Control Freak Publications

Week 13 : Holidays

2008-06-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

It's summer here in the UK, at least it is better than last year! That should not be too hard given the wash out last year, so it is only natural that when the grey winter turns into Spring and then Summer that we get very excited about our holidays.

We have been lucky in recent years to benefit from cheaper flights to Europe, but what I find most people do is try & spend their way through the holiday as if there is no tomorrow. First there are the ones who save, and save, and save each year a set sum of money that is "the holiday fund" then they spend it. Whatever figure they have in their heads is NOT the holiday - it is what they intend to spend. Then on top of their "holiday fund" which seems to be the ONLY thing that will make them happy for a couple of weeks each year is the way this then spirals out of control the minute the alarm goes off at 4am in the morning to get to the airport.

First & foremost, if you are going to travel more than once in a year, save money on your travel insurance and buy it annually --- save around £ 100 per year.

Do you really need to spend £ 9.00 per person on the cheapest, least nutritious, most horrible looking breakfast on earth at the airport, declaring "well I'm on holiday!" Family of four eating horrible rubbish --- save £ 36.00 per breakfast

Do you really need to text/call the friends you saw last night to tell them you are in the airport now? Then tell them again when you have landed that the sun is shining at double the rate because your message has now been beamed into space and back again on your expense. Wherever you go, get a local phone and pay the cheapest call rate.. this alone can save a staggering average of around £ 250.00 per year

Do you really need to buy ALL that duty free, just because it is "VAT free" ask yourself .. IS IT REALLY? D'ya think? save around £ 100 per trip per year

You are bored at the airport, the plane is delayed ( again! ) and so you wander round for a while, buy a ticket for the PORSCHE ( £ 20 ), have a few pints or glasses of wine ( because you're on holiday! ) buy a few packets of crisps, sweets, magazines and newspapers and you have suddenly spent without a conscious thought another £ 60.00 before you have even taken off!

Here is one I learned the hard way, get a timeshare, all accommodation paid for every year, all round the world, then upgrade the flights instead saving no money at all. A phrase I picked up in the USA is one I will never forget.. " Do you HAVE to go to the MOUSE HOUSE?" meaning, Disney World, Florida every year! Don't get me wrong about any of the above, I fully intend to have Mickey as my next door neighbour in the near future, but seriously if you realise what paying off your mortgage, clearing your credit card debt can REALLY do for you and your family FOREVER you would take a hard look at your holiday habits over the next few years & Pay Off Your Mortgage with some of the money instead.

There are HUGE sums on the table here for saving potential, for the Pay Off Challenge this week, I am going to assume that the vast majority of people spend around £ 3000 on holidays each and every year. If you are serious about making those holidays MORE frequent then slash that budget by two thirds, plus stay in control at the airport and you will have Freedom Payment Money in the region of £ 2500.00 per year.

New Celebration Wall!

2008-06-21T03:14:00.000-07:00

What I love more than anything is hearing from people who have been successful in their own credit card and mortgage freedom. I am delighted to add the photo of my friends stateside Adam, David, Annette, and Aaron (from left to right) from Indiana, to start our Celebration Wall.

If you would like to be added to the wall and think you have cause to celebrate too, simply send me an email with a few details & I'll be happy to share your story to inspire others.
email: info@controlfreakltd.co.uk

Warmest congratulations to David and his family, I take delight from the joy in their faces at ther moment of "We did it!" There really is no other feeling quite like it. What is very special is their understanding of their future and the future of their sons and being able to live a truly abundant life.

My very best wishes to you all, and thank you so much for sharing your success.
Kind regards
Diane

Week 12 and We Are Going Green

2008-06-21T03:06:00.000-07:00

We seem to be concerned with the effects on the environment and ourselves at the moment. Most of us participate in recycling newspapers, bottles, cardboard, green waste, clothing and shoes etc.

I sometimes wonder which planet we are trying to save when it comes to the issue of plastic though. I can only speak for my area, but there is no collection of plastic whatsoever. It is my guess that this is the ONLY way bi-weekly collections can be just about managed because plastic bottles, cartons and packaging FILLS one bin up on it's own every week. Now here's the puzzle, what planet am I saving when I take the SAME amount of plastic as would have gone in the bin - DIRECTLY to the local tip myself every week?

Hmmm .. is not the real problem the packaging? The problem is caused at the source, not with the end user? Without a hint of subtlety intended, the same is of course true with most things, including money problems.

So looking on the greener side of life, there are a few savings for your Freedom Payment Table that can be made by going green:-

Turning your heating thermostat down by just one degree can reduce your heating bills by 10% per year. With the average house spending around £ 1000 per year on energy, that is a saving of £ 100 per year.

Switching to energy saving light bulbs in your home can save you another £100 per year, based on 10 light bulbs with average use.

If you are not a high water user, then switching to a water meter can save you up to £170 per year.

Try out local farm shops and market stalls fro fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, ( apart from the fact Gordon Ramsay advocates this at every opportunity on his TV shows ) you not only save money, around £ 300 per year, but you will only have minimal packaging so you really WILL be saving the planet.

All of these small changes will add up to £ 670 in terms of potential money saving and a whole sequence of savings made to help the environment.

Keep Britain Beautiful! ( What ever happened to that advert?)

Finally I'd like to share something that I found hilarious this week. A visitor to this site proceeded to go to Amazon through one of my "widgets" as they are called, my carousels of books you can see on various pages and ordered a book. Nothing strange there you would say, but what tickled me is which book they ordered. Now as you can see, I am sharing this information week by week in the hope that people can see for themselves that there is no "magic" to the process, and that it simply requires exactly the same discipline and focus as I hopefully demonstrate week after week through updating these tips and keeping those who are still awake interested enough to attempt the same themselves.

So I set myself a pretty high target, of 3 years or less, and as you can see the totaliser after week 12 for the 3 year target is just under £ 50,000.

So guess what they bought? " How to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 2 Years!" You know the book from the rather ill fated, although "doable" in principle TV series. Someday you wake up and realise that the answer isn't in the book, it's in the activity of what you do with the information that creates the change.

Any savings that you make should be added to your Freedom Payment each month and used to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 3 Years or Less. Anything else & it simply will not work.

Sunday June 15th 2008 - Upside Down Property Developing is Launched

2008-06-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

It started on Saturday April 26th and it's taken a wee bit longer than I thought, but at last the Upside Down Property Developing Manual is launched.

For full details see the designated website www.upside-down-property.com

Kind regards

Diane

Week 11 More About The Dreaded Credit Cards

2008-06-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

If you are like the vast majority of people who make New Years Resolutions, then did you notice we just reached half time? June is of course the sixth month out of twelve and half a year of time has just passed you by.

If you take a look at one of the news archive sites, check out the predictions for the economy six months ago, then take a fresh look at today's news. The sort of headlines we are seeing today were the same economic forecasts of Robert Kiyosaki & Donald Trump several years ago. I read a quote from Jim Rohn this morning which states, " If you do not like what is going on around you, change it, you're not a tree!"

This week I am revisiting credit cards, but I want to share a couple of different & challenging viewpoints on the effect they can have on your wealth.

Take an average size town in the UK, a population of say 85,000 to 100,000. That town usually has at least one main shopping centre, and the amount of visitors to that shopping centre is on average 130,000 per week. IF those 130,000 people have ONE credit card each each, with an average interest payment of just £ 30 per month on that single card, then the credit card company just made another £ 3,900,000.00 from one shopping centre per month.

Credit cards, when used incorrectly are DESIGNED to keep you in debt, at the minimum payment alone you will take 30 - 40 years to pay off the average balance. That is how they MAKE the credit card companies money, and they make a LOT of money.

Think about what kind of buildings the credit card companies own, they do not exactly run from a four bedroom detached in the suburbs do they? You will find them in prime locations in the centre of major cities, great big expensive buildings all kitted out with YOUR money. I wonder how many kids grow up thinking they might own a credit card company one day, it would be a pretty smart career choice.

Take another scenario, the first time I saw Martin Lewis on TV he had set up a stand in the middle of a shopping centre asking people to sign up for a MACS Credit Card, the interest rate was ridiculous, there were all sorts of useless bonuses to sign up today and HE was still getting "takers." He revealed at the end of the show that the MACS card was in fact the word SCAM spelt backwards.

One last thought, my colleague had swapped her balance to a no interest deal at a High Street Bank and was paying off her small balance each and every month. She never used the card so it was surprise when she found the High Street bank had "given her £100 on her card as a FREE GIFT," very nice of them you would think. The following month she found out she had been charged £ 1.00 in interest on the £ 100 she didn't ask for, I suggested she give them a polite call and ask for her money back, which she did. Why? What if there were 5 million of her, that bank would make an extra £ 5,000,000 a month alone if nobody asked for their money back, and all this was on an interest free credit card, but it does not apply to any new transactions, even transactions YOU choose NOT to MAKE.

If you have been following the Challenge, you should have paid off at least one credit card balance by now, saving you the interest. This process will can save you £ 100's of £1,000's of pounds in interest alone.

For this week's Pay Off Saving, we will use the average of £ 30 in interest from one credit card, even though the vast majority of people now have multiple cards.

Any savings that you make should be added to your Freedom Payment each month and used to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 3 Years or Less. Anything else & it simply will not work.

Forming Strong Young Attitudes When It Comes To Money

2008-06-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by a gentleman from the USA who was on his way to take his final mortgage payment in person to the loan company's office that coming week and was asking for some lasting celebration ideas for his sons aged 8 & 9. I offered some Kids Money Packs as a gift and suggested opening a Future Financial Account for his sons on the same day as paying off his mortgage, amongst warmest wishes for the future.

Without a doubt the USA and many other countries around the world have a much better understanding of allowing children to develop young strong attitudes and become involved with money at a much younger age than in the UK. I was reminded of this most recently when the gentleman from the USA had introduced some excellent principles to his sons already, including a regular donation to the Lord. I believe that being able to give is one of the greatest assets of wealth, it does not necessarily mean money, but time and experience too.

