Participants: Cordell Thomas
Series Code: TITTB
Program Code: TITTB000038
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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 00:27 and many more financial matters on Take It To The Bank. 00:31 Hi, welcome to Take It To The Bank. 00:33 My name is Cordell Thomas, 00:35 I'm gonna spend the next few minutes 00:36 talking to you about 00:38 an important piece of information, stress. 00:43 What are the causes of stress? 00:45 Why do we go through stressful situations? 00:48 Where are things that we can do in our lives 00:52 to diminish the stress that typically comes our way? 00:56 And I think it will be very interesting to you 00:58 when we come to the top five stressors in our life. 01:02 They're not internal stressors. They're all external stressors. 01:06 And if we can figure out 01:07 how to address those stressors that are external to us, 01:11 we can minimize the damage that it does in our lives. 01:15 One of the things that's really important 01:17 as we talk about causes of financial stress, 01:20 is to look at some of the resources 01:24 that are actually available to each and everyone of us. 01:26 Some of us may be dealing with the issue 01:29 of living from paycheck to paycheck. 01:32 Then I think the first thing that we need to do 01:34 is grab a hold of where we-- 01:37 we are at in reference to our finances. 01:39 One of the biggest things that I think 01:41 we could do is just develop a budget. 01:45 When you look at the budget, 01:47 you begin to understand 01:48 the importance of why it exists. 01:51 That budget form is critical for you 01:54 so that you can assess 01:56 where you're at and what you're doing. 01:59 My concern that most people have 02:00 when they come and talk to me is, 02:01 they have no idea of where they're at. 02:04 You can never figure out where you're going 02:06 unless you know where you're at. 02:07 So some of the goals that we setup 02:09 is I'd like to payoff my debt. 02:10 Okay cool, let's payoff your debt 02:12 but where are you right now 02:14 and reference to additional income 02:15 that may help us to get those things accomplished. 02:17 Well, I don't know. 02:19 Well, let's sit down and do a budget. 02:20 And of the things that are quite interesting to me 02:22 is when you can sit with the group of individuals 02:25 and do a budget sheet, 02:27 it's quite interesting what comes out of that budget. 02:30 It gives us trends and behavior patterns 02:33 and different things that happen in our lives. 02:38 I think it's really important 02:41 that you sit down with your spouse, 02:42 sit down with you're significant other, 02:44 sit down with, with your family 02:46 and begin the process of thinking through 02:49 what it is to have a budget, to have a home, 02:53 to have these expenses 02:54 that are very relevant and important. 02:57 You're gonna begin to get a context of what matters most, 03:01 what it is that you're dealing with. 03:03 I tell people typically, to go for 30 days 03:07 and we'll meet again in 30 days. 03:09 And write down everything you spend money on. 03:14 And you begin to get this, look on their face, 03:16 I have to write down everything. 03:17 Yes, everything that you spend money on 03:20 and there are apps that are available 03:21 to help you from that standpoint. 03:22 But when you start writing down 03:24 what you spend your money on 03:25 and where you spend the money, 03:27 it develops a certain, 03:29 a certain type of symmetry to your, your life. 03:32 You can see where you go, what you do, 03:35 how you handle your money, what you spend your money on. 03:38 It's the same as 03:40 what they're doing on social networks. 03:42 They're looking at where you go, what you do, 03:44 where you purchase, how you handle your funds, 03:47 what your interests are and guess what they do, 03:50 they send you advertisements 03:52 that address those specific concerns. 03:55 So if you have some other social network 03:57 doing that on your behalf, 03:59 why not take control of your own experiences 04:01 and figure out what you would like to spend your money on 04:04 and wherever you'd like to see 04:06 some additional savings in your life 04:08 so you can put additional funds away 04:10 and decrease that emotional concern of, of stress. 04:14 There are other issues that can cause stress. 04:16 For example, I remember a situation 04:18 when I was in a retail establishment 04:22 and there was just item, a CD player that was for sale. 04:26 And I had made an agreement with my spouse 04:29 to let her know of any type of purchases 04:32 we're gonna make that were outside of the budget 04:34 that we had setup for ourselves. 