drive 60 – 70% of our economy, you can appreciate the power you have to only purchase where you get the best deals, negotiate and think strategically about how to harness the power of being that smart consumer.

If you make it a fun game, you can really grow your savings. You can – in fact – boost your wealth. Isn’t that worth doing?

We enjoy talking about new ways to save, but this blog is truly about finding ways to save regularly and automatically. Still, we seek out additional opportunities. Gearing up in the social networking world of Twitter and Facebook allows you to connect with people….and deals. Think of it as your intelligence in the battle for the buck!

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

We practice what we preach at this blog. We are on Twitter. You can find us as “BoostMoneyBlog” and “FreeMoneyDoctor.”

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

For those who think you cannot save any money, we present an update on our little family hobby known as the “kitchen money jar.” If you’re new to our blog, hang on to your hat because we are about to talk about the way ANYBODY (and I mean anybody) can save money.

If you’ve been a long time reader of our blog, you know we like to give an update on our kitchen money jar every once in awhile.

We cover all of this in “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” (download for only $4.95 @ www.middleclassmoney.com), but we will cover it here for free!

Our family began several years ago keeping a family money jar in the kitchen (purchased at Walmart). We don’t put change from our purchases in this jar. We only put found money in the jar. When my wife goes shopping, she keeps an eye out for pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Every once in awhile she will find a dollar or even more. When I go out, I do the same. The children have gotten into it as well and are pretty good at spotting coins.

2008 FOUND MONEY

Last year we put $26.24 from January 1, 2008 until December 31, 2008. That money went into a 12 month CD (believe it or not) and is earning .06 per month for our family right now. This is absolutely found money!

That’s .54 cents in free money to us since January 2, 2009 until now. You laugh, but this is free money being earned by money we found on the ground last year. Do you hear the sounds of those pennies? We sure do.

2009 FOUND MONEY

What about 2009? Surely, we cannot continue to get lucky like that, right?

So far this year, we have found the following:

$2.17 in pennies

$3.00 in quarters

$6.90 in dimes

$1.90 in nickels

One $20.00 bill

One $10.00 bill

Ten $1.00 bills

Grand total (so far): $53.97 in found money since January 1, 2009.

You’ve heard the myth about having your money work for you? Well, it’s tough to save money. You have to really focus your efforts and save where you can in today’s economy. But let me tell you that you can save money.

And money can go to work for you and your family.

It’s time to begin your focus on saving money regularly and automatically. If you think you can’t do it, then you can’t do it. I hope you choose to be FREE from the fear that you can’t control your own personal finance destiny. You can.

I hope you will take the challenge. Go over our past blog entries. Do your research on the internet. The world is at your fingers. You can do this.

Start today!

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

Are you ready? Where can you save beginning right now?

AT THE KITCHEN TABLE – Get your bills. All of them. Separate them into credit cards, regular bills and regular life funding (groceries, gas).

Deal with the credit cards first. You can’t own credit cards – CREDIT CARDS OWN YOU. Consider these people your #1 enemy if you owe a balance on any card. If you have more than one card, let’s get to work. Separate the cards by interest rate. Color code them by interest rate and begin your calls to each company. Ask. Beg. Call. Beg. Ask to speak to supervisors. Tell them you do not want to go bankrupt. Tell them you need help. Ask them to suspend your interest rates. That doesn’t work? Ask them to reduce it. Call back again. Be prepared to do this every week. Get committed. Consider these people like thugs (sorry if you work for a credit card company, but you know it is brutal). Always be sweet to them though. Cry. Beg. Do anything you can to get help from them in slowing down interest.

Done with that? Okay. Now separate them by interest rate and pay the minimums on all cards EXCEPT the highest interest rate card. Pay as much as you can on that card until it is paid off. (Oh, and keep calling the credit card company and working to get them to suspend the interest rate or “slow it down.” You can do it).

Then, go to the next card and pay as much as you can on it (once the first one is paid off). When a card is paid off, retire it to your family safe. Don’t have one? Get it at Walmart. Cheap. Good place for paid off credit cards. Pledge to use your paid off card once every three months and always pay it off after you use it. This will help build your credit score. By the way, you won’t find us talking about credit score a lot because we believe cash is king. You will, too (when you reduce and then eliminate your debt).

Now, get your steady bills (electricity, cable, et all). Start calling these companies. Tell them you are in trouble and need to reduce your bill by 15%. Ask them for their help. Be open minded in the case of bundling and other alternatives to reduce the output of money you pay to “run your life.” When you get a reduction, make sure you put that money in your EMERGENCY SAVINGS FUND. *Emergency Savings Funds should be 15 to 18 months of expenses in 2009. Don’t have that? It doesn’t happen overnight, but you can build your own plan to get there faster than you think.

AT WORK – Does your company offer a 401k? Get in it. Learn about it. This is long-term money for retirement. It is also our belief that you should work toward opening your own Roth IRA or Traditional IRA (ALSO). In the old days, people believed in social security. Then, they said it wouldn’t be enough. We’re the people who will tell you your 401k is not enough. Remember: Slow and steady wins the race. You don’t have to put it all in today. Just start learning about unique ways to save and put what you learn to work toward your goals. You’ll be very happy – later – that you did!

AT HOME – Have you reviewed how energy efficient your home is today? Check with your utility company and see if they have a free program where they can show you how to save money month after month by doing some simple things at home to save energy. It really can make a big difference.

