Preparation 101
Obviously the best way to stay on top is to always keep and stay ahead of the game is to be prepared.
Most of us including myself can not always foresee the future because we do not have crystal balls.
However, in most cases common sense will prevail. You can then use your head in down to earth ways to discover ways to get you by the day to day hurtles that we all face daily.
For example job loss is something that is very devastating to the bread winner and family alike.
This problem can strike anywhere but it is especially prevalent in the north east. This area consist of highly populated states where companies are downsizing or moving jobs out of the country at an alarming rate.
I personally have gone through this more times than I would like to remember.
Companies go broke, bankrupt or just plain give up.
The company owner dies and the new owners who have inherited the wealth have enough money to retire at age 39 and live a happy life for the next 300 years or so provided they can sell the business and get all of the day to day worries behind them.
Perhaps you work for a company that decides the best way to increase the bottom line is to lay off a good percentage of the work force and insist on the survivors to continue to keep up the same productivity that the old work force did with a lot less employees.
What ever the case the results are the same. You are suddenly unemployed perhaps drawing unemployment and not able to meet your bills.
So what do you do?
The reason I titled this piece (Preparation 101) is this:
You have to develop the mind set that no matter what happens, nothing is going to shake you up.
You need to approach every day on the job as if this is the last day you will ever work there and it could well be true if the supervisor gets up on the wrong side of the bed that day or the job you are doing is no longer needed by the firm.
Having a good mind set will give you the confidence of a combat soldier. Soldiers watch for movement of every bush and shadow. They also make themselves aware of any strange sounds or scents in the air. In a round about way you have to do the same thing.
One of the most important things you can do is keep resume up to date.
Pull your old resume out tonight and dust if off and rewrite it. After you do this you may well say to your self that you can now see that you are much better than you thought you were. So you might now be in a position to be asking for a raise or a promotion.
Selling your self on your self is always a good idea and you should make a habit of doing this each and every day.
Next take a look at your budget and see where you can make some cuts that will not effect your life. You may be needing to do this anyway with the price of gas going the direction it is. If you have to change jobs be sure and keep the commute time and distance in mind when you are searching for a new job.
The reasons you need to be looking at your budget is not only the price of gasoline and all of the other commodities we use every day that keep going up in price but the simple fact of getting prepared in the event you do wind up being between jobs.
Common sense tells us that you have to have some money saved up to be able see your self through to the next job.
You have to keep your utilities paid during good times and bad and the only way you can comfortably do this is have some money in reserve to pay your day to day expenses with.
You also have to have money to go on job interviews and look presentable when you go to do them.
$10,000.00 seems to be a good round number to keep in a separate money market or savings account where you can get a little interest and also have the money where you can get to it if you need it.
Credit cards are falling out of favor with all of the hassle and high interest rates they charge. At some banks the interest rates are so high that even if you ever default on a single payment they will actually double the cost of every thing you buy using them by the time you pay the account off if you ever do.
You can develop a plan to pay off your credit cards if you set it up systematically and become very diligent about doing it. Paying off the lowest balance first and then when the first one is paid off you add that payment to whatever you are paying to the second highest amount.
You will be surprised at how quickly you can get out of debt if you do this.
I used one of the debt service companies to keep the creditors off my back while I did this.
However I do not recommend this to any one any more as most creditors will work with you if you follow through and actually make payments to them.
When it comes to transportation don’t buy a new car or truck. Instead let someone else eat the depreciation and buy a good low mileage two or three year old car or truck. If you do this you will have excellent transportation at a reasonable price.
I would recommend you pay for the vehicle with cash rather than notes. You can pay yourself the car payment until you have enough money to pay for the car or truck with the trade in that you have.
A good source of well cared for low mileage fairly new cars is your local car rental companies. They can offer you good prices on recent top of the line models with all of the bells and whistles you could possibly want.
There are hundreds of other suggestions and ideas I could come up with to help you but most of them you can come up with on your own.
This blog entry is only to get you thinking in the right direction.
But even if you just do these few things you will be almost unstoppable.
You will have $10,000.00 in the bank and no credit card bills or car payments.
You can now be putting some serious money into savings. When all you have to pay is utilities, food, clothing and shelter, hopefully you can pay off your mortgage soon as well.
If you are planning on living in your home like I am and not using it for investment property then paying off the mortgage will be one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your entire life.
I paid my home off in record time but it was only because it was planned that way.
Some other things in your favor are:
Your resume is now up to date and you got your eye on the future. When you walk into work each day you will suddenly have the walk and the talk of a successful person.
This is because you will not be faking it but you will actually be making it.
Now go do it!
