The boys left that aisle and went towards the mall entrance of the store. I noticed one of the boys was carrying a paperback book. They walked to a secluded part of the store by the cash registers. Meanwhile, I followed—acting like I was just browsing. I lost sight of them for a few seconds. They appeared again and headed straight for the exit. The kid with the jacket hesitated before he walked through the sensors, which threw up a HUGE red flag in my mind. I followed them out into the mall. They were walking kind of fast but they were still close enough that I saw the boy pull the book from his jacket.

I ran up behind him and put my hand on his shoulder and said, “Did you steal that book?”

He was startled and let out a little yell.

BUSTED!

He said, “No.”

I said, “Yes you did. I saw you. You need to go back to that store and pay for that book NOW!”

He shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the store. He walked in and put the book on a shelf and walked back out again.

I shouldn’t have let him off so easily. I should have taken him to the manager and humiliated the thievery out of him. But, I didn’t. Hopefully, he learned his lesson.

So, how did I know he was going to steal? Well, I’ve had a lot of experience catching shoplifters. I worked 9 years in the grocery business and during that time, I made it a game to catch crooks. Over those years, I learned what to look for. Here are some of my pointers for catching shoplifters:

1. Body language – shoplifters will often times appear nervous. The boy had the book in his hand and he wasn’t looking for anything else so there was really no reason for him to be hanging out at the store. He was looking around a lot, which is a pretty good giveaway that he was up to something. If you want to deter a shoplifter, make eye contact with them. That will freak them out.

2. Look for bulky clothing or big bags. It was a little chilly here Saturday so his coat wasn’t out of the ordinary. But, it did make me suspicious. Afterall, a shoplifter has to put their goods somewhere.

3. Look at what they’re carrying around. Shoplifters usually go for the small, high-dollar items. In this case it was a book. Most shoplifters go for stuff like batteries, cigarettes, cosmetics, or medicine. If they’re walking all through the store with these items in their hands, look out.

4. Try to see them actually hide the item. If you don’t see them hide it, then you have to be careful in making an accusation. Sometimes they get cold feet and dump the item somewhere in the store. I never got burned by this but I could see how it could happen.

5. Watch for the exit. Once the shoplifter has stowed the goods, they aren’t going to want to hang around. So, they usually make for the exit pretty quickly. The boy on Saturday hesitated before he walked through the sensors at the exit. This was a huge admission of guilt. People who don’t have stolen goods on them, aren’t going to hesitate to walk through sensors.

I only approached this kid in the mall because I saw him take the book out of his jacket. I knew that he hadn’t gone through the check out line so I was pretty sure he had stolen the book. Knowing that, I just couldn’t let him get away with it. I’m hoping that it scared him straight.

I really wish we had some sort of public humiliation for thieves. Pillories would be nice.

To perform the calculation yourself, you’ll need the following information:

• W-4, which shows your exemptions. You might have to call your Human Resources Department to get this information. It’s not a bad idea to update your W-4 annually. Remember, the more exemptions you take, the less that will be withheld from your paycheck each period. Your goal should be to get the amount withheld as close to the amount that you will owe when your taxes are due.

• Your pay rate, frequency, 401(K) contribution amount, health insurance, dental insurance, flexible spending account contributions, and any other before-tax contributions.

• IRS Publication 15 (mainly page 35 and the tables that follow).

The first step is to determine the value of your withholding allowances. You’ll first need to know the number of allowances you are claiming. Once you know that number, you’ll need to look at the chart on page 35 of Publcation 15 to find the value of each withholding allowance, based on your pay frequency.

So, if you are married, have four exemptions and you get paid semi-monthly (24 times a year), your allowances are worth $154.17 each or a total of $616.68.

Let’s say you make $6,000 per month ($3,000 per pay period). You contribute 10% to your 401(K), pay health insurance premiums of $300 per month, dental insurance premiums of $100 per month, and you contribute $100 per month to your flexible spending account. All of your pre-tax deductions amount to $1,100 per month or $550 per pay period.

Now to calculate your withholding per pay period, simply take your $3,000 in earnings and subtract your $616.68 in allowances and your $550 in pre-tax deductions, giving you a taxable amount of $1,833.32. You then look up the withholding amount, using Table 3(b) on page 36 of Publication 15, which looks like this:

You can see that we need to look at the second line down. Our taxable income is $1,833.32, so our withholding tax is $70.90 plus 15% of the amount over $1,038. The difference between $1,833.32 and $1,038 is $795.32. Our withholding tax on that $795.32 is $119.30 for a total withholding tax of $190.20.

The cool thing about being able to figure this out on your own is that you can run different scenarios to see how your 401(K) contribution amount affects your take-home pay. We’ll look at that next.