04:36 And so as we did that, 04:38 had established that a few years back, 04:40 I went into the store and I saw this great deal. 04:43 Now it's amazing what happens when you break 04:46 the bounds of an agreement that you have. 04:48 You begin acting like you've never acted before 04:51 because I still remember bringing that item home 04:54 and trying to hide that item and set it up 04:56 and put it in a place that wouldn't think, 04:59 I wouldn't think that my wife would actually see it 05:01 and acknowledge that I purchased it. 05:03 But what happened when she actually saw it 05:06 and acknowledged it and started asking questions, 05:08 you begin to become that child in yourself 05:11 that you never realized you could be 05:13 and it is quite funny. 05:15 Because 05:18 it was interesting how I responded to her 05:21 in that scenario. 05:22 'Cause I-- CD player was on sale 05:24 and now you begin to become that child and saying, 05:26 trying to explain your way out of this acquisition 05:29 that you really shouldn't have made 05:30 without making a simple call from your smart phone. 05:34 It would have been easy as that 05:35 and they wouldn't have been any surprise in her life. 05:38 Now that was a form of financial infidelity 05:42 because I've broken the bounds of an agreement 05:44 I had with somebody. 05:45 We've talked about those issues 05:47 and we came to another agreement 05:48 where you know what, 05:50 if there is this type of expenditure 05:52 that I think it's worthwhile for the family. 05:54 Why don't I make it from my own account? 05:56 So we have a shared account and then we have our own, 05:59 we allocate funds to our individual accounts 06:02 for her and for me. 06:04 And that seems to make a little more sense 06:05 so that I have allocated a form of fund 06:10 that I can tap into 06:12 if I see there's something that needs to be done 06:14 in a situation that may have to be, 06:16 the decision may have to be made in a quick way, 06:19 so I can access the funds and I can pay for it. 06:21 So we've, we've made adjustments. 06:23 But it still comes down to an additional stress 06:26 if you don't follow what you've practiced. 06:28 What is the biggest stress? 06:30 What is out there that for you and I 06:32 to discuss in this issue of what causes stress 06:36 and you'll be surprised at what happens. 06:38 Now 06:41 as we talk about this 06:42 I have a few individuals that I talked to about 06:47 what causes stress, 06:49 what is a stressor in your life 06:51 and we'll use their responses 06:53 to move through the rest of this program. 06:55 Here is what they said. 06:59 My biggest stress would be stress itself. 07:03 Stress you know, about not having enough time, 07:06 stress about 07:09 not knowing the right information 07:11 at the right time for exams or for, you know, 07:14 anything that may encounter. 07:18 But definitely stress itself is a big stress. 07:23 I think my biggest cause of stress is time. 07:26 I tend to fill my plate a lot 07:28 and I feel that the 24 hours in day is not enough 07:32 so time management 07:33 would probably be my biggest stress. 07:37 One of the biggest causes of stress 07:39 that I have is basically time. 07:41 I always feel like I need 30 hours in my day 07:43 and then I only get 24, 07:45 if not less because I got to sleep, 07:48 I got to recover and then it's just, stress, 07:51 it builds up upon like not be able 07:52 to match my time correctly 07:54 because even if I wanted 30 hours I only get 24. 07:57 So time management, it's-- can be stressful 08:00 even I have a good hang of it but it's the biggest enemy. 08:05 I'd just say, you, Cordell, 08:06 because you're stretching out all of these questions 08:08 so much to think about 08:09 and I get stressed out easily 08:11 so for me everything stresses me out. 08:14 I should say like just 08:15 if something doesn't go right I get stressed. 08:17 You could tell my sisters and my friends are like, 08:19 "Calm down, Vienna I start like pulling my hair 08:21 I'm like what, but yeah, everything for me is stress. 08:26 In my family it would be like, financially, 08:28 like financial stress and other than in that school, 08:31 and finals I just-- 08:39 The frustration that you have with the time element 08:42 that we all are blessed with, here we have 24 hours in a day. 08:47 And just like that gentleman said, 08:48 we need 31 hours within that 24 08:51 to makeup what we need to do. 08:53 But one of the things we talk about in our series 08:55 and we talked in lecture is time is money. 08:58 Every moment of the day 08:59 that you're spending doing something 09:00 could be allocated to making money. 09:03 And many of the wealthy understand that time 09:06 and the money element. 