Thanks andymitchell figured you were made of sterner stuff.
Glad to see that you have taken action for with this I know solutions will follow.

On a slight tangent here I found a great investment opportunity while away on holidays about a month ago (yes I was on holidays).
The catch expensive and my businesses are growing as fast as cash becomes available.
Now I realize to invest into property I need to slow or even stop reinvestment back into my businesses but when the returns are compared business is given the priority.

However in this case I decided to find a way and so I went looking for an answer to my problem and well lets just say I became quickly involved in another adventure.
“Adventure” = advertising venture or a marketing opportunity.
In this case 3 friends said they would go guarantor for the loan and then they would make the monthly loan payments provided that I lent some of my time and ideas back into marketing their businesses.

On the surface this looked fantastic as I get exactly what I wanted and all I had to do was some thinking and some time each month however the reality is that I would end up being locked in tighter than any bank lender could ever do.
However it did give me a glimpse into other business opportunities that were in front of myself all along but didn’t notice.

For the last month I have been working to set up a promotional marketing business.
Yes its yet another business but rather than my friends businesses locking in my services why don’t I offer them their second years service if they pay for the first year in advance.
I expected some resistance but ended up with 4 referrals one of which demonstrated the use of the power of a granted loan.

Many of us have read how Donald Trump went back to his creditors and said put in more money so I can make it work or we all take a loss.
Now this power is impressive but not for the super rich as I had previously thought.

You see this little business has a government client who pays quarterly.
Ok you can adjust your business operations around the payment structure easily enough.
But often business growth waits until there is cash flow.
But what about a business that is faced with an opportunity but can’t take it.

In this case they went back to their lenders and asked for the last 6 months loan payments back and for the existing loans to be adjusted.
This request was made at the accountants office so all figures could be made available upon request.
Naturally someone asked why they needed the money.
At this point their creditors were sold on the opportunity before them.
Not all agreed and those that realised the potential picked up the slack and or refinanced out the unwilling lending parties.

I am impressed as I witnessed a business with less than 1/4 million in turnover ask and receive a loan for $1.3 Million with out a deposit and their lenders also payed back about $30,000 in cash so their office could be geared to handle the extra work load.

Sorry andymitchell about getting of track but I thought it might help to point out that thinking outside the square can open doors.
In my case I have a fresh business to work with when the old business was starting to feel stale.
Don’t get me wrong it’s a great business but the challenge is worth more for life.

andymitchell please keep us informed as things progress.
The next time someone thinks they have hit a brick wall they can be directed back here and see the results.[offtopic][upsidedown][thumbsup2]

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Hello carpe_diem,
After reading your posts I think the problem is not lack of cash or ability.
But rather lack of knowledge.
Thus you should not do anything until you yourself understand entirely what action you are going to take.

By all means seek advice but check it.
Use more than one source for knowledge.
Do your own research as along the way you will pick up opportunities to look into.
Find a few mentors to guide you and check them.

Most people give advice based on some knowledge they have but most never adequately use that knowledge them selves.
So only take notice of those who have actually walked the walk before you.

There will also be a lot of people who will offer to help you invest.
Beware of sharks sad to say this but tricking (stealing) is far easier than working for a living and all too often our legal system fails to protect us from our own ignorance.
I shall say it again if you don’t know don’t do anything until you do.

This great opportunity will disappear if we don’t act quickly.
Knowledge is the best opportunity, it will not disappear.
Nor will good investments when you know what you are looking for you will find them your self for your self.
Besides often the best investment opportunities are the ones you make yourself, you will realize this when you know this trust me here (check what I say, that goes for everyone).

Beware of joint ventures most of the people involved in this don’t have the money to make their deal work.
Always remember Murphy’s golden rule “who ever has the gold makes the rules”.
Again stay away from joint ventures until you are capable of putting one together yourself for your project.