I received an email late last week from Larry Winget, alerting me to a new video series he is offering called “Unfiltered Truth.” The series is composed of 12 videos on the following topics:

• Turn Your Life Around

• Business

• Selling

• Problem Solving

• Life

• Success

• Goal Setting

• Leadership 1 & 2

• Relationships

• Customer Service

• Money

I posted a snippet of one of his videos in the series last week. In case you missed it, it’s this one:

Larry was kind enough to provide me with a special code (LHW2010) for AFM readers, which will allow you to get $20 off the purchase of the series. To order the series, go to Larry Winget Truth Series and follow the order instructions. There will be a place for you to insert the code.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, AFM does not get a cut. I’m simply doing a favor for a friend.

It’s a good series. I watched the episode on business earlier tonight. Larry gets to the point but also adds some humor. Good stuff.

3/26/2010 – $188.50
4/8/2010 – $377.02
4/16/2010 – Balance of $593.54

The XIRR formula requires both negative and positive numbers in order for it to work. So, the best thing to do is to enter contributions as negative numbers since they are “outflows” to you. Like this:

Then, the ending balance would be a positive number. I explained this to the reader and this morning he sent me back an email telling me that he did it but got a return of 314%, which didn’t seem correct because his company was telling him the answer was 8.53%.

Both answers are correct. This is because the XIRR formula is annualized. To get the personal rate of return for the this time period, we have to adjust the annualized number. It’s easy enough to do. You just use this formula:

PRR (Personal Rate of Return) = [(1 + 3.148)^{# of days/365}] – 1

To get the number of days you simply subtract 3/26/2010 from 4/16/2010 to get 21 days.

PRR (Personal Rate of Return) = [4.148^21/365] – 1

PRR (Personal Rate of Return) = [4.148^.0575] – 1

PRR (Personal Rate of Return) = [1.08524] – 1

PRR (Personal Rate of Return) = .08524 or 8.52% (different due to rounding)

In other words, his personal rate of return over that 21-dayperiod was 8.53% but if you annualize the number, it’s 314%.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful. The XIRR formula can be confusing.

1. Walk away from bargains

Some people can’t walk away from bargains. I’m not saying my mom had this problem but I do remember her telling my dad stuff like, “I saved $20 on this dress.” My dad would reply, “But you SPENT $30 you didn’t need to spend.” Of course, that was my dad’s usual reply to money being spent on anything. Anyway, the point of point is that you shouldn’t just buy something because it’s a bargain. Doing so leads to clutter and clutter is the enemy of organization.

2. Make peace with imperfection

3. Never label anything “miscellaneous”

Uhhh…I have this problem.

4. Schedule regular decluttering sessions

This is a great idea. Be proactive before things get out of hand.

5. Stick with what works

6. Create a dump zone

I’d say this is an okay idea as long as it doesn’t go on too long. One of the things I notice is that when I’m cleaning the house, I spend a ton of time just putting stuff back where it belongs. Maybe we should institute a dump zone.

7. Ask for help

8. Separate emotions from possessions

9. Foresee (and avoid) problems

10. Know where to donate

To this I might add: MAKE SURE your kids know about this too. One of my sons threw away nearly-new shoes in his attempt at cleaning his room. I was not a happy camper. I should have communicated better to my kids that we give away nice stuff that they no longer need.

I also would like to add a few points:

• I have a rule that anything I haven’t used in six months and don’t plan on using in the next six months, I get rid of. I hate clutter.

• Organize your closet in a way so that you aren’t constantly having to move things out of the way to get to other things. The less movement you have to do, the less likely you are to make a mess.

Now I need to read something on organizing an office. My office is a hellhole.

The financial consequences of a significant medical event.

In February of 2004, my wife suffered a thrombophilic stroke, which is a fancy way of saying she had a blood clot get stuck in her brain. This is the kind of thing that is not supposed to happen to thin healthy non-smokers in their 30s. In short, it was very rotten luck.

An ambulance took her to the emergency room early Saturday morning where she received a CAT scan and a test for meningitis. By late morning, she was transported by ambulance to a larger hospital 75 miles away. She received two MRIs on Saturday, another on Sunday and she spent the next 12 days in the hospital, about half in a neuro-intensive care unit, and half in a regular room on the neuro floor.

From the acute hospital, my wife was discharged directly to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital where she did physical, occupational, and speech therapy until the end of May. We left the rehab hospital for home and did outpatient therapy five days per week for the remainder of the calendar year (and more).

I have never added up all of the costs of my wife’s treatment, but our insurer probably made between $150,000 and $250,000 in medical payments that first year. Our personal cost was a bit over $2000 (our out-of-pocket limit), plus lots of headaches and frustrations.

It is probably no surprise that I have had more experience with medical billing than I ever desired, and from time to time people ask me for my perspective. I have had no formal training, just the sum of my experience. But I have never failed to have a legitimate medical claim paid, so I think my point of view might be worth something.

This is my (free) advice. You may get what you pay for.

