Credit Repair- Getting Started

There are all kinds of credit repair tips out there. The reality is that if you have bad credit, there tons of simple solutions. It’s very possible to improve your credit and even completely fix it in a very short time period.

How? Here are four most of the most effective strategies:

1) Credit counselling

This will not only give you strategies for better money management, but the company will negotiate with the creditors on your behalf as well. In many instances they can reduce the amount you owe substantially.

Since they are very experienced in the industry, they have a much better chance of negotiating better terms for you than if you were to do it yourself. (More on this subject tomorrow)

2) Look for mistakes on your credit report

One very simple and easy method to quickly improve your credit is to just scan your report. Anyone can get a copy of their report for free at least once every 12 months, so it doesn’t cost you a dime.

What if you find errors?

Then just call up the credit bureau and let them know. They will investigate it. If they verify that indeed they made a mistake, they will erase it from your report.

This will instantly improve your credit score. And since mistakes are quite common, there’s a good chance of this working.

And don’t give up.

Even if they don’t remove something the first time, keep after them. It might take two to three months, but eventually you can get that erroneous late payment taken off.

3) Pay on time

This is one of the simplest methods to raise your credit. It’s so obvious it might not seem worth mentioning, but it’s one of the most important tips of all.

What if you can’t pay on time?

If this isn’t possible because you have too much debt, attempt to get a consolidation loan. This might reduce the amount you owe, and it also makes it easier for you to pay them.

4) Build up your investments

Instead of spending on things you don’t need, start putting a certain percentage of your money away every month for investing. This is easily one of the best methods to repair your credit.

But be wary of scams.

Remember, there are many firms that go after people with bad credit. They claim they are going to help them you raise your score. But often they just take your money and disappear.

How do you spot those companies?

Basically, if they charge you a huge upfront fee, you know they are dishonest. Also, if they say to dispute everything on your credit report even if it’s right, it’s certain they are not legit.

By implementing these tips, one at a time, you can improve your overall credit rating.

Monetary Identity Session 6: Putting It All Together and Moving Forward

The last session of Monetary Identity helps you generate a goal plan, a “gap map” for closing your gap by integrating values into your monetary identity. Start creating your own guidebook for your life!

These six Monetary Identity posts have been overviews of each session. We are giving you the complete list below, which is much more comprehensive and reflects the depth of this learning experience. Register now!  Use code gap to get $50.00 off the tuition.  You deserve this!

Monetary Identity 2017 Complete Subject List

  •  Class One Understanding the Gap
  • Ten Areas of Monetary Identity
  • Poverty Mentality
  • Growth Mentality
  • Survival Mentality
  • The Myth of American “Classless” Society
  • Could You Survive in Poverty?
  • Could You Survive in Middle Class?
  • Could You Survive in Wealth?
  • Key Differences Among Social Classes
  • So what keeps people, especially women, from moving into higher income levels?
  • Questions for Class One
  • Class Two: Values-Based Lifestyle
  • Objective: Identify your top five values and describe how or what resources are being directed towards your values.
  • Where do/did your values come from? What beliefs do you have that no longer serve you?
  • Generational Influences
  • Find Your Strengths Checklist
  • Evaluating Your Strengths and Weaknesses
  • Core Beliefs
  • Sample Values List
  • Define Your Core Values—In-class Activity. Do Not Try This at Home!
  • Ten Types of Capital
  • Class Three: Life-Force Energy
  • Invest in What Feeds You!
  • Class Four: Monetary Identity Part 1
  • Levels of Growth Goal Setting
  • My Growth Goals
  • Introduction to Philanthropy
  • What is your personal legacy?
  • Three types of contributors
  • Meaning of Philanthropy Handout 1
  • Meaning of Philanthropy Handout 2
  • Questions for Class Four
  • Class Five Monetary Identity Part 2
  • Questions for Class Five
  • Class Six Putting It All Together and Moving Forward
  • Pulling It All Together
  • Making 2% changes is a Rich Chicks core belief –because it works!
  • Rich Chicks Top Ten List

 

Monetary Identity Session 3: Your Life Force Energy

 

When we talk about life force energy we are referring to how energized or de-energized you feel when doing your daily activities. We take a look at what times of the day you feel magical and the times you don’t. Are you and early bird, full of energy before the sun rises? Night owl? Adjust what you do to your energy pattern. If you are de-energized, you are going to push prosperity away. Register for this energizing class series now! Use code gap to get a sizzling $50.00 off the tuition.

