Finance

Welcome to the “Money Lies” series here on the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. In this series, I will be sharing many common money lies that people believe.

MONEY LIE #4: I can’t save and invest money.

This is the lie that keeps people broke for their entire lives. When we are young, we believe we have forever to prepare for retirement. After all, young people and young families need to provide for their household, their children, and are just starting out in life. There never seems to be enough money to put away for a rainy day or for the future.

If you tell yourself this money lie, there never will be enough money to save or invest. If this is you, TODAY is the day you stop believing the lie and begin funding the future! Here are some practical steps you can take toexplode your financial future:

1. Understand compound interest.  Compound interest is what will allow an investment of $100 per month to reach $1,176,477 in just 40 years! If you just save a little ALL of the time, you will end up with a LOT at the end of your time! Use our “Investment Value Calculator” to see how much you could save!
2. Take advantage of retirement plan matching.  If you work for another company or organization, there’s a good chance your retirement plan contributions are eligible for matching contributions from your employer. Whether it is a $0.50 per $1.00 match or a full “dollar for dollar” match, it is FREE money! Visit your Human Resources Department TODAY to ensure you are receiving the full company match.
3. Make saving and investing MONTHLY (at least) and AUTOMATIC.  If you have to rely on yourself to write a check each month, your savings plan could be in great danger! Make it automatic – have it deducted from your paycheck before you ever receive it or have it zapped out of your bank account at a predetermined date each month.

You will be on your way to becoming a wealthy individual who will be able to live a life of generosity like you’ve never dreamed!

Read the entire series (available after 2/20/2013)

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Welcome to the “Money Lies” series here on the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. In this series, I will be sharing many common money lies that people believe.

MONEY LIE #3: I’ve made too many financial mistakes to win with money.

This is one of the most common lies that people tell themselves. The believe that because they’ve … (insert financial mistake here – declared bankruptcy, had their car repo’d, run up a pile of medical bills without health insurance, are way upside down on a home, had a business fail, etc.) … then it is not possible for them to win with money.

Let me respond to this with one word: “FALSE!”

You CAN win with your money – regardless of financial mistakes you’ve made. Don’t let past mistakes and your current situation control the rest of your life!

Here’s what I know to be TRUE: If you deal with the issues NOW, the problems you are currently facing won’t even be able to be seen in your rear view mirror two years from now.

Many people respond to me with a statement that starts with “But Joe …” and then they provide all of the reasons (excuses) why they can’t make progress.

If you’ve been believing this Money Lie, then here are some practical steps you can take to begin winning again:

1. Clarify your actual financial situation.  Many people who believe this money lie become overwhelmed, throw their hands up in the air, and give up. As a result, they no longer have a firm grasp on the truth of their financial situation. Here are two tools that can help big time: Budget & Debt Freedom Date Calculator. They are both FREE right HERE. A budget will help you understand your monthly situation. The debt freedom date calculator will help you understand your overall financial indebtedness.
2. Have “I CAN DO THIS!” printed on a card and put it where you can see it.  I encourage you to put Philippians 4:13 on it as well.
3. Make a decision to “make tough decisions” and TELL SOMEONE about the decision.  There are few things in life that will help you get tough decisions implemented like implementing accountability with someone you love and trust.
4. Gain wisdom.  Get wisdom from people you know that have won with money. Buy books from all the financial teachers (at least the ones that have actually won with their money – there are quite a few broke financial advisers out there). Read one book per month on personal finances for the next year. Start with I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. (mine – it’s how I won with money). Then read Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace, Revisited.  After you read those two, send me an email and ask for the next reading assignment – I have a list of more than 40 books you need to read!

Read the entire series (available after 2/20/2013)

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Welcome to the “Money Lies” series here on the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. In this series, I will be sharing many common money lies that people believe.

MONEY LIE #2: My spouse will never work with me on our finances.

