Ever wonder what happened to Ed McMahon? You know the one who was Johnny Carson’s side kick, Or the one who promised to visit you with a million dollar check. You know “You may have already won.”

Well Look at this headline:

Ed McMahon’s home in danger of foreclosure

By CHRISTY LEMIRE

LOS ANGELES (AP) - For years, Ed McMahon promised wealth, comfort and happiness as a pitchman for the American Family Publishers’ sweepstakes. Now, he could use some of that cash himself.

So what happened? Like I tell me students all the time: You have to know how to read the numbers. Ed McMahon could not read the numbers.

Read the article and you will see that he had a 4.8 Million Dollar Mortgage. 4.8 Million dollars? How can that happen from this man? Did he not make enough to put down a larger down payment? Clearly he did not know or understand the situation. He took out the 4.8 Million loan and took out a $300,000 home equity line of credit. This was after he received a $7.2 Million Dollar settlement for problems related to mold.

My favorite quote from the whole article is this

Bragman said there was “a certain irony” in the fact that McMahon has always tried to connect with average Americans, and now he’s experiencing some of their same problems.

Well it is true and it is sad. So many people, including me, put too much emphasis on your home growing in value. It is OK to roll all your debt into your home because it is always going to go up right? Well not always.

It may make sense to invest in a piece of property for capital gains in a long term investment. Or in other words if you want to buy a house to get more money out of it is to do it in the long term. Too many people see this and take money out almost yearly. And for what? To make more investments, to increase their financial portfolio? Or is it to buy a new flat screen TV. It is to put in a pool to increase the “value” of the house. But if you are taking out a loan for this it really is not increasing the value is it. It is counter productive. The value may go up, but your equity. You used it up with the loan.

So this gets back to financial education. When you don’t understand completely how things work you get taken advantage of. We are in America having problems with house lending. Ed McMahon proves that it is happening to everyone. Everyone is in jeopardy. But, are the banks in jeopardy. No they are still making money. They still have properties to foreclose on. They will get paid in the end. They may not get as much as they hoped, but they will still get paid.

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If you have read Robert Kiyosaki’s books you know that one of his big griefs is that schools do not teach proper financial knowledge. After working in the school system, in primarily low income and first generation middle class schools, I have come to not only agree with this statement, but to say that this lack of financial Knowledge is about to seriously hurt us as a country.

I don’t to come across as a doomsdayer here. I don’t believe that we are already in full crisis mode, but I do see us racing toward that. Without the proper financial knowledge the poor and the middle class are just going to get weaker, and the rich are going to get stronger. There is going to be an ever widening gap.

For me growing up in a solid middle class family I was not given any financial knowledge at all. As a matter of fact speaking about money was almost as bad as speaking about sex. My parents were deeply in debt, and they still are. As I learn more I am beginning to realize that my parents are even deeper in debt than they think. It is a shame.

So who has to make up for it? Well in my case it is me, my brother and sisters. But are we going to be in any better shape? Not without learning on our own. The only financial knowledge I got in school was how to balance my checkbook, and an elective class on the stock market crash of the 20’s and the Great Depression, and most of that class was on the Great Depression.

It is an evil cycle to get into and very difficult to break out of. In our school we say we give education about finances but it still is taboo. I run a game at the end of my Algebra class that I call Rich Student. Yes it is a total rip off of Robert Kiyosaki’s books, but it does not have anything to do with his game. The discussions in the class are limited only due to time. We talk a little bit about how Real Estate works, a little bit about how the Stock Market and true investing works, and we talk about developing incomes on line. Some students get it right away and do well, some never understand. But, if the students don’t have me as a teacher they will go their whole career without getting any financial education at all.

Lets talk solutions, not problems. So what is needed?

• Budgeting Skills

  We need to go beyond balancing the checkbooks, beyond saying simple subtract our bills from our paycheck, and start teaching what the rich already know. We need to teach our students to pay themselves first and if they can’t pay their bills they need to either figure out how to eliminate some, or find more money somewhere.

• Credit Scores

  It seems to me that the middle class and the poor must rely on their credit scores more an more to get out of where they are at. How do we protect this? How do banks calculate this. Most students, and probably their parents, have no idea what this means. They need help to get out of where they are at. That help is so dependent on this score. Students need to understand more about this.

