We seldom speak of success without an underlying implication of "financial success". Of course, financial success looks different to different people...all the way from "Able to pay my bills." to "Wildly, outrageously, over the top wealthy." I think most of us fall somewhere in between, and would like to move up! The financial aspect of success is one of the most elusive for Baby Boomers in the US. For us, debt has hindered our pursuit of wealth or even financial security and our children have inherited our mistakes. I can't speak for other societies; in fact I've talked to many people from Europe to whom debt is unthinkable, as it was for my parents. My mom and dad were members of the generation sometimes known as the "Greatest" after the book by Tom Brokaw. (For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Generation) Debt was to them insecurity, because they lived through the Depression. Credit was hard to get, and they weren't inclined to use it anyway. Consequently, they didn't understand it as it has evolved since the early 50's and they weren't for the most part able to teach us, their children, about it except to warn us to avoid it. Of course, this ignorance trickled down to the next generation as well. With a small percentage of the population being the exception, as a generation we have been educated about credit and debt by our creditors. In my opinion, they do not and have not had our best interests at heart. Let's examine the consequences: - We have leveraged our major purchases to such a degree and for so long that it is considered normal to finance an automobile for more years than we will drive it! - Our credit cards are carrying balances for items we no longer own. - Mortgages have flip-flopped from the post-War GI bill structure (20% 7-year balloon with 80% down) to the new 40-year structure. 100% financing and even 125% loan-to-value structures are common. - We have stopped saving! The national savings rate as of June of this year was an appalling 0%!{http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P124952.asp} - Consumer debt hit an all-time high in January of 2004, and has not fallen since then. (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/debt-j15.shtml) The bottom line: we have the lowest savings rate, the highest debt ratios, and the lowest equity in our homes since World War II. For a complete discussion of this assertion, see http://mwhodges.home.att.net/family_a.htm#saving. Now add to this situation two news items you will be seeing more of in the coming weeks: - First, minimum payments on your credit card balances are about to go up between now and December, perhaps as much as 100%. (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/20050503a2.asp). This will be a positive move in the long run. However, it will combine with the next event in the short run to place a major strain on the 90 million people in the US who carry a balance on their credit cards from month to month, especially the 33 million who can only make minimum payments. - I'm sure you have heard about the next item. Bankruptcy laws are changing to make it more difficult for families to get relief from their debts. These facts are likely to converge in the worst possible way for many, particularly older Baby Boomers who don't have the luxury of a long time horizon to recover from a financial blow before they want to retire. Now remember, this forum is all about it's never too late, so let's talk about the good news! Here's what you can do about it if you are in an insecure financial situation: 1) Gain control over your spending. It's time to get on a budget and maintain some personal discipline in your spending. 2) Get some education about the debt-rolldown or snowball method of debt elimination. Make sure it includes information or tools to calculate the most efficient order of payoff. There are many sources of such education on the Internet, in books and workshops. Use the phrases to do a search in your favorite search engine. I would caution you to be wary of anyone who wants a large up-front fee and ongoing monthly fees to manage your payments for you. Just because it is a non-profit organization or one that implies affiliation with a religious faith does not mean that it is cost-free or even cost effective. Do your homework! 3) Don't refinance if you don't have to. One of the biggest deceptions we have bought into is that it's a good idea to refinance for a lower rate. I'll have a discussion about just that in a later thread. Update: Read about it here. 4) Consider ways to make more money. There are many ways to do that, among the best being your home-based business. That's because the tax breaks can be as valuable as the extra income. 5) Speaking of taxes, become informed about your options and invest in good professional advice. Then put the knowledge into action. Using these strategies it is easy to take your thirty-year debt schedule and turn it into 10 or less! Read more about Ascend Technologies International (ATI) to learn about a service that helps you implement all these tips. In conclusion, I'll bring out one of my catch phrases: The key to success is applied knowledge. I hope this article will help move you toward success in your financial goals, no matter which end of the spectrum they fall on. Cheri --------------------------- --------------------------- Cheri Merz is a real estate broker and home-based entrepreneur. She also publishes a web-site that explores the pathways to success at any age. Visit Never2Late4Success for more articles, stories and celebrations of success. These are some of my favorite success books. Please also visit My Offers. Note: The post directly below has been left in this forum as an object lesson. Please see my reply to it before leaving.

