Spend It Before You Spend It!

I have a new acronym to help you master your money! SIBYSI

Many financial experts will tell you not to spend your money before you get it. I totally, 100% disagree. I'm a firm believer in spending all of your money before you get it and here's why and how.

I call this form of budgeting the "SIBYSI Action Plan" (pronounced 'suh-bis-ee'):

Spend

It

Before

You

Spend

It

Now there is a difference between what I teach about spending your money before you spend it and "Counting your chicks before their hatched". Counting your chicks before their hatched financially means that you go out and purchase something like furniture on a credit card or even worse “No payments for 5 years” plan. By doing this you are sacrificing future income and wealth for a present “temporary” desire.

That is not what I’m talking about. I teach my clients and students what some financial experts call the "Zero Based Budget" Spend all of your money on paper before you spend any of your money in the real world.

Here's how the "SIBYSI Action Plan" works:

Prior to receiving some money, whether it be your paycheck, tax refund, birthday money or bonus. You sit down and write out exactly what you will be doing with every dollar and every cent of that money before you actually receive the money. You spend it all the way down to Zero dollars and then when you receive the money you execute the plan just like you have it down on paper.

Here are the top 3 reasons the "SIBYSI Action Plan" works:

1. You know in advance where your money is going! Have you ever asked yourself, “Where did all that money go?”. Not knowing what you are going to do with your money is like putting your money in a bag full of holes!
2. You eliminate emotional spending! The worse time to make a financial decision is when you are emotional! And that doesn’t just mean when your angry or depressed! I’ve made some of my worse spending decisions in a state of happiness…..”our team won!!!!! Wahooooo!!! Milkshakes and burgers on me!”
3. You are now being proactive! Stephen Covey writes in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” that one of those habits is “To be Proactive”. Being proactive means that you are taking control of those things that you can control. You are not being reactive and allowing things to happen to you. I call living “reactive” the “victims lifestyle”. Being financially proactive means that you now “Master Your Money”!

Try out the "SIBYSI Action Plan" and tell me how it works out for you!

Carlos Frank
Your Personal Financial Coach
www.nextmoneystep.com
Twitter: twitter.com/CarlosFrank
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CarlosFrankSpeaks
facebook: http://profile.to/carlosfrank/

It's 2010 already?

No it's not a typo. I'm inviting you to Write your December 31, 2009 personal journal entry Today!

You create your future today! Over the first 7 days of 2009 I will be accessing 2008 and confirming my Goals for 2009.

One way I will do that is by writing a journal entry dated December 31, 2009. In this journal entry I will review all of the things that I have (will) accomplish in 2009! So I am creating my future today and attracting all the people, tools and favor I need to make it happen!

Faith is "calling those things that be not as thou they already are"!

Here are the areas that I touch in my December 31, 2009 Journal Entry:

1. Spiritual (daily prayer and reading of the Bible)
   
2. Family (Weekly date with beautiful wife, Weekly Tradition and Vacation)
   
3. Giving (I love being a giver!)
   
4. Physical ( Man I look good and feel good!)
   
5. Business (how many people lives my business positively impacted)
6. Books (3 books published in 2009!!!! Thousands sold!!!!!)
   
7. Vacation (Cruise and Disney World. Man I had fun!)
   
8. Financial (Income Goal, wow!!!! God is Good!!!)

So I invite you to do the same! Take time and sit down in a quite place where you can focus and meditate on what you want to enter into your journal on December 31, 2009! And write it out today!

Carlos Frank
Your Personal Financial Coach
http://www.nextmoneystep.com

Is part of your Journal entry about, financial freedom? If so and if you are in the Charleston area check out the following website and get info on the classes I will be teaching in January 2009!
Click Here for More Information on the Classes!

Secret to making good money decisions

My clients hire me for several reasons, one of the main ones is to give them sound advice to help them get their finances in order.

Have you ever given someone some good advice? For most people this answer is yes.

How many times have you watched talk shows or a movie and yelled out advice to the person that was getting ready to do something crazy!

"Break up with him!" "Forgive her, she loves you!" "Stop drinking and driving!" "There not your friends, stop hanging out with them!"

You know what makes it so easy? It's always easier to give someone else advice because you are not emotionally attached to their situation! Think about, haven't you been in some of the same situations that you've given a friend advice on? When your in the situation emotions will try to take over and make you do crazy things especially when it comes to dealing with your finances! That is why getting advice from someone outside of your situation is so powerful.

