Financial

1. Financial Stability – Middle of the Road

Maintaining a middle class to upper class status is important in the journey to a blissful life. The middle and upper classes have opportunities to avoid issues that otherwise arise in lower class households.

Income

Having a little more money then what you need to live a comfortable simple life is as essential as knowing whether you are living inside or outside of your financial means.

Savings and Investments

Financial stability is not obtainable unless you have a respectable amount of savings and investments. On average experts suggest saving 10% or more of your income for retirement while still having a comfortable amount in savings for emergencies and unforeseen costs that may arise.

College Education

Over the course of a lifetime, a graduate of a two-years college earn about $275,000 more than someone with only a high school diploma. The greater earning potential you have the greater likelihood you will be able to own, save and invest.

Assets

Financial security is vastly influenced by the reserves you set aside for hard times. While this is more of an addition to the criterion for middle class status, it does help financial stabilize your life.

Limited Debt

The increase of credit card debt in the US is growing at alarming rates. As long as you are in severe to mild debt, financial freedom is at a distance.

Health Insurance

Unexpected injuries or illnesses can destroy your family’s financial future. These sudden medical bills are a growing reason for the unprecedented levels of credit card debt in the US.

Pitfalls of Lower

The above requirements for financial stability are far less likely to be obtained by those in the lower income class range, but are not entirely out of reach. Those with lower class income simple need to work smarter and structure their earning and needs more efficiently.

2. Health and Wellbeing

Your health and the health of your loved ones have an enormous impact in your life. Whether the health problems are mental health related or physical, such hindrances in the quality of your life can decimate your chances at finding a true state of bliss.

See Your Physician

The average healthy American should regularly see a doctor to screen for diseases, assess risks of future medical problems, encourage a healthy lifestyle, update vaccinations and maintain a relationship with a doctor in the event of an illness.

Prevention

Men should perform a monthly testicular self-exam and women should perform a monthly breast exam. Women should also have a yearly pelvic exam and Pap smear to check for cervical cancer and other disorders.

Mental Illness

Even if you suffer from the slightest form of depression, you need to take action and take control of your life by treating your mind. Whether you choose psychological counseling, group therapy or psychiatric treatment for you mental illness this treatment is very important in creating a blissful future for yourself. You can not admit stability in your life unless there is stability in your mind.

Physical Illness

While not all physical illnesses are treatable, many illnesses are very treatable. If you experience any abnormalities with your health, seek a physician immediately. Whether you find a lump during your monthly exam, have a sharp pain in your chest or have a significant decrease in appetite, any and all sudden changes in your health and body should be assumed as a possible health risk factor.

3. A Career to Live for

Some surveys reveal that nearly ninety percent of Americans hate their jobs. Since the average person works eight hours a day, this equates to one-third of these Americans lives spent in misery. Having a career you love, are passionate about and that inspires you is crucial in having a blissful life. Are there ways to make your job less stressful by taking the initiative to problem solve issues in your department that could result in a more organized and balanced atmosphere? Can you talk other employees into standing up for your solutions to fortify your argument for change? If you can not change where you work, perhaps you can change how you work. Companies thrive on efficiency; if you can provide solutions to increase efficiency you could enable change in your working atmosphere. Great lives are sustained by great ideas.

Career Income Limitations

If you have found yourself in a career that just doesn’t pay enough there are solutions out there to still allow you a change at a blissful life. If you make under $40,000 as a single person and your job does not offer good benefits, perhaps it is time to start shopping for a better deal. Even if you will earn the same amount per year with another company, but that company has far better benefits then you currently receive, then you are coming out ahead. Company benefit packages vary company to company. Compare you current company benefits with that of its competitors.

The Right Reasons

Some choose a profession because a parent was successful in that field. Some choose a profession because of the expected earnings associated with that field. These are the most common reasons young people base their career choice on, and these reasons will almost always result in a occupation they will loath later in life. The career necessity in creating a blissful life can be obtained by choosing a career which you can see yourself making a difference. Whether this difference is through helping others improve their lives or helping a company extend their reach to the consumer, having and endless stream of obtainable goals, a genuine passion and a strong sense of purpose are the qualities that make a career life-sustaining.