I have also noticed that the list of customers who have been able to resonate with the principles of Kids Money Packs so far are hardly ever British. I have been privileged to speak to people from Africa, Italy, India, Canada and of course the USA and am left wondering whether the culture here is more different than we realise ourselves. Unlike a lot of other countries, we do not have a strong religious base, sure we are for the main part Christians and there are many other religions with a strong following in this country. but we do not have the community spirit, a joining together, a place to say thank you for everything you have already and in general sharing and giving.

I was in a restaurant last night surrounded by extremely polite, well behaved children, truly their manners were impeccable. The restaurant is set in a wonderful country setting and the food is sublime so it is very popular. We arrived at an earlier time than usual as it is an adults only environment after 7pm and there is a notice outside stating the rules for entry when bringing a child. It quite clearly requests that children should be well behaved at all times for the enjoyment of others. Now as a mother myself, some may take offence to this, but if you bore witness to the effect of those rules, you would be amazed. It is a vibrant, enjoyable atmosphere of talking, stories, laughter and good food, whether you are young or old.

The reason I mention these thing together is the question of rules. If you are brought up to regularly give money to charity or your church, you will always do so. If you place yourself amongst other like minded people, you will adapt yourself to the environment around you, and if you handle money well at a young age, you will always be able to handle money. It's all a matter of following the right guidelines, whether they are spiritual, parental or something within you.

Week 10 If You Are Going To Spend Anyway, At Least Make The Wisest Choice

2008-06-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

If you simply have to replace something, top up on the essentials, book a holiday or spend some time and money in the garden at least choose the wisest option first before parting with your money.

Women are often referred to as "great shoppers", perplexing as it is for our men folk when they get dragged along, we really do want to go into every shop in the Shopping Centre or especially the Outlet Malls just to see what bargains we can find.

Then after we have looked in pretty much every shop, we have completed our bargain research thoroughly and even though it seems like we always go back to the first shop we went in, we only carry out this crazy ritual because by then we NOW know where the best bargain is!

So the same thing must surely apply to everything we buy ? It would appear not. How many of us book our holiday through places like Quidco for cashback. A £2000 holiday can get you several hundred pounds back, just by using the system. In fact Quidco has cashback available on most things.

How many people have reward cards, points, club cards, nectar cards and other reward schemes and never use them? Or simply save them up to spend, or to buy an extra treat every now & again?

At Christmas, birthdays and other events with gifts, why not ask for garden centre vouchers, DIY vouchers or other Gift Vouchers from your favourite stores to use later in the year to save you some money.

The idea this week is to obviously acknowledge that you simply have to spend money along the way, that's life, but when you are serious about Paying Off Your Mortgage you have to accumulate every additional few hundred pounds you can by making wiser choices when you have a purchase to make.

It seems to be a bit of a "British" thing to ignore savings to be made by using discount coupons. If you have ever been in a queue at the Supermarket and someone of older and wiser years is just checking out & reaches for their purse to produce a handful of coupons, do you roll your eyes and think " Oh for goodness sake, coupons!" or do you think "I wonder how much they save every week by doing that." For the most part Supermarkets tend to make it easier these days with their own schemes, but if you can add a pound or two to your next freedom payment -- do it!

My husband came in the other evening and declared that he would have been home hours ago if "the elderly lady in the shop hadn't wanted her free packet of sweets." He went on to say that it held up the whole queue while the assistant went off to get the free sweets, the lady turned to my husband and apologised for the delay, and went on to explain she had promised the sweets to her grand children and didn't want to leave empty handed.

It just goes to show that the right way to save money has been around for generations, and I'm sure they could tell me a thing or two about today's society, in fact I suspect most of them could pinpoint the solution in less than 5 minutes.

So the Pay Off Challenge this week is all about saving money as you spend it, a slight contradiction in some ways but can be profitable if you know how.

If you receive vouchers of various kinds to the value of say £ 200 per year, and you receive cashback on one holiday of £2000 plus a couple of home items of around £ 400 each that would be a total cash equivalent of around £ 480.00 per year. This is money back on things you were going to do anyway, it's what they call a "no brainer".

Any savings that you make should be added to your Freedom Payment each month and used to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 3 Years or Less. Anything else & it simply will not work.

Week 9 : Moving House ? Add it up !

2008-05-31T06:13:00.000-07:00

With the pending launch of our Upside Down Property Developing Manual approaching next week, we have got houses on the brain. During my own Pay Off Challenge we were midway on a renovation project so moving was not an option. If you are a home owner at present, if you need to move house in this current climate, then do you really know the costs?

Stamp Duty has given the government revenue of 31 billion pounds in the past ten years according to some analysts, and that has come from people just like you and me.

London stamp duty alone has gone up by 807% in the last ten years, so think about how much money you would save if you didn't move.

If you are going to move, I would guess that the vast majority of people are looking to move up the housing ladder, and will probably be entering the next Stamp Duty bracket of £250,000 to £500,000 given the cost of house prices at this moment in time.

So on top of all the money you will be spending getting your house ready for selling, paint, soft furnishings, plants, even a new kitchen or bathroom if you are really serious about selling your house these days, so that's an average of around £ 7000 to start the ball rolling.

Then you have your Estate Agents fees to pay when they sell your house,

£ 2450.00 plus VAT ( £ 2878 ) for say 1% of £245,000

then stamp duty on your new house £ 8250.00 3% now of say £ 275,000

Plus solicitors fee, say around £ 600 ( unless there are complications ) plus moving costs to your new location , a further £ 600 - £ 800

All in all if you are thinking about moving house ( bear in mind this does not include the money you are going to be spending on your new home ) you are committing yourself to expenditure of at least : £ 12428.00 PLUS the £ 7000 spent sprucing up your house to sell and you would be looking to spend £ 19428.00 just to move house.

If my goal was to Pay Off My Mortgage as quickly as possible, I would be using the money that I would have been spending on moving to pay down my mortgage.

The double edge sword to the process is that even if most people said to themselves, we'll stay where we are, in most cases they were intending to move because they have outgrown their current property, so the temptation is to make some sort of home improvement instead. ( Average cost per year is likely to be in the region of £5000 )

There really is no right or wrong in any of these everyday choices in life, but I was contacted just last week by a family from the USA who had spent the last 5 years paying off their mortgage and were celebrating this week.

To them, as it was to me at the time, paying off your mortgage early is a matter of choice, but it is only important when it is part of your overall plans, ambitions and goals in life.

This week is one of those BIG weeks, these figures are big enough to make anyone sit up and take notice.

For the purpose of the Challenge, I will be using £15,000 saved in one year by NOT moving house. If you made that decision 3 years in a row, you would be looking at saving £45,000. If you are serious about this Challenge then you will have no problem in coming to terms with that, as you will know that the bigger picture will catapult you past the finishing post at warp speed.

For the Pay Off Challenge I have used HALF these figures to represent commitment to the Challenge. ( £ 7500 saved per year x 3 )

Any savings that you make should be added to your Freedom Payment each month and used to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 3 Years or Less. Anything else & it simply will not work.

The Challenge is to Challenge What You Think You Know

2008-05-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

I am currently editing the Upside Down Property Manual to accompany the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge and as part of the Manual I recount on certain aspects of my own Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge with some surprising consequences.

When you read stories about people being in debt, becoming debt free, or indeed people who have been overweight and found a successful way to be slim, fit and healthy images immediately spring to mind about those people, where they live, what they do for a living and ultimately what they did to put the wrong right again.

Without wishing to spoil the story for anyone who chooses to read the manual, you may be a little bit surprised where my "starting point was starting from." In the original Press Release of my story, you will find a photo me "cutting up credit cards" with a backdrop of a conservatory over looking a large driveway and countryside. The credit cards were not mine, they were the journalists (cash cards actually because he had given up credit cards too), and just to show appearances can be deceiving and you should never judge anyone, the journalist spends the winter in California with his daughter and family every year.

The reason I mention this at this point is because I am sending a warning salvo to the people often referred to as "the middle classes." We are currently seeing huge rises in the "middle classes" seeking debt help for the first time and I know exactly how they got there, because my "starting point" was as a "middle class" home owner.

When I began to challenge what is commonly perceived to be "the right way" in society, i.e. You go to school, get good grades, get a job with prospects, work your way up the housing ladder ( with a mortgage ), drive a nice car ( on finance ) and take holidays ( on credit cards ), I was already leading the lifestyle that most people aspire to have.

The biggest challenge about the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge is to be able to "empty your cup" and clear your mind of everything you think you know, and start raising your financial IQ by reading great advice from people like Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump and Harv Eker to name just a few.

If you ever get the chance to play the Robert Kiyosaki game, Cashflow 101 then you will realise quite quickly that it is FAR easier to get out the Rat Race as a janitor than it is as an airline pilot.

Week 8 You and Your Credit Cards

2008-05-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

If you listened to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown yesterday as I write, you will have heard how the world economy is the reason the UK are experiencing the economic crisis at the moment. I happen to think the problem lies nearer to home and it has been disguised by the increased uses of the humble flexible "friend" the credit card.

The reason this challenge is being shown is to hi-light the need to re-think everything you think you know about your own financial education. When I first wrote Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom I thought I'd invented the wheel! I was completely elated, enlightened, enriched with this new knowledge, it literally changed my life and I hope you can see how it can change yours.

As I further developed my own financial education I realised that my formula was the most basic level of money management and I realised pretty quickly that I had a long way to go before I could consider myself Financially Astute. Imagine how difficult you are making things for yourself if you do not even take the time and trouble to look at your finances in detail every week and ask yourself how you can improve them?

Whilst I agree with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown that there are economic influences outside of our own control, such as rising oil prices, I would argue that the entire last ten years or so in the UK has been a FALSE economic "boom" because of the amount of easy credit available. The rise and rise of not only the number of credit cards people have per person, but the amounts of money they can borrow on them on top of a mortgage, a consolidation loan, a car loan and an overdraft is staggering. You even hear stories every week on the Property Ladder programmes of people funding tens of thousands of pounds they haven't budgeted for to finish their property developing project on credit cards.