09:07 Many of us worry and stress as we graduate college 09:11 because we're worried about 09:12 the issues of paying back our college debt. 09:15 What is the average source of debt, 09:17 college debt when someone comes out of, 09:19 of college under graduate school? 09:21 It's about between 19 and $26,000 09:24 that people have in debt 09:26 from just their undergraduate program 09:28 and when you get to the masters program, 09:30 as well as a PhD program, 09:32 you can come out with $60,000 worth of debt 09:35 that you have to payback. 09:37 That's a major cause of stress. 09:38 Many young people don't realize is as they focus 09:42 on the college debt to payback, 09:45 they don't realize that they have time on their side. 09:48 And if they were able to put aside $150 a month, 09:53 once they graduate, $2,000 a year for the next 10 years, 09:57 they would have invested through a Roth IRA, 10:00 for example, depend on several variables, of course, 10:04 they could have well over 10:05 five to six, seven hundred thousand dollar 10:07 by the time they retire. 10:09 And if they continue the process, 10:11 the habit of saving money, more money on top of that, 10:14 they could be well over million dollars in savings 10:17 and or money they could access upon their retirement. 10:20 But many of us are not thinking about 10:23 the future value of the money that they're making now. 10:25 We are worried about the debt that we have to payback. 10:29 And many of us aren't considering the fact 10:31 that we have other resources available to us. 10:34 Did you know that there are colleges here 10:38 in the United States that offer free tuition? 10:44 And now when you think about it, 10:46 why don't we expose most of those out there, 10:51 young people that there are colleges 10:52 that provide those type of potential benefits 10:56 for going to school at that school? 10:57 We can send you that list of you'd like to, 10:59 They're not that many but they are there, 11:01 that provide free tuition programs. 11:04 And in some cases, 11:06 you have no out-of-pocket expense 11:08 to go that school and get your education. 11:10 And when you give that piece of mind to somebody, 11:13 then you begin to understand 11:15 the benefits of knowing what you know. 11:18 For a family of four 11:20 that has two people wearing glasses in the family. 11:24 They're in the expenses associated 11:25 with having to get eyeglasses for the family. 11:28 You may have insurance covered 11:30 but did you know they are places you can go 11:33 that can provide you glasses, 11:36 first pair for free 11:38 and or you can buy 11:40 many different forms of those same eyeglasses frames, lenses 11:44 and everything for $6 and 95 cents plus shipping? 11:49 When you know these type of things, 11:51 it kind of gives you a better context 11:54 that the stress doesn't have to necessarily to be there 11:57 because we have resources 11:58 that can help us in the specific environment. 12:02 As an individual, 12:03 that may have come from difficult situation, 12:06 maybe from incarceration, 12:08 maybe from a variety of different things 12:10 that you also have an opportunity 12:11 because there are programs based on your income level, 12:15 based on a variety of different things 12:16 that fit your profile 12:18 that you can have matching funds 12:21 that can be given to you based on your meeting 12:23 a specific goal of $1,000 or $2,000 in savings. 12:27 These specific programs 12:29 are available geographically across the nation 12:32 and if you want to give a call, 12:33 I would be available to provide you 12:35 some of those resources and where they are available. 12:38 We can even offer some type of benefit 12:41 that if you go through all of the series 12:44 that we provide on financial literacy, 12:46 that you now are qualified, 12:48 you don't have to sit through another 6 or 7 hour program 12:51 to get qualified for access 12:53 to these savings match programs. 12:55 They are out there, they are available, 13:00 they are things that are available 13:01 that wouldn't even know 13:03 that would offer benefits to you as an individual. 13:05 Did you realize that if you wanted to, 13:08 you could negotiate the price 13:11 that you pay for medical services? 13:15 Did you know that medical builders 13:16 would much rather have cash pulled in 13:18 then having to build the insurance company. 13:21 All of these can offer you 13:23 some kind of access to a sense of peace. 13:28 knowing that resources are there for you 13:32 so that you can pay for and or-- 13:35 or get the benefits that are necessary for your family. 13:40 Self-sufficiency, what is self-sufficiency? 13:43 Self-sufficiency is being able to pay 13:45 for your family's needs. 