Acerca del autor

"Jacob Larson spent 15 years running his own business in the cleaning industry and had up to 56 employees at one time. He sold his cleaning business in 2012 and went back into the insurance and financial services industry; requiring him to obtain Series 6 and 63 Securities licensing. In 2018, with the help of a partner, he began doing financial seminars focusing on ""Safe Money Choices"" and showing people how to protect their retirement money against Market loss. He has a very direct, very straight foreword approach to finances and has helped hundreds of people with their insurance and financial needs. He currently lives in Oregon with his son and his daughter. They enjoy fishing, hunting, camping and hanging out with their dog ""Sucre"". He has a weblog that he posts to frequently and he is very active on FaceBook."

Fragmento. © Reproducción autorizada. Todos los derechos reservados.

Common Sense From A Common Man

AuthorHouse

Contents

Introduction..............................................ixChapter 1 What is Money?.................................1Chapter 2 Develop a reading habit........................13Chapter 3 Mind your Association..........................23Chapter 4 The Power of Giving............................35Chapter 5 Think Outside the "Box"........................45Chapter 6 The Great Pleasure in Life.....................59Chapter 7 Tarbosh........................................69Chapter 8 Cash is King...................................81Chapter 9 Swimming with Sharks...........................93Chapter 10 Let it go.....................................103About the Author..........................................113

Chapter One

What do you know about money? Have you ever thought about it? I mean, really? Sure, growing up, we hear all sorts of things in regard to it.

As children, we learn quickly that money can get us candy and that we need it to get into the movies. But we also know, based on what we have seen and heard, that the lack of it causes us to worry and stress. Listening to Mom and Dad in the kitchen, we hear all sorts of reasons of why we need it and why it's so important to have it.

Growing up in my house, I learned things a little differently than most kids my age. I was a pastor's kid, a "PK," and the sum total of what I knew about money amounted to: "You can't take it with you," "People are more important" and "God will provide."

In our house, money and material things had very little value. Don't get me wrong, we were poor, so the need and want of money was present in our home. We just lacked the knowledge to acquire it. And because of our religious beliefs, we chose not to pursue it.

As a kid, those concepts didn't sit well with me. Although I wanted to follow my faith as I was taught, I didn't understand why we had to struggle financially while doing it. I became determined to start working at an early age, odd jobs at first until I could legally be hired. But I was dead set on not living poor. I knew what poverty brought and I didn't want any part of it. I saw first hand what the lack of money brought. And I was at an age where I recognized what having money did.

You may not have grown up as a preacher's kid, but chances are, you've struggled with money, too. Maybe you grew up with fewer resources than your friends. Maybe you've gone from job to job, searching for financial security. Maybe you've always thought that money, and the means of creating it, was mysterious. Maybe you believe that wealthy people keep critical knowledge hidden, just to prevent you from becoming wealthy too.

This book doesn't contain some magic formula. You won't learn how to create money by sitting around and waiting for it to fall from the sky. What you will learn, is how to educate yourself about money, how to work smarter, and how to change your attitude about not only money, but everything in your life.

That's right. Everything. Even your spiritual attitudes or lack of them, will change if you apply the principles in this book. What, you may be asking, does God have to do with money?

Let's go back to where I was as a preacher's kid. The concept of what God would provide didn't sit well with me, because although we always had a roof over our head and food on the table, we lacked. So I questioned our thought processes in regard to money. I questioned the reasoning of our faith. Leaving our ability to live in the hands of the generosity of people who came to our church and paid their tithe once a week in the offering plate seemed less and less like a good idea. I questioned it especially when times were tough for everyone and what came in wasn't enough to cover the basic cost of food for the week.

So after a brief argument with my father, my mother went to apply for government assistance. At the time it was still called welfare. We stood in a long line, seemed like forever at the time, and signed up for food stamps. I didn't know enough to be embarrassed by it. All I knew was that day when we went shopping at the grocery store, it was like Christmas.

We had more food in our fridge than I could remember. I opened the fridge door and smiled. No more watered-down milk! This was good. This was exciting!

That day came and went however. The reality of our "condition" remained ever present. I learned quickly you can't pay rent or electric bills with food stamps. Then we learned that the government subsidized housing—if your landlord agreed to it. But that required an inspection.

Inspections were great. And I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible.

Let me describe it to you like this so you have a full grasp of what I'm saying. You're a kid in your room, playing with your stuff, being a total angel as I always was, when your mom busts in and starts frantically picking up your toys and clothes and putting them away. Demands that you get up and help her. Her reasoning? We have an inspection. I didn't even know what that was. I just knew it had to be bad.

