I am so excited about this crusade that our team is on to help people accomplish far more than they ever thought possible.   Others are also apparently excited too - since we have been given the opportunity to teach and speak to literally tens of thousands of people (nearly 100,000!) over the past three years. With this growth comes the need for great people to help steward this tremendous effort.   That's why we are hiring an Administrative Assistant.   We will be starting with a 20 hour/week position with the potential that it will grow into a full-time position.   This will be an "in the office" position with hours of 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM each weekday. I'm looking for someone who wants to do life-changing and life-giving work, is living what we are teaching, and is passionate about helping others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible. Download the full job description HERE. If you feel like this role would be an incredible fit with you - here is what you can do to be considered for this critical role:

• Send your resume to: info@iwasbrokenowimnot.com
• Tell us why you feel that you would be an incredible fit for our team and this role
• Include as many specific skill sets and abilities that you possess that believe would allow you to excel in this role

I can't wait!

A member of the IWBNIN team sent me the below link to an article over at ChristianPF.com. First, read the article HERE then read my thoughts below. My thoughts

• Work is INFINITE - it never stops or ceases. You can always find something else to do.   Family must be priority regardless the stage of life.
• This is a constant struggle - especially for leaders and small business owners. When you are passionate about your work, it can be easy to lose track of time and family.   It requires constant attention to balance time at work, time at play, and time with family.

Read recent posts

As I travel this nation on this crusade to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances, I am continually reminded about the virtue of diligence. Everyone understands "spend less than you make" and "save money for a rainy day", yet not everyone spends less than they make or saves money for those rainy days.   Why is this? There are many reasons, but one of the largest is the lack of diligence (also known as self-control). According to Thesaurus.com, other words that have similar meanings to the word "diligence" include:

• Commitment
• Concentration
• Consideration
• Dedication
• Deliberation
• Perseverance

Knowledge without application is useless.   Application of fundamental financial principles requires diligence even when it seems that you are getting nowhere or the goal seems so far away that it is unattainable.   We can't be diligent for a day, week, month, or even a year.   Diligence many times will demand years before the fruit of that diligence pays off. What do you do that helps you remain DILIGENT? Read recent posts

During our crusade to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible, I occasionally run into the person who wants to "complexify" the simple (I know I made up a new word - it's one of my hobbies.) For example, I distinctly remember a person telling me after attending a Financial Learning Experience: "Well, of course this stuff works for people who have income.   What about those who don't have income?" Ummmmm ...   Get some income?   INCOME - OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO is a fundamental money rule. Another example asked by a person who told me that their financial situation was horrible even though they had excellent income: "Well, I know that you said to 'spend less than you make', that's obvious, but what else am I supposed to do?" Ummmm ...   Spend less than you make!   INCOME - OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO is a fundamental money rule. Sometimes, even the OBVIOUS answer is not obvious.   Obviously. Read recent posts

Yesterday, I wrote about how things have changed in the past 12 years since I recorded the Saturday Night Live production of The Chris Farley Special.   It made me pause to consider the changes I have observed in the world of finance in the past 12 years. Here are some changes I have observed:

• On-line bill payments have virtually eliminated my need for checks
• Most of my banking is done on-line and most of my deposits are done at an ATM (some banks even allow you to scan the checks at home and never even take them to the bank)
• My canceled checks are no longer returned to me - I can pull up scanned copies of them on-line if I need them
• It is a lot easier to track spending patterns because of on-line banking and on-line credit card transaction reports
• Houses used to be "can't miss" investments that ALWAYS went up in value - ummmmm, that is not so true any more ...
• Sarbanes-Oxley changed the way corporate accounting takes place (more bureaucracy - thanks to Enron, Tyco, and Worldcom)
• 529 college savings plans have grown in prominence
• On-line shopping is a way of life - it barely existed in '98
• Music cost nothing for some people in '98 (Napster)

There are MANY MORE changes that have occurred in the world of finance in the past 12 years.   What changes have you noticed most? Read recent posts

My bride and I had one of those evenings the other night where we started talking about some really important things.   We had not planned on having such a detailed conversation, but before we knew it we had talked until 1:30AM in the morning.   It was great conversation, but we both got so pumped up about what we were talking about (it was about some of our life dreams) that we were wired and could not go to sleep. So we went downstairs to watch a movie.   I found a VHS home recording of a Saturday Night Live Special aired in 1998 - it was The Chris Farley Tribute Special - complete with my favorite skit ever - Matt Foley, the motivational speaker. MY GOODNESS.   How things have changed!   We had a blast watching the special, but the commercials were priceless!   Here are some specific things we noticed:

• The car commercials were still horrible, but even though the cars they were selling were new - they looked old to me (why is that?)
• Not ONE commercial mentioned a web address
• There was a commercial for Kodak MAX film - film, people!   You took pictures, then you had to go PAY MONEY and WAIT SEVERAL DAYS until you knew whether or not the picture came out.   And you only get 24 pictures (or 36 on a super roll).
• The letters "HD" were never mentioned.
• We watched it on VHS - I even had to adjust the tracking (and I remembered how to do that - I guess I'm old)

