Each year, I make a point to reflect on everything that took place in the past year.

Here is a short list of what happened in 2009.

• Announced STUNNING news that we are expecting a 2nd child (read about it HERE)
• The IWBNIN team spoke/taught 91 times!  (we want to speak at your church or business in 2010 – contact us HERE)
• We taught over 40,000 people!!!!  Unbelievable!!!
• Released a new book – What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter THE REAL WORLD
• Built a tree house in the backyard for my daughter – and camped out in it TWICE – once in a major thunderstorm!
• Caught a “Fish-Of-A-Lifetime” – a 47″ 28.3# Muskie

• Completed my 2nd 26.2 mile marathon (like Pastor Jeff Kapusta just did) in Houston, TX – and I beat my goal – and two of my brothers while finishing in less than 4 hours – 3:55!!!!  (you can read about it and see my mile splits HERE)
• Took off with my wife on two separate trips WITHOUT the daughter – NICE!

I am SO thankful for the blessings in my life, and I can’t wait to see what 2010 holds!

Did I mention that we are having a son in early February?!!?!?!

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I was listening to talk radio the other day as I was traveling to my home state of Indiana.

A caller said something like the following, “We bought this house.  We owe more on it than it is worth.  We are just going to give it back to the bank.”

I see this exact thought process happening across the nation, and it frustrates me greatly.

The core of the problem as I see it is this:

Something has happened to us – somebody is going to have to pay – it is NOT going to be us.

Isn’t our word worth anything to us anymore?  If I purchased a house that has dropped in value substantially, it does not change the fact that I gave the bank MY WORD that I would repay the money I borrowed!  MY WORD is not a flippant statement that I can reverse when it becomes inconvenient to me.  MY WORD is far more important to me than a few thousand bucks.

Other situations I see this happening rampantly … business contracts and marriage vows.

In the Word it states “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’”.

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Discipline matters just as much as the plan.  It does not matter how good the plan.  If the discipline is not there to do the work, the plan becomes useless scribbles on some paper.

It is so easy to be UNdisciplined.

Think about it.  How difficult is it to be …

• Physically out of shape (round is A shape, but it is not IN-shape)
• Overweight
• Spend money we don’t really have
• Spend money without a plan
• Lazy
• Spiritually unconscious
• Ignore family
• Selfish

I wrote a book titled I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. Writing the “I Was Broke” part was EASY.  The hard part was taking the necessary steps so that I could write the “Now I’m Not.” part.

Why don’t we see books titled, “How to be B-R-O-K-E.  Ideas for spending all of your money (and then some)”?  It is because many people do not need a guidebook for accomplishing this.

It always falls back to discipline.

So let’ start a discussion about that topic …

Read the entire series

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I am PUMPED to announce that my new book, What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter THE REAL WORLD, began shipping today!

It is hard to believe that I have been able to author ONE book – let alone TWO!

It is my hope that this book helps people AVOID and PREVENT financial mistakes because it is so much more difficult to attempt to CURE them.

If you were not able to pre-order your copy, you can purchase a copy HERE thru Friday and still receive it in time for Christmas!

I’m PUMPED!!!

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There is a new post written by Carolyn Bigda on CNN Money titled, “Stick With Your Financial Diet”, and I believe every person should read it.

Here is a great line from this article:

“With the worst of the recession seemingly over, history suggests that many of us will soon revert to boom-time bad habits. People grow overly optimistic about their circumstances in periods of economic growth …”

Read the full article HERE.

If you are on a debt diet, what are you doing to ensure you stick to it?

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I am PUMPED to say that IWBNIN team member “The Saving Freak” was mentioned on The Clark Howard Show yesterday!  More specifically, The Saving Freak’s website – GroceryFreak.com was mentioned.

Congrats Saving Freak – you have saved me and a lot of other people a ton of money on groceries, and you deserve the KUDOS!

