As I was shacking my head reading all the bad financial news I came across a reference to how the government was going to fix the ENTITLEMENT of social security.

EXCUSE ME!!!! ENTITLEMENT!!!! SOCIAL SECURITY?

I swear, if I come in contact with the GOOF that coined that phrase, I AM GOING TO PULL A GENE CAMPBELL(my Dad) on him. Which means I am going to go upside his head.

How dumb do they think we are. How is it an entitlement when we pay into it? How is it an entitlement when our employer matchs our portion? How is it an entitlement when the self-employed pay both halves? The worst part of a goof throwing this out there is that it goes over most Americans heads. DON'T fall for this crap!

DISCLAIMER-if you are the person that NEVER paid in and are getting benefits PLEASE call me. I'd like to meet the person who beat the system. Yeah right!

The media reports that Americans are looking to see how the Government is going to get us out of this (pick one) social security, stock market, real estate, mortgage, credit, war, inflation, health care or any other crisis going on.

Are they referring to the same government that has caused some of these problems? And where do they think THEY will get the money? FROM US OF COURSE. Can anyone say HIGHER TAXES? They tax us and borrow from foreigners. It will be painful when the music stops.

At retirement another sad fact is seeing how much social security you will actually net after taxes. If you're not retired yet ask some of my retired clients what's in store for you when you get there. You will not like what you here.

That wasn't too quick but I'm off to find a new dictionary to see what the new definition of entitlement is. I'll probably throw my old dictionary out or maybe keep it around to pull a Gene Campbell on somebody! Whaddya think?

No kidding! Headlines like this is what you will see in the next few days and maybe even weeks and months.

Right now there is no end in sight to the subprime mortgage mess. Nobody knows when home prices are going to stabilize. We have $100. a barrel for oil. Record deficits. Companys cutting dividends. Consumer spending stalling. And lets not forget the problems facing social security and medicare. We could go on and on. Doesn't sound like a healthy economy, does it?

A lot of this was masked over by consumer spending. I drew some snickers when I warned that when real estate appreciation stopped or borrowing rates bottomed out and the American public had no more funds to access, what would happen. Probably the ripple effect we are seeing right now.

Just like I was told when the stock market was going crazy, tha "this time it's different!"

Anyway, we can't control any of these things and neither can anyone else. BUT you can control yourself and have a plan to prepare for times like these.

For instance, in line with examining the purpose for your various holdings just imagine 3 different buckets. Now label the 3 buckets NOW, LATER and NEVER. Now earmark your accounts to one of those buckets. What you will discover is that NONE of your accounts in the NOW bucket should be invested where the principal is at risk. The LATER bucket usually can take on some risk depending on when you anticipate the LATER. If it's within 3-5 years you should also be protecting the principal.

The NEVER bucket is where you could tap into from time to time but don't plan to for at least 10 years. With this kind of time you should be able to weather the stock market storms we are seeing right now. Time is one of the great allies to market success.

Of course all of this has to revolve around the partculars of your personal financial situation. A good coach or consultant could make this a very simple BUT MOST IMPORTANT EXERCISE!

DON'T DELAY, YOU PEACE OF MIND IS AT HAND!!

One of the 1st steps to eliminating investment frustration is knowing the purpose for ALL of the accounts you hold.

You see, if you try to use a hammer on a screw you probably would be prepared less than desired results because you are usingthe wrong tool for the job. However, if you take the time to find a screwdriver or a nail, you could now make a proper match and make the task at hand much easier.

Doing the same thing with your financial accounts may not be as easy, but every bit as important.

A good place to start is just labeling accounts, NOW, LATER or NEVER. Meaning,when do you plan to use these accounts?

Just this one simple little exercise will go a long way to establishing the expectations of the account and maybe avoid the turmoil you face everytime you try to hammer in a screw.

That's it for now because I have some homework on a two day training program I'm taking to help my clients save more taxes.

Wish me luck!

Ads,ads,ads and more ads. All promising you stock market success. If you missed out don't worry more ads to follow.

Think it coincidental that the more volatile the stock market the more ads we see for services that will give us the keys to the kingdom (ie stock market success) for a mere pittance. I thinks it NOT a coincidence. Follow along.

When the market is volatile(wild swings up and down) we get emotional. When we get emotional, we get fearful. When we get fearful we fall prey to the marketing prowess of Wall St and the financial services industry. And when we fall prey and buy into what they are selling we gladly give them our hard earned money in the form of fees and expenses.

YOU CAN DEFEND YOURSELF BY EDUCATING YOURSELF AND WORKING WITH A FINANCIAL COACH!

Sometimes I will call a company that sends me an ad and ask "Why Me"? Why are you willing to give me all the SECRETS to making money "NO MATTER WHICH WAY THE MOVES" for such a small cost? I'm then informed that they are only the processing dept. and I will have to speak to customer service. When and if I ever get a call back I'm given the standard spiel about THIS SERVICE NOT BEING FOR EVERYONE(I personally can't figure that one since it clearly states MAKE MONEY no matter which way the market moves)

Well "Of course it's not guaranteed." After some more singing an dancing the call has ended and my question is still not answered, ME MAKING BIG PROFITS BY PAYING THEM SMALL FEES. Think how that sounds. Pretty good doesn't it? Come to think about it did I hear something about a bridge?

