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Recently, I received a balance transfer offer from Bank of America for one of my cards that has a $0 balance. The offer is for 5.9% fixed for the life of the loan.

At first, the balance transfer small print looked like the usual–3% of the balance transfered with a minimum of $10. But it was called a Cash Advance Fee, not a balance transfer fee. Then I noticed some new fine print. Here’s what it says:

"This fee will post to your account as a cash advance fee and receive the Standard cash advance rate. "

I called BofA and asked what that rate is. The answer: 24%. And, of course, payments are applied to the lowest rate part of the loan first.

Let’s assume you transfer $5,000 with this offer. The fee will be $120 and the interest on that $120 will be $28.80 for a year. If you take a year to pay off the loan, you’ll pay that $28.80 plus the 5.9% interest,  plus the 3%. At the end of a year, you will have paid around 9% interest.

So would this be a good offer. Only if you are paying more than 9% now on the $5,000 you are transferring.

Yesteday, I saw a promo on TV for an upcoming program and the announcer said, "Find out how to make the Law of Attraction work for you!"

That statement doesn’t make sense because the Law of Attraction always works and is working for you at this very minute. Whatever you are experiencing in your life is what you are attracting. You are never in a position of non-attracting.

The promo really should have said, "Find out how you can use the Law of Attraction to draw in a more comfortable life." Or more money, a better relationship, a healthier body. When most people talk about the Law of Attraction, they are thinking about bringing in more money–as if money is going to solve their problems and make their life perfect.

For me, it’s not about focusing on money. It’s about drawing in love, acceptance, acknowledgement, and appreciation. I know if the world is mirroring those for me, I’ll get paid because the money in my life is a reflection of how I feel about myself.

So the key to attracting more of what you want starts with loving, accepting, acknowledging, and appreciating yourself. All the positive affirmations, treasure maps, and goal setting will be of fleeting value if deep inside you feel alone, ashamed, angry, and deprived and if you can’t honestly imagine yourself–fully and completely–experiencing a positive life.

In addition, attracting what you want requires totally accepting the idea that you are the creator of your reality. Whatever is going on in your life is congruent with your throughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. Adjust those, and you will attract new energy into your life.

Where to start? There are step-by-step instructions in Build Your Money Muscles. There is also lots of helpful information in my podcast archives at www.TheProsperityShow.com.

According to everything I read, the economic chaos in the US is going to last a while. At this point, lots of people are feeling the pinch of rising energy and food prices, and a feeling of uncertainty, no matter what a person’s economic position, prevails.

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With the global economy behaving the way it is, there’s no doubt in my mind that a new paradigm has to emerge in order for everyday folks to move into a more prosperous financial state of being. The system that exists now helps the big get bigger and the small get smaller.

To me, it looks as if the job market is becoming more and more narrow and that in order for  ordinary people to see their incomes rise, there has to be a greater movement towords self-employment. The problem is that many don’t have the skills or personality to succeed as entrepreneurs or solo practiontioners.

What has to change is the each-man-for–himself that prevails in our system. Competition from an individual mindset has to be replaced by cooperation with like minded people working together.

There’s a novel by science fiction wirter Theordore Sturgeon called More Than Human about a group of misfits who couldn’t survive alone in society, but together they formed a strong, viable unit. I read that story many years ago, and it keeps coming to mind as I think of where we have to go in order to prosper. Now that I’ve really gotten into networking on Facebook, a picture of how we can create a network of individuals working together in order to thrive is emerging.

Rugged individualism and extreme competition is on its way to becoming yesterday’s story as people will be forced to find more cooperative ways of building comfortable, sustainable lives.

At the same time, people who now  look to others to support them, keep them healthy, and offer them security will have to become more proactive and take responsibility for their own health and well-being. This will require a major but ncessary shift in consciousness–and behavior–for many.

Taking responsibiity for one’s own health and well-being, does not mean doing things alone. It requires working with others who have complementary talents and abilities so all can thrive.

Is this idealistic? Perhaps. But i see it as a necessary step in our evolution.

When Warren Buffet was asked by a TV interviewer about how he measures wealth, he answered, "By how much love a person has in their life." He said that he knows a lot of high net worth people who have few successful relationships. For Buffett, these people are not wealthy.

I agree. . In Build Your Money Muscles I say that when you feel loved, accepted, acknowledge, and appreciated, you’ll be open to greater cash flow. And experiencing these feelings depends on your relationship with yourself and others.

Feeling loved, accepted, acknowledge, and appreciated by others begins with loving, accepting, acknowledging, and appreciating yourself. Many people I talk to admit that their internal dialog is more critical than loving. When this is your internal state, people will reflect criticism rather than love, and it is difficult to generate acknowledgement in the form of money.

To alter your internal dialog, start focusing on treating yourself like someone you love. Here are some suggestions:

1. Listen to how you talk to yourself. When the critical voice comes into your head, tell it, "Thanks for sharing, but we don’t talk like that any more." Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are a good girl/boy, followed by your power word.
2. Stand close to a mirror and look directly into your eyes. Say outloud, "(Your Name), I unconditionally love and accept you exactly the way you are." This can bring up a lot of emotion, don’t try to hold it back.
3. Buy yourself some flowers.
4. Stroke your body gently.
5. Give your body what it needs to function well.

You can also use the following statements with your power word to help overcome your resistance to loving yourself:

• I give myself permission to treat myself like someone I love. Power word.
• I release my resistance to loving myself. Power word.
• I am willing to treat myself in a loving way. Power word.
• I am willing to speak kindly to myself.Power word.
• I want to love myself. Power word.
• I am lovable. Power word.

Instructions for the power word

You can find many more ideas for altering your inner dialog in Build Your Money Muscles 

Do you remember, quite a few years ago, when Donald Trump was going through his divorce from Ivana, there were lots of headlines about his financial troubles. What he was going through was not unusual.

After a divorce or loss of a loved one, financial loss often follows. People unconsciously use money as the convenient pathway of expression for their emotions, and this is especially true for deep feelings of grief and loss. Feeling the pain of financial loss is more bearable than the pain of the real loss of a person or pet we love or has played an important role in our lives.
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