This blog has been operational for about three months. It has welcomed almost 3,000 visitors who have read one or more of the 160+ posts that have appeared on the screen during that period.

Thanks to all that have come to visit. Thanks to the many who have bought the amazingly groundbreaking e-book.

On May 1st the paperback Money for Life…in good times and bad (sorry about the fuzzy cover image) will be available on the blog and from the author at www.YouBeTheBank.com

If you have found value and perhaps a little entertainment here, tell a friend or two; ask them to visit and take advantage of the special offer made on April the 1st…see below.

SPECIAL OFFER! –> The paperback version of  Money for Life…in good times and bad – How to Thrive in the 21st Century will be released on May 1st, 2008. Everyone who buys the e-book version before May 1st will also receive an autographed copy of the paperback when it is release. No special codes are needed. Don’t be an April fool; make the purchase before April 30th. Shipping and handling charges will still apply. –> www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

There’s a movement afoot in the financial planning business called “life planning” or “holistic planning.” The basic premise of this approach is that the planner  focuses on issues that encompass your money issues instead of just paying attention to investments and -  peripherally – risk management questions.

Planners who adopt this approach ask questions about your financial and investment goals and risk tolerance, as do all investment advisors. An holistic planner also asks how you feel about your future, your family and the other facets of your life that embrace your money issues but are not numeric; questions of living and dying.

Although this approach is touted as “new”, it is actually a return to the practices that were prevalent for over a century prior to the 1980′s. Beginning in this decade the investment community moved – perhaps unconsciously – to eradicate ”holistic” planning. The dawn of computers as tools to model and manipulate one’s perception of the future created an environment dominated by projections and hypothetical performance. The Behemoths developed pre-packaged programs that let the planner plug in numbers and generate 50 page reports that promised the incredible, but guaranteed nothing. This model replaced concerns about living and dying with discussions of rates of return, long term market performance, and all star fund managers. In other words, the focus changed from what’s important to you to what’s important to the planner and the Behemoth s/he represents.

One Behemoth has an advertising campaign that mocks this approach with cartoon-like characters that complain about the insensitivity of their current advisors. Another suggests that you don’t need to pay someone to just run the numbers for you since you can personally use online resources to solve the investment equation. Neither of these companies is concerned with your living and dying – they have simply disguised their focus on acquiring your assets.

A planner that focuses on you, your family, your feelings and your future is invaluable. Many planners today are re-learning the practices that prevailed from the days of our Founding Fathers through most of the 20th century. The Certified Financial Planning (CFP), the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) programs pay a lot of attention to teaching them. These designations do not, however, guarantee that the planner who puts them on her/his business card uses an holistic approach. Planners that work for the Behemoths are still bound to sink their hooks into your assets. They concern themselves with other issues only peripherally and only if it serves their main goal of getting your money into the Behemoth’s account. They have the designations for the sake of the designation. They do not truly follow those practices.

If you would like to learn how these practices are put to work for typical Americans, read Money for Life…in good times and bad –> www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

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What happened to the mortgage industry is a mirror image of what’s happening to American families. The mortgage industry’s lust for “more,” regardless of the risk, led it over the precipice of failure. The American families that continue to incur debt in their lust for “more” are connected by an umbilical to the lending industry that is failing.

The Federal Reserve Bank – which, by the way is not a part of the federal government, has no reserves and is not really a bank – is acting to rescue the banking industry from demise in order to rescue American families from theirs. It won’t work unless the American family is willing to fore go additional debt and begin to resolve the debt they currently have.

The article below outlines what the Fed is doing for the banking industry. Money for Life…in good times and bad describes in detail what American families can do for themselves. You can have everything you need and almost anything you want without using credit. Check it out —> www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

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Investor’s Business Daily
Bernanke Steps Up
Tuesday March 11, 6:55 pm ET
Ibd

The New York Times ran an item today entitled Income and Happiness: An Imperfect Link by Robert H. Frank, an economist at the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

You can read the entire article here –> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09view.html?_r=1&ref=business&pagewanted=print

I wrote an email to Dr. Frank in response to his article. Here is the email:

“Robert,

Thanks for raising this question. There’s one key component of happiness that you touched on –  peace of mind – that is missing from most discussions about people, their personal economies and government’s role in our lives.

