Well, here’s the dealio.

When it comes to health and fitness in this world, there are three types of people.

The first just doesn’t care enough to ever learn anything that will work for the long term.

They’ve never really made an effort to be healthy in their life, other than maybe the occasional battle with a trendy diet they saw on Dr. Phil, or an elliptical machine that was promised to be all they needed to roll Hollywood style.

They have no hope, nor do they really care to.

The second has a chance at this whole living healthy thing.

They’re athletic enough to be dangerous, and know a decent enough to understand what they should be doing. They even get to the gym and play a few sports now and again. But they struggle with the motivation necessary to stick to it, and thus don’t achieve long-term results.

The third is addicted to health and fitness. It’s their life. These are your personal trainers, nutrition coaches, and meat/granola heads that absolutely cannot live without working out and eating well. Health and fitness is like going to the grocery for them. It’s just part of life.

I Like Krispy Kremes

As much as I would like to say I hit the gym four times a week and haven’t walked into a Krispy Kreme my entire life, I know that’s not true, and it never will be. I like a donut now and again.

Truthfully, I have no real desire to be that way either.

Don’t get me wrong. I love health and fitness and understand the benefits quite well just as well as a lot of folks in this kind of crew, but it’s not a burning part of my soul like it is theirs. I don’t absolutely need it in my life to live the way I want to. It’s just not how I am.

What Group Are You In?

Me?

I’m in the second group.

I’m the dude who works out a couple of times per week, still plays sports fairly well and can run 10 miles and roll Paleo to drop some much needed body fat when needed. But I’m not necessarily looking to be the top finisher in that 10-miler or cut out ice cream sandwiches from my diet for the rest of my life.

And I would be willing to bet you’re somewhere in that same boat too.

You understand health and fitness better than that person next to you eating gluten free fruity pebbles, but you may not necessarily care to run the Ironman (although I do recommend volunteering if you ever get a chance – and look me up).

Feel 100% free to correct me if I’m wrong and share your method to staying healthy. Of course not everyone operates in the same mindset.

Your Self Improvement Challenge

My point with all of this is that something is better than nothing.

Here’s the tough thing with being stuck in this archetype of health and fitness.

Often times a lot of people will rationalize not working out or eating nutritiously some of the time, because they look at people like those in group three and say “There’s no way I could do all of that. Why bother?”

Look at it this way. Even if you can only run a mile, or even if you only eat one healthy meal per day, you’re still doing infinitely better than that person who didn’t bother because they couldn’t take it all the way.

Maybe some day you’ll find the motivation to be a fitness junkie like the folks in group there, and hey, maybe I will too, but for now… just get started with something.

You’ll be a lot better off than you were before.

Academy Success

This is a guest post by Michael Jones of Beacon Financial Training. His views don’t necessarily reflect the views of Academy Success, but he does have some pretty good advice

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Being broke at the end of the month – almost everyone knows the feeling. You get paid, and immediately go out and buy all the things you’ve been longing for since your bank account dried up. A new jacket or pair of shoes. The latest video games. Tickets to that upcoming concert.

Many people today have a ‘spend now, worry later’ approach to their personal finances. It’s a sort of detrimental ‘you only live once’ attitude to spending.

With a little thought and preparation, you won’t have to be tightening your belt in the week before payday – turning down opportunities to socialize with friends or family, conjuring lame excuses to miss that hot date, and eating nothing but Ramen noodles for seven days straight.

It’s all about organization, discipline, honesty, and, above all, responsibility.

Get Organized

First of all, you need to organize your finances, and you don’t have to be a regular Captain Clipboard to do it. It’s a matter of splitting your money, your monthly salary, into three components.

First, there are your standard financial obligations. This includes your phone bill, your gym membership, utility bills in your home – the sort of expenses that, if not the same every month, you can predict to some degree of accuracy.

Second, there are the things you have to buy or pay for that can tax your wallet to varying degrees every month. This mostly includes the money you spend on food and other household necessities – in other words, the contents of your shopping cart.

Third, you have your leisure spends, the money you set aside for personal pursuits – basically, the things you really want but don’t necessarily need.

To begin, you should make a basic chart listing all of your outgoings that fall into the first category. With these strung in a coherent manner, the collective cost added up, what you’re left with is your basic spending allowance for the month.