13:50 What are your family needs? 13:53 How much money do you need to make to be comfortable? 13:56 Well, of course, as we study it, 13:58 we know that it's based geography. 14:00 If you live in Los Angeles, Downtown 14:04 and you need low income housing, 14:05 it might be difficult 14:07 because in Los Angeles 14:09 it may be as much as $55,000 for a year 14:13 for you to be self-sufficient 14:15 based on a family of five, three children 14:18 one that needs daycare 14:20 and of course, health benefits and the like. 14:22 That's self-sufficiency, that's getting by. 14:26 And then we deal with issues 14:27 of the amount of money that you make, minimum wage 14:34 those kind of things have a lot to do so. 14:36 If you make minimum wage and live in, in Los Angeles, 14:39 how many fulltime working adults 14:41 would you need in a household 14:44 to support that household 14:46 of five or six individuals. 14:48 And you have, 14:49 you take the context of $8 in hour, 14:51 you would have three adults working fulltime 14:55 to make $49,000 a year. 14:57 And so you're not even at self-sufficiency 14:59 in that specific area or geography. 15:03 So we begin to bring all of those things together 15:06 and you realize that there are so many elements out there 15:09 that cause stress. 15:11 Number five, 15:13 on the stress level chart is irritants. 15:17 Everything around your life that young lady said, 15:19 that causes stress, 15:21 things in life, things that come up 15:23 unexpected items that cause stress. 15:26 Work related issues. 15:28 Number four on the list has to do with health. 15:30 We are always worried about our family's health, 15:34 our spouse's health, our children's health 15:36 and that's number four on the list 15:37 of major causes of stress 15:40 which are due to external conditions. 15:43 Health is something you can't control. 15:46 So you try to make sure 15:47 you have health insurance in place 15:49 so they can pay for the peace of mind 15:52 when you go to a, do a physical 15:54 and have those things taken care of. 15:56 But you know, 15:57 how hypertension can fit into it, 16:00 heart disease, problems with eyesight, 16:03 sugar affliction, diabetes. 16:05 those types of things 16:06 are major causes of a life stress. 16:09 And that's number four on the list. 16:13 Number three on the list 16:15 has to do with personal relationships. 16:18 We all have to deal with relationships, 16:19 inter family relations, outside of that, your in-laws, 16:24 those cause major stresses to your relationship 16:28 in the family as well as outside the family. 16:30 That's a number three 16:32 cause of stress which is also in external environment. 16:35 Studies of children, attitude of your relatives, 16:39 arguments with your spouse, a change of place 16:42 due to the requirements of your job, 16:44 a relocation, illness of a family member, 16:48 moving into your parents 16:49 or moving out of your elder children 16:52 are all causes of major stress 16:54 and you know that this stress level went up 16:56 since the economy took a dive 16:59 over the past three to four years. 17:03 Number two on list has to do with the workplace stress. 17:07 Stress in the workplace is another major cause 17:10 because you may be worried about your next promotion. 17:13 You might be facing the negative attitudes 17:15 or bullying behavior of your boss. 17:19 You may not be getting to your career goals. 17:22 There are many different things in your life 17:24 at work that cause you to be worried. 17:27 One of the big things in Los Angeles has to do, 17:29 the stress of getting to work. 17:31 The long commute hours, the time you spend in the car, 17:34 the time you spend trying to get to work. 17:36 All of these things are major causes of stress 17:39 and it causes you to worry about things 17:43 that you don't necessary have to worry for. 17:45 We're always looking for the next promotion, 17:47 we're always looking for the next opportunity. 17:50 And then of course, we get to the number one 17:52 cause of stress. 17:53 We had an opportunity to talk to several people 17:55 out in the Venice area of California 17:58 and they were giving us 18:00 some of their top causes of stress 18:02 and you can hear 18:03 it even in the young people that responded today 18:06 as well as anywhere else that you talk to, 18:08 the major and number one cause of stress in anyone's life 18:12 has to do with finances. 18:15 Finance is the biggest cause of stress. 18:17 This is a number one issue 18:20 that people aren't really talking about today. 18:23 You and your family are not able to do 18:24 what you want to do because of the lack of money. 