American Legion Post 435 float

Success Path Consulting’s CEO Mark Woodcock will serve as a judge in Superior Wisconsin’s 2012 4th of July parade.  The judge’s booth will be located at the intersection of North 28th Street and Hammond Avenue.  Please stop by and say hello!

Mark was asked to provide a short description of what the 4th of July means to him.  Here is what he said:

Success Path Consulting collaborates with each of their clients to help them achieve their goals, whether it is career consulting to find a new job, credit and debt consulting to achieve financial stability, or wealth creation consulting to ensure an adequate nest egg.  On Independence Day Success Path Consulting would like to remind everyone that many of our Veterans who are returning home from the Middle East are having a difficult time finding jobs.  The veteran unemployment rate is much higher than the national average.  If you are a business owner please give special consideration to veteran applicants.  These men and women have demonstrated a strong commitment and dedication to country and each of us owes it to them to do our part to ease their transition back to the civilian labor market.

For greater detail on how we can all help our returning men and women in uniform, check out Success Path Consulting’s Memorial Day blog:

 http://www.successpathconsulting.com/blog/?p=148

Due to construction on the Blatnik (Highway 53) Bridge the parade route is altered from past years.  The parade begins at 11:00.  The best places to view the parade are on North 28th Street and Hammond Avenue, or anywhere on Hammond Avenue between 28th and where Hammond terminates at Superior Middle School (North 37th Street).

In addition to a Superior parade there are several other family oriented activities:

• Car show – 2:00 to 6:00 PM
• Children’s Activities Center – 2:00 to 5:00 PM
• Live Music by Free Fallin’ – 2:00 to 6:00 PM
• Fireworks – 10:15

For additional information consult “The Chamber Superior-Douglas County Area” website:

http://www.superiorchamber.org/community/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=2320

Happy 4th of July!

The short answer NO, Wealth Creation Consulting is just as important for any income bracket.  What follows is an explanation of why.

For starters, Success Path Consulting employs financially knowledgable Wealth Creation Consultants as opposed to Financial Advisors.  The goal of our Wealth Creation Consultants is to educate our clients on the fundamentals of wealth creation, so the client is prepared to make sound, informed, self-directed financial decisions.

Most people in our culture spend a great deal of time thinking about how much money they make, and are frequently trying to figure out how to make more.  Simultaneously these same people spend very little time determining how best to allocate their paychecks.  This mistake is the number one obstacle to wealth creation.  When it comes to financial security and wealth creation, in the vast majority of cases, how much you make is far less important than what you do with your monthly paychecks, whatever the amounts. Sure, it would be nice to make $3 million a year instead of $25 thousand a year, but whatever your salary, you can’t afford to be uninformed, put your finances on auto-pilot, or wait until next month or next year to become informed.

Why you ask?  It takes less than a paragraph to prove my point.  It might surprise you to know that 78 percent of N.F.L. players are bankrupt or having a hard time making ends meet within just 2 years of retirement.  For N.B.A. athletes the statistic is 60 percent within 5 years (source: Sports Illustrated Magazine).  These are individuals who make salaries that are millions of dollars more than the average American, yet the nationwide bankruptcy rate in 2012 is just 1 bankruptcy for every 450 adults (NBKRC Monthly Bankruptcy Filing Report, June 2012, Ronald Mann, Columbia Law School).  Conclusion: The size of your paycheck, financial stability and wealth creation are only loosely correlated.  The most important component of your Success Path to wealth is your financial literacy.

As with all of our consulting services, Success Path Consulting uses a Sherpa approach to Wealth Creation.  We don’t make the decisions for you, rather we inform you so you are prepared to make good choices.  A Wealth Creation Consulting package includes the following topics.

Explanation of the terms:

• market • stocks • mutual funds • actively managed • passively managed • bonds • certificate of deposit (CD) • savings accounts

Strategies for investing:

• emergency savings • short term savings – for this purpose defined as less than 5 years • medium term savings – for this purpose defined as 5 to 10 years • long term savings – for this purpose defined as greater than 10 years • retirement savings • 401K / Roth 401K / 403B • traditional IRA • Roth IRA

Success Path Consulting holds personal accountability and financial responsibility as core values; therefore we believe that financial decision making should not be delegated.  We use an evidence based approach in our Wealth Creation Consulting sessions, as opposed to a faith based (AKA just trust us) approach.  What is the difference between evidence vs. faith based approaches?  We use the lessons of Enron, the mortgage melt-down of 2008, and the lessons of Ponzi schemes to demonstrate the difference.