If our never-too-bright congress is holding hearings on the relationship between income and happiness, the first thing they need to consider is that income derived from work is just one function within a complex equation, and it is by no means the most important.

There are four specific measures of wealth and well being that I’ve discovered while helping people with their money for over 35 years. I call them the Four Pillars of Financial Security and discuss them in great detail in my book “Money for Life…in good times and bad:

1. You are free from debt and own what you own without credit strings attached
2. You have income you don’t have to work for and you won’t outlive
3. You have enough ready cash to deal with the ups and downs of life without having to pull out the credit card or dip into the retirement account or access the equity in your home
4. You leave a legacy of your wisdom and wealth behind when you pass to the other side.”

I’d like your thoughts and comments. You can read more on the blog or in the e-book (the paperback will be out soon – cover design is holding up the presses.)

Thanks for your time and attention.”

You can learn about this approach to money, income wealth and happiness at –> www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

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Money is important. We all need it to survive and thrive. “Money” is a word that has many slang and recognized synonyms. Since I’m feeling particularly tired today – loss of an hour due to DST – here’s some of them for your consideration.

Text: something (as pieces of stamped metal or printed paper) customarily and legally used as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment <are you sure you have enough money to buy all that?> Synonyms: bread [slang], cash, chips, currency, dough, gold, jack [slang], legal tender, lucre, pelf, tender, wampum [slang] Related Words: change, coinage, specie; paper money, scrip; banknote, cashier’s check, check, draft, money order, note; bill, buck, dollar, greenback; bankroll, capital, finances, funds; mite, pittance; bundle, fortune, king’s ransom, mint, wad; abundance, means, opulence, riches, treasure, wealth; resources, wherewithal; pin money, pocket money, spending money

From Merriam-Webster

A word this frequently referenced must have powerful meaning in everyday life. Knowing how to deal effectively with the powerful “Almighty dollars” that flow through your life is essential to your personal success.

Visit www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com and order the FREE report Why Budgets Don’t Work - you’ll gain insight into your money management practices and – maybe – find a way to get more money and keep more of what you get.

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Banks are among the biggest buyers of permanent cash value life insurance. They buy so much cash value life insurance that the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States of America regulates how much they can buy and keeps track of how much they own. The cash value of the policies that the banks buy and hold is considered a part of their Tier 1 Capital – the money that regulators consider the safest and that regulators require banks to maintain to protect the bank’s depositors.

“Interesting,” you think, “but what’s that got to do with me?”

First, recognize that banking is at the core of the general economy. Keeping banks solvent is essential to that economy since banks control the flow of money. Many banks rely on cash value life insurance to support their solvency and their role in the general economy. Banks do not rely on equity investing for their Tier 1 Capital, they rely on cash, cash equivalents, government securities and cash value life insurance.

Why don’t the Behemoths, who want you to give them control of your money, recommend that you behave the way the banks behave? Why don’t they recommend that you first establish a foundation of secure Tier 1 Capital for your personal economy, including substantial amounts of cash value life insurance?

You can ask them, but they probably won’t give you a straight answer. They’ll tell you that cash value life insurance doesn’t give you a great “rate of return” or that it’s a bad investment. They’ll suggest that you only need  enough money in your Tier 1 Capital account to cover your financial needs for six months. They’ll show you performance data on the “market” and subtlety suggest that you will achieve similar results…but. But, there are no guarantees and, if the “investment” path they suggest for you leads to a financial swamp and you lose all of your money, they are truly sorry but it’s not their problem.

