My name is Stu Schankman. In May of 2007 I became an official senior citizen. Since many of my friends didn't make it this far, I feel blessed, still being here and enjoying life. I am a native of St. Louis, Missouri and have raised six children; Three natural, two adopted, and one stepson. I have been a single parent for eight years with only one child left in the nest, but he should be on his own soon as he is almost eighteen years old. I am a Navy veteran and have had a very diverse career, starting my first job at the age of twelve at a car wash for fifty cents an hour. My jobs went from being a copying machine repairman to a policeman to sales and some community work. I spent most of my working years, however self-employed. Like most Americans, I spent a lot more than I should have and now I realize I saved a lot less than I should have. I am sure many of you can relate to that. Three years ago I decided to retire and began collecting on my Social Security. It didn't take long to realize that there was no way I could continue my past quality of life on what little income the government was sending me each month. My savings were decreasing at a rapid rate and I was using my credit cards as an income supplement (Not a good idea). Before long most of my expenses went to paying the credit card companies back. As you know if you are paying minimum payments, you are setting yourself up for financial disaster. As a result I started having medical problems including depression, which is something I had never experienced in my life. It became apparent that a drastic change had to take place or I would be in big trouble.

After giving my problem a lot of thought I came to the following realization: When you are on a fixed income, your income stays the same, but you have no control over inflation. You need to drive, but can't control the price of fuel for instance, which means that you are forced to live on less money day by day, month by month. More than a quarter-million (253,803) pre-foreclosures and notices of pending foreclosure auctions were filed nationwide in the first quarter of the year. That means 2.4 out of every 1,000 homeowners faced losing their property to foreclosure in the first three months of 2007, according to new and expanded foreclosure filing numbers now available from Foreclosures.com, a California-based real estate investment advisory firm and publisher of foreclosure and property information. A second example is fuel prices, which has raised to over three dollars a gallon. In addition to your personal fuel consumption price going sky high, the cost of all the goods you buy that are transported also cost more, which includes food, clothing and almost any other goods or services you can think of. So the million dollar question is, if you are on a fixed income, how are you going to compensate for the higher cost of living? It became apparent to me that something would have to give and the only solution that I could think of is to somehow spend less even though prices were rising. So I sat down and started to make a list of what products and services I would be willing to sacrifice and what expenses could not be avoided. If you are on a fixed income, I am sure you have had to do the same.
 

 

 

What is it like to be on a fixed income?


Imagine this: Consider a rifle as your source of income and the target the cost of purchases and services. As the cost of living increases, the target rises. Not a big problem, you simply raise your rifle to hit the target by working harder, getting a second job or whatever it takes to hit the target. In fact if you aim high enough and make more money than you need to spend, you can put the excess into savings or a money making account such as money market or CDs. Living on a fixed income is like not having the ability to raise your arm, so as the target rises you are unable to hit the target let alone shoot above it.
 

  

So what is the solution?


The solution to improving your quality of life financially in written form appears quite easy. In one sentence, all you need to do is spend less money or make more money or a combination of both. Having your debts under control with money in the bank is quite liberating. Financial freedom may not cure all your ills, but it goes a long way to enhance your well being.

  

 

Our mission

 

Simply stated, our mission is to help you achieve a better quality of life financially. Although we hope this site will be of interest to people of all ages and walks of life, we are especially interested in helping people who wish to improve their quality of life. We believe that improving one's quality of life is actually three-fold. In addition to helping you gain financial freedom, we also hope to help you enhance your health physically, mentally and spiritually. Also through our forums and voice chat room, we hope to culture relationships of like minded people no matter what their age, location, race or creed. In a nutshell our mission is not to be everything for everyone, but something positive for each one of you. We want to be a smorgasbord of opportunities and ideas so that you may pick what appeals to you and discard the rest. We hope you will add this site to your favorites and visit us often. Your ideas and comments are always welcome.