OUT OF WORK? HERE’S WHY!

By John Ingrisano

By John Ingrisano

Director, Family Finance Conference Center

Yes, it’s a tough economy.  Still, if you have been unemployed for more than six months, you’re doing something wrong.  See if any of the following sound familiar:

• I’m waiting for my unemployment benefits to end. If that is your attitude, you need to reassess your thinking.  People who respect themselves take benefits they need, but they do not see unemployment or welfare as a lifestyle.  Get out the door and start looking for work before what is left of your self-esteem is gone.  Do it for you.  Do it for the ones you love.  Just do it!

• I’m waiting for work to come to me.  If you are out of work, your full-time job is … to find a job.  Again, that’s your full-time job.  That means no filing for unemployment and then sitting around watching daytime television.  Hit the streets, make phone calls, visit potential employers, yes, even out of town, if necessary.  Do that eight hours a day … and you will find a job.

• I have reasons (excuses).  If your car is broken down and you have no money to fix it, that does not mean you have an excuse not to find a job.  Hitchhike or ask a friend for a ride.  In other words, look for a job, not an excuse.

• My job must meet certain conditions. Bull!  The only condition is that it be a job and that it pay you.  When I was a kid, one of my jobs was to take the trash to the curb every Sunday evening.  My mother never failed to comment: “Johnny, honest work is honest work.  Don’t ever think there’s a job you are too good for.”  Because of her sage advice, there have been times when I have taken jobs that I didn’t like.  But if they were honest and put food on the table, I took them.  (And, yes, I spent every free moment looking for something better, but I always worked.)

Common “conditions” why some people refuse to take a job sound like this:  “I’m overqualified,” “I’m under-qualified,” “I don’t like that company,” “The job is too far away,” “They have lousy benefits,” or (and this is my favorite) “I don’t want just any job; I’m waiting for the right job.”  Today, every and any job is the right job.

The bottom line:   If you are unemployed, get off your duff and look for work … no excuses and no conditions.  Your livelihood and your self-respect are counting on you.  Get moving!

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Want to learn more about how to take charge of your life and your finances? Check out The Back to Basics Book of Money! A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace.  The book contains 10 valuable Couple Money Skills.  Plus, the Back to Basics Book of Money Workbook (which dovetails with the main text) offers 31 practical, hands-on Wealth Builder activities that can help you and your partner build financial and domestic stability.  Both the book and workbook, which retail for $31.98 plus S & H, are available at the Family Finances Conference Center website for $27.99 total.

The Family Finances Conference Center tailors programs to the unique and individual needs of client organizations and their members and employees, based on the principles of the book and workbook set, The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace.

For more information, contact me at the Family Finances Conference Center by email (john@b2bbookofmoney.com) or my direct phone line (920-559-3722).

John Ingrisano

Director

Family Finances Conference Center

209 Church Street

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

john@b2bbookofmoney.com

RULES FOR SUCCESS FOR YOUNG MEN & WOMEN

By John Ingrisano

www.b2bbookofmoney.com
Copyright © 2010 John R. Ingrisano

MONEY ADVICE FOR TEENS (AND EVERYBODY ELSE, TOO)

By John Ingrisano

By John Ingrisano

Director, Family Finance Conference Center

Okay, this isn’t your every day, watch-your-pennies-avoid-credit-cards-kind of advice.  It has to do with life choices.  The right ones will put you on the road to financial stability, success, and, yes, personal satisfaction.  (Happiness?  Sorry, can’t promise that.) 

The wrong ones will almost certainly guarantee a life of bottom feeding … assuring a lifetime as a financial and social loser.  It’s pretty black and white.

So, let’s get to it.  Here are five right moves that will decide where you end up in life, either living in the pent house … or cleaning it for $10 an hour:    

1. Stay in school.  (Or return to school.  It’s NEVER too late!)  There is a rifle-shot connection between level of education and income.  The simplest way to help assure a life of financial success is education.  Period.

U.S. Census Bureau stats show that high school drop-outs earn an average of $7,000 a year less than those who finished high school. Just finishing high school (even at the bottom of your class) means your average lifetime  income potential jumps about $280,000.  Not too shabby.

Oh, and if you finish college, you can add another $20,000 a year to your paycheck … or about $800,000 over a 40-year career.  Just hang in (yes, even if you are dumb as a stump) and you can end up living in suburbia rather than in a creaky apartment over the bait ‘n tackle store.

