Participants: Cordell Thomas
Series Code: TITTB
Program Code: TITTB000023
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00:01 On Take it to the Bank,
00:02 you'll find ways to get out of debt. 00:09 Solve your credit card problems. 00:14 How to make and stick with the budget? 00:19 Simple ways to save. 00:24 Buying or selling a home 00:26 and many more financial matters 00:29 on Take it to the Bank. 00:32 Hi, my name is Cordell Thomas 00:34 and welcome to Take it to the Bank. 00:37 This is a program that I think will be 00:38 quite interesting for many, I'm hopeful that it will be. 00:41 We've talked about I think in the past 00:44 and we'll continue to talk about 00:45 many of the different opportunities 00:47 you as individuals have 00:50 for bringing in different streams of income, 00:54 because these are the times when people are unemployed 00:58 that you have to find 01:00 other means of bringing in revenue 01:02 and in doing so, 01:03 there are many other implications 01:06 that we should talk about. 01:08 If you plan to become a small business owner, 01:10 if you're a sole proprietor, or you're incorporating, 01:12 or you're doing a lot of these issues 01:15 on an ongoing basis, 01:16 there are ramifications in reference to your taxes, 01:21 income taxes, 01:22 do you pay them on a quarterly basis, 01:24 are you paying salaries, are you paying workers, 01:28 are you paying subcontractors, 01:30 how does a 1099 work into all of this? 01:32 These are relevant concerns 01:34 and many of us are very afraid and get very intimidated, 01:38 if we see things like in audit 01:41 and those type of things that are relevant to our concerns. 01:46 So there are things that we should be aware of. 01:49 I think it's an interesting program, 01:51 I hope you will find the same. 01:53 I remember, 01:54 a man is not considered successful 01:58 by how much he has. 02:00 The Bible says that in Luke 12:15, 02:02 he says, "Take care to guard against greed." 02:04 One's life does not consist 02:08 of the abundance of one's possessions. 02:10 The abundance of one's possessions. 02:11 We should take care of how we buy things, what we do, 02:15 understandings our needs versus our wants. 02:17 It's talking about knowing where we're at 02:20 from a debt standpoint 02:21 understanding that we have a budget in place 02:24 knowing what we spend, knowing what we bring in, 02:27 and understanding what we want to put away on a monthly basis, 02:31 whether it be working up towards 02:33 a 6, 8, 10 month emergency fund, 02:36 where we put our retirement savings? 02:38 What we do with our investments? 02:40 Who we go to for advice? 02:43 And it goes back to the same issue 02:46 of making sure 02:47 we talk to the appropriate professional 02:49 and just don't rely on anybody that's out there 02:53 that provides that advice. 02:55 It's essential to find that out 02:56 and I did have a wonderful opportunity 02:58 to talk to a friend of mine. 03:00 This gentleman actually creates board games, 03:02 financial board games, business board games, 03:04 he is a very wise individual that I really respect a lot, 03:08 and I love the opportunity to sit down and banter, 03:10 talk back and forth about things that are going on. 03:13 His name is Mr. Rodney Watson. 03:16 He is a business manager at the Mount Rubidoux church 03:19 as well as entrepreneur. 03:22 So I would like to go to this conversation 03:24 I had with him, It's about ten minutes. 03:27 I think you'll find it very enlightening 03:28 and it leads into this conversation 03:31 that we're talking about 03:32 in reference to top financial problems 03:35 that people have 03:36 and what we can do to resolve them. 03:42 Hi, y'all. Welcome back. 03:44 Cordell Thomas with Take it to the Bank series. 03:46 And I just wanted to chat with you a little bit 03:47 about some of the things that I've come across 03:51 and answers to some of these questions 03:52 that I've asked people on Venice Beach. 03:54 I went to Venice Beach. Yeah. 03:56 It's a tripped out place. Yes. 03:57 And we ask some people some questions. 03:58 And we ask, one of the major questions is, 04:00 "Hey, when you have a crisis in your life, financial crisis, 04:04 who do you go to for advice?" 