A lot of people are asking themselves this question. They had so much money when the boom was here. It was no problem to whip out the credit card and charge. They were sure that they could pay for it later. Enjoy now and pay later seems to have been the mantra that was working so well. Everybody was doing it and it worked, at least so it seemed. The banks were encouraging this life style. They should know what is best. They are in the business of money; it’s their thing, their specialty.

Then everything came to a screeching halt. Boom went to bust. The banks stopped loaning money and were demanding to get it back. They started to increase the interest rates on the credit cards. Even the smallest oversight resulted in an outrageous increase in the interest rate. How were you supposed to get a grip on this new reality? Everything collapsing! Even the banks that were so eager to loan you money are in trouble.

Many banks have collapsed and did not survive. Others took drastic measures, like stop all loans and were aggressive in retrieving as much of the outstanding loans as they could. Furthermore the banks had to scale down drastically. Tough decisions were made. They got rid of a lot of things. Only the core, in many cases, was kept. Of course they got a lot of help from the government.

Now, what can you do? Take notice that the money IS GONE and adjust to the new reality. It might have looked like there was money out there, but in reality, for most of us, it was only an illusion. Now you need to reorganize. How can you do that? What can you let go off? What is it that always will be there? Now is the time to reevaluate what is important and look the reality straight in the eyes. It is there you will find your core and it is with that core that you are going to be able to live a Life of Abundance.

Love and peace,

ElinAnna

The Feds cut the interest rate along with some of the central banks in Western Europe, Canada, and China.

The hope was that by doing this the market would respond favorably.  No such luck.  The market went down even further.  Fear is in the air.  If the banks are lowering the interest rates then the situation must be much worse than was thought.  Right?  So the markets went down.

Now it looks like it does not matter at all what is being done.  Everybody has decided that THE RECESSION is coming and does everything to fulfill the prophecy.

What can an underearner learn from this mess?

One thing is that if we behave like we are not worth much, then the market will put the price on our services, i.e., not much.  We are not going to be paid more than what we ask for.  By not asking for what is fair we are underpaid and everything in our lives reflect that.  We feel miserable and our performance reflects that.  Which in return validates what we are paid.  It is a vicious cycle that will not stop until we step out of it and stand up for ourselves.

Another thing that we can learn is the effect of fear.  People on Wall Street are not the only ones that are affected by fear.  We are to.  It is scary to ask for a raise even when you know you deserve one.  It is scary to negotiate what you are worth.  Women are especially afraid to negotiate.  What if the employer or customer doesn’t like it?  They might get offended.  And then there is the myth that what you are offered is what you are worth.  Negotiation was always the men’s game.  In reality we are supposed to negotiate for our pay.  What is offered is how low they think they can get away with.  It is our job, no duty, to negotiate for as high pay as possible.  Fear will only keep us down, like the Dow Jones and other indexes around the world today.

Love and peace,

ElinAnna