• Real Estate

  Not only do the students not understand about houses they are misinformed. Houses may be an investment if bought properly, but they are not an asset. Students have no idea that they can pay up to 4 times the purchase price for a home after all their payments are done. They have no idea that a larger down payment and a better credit score will result in lower payments. They have no idea how to buy a house that will result in an income generation.

• Investing

  Students are completely confused about investing. They think that their parents are investors because they have a 401K or some mutual funds. They have no idea what it means to be an investor and invest in companies. As a matter of fact most students are afraid of investing in companies because they think that it is too hard. They don’t understand how to do it so they don’t. They have no idea what the difference is between a mutual fund, a retirement plan, and what stocks, or shares in a company are.

It is a no wonder that underprivileged kids think that the only way that they are going to make money is to play sports, rap, or deal drugs. It is sad that those are their heroes. If you disagree substitute teach in a public city school and listen to the conversations. You may be surprised at what they talk about.

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“Poor people have jobs, Rich and Successful people have careers.” - Colin Cowherd ESPN Radio

I heard this over the radio one day and it took me a while to figure out what he meant. It was one of those days where I just had a few minutes to tune into the radio. As soon as I turned it on I heard this. I don’t know what lead up to this statement but it struck me and stuck with me.

I brought up this statement with my students, most of whom fall into the poor or poverty social class, and they all understood exactly what I was saying.

I explained it like this:

Poor people have jobs. They work for money and nothing else. So what happens? Is a person who makes $250,000 a year poor? Maybe not by money standards but what is their life like? How much do they work? How much do they enjoy themselves?

If they just have a job that pays well they are probably not completely happy. Actually if they are like most of us they have a job that they just don’t like. It is nice to make a lot of money but are they happy?

What is the sense of making a lot of money when all they do is work? Then what happens? When people work in a job that they are not happy in they need to supplement this unhappiness with something. Some buy toys, a bigger house, new cars, and more. Then what happens? They have to keep working to pay it off. Some are more destructive and turn to alcohol or drugs. Still others take their frustrations out on others.

Rich and successful people have careers. What do they work for? They typically don’t work for money, they get money as a result of their effort and their hard work. Instead of working for money they work to learn. They learn what it takes to get to the next step. That next step may be the next rung up the corporate ladder (something I have no interest in). For some the next step is to open their own business. For others it simply is a case of lifelong learning.

These people may not be rich with money, but they are rich and successful with their life. They are happy because they are doing things that they love to do. They are successful not because they work hard, but because they enjoy their work. Since they enjoy their work they tend to spend more time with it, and they tend to do a better job.

So what are you doing? Are you happy with your job? If you are maybe you should begin to learn and turn it into a career. What is the next step? Where will it take you in the future? If you are just starting out don’t worry about the money right now. If you work for money you will rarely get ahead. If you work for your career then you will find the opportunities will come to you and you will get paid soon. The money comes as a secondary result of how well you develop your career.

Be patient, I know it is hard, I fell into those same traps, but there is a payoff in the end.

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Act As If II Podcast

On Sunday I posted an article about acting as if. Simple acting as if you already have something will bring more of that thing to you.

You want to be successful in business? Act as if you are and people will treat you that way. They will offer you more opportunities, more responsibility, and eventually more success.

So what can you do now? If you are spinning your wheels, wondering what can be done to get you out of where you are at, if you are looking for a change what can you do?

I have a little story for you. I told this to my 9^th graders. I hope that you can translate it to something you can use.

I would guess that somewhere in your city there is some sort of financial district. Somewhere that has some really big buildings. You know the nice shiny ones with tinted windows that go right up to the clouds.

If you are in a small city like the one that I grew up in you may have to go to a larger city to find such a place. This will make it even easier since you will not know anyone there.

Go downtown to that area sometime during a normal work day. Make it a Tuesday or Wednesday. Help break up the monotony of a regular work week. Dress nicely but casual. Dress business casual. Dress to make an impression, but be humble, that is the sweet spot.

Look for the suits. They will look like bustling ants scurrying from building to building. Watch them for a few minutes. Look at which building has the most traffic, then follow them in. Ride the elevator up with them. Get out when they get out. Find the largest office on the floor and walk right in.

Now just before you go in look at the name on the door. Companies are proud and they will display on the door their name and what they do. Walk into “KIP Inc. Financial Services to the World”.

There will be a receptionist, secretary, or some other person sitting at a desk right up front. This person is the gate keeper of Midevil times. They will most likely ask if they can help you.