When people realize that you have some money it is amazing just how many friends you suddenly acquire.
Be careful do not offend but slam the door shut and lock quickly.

Last year a friend asked me for a loan, I looked at his proposal and thought it was a great idea but told him to go out and sell on consignment and if it works step up the orders and the scale of the business.
After explaining that since businesses want their products sold they often advance some of their product to retailers 30 days in advance of payment and if you don’t sell it they take it back and since they are not expecting the money for 30 days the quicker you sell it the faster the cash is yours to use for the short term.

But no this friend bitched to some other friends who asked me why I didn’t help him.
So I explained that he didn’t need financial assistance he needed knowledge and if he wasn’t going to listen than he will not acquire either.

I know 4 people who have won lotto and all of them owe more now than before their win.
Yet several friends dug in and worked hard and learned how to invest and today they have a better quality of life.
Regardless of incomes when we start out in life knowledge is the biggest separator.

carpe_diem I wish you all the best.
There is a lot more to fishing than a worm and a hook so.
Just take your time learn as much as you can Colin.

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing — that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Sorry andymitchell but I have to ask this-
After all the wonderful suggestions everyone has provided.
The question that needs to be asked is what have you done.
Not what are you going to do but what have you done?

Sorry andymitchell most people are gonna do something’s.
Get into it or as NIKE says “JUST DO IT”.

If a problem is not solved it grows and the bigger the problem the harder it is for you to tackle.
Procrastination is putting something off until later, which just allows fear to build up.

Sorry andymitchell that I have to say this but after returning from holidays I kinda expected to read an update on your situation.
As with most people it looks like nothing has changed.
Set yourself apart and do something now.

Sorry andymitchell I think you need a kick in the pants to keep moving.
Fight back tell me what you have done.

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

‘If you were going on holiday tomorrow, what would you be doing today?
So, don’t procrastinate, DO IT NOW! Richard Denny

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Yes Thankyou Steve for the “virtual kickstart “.
This site is educational and filled with many great friends now.

Over the last few days I have noticed how each of us has suggested something to help others.
The more I learn the more I can help.

So I just thought that giving credit where credit is due and thanking Steve and his team for this fantastic site.

My children’s school motto is T.E.A.M.
Together Everyone Achieves More.
I can’t think of a better way of describing this site.
Thanks Steve and gang.

“No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.” Winston Churchill

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

andymitchell hang in there.
Many people have fallen into the trap of buying the best property they can afford.
Most of the time it works out ok however if there when the market turns its swimming up stream for sure.
Next time have a margin for error.

Have you had a talk to your bank, they may have a solution with IO or an increase in loan length thus reducing the monthly requirement.

Why not move into a smaller residence and rent out your PPOR.

While your wife is off work you can still work a second job,
Have a garage sale.
Get a weekend job.
Start a business in your spare time.
Collect aluminium cans etc.

Congratulations on your expanding family, there is the best reason there is to go on.[
biggrin]

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Hi voigtstr,
Here are my thoughts on dealing with bad debt and getting things together.

Perhaps the first thing I suggest should be to cut up the theft cards, nobody needs them, if you are intelligent enough to be disciplined with repayments you are intelligent enough never to need them.
Enough said about those evil cards.[evil4]

After paying all minimum payments on loans place what ever’s left that you can afford onto the loan of the highest interest.
It may not look like much is happening but the figure at the end of the spreadsheet will show the results are worth it.

Have you been to your home lender to see if you can incorporate those higher loans into it to get them down into home loan rates?

Once you have done all of the above lets work on paying down the loan/s faster.
The only way to do this is via extra payments.
You mentioned that you have $49K a year available, have you considered a second income to help pay down the loan faster?

Or to put it another way the secrete to becoming wealthy is to have multiple income streams.
Thus if one cuts out eg your job (just over broke) than you are cushioned by the other income streams until another income is located perhaps another (just over broke).

