As a busy couple with kids and a career, sometimes Melissa and I need some help. But, professional help usually comes with a cost.

So, we discovered a question we could ask to save money on everything from home repair services to buying a car to hiring a babysitter. Don’t worry, even if you’re shy like me, asking this question in your next financial negotiation will be easy. Here it is!

“Is that the best you can do?”

How do you use the question? The next time you hire help, you’ll begin to discuss cost. The plumber has his price. The car dealer has their deal. The babysitter has her bottom line. So, once you learn how much the helpful service or product will cost, just ask… “Is that the best you can do?”

You may hear the following response: “Well… I could go from $50 to $45, but that’s it.” Congratulations, you just saved $5. That’s like a free 10% off coupon just for asking!

But, what if you hear: “Yes, that is the best I can do.” …how do you respond to that?

Simple. Ask the question again. But this time add a subtle, but powerful, word to restate how important is is for you to get the best deal.

“Is that REALLY the best you can do?”

If you hear: “Well… I could go from $45 to $40, but that’s the best I can do.” Now you’re negotiating! You know their best price for you! And you saved $10 (a couple’s night out at Subway).

And, If you hear: “Yes, that is the best I can do.” you still know their best price. Now that’s a real return!

Will this question work every time? Of course not. Some things, like gas and groceries, are not easily negotiable. In those cases some smart shopping is in order.

However, for many other things, you can save money by asking the one question that saves money: Is that (REALLY) the best you can do? Try it this week!

I’m excited to hear your experiences using this question! What did you save money on? How much cash did you save? Tell me in the comments below (and help your family and friends save money by sharing this post)!

Our monthly bills are automated. This makes paying our financial obligations simple and allows us to:

• spend more time living life.
• never miss a due date.
• audit payments in less time

All we have to is keep the bank account filled each month. Simple! But, we also like to keep our fingers on the pulse of our cash flow. And to do that in just 30 minutes per month, we use the Bill Tracker to:

• verify bills were paid on time and paid correctly
• monitor bill spending and catch trends early
• compare our year over year spending fast

Save Money With The Bill Tracker

Each month, I fill out our Bill Tracker. I’ve caught a few incorrect payments when servicing companies made errors. I’ve also noticed trends such as increasing home and auto insurance rates. Armed with this simple data, I’ve been able to negotiate and shop for lower costs. Sound good?

Download The Bill Tracker Here

Watch The Bill Tracker video below! (6 min)

Go ahead and download The Bill Tracker, watch the video, and comment below with ideas, concerns, or questions. I’ll personally answer them!

Give money today

How can you help others, make a difference, and feel great? Give money away!

No matter the amount, charities everywhere are competing for your dollar. But how do you find and connect with prospective beneficiaries of your bucks?

Here’s how:

Charity Choice:

At www.charitygiftcertificates.org you can be the donor while your recipient can choose the charity (makes for a great gift).

Donors Choose:

At www.donorschoose.org you can connect to classrooms in need (be sure to watch their homepage video).

Charity Navigator:

At www.charitynavigator.org you can check the health, transparency, and accountability of prospective charities.

Start today. Find your favorite charity, give some money, and feel fantastic helping others!

www.dinkytown.net

Sure, the name doesn’t sound “financial.” But, the money calculators on this website are the best on the web, period!

Armed with this free resource, you’ll find accurate answers to your money equations including:

• refinancing or mortgaging a new home, car, or boat
• investing in your 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan & retiring
• saving with CDs or computing compound interest
• carrying credit or paying down debt
• insuring income, life, or health or annuitizing wealth

It’s all there (and more).

And, the finding your desired calculator is simple, too!

(they really nailed it).

Master your money, build wealth, and find more freedom today.

www.dinkytown.net.

In this video you’ll learn exactly what an Emergency Fund is and get some quick resources to help you start or build and emergency fund today.

Cash flow is a key piston in your money engine. This 10-minute, four-part video series breaks down what you need to know to keep that piston firing (and not mis-firing).

While this is one of my first video series for the Your Money House website, the timeless content applies today. (please forgive the poor lighting and sound, I was on a steep video learning curve when I shot this series).

I was recently asked, “If I want to keep more money, what 3 financial blunders should I avoid?”

