>> it's about empowering you so you that you have the tools, you have the knowledge, and you have the courage to take action. >> what we're talking about right now is shifting away from the situation where you are a victim of your own finances and all of a sudden start thinking about the possibilities. >> be smart, know what's happening around you, and then take action. >> and we want to help you take charge of your money right now, because there's nobody else out there that's going to do it. >> male announcer: as the storms of confusion and market madness swirl around us and we're bombarded by incorrect and perhaps financially lethal information, we need calm, steady, informed advice from the market guys, rick swope and a.j. monte. the market guys have taught tens of thousands of investors and

traders around the world the do's and don'ts of the financial markets. rick and a.j. bring an insider's perspective on how the markets work, how to manage risk, and how to survive turbulent times. it's time to take charge of your money now! here now, the market guys. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. >> let me ask you a question. have you ever gone out and bought a stock and it seems like the moment you buy that stock, it immediately drops? and you look at that, and you're thinking to yourself, "how did they know?" >> when was the last time you looked at your account balance and your bank statement and were happy about the number you saw at the bottom line? >> all: no. >> or how about this one? did you ever find yourself going down to make a deposit to your

bank and as you're about ready to walk into the bank, you look around and wondering if you're hitting the right bank because they've changed the sign, over the weekend, they were sold, and now it's not your bank anymore? >> all: yes. >> have you had to make that hard decision with your spouse about what you're going to do with your retirement, if your retirement's still gonna be there? >> really, the question boils down to this. when there is a financial storm raging out there and you don't know what you're going to do next and your confidence is shaken and you don't see the end of the line, you don't know where to go, and you don't know who to talk to, what are you going to do? do you want to take charge of your money now? >> all: yes. >> well, we want to tell you that that's why we're here today. i'm rick swope. >> and i'm a.j. monte, and we're the market guys. thank you. [applause] >> okay, now, listen. what we want to talk about right now is the crash. we're talking about the

financial storm that's raging out there. and i don't know if you're getting worked up about the fact that there doesn't seem to be anybody on your side right now. i can't believe it, a.j. i mean, everybody is just out there alone. >> you know, we've heard of the crash of '29. we've heard of the crash of '87. well, the crash of 2008 was probably the most devastating because what's happened, thanks to technology, is that we had extreme moves. and it was almost as if people were getting used to it, because the experts, the so-called experts, the institutions were not on your side. therefore, everyone on that side of the game wanted you to think everything was okay. well, what happened? it wasn't okay. they did not call you up and say, "hey, listen, it's time to protect yourself." they didn't say, "hey, you know what? we're really concerned about your portfolio now. you should do something about it." well, unfortunately, the enemy is the institution that does not care about you, and as a result,

you have become a victim. >> well, and just about the time that you think that you're going to get some help, that you're going to get an advocate, and you look to congress, what do they come up with? they come up with a bailout package. what was that bailout package? that was taking your money and giving it to bank executives. now, i'm gonna ask you a question. how many of you got a thank-you note for giving your money to bank executives? furthermore, what was happening is, they were taking your money. they were stepping off their private jets. and you want to find out who is your advocate? you look across the board, you look at wall street, you don't find an advocate. well, we want to tell you, that is why we are here today. that is the mission of the market guys. we have seen the wall street side. we've seen the main street side. we live there. we've walked that journey. and we want to help you take charge of your money right now because there's nobody else out there that's going to do it. [applause] now, a.j. and i come from two different backgrounds. we call it wall street

and main street. you see, we've--we've really had the privilege over the years and over the miles of working with literally hundreds of thousands of investors all over the world. and you know what? across cultures, people really are the same. people want to have the confidence. they want to take control of their money. they want to take charge and understand how they can manage their finances. well, what we want to do is bring our experiences together. we've seen, a.j., what works and, really, what doesn't work, and that's what we want to share with you. >> but what's happened here is, through our experiences, me being wall street and rick being main street, we are able to take these lessons that we've learned and be able to give them to the general public so that they can-- and that includes you-- be able to take charge and manage your finances. >> you know, just to be clear, this is not a "how do you buy a stock low and sell it high?" program. i mean, you certainly can apply the principles to that, but this goes beyond that. this goes to every aspect of your money, whether it be credit

cards, whether it be your car loans, your student loans for yourself or for your kids or your grandkids. any aspect of your finances, these principles can apply toward. now, we want you to start with this first step. if you're going to take charge of your money, we want you to make the commitment. and in making the commitment, we want you to tell somebody. it sounds like a--sounds like a simple idea. tell somebody. but you have to hold yourself accountable, and that's gonna be the first point. >> see, if you're taking these action steps and all of a sudden, you miss one, you have someone there to back you up. holding yourself accountable is great, but having someone else hold you accountable is even better. what we're going to do is-- again, if you're sitting at home watching this program, get a pad, get a pen, and start writing down these steps, because throughout the program, we're going to give you these action steps so you can follow. the first thing is, go ahead and make a list of all the five top financial concerns that you have, whether it be a car loan, your mortgage. list your credit card debt.

and what we're going to do is take each one of these and be able to tackle them one step at a time. >> with that, create a contract for yourself. what is that? it's just a very simple agreement of what you're committing to do at this point in time. if you're gonna commit to take charge of your money, write down that contract. don't make it complicated. keep it very simple. what is it that you want to accomplish? you know what? you can change it as you go along, but start with something. that's going to be what you're going to hold yourself accountable to. >> and there's certain rules of the game that we have to follow. understand that if you're looking at your 401(k), if you're a business owner and you have what's called a sep, that's great. if you have a college plan that you have in place, look at that as well. but take all of these things and put them into your plan. and then we'll show you, again, how to take the action steps. >> did you hear that? we talk--want to learn about the rules of the game. those rules are going to be the guidelines that are going to make sure that you move in the right direction, that give you the confidence to take charge of your money.

