40% of married couples have serious, recurring arguments about money

According to a Survey by American Express, 91% of couples avoid even talking about finances, household expenses and debt with their partner.¹ Twelve percent said they’ve never talked about money with their spouse and some of the 2000 U.S. adults that participated indicated they knew their partner’s weight but not their salary.

All is fair in love and war…

• Money causes more stress than intimacy (11%), children (9%) and in-laws (4%) and 40% of married couples have serious, recurring arguments about money
• 27% of respondents misrepresented the amount of a purchase to their partner
• 30% have hidden purchases from their partner
• 56% of couples felt they have made a financial mistake in their relationship, ranging from spending too much on their wedding to buying a house at the top of the market

If they could go back in time…

• 32% would put more into savings and investments
• 27% would spend more responsibly
• 17% would discuss financial goals and expectations earlier

Many couples have different values where money is concerned and, as revealed by the numbers above, most neglect to take the time to hash out issues that can potentially ruin their relationship.

It’s never too late to start the conversation...

Begin by taking our Love and Money Financial Self-Assessment.  It’s just in time for Valentine’s Day, and it will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to finance.

We encourage you and your partner to take the three-minute Assessment either separately or together and see how your money values differ from one another.  After all, recognizing the way money can affect your relationship is the best way to prevent problems in the first place and strengthen your the bond between you.

Afterward, we’ll give you some tips on how to start the conversation with your partner and how your relationship can not only survive your difference in financial opinions, but how those differences can strengthen your connection – romantically and financially!

Take the Love and Money Self-Assessment here.  And then tell us what insights the assessment gave you in the comments box below…

1. 2010 American Express Spending & Saving Tracker Survey

The older I get, the quicker time seems to pass. A year feels like mere months, and a day passes in the blink of an eye. I often become so caught up in daily life and its many distractions that I often forget to take care of myself. Perhaps if I treated my needs as if they were investments, I might make some changes and refocus my priorities.

This year, learn to invest in yourself. You’ll be sure to improve your finances, as well as your quality of life.

Fill Your Time With Value-Adding Activities

To truly invest in yourself, stop wasting time with frivolity and engage yourself with life-enriching activities. Things you can fit into your daily schedule to add value to your life include:

1. Read More Books

Look for books about personal finance, health and well-being, business, or any other topic of interest that could make you a better person or enable you to make better decisions. As long as you continue to educate yourself and expand your wisdom, you’ve chosen the right books.

In addition, keep updated on current events by reading a trustworthy news website. When you become informed, you become a well-rounded, knowledgeable person who makes educated decisions.

2. Focus on Your Health

Eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, taking vitamins, and visiting your doctor on a regular basis could add years, if not decades, to your life. Begin by reading books about health and fitness. Visit your physician for a check-up and put yourself on a regimen that gets you in shape.

3. Take Classes

Consider taking classes or programs to advance your career or to help you transition to a new line of work. Then, consider acquiring new skills that enrich you personally. Do you want to learn how to cook, sew, or play a sport?

I recently took a sewing class because I wanted to sew my son’s homemade Halloween costumes in order to save money and to make really unique costumes. Some of my friends have taken other fun classes for personal enrichment, such as belly dancing, ceramics, and creative writing. These classes can further help you invest in yourself by increasing your workout times or by increasing your personal and professional networks.

4. Spend Time With Family and Friends

Sometimes, we all need a shoulder to lean on. Boost your mental and emotional health by spending time with people who support you during rough times, and celebrate your successes. These are the moments you’ll remember at the end of your life, so begin building wonderful memories today.

5. Meditate or Pray

Meditation or prayer allows you a way to step back from your life, slow down for a few moments, and escape the chaos around you. This also affords you the opportunity to evaluate yourself and your life to become a better person. Taking time to reflect reminds us to believe in the big picture, and to not get so hung up on the little disappointments in life.

Make Smart Financial and Career Decisions

In addition to spending your time more wisely, you should also spend your money more wisely and make smart career moves. Some tips to help you invest in your financial and career goals in 2012 are:

6. Follow Your Passions

If you feel passionate about your career, you can enjoy unlimited satisfaction. When you do what you love, you can truly excel at your job, and gain promotions, higher pay, and recognition – as well as personal fulfillment.

7. Find Multiple Sources of Income

Consider getting a part-time job or start your own business to supplement your savings and emergency fund. Additional sources of income help you pay off debt and plan for retirement. While earning a second income takes work, you benefit by growing your wealth and diversifying your skill set.

8. Embrace Self-Awareness

Carefully evaluate your passions and what you like and dislike at work and at home. Know your strengths and weaknesses, and use that information to build up your personal brand. This makes you more marketable in the workforce, and helps you understand the career and life path you take.

9. Network

Invest in yourself by increasing your personal and professional networks. Depending on your personality and comfort level, you may feel more comfortable meeting people at events specifically designed for people to network. If you decide you need a change, having a vibrant network can help you get the job you want.

10. Become More Frugal

Learn to live within your means. Get out of debt, decrease your monthly expenses, and avoid accruing more debt. Learn how to save money on groceries and how to cut back on monthly bills to stay within your budget. By living free of debt and within your means, you’ll find a new sense of freedom.

Final Thoughts

Investing in yourself can be challenging, but if you don’t take time for yourself, you have everything to lose. If you don’t care for your health, it will fail you; if you don’t care for your mind, you will fall behind. Take the time to care for your mind, body, and soul, and reap the benefits as you enrich your life.

How have you invested in yourself lately? What activities do you believe enrich your life and your finances?

Does that seem like a crazy or dumb question?

If you bought into Wall Street’s mantra that as long as you invest for the long haul you’ll come out ahead, you need to watch this video today.

Click the play button below to see the shocking truth Wall Street doesn’t want you to know…

Because of this, most baby boomers have been forced to postpone retirement an average of five years.¹

I’m often asked how using the Bank On Yourself method to save for retirement compares to traditional plans, so I put together this short video that reveals seven reasons Bank On Yourself makes an excellent retirement plan alternative.

Click the play button in the video below and see how many of these seven advantages you’d like to have in your financial plan…

1.  Bankers Life and Casualty Center for a Secure Retirement, May 2011

It’s easier to do than you might think and hundreds of thousands of people are already doing it!

To show you how it works, we’ve created a fast-paced video. This video reveals…

• A way to make major purchases that beats financing, leasing or even paying cash for them!
• How the Bank On Yourself method lets you use your money to buy things…  but still have it earning interest and dividends for you
• Six ways this method beats using traditional financing
• How famous people like Walt Disney and J.C. Penney used this method – when no banker would lend them a dime
• How the average family can add $500,000 – or more – to the their lifetime wealth, simply by running their car and vacation purchases through a Bank On Yourself plan

Click the play button below to watch the video…

Here’s another video you may be interested in…

Would you like to see a specific example showing how much guaranteed and predictable income you could have in retirement, using the Bank On Yourself method?

Click the play button in the video below to see a fascinating example:

Many readers of this blog have asked to see more specific examples showing how much guaranteed and predictable income you could have in retirement, using the Bank On Yourself method. So I’ve included a fascinating example on this video.

If you have the feeling your financial plan has been treading water (or going backwards) for far too long, you’ll want to be sure to watch this video now. It’s got some pretty cool animation in it, too!

Click the play button to watch it and tell us what you think in the comments box below…

If you’ve been having a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that you’ve been treading water in your financial plan for what seems like forever, these three graphic “snapshots” reveal the ugly truth.

These snapshots clearly illustrate the fatal flaws in the conventional wisdom that’s been shoved down our throats for so long about saving and investing.

This is your retirement plan powered by Wall Street

A quick look at this snapshot tells you everything you need to know…

Let me ask you a question…

Where is it written that you must suffer a lost decade – or more – growing your nest egg?

Isn’t that what Wall Street wants us to believe?

The fact of the matter is that the only guarantee Wall Street gives you is that they’ll get paid whether you win or lose!

It’s also why they desperately don’t want you to know about the peace of mind, guarantees, and predictability you get when your retirement plan is powered by Bank On Yourself.

Once again, a picture is worth a thousand words, so let’s compare the growth in a Bank On Yourself plan side-by-side with what the Wall Street Casino offers:

The chart on the right above shows the growth pattern in a typical Bank On Yourself-type policy.  The growth is exponential (in the mathematical sense of the word).  That means the growth curve gets steeper every year you have the policy – with no luck, skill or guesswork required to make that happen.

And while these plans grow more slowly at the start (there’s no such thing as a magic pill!), the growth is at its peak at the time you need it most – retirement.

The chart above is based on the actual growth I’ve received in one of my own policies so far, along with the projected growth based on the current dividend scale.

Dividends aren’t guaranteed, but the companies preferred by the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors have paid them every single year for more than 100 years.

So now let’s take a look at another bit of conventional financial wisdom gone awry…

We were taught we could count on the equity in our homes to be a major part of our retirement nest-egg.  A lot of people who thought they were doing the right thing made extra mortgage payments, so they could have the “security” of knowing their home was paid off in full when they retired.

They plowed money they could have put into safe savings into their homes instead – which got them a ZERO rate of return on their hard-earned dollars AND locked up their money in a depreciating asset.

And here’s a snapshot of where that got them…

News Flash!  There’s a better way!  Did you know that you can save up enough cash value in a Bank On Yourself policy to be able to write a check to pay off your mortgage in full, any time you choose to do that?

My husband and I could do that TODAY – if we chose to.  But we made the smart decision to leave that money in our Bank On Yourself plans where it is working much harder for us.

How much harder is that money working for us?  This blog post I wrote on the rate of return of a Bank On Yourself plan reveals why you’d need to get a 7-8% return in a tax-deferred account, like a 401(k) or IRA, to equal the return of a typical Bank On Yourself plan.

And that’s without the risk or volatility of traditional investments!

Now let’s take a look at the promise of gold.  Again, a picture is worth a thousand words…

I’ve found most people who are buying gold today have no clue about the volatile history of that metal.  And those who forget (or are ignorant of) the past are condemned to repeat it.

And keep this in mind – Bank On Yourself doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition, because you can use the money in your plan to make purchases or to take advantage of opportunities and investments.  (It’s your money, after all!)  Your policy continues growing as though you never touched it.  (Work with a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor to make sure your policy is from a company that offers this feature.)

Having your money in something that’s safe and liquid doesn’t take away your options!

This is the time of year when people often take stock of where they are today, and where they’d rather be in the future.

If you still believe that Wall Street holds the key to your financial security, and if you believe the economic challenges we’ve been facing that have caused the unprecedented volatility in the market are over with… then keep doing what you’ve been doing and hope it all works out.

But if you’re determined that the next ten years are going to be a lot better than the last ten or more, then today is the day to take the first step towards a financial future you can predict and count on by requesting your FREE Analysis, if you haven’t already done so.

When you do, you’ll find out if you qualify for a Bank On Yourself plan.  It can take up to 60 days for your policy to be approved.  So you can see why you need to start today to hit the ground running in 2012.

Request your free Analysis now… and find out how much your financial picture could improve by adding Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.

But some of these questions about key money and finance basics tripped up some of our readers – almost no one got all five answers right. Making financial decisions without knowing the correct answer to even one of these questions can easily shave six figures or more off your lifetime wealth.

So I urge you to pay close attention to the correct answers below. You’ll also find a list of our six contest winners at the end of this post.

Here are the correct answers given by readers to the five questions…

Question #1: If you finance a $30,000 car through a finance company, your actual cost for the car is the money you spend on it, plus the interest you pay, less the value of your trade-in at the end of your loan repayment period.

If you pay cash for a car, what’s your actual cost for the car?

Answer: Joe Goldsmith pointed out what many people with alphabet soup after their name don’t get – that “paying cash for the car is just another form of financing.”

John Nicholson summed it up succinctly: “If you pay $30,000 cash for a car, your actual cost is the money you spent on the car, less the trade-in value at the end of the period, plus the opportunity cost – the loss of interest that the $30,000 could have earned.”

Perry Blouin went on to calculate the enormity of the total loss you could have over 40 years because of this “opportunity cost.” And Valerie Coffman noted, “If you use a Bank On Yourself policy (to pay for the car), you make money as if you never took it out, and you make money on yourself when you pay it back. Awesome!”

As Eric pointed out, “with Bank On Yourself, you accumulate the $30,000 and when it comes time for your vehicle purchase, request a check from the insurance company, receive it within 48-72 hours and then be ready to negotiate with the car dealership.”

Using your Bank On Yourself policy to pay for major purchases also gives you access to money on your terms rather than someone else’s. You can pay it back on your own schedule without worrying about bill collectors, late fees or black marks on your credit report. It beats financing, leasing or even directly paying cash for things by a long shot.

To find out how much more lifetime wealth you could enjoy – simply by using the Bank On Yourself method to make major purchases versus the other options available to you, request a FREE no-obligation Analysis that will show you your bottom-line results. I think you’ll be amazed!

Question #2: If you have a $20 stock and it goes up by 40%, how much money did you make on that stock? (Hint: This is about a key financial principle, not a math question.)

Answer: The talking heads on Wall Street NEVER get this one and do their best to make sure you don’t figure out the blindingly obvious answer to this question!

As Ruth noted,

You don’t make any money until you actually sell your stock.”

Likewise, it makes me crazy when people talk about how much value their home has lost since the real estate bubble burst. You don’t have a REAL gain (or loss) until you sell an asset and lock your profits in.

Which is in stark contrast to the Bank On Yourself method. The gains you receive each year (guaranteed and predictable) are locked in the moment they’re credited to your policy. As for losses… well, there aren’t any. This is based on an asset class that has increased in value every year for over 160 years!

Question #3: According to Morningstar, Inc., the top-performing mutual fund for the last decade (ending December 31, 2009) enjoyed an 18% annual return.

However, the typical investor in that fund wasn’t so fortunate.

What was the annual return of the typical investor in that top-performing fund? And why was their return so different from the return reported by the fund?

Answer: Only one person – Raymond Trembath – nailed the shocking correct answer to this question (no one else came even close), and he also noted the reasons why:

“The typical investor in the best performing mutual fund of the last decade lost 11% annually, even though the fund itself rose by more than 18% annually. The reason this could happen is that all mutual funds are legally allowed only to advertise the results of their ‘buy and hold’ investors, in spite of the fact that long-term mutual funds tend to be held for less than half a decade!”

Doesn’t this typify the smoke and mirrors that the Wall Street Casino uses to pull the wool over our eyes?

If you find it hard to believe that the results mutual funds report could be so different than the results the investors in those funds get, I urge you to read the article supporting this from the Wall Street Journal.

Question #4: What percentage of mutual funds, financial advisors and investment advisory services underperform the overall market? And why?

Answer: Nick H. hit this one spot on when he said, “80% per Hulbert Financial Digest.”

And it’s not just because of the fees they charge. It’s because all the “experts” are humans, too, and are “predictably irrational,” buying and selling at the wrong times.

Question #5: You could have $10,000 in a mutual fund that reports an average annual return of 25% for four years… and at the end of the fourth year end up with only the $10,000 you started with.

How is that possible?

Answer: Doc Youngblood’s little story was such a great, entertaining explanation of this, I decided to include his response in full:

“How is it possible to have $10,000 in a mutual fund that reports an average annual return of 25% for four years… and at the end of the fourth year you end up with only the $10,000 you started with?

The key to the question’s answer is hidden in this short, simple story, but hidden in plain sight for those willing to see.

And the story? You’ll like this I promise—no animals were hurt during its filming.

Imagine we are duck hunting and I shoot. I miss by a foot behind the duck. So I quickly aim and shoot again. I miss by a foot in front of the duck.

By the law of averages, I hit a bulls eye. By the law of dinner, my plate is still empty.

So, if your mutual fund reports an average annual return of 25% for four years, does that mean you’ve got more money in your account?

Let’s play:

Four years later you still have a $10,000 balance. But not once did the rate of return equal 25%. Here’s the percent change for each year: 100-50+100-50. So we add that up (100%) and then we divide that by four years to show our average rate of return is 25% for four years.

Wait! A 25% average rate of return is supposed to be a great thing, right?

Follow the cash in the example above—did the cash increase? The numbers above show one scenario with a 25% average rate of return and ending up with exactly the same money you started with.

However, 25% annual compound interest is a great thing. Take a look:

Year One: $10,000 becomes $12,500 at 25% compound interest.
Year Two: $12,500 becomes $15,625
Year Three: $15,625 becomes $19,531.25
Year Four: $19,531.25 becomes $24,414.06

Were you like me and confused about the two definitions? It’s very common to confuse them AND to assume that the average rate of return is a linear type of activity, one year after the next being the same. Average rate of return and compound interest are not the same.”

(For the record, you’ll find no smoke and mirrors when you see the bottom line numbers and results you could get when you add Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.)

Now for the list of our six contest winners…

There were so many insightful answers that it was hard to pick out only six winners. (All are being notified by email.)

The best entry, picked by our Bank On Yourself team, is Doc Youngblood, who wins a $100 Amazon Gift Card! (Doc – I guess you can tell your wife she was right!)

And the two runners up, who’ll get their choice of a $25 Dining Gift Certificate or a personally autographed copy of my best-selling book, Bank On Yourself: The Life Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future, are:

1. Eric

2. Raymond Trembath

There were also three winners who got at least one question right, who were randomly chosen to win prizes. The winner of the second $100 Amazon Gift Card is Robert N.

And the two randomly chosen winners who’ll get their choice of a $25 Dining Gift Certificate or a personally autographed copy of my book are:

1. Carl Schoner

2. Rita

Thanks to everyone who participated in this blog contest. You are all winners for thinking – and seeing – through the conventional wisdom about money and finances that has cost so many people so much in lost money, lost time and broken dreams.

Here is how the responses to each of our 10 survey questions have broken down.  The percentages reveal which option our survey-takers find more scary!

You’ll see that snakes, blood, public nudity, eating fire-hot peppers, and even close proximity to a psychotic killer caused far fewer trembles than did the terrifying prospect of winding up in a serious financial jam.

Here’s what Americans find most scary…

1. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 22.2% – Death

• 78% – Outliving Your Money

  

2. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 28.6% – Having all of your investment decisions — good and bad — published in your local newspaper

• 71.4% – Walking naked down a fashion runway while being photographed

3. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 17.5% – Having to remain awake for 48 uninterrupted hours

• 82.5% – Having to memorize all the fine print on your 401(k) plan in no more than 48 hours

4. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 64.3% – Watching your stock portfolio lose 40% of its value in only a few weeks

• 36.4% – Ingesting 40 habanero peppers within 24 hours

5. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 58.8% – Sitting for 30 minutes in a tub of live snakes

• 41.7% – Explaining to your family or other loved ones that you’ve lost your home to foreclosure

6. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 49.2% – Having to pick the one mutual fund (among hundreds) that will outperform all others during the year

• 52.1% – Bobbing for a 10 oz gold bar in a vat containing 50 gallons of cow’s blood

7. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 9.4% – Going on twelve once-a-month blind dates with a randomly selected bachelor or bachelorette

• 91% – Entrusting your retirement portfolio to an anonymous fund administrator, who may or may not have any special education or training

Editors Note: Although 9 out of 10 Americans fear entrusting their retirement to an incompetent administrator, millions of Americans may unknowingly be doing exactly that right now! Read our shocking exposé and learn the facts!

8. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 64% – Having my personal tax returns audited by the IRS

• 37.3% -Walking around for a week wearing pants with pockets overflowing with live worms

9. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 31.7% – Be strapped atop a vintage stunt plane while it performs a typical aerobatics routine

• 70.% – Be tied to the Social Security program as your sole source of retirement income

10. Which of the following is more frightful to you?

• 66.1% – Losing my job and having to live only off of my current savings for a year

• 34.6% -Renting an extended-stay room in the Bates Motel and sharing a shower with Anthony Perkins

Were you surprised by any of your responses?

These results are a sad commentary on the financial condition and current state of mind of so many of our family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues.

The definition of insanity is doing the same things in the same way and hoping for different results.  So, if you’re ready to find a better way to save and invest for your financial future that gives you peace of mind and lifetime financial security, check out the Bank On Yourself method.

To find out how much brighter your financial picture could be if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan, request your free, no-obligation Analysis now, while it’s fresh on your mind!