If there was one thing I would urge you to do today it would be to cut up your credit cards ( keep one for emergencies, hotels, online protection and travelling ) but for too long those plastic things that make you feel a little richer are actually making you poorer by the day. The first thing you should realise if you do not clear the balance on your credit cards every month is you are absolutely hopeless with them, GIVE THEM UP, get in good financial shape and move on.

When I get to a cash till and the Sales Assistant offers me a discount if I sign up for their store card, I simply say " No thanks I gave them up years ago!" It always raises a smile, and it reminds me how far I have come.

At a seminar recently I had the whole room nodding about credit cards except for one lady at the back of the room who was shaking her head from side to side. I met up with her at lunch and asked why she was not nodding like the rest of the guests, and she simply said " If I do not have a credit card, I can't go shopping anymore!"

This subject is going to be returned to many, many times on this challenge, all a credit card actually does is to give you a pay rise for a while.

For this part of the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge we are suggesting switching one or two, preferably all of your cards to a 0% 12-month credit card deal, this will save you around £237 a year on a £1500 balance on a high rate card.

For the purpose of the challenge we would estimate most people have at least two cards they could switch saving just over £ 9.00 per week.

It Depends On Your What Your Goal Is

2008-05-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Some experts will tell you that there are all sorts of sound mathematical or tax reasons why you should never pay off your mortgage. Some people have multiple mortgages on multiple properties and obtain a positive cash flow for investment purposes. The reason why you choose to pay off your mortgage or not is quite simple, YOUR WHY FACTOR.

If your goal was to simply Pay Off Your Mortgage, then selling your house and downsizing to become mortgage free is the easiest way to achieve mortgage freedom. However if your goal to become mortgage free is to be able to spend more time with your family and less time working all that overtime then taking up the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge becomes more appealing. It's all about the WHY.

Perhaps you have played the property market to perfection, sold your house within the last few years getting a maximum return on your investment and are poised ready for when the house prices fall to snap up your next investment. All of things are perfect examples of a well thought out, well executed plan that plays a part in your personal goals and ambitions.

For as many people there are that say there is a mortgage crisis, there are people who say there isn't. You only have to look at places like Motley Fool to see how opinions differ. Peoples opinions differ all the time, based on their personal circumstances. Whatever you choose to do over the coming weeks, months and years, ask yourself one simple question WHY? When you can find your WHY, everything follows, the motivation, the focus, the action ... the how to bit you find out along the way.

Why did I Pay Off my Mortgage? It was part of the bigger picture, the one that I am able to work on every day that will end in achieving my personal ambitions. For more on finding out about setting goals, motivation and action check out www.i-believe.co.uk

Are Credit Cards Drugs?

2008-05-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

The amazing thing about revisiting this Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge is that I can reflect on things that were not obvious to me at the time. I knew how annoying credit cards were to get rid of and I knew the system was designed that way to ensure the banks received a maximum ROI ( Return on investment ) on every card they dished out.

My question is, WHY is it so impossible to entertain the thought of life without a credit card to reach for every time you feel like buying something new, booking a holiday, having something you want now and paying for it later?

I have never smoked, I would never take drugs of any kind but I am partial to a glass of fine wine. However I would suggest that impulsive purchases on a Credit Card are in a very similar category to drugs and addiction:-

1. People have a NEED for them, a dependency to make themselves feel richer.
2. People tend to overlook, forget or do not want to add up how much they spend on Credit Cards in a year
3. If you try and go without them in your life, even for a week you will experience some kinds of "withdrawal symptoms."
4. They are notoriously difficult to give up once you start.
5. If left alone over a long period of time, they can lead to ill health, stress, worry and depression.

Now I am not sure about you, but if there is a warning placed on a cigarette packet that "Smoking Kills" I would ask why there is not a similar amount of caution attached to borrowing on credit cards.

I Wonder Why There Are Less Books on Personal Finance in the UK?

2008-05-18T23:38:00.000-07:00

I count myself very lucky that I have been able to travel frequently and extensively to many places in the world. They say travel broadens the mind and I know from experience that it has certainly played a part in broadening mine.

Two of my favorite destinations are Florida and Toronto, vastly different from each other, but immensely enjoyable for many reasons. I have on every occasion to either destination spent at least 2-3 hours inside book stores gathering books on personal finance, goal setting, business development, planning and organisation, motivation and mindset development. The staggering thing was the amount of reading material available on ALL of those subjects. I know they say everything is bigger in America, so I thought I would test the same scenario in Toronto. The answer was quickly found by passing a store named "The World's Biggest Book Store" right next to the main shopping centre and crammed with every book, Audio Book, DVD and magazine you could think of.

The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne was everywhere you could look, available in all formats right off the shelf, next to several others on the same subject, written by Personal Wealth Coaches, Philosophers and Motivational Speakers that are household names in the America's and round the world. This mindset is developed at a young age and is significantly different it would appear in the UK.

If I were to ask myself as a business person Why There Are Less Books on Personal Finance in The UK, I would have to reason that market research would show there is simply less demand.
With the current market conditions showing that you can't simply rely on rising house prices to increase your Net Worth, I wonder how long it will take before people realise that self education in Personal Finance is the starting point in building long term stability and wealth.

Britains Greatest Product is Debt!

2008-05-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on the Money 4 Life project Ebook, Upside Down Property Developing, and I have to report that my research is uncovering some horrible facts about Britain at the moment and in the future.

The Upside Down Property Developing manual is all about a positive angle on the diminishing property ladder in the UK. What my research has unveiled is rather more sinister and the problem for the UK could be altogether more problematic than people realise.

The multiple problems that the UK face in the next few months, and years is headed by it's main problem being the LARGEST product we collectively as a country have produced is DEBT. That is correct the official statistics tell us that our debt levels exceeded our profit from other activities, so as a Nation on the face of it we are bankrupt.

If you think for one minute that Britain's greatest efforts combined to be the worst debt statistics then we top the World. It is very unfortunate that as a Nation we think we are "great with money" yet clearly we are not.

If you have not yet been inspired to embark on the subject of Personal Finance Education then I would suggest that you read as much as possible in the coming months because if you just scraped by in the past, you are about to find yourself in serious jeopardy. I am not into melodramatics, I am researching what "The City" have to predict and it is not all good reading, if you are unprepared for an economic downturn then batten down the hatches, you are in for a rough ride

Week 7 Beers, Wine & Spirits

2008-05-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

Here comes the killer blow ladies & gents, we are undoubtedly a nation of boozers! We are the Brits Abroad, we drink wine like cocktails ( as the French will tell you ), we have shots bars, we have two drinks for the price of one, happy hours, anti-social drinking behaviour problems, underage drinking problems, drugs and alcohol problems .... I'm sure you get the picture!

There are many psychological reasons why excessive drinking figures in people's day to day lives and apart from the health risks, I'm here to remind you that as part of the challenge, you need a sizeable calculator to work out what percentage of spare income these day is spent on booze. I would estimate that it has gone up in percentage terms by at least 50% or more in the last 2-3 years and like clothes, it seems comparatively cheaper today than years ago, we are drinking more and spending more than ever on something that used to be an occasional sociable pastime.

Alcohol and weight loss

Many alcoholic drinks contain lots of energy. Calories from alcohol are also added to energy from the food eaten during the day. An interesting point to note is alcohol cannot be stored so its energy is metabolized until all alcohol is cleared from the body. It also means the body is limited to burning stored fat when drinking alcohol. People who drink frequently may have increased potential for weight gain because;

1. A higher percentage of the energy from food eaten during the day may be converted and stored as fat.

2. Less energy from body fat stores can be used when alcohol is on the body.

It is possible to lose weight and still enjoy a drink the key is moderation. Do not eat less food so you can drink regularly and lose weight. Alcohol metabolism uses up essential nutrients which are obtained in sufficient amounts from food!

So apart from wasted calories and an expanding waistline, by reducing your booze intake by half per week, I would expect to see quite a saving per month.

It is reported that students alone spend around £ 1 billion pounds on alcohol per year, add to that the multi millions of pounds per year spent dealing with the effects of alcohol abuse, missed workdays, accidents and vandalism and you would think someone would want to be doing something about it?

Not wishing to sound like a party pooper, everything I believe is fine in moderation so it's up to you to determine what is moderation. For the purpose of the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge, I would expect most people to look to cut down their current expenditure by half for the purpose of the challenge.

I will be conservative on my savings, as of course not everybody drinks, so for the purpose of the Challenge I would estimate savings in the region of £12.00 per week
were feasible for most people. That is one bottle of spirits, or a 3 for £10 deal at the supermarket.

* All you Coffee Shop enthusiasts should also think clearly about the amount of money you spend each week at the local Starbucks, Costa Coffee or other favourite haunt. Those £ 2.50 cups of coffee can soon mount up, just two coffees equals the equivalent expenditure of an average bottle of wine!

Week 6 The Mobile Phone Bills - Plural!

2008-05-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

Mobile phones, don't you just love them? Clearly we do because we now have an average of at least 2 per person or some other crazy statistic. If you have any old ones in your draw, send them to your favourite charity and they can at least raise £5 for charity for each one. If you haven't got a favourite charity my friend works as a Charity Fund Raiser for East Anglia Air Ambulance and would love your old mobile phones; website at http://www.angliaone.org.uk/

They say charity begins at home, and that's exactly where the mobile phone bills end up each month, but here's the million dollar question how many mobile phone bills do you pay for each month?

I ask that question on the back of Anne Diamond's appearance on the Martin Lewis programme this week as it looked as though she felt she was responsible for all 4 of her children's various mobile phone bills on top of her own. ( There is more on the Blog about this )

The most ridiculous story I ever heard about mobile phone bills was during one of my training sessions with Utility Warehouse, a young man in his mid twenties and his girlfriend/partner/wife had an average mobile phone bill of £750 each every month! The most amazing thing was they worked together!

The key to getting the best from your mobile phone is to select the right tariff for you. Do not let the sales assistant select a tariff for you, it's no good having a text bundle if you don't text much, equally if you talk or communicate with the office all day long on a mobile phone ( that you have to pay for ) you need to find the best tariff for the amount of minutes you use each month. Around 85% of people are on the wrong tariff and it is costing you a small fortune.

