The 2 biggest money mistakes-By Joe Duran

70% of Americans are prone to one or the other. Here's how to correct them.

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Imagine coming to America as a young adult with a few hundred dollars in your pocket and, by the time you’re 34, selling your company to a Fortune 500 company for over $100 million.

How do you think you would feel? Ecstatic, jubilant, ready to reward yourself?
The answer for me was none of the above. My wife and I discussed celebrating by taking a multi-month vacation in Greece with our young daughters. Sadly, I was too afraid about the future to spoil myself and our family. The next few years I tracked our net worth regularly and watched our spending like a hawk. I was not behaving the way I would tell any of my friends to act in a similar situation.
I’ve spent my entire career helping people understand their financial lives, and helping them to make smarter choices. I have learned over time that people’s relationship with money is deeply personal. In our internal financial lives we each have a “protector” and a “pleasure seeker” battling it out and one usually wins out. Because of this, we find ourselves repeatedly making the same financial mistakes . Rather than simply learning a lesson and moving on, we keep repeating the same mistakes until we learn to regulate both perspectives.
According to our own research, 70% of people in the U.S. approach money from a place of abundance (pleasure seeker) or one of scarcity (protector). That has some big implications when it comes to making financial choices, and ultimately how we end up living our entire lives. So let’s discuss the two biggest mistakes, their consequences, and what you can do about it:
1. Spending money too casually: The pleasure seeker
It’s easy to spend money and it’s hard to save it, because spending provides instant gratification and saving is a deferred reward. Many people would rather have the certainty of feeling good now than the possibility of feeling good later. The early warning signs of this pattern are high credit balances on your credit cards, low savings for retirement, and inadequate saving for your kid’s education or your rainy-day fund . More subtle but important markers are whether you avoid looking at your credit card bills, or if you don’t have a net worth summary that you update at least twice a year. We all have pleasure seekers inside us, but perhaps you are allowing this trait to overwhelm your need to save and protect.
2. Spending money too carefully: The protector
This might seem like a very strange bad habit. But despite what you might pick up from the media, a large portion of society uses money for security and doesn’t enjoy success enough. These protectors feel so good seeing their net worth increase that they would rather defer any spending for as long as possible. This might maximize their net worth but lead to an under-optimized life. The following are early warning signs: updating and reviewing your net worth summary all the time, feeling guilty after shopping, and seldom feeling like you can spoil yourself . While we all need money to keep us safe from bad outcomes, some folks let their protector take too dominant a role.
As in all things, balance is the key to a stable and healthy relationship with money. That often comes with time and experience, but first you need to be aware that the choices you make are harming you. Here’s a three-step plan to taking control of your bad money habits, whichever camp you fall into:

• Step 1: Identify if you have a bad habit that has to change. How often do you regret your financial choices? If you feel trapped by money rather than in control of it, it might be time to acknowledge you have to change something.

• Step 2: Identify whether you are primarily a pleasure seeker or a protector. No doubt you have largely justified why you act the way you do. But if you have not learned how to control your inner pleasure seeker or protector then you will keep repeating a pattern that is hurting you financially.

• Step 3: Take action. The easiest way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.

After determining if you are a pleasure seeker or a protector, here’s what to do next.

If you spend too casually:

• Review your net worth. Take all your assets and then subtract all your debt. Create a simple way to update this regularly. Set realistic goals of how much you would like to have in savings five, 10 and 15 years from now. Create a specific list of what those savings would provide you. Take pictures, link articles or write down specifics in order to make what you’re saving for tangible and rewarding.
• Establish a realistic monthly budget that takes into account your habits but establishes a monthly amount to deferred responsibilities like building an emergency fund or amassing a down payment on a house. Match the savings to your targets for those longer-term goals.
• Do something that forces you to think about what you are giving up every time you are about to spend money. Some folks wrap a rubber band or a piece of bright tape around their credit cards. Some wear a reminder wristband. Do something that will remind you every time you are about to spend that you are taking away from your long-term savings and what your savings will get you. This habit of thinking about the consequence of what you are spending will train your protector to become more dominant.

