I have moved . . .

I've moved from blog. I'm now using WordPress.

Come visit my new site www.toddcolucy.com

Hope to see you there.

When do you "turn-on" your financial brain?

There are times when we just reach into our wallet or purse, pull out the cash and pay for the item(s) we want and then there are times when as we are getting ready to purchase, we stop and think and think and think before laying down the cash.

That "thinking" is what I call "turning-on my financial brain". At what dollar amount do I start having thoughts about buying or not buying?

Here's the process that I go through most of the time and to set this up, you need to know that In my biweekly budget, I get $20 of blow cash every two weeks. (Don't laugh at the amount.)

1. How much of my blow cash do I have left in my wallet right now?
2. Is there anything coming up that I know about between this purchase and my next blow cash installment?
3. Am I wanting to buy this item because I perceive this as a good deal or is it something I really want? A good example of this for me is the Power Bars at Big Lots. Most of the time I'm thinking to myself "This is a great deal. I better pick some up before they are all gone." I've got lots of Power Bars at home already.
4. What would I or could I do with the cash if I don't buy that item?

After going through that thought process, sometimes I buy and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I even feel guilty over my decision. (I wish I could get over that feeling. That's another blog post topic.)

Anyway, that's kind of my story. As your thinking about this, share your thoughts with me. When does your financial brain turn on?

I like this disposable email address

When you order something online one of the "required" fields is your email address. (It makes sense.) One big draw back in my mind is once this online retailer has my email address, it seems like I get at email after email from them about an upcoming sale.

I came across guerrillamail.com. This website provides you with disposable e-mail addresses which expire after 15 Minutes. You can read and reply to e-mails that are sent to the temporary e-mail address within the given time frame.

Guerrillamail's web site say's its used by 8,000 people a day and has created more than 538,000 temporary email addresses.

Leave me a comment on what use you could see for a temporary email address.

Sound Mind Investing

I'm a big fan of the investment strategy used by the guys over at Sound Mind Investing. They do a great job and provide peace of mind. That's why I've got my Roth IRA with them.

They recently made available for free an article from their newsletter that I've read before and really love. It talks about why you shouldn't let current market behavior drive your decisions.

It's a very timely read. Check out the article by clicking here. It will be well worth your time.

Fraud Alert!

Since my post on my debit card being compromised, I've received two direct emails from people who have had the same exact thing happen to them. A charge from NetFlix and the Collagen Store hit their account. Click here to see my initial post and followup posts.

Today, I took the next step and put a fraud alert on my credit report. If you file a fraud alert on one credit report, the agency your filed the alert with is required to notify the other two reporting agencies.

Tonight, I filed the alert with equifax via their fraud alert web site. www.fraudalerts.equifax.com



Here's what I received in my email inbox this a.m.

Dear TODD,

This email serves as confirmation that your request to add an initial 90 day fraud alert or active duty alert to your Equifax credit file has been completed successfully!

To request your free credit file disclosure copy online please visit http://www.equifax.com/fcra.

You may also request your free disclosure by calling (800) 685-1111.

Equifax will forward your initial 90 day fraud alert or active duty alert information to the other national credit reporting agencies, eliminating the need for you to contact them directly. They should also add an alert to their files. If you do not receive notification from Experian or TransUnion that they have added an alert for you on their credit files, please contact them directly using the following contact information:

TransUnion, PO Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634: (800) 680-7289
Experian, PO Box 9530, Allen, TX 75013: (800) 379-3742.

It's time you stop preapproved offers

You come home from work, open your mailbox and find the majority of the mail is prepaid credit card and insurance offers. Day after day, week after week.

Did you know that you can opt out and stop those annoying preapproved offers? Yep, all you have to do is either

1. Call 888-567-8688 or
2. log on to optoutprescreen.com

Note, in doing so, you'll have to provide your Social Security Number. It's safe and well worth it.

Must be my lucky day. $750,000 is waiting for me

I just checked my email and to my great surprise, I was offered $750,000 in grant money. Here's the email.

The Fidelity UK Foundation,
Oakhill House, 130 Tonbridge Road,
Hildenborough, Kent, TN11 9DZ

April 15th 2009

Good Day,
This is to notify you that You are have been approved for a grant of $750,000.00
in the on going Fidelity Foundation 21st year Aniversary Special Easter Grant.
Do not have doubt over Your participation in this Promotion,as all Participants were
selected Through an electronic computer ballot system for all email users drawn From
over 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from America,Asia,
Australia,Europe, Middle East, Oceania,North American,and South American.

To file in for your claims,Contact the verification officer with the
following information:

1.Name:
2.Phone(Mobile):
3.Age:
4.Address:
5.Country:

Wow, it's amazing that they can find me via my email address but they need me to confirm my name, phone # . . .

I wonder if people really fall for this stuff? I'm 1/2 tempted to call the phone number they provided in this email just to see what happens when I call. What would you do? Would you call and play along?

Searching for a good CD rate. . .

I just had a CD come due. It was a 6 month CD paying 3.25%. It was good while it lasted. Now a 6 month CD at that same bank is paying a whopping 0.25%. I said thanks but no thanks.