now, there are people that really don't know the rules. and as we go through this, we're gonna show you how this shapes up. so what we have to start with is, you have to know the market. you have to know what the rules of the game are. and the way we're going to do this is, first of all, we want you to start with some basic learning. we want you to choose one book, one program, whether that be a podcast or a radio program or a--or a cd that you're listening to and maybe one periodical that you're reading, newspaper, something--something that gives you current information. we want you to commit to going through that material and start creating your own personal money reference manual. >> yes, and once you have this manual, you will be able to, again, use it like a road map. you'll be able to follow these guidelines and be able to help you. now, there's a couple of things right here if--we have to show some hand signals to give you an idea. we have learned some things that are going to help you with this picture, in moving forward, and it has to do with supply

and demand. ooh, a big concept that we may have learned in school. but learning how supply and demand works will also help you make a better judgment call on your finances. now, coming from wall street, we had the opportunity to work with hollywood through john landis, who is the director of a movie you may have seen called trading places. how many of you have seen it, eddie murphy and dan aykroyd? >> yeah, good movie. well, in that movie, the actors had to learn how the markets worked. see, we're imploring you to learn about how money works, how the markets work. well, these actors had to learn this for a movie. and in order to do that, a game of sorts was created by a.j. and some other folks to tell the actors how what's going on on wall street really comes into play together. how does the buyers and the sellers come together? you know, you watch the-- watch the reports on tv, and you see the pictures coming off the floor of the new york stock exchange or one of the trading floors, and to you,

that just looks like one big goat rodeo, and you can't make heads or tails of it. you don't know-- well, you know what? it really does boil down to the buyers and the sellers. now, what we want to do is, we want to work with you a little bit with that game. so here's what we're gonna do. a.j. is going to draw a picture for this first part. but there are two sides to every market. there's the buyers and the sellers, right? now, the buyers have a way of telling people they want to buy. so what we want you to do is, we want you to hold your hands up, palms towards your face, and we're going to become a trading floor with buyers. ready? here we go. bring your hands to your face and say "buy." >> all: buy. >> all right, not too bad, not too bad. but what we're gonna do is, we're going to create the same kind of energy that we would see in a real marketplace. >> you know what, rick? let's do this. let's imagine that this is a work of art and we're at an art auction, okay? and rick is the auctioneer. and your hands doing this represent paddles. if you can think of it this way,

maybe it'll help you understand the picture that we are drawing here. now, this is dollars or value. and the time you spend doing this or raising your paddles is going to help us create this picture. so keep that in mind. >> now, if this is really something you want, how motivated are you gonna have to be in your buying? pretty motivated, right? so let's show that motivation, 'cause this is something that you want right here. so bring your hands up to your face, and let's buy like we mean it. ready? buy! buy! buy! buy! >> all: buy! buy! >> okay, great. look what happened to that line. look what happened to the flow of money. everybody wanted to buy. now, here's a key question for you. if you see that everybody is buying, is that the time to sell, or should you wait a little bit longer because the price is probably gonna go up? >> think of the auctioneer. if all the paddles are going up, is the auctioneer going to put the gavel down right away, or are they gonna wait, wait to see how high the buyers are

going to go? well, this happens in every area of finance, whether it be real estate. it could be your own investments. it could be any other kind-- coin collecting. whatever it may be, if you have buyers outnumbering the sellers, the price will go up. what we're gonna do is turn the tide right now, and we're going to teach you the sell signals. so if you take your hands just for a moment and move them away from your body like this, this is the sell signal. now, at the same time, you're going to say "sell" on three with enthusiasm, with almost a fear. on three, one, two, three-- >> all: sell! sell! sell! >> okay, great. now, look at this. prices go up because of an emotion we call greed. what causes prices to go down? >> all: fear. >> fear. absolutely right. now, out of the two, greed and fear, which is the strongest out of those two emotions? >> all: fear.

>> fear, so many times, we'll see prices drop more quickly than they'll go up. and this happens in real estate. how many times have you seen, all of a sudden, "for sale" signs going up all around the neighborhood? not every neighborhood, but there's times when you drive you'll see "for sale" signs. that could be fear. "oh, real estate prices are dropping. i better move out before i lose my investment." this is what we see in everyday life. >> now, what we want you to do next is begin to create a money plan. again, we don't want you to make it real complicated, because if you make it too complicated, you won't even follow it. now, we want to follow a very simple principle. it's the k.i.s.s. principle. >> keep it super simple. >> keep it super simple. but you have to have a place where you're going to start. so what we want to say is, pick any three of your savings and income or expenses and debts, all right? savings and income is on the positive side. expenses and debts are on the negative side. the first step to your money plan is, pick any three,

any three that you want to change and you know that you can impact. write those down. those become the first part of your plan. that's where you're going to start to take charge of your money. >> you know, in everyday life, if you're shopping for groceries or you have a to-do list, what do you do? you write it down, and you have a list. each time you accomplish something, you put a check next to that list. that's about what a plan is. now, unfortunately, people in their everyday lives, they don't put a financial plan together. i mean, rick, you're a runner. i know that. you--you know that people who prepare for a marathon... >> oh, it's remarkable. >> go through a regimen of training. >> well, what do they do? they plan for their food. they plan for their training. they plan for their sleep. they plan--they plan for their sneakers and their clothing. they plan for everything. and yet at the end of the run, what do they get? you know, a little goody bag, a t-shirt, maybe a blanket, and it's done. and yet we'll go through life without a plan for what is perhaps the most important part of our planning, and that's our finances. >> you know, we were in canada

