I was watching a “how to sell” video presented by a guy named Blair Singer, who is the author of a book called “Sales Dogs“. Not only is he a great salesman, but he’s also really good at teaching others to sell and getting over mental blocks. While watching the training video, there was something that really stuck with me.

After talking a little about doing everything you can for your customer and the importance of making sure you ask for the sale, Blair Singer goes on to say that you need to ASK for something in return, otherwise “You breed what I call criminal behavior and you’re actually conditioning people to get something for nothing.”

Mmmm, let’s think about it. He may have a point there. There are many parents that may disagree with me, but I still want to make a point that I do not believe that children should be given spending allowance just for existing, or for doing things they are supposed to do as a member of the household. How would I teach my kids to deal with being responsible for money? Glad you asked, here are my 5 suggestions:

1. At the beginning of the week, give your kids all the money they need for the week for things they must spend money on to survive daily, like lunch money. Be clear what the money is for and that if they lose it, they will have to find their own way to get lunch. Show them the breakdown of what each penny is for,
2. Tell them chores are a requirement for living in the household, not for payment of allowance. If they do not do their chores, they lose privileges or get grounded. What ever means you normally do for punishment. If extra chores are done that are above and beyond normal household necessities, then payment can be made and extra things get done.
3. Require that all allowance be earned by extra chores only and that 10% be put toward saving and 10% to tithing. Make this a habit and you won’t regret it the earlier you start. These are habits that can be created that can save your children in the future.
4. Have them learn what types of things you have to pay for and how you make your money. Explain the benefits to them of saving and tithing (or giving to charity).
5. Lastly, and probably the most important, when you hear that they want something, sit them down and ask them how they can earn enough to get it. Let them think of ways they can create an income. You’ll be amazed at what they think of!

Remember, it takes effort to “earn” something. Don’t let your kids grow up with such a “something for nothing” mentality that they don’t end up doing anything for themselves. I see it around me everyday…Parents who give into their kids whining, when they should be disciplining them. There are lot of great kids out there, and one thing I noticed about those who are really good kids, they know if they do something wrong there will be consequences to pay from their parents… It’s how it should be.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080327/doug-casey-monumental-monetary-crisis-can-place_all.htm

I am a strong believer that Americans are being kept in the dark about a lot of issues. Does anyone really believe that everything can still be fixed without the public making some kind of sacrifice? Is there really a solution that can found to save us all from entering another Depression greater than the one we had in 1930?

Sacrificing now will avoid greater pain later. Not a monumental concept. It’s what PUDG stands for, Prosperity Using Delayed Gratification. It’s how life should be lived with regards to everything we want to be successful or prosperous at.

Two years ago I was heavy into educating people on financial matters and understanding money. While doing seminars, meeting with people privately, and even co-hosting a financial education radio show I focused a lot of my financial teachings on helping parents understand that college is a huge expense that must be planned for early together with their kids and that it should be secondary to their retirement planning. As a Certified College Planning Specialist (back in 2006) learning the in’s and out’s of how to position and educate parents for the high expenses of their children’s education, time after time I found that many parents were putting themselves in positions where they would be hurting their retirement years in order to get their kids through college, without knowing the potential consequences.

If you are a parent, there are things you need to realize:

1. If you spend your retirement on your children’s education, you may end up needing them to support you in your retirement years. Think about what could happen if they had a spouse and kids and a portion of their income had to help you survive?
2. If your child does not know what they want to major in, send them to a community college to get their core classes out of the way, or don’t send them at all till they are ready to. Let them have the “real world” education and emotionally support them in whatever they decide to do. Encourage them to learn about how investing works and making their money work for them, instead of them working for it.
3. Something like 70% of college grads do not work in the field they got their degree in. Don’t expect too much $ value nowadays for a college degree if they are just getting one to get out into the real world without thought, because an “easy to get” bachelors degree doesn’t seem to hold much weight anymore, statistically speaking. I personally strongly believe that a college education is important  to help in growing up as a well rounded adult, but there is enough evidence to show that many times experience and good communication skills can out do a college education.
4. Let your kids learn the value of money by making them learn to earn it. This means, force them to get jobs if they want spending money. Getting into the workforce early teaches great lifetime skills on how to relate with others. Hopefully they also learn other valuable lessons like taxes will rob you of most of your wages and working for others is not going to make them rich.
5. I personally think that getting”let go”or “laid off” can sometimes be one of the best life lessons a young adult can experience. An experience like that can teach them early that they should never rely on anyone else to feed them, and when they recover, they will realize that it isn’t the end of the world. They need to learn to set things up that will secure their future.
6. Lastly, your teen children will need to be told that they are expected to help with college expenses while still in high school by:
   1. Planning ahead and committing to doing well (starting from the 9th grade).
   2. Taking as many college courses while still in high school.
   3. Getting good grades and work hard to get scholarships.
   4. Saving to help with some of the expected college expenses outside of tuition, like books and supplies. (computers aren’t cheap, but a definite necessity today)
   5. Working while in high school. (I know this is controversial amongst parents depending on your upbringing, but I have personally have seen many benefits when high school students used to work for me.)