2.     Get married before you have children.  Now, this could be a “duh!” moment, but way too many teens get pregnant while in school or without the benefit of that silly old legal document.  It really is important. The shortest, surest and most direct way to almost certainly guarantee a lifetime of poverty is to have children as a teen and outside of marriage. This applies to both males and females.

Let me rephrase that more loudly:  Have a baby before you are out of high school and married, and you almost guarantee that you will live from hand to mouth, probably for the rest of your life, taking the jobs that nobody else wants.  No, it’s not a moral issue.  Just simple economics!

So, to put it crudely, keep it zipped.  And if you must have sex, remember that there is such a thing as birth control.  Screwed it up already?  Then see point # 1 above.  You can do it.  Correction, you  MUST do it.  Just plan to work twice or thrice as hard as your friends who avoided parenthood before they finished school. 

3.     Marry the right person.  Girls, avoid the sexy, ego-maniacal hotty who is about as stable as a nuclear reaction (those dangerous losers), or you’ll live a life of daily drama … and eventually end up alone.  Guaranteed!  As for you guys, there’s more to life than … well, you know where this is going.  Find a woman who satisfies more than one need!

Marry the wrong person and you will condemn yourself to a life of conflict, instability, and financial uncertainty, with heavy odds that the marriage (or relationship, since you may both be way too cool to get married) will collapse into divorce (or just getting dumped). 

Need a simple way to decide if a potential mate is a good choice?  Speaking very politically incorrectly here, look at (A) his or her family … are they value-oriented and family-focused (the kind that don’t think getting arrested on Saturday night is normal); and (B) how he or she talks about other family members. (Date a guy who treats his mother like a servant and don’t be surprised when he begins looking at you like the housekeeper).

4.     Stay married. Divorce is emotionally and financially destructive.  Nobody wins. Plus, most divorced people end up broke.  Work it out. 

True joy and happiness have something to do with financial stability.  Again, work it out.  In the end, you’ll be glad you did.

5.     Stay off drugs. No, this is not a slogan, but a fact. Recreational drug use causes subtle (and, eventually, dramatic) changes in values. People who cannot afford to pay their utility bills or rent can somehow find hundreds of dollars for drugs.

Use drugs and your life will be a mess … guaranteed.  Again: GUARANTEED!  It’s a dead-end street in every way … including financially.  Life is way too tough to go through it in a drug-induced haze.  You’ll never make it … and may end up (no, it’s not a joke or cliché) living in your parents’ basement.  Life is tough, and you MUST have a clear head, just to survive. 

That also applies to alcohol.

Yes, it’s legal, but if you over-indulge, you’ll end up with nothing.

There are no guarantees in life. However, do these fundamentals (yes, they’re tough; get over it) and your chances of having a happy, prosperous, stable life will increase dramatically.  Good luck.

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FUN & GAMES WITH INTEREST RATES

By John Ingrisano

By John Ingrisano

Director, Family Finance Conference Center

Ben Franklin was cited as saying:  “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.”  In the same respect, minor differences in interest rates can make big differences over time.

Example: If you ring up a $1,000 bill on one credit card and the annual interest rate is 3.9 %, but 15% on another, you will end up paying $21.25 in interest in one year on the 3.9% card, but $83.10 on the 15% card. So, unless you plan to pay off your card each month, the interest rate does make a difference.

Now let’s look at how the interest rate you EARN makes a difference over time.  Let’s say you deposit $5,000 a year into your IRA at the start of each year and your spouse also does the same.  One of you earns a fixed rate of 2.3%.  The other, which pays a variable rate based on investments, averages 8% over time.  

If you keep depositing $5,000 annually into each account for 40 years, the one account earning 2.3% will have grown to $342,285.  The IRA averaging 8%, over that same period of time, will grow to $1,507,527.81.  That’s a $1.2 million difference.  

The bottom line:  The interest rate does matter … BIG TIME!  When selecting a credit card, make sure you push for the lowest rate possible, and if you must borrow, look for those special deep-discount deals.  And when it comes to retirement, decide how much you intend to balance the safety, guarantees and security of a low, locked-in rate versus the opportunity of a variable rate, which could grow well … but which could also lose money.     

LIKE TO GAMBLE? DO IT FOR FUN, NOT PROFIT

By John Ingrisano

By John Ingrisano

Director, Family Finance Conference Center

Here’s a short quiz.

Question # 1:  At the end of 50 years, how much money do gamblers end up with who “invest” $50 a week on lottery tickets or at the casino? 

Question # 2:  At the end of 50 years, how much money do non-gamblers end up who put $50 a week into an IRA or other long-term investment, one that earns, say, an average 5% return?