If you are too careful with spending:

• Establish your priorities. You no doubt have a very good understanding of your net worth, but have you clearly articulated what you are saving the money for? If you had free rein to spend all your money over the coming 12 months, guilt free, what would you choose to do? Create a list of things you buy that bring you the most joy: vacations, dinners out, a nice car, new shoes—whatever makes you feel good.
• Establish a reasonable budget for guilt-free spending that doesn’t compromise your longer-term goals. Have an annual number to spend for some of the things that bring you joy. Rewarding yourself in the here and now matters a lot and relieves some of the pressure you place on building your net worth.
• Limit yourself to reviewing your net worth on a pre-set schedule. For most people, four times a year is more than enough. Also, create a simple reminder on your phone every week to see what you did with your “spoiling budget.” And once you’ve spent the money, take time to think about, and appreciate, what you got. Do not focus on what you spent!

Life is short. I have seen people struggle financially in their later years and have to be supported by their children. I have also seen parents sacrifice their entire lives to build a comfortable nest egg, only to watch their kids spend the money buying the things the parents never bought themselves. The good news is that learning from past experiences can start right now. Thanks to my mistake a decade ago, I take every opportunity to spend time with my family, max out my vacation time, and relish our time together. I’m not sure I would have gotten there without the lessons of the past.

Culled from Yahoo Finance

Retirement Planning: The Basics

Retirement planning is central to having a happy golden years. Source: AAG.com

There are very few things as important to the average American as retirement planning, yet most of us don't put nearly as much time and effort into it as we should. I get it -- it's a big deal, and you want to make sure you do it right. Unfortunately, this leads way too many people down the path of not doing enough (or sometimes anything at all), or completely relying on a professional whose interests may actually be in conflict with yours, preventing you from getting the best returns.
When you're talking about something that takes decades, like creating a retirement nest egg, even a few percentage points in lower returns can mean tens of thousands of dollars less money when you reach retirement.
Retirement planning can be complex, but it's not nearly as difficult as the pros would have you believe. With that in mind, here's an overview of some of the keys to solid, long-term retirement planning.
Working within what you can control 
The best place to start is a long-term strategy that's built around maximizing the things that you control. This includes simple things like:

• Taking advantage of employer benefits like matching contributions
• Utilizing tax-advantaged individual retirement accounts like Roth and traditional IRAs for additional savings.
• Eliminating expensive debt.
• Creating an emergency fund.
• Developing healthy saving and spending habits before you retire. 
• Not ignoring the risk of death. 

Let's take a closer look at each of these things.
Don't skip free money 
One of the best ways you can jump-start your retirement savings is by maximizing benefits your employer provides. The most common is matching contributions to your 401(k) or SEP. This is typically done through matching a percentage of your contributions, up to a certain percentage of your salary.
For example, if you make $50,000 per year, and your employer matches 50% of your contributions up to 5% of your salary, that's an extra $1,250 every year in free money. It may not sound much, but this is where the power of time works to your advantage. If you were to get a $1,250 employer match at age 30, it would be worth $38,600 at 65 based on the historical 10% rate of return of the U.S. stock market. And that's only one year's match.
If you were to capture that match every year from age 30 to age 50, it would be worth $367,000 based on the market's historical rate of return. That's above and beyond the value of your actual contributions.
Saving even more? Use a tax-deferred account 
If you're able to contribute above and beyond what you put in your 401(k) or SEP at work, a Roth IRA is probably the best place to contribute. In 2015, you can contribute up to $5,500 ($6,500 if you're 50 and up), and once the money is in the Roth, you'll never, ever pay taxes on that money (or your gains) if you take distributions in retirement.
Make too much to contribute to a Roth? You can still contribute to a traditional IRA and grow your money tax-deferred, only paying taxes on distributions in retirement.
Spending, debt and savings 
Retirement planning isn't just about how much you set aside for retirement. It's also about making responsible decisions that will sustain your ability to save, keep you from having to dip into retirement savings in an emergency, and also set you up to live within your means when you do retire.
This starts with avoiding high-interest debt, and paying it off if you have any. Think about it this way: If you're paying higher interest on debt than the returns you're getting on your savings, you're going backwards. In the long run, you'll get farther by paying off that debt first, even if it means you have to temporarily reduce how much you save for retirement.
Similarly, an emergency fund is an important safety net you may never use, but if it prevents you from having to dip into your retirement savings -- which can result in major tax penalties -- to make ends meet, you'll be glad you had it.
One of the most valuable retirement planning steps that most people don't take? Developing better spending habits early.
The sooner you develop spending habits that will work in retirement, the better your retirement will be. It'll also free up more money you can add to your nest egg, meaning even more freedom in retirement.
Planning for the worst 
It can be hard to broach the subject with your loved ones, but rest assured that talking about it -- and putting a plan together -- doesn't increase your odds of dying any more than ignoring it reduces the odds. Face it -- we're all going to die. And while you can't be replaced, your income can be.
There are a lot of options, including whole and term life, and depending on your age, income, and net worth, different choices will make sense for different people. It's also worth taking a look at long-term care insurance, considering that about two-thirds of retirees will need some sort of long-term care, and Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security do not pay for this kind of care.
The bottom line: Get involved, have a plan, make it a habit 
Some of these topics can be daunting, I get it. But the reality is, the more engaged you are in your own retirement planning, the more likely you are to reach your goals.
It will take some time and commitment, especially to get started, but once you have a plan in place, it gets easier and will take less time than you'd expect. Considering how important it is to make sure you have what you'll need when you need it the most, it's worth every second you put into it.

