Monday, August 26, 2013

There is no Shame if You've Made Mistakes


There is no Shame if You've Made Mistakes

By Keith Bunn Jr.
August 26, 2013

Facebook

I love having people ask me questions about finances, both in person and on social media and this week was no different. Just the other day, someone on my Cavus Facebook page asked me, "What are some of the stupid things you've done with money?"

Stupid Things I've Done

Well, I have quite a list! The first thing that comes to mind is the house I bought in Georgia. I had just gotten married to my then wife (now ex) and re-enlisted into the Army. I went down to Georgia ahead of everyone and was trying to find place to live off post. To make a long story short, I had no clue what I was doing and I didn't have my spouse there to give me her input. I was doing everything by myself and I made HUGE mistakes! I took out a VA loan which was an adjustable rate mortgage. 
If I could do things over, I would have never bought a house in the first place because I was in the military, let alone buy one with a VA loan on an adjustable rate mortgage. I would have just rented until I was out of the Army.
The second thing I did that was stupid was I bought cars with loans. On top of that, whenever the cars broke down, I didn't have an emergency fund in place to help fix the cars, so I had a car crisis and a money crisis all at the same time. Really dumb on my part!
Another thing I did was I always bought stuff on impulse and some of it was on payments, I never had a plan for my money and when people live their lives that way, life always seems to get out of control and take you by surprise. I was no exception!
I could go on and on, but I will finish with this last stupid thing I did. I never lived on a budget until the beginning of 2007. And to tell you the truth, God sure must have been watching over me to have me come out of my stupid world as unscathed as I did. I know that doesn't happen to everyone, but it did with me. 
People, you have to have a monthy budget each and every month. I don't care who you are, what your job is or what you make a year. If you don't do a monthly budget every month, you will always struggle with money, period!

Don't be Ashamed

Now if you've done stupid things with money, there's no shame in that. That just makes you human! The only thing that makes it shameful is if you don't do anything about it, meaning, If you know your finances are bad, learn how to make them better. Read a book, take a class, talk to someone you trust who knows more about this subject than you. Do something! Because if you keep doing what you've been doing, you always going to get what you've been getting.

The reason I do this is to give people hope and to try to inspire others. To make them think about their finances, whether they are young or old, so they can win financially.
If you have any questions for me about my posts or if you need help learning how to live on less than you make and creating a budget, you can call me at (616) 454-2046 or e-mail me at cavuscoaching@gmail.com. I’d be happy to do what I can to help! 
You can also find more money news, facts and ideas, on my Facebook and/or Twitter pages. I'd be grateful if you followed me. Thank you!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Good Guys Finish Last



Good Guys Finish Last

By Keith Bunn Jr.
August 19, 2013

We've all heard the old saying, "Good Guys Finish Last!" and it seems I'm hearing more an more of that same kind of thinking. People have been blaming everyone else for their issues in life. The rich people, the banks, the big corporations, and the government are all out to get the good guys. But did you ever think that maybe some of those very same people who are blaming everyone else, might of caused there own issues?

What Brought This On

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a question on her Facebook page asking, "If you could get away with it, would you do something you know you shouldn't?"
Thankfully, most everyone who answered her question said "NO!", myself included. But a couple of them said something like, "It really depends on the situation - like if it would help someone." and to me, that is almost like someone saying they would do "something you know you shouldn't", which by the way, someone did say that. We'll get to that in a second.
When someone changes their morals because of a certian situation, that is called Situational Morality, and to me, that's not good. It means to me, that depending on their situation, their principles of what is right and wrong go right out the window, and in my eyes, they can't be trusted!
Now there was one person that did say, "I have many times...no regrets. It was all VERY enjoyable, dangerous, I may have gotten caught but, even IF I DID get caught, I'm sure I had fun ~ you only live once."  When I read this, my first thought was, there is NO WAY I'd ever trust this person with anything. These kind of people have absolutely no morals of any kind. They will lie and cheat anytime it will either make them look good or to get themselves out of trouble. They also don't have any integrity about themselves or anyone else for that matter and will stab you in the back the monent it suited them.

What Does This Have to do with Life Issues?

There was a study done sometime ago by Dr. Thomas Stanley about millionaires. In his research, Dr. Stanley concluded that the number one characteristic in the millionaires he studied was that they had phenomenal amounts of integrity. Which means, when they said that they would or wouldn't do something, they meant it! Their moral compass was always true. 
That meant that people could trust them! And if someone asked a question about their character, 98% of the time there would be nothing but good said about them. This also means, that if someone tried to lie about them and/or tarnish their reputation, no one would believe the lies because they had outstanding character.
You see, every one of our opportunities in life come from our relationships with people. Whether it is with our family and friends, our co-workers or the waitress at your favorite resturant, relationships matter! So if we lie about something, if we cheated someone out of something, or we just do something that was dishonest, people see that, they remember it, they may not say anything about it to you, but they will tell others, which means, there goes our opportunities.

Trust!

It comes down to these questions. Do people trust you? Do you treat others the way you want to be treated? The Golden Rule! If you do, then more opportunities will come your way and you will soon see that not only do the good guys finish, but they finish in first place.

The reason I do this is to give people hope and to try to inspire others. To make them think about their finances, whether they are young or old, so they can win financially.
If you have any questions for me about my posts or if you need help learning how to live on less than you make and creating a budget, you can call me at (616) 454-2046 or e-mail me at cavuscoaching@gmail.com. I’d be happy to do what I can to help! 
You can also find more money news, facts and ideas, on my Facebook and/or Twitter pages. I'd be grateful if you followed me. Thank you!


