Archive for February 2009

What To Do When You Are In A HUGE Financial Mess

I have met a ton of people who are experiencing the harshness of the following two key items:

  • No Plan, No Savings, Piles of Debt
  • Loss/Reduction of Income

Here is what you can do when faced with this situation.

  1. Cry.  It is OK to be regretful for awhile!
  2. Take time to prioritize who will get paid and who will not get paid.  (Read the post I wrote HERE about priority order.)
  3. Write out your goals.  Make sure they are SMART.
  4. Prepare a written spending plan (even if you know that it will not balance to Exactly Zero).  This will allow you to fully understand your "Go Get This!" number.
  5. Take ACTION!

There can be a tendency to just focus on #1 and hope for everything to just work itself out.  Usually, this is not the case.  Recovering from this type of issue is emotional and gut-wrenching, but it requires one to take action.

You CAN recover from the mess! 

CHALLENGE: Teach One Person – 5

I am passionate about helping others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances.

I need your help to reach others with the simple message that:

  • God owns it all.
  • We are managers.
  • INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO

So with this series, I am going to challenge you to teach one person this stuff during the next month.

Part 5  Have the meeting!

Remember, authenticity speaks volumes.  Teach them the tools you have actually used.  Offer to help them put together their first budget.  Point them to the free tools on our website (HERE).  Help them calculate their debt freedom date.  Encourage them.  Pray with them.  Offer to meet with them again.  Follow up with them.

I can not wait to hear how your teaching goes!

Read entire series

CHALLENGE: Teach One Person – 4

I am passionate about helping others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances.

I need your help to reach others with the simple message that:

  • God owns it all.
  • We are managers.
  • INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO

So with this series, I am going to challenge you to teach one person this stuff during the next month.

Part 4  Set up the meeting.

Of course, this conversation could happen spontaneously which would be terrific.  But if it does not, take the time to set up the meeting.  In Part 2, you thought about the best setting for a meeting.

It is important that you are clear about what you want to discuss.  It is also extremely important that you let them know that you are not wanting to tell them about all of the bad things they are doing when it comes to money.

The invitation needs to be born of your own authentic desire to help others learn these principles that have had such an impact on your own finances.

Here are some ways to phrase it …

  • "I have had my finances rocked lately – in a good way!  I would love the opportunity to show you what I been able to do to take my finances to the next level.  I am not going to sell you anything.  I am just so excited about what has happened!"
  • "Remember how broke I was?  Well, I am getting un-broke and I can't believe how straight-forward and easy it really is.  I would love to have you over for dinner to show you the free tools I am using."

How awesome is it when you can help someone and there is no sales-pitch at the end of it?  Just a geniune desire to help them learn a tool/tip or two that can help them too!

Read entire series

CHALLENGE: Teach One Person – 3

I am passionate about helping others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances.

I need your help to reach others with the simple message that:

  • God owns it all.
  • We are managers.
  • INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO

So with this series, I am going to challenge you to teach one person this stuff during the next month.

Part 3  Prepare for your meeting.

First, I want you to know that if you are taking this challenge, I have an assumption that you are applying these tools/principles.  You can not fake authenticity.  The best teachers I ever learned from are the ones who are actively thinking about and applying the knowledge they have.

Since you are indeed applying these principles and tools, then it is important that you provide some transparency to the individual you are teaching.  Of course, it is not necessary for you to reveal all of your personal financial picture.  Where it makes sense, show them a copy of your budget, debt freedom date calculation, before/after insurance quotes, and retirement calculations.

Have samples of these readily available before the meeting so that you will have them available should the opportunity present itself.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to take a few moments to brainstorm some key financial decisions you have made that have impacted your life – both good and bad.

Read entire series

CHALLENGE: Teach One Person – 2

I am passionate about helping others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances.

I need your help to reach others with the simple message that:

  • God owns it all.
  • We are managers.
  • INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO

So with this series, I am going to challenge you to teach one person this stuff during the next month.

Part 2  What is the best setting for teaching?

In Part 1, you chose one person that you were going to teach these financial principles to.  Now, it is important to determine the best setting for teaching to ensure that they will be receptive to the teaching.

If you attempt to teach this to your son while he is playing in a high school basketball game, the chances are pretty good that he will foul you.

Here are some ideas: coffee house, your house, their house, break room, church, or library.

Now I am a huge fan of moving to action points.  I am not a big fan of “talk-talk-talk”.  So I like to meet in places that have wireless internet so I can pull up the wildly popular “FREE TOOLS” on our website and walk them the tools that can help them.

The key here is that you know this person.  Choose a spot that will be conducive to their learning style and will enable you to discuss this stuff distraction-free.

You have chosen the person and a spot you want to meet.  Next up, we will talk about preparing for the meeting.

Read entire series