August 22, 2009

Teaching Teens About Money Management

Most of the times parents complain about their teenagers and their expenditure habits. As “difficult” it may seem to you, it is important to teach them early about money and money management. Having a constant allowance, source of income and their savings account can teach them about the importance of savings, how to manage their resources, and to make financial decisions about their expenditures, since they will see the impact of their decision on their account.

In addition to teaching them about saving, it is important to educate them about the difference between good and bad debt. In today’s environment, teenagers are exposed to credit card marketing enticing them to register for a credit card. It is important for them to learn early about the use of credit cards and the impact of the bad use of them.

Kids these days are becoming more and more aware of their family's source of income and financial status. They apply these money-spending principles when they venture out on their own. Thus, it becomes more of a parent’s responsibility to start “training” their teenage kids to use their money wisely.

Here are five tips on how to teach your teenagers about money management:

1. Lead by example - This in my opinion is the most important step. With your lifestyle, the children will see how you spend your money. If they see you allotting a certain amount for a specific household need, they will eventually do the same when they get to earn their own keep.
2. Open a savings account – Help your teen open a savings account. It is important that the account is in THEIR name. This will give them an instant financial responsibility. Many banks offer starting accounts, many geared to minors, where there are no monthly fees. The idea here is to get them motivated about the saving process. When they receive their statements and see their balance, they will be able to see the impact of their decisions. As they see their account growing, it may motivate them to continue saving. 
3. Teach them how to manage their money – Show them how; do not make the decisions for them. Sit down and explain to them how to manage their own account, and the rewards that they get from saving. Help them review their savings account statement, so they can see how much money was deposited into the account and how much money was spent and where. This will help a teenager later in life with the management of a checking account.
4. Construct a “spending plan” – I suggest that you do not call it a budget, unfortunately many people feel that a budget is restricting their lives. The idea is to make it fun, educational, and for the teenager to gain a sense of responsibility. Instead call it a spending plan, this can be fun for the teenager to think of the ways they can wisely spend their savings.This will help them feel better about saving money since they will have a target to work toward.
5. Develop a “saving plan” – Now that you have helped your teenager to develop a series of goals on how they could wisely spend their money, you need to show them how much money they need to save monthly to achieve their goals. This is a learning experience for the teenager since it may be their first savings account.

Teens can learn at an early age about money management. If you implement the plan above you will provide your teenager a lesson in life that will prevent future financial failures and something that they won’t learn in any textbook in high school. It is important for them to understand purchase decisions, and the management of the money they earn. It will teach them that they do not have to waste money on expensive stuff that they don’t really need. You will help your teenager to grow up being a responsible adult at least money wise.

August 5, 2009

Accomplish Your Goals



Have you ever wondered why some people make dramatic changes in their family, community, and/or business by their achievements? Why some people never take off, they never get passed the dreaming stage?

I think all of us have the ability to have great ideas, to have big dreams. However, many of us fall victim to fear or lack of confidence which freezes us in the accomplishments of our dreams. The purpose of this posting is to motivate you to take action and not to let your goals fall by the wayside. However, many people struggle in the passing from the dreaming stage into the action or implementation stage.

Here I share with you six steps for the effective implementation of your goals:

1. Desire – You must deeply desire the goal. As Napoleon Hill stated in his book “Think and Grow Rich” “The starting point of all achievement is desire”. Therefore, the first step in goal setting and achieving your dreams is to have, what Napoleon Hill describes, “burning desire” to achieve the goal.
2. Visualize – Lee Iacocca said “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind”. Visualize yourself achieving the goal. Visualize yourself successfully completing the negotiation, giving the speech, landing the perfect jump, etc. The power of this step is in your ability to make a clear representation of your goals. The more detail you have in the representation the better. The better you can experience being in the desired situation, the more power the representation gets. As Stephen Covey says “You begin with the end in mind”
3. Commit – Make a plan for the path you must follow to accomplish your goal. Develop a work plan with target milestones, dates, and important steps that must happen for the goal to become a reality. Write down the plan, the action steps and the critical path. When you write down your goals, the plan, the steps and timeline you transmute your ideas/dreams from the something metaphysical into physical.
4. Take Action – Now that your dreams have been converted into a written plan, you must take action. As Anthony Robbins has been quoted “A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.” Here is where many of us fail to convert our dreams into reality, we do not take ACTION.
5. Perseverance – Perseverance is defined as “steady persistence in a course of action or purpose in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragements”. Just the fact that you have an idea, have the burning desire to achieve the goal, you visualize it, you commit to a plan of action, you have taken action, guarantees that your idea will become true. Sometimes you will face difficulties, opposition, naysayers, pessimists that all they want is to destroy your dreams. You must persevere. For example, when Walt Disney had the dream of building Disneyland on a orange grove field, he didn’t have money, over 200 banks turned him down, once the project started it was plagued by problems, the press constantly criticized the project until it opened, Mr. Disney faced daily challenges, opposition, naysayers. He didn’t give up and persevered on his dream.
6. Review - No matter how positively you are thinking, you need to assess your progress. Take a look at all of the factors that are keeping you from accomplishing your goal and develop a plan to overcome them. Make sure you are making progress. If you are not making progress, hire a coach, tap into the support of loved ones, analyze why the goal is not being met. Don’t allow the goal to just fade away. Figure out what you need to do to accomplish it.
You have to have the passion for your dream or it will never come true. Life is now, so do it now. When your goal seems overwhelming, break it down into smaller steps. Avoid negative people. Stay clear of the energy-sucking vampires that are around. Don’t let people flood your environment with negative karma/energy. Just keep working on your goals, following your dreams, a little every day, and before you know it your dreams will be reality!