My first experience of the 3 came through a conversation with a new found friend.  Because I am learning to speak of the positive and not the negative, we were discussing areas in our lives that showed improvement.  Not areas that NEEDED improvement.  One of those areas for me was my finances.  When I inspected my financial history, I realized that I was earning more money and was much happier being self-employed than when I was working on a traditional corporate job.  The other area in my life that showed significant improvement was in the area of spirituality.  This caused me to wonder if there may have been a connection.  Did my finances improve because my connection with Source improved?  I tend to think it did.

My second experience of the 3 came to me in general thought.  I wondered why is it that the majority of ‘church-going’ people struggle in their relationships, their finances, and in their businesses?  Does God WANT His people to struggle?  And why do people talk down on ministers such as T.D. Jakes or Creflo Dollar saying that they are ‘money-hungry’ devils?  Isn’t God a prosperous God?  Aren’t His gifts abundant?  Or do I have it all backwards and we (God’s children) are suppose to suffer and live sub-par lives?

Finally my 3rd experience came when I happened upon Mary Mary’s video, God In Me.  I fell in love with the song when I first heard it.  And the more I listened, the more I liked it.  So, I looked for the lyrics online today.  What I found were people who said they were sickened by the message of the song.  I was like WHAT.  Are you kidding me?  You’re upset because someone is singing about their gifts and giving God the praise for them?  Wow!

Then it hit me.  Most people DO think that money, cars, homes, clothes, and even bling is a sin.  Well, not me.  

Light, Love and Liciousness,

J-licious

© Copyright 2010/04/27  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

The first thing that caught my attention were the words black, woman, worth and $5?  Then as I strung the words along to form the question, I was appalled.  I thought to myself, how DARE they put a ‘worth’ on a black woman..any woman for that matter.  My first inclination was to move on to the next article; however, the article kept calling for my attention.  So there I was reading, fuming and then understanding.  Understanding that if we (women of color) do not know our worth, neither will anyone else.  And if we do not pull ourselves from under the burden of debt, neither will anyone else.

The article was referencing the difference in money earned in the workforce.  However, I was caused to research a bit more.  What I found will most likely not be surprising to read.  According to a new study by ING, as much as 68 percent of Black women say they buy what they want in a good or bad economy.  They said they shop to cheer themselves up and that they see themselves as trendsetters.  The majority of those items are purchased with credit cards.  More than half of the Black women surveyed say they’ve lent $500 or more to a friend or to family in the last year; one-third say they’ve loaned as much as $1,000.  I do understand that as black women, we have a strong sense of obligation to our family and community; however, this sense of obligation adversely effects out financial stability.  I call this a financial perfect storm.

Many of us were not taught good financial habits.  The African-American community spends more than any other ethnic group.  For many Blacks, budgeting is either not a high priority or is not done correctly.  We have been taught to consume, not to save.  A few years ago, I read a book, Girl Get Your Money Straight by Glinda Bridgforth.  The tips in that book made me take a look at myself AND my spending.  I found that I was spending wayyyyy to much on dining out and entertainment (my way of cheering myself up).  I realized that if I continued to spend so carelessly, I would find myself caught up in that ‘financial perfect storm’.

Light, love, and financial freedom,

J-licious

© Copyright 2010/04/07  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:
- past the first week: 75%
- past 2 weeks: 71%
- after one month: 64%
- after 6 months: 46%

This means less than 20% of people who make New Year’s Resolutions actually see them through to the end.  Success is not achieved by accident, it begins with a well-conceived plan. You can and will achieve more in the next year than you have in the past ten with a disciplined plan of action. If you are not willing to do EVERYTHING on your list, then you should just put the pen down and throw away the paper right now.

