What are you doing to improve your financial condition??

[princess tamtam]

mua! i love you guys. thanks gman and julian for the assurance and other folks stories.

yes, i was tripping out over the credit that i am going to be using for this move even though i am almost done paying off a lump of other credit over the past few years! it's not that much when i think about it but i just don't want to repeat what i did in the past.

i know that i will pay it back and it is really teaching me to pay it on time and more than the minimum. when i do get hella cash i want to go ahead and pay it all off so i will have it behind me this time around too.

also, i might add...

all the college heads out there, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be careful when the credit represenatives come to your campus and table. they throw these credit cards at you with the promotional tee-shirts and mugs and candy. they sign you up and you think you have all the money in the world to spend and pay later like it was a student loan. that is how they got me cuz i didn't know any better. BE CAREFUL.

btw, gman, what did you do about your defaulted student loans? i consolidated my ones from undergrad and now i am about to consolidate them with the grad ones. word up, wild, i am shaking my head and asking WHY i took out them loans!?!?! there is just too much hassle in dealing with two agencies with different interest rates. sallie mae and direct loans knows my voice by heart cuz i will be crying if i ever get defaulted on them mugs!

[princess tamtam]

btw, julian, are you a some kind of financial consultant? if not, you should think about being one... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[imported_Gman]

My students loans went into collection. In the end I paid the principle and accued interest but not all of the fees that the collection agencies were trying to tag on. I paid the defaulted loans off one by one. Princess, thats a great idea to consolidate them all into one.

-G

Originally posted by princess tamtam:
...btw, gman, what did you do about your defaulted student loans? i consolidated my ones from undergrad and now i am about to consolidate them with the grad ones.

[imported_Gman]

Heads should know whats on their credit reports. Once you get a copy of your report work on clearing any bad stuff up. Don't wait until you are applying for a loan be proactive.

The big three credit reporting agencies are Equifax,TransUnion and Experian. You can now order a report online if you like or have it sent to you.

https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/we...urce=EHS&PP=P1

http://www.transunion.com/Personal/O...editReport.asp

http://www.experian.com/consumer/index.html

Here's an example credit report.



Under the Historical Status column they track any late payment you have ever made in your life so always try to make your payments on time. Late payments affect your overall credit score.

-G

[DJ Timmy Richardson]

Originally posted by Gman:
Heads should know whats on their credit reports. Once you get a copy of your report work on clearing any bad stuff up. Don't wait until you are applying for a loan be proactive.

The big three credit reporting agencies are Equifax,TransUnion and Experian. You can now order a report online if you like or have it sent to you.

https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/webapp/ConsumerProducts/pgConsumer Products?^start=&orderSource=EHS&PP=P1

http://www.transunion.com/Personal/O...editReport.asp

http://www.experian.com/consumer/index.html

Here's an example credit report.



Under the Historical Status column they track any late payment you have ever made in your life so always try to make your payments on time. Late payments affect your overall credit score.

-G

And get rid of your credit cards. Have 1 major and that's it. Ladies get rid of those Macys, Sears Express, Victoria Secret, etc. The more available credit you have, the worse even if you never use them.

[shawn]

[img]graemlins/1luvu.gif[/img]
Just can't stop reading this damn thread. I swear I check it EVERYDAY. Keep it coming.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

peace~

[Mah'chew]

Originally posted by DJ Timmy Richardson:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Gman:
Heads should know whats on their credit reports. Once you get a copy of your report work on clearing any bad stuff up. Don't wait until you are applying for a loan be proactive.

The big three credit reporting agencies are Equifax,TransUnion and Experian. You can now order a report online if you like or have it sent to you.

https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/we...urce=EHS&PP=P1

http://www.transunion.com/Personal/O...editReport.asp

http://www.experian.com/consumer/index.html

Here's an example credit report.



Under the Historical Status column they track any late payment you have ever made in your life so always try to make your payments on time. Late payments affect your overall credit score.

-G

And get rid of your credit cards. Have 1 major and that's it. Ladies get rid of those Macys, Sears Express, Victoria Secret, etc. The more available credit you have, the worse even if you never use them.</font>[/QUOTE]This is an example of really good credit, I used to work for Exeprian in the UK a long time ago. The three sets of 'zeros' are what's most important to most people, they are payments made over time. Zero is good, payments paid on time, 1's mean you've paid something late (means one month as well - even if you were a day late..), 2's are two months arrears and 3's well you could have someone knoking at your door.