So, wheres a good place to find CD rates? BankRate.com. I've talked about this web site many time in the past and it's worth you visiting the site from time to time.

In doing my CD search, BankRate is giving me 7 banks paying from 2% up to 2.25%. This is a much higher rate than the 0.25% I'm currently being offered.

So it looks like I'm going to open up an CD online at GMAC Bank paying 2.25% APY.

What's your highest interest earning rate right now and what bank is it with?

This idea to save some money is all wet. . . .

I've been in the market for some time for a rain barrel. They are beneficial in a number of ways.

1. It's rain water and garden plants and house plans do much better with rain water than with treated tap water.
   
2. Rain water is free. No money being poured down the drain. (Literally)
3. I like to think it's another way for me to live a litter greener.

Anyway, in doing some checking around online and locally, the average cost of a rain barrel is over $100. Ouch. I could never bring myself to send that kind of money on a barrel. We'll as luck / ingenuity would have it, I spend a total of $7.95 on my rain barrel.

I got the barrel for free and the parts from Lowe's. So far so good. It's raining tonight and my barrel is almost full. I'm keeping an eye on it to make sure my overflow tube works.

I'm excited about the money I saved and all the rain water I'll have for my house plants, garden, and landscaping this summer.

Do you have any experience with a rain barrel?

5 things to do when you're credit / debit card has been compromized.

Last week, I blogged about my debit card being compromised. Somehow, someone got my number and used it for two purchases. (see my post from April 10th.)

Here are the steps I took to rectify the problem.

1. Stay calm and take a few deep breaths. Believe it or not, this will help.
2. Pray. Ask God for favor as you talk with your bank and others involved in clearing this up.
   
3. Call the 800 number on the back of my debit card to report the unauthorized transactions.
   
4. Authorized the my bank to close / cancel my debit card and issue me a new one with a new number.
5. Did a Google search for the vendor, called their customer service number and informed them of the unauthorized charges. One of the vendors was able to remove the charge before it posted to my bank account.
   

By doing these 5 things, I had my new debit card and the charges reversed from my bank account in a matter of 2 days. I'm still not thrilled about this ordeal but thankful that I was fast to act.

How about you? Have you ever had your credit / debit card compromised / stolen? Leave me a comment and share your experience.

Create Bank Activity Alerts. It could save your @$$

Yesterday I received a text message on my phone at and an email about 2pm. It said my debit card transaction exceeded my alert limit of $30. I was thinking to myself this was strange as I've been at work all day and didn't use my debit card today.

I immediately logged into my online bank account and saw pending charges in the amount of $87.98 for The Collagen Store & $15.97 for NetFlix. I immediately though, Oh no, somehow my debit card number has been compromised.

What did I do next?

1. Didn't panic and called my bank to let them know I had unauthorized debit card transactions on my account. They closed my debit card and issued me another one. (It came in two days.)

2. I called NetFlix and they were very understanding and closed the newly opened account. (The one I didn't open.)From how the customer rep handled my call, I'm guessing this wasn't the first time they have seen something like this.

3. I did a Google search for "The Collagen Store" with no results. My bank did refund the money back to me and sent me an affidavit to sign.

The moral of the story. With text and email bank notification alerts on my checking account, I know within seconds where there is activity on my debit card.

Not having setup this notification system, I wouldn't have seen these charges until I reconciled my monthly bank statement. In the mean time, there would have been a total of $103.95 not in my checking account that I though was there. Can you say bounced checks? (Not good)

Financial Planning for the rest of us

Financial planning has always been important. In today's economy, it's more important than ever.

Now I know what you are already thinking. Your thinking 1 of three things.

1. Todd, I agree with you but a financial planner is so expensive.
2. Todd, I've tried those financial planners and all they want to do is sell me the products they represent.
3. Todd, I've got a some savings and retirement but what can a financial planner really do for me? Don't you have to have lots of money before I need something like this?

I'm happy to say, I've finally come across a financial planning solution that's worth checking out. It's called eFinPLAN. I've logged in, answered a list of detailed questions and was amazed by the 60+ financial plan that I received.

eFinPLAN the Only Web-Based Consumer Oriented Financial Planning Software makes financial planning easy, affordable, and understandable.

What exactly is PMI?

Over the weekend, I received a lot of question regarding PMI insurance. What exactly is PMI and why do people have to pay it?

When you purchase a home, if your down payment on a home is less than 20 percent of the appraised value or sale price, you must obtain private mortgage insurance, known as PMI, with your lender.

The amount of your PMI is about one-half of 1 percent of the loan, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Mortgage insurance premiums are not tax deductible. PMI is added to your monthly mortgage payment.

So, now that you know the "why" and the "amount", what is it? It's foreclosure insurance that your lender makes you, the borrower pay. (ouch) You just purchase a new home and the lender is making you pay insurance so they recover there loan if you can't pay.

