Prosperity can be defined in many ways, and financial wealth is almost always included. Whatever your definitions of wealth and prosperity, you may be missing one key ingredient to achieving them: your mindset.

A wealth mindset, also known as prosperity consciousness, is all about how one thinks about money and what it means to them. The wealthy and those who attract money easily – and keep it – all have one thing in common, and that involves their internal views about money. They do not block money from coming into their lives with limiting or negative beliefs. They see money as a positive force, and use it for the tool it is, to create more of itself. Money, after all, is just energy like everything else, and when energy of any type is blocked in our minds, it obviously cannot flow.

The way you think and behave ultimately affects the level of prosperity in your life, and this is called your prosperity mindset of prosperity consciousness. It can be improved and expanded, and the resulting flow of money – and abundance of all sorts – will astound you. There is truly nothing you cannot have if you allow it to flow freely to you, and this can be accomplished by anyone, with the right tools.

For many years now, I have explored the concept of prosperity consciousness, and this website is a result of all that exploration and expansion. The tools here represent to cutting-edge ideas that really work, and anyone who has improved their wealth mindset and seen the physical improvement in wealth and abundance which accompanies this process will agree. My e-book 30 Days to Wealth contains the absolute best ideas for expanding your prosperity consciousness; I’ve done all the years of work and research, and included only the best, most effective gems for you. If expanding your prosperity consciousness is a subject which interests you, this book is an effective and affordable tool that will skyrocket your results. Enjoy, and prosper!

You do, that’s who. And so do I.

Money is so fundamental a tool in our modern society that we literally cannot live without it. We would die of thirst or hunger, or exposure, if we didn’t have at least the minimum amount of money required to trade for the meeting of our basic needs. We need money just to survive…and who wants to just survive?

Knowing this, an objective observer would assume that as a species we would teach our children basic money-making and -management skills. Since money is our form of currency, used worldwide, we as humans must all have basic skills in obtaining, growing and using it wisely … right?

Things could not be further from the truth, as you and I know. The subject of money is, instead, entangled hopelessly within a web of wide-ranging emotions, beliefs, taboos, rituals, denials and accusations. We’ve made a mess out of something that is entirely inert and should have nothing attached to it except for the values we give it.

Can we change this as a society? Perhaps – perhaps not. What we CAN do is to help ourselves individually, and in doing so set examples for our friends, colleagues and children.

We can begin by trying to extricate ourselves from the complex topic of money; to separate ourselves mentally from it and begin to observe our habits, patterns and beliefs with objectivity. We, as observers, can see that although our beliefs don’t affect money itself, they affect how we act around money, thus affecting whether we attract it or send it away; whether we thrive financially or suffer.

We all have our own unique set of beliefs and practices when it comes to money, based upon our upbringing, the myriad influences of a lifetime and any opinions – skewed or not – we have formed on our own. In separating ourselves to ask what is valid, what is working and, most importantly, what makes sense for us today, we can take the first step to a brighter, more abundant financial future. Here is some food for thought to help you begin.