not too long ago getting ready for a seminar that we had prepared there. now, as we're getting ready, i'm in my hotel room, and i'm watching the financial station. this is a major network in canada. and on this program, they had an expert talking about certain plans people should be following. now, this one gentleman came out and said, "well, for those who are already in their investments, i think this is a good time to just close your eyes and hold on for the ride." now, i know you're laughing, but this is what's happening. now, when i heard this, i got really excited. and i actually got enraged. and i launched for the phone to dial the 800 number at the bottom of the screen. now, i couldn't get in, but they also offered a web address where i could put in an email, and that's exactly what i did. now, the reason i became angry, actually, is because here's an expert, a so-called expert, telling people to close their eyes and hang on. now, does that sound like a plan? that sounds like someone teaching someone how to remove

fear. and that's not a very good plan at all, because that's what we call the ostrich strategy. burying your head in the sand doesn't make the problem go away. >> you know, have you ever thought, "well, if i don't sell this, it's not a loss until i sell it?" [chuckles] well, it is a loss. if what you own is worth less now than what it was worth when you bought it, whether you sold it or not, it's a loss. so think about this now. how do you take this market that we just described and how do you apply the professional principle of following the money? well, let's do it this way. just take any account that you have, your retirement account, your savings account. maybe you have a college savings account for your kids or your grandkids or your nieces or nephews. take the last three to six months of statements, pull them out, and look at the balance. understand, i'm not telling you to look at the individual investments. look at the bottom line balance. and if that balance is going down, are you following the

money, or are you going against the money? you're probably not following the money. so at that point, you really can move to cash. you can start from where you are and start to apply these. and apply them. a.j., we can apply that same principle across the board to all areas of our personal finance. >> again, take your action steps. write this down. and here's the simple rule. if you want to make money in any area of our financial world, learn how to follow the money trail. and, now, i got this lesson early on when i first became a trader on the trading floor, whereby the floor was set up where there's a bunch of phones, and each one of these phones had lights on the top, and when a phone call would come in, the light would go off, because in the heat of action, you can't hear a phone ringing. so it was a visual stimulation for the person needing to pick up that phone. well, when a news item came into the market, i would see these phones start to light up. well, i knew something was happening. and if they were all ringing at

the same time, chances are, people are getting ready to react to a news item. and that's exactly what was happening. so i would simply watch to see where this money was going, and then i would take the same type of a position. i would put my money in the direction of the money flow. and it worked. now, anyone could really do this. you just have to know how to apply it. >> and once you do this, once you start following these rules, then that concern about, "am i going to make my mortgage payment? am i going to be able to have money for college for my kids, my grandkids? am i going to be able to take care of that loan that i took out as part of my home equity loan but now doesn't look like it was such a good idea because i really wasn't paying too close attention to the real estate market?" well, now you could start applying these principles incrementally, not great big at one time, but start chipping away. and what you're going to find is, when you make a plan, when you tell somebody and hold

yourself accountable, when you keep it simple, and when you know where you are, you're going to take the first step in taking charge of your money right now. [applause] when we return, we'll show you how to not let your emotions rule your financial life, whether in buying a car, buying a stock, or selling your home. >> but first, please call the number on your screen and make a generous pledge of support to this station. they have some wonderful ways of saying thanks in helping you take charge of your money now. >> both: thanks. >> hello, i'm camille dixon here in the studio, and as you can see, rick and a.j. are here, and we're gonna be talking with them about the things that are on your mind. but we need to give you an opportunity to call in your pledge of support to this public television station. this is vital that we hear from you right now. already in the very first segment of this program, i know you've learned something. i know that there's something that you can benefit from. so say thank you with a pledge of support right now. the number is there on your

screen, and we have volunteers ready to talk to you and ready to send you a lovely thank-you gift. when you pledge at the $50 level, we're going to send you the program dvd. there is additional footage on this dvd as well. it's a question and answer session with the market guys talking with the audience. the audience are--they're speaking from their heart. they're asking the questions that they are thinking about, and no doubt, they're the things you're thinking about right now. we want to get those answers to you, so please make that pledge of support at the $50 level. if you can pledge $125, we'll send you the take charge kit. this is seven items, including that program dvd with the additional q&a, three other dvds with much more information than we're even, you know, able to have time to cover right now. there is a hardcover book. there is a workbook. and there is a cd with a one-on-one conversation with the market guys. it just doesn't get any better than this. $125 contribution to this public television station, all the information comes to you as our way of saying thanks. so, guys, you're here. >> yes, thank you. >> you could have gone anywhere

with this program. finances, the economy, it's the hot topic all over the television airwaves. why did you come to public television? >> well, camille, it's important to know that we are also supporters of public television. and we want to make sure that our educational content is getting out to the public. it's a very simple and easy process, because all you have to do is make a call. but understand that this plan starts you off with the steps that you need to get started. >> you know, we, as you mentioned a.j., we are supporters of public television. we believe in public television. why? because we're really educators at heart. see, over the almost 50 years of experience that a.j. and i have, our mission has been to educate, has been to bring the message out. and that's what--that's what we really appreciate the opportunity here for. you know, if--when you support this station, you are enabling us to continue bringing this message of empowerment. to take charge of your money now, that's our mission. and we're just terribly pleased to be able to do this through public television. >> so be sure to ask for the

