Managing Credit Card Debt: The First Two Steps If You're Behind On Credit Card Payments

1. Using your Excel spreadsheet, identify the amount you can pay each month to each card.  If you missed the earlier post on tracking monthly income and expenses using this tool, feel free to comment below or email me at clivings@sover.net
2. Call the credit card company and say you have a plan to make future payments:

1. Take notes - date, who you talk to
2. Tell them your plan and how much monthly you’d like to pay (this may be less than the minimum monthly payment)

The company would rather have some cash than none at all.  Your proposal will mean they won’t have to waste their time and money in collecting debt.

You will most likely need to ask for a supervisor who has the authority to make this agreement with you.  You may also need to call the company more than once to make this request.

Additional steps later this week so stay tuned.



Take Action:

• Identify how much you can put toward your credit cards each month 

 Copyright 2012    Connie Livingston                  All rights reserved 

The Third Step to Paying Less Interest On Your Credit Cards

To pay your credit cards off more quickly, you can double the monthly minimum payment.  This assumes you are not charging anything else on your credit card.

• This will lower the interest rate because the faster you pay off the balance, the less interest you’ll pay over time
• Start with the highest-interest credit cards
• Have a good emergency savings account in place first.  More on this later, but start with three to six month's of household expenses in emergency savings.  Have this in place before you pay extra toward your credit cards.

Take action:

• List your monthly income and expenses
• Determine how much you have left each month to put toward savings or your credit card balance
• Reward yourself for taking action:  You deserve it - it's not always easy to sit down and look at your finances!

Good luck with it! 








Copyright 2012    Connie Livingston                  All rights reserved 

Step Number Two: Reducing Interest Rates On Your Credit Cards

Move the balance on your higher interest rate cards to your lower-rate cards

• Be careful here
• You don’t want to max out your cards - this can negatively affect your credit score
• Leave a good cushion of available credit on your card
• Call the credit card company and tell them you’d like to transfer the balance from a higher rate card to this one
• Ask them:  What is the process to do this?
• Double-check with them that you’re not maxing out the card by doing this

Take action:

• Pull out all of your credit card bills
• List the name of each credit card, the interest rate you're paying, the current balance, and the available credit amount
• Identify where you may be able to move funds from the higher-rate to the lower-rate cards
• Call the credit card company!

Good luck with it and please post your experiences with the process and any questions here!




Copyright 2012    Connie Livingston                  All rights reserved 

The First Step To Reducing Interest On Your Credit Cards

Ask your credit card company to reduce the interest rate on your card

Make a list of the reasons you think the credit card company should lower your rate such as:

• You’veconsistently paid your bills on time
• You’ve been a customer for years
• You have a good credit score

Do a search for credit cards on the internet:

• What is the lowest rate credit cards are charging right now?
• Note the best interest rates (don't include the 0% interest introductory rate cards)

Call the credit card company:

• Take notes
• Write down the date of your call and the person you’re speaking to
• Tell them why you’re calling:
• You want to request that your interest rate be reduced
• Mention the interest rates that credit cards are now charging - these are less than what you’re paying
• Tell them you’d like to continue to be a customer of theirs
• Tell them the reasons you’ve listed
• They will most likely tell you they don’t have the authority do do that
• Ask for their supervisor:
• Note the name of the supervisor
• Re-state your request
• If you’re turned down by the supervisor, call again
• You can call back 2-3 times until you get a positive response
• If you have a good credit score and track record with the company they should eventually lower the rate

You can also use this approach with other negotiations with the credit card company:

• Annual fees
• Late charges
• Etc.

Take Action:

This week, write down the reasons why your credit card company should consider lowering the interest rate on your credit card

Good luck with it and please comment here on how it goes or if any questions pop up!

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Two First Steps For Getting Out of Credit Card Debt For Good!

Many of us have credit card debt of some kind. Maybe we lost a job, had large medical bills, or are spending beyond our means. Following are the first two steps to getting out of credit card debt for good:

Stop using your credit cards. Leave them at home so you won't be tempted to use them.
Use good old-fashioned cash or a debit card for your purchases. You won't be able to spend more than what's in your bank account this way.

