The Gullibility Factor

Today we’re going to talk about gullibility and how you’ve been trained to be so damn trusting that its ruined your life. By taking everything at face value or damn near it for as long as you can remember, you’ve gotten tricked time and time again. This could be from ex boyfriends/girlfriends you thought were the stand up persons they portrayed, automobiles with shiny paint you thought weren’t lemons or damn near it, enticing credit card offers you thought were in your best interest and probably even while drinking the kool-aid on real estate being a “safe” “investment”. But you would think this would get you to open your eyes and give EVERYTHING you decide to read or believe the thrice over by now right?

Ahh but it hasn’t. Everyday you read articles written by liars, message board response posts from those articles written by those who are broke and credit card industry representatives paid to troll sites trying to convince you that you need credit to become wealthy. Everyday you pull up next to range rovers while driving on the street and you sell yourself on the notion that damn..life must be nice to have that!

Everyday you drive past big houses in Windsor hills, ladera or whoever you’re at and you think damn if only I could qualify for a mortgage I would be the shit, my life would be so much more stress free and I would finally start to feel like I’m worth something. Everyday you go to work and look at the VPs and the top execs in their window offices and you SO wish you could be in their positions because ..well their lives are perfect.

Well I’m here to tell you 90% of what you see is a cot damn lie. While youre lusting after these people’s lives and driving away crying, I’m leaving these large houses in Ladera with my briefcase after an hour long session of them crying about being trapped in debt and stagnant relationships they swore were the best things ever in the beginning. While you’re parked next to that BMW at the stop light, wishing PRAYING one day you could have that same car, I’m the one those bmws are driving to go meet at my office to try and gain some bit of their sanity back in regards to their lives and finances. I’m the one who has the inbox full of “help me” messages of the same people who are pretending to pay their credit cards off on other peoples status messages.

Here’s a prime example of the bullshit you’re expected to see online and I want you to think about the first thing that enters your mind after you read this:

“I use one credit card all the time, for everything, and pay it off. Everything, including each 6-months for car insurance. I’ve not paid any interest in 6 years now and have benefitted from the points. I have gotten a new Bose portable IPOD player, many Amazon gift cards and other items for free based on the points. “

or this one:

“I USE A CREDIT CARD ALL THE TIME! ALWAYS PAY IT OFF EVERY MONTH!! NO INTEREST!! MAKE A LITTLE INTEREST FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT (DEBIT CARD ACCOUNT) I’M DEBT FREE!!!! OWN EVERYTHING ie HOME CARS & ETC. CREDIT SCORE NEAR THE TOP!!! HAVE BEEN THIS WAY 25 YRS. OR SO. FEELS SOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!! AM NEAR 70 RETIRED JUST MARRIED LITTLE ONE ON THE WAY!!!!!!!!! ANY ONE TOP THIS!!!!!!!!!!!”

http://tinyurl.com/3od2w7t

Ah yes..youre asking why havnt you tried this…but not that the sponsor of the article is creditcards.com or anything but instead you’re wondering why are you missing out!

Please stop being so cot damn gullible when the world and especially the internet is filled with liars. Think about this..how has your gullibility worked out for you so far? Just think back for 5 minutes and remember the last time you were tricked for not doing the proper thought evaluation and investigation. Then calculate the damage that did to you. If you still want to believe the facade in a country that has its eyeballs in debt, then be my guest. But the facts are the facts.

• 5% of the country controls 90% of the country’s wealth.
•  over 60% of americans in general carry credit card balances and are in debt
•  Within the african american community 74% are in credit card debt.

So now that you’re aware, you can start by researching THAT sht. And once you realize the truth what do you plan to do about it?

The Ultimate Guide for Beating Debt, Mastering your Money and Reclaiming your Life!

www.BrassKnuckleFinance.com

Letter to the Mothers

You know what the most common thing I hear when i sit down to give free financial consultations with mothers is both single and married?

“I wish I could find a way to do [x] one day but I don’t see a way to do that because I have kids.”

