Credit Card Payments

Why do credit cards seem to take so long to pay off? I've met with clients who are stunned that it can take over 15 years to pay off a simple $4,000 balance. They feel by paying a $10 to $15 more than the minimum should cut the pay off date significantly. It does only about 15 years.

What you as the consumer need to do is look at each month's statement and review how much of your payment goes to interest and principal. You may astonished that only $20 or $25 of your $75 amount actually goes to the balance or principal.

Credit card companies really like all their customers who only pay the minimum every month. If you happen to be one of the minimum payers out there, your balance will pay off in about 35 years. Not good.

Another way we increase our pay off dates is to continue to use the credit card for monthly purchases. I had a client each month charge their satellite bill on a Visa and they wondered why the balance wasn't getting any lower. They were charging an additional $125 a month, but only paying $200 a month. When I reviewed several bills I noticed the balance was increasing since the $125 charge and the interest was actually more than the payment. Not good.

What made this even worse was they had the money to pay each month it was just out of convenience they used their Visa. Now they pay out of their checking account with a direct debit.

You can save a lot of money just following some simple steps, but steps we are not taught in school or by our parents. I go over many great tips in my book you can purchase at debtstrength.com The cost of the book can be recouped just by implementing only one idea.

Once again knowledge is power. Increase your Debt Strength today.




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Believe It's Possible by Vic Johnson

This is a great article by Vic Johnson

"Belief is the basis of all action, and, this being so, the belief that dominates the hearts or mind is shown in the life." - Above Life's Turmoil

You will rarely attempt something you don't believe possible and you will 'Never' give 100% of your ability to something you don't believe in.

Some years ago I was listening to a friend speaking to a business audience. She quoted a teaching by David Schwartz from 'the Magic of Thinking Big' that rocked my life. She said, "The size of your success is determined by the size of you belief." Now that was the first personal development book I ever read and I've read it at least 20 times since. I'm sure that I had heard that concept many times before that night. But it impacted me so much that I wrote it down and must have looked at it a hundred times or more in the thirty days after that.

I spent the next few months focused on strengthening my belief in myself and in what I wanted to do. I took to heart what Wayne Dyer wrote in You'll See it When You believe It: "Work each day on you thoughts rather than concentrating on your behavior. It is your thinking that creates the feeling that you have and ultimately your actions as well." So I worked each day on my beliefs by constantly affirming myself using written and verbal affirmations. The years since have been an incredible rocket ride.

One of the best known stories about the power of belief is about Roger Bannister, the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. Before his accomplishment it was generally believed that the human body was incapable of such a feat. But as soon as he had done it, scores of others accomplished the same thing. Thousands have done so since and today it's not uncommon for it to be done by a talented high-schooler. Did the human body change so that this could be done? No. but the human belief system did!

Nightingale-Conant says Napoleon Hill is considered to have influenced more people into success than any other person in history. And his most quoted line from Think and Grow Rich describes the power of belief: "Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." Just believing that statement, truly believing it deep down inside, is a bold step toward living your dreams.

Lisa Jimenez, in her great book Conquer Fear! Writes, "change your beliefs and you change your behavior. Change your behaviors and you change your results. Change your results and you change your life."

And that's worth thinking about.

By Vic Johnson

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Credit Card Debt

We currently owe $957 Billion or more on credit cards. One of the best ways to eliminate credit card debt or any kind of debt is through debt stacking. I have made several posts about debt stacking in the past.

I have several resources you can use to set up your very own debt stacking plan.

1. I the book "How to Beat Banks and Credit Cards at the Money Game"
2. Is a finance program you can use to set up a debt stacking plan.

Both are excellent to help you accomplish your financial goals through debt stacking.

How to use debt stacking? It is very easy you take all the money you are paying on your credit cards or bills over the required minimum. Most people usually pay $20 to $50 extra on a couple bills to attempt to get out of debt.

The little secret is that this is not very efficient. It will work, but not as well as debt stacking. I was with a client once and they paid off one car and wanted to use the extra $300 to pay off the other car. However, this car still had a balance of $12,500. They had several credit cards with a with less than $2000. Debt stacking looks to free up money by paying down lower balances first. By following a plan like this can increase the amount to pay on other bills.

The best way to do this is to purchase a software product to accomplish a debt stacking plan. The amount you pay is minimal considering the amount of interest you will save on your credit cards, sometimes $20,000 or more.

The program will show exactly how much you are currently paying by following your plan. What makes this program unique is that it will take the extra money you were paying and give you an exact plan for you to follow.

