Meb Keflezighi earns men's win at 2009 NYC Marathon

He was born in the East African nation of Eritrea, growing up in a hut with no electricity. When he was 10, his family moved to Italy; two years later, they came to the United States. Keflezighi began running in junior high in San Diego, then went on to star at UCLA. In 1998, he became an American citizen.

The U.S. Olympic trials for Beijing were held in New York two years ago. Keflezighi hobbled to eighth at the trials, then later found out he had a stress fracture in his hip. Long days of rehab followed, and he didn’t feel 100 percent until early this year.

He visualized, he overcame obstacles, he persevered. I would call that a victory earned!

Value Your Employees

At one of my clients, we have trained the office manager to do a large portion of the bookkeeping. She really stepped up to the plate, easily taking to the technology. The bookkeeping tasks flow from the rest of her responsibilities, from signing on new members to paying bills. With small businesses, we need to balance proper internal controls. Since my focus for this writing is not internal control, I will address that on another platform.

Here is the shortfall: the office manager is the lowest paid employee at the organization. This person has assumed additional responsibilities. The tasks are significant in measuring and managing the organization's financial performance. The person has demonstrated that she is trustworthy.
And the organization does not value any of this.

I see that the office manager is adding much more value in her position today than she was three months ago. To her supervisor, I plea - she has earned a pay increase. Find some room in your budget to recognize the work, contribution and value this person is demonstrating. If you don't, someone else will.

Be a FICO High Achiever

I am a FICO high achiever! This title is new to me. Though I regularly monitor my credit history and scores, in my most recent self-check of my credit, I found this new status that I have earned – yes, earned! It has taken me over 26 years to earn this.

This is not enough for me. Two credit bureaus told me how I could improve my score. While there are plenty of ways to do this, I will focus on two. TransUnion told me “You have too many credit accounts with balances.” They also said, “FICO High Achievers have an average of 3 credit accounts carrying a balance.” So I found a balance I could pay off and I paid it. Next time I check my credit score, I will see how much of a difference this made. In the meantime, I will continue to focus on earning, reducing debt and paying off accounts.

Equifax told me “You recently opened a new credit account.” They said, “FICO High Achievers opened their most recent account 27 months ago, on average. I opened a new account 8 months ago forgetting the impact it would have on my credit score. I was opening a new bank account and the banker offered me another credit card. I thought about declining, and then I caved. My credit score would be higher if I declined. Hopefully, I will keep this in mind in future.

My everyday financial habits and financial decisions influence my credit score. And your everyday financial habits and financial decisions influence your credit score.

FICO stands for Fair Isaac & Company …the company who pioneered this mathematical calculation. Banks and lenders use FICO to determine one’s credit score and dependability. Your FICO score can influence the amount a bank might lend you and the interest rate they might offer.

Earned run (Baseball)

An earned run is a run that is made without the assistance of errors on the opposing side.

Budget

The bottom line: Income must exceed expense over the long term in order to improve one's economic position.

How to get there: Be consistent - it will always help.
Budget expense first. What are your current spending commitments?
Next, budget to repay debt. These are spending commitments you have made in the past.
Last, budget to save for future spending plans and unexpected needs.