So next time you have a difficult decision to make do this: Step back from your situation and pretend that it's someone else going thru it. Then ask your self this question, what advice would I give my friend that's in this same situation. Or better yet seek advice from someone that you respect and you know has your best interest in mind!

There is safety in wise counsel!

Carlos Frank
Personal Financial Coach
Website: www.nextmoneystep.com

2 Simple Laws of Coupons and Sales

I just purchased something online and used a promo code/coupon to save some money. That made me think about several clients that have told me that they use coupons and take advantage of sales but still end up overspending.

Think about it. Have you ever walked into a grocery store with good intentions to sticking to your grocery list (you are using a grocery list, right?) and then end up with $20-$100 more in groceries than you intended? Then you justified this by saying well I just could not pass up a sale like this! Hmmmmm.....

If you find yourself doing this here are the 2 Simple Laws of using Coupons and Sales (Plus a 3rd bonus Law) -

1. Only use coupons on items that you have already decided to buy!
2. Only take advantage of sales on items that you've already decided to buy!
3. Read Law 1 & 2 over again!

Stores create sales and coupons for one purpose only, and unfortunately it is not their #1 goal to save you money, no matter what they say! Sales and coupons are made to do one thing! To make you want to buy, buy and buy!

So the next time you see a sale or coupon. Stop. Breathe. And ask yourself, "is this something that I already wanted to buy?" If so......then what are you waiting for? Throw it in the basket. If not then just keep on walking and keep your money!

Carlos Frank
Personal Financial Coach
www.nextmoneystep.com

3 things you must know before you invest in anything!

I've had several clients and students tell me horror stories about things they've invested in and lost all of their money! Get rich schemes are at an all time high. There are people and systems out there set up to take your money!

Here are 3 questions that you must be able to answer before even considering giving your time and money into any financial investment:

1. How does your money go into the investment?
2. When your money gets in how and where does it make more money, increase in value, appreciate?
3. How do you get your money out of the investment?

The above three questions are the building blocks and will stir up other questions that you should ask before you invest any time or money. There is safety in sound advice, so always seek the help of a competent professional investment consultant before making your decision.

What kind of money schemes have you heard about or fallen prey to in the past?

What's better Security or Freedom?

Quick question for you?

Are you seeking "Financial Security" or "Financial Freedom"?

If someone would guarantee you, shelter, clothing, lights, water, a bed to sleep in and 3 meals a day would you be content? I call this financial security. Or "just getting by" mentality. Just enough. Paycheck to Paycheck living. Do you know what the most secure communities are on earth?

Answer: Prison!

Think about it! Your guaranteed: shelter, clothing, lights, water, a bed and 3 square meals a day! Prisoners are the most secure people in the world. But do they have "Freedom"? NO!
Prior to working with me many of my clients feel like financial prisoners.

I propose that you should be seeking "Financial Freedom"! That means renewing your mind about money, being free of keeping up with "The Jones's", becoming a giver, breaking free from debt and creating multiple streams of income!

So are you looking for "Financial Security" or Financial Freedom"?

Carlos Frank
Personal Financial Coach
Website: www.nextmoneystep.com

Did you finish yet?

One of the challenges I've had thru out my whole life is starting something and not completing it. I've found that if I start a lot of projects without completing them I get frustrated with myself. With so much left undone I didn't know where to start or which one to do first. So now I've challenged myself to finish a task before I begin the next one.

Have you done your spending plan? How about your savings plan? Your Debt snowball plan? How about call your insurance agent to lower your insurance costs?

Ask your self the following question then answer it:

What is the one thing that I've been putting off concerning my personal finances, that if I follow thru with it would have the most impact on my life?

Carlos Frank
Personal Financial Coach
Website: www.nextmoneystep.com

The best question to ask yourself!

What did I do today that got me the results that I wanted?

Pretty good question to ask yourself at the end of the day right? No not really! This is an even better question at the beginning of the day! Let's breakdown what asking this question at the beginning of the day will do for you:

1. You pull the future into the present
2. Help you prioritize your activities for the day
   
3. It makes you think about how you want your day to turn out.
4. It will help you eliminate things, people that will waste your time.
   

For example: I asked myself: "What did I do today that got me the results that I wanted?" My answer was that I finished my Personal Financial Coach brochure and that I wrote a very important letter and followed up on a client lead! By 1pm I accomplished all of them. With plenty of time left to other things!

