“Be a Company Man”
There are two problems with this lesson.  First, there are no company “men”.  Just as many women are pulling down a fair wage in today’s economy, and the occasional guy who spouts this lesson may also still think “women shouldn’t be in the workplace”.  The second issue I have with this is becoming more obvious in this current economy.  Companies try to take care of workers, but they can only do so much.  Be a family man.  Be a man of truth.  Be a funny man.  But don’t ever base your identity solely on the corporation who signs your checks.

“Always Pay with Cash”
This can be a terrible piece of advice that assumes we live in a one-size-fits-all world.  It is also nearly impossible to abide by.  If you use water, gas, or electricity that costs more per month than the deposit you put down when you opened your account, you are using credit.  Unless you waltz in with a wad of cash and tell your utilities manager that you would like to only use the amount you prepay every month, you are “charging” your bill for a short time.

Most should avoid credit until they have developed the ability to use it responsibly.  But let’s call a spade a spade, shall we?  This adage should never be given to your kids without a lengthy lesson on credit.  It would be better if it were changed to “pay with cash if you aren’t good for your word of paying back the things you buy with credit.”  You may also add in “credit rocks if you are good with your budget and like earning perks for the shopping you do anyway.”

“Don’t Spend it All in One Place”
This is one that many of us still hear.  The thought behind it is that if you “blow” all your money on one purchase, you won’t have it for other things.  But don’t we already know that?  Similar to the “play the field” advice for relationships, it can discourage kids from setting, planning for, and committing to a financial goal so that they can one day buy a large purchase that would otherwise be unattainable.  So yes, “spend it all in one place” – if that’s what it takes to make that mega purchase of a home, car, or college tuition.

“Time is Money”
Yikes! To some extent this is a true statement.  If I burn minutes and hours waiting for a doctor that is late for my appointment, and I’m missing time in the office earning a paycheck, then time is money.  If I’m spending a day off from work (unpaid even) to visit my sick aunt in the hospital or to witness my daughter’s first volleyball tournament, then this is very simplistic thinking.

I can always earn more money.  I can never get the precious moments of life back.  Be sure that when teaching this to your kids, you are qualifying the value of time in units other than cash.  You only get one life, and you can take none of your belongings with you when you die. (Both are traditional lessons that parents should be passing on to their kids!)

~ LINSEY KNERL ~

In the wake of the financial crisis, “Sesame Street” is teaching children financial literacy. Ron Lieber talks to Elmo about saving and sharing.

In 1984, Unitas and partners bought National Circuits for $3.5 million. The company foundered, and six years later they could only sell it for $1 million. Unitas declared bankruptcy in 1991 after he couldn’t pay back loans he took to purchase National.

“The No. 1 reason athletes lose money is they invest in areas they don’t really understand and not related to their expertise,” says Alan Lancz, a wealth manager who works with a number of professional athletes.

Björn Borg’s another good example. When he retired from tennis at the age of 27 in 1983, the Swede had won 11 Grand Slam championships. He tried to replicate his on-court success in the world of fashion with the Björn Borg Design Group; it didn’t work.

The company quickly ran into liquidity problems and shut down in 1989. Borg refused to take outside financing for fear of losing control of the company. Creditors later sued Borg, but he claimed he couldn’t pay because he was “more or less bankrupt.”

While failed business ventures often take a wrecking ball to an athlete’s net worth, they are hardly the only source of money woes. There’s also the expensive cars, the jewelry, the lavish parties, the mansions. The cost of the lifestyle adds up.

In a Prince & Associates survey of sports agents, 69.1% said their athlete clients live a luxurious lifestyle. The Rothstein Kass-sponsored survey also found only 26.4% of those athletes worried about paying for the lifestyle. More should be so concerned.

One estimate pegs Mike Tyson’s career earnings at $400 million. But the hard-punching heavyweight, who earned up to $30 million for some of his fights, declared bankruptcy in 2003. Documents from Tyson’s divorces said he spent $400,000 a month on care for his pet tigers, legal fees, limos and plenty more.

”He spent enormous amounts of money that were inappropriate at best,” a lawyer for Tyson’s ex-wife told The New York Times after the bankruptcy filing. ”Part of it can be attributed to a lack of willpower.”

Jack Clark was in the middle of a three-year $8.7 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in 1992. The power-hitting designated hitter was also filing for bankruptcy. In a filing, Clark revealed debts of $11.4 million. His assets only totaled $4.8 million.

“He had some expensive hobbies, and I think they got ahead of him,” Clark’s lawyer told a reporter. Clark’s bankruptcy filing revealed he owned 18 cars, one a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717,000. He still owed money on 17 of them.

Another potential financial pitfall for pro players: Their big paychecks make them a target. The agents in the Prince survey say they’ve seen 77.5% of their athletes exploited by friends and family. They’ve seen 71.9% exploited by advisers.

