So you’re getting 300 to 600 dollars in a tax rebate check

A few days ago I posted my thoughts about the proposed “economic stimulus” where the government will be giving back about 300 dollars per tax payer in a retroactive tax cut from 2007’s tax year. You can read my thoughts about this tax rebate here. In short though I believe income tax is theft and I am for any and all cutting of income tax for anyone from the poorest to the most wealthy. On the other side though I think this rebate is bad for the country because there will be NO SPENDING CUTS on anything to fund it. All we are doing is going deeper in debt. Again read my full post on this to understand this better.

What I wanted to ask though today is what will you do with your 300-600 dollars in rebates?

Since I posted that orginal post I have been getting many visitors each day finding my blog from Google, they are all searching for things like

• “when do we get our tax rebates”
• “government giving out rebate checks”
• “will we get stimulate the economy checks?”
• “when will we get our government rebate checks”
• “800 dollar rebate checks government”
• and you have to love this one “government giving 300 dollars to everyone“

Now I am not here to criticize anyone but my guess is most of the people doing these searches are just itching to get that “free money” and blow it. Indeed that is “the plan”, yes indeed Uncle Scam (not a misspelling) wants you to spend every dime on consumer goods to “stimulate the economy”. The theory is more spending is good because more money is in circulation.

So please comment below after you read this post and tell me what you plan to do with your money. As many may suspect mine will be invested and many in the government want to not give the money to people like me that will save it. No they want “good Americans” to spend the money and “put it to work”.

So what are you doing with your refund?

• Taking a vacation
• Just blowing it
• Saving it
• Paying on debt
• Investing it
• Not sure yet?

Let us know because it is interesting what happens when you really ask yourself what you will do with extra money. Perhaps just perhaps thinking about this may make a few more of us think about saving this refund for a really rainy day. Trust me if you remember 1978 times are really not that bad right now.

Keep in mind this is not some government “entitlement” this is indeed your money, your tax dollars that you paid being returned to you. To do so your government has grow our debt by BILLIONS more. Again I am 100% for any rebate, any tax cut, any tax abolishment. Just realize that our elected officials did not think about how to fund this thing, they are just buying your votes from you with your own money and charging it along with interest to your children.

So knowing that how will you be spending your money, remember it is indeed yours it is not a gift from our exalted officials.

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Why cutting interest rates is bad for the economy

Today I installed the contact form plugin for the WordPress blog platform. This is a great plugin that I recommend for anyone using WordPress; any way in just a few moments after adding my contact page, I got my first question. Here it is along with my answer,

“CostCutter, I have seen you do two posts recently stating how great low interest rates are and how anyone looking to refinance or buy is really lucky that rates are so low. I have also seen a lot of people on the T.V. saying that these rate cuts are actually bad. So which is it and why do these guys say low rates are so bad and you say they are so good.”

That is a great question but it assumes that I disagree with the folks saying these rate cuts are bad, actually I agree with them. My posts about low interest rates from today and the coming interest rate cut yesterday do seem to be positive on the rate cuts and they are but only on one dimension. What I am saying is if you need to refinance are are looking to buy a home then the low rates are very good for you as an individual. Therefore you should take advantage of them.

On the other side I actually think that long term these artificial rate cuts are just bad news for the economy. The reality is we have real problems in this nation that sooner or later have to come out. Things like rate cuts and tax cuts with no corresponding spending cuts only delay the eventual recession and every time we delay it we are just making the eventual market correction worse. No one in the government believes they can stop the recession, they just want to soften the landing but my belief and the belief of most economists is they are actually going to make it a much harder landing.

What you have to understand is why cutting interest rates “works” in the first place. The US economy is driven by spending, when spending slows then everything goes down. There are less jobs, less money in the system, less everything. When interest rates are low spending increases because it costs less money to borrow money so you can buy a bigger house, a bigger car, get a better rate on your credit card etc. These cuts cuts in “the prime rate” or how much the government charges your bank to borrow money. The bank of course is not in business for fun they add to the rate and loan money to you so lower prime rate equals lower rates for everyone and in theory more spending.

The problem is this theory only works long term if people are responsible with debt and it won’t help people who are already in the hole. If you are four payments behind on your home you can’t get a refinance loan no matter how low rates go. If you are paying 29% on your credit card your credit sucks and no one is going to give you a low interest one. Our country is in trouble because to many people spent money they can’t pay back and our government has done the same. When we artificially cut rates we simply put more people into more debt. In other words the country goes deeper into the hole and when at some point we are required to crawl out it will be more not less painful.

