How to Get Your Friend Who Owes You Money to Finally Pay You Back

How to Get Your Friend Who Owes You Money to Finally Pay You Back

By Anne Gaviola  Dec 2 2019

We asked a bounty hunter how to track down and extract payment from your crappy ex-roommate.

Everyone has that friend, or family member, who owes them money and hasn’t paid it back for months. Or years.

This isn’t the friend that you have a forever tab with, where you go back and forth “owing” each other $40. This is for the friend who borrowed a month’s worth of rent money and has gone MIA.

Sure, you can cut your losses and consider it an expensive life lesson. Conventional wisdom suggests you shouldn’t lend anything to a friend that you’re not willing to kiss goodbye, at least not without ruining the relationship. But you could probably use that money right about now, and according to experts, if you’re willing to put in some time and effort, you can greatly increase your chances of getting repaid in this lifetime.

Locate The Target

Alex Hayes is a 28-year-old bounty hunter in Georgia. Her job is to find people who owe money, who don’t want to be found. She also runs a private investigation business with her boyfriend. According to her, the first thing you need to do is track down the friend who is avoiding or ghosting you.

“In 90 percent of my cases where I’m trying to locate someone, I start with a look at their social media. See if they have more than one account, maybe even under another name.

Basic Google searches are helpful too. People put a lot of information about themselves online—more than they realize,” she said.

This next step may seem obvious, but talking to friends and family who are close to them can help you figure out where they are and what their financial situation is like. You may have to travel to get access to people who are “in their orbit,” according to Hayes.

“When we work in the field, the best kind of information is human intel. Someone who has firsthand knowledge,” said Hayes. Understanding their schedule is very helpful.

Don’t Spook Them

Once you figure out where they are, or likely to be, your strategy for approaching them will dictate how successful you are in this mission. A private meeting usually works best.

“Don't show up in a setting where you might embarrass the person and make them defensive. The issue is between you and them. Don't involve other people,” suggests Hayes. It may be tempting to try a tough approach, but that won’t necessarily get you the results you want.

She says the best approach is a calm and rational one. “Treat it like a business deal, don’t personalize it. That’s hard because these situations can feel personal and emotional.” This kind of no-nonsense approach is disarming—which, in her line of work, is literally a life saver.

Know When To Abort The Mission

Even if you follow all of these steps, you still might not get your buddy to pay you. You may get more promises. Things can even get awkward—people aren’t rational when it comes to money matters. Hayes suggests pulling up stakes if that’s the case.

“If they refuse to pay you back at that point, get out of there! Don't stick around, the longer you're on scene, it's more likely things will go downhill,” she said. “We refer to this as ‘time on target’ and more time on target is bad.”

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjwv4x/how-to-get-your-friend-who-owes-you-money-to-finally-pay-you-back

What to Do Right Away After Inheriting Money

What to Do Right Away After Inheriting Money

By Rick Paulas

The first thing to do is absolutely nothing. Turns out, grandma was hoarding millions. Or grandpa. Or maybe your old ex who forgot to update their will, or your aunt who you had a close relationship with, or you’re a participant in any number of scenarios where huge inheritances suddenly come out of nowhere. Or, you won the lottery.

The point is, you’ve come into a “life-changing” amount of money—a specifically murky description, as it can mean something else for everything—and you had no idea it was coming. So, what do you do?

The first, and most important thing, is to do absolutely nothing.

"HOLD IT AND DON'T DO A THING FOR THREE MONTHS!!!” is what the finance blogger J. Money adamantly recommends. “Then once it soaks in and you've had time to let the feelings and ideas settle, start taking action.”

We’ve all seen stories of the instant-rich being bombarded with requests from every other third cousin or long-forgotten high school chums looking for interest-free loans or “investment capital” for their “back-scratcher with a mp3 player” idea or whatever.

(There’s a famous “statistic” that 70% of lottery winners end up bankrupt in a few years; a statistic that is utter bullshit, but that doesn’t mean people with new windfalls don’t get harassed by friends and family for portions of said windfall.)

By putting a bold and strict moratorium on doing anything with your new money for a period of time, you can avoid this initial onslaught of leeches.

Why You Need To Be Extra Careful

But outside forces aren’t the only problems you have to ward off. There’s also that devil on your shoulder, pointing out that luxury car you’ve been pining over, or conjuring dreams of a boating trip around the world, or stupidly giving you the idea that trying a burger that’s been idiotically infused with gold flakes is necessary.

Getting a surprise inheritance can make you especially susceptible to doing something dumb with the cash. “It’s found money, so we think about it differently than money we earn,” says Paul Golden from the National Endowment for Financial Education, a non-profit that educates the public on financial decisions.

“It comes with a misconception that you’re never going to have to worry about money again. But it’s the opposite. You’re going to have to worry more than ever before because there’s a lot of decisions to make.”

You also need to be aware of how your emotions can cloud your judgment. “People have a really hard time going through the grief process and the emotional swings that come with managing this money,” Golden says. “There might be a dynamic in the family that is rough to manage. Resentment and anger come into play.”

What To Do After Doing Nothing

When you're ready to take some steps with the money, it helps to have a plan. If you're not sure what to do, a certified financial planner can help you compose your personal spending Wish List and figure out how far your inheritance can go to get you there. But you can also figure this out most of this on your own too.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pavbgb/inherit-money-spend-save-plan

Woman Wins $188 Million Lotto Prize But Ends Up Losing Control Over Her Life

Woman Wins $188 Million Lotto Prize But Ends Up Losing Control Over Her Life

Sukriti February 10, 2018   Shallotte, North Carolina

What a compelling invention it is; the whole concept of the lottery. Have you ever tried your luck in lottery tickets? We all know the probability of winning a lottery, its almost zero. Still, these lottery tickets attract us every now and then.

