Goal Reached!

I've reached, surpassed another goal. I'm very excited about reaching this goal so soon in the year. Ok, here it is, and it's a big one for me.

I've exceeded my 1,500 miles goal for 2007. (That is miles pedaled)

See, the bottom number on my bike computer is showing 1,504.4 miles as of today. (Don't tell my wife that the 43.7 number was my max speed on Kinsey Valley's downhill. She doesn't like when I got that fast on my bike. Maybe it has something to do with my bike tires being less than one inch wide.) This is a story for another time.

I've set a new goal of 2,000 miles before the year is over. Will I get it? Who knows but the important thing is I've got goals.


I love the line by Zig Zigler, "If you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time." His statement has motivates me. I've come to realize that reaching the goal you set is never as important as who you are becoming as you move toward the goal. When you set a goal you have to push yourself to reach it. If your not pushing then your goal wasn't "stretching" enough for you. If you really want to reach a goal, tell a few friends what it is and ask them to hold you accountable.

Setting goals for me also helps me to stay focused on what I value. It allows me to say no to some good things and some not so good things without feeling guilty when say no.

If you're looking for a simple goal to get started, here's a good one, read a non-fiction book in the next 30 days. Go visit the library. There's lots of books to choose from and it won't cost you a dine. I just checked out "The Power Years" by Ken Dychtwald.

Is winter here yet?

Ok, I'm not wishing for or wanting winter to come but it will be here sooner than I'd like. With this thought in mind, I started searching for a good rate on natural gas. This is how we and most people heat their homes.

Now is a great time to shop and lock-in natural gas prices for the upcoming winter. If your living in Ohio, here's the best place to start doing your research. The PUCO of Ohio has an "Apples to Apples" comparison of gas suppliers.

I took this directly from the web site.

The PUCO produces the Apples to Apples charts to provide consumers with a snapshot comparison of current natural gas and electric supplier price options and contract terms. The PUCO updates the Apples to Apples charts on a regular basis and verifies each supplier offer to ensure accuracy. The charts list only the certified suppliers that are actively enrolling new customers. As with all contracts, consumers should carefully read and understand all terms and conditions before signing any forms or agreeing to enroll with a supplier for natural gas service.

After I did my research, I signed up with Lakeshore Energy Services. They had and have the lowest rate per mcf @ $9.117

How best to pay down your debt?

There's more than one way to attack your debt. The first step in this is stop borrowing money.

When your ready to get serious about becoming debt free, you need some tools to help you get there. I'm a big fan of Dave Ransey's debt snowball concept. It's the system I used to become debt free.

Just the other day, I came across a new online service, www.debtlogistics.com. This site analyzes your debt and suggests ways to pay it off most efficiently. There's lots of good stuff here for free. You can get a personalized plan for $30. My suggestion is check out the free stuff then head over to Dave Ramsey's site.

One of the happiest days of your life will be the day your can proudly say, "I'm debt Free"

Free Financial Advise - Complements of Kiplingers

As I've stated in the past, I'm a fan of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. Here's another reason why. On August 17th and again on the 3oth, Kiplinger's along with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) will answer your finance and retirement questions for free. Hey, these fee only advisers normally charge clients $100 to $250 an hour.

On the 17th and 30th you won't pay a dime. So, get your financial and or retirement questions ready and call 888-919-2345 and a NAPFA adviser will respond to your question. You can also email them a question @ jumpstart@kiplinger.com

Everyone has at least one retirement question you've been dieing to ask. Why not ask and expert for free?

Here's a link to Kiplinger's Jumpstart article.

I'm off to phase my question.

In the lead. . .

As you may recall, our staff here at NewPointe are participating in a wellness program. We are currently tracking our walking with pedometers. Today at all staff, we received certificates for the miles we have walked through the first three weeks.

I'm very proud to say that I'm in the lead. I've walked 238 miles so far. Way cool.

How about you? What do you do to keep your body in shape? I truly believe that there is a spiritual side of exercise and eating right. So get yourself an accountability partner for fitness. It can lead to all sorts of good stuff. For example, yesterday during my 35 mile bike ride, a new rider asked me, "So, what's your testimony?" I spent the next 5 miles talking with him about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Way cool.

As we finished the ride, I told him on our next ride, I wanted to hear his story. (That will be Tuesday.)

