Big savings on a cell phone battery

Yesterday, I took my 13 year old daughter to the Alltel store to have her contacts transferred from her broken phone to her new used phone. We paid $20 for her new used phone. Thanks Anita!

While at the Alltel store, we discovered that her new phone needed a new battery. Alltel was happy to sell me one. The price $65.99. Ouch. I politely said thanks and we'd have to think about it.

I went home and logged into Ebay. It's a fantastic source for batteries. I purchased the same exact battery for $2.79 including free shipping. This is a 96% savings. I'm all for Alltel making a profit on replacement batteries but this big of a difference in price is a bit much.

The lesson learned, it's worth shopping around verses impulse buying even on small items like a cell phone batteries.

An easy way to same some money on your car

Quickly answer this. . . . How many miles between oil changes? I bet you said every 3,000 miles right? We'll you'd be wrong. Every 3,000 miles is what those quick lube places and dealerships put on that window sticker when you get your oil changed.

What you need to do is check your owners manual. I'll bet you'll find it recommends every 5,000 miles between oil changes. That's an extra 2,000 miles between changes. If you drive 15,000 miles a year, this means 2 less oil changes a year. This saves you time and money. At $30 per oil change, that's $60 in your pocket.

If you really want to save some green, do your own oil change. You can do it yourself for less than $20. I changed my own oil last weekend.

I've got a VW diesel my owners manual says to change the oil one a year or every 10,000 miles which ever comes first. So, every 3,000 would be a big waist of money and time for me.

Could you 401K be going away?

If House Education & Labor Committee Chairman George Miller D-California, and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, get their way, we can say good-bye to our 401k. These guys are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of "guaranteed retirement accounts" to which all workers would be obliged to contribute. I don't like the idea of the government controling my retirement account. This scares the pants off of me.

Under this plan, all workers would receive a annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U.S. government but would be required to invest 5 percent of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3 percent a year, adjusted for inflation.

The current system of providing tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and earnings would be eliminated.

Here's a link to the full story as reported in Workforce Magazine.

Freeze - Is $10 worth some great peace of mind?

$10 is all it cost me, I should say is what I invested, to put Security Freezes on all three of the credit reporting agencies. The costs vary by state but here in Ohio here was the costs

1. TransUnion - Free
2. Experian $5
3. Equifax $5

The entire process took me less than 15 minutes.

Here's why it's money very well spent. According to a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study, 8.3 million U.S. adults become victims of ID theft each year. Consumers Union estimates that this amounts to more than 22,000 victims per day and 15 victims per minute.

A security freeze lets you stop identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name. So, even if thieves get a hold of your personal information, they can't do anything with it. This is huge! The freeze stops new potential creditors from seeing your consumer credit report and credit score. When you want to use your own credit record, you open your file with a PIN.

So, with your next paycheck, budget in the $10 and invest 15 minutes and FREEZE your Credit.

If you live in a state other than Ohio, click here to see what the fees are for your state.

A 30,000% return on an investment. (Wow!)

Yep, you read this right, a 30,000% return. This was a result of our FPU class last week. This session was one of my favorites as it's the lesson titled "Clause and Effect". This lesson educates class participants about all the different types of insurance.

In this lesson, Dave Ramsey does a fantastic job in explaining the difference between cash value life insurance and term insurance. I'm with Dave on this that term insurance is the only way to go for 98% of us. This lesson also is typically where participants save lots of money by switching from their old cash value policy to a good term policy.

This was the case with one couple in our class. They had been paying into a cash value policy for 15+ year. When they canceled their policy, the received the cash value. Are you ready for this? the check they received was for $30,000.

Had this couple not invested the $99 NewPointe charges to take FPU, they'd still be paying their monthly premium and the insurance company would have the $30,000.

With a good term life insurance policy in place and $30,000 in their pocket, this couple is well on their way to Financial Peace.

$30,000 on a $100 ($99 class cost) investment is a 30,000% return.

Here's what you missed. . . . (Motorcycles in service)

Ok, I made a short post on 10/9/08 regarding this past Sunday's service here at NewPointe. If you didn't make it here, check out this picture to see what you missed.

(We have a great volunteer photographer who captures the essence of Sunday mornings so well. Thanks Paul for using your talents to honor God!)


Part of Dwight's message was about God's power verses our own power. He used the motorcycles as a great visual. It was really cool to watch these bikes ride around the auditorium in the middle of service. I'm sure people will be talking about this for some time to come as it was very engaging. Way to go Dwight!

Ways to stand out at work

A few days ago, I had someone come up to me and thank me for the work I did for them. At the time, I didn't think much about it. Later I reflected on their comments and realized the simple things can make a big difference at work and at life.