When NHL great Bobby Orr retired in 1978, one accountant estimated the defenseman owed more money than he had. A few years later, Orr accused his agent Alan Eagleson of mismanaging his finances. The former Boston Bruin sat in the courtroom when Eagleson pleaded guilty to schemes to defraud National Hockey League Players. Justice was served, but it didn’t bring the money back.

The highlights at Kids Marketplace included the Kids Entrepreneurship contest, Cashflow 101 for Kids Challenge, workshops by Yuber and a green bazaar.

A total of 39 teams comprising 78  youngsters participated in the Kids Entrepreneurship contest for the chance to win holiday packages, Yuber scholarships and the grand prize of an Asus Notebook.

Participants  who were grouped under the junior (aged 8-12) and senior (aged 13-18) categories competed for the Best Display, Most Creative and the Most Promising Young Entrepreneur Awards.

The Most Promising Young Entrepreneur, in particular, were judged based on creativity and leadership skills, as well as the ability to make the most profit from an undertaking.

The overall grand prize winner was chosen from among the various Most Promising Young Entrepreneur category winners at the end of the contest.

The one who showed the most creativity and were the most innovative in their products was picked the winner.

Siblings James and Janice Chai, aged 14 and 12, respectively, sold a variety of eco-friendly recycled handicrafts  to take home the grand prize of an Asus laptop  for being the co-winners of the Most Enterprising Young Entrepreneur  award for their  conservation efforts.

Their mother Ivy Khoo said:  “We are happy and excited to participate in this  event as it is a fun way for our children to put their living skills to practice.”

Schoolmates Dylan Tan, 10, and Mohamed Yasin Azeez, 11, sold handmade bookmarks and parachute men.

Cousins Elizabeth Mahendra, 8, and Marie Lim, 12, offered a variety of bright, beaded jewellery that they had made themselves.

Best friends Ashley Chow and Nicholas Oon, both 16, sold cards of humour, brightening the day with their cheery greetings.

Patrick Wee, managing director of Group MAD, which Yuber is a part of, said: “Our Yuber team is  thrilled to co-organise this event with HSC, as we believe that our youths need a safe and guided environment to develop their entrepreneurship skills and learn how to take calculated risks in life.

“We hope  this exercise allowed our young ones  to express their creativity and develop important life skills that will help them grow into well-rounded individuals.

“As a youth training provider, we at Yuber  aim to equip youths with soft and leadership skills.

“The curriculum of our youth camps and workshops,  are developed by youth training provider Seeds Training.

It has been designed to produce long-lasting and proven results that equip students with skills  for the increasingly competitive and ever-changing global environment,” said  Wee.

Another highlight was the Cashflow 101 for Kids Challenge that is based on Robert Kiyosaki’s educational board game.

The challenge is designed to teach investment concepts to children in a risk-free environment.

Altogether, 24 children between the ages of  9 and 12 participated in the challenge.

One of the youngest participants Chegne Eu Jinn, 9, was declared the winner.

He won an Asus laptop, a four day, three-night stay in Bali or Phuket, and a half-scholarship from Yuber to attend the upcoming Green Star learning workshop next month.

Creative workshops such as the Free Cap Make Over and Sneaker Facelift workshops were a big hit at the Kids Marketplace. The children were given a plain cap or sneaker that they could then draw and paint on, however they liked.

Illustrator and designer Kenzy Chew helped the children in creating their own masterpieces.

The free workshops kept the youngsters entertained as they drew and painted to their hearts’ content.

Children and their parents also participated in the Yuber Learning Fun Games facilitated by YUBER.

In the games they had the chance to take home some fun, educational prizes.

Women need to get smarter about their money says Nicole Pederson Mckinnon editor of Smart Investor Magazine.

Should couple share financial responsibility?

Like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates before them, these highly successful entrepreneurs either dropped out of college or never enrolled in the first place, once again raising questions about the value of a higher education.

“If you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer [and] go into a traditional profession, [college] makes a lot of sense,” Ellsberg says. “But for people who have no idea…$50,000 a year is an expensive way to figure out what you want to do with your life.”

In the accompanying video below, the author and Forbes blogger discusses the common traits and the 7 Core Success Skills he gleaned from these titans of industry:

• Learn How to Sell
• Learn Marketing
• The “Right” Way to Network with Big Wigs
• Define Your Vision
• Invest in Yourself
• Build the Brand of “You”
• Take an Entrepreneurial Mindset

“These are the real world skills we don’t learn in college,” Ellsberg says, stressing, as the subtitle of his book indicates, “it’s not too late” to learn these lessons, even if you did go to college.

But the reality is, there are many people, including highly educated ones, who work hard for money and yet plunge deep into debt with every dollar earned.