With the money remaining – it could range from anywhere between a fifth to half of your total monthly earnings, depending on how much you earn and how much your standard outgoings come to – you need to set some aside for buying in your groceries, cleaning products, shampoos, razors, and anything else you think you’ll require.

Look at your past shopping receipts to get an idea of how much you’ll spend every week. If you haven’t kept any, don’t panic; just make a shopping trip and keep a tabs on how much you’re spending. Use that as an average for the overall month.

What you’re left with can be spent in your personal time. Excursions with friends, gifts for loved ones, or the latest comic or video game. How do you keep yourself from spending it all in one go?

Ninja Discipline

When your conscience tells you, ‘Don’t buy that, it’ll leave you with hardly any money later in the month’, it’s normal (well, almost) to reply, ‘Easy for you to say!’

However, you have to be honest with yourself. Of course, it’s fine to splash out a little if you know you’ll be careful with spends the following week to make up for it, but will you stick to your guns and cut back?

The easiest way of allocating your leisure spends for the month is to simply split the total sum between the weeks until payday.

That way, if you know exactly how much room you have for leisure spending on a week-to-week basis, you’ll know exactly how much you’ll have to cut back the following week – if you went over your weekly allowance – to stay on track with your budget.

Time to Grow Up

The majority of us can’t simply rely on our parents to bail us out every time we overspend, leaving only pocket shrapnel for the remainder of the month.

If you’re being an adult about everything else – your career, your relationship, your approach to DIY – extend that attitude to your finances as well.

Academy Success

Vegas.

Man… that’s one crazy ass city.

I just returned from getting married in Las Vegas about a month ago (yes, it was planned), where I took that picture from our hotel room at The Mirage.

It was my first time there. I heard it was going to be an awesome experience, but I had no idea how amazing it really was.

The entire time, I couldn’t help thinking how completely nuts it’s founders and developers must have been to have dreamed up this city.

I mean to me at the time, it was like they just picked a random spot in the desert and decided, “Hey, let’s build a bunch of casinos and hope people come.”

What a crazy place for a town like this, right?

I eventually read up on the history of Las Vegas and found out it was initially conceived as a pit stop on the trade routes out west, then through a few conveniences like the building of the Hoover Dam, and the World Wars, it became a tourist attraction for men needing something to do.

Through in influx of cash from organized crime, and eventually the building of today’s megaresorts like The Mirage from the photo above, it turned into the Las Vegas as we know it today.

Where am I going with all of this?

Well, while I was roaming the strip in Vegas taking pictures like this one of me in front of Caesar’s Palace with the dude from the Hangover (a professional lookalike who was raking it in), I couldn’t help but wonder about the person who first came up with the idea of today’s Las Vegas.

this guy was raking it in!

I later learned the founder of Las Vegas as we know it was named Howard Hughes, who was responsible for taking Las Vegas from a crime-ridden Mafia dump, to a refined (some even say family friendly) place of luxury.

But what must people have thought when he told them his idea?

“I’m going to take this city and turn it into one of the largest and most glamorous tourist destinations in the world.”

I bet he was laughed at, ridiculed, and criticized every chance people got.

But look what he helped to build. Look what Las Vegas is now.

What’s Your Crazy Ass Idea?

My point of all of this is to try to get across that the most amazing things in the world are usually thought of as incredibly insane when they are first conceived as thought.

• Landing on the Moon
• The Internet
• The iPhone
• Las Vegas

At one point all of these were wildly insane ideas.

And now they’re completely commonplace because the people who conceived them had the courage to stand up for their ideas and see them through.

They didn’t listen to the naysayers who told them their ideas were silly. They didn’t listen to the critics who told them they were wasting their time.

They knew they had great ideas and they knew that if they worked hard enough, their ideas would succeed.

And that’s what I want you to do as well.

Don’t Listen to the Naysayers

People will tell you that your ideas are stupid. People will criticize you for being different and bold. But most often, they just don’t understand.

Even your friends and family will question why you do what you do, and even sometimes most often.

In fact, I get made fun of and ridiculed on a regular basis for running this website. Some people question why I do it. Others tell me I should be focusing on other things. Most talk behind my back.

But I don’t care. The good far outweighs the bad for me, and I know if I keep at it, this website will be a vehicle to help a lot of people.

Through all of it, you and I both have to focus on the positives.