04:06 Now I'll give you some of the answers, 04:08 and no, maybe I won't. 04:10 I think, let me ask you. 04:11 When you think of a typical financial crisis 04:13 or something you need advice on, 04:15 who do you typically or would you go to for advice? 04:17 I would go to an expert for advice. 04:20 And there's a book called "The Richest Man in Babylon", 04:23 and in that book, he says that you don't go to the brickmaker 04:26 to learn how to make bread." 04:28 So if you have a financial crisis in your life 04:31 or say, now say it's not a financial crisis, 04:34 say you have a financial windfall, 04:36 so you get a million dollars at one time. 04:39 What do you do, who do you go to ask for advice? 04:42 One person you should not go to is your mom or your dad, 04:46 because if they don't have a million dollars, 04:48 how can they help you. 04:49 There's a saying that we have in the financial world 04:51 which says, "Never take advice from someone broker than you." 04:55 So your teacher and maybe even a pastor 04:59 or someone like that, 05:00 if they have never managed a million dollars, 05:03 what advice can they give you 05:05 about managing that type of money. 05:07 You need to go and find someone 05:09 who has a million dollars or two and say, 05:11 "Hey, what do I do with this million dollars?" 05:14 Someone who's got a million dollars 05:16 and has used it successfully... 05:17 Exactly. 05:19 It's interesting because some of the questions we ask 05:21 is the same, 05:23 where do you go to for advice? 05:24 We asked, I say about nine different people 05:26 and every single one of them, bar none said, 05:30 I make the decision myself or I go to my mom or dad. 05:35 Those are the people they go to, 05:37 never did they say, 05:39 I go to an expert and it kind of makes sense, 05:41 Yeah. Why they're in that problem. 05:43 We're having comments about what, 05:45 several famous football players, 05:47 I won't name any of them. Exactly. 05:48 The basketball players that have taken their 05:50 millions of dollars a windfall and now they are broke. 05:53 Eighty million dollars is gone and they haven't really used it 05:57 to make it better. 05:58 What advice would you give 06:00 if you did get a million dollars? 06:02 Well, again I would go to someone 06:04 who has the money. 06:05 There was a saying, another saying. 06:06 I love these sayings, they're rich, it says, 06:08 "Watch what poor people do and don't do it, 06:11 that's why they're poor." 06:12 Right. 06:13 And we take our mindset a $30, 000 a year mindset 06:16 and put it into a million dollar mind, 06:19 it just won't work 06:21 because that 30 million dollar guy will still think, 06:24 you know, hey, I'm spending 30 million, 06:27 I'm not earning 30 million so I must spend 30 million, 06:30 did I say million? 06:31 Thirty thousand. I mean, thousand. 06:33 Now but that's okay. 06:34 But let me throw some back at you. 06:35 Okay. 06:37 I got a person making $30,000 a year, 06:39 he's saving seven of that every year, 06:41 he's doing well, he's okay. 06:43 All right. 06:44 I mean, quite frankly I think 06:45 the United States mislabels people as poor, 06:48 poverty based on the amount of money they make. 06:50 It should be labeled as how they utilize their funds, 06:53 that's how they should be labeled, correct? 06:55 So you can have a millionaire 06:57 or a person that makes a million dollars, 07:00 but spends a million and one 07:02 and he is not typically a millionaire 07:04 because he's spending more than he makes, correct? 07:06 Exactly. 07:07 So you can have a person making a lot of money 07:09 and person making like 30 or $40,000 a year 07:12 because we're talking the urban, 07:13 we're talking to you guys 07:15 in the urban demography right now. 07:16 And you don't have to make that much money 07:19 to be successful, 07:20 but it's key that if you want to be successful with money, 07:24 you should talk to someone 07:25 that has been successful with money. 07:27 Exactly. 07:29 You talk to someone who's wealthy 07:30 and wealth is basically, how much you can... 07:33 How long can you live without any money coming in. 07:37 Okay. 07:38 And that is the type of wealth that you have, 07:40 so if you can live, you know, 07:43 a month before you need another paycheck, 07:46 then you're wealthy for month, your month in wealth. 