Steps that can help you with achieving your New Year’s Resolution(s):

• You need to deeply desire the goal or resolution. Napoleon Hill, in his landmark book,  Think and Grow Rich, said it best. “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.”   So in order to achieve any goal, you must want it enough to remain committed.  You must know your why’s and your why’s must deeply embedded in your soul’s core.
• Visualize yourself achieving the goal. Lee Iacocca said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”   And I know you heard the saying, ‘Fake it until you make it’.  You must BECOME a different person in order to achieve your goal.  You must be willing to let go of old, negative beliefs and incorporate new, positive ones.
• Make a plan for the path you need to follow to accomplish the goal. Create action steps to follow. Identify a critical path. The critical path defines the key accomplish-ments along the way, the most important steps that must happen for the goal to become a reality. Stephen Covey said, “All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation of all things. You have to make sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you’ve thought everything through. Then you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind.”
• Commit to achieving the goal by writing down the goal. Lee Iacocca said, “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” I agree completely. Write down the plan, the action steps and the critical path. Somehow, writing down the goal, the plan and a timeline sets events in motion that may not have happened otherwise.
• Establish times for checking your progress in your calendar system, whatever it is: a day planner, a PDA, a PDA phone or a hand written list. If you’re not making progress or feel stymied, don’t let your optimism keep you from accomplishing your goals. No matter how positively you are thinking, you need to assess your lack of progress. Adopt a pessimist’s viewpoint; something will and probably is, going to go wrong. Take a look at all of the factors that are keeping you from accomplishing your goal and develop a plan to overcome them. Add these plan steps to your calendar system as part of your goal achievement plan.
• Review your overall progress regularly. Make sure you are making progress. If you are not making progress, hire a coach, tap into the support of loved ones, analyze why the goal is not being met. Don’t allow the goal to just fade away. Figure out what you need to do to accomplish it. Check the prior five steps starting with an assessment of how deeply you actually want to achieve the goal.

To get started on the right track, pick up your free Success Principles report here.

To Your Success This Year and Every Year Afterwards,

J-licious

© Copyright 2009/12/30  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

I wanted to share this article written by Charles J. Phelan. In the article , he describes two simple techniques for rapidly ADDING good credit entries to your file. If you would like a free download please visit him here.

THE CO-SIGNER TECHNIQUE

All that is necessary to add years of excellent credit history is the love and trust of a friend or family member who has good credit.

Credit card companies are always willing to have their best customers add extra cards for family members. By adding your name to one or more of their accounts, they will actually cause a new credit card to be issued in your name. The “catch” is that they will be the co-signer on the account, meaning that they are responsible if you miss payments.

Of course, you never want to risk the credit rating of a friend or family member, so simply have them use their own address on the application for the extra card. That way, the card will be mailed to them, and even though it has your name on it, the card will remain in their possession. They can even cut it up if they want to.

The simple beauty of this approach is that the new card will show up on your credit report, and normally it will show the opening date of the original card (not just the application date for the extra card), as well as the entire credit history of that card! It’s like getting years of good credit added to your file with the stroke of a pen.

THE PASSBOOK SAVINGS LOAN TECHNIQUE

The “Passbook Savings Loan Technique” is a great way to add positive payment history to your credit file. It will also give you an excellent credit reference to use for most types of financial applications. This technique does require some cash — at least $500 to $1,000. However, this amount will be held in a savings account as loan collateral, and the total out-of-pocket cost to complete this technique should be well under $50.

Here is the Passbook Savings Loan Technique in detail, so you can see exactly how everything works.

STEP 1 — Locate a Small Bank that Meets Your Requirements

I recommend that you work with smaller community banks and not the major chains. The smaller banks are more likely to have the exact type of account that you will need to open, and they are more likely to work with you and be flexible. Savings & Loan institutions and Credit Unions can also be used, provided they meet the requirements. The product you want is called the “Passbook Savings Account,” which is basically just a simple savings account. And the type of loan you will take out is a “Passbook Savings Loan.” This is the easiest type of loan to get because it is totally secured with your own cash. Most banks are only willing to loan you 85% of the amount you have on deposit, so there is always some reserve money in the account.

