Wake Up Now! Transforming Our Financial Management
Set Up For Failure Without Financial Planning
I
came into my adult life without any real template for success with
personal finance. I grew up in a household where I knew the meaning of
bankruptcy and the median poverty level in 1989(then $20,000) at the age
of 7. I knew what it was to get hand-me-down clothes, donated clothes
and to shop at a thrift store. Holiday celebrations were scarce and
usually provided by whichever caring family that took an interest is
helping us that my parents hadn't alienated, or relatives that were near
and kept in contact. I can count the Christmases that we had where we
all received good gifts, mostly from relatives. I knew what it was to be
grateful for my blessings. I always wondered why we never sent gifts
out to our relatives, didn't get new things, or go on vacations and
visit places like Disney Land. Looking back I think the saddest day in
my youth was when I came to accept the fact that we would never be "like
everyone else" because we were poor. Words like "personal finance",
"expense management" and "financial planning" were rarely heard in my
home and when they were, it was it was in relation to a short term
project.
It
wasn't that my parents didn't work hard, or that they blatantly chose
not to pay our bills, it was that they were overwhelmed and uneducated.
Also, my mother was very ill in more than one way and I don't believe
that foodstamps were an option for them, either by ignorance, pride, or
not qualifying for them at their income bracket. Medical bills were the
reason for their bankruptcy.
Common Mistakes In Personal Finance
My
mother had no head for financial planning. When we got our tax refund at the peak
of my step-father's business, rather than invest it in a sure-fire
option for return, she convinced my step-father to buy us all day-beds.
This is where being thrifty would have benefited us long term. We had
wooden bunk beds that were just fine for my middle sister and I, and my
younger sister could have slept in a toddler bed. This is a mistake that
a lot of people make, going for what is shiny rather than what is
practical just because they can afford it at the time.
 |
| "I'm sorry, we can't afford that." |
Budgeting and expense management
were not as productive as they needed to be. I got to sit and see our
monthly budgets as my mother wrote them out. They never had an option
for savings as a use for any remainder. The profit from my step-dad's
business was used as "mad" money. There was no future goal in mind, my
mother always convinced my step-father to live in the moment. So, we
grew up without any sort of financial safety net or monetary cushion in
preparation for the financial storms that came along.
Stuck Thinking Inside The Box
We
worked as volunteers at a thrift store in central Portland and as
payment for our services we were able to take home whatever we needed or
wanted. This would have been a fantastic opportunity for my parents to
have sold those shiny day-beds and had us use free beds. Also, there
could have been so many opportunities to capitalize on free goods to be
sold elsewhere; swapmeet, community yard sale, etc; And when we had a
large move, rather than make the choice to sell what we did not need, my
parents put the items in a storage unit and we ended up losing all of
our belongings from our past that we did not already have with us.
Holding on too tightly to something does not always work out. It is
important to see the bigger picture.Opportunistic Tragedy
I
remember the first Tupperware party that my mother went to, it was 1985
was a bit over 3, but not yet 4. It was a blast and I loved the event.
We had just moved to Daniel's Creek, Oregon from the Tri-Cities in
Washington. We had gone from a single-wide mobile home to a very nice
home and my little sister had been born. My parents were planning on
moving again for a better job for my step-father. Rather than stay and
grow a business that my mother would have done well at then, my parents
relocated and upset the delicate balance that is the permanence of
establishing one's self in a community.
When opportunity knocks you had better answer. My step-father told me when I got my first cell-phone
at
the age of 19 that he'd had the option to buy in to the cellular market
back in the 1990's before it had boomed, but he "didn't have the money"
then...
There was this newer MLM
company that got started in the 1960's and got really big in the 1980's
called AMWAY...yeah, my parents had an opportunity there.
Insurance, HUMAX, Mary Kay, and the list goes on for all the opportunities that my parents had and passed up.