So my siblings and I would all run around with my mom, trying to straighten the place up. Toys were thrown in closets and closed. Clothes were stuffed under beds and blankets pulled down. Carpets were vacuumed. Then vacuumed again. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't like we lived in a mess; we kids just didn't do much to help my mom out. It seemed as if my mom was always cleaning. And with five of us in the house, it was overwhelming for her at times.

So the inspection guy came and did his thing. Filled out his report and left. The only questions I had at the time were, "Did we do good?" "Did we pass?" See, I knew what that meant if we did. I also knew what it meant if we didn't. Our livelihood depended on us passing. And I just wanted to pass. Later when other inspections came we were more prepared and more willing to help Mom manage them. But I'll never forget that first one.

What she had done to provide for our needs was one of the core ideas you'll find in these pages. Where others might be too embarrassed, proud or ashamed to receive assistance, somehow Mom understood the power of giving—and receiving. We'll talk more about that concept in Chapter Four.

In our family, obtaining clothing had its high points too. And we kids were rough on clothes and shoes. Stores like Good Will and the Salvation Army were visited frequently. Not that we never bought "new". But "new to us" seemed to do just fine. Most of the time.

One of my first jobs was working for a carpet cleaning company. I was stoked at the time because technically I was still not quite old enough to get a work permit. But a friend of the family that owned the business was willing to hire me. There was just one minor problem: I needed a uniform.

I was responsible for buying the uniform, which consisted of a white shirt, easy to obtain, black slacks, also easy to obtain and black shoes. The pair of black shoes was the problem. They had to be black. New black shoes cost nearly $50 bucks. At the time it might as well have been $500 bucks. I didn't have it and Mom and Dad didn't either. So Mom, being resourceful and creative as she was, came up with a plan.

I just want to interject; my mom was very cool, very smart when it came to living poor. She knew how to stretch a meal out over three days and could make one pair of pants last for months! She was awesome in that regard.

So when faced with the "shoe" problem, she was the first person I went to. And like I said, she had a plan, so in my mind I was golden, home free. Mom would take care of it. And she did.

We promptly went to Good Will. The problem was, Good Will didn't have any black shoes in stock at the time that fit me. So we moved to plan "B." Plan "B" was simple. We would buy a pair of not black shoes for a fraction of the cost of new ones and give them a coat of black shoe polish. Great idea – right? I thought so. And it seemed to work. I showed up on my first day stylin' in my white shirt, black slacks and black shoes. Just like the man had requested. No worries.

Then we did our first job. This was a carpet cleaning job remember? When cleaning carpet, you're using cleaning products that are designed to remove stains, dirt, soil and oh yeah, shoe polish!

Halfway through the job, the guy I was working with noticed my shoes. The black polish around the edge of my shoes had been neatly cleaned off to expose the white soles of my shoes. I was embarrassed. When he asked me about it I knew I needed to come "clean" – no pun intended.

After I explained my predicament, he was very kind and offered to give me an advance on my first paycheck so I could buy some shoes. He gave me the money at the end of my first day and when I got home that's the first thing I did. I bought myself a brand new pair of black shoes. Mom apologized, although it really wasn't her fault. She stepped up and came through to the best of her ability. I never forgot what I learned that day, though.

Maybe you've had times when a necessity arose and the money just wasn't there. You're doing your best to cover all your bases, but now and then the income you stretch and stretch some more, finally snaps. If you don't already do so, this book will show you how you can be more like Mom. She was able to think outside the box. While white shoes dyed with black shoe polish ended up washing away my attempt to dress according to the job's code, my boss clearly saw that I'd tried my very best.

I didn't whine that I couldn't afford black shoes, or just wear the white-soled pair and hope no one noticed. My boss understood that I was willing (with Mom's help) to go beyond the obvious. To think outside the box. We'll talk more about this in Chapter Five.

Transportation was always an adventure in my house too. The strange thing about vehicles is they require maintenance. And they don't seem to care when or how they get it. When they need it they seem content to just let the world pass by until they get it. As a result, I learned to be somewhat of a mechanic. From pulling and replacing starters, testing and replacing batteries, brakes, carburetors, pulling and replacing spark plugs to full blown let's pull the engine and rebuild it.

Problem was I hated mechanic work. Never liked doing it when it needed to be done or the filthy hands and busted knuckles it gave you when doing it. So even though I learned how to do a lot of it I always played dumb when someone needed something done to a vehicle so they wouldn't ask the strapping young man (their words) I was to do it. Because doing it for the other people we knew consisted of being paid with a "thank you" and "you have such a great boy."

Neither of which I had much use for at the time. My dad, however, knew I was capable and he wouldn't hesitate to muck up a Saturday with an all-day project on the car that he would assure me before we'd start would only take a couple of hours.

