What do you want to know about money?

Money, Money, Money, Must be funny, In a rich man’s world…

I grew up listening to Abba and given their recent popularity again, I often have these words in my head.

Many of us would say that we would like to live in a rich man’s world, but would we be equipped to do so? Would we know how to cope with the responsibility of the money or would we be like many lottery winners who within quite a short time find themselves falling back out of that world with a bump?

Financial education is vitally important to us all, whether we have very little money or a great deal.

But how do we obtain that information? Most of us probably get a great deal of what we know about money and our attitudes towards it from our parents, but given the way that the world has changed so rapidly is this always the best form of education?

I have been reading a report from September 2004 by the Financial Services Authority entitled Young people (18-24) and their financial information needs. Now I know that this might not sound the most riveting of reports to read, but I have found some really eye-opening snippets of information like although the majority of people did not like the idea of debt, many did not consider 0% credit cards and balance transfers or student loans to be debt, especially if they were able to keep up with the payments!

Thankfully when I asked my own son this question, he was able to see that this was still debt, whether you were paying interest on it or not.

In their general attitudes to money, all respondents felt that money was an essential part of life, and as a necessity to be able to do the things they wanted to do. Most saw money in terms of spending power and the empowerment it gave them, with the ability to display material wealth.

As many of you know I work with young people age 16+ and have spoken to many of them about their attitudes towards money. In addition to having a somewhat negative attitude towards what information about money is available, most of them are not interested in it, except in how they can get more money now.

I also have two teenagers of my own and I want to be able to help them to grow into financially educated young people who are able to make and manage their own money responsibly.

Over the past few months, this has become my passion, to be able to get this information out to young people in a way which is meaningful, relevant and will keep their attention so that they can learn now, instead of the hard way later in their lives.

I have spent a great deal of my available time reading lots of information from classic literature about wealth to up to date sites with information for children and young people.

From my research so far I can see that there are some excellent resources available for the younger children to begin teaching them young about money and I will add them to a new resources page as soon as I have the time. I have also found some useful information aimed at students going to university, but I feel that there is something lacking in between and for those who are perhaps working as an apprentice, earning a lower wage than their friends who are working in the local burger place.

My aim is to bring together a collection of resources to reach these young people, which can be used interactively both on the internet, individually or with others or can be used in an educational environment. In this way I can combine my skills and experience as a teacher and a mother with my ever growing experience in the Internet world.

In the near future I will begin work on transforming my blog into the valuable resource I would like it to become. Please bear with me whilst this happens.

In the meantime so that I can make it as relevant as possible, I would like your help and that of any young people you know.

I already have several ideas from earlier posts both on this blog and elsewhere, but I would really like your comments about:

What is the most important thing you (or a young person) would like to know about money?

What sort of resources would you like to see? Would you like links to other resources all in one place?

Are there any areas that you are struggling to understand or to get information about?

What is your attitude towards money? Is this typical of that of your friends? Do you feel peer pressure to conform where money is concerned?

How do you think this information could best be presented – on the internet, in the home, in the classroom?

Would you like to see the information available through interactive workshops with others, or access the infomation alone?

Would you like the information to all be freely accessible, or do you think some could be presented through a members’ area?

Would you be prepared to pay to access that information?

If so, how much? For a one-off set of information? For a monthly site?

Would you like a physical product? Videos, games, worksheets etc or would you be happy to download it all?

And any other information that you think would be useful?

Although I am aiming at the age group of probably 14 to 20, this is not restrictive. Please ask any young people you know what they think about this and either ask them to leave the information themselves or leave a comment for me yourself.

I really do want to provide a growing resource that will adapt to various situations and circumstances and provide at least some young people with the information that they so desperately need to grow into financially aware adults.

I look forward to all of your comments and thanks for your help with this.

How do you communicate?

This is a subject that has been on my mind for quite a while now and I felt that it was time to create a post about one of the most important things we do which affects all areas of our lives.

What does communication mean to you?

As you may have already seen in my previous posts and comments on other blogs, I have a great love of books and words. I grew up in a home where we had several dictionaries which I would spend hours reading, crosswords formed part of our everyday life and we all played word games such as Scrabble and Lexicon. But does this knowledge make us a good communicator?

I recently went to see Twelfth Night in London with Derek Jacobi as Malvolio. As I enjoyed watching the performance I reflected on the fact that a play written 400 years ago was still entertaining audiences of a very different age.

How could this be?

So many people who have had to study the works of Shakespeare at school will tell you how they have been put off for life.

Yet here was a theatre full of people (and more had been queuing for returned tickets) on a cold January evening. Surely this said something about both the playwright and the actors who were performing the play.

Shakespeare had created a comedy about disguise, love and double meaning which was reaching out to a modern audience through the use of more contemporary ideas and props.

I know that this is not everyone’s idea of an enjoyable night out (and a good job too!) but it expresses just how good communication can overcome so many barriers of time, language, culture and other distractions.

Shakespeare’s words had to be given life by those acting on the stage. Without their skill and talent the audience would not have heard or understood what they were saying. It also required a director to bring the play to life and other staff to support those on stage.

I think that this shows just how complex communication can be. There are so many layers, places where there can be misunderstandings and where words can go unheard.

Yet it is a vital part of all our daily lives. Without it we would be unable to interact with other people and we would be unable to function to our full potential.

I realise that I have made some observations here that some people might not see in quite the same way that I do.

I teach young people aged 16+ communication skills and so often I hear from them comments such as “I can’t do that”. Yet after explanation something starts to click for them.

I had a student recently who gave me a piece of work with no paragraphs in it and told me that it was something she did not understand. Yet as I explained to her how to paragraph and pointed out places to do so, she was able to see those new paragraphs for herself.

In a sense this is the same sort of thing that happens with our financial education. If you have read my previous post, you will know that this is something I feel passionate about. My eBook on this will be forthcoming soon – other family issues permitting.

Communication is the base on which our lives revolve and the more we can improve our communication with one another, the more we can open the possibilites in all areas of our lives, including financial independence.

So let us take every opportunity to improve the ways we communicate. Watch and listen to great communicators, read their books and other literature, take and make recommendations to one another.

I am always looking at ways to improve my own communication. What ways do you use to improve in this area? What literature, sites or individuals do you recommend?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Are you one of the Fortunate 500?

I’ve just found the social networking site called Fortunate 500 which has been set up for students of Alex Jeffreys by Thomas Northrop.  I’m sure that it will be a great resource where we can interact with one another without having to keep asking the same questions on several blogs or try to find the answers to those questions!

I’ve just signed up at http://www.fortunate500.ning.com/ so maybe you would like to do the same. 

Let’s keep on building this supportive community together.

Please help me with setting up my Profit Pulling Platform!

Arghhhh!

It’s beginning to get to me that I can’t seem to get my ppp up and running. 

I’ve been through Alex’s videos several times and it seems to be at the Filezilla bit that I get stuck.  I have transferred files as he suggests, but after following step by step he then says that we don’t need to put it into ‘testforvideo’ but straight into the public_html file. (He could do with making that clearer at the start of that particular video.)

This is interesting, because he says that we can leave this blank and this will eventually go straight into the website.  My public-html file has other files in it – I assume because I already have my blog running in it.

I decided then to put it into a subdirectory called ‘listbuildingwithalex’ and tried to set it up with the rest of the information.

I can see it if I log in directly to that page, but how do I get people to access it from my main page?  Lots of people seem to have just a small email opt-in box on their front page, which seems ideal as I don’t really want to have my main page as the squeeze page!

I assume again (though I’m checking for advice really as I know I shouldn’t assume – that was drilled into me when I was in the military!) that my ppp is now a subdirectory of my main website blog page.  How can I link it? 

I really feel a bit like I am being left behind when I read of others building their lists and getting sales and I don’t want to be at the back!! 

I know that I could get others to do it for me, but I would really like to know how to do it so that I can do it myself more easily again next time.  I’m sure that there will be plenty more next times…  Lots of new products including, I hope, some of my own.

There is probably further information about how to do this somewhere, but I can’t find it at the moment, so if any of you technically-minded people can give me a link or any advice I would be eternally grateful!  I really can’t afford to spend anymore time with this – I want to move on.