Your target bank will be suitable for this method if it meets the following three requirements:

A. The bank must have a Passbook Savings Account product with NO MONTHLY FEE on balances of $500 to $1,000.

B. You must be able to borrow up to 85% of your balance on a 12-month loan schedule. This is typically called a Passbook Savings Loan.

C. CRITICAL: The bank MUST report activity on this account to the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax).

If the bank product does not meet these requirements, then do NOT use that bank. There are thousands of small banking institutions throughout the country, so it should be fairly easy for you to find one in your local area.

STEP 2 — Open a Passbook Savings Account

Go to the bank you’ve chosen and open a Passbook Savings Account for $1,000 (or less depending on what you have to work with). Take your Passbook home and wait a week or so (because you don’t want it to look like you opened the account only for the purpose of taking the loan).

STEP 3 — Obtain a Passbook Savings Loan

Return to the bank and ask to see a loan officer. Look your best, be courteous, and explain that you wish to take out a Passbook Savings Loan for $850 (or 85% of whatever amount you’ve actually deposited).

When you take out your loan your savings account is frozen. However, every time you make a payment you unfreeze an amount equal to your payment, less a few dollars for interest. Be sure to ask that the loan be for at least one year, with minimum monthly payments. Do not get a simple one-year loan with no payments. This will not benefit you at all, because you are trying to establish a history of payments.

You will not be turned down for this type of loan no matter what your previous credit history and in most cases it will not even be checked. If you do have bad credit though, make sure you tell your loan officer before he or she pulls your credit history. Tell the bank representative you are trying to re-establish your credit, and that a good credit rating is very important to you now.

STEP 4 — Make Your Payments

Assuming an interest rate cost of 6%, your monthly payments on the $850 loan will be $73.16. (Remember, this is a secured loan, so the interest rate should be fairly low.) Since you have “borrowed” $850 in cash, you will use that money to keep the payments going on the loan. Be sure to make your payments well before the due dates. Always pay EARLY, in order to be on the safe side in establishing good payment history.

STEP 5 — Pay Off the Loan Early

After six months, pay off the loan early. At this point, you will have approximately $980 remaining from your original $1,000 deposit, part of it as cash on-hand, and some remaining in the savings account. You will have paid a whopping $20.31 in interest (assuming the rate was 6% for the secured loan). I’m sure you will agree that $20 is a small price to pay for adding six months’ worth of good payment history to your credit report!

STEP 6 — Make Sure the Loan Shows on Your Credit Report

After you have paid off the loan, obtain fresh copies of your credit reports to verify that the loan payment history is showing correctly. Since you selected a bank that reports regularly to the big three credit bureaus, everything should show up correctly. But mistakes do happen. If the loan is not reported correctly, then ask the bank directly to fix the omission, or ask the credit bureaus in writing to add the credit reference to your report.

The Passbook Savings Loan Technique is a simplified version of the more complicated “Three Bank Technique.” Basically, the concept is to use the secured loan proceeds from one bank to open up another account at a second bank, and then to repeat the process for a third bank. The math is a lot more complicated, but the principle is the same, with the added benefit of having three simultaneous loans adding positive payment history to your credit report. This approach costs a little more in interest expenses, and involves a lot more work, but can really turbo-charge your positive credit history.

To Our Financial Freedom in 2010 and beyond,

J-licious

© Copyright 2009/12/28  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

In my ‘research’, I was lead to re-read a book entitled The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class written by Keith Cameron Smith. It’s a simple, short (112 pages) yet profound book about wealth and wealth creation. And if one would learn, adopt and use these 10 Distinctions they could easily leave a legacy.