It's interesting to get one of these and clean it, I can tell you that credit card companies are the worst at giving information to credit agencies, you could be paying on time, everytime and their lazy asses pass on the wrong information and get you bad credit with no fault of your own. You could be paying Sears on time and they are giving you 1's and 2's and I don't mean a set of turntables !!!

Get one of these, it's information about you and is important..

Thanks for sharing this GMan, you must have every Gold Card in the US cluttering up your mail with their junk

[imported_Gman]

There was a lot of inaccurate information on my credit report that I had to clean up. You send the credit agency a letter with the entry on the report that you are challenging as being inaccurate. The law (Credit Reporting Act) says they have 30 days (I believe) to verify the information or remove it from your report :D

Bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 10 years

Judgements and other legal action stay on there for 7 years

Any other negative credit information stays for only seven years.

After that they must be removed by law. If you find something thats still on your report after the expiration time then send them a very nice letter quoting the law. I will post the law in the next thread. This law protects you when it comes to credit agencies. When you have time peeps should read it.

Peace -Gerard

[imported_Gman]

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (Credit Reporting Agencies must abide by this law). This law protects you from bad credit reporting practices.

*Note this is a PDF document so you need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (www.adobe.com) to view it.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajan2002.pdf

[ May 19, 2002, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Gman ]

[imported_Gman]

NATIONS BIG THREE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES AGREE TO PAY 2.5 MILLION IN SETTLEMENT

Bastards...

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/01/busysignal.htm

[julian_kelly]

A few thoughts on this economy deal:

1. Everybody now is scared sick about the stock market...I'm not...I aint even faded about it. I know people who have been making a killing in the market the past two years...and its because of knowledge. The key to battling anything you arent familiar with is education.

People dont realize that you can make money in the market if it goes up or down. You can short the market...you can trade options...you can buy or sell calls/puts...you can write covered calls...you can buy and sell rolling stock. You can set stop limits orders on your stock if it starts to go down; therefore it is sold automatically if it declines to a price you dont like.

You can use the market for short term or long term money making. The buy and hold strategy is NOT the only stock market strategy.

People dont know about alternative stock market strategies because they dont take the initiative to learn more...all they do is invest blindly in a 401-k or buy mutual funds withought knowing what the fund is comprised of. READ !!! READ !!! READ!! ask questions... take seminars on financial management....but never sit there and HOPE to make money. Know what you are investing in. Take your money by the horns and learn how to make it work! How smart is it to put your money in something and hope?? Money and WISH dont belong in the same sentence. The more you know, the more money you will make.

2. Have different streams of income

Why would someone invest all of their money in one vehicle?? Thats not smart....no lets be real... thats DUMB !! Put all your eggs in one basket, the basket falls..no more eggs. Never have less than three strong sources of income (and that is being conservative) because bad things do and will happen. The stock market goes down, real estate markets drop...any business sector has ups and downs...any business a person owns has ups and downs. The key is to have more than one stream of income, so that when one is stale, the others compensate.

I feel extremely sorry for people who are near retirement age who have lost their entire savings because of recent lulls in the market. But consider this:

"Why would you put all of your eggs in one basket?"

People who have lost nest eggs near retirement age should have considered converting some of their nest egg into bonds, money markets or even insurance. I hear folk screaming now "But I didnt know !!"

Well:

Dont play a game if you dont know the rules.

Dont play the game if you arent willing to learn the rules.

Dont play the game if you arent willing to become better at the game.

Dont play the game if you dont know the risks.

Dont play the game lightly.

Dont play the game if you dont have an original plan AND a backup plan.

Dont play the game with hope...have a plan

And if youre in the game, be agressive in teh game... play the game.. dont sit on the sideline

Would you play professional football in a suit, wingtips and no helmet?

Nope...you would learn the rules of the game, get some equipment, practice, study the game, find a mentor/coach in the game, assemble a team of people to help you be successful in the game, put on your pads and THEN play!!

You learn the risks of football. You learn that if you play this game you could get a concussion...break your leg...be parylzed for life. You learn the risks. But there are also rewards... the joy of the game... the notoriety... money...fame

You get a backup plan buy gettin insurance in case you get injured. You even learn which position/techniqe/strategy you can be best at... wide reciever, quarterback...defense. You plan for life after football, because you know it will come to an end abrubtly or a long time from now.

After you play for a while, sometimes even come to the conclusion that football isnt for you... heck... there are other sports I can play !!!

