Well, the new year is here and so are the annual new year price increases. I went to buy grated cheese and saw it was up about 10%. Eggs were up where I usually shop. Bread was up too on certain loaves. You see it everywhere. Happens every year.
Let me tell you why we will always have inflation and rising prices and what you can do to keep it to a minimum. Our money and economic system has inflation built right into it. The federal reserve makes money out of thin air to feed a fractional reserve money system. I can't explain that in detail here, but there are plenty of videos on Youtube that explain it and will probably make you mad, It may take a while for you to get mad, at first you will probably not be able to believe it and take it seriously. Next we have taxes and taxes are inflationary. When you have taxes you can't exchange value for value, you must exchange value for value plus taxes. With taxes you are always paying more than what your purchase is worth in free market dollars. Here is an example. My neighbor raises vegetables to sell investing his time, labor and materials, such as seed, fertilizer and water. He boxes up what he considers $10 worth by figuring his expenses and adding a fair and correct amount for his labor. So far so good. Unfortunately I can't exchange $10 in money value for $10 in vegetable value, he has to add tax. With tax I am always paying more than the value of what I get. That isn't bad enough, this creates a demand throughout the system for higher wages, so people can buy things and pay the tax. There are a lot of effects it creates as it ripples through the system. None are good. Not for you and me at least. So as long as we operate like we do you will see inflation and higher prices, but how much and how fast they rise is variable and in part depends on you. There is a program they used to call CREEP, but that name was too creepy I guess, so they call it several other things now. Here is how it works. The program takes items a store sells and raises the prices just a bit. Most people don't notice or really care if things are a few cents higher and the volume of sales remains the same. Then a little later, the program raises the prices again. It keeps doing this over time until the sales volume goes down. See why they called it CREEP? It creeped up the prices. When the volume goes down, then the program rolls the price back and the store puts up a sign that there is a price roll back on this item. People see the notice and buy again. Unfortunately, it seldom goes back as low as it started. It is actually a program created to make you pay more and create more inflation. How nice. Recently a large chain gas station in my area closed a station for remodeling. The prices in the area went up after that, while prices on gas in other areas went down. I asked a station manager that I know if that other gas station would have to reopen for us to see lower prices in the area. He said, "Oh, you picked up on that. We price our gas based on our sales goals. If we aren't selling enough to hit our volume goals we lower prices and if we are selling more, we raise prices." I had heard about the same from other gas station managers when I was in the car wash business. So what can you do when prices go up? Buy somewhere or something else, that is what. These companies and governments can't survive without the consumer. In my business I see a lot of price increases "fail." Years ago the prices on candy bars went up a big jump, but the big three manufacturers didn't stick together. One needed more sales to maintain their business, so they dropped prices and the others rolled back soon after that. It happens a lot with food and commodities, but other things too. When you stop buying when the price goes up, the people making the product have an incentive to find ways to cut their expenses. They may go to their suppliers of raw materials or to the people that transport their products and ask for price reductions, just like you did when you stopped buying at the higher price. They may invent a better way to make the product or use some innovation to change the market and shake up prices. Think of CD's and mp3 players for example. I mentioned insurance some posts back. This year my insurance company decided they needed an extra $50 or so of my money. No new coverage, no claims, no reason as far as I was concerned. I was ready for them. For a year now I have been reorganizing my affairs so I could go with another insurance company and fit their under writing profile. They will provide more coverage for about $460 less a year and since I won't be paying that extra $50, I will be saving over $500 a year compared to just habitually writing checks to the same company and saying, "Oh well, everything is going up these days." $500 buys a lot of milk for the grandchildren. The rich still look for value for their money, because that thinking is what made them rich! We all depend on you and each other. Take the grated cheese for example, if you and the others pay more now, we will be paying more forever. I will be getting mine somewhere else. I actually feel like it is my duty as a responsible citizen. best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH
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It is now Offically 2017. That will take some getting used to. Whatever you were waiting for the New Year to do, you can do that now. Lose Weight, Make More Money, Start Working With A Life Coach, Quit Smoking, Relax More and Enjoy Life, Whatever.
But why do we wait? Why do we wait for a New Year, Monday Morning, Next Month, When School is out or The Spring, The Summer, The Fall or The Winter to do something? If we plan on doing something is it because we believe in some way it holds benefits for us. Why wait for benefits? We have a saying in the South, "I am FIXING to do that." We FIX to do things. It would be better for all of us if we just did the good things and left off the FIXING and WAITING part. This year be Pro-Active. Don't wait until you have to do something, do it now and enjoy the benefits. Why wait for a heartattack to quit smoking? Why wait until you need knee replacement to lose weight? Do it now, because now is the only time we really have. Best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH I am convinced that a great amount of success comes from realizing we have nothing to lose.