Take Action:

This week, start using cash or a debit card for all your purchases

Three Steps For Tracking Personal Monthly Household Cash Flow

Following are three steps to getting on top of your monthly income and expenses:

Keep track of your daily expenses: Write down your purchases asap after you make them - in a small notebook or on your smartphone. Everyone in your household who spends money does this.
Decide on a format for keeping track of your expenses and income. This could be an Excel spreadsheet or a pad of paper. Monthly income is recorded here as well as spending categories like groceries, gas for the car, and meals at a restaurant.
Meet weekly with the other adults in your household to review the spending this week. Update the Excel spreadsheet with what you've spent so far this month and what's left until the end of the month in each category. If you spend $300 per month on groceries and you've spent $150 by the middle of the month, you know you have $150 left in that category for the rest of the month. If it looks like there will be a short-fall in a category, talk with your partner about how best to handle it.

This is such a simple system, but it works! I've used it for almost 20 years and it has helped me stay on track even when income has been low and expenses high.

Call To Action:

Start tracking your daily expenses this week!

What Is A Personal Blueprint For Success?

I have had an opportunity to partner successfully with clients who are experiencing great

change in their lives. Without realizing it, they come to me already equipped with a blueprint: approaches they have used in the past when they came up against challenges in their lives. They feel overwhelmed and afraid and, in that state of mind, they have forgotten how they successfully tackled past challenges.

They don’t realize that they have the answers already inside of them and that they don’t have to “start from scratch” in facing the current challenge. I help them see that they have successfully managed change in the past. We identify together what mental outlooks, practical tools, and self-care regimes they used during those times.

These become the beginning of their blueprint. I help them find additional approaches, tailored to their identity and personality. They have a robust, fully fleshed out blueprint at the conclusion of our work together. The next time a major life change occurs, amid their fear and confusion, they can rely on their personal blueprint knowing that it has worked well for them. They feel relieved and encouraged no matter what challenges swirl around them.

Take Action: What major transition did you successfully navigate in the past? What were the approaches you used at the time that helped support this successful outcome? Make a list of them. You'll have a chance to add to these in future blog posts.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Thinking About Starting A Business? (Book Excerpt)

Following are some typical recommendations I make about money management to my clients who are considering leaving employment to start a business:

Make sure you have money set aside to pay monthly expenses in a “liquid” vehicle, such as a Certificate of Deposit or Money Market at the local bank. Two to three years’ expenses is a good amount to set aside for this purpose. These funds should be available at any time and should not be invested in a volatile vehicle such as the stock market. With most new businesses, it takes time to build a steady income on which the business owner can depend for personal income. These funds are for personal expenses only, not for business-related expenses; additional funds should be set aside for start-up purposes.
Run the numbers before giving notice at your current job and review them with someone who is financially knowledgeable such as an accountant with whom you have a good relationship. Are your assumptions valid?
Have two “fall-back” options in case transition funds are exhausted. Two examples are a home equity line-of-credit or an agreement with a family member who is willing to provide funding. These arrangements should be set up prior to leaving employment.
Meet with your partner and other household family members to discuss the pros and cons of making the leap from employment to self-employment. Involve others in the household who will be affected by the change. If needed, meet together with a therapist, mediator, or life coach who can facilitate the discussion.
Develop a business plan, including financial projections, and get feedback from a mentor who has been successful in the type of business you plan to launch.
Partner with a consultant or coach who can connect you to resources and can help you think through your transition plan

Take Action:

Talk with someone you know who has run a successful business and ask them what recommendations they would make to someone who is thinking about starting a business. What did they wish they knew when they started theirs? What do they like about having a business and what challenges them?

From: Your Blueprint For Personal And Financial Transitions

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Your Blueprint For Personal and Financial Transitions - Continued

Perhaps my childhood story will help you to uncover beliefs about money that you picked up yourself as a child.