Or as Will Rogers said, ”I’m not so much concerned with the return ON my money as I am with the return OF my money.”

The financial pop-culture says…

Open most magazines. Listen to most gurus on television or radio. Read most blogs. They’ll all share similar personal finance messages (answers) on money mistakes:

• No Financial Plan (90% of Americans do not have a written financial plan)
• No Diversification (Investors are not diversified among asset classes, investment strategies, money managers, or financial institutions)
• No Retirement Account (60% or workers do not have a retirement account of any kind)

Pop-culture’s above ideas are technically correct. You should follow them!

Financial Plans: You should have a financial plan that looks out 1, 3 and 5 years. Our 1 year financial plan is focuses income & cash flow. Our 3 year financial plan focuses on income & debt. Our 5 year financial plan focuses on lifestyle. And each plan is built and reviewed using simple tools: blank paper, a calculator, and a pen (along with open conversations).

Diversification: You should spread your financial life around. For instance, Our income, insurances, savings, debt, & investments are with various providers. Except for income, we are not dependent on one company in protecting and building our wealth. Instead, we are partnered with the best providers for each financial need; the best life / auto / home insurer, the best banks for protecting our money, the best debt institutions for minimizing excess interest and fees, and the best investment companies for managing our funds. By best, I mean the most value for the cost, as I see it. When that value isn’t there, we consider new opportunities and partners.

Retirement Accounts: You should have retirement accounts. And, you should consider funding them, too. When my wife was working, she saved vigorously into her employers’s 403(b), the non-profit enterprise’s version of a 401(k) and her own IRA. I’veI also invested in my company’s 401(k) and my own IRA.

But, the financial reality is…

However, there are 3 real-world financial blunders that you often don’t hear about. Yet, they are more important. Miss these mistakes and your likelihood of keeping more money increases:

• Not Understanding Money Math (yes, ledgers and formulas lead to wealth)
• Not Using Strategy (strategy is different than a financial plan)
• Not Partnering with Financial Experts (experts are different from salespeople)

Money Math: Financial pop culture spins one secret to secure finances. That secret is this: if you want a happy money plan, you’ll need to apply simple math in three areas; cash flow, debt, investments. The money media wants you to believe you’ll need professionals to do this math for you. And, professionals can add lots of value to your financial life (I rely on a CPA for instance). But, the truth is you CAN do 95% of the math yourself.  Here’s how.

I begin with blank ledgers (find them at any office supply store or online). Then, I add data. Finally, I apply arithmetic to that data on that ledger to help me understand two things: current status and trends. Knowing my current financial status in cash flow, debt, and investments helps me verify my past trends. Knowing my financial trends helps me plan my money management strategies for my 1, 3, and 5 years financial plans.

Strategy: Financial pop culture skips over this step. Instead, they tell us to save, save, and save some more. And, they’re right. Saving money is important. But, what if you were driving across the country and someone told you, “just drive west” (just save money)? Sure, if you started in the east, and just drove west, you would make it across the country. However, what if you applied strategy to your drive: what if you drove the right vehicle, took the right roads, and avoided the traffic jams? THAT drive would be more comfortable (the right vehicle), take less time (taking the right roads), and be less frustrating (avoiding the traffic jams). Strategy is HOW you apply your financial plan. And the gurus do you a disservice when they step over strategy.

Partnering With Experts: If you take one point from this post, imprint this fact deep into your future money memory:

Financial experts and financial salespeople are different people.

Salespeople provide products (sometimes needed, sometimes not needed). Experts partner with you long-term and put your interests first.

Clearly. Unmistakably.

How else do you tell the difference between experts and salespeople? Experts ask questions. Salespeople talk a lot. See, in talking with people about money for years, I’ve noticed something. The financially less fortunate had almost always dealt with a financial salesperson who sold them an unsuitable product or service. And, the financially fortunate had almost always dealt with a financial expert(s) who had helped them achieve success. This means, if you want to avoid money mistakes, partner with financial experts (I lean on a CPA for tax advice and financial second opinions).

The bottom line is…

To avoid money mistakes, financial pop culture recommends having a financial plan, diversifying your money, and having retirement accounts. Good advice.

But you’ll need more if you want to really master your money, build your wealth, and change your life. You’ll need to understand money math. You’ll need to utilize financial strategy. You’ll need to partner with experts.

How do you apply money math?

What financial strategies do you depend on?

Are their experts in your financial life?

Let me know by commenting below. I’ll personally reply!

www.lifehappens.org

I learned about LIFE in 2004 while helping people get the right life insurance at the best price. It was quickly evident that LIFE’s only agenda was to educate people about life insurance. Since LIFE doesn’t sell life insurance, they essentially have no conflict of interest. In other words, LIFE won’t recommend a life insurance policy that empties your pocketbook and fills theirs. So, you can trust them. Cool!

If you’re shopping for life insurance, then visit www.lifehappens.org today for trusted information that will help you get the right life insurance at the best price!

If you’re searching for life insurance quotes or purchasing your own life policy right now, work with an independent agent that has zero sales quotas to ensure you get:

• more than three policy quotes, from various insurance companies.
• more than three product options from various insurance companies.
• unbiased advice, NOT persistent sales pressure.

Read how I may be able to help on the Income Protector page!

Let’s make retirement really, really, simple. Here’s a story. Jack and Jill worked hard for three decades. Then, they retired.

So what does that mean? For Jack and Jill, it meant, um, well… hrmmm… And therein lies the TRUTH about retirement. That is, too many of us don’t know what retirement means to US! We don’t know our TRUTH about retirement.

Why does this TRUTH matter? Consider the following. Who could get by saving LESS money (read, sacrificing less financially) during their working lives (yes, you read it correctly, saving LESS money):

1.  The individual or couple who plans to garden, read, and pursue volunteer work… OR

2.  The individual or couple who plans to work part time, travel, and collect fine wines.

What’s the answer? It depends. What does it depend on? Answer: LIFESTYLE! See, retirement is all about LIFESTYLE. And lifestyle revolves around who we are as people. Some of us find bliss in residing at the lake in a small cottage. Some of us enjoy a faster pace filled with BMW’s, travel, and fine wines!. Two different lifestyles. Two different TRUTHS about retirement! (one isn’t better than the other, they are simply different)

Why is this important?

Pay close attention here.

Retirement lifestyle directly affects how much, or little, money we need to save. A retirement lifestyle that values time reading, gardening, and volunteering, requires a different amount of money than a retirement lifestyle that includes snowbirding, travel, or a husband’s expensive car collecting hobby. Again, both are great lifestyles.

However, if you desire the FIRST retirement lifestyle, you may get by saving LESS and SPENDING MORE in your working years.. But, if you desire the SECOND retirement lifestyle, you will need to save MORE and SPEND LESS during your working years (i.e. spend less and save more). Make sense?

So, what does retirement mean to you? Write down three activities you would do right now, if you were retired. Then circle your favorite two activities. Finally, you can match a sacrifice (read savings) level to meet your vision. You now have a clearer picture of your retirement lifesytle, your retirement TRUTH.

Have a comment, go ahead and comment below. Tell me what your top two retirement activities are from this activity. I’ll personally respond. Do this right now!

What is INVESTMENT RETURN?  Easy. Let’s say I invest $1.  A year later, my dollar is worth $1.10.  I just made 10% on my money. I had a 10% investment return.

(this is simple math, follow me here: $1 x a 10% return =  $.10 + the original $1 = $1.10.

But the question that matters most is what was my REAL RETURN?

What’s “REAL RETURN” you ask? Simple. REAL RETURN takes into account the return on my investment (10% in the example above), AND… INFLATION & TAXES. So what…

Now pay attention for just a minute as we continue…

Let’s consider inflation (the rising cost of goods and services) at 3%. Let’s consider taxes (fees on goods and services paid to governments) at 1%. Now, let’s add 3% + 1% to get 4%.  What does that 4% represent?

COST!

That’s right, COST! How? Well, consider this: a 10% return minus 3% for inflation and 1% for taxes equals a real return of 6%. Now, that’s a dramatically DIFFERENT return than 10%.

What does this mean to you? It means the return you’re seeing on statements, sales materials, and performance sheets for an investment  usually tells only half of the story, the “investment return” story. But the other half of the story is not being told. It’s the “REAL RETURN” story that matters most to your long-term wealth. Why?  Because taxes and inflation are real. They degrade your purchasing power!

Does this help make money subjects simple for you? Add your comment below!