This Thanksgiving was different! November 28, 2008

The cornucopia of plenty was ever so conspicuous this year, compared to previous year’s that I’d taken pretty much for granted, since I’ve visited the Eritrean refugee camps in Africa this July where food and education were both in very short supply. These kids are looking for both, yet their experience is that neither food nor education are readily forthcoming. While I donated and distributed thousands of dollars of medical supplies, it was in connecting eye-to-eye, and heart-to-heart with these kids, that I reveled, receiving their smiles of gratitude.

Yes, that’s me with the head covering on the right, giving out flimsy hair bands, which were received with so much humility it made me cry. People with so little, grateful for the smallest of tokens, and yet hopeful for a promising future. These same kids plead with their mothers to spend the pittance of money they earn at two and three jobs on education, NOT food. They KNOW that education is their only ticket to freedom, if there is one.

I’ve contributed monthly to Unitus (associated with Grameen Bank), for a year now, ever since I was introduced to Mohammad Yunus’ courageous and heroic trail blazing in micro lending. My life’s mission includes speaking to women everywhere to empower them about their money, and encouraging us all to consider redistributing even $25/month to organizations that support women who have initiative and drive, and simply need a LOAN of capital–even a one time loan of $25.00–to boost them towards their freedom and that of their families.

I’ve touched and hugged those whom the world calls poor, yet their spirits are surprisingly hopeful. It is that hope that I want to rekindle. I’ve used that African experience to re-frame my own thinking, so that I am conscious and grateful for all the abundance that I have, and for the immense opportunities I have, and I can assure you that this current market decline is miniscule by comparison to the worries of entire families literally starving to death!

This Thanksgiving and holiday season may I recommend that you gift yourself and your friends with Mohammad’s book Banker to the Poor? It was one of the most powerful and riveting books I’ve read, in which he gives us hope that we can all participate in the freedom of our planet, one micro-loan at a time, freeing one spirit and family at a time.

That’s something to be thankful for, and to celebrate!

Social Secretary Of Obama – Desiree Rogers November 25, 2008

The new social secretary of Obama happens to be an African-American woman said to be close to the Obama family. Desiree Rogers is Michelle Obama’s close friend and a major fundraiser of Obama during his campaign. As a Social Secretary, she will be responsible for setting up events in the White House.

Desiree at 46, is a self-made woman with lots of achievements. Graduated in Harvard University with an MBA degree and BA in Political Science at Wellesley University. Her previous work experience includes President of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas and Director of Illinois State Lottery. Because of her appointment to the White House, her job as Social Marketing at AllState Financial should take a backseat.

Her first appointment will be Obama’s inagauration on January 20, 2009.  As expected, there will be thousands of people in the event and a number of public speakers.  It would be a great challenge for Ms. Rogers to make sure this event will be a success.

Friday Fire Sale November 24, 2008

I have been traveling so unaware of any local flyers as to exactly what time the sales will begin the day after Thanksgiving, but I’m guessing it’ll be midnight this year. I’ve always thought Black Friday sounded too racist, so I prefer to call it Friday Fire Sales instead. You see, in addition to the generally accepted meaning of fire sales, we’ve been burnt this year in the stock and bond markets such that retailers are going to HAVE to induce us with some pretty special savings. What will it take to rouse you out of a deep sleep,haul yourself into your car and for those of use living in cold weather states, possibly have to clean the frost or snow off that same car, and elbow your way into a store or two? Discounts of 30%? Discounts of 40%? How about 50%? Now THAT’S a real bargain by anyone’s standards.

Yet if I invited you to consider buying into some stock mutual funds now, you would probably not take the same view, correct? Yet, I’ve always said that investing involves common sense, and common sense would say that a heavy discount of a quality item is usually an invitation to buy, in anticipation of gaining terrific value without having to pony up a retail (or even wholesale in some cases) price.

They don’t ring a bell at the bottom of the stock market, nor do they ring a bell at the peak. So, unlike retailers, who advertise their sale days and the exact % off (in advance) with glossy mailers, the stock market doesn’t advertise to the masses or event a select few, but rather gallops along, available for purchase at any time. And hint, hint, wink, wink, the stock market is on a HUGE fire sale right now!

Obviously the combination of buyers and sellers is what makes the market–when one person thinks it’s a great time to buy, another will be equally convinced it’s a great time to sell. So, now in the midst of heavy selling, and some panic selling, I invite you to ask yourself, are you one who prefers to pay retail or wholesale prices? Or are you one to take advantage of a real fire sale?

If you have extra money that you can comfortably afford to invest for 3-7 years, there has not been a time like this to buy in many a year. Will the market go lower? Perhaps. Will the market improve such that you “feel” more comfortable investing? Perhaps, yet statistics abound about how much investors lose out on by waiting too long to buy, and it’s a sizeable percentage indeed! Remember the age old advice, buy LOW, sell HIGH!

So, rather than wade in by buying individual stocks, I recommend the purchase of no-load mutual funds–a collection of stocks–to mitigate some single stock risk. In other words, why “pick” a stock now, when so much changing news could adversely affect your whole investment; i.e., single stock–hey who thought Lehman Brothers would now be dust just 4 months ago? I mean if this whole financial meltdown caught Alan Greenspan by surprise who are we to wax eloquent on matters financial. Nothing saying you can’t buy a little at a time over the next several weeks and months either, utilizing dollar cost averaging.