If this explanation seems oversimplified it isn’t.   In fact I will make it more simple. If your family is in debt and about to go broke and you take your debt of say 200,000 dollars and refinance it to a lower interest rate to reduce your payments it makes the situation better at first. If however, you then grow your debt back to the original payments you could not make then you are in more not less trouble. When our government puts out these low rates and increases personal and business debt in an economy where people are already in the hole it is the same exact thing.

In short I am glad for the responsible consumer that rates are low, I certainly did not want rates risen to higher levels but the reason behind this cut is nothing but a delay that is going to make what is bad already, worse.

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Tax rebate checks may be on the way

In an effort to stimulate the economy the congress and the president are working to provide an economic stimulus package. One big part will be sending most tax payers some of their tax money back, to the tune of from 300-800 dollars per taxpayer may be even as high as 1600 per household. You can read an article by newsday.com to get more specifics about it.

In any event I have mixed emotions about this. As a Libertarian I believe that all income tax is theft in the first place and I really can’t argue with the government giving back money they should have never taken in the first place. However, in this instance while not totally opposed (I just can’t oppose less tax no matter how it comes) I have sever very big concerns/issues with this plan.

• Right now everyone is worried about the 2008 election. So even Mr. and Mrs. raise taxes (Barak and Hillary) are behind this massive retroactive tax rebate. Make no mistake this is buying votes by both sides of the isle.

• True conservatives are always saying lower taxes are good for the economy and liberals always say that is wrong. Yet now that we are in deep shit everyone agrees cutting taxes makes the economy better? All this means is they all know all the time that low taxes are good and simply keep up the graduated income tax as a way to distract us all with “class warfare”.

• In most instances I don’t see cutting taxes as “spending” yet in this case it is pure reckless spending. Why? How? Simple, no one in congress is talking about cutting any expenditures to fund this rebate. In other words they are still going to spend all the money they were going to spend and GET THIS our country is OUT OF MONEY. So where will we get the billions to fund this rebate? Well the fed will fire up the presses and just print more money at least symbolically. Honestly though our government will borrow it from foreign governments and increase out debt. In other words you kids get to pay back you debt on your 800 bucks with interest and will have to do so with a dollar that is weaker in the world market every day.

• This package is a very short term fix. The whole theory is most people will “blow” their money and dump it in the economy and that will beef up spending for a bit and put more money into the economy and the rising tide will then float all boats. The theory is sound most people will blow it (instead of saving or paying on debt) and it will make it “better” but our “boat” has big holes in it. Make sense? This move won’t reduce US debt, reduce toxic consumer debt, fix the housing market or reduce our massive spending deficit.

So how could this plan actually work? You only have to change the spending equation on the side of the government to make it work very well. Check this way out,

1. Require the government to give back at least the money they plan to right now.
2. Require that they also cut 2 dollars in spending for every dollar returned to tax payers

That’s it! That would “stimulate the economy”! Our nation is not in trouble because our people spend to little, it is in trouble because the government takes too much of our money and then spends far more then even what they steal from us. Fix that problem, yes cut taxes but cut spending by 2 dollars for every dollar you refund to us.

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What does the sub prime melt down mean and who gets the blame

Right now all we seem to hear about in any economic news is the subprime meltdown and how it is responsible for everything. Now the sub prime meltdown is bad but it is also misunderstood in both cause and effect. Let’s look briefly at both sides

The Cause - Everyone wants to blame the lenders for this. To me they get say 20-40% of the blame at most, sure they were stupid and sure it is biting them in the ass right now, as it should but they are not the real ones to blame. Our nation is so fixated on passing the buck and not actually blaming the person who is guilty our grandparents may not recognize our nation if they were with us today.

So who should get the blame for taking rapidly accelerating ARMs, hybrid mortgage loans and borrowing to the absolute limits of their budgets? Doesn’t really take a genius to figure it out does it? The people that took out mortgages that were too high or had bad terms are to blame. That is your fellow Americans and or you yourself if you took out these loans. It is so ever loving easy to blame corporate America but in the end if you borrow money and can’t or don’t repay it the blame is on you, not the company that loaned you the money.

