The James Dicks Blog

Welcome back.

Follow up to previous blog post.

Once you have actually seen yourself spending and enjoying your newfound financial success, you can move on. Please don’t fudge—OK, let’s move on together. Let’s change your visual focus. Where do you live in your new life of prosperity? What does your house look like? How many bedrooms does it have? Can you see it? If you can see it, spend a few minutes creating details. If you can’t see it, spend a little more time with the exercise until you can.

Someone once said that what the mind can see, the body can achieve. I believe it. I go a step further. I believe that the mind must see it before the body is able to work for it. Look at another realm of human endeavor: sports. When Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, he saw it long before he did it. Over and over in his mind, he later recalled, he visualized doing what had been deemed to be impossible. Interestingly enough, once Bannister did what no one else had ever done before, others quickly succeeded in doing it. Why? Because in minds all around the world, mental barriers had been broken. People understood that the impossible was now possible.

The same analogy applies to wealth creation. There is a process one must go through to achieve it. Bill Gates, in his best-selling book The Road Ahead, writes about his “play” with computers in high school. Even then, when computers were the size of large rooms and far less powerful than our miniature hand-held PDAs, he dreamed about what they would be able to achieve in the future.

His dream was so strong, in fact, that he feared missing out on the revolution he saw in his mind. He dropped out of Harvard University—dropped off the safe path he was on—to get a quicker start. There was simply no way that he was going to let the software revolution start without him.
Bill Gates saw the future of computers in his mind long before it became a reality. He saw a role for himself in that future. He dreamed the dream, developed plans to fulfill that dream, and then took action. This could be called the “science of success.”

It’s not restricted to Roger Bannister and Bill Gates. It’s something that each of you can participate in and benefit from. But before you can do it, you have to knock down the mental barriers to your financial success. You must learn to envision your achievements. Once you do, the achievements will follow. So far, so good? Are you beginning to see the mindset you need to have if you are to achieve financial freedom? Let’s go a little further.

What about a family? Will you have a spouse? Children? What will they be like? These are extremely important thoughts to consider and plan for. You must see it before it happens, but once you do; financial freedom will be more than one step closer.

All of the questions I have posed to you so far will become an important part of creating your dreams and ultimately achieving goals based on those dreams. Now that you see the process unfolding, you can also see how the end results will be different for everyone.

More to follow don’t miss reading the most important aspect of how this exercise can make such an impact on your financial life.

My Best
James Dicks

The holiday season is normally a time when we can enjoy our happiest memories of childhood but these same holidays are also the period of time that typically generates the greatest amount of sales for the nation’s retailers. The consumer is “King” at the nation’s retail centers, which throughout the year supplies two-thirds of our national economic growth. But because this year has been tough at the nation’s retail centers, consumers are especially important during this year’s fourth quarter.

Many retailers attribute 25 to 40% of their annual sales to “Black Friday” (the Friday after Thanksgiving), which is normally a fairly solid gauge as to what the rest of the holiday shopping season will look like. In addition to “Black Friday,” we now recognize the following Monday as “Cyber Monday,” as the beginning of the online shopping season. For many retailers that are already close to ruin, the 2009 holiday shopping season is very likely to tell the story. It could be the final blow for a number of the nation’s retailers and mall operators, already feeling the negative influence of a diminished year for retail sales.

As I shared with you recently, the national spending habits of American consumers have certainly been altered over the past 18 months and the traditional attitudes that the buying public had in the past are forever changed. This means that the nation’s retailers will also have to make some changes in order to cater to the newly formed buying habits of their customers. The plans at the retail centers for this holiday season appear to be centered on traditional values and bringing family together since that appears to be the major desire of the typical shopper this year. Smaller holiday gift giving and more time focused on the important things in life – time with family.

Stores are still hurting from last year’s’ holiday shopping season, which economists say was the weakest buying period since 1967, when the Commerce Department started collecting such data. The feeling is this year could be worse. Consumers with worries about being laid off or reduced hours at work plus lower credit lines are contributing to the dwindling consumer interest in spending this holiday season.

The retail centers will be displaying more things like gingerbread houses while using the traditional red, green and gold holiday colors to touch the current mood of today’s consumer. We’re all looking back when life was easier, safer, and perhaps even happier; those are the values that will certainly attract this year’s holiday buyers.

And according to a recent survey by Information Resources Inc (IRI), about 77 percent of American holiday shoppers said that while they didn’t spend much on the holidays last year they are more willing to open their wallets a little wider this year. The respondents added that they will continue to search for discounts whenever possible. According to IRI “functional gifts such as iPods, Blu-ray players for less than $99, Smartphone’s and clothes such as sweaters and jackets will likely top gift lists.”