• Focus on those you can help
• Focus on the problems you can solve
• And focus on the good you can bring to the world

Odds are, those people who are telling you that your ideas are silly, probably aren’t out there doing much of anything themselves. Usually those that are will support you.

• Surround yourself with success and people that will encourage your creative thinking
• Find people in your life that will help incubate your ideas instead of belittle them
• And take pride in the fact that you think differently than the rest. It’s the bold among us who are the greatest successes.

Your Self Improvement Challenge

So, with that I challenge you to think about that “wild” idea that you have?

Are you letting limiting beliefs about yourself hold you back? Are you letting the fear of the unknown, or what others might think get in your way of potentially doing something great?

If Howard Hughes hadn’t had the guts to light up Las Vegas, I would’ve had to find another place to get married.

You don’t want to deprive the world of what you have to offer now do you?

Go do something great. Take that crazy idea and get started today.

PS: I have a lot more pictures. Toss me a comment if you guys want to see more of them. I’ll create an album if there’s enough interest.

Academy Success

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”
- Lao Tzu

This is one of the best quotes I’ve ever read about time. What it basically means is, we all have the same 24 hours each day.

What we choose to do with those hours is what makes us the person we are. Time is the ultimate equalizer. What we do with it and how effectively we use it it what separates us from the rest of the crowd.

For a person to say “I don’t have enough time” is the same thing as saying “It’s not important enough to me to accomplish.”

As the one and only ShoeMoney says in his new book, Nothing’s Changed But My Change (hilarious and very insightful book by the way), “You either want it, or you don’t.”

It really is that simple. To complicate things more than that, just means you need to get out of your own way, and free yourself to be successful.

If you really want to accomplish something, you will find a way. And you’ll need to learn how to free up time in your life in order to do so.

Here are a few links to help you with that, as promised in the video above.

And yes I know, before you say it, I think I need one more light

Academy Success

People are busy with ‘spring cleaning’ or as I call it, getting rid of all of the junk they have accumulated over the years.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m not a big supporter of excess things. In fact, I’ve often written about the massive opportunity cost of your stuff. Stuff doesn’t just cost the money you spend to buy it. It also costs you all of the space it takes up, all of the cost to maintain it, and ends up justifying needs to start ‘collections’ just to name a few things.

The story I’m about to tell you is a perfect example of this point.

The Story of the $212 Yard Sale

I was recently having a conversation with a friend where he and I were talking about this exact subject, the epidemic that plagues the world of too much stuff.

He admitted he was guilty himself of this disease, and thankfully he was taking corrective action to attempt to rid himself of all of the useless things he had acquired. That was a plus at least.

As I asked him how he planned on getting rid of all of these things, he said, “well I already had a yard sale.”

(For those who don’t know, that’s Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to Be Rich. This is a popular phrase with Ramit when he hears something incredibly ridiculous.)

Needless to say, this was incredibly ridiculous.

Why?

Because the nature of yard sales is an environment that is set up for low ball offers, and a ridiculous amount of time and effort to pull off. Additionally, you usually end up with 2/3 of your stuff left over after hundreds of people have picked through it. It’s a terrible use of finite resources.

What’s the best you’re going to do with a yard sale? A few hundred bucks? Usually people are selling things for a few dollars each. It honestly doesn’t add up to much at the end of the day. And you’ve spent all that time setting up, haggling, breaking things down, and then carting the junk you have left over back into your overstuffed garage.

My friend made $212 bucks at his yard sale, but he was still left with all kinds of stuff that was taking up space and not really worth that much.

While $212 for a days’ work might not sound like a bad take, you also have to keep in mind that he spent half a day setting up for this yard sale, and another day to during it, and still had half of his stuff leftover. The only things he got rid of were higher ticket items like appliances, computers, some home electronics, etc – much of which he accepted near rock bottom prices for.

While it might seem like I’m rapping on the dude, I’m really not. I commend him for trying, but I’d like to offer a better solution than a yard sale to get rid of stuff. Maybe it’ll help you too.

That’s what Academy Success is all about after all – finding a better way.

Think Bigger About Your Time and Money

The mindset here is what really matters. If you want to be successful with your life, you have to think bigger than a couple hundred bucks. You have to have a more valuable mindset about not only your money, but your time as well. This was a nearly two day endeavor for only $212, and only halfway successful.

Consider this as a more efficient solution.

