Gails Blog

It’s amazing the many ways in which we’re willing to delude ourselves so that we don’t have to face our realities. People are soooo willing to grab hold of a Maybe or a What If or a Perhaps, all so they don’t have to deal with their own crap. If you’re thinking that any of the following are in your future, you need to give your head a shake.

Prince Charming is Going to Save Me. Really? Prince Charming? Didn’t you see Shrek? He’s a Momma’s Boy who is so obsessed with his own future that you’ll only know he’s been there by the wreck he’s left behind: YOU! Despite all the stuff that’s been written about the Prince Charming Myth, there are still people out there – boys and girls alike — who believe that someone is going to come riding to their rescue with pots of money to bale them out. If he’s stupid enough to try and bail you out of the mess you made of your own life, why would you want him? Let’s face it, in today’s very complex world, one person with the “solutions to all your problems” is likely to come with a whole lot of baggage of his own.

My Parents are Going to Leave Me a Million. Let’s say they do. What makes you think you’re going to have any better luck managing an inheritance than you do managing the money you actually have to work hard for? But what makes you think they’re even going to have a million to leave you? After all, with rising health care costs and greater longevity, your parents could live to be ninety. And many of those years will be very expensive as they take medicine, hire caregivers and generally do whatever they can to extend their lives for as long as possible. Assuming you’re 25 years younger than your youngest parent, you’d could be 65 or 70 by the time both your parents kicked the bucket. That’s a hell of a long time to put your life on hold. And then, of course, if you have a sibling or three, you’re going to have to split what’s left once dear old mom and dad shuffle off this mortal coil.

I’ll Win the Lottery. Ha! This is one of my favorites. Do you know that you’re more likely to be struck by lightening TWICE than win the lottery? How about this one: you’re more likely to die in a car accident going to the store to buy a lottery ticket than win the lottery. I know someone has to win. I know it could be you. But do YOU know that it very likely won’t be. Besides, 1/3 of lottery winners end up bankrupt within five years of cashing in their lottery tickets. Why? Simple. We don’t value what we don’t have to work hard to earn

Oprah’s Going to Discover Me. Yeah. I’m waiting for her to call me too.

I’ll Get Rich Playing the Stock Market. “Playing” is the operative word here. If you’re “playing” then you’re not serious about investing. If you’re serious about investing, you’re using a buy-and-hold strategy, and you have an advisor who knows what she’s doing.

I’m Just Waiting to Land the Big Job. Which job is that? The one where they pay you oodles of money to do what they could pay someone else half as much to do? Hmmm.

Things Will Work Out. How’s that working for you so far?

Financial success is based on performing the essentials of good money management. You have to have a plan. You have to be organized. You have to have a goal and be committed to achieving that goal. And you have to work smart. 

Harbouring financial fantasies are detrimental to success because they encourage you to put the power outside yourself: you’ll be rescued, you’ll be left a ton of cash, you’ll be discovered. If you want to be successful, you have to take back the power and know that the best way to make it happen is to do it for yourself.

The old saying, “It took 10 years to become an overnight success” is true because success means learning from your mistakes, becoming knowledgeable about money and how it works, and knowing our own strengths and weaknesses.

So PJ and I were walking past a shop window on the way to a shoot the other day when we looked in at the washers and driers. PJ has just bought a new house, which came with a washer and dryer she doesn’t particularly like. She was looking at an energy efficient front loader with a little lust. The set was on sale; a good price we thought. Especially when we turned around and compared it to the Big Name set that was priced higher.

Funny that. It seems it’s in our natures to assume that because it has a higher price, it’s a better product.

To prove the point, researchers from CalTech and Stanford told their guinea-pigs that they were drinking five different wines at five different prices. You know what? Those tricky psychologist lied; there were only three types of wine because two wines were offered twice: a $5 wine was described as costing $5 and $45, and a $90 bottle was described as costing $90 and $10. (There was also a $35 wine with the accurate price given.)

The guinea-pigs not only rated a wine as tasting better when they were told it was pricier, but their brain scans showed greater activity in their pleasure zones. OMG! Just being told the wine was more expensive gave the drinker greater pleasure. How awful is that?

Perfume is another good example of a product whose quality is often measured by its price. You can buy a six-ounce bottle of a lovely perfume at the drugstore for $30.00. If you want Chanel No. 5, one ounce will cost you $250.

