Investment banker I am not…   Nor do I call me a CFP (Certified Financial Planner), accountant, or loan officer. Do you know what I’m actually pretty good at, though?   Handling money well… And teaching others to do the same   My knowledge when it comes to finance is less Formal MBA, and more: live, learn, and fine-tune moving forward. And I knew from an early age that learning about money and how to handle it was one of my passions.   (Photo courtesy of MKulp Photography)   Meet the Neighborhood Lawn Care Co.   My first entrepreneurial story takes place around age 12/13 and I remember it like it was yesterday.   This was back in ‘98 or so, and that’s when color printed flyers in mailboxes actually got looked at. I used that fact to my advantage when I “created” The Neighborhood Lawn Care Co. and sent out […]

If you have a lot of debt or different types of debt, then a debt consolidation loan might sound like a good idea. However, if you have low credit, you may not have many options. The good news is, you can still get a debt consolidation loan, even with bad credit. In this article, you will learn about the ins and outs of a debt consolidation loan, the pros and cons of getting one, and what your alternatives are if you aren’t ready to get a debt consolidation loan. What is a Debt Consolidation Loan? A debt consolidation loan is a new loan that you take out to cover the balance of your other loans. A debt consolidation loan is a single, larger piece of debt, usually with better payoff terms than your original, smaller debts. When you receive a consolidation loan, your other loan balances are paid off. This […]

Hello all!    Our Saturday morning shout-outs highlight a post/article/book/other that I’ve come across lately that deserves exactly that: a ‘shout-out.’ The goal here is to hopefully introduce my readers to other authors or bloggers that have had an impact on me, my writing, and my life.   This week’s shout-out is: Become your best boss ever by Jillian at Montana Money Adventures Jillian is currently a self-employed blogger but it wasn’t always that way. She worked 20 years for a wide variety of bosses. Good, bad, and indifferent. But now she’s faced with a new challenge – one you might not expect from a self-employed individual… She’s working on developing her skills so that she can effectively manage her employee(s) – namely herself.   This is a pretty unique picture of the fact that reaching the end of the rainbow (retirement or self-employment) doesn’t come with an instruction manual or just […]

  “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach that man to fish and feed him for life…” – Chinese Proverb   Well, Lana (my first financial counseling client) was given a proverbial fish a few years ago, and although the financial hunger of credit card debt had subsided temporarily, guess what…? It came back in a big way. And before Lana had realized, she was in over her head in unnecessary credit card debt that equated to about 20% of her annual salary. What was the interest rate on that debt, you ask? 21%. Yeah. Lana was in for a world of hurt unless some changes were made. NOW. Here’s how it went down:   (Photo by MKulp Photography)   It wasn’t a lack of interest or desire, rather just a lack of some concrete plan. Something to believe in that Lana could latch onto […]

(Photo courtesy of MKulp Photography)   “Alright, class. Hands up if you’ve ever leased a car…” As the instructor deliberately surveys the group, her eyes can’t help but land on the guy in the back row with his hand up.   He’s wearing a bro-tank with his hand about 3 inches above his head at just the precise level where he could either be admitting that he’s leased a car or that he’s going for a quick swipe of the forehead… It’s just too difficult to know for sure.   As the instructor studies further, she sees the text on his bro-tank…  It reads the title of some obscure personal finance blog she’s heard of. The instructor points… “You, there. You have leased a car???”   The embarrassed but proud gentleman raises his arm above the threshold and nods his head. “Two actually…”   “WHAT!?!?!?”     Although my nightmare […]

Team, It’s been a minute… I apologize for the extended absence over the last two months but no worries, I come back bearing good news. More about that in a minute. First, I hope this holiday season has been tremendous thus far, and that you are able to spend great quality time with family and good friends. We’ve been working hard on getting our business up and running (definitely more about that to come), traveling to see family, and preparing for the Christmas season we so enjoy. It has been a busy few months and my first post will detail a little more about why I haven’t published anything lately, but let’s just say starting a business while being a respectable husband, father, and full-time employee of a different business can be challenging if your priorities aren’t straight. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here so […]

Hello Team,   This week we have another ‘Mailbag’ edition. For those not familiar: the questions I receive that either can’t be answered in a short tweet, with a quick text or if the question may be helpful to more than just the (question) poser – I’ll share my answer as a post. I hope you find this one enjoyable and helpful.   Best,   -Mike     Good Afternoon,   Mike, first off, love the blog.  My question came after reading your recent article about credit cards and rewards. I wanted to know what you thought is a good or reasonable amount of credit cards to have? Also, what do you think about adding new cards and canceling other cards? Or just having cards that you don’t use a lot? I’ll give you an example I have had a (1)capital one credit card: for about 2 years. that I don’t use often […]