Ask someone for a date? They weren't going out with you to begin with. If they say no you are just where you started. Actually better off because you can mark them off your list and move on to someone or something that will work out for you. Apply for a job? You don't have it now. So what if they say no? We talk about rejection, but what really is rejection? It is usually when we take someone's choice in a practical matter and say to ourselves it is a choice that has to do with our person. In other words WE make it personal. Still for that to matter, we have to say it has to do with us and the person that is rejecting us is right. Even if we believe their choice whether to buy encyclopedias from us or magazine subscriptions or whatever is all about us, we have to believe they are right for it to affect us emotionally. So go for the things you want in 2017, but don't yet have. You can't be any worse off if you don't decide other people know your true value better than you do! best, Scott Hogue CChH If you have been hanging around for a while you know I am a Life Coach and not just any old Life Coach, but a Strategic Life Coach and a Certified Christian Hypnotist. So what does that mean? Today it means I can change your life with a sheet of paper.
Just about anyone can do this that can follow instructions and make a small commitment, but humans aren't that good at following through with things and especially after they are socially programed to move on to the next thing every five minutes. That is why we need coaches and hypnotists to get us to achieve our goals. Still, if you will do this exercise, you will be amazed by the positive change in your life. So here we go: 1. Get a sheet of paper and it is best if it has lines on it like a notebook sheet. 2. On the back of the page write down what you want to change in your life. Lose Weight, Quit Smoking, Make More Money, Change Careers, Buy a New Car, Have Better Relationships, whatever, don't hold back. If you pick a goal that doesn't mean much to you, then you won't have much motivation. Just don't pick a goal that you think right off is impossible. We tend to limit ourselves and what we can achieve based on our beliefs about us and our lives. 3. Look at your goal. Get familiar with it. Think about it. Now come up with the actions you would need to take to achieve it. These will fall into two areas: one, figure out what you have to do to achieve your goal and two, doing those things you now know you must do. 4. Turn the page over and right your goal in the form of a to do list item. Here is an example. Goal on back of page: Lose 20 pounds in three months or less and run a half marathon. So what would it take to do that? Eat fewer calories, eat healthier foods and get in some marathon training time, keeping records of your progress and actions so you can make adjustments as needed. Turn the page over and write across the top: TO DO LIST This to do list has only one item. Eat 78 fewer calories a day than I burn, make my meals and snacks natural and healthy, get some marathon training and practice every day. You could look at this as several things to do, but it works better if you just lump it all together as “my goal to do.” That way if you don't do it all in a day, it doesn't count. 5. Starting at the left of the page below this to do statement, number the left of four columns you will make from 1 to 15. 1. 2. 3. and so on. 6. Number the next column from 16 to 30, the next from 31 to 45 and the last from 46 to 60. In other words, divide the page into four columns and number them from 1 to 60 with fifteen numbers in each column. 7. Everyday you get up and look at the back of the page at your goal. You turn it over and look at your to do list. You do those things that day and check off the corresponding number. After sixty days of doing this you have a real habit and have made some dramatic changes. Just think how far you could walk if you just walked a few blocks a day for a year. It adds up. You can baby step your way to success. It is like the old joke where the doctor told grandma to walk a mile a day. We got a card from her last week and she is in Albuquerque. The picture was nice. Most people won't follow through on this. Most people have dropped their New Year's resolutions by January 15th. That is why I have a job and my phone keeps ringing. I have to pull out more tricks for a lot of my clients, but this one will work if you follow through. Best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious. Things tend to hide in plain sight. Don't you love it when you are struggling with something and someone just walks up and pushes a button or flips the thing over and makes it work?
Yesterday I told you the two things I had to do to make you wealthy, but what do you have to do? I said I have to teach you what to do and get you to do it. I also said the doing part is by far the hard part. I spend most of my time teaching people how to get themselves to do things. So it should be obvious that you have to learn what to do and then just do it. Just do it, I think I have heard that before somewhere. Have a just do it day! Scott Hogue CChH A short one today. What I have to do to make you wealthy.
It is only two things. That is right two or 2 or II or one more than one, two. 1. Teach you what to do to become wealthy. 2. Get you to do it. Believe me, the second one is a lot harder than the first one. That is why when I teach the three steps to wealth I start with the information and exercises on how to make and break habits, to set goals and follow through and to manage your subconscious mind. In the Three Steps to Wealth there are three steps: 1. Get the information. 2. Learn the information. 3. Apply the information. I have already gathered the information so that leaves only two things to do. Helps you deal with overwhelm when it is put this way, right? I mean, you can handle two. best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH Symptoms or Solutions?