We also provide an explanation of the common mistakes made by poorly informed investors, such as

• the folly of investing in fad stocks and mutual funds and believing that they will significantly outperform the market
• attempting to time the market
• the dangers of purchasing large quantities of stock in one company, particularly in the company for which you work

And finally, as part of our standard Wealth Creation Consulting package we explain the variety of investment costs and the impacts to you of these costs:

• loads (front end / back end)
• expense ratios
• the advantage of fee only financial planners

At first glance this seems like a long list of complicated topics.  The reality is we can provide you with a deeper understanding of everything above in just 3 to 4 hours’ time, and we break the consulting sessions into bite sized pieces so it is both FUN and informative.

Click the link to contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation.  The sooner you start your Success Path the sooner you’ll reach your goal.  http://www.successpathconsulting.com/getting-started

With thousands of troops returning to the U.S. and civilian life this year, a top priority for nearly 100% of them will be the establishment of a career.  Unfortunately the country that they defended and to which they are returning is in the midst of one of the worst job markets since The Great Depression.  Translation – finding a job that will allow them to support themselves and their families will be a challenge.  According to the March 2012 Employment Situation for Veterans summary, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for male veterans, age 18 to 24, stood at 29.1 percent.  The rate for age 25 to 34 was significantly better, at 13.4 percent, but still much higher than for non-veterans of the same age group.

So how can you help?  That depends on who you are.  If you are a:

BUSINESS OWNER – Initiate a plan to recruit and prioritize the hiring of veterans.  Even if you aren’t seeking to fill positions today, thousands of veterans will be returning to the U.S. over the next couple of years, therefore establishing a recruitment plan today is a prudent way to support the troops in the months ahead.  Advertising open positions to veterans is a straightforward act, but the more strategic you are in your advertising the more successful will be the result.  Contacting local and city government and chambers of commerce is usually a good starting point for generating productive partnerships.  You can also sign up for membership in websites that advertise directly to veterans, such as:

http://www.hireveterans.com/

Just as important as advertising to veterans is educating your hiring manager so they understand the value of the veteran job applicant.  This is one of the most formidable challenges that returning veterans face – explaining to a prospective hiring manager how their experience in a foreign country makes them a good fit for a U.S. based non-military position.  A good hiring manager will ask the right questions to help translate the military experience and military resume so the transferable skills are recognized.  Collaborating with local veterans organizations is one way to accomplish this.  There are also internet based sites that offer instruction.

http://www.thevalueofaveteran.com/webinars.html#translate

FRIENDS and FAMILY of VETERANS – As stated above in the business owner section, effectively translating military experience so a hiring manager will understand its applicability to the civilian workplace is a necessary step toward the veteran receiving a job offer.  Some corporations and businesses are making the effort to institute veteran recruitment policies, and are educating their hiring managers to better be able to translate military experience to civilian career strengths, but most businesses have no formal plan in place.  That means that the burden most often falls to the veteran when it comes to identifying positions for which they are well qualified, and convincingly translating their experience in a resume, in a cover letter, and in a formal job interview.  That is where the friends and family members of veterans can help, by soliciting the services of a professional career consultant – the perfect gift for the returning loved one.

Success Path Consulting well understands that veterans have unique challenges that must be addressed to help ensure a smooth transition to civilian careers, and we are well equipped to provide the necessary assistance.  Our starting point is always to ask the veteran to explain their career goals and aspirations.  We then move forward with drafting a plan – a personalized success path – tailored toward achieving those goals.  We will take the time necessary to ensure that each veteran’s resume highlights their specific accomplishments and strengths.  If job search assistance is desired we can provide it for one or more weeks.  We can even provide practice interview training to better ensure the veteran’s ability to sell themselves and their personal strengths to a prospective hiring manager.  In most cases the career services that we provide to veterans were solicited directly by the veteran, but career services is the perfect gift for your son, daughter, friend, neighbor, or spouse.  You want to know how to support the troops on this Memorial Day 2012?  Call Success Path Consulting today.  We’re eager to begin work on your loved one’s personalized Success Path.