Let me explain something to you real quick. First thing we need to kill is this use of “but what if you have kids” mentality that so many of us have. Lets set the record straight, you don’t “have” any kids – you MADE freakin kids. You yourself made the conscious choice to birth children. Noone gave you 4 kids and noone plotted to ruin your financial life by dropping off a basket of kids on your front porch. This was a SELF CHOICE. And yes in all of this miscalculation, the father is to blame as well but we need to be honest with ourselves - you are the gatekeepers. Nothing comes out of those doors without your consent. And don’t for a moment forget that and try to play victim a few years after you’ve figured raising multiple kids is 9 times harder than you assumed.

When you CHOSE to birth kids (while you were broke), you actually took the time to make two things -1 of which was a human life. The second was a pact in blood that said you would stop at no length to provide for these kids as these kid’s lives and well being are now even more important than your own. If you made only one of these things I just named then you can stop reading this now. This rant isn’t for you as you’re the type who probably leaves your kids in the car while you party at club aura every Friday night.

Now, for the rest of you fuming mad while reading this -hear me out. Everything I say on hear is coming from a place of compassion. I’m not trying to tear you down but instead to allow you to see the big picture in all its clarity so that you can finally begin to put together the puzzle that is your life. And that big picture is this: the moment you made those kids and the moment you made that pact, you started yourself down a path to discover what you are truly made of. The realization where you found out that you are one of the two following two types of mothers- Type A, a young mother who had a slim idea of what you were getting yourself into but mainly chose to have kids after bowing to society influence. Maybe it was your husband/boyfriend, family, tv or simply because you began to see all of your friends becoming mothers and felt you were being left behind. And once you did so, you set yourself up for the surprise of your life once you began to realize this whole motherhood thing was much more than you previously thought. But now you struggle to find the balance in between your dreams and your responsibilities – financially and emotionally providing for your kids.

Then there are the type Bs, those mothers who truly in their souls wanted to have kids and be their everything, raise them right and guide them with or without help from anyone. One part because of the benefit for the child and one part because of your own self interest to actually be mothers. In psychology 101 we call this non-altruistic and while I could explain in more depth, I’ll leave that one for you to look up on your own time. But know that noone does anything 100% selfless and for the benefit of other people.

So what does all of this have to do with being able to pursue your passions? Because until you realize youre a mom type A or a mom type B, you’re always going to be confused in career, priorities, love, passions and how all of it interacts with your kids.

So what I need you to do now is face the truth, stop being complacent, figure out if you’re type A or type B and deal with the facts of whatever one you find to be true.

If you are type A and you had kids because well…thats just what people do and everyone around you was doing so then you must understand something harsh. You will forever be miserable until you balance out your motherly duties with the passions you were attracted to before childbirth. You MUST pursue your passions to some degree or you will be responsible for making the lives of everyone you come in contact with- miserable.

If you are mom type B, then I need you to go full steam ahead in being that everything for those kids -both mentally, physically & financially – until college age because they have just BECOME your passion. Period. No I’m not saying you can’t attend a Bingo club or sing at church if thats what you’re also interested in, what I’m saying is when that scale tips over into your passions becoming more important than your child rearing then you are no longer a type B. A type B will never put their financial obligations to their family on hold to pursue their passions.

I know it sounds harsh but not all love is equal across the board and deep down you know this to be true. I just may have been the first one to discuss it publicly.

With that being said, I leave you with this. If you were half as mad at your own situation as you are with the person who just explained it to you, you and that person would have never had to have met in the first place.

www.BrassKnuckleFinance.com

(The short version: in trying to prioritize your spending you have to figure out where your priorities in life may lay. Can you neglect your income to pursue your passions whether they are paid or unpaid and still love your kids? Ofcourse.But know when you put anything above your kids’ well being then you have stepped into type A territory. And this doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person but you ultimately need to be honest with yourself and stop living a lie. )

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

I find it authentically amusing how many of us were crying/partying and carrying on the night they announced Obama’s presidency. We just knew life for blacks, latinos and the poor would be dramatically different because our “savior” was here. Ahh yes..you wonder why you’re in the same position that you were in 2009? You slipped up and fell for the plot. Gill Scott Heron tried to tell you the revolution will not be televised 40 years ago. You didn’t listen. The revolution will not be captured on film. What you thought was the revolution was just a decoy in hopes of capturing your complacency.

