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Discover today my thoughts on whether or not you should talk about finances in front of your kids. I'll give you a hint: they probably already know.   Here's the deal. Many times, we don't give kids enough credit. We think that if we hide out in a particular area of the house with lower traffic that they won't know or find out what's going on. We hope that they don't discover the financial struggles or difficulties, and we become more and more confident that we're able to successfully hide financial situations from our children.   The truth is, kids are much more astute than we think. They may not know all of the details, but they most certainly have the ability from a young age to ascertain whether or not there is a situation that is less than desirable. They can sense the tension, and they are fully aware of the negativity that is commonly associated with hard times.   In my personal opinion, I think that it's perfectly fine and preferred to involve children in the discussions having to do with family finan

Let's discuss how distractions get in the way of our goals. There is no doubt in my mind that even the smallest distractions can prove to be detrimental in our pursuit of certain goals that we have, and the only way that we can dissolve these distractions is to get better at identifying them to begin with.   Of course, this is not always an easy task. Much of the time, we aren't even aware that a distraction is taking place until it has already done its damage. Distractions come in many forms, and some of them are quite subtle. That's why we need to be mindful and aware of these distractions, and it helps when we learn from our mistakes with distractions that we've made in the past. In other words, if we have identified a distraction that has occurred, now we need to make sure that the same distraction doesn't poke its ugly head up again.   The bottom line is this. Unless we are able to stay focused and stay on track, it becomes exponentially more difficult for us to achieve the goals that we have set for our

I'd like to share some tips on how to replace worry with focus, and I'd also like to tell you why this is incredibly important. First and foremost, let me mention that worry will get us nowhere. Worry does not help to move goals any closer to the finish line, and worry does nothing to help us with any agendas that we may have in the works.   The best course of action is to replace worrying with focusing on solutions. Even if we're not absolutely certain what the appropriate solution may be for the troubles that we're having, shifting our minds from the woes of our problems to focusing on solutions instead will absolutely get us on the right track. Will worry creep back in every once in a while? Absolutely. We're wired to worry when times get tough; it's a natural part of our survival mechanisms. The key is to not let worry consume us and paralyze us from taking the actions necessary to resolve our issues at hand.    The bottom line is this. The longer we go without a solution to a given problem, the more inte

Are you looking for a foolproof way to change your life for the better? It's simple. All you need to do is to implement some positive habits in your life, and these changes will help you to live life in a better way almost immediately.   Whether that's reading more non-fiction books, limiting time on a screen, eliminating gossip and complaining, or getting organized and sticking to a calendar, we all have the ability to make foundational changes upon which we may build many other good habits. It's simply a matter of getting started.    In the last episode (episode 280), I talked about how micro-habits help us to make changes one small step at a time. Today I want to focus on the actual habits that help us to become better humans and to become more intensely focused on accomplishing our goals. I'm sure that this list is just the beginning for many of us, and hopefully this episode will prove to be a positive jumpstart to getting the most out of the resources that we have available right in front of us, each an

Let me introduce you to a real game-changer. This concept will allow you to easily make positive changes in your life. Because of these changes, you will eventually experience success with finances, health, faith, relationships, and other important areas of your life where right now you may need to drastically improve.   What I'm talking about are micro-habits. These small changes require minimal motivation and very little effort. However, the payoff is huge. Think of it like compound interest. Small changes that build one on top of another will eventually lead to a huge payoff.   I personally love micro-habits because they allow for me to make changes without having to go all-in or having to quit something cold turkey. Instead, I can take things one tiny chunk at a time until I get comfortable with the changes and get used to the changes over a period of time rather than all at once. It affords me the opportunity to not have to deal with guilt if I have a setback since a setback with a micro-habit just means

Why is it important to stay on top of things and stay focused? It's critical for us to do this because goals don't accomplish themselves. It's up to us to do what needs to be done in order to get the job done. In most cases, this will require a laser-sharp focus; anything less than that will likely compromise the entire task at hand or larger goal that we set out to accomplish.   I'll talk about how we need to stay on top of things when it comes to our day-to-day budgets, but I'll also discuss some down-the-road goals and why we need to stay focused on these particular goals as well. The truth of the matter is that all of this is tied in together, and the glue that keeps everything from falling apart is our focus.   Make a promise to yourself today that you will be mindful of staying focused on whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish. You will find that the path to accomplishing a particular goal will be more clear, and you'll be less distracted by outside influences that will only throw your progres

Knowing when you should (and shouldn't) file a homeowner's insurance claim can save you from difficulties down the road. There are several scenarios and other considerations to keep in mind in order to avoid higher insurance rates, or in some extreme cases, getting dropped by your insurance provider altogether.   I think that most folks find that it's generally unfair that you have to take pause before you pick up the phone to call your insurance company when you have an accident in the home that should be covered. What we have to keep in mind is that insurance companies are in the business of doing business. In other words, they aren't going to take a loss when they can recover in some other way. Many times, recovering what an insurance company pays out equates to higher premiums for the insured.   I'm not an insurance agent. I don't have formal training on all of the intricacies of the insurance industry. However, I have thoroughly researched this subject, and I felt that it was necessary to share with you

