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If you love your kids, you should be scared – very scared –
about what happened in 2009.
As more of Washington’s bailouts and so called stimulus plans
continued to fail miserably, they succeeded beyond anyone’s
wildest imagination at piling on the national debt.
As of last month, America’s national debt topped $12 trillion
for the first time. That’s almost $39,000 for every man, woman,
and child in the U.S.
We’re running up a gigantic tab and sticking the next
generation with it.
But the more damaging part of the legacy we’ll leave will be worse than debt –
it'll be the unrealistic expectations we’ve painted for them.
As I wrote in chapter one of
How to Manage Problem Employees
five years ago
(New York, NY, John Wiley & Sons, 2005),
“Today’s Average Joe
is living like yesterday’s Joe Millionaire.”
Just as I predicted, people’s unbridled desire for unrealistically high standards
of living turned out to be disastrous.
A Murfreesboro, Tennessee woman took out a $2.4 million
mortgage with a $10,000 monthly payment, even though her monthly take
home pay was only about $5,000.
And she wasn't an uneducated woman. She held a doctorate and was the
director of the school of nursing at Middle
Tennessee State University. (She’s since been convicted of
fraud).
A caller to the Dave Ramsey Show was living on a $600 a month
disability check, but still bought a house with a $1000 monthly
payment.
People at all
socio-economic levels apparently lost their ever-loving minds
when it came to houses, and this might explain why:
•
The average house in the U.S. was 1,400 square feet in
1970. By 2004, it increased to 2,330, even though the
average family size shrunk by 25%.
•
Kitchen sizes doubled to nearly 300 square feet
•
Ceilings
grew by more than a foot
•
Bedrooms grew from an average 9
x10 to 12 x12.
And of course, mortgages were apparently available to
anyone with a pulse* for about the last decade.
But here’s the most incredible story of 2009.
For the first time in our lives, the size of the average
house is actually decreasing.
And, mortgage giant Fannie Mae has recently tightened up
lending requirements.
They used to require that home buyers with a 20% down payment
have a FICO (credit score) of at least 580, but it’s now been
raised to 620. And, they will no longer approve mortgages if the payment
is more than 45% of the buyer’s gross monthly income (which is
still too high, but at least it’s lower than it was).
In essence, the era of irresponsible, out-of-control
spending in America seems to be coming to an end (except in
Washington).
Although it may not be what most wanted,
Americans are getting what they needed – a new era of personable responsibility.
And THAT is a great way to end the decade.
To Your Success,
Click on this button to
comment
* Actually, last year Wells Fargo approved a $533,000 mortgage
in the name of a New York man who had been dead for 19 years.
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Dear Glenn,
You teased us with the
tweaking of your web site, and the marvelous results.
Can you share what it is, or the theory without getting
into the details?
Dr. Ray Ramirez in East Peoria, IL
Dear Dr. Ramirez,
You bet. I was referring to
Google Adwords, which is how Google makes their money.
Try Googling "Zig Ziglar". The websites that come up on
the left are called "organic results", and are
calculated by Google's computers. There are over 541,000
organic results for this search, so getting on the first
page is difficult to do.
But look at the "Sponsored Links" on the right, and
you'll notice there are only six.
These are companies such as Nightingale Conant and
Amazon that sell Zig Ziglar programs. When someone
clicks on one of their ads, these companies get charged.
It's called "Pay Per Click Advertising".
I currently spend about $3,000 a month on Google, and
expect to spend over $100,000 with them in
2010. But you can start much smaller.
For example, I Googled "Peoria Veterinarian". While your
practice came up in the organic results on the left, it
was buried along with lots of others.
But out of six sponsored results that came up on the
right, none of them was for a specific veterinary
practice.
If you used Google Adwords, you could have an ad that
reads something like:
Dr. Ray Ramirez
Full Service Animal
Hospital
Medical & Surgical
It wouldn't bring in as much traffic as Zig Ziglar, but it would ensure that
anyone who's looking online for a veterinarian in your
area would see your name first, and it would cost less
than $1 per click.
Just be sure that if you do this, you get
some training. It's not as easy as it sounds.
I'll be personally mentoring a selective group of individuals in
2010, teaching them everything I know about online
marketing, including Pay Per Click advertising on
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft (called Bing). Tuition is
$4,995 for six months or $7,995 for the entire year,
which essentially gives you unlimited direct access to
me by phone and e-mail.
Membership is by application only, and it's not
appropriate for everyone. We're only accepting
individuals that we believe will benefit from online
marketing, and the size of the class is limited.
If you'd like more details, click
here.
Thanks for your question.
Glenn In Nashville |
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“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results.” |
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—
Albert
Einstein
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