Our first year in Vermont, I would be home alone in the house after school and would frequently answer the telephone to find intimidating bill collectors on the other end of the line. At this time, during my middle and high school years, there was a lot of tension between my parents due to our financial difficulties. My parents eventually divorced and my mother and I moved yet again to a new home in a low-income neighborhood of the city.

T. Harv Eker points out in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, that the financial story played out in children’s lives tends to repeat in adulthood. However, I was determined to avoid repeating the same financial error that my father had made. As a result, there have been few times in my adult life when I have incurred personal debt. I drive a 14-year-old Volvo and so avoid monthly car payments which can drain monthly household cash flow. My credit cards are paid off as expenses are incurred even before the monthly bill arrives. The only debt I carry is toward assets that will appreciate in value over the long-term such as my home.

Take Action: When we face financial challenges in adulthood we may find that our childhood beliefs are running the show. Take a few minutes to jot down the financial stories that played out when you were young and how your beliefs may be affecting the way you handle and feel about money now. This is a great exercise to complete with another person with whom you can share your experiences.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Your Blueprint For Personal and Financial Transitions, Continued

When I was ten years old, my father announced to my mother that he had decided to quit his corporate job and start a consulting business with a colleague. This was the 1960’s when joint decision-making between husbands and wives was uncommon. My mother was worried about my father’s plan to quit his job, but my father charged ahead despite her concerns.

My parents did not have a financial safety net to pay the bills as my father’s business got off the ground. In fact, he used all of his children’s college funds to pay the household bills since business income was so low. After a few months, the business failed.

As a result, our family moved to a less expensive community in Connecticut for a year where we rented a house while our family home was for sale. The following year, my family moved to Vermont where we had spent many winter weekends skiing. As we had done every winter, we piled into the Buick station wagon and headed north. But this time it wasn’t for a vacation. My dad was unemployed for several months while my mother began a job at the University of Vermont as a secretary. My parents were deeply in debt with two children in college. There were many months when they were not able to pay their monthly bills.

To be continued.....

Take action: Are you facing a major transition in your own life? Have you talked with members of your household to get their feedback and input? How will this decision impact your loved ones? How could you work together to make a decision that honors everyone in your home?

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Your Blueprint For Personal And Financial Transitions - Book Excerpt

(Continued from post dated January 13 below.)

The blueprint is a practical tool that has worked well for me in my own life as I have navigated expected and unexpected transitions. I have “test-driven” this approach with my clients as well and found it to be successful in helping them find steadier footing through the changes they have experienced. My purpose for writing this book is to inspire people who are experiencing turbulence in their lives to look at their previous successes as a resource. The way they have reached their goals in the past is a template that can be used again and again throughout their lives. I want readers to know that this system has been a highly effective tool for many others. I hope to inspire others with this model for addressing life’s major transitions and challenges.

The Connecticut town where I grew up was an affluent one, in the area of the state often referred to as “the gold coast.” I was the youngest of four children. My dad, a corporate financial guy, worked in New York City. My mother was a stay-at-home mom, so my dad’s income was our only household income.

To be continued.....

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

New College Grad? Start Saving For A Home

Once you have a system in place to track monthly income and expenses (see January 16 post below), you may want to think about putting a small amount of money aside each month to save for your own home. Having enough savings in an emergency fund is the first priority (see January 23 post below). Once this is in place, you could start putting funds aside to save for a down payment and closing costs toward your own home. You're already in the savings habit, so you can continue this practice for a different purpose this time.

Owning a duplex is a great way to get started as you enter the world of home ownership. You can live in one side and rent out the other. This reduces your living expenses since someone else is making a contribution to the mortgage and it also creates a residual income stream for the future if you decide to move out at some point. If you keep the duplex, you can then rent out both sides and this will provide income to you on into the future - income that you don't need to exchange working hours for as you do with a regular job.

