Archives For Greg Whitaker

128 DSR – John From NYC – Interview

September 6, 2013 — 2 Comments

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life is short
Life is short, you only live once. Why not live free?

“Plastic has wings to fly out of wallets and purses and mannequins in a store front window get more looks than artwork in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” – John from NYC

Consume – to use up or destroy as in fire. Cancer.

Q: If you could change one thing about money, what would it be?
A: Eliminate interest charged in lending.

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In credit, Interviews, Psychology , ,
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127 DSR – I’m Asking For Advice

August 31, 2013 — Leave a comment

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advice_for_web

Listener appreciation – John from NYC sent us an email.
Rebecca from Germany sent us an email and some voicemails.

Mortgages –

I owe $64k. Have ability to owe $54k now and $44k in a yr.
If we prepay principle balance we can be mortgage free in 3.5 yrs.
Wife will retire in 2-3 yrs.

Do we stay and pay down the mtg? or
Do we move and borrow $100 to $125k?

Here – clean, safe, quiet. Pmt less than $800/mo.
2 BR – 1.5 BA, 1,200 sq. ft. condo

There – clean, safe, quite. Pmt same
3 BR – 2 BA, 1,300 sq ft. / .50 acres, fenced yard, add 40 min. to work commute for a total of 1 hr. drive to work each day.

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth.

In Get Personal, Mortgage , ,
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126 DSR – Sameness Disguised as Variety

August 23, 2013 — Leave a comment

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The Sea Of Sameness

Strip malls
Restaurants
Retail stores
Travel across America what do you see?

Cut and paste capitalism. Purely profit driven. Maximum profit, minimum creativity. “Starbucksification” as Tom Hodgkinson puts it in How to be Free

Thinking you have selection makes you feel powerful and free.

Is thinking you need wide selection in order to feel powerful and free a sign you don’t feel powerful and free in the first place?

“Fashion is an attempt to decorate our own inauthentic lives.” – Michael Tsarion.

You want to be different in appearance, stand out from the crowd. Why the need to be noticed? To what end? I want you to see me, accept me. I want to be noticed but left alone. I’m over here, but don’t ask me to be responsible for anything.
Do we just want to be acknowledged? Justify my existence?

Acknowledge yourself.

——————————————–
“Starbucksification” as Tom Hodgkinson puts it in How to be Free

Starbucks was losing money. They shut down stores for a few days for training. Problem? Quality suffering, customers unhappy, profits falling. Why was quality suffering?

People wanted it faster, Starbucks was trying to deliver. Quality suffered. Anytime you speed things up you get hurried and give less of yourself to the task at hand. You dilute purity/potency in an effort to sell more stuff. If you want it faster, you get hooked on faster. It takes more to stimulate you. You feel empty. Search outside for remedy.

Sameness Disguised as Variety.
Different as people AND equal at the same time.
We Are All One (Sameness) Showing Up As More Than One (Variety).

Resource:
How to Be Free – by Tom Hodgkinson

Chapters:
Cast off your watch
Stop Competing
Escape Debt

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In Psychology , , , ,
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125 DSR – The Problem With Screens

August 18, 2013 — Leave a comment

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fuzzy-tv-screen

TV screens. Computer screens. Phone screens. Movie screens.

Quote:
“By parading a stream of other people’s lives in front of us, screens remove the responsibility to create our own lives. We watch other people doing things instead of doing them ourselves. This makes us radically powerless, and powerlessness leads to anxiety. And anxiety leads to shopping. Shopping leads to debt. Debt leads back to anxiety.” – How to Be Free by Tom Hodgkinson

Observation:
Western consumerism teaches you to live vicariously thru others. To live vicariously thru your possessions. If you buy first, then you will feel, experience, be.

Definition:
Vicar = representative, deputy, or substitute; anyone acting “in the person of” or agent for a superior.

Example:
The Vicar of Christ.
A religious term, thought system word, gatekeeper word. Slavery.

Two Sides:
The dumb animal side
The smart mind side

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In Psychology, Technology , ,
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124 DSR – Love & Money: Friend or Foe?

August 10, 2013 — Leave a comment

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Love & Money

Love & Money
Are they friends or enemies?
Do they work together or fight?
Are they kindred spirits or total opposites?

Love = energy, attention/intention
Money = energy, attention/intention

How much time do you spend pursuing money?
Thinking about it? Using it? Dreaming about it?

How much time do you spend pursuing love?
Thinking about it? Dreaming about it?

Options:
Less money, more time.
More love, less anger.

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In Money, Psychology, Spiritually Speaking , , ,
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123 DSR – Moving Mountains (Of Debt)

August 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

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mountain

How do you:
Eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Move a mountain? One truck load of dirt at a time.
How do you speak? One word at at time. Try speaking two words at the same time. Not happening.
How do we breathe? One breath at a time. Try taking two breaths at the same time. Impossible.

Paying off Debt:
Start with the smallest balance first.
Sometimes we start w/biggest first, not this time. Why?

We’re addicted to big, fast, sweeping change. The illusion of it.
Slow, steady, consistency is what wins the day.

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In Money, Motivation
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122 DSR – Three Days

July 31, 2013 — Leave a comment

survival book

PODCAST AUDIO – click here

Questions:
How long can you go without eating?
Without going to the grocery store?
Without using water from your faucet?
Without turning on your TV?

Terms:
Prepper Movement
Going Off Grid
Solar
Permaculture

Resources:
The Survival Podcast:
“Helping You Live A Better Life, If Times Get Tough or Even if They Don’t”

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In Self Reliance, Survival , ,
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121 DSR – Why Wait for Your Money?

July 23, 2013 — Leave a comment

time-watch-waiting

PODCAST AUDIO – click to listen

Why do we have to always wait to get paid?
Your employer is getting the benefit of your labor the second you perform the work. Why wait two weeks to get paid?

Why is the model: Work now, get the reward later?
Sacrifice for 30 yrs. then get the reward (401k, paid off home).

Who invented the 40 hr. work week anyway?
Who invented the 30 yr. mortgage anyway?
Who invented the 401k anyway?

Possibilities:
What if you got paid the second you did the work? Immediate exchange of energy.

What if you only had to work 20 hrs. a week? And got the same benefit of lifestyle.

What if you only had to pay 10 yrs. (or less) to own your home?
How about 5 yrs. or less?

What if a 401k wasn’t necessary? No need to earn “interest” to grow your savings.

Why are we so obsessed with ownership?
What about own nothing, control everything?
Or own nothing, have access to everything?

Ultimate Question:
What if you didn’t have to work for money? What if you didn’t have to work to get the things you need (food, clothing, shelter)? Why do we have to “work” for these things?

Resources:
40 hr work week
How Ford Motor Companyt went from a 6 to 5 day work week.
Less hours but more production demanded.
Profit driven?

Give us a call on our voicemail feedback hotline at 615-200-7189 or drop Greg an email at:
greg [at] debtshepherd [dot] com

There is no need to copyright truth

In Money, Retirement , ,
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