“Just buy my program and YOU will be a millionaire like ME.”

“ANYONE can make money now by buying and selling commodities.”

“Even YOU cou can invest in real estate with no money down.”

“Absolutely NO experience needed.”

When you hear comments like the ones above, run in the other direction. You are being scammed. Do not send $19.95 for an informational brochure, do not call the toll free number, do not even let these programs take up space in your head. They are designed to make money for their creators by taking money from you.

Many of them are risky. Most of them are bogus. The vast majority are money making scams.

Here’s the real deal. There are no shortcuts to making money and becoming successful. It takes imagination, hard work, and the ability to pick yourself up after multiple failures. You cannot be a successful commodities trader from your living room. You will not become the next Donald Trump with no money down and no experience in real estate. There is no informational brochure that will earn you millions for the low price of $19.95.

These are tough times and the scammers are coming out of the woodwork. Do yourself a favor and do not be a victim of a money making scam. Work hard, pay yourself first, and save money where you can.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint.

We are suggesting that you bite the bullet and cut out the booze and cigarettes. As a reward, join a gym. I can pretty much guarantee you that the monthly fee will be less than it costs for a pack a day smoker and less than a few nights out at the bars. In addition, if you are committed to using your new gym membership to the fullest, you will be far less tempted to cheat and return to your booze and cigarettes. This is because it is much harder to workout the day after having a cigarette or even one drink and also because you will want to look as good as everyone else at the gym. Being surrounded by in-shape, good-looking people is a huge motivator to keep showing up for your workouts and not to do things that make reaching your fitness goals more difficult. Who wants to be the fat, hungover person who smells like cigarettes in the gym? No one.

Added benefits are better sleep, increased productivity at work, greater energy during the day and less mindless eating. All of these things help you save money. You’ll be less likely to need medical care, which can also be a huge money-saver.

Let’s be clear. This is a trade. Don’t just join a gym and keep the booze and cigarettes on board. That’s like wearing a life preserver and wearing lead boots. Get rid of the bad stuff and treat yourself to a gym membership.

It is a little-known secret that credit card companies don’t want you to know. If you call them and ask them to lower your rates, they might just do it. Of course, it helps if you are a good customer with a long history with the creditor and have good credit. It also helps to carry a moderate balance and make considerably more than the minimum payment each month. If the credit card company sees you as a low risk borrower and knows they receive monthly interest payments from you (i.e. you carry a moderate balance), they will want to keep you as a customer.

Initially, the credit card representative will tell you that it is just not possible for them to lower your rate. At this point, you should say something like, “Are you sure because I just received a pre-approved offer for a credit card with an interest rate that is half of what I’m paying you and will allow me to transfer my entire balance from this card to theirs for 0%. I’ve been with your company for a long time so I thought I’d see if there was anything you could do.”

The representative will tell you to hold on for a minute at which point she will put you on hold and curse the fact that it was her who picked up your call. Then she will come back and tell you the good news about your new lower rate or tell you to take a hike.

If she tells you to take a hike, you’ve only lost a few minutes of your time. If she comes back with a lower interest rate, you have just saved thousands of dollars a year and it only cost you a few minutes of your time.

The credit crunch has made this tactic more difficult than it was in years past, but if you are a good customer and have good credit, your odds of getting a lower interest rate are somewhere around 50%.

Just think about it. There have been nearly a million US layoffs in 2009 alone. Many of these people received no severance pay, no skills training, or anything else that would ease the transition into a new career. To put it bluntly, they are screwed. Had they invested in themselves and worked hard to create multiple income streams, the pain of a layoff would not have been as acute.

The harsh reality of today’s business world is that we cannot “trust” our employers to “take care of us”. For the most part, they will accept your labor and pay you a fair wage. Anything more is highly unlikely, no matter what kinds of promises you are given.

In addition, the old model of hourly wages is a losing game. Because of technology and innovation, many of the jobs that had previously been paid a high hourly wage (like auto workers for instance) can be automated or done more cheaply abroad. The focus needs to be on results and value creation. If you can create more value in one hour than someone can create in 100 hours, you can and should be paid more for that one hour than the other person is paid for 100 hours. I realize this is offensive to some people but times have changed and the only way to ensure your own security is to adapt to the changes.

Even if you own your own business, you should be developing more than one revenue source. Imagine if you were the top seller of Widget A and some innovation came along that made Widget B far more relevant overnight. Your Widget A is suddenly worthless to your previous customers. If your entire business was built around Widget A, you are looking at some hard times ahead. But if you had previously developed a Widget B business, you could shift your focus and your resources to your Widget B division, easing the pain of the Widget A business destruction.

So how do you go about diversifying your income?

Well, it’s easier to do if you work for yourself but everyone (even employees) can and should do it. Here are a few tips:

1. Perform an honest and real inventory of your skills and your ability to create value.

2. Having completed an honest and in-depth skills inventory, take a look at what you are currently doing and look for untapped areas of value creation (i.e. low hanging fruit). For example, if you are knowledgeable in a trade, maybe you could teach a class at night or start a blog about your profession. Or maybe you could write a how-to guide and sell it as an e-book. These things diversify your sources of income within your body of knowledge.

3. Start an automatic investment plan. Use dollar cost averaging and put a fixed percentage of your weekly earnings into an index fund or a bank account. The magic of compound interest will ensure that your invested money works for you day and night.

4. Pay attention to the things you could use to help you in your life. For example, is there some gadget or tool that would make your life a lot easier? Have you looked for it and cannot find anyone selling it? That could be your cue to develop and sell the gadget yourself. I used gadget as an example but it could easily be software, information, or a service.

5. Leverage the information economy. There is no medium that provides greater leverage and lower risk than information services. Contrary to traditional business ventures, creating an income stream in the world of information does not require much of an up-front investment. Spend time on the internet looking at what people are selling and getting paid for. Maybe there is something that you could do better or similarly in another area of focus. What are you currently paying for online? Somewhere, someone is receiving your payment as a source of his income. Why can’t that be you?

6. If you work for someone else, negotiate the ability to “moonlight”. Some employers prohibit their employees from developing alternate income streams. This is nothing more than an attempt to control employees. If your employer does not allow you to develop multiple streams of income, ask him to double your salary and provide you with contractual job security (i.e. you get paid for x years no matter what). Chances are your employer will not want to do this and will acquiesce to your request to diversify your income.

7. If your employer is stubborn and does not want to allow you to work outside of your job with him, you should probably find a new place to work and negotiate a moonlighting provision from the start. But since it is not always feasible to find a new job, you can take advantage of internet privacy features to get yourself started. When registering a domain name, choose the privacy option. Also, don’t use your home phone number or address during any communications related to your new income source. Instead, get a PO box and a virtual voicemail box. (A virtual voicemail box is a unique phone number assigned to you that allows you to record a greeting and have customers leave you messages. It’s cheaper than a cell phone and costs much less.) Don’t use your name in your new email address either. Choose a generic email address like “contact@domain.com” or “support@domain.com”. If you are creative enough, you can keep your information private.

The above tips are just a few ways to get you thinking about diversifying your sources of income. Ultimately, diversifying your sources of income is the only way to achieve any measure of true security in today’s economy.

If you’ve been to the movies lately, you’ve noticed that it costs a small fortune for two tickets, two popcorns and two sodas. With movie ticket prices surpassing ten dollars a piece in many locations and snack prices approaching fifteen dollars per person, a night for two at the movies can easily cost you fifty dollars. Add in costs like transportation, parking and a babysitter for the kids and you are looking at a one night expenditure that rivals the weekly grocery bill.

Instead of paying through the nose to sit in a crowded movie theater listening to some teenager talk on her cellphone about what’s going on in the movie, having your seat back pummeled by a five year old and trying to ignore the old guy who keeps saying, “What’d they say?”, why not get a Netflix membership?

For about $17 a month, you can have three movies at a time delivered right to your door. No late fees, no crowded theaters, no exorbitant food prices. You get to stay in the comfort of your own home with someone you care about, watching a movie that interests you. What could be better?

For less than the cost of two movie tickets, you can watch as many movies as you want. Just think about how many “cheap dates” you can get out of just one month’s membership. Even if you’re solo, it’s way cheaper than going to the movies alone and you don’t feel self conscious.

In addition to having movies delivered to your door, you can watch thousands of movies on your computer for free. Yes, for free. This helps fill the gaps that could happen if you return all of your movies at once and have to wait for more to be delivered.

Because of movie piracy (i.e. people selling recent movies on DVD), studios are releasing movies to DVDs quicker than ever. This is a boon to consumers who can now watch very new movies in the comfort of their homes.

A cool feature of Netflix is its social networking capability. You and your friends can instantly recommend movies to each other. This is in addition to the recommendations provided to you by Netflix based on your rental history and movie ratings.

Click the link below if you are interested in a free two-week trial membership to Netflix:

Here’s what’s wrong with store credit cards.
1. The interest rates are usurious. In other words, they’re really high. Think 20%-30% high and that’s for people with good credit. There is no reason to pay these high interest rates unless someone is threatening to break your legs.
2. The store runs a regular credit inquiry on you. This means it registers on your credit report. This factor alone should be enough to dissuade you from applying for the card. Credit report inquiries of this type negatively impact your credit score. And although credit card companies deny it, they may take the actual store into consideration when looking at the rest of your credit report. If you apply for a store credit card at Store XYZ and the credit scoring algorithm determines that most people who apply for Store XYZ credit are deadbeats, you get thrown into the deadbeat pile. Not good.

The retail stores know that most people who sign up for the card will not pay their full balance off on the first payment. They know that they will make multiples of the original discount you received on merchandise in their cut of interest and fees, not to mention repeat business by people who are spending money they don’t have by charging their purchases to their store credit cards.

Signing up for store credit cards is a surefire way to lose money.

Here in New York City, a simple bath and nail trim for a small dog will set you back around $70. The prices are much higher for larger dogs.

Many of us wish we could wash our own pets and trim their nails, but we are too nervous to do so. Or maybe we think we won’t be able to control our pets in order to properly bathe them. While it may take some getting used to (for you and your pet), your pet will grow to enjoy the experience. Dogs and cats have a genetic predisposition to identifying their groomer as their parent. In the wild, mothers often lick their offspring to keep them clean. Your pet will recognize this and grow to see the grooming as a chance to bond with you.

There are some products that make the task of grooming your own dog or cat a much more pleasant experience.

We highly recommend the Hydro Surge Bathing System. It is available at most pet stores and makes bathing your pet a breeze. It connects to your shower or to a standard garden hose, making it easy and convenient to bathe your pet.

If you are worried about controlling your pet, check out the Booster Bath. You can wash small and large dogs in the tub and drain the water into your sink or bathtub with the included five foot long hose.

For nails, we tried the Pedi Paws nail trimming tool on a pug who hates having his nails trimmed. With a little coaxing, he actually let us sand his nails down without any fuss. The only negative thing to be aware of with the Pedi Paws system is that a slightly unpleasant “burning” smell is emitted when the nails are being sanded down. This is to be expected and a small price to pay for sparing your pet the potential pain of nail clipping.

In just a few months of bathing your own pet, the tools above will pay for themselves. You will end up saving money and developing a stronger bond with your special pet.

To find out, call the number on the back of your credit card and ask the customer service representative what your current interest rate is. While you are on the phone, ask the representative to lower the rate, no matter what it is. The rep will probably decline your request but as long as you have him on the phone it is worth a shot. Ask the representative for your current balance as well. And finally, ask the rep if the rate he told you covers all of your balances. Sometimes the card companies will try to be sneaky by quoting a rate for the overall account and not tell you that the rate on portions of your balance is significantly higher.

Do this for all of your credit cards, writing down the interest rate and the balance. Also make note of any higher interest rates that apply to specific portions of your balance. Once you have done this, set up a payment schedule that allocates the majority of your monthly payment to the highest interest rate card. Of course, make sure you pay more than the minimum payment on all of your credit cards each month.

Let’s assume you have two credit cards, each with a balance of $10,000. One credit card has a 20% interest rate and the other credit card has a 10% interest rate. If you can pay off the 20% credit card in one year, while paying what you can on the other card (always pay more than the minimum payment due) you can save more than $1000 in interest simply by paying the higher interest rate credit card first.

Paying more than the minimum payment on your credit card each month is so important because of the effects of compound interest on your balance. Add the fact that credit card rates border on usury these days, and paying only the minimum amount required by the credit card company can be disastrous.

For example, let’s assume you have credit card debt in the amount of $10,000 and an interest rate of 20%. If you only pay the minimum amount (generally 2.5% of the total balance) each month, it will take you more than five years to pay off the debt. And you will end up paying more than $6,000 in interest on the original $10,000 debt. That’s 60% of the face value of your original debt being paid to the credit card company in the form of interest!

The reason why the percentage is so high is the phenomenon of compound interest. Compound interest is known as one of the “Great Wonders of the World” because it accelerates the amount someone can earn on his or her money exponentially. Unfortunately for those of us carrying credit card debt, it also accelerates the amount of money owed exponentially.

If you have credit card debt at a 20% interest rate and you cannot earn a 20% annual rate of return on your other investments, you should not be investing. Instead, you should be paying down your debt as quickly as possible. In rough economic times like these, it is insane to pay 20% annually to a credit card company. Pay off credit card debt as quickly as possible by paying as much towards each payment as you possibly can.

When you shop in the supermarket, you benefit from economies of scale. This means that you receive lower prices on groceries because the supermarkets buy enormous quantities of goods from their suppliers at deep discounts. When you shop at a deli, visit a restaurant or get your lunch from a vending machine, you are not benefiting from these types of discounts. Most places where you can buy your lunch include a 100% markup (or more) in the cost of their food and beverages. You are paying simply for the convenience of not having to bring your lunch to work or school.

During a recession, it is not wise to buy your lunch for two or three times what you’d expect to pay for the same items in a grocery store simply to have the convenience of not bringing your lunch with you.

To put this tip in perspective, let’s assume the average lunch consisting of a sandwich, chips and a drink costs ten dollars to buy. Had you purchased the items in a grocery store, the same lunch would cost you around three dollars. Sure, you’d have to make the sandwich yourself but you just saved $7. When you assume 250 working days in the year, your lunch savings amount to more than $1,700.

Is there something else you’d rather spend $1,700 on or is your deli sandwich really worth that much?