Yesterday I cleared star thistle from the winter pasture for the horses. It’s a noxious weed that can harm horses if they decide it’s tasty, so this cloudy fall afternoon found me hacking at it with my handcrafted scythe. Yes, this tool makes me feel like an Amish woman, but it works wonders and is much more pleasant than the loud engine of a weed whacker. As I slashed away the poisonous plants, a loud voice cried out in my earbuds, “What is your financial blueprint?!” The voice was that of T. Harv Eker and the audiobook was Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. The truth is, I wasn’t there in that pasture only to care for my herd. I was there to clear the poison in my mind. Let me rewind. A few days before this, I logged into our bank accounts and credit cards. I could sense something was off and after some foot dragging, knew that I needed to take inventory of our finances. What I found shocked me. For the first time in ten years of partnership, our cash savings was drained. I took a breath. I reached out to my husband with the news. My heart leapt in panic. Being who I am today and knowing what I know about life, I knew the panic was unhelpful. I also knew that suppression was useless and avoidance futile. So, I sat with it. I let all the terrifying emotions arrive and be named. When the kids were asleep, my husband and I met. We talked about money, I named my feelings, we considered our options, and made some decisions. I decided to reach out to my coach and business partner, Ezra. He always has practical feedback and I knew that I could use an outside perspective on things. My current beliefs have brought me this far, it was time to try something new. My coach brought to light some key issues around valuing myself and working with my husband as a team. Then he offered the book recommendation by Eker. I promptly downloaded it from my Audible and headed to the pasture to listen, learn, and clear things up. What I found was an application of what I already know to be true, but offered with new words and wrapped in the language of making money. The truths rang clear, the new application brought new awareness's, and anything that didn’t align in my heart I set aside. So, here’s the secret to getting what you want: There are four steps to changing anything you want to change in your life. Your money, relationships, business, spiritual life, health, anything. The four steps are: Awareness -Unpack your suitcase of subconscious beliefs about X (in this case money) Choice - Decide what you want in your suitcase and what you are ready to leave behind. Action - Now, repack it with care and take it with you as you travel. Reflection - Notice what changes. [...]

The first National Women’s Equality Day was in 1971. Women couldn’t get credit cards in their own name back then. And if a woman became pregnant, she could be legally fired. Thankfully, a lot has changed, but some things haven’t. Women still do not receive equal pay for equal work. The gap is roughly 20%1, and women continue to live longer than men, now by an average of seven years. That one-two punch — lower earnings over a longer lifetime — makes it critical for women to become even more knowledgeable and confident about their finances. We talked with Darrelyn Dunmore, an agent with Strategic Wealth Specialists in Mobile, Alabama about her own journey to financial confidence and how she helps other women become more empowered.   HOW DID YOUR JOURNEY TO FINANCIAL CONFIDENCE BEGIN? We know that 80-90% of women will become solely responsible for their finances at some point in their lives, mainly due to divorce or widowhood. That’s what happened to me. I went through a divorce in 2000. Suddenly, I was a single mother of two daughters and scared to death.   WHAT DID YOU DO? I signed up for a seminar about how women could work towards financial freedom. The leaders encouraged us to take a “financial snapshot” of where we were at that moment, and to map out where we wanted to be in the future. We also gained an understanding of basic financial concepts and how they applied to our lives. That experience gave me the courage and understanding to move forward.   HOW HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE TRANSLATED INTO YOUR WORK? Nearly two-thirds of American women, ages 40 to 79, have already dealt with a major financial “life crisis,” such as job loss, divorce, the death of a spouse, or serious illness. I meet with women of all ages and every socioeconomic level. And they all share the same concern: “How can I protect myself financially?” Married women want to know whether they will be okay if something happens to their husband. In many cases, the husband doesn’t understand their financial situation himself or he won’t give his wife this vital information. I’ll never forget talking with an 81-year-old widow who said, “He wasn’t supposed to go first. I don’t know what we have or where to start.”   WHAT ABOUT YOUNGER WOMEN? Many millennial-age women contact us because they’ve seen what their parents went through in the 2008 financial downturn. Savings wiped out. Jobs lost. Net worth slashed. They want to begin developing a financial strategy now so a similar crisis doesn’t set them back. Many women are just like I was back in 2000: divorced and scared. All these women are educated, but they just don’t know what they don’t know about their finances.   HOW DO YOU HELP WOMEN BECOME FINANCIALLY CONFIDENT? Financial education made all the difference in my life — and that’s what we provide to our clients. We help women get financially organized, [...]