Bottom line…I feel the best way to let your kids experience being an adult is letting them support themselves. Especially through the college years.

Are you ready to buy? Take some time and do some work in learning about real estate. There are thousands of books out there for you to read. If you are tight on money, don’t forget that books can be borrowed for free at the library. If you don’t like to read, do what I did and start with borrowing the smallest books first, then as your vocabulary grows, so will your reading speed. If money is not an issue and you don’t want to read, go purchase a couple of cd or tape courses and turn your car into a rolling university.

Bottom line…get prepared and get educated. The news is pointing to a dramatic opportunity for those who understand how to take advantage of this change in the real estate market. You’ve got a couple of years to get ready, don’t waste it!

1. Religion (God)
2. Relationships (Family)
3. Personal Finance (Money)
4. Business (Work)

The interesting thing about all 4 key life areas is that they all require the same types of actions to be successful in them.

Commitment – Each key area need a form of commitment made to it. God needs your commitment, your family needs your commitment to them, your personal finances takes commitments, and of course your work needs your commitment to it. Be a person that takes commitments seriously.

Planning – All four areas need planning, yes even growing in your religion. Planning your future on how you want to grow in your church is as important as planning your family’s future. Proper planning of your finances for retirement and also how you want it to be structured for your heirs will prevent a lot chaos. With regards to business, you’re almost assured failure without a plan to go by. Put a plan together and commit to making it work in each area.

Communication – Growing in all 4 areas takes strong communication skills with others who are involved with each part of your life. Religion requires prayer and listening to God. Strong growth in relationships and family takes a lot of open communication. This means that listening is equally, if not more important than just speaking your mind and telling. Personal finance takes communication with all who have an effect on your finances. If you are married and have kids, they need to be involved in what is going on with the families finances. Lastly, in business, effective communication can be the key reason for success or failure. Employees, management, and everyone involved needs to be on the same page, which is done through good communication.

Sacrifice – All areas will require sacrifice for proper growth and success. God requires you to sacrifice your “fleshy” desires that are not in-line with him. Family and relationships require sacrifice of yourself to fulfill your role in the family (just ask any parent). To grow your personal finances and to secure your future requires you to sacrifice not buying everything you want today. Even if can afford it. Business requires sacrifice in all areas with regards to time and money. Many business owners sacrifice many hours to build a strong business foundation.

There are many other things that all 4 life areas can show a strong parallel. To me, these are just the beginning. Understanding the foundational concepts of PUDG (Prosperity Using Delayed Gratification) and PLUM (Preparing for Life’s Unexpected Messes) can help everyone in all aspects of our lives. Think about it…

Is the Gold and Silver Bubble over? Oddly, I was amazed that the thought of it being a “bubble” never occurred to me! Why haven’t I heard it being mentioned earlier? I read everything I can about all the financial markets, and the “bubble” word is hardly ever mentioned. Maybe I unconsciously ignore the word itself when I read? The only bubble talk out there predominately speaks of the housing bubble and how it has popped. Interesting enough, a new article popped up on Yahoo finance soon after I read her email that was from bankrate.com. I don’t know if would say Gold is in a “bubble” now, but it’s definitely inflating.

Click here to read the article on Bankrate.com.

We haven’t seen the masses jump in yet. When we see people lining up at the Gold shops to buy some, I believe that’s when it’s time to get out. I DO NOT plan to hold on to my gold and silver forever. I hope to liquidate it at the top of the market. Timing it will be tough, but when we start to see the word Gold Bubble all over the news, I’ll know the time is near to sell.

Sadly, I truly still hope that Gold and Silver do not get to point where their prices get ridiculous. If that happens, it will mean that our middle class and US economy as a whole has fallen into really really deep problems. It will also mean that inflation has gone out of control and our dollar has finally lost any power it once held.