Say “Yes. I would like to get into Financial Services” or what ever else their door says “and possibly work for KIP Inc. I was wondering what I should do to be able to get a job. Is there a manager, or possibly the president that I can speak with for a few moments?”

About 85% of the time it will work. Say it with a smile (see my post on smiling) Stand at the desk and let them call the person in charge, don’t go away and sit down. Don’t leer, just stand there with a nice smile. Act as if they are going to do this for you.

Soon the president or manager will come in. They will probably say something like “Come on in but I only have about 5 minutes for you.” They really don’t but they like to act really busy.

They will probably lead you through the company. Past all the workers at their desks. Casually look around and observe what is going on. This will give you a good idea if you really want to work in this type of company. If you feel good about the people that are working around you then great, you may have found a place that you would like to work. If it is a bit scary for you then that is good too. You may not want to work at this company but you will still get something out of asking the manager for his opinion.

When he sits you down to talk to him simply ask one question.

“What do you do, and how can I do it?”

It is very powerful. Watch the beginning of In Pursuit of Happyness and see what happens. Watch the rest of the movie to see how hard you will have to work to really get what you want.

The manager/boss/president will be very happy to tell you all about what they do and how they got there. You may or may not want to do the same thing, after you ask a few of these people you will begin to see common things come up.

What can you learn? What can you find out? How valuable would this be?

SCARED? Good! How bad do you want change? Try it, it might even be fun.

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You want a really powerful technique that will knock the socks off your competitors and your customers? Just act as if.

Act as if you have already made the sale, you will sell more.

Act as if you have already beat your competitors, they will pick up on that and begin to panic.

Act as if you are already successful and people will begin to treat you that way.

My father was a master at this. He was a great salesman and later a great teacher. We would go to a college campus, or a football game, or sometimes just be out and about. I am always curious and would ask about a building, or I would say out loud how I wish we could go in there.

Off he would go, just pulling on doors to see which one was unlocked. I would get scared, but he would turn to me and say, “Act as if you were supposed to be here and no one will say anything different”.

Guess what? He was right, he was always right. We would get inside the private practice facilities of major sports programs (I will not tell you which). One day we decided to go into the science building of a large university. Before we knew it we were in the reptile lab with several graduate assistance and they were pulling out exotic snakes, lizards, turtles, and things that I did not know even existed.

Why? My father just went in and started asking quesitons. He was genuinely curious. When he asked he acted as if he expected them to answer him. He was not rude or disrespectful. He was not loud and boastful. He was not overbearing. He simply asked and waited for them to answer in a very polite and respectful manner.

You know what? They always answered. They always were happy to answer. No one ever questioned why we were there.

He acted as if. It was great fun, it was harmless, and I got to see many things that I never thought I would see.

Just act as if, and see where it gets you!

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We have always been taught backwards. This coming from a teacher.

I remember going into the guidance office and they said “Coach Kip, what would you like to do with your life?”

Heck I didn’t know, at that time I still wanted to be a professional football player. I had no idea what my career was going to be. I stammered “A teacher I guess?”

And so it was, from that point on I was defined by what I wanted to do. I was put in classes that helped me get into college. I was advised on the best colleges for teaching. I went to one of the best Universities in Michigan for teaching, Northern Michigan University. I then promptly dropped out of the teaching program.

Why?

I was beginning to see how that would define me. As I got into my teaching classes I found that students were already getting cynical. I found that I was not getting support for math and sciences in our open discussions in class. I was finding it difficult to write papers on philosophies and issues that I did not agree on. I would not let it define me.

I got a degree in physics instead. Why? I thought physics was cool. I had no idea why. I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I just liked science and physics. So I graduated.

I got a good job but it did not satisfy me. Heck I lived in Russia for four months, I lived in Argentina for a month, and in Dubai for three months (I stayed in the original buildings that are shown with the arrow). Besides that I traveled all over the United States. Still not very fulfilling to me. It was not me. It was not the definition of who I wanted to be. So I went back to school.

I got a teaching degree along with a mathematics degree. I became a teacher. I was lucky. I did not get a teaching degree because I wanted a job, I got one because that is who I am.

So what does that mean to you?

Define - Learn - Do.

The better question that the guidance counselor could have asked is “what do you want to be?” I may have answered a professional football player, but hopefully she would have steered this 145 pound weakling in a different direction. I could have decided who I wanted to be. What I wanted to be. How I wanted to live. What I wanted to have. I could have formed a decision on that

Define

Instead of finding something that you want to do, define who you want to be. Once you define who it is that you want to be the steps are more simple. The steps are also in reverse order that we usually take them in.

