Loral Langemeier claims that she can turn anyone into a millionaire. In her recent book The Millionaire Maker, she writes:

You can give me someone who's severely in debt, you can give me a single mom on a low income, you can even give me a guy who's living a big lifestyle on fumes. I can take all of them and make them millionaires.

The Millionaire Maker attempts to codify Langemeier's "proprietary Wealth Cycle Process". (That's how she writes it — with capital letters. Langemeier is big on capitalized jargon, tossing around terms like Financial Baseline, Gap Analysis, Freedom Day, Cash Machine, Wealth Accounts, Forecasting, Wealth Account Priority Payment.) Continue reading...

This is the first of a planned series in which I interview friends and family about their attitudes toward money. Most of these will be anonymized (and much shorter). Some will not. This first interview is with Scott Durbin, a member of Imagination Movers, a rock band for kids. This band is an entrepreneurial venture that required a huge leap of faith.

Scott, what made you and the other Movers decide to form a band? And why a band for kids?

Once you get into your 30s, you begin to feel opportunities to be creative evaporating. This time in our lives is often devoted to starting families, working for the company, paying bills to stay above the proverbial water, or working on our various relationships (wife-husband, boyfriend-girlfriend, other). I could get philosophical about the conflict and guilt of doing something seemingly self-indulgent versus being a good father/husband/worker, but let's save that for another day. Luckily I have an amazing wife!

Several forces led to the founding of the Imagination Movers.

My father was an entrepreneur. He was always starting businesses. Most failed. Some succeeded in a wild fashion. (The inheritance he left the family is in the form of his most successful business, the source of my day job.)

It's no surprise that as a child, I wanted to make money too.

I made my first business venture when I was in the second grade. I sold lemonade by the side of the road. It was miserable failure. I was trying to sell lemonade in March, on an infrequently-traveled stretch of country road, in rural Oregon. I didn't sell any lemonade.

During my twenties, I accumulated nearly $25,000 in consumer debt. I had a spending problem. With time, I was able to get my spending under control (mostly), but I still owned overwhelming debt. How could I get rid of it?

The personal finance books all suggested the same approach:

1. Order your debts from highest interest rate to lowest interest rate.
2. Designate a certain amount of money to pay toward debts each month.
3. Pay the minimum payment on all debts except the one with the highest interest rate.
4. Throw every other penny at the debt with the highest interest rate.
5. When that debt is gone, do not alter the monthly amount used to pay debts, but throw all you can at the debt with the next-highest interest rate.

This made perfect sense. By doing this, I would be paying the minimum amount in interest over the long term. The trouble was, my highest-interest rate debt was also my debt with the biggest balance (a fully-maxed $12,000 credit card at 19.8% interest). I'd plug away at this debt for several months at a time, but then give up because it felt like I was never getting anywhere.

I struggled with debt for years. I couldn't get a handle on where my money went. I made a decent wage, but I was always broke! Where did I spend it all? Then I read Your Money or Your Life and heeded the book's advice to "keep track of every cent that comes into or goes out of your life". The results were startling.

What does it mean to keep track of every penny you earn? Your Money or Your Life recommends that you keep a Daily Money Log. This log can take any form.

• a pocket-sized memo book
• an index card (or the hipster PDA)
• an actual PDA
• an appointment book
• a computer text file
• a checkbook register
• personal finance software
• a spreadsheet

The most important thing is to use the log. Every time you get money -- whether it's from a paycheck or a garage sale or picking up change from the ground -- write it down. Every time you spend money — whether it's paying bills or buying coffee or paying bus fare — write it down. Keep track of every penny that enters or leaves your life.

I am not a financial expert. I'm just an average guy who wants to improve his personal finances while helping others to improve theirs. I feel comfortable giving general advice, but sometimes people write with specific questions that can only be answered by a qualified financial professional. Some questions are best answered by a lawyer, an accountant, or a financial planner.

What do I mean by that? How does one find professional help?

To find an answer, I polled three CPAs: my own accountant, my wife's aunt Jenefer, and fellow blogger Brian Brown. The all said the same thing: The best way to find an accountant is by referrals. Don't pick someone blindly from a search engine or via the phonebook. Ask your family and friends for recommendations.

The No Limits Ladies have posted an article on how to flip cars — how to buy used cars for cheap and sell them again for a profit.

I find used vehicles for sale, often times through Cars.com, and I price them using KBB.com. When I find one that I know is in more demand, with a motivated seller at or below private party pricing, I go look at it and sometimes buy it. Then I drive it for a while for free, and sell it when I'm ready, for more than I bought it for. Then I roll that money into the next vehicle, or sometimes keep a bit for myself.

According to the article, the steps to flipping a car are: Continue reading...

I'm sometimes asked, "Which do you think is more important: saving money or making money?" They're both important, equal factors in the wealth equation:

[WEALTH] = [WHAT YOU EARN] - [WHAT YOU SPEND]

Which is most important to you depends on your current financial situation.

I am a huge fan of simple living and of the do-it-yourself ethic. It's no surprise then that I am fascinated by homesteading, the lifestyle of "agrarian self-sufficiency". This article was written for Get Rich Slowly by Phelan, host of A Homesteading Neophyte, a blog about learning to homestead. Phelan is a regular commenter to this site.

Modern homesteading is a great way to save some of your hard-earned cash. That is if you are not afraid of a little hard work and waking before the rooster. The fast-paced convenient world of today can and will lead you down the path to debt. Four years ago I found myself in a terrible situation: How does one go about feeding a family of four on one hundred dollars for two weeks? Did we have enough money to buy gasoline just to get to work? It was scary not knowing where my family was going. Yet when I planted my first tomato, a thought sprouted in my mind.

My first homesteading goals were just to preserve my garden for the winter, insuring that there was always something to eat. But as my garden grew, so did my ideas.

Your job is one of your most important assets. It gives you earning power. It can bring you personal fulfillment. But what happens when you're stuck in a job you hate? Here's the true story of the worst job I ever had.

Unlimited Income Potential

I made some poor choices at the end of my college career; as a result, I graduated without a prospect for work. No matter -- I lived off my credit cards for a few months, basking in the glow of adulthood. Eventually I realized that I needed to find a job.

My father, a life-long salesman, and always a sucker for other salesmen, set me up to meet with an insurance guy who had tried to sell him a policy. We met in a Denny's on the far side of Portland early on a Saturday morning. The guy gave me long, slick pitch, touting the job's "unlimited income potential". He needn't have bothered. I needed work and was dumb enough to think that this was a perfect. I signed up.