4. Avocation

Whether you engage in recreational activities or hobbies alone or with your children, pets, significant other, friends or family, activities you enjoy external to your work are essential for a blissful life. While avocations can be related to your career, it is best to choose side-projects not associated with your work as this can lead to your hobbies feeling like more of a chore then a choice.

5. Love – Sweet and Simple

Bliss and love go hand in hand, but it is not one form of love you need to seek and obtain in life to be blissful, but rather several. Bliss is not a feeling that is obtainable alone; though contentment is a possibility for those who are not blessed with a wide rang of love. While conditional love is acceptable for a blissful life, unconditional love is more majestic and will bring along with it a stronger sense of stability and completion.

Significant Other

A significant other can be a spouse or an individual in which you are in a committed and loving relationship. For those who are married, marriage is complex and demands a great deal of care and maintenance. For a successful marriage you both need to be aware of each others needs and the importance of those needs. Just because certain needs are not important to you, does not mean they are not substantially important to your spouse. To find mutually acceptable solutions first you have to know what problems are being experienced and the root of those problems. Spending time is essential to every marriage. With out spending a good amount of time with your spouse you can not sufficiently meet their emotional needs or have regular open and honest conversations.

Non-marital committed relationships function nearly identical to marriages. You both need to meet each others emotional needs, regularly have open and honest communications, protect each others feeling and spend quality time together.

Children

Children are a blessing and evoke a form of love that has no rival. To have a little being that unconditionally loves you, cherishes you, depends on you and turns to you for protection and guidance creates a sense of purp
ose that warms your heart for a lifetime. If you do not currently have a loving relationship with your children due to past events and disputes, reslving these disputes should be a priority in your life.

Pets

If your children are your world, a family pet may not be a necessity for a blissful life. If you grew up with pets or have a strong connection with animals there may always be a void in your heart, even after you have children, for a little friend who will always need your care. In the case of those who have a profound connection with their pets, who see their pets as though they are their children, there may be no necessity for children during the lifespan of the pet.

Family

Having a loving relationship with your family is very important for a blissful life especially with parents. Regardless of your history with your parents, a bond was formed that can never be broken. Because of this bond, if you are not close to your parents or are not on good terms, there will always be a void within your being demanding fulfillment. Siblings are also very important when it comes to your requirement for love. Sibling rivalry is common amongst almost all households, but as you grow older and wiser, these are the times to forgive childish actions and get to know each other for the people you are today.

Friends

It goes with out saying that our friends are our emotional foundation throughout our lives. Without our friends we could never truly know ourselves. An individual should have at least one best friend and several very good friends who all reflect your interests in some form or another.

Self

To love thyself, is to look into the mirror, look into your mind and look into your soul and know you are the best “you” that you can be. You should never expect someone to love you if you do not love yourself. While looking at yourself you will see aspects about yourself you may not like, and some of these you can not change. Take comfort in the things you can not change for they are your identity. These unchangeable aspects are your history, they tell your story, good or bad.

6. Faith

Faith can mean many things to many people. No matter what you have faith in, God, karma, destiny, universal law, science and so forth, faith is vital in achieving the requirements listed throughout this article. With out faith in something, or at least faith in you, such goals are unobtainable. Faith if the foundation of life, it is what you know, what you believe and what you have considered.

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As we all know, a company’s receivables count for approximately 40-50% of their actual assets. With the economy in chaos we need to revise the rules of the game. Or at least start the game over and play by the rules! Face it friends, businesses are sinking, and if you wish to stay afloat, you must safeguard your “life jacket”. In this day, age, and market, our life jackets ARE our receivables. Let’s talk about how this differs from previous years though. It USED to be that we needed to ensure that potential clients that we bring in and extend credit to were financially “healthy”. We would insist that we had credit applications, personal guarantee’s signed, received business credit analysis reports on ALL new clients BEFORE extending credit terms to them. We would set terms and conditions and didn’t look back UNTIL there was a red flag signal. Today we still must ensure that we do all of this pre emptive research before we extend credit terms and conditions to possible new clients HOWEVER we also must make sure that our clients ( even long term customers) receive their daily financial checkups!