Here's a tip that will save you some money. Keep track of your payments on the principal of the mortgage. When you reach the point where the loan-to-value ratio hits 80 percent, notify the lender that it is time to discontinue the PMI premiums. The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, which took effect in 1999, requires lenders to tell the buyer at closing how many years and months it will take for them to reach that 80 percent level and cancel PMI. Lenders must automatically cancel PMI when the balance hits 78 percent.

Is it time to refinance?

All over this mornings headlines in the news is that mortgage rates drop to a record low. The current national average for a 30 year fixed rate is now down to 5.13%. This rate was 6.12% one year ago. The 15 year fixed is down to 4.73% This according to Bankrate.com.

So the question is, should you refinance your mortgage? Must be as refinancing activity is up 3.7%

Here's some food for thought.

1. If you can lower your rate by 1% or more and you plan on staying in your home for more than 5 years, then refinance.
2. If you can go from your 30 year mortgage and refinance down to a 15 year mortgage and your monthly payments say about the same, then refinance.
3. I wouldn't refinance to take equity / cash out of your home. Bad idea.

If you are considering refinancing, first talk with your current mortgage company. Doing so could save some closing costs. Second, talk with your local small town bank. It's a big plus having your mortgage local.

If your interested in my bike ride, read on

I really enjoy bicycling for so many reasons. I was asked what one of my rides looks like. Here's tonight's ride. For what it's worth. This is from my Garmin Edge & Google Earth. Each box is a reading @ 6 second intervals.


The green line is elevation and the read is my heart rate.

Max elevation was 1,243 feet. Max heart rate was 167 beats per minute. Total calories burned 1,354

My March Cycling Summary

March is in the books and I'm quite happy with the miles and number of times I got out on my bicycle.

Here's my March Summary

Total miles 255

Ride Time 16hrs 3minutes

Total calories burnt 80,643

Total vertical feet climbed 10,575

Ok, bring on April. . . .

Save Now and earn an extra 3.25% on your savings

The state of Ohio has finally passed a savings incentive bill that been in the works for a number of years now.

The short version is this. When you take a qualified financial class, you become eligible for Ohio's Save Now savings rate at a participating bank. This savings rate is 3.25% above the banks normal interest rate. PNC bank, coming to Ohio soon in taking over National City Bank, is the first bank to participate in this program.

All the details are not out yet as the State has just passed this legislation. I'll post updates as I'm made aware of them. I'll be participating in this and will do everything in my power to make sure Financial Peace University qualifies for this program.

Want to be more effective? Here's one of the best ways.

Are you ready for the answer? Ok, here it is. All you have to do is take a nap. Yep, that it, just take a nap. Somewhere between 20 & 40 minutes is all you need to refresh and recharge.

NASA found that military pilots and astronauts who took a 40-minute nap improved alertness by 100 percent and performance by 34 percent, and recent Harvard University research also revealed that college students who napped between tasks performed better than those who stayed awake.

A couple of cautions, you should not nap within 4 hours of your normal bet time and you should not nap for more than 40 minutes. You don't want to enter deep sleep.

Why not give a nap a try sometime this week. If you get 30 minutes for lunch at work, take the first 20 for a nap and the last 10 to eat a light lunch. If you try it, leave me a comment and let me know how it went.

Town Hall for Hope

NewPointe just signed on to bring you live Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope simulcast on April 23rd @ 8pm. I'm very excited and can't wait for this event.

Here's how the Town Hall of Hope web site describes this event.

Tired of hearing the fear, doom and gloom that’s filling the airwaves? Join Dave Ramsey for a nationwide town hall meeting and discover what’s happening with the economy, how we got here, and where we’re going. Plus, Dave will answer your questions live throughout the event!

Watch this short video and plan on attending on the 23rd of April. Oh yea, it's FREE

We the Savers. . .

ING Direct, one of the leading online banks has come up with a Declaration of Financial Independence. It's pretty cool. There are 10 "declarations" that you are making by signing it.

1. You will spend less than you earn.
2. You will build equity in your home.
3. You will take care of your money
4. You will defend your credit worthiness
5. You will ignore unsolicited credit card marketing
6. You will know the cost of your borrowing
7. You will invest for the long term
8. You will take care of the things you have
9. You will remember what matters
10. You will be heard

On the web site, the list above is explained. You can print it out. It's a cool reminder to have it in print.

As of this post, there have been 28,664 people who have signed the declaration. 28,665 with my signature.

A subscription to good to pass up. . .

I enjoy reading all I can on personal finance. Part of my reading includes a magazine or two.

Years ago, my magazine of choice was Money. I switched from Money to Kiplinger's for a number of reasons and Kiplinger's is the only magazine I pay for. Until now.

In my mail today, I opened a subscription offer from Money. They are offering me their "professional discount" on Money magazine and it includes the following:

1. Fortune Magazine
2. Annual Forecast Issue
3. The Money 100 - Best Mutual Funds
4. Annual Retirement Guide
5. Best Places to Live, Vacation, Retire
6. Investing for Colleger
7. Annual Real Estate and Home Improvement Guide
8. 401k & IRA Checkup

Cover Price for all this is $172.63. Professional discount of $162.63. My cost $10 a year for up to 3 years.

So, hello Money Magazine, Fortune magazine and all the sundry guides.

