You need a Financial Coach
Like the insurance commercial says so well, “Life comes at you fast.” If you don’t have a plan, before you know it, you look up and years have flown by and you think, where did the time go. Time can be your best friend or worst enemy when it comes to your finances.
Over the years, I’ve seeked out financial advise from a variety of difference “professionals”. The concern I always had in the back of my mind during these meetings was:
1. They don’t know my entire financial picture.
2. They had a product to offer me on back end of our time together.
I’m happy and excited to announce that after completing Dave Ramsey’s Financial Coaching Training, I’m meeting with folks as their Financial Coach with no investment or insurance contracts to sell them. My background and training over the years has me positioned well to assist families with their financial goals. From getting out of debt to wealth building. The beauty of the coaching session we’ll look at your entire finanical life and devise a game plan to get you where you want to go.
Everything in life revolves around finances. I can think of no better area of your life in which to take advantage of a coach. If you’d be interested in a coaching session, Let me know. There’s a 20 minute phone evaluation and if you want to move forward from there. The first 2 people to respond will get their 3 month coaching session for FREE.
The best investment you can ever make. . .
OK, this is no joke and it will pay endless returns. Here it is. The best investment you can ever make is in your health. Yep. But like anything worth it will take work to get the payoff. I read yesterday in our local newspaper that 60% of the people in Tuscarawas County, the county I live in are overweight.
I just turned 43 years old and I’m in great shape. If I do say so myself . Riding 3,000 miles a year does the trick. Along with weight lifting twice a week, and walking the dogs twice a day. I also drink at least 64oz of water every day.
Being healthy has produced some financial benefits in my life that I’ve taken notice recently.
- No maintenance medications.
- The best rating when I applied for life insurance. That means it was the cheapest rate for the coverage I got.
- At my last physical, my doctor told me not to come back until age 45 unless I was sick. I haven’t been there in a year and a half.
- Sound sleep.
The point is being as healthy as you can be is a great investment in yourself and for those you love. This week, make a committment to yourself to do one new health thing and then do that thing for a month. Let me know what you decided to do and then how it turned out.
My Q-Link Challenge - Overall Improved well-being. . . I’ll be the judge of that.
Here was the “pitch” to me. “More Energy, Less Stree, Greater Focus, and improved well-being“ Who wouldn’t want that in their life?
Zuzia T. over at Yovia.LLC offered me a challenge. Take the Q-link online test. (You can take it by by clicking here) then wear the Q-Link for 2 weeks and then repeat the test. I told Zuzia, I’d be game and blog about my experience. Good or Bad.
I must admit, I was very skeptical. Was this a scam? Would they really send me a Q-Link? Does it really work? Lot’s of questions running through my head after I agreed to take the challenge. Then. . . I got busy and forgot about it. Until today when my Q-Link arrived in the mail. I must admit, I got a little excited so off to the website and I took the challenge over lunch. Here are my result before putting on the Q-Link.
- Attention 90% (Higher is better)
- Motor Speed Accuracy 75% (Higher is better)
- Global Performance 83% (The average of the two scores above)
- Reaction Time 779 milliseconds (Lower is better)
Is this good? I really don’t know. It will be very interesting to see what these same scores are 30 days from now. I can tell you as soon as I put the Q-Link on I did feel much calmer. (I’m wondering if it’s a mind playing tricks on me or if it’s really working.)
If you’ve hung in there and read this post this far, here are some interesting facts on the Q-Link brochure.
- 350 PGA touring pros wear a Q-Link
- It’s been featured in a number of magazines including Time & Golf Digest
- Rich Meeker a 3 time U.S. National Cycling Champion endorses it. (I’m hoping it helps my riding. We’ll see.)
- 20 years of research has gone into this and results have been published in various medical journals.
Do you or someone you know wear a Q-Link? What has been your results?
Savings allocation
Recently, my wife and I sat down and talked through our long range savings plans. It was a very good conversation and I’m grateful that we took the time to go through this exercise. It wasn’t without some hesitation on my part as the result of this led to stopping the funding our Roth IRA for right now. (We are both still participating in our employer sponsored retirement plan.)
Here are the new savings categories that were not on our radar prior to this meeting.
- Our 20th wedding anniversary is this year. We’ll take a weekend trip.
- My wife wants to go on a cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary.
- The car I drive is a 1998. I’d like to replace it in 3 years.
- Time to start saving for a wedding. (I get sick to my stomach even thinking about this.)
We both agreed on the dollar goals for each of these and I broke the total down to a monthly amount that needs to be saved each and every month. So, staring with our first paychecks in July, the funding begins.
What are some of your long term savings goals? Have you started saving for them yet?
$8,000 1st time home buyer credit in your pocket now. . .
One of the most popular internet searches relating to the 1st time home buyer credit is, “Can I use the credit for my down payment?“ The short answer is NO. If you buy your fist house between now and Dec 1st, you have to claim the credit on your 2009 tax return.
There is however a way to get the majority of those dollars now, paycheck by paycheck and not have to wait until you do your taxes in 2010. Let me explain. I recently met with a family who may soon be the proud owners of their first home. (Well technically the bank will own the home until the mortgage is paid off but that’s a different post.)
