I.D. Theft

Hey everybody,

Are you looking for a job? Then be very careful because people will use your job search to steal your I.D.

Since I have posted my resume in places like: Hot Jobs, CareerBuilder, Monster, etc. I have been getting emails either directly from these "people" or thru these web sites telling me that they saw my resume and they feel that I am the "prefect candidate" for the job opening they have. However, here is the give away that they are just trying to get your personal information:
1) They rarely (if ever) provide a telephone number
2) They almost never give you a mailing address or even the physical location of the company that is "very interested" in you
3) On some rare occasions they will provide a web site but their contact email is different from the web site address. (Note: I once got a job offer and the web link they provided was a company in Russia!!)
4) They ask you to reply to their "job offer" asap!

I did reply to one of them just for the heck of it and while they STILL did NOT provide any contact info on their second email they did send me a 3 page form to fill out so I would give them all of my personal information... (sure I will!!)

So please be careful. There are scam artists out there and since they know that people are desperate to find a job they feel this is a perfect opportunity to steal your ID.

Its not too late!!

Hi everybody,

Happy Saturday!! Just wanted to post these banners to give you a heads up that the holiday season is coming so its not too late to get a head start.



You can start your holiday shopping at:
http://www.shop-central.biz or at http://www.myshoppingstores.com

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!

Build Wealth by shopping for deals!!

You know, building wealth doesn't mean that you have to create a business and make millions of dollars. In my opinion is also shopping smart by using COUPONS, and shopping for DEALS on clothing, travel, electronics you name it and with the holiday season aproaching and the way the economy is right now, now more than ever we ALL need to do this, so here are a few links that might help you with this:

For coupons we recommend:


For traveling we have:
Expedia: $400 off 4-Night Disneyland Vacations
Get $400 off when you book a 4-day/4-night Disneyland Resort vacation package from Expedia.
Expiration Date: December 1, 2009
Promotional Code: Click To Redeem

Save up to 65% at Sandals Inn!

Oahu from $65 at Hotels.com! Travel by October 12, 2009

For more deals and options please click here:
http://www.myshoppingstores.com/shop-vacation.html


For Discount Department Stores:


Hope this helps you build wealth by saving money! ! ! !

New Job??

Hello everybody,

Remember a few weeks ago I wrote on my blog that I found a new job with my former employer?? Well... guess what? It fell thru. So just like millions of you out there I am still unemployed. But like I said before (on another blog) I am not worried because I am staying VERY POSITIVE and I am "working" at finding my new job.

What do I mean by working? Well I submit resumes to job openings just like everybody else, but, I also do research on companies that do not post the name of the contact person and if I manage to find the contact name from let say the HR Manager I send him or her my Professional Resume with a Cover Letter. Also, I personalize the resume for the position and if possible the company. (Please listen to my upcoming podcast to learn more about personalizing your resume).

Finally, another strategy that I use is that I use the "2 Step Marketing" plan that many companies use to get potential clients interested. I will also discuss this plan on my upcoming podcast.

PS: You can subscribe to my podcast at: http://blogandshop.podbean.com/ Sorry its been a while since I posted a blog and/or podcast but it's been crazy building up my Online Shopping Malls

Thanks for reading and I will be back soon with another blog. Take care and remember STAY POSITIVE! ! ! If you start thinking on a negative way thats exactly what you will get: negative results.

Bye!

10 Ways to keep hope during job search

by Kenrick Chatman, Career Catalyst

As you may know this is probably the toughest time since the Great Depression to find jobs. There are now 6+ job seekers for every available position. Likewise, several fellow job seekers have asked me this question: “How do I maintain hope during these challenging times?” Below are 10 ways job seekers can stay encouraged during a daunting job hunt.

1. Determine Your Worst Case Scenario: In nearly all cases this outcome is not as bad as you initially thought. Afterwards put together a well thought out plan to overcome all potential obstacles to accomplish your desired outcome (landing your next opportunity). Finally determine the rewards of your desired outcome and strive for them by executing your plan through both the ups and downs.