take charge kit when you make your pledge of $125 to this public television station right now. now let's go over to the other side of the studio and talk with our producer bob marty. >> thanks so much, camille. you know, it's so busy here. the phones are just going crazy. so make that call of support right now at that $125 level. we have the take charge kit. look at all those wonderful thank-you gifts. four dvds, here they come at you. four dvds that are gonna get you started on your way to finally, once and for all, taking charge of stop saying, "gosh, there's nothing i can do about it." well, we're providing you the information. the market guys are coming into your home. if you make that call of support right now at that $125 level, we have these wonderful ways of saying thank you. this kit is your way to finally get started on your plan. remember, you need to take charge of your money, because when you're in charge of your money, they're not gonna be picking your pocket. they're not gonna be opening. and we have these wonderful ways

of saying thank you. so please, support this public television station by making that call right now. it's so important that you make that call. public television really, really needs you right now. we're having tough times. just like the rest of the economy, public television's numbers are down, and so the market guys came along and said, "we're willing to help. we're willing to lower those premium cost levels for each and every one of that public television audience so that you, each and every one of you, can have all of this wonderful financial information for your life." so you need to take charge, and what we need you to do is make that call. that's your part. if you make that call of support right now, we're gonna say thank you. how? by sending out the take charge of your money kit. so please, make that call, support this station, enjoy all that wonderful programming all year long. it comes to you from this station. but the most important step is for you to participate. how? by making that call right now. thanks. >> so now, you guys have been working in this field for long

enough that you--like you mentioned--you have almost 50-years experience combined. what have you learned over the years? >> well, we've learned that there's a lot of mistakes to be made. and in order to help our audience, we have to make sure that they're not making the same mistakes that we did. believe me, it becomes very expensive if you continue to make the mistakes, so we point those out to you in a very easy-to-understand kit that includes a cd at the very beginning where rick and i actually sit there and talk to you as though we're holding your hand through the process. it's very, very easy. all you have to do is make that call and take action. >> see, over the years that we've been doing this and the people that we've talked to, we have been able to keep our finger on the pulse of what's of interest to you. who are the enemies? what are the forces at work against you? how do you become a victim, and then how do you avoid becoming a victim? those are the things that we've learned over the years. and what we want you to do is, we want you to support this station, because through supporting this station, as you can see, the $125 donation will get you

a thank-you gift that will identify the enemies. it'll identify the strategies of avoiding becoming a victim. it will give you the information you need in a step-by-step format to truly take charge of your money now. that is our mission to you. >> what is the biggest mistake people make? >> well, the biggest mistake people make is not taking action. if you're sitting there on your couch or your chair and you're watching the show and you love the information but you're not taking the steps to change your life, then i guess what's going to happen is, everything is going to remain the same for you. in order to take that action, all you have to do is make a call, and we will deliver to you a kit that includes the book, the workbook, the cd, the dvds, and it's easy and a step-by-step format that will help you through the process. >> see, one of the things that creates fear in people is that they don't know what steps to take. they may have bits and pieces, or they may have heard some bad information, or they just don't know how to put it all together, and what we've done is, we've really--as we've

said--we've distilled our years of experience. we've brought it down into this kit. we've laid it out into a step-by-step format. in fact, one part of this kit is the workbook. and the workbook is going to allow you to take notes. it's going to allow you to create a plan. for $125 donation to this station--and again, we can't stress this enough. we're great supporters. we are personally supporters. we just simply ask you to make that call, because that's going to put this information in your hands. our mission to you, as we've said, is to enable you to take charge of your finances, which in turn, allow you to take charge of your life. see, it is the first step in not being a victim any longer. >> you heard it right from the market guys. pledge $125 to this public television station. we're going to send you the take charge of your money kit. this is your opportunity to get four dvds, a cd, a book, and a workbook that'll get you you on the way, step-by-step. gonna take all the fear out of this process and make it so easy for you.

you're gonna feel great once you have that success of knowing that everything is in order and that you understand where you are in this crazy economic world that we all find ourselves in right now. and, you know, frankly, there's a lot of fear out there. we want to take that away from you, and we want to make sure that public television is the place where you can go when you want to learn something new, when you want to explore the world, when you want to discover something that will benefit you. well, here you are, and you're learning, and you're watching, so we hope that you'll pledge right now. ask for the take charge now kit at the $125 level. please give us a call. we are waiting to hear from you with your pledge of support, because you're the one who counts. you are the one watching. you're the one who will benefit from all of this terrific information that the market guys have assembled and made possible here. and we are going back to the show, so there's a lot more to be learned, but we want to hear from you with your pledge. the number's there. volunteers are standing by. this is the time. please give us a call. it's so easy to do; thanks.

>> announcer: welcome back to take charge of your money now! with the market guys. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. >> okay, what we've talked about so far are some simple things that you can do just to get started if you want to take charge of your money now. we talked about creating a plan. we talked about seeing where you are. you got to know where you are before you know where you're going to go. we talked about holding yourself accountable by telling somebody what you want to accomplish in putting together this plan for your money. what we want to do right now is talk to you a little bit about something that is critically, critically important in all areas of your finance, and that's making sure that when something does go against you that it doesn't wipe you out. let me ask you a question. how many bad investments,

how many bad decisions with your money does it take to put a real hurt on yourself? >> one. >> that's it. it only takes one. if you have one really bad investment, one really bad decision with your money, that one decision can wipe out accumulation of years, even. you know, they say that great investors watch their losses. poor investors watch their profits. are you paying more attention to your profits instead of your losses? well, we want you to follow both, but we want you to pay particular attention to making sure that if something goes against you, you don't get hurt. now, a.j., you have a story of a lady that we worked with one time who decided to buy some stock. >> again, a true story and why we are emphasizing the importance of a plan. if we were getting ready to take a long trip across country and we've never done this trip before, wouldn't it be wise to get a map out first

to at least know what direction you're heading, and if you veer off course, you know how to get back onto course? that is a plan. now, unfortunately for this one woman who we worked with, her plan was not only not there, but it was no backup system in place to really take care of-- of her situation. now, here's what happened. her name was diane, and unfortunately, she lost her husband and was really in a very tough situation where she had to take care of her finances. so after she had paid off her house and the mortgage with the life insurance policy, she decided to take $200,000 and jump into the stock market. now, knowing very little about the stock market, she knew one thing. there was this one particular drink that she liked called yoo-hoo, that chocolate drink. okay, well, she decided to take

