Money Coach or Predatory Coaching?

The sad truth about the times we live in is that there are people out to make an easy dollar and do not care who stands in the way to stop them.  As I am writing this I have in mind a particular site that comes to mind that involves Lynnette Khalfani-Cox who is a proclaimed Money Coach.  I looked at her credentials and she has authored a few books and apparently has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Redbook, Essence, and on CNN, FOX Business, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, The Tyra Banks Show, The Rachael Ray Show and on The 700 Club.

Not too shabby I would say but then I came across her web site that clearly states she is not a registered investment advisor and the information provided should be considered educational in nature, but it is not a substitute for legal or professional financial advice.  After reading this disclaimer at the bottom of the web site which primarily no viewer makes it to this peaked my curiosity.

I found her blog and read how she is having a teleseminar today and the cost is just $19.95 for 90 minutes for Ms. Khalfani-Cox to inform individuals how to handle creditors, get out of debt, deal with collectors, etc.  She is charging $19.95 per person for answers that can easily be found through simple search engine queries.  I couldn’t help myself but respond to her post with the following:

 I love how you have a disclaimer on your site stating The Money Coach is not a registered investment advisor and the information provided on this web site should be considered educational in nature, but it is not a substitute for legal or professional financial advice.

Yet you want people to sign up for a teleseminar for just $19.95. Are you kidding me? You make that disclaimer on the front of your .net web site and then you’re seriously asking people to pay money to hear information that is readily available on the Internet for… FREE!!! Wow!

Now I’m still waiting for her response but people use some common sense.  A lot of the information that these so-called “Money Coaches” use can be found through searches on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.  Getting out of debt takes discipline, common sense and commitment.  Discipline to control your spending and pay your bills, common sense not to get ripped off by bad purchases or buying items you cannot afford and the commitment to follow through with getting out of debt.  There was no charge for that advice it was just simple “use your noggin” values.

Problem Solvers or Excuse Makers?

I believe that we live in the greatest country known to man.  We live in a country where we have the freedom to write the story of our lives.  Some people diligently develop novels of success while others fail to see past themselves and the negative consequences of their own decisions.  I have written before that the poorest of the poor in the United States are living more comfortable than many citizens throughout the world.

As I have written prior to when it comes to the world of Student Loans I have no mercy for those individuals who suck the system for every penny they can get and then decide that hey it’s not fair.  Its predatory lending how could they expect me to pay x dollars back? 

I wonder how some of these people survive in the real world.  I read their stories one after the other and they even have support groups to pat each other on the back and say it’s alright not to pay your debt.  It’s not your fault it’s the mean ole Government’s fault.  Sadly some of these people did not do the necessary research before signing up for school while others obtained their degrees and then became shocked at their inability to make money.  Seriously who thinks they’re going to be able to pay back $50,000 on an artist salary?  What about the teacher who is agitated because of the lack of pay?

I look at the accomplishments I have obtained in my life and each one had nothing to do with luck or being rich or whatever excuse these people come up with.  I busted my butt to get my degree.  I worked full time and went to school full time so I could provide a better life for my family.  I feel content paying back my student loans because what I have been able to reap the benefits of.  Yet there are people who want to have a pity party for them talking about how their choice to take out a student loan is preventing them from having kids, living life to the fullest, yadda yadda yadda.

I have student loan debt, I have a family, I am providing for my family.  I know many people who are doing the same thing as me.  Paying back a debt that truly bettered their life.  There are two kinds of people truly in the world, problem solvers and excuse makers.  I find these members of groups who want to avoid paying their debt to comprise the latter part.

How smart are these people with their support groups?  I have yet to stumble across a “support group” for those individuals who have paid their obligation.  Yet these individuals who bleed the system for what they can get refer to those who meet their obligations as “rich, lucky, insert adjective here.”  I’m delighted and saddened by this great country that we live in.  Delighted because all of the opportunities and saddened at how so many people try to exploit these advantages.  What a great but sad world that we live in.

Spending Going Up Approval Going Down

President Obama called for his latest “major new burst of federal spending” trying to jolt the wobbly economy into a stronger recovery and decrease the double-digit unemployment.  Obama made a comment that was rather shocking as he suggested our country simply has had to spend our way out of this recession.  I have never in my life fallen out of the grasp of debt by spending more money.  In fact the more I spend the more I lose yet the Messiah feels we’re just gonna have to keep shelling out the money.  For what, a deficit greater than $12 trillion dollars, are you serious Mr. President?

Though I believe the quote of the day comes from Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire,

“At least the president’s proposal will result in one new job — he’ll need to hire a magician to make this new deficit spending appear fiscally responsible,…”

Obama uses feel good terms like giving back to Main Street but seriously who believes he is going to follow through with his “commitments”?  The unemployment rate has shot upwards like a space rocket and I am reminded of the stories I heard growing up of the Jimmy Carter era.  It seems that Carter and Obama are actually the same individuals just living in different eras. 

One of the headliners I viewed on the Drudge Report states that Obama has the lowest approval rating of any President within their first year of office.  It seems like Obama is creating some elite credentials for himself that no one would want to be a part of.  Even Jimmy Carter scored higher at this point in his Presidency than Obama, its Jimmy freaking Carter.

For those who voted the man into office I hope like hell you are getting the “hope” and “change” you wanted.  It seems the administrations campaign slogan has successfully carried over into Obama’s first year.  The American nation is hoping that change will come soon but I believe we are seeing the best of the best as it is only going to get worse under Messiah Obama.

