Tax Day: The refund aftermath

Tax day was thirty days ago and if you waited until the last minute to file, you are  probably receiving your check sometime soon if you expected a refund. Two-thirds (66.2%) of tax payers are expecting a refund this year, up from 65.5 percent last year, but down from the percentage expecting a refund in 2009 (68.4%). *  It is always interesting to me to see how folks handle their payments and refunds to Uncle, State and City Sam. Take our short poll to tell us what you did with your refund and see how you measure up to the rest of America and their choices. Next week I will share my thoughts on refunds and share some tax tips from a previous show guest and tax expert. If you can’t wait that long

The Importance of Recognition

How do you know when you have done a good job? Because you gave your best effort? That is great if you can be satisfied knowing that you have done a good job internally. For many of us, we crave and desire the external praise of another person’s recognition.

Mother’s Day Money Savers

By Elena Difiore, Program Director

Mother’s Day is right around the corner.  With time winding down, you may think your gift options are slim. However, before you fall back on flowers as a last resort, consider a few of the following Mother’s Day gift ideas that’ll be sure to bring a smile to her face without draining your bank account in the process.

Mo Math will equal Mo Money in kids futures

http://m.apnews.mobi/ap/db_7329/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Mm7uCku0&src=cat&dbid=7329&dbname=Lifestyles&detailindex=1

This its a neat article about one group’s effort to inspire kids to take interest in mathematics. Making the process of  learning math exciting will make other types of problem solving easier. I am looking forward to seeing the results this museum receives. Especially if Google dropped a couple million into the pot. Hmmmm….I wonder what Google expects this museum to produce, future Google engineers?

First read the article and then share with us what you think the impact will be. 

Valid posters will be entered into a drawing for my book Bushido Business: Art of the Modern Professional with Tom Hopkins, Steven Covey and Brian Tracy. Winners will be announced on Wednesday’s Mid Week Update from Unlock Your Wealth Radio. Listen to an archived Show right here http://www.unlockyourwealth.com

Calling All Arizona College Students and Grads

If you think you have what it takes to work in a highly visible public atmosphere for the number one wealth radio show on the internet, Unlock Your Wealth Radio is currently offering internship positions and an apprenticeship opportunities for the right candidates. We are looking for college students and college graduates with developed writing skills who wish to excel and gain knowledge in the business world.

Our interns work side by side with our staff on research and writing projects, as well as learn marketing and advertising strategies in the area of personal finance and coaching.

Our apprenticeship program provides specialized training in targeted areas like SEO,  internet marketing, web design and maintenance and social media with the ultimate goal of a full time position at Unlock Your Wealth Radio.

Work around your schedule! Hours are very flexible; you can work a minimum of 10 hours a week Monday-Friday. You will be able to have a summer job or take summer school along with an internship or apprenticeship!

If you have the following qualities, we would like to hear from you:

Like Options and choices
Can work under pressure and deadlines
Dare to be different and out of the box
Know when you have done a good job
Enjoy incentives in the workplace
Like the details
Are excellent with spelling and grammar

Please submit your resume and cover letter along with a original sample news story with cited examples and quotes on one of the following topics:
1. Summer Savings Getaways
2. Summer Budgeting
3. Back to School Savings Ideas

To jobs@uywradio.com

Forgiveness: A 4-Step Strategy on Millionaire Nuts and Bolts from Unlock Your Wealth Radio

