Summer is usually a time for teenagers to get off the couch, get a summer job, and start to learn how to make  a living.   But it might be more difficult to do that this year because of the financial crisis and large number of people out of work.

But don’t give up – there are ways to find a summer job.  CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield talks to Sharon Lechter, author of the book “Three Feet from Gold,” and head of the financial education group “Pay Your Family First.”

However, as my children have grown, I have learned so much more from them than I could ever have taught them.  Thankfully, they have the thirst for learning and a great deal of patience for their mom.

So let’s explore how you can add to your current wisdom. Answer these questions:

1. Can you attend a seminar?  There are many free seminars in your community as well as many wonderful courses that can open your mind to new opportunities. I find unexpected rewards as I have shown up at events. I’m personally grateful for people that make me think!  As you experience the speaker’s education and the energy of the participants, notice how your mind is opened to new ideas. You may gain clarity or come up with a new idea simply because your brain is relaxed or because you’re removed from your normal stressful environment.
2. Can you make the time today to change your future?  Another option I share with people who just can’t find that one hour a day, is to look at your week.  Can you have a babysitter lined up to take your children somewhere fun while you attend a seminar? You may not only learn something that will change your life, you may also meet the people waiting to be your mentors or future business partners!
3. Do you know what tools you need?  I heard a speaker share the story of a lumberman who cut down 5 trees on his first day on the job. The lumberman was jazzed! On the second day, he got to the forest two hours earlier, determined to do even better. However he was only able to cut down 4 trees.  His answer on the third day was to get up even earlier, and to work even harder.  What was his result on the third day?  He only cut down 3 trees. He had determination and took action. His only problem was that he didn’t take time to prepare properly and sharpen his ax. How does this relate to you? Your ax is your mind!  Sharpen it by learning not only new subject matter but by meeting people who will not only challenge you, but support you along your way.

Remember, you plant seeds of your future today. As you make better choices today, you change the course of your future. Continue to learn how to improve your finances, reduce debt and get more value from your precious time. As you look in the mirror with honesty and take action toward a positive future, don’t miss seeing that you are someone who can change the world!

We’d love to hear from you what action you’ve taken and what result that created. Please share with us so we can support you in reaching your goals.

Pay Your Family First is a company dedicated to providing financial education for families. Our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and a love for learning. Join us! www.payyourfamilyfirst.com.

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Sharon Lechter

CEO – Pay Your Family First
Co-author of Three Feet From Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad
Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Member of the National CPA’s Commission on Financial Literacy of the AICPA

I have heard this same line from speakers all over the world.  This particular speaker was fabulous. And it is true that you should not lose focus on your goal. You absolutely need to prioritize your activities. You will not get yourself out of debt watching TV. But, as I sat there listening to him rebuking the audience one more time, my guilt turned into anger and frustration.  Why was I angry when I thought the speaker was so great? I realized there is another perspective and it should be shared. 

My husband, Michael, and I enjoy those cable programs.  We use this time at night to reward ourselves. We have earned that quiet time; we got the job done! If I have created opportunity for myself during the day, I reward myself by cuddling on the sofa with my husband for a couple of hours.  The shows are irrelevant, but the time cuddling with my husband is priceless.  (However, I do give thanks for TIVO because I have lost patience for commercials!)

There are many nights where Michael will say, “Are you coming to watch television?  Should I wait for you, or not?”  He asks me this because I am in our home office furiously answering e-mails or sending new ones.  Why?  So I can say, “I’ll be there in just a minute, as soon as I finish here.”  When I turn off the lights in my office, I know I have earned the time cuddling with my husband!  And more, I have worked on my future! 

Now to the real point.  The issue isn’t the debt you are in today; the issue is what you are doing for your future!

What are you doing for your future?  There are 24 hours in the day.  You may be committed to 8 hours for your job, but that still leaves you 16 hours.  You may give 8 hours to sleep (wouldn’t that be a gift?).  That still leaves 8 hours.  Let’s assume you need 2 hours to commute back and forth to work (ugh!), 1 hour to get ready for your day, 1 hour for dinner (hopefully with your family), you still have 4 hours in your day.  Can you commit to spending 1 hour of that remaining 4 hours a day to your future? 

In other words, can you commit to spending 7 hours a week to your future?

However, if you can and will commit to spending 4 hours a week on your future, magic can and will happen in your life. It all starts with a desire and commitment to make the necessary changes to build our future.

What will you do with this new found time to work on your future? Share your vision of your future and what you are working on so we can support you with guidance and wisdom.

Pay Your Family First is a company dedicated to providing financial education for families. Our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and a love for learning. Join us! www.payyourfamilyfirst.com.

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Sharon Lechter

CEO – Pay Your Family First
Co-author of Three Feet From Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad
Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Member of the National CPA’s Commission on Financial Literacy of the AICPA

Start by looking in the mirror. As you evaluate your situation, ask yourself how you spend your time. Do you spend your time productively? Do you get the job done?

It’s been said that time is our most precious resource. We can always make more money or replace what we have lost, but there’s absolutely no way to replace the past minute of time we just spent. If you grasp how precious time really is, then you won’t waste it.

Just as monitoring your money flow – the making and spending of money – is important, even more important is to take a real hard look at where and how you spend your time. Most people have no idea of how much time they lose every day, every week or every month. This lost time when put to productive activities could add a much needed part time income or be just enough to start a new business.

Take action and record where you spend your time each day for the next month. Evaluate and consider where you could be more productive. Watch out for time wasters and limit your focus on those activities. Just by monitoring and being aware you’ll gain productivity as you choose to be more efficient.

Share your thoughts with us so we can guide you to your success.

Pay Your Family First is a company dedicated to providing financial education for families. Our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and a love for learning. Join us! www.payyourfamilyfirst.com.

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Sharon Lechter

CEO – Pay Your Family First
Co-author of Three Feet From Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad
Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Member of the National CPA’s Commission on Financial Literacy of the AICPA

I thought I’d share a few simple guidelines to expand your awareness and get you back on track.

1. Establish a budget. You may have heard, “What gets measured gets managed.” Sit down and record your monthly expenses. Prioritize them so you can see what might be addressed to tighten the budget as necessary. Many people don’t realize where their money goes each month because they don’t take time to detail all the areas their money is applied.
2. Stick to your decision. If you really want to change your current financial picture, you need to establish guidelines. Your budget is a guideline established to help you meet your goals. Measure everything that comes in and goes out. Ask yourself if you really need the things you purchase on a regular basis. Can you cut the spending to have more than enough coming in each month? If you can delay or postpone all together a purchase that’s not necessary, this one act will put you closer to your goal.
3. Pay attention and be open to learning new habits. Notice the types of things you are spending your money on. Can you shift buying patterns to give you more value? Perhaps you can plan to make coffee at home instead of purchasing an individual cup of coffee everyday. Cook meals on the weekend and reheat leftovers during the week to reduce food costs. Watch for instant gratification purchases. Ask yourself how you might shift to create a situation that fits with your budget.

A better financial picture starts with you choosing that you want to get control over your current financial situation. Taking action and working each month will strengthen your ability each month. The planning you’ve done on making your budget will give you a great foundation to build upon.

We’re here to help you. What questions do you have?

Pay Your Family First is a company dedicated to providing financial education for families. Our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and a love for learning. Join us! www.payyourfamilyfirst.com.

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Sharon Lechter

CEO – Pay Your Family First
Co-author of Three Feet From Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad
Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Member of the National CPA’s Commission on Financial Literacy of the AICPA

Our world persuades us to want what we don’t really need. We are encouraged to want instant financial gratification. The only way to gain control is to become educated and aware of how to quit reacting and decide our powerful response. If we don’t prepare ahead of time, we fall prey to our emotions.

You maintain control when you don’t let your emotions run your life. To gain control, you must notice the emotion and not let it rule your actions. As you notice emotions powering you to want instant financial gratification reaching for the credit card, stop and allow the logical side of your brain to think. As you delay the emotional response and suspend reaction, you can train yourself to become a powerful responder and stay focused on your goals.

Stressful pressures leave us with a well worn out response to ourselves and our children: “No, we don’t have the money for that!” The world answers for us if we are not careful with, “Just charge it!  Put it on one of your credit cards!” Many adults seem to have forgotten how credit cards work and fallen into a financial trap that is hard to overcome. Falling prey to “just charge it” impulses, we become victims and behaviorally teach our children the wrong message. 94% of young people surveyed say they learn their financial habits from their parents (that’s us). So let’s stop for a minute and have a little reality check. After all, it’s more powerful to show your children so they can follow rather than try to convince them to do as you say not as you do.

What do YOU believe about money?

Where does YOUR money come from and where does it go?

Where does YOUR money grow?

Take Action Now:

You can contemplate each of the questions above to begin raising your awareness of your current financial situation. Your belief will set your limits. Knowing where your money comes from  will help guide your focus. Detailing and being honest about where your money goes will identify holes in your financial bucket that may need to be patched. And lastly, but most importantly, tending to the financial garden and knowing where your money grows will allow you to get money working for you instead of you always working for money.

When your next credit card bill comes in, review it completely. Think about what it felt like when you bought something on the bill. Are you still enjoying it? Do you still have it? Did you really need it immediately or could you have planned to save the money and purchased the item fully instead of charging it? Examine the bill to be certain of what you purchased. You may be surprised to find that there are automatic charges for products you don’t have a clue as to what they are. You may have thought they were cancelled and they weren’t. Identify holes in your financial bucket and repair them quickly! How much might you be losing in a month? How does it feel to pay for something AFTER the fact?  Is it as much fun paying for it as it was buying it? Could you plan for upcoming purchases and then carry no debt? Could you see making fewer purchases for a month, six months, or even a year?

Study the buying and paying sides of your own life and share this experience to educate your children about both sides of the money equation—buying and paying. Knowledge is power. And as you act on the knowledge you create freedom for yourself to respond powerfully.

Pay Your Family First is a company dedicated to providing financial education for families. Our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and a love for learning. Join us! www.payyourfamilyfirst.com.

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Sharon Lechter

CEO – Pay Your Family First
Co-author of Three Feet From Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad
Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Member of the National CPA’s Commission on Financial Literacy of the AICPA

Everything I learned about money, I learned from my Dad.  His rule was simple. Half of every thing I earned from my part-time jobs went into a savings account.  Every other week, my parents drove me to the bank to deposit that 50% into a passbook savings account. I would never have even thought about withdrawing money from that account. When I started driving, the habit continued, and, yes, my parents would check up on me. 

Did I like putting the 50% in the bank at the time?  Of course not, but after tithing 10% to my church, I could spend the other 40% any way I liked.  My parents didn’t “control” how I spent it.  I realize now that my saving, giving, investing and spending habits today became habits when I was still at home under consistent guidance from my parents.  (I cannot stress the word consistent strongly enough.)

Consistency is imperative in forming a habit, good or bad.  Repetition creates the pattern of behavior.  For instance,

•  Alcoholics drink consistently
• Smokers smoke consistently
• People in debt spend consistently
• Philanthropists give consistently
• Savers save money consistently
• Investors invest money consistently

Definition: “Habit – an acquired pattern of behavior that has become almost involuntary as a result of frequent repetition.”

In order to change your life, you need to start by changing your habits.  In order to teach our children to be productive and successful adults, we need to help them form habits that produce positive results for them consistently at a young age.  It is easy to look at the list above and know that you would prefer your children to be savers, investors, and philanthropists instead of alcoholics, smokers, or debtors.  It is much more difficult as a parent to find the time to take the action NOW to help instill the habits that will propel your children toward a financial future of successful investing instead of a financial future plagued with drowning in debt.

The cost to our children and our society is getting too high not to take action NOW.  It is time for parents, grandparents, and other interested adults to start educating our children today…so they can live a happy and healthy tomorrow.

Pay Your Family First is a company dedicated to providing financial education for families. Our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and a love for learning. Join us! www.payyourfamilyfirst.com.

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Sharon Lechter

CEO – Pay Your Family First
Co-author of Three Feet From Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad
Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Member of the National CPA’s Commission on Financial Literacy of the AICPA

No single job hunting skill outranks knowing how to interview successfully. When pilots fly, they step through a rigorous preparation checklist before each take off. Apply the same procedure in landing a job. The choice between a job interview being a picture-perfect three-point touch-down and a gruesome crash-and-burn is totally up to you.

Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door does interviewing head to toe, but this seven-point checklist will go a long way toward scoring your precious at-bat into a base hit.

• Do your homework. An interview is an exam. Thoroughly research the firm on the Internet. Use all of your personal contacts to learn about your potential boss and this person’s likes and dislikes.
• Think timing. Often timing is something beyond your control, but, if you have the chance, influencing two factors can prove powerful advantages. If a company will see a roster of candidates for a particular job, it’s often better to be considered in the middle or toward the tail end of the process. Sure that’s a risk, but companies also usually have a better idea of what they want once they’ve seen several candidates. If you’re on the docket later, they’re also more likely to have a fresher impression at decision time. Another consideration: If you’re definitely a morning or evening person, you may not want to broadcast that fact. That said, you still may want to schedule your meeting for the time of day you really shine.
• Check out a company’s reception area and an interviewer’s office. If company softball trophies dominate the lobby . . . or if the exec’s bookshelves are lined with dog-eared copies of the complete works of Peter Drucker, that should tell you something.
• When you go to an interview lunch, forget the grub. You’re there to land a meal ticket, not to wolf down a free lunch. Eat a power bar before you go.
• Don’t pressure the prospect company for an immediate decision. Showing a sense of urgency never hurts, but an increasing number of job offers hinge on at least two sets of interviews and often more. Think of yourself as a guest in someone’s home. You want your host to eagerly invite you back to continue your conversations.
• Anticipate a dialogue. Always come to the interview armed with intelligent questions about the job and the company. Ask the interviewer about their most important experiences at this firm. Not only is this politically smart, you can also learn key cues about the person’s values and motivations. Somewhere in the conversation, there’s bound to be small talk. It’s up to you to make that small talk big by being up to speed on the latest business news, industry trends, and – increasingly – personal technology you need to do your job.
• After the interview, do two things immediately: (1) key in or record your debriefing of what you learned in the interview, and how you believe it went well . . . and badly. (2) Then handwrite (and personally deliver to the receptionist) a thank you note for the person who interviewed you and why you are even surer now you are the best person for this job.

What if you sense the pressure and scrutiny grow in an interview? Take it as a compliment. Always remember, the closer you get, the harder they’ll look.

The program will air on the Hallmark Channel on Tuesday, November 24th at 7:30am (6:30am CST), with support airings running on the Hallmark Movie Channel Friday, November 27th at 7:00am, Saturday, November 28th at 5:00am and Sunday, November 29th at 4:30am.

Mark the date on your calendar and be sure to tune in!

The half hour long interview is something every parent should listen to and find helpful, no matter what their previous experience in educating their children about money. So grab a pen and pencil and tune in here.