$200,000 and put it into yoo-hoo. >> [laughs] >> really. and, unfortunately--well, fortunately, unfortunately, her broker took an order to buy yahoo! who said that? yahoo! now, again, true story. $200,000 turned into $26 million. >> how's that for an accident?>. >> now, you might be really impressed with that, but the second half of the story is, diane decided to go on a world cruise with her now great fortune and live it up a little bit. so she went off on this very long cruise and, traveling around in her cruise liner, actually did not put a plan in place to have anyone watch over this money while she was gone. well, to shorten the story a little bit, what happened later is that she had $26 million turn into $11 million. now, you--

would you still be happy? all right, $200,000 to $11 million. okay, but--but from not having a plan, she took that $11 million and put it into real estate in a leveraged transaction where she bought property in south florida. and as it turned out, the real estate market at the time dropped, and she lost everything. >> oh, my god. >> and, you know, it was very hard to deal with this because not only is she suffering the loss of her husband, but now she's suffering a financial loss that's put her in a very tough situation and, again, something no one would really want to have to go through. >> so here's something we want you to do next. every time you make an investment, every time you commit your money to something, always know what your exit plan is before you get into it. i say before you get into it because if you wait until after you get into it, right here's gonna take charge.

your emotions are gonna start twisting your decision on what you should do or what you shouldn't do. you have to have an exit plan. so here's how you can start. take a look at your bank statement. take a look at your savings account. take a look at your 529 plan. take a look at wherever it is that you have your money. in fact, even take a look at things like real estate holdings and ask yourself this question. "do i know where i would sell this investment if it started to lose money for me?" now, you've probably never thought of that before. a.j., i would venture to say that most people have probably not even considered that question. but it's a crucial question. >> so our first step is to calculate what your net worth is. if your liabilities, in other words, your debt, is higher than the cash or assets that you have in your particular account, then you need to balance this equation out. and we're going to give you some other steps. but to manage the risk, we actually have a rule. so once you've found what your

net worth is, we have what's called the 10% rule. i'll write this on the board here for you. 10% rule basically says, when i am investing or when i am planning, should i lose more or at least at 10%, if i lose 10% or more, i need to take action to stop those losses. now, on the break, we had a couple of people talk about how their retirement plan has dropped by 30 and maybe even more percent. so this would be a time for you to reestablish a ground rule here to be able to manage that-- that loss. >> so here's the rule for you. just look at it as a water level. we talked earlier about setting a baseline, knowing where you're starting. set that baseline for your net worth. understand where you are. and then if that drops by 10%, that's your warning flag. now, what can you do at that point? well, you have to take action, because, again, if you don't do something, your net worth is

dropping, that means that your debts are getting greater, your expenses are probably getting greater. and if you don't do anything, where does that eventually lead? >> the poorhouse. >> exactly, yes, the poorhouse. i like that word. that's exactly right. it leads to you losing control and not being in charge of your money. and that's where stress starts to come in. that's where you start to lose confidence. now, there's a couple ways that you can impact your income, how you can feed your net worth. you know, if you want to make more money, you could work smarter, you could work harder, or you could work longer. so this is a way that you can start feeding into your net worth a little bit more. but there's many different components to this. there's your debts. there's your spending. there's maybe just the way that you use the credit cards or don't save or--ready for this? maybe you're saving in one hand and getting 5% and spending in another hand and spending 20%. start to see how the water level drops at that point and you

can't keep that up? >> you know, rick said something that's very important. would you rather work harder or longer, or would you rather work smarter? >> all: smarter. >> see, what's happening here, again, for most people who are trying to manage their finances, they're taking a unit of time, and they're trying to exchange that unit of time for a unit of money, right? now, how many hours do you have in a day? well, if you're exchanging that unit of money and--for your time, you're basically capping your ability to make money. so you have to work smarter and think of ways that you can leverage yourself without increasing the risk component. >> so what's the next rule? well, how about this? don't throw good money after bad. do you pay just the minimum balance on your credit cards? >> all: no. >> no, but if you do, what are you doing? you're feeding this fire that's eventually gonna burn your finances and burn your ability to take control of yourself.