20 Free financial courses from various universities

How would you like to learn more about personal finance issues and economics?

Over at Generation X finance, they have complied a list of 20 fantastic finance courses offered by the likes of Yale, UC Irvine, Rutgers, and many others on such topics as;

1. Family Finance
2. Personal Finance
3. Borrowing
4. Investments
5. retirement
6. and 15 similar courses.

So, hop on over to Generation X finance and learn something new about finances for FREE.

Looking for a Coach?

Each weekday morning, I start my day off with some great motivation with a morning coach. Personal development is a key to growth and I came across a free tool via I-Tunes.

Morning Coach is a 15 minutes free podcast and web site that inspires and motivates. What does morning coach offer?

1. Daily motivational podcoast
2. A personal dream board where you can create a visual of your goals and dream
3. Online journal
4. To-do section
5. Values area

So, get motivated and check out Morning Coach it's 15 minutes well spent.

Contribution. . .

This word, Contribution can stir up lots of different thoughts in each one of us. The first thought that pops into my mind when I hear the word contribution is money. Now hold on, I'm not going to talk about contribution(s) as it relates to money today.

The second thought came into my mind is what I want to blog about today.What kind of contribution am I making in the lives of peoples that I touch? Are people better off each time I interact with them? Am I contributing to their success? I sure hope so but I know that is not always the case.

I need to constantly remind myself that I'm always influencing people either in a good way or a bad way. Am I a problem solver or a problem adder?

When I see every situation in this light, I focus less on me and more on others. This is the kind of contribution I want to have on the people in my life. How about you?

Layoffs even hitting Sesame Street

This is funny but it's not at the same time.

It did make me pause and say a prayer for all those I know who have been laid off.

Enjoy the clip.

Time to think about mowing my grass?

Ok, I am jumping ahead a few weeks weather wise but today it's going to be in the 50's and before I get out for a bike ride today, I thought I'd prep my lawn mower for the coming season.

Here are some tips I came across that should make my mowing season go a little smoother. At least make my mower run smoother.

1. Fresh Gas -- Fresh gas is critical to an engine's performance. I drain my tank after the last mowing of the year so for me, no worries about old gas.
   
2. Engine Oil -- Drain engine oil and replace it with clean SAE 30 engine oil after every 50 hours of operation. Check the lubrication section of your mower's owner's manual for specific oil recommendations. I'm well overdue on this one.
3. Spark Plug -- Replace the spark plug after every 100 hours of operation. (Every other year works good for me.)
4. Air Filter -- If the mower's air filter is dirty, the engine may not run properly and may be damaged. Service the air filter after every 25 hours of operation or every season, whichever comes first.
5. Blade Care -- For best results, lawn mower blades must be kept sharp. Lawn mower blades can be sharpened with a file or on a grinder wheel. Never attempt to sharpen the blade while it is on the mower. Special care should be taken to keep the blade balanced. An unbalanced blade will leave an uneven cut on the lawn and can eventually cause damage to the lawn mower or the engine.

So there you go, 5 tips to get your mower read for the season.

Ideas to survive this financial meltdown

What are some things you can do, can think about, should do during this financial meltdown? Here's what I'm doing.

1. Praying. Thanking God for what I have and that he is in control. This economy has not taken him by surprise.
2. Think long term with your goals and investing. It wasn't that long ago the the market / your retirement plan was doing great. This economy will turn around. You have to maintain perspective.
   
3. It is critical to spend less than you make.
4. Buildup then maintain an emergency fund. I'm not as comfortable with my current balance in this account as I was a year ago. It's time to increase this fund.
5. Sell some things in your home that you no longer use. Last week, I sold my 12 gauge.

What things would you add to the list?

GOAL. . . .

I'm very excited and happy. I hit my goal weight today. (Actually, 1 lb less than my goal weight)

Thank you Thin & Healthy Program. Especially Jess, Molly and Kelly. I'm very appreciative of the coaching, training, and encouragement you provided.

Thinking about what T&H did for me is a lot like ministry and leadership. We need someone to come along side us to provide coaching, training and encouragement. Do you have anyone in your life that's doing these kind of things for you? I hope so. If not, get involved and volunteer. You'll begin to experience life change and that's what makes life worth living.

Bike update

Quick blog post today. For all everyone who asked me about my bike, thanks. It's all back together. (Thanks Bill)

I took full advantage of the warmer weather last week. I logged in 72 miles. This season is off to a good start.

Car fund down to $0

I have one savings account with multiple categories. I use emigrantdirect.com. Why, because they consistently have one of the highest interest rates out there. Emigrant is currently paying a whopping 2%. (Just kidding on the whopping part.)

With my one savings account, I have a spreadsheet where I "breakdown" the total amount into different categories.

1. Emergency Fund
2. Christmas (it's in December each year)
3. Vacation
4. Car replacement & repair
5. Vet bills (new category)
6. Appliance / Carpet fund
7. Planned giving

This week category #4 (Car) went to zero. 4 new tires on the van $470 and getting the check engine light to go off in my son's car $250.