2. Determine Your Opportunities: Winston Churchill once stated: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” As current job seekers, you now have time to identify career-related opportunities. These opportunities can include achieving a higher level of satisfaction with your work, joining a company with values compatible with your own, acquiring your ultimate career aspiration, and so on.

3. Maintain or Develop Confidence: If you’re not excited or confident about your ability to produce great results for potential employers, do not expect them to be excited and confident about potentially hiring you. Employers are looking for problem solvers who can help their firms make and/or save money. Determine how you accomplished this in your previous positions and develop your pitch. For example, “I’m a revenue and profit growth expert who helps solve the problems that keep your senior executives up at night.”

4. Diversify Your Job Search Strategy: In addition to applying to job postings, make sure you are also working to create your own job market. Job Radio USA is loaded with resources that provide steps on how to accomplish this. It’s up to you to use this knowledge and execute it.

5. Get Over Your Fears and Take Action: If you are afraid of blowing the few job leads you may have because you do not know what to say to a potential employer, are not confident in your abilities to generate value, and so on… do not use these fears as reasons to do nothing. First, identify 5-10 companies you would never work for and use them to practice creating your own job market, build up your confidence, “perfect” your resume, cover letter, and value proposition, determine what to say to potential employers, and so on.

6. Make Job Search Strategy Adjustments: If you are not generating favorable results from job postings, informational interview requests, and so on; it’s time to adjust your job search strategy. It’s time to develop an alternative resume and cover letter, use my LinkedIn techniques to apply to job postings instead of applying blindly, adjust your informational interview request pitch, and/or incorporate and test a creative, yet professional, job search technique in the marketplace.

7. Remove the Mystery: How many times have you heard someone state: “I wonder what would have happened if I would have done this?” It’s time for you to leave your comfort zone and do what it takes to make the “impossible” possible by landing your dream job during the Great Recession. Likewise, you will not have to look back with regret wondering how life would have been better if you would have taken decisive and bold actions then. Take decisive and bold actions now!

8. Get Away on Occasions: If you are working efficiently and diligently to land your next opportunity and your productivity is declining due to fatigue and other factors, take a break from your job search. Take advantage of your free time to rest, do what you love to do, and energize yourself. Afterwards, return to your job search.

9. Exercise and Give Back: As we all know the current job search can be daunting for even the most optimistic individuals. Likewise, job seekers should exercise to counter stress, bad moods, low energy levels, and potential depression that can result from the job search. Also look to give back by helping others or volunteering. The benefits of volunteering include a reduction in stress, physical pain, and depression. It also increases the endorphin level which helps people literally feel a rush of joy or great inside.

10. Never Give Up: Whatever you do, do not get discouraged and give up. The only individuals who fail in life are the ones who give up trying. Finally, ask yourself this question: “What are the benefits of halting my job search?”

You can find books on helping you get your next job at: http://www.blogandshop.net/

Need to save money on your groceries?? Then we can help

Quick Links - 20 Lazy Ways to Save Money

Hi again,

Here's a web link to a quick and simple article than can actually help you save money:

http://customsites.yahoo.com/financiallyfit/finance/article-107581-2412-1-20-lazy-ways-to-save-money


P.S.: You can always find great books about saving AND making money at our web site: http://www.blogandshop.net Visit us today!!

Does Penny-Pinching Pay Off?

Need a little motivation to penny-pinch??

This article might do it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

Marcia Passos Duffy
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
This article is part of a series related to being Financially Fit

In less than three years, Carrie Rocha and her husband, Marco, paid off $50,000 of nonmortgage debt and accumulated a six-month emergency fund and other savings by clipping coupons, buying store brands and reducing unnecessary expenses.

