ING Direct Shout Out - Free $25 for Signing Up!

I have been banking with ING Direct for the past 3 years and have been a strong advocate of them all along the way.

I always recommend that people set aside money in an emergency fund that is 100% liquid. Usually I will direct them to ING Direct because of the 4.3% rate as opposed to the whopping 0.25% that local banks offer in their savings accounts.

I feel that when interest is paid TO YOU this is good. When you can get more that is BETTER!

I have talked many times about alternative income streams and this is a major component on what comes in (from me just sleeping).

Plus right now all ING Savings accounts are paying 4.30% and are FDIC insured up to $100,000. What this means is, it is not risky. ALSO, by following a link from an existing member, ING will IMMEDIATELY GIVE you $25 if you open your savings account right now with at least $250.

You can even set up your account to automatically draft your account on a set frequency (weekly, monthly, etc).

INTERESTED? Just click one of the following links below.

These links are one-time use only links so if you see this message:

"We're sorry, but the referral link within the email you received has expired and is no longer valid. We recommend that you contact the sender and ask them to re-send the referral email. Or click 'Continue' to proceed with the application process without the account opening bonus."

Then just go on to the next link.

Link #1

Link #2

Associated Content

If you have never heard of this site it might be something worth checking out. www.associatedcontent.com is a online publication that buys articles that you write. I have submitted 4 and all have gotten me between $3 and $4, and they really did pay out.

Click Here if you want to be a content producer. If you have some spare time or have knowledge on a particular topic in might be worth it to check it out.

Link to Join

The Breakthrough Cont'd

If you did not read yesterdays post from Jim Collins' book "Good To Great" please check it out before you continue with this one.

In that illustration (known as the flywheel concept) you are using a ton of force and only moving it a little at a time however at some point the wheel begins to turn on its own and even goes faster with you doing little to no effort.

I think we all want to be there in our finances. I have stated as a goal of mine, I want my alternative income streams to be greater than my expenses. This to me is true financial freedom. How do I do this? First I MUST understand this concept because it changes strategy on what our plan is.

What would happen if you were pushing that flywheel and you got tired and took a break for just a second (or a month when it comes to personal finance). The momentum would be lost and we would be discouraged to have to start over. Not only that, we would not have as much energy as before. If that happens perpetually we would never get to be to the breakthrough point.

This "stopping factor" can come in many different shapes when it comes to personal finances. It could be that emergency that comes up that we didn't have an emergency fund in place to counteract so we could keep building momentum. It could be the realization that it is hard right now and we want it to be easier immediately, instead of looking to the breakthrough point. Or it might be that you are just focused on results right now and give up because you are not seeing any.

Just like with the flywheel when we start we will put in the most effort and get the least amount of results. But getting to the breakthrough point is worth it and in anything you do and this needs to kept in mind.

Practically for any goal you have with your finances this applies. If you are budgeting for the first time it will take the most effort and you will probably make the most mistakes or be the most frustrated than you ever will. It gets easier, I promise. After a little over a full year of actually living on a budget, I am able to accurately, efficiently, and effectively budget my money in a matter of minutes for the upcoming month.

All it takes is getting through the initial max effort min results stages and looking to the breakthrough point.

The Breakthrough

This illustration comes from Jim Collins' book Good to Great. I will connect this illustration to where I am going with it tomorrow.

Picture a huge, heavy flywheel – a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds. Now imagine that your task is to get the flywheel rotating on the axle as fast and long as possible.

Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first. You keep pushing and, after two or three hours of persistent effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn.

You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster, and with continued great effort, you move it around a second rotation. You keep pushing in a consistent direction. Three turns…four…five…six…the flywheel builds up speed… seven…eight…you keep pushing…nine…ten…it builds momentum…eleven…twelve… moving faster with each turn…twenty…thirty…fifty…a hundred.

Then at some point – breakthrough! The momentum of the thing kicks in your favor, hurling the flywheel forward, turn after turn…whoosh!…its own heavy weight working for you. You’re pushing no harder than during the first rotation, but the flywheel goes faster and faster. Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of effort. A thousand times faster, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand. The huge heavy disk flies forward, with almost unstoppable momentum.

Now suppose someone came along and asked, “What was the one big push that caused this thing to go so fast?”

You wouldn’t be able to answer; it’s just a nonsensical question. Was it the first push? The second? The fifth? The hundredth? No! It was all of them added together in an overall accumulation of effort applied in a consistent direction. Some pushes may have been bigger than others, but any single heave – no matter how large – reflects a small fraction of the entire cumulative effect upon the flywheel.

Yes, its all free!

Wanted to share with everyone some goodies. I love free money and free stuff, if you do too than some of these links might be of interest to you. I found these on Hustler Money Blog.

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If you like free money and have some time you can fill out surveys from these places. I usually do not do these surveys just because I don't have the time but I saw these on Hustler Money Blog and wanted to share.

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Copy and Paste the link:

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"Above and Beyond" Cash Flow

At the risk of this post being "out there," I am going to talk about what I have termed "above and beyond" cash flow.

This is any money you have coming in that is unexpected. It is different than your alternative income stream where you are making money work for you without going into a "job" so to speak (that is a planned income stream). Above and Beyond Money is when you find $20 on the ground, when your annual tax return comes in, or when your Aunt gives you $50 for your birthday. It is irregular income that you know is coming someway, somehow, sometime; you just don't know how, from where, or when.

If you have a detailed cash flow plan and receive above and beyond money you know exactly where that money can be put to good use. If you do not have a plan there is a good chance that money will leave you quickly and this is never a good feeling.