Life can be full of tough choices and hard decisions sometimes. The good news is that we can systematically cut down those tough choices and hard decisions, and at the same time, utilize them to provide us with more clarity in our lives. The key is to not get overwhelmed from the outset.   Instead, we need to be able to start with the solution or the end result. From there, we are able to work backwards and visualize each step that gets us to that final result. We can visualize whether or not the solution fits what we want for our lives. We are able to actually feel whether the end result makes us feel happy or unhappy, and we can even come up with alternate plans to take into consideration.   In the large scheme of things, we should welcome the tough choices and hard decisions in life. They allow for us to grow. With that said, we don't want to necessarily make things harder than they need to be.   From now on, let's start from a different angle. Rather than trying to barrel through the problem at hand from

We were never meant to live scared. We were designed to be bold and unwavering when it comes to living right. The thing is, the trouble that we find ourselves in sometimes causes us to build up anxiety and fear over time that counters what we're meant to do and who we're meant to be.   I'm sure that you don't want to live scared; nobody desires a life filled with constant fear and worry. Instead, we need to overcome our fears and squash our anxiety with a solid plan. I've given this a lot of thought, and this high-level overview of how to get ourselves out of this mess can be narrowed down to three larger goals that we can set for ourselves. These goals won't be easy to accomplish, and they will likely take most of us a long time. With that said, once we achieve these three goals, we are almost certain to guarantee a life without fear and without anxiety when it comes to personal finance.   Knowing what to do and when to do it is precisely what gets us to where we desire to be in life. These three grand goals

A shopping addiction is a real thing, just like any other addiction. Many folks go through life not even realizing that they have a shopping addiction until one day they find themselves in a huge credit card mess. If this describes what has happened to you, the good news is that you're not alone.   Whether you have a shopping addiction or are close to someone who does, this episode is for you. While I am directly answering an e-mail from one of my listeners on this subject throughout this episode, I will keep the solutions applicable to others who are also dealing with the same problem. Together, we will beat these shopping addictions, and when we do, we will make our lives better in more ways than one.   The first step is to identify that there is a problem. This is a significant part of the battle. Once the problem has been identified, through a system of support and accountability, it's time to face the identified problem and change the old habits to replace them with new habits. We'll also need to use too

It may not seem like it would be a big deal, but getting organized really does have a profound effect on our personal finances. If you haven't yet listened to episode 273 on the topic of minimalism, the concept of getting organized goes hand in hand with this process. As we begin to shrink things down in our lives and take things down to the lowest common denominator, we naturally bend towards getting more organized in many areas of our lives.   Organization is beneficial in many ways, and one of those ways is to be able to stay on track and on point with personal finance. Whether that's paying down debt, working on the monthly budget, or any other personal finance goal, being organized and staying organized allows us to function better with minimal confusion. We aren't as overwhelmed when we are working in a well-organized environment, and we'll find that we can accomplish much more than we would if we were sitting in a complete mess.   Taking some time to get grounded and get organized is highly encouraged,

We're picking back up with the habit of practicing minimalism, and it has been great. My wife and I started this a long time ago, but we didn't really stick with it the first time around and ended up getting off track. I think part of the reason was because we were trying to do too much at the same time and weren't as focused as we should have been. This time, we decided to do things a bit differently.   Rather than taking on the entire house and its contents all at the same time, we decided to start in a more focused way of doing things and concentrate on our closets first. By only focusing on this specific area, we were able to decrease the clutter quite a bit. I'd estimate that we ended up donating or discarding more clutter this time around than the first time that we had decided to do this. We noticed right away that taking a more granular approach to getting rid of what we no longer need didn't seem nearly as overwhelming and produced better results.   We ended up with several bags of clothing for donat

While we may not be crumpling up twenty dollar bills and pitching them in the trash can, we're finding other ways to throw away our hard-earned cash. Unfortunately, many of these ways that we throw away our money almost go unnoticed. We most likely don't even realize that we're doing it, and that's a dangerous thing.   I'll go into more detail throughout this episode, but in summary, here are the eight ways that we throw away our money. Number one on my list is paying credit card interest. We may not even be paying attention to how much interest we're paying on credit cards, and that's not a good thing. If you take a look at your statements and see how much you're actually paying every month to have these credit cards, it may make you sick and disgusted. Go with those feelings, and get these credit cards paid off as quickly as possible, especially the higher interest rate cards.   In my opinion, paying credit card interest every month is the worst out of the eight, but the other ways that we throw away our mo