    http://www.successpathconsulting.com/career-consulting-services-for-us-veterans

• job search assistance
• professionally crafted resume
• professionally tailored cover letter
• job interview training
• formal thank-you letter
• salary negotiation coaching

The truth is a diploma alone is not enough – today’s graduates need to have more than a degree.  To land a job in a job market of 8.2% unemployment they need to know how to sell their personal success story to a prospective employer.  The vast majority of new graduates are iPrepared, but are ill prepared when it comes to how to locate jobs, understanding the importance of a professional resume and cover letter, and being able to create an outstanding face-to-face impression in a formal job interview.  An iPad gift will not prepare them.  Career consulting services is the answer!

Call Success Path Consulting today, select from an a la carte menu of career consulting services, and we’ll provide you with a gift certificate that includes exactly that – a tangible expression of your investment in their future.

Success Path Consulting is a Duluth based company, and we have a record of success in assisting clients in Duluth-Superior, the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs, and in more distant places such as Alaska, California, Alabama, and the UK.

http://www.successpathconsulting.com/career-consulting

http://www.d.umn.edu/commencement/  (UMD commencement information)

http://www.css.edu/Administration/Registrar/Commencement-Programs.html (St. Scholastica commencement information)

http://www.uwsuper.edu/registrar/news/spring-commencement-2012-2-pm-at-wessman-arena_article659452 (University of Wisconsin Superior commencement information)

https://events.umn.edu/commencement/index.htm (University of Minnesota Twin Cities commencement information)

Now that four or more years of hitting the books, writing term papers, taking exams, and tossing back the Fitger’s are coming to a close, what’s next?  Are you taking the summer off to backpack Europe?  Are you hoping to land that first job in your field as soon as possible?

Whatever your timetable is for kicking off your career now is the time to implement a strategic plan to ensure that the tens of thousands of dollars that you’ve invested in your education actually land you a job.  The starting point of that strategic plan should be an acknowledgement of the challenging job market of 2012, as evidenced by a national unemployment rate of 8.2%.  In this job market you can’t afford to exit college like the majority of graduates – with a run of the mill resume, no cover letter, and little or no interview experience.  The student run UMD Career Services Center is well intentioned, but the reality is that effectively packaging and selling ‘you’ to a prospective employer is best accomplished using a professionally crafted cover letter, resume, interview training, professional thank-you letter, etc.

Learn what 2011 UMD graduates learned – You should partner with Success Path Consulting for you career service needs!

“Before working with Success Path Consulting I was helped by the UMD Career Services. The resume we produced was good, but nothing that would stand out from the crowd. Success Path Consulting helped me create a professional resume that made my experiences glow rather than just exist.”

Max Wagner – May 2011 graduate

And again, seven months later, after relocating to Chicago, IL.

“Success Path Consulting has made it very easy to work with them even though I have been living in Chicago. They take advantage of technology by using Skype, emails, text, and the telephone to still ensure the quality of their work. Living so far away you might think it would create some issues, but through their professionalism and customer service it seems like they’ve been with me every step of the way.”

Max Wagner – January 2012 – Chicago, IL.

Contact us today and we’ll begin crafting your personalized success path.

    http://www.successpathconsulting.com/career-consulting

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Part II of my ‘marshmallow experiment’ blog ended with the statement “Only your employer can increase your pay. But we [Success Path Consulting] can increase your purchasing power by crafting a spending plan that will allow you to have two marshmallows for the price of one.” Today I will introduce you to some important truths that will assist you in achieving the adult equivalent of 2 marshmallows. The starting point of today’s blog is a great quote from an unknown author:

“Those who understand compound interest are destined to collect it. Those who don’t understand compound interest are doomed to pay it.”