Can you define “bankruptcy” in a legal sense? Did you know that “bankruptcy” does not mean you do not have any money? Now, if you picture the word “bankruptcy,” you would not be picturing anything happy, uplifting, or positive. You’d be picturing someone sad, hopeless, and doesn’t have any money to their name. We are living in times of great uncertainty and anxiety. Some people have been impacted more than others, but everyone has felt the effects of the world we find ourselves in. One of the most damaging and common effects of these challenging times is our finances. Businesses that used to be steady in their profit are now struggling to make ends meet. People are taking salary cuts, being furloughed, or even losing their jobs. Unexpected medical bills, from either COVID-19 or something else, have created heartache, stress, and hardship for hundreds of thousands of people.   No matter who you are, you have felt the negative financial effects, and you are probably feeling lost or worse - hopeless. When people start to struggle financially, filing for “bankruptcy” doesn’t usually seem like an option. They’ll strive to work hard to avoid it, but they are missing out on a potential opportunity to improve their situation. “Bankruptcy” doesn’t mean you are admitting you are a failure, and it doesn’t make you a bad person. We want to share why filing for bankruptcy may be a good idea.   How is bankruptcy defined? Before we get into when you may want to consider filing for bankruptcy, let’s define it. Bankruptcy is a court order that discharges some (but not all) of your debts if the court finds you have no means to pay back the debt you are currently in.   Is there only one way to file for bankruptcy?             There are two main ways to file for bankruptcy – Chapter 7 bankruptcy or chapter 13 bankruptcy. Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, most of your assets (things you own that have value to the economy, like a house or car) are liquidated (sold to generate money to pay off your debt). People can file for Chapter 7 due to reasons like divorce, unexpected and expensive medical bills, and unemployment (making this more relevant in today’s times). Chapter 7 bankruptcy is considered a fresh start because it can quickly resolve almost all your debt. However, it is important to remember that assets like your car or house will be sold to pay off your debt. If you have personal assets that you cannot part with for whatever reason, then Chapter 7 may not be an option. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is different from Chapter 7 because it allows you to keep all your property and repay lenders with less than the amount owed. The catch with Chapter 13 bankruptcy is that you must meet certain qualifications.   How can bankruptcy help me?   If you’ve been affected by economic hardships, you [...]

The opportunities to get an education at a higher level are the most they have ever been in recorded history. Between scholarships, more people willing to leave their home cities/states, and the increased investment in return for a great education – college is available to more people than ever. Unfortunately, not everyone can get free college tuition. Unless you’re a student-athlete or on a full scholarship, you will be paying a lot of money to attend college. Even people with scholarships still must pay for things during college. This is where student loans come in. The increased availability of college for everyone means the increased need to pay for that college experience. The most realistic way to be able to afford college is through using student loans. Student loans are a great option for people to be able to attend college even if they don’t have the money to pay for all of it, but they aren’t always great. Over 40 million Americans have student loans, and the numbers of loans increase every day. Student loans can be challenging because you may simply forget to pay for them, you may not think they are a big deal, or you/your job may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and you are suddenly in a rough spot financially. Student loans can increase your debt quickly if they are not properly managed and paid on time, but sometimes life happens, and you can’t pay as you would like. Fortunately, there are options available for you. We want to share five ways to manage your student loan debt.   Know What You Are Working With             Before you create a plan on managing your student loans, first you need to know what type of loans you have. Your loans may be federal or private which have different rules and timelines Your loans may have different timeframes for expected payment (you may have much longer on one than the other, which can help you prioritize your payments) Your loans may have different interest rates which will affect which loans will cost you the most money in the long run Knowing every detail about your loans will direct you on how to address them.   Know Your Grace Periods (and ignore them, in a way)             Each loan will have different “grace periods” which is the time after you graduate where you will not be expected to pay anything on your loans. Some grace periods may be 30 days, and some may be 9 months. Once you know your grace periods, you have two options, either… Don’t pay anything during the grace period but start saving up/creating a strategy to begin paying when the period is over If you can, start paying your loans now (even if you have a grace period). This creates a habit of setting money aside where, by the time the grace period ends, you will [...]