A friend of mine told me a story that made me split with laughter. It seems her cousin was in the drugstore where he saw an expensive brand of cologne on special, two-for-one. So he bought them. He didn’t need them, but the idea that he was getting something expensive for FREE made him bite. His perception wasn’t that the colognes were half the price they had been before. No. He kept the original price as his benchmark, and registered the other bottle as FREE to justify dropping a lot of money he could ill afford to spend.

Hey, nobody likes a BOGO sale more than moi. I’m talking averaging down two pairs of shoes to $20 each here, not popping for a $300 handbag so I can get the other one for $150. I guess, it’s all a matter of perspective.

While it is sometimes true that “you get what you pay for”, if you decide to pay two or three times the price for a particular product, does that mean you expect it to be twice or three times as good? Think about it. Is that Super-de-dooper Latte really three times better than the coffee you could pick up at Timmy’s?

This is where we get into the whole idea of “value.” Dollar for dollar if the more expensive item isn’t proportionally better than the cheaper one, should you spend the extra money? Would the lower priced item suit your needs just fine?

So how’s a body supposed to counteract the More-expensive-is-better syndrome? You could do some blind testing of our own. If there are products you pay extra for because you think their higher quality makes it worthwhile, maybe it’s time to check your assumption.

You could also be better informed by reading consumer reports available in magazines or online. You could ask for friends’ opinions on the performance of less expensive alternatives they may be using.

Okay, it’s your turn: Have you ever bought a premium anything only to be disappointed? Do you have substitutes that you routinely choose over more expensive items because they are just as good? 

I grew up listening to adages like, “Money doesn’t make you happy.” When I was married to my first husband and trying to figure out where I was going to get the money to go to work the following week, I figure all that stuff I heard was a load of b.s. Over time, I’ve worked hard, traded-in husbands, and discovered that money – more and more money – doesn’t make you happier. Yes, too little money can make you miserable, but once you have enough to meet your needs, more money doesn’t increase your sense of wellbeing.

Lots of people think if they could just get their hands on a couple of million bucks, everything would be GREAT! Not-so-much. Loads of people who have won lotteries have found themselves back in the financial toilet in no time flat.

So let’s turn the equation around for a minute. If we’re willing to accept that money doesn’t make you happy, is it possible that sadness makes you spend more?

Yup. A study by researchers from Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Pittsburgh universities found that when people are sad, they spend more money… way more money. The researchers concluded that when people are sad, this sadness could trigger extravagant tendencies. Nicknamed the Misery-is-not-miserly phenomenon, it’s clear that having access to credit when you’re bummed out can end up costing you big time.

Maybe the most disturbing part of the study was the fact that the sad people – who were made sad by watching a sad movie – spent more that 4 times what the not-sad people spent, they had not a clue that it was their sadness which prompted them to splurge. They were completely unaware of how their own emotions were feeding into their consumerism.

That’s us: bummed out and dumb about it, so we go Cheer-Me-Up Shopping. Argggg.

So what’s a body to do? It would seem that if you’re feeling sad you should stay out of the stores, leave your credit cards locked in your freezer, and carry the minimum amount of cash. Or you could do something nice for someone else, and that’ll make you feel better and won’t cost a cent. Offer to cook a meal for a harried neighbour. Water someone’s garden. Put a dollar in someone’s meter. Little things that take your focus off YOU and your misery and move your focus outward.

It would also seem an investment in getting happy might just pay dividends on the financial front. Happiness isn’t always about getting what we want. Nope. In my experience, happiness is about wanting what we have. So instead of making lists of all the things we want or wish we had – even silent lists in our heads – maybe we should be making lists of all the things we have that we want. An inventory. Then we can focus on what’s there instead of what’s missing the next time we see a tear-jerker movie, break up with friend, bang the car, yell at our kids, fail to get the promotion… whatever it is that’s triggering our sadness.

So, what are you going to do the next time you feel sad and are battling the urge to splurge? You better make a plan now, since one won’t come easily once you’re in the dumper. And if you don’t have a plan, you’re only going to be sadder when the credit card bill arrives!

Have you ever heard me do my rant on Inertia? It’s for all those Duckies who are stuck in the muck; people so convinced they can’t that they don’t even try.