As we near the ending of the year, we often think about the new year and what it will be like. New Year's resolutions are popular to make and easy to break. Most of us want a better New Year. Progress is pretty satisfying. We want progress, but what can we do beyond the common, but often unsuccessful New Year's resolutions to make next year a better year? Change your focus. Let's start with an example. We pretty much all understand the medical model for creating change in the world. To be fair about it, the medical model didn't used to be so bad. It could be pretty good in fact if the focus was back where it should be. You go to a doctor and complain of acid indigestion and an occasional tummy ache. The doctor may not even ask you what you eat and you go out with a prescription for an acid preventing stomach pill. I heard a comedian say that you eat things you shouldn't eat and the doctor gives you a pill so you can continue to eat the things you shouldn't eat, isn't that malpractice? No, it is modern Western medicine. The medical model is the medicine model. There is a pill for everything. The focus is often on the symptoms and not the solution. I have seen people save and cut back their spending all the way to bankruptcy. Their problem wasn't they were spending too much money, it was they didn't have enough coming in. They focused on the symptom instead of the problem. Suppose you have a rock in your shoe and it hurts your foot. Do you keep taking pain medicine or do something about the problem, that you have a rock in your shoe? You might say, “I don't have time to stop and take off my shoe, then my sock, then shake it out and make sure my shoe is empty, the put it all back on again. It is faster to take a pain pill. You might see the silliness in that example, but we all do things just as silly in real life. I have seen people that said marriage counseling is too expensive find out what expensive really is at divorce court. Make a list of your problems for the next year. What is bugging you? Where are you wasting time and effort? What things would make a difference in your life if you could really change them? Think about the big three areas and the fourth one that affects them all. Health Wealth Relationships And your spiritual life and outlook that lets you look at things with a long term view and a healthy perspective. Put the problems on paper. Now, how are you dealing with those problems? Are you working on the symptoms or the solution of those problems? The children here have come and gone and now the grandchildren are coming, seems like more every year. Grilled cheese sandwiches and kettle cooked carrots are big around here these days. Our kitchen was never really organized. We put two families together and she had a toaster and I had a toaster and we had all of these pots and pans that didn't match. Duplicates and mismatches. We got new cookware and the problem got worse. No where to put things and time wasted trying to find it. One day I made a rack for our new cookware to hang on the wall by the refrigerator. It is the sort of thing you have to make. I know you can buy racks, but to fit the spot and hold exactly what we wanted I had to make it. It took some of my spare time over a few days, but I got it done. I can't believe the difference. No more looking for pots and pans on your knees in the lower cupboard. No more dirty dishes sitting around because you are just so disorganized. It changed the whole kitchen process. A place for everything and everything in its place. I have got back the time I put in making the thing a hundred times. Finances, Relationships, Health, look at these areas and see where you need to spend some time and effort to save you some time and effort. No one has the time to exercise, but they have to take the time for the heart surgery or the insulin shots or the kidney dialysis. Why not spend a little time now and save the suffering? Work on the cause of the problems in your life and don't waste your time chasing symptoms. I want you to be a problem solver, instead of a problem manager. Best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH We hear a lot about networking and how important your friend-group is, here is an article I wrote on Relationships and Money some time ago. I think you will find it still applies.
Click below How To Make Money Through Relationships best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH Starting With HumorI thought I might make this more like a newsletter today with a few sections. Humor is good for us, helps us be healthy and happy. Here is some true humor. I was at a Christmas dinner last night and the lady that sat across from me said, "I told my daughter I wasn't getting any younger and she said, Don't worry mom, you can come live with me when you need help and a place to live, but you will have to wash dishes...." It turns out that getting her daughter to wash dishes was always a battle when she was growing up. One Of My Greatest ToolsOne of my greatest tools for helping people to make dramatic and positive changes in their lives is cause and effect. We live in a world where everything that happens is the result of the events leading up to it. Drop a brick on your foot and your foot hurts. The pain is the effect of the cause, which was dropping a brick on your foot. Please be more careful next time.
You are getting what you are getting because you are doing what you are doing and not doing the things you are not doing. In other words, what you do and fail to do matter. Take your weight. Actually, your health in general, but let's focus on your weight. Your weight is the result of what you have done concerning weight over the last year or two, certainly the last six months. Over eat and you are over weight. Eat less and you lose weight. Now let's back up another step in the process, we have results, then we backed up to actions, the next step back is thought. Your actions concerning your weight are the result of your thoughts about food and the things that affect your weight. You could correctly say that your weight is a print out of your thoughts about weight that you have had in the past. Think that cheesecake looks good, I will have a slice and that gives you one result. Think I need to lose weight, I really must lose weight, I will start skipping deserts and start eating smaller portions and that has a different affect. Where I come in is there is often a disconnect between goals and actions. We are not shown in life how to deal with our subconscious thinking. When our goals and subconscious thoughts are not in alignment it is a lot like a tug of war played out in our lives. Now take money and finances. Your checkbook is a print out of what you have been thiking about money over the last months and years. If you had different thoughts about money and finance, you would have had different results. The reason so many people repeat the same mistakes and have the same problems over and over again is we set goals with the conscious mind, but our habits and many of our actions come from the thoughts or programs in the subconscious mind. Learn to manage your subconscious mind and get it over to your conscious way of thinking and you can change not only your life, but the world. Get to know your subconscious mind. When you act in a way that is not in alignment with your goals, then ask yourself why? Get a book or two on the subject and even consider taking me up on a coaching trial. best and be blest, Scott Hogue CChH ATT did an update to many Android phones lately. If your text messages are coming in out of sequence or the correct order, then go to Settings, System, Date and time and make sure your Automatic date and time setting is on. It seems the update turned it off for a lot of people. I was holding my phone upside down trying to figure this one out.
This may not be strictly a money message but, You have to be able to get your messages while you are making your fortune. Merry Christmas, Scott Hogue CChH |
AuthorScott Hogue is a Strategic Life Coach, an Author and a Certified Christian Hypnotist. Archives
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