Finding financial peace? Say What?

There's an article called: "People Who Have Found Financial Peace!"
Of course I had to go read it to find out what the advice was. Turns out the author of the article was divulging the four top methods of attaining what she termed was financial peace and I asked myself: 'What ta heck is that anyway?'

...so read on....

1. They know exactly where their money goes.
The suggestion is to write down everything you spend for two months until you know where every penny goes. Apparently you'll be more aware of your bank balance and not go into overdraft or run up your credit cards on things you don't need if you write everything down. The expert said it's harder to spend cash than it is to swipe a plastic card. If you're not worrying every minute about how much everybody in the house is spending, you'd feel better.
Personally, I like to hide the odd thing from Dick. Keeps him on his toes if he can't explain every nickel away in our bank account.

2. They know what they want their money to do.
We are supposed to focus on two or three big goals we value, like a house, set a time line, and then break the goal into smaller steps. Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to a saving vehicle weekly or monthly or to an RRSP. Pay attention to your own goals instead of what the neighbors are doing so you don't feel like you're always behind. Remember the grass is always greener on the other side? It might look like the neighbors have more than you, but they likely lied about the amount of their debt too!

3. They don't carry revolving debt, (credit cards,) or they have a specific plan to pay it down.
This means don't just pay the minimum on your credit cards every month. Did you know that if you put $1,000 on a credit card at 18 percent and make just minimum payments, it will take 12 years to pay off and cost $1,100 in interest? (Totaling $2,100.00 out of your pocket!) Put $20 more a month toward that card and it would be paid off in two years and a few months, with only $226 in interest.
Used to be that credit cards were for emergencies only and now people seem to use them every day to live on. They have trapped us by offering points and low introductory interest rates.

4. They invest in their job skills, and don't expand their lifestyles as fast as their salaries.
ie: If you have an opportunity to send out resumes or take a course to better your job and hence your income... do it.
... and don't live above your income. If you have to use a credit card every week just to buy food, gas, cell phones or another of your 'necessities' you can't afford them! To get anywhere, you have to have money left over every month. You just have to is all!

I know most of this, you've heard a million times before and really, it's just common sense, but if just one person says eureka! And gets a little ahead of the wolves that are always at our doors, then it's worth going over it again.
Remember I'm not an expert and I'm hardly a responsible adult let alone anything else, even at my age! So take my advice with a grain of pepper and use it as you see fit.

Oh! And if you want to link this or paste it... Fill yer boots!

A friend is gone.

We've lost another friend.

A blastoma her husband called it. A cancer so fast spreading it has a graphic nickname that tells all. A slimy, invading, evil tumor in her brain that has killed her within a year and left her husband without his life partner.

Let me salute him. She died at home with her loved ones and friends at her side. He kept her with him, caring for her and giving her the last few minutes of her life in her own beloved surroundings.

No, I didn't know her really well. Yes, I spent an overnight as her guest, welcomed in her home. They were guests in our home as well. We did business together and plotted and planned our lives and finances together. We shared food at various tables and on many occasions. Business meetings and information gathering sessions. We did not go shopping or travel together, but she and her husband are very much like Dick and I, always just trying to get ahead as best we can and we were linked. I feel such a loss and sadness.

I would have liked to have known her better, but she was what I thought of as 'very British' and did not show much emotion, affection or sentimentality. We shared some experiences that were not conducive to bonds of close girl friendship, but those experiences bonded us all the same.

It is because of her and her husband's associates that our finances are in as good a shape as they are. It is with her help that my taxes have been done each year. We have grown and evolved because of her guidance and good work. She was a strong woman that any one of us could look up to and learn from. She wasn't sometimes dealt the best of hands herself in life, but was always able to put order to ours. I never felt alone in my troubles knowing that this couple was there.

It is unfathomable that that person no longer walks this earth. I can no longer pick up the phone and hear her clipped greeting. I can no longer affectionately giggle about her British palate and taste. Never again will we share a table, she ordering eggs and bacon, me asking for bacon and eggs.

I will think of her often.