Sometimes it's good to look back and reflect on some of the lessons that you've learned along the way, and that's what I'm doing today. Just like you, I've made plenty of mistakes in life. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing; I truly believe that mistakes are there to teach us lessons. We become better people, and it's in part because of some of the mistakes that we've made and learned from.   The key here is the last part of that last paragraph. You've got to learn from your mistakes in order to move forward and forge ahead. If you don't learn from your mistakes, you may end up repeating the same mistakes a second or even a third time around. I'm guilty of this. I've been in debt, out of debt, and back in debt again. It's not easy to admit to doing something as stupid as repeating the same mistake, but there's a silver lining here. While repeating mistakes isn't recommended, it is one way of not only causing pain in the present but allowing us to also remember the pain from the past. Sometimes that'

It's time to blow a hole through what you owe! I have a way of picturing things in my head sometimes, and recently I was picturing taking action to extend our arsenal available to us in order to blow a hole through what we owe. When we blow enough holes into what we owe, the entire debt structure will fall; our enemy will finally be defeated!   I love that visualization, and what's great about this visualization is that it's something that truly links well with reality. We need weapons in our arsenal in order to be able to cause some serious damage to our debt enemy. How do we get these weapons? We build up our weaponry just like any other entity who has declared war. When we declare war on our debt, the weapon of choice is additional revenue. Taking a part-time job or taking other steps to increase our income is akin to putting together weapons that will cause serious damage to this debt enemy of ours.   The larger the amount of increased income, the larger the holes will be and the more damage we will be ca

When it comes to money and personal finances, will you use or be used? Whether we realize it or not, if we're in debt, we are in a constant state of being used. Every time we swipe that credit card or sign on the dotted line of the loan form, we are allowing ourselves to be used by the associated financial institutions. We're voluntarily entering into an agreement to force ourselves to make payments for a given period of time and pay even more money for this privilege (I hope you are able to sense my sarcasm). This is truly a form of modern-day slavery.   The bottom line is that nobody likes to be used. There's almost always a negative connotation that comes along with the concept of being used. If we take some time to realize what is truly happening when we use the plastic or sign up for an auto loan, we'll definitely change our minds about this concept. We are no longer going to allow the financial institutions of the world to use us and profit from us. Instead, we're going to turn the tables in our favor.

We all have let-downs in life, and here is what you need to do in order to get through them and come out on top. First, you will need to absorb the hits that all of us will inevitably experience in life. If you have ever taken the time to study a boxing match, you'll notice that many times a fighter will move with the hit from the opponent. This essentially helps the fighter to be able to absorb the hit if blocking the hit is not possible.   You may have heard this referred to as rolling with the punches. Whatever saying or analogy that you want to use, the point here is the same: we all need to be able to flow with whatever problems we may come across. Perhaps you have received a rejection letter when you thought you'd definitely get that job. Maybe you recently lost your job. Whatever the case may be, you need to almost force yourself to go with the flow and move on.   Along with absorbing the hits, we also need to focus on maintaining a positive attitude as much as humanly possible. Yes, we all have bad da

Dealing with money stress in marriage just became a whole lot easier. The best news that you'll hear today is that you do not need an advanced degree in personal finance in order to succeed with this. Each and every one of us has the same opportunity to accomplish this task, and if you're married, the two of you working together will only increase those odds in your favor.   Of course, it's not always going to be rays of sunshine while you go through this journey. Times can get tough. Bills can start to get behind. You may realize that you're paying hundreds of dollars, maybe even thousands of dollars, on debt and other expenses every month. This can cause anxiety and stress, and if you're married, it could have a detrimental effect on your marriage.   The silver lining in all of this is that sometimes the best comes out of the bad. Both spouses in a marriage stressed by financial woes need to realize that they're both to blame. They need to look inward, be humble, and communicate with each other. When both s

It's official! The first debt has been paid in full, and we're celebrating! It has taken some time, but we're happy to report that the entire balance on this particular credit card has been paid in full.   We were motivated. We had a no interest/deferred interest credit card offer that we used last year. This month would have been the deadline to pay the balance in full before the deferred interest kicked in to the tune of about $260.00. Who doesn't get motivated to save $260.00?   What's interesting is that not only was this a happy event, but it came with a healthy dose of motivation for us to want to continue moving forward. Yes, we discovered that automatically built-in with paying off debts is the motivated desire to pay off even more debt. We can't wait to tackle the next debt on our list, and while we realize that it will likely take some time, we are completely focused on accomplishing this next goal. It's like a healthy addiction; you truly want to experience more of the same feelings of accomplishme

I don't personally believe in New Year's resolutions, but that's mostly because I believe that we have the ability to implement positive changes at any time of the year. With that said, my break that I took in the month of December was mostly due to needing to implement some much-needed changes with this show. The biggest and most notable change is going to be the extended episodes. Short and sweet is nice, but after careful consideration, I determined that detailed and actionable is what's truly needed in order for all of us to get out of debt and get into prosperity as quickly as possible.   My biggest goal for all of us in the year ahead is to make considerable headway towards crushing debt in 2018. We may not be able to get completely out of debt in a year, but we should be able to accomplish many of our smaller goals to get us further ahead than we have in the past. Taking action steps and staying focused for the long haul will be what helps us to truly accomplish our goals, and this is especially true a