Purchase price X 2

While doing some work tonight, I had the national news on tv. I stopped working when the news anchor was doing some shopping and comparing shopping with credit cards vrs. shopping with cash. (I didn't catch all the details of their test.)

I did catch the results. Here's what NBC news found, people were willing to pay twice as much for the same item when they paid for it via credit card vrs cash. That's unbelievable to me.

This may the best reason not to use credit cards for those who tell me "I always pay mine off when the bill comes." That may be so but NBC's news test says you're willing to spend twice as much.

Wesabe - led to online discounts

I just signed up for my free Wesabe account. (See my last post to see what Wesabe is.) Right after is signed up it took me to an Account page and there was a tip from another user that we all can use.

Checkout currentcodes.com when shopping online to get that checkout discount. Here's what Debbie P inside of Wesabe said.

During checkout, most online stores have a "Discount code" or "Promotional code" box. Before you complete your purchase, check www.currentcodes.com to see if you can save some money by filling in that box. The site maintains a database of active codes to save at online stores and lets you search by store name. They have lots of biggies like Amazon.com, gap.com, car rental sites, etc. It's pretty hit or miss... some of the deals are on really specific items, but you sometimes find a flat "15% off" or "free shipping" code that saves you $ and makes you feel in the know.

Here are a few more sites to check out.

www.slickdeals.net

www.fatwallet.com

www.dealcatcher.com

Have fun with them, I'm going back to my Wesabe set-up.

Financial Tips / Advise . . . . WESABE

Today was the first day to sign-up for our next Financial Peace University class. I was very pleased with the response today. I'm looking forward to next Sunday's final day of sign-ups. After that, I'll order material.

With FPU just around the corner, I'll be doing lots of personal financial posts over the next quarter. Hopefully you'll learn something new and even more importantly, put something new into practice.

In reading my Kiplinger's magazine today, I came across a small article entitled "Budgets made Simple". In the article it talked about several softwares that help you track your spending. Kiplinger's picked Wesabe as their favorite "FREE" site.

According to Kiplinger's, the site provides excellent security and it doesn't ask you for your account passwords. (This is a must for me!). Once your up and running, Wesabe lets you tap into the insights of more than 30,000 users..

I'm off to set-up my own Wesabe account. I'll report back soon.

Money Slang. . .

I've always wondered where the different terms for money come from. So the other night I started doing some Google searching. Here's what I came up with.

Bacon - In the middle ages, among the British, having this food in the house was considered a sign of prosperity. 'Bringing home the bacon' was the new slang when games of catching a greased pig at county fairs took effect.

Buck(s) - This became popular in the mid 1850's. It was an abbreviation for buckskin, a unit of exchange in the west.

Bread / Dough - A main staple in numerous peoples lives and has been equated with cash for centuries.

Moolah - mill, from le moulin - This word may be the origin of the English slang meaning of "moolah" as "money", as mills are even today equated with income in the Northwest.

Cash on the Barrel - The barrels used as informal counters in old-time general stores or to merchants refusing to hand over a barrel containing goods until it had been paid for.

Greenback - A nickname originally applied in the 19th century because of the color of paper money.

Smackers - This referred to the sound the clamshells made on the string. It was also heard in the 1920's and referred to the sound when coins weresmacked down on a counter.

Do you know of any other slang words for money? If so, I'd like to know.

Employer to Fine Unhealthy Workers

I've talk with lots of business owners on a consistent basis. One of the recurring issues for them and for us here at the church is the rising cost of health insurance. More and more businesses are looking at creative ways to get their employees healthy in hopes their yearly insurance premiums increases will drop below double digits.

My good friend Dr. Kindra Browning sent me an article from Workforce Management. The article covered a company in Indianapolis that's going to start fining employees with unhealthy habits.

Here's the deal. The following numbers carry a $5 per pay fine that is deducted automatically from an employees paycheck.

1. Body mass index over 29.9
2. Blood pressure over 140/90
3. Blood glucose over 120
4. LDL (Bad) cholesterol over 130

I'm very interested to see how this plays out over time. Will more companies follow suite? Will employees not work for this company? Will this really effect their health insurance premiums? Would you work for a company that has policy like this?