Now, here’s a caveat. I am not referring to independent financial advisors who are properly schooled in the way economies work. A Behemoth is a larger organization that makes its profits from “money under management” and that has no financial incentive to sell you any product that does not deliver your money into their account. Some of the Behemoths refer to you – their “client” – as a “wallet.” Most mutual funds are Behemoths.

There are advisors all over America, however, who will show you a path that leads to the top of the mountain instead of into the swamp. They know how to make sure that your Tier 1 Capital is safe and supports your personal economy – food, shelter, health care, education, financial security, family, community, growth, retirement, legacy…advisors who are concerned about you as a person – not as a “wallet.”

If you’d like to know more about how these advisors deal with money issues, read Money for Life…in good times and bad. Discover an entirely unique and holistic approach that helps you get to the top of the mountain. Then, give us a call and we’ll direct you to such an advisor.  www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

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Comedians know about funny

And beekeepers know about honey.

But, chances are good

That both wish they could

Know more about managing money.

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They can —->  www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company uses a great advertising slogan: “You can’t predict. You can Prepare.” Like many other ads, this one contains wisdom but needs elaboration to be meaningful.

The problem with predictions is that they rely mostly on the view in the rear view mirror. Charlie Keating spoke at my 1958 Cincinnati McNicholas High School commencement about morals and ethics. Who would have suspected he’d destroy the entire savings and loan industry and end up in jail for cheating investors? Two weeks before the Wright brothers made their first flight Wilbur predicted that man would not fly for another 50 years. In the early 1900′s the executive in charge of the U.S. Patent Office predicted that man had already invented everything of importance and that the patent office should be closed.

The problem of predicting when it comes to money and the economy is even more complex – if not impossible.

First, we are human; by our very nature we appear predictable yet nature allows and demands that we act in unpredictable ways. For example. we incessantly and compulsively study the “markets” and we act on our insights. The reality is, however, that if 100 of us all study the same information in the same way we are still likely to come to entirely different conclusions and take entirely different actions. If that were not the case, we would all have the same results – good or bad – Warren Buffett or Charles Keating. In addition, our studies are limited to the information available to the public. Recall the impact of thievery and greed on the may individuals who hooked their financial security  to MCI, ENRON, Qwest, Global Crossing, and on and on.

The second issue is the unpredictability of non-economic events on economies and money. We shouldn’t need any reminders about this, but just in case, think back on the economic effects of  9/11/2001 and Katrina. On a personal level, think about the individuals and families that you know that have had their personal economies turned upside down by illness or drugs or any of the thousands of life changing events that people experience every day.

There are others; technology advances, religious terrorists, eco-terrorists, tsunamis, global warming (regardless of the cause), political upheavals and regime changes, genocide - an endless list.

Recognizing that you can’t predict, how, then, can you prepare? That’s the core message of Money for Life. In the 1950′s, preparation meant building a bomb shelter and stocking it so you could survive a nuclear attack. Economic preparation today means building a financial bomb shelter and stocking it with money that you can control when a recession or depression hits, or when you become disabled, or when your business partner runs off to the Bahamas with your secretary and all of the cash, or your child becomes addicted to drugs and you have to spend thousands on detox and rehab…another endless list.

You owe it to yourself and your family to learn the secrets –> www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

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Reading survey results is a heck of a lot easier than writing about them.

Our sincere thanks to the dozens of Americans who responded to the Financial Satisfaction Survey that The Money for Life Blog ran through Survey Monkey durning the month of February 2008. The survey asked eight questions about how the survey takers regarde aspects of their personal economies. The survey results are shown at the end of this post. In the meantime, here are a few observations.

OVERALL:

1. 27% of the respondents rated themselves in the top 3 catagories;
2. 27.7% rated themselves in the bottom 3 catagories;
3. 45.3% ended up in the middle 3 catagories;
4. Many more respondents rated themselves in the bottom catagory (Ugly) than gave themselves a top rating (WOW);
5. 55.3%, however, placed themselves in the top 4 rating catagories;
6. 32.9% landed in the bottom 4;
7. Only 10.8% rated themselves in the middle.