Beware of the small print! An offer of FREE texts, two months FREE then an 18 month contract may not be as cheap as buying a phone & fitting a SIM CARD. You need to check the price per minute rates on your Pay As You Go and some mobile networks are more expensive to ring than others.

Take some time over the weekend to gain control of this expense each month. I have seen people literally cut their mobile bills in half just by switching to the right tariff. I would also ask you to check what budget constraint you have on any of the household mobile phone users that expect you to pick up the bill each month. It is one thing to have a mobile phone handy in an emergency, it is quiet another to change your ring tone four times, and watch videos at someone else's expense.

With the complaints rising on unforeseen charges recently, do yourself and your bank account a favour and check what measures you have in place so you do not get any nasty surprises.

For the purpose of this challenge, we are going to take the average mobile phone bills saving by switching to the right tariff as being around £25 per month. With a more stringent approach to your kids mobile phone bills, I would say you can gain an extra £10 per week per phone quite easily. ( If they want to pay the extra that's fine, but if they were using Kids Money Packs it would be a whole new experience. )

Saving Per Month by switching tariff : £ 25.00
Saving Per Month by budgeting the kids phones better : £ 40.00
Total Saving as Part of The Challenge : £ 65.00 per month

Any savings that you make should be added to your Freedom Payment each month and used to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 3 Years or Less. Anything else & it simply will not work.

How Can I Keep This Up Until My Mortgage Is Paid Off?

2008-05-07T05:56:00.000-07:00

I very often associate the Pay Off Challenge with dieting, the principles are extremely similar. Budgeting can feel restrictive, almost like denying yourself that bar of chocolate that you crave when you start out on a new diet. If you do not like budgeting, then Money 4 Life is a brilliant solution, and it reveals how to achieve total balance with your management.

What Money 4 Life and Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom also cover in brief is goal setting. When you are starting out on a new challenge, the finish line can seem a long way off. However with focus and determination you would reach the finish line if you took one step at a time. After the initial few hurdles, you will find momentum takes over and carries you through at the end with very little effort. If you are interested in learning more about goal setting, I have another site dedicated to subject, visit I-believe.co.uk

How you can keep the Challenge up for the longer term is knowing what is waiting for you after you cross the finish line. If you can see how life can be without the burden of having to cover those mortgage payments each month and you believe you can achieve it simply by following the changes as we suggest every week then it is certain you will get there.

Motivation comes from knowing what is waiting for you, not just for a moment but for the rest of your life if you choose.

Teen Money Is It Too Late?

2008-05-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

I have deliberately positioned Kids Money Packs towards 6 to 12 year olds, because they have time on their side. That time can be put to best use by the use of compound interest and the new habits they learn have plenty of time to become well developed habits by the time they reach the age of 18 and become the number one target for marketers of credit cards loans and storecards.

We are currently working on Teen Money and I know some great Teenagers personally who are busy studying hard, they have part time jobs, they have a good attitude towards their peers and they are a pleasure to talk to and be around.

I also know the Press love to print stories and pictures that sell papers, but as a Parent myself, I can honestly say I have never witnessed such appalling sights as the ones I have seen in a newspaper today.

I myself enjoy a glass of wine, I frequented pubs myself and have been slightly worse for wear on one occasion and never wanted to experience that ever again. I think as a nation we currently have an enormous problem with anti-social behaviour and an out of control booze culture that we seem to fondly regard as "the young enjoying themselves".

A few years ago, for whatever reason, the classic booze fuelled Ibiza holidays were being reported on as "kids having a great time, drunk all day & nightclubs and free spirited nights". It all depends on how you view " a good night out" I suppose but in my eyes, young girls vomiting in the street, wearing skimpy clothing ( whatever their dress size ) , getting so drunk they cannot even stand up and requiring an ambulance to stop them choking to death is disturbing viewing.

If these young people have so much money every week to simply drink themselves to oblivion whilst their parents are working night shifts, extra hours, second jobs and goodness knows what else to just keep up with the mortgage payments then I would say for a certain element of the nation, Teen Money advice is already too late.

Financial Education begins and ends with Parental Guidance, what lessons and from whom these young girls are learning from is a complete mystery and genuinely very sad.

The Only True Alarm In Housing Prices Dropping Is If You Have No Equity Left

2008-05-05T05:30:00.001-07:00

I am running the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge Live to draw attention to the need for the vast majority of people to raise their financial IQ and it all starts with Kids Money Packs.

On the Pay Off Your Mortgage main site, I refer to Money Management Level 1 on the Money 4 Life Page as being the starting point, in other words it is the most basic level of money management you can possible start from and it is the area where over 95% of the population are right now. It is not anybody's fault, it's the way society is designed and as you can see over the last ten years, the banks have made millions of pounds profiting from it.

Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom shows anyone, who wishes to get back in control of their finances a recommended way to go through Level 4 of money management.

If you are in a position to start investing in your own future, (which comes after Level 4), then you will realise that falling house prices create an opportunity to buy houses when they have fallen in price, then sell them again for Capital Gains as the market recovers, or hold them as an asset, or rent them for positive cashflow.
The only reason panic sets in, is when you are stretched to limit, or you have no equity left in the house and your whole investing strategy is based around climbing the housing ladder.

By gaining a better financial education, and you can do this through self education, there are many sources available to you, look for authors such as T Harv Eker, Robert T Kiyosaki and David J Schwartz to name but a few; you can then position yourself and your future regardless of what the housing market does.

Are You A One in 5 Million?

2008-05-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

The financial website Uswitch has found that five million people, or one in 10 adults spend more than they earn on a monthly basis.The website said a further fifth of adults have no spare money left at the end of the month. It goes on to report that over half of those plug the gap with overdrafts and credit cards.

The crazy thing about getting yourself into debt is how much it actually costs. The whole world is geared up to make money from you and being in debt is no different. First there are bank charges, then comes the interest charges, add to that higher rate mortgage rates because you are considered a bad lending risk and then they top it all off with late penalty fees. Hopefully the bank charges will be reduced fairly soon, but in my opinion the banks will simply move those charges to other goods and services. The banks are the casinos of the high street world, you can play them but the house always wins in the end. I protest every time I think about that Monopoly Card "Bank Error in Your Favour Collect £200 Pounds", from my experience there is no such thing.

What is vitally important to learn if you are in debt or have ever been in debt that no matter how you choose to get out of debt, be it bankruptcy, an IVA, selling your house and downsizing, none of these measures will be permanent unless you address your financial education. Once you can get back in control of your finances you will be the one earning interest from the banks, investing for your future and being stress free knowing you are on your way to a place few people ever reach.

It all starts with using the FREE to follow Control Freak tips on the website and blog throughout the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge.

The Beautiful British Takeaway

2008-05-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Week 5 : The Beautiful British Takeaways

You know the scenario all too well, you start out on Monday with a determined spring in your step, then by Wednesday you're feeling a little bit stressed out, the family are camped out in front of yet another midweek must watch football match and you're getting hot & bothered in the kitchen.

Then by Friday YOU want a night off to celebrate the end of another exhausting week, and so the family agrees that a takeaway is just what the doctor ordered. To cheers all round you order your Chinese / Indian Takeaway or pop to the local chippie and join the queue ( because there is always a queue on a Friday night ) and then for a family for four you fork out anything in the region of £ 20 -£ 30 on a takeaway.

Coincidence or not, the takeaway is next to the local off licence so you will call back for your takeaway in a little while and nip into the shop to buy a bottle of wine ( or 3 for a tenner ) to wash it all down with.

Now, I am not against the odd takeaway now and again, but my mini survey recently showed this as WEEKLY in many households, sometimes TWICE a week or more. I recently wrote an article about this challenge and my waistline, which is shrinking week by week as a result of just trimming my food bill.

If you think about the portion size of a takeaway ( which we eat whether we are male or female for some reason ) then you can see how by reducing the amount of huge takeaways you consume each month, one major benefit will be losing weight.

We are drawn to takeaways for the fast food factor, which by the time you get in your car, drive to the cash point, collect the takeaway, visit the corner shop then come back home is stretching the title of fast food a little far, they are fast food when you unwrap and eat none the less.

My idea of Fast Food was turned upside down for good on a visit to the Good Food Show LIVE at the NEC one year and witnessed Madhur Jeffrey cook curry and rice from scratch in less than fifteen minutes in front of the gathered, gob smacked audience. What's more, my sample tasted absolutely delicious and I have never thought about fast food in the same way since.

For the purpose of the challenge we are going to make a saving on two takeaways per month ( plus that £10 extra on each trip for the wine! )

That alone, using £20 per takeaway plus £10 for the wine, twice a month = a saving for the Freedom Payment of £ 60 per month.

Any savings that you make should be added to your Freedom Payment each month and used to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 3 Years or Less. Anything else & it simply will not work.

The Love Affair With The Mobile Phone

2008-05-01T23:47:00.000-07:00

I will be covering Mobile phone savings this week on the Pay Off Challenge, having watched Martin Lewis this week completely swamp Anne Diamond with savings she could be making, was hugely entertaining.

For some reason we have at least 3 or 4 phones per person per household in this country. Suffice to say I think that ranks as an obsession. I am not against Mobile phones ( although I am not 100% sure that excessive use is actually healthy ) but I realise the benefits they bring.
What struck me about the Martin Lewis "interview" with Anne Diamond's household bills was the belief on her face that all of her four children's mobile phone bills were hers to pay!

In the same breath this week comes s surge in complaints about uncontrolled mobile phone bill downloads with unexpected charges attached. If you are a user of Kids Money Packs then you will have already come across this, addressed this, made the savings and have the situation well under control.

For parents who insist on letting their children simply run up a mobile phone bill then complain to the phone company that the bill is too high, I would suggest you think about switching the emphasis to some sort of joint understanding with the mobile phone user that they cannot have a blank cheque each month called "their mobile phone bill". Ask yourself, do your children know how much they spend each month, then each year of what is usually your money on just mobile phones? Clearly Anne Diamond didn't.

May 1st 2008 & Choices Are Narrowing

2008-05-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

I tend to like The One Show on BBC1, it's around the time I take a break from the Internet to catch up with the family and it's nice light entertainment. Yesterday they were talking mortgages, and the choices still available for those seeking more security in these uncertain times.