• Ask yourself, ‘What do I believe about money?’ You may want to start a list, and you’ll notice that this list will get longer as you go about your daily life and realize how many beliefs and thoughts pop up – you may just surprise yourself. Armed with this knowledge, you can then begin to ask yourself;
• ‘Is that true?’ With each belief, for instance that rich people are corrupt, see if you cannot find one – or many – ways in which you have personally witnessed it NOT being true. If you’d like to follow the brilliant and simple work of Byron Katie, another question to ask would be ‘Who would I be without that thought?’
• When you catch yourself hearing a message or belief about money in your head, ask: ‘Whose voice said that?’ This small step can be very revealing, as we discover that what we thought was our own voice is actually – often – that of our mother or father, or another influential person in our early lives.
• Importantly, when we discover beliefs we have about money, it is crucial to decide if this belief serves us NOW. Given where you want to go in your life, does this belief help take you there, or does it lead you astray, blind you to possibilities or perhaps limit you from believing you can even get there?…If the thought doesn’t serve you, discard it, and if possible, replace it with something that does. Repeat your new belief – even if it seems somewhat foreign to you – as often as needed until it feels like a part of you. Using the example above, you could replace the thought ‘rich people are corrupt’ with ‘Magnificent wealth is possible for all of us, and I am going to do wonderful things with my abundance,’ or ‘Millions of people are doing wonderful things with money, and I can, too.’
• Now that you have begun exploring -and hopefully purging – your limiting beliefs around money, you can begin to learn new ones. Be open to learning from any source which presents itself; a well-off potential mentor you know but had never thought of in that way; your local library; cd and tape sets from successful people; personal development websites and blogs…the list is limited only by your own ingenuity.
• Now for the very personal work of defining your own financial future. An abbreviated outline of this task goes something like this: Ask yourself the key question: What do I want my future to look like? … This, of course, is a big question. If you have never really sat down to define your ideal future, this may initiate a work in progress. That’s OK. It is the beginning of your new life – the way YOU design it. Do not allow what you think is possible to limit you, because you cannot really know what is possible in the larger picture. Simply state what you WANT. As you work to define your ideal future, and to listen to your own voice, hunches about what to do will come to you…you can then take inspired action such as starting a new business, taking some courses or other tasks which just seem ‘right’.

These few ideas may seem overly simple, but they are NOT easy. Self-discovery is one of the most difficult, and yet most rewarding, pursuits available to us as human beings. Few of us explore our true potential, and even just in the field of finances, there is much you can do to learn, grow and prosper. Enjoy!

What is your financial IQ? Were you taught the rules that the wealthy play by when you were young? Were you even taught the rules that ‘normal’ people should know so that they can take care of the money they earn, watch it create more money and sail slowly and steadily towards financial freedom?

My guess is NO – not just because you are reading this article, but because MOST of us were not. I was not. I don’t blame my parents or my teachers for this, because they were not taught.

The buck stops here. I have spent the recent years of my adult life gaining a financial education, and the more I learn the more I see there is plenty to learn. But it’s fun, and exciting, and empowering, and all of the things I love.

I also feel more and more in control of my money, my time and my investments…and consequently, more and more I can see how by being ignorant about how money really works we are dooming ourselves to poverty and fear our entire lives.

Knowledge – and knowledge applied – really is power, in this case. I will not live in fear and poverty ever again, because I am gaining knowledge – more knowledge than many ‘financial advisors’ who are taught to sell me a portfolio of diversified investments have, and who will make their fees whether I make any money or not.

My child will not live in fear or poverty. She has a teacher at school who is always telling her to sit down and be quiet and stop being original – entirely missing her creativity, her amazing intelligence and in the process stamping out her eagerness and enthusiasm. She’s nine. He tells her when she uses a pen instead of a pencil that when she grows up her boss will FIRE her for being unwilling to comply with simple instructions. Well, sir, I have NEWS for you: my kid will never work in some cubicle with an overbearing boss that threatens her all the time. She’s going to respect herself and her abilities far more than that, and moreover, she’s got a Mom who is learning money lessons VERY well, and will teach them to her…thus she will be making more money than her teacher by the time she is out of high school and considering University or college.

In order to begin on the path to prosperity, a decent financial education is a must. You also must acknowledge that to change your life (financially or otherwise), you need to work on your thinking patterns, and change your thoughts and actions. These basics are just the beginning of what can be a lifelong learning journey.

In Donald Trump’s book, co-authored with Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s Robert Kiyosaki – Why We Want You To Be Rich – he has a good point about time and money:

“If you saw time as money, would you be more careful with it? For example, if wasting 15 minutes of your time meant you would lose $500, would you be more aware of how those 15 minutes were spent?” He goes on to say “All the money in the world cannot replace time, so proceed accordingly.”

