The Challange – TAKE 2

It’s ON!  I have revived my personal challenge! (To read the full post of the original challenge go to http://moneyplansos.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/the-next-challenge/).

Why “Take 2″?  The “prize” is back on the table again.  Here’s the short version: My wife and I worked together and lost a decent amount of weight in early 2007.  There was a prize for hitting our goal – a family vacation to our favorite quiet beach in Florida.  We reached our goal and enjoyed the prize!  There were some other goals to made with the “carrot” being enough motivation to keep working towards the finish line.   But the “Next Challenge” was different.  I set a new weight-loss goal and my wife agreed to join me in celebrating the new milestone by going to the first and only Total Money Makeover Simulcast.  Shortly after setting the goal our plans changed and we had to go out-of-state instead of attending the simulcast.  Without the prize my motivation vanished.  Yes, there has to be a prize besides the “better health” and “clothes fit better” things.

Last week I was encouraged to find out that the only TMMO Simulcast wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime thing and Dave will be broadcasting to select locations once again on March 13th (click here for details)!  The calendar is clear and we don’t forsee anymore “surprise” birthday parties getting in the way.  So, let it be known that I am BACK baby – on the path to lose 15 lbs by February 26th.  This will truly be a challenge as there are multiple holidays, anniversaries, birthdays to contend with and winter-weather days that will keep me from exercising outside (walking the dog).  But it must be done.  Wish me luck in my endeavor to resist Halloween candy and my Mom’s AWESOME Christmas Chex Party Mix.

More inspiration: Joe Leavitt, Syndication Strategist for the Dave Ramsey Show, also announced his new challenge beginning this week.  He also posted it on his blog: http://epicgoal.wordpress.com , and he has a goal with a prize (he calls it a “reward”). 

Check in on both of us as we go along.  Comments are welcome, encouraging words needed (please!).

Estimating a refund

We are only a few weeks away from 2010 and a new tax year.  Are you planning on getting a refund from your 2009 withholdings?  Do you have any idea how much it will be?  Do you want to change your withholding so you can keep more of your money during the year instead of giving it to the government interest free until April 15th?

 

H&R Block has a free “2009 Tax Estimator” which can be very simple or very involved.  It even calculates itemized deductions (such as mortgage interest and charitable donations) to give you a ball-park figure on how much you can expect to get back or how much you may owe.  I ran a quick down-and-dirty example on myself and it looks like I may owe $500.00.  If that is true then I am really glad I know now so I can save up the money to pay the taxes I would owe.  Here is how I estimated my tax liability for 2009 while there are still 2 months left:

1. Gather the big documents: This is just an estimate, so you don’t want to pull out the shoebox of receipts quite yet.  But to be somewhat accurate you will need: Most recent paystubs (for both you and your spouse), the most recent mortgage statement, and your budget or expense tracking software to help identify certain once-a-year expenses like property taxes, home owner’s insurance, or any business income or expenses from 2009.
2. Figure out how many more paydays there are left in the year.  For example, my wife and I have 5 paydays left each.
3. From the most recent paystubs: Figure out how much is withheld in federal and state income taxes each payday, multiply that by the number of paydays left in the year, and add that to the amount of taxes that have already been withheld this year (also on your paystub).  For example:  Each paycheck I have $151 in federal income tax withheld on average.  I have 5 paydays left, which means I should have an additional $755 to be withheld this year.  Add $755 to the $3,540 already withheld through October 14th for a grand total of $4,295.  Do this for your state taxes and mortgage interest too.
4. Go to H&R Block’s website (the direct link is http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/tax_calculators/index.html) and start answering the questions.  It’s easy.

There is no membership or log-on needed.  Remember, this is an estimate so the final result will not be the actual amount you will file.  I now have time to either change my W-4 (the form you fill out to tell your company how many dependents and how much you want to have withheld from your paychecks) or save the money if I truly do owe this year.

What would you do with $1,000,000.00

 

What could you do if you had a MILLION dollars?  Would you purchase a house and travel the world?  Would you save it for retirement?  Would you give it away to your local church or charity?  Take a moment and think about it……

 There are only three things you can do with money:

• SPEND money

• SAVE money

• GIVE money

It would be easy to do all three if you had a million, so what if you only had one thousand?  If you are out of debt then you should also do All of the above.  Enjoy the money you get by spending some of it on yourself, but don’t blow it all or you may be calling on the Social Security Office at retirement age because you need the SSI check.  And don’t save every bit of it or you could grow up to be stingy and no fun. 