1. Start off on the right foot.

The first thing you want to do once a medical emergency is stabilizing is notify your insurance company. Our emergency happened over the weekend, so I had to leave a confidential voice mail at the number on the back of my insurance card. One great tip is that hospitals employ people specifically to deal with insurance companies, and those people become your first ally in medical billing. I made sure first thing Monday morning that the hospital staff had called on my behalf to follow up with my insurance company. That way I could focus on my wife.

2. Become a cynic.

I don’t really mean you should become a cynic, but my second piece of advice will sound cynical. Buy a telephone tape recorder and record every conversation you have with anyone that concerns money (if it is legal to do so in your state). Keep a diary if you can’t record calls.

You need to start doing this right away, even though you won’t feel like it is necessary. When your medical situation is extreme and has just occurred, the insurance company will be very accommodating. But as your case continues, as it gets more expensive, there will become a point when things change. The company has to look after its bottom line, and they will attempt to cut you off. It is likely that they will be extremely unreasonable (they may even lie to you) when this moment comes, and you need that conversation on tape so you can review it later carefully.

You also need to record your other conversations (if they involve your bills or treatment). We unexpectedly received a call from a collector who very combatively attempted to get immediate payment (via credit card over the phone) for medical equipment that we had never even been billed for. I wasn’t expecting the call, and I didn’t get it on tape.

I eventually learned to start the tape, then answer the phone. If it was a friend calling, I just discretely turned the tape off. Otherwise, I kept a pad of paper next to the recorder, and I marked down date, time, and the setting of the tape counter for each call—along with a summary of the conversation.

3. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

There are three players in the medical billing game. There is the provider (the hospital or doctor), there is you, and there is the insurance company. If you want your bills paid correctly according to your insurance policy, I recommend that you attempt to form a coalition with the provider against the insurance company. If you don’t have the cooperation of the provider, your job becomes substantially more difficult.

That means first and foremost, you do not pay your bill. If you pay the hospital, what incentive do they have to work with you against the insurance company? I am always very clear and direct about this. I will pay my portion of any bill in full as soon as it has been correctly discounted by the insurance company and applied to my deductible or coinsurance.

I also get to know the billing staff, as much as I can (and I sympathize, because their job sucks). When I have bills from the local hospital, I always go in person and I wait to talk to the same billing specialist. She knows I have never let a bill go unpaid, and that I always do my part to get my insurance to come through (to the tune of more than $100,000 by now).

When I have to talk to billing people on the phone, I always ask their name, and I ask where their office is. I do this for two reasons. One, it helps build rapport if you treat people like humans. It also helps to get the same person if you have to call again. Remember, you’re trying to build a coalition. I also like to know what state they are in so I can research the legality of taping our conversations without notifying the other party (I’m legal in Missouri, but if it is forbidden in their state that would make a difference in a lawsuit).

In my experience, billing specialists have quite a bit of influence over whether your account goes to collections or not. It is safe to assume that do not want your account going to collections. So be nice to the billing people.

4. A word about denied claims.

You are going to have denied claims. Some things are denied as a matter of routine. Ambulance charges are always denied as I understand. This is not something to get stressed over. Generally, the hospital will appeal the denial and the charge goes through the second time.

Many claims are denied over billing code numbers. If the doctor bills something under one code number, but the insurance company wants it billed under a different code number, your claim will be denied. Usually, this can be worked out with very little involvement from you. I generally check with my provider, let them know that I got a notice of denial, and ask about having the bill resubmitted.

Other claims will be denied for lack of “medical necessity,” which is a way of saying you did not need that treatment, or that it went beyond reasonable and customary care. This may be true or not. For example, many insurance companies will not pay for both a wheelchair and a walker, since both are ambulatory devices. However, if you can show evidence that each device serves a different function (because the walker gets you in and out of your house that cannot accommodate a wheelchair ramp), then you may get both claims paid.

5. Appeals.

If a denial drags out too long, you need to get involved. This means writing a letter. You can call, but you almost certainly have more rights when you write. One of my insurance plans required a physical letter within one month of a denial to retain full rights of appeal (and they tried to use that against me once).

Even if it seems that the doctor is going to handle an appeal successfully, if things looks like they will drag out beyond a month, I write a letter. The letter should be polite and it should have all of the relevant data about the claim. At a minimum, I always give the full name of the patient, the social security number of the patient, and the claim numbers and dates of services. I always state that I am writing to “appeal” the denials. I note the actions that have been taken already (say by the doctor) to resolve the matter, summarize why the claims are legitimate, and I ask for the claims to be reconsidered and paid.

Remember that coalition you formed with the medical provider? If you write a letter of appeal to the insurance company, I think it ays to call up your billing specialist (or drop by in person) and let them know. I generally never let a month go by on a bill without checking in with the provider, since I really hate working with collectors. Keep the billing people in the loop and they will (hopefully) keep your account out of collections.