07:49 A monthionaire. A monthionaire. 07:53 You know, if you save the money to where 07:55 you can live a good year without any money coming in, 07:57 well, you're wealthy for that one year. 07:59 But you're right, you do need that 08:02 continually income coming in, 08:03 but most importantly, do you need to ask someone 08:06 who is successful, 08:08 who does manage their money successfully, 08:10 if they have a million dollars and you know this, 08:12 "Hey, let me take you out to lunch. 08:15 I'll pay you. 08:16 I'll pay you a thousand dollars 08:18 if you're gonna show me how I should spend this money? 08:21 How it should come, how it should go? 08:23 Who should I talk to? Who do you talk to? 08:27 Who are your mentors? What are some investment tips? 08:31 You could even ask those type of questions as well. 08:33 Interesting. Interesting. 08:34 I have another question for you though. 08:36 When you're looking at someone that is making 30 or $40,000, 08:40 he wants to invest some money, 08:42 he wants to do some things with it. 08:44 One of the keys that most people 08:45 aren't really aware of is the investment markets, 08:48 all of these type of things that are way over their head. 08:51 Again it goes back to the key issues 08:53 of getting the right advice, correct? 08:57 Correct. 08:58 So in the book "The Richest Man in Babylon", 09:00 he talks about that as well. 09:02 One of the five laws of gold is that, 09:05 "Never invest money in things that you're not familiar with." 09:09 So if you want to invest in whether it's real estate, 09:12 portfolio, or mutual funds, or stocks or bonds, 09:15 first you must educate yourself in it, know about it, 09:20 don't just, it's okay to give it to someone 09:22 who knows what they're doing, 09:24 but you should also know what that person is doing, 09:26 because like you said, those football players, 09:29 all those people, 09:30 they did that 09:31 and they got taken in by scams, 09:35 Murnock, good example. 09:36 Interesting. Interesting. 09:39 Do you know what the top three crisis 09:43 people are dealing with right now? 09:45 Top three crisis, well, one would be financial. 09:48 Yes. 09:49 And the second would most likely be relationships. 09:54 Exactly. Yeah, you're right on line. 09:56 In relationships. 09:57 And the third one is most likely 10:01 to having to do with their jobs, 10:02 I would say. 10:04 You got it, you nailed it. Exactly right. 10:05 Workplace stress, financial issues is number one, 10:09 workplace stress is number two, 10:10 and then the other one 10:12 personal relationship is number three, 10:13 and they all have to do with financial. 10:14 Look at what some of the, a famous basketball player 10:17 is dealing with right now with his situation 10:19 that also deals with finances. 10:21 Correct. 10:23 Workplace issues have to deal with paychecks 10:26 and how much someone takes home. 10:28 And then of course financial issues, 10:30 you spend more than you actually bring in. 10:32 And then it goes into other issues, 10:33 but then you talked about briefly 10:35 how much money do you have 10:38 to survive on if you lose your job tomorrow? 10:42 That's a key issue that most of us 10:44 don't aren't really aware of, 10:46 and in the urban areas we're dealing two years 10:49 before you find another job? 10:50 Correct. That's right. 10:52 Now there's something interesting 10:54 about all of that, because... 10:56 Okay, I received a call from a friend of mine in San Diego 11:00 who's a wealthy entrepreneur that does philanthropist, 11:02 gave a lot of money away, 11:04 developed a whole bunch of things, 11:05 and I learned a lot from her. 11:07 She connected with me through LinkedIn 11:09 and we talked a bit, 11:11 but it was interesting, 11:12 she has her own consulting company. 11:18 And it's interesting, we all talk about, got to find a job, 11:21 we'll create jobs for you, unemployment 11:23 and that kind of stuff. 11:24 Do you find the difference 11:26 between a producer and a consumer, 11:27 and what they actually do? 11:29 Do they have their own business 11:31 or do they work for other individuals? 11:32 That's a good question. 