SpendSmart 4 a Fulfilled Life

jeff morris — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:00:11 +0000

SpendSmart the most unique Financial Wellness Company anywhere. There are many fine Financial literacy programs and curriculum available in the marketplace. SpendSmart is unique because they introduce the emerging fields of NeuroEconomics and Behavioral sciences to the traditional literacy training. These two sciences assist us in helping consumers understand who they are financially, and why they spend, save, give, invest the way they do.

Neuroeconomics is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to explain human decision making, the ability to process multiple alternatives and to choose an optimal course of action.

Behavioral economics and its related area of study, behavioral finance, use social, cognitive and emotional factors in understanding the economic decisions of individuals.

By addressing an individuals underlying attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors about money, we feel anyone can re-engineer their money thoughts and patterns, so they can become who they would like to be financially. We have found as an individual or family begin to re-engineer there money behaviors and patterns they see benefit in many other areas of their lives. Some of those benefits include less arguments about money in the home, better communication among family members, better work place performance, less stress, lastly a better outlook for the future .

Stay tuned as we blog about Spending Smarter, debt elimination or reduction, strategic credit management, and the sciences that affect how we spend, save, give, invest. You will never be the same after a SpendSmart experience, WE GUARANTEE IT!

Spend Your Way to Financial Freedom

jeff morris — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:25:18 +0000

Financial Freedom means different things to different people. No matter your upbringing, gender, belief system, or experiences, most of us have similar financial goals and dreams. Many families desire a nurturing home, a nice car or two, the best education for our kids, savings, a comfortable retirement, and leaving a financial legacy for our families.

Unfortunately, what used to be the American dream and an expectation has turned into a nightmare for most.

There are many books dedicated to helping us invest for our retirement. This assumes that the average person just needs help understanding how to invest all the extra money he or she has left over at the end of each month.

Recent studies from the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that over 60% of current workers have less than $50,000 saved for retirement. Even for those close to retirement, those 55 or older, nearly 60 percent have less than $100,000 saved.

We do not financially fail simply because we do not know how to intelligently invest our money; our journey to financial failure (it is a journey) more often than not, begins because we do not know how to strategically SpendSmart™!

Spending gives us the greatest opportunity to immediately impact our lives. There will be many strategies offered as you journey with us on the road to Financial Freedom. However, you will not be able to implement all of the strategies all at once. You get to decide what strategies you want to implement, we encourage you to implement the strategies that take minimal effort.

Applying just a few of the strategies slowly over a period of time, can result in a reduction in your wasteful spending without diminishing your lifestyle. In other words, you can still do and have the things you need and even have some of the things you want; you will simply learn to SpendSmart™ by strategically spending less. By spending smart, you will have more discretionary income. This money can now allow you to change lives, save, and invest so that you can live the life of your dreams.

FICO vs. FAKO “The Truth about Free Credit Scores”

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:42:07 +0000

I recently got a call from my cousin who had just gotten a copy of his credit report with his credit scores. He wanted me to review his credit report and scores, immediately I was concerned. He told me he had purchased his “free” credit scores from Free Creditreport.com. I began to ask questions he did not know the answers to. The most important question that I asked was, in your review of the details of your agreement for the subscription to their credit service does it specifically say the credit scores you will be receiving will be your FICO scores from the FAIR ISAAC CORPORATION? I can always guarantee that the answer is always NO! FICO scores can only be received from certain types of businesses; most of the scores you pay for through a subscription do not have an agreement with the FAIR ISAAC CORPORATION.

There are FAKO companies that sell versions of the FICO score; these scores are from one of the three credit agencies. These vendors when these scores are purchased in the fine details of their contract sneak important information that they know you will not read. So BUYER BEWARE! Let it be known, YOU HEARD IT FROM ME! These scores AIN’T REAL. (Sorry for the double negative for all the English teachers out there). I am not blogging perfect English here, it is information for effect. If it don’t say FICO, it AIN’T real. All the FAKO scores say that this score purchased is in no way related to the FAIR ISSAC CORPORATION, all FAKO scores say that the score purchased is to better educate the consumer on how a lender views their credit report. It is important to know that all three credit agencies sell their version on how to better educate the consumer. (In the language of text: Laugh n my butt off!) Below is some of the language listed in the details of one of these “subscription based” Free Credit Companies.

The TransUnion TransRisk New Account Credit Score is provided to help you better understand how lenders view your credit report. It is not an endorsement or a determination of your qualification for a loan. Lenders use credit scores to help determine whether or not you are a good candidate for a loan and what interest rate you will pay. However, each lender has specific underwriting standards, so you should not assume that you will receive the same evaluation from each lender. As part of the underwriting process, they will incorporate additional information you provide and may obtain references. In addition, even if you are approved, the terms and conditions of loans vary from lender to lender. The information used to determine your credit score comes from TransUnion, one of the major credit bureaus. Credit reports are a compilation of credit information that is reported to the bureaus by the various lending institutions with which you have accounts. The information contained in your report reflects the latest information provided. If you recently made a payment, opened a new account, or authorized an inquiry, it may not yet be reflected in the credit report you receive. Likewise, it will not be reflected in your credit score. Also, disputed items are not incorporated in the assessment of your credit score. Your credit score will change each time new information is captured in your record. TransUnion Interactive is not connected in any way with Fair, Isaac and Company; the credit score provided here is not a so-called FICO score. The credit scores of TransUnion may not be identical in every respect to any consumer credit scores produced by any other company.

As I teach in my “CreditSmart” sessions, “credit reporting agencies” are not your friends. They are for profit companies that get paid to report information from a paying vendor. Keep in mind they are not concerned about the accuracy of the information, their only concern, in my opinion, is making sure they continue to get paid from their vendors. I am glad my cousin did call me to help him out; however, I did ask him to call me before he does anything like this next time. Needless to say I did point my cousin in the right direction to get a more accurate review of his actual credit scores. There are a few things you need to know about your real credit scores. Stay tuned to this blog to find out more…………………………….