Unfortunately, I always get bummed when I take funds out of savings. I guess it's because it takes so long to get the balances to grow. Then I soon realize, it's not my money anyway. It's the money God has entrusted to me to provide for my family and I soon become humble and very thankful that the money is there to just fix the car. No credit card bill, no big drama, just pay the bill and start building up the category again.

When it comes to category #4, I keep reminding myself, I've got no car payment and that in itself is a wonderful blessing.

Financial things that drive me nuts

Do you have financial "things" that get under your skin and drive you nuts? If not nuts, at least makes you ask why. I've got a list and thought I'd share it.

1. People who pay for memberships, don't use it and then complain that they are see limited or no results.
   
2. Buying something you don't need or fully understand because it's the latest and greatest thing out there and you just have to have it.
   
3. Ring tones for your cell phone. Why spend $$ for this?
   
4. Buying bottled water. What's with that?
5. My favorite office supply. . . . "Air in a can". I've heard of Prince Albert in a can but that's a whole different story.

What would be on your list?

New Record!

I'm pumped. Last night we cut up another 9 credit cards in our Financial Peace Class. That brings the total to 90 credit cards destroyed in this class. A new NewPointe record.

Way to go guys! I'm very proud of all you have accomplished these past 7 weeks.

Life Insurance. . .

As of late, I've been getting lots of questions about life insurance. First things first. It's really death insurance. An insurance company is paying your loved ones upon your death not your life. I guess its a better marking tool to call it life insurance.

Anyway, the best rule of thumb is to purchase a 20 or 30 year level term life insurance policy and stay away from "permanent" (whole life or universal life) life insurance. The somewhat short answer is this. You should have 8 to 10 times your annual income in life insurance up until your kids are grown and your house is paid for. At that time, you can lower or in most cases, eliminate your life insurance.

The biggest problem I have with permanent life insurance is most people with kids and a mortgage can't afford the premiums to get the 8 to 10 times their earnings in coverage. (There are other reasons to stay away but that should be enough incentive.)

So, where are some good places to shop / search for term life insurance?

1. Zander as recommended by Dave Ramsey
2. Insure.com
3. Select Quote
4. Matrix Direct
   

So, take your pick and get a free quote.

So what does Obama's "Stimulas" package mean for me?

In a nutshell, the typical American 2 working household will get a tax rebate of $800. (Assuming your combined income is less than $150,000). $400 for singles with income less than $75,000

How do you exactly get the $800? Well that depends. You can collect the credit either by having the amount show up in your paychecks, or by claiming it as a lump sum on the 2009 tax return that you'll file in 2010.

Being on the employer side of this, I'm not exactly sure how you can get the money in each paycheck. What I'm reading is that the IRS is going to make changes to the tax withholding tables used to calculate federal withholding from your paycheck. If this happens, it would most likely be June before you'd see a change in your paycheck. Don't get to excited, you're looking at about $13 a week through the end of the year.

The really sick thing about all of this is that the federal government is borrowing money to do this and it will take 30 years to pay off this debt. I don't like this one bit.

Should you continue to invest in your retirement plan?

The very short answer without question is yes. Don't take my word for it. Click on this link, here what Dave Ramsey has to say about it and then you can download a free report from Davis Advisors titled "The Wisdom of Great Investors. Insights from Some of History's Greatest Investment Minds.

It's a great read. Stuff you will not hear about on the evening news. So, take a deep breath, download the report and become wise as it relates to your retirement savings. Enjoy.

81, a number that's hard to believe

I'm so excited and humbled at the same time. At last night's Financial Peace class, we kept on cutting up credit cards. This is the third class in a row that multiple people have
cut up multiple cards. 15 cards from one person alone.

So, where does the number 81 come into play? That's the total number of credit cards cut up by this class of 60 people. Incredible.

So much life change has taken place in this FPU class, I could type out page after page in sharing their stories. The very short story is this group of people are getting it and making significant changes in their financial lives. In doing so, my hope is that they become open to what God wants for their lives.

See, once you put your financial problems behind you, your now free to experience the life God has in store for you and that makes life worth living.

I think I'm going to be sick...

You know one of my passions in life is bicycle riding. I've got a sweet deal with a friend of mine. I do his taxes and he maintains and fixes my bike. (Who's getting the better deal here?)

I've had his taxes done for some time and he's had my bike since before Christmas. No real hurry on my end because the winters in Ohio really stink for bike riding.

I asked Bill for an update on my bike and this is what he sent me. . . . I didn't know my bike had so many part. Bill emailed me to let me know it's now back together but he had some "extra parts". I think I'm going to be sick. . .

Emergency Fundy part 2

I received a couple of great comments from my resent "What constitutes use of your emergency fund?" I wanted to address both Christy & Reliantk008's comments in this post.

First to Christy's comment. She suggested setting aside "planned" savings for pet expenses. This would be a fantastic savings goal. Pet's are a loved part of the family and medical care for them can be expensive and unpredictable in their timing. Great suggestion Christy.