Take action: It's a good idea to speak with an investment advisor, mortgage broker, or real estate advisor about which housing markets geographically are good ones to invest in at this time. Call one of these individuals and start doing some research about what may work best in your particular situation.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Generous Allowances For Middle and High School Kids As An Educational Tool

When my two children, were in middle school, they would periodically ask me for money to buy music, movie tickets, clothing, etc. At the time I was a single parent working for the city I lived in and so I had a very modest household income. I didn't want my children, however, to feel uncomfortable about asking me for money or to feel there was never enough for what they wanted.

I took a chunk of my monthly discretionary income and divided it between the two of them. Each of them had $100 per month that they could freely use for purchases. I was interested to see how they would handle this new responsibility and whether this arrangement would buffer them from feeling the adult challenges of having limited household income.

Here's what happened:

They had practice weighing options and making decisions about where to spend their money
Their financial needs were met and they found that they had more money to spend each month than many of their friends
My daughter loved to spend her money each month by buying clothing and jewelry. My son liked to save his money and was able to buy an expensive road bike with his money when he was a junior in high school.
Now that they're out of college and embarking on their first careers, they handle their money responsibly and pay off credit card purchases and save monthly

Do you have children of middle-school or high-school age? Do you sometimes feel the pressure to purchase discretionary items for them within a limited income? Consider trying this system out for a month or two and make any adjustments going forward as you test-drive this idea in your household.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Emergency Savings

Emergency savings are key to have for the unexpected: car repairs, medical expenses, or a job loss, for example. It's good to have three to six months' worth of expenses in an emergency fund. Say your monthly expenses are $2,000. Then you want to have $6,000 to $12,000 in an account that you can access at any time at the local bank. Three to six months is generally the minimum. It's good to work up to a year's worth of expenses in savings.

Put these funds in the local bank where you can access them at any time. You might want to put the first three months in a basic savings account. Banks offer Certificates of Deposit (CD's) for different time periods. After you open up the savings account for the initial three months, you could then open up a 3-month CD, 6-month CD, etc. as you build toward having a year's worth of savings in the bank.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

New College Grad?

Have you recently graduated from college or started your first job? This is a great time to get a good financial footing for the rest of your life.

Some things to take charge of now with your money:

Track your monthly income and expenses.
Save a little each month, even if it's just $10 - get into the habit of saving.
Note your daily expenses in a notebook, laptop, or smartphone.
Plug your expenses into a spreadsheet weekly so you can keep track of what's been spent so far and what you have left for the rest of the month.

TAKE ACTION:

For a free spreadsheet to track your monthly income and expenses, email me at clivings@sover.net
Start recording your expenses today

As you take charge of your financial life, you will contribute to the stability of your household, family, neighborhood, and overall community!

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Personal Blueprints Help Maintain Stability Through Times Of Great Change

I help my clients navigate transitions: with their careers, in starting new businesses, and with their families. The more stable each household in a neighborhood is, the healthier the larger community can be. My aim is to reach as many people as I can, helping them to land on their feet through this time of great change. My career path for the past twenty years has prepared me well for this occupation. In the public, non-profit, and private sectors, I have worked with individuals and groups to improve their lives by setting and moving toward their goals.

There is a blueprint that has been successful for my clients before we began our work together that can be re-applied to their current life changes. Even before my first meeting with a new client, I know that there is a blueprint that has served that person well in the past. That tool can be re-applied to my clients’ current life changes. This blueprint is both sustainable and cumulative: their previous effort allows them to build on a solid foundation as they strategize how to effectively address new challenges.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Successful Transitions, Healthy Communities

At the age of ten, I was a tomboy living in my hometown in Connecticut, in an olive-colored colonial nestled in the woods with a small brook running quietly nearby. It was a beautiful setting in which to grow up with many opportunities to spend hours playing in the woods by the water, riding my bike, and sledding down the curving driveway in the winter. Seven years later, my newly single mother and I were living in Vermont in a small apartment in a low-income neighborhood. The cause? My father made a financial error that changed my family and all of our lives dramatically.