Some of us never buy these tempting tickets but everyone has wondered at least once about winning them. How incredibly it can change one’s life within a blink of eyes. But everything comes with a cost that most of us won’t understand what it might take unless we’ve experienced it.

A story of luck, fate, good, bad, consequences, threats and more. The story of Marie Holmes has all in it. Like most of us, her life too was filled with ups and downs. Sadly for her, life was mostly about hard times and very rarely she had good days in her life. But the way her life changed has always been a dream for millions of people.

Trying Hard

Marie Holmes, a 27-year-old single mother was on her daily job routine. Working hard to fulfill her four kids’ daily needs. She was trying to save as much as she can for their future. No matter how hard she tried to bring things in the right place, Marie was never able to cop up with the rapid speed life actually demanded out of her.

At this time she was completely unaware of the fact that her life was about to change forever. Only time would tell how long Marie’s life is actually going to be on track.

In 2015, Marie’s life changed in no time when she won the North Carolina’s Powerball lottery. She didn’t win any ordinary amount rather a huge amount of $188 million. It wasn’t just a simple win and settled life from there on as this lottery took Marie to an episode of “Iyanla: Fix My Life.” What happened to her that after winning such a huge amount also she ended up on a show that is all about guiding people about their choices and mistakes?

The Win-Win

Marie was working at different jobs to earn. Although we all know the easier way to earn money is to give a lottery ticket a try. That day when she went to buy a ticket, she knew the chances were zero for her to win the lottery yet she went on to give it a try. Isn’t that the case with most of the people who spend money on the lottery tickets? Well, this one ticket that Marie bought one day was her biggest gift and nightmare to herself.

The Pastor

Marie is a strong believer in Christianity. She followed the words of pastor Kevin Matthews who worked as a leader of his community at Shallotte, North Carolina. Marie has been attending his meetings since childhood. Kevin has been giving Marie advice at every other stage of her life. He has always been a savior to Marie and the fact that whenever she was in trouble or a doubtful situation she ran to Kevin for help. But Marie’s winning of the lottery was the start of bitterness in their relationship.

Winning The Jackpot

The day she bought this state lottery ticket from a nearby convenience store, she prayed before entering the shop. When the time to announce the winner was here, she patiently waited for the announcement of the winning numbers and try her luck on the state lottery.

When the lucky numbers were announced, Marie couldn’t believe the ticket she was holding in her hands read exact numbers as the anchor said. It was February of 2015 when she felt as if she’s at the top of the world. Who knew that the real challenges and criticization were still on the way.

Claiming The Money  

Marie couldn’t really believe that she won the lottery and she stood there in shock, not saying one single word. All she knew that she had around 6 months for claiming the big amount of money. She had two different methods of claiming this money.

The first one was to get the $188 million in yearly installments for the next 30 years, ie, $530,000 each year, the second option was to get all at once but in that case, she’ll be getting $127 million all in all after deducting the taxes. Marie made the obvious choice.

Take It All

Marie made the choice of getting it all at once. She was assuming that this will make her and her kids’ lives better. Just as the grass always looks greener on the other side, Marie was looking on the other side as a doorway to the perfect future that she has been longing for throughout her life. Keeping her hopes high she was having all these great ideas of what she’ll be doing with this money.

Dressing The Part   

Marie, who lived in poverty since her birth was now one step away from becoming a millionaire. Life has been so tough on her that she knew what it was like living in a trailer, that was her home for the most of her life. Her excitement was on the ninth cloud and obviously, she couldn’t hide it anyway. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw the ticket and checked it,’’ she told how she felt that life was offering a second chance which rarely anyone gets.

Stay Anonymous

Mostly lotteries give an option to the winners to keep their names hidden as anonymous, however, telling everyone and becoming the center of everyone’s attention, who doesn’t want that? Not only this once the lottery winner starts spending the amount lavishly eventually everyone gets to know about it. So, why not tell it to them aloud? The winners don’t see what comes up with this overnight achievement and fame can easily get trapped under the dense clouds of danger.

What To Do With It All?

Well, most people think of what will they do of this money even when they are buying the ticket and as Marie won the lottery everyone wanted to know what was her plans. Although the most advisable thing to do is to get a financial planner as well as a lawyer who can save and prepare you for the unforeseen consequences of so much money.

Like almost every lottery winner Marie too wasn’t interested in doing any of this. This is normal to think that one can handle her money by herself and that she doesn’t need any help. Her first big mistake.

All For Them

Marie was so overwhelmed that she told in an interview, “everything is all for them…All the struggle that I ever went through, it was all for them. I want them to understand that money doesn’t change you, but it can help you. So they don’t have to worry about debt, none of that. They can go to college, all on me.”

Take Me To Church

Marie was about to climb the ladder of her dreams. Her first step was to donate a large amount to her community church. The church has been by her side in rough times. Especially Kevin Matthews, the savior who helped her both emotionally and financially at times.

 It was in return of the community’s favor towards Marie and her family. According to Kevin, he would stand by her side no matter what. The pastor was actually about to bring her into the biggest problematic situation of her entire life.

Giving Back To The Community

Marie discussed with Pastor Matthews about her willingness to give at least 10% of her total in hand amount. She wanted this money to go towards the building of a retreat. As per her, the agreement was of donating $1.5 million to the church which was quite a good amount to give. And being generous towards those who stood on her side is the best thing one can do, right?

Her Donation

This happens a lot where a lotto winner decides to donate a large amount of their prize to the place or community they believe in. However, Marie’s donation was one of the biggest ever given to a particular house of worship. Many people promised and gave huge amounts to monks, fathers or priests but Marie was appreciated everywhere for her work.

From Poor To Rich

Marie’s life is a perfect example of the statement, “more money more problems.” Marie was hoping it to be the biggest day but in reality, this money was about to cause her great troubles. She obviously never lived or felt what richness is like.