Here are a few things I do that could help you stand out at work.

1. Respond quickly to someone's request. Even if all you can do at the time is let them know you'll get them the information by "x" date with every intention of gettting it to them sooner. So many times we request something of others via email or voicemail and with no response from them, we wonder if they even got our message.
2. On you're voice mail, as part of your message, ask people how you can help or serve them best when you call them back. I find by asking this, I get much better messages left for me and I'm able to have their answer when I return the call versed calling them back to ask what they wanted when the left me their voice mail.
   
3. If you can't give a person what they are requesting of you, give them alternatives. For example here at NewPointe, we get lots of requests to "borrow or rent" stuff. We tell them we are not able to do this and here are two sources we call when we want to rent this item. (People are turning to you because they want you to help them get solutions.)
4. Get on the solution side of a problem. Complaining is not a strategy. Look for and suggest answers that help move everyone forward.
5. Always end a conversation by asking a person is their anything else I can do for you? Most of the time the other person will say no but this is a great way to end.
   
   

Perspective. . . . on the market

I'm a facts based guy. So when I look at something or make decisions, I want to see the data. If you look at the stock market through a very narrow time frame, you'll be scared silly. Here's what you need to think about to get some perspective.

1. 100% of the 10 year periods in the history of the stock market has made money.
   
2. 97% of the 5 year periods in the history of the stock market has made money.
3. Since 1970, 38 years, the market has gone down 10% or more 10 time. 9 of those 10 times it completely recovered everything it lost within 2 years. And the first year it came back after it bottomed it averaged a 33% rate of return.
4. When the current market bottoms and you miss the upswing, you will be mad as . . . . if you panicked and sold out.
5. So relax, take a deep breath and count your blessings in life.
   

Don't miss this Sundays service

I don't usually blog about our Sunday service. There's lots of other NewPointe bloggers who do a great job with this topic. (Check out John Bunn's blog).

But this Sunday will include a visual that I'd venture to say has never been seen or done in any church before. Let's just say it's got me all revved up.

You need to be in the auditorium at either our 9 or 11 a.m. service to be part of this. Don't be late.

What financial crisis?

Ok, now that the title of this post got your attention, here's my thoughts / perspective on the current financial crisis. I, like everyone else who participates in some sort of retirement plan have seen my balance take a nose dive. I'm not happy about this but I'm also not fearful. Why no fear? I'm putting my trust in God not myself.

So, with that said, here are my thoughts.

1. God owns it all anyway.
   
2. Bear markets have come and gone before. This will pass.
   
3. With the market down this much, It's really the best time to buy as everything is on sale. Stick with mutual funds and stay away from individual stocks.
   
4. Keep investing into your retirement plan. Your buying more shares with the same dollars.
5. Stop looking at your investment value on a daily basis. This will drive you nuts.
6. Turn off the news. Their job is to evoke emotion and they are doing a good job of this right now.
   
7. I'm an even bigger fan now of life cycle funds. Most retirement plans now offer them. Consider putting some of your allocation into one of these types of funds.
8. Saving faithfully over time will always build wealth. It just takes a little while.
9. Start or continue to give. God will bless you for it. Stay faithful to him. It's easy to give when times are good. Giving in rough financial times points your heart toward Him.
10. Don't borrow any new money for anything.
    

So, in summary, keep everything in perspective, God owns it all. Make sure you have a plan and work that plan. 5-10 years from now, we won't be talking about this financial crisis.

The NewPointe Staff

I'm very proud and thankful to get to do ministry and life with the staff of NewPointe. I wanted to share this great picture of us with you.

It was taken just before we departed from our staff retreat to head back to the real world.

Can you find me in the picture?

4.35% 6 month CD

No joke and this is a great rate right now. I've used Amtrust Direct as one of my tow online savings accounts for years. They have lots of branches in the Cleveland Ohio area.

If you've got some savings laying around in low interest bearing accounts, you should consider this 6 month CD.

Another 2008 Goal met

I like setting goals. It drives me to grow. Today I've met another personal goal. I now weigh less thank 170lbs. Ok, 169.6 to be exact but it's under 170 none the less. I weighted 184 at the first of the year.

I set goals in every area of my life because it keeps me from drifting and just going through the motions.

As a result of some current reading that I'm doing, NewPointe's current series, One Month to Live, and our Staff retreat, I've come up with 10 daily goals. I carry these in my wallet and review them every day.

1. Pray
2. Value my family
3. Put people before things
4. Server someone
5. Encourage someone
6. Develop a thankful spirit
7. Smile (It's the key to health)
8. Exercise
9. Be open to new ideas
10. Treat everyone with respect