January 28, 2008

WE ARE.
Unedited

Scaffolding on the sidewalks of New York is all encompassing. When it is gone I have literally left the street that I was on believing I had gotten lost. After returning to the original street, I wonder how come it looks so completely different? After a moment I realize that the scaffolding is missing. The patterns and unveiling of the effect of the habits, people, and patterns of our past, I believe have the exact same effect. When the past is unveiled you can take the same walk but the experience and view is entirely altered.

Since Thanksgiving I have been dealing with a family emergency. In general this experience of near death, family role reversals, boundaries, and returning insecurities, has caused me to take stock of my life as child, adult, past, present and future. The beauty, the tragedy, the spontaneity, drudgery, the laughter, the tears, my fears and my faith. In brief, my financial situation is now utterly altered. When an emergency occurs any and all plans you have fly out of the window. The car needs an $850 repair and what else is there to do during these times except take out the credit card and swipe? The job you have, what else can you do but not be there for two to three weeks at a time regardless of how greatly your paycheck will be affected? In the matters of life and death, sickness and health, financial concerns become "any means necessary." Because what was happening emotionally was very painful and confusing, I returned to my old habits of focusing and fretting about my financial situation.

A few days after returning, I attended a networking event and a young woman had a storytelling business idea and her inner circle of friends and family all told her the reasons why she shouldn't and couldn't. As she shared and experienced the acceptance in the room she said "I had no idea that this existed." She said, "we are who we are because we think..." she paused. She started again and paused looking for me and another woman to fill in the blank. She wanted the perfect phrase to capture the layering that was being lifted and cleared. The emotional swirl of my last two months, like her, I had been grasping for a phrase to have it all make sense. I couldn't so I focused on beating myself up over my finances. She tried three more times and finally it came to me. "We Are" period. I realized that the extraneous words she and I were seeking to complete a phrase, are the tiers of scaffolding we use to position ourselves in the world. When we have the moment or the gift to end up, where our core can be free - it allows us to truly appreciate who we are. This young woman discovering it for the first time and me being reminded of how much scaffolding I'd left behind.

The wide eyed look in this young woman’s eyes was her "being". She had expressed her core and was so moved when the environment she was in embraced her. The phrase WE ARE... PERIOD falling from my lips, allowed me to be where I was, be where my life is now - free and embraced. And have compassion for myself and how much scaffolding I've made the choice to free myself from.

As I will continue this year to devote a lot of time to specific financial resources and ideas, please remember that our finances, our families, our material possessions do not define who we are. They are external scaffolding that can at any time be cleared. The experience of awe, of loving self, comes when we have the courage to express from our core and place ourselves in environments when who we truly are is not only understood but encouraged and embraced.



PLAN OF ACTION:
Remember family and friends can often be our greatest source of scaffolding.
What occurs if you take a walk on a scaffold free street and journey within?


Next week I will discuss brokerage firms and investing. If you are currently with a brokerage firm, please email me by February 1, 2008 at emotionalmoney@gmail.com to share your experiences and recommendations.


Thank you for reading!






________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

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Am Management."

January 22, 2008

THE BANKER'S SECRET
Unedited


Many times we feel as if we are climbing uphill. We work and work and work and still we have to scrimp and scrape to make ends meet. We think if only there was some way to catch a break. We say things like, "I can't get ahead because I can never pay anything extra when I don't have enough to pay the bills in the first place?"

How many times did you take a cab, buy a Starbuck's coffe, a gift for your favorite niece or a toy for the kitties that they completely ignore? There is usually a little extra - it's simply a matter of keeping track of what and where you are spending. Now that you know the "extra" exists how would you like to take years off of your debt/school loan/mortgage payments and save thousands in finance fees?

The Bankers have a secret and Marc Eisenson wrote about it in 1984 in his book called "Your Mortgage Can Save You a Fortune! All You Need to Know Is...The Banker's Secret." Pay as little as $25 per month on top of your minimum monthly payments and you'll be amazed how quickly the balance falls.

"On a $75,000, 30 year mortgage written at 10 percent interest, the total payback will be almost $237,000. That's nearly $162,000 in interest charges on a $75,000 loan...if you (invest) as little as $25 each month, you'll save more than $34,000 in interest...and you'll reduce the loan's term by over 5 years." page 3

Interest accrues daily. If this seems too amazing to be true I invite you to give it a try.