With the $8,000 tax credit coming next year, I advised them to have their W4 withholding’s adjusted so that no federal income tax will be taken out of their checks for the remainder of the year. Your tax situation will be different. Check with your tax adviser before making this kind of change to your tax withholding.
By adjusting their W4, they will bring home extra hundreds of dollars a month between now and the end of the year and still have close to $4,000 remaining in the tax credit to offset federal income tax. They have some good plans for that extra monthly take home pay.
So, if you know someone a first time home buyer, this little piece of advise may make you a hero to them.
$100 free Cash from Chase
I don’t own any Chase bank stock so there’s no kickbacks involved here. Through 7/24/09, Chase is offering $100 if you open a checking account with a minimum deposit of $100 and have your paycheck direct deposited. That’s a pretty sweet deal.
I’ve used Chase bank as my primary checking account for year and have been very happy in doing so.
Save cash by using an Envelope
We are all looking these days to make our dollars go farther. Believe it or not, using an envelope will strech your dollars. Let me explain.
Sometimes, life is to easy. Here’s a great example. The simple task of pumping gas. As you know, you don’t even have to go into the store anymore. Just wip out your debit card, slide it into the machine and start pumping. Fast and convienient and I like that. No waiting in line to pay the cashier and no cash or change to have to fumble with.
How about at the grocery store? Do you use your debit card there as well? Here’s were a cash envelope system can and will save you money. Did you know that when you pay for things in cash, your brain registers pain? True story. That’s a good thing when it comes to saving money because you tend to hang onto your cash longer and thus spend less of it.
Here’s how the cash envelope system works and why you’ll save money. Groceries are the number one place to use a cash envelope system because grocery stores are the land of impulse buys. Before you get your paycheck, determine how much you are going to spend in the grocery store until your next paycheck. (Guess high the first time, you can adjust later.) Next, go to the bank on payday and get cash for the amount you are going to spend on groceries. Let’s say it’s $350 for two weeks. Put that amount in your grocery cash envelope.
I hope your mind is turning already. Knowing you have a set amount for groceries vrs. just pulling out the debit card because your checkbook shows you have a balance in it is an entirely different ball game. Using the cash envelope will almost always force you to make a list before you go to the grocery store and you’ll tend to only buy what’s on your list. This in turn greatly reduces or eliminates the impulse buy and saves you money.
In my household, we use cash envelopes in three spending catigories.
- Groceries
- Blow money $50 every two weeks
- The kids commission
So, give the cash envelope system a try. Your money will go farther.
Have any thoughts or comments? Share them below.
Great deals on supplements & fitness products
I’m going to let you in on my secrete weapon that I use on my bike rides. Are you ready? Don’t tell anyone. It’s CytoMax. Cytomax, is the world’s most scientifically advanced complex carbohydrate, electrolyte performance energy drink. Ensures proper hydration, steady energy and reduced fatigue during exercise. It really works for me. That aside,I found a great place to buy this and lots of other supplements & fitness products.
The web site is A1Supplement.com It touts itself as “Americas Favorite Supplement Store”. I don’t know about that but what I do know is I got CytoMax at a killer deal.
So, if you are into sports supplements, make sure you check out A1Supplement.com when making a purchase.
How about you? Do you buy your sports nutrition products locally or online?
The IRS wants to tax your cell phone
If your employer provides you with a cell phone the IRS has their eye on you. The IRS is currently asking for public comment on their Bulletin 2009-23 deailing with employer provided phones. There are three methods being considered.
1. Minimal Personal Use Method. There are two proposals under this method. Under the first proposal, if the employee can show to the employer that he/she carries another personal cell phone and uses that phone for personal matters, then the employee won’t have to pay taxes on the company provided phone. Under the second proposal, there would be a threshold of say X minutes. If the employee can show he/she used the cell phone for personal purpose for no more than X minutes or he/she used it only for certain exempted types of calls (emergency for example), the employee won’t have to pay taxes for such personal use.
2. Safe Harbor Substantiation Method. Under this method, instead of getting proof from the employees or tracking how many minutes were used for personal purpose, the employer just uses an IRS-specified percentage for everybody, say 60% for business use and 40% for personal use. Employees will pay taxes on 40% of the fair market value of the service.
3. Statistical Sampling Method. Under this third method, the employer is supposed to take a sample and do some statistical analysis to figure out the percentage of personal use versus business use. Then the employer applies that percentage for everybody and adds the proportional value of the service to employees’ pay, on which the employees will pay taxes. (Yea Right…)
For more information or the exact wording of the notice, please read it on Internal Revenue Bulletin 2009-23. There’s instructions on the last page on how to add your two cents to their proposal.
What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.
At Dave Ramsey’s office today
Ok, this is not a normal type of post for me. However, I’m very excited and humbled to be learing how to become a better financial coach from the Dave Ramsey team. I had the opportunity to take a few pictures while on break today and I wanted to share them here on my blog.
I’m learning a great deal and can’t wait to apply it.
Me with Dave Ramsey
Todd outside Dave's Office
Behind the front desk
Dave doing his live radio show