Home is also the first place you should think about shifting from spending to earning money. We believe in seeking out opportunities to build your own asset train™ and looking for ways to make additional money outside of your primary job.

Learning is the key. With the internet today, the world is at your fingertips. Of course, we focus on saving more than investing, and you will absolutely want to talk with a professional when you get ready to invest in anything. At the same time, the biggest investment you can likely make on any budget is putting effort into setting goals, looking for opportunities to add additional income at home and focusing on the production of assets.

This is the path to build savings and eventually wealth. You can do it.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

Oh, it’s time to save. Are you doing it?

Remember the rules:

If you use a coupon to purchase something you don’t normally purchase, you have participated in MARKETING – not savings.

If you don’t put the money you “saved” in actual savings (FDIC-insured money market account or certificate of deposit), you didn’t save ANYTHING. You are just trying to convince yourself you saved.

As always, you must do your own research. That is the key to learning to save properly and build wealth.

Retailmenot.com

Couponmountain.com

Coupons.com

Fatwallet.com

Currentcodes.com

Thegrocerygame.com (this is a pay site)

Shopathome.com

Think we’re going to give you hundreds of sites? Nope. But we are going to encourage you to do the research yourself for the hundreds and hundreds of sites that offer you coupons, coupon codes and FREE STUFF. Do your own research. You can save more than you think, but ONLY if you put your savings in ACTUAL SAVINGS.

You are empowered! Go! You can do it!

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

A blog like this one is supposed to motivate you to think about ways you can actually save money regularly and automatically on any income. We are always stressed about life and stressed about money. That’s just the way it is when economy is stressed. However, someone has to point out a way that you can balance your financial life.

You have to be prepared for the bumps, too. Believe me, it is not lost on the person writing this blog that unexpected expenses happen. My wife and I had a conversation this morning about three totally unexpected expenses. “Where do we get the money to pay these?” was the question at hand. We get unexpected expenses. They make it difficult to steady up on saving.

However, this blog has two goals:

1. To encourage readers that you can save on any income (check out our 1% Plan).

2. To encourage readers that the key to building savings and then investing is to build your own plan. It is important to educate yourself by learning from others, but we are not big believers in fees and allowing others to dictate what happens with the money you save and invest. There is too much fraud and misuse. We encourage you to learn for yourself and develop your own plan. That is the key to really getting ahead.

If you have been reading this blog or our other blog for any length of time, you like know that we believe your checking account is a money laundering account for other people’s money. You also are likely to know we believe that you can’t own credit cards; credit cards own you. We consider debt (especially credit card debt) to be the #1 impairment of wealth building inside the middle class, and we consider that the middle class is rapidly sinking. So, we think it is time for an evolution in saving and investing that involves motivating individual families to build their own plan to boost savings and eventually investments.

We hope we are being helpful and wish you the most luck. Of course, I have to point out that my father has always said that luck is really only hard work and seeking opportunities.

The best thing anyone can do for their family is START. Start thinking about where you want to be in five years. Start looking at your bills. Start looking at spending. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed. Begin. Begin developing your own plan. You’re already doing well by reading this blog. Keep it going. Start saving now. And good luck!

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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

There is a belief that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but does that mean that the rich get richer because they already have money? Or do the rich get richer because they are taught early how to use money to create more money? Or both?

It’s probably both, but I think it is safe to make a case for the simple fact that rich people teach their children differently than those who are middle class or poor. They focus their respect for money on simple truths that can serve them for a lifetime.

What are those simple truths?

1. Saving money is not an option; regularly saving a part of your income is essential to good financial management of your life.

2. Investing money consistently is key to building assets over time.

3. Building assets over time equals wealth.

Rich people are taught by their parents that continuously building assets is an important key to building wealth and staying wealthy. They are taught to continuously build on money in this fashion just as the son of a construction worker is taught lessons about building. They know it. They teach it to their children.

Most middle class families want to improve their lives and aspire to become more wealthy than their parents. Sometimes this motivates us to purchase a car we shouldn’t or get something we pay for with a credit card when we shouldn’t. Sometimes people you and I know purchase a home that is bigger than the one they might own.

Those days are behind us, right?

What can you replace these things with today? How about the non-secrets of the wealthy?

1. Building regular savings is the key to building a safety net for your family. However, the saving must happen on a regular and automatic basis.

2. Once you have built the proper emergency fund (see how much savings is enough in 2009 and how you can save that much without killing your lifestyle in past blog entries on this very blog), you should be engaged in building a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA to go with your 401k. Social Security and a 401k may not be enough for you when you retire. Take action and build your plan to make your family safe from potential financial storms ahead.

3. Begin to see your checking account as a money laundering account for other people’s money. Use any excuse to get your money out before you start paying bills.

4. Do all you can to limit and then eliminate debt (debt is the #1 impairment to growing wealth within the middle class and poor in the U.S. today).

5. Always negotiate, use coupons, coupon codes and any other tactic or strategy to lower the costs of living while pushing more money to savings and investing.

You can teach an old dog new tricks. You just have to be committed to the idea that you can evolve and change. You can stand out as an example of someone who made it out of the financial crisis and were stronger because of who you are and your ability to take chances and save.

SAVE MORE THAN MONEY

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 www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

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