If you have a moment, will you go over to GroceryFreak.com (HERE) and congratulate The Saving Freak ?  You might even subscribe to receive each posts FREE in your e-mail (HERE).

I am EXCITED and PUMPED about my new book for high school students, college students, and twenty-somethings – What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter THE REAL WORLD.

To celebrate the release of this book, I am sharing one of the chapters of this book (see all of the chapter titles HERE)

Here is another section of the “Credit Scores” chapter:

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Everyone Should Know …

A credit score is a debt management score, not a measure of your financial health.

Review the items that comprise a FICO score. Did you notice that it does not include items such as:

• The amount of money in a savings/checking or retirement account?
• The amount of equity in a home?
• Paid-for items that have value (car, house, expensive jewelry, etc.)

A FICO credit score only looks at debt. One could literally have $1 million in the bank and have a credit score of ZERO because they have not used debt for a long period of time.

There are people who define themselves by their credit score. “My credit score is 801,” they boast. I have seen many people who have extremely high credit scores who are absolutely broke. They have a high credit score because they have managed their debt well, not because they have managed their money well!

There are many people who have purchased a brand new car using debt when they could have paid cash for a nice used car. They bought the new car solely to boost their credit score. It might improve their credit score, but it hurts them where it really counts – the bank account!

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Read the entire series HERE

Learn more about the book and RESERVE YOUR COPY (ships 12/15!) at its dedicated website HERE

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You may not know this, but I am a certified, bonafide Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Expert.  You may have no idea what this means, but it has served me well as an engineer and business manager.  These skill sets help one focus on removing non-value added activity, eliminating unnecessary costs, and determine the truly significant variables that drive product or service improvement and ultimately, profitability.

Even though I left Corporate America a three years ago, I have certainly never stopped using the skill sets I learned!  They are tremendously helpful in running I Was Broke. Now I’m Not.

As I was walking into my daughter’s school the other day to sit with her during lunch (it was square pizza day!), I saw a bar graph that showed the results of the 4th-graders voting for their “Favorite Fast Food Restaurant”.

It reminded me of the power of transforming “data” into “useful information”.  This chart shows a significant result – Chick Fil A smoked their peers.  I asked the kids at lunch why they like Chick Fil A so much.  The answers?  Without exception it was because they loved the food.  Not the toys.  Not the packaging.  Not the cows.  It was the food.

I bet that a simple study similar to this one would allow people to understand the largest financial issue that they need to address as well.  It is time to bring Six Sigma and Lean to the world of personal financial management!

Regarding the kid’s study of favorite fast food restaurant, I would have to perform a 2-sample double-blind t-test to be certain that this is a statistically-significant result.

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I am EXCITED and PUMPED about my new book for high school students, college students, and twenty-somethings – What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter THE REAL WORLD.

To celebrate the release of this book, I am sharing one of the chapters of this book (see all of the chapter titles HERE)

Here is another section of the “Credit Scores” chapter:

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Everyone Should Know …

What number is a good credit score?

According to Fair Isaac, a credit score can range from 300 to 850. The higher the score, the lower the risk. This means you want a higher number.

Companies establish their own criteria as to which credit score is a good credit score. As a general rule, any FICO score greater than 750 is an excellent credit score. Anything more than 800 is considered outstanding. As credit scores drift into the 600 range, credit might still be available, but it will come at a higher cost. Credit scores in the 500 range might prevent you from obtaining reasonable lending rates and terms.

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More from this chapter tomorrow!

Read the entire series HERE

Learn more about the book and RESERVE YOUR COPY (ships 12/15!) at its dedicated website HERE

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Bank of America has repaid its TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program = BAILOUT) funds back in full to the Federal Government (taxpayers).  A total of $45 billion has been repaid.

As a shareholder of Bank of America stock, I am pleased to see this.

As a tax-paying citizen of the USA, I am ecstatic to see this.

You can read CNNMoney’s take on it HERE and Bank of America posted it on their investor relations board HERE.

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