Some take the short cut by placing bets on the lottery. While millionaires have been made overnight, they can become bankrupt just as quickly if they lose all of their winnings to extravagant lifestyles and frivolous spending.

Even today, the downward spiral of the real estate markets has completely shattered the dreams of ordinary people hoping to create wealth. It is worse for those who have been driven out of their dream homes and into the “poor house” as a result of property foreclosure.

Luxury cars, too, have become liabilities as fuel prices increase drastically and people are more concerned about survival than seeing their dreams come true.

It is your knowledge about money that makes your dreams come true

While the recent news over the mis-selling of investment products highlights the importance of financial literacy, it was my personal experience with gold that taught me to take financial education seriously.

Gold was my first real investment as a young adult. I invested in gold before I began my foray into real estate. In 1972, at the age of twenty-five, I bought gold coins when the price of the commodity was approximately $70 an ounce. By 1980, gold was valued at $800 an ounce.

My caution gave way to temptation when rousing speculations about a gold rush spread like wildfire. Gold prices were expected to skyrocket to about $2,500 an ounce! That sparked a buying frenzy among investors, who bought piles of gold, even though they had never done so before.

Instead of selling my gold coins to make an instant profit, I waited, like everyone else, hoping their value would go up. That proved to be an unwise decision. About a year later, prices plunged below $500 an ounce and I had no choice but to sell my last coin. The situation never improved and the value of gold finally bottomed out at $250 an ounce in 1999. In retrospect, many who speculated in gold when it was valued at $800 an ounce, lost huge amounts of money.

Although I was unable to take advantage of the high price of gold, that experience taught me priceless lessons about investing. I realised it wasn’t gold that was going to make me rich. It was the knowledge concerning that asset that ultimately determined if a person became rich or poor.

Having the best golf equipment does not make you the next Jack Nicklaus.

A friend of mine is crazy about golf.

He spends thousands of dollars a year on the latest high-tech golf clubs and nearly every new gadget that arrives on the market. Despite being a fervent fan of the sport, he has never invested a single cent to improve his game. Not surprisingly, my friend’s golf performance remains the same today, although he owns some of the best equipment money can buy. Had he invested some money to upgrade his skills, he would certainly have risen from average to great.

In fact, that same crazy phenomenon occurs in the game of money. Billions of people have thrown their hard-earned savings into assets such as stocks and real estate, but few have ever invested in information that would help to improve their financial knowledge.

A powerful lesson to take home

Many believe that “only the rich become richer”, but that is not true.

Always remember this: it is not gold, real estate, stocks, mutual funds, businesses, or money that make you rich. It is what you KNOW – your financial IQ – about gold, real estate, stocks, hard work, and so on, that will make you rich!

But how about money-life balance? According to J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. and the nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Action, a reasonable money-life balance considers the positive emotional benefits that go along with behaving responsibly with money.

In other words, you achieve money-life balance if you’re not racking up massive credit card bills during late-night online shopping binges on Zappos.com (ahem).

In a newly released survey conducted by Chase and Consumer Action, only one-third of 1,016 adults said they had money-life balance.

The Key to Good Balance

Financial planners point to budgeting as the starting point for achieving money-life balance. Besides the obvious tracking of income and expenses, having a budget means you don’t have to spend precious mental energy thinking about whether a purchase is affordable or not.

“Willpower is a strenuous way of controlling your actions …. routines can conserve energy,” psychologist and Willpower author Roy Baumeister told DailyFinance in a video interview earlier this fall. “Set your life up so you don’t have problems in advance.”
Finding the right financial planning method for you is like buying shoes: You have to try on a lot of pairs before you find the right fit. It can be as simple as keeping a spreadsheet on your home computer or using a spreadsheet template from the Google personal finance library.

Another popular way to put the brakes on overspending and excessive borrowing is by using a prepaid debit card. Loading a card with a fixed amount — like $1,000 for the month — is an easy way to manage costs and keeping funds you intend to spend separate from the money you have earmarked for saving.

There are also a number of online budgeting apps, such as Mint.com and SmartyPig.com, that can create neat visual graphics of how much you are spending on extras such as restaurants, versus necessities like student loans, as well as helping you set savings goals.

Do you have balance in your financial life?

Their mother contributes $800 a month in child support, but he bears the bulk of the costs for the kids’ day-to-day care.

As primary provider, “I never want to live paycheck to paycheck,” says Ramos. So he’s become a super-saver, stashing away 18% of his $100,000 income each year.

“He’s saving more than most people in his situation,” says Plantation, Fla., financial planner Benjamin Tobias.

On the other hand, he’s barely treading water on his home as a result of his tapping equity for an investment that hasn’t gone as planned; he’s way underinsured; and despite his power-saving, he’s shortchanging his kids’ college funds.

Earlier this year Verizon bought the IT company where he is an engineering manager, landing $78,000 in bonuses and exercised stock options in Ramos’s pocket.