The truth is, to drastically change your life and america along with it, the revolution begins individually in our own minds.

The revolution starts by changing the way you think.

Highway Robbery (no..literally)

Highway robbery:

There’s a cancer that’s been killing us financially. Its cousin to the credit card but not as small.

Its called the auto loan.

We MUST get over our love affair with these depreciating items called cars. Its waaay past time we start putting our money to better uses. Did you know the true cost to own a 2010 Dodge charger is almost $50k over 5 years? And thats IF you kept it for the full 5years and didn’t stupidly roll the negative equity in another depreciating car. You wonder where your kids college fund is? You wonder why you’re stuck in a job you hate? You wonder why you can’t get out of debt?

Lets think about this for a moment. Every car depreciates in resale value, yet the intrinsic value remains completely the same. The value of it getting you from point A to point B is exactly the same in each car that runs well mechanically.  And wealthy people judge things from its intrinsic value.

So knowing that every car depreciates in resale value the amount your Dodge challenger depreciates in value is $14k over that 5 year time frame.

Now on the other hand, I go and buy a 2007 Nissan Sentra for $8k cash. That amount is lower than the current street value of $11k BECAUSE I pay cash. The Nissan Sentra depreciates by $5k over that same 5 year period. But guess what? It depreciated $5 from the $11k resale value. So in 5 years the car I paid $8k for I’m able to sell for $6k.

You spent $14k and I spent $2k. We both drove to the same places.

Wake the eff up people. You are not the car you drive but you ARE the stress you carry.

And thats just a dodge compared to a Sentra. Should we talk about a BMW 5 series??

(FYI in comparison, the true cost to own the Sentra is $25k so compared to the total cost to own a charger at $48k is a $23k difference in total!)

J.P.Lynn on Sunday Morning Live Blogtalk Radio February 27th!

This Sunday’s radio show at 10AM PST, we’re going to be discussing a very important topic: African American Money- The history of African American money and where do we go from here? Tune in to Sunday Morning Live or keep it locked on BET if you want to. Only you can change you. All we can do is give you the tools!

>>www.SundayMorningLive.net<<

Ben Stein: How Not to Ruin Your Life

Ben Stein How Not to Ruin Your Life

Get It Right Today, Be Glad Tomorrow
by Ben Stein

My training in economics was in theories and in history.

Like all students of economics, I was trained in Keynesian economics. This basically holds that it is possible, contra Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Jean-Baptiste Say, the great geniuses of economics, for there to be prolonged periods of high unemployment if there are chronic failures of demand.

I also had a teacher who taught us about the Austrian School. Nice guy, but his accent was so thick I could barely make out a word he said. I think his lectures were about how rigidities in the system could interfere with economic equilibrium at full employment and also about how bad deficits are.

In other words, I had a lot of training in the theoretical. But now, in this bad recession, I find myself overwhelmed by the actual, as opposed to the theoretical. Friends are losing their jobs. Close friends, even very, very close friends, are losing their homes. Happy couples are turning their anger and fear against each other and losing their marriages and their children.

I see so much suffering that I never thought I would see. I am sometimes flattened by the tidings I get by phone, text and email. These are not stories in magazines or newspapers. These are terrible events happening to people who are close and dear to me.

Only You Can Take Care of You

Yes, of course I help them out. In fact, I worry that I help them so much I am setting myself up to be one of them. And if that happens, who do I call upon for help?

Now presenting: This is Why U Broke! – The Show

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7931089

A Step By Step Guide on Getting Starting With Mint.com (my fav budgeting software)

Anyone who has gotten one on one financial advice from me, knows one of my favorite ideas/concepts/websites/iphone apps is infact Mint.com. It was the backbone in the strategy I used to get out of debt the second time I had gotten into it. When you first sign up for it, however, it can be a little intimidating. Lucky for us, JD Roth over at Getrichslowly has written a step by step on how to get started with Mint.com:

Getting Started with Mint

On Tuesday, I wrote that I’ve decided to track my finances again.I’m doing fine financially, but after a few months of not watching my income and expenses closely, I feel a little lost. I miss the ability to know exactly where my money’s going.