Learn

Once you have defined yourself you learn how to become that person. For some it is education, and schooling. For some it may be an internship. For others it may simply be setting a stricked budget to get what they want.

Do

Once you have learned how to get what you have defined for yourself it is a matter of doing it. This can be very difficult because you are bound to make mistakes. Guess what, making mistakes is part of living. It tells you that you are alive. So make mistakes.

Let me give you a little secret. Instead of doing what it is that you think you need to do to get to your definition of life…that sentence and the process is very difficult to understand, I know I have done it that way for a long time…FIND SOMEONE WHO HAS DONE IT BEFORE AND DO WHAT THEY DO.

I am not yelling, just using it for emphasis. Don’t reinvent what has already been done. Just find someone who has the life that you want and copy what they do. Will that make you successful alone? No. But it will get you started. It will then be your task to make it your own. Making it your own, and living the way you want to live will be your success.

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Warning: Rant and Personal Views here. Some may be controversial and offending to some.

As some of you know who have been following my blog I am a public school teacher and a football coach. Me and my wife have been looking into many different avenues to be able to teach and give what we have. The current school system just does not let us do this. Why?

They are factories. I am sorry people but not everyone is an expert in schools. One of the problems with schools is that everyone thinks that they are experts. Why? Because everyone has been to school. But they have only seen one or two parts of what school is.

Everyone has seen school from a students stand point. Yes it is boring, yes some of the teachers can seem apathetic. Yes you probably didn’t like it. Why? It was not stimulating enough, it was not interactive enough, and for most of us it just was not challenging enough.

The teachers are not apathetic, they are board to. So why don’t they do anything about it? Because you have not seen the other part of education. Very few have. I know. I have been in schools now for 7 years, early in the morning. You know who is there early in the morning? Teachers and Principles. Thats it. Don’t try to say that you know how things are. If you have had a parent meeting early in the morning you still don’t know what it is like. You still don’t see teachers scrambling to use broken copiers, outdated books, limited resources, and limited time. You don’t see the struggles that many teachers go through.

If you are reading this and you are a teacher who has these resources then you are one of the lucky ones. You don’t have it made, but you are getting closer.

What about after school? Yes many teachers leave within the first 15-20 minutes that school is over. But what do they do at home. Most of the time they leave because school is a very negative place. Teachers like to bitch about the latest problems with Principles, Students, Parents, the School Board, our President, whatever. No one is immune. It is not harmful, it is just venting. But it is extremely negative.

So they take their work home so that they can do it in their own setting. Most teachers have homework. If you are one of the lucky ones (I am included in this) then you have a system set up in your classroom that lets you be done at 2:30 or whenever you school lets out. But it takes years of planning until you get to that point.

Back to the factories. To get to that point it has to be run like a factories. The worst possible system for a school to be run. It just does not work. It is not innovative, it is not creative, it is not real learning. Concepts are being replaced by techniques to get the answer right. True learning is being replaced by memorization. We have the technology and the ability but not the means. It is very frustrating.

Why? Because we are tested. Not just our students. Teachers can be hired and fired from tests. Students just have to take them to pass. Not teachers. No matter what anyone tells you teachers are judged based on how well their students do. It is unfair because these tests take all the learning out of schools and limit themselves to rote learning just to get students graduated so that the school gets enough money to pay the staff and turn on the lights. It is a sad sad time in public schools.

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What can Top Coaches teach you?

All top coaches are different. That is usually what makes them a top coach. Whether it is Coach Krzyzewski at Duke, Coach Belichick at New England, or your high school coach like , they all have a few of the same characteristics that we can learn from.

Set Goals

All coaches work around setting goals. They also set goals in a particular order: Biggest to Smallest. The biggest goal is always the same: Win a Championship. After they have set this goal and made it public they then forget about it. What good coaches do is set as big a goal as possible. Then they set goals that will lead up to that big goal. Once the goals are set they work only on the next step or the next goal. They completely forget about the biggest goal and focus intently on the task at hand. By doing this they are consistently the best in their sport.

Have a Plan

Once goals are set all coaches sit down and plan. They do their best to outline the best plan that they can. They also know that even the best laid plans can go out the window once the action begins. The point is not that they have a plan just to have one, but they make the plan flexible enough that it can change. I would recommend that everyone go to a big time college, or a pro practice someday. Most have open practices at some point. Watch how rigid the time is kept, how players and coaches move from task to task in a fluid motion. Notice how much they can get done in a planned two hour time frame. It is very impressive.

