Want to stay that way?

I can help you...

Here are three *surefire* ways to stay broke:

Surefire Way #1 - Always look for something for nothing.

And when you find it, take it, no questions asked!

See something you want on the Internet? Look around for someone who stole it and get it from them for free (what do you care, right?). Find money on the floor or ground, regardless of how much it is, that someone else accidently dropped? Pick it up and stick it in your pocket (finders keepers, losers weepers, right?). Get to much change back at the store? Keep your big mouth shut and pocket it (to bad for them, right?).

Always look for something for nothing, take it when you find it, regardless of how you get it, and revel in the fact you do so...

This will keep you in the proper state-of-mind that's absolutely necessary for staying broke.

Bonus Tip! When you do buy something, regardless of how much it might be worth and how much value it'll add to your life, always go out of your way to get it cheaper (the closer to "nothing" you can get something for, the better). Nickel-and-diming others and making sure you always get "the better end of the deal", without any regard whatsoever for the other person's interests or welfare, will go a long way toward insuring you stay broke.

Surefire Way #2 - Always spend more than you earn.

Not long ago, a friend of mine was telling me about a neighbor of his whose home was being foreclosed on. It turns out his neighbor, who could no longer afford his monthly mortgage payments and hadn't made any for some time, had owned the home for over forty years yet owed, get this, $250,000 on a home that at best could be sold for $175,000 right now.

After he finished telling me about his neighbor, my friend asked me, "how's that happen, how does someone own a home for over forty years and end up owing more on it than it's worth?"

"Simple," I said, "one dollar at a time, financing their deficit on their credit cards, refinancing their mortgage or using a home equity loan to pay them off after they're 'maxed out', and then repeating the cycle."

"You know, it's funny you say that," my friend replied, "just the other day, that same neighbor told me he went out and bought a brand new riding lawn mower."

"Doesn't he already have one?" I asked.

"Sure does," my friend answered.

"So why'd he go out and buy another one?" I asked.

"He told me it was because it was a $1,200 mower on sale for, as he put it, 'only' $800," my friend answered.

"He can't make his mortgage payments, so how the heck did he pay for it?" I asked.

With a big smile on his face, my friend answered, "with a credit card."

Bingo!

There you have it...

A simple, surefire formula for staying broke...

Spend more than you earn, finance your deficit on your credit cards (the higher the interest rate the better), refinance your mortgage or use a home equity loan to pay them off when you "max" them out (firmly believing home values always go up, never down), then repeat the cycle.

By the way...

Under the circumstances, it kind of makes you wonder what my friend's neighbor was planning to use the new mower for, doesn't it?

Oh yeah...

I almost forgot...

After he lost his home a few weeks later, he sold the mower to another neighbor for half of what he paid for it just a few short weeks before.

Another proven financial strategy for staying broke you should definitely keep in mind!

Surefire Way #3 - Always give less in use value than you receive in cash value.

In his classic masterpiece "The Science of Getting Rich", Wallace D. Wattles wrote:

"Give every man more in use value than you take from him in cash value; then you are adding to the life of the world by every business transaction."

Now...

That's just fine and dandy for those who want to get rich.

But, what if you want to stay broke?

No problem...

Here's *exactly* what you do...

Give every single person you accept money from *less* in use value than you take from them in cash value; then you'll be subtracting from the life of the world with each and every business transaction...

Thereby *scientifically* guaranteeing you'll stay broke!

Copyright (c) 2008 Tony Mase