Posted by Susan Fischer on 2/21/10 3:53am
Msg #323647

[long] Harkening back to a recent thread about

Business Expences - and the list produced was really comprehensive - I'm focusing on Financial Planning (FP) for a minute or two.

Because managing any budget, whether family, or business, must include a Plan for the Future, may I pass on this short One Year "Remember When" from the recent newsletter from our FP:

"One year ago life was not fun. The economic storm clouds seemed to get darker. The news was grim. We had many serious short-term economic issues demanding attention as financial institutions and major corporations were failing. We were "group-thinking" ourselves into another Great Depression. Seems like everyone was in a bad mood.

Well, here we are, one year later. We still have problems. However, the overwhelming majority of the data we review indicate that a recovery is underway. But if all we had to rely upon were the questions and comments we receive from clients and acquaintances, one would think that conditions are much worse. Yes, we have major -long-term- problems out there, but not as many short-term ones. And, unlike the urgency of things a year ago, the good news is that we now have time to deal with them. It will take time and patience, but we _will_ get through this. After all, we are Americans.

In the spirit of keeping [name of FP Firm] financial perspectives more focused on less dated planning issues we will continue to send special email updates and white papers to our clients as events unfold. If you are not a client and would like to receive these updates, please let us know.

Meanwhile, our advice is the same we gave 18 months ago and last year at this time: limit your consumption of news and get it from a variety of sources. Separate your political views from economic news. Above all, take time to focus upon your many blessings. It's hard to shout or be angry and depressed when one is filled with gratitude. After the past year, we all have much for which to be grateful." [PM me for FP firm info]

If you don't have a portfolio, engaging Financial Planners is a great place to start. Dad retired after 34 years with HP in Palo Alto, to a lake on the coast in Oregon. A brilliant engineer, he knew research, and settled upon a FP in Salem. What a great decision, because even after the first 2000 decade, and the previous decade, he just paid cash for a series of serious home improvement projects.

My message is, we don't know what the future holds, and so our work and productivity, our prosperity, is strengthened by our planning for our old age. SS is only a small but an absolute essential part part of of American Prosperity, and personal savings and investing for the future is the other. Everyone starts small, and over the years, builds those golden years' peace.

One of the most interesting reads from the newsletter discussed a really provacative perspective - looking at the data through the prism of a new calendar that begins each month - over decades - here's the last paragraph:

"Calendars are a wonderful tool to help us grasp the abstract concept of the future. So, use them to set goals and deadlines. But forget about using their artificial boundaries as a way of describing the past when making your planning assumptions. That's like trying to read the highway signs through the rear view mirror after you've already passed them. Hopefully, you'll be retired for at least three decades, so plan for them accordingly." (I'll add that getting to Cash 'n Carry is a good way to go.)

30 years is a long time to be retired. Just thought I'd share because I believe Savings and Financial Planning must in every budget. Pennies turn into dollars over the long haul if you do it smart, no?

Reply by Laura_V on 2/21/10 8:21am
Msg #323650

Holey Moley, Susan! + choreography

Crikey, Susan! You and you financial planner knocked it out of the park again!


Your post is a beautifully illustrated way of reminding us all to create a business plan with a strong financial (cash flow, budget, etc) section and keep retirement $ needs firmly in mind. Then stick the heck to your plan. Only change it to increase net profit or weather a big recession. (Sometimes we need to drop a business plan - as in change careers - when the industry changes hugely as in recently or if we just plain burn out and need a change.)


Susan - would you please add this to 33325 with a subject line something like Newbie alert - why never take under $x amount for a signing? (Your call on the amount.) I'd do it but my fingers still hurt and you should determine the $#: it's your post.


The past week or two, I've been discovering myself thinking more about choreographing my marketing techniques and managing the few daylight hours we have here in winter.

I'm using the word "choreography" specifically because the internet exists in time and space, not as something you can hold in your hand. A dancer is a thing - a solid, moving object. She shows us choreography which is a time and space tool/strategy. (Music is a time and sound thing. Composition is the right word here.) So arranging my internet marketing plan is about choreography. I was pretty good at choreography as a youngster so this approach should work out as an addition to my current strategies and tools. (CraigsList is a tool. Deciding and then posting on CL is a strategy in case my early morning writing is as bad as usual.)


So I'm thinking about choreographing my marketing, life, time with pug at dog parks, etc, and you, Susan, post a marvelous essay about money and retirement.

That last section about the calendar "Calendars are a wonderful tool to help us grasp the abstract concept of the future" blew me away. Visual images of our future money as choreography right there in front of us, as a gift from Susan.



Can we nominate posters for Notary Oscars? If yes, I nominate Susan. Her posts knock my socks off. Marian's too. Oooooo we already have two competitors!

Reply by Notarysigner on 2/21/10 10:25am
Msg #323663

Re: Holey Moley, Susan! + choreography

I second both nominations. I have been retired for 13 years now (boy how time pass quickly) you need a plan, Susan is definitely on target.