If you dont know the rules of football and step on the field, you a@@ will get killed !!!

So why would you put your money in something without knowing about it?

Moral of the story: Know what you are getting into and learn to accept the rewards/negative consequences.

3. Learn to have money making vehicles you can control more easily.

Part of the reason why I'm not faded by this market is because I have additional streams of income I control. I have a marketing company; I control that income. I invest in real estate... I control that. The stock market will always have some grey area, but I know my business like the back of my hand... I always know I can make money in them.

I know this cat who is worth several hundren thousand.... super paid because he has a lawn service. This guy is scared to death of the market.. he always tells me "That stock market is funny money!!! I need something secure!!!" The guy has never touched the market, but he knows that he can always cut a blade of grass and get paid. He leverages his time by having emplyees. He's diversified his lawn cuttin earnings buy buying bonds and insurance, so if he cant physically cut his grass he is straight. This market crash has not affected him at all !!!!! It doesnt mean ANYTHING to him.

And dont think your job is control... it aint... you dont own it... you can get fired tomorrow ... your company owner is just lettin you 'borrow' his/her job.

Read the list below to jar your memory on how you can learn to control your money. If you dont feel comfortable investing in the market, dont do it!! Nobody said that you HAVE to invest in the stock market. Do something you like doing and learn to make money at it.

wake up people
learn...read!! ask questions

more later
julian kelly

Originally posted by julian_kelly:
Discussion is going good… keep the comments coming

Now lets add another twist to it. Consider this question:

What are you doing to make immediate income NOW??? Not 30 years from now at retirement, but NOW!!

It is imperative to plan for the future; in addition is equally imperative to make money NOW.

Most people need money NOW…cashflow now…financial relief now. Why wait ? If you have more money now, you can invest it and have more money later.

Don’t let your IRA or 401-k be your only vehicle for making loot. You cant touch it now so what good does it do you in the short term. You are in a financial crisis NOW so plan accordingly

Some thoughts:

1. I know of this fifteen year old kid who started a lawn cutting service with his little buddy. They both borrowed the family lawnmower (2 total) and started cutting lawns in the neighborhood. Part time these kids pull in around $1,000 a month

2. I know of a lady who recently had a daughter and refused to let other people raise her kids, so she chose to stay at home. She started looking for ways to make extra cash and ended up finding a cheap recipe for soap. She sells her soap to her friends and family and pulls in from $500-800 a month.

3. I met a guy who loves to bake. He started baking pies and selling them to his friends and church members simply to make extra cash. Seven years later, he has his pies in convenience stores across the city

4. What if you write and want to get published?? Work your way in thru the backdoor. Market yourself to the writing community as and editor. Independently edit other folks work for a reasonable fee. In turn you help other writers shape their vision, make some extra cash and build valuable relationships. You build up your resume and sharpen your craft. Eventually someone will hear about you. Build your network large enough and the breaks will come.

5. I heard of a guy who details/washes cars at a family owned gas station. It’s a win/win situation. His customers get a carwash and end up getting gas at the gas station. They split the water bill/supplied…He gets paid, the gas station owner gets paid

6. I know a kid who is extremely responsible in karate… he has a black belt. I know business… he knows karate… we are thinking about renting out a small spot and doing karate lessons on the weekend. I market his business..he does karate… we both get paid.

7. Think of your skills and who needs your skills… start doing part-time work doing helping others with your skills.

8. Learn sales… learn how to sell yourself….if you can talk a good game you can get just about anything you want in this world

9. Partner with rich people. What skills do you have that can make someone rich, richer. They front money, you come with the idea and expertise. Maybe you want to get into real estate, but don’t have extra money at the time. Take around three months and research real estate in your spare time… write a plan on what areas are hot and an efficient strategy on how to buy and sell. Go to a person with money and show them how you can help THEM make money. Do a good deal for them and you have their attention for life. Rich people like easy money, but NEVER go to a rich person without a plan.

10. Take real estate courses at night or on the weekend. You DO NOT have to have a real estate liscense to invest in real estate.

11. Pay a few hundred dollars and become an insurance broker on a part-time basis… you can make a grand a week part time in insurance without blinking

12. Figure our what you are willing to give up. Cut back on entertainment (clubbing, records, clothes, liquor, cigarettes, eating out) for a while. Save that cash and put it into something that will make you money NOW. Get your freedom back and then you can club and buy records all you want.