6. Escalation of force.

A single letter will not always get your appeal resolved. Sometimes I have had to write a second letter and a third letter. This becomes a process of escalation.

When I write appeal letters, I always remember WWJD: What would a judge do? I imagine that somewhere down the line I might have to sue my insurance company. In practice, a suit will probably go to arbitration and not a court, but the relevant thing to remember is that some third party is going to be looking at the history of the claim and trying to decide what is the correct action.

You want to be able to bring in a set of letters that will leave the judge offended on your behalf. They should look at your letters and see that you are a patient person who made every honest effort to get this reasonable claim resolved. So, when you write your second letter, you make reference to your first letter. You lay out your claim again, in slightly stronger language. You are patient and persistent.

Your third letter refers to both your first and second letter. It may express polite exasperation. You are becoming frustrated, because you are doing everything right, and this keeps dragging on.

I personally save the word vexatious for the third or fourth letter. I once wrote, “It is impossible (for me) to distinguish between embarrassing incompetence and a vexatious business pattern designed to wear us down and thereby avoid paying our valid claim.” Naturally I was trying to express extreme frustration at the continued lack of progress. I was also letting the insurance company know, without explicitly threatening, that I was aware of Missouri’s vexatious denial law. (If an insurance company denies your claim just because they’re so damned mean, then they can be hit extra for punitive damages.)

7. Deceit.

Your insurance company may lie to you. It may be intentional, or it may just be that one representative tells you something and another representative tells your provider something different. I have found it extremely helpful on more than one occasion to go see the billing specialist in person, and we call the insurance company together. It is time consuming, but it is more difficult to lie to both of us simultaneously. It’s that coalition thing again.

8. A word about attorneys.

Don’t mention attorneys when you talk to people on the phone. It ruins the rapport that you are building with the billing specialist, insurance representative, etc. It shuts them down cold. You are talking to them because you need them to do something for you, and threats of any kind get in the way of that process.

If you need to threaten using an attorney, it would probably be best to do it in writing so you can craft the language just right. You’ll explain that you are so exasperated that you feel your only recourse will be the help of an attorney if this isn’t resolved presently. Remember, you are a reasonable person that has tried every other possible avenue first. You can only threaten this once and remain credible, so save it until you really are only one step from getting legal representation.

If you do go to an attorney (and I did once), ask around. Attorneys are good at different things. Some are good at divorces, some are good at defending insurance companies, and some are good at winning judgments from insurance companies. Be assured that your insurance company knows whom they don’t want to cross swords with. A quick success with a $100 letter from an attorney who routinely cleans the clocks of insurance companies is better than winning at arbitration or trial after an extended fight.

And don’t be intimidated by the opinions of experts (doctors) that work for insurance companies. Good doctors practice medicine. Bad doctors, who can’t make a living practicing medicine, work for insurance companies. If you have good doctors and valid claims, you should not fear going head to head with bad doctors. (One of our docs was good enough to point that out.)

9. Stress and persistence.

If this all sounds stressful, it is. During 2004 and 2005, I regularly received bills from the local hospital for amounts anywhere between $5000 and $15000 that would say (incorrectly), “Your insurance has paid their portion. The remainder is your responsibility.” Even when you know that’s a lie, it is stressful to get a bill for thousands of dollars every month.

But in my experience persistence pays off. I had one claim that I worked on from April 1 until February or March of the following year. I spent a whole day in December crafting the “vexatious” letter. Right about that time, my billing person at the hospital offered me a deep discount to just pay the bill, and it was tempting to accept her inducement just to end the stress. But I told her that I thought I was really close to winning. So she kept the bill out of collections for a bit longer, and eventually the win came a couple of months later, clearing away a $4000 bill. It saved me at least $2400 (I had been offered a 40% discount to pay it myself).

I steel myself with the expression, “Evil people shouldn’t win.” If your claims are for reasonable, medically necessary expenses, then they should be paid. That’s what you paid for when you paid your insurance premiums, and that’s the way it should work. Trying to deny you is good for the bottom line, but it is not “good.”

Insurance companies (and collection agencies for that matter) hire professional bullies, people who are good at being mean. Mean people have to work somewhere. But you should stand up to bullies.

The short summary.

You will have the most success against insurance companies if you are methodical, polite, and superhumanly persistent. Get the billing people for your hospital or doctor on your side, against the insurance company. Handle appeals in writing, with careful language that escalates over time. If your claim is legitimate, you are likely to win without needing the recourse (or expense) of an attorney.

I got the idea for this post after putting together yesterday’s post about eating out.

In the Excel spreadsheet I used for that post, I had a list of dates along with the name of the restaurant and the amount spent like this:

Fig. 1

As you can see, the list is in chronological order. I wanted to see how many times and how much we spent (the subject of another post) at each restaurant. I could have simply used the sort feature by highlighting the data and sorted them based on the restaurant name and then counted them that way.