Answer to question # 1:  zero!  If you think otherwise, you’re fooling yourself … or maybe you’re that 1-in-100,000,000 who actually hit the jackpot.  (I’ve heard about those folks all my life, but never actually met or even saw one.)

Read on for the answer to question # 2.

First, a brief rant.  One of my biggest pet peeves (this one’s about the size of a male yak) is standing at the counter of the gas station/convenience center waiting to pay for my gas, and I’m behind this guy or gal hunched over and frantically scratching off lottery tickets with more determination than a dog going after fleas.    

Now, I really don’t mind the waiting, and I admit that I do enjoy gambling from time to time, so don’t get me wrong on this.  BUT … these folks almost always are driving a car my father might have traded in fifteen years ago and they look like they’re living from paycheck to paycheck … or even three or four paychecks behind.  (Add in that they’re buying $7/pack cigarettes and I’m ready to blow a gasket.)

I know, I know, it’s not my business.  However, I see some folks who do this every week, who shell out anywhere from $20 to $50 hoping to hit the big one.

So, here’s the skinny on gambling, whether lotteries or casinos:  If you like to gamble, great.  It can be good recreational fun.  However, did you know that, according to Thomas J. Stanley, author of “The Millionaire Mind,” most millionaires almost NEVER gamble.   

So, let’s imagine that my friends at the gas station are “investing” $50 a week in lottery tickets.  That’s $2,600 a year they’re out!  (If they win a few bucks, they almost always buy more tickets.)  They scratched off enough for a mini-vacation or purchase a newer car.  Money down the drain.

Now imagine (yes, this is where it gets boring, but pay attention), they put that money into an IRA, and let’s say again that the rate of return is 5%, compounded monthly.  They start when they are 18 and just beginning their first job.  They continue until they are 68 and ready to retire. 

In 50 years (and here’s the answer to question # 2) that $2,600 per year has grown to $580,000.  That is one sweet retirement nest egg. 

The bottom line:  Like to gamble?  Fine.   However, if you want actually to become wealthy, talk to your financial advisor about where to put your money.

Now, go out and work hard, make money, have fun and save a little each week for the future. 

* * *

Want to learn more about how to manage your money and your life?  Check out The Back to Basics Book of Money! A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace.  The book contains 10 valuable Couple Money Skills.  Plus, the Back to Basics Book of Money Workbook (which dovetails with the main text) offers 31 practical, hands-on Wealth Builder activities that can help you and your partner build financial and domestic stability.  Both the book and workbook, which retail for $31.98 plus S & H, are available at the Family Finances Conference Center website for $27.99 total.

The Family Finances Conference Center tailors programs to the unique and individual needs of client organizations and their members and employees, based on the principles of the book and workbook set, The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace. 

For more information, contact me at the Family Finances Conference Center by email (john@b2bbookofmoney.com) or my direct phone line (920-559-3722).

John Ingrisano

Director

Family Finances Conference Center

204 Lakeview Drive

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

john@b2bbookofmoney.com

SUCCESS ADVICE FOR NEW GRADS

By John Ingrisano

By John Ingrisano

Director, Family Finance Conference Center

If you’re wrapping up school this month, congratulations.  Degree in hand, you’re ready to take the world by storm.  It may be tough for a while, especially in this slow economy and tight job market.  Hang tough.  Instead, think long-term about financial success and happiness.

Here are three “secrets” to your success and happiness:

1.      Get even more education.  Better yet, make education a life-long process.  The fact is that the number one factor in lifetime income is level of education.  Keep on learning.

2.      Choose your partner carefully … very carefully.  A level-headed, loyal, supportive, hard-working spouse not only makes your life peaceful, but it also helps assure financial security over time.  I know, this is easier said than done, but be cold-blooded when it comes to assessing the attributes of your partner before you tie the knot. It will make all the difference in the world in the years to come.

3.      Stay married once you pick that partner.  Divorce not only upsets lives, but it is almost always financially devastating over time, as accumulated assets are squandered in the “Great Divide.”    

Now, go out and work hard, make money, have fun and make

good financial and personal decisions.

Thanks, Banks

By John Ingrisano

I know it’s not popular to say this today, but I appreciate banks.  They are great.  This country wouldn’t be half of what it is today without these stable, reliable financial institutions that borrow money from us and make it available to homebuyers and businesses.  And, yes, the vast, vast majority are honest and honorable.  They are built on trust.    

I know.  I’ve been in countries where credit was a luxury, a very expensive luxury.  Homes didn’t get built; cars didn’t get bought; businesses shriveled up or just never grew because of a lack of credit; and people stuffed their savings into a mattress or buried it in the backyard.  So, thanks, banks, for all you do. 