Rocha, of Maple Grove, Minn., says the couple realized they were spending more than they made and started cutting expenses across the board. But rather than tackle huge expenses, they started small.
"For us, large lifestyle changes would have turned my husband off to the whole idea of saving money. We have been intentional to set aside a little, a little, a little, until it became a lot, a lot, a lot," says Rocha, who now blogs about her experience at Pocketyourdollars.com.
Thrift gurus long have espoused the wisdom of pinching pennies because of its potential to add up to big savings.

But do clipping coupons and just saying "no" to the daily $4 latte really make a difference in the long run? Or is it big stuff -- such as downsizing a house or getting rid of one car -- that really helps families save? The answer depends on your circumstances, tolerance for doing without and self-discipline.“Small steps are the best way to form habits that will stick.”

Pinching Pennies Reduces Pain
Danny Kofke, author of "How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher's Salary," is a big believer that trimming small expenses can add up to big savings and better spending habits.
Kofke and his family of four in Hoschton, Ga., have been able to live exclusively on his $37,000 a year salary -- and save money -- by making adjustments to small expenditures, such as switching to cheaper cell phone plans, using the library instead of buying books and making their own coffee at home. Saving money on little things has a snowball effect that can lead to better financial habits, he says. Once people cut down on a few things and see the positive financial impact, they are often motivated to cut back on the big stuff.

Saving money is like losing weight, Kofke says. Trying to make drastic, wholesale changes can quickly become discouraging. However, if you cut back a little at a time, you'll have better success. While he acknowledges that big expenses can pose outside risks to a person's financial stability, he contends that it's a mistake to overlook the power of trimming back on smaller spending.

"I know many people who got into trouble because they bought big-ticket items they could not afford," Kofke says. "But I think those smaller everyday purchases also played a major role in our country's economic problems. "Little things do add up."

Big Changes and Bigger Results
However, not everybody subscribes to the smaller-is-better approach.
"Pinching pennies is the most emotionally draining way to save," says Rebecca Schreiber, a Certified Financial Planner with Solid Ground Financial Planning of Silver Spring, Md.
What works better -- and faster -- is to downsize big expenditures in life, she says. Schreiber says savers get a bigger bang for their frugal buck by moving out of a big house and into more modest digs, or selling a second car.

Jeff Yeager, author of "The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches," agrees:
"Small savings, aka 'the latte factor,' are largely false economizing and have led many Americans into their current financial crisis," says Yeager, a full-time writer who previously worked for 25 years in Washington, D.C., managing nonprofit organizations.

Penny-pinching alone is "cut from the same cloth as fad diets" and does not fundamentally change a spender's habit of living beyond his or her means, Yeager says.

Instead of penny-pinching, Yeager recommends scaling down in more dramatic ways. He recommends never trading up from your house and instead paying off your current home as fast as you can. In addition, he suggests living on roughly the same amount of money year after year despite any increases in income.

"Unlike our peers who have gone to bigger and more expensive houses, we're still in our starter home," says Yeager, 51, who is married with no children. He and his wife, Denise, have finished paying the mortgage and carry zero consumer debt. Lacking a mortgage payment, the couple was able to quit their jobs and work at what he calls "selfishly employed" ventures they love.
While Yeager says he is not opposed to pinching pennies -- he will rarely buy food that is over $1 a pound -- he says that his philosophy is to pinch the dollars " ... and the pennies will pinch themselves."

"There are endless discussions about coupon clipping and saving 10 percent off this and that ... but the question is really this: Do we really need all this stuff? What happens if we don't buy it?" says Yeager, who adds that the key to saving is simply to spend less than what you earn.

A Third Way
Of course, if you want to supercharge your savings, it may pay to both penny pinch and downsize.
"Everyone should pinch pennies no matter what your situation to ensure you live well below your means," says Harrine Freeman, a personal finance expert, speaker and author of the book "How to Get Out of Debt."
Living a frugal lifestyle no matter what your financial situation will prepare you for any money crisis that may hit without having to make drastic lifestyle adjustments, she says. Start with small steps, Freeman says. That includes everything from saving coins in a jar, using coupons, shopping the sales, eating at home -- and, yes, even forgoing the $4 latte.