I had intended to install the new desktop version of Quicken, which is what I’ve been using for years. (Before that, I used Andrew Tobias’s Managing Your Money, but that hasn’t been updated since 1995!) In the comments to Tuesday’s post, several readers asked why I don’t just use Mint. Good question. I don’t really have a good answer.

What is Mint?
Mint is a free web-based personal-finance program. Mint automagically connects with your bank accounts, your credit card accounts, and — in theory, at least — your investment accounts. Because Mint fetches data for you, there’s no tedious data entry. Mint has been around for a couple of years, but I’ve been reluctant to try it.

I haven’t tried Mint for several reasons:

• It didn’t offer all the features I wanted, particularly the ability to track investment accounts.
• I didn’t like the revenue model. Mint makes money by pushing new financial products on users. I’ve since realized that — duh! — that’s the same way Get Rich Slowly makes money, as well as the rest of the financial web.
• I was loyal to the folks at Wesabe, a Mint competitor and friend to GRS. Unfortunately, Wesabe shut down earlier this year. (You can read about it here.)
• Though I fully embrace the Internet Age, I’m still wary of giving one service access to all of my accounts.

But enough GRS readers have sung the praises of Mint over the past two years that I finally decided to give it a try. Yesterday, I set up my Mint account.

Remember: You should always read the terms of use! I know it’s a pain, but any time you enter into a legal agreement involving your money, you should read it. This is especially true when buying a home or a car, but it’s also true when signing up for an online financial tool. If it involves your money, you should read it. Here are Mint’s terms of use.

Getting Started
If you’ve signed up for any other web-based service, you know what it’s like to register for Mint. After you enter your e-mail address, your zip code, and your password, you’re ready to go.

Once you’ve registered, Mint prompts you to enter your financial accounts. You need just two pieces of information to connect to any account.

After you supply your login info for each bank or credit card company, Mint connects to the financial institution and slurps up your recent transactions. (I was pleased when my local credit union connected without incident.)

As you set up your Mint account, you can also add loans, real estate (such as your home), vehicles, and “other” accounts. Other accounts include:

• Cash (or debt)
• Collectibles (such as my comic-book collection)
• Jewelry
• Furniture and appliances
• And a variety of miscellaneous items

You can also set up e-mail and text alerts based on a variety of parameters. This feature

Land of the Free? You Sure About That?

Land of the Free, Home of the Slave

Posted by: ManAgainstDebt

On my Facebook page where many of this site’s visitors come from, I recently made a comparison between the wealth of someone living in a “3rd world country” (developing nation) and the supposed wealth many of us have here in the US. Well since this is such an important part of what we’re trying to teach everyone on this site and since many of you didn’t understand just how I could make such a comparison, we’re going to need to clear this up now. The truth is that, while yes, someone with low debt and living check to check in a third world country is still considered to be living in poverty, someone making it from check to TWO YEARS AGO’s check is in even worse poverty.

“But how could I be worse off especially if I live in a fancy house and drive a fancy car while they live in a hut with 10 kids?”

This Week’s Money & Happiness Quotes to Live By

Every now and then we will be posting some of  our staff’s favorite money related quotes to live by! Without further ado, this week’s quotes:

Debt

• “Never spend your money before you have it.” -Thomas Jefferson
• “This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.” -Earl Wilson
• “When a man is in love or in debt, someone else has the advantage.” -Bill Balance
• “It is poor judgment to countersign another’s note, to become responsible for his debts.” -The Bible
• “Youth is in danger until it learns to look upon debts as furies.” -Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
• “Debt, n.  An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.” -Ambrose Bierce
• “I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety.” -Andrew Jackson

Frugality

• “Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything.” - Benjamin Franklin
• “Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.” - Samuel Johnson
• “Buying cheap is expensive” - My friend’s grandmother on the differences between cheap and frugal