RelinatK008 asked how much of an emergency fund a single person should have? He also added a twist as he's a full-time college student. For a starting emergency fund $1,000 is great. $500 if your income is less than $20,000 a year. I'm guessing as a college student his income is less than $20k. A fully funded emergency fund should be no less than three months of living expenses. So, Reliantk008, if I were in your shoes today, I'd like to have between $500 - $1,000 until I graduate from college.

Thanks guys for the great comments and being the inspiration for this post.

What constitutes use of your emergency fund?

You do have an emergency fund don't you? (No a credit card is not an emergency fund.) Assuming you do have an emergency fund, what constitutes using this fund?

I've experienced some unplanned financial expenses here of late. Today, my son's car is in the shop getting a once over. Earlier this week, I took one of our two dogs to the vet and the cost was just over $350. (Ouch)

Are either of these two things emergencies?

The car repair. . . NO.

The vet. . . Yes.

Here's why. First, I save money on a regular basis for car repairs. Cars will breakdown from time to time or need routine maintenance. (I'm pulling funds out of my car repair savings for this.) My dog needing surgery was an unplanned and unforeseen large expense. (i.e. an emergency.)

So, I use my emergency fund for unplanned unforeseen large (over $100 for me) expenses. Once I use emergency fund dollars priority #1 for me is to replace those dollars ASAP to get the fund back to "normal".

A great tool to track your . . . . health

I'm always on the lookout for a cool tool that's easy to use and track data. Earlier this week, I came across prevention magazines website and saw something here that really caught my eye.

It's their "My Health Tracker". I like tools that help you track your money so I though to myself, this health tracker thing may be cool. I'll check it out.

After using it for only one week, I'm hooked. This thing tracks the following all for free!

1. What you eat and all the related calories, fat, protein, ect related to that food.
2. Your exercise and the calories burnt by exercising
3. Your weight loss or gain
4. Your mood
5. Your body size (I've lost 19 inches this year. Thanks Thin & Health / Super Fitness)
   

It also have over 20 reports you can run off of this data. Here's my calories burnt versus calories eaten this week. Based on me burning more than I've eaten I should have lost weight this week and I did. I lost 2lbs. (PS, I'm very close to my preseason cycling goal weight)

So, set some goals for yourself this week and find the tools to help you meet them.

What are you hoping for?

I just started reading Discover the Power in the Prayers of Paul. It's been a great read thus far. I just finished reading about HOPE.

Hope is defined in the dictionary as "desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment". So, what do you have a desire to see fulfilled in your life? Before you answer, consider what roll you need God to play in this. . . .

Here's a list I came up with.

1. The hope of being used by God until the day I die. (Life doesn't get better than this.)
2. The hope of bringing family and friends to Christ
3. The hope of raising my two kids to honor and love God.
4. The hope of making a difference in my neighborhood
5. The hope of always honoring God with my life.
   

I made the top 20 list. . . Way cool

I'm happy and excited to be mentioned in the Christian Personal Finance blog, written by Bob Lotich let alone be considered one of his top 20 sites. Way Cool.

Looking at how Bob came up with his list, I'm quite honored to be one it. He writes some great stuff on personal finance from a Christian perspective. Please click on the link I provided above to see a listing and description of all 20 sites. It will be time well invested and who knows, it may even put some money in your pocket.

Keep checking out his blog because from time to time, He gives away stuff. I haven't won one of his giveaways yet but making his top 20 list is way cooler.

Thanks Bob and keep up the good work.

$8 a week

I can boil down the soon to be signed economic stimulus bill into two points.

1. You'll see about $8 more per week in your paycheck
2. It will take over 30 years to pay for this "stimulus"

If you ask me, borrowing money is what gets people / governments into financial trouble in the first place. I'm glad our government is trying something to help the economy. I'm not sure giving every working person $8 more dollars a week will do that.

Thoughts?

Bonds in my retirement account

But first, what exactly is a bond? Great question.

A Bond is just and IOU from the issuer to the Bond holder. In other words, I "loan" my retirement dollars to a company and they pay me interest until the bond matures at which time I get my loan back. (oversimplified explanation)

Most "experts" would say a good rule of thumb is to allocate the same percentage as your age to bonds. So, I'm 42 and based on that, I should have somewhere between 40-45% of my retirement funds in a bond mutual fund. (I'm currently below that allocation percentage.)

Fidelity has a fantastic page on their website that explains exactly how bonds work. (click here). It's well worth a quick read.

Here are three recommendations on bonds.

1. They should be part of your retirement plan allocation.
2. Always buy a bond mutual fund never individual bonds (the same applies to stocks)
3. I like a good global bond fund.
   

Jumping for Joy . . . 27 times

I'm very excited.

At this weeks Financial Peace class, we cut up 27 credit cards.



Life change is beginning for these families who cut up their credit cards. I'm so proud and humbled to be part of this. (Yea God!)

Income Tax Refund?

If you are like most, you'll be getting a tax refund this year. Mine is coming Feb 13th via direct deposit.

The real question here is what are you planning on doing with your refund? I've got some advise / opinion to share with you on this.

