Andrew Chong

Money is the result of your efforts. Wealth is the result of keeping and investing the money from your efforts. Likewise, health and illness (many, but not all) are a result. All these results come from your thinking and your belief system. It's a system that was created in childhood and absorbed from parents, family, school, and societal environment. It's embedded deep in our subconscious minds. We are programmed to act and be a certain way from an early age. As a wise someone once said, you can't change people, but you can change yourself. We can change the results of our lives by changing the way we think. Or paraphrasing Anthony Robbins, if we don't like the results change something. Think about it.

You've already filed your 2008 tax returns and maybe you've already received your refund. That means it's too late to obtain the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers enacted by the Stimulus Plan, right? Wrong.

The great thing about this tax credit is that you can still get the cash this year, even if you've already filed your taxes for 2008 - and the money is yours to keep. You don't ever have to pay it back, as long as you stay in the home for at least 36 months.

There's a lot of confusion in the media surrounding this tax credit, but it's actually pretty simple. Qualified first-time home buyers (anyone who hasn't owned a home in the three years prior to the purchase) can receive a tax credit of 10% of the purchase price up to $8,000. All you have to do is purchase a primary home (that means a home you'll actually live in, not an investment home) any time between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 1, 2009. If you make a qualified purchase after April 15, or after having already filed your 2008 taxes, you and your tax professional can submit an amendment to your return and receive the credit on your 2008 taxes - you don't have to wait until next April.

With today's combination of low interest rates and lower home prices, this tax credit gives you a second chance to benefit from the great opportunities in today's real estate market.

I got this from my colleague at Prime Lending in Houston, Sadaf Sultan, and it's worth passing on. With 2 million layoffs recently, the employment websites are busier than ever. And it's not just jobseekers who are making these sites so popular. Consumer-protection and law-enforcement groups and better-business bureaus are reporting that a whole new breed of scammers and "phishers" are also logging on to get your personal information in order to steal your identity.

If you, or someone you know, are using the Internet to get a new job, protect yourself. Never supply Social Security numbers or bank account numbers over the phone or on your resume. Also, be wary of "work-at-home" or business opportunities which cost money or fees upfront for supplies, background checks, and other phony charges. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that many of these scam opportunities involve "medical billing, rebate processing, and mystery shopping." The Federal Trade Commission says some of these "jobs" are even illegal, and you could be held responsible. Finally, watch out for phony executive-search firms and recruiters. Capitalizing on desperate jobseekers, these scammers have reportedly charged thousands of dollars for positions that never existed.

Finding a job in today's economy can be hard, but be persistent, patient, and protect your identity. Don't let the urgency of your situation lead you into a scammer's trap.

Making minimum payments on your credit cards will keep you in debt for a long, long time. Last year's vacation can take you as long as 15 years to pay off, if you make only minimum payments. The reason is the interest: it will cost you three or four times as much as your initial purchase, as the interest is applied over those many years.

Never just make the minimum payment. Park the card (remove it from your wallet or purse) while you pay down or pay off the balance, either at the end of the month or over the next couple months. Remember the goal: to get into a low-or-no-debt position with cash. You can't improve your cash position if much of the potential cash in being paid out as interest costs on credit cards.

Here's a great yet not-widely-known reason for making sure your credit scores are the highest they can be: many companies now run a credit check on job applicants they are considering hiring. They will not extend job offers to those with bad credit. This one probably makes some sense. Poor credit history may mean you are less responsible and that may carry over to your work. Think about it.