News on Debt Levels

Today I read 2 articles for Canadian newspapers on debt and income.

Ok. Ok. I get that there is a growing concern with debt. The statistics are staggering. But... the point that seems to be missing in all this reporting about debt issues is that a financial diet won't work. Anyone who's been on a food diet knows that you can't deprive yourself for too long without bingeing.

If we're going to report on debt and poverty and income, and other financial matters - how about giving something people can chew use? And I don't mean contine to tell people to stop drinking Latte's. Everyone likes to spend money and the economy depends on it - let's figure out how to do it in a way that is supportive of life goals and priorities and will work for everyone on their terms.

Financial Diets Don't Work - because there's more to the story than cut back and deprive - there's also more to the story than make more money. There's the complete package that Oprah, of all people, should know about with all the food diet knowledge she has (she has been running a series on debt).

What is so frustrating is that it is not easy to make a change - but debt is a great clue and great motivating factor for change if you learn how to put a complete program together that is about the real person and your life goals, life purpose, desires, dreams. You need freedom, support, encouragement, opportunities, possibilities... It's the full package - structure combined with freedom, personal choice, knowledge, education, possibilities...

We have options - debt can make it seem like life is about being enslaved - but that thinking will keep you enslaved longer and deeper. It will take change. It will take work. But - it's only work if you continue to buy into the idea that it's hard, that it's about sacrifice, that the only way out is to cut back or earn more.

Options, possibilities, support, encouragement, ideas, tactics, strategies,... a complete program for personal financial independence on your terms - proven and guaranteed - hmmm - sounds to me like a MoneyMinding Program.

Copyright© 2006 Tracy Piercy. Written Permission is required for reproduction. Thank you.

A thought on different views of financial situations

Recently a friend in the insurance industry was telling me about an insurance product that had decreasing premiums rather than the increasing ones we have become so familiar with in the term insurance arena. This lead to a discussion about investing and how we are always looking at making money on the upside. Yet, you can actually make more money faster in a down market. That's not to say that we should all run out and start changing our investments, it's just that we have become so accustomed to looking at things from the same box, that we miss oopportunities that are right before our eyes.

MoneyMinding®, as you know, is all about helping people see things from a different perspective: the one that fits their goals, their life priorities, the current situation, their values, and they way they want to live. I get so frustrated at the same old messages of make more money, save more money, cut back, get a better return. This vertical thinking does not allow for creative, individual solutions to very personal financial situations.

The 12 step ecourse might seem like a lot of work, or a long time to wait to get an answer – but, hey, we didn’t get to where we are today overnight – the quick fix is the 360 degree view of the current reality combined with some day to day very practical, very tangible, proven, simple activities to make today's step the one that builds on yesterday’s step, and the previous day's step – that all lead very systematically towards the quick fix we all secretly want.

If you do nothing you’ll still be doing the same things a year from now as you were last year. If you do something maybe at least you’ll know how and when a decreasing insurance premium makes sense and what to look for to take advantage of dropping investment prices.

Copyright© 2006 Tracy Piercy, CFP
Written permission is required for reproduction. Thank you.

Chaos in your life and the impact it has on financial success or enjoyment of life.

I recently had a discussion about chaos and stress in our lives and had some great insight I thought I’d share:

In my own life I know that if I act too quickly without stopping to think through the situation or the options - or if I'm doing something because I feel like I 'should' do it - not really with a strong sense of why I'm doing it or what it will mean - If I'm not focusing on the really big rocks and the true purpose, priorities, etc.... then I often end up in a crisis.

Such an example happened the other day: I was supposed to go to a presentation on financial planning situations arising from financial statements; I'm interested and the presenter is someone who has helped me with some cases in the past - but... my focus is not in doing more technical financial planning at this time - it's on building an educational franchise system and immediately making sure I am delivering on the expectations people have from me and MoneyMinding® to help them in their life today. Financial statements are interesting and the topic is relevant – it’s just not a priority for me today.

I had another situation that has caused some ‘chaos’ over the past year as well, and in this case, I felt I 'should' use someone’s services for a job I needed done because he was a client of mine and he brought it up when we were talking one day so I said sure, even though I wasn't confident that he was the right guy for the job. The job ended up needing to be re-done and is still causing problems and costing more money and more stress.

This whole area of focus and being true to our priorities and who we are is such a big part of our financial development that often gets overlooked until we’re looking at ways to find more time or more money to do the things we are really passionate about. We have to learn to become aware of how are decisions on a day to day basis affect our bigger life experience and purpose.

Copyright© 2006 Tracy Piercy, CFP
Written permission is required for reproduction. Thank you.

A comment about holding on to investments that have dropped in value:

"I invested with a broker I met offering financial education a few years back and am still waiting for the shares to go back up to where they were when I bought them, so I can sell them. Right now they are worth about 1/3 of what I got them at."

We’ve all done it and no one likes to lose money. But the reality we will, and by holding on we actually lose much more than just money. My comments back are these: interesting … that if there was really empowering education going on there would be a couple of things happening… mostly that the whole concept of waiting until the shares go back up is not investing; that that process is really a helpless sort of hope; that waiting until they increase in price again is the prime example of fear of loss; that if a proper exit plan had been taught at the outset of the investment the shares would already be sold; and that when they increase again is not when you want to sell them because now they are profitable. This process described is the far too common emotional reaction people have when they invest without the proper strategy and structure.

As you know MoneyMinding® teaches people how to establish an exit plan before they buy to reduce the emotional roller coaster, and also helps investors address these fears so they are in a position of confidence and control – they are not left with that sick, self-esteem lowering feeling of ‘hoping’ they won’t have to lose their investment and face up the reality of their situation.

It’s quite a mess really – totally messes with peoples confidence. It will happen – It’s just sad, that the proper structure and systems we’re taught earlier so investors can become empowered throughout the investing process, not the other way around. There are ways to address the situation now, rather than the ‘waiting for Godot’ syndrome. There is a free article on the MoneyMinding® site called ‘my investments are down, now what?’ that offers some thoughts and lots and lots on this subject in the ecourse.

And also, a couple good questions to ask are: what is the strategy for if and when the shares do go up; and what they are gaining by waiting?

Copyright© 2006 Tracy Piercy, CFP
Written permission is required for reproduction. Thank you.

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