It makes me even more determined to continually learn about finances.   Think about how much the world has changed in the world of finances in the past 12 years!   Maybe we will continue the discussion on this tomorrow. Read recent posts

I think this video is AWESOME and HILARIOUS!   You should invest (waste) 2:11 of your life and watch it. What do you think?   What are your favorite lines? Read recent posts

For those of you who regularly read this blog, you know that I don't normally do this, but today is an exception. I want to tell you about a new thrift store in downtown Anderson, SC (my hometown).   It is called Remnants and is located on Main Street just one block south of the courthouse. Proceeds from the Thrift Store benefit Shalom House Ministries - a women's addiction recovery center.   They are doing ASTOUNDING work that I believe in greatly. They are accepting donations of the following items (and other similar type items):

• Dress clothes
• Shoes
• Household goods
• Furniture

Donations are accepted on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 AM until 3:00 PM. Thanks for allowing me to take a post to talk about Shalom House. Read recent posts

A member of the IWBNIN team sent me the below cartoon by Jeff Stahler the other day. It made me think ...   Is this FUNNY, SMART, or REALITY? or all three?

• If you have just graduated college and financed all of it, moving back in with the parents (no matter how frustrating for both parents and child) can be a brilliant financial move - SMART!
• If you have just graduated college and could not land a job because there are none available because of the economy, then this is a fact of life - REALITY.
• If you have just graduated with a degree in underwater basket-weaving and loads of debt, you had no chance of landing a job in the first place - REALITY.
• If this is just a tough situation, we might as well make it FUNNY to keep from crying.

Read recent posts

I'm not going to write a blog post today.   I am blown away by some of the comments made by the readers on THIS POST from yesterday. For the three minutes that you typically give to reading this blog (I am so honored that you choose to do so!) - I want you to go read that post - especially the comments.   Share you own too. My heart is broken for those in this situation.   Our team is going to do something about it.

This may or may not be well received, but hear me out on this. I was reading the USA Today the other day as I was eating breakfast at the hotel in Sacramento, CA.   In the bottom left corner of the front page, I saw the below snapshot.   I took a picture of it with my Blackberry camera (which is basically a terrible camera).   Take a minute to look at the statistic that is shared. [caption id="attachment_1750" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Births to unmarried parents"][/caption] The USA Today Snapshot shares the statistics of "Percentage of U.S. Births To Unmarried Women", and I believe it is a very telling statistic as to why so many Americans are struggling financially. Of course, one statistic does not tell the entire story.   We are not told how many of these children are being fully supported by their fathers.   We do not know how many families are living together, but are unmarried.   What we do know as financial coaches and teachers is that single moms are the number one group of people that we see struggling financially. For single moms, the struggle is not just financial.   It is also extremely emotional, spiritual, and time-consuming. Instead of two people to carry the financial load, many times the single mom has to carry it because the father fails to fulfill his obligation to pay child support. Instead of two people to carry the emotional load of being a parent, one parent has to carry it - usually the single mom. Instead of two people to take the child to the doctor, to school, to dance class, to football practice, it is done by one of   the parents - usually the single mom.   This is all done in addition to their daily work. We are passionate about helping people accomplish far more than they ever thought possible.   The task becomes much greater when we encounter this situation. Thoughts? Read recent posts

Are you passionate about what you do? Are you FIRED UP about your schedule today? I can't believe our team gets to do what we get to do.   We get to help people accomplish far more than they ever thought possible every single day!   We KNOW why we are showing up to work. Dr. John C. Maxwell says that passion will make you do things that others will not do - things that most other sane people would never attempt.   We are on a crusade to help all of America be financially free enough to do EXACTLY what they have been put on Earth to do - regardless of the income potential. Some say it cannot be done. I say BRING ON THE CHALLENGE! Read recent posts

In business world, I would regularly lead our teams through a process called FMEA - Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.   The tool is simple to use, and it applies to our money management as well. Maybe you are perfect and never make mistakes with your money, but for those of you who are not Jesus, then we know that we make mistakes with our finances from time to time.   It is important to analyze WHY we made the mistake so that we can learn from it. Here is how you work a FMEA.   You first list the problem.   For an example, let's say that someone has failed to invest in their company 401(k) for the past year. Failure Mode: Failed to invest in company 401(k) for the past year. The second step is to list all of the potential causes of this "Failure Mode". Potential Causes:

• Did not set up automatic withdrawal from paycheck
• Did not budget, so did not maximize opportunities to invest

The third step is to list the controls that are in place to prevent the causes from happening (if any exist). Controls:

• Automatic withdrawal from paycheck
• Set up monthly reminder on calendar to ensure that a budget is prepared each month

What have been your financial "failures" over the past year?   What were the causes and what controls can you implement to make sure that they these "failures" do not keep repeating? Read recent posts

News Flash:   It will soon be $46,000+ when our national debt reaches the new limit approved by Congress - $14.3 TRILLION. What are we going to do about this? NOTE:   I don't know who owns this photograph, but I would gladly provide credit.