There are indicators that suggest the U.S. economy may be coming to the end of its worst days, many consumers remain concerned by limited credit, high unemployment and home foreclosures. The new American consumer continues to save at historically high levels while paying their down debt. Just examining those concerns imply that we could experience yet another challenging holiday season for the nation’s retailers.

The ability to really enjoy your life doesn’t take an infinite amount of money but it does take a desire to develop a list of goals and the capacity to apply your personal drive to guide your daily existence.  There are many people we use as role models.  I prefer to look at several people and take a little expertise from each.  I have definitely learned how to apply some of these important ethical values from my relatives and some from people I’ve become acquainted with through my business or personal life.  

What you do in your professional life helps pay the bills but you should also allow it to feed your spirit.  The key thing I’ve learned over the years is to push myself.  It’s very important to make an effort to achieve the unimaginable and solve problems that are more complex than you ever expected you could successfully complete.  That adage has served me well and has seriously helped me to recognize the balance of my life and put it into the proper perspective every day.  What about you?  Have you chosen what it is you’d like to accomplish in your life?  There’s no time like the present to come to some conclusions. 

All of us can accomplish our innermost desires if we first define our dreams and then go after them aggressively.  Ultimately it’s entirely up to each one of us to shape and develop a constructive pattern for our life.  There’s no right or wrong; there’s no black or white.  Occasionally you should try not focus so much on your abilities or on your resume.  Instead, center more on your passions.  Determine what it is you really love to do.  If you don’t have the knowledge you need to reach your objective, make it a major priority to begin filling the cracks and learn.  It’s all about education.   

There are plenty of different avenues to explore to get the information you need to succeed.  Call your local college or find out what training or educational opportunities your company offers.  Access to learning has never been easier.  Most of us actively use the Internet and that’s a great place to start.  You can actually sign up for online courses that you can accomplish at your own speed – right from your home.  The more you learn the easier it will be for you to adapt to new situations and increase your personal level of confidence.  During this rough economic period, lots of people are going back to class to earn an advanced degree or to take vocational courses to actually change careers.   

There’s no time like right now to start the process.  I know that making changes in your life can be very scary to some, but use the adrenalin to actively pursue the things your really want out of life.  Don’t be timid, don’t waste time.  Just do it.  Actively seek out others who share your passions and don’t lose sight of the dream.  But always remember; be thankful for what you already have in life.  Count your blessings daily and enjoy every moment of the ride.  There’s no place like the present to begin to experience a great deal of pleasure in your life’s journey, both on and off the job.

Enough is enough.  Credit is killing us…literally.  Now credit has been around forever and we should remember that the number one reason for credit is to make the lender rich.  I know I have written about some of this before but I can’t say it enough.  Credit is probably as much an addiction as anything.  People get so addicted to it they can’t control themselves.

I am not a doctor but I would imagine that the simple reason some people get so over extended is that they run their credit cards up and then the interest literally chokes them.  What happens is that people get depressed.  When that happens, some people will go out to the mall or wherever and buy something, anything that doesn’t matter.  That immediately makes these individuals feel better, at least until they get buyer’s remorse.  Shopping for clothes, electronics, cars or whatever, is normally associated with a good feeling, so the next time you feel down you end up going shopping to buy something to make yourself feel better.  There are two problems with this; I doubt that many of you pull out cash to purchase these items, and you no doubt use a credit card.  If you don’t pay it off at the end of the month, you start to get hit with interest which is usually so high that it is hard to ever get ahead.

Second, the purchases get bigger; you will ultimately have to spend more and more to feel better.  This is a losing proposition all the way around.  What we need to do is eliminate credit all together.  We need to start paying for our purchases outright.  Yes, credit cards are okay, but you must use them wisely and pay them off at the end of each month.  So what else do you need credit for?  Maybe for a car or a home.  You can always a buy a used car and save money.  You can develop a strategy concerning your home loan by paying off extra principal every month. My point is, if you use credit, you have to have a plan to pay it off and get it paid off as soon as possible.

Credit only exists for one reason and that is to make you a slave to it and make the lender rich.  Everyone in America should start taking conscious control of their outstanding debt and begin to eliminate it.  Let’s make the lending institutions suffer a little, let’s make them squirm when they wake up one morning and realize that we have all decide to take back control of our finances.  Remember that if you are saving money you are making money.