For instance, when a baby is first born, they are checked out thoroughly by the Doctor before they leave the hospital. Once they receive a clean bill of health, they are sent home to begin their new life with their family. Yet there are many checkups along the way. Several the first year and then as the child grows, although they are seen less, they still receive annual physicals. We should treat our clients with the same care. In the beginning of a new relationship, after credit is extended, we should monitor their habits closely in the beginning but we should also ensure that we “check up” on our clients as the relationship matures. In my business, you constantly receive calls from clients that say, “They have been our clients for 15 years…they started getting behind I simply blamed the economy, I never would have thought they would buy from me in November and file Chapter 11 in December”. I have heard that constantly this month. So HOW can we ensure that our receivables are “healthy”?

First ensure that your Front Line work is Clear and Complete ….

• Have EVERY new potential client complete and sign credit applications. These credit applications should not only give you the necessary information to “check” their financial health but it should also outline your credit terms and conditions in detail. Add a clause that states if accounts are past due by 30/45 (your preference) days there will be an interest charge. Explain that the client will be held responsible for any and all legal or collection fees if the debt exceeds credit terms. Make sure that you secure your rights in the very beginning, because once terms are giving, it is hard to change them (or get an additional signature down the road).Also, in the credit application process, ask identifying questions, such as how much product do you expect to purchase on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis? Do you expect your purchases to grow as time passes? Give them additional space to explain their answers. This allows you to also see what the client will expect of you along the way. It can also be used when determining credit terms. We will address this shortly.

• Although it used to be extremely difficult to have new clients sign personal guarantees, most understand this request in our “rocky” economy. I have suggested to many clients to simply add the PG statement at the bottom of the credit application. This seems to work best then giving a separate form for the potential client to complete.

• Of course having a client complete a credit application is only ¼ of the work. YOU MUST FOLLOW THROUGH! Make sure that every single reference is called. KNOW what questions to ask! Then take the extra steps. If you do not have access to credit business reports, you can still check online with the secretary of state in their licensing state to ensure they are active and check for any recent judgments or liens. Google them. Take those few extra steps to give your receivables “peace of mind”.

Now we need to work on slowly “training” our clients moving forward…..

• Once you establish their financial health…take things slow. Allow your client to earn your trust through a quarterly reviewed credit line. This will give them something to work toward and protect you along the way. You would be surprised how many of my clients simply extended new clients a full credit line of up to $100,000.00, the new client placed two orders, never paid and disappeared. In these cases, we implemented a new process. This may work for some, and not others, if you have particular challenges, call me and we can discuss at no cost!!! The process they began (and has been working quite well) begins with the credit application process, where they asked those predictive purchasing questions. They utilized this information and offered 50% credit terms (based on average predicted order cost) for the first 6 months. This means the client would pay 50% upfront COD and were extended the remaining 50% on credit with either net 15 or net 30 terms. Additional orders are not accepted until the balance is paid in full for the first 6 months. Then at the end of their 6 month term, there is a review. Were payments made on time? Were orders consistent? Were there any invalid dispute claims? Take all of this information into consideration before moving forward with a 75% credit line the second half of the year. And the process continues and is revisited upon their one year anniversary. This process has worked well for many clients in not only safe guarding their receivables but earning the respect and trust of their clients. It also gives you time to “get to know” your clients. If they order 100 crates for 9 months and suddenly order 1000 crates…..that is a red flag. If the first six months they pay by net 30 and suddenly they are late the following two months, this may be a red flag. Taking the time to learn your clients’ habits is important because the slightest change, in this economy, could be trouble.

• Last but certainly not least, just as a child needs structure and boundaries to mature and thrive, so do clients! When boundaries are set and then broken, there must be consequences. Although there is the occasional exception to the rule (if client has a valid dispute, if they request payment arrangements ONCE and follow through, if there was an error on your part) but the occasional exception should not be the norm. If your clients know that at 35 days past due there will be a hold placed on their credit, at 55 days there will be a final demand notice offering them a “last payment option” to avoid collections, and as 65 days they will be sitting in the collectors office (so to speak) they will ensure that YOU are their priority! If your clients know what to expect (as you should outline in the beginning as a part of your credit application), then you will only earn their respect through the process. If your clients see that you waiver many of your policies, they will utilize you as a second bank. This is not healthy for either of you. So you must have a WRITTEN Receivables POLICY in place and ensure that everyone involved with your company follows this structure. Keep in mind that your sales department should also be aware of these guidelines, and not make false promises or speak of your policy as if “anything really goes”. If everyone in your organization is united regarding receivables, it will only strengthen your company’s bottom line as a whole!