The Effect - The news about the subprime market makes me think of El Niño. Remember El Niño the weather pattern back in the 90s that we blamed for everything. To me that is the sub prime meltdown today. A stock goes down, blame the sub prime lenders. A company lays off workers blame the sub prime market. To many illegal aliens are crushing our educational and health care systems, blame it on the subprime market. Our nation has over spent and is in a 58 trillion dollar hole just for social security alone, blame it on….OK you get the point.

The reality is the subprime bust is bad, very bad but it is also being used as an excuse for other problems in the market. Even the lenders are probably more effected by toxic unsecured (credit card) debt then bad sub prime loans. Yet make no mistake lending institutions are going to loose an estimated 300-400 billion or more before the whole thing comes to an end. Some banks will get bought by other banks, some will flat out shut down and all and all this is going to be another reason for the coming recession or more accurately depression.

Yet when it hits don’t let the talking heads on the idiot box tell you it all because of the greedy sub prime lenders First they are taking a bath you would not believe right now and getting what they deserve, lost money and some going under. Next the real reason for our recession is the US Government is spending far more money then we have and has been for 35 years, the bills are coming due.

So what can you do about all this?

First I advise you to read my post from yesterday about the overall weakness in the economy and watch the video with Comptroller General David Walker to get some specific understanding of what our real problems are and to learn some ways you can protect your assets.

Second I recommend you visit MorCap Fund Advisors, LLC and read their excellent article on the subprime meltdown to better understand it and its’ impact our our economy.

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Double your money in the metal market with no investment

Ok, hold on, don’t get to excited. Indeed I am going to tell you exactly how to get an almost immediate 2 fold return on your money. I am also going to show you how to do it with out spending any money, hiring a broker or even with out doing any paperwork. However, I have to tell you right up front you are not going to get rich with this technique.

In fact this technique is first and foremost fun to do, second it is designed again to program you mind in how you think about words like “money” and “value” and finally last it is about actually making/investing money.

Now that big lump to the left is a chunk of raw copper. Copper has skyrocketed in both price and demand over the last ten years. Copper is used in countless industrial activities and as countries like China, Indonesia and India continue to modernize the demand will continue to grow and often to out pace production capacity. This issue will be compounded by the boom in coal, gold and silver. Consider that you are a mining company and you are choosing where to go and what to do next. You can either mine coal which is far easier then any metal or you can mine silver or gold which is worth far more then copper. Or last you can mine copper which is profitable but if you had the option what would you mine?

Great! So how does this help you double your money with out spending it? The answer is in the humble penny. Currently and since mid 1982 all U.S. pennies are made from mostly zinc with a copper cladding, basically a zinc coin with a very thin layer of copper on the outside. Such pennies are worth damn near nothing from a metal stand point. However, any penny that is older then 1982 is 95% copper and 5% zinc alloy. What does this mean? Let’s do some math.

Step one - When you look at pennies that are made from 1981 back they are heavier then today’s. In fact there are 146 pennies to a pound. Yet we must consider that such pennies are only 95% copper so 1.05 x 146 = 154 pennies make one pound of pure copper.

Step Two - 154 pennies even those from 1981 back are “worth” in currency a whopping $1.54

Step Three - Copper is currently trading at the time of this writing for $2.84 per pound. Hence 154 pennies are “worth” $2.84 in raw copper and copper is a commodity you can actually sell it for very close to the current spot price.

Step Four - Calculation of our return by simply dropping an 1981 or earlier penny into a “special” jar or container is as follows. $2.84 - $1.54 = $1.30 of “profit”. Now take you profit of $1.30 and devide it by your “initial investment” of $1.54 and you have a “instant return of investment” of 84%. Not quite double but as soon as copper goes back over 3 dollars a pound (which analysts believe will be quite soon) and you are at a full 100% return.

We should also consider that copper was trading for about 60-70 cents just 20 years ago and you start to realize just how high your “return” can be if you just start tossing all you pre 82 pennies into a jar for the next twenty years.

This is a great project for adults and kids alike. The bad news is again you are never going to get rich with this and in fact copper will have to go up to say 6 bucks a pound before you will really be able to “cash in” pennies in any real volume. The good news though is there is no doubt that over the years that will happen and because we are talking pennies not many people are making an effort to store away copper pennies.

In 1959 the U.S. stopped making the “wheat cent” and while most of those have been horded away by collectors from 1959 to 1981 100% of pennies produced in the US are 95% copper and virtually no one have really collectively valued them at anything more then one cent. That is 22 years worth of pennies still traveling around in circulation which means their are hundreds of millions of these pennies out there being spent every day. I always drop my pre 82 pennies in a jar and about 1 out of 5 tend to be pre 81’s. Over the years that is a lot of pennies.