Of course we have all thought about this abstractedly, but that question puts it in a way, for me, that sharply focuses my intentions and reminds me to spend my time efficiently…right now that means learning how to make, use and invest my money even more wisely so that I have even MORE TIME to spend doing what I choose (including spending it with my beautiful daughter).

For those of us – that is most – who did not receive this education at school or home, it DOESN’T MATTER. You are all grown up now, and time is tickin’. Take control, and educate yourself.

IT’S YOUR MONEY, AND IT’S YOUR LIFE!

Article by Shauna Arthurs

It seems we can’t go anywhere, nor read/listen to any media these days without being bombarded with news about the Global Financial Crisis. While I feel that calling the current challenges such a monumental name adds to and deepens the problem, that is a post for another blog. (Like this one!)

Today’s post is about informing yourself, protecting yourself, and making yourself feel more secure and positive about your future. You are NEVER as out of control as you think.

INFORMING AND PROTECTING YOURSELF

If you are a regular reader here, you’ll know that I am a big proponent of financial education, especially for women.

Children in our society rarely get ANYTHING in the way of financial and survival training, and this is especially true for girls. As adults, this doesn’t change for most of us, as we struggle along from month to month hoping we’ll have enough to pay for the bills. Many women face either overt ‘finances are the man’s responsibility’ or subtle ‘don’t you worry about the finances, darling,’ discrimination when it comes to family finances. Even those who handle the family’s money are not given full reign in investing the money, nor full knowledge of where the money comes from.

If this is not the case for you, that’s fantastic, however I’m still willing to bet you don’t know enough about handling your money – how to invest it wisely and make it grow, to make the most of tax laws and regulations, to protect your assets from theft or financial drain in the form of fees, poor earnings or even fraud, etc.. And what about estate isses, potential divorce, employee grudges, random accidents and other potential challenges you may face?

If this ‘financial crisis’ has served to wake many people up and cause them to take a closer look at what they are doing with their money, then that effect, if not many others, is a good thing. Some basic steps you can take to inform and protect yourself, both now and for your future, include:

• Your financial picture: Take a good look. Knowing where we really are is the first step to getting somewhere else. For years, it has been common practice for people to have their heads in the sand with respect to their spending habits. Sit down with all of your financial paperwork and get a good picture of what you’ve really got and what you really spend. Knowledge is always power (when it’s used to make things better).
• Credit card debt: Not only are you hurting these days – your credit card companies are hurting too. They do NOT want to write off any more bad debt, and may be more amenable to your requests for lenience. If you can make payments then try calling and working something out with them. Try also speaking with a debt counselor, who can advise the best way to save your credit rating while dealing with your debt.
• Know your rights: …AND your obligations. A meeting with a lawyer, an accountant, an insurance specialist and a financial advisor are always advised, no matter what the financial circumstances. You may want to add your local banker to that list as well. Imagine the benefits and peace of mind of having professionals on your side when you need them. They can save you money, protect you from unforeseen pitfalls, and ensure you are on the right track with your financial planning. Planning should include such things as insurance for disasters (from job loss or injury to unexpected acts of God, death of family breadwinner/s, protection against fraud or identity theft, etc.), plans for your assets should anything happen to you, and making the most of tax regulations. All of your planning should put you in a place of advantage, alleviating your current condition of living in fear and ignorance, perhaps making blunders with consequences you have yet to see.

POSITIVITY AND HOPE

One of the biggest steps you can take towards feeling empowered and hopeful is getting a financial education. This does NOT mean spending four years at business school. What it does mean is acquainting yourself with the ways of the financial world. Learning the common terms, the basics of money management and investing, and brainstorming alternative ways to create income are all a part of the financial learning curve, and you’ve got to start somewhere.

