The Financial Alchemist

consistency and persistency. The plan is simple, tell your MONEY how to behave, part of baby step 2 (budget) instead of money controlling you. Is money a tool to improve you, your circumstances and your LIFE? Or, is money a means to an end? Because if you think money is a means to an end, you will never have enough money! Really you say? Fact: over 50% of lottery winners are BANKRUPT five years after they win, and we are talking folks who won MILLIONS! Money is NOT the problem, it is HOW we think, our behavior with money determines our success or failure. So that thinking needs to be improved. The fact is, money is a tool. YES, like a hammer or screwdriver Put to good use it will build or fix something, used improperly will destroy and break things. Money, will make you a fortune, if behaved wisely (a plan), used unwisely (no plan), you may be broke. So which is your choice? Means to an end? or Tool? So your money tool box is kind of bare? Been there, done that! The Financial Alchemist has a bunch of tools to share to fill that tool box to overflowing! So how is it that The Financial Alchemist has a bunch of tools in their tool box? The Financial Alchemist REALLY has been there! A big mess and NO TOOLS!!!!!!!! My Wife and I found ourselves $237,000.00 in debt 7 years ago, making $45,000.00 a year. Over a quarter a MILLION in debt, two houses, a tanked housing market, a third of our retirement GONE in the Market crash of 2008. Yes, the perfect storm was raging around us. How did we get there you ask???? Well we lived like EVERYONE ELSE, you know being cool, doing stupid things with money, no plans just income and credit cards and living large!! Thinking we could build our dream home with the equity in our current home and zero interest credit cards! It worked till the housing market CRASHED! We went upside down in our current home and the interest rates on the those zero interest credit cards skyrocketed to 18% to 24.99% in less than three months! Our minimum payments went from $600 to over $3,000 in three months! We never missed a payment, never late with a payment and HAD a FICO score of 760+ until the Housing Market Crash. Bankruptcy was not a good choice, since that would have liquidated both houses, at the bottom of the market, and gave us $5,000.00 to "restart" life, abet debt free but with NO assets, no retirement, and NO PLAN! So we begin researching on HOW to fix this mess and get out of debt once and for all! Hello Dave Ramsey! We were blessed with the opportunity to take Financial Peace University at a discounted rate through the outrageously generosity of a member at Northside Christian Church in Louisville, KY They paid for 75 people to take the class at 1/2 off, and bought extra materials for each class participant! THAT is being outrageously generous! Baby Step 7! We attended the classes without fail, all 9. My beautiful wife, who worked in Institutional Investments for 20 years, suddenly discovered a new word BUDGET!!!!!!!!!!!! I discovered something that was NOT in my wheelhouse and it was money discipline! I still struggle with that, BUT my beautiful bride has budgeting down to a science! EVERY DOLLAR has a NEW name! We have MONEY at the end of the month! Our Dollars are like children, they better behave or it is not a good day in the house! I share this with you because we DID IT! Was it easy, HELL NO! Was it worth it HELL YES! WE ARE COMPLETELY DEBT FREE!! What is in MY wallet, CASH!!!!! Do I earn points, NOPE, WE earn compounding interest. We don't need Master-card, we have Mastered-money. CASH is KING cash looks better in the wallet than plastic. We have a budget, we have a plan. All it takes is admitting........... YOU MESSED UP! We all have. WHY? Lack of tools in your financial tool box. BUT, you are NOT going to do it again! Are you ready to change your journey? Are you ready to make a REAL change? Are you ready to get control of YOUR money? Your life? Your family future? Together we will walk with you to move from stress to security, Baby step 1, from debt to debt free, Baby step 2, to financial confidence Baby step 3, cruising to a better LIFE Baby steps 4 - 5 - 6, to wealth creation, financial security and being outrageously generous Baby Step 7. Like the person who helped 75 people become debt free seven years ago! How would it make you feel to help someone in need or a group of people and not worry about the money? To write that check, with a comma, and not worry about the deduct in the check book register? Are you ready? Are you ready to move from being stress out about money to significance impact? GREAT Connect with us and TOGETHER let us walk that journey with you to a outrageously generous you!