Over the years, banks have lent me money to buy my homes, my cars, and a few boats and other toys.  They’ve also given me lines of credit for my business and served as a safe place for me to stash my cash. 

Now imagine how life would be without the banks.  Or if they were not in the business of lending money to everyday people.  That’s how it is in many second-world and all third-world countries.

The few banks that operate are super stingy when it comes to extending credit.  When they do, the interest rate is super high.

I saw it when I lived in the Caribbean.  I wanted to buy a new car.  The interest rate was around 15 percent (more than double what it was back in the States), and the bank was willing to lend me the money for two years only.

Also in the islands, as well as in Mexico, I saw numerous half-built homes everywhere.  At first, I thought that they had been existing homes destroyed by storms.  It turned out that many people had no access to credit; a mortgage was unobtainable. 

So, would-be homeowners would work and save up money.  Whenever they had some cash put aside, they would add a wall or a roof or a window to their home.  In the meantime, they either lived with other family members or struggled to live in partially constructed homes … sometimes for years.     

My point:  We are fortunate in this country for our financial institutions that give us ready access to credit and a place for savings.  Without them, we’d be a third-world country. 

===========================

Want to learn more about how to manage your money and your life?  Check out The Back to Basics Book of Money! A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace.  The book contains 10 valuable Couple Money Skills.  Plus, the Back to Basics Book of Money Workbook (which dovetails with the main text) offers 31 practical, hands-on Wealth Builder activities that can help you and your partner build financial and domestic stability.  Both the book and workbook, which retail for $31.98 plus S & H, are available at the Family Finances Conference Center website for $27.99 total.

The Family Finances Conference Center tailors programs to the unique and individual needs of client organizations and their members and employees, based on the principles of the book and workbook set, The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace. 

For more information, contact me at the Family Finances Conference Center by email (john@b2bbookofmoney.com) or my direct phone line (920-559-3722).

John Ingrisano

Director

Family Finances Conference Center

204 Lakeview Drive

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

john@b2bbookofmoney.com

WHY CAPITALISM WORKS

By John Ingrisano

Socialism sounds nice.  Everybody takes care of each other, nobody goes hungry, etc.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.  Capitalism does.  It enables everyone to take care of himself or herself so nobody goes hungry, etc. 

Capitalism makes it possible for people to purchase the greatest variety of goods for the lowest possible prices.

  (Government subsidies, by the way, artificially lower prices temporarily, but eventually lead to recession-like economic declines, if not the eventual downright collapse of the entire economic system.)  It also keeps prices at their lowest level possible, thanks to true competition (something a government cannot manipulate).

Example:  I purchased a Kindle e-reader from Amazon.com in March 2009.  It was a revolutionary development, one that intrigued me so profoundly that I went out and added Amazon.com to my stock portfolio immediately. 

I paid $359 for the gadget, well worth every penny.  Well, lo and behold, here it is January 2010 and competitors are now flooding the field with their own versions of e-readers.  And these products aren’t just clones.  No, instead, they’re next generation devices … new and improved. 

As a result of this wonderful competition, that same Kindle I bought in March is now available for $259; that’s $100 less than just nine months earlier.  And I expect the price to keep dropping. 

A teachable moment (or three lessons about competition and capitalism):

1.     It keeps prices low.  When a McDonalds and a Burger King set up shop at the same intersection, it pretty much guarantees that they will keep their prices as low as necessary to keep your business.  (No, this is not collusion; it’s competition.  Close one and prices at the other will increase.  Add a third and prices will decline even further, until each reaches what is called the “break even point.”  That’s the minimum a business can charge without going broke.  It’s also the ideal price from the point of view of a customer.)

2.     It gives us more choices.  Remember the images of Russians in the now defunct Soviet Union back in the 1960s standing in line for the next shipment of low-quality sausages (or any product, for that matter)?  Centralized management and government-run, non-competitive planning destroyed their choices under the “government knows best” theory.  Sorry, but it doesn’t.

3.     It leads to innovation.  Kindle’s competitors are offering new features (not just lower prices) to get your business.  That means Amazon.com must improve its next generation of e-readers.  The reason we got from the Model T Fords to the incredible cars of today in just 100 years is because of competition.

The bottom line:  Competition is good and capitalism builds wealth.  It is the ONLY economic system that does so.  Enjoy the day and celebrate the competitive advantage created by the bold thinking of Capitalists in what is left of our free-market economy.