Find a good coach to help you get the financial peace of mind you truly deserve!

What do you know, an up week for the stock market!

If you take a step back and really listen to what the so-called financial gurus say, it's not hard to figure that they DO NOT HAVE A CLUE to what the stock market is going to do next.

Oh, they can tap dance and give the impression they know something that no one else on the planet knows, but that is only to justify their job.

You see , it all boils down to philosophy. You either think the stock market is efficient and all known information is already factored into the price or you believe that there is someone or a group of someones that know info that no one else does and they can spot bargains. I say HHHAAA!!

If you agree with the latter view give them you money to manage. If not, use index funds and you can harness the power of the free markets. One of the best books on the subject is "winning The Losers Game" by Charles Ellis.

More to follow. Of course always consult with your financial advisor before implementing any ideas you pick up on this or any other information source.

Do your homework and get prepared, we have no idea what's coming next with the housing crisis and its effect on ALL OF OUR FINANCES.

Hope you have a great Super Bowl Sunday. I know I am because I am spending with Family and Friends.

Was it only last tuesday when all of the so called "experts" had us convinced the sky was falling? Advising us to sell and get defensive?

Well, after all the uproar, here they are again, NOW implying we should be buying. They don't know anymore than we do what the next 20% move, either down or up, that the market is going to do. What they do know how to do is to use our emotions to get us buying and selling generating fee's and expenses on all of those transactions.

The next time you find yourself getting caught up in the emotional momment, ask yourself this question:

Why are they telling me? As I sit here in my Glen Burnie or Ellicott City, MD home, or any other location, WHY? If you knew, who would you tell? Isn't that predicting the future? And if you or anyone else could predict the future you wouldn't be wasting it on analysing stocks.

Followers of free market investing do better things with their time than to listen to that garbage.

after all the uproar on tues and the rebound on thurs and another downturn on fri two of the big 3 indexs were slightly positive for the week, S & P 500 and the Dow, with the Nasdaq falling.

Hmm, I wonder how much Wall St and the brokers made in fee's and comissions with the frenzy of all the buying and selling that went on? I thinks we will will never know.

Oh well it doesn't matter to me because it did not cost me and my clients anything cause we do not fall prey to the games played on Wall St. Plenty on this to follow.

Hope you enjoy what's left of the weekend. I know I am because I'm off to play with Olivia and Jacob, 2 of the 6 most beautiful grankids a Poppy ever had!

Tuesday market down, Wednesday market up.

For those of you that were all worked up over the sell off on Tuesday are probably feeling like you have egg on your face after the upturn on Wednesday.

Don't be too hard on yourself because it's not entirely your fault. When you see al the talking heads on t.v. and radio giving you their opinion on "what could", "what should", "what may", "if this", "if the fed does this", "or the fed does that", and on and on and on, it is very easy to let your emotions get the best of you.

Remember have a plan and work your plan, this will help you to avoid countless distractions and make you much more confident in your financial pursuits.

Don't worry plenty of grandkid and kettlebell stories coming soon...

Through our client coaching programs we have long realized the importance of financial education. I'm not just talking about the various types of funds and how funds are charging their fees or how your financial advisor gets paid.

These are all standards that the financial community deems to be important for you. However, as a financial coach we have come up with a process that is so much more beneficial to helping our clients achieve what they want it's almost too good to be true.

For instance, helping them determine their investment philosophy, finding out what's important to them and making sure that they understand the purpose for each account that they own goes a long way in helping them achieve a level of peace of mind that they have previously been unable to have.

So make sure that you're working with someone that will take the time and effort and have processes already in place to further along your financial education journey.

Wow, what a week to start a financial blog. Although, I will be sharing some personal interests such as grandkids, golf, and kettlebells, the main focus will be on peace of mind investing.

Monday the stock market was closed and then before the opening on Tuesday, my office had received about a half a dozen calls on what to do because all of the so called "experts" were predicting a big sell off.

As usual our first question before our response was, "Has your personal situation changed?" Meaning maybe it had and it was just coincidental that it had happened at a time that the market was at a sell off. Or maybe it hadn't and they were letting the emotions of the day overtake their good judgement.

That is something that is quite common when it comes to people and their money and it is what Wall Street thrives on.

You see, Wall Street gets paid on transactions and the more the two overwhelming emotional sirens, "fear and greed", are prevalent the more money Wall Street makes.

So the next time you find yourself getting caught up in Wall Streets emotional alarm of the day or week, just take a step back and ask yourself, "Has my situation changed?"

If the answer is no, turn off the t.v., switch the channel on the radio, fold up the newspaper, and go have some fun which could be playing with the grandkids, taking a walk, or swinging that kettlebell!