This is a tough one. The “non-participating spouse” is a very real concern that many people have. They believe their spouse will never work with them on their finances. The really believe it, but it is a LIE! So many people have shared this issue with me, and have asked me to help them. As I dig into each situation, however, I usually discover that this lie has run really deep and has blinded people to real things they can do to get on the same financial page.

Here’s the TRUTH: Your spouse WILL work with you on your finances.

The key is to find out WHY they aren’t currently interested. Here are some great questions to ask:

1. Why do they say they aren’t interested?
2. What are their “money wounds” – the things that have happened in their financial past? Understanding their past can be very helpful toward fixing the future. Did they grow up in utter poverty? Or maybe with excess wealth? Have they experienced bankruptcy? Maybe their parents had a very dysfunctional relationship regarding their finances.
3. Have you done anything to betray their financial trust?

Here are some practical steps you can take to involve your spouse in financial decisions:

1. Write down your plans, hopes, and dreams and share them with your spouse.
2. Ask your spouse to take some time to write down their plans, hopes, and dreams and share them with you.
3. Write down the cost of each one and ask the question of your spouse: “If we keep going the same financial direction, will we be able to fund these dreams?”

DO NOT:

1. Badger, yell, holler, or scream at your spouse
2. Issue “Do this … or else!” commandments
3. Demean your spouse
4. Make this a four-hour long discussion

I’ve found that connecting the “non-participating” spouse’s plans, hopes, and dreams to financial decisions is a very effective way to gain their participation.

Read the entire series (available after 2/20/2013)

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Welcome to the “Money Lies” series here on the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. In this series, I will be sharing many common money lies that people believe.

MONEY LIE #1: I just need to make more money to be able to win financially.

This is a terrible lie to believe. Here’s why: It gives us an excuse for not winning with our current income!

You see, if we buy this lie, it allows us to accept mediocrity right now. We have an excuse that satisfies us so we stay right where we are without making financial progress.

I’ve actually found that more money just amplifies my current financial behavior instead of improving it. The same is true for most people.

Here’s the MONEY TRUTH: You CAN win with the money you earn right now.

Have you been believing this money lie? If so, here are some practical steps you can take right now to begin winning with your current income:

1. Prepare a written budget every single month BEFORE the month begins – use one of our FREE BUDGETS to get started.
2. Set up an automatic contribution to your savings account of any amount (it could even be just $25) – set it up to be automatically taken out of your check!
3. Begin automatically contributing to your company retirement account (or set one up for yourself if your employer doesn’t provide one) – contribute enough to obtain the full company match!

Read the entire series (available after 2/20/2013)

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When I was a kid, sometimes as I would be sitting in the back seat of the family 1974 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale along with my five brothers (probably sitting on the hump because I was the youngest), my parents would say, “Look! There’s a falling star!” We would all scramble around the back seat of the big land barge to see it. I remember that most of them appeared to be greenish in nature.

It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I realized I was believing a lie. I believed that the falling star was just that – a falling star. The TRUTH is that a “falling star” is just space junk entering the earth’s atmosphere. It’s probably a bag of Doritos that fell out of the space station! Disappointment fell upon me for a few minutes as I made the realization I had been believing a lie until I realized its probably a good thing it isn’t a star falling – that would be really bad!

I believed a LIE was the TRUTH.

When I was broke, I believed a lot of things to be true about my finances. But they were lies. Big lies.

But I thought the lies were truth. I could even explain why they were true. Regardless of my ability to rationalize, it did not change the fact that the truth I was believing was actually a big bundle of lies keeping me broke! Now that I’ve won with money, I see that many people believe the same lies I did.

Money Lies Many People Believe:

1. I just need to make more money to be able to win financially.
2. My spouse will never work with me on our finances.
3. I’ve made too many financial mistakes to win with money.
4. I can’t save and invest money.
5. I can’t budget – I don’t have enough … (choose one or more) time, money, I have unpredictable income, etc.
6. I can’t give money away and still make it financially.

Over the next several days, I’m going to be sharing why each of these items are LIES and provide practical ways to overcome each one.

This will be fun!

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