Ms. Shuster The Piker

What could you do with $100,000? What could you do if that $100,000 only required you write an essay containing 480 words and was written at Microsoft Word readability statistics of grade 10.6? Well I would think this would be a really good accomplishment especially if you beat out 40,000 other hopefuls. Chances are you might go to a local community college, a 4 year state school or in the case of Yelena Shuster you would go to Columbia University.

That’s right you would take your $100,000 attend a phenomenal school in the Eastern United States receive your degree and then bitch blog about how horrible it is to have an Ivy League education and unemployed.  I think back to the thousands of people that I have met throughout my high school and collegiate days and I cannot help but ponder what they would have been able to accomplish with that extra $100,000 just laying around.

This goes back to the issue I have of people and money and now with student loans. This individual won $100,000, she won an amount from an essay that sadly some people in our country will never at one instance in their life see yet she has the audacity to write about how bad it is to be her. Cry me a river especially when you come into the fortunate opportunity Ms. Shuster had. I have no respect for her and sadly she and I are from the same generation pool but the difference is I know how to pull myself up by the bootstraps.

Hey I just checked out the stats for my post, over 250+ words and written with a readability statistic of 12.0, this should be good enough for $60,000, right? Wrong. To the people like Ms. Shuster get over yourself and when you do that get a j-o-b. She, like many others, need to realize that she chose her education and her future is from the decisions she makes today. Maybe if she would spend more time focusing on getting a job and less time on blogging she could turn her blog title to Ivy League and employed dot com.  Just a thought. 

$100,000 Victory

Here’s a thought: Owe a debt, Pay it

I have been surfing the Internet today while watching the Alabama-Florida game and I came across an interesting website.  This site is Student Loan Justice Dot org and I decided to write out the name rather than link up to the site.  I have student loans and I am paying them even when I was unemployed and on a much smaller income I was paying my student loans.

Apparently this is a site that is dedicated purely to student loan borrowers who feel the loan industry is just as predatory as the housing industry.  I have empathy in that I understand where some of these people are coming from as far as taking out large loans as an 18 year old kid and not knowing what your future holds.  With that said though I do not have sympathy for these individuals.

When I took a pay cut to find employment well over a year ago I quickly realized that I had to add some other kind of work to supplement the missing income my family was accustomed to.  What did I do?  I went a got another part-time j-o-b.  How did that work out for me?  Well the part-time gig enabled me to not only pay my student loans, but to also provide private insurance coverage for my family.

I hate going back to the societal issues but the truth remains that we have some lazy people who are purely irresponsible.  The United States Department of Education did not tell me what school I had to go to, nor do they tell anyone else, but just like anything else if you take money out through a loan you’ve got to be prepared to pay it back.  Again I have empathy for these people but I do not have sympathy for those individuals within our society who are probably living next door.

Delayed Gratification Can Save You Money

There has been one question lately that I have been thinking about primarily because of a Dave Ramsey workbook that I am contemplating is what would you do with one million dollars? Imagine someone coming up and handing you a check with 6 zeroes behind the 1 and how would you spend it? Would you give a portion away? Would you blow it? Would you invest it, what exactly would you do?

In that same workbook was a statistic from another book stating that highly successful people tend to be more proactive than others. If you, like I have found myself in the past, are more reactive when it comes to your money then how likely are you to keep the million dollars within 1 year? Within 3 years? Within 10 years?

The answer may surprise you as many people who come into money go out of money because of poor spending habits. Let’s face it the society we live in is based primarily on the instant gratification rule. Meaning if I want something I want it now and when I say now I mean yesterday. I have found myself to be guilty of making snap judgments when it comes to the world of money. Those quick decisions have typically led me to a dead end battle to wage on in this thing we call life.

I look at delaying the decision making processes on wants to be fruitful and rewarding. Normally what I would view as a gotta have, well, that feeling subsides within 24-48 hours and I find myself being relieved that I did not give in to a spur of the minute budget breaking expenditure.

Savior Obama Keeps Trying To Get It Right

Savior Barack Obama and his administration have planned new efforts on battling foreclosures and helping people remain in their homes. The objective is to increase the rate at which troubled home loans are converted into new loans with lower monthly payments. I can hear the people singing and dancing in the streets right now how they taught the government a lesson.

What that lesson is I am not for sure but I have continuously heard people say if I can’t pay my bills then President Obama will help me out. I was watching a local news station and a woman proudly announced, “President Obama will help me with my mortgage.” I couldn’t help but think to myself are you crazy? Are you that nut? 

My parents taught me that it takes responsibility to live an achieving life. Stay within your means, do not rely upon credit cards, pay cash were common methods my dad wanted to instill in me. So my entire thought philosophy goes against what Savior Obama is preaching.

Somebody help me understand as he is rewarding bad behavior. Oh YOU took out a loan that YOU couldn’t afford and YOU expect the government to help YOU out. There are tons of excuses from predatory lending to unemployment but what about the people who are paying their bills? What about the people who have done whatever it takes to make sure their necessities and creditors are paid? Obama forgets about them because it’s easier for many people to ask for a handout than to pull themselves up by the boot strap. What’s Obama get out of this? It’s not being a Savior but his reward comes at the ballot booths in votes. The more he gives away the more likely he is to lock up more votes even though he hasn’t accomplished truly anything in the near year he has been in office.