Eventually, savers can graduate to bigger steps, such as downsizing a house or car, or eliminating luxury expenditures such as expensive vacations. Rocha agrees that ultimately, a healthy dose of frugality both in the little and big stuff really makes savings pile up.

"For most people, it is not how much you make, but rather how well you plan and spend your money that leads to financial success," Rocha says. "This philosophy has enabled us to save and live a very wealthy life on a moderate income."

P.S.: For more penny-pinching and other ways of dealing with money please visit us at: http://www.blogandshop.net

My New Job

Dear Friends,

Hope you are all doing well!!

After being unemployed for almost a month I have some good news and some bad news:

GOOD NEWS: I got a new job. Starting Tuesday I will have a job again. It was good having a "vacation" but to be honest I was getting a little bit frustrating especially when you are applying for jobs and the potential employers don't even bother to reply to you! what gives?? Anyway, I am out of the "job search market" for now

BAD NEWS: I had to take a small salary cut and I will also have to deal with no health insurance or 401k for a few months. It may not be the "ideal" job but I have done this type of work before and I even know the managers so this helped. Also, the way the job market is right now I rather wait a year or so and then start searching for a better job WITHOUT the need of being under pressure. I am sure you understand what I mean.

So if you are one of the MILLIONS who are still searching for a job remember this: STAY POSITIVE and especially STAY FOCUSED!!! you will find something.

Take care everybody.. Blog to you soon!!

Dealing with unemployment

Dear Friends,

If you are like me dealing with unemployment I really hope you are in my situation. Why? well because when I was laid off the first things that came into my mind were:
1) I have NO DEBT
2) I have a fully funded emergency fund.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not happy that I am unemployed but I can tel you that I am not stressing... well, maybe just a little bit... but I am not stressing about having debts and not having the money to pay them and on the flip side, I am not stressing because I do have money saved that complements my laughable unemployment benefits.

Please stay tuned for my next podcast due out in the next few days were I discuss in detail these and other important matters.

Thank you!

How I Survived Unemployment

Hello everybody and welcome to another 'blog' edition of Eliminate Debt and Build Wealth podcast. This blog is sponsored by http://blogandshop.net

Before I begin I like to share with you the following link on "How to Survive Unemployment". Click here to read this short article: http://www.ehow.com/how_2057958_survive-unemployment.html It is a very interesting article with some good and simple ideas.

I am going to put aside my debt payment status on this blog so I can share something else with you. I WAS LAID OFF!!! However, I guess I am of the lucky few because my unemployment only lasted 2 weeks. And even though the situation with my current employer is "iffy" for now I am employed full time.
Now, keep in mind that I did not receive a paycheck for 1 biweek AND I had to wait another 2 weeks to get paid I basically got one single check in the entire month of July. Did I panic you ask?? NOPE!! I have an EMERGENCY FUND...

Do you have one??? If not then DONT WAIT any longer. You need to have one just in case you are laid off or the transmission in your car goes out, or like in my case, the microwave died so I needed to buy a new one, etc., etc. So dont just think about it and then forget about it. Start little by little and eventually, when you least expect it, you will have a "fully funded" emergency fund of AT LEAST $1,000 dollars.

Here is another link that might help you get started: http://www.ehow.com/how_4847409_create-emergency-fund.html

P.S.: If you have a Bank of America account like I do you might want to look into the "Keep The Change" program they have. I use it and it really adds up.

Write to you soon!!!

Take care my friends

Happy 4th of July (Financial Independence Day)

Hello everybody and happy 4th of July to all!!

Besides celebrating our Independence from England we should also start celebrating our Financial Independence from debt and if you are not there yet don't despair... Keep working at it and you will reach your goal.