As you stand in those long lines then this Friday, remember that you may make some of your wisest purchases this holiday season from the comfort of your home, dialing your financial planner or broker, or placing the trade(s) into the stock market yourself.
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

NASA Launching Endeavor November 20, 2008

NASA launched spaceship Endeavour Friday night at 7:55pm EST and I was in Cape Canaveral, Florida to see it!  My pictures didn’t capture the splendor of it, yet I’ll attach a video clip here to give you a flavor of the great ball of light speeding through the night sky.  Here’s a shot of the shuttle (the tiny dot on the left) and the full moon on the right.

It certainly did give me perspective looking out several thousand miles, seeing the ball of light called Endeavour slowly evaporate into outer space.  We all bade the seven NASA astronauts “safe travels” and “come home safe”…those were the uniform wishes from all those gathered.

This mission is to perform “home improvements” to the space station, to make it more spacious and also to add various recycling systems, especially the one that will turn astronaut urine into safe drinking water.  (They stopped short of saying it’ll also turn turds into protein bars, but hey, you never know!)

Routine maintenance is necessary, even in space.  So, I took this as an opportunity to access my life as to where some maintenance or repair is necessary in my sphere, my life as motivational speaker and I invite you to join me in the exercise.

Do we have areas that need updating like our skillsets or expanding our vocabularies?  I’m expanding my knowledge horizons, making more room for information and strategies and at the same time, reading more history so I don’t repeat mistakes made by our foremothers and fathers.  Exciting stuff indeed!  Join me, won’t you?

Investing – Compounding Humor! November 14, 2008

That’s my prescription for whatever ails you…the markets, a speeding ticket, a less-than-great mood…you name it.

I’m delighted to have spent some quality time with Andy Andrews on Saturday at the Mark Victor Hansen MEGA Speaking event in Los Angeles.

We shared lunch together and talked of “noticing” even the little things, and the importance of having fun, something we both do a lot of.

My personal favorite is to remind myself that over a billion Chinese don’t even know I’m having a challenge right now. That helps to reframe my personal “issues” and put them in perspective in a hurry.

So with the stock markets and real estate valuations sliding I remember the giddiness of the 33.36% returns of US Stocks in 1997, followed by 28.58% in 1998 and 21.04% in 1999 as well as the 26.37% return of Real Estate investments in 2000, followed by 13.93% in 2001, 3.82% in 2002, 37.13% in 2003, 31.58% in 2004, 12.16% in 2005 and finally 35.06% in 2006. You don’t see those numbers being touted these days do you? Yet we all experienced and benefited by them, didn’t we?

It’s only natural that these high flying returns would cycle downward and trough for a few months and years. We women personally understand cycles and accept them, so it’s not a big psychological leap to recognize the markets’ cycles. We may not LIKE the downward cycles, yet it’s pointless to fight them.

It’s a great use of our energy however to strategize how we will enjoy these times. Months ago, I ordered the greatest Carol Burnett skits DVDs for my parents for Christmas, and I must admit I broke into them and watched 3 of them already. I’ll rationalize to them as they open an already-opened- package, that I leveraged my investment, cause they are HILARIOUS!

You see, we can compound our laughter too. Next time you are laughing so hard, just gently touch the knuckle on your pinky finger to “anchor” in that great feeling. Then, you can fire off that anchor later by gently touching that same spot, when you need to go back and experience and feel that great feeling. It’s there, we just have to remember to access it.

Same with our common sense about investing. It’s there, we just have to remember to access it. Stay tuned for some basics about investing in future posts. First rule: if you don’t understand it, don’t buy it, especially is someone is earning a commission for selling it to you.

We Can Do It Women!

motivational speaker

America Re-Motivated! November 12, 2008

It’s time for Americans to move forward and become re-motivated with the new system of government. Everyone is hoping that Obama’s administration will make a difference. More jobs for masses, decrease in prices of basic commodities and have America remotivated!

In my years of experience of empowering women over 60’s, I have compared how different women have become today. We are more vigilant with what is happening around us. We are more sensitive to the society and more active with our stand includings politics. It’s quite an inspiring experience for me as motivational speaker to hear stories of courageous women who stand strong in the midst of these crisis.

My Success November 11, 2008

Here is a short story of myself.   How I get to where I am today.  I hope this inspires you

Simple Ways To Save On Holiday Shopping November 5, 2008

The coming of the holiday signals the start of seemingly endless Christmas shopping. And What could be worse than finding at the end of the year that your bank account is down to three digits, and credit cards are all maxed out? I know how hard earned your shopping budget is (Christmas bonus included), so here are some easy ways for moms and women to spend less this season – without having to scrimp on holiday presets for your loved ones.

PAY IN CASH

Because you spend only what you have on hand, logicaly, you can’t overspend. If you are wary about carrying cash around, use ATM as debit cards. Of course using cash is not a complete guarantee that you’ll cut down on spending. Be a planned spender. Comparison should be apple to apple. Sometimes you’ll come across the same item in in two stores; the price at store A is more expensive than store B. If you scout for the best deals, you’re sure to get better value for your money.

BUY IN BULK

When you buy in bulk, or more of the same items, chances are, prices will come out cheaper and you get bigger discount on your purchase. For gift items, home items like scented candles, frames and collectibles are ideal.

GIVE GROUP GIFTS

You wish to give your officemates something for christmas. A nice bottle of wine for everyone or a restaurant gift certificate or a bunch of small similar items is enough to make them feel you remember them this Christmas season.