The Hamster Wheel Business
My
step-father worked harder than anyone else I had ever met. He drove
long-haul truck which was a pretty decent paying gig. The isolation took
it's toll on my mother and he was soon home, making less
| It might look like you're going somewhere, but you're not. |
My mother
tutored under a master pruner and gardener in Portland, Oregon and she
started her own pruning & gardening business. She even had success
with getting the bid for the Hermiston, Oregon townhall and her
landscaping was great. I can't tell you how much profit that she made
overall because she never discussed her expense management. But she
stopped there. She got distracted with dog-breeding.
And
the next thing you know my parents were moving again. Any rapport, or
relationships that they had established in that smaller town that would
have helped my mother become more successful, were tossed aside.
An Unfinished Expense Management Puzzle
A
big key piece of the business puzzle that my parents were missing was
effective marketing. They blew money on things that had no return
without any thought to the concept of expense management.So you can buy toys; a bigger TV, weapons, more expensive clothing, jewelery, a vacation...but are those going to give you a return in your investment? No. They are a non-recuperative expense.
My step-father used the cheap classified ads to draw business, but how much greater traffic would he had been able to attract if he had invested some of his profit into a bigger color add? If he had gotten business cards printed? If he had established relationships through a small business co-op or networking group? The formula for investing in your business should be to take a portion of your profit and invest it in advertising
Being Asleep Financially
A lack of financial planning causes one to sleep through the opportunities that life may bring for good fortune. I can tell you right now that for all the expenditures that my parents made towards furthering there respective businesses, that they never claimed anything as a tax write off or business expense. Do youknow how much money they lost just at tax time over the years?! Just as an individual that is the head of a household and relocating for a job there is a deduction that I am sure that they never credited from.
There
problem was that they were uneducated in matters of money management
for business. They were caught in the Poverty Mentality. There are some
great public figures that have arisen in the arena of money management
in the past few years whose sole goal is to help families to break the
generational chain of poverty through changing the mentality of first
parents and then the result being their children are successful
financially.But what are the tools that those who are wanting to change their lives financially permanently now? For many the solution seems to make more money, but does that actually help if you don't know how to manage it? To invest properly? To have healthy personal boundaries within your self so that you can tell the part of your self that wants instant gratification, "No!"? To look at the bigger picture and plan for the future?
Realistic Consequences Of Expense Management
I don't mean to be a downer in mentioning a harsh reality. The truth is that at the end of the fiscal year tax
documentation
is due and few small business owners are prepared because they lack the
education about the necessity of financial planning. The fiscal year
determined by our| I'm no CPA! |
How Do I Enact A Change?
The
first step to overcoming a problem is to admit that you have one. You
don't have the adequate knowledge, time or experience to effectively
manage your personal, and personal business finances and that is
alright.Necessity is the mother of invention. And aren't we glad for necessity driven inventions! We like
convenience, ease and affordability. There is now a tool that will essentially think for you and help you to manage your finances. I find it's value to be priceless, but as I stated earlier, I grew up in a family that did not have a track record of financial success. So, I latch on to any tool that I find that will elevate my mentality beyond what I currently operate at and I share it with others that are struggling as well, especially parents.
The Solution is Wake Up Now
Features
- Track all of your financial accounts in one place
- Apps for your aspects of personal finance
- Categorize your spending
- Create budgets
- View financial reports
Rewarding Your Responsibility In Personal Finance
Wake Up Now is the first program that actually rewards you for using the tools that it provides, and they make a big difference. You receive insider savings programs that gives you free items, 22% discounts with large cellular carriers, discounts in shopping at your favorite places, a member's only exclusive marketplace and rewards you with travel...like vacations, paid. Really!Act Now!
Do your self and your family a favor and go watch the whole video at the link attached. I want you to think about how this tool can help you give you financial freedom that before you thought was only available to the wealthy. Wrong thinking. This tool is how the average become wealthy!
Click HERE to take a hold of your future and Wake Up Now!
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*This Blog is the intellectual property of Amy J. Smith, all rights reserved 2013