13. Buy books about financial literacy… again… I often tell how much money a person makes by the books they buy. Poor people have big TVs and entertainment systems. Rich folk have libraries.

14. Realize that you wont make serious money by simply working a job… it doesn’t happen.

15. Do the opposite of what the masses do.

16. Be in it for the long term. Success doesn’t happen immediately and it aint easy. Learn to be comfortable in discomfort.

17. Start SMALL but dream BIG. So what if you only make an extra $100 or so. Thats more that what you had before. Sharpen your skills and the money you make in the short turn will go from hundreds to thousands. The point is the START doing something

18. Learn to LOVE failure. Failure is essential to growth. I get better and stronger each time I fail. I love failure. The more times I fail the more money I make. If you don’t fail, you remain where you are. So at least fail/fall forward and progress. Make sense?

19. Don’t quit

20-100. It aint easy… don’t quit

Learn to make money NOW.. not later, but NOW. An extra $200, $500, $1,000, $5,000 made within a week to 6 months can really help most people. Learn to make $1,000 NOW– invest $500 long term and plop the other $500 on a bill, give it to someone who needs it or buy an asset that will make you more money

Make more loot and you can buy all the records you want OR keep your current mindset/practices and deal with lack for the rest of your life on earth.

more stuff later

julian kelly

[DJCA]

I MUST SAY I'VE TAKEN THE FIRST STEP TO IMPROVING MY FINANCIAL CONDITION. 911-HAD A TERRIBLE EFFECT ON MY JOB STATUS, AND I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR WORK FOR ALMOST A YEAR, AS OF JULY 15,2002 I'M GAINFULLY EMPLOYED. NOW AFTER I GET CAUGHT UP ON MY BILLS, I'LL START WEIGHING MY OPTIONS. [img]graemlins/hippy.gif[/img]

[GrantB]

Yo Julian,

I'm glad you brought this discussion back up to the top. I want to thank you and the other people who contributed to this thread for helping motivate me to change my financial situation. Some of the things you said made me realize that making money is simply a matter of attitude and a way of thinking about life. There's infinite possibilities to make money out there but you have to actively seek them out. Now I'm walking around thinking about what are my best opprotunities to make money instead of buggin about how I don't have enough.

I don't really have an appreciable amount of capital to invest yet but I've taken all sorts of free or inexpensive little steps get the ball rolling. I got my banking straight, started saving, attended a great first time homebuyers seminar, cut my hair and started looking more professional, and most important, I decided to finally get out of my underpaying job. It's a good thing too because I just found out this week that my looser company is laying me off because they can't even afford my half-ass salary any more. The job market for tech people in Seattle is the worst it's ever been right now but I'm glad to have got an early start in the hunt with a positive attitude. When I get a new job that makes scale for what I do, I'll be in really good shape to start investing and buy real estate instead of frittering it away like I did the last time I had a good job.

Now when I talk to my family and friends I talk to them about what they're doing to make money. I've learned all kinds of stuff this way and strangely enough improved my relationships with some of them. Money is really important to most folks and they realize you really care about them when you have these sorts of conversations. It doesn't need to be a dirty subject like a lot of people think if you come with a positive and constructive attitude.

Anyway you're right about the attitude toward making money being the first thing most folks have to change. Even though I'm not in the money yet, just thinking about it differently has improved my outlook on life and got me going in the right direction.

Oh and one more thing: this is a great example of why some of us like to talk about non house (music) related subjects on this board.

[ July 24, 2002, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: GrantB ]

[djmarbll]

Originally posted by Gman:
There was a lot of inaccurate information on my credit report that I had to clean up. You send the credit agency a letter with the entry on the report that you are challenging as being inaccurate. The law (Credit Reporting Act) says they have 30 days (I believe) to verify the information or remove it from your report :D

Bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 10 years

Judgements and other legal action stay on there for 7 years

Any other negative credit information stays for only seven years.

After that they must be removed by law. If you find something thats still on your report after the expiration time then send them a very nice letter quoting the law. I will post the law in the next thread. This law protects you when it comes to credit agencies. When you have time peeps should read it.

Peace -Gerard

Very good point G-. I learned from a credit repair firm that credit agencies profit from the negative info on your credit report and they will not remove it just because it's time period is up. You really have to stay on them to remove false or outdated info. I filed an indemnification against every negative item on my credit report, which means that the credit agencies either have to prove the negative info or remove it. I got about 5 items removed from my report this way. My credit then was good enough for me to buy a new Jeep Cherokee. Keep your credit clean, people.
As far as my improving my financial condition, I have a mutual fund with the Peachtree Aggressive Growth Fund that earns about 16% interest annually. I'm looking for property next.
MARBLL

[mhd]

Very interesting about the indemnification, Marbill, I have used them in other contexts, can you give us more details.