>> we had the credit card companies offering zero interest to get you to go out there and spend. now, think about this for a second. are they really doing you a favor? are they--are they helping your financial plan? or are they just trying to really pad their own pockets to get you to spend more to pay more interest so that you put yourself in, "okay, now i can only make the minimum payment to get by"? and then as that pressure mounts, you start to feel this-- this sense of guilt that, "oh, i've done the wrong thing." and now you're faced with possibly having to file bankruptcy. >> so match up what you're paying out with what you're getting in. think about this. are you contributing to a savings plan and you're paying $100 a month into that savings plan and that may be getting you 3%, maybe 5%, in a good market, what, 8%, 9%? and then you look over here in your left hand, and you're paying a high balance on a car loan.

you're paying a high balance on a credit card. you have another unsecured loan out there. again, remember, we talked about that water level, your net worth. you have to make sure that you're staying afloat. now, it's important that as you go through this journey with your finances that you commit yourself to education all along the way. >> absolutely. one of the reasons we are with public television is for that very reason. you have seen it over and over again. public television has more or less cornered the educational side of what we talk about. and that's where we belong. and if you're taking time-- 15 minutes a day is not that much time. >> you know, a lot of people actually quit learning when they leave school, and that's a shame. you should be using this as an opportunity to get back into learning. it's gonna open your mind up. it's gonna reinvigorate you. it's going to change your life, because this is an area where every new bit of information that you learn is going to give

you more control over your money. >> don't let your money take charge of you. take charge of your money. [applause] >> you know what your biggest challenge in managing risk and taking charge of your money right now is? you know what it is? it's not--it's not your head. it's your heart. it's not what you know. it's what you feel. it's not, "do i know enough, and am i smart enough?" it's, are you disciplined enough to take charge of your emotions? because the fact of the matter is, we are made in such a way that if we are left to our own devices, we will do less than smart things with our money. >> they'll do stupid things with their money. let's face it. >> i wasn't gonna quite say stupid things. we're not gonna do smart things with our money because we are feelers when it comes to money. we feel how we should do something. i mean, think about it. pick anything that you have

bought. pick any investment, whether it's a-- how many of you have gone in to buy a new car and you have not gone through the performance reports and the miles-per-gallon reports and, "does this car hold its salvage value?" you walk in and go, "whoo, cool color." [laughter] >> or, "what's a monthly payment going to be? is it in my budget?" >> is my--yes, not, "how much is this going to cost me as part of my plan?" >> is there value? >> so recognize that your emotions are actually your enemy when it comes to taking charge of your money. and that is why the plan is so critical. >> now, we've found, again, through meeting people all over the world that many people are challenged with the word "budget." in fact, another thing that's not taught enough in a lot of the schools, how do i put a budget together? how can i make a statement that gives me a snapshot of where i am in my world here and making sure that i have everything accounted for? now, rick, i think this might be a good time to show basic ideas on how to create a budget. >> you know, a budget's really

nothing more than a scorecard. and if you know what the score is, you know how to change the score. so instead of going through all kinds of complicated, rigorous exercises about where you should be, let's just look at where you are. and here's what we want to do. we want to just draw a line down the middle, and we want to have our income and our expenses. this is nothing more than a list. and you list all the sources of your income, whether it be interest, whether it be salaries, whether it be bake sales. anything that you can list as income, that's gonna be this side of the budget. over here, this is where we want you to just categorize your expenses-- not what you should be doing, what you are right now. and what you'll find is, as you go through this list, you may see that there's one area-- i don't know what it is. eating out at restaurants: "wow, i never knew i ate out that much." and all of a sudden, by knowing where you are, you can start making those changes that you want to make. >> now, the other side applies

if your income starts to slip and now the income side of this sheet is starting to outweigh the expenses. you have to make an adjustment. again, one of the biggest mistakes americans make is with that piece of plastic that we call credit. they are into this instant gratification where i'm going to buy now and pay later. but if you're not smart in keeping that accountable and keeping yourself accountable to your budget, that could easily get out of control. so make sure that is one of the action steps that you take. >> you know, we are inclined to minimizing our gains and maximizing our losses. have you ever found yourself in that situation? you have a little bit of profit, you want to put in your pocket. you have a loss, and what do you want to do? you don't want to admit that you're wrong. and so you say, "well, i'll hold on to it a little bit longer." and you don't want to admit that you're wrong. and you hold on to it a little bit longer. and there comes a point in time when you say, "i can't afford to get rid of it now, whether it's that car, that piece of real estate, that stock investment." and now what's happened?

you've taken that little bit of profit, put it in your pocket, but this big loss is just weighing on you. a.j. said your money has taken control of you at that point in time. and, you know, the media reports, the news reports, the hype that we talked about, that's actually designed to play on your emotions. so what we want you to do is trust yourself more than you trust the hype that's out there. here's an action step for you. do you find yourself addicted to that information? do you find yourself, whatever's going on in your savings account, the first thing that you do is, you turn on the news reports and you listen, "how did the market do today?" you take a look--maybe you have real estate, so what do you do? you get on the computer, and you say, "okay, what's--what are real estate prices doing? what are--what's this do? what's happening? what's happening? what's happening? >> and you're starting to listen to all the advisors that are on there who want you to believe that they know where things and prices are going. no one has the ability to predict the future. please understand that. and their reputations might be

on the line, but it's your money that's on the line when you listen to those experts. so take control of your own plan, and then step by step, you could measure your goals against your plan and be able to, again, move forward and not backwards. >> so think about this now. you're learning the language. you've got a spot where you know ahead of time that if things start to move against you, you know where the exit door is. see, one of the things that creates fear for us is uncertainty. we buy something, we invest in something, we do something with our money, and we really don't know where the exit door is. that's uncertainty, and that creates fear. so know what your exit plan is. that's part of your plan. that's part of what you've committed to holding yourself accountable to. learn the language of the markets. know where you are, and know how it's changing for you. see what's starting to happen now? you're starting to understand

how the markets work. you're starting to put those guidelines in place. and now you can start to take action, because you're empowering yourself to make decisions that you've probably left for somebody else either actively or by default. when you take control of those decisions, you take charge of your money. and you know what? you can do it right now. [applause] >> when we come back, we'll show you that money has a purpose and how to grow your wealth 5% a year even in turbulent times. >> but first, we want you to make a generous contribution to this station and celebrate what they do for your life all year. and they've got some terrific ways to say thanks and help you take charge of your money now. >> both: thanks. >> hello, i'm camille dixon with rick and a.j. here in the studio, and we're gonna be talking to them once again here.

