Marching out of Debt

Starting N.O.W.! (No On Waiting!) Proverbs 31:24, 27 Luke 16:1-8

I. Ten Tips for Organizing Your Finances

II. Five Money – Saving Food Tips

III.Ten Lessons from ‘Rich Dad’s Before You Quit Your Job’

IV. ‘Fool’s Rules’ for Investing Success

V. Wal-Mart to College Dean

VI. Cut Cable, Cell, Internet & Phone Bills

VII. From $83 in savings to more than $150,000 in less than 2 years

A. how to save at least 40% -- as much as $1,000 a year SmartMoney.com

B. Money 101: Budget Basics

C. Cut Your Cost

 

 

Ten Tips for Organizing Your Financesfrom the ABA Education Foundation

Habakkuk 2:2 ; Luke 14:28

1. Set goals and write them down. Do you want a home? Save for retirement? Start a college fund for your kids? Write down your goals and create a plan to achieve them.

2. Save for the future. Pay yourself first. If you wait to see what's left over, you are less likely to save. Determine in advance how much money you plan to deposit into your savings account each month.

3. Set a realistic budget. Keep monthly records of your spending and living expenses and look for areas where you can save. Consider cutting out the gourmet coffee every morning, or bringing your lunch to work. Small changes will add up to hundreds of dollars over time.

4. Get organized. Keep ATM transaction receipts, bills, purchases and tax records organized together in labeled files. This will help you stay on track with your budget and make it easier when it's time to pay bills.

Ten Tips for Organizing Your Financesfrom the ABA Education Foundation

5. Use credit wisely. Credit cards are not magic money; they're a loan with an obligation to repay. Don't spend more than you can afford to pay back.

6. Get out of debt. Pay off credit cards with the highest interest rates first, while paying at least the minimum balance on low/no interest credit cards. Determine how much you owe creditors and prioritize payments.

7. Shop around. Compare prices and be selective to get the best prices, services, convenient locations and lowest fees for credit cards, bank accounts, mortgages and certificates of deposit (CDs).

8. Smart spending equals big savings. Check out sale racks, consignment shops, cut coupons or search the Internet for deals. If you do a little research, you will save money.

9. Protect yourself. Don't be a victim of fraud of identity theft. Guard your credit card, PIN and account numbers. Buy a paper shredder so you can dispose of statements, receipts and bills safely.

10. Pay attention. Read your bills and statements each month. This helps you keep track of your spending, alerts you to fraud and any mistakes that may occur on your account.

Five Money-Saving Food Tips Start slashing that grocery bill with these five tips.

1) Don't Get Ripped OffWhen it comes to prepared foods, price compare and ask yourself if the convenience is worth it.

2) Use What You HaveOdds are that whatever it is makes a tasty pasta dish.

3) Make a Food ListAim for planning three dinners. Even better if they share some basic ingredients.

4) Shop OnlineWeb sites let you maintain a standard shopping list that only need weekly updates.

5) Make Shopping a GameThere's a system to store sales and The Grocery Game Web site helps take advantage of that.

Next: Jean Chatzky Reveals How to Find $10 a Day.

Super-Saving Ideas

•Save Hundreds on Your Heating Bill

•Save 40 Percent Off of Communication Bills

•How to Save on Food

•Meet an Xtreme Saver & Learn

•Get Online Coupons

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To Millionaire Status... and Beyond

10 Lessons from 'Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job'CareerBuilder.comGen. 41:56-57

If you've ever toyed with the idea of starting your own company, what the heck is stopping you? The possibility of failure? Zero job security? The potential of going into debt? Lack of funding? Cluelessness about running a business? Sure, those are valid fears. But self-employment is always going to have its risks.

You might believe you just weren't born to be the Henry Ford of your time, but the truth is that anyone can be an entrepreneur, according to Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of 'Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job: 10 Real-Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion-Dollar Business' (Warner Business).

Given that Kiyosaki believes that everyone has the potential to create a thriving organization, it may seem ironic that one of the major motifs of his book is 'failure.' Failure, however, is part and parcel to becoming a successful entrepreneur, ("Humans are designed to learn by making mistakes," he writes) and only those willing to risk failure should attempt to create their own industries.

To help determine whether you should try to become an entrepreneur, he offers 10 lessons he learned on his journey to becoming one himself:

Lesson 1: A Successful Business is Created Before There is a Business All too often, new entrepreneurs get so excited about a new product or opportunity that they forget to invest the time designing the operation around the product or opportunity. Before you quit your job, study the lives of industrialists and the different types of companies they created, Kiyosaki advises. Better yet, keep your daytime job while starting a part-time business -- for the experience. 'Not only will you learn about business, you will learn a lot about yourself,' he says.

Lesson 2: Learn How to Turn Bad Luck Into Good Luck Rather than wallowing in the anger or sadness of making a mistake, take the opportunity to learn something new from that mistake and turn a bad experience into a good one.

Lesson 3: Know the Difference Between Your Job and Your Work Work is what you do to prepare for your job, and doesn't necessarily mean getting paid. "Do your homework," Kiyosaki stresses repeatedly. Creating a lucrative enterprise entails five jobs: delivering a good product, knowing your legal rights, establishing a system, establishing communications and managing cash flow. If you aren't qualified to do all of these jobs, be prepared to work until you are or hire others -- such as an accountant and a lawyer -- who are.

Lesson 4: Success Reveals Your Failures "Before quitting your job, know that your most important job is to develop yourself," Kiyosaki says. A business that is initially booming is still inclined to fail if the company does not continue to develop. It's not enough to cover every aspect of launching a business; you must constantly strengthen those elements in order to maintain the prosperity of that undertaking.

Lesson 5: The Process is More Important Than the Goal If you approach a business venture as a learning experience, rather than a get-rich-quick scheme, it will be that much easier to bounce back from mistakes and achieve long-term success. "High expenses are an everyday challenge in business," Kiyosaki says. Consult an experienced accountant before you begin to help you anticipate how much money you will need to both support production and cover additional expenses. If you're not willing to face these challenges, you should not become an entrepreneur.

Lesson 6: The Best Answers Are Found in Your Heart... Not Your Head Make it your company's mission to work for others, not just itself. Working towards a mission that goes beyond simply making money will ensure the best quality of work and greater likelihood of success. "If it had been just about the money, there are easier things the three of us [himself, wife Kim, and Sharon Lecter, the founders of The Rich Dad Company] could have done," he says.

Lesson 7: The Scope of the Mission Determines the Product While designing your business, determine how big you want it to be. Deciding whether you want to own a small business or a big corporation will set the stage for how you produce and market your product.

Lesson 8: Design a Business That Can Do Something That No Other Business Can Do "Simply put, focus all your efforts on your core strength, your unique product," Kiyosaki writes. Kiyosaki uses Domino's Pizza as an example of a business designed around a unique tactical advantage: offering a pizza in 30 minutes or less. By offering something no other pizza vendor did, Domino's immediately began taking market share from its competitors.

Lesson 9: Don't Fight for the Bargain Basement "Ultimately, the most important job of an entrepreneur is to be first in the mind of your customers," Kiyosaki writes. While almost everyone knows that Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, almost no one remembers who flew second. Market your product as No. 1. "If you are not first in your category, then invent a new category you can be the first in."

Lesson 10: Know When to Quit Sometimes it is best to cut your losses. Not everyone should be an entrepreneur, and only those who love it and accept it as an educational process should do so. Understand that becoming an entrepreneur is a process that involves failing. Certainly, Kiyosaki's mission in writing this book is to prevent others from making all the same mistakes he did, but there will be times when quitting will seem like the easiest and best thing to do.

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