Archives For personal finance education

Know Who You Owe – 242 DSR

February 23, 2018

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Today I discuss a real estate closing fiasco of an old friend and how you can avoid it.

Late 2016 sold house, moved back to CA.

Closing attorney ordered payoff 1st but not 2nd mtg. Closing attorney said “2nd mtg was included in the first mtg payoff.”

Months later, friend got notice from HUD – owe $11k. Consulted an attorney. Now making mo. pmt $200 to 300 to HUD.

Their buyers attorney contacted them. We payoff 2nd, you borrower $9k from us, do you have any collateral?

Buyer is trying to either refinance or sell and can’t. Doesn’t have clear title. Title clearly shows 1st and 2nd mtg. Seller’s attorney screwed up big time.

Seller pocketed enough to pay the $11k at closing but wasn’t aware of it. Ultimately responsible.

Lesson?
Know who you owe. Read CD, look at who is being paid off. If you write two mo. mtg pmt checks, both lenders should be in the payoff section.

Credit score hurt if HUD reports to credit bureaus.

Resources:
What is a closing disclosure?

Get in touch:
Comments, Questions, or need coaching?
Contact

Get Your Mind Straight. Get Your Money Straight
2018 Debt Shepherd, All Rights Reserved

In Mortgage, Personal Finance Education , , ,
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Credit Cards and The Rapture – 240 DSR

January 6, 2018

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Do you take your debts with you when you die?

This show topic is inspired by a text from a listener and former student of Debt Shepherd. Brenda G. on the east coast of The US.
who asked, “Is there a metaphysical relationship between death and debt? Do we carry debt over into the next realm?”

1) Do we carry debt over into the afterlife? Karma. Do unresolved issues stay with us if/when we are reborn?

Is our thinking about money, abundance, etc formed after we get here? Or is it part of the part of us that isn’t physical, that we already were before our bodies showed up?

2) Credit Cards and The Rapture

Co-worker in mortgage business once said, “I’m not worried about paying off my credit cards. The rapture is near and when Jesus comes, I’m outta here.” That was about 10 yrs ago. I’m not sure he still has that outlook, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Closing:
As far as karma goes. What comes around goes around is a good adage in the here and now regardless of our thoughts, feelings, around the afterlife.

I don’t recommend an attitude toward debt of, “Screw it, when I die I don’t have to pay these debts/bills.” I say clean it up best you can while you’re here.

Ever treated an old, unpaid debt like death? You put it out of your mind for a while but it keeps coming back to bother you. You’re afraid the debt collector will come calling some day when least expected, kinda like the grim reaper?

Irony. Word Mortgage. Mort means death. MORTician, RigorMORTis. MORTgage. The word debt kinda sounds like death a bit. Think about it.

Resource:
debtshepherd.com

Get Your Mind Straight. Get Your Money Straight.
Debt Shepherd 2018, All Rights Reserved

In Listener Feedback, Money, Mortgage , ,
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Invisible by Proximity – 239 DSR

November 19, 2017

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What are you standing so close to that you no longer see?

Todays episode title idea via Michael Tsarion @ unsalved.com

When something is so close to me, I don’t see/appreciate it anymore.

Can’t see the forest for the trees. The forest is invisible to me due to my proximity/distance to the tree directly in front of me. Tunnel vision.

1) What am I focusing on that is causing me to miss what else is around me? My paycheck is too small. My boss is a jerk. My co-workers don’t understand me, etc. All the while not seeing this is how I feed, clothe, and provide for my family.

2) What am I looking at every day, while not seeing it, that is causing me to no longer appreciate it’s beauty, quality, character, potential? Stand in the mirror. Negative body image? Why?
If all you see is weight, you’re missing the amazing things your body does for you.

Closing:
I’m not saying accept/tolerate what you don’t agree with or accept.

Too much weight? Change your diet.

Not making enough money? Increase your value to the company and negotiate more pay.

Too much debt? Stop spending and pre-pay existing debts. Car payment depress you? Forgetting that car gets you to work every day so you can eat, sleep comfortably, live your life.

Resource:
unslaved.com – Michael Tsarion

Get Your Mind Straight. Get Your Money Straight.
Debt Shepherd 2017, All Rights Reserved

In Money, Personal Finance Education , ,
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Are You a Paid Pretender? – 238 DSR

November 5, 2017

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Are you pretending to be happy at work or in life?

The idea for this episode title came from watching 2 celebrity interviews of the Netflix series: Stranger Things 2. I didn’t get thru the 2nd interview because….

Then it occurred to me: Why would someone elect a person to public office whose paid profession was pretending to be someone or something they weren’t? Actors get paid to fake it, to cause me to feel something, etc.

What does this have to do with money? Quite a bit. Elected officials are intimately connected to spending tax payers dollars. They run for office on the currency of their celebrity.

You elect them because of the characters they played who were likable, honest, self sacrificing, heroic, etc.

Job
1) Are you going to a job and pretending to enjoy, like or tolerate it? “If I didn’t need this job, I’d tell my boss to where to go…”

Money
2) Do you use money to pretend to have something you don’t, feel something you don’t or be someone you aren’t? This could include climbing the corporate ladder. Why?

Dreams
3) Do you tell yourself, “If I just had more money, I’d finally be happy or happier? My problems would be solved, I’d be accepted, etc.” More money could be a raise at your current job or a large windfall.

Thoughts to ponder:
Isn’t another type of Paid Pretender a prostitute?

If I’m pretending or lying to myself about my happiness at my profession, am I prostituting myself to my employer? You perform an act or service, they give you money?

Recap:
1) What would it take to not “need” your job? How about not need it as much? Less debts can = more options.