The 10 Distinctions are:

1. Millionaires ask themselves empowering questions. The Middle Class ask themselves dis-empowering
questions.

2. Millionaires focus on increasing their net worth. The Middle Class focuses on increasing its paychecks.

3. Millionaires have multiple sources of income. The Middle Class has only one or two.

4. Millionaires believe they must be generous. The Middle Class believes it can’t afford to give.

5. Millionaires work for profit. The Middle Class work for wages.

6. Millionaires continually learn and grow. The Middle Class thinks learning ended with school (high
school)

7. Millionaires take calculated risks. The Middle Class is afraid to take risks.

8. Millionaires embrace change. The Middle Class is threatened by change.

9. Millionaires talk about ideas. The Middle Class talks about things and other people.

10. Millionaires think long term. The Middle Class thinks short term.

From these 10 Distinctions, you can clearly see that the difference between millionaires and the middle class is their mindset. Millionaires don’t waste time playing the role of a victim. They see themselves as Victors. Millionaires use money to create more money. Whereas the Middle Class use money to buy ‘stuff’. Millionaires see themselves as Legacy Leavers and the Middle Class see themselves in their ‘stuff’.

Think about people in history who everyone would consider wealthy, and you can begin to see what I mean. The Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Campbells are all wealthy families. Their wealth has lasted multiple generations. They left legacies. Why is this? What makes them so different from rest of the world? The difference is very simple. It’s knowledge. Wealthy people know how to create money. The Middle Class know how to get rid of money. Once you know how to create money, you can build sustainable wealth. The money never stops coming. If you have a reversal of fortune, it’s not a big deal. You just create more of it.

Perfect example is Donald Trump. Several years ago, Donald Trump was deeply in debt. But, oddly enough, he didn’t change his spending habits and he didn’t go away. Why not? Because Donald Trump understands how to create money. He understands the difference between ‘good’ debt and ‘bad’ debt. He has a wealth mentality. He is a ‘Legacy Leaver’.

I’ll leave you with a verse from King James Version Proverbs 13:22…”A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children….”

Leaving a Legacy,
J-licious

© Copyright 2009/12/11  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

Law 1:  If You’re Gonna Buy Caviar, Make It Beluga

Law 2:  Le Freak, C’est Chic!

Law 3:  Grab the Mic

Law 4:  Throw Away the Manual (and Find Your Own Way Into Business)

Law 5:  No Success Without Effort

Law 6:  Be A Woman Warrior

Law 7:  Take Control of Those Bills, Bills, Bills

Law 8:  Don’t Let Other People Cash in on Your Game

Law 9:  Build a Powerful Persona

Law 10:  Dress Like You Might Run into Your Worst Enemy

Law 11:  Embrace Your Inner Goddess (Then Play with Your Diva) ——-personally my favorite law

Law 12:  Lose Your Heart, But Never Lose Your Head

Law 13:  Strive for Fabalance

Law 14:  Defy the Haters

Law 15:  Live Large, Give Large

Law 16:  Write Your Own Script

Trust me, it’s a great guide to finding your -licious.

J-licious

© Copyright 2009/08/30  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

This little surprise got me to thinking more about my investment strategies.  I soon realized that I didn’t even have a strategy.  I was using the old “save some spend more than I saved” strategy.  And that was NOT working.  I was under the impression that in order to really invest I was going to need a large sum of money.  Not true, so not true.

There are ways to invest with the amount of money most people spend on a cup of coffee every month….especially if you’re a Starbucks kind of person.  One easy way to get started is through direct investing, a method of buying stock directly from the company without going through a broker.  One of the companies I use is Sharebuilder.com.   Sharebuilder.com also gives you information on over 5000 companies to help in your decision on which stock to buy. You can invest any amount you want.

If you are employed with a company that offers investment options, you can enroll in programs to have a fixed amount deducted from your paycheck and automatically invested in the stock of your choice.  Most companies will even match your contribution.  This is a great way to begin building your investment portfolio.  Of course there are several other investment options such as real estate, but this is probably one of the easiest ways to get started.

I was recently reminded that the amount of money that you save or invest is not nearly as important as developing the habit of investing and saving.