Reply by PAW on 2/21/10 7:13pm
Msg #323694

Please don't do this

>>> Susan - would you please add this to 33325 with a subject line something like Newbie alert - why never take under $x amount for a signing? (Your call on the amount.) I'd do it but my fingers still hurt and you should determine the $#: it's your post. <<<

This is exactly the stuff the DOJ has been looking out as it may be considered as price fixing. I fully agree that the reasons and things necessary to consider in arriving at a price for the service is necessary. But one should never tell another what to charge, not even give a range. This has been discussed often here on NotRot. Read the threads for an eyeful of information.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/21/10 7:40pm
Msg #323695

Re: Please don't do this - I agree.

It draws the wrong kind of attention to this board. I appreciate you cautioning against it. I've said it so often lately that people have tuned me out. Understandable. I do think that most will listen to you, though.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/22/10 12:02am
Msg #323708

Re: Please don't do this - I agree.

I'm with Paul and Brenda here. While I have been a bit more outspoken about pricing for profit... I've always said that I don't really care what a person charges, so long as they are doing it with a business mindset. I don't care if the notary down the street takes the $65 calls. They can charge what they want... I just *hope* that they are doing it with the right business plan in place.

Honestly, I don't have ANY idea how they can manage at that price. I know I can't. The point of being in business is to make a profit.


Some people really dis-like Wal-Mart, for example. But you know what? They make a huge profit. It's not just because they keep prices low, it's because they know how to keep their expenses in check in order to keep prices low.

As a consumer -- I buy a specific brand of laundry detergent. I can get it at Wal-Mart for $8.64 a box, whereas I'd be paying over $10 at just about any other store. It's the exact same product, same name brand... of course I'm going to get it at the place that sells it for less!

But, with Notary service, and other professional services, it doesn't quite work the same way. The problem is that the companies that hire us think of us as boxes of detergent and that we're all the same thing.

I have no problem publishing my rates... but my rates are unique to ME and my business model, so there's no real point. Besides, I often negotiate my "published" rates anyway.

My ever annoying position on this is that we not hurt ourselves by sabotaging our own businesses. There just seem to be too many who jump in without understanding the basic principles of running a business. The biggest mistake many make is to simply accept an offer becuase "that's what a job pays". No, it doesn't work that way.

Do you walk in to a restaurant and say, "I want the rib eye steak, but I'm only going to pay you $8.00."? Or, do you walk in to a oil change place and say, "Give me the full service... but that $35.00? I'm going to have to get my husband's approval first, I've only got $20.00 for this."

It's all a matter of perspective. We are not employees. They are the customers looking to buy our services... we set our prices and they can buy them or not.

The only fees we are obligated to honor are those set by our state laws, everything beyond that is free trade.

Reply by Susan Fischer on 2/21/10 8:40pm
Msg #323696

I have no interest in dictating prices, or even discussing

them. I don't talk about my pricing in public because it is personal.

What I can say, though, comes from an old book, a tiny little paperback called "The Richest Man in Babylon". Written as a parable, the wise king of Babylon asks his richest citizen to teach the people how to become prosperous.

One of the 10 deceptively simple rules is to Pay Yourself First: pay yourself 10% of your gross. Make your money work for you; let your money make you money.

This is the key to providing for one's golden years.

For every dollar you get, put a dime into your portfolio. Seems simple, and yet is so hard to do.

So, with much respect, my message remains - make sure your budget accurately reflects absolutely all of your expenses, depreciations, savings, and personal needs. It doesn't matter what someone else is charging for their services, each of us must assess our own bottom lines to reach our individual goals. If you are serious about long range goals, find a good financial planning firm. And, Do everything possible to get on that Cash and Carry train...it will get you safely to the prosperous stations in your future.

Lastly, I really have no idea how to link a post to anything. If someone thinks the information is worthwhile, please feel free to add it, with my thanks.

Reply by Notarysigner on 2/21/10 9:18pm
Msg #323697

Re: I have no interest in dictating prices, or even discussing

Susan..to learn how, open your original message and scroll down to the bottom and select "link" then follow the instructions...it's easy.

Reply by Susan Fischer on 2/21/10 11:31pm
Msg #323706

Thanks, James. I'm not quite comfortable linking my post,

even with Laura's encouragement. (Thank you, Laura )

All I know is that it's hard to think about your 30 golden years when you've barely started working on your first 40 or so. And if I had faithfully saved that dime for every dollar I've made over my lifetime, I'd be so much happier with myself. As it is, all I can do is try to plant some seeds and hope they grow.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/22/10 6:23am
Msg #323710

Different method of "linking"

James, there is a message #33325 which has a lot of signing agent information in it. In this case, one would have to create a new message to "link" the content of an existing message to it....by the old copy and paste method...creating a new message in that thread.

Reply by Notarysigner on 2/22/10 8:55am
Msg #323719

understood Brenda, thank you.... n/m