More Money, More Problems

http://healthzap.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/unnamed1.jpg

Marie settled on $1.5 million dollars to be given to the community in two installments. It was a direct verbal agreement with Kevin. Marie paid the first installment, ie, $700,000 on time soon after she won the lottery money. Meanwhile, Marie was preparing to give her second and final installment, pastor Kevin’s demand suddenly raise.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

http://healthzap.co/woman-wins-188-million-lotto-prize-but-ends-up-losing-control-over-her-life/?utm_campaign=lottogirl-ad-hz-v-g-2&utm_source=gemini&utm_medium=vhz&k=e46644&utm_term=NEWS_US&utm_content=2&sp=2

Tips To Help Create Financial Peace

The Best Money Management Tips To Help Create Financial Peace

Not everyone needs to be a financial wizard, but everyone should be armed with the best — and simplest — money management tips.

And these straightforward items do not require you to be a genius or some math connoisseur either.

Money Management TipsInstead, these tips about money are things anyone can apply and become quite comprehensive with.

These areas below are also what got me on track to eliminating $50,000 in debt and achieving a 65% savings rate without becoming extremely frugal or having a six-figure salary.

This doesn’t mean you won’t get confused at times or be unsure about something, but that’s part of the learning process of financial literacy!

However, the goal of these tips below is to help you feel less stressed and more at peace with your finances. Let’s dive in!

Don’t Get Lost In the Spreadsheets and Numbers

I’m the guy who really dislikes budgeting and staring at numbers daily to see what was spent. But, I still think it’s important to know how to budget and create one if you are truly just getting started.

The trick is to not get caught up in fancy spreadsheets and obsessing over the numbers daily. It can be a distraction from the real financial work and can cause you to get frustrated.

Create a simple budget (monthly expenses, monthly income), stick to it, put it away, review monthly or yearly, adjust, and repeat.

No need to complicate it or be obsessing over every cent.

Master Your Credit Score For Future Endeavors

Whether you know it or not, your credit scores play a huge role in your current and future finances.

This is especially true when you try to get a mortgage with low interest, applying for an apartment, getting approved for credit cards, etc.

Having a poor score can make your life more challenging (like getting approved for loans), so it’s good to start monitoring your scores for free, while correcting and improving your scores.

If you are looking to monitor your scores and get free recommendations, I’d recommend trying Credit Sesame or Credit Karma. It won’t harm your scores to check, and you can learn how to get the highest score possible.

Make Your Savings and “Life Happens” Funds Work For You

We all know the importance of saving money and having a “life happens” fund (you may call them emergency funds, but not everything is an emergency).

And although saving money is great, you also want to put that money to work for you a bit.

This doesn’t mean investing in stocks or index funds (you could later once you have a good buffer saved), but you should still collect some interest on that money.

That way, you’re building some extra cash while it is sitting in savings.

Most banks have pretty dismal interest rate these days, but there are many banks improving that. Some are high-yield online savings accounts, which can average higher than 2%.

It doesn’t sound like much, but most banks have fractional percent interest rates or maybe around 1%.

If you are looking to become a monthly saver and looking to get over great interest on your money, CIT Bank might be a great choice for you. They have some of the best ratings for online banking and is FDIC insured. Learn more and get started with a $100 minimum deposit.

Plan for Retirement ASAP (Even If You Can’t Contribute Much)

“I’ll worry about it later” is a classic excuse, especially for younger people just starting their professional careers.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://investedwallet.com/best-money-management-tips/

Creating a Holiday Budget: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 Creating a Holiday Budget: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ah, the holiday budget season always approaches so fast.

One minute you are sipping umbrella drinks in Summer at the beach — and then out of nowhere — you are creating a holiday shopping list, hoping not to overspend this year.

While the holidays are great for spending time with family, friends, and giving to others — it can also be stress-inducing when it comes to your bank account.

But there are ways to ensure you stick to your budget and keep your personal finances happy. Below are a few essential tips to ensure you don’t go into debt or overspend this holiday season.

Holiday Spending Statistics

It’s crazy to see stores and online ads for holiday shopping before November even starts. Sometimes it even begins before Halloween even has a chance to slow down.

Sigh.

But at the same time, many people (myself included) like to get a head start on planning and purchasing items before the mad seasonal rush begins.

I thought before we got into some holiday budget tips, I’d share some interesting statistics around holiday spending.

According to Cloudways:

Gen X wins the award for the highest holiday spending with an average of $782 in the USA and £425 in the U.K.

Millennials spend the second most during the holiday season with an average holiday spend of $609 in the USA and £416 in the UK.

Baby Boomers tend to spend the least during the holiday season with an average of $576 in the USA and £350 in the UK.

Today, the average consumer spends $1,226 on Holiday Gifts

And if you look back on any historical data, you’ll see these numbers continue to rise each year. Of course these are just some averages, so you might typically spend less or even more.

Additionally, 22% of Americans believe their Christmas spending will leave them in debt according to Fortunly. Yikes!

This is where creating a holiday budget will become critical to helping you avoid debt and not overspending based on impulsive buying.

How To Create A Holiday Budget

As you begin saving for the holiday season, you should create a budget to help you stay on the right financial path. Going into debt and overspending is not a great way to go through the holidays and start off the upcoming new year.

But remember, it’s not just gift giving that adds up either. It’s everything from parties, work functions, decorations, and food. All these things can wreak havoc on your financial goals and debt.

Here are some tips to creating a simple, but effective holiday budget.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://investedwallet.com/creating-a-holiday-budget/

Banking Perks for the Rich That Will Make You Green With Envy

Banking Perks for the Rich That Will Make You Green With Envy

By Destiny Lopez 

 Famous faces are known for getting mountains of free stuff and special treatment. And the bank is no exception. Forget cars, jewelry and runway fashions. For the ultra rich, the particular bank they use and the options available are the ultimate status symbols.

Bank branches have levels, or tiers, of service.