PLAN OF ACTION
1) Write down your commitment to pay an amount "extra" on your loans for a given period of time. ($5 extra is still extra.) Start with the amount that you can.
2) Share your agreed upon amount with at least one other person.





Okay, next week will be an "emotional" fix.





______________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
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January 15, 2007


CREDIT SCORE - WHAT RANGE ARE YOU?
Unedited



I spent years hearing about the value of knowing my credit score. I was a responsible adult that had paid my bills on time and didn't often make charges on my card so of course I assumed that my score must be good. Imagine my surprise when I finally decided to check and learned that it was below "Fair" in the "Uncertain" range.

The definition from the online encyclopedia:
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person, which is the perceived likelihood that the person will pay debts in a timely manner. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, typically sourced from credit bureaus / credit reference agencies.

Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, use credit scores to evaluate the potential risk posed by lending money to consumers and to mitigate losses due to bad debt. Lenders use credit scores to determine who qualifies for a loan, at what interest rate, and what credit limits. The use of credit or identity scoring prior to authorizing access or granting credit is an implementation of a trusted system.

Credit scoring is not limited to banks. Other organizations, such as mobile phone companies, insurance companies, employers, and government departments employ the same techniques.

Basically there is no real formula or rhyme or reason to how our credit scores are determined. But some items that we know influence the score are late payments, how long you've had credit and how many closed accounts you have on your report. The two that influenced me the most were the ratio of your credit used (balance owed) to your available credit limit and inquiries made on your account from other cards, stores or creditors.


Once I picked myself off of the floor from my "Uncertain" rating, I went about taking small actions around the items that I could. I realized that I had been continously transferring my credit cards to the 0% interest rate cards and each time I did that it counted against me. Even after transferring the cards, when the 0% offer was ending, I was still receiving other offers. But now the amounts I wanted they weren't able to give me at an interest as low as I wanted or in an amount I wanted. Whether I signed with them or not an inquiry was made and that lowered my score. (Keep this in mind when you go to your favorite clothes or appliance store and they offer you a deal in exchange for you filling out an application to receive their store (credit) card. Each of those inquiries will impact your score negatively. I stopped taking advantage of the offers I received which stopped the influx of inquiries.

Before starting my business, years had passed without me using my card, although paying the minimums, my balances negatively impacted my score because they remained close to their limits. Paying the minimum means most of what I pay each month goes towards the daily finance fees which means the balance is not going down significantly. I started paying double on my minimums which made the balances shockingly lower in a very short amount of time (ask me about the Bankers Secret).
By making these two changes, my score is 40 points higher and only a few points away from the "good" range. Yes, it's painful that I'm in the "Fair" range but I took action and am seeing the results. Now that I know my score and the elements that impact it, I have no doubt that as I continue to take action I will be able to work my way up to the "Excellent" range. The only thing keeping me "Uncertain" was my ignorance and assumptions.

I invite you to take action now. No need to sit with regrets or punish yourself or even take a lot of time being angry at the system. (That comment was mostly for me). Ten years later after doing that, your score will remain where it is. It's best to take action now. Don't assume. Go to www.myfico.com. The cost ranges from free to $15.95. Many of us have our free credit report from Experian, Transunion and Equifax but all the information in my report was accurate and up to date. Do the next step and get your credit SCORE so you actually know where you are! Don't be like me and have to pick your mouth off of the floor when you are trying to move forward on your financial dreams. When you start your business, purchase your house or car or want a good interest rate on a loan, start now developing your "Excellent" credit score so when the time comes your score can impact you positively!


PLAN OF ACTION
1) Get your credit score by Monday, January 21, 2008.
2) Choose at least one action you will take to aid in making your score higher.
3) Recheck your score in 3-6 months.



Thank you for letting me know the results for those of you that implemented the script from Emotional Money "Happy New Year" January 1, 2008 issue. It is a thrill to hear your empowerment around your emotions and your money!!! Much continued abundance!


Next week will probably be an "emotional" fix. Tune in to find out!


Thank you to my friends that have truly helped
me these last three weeks!!! Princess, Panther and I thank (meow) you!!



______________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra
Am Management."

January 8, 2008

WHAT CAN I SAY?
Unedited


"Let us think of the future as a house we are building. A brick or plank a day. Some days we may not have any material, a rainy day even, but we do not disregard the future house. Years pass, and finally, the time is right and the future is built."
Excerpt from the Author's Note in The Future Has A Past by J. California Cooper

I was $600.00 away from getting rid of one of my credit cards. I attended a Wealth Expo and knew that I should leave my credit card at home. But there was a Mentorship program and a Feng Shui program that I knew would aid me in getting to my goals faster. The next day I got my credit card, told myself it was an investment and celebrated as I knew these programs were going to help me accomplish my goals much faster. Two weeks later I received a bonus for the holidays that would have allowed me to have paid off that card and have had money to spare.