The news today shows the continued slide in lending from the banks, not just for mortgages but for commercial lending too. ( BBC News earlier today ). There is a large percentage of the UK economy that relies on the movement of money, the question we all need to ask ourselves is what if there is less money moving?

As with all things, politicians or not, everyone has an opinion right now about the future of the economy and I do not know what goes in the Chancellors "inflation basket" that measures the 2% figure, but it certainly doesn't include anything I buy!

The UK economy has been booming on the back of borrowing, not enterprise, the only winners in the last 10 years have been the lenders. The next phase will inevitably be a correction in personal borrowing levels and an increasingly disgruntled workforce looking to employers to subsidise the high cost of living. I predicted a winter of discontent last year, I saw that phrase written in an article just this week.

All First Time Buyers Are Not Equal

2008-04-30T03:30:00.000-07:00

I read a comment yesterday from a potential first time buyer that was the first time I had seen someone write what I believe to be true about the reality of being a first time buyer in the UK today.
He or she ( who knows with these cryptic pen names ) wrote that without 100% mortgages a first time buyer looking at a property in the region of £165,000 is being asked for a 25% deposit or more to secure a reasonable mortgage rate.
To him or her that equates to £ 41,250 which is alarmingly more than double the annual wage in this country. They went on to write that this in no way reflects what any previous generation has faced and went on to point out that several years ago a 5% deposit on a £20,000 house was
£ 1000 and the average annual wage at the same time was around £14,000.
There were a significant amount of comments about young people should be "going without" for a while once they got their first home, but in my opinion this simply misses the point. Whereas £1000 deposit years ago was a reachable sum through saving, I do not know many young people with £ 41,250 in savings.
The UK used to be a nation of home owners, that is clearly changing rapidly.

Bank of Mum & Dad ? That's What You Call a Solution?

2008-04-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

I am a follower of Motley Fool, although I find some of the articles lack real content but I have never felt cause to comment on any until this morning. I like to keep up to date with business, money and the economy every morning and am following the trends of the credit squeeze which I feel simply has to get worse yet.

Then an email this morning from Motley Fool blunders in with 5 Tips for First Time Buyers, 4 out of the 5 were to ask your parents to help you out. The 5th was get a second job, although the article went on to not recommend that option. Needless to say I felt compelled to leave a comment about what was a completely useless article aimed at helping nobody in particular.

Having reached a stage in my life that I can concentrate on investing, I came to realise back in 1999 that financial education starts and finishes with one person - yourself. Just as it is not up to the Bank of England to bail the Banks out, everyone should invest in their own financial education and stop looking for someone else to give them a hand out.

The UK used to be a land of homeowners, this is clearly changing rapidly, let's hope we are better than a nation looking for a hand out.

Update on Teen Money

2008-04-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

As part of my campaign to raise awareness for the need to bring financial education into schools immediately to help stop the rot of the last decade, I have become a member of WIRE
which stands for Women in Rural Enterprise.

It comprises of 1000's of women members who join to provide a community of women in business thriving in rural and semi rural locations throughout the UK. I joined as a Mum & business owner myself to promote Kids Money Packs to a largely female audience.

After several months, meetings and networking, I realised there were some difficult situations for Mums with Teenage children and how to best handle the subject of money with them. The principles are almost exactly the same as Kids Money Packs, so we are currently working on Teen Money Manuals to help provide parents with a more consistent way to help prepare their Teenage sons and daughters for later in their young adult lives.

I will say, that Kids Money Packs are aimed at 6 to 12 year olds for a very good reason, TIME is on their side, but Teen Money can be put to good use straight away to help stop those terrible arguments parents seem to endure every weekend!

Why Should I Pay Off My Mortgage?

2008-04-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

There are financial experts who will give you very good reasons why you should never pay off your mortgage. However, with the daily headlines showing you every reason why you should at least give it a go; it seems fairly evident that in the not too distant future, the choice option you have now may well become a necessity.

I must admit, my own mortgage freedom was part of a plan to gain financial freedom. In order to concentrate on building wealth and gain financial freedom, I knew I would have to start with being debt free. That was my WHY factor that kept me going and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to accept that short term sacrifices in their mildest form are replaced in a few short series of months by long term gains month after month. To learn more about setting goals you can visit my website www.i-believe.co.uk

I can honestly say, I am not affected by any mortgage squeeze, housing price slide or indeed utility and food price increases because of being mortgage free.

The Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge is being revisited to raise awareness for the need to bring financial education into schools, sooner rather than later.

Week 4 - The Great Re-mortgage Debate

2008-04-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Week 4 : Friday 18th April 2008
The Great Re-mortgage Debate

Mortgages are simply large loans over a longer period of time that typically we use to buy a house ( or houses ) with. For whatever reason, we tend to think of them as some sort of thing that "everyone" has and therefore do not add it in to our personal debt total or indeed think of it as a debt in it's own right.

With the worry factor starting to kick in, you need to be aware that the savings to be made by remortgaging to a better deal can make a huge difference to your monthly finances. You can easily release £ 80 to £100 a month or more, depending on the size of your mortgage. Plus you save oodles in the long term interest savings.

Now this is where opinions differ to mine as most people looking to save money on their mortgage are looking to go aaaaaaaaahhhhhh! & breathe a little bit easier, after all utilities are rising, so is food, and now so are some mortgage deals!

The reason this challenge is ongoing is to show you week by week how you can use the savings you make to repay your mortgage in less than 3 years BUT to do this for the short time required ANY savings you make MUST be used to pay off your outstanding debts or the whole process will be wasted.

Those savings will sneak back into your current or bills account and be used on other things, you are not controlling the savings and directing them towards the whole aim of the challenge. Which deal? What Rate? It doesn't really matter if your goal is to:-

1. Save money by getting a better deal and .......
2. Use the savings you make to make additional payments.

The ultimate challenge is to add any extra money you make to the pot aswell and then you really start to see the some big figures.

For the purpose of this challenge I will use an average of £100 per month saved by getting a better mortgage deal. Whatever deal you choose should be one you can make extra payments to to reduce your mortgage and the interest charges being applied.

This whole challenge is being carried out week after week to show you that everyone can achieve success in their own mortgage freedom. It's not a "magic" formula, nor does it rely on eating baked beans on toast everyday.

It is perfectly within the reach of anyone who commits themselves to completing the challenge, arms themselves with the plan and simply implements the step by step formula that will lead to mortgage freedom.

Week 4 So How is it Going?

2008-04-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

Now lots of new people have been arriving on the site recently and maybe thinking what's the catch? Why would this woman be showing you how to pay off your mortgage in 3 years or less on the easy to remember site www.payoffyourmortgagein8yearsorless.co.uk

It's all a big free demo on putting thoughts and ideas into action, there is no catch other than to raise awareness for the need to bring financial education into schools sooner rather than later.

In my eyes the economic crisis, the housing price crash, the looming recession, the fear factor has very little to do with anything other than financial literacy; or lack of it. Up until recently the banks, governments and estate agents rather liked it that way, in fact they have been"filling their boots" with it for the last ten years.

They will be bailed out, that's for sure, and I don't know about you but I will never venture to a bank for financial advice ever in my life, talk about a vote of no confidence, they have just shown how inept they are by being bailed out.

What is left for the majority of people, who won't be bailed out ? Raise your financial IQ and check out the start of the Ebook coming your way, it's all the information you need to turn the way you think about property developing UPSIDE DOWN.

Feel free to say hello to me on facebook http://profile.to/dianecossie/ I'm human too!

Don't Compromise Style on your Quest for Mortgage Freedom

2008-04-18T05:12:00.001-07:00

Week 3 : Saturday 12th April 2008
Clothes, skincare and make up

Is shopping the most popular "hobby" in Britain? I should think it is somewhere near the top of the league. We seem a little obsessed, we even go on holiday to go shopping! I lost count of the number of Brits with shopping bags either side of them on a recent trip to Florida. The poor guy I was talking to at the airport was complaining all they had done for two weeks was shopping!

So we are a nation who love to shop, and clothes seem to have come down in price A LOT! Bargains are everywhere you look, from supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys to the hugely popular Primark, Matalan & Peacocks stores to name a few.

My mission - to shop for style ( in my eyes at least ) for less than £50 --
The Key Thing to Remember with this, is stick to neutral, classic cuts and colours, then accessorise!

Black high waist, partially lined well cut trousers £10
T-shirt ( white/grey metallic motif ) £ 4
Vest top ( white with grey glitter in the knit ) £4
Gun metal grey tunic top with scoop neck & slight puff sleeves £3
Crisp white shirt ( with stretch and black tie belt detail ) £ 5
Wide belt ( gun metal grey ) £ 3
Chunky necklace ( matches the belt to perfection ) £ 1
Multi chain necklace with diamante heart - silver colour £ 1.50
Grey/black/ivory swirl light weight scarf £1 (reduced!)
Silver over sized bracelet with huge "diamond" £ 3

Total spent £ 35.50

Next shop - Peacocks
Motif T-shirt ( pink with cute cat wearing a tiara ) £8
Silver chunky ring with huge "diamond" £ 3

Total spent £ 46.50 ( 12 items - average of less than £4 each)

As all the items mix & match I have loads of outfits to dress up & dress down and all for less than £50. I could have added a handbag for £ 3, a hat for £4 and shoes for £5 too. Paying off your mortgage in record time does NOT have to be difficult!

Skincare & makeup

With the internet being so useful to find some bargains in skincare & makeup I always check out Ebay first ( always check the postage & watch the sizes to make sure you don't end up with a trial size by mistake. ) For the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge I went to my favourite internet site at http://www.saveonmakeup.co.uk/

My bill came to around £15 for this ( all name brands by the way!)
Moisturiser , nail polish, mascara, lipstick, eyeshadow, eye liner and blusher!

Sorry for it being a bit "girlie" but it's exactly the same principles for men. Men's personal care products are one of the fastest growing industries at the moment.

The savings made here are more than half the average "spend" and for the purpose of the challenge I have recorded a modest saving of £100 per month, although in reality it is substantially more than that!

