As I sat with 3,000 fellow entrepreneurs waiting for the next speaker to enter the stage, the beauty of Portland’s antique theater intrigued me. Wrought iron railings, ornate tapestries, brass fixtures, and gold inset wood designs set the mood for Tess Vigeland from NPR’s “MarketPlace Money” (9 million weekly listeners) to take the stage. After thunderous applause, her bold statement stunned me… Everything you need to know about financial planning is just 6 stories, and everything else written on the subject merely rehashes those core 6 stories over and over again to make them look different. Could it be true? Was financial planning really that simple? Just 6 core ideas? I was intrigued. Philip Taylor from PTMoney.Com was sitting in the audience with me and was equally taken by Tess’s statement. After all, we are both authors of several hundred financial articles individually and more than a thousand articles combined. Was simple financial planning really possible? As it turned out, yes, it was. In this 13th episode of the Financial Mentor Podcast, Philip and I arrange these 6 cornerstone principles (as inspired by Tess’s presentation) into step-by-step logical order of execution so you know how to turn the corner on your finances and the exact order to do it in. The point of this podcast is to simplify all the complication and noise coming out of the financial media because it keeps you from taking action. It is the infamous paradox of choice. When there is too much information to digest then our minds go into confusion and shut down. The result is no action. That’s why it is so important to simplify. The number one wealth killer is procrastination because a confused mind can’t take action. You must proactively design your financial life by taking daily actions to create your wealth. The sooner the better. This podcast will show you how to simplify all the financial planning noise down to just 6 cornerstone ideas and arrange them in a logical order of execution. It is everything you need to know about financial planning – simplified. In this episode you will discover: * Why awareness is the necessary starting point. * How the 6 cornerstone ideas interconnect to support each other. * A simple routine that will help you run your money like a business. * The cornerstone principle that will simplify your financial life once and for all. * Which expense should be optimized first to get the greatest result for the least effort. * The difference between aligning your spending with your values vs. getting the best value for your money. * The simple trick that can get you discounts on monthly recurring bills. * The right – and wrong – way to use coupons to save money. * How to define the efficient price point (Hint – it’s not the cheapest, or the most expensive). * The inherent limitation to frugality that can trap you. * Why an emergency fund is essential to the early stage of your wealth building process, and why it is useless later on. * The 3 reasons to save. * The key difference between good debt and bad debt (yes, some debt can be good!) * The dangerous self-deception that causes consumer debt.