I could have. But, there’s a better way…

Excel has a COUNTIF function that will count items based on the parameters you provide. It’s a really cool feature. I wanted Excel to count up the number of times we ate at each restaurant so that I could arrange it in a list insert it into yesterday’s post. To use the COUNTIF function, do this:

1. Figure out where you want to put your list. I decided to put my list in column D, E, F, and G like this:

Fig. 2

2. Create the list of restaurants that you want to count. I used the data sort feature and sorted the data by restaurant name and then made the list from there.

3. Determine and click on where you want the COUNTIF function to put your information. For my list, it was column E (cell E2), which I titled “#”.

4. Then click on Insert on the menu tab and scroll down to Function:

Fig. 3

You should be seeing a popup like this:

Fig. 4

Where it asks for range, you’ll need to enter the range from where your information will come from. NOTE: You’ll notice the “$” around the column letters. This fixes the range so that you can copy and paste the formula for each of the restaurants in the list.

Then, where it asks for Criteria, you simply choose the cell with the restaurant name that you want to count. In this case it is cell D2, which contains “Buffalo Wild Wings Beaumont.” Then click on “Okay.” If everything is done properly, you should see the correct count of all the cells containing “Buffalo Wild Wings Beaumont,” which is 3 in my example.

5. Simply copy cell E2 and paste it in the rest of the D column until the list is complete. It should look something like this:

Fig. 5

Next time I’ll show you how to use the SUMIF function.

Any questions? If so, leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll see if I can answer them.

I was so busy putting this post together that I left out my own posts. I’ll be adding them shortly.

Enjoy! Oh, and please tell your friends (if you find this helpful).

