I have several blog ideas in my head that I’d like to do. But these are all from my experience, pain, and problems. I’d rather right about what YOU, my loyal ready would like to hear.

I need your help with a couple of things:

1. Come visit this post in the blog and tell me about any particular finance issue you are having. I will research it and write a blog post about. And I will give you credit.

2. Please tell 5 friends on your social media accounts about our site. But only if you love it. I am trying to build value and generate content that will help others learn the ways of sounds fiscal management.

So comment away, and don’t forget to share.

In a previous post “How do you track your money” I posed a question to our visitors asking how do you track your money. I didn’t receive very many responses so I decided to go do some hunting on my own. And I am very happy with what I have found.

I am now a proud owner and community member of the You Need A Budget software. This software has several great features that put it well above the other standard boring options out there.

Highlights:

• It works on Mac, Windows and Linux – all with a single license
• It focuses more on the planning on money than on the tracking of money.
• It as a very simple interface which has been lost in some of the more popular financial solutions.

But probably the best feature of all is the forums (which you can join for free without buying the software). This is the only software I found which has a very active and very passionate community centered around the budgeting process. These are people who have been in financial hell and lived to tell their stories. The software does not save your ass. It is the community members and the understanding of the budgeting process that makes the software, the community, and the company great. The owner cares deeply about helping other people.

Visit You Need A Budget site today and download their software for a 34 day free trial. Make sure you join the forum and learn the money rules. You will not regret it, and it will be a great first step towards on the road to recovery. I paid for a copy

Make sure you follow our Facebook Page today too.

I just checked my September 2011 adsense income. It was $1.04. That is horrible – I have no idea why it is so bad on the brokemf.com site. My adsense income history so far this year is:

January $0.71

February $2.77

March $3.58

April $0.00

May $2.48

June $1.71

July $8.66

August $21.08

September $1.04

Not suprisingly the best Adsense income months are synced up with the best Page View months. So July and August were great page view months, while September was less than stellar. But September was a the 3rd best month in traffic but the 7th best month for income. There must be something more to do with this than pageviews.

I’ll check my other affiliate income reports and post results of those soon.

Update:

I’ve checked my Clickbank account where I promote a few products on other sites. No income for September or all of 2011. I need to work on that more.

I earned nothing from ShareASale for September 2011. This is really upsetting because I promote several good programs there. This is also one of the most ethical affiliate networks out there.

More work is needed to say the least. If I ever want to earn $100,000 per month in passive online income I am not going to do it this way.

Got suggestions for improvement? I know I do. Let’s discuss in the comments below.

One of the first rules I’ve always tried to teach people when it comes to money management is that you must track everything. Since we are talking about currency and numbers we don’t have to deal with anything subjective. Everything in the money management world can be tracked.

And don’t fret too much over fancy tracking. A simple pencil and paper work great. If you have a computer and can find a software package that works for you then start using it every day. When I was first starting to track my money I’d use spreadsheet software. It is very easy to layout a spreadsheet to look like a checkbook.

Please join our forum discussion and let us know what has worked best for you. If you don’t have anything let the community know and your friends here can give you some suggestions.

Just the words “Financial IQ” scare some people into fits of rage during the day, and cold sweats at night. While it may seem easier to face the monster in your closet, your financial IQ is not as terrifying as you might expect. Your financial ‘intelligence quota’ (IQ) is basically just your comprehensive understanding of how finances work. Let’s take a look at the basics of financial knowledge and how to overcome the fear of Financial IQ.

The Basics

Financial IQ is no more than the understanding of the flow of money; how it is earned, how it is spent, and how it is invested. If you asked thirty different people to describe financial IQ, you would probably get at least thirty different answers. Many people are not exactly sure what makes up financial IQ, so we just ramble around until we land on something semi-intelligent.

In the simplest form, financial IQ is nothing more than the basics of making your money, protecting what you have made, budgeting, and leveraging the surplus at the end. It is the income, out-go, and what’s left. That is it. Now that you see what financial IQ is basically, I’ll bet you are saying you already knew what financial IQ was. What you need to know now is how financial IQ revolves around earning, budgeting, and investing well.

Overcoming Fear

To quote Dale Carnegie; “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

This is sage advice from one of the most financially intelligent people in history. Carnegie points out that, in order to overcome your fear of understanding finances, you must dive head-first into the world of finance as if it were a bowl of jello.

Studies have shown the human brain retains the most information in one of three ways; sight, sound, and action. Some of us learn best by reading, others by listening and discussing, and the remainder of us learn by getting off our keister and jumping in to figure it out as we go.