More next week!

Let's Get One Thing Clear About Debt Management

2008-04-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I visited a very large Debt Management Company at several locations over the space of a few months on business appointments.

The very nice offices, in very nice locations were BUSY with a capital B. They employed hundreds of people just to cope with the enquiry levels. There were levels of administration assistants BUSY contacting mail order companies, utility companies, writing letters, telephoning banks etc to "Deal With The Creditors" of their customers. These customers were looking for a solution to their financial problems and sought what they perceive to be experts who can help them. ( Not a bad thing you would argue, and not only that these companies employ people and keep them in much needed jobs, again not a bad thing at all & I wish them every success. )

So as I left the very BUSY building and passed the three PORSCHES of the Directors in the car park I learned an invaluable lesson. No-one can help you get out of a situation better than yourself. I was thrilled I kept my own destiny under my control and I am so thankful that I made the choice to re-work my finances myself because the pay back for doing so was not temporary, it was permanent and pays me back over and over again every single day.

Recommended as a way to get back in control of your finances by a National Newspaper Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom http://www.payoffyourmortgagein8yearsorless.co.uk/

Week 3 & the Running Total is over £12,000

2008-04-14T03:58:00.000-07:00

3 weeks ago on Saturday 29th March 2008, I donned my "mortgage free quest" cape once more and set about showing week by week exactly how to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 8 Years or Less. I am currently aiming at beating my own record of 3 years LIVE for people to follow.

If you can make 3 small changes that add up to £10000 over 3 years then you are just 11 small changes away from £140,000 in the same amount of time. It's not magic, it's maths. The reason people find it so hard to believe, or tap into why they even need to think about becoming mortgage free is living by " way it's always been" teachings that haven't actually worked for years.

There is no guesswork involved, you do not need to be an expert to see that the ( in my opinion ) irresponsible lending of the banks and in particular the credit card companies has left us a legacy of ten years of borrowing instead of 10 years of growth. ( I'm not talking politics here, I believe everyone has the right to their own opinion including politicians ) however unlike the 80's we have merely been able to buy a lifestyle rather than create it.

It all starts and ends with financial education, or lack of it, hence my campaign to raise awareness to the need to bring financial education into schools. You can leave your vote on the Kids Money section of the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge website if you feel the same way.

Week 2 of the Challenge : Thrifty's Utility Savings

2008-04-12T02:35:00.000-07:00

Week : Saturday 5th April 2008;
Utilities

Groan & moan as we do, you simply cannot avoid the dreaded ever increasing utility bills. As with an awful lot of other things these days, there seem to be more comparison sites than utility suppliers and it is difficult to know which one to choose.

Due to the fact these companies have millions of customers you will experience frustrating customer service WHOEVER you choose! You will also experience billing issues, mistakes and special offers, this is part of their immense systems built to deal with a huge customer base.

So simply look for the best deal which applies to you, ie it is no good simply going for a well known name if they charge the highest prices. If you want to speak to someone in 15 seconds ( in the UK ) then Utility Warehouse ( who have a relatively small customer base in comparison ) are very good. If you need a great deal on Gas, don't forget to include the cost of regular servicing. Check out Martin Lewis's Site for the best deals this week & make the switch this week from the UK's leading expert in money saving tips : martin's money saving tips website

The average saving is around £150 - £200 per year, although this is notoriously difficult to monitor with fluctuating prices, so I suggest you simply use the monthly saving as around £ 3 per week for your Freedom Payment purposes.

Remember, it is the process involved that it is important in this Pay off Challenge, some savings will be small, some huge & some in between, but they all add up to become very powerful in the longer term. ( You do not have to make this a way of life forever, the idea is to do this now, and receive the pay back forever. )

On the subject of utilities, I was drawn to the Utility Warehouse, not only as a way of combining all my utilities on one bill, mobile phone, home phone, gas, electric & broadband, but also because there is a residual income business opportunity attached to it. ( There are a lot of Piggy Symbol loving Distributors out there!)

Now this sort of thing causes diverse reactions, but it is worth a look if you are serious about passive income routes. I still receive a monthly income from this business and I haven't been active for over 2 years. Much in the same way that many of you will either agree or disagree with my choice of football team ( I'm have been a Manchester United fan for over 34 years ) you will either see a way of making a residual income or not, it does not matter which you see, there is no right or wrong answer. I have placed a link at the bottom of this page on the blogsite for those who wish to check it out and all I will say is that I still love having all my utility bills in one monthly bill so I am still a customer today.

Money 4 Life Becomes a New Way of Life

2008-04-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Money 4 Life is all about achieving a successful balance with your finances. It addresses the number one mistake most people make when it comes to managing their finances and how to correct it.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to managing their finances comes from years and years of out of date "teachings" that you must only ever start to invest with what money you have left over each month.

This contributes to the single most obvious reason why most people insist on living from Pay Day to Pay Day, and consequently end up saving to spend. Through the coming weeks of the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge in the Money 4 Life section, we will be adding income streams to our Pay Off Challenge "Totaliser".

These will be starting on Saturday April 26th 2008 when through the Carpe-Diem Ebook Reseller Site at http://www.mycarpe-diem.com/ we will create a website using the Profitmatic Website Builder ( http://www.1636124.profitmatic.com/ ) and show members a step by step way to create an Ebook & then sell it on the newly made site and record the profits on the Money 4 Life Totaliser.

We are hoping that as the weeks go by and you see the totaliser reaching huge figures by implementing a series of small changes, that anyone can follow; will give people the belief that they can become mortgage free, exactly as I have done in less than 3 years starting from now.

Week One £ 5832.00 in 3 years from £40 per week

2008-04-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

The difference between this saving money tip & other saving money tips is the power, discipline and decision to make the saving behind it.

If you simply make a saving for savings sake, then proceed to either simply spend the saving, save the saving or treat yourself with something else with the saving you are missing the point of the Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge.

In week one Thrifty's Tips from the supermarket revealed :

Week : Saturday March 29th 2008;

The Grocery Bill

We will cover this area more than once, as the subject matter is so huge. After most people's mortgage payment, the second highest monthly bill is that of our grocery bill. I have seen people part with £120 at the till every week plus they "top up" midweek, plus the takeaway!

1. Supermarkets sell convenience, not food! They carefully hide the bargains on the bottom right hand side of the shelves which is the last place "we look" naturally.

2. Check out the own brands, low priced basics such as tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, orange juice, bread, cereals and biscuits. They usually taste just as good. This saves at least £ 5 per week.

3. Always make a meal plan for each week & if your locality allows, have a home delivery ( this makes you focus on planning ahead and you can avoid those impulse buys at the till or on the "specials" aisle.) It saves around £20 per week cheaper even if you pay a delivery charge * some days are half price*

4. Never go food shopping when you are hungry. You will reach for a cake "as a special treat". Saving another £ 2 per week

5. Never "have a cup of coffee" whilst you are there ( we all usually shop at our nearest supermarket so a cup of tea at home costs less! ) Saving another £ 2 per week.

6. Buy in bulk items such as pasta and rice, they will always be a good "standby" and are much cheaper when bought in bulk. Saves another £ 1.50 per week.

7. Monitor how much "money" in food you throw away each week uneaten. Visualise this in pounds & see if you feel OK about it then. Saves yourself up to

£ 10 per week in wastage.

Total savings over one week £ 40.50

Over One year £ 1944.00

Over Three Years £ 5832.00

Now you can begin to see why this formula can be so powerful and why I took & executed this challenge in less than 3 years. I did the calculation over 5 years initially & when I understood that the average person earns over £1,000,000 in their lifetime it didn't take to long to focus on short term pain, long term gain.

The Real Power of Saving Money is Taking the Right Action

2008-04-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

We are extremely lucky in the UK to have such a People's Hero as Martin Lewis campaigning relentlessly about great money saving deals. The USA have Mary Hunt whose Cheapskate Monthly is an absolute gem.

I see Martin Lewis animated and passionate about the subject frequently on TV slots & I have followed the progress of the forum over the last 12 months as part of my research into why I managed mortgage freedom and so many do not.

Apart from finding out that part of my success was inline with the Law of Attraction's ruling, that putting debt on autopilot meant I could focus on wealth & prosperity instead, it was because of my continued effort & consistency to keep sending off those Freedom Payments.

I often draw the comparison that dieting & debt freedom are mysteriously closely linked, and if you have ever been a visitor of a slimming club, you will find that week in week out there are winners and losers of the week. There are a group who are going to "take it really seriously again" this week, or "start over again this month" and there are those who have reached their goal weight & tap into the group for support and motivation to keep the weight off.

The difference between the two is the winners take the right sequence of actions that create results.

Week two of The Pay Off Challenge will appear later on the site.

Money Smart Parents produce Money Smart Kids

2008-04-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

To me, children are just little people. They usually have far more imagination than adults and are far more open minded. It is only when we grow up that we get conditioned by our own paradigm that we struggle to dream big dreams. In the writing of Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom I was lucky enough to work with some very financially literate people and I noticed they usually had a family background that revealed they had financially smart parents.

They grew up with the subject of money from a very young age. It was this conditioning that put them on the fast track as an adult. This was the seed for Kids Money Packs.