I’m looking forward to the next module with trepidation as I’m not even up to that level yet.  I know that some people are chomping at the bit to move on, but some of us aren’t even at that stage yet and I have been trying to do it – honestly!  Thanks.

Hilary

I’m catching up – slowly!

Well I spent quite a bit of yesterday working on both my blog and my profit pulling platform, though I still don’t have the latter on my front page – can anyone give me a hand with that please?  (I have it in testforvideo but can’t seem to get a small box on my front page).

I also managed to buy our Christmas tree yesterday and my daughter did most of the decorating, so at least we are starting to feel Christmassy in our home.  I’ve just got to do the cake, the cards, the rest of the presents and the food shopping as well as a good tidy up before we have visitors…  All I want to do is get on with this online journey, but I know that home life still has to go on.

Anyway, I’ve been reading around the blogs again to get more helpful information and I’ve found that Garry Parkes is leading the way again by getting ready to send out a regular weekly newsletter to help all the students of Alex Jeffreys get in on the branding.  He really has some great ideas that man – where does he get the time from to do it all?!

Anyway, if you haven’t already looked at it go and check out his post at http://garryparkes.com/alex-jeffreys/get-a-slice-of-the-1-million-up-for-grabs/ it is definitely worth getting in on this so that we can all help one another .  I’m sure that you want to be in Garry’s book too.

Now I need to carry on doing what I can to catch up and I’ll visit as many blogs as I can and add you to my list, so please leave me a comment and I’ll add you on.

Thanks!

Hilary

My first blog post!

Well, I’ve finally got my blog started, so welcome to my world!

I’m really excited to have found Alex Jeffreys and his mentoring package at just the right time for me.

I had been a teaching and learning assistant for nearly 5 years at our local FE college and after some hard work interrupted by illness I finally qualified as a teacher this summer.

I took a new job at another college in October but, found that I really did not enjoy it and as I had a journey of nearly an hour each way, I was so tired at the end of the day that I couldn’t give the attention to my family that I wanted to.

I made the decision to leave my new job, which given the economic situation at the moment was quite scary.  I have managed to get some hourly paid teaching back at my local college, but there is not too much before Christmas and then I will have to wait until the following month before I am paid.

So – I took a deep breath and thought – now is the time to increase my home businesses and do some more work on the Internet.

I have been selling second-hand books on Amazon and greetings cards through a network marketing company, both of which I enjoy, but at the moment do not make me much money.

I have spent the last couple of years on email lists, listening and learning to others and I thought that now was the ideal time to move forward in this venture.

How was I going to do this?  I wasn’t sure so I bought a couple of other eBooks the day after I left my job and started looking through them and implementing some of the things I was told to do.

I still wasn’t sure about it and then on the Monday I found Alex Jeffreys’ mentoring programme, watched the video and signed up there and then.

Why?

I know that one of the most important things in moving forward is to have a mentor.  I knew that it would help me to avoid long hours going down the wrong track, searching in the wrong place, losing money and probably resulting in giving up.

Why Alex?

I liked what he said about giving away in order to get something in return.  This is very much my philosophy.  I liked the fact that it wasn’t purely a money grabbing exercise as I don’t believe the ‘get rich quick’ claims and know that hard work is required to move forward.

I also liked the fact that he is British and that as I am British myself I felt that there was some sort of connection, as sometimes the gurus in America seem more remote both in their location and in understanding how the British mind ticks.

So if you are looking for some good down to earth common sense advice and a way to get started on the Internet do check Alex out:

http://marketingwithyou.com/

you’ll be glad that you did.

So what are my goals now?

To get this blog up and running.

To get my website up and running

To build my profit pulling platform

Most of all to make enough money so that I can work from home and be around for my children.  To support them as they enter their teenage years (more about that in a later post) and to not be so tired that I cannot enjoy the time I have with them and the rest of my family.

I look forward to your support and comments and I hope that I can grow with fellow students of Alex both those who are on his programme now and those who will benefit from his experience and teaching in the future.

Let’s move forward together.

“We don’t have to get it right, we just have to get it going.” 

 I have had that on the wall over my computer for nearly a year now – and I finally have got it going.

To our journey!

Hilary