Struggling with money? Please read Oprah's great idea... GUARANTEED EASY MONEY!! -------------------------------------------- I found this on a bulletin board and decided to try it. A little while back, I was browsing through newsgroups, just like you are now, and came across an article similar to this that said you could make thousands of dollars within weeks with only an initial investment of $6.00! So I thought, Yeah right, this must be a scam, but like most of us, I was curious, so I kept reading. Anyway, it said that you send $1.00 to each of the 6 names and address stated in the article. You then place your own name and address in the bottom of the list at...6, and post the article in at least 200 newsgroups (There are thousands). No catch, that was it. So after thinking it over, and talking to a few people first, I thought about trying it. I figured: what have I got to lose except 6 stamps and $6.00, right? Then I invested the measly $6.00. Well GUESS WHAT!! Within 7 days, I started getting money in the mail! I was shocked! I figured it would end soon, but the money just kept coming in. In my first week, I made about $25.00. By the end of the second week I had made a total of over $1, 000.00! In the third week I had over $10, 000.00 and it's still growing. This is now my fourth week and I have made a total of just over $42, 000.00 and it's still coming in rapidly. It's certainly worth $6.00, and 6 stamps. I was in a bad economic state before I found this article... I didn't believe this really worked until I ACTUALLY started getting mail from all over the world... I bought everything I needed... This idea came in the right time exactly Let me tell you how this works and most importantly, why it works....Also, make sure you print a copy of this article NOW, so you can get the information off of it as you need it. I promise you that if you follow the directions exactly, that you will start making more money than you thought possible by doing something so easy! Suggestion: Read this entire message carefully! (Print it out or download it.) Follow the simple directions and watch the money comes in! It's easy. It's legal. And, your investment is only $6.00 (Plus postage) IMPORTANT: This is not a rip-off; it is not indecent; it is not illegal; and it is virtually no risk - it really Works!!!! If all of the following instructions are adhered to, you will receive extraordinary dividends. PLEASE NOTE: Please follow these directions EXACTLY, and $50, 000 or more can be yours in 20 to 60 days. This program remains successful because of the HONESTY AND INTEGRITY of the participants.You have to do the hard part, too. getting this message out 200 times. That's the only sacrafice and it's not as hard as you think. Read on and give it a try. Please continue its success by carefully adhering to the instructions. You will now become part of the Mail Order business. In this business your product is not solid and tangible, it's a service. You are in the business of developing Mailing Lists. Many large corporations are happy to pay big bucks for quality lists. However, the money made from the mailing lists is extra money made by people like you and me asking to be included on the mailing list. Here are the 4 easy steps to success: STEP 1: Get 6 separate pieces of paper and write the following on each Piece of paper; PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR MAILING LIST. Along with your name and address. Now get 6 US $1.00 bills and place ONE inside EACH of the 6 pieces of paper so the bill will not be seen through the envelope (to prevent thievery). Next, place one paper in each of the 6 envelopes and seal them. You should now have 6 sealed envelopes, each with a piece of paper stating the above phrase, your name and address, and a $1.00 bill. What you are doing is creating a service. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY LEGAL! You are requesting a legitimate service and you are paying for it! Like most of us I was a little skeptical and a little worried about the legal aspects of it all. So I checked it out with the U.S. Post Office (1-800-725-2161) and they confirmed that it is indeed legal! Mail the 6 envelopes to the following addresses: 1) T. Pearson PO Box 3, Belgrade, MN 56312 2) H. Pearson PO Box 44, Belgrade, MN 56312 3) M. Ellis PO Box 201, Bertha, MN 56437 4) D & L Pearson 43774 Co. Rd. 19, Belgrade, MN 56312 5) M. Brooks 4816 Terrace M Birmingham, AL 35208 6) E. Seinz, 4322 Rainier St. #1108, Irving, TX 75062 STEP 2: Now take the first name off the list that you see above, move the other names up (6 becomes 5, 5 becomes 4, etc...) and add YOUR NAME as number 6 on the list. STEP 3: Change anything you need to, but try to keep this article as Close to original as possible. Now, post your amended article to at least 200 newsgroups. (I think there are close to 24, 000 groups) All you need is 200, but remember, the more you post, the more money you make! This is perfectly legal! If you have any doubts, refer to Title 18 Sec. 1302 & 1341 of the Postal lottery laws. Keep a copy of these steps for yourself and, whenever you need money, you can use it again and again. PLEASE REMEMBER that this program remains successful because of the HONESTY AND INTEGRITY of the participants and by their carefully adhering to the directions. Look at it this way. If you are of Integrity, the program will continue and the money that so many others have received will come your way. NOTE: You may want to retain every name and address sent to you, either on a computer or hard copy and keep the notes people send you. This VERIFIES that you are truly providing a service. (Also, it might be a Good idea to wrap