Monday, August 12, 2013

Pre-arrange Final Expenses


Pre-arrange Final Expenses

By Keith Bunn Jr.
August 12, 2013

I received in the mail the other week, information I asked for about pre-purchasing 2 grave spaces. Don't worry, Julie & I are fine. I did this to get and share information about pre-buying stuff for everyone's funerals.
I have no problem with you pre-planning your funeral or even buying your grave spaces before you die for the 6 reasons the cemetery brochure said.

1) Prevents emotional over-spending.
A spouse cannot pay burial expenses with reason and/or normal caution when they have to make last-minute arrangements under emotional stress.

2) Means selecting your family plot well in advance.
This assures a greater choice of selections, rather than having to select among a limited choice.

3) Brings security and peace-of-mind to every member of the family.
Once a decision is made in this matter, you have the comfort of knowing that all the details have been taken care of - once and for all.

4) Assures that the surviving spouse will not be forced to work to pay for final expenses.
Insurance statistics show that too often the surviving spouse is forced to work to pay off final expenses because pre-arrangement plans were not done.

5) Protects your estate against inflation.
When you buy your family plot today, you pay a fixed price that will never change in the years ahead.

6) Is of importance to families who can least afford burial expenses.
Under pre-arrangement, the need to raise funds or borrow money for final expenses have been eliminated.

Don't Go into Debt for Final Expenses

With this all said, I would pre-arrange my final expenses as well as pre-buy certain things like your grave space, but only if you do it with cash. What's the difference if you go into debt now or years from now to pay for what needs to be done when you pass?
To give you an example of what I'm talking about, I will use the numbers the cemetery gave me. If you or I paid for 2 grave spaces through this particular cemetery, it would cost $1831. If I were to buy the same spaces on a 30 month payment plan, paying 6.99% interest, the total cost would be $1992.46.

Use Interest to Your Advantage

Here's the kicker. Instead of paying interest for your final expenses, why not earn it. This is what I mean... 
Using the numbers the cemetery gave me, the monthly payments for that 30 month payment plan would be $63.36 per month. If I took that same amount and invested it into a mutual fund, earmarked for final expenses, that earned a 10% rate of return from my age (46) to 65 years old, that investment would be $43,796.69. And if I were to live to 85 years old, it would be $369,460.10. I think either one of those examples would be enough to bury me, or even have a space burial. I think that would be cool, don't you? Oh, by the way, if I were to live as long as my grandma did (102 years old), the amount in that investment would be INSANE!!! 
So just don't do what everyone does or what everyone tells you "This is just how things are done." There is always a different way of doing things, and a good portion of the time, its a smarter way too.

The reason I do this is to give people hope and to try to inspire others. To make them think about their finances, whether they are young or old, so they can win financially.
If you have any questions for me about my posts or if you need help learning how to live on less than you make and creating a budget, you can call me at (616) 454-2046 or e-mail me at cavuscoaching@gmail.com. I’d be happy to do what I can to help! 
You can also find more money news, facts and ideas, on my Facebook and/or Twitter pages. I'd be grateful if you followed me. Thank you!


Monday, August 5, 2013

Being Patient is part of a Healthy Financial Plan


Being Patient is part of a Healthy Financial Plan

By Keith Bunn Jr.
August 5, 2013

We've all heard the saying, "Patience is a Virtue" and that is absolutely right, especially when it come to our finances. 
It is so easy for us today to spend more than we make. With just a swipe or wave of a card, its yours! Easy as that! Even with a debit card, (which are OK by the way) its easy to get yourself in trouble with overdraft charges if you're not careful. And the banks and the stores we shop at are counting on our lack of patience, and our ability to impulse our butts off, to make more profit on the interest we owe on those cards then if we were to buy the same stuff with cash.

True Story

Here is an example and a true story of this very thing... 
Julie and I were in line at Sam's Club to checkout, when Julie noticed the lady behind us had a bunt cake in her cart. Julie said to the lady, "That bunt cake looks good." The lady replied, "Doesn't it? And I got it for free!" 
The first thing that popped into my head was, 'I want a free cake'. And as if Julie read my mind, as she often does, she asked the lady, "How did you get a free cake?" Right then, the lady got kind of excited to tell her story, "Well, I was walking around the store, putting stuff in my cart when I realized, I didn't have enough cash on me to pay for it all. So I came up front and signed up for the Sam's credit card and they gave me a free cake just for signing up."
I immediately started convulsing a little bit. That lady had just sold herself for just a few items in her cart and a bunt cake! Now we didn't know anything about that lady. She may have paid off the balance right a way, cut up the card and closed the account. I don't know, but chances are, she didn't.

Having Patience is even Hard for Us

Some people have more patience than others, we all know that. Being patient is not something you're born with, it is something you learn. It is even hard for us at times. Julie is a HUGE giver, which is awesome, but if someone she is close to says that they like something, if we're not careful, she'll buy it, even if it's not in the budget to do so. I'm kind of the same way. I like to get our grand kids the toy superhero masks you can buy at most stores today, and just the other week, I saw a Spider-Man mask for $11. Spider-Man is one of my grandson's favorite superheros and I know $11 doesn't sound like much money, but we didn't budget for it. I was seriously debating on whether or not to get the stupid mask. I looked at Julie and she said. "Its up to you." I thought about it for just a moment more and decided not to get it. I know someday, I'll find that very same mask on clearance or in a yard sale for cheaper than $11. I know our patience will pay off one day. Not just so we can buy our grand kids toys, but so we can live comfortably in our golden years, and leave an inheritance to my children's children of both knowledge and money.

The reason I do this is to give people hope and to try to inspire others. To make them think about their finances, whether they are young or old, so they can win financially.
If you have any questions for me about my posts or about your finances, you can call me at (616) 454-2046 or e-mail me at cavuscoaching@gmail.com. You can also find more money news, facts and ideas, on my Facebook and/or Twitter pages. I'd be grateful if you followed me. Thank you!