but first, we need to give you the chance to go to the phone and make your pledge of support. that's why we're here. you're enjoying the show. you're learning something. you're benefiting already from the information that's been presented. so rush to the phone and make your pledge to this public television station. so thank you for this program being on the air. the first level to go to is a $50 level. if you've never made a pledge before, this is a great place to start. if that feels comfy for you, pledge that $50. we'll send you the program dvd. it also includes additional footage with a q&a session with the market guys. the people in the audience ask the questions that were on their mind. chances are, they're gonna be on your mind too. so let us know that you appreciate this program with your pledge of support. if you can go to the $125 level, we have the take charge kit: seven items that will help you get everything under control when it comes to your financial life. we have the program dvd with the additional footage. we have three more dvds with a whole range of subjects we didn't even get time to cover in the program. we have a hardcover book.

there is a workbook and a cd with a one-on-one conversation with the market guys to help guide you through the process step-by-step. and they're here in the studio, and we're so glad to have you guys here. this is just fantastic. you know, but one of the things that is bothering people most right now is the bad advice that they're getting. what do we do with this bad advice? how do we avoid it? what do we do? how do we recover? >> well, you know, now you've touched on a sore spot, because there's a lot of bad advice going on, and we're seeing a lot of people become victims because of their lack of understanding of the financial markets. one of the things you have to understand--and this really comes from the history books. you go back, and you know about the crash of '29. you've heard about the great depression. but understand this. even during the great depression, there were people who created great wealth for themselves because they were able to follow the money trail. this is very, very important, because right now, we are in an economic crisis. there's no doubt about it. unemployment numbers are going up. we hear about policy in

washington changing the way our tax structure is, and as a result of that, people are becoming confused. so what we do is, we take all this information; we put it in the kit so that you have a way to be able to get this information. make that call right now and you'll be able to understand how money flow works. remember this: with every crisis, there is often opportunity right around the corner, but you have to be bold enough to be able to take charge right now and make that call and take action for yourself. otherwise you remain a victim, and the institutions take advantage of you. you get pushed around by higher taxes, and it becomes very difficult. >> you know, one of the things that we talked about just in that segment was that you have to trust yourself more than trusting the hype. you know, for bad advice, there is no lack of hype out there. i'm telling you, you could watch--you could watch programs, you could read books, you can run through the commercials late at night, and you're gonna find hype, hype, hype.

and what we want you to do is, we want you to get passed the hype, and the way you do that, the only way you're gonna get this information is to make the call. for $125, we're gonna send you a gift. and that gift is going to include the information that we just talked about. but how do you get passed the bad advice? for a donation of $125, the education that we've brought together in this is--as we mentioned before, it's from our 50 years of experience, but it's not 50 years of experience that's tough to use. it's something that you can put to work for you right now. it's very easy to use. it's sequential. it's step by step by step. and you'll find that when you just open up the first book, you're going to be able to have something you can put to use right away, and you're gonna be able to take charge of your money. so make that call right now. what we want to say is, don't be a victim any longer. >> this is your opportunity right now to go to the phone, make a pledge of support. at the $125 level, get the take charge now kit,

and we'll send you seven items that will help you get you on your way to get everything taken care of. can you imagine how nice it would be to be able to sleep at night and not worry about these things? this kit will help get you there. this is a wonderful opportunity for you, because as you know, when we offer big packages like this that offer complete sets of information, normally on public television, that's gonna go for about $365. but the producers of this program and the market guys have generously priced this down to $125 contribution to make sure that you get to benefit from some really timely information. that's why we need to hear from you right now with your pledge of support. we know that times are tough. we know that things are difficult. they're difficult on this side of the fence as well for public television. that's why that $125 contribution will go so far, and it will help you as well. so it's a win-win. we hope to hear from you right now with your pledge of support. make the phone call. the number is right there on your screen; the volunteers are standing by. you're learning something new, so it's the perfect time to hear from you with your pledge of support. we're gonna go to the other side

of the studio and check in with the show's producer, bob marty. >> thanks so much, camille. you know, we need to be in charge of our money. there's nothing like that. you know, think about opening that statement and seeing all those commissions that you don't know why they got paid that money. well, you know, if you make that call of support right now at that $125 level, we'll send this wonderful take charge kit out to you. you know, public television is in trouble right now, and we need your support. you know, we've lowered the cost of this thanks to rick and a.j. and the market guys, and they said, you know, "we want to help public television. we want to bring value to those viewers, because we believe in the mission of public television. we believe in the mission of educating folks about their life, about their financial life, because there's too many folks out there who want to separate you from your money." so we're asking you to make that call of support, and you're doing a couple of things. you're going to get these wonderful, wonderful thank-you gifts; i can barely hold them, and what you're going to be doing is supporting this wonderful public television station and all its great

programming year round. so whether you're a fan of newshour or you've got your grandkids watching sesame street, we need your support. we need your support more than ever right now. when we say viewers like you, we really mean that. it's only with your support that we can go out and find those programs. i've been producing public television specials for almost 20 years, and the market guys are bringing unique special information at this $125 level. this is a very, very, very special gift level for you. the value of this is amazing. and you're gonna be able to get in charge of your money if you make that call of support right now. so lookit; there's the number right on your screen. look at all those wonderful thank-you gifts: four dvds, two books, and a cd that's gonna get you started. but what you need to do to get started, take action, is-- what do you do? make that call. that's right. make that call and support this station, and we'll say thank you by sending you this wonderful, wonderful kit. so please, make that call right now. >> thanks, bob. you know, guys, most people