“Right now most of the money is sitting in savings, barely doing anything,” he says.

Tobias suggests how this single dad can deploy the dough to fill the holes in his financial plan.

The solution

1. Get back above water.

Ramos has $78,000 left on a 6%, 30-year fixed mortgage and $93,000 on a variable-rate home-equity line of credit, now at 3.25%; his home is worth about $170,000.

Tobias advises Ramos to use his bonanza to pay off the first mortgage; then he should refinance the variable HELOC into a fixed-rate loan. That will free cash flow and protect him from losing his home were he to lose his job.

2. Get protected.

The $150,000 Ramos has in life insurance isn’t enough, says Tobias: “$500,000 is the minimum for him; $1 million would be nice.”

The latter benefit on a 20-year term policy should run Ramos only about $45 a month, according to Accuquote.

He should also buy long-term disability coverage to provide income if an illness keeps him from working.

3. Plan for tuition.

Ramos is currently saving $100 per kid per month for college. He isn’t sure how much his ex plans to contribute. But in any case, if he wants to cover half the cost at the average public university, he should be setting aside $330 a month for his daughter, $280 for his son.

Reducing house payments will help make room for those savings and insurance premiums.

Step 1: Take Note of What You Watch and See What’s Available.

Before you buy or cut anything, figure out what channels and programs are important to you. Then see where else you can get them. There are a lot of options:

Broadcast. You can still snatch many stations out of the air with an antenna. But before you go buy one, use AntennaWeb to get an idea of the channels available at your address and the best place to put an antenna. Thanks to the switch to all-digital in 2009, there won’t be any fuzzy pictures or static — you either get a channel or you don’t. And if you do, it might even be in HD. If that’s the case, your TV needs an “HDTV tuner” to take advantage of the HD signal. Many but not all newer TVs have them built-in. Check your manual.

Program sites. Some shows host episodes on their own websites — for example, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. If the program doesn’t have its own site, check the network’s. ABC posts episodes of many of its popular programs, including Desperate Housewives and Dancing With the Stars. You’ll still face advertisements no matter what, but at least you aren’t spending money to watch ads.

Video services. Sites like Hulu and Netflix carry a wide variety of current and past programs. Some shows on Hulu are free to watch from your computer, while newer shows and streaming to your TV will require an $8/month “Hulu Plus” subscription. Netflix has a streaming subscription rate of $8/month too. (You can also get DVDs mailed to you for an additional fee, but Netflix recently killed the popular combo rate of $10/month for both services when it separated the DVD side into Qwikster.) If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber for the shipping benefits, maybe you didn’t realize you already have access to a large library of movies and TV shows too, at no extra cost.

Sports. If you get internet from one of these companies, you get ESPN3 for free. This broadband network doesn’t stream everything, but does offer “thousands of live games and events” every year including college sports and major tournaments, with real-time stats and scoreboards. There’s also subscriptions like MLB.tv, but you might be better off at the local sports bar — membership for a season runs about $80.

Step 2: Get the Hook-Up.

If you want to watch shows on your big-screen TV instead of your 14-inch laptop, you’ll need some equipment — but it’s cheaper than a couple of months of cable, and not hard to set up.

If you have a gamer in the family, you may not need to buy anything else: A PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or Wii has streaming capabilities for services like Hulu and Netflix. An Xbox 360 requires a Live Gold subscription ($8 to $10/month), while PlayStation and Wii charge no extra fees.

If you don’t have a current gaming console, you can buy a Roku ($60 to $90) or a Boxee Box ($180), neither of which charges monthly fees.

There are other ways to connect a PC or laptop to a TV, but they require a little more technical know-how and won’t duplicate your experience with cable (no remote or channel listings, for instance). There’s a wide variety of plug-ins on different models of TVs and computers, so you’ll have to figure out which ones to use.

Step 3: Check and Cancel.

Make sure you’ve got everything set up to your liking before you call the cable company. Inevitably, there will be some shows you can’t instantly get this way, but you have to ask yourself: Are they worth the monthly cable rate? Or: Can the savings from cutting cable more than pay to fill in the blanks?

You can usually get episodes of shows from premium movie channels like HBO a couple of days after they air for a buck or two each on Amazon and iTunes. But you can save a lot more by waiting for the season to come out on DVD or Blu-ray, when you can probably stream it on Netflix (on that $8/month subscription you’re already paying) or buy the discs. Everything else you can hopefully live without.

Look at the math: That nearly $1,000/year figure for cable we started with breaks down to about $80 per month. Invest in one of the consoles or devices mentioned above and you’re out between $60 and $200, which pays for itself in less than three months, tops. Add on a streaming subscription fee for Netflix at $8/month and your new setup is costing 10 percent of what it did, and still getting you pretty much everything you care about — even if you toss in $30 for a show season on DVD here and there.