Making large deposits and keeping your stacks of cash in the bank has its perks. Your bank will make sure you are taken care of, as financial security (which means less stress), does a mind and body good.

​From jumping the line at your local branch to private wine tastings with your banker, here are banking perks of the famous and ultra wealthy.

 What is your daily ATM withdrawal limit? Maybe $300 or $500? Non-private banking branches with celebrity sightings may allow higher ATM withdrawal limits. A recent and sad example of this perk is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who withdrew $1,200 from a grocery store ATM the evening before his untimely passing.

Has your debit card ever been declined when making a large purchase? This is a standard security feature at most banks. The situation is handled with a quick phone call and your bank representative increases your POS or Point of Sale limit.

 However, the well-off usually don’t have this issue. Celebrities are offered higher POS limits, a higher overdraft limit, and may even be able to use out-of-network ATMs for free.

 24-Hour Access

 The world of private banking can be so exclusive that even some celebrities don’t make the cut. The requirements, of course, vary. Some private banking branches require a minimum of $100,000 net worth. Other branches, mostly overseas branches, are by invite or reference only. However, when you become a client, one thing that remains constant is the unheard of access to your banker.

 Its been reported from former tellers that private banking clients have direct access to their banker. And we’re not talking about an automated system where you are prompted to dial an extension. Clients have their bankers cell phone numbers and even home phone numbers.

In case you can’t reach your banker at the branch, any banker available will immediately assist you. There is a 24-hour phone line for after-hours banking needs.​

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.mybanktracker.com/news/2014/04/09/banking-perks-famous-ultra-wealthy/

Wealth Is All In Your Head

From the Recaps Archives posted on 4/30/2019

Wealth Is All In Your Head
April 6, 2019  By Mr. Tako 
 
When you think about it, money is a pretty funny thing.  For a couple thousand years humans used precious things to represent this idea of “money” — ivory, colorful shells, precious gems, livestock, silver, and most notably gold.  This worked well for humanity for a very long time… as long as the values were small.

The general inconvenience of physically carrying a whole bunch of “precious stuff” eventually gave way to paper certificates.  Stand-ins for the real thing.  

After-all, nobody wants to cart around a wheelbarrow full of silver just to buy a new car.  You were liable to get mugged by Robin Hood on the way to the car dealership….

Paper certificates were just so much easier and convenient.  In the past, those paper certificates could be redeemed for the actual “precious stuff”.

I still have a few U.S. $1 bills somewhere from the 1950’s that are actual silver certificates.  It used to be that a person could walk down to the nearest Federal Reserve and exchange those certificates for actual physical silver.  Why anyone would want to do that?  I have no idea, but it was possible all the way up into the 1960’s.

Some of my relatives were really into precious metals.  I received a number of these “silver certificate” dollars as gifts when I was a kid.

Back then, it was mostly the belief that you owned a precious metal that supported a currency.  The fact that you could still convert it into precious metals was sort of a “bonus feature” for the currency.

All this ended in 1971, when President Nixon officially took the U.S. off the gold standard.  The dollar became what’s known as a fiat currency, and around the same time most of the G-10 economies moved to fiat currencies as well.

The only thing really supporting a currency now is belief.  We believe that money has value and therefore it does.  Nowadays, most of our money is simply ones and zeros in a bank database …. data that probably resides in a secure data center somewhere.

Today, hardly anyone I know still uses physical money.  We’ve simply moved on to credit cards, bank transfers, and digital payments.   Only a few of the crazier people I know still keep gold or piles of cash at home.

In essence, money is now simply digital bits (in just the right order), shuttled around with electrons.  Money couldn’t be more ethereal.

To continue reading, please go to the original article at

https://www.mrtakoescapes.com/wealth-is-all-in-your-head/

Bail-Ins Saves The Banks But Who Saves Us?

Bail-Ins Saves The Banks But Who Saves Us?

By Muhammad Ali

 We all remember the financial crises of 2008 and the Bail-outs that occurred.  So no need to go down that path, instead we'll continue from there.

So the Governments will not Bail-out the banks again, then it means the banks will need to go somewhere else to help themselves out.  Where do you think they will go?  Yes, that's right the deposit holders.

 If you think that Bail-ins are just some fantasy concoction of mine, why don't you tell that to this The 68-year-old man who hung himself at his home in Civitavecchia, a port town near Rome, after the so-called “save the banks” plan wiped out €100,000 in savings held at Banca Etruria. 

But wait, he's already dead, so you cannot.  This was during the time when certain banks were testing the new system.  Unfortunately, their tests cause the life of this man. 

Here's the full article for your reference, in case you think that I am making this up.

https://www.thelocal.it/20151210/man-kills-self-after-losing-100000-in-italy-save-banks-plan

I remember when this article first came out in 2015; I shared it with my group in Malaysia.  While the world has probably forgotten about him by now, I have not and I believe the best way we can honour the memory of this man is by not doing what he did and understanding the bail-in system. 

One of my Currency Exchange Planner software customers, lives in Toronto, Canada but is from Ottawa, same as myself.  His name is Gary, and after RV, he wants to build a 1965 Cobra Factory 5 sports car, really awesome car.  I hope to take a ride with him when he's done. 

Now, the reason I am bringing up Gary is because he is 68 years old, same age as the man from Italy.  So, it makes me wonder if the Bail-ins were to affect Gary's bank accounts, what Gary would do.

I will share some very interesting things with you guys about the Bail-in system and clarify things with you that probably you've never heard about before, so that none of us need to end up the same fate as the man from Italy.

First things first, let's talk about this Bail-in system and see how it will affect us.

Most countries have some sort of bank insurance deposit scheme, in Malaysia it is called PIDM, in North America it's known as FDIC.  Sounds familiar?  So what's it for? 