Even though we’re in the middle of a pandemic, we still need to be able to go places (safely). Now that we are stuck at home, we miss being able to just get in the car and drive places. Since we have not been using our car as much as normal, we start to notice little things here and there that we never noticed before. Maybe we never took care of our car the way we should Maybe the knocks and sounds that we’ve been used to now are more concerning Maybe the car is close to breaking down Either way, you start thinking about getting a new car. Maybe you have been able to save up some money since you’re not driving as much. Maybe you have been waiting for just the right time to get a new car, and now seems as good as any. Now that you know you want a new car, you also want to be safe about buying a car. You can’t just go to the dealership and spend all day test-driving cars and talking to different salespeople. You need to be able to look for a car from the comfort of your own home. Here are 5 great tips for buying a car online.   Figure Out Your Budget             Before you start looking at cars, you need to understand how much you are willing to spend on a car. There are different car loan calculators online that you can use to determine how much you can afford based on your finances (income, debt, etc.). Even those these calculators can show you how much you would be spending on the car loan itself, you need to be aware of other factors. Car insurance and gas should also be considered when planning your budget for a car.   Get Pre-Approved for a Loan               Once you have decided your budget, the next step is to check your expectations against the reality. In this case, it means going to a bank and getting pre-approved for a loan. Banks will review your finances and determine how much they are willing to loan you. Even if the amount they offer is lower than you though, you now know the exact numbers you are working with so you can make the best financial decision.   Research           Long gone are the days where people would walk into car dealerships clueless and just hope the salesperson didn’t try and overcharge them.  Now, you have many resources online that ensure you go into a car search with helpful knowledge. You can find out a car’s MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price), along with your current car’s trade-in values and reviews. You may have a certain car in mind, but upon research, find out there are many negative reviews. Researching your current and potential future car’s information will give you the confidence [...]

A credit report is one of the most important reports regarding your past, present, and future. It shows lenders (companies who are considering granting you a loan, like a bank or a credit card company) that you are responsible and can reliably pay back any debts; critical to making any major purchases (like a house or car). Unfortunately, if your credit report has a low score, it shows companies that you are unreliable and cannot manage money well. Companies don’t have time to look at every person’s file and go into their entire credit history to understand how they got to where they are finanically – they just need to see the number, decide, and move on. Credit reports are an important resource that companies review regularly when making big decisions, but that doesn’t mean they are perfect. Credit reports, like any other piece of information, can be wrong from time to time. In this case, these errors can negatively affect your life and prevent your chances of achieving your goals. Since credit reports can impact your life in major ways, you should always review your credit report to identify and fix any mistakes. Here is how you can find and fix any errors on your credit report.   Request Your Report             The Fair Credit Reporting Act was created to ensure that all information on credit reports is accurate and private. The report is a clause that allows people to request a free copy of their credit report once a calendar year (every 12 months). This report will come from one of the three major credit companies – TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. There are two easy ways to request this report, either… Visit AnnualCreditReport.com Call 1.877.322.8228   Verify All Information             Credit reports are not a quick document to scan through – you must take your time and review every line to ensure it is correct. Here are some common mistakes and why they should be checked…   Personal information (name, address, any known aliases) Verify all your personal information is updated and accurate. If you see an “alias” on there that is not you, then you may have been the victim of identity theft, and someone may have been hurting your credit through bad transactions. If your name is misspelled, it is likely not a big deal, but such a minor error may mean there are other errors in your report. Current and Past Credit Accounts First, verify that all closed credit accounts are shown to be closed on the account as well. Look for any mistakes such as late payments (if you’ve never made any late payments). Look for any accounts that you don’t recognize, because they may have been opened by somebody else under your name. If you are divorced, make sure your former spouse’s debts are not on your report. You also must verify accounts are not listed more than [...]