We did have some good times though. In between the busted knuckles and brief rants when things didn't go right. I learned the value of – keeping everything: every nut, every screw, every wire, every hose no matter how big or how small even if you didn't know what it could be used for, you never knew when you were going to need it. As a result, my dad had boxes of old parts and hoses and stuff. I also learned that black electrical tape fixes everything! Did you bust your knuckles or cut your finger? No worries, wrap that sucker in electrical tape – problem solved. And we didn't own an extension cord that didn't have some of it on it. When I was a kid I just thought they were sold that way. Black electrical tape and WD-40 were the two main items that my dad always carried in his tool box. If you had those, you were set for the road!

So why am I telling you all this? Because you know what I've learned about money? I've learned that regardless of what you may hear some people say about it, money dictates what clothes you wear, what food you eat, where you live, what cars you drive. And if you look at it closer, money is what provides the roads you drive on, the schools you go to, the churches you attend, and so on. Money.

The lack or excess of it provides all those things listed above and more.

Money is a "tool" that is used to obtain the goods and services you need, want and desire to live your life the way you choose to live it. Money is not evil. And those that regard it as such are fools who either don't understand its positive use or are unwilling to take the steps needed to acquire it.

Money offers an exchange among honorable people for goods and services rendered. Money will boost a person's confidence and self esteem when acquired properly and the lack of it will rob a person of their well being and destroy their very soul when obtained through unfavorable means.

Money does not discriminate between people or races; nor does it provide what it is incapable of providing. It is the driving force behind every thing that is "good" and every thing that is "evil." It is the "tool" that people use to make all those things possible. It knows its place in this world.

Because of that, it's important that you take it seriously. Because of that, it is important for you to know and learn of its proper use. Because of that, money should be the number one topic studied in school. Because of that, it should be regarded as an ally, as a friend. And if you're honest enough with yourself to recognize that, then your thoughts about money may need to change and your education of it should begin.

The lack or excess of money will always be a part of your life. And maybe like me, you have some "issues" with it that you may need to come to terms with. Regardless of what you need to reckon with, it's up to you to study it.

It's up to you to learn how to manage it. It can't and won't be done for you.

You can attempt to ignore it or speak out against it but it won't change much for you until you truly recognize its value. You must choose to utilize it the way it is intended to be regarded and used – as a "tool". It's your choice.

So where do you start? Read.

Chapter Two

I was never much of a reader growing up. I mean, sure, for school, but outside of that? Nada. I always seemed to be able to find more interesting things to do with my time and I figured guys my age that read either didn't have a TV or hadn't discovered girls. At any rate, I didn't do it – ever.

But while working in various jobs, I was smart enough to ask questions, one of which was, "How did you get to where you are"?

Seemed like a simple question at the time. I got all sorts of answers.

Most of these answers entailed working hard, getting a good job and waiting years to get promoted. Only then, these people assured me, would the money come.

But the reality was, I didn't want to wait. Working hard didn't worry me. Getting a good job seemed simple enough. But the waiting part of the answer always kind of miffed me. I didn't want to simply wait for time to run its course. The thought repulsed me. The concept of time slipping away was already deep-seated in me.

A preacher's kid never knows when it's the end of the world, you know? Besides, I still had plenty of stuff I wanted to do before Jesus came back.

So I asked this guy my question, a guy that at the time I regarded as "rich." He looked at me and said, "You really want to know?"

I blurted out an enthusiastic, "Yes!" I thought he was really going to tell me the "secret" to his success. I thought he was going to share how he actually made his money.

He looked at me and said, "Read."

My heart sank. I was dumbfounded. I repeated what he said as if to question what I had heard. He repeated his answer, followed with a yes.

I said, "Read what?"

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a book. And he said, "You can start by reading this."

I just looked at the book and then explained to him in great detail how I did not read books. I told him reading was boring and pointless and that I thought it was a complete waste of time, effort and energy.

Reading was something I was required to do in school. Since I was no longer a student, the concept of reading for actually learning something eluded me. I respectfully declined his generous offer.

A couple of days later, still chapped by the conversation, I told him, "Hey, look I'm not interested in reading a bunch of books, I just want to know how you became rich. Why won't you just tell me?"

He said that he already had told me. "Read."

I was getting flustered. "But I hate reading books."

He looked at me and said, "I didn't ask you if you liked to read. You wanted to know how I became rich. I offered you a way for you to do that."

I'll never forget what he said next. "If you're unwilling to do the things that rich people do, you'll never become one!"

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Common Sense From A Common Manby Jacob C. Larson Copyright © 2011 by Jacob C. Larson. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.