1. The most important thing you can do is write down on paper what you'll do once the refund hits your hands. If you don't write it down, you'll spend it 3 or 4 times over in your head. Heaven forbid you "spend it" before you even have it. 70-80% of people do this.
2. Put it back for an emergency. I know this is not the "fun" thing to do but, if you do not have a fully funded emergency fund, this is the smartest thing to do.
3. Pay down some debt. Knock out a bill or two. What a blessing to have less bills to pay.
4. Bless someone who's out of work. Take a portion of your refund dollars and give it to someone in need. Way cool!
5. If your consumer debt free, use your refund to "fund" your next family vacation. This one is our plan.

My final suggestion, especially if you have a large refund ($1,000 or more) fill out a new W-4 at work and pick MORE dependents than you have on your current W-4. By doing this, less will be taken our of each paycheck, giving you more money in your pocket now. Who wouldn't want more money now?

I paid cash for our newest car

Ok, technically, it is our family's "newest" car and yes I did pay cash for it. (The second car I've paid cash for by the way.) Being debt free is a wonderful thing.

The real story here is this car is a 2000 Toyota Camry with 186,000 miles on it. The car is for my soon to be 16 year old son. He is very, very excited as any 16 year old would be and Cindy and I are excited for him.

The real story here is I see this car as a blessing from God. The person who sold me the car called me and asked if I was looking for a car for my son. He just put tires on the car and it runs great but it was time for him to replace the car. Then he told me the price. I was almost embarrassed to buy it for so little. (But I did and I thanked God for blessing.)

See the blessing was not only the price of the car but the relationship I had with the seller and the cash I'd saved to "someday" help my son buy is first car.

How much was the car? Lets just say it will cost me more to insure it with liability coverage only in a year than what I paid for the car.

Sure Fire way to save some money

If you are like most people, saving money is hard. After all the bills are paid, there's not much if any money left to put into savings. May I suggest you're doing this money stuff backwards? See, savings should be the second thing you do with your money. (The first is giving back to God for what he's already given you.)

I've found the easiest way to save is to have an amount automatically withdrawn from my paycheck before I ever get it. If your employer offers direct deposit, they have the ability to direct your paycheck into more than one account. So you could have $x dollars from each pay go into a savings account and the balance go into your checking account.

If your employer does not direct deposit into multiple accounts, no worries, you can setup an recurring automatic transfer from your checking account to a savings account on your own. Set it up one time and it will occur automatically after that.

Try it for three pays or three months even if it's only $5 at a time. I'm betting you'll adjust with no problem and before you know it, you'll start to accumulate some savings and we can all use some of that in our lives.

Well, I did it. (Looked at my retirement account balances)

Each year, about this time after all my account statements have arrived in the mail, I pick a day to enter my various retirement account balances into a spreadsheet. I say various accounts because I have rollover accounts with 4 difference fund companies.

In this very hard economic time, I've talked with lots of folks who have told me that when their retirement fund papers come in the mail, they don't even open the envelope. They'd rather not know how bad it is. I can certainly understand where they are coming from although I do not agree with what they are doing.

After graphing my retirement account balances, I'm down 36% from a year ago. Ouch! But no need to panic. There was a need for me to "rebalance" how I'm allocating my current retirement withholding's. The only way I knew to do this was by looking at my statements.

I take comfort in this as I look at my declining retirement fund balances.

1. God is in control and I'm not.
2. I've got time on my side even at 42 years of age.
3. As I put money into the market now, I'm getting more shares for the same dollars.
4. The Bible tells us to save for the future and saving is a retirement fund is the best way I know how to do that.

Ice and Snow. . . Oh no

Today is one of the worst weather days in some time. So much so, we closed the office and sent everyone home today.

From my kitchen bar, I'm looking out our window and it's almost a white-out outside.

Hot cup of coffee in my hands, laptop with a 9 cell battery (it runs forever on it), a fire in our wood burner and Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey on Itunes. What a neat day.

It's kind of cool how God can slow you down and mix things up with a some snow.

Working on your taxes yet? Direct deposit

I started working on my taxes this weekend. (Along with taxes for by brother and a few friends.) When you're taxes are completed and you've check, double checked and checked one more time before you file them, you'll have one of two outcomes.

1. You owe the IRS
2. You are getting a refund

First, if you owe, don't panic, Start saving now and don't file your taxes until April 15. This will give you about 2 1/2 months to save for what you owe. (Use this same principal if you owe your state and or city) Even if you can't pay 100% of what you owe, please file your return. This will keep you for going to jail.

If your getting a refund, did you know you can have your refund direct deposited into as many as 3 different accounts? I think this is way cool. You could have a few buck deposited into your checking account, a few more into your savings account and even some into your IRA. All you have to do is include form 8888 as part of your tax return and the IRS will do the rest.

By the way, how big is your refund? I blog about why a large refund is a bad idea later on. Stay tuned.

Syncing my office and home computer

I'm a big fan of Firefox web browser. Now I have another reason to love this program. I recently came across a Firefox add-on called Foxmarks.

Foxmarks is a free add-on that syncs and backs up your bookmarks across multiple computers. (For me this is my office PC and my home PC). This is way cool in so many ways. I've often bookmarked a site on my home computer knowing full well I really need that information at work. I usually send myself and email with the web address linked into the body of the email.

