How to Save Money this Christmas.

I've just added an article on "How to Save Money This Christmas". I've listed 20 points that will help make this Christmas a little easier financially - and may be even a little more fun. Click here to view: http://easterngifts.co.za/save-money-this-christmas-a-50.html.

Hope it helps!!!

Regards,
M.

The Golden Rules - Read on.

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started oo late!
2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3. He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEO’s of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given his CEO’s only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
7. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television.
8. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
9. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
10. His advice to young people: "Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and Remember:
    A. Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money.
    B. Live your life as simple as you are.
    C. Don't do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel is good.
    D. Don't go on brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
    E. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things.
    F. After all it's your life then why give chance to others to rule our life."

And this one is for the Ladies.

I often get asked why I decided to start my own business. Well, apart from the fact that husband got retrenched a couple of years ago that really knocked the wind out of our sales (and we’re still haven’t recovered from that), the statistics below are quite frightening and is part of my motivation in starting my own business. And next month we’re celebrating Woman’s Day (Yay!) and I thought these statistics were pretty pertinent to that as well. I’m quoting from Kim Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Woman – A Book on Investing for Women (pg 58 – 59).

“The statistics about women and money are very startling. The following are U.S. statistics, yet I find for other countries throughout the world these statistics are very similar or are trending in the same direction.

In the U.S.:

• 47% of women over the age of 50 are single. (This means they are financially responsible for themselves.)
• Women’s retirement income is less than that of men because a woman is away from the work force an average of 14.7 years as compared to 1.6 years for men. (Women are typically the primary caretaker of the home.) This, along with lower salaries, adds up to retirement benefits that are only about ¼ of those of men. (National Center for Women and Retirement Research – NCWRR)
• 50% of marriages end in divorce. (And who typically ends up with the children? The woman. So now she is solely financially responsible for herself – and her children. And what is the #1 subject couples fight about? Money.)
• In the first year after a divorce a woman’s standard of living drops an average of 73%.
• As of 2000, women are expected to live an average of 7 to 10 years longer than men, (Ann Letteersee June 12, 2000), which means they must provide for those extra years. However, married baby boomer women can expect to outlive their husbands by 15 to 20 years on average.
• The average female born between 1948 and 1964 may likely remain in the workforce until at least 74 years of age due to inadequate financial savings and pension coverage. (National Center for Women and Retirement Research, 1996)
• Of the elderly living in poverty:
  o 3 out of 4 are women (Morningstar Fund Investor)
  o 80% of the women were not poor when their husbands were alive.
• Approximately 7 out of 10 women will at some time live in poverty.

What are these statistics telling us? They tell us that more and more women, especially as they become older, are not educated or prepared to take care of themselves financially. We’ve spent our entire lives taking care of our families, but have no ability to care for ourselves in this vital way. We are either depending upon someone else to do it for us – a husband or partner, a boss, a family member, or the government. Or we just figure that it will all work out. The fairy tales we grew up with were just that.

Three final statistics to consider:
1. 90% of all women will have sole responsibility for their finances within their lifetimes … yet 79% of all women have not planned for this.
2. 58% of female baby boomers have less than $10 000 in retirement.
3. Only 20% of baby boomer women will be financially secure in their retirement (Ms. Magazine, 2002).

With all of the above, you can see why I wanted to and did start my own business.

Good luck to all the women out there! Be rich, be healthy and be wise.

Regards,
M.