in our audience are over the age of 50. can this still apply to someone over the age of 50 who's maybe looking toward retirement and maybe has made a few mistakes? >> absolutely, this can apply to anyone at any age group. it doesn't matter what kind of experience you have. it doesn't matter where you have learned your information or got your information from. one of the biggest things that we've seen is that there is no form of education, at the formal level, to teach people about managing their finances. if anything else, we're learning from the media. we're learning from the so-called experts. and what we've done is, we have created, basically, a mission to go out there and touch the lives of everyone in our audience. and that begins with public television. with your help, we can continue doing this. all you have to do is make the call. as bob had mentioned, this kit for $125 is a-- basically a compellation of all the things that we've learned and accumulated over the years in our 50 years of experience. and we feel very comfortable

with that. for $125, that's a great value. >> you know, i mentioned the fact that we get lots of stories; we get emails; we get calls from people all the time, and just in the last week, i received an email from a gentleman who's 78 years old. he's concerned about he and his wife outliving their retirement account. and he asked almost the exact same question: is this something that i could put to work for me, or is it--really, is too late for me? that's really the gist of his question, and the answer is, unequivocally, you can take charge of your money at any age. see, in this kit, what we've put together is, we put together our strategy, our lessons, from wall street, what the professionals know that you should know. and for your donation of $125, when you make the call right now, we're going to have this information all contained in here. what's the format? well, it's a book. it's a workbook. it's dvds that you can watch. it's a cd that you can listen to. so please, make the call, support this station.

and we're going to thank you each step of the way. >> the market guys have brought some fantastic information for you right here, right now, so that you can benefit and you can sleep at night. we want for you to be able to feel good about where you are and feel good about your life. the way to do that is to take charge and take charge of your money. go to the phone, make a pledge of support, get the ball rolling, get the volunteers all lined up with all the information, and we'll get this information to you as quickly as possible. the number is right there on your screen. the process is very simple, and you're gonna feel great once you are on the road to knowing where you are, where you're going, and to know that everything's gonna be all right. we have the program dvd, three additional dvds, a cd, a workbook, a hardcover book. it just doesn't get any better than that, so please, make the call. >> announcer: welcome back to take charge of your money now! with the market guys. [applause] >> thank you once again.

thank you. >> okay, we just finished talking about one of the most important parts of taking charge of your money right now, and that's making sure that when you lose, you just lose a little bit, because that lets us stay in for all the growth that we're going to be after. see, you want to keep yourself disciplined. you want to have a plan. you want to have life-long education. and this all wraps up together to give you what you need to be empowered to take charge of your money. you know, a.j., our mission really was born out of the fact that over many years and many miles, we have seen the way-- let's face it--the way professionals will take advantage of you or not have your best interests in mind. >> well, i think that's actually a point of confusion for a lot of people. they have not identified who the enemy is. let's talk about this. again, if we're talking about the game of chess, we know who our opponent is, right? they're sitting right across from the game table.

but in the world of finances, who's your friend, and who's your foe, really? understanding who that enemy is is gonna help you put a better plan together. >> you know, a.j., some of the worst offenders of this. how about--have you ever seen this advertised: "six months same as cash"? you've seen that, haven't you? what is that saying? "gratify yourself now. pay later." is that a good financial plan? >> "go buy your furniture, and you don't have to pay us till next year." have you heard that one? you know, "we will give you a rebate if you buy this car." well, it makes it sound like you're getting money from the company, not going into debt. who's the real enemy? >> you know what? they're counting on you not paying that off. stop and think about that for a second. you are working hard. you're trying to take control over your money. you're trying to do your best. and from every angle, you've got these little mosquitoes coming at you, telling you, "don't do that. don't do that. don't do that. pay interest. it's okay. just go ahead and get that new furniture set right now, and

don't worry about it until later." they know full well that by the time you should be worrying about it, you probably won't have the money. >> you buy stock in a company. it's a big company. is the ceo gonna cl you up and say, "thank you"? it doesn't happen. they're gonna walk off their corporate jets and ask you for money to help bail them out when they're wrong. that's a situation we see a lot of. i've seen analysts actually make buy recommendations--going out to the general public, getting you to buy when they're actually selling at the same time that the words are leaving their lips to buy. now, you know, there's going to be a big debate as to if that's legal or not. whether it's legal or not, i'm gonna tell you, i believe-- these are my-- this is my opinion. i believe it's immoral that someone's going to make a buy recommendation to you to get you to take their risk only to leave you hanging when the prices start to drop. now, this is what we're talking about as far as allowing you to take charge of your money. be smart, know what's

happening around you, and then take action. >> you know what? i actually heard on the news a congressman, a u.s. congressman being interviewed. and the interviewer said, "when does this stop with our money?" and his response was, "it's not your money." >> true story. >> true story. now, wait a second. ask yourself, "tax money, is that your money?" >> all: yes. >> and we need to take control. otherwise, these are issues that are gonna continue to make you the victim and not ever bring you to a solution in problems like this. >> you know, really, money, finances gets to the heart of who we are. let me just throw a couple of these things out here for you. do you know what the number one cause of divorce in the united states is? money. number one reason couples argue, number one reason they get divorced: money. do you know that since 1990, debt has risen seven times faster than savings? i have a friend who ministers to people in the area of finance. and he actually told me that