So....What did you do today to get the results you wanted?

Carlos Frank
Personal Financial Coach
www.nextmoneystep.com

How do you raise quick cash?

My wife and I are planning to have a garage sale this month to raise some quick cash for somethings that we need to get! That got me to thinking about how creative and powerful our mind is when we use it. I believe that credit cards, payday loan places and other easy credit companies rob us of our creativity! Think about it. It doesn't take a very creative person to pull out their credit card and make an impulse purchase.

What are some creative things you've done to raise some quick "debt free" cash?

100 Billion Burgers Sold!

Many business owners ask me, "Carlos how can we increase our revenue??" I answer their question with a question, "How many people are you helping?"

My observation is that the wealthiest people on this Earth are the people and companies who help the most people! Think about how many people McDonald's, Wal-Mart and Microsoft help everyday then look at their revenues. McDonald's claims to have served over 100 billion burgers since it opened in 1940. It estimates that it serves over 47 million people a day! Millions of people shop at Wal-Mart every day! Millions of people use a form of Microsoft Windows every day! They all help millions of people acquire something! Whether it be a hamburger or a quicker way to process a document! In return of helping millions of people, they are some of the wealthiest most admired companies in the world!

So, how many people are you helping? I believe that all of us contain knowledge that someone else is looking for! In other words someone or many people are looking for you! There's wisdom inside of you........there's a book inside of you! You don't have to be McDonald's and serve millions everyday! But you could eventually! So how many people are you going to help?

Carlos Frank
Personal Financial Coach
Website: www.nextmoneystep.com

Your not thinking, are you?

Let me ask you a question? Do you ever take time to think?

I'm talking about the type of thinking you do when you sit down in a quite place and concentrate on one matter or issue at hand and how to solve it or improve on it. Many of us desire multiple streams of income, but have you actually taken time to think of ways to make it a reality? Remember in school we used to call it "Brainstorming"

I take my clients and my students thru an exercise that gets them to come up with ideas to create more income and save more money. Prior to the exercise they have very few ideas if any but in less than 5 minutes they come up with dozens!

Here's how to do it:

1. Have a pen and paper ready (a goal in your head is only a fantasy until you get it on paper)
2. Pick a quite place where you will not be disturbed for 5 minutes
3. Clear your mind and prepare to focus on only one thing
4. Now ask your self the following question: What can I do to increase my income and create multiple streams of income in my life? Then LISTEN!
5. Write down everything that comes to your head! Do not leave anything out. Nothing is to crazy (ever heard of the Chia Pet?) and all things are possible. Now is not the time to figure out the "how will this come to pass". Right now is the time to write it down!
6. Take immediate action on the idea that gives you the most energy!

So what did you come up with?

Live Debt Free & Prosperous,

Carlos Frank - Financial Coach

website: www.nextmoneystep.com

Are you attending the budget meeting?

We are at the time of year that many major companies of the world are setting up their annual financial budget meetings! What do they do during these meetings? In simple terms:

1. They review if they are on track with this years financial goals
   
2. They set financial goals for the coming year.
3. They then ask themselves do these short term goals (1 year) line up with our long term goals (5-10 years)
   
4. They plan how they are going to achieve these short term goals.
   

Not only is it important for these mega billion & million dollar companies to have these meetings but it's important for you and I to have these meetings for our personal finances.

Here are 7 steps to set up your annual budget meeting:

1. Schedule the meeting! Specific time(s) and date(s)
2. Invite everyone that needs to be their! i.e. your spouse, maybe your accountant. Hey if your single don't forget to invite yourself!
   
3. Review your financial goals for this year, are you on track? If you don't have any set. Then set some for the remainder of the year!
4. Set your financial goals for 2009!
5. Then ask yourself do these goals line up with my long term financial goals? (Do you have any?)
   
6. Then ask your self what is the "Next Money Step" that I need to take to achieve these goals?
7. Review your progress towards your goals at least once a month and make adjustments as needed.
   

If you don't have a plan for your money, you had better believe that someone else does! Advertisers, credit card companies, banks, Pay Day Loan places, drug dealers the list goes on and on. There #1 goal is to remove you from your money! You must set short and long term goals for your money. Your "Next Money Step" is to attend your budget meeting!

Carlos Frank
Financial Coach
website: www.nextmoneystep.com
Picasa Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/nextmoneystep/NextMoneyStep#