What a great Millionaire Mind Focus™ for today’s Millionaire Nuts and Bolts from Unlock Your Wealth Radio and it fits in with our “Forget the Perfection Principle” from Last week’s Key in the Keys To Riches™ Financial Wellness Series. Millionaires are able to forgive and move forward while still retaining the lessons learned from the objectionable person, act or event. One thing millionaires and the wealthy know about life’s big secret is that life happens. Life happens to us, for us, around us and the occasional against us. Millionaires know the secret power of the Universe as an energy field and as electrical beings in that energy field, in order to keep growing personally, professionally, and yes…attract and keep the money flowing financially; we must keep our energy fields balanced and free from obstruction. Any blockage of energy and we will not be able to give and receive appropriately.
When we harbor resentment, anger, hostility and negative feelings toward someone or something, it is stored in our body somewhere, creating a block of our energy field. Today’s Millionaire Mind Focus™ on Millionaire Nuts and Bolts from Unlock Your Wealth Radio is about being able to forgive without forgetting, letting go of the negativity for ourselves, not to approve of, condone or demonstrate a weakness for the act perpetrated against us, rather to let go of the emotion associated with that act or event so that abundance and wealth can again flow freely towards us.
Forgiveness is a selfish act, just for ourselves, to release us from the emotion of the perpetrator or the violating act or event. Millionaires know inherently that forgiveness is just a simple release of the emotional tie to the event itself. The wealthy are able to separate the emotion from the offending act. Millionaires know what Don Miguel Ruiz writes about in the bestselling book The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book), Don’t Take Things Personally. Do that up front, and you are less likely to have to forgive yourself or someone else for their inequities or transgressions. In the event you haven’t committed to not taking things personally and done that step yet we have devised a 4 step strategy for forgiveness on today’s Millionaire Nuts and Bolts from Unlock You Wealth Radio to clear out that wasted emotion from our energy fields.
This lifetime is about us, not about what we have specifically, rather what we DO with what we have and how we can affect the lives of others with that abundance. So, are you going to let some silly person or event press your ego so much that you are willing to give up your higher purpose? Which is to accumulate massive amounts of wealth so you can help more people do more things and leave a lasting mark on this planet long after you are gone? I don’t think so. Now that it is put in that way, forgiveness seems much easier, doesn’t it? Yep, I thought so. And the best part of all is, since the forgiveness is for you, you only have to make your declaration and release of that energy to the Universe. If you are really worried that you might somehow be perceived as weak, or approving of the objectionable act or event, just go through the forgiveness process by yourself, FOR yourself. It never actually has to be addressed with the offending party, unless it is you, then you will have to deal with you, but otherwise, it is just between you and the Universe. How great is that? Rise above and clear yourself of that garbage with our 4step forgiveness strategy and you are well on your way to regain what the Universe has to give you and you too can Start Your Day like so many others who listen, the Millionaire Way™.

T. Harv Eker Really said that on Today’s Unlock Your Wealth Radio???

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind author T. Harv Eker dropped in on Heather Wagenhals’ Unlock Your Wealth Radio this morning and it was explosive! Harv can really get an audience stirring as was evident in the chat room comments about what he was saying how he can predict your financial future in five minutes. Actually, he corrected himself on air saying that it was really five seconds but no one would believe him if he said that. Tune in to see how he proved it on air though!

It was so great for all of our listeners to hear it from someone else that your programming is what brought you to where you are now. I am constantly saying on the show we are a product of our programming and unless we take an active role to change that programming, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. Harv’s direct approach adds the shock value most of us need to start examining our habits a little more closely and identify what resides in our current “money blueprint” so on next week’s episode we can work to replace those files and clean up our money folder in our mental filing cabinet. Tune in and download the episode to learn more.
Using our featured strategy last week from http://www.unlockyourwealth.com on credit report review, comedienne Cocoa Brown found some inaccuracies on her credit report and began the dispute process. Today’s Key in our Keys To RichesTM Financial Wellness Series, Remember Real Estate focused on the four layers of risk an underwriter uses to determine mortgage creditworthiness and affordability. This week’s featured strategy is a “Know Your Ratios” strategy that you can download free at http://www.unlockyourwealth.com to give you step by step instructions to determine what your ratios need to be and how close you are to affording that first home! Next week’s key is Forget The Perfection Principle and we will learn how to get back in the saddle after financial catastrophe hits.
After downloading these episodes remember to add your reminders for Tuesday’s Millionaire Nuts and Bolts from Unlock Your Wealth Radio at 6:30am to grab this week’s Millionaire Focus and “start your day, the Millionaire way! TM”

Stop The Spending Impulse Please!!!

One of our members in the http://www.unlockyourwealth.com forum posted a question about beginning the Carry Cash Challenge from our Mid Week Update. I liked the question so much and felt that others might also feel this way that I wanted to add it to our blog. My point with the answer I wrote was, we cannot control the stimulus, but we can control the response, we just need to build up our mental and intestinal fortitude to say, “for this impulse, not right now, maybe later”:

Q: How do I start the “Carry Cash Challenge”? I am an impulsive buyer, and I don’t want to be!!

A: This is a great question. The purpose of the “Carry Cash Challenge” is to teach ourselves restraint and when the cash is gone, so are our discretionary spending decisions, until the cash is replenished at the next pay cycle. It will only take a time or two of the impulse spending and lack of additional funds for items we truly need, to learn to live within our means. Here is how to start the challenge:

1. Make a commitment with yourself that you will only spend the cash you have on hand for discretionary items and once it is gone, it’s gone.