• Local: Libraries are full of resources – just ask the librarian. He or she may not be financially savvy themselves, but can certainly direct you to the right sections. (My local library must think I’m nuts, as I have taken out probably over 200 books on finances and personal improvement over the past few years, but then who has to work at the library (them), and who has created the time and freedom to peruse the books and continue learning and improving (me)?) You may find some money management courses available through local schools or clubs. Also try your local and national business papers, and watching shows such as CNBC.
• Online: You can find many group discussions on websites such as Yahoo!. Just search for financial forums and the like, and join up to start learning. You will also find many tools and resources at the Money/Finances section of IncreasingVelocity.com.

At first you may not understand much, but like any immersion program, your mind will begin to assimilate the information, especially if you combine learning venues. If this seems like a lot of time and trouble, just think of the alternative. NO ONE can do this for you, and your own future and peace of mind are worth the price, aren’t they?

CHANGE YOUR MIND

Aside from the complexities of how money works, there are challenges which not many people speak of in the financial education world. The two main ones involve a person’s financial mindset, and indeed they both have a fundamental effect on what we do with our money, including how much we are able to attract and create. Let’s deal with them one at a time:

1) The first challenge with mindset involves our emotions surrounding the topic of money. Although money itself is inert – just a form of exchange – the way we think about it and relate to it is definitely anything but. As you have no doubt noticed, money is one of most emotionally-charged subjects we ever face, affecting many facets of our lives. In order to improve our relationship with money, these emotions – and the limiting and conflicting beliefs which cause them – must be explored and improved upon. Many books and online resources have been created in recent years to help you do just that. Here are a few recommendations:

• Build Your Money Muscles by Joan Sotkin: A brilliant book which gets to the heart of how we feel about money like no other I have read. This smart, eye-opening book is filled with detailed analyses and tests for exploring and improving our financial relationship, and is a must-read for this reason. Far from dry and boring, it is enlightening and fascinating, as well as effective.
• The Breathing Prosperity blog: This resource was crated for exactly this reason – to help the founders (including myself) and readers explore and transform their/our thoughts and beliefs about money and prosperity. There is a wealth of articles here which deal with our mentality surrounding wealth, abundance and money in general – enough to keep you busy for a while. Warning: you may feel confronted, which is a good thing!
• The Personal Development blog list: For tons of online reading, you’ll find many choices on this list. A lot of people in the personal development world include financial abundance in their definition of lifestyle and personal improvement, and you’ll find that many of these writers address financial issues, especially those relating to beliefs and behaviors.
• Accept Your Abundance by Randy Gage: Get ready to confront your beliefs when you read this no-holds-barred, in your face dialogue. Randy is passionate about the lack of financial education in our society, and equally passionate about being honest about – and purging – the limiting beliefs we have about money. A great book by a fantastic gentleman.
• You’re Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead by Larry Winget: Another straight-talking look at how you got where you are, and the steps you can take to change things, for now and for the future. Larry has become famous for being ‘the Pitbull of Personal Development’ and was recently featured as an expert panelist on CNBC’s The Millionaire Inside.
• 30 Days to Wealth: My own contribution to the ‘wealth mindset’ literature, this book combines and delivers the result of years of research and trial and error. Exercises are designed to open your eyes and improve – for good – the way you think about money, enabling you to attract and create much more abundance. For those who are REALLY ready to make changes!

2) Mindset issue number two is also very common, and hurts almost everyone: the belief system we are taught in school which tells us that we must work our butts off and never get anywhere, all the while saving for a far-off retirement. How depressing, and how untrue! This mindset is so pervasive that you will find few people to discuss any alternatives with, so you must go this route on your own. There ARE better ways – ways which will help you achieve financial independence and the joy and peace of mind which come along with it. Here are some books by enlightened people who already know this. Enjoy, and prosper:

• The Millionaire Maker series by Loral Langemeier: This smart and ambitious lady will help you think differently about earning money and achieving financial independence. She excels at helping people go from the drudgery of a job they hate to the success and true freedom of owning what she calls a ‘Cash Machine’ – a vehicle based on your own skills which can lead you to financial independence. Part of her strategy involves learning to invest in assets which produce cashflow, a key piece in the financial independence puzzle. Click here for a review of the third book in the series.
• Rich Dad Series by Robert Kiyosaki: This series is a MUST for anyone wishing to shake up their traditional mindset and really see financial independence as a reachable goal. While they are all good, I would recommend as primers Rich Dad, Poor Dad (What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money, That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!), Rich Woman (by Kim Kiyosaki) and Success Stories (inspiring stories from real people who have changed their lives that will help you feel that you can do it too!). Also recommended is their Cashflow 101 game, created to assist with this process in a fun way. You can find groups playing the game locally by visiting their website at RichDad.com.
• Why We Want You to be Rich by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki: Citing the failing social security pension system and the growing gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’ these two gentlemen, no strangers to creating abundance, express their deep concern about your chances if you continue along the standard path. They encourage you to think in terms of winning rather than not losing, and to create financial abundance instead of trying to live below your means and always feeling poor. Very inspiring and encouraging.
• The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris: There is a lot of garbage out there promising to help you work less, especially online…this is not part of that garbage. Tim, from his extensive experience, gives you information you can use. Many people have had their lives changed for the better by the information in this book, and you would have to pay for a number of other books to get the collection of gems contained in just this one.
• Cracking the Millionaire Code by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen: Both of these wildly successful authors and entrepreneurs are famous in their respective worlds, and their efforts combined in this book make for a powerhouse of information. Truly, this book gives the blueprint for not only achieving wealth but doing it in a way that is ‘enlightened,’ as in, good for everyone including you, your loved ones and our planet.

As Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones is famous for saying, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read.”

This is as true in your financial life as in any other arena. Instead of being frightened, which comes from weakness, become empowered. Yes, there may be horrible things going on, but worrying and remaining powerless is no way to live, and will not create a better future for you. Learn to thrive and not just to survive. YOU CAN DO IT!

*This article is reprinted from my Women & Money blog.

With all the news of the ‘financial crisis’ people are running scared, worrying about their jobs and futures, and finding ways to cut back on expenses and pare down their lifestyles. While we’re all for being frugal and careful with our resources – as an individual, as a family, as a nation and even globally – we think there’s a better, more life-affirming and empowering way to live.

Think about it. How does cutting back and living with less and being afraid all the time make you feel? Do you feel happy, excited about your future and your prospects and generally enthusiastic about life? My guess is no. Instead, everyone is feeling scared and discouraged, and this feeling spreads as people talk at water coolers and coffee shops about a possible depression and global warming and many other frightening and depressing possibilities.

Instead, how would the world look if we all began to trust in ourselves and our abilities to face and meet challenges? What if, instead of fear mongering, we empower ourselves and our kids with positive talk and encourage everyone to come up with solutions to our financial and environmental and social problems? Now is the time for positive action and creative solutions. Never before has the world so sorely needed our human ingenuity and some truly global, INclusive thinking. We need to embrace and encourage each other when instead we are hoarding things and participating in separation mentality.

For a start, there are many many things an individual and family can do to ensure whatever resources they have are long-lived rather than finite. As Robert and Kim Kiyosaki have been telling us for years, we need to be sure we take care of our individual financial futures instead of relying on corporations or the government to do so. It has become obvious that such entities not only don’t have our best interests at heart but also cannot keep their commitments even if they wanted to. It is important to put our personal power to work, and soon. For every dollar you make, you need to begin thinking about how you can find ways to put it to work for you so that you will always have money coming in instead of being constantly worried. Would that not be a nice feeling?

If this thinking sounds new to you but you feel a spark of hope, try the following recommended resources to start you on your own path to financial and personal empowerment (also be sure and invest in our instantly downloadable e-book ’30 Days to Wealth!’ and ‘Secrets of Saving Money’ - see sidebar!). Once you are not as worried anymore, you’ll find your creative abilities stirring and those solutions to the world’s challenges we all so desperately need may just come from you!