How does this sound income-
1. Job.
2. Second job.
3. Garage sale.
4. Side business in spare time.
5. Charge as an industry consultant.
6. Income return from investments, business, property, shares, options, stock etc.
7. Sell other peoples products or services whenever you can.
8. Loans to others (risky seek advice from legal professionals), perhaps better leave this one alone.

hope this helps Colin [cowboy2]
‘You don’t ‘pay the price’ for success – you enjoy the benefits of
success’ Richard Denny.

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Jarrah 2 seconds for 150 meters no doubt the speed limit.
From memory 100km/hr is 27.8 meters a second.
Don’t think the bees would have killed you.[specool]

GelF placing an advertisement will no doubt bring out someone to take care of them.
But a lot can be said for getting a professional in who will have insurance and clean up after them selves.
Since its in the meter board perhaps the first place to call to get it fixed would be the local electric company as they may have someone on staff who can take care of it.
Considering that its their staff that are at risk when they read the meter yes.[skull]

Pursefattener many a time I have recommended to people just to leave bees where they are, after all they are only really a problem once disturbed.
However a meter box is not the ideal place for them, the risk of fire with wax etc.
Go with a professional who has insurance cover else the sting could be far worse.[glum2]

The one that stung in the hair was probably caught in it on the way back to the hive and instinctively it associated hair with its natural predator a bear.
This could happen occasionally so risk assessment to others would be a good idea.
Bees fly almost in strait lines which means that you don’t stand in front of their home because they work flat out and crashes there will bee common.
A good aprist stands at the side of a hive to work with them.[rambo2]

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Thanks Simon,
I knew you were joking.
Most of us have dealt with paper wasps at one time or another.
But Bees are another matter.
For one thing wasps number up to several hundred.
Where as a decent colony of bees can be up to 100,000.

Wasps attack as individuals and don’t generally communicate with each other.
Bees on the other hand communicate non stop with each other plus when they sting you its a marker pheromone for the next attacker to target thus multiple hits.

To bee fair to wasps they can sting several times where as a bee stings only once there for it is less likely to lay down its life for a small threat where as wasps can get away with being cranky.

Australia is lucky in that the European bees imported into Australia had to travel for months aboard sailing ships to get here and thus only the quietest of breeds came here.
This and our isolation prevents contamination of the genetic pool.

True killer bees don’t exist in Australia and never will thanks to our high standards regarding quarantine.

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

My builder came across a fund for heritage houses and was able to apply for assistance so that new products could be used to replace damaged items and retain the original look of a heritage property.
However this job took several years and only happened after a very long search for any original materials.
This job was voluntary so that may have had a bearing on the issue.
It was also a few years back so may not apply now.
Plus the building is still owned by the council.

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Hello Reglinda,
I’m not sure liberate the equity is the right kind if thinking.
Your partner fears the later part of life with no financial security.
Fear is a natural instinct to protect us from loss.
I have noticed that people who have kids that wanted for nothing or were not taught the value of a dollar at an early age will usually spend every cent they earn shopping or lifestyle things.
But someone who went without will use everything they have to build a better more prosperous future.
New immigrants are a classic example they bust their guts working to give their kids a good start in life only to see their kids go shopping.

Ok perhaps I am a little off topic or perhaps not.
You see perhaps in the past your partner had a reason to fear loss.
Being understanding and open minded is the way to go.
Perhaps that very fear can be motivation instead.

As is education for with it understanding of how investing can strengthen the financial future.
Investing can reduce the risks in life by having fingers in more cake and thus get to eat some.
Investing can bring in a cash flow stream that never ends while protecting the very house that you live in from loss or sale for retirement living.

Show your partner a clear path, walk through the steps one at a time showing time and risk and balance with returns.
There is a block of land my wife would love to build on, every couple of weeks she walks me through the house we are going to build there one day.
This house is a few years away but there are times when walking through the paddock I am thinking about not walking into walls.
This is how powerful positive reinforcement can be, not bad considering we don’t own the 50 acre block yet.