18:28 When you talk about happiness in life, 18:30 it's the ability to do what you want to do 18:33 when you want to do it 18:34 and you're not encumbered by this issue 18:36 of not having the funds to do so. 18:39 We know that middleclass Americans 18:41 are in the habit of spending every bit of what they make. 18:45 And it's important to take a step back and realize 18:48 that if I do have that emergency savings, 18:50 if I'm spending $4500 of the $7000 18:54 I make on a monthly basis, whatever that number is, 18:57 if you have the ability to save 19:00 at least 20, 30, 40 percent of what you make, 19:03 now you have access to funds you can tap into 19:06 that can give a sense of peace of mind 19:08 if that emergencies should come up. 19:10 But what is going on right now from the financial standpoint, 19:13 since we're living paycheck to paycheck, 19:15 if we're not able to keep a job, 19:19 if we lose the job, 19:20 we have no idea 19:22 where the next amount of money is gonna be coming from. 19:24 And that causes an increase in stress 19:27 and that increase in stress 19:28 can cause a lot of difficult behavior patterns 19:31 within the home as well as outside the home. 19:34 And it's those that don't have the funds 19:36 that are likely to gamble, 19:39 to take risk and I think gambling 19:41 is also a part of playing the lottery. 19:45 Risk is a difficult thing to really grapple with 19:50 because you take risk in everyday life. 19:52 You go driving to work, 19:54 which you could get to a car accident. 19:55 So we try to handle that risk by paying for insurance. 19:59 But many of us can't pay for insurance 20:01 because we're basically 20:03 taking care of our basics in life 20:05 and just keeping a roof over our heads. 20:08 And it's been very difficult as we rate the level of, 20:12 of stress that goes on into person's life, 20:14 as you talked to that individual 20:16 that used to make that six digit income 20:19 on a yearly basis, 20:20 and now they're homeless in a different environment. 20:23 And all you have to do is read some books 20:25 and you see that there are a lot of barriers 20:27 to getting back into the work environment 20:29 because some of these people that haven't worked 20:32 for many months or years and have been stressing, 20:35 looking for that type of work 20:36 are dealing with mental health issues. 20:39 They're dealing with family issues, 20:41 they're dealing with house, housing issues, 20:43 they're dealing with clothing issues, 20:44 transportation issues 20:46 and they are total of about 12 items, 20:48 attributes on that list 20:49 that people who are looking for work, 20:51 who haven't been able to work 20:53 and dealing with the stress in their life 20:54 of losing a home and losing the stuff 20:58 that they've always had in their life. 21:01 All you need to do is talk to an individual 21:03 that tells you, yeah, I'm going to have to, 21:07 to sell my stuff so I can have some of that income 21:13 to use to get into a temporary shelter. 21:16 Looking at what it was like for someone to lose their home. 21:20 And yes, identifying with that 21:22 is key to know how that we can work 21:26 through that type of situation. 21:29 So the number one issue is financial. 21:33 What are the causes of financial problems? 21:36 What cause those specific issues in your life? 21:39 Well, I'm gonna go through six basic causes of this 21:44 number one, financial stress in our life. 21:48 And the number one concern or cause 21:52 has to do with your personal planning. 21:57 What is it? 21:58 Poor budgeting or lack of a budget. 22:01 That's what comes out as a number one issue, 22:04 poor personal planning. 22:06 So what do we talk about in all of these things? 22:08 What are we talking about? 22:10 It has everything to do with 22:14 taking an assessment of where you want to be 22:16 and where you want to go. 22:19 A personal budget will take you there. 22:21 It gives you that goal, 22:23 it tells you, I need to payoff debt. 22:26 It tells you, this is where my income comes from. 22:28 It tells you, this is where my expenses are going. 22:32 That is key, planning and understanding 22:35 that paying off debt, putting things away in savings, 22:38 having an emergency savings account 22:40 is key to managing the stress of finance. 22:45 Because when you lose a job 22:47 or you lose that, that income source, 22:50 it becomes a big issue how you can last in that house, 22:56 how you can keep food on the table for your kids. 23:00 It is a major stress and then it's, it's added to 23:04 when you lose the home and you're unemployed 23:07 and you lose the shelter for your family and kids. 23:11 It's critical and we've talked to people like that. 23:13 So poor budgeting and planning means 23:16 I don't have that emergency savings. 