Have you ever noticed that whenever you want to learn something new, you are faced with a million experts who want to tell you ‘THE WAY’?…

For instance, last year I was immersed in learning about the stock market, and spent many months studying various books and courses, from books about trading and investing to courses covering economic and financial basics. As I progressed, I noticed that although my comfort with financial and market concepts grew ever stronger, the information I was reading was more and more conflicting.

As my knowledge grew I could see the contradictions in what people teach, moreso than I could when I had just started and was only trying to grasp terminology. In every book or course there is someone who says ‘If you follow my way you will make money. If you don’t then good luck while you crash and burn!’…but how can they all be true if they are completely conflicting?

I found this all a little confusing until I remembered that in ANY industry or subject, we find the same phenomenon. Whether you are studying the Law of Attraction, health and fitness, or almost any other ‘How To’ subject, there will be conflicting opinions from ‘experts.’

The fact is that there are many ways to make something work, and this is reflected in the many different strategies you will find to accomplish a given objective. Each person can only speak from their own expererience and perspective, and the more you learn, the more you can apply to your own life and create your own unique strategy using what works for you.

Of course we need to learn from the trials and errors of others so that we can shorten our own learning curve, but we are all different in our likes and dislikes, schedules and tolerances, etc.. Thus, what will work best for us is usually a combination of techniques as unique as we are. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if we follow someone else’s strategy blindly, we may actually fare worse than if we experiment and try and find a combination that works best for us. Because we are unique, what worked wonders for someone else may not be best for us at all.

Do not lose sight of the truth that whatever strategy you choose in any endeavour, it is the back-up traits that you bring to the game that will help you win – traits such as commitment, consistency, integrity, desire for growth and learning, and ability to visualize the end result – NOT the strategy itself. With this in mind, choose your strategy/ies, commit yourself, and change as you feel the need to make adjusmtents. As the always awesome Brian Tracy says, you cannot adjust the direction of the arrow until you launch it into flight!

Don’t think it’s true? Then why all the affirmations, meditations on creating abundance and efforts at improving your financial situation? Why the yearning for wealth and the buying of the occasional lottery ticket?

There are at least three immediate things you can do to attract money to you more quickly:

ONE: Remove your emotions from the subject. We all have attachments to the subject of money, and underlying beliefs and emotions which conflict with each other. We behave in ways which contradict our desire for more money and then wonder why we don’t have more of it. For instance, do you strongly desire welath but then spend every extra cent you have? Building wealth is about keeping money, not spending it (at least initially). Remembering that money is just a tool – an instrument – and can be used for the good of all concerned when attracted to someone ike oyu, can help dissolve those negative, frustrated emotions you have surrounding money.

TWO: Study from mentors who know how to attract money fast. Joe Vitale’s article How to Attract Money Fast provides an example of what can be done, and how. Joe is a master manifester and has taught many hundreds of people his effective methods for attracting wealth and abundance of all sorts.

THREE: Expand your perception and think of money as energy. Everything in the physical world, from your body and your chair to your thoughts and also, of course, money, is simply energy when you get right down to it. As Bob Doyle, founder of Wealth Beyond Reason reminds us, if you were to look at your desk and your hand under a very powerful microscope, they would look the same. Everything is made up of the same stuff – it’s ALL energy. If the energy called ‘money’ isn’t coming to you, perhaps you are keeping it away with how you think about it. Perhaps by remembering that it is only energy and by warming up to the thought of it, you can open the doors to the flow. Align yourself with the enrgy of money – imagine how it feels to BE lots of money, and to HAVE lots of money, and keep those feelings uppermost in your mind. Pay no more attention to thoughts of lack, for your thoughts literally attract your circumstances.

