This edition of Footsteps Along the Path was initially issued by Clear Path Financial Education Services which has now become Kuehn Financial Education Services LLC. For more information about Kuehn Financial Education Services LLC, please email or visit www.kuehnservices.com.

Clear Path Credit Consultants believes:
If you build on your own skills,
Rely on your own abilities,
Increase your range of knowledge,
And get help when you need it,
You are the investment that will succeed above all others.

Welcome to the sixteenth edition of Clear Path Financial Education Services' Footsteps Along the Path. The goal of this newsletter is to provide relevant and succinct information on financial management to consumers and small business owners. It is designed to build upon previous issues, developing a clear path to financial freedom. Reader feedback is encouraged.

Please feel free to forward Footsteps Along the Path. If you have received this from a friend or colleague, and wish to be added to the newsletter distribution list, simply provide a response e-mail with this request. The same applies if you do not desire further contact. Your name will immediately be deleted from the list. dkuehn@clearpathservices.com

In this issue:
* Debi Kuehn in the Media
* Article: Initial Steps to Get Where You Want to Be
* A Knowledgeable Consumer is Powerful
* TLC is aided by LTC insurance
Visit www.clearpathservices.com

Debi Kuehn in the Media
What is the true power of a budget? Read about it in The Arizona Republic’s “Budget can help rein in spending”. Russ Wiles interviews Kuehn and other financial professionals along with Kuehn’s client Kim Babjak. Kim enthusiastically embraces the power of a budget and exclaims, “I am so reborn.” Way to go, Kim! http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0116MyMoney16.html

Initial Steps to Get Where You Want to Be
Financial resolutions abound. People promise to do a better job at keeping tomorrow in mind today. The words we use to describe our resolution goals and progress are as important as having realistic goals and skills to achieve it. I would like to make a contribution towards your desire for a financially rewarding life. Since your resolutions and personalities hold infinite possibilities, the following comments are for pondering.
I hope with confidence that 2005 holds financial truth for you.

1) Money should flow to what you value.
2) Wealth is accumulated not by income, but by the difference between earning and spending.
3) Talking about money is as important as saving it.
4) Wealth building financial priorities are: people, money, things. Your money should take care of people, then itself through investments and savings, and finally it can be exchanged for items.
5) When you talk about money, do you talk about what it can do for you or what it can buy? Talking about what it can buy indicates you value things over money. You can’t accumulate riches by having your priorities out of line.
6) You must respect small sums of money. If you want to be ruler over much, you need to tend to what you have.
7) Resolutions require a change in habit. This is a process. Be kind to yourself and realize it is hard work to replace a negative behavior with a positive one. Support yourself with financial knowledge and books on the topic of change and living in the “now”. Stay away from people who are envious of your potential success. They are saboteurs.

When you decide to live a rich life, you feel rich in every way. You feel thankful for what you have currently and for the abundance yet to come. If you are generous to others with your money, I promise your money will be generous to you. How can I make such a promise? I believe in the biblical principle “give and you shall receive”. Be aware it is not “receive then give”. Money is simply a resource in a meaningful life. If it is something other than this for you, your financial resolutions may not come to fruition.

A Knowledgeable Consumer is Powerful
The average credit score in the United States is 677. Phoenix residents have an average score of 658. The state demographic impacts the score. Many Hispanics and other immigrants lack credit histories and those with reported credit scores are low due to recent establishment of credit. Also, many immigrants are prey to unethical lenders with hard to manage loan terms. Another score factor is Phoenicians high level of delinquency. Late payments are a major variable in the overall credit rating. Only 39 percent of the city’s residents had no delinquencies in 2004. Phoenicians with a payment delinquency in the last year average only a 587 credit score.

For your free credit report call: 1.877.322.8228. Knowing what your credit history says about you is powerful.

TLC is aided by LTC Insurance
Families provide 80% of all home health and long term care for their elderly loved ones. My clients, as they lavish TLC on their ill parents, have shared their emotionally and financially draining stories with me. If you have taken care of a family member and felt the monetary ramifications, you may ask, “How can I prevent this situation from happening to me as I age thus impacting my children?” One solution may be Long Term Care Insurance (LTC). Everyone 49 years or older is a candidate for an LTC policy. The yearly cost is based on your age at the time of the policy purchase. As with other insurance, the older you are when buying a policy the more cost prohibitive it is. It is by planning while young that you secure your future at a lower cost.

You want to find the appropriate LTC coverage. Suze Orman’s book, “You’ve Earned It, Don’t Lose It”, has a great check list on page 90. Don’t do business with an insurance agent that pressures you. Do your homework and use your voice to take care of yourself.

Deborah A. Kuehn is the owner, educator and consumer advocate of Clear Path Financial Education Services. Clear Path believes knowledge is power and prosperity.

PH: 623.580.9293

Written by Deborah A. Kuehn, MBA
All rights reserved
Clear Path Financial Education Services is a registered trade name

Issue XVI

January, 24, 2005

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