Book Giveaway: ‘It’s Not About The Money’ By Brent Kessel.

This month’s book giveaway is for a copy of It’s Not About The Money by Brent Kessel. Subtitled with “Unlock Your Money Type To Achieve Spiritual And Financial Abundance” you know that this is no ordinary personal finance book that boringly tells you about saving your pennies and investing for the future. Rather, this book involves your whole being in building financial plans, taking into account your personality and emotional relationship with money to create a plan that works for you. Not all of us can follow the general advice that is given to most people, and that is probably why Mr. Kessel has had so much success with his wealth-management businesses! You know what I dig about him? He studies yoga and Eastern philosophy - how many money guys do that? I am sure it helps him create time to think about what he is doing!

One of my favorite sections of this book was the one when he was talking about “The Wanting Mind” - and we all know what that feels like! The need for new experiences and products, etc. in order to make us “happy” causes a lot of stress in our lives - and can make us incredibly unhappy even if everything seems great to an outside observer. I believe everyone struggles with this quite often in their lives, and reading this section of the book helped me understand it a little better. I find myself saying “I will do that when I…” (get older, buy a house, have a kid, etc) and I need to work on that behavior. It’s not healthy!

There is a lot of info in this book - it is not a sit-down-and-read-it-today type of read. But if you are looking to dig deeper within yourself to discover your “financial type” in order to get ahead, it makes an excellent read and I highly recommend it. Lucky for you, I am giving away a copy! Here is what you need to do to enter for a chance to win it:

Everyone who is subscribed by RSS feed or Email subscription will see a secret code inside the feed or email during this week that you need to email me to enter. The contest ends Sunday evening May 18th at 11:59PM PST, and I will announce the randomly chosen winner sometime on Monday the 19th. Good luck, and remember I give away a book every month so be sure to subscribe and look out for those secret codes!

Free Sample Of Dunkin Donuts Coffee.

Just for filling out a survey…have at it and get your free Dunkin Donuts.

Check Your New Tires For This Code Before They Cause An Accident.

Ahh, the smell of burning rubber. Don’t you just love going into a tire shop and getting new tires? No? Me neither. Especially now that I have learned that a lot of the tires in those shops could be up to 12 years old already and still being sold as new. Know what happens to rubber as it ages? It starts to break down, which is exactly what you don’t want it to do while you are going 75 down the highway. And even if the tire looks fine when you buy it, the tread could actually become separated from the tire itself, causing you to get into a very bad accident. Luckily, I caught a TV show this weekend and learned to tell just how old my tires are, which will enable me to make sure I get new rather than “new” tires from now on when I go shopping. Turns out that accidents caused by old tires seem to be quite common, and I don’t want to be riding around on tires that are just waiting to shred.

We all know that the code on the sidewall of tires has the numbers for tire size, proper inflation PSI, etc, but there is also a secret code on there that will tell you the week and year that your tire was made. It is at the end of the line on your tire that starts with DOT. Here is the tire from our Subaru, and where the code is:

Just so you can see exactly what I am talking about, that piece of code that says “2607” is what tells you how old your tire is. This tire shown here was made in the 26th week of 2007, so it is a fairly new tire and probably perfectly fine as far as tires go. So the next time you go buy tires, make sure you are getting one that has not been sitting for years and years waiting for you to take it home; even though the tread still looks shiny, if it is an old tire, it could be waiting to cause a serious accident somewhere down the line.

Sunday Money Roundup - Monks In Burma Edition.

It is estimated at at least 100,000 people have died in Burma from the cyclone that hit there last week. After Katrina and 9-11, the entire world came to our aid, and now it’s our turn to do something for these people who are getting no help from their own oppressive government. If you have a few bucks, consider donating them to the International Burmese Monks Organization, which is opening the doors of all their monasteries to house and feed the homeless, sick and injured. I sent them some money, and I am sure they could use a lot more if you have some to spare. Thanks so much.

From The M-Network:

• Mrs. Micah reminds us to look for the real savings in everyday life.
• Plonkee Money wants you to make choices without being constrained by finances. I agree - you have to be able to find a middle ground that balances out all your needs.
• Moolanomy gives you a test - Are You Frugal or Are You Cheap?
• Single Guy Money has big plans for his economic stimulus check. Mine is going in the bank; where is yours going?
• The Dough Roller has a real life example of turning a mistake into an opportunity.
• Being Frugal says that you must be organized to be frugal. I agree 110% Lynnae; I think it is impossible to be frugal if you don’t know where things are and what you already own! Great stuff…
• Cash Money Life reminds us not to take money out early from our retirement accounts. I know it can be tempting, but don’t give in!
• Gather Little By Little has some good tips for surviving a recession. Me? I am building a bunker full of rice. Kidding. Maybe.
• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… wants you to Treat Savings as a Debt to Yourself to Encourage Snowflaking Success. ‘Nuff said, great idea!

And From My RSS Reader:

• Frugal Dad says “With any (job) offer there are tangible and intangible benefits to consider, and it is the intangible ones that are usually the most difficult to evaluate. When I’ve gone on interviews in the past I have used the opportunity to learn a bit about the health of the organization by paying close attention to the work environment.” Great stuff here, as usual.
• Five Cent Nickel talks about reducing your debt by using micropayments.
• Money Ning is celebrating his investments going from a Yield of -99.79% to +9.99% This Year So Far!
• No Credit Needed has a conversation about store-branded credit cards. My favorite line of this article? “Cool thing about cash - no approval necessary.”
• My Dollar Plan wants you to plan ahead with 6 steps to secure your financial future.
• Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary talks about the proposed gas tax and asks “Do you think it will do anything for the economy this summer?” I don’t, mainly because none of the candidates are going to be President until next year, not next month - so it would never happen because of what they say they would like to do. It’s political pandering, at best. Remember the kid in high school running for class president who promised Coke machines in every classroom, knowing it would never happen? Me too…kind of sounds familiar.

The Economic Stimulus Check Means Higher Taxes To Come.

At least, that’s how the second paragraph in an article on CNN reads:

“If you’re among the 130 million people who qualify for the rebate, that’s great. But you should savor the feeling. Regardless of what happens over the next few months, your taxes have nowhere to go but up in the long-term future.”

And honestly, I happen to agree 100% - we cannot continue to give tax cuts out to everyone except the lower class, pay $12 billion a month for war, subsidize the airlines and everyone else (except Amtrak, strangely enough), send out notices (at the tune of $42 million) just telling us the stimulus checks were coming out, and then issuing the checks at a cost of $150 billion. And here is why your taxes will go up, as once again the Democrats will get the blame because they have to fix our situation over the next 4-8 years:

“Today’s low rates can’t last. The tax cuts of the past decades were supposed to lift economic growth (which they did) and hike tax receipts faster than federal spending (which they did not). Not even close. The resulting tsunami of federal debt is one reason to expect your taxes to rise over the next quarter-century.”

Remember how the tax cuts of the last 7 years were supposed to help our economy grow? It did just the opposite, and somewhere down the line, guess who gets to pay for this disaster? We do. So keep that in mind - although the government sent you $600, they will be coming back with their other hand wide open asking for even more. Nothing is for free, they say….