Tweet

Time for a “REAL" Change

Written by: James Dicks

Article Overview: James Dicks discusses the need to structure your personal financial life around cash and to begin saving money - even if it is just the change in your pocket at the end of the day.

Time for a “REAL" Change

Okay, so we have heard it for a year now, time for change. I got it, really I do; I need change as much as the next person. But I actually mean change this time - real change. Think about it for a moment, the population of this country has careened out of control with our mind set concerning credit. We are a nation of debtors not savers, and now it's time to pay the piper; it's time to repent for our financial sins. We have to take control of our own financial situation and that will mean putting the banks on notice that we are tired of being subordinate to their interest.

Credit can be like a drug for some people and once you get hooked…you are hooked, you can quickly find yourself spiraling out of control. Not to worry because there is always time to get on the right track. You just have to have a plan to take charge.

For those of you who can think back 20 years or so, remember when you had a change jar, literally a change jar, where you kept all those pennies, nickels, dimes quarters you had in your pocket at the end of the day. You probably would head out for the day only to return with a pocket full of change and you threw it in your change jar at the end of the day. You actually SAVED money back then, can you believe it?! But here’s where the twist comes in. Fast forward to today or the last couple of years and I’ll bet you can look at that change jar and notice that it hasn’t has gotten any bigger. That goes especially to those of you who have become addicted to your credit urges. You probably use your credit card, or if you are better disciplined your debit card, for all your purchases, even the small ones. Your debit card is okay since you are spending what money that you have in the bank but if you are using your credit card you are spending on credit.

Most times you pay all your credit cards off at the end of the month. But it is real easy to fall behind and then you are trapped and have to start paying that interest. Let’s eliminate credit and use debit, or better yet, let's go back to a cash society not a cashless society. Let's allow those change jars to fill up again. It is a good subconscious forming habit for saving and a measure of the people’s will to save or spend.

So let's get back to change!

Happy Investing!

Related Articles
  Meeting People Where They Are
  13 key reasons why most change programs fail
  Change Is a Life or Death Matter
  Practical Advice for Making “Real Change” and “Change Real”
  Ambush

Article Tags: budget, cash, credit, credit cards, economy, education, forex, james dicks, money, New Year, plastic, premieretrade, recession, resolution, spending, stocks



Related Forum Posts
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - We've also expanded the list for Contest and All-Time Leaders. It's great to now see David and Yinka on the All Time list and recognize the contributions they've made to the forums!
No B.S. Time Management - A great book I read on Time Management is No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy.
Re: Poll: Print News vs. Internet News - Interesting topic, GT. When I was working, one of my fellow co-workers always bought the local paper. When there was downtime and I wasn't doing anything (which happened quite frequently) I would read it. There were certain sections that I couldn't miss, including the comics section. I was addicted to say the least, and what else is there to do when you don't have any work? Now, I don't read the paper at all as we don't buy it. I do sometimes read it online, but there's a lot missing compared to the print version, including my favorite sections. Any other news I read about is online, usually just browsing through MSN's home page. I don't watch the news on TV, as the media is so biased and can't even show the REAL news.
Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Books that should be written - [quote:1m0dcpd7]"The Idiots Guide To Sticking With One Thing At A Time and Not Doing Something New All The Time" [/quote:1m0dcpd7] I myself am a 'constructive' procrastinator... I don't know if I'm alone in this. I have about six or seven projects I'm working on at any given time. I get one project almost done... then my interest is piqued by another project and I work on that... I get burnt out and move to another...I know I do this so I have it arranged such that once I get bored or burnt out with one project, I can step right back into project 1 - or 2 or 3, and get that a little bit more done before moving on to something else. As long as you're organized and know where all your reference material/idea sheets are when you're ready to get back to work on each project, it should be fine. I also find that by stepping away from a project - I still work on it in the recesses of my mind so that when I go back to it - it's with some good ideas that I wouldn't have had if I'd continued on with it originally. Maybe I should write a book on how to Procrastinate Constructively... I've actually thought about doing that...because most people procrastinate, don't they...and very few are ever able to stop.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Executive Blind Spots

Living on The Edge of Chaos...

What is Discretionary Cash Flow

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.