Thank you,
Billy J Gibson
Thesellingfoolbjg@yahoo.com
http://www.thesellingfool.com
Most of us including myself can not always foresee the future because we do not have crystal balls.
However, in most cases common sense will prevail. You can then use your head in down to earth ways to discover ways to get you by the day to day hurtles that we all face daily.
For example job loss is something that is very devastating to the bread winner and family alike.
This problem can strike anywhere but it is especially prevalent in the north east. This area consist of highly populated states where companies are downsizing or moving jobs out of the country at an alarming rate.
I personally have gone through this more times than I would like to remember.
Companies go broke, bankrupt or just plain give up.
The company owner dies and the new owners who have inherited the wealth have enough money to retire at age 39 and live a happy life for the next 300 years or so provided they can sell the business and get all of the day to day worries behind them.
Perhaps you work for a company that decides the best way to increase the bottom line is to lay off a good percentage of the work force and insist on the survivors to continue to keep up the same productivity that the old work force did with a lot less employees.
What ever the case the results are the same. You are suddenly unemployed perhaps drawing unemployment and not able to meet your bills.
So what do you do?
The reason I titled this piece (Preparation 101) is this:
You have to develop the mind set that no matter what happens, nothing is going to shake you up.
You need to approach every day on the job as if this is the last day you will ever work there and it could well be true if the supervisor gets up on the wrong side of the bed that day or the job you are doing is no longer needed by the firm.
Having a good mind set will give you the confidence of a combat soldier. Soldiers watch for movement of every bush and shadow. They also make themselves aware of any strange sounds or scents in the air. In a round about way you have to do the same thing.
One of the most important things you can do is keep resume up to date.
Pull your old resume out tonight and dust if off and rewrite it. After you do this you may well say to your self that you can now see that you are much better than you thought you were. So you might now be in a position to be asking for a raise or a promotion.
Selling your self on your self is always a good idea and you should make a habit of doing this each and every day.
Next take a look at your budget and see where you can make some cuts that will not effect your life. You may be needing to do this anyway with the price of gas going the direction it is. If you have to change jobs be sure and keep the commute time and distance in mind when you are searching for a new job.
The reasons you need to be looking at your budget is not only the price of gasoline and all of the other commodities we use every day that keep going up in price but the simple fact of getting prepared in the event you do wind up being between jobs.
Common sense tells us that you have to have some money saved up to be able see your self through to the next job.
You have to keep your utilities paid during good times and bad and the only way you can comfortably do this is have some money in reserve to pay your day to day expenses with.
You also have to have money to go on job interviews and look presentable when you go to do them.
$10,000.00 seems to be a good round number to keep in a separate money market or savings account where you can get a little interest and also have the money where you can get to it if you need it.
Credit cards are falling out of favor with all of the hassle and high interest rates they charge. At some banks the interest rates are so high that even if you ever default on a single payment they will actually double the cost of every thing you buy using them by the time you pay the account off if you ever do.
You can develop a plan to pay off your credit cards if you set it up systematically and become very diligent about doing it. Paying off the lowest balance first and then when the first one is paid off you add that payment to whatever you are paying to the second highest amount.
You will be surprised at how quickly you can get out of debt if you do this.
I used one of the debt service companies to keep the creditors off my back while I did this.
However I do not recommend this to any one any more as most creditors will work with you if you follow through and actually make payments to them.
When it comes to transportation don’t buy a new car or truck. Instead let someone else eat the depreciation and buy a good low mileage two or three year old car or truck. If you do this you will have excellent transportation at a reasonable price.
I would recommend you pay for the vehicle with cash rather than notes. You can pay yourself the car payment until you have enough money to pay for the car or truck with the trade in that you have.
A good source of well cared for low mileage fairly new cars is your local car rental companies. They can offer you good prices on recent top of the line models with all of the bells and whistles you could possibly want.
There are hundreds of other suggestions and ideas I could come up with to help you but most of them you can come up with on your own.
This blog entry is only to get you thinking in the right direction.
But even if you just do these few things you will be almost unstoppable.
You will have $10,000.00 in the bank and no credit card bills or car payments.
You can now be putting some serious money into savings. When all you have to pay is utilities, food, clothing and shelter, hopefully you can pay off your mortgage soon as well.
If you are planning on living in your home like I am and not using it for investment property then paying off the mortgage will be one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your entire life.
I paid my home off in record time but it was only because it was planned that way.
Some other things in your favor are:
Your resume is now up to date and you got your eye on the future. When you walk into work each day you will suddenly have the walk and the talk of a successful person.
This is because you will not be faking it but you will actually be making it.
Now go do it!
Thank you,
Billy J Gibson
Thesellingfoolbjg@yahoo.com
http://www.thesellingfool.com
posted by thesellingfool | 7:28 PM
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