The Law of Inertia says that a body at rest will remain at rest until some force acts upon it. And a body in motion will remain in motion… well, you get my drift.

I believe that a lot of the problems people have dealing with life, their money, everything, stem from this simple Law of Inertia. It is so much easier to maintain the status quo than to change.

However, You cannot save $10,000 until you save $1,000. You cannot save $1,000 until you save $100. You cannot save $100 until you save $10.

If you want to build a financial safety net, you must START by opening a savings account and creating an automatic savings program. If you want to stop spending money you haven’t yet earned, you must STOP carrying your credit cards. You must change what you are doing or not doing, to something that works FOR you instead of AGAINST you.

I love change. Change is exciting. Change brings challenge, learning and a sense of New. Change is full of promise. Change is audacious. It takes guts to change. It takes real guts. And guts are something that seem to be in short supply. If you have them, you’ll make it. If you don’t, well, so sorry. Not guts, no glory.

So the question you have to ask yourself today is this:

Do I have the guts to change?

If your answer is “No” then go away. You’re just wasting your time here. This is a place of change, a place to be brave, a place to commit.

If the answer is, “Yes”, then what are you going to change? TODAY. What small step will you take to move you from being at rest to being in motion? What will you DO (not think about, not plan, not worry about, not whine about) to change what your life looks like? What will you DO?

If you think that financial inertia isn’t an epidemic, here’s something you should read:

Britons’ financial inertia is so great that the majority of people would not even bother picking up a free £5 note if it was offered to them, research has showed. 

And from the New York Times:

Are your finances making you feel guilty? Does every passing week leave you more determined to finally get your fiscal affairs under control . . . and more frustrated because you don’t know how or where to start?

Rest assured, you are not alone in your financial inertia.

If you have the guts to change, do you have the guts to say what you’re going to do in a public forum? If so, post a reply to this blog describing the step you are going to take TODAY to change something about your life. It can be financial. It can be wholistic. It can be small. No one is asking you to move a mountain… well, not in one push.

You can put inertia to work for you. Or you can just remain One Duck Stuck in the Muck. You decide.

If you think that debit and credit card fraud is something that happens to dumb people, let me assure you some of the smartest people I know have been hit. In the town where I buy my groceries, hundreds of customers of one of the supermarkets were hit when their debit card and pin numbers were stolen.

Closer to home, Chelsea, our production manager – and a very button-down chick and as smart as a whip – went shopping one day only to find her debit card had been skimmed and she was out thousands of dollars.

Here’s what Chelsea has to say about her experience:

My debit card was “skimmed” on the weekend - meaning someone illegally scanned my card and recorded my pin and went on a shopping spree.  It took them less than 24 hours to create a fake card and less than 36 hours to rack up 15 transactions, stealing about $3,000.  This is a real problem and not just something you read in the papers.

Here are some ways I’ve researched that you can prevent this from happening to you:

• Hide your pin.  Seriously hide it.  You may feel like a dork but just do it. 
• Watch your card.  If someone swipes it twice, ask why. Chances are they’re skimming it right in front of your eyes. 
• Check your bank statements online at least once a day.  Look for cash withdraws and purchases that look unfamiliar (duh). 
• Make sure you have minimum cash withdraw limits on your accounts.  Having a higher limit means that someone can’t go in there and clear out your account in one day.  I have a limit of $500 and sure enough, the bank told me, they attempted to take out more but were unsuccessful. 
• If you have overdraft protection, someone can take money that you don’t even have. 
• Take off access to accounts from your debit card that you don’t need.  Make all of your credit card payments online and then take the access to your credit card off of your debit card.  I had mine linked and they took a $500 cash advance from my credit card.  
• Use cash wherever you can (cue Gail cheering with glee).  Even some ATMs have been rigged with skimming devices so watch out.  I almost feel like I have to go back to the old fashion days of getting cash from a teller and using cash to pay for everything.

I’m pretty sure I know what store this happened at.  It wasn’t a shifty convenience store; it was a regular retail outlet store – nothing shady so it can happen anywhere.

I’m not trying to make you lose sleep every time you swipe your card but there are things you can put in place to protect yourself just that little bit more.  I don’t want this happening to anyone else.  This situation really stinks but I hope that by reading this you can be proactive and look into how your account is set up and be more aware of this issue.