Basically, your deposits are insured up to $250,000, so then the first question that should pop into your mind is; what about the amounts over that amount?  Technically, there is no insurance coverage thru the bank for over that amount.  You may have to look into 3rd party insurance coverage, something to discuss with your private bankers and lawyers.

But for now, let's assume you had $1,000,000 in your account, that means $250,000 is insured, and $750,000 is not, so this is how the Bail-in will factor in.  The banks may 'appropriate' the $750,000 leaving you with $250,000.  Suppose you had $10 Million in your account?  I bet you're starting to worry now aren't you?

 So you can see that the banks will not fail ever again.  Right?

So should we be worried?  Or is that a stupid question to ask?  Well maybe I know something that you don't but don't worry, I'll share everything I know on this subject and at the end of this article, you won't be so worried, then I'll give you my opinion on whether we should be worried or not and some things you can do about it.

First of all, let me, put you out of some misery and let's settle this 'appropriated' $750,000.

The bank does not 'appropriate' or keep your money, as if they've just stolen your funds.  Your account actually gets converted to equity (stock) in the bank.  Your money is not gone, just converted, but when you check your bank balance it would not show your $750,000 because it is no longer cash in your account.

  Then next logical step would be that to recover your funds you'll need to sell off your equity stocks back to cash.   Something else that may happen is the bank may just take your full $1,000,000, and since your account has been converted to equity (stock) from cash, the FDIC is no longer responsible for your account and is not required to give you cash.  Why? Because the FDIC only insures cash accounts not equity accounts, so now your entire bank account has been emptied!

Isn't this pretty clever of the banks to do this?  For the common folks, like the Italian 68 year old man who doesn't understand the intricacies of the banking system will think that their life savings was just wiped out and may turn to drastic measures, such as in taking their lives.  Do you think the bankers will care if you did that?

 So I want to educate you all, so you do not do the same thing!   So now you know what the bank has just done, your money is not gone, it's just transferred into Bank stock.  It will be the customer’s responsibility to get that share of stock converted to cash, what that means is you'll need some help from your Team Lawyer to liquidate these stocks and turn them back into cash, once the Bank is stable. 

 If you turn the stocks back into cash right away, the bank may just take it again, so this is where your Plan B will come in handy.  While you're waiting for the bank to become stable again, some of your gold and silver may need to be liquidated to cash to help maintain your cash flow until you can liquidate the bank stocks.  

Remember your Private Banker works for the bank so he may not be the best person to get help from, your lawyer on the other hand works for you. 

Another possible scenario, it may be difficult to sell the shares, much less get remuneration equal to the cash lost when the bank failed and bail-in was executed, so you need to prepare for this.  So now do you see why I added the Gold and Silver tab in my Currency Exchange Planner?  Planning, Planning, Planning.

And something else, the article I posted above occurred in Italy.  That tells me the bail-in system is not just USA based but globally, I believe every country has it implemented by now.

I have provided a link to a PDF document that is 28 pages on the entire history of the Bail-in system from when they first started planning it in 1999.  The man that did all this research his name is Randy Langel, I do not know him personally, but I commend him for his research and sharing it to the world. 

It is probably the most extensive research on this subject, in simple layman terminology that you'll find. As it is now, it paves the road for us and we know exactly what to do, if and when the time calls for it. 

The document also gives solutions, both short term and long term.  I highly recommend everyone to download it, print it out so you can refer to it and incorporate some of the ideas that Randy recommends into your planning.  Here's the link:   https://www.popularresistance.org/docs/bail-in.pdf

 Now, I am not done yet, I wanted to share my personal thoughts on the bail-in system and its current status.  I have always said to my group that the Elite, in one hand will give us millions of dollars, while in their other hand they have the plan to take it all back, and that's thru the bail-ins.

From the latest reads of the Elite, it certainly seems that their hold on mankind is diminishing day by day.  Something that's also really interesting is the number of protests that have been going on around the world.  The citizens demanding that their governments treat them fairly and stop stealing their funds, thru corruption and wicked ways. 

In Malaysia, for example the ruling party, had been in power for 40 years and thru that time, the politicians lived lavish lifestyles where the people on the street suffered from a dwindling Ringgit Malaysia currency. 

Then in the last election, I, myself, even though I am not Malaysian, took a pro-active role and thru social media and viral messages a great change occurred, the ruling party was defeated and became the minority government. 

So change can occur and I believe that maybe waiting all these years for the RV to occur was in fact a good thing for us.  If we did RV back in 2012, most likely the Elite would have already seized our bank accounts and the majority would be none the wiser on how to get the money back. 

What I think now, the banks and this entire bail-in system may have been shelved, in lieu of the new QFS system and if all of the world's currencies are moving back to a true gold-asset backed system, then it may mean that our money will be safe.  I would really, really love it, that we can leave our money in the banks and not have to worry about these buggers trying to rip us off from our exchange funds.

So these are things that you really need to start thinking about, do I want to exchange all of my currencies at the beginning?  Should I do it in stages over the years? 

Or should I exchange a bit at the get go and then watch as the markets crash and correct themselves and the banks stabilized themselves and when the time is right, then exchange my remaining notes? 

It's one thing to get higher rates or contract rates, but it's another thing if the money is taken from you.  So these are all important decisions that I hope I have brought to your attention thru this article. 

I, myself, I’m on a wait and see approach and will exchange a few notes at a time and see the markets and current banking situation.

That's why I always say, get your plans out of your head and get it down on paper.   That's the only way you'll be able to play with it.

​Thank you and I wish you all the success in your currency exchange.

 Muhammad Ali

www.CurrencyExchangePlanner.com

Addressing the Financial Disease, Not Just the Symptoms

Addressing the Financial Disease, Not Just the Symptoms

By  Trent Hamm  10.15.19

 Getting Started

When Sarah and I first hit our financial bottom, our natural response was to deal with the immediate problems.