You want to make sure that anything that gets four hours or more of your time each week either energizes you or allows you to do something at the same time that gives you energy.

For example, if you are spending forty hours a week doing work you hate and being around people you can’t stand, your energy is going to be right there splashing in the toilet. Is a new job or different position in your future?

Maybe you love the work you do and can tolerate the people but the physical environment sucks big time. Do as much as you can to your surroundings to energize you.  Put up pictures of family, friends, pets.  Post funny cartoons on your walls.

If you’re stuck in traffic or have a long commute that you don’t enjoy, make it more enjoyable by listening to music you love or maybe books on tape.  Make it better!

We talk a lot about small changes, and once again, the key is 2% change.  Take little steps.  Keep the life force energy up and attract prosperity to you! Register now–use code gap for $50.00 off.

Monetary Identity Session 2: Values-Based Lifestyle

Hesitant to sign up because you don’t know what Monetary Identity is all about? Read our series of blog posts that explain the amazing content.

What do we mean by living a value-based lifestyle?  We mean truly understanding what your top five (approximately) values are that you absolutely stand by.  These are the brick-and-mortar foundation of your beliefs of what it means to be you and supports the actions you take.

It is hard work to identify your top values and actually explain them to yourself and others. Monetary Identity takes values clarification to the next level by allocating resources to those values. Your values show up in how you make decisions, how you live your life, how you spend or don’t spend your money. Register now to be be part of this life-enhancing process. Use code gap to get an impressive $50.00 off the price until March 17.

Values are different from beliefs, and many people get them confused. People use both to guide their actions and behavior, but they are essentially different. Values unite people—beliefs separate. Many people are not aware of many of the limiting beliefs they have about money, work and their own talents. These are the beliefs that will push prosperity away from you.

Values and beliefs both guide your decisions—sometimes subconsciously. Bringing them into the light and examining values and beliefs often surprises people. The values clarification part of this series has been life-changing for many of our students.  Register now

 

 

Monetary Identity: Understanding the Gap

The Monetary Identity class, which starts March 22, begins with an examination of “the gap.” What “gap” are we referring to?  We are referring to the gap of what we have been taught regarding what employers want and what the new rules are.

What business is looking for in the job area has changed. Now your outside life is included in your professional life, especially if you are seeking upward mobility.  Do you have a life outside of work?  What is the quality of that life outside of work?  Do you volunteer?  Have you received any social awards?  This is what employers or other organizations want to know.  This shows them what kind of leader you are.  It shows them your monetary identity.  What is worth your time?  Are you worth their time?  Will you bring social skills along with your business skills?

This gap also includes the still present wage gap between men and women.  Women have the upper edge in combining social skills and business skills.  Women need to realize and understand their worth to companies or other organizations and expect to be rewarded at the same level as a man with the same skills.

If you understand the skills you have, you can determine a clearer picture of your monetary identity.  What is it you want in exchange for those skills? Know what that is and accept only that or better. Monetary Identity: Prosperity from the Inside Out helps you discover what your gap is and appreciate with confidence what you bring to the table. Register here.  Use discount code gap by March 17 to get $50.00 off.

Monetary Identity 2017™ FAQs

What is it, anyway? Monetary Identity™ is our relationship to the resources around us, combined with our core values and personal goals.

A new skill set is needed for those who have worked to their natural potential and yet intuitively feel that the internal picture in their mind is not matching the feelings that are in their hearts. Creative problem solving is one way to look at it but it is far more complex- it is aligning your resources in a way that fits into your belief system to create a seamless road map of identity.

Creating a Monetary Identity is one of the most important things a person will ever do for themselves and for their family because it is the keystone for creating a prosperous lifestyle.

Each person’s Monetary Identity is unique, complex, and ever-expanding as they move through economic ladders. Getting a Monetary Identity takes a careful course of action to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. Rich Chicks™ will be here every step of the way.

So what’s it like, this class? Each of the six sessions builds on the next. So we start where you are now and go from there. Learning is in-person, with Skype available for those who don’t live in the Greater Twin Cities.

Session #1 Understanding the Gap. Poverty vs Growth Mentality. Describe your own gap by identifying old patterns and reward systems that no longer fit.

Session #2 Values Based Lifestyle.Identify your top 5 values. Sounds easy, and maybe you think you know your values already. Understanding the values that you absolutely stand by and applying them consciously to your life. Does your life reflect those deeply held values? Intense work!

Session #3 Life-Force Energy. Identify the importance of time in relation to your values. What resources are you pulling towards your values? Identifying your personal energy pattern.