So why do this? I mean save 4 dollars a month this way and you make about 4 in return and you have another 400 fricken pennies to deal with right? Short sighted my friend, the key is you don’t do very much to earn that return and most people are making less on their interest bearing savings accounts a month in America. All you do is follow my advice and “spend cash” and each day go through your pennies and drop any 81 or earlier examples into some special container. How much easier can “investing” be?

Just consider if in 10 years you had 15,400 pennies or $154 bucks. Those pennies if copper is at 6 bucks by then will be worth about get this, 600 dollars. Retirement money? Heck no! Just another little store house of money. Additionally while I never get to concerned with numismatic value because of how highly subjective it is there is another opportunity here.

See first let me warn you if you are currently thinking of buying 200,000 or so pennies from a bank, sorting them out and melting the older ones don’t do it! The U.S. Government will frown on that and possibly make you wear some silver bracelets and break a few rocks for a few years. Such activity is illegal for now anyway. Yet as copper keeps going up (and it will) sooner or later the mint will begin to “retire” the old copper. That is a nice way to say they will take the pennies out of circulation and harvest the copper for use. Of course the government is free to do that. This will make a lot of these 60s ad 70s pennies harder to come buy and add some numasmatic value to them as well.

That is many years into the future but let me ask you this. How cool would it have been if say your grandfather started collecting 1964 and earlier silver dimes for you when we stopped making them in 65? For about 10 good years it was easy to pluck silver quarters, dimes and half dollars from circulation. Today it is very rare to find one. I happen to own a huge pile of such coins put away for me by a very smart grandparent. This led to my love of silver in the first place. Today we have the opportunity to start doing something like that for our children, their children and possibly their children’s children. What would 100,000 Indian head pennies be worth today?

There is more at work here though tied to the production of pennies and the metal price. Do you know why 1982 was the year that the penny changed to a zinc core? In the early 80s all metal prices spiked for a while and even then a penny was worth more as copper then as a penny! So zinc was a cheap alternative and coating it in copper kept the penny looking like well, “a penny”.

Today though even zinc is rising in price and it costs about 8/10ths of a cent in raw metal to make a penny. That is before production costs, etc. This means the US Mint is Loosing Money to make pennies. Additionaly so long as people spend cash we can’t get rid of the penny we have to have something in order to make change of a dollar with. I predict therefore that the days of the humble Lincoln cent are numbered! The easy solution is to come up with coin made of something perhaps even cheaper then zinc and make it smaller too.

Since no vending machines take pennies there is no problem with changing the size of the penny. Don’t think it can’t happen either, they did it with the dollar coin. When sooner or later this change occurs it will be another numismatic bump in the value of all pennies and even more so to the all copper variety. So I encourage you to take the phrase, “save your pennies” with a new vision. Start plucking the little copper disks from circulation today and just put them away.

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Why Ron Paul and low taxes are good for the economy

You hear liberals all the time discuss how the tax cuts by Bush were reckless. Now look I am not exactly pleased with Bush myself right now and I think his spending (and that of our both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress) is absolutely reckless and disgraceful. Yet cutting taxes makes a lot of sense, further I think we should keep cutting lower and lower.

In fact if I had my way Ron Paul would become our next President and completely cut the income tax to zero. Think that is unreasonable? Well if we cut spending to where it was just 7 years ago we could eliminate the income tax. Yea your read that right, just cut spending to 2000 levels and we do not need an income tax. That should make you really understand just how many other taxes we already pay.

I digress though, lets just talk about an easy way to understand why lower taxes are good for our economy. Now I could go into Economic theory and formulas and such but that is not necessary. I can instead explain this in a very simple and easy to understand way, think of it simply like having a “sales”. If you ran a store and wanted to sell more products would you do it by raising prices or by having a sale?

Now that is about a stupid question isn’t it? Anybody knows when stores have sales they sell more and when they jack up pricing they sell less.

The important thing to understand is that employment, investing and spending is what drives our economy. So to understand why lower taxes drive better economies from here is really easy. Let’s look at how taxes going up or down effect each of these three factors.

Employment - When taxes are lower businesses keep more of their profits rather then giving them over to the government. When a company has more money in profit they grow. As they grow they have more needs for personal and of course they hire more people. In short a lower tax is like a sale on hiring talented people. When you tax a business higher of course we have the exact opposite effect. Companies keep less profit, there is less funding available and they grow slower and hire new people at a slower rate.