I had a list of excuses to justify my purchases:
1) My ongoing family crisis has made me so aware of how quickly everything in life
can alter in one second and how important not having a financial foundation
effects everything.
2) I want to help my family yesterday.
3) It's an investment.
4) You have to spend money to make money.

In the end, the excuses don't matter. I now have a another $1800 on a card that I could have been saying is paid off. I had been implementing and sticking to my plan, but it was so much slower than what I desired. I attended a seminar, got excited again for a faster way and had no idea that around the corner something was coming that was going to allow me to pay it off and have money to spare.

I've decided that I can not attend anymore seminars and Expo's right now because I do not have the patience and control to resist what they have to sale. This will not be forever but it will be until I can attend knowing that I have the money and or the resources to pay in cash or within 30 days. The good news is that all I have to do is keep doing what I had been doing. It was working. I could be beating myself up now and stay focused on my "rainy day" but instead I'm staying focused on the "future house" and going back to doing what I had been doing. I trust that another unforseen "bonus" will arrive again and this time I'll be able to take full advantage of its arrival.


The answer to last weeks Plan of Action:

I think the reason your credit score will improve if you have a
credit limit increase is because your balance will be that much lower
than your limit. One of the elements that makes up the credit score
is available credit vs. credit used. The closer to your limit the
lower your score.
Melinda, NYC

Thank you, Melinda! If the answer surprised you, tune in to "Emotional Money" next week to learn why my credit score went up 40 points in less than 6 months and how, where and why to get your credit score and do the same.



PLAN OF ACTION:
1) I would like a reader a month to ask me on the last day of the month, if I made
any charges on my card?
Please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com to let me know your name, email
address and what month(s) you'll be asking me.
2) Ask yourself what is your "weakness" ahead of time so you can implement a plan that will allow you to stick to your goals. Mine are wealth building seminars and my plan is to stay away from them for the time being, what is yours?




___________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra
Am Management."



Copyright 2007

January 1, 2008



HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Unedited



I attended a Wealth Power Systems (http://www.wealthpowersystems.com) seminar and was intrigued by the information given to us as a means to aid in raising our credit scores. This is the perfect way to start "Emotional Money" this year because I plan to spend 2008 focusing more on the "money".

Please only use this if you are able to excercise control and not use the additional credit that you will be given. It doesen't matter the state of your credit or credit report, this script works - the key is to follow the script. Enjoy exepriencing your own financial power.


Script for Calling Credit Card Company

You: Hi. I am calling to find out what my current credit limit is?
Operator: Your credit limit is $_______.
You: Hmmmmm. I would like to increase my current limit now please (Don't say another word)
Operator: Well, how much would you like?
You: How much can you give me?
Operator: How much do you need?
You: How much are you authorized to give me?
Operator: I am authorized to give you $______________.
You: That's not enough, but I will take that for now. I would like to speak to your supervisor at the end of our conversation. By the way, what is my current interest rate?
Operator: Your current interest rate is _____________%.
You: Hmmmm. I would like you to lower my interest rate for me now please. (Don't say another word)
Operator: Okay
You: What is the annual fee I am currently paying?
Operator: You are currently paying $__________________.
You: I would like you to waive my annual fee for me please.
(Don't say another word)
Operator: Okay.
You: Was the interest rate you quoted me now and the annual fee that you waived retro active 6 months ago?
Operator: Yes.
You: I would like you to please credit my account the difference.
Operator: Okay.
You: Thank you. Now please transfer me to your floor manager.

When you speak to the floor manager/supervisor start at the top of the script and work your way down again. Remember to not say a word where it is marked not to say a word.
Try it and pass it on, it really works!!!
Mark your calendars and do it again in 6 months.

PLAN OF ACTION:
1. Call your credit card company and follow the script.
2. Do you know why this will help your credit score? Please email me your
answer at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.



Tune in next week for the answer and learn how I almost had one credit card paid off and how my impatience left me instead with more debt.



I wish each of you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May our actions align with our intended and stated goals!!!


_________________________________________

Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra
Am Management."



Copyright 2007