I owe you all an Apology

I owe you all an Apology

By Keith Bunn Jr.

March 29, 2012

As most of you know, I know very little about running a business, but I’m learning! I’ve been reading blogs and books on starting, building, and running a business. Another thing I do is listen to business podcasts while I’m at work. One in particular is called Coach Radio, hosted by Justin Lukasavige. Justin is a business coach I stumbled across while listening to another podcast. The last two weeks I e-mailed Justin and asked him some questions about my blogging and posting them on my social media sights and with my permission, he answered them on his last two podcasts. Needless to say, he beat me with a wet noodle, and rightfully so! It would seem that I have been alienating some of you by unintentional spamming you with my blogs.

You see, after everything Julie & I have gone through with battling and chipping away at our debt, it has been a passion of mine to help anyone else out there that might be struggling with it too. To share what we have learned so that they can live debt free also, but I have been going about it all wrong. So I humbly apologize to each and every one of you. I only wanted to help those out there that might be struggling with their debt too.

With that being said, I’m going to be making some changes. After I post this blog, I will not be posting links to future blogs on Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin until I can learn how to do it better. I will be trying to figure out how to create a newsletter that can be sent out to those of you out there who want to read my blogs. In the meantime, if you want me to send you my blogs in an e-mail, you can let me know by shooting me an e-mail requesting me to do that at cavuscoaching@gmail.com . I will not share your information with anyone. If you feel uncomfortable sharing your e-mail address with me but still want to read my blogs, I post new ones every Sunday at www.cavuscoaching.blogspot.com .

Again, I’m truly sorry about the spamming. If any of you are thinking about starting a business or have one and would like to see if you can improve it in any way, I highly recommend listening to the Coach Radio podcast through iTunes or you can listen to it on Justin’s website at www.coachradio.tv . He puts out lots of good stuff each week and he can help you no matter what your business is.

It's stupid to guarantee someone else's loan.

It's stupid to guarantee

   Someone else's loan.

By Keith Bunn Jr.

March 26, 2012

I’ve never done it myself, co-signed loans that is. It just never made any sense to me. Why would anyone co-sign for anyone? Think about it, banks, mortgage companies, credit card companies, etc… spend and make millions to billions of dollars a year making loans to people, so if they won’t give your family member or friend a loan, there is a reason. It is because they have a high probability of not paying the loan back! And this isn’t because your family or friend is a bad person, it’s because mathematically they can’t.hey can'your family or friend is a bad person, its because mathan back! And this isn' But if you are determined to co-sign for your family or friend, ask yourself these three questions first…

1.    If I co-sign for this loan, will I be mad, upset, or have hurt feelings towards my family member or friend if this loan goes bad and I have to pay it?

2.    Am I giving a drunk a drink? Meaning, am I enabling them more than I'm helping them based on what they've done in the past with handling their money?

3.    Have they gone bankrupt, has something been repossessed or foreclosed on?

If you answered yes to either one of those questions, you shouldn’t co-sign the loan because chances are, you will have to pay the loan, your credit will get dinged, and your relationship will be either damaged or destroyed. In my opinion, there is no dollar amount worth that.

Now I want to warn you. When you tell your family member or friend no, be ready to be told that you don’t love or care for them, that you’re the bad guy for not wanting to help them out in there time of need. All you need to tell them is that you do love and care for them and that your relationship with them is far too important to you to have it damaged or destroyed over this loan. They probably still won’t understand but as my dad use to say (and I don’t mean to sound cold), they will either be mad an awfully long time or they’ll get over it. 9 out of 10 times, they’ll get over it.

Now there are two more quick things I’d like to share with you. First, the last two questions you asked yourself above should also be asked when thinking about loaning money to your family or friends and for all the same reasons too. It’s just not worth the hassle. Finally, everything we just discussed is biblical. The title of this blog is from Proverbs 17:18 CEV. If you want a nicer translation try the New Living Translation “its poor judgment to guarantee another person's debt or put up security for a friend.”

As with all my blog posts, and social media posts, I welcome any comments and feedback on the topics I write about. It is the only way you and I will learn more about ourselves and each other, so ask away!

Checkout my website, Facebook, & Twitter pages as well.

www.cavusfinancialcoaching.com , http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cavus-Financial-Coaching/120347681380181 , and https://twitter.com/#!/Cavuscoaching

Quick Claim Deeds and Divorce

Quick Claim Deeds and Divorce

By Keith Bunn Jr.

March 18, 2012

It is a common misconception that when you are going through a divorce and you sign a Quick Claim (Quitclaim) Deed over to your soon to be ex, removing your interest in a particular piece of property, that you will also be released from the mortgage. That is not true!

If your name is still on the mortgage, you are still responsible for that loan if your ex stops making the payments and is then in default. Even your divorce papers don’t release you from the debt in any state. Now if your divorce says that your ex is supposed to make the payments and they don’t, you can then take them back to court for defaulting on a court order and force the sale of the property.

