That's fine if you want to live from week to week and are not concerned about your financial future. However if you want to increase your wealth and have more options, action needs to be taken by you otherwise you could end up like most people further down track, totally dependant on a pension.

Karen's Story

Karen is Marketing Manager for a well-known organisation. She's 39 yrs old, single and earns over $80k a year. She is paying off a mortgage and that's all debt she has.

Karen buys whatever she likes and says she has more than enough money for her lifestyle…or so she thought. And that's a very important point - Karen 'thought' she had plenty of money to splash around yet she had no real idea of where it went.

She was at stage where she wanted to achieve more in her life including taking charge of her financial future.

One of exercises I gave her to do was to sort all her financial statements - visa card, bank accounts and any cash receipts and list her income and expenditure under specific headings ie: loans, clothing, utilities, food etc. Karen recorded everything that occurred for past 6 months . She nearly fainted when she saw how much money she had wasted and how much she was overspending! She was going backwards fast and only realised it by doing this simple exercise.

In past Karen hadn't put a high priority on her financial well-being as it was just too hard. Being a marketing manager, her life was busy at work and she had a hectic social life. She didn't want to bother doing something that wasn't exciting like working on her financial future. After all, she had a well-paid job, didn't she?

Karen has now come to her senses and knows her true financial situation. If she lost her job, financially she couldn't afford to be off work for more than a month. She realises that she is responsible for her future.

The area of wealth creation hadn't been of great interest to Karen in past. Now that she was undertaking coaching, she was serious to making a change. Prior to writing down where her money was going, Karen was completely closed to any suggestion to read more about how she can accelerate her wealth (or lack of it), so I didn't pursue this with her. Her attitude had now changed so she was ready and willing to move to next step.

The next move…I referred Karen to an organisation who would look at her total financial picture and be able to recommend what she could do. The reason I chose these people is because they take a holistic approach to wealth creation. They look at every aspect and provide an on-going education as well as a hand-holding service.

The loyal customer is one who will buy your product or service even when it is more expensive or at a personal inconvenience. The loyal customer is one who will recommend you to his competitors. The loyal customer is one who will stand up and defend your company against unfair comments. The loyal customer is one who will teach his children to purchase your product or service because they can depend on your company to treat them with fairness and honesty. The businesses of America, large and small, have been built on backs of loyal customer.

In his inauguration address, President Bush stated, " as citizens we must uphold principles of civility, courage, compassion, and character that a civil society demands from each of us". Civility is a word we don't hear much anymore. As companies have merged and as pressure from investors has increased, businesses have lost their civility. The concepts of respect and fair dealing that have been cornerstones of American business are crumbling.

In age of computer and voicemail, companies are ignoring fact that on other end of line is a living breathing person. They will spend millions on advertising to gain a new customer and then banish them to what I term "Customer Service Hell".

Take case of Denise in New Mexico