AUTOMOTIVE…

1. How To Prepare For Car Breakdown And Deal With Roadside Emergencies

2. How To Buy A Car (Without Getting Screwed)

3. How To Buy a Used Car (without sipping lemonade)

4. How to Find a Good Auto Mechanic

5. How to Improve Your Gas Mileage (and How Not To)

6. Hack Your MPG: How to Improve Gas Mileage by 15%

7. How to Save Money on Gas

8. How To Get Help After Your Car Warranty Has Expired.

9. How to Find a Mechanic You Can Trust

BANKING…

1. How To Close a Bank Account in 7 Steps

2. How To Open a CD Ladder at ING Direct

3. How to Create ING Direct Subaccounts

BUDGETING & SAVING MONEY…

1. How to Create a Workable Budget

2. How to Bring “Shock and Awe” to Your Monthly Bills

3. How To Create A Budget

4. How to Do Your First Budget

5. How To Set Up Your First Successful Budget – Part I (Understanding and Research)

6. How To Set Up Your First Successful Budget – Part II (Organizing and Setup)

7. How To Set Up Your First Successful Budget – Part III (Tracking and Review)

8. How To Save Money ? The 1,001 List Of Money Saving Tips And Ideas

9. How To Earn More Money

10. How to Save on Paint for Home and Craft Projects

11. How to Set Up Google Calendar to Help Pay Your Bills on Time

12. How to Resist the Urge to Splurge

13. How To Turn Your Spending Report into a Budget

14. How To Understand and Overcome the Sunk-Cost Fallacy

15. How To Live Like a Grad Student

16. How To Talk About Money Before Marriage

17. How To Spend Less When Dining Out

18. How To Be a Great Host on a Tight Budget

19. How to Manage Money in Your Marriage

20. How to Handle Irregular Paychecks

21. How To Budget

22. How To Compare Mortgage Refinance Offers

23. How To Become a Coupon Ninja in 15 Minutes A Week

24. How To Save Money Buying Wine

25. How to Save Money on Groceries – 45 Ways to Reduce Your Grocery Bill

26. How to Plan a Wedding Without Breaking Your Budget

27. How to Haggle

28. How to Haggle: More Tips on Haggling

29. How to Save Money on Prescription Drugs

30. How to Avoid ATM Fees

31. How to Order Checks Without Getting Ripped Off

32. How To Get Your Monthly Electric Bill Below $25.

33. Drastically Reduce Your Expenses Starting Today.

34. How To Save Energy & Money In Your Kitchen.

35. How to Make a Budget

BUYING A HOME (and mortgage-related stuff)…

1. How To Find The Best Mortgage Rate

2. How To Save on Moving Expenses

3. How to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early

4. How to Decide When to Refinance Your Mortgage

5. How to Find the Best Mortgage Rates

6. How to Sell a House in a Down Market

7. How to Write a Mortgage Gift Letter

CAREER

1. How to Find a Job on Twitter

2. How To Ask For A Pay Raise

3. How To Set Minimum Freelance Prices

4. How to Make the Most of a College Degree

5. How to Market Yourself Into a Job

6. How to Keep Your Job – Rule 1 Edition

7. How To Deal With Job Rejection

8. How to Write a Resume (that gets job interviews)

9. How to Select an MBA Program: Introduction to a Series

10. How to apply to and MBA Program

11. How to Write a Resignation Letter

12. How to Resign on Good Terms

13. How to Dress for an Interview

14. How to Evaluate a Job Offer

15. How to Do a Phone Interview

16. When and How to Tell Your Boss You are Pregnant

CREDIT & CREDIT CARDS

1. How To Transfer Credit Card Balances

2. How To Get Your Free FICO Credit Score Online

3. How To Improve Your FICO Credit Score

4. How to Check Your Credit Report

5. How To Practice Delayed Gratification

6. How To Avoid The Debt Trap With Your First Credit Card

7. How To Get A Free FICO Credit Score

8. How To Pick the Best Credit Card

9. How To Review Your Equifax Credit Report

10. How To Build Your Credit History with Tradelines

11. How To Properly Loan Money to Family, Friends

12. How To Stop Credit Card Offers

13. How To Lower Your Credit Card Interest Rates

14. How To Max Out Credit Card Rewards

15. How To Start A Credit History

16. How To Fight Debt Collectors

17. How to Get Out of Debt

18. How to Fix Errors on Your Credit Report

19. How to Profit from 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers

20. How and Why to Freeze Your Credit

21. How To Fix Your Credit Report After Identity Theft

22. How to Understand Credit Card Offers

23. How to improve your credit score

24. How to Handle Late Credit Card Payments

25. How to Avoid Credit Card Fees

26. How to Save Money on ATM Fees

27. How to Avoid Payday Loans

28. How to do a 0% Balance Transfer

29. How to Improve your Credit Score

30. How Two-Cycle Billing Works

DEBT (and getting out of debt)…

1. How to Get Out of Debt

2. How To Eliminate Credit Card Debt On Your Own

3. How To Stay Out of Debt

4. How To Prepare for Hospital Expenses

5. How To Use a Student Loan Deferment Period Wisely

6. How to Prioritize Your Debts for Payoff

7. How To Complete College With No Debt

8. How I Paid Off My $17,000 Student Loan in 6 Months

9. How We Paid Down our Debt and Saved Money At the Same Time

10. How To Avoid Bankruptcy

11. How to Compute the Remaining Balance on a Loan (pardon the formatting issues with this post)

ESTATE PLANNING…

1. How To Name a Trust as a Beneficiary

2. Stretch That IRA – An Example

3. Stretch That IRA

FINANCIAL PLANNING BASICS

2. How to Do a Financial Checkup

3. How To Get A Free Financial Checkup

4. How To Calculate Your Net Worth

5. How To Set SMART Financial Goals

6. How To Set Joint Financial Goals With Your Partner

7. How to be a Money Strategist to Reach Your Financial Goals

8. How To Open a Roth IRA for the First Time

9. How To Set Up a CD Ladder

10. How To Care {Not Worry} About Your Finances

11. How To Save Money Like a Madman

12. How to Simplify a Financial Life

13. How to do a Background Check on Your Financial Advisor

16. How To File A Complainst Against Your Broker

15. How Long To Keep Your Financial Statements

16. How to Calculate the Time Value of Money

17. How to Create an Asset Allocation Plan

18. How to Meet Future Goals

19. How to Create a Cash Flow Statement

20. Analyzing Your Financial Statements with Ratios

GIVING…

1. How To Value Your Clothing Donation

2. How to Turn Down Charity Telemarketers and Find Legitimate Charities

HANDLING ADVERSITY…

1. How To Be Thankful When Life Is Tough

2. How To Deal With A Job Loss

3. How To Save Your Home From Foreclosure

4. How To Handle a Pay Cut (Financially Speaking)