We simply didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay our bills. At that moment, the money in our checking account wasn’t enough even to pay the bills we owed that were due before our next paycheck, even assuming we spent $0 on food or anything else in that timeframe.

We had a lot of debt – multiple car loans, a pile of student loans, a bunch of credit card debt, and some other loans, too.

We had an infant who had just added a bunch of additional expenses to our life – child care being the biggest, of course, but far from the only thing.

It was a hefty list of challenges, but we tackled them head on. I took charge of selling off a bunch of items from our closets, including some vintage sports cards and Magic: the Gathering cards and DVD box sets and video games, and used that to rapidly eliminate the worst of the debt.

We started eating all of our meals at home. We started engaging in a bunch of intense frugal “money free weekends” and 30 day challenges to curb our spending. I threw myself into freelance work and side gigs and other opportunities to make a little more money – in terms of work, there were a few years that were basically just a blur.

Unsurprisingly, we hammered a lot of that debt really quickly. We got ourselves back on track with our bills, with a nice little emergency fund to boot. We blew through paying off all of our debt in a little over a year – we were debt free a little over a year after hitting that financial bottom. Things seemed good.

However, there was still a core problem underlying all of this. Our default habits were still oriented toward spending everything we brought in, if not more. We were absolutely more mindful of how we were spending money, but our instincts were still very oriented toward spending, even as our debt went away.

During that period when we were paying down debt, I found myself alternating between being thrilled with my financial progress and then, almost in the next breath, resorting right back to those bad financial habits that put us in a bad situation to begin with. Things were going in the right direction, but for every three steps forward, there were two steps backward.

In short, we were really good at treating the symptoms, but we were completely missing the disease.

The Symptoms

The symptoms were obvious. We were in debt. We had a bunch of bills that we were unable to pay. If something bad were to happen to us in the short term, like an illness or a job loss or a car breakdown, things would get really awful really quick.

Those symptoms, just like the symptoms of a disease, were the things that would actually affect our day to day life. We could definitely feel the impact immediately from a maxed out credit card or a car breakdown that we couldn’t pay for. We felt it in terms of stress. We felt it in terms of not being able to buy groceries at the store or go out to eat. It impacted our life immediately.

Yet, those were just the symptoms.

The Disease

So, what was the disease, then?

The disease, as I see it now, was that we didn’t really have a clear idea of what we wanted out of life, and because of that, it was very easy to have our thoughts and desires become oriented toward the impulsive desires for things in the short term. The disease is a short term focus on life. The disease is living life through momentary desires and impulses.

There was a sense that we needed to “live a little,” but that sentence translated from actually having meaningful experiences to just buying things without any real rhyme or reason, just chasing the things we wanted in the moment.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/addressing-the-financial-disease-not-just-the-symptoms/

My Thoughts on Gold and Silver.

My Thoughts on Gold and Silver.

By Muhammad Ali

​I have had several people contact me about my opinion on what will happen to Gold and Silver.  So this article, in a way, is a follow up to my previous one, titled "Precious Metals - My Plan B".

​First, let me just give you some of my background so you know that I have a bit of experience on this.  I've started trading Forex, since 2000, while I was living in Canada.  My first Forex course was Steven Nisson's candlestick training on VHS.  I still have it and autograph books of his.

 I spent a small fortune on training courses and books and from live trading experiences.   I continued trading when I shifted to Malaysia in 2004 and around 2009 I opened my own Forex Company here, taught courses on Forex and trading for people as well as providing online signal services. 

I have had my own traders and I did all the management for the company.   I had a 15,000 square foot office in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.   I had clients subscribing to my signal services from over 100 countries.  I had professional services charging $500 US per month for signal services. 

I've truly gone thru a lot in Forex, experimented with hundreds of robot software, known as E.A. (Expert Advisors) and trading systems and indicators.   Then I just had enough of it all and stopped, but God had his own plan and brought be back to Forex via the Dinar, so now I just deal with the physical currency, less stressful.

​But during my years of intense study of charts, I learned about a man named Tom Williams.   Here's a short YouTube video and Tom's tells you some very important psychological aspects of the markets and people.

Smart Money Drives the Financial Markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jwEwlZnSFY&feature=emb_logo

Now, just to further tell you who Tom is, he's a syndicate trader or professional trade or the Smart Money.  They all mean the same thing, these are the people who move the markets, who manipulate and control the markets via the media.

​I bought all his books, his courses and his software and studied intensely and learned a lot.  One thing I did learn, is the charts lie to you, candlesticks lie to you, the charts do not show the movement of the smart money. 

These people must have a Klingon cloaking device because they are invisible to the eyes of the people.  There is ONLY 1 indicator that the smart money cannot hide from, the volume indicator and interestingly enough, 99% of all the traders out there do not use the volume indicator nor understand how it works.  But this is the ONLY indication to know when the Smart Money is beginning to make their move.

​I've witnessed first-hand the manipulation of the Smart Money and the manipulation of the brokers as well.  The difference with a person's trading platform as compared to the smart money is you see your trades taking place, whereas they see everyone's trades taking place.  So they have the added advantage over us.

​So now, fast forward, 19 years later, that gives you a brief background into my experience, so let's get into today's article.

​I am a firm believer in Gold and Silver.  They are and will be the money of the future that is without any doubt.  If you take back anything from my article today, it's that, after the RV, you MUST buy some physical quantities of Gold and Silver.   This is the very reason why I added the precious metals tab in my Currency Exchange Planner, as I believe your exchange plans should or must include gold and silver.

The difficulty with most people today, including myself, we lack the capital to buy any large amounts of these precious metals, but all that will change with the RV.  I have educated my group to invest into these currencies, that we all hold, and after the RV, you'll now have the capital to secure more precious metals.

​Between the two metals my preference has always been towards silver and I am sure we will one day see the two metals at par.  Silver is in much more of a shortage than gold and also more of a demand.