I’m guessing that even if you don’t fully understand what the quote means, you know enough that you’d like to be the person who understands compound interest, right? Then let me quickly introduce you to the Rule of 72. The Rule of 72 states that if you take the number 72 and divide it by the rate of return that you are earning on invested money, then the result will tell you how long it will take for your money to double. This is a simple enough concept that one hypothetical example should make it clear. Let’s say you have $1,000 invested earning an 8% rate of return. This is how you would apply the Rule of 72:

72 / 8 (rate of return) = 9 (years for your money to double)
So in 9 years your $1,000 becomes $2,000

Now that you understand this basic concept, we can move on to the TRULY AMAZING PART. If it takes 9 years for money to double at an 8% rate of return that means:

• $1,000 becomes $2,000 in 9 years
• $2,000 becomes $4,000 in another 9 years
• $4,000 becomes $8,000 in another 9 years

The money keeps doubling without your adding a penny, just by your having the discipline to keep it invested and not spend it. Small dollar amounts become large dollar amounts, and if left untouched, eventually become really large dollar amounts. Most people would agree that $50,000 is a large dollar amount. At 8% interest, it too doubles in 9 years, so $50,000 becomes $100,000. EXCELLENT!!! So what is the take-away lesson? Understanding the Rule of 72 and the power of compound interest transforms you into someone who is financially savvy enough to collect it.

But guess what? Compound interest can work for you or against you based on the key life choices you make. In the example above $1,000 became $2,000 in 9 years. What does $1,000 sitting in your dresser drawer become? Assuming it isn’t lost or stolen even after 99 years $1,000 will still only be $1,000. What would $1,000 at 8% interest be after 99 years – OVER A HALF MILLION DOLLARS…

So what is meant by “Those who don’t understand compound interest are doomed to pay it?” Basically you are applying the Rule of 72 in reverse when you spend $1,000 that you don’t have by using a credit card. When you buy with a credit card the compound interest goes to your credit card company’s pocket, not yours. Here is just one example:

Making minimum monthly payments on a $5,000 credit card debt at 14 percent rate would take you 22 years to pay off. You’d pay over $5,887 in interest – so $10,887 in total. Spending money that you don’t have isn’t cheap!

CONCLUSION: I’m sure you’d like to be someone who uses the Rule of 72 to your advantage. Take a moment to play around with the Rule of 72 calculator on our website. One of the core services that Success Path Consulting provides is collaborating with people like yourself to craft spending plans that help you to achieve your goals. Only you know what your dreams and aspirations are. We take the time to listen to you and identify your goals. We then craft an individually tailored spending and savings plan – A Success Path – to achieving them. Only your employer can increase your pay. But we can increase your purchasing power. The Rule of 72 is just one of the tools we teach to achieving this.

Gas prices fluctuate continuously, and when they go up many people begin to complain.

Pop quiz – Which method below will accurately tell you the cost of a gallon of gasoline?

A. Fill your tank, look at the pump to see the total cost and number of gallons pumped, then divide one by the other
B. Look at the price per gallon field on the pump
C. Look at the sign in front of the gas station
D. All of the above
E. None of the above

Answer: It depends. If you pay at the pump the answer is probably D. If you pay inside the answer is probably E.

Surprised to learn that it usually costs less to pay at the pump? Then it might also surprise you to learn that gas stations don’t make the bulk of their profits on gasoline. Gasoline represents 30% of a gas station’s profit. The other 70% comes from the sale of things like junk food. With this bit of information in mind, the last time I was at the gas station I took a mental inventory of the various food items being sold. Prices are high enough that a beverage and a snack can easily run $4 -$5. So let’s do the math on a 12 gallon tank of gas. Let’s assume that the pump says the price is $3.50 per gallon.

$3.50 per gallon x 12 gallons = $42

We’ll call $42 the pay at the pump price, which equates to $3.50 per gallon.

($3.50 per gallon x 12 gallons) + $4 for a snack = $46

We’ll call $46 the pay inside price – but then some additional math is required to determine the price per gallon: $46 / 12 gallons = $3.83

Based on this example – paying inside – AKA candy land – equates to an instantaneous 33 cent per gallon increase in what you would otherwise have spent. There is no disagreement that our bellies would be healthier if we opted to forego convenience store junk food, but HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY – the desire to satisfy a want that is right in front of us – encourages most of us who pay inside to pay for more than just gas. Thus Success Path Sherpa has exposed another area where human psychology and strategic spending intersect.

In addition to our bellies being better off without the gas station junk food there’s no arguing that our pocket books would be healthier too. So how do we convince our ‘want it now’ side to say no? We need a clear and realistic alternative that convinces us that delaying gratification is worth it. So let’s do just that. Saving $4 per gas station visit would equate to $20 or more saved per month for the typical driver. $20 per month is peanuts you say? It only seems like peanuts until you remember the miracle of compound interest.