These are all great ideas from Chelsea. Pass them on. And here are a few more to keep in mind:

• Watch out for “shoulder surfers .” Shield the keypad when using debit and ATMs.
• Keep your receipts. Ask copies of incorrect charge slips.
• Compare receipts with account statements. Watch for unauthorized transactions. Shred receipts after verifying the charge on your monthly statement.
• Carry only the cards you need. Extra cards increase your risk and your hassle if your wallet is stolen.
• Pay attention to your billing cycles. A missing bill could mean a thief has taken over your credit account.

I remember when I was growing up, everyone used to tell me, “You can’t have it all. You’ll have to choose.” I heard it again and again, from everyone. Everyone, that is, except my mother who told me, “You can have it all, you’re just going to have to work hard for it.” Thankfully, I believed my mom.

You know, I still hear that old phrase: you can’t have it all. I was told I’d have to choose between raising a family and having a career.  Tell that to my kids who, as toddlers, would come running into my home-office, bare-butt just before they jumped into the tub.

I was told “You have to decide whether you’re a child or a grown up, and behave appropriately”. Yeah, right? Fact is, I’m pretty button-down when it comes to the detail of my business and financial life. But you don’t get much more free-spirited than howling — arrrrooooooooooo — loudly for a husband lost in the aisles of the local supermarket.

So I have it all. I’ve got a happy home life, a lovely husband, two kids I’d die for, work that I love to do (even at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, which is when I often write) and I’m financially free.  My life is in balance.

Balance, of course, is the ability to deal with myriad priorities, giving each just as much attention as it deserves. Balance means not working so hard at accumulating assets that you fail to spend time watching the children play. Balance means weighing the need for future retirement savings with the need for providing your partner, your children, your friends with fun and exciting experiences in the present. It’s about taking care of today and tomorrow. And it’s about satisfying your soul while you challenge your intellect.

Now, it’s pretty hard to keep your sense of balance when reality bites — when divorce, widowhood, disability, or unemployment contrives to push you off kilter. “Balance?” you shriek, “How can I have any sense of balance when I’m just barely making it from day to day, paycheque to paycheque?”  Ah, yes. Well, that’s where the plan comes in.

Balance isn’t something that happens. It takes work. It requires that you create a blueprint for your life. And it requires that you take control of the components of your life that you can control, so when you stumble over one of life’s bumps in the road you can pick yourself up and move on. It means planning like a pessimist so you can live like an optimist.

By taking care of the financial parts of your life , you’ll be covered for any of life’s financial disasters. Whether you find yourself suddenly living on one income, having to care for your aging parents, or dealing with kids who have boomeranged home, you’ll be prepared, at least financially, to cope.

By setting goals, you’ll be laying the blueprint for how you want your life to look. You’ll be creating the balance with which you want to pursue your dreams and achieve your purpose.

When I had my children and I moved from being a career-focused glamour-puss to being a much more balanced, whole woman. My babies were the catalyst for reviewing my life and deciding what I wanted to expend my life’s energy to achieve. I decided on a little of this, and a little of that. Some career, some learning, time spent nurturing my soul and my babies. In the process, I proved my mom was right.

I learned I can have it all… I just can’t have it all at the same time. Maturity has brought the ability to prioritize, to give a little, to negotiate with myself and others so that I can do what’s most important at a particular point in time. When it looked like my Malcolm was going to have to be home-schooled because his Asperger’s Syndrome was too much for the school system to cope with, I quit all my jobs, packed up and moved to the country (to cut overheads) and got busy figuring out what I’d needed to know. Luckily, in the process, I found a school that was up to the job. 

I do consider myself to be a very lucky girl. But I also know that I’ve been willing to take advantage of opportunities — even to make opportunities — that would take me to where I wanted to be next. None of it has been accidental.

Think about what you want your life to look like five years from now. Who will you be near to? What will you be doing? And what steps do you have to take financially to get to where you want to be?

Decide that you’re not going to feel bad, overwhelmed, stupid, stressed, or anything else negative about your money anymore. Instead, you’re going to do something about it — no matter how small those steps — so you can achieve your own sense of financial peace.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath and repeat after me: “I am more than what my financial statistics say about me. I can have anything I want, if I prepared to work hard. Today I want to ….”