So the rules may not be changing, as much as we have to adapt to actually live by them. These are all basic Accounting 101 procedures, however for so long we have been complacent and so concerned about our clients that we have lost sight of our own bottom lines. We must restructure, reinvent, and reinforce our A/R process if we wish to survive and thrive in the years to come.

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Many people are now asking “How did we get into this mess?” The responses by various people revolve around blame: the Government, Wall St, financial institutions, lenders, brokers and of course, individual buyers and investors.

I would like to explore one element of the equation: the psychology of the financial trouble. It may be argued that the primary emotion behind the mess was greed, followed by instant gratification and fear. In other words, some people got caught up in the emotion that drives the thought of “we must buy now to flip and resell at a profit, while we can and before it is too late.” 

I have found that almost all of our dysfunction and pain in life is derived from losing balance and being trapped in a time zone: the past, the present or the future. For example, the woman that refuses to love again because she still loves someone from the past or fears being hurt again; the man that gets so caught up in the present moment of temptation that he steals or cheats on his wife and; the man that hoards and refuses to spend any money because he fears there won’t be enough in the future. 

All of us do and will again make mistakes – some of which hurt not only ourselves but others around us. The key is to learn from those mistakes.   

When we take a sincere look into our heart we can discover what it is that drove us to the actions we took. Taking stock is being accountable. I recall about eighteen months ago a discussion with a friend who told me that she was buying her third home -as a first home buyer – and she was not planning to live in any of them. This was obviously a lie and fraudulent. When I questioned her and openly told her that this was wrong, she replied that the lender told her that “everyone does it.” But the fact that everyone is breaking the law or acting out of greed does not justify a wrong action. She did not listen to me and I guess that now she is paying the price. One might argue that to a certain extent she was a victim of the added greed and lies of others who supported and promoted her actions; she said, “If I knew how easy it is to buy houses, I would have done it years ago.”  

But greed, instant gratification and even selfishness are never limited to finances.  

Just this past week, I issued a press release in response to a new book, “The Truth about Cheating” by Gary Neuman who says the top reason men cheat is because they feel underappreciated by their woman. As a Clinical Hypnotherapist, I feel that this is an outrage because again men are trying to let themselves off the hook by laying the blame on women, trying to make women feel guilty because they aren’t doing enough for their man.  

Marriage counselor and author, Gary Neuman says women are to blame when men cheat. He says the no. 1 reason men cheat is “feeling underappreciated – a lack of thoughtful gestures” by the woman. He says cheaters are not the bad, rotten guys; “they can also be nice guys that get lost and do the wrong thing.” Just like the lady who tried to remove personal responsibility by saying “everyone does it”, here is another person, Gary Neuman who removes the responsibility of infidelity from the man who cheated and places it right in the lap of the woman by claiming that it is women’s responsibility to build up the man and make him feel valued because Neuman claims that is what men are searching for and expecting from women. 

The dictionary defines “responsible” as: 1. Answerable or accountable, as for something within one’s power, control, or management; 2. Chargeable with being the author, cause, or occasion of something. I view responsibility as being the creator or cause of something. In an interview last week, on ABC’s “20/20” with Barbara Walters, Peter Cook former husband of supermodel Christie Brinkley, blamed Brinkley for his affair: “I wanted a little acknowledgement, a little attention, a little thank-you every now and then for my efforts, for the amount of time I took to care for her and my family, for the wealth I was building.”

The key point here is to understand that no matter how someone leaves you feeling or ‘makes’ you feel, the way you respond to that feeling is your choice. Peter Cook refused to accept that he was the creator of the outcome, of his own actions. Peter Cook could have communicated with his wife instead of sleeping with another woman, particularly an eighteen year-old girl. In his book, Gary Neuman even cites a case where the husband had regular sex and the emotional connection with his wife but still had an affair. The bottom line is we all have choices in every moment and the real man has power over himself – he exerts self-control, discipline and knows how to say no or walk away from the temptation. The real man doesn’t expect a woman or anyone else to validate him; he validates himself. The real man doesn’t blame someone else for his actions.  

Ultimately, we all need be accountable by looking at our own situations and determining how we created our outcome and results via our choices and actions so that we can make better choices in the future. 

I wish you the best and remind you “Believe in yourself -You deserve the best!”

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