FOUR: OK, one more – you can get another job and/or build skills which will allow you to make more money, but remember – always remember – that it’s how much you KEEP that matters. For more on this, see ’30 Days to Wealth.’

I believe passionately in financial education, and it’s painfully obvious that we don’t get this within our school system. A lucky few are taught how money works by their parents or by wealthy mentors, and other proactive people set out to change their circumstances by learning about  finances themselves. A good financial education combined with a healthy financial mindset can – and does – make the difference between remaining broke and afraid your whole life and creating a wonderful life of abundance and financial freedom.

I am consistently saddened by stories of people losing their homes, being enslaved to crippling debt, and simply not living the lives of magnificent abundance they could be. If this describes you and you’d like to gain control of your finances, I’ve written this little book with you in mind. I’ve included many gems in this little book – including the stuff the banks will NEVER tell you and which probably got you into trouble in the first place – and I’ve kept the price very reasonable for the value offered: ONLY $USD4.97!

Let this be the start on your journey to financial freedom!

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While we all strive to be debt-free, the reality is that most people in modern society have credit card debt. It happens for many reasons, often beginning slowly and insidiously increasing until we feel we are under a mountain of debt. Perhaps we borrowed for ‘good’ reasons, such as to help with school or moving expenses, or perhaps the expenses were justified so long ago or so often that we honestly don’t remember anymore.

Sometimes we feel we can handle it, and congratulate ourselves for paying more than the minimum every month. The truth is, however, that unless you are paying off your credit card debt IN FULL every month, you are racking up debt – putting your hard-earned, after-tax dollars into someone else’s pocket, causing your original purchases or relief to cost you potentially many times over the original amount over the years. Money that could and should be earning interest FOR you is, instead, a lovely and healthy asset for someone else.

At this point in the debt cycle, many people feel overwhelmed and do one of several crazy things: they begin spending MORE, feeling things are hopeless and why bother worrying about it; they stop caring or get in over their heads and begin missing payments; or they consider bankruptcy.

Warning! All of the above options may feel good in the moment, but all have disastrous effects on your credit rating, which, even if you don’t care about it now, will indeed cause you to feel regret and remorse when the consequences hit home some day in the future. Instead, consider the following to stave off disaster while you re-group and form a proper plan to get yourself through, and hopefully to put yourself firmly on the road to financial health and even independence:

TIP #1: Speak to your banking institution/s. Honesty and open communication is the best policy here, as getting to know a friendly face at your bank can make all the difference in how your accounts are handled. Considering debt consolidation? Start with your bank, for a couple of good reasons: your bank is a known, trusted entity (even if you don’t agree with all their service charges), and may offer you lower rates because of your existing customer status. Also, a loan from a bank actually improves your credit rating, whilst a similar loan from a debt consolidation company can actually have the opposite effect in some cases.

TIP #2: Call your credit card companies, again with the goal of keeping open communication. Speak with as many people as you have to in order to negotiate either a lower interest rate, lower minimum payments for a set time, or some other compromise. Remain calm and professional, and remind them that you wish to continue fulfilling your obligation. You may also ask them for any ideas they may have, such as alternate cards with less frills but an accompanying lower interest rate.

TIP #3: Consider credit counselling, but only from reputable providers. Many companies in this line of business actually take shameful advantage of the desperation of their clients and pull some not-so-funny tricks. Try your bank for referrals of above-board credit counselling – they may even offer in-house help in sorting out your difficulties. You are not the first nor the last to be going through tough economic times, and most banking institutions are deeply concerned as well. Many are making efforts to comfort and help their customers and to ensure both the customers – and the banks themselves – will be around and in healthy financial condition for years to come.

Above all, remember that you are not alone and do not panic. People make strange financial decisions when they are afraid or overwhelmed, and once the air clears they may regret actions they cannot undo.