A marketers job is to appeal to your senses and use our psychology against us. So if you suddenly have $1600 that you did not have a plan for, there is a good chance it will be gone and you will be left wondering where it went. I am not trying to tell you what to do with YOUR (cough, God's) money; but I am trying to tell you that whatever you spend it on, you need to do it on purpose.

I believe that if we receive Above and Beyond Money and there is no plan, then it is not going to be a financial help to us. I cannot stress the idea of a planning enough. I love talking about doing fun stuff with your money: investments, generosity, savings for cash purchases, etc. But you HAVE to have a foundation first and one of those foundational blocks is a PLAN.

Gut Check Time

Recently I have been thinking about my principles on personal finances because I am preparing to teach a two week Financial Class on October 21 and 28. (Click contact me if you want more information on this) These are 3 questions that I had to ask myself, that I encourage you to ask yourself to examine your financial health.

1.) Is there anything in my finances that if made public would discredit me?

If your financial records suddenly became public, is there anything you are doing that would make you embarrassed? You know what that is and chances are you need to cut it out of your life. This rings true especially if you are a Christ Follower. It may be your $400+ monthly eating out expense when you say you have a heart for the poor. Money is an indicator of our heart, the tough thing is that it is so easy to keep it private. I encourage you that if there is something in your financial life that if brought to light would be a negative representation of you, to cut it out.

However, this is just a symptom of a bigger issue. If you are not content in every situation in life you will always have these type issues being brought up. Cutting out something of your life is behavior modification and will probably be brought up again. Praying and working on being content because God has given you so much already is the solution. That is not an overnight thing, that takes perseverance and time.

2.) What am I doing right now that will make me be where I want to be financially a year from now?

I know a lot of us say, "we are going to save money when this changes" or perhaps we say, "once that thing goes away I will spend less." Whatever reason (cough, excuse) we might be telling ourselves, the better question is what am I actually doing? Am I making steps to be where I want to be?

One of my goals has always been making my money work for me so I wouldn't HAVE to (I would still WANT to because I love working at what I am passionate about; I would just do it for free now). I want my "alternative income stream" to be larger than my expenses. What I qualify as alternative income is anything that I don't go to a job for. This could be interest earned, dividends, rental income, or any type of income stream that doesn't require me to "go into work for." This is a lot longer than a goal than one that can be achieved a year from now. But I honestly have to ask myself, if this is a goal then what steps am I or have I taken towards it.

3.) Am I increasing in generosity?

It doesn't matter if you follow Christ or not, you have to be increasingly generous. I believe that it is truth that the love of money is a slippery slope that can ruin a persons life. In fact, it is cool that I am writing about this today because I just read 1 Timothy 6 this morning. (Fresh Bread)

1 Timothy 6:9 "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction."

I believe that God created our hearts and through his divine word he is warning us about money. It is a blessing to have money and in that same chapter (1 Tim 6:17) scripture says that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Now, right before that is says do not put your hope in wealth but hope in God and they go together. What I am saying is, it is okay to enjoy blessings from God (after tithing, basic needs, and generosity of course) as long as you put your hope in God and not in wealth. I am not using that scripture as justification for being greedy so please don't hear me wrong.

But to get back on track, generosity is key to keeping our hearts in check so that we won't fall into ruin and destruction like 1 Timothy 6:9 talks about.

Those are 3 questions that you can ask yourself that will help examine if you are on track to being financially healthy.

Alternative Income Streams

I have been very interested in something that seems to be growing in the personal finance blogging world; it is called Alternative Income Streams. The idea is very simple, it is the idea of tracking side income that does not come from your job. Basically it is getting money outside of your job.

Now that I am tracking this I have naturally been looking for avenues to make this increase. I have already had an ingdirect.com account that has been earning me 4.5% interest. To put numbers to that if you have $4,000 in that account it will get you and extra $180 a year or I like to view it as $15 a month. With the idea of compound interest (my topic for tomorrow) that number will increase but just to put a round number it is $15 a month.

This is nice considering if you are saving up for something you are not using that money anyway, you might as well get paid a little bit each month while saving. I have recently opened up a Bank of America money market account that gives me 5.05% which given the $4,000 example would be about $17 a month.

However, recently I have been getting into prosper.com. This is a middle man for borrowers and lenders to meet. Banks are very profitable. They are charging people 10-12% (excellent credit ratings) for unsecured loans while we are giving banks loans and only getting 4-5% (if that). I am essentially a "bank" through prosper.com where I have access to their credit report history and prosper takes care of collecting and distributing the money to lenders. Also they have collection agencies that go after delinquent payments and this will hurt the borrowers credit the same as if they were in default for a bank.

This not a plug, I am not trying to sell you on anything but (whenever you say "but" it erases everything before it) if you want to get $25 for signing up and making a loan click this link to do the referral thing. You can do the same thing through ING Direct (you get $25) but you have to do it through e-mail, just contact me if you want a referral. Okay, enough with the shameless plugs.

To sum alternative income streams up, it is my goal that my AIS is greater than my expenses outside of my house payment. If you read a lot from me you will realize that I really want to pay off my house quickly because I like the idea of freedom in our finances. Owing someone money just sounds dumb to me. If I owe money than I do not have complete freedom because I HAVE to get a paycheck or my house gets foreclosed on. Don't get me wrong I am a strong advocate of working (and working hard) but I want to CHOOSE to work not HAVE to work.

So a mini plan (or goal) of mine is to pay off my house early and have my AIS be greater than my expenses (gas, food, utilties, clothing). Those are the 4 basic needs that I have after I don't have a house payment and I will make sure I never have a car payment. If this happens that is my idea of freedom. Imagine getting to work and devote your full time to something you really believe in and then say, "Nah don't worry about that paycheck, I'm good."