There is one sure-fire way to get money – WORK.    Work is a sure-fire money-making scheme, and you have to WORK at saving, spending, and giving too:

• WORK on controlling your SPENDING (so you have money left to do the other two things)

• WORK on SAVING or you will be caught short when an unexpected event happens – and you can expect an unexpected event will happen to you at some point in your life.

• WORK on GIVING your money away.  Giving isn’t a natural human characteristic, but it is an acquired character trait.   You don’t believe me?  Get out of debt, save some money, then give a bunch of it away.  Believe it or not, you will feel GREAT!

Now stop reading this blog and get to WORK! 

 

Bump-n-Run Silverado

Last night while driving home I was one of hundreds who were stopped on I-70 due to an accident .  I was heading westbound and had slowly progressed just past the Riverview exit.  It was just after 8pm when the red Chevy Silverado truck in front of me started to slowly back down the incline towards my car.  He wasn’t in reverse and wasn’t jockeying for a better place in the line-up, just rolling backwards downhill at a negative 1 mile per hour towards me.  I honked for what seemed like half a minute but was probably more like 5-8 seconds before his back bumper hit the front hood of my car.  Dent.

I approached his door and he agreed to pull over at the next exit, Goodfellow.  I wrote down his license plate number and even got the name and number of a witness who was in the lane next to me.  Once we got off the interstate and stopped to talk I was able to show him the damage to my vehicle (of course there wasn’t any damage to his rear bumper – this was a Chevy truck).  I asked him for his license and insurance – he said his ID was stolen.  I asked for other identification and he pulled out a small stack of cards in a rubber band, looking for anything but providing nothing.  He also claimed the truck was a rental, so I asked for his rental agreement and dialed 911.  He went to the cab of the truck, but instead of retrieving the document he closed the door and took off.  Great.

I gave the 911 operator whatever information they required and contacted my insurance/management company.  I wouldn’t say I was in a bad area, but it was dark, raining, and an unfamiliar area that I had decided was not the safest place for me.  I figured all the available officers were probably dealing with the pile-up on the interstate, so I was relieved when an Officer arrived about 50 minutes later.  He informed me that the accident happened in St. Louis City but that he was an officer for St. Louis County, I would have to drive about 1 mile away to report the accident to another department.

Here is where most people get upset, mad, angry, and stupid.  I wouldn’t say I didn’t experience any of those emotions, but I checked myself and decided the best thing to do was what the Officer told me.  Good boy.  Can you imagine if I were to start yelling at this nice gentleman who’s chosen profession was to help people in their time of need?  What type of person would I be if I were to start acting like my problem was his fault?  Was this his responsibility?  His job was to take down my insurance information and drivers license for a little fender-bender when people may have been dying in the traffic accident only yards away, right?  (Yes, there was sarcasm in that last sentence).

Being grateful and trying to “walk in his shoes” I decided to drive to the Central Patrol Station to file my police report.  There had been no reason to drive 1 mile away to another unfamiliar corner to wait for the next public servant to record my information, they truly had more important things to do.  And I received great service from the officer at the station.

As for the 5′8″ black curly-hair male driving the late model red Chevy Silverado with Missouri license plate #AKF905 and shirked his responsibility by driving off without leaving any information: I do not wish you ill, I only hope you face up to your responsibility when the insurance company comes knocking on your door.  Contact the St. Louis City Police department at 314-231-1212.  Everything will be OK.

Chamber of Commerce offering Financial Peace

The Joplin, MO Chamber of Commerce is offering Small Business University to small businesses.  This is Financial Peace University: Workplace Edition teaching people how to GET OUT OF DEBT and save for the future.  The amazing thing is not that they are offering it at a HUGE discount, but that it is being sponsored by Community Bank and Trust. A bank offering a class to get out of debt, stop taking out consumer loans or bad mortgage products, and save for retirement?  That’s unusual, but VERY cool.

If you are interested in offering Financial Peace University to your local community’s business owners, or maybe you are a small business and would like to offer it to your employees (as a benefit or bonus), then go to http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/corporate/ for information.  Keep in mind that you could send an employee or yourself to Nashville to receive the training necessary to facilitate the course or you could inquire about certified trainers that may be in your area.  Disclosure:  I am a Certified Workplace Trainer, and I LOVE it!

The 3rd Check Month

For many employees, October will be a “3rd check month”.  What I mean by that is employees who are paid bi-weekly on Friday get paid three times in two of the twelve calendar months each year.

Does this include you?  If so, what are you going to do with the 3rd check?

Here are a few examples of what we see happening most often:

1. Many people discover they are getting a 3rd check the week, or day of, receiving the check.  This gives them a sudden jolt of excitement that “free money” is coming their way.  WHAT A BONUS!  Then they go out and buy something.