2. Start filling the discretionary spending cash stash after you have: Saved the 10% of your paycheck off the top, taken the next 10% and allocated it for debt reduction (This is in addition to your monthly minimum payments on your credit obligations) and utilized the last 80% to live off. Whatever is left over from the 80% is yours to spend any way you wish. Is it a negative amount (meaning you do not have any cash leftover)? Then you wait until the next pay period to see if there is any leftover cash to add to the discretionary spending cash stash.

Remember, on the Unlock Your Wealth Radio show we always talk about how powerful the mind is and what we think about, we bring about. We always get what we ‘SAY’ we want. If you want to be a disciplined spender, you will be, if you enjoy the reckless abandon of impulse spending, you will continue to do just that, spend with reckless abandon.

Let’s examine your statement for a moment, “I am an impulsive buyer, and I don’t want to be!!” The first part of your statement is, “I am an impulsive buyer”. That is an affirmative statement. “I am”, so when you tell yourself that and voila, that is what your brain creates. The second part of that statement is “I don’t want to be!!” Again goes to work the greatest super computer of the entire Universe, the brain works so fast and doesn’t hear the word no, so “I want to be…[an impulsive buyer]” is what it is listening to and achieving. The brain ALWAYS WINS.

What we can do is state what it is we “DO” want. Because the speed and accuracy with the brain hitting our ‘stated’ goals, we need to carefully choose our words and say what we DO want, not what we don’t want. We can change our brain’s targets simply by rephrasing what it is we “do” want. For example: “I am a disciplined spender” or “I am a careful spender” will give us the strength, once the brain has a chance to process and change our belief about spending, in words that will evoke the kind of spender we desire to be.

The last thing we need to consider when beginning this “Carry Cash Challenge” is that we always do things with a positive intent and purpose. In some way, this impulsive spending is doing something for you on some level (right, wrong, or indifferent) that reinforces the behavior and keeps you doing it, even though it is totally destructive to you, financially. After you restructure your affirmation about the type of spender you are, and, if you are still having a challenge with the impulses, I encourage you to download the episode with Unlock Your Wealth Protégé Cocoa Brown on July 10th where we addressed her impulsive shopping behaviors and did a six step reframe to create different alternatives for her to choose to give her that same feeling the impulsive shopping did, without the financial consequences.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. That space gives us the creative control we need to effectively respond to any stimulus. We may need to come up with some creative alternatives BEFORE we receive the next stimulus so we can replace the old patterned response, with one we truly desire.

After listening to the episode and creating options for your spending stimulus, start the “Carry Cash Challenge” and pop by to let us know how it is working for you.

Good Luck!

Heather Wagenhals

Carry Cash Challenge

Staff Writer
Elena Difiore

Can’t afford that new 70” flat screen? Charge it now and pay for it later! After all, everyone else is doing it.

With their overwhelming simplicity and accessibility, credit cards have become the financial crutch of far too many Americans. Breaking free from your prison of purchases starts by recognizing the underlying emotions that fuel your desire to spend. Don’t think you have enough will power to simply say no? For all the impulsive shoppers out there, here are a few tips on how to protect your wallet from yourself.

One option is to go the old-fashioned route and simply cut up your cards. If they’re in pieces, there’s obviously no way you can use them. However, there’s no doubt that credit cards can be a necessary evil. Whether you’re booking a week’s stay at a hotel, or enrolled in some form of automatic bill pay, credit cards can serve a beneficial purpose, so cutting them up isn’t always the best option.

A classic remedy for credit card abusers is the ice block approach. Take your credit card and place it in a large tupperware container or old ice cream carton. Next, fill the container with water and place it in the freezer. This way, you still have your credit card as an option in case of an emergency, but you’re much less likely to splurge on a new pair of shoes if you have to pick away at an icicle for hours on end.

A similar approach is burying your credit card in a shoebox in your backyard. Just like freezing your card, burying it in your yard acts as a deterrent to emotional or impulsive spending. If you want to use your card, you have to take the time to dig it up, which gives you time to ponder the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of your purchase.

For a creative, unique way to hide your card, try placing it in a plastic sealable bag and filling the rest of the bag with some form of thick substance, such as peanut butter. Everyone knows how hard it is to clean peanut butter off of anything, so hopefully having to clean it off your card will make you think twice before rushing off to the mall.