Kids Money Packs offer parents an opportunity to help their kids learn this valuable information in a very easy to understand way. Available as a dowload from the website www.kidsmoneypack.co.uk you receive the Parents Guide, The Pay Day Agreement and the Kids Money Book ready to print and give your children a better chance at not becoming yet another of the UK's debt statistics of the future.
Best wishes, Diane

Tips on How to Teach Your Kids to Save Money

2008-04-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

A lot of teens nowadays do not understand the value of earning and spending money. They were not oriented that investing is necessary even if they are still students. As parents, you play a crucial role in this area.
You should be able to teach your kids on how to save money. They should be able to understand the concept of money and investment as early as childhood. This will prepare them to learn money management, as they grow old.
Here are some tips on how you can teach your children how to save money:
1. Your children should be educated of the meaning of money. Once your children have learned how to count, that is the perfect time for you teach them the real meaning of money. You should be consistent and explain to them in simple ways and do this frequently so that they may be able to remember what you taught them.
2. Always explain to them the value of saving money. Make them understand its importance and how it will impact their life. It is important that you entertain questions from them about money and you should be able to answer them right away.
3. When giving them their pocket money, you should encourage them that they should keep a certain amount for the future. You can motivate them to do this by telling them that the money can be saved and they can buy new pair of shoes or the toys they want once they are able to save.
4. You can also teach them to work for money. You can start this at your own home. You can pay them fifty pence to one pound every time they clean their rooms, do the dishes or feed their pets. This concept of earning a little money will make them think that money is something they have worked for and should be spent wisely.
5. You can teach them to save money by giving them piggy banks where they can put coins and wait until they get full. You can also open bank accounts for them and let them deposit money from their pocket money. You should always show them how much they have earned to keep them motivated.
Money and saving is not something that is learned by children in one sitting. You should be patient in teaching them and relating the value of money in all of their activities. Children will learn this easily if you are patient and consistent in guiding them and encouraging them in this endeavor.
Have a great 2008! Diane

The Nationwide Just Joined The GrowingThrong!

2008-03-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm not here to say I told you so, completely the opposite actually. Yesterday The Nationwide joined the growing throng of banks and building societies making it EVEN HARDER for first time buyers to ever own their own home in this country.

If you haven't got the message yet, 25% deposit is required in the year 2008 for low rate mortgages for first time buyers. The banks are not making as much money out of bad debts so they look for other ways to make their money instead!

Your children are in jeopardy, they haven't got a hope in hell when they grow up unless you are prepared to part with at least £100,000 of your own money, ask yourself over the weekend, exactly how well prepared ARE my children for the future.

Kids Money Packs - give you an idea on how to do something for the next generation before it's too late.
Until next rant, as always Diane

Fast Forward to March 2008 & The Challenge!

2008-03-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

At the start of this year, I has no concept on how quickly the headlines would swing to the doom & gloom predictions that fill every inch of the financial pages of the news both online & offline.

Knowing the short comings of merely "reading a book" and hoping things will change, we decided to use the internet, a website and a blog to SHOW people just how much more in control of their own destiny they actually are.

If the predictions of Robert Kiyosaki & Donald Trump come true, most people have just 2-3 short years to "rework their financial thinking" before things turn from difficult to near impossible. The predictions include the disappearance of the "middle classes" and a stock market crash in 2010 that will be worse than 9/11.

So for anyone up for a positive change for the better, we suggest you stick to the Control Freak Recipe like glue, arm yourself with our products and follow what we do over the coming months as we DEMONSTRATE a live attempt at Paying Off a "Mortgage" in Less Than 3 Years starting from ZERO on Saturday March 29th 2008.

Welcome!

2008-03-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hello & welcome to Control Freak "Central", hub of the exciting Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge and Blog of all the action we cover on a week to week basis.

We hope you enjoy your visit today and we would like to invite you to join our Pay Off Your Mortgage Challenge and take firm control of your future destination.

On our a main website at http://www.payoffyourmortgagein8yearsorless.co.uk
you will find our full range of products, our current "Thrifty the Squirrel" Freedom Payment Builder, our latest "Top Dog" tips, and of course more about Kids Money Packs, our ground breaking product aimed at introducing a consistent way for parents to introduce simple money management techniques to their children.

Don't Miss A Single Thing --- 2008 Just Got Very Exciting!

Kids Money gets the Dollar Thumbs Up!

2008-03-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! Kids Dollars is underway - aiming to spread the message round the globe. There really are no shortage of parents needing to find a better way to consistently introduce simple money management to their children.

Some of our articles are now being published in various article directories and the buzz continues to grow.

My apologies for one of early Kids Money Pack owners, Alex who has successfully saved up for his first Next Special Thing only to find that the money box we provided was large enough to take a £2 coin in the slot - but was impossible to retrieve it out the bottom!

Maybe there is a good reason why we went digital instead! Alex had to sacrifice the money box in favour of being able to buy his Next Special Thing with his own money!
Well done Alex - we are very proud of you!
Until next time Diane

Must read Robert Kiyosaki book Rich Kid Smart Kid

2008-03-03T05:34:00.000-08:00

Rich Kid Smart Kid written by the amazing Robert Kiyosaki is targeted straight into the reason why Kids Money Packs are so important. The title of his book, Rich Kid Smart Kid goes on to say - Giving Your Child a Financial Head Start. This brilliant author, famous for the thought provoking Rich Dad, Poor Dad is the reason why I came to understand that "the good old days" and the "it's what we have always done" ideas belong in a museum.

An excerpt from the book, Rich Kid Smart Kid says:-

"Is it possible that every child is born with the potential to be rich and smart? There are some people who think it is possible and there are other who don't. The first part of this book is dedicated to protecting that possibility for your child."

Learn the new rules - money may not be everything - but it's right up there with oxygen! Buy a copy from Amazon Now or direct from www.richdad.com

Enjoy! Best Wishes Diane

BBC Radio 4 News Item - Who Is Doing Anything for The Kids?

2008-02-21T06:12:00.000-08:00

It always amuses me when someone pops up somewhere on the radio and announces "There is a problem here!"

They then go on to declare who is going to help the schools to help children learn finances?

Wow! It's only taken about 3 years campaigning so far to get ZERO results. We wrote to Tony Blair, and we were passed on to the Education Department to be told that this is an educational problem to be addressed through schools.

As there is no current education on money management in schooling, this leaves the subject matter completely and inadequately laid bare, without a care it would seem in the world.

So I am heartened that at least last week, someone somewhere was trying to make a difference too!

The only concern is that it will be sending in IFA's to help teenagers and students cope with their debts, which is pretty much the same as crashing your car then taking driving lessons.

My mission as I say is to change a nation, because that is what it will take to stop the current high speed train most people are on racing it's way towards a crash barrier!

Until next time! Kind regards Diane ( Thanks to Nadine for her lovely comment this week!

Members Site is in pre-launch

2008-02-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hi, I have been burning the candle the candle at both ends trying to get all current projects under control and completed to first editing stage.
Suffice to say I have managed it and the members site is at pre-launch phase at :-
www.mycarpe-diem.com

It will be an exciting addition to our business, which will bring the information to life, plus all the back up you require to make sure you stay focused on your goals until you reach them.

I'm still working on the bonus items for joining and there is a special discount for those waiting on the pre-launch date of February 18th 2008.

Until next time!
To your positive success
Diane

Do Your Childen Value What You Give Them?

2008-02-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting encounter this week with a familiar scenario. A parent was puzzled when their small child seemed to disrespect their own belongings which then spiralled into a full scale war of words about the parents exclaiming something along the lines of " I work very hard for the money that bought you that! Don't just throw it on the floor! Pick it up!"

Perplexed, angry and frustrated, it is all too familiar a story. The way in which a large percentage of parenting has evolved into is the all too familiar lack of showing children that money really does not grow on trees.

The amazing thing is that whilst as parents we expect ourselves to get up at the crack of dawn, gather everything for the day, do a hard days graft for in most cases precious too little money, it NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME that the thought that your children should do something similar ie effort = reward does not even cross their minds. For some inexplicable reason we think we should just give them everything they want.

I have seen this behaviour in "children" as old as 27 and above, still present, still looking for someone to Give them things! It is so vital that you address this early in life - believe me, children are a lot better equipped at 6 to 12 years old to change than later in life!

Until next week, Kind regards Diane

We Will Be Moving to a New Site Shortly!

2008-01-28T04:53:00.000-08:00

We are currently working behind the scenes like lunatics to get ready the members site for anyone wishing to have a helping hand in understanding how to get the most out of this wonderful life.

Whether you are already in business, thinking of starting a business, we have plenty of things at hand to help.
Personal Finances are our speciality and we have new ways as a club member to help show how you can learn to manage money as effectively as a millionaire!
Our core life skills section will enhance your life, by goal setting, master planning and motivational goods and products we aim to coach you all the way to success.

We are all set for the launch of the first USA product launch & we have added some bonus chapters to Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom. If you want the bonus chapters for FREE simply email me at info@controlfreakltd.co.uk and I will be happy to oblige.

To your success! Diane

Try Some Positive Thinking for a Change!

2008-01-21T03:28:00.000-08:00

It's another Monday morning, the sky is - grey & raining, pay day is still too far away to even be close and the cheery news & papers are full of more daily doom & gloom!

Or - It's another fresh week, with my New Years Resolutions going according to plan. It is raining today, but at least it isn't snowing, I haven't read the papers yet, just the sports pages because they make me feel more positive ( plus my favourite team won again! ). So all is good on this great morning!

Annoying as it may be to some doom merchants, I concentrate on my positive attributes, because a positive thought is 100's of times more powerful than a negative one.

If you shift your mood from negative to positive, you immediately feel better, and when you feel better - more positive things come your way.

Do yourself a favour - sing at the top of your voice in the car to your favourite song on your way to work & you will FEEL more energised for the day!

Until next week, ( more news on the Club Membership soon )
To your positive success! Diane

Vision Boards 2008

2008-01-14T02:09:00.000-08:00

Well another Christmas has come and gone, the New Year celebrations seem ages ago and it all seems to suddenly "get back to normal". I happen to love Mondays, ( I know that may seem crazy!) but I love the feeling of having a whole week ahead of me, it is the most positive day of the week!
Every New Years Day to me is like the biggest Monday of all time, not only do I get a buzz from having a fresh new week, I have a fresh whole year ahead of me!
This year we have introduced Vision Boards to the site, which to the uninitiated may seem pointless, however I start every New Year with a clear vision of what I would like to achieve this and every year. I know I will achieve more than most people can and do because I have a clear vision on my Vision Board.
If you look at your Vision Board every day you have clarity in your mind, you get less distracted and achieve more.
Think of it this way - if you don't have clarity - you have confusion!
To your sucess! Diane

Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom Revised Version

2008-01-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on a revised version of Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom, a promotional article was recently published conveying some of the motivational ways in which the Control Freak Recipe Formula powers it's way through rapid credit card reduction and your repayment mortgage.