2. Some people don’t realize they were paid three times that month.  They don’t even get the thrill of knowing they have increased their monthly take-home pay to do something fun, smart, or necessary.  They may leave it sitting in their checking account, but it doesn’t stay there long before it goes to Costco or Home Depot.

3. Lots of people live paycheck to paycheck, so a 3rd check is a blessing from the heavens to get them through another 14 days. The money is gone as soon as they get it and the process is repeated on day 15.

4. For those who use a budget or spending plan, this is the time they can make a big stride towards a goal.  The goals are most likely paying off/down a debt, putting an extra cushion into savings, or maybe getting closer to purchasing an item they had already been saving for.   The money may not stay in the account long, but it is used to accomplish something – and it should.

 Have a plan - don’t let it get away from you!  Whether you plan on using it to pay down credit card debt, use it for savings, or even use it towards a big-screen TV – GIVE THE MONEY A PURPOSE and use it only for that  purpose. 

Six months from now, will you remember what happened to that 3rd Check?

 

The empty challenge

Have you been waiting for an update on “The Next Challenge” post from August 17th?  Yeah, me too.  Without sounding too down-trodden or depressing I will tell you of the result:  FAIL.  I stopped aggressively working towards the goal because the prize was taken away.  It isn’t anybody’s fault, it just came down to a scheduling conflict.

The prize for losing 15 lbs was taking my wife to Dave Ramsey’s Live Simulcast on September 19th (if you want more info or to find a location near you go to http://www.daveramsey.com/live/).   Unfortunately we learned of another engagement that we needed to go to a week after starting the challenge.  There was no way to expect this other obligation to come up or to re-schedule it, so we will have to miss the simulcast.

I know, I know.  There are so many other reasons for me to lose the weight: “You’ll look better”, “You’ll feel better”, “Your clothes will fit better”, but none of these reasons really drive me.  If I’m going to do this then I need a prize.

By the way, I did lose half of the weight and am considering a new goal, maybe to be reached by Thanksgiving.  Anyone have any ideas for a good prize?

We got another one!

I have been following Brad Chaffee on Twitter for over a year.  He started a website called “Enemy Of Debt” and began his Total Money Makeover.  Last week he completed his 20-month battle against debt by paying off the last $200.  He is now DEBT FREE and posted a video “DEBT FREE SCREAM”.

To watch the video go to www.EnemyOfDebt.com (or click here to go directly to the post).  If you want to get started on your own Total Money Makeover then you can order some of the materials that Brad used by taking advantage of a sale at www.DaveRamsey.com.  (Limited time offer, of course).

Is this you?

Is this you?  Can you relate?  An angry consumer had her credit card interest rate hiked up to 30%, and she was never late in her payments or over the limit for 14 years.

She posted a 4 1/2 minute video on YouTube (click here for the video or go to http://bit.ly/AO8dj).  WARNING: Some vulgar words are used, but it is worth the watch. 

By the way, I started my revolt of the credit card industry 3 years ago when I cut up my credit cards and vowed to never use them again.  All my purchases are made with cash, on-line payments, or my debit card.

Max Lucado FEARLESS on 9-9-9

Max Lucado was in Nashville, TN today promoting his new book “Fearless”.  In the morning he spoke at the weekly devotional meeting Dave Ramsey has for his employees, then he stuck around for the taping of Dave’s television show (which is aired at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central on the Fox Business Network).  I was able to listen to Dave Ramsey interview him in the first hour of his radio show on 9-9-09.  (Side note: Dave had been promoting a “big” announcement in celbration of 9-9-09 – go to www.DaveRamseyFan.WordPress.com for some more information).

Here are some quotes from the interview:  

“Fear is an option, not a requirement.  Fear takes our dreams, our belly-laughs, wrecks our relationships because it turns us into control freaks”.

“Fear serves a purpose.  It’s God’s gift to alert us to potential danger.  It alerts us that something is about to happen, and that is a very healthy thing.  Fear can convince us to quit smoking, it convinces us to go to work, it convinces us to do good things.  The problem is staying in a state of fear and morphs us into a state of panic or hysteria where we are not thinking clearly or behaving well”.

I found the interview very interesting and helpful, even if it wasn’t a financial topic.  The book is being offered on Dave Ramsey’s website for $14.99.  Not only do you get the book shipped to you at a discount, but you also get to download the audiobook and one of three or four e-book versions.  I purchased “The Noticer” in this way and found it very easy to do.  All this for $15?  What a great deal.  The only thing better would be if they priced the book the same as the date ($9.99).