If my friend had compiled all of the junk he wanted to get rid of, put the items that were valuable aside, and donated the rest to a good cause, he would have saved himself half a day of setup time for his yard sale, and would have gotten rid of all of the tiny items that weren’t worth his time to sell, and that ended up being left over anyway.

He then would have been able to sell off all of the valuable items to people that were not in the yard sale bargain hunting state of mind, and on his own time (not the time of other impatient bargain shoppers).

Craigslist and eBay can often bolster nice sums of money for in-demand items, can spur price competition with multiple concurrent offers, and are extremely easy and effective to use. In fact I recently made about $2000 on Craiglist and eBay myself, although this was mainly to upgrade larger ticket items. Nevertheless, it’s easy to do.

So suddenly that $212 turns into $500, and my friend saves nearly two days of time . Now he can do whatever he wants with that extra money, and extra time he now has in his life. And all of that time is pretty valuable if you ask me.

My buddy did a good thing by attempting to get rid of his stuff. He just didn’t think out of the box before he went and had a silly yard sale.

Oh well. Lesson learned. Maybe he won’t accumulate all of that stuff in the first place.

Your Challenge

Do you have extra stuff sitting around taking up your valuable space? You almost certainly do.

Odds are, some of this stuff is worth something, but it’s getting less and less valuable by the day.

Here’s your self-improvement challenge:

• Take a little bit of time and categorize it into “worth-selling” and “not worth selling” or “donating” (think $10 or more when making these classifications)
• Put all of the “not worth selling” stuff into a bag and take it to the nearest donation center. Just easily rid yourself of it. You’ll love the extra space.
• Now put all of the rest of the items on Craigslist and eBay. Larger items go on Craigslist. Smaller items go on eBay (due to shipping costs mainly)
• Repeat until you’ve cleared out the amount of space you want to clear
• Now do it again and be harder on yourself. You’ve likely kept things you don’t need.

Now here’s the most important part of this strategy. Ingrain this into your mindset.

If you don’t really need something, don’t buy it. Just because it’s on sale, a good value, or you might use it someday, doesn’t mean you need it. Only buy things you’re going to use frequently.

Having a few really nice things is much better than having a whole bunch of little things that end up having no value.

Otherwise, you’re going to end up having to have your own $212 yard sale.

Academy Success

Because at the end of the day, they both end up at the bottom of a big ol’ bunny hole.

Hey, I thought it was funny , but I digress. On to the point of this post – how to stop being lazy.

Let me start with a question.

Have you ever been addicted to something?

Not necessarily a chemical addiction like the way most people classify addictions, but any kind of addiction, no matter how small it might seem.

If you said no, consider this…

The study of sociology and human behavior tells us that an addiction is any kind of habit that you must perform each day in order to live a ‘normal’ life, and/or to feel good about yourself.

This can be anything from smoking cigarettes, to drinking coffee, to eating sweets, or even things as small as watching the news (omg shoot me!).

A lot of people don’t think of things like television, food, reading the paper, or keeping up with their twitter feed is an addiction, but in actuality, these things can be quite harmful to not only your productivity, but your personal development and your health as well.

But at Academy Success,we think a little bit differently

If you still don’t think you’re addicted to anything, try going a few days without your vices – or the things that just fall into your normal daily routine.

You’ll notice a strong urge to do these things, which is a chemical reaction often called ‘withdrawl’ happening in your brain. When you perform your addictive activity, whatever it may be, your brain releases dopamine, which helps stimulates pleasure and relaxation.

I’m not saying relaxation is a bad thing by any means.

But you know what too much relaxation is called?

Being lazy.

That’s all laziness is – a collection of bad habits and negative addictions.

There’s no reason you can’t turn it around on it’s ugly head.

How to Stop Being Lazy

What I’m getting at is this. There are plenty of things you can be addicted to, and absolutely all of them have some kind of consequence, whether good or bad.

Your challenge is to be addicted to more good things, more productive things, more life improving things, vs. the negative vices in your life.

And that’s where replacement therapy comes in.

Pick an addiction. Any addiction that you want to rid yourself of.

Now ask yourself how you would go about stopping that behavior.

Most people would just try to quit cold turkey. They’d just attempt to stop doing whatever it is. But that’ll last about a week at most before the average person falls back into the same old routine.

It’s frustrating, but it’s common, and it’s actually science.

