STEP 3: 3-6 MONTHS OF EXPENSES IN SAVINGS.

After saving $1,000.00 as a beginning emergency fund, then paying off all debts except your house, move on to the third step: 3-6 months of expenses in your savings account. Why? because something is going to break, or tear up and need repair or replacement. It may have been a long process of paying off all debt and in my experience, things were not replaced as they normally would have been and of course, murphy will show up at the most inopportune time. It will still take discipline at this point to overcome the debt payoff schedule and recover some savings. There is NO debt left at this point except the house mortgage payment and we will begin the next step hopefully soon that will require savings for other uses.

As you can tell there is still work to do. You still have to be disciplined with your money. You can do this but it will take some determination. Financial Pacemaker Coaching can help you climb out of debt and take yourself and your family off the ledge and out of risk with a plan in place for retirement. There is nothing wrong with asking for help when you cannot see the way out.

Call today, make an appointment and come by for help.

FINANCIAL PACEMAKER COACHING-"WE'LL PACE YOU ALONG".

MONEY AND THE STOCK MARKET

WHY IS THE STOCK MARKET OVER 27,000 IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE? IN PARTICULAR YOU?

First of all, the stock market is important to folks who invest in an employer's 401(k) / 403(b) plan and those who have traditional IRA's invested in mutual funds. Any stock or mutual fund account is impacted by the stock market. This 27,000 is a record high for the stock market, and that is what you need to know. Now is the time to be saving for your future, your retirement but you cannot do this while you have debt. You must pay off debt first to be able to place money in the retirement accounts that you cannot get out before 59 1/2 without paying a penalty and the taxes that may be due. You should not plan to take that money out anyway-ever. Dave Ramsey says "the only people who get injured on a roller coaster is those who jump off" and what he means is that the rollercoaster ride of the stock market is one an investor has to ride, ups and downs. Stick with it over time.

I placed an article on my facebook page for Financial Pacemaker Coaching about the record high, you may want to read it later. The down side to this record is that the reason the stock market did that is because the Feds reported that they may CUT the prime rate due to inflation and that in turn will decrease savings account interest paid because banks will not be able to charge high interest on loans, car loans, personal loans, homes, etc. Ally bank has already instituted a cut in savings interest from 2.2% to 2.1%. Still Ally is paying way over what brick and mortar banks are paying on savings accounts. Banks really never paid any interest worth talking about anyway.

The bottom line, you cannot make money with brick and mortar savings accounts, and you cannot save money if you are making payments every month to every thing. STINKING THINKING WILL KEEP YOU IN THE BROKE LANE.

Finance is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge. Pull yourself out of the payments and broke lane and get into paying cash for items on budget and investing for your retirement. You cannot borrow money for retirement. Go back and read my blog about compound interest and you will see why TIME IS SO IMPORTANT.

Don't wait, stop dragging your feet. Get going.

YOU CAN DO IT.

MONEY SAVY: WEEK 2: PART 2.

START WITH STEP 1

MOVE ON TO STEP 2

If you are following along each week, then you know that these are baby steps. Don't get worked up and stressed out. Instead, sit down, organize and create a plan of attack. ATTACK. RUN. GO.

For some folks it is easy to get going. For others, there are serious financial issues that started years ago, but NOW is the time to address the problem head on.

What to do if you are already behind on some payments and life is very difficult....

First relax, we have to live, eat, and of course, work, in order to make money and pay off debt.

Next take it way down to paying the basics of living:

1. Food

2. Rent

3. Electricity/utilities

4. Gas for the car to go to work

Take care of basic needs first then move down your list of debts. You are continuing to pick up extra shifts or deliver pizza on the weekends to boost your income. This is not a particularly exciting time, but if you will work hard, you can pull yourself out of your debt mess.

For those of faith:

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"NO DISCIPLINE SEEMS PLEASANT AT THE TIME, BUT PAINFUL.

LATER ON, HOWEVER, IT PRODUCES A HARVEST OF

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PEACE FOR THOSE WHO

HAVE BEEN TRAINED BY IT."

HEBREWS 12:11

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Have a great week! Keep pushing forward. You can do it. We can help.

Financial Pacemaker Coaching.

GO GET EM!!