Day 21

MONEY IS A LIFETIME ISSUE

Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending --- Anne Bradstreet.

You are a financial being since the day you were born, you are not aware of it until adulthood.

After graduation or even earlier, you need to develop a good career, open a savings a/c and save to find a house.

After which you get married and have babies, you must get for yourself and family insurance.

You have to think for you kid’s education when they grow up. If your spouse drops out of the work force to care for the children you need to make up for that lost income.

Divorce or health crises will eat up money faster than you could possibly imagine.

Assuming you stay healthy, you don’t smoke and drink and don’t fool around and relatively free of financial worries.

You are still not off the hook, because once you reach middle age, it is high time to think about retirement.

Many people, especially in developed countries, the people live past 80 easily, you have got to plan for the future, and the only realistic way is through savings and investments.

In a nutshell, it is never too early to plan and make yourself financial responsible.

Day 20

“POOR ME”

Your financial health is a function of the attitudes you have learned and taught yourself about money over the years --- Albert Ellis, PhD

Despite women’s growing earning power, the issue of unequal pay for working women is evident now as the average retired woman has a monthly pension income of about 57% collected by the average retired man.

Women live about 7 years longer than men, so they need to pay closer attention to wealth building.

Women should not become a financial burden to their families.

They should learn to take care of themselves financially.

Day 19

PRIORITIES

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans --- John Lennon

Financial planning = life planning.

You can deal with your financial life in 2 ways, you can react or initiate.

Do you wait for your PC to end up in the junkyard before you think about getting another or wait for it to crash.

Doing homework is the keyword here, it can save you 20-30% of lots of aggravation and get you an affordable deal.

Plan is the operative word here, you will be surprised at how much aggravation you avoid and how much you will save.

It does not matter whether you are an adult or teenager- you always need to plan how to use your money wisely.

Learn from some financial gurus such as Warren Buffett, and buy his books to read, it will cut short your learning curve. You will be ahead of your pack.

When you have no plan for your life, chances are you will end up in a place you never wanted to be.

Planning is about allocating and designating funds for specific goals and objectives – until you do, you are still in uncharted waters. Barely afloat!

Day 18

TO HAVE SOMETHING

The trick to money is having some! --- Stuart Wilde

Most people in their late 20s’ or early 30s’ barely managed to hold on to their paycheck from month to month.

“Financial planning” is such a far fetch notion and could not possibly apply to their lives.

They have no savings and no long term goals like retirement.

If you want to “have something” one day, first and foremost you must learn how to invest. You could probably start investing small amounts in mutual funds. Maybe few months later, you could engage a financial consultant and convince yourself that you could get into adding investing to your life.

Wherever in your life, you can begin learning about saving and investing.

Day 17

CREATING MORE MONEY IN YOUR LIFE

I’d like to live like a poor man with lots of money --- Pablo Picasso

Perhaps one of the reasons you avoid the money issue like a plaque is because you earn so little. Whatever your current situation is, it could be better.

With all the corporate mergers that have occurred, the end result usually is downsizing and layoffs.

Your future paycheck could be in jeopardy, as such your first and foremost priority should be to working for yourself – even if you are on someone else’s payroll for now.

Starting a part-time business on the side for greater income are possible for everyone.

Consider it your duty to yourself to make the most of your income prospects.

You must affirm yourself that focus on having a job or being self-employed in a way that pays well and provides daily satisfaction.

Day 16

FIND THE TIME!

Procrastination is the thief of time. --- Edward Young

When dealing with money issues, we often look for any excuse to avoid them. Find some time for yourself to gain a better understanding of new financial opportunities that await you.

Watch a personal finance show on CNBC or CNN-FN, or browse through internet websites for finance on various topics such as credit card, mortgage and car leasing.

Each week as you become more comfortable with new financial concepts, you will expand the time and look forward to it.

Affirm yourself that you deserve to take a moment out of each week to get your financial life in order.

Day 15

WORRY,WONDER, OR PLAN?

My life seems like one long obstacle course, with me as the chief obstacle --- Jack Paar

In the world of money and building wealth, wishing alone will not make your dreams come true.
Most people choose to address their financial lives by 1) They worry about what will happen, 2) look for scapegoat when nothing is happening and 3) like the ostrich, keep their heads in the sand and hope the problem will be resolved by itself.

None of these 3 scenarios leads to anything but frustration. and lack of financial growth.

The only choice to build wealth is planning.

Creating wealth starts with changing your behavior and perspective. Remember the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing and expect different results.”

The choice is entirely yours.

Which do you want to do? Worry, wonder or plan?

Affirm yourself that something positive will happen today.