As an adult, I promised myself that I wouldn’t repeat his mistake. However, I have found that others can make the same mistake in their own lives. And that is why I started my business two years ago: to help others avoid the financial difficulties my family experienced when I was a child. I have a background in Community Economic Development, a field whose purpose it is to give people control over their economic futures. I believe that I can be helpful in partnering with individuals, families, and business owners in reaching their financial and life goals. Together we can help to create stable, healthy, and vital communities.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Your Blueprint For Personal and Financial Transitions: Book Excerpt (2)

All of us have successfully managed life changes in the past. There were specific approaches that laid the groundwork for this success, but we forget “how we did it last time” when we face expected and unexpected life shifts. The magic of using a personal blueprint is that it draws from our past successes, builds in basic self-care practices, and establishes a sustainable strategy to use during current and future challenges. It encourages self-reliance and is malleable based on current needs.

Your Blueprint For Financial and Personal Transitions will show readers how to create their own personal blueprint and help them to feel empowered instead of overwhelmed while navigating change. The book will remind the reader of daily self-care routines which we should all practice. It introduces the reader to resources such as Ayurveda and Jungian archetypes that help to reinforce one’s identity and uncover individual needs. It incorporates approaches readers have used to successfully navigate past changes. It will encourage readers, through chapter exercises, to cultivate new practices that reflect current needs. Following the blueprint method, readers can learn how this simple technique creates great results.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Your Blueprint For Personal and Financial Transitions: Book Excerpt

Who among us has not recently experienced great change in his or her life? Who isn’t affected on some level by the major changes occurring in our world today? Chaos seems to be a theme with no sign of disappearing in the near future. It is so easy to internalize this confusion. What if there was a simple, effective tool to help us to navigate changes and maintain inner peace and confidence? What if this tool was sustainable, something that could be used again and again in the future?

In my consulting practice I have worked with many individuals in transition. As I help my clients develop their own personal blueprint to navigate these changes, they have discovered a useful tool that helps them to transverse the terrain with more confidence and ease. A blueprint encompasses basic self-care practices as well as beneficial routines specific to the individual. It is simple but powerful. I have applied this tool in my own life for the last twenty years. I have found it to be incredibly effective in helping to maintain stability, optimism, and confidence.

Copyright 2012 Connie Livingston All rights reserved

Helping Mom and Dad Get The Assistance They Need

Helping Mom and Dad Get The Assistance They Need: Free Panel Discussion

Thursday, Nov 17, 2011

5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Panelists will discuss resources available to the elderly in the areas of financial planning in the retirement years, housing options, elder legal issues, and understanding the breadth of other social service resources available to the elderly.

PACE Vermont, 786 College Parkway (Fanny Allen Campus), Colchester VT

Light food

RSVP: Connie Livingston 864-2978

Panelists:

Karen Gissendanner, Case Manager and Options counselor, Champlain Valley Agency on Aging, helps seniors, their families, and their caregivers navigate through the many resources and services available to them - looking at options for their future long term care needs. She helps seniors access services and benefits including Choices for Care, 3SquareVT, fuel assistance, Medicare, and Meals on Wheels.

Ellen Meagher has been through the long journey of Alzheimer's care with her mother, from the emotional impact of receiveing the diagnosis to end-stage care. Although the disease can be devastating, Ellen made the journey a positive one by creating "moments" of joy and celebrating her mother's spirit throughout. Previously, Ellen worked in a memory care community teaching staff and families best practices for dementia care.

Alysia Perkinson, Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has over 15 years of investment experience. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and its predecessor firms in 2001, she was a Vice President in the Fixed Income group at Fleet Bank. She offers a depth of knowledge and experience focusing on the needs of business owners, retirees, and women.

Wendy Critchlow, Intake Coorinator, PACE Vermont, is a nurse by trade but her calling and her heart have always been with caring for elder folks. In addition to serving as Intake Coordinator for PACE, Wendy has become a respected resource on housing options and issues for Vermont's elderly.