Thru my study of Forex and the smart money what I've come to realize the hard way, the markets are manipulated and it's not a level playing field.

And, thru my study of charts and breakouts and again following the smart money, here's what I believe will happen.

Since 2014, I have said you will not see gold and silver go anywhere until the RV happens.  Until that point, you will see these two metals just bounce in a range, which is what they have been doing for the past 5 years.  Recently you've seen gold starting going up but it's still not going anywhere, it's still controlled.

​When the RV happens, you will see both start to shoot up, the fake media will jump on it with their propaganda pushed by the smart money and this is directed to the people to get on the bandwagon and buy gold and silver, to get in while the getting is still good before it shoots thru the roof.  All this is planned, as with what Tom Williams said in the video above.

​What I suspect will happen is this will be a false breakout.   If you're studied FX charts and triangles you'll know what I mean about breakouts and false breakouts.  The Smart Money are manipulating the prices making people jump in, making them believe that the gold prices have broken out of the range and now moving up, they'll raise the price a few hundred pips, believe me, they can do it anytime they feel like it.

   What I predict will happen, is that after a lot of people join into the buying streak and feeling they are comfortable and happy with their investment, then out of greed, the people will try to find more or borrow more money to invest in gold and silver. 

The smart money will know the timing, and then they'll pull the rug right out from under everyone and will drop the price by 50% or more in the span of 1 hour, it'll be a sudden drop and you'll see silver prices and gold prices even lower than what it is today.  It would happen too fast to be able to do anything about it.  That, in essence, is a false breakout.

The fake propaganda media will again get on with telling everyone to get out before metals hit rock bottom.  All these fake news propaganda created by the Smart money.

For those buying physical will be alright, as they own the physical gold or silver bullion some may panic and sell their bullion and some will still hold on to it.

​Those trading gold and silver online will be wiped out, by margin calls or stop losses triggered.  These are the people the smart money is targeting.  Millions of people will be wiped out financially.

​Once the price is dropping and has dropped the smart money will be there to buy up at dirt cheap prices that people once paid a hefty price for.    As Tom said in the video, this is what they do, when the news says to sell, the smart money are buying.

​Now, why do I believe this will happen the way? Well, this scenario has happened over and over and over again with Forex currencies, commodities, stocks and will continue to happen. 

I've seen it, I've gone thru it, and it adds an enormous amount of stress to your mind and body.  The smart money is masters at manipulation and they do not give a ** about you.  

That's why they say 98% lose their money in Forex and only 2% make money, because they don't understand how the smart money trades and they don't trade with the smart money.   If you trade against the smart money you'll surely lose it all.  

All this will just be a game to them, another opportunity to take your money and I believe where there is opportunity for the smart money to do it, they definitely will.

After the false breakout and the precious metals drop, millions were wiped out from their trading positions on gold and silver, the smart money are buying once again and will then move the prices of gold and silver higher and higher and higher.  Remember, I said, this is all but a mere game to them. 

They care not if you are wiped out and crushed.  Their egos are so high; they are so full of themselves that they will do it just to show the world that they can.

So what I have told my group, is once the RV happens, we have time to exchange, then we watch the prices of gold and silver climb.  If you want to buy, you can also, but make sure you buy the physical bullion and then just hold on to it.  When the prices drop by 50% or more, that's the time to go all out or all in, depends on your viewpoint and buy what you can but buy according to your plan.

​Thing may happen very quickly and very fast after the RV.  That's another reason why it's advantageous for you at this point to know and keep tabs of where to buy gold and silver online and thru retail outlets. 

As when the prices drop, some of these dealers may stop selling, until the markets stabilize or may be competing with millions of other buyers so you need to act quickly. 

Technically, these dealers paid a higher price for their stock, so if the price drops 50%, it's only logical that they will be inclined to stop all sales, as they would be losing money themselves by selling the metals at low prices.  So you need to keep what I just said in mind. 

If gold and silver drops by 50% in 1 hour, for sure the dealers will put a hold on selling.  That's why settling some debts and things after RV, should be a second priority, monitoring other opportunities as getting in on Gold and Silver as they begin their decline to lower prices should be your first priority. 

This is why it's so very, very, very important to plan and have a plan.  In my exchange planner software, in my gold and silver tab, you can enter your places where to buy the precious metals.  So it's all part of your planning.

​Now, I am going to share with you something that I plan to do to cover myself.  So I said, I expect gold and silver to drop by 50%, right?  Then I said, at these low prices dealers will stop selling, right?  So then, that means there's no opportunity, right? WRONG.

This is what I plan to do at the bottom out of the prices.  If I cannot get physical, I will buy gold and silver online.  You may not be able to buy the physical but you can buy it virtual or digital. 

Now that I've enter the markets at bargain basement prices, I will wait and ride the wave back up to the $5000 or $50,000 an ounce price to whatever it may go to.  As it's going up to higher levels, I will sell off some of the trades and use that money to buy the physical.  

So if I cannot buy the physical metals at the low prices, I most certainly can buy online via trading and then at a later date in the future, sell off and convert to physical, where there is a will, there is a way.

​So there you go, this is what I expect will happen.  Whether it happens this way or not, only time will tell, but the important aspect is please include gold and silver as part of your planning as part of your Plan B.  If you believe Gold and Silver will happen  to rise some other way then that's fine but go back and please read the title of this article.

Thank you and I wish you all the success in your currency exchange.

Muhammad Ali

www.CurrencyExchangePlanner.com

The No. 1 Planning Tool for the Dinar community.

Available in Desktop PC/MAC and Mobile App (Android & IOS) versions

https://www.currencyexchangeplanner.com/article-23-my-thoughts-on-metals

Precious Metals - My Plan B

Precious Metals - My Plan B

By Muhammad Ali

You may have heard me refer to precious metals as my Plan B, in several of my articles.  If you haven't read any of my articles you can read them on my website, unless of course, you're on my website right now reading this article, therefore, just ignore everything I just said.  ;)

OK back to the subject, precious metals and why do I consider them as my Plan B.  The reason for this article clarification came about because someone emailed me, asking why do I consider precious metals as my Plan B.