Practice Then Perform

Once the goals are set they reflect on what is needed now. Then they practice those skills that are needed for the next step. While practicing these skills they know that it will lead them to achieving the next goal, and ultimately the ultimate goal. Once they have practiced they perform. They know that without practice they will not be able to perform to their highest standard. They also know if they do not have to perform at some point they will never get better. Practice hones skills, performance makes champions.

Reevaluate

Once they perform all good coaches take time to reflect on what is needed next. They reset small goals, evaluate themselves, their assistants, and their team on whether or not they reached any of the preliminary goals. Many great coaches will win games and be completely disappointed in their performances because they did not reach goals that were set. Remember small goals are set to reach bigger goals. They can perform and win, but if they do not reach the goals that they have set for themselves then they set up their practices and new goals so that when they perform again they can reach their goals.

Never Give Up

Many times in games when the top coaches teams are winning by a large margin you will hear the commentators saying ‘look that coach is coaching right to the end’. It is part of never giving up. It is part of doing everything for one reason, to become the best that they can be. They also know that one loss or one setback does not make the entire season. Seasons are long. There are not many sports where you have to be perfect to be able to win the championship. If there is a setback and goals are not reached they do a simple thing, practice harder, push more, work harder, but never ever give up.

Recruit the Best

All coaches know that they cannot do it alone. They all need good assistants and good players. I have heard it said ‘We can sit around a talk X’s and O’s all day and we would get a lot accomplished. But when it comes down to it if your X’s and O’s are bigger, faster, and stronger than my X’s and O’s then I don’t have much of a chance of winning’. The same can be true for you. It does not matter if you are trying to make yourself better in business, or if you are just trying to make yourself the best you can be if you have yourself surrounded by losers it is going to be difficult to make yourself better. Surround yourself with winners, surround yourself with the best people possible. You control your own destiny, decide what you want and find similar people to help you achieve those goals.

Watch and observe. You can learn a lot about life from many many different sources.

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Where does inspiration come from? Is it something you read, some one you listen to, is it in nature? I think that inspiration comes from you!

Thats right. I think that inspiration comes from inside you. For example. I don’t know how much you read but I read a lot. For the last year and a half I have read almost nothing but business books, success books, and self development books. It may sound boring, but I have a long way to go to get to where I am want to be, besides it is a lot less expensive than a shrink.

So what do I get out of it? I am glad you asked. I get what I need to get at that time. OK that was a little complicated what does that mean?

First I have observed that most books have the same message. So why do I keep reading them over and over again? First off the voice of the writer, or the style of the writing, sometimes strikes a chord when said by one author, but means completely nothing when a different writer says the same thing. When I read Donald Trump’s Think Big and Kick Ass I begin to think big. But when I read Russell Simmons Do You! and he says think big, it does not hit me the same way. Why? Because when I read Donald Trump that is what I expect to get. I was not expecting that from Russell Simmons. I was expecting to get some more insight into my students and hopefully see things they way they do. Instead I got a whole lot more. Russell Simmons had a completely different message saying the same things that I read from everyone else. BTW It is a fantastic book and everyone should read it.

Second, while I am reading a book I may not be ready for the message that the author is trying to tell me. I could read it 100 times but if I am not ready for the message I will never get it. So when people tell me I should not read all those books because they all say the same thing I tell them “Yes but I was not paying attention to the last one.” I wasn’t. I was not ready for the message so I missed it.

Book clubs, and book discussions are a great place to get something that you did not get before. I never really liked Oprah before. I didn’t get her and I really thought that is was just a place where women went to get their daily instruction. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t watch her every day, but my wife watches her often, and when the topic interests me I will tune in for a little while. So I was convinced to join the online discussion on A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61). What a great experience! For those of you who are not doing so it is not too late to join. We are only on Chapter 2 and you can download all the discussion at Oprah.com in video or podcast form. I get so much more listening to others talk about the book. It is a fantastic experience.

So what is the point? Keep reading, keep learning. Maybe you were not quite ready for the for the message the first time you read or hear something. But maybe now you are. Read as many books as possible, read them often, and re-read them. Take time for yourself to learn. You never know how successful you may become.

Conceive It, Believe It, Achieve It

Coach Kip

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