11:34 And the trend that's going on today 11:37 is to kind of get out of the workplace 11:39 working for someone else and to create your own job. 11:42 I tell my children and my two kids I said, 11:45 you know, when you get older 11:46 you're gonna have to create a job, 11:47 rather than find a job, 11:49 and the wealthy they do then 11:51 they might have a job 11:53 but at the same time they have the secondary thing 11:55 that they're doing, 11:56 whether it's consulting, teaching on the side, 11:58 whatever it is to bring that additional income in, 12:01 and that's gonna be key moving on to the future 12:04 because some jobs are getting phased out 12:06 because of technology. 12:08 Technology comes, we don't need that anymore. 12:12 So we're gonna have to get creative 12:14 in how we look at our future, 12:17 our children gonna have to get creative. 12:18 Yes, I could be a doctor 12:20 but now I may have to be a certain type of doctor, 12:22 I'm not specialized in this rather than that. 12:25 And again find those mentors that are out there. 12:27 Go out and read about entrepreneurs, 12:29 what are they doing? What new jobs are opening up? 12:33 What new technologies are breaking forth now? 12:36 I have an iPad and I'll show my son, 12:38 look at all the accessories that are made for iPad. 12:41 Someone saw also will make something great 12:43 and they say, you know, what? 12:44 I can make something for that 12:46 and they created their own jobs. 12:47 Yes. 12:49 And with the Internet now... 12:50 Oh, that's even better. 12:51 Its expansion is fantastic, 12:53 you can do so many different things. 12:54 The key is this. 12:55 Unemployment takes a job away from you 12:58 but creates opportunities to develop a business mindset. 13:02 If you talk to the right people, 13:03 don't just jump into it, 13:05 ask questions about incorporating, 13:07 tax issues, make sure the talk to people 13:10 about the ramifications of doing something 13:11 in certain way versus just jumping in. 13:14 Many people have been hurt that way. 13:16 But the context is and talking to our experts, Rodney, 13:18 I really appreciate what you're doing for us 13:20 and I'll continue to come back 13:21 and get some of those lines you give us, 13:25 those comments you give us... 13:26 Well, good. 13:28 Those are fantastic, and I think it lays it in there 13:29 that you don't have to be a consumer all of your life. 13:32 You can become a producer 13:35 and in producing you can create your own way. 13:38 Well, that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Rodney. 13:40 Thank you, sir. 13:42 And you all, Take it to the Bank and save. 13:46 Wow, there was a plethora of information 13:49 that was just happened there. 13:50 That guy is amazing when you talk to, 13:52 I just get, gain so much information. 13:55 And there are several things 13:56 that I want to talk to you about. 13:58 I think it's very essential for you as an individual 14:01 to think a little about this kind of concepts 14:04 as we drive home a couple of these issues. 14:06 Many of us may not have access to a computer, 14:09 but did you know at the libraries, 14:11 you have free use of a computer, 14:12 if you line up and you sign up for the computer, 14:14 you can use it for an hour. 14:16 Understand how to use a computer, get in there, 14:17 get familiar with it, do some searches, 14:19 find out some things online, talk about incorporating, 14:22 look and do some research 14:24 about this issue of business ownership. 14:28 Develop a specific approach 14:30 that you think will be beneficial for you. 14:33 There are so many opportunities that are out there. 14:36 And I choose to talk about that right now 14:38 because the resources are key. 14:40 When you're looking at getting advice, 14:43 I'd ask you to go down 14:44 to the local Seventh-day Adventist church. 14:46 They have resources there for days, talk to the pastor, 14:49 call a sub, send us an email, ask the questions 14:51 that you may need to ask 14:52 because these are relevant issues. 14:54 And so today, we're talking about major financial crisis, 15:00 what causes financial problems and stressors in life, 15:04 and one of them or we're gonna group up 15:06 a bunch of them right now, 15:08 and it has to do with income taxes, 15:11 gambling, and substance abuse. 