Your thoughts are very powerful, and can deeply affect your behavior and decisions about all things financial. For an enlightening look at how your mindset affects your finances – and how to improve what is called your ‘financial mindset’ – along with bonus material which deals with keeping your peace of mind during these turbulent times, improving your credit rating and more, you may find the popular ’30 Days to Wealth’ program a valuable tool (now available in instantly downloadable e-book format!).

by Shauna Arthurs

I realized that a major reason why people are broke is because it’s wayyyyy more fun…Yeah I said it…it’s more fun.

I mean really, when you have money you already know the outcome; the outcome is whatever you want it to be…really not much creative effort there.What can I create if I already know what I will get? It’s like playing the lotto and knowing you will win…what’s the fun in that? The fun in playing the lotto is not so much whether you win or lose but how you feel and the emotions that flow over you from the point where you decide to buy a ticket until the drawing takes place. The fun is to buy the ticket, hope you will win, think about all the wonderful things you will do with the money and sit in front of the TV with your heart in your hands as the numbers roll…the anticipation, the excitement…the drama. Will I win or not?…stay tuned to find out.

I realized that one of the reasons people are and remain poor is that it makes them feel alive. This is the key to a lot of life…This is the key to your entire life!

Yeah we’ve all heard that the key to life and what people will do anything for is to survive, but if you break down survival what is it? – Knowing and realizing that you are ALIVE…

How do we know that we are alive when we feel that we basically live pretty boring lives? Well enter stage right our mini dramas that constantly remind us that we are alive. Throughout history man has struggled to survive…animals trying to kill us and we had to go out to hunt…but now fast forward several hundred years and most of us live away from deadly creatures, and the only hunting we do is in our grocery aisles, and so we have had to be a little more creative. We no longer have the stories to tell of how we escaped a deadly tiger and killed it for food so what’s left?…For us to create these little story lines that show how difficult our life truly is and how we have conquered it.

It’s more fun to NOT know how you will survive for the next week; it’s more fun to wonder where the money will come from to buy gas, pay the rent and then to figure out ‘Hey, I’ve got a solution!’ It’s more fun to be in pain and anguish because you cannot afford something…Most people believe that having money is boring.

What do rich people do all day?…shop, lunch and then spend the rest of their life bored silly…

Don’t believe me?…Let’s analyse this: When you are broke and you need $40 to buy gas you now have to think ‘How will I get to work with no gas? How will I get money to buy gas?’

There is a problem, and you can now become your own superhero, saving the day by figuring out ‘Hey, I’ll borrow some money from my friend Jo Doe to solve the problem.’

‘I’m a genius’ you think, then you have to go ask Jo and then wait for an answer, then you have back-up plans in case Jo says no…You feel embarrassed to borrow gas money, pain that you can’t afford the gas, anxiety about whether you will get the money, fear about running out of gas.

Let’s look at another situation. Your rent is due…you have no money. You don’t answer your phone – can’t risk the landlord getting you on the phone…you hear footsteps…’Oh my god maybe he’s coming!’ You are filled with paralyzing fear, anxiety, dread…what if we get put out on the street, we will have no place to sleep…everyone will know I am broke…Loads of emotions to keep reminding you how alive you truly are…

…but when you have money, the problem is already solved, isn’t it? Have no gas? Go to the gas station, pull out your wallet and pay for the gas. No problem! No emotion. Rent due? Write a check, pay the landlord. No emotion, no problems. No paid advertisers (we will come to that in a minute). No struggle, no solution to find…pretty darn boring don’t you think?

Most of us have spent 99% of our lives fixing problems, finding solutions. We can’t let a simple thing like being rich mess with a good thing, now can we?! You keep wanting to find solutions to show the creative genius that is you. After all, you must be alive or else you couldn’t have lived through no money for groceries. You couldn’t have lived through the gas drama and just like a soap opera…you never know what will happen next, so stay tuned for tomorrow’s show to see if you will have enough food, money, clothes, gas or if you’ll even survive…

by Ophelia Nicholson