Cosby Economics 101

Heathcilff Huxtable may have been the best father many of us ever had. If you are like me, you learned many important life lessons from the Huxtable's.  One episode that comes to mind is the episode where Cliff teaches Theo about money and the "real world" after he brings home a bad report card. Using Monopoly money, Cliff sets up a great example of real life, grown up situations.

In the episode, Theo becomes his dream job of a fashion model, while Cliff and family set up the "Real World Apartments". Cliff was the landlord, Clair the restaurant, Denise runs the modeling agency, and Rudy is the banker.

Theo finds that living in the "real world" and being financially responsible isn't so easy. Cliff goes down the list of Theo's monthly expenses: taxes, apartment, travel, clothing, food, and having a social life leaving theo with a grand total of $0 left a month. Theo hasn't even factored in utilites, insurance, or savings...

Learning about money, it's value, and how quick it can go..without doing anything fun...is very important for kids. Not only kids, but many adults. Money can go quicker than it came. Learning how to manage it can keep you out of a lot of bad situations...the avoidable ones at least.

What are the best ways to teach kids about money?

 

Mistakes Will Be Made

In anything you do in life, you will make mistakes.

That includes when handling your finances. You might forget to pay a pill on time. You might get caught up in the excitement of a purchase and spend too much. You might make a wrong decision and end up owing more than you should.

Whatever the mistake is, don’t beat yourself up. Don’t get down. Don’t give up. The best way to overcome a mistake, financial or not, is to learn from it and move on. Form a plan to fix the situation.

Mistakes are lessons.

 Learn from them.

Lessons Learned from World's Biggest Dreamers

One of my favorite shows on TV lately is Oprah's Lifeclass.  Oprah's Lifeclass is a self-help program that showcases "all of Oprah's lessons, revelations and aha moments over the past 25 years broken down to help make your life better, happier, bigger, richer - more fulfilling." Each episode revolves around a central topic or lesson that teaches viewers how to live their best life. Winfrey and her co-hosts share their ideas, thoughts, and reflections about the lesson, and the show features interviews with guests whose life experiences relate to each topic.

On a recent show she shared 6 Lessons she has learned from the World's Biggest Dreamers...

* Set your goals so high that you can't achieve them in one lifetime.

* Have ever chaning goals.

* Buid and go further.

* Have a vision.

* Believe.

* If it's not hard, your not dreaming big enough.

Check out more of Oprah's Lifeclass...

OWN Lifeclass

7 Powerful Actions to Bring Your Life in Balance Today

Here at Personal Finance 4 The People we care about more than just your money! We want to help you become the person you aim to be and live the life you WANT to live!

From the Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life website....

7 Ways to Balance Your Life

Inner peace and balance come when you stop chasing that carrot and start enjoying your life. Let’s see how you can get rid of that carrot and stop sabotaging your happiness.

• Become aware.A lot of times the carrot race is just a cover-up for inner emptiness or pain. Filling life with tasks won’t fill your life with meaning.Today spend some time reflecting on your inner motives and priorities.How do your everyday tasks help you achieve your personal goals?What goals are truly important to you?The more insight you gain into yourself the easier it will be for you to find your balance.

• Try “reverse” time management.Every day you probably focus on accomplishing certain tasks that you planned. At the beginning of the day you look or think about everything that has to be done and your brain almost freezes in silent panic. All day long you try to catch up on everything but something constantly interrupts you, you lose your focus and at the end of the day your list of tasks looks only longer.Today focus on how much time you can spend working. Plan 1-2 hour work blocks when you are 100% focused and nothing can get in your way. Work as a mad man or woman during those blocks but then let yourself rest. At the end of the day focus on how many productive work blocks you have had instead of how many tasks you have marked off your to do list.This little change in your thoughts will help you avoid procrastination, prevent “brain freeze” and let you have some time for the unexpected things that will come up during the day.

• Listen to the people around you. Our relationships are a huge subject that can’t be tackled in just one paragraph. However, if I was (and I am) to give you advice that will improve any type of relationship then it would be “Listen to others.”So many times we tune out of the conversation with our loved ones to watch our favorite show, check messages on the smartphone or just think again about that work project.By depriving our loved ones of our attention we lose connection with them and stop understanding them.Today listen to the people around you. Don’t judge, don’t get offended, but rather try to use any comments that you hear for your personal growth.

• Focus on your vitals first.Do you ever leave the house without brushing your teeth? Do you try to drive the car without first getting the keys? These little actions seem obvious, don’t they? Then why is that taking care of our vital needs isn’t as simple as that?What is vitally important to you in life? For me my kids, family, health and spirituality are vitals no matter how busy my day might be. Every day I make sure that I spend time with my kids, have at least one peaceful hour with my husband, do at least a little bit of exercise, eat healthy food and spend time praying. My entire day is focused around these vitals and whatever time I have left I spend on other goals and necessities.Today figure out what your vitals are and find a place for them in every day. Itís not as hard as it seems. Split your exercise into 10 minute blocks throughout the day. Fix healthy meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare (easy vegetable stir fry, spaghetti with marinara sauce, grilled chicken breast on a bed of fresh lettuce are just a few ideas) and include your loved ones into your everyday activities (exercise by taking your kids or your partner on a walk, fix meals together, spend time playing games [no sorry, video games do not count] instead of watching TV.) Figure out what works for you and start by adding 10-15 minute blocks of your vital activities into every day.

• Be flexible. Napoleon had a brilliant idea of strategic military planning which he summarized as You engage, and then you wait and see.î By making contact with the enemy and then improvising, he triumphed and made his armies the envy or Europe.In a modern world the ability to improvise is a crucial component of balance. Instead of making daily to-do lists try to create a list of goals for a week or a month. This flexibility will let you have time for the unexpected surprises and ways to deal with them. And instead of always sticking to rigid plans and goals let yourself go with the flow sometimes.Today question your plans and goals and think of creative ways to work around any obstacles. Donít push through the walls all the time. See when itís better to use your strength to push a little harder and when itís best to avoid an obstacle that seems to be ruining your plans.

• Live in positive reality.Our view of the world is just a perception. The difference between optimists and pessimists is not how many good events happen in their lives but what information they tend to focus on.Unfortunately our brain is hard-wired into focusing on negative events. Scientists call this phenomenon the “negativity bias.” After years of studies researchers have come to the conclusion that it takes about 5 positive events to overwrite one negative one.However, focusing on all things positive is not the best way out either. Too much positive thinking makes you ignore possible obstacles standing in your way which decreases your chances of success.Today focus on being a positive realist. Take things for what they really are instead of spending all your mental energy to find a positive reason why you are stuck in a traffic jam. To reinforce positive emotions in your life think about all the positive events that happened to you today. When setting goals think of any obstacles that can get in your way and create a plan to work around them.

• Start living life at your own speed. Instead of focusing on the quality of our life we often focus on the speed of it. We have a bunch of goals with (most of the time) unreasonable deadlines. We don’t stop and think whether we picked good timing for something. We try to bust through the walls and achieve our goal no matter what without ever asking whether it was an important enough goal to work so hard for.Today take some time to slow down. I am not asking you to meditate or walk around the park marveling at every bug that you see on your way. Take a look at your current goals and schedule and see if you have picked the right timing for everything. We can accomplish pretty much anything we dream about in life but for every dream we have to pick the right time to bring it to life.Living in balance starts with changing your thoughts.Stop chasing that imaginary carrot and start focusing on living your life at your own speed, with your own goals and to your maximum potential.

What actions do you take to bring your life in balance?