Reduce the risk; don’t ever be foolish enough to place all the eggs in one basket.
If something goes wrong you are history.
I am not a gambler but I do take risks educated that is and like a professional gambler I risk nothing more than I can afford to lose.
Kerry Packer may have lost millions gambling but none of it would have been on a single roll and all of it would have been well with in his comfort zone, true a huge comfort zone but each of us is different.

Planning and revision is vitally important.
Ask yourself where you are both going financially and what events will befall either of you along that path.
Explain your fears and the solutions you have to over come those problems.
Than ask your partners thoughts on the problems ahead and how they see the way ahead.
Think if you were on a ship where is it going, how is it going to get there.

If your partner cuts in and starts to talk bight you tongue and let the information flow.
That should be repeated because most people enter into an argument rather than finding solutions to problems.
Take it from a guy if I keep my big mouth shut I stay out of trouble and I have a much better chance of finding the solution to others problems by listening and can come out in good favour when I provide the solution or better still guide others to the solution (if the idea is someone else’s not only do you have a solution but they have the motivation with their idea to see it through, catch the drift).

If your partner does not talk or stops prompt with a question.
Perhaps an easy one to start, try not to ask a yes or no answer but rather an answer with some original thinking in it.
Please don’t make it 20 questions, as this is frustrating and repulsive of any ideas or suggestions to follow them.
Ok many of my friends now know that my maths is not as bad as all the mistakes I make.
However the mistakes I make do tend to get others involved in the project because I am having trouble and or once they have done some work they own some of the project and don’t walk away quickly.

Now having said this the net step is to involve your partner.
By doing things together the risk is shared and the blame is halved should something go wrong.
Two heads are better than one and
A problem shared is a problem halved etc.

My beautiful wife is my partner, most of the time she is silent but when she speaks I listen no matter how quiet she is because if I cater to her needs I can get away with murder the rest of the time, boy do I love her so.
Together we will always find a way thus when examples-

Our youngest daughter (Number 4) has some medical troubles and my wife had to leave work to care for her.
During this process we battled with an amc franchise and lost heaps yet survived and even came out in front because not all our eggs were in the one basket.
Going back further my wife had little worries when I was laid up with a smashed leg while our third child was on the way again because I had my fingers in many pies.

Going back further again when I left work into our own business it was not a jump but a gradual change as I reduced my work hours as income from the business and available time dictated.
In fact when I found my better half she was kinda a break for me you see I was cutting her mothers lawn and about 100 others, working as a DJ and in my spare time working in my wholesale nursery and yet given a chance I jumped at anything else offered, thank goodness I had to slow down and spend some time with her else I probably would have added a 4th business in there some place.

If I lost one income stream than another would quickly take its place.
Funny she considered me to be a good reliable income earner.
Yet her family considered me a wild cannon and taking way too much risk.
Over the years since they have relaxed their thinking about me and even allowed me to help them (trust me doctors don’t earn as much or are as secure financially as you think).
They had a lot of fear as my wife’s sisters watched their parents business fall apart and destitute each of them.
Only one of those girls picked herself up dusted herself off and got on with the necessary job, give you one guess which one I married.

Perhaps I am being a little long winded but most of us have been down the same track.
The decisions are to be made together and the risks reduced as much as possible.
You are a loving couple so share your thoughts needs and wants.
You may be surprised when simular thoughts start coming back.
My better half has a fantastic business idea and thus one of my financial goals is to find a way to fund it for her, now it will have to be a few more years down the track when our youngest is medically ok.
Guess what happens if it fails, so what its just one investment amongst many but if it succeeds then guess what I will say honey sweetie can I have some more money to invest into this property or idea or a gut feeling this company etc.

Try to remember life is an adventure so involve each other in it as much as possible.
“Life is a daring adventure or its nothing” Helen Keller.

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.