Go ahead, fill in the blank.

One of the issues I run into often when dealing with my fams is the arrival of a new babe and the income loss associated with taking maternity leave. In Canada, new moms can take up to 52 weeks off from their jobs and have those jobs protected for their return to work. However, all that time off doesn’t necessarily come with a full paycheque. Yes, there are companies that offer a “top up”, but it hardly ever is for the full amount of your before-baby pay, and it seldom lasts for the full year.

For people who do not receive a top-up, employment insurance (EI) benefits will provide an income. EI benefits are calculated as 55% of your normal earnings up to a maximum salary of $40,000.  So if you’re earning $40,000 a year, which translates into $3333 before taxes a month, or $769 gross a week, you’ll be entitled to 55% of that or about $423 a week, before taxes. Ouch!

On top of that pain is the fact that the first two weeks of mat leave are unpaid, so your income calculation won’t start until the third week. And since it’ll take between four to six weeks to get your first EI benefit deposited into your bank account, you shouldn’t be counting on that money to make your mortgage payment or buy food.

Moms aren’t the only ones who can take time off with your new Mini-Me. Dads can take up to 35 weeks of parental leave; however EI benefits have to be shared between the mother and father so they can’t both collect EI at the same time.

Adoptive parents also get to take parental benefits and fall under the same rules as dads.

So, now that you know you’ll only be getting a fraction of the income you’ve become used to, how are you going to cope?

Some of my fams have resorted to using their credit cards or lines of credit to see them through. Dumb! With a new long-term expense – that’s the baby - adding gobs of interest to the equation is no way to secure your financial future. I meet them when they’ve fallen further and further behind, becoming almost desperate at the hole they’ve dug themselves. And if another baby arrives soon after, OMG!

First, I’m going to say something that may not be very popular: just because we are guaranteed a year of mat leave doesn’t mean we have the right to take it. We only have that right if we’ve taken the time to plan for it, and have the money we’ll need to make ends meet without going into debt.

The best way I’ve come up with for people to see the implication of the mat leave income drop-off is to have them live on their mat leave income for the duration of the pregnancy. Yup. Live on less, and put the rest away for emergencies, to buy the stuff you’ll need for baby, or to start an education savings plan. If you can’t swing it for the months that you’re preggers, you might want to reconsider taking the full year’s mat leave.

The other thing you have to consider is which member of the family should take the most time with the baby. While, traditionally, women have done this, when the woman is the primary breadwinner in the family – and I’m seeing more and more of this - then the income loss to the family is felt doubly. You really do have to do the math to see who should take time off and how much, and how that will impact on the family’s financial situation.

And, of course, you have to make a budget that balances while you’re off, including a whole bunch of new categories that incorporate baby’s food, clothes, personal care (diapers, shampoo, cream), medical, toys, activities, and savings.

Don’t forget the costs associated with actually getting the baby here: hospital rooms and parking. If you have a health plan through work, you may be covered for semi-private room. If not, you may have to settle for sharing a room with a lot of other crying babies. And don’t bank on being in hospital for only one day. I had to have a c-section TWICE and they want to keep you longer. And if there’s any complication with baby, you’ll be “living” at the hospital until baby can come home. Don’t add financial stress to your already over-stressed life.

The arrival of your newest family member should be a time full of joy and excitement. But you can’t expect things to run smoothly if you’re a dope and don’t do some planning. People like to say they didn’t have any time to plan… that they were “surprised” by baby’s arrival. You’re kidding me, right? Nine (I actually think of it as ten) months isn’t enough time to figure out how you’re going to cope? Or maybe it’s that you don’t want to have to face some hard truths. Well, you have a baby to consider now, so it’s time to wake up and smell the poop!

Over and over I meet families who are spending thousands of dollars a year eating out. And over and over I challenge them to give up buying lunches and coffees and substitute food made at home. It’s often a hard sell. I’m not sure why since I love my own cooking much more than the food I can buy in a fast-food joint, though there are times when I have a hankering for something I don’t make particularly well (like Chinese hot and sour soup that I’m still trying to master). But, on a day-to-day basis, my food is waaay better than what one of my fams referred to as, “outside”food.