We only have so much will power as humans, and as long as you’re actively resisting your addiction, your will power reserve is drying up by the minute. If you’ve ever tried to change your eating habits, you know what I’m talking about.

What you must do instead is make it so you don’t have to resist. Put the fact that you have to actively stop yourself from doing something as far away from your thoughts as possible.

How, you ask?

By replacing it with something else. Something positive that gives you the same, or an even better sense of accomplishment or relaxation that your previous addiction.

For example, I used to play a lot of video games back in my college years, and it took an assignment one of my college professors gave me to wake me up to how it was helping me get… well… nowhere.

When I finally realized I needed to make a personal change, I decided to stop that, and start focusing on improving myself as a person.

So I gathered up a bunch of books and started reading every day. Then I started writing what I read about on what, at the time, was personal blog, both of which I really loved to do.

In a couple of weeks, I had completely kicked my video game addiction, and didn’t even really miss it. I loved the fact that I was improving myself, and it was really fulfilling to me.

I had successfully replaced one negative addiction with another positive addiction.

And I challenge you to use the exact same tactic for yourself.

Your Self-Improvement Challenge

Find some kind of behavior you’re addicted to. Anything at all. This is what you’re going to replace with a positive behavior.

That’s the key here. You have to find something positive, fulfilling, and productive to replace your negative behavior. If you just quit cold turkey with no plan, you’re highly likely to either pick back up your negative habit, or replace it with something else just as bad.

Now go. Get started right now. You might just change your life like I did.

Academy Success

This is a guest post by Dan Marshall of http://www.ovlg.com/

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Many people blame their parents for facing financial failures or drawbacks. Did your dad’s nose bar you from getting a prom date? And, what about your mom’s hips that absorb every piece of chocolate that you have?

Well, the shape of your wallet could also be impacted by your parents, but these traits come from your upbringing, not through genetics.

My attitude about money, whether I spend, save, find a financial balance or even the amount of money that I earn, is most often determined by my parent’s approach towards their dollars. Dr. Robin Siebold, a psychotherapist, says that it is “generally pretty tough to break past the level of success that your parents reached.”

It takes someone who recognizes the influence their parents and other surroundings have had on their financial habits, and a desire to be different and make a change.

With all that lessons learned, let me tell you something about myself. I was raised in Afghanistan, a third-world country by all means, but now I’m settled in the US, working as a software engineer.

As English was my third language throughout my career, ‘frugal’ or ‘frugality’ were never even a part of my vocabulary. That said, all the financial habits that I learned from my parents are no less than frugal, although I hardly realized this when I was young.

I belonged to a single-income family where my mother was a housewife and my dad was the sole bread-earner of our family. My dad has been my idol and here are the things that he taught me about finances that have changed my life.

There’s No Alternative to Saving Money

My dad never had enough money, but that didn’t keep him from taking care of my grandparents, my mom and me. Although they didn’t follow a budget, they did save a certain portion of their income. And like most other families, I didn’t lead a life of plenty in my childhood.

• We never had AC in our home
• I got new clothes and shoes just once in a year, most of which were sewn by my mom
• We never had a dishwasher in our home
• We never had cable television
• And we never discarded an item just because it was old.

That kind of life will teach someone how to be grateful and cherish what they have.

Before you start thinking that I missed the real fun of childhood, let me tell you that I had my fair share of entertainment. We had cultural evenings and also had family outings. All these aforementioned lessons taught me to distinguish between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ and the considerations that we need to take into account before spending money.

Investing Doesn’t Have to Mean the Stock Market

Truly speaking, my dad rarely invested his dollars in the stock market, not because he didn’t know about it, but because he wished to avoid any risks while he already made a meager amount of funds. He instead invested in the tax-saving mutual funds, the workplace retirement accounts and as he didn’t have enough time to research about the investment markets, he always took help of the fund managers.

He bought barren land and this came out as a brilliant and lucrative real estate investment idea that taught me how to plan ahead of time. He always had an emergency cash reserve, which we call ‘rainy day fund’. The money from this account came of use during my grand mom’s terminal illness.

I’m certainly not asking you to lead a life like me, but with the present economic conditions in the US and the world, the times of huge houses and gas guzzling cars may be behind you.

Disciplined spending, hard and consistent action, looking for DIY alternatives and a good educational background can help you avoid debt and build wealth in the near future. Although there are professional options to help you get out of debt, you should always practice the right financial moves to stay safe than sorry.

