Stuart Fleming - Teens and Money

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of interviewing Stuart Fleming – the guy who teaches your kids how to handle their money. Enthusiastic as a cat with a goldfish bowl, he’s on a mission to turn your teen into an independent, money-respecting, success-creating individual. And how does he do it? I wanted to know the answer to this very question.

“I’m like a kid in a candy store” Stuart tells me. Whilst I’m wondering how this translates into a message that encourages young people on how to handle their money, it’s not long before Stuart’s infectious enthusiasm for teen independence brings a whole new level of clarity to our discussion.

He tells me about his uncanny ability to see the potential in every young person or situation. And you can see why. His years of experience with the National Scout Association have been a fabulous opportunity for connecting with young people and discovering how to help them realise their potential. In particular, Stuart’s ability to get teens thinking about money management means that they have the solid foundation in life to enable them to chase their dreams and not the dollar.

Stuart has built a wealth of life experience building up a toolkit of interpersonal and communication skills, and particularly refining his personal formula of how to manage money in a modern world. He recommends that positive wealth habits are encouraged early, and he’s just the one for the job. His natural curiosity and zest for life (like being a kid in a candy store) gives him the edge to share his message effectively to where it is most needed.

Stuart doesn’t just support young people in New Zealand. Having launched a CD set on helping parents to help their children, a portion of each sale provides school supplies for an underprivileged child in Peru. His ability to make a difference on a global level is thanks to Buy1Give1; a simple system that matches inspired businesses with worthy causes – making sure that every cent goes directly to where it is needed.

So what one thing should parents be doing to support their children to become independent? Stuart asks us to ponder the question: “What are you doing that they could be doing for themselves?”

Find our more about Stuart at http://moneymindsetmob.com/

Trust Yourself

I was recently asked how it was that I knew to sell my property portfolio in the UK at the beginning of 2006, why I sold all my stocks in favor of gold and silver, and why I am convinced now that the recent actions by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are likely to fail and will affect not only Americans but people all over the globe.

How did I get it right, when so many others missed it entirely? Well, I do keep an eagle eye on world markets, property prices, stock movements, currency exchange rates and commodities and I use a lot of “left-brain” analysis to draw some of my conclusions. However, this is not the only method that I employ. In addition, I utilise my “right-brain” intuitive abilities to see whether the actions of the authorities actually “feel right.” With all my financial decisions, I look at the issues from a completely rational point of view and then I draw on my instinctive and more emotional impulses to create a full picture of the situation.

If something “feels wrong” no matter how wonderful the deal may look – and I have been offered many “fabulous deals” – I would not get involved if my antennae were telling me that something was not quite right.

Here were a few of the early warning signs that made me feel uncomfortable and begin to question the decisions of the powers that be:

•  I couldn’t make sense of how nations could consume beyond their means indefinitely.
•  It didn’t make sense to me how a system that is based on a continual expansion of credit would make an easy transition to a no-growth or contracting environment.
• As a mortgage broker and financial consultant at the time, I could not see how people who were making less than $30k per year or who were even unemployed were given loans by the banks to purchase $500k houses with no money down and have any hope of every paying them back. Banks were becoming more and more irresponsible with their lending and there had to be.
• Consequences to these actions in the medium to long term It did not seem possible that money could continue to expand faster than the economy in the long term

We are now moving into a period where many leaders and the media are hyping up the possibility that the economic crisis will soon be behind us and I would like to show you how you can programme yourself to listen very carefully to your own inner voice, even if you cannot articulate what is wrong – it’s very important to start to learn to trust your own instincts when a story just doesn’t add up. This will be happening more and more and it is up to you to start thinking and feeling for yourself. For too long now, we have been programmed to listen and trust our governments, our health service, our banks, our treasurers and the media instead of our own inner voices.

There were many investors involved with Bernard Madoff who recently said that they had suspicions and concerns over the years about the steadiness of Madoff’s returns. Yet, despite those worries, they kept their money with him. If they had trusted themselves and decided to move their money to an institution where they did not have these gut-level concerns, they would probably be in much better shape right now.

Here are a few major issues that do not add up at the moment that I am focusing on:

•  how is it possible for a nation that is insolvent to borrow money from a financial system that is also insolvent to bail out insolvent financial institutions?

Does this make any sense to you at all? Until I can gain an appreciation for how we can borrow our way out of this mess, I will maintain a very protective stance on my finances and assets. I am very doubtful about the overall solvency of all our financial institutions and therefore I strongly resist any advice to go ahead and buy stocks because they are “very cheap” right now and they “always go up in the long run.” If you are hearing this kind of advice from your professional advisors or friends and family, ask them how it will be possible for nations that are already insolvent to continue borrowing money from a financial system that is also insolvent to bail out insolvent financial institutions?

• how are we going to return to a renewed period of economic growth based upon more consumption when baby boomers ( the wealthiest people in the economy) have seen their two primary forms of wealth – stocks and property – fail in the same decade?

Growth requires consumers to spend more money on more things, but older people generally down-scale their lives, cut back on their spending, pay down their debts and add to their savings.

I hear many commentators already calling for a bottom and searching for signs that a recovery in consumer spending is happening. The danger here is failing to appreciate the extent to which our recent excesses were simply over the top and are very unlikely to be repeated any time soon. The banks have far from declared all the liabilities on their balance sheets so there will likely be another huge wave of defaults that will require even more bailout funds.
In the US right now, the Fed is now “monetising debt” – i.e. printing money, and runs the very real risk of a massive devaluation of the US dollar. Of course, I would strongly suspect that this is actually the goal of the Fed, although they will not come right out and say that. Competitive currency devaluations have been a feature of every global financial crisis and are the preferred way of relieving the strains built up by the past periods of excess.

What should you do about this? Trust yourself, and take actions accordingly. Take responsibility for your actions by educating yourself well about issues that you do not fully understand, and do not trust or assume that the authorities know better than you do. Listen to your instincts, act on what you know to be true, and steer clear of the things that don’t make sense to you. Most of all listen to that “inner voice” for it is usually spot on.

Good luck.

The World Economy & What You Can Do

Here are my thoughts for the future economy:

There will be major changes in the phone companies – not necessarily for the better – they will try to streamline things and will eliminate a lot of the things that were working.

The government needs to have more control over the monies that are being used for bailouts. There must be much more accountability. For example, AIG have been given $180bn in bailout funds but what have they done with all the money?

There will be much unrest in the oil industry. Oil wells will get blown up, watch out for wildcat strikes, explosions and arson. There will be major changes in the oil industry – some will be at the pump and some in production, but we will all feel it.

There will be an increase in violent crimes.

Food will become scarcer and there will have to be more government programmes for the destitute. In the US we will see more tent cities.

There will be more natural disasters than ever before in the history of the world.

There will be an increase in infant mortality with more homeless and more orphans globally.

People will do a lot less travelling and as a consequence, the airlines will hurt a lot more.

The ones who will suffer most will be importers and exporters of produce eg. meats, fish. Getting stuff to market will be harder and transporting perishables across great distances will become too costly.

The clothing industry will take a severe cut.

Millions more will be unemployed.

On the plus side (at last!)

Education will go up a notch

Health care coverage will go up a lot

Insurance companies will be held more accountable and so will hospitals.

For the first time in years, people will hold onto their money rather than spend it.

Insurance companies will have to provide more coverage for less money.

With the policies that the governments around the world are implementing, I think there could be at least 10-15 years of hardship ahead of us.

Here are some tips:
Get your health sorted out NOW. Get anything fixed up that needs to be dealt with while we still have access to medical and dental care.

Consolidate and pay off your debts.

Choose a career that is more likely to grow and think about starting to train for it now: for example, technology, sustainable living, local food production, teaching others how to be sustainable, community connections and networking.

Get you car fixed up and keep it well-maintained.

Consider developing a small tract of land where you could grow vegetables, chickens and where you would at least have food to live on.

New Zealand

As far as New Zealand is concerned, although the banks are not stable and there will be economic hardship as in the rest of the world. There is one big difference: New Zealand can be self-sufficient. We do have resources, fishing, hunting, livestock, arable land and if necessary we could all live well in this country. We are in a very fortunate position and hopefully in the months and years to come we will work together in closely-knit supportive communities to help one another grow and flourish.

Venus goes Direct - what does this fortell?

Venus went retrograde on March 6th at on that day, the Dow Jones Index hit its lowest point in 12 years at 6470. During the entire Venus retrograde period, the Dow Jones has rallied, at no point being close to the low it was at on March 6th. What remains to be seen is if there is a fall now that Venus went direct on April 17th. Will Financial Astrology predict this accurately?

If we examine the rallies since the big crash in September 2008, most have lasted about 6-7 weeks and have rallied between 1640 and 1770 points. This current rally has lasted 6 weeks and has gained 1720 points. So it is very much looking like we will see a reverse trend in the weeks to come. However, as with everything in astrology, nothing can be taken in isolation. It is vital to synthesise the activities of all the planets and see the bigger picture.

So what else is going on?
With Jupiter fast approaching its conjunction with Neptune in late May through mid-July, there is a strong possibility that we will see further optimism and more rallies in the stock markets. This aspect normally brings optimism and faith in the future and may well bