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Money has always been a cause of a great amount of stress for many people. Anxiety over debt can present itself in many ways including sleepless nights and chest pains.

Among college students, nearly 80% receiving degrees (1999-2000) had at least one credit card, and half of those carried a significant balance (re: American Council on Education). On top of credit card debt, many students also carry years of student loan debts.

"Credit cards are a double-edged sword. Its hard for a recent college grad to buy an airline ticket without a credit card, but it's easy to lose control and start overspending," says Jane Rinzler Buckingham, President of market research company Youth Intelligence.

Today's youth have accumulated more debt than any generation before them in history, and their happiness and even their physical health are suffering because of it. Everything from sleeplessness and depression to irritability and heart palpitations, (Paul J. Lavrakas, Ph.D., former director at Center for Survey Research at Ohio State University).

How do you know if your debt is affecting your health? One of the first signs of debt stress is anxiety. Worrying about money and how you will be able to afford the basic neccessities. Because of the higher debt-to-income ratio of most 20somethings, the anxiety weighs on them daily and compounds the stress of everyday life. Long-term stress can develop into depression.

"Being in a lot of debt can feel overwhelming to people and wreak havoc on self-esteem" (Olivia Mellan, money coach in Washington D.C., author of "Money Shy to Money Sure")

Money is still somewhat a Taboo topic on our society, so most people will hide their money troubles from others and the ones they love. Debt can become a shameful secret for some people when its really nothing to be ashamed of, its just money. Some people take it too seriously, though.

In 1997, a freshman at the University of Central Oklahoma committed suicide because she was overwhelmed and upset over three maxed credit cards and was losing her part-time job.

The fact is, being in debt can make you sick, in whatever way your body manifests stress. Insomnia, digestive problems, asthma, anxiety attacks, and skin problems are all common for those stressing about their finances. Stress can trigger addictions to cope, as well. Excessive eating, drinking, smoking can all develop.

Loss of desire in sex can also occur, a woman describes her ordeal after gaining $20,000 in credit card debt: "I haven't had sex in six months, moslty because I can't relax enough to pursue a relationship or get in the mood. My libido has completely shut down ... sex doesn't even enter my mind." A recent poll showed that 58% of people said their sex lives improved when their finances improved.

A study of 1000 people at Ohio State University found that people who have high credit card debt are likely to be in worse health and have higher levels of physical impairment, and be more overweight than those without a lot of debt.

So if you do have financial problems, you need to understand that its not the end of the world and there is help available. Above all, realize that money is a tool and should be treated with care and respect as it can cause a lot of damage to you and your health.

Adapted with references from Cosmopolitan Magazine, August 2002.

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We all judge a book by its cover on a daily basis and its difficult to get away from looking at something and making a quick judgement. I originally avoided Liquid Ice because their can design looks pretty cheap. Generally, I'm not a big fan of products that don't spend time on promotions or at least making their product look attractive to buyers. Sometimes this suggests that the product is a cheap product and not worth it.

Liquid Ice took me by surprise and from the first taste it instantly jumped near the top of my list for energy drinks I enjoy. The taste is excellent and totally unique for energy drinks. It reminds me of blue freezee or something, its a berry flavour of some kind.

As far as the energy or high metabolism this drink says it may enhance, I always feel energetic after drinking an energy drink so who knows.. its a standard 250ml can and contains the usual ingredients Taurine (1000mg), Caffeine (80mg), Niacin (20mg), Vitamin B6 (5mg), Vitamin B12 (6mcg), and Coenzyme Q10 (5mg).

Put this drink on your list and enjoy it. Its easy to find, just look for the bright blue label with tacky yellow lettering.

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Basic strategy of negotiation is to get what you want, and to give away as little as possible. Its easy to get carried away on a deal if you're not willing to walk away.

If you're selling something, don't appear like you are desperate to sell. All the time you see people posting cars for sale as "must sell" or "OBO" which is ridiculous since you are instantly giving away that you are in a situation where you are desperate to sell, or are already willing to take LESS than your asking price. Never give anyone the impression that you need to make the deal or you'll be walking away with a lot less than you want.

Furthermore, its already assumed that pretty much every deal is negotiable and only suckers pay full price for anything. There is no need to tell anyone a deal is negotiable otherwise it does the same thing, it tells them you really want to make a deal happen.

Inflating your price and then giving a "discount" to people interested is a great way to get the price you want. When I sold my car, I priced it $500 over what I wanted to sell for, which gave me room to come down on the price. If I had started with my best price I would have ultimately taken less.

Now, if you're on the other end of the stick, you need to pay attention to these same things and take advantage of them. Never pay full price and always ask if they can do better on the price, whether its a house, car, or anything else. By acting reluctant I stumbled into "staff pricing" at the local electronics store and have had the deal ever since which has saved me thousands of dollars. It never hurts to ask.

Play hard to get, but not impossible. There are folks out there that make you want what they have because they act as if they don't want you to have it. It works sometimes, other times not. The one time I really tried this as a marketing tactic, it didn't work. People were intimidated by it and instead of playing hard to get, people perceived that I was playing impossible to get. Just don't be too eager to make a deal.

Be prepared to walk away. Never expect to get what you want the first time, and be prepared to say "no" when you don't get what you want. Once upon a time I had someone who wanted to sell me a website and I didn't necessarily want to buy for the $10,000 price they wanted. I said no and told them I was more interested in a price of $6000. We went our separate ways. Not even half an hour later they came back to me with a price of $7000 and I took it. The deal paid for itself in just a few months and has since been an extremely valuable asset and generates a lot of income.

Make your deal seem better than their deal. By this I mean if they want more money for something you want, tell them why its not worth as much as they're asking. If you're trying to get more money for something, explain all the ways that its worth MORE than you're asking.

Above all, never be deceptive in a deal. Always tell the truth, prove what you say, and never over-sell something or say it will do something it won't. If you trick someone into buying something or making a deal, it will come back to bite you either in reputation or possibly even legal action. If you lay everything out in a truthful way, your reputation is not at stake, and if they still make a bad decision it won't be your fault if you gave full disclosure.

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The one thing you need to know is that you can have the greatest product or service in the world, but if people don't know about it, or don't talk about it, it doesn't exist.

So the best way to get started with your business whether it is a service or a product, is to talk to people about it. If you developed it because other people needed it, go back and make contact with those people and tell them it now exists. Find groups of people who might need it and talk to them about it. Tell friends about it, get feedback. Don't get upset with criticism. If someone tells you its a terrible idea, try to look at it from their perspective -- they may be right.

Find the most likely people to buy and talk to them. If they don't buy, continue to re-evaluate your product, your pricing, and what else is in the market if anything.

Throwing money around for promotion can help but only if your margins are good enough to recoup the costs. Promoting a $10 item in a Superbowl TV spot will only be a wise choice if you can sell 10 million of them.

You should use every opportunity to contact other people and try to talk to people about your product. Sometimes when I receive a spam email from a company wanting to sell me something, sometimes I see an opportunity and contact them to do business.

Even if people don't seem interested now, they may be interested in the future. Don't avoid talking to people (especially if they are asking questions) just because the sale isn't imminent. They might come back in a year to do business with you and if you tick them off they won't come back at all.

Don't be pushy. People love to buy, but they hate to be sold to. If you walk around and talk to people like you're an advertisment, they will avoid you.

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No, I'm not talking about the FOX version entitled "Kitchen Nightmares." Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is the original european version of the show that airs currently on Food Network.

The show features world-class chef Gordon Ramsay (commonly known as the British guy who constantly dropping the f-bomb, cursing people out, and yelling at them in order to try and teach them when they don't understand or show respect.

The premise of the show is Ramsay going to restaurants that are in trouble for any number of reasons. He comes in and basically works as a consultant to look for and find problems. Often its quality of food, marketing, management, bottlenecks, location, any number of things that can make a restaurant go into trouble. Every show its something different as every eatery has problems all their own.

Its one of my favorite shows less because of the food, and more because of the business aspect of the consulting Ramsay does for them. It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant and irresponsible some people are with their restaurant and how amazing it is to them that the business is failing.

After watching the show for quite some time now, there are a few key reasons restaurants fail.

Bad Food
If you don't make good food and people don't like it, they won't enjoy the experience and won't come back. Even if you do spend time and money promoting the restaurant, its a dead-end street when those folks eat the food and hate it. Always have the best product you can, and cook it consistently and properly every time. Failure here means failure, period.

Bad Management and Service
People want their food quickly, if its not cooked quickly it needs to be worth the wait. Failing both of these, poor customer service will kill any business. This also relays into the kitchen where if the chef and food isn't being prepared in a streamlined way, everything will back-up and make restaurant service look terrible.

Bad Business Sense
For any number of other reasons, people who make good food may not know how to run a business. Restaurant owners or a chef may hire unsuitable people or too many people to run a business. They may spend too much on wasted food, too much on promotion, or any number of variety of things to cause expenses to greatly outweigh income.

The UK version of Kitchen Nightmares feels a little more "nice" and focused on the transformation of restaurants in a less "evil" way. Its brilliant that the Food Network allows the blatant swearing -- bleeping everything out is just annoying and we know what he's saying anyway. Meanwhile, the US FOX version, has sparked at least one lawsuit against Gordon Ramsay .. but what did the people expect when they signed up for a show on FOX?

UK and US versions have one thing in common, the show is definitely less about food and more about the business and the people running it.

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If you enjoy finding something, perfecting it, and then replicating your success with that, then you will be highly successful doing whatever that happens to be. However, if for some reason what you were doing doesn't work anymore (if the demand dries up or becomes saturated) then you'll need to adapt or move on to survive.

Donald Trump in his "Art of the Deal" book says "You're generally better sticking with what you know" (pg 28) but I don't agree. Staying within your comfort zones will allow you to feel safe, but it doesn't help your business to grow by venturing into anything new. Even if you do stick to what you know, that doesn't mean it will necessarily br profitable either, illustrated by my miserable failure in an eBay business I partnered on many years ago.

You don't grow if you don't leave your comfort zones. With that said, you should only venture into niches or other business ideas or markets you have an interest in. Your interest will drive you to learn and become better in that new niche. Use that to your advantage when entering into something new.

One of the worst things you could do is go into something because "there's money in it." Don't let someone else drive you into something you don't want to do. Your heart won't be in it, the learning curve will be steep, and it just won't be fun. Experiment and you'll grow, and your business will too.

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I don't mean the voice inside your head that tells you to start fires. I mean the voice that tells you when something is a great idea, or something doesn't seem right and your gut tells you so.

It is suggested that the feelings that people have in their “gut” are connected to our bodies natural fight or flight stress responses. Subconscious processing of cues around us causes the body to stress (sweating, uneasyness, butterflies, etc).

Its not very scientific, but it's definitely good advice when making any decision to listen to yourself. No matter if its a big business decision or deciding which camp site to take at the lake, your intuition and gut will almost always steer you right. That is, I don't think my gut has ever lead me wrong. That doesn't mean I have never made a bad decision, because I have.

You won't always have that uneasy feeling that something is not a good decision, I find that only comes when things really don't add up. You can see a deal as being excellent on paper, but if elements of the deal make you uneasy, that's something else entirely. When that happens, don't go through with it, and don't ignore your gut.

Sometimes its easy to get blinded by the big picture and get sidetracked by the idea rather than how much of a bad decision something really is. There was one time that I made a very bad business decision, and my gut didn't warn me beacuse I was so excited by it.

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Do you ever find yourself working without any specific goal or dream? That is what happens when there is no strategy or plan. Its great to work and work and be doing well, but without any short or long term goals, how will you know if your efforts have been successful?

Make short term goals to give yourself something objective to complete, and reward yourself when you accomplish your goal.

Long term goals take more planning, so keep them challenging but attainable. Even if you don't accomplish your goals, at least you know there's something you are working towards -- a light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps.

When I find myself overwhelmed with work, thinking to myself "will it ever end?" it helps to stop and sit down and think. Recently the feeling swept over me and I sat down and laid out some of the major things I wanted to do in the next 2-3 months. By laying them out on a long-term scale I was able to calm down and realize that not everything needed to be done right now. Everything is part of a larger plan.

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My experience with Bolthouse Farms' drinks began with a Mango Lemonade 1L beverage that I picked up on a whim during grocery shopping many years ago. It was a smooth and great tasting drink that was more of a fruit smoothy than an energy drink, but it got me through the day.

Its been awhile since I drank a Bolthouse Farm drink, mostly because I grew a little sick of drinking the same thing. On this particular trip for food I caught a glimpse of a new flavor -- Mocha Cappuccino.

My experience with coffee flavored drinks have not been very good in the past, exclusing Starbucks branded drinks like their Frappuccino. This one also left me struck with how lackluster it was.

Maybe I just don't like the creamy texture or maybe its the taste. Perhaps its the fact its a protein drink loaded with 42g of Protein that carries a flavor I don't like. I've never been much of a fan of Whey Protein. Regardless, I don't like this one and as I write this I am trying to drink it. Lets just say its not going very well.

I rarely pay attention to the price when buying food unless I'm comparing prices between sizes and the brand name vs no name products. Its true, food shopping is a vice of mine where I often spend more money than I should on stuff I really shouldn't be buying. My point is, I have no idea how much these drinks cost without checking my reciept -- probably close to $4 for 1L of drink.

The drink has many of the ingredients of an energy drink like Vitamin C, B6, B12, and actually shows "Mocha Cappucchino" on the label as an ingredient which includes arabica coffee.

Ultimately this is a big, cold, creamy coffee drink that doesn't leave me wanting more. I'll stick to the other Bolthouse flavours.

Bolthouse Farms beverages contain no preservatives.

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Many years of ambitious workaholism has taught me a few things. One of those is that the "jack of all trades is master of none."

When I developed my first major website, things were great because I could put my entire effort into it -- and it thrived in every aspect because I focused on its development and promotion.

But it was that success that lead to a realization. In my nievety I thought that by adding another project (because I had the current one under control and had extra time) would generate more income. Getting greedy and seeking more income gobbled up my time, and it was a slippery slope.

I added more and more to my plate without any clear plan to manage everything I was taking on. Before I knew it, I was running over 18 separate websites, and it was years before I asked anyone to help.

Finally when I did get a couple people doing some contract work, I was still the one putting in over 70 hours a week. Lots of projects were in development or planning stages when I finally snapped. Luckily for me, there wasn't a big mental breakdown. My epiphany was more of a realization in the shower one morning.

I stood there overwhelmed with the amount of work that needed to be done, and at that moment I finally saw that it did not matter how long I worked, I would never complete all the projects I had laid out for myself. I would work until the day I died, and at that moment I just realized that I couldn't do everything myself anymore.

There were only three solutions to the problem I was in. The best option allowed me to continue everything, but required human cloning. The second option was to hire people, but that required cutting into my income and paying people to manage projects that were not that lucrative.

Hiring people to do my work proved to be unsuccessful for the most part. Delegation is difficult, and so is finding capable workers. So, the final option (and most realistic) was to reduce the number of projects and sell off existing projects that were not going anywhere. Reducing my workload to focus on what was important was required.

I did feasibility studies, checking how much money some projects were making. Others that were in their planning stages were scrapped. Some that had been developed but were not monetized were sold.

One website inparticular was a video website or "tube website" that was earning just over $2000 per year, that took a significant amount of resources to operate, including someone to help manage it. Its margins were tiny, and accounting for everything I was probably breaking even or losing money. Sure, I could have promoted it and increased traffic, but that also would increase my costs. It was decided that the website needed to go, even though it was one of my favorite projects that I had run for over 5 years. It was truly painful to let go, but I suspected that once it was sold and I was separated from the project, that I wouldn't miss it. Sure enough, today I have no regrets about selling the project.

Since that day in the shower my number of projects have been reduced from 18+ to 13. Of those projects, one is discontinued, another is not being developed further (due to poor results) and many of the remaining could be full time jobs each on their own. Truly there is a long way to go.

Future development of new projects has been limited. I no longer develop full websites for small ideas, instead just add the features to existing websites. Trying to reduce the time I am working, no new project is begun or pursued unless it has potential to replace my existing income.

So the moral of the story is, you should choose one great idea and run with it. Work on it, improve on it, and don't start something else until the project as a whole can be delegated to someone else. Only when that is possible should you move into the next project. Until then, take it from me -- Do one thing, and do it well.

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Common advise for ambitious people is to think big. Thinking big is a balancing act and one that doesn't always work out.

Sure, you want a big idea that will make a lot of money. But, putting a big idea in the hands of someone who has never handled 'small' ideas may ultimately lead to big problems.

I don't want to suggest anyone stop thinking big or look for that great idea that will make your fortune, but at the same time you have to be realistic. Everyone starts with nothing and works their way up.

Everyone needs to learn how to handle small ideas before they can handle big ones. One should always look ahead, and instead of just thinking 'big' you should think 'bigger' than what you are doing now. Once you have climbed your way upwards and continue to achieve your goals and continue onto bigger and better things, make sure you are comfortable with what you're doing before trying to push harder.

If you're going to think big, you need to focus to be successful, because its going to take everything you've got to make it work. I have seen folks quit their jobs (which is a huge risk) but they did it and things did work out, because their idea was good and they needed to focus to be successful.

Keep your head up and keep looking for the next bigger thing you can do with your life and that goes for more than just business.

Just becareful to look down once in awhile to make sure you're not walking off a cliff.

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Without a doubt, procrastination is your worst enemy, and something that I personally have battled with most of my life and I am sure everyone else does as well.

The side effect of procrastination is non-action. If a procrastinator comes up with a new project, odds are it won't get started at all. Clearly, avoiding procrastination is the difference between a great idea staying on paper, and a great idea meeting the public eye. Mix in a little perfectionism, and even if a project does get started, it might never get completed.

This seems like a very big problem, but there is a very simple solution. If you have an idea or want to do something -- do it. Wow, that sounds too easy, but when I am discussing ideas with people and I think its a good one, I simply tell them -- just do it.

Procrastination seems to be highly related to the scale and depth of a project. Nobody wants to start something huge, even though its just as easy to put off a simple task.

So the rule of thumb for dealing with a small task is to stop what you're doing and just do it. Whether that is fixing something around the house or running a quick erran. Just get it done and you don't have to worry about it anymore.

However, a large project has a much higher anxiety rating and causes a different type of procrastination altogether. It's easy to just freeze up and not start a huge project, because of its scale. But, there is a simple way to get started on a large project and to stop procrastinating -- make a plan.

By making a plan you effectively lay out what needs to be done. Breaking a large task into smaller "bite size" tasks will allow you to bite off what you can chew, then move on to the next step and complete them one by one. This avoids you from looking at the project as a whole.

Laying out the steps to completion is the most effective way to focus on the solution, rather than the problem.

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Ever heard the saying "Money is how people with no talent keep score." Clearly, coined by someone with none of their own.

When it comes to business, there are very few ways to gauge success other than with dollars and cents. This is why you see so many money blogs and personal finance websites with a Net Worth rank like you see on the left side of my website as well.

Sure, you can count your sales or how many employees work in the company, but at the end of the day, unless a company is making money, it can have a lot of sales and a lot of employees, and still be a collossal failure. Money is king for keeping score in business.

One of the core principles of my website is that money is not everything, (and that's coming from someone with a lot extra to spare). But for someone to say that money (and ultimately business) is for people with no talent is a huge insult to a huge population of people who love the thrill of business deals.

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You have extra money and want to know what to do with it? Well, if you're my parents you will likely go out for supper to celebrate. If you are my sister you'll probably spend it on something you don't need. But if you were me, you'd invest it or otherwise use it to your advantage rather than buying more crap you don't need.

You should always pay down debts if you have extra money. Always. If you owe money, you shouldn't be spending it if you don't have to, period. This is something people forget and instead, decide to 'treat' themselves to something. Its a bad spending habit, but unless you want to change and get ahead, it doesn't matter what I say. You need to want to spend less and better manage your money.

Let's say you have a $5,000 credit card that generates a low 10% interest rate. If you took your extra $100 a month and paid it towards the card, you would pay off $1200, and save yourself a full $500 in interest the next year!

Think before you spend. Pay down what you owe before you buy more crap. You'll get farther ahead instead of farther behind. Sure, you won't be able to eat take-out every day, but its like ripping off a band-aid. Would you rather have it be slow and painful or get it over with?

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Its been over 2 years since the biggest business failure of my life. Someone I knew had been working for one of these "We sell your stuff on eBay" stores that have popped up across the US and in Canada. The business was booming. Sensing huge potential selling other people's stuff, I jumped on board with both feet and got my family involved with the business.

We launched with an excellent business name which was very snappy and easy to remember. We got ourselves a great retail space, spent a lot of money on advertising, and thought we had done everything right. However, after 7 months I had invested over $32,000 and the doors were closed. Here are the most obvious things that lead to the failure of the business:

Forced Out of Comfort Zone
Let's make something very clear -- I am a web-based entrepreneur. I don't deal with inventory or rent, or real world marketing (for the most part). Therefore, going into a business that was primarily brick-and-mortar was culture shock. Instead of dealing with Instant Messages and Emails, I had to deal with a short commute to a real-world job where I had to deal with real people face to face. That was not something I enjoyed, at all. My comfort zone is websites, not retail business. I knew nothing about it and it was a huge mistake for me to try and fake it.


Do the Math, and Have a Plan
Sure, there was a plan. Setup the business so it functions, advertise, and the people will come. Unfortunately, that didn't work. We overran the budget on advertising, rent, and rising "common fees" that the property owner kept rising. During our peak month, we grossed $12,000. That sounds great, but after all of our expenses, we were not breaking even. As a commission based business, the owner received approx 70% of that income.

That meant that our net before expenses was around $3600. We had pretty much everyone in the family helping -- for free, and couldn't even afford to cover expenses, or even pay ourselves. Once all the math was done, the problems really became obvious, and saving the business was almost impossible without massive changes to our makeshift "business plan"


Don't Rely on Mass Advertising
I read an entire book about mass advertising, but only after sinking over $10,000 into radio and print ads that didn't bring in the customers. Today, advertising is about buzz marketing, word of mouth, not about what some commercial tells you to do. That is, unless you're a multi-million-dollar company with lots to spend on those ads to drill their message into your brain.

You will get more customers from talking to friends about your business who will tell their friends, and their friends, than you ever will from a single radio ad. Even if you do try mass advertising, you NEED to have the right message. Do your market research.

Launch A Business People Need
Before launching our eBay business, we were not already selling for people, and did not have people who wanted us to sell their stuff. There was no need for our business to exist besides for the fact that we wanted it to. This was a huge mistake.

Even as the opening came closer, we realized that another eBay business was already in operation -- for a few months before we launched. The market had already been tapped, but we loved our own idea so much we did not stop.

You should NEVER start a business unless there is a need for it to exist. You can't tell the market what it wants, you can only respond to the market and the people inside that market. Never be so arrogant to think you know what people want.


Grow Based on Need
When we first opened, we got a big retail space for all the products we expected we would eventually be selling. For the majority of the life of our eBay business the shop was not full, making the extra space a costly waste.

Make decisions based on need, not anticipated need. Don't do something because you think you'll need it a year later. That leads to an expectation that things will happen rather than responding to them when they do.


Know when to Walk Away
The best thing I did was sit down and take a close look at the business. Realizing that the business was not doing anything close to expectations caused me to look at possible solutions. However, none of the solutions I came up with were feasible, so we walked away from the business to cut losses. That was the smartest thing we did.

There were many more contributing factors to that business disaster. Its been a couple years now and the experience still bothers me. I try to focus instead on what went right, rather than what went wrong to try and put it behind me.

At the end of it all, I was able to go back to my web development and learned that I am a far better web developer than brick-and-mortar businessman. You can easily startup and fail with websites and it doesn't cost you 5-figures. Because of this experience I read a lot about advertising and business in general to try and learn from the failure -- and that has helped enormously with my web business.

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Everyone can own anything just by making a low monthly payment. That's a marketing ploy that makes you poorer and makes them richer. People crave things, and it doesn't matter what things they crave, but they want them NOW. Instant gratification is a very evil thing, especially when its separating you from your money. Instant gratification is the primary source of "Buyer's Remorse."

For some people, loans and credit can generate a high like nothing else. Put yourself in the position of a college student who just 'purchased' their new car and after 5 years of payments, finally own their car. What an amazing feeling to own something and to have successfully paid it off. That can generate a high, and instead of basking in the afterglow of paying off a loan, they immediately go and purchase something else to generate the instant high from the purchase, and then start the process again of paying it off. People are generally addicted to spending money, and paying off their credit. Its a goal for them, a dream.

I know two sets of people who do this constantly, my parents and my sister. As soon as something is paid off (whether its a loan, car, or house) they seem to immediately go out and repeat the process, or replace that drain on their finances somehow rather than basking in the glow.

Most people understand that by paying installments they are paying more through interest, but by paying over a longer period of time rather than paying for something outright also is a drain on your disposable income.

As you allocate more and more of your steady income to "low monthly payments" eventually your total cash flow is tapped out until the payments are complete. What is worse is that over the long run, you are being charged interest on all those small payments and they do add up. By continually paying in installments rather than saving and paying outright, you are costing yourself significant amounts of money that you are getting absolutely no compensation for.

That does not seem to matter to students or the companies who invade college campuses every fall. Every year they give away credit cards to students, with credit limits they likely can't afford. That trap on the first day of college can lead to a lifetime of debt, and financial dependance on credit.

Have it now, if you have the cash to pay for it.

Originally posted October 30, 2007. Revised June 3, 2008.

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"If people only understood the rank injustice of the money and banking system, there would be a revolution by morning." -- Andrew Jackson

Government Bankruptcy
When Franklin D. Roosevelt signed HJR-192, the citizens of the United States were sold into financial slavery and the United States itself was instantly indebted to the Federal Reserve and perpetually and forever bankrupted.

The Federal Reserve is a privately owned central bank. The Government of the United States does not regulate its currency, and instead borrows the currency from the Federal Reserve. The US Government is charged interest on the money they borrow from the Reserve.

"Examining the organization and function of the Federal Reserve Banks, and applying the relevant factors, we conclude that the Federal Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for the purpose of the FTCA, but are independant, privately owned and locally controlled corporations. Each Federal Reserve Bank is a separate corporation owned by commercial banks in its region." -- 1982 Ninth Circuit court case of LEWIS v. UNITED STATES, 680 F.2d 1239.


Here's where it gets confusing. If the Federal Reserve charges interest on the money it prints, then where will the money come from to pay the interest on the money used by the Government? Simple, the 'loan' can never be paid off. The interest generates inflation as the Federal Reserve prints more money as the Government sinks deeper and deeper into debt. This is a downward spiral that will continue forever until the collapse of the US monetary system.

"The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest." -- Abraham Lincoln

Inflation
"The new law (Federal Reserve Act) will create inflation whenever the trusts want inflation. From now on, depressions will be scientifically created." -- Charles A. Lindbergh.

Essentially, inflation is the devaluation of money. It occurs as more money is generated (printed) by the Federal Reserve. The amount of money in circulation has been growing exponentially for decades. When the Federal Reserve or US Government needs more money, they just print more.


"We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world - no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. -- Woodrow Wilson

If you ever wonder why US currency is currently devaluing against all other currencies in the world, blame the Federal Reserve. Each and every day more money is printed, all currency already in circulation is less valuable. Because the US Currency does not have the 'gold standard' backing (stating that one US dollar is worth x-amount in gold) it therefore gains its value by comparing it to how much money is in circulation. Your $1 is worth nothing, it is just a piece of paper. Its value is determined solely by the Federal Reserve.

It sure sounds better when you call it "inflation" .. doesn't it?

Wikipedia: Money Supply

"the prices keep going up and up and up because the value of those units [money] keeps going down and down and down because they keep making more and more and more of them and dumping them into the economic soup. -- G. Edward Griffin, "The Creature From Jekyll Island"


"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks... will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered ... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- President Thomas Jefferson.

written by RichCanadian, adapted with content from fdrs.org

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You're a success. You've started to make big money, and things look bright for the future. Then, someone comes along and offers you a big check with many zeros. What do you do?

If you're like many people, you take the check and run. But is it the right decision? That depends on the potential of the project and whether it has peaked or not.

Take for example an advertising service I started up in 2006. By the end of 2007 it was finally automated and started to gain steam. During 2008 the business will gross somewhere under $250,000. It still has a lot of potential, and its only in its first year of full operations.

If someone came to me with a big check, it would be better for me to decline, and hold on to the business. In the long run, continuing to work on the project and promote it to the public will continue to grow the client base and its growing recurring income.

When is the best time to sell a project? The answer to that is simple, you only sell out when the project is past its peak, losing value, is dropping in income, or does not have enough income to make it worthwhile.

Run with your idea and give it 100% of your effort. If its unsuccessful, look at the project or have a focus group of people you trust to give you new ideas of how to improve it or make it more profitable. If that doesn't work and you have done everything you can -- exit the project.

Someone will always see potential in a dying project, the same as people will see potential in a project growing towards its peak. The key is to know the difference between the two.

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Coffee was always something I hated. The smell was something I really enjoyed and relished, but to drink it was another story. It had was predominantly bitter and while everyone around me seemed to enjoy it, the drink puzzled me. That was, until I discovered sugar.

In college my drink of choice before taking an exam was coffee, I thought it gave me an edge and helped me write and think faster. Maybe it did, perhaps it didn't. Regardless, it wasn't until my wife and I started to vacation that I started to enjoy coffee and its relatives.

My first true experience with good coffee was at an Espresso Hut in northern Idaho. We stopped at the side of the road and I ordered by first Mocha, and loved it. The key again, was chocolate and sugar. I could enjoy the taste of coffee without that predominant bitterness that kept me away before.

Since then my enjoyment has branched into Cappuccino, and I will now drink regular coffee (loaded with sugar). But, as a Diuretic and dehydrating beverage, I always feel less than super by the end of the day if I don't cover my coffee drinking with lots of water.

Here are some other interesting relatives to the regular coffee, and what they consist of:

Crema: Dense golden grown foam found on Espresso - an indication of freshness.