Start calling all your creditors and ask them for an interest rate reduction, don’t take no for an answer.  You may have to talk to several people but you will find one that can help you lower your interest rate.  Not everyone at the bank will even know that they can lower your interest rate but they can and they will, if you are persistent enough.

If you are skeptical just know this, in one of our worst financial times I can remember the banks are doing everything they can to make more money at our expenses, so much in fact that the president has to get Congress to put restrictions on what they can and can’t charge for.  The banks are adding new expenses and fees to our accounts, they are raising interest rates faster then we can pay our bills.  Why? Because they are greedy and want to make sure we don’t get off their credit “drug,” so to speak. our society has become credit junkies.  It’s time to quit and start living debt free.  As a nation, we are spenders…not savers.  This paradigm has shifted over the last 40 years.  And we are bigger spenders than our brothers in the East. Asia, for instance, saves much more than we do and that has a global affect on our economies.  With financial times as tough as they are now, people are realizing that saving is something we all have to get back to. 

Let’s do it debt free.

If you quit then it’s over, if you never give up then you always have a chance.  First in foremost, I am a Christian and that being said you must have faith above all. If you are facing foreclosure then you may want to read this carefully.  I have written about this previously but it is time to address again.  I have gotten numerous calls in the last few weeks, friends and family alike that are facing tough financial crisis.

Whether or not you are behind on your mortgage, you can ask your lender for a mortgage modification. Remember, if you are not behind on your mortgage you can still ask for a modification.  Rest assured you will be told that there is nothing they can do for you until you are late.  Do not fall into that trap!  I personally know many people that have gotten mortgage modifications after they were told they could not.  The lender told them they would have to be at least 90 days late.  I know for a fact they have never been late and had their balances lowered, the interest and/or payments lowered, forgiven or waived.  But you simply can’t take “no” for a answer

If you are late – same thing; don’t take “no” for an answer!  Just keep asking until you get the answer you are looking for.

Here is the first thing you need to do – whether you are late or not.  Call your lender and specifically ask for the Loss Mitigation department.  Again, don’t take “no” for an answer.  You may have to call multiple times, but you will find someone to answer the phone who actually cares and that can get you going in the direction you need.  What you will find out is that you will receive as many answers to the same questions as the number phone calls you make.

Once you get Loss Mitigation, let them know your situation.  Let them know whether you were laid off, fired, had a pay cut…whatever. You have to let them know your financial situation has changed from when you first purchased your home, including the fact that your home is probably worth 30 percent or less than when you initially bought it.  In fact you might even consider giving the keys back to the lender and just buy the house next door for 50 percent less.

I can tell you that the banks – all of them – need to cut deals to sell their real-estate owned and/or non-performing assets.  In fact, many of the banks are encouraged or even rewarded by the government for getting rid of their non-performing assets.  That translates into working deals out with you.

If the bank reworks your loan and makes it current, then the bank will be able to move that loan off their non-performing assets list.  They are very motivated to do this.  The longer the property takes to foreclose, the longer it takes the bank to free up the money they have tied up on the non-performing asset, thus they want to cut deals and modify loans more than ever before.  So don’t be the one reading this saying I already did what you are saying and was told “no.” If you are saying this, you will lose.  The banks are changing their minds daily.

After you have started the process with your lender, you can go to “Hope Now” online.  They may tell you that you cannot file with them, again don’t take “no” for an answer; insist that they do.  Hey, even if you get denied – so what.  I know people that have been denied numerous times by their bank and by the “Hope Now” program only to actually get approved many “no’s” later. And that goes for people that have never been late before.

Okay, this is especially for you former Countywide people out there.  I have heard that Bank of America is so far behind that they are suspending actions of foreclosures on their Countrywide loans until they get caught up.  Furthermore, I specifically know someone who has a loan with Countywide that is currently going through the modification program.  They were about 90 days late as of February and called Bank of America to request a mortgage modification; they also filed with “Hope Now.”  Here is what has happened so far.   Nothing!  I mean nothing!  Well, except they haven’t made a payment and their loan is current.  What the bank did was tack the past due payments of the loan to the backend and then made the loan current.  They then said that until they get caught up to review the modification request no payments would be due and that the loan would stay current. So each month they get a statement from the bank giving them the loan balance and showing that they are current with nothing owed.  It has been months since the modification request. If you have an old Countrywide loan, start making your calls now requesting a mortgage modification.

I hope this helps you and don’t forget you must have faith above all things.  Don’t give up or as my uncle says, “don’t take yourself out of the game, it always gets better and as long as you move the ball along, things will change.”

All my best –

James Dicks