It's time. . . . . . Sign ups for Financial Peace begin Sunday

It's that time again. Time to sign up for this fall's Financial Peace University class here at NewPointe. I'm very excited as lives are changed and marriages saved with each class offered here.

Here's the scoop on this round of classes.

1. For the first time, we are limiting the class size to 30 people. (So don't delay in signing up.)
2. Classes begin Tuesday August 21st @ 7 p.m. here at the church.
3. Sign-up's start this Sunday at the church. Look for the FPU sign in the main Atrium.

To get a great feel for what the class is all about, watch this short FPU video. I get goose bumps every time I watch it.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best investments you could ever make.

Sweet Corn Chalenge

What is the Sweet Corn Challenge? It's a bicycle ride that starts in Richfield Ohio and weaves in and out of the Cleveland Metroparks. This is the 4th time I did this ride and it was the hardest. My Buddy's Bill G., Kevin B., and Bud K., and I tackled the 55 miles of hill after hill. (We missed you Scott)

There were more than 2,000 riders in total.

Here are a few pictures I took and our new van in all it's glory. My wife Cindy wasn't crazy about all the bikes on the van. I thought it was way cool.


Arrival at Sweet Corn. Kevin's helping to get the bikes ready.



Bud, looking for the port-a-pots before we take off. (Bud's on the left of the picture walking away from the camera.)


Our fist pit of the day. 20+ miles into the ride. Two optional hills under our belts. (Pain!!) Kevin, (White & Black) and Bill (Sleeveless jersey) are enjoying the shade and the rest.


The Ride's over (3hrs 20 min of ride time). We've finished off our lunch, picked up our bags of sweet corn and are ready for the drive home. Don't ask how we got out of our bike cloths into street cloths. (It not a pretty site.)

No pictures of me. I was the camera man.

Blogger Tag

Tag, I'm it. There is a game going around the blogging world right now and it's my turn to play. Thanks Double D.

The Rules:

1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.
   

8 Random (cool) Facts about me:

1. When I'm deep in thought, I take one shoe off as I work. If I'm alone the sock comes off as well.)
2. I love live musicals / operas. (I've seen Phantom of the Opera 3 times)
3. I sat for the CPA exam while still in college.
4. I've had 13 broken bones (1 in a youth fist fight)
5. I worked in a coal mine 3 out of my 4 college summers. (The other summer I worked in a slaughter house. . . . Don't ask what I did, it involved animal guts.)
6. I taught 3 semesters of accounting at Kent State University - Tuscarawas
7. I love public radio. . . Any Prairie Home Companion fans out there?
8. I have a relative who is a Secret Service agent on President Bush's detail. I'm looking at Mike's (the Secret Service agent's) business card right now. He was home this weekend for my grandmothers 90th birthday party.

Ok, now it's my turn to tag 8 people. Here we go.

1. Joe Sangl
2. Jennifer Bartlett
3. Dr. Scott Matthews
4. Dave Mast
5. Tony Morgan
6. Tom Troyer
7. Tina Lawver
8. Rita Hershberber
   

Credit Report take 2

As a follow-up to my post yesterday, I received a great email from my good friend K. (Yes, here fist name is the letter"K",) Here's what she had to say.

Hi Todd,

Be sure people use the www.annualcreditreport.com to get the free report ( you can buy the credit score form them for about $7.00) do not use the www.freecreditreport.com scam site . One woman wrote Dave Ramsey that she paid almost $300.00 in stupid tax before she got free of the scam site. They advertise on TV all the time but I see now that they print a very small disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. Consumer Reports is also running warnings about the site in their magazine.

Have a great day,
K

Thanks for the great info.

Credit Reports

I was cleaning out our some files this weekend and came across my Equifax credit report from June of 2006. That made me realize I hadn't pulled a credit report on myself in some time.

Did you know that each credit reporting agency is now required by law to give you one free credit report per year? If you work it right, that allows you to look at your credit report 3 times a year for free. Let me explain.

I'll run an Equifax credit report on myself tonight. It will be free since the last time I did this was over a year ago. In November, I'll run a credit report from Experian. Then in March, I'll run one from Transunion. Then I'll start all over again.

Each reporting agency reports the information a little bit differently. None of them will give you your "famous" credit score for free. All three agencies charge for this. I'd consider paying for this once a year.