I have used a program similar to this one and it is almost exactly the same. The only difference is that is won't charge you a single dime to update the plan. Follow this link to the program. CLICK HERE


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Profits Are Better Than Wages

My mentor, when I was 25 years old, dropped a phrase on me that changed my life forever when he said, "profits are better than wages. Wages will make you a living, profits can make you a fortune." You know it is a bit difficult to get rich on wages, but anybody can get rich on profits. Profits change your whole attitude, even if you start part-time. Whether it's part time on your entrepreneurial business, network marketing company or service business.

It can be a landscape business in the summer or hanging Christmas lights in the winter. It can be training, consulting or tutoring. It can be your hobby such as painting, writing, crafts, woodworking, computers or cooking. But once you start investing even part time effort into your own business, you will find how much more exciting it is to get up in the morning and go to work on your fortune, even if you're only spending a few hours a week doing it.

How empowering it is to be able to go to work on your fortune every day rather than going to work to pay the rent. Now - it is noble to go to work to pay the rent, but if you could also parcel out part of your time - go to work to make your fortune. Your whole attitude changes; your spirit changes. It is in your voice. It is in your face. It is in your gestures. And then you can say, "I am now working full-time on my job and part-time on my fortune because I found a way to make profits." Wow!

And I will know what you mean.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn


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Credit Card Rate VS Investment Rate

With the stock market in a shambles and your retirement account hurting you may want to take a look at your credit cards to increase your rate of return.

What do I mean by that?

Well, quite simply you have something that does have a guaranteed rate of return. Unfortunately for you it does not benefit you. That guaranteed rate is on your credit card. Think for a minute, what is the current rate on your credit card? Do you have a credit card at 16.99% who is getting that rate? Simple, your credit card company.

Your credit card is the only guaranteed rate of return you have in your control. At this time you definitely should look at ways to eliminate some of your credit card debt. The stock market will come back at some point in time, hopefully pretty soon.

That being said if you want to have more to invest in the future you need to take steps today to position yourself for that opportunity. Imagine for a moment not having to pay that $150 credit card payment and instead put that money into an IRA for your future.

Why should you continue to pay your credit card companies a guaranteed rate of return? I'm sure you'd like to guarantee yourself a 16.99% rate of return wouldn't you? You need to look at my book for some real techniques to reduce your interest cost.

Once again at this time it would be wise to start reducing your credit card debt and then you will have more money to invest later.

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Credit Card Minimum Payments

I was reading a news story today regarding how some credit card companies are increasing the minimum payment percentage. Historically most credit card companies have required at least a 2% of your current balance as the minimum payments. Some such as Chase are going to increase the percentage to 5% of the current balance.

Now this is good and bad. The good part is it will eliminate the 30 years to pay off a credit card and save a lot of interest. Most credit cards if you pay the way they set the payment schedule could take up to 30 year to pay off a small $3,000 balance. That's the good news.

The bad news is if you are currently living paycheck to paycheck you may not be able to make the payment. For example, say you owe $5,000 times 2% would be $100. The new payment would be $5,000 times 5% equal to $250.

I'm not sure how many people could afford an extra $150 today or any time without some planning ahead of time. If all of a sudden you open your next bill and you see your new minimum payment doubled or tripled it would probably effect your budget.

As I said in my book that being debt free is key to reaching your financial goals. However, not if you did not plan for such a large increase. This is definitely something you need to be aware of on your next couple statement. Chase is a large company and I can see more credit card companies following their lead.




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Enterprise Is Better Than Ease

I really like this article by Jim Rohn


If we are involved in a project, how hard should we work at it? How much time should we put in?

Our philosophy about activity and our attitude about hard work will affect the quality of our lives. What we decide about the rightful ratio of labor to rest will establish a certain work ethic. That work ethic - our attitude about the amount of labor we are willing to commit to future fortune - will determine how substantial or how meager that fortune turns out to be.

Enterprise is always better than ease. Every time we choose to do less than we could, this error in judgment has an effect on our self-confidence. Repeated every day, we soon find ourselves not only doing less than we should, but also being less than we could. The accumulative effect of this error in judgment can be devastating.

--- FORTUNATELY, IT IS EASY TO REVERSE THE PROCESS ---

Any day we choose we can develop a new discipline of doing rather than neglecting. Every time we choose action over ease or labor over rest, we develop an increasing level of self-worth, self-respect and self-confidence. In the final analysis, it is how we feel about ourselves that provides the greatest reward from any activity. It is not what we get that makes us valuable, it is what we become in the process of doing that brings value into our lives. It is activity that converts human dreams into human reality, and that conversion from idea into actuality gives us a personal value that can come from no other source.

So feel free to not only engage in enterprise, but also to enjoy it to it's fullest along with all the benefits that are soon to come!

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

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