From Dave Ramsey: There is a proven statistical correlation between the quality of your marriage, and the probability of your building wealth.
Archive for the ‘Personal Finance’ Category
Marriage and Money
Monday, August 23rd, 2010Deadbeats
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
After surveying thousands of self-made millionaires, Dr. Tom Stanley reported in The Millionaire Next Door that the #1 most consistent trait is integrity, and I can personally attest to that. The times in life when I was not winning with money were the times when I was lacking in integrity in some way or another. But the times that I have been winning with money have always been the times when integrity was a critical personal value to me.
Nothing says more about people’s integrity than keeping commitments, and today I heard something on the news that really disgusted me. Out of all the Americans who pledged money to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake, only 10% have paid up. This might help explain why 90% of Americans are perpetually broke.
Integrity matters.
Aftermath of the Nashville Flood – Friday 6/18/10 – “Another Standstill”
Friday, June 18th, 2010
I didn’t realize it until today, but it’s now been three weeks since we got out building permit. Still, no reconstruction has happened. If you see any smoke coming from Nashville today, it’s because The Glennster is going to be lighting fires under people’s feet until we find the monkey wrench in the cogwheels.
AFTERMATH OF THE NASHVILLE FLOOD – Wednesday, 5/26/10: “Shattered Dreams”
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
I waited a while to post this, because it doesn’t even rate on the scale of what so many people are going through. But since this is my personal blog, and I hope to look back and laugh about this one, day, I had to post this picture.
It’s the SOLD sign that was in the front yard of our dream home, but the flood washed it up into the shrubs. Since the flood hit 5 days before we were set to close, and the existing owner doesn’t have the money to repair it, it will sit vacant and go into foreclosure. Though it was never ours, we had already switched the lights, gas, water and garbage pickup over to our name, so it feels strange.
Opportunity Only Knocks Once
Thursday, April 29th, 2010Here’s a great example of why Suze Orman was right when she said money likes speed (i.e. “You snooze, you loose”). I just received this message from Mr. Z, the most successful and dynamic speaker I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. He’s bigger than life, but humbly ends each phone call with “My friend, know that your are loved and appreciated”.
“I am thinking about starting a personal group of as many as 20 people. It would be called my Brain Trust. The vision is this group will meet quarterly and communicate regularly tuning up each others businesses. I am hand-picking the invitees with complimentary skills and business models, NOT competitors. Not finalized, still in the chrysalis stages. Interested? “
Now while it sounds great to be invited to hang out with some of the most powerful and influential people in my industry, it will likely require me to travel out of state four times a year for the meetings, and I have been limiting my travel lately. So how long did I think about this? Not for second. You’re known by - and shaped by – the company that you keep. Here’s how I responded:
Yes, Yes, Yes!
It would be an honor and privilege to be involved in anything that you’re spearheading. Ironically, anyone who wouldn’t jump at a chance to be involved in something like this would be proving why they aren’t worthy of being included to begin with.
BTW, each year I coach a group of people in the speaking business to help them master a specific area of our industry (something you got me into to doing when you came to Nashville three years ago). This year, it’s online business, Google Adwords, and continuity programs. One of the members of that group is the president of a speaker’s bureau, who’s booked guys like Mark Victor Hansen, Marcus Buckingham, Magic Johnson. etc., and is a straight shooter (unlike many of the people in our business).
If you’re interested in having someone from a speaker’s bureau in the group, let me know and I’ll forward his info as well.
Gratefully,
Glenn Shepard
Your Friend and Biggest Fan in Tennessee
And in Mr. Z’s classic fashion of making everyone who looks up to him feel like an equal, his response was:
… and I’m the number one fan of the man from Tennessee.
Thank You Wisconsin!
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
- CheesecakeHeaven.com
A very special thanks to the folks in the great state of Wisconsin. Today was our fourth consecutive sellout seminar in Sheboygan, with organizations from The Salvation Army to The United Way to Starbucks to Sargento Cheese to my personal favorite - Cheesecake Heaven -attending, and many of them driving all the way from Green Bay.
We appreciate each and every one of you.
A Dubious Honor
Friday, March 12th, 2010Transunion says my home state of Tennessee is now #1 in bankruptcies. Not surprisingly, we’re #2 in credit card debt. I wonder how many of those folks spent a dime on education or improving their job skills last year. L
Be Careful when Ordering a “Free” Credit Report
Sunday, March 7th, 2010A lot of people are getting confused by the commercial with the annoying jingle for FreeCreditReport.com. But oddly enough, that website is not where you go to get a free credit report. It’s owned by Experian, the credit-reporting agency, which is actually trying to sell you information. The correct website for a truly Free credit report, which you’re entitled to by federal law, is www.AnnualCreditReport.com, not www.FreeCreditReport.com
My New Favorite Money Quote
Friday, March 5th, 2010From Dave Ramsey – “If you don’t understand the importance of giving, you’ll never have financial peace.”
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Monday, March 1st, 2010Last night I talked to my friend Dennis Burton, a screenwriter who moved from Nashville to California a few years ago. Last week, he and his wife Diane drove from their home in the L.A. suburb of Sierra Madre to the Beverly Hills Country Club, to hear the director of The Blind Side (a truly awesome movie) speak about how he battled back from a bust that almost ended his career (The Alamo) to becoming a Hollywood hot commodity.
Dennis said something I find interesting. Unlike in Nashville where there are upscale neighborhoods, and neighborhoods where everything is nasty, there are almost slums just a stone’s throw away from the Beverly Hills CC. Guess that explains why those 700 square foot, one-bedroom houses we see on HGTV sell for $700,000. Which is yet another reason I’m glad to live in the South. 