15:14 We're gonna touch on those specific issues, 15:16 but focus on the issue called the income tax 15:21 and gambling issue, 15:23 because those are relevant to the specific concerns. 15:25 Many people get out there with an idea 15:27 and a thought process, 15:28 and they don't really understand the specifics 15:32 of what they need to prepare for. 15:33 You know, if you open a business, 15:35 you need to understand whether or not 15:37 you're doing it as a sole proprietor, 15:39 are you doing it as a corporation, 15:40 are you doing it as a nonprofit? 15:42 What are the tax ramifications? 15:44 And you as an individuals, 15:45 as a sole proprietor need to understand 15:47 that there you need to plan for how you pay those taxes, 15:51 whether it be on a quarterly basis 15:54 and how you pay with the taxman, 15:55 because many of us don't put away money for emergencies. 16:01 And in most situations when you open a business, 16:04 people don't even think about the fact 16:06 that the taxman is gonna ask for his funds 16:08 on an ongoing basis, 16:10 and those can get out of control extremely fast. 16:15 You know, I'm redundant, they're extremely fast, fast, 16:17 extremely, yes. 16:18 It's gonna get out of control quickly. 16:20 What we're trying to tell you is 16:22 little hints of how you can do it. 16:24 Now, I have a little caveat for you 16:26 that I like to share with you. 16:28 The story is or this is a case scenario for us to think about. 16:33 You're a business owner, not a business owner, 16:35 you work for a company and you make a substantive 16:39 amount of money, you, your spouse works from home, 16:41 she is a researcher, 16:43 and she does a lot of work from a computers at home. 16:46 The both of you bring in approximately $68,000 a year, 16:51 $68,000 a year. 16:52 Now we're going to be talking about the issues of tax, debt, 16:56 garnished, wages, zero savings, 16:59 and things that can push towards of course, 17:02 a faltering relationship, a faltering marriage. 17:05 In this case, they make approximately a hundred, 17:08 hundred plus thousand dollars a year, 17:10 but they have $15, 000 plus in tax debt, 17:14 they owe the IRS, they didn't plan accordingly. 17:16 The home based business 17:17 they weren't putting a money away in association 17:20 with that tax debt on a quarterly basis. 17:24 So they find they ended up owing money and to the point 17:28 that they weren't unable to pay it off, 17:29 so what then the IRS did in this possible scenario is 17:33 they garnished the wage earner's business, 17:37 wage earner's money or salary. 17:40 So his whole salary or $800 of his salary is garnished, 17:45 it's taken and it's put towards the repayment 17:49 of that $15, 000 debt, 17:51 but they're barely able to keep up with the interest 17:54 on that debt that the IRS has on them. 17:56 So they're garnishing his wages, 17:58 in addition to that he is paying... 18:01 they're paying an additional $250 per month 18:04 to pay down that debt. 18:06 Now let's give you some background information. 18:09 They make about $6,800 a year... 18:13 Excuse me. 18:14 They make $6,800 a month 18:16 and then they also spend $5, 900 a month, 18:19 so they have a $900 buffer in there 18:22 which they should be putting into savings. 18:24 But yet, they don't have any savings. 18:28 And then of course, you take a look at the issue 18:30 that you have family, you have children, 18:32 and we're not saving any money of that $900 buffer, 18:36 we don't know where that money is going. 18:40 Of course, then you take a look at the fact 18:42 that despite that extra $900 a month too, 18:45 they're also spending money 18:47 for special runs to major distribution places, 18:52 they're spending $100 a month to collect sports memorabilia, 18:58 they're doing what? 19:00 A $67 a month for a YM health club membership. 19:06 And they're doing a variety of things 19:08 and yet they're just scraping by, 19:09 $48 a month for magazines. 19:12 And so you're getting a perspective 19:13 of what's going on. 19:14 Then you start finding out 19:16 a little bit more about this family. 19:17 You start asking questions and saying, okay, yeah. 19:20 What do you have in reference to assets? 19:22 Well, we have a home. Fantastic. 19:25 Are you behind in your payments? 19:26 No. 19:27 How much are you spending on your mortgage? 