Investing - This is simple to understand. If you invest money that inherently comes with risk. So if I put 50,000 dollars into an investment I could loose much of it. On the other hand if the investment does well I end up with a profit but I only keep the part I don’t pay as taxes. For me to take a risk the upside has to be attractive so of course the lower the tax on investment profits the more attractive investments are. Now if you want me to do something incredibility risky like fund a new business I better get to keep the lion’s share of my profit or there is no good reason to take the risk.

You see when taxes are low on capital gains it is like a sale on investments. Effectively I am paying less money to make more money. Did you know that at one time tax rates were as high as 90% for some income brackets. 90%! Don’t believe me look at some historical tax rates here. Now let me ask you why would anyone risk say 100,000 dollars to fund a start up business as a part owner. End up making 200,000 dollars for the investment and then have to pay all but 10,000 of it as taxes? Why in the hell would anyone take such a risk for so small of a true return? Again when this tax goes up it is like when a store raises its’ pricing and when taxes go down money flows in a “sale like” environment. Simply put when investments go on sale more investors buy more investments.

Spending - Now I am all for saving money but if no one spends any money the economy grinds to a halt. This one is the easiest of the three to understand. Tax Joe and Jane America at a lower tax rate and they keep more of their money, when people have more they spend more. In short for the average consumer lower taxes are a “sale” on everything. You just have to do a bit of inverse thinking to understand this. Joe works 10 hours a day and makes 250 dollars for his day of work. Each day he pays 100 back in tax so he profits an actual 150 dollars.

So Joe values money according to that formula. Hence he “pays” 10 hours of his effort for a 150 dollar item. Now tax Joe only 50 dollars and he now profits at 200 dollars for the day. Now a 150 dollar item only “costs” him 7.5 hours! In short by taking less taxes Joe is now buying everything at a 25% discount.

The combined effect

The reality is the economy is like an ecosystem composed of these three factors of spending, investing and employment. None can sustain themselves with out the other two. There is far more complexity then this but a basic understanding is simple.

• When more money is available to business from profit and from investors they hire more people.
• When more people are employed they have more money to spend, hence they spend it.
• When people spend more money it drives business and results in more profits
• When people can find jobs and get paid well and are taxed lower they also invest more
• Investments then feed business

It is really a circle of economic life. In this circle low taxes are like good fertilizer that makes everything healthy and grow faster. Higher taxes are like salting the earth, they lay waste to the ecosystem and stall growth. Now democrat or republican should not matter this is mathematical science and math does not lie.

Debate the role of government if you like, support a guy with an R or a D after his name or if you are smart perhaps an I. Yet don’t ever be fooled by how there is any good to come from higher taxes. Don’t let the government pitch class warfare on you saying only the “rich” are going to see higher taxes. Right now most American’s work till April 30th to pay all taxes, that is enough, more is not the answer.

Oh and yea I really meant it that we could totally eliminate the income tax, watch this video on Ron Paul for more about that.

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Your job is not secure

Let me be clear I don’t think you have a safe, secure job today if you work even say for the Post Office or even a State Government agency. I believe firmly with the toxicity of debt in both the consumer credit card market and the sub prime lending market a major recession is coming. We won’t die off, no one will jump from tall buildings on Wall Street and the dust bowel is not comming back but there also may no longer be “two chickens in ever pot”. Todays “chickens” are Plasma TVs and other do dads.

Right now there is over 1 Tillion Dollars in toxic debt in the consumer credit market, that is money that will NEVER get paid back. The American tax payer has had enough, we won’t bleed money any more. Social Security is getting to where you as a working member of society have you “own old person” to provide for, it will change and that will be good but short term it will hurt.

The dollar weakens almost daily now! Canada now has a stronger dollar then the US that has never happened. The weak dollar is supposed to help fix the multi trillion dollar trade deficit we have with the world, it does nothing of the sort. The biggest potential export markets for us are China and Japan and both artificially tie their currency to the dollar. When the dollar drops so does the Yen by an equal amount. All a weak dollar does is make your money worth less and less in the global market.

My point is this can’t all just stand as the house of cards it is today and there will come a time soon when some of the bills will have to be paid. When that happens there will not be enough money to pay it. At that point employers are going to feel it hard and tough decisions will have to be made. Your boss might love you but if it comes down to the company surviving and your employment he will have that hard talk with you about some measly severance package. Odds are in many instances he will then get to have the same talk with his boss and so on.