Let’s say you have a 30 year fixed rate mortgage with a rate of 4.50%. If you choose to apply that $20 per month to your mortgage you’d save $7,248 in interest and shorten your loan by 2 years and 3 months. Still think that’s peanuts?  Which person would you rather be, the one who walks out of the gas station with a bag of peanuts, or the one whose house is paid of 2 years and 3 months early?

Okay, you’ve convinced me, but I don’t have a mortgage you say?

If you have a credit card that isn’t paid in full each month, odds are good that the APR on that card is much higher than 4.50%. On average, credit cards that carry a balance have a rate of 3 times that amount. So you could save much more in interest applying it to your credit card than by applying it to your mortgage. Contact Success Path Consulting today. If we can save you $7,248 in interest by convincing you to pay for your gas at the pump, just image the possibilities of a personalized consultation session where we tailor a comprehensive spending / saving plan just for you!

2006 Mini with 9,400 miles! Now that is good karma.

WAS IT BY FIAT OR STRATEGIC PLANNING?
IN ALL HONESTY A BIT OF BOTH

Success Path Sherpa followers will recall a blog entitled “A Step Toward Financial Stability, How To Ditch Your Car Payment.”  This was a two part blog, and in part two I stated:

This Success Path Sherpa drives a 10 year old Toyota with 135,000 miles on the odometer, still in excellent shape, no rust, 2 air bags – a 4-door sedan with an average fuel efficiency of 35 miles per gallon.  This vehicle is still very reliable and in fact has never broken down.  This vehicle has a Kelley Blue Book value of only $3,400.

I shared this piece of personal information with my readers to demonstrate the point that reliable transportation doesn’t have to be expensive transportation, so if you are trying to achieve financial stability, driving a vehicle that you can truly afford (to pay cash for) is a necessary starting point.

It might surprise Success Path Sherpa readers to learn that I recently parted with my reliable Toyota Echo of 10 years, despite the fact that it was still running flawlessly.  I thought it important to share the ‘strategy’ behind the decision so readers know that Success Path Sherpa follows his own advice.  It has been my experience that setting a good example is worth at least twice as much as peddling good advice.

As you may know, BMW reintroduced the Mini Cooper to the US market around 2001.  2001 was the year that I purchased a Consumer Reports rated best-buy of 2001, his Toyota Echo.  As a huge anglophile, I quickly took notice of the Mini Coopers that began to hit the road, but couldn’t rationalize changing vehicles when what I was driving fully met my needs and pocket book.

As the years have rolled by I have continued to think that “maybe someday I’ll own a Mini,” but the sticker price with options was always higher than I was willing to spend, so the thought never reached the seriousness of “my next car will be a Mini.”  Then one day I went with a friend to a Fiat dealer.  My friend was considering purchasing a Fiat 500c, the first Fiat for sale in the US since the 1980’s.  Fiat chose to pilot its US sales with just this one model, so the entire car lot and showroom were populated with different colors and trim levels of Fiat 500.  After two tedious hours of test drives and deliberations over which options to select, my friend finally agreed to buy one.  It was past closing time before the purchase documents were spit out from the printer, and I was going a little stir crazy.  I therefore chose to leave the auto salesman’s office and began pacing the lot…  and only then did my eyes lite upon the only non-Fiat 500 on the lot – a 2006 laser blue Mini Cooper S with leather interior, an impressive list of options, AND JUST 9,400 MILES ON THE ODOMETER.  Due to the low mileage the car was almost like new, and due to it being a 2006 the asking price was just 55% of its original price.  Not only did I have enough cash saved to buy it, but I had recently received a purchase offer for my Toyota Echo from an acquaintance who had just moved to the US and was looking for affordable (he paid cash), reliable transportation.  Best yet, this offer was for the full Kelley Blue Book value, so I suddenly had $3,400 more cash in my pocket.

Long story short, although it was very hard to part with a reliable friend of 10 years, an exceptional deal on a Mini Cooper with 126,000 less miles was just too good a deal to pass up!  Was it fiat or strategy you ask?  The cost benefit analysis definitely equates to strategy, though I must acknowledge Fiat for making it all possible!