This goes without saying but I will say it.

1. Keep your credit reports in a safe and locked location.
   
2. Take action on anything in your report that looks funny.
   
3. Close those old dormant credit card and department store accounts.
4. Don't add more debt you your life. (I listed this one for good measure.)
   

Goal accomplished!

I'm posting this to encourage and to let others know it can be done. In no way am I sharing this to boast or brag.

My wife and I are the proud owners of a 2004 Honda Odyssey. Here's the best part, we paid cash for it. That's the accomplished goal. When we started our savings plan years ago, I really didn't think paying cash for a vehicle was possible. I'm happy to say it is possible with steady plodding.

So what's the alternative to paying cash? Debt. According to the latest figures I could find on the internet, the average car payment is $378 per month over 63 months. (Just over 5 years) Car dealers are now offering loans over 72 months (6 years).

If you do borrow for you next vehicle, and I'm living proof that it's possible to pay cash for it, remember to take all the costs of ownership into account and your car debt & insurance shouldn't be more than 12% - 15% of your monthly take home pay.

PS - The car we sold as part of this cash transaction was a 1998 Honda Accord. In 7 years of ownership of this car, we put 112,000 mile on it.

What is your TV costing you?

It seems I'm constantly on one of my kids, I won't tell you which one, to turn off the TV and get outside. That conversation usually gets me thinking about how much time I spend in front of the TV. It's not a lot but probably more than I realize.

Consider this,the average adult watches 31.5 hours of TV each week. Let's put a value of minimum wage of $5.85 an hour to this. That equates to nearly $800 a month ($9,600 a year) to watch TV. If you value your time more than minimum wage, then this figure goes way up.

I'm not suggesting everyone give up all their TV time. What I would suggest is you consider reducing the time spent watching TV and do something you believe is more valuable with your time, like blogging. . .

How many steps does it take to . . .

This past Sunday, we kicked off our staff wellness program here at NewPointe. Over the next 11 weeks, 78 days, our staff is keeping track with pedometers of how many steps they take each day. I mentioned this in a prior post.

We are posting daily steps taken in our staff break room. I'm very proud to say that I walked the most steps on the first day of the competition.

36,269 steps taken by me Sunday.

I checked out some web sites on walking and it's around 2,000 steps equal one mile. So I walked an equivalent of 18 miles Sunday. Way cool.

Just so you know this is not a fluke, yesterday I walked over 22,000 steps. My wife says I never stop moving until I lay down in bed for the night. I think she's right.

It's official . . . I'm addicted & rated "G"

I was over at John's blog reading up on his great post. Recently he's had a lot of quizzes on his blog posts. I came across one I couldn't resist.

Are you addicted to coffee? Take the test yourself. I'm very please with my high score.

I am 92% Addicted to Coffee

Also thanks to John, I found out my blog was rated G. So everyone is welcome. . . read on.

The Power of Cash continues to work. . . .

Opening my email this a.m., there was one from my buddy Tom Toyer. Tom attends NewPointe and has recently joined the blogging world.

He shared with me his furniture purchase from last night and how he used cash to get a good deal (Stewardship). I've copied his blog post here. It's worth the read....

This evening we made a purchase ... with cash and got a good deal. We have been shopping for living room furniture for the house we are buying. We have two chairs so we decided that would buy a sofa or a sectional. Last week we found a sectional at one of the furniture stores in New Philadelphia, it had a small hole in the back and was marked down considerably. We liked it and had decided that we would get cash and go down again this week and offer them less and use the cash as a bargaining chip. Well, tonight we went with our cash & our game plan to get the sectional, they were closed. Ugh now what, Elsie says: "do you want to stop at this other place just up the road". "Sure" I said: "why not". So we stopped and guess what, God literally closed & locked a door and opened another. Make a long story short ... we ended up buying a couch - no damage, more features & much nicer.

Here is the deal: $999 regular price, on sale for $759, we got it for $700 cash delivered & tax included. We paid about 63% of the original price or saved $131 off the sale price. I'm pumped. Todd it works. The guy jumped all over that offer I think he may have come down even more.

Check that thing out, isn't it sweet!

Stewardship is personal responsibility for taking care of another person's property or financial affairs.

- In our case this money is God's and we are trying to be good stewards of it