Session #4 Monetary Identity, Part 1. Identify the multitude of monetary relationships and how your time, resources and values create a monetary identity.

Session #5 Monetary Identity Part 2. Create a holistic monetary identity that corresponds with your current values, resources and goals.

Session #6 Pulling it Together and Moving Forward. Generate a goal plan, a “gap map” for closing your gap by integrating values into your monetary identity. Start identifying 2% changes you can make. Register now.

Who teaches this class?

Mickey Mikeworth,(Mikeworth Consulting), Prosperity Leader, Chief Financial Officer Strategy, and a whole lot more

Mickey is owner and CEO of Mikeworth Consulting. As a consultant, teacher and creative lead, she’s the executive’s confidant — not to mention the inside source to new ideas in personal and professional wealth management strategy. If a project needs a little vision (or a lot, for that matter) and a fair share of planning, Ms. Mikeworth is the wealth wonder of the world. She has many resources at her disposal and is one of the most energetic people you’ll ever have the opportunity to meet. She will find a solution specific to your needs and make you laugh while she’s doing it. Mickey prides herself on being a light for many. And being a two-time winner of the Top Women in Finance, that light is pretty bright. You can guarantee that she knows what she’s doing.

Mickey has received many awards for her work in the financial arena, including receiving the Top Women in Finance award twice. This honor, which is hosted by Finance and Commerce Magazine, has been given to just twelve women in the history of the award, entering her into the elite Top Women in Finance Circle of Excellence. Out of 22,000 wealth managers in the state of Minnesota, Mickey ranks in the top 300, and received a listing in the Five Star Wealth Awards hosted by Mpls- St Paul Magazine.

Mickey’s approach to education is innovative, her information is up-to-date and informed, and her energy is contagious. You will want to be one of the people who catches the Mickey Mikeworth energy, enthusiasm and knowledge. Register now—class size is limited.

Assisting Mickey Mikeworth

Karen Karsten CPCC, CAC Executive Director, Rich Chicks, Creative Principle, Think You Can LLC

Karen is a writer, poet, recovering middle-manager, and best of all—a certified prosperity and creativity life coach. Karen has reinvented herself several times during her working career, both by necessity and choice. Each career was a building block that helped her create the life she has now as a coach, writer, executive director of Rich Chicks and creative principle of Think You Can LLC. She delights in helping others choose to find their own power and prosperity through personal growth and discovery—at every cycle of their lives. Karen has a wide background of active involvement in women’s issues and organizations.

Karen believes that it is never too late to be who you always wanted to be, and that you should try things even if you have been told you are bad at it (or maybe because someone told you that). She says, “Many people don’t dream enough, and are at a critical Dream Poverty Level. Dreams can be made real—so dream, baby, dream.” Register now—class size is limited.

Investment: Education: $294.00; Materials Fee: $35 Total 329.00    Payment plans available–ask us!

 

 

The Deep Dive. Monetary Identity: Prosperity from the Inside Out

This is a critical time to be an active citizen of the United States. And an especially important time to be a woman—trying to hold on to the important gains made in the past on our behalf and human rights not yet realized. Society is in a whirlwind of change, and we are in that whirlwind, trying to figure things out—what’s true, what isn’t. We do indeed live in interesting times.

How do we handle these “interesting times?” What I have noticed over the years that I have been coaching people, mainly women, is a lack of clarity in what they really want. Values clarification is an important part of that discovery process. Making a stand for what you believe in is easy when you know what is truly important to you.

Monetary Identity: Prosperity from the Inside Out is a great way to get in touch with your beliefs and values. The prosperity in your life is in direct relation to your beliefs and values.  Prosperity isn’t just about money. You have way more resources than you realize. Identifying those resources and how they fit into the total picture of your life is incredibly illuminating—shining light into those dark “money black holes” you have avoided. This six-week class starts March 22. Is it life-changing? Yes. And not just your own life. What you learn flows out to others and makes the world a better place for everyone. Don’t delay. Register now. This is the time for you to break out of old patterns and forge a path to where you truly want and need to go in your life. Take the dive into the deep end of the pool–we’ll be there to keep you afloat. Use discount code March to get $50.00 off the registration price.

Life Changing: Monetary Identity

funjpg“Life changing” is the most often-heard comment about the Monetary Identity six-session class
So what changes happen?

We teach prosperity from the inside out–expanding your attitudes about money and seeing it as only a portion of your total prosperity.
The biggest change is understanding the wide spectrum of  resources that are NOT being used that is the biggest light bulb.