Academy Success

It sometimes amazes me how little value many people put on their time. I don’t know if they just don’t think about it, or if they really don’t have anything better to do.

In any case, this is just nuts.

I usually don’t get worked up when I see people doing silly things, but this one really takes the “gigantic waste of time” cake.

Yesterday I was standing in line grabbing a quick bite to each for lunch, when all of the sudden this lady (seemingly) jumps out of the weeds, does a full tuck and roll (ok maybe not), and cuts in front of me (yes this happened).

From there, she proceeded to lean over the counter and nearly grabbed the cashier in a frantic rage of outright anger.

I’m not really one to get worked up over something like that, so I just let her vent. Of course at this point I’m just watching the train wreck unfold wondering if there was a finger in her coffee or something.

What transpired next really made me question society.

The Epic Battle for Three Bucks

This lady had apparently gone through the drive through about an hour prior to the encounter. She had been mistakenly shorted a couple of items from her order that, in my estimation, added up to about $3 – yes – 3 bucks…

The cashier grabbed the manager and after about a 30 second ass-ripping which she could do nothing about, and the manager promptly issued her a $10 gift card and attempted to send her on her way.

Of course that didn’t satisfy this irate woman. She proceeded to bitch and scream for another few minutes, all within a circle of apologetic language from the manager.

She finally stormed out the door with her $10 gift card in her hand after her mighty triumph.

Good move manager. Get that psycho out of your store…

But that’s not even the good part. What really floored me was what this lady said during her rant.

Was That Really Worth Your Time?

This lady had apparently driven 45 minutes home from this place, realized her items were missing, and thought it was an excellent idea to drive 45 minutes back, get that $3 that was owed to her, and drive another 45 minutes back home.

That’s a full 90 minutes, or an HOUR AND A HALF of time, for three measly dollars…

Holy shit…

This could have been a 5 minute trip and it wouldn’t have been worth it to me, and I would hope the same is true for you.

Was this three dollars really worth 90+ minutes of her time? Did she not have something better she could be doing? What is the value of her time?

The rational mind has to ask those questions in this situation.

Maybe this lady was otherwise a completely pleasant person and a model citizen, but in this situation, something really struck a nerve.

Guard Against Your Irrational Nature

Unfortunately, people are irrational beings first and rational beings second. Our survival depends on our emotions. We often don’t take the time to think in these kinds of situations.

We often just react and end up wasting hours of our precious time on things that, on the grand scheme of things, really just don’t matter  - like a 90+ minute trip that was worth $3.

Can you remember a situation where you reacted in an irrational manner to something seemingly insignificant? I know I can.

In these situations, often times if you just take the time to calm down, think through them, and respond in a rational and calm manner. It almost always ends up working out better.

In “The Power of Personal Accountability” – Mark Samuel teaches that living a successful and fulfilling life is not about what happens to us on a daily basis. It’s about how we react to each and every situation we are faced with that makes the ultimate difference.

Could our irrational friend have responded better to this situation? Absolutely yes. She wouldn’t be a $10 gift card richer, but she would have eliminated a lot of stress from this day of her life, and she would have gained 90+ minutes to do what
ever she wanted with.

Next time you find yourself just reacting irrationally to a situation, take a few breaths, calm down, and think through it before you take any action.

You’ll almost always come out ahead of the alternative.

Academy Success

While owing money, whether to banks, family members, or friends, is becoming increasingly normal, it doesn’t have to be the way. By being disciplined and organized with the money you earn and the money you spend, there’s no reason why you can’t remain financially comfortable.

Gaining the motivation to be disciplined

Being disciplined with the money you do have is not easy at first; it’s crucial to get into the right frame of mind. Think about the benefits that come with being financially sensible: you’ll know what you’re spending and where it’s going – which means you can avoid overspending. Not only will this help you to avoid life-hindering debt in the future, it should also mean you have monetary backup should something go wrong. You could, for example, be made redundant at any given time, and with rent or a mortgage to pay, this could be hugely troublesome without the right funds in place.

Most of all, though, disciplined financial behavior will give you a sense of control over your life and the ultimate peace of mind in knowing that you’re always covered should an emergency occur or a life-changing opportunity arise.