the $1 bill in dark paper to reduce the risk of mail Theft). So, as each post is downloaded and the directions carefully followed, six members will be reimbursed for their participation as a List Developer with one dollar each. Your name will move up the list geometrically so that when your name reaches the...1 position you will be receiving thousands of dollars in CASH!!! What an opportunity for only $6.00 ($1.00 for each of the first six people listed above) Send it now, add your own name to the list and you're in business! -------------- DIRECTIONS FOR HOW TO POST TO NEWSGROUPS------------ STEP 1) You do not need to re-type this entire letter to do your own posting. Simply put your cursor at the beginning of this letter and Drag your cursor to the bottom of this document, and select 'copy' from The edit menu. This will copy the entire letter into the computer's Memory. STEP 2) Open a blank 'notepad' file and place your cursor at the top of the blank page. From the 'edit' menu select 'paste'. This will paste a Copy of the letter into notepad so that you can add your name to the List. STEP 3) Save your new notepad file as a .txt file. If you want to do your postings in different settings, you'll always have this file to go back to. STEP 4) Use Netscape or Internet explorer and try searching for various Newsgroups online forums, message boards, chat sites, discussions. (For example: log on any search engine like yahoo.com, google.com, Altavista.com, excite.com, then search with subjects similar to these: Millionaire Message board, or money making message board, or employment message Board, or money making discussions, or money making forum, or business Message board etc. You will find thousands of message boards.) STEP 5) Visit these message boards and post this article as a new Message by highlighting the text of this letter and selecting paste from the edit menu. Fill in the Subject, this will be the header that everyone sees as they scroll through the list of postings in a Particular group, click the "post message" button. You're done with the first one And now....Congratulations!...THAT'S IT! All you have to do is jump to Different newsgroups and post away, after you get the hang of it, it will take about 30 seconds for each newsgroup! **REMEMBER, THE MORE NEWSGROUPS YOU POST IN, THE MORE MONEY YOU WILL MAKE!! BUT YOU HAVE TO POST A MINIMUM OF 200** This is the actual hard part. But do it. Just get past it. It will be so worth it. Please just give it a try like I did. Do it for the kids, for the bills, for some peace of mind for a change. Now the easy and exciting part! You will begin receiving money from around the world within days! You may eventually want to rent a P.O.Box due to the large amount of mail you will receive. If you wish to stay anonymous, you can invent a name to use, as long as the postman will deliver it. **JUST MAKE SURE ALL THE ADDRESSES ARE CORRECT.** Now the WHY part: Out of 200 postings, say I receive only 5 replies (a Very low example). So then I made $5.00 with my name at...6 on the Letter. Now, each of the 5 persons who just sent me $1.00 make the MINIMUM 200 postings, each with my name at...5 and only 5 persons Respond to each of the original 5, that is another $25.00 for me, now Those 25 each make 200 MINIMUM posts with my name at ..4 and only 5 Replies each, I will bring in an additional $125.00! Now, those 125 Persons turn around and post the MINIMUM 200 with my name at...3 and Only receive 5 replies each, I will make an additional $626.00! OK, now Here is the fun part, each of those 625 persons post a MINIMUM 200 Letters with my name at...2 and they each only receive 5 replies, that Just made me $3, 125.00!!! Those 3, 125 persons will all deliver this Message to 200 newsgroups with my name at...1 and if still 5 persons per 200 newsgroups react I will receive $15, 625, 00! With an original Investment of only $6.00! AMAZING! When your name is no longer on the List, you just take the latest posting in the newsgroups, and send out Another $6.00 to names on the list, putting your name at number 6 Again. And start posting again. The thing to remember is: do you realize that thousands of people all over the world are joining the Internet and reading these articles everyday?, JUST LIKE YOU are now!! So, can you afford $6.00 and see if it really works?? I think so... People have said, "What if the plan is played out and no one sends you the money? So what! What are the chances of that happening when there are tons of new honest users and new honest people who are joining the Internet and newsgroups everyday and are willing to give it a try? Estimates are at 20, 000 to 50, 000 new users, every day, with thousands of those joining the actual internet. Remember: PLAY FAIRLY and HONESTLY, and this will really work. Good Luck to you ALL!!

Estella, My first thought was to delete your post, because I don't allow blatant advertising in my forums. I apologize for having to do this publicly...normally I would contact you privately, however there's an object lesson here and others need to see it. Not only is this blatant advertising, but what you are promoting is illegal. There's no difference between this and an illegal chain letter. Most of my readers, at least those who post and make me aware who they are, are savvy enough not to fall for this type of activity. But if there are others who are simply desperate for quick money who are tempted, I want to let them know right now and in no uncertain terms. THIS IS ILLEGAL! I will not tolerate it in my forum, and if anyone else is so tempted, believe me I will bring all my considerable efforts to bear on wiping it out of the community. Cheri