A couple or so ago, I handed a chick a lunch box with my face on it and told her to use it. While her hubby was the primary cook in the family and would often make her lunch, she’d leave it behind spending between $8 and $12 a day on food at work. Hello! $12 a day, multiplied by 5 days a week, multiplied by 50 weeks a year equals $3,000 a year. That’s right, THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Creating a lunch for work does take some time and planning. The first thing out of most people’s mouth is, “I don’t have time in the mornings!” Really? Then get up earlier you Lazy! Are you telling me it’s not worth $3,000 a year to you (in after-tax dollars) to get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning? Give your head a shake.

Ken and I pack lunches for the kids  – yes, I still do this for my children even though they’re old enough to do it for themselves because I LIKE TO DO IT! We get up at 6 a.m. so we have time to shower, pack the kids’ lunches, and make Malcolm pancakes before school. I want to make sure they both have a healthful lunch, which brings me to my next point.

Another great reason for bringing your own lunch to work is so that you get to make healthier choices about what you eat. You control the ingredients. You control the freshness. You can be as creative as you want to be. One of our favorite salads is lettuce, red pepper, watermelon, and feta cheese. No dressing needed because the watermelon is so juicy. Yum! You’d be hard-pressed to find a more healthy or delicious salad.

Then, of course, there’s always the sandwich. My daughter hates soggy sandwiches so we end up packing each ingredient separately so she can assemble it at lunchtime. My son is mad about fruit so we pack him two or three different fruits every day. To keep everything cold we either freeze a juice box for the lunch bag or include a cold pack. In the summer, I fill a water bottle half way up and freeze it, then add fresh water to the top before adding it to the lunch bag. You can do this with homemade ice tea or iced-coffee too.

Salads and sandwiches, of course, are easy. But there are lots of people who want a hot lunch but don’t have a microwave at work or are on the road.

Hey, ever heard of this marvelous invention called a thermos? They’re brilliant. Soups, fried rice, chili, lasagna, just about anything can go into a thermos, so you can make extra at dinner and pack the leftovers for your next-day’s lunch. Alex used to complain that the food wasn’t really hot so I now pre-heat my thermos by pouring boiling water in first for a few minutes, then dumping the water out and adding the food that I’ve reheated really well. No more complaints.

Some people say they buy lunch because they love the social aspect of eating out. Hey, I’m as social as the next guy. But being social and going broke is DUMB. So pick one day of the week when you’ll eat out with friends and give yourself something to look forward to. Maybe you’ll choose Wednesday (hump day), or Friday to celebrate the end of the week. Whatever day you choose, lunching out once a week instead of five will cut your spending a ton.

Better yet, start a Lunch Club at work and pick one day a week when you each bring something to contribute to a group lunch. Or challenge each other to find the cheapest good food in your area, and take advantage of the Lunch Special. All-day breakfasts at $2.99 can’t be beat for value.

Be creative. The idea is to have a great life and save some money, at least until you’re debt free. Hey, if you don’t owe nobody nuttin’, then you can swallow your money to your heart’s desire. But if you’re in hock, then you owe it to yourself to use all the tricks at your disposal to get back into the black.

I can’t believe the number of people who pay outrageous fees, or settle for next-to-no interest, on their bank accounts. Whazzup with that? Many of us keep our money in a Big Six Bank, earning a pittance in interest and paying liberally for service. And then we make matters worse by not managing our money properly, so we’re in overdraft, bouncing cheques, or using banking machines that not our own and paying BIGTIME for it.

One of the main reasons people won’t switch accounts is laziness. Yup, plain and simple. It takes work. And not a small amount of work either. If you have pre-authorized debits, it can feel like torture trying to get them all switched over. But if all that’s standing between you and an account that pays decent interest without exorbitant fees is laziness, you need to give your head a shake.

Start by making a list of the things you actually need on your account. Do you write cheques anymore? How often do you go to the banking machine? (If you’re going more than once a week, you’re using the ATM as a wallet. Stop.) How many swipes of your debit card do you do in a month? Do you travel a lot requiring easy, cheap access to your money when you’re on the road?

Once you know the services you need, it’s time to go shopping to compare prices and features. You can hit the pavement, let your fingers do the walking, or head on over to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s website and use the interactive tool to narrow down the alternatives

Here are five easy steps to make the switch once you’ve found your new account home

Step 1. Open the new account and get all the information you’ll need like the account number, your branch number, and the like. If you’re using cheques, order some.