CATAGORIES: Contrary to the protestations of almost every pundit and politician, most American’s seem to feel pretty good about their personal economies. The survey felt the catagory ratings would be meaningfully divided into three sections – top 3, middle 3 and lower 3. As it turns out,however, the top catagory received very few responses – just over 1% of the total – so we dropped down to the bottom 4 versus the top 4.

1. 71.5% fell into the top income satisfaction catagories;
2. 62.2% saw their debt situation as satifactory (5.6% saw it as WOW);
3. 66.7% – almost exactly 2/3rds – were happy with the ready cash they had available;
4. Satisfation with long term savings split almost evenly between the top 4 (50.1%) and the bottom 4 (49.9%);
5. 56.6% felt more secure than not (2.8% voted WOW);
6. 64% didn’t see taxes as a major burden (and I feel pretty confident the wealthiest in America were not responding);
7. Only 25% were worried about their personal economies while a whopping 75% seem pretty comfortable;
8. An equally small group (25%) felt their pesonal economies were too complex.

Granted, this is not a scientific survey. The individuals who took the survey are currently more interested in building a solid personal economy than the average American; taking the survey is itself an indication of that. Regardless of these considerations it is worth noting that not even one of those who took the survey considered him/her self a financial failure.

The weakest ratings related to long term savings. This doesn’t surprise us. The primary focus of www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com is on demonstrating how to make certain your savings allow you to thrive in good times and bad.

Thanks again to all of the participants!

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The Satisfaction Survey results will also be posted as a separate page on the blog –>

• ~ The bursting of the real estate bubble!

• ~ The discounting of the dollar!

• ~ The slide of the stock market!

• ~ The contraction of consumer spending!

• ~ The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Remember, it’s an election year. The candidates have to point to whatever they can that promotes their positions and detracts from those of their opponents. Remember, also, that the media has to talk about and write about the most dramatic topics they can uncover to gain your attention and sell their products. Remember, also, that the turbulence and turmoil that surrounds these prophets of doom is mostly their own creation and not a reflection of what’s really happening.

• ~ 93% of mortgages are being paid on time and according to the terms of the loan.

• ~ Housing prices are declining more slowly than they increased in many areas, so most homeowners are still retaining equity they had previously gained and are not finding themselves “upside-down.”

• ~ The discounted dollar is stimulating the purchase and export of American goods and services overseas and thereby creating jobs for American workers.

• ~ The stock market is contracting and creating underpriced equities that will appreciate rapidly as the market rebounds.

• ~ Consumers are saving more and spending less.

• ~ Tides come and tides go – the sky remains where it is.

Economies are and always have been cyclical. Do not allow the merchants of misinformation and their sidekicks, the snake oil sales reps of Wall Street, to mislead you into thinking that the end is near. If your personal economy is suffering because of the outgoing tide, that means your individual money practices aren’t working properly. It’s probably time for you to reconsider how you save, spend and invest. Folks who follow the practices that are described and discussed in Money for Life are not seriously concerned about the tides. They have solid foundations and sturdy frameworks for their financial structures. They do not suffer  the “arrows of outrageous fortune” like those who follow The Debt Paradigm.

IT’S TIME! DISCOVER A BETTER WAY –> www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com

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Satisfaction Survey results and commentary tomorrow. Tune in and be amazed at what your fellow Americans think and feel about their personal economies.

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Whole life insurance serves two separate and distinct functions.