There are many areas to get involved with to better your understanding of financial IQ; read the business section of the newspaper, read the stock reports, listen to financial podcasts and news reports, or start doing a little trading to see what happens when you get your feet wet.

What’s Next?

Get involved. Ask yourself one question – is doing what you are doing teaching you anything more about financial IQ? If it is, then keep up the study, but if your answer is no, you might want to reconsider your plan of action.

Find someone you can talk with about finances and start a discussion. It is alright to ask questions because it is better to get the facts straight than hide under your bed and continue to live in the darkness of financial ignorance.

Dale Carnegie has it right. If you want to overcome your fear of finances, do not sit at home; get out into the world where finances don’t take a break. Immerse yourself in the world of finances and overcome your fear; it might just end up being your favorite hobby. And it won’t hurt your pocketbook either.

Something magical has been happening at the BrokeMF site – we’ve been getting traction. We keep close tabs on our numbers (like you should with your finances) and every week our numbers are growing. Our traffic, twitter followers, Facebook Friends, etc- everything is on the rise. This is very inspiring and tells us that there are a lot of smart people out there that want to be money smart.

We have always want our site and the tools we provide to be interactive. So as of of today we have a new forums section. The forums area (see the menu choice) at the top will allow all of us to have some good no-holds barred discussion about the important financial topics in your daily life.

Hope into the forums and say hello, how you found us and what you hope to learn.

This past week my last check cleared for a flying club that I am a member of. We had some dispute about $1500 that I owed them and it eventually came down to “Pay us or we’ll sue”. Fine. I’ll pay I said.

Well since money was so tight it took me awhile to work out the exact payment arrangements. The funny thing is this is one of my small debts, and it has no interest. Normally that is the kind of thing that you’d put off towards the end of your debt schedule. But I felt a certain sense of urgency because 1) I was being sued  and 2) I knew the guys in the club that I owed money to. It was personal, and I’d let them down by not doing my part being a club member. It was also a flying club and that is a hobby that in near and dear to my heart. They were also very understanding and very flexible when it came to payment terms. In the end I am now down to zero debt with them, and they have agreed to let me be a club member still. I’ll be busting my ass in the future for these guys and make sure I stay a respected, upstanding member of this club.

Lesson: Make sure you manage and deal with personal/face-to-face debt swiftly. Most people understand, are forgiving, and can be flexible. Don’t take advantage of it because it could really screw up a good lifelong friendship.

Did you read Part I HERE

3.Help A Business - If you are looking for a solid way to break into the financial sector, there are many non-profit businesses that could stand a little help. While many non-profits can only afford to pay a few financial representatives, they often could use a dozen more. Working with these non-profit businesses can help you gain further knowledge while helping out a business in need.
4.Take An Interest In Government – The government is a great place to test your understanding of financial IQ principles. There are thousands of financial transactions which take place each and every day in the government. Reading and discussing the new fiscal budget is a great way to get started. Yes, there is a lot of information, but take it a piece at a time. With each completed piece, take down notes and your opinions and discuss them with someone else who has the same interest.
5.Make A Difference In Your Community - There is probably no better way to leverage your new-found financial IQ than to put it into use for your local community. Whether this means submitting your name for the neighborhood HOA Treasurer or running for a county office position, your IQ can become a great asset to your local area.
No matter how you choose to leverage your financial IQ, it is important for you to keep your understanding fresh by constantly using your knowledge. Just like a muscle can atrophy, your financial IQ can dwindle if not used on a consistent basis. Find a place, a business, or a project you believe in and start putting your knowledge to use.

As the old GI Joe adage goes, ìKnowing is half the battle.î Once you understand the basics to financial IQ, it is time to put your knowledge into practice. Here are five ways to take your knowledge and turn it into practical applications to further strengthen your understanding.
1.Turn Your Money Over - The best way to solidify your understanding of your new-found financial IQ is to put your money where your mouth is. That is right. Get in the game and do some investing or read an income statement from a Fortune 500 company to explain why one stock is better than another. Not only will your knowledge become more solid, you will also begin to reap the benefits based on how well you understand the basics.
2.Teach Another Generation - The US Navy has a saying ìLearn One, Do One, Teach One.î In order to continually pass information on to the next generation, we must learn a skill, try our hand at it, then teach it to the next generation. If you ask almost any professional teacher, you will find that knowledge becomes more engrained when you have to simplify and teach someone else.

Stay tuned for part 2 next week