The two bonus chapters will reveal more of about why I used the recipe to such great success, plus we will include a quick start section a the back to make sure you are up and running as soon as possible.

Further products added to the original site are

Control Freak a Way to make extra revenue from Adsense and a

Guide for Newbie Internet Businesses.

Both are excellent sources of the tools you will need if you see yourself making money online in the future. If you start studying now, in January you could be working from home in the Summer!

Also coming soon will be a new membership site, plus some more great information headed your way.

I love Mondays - they are my favourite day of the week!

Kind regards Diane

Does Money Really Grow on Trees?

2008-01-07T05:59:00.000-08:00

I have to say my life is so enjoyable I chuckle at anything & everything. It never ceases to amaze me with what people come up with as answers to how they talk about money ( which most do not by the way ) with their children and there are a variety of common answers.

One that keeps cropping up especially after Christmas is rather worrying and it's the one where children really do seem to think money grows on trees, or perhaps not trees exactly but because from their point of view it comes EASILY and FREQUENTLY they do not seem to attach any thoughts about effort and reward.

In the "old days" ( and I'm not that old myself) we were brought up to realise that you exchanged something in return for receiving money and you never forgot to say thank you. All too often these days I see no effort on the children's part to have money come their way,it's usually just handed to them on a plate by their kind hearted, hard working busy parents. Next time you feel compelled to simply silence a request for what is basically a "hand out" - find a way in which to involve your child in the process that in order to receive the money they must first offer to do something of value before they receive it.

Until next time, best wishes Diane

Hi I'm Diane Cossie and thankfully I'm a Complete Control Freak!

2008-01-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Blog!

At last I can convey the thoughts behind the company through this amazing technology. I can only ask that you understand that I am on your side. It really is my mission in life to take complicated "things" of all descriptions and turn them into easy to understand straight forward solutions.

It all started with Control Freak a Recipe for Debt Freedom. aaahhhhh! ( I have such a soft spot for this one.)

If you are looking for common sense solutions to every day problems, then you are most likely to find them at www.controlfreakltd.co.uk

This is my first Blog of many, check back on a regular basis, one thing I never do is stand still for very long!

Kindest regards Diane Cossie

What Does 2008 Have in Store for You?

2007-12-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas Day was once again full of laughter, fun and way too much food! It was an early start for most parents with young children as the excitement and the build up to Christmas tends to spill over into light sleeping and frenzied anticipation of hearing sleigh bells ringing delivering gifts from their Wish List. All too often the pre-Christmas time seems so much more exciting than the real thing. The budget usually gets pushed beyond original intentions and by the time three bin bags of excess Christmas Gift boxes and packaging have been filled, you usually feel somewhat deflated as to what all the fuss was about in the first place.
Christmas cheer soon takes on a reality check somewhere after the New Years Eve Party and you start literally counting the cost of Christmas. If the cost of Christmas has been funded yet again by credit cards then 2008 can suddenly seem less of a Happy New Year and suddenly feel like "yet another year of the same old thing".
Whatever your plans are for 2008, make sure you start with a properly prepared Christmas 2008 - start thinking about it in January. Our Kids Money Packs don't just teach children good money habits, they usually have a profound effect on their parents!
It is without doubt that children form life long habits from their parents intially and this can be the only influence when it comes to money habits, as the subject is not taught in schools. So take a moment to think that if you just struggled your way through yet another Christmas - you are probably dooming your children to a lifetime of the same.
If you truly want to clear credit cards in the fastest time possible, get a copy of Control Freak A Recipe for Debt Freedom here www.payoffyourmortgagein8yearsorless.co.uk

If it is better money management and budgeting ( the way Millionaires do ) then get a copy of Money for Life here www.controlfreakltd.co.uk

I am so excited about 2008, I jump for joy just thinking about it - how do you feel about it?
Kind regards
Diane

Merry Christmas 2007

2007-12-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to one and all. As another year draws to a close, it's a great time of year to reflect on 2007 and make plans for 2008. Remember to spend quality time with your family over the Christmas Holidays, the most treasured memories are moments that you share. Your children will remember the day you played Monopoly with them more than what they opened on Christmas morning. It is becoming increasingly important to make sure quality time is shared with all the latest gadgets taking away from traditional family values. It is still thankfully one of the rare occassions that all family members gather round the dining table to enjoy a feast together in celebration of Christmas. What a great opportunity to look into the glistening eyes of children's excitement on the day and remember what it is like to look forward to something so much you can hardly sleep at night.

2008 can be a fantastic year, it really is what you make it. Most of us set out a goal for the coming year, but very few of us set out a plan for the future. Make sure you think past the next 12 months when it comes to your children's future. Add up the cost of Christmas this year and take a moment to fast forward to Christmas 2017 - what plans have you got in place now that leave you prepared for the cost of that Christmas.

Best wishes for a healthy, prosperous New Year, Diane

Wow I Wish I Had This When I Was a Kid!

2007-12-18T05:53:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up my parents gave me a money box for my savings, I had a National Savers account at The Post Office, a paper round and not a clue about compound interest. Luckily as a scholar of life with a fascination for philosophy and a follower of The Secret I have through study, trial and error formed a natural tendancy for problem avoidance and a wealth of knowledge about money management.
It is with deep sorrow that I read today's headlines showing shoppers are nervous of spending, their homes are starting to devalue and there is suddenly an ill wind of worry and doubt sweeping through a large part of the population. the crazy thing as I see it is that the whole "worry" issue can be avoided completely if you learn that compound interest plus time = a financially secure future. The reason for the blog title is simply this - your children have time on their side and I know if I really had got a Kids Money Pack at a young age I would have saved myself and my family an awful lot of worry, pain and sleepless nights. Best wishes Diane

Conspiracy Theory or Not Banks Are Making a Killing from Financial Ignorance

2007-12-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

It cannot be a coinicidence that the apparent withdrawal of prominent young savers schemes has added to the demise in the so called "credit crunch". It was not that long ago that you could not walk down a high street without seeing a "We Welcome Young Savers Sign" in banks and building societies. Our tests revealed that out of 9 random visits only 1 had a leaflet for young savers on display.
Conspiracy theory or fact - you decide. If this country continues to operate in the dark in basic financial literacy by the time your children reach 18 they will more than likely be completely unprepared to handle the credit cards, store cards and student loans that suddenly head their way. Which has been the case for too long already.
Have you ever thought banks might like it this way - if we continue being uneducated in financial terms the banks can charge us interest. If you grow up knowing that compound interest is what the banks should be PAYING you in the long term - then it is you that regains what is rightfully yours.
This post appears today, the day it is revealed that over 1 million homeowners in the UK will not be paying their mortgage this month because of Christmas. Surely it is time the tide turned.

How Consistent are you being with your Kids & Money?

2007-12-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

IS THIS SCENARIO FAMILIAR?

Having listened to a group of Mums recently discussing the subject of money with their children a message seemed to be coming across over & over again.
The same message is why your children will not grow up with any knowledge about money management and it is because as parents we tend to do the same tired old thing— we let them use OUR money to buy things instead of using their own. Now children will usually fall into one of two categories—they will either be hoarders or spenders. Some will have no money left 24 hours after pocket money day & others will not have spent a penny of their OWN money for weeks, months, sometimes even years.

Now whilst we are on the surface being kind hearted, two things usually follow:- the first is that we are guilty of not actually TEACHING anything by this behaviour and secondly we are very rarely absolutely consistent with this approach.

For example :- It’s your child’s disco at school, it only happens a couple of times a year, it costs £1 plus your child will need some money for drinks and food when they are there. It is just after pay day, you can relax for the next few weeks and you have some surplus income, so you say to your child,

“here’s the £1 to get in plus here’s another £ 2.50 to have some treats when you are there, maybe you can even treat your best friend.” Your child says WOW, he/she is more happy & off they go.

SAME SCENARIO but one big difference—it is 7 days AWAY from pay day when the next disco comes round. Now you have already not only been great about the entrance fee, but you gave them a little “extra” last time. Your child runs in from school—comes straight up to you smiling ( because it was such a good experience last time ) and says “ Can I have £ 3.50 to go to the disco tonight please?”

I am not a betting person, but I would put money on you not repeating what you did last time, the phrase” What do you think I am , made of money?” usually appears in there somewhere, or “How many more discos are there to go to?” may be your reaction , but you can begin to see where our inconsistent approaches to money with our children begin to emerge.

By using our principles, that are easily applied, this sort of occurrence should become a thing of the past.

Stop being too kind hearted when it comes to buying your children everything, especially if you insist ( or worse still; they insist ) that they do not spend their own money. Of course given the choice they will spend yours! Not only that it will become a life time habit—a computer game today £39.99—a car when they are older £ 2500—they WILL not see any difference, unless you start to apply these principles. Your children will appreciate knowing these skills forever.

Kind regards
Diane

UK's first site about money management for kids!

2007-12-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

2007 / 12 /06

The new site is the first of it's kind aimed at introducing simple money management for kids. In the USA when a child is born - they think college fund, when a child is born in the UK - they think education is free. If education is free why is there so much student debt?
So I am out to change the way an entire nation thinks - introducing a ground breaking concept for parents - Kids Money Packs

www.kidsmoneypack.co.uk

When Was The Last Time You took Your Children to a Bank?

2007-11-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

Simple question isn’t it ? Does your child actually know what it looks like? Is your child aware of what banks & building societies do?

Within the principles that we hold as founders of Kids Money Packs we encourage parents to actively take their children to their chosen bank or building society so that children understand what they do.
One of the most successful self made millionaires in Canada, T.Harv Eker tells a story about how he & his wife take their children every month to the bank to deposit their money into their six accounts!. Now if it is good enough for him, it is good enough for all of us and it makes sense too. Children are very curious and learn very quickly. I remember when I was around 11 years old, I decided I would like to work in a bank, that became my first job. It was also before banks went from being people to being machines, but that is another story.

Take some time to explain to your children the importance of compound interest and explain that there are accounts that actually PAY YOU more money if you have an account with them. Watch their eyes light up when they hear the words “PAY YOU MORE MONEY”. Make it a habit now and it will become a lifetime skill.

Regards

Diane