Another option is hiding your credit card in your attic. However, keep in mind, this method is pointless if you have an easily accessible attic. But for those who seldom, if ever, go into their attic, this could be the perfect solution.

Looking for a more formal approach? Place your credit card in a safety deposit box at your bank. Not only will you have to drive to your bank if you want to use your card, but the hoops and red tape usually involved with accessing safety deposit boxes will force you to seriously evaluate your decision.

When all is said and done, you are the only one who can help yourself escape the destructive cycle of credit card debt. Breaking free from the clutches of excessive consumption starts by taking responsibility for your actions and putting a freeze on your spending, figuratively or literally.

Laziness, Vanity and Sharks

Staff Writer
Dan Moore

As a species, human beings are obsessed with spending money; we spend money to ameliorate our appearance, appease our anxieties, and flaunt what is often a false facade of luxury and financial comfort. Many of the biggest money-wasting tricks and traps humans are suckered into feed off of these insecurities, along with our laziness and our vanity, although some simply cater to our misconstrued concepts of what products are “best.” Advice: Beware of inclinations that direct you toward making a purchase for the wrong reasons. Increase your self-awareness, and steer clear of the myriad of money-hungry predators lingering on the Internet, on the phone and on the T.V., as they are all foaming at the mouth for the opportunity to scam, swindle and seduce you. Of the plethora of different ways humans tend to waste their money, the following conglomeration of illogical expenditures and decisions–and the mindsets which inspire them–are particularly detrimental to one’s bank account and, subsequently, one’s serenity and peace of mind.
Laziness
The easiest way to waste your money is to be lazy. For instance, instead of taking the extra time to research their next big purchase, and instead of entering a store, lobby or office determined to unearth the best deal, humans tend to drift toward the brightest colors, the flashiest name and, most often, the most expensive price. Advice: Next time you buy a car, buy a model two years older than the newest in stock–that new-car smell will cost you 30% more money. Or, at least–and this goes for every other type of endeavor you sign up for–read every word of every contract you sign.
Laziness plagues the average consumer in facets of their life far removed from the local Mercedes dealer, as well. Always remember to unplug your appliances when you leave your place of dwelling for extended periods of time; of the total energy used to run home electronics, 40% is consumed when the appliances are turned off.
Another avenue of spending which caters directly to our lazy tendencies are credit cards. It is one thing to charge a large expenditure to your credit card, but it is something entirely different to pay for meals, cigarettes or candy bars with that little piece of plastic. Most major credit cards charge between 15% to 30% interest on the unpaid balance you have charged, and you can end up paying an astounding amount of interest over a year for very modest purchases–sometimes with the interest costs exceeding the original amount of the purchase.
Vanity
The easiest way for a salesman to strip an innocent consumer of their riches is to tap into their desire to look and feel like the models said salesmen vehemently exploit. For instance, many companies advertise with strategies that sound a lot like: “Unless you buy this expensive brand of makeup, this expensive line of designer blouses, or this expensive muscle-enhancing substance you will be destined to a life mired in mediocrity along with the other ugly people of the world.” Advice: Don’t be fooled! In most cases, generic versions of such aforementioned items are the same as the brand name versions, as they often use the same formulas; what you’re paying for when purchasing brand name items is the advertising and artwork utilized in suckering you in to buying them in the first place. As well, many of the advertisers who shamelessly market these beauty products or enhancement supplements are flat-out lying when they say only their commodity will succeed in changing you as a person. Don’t be fooled!
Sharks
Perhaps an even easier way to waste your money than being lazy is being susceptible to the money-hungry sharks lurking the murky waters of your Internet connection, your phone lines, your cable receptions and your mail boxes. Not only are the products you buy or the memberships you sign up for over the phone or on sketchy Internet sites often completely fraudulent in every way, but they usually require you to fork over your credit card number to a source you know nothing about in order to apply, thus creating a dark, endless abyss for the average consumer to blindly toss his or her money into. Advice: Don’t purchase anything over the phone, or at least refrain from supplying unreliable sources with your vital information. Just don’t do it!

Suffocating under heaps of debt is an unfortunate, avoidable fate. Be careful, be aware, and be smart when making any kind of purchase, and do the same in day-to-day life, as well. The money you earn shouldn’t seep through the unsealed cracks of your financial strategies and attitudes. Good luck.

Staff Writer