To your financial wealth,

J-licious

© Copyright 2009/08/17  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

Most of the time, we think that the only thing standing between us and our long term goals of being, doing or having what we want is money.  The truth of the matter is sometimes our emotions can be a major roadblock that keeps us from attaining our goals.  Although the money is there, we allow our emotions to deplete our bank accounts.  Emotions can sometimes cause us to spend money on things that give us short-term satisfaction and leave us unfulfilled in the long run.

I have learned from my personal financial challenges that emotions are directly linked to self-esteem.  Self-esteem can have a huge impact on spending and financial decisions. If you feel something is missing from your life, or that you don’t quite measure up to your expectations or expectations that others have of you, you might buy something to prove yourself or to temporarily fill the void.  In this instance, your emotions can prevent you from what you truly want.  You may allow your emotions to cause you to pass up opportunities that could put you ahead financially.  Emotional spending can prove to be expensive and destructive behavior, pushing goals and dreams farther and farther away.You must remember that you can’t change your inside by buying something on the outside.  You will have to go within otherwise, you will continue to go without.

Some emotions that impact our financial decisions include depression, anger,  frustration,jealousy, and the ultimate…… fear.   I encourage you to take a look at your emotional spending.  Find out what drives you to spend when you should save.  Set financial goals.  Don’t just say it in your mind, put the pen to paper.  Make the goals visible.  Look at them daily.  This may help you to remain focused.  As the saying goes…..keep your eyes on the prize.  Once you set your financial goals, stick to them.  Become aware of the emotions that are depleting your accounts because emotions and money don’t mix.

To your wealth,

J-licious

© Copyright 2009/07/19  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

Rarely do we ever talk about how much money we make, or what’s the best way to be on a fast track to millionaire status. The culture seems to think that when men discuss earning strategies, they are being MEN—and when women do the same, we are ‘gold diggers’.   Why is that?

We fear the so-called lonely life that we believe we may face by being successful. But according to Thomas Stanley, author of Millionaire Women Next Door, the median age of women with seven-figure assets is 49; only one in 20 has never been married, and only about 20 percent are divorced.  Besides who has time to be lonely when you are building an empire?  Not only that, you’ll find the men that you do attract are either millionaires in the making or they’ve made it.  How sweet is that?

Women should do what men do: Create the money. Success is a choice. You have an obligation to yourself—to make you your first priority. You don’t have to give up love or family in order to reach millionaire status.  One of the most misquoted versus of the bible is I Timothy 6:10.  I have often heard….. Money is the root of all evil.  That is NOT how the scripture reads.  It reads, The ‘love’ of money…..  So success nor money is evil.
The 3 Cardinal Rules:

• First, BELIEVE that becoming a millionaire is within your power. You would be amazed at what you can create just through believing.  If you haven’t yet read my post  “The King of Kings vs. The King of Pop”, I suggested you give it a read now.  Faith of a mustard see can bring much about.
• Second, always look to improve on your talents/gifts. Make sure you are doing/being what you love.   If you are doing something just for the money, the money will never come.  Continue to educate yourself about your area of expertise.  Then do your research.  Will your business be profitable in the area you live.  Recently I had a client call to tell me they were having some trouble with the competition.  Well, I don’t believe in competition.  But that’s a subject for another post.  He was concerned on whether or not he would be able to earn a living doing what he loved in the area he lived.  My answer…….MOVE!!!!  You have to be open to risks.
• Third, work hard. Set your sights high and go for it. Exam your surroundings.  If you are doing/being more than anyone else around you, then you need to start moving around.  Surround yourself with like-minded people.  Associate only with people who have similar goals and plans for their lives.  If not, you’ll find yourself at ground level instead of up in the clouds.

I know these 3 rules seem simple.  And quite frankly, they are.  Simple, but hard all at the same time.  Just working on your belief system can be a challenge.  Not only will you have to contend with the outside voices of  ‘you can’t, you shouldn’t, you won’t',  you’ll have to learn to quieten the voices inside your own head.  For me,  the daily challenges are so well worth it.