Learning about money

Finance may seem like a minefield but it pays to brush up on your knowledge to ensure you’re in the best position. Understanding how banks work will help you to stay in control of the ways in which you use them. This also goes for credit cards and loans.

There are thousands of different credit cards advertised to us every day, each accompanied by a range of figures and percentages. Even if you’ve never even considered applying for a credit card before, by taking some time to learn what all of these numbers mean and how they’d affect you as an individual, you may just realise that you’re missing out on something extremely helpful. It’ll also stop you signing up for something which sounds like a good deal at first but later turns out to be more of a burden.

Taking your knowledge one step further

There are plenty of ways to increase your knowledge of the financial world. Some people choose to learn at their own pace with the help of books, while others prefer to learn in the classroom environment offered by the many readily available courses on basic financial management. Bear in mind that, with the right qualifications, you may be able to put yourself into the position to help others and not just yourself.

Many small businesses choose to outsource their bookkeeping to self-employed people who work from home. While this may seem ambitious at first, it may be just something else to work towards in your quest for financial knowhow.

The time and effort it can sometimes take to learn about money and how it affects your life really can be justified in the long run. Once you begin to improve your knowledge, create a plan of where you want to be financially in a year’s time, five years’ time, and even 10 years’ time – you’ll soon notice these targets being met as you’re able to apply your new skills to your own life.

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Michael Jones works for Beacon Financial Training, a company in the North West of England which offers CeFA training and CeRER training to people from across the UK. For more information, visit http://www.beaconfinancialtraining.co.uk/

Academy Success

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The importance of maintaining your personal finance is something that you’ve probably heard of a bit too often. You must’ve then felt like screaming out then that “how on earth am I supposed to maintain personal finance when I’m bogged down with such a lot of debt?”

Well, you’re right and it’s evidently true that debt load and debt payments are the major reasons why most people today find it difficult to handle their personal finance, so much so that sticking to a budget also seems practically impossible. This is why mate, you’ve got to understand that in spite of life being filled with setbacks, it’s extremely important that you get rid of all forms of personal and family indebtedness.

Common Issues Which Lead to Accumulation of Debt

Now, in your quest to set your personal finances right, it’s important that you identify what are the major economical issues that are keeping you from financial salvation. Even if you enroll into any of the available debt management programs, it’s still important that you do some ground work.

Dependency on credit cards - It’s pretty easy to use credit cards at the drop of a hat. Yes, it’s a fact that credit cards happen to be the easiest available resource for extra cash if you’re on a tight budget. However, when you’re already facing debt issues and trying to set your personal finances right, it’s important that you reduce your dependency on credit cards. This is essential because ultimately these credit cards might go on to become another huge source of debt which you definitely don’t want. 

Hooked on to the limelight - Amongst all other addictions that are commonly known, there’s also the addiction of the limelight. Yes, you got that right! If you’re one who enjoys being the star of the party or hogging the limelight all by yourself when out socializing, then you’re definitely doing it to yourself and in turn your finances. Don’t think it’s too wise on your part to pay the bill of the whole gathering or regularly treat all your friends whenever you’re out.

Sure, it makes your friends feel good; but, tell you what, you’re not going to feel as good when your finances start sagging under the unnecessary exertion you’re exercising on it. You’ve got to learn to exercise a hell lot of self-control in this particular area if you really wish to avoid a financial disaster.

Lack of proper savings – See, the whole essence behind becoming debt free is to convert your spending habits into saving. Moreover, once you truly manage to become debt free, you’re obviously going to give your personal finance a lease of new life.

Undoubtedly this won’t be too easy as it’s a major shift in your practices, but this is how it ought to be else you’re done for. Hence, it’s all the more important that you follow a tight budget that’ll enable you to save more.

Aggressive remodeling - This is another habit that leads you on to your financial doomsday sooner than you could’ve imagined. You do like to live in a nice house and drive a car that works well, right? Fair enough! However, that doesn’t really mean that you overwork yourself into upgrading your residence at the drop of a hat for it really doesn’t make sense economically. Make home improvements only when required.

Not taking care of your health - In the wake of so many concerns, what you’re forgetting is obviously your own health. Minor health issues can add up to be a major one if you don’t address it at the right time. Hence, do take care of yourself always. A major health setback essentially translates into a major financial setback.

Keep in mind the 5 issues discussed above. If you address the above concerns right, then debt and personal finance won’t be a headache for you anymore.

Academy Success