Adam Bartsch, Esq., NorthEast Estate and Trusts, PLCC focused solely on estate planning legal services for residents of Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. The firm offers a complete range of estate planning options, including simple wills, comprehensive revocable living trusts and advanced planning strategies for parents wishing to plan wisely for their children.

Enlightened Finance For Couples Workshop With Christine Moriarty

Four group tele-conference sessions will be held Tuesday evenings,

November 1 – November 29, 2011 6:45 -8:00 pm

Plus a one on one phone session with Christine Moriarty for each participating couple, scheduled at your

convenience. During this meeting, you and your partnerʼs personal situation will be reviewed and

suggestions will be made to improve your financial picture.

All this at the Introductory Rate of $659!

All handouts, spreadsheets and review of your financial situation included.

Questions or want more information? Please Call Christine at 888-449-8081

Selling A Small Business in Vermont - Family & Management Issues: Free Panel Discussion

Thursday, October 27, 2011 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. New York Life Office: 463 Mountain View Drive, Suite 403, Colchester, Vermont

Selling a small business in Vermont can involve intricate family and management issues. Experts will discuss how to work toward solutions benefiting both the family and the business, mistakes to avoid, best practices to make the transaction run smoothly, and incorporating business succession into your estate plan.

Information: Connie Livingston clivings@sover.net 802-864-2978

Women and Wealth Workshop: Morrisville Vermont October 21

Connie Livingston is a consultant, coach, facilitator, and strategist with a background in financial services and Community Economic Development. She has worked with individuals and groups for 19 years toward achieving their goals. She started her practice two years ago because she believes that as she helps clients improve their financial, personal, and economic lives, healthy, stable communities are created.

One of her specialties is helping people navigate successfully through transition. Change can be scary; she knows because she has been through so many transitions in her own life. She has started several businesses, left a career in order to raise children, re-entered the world of paid employment, and experienced a number of career changes. She did this using a positive, systematic approach and landed on her feet successfully through the changes as well as in the financial realm. She loves to show her clients how she did this.

At October's Women Business Owner Network meeting in Morrisville, Connie will be leading a workshop, “Women and Wealth”, inspired by several published authors and the work of Dr. Christiane Northrup who said “You are truly prosperous to the extent that you’re experiencing health, freedom, happiness and plenty in your life.” Based on a holistic perspective on wealth and abundance, women will:

· Learn the truth about money and cash flow

· Discover three proven ways to increase your wealth

· Uncover the most common myths about women and money

· Delve into today’s financial reality and discover how you can be the exception to the statistics

· Find out how to create optimal wealth and health simultaneously

More information: clivings@sover.net or www.wbon.org

Selling A Small Business in Vermont - Financial and Legal Issues: Free Panel Discussion

Tuesday, October 11, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
The Coaching Center of Vermont
Champlain Mill, 20 Winooski Falls Way
Winooski, Vermont

Join us for a discussion on how to structure a deal from both financial and legal perspectives, the role of insurance in business buy-sell agreements, and working with family dynamics throughout.

John W. Davis, CPA, CFP, PFS, CVA; Managing Partner, Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs
John has over 30 years of public accounting experience focusing largely in the areas of taxation, financial planning, mergers and acquisitions and business consulting. In 1990 John founded what is now Davis & Hodgdon Associates, CPA's.

Jennifer Dudanowicz, Esq., Merritt & Moulton
Jennifer L. Dudanowicz recently joined Merrit, Merritt & Moulton as an Associate. Jennifer received her B.A. in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell and her J.D.from Duke University. Ms. Dudanowicz's practice is focused on general corporate and securities law with a concentration in debt and equity financings.

Jim Hedbor, MSFS, CFP, Client Centered Financial
Working in Northwest Vermont since 1978, Jim specialized in working with business owners and professionals, including business succession arrangements.

Josh Patrick, Principal, Stage 2 Planning Partners
Josh specialized in working with privately held businesses and their owners on a variety of strategic issues. The firm's goal is to help make our clients' lives better. We work to help our clients get measurable results that will help them improve the quality of their business and personal life.