A. During our lifetimes, whole life insurance serves us as a depository and source of borrowed money…our “banks”.

• ~ The money we accumulate in a whole life insurance policy is secured by policy guarantees.
• ~ Our policy cash values are accessible if we need them because some life event surprised us with expenses we didn’t plan for.
• ~ If we become disabled, and added a premium waiver benefit when we bought our policy, the policy will pay for itself. We will continue to have access to the cash values in the policy as if we paid the premiums out of our own pocket.
• ~ Our policy cash values quietly and consistently accumulate over our lifetimes – guaranteed.
• ~ We can use the cash values in our whole life insurance policies as the source of borrowed funds for purchases large and small.
• ~ We can repay the loans we make to ourselves and recapture all of the principal and interest we would otherwise pay a third party lender – all of it.
• ~ The money we save by borrowing from ourselves and repaying ourselves enhances the cash values we accumulate in our policies.
• ~ The money we accumulate over our lifetimes in a whole life insurance policy becomes an inexhaustible income stream whenever we choose to make that happen…no government penalties or employer restrictions.

B. When we die – and, although that is a certain event, it is not a predictable one – those we care about (our named beneficiaries) receive a large sum of totally income tax free cash – money that they can use to help put life back together after our death.

There are many benefits that accrue to individuals and families that use whole life insurance as the foundation of their personal economies; so many that they cannot be summarized in a few hundred words in an article or a blog post. You can discover these benefits and find out how to apply them to your personal economy in Money for Life…in good times and bad – How to Thrive in the 21st Century. The complete e-book is available today at www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com The paperback should be available sometime in March or early April 2008.

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In the past few days we have addressed some of the principals and fallacies about “wealth” and even used a post about Monty Python’s Money Song to illustrate two points; it’s ready money that is the measure of wealth for most of us and, not everyone is equipped or motivated to acquire the great wealth of the famously wealthy.

I hope you draw a few simple lessons from these posts.

You, and you alone, decide what “wealth” means to you.

Your definition of wealth today can change tomorrow as your circumstances change.

The first act in achieving and hanging on to wealth is to learn a way to save, spend and invest that lets YouBeTheBank.

“If you focus only on the top of the mountain, the path to the top will elude you.” Dr Agon Fly

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” Albert Einstein

www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com can and will help you take action.

www.TheMoneyForLifeBook.com can and will help you build a personal economy and personal wealth that lasts - in good times and bad.

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“Lo, Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple rules of its acquisition.

1. Start thy purse to fattening (save)

2. Control thy expenditures (including spending on “investments”)

3. Make thy gold multiply (by earning compound interest, which Albert Einstein called the eight wonder of the world)

4. Guard thy treasures from loss (guarantee your principal; don’t put it at risk)

5. Make thy dwelling a profitable investment (manage your equity and your mortgage wisely)

6. Insure a future income (guarantee it)

7. Increase thy ability to earn” (lastly, after all else is accomplished, talk of investing)

The Richest Man in Babylon

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason has been called “the most inspiring book on wealth ever written.” Throughout this amazing tale, money is referred to as gold. Why is this important? George S. Clason teaches us that gold – money – is the foundation upon which wealth is built. Gambling your money on investments that promise only that they promise nothing is like removing stones from the foundation of your home and using them to build a second floor addition. Soon, the house will collapse.

If you would build wealth for yourself, your family and your legacy you must first lay down a solid foundation of money and erect a framework to deal with the money that flows into and through your life. You need a way to capture money, manage money, compound money, guide money so that it serves you (and not visa versa) and the wisdom to teach your children, grandchildren and those you care about how to do the same – another lesson from The Richest Man in Babylon.

Money for Life…in good times and bad adapts;

• ~ the teachings from The Richest Man in Babylon
• ~ Benjamin Franklin’s The Way to Wealth
• ~ the lessons from visionary works like R. Nelson Nash’s Becoming Your Own Banker, Barry James Dyke’s The Pirates of Manhattan and others
• ~ and, the author’s soon-to-be 35 years of helping Americans navigate the rapids of their financial rivers.

You owe it to yourself to get a copy of Money for Life…in good times and bad and re-discover the wisdom of the ages that it re-presents in the easy to read and understand language of the 21st century –> www.TheMoneyforLifeBook.com

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