He paid for his tractor-tire repair with a check, painstakingly filling in the blanks with cramped penmanship and signing it with his characteristic, if undecipherable signature. I thanked him as he shoved the worn leather wallet inside the pocket of his patched carhart jacket, and then returned to my work, expecting him to do the same. Instead, he lingered….and I knew he wanted to talk.
“Things are getting bad out there.” he said, pausing to glance out the office window at a sky dirty with sand and windborne corn husks. “Yep, things are really getting bad”.
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Category: Financial Struggles · Money
Want to stop your financial progress in its track? Start believing the most toxic and limiting “money belief”—”I can’t afford it.” There are two things happen when you adopt this belief.
First, you begin to develop a belief of scarcity. When you say AI can=t afford it@ you are saying that there isn=t enough of something. While you might not have the resources available at the moment, that is just a temporary situation.
When you say AI can=t afford it@ you are slamming the door shut. You are forming a belief which may end up having serious consequences for your financial well-being down the line. Because of how your brain works with the words you say to it, you are giving yourself the suggestion that you not only can=t afford it now, but you won=t be able to afford it at a future time either. While that probably is not what you mean, it is what you assume unconsciously.
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Category: Financial Struggles · Money
The biggest identity theft isn’t when someone steals your information to get credit in your name or when someone runs up financial debt in your name. While that is definitely a major challenge, I think that the biggest identity theft is the one that we let events in our lives do to us.
Our identity is formed in a developmental process by experiences we have in our lives, the feedback we get from others about ourselves, the roles we play, and the things we believe about ourselves. From these experiences, we decide who we are.
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Category: Financial Struggles · Money
Dave Ramsey on Fox Business channel seems to be the best I have seen in basic financial advice for working families and individuals. He is not at all condescending or glib, and gives good sound advice for strategizing how to get out of tough spots. His book is called Total Money Makeover, and the website is www.TotalMoneyMakeover.com. He also has a website www.DaveRamsey.com. His big goal is that people live debt-free. His TV show is comprised of people phoning in, giving their situational details, and then him giving them step-by-step advice on what he would do in that situation.
Category: Financial Struggles · Money
As a business professor, it has been very disconcerting to see students end college with a mountain of debt. Sure, we hear a great deal about the rise in tuition for college education, and the student loan debt-load that graduates end school with. But we hear little about the other debt. For the most part, my interaction with students suggest they enjoy good lives, and seem to serve their needs very well (or somewhat well, depending on the student) for entertainment, clothing, and various other instant gratifiers—and much of this is paid for by credit cards. [Read more →]
Category: Financial Struggles · Getting Started · Money