23:18 I don't know what and where to go 23:21 to get that additional funding to pay for it. 23:24 And I've been asked, Cordell, 23:25 what is a good amount of emergency savings. 23:28 Well, I will tell you right now that would be great 23:31 if you had emergency funds you can tap in to-- 23:34 for the course of one year because we know right now 23:37 that people or looking for work 23:39 have been looking for work for over 18 to 24 months. 23:44 So there are resources that you can tap into, 23:48 there are welfare agencies that are-- 23:52 welfare and or tax incentive agencies, 23:55 whichever way you look at it that are willing to help out 23:58 from the standpoint of food banks, 24:00 with the standpoint of temporary shelters, 24:03 from the standpoint of additional funding 24:05 that can come in and healthcare for your kids. 24:08 So that's one of the major areas 24:10 that I would typically talk about 24:12 in starting the process 24:14 of handling that stress in your life. 24:20 Now as we talked to 24:23 the number two cause of financial problems 24:26 is unemployment and loss of income. 24:29 We talked about a little bit about that 24:31 and it comes to a place 24:34 where that it only exacerbates a problem little bit more. 24:39 So what I would say now 24:40 is if you do not currently have a job, 24:44 there are resources that are available for you 24:46 that can help you bide the time 24:49 until you tie yourself to a new position. 24:52 If you do have a job, 24:54 look at getting a budget in place 24:56 because I can't emphasize, I can't emphasize enough 25:00 the importance of having that extra revenue in a place 25:04 that you can access readily. 25:06 If you're not prepared to do long term investments, 25:09 start the process small by having savings, 25:12 having an emergency savings and having some 25:15 at place that you can tap into that 25:17 in case some type of problem does happen. 25:22 Number three on list of causes of financial problems 25:25 has to do with expensive emergencies. 25:29 You also know the time. 25:30 I remember that time in my life 25:32 when I'm driving my car on the road, 25:34 I had about a, at that time I had 25:35 about a 110,000 or 115,000 miles on my car 25:39 and I knew that the timing belt had to be changed, 25:42 right about the 100,000 mile mark. 25:44 I can still recall that time that I was, 25:47 that you could hear this thing, ping, go on under the hood 25:51 and all of a sudden a little smoke 25:53 coming out from under the hood as my timing belt 25:56 had, had lost, you know, lost all service with my car. 26:01 It was the moment that I can never forget 26:03 because I'm on the side of the road 26:05 and I'm thinking okay, what the next step. 26:07 If I didn't have the funding available, 26:09 I wouldn't have been able to had the car towed. 26:12 If I didn't have available resources, 26:15 I wouldn't have been able to get the car 26:17 taken care of and fixed. 26:20 The other nice thing was I have a fantastic family, 26:23 a father-in-law who's mechanical minded 26:26 and was able to suggest to me, 26:28 yeah, you've towed it to a dealership, 26:30 they took care of the basics 26:31 but I can take care of your timing belt 26:34 and was able to, buy the parts, buy the resources 26:37 and get back to a sense of wholeness, 26:40 a certain sense of insurance if I can put it that way 26:44 because that is really what we all need to look at 26:48 in reference to how we handle 26:50 these emergencies that come our way. 26:53 When you're seeking a financial advice, 26:56 don't get the advice from the wrong person. 26:58 If you want financial advice, 27:00 go to someone that understand finance. 27:02 And don't go to somebody 27:04 that has never been in that realm. 27:06 Don't get involved in risky investments 27:09 because that will cause a lot of stress. 27:11 It will cause you to not know what's gonna happen 27:14 and it will cause you to always question 27:15 what you've done 27:17 and it could also be a loss from that standpoint. 27:20 And then of course, the other major area 27:23 that causes financial problems later on in life 27:26 is, inadequate planning for retirement. 27:30 So what I can tell you right now 27:35 and what I'm gonna emphasize to you right now 27:37 and I can emphasize enough is this. 27:41 Start by paying down your debt and start by getting a budget. 27:45 Once you have that budget in place, 27:48 the rest is just cream on the pie. 27:50 You and I will be in a better place 27:53 when you can have money 27:55 available for those at emergencies in life. 27:57 Take that to the bank. 27:59 God bless. |
Revised 2016-02-11