If you are at the beginnings of your divorce, the best thing that you can do is force the sale of the property right away. If there is equity in the property, you can then split up the equity once the property is sold. If there isn’t any equity, put the property up for sale as a short sale. This is where the mortgage company agrees to take less than what is owed as payment in full. This is also just left of a foreclosure so it will leave a ding on your credit score, but this is better than getting those harassing phone calls and letters from the mortgage company yelling at you wanting their money when you thought your ex was paying the bill.

If you’re the one who wants to keep the home, there are some things you have to think of… One: is the house payment going to be more than 25% of your take home pay. If it is, it is too much house for you to handle and it is a foreclosure looking for a place to happen. Two: what does your overall debt look like? In spite of popular belief, it really is cheaper to rent something short term until you get your feet back under you.

For some of you out there, getting a nice check from the sale of some property will help you pay off some or all your debts and you can start on a clean slate so to speak.

Look, I know divorce sucks! I’ve been there myself, but you have to think that this is all part of God’s big plan for you and that you were meant to do something different and even though it is painful right now, life does go on and things will get better! For more information about quick claim deeds go to http://www.nupplegal.com/quitclaimdeed.html

As with all my blog posts, and social media posts, I welcome any comments and feedback on the topics I write about. It is the only way you and I will learn more about ourselves and each other, so ask away!

Checkout my website, Facebook, & Twitter pages as well.

www.cavusfinancialcoaching.com , http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cavus-Financial-Coaching/120347681380181 , and https://twitter.com/#!/Cavuscoaching

What is your Emergency Fund in?

What is your Emergency Fund in?

By Keith Bunn Jr.

March 11, 2012

I posted a blog last September where I said that I thought that the emergency fund is the most important part of a healthy financial plan and I meant it. I also briefly talked about putting the fund in a money market account, but I never explained why there and not someplace else.

                                                        Money Markets

 A true money market account is found through an investment broker or financial advisor. I know all kinds of banks that say they have money market accounts but they are not true accounts. And to be fair, from what I’ve found, there isn’t much of a difference between the two kinds of accounts, so I would place it in either. Whichever one you choose, make sure it comes with check writing privileges and/or a debit/ATM card so if you are on a trip somewhere and your car breaks down, you have access to the fund. It is also ok to place your emergency fund in ordinary bank account as long as you keep it separate from your normal savings and checking accounts. This is so you don’t accidently spend it on a bill or at the mall.

Where NOT to put your Emergency Fund

The places you don’t want to put your emergency fund in are in a place where you can’t get to it quickly or where you’ll have to pay some sort of penalty or fee to us it.

Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are a horrible place to put it in because it’s not easy to get to and if the market tanks again, you could lose it.

IRA’s or any other retirement account is another bad place because if you pull money out of those accounts before you’re 59 ½ years old, the IRS will consider it an early withdrawal and you’ll be taxed heavily.

 And the same goes for CD’s (Certificates of Deposit). If you try to take money out of those accounts early, you’ll have to pay a penalty.

The thing is folks; your emergency fund is not an investment. It will not make you money. Your emergency fund is a self-made insurance policy that will protect you and your family from the small to somewhat big emergencies that life throws at you.

As with all my blog posts, and social media posts, I welcome any comments and feedback on the topics I write about. It is the only way you and I will learn more about ourselves and each other, so ask away!

Checkout my website, Facebook, & Twitter pages as well.

www.cavusfinancialcoaching.com , http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cavus-Financial-Coaching/120347681380181 , and https://twitter.com/#!/Cavuscoaching

Collections

Collections

By Keith Bunn Jr.

March 4, 2012

We all know that having a collection can be a lot of fun and depending on what you’re collecting; they can be both expensive and/or valuable.

I have a few collections of my own, none of them I’m adding to right now due to our journey of becoming debt free ourselves. In fact, I have even sold some of the collections in yard sales and on Ebay to speed up our debt snowball. I haven’t sold all of them, I’m hoping to save some of it to pass down to my kids and grandkids when I’m gone.

What little bit of insight I want to pass on to you today is… whatever you are collecting, it’s just STUFF. I know it may be special to you but if selling it betters your family’s financial future, well then sell it. Now I’m not talking about selling your antiques you inherited from you grandparents. But something you have collected and that you’re not really displaying.

I do have to admit that as of right now, even though I have sold some of my collectables, I still do have more that I’m not displaying right now and that’s because we’ve been discussing about moving again and we’re doing pretty good to the point I don’t think I have to sell it, but if it ever got to the point where I thought I would have to, I’d sell it in a heartbeat. I could always get more STUFF once we’re debt free.

  As with all my blog posts, and social media posts, I welcome any comments and feedback on the topics I write about. It is the only way you and I will learn more about ourselves and each other, so ask away!

Checkout my website, Facebook, & Twitter pages as well.

www.cavusfinancialcoaching.com , http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cavus-Financial-Coaching/120347681380181 , and https://twitter.com/#!/Cavuscoaching