5. How To Find Cash Fast When Unemployed

6. How to Deal With a Drastic Decrease in Income

7. How to Prepare for a Layoff

8. How To Prepare For a Layoff

9. How To Pepare For an Emergency and/or Storm

HEALTH INSURANCE…

1. How to Find Affordable Health Insurance Online

HOME IMPROVEMENT…

1. How To Build Your Own Desk

2. How To Paint a Room for Less

3. How To Buy a Flat Screen TV

4. How To Build Your Own Bookshelf

5. How to Prepare for a Power Outage – Without a Generator

6. How to Get Rid of Ants Safely and Without an Exterminator

IDENTITY THEFT & SECURITY…

1. How To Create A Strong Password You Can Remember

2. How to Recognize a Scam

3. How to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft

4. How to Protect Your Privacy in Three Easy Steps

5. How to Prevent Identity Theft and E-mail Scams

6. How to Avoid Identity Theft

7. How to Avoid Credit Card and ATM Scams

8. How To Avoid Counterfeit Goods

9. How to Detect and Avoid IRS Tax Scams

10. How To Avoid Investment Fraud

INSURANCE…

1. How To Buy Life Insurance Without Getting Screwed

2. How to Save Money on Life Insurance

3. How to Save Money on Car Insurance

4. How to Save Money on Health Insurance

5. How to Save Money on Your Homeowner’s Insurance Rates

6. How to Lower Your Car Insurance Rates

7. How To Prepare For Next Medical Exam For Life Insurance

8. How To Use Your Emergency Fund to Save on Insurance Premiums

INVESTING…

1. How to Buy Partial Shares of Berkshire Hathaway with ShareBuilder

2. How to Avoid a Mutual Fund’s Minimum Investment

3. How To Pick Your First Mutual Fund

4. How to Re-Enter the Market as a Conservative Investor

5. How to Probe for Signs of a Market Bottom

6. How to Start a Money Making Blog

7. How to Evaluate a Mutual Fund in 60 Seconds Flat

8. How To Easily Evaluate your Asset Allocation with Morningstar Instant X Ray Tool

9. How to Start an Investment Club

10. How to Prioritize Your Retirement Accounts

11. How to Make Money in the Stock Market

12. How to Make Money in the Stock Market (Revisited)

13. How to Make Money in the Stock Market, Re-Revisited

14. How to Build a CD Ladder

15. How To Build and Maintain CD Ladders

16. How to be Sure Your Money is FDIC Insured

17. How to Manage Your Asset Allocation With Multiple Accounts

18. How to Evaluate Online Brokers

19. How to Invest

20. How to Trade Stocks

21. How To Invest in Your 40′s to 50′s

22. How To Be Listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average

23. How the Dow Jones Industrial Average is Calculated

24. How to Calculate Your Personal Rate of Return

25. How to Compute Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)

26. How to Calculate Tax-Equivalent Yield

27. How ‘Total Returns’ Are Calculated

28. How to Calculate the Expected Return on a Portfolio

29. How to Insert Refreshable Stock Quotes into Excel

KIDS & MONEY…

1. How To Budget for a New Baby

2. How to Make a Baby Registry

3. How To open a 529 college savings plan for your children

4. How to Introduce the Concept of Credit to Your Kids

5. How to Teach Children to Save Money

6. How to Introduce Money to Preschoolers

7. How To Be a Stay At Home Mom

8. How To Prepare Financially for Your First Child

9. College Funding Math – Part 1

10. College Funding Math – Part 2

11. College Funding Math – Part 3

12. College Funding Math – Part 4

MISCELLANEOUS…

1. How to Get a Payday Loan (if you must)

2. How to Return an Item

3. How to Watch TV for Free

4. How to Save Gas and Time With Google Maps

5. How to get the Best Cell Phone Service for the Deaf

6. How to Get a Free Education in Economics

7. How to End Over-the-Top Gift Exchanges

8. How to Write a Goodwill Letter

9. How to Get Rid of Semi-Used Gift Cards

10. How to Make an Accumulation a Collection

11. How to Find Rotated Die Errors

12. How to Comparison Shop on eBay

13. How to Bid Intelligently at an Auction

14. How to Calculate Melt Value

15. How To Earn Money With CashCrate

16. How to Sell Your Stuff on eBay

17. How to Sue Wal-Mart

18. How to Be a Gold-Digger

19. How to Save Money on Airline Tickets

20. How to Get the Best Deal with Priceline

21. How to Cancel Your Cell Phone Contract Without Paying Early Termination Fees

22. How To Turn Your Office Green

23. How To Be Approved On Suze Orman

24. How To Buy Property at an Auction

OWNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

1. How To Set Up a Limited Liability Company (LLC)

2. How To Improve Your Productivity When Working From Home

3. How to Start a Blog for Profit of Fun

4. How to Start a Blog – What to Write About

5. How to Choose a Domain Name for Your Blog

6. How to Scare a Loved One – Start a Business

RELATIONSHIPS

1. How to Handle Marriage and Money Talks

2. How to Respond if a Family Member Asks for a Loan

RETIREMENT & RETIREMENT PLANNING…

1. How To Fix Mistakenly Forgetting your Required Minimum Distribution

2. How to Take a Loss on an IRA

3. How to Track Your Roth IRA Contributions… and Why You Need To!

4. How to Make Early Roth IRA Withdrawals

5. How to Make Your Retirement Money Last

6. How To Stretch an IRA For Your Beneficiaries

7. How To Tap Your 401k Without Penalty

TAXES…

1. How to Deduct Mileage on Your Personal Car

2. How to Request an Income Tax Filing Extension

3. How to Calculate Tax Equivalent Yield

4. How to Decide if Travelling to a Sales Tax Holiday is Worthwhile

5. How to Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN)

6. How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

7. How to File a Federal Tax Extension

8. How to File Your Federal Taxes For Free

9. How to Claim a Dependent on Your Tax Return

10. How To Survive an Audit For Small Business

11. How To Save On Property Tax

12. How to Determine How Long You Should Keep Bank, Financial, and Tax Statements

WEALTH…

1. How to Become a Millionaire

2. How to Become a Millionaire – Tips on Getting Rich from the World’s Richest Man

3. How to Become a Millionaire – The Simple Truth

4. How to Become A Millionaire

5. How to Become a Millionaire – Invest Your Money

6. How to Get Rich

7. How to Determine if You Are “Wealthy”

While she was working, the house pretty much became a hellhole. It was a disaster. Why? Well for one, I’m kinda lazy. The second reason was that we didn’t have a plan for who does what. Sure, my boys have had chores that they are supposed to do but the timing of those chores was kind of vague.