Before we get into that, let me just clarify something else, what do I refer to as precious metals?  Gold and Silver are the obvious, but I would also add in there stones and other metals as well.  For stones, one may debate the risks involved as the purchase and re-sale values may be far apart, especially in the case of diamonds.  Well for general purposes we'll just stick to gold and silver.

We can all agree that a Plan B is a back up plan, there's no question about that.

So one may assume that the precious metals you purchased is your back up plan, in case of a market crash or you've blown too much of your wealth and need to liquidate your assets to get back on track.  If that's the case, that's fine.

However, I take it on a different level and I apply my precious metals as a Plan B to my investments.

I said, in a previous article, before getting involved in investing, determine your lifestyle choice for living after the RV.  Do you want a simple work-free lifestyle or do you want to join Robin Leach's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?  I used to love watching that series back in the late 80's.

In my viewpoint, it is important to determine your lifestyle first, the reason for this, it will determine how much you want to expose yourself in the markets.  If you want a simple lifestyle then there's no point going Gung Ho and investing a huge amount.  You'll be putting yourself at a higher risk in case things back fire on you and you suffer loses.  Let's put some numbers down so the picture becomes crystal clear.

After our exchange, let's we say had $5 million and we choose to have a simple lifestyle and target to make $5,000 per month, in our mind, this is enough for us to have a work-free lifestyle.

If you invested $1,200,000 into a fixed deposit account making 5% per year, this will give you $60,000 per year or $5,000 per month.  Bingo!  And on a plug note: My Currency Exchange Planner software has an Investment tab to help you plan with this.

So if that is our target, then we should invest slightly above that $1.2 million target line, let's say $1.5 million.  This gives us a little buffer room.  If we invested our entire $5,000,000 but our target was only to make $5,000 then we have over exposed ourselves into the markets with a risk of losing $3.5 million if things turned to the worst. 

In this example, if we had $1.5 million of our $5 million invested, it means we have $5,000 coming in every month and we still have $3.5 million in our bank account.   This plan will free yourselves of anxiety, stress and Sudden Wealth Syndrome.  Of course, you still need to apply money management to the $3.5 million. 

Don't forget what I advised in a previous article to compound your profits for a few years, maybe 3 to 5 years.  So your investment account can grow and give you a buffer zone to handle any losses that may or may not occur.

So if your lifestyle target is higher then you'll need to raise those numbers as required, but keep in mind your targets should equate to the exchanged amount after RV.  You won't be able to live a Robin Leach's lifestyle if your exchanged amount was only $800,000.  Please apply all  your senses to your management of money, especially the greatest one, common sense.

Can you now see why it's important to determine your lifestyle first?  You're lifestyles can change and adapt, that's entirely up to you.  But your after RV lifestyle is directly connected to your investing.

Before we move on, something very important about Fixed Deposits, they are Guaranteed returns.  Unlike investment in the stock market or commodity market, fixed deposits are not a risky investment as they do not depend on fluctuating market rates.

 Investors can rest assured that their investments are safe and will be getting back a guaranteed amount at the end of the tenure.  Especially if the bank gives you a FREE toaster for signing up, right!  On a serious note, enter your fixed deposit amounts in the Low investment category of the Investment tab in my exchange planner.

Now, let's get into Plan B. 

What I am thinking and how I connect my precious metals to my Plan B, is like this.  The precious metals are a back up to my investments.  If the investments go bad, I won't replace the lost funds from my bank balance but from my precious metals. 

I would sell off the required amount in gold or silver to replenish my investment account.   The goal is to always have $1.5 million in that account, as per my plan.

Now, what I would do, is if I wanted to invest $1.5 million into the market, I would double that amount as my gold and silver purchase amount, meaning: If I wanted to invest $1.5 million I would purchase $3 million in gold and silver (combined), so what that means is my investing allocation combined with my precious metals would be $4.5 million. 

In the example above, if we only had $5 million after exchange then, of course, my precious metals budget would be bumped down or my lifestyle or both.  Another CEP plug: My exchange planner has a precious metals planning tab that can help you plan your budget.

My thinking here, is to offset and minimize my investing stress by having a fund (in my case, my precious metals) as a back up in case there are losses.  So I do not have to always worry, will I make money or not? 

If I lost money, my reaction would be, ok fine, I have a reserve fund option in place for that.  So then, I can go about enjoying my day and my life without having to worry deeply about that.

Going back to the issue of compounding, you may also want to consider compounding a different way and using the profits from your investing for the first 3 to 5 years as top ups to your precious metal purchases. 

So then, I would still invest my $1.5 million but the $60,000 earned per year I would use that amount to buy more precious metals and increase my Plan B, until I have the 1:2 ratio.  Remember this ratio is not written in stone, you can lower or higher the precious metals account as to what makes you feel comfortable.

Our target is to have a WORK-free and WORRY-free lifestyle.  You've all read about work-free lifestyles and I have even mentioned it above but I hope my article today has taught you the bases and importance of adding into that a WORRY-free lifestyle. 

You've got all kinds of options, you just got to start getting your plans down on paper and out of your head.  My Currency Exchange Planner was perfectly designed for this.

So with that note, I will end my article, I hope it has been of interest to you and your planning after the RV.

​God bless us everyone and may we all be part of the exchange process and what comes afterwards. Amen.

Thank you and I wish you all the success in your currency exchange.

Muhammad Ali

www.CurrencyExchangePlanner.com

The No. 1 Planning Tool for the Dinar community.

Available in Desktop PC/MAC and Mobile App (Android & IOS) versions

https://www.currencyexchangeplanner.com/article-22-precious-metals-plan-b