Step 2. List your auto-transactions. What’s being automatically deposited or withdrawn from your old account? Look over your past few statements and make your list

Step 3. Reconcile your account. You have to account for every penny so you don’t have any nasty surprises during the transition. Those six post-dated cheques to the music teacher will bounce sky high if you close the account without telling her and replacing her cheques.

Step 4. First switch over all deposits and then switch over the withdrawals. That way there will be money in the new account when withdrawals start.

Step 5. Leave the old account open for about two months with some money in it to catch any missing deposits or withdrawals. Don’t worry about the balance in the old account is just sitting there wasting time. It’s protecting you from the aggravation caused by a poor memory. Be patient and when there’s been no activity for a month, consider yourself in the clear and close the old account.

People are always writing to me to ask for help. They want a private consultation. They don’t want to go on TV. Oh well. The only way you get me is on TV (since y’all are broke and could never afford my fee, even if I did take clients), so if you don’t want to do that, you’re SOL! Or you could just follow all the advice I give on TV and on my website and do it for yourself. Or you could get yourself an advisor and let her/him help you figure out what you’re doing wrong.

I find that most of the people who are determined to do something about their crappy financial lives DO SOMETHING about their crappy financial lives. They don’t moan, wring their hands, wail, complain, blame someone else, make excuses or whine. They get busy.

If I had a buck for every person I’ve heard say, “Well, we’ve tried, but we just don’t have enough money,” I’d never have to work again. (Yes, I HAVE to work. TV stardom doesn’t mean I’m wealthy, contrary to what some people believe.) So what is it with all the people who know their lives suck and just aren’t willing to do what it takes to make things better?

If you spend every cent you make, and then some, it may be that you’re just very good at spending money. You have a car that’s less than 5 years old. You have a house that’s bigger and better than the one you grew up in. You have expensive hobbies. You love to travel. You loooove to shop.

Ya know, there are people out there who, despite making a modest income, manage to squirrel away enough money to build up a decent nest egg. They have an emergency fund. They have some money set aside for their kids’ schooling. And they set aside the money they want to spend on new acquisitions or vacations BEFORE they put those purchases on their credit cards, so they can pay off their balances in full every month.

And there are people who have realized it’s time to pay for past mistakes: they suck it up, cut back on their spending, get another job, all in the name of getting their debt paid off so they can get back on track.

Do you realize how much of a difference even trimming your budget by $200 a month can make? But ask a princess to give up her cleaning lady and watch her brow furrow. Ask her knight in shining armour to give up digital cable and watch him shake his head furiously. Ask them both to give up their cell phones and you might just as well have asked them to lop off their left legs.

Ask either of them to get more work and you’ll hear a million excuses for why that won’t work. Family Responsibilities is one of my favorites. So you don’t have a responsibility to protect your children from your stupid financial mess and the disasters it will ultimately bring? Hmmm. The I-can’t-find-a-job excuse is another I hear regularly. I’ve had people tell me, “I sent out 20 resumes and even called two companies, but nobody is hiring right now.” Really? Or maybe they’re just not willing to hire anybody who won’t even put in the effort of TRYING to get the job.

And then there’s my absolute favorite:  I don’t have time. Gee, you have time to shop. You have time to watch TV. You have time to talk on the phone, go to the gym, have a beer with the lads. But you don’t have time to make the money you need to get out of debt? Maybe what you don’t have is a sense of what’s really important.

People don’t want to do without. They believe they are entitled to the luxuries they see other people enjoying. They believe there must be some mystery-solution that will fix the problem FAST! So they say dumb things like, ”Can’t you just give me a budget that’ll make everything work?” Really? A Magic Budget? One that will balance without having to cut back on anything or generate any more money? Hmmm.

The only thing that’s going to get anyone out of a financial mess is to stop doing the BAD and start doing the GOOD:

• Stop spending money you don’t have.
• Stop flying by the seat of your pants.
• Stop making excuses.

• Start living within your means.
• Start taking responsibility for your past mistakes.
• Start making changes: pay more off your debt, save

 And stop whining. It’s your life and you can make it anything you want it to be. If it sucks, you may have had a little something to do with that.