Follow Me Out of Debt | Get out of debt and get into prosperity!

Discover today my thoughts on whether or not you should talk about finances in front of your kids. I'll give you a hint: they probably already know.

Here's the deal. Many times, we don't give kids enough credit. We think that if we hide out in a particular area of the house with lower traffic that they won't know or find out what's going on. We hope that they don't discover the financial struggles or difficulties, and we become more and more confident that we're able to successfully hide financial situations from our children.

The truth is, kids are much more astute than we think. They may not know all of the details, but they most certainly have the ability from a young age to ascertain whether or not there is a situation that is less than desirable. They can sense the tension, and they are fully aware of the negativity that is commonly associated with hard times.

In my personal opinion, I think that it's perfectly fine and preferred to involve children in the discussions having to do with family finances. They are part of the family unit, and I think that age-appropriate conversations will not only allow for your kids to feel included and valued, but those same conversations will also help to provide details about particular situations to make it easier for everyone in the family to be on the same page.

The key here is keeping the conversations appropriate for a given age. Also, you are the parent, and only you know what is appropriate for your child as far as the conversational topics would go. Once you determine what makes sense for your family in particular, you'll find that including the kids in the conversations will help to keep everyone involved and working together on the same team, and that's the way that it should be. God bless.

Let's discuss how distractions get in the way of our goals. There is no doubt in my mind that even the smallest distractions can prove to be detrimental in our pursuit of certain goals that we have, and the only way that we can dissolve these distractions is to get better at identifying them to begin with.

Of course, this is not always an easy task. Much of the time, we aren't even aware that a distraction is taking place until it has already done its damage. Distractions come in many forms, and some of them are quite subtle. That's why we need to be mindful and aware of these distractions, and it helps when we learn from our mistakes with distractions that we've made in the past. In other words, if we have identified a distraction that has occurred, now we need to make sure that the same distraction doesn't poke its ugly head up again.

The bottom line is this. Unless we are able to stay focused and stay on track, it becomes exponentially more difficult for us to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves. While we cannot rid ourselves of all distractions, staying alert and controlling our reactions to certain situations will help us to stay one step ahead most of the time. God bless.

I'd like to share some tips on how to replace worry with focus, and I'd also like to tell you why this is incredibly important. First and foremost, let me mention that worry will get us nowhere. Worry does not help to move goals any closer to the finish line, and worry does nothing to help us with any agendas that we may have in the works.

The best course of action is to replace worrying with focusing on solutions. Even if we're not absolutely certain what the appropriate solution may be for the troubles that we're having, shifting our minds from the woes of our problems to focusing on solutions instead will absolutely get us on the right track. Will worry creep back in every once in a while? Absolutely. We're wired to worry when times get tough; it's a natural part of our survival mechanisms. The key is to not let worry consume us and paralyze us from taking the actions necessary to resolve our issues at hand.

The bottom line is this. The longer we go without a solution to a given problem, the more intensified the worry becomes for that problem. It is imperative that we shift our mindset towards focusing on a solution. Whether we may not believe it at the time or not, there's an answer to every problem. We just need to take the time to apply the appropriate focus in order to find the answer. God bless.

Are you looking for a foolproof way to change your life for the better? It's simple. All you need to do is to implement some positive habits in your life, and these changes will help you to live life in a better way almost immediately.

Whether that's reading more non-fiction books, limiting time on a screen, eliminating gossip and complaining, or getting organized and sticking to a calendar, we all have the ability to make foundational changes upon which we may build many other good habits. It's simply a matter of getting started.

In the last episode (episode 280), I talked about how micro-habits help us to make changes one small step at a time. Today I want to focus on the actual habits that help us to become better humans and to become more intensely focused on accomplishing our goals. I'm sure that this list is just the beginning for many of us, and hopefully this episode will prove to be a positive jumpstart to getting the most out of the resources that we have available right in front of us, each and every day. God bless.

Let me introduce you to a real game-changer. This concept will allow you to easily make positive changes in your life. Because of these changes, you will eventually experience success with finances, health, faith, relationships, and other important areas of your life where right now you may need to drastically improve.

What I'm talking about are micro-habits. These small changes require minimal motivation and very little effort. However, the payoff is huge. Think of it like compound interest. Small changes that build one on top of another will eventually lead to a huge payoff.

I personally love micro-habits because they allow for me to make changes without having to go all-in or having to quit something cold turkey. Instead, I can take things one tiny chunk at a time until I get comfortable with the changes and get used to the changes over a period of time rather than all at once. It affords me the opportunity to not have to deal with guilt if I have a setback since a setback with a micro-habit just means that I get right back on track the following day.

I believe that this is a truly more natural way to pave the road to success for each and every one of us. I've experienced a myriad of positive changes thanks to micro-habits without having to feel overwhelmed in the process. I know that this will help you just as it has helped me. The important thing to keep in mind is that while micro-habits are easy to implement and continue with every day, we still have to start somewhere. Don't wait for tomorrow; start implementing those micro-habits in your life today. God bless.

Why is it important to stay on top of things and stay focused? It's critical for us to do this because goals don't accomplish themselves. It's up to us to do what needs to be done in order to get the job done. In most cases, this will require a laser-sharp focus; anything less than that will likely compromise the entire task at hand or larger goal that we set out to accomplish.