To creating wealth beyond your imagination,

J-licious

© Copyright 2009/07/07  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved

In my reading and investigation of this rare and special specimen we call Millionaires, these are the top ten things I have found to be consistent:

1. Create a financial plan EARLY. Most people get into trouble by creating debt early on. Remember all those credit card offers right after graduation? All those student loans that seemed to be so easy to approved for? Remember that first car you financed because you just had to have it? All those things are just pitfalls into early debt. I’m sure you have heard this phrase hundreds of times before, so you won’t mind if I repeat it once more. “Learn to live within your means and how to delay gratification”. These are habits that you will need to practice into habit so that you can create your millions.

2. Believe in yourself. Unfortunately, most of us will kill our million dollar dream before it even has the chance to be born. I can almost guarantee that you have had at least one idea this year that if you just believed it was possible, would have assisted you on the road to millionaire status. Stop making excuses of why you can’t. Start creating what you can with what you have right now. If you don’t believe in you, who will?

3. Be more specific about what it is you say you want. The statement, “I want to be a Millionaire” is too vague. You must begin to imagine what your life as a Millionaire looks like. Example…I want to have at least $1,000,000 invested so that I can live off the interest. I want to quit my job so that I can volunteer in my community, travel and enjoy spending time with my family. When you clearly set your intentions, the picture becomes so much clearer.

4. Insure against life’s stumbling blocks. Life’s stumbling blocks can look like bankruptcy, divorce, disability, or even a death in the family. Protecting against those stumbling blocks through insurance helps to protect your wealth. I’ve heard so many people say, “I just can’t afford it”. The truth is, you can’t afford NOT to have it.

5. Work hard and smart. When I say work hard, I don’t mean to physically break your back. What I mean is to work ‘steady’. Be consistent in your work habits. Don’t become to relaxed. If you haven’t read my post about my Recession Confession, I suggest you give that a read after reading this post. Donald Trump made this statement….”If your work pays off, which it most likely will, people might say you’re just lucky. Maybe so, because you’re lucky enough to have the brains to work hard”. Millionaires create financial freedom because they work hard in the beginning to build their wealth. Once the wealth is built, they are free to do what they want when they want.

6. Budget. I recommend that you track how much you spend each month. Do this religiously. Be sure to include EVERY spending aspect of your life. This means track how much you spend on eating out, on going to the movies, on hanging out with your friends at the club, and even how much you spend on hair, clothes and shoes to go to the club. You will be surprised at how much is spent on ‘life’s pleasures’. When you SEE your spending habits in black and white, you can begin to budget.

7. Do what you love. Having a college degree is great; however, I have found that most people do not excel at something that they don’t enjoy. I suggest you go into a field that you find yourself enjoying in your ‘spare’ time. If you find your self browsing browsing fashion magazines, then work in the fashion industry. Even if what you like doesn’t seem lucrative, just do it. If you do what you love, the money will come.

8. Create multiple streams of income. The more sources of income you can create, the more likely you will become a millionaire. The key to creating multiple streams of income is to focus on making them passive income. By passive I mean they require little maintenance from you. Stop trying to do EVERYTHING yourself. Develop a team of people who can get the job done while you are out creating the next stream.

9. Invest in your financial education. Most million dollar homes have libraries. That’s not a coincidence. That is on purpose. Invest in your knowledge. If part of your money is not going toward financial education, then you will never reach millionaire status. So pick up a book. No time to read, invest in audio books and programs. Turn the TV and radio off. Educated yourself.

10. Give. First and foremost, give thanks for all that you have been blessed with. Then create a habit of generosity. It feels great when you are able to give from your heart. When you give it (whatever ‘it’ is) away, you make room to receive. If you give, then you possess wealth. When you don’t give, wealth will allude you.

To wealth,
J-licious

© Copyright 2009/07/01  Jacque Keil All Rights Reserved