Give Foxmarks a try its a very cool and useful tool.

Life Change began again last night

Last night was fantastic. We had 65 people in the room for Financial Peace University. There was lots of laughs during the DVD time and everyone seemed to be open to what Dave Ramsey was sharing.

We then broke out into small groups. I've got 13 people in my group. We had some great discussion and I even received an email already from one couple in the group. In a nutshell, I sensed some real hope in their lives by what they shared with me.

I wish I could covey how great it feels when you know God is using you to change peoples lives. I can't believe I get to do this.

I'm excited about. . .

Yes, I know today's the day we get a new president. That's cool and all but that's not what has me excited.

What I'm excited about is Financial Peace University starts tonight and we'll have over 50 people taking this round of classes. Why am I so excited? Because I know, life change happens in and through our FPU program here at NewPointe.

I have no doubt that people will begin to free themselves from the bondage of payments and debt. Can you sense the joy in me? I hope so.

I encourage you to take steps today to get in control of your finances and not let them control you.

One more reason I love Kiplinger's magazine. $100

I love personal finance. One of the resources I look forward to reading each month is Kiplinger's magazine. It's got some great down to earth financial advise, month in and month out.

A few months back, I took the magazine up on an offer and agreed to take part in their monthly online survey. The ask questions about the magazine. I'm sure there's a great marketing angle in the survey but I don't mind. The survey doesn't take very long and they always "goat' you into taking it by saying, "You'll be entered into a drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card."

Well, I'm here to tell you, the do give away those $100 Amazon gift cards. Today in my mailbox was a letter from Kiplingers. The first thing that came to my mind is "Why are they sending me something in an envelope. Where's the next issue?" To my great surprise, I opened up the envelope to a Congratulations card with a $100 Amazon gift card. Way cool!

See, It pays to read up on your personal finances. Off to Amazon.com

New Tax Deduction related to Real Estate Taxes

Up to this point, you had to have itemized, Schedule A on your 1040 tax return in order to be able to deduct Real Estate Taxes. The IRS has made a rule change that lets those who do not itemize deduct R/E taxes for 2008 and 2009

Real Estate Tax Deduction — There is an additional standard deduction for those who don’t itemize their deductions, but pay real estate taxes. The additional deduction amount is equal to the amount of real estate taxes paid up to $500 for single filers or up to $1,000 for joint filers. This deduction is available for the 2008 and 2009 tax years and increases your standard deduction.

Although most people who own a home pay more than $1,000 in R/E taxes, a $1,000 deduction is better than the zero you got last year. So don't miss this when doing your taxes this year.

Text message in your weekly offering

I'm always on the lookout for and am interested in technology that can help me and our church. I recently came across a new technology by "Ministry Kiosks" that allows you to make your charitable donations via text message.

My first thought when I saw this way, "No way, this is really cool". I watched a demo on the Ministry Kiosks' web site and I'm even more impressed with the technology.

Please give me your feedback on this. Would you consider giving this way? Why or why not?

Today's the Day . . . . Free Financial Advice

I blogged last week about Kiplinger's "Jump-Start Your Retirement Plan Days". Today from 9am to 6 pm est, you can call 888-919-8945 and a Professional Financial Adviser will answer your questions for Free.

Let me know if you called in today.

Secuity Allerts . . . Another weapon in my identitiy protection

I recently did a little digging into my account setup at Chase.com. I bank with Cash. In digging, I started playing around with their "account alerts". I've really come to love them.

I was able to set up alerts to email me and text me when certain things happen on my account. Here's the one's I've set up thus far.

• Transactions or ATM withdrawals exceed specified limits (text & emailed)
  
• My Online ID or Password is changed (text & emailed)
• My mailing address has been updated (text & emailed)
• When my direct deposits have posted (text & emailed)
• Daily account activity (emailed)

Does your bank have this powerful tool? Are you tanking advantage of it?

I like the IRS . . .

Well, I at least like their web site. Believe it or not, the IRS web site is full of great and useful information related to your tax life. This this time of year in particular I visit their 1040 Central page.

1040 Central is a plethora of great information that could save you money on your 2008 taxes and put more money in your wallet as you move through 2009. The sight covers new tax law changes, has online tools and links to FREE tax return sites.

So, as much as people don't like to think about or deal with their taxes, spending some time on the IRS web site may be time and money well spent.

Want some FREE financial advise from a licensed professional?

Checking up on your investments / savings at least once a year is a must. This is even more important these days with the economic turmoil we are in.

Here's your chance to talk with a licensed financial adviser for free. These advisers normally charge between $100 to $250 an hour.

Take your pick on either Jan 13th an again on Jan 30th, Kiplinger's is sponsoring their annual "Jump-Start Your Retirement Plan Days". From 9am to 6pm est you can call 888-919-2345 and a NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisors) will answer your financial questions for FREE.

To make the most out of your time on the phone with the, list out your questions before you call and it may be a good idea to have your 401k statements in hand as well.

I plan on calling and i look forward to this each year.