2) If I just had more money. How much is “more”? When will it be enough?

3) If you wait for more money before you live your dreams, you’ll never live them. They’ll always be just dreams.

Resource/book:
The Man Who Quit Money – by Mark Sundeen

Visit the podcast page. debtshepherd.com

Get Your Mind Straight. Get Your Money Straight.
Debt Shepherd 2017, All Rights Reserved

In Get Personal, Money , ,
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LOL vs LOM – 237 DSR

October 21, 2017

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Who is responsible for your current financial situation?

1) Perspective – What is poor? What is rich? Where do you look to get your ideas of both? How long do those ideas stay with you?
Media influence.

2) Where are you starting from? Increasing or decreasing?

3) Why change? Necessity or luxury?

4) Environmental Determinism. Are we products of our environment? Start poor, stay poor. Start rich, stay rich.

Recap:
Who is responsible for your current financial situation? You, your parents, your grandparents, your spouse, gov’t?
In the mean time (while waiting for someone else/thing to change).
This is about taking personal responsibility. Own it.
Power of action instead of blame.

Resource:
The Minimalists.com

Get Your Mind Straight. Get Your Money Straight.
Debt Shepherd, 2017. All Rights Reserved

In Money, Motivation, Personal Finance Education , ,
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Poverty, Inc. – 236 DSR

September 4, 2017

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“Fighting poverty is big business. But who profits most?”

from povertyinc.org

2015 Documentary Film
Winner of over 50 international film festival honors

This isn’t a film review. More a discussion urging you to examine why you give to foreign aid or any charity for that matter.

1) Who are these organizations? NGO’s, UN, Soles for Souls, World Vision, etc.

2) Am I giving due to a temporary crisis? Earthquake, flood, tsunami, etc.

3) How long after the headlines are over do you pay attention to the recipient country’s situation?

4) Foreign Aid is highly government subsidized.

i.e: The US rice company sends rice to Haiti. Haitians get it for free. The US sender gets money from the government, you the tax payer. Local Haitian rice farmers are put out of business. People become dependent on long term aid (food, clothing, etc). Not to mention the rice company who sends it doesn’t have to compete with Haitian rice farmers in a free market. Monopoly creation.

Recap:
Welfare/charity that isn’t temporary, becomes dependency. This is economic addiction, paternalism, colonialism (pc = democracy).

Institutions in power don’t want poverty to end. It’s a way to control large portions of the population. If institutions who “fight cancer” cured it, they’d be out of jobs.

Resource:
povertyinc.org / Poverty Inc (film)

Get your mind straight. Get your money straight.

Debt Shepherd 2017, All Rights Reserved

In Money, Motivation, Personal Finance Education, The Economy , ,
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What is Bitcoin? – 235 DSR

August 26, 2017

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Let’s talk about digital currency and the privacy it gives you. Not to mention not paying transaction fees.

What is Bitcoin? Digital coin. Digital Currency

The bit is a basic unit of information used in computing and digital communications. A binary digit can have only one of two values, and may be physically represented with a two-state device. These state values are most commonly represented as either a 0 or 1.

– Way for two parties to exchange money without third party interference/fees ie: government, banks, PayPal, Western Union, etc.
– Avoidance of paying fees for the facilitation of the transaction.
– Bitcoin essentially cuts the fee charging entities out of the transaction.
– Commerce with privacy.
– Gives those without access to bank accounts the ability to transact as long as they have access to a computer (library, internet café, etc). Western Union does this but charges fees and can take longer depending on method of payment and receipt.
– Transactions are logged in the blockchain and buyer/seller remain anonymous.
– Federal Reserve Bank has been controlling the creation, distribution, and sale of money for 104 years. Do you think they see bitcoin as a threat? Yes, because they can’t inflate the bitcoin supply and charge you a hidden tax (inflation).
– In it’s infancy.
– Same as cashless society? Gov’t idea of a cashless society still involves The Federal Reserve in control. Bitcoin’s idea of a cashless society does not.
– What if you worked and when you got paid your deposit was in Bitcoin instead of “dollars?”

Resource:
Banking on Bitcoin – 1 hr 23 min (documentary movie) Netflix.
Coinbase – Buy & sell digital currency
Blockchain

Debt Shepherd 2017, All Rights Reserved

In Money, Personal Finance Education, Technology, The Economy , , ,
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8 Hour Work Day – 234 DSR

August 19, 2017

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Why do we work 8 hours a day?

The United States Adamson Act in 1916 established an eight-hour day, with additional pay for overtime, for railroad workers. This was the first federal law that regulated the hours of workers in private companies. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Act in Wilson v. New, 243 U.S. 332 (1917).

The eight-hour day might have been realized for many working people in the US in 1937, when what became the Fair Labor Standards Act was first proposed under the New Deal. As enacted, the act applied to industries whose combined employment represented about twenty percent of the US labour force. In those industries, it set the maximum workweek at 40 hours, but provided that employees working beyond 40 hours a week would receive additional overtime bonus salaries.

8 hrs work, 8 hrs recreation, 8 hrs sleep – Australia

1) Why 40 hrs/week other than that it’s law? We’ve been trained? It’s what capitalism requires?

2) What are your options? Four 10 hr days = 40 hrs week. Be your own boss, set your own hrs? It depends. Can you cut your hours and still serve your customers?

3) Do the math and see at 35 hrs week, could you pay your bills?
If not, look at adjusting your bills. Less house, car, credit card, entertainment.

4) What’s important? If you don’t have kids, do the math and ask those who have kids what they’re really spending. Don’t forget to ask how much $ help they’re getting from family.

Debt Shepherd 2017, All Rights Reserved

In Money, Motivation, Personal Finance Education, Self Employed , ,
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