19:29 $2,100 of the $6,800 revenue goes towards mortgage payments, 19:35 of that $5,900 an expense. 19:37 And of course, you ask other questions, 19:40 you find out that he may have a collection worth $30, 000 19:47 that he's been putting money away every single month 19:49 buying into a collection. 19:51 Now let's look at all of those items together. 19:55 They're not saving anything, they have taxes 19:57 that are going and driving up a wall. 20:00 Any of you that have dealt with that. 20:02 I have in the past 20:03 and you understand how it can create stress 20:08 in any type of relationship, 20:09 and you can see the relationship 20:11 spiraling out of control, 20:13 because you have a spender out there 20:15 who's gonna control of the finances, 20:18 and you have a saver that's in there 20:20 but doesn't have any control of those finances. 20:23 The one that works from home is the one that saves. 20:28 It's the one that goes out to work every day 20:30 and he's getting his wages garnished 20:32 to help pay off that IRS debt. 20:35 He's the one that spends money 20:36 and he's continued to spend 20:38 a whole lot of money on his collectible. 20:41 Now, you ask specific questions 20:45 and you find out there are things 20:47 that you can do in your life. 20:48 This is an example to change the scenario very quickly. 20:53 It's something that is an actual thing 20:55 that happened, 20:56 it was something that was out there on the net that, 20:58 that was interesting to me. 20:59 So as an individual, 21:01 what would you do placed in that situation? 21:04 What would you do as an individual 21:06 and what kind of steps would you take 21:08 to solve the problems that they're dealing with? 21:11 And this is what the actual consultant 21:15 said to them to take care of. 21:17 One is control your cash flow. 21:20 Control the cash flow, number one. 21:22 Unfortunately, that was a drastic step, 21:24 so what they had to do 21:26 is they get to take the control of the cash from the spender 21:30 and put it in the control of the saver, 21:33 so you found out the person that looked more specifically 21:38 where money was going 21:39 and was more apt to keep a budget. 21:41 Now of course, they know generically 21:43 where things are up but they didn't know where that 21:45 $900 of additional funds 21:47 were actually going on a monthly basis, 21:49 and it was by finding out 21:51 how they could control their cash flow, 21:53 that they could actually curtail some of those expenses. 21:58 And that's how they found out he was spending 22:00 a lot of money on his collectible items 22:03 that put their children at risk. 22:06 One of the other things, steps that they took was, 22:09 his family makes $100,000 plus a year 22:12 and they have a lot of assets 22:13 and they have a lot of things in place. 22:15 So the second thing they told him to do 22:17 is get a will and a trust, 22:19 so that your children are not at risk 22:22 in tying up things for long terms, 22:25 because you haven't prepared accordingly 22:27 how things will transition in case something bad happens. 22:32 Then of course, they talk to them 22:33 about add a life insurance. 22:38 That is the key thing 22:40 and you'll find it in a variety of different areas, 22:43 ask business leaders, 22:44 ask individuals that you respect 22:46 about life insurance. 22:48 And that's a critical issue, 22:49 many of our underserved communities, 22:51 you find are going through difficult situations 22:54 made even much worse 22:55 because you're not prepared for these circumstances. 22:58 You find people setting up car washes 23:00 and other type of fundraisers 23:03 to help these families in difficulties, 23:05 raise the moneys that they need 23:07 to help take care of the final transition 23:11 of bearing their child, or their loved one. 23:15 It is something that's so simple to do 23:18 and they're very inexpensive 23:20 if you get in while you're young, 23:22 and that's a key issue to take a look at. 23:25 And of course, we need to take a look 23:27 at how we get rid of the debt. 23:29 Once we assess our current situation, 23:33 then we know what we need to do and what we need to go after. 