Most people do not know how to create a life that has a bell ringing WIN (doing things that create happiness) on a daily basis. They feel a win is really only fate or chance when all the bells can ring. It is not about chance or fate–you can create a life where the happy bells to go off every day.

One person figured out that if she worked from home one day a week all the laundry would get done, she could pop a quality meal in the oven, rest her brain, save on gas, and she could go and play that night with loved ones with no guilt 52 times a year.
Finding out that a having a job that pays really, really well is not a crime, but feeling like you had to hide it from your friends who make you feel like “You have it so good and I do not.” was the real crime. Time to get a new posse!
These are just a couple of examples–are you ready to change YOUR life? Sign up for this class.

Skype option available if you are not in the Twin Cities’ area!

Do You Just Love Your Cash?

 by Karen Karsten
money handsWhen you are out shopping and go to pay for your items, do you immediately pay cash or pay with a credit card? This may seem like a silly question, but there is psychological evidence that suggests many individuals become emotionally attached to their cash. One study has even shown that just touching money relieves pain. and feelings of social alienation. Interesting, right?
   According to Live Science, “A four-part study found what many financial planners already knew: People spend more money when using credit cards compared to cash purchases. People also spend less when they look at their expenses in detail, the researchers found.”
Before we pass on the actual results of a study that was performed by New York University and was written in the Journal of Experimental Psychology’s September issue, let’s explore for a moment the psychology of money.
   Here is an example: a woman told about using cash versus credit cards. “After my doctor’s appointment, I took my prescriptions to my pharmacist. Instead of waiting there, I decided to buy some birthday cards at a nearby card store. The total cost of cards and gifts came to around $57.00. I did have the cash, but instead I decided to pay with a credit card. I could say that I was holding onto the cash to pay for the prescriptions, but when I went to pick them up – I used my credit card again.”
According to the Journal of Experimental Psychology, “Consumers simply feel the pain of paying more when they part with cash.” The following studies are anecdotal evidence of this cash versus credit card phenomenon:
   In one study, 114 participants estimated how much they would spend using cash versus using credit for a well-described restaurant meal. “People are willing to spend (or pay) more when they use a credit card than when using cash,” the authors wrote.
Then 28 participants were given a detailed shopping list to work with. In a questionnaire format, they spent more when they used a $50 gift certificate instead of $50 cash.
   Finally, 130 participants were given $1 cash or a $1 gift certificate to buy candy. At first, they were more willing to spend the gift certificate than the cash. But after holding the gift certificate in their wallets for an hour, they became less likely to spend it, indicating that the certificates came to seem more like real money.
   These studies suggest that “less transparent payment forms (like as credit cards) tend to be treated like (play) money and are hence more easily spent (or parted with),” the researchers argue.
This fascinating study suggests that we are more emotionally attached to our cash when given the choice of paying with cash or with a credit card. Perhaps it is the burden of not knowing what will happen with the economy.
  So where do you fit in here? Do you love your cash too much to spend it and instead slap down the credit card, keeping your greenbacks safe in your pocket or purse? Some Chicks have tried the “money diet.” After the bills are paid, the cash that’s left is what they live on for the month. Could you do that?  Do tell!

The Power of No

Does your automatic “yes” mechanism kick in when someone asks you to do something? Once the word is out it’s pretty hard to back off and say no. Besides, you don’t want to look like a jerk, do you? The same thing is true of choices we make about our spending–do you say yes when you should say no to something you are buying? If you are a chronic yes’er, it’s not too late to change.

Start by saying no intentionally three times per day. Start small–say no to plastic bags at the grocery store. The more you practice, the easier it will be. Own the age-old slogan, “just say no.”

It is so important to say “No” these days. Until we learn to say “No” we continue to be stressed and overwhelmed with too much to do in not enough time. That causes our own priorities like health, quality time with family or yourself to suffer.

No wonder kids go through a phase where their favorite word is “No”. That’s because No is a power word. It gives a definite sense of self. And this means that saying “No” is also an ideal opportunity to rediscover your sense of who you are! Say no to that cute skirt or shoes that are on sale–especially if they don’t match anything else you have!

So, whether you learn to say “No” more often, or just learn to say “Yes” on your terms, release yourself from the burden of pleasing others and give yourself more time and freedom to do what matters to you. So let’s get started! the_power_of_no to get a worksheet on the Power of No (and Yes)

Best of the day to you,

Karen