We needed a plan.

So, this past weekend, I put one together, showed it to my wife, and instituted it. The boys were griping and complaining at first but the results have been wonderful so far (yes, it’s only been day 3 but I like what I’m seeing so far). The plan is still a work in progress but so far, so good.

The first part of the plan was to simply make a schedule for when things should get done. It looks like this:

The second part is their daily chores:

When I presented this to the boys they didn’t like it because they thought it would take up too much of their time. But, what we have found is that they actually have MORE time because they’re not wasting time. They also like it because there are no surprises. And, since they have their chores, I’m not asking them to do other stuff.

Yesterday morning I was getting my shower and I heard the vacuum cleaner going (and I didn’t have to tell anyone to do it). My son did scold me because the schedule said that it should only take 10 minutes to vacuum but it took him longer. I told him to vacuum faster…lol.

The goal of all this is to have some sort of balance in our household. Our typical routine is to mess the house up all week long and clean it on the weekends. That sucks. Who wants to spend the weekend cleaning? Not I! If this plan works, spending the weekend cleaning will be a thing of the past.

Let’s hope it works…

People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It!: The 10 Ways You Are Sabotaging Yourself and How You Can Overcome Them*

I love the title and cover of this book! That said, DON’T LET THE TITLE FOOL YOU…this is a VERY positive book!

For those of you not familiar with Larry Winget’s work, he’s known as The Pitbull of Personal Development. That should tell you something about his style. Larry tells it like he sees it. He has no tolerance for stupidity and refuses to sugarcoat his medicine. Personally, I think this is EXACTLY what people need! I almost always find myself nodding in agreement as I read Larry’s books—”People Are Idiots” is no exception!

Larry opens the book with examples showing why he thinks people are idiots. He breaks down his examples in categories such as health, parenting, finance, etc. Some of my favorites:

“Americans spend $33 billion annually on weight-loss products and services. Wouldn’t it be a lot chaper to just eat less and go for a walk? People complain that they have no money—I could save society $33 billion a year in this area alone.”

“People say they want good public schools for their kids. Yet only a small percentage of parents belong to or attend PTA meetings or go to parent-teacher conferences.”

…and my ultimate favorite:

People sign contracts with credit companies, agreeing to pay their bill on a certain date. While the print is small, the rules and regulations are clearly laid out in black and white—all you have to do is read them. Then people don’t make their payments on time and don’t pay the minimum amount as they agreed (probably because they spent their money at the mall or eating out). Why are these people surprised when their interest rate goes up and the company reports their late payment to the credit bureaus and their credit score goes down?”

In the second chapter, he lists ten reasons why people are idiots and tells the reader to confess how they qualify for each one (yes, I did the exercise!):

People are ignorant.
People are stupid.
People are lazy.
People don’t give a damn.
People lack vision.
People have low expectations.
People don’t recognize the consequences of their actions.
People have bad habits.
People have poor role models.
People have no plan.

Chapter 3 begins the “idiot healing process” through recognition, education, and application.

The Second Section of the book contains what Larry calls “Idiot Fixes,” which are lists…lots and lots of lists. I like lists. Larry has a list for everything! There’s a list on how to take responsibility, how to set and achieve goals, how to be smarter, how to make great conversation, how to manage time better, how to solve problems, how to be a better communicator, and lots of other lists.

There’s even a list for how to dress better. His fashion tips for men cracked me up—especially his thoughts on shoes:

“Shoes should always be shined. Loafers never go with a suit. Penny loafers don’t really go with anything, Fonzie. And in my personal opinion, tassel loafers work only when you want everyone to consider you a pretentious goober named Biff.”

Dang! I have a pair of penny loafers on at this very moment (and I own and wear tassel loafers too)! I think they look nice. To each his own, I guess.

Anyway, despite his fashion advice, this is his best book yet. Everyone—both idiots and non-idiots—will benefit from reading (and APPLYING) this book.

Larry was also kind enough to send me an extra signed copy of his book to give away. So, if you’re interested, please leave a comment below and I’ll randomly-select a winner on Wednesday, January 7. Just remember my two rules:

1. You must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada (I won’t ship internationally).

2. You can only enter once.

Related

LarryWinget.com – Larry’s website

10 Questions for Larry Winget – An interview with Larry

Larry Winget on the Housing Crisis – An interesting interview I did with Larry last spring

* Affiliate Link