23:35 Now the critical item in all of this 23:38 had to do with this $15,000 IRS debt. 23:41 This individual is getting his wages garnished, 23:45 and yet he's sitting on a $30,000 collectibles 23:51 of whatever they could be, 23:52 cards whatever the case is, 23:53 but he's sitting on this 23:55 that has a value that's significant. 23:58 What would you do? 23:59 The decision is their, you have a collectible worth $30,000, 24:03 you have a tax lien on your garnishing your wages, 24:08 and it's $15,000 causing this monkey in the room, 24:12 all the time you're dealing with your garnished wages, 24:15 you're dealing with these issues 24:17 that's tearing your relationship apart, 24:19 what would you do? 24:21 Remember, Luke 12:15, 24:23 it's not about the abundance of your possessions, 24:26 what matters is what you can do with the funds 24:27 to help your family and to help others, 24:30 getting rid of that tax debt will do something accordingly. 24:33 In addition to that, a couple of other solutions 24:35 that were provided was 24:36 to set aside money on a quarterly basis for taxes. 24:40 So they were able to recommend 24:42 an automatic deposit into a savings account, 24:44 so that money is waiting on a quarterly basis 24:48 to pay on those taxes 24:50 for the entrepreneurial sole proprietorship 24:53 that she had working from home. 24:55 Those are the minor items that could take care of things 24:59 and there's one other thing 25:01 is checking into increasing your emergency savings fund. 25:05 Those are the major items that were discussed 25:08 as a possible solution for these people's concerns. 25:14 So where are you? 25:16 What are you doing? What are your concerns? 25:18 What are your stressors right now? 25:20 In this situation, 25:21 they were able to talk the gentleman into 25:24 selling his collectibles at a lower rate 25:28 but he was able to get 25:29 the $15,000 out of that collectible 25:31 and pay off the debt, 25:33 and that put them in a whole different situation 25:35 because he's now not having his wages garnished, 25:39 he has more money to put away into savings, 25:41 they're more relaxed, 25:43 they have life insurance and that type of thing. 25:45 That if you don't take an active look at assessing 25:49 where you're at, creating a budget, 25:51 putting away emergency savings money, 25:53 going after paying off debt, 25:55 you're gambling with your life, 25:57 you're gambling with your family's life, 25:59 and it's essential that you take a serious look 26:02 at these specific guidance. 26:03 When you take a look at gambling 26:05 which is another major area of financial concern, 26:08 it impacts a lot of us 26:09 close to 10% of individuals according to the study 26:14 that it impacts up to 9.6% of individuals 26:20 are at risk for gambling issues specifically, 26:23 however about they say that 26:25 only about 4.8% of individuals 26:29 are moderate to severe gamblers. 26:31 What does that mean? 26:32 I'm not quite sure, but it does say this. 26:35 Gambling is something that's relevant to all of us. 26:39 Substance abuse is also an issue that's relevant 26:42 and it's impacting our young people, 26:44 as well as those in our underserved communities. 26:47 We have to figure out a way 26:48 how we can get people away from taking a risky attitude 26:55 and not thinking about the ramifications 26:57 of what could happen. 26:59 Work related difficulties happen, 27:01 productivity goes up, 27:03 productivity goes down, absenteeism goes up, 27:06 we look at higher rates of suicide. 27:08 We see that there are higher rates of guess what? 27:11 Marital breakdowns, family breakdowns, 27:15 the family goes away 27:16 and that's one of the key issues 27:18 that people aren't thinking about. 27:19 We're looking at people beginning the process 27:23 because they get into debt of seeking illegal activities 27:26 to support their gambling 27:28 and there are those concerns and then of course, 27:31 there is significant financial loss 27:35 when you're not able to put a lot of these things, 27:38 these concerns that 27:40 all of us need to address into check. 27:44 And so we're talking about income tax. 27:47 Seek a professional for advice, talk to them, 27:52 additionally talk to the family, 27:54 work out things that can help you better 27:58 take money to the bank. 27:59 God bless you. |
Revised 2017-04-03