I hope you have been enjoying our podcast about Eliminating Debt and Building Wealth. Currently I am sharing with you my experiences of dealing with credit card collectors and yes even bankruptcy. You can find our podcast at: http://blogandshop.podbean.com/

Guess what?? I was laid off for 2 weeks due to lack of work but I am going back on July 6. I guess I am one of the lucky ones that (a) did not have to get unemployment checks and (b) did not have to stress out due to lack of job openings and while we are on the subject I want to share the following web link: http://www.jobbrowsing.com/ you can find specific jobs in any State, City or even by Zip Code. Hope it helps you somehow (in case you are looking for a job of course!!)

Finally, I want to say that during these 2 weeks I was unemployed I NEVER panicked... Do you know why? Because a very good EMERGENCY FUND in place and very little debt. So remember friends, Do you have a job? Then start building your emergency fund A.S.A.P.!!! and if unfortunately you don't have a job right now then at least keep it in the back burner but as soon as you start working make sure you also START building the E.F.

Hope you enjoy the holiday and I will "write" to you soon

Take care

P.S. Please don't forget to subscribe to our podcast!!!

Quick Links

Hi again,

Just want to share a couple of web links that I found interesting. Hope they help in some way:

1)http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/financialhealth/index.html Are your finances in good shape? It comes from CNN. Just put in your $$ info and see where you are

2)http://www.ehow.com/how_569_live-within-budget.html How to live WITHIN your budget. Very simple yet very true!!

Good luck

End of the Month Update

Hello friends,

Well May is almost over and usually I like to look back at the month that just ended (or almost ending) and see where I am at and where I need to go.

I am happy to report that I finally published my first podcast. You can find it at: http://blogandshop.podbean.com/ where you can listen to it and even subscribe to it. I will do 2 podcasts per month (at least) Hope you like them and subscribe.

I am also continuing to pay down my credit card debt. I am happy to report that I HAVE NOT used them at all and even when "murphy" knocked on my front door several times I managed to pay those unexpected things with cash and not start charging for things. Early next month I will share with you my current debt balance.

I will be updating my "Eliminate Debt - Build Wealth" web site so please continue to visit us at: www.blogandshop.net Oh, and by the way, we have some FREE e-books for you just for visiting us!!

Take care all !!

End of the Month Update

Hello friends,

Just want to give you an update. When you are working on paying down debt always expect 1 thing: Murphy will knock on your door, and unfortunately, you do have to open the door.... Well it happened, my wife’s car needed some small repairs and our kitchen blender went out. Now, I know it is no big deal but the fact is that things will happen. You will be tested so you need to be ready. Fortunately, they were small things AND (most importantly), they were paid for in CASH!!!!

So be ready my friends. Remember, you need to have AT LEAST $1000 dollars in an emergency fund. If you can have more money saved then even better. And if you use part or all of your emergency fund, make sure you build it up again!!

By the way, my credit card debt is now down to: $4,351.02 . . . Will keep you posted.

My first post

Dear Friends,

Thank you for visiting my blog. I decided to start it so I can share with you my life experiences with credit card debt, and building an internet business.

When it comes to credit card debt I have (unfortunately) very good experience in getting in to debt and even filling for bankruptcy..... TWICE!! I filed in 1996 having aprox. 20K in debt and again in 2006 having aprox. 18K in debt! Did I learn my lesson you may ask?. . . . Of course not!! I am again in debt, however, I only got up to 5K and I am now on my way to getting out of it. Currently my debt is UNDER $4,500 and I have already eliminated 2 credit cards (out of 5).

I dont want to bore you so finally I want to add that I started my first internet business back in 1998 and after a lot of trial and error, I now have 5 web sites that I outright own the domain names and aprox. another 5 commerce sites that I do not have to pay any hosting or domain name fees.

I will add 1 or 2 posts per month and give you an update on my elimination of my c.c. debt and the ever more expanding "web site business empire" (hahaha!!)

Thank you and please come back again!

P.S. Please don't forget to bookmark my bogger address shown above