How bad will it be? I do not pretend to know but it will be worse then it is today, that I am sure of. My real point though is it doesn’t really matter does it how many people loose jobs? All that matters to you is if and when you loose yours! It can happen to the best of us, it happened to me and because I live by the things I teach and write about it just wasn’t that big of an issue.

My point is you need to live as though you are currently in the hight of summer. You must buget and make spending choices with the view that you are right now at the peak of your earnings, you must plan for a big decline that can come at any time. This does not mean that you live in fear only that you live free from illusions.

If right now this second you or your spouse lost a job and were unable to replace it quickly how long would your last before you started to go negative on paying your bills. How long till you lost your house or got evicted from your apartment? The average American could scarcely make it 30-60 days! Many are but one or two paychecks from bankruptcy!

How do people get in this position? The belief that a paycheck is an entitlement that’s how. It amazes me how entitled employees tend to be in relation to their employers. Just look at the auto and airline unions, they keep getting more and more from their employers but the problem is the airlines and the car makers no longer can pay the bills. They are putting their very security in jeopardy by always wanting more, more, more.

So what is the solution? - Here are ten things you should be doing starting yesterday.

First - Never see yourself as secure in your job, have a plan B. Always know which competitor or similar company would be best for you to go work for. Cultivate relationships within said company, don’t act like you are ready to switch if you are not but be on the radar.

Second - Build a big network of contacts in your line of work, I don’t care if it is packing boxes or running companies as a CEO. Build network of people around you that can help you if you ever need a new job.

Third - Live below your means! Nothing is more important, make sure you buy less house then you can afford. Buy a cheaper to own and maintain and fuel car that you really have to settle for. In short never buy what you can afford today, buy what you should still be able to afford with far less then you have.

Fourth - If you deep in debt get out now! If have home equity and large credit card debt refinance your house and pay off the cards, then cut them to pieces.

Five - Buy and own a home! Renting has a place but as soon as you can afford to own a home the right way do it. Buy smart, pay less then the house is worth, find a deal, there are always deals. Know this variable rate mortgages are the devil, if you can’t afford the home with a fixed loan, you can’t afford the home!

Six - Build a second income, in other words own your own small business. You know how to do, make or advise on something better then most people. Find a way, anyway to make money with it. Do private consulting, build online income (this is what I do) hell just by blogging you can make 500-1000 dollars a month, (I will show you how in the future). Someway, somehow develop a second and even a third stream of income.

Seven - Save money outside of just your 401K, IRA, etc. The golden rule is get to where you save 10% of your income in an IRA or other tax deffered acocunt. That money is locked away until you retire though. I am all for 10% going to retirement as long as you can save say 15%. If today all you can afford to save is 10% put 5 into a long term locked away account and 5% where you can get to it with out penalty if you need it. Build an emergency fund of at least 90 days of your current income before you lower your savings contributions to liquid accounts.

Eight - Plan on being fired, your company being bought, your job being downsized, etc. It may never happen but plan on it. The very act of viewing such things as a possibility will make you smarter in your decisions every day. It will also make you more level headed and able to stand the hardship if it comes. Again do not live in fear, just follow the boy scout wisdom of “be prepared”.

Nine - Educate yourself in and outside of your current employment niche. When I lost a job about 8 years ago it became an opportunity! I went from Sales Management into online marketing and became very successful. The reason was simple in my sales career I educated myself on how to sell all the time. At the same time I taught myself how to market on and off line. I took my sales knowledge and put it to use online with my new skills. This was my “secondary income” a tiny small business that was making me about 500 dollars a month. I turned it into a new career because I had become a learning sponge. Today I own companies because of this education I gave myself. Be it online, via books, classes, seminars, I don’t care what invest both time and money in educating yourself.

Ten - Be the supreme commander of your own life and destiny. Every day think about how you can do better for yourself, your family and your employer. Your job IS NOT a right, you salary IS NOT an entitlement. Get that into your head right now this second. Would you take a raise if it was enough to damage your companies future? If you can answer that with a yes you should be fired! See yourself as an independent contractor, self employed no matter what your job is about. You should get paid as much as you can with in reason, many are underpaid but many people are also over paid. Work hard enough to be able to demand and expect more.

The key here all goes back to one thing though, no job is secure today. That false belief has put many people into massive debt and financial ruin along with a retirement in poverty. Sure this post was an ass kicking but most of America needs one from time to time.

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