Anyway, on one of our many walks (I am so paranoid the dog will relieve herself in the house, I take her out every 2.5 hours just to be sure she stays on empty), I went to see an open house in my condo complex to see how much property values have dropped. Here is where we can see what’s really going on in our Southern California area. Real numbers…

A 3bedroom/2bath condo that once sold for $330,000-$350,000 was now on sale for $219,000 and another for $199,000. That’s over a 33% drop in prices when you factor in that the realtor said we could probably negotiate even lower if we wanted too.

Most recessions follow the real estate and construction markets. Right now, with real estate dropping so rapidly, our construction industry is following suit. With this happening, rest assured that it won’t be long till it seems as though construction is at a halt. The real estate investor pros are preparing for the next boom coming. It won’t be for a few years, but when it happens, they’ll be jumping in and waiting to become exceptionally wealthy. For now, money is going into hiding. Some of it seems to be moving toward the stock market, but I don’t think it will stay there long. The stock market is unforgiving, and when a little negative news comes out, it reacts fast and hard. The gold market has also shown to be extra volatile, but the world is going to be dependent on it to hold value, so I am personally confident many wealthy people will continue to shelter their funds into this precious metal.

The good news is that oil prices are on their way down. However, I saw that OPEC will make sure that oil prices does not go below $85 or $80 a barrel. I think we might hear an announcement that OPEC may be planning to cut production soon. If that happens, we can expect even more volatility on our markets.

Here is the the big news today supporting my claim that our economy is not getting better. Job loss claims jumped by 22,000, here is the opening statement from the yahoo financial article.

“WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level in nearly two months, providing more evidence that the weak economy is having an adverse impact on the labor market.”

Oil prices are sliding due to the fact that consumption will go down, so prices will slide. Hopefully that will hold true, even though that will affect the price of my gold and silver dramatically. I personally do not believe we will see gas prices drop too much and a friend of mine sent me a link that said Maui now hit $4 a gallon.

Know this:

1. Inflation will be a BIG concern soon.
2. The FED cannot drop rates much further to stimulate the economy any more.
3. Gold is now being bought in BIG quantities by gold dealers and jewelry makers. Do you think they would buy now if they thought the price still has a long drop ahead of them?
4. There are countries where smaller cities have stopped taking the US dollar for currency exchange because they are losing too much money in it’s value dropping.
5. There is good news for some who have business overseas. Here is an article that came out today regarding Nike’s results:

“In earnings news, Nike Inc. reported late Wednesday a 30 percent gain in quarterly profit, signaling to Wall Street that some companies are faring well despite the credit crisis. Nike said sales overseas increased largely because of the weak dollar.”

Notice the last sentence of the paragraph?

Don’t worry if you bought gold and silver at the height of the last run, it will STILL be a blessing to you.

Here is what no one is reading about today.

“The market overlooked other data in the report that showed crude oil stockpiles grew by a much smaller than expected 200,000 barrels last week. Gasoline inventories fell by 3.5 million barrels, when analysts had expected a small increase, and supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 2.9 million barrels, more than double the expected amount.

Greed has taken hold of a lot of amateur investors who are running to the gold shops to SELL their gold for what they think is a great move at this point. Honestly, these people will be kicking themselves for not seeing the “BIG PICTURE” by September when Gold will have touched $1500 an ounce and will still be climbing.

In one report, wait lines at the gold shops were as long as 4 hours to sell GOLD. People who were interviewed claimed that they needed to sell to pay taxes and the gas bill. Yikes… Wise investors are still buying at this low price today knowing GOLD IS ON SALE.

Don’t regret, and don’t panic. Be smart, take a look at the big picture as to why gold is so high today and think about the reasons it’s where it at. Those factors have not changed:

1. Oil prices are still high, and although consumption is down, so is supply. (This means oil will probably not drop much more)
2. Inflation is inevitable. Rate cuts cause inflation, yesterday was a HUGE cut. Rumor has it that they may still have to make more cuts.
3. Other countries are starting to slowly liquidate their US Dollar supplies into GOLD and Silver.
4. Our housing crisis is continuing with a vengeance, and the end is no where near in site.
5. Our Dollar is reaching new lows day by day. Yesterday was just a really short spike for the dollar because the cut wasn’t as big.
6. Oil supplying countries have lost so much faith in the US dollar, they are now selling oil for other currencies. This means they are putting their assets elsewhere. (gold)

I have no market thoughts for today. I am taking a wait and see approach and letting things settle to be able to get a bigger picture of where things are going.

Poor guy, he should have waited a few more months and we would have got $50 more for his pain.

The FED just dropped rates another 3/4 point and gold is doing a pullback. It’s a good time to get some on sale now because the pullback will only cause gold to do a higher jump on the next bad news to come around.