I'll talk about how we need to stay on top of things when it comes to our day-to-day budgets, but I'll also discuss some down-the-road goals and why we need to stay focused on these particular goals as well. The truth of the matter is that all of this is tied in together, and the glue that keeps everything from falling apart is our focus.

Make a promise to yourself today that you will be mindful of staying focused on whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish. You will find that the path to accomplishing a particular goal will be more clear, and you'll be less distracted by outside influences that will only throw your progress off track. Stay on track by staying on top of things. God bless.

Knowing when you should (and shouldn't) file a homeowner's insurance claim can save you from difficulties down the road. There are several scenarios and other considerations to keep in mind in order to avoid higher insurance rates, or in some extreme cases, getting dropped by your insurance provider altogether.

I think that most folks find that it's generally unfair that you have to take pause before you pick up the phone to call your insurance company when you have an accident in the home that should be covered. What we have to keep in mind is that insurance companies are in the business of doing business. In other words, they aren't going to take a loss when they can recover in some other way. Many times, recovering what an insurance company pays out equates to higher premiums for the insured.

I'm not an insurance agent. I don't have formal training on all of the intricacies of the insurance industry. However, I have thoroughly researched this subject, and I felt that it was necessary to share with you what I've learned. While there are some no-brainers as far as when it's appropriate to file a homeowner's insurance claim, such as extensive fire damage or other expensive damage, there are some questionable situations that may not be as straightforward.

It really comes down to two main things: the cost of the repair and the type of damage. You may need to bring in a professional for an estimate first before you call your insurance company to get a realistic idea of what the damage will cost to repair, but once you have this information, you will need to make a decision one way or the other right away. An insurance company may deny your claim if too much time has passed since the incident occurred that is being reported. Also, there are certain situations where you might want to be careful about what you are putting through as a claim using your homeowner's insurance. I go into this in more detail on this episode.

While I cover some general examples, I won't be able to cover each and every situation. You'll need to take some time to decide for yourself what is best for you, and you may need to dig a little deeper into the research topics that I provide here on this episode. The main point is to always consider the situation fully before making any decisions on whether or not to use your homeowner's insurance to recover from a loss other than a major loss when it comes to your home. God bless.

Life can be full of tough choices and hard decisions sometimes. The good news is that we can systematically cut down those tough choices and hard decisions, and at the same time, utilize them to provide us with more clarity in our lives. The key is to not get overwhelmed from the outset.

Instead, we need to be able to start with the solution or the end result. From there, we are able to work backwards and visualize each step that gets us to that final result. We can visualize whether or not the solution fits what we want for our lives. We are able to actually feel whether the end result makes us feel happy or unhappy, and we can even come up with alternate plans to take into consideration.

In the large scheme of things, we should welcome the tough choices and hard decisions in life. They allow for us to grow. With that said, we don't want to necessarily make things harder than they need to be.

From now on, let's start from a different angle. Rather than trying to barrel through the problem at hand from the beginning, let's start at the end and work our way backwards. Doing this will help us to really understand and better analyze the situation and will provide us with more clarity in the tough choices and the hard decisions that we will eventually need to face. God bless.

We were never meant to live scared. We were designed to be bold and unwavering when it comes to living right. The thing is, the trouble that we find ourselves in sometimes causes us to build up anxiety and fear over time that counters what we're meant to do and who we're meant to be.

I'm sure that you don't want to live scared; nobody desires a life filled with constant fear and worry. Instead, we need to overcome our fears and squash our anxiety with a solid plan. I've given this a lot of thought, and this high-level overview of how to get ourselves out of this mess can be narrowed down to three larger goals that we can set for ourselves. These goals won't be easy to accomplish, and they will likely take most of us a long time. With that said, once we achieve these three goals, we are almost certain to guarantee a life without fear and without anxiety when it comes to personal finance.

Knowing what to do and when to do it is precisely what gets us to where we desire to be in life. These three grand goals will help most of us since we have the same overall plan: a life of peace that comes from getting out of debt and getting into prosperity. God bless.

A shopping addiction is a real thing, just like any other addiction. Many folks go through life not even realizing that they have a shopping addiction until one day they find themselves in a huge credit card mess. If this describes what has happened to you, the good news is that you're not alone.

Whether you have a shopping addiction or are close to someone who does, this episode is for you. While I am directly answering an e-mail from one of my listeners on this subject throughout this episode, I will keep the solutions applicable to others who are also dealing with the same problem. Together, we will beat these shopping addictions, and when we do, we will make our lives better in more ways than one.

The first step is to identify that there is a problem. This is a significant part of the battle. Once the problem has been identified, through a system of support and accountability, it's time to face the identified problem and change the old habits to replace them with new habits. We'll also need to use tools that are at our disposal, including the budget, to replace the bad habits with good habits and guarantee success in beating this addiction.

I'll talk to both the married and single folks who are dealing with shopping addiction, but I will focus mostly on married folks. The reason is simply because I believe that the way that a shopping addiction is handled within a marriage will make or break the marriage. Problems with personal finances are typically the cause or a significant contributing factor of a failed marriage, but sometimes when the problems are addressed correctly within a marriage, they can end up being the key to strengthening or even saving a marriage.

The road to recovery from a shopping addiction is fully within your reach. You will just need to start the journey by deciding to travel that path, and when you do, I have complete confidence that you will kick this addiction to the curb once and for all. God bless.