You can't ignore yourself into a great retirement. Make a plan and get involved! Source: Pixabay.com

The $60K Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known “Social Security secrets” could ensure a boost in your retirement income of as much as $60,000. In fact, one MarketWatch reporter argues that if more Americans used them, the government would have to shell out an extra $10 billion… every year! And once you learn how to take advantage of these loopholes, you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.

Culled from fool.com (motley fool)

Segmenting the Market for proper business pentration-Odunze Reginald C

Image credited to Reliance

Anyanwu, a professor of Marketing noted that “For any company to assume that every person is a consumer of its product is an attempt at economic suicide” Anyanwu (1993:152)

And according to Adirika et al (1997:123) “ the marketer recognizes that different segments exist in the total market and design a version of the basic product that would more precisely meet the needs  and preferences of each segment” this is the true spirit of the marketing concept.

And according to business resource software inc (2011:I ) it states that the purpose of segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subsets of prospects that are mostly likely to purchase your offering” continuing it states “that strategic –your offering is in some way important to the enterprise mission, objectives and operational oversight” for example a service industry that helped evaluate capital investment opportunities would fall into this domain of influence, the purchase decision of this category of offering will be made by the prospects top level executive management”

Busch and Houston in 1985 defined market segmentation as the process by which an organization attempts to match a total marketing programme to the unique manner in which one or more customer groups behave in the market place.

Pension market can be segmented in to the following,

public and private sectors,

Public can be categorized into Federal , state, and Local government with the introduction of pension Reform Act 2014 that makes mandatory for state and local government throughout the federation.

Even the federal government agencies can be categorized as Federal Ministries, like Federal Ministry of Education

Federal Parastatals like National Communication Commission.

Federal Tertiary and Research institutions.

The paramilitary that will include Customs, civil defense, fire service etc

And private can be categorized into the following:

Financial services, like banks, insurance companies, discount houses, Micro finance banks, Finance houses, Stock brokering firms, Building societies, Savings and Loans Company.

Oil and gas like oil exploration companies, up stream and down stream, petroleum marketing company, and oil service companies, and petrol stations.

Constructions, manufacturing and agricultural companies

Road constructions, Building construction companies, Rail construction etc.

Small and medium scale companies

Transport , aviation companies, airlines, shipping companies, courier, air ticketing,  media houses, electronic and print, printing and publishing, advertising and public relations agencies.

Equipment vendors like Huawei, Ericson, and Dizengoff etc

Communications

Professionals like consultants, Estate firms, law, accounting, audit, actuary firms, professional bodies like ACCA, ICAN, NIMN, COREN etc

By volume of remittances,

By number of registration

By geographical location like north east ,north west, south east south west, south south, north central.

In a competitive environment of today, it is neither possible nor profitable for a marketer to try to sell to all consumers, you can never satisfy the world is an old saying that best describes the rational in market segmentation, Anyanwu op cited. 

Continuing Anyanwu  stated that  “a market is made up of heavy and light users while the heavy users account  30 percent of the total market segment, they account for as much as 60-70 percent of the consumption of a given good or service” this is in agreement with  the 80/20 Rule which was first propounded by Vilfredo Pareto in 1897 known as the Pareto principle or the principle of the least effort, it goes to stipulate that 20 percent of the world hold 80 percent of the world economy, also that 80 percent of our success comes from 20 percent of our effort. Kiosaki and Leitcher.    Kiyosaki went on to say that 10 percent of the people hold 90 percent of the money in 90/10 Rule of money.

Odunze Reginald is the Lead Consultant, Chareg Consulting, a management and marketing  consultant  a social media and social marketing consultant , you can visit our twitter anchor @regydunze, find us on Facebook @ Reginald odunze and reginaldodunze.com, at google+ @ Reginald Odunze and at Linkedin@reginald odunze.