Also, any of you Chicago cats ever use Ariel Capital Management?, peace, mark

[mhd]

Another thought, Julian, could you start another
thread this format is driving me crazy

[bitonti]

How does one get a copy of their credit report?

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by bitonti:
How does one get a copy of their credit report?

The big three credit reporting agencies are Equifax,TransUnion and Experian. You can now order a report online if you like or have it sent to you.

https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/webapp/ConsumerProducts/pgConsumer Products?^start=&orderSource=EHS&PP=P1

http://www.transunion.com/Personal/O...editReport.asp

http://www.experian.com/consumer/index.html

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by Gman:
Plan:
Maxmized 403B thru my Job, Automatic additions to Mutual Funds outside of retirement, 4 months emergency fund, Home, except for my mortgage I have zero debt. I refinanced recently from 7.25 to 6.35 and went from a 20 Year to 15 year home loan. We send in an extra principle payment every month in order to pay down the mortage faster. I need to open a ROTH IRA.

One key point in investing is to have your investments automatically deducted from your check or bank account so that you don't have to think about them.

Thought I would bring this excellent post back to the top.

Updated financial plan:

1) Linda and I have maximized our contributions to our 403(b) plans at work. The 403(b) plans are made up of various stock funds in Fidelity and Troweprice
2) We increased our emergency fund up to 8 months of expenses.
3) Other than mortgage we are debt free
4) Refinanced mortgage again recently from 6.375 to 5.375 (15 years).
5) Making an additional $300 principle payment every month to pay off mortgage in about 9.5 years
6) I have the paperwork to open a Roth IRA. Gotta get on this.
7) Rental property ?? - Slowly looking into this

[JoeB]

thank you for bumping this, Gman.

here is my dilemma. i am thinking about getting a loan to consolidate my credit card debt. i have about 4000 dollars. should i do it or just keep going at it? i've dropped a few grand from the total but i want to get rid of it once and for all.

thanks for hearing me out and any possible feedback on this.

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by JoeB:
thank you for bumping this, Gman.

here is my dilemma. i am thinking about getting a loan to consolidate my credit card debt. i have about 4000 dollars. should i do it or just keep going at it? i've dropped a few grand from the total but i want to get rid of it once and for all.

thanks for hearing me out and any possible feedback on this.

If you are at the point where you are not going to run the credit cards up again once they have been cleared off by the consolidation loan then it is a good idea assuming you can get a substantially lower interest rate.

To me the main purpose of the consolidation loan is to bring all your debts under one payment and pay a LOWER interest rate. Thereby saving on the amount of interest you have to pay over the life of the loan. Be careful not to extend the loan out longer than you would have been paying if you just paid the cards off straight.

This is what I would do if I had that debt now:

Apply for a credit card with a much lower interest rate (4.5% - 8%) than what you are currently paying on any of the other cards. Move the balances of all the cards over to the new lower interest rate card. If one of the cards that you currently have has a low interest rate then move all the balances over to that one.

Failing that apply for a consolidation loan if it is lower than your lowest credit card rate.

If you are going to just continue paying the individual cards then rank them in terms of highest interest rate first. Make the biggest payment to the card with the highest interest rate and just pay the minimum on the other cards. Once the card with the highest interest rate is paid off then shift those payments to the next highest card, and so on and so on. This is what I did back in the early 90's to pay off my credit card debt off.

Hope this helps,

-G

[JoeB]

Originally posted by Gman:
Hope this helps,

-G

it did.

thanks, Gman.

[imported_Gman]

Originally posted by JoeB:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Gman:
Hope this helps,

-G

it did.

thanks, Gman. </font>[/QUOTE]Curious what are the current rates you are paying on your credit cards ?

Also check www.bankrate.com for credit cards with lower rates. Heres a list:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_...rd&max_recs=10

-G

[ May 11, 2003, 06:41 PM: Message edited by: Gman ]

[Kenrick _]

thanks for bringong this back up g. i was not on the board unitl november of last year so i missed this thread. i just read the whole thing...

good advice here

thank you,

me

[music]

saving 1,-----.00 a month.