Sunday, July 25, 2010

PROBLEMS OF SINGLE INCOME STREAM

Many people complain endlessly about the salary they are paid that is insufficient and that is why they have a lot of financial problems.
I had to undertake a research to discover, if truly it is insufficient salary that is making people to have financial problems. My findings were amazing and I have come up with a solution that I will share with you.
There are three steps to solving the problem of insufficient income or salary that I have come up with.
• Cut your expenses.
• Live within your means.
• Make extra income.
Before the explanation, let’s look at the facts;
1. Your salary/income can never be sufficient for you because human wants are insatiable.
2. If your employer pays you all the money in the world as salary, you can never be rich, it’s true, all the money in the world cannot make you rich and does not make one rich.
3. Not everybody can start a business or run a business. Many employees used to see the money flowing into the office of their bosses without sitting down as well to calculate the expenses their bosses incur aside salaries paid to staff, before they conclude that they are poorly paid.
4. No matter where you work, be faithful. If your company does not pay you well, it’s been found that God does lift one above what company pays if you are faithful to the demands of your job function. But if you are unfaithful and the company does overpay you, God equally abandons you to your fate.
5. No millions or billions is made in one day. After-all Rome was not built in a day. Every big amount of money is made gradually. Do not try to make millions by defrauding your organisation. Remember the golden rule,’ what you sow is what you reap’.
Back to the three steps for solving insufficiency problem, again it is important to follow the steps in the order presented above. If your pay check is small, step one admonishes you not to look for extra income rather cut your expenses. That leads us to the first point.
CUT YOUR EXPENSES
Write down your recurrent expenditure and check the ones you could cut. Some people are collecting N20,000.00 as salary and they use recharge card of N7,000.00 every month, take transport of N6,000.00 and at the end of the month, they say the salary is insufficient. On a serious note, once you begin to consume recharge card above N3,000.00 every month, you better consider using post paid. One of the reasons so many people become poorer faster is because they earn income from a source and they spend it through many means as they fail to cut excessive means that are not necessary.
In spite of spending in several ways, some still in indulge and lose money in the under listed ways to a reckless abandon and become poorer still.
a. MAKING UNNECESSARY PHONE CALLS; unnecessary phone call is a call made when the need for it isn’t there. This include calls made to somebody you will be seeing soon and the matters to be discussed can wait until you see each other. These are very rampant among young persons. This is quite an easy way to lose money and get poorer than you think.
b. MAKING PHONE CALLS WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY; when you are angry, you are no longer in control and can get careless about many things even your money and as you lose it, you get poorer.
c. USING PREPAID THAN POST-PAID LINE; checking how much you use monthly in terms of prepaid
line, that is, try to keep all the recharge cards or vouchers you are using and see how much you use per month. Walk up to the telecom company you use or get one of their staff to help you confirm
What value in Minutes conversation the amount you spend per month? You will marvel at the revelation that would be passed unto you.
d. LEAVING HUGE AMOUNT IN CURRENT/SAVINGS ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN 30DAYS: Any amount in excess of N200,000.00 mustn’t be left in your Current/Savings Account for 30days or more because better interest rate can be derived if kept in Fixed Deposit Account. All you need do is talk with your Account Officer on the processes and you begin to enjoy better interest on your money while it idles away.
e. CHEQUE BOOK/ATM CARD BEING HANDY: if you carry your ATM or cheque book around, you are most likely going to be tempted to be drawing from your account at the slightest opportunity. To overcome this challenge, carry your cheque book or ATM only when you have budgeted/planned for the amount to be drawn.
f. PLANNING YOUR JOURNEYS: whenever you travel unexpectedly that is not planned, you often spend more. So plan your trips before embarking on them.
g. POOR NEGOTIATING POWER: if you poor at negotiating of don’t even negotiate you lose money. All you need is have a mindset for negotiating on prices of anything you are to buy, even in a price tag store, ask for discount if necessary. You may surprised at the positive response that could pay in. Just negotiate properly.
h. OVERSPENDING AT CEREMONIES; some persons have a culture of buying up-to three different attire for a particular ceremony. Overspending at burial ceremonies, Child naming, Marriage or whatever will only leave you poorer. Some even go a-borrowing for ceremonies only to be sorrowing later when paying back. Take this, ‘you won’t die, if you don’t overspend on a ceremony, you will only be better off financially, so why kill yourself, cut your coat according to your cloth.
i. KEEPING MONEY AT HOME; the more money you have around you, the more probable the chances of spending the money in unbudgeted expenses. Try and discipline yourself on saving spare and unbudgeted sums.
j. BUYING WHAT YOU DON’T NEED; why spend N50,000.00 on a phone when N15,000.00 can get you something equally good for phone services. Some buy computers of higher configuration just to brag and they pay more of-course. Before you buy electronics, ensure you have thought it over and decided.
k. BUYING GOODS (FAIRLY USEDPRODUCTS) WITHOUT WARRANTY; some fairly used products come with as much as 12months warranty, these are good to buy, but some other don’t ever have a warranty, although they come cheap, however, you pay more on the long run.
l. BUYING SHARES WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET; The stock market has it’s dynamics, some people jump in for the benefits without attempting to understand the market. They lose money there-on.
m. BUYING PROPERTIES WITHOUT DUE DILIGENCE AND FINDINGS; when you buy properties without finding out the state of the property or putting your papers straight, you lose money.
n. WRONG LIFESTYLE; If you smoke, do alcohol and womanise, you certainly would be losing a-lot of money recklessly and pursuing poverty competitively. Correct your lifestyle and lust quickly and bounce back on track.
Four basic sources of expenditures include:
i.) Necessities;
ii.) Desirables;
iii.) Luxuries;
iv.) Wastages.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

YOU CAN WORK YOUR OWN MIRACLES-HOW TO CONDITION YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS

THE TWELVE GREAT RICHES OF LIFE GRADE YOURSELF: PERFECT, FAIR, OR POOR
1. Positive Mental Attitude: A positive Mental Attitude heads the list of the twelve great riches, because all riche, material or otherwise, begin as a state of mind, the one and only thing over which an individual has complete inalienable powers of control. One’s mental attitude supplies the ‘pulling power’ which attracts to him the material equivalent of all fears, doubts and beliefs. Mental attitude is also the factor which determines whether one’s prayers bring negative or positive results. It is but little cause for wonder, therefore that a positive Mental Attitude heads the list of all the great riches of life.
2. Sound Physical Health: Sound health begins with a ‘health consciousness’, the product of a mind which thinks in terms of health and not in terms of illness, plus temperance and moderation in eating, and in the balancing of physical activities. Maintenance of a Positive Mental Attitude is one of the greatest forms of prevention of ill health known to mankind. It rates as ‘great’ because it is under ones control and is subject, at all times, to ones direction to any desired end.
3. Harmony In Human Relations: There are two forms of harmony, both of which are required to entitle harmony to rank as one of the twelve riches of life, namely, harmony with oneself and harmony with others. Ones first responsibility is that of establishing harmony within. This calls for the mastery of fear, maintenance of a positive mental attitude, and the adoption of a major purpose in life, behind which one can build an enduring faith in its achievement. Be at peace within your own soul and you will have no difficulty in relating yourself in a spirit of harmony with others. Friction in human relations is often the result of confusion, frustration, fear, and doubt within the individual who, oftentimes, mirrors these negative states of mind in other people, thus making harmony impossible. Harmony with others begins with harmony with one’s self, for it is true, as Shakespeare said, ‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man’. There are great benefits available to those who comply with his admonition
4. Freedom From Fear: No man enslaved by fear is rich, nor is he free. Fear is a harbinger of evil, an insult to the creator who provided man with the means of rejecting all whatsoever which are not desired by giving man complete control over his mind-power. Before grading yourself on freedom from fear, be sure to probe deeply into your soul and make certain that not one of the seven basic fears have been transmuted into faith, you will have arrived at the point in your life where you can take possession of your own mind, and through that possession acquire all you desire in life, as well as reject all you do not desire. Without this freedom from fear, the other eleven riches of life may be useless.
5. The Hope Of Future Achievement: Hope is the forerunner of the greatest of all states of mind, Faith! Hope sustains one in times of emergency when, without it, fear would take over. Hope is the basis of the most profound form of happiness which comes from the expectancy of success in some, as yet unattained, plan or purpose. Poor indeed is the person who cannot look toward the future with the hope that he will become the person he would like to be, or attain the position he would like to hold in life, or attain the objective he has failed to acquire in the past. Hope keeps the soul of man alert and active in his behalf, and clears the line of communication by which Faith connects one with infinite intelligence. Hope is a right royal person and the Divine Decorator of the other eleven riches of life.
6. The Capacity For Faith: Faith is the means of communication between the conscious mind of man and the great universal reservoir of infinite intelligence. It is the fertile soil of the garden of the human mind, wherein may be produced all the riches of life. It is the ‘external elixir’ which gives creative power and action to the impulse of thought. It is the élan vital of the soul and it is without limitations. Faith is the spiritual quality which, when mixed with prayer, gives one direct and immediate connection with infinite intelligence. Faith is the power which transmutes the ordinary energies of thought into their spiritual equivalent, and it is the only means by which infinite intelligence may be appropriated to the uses of man.
7. Willingness To Share One’s Blessings: He who has not learned the blessed art of sharing his blessings with others has not found the true path to enduring happiness, for happiness comes mainly from sharing of one’s self and one’s blessings. Let it be remembered that the space one occupies in the hearts of others is determined precisely by the services he renders through some form of sharing. Let it also be remembered that all riches may be embellished and multiplied by the simple process of sharing them where they may serve others. Neglect or refusal to share one’s blessings is a sure way to cut the line of communication between man and his soul. A great teacher said, ‘The greatest among you is he who becomes the servant of all’. Another philosopher said, ‘Whatsoever you do to or for another, you do to or for yourself’.
8. A Labour Of Love: There can be no richer man than he who has found a labour of love and is busily engaged in performing it, for a labour of love is the highest form of expression of human desires. Labour is the liaison between the demand and the supply of all human progress, the medium by which the imagination of man is given wings of action. And all labour of love is sanctified because it brings joy of self-expression to him who performs it. Do the thing you like best and your life will be an inspiration for hope and faith and encouragement to all with whom you come in contact. Engagement in a labour of love is the greatest of all cures for melancholy, frustration, and fear. And it is the builder of physical health without equal.
9. An Open Mind On All Subject: Tolerance, which is among the higher attributes of culture, is expressed only by the person who holds an open mind on all subjects, toward all people, at all times. And only the person who maintains an open mind becomes truly educated, and is thus prepared to embrace and use the twelve great riches of life. A closed mind atrophies and cuts off the line of communication between an individual and infinite intelligence. An open mind keeps the individual eternally in the process of education and the acquisition of knowledge with which he may take possession of his mind and direct it to the attainment of any desired purpose.
10. Self Discipline: The person who is not the master of himself may never become the master of anything outside of himself. He who is the master of his own earthly destiny and the ‘Master of his Fate, the Captain of his Soul’. The highest form of self-discipline consists in the expression of humility of the heart when one has attained great riches, or has been blessed with widespread recognition for services rendered. Self-discipline is the only means by which one may take full and complete possession of his own mind and direct it to the attainment of whatsoever ends he may wish.
11. The Capacity To Understand People: The person who is rich in the understanding of people recognizes that all people are fundamentally alike, in that they have evolved from the same stem; that all human activities, good or bad, are inspired by one or more of the nine basic motives of life, namely; (a) The emotion of LOVE. (b) The emotion of SEX. (c) The desire for MATERIAL GAIN. (d) The Desire for SELF-PRESERVATION. (e) The desire for FREEDOM OF BODY AND MIND. (f) The desire for RECOGNITION AND SELF-EXPRESSION. (g) The desire for PERPETUATION OF LIFE AFTER DEATH. (h) The emotion of ANGER. (i) The emotion of FEAR.
The man who would understand others must first understand himself, for the motives which would inspire him to action are, in the main, the same motives which would inspire others to action under the same conditions. The capacity to understand others is the basis of all friendships; it is the basis of all harmony and cooperation among people, and the fundamental of greatest importance in all forms of leadership which call for friendly cooperation. Some people believe it is an approach of major importance in the understanding of the overall plan of the universe and the Creator thereof. Know yourself and you will be well on the road to understanding others.
12. Economic Security (Money): The last, but not the least in importance, is the tangible portion of the twelve great riches, money, or the knowledge with which to insure one’s economic security. Economic security is not attained by the possession of money alone. It is attained by the service one renders, for useful service may be converted into all forms of human needs, with or without the use of money. Henry Ford attained economic security, not necessarily because he accumulated a vast fortune in money, but for the better reason that he provided profitable employment for millions of men and women, as well as dependable automobile transportation for still greater numbers of people. Men and women who master and apply the Science of Success have economic security because they possess the means by which money can be acquired. They run out of money, or lose it through poor judgement, but this does not deprive them of economic security, because they know the source of money and how to contact and benefit by that source. Andrew Carnegie, who was perhaps, the richest man in the world of his time, sponsored the organization of the Science of Success because he believed that the ‘know-how’ of the accumulation of money should be known to everyone. During the later portion of his life, Andrew Carnegie gave away most of his vast fortune of almost a billion dollars, but in a conversation with Napoleon Hill shortly before he died, he said: ‘I have given most of my fortune back to the people from whence it was accumulated, but the money I have given away is infinitesimally small in comparison with the riches I am leaving to the people in the ‘know-how’ of Success, which I have entrusted to you for delivery to the world’.
You have an understanding of the antithesis of poverty in the twelve great riches of life. And it should be encouraging to observe that the first eleven of these riches are within the reach of all who will embrace and use them will easily attract the twelfth of the riches, money.
Here, then is the means by which poverty may be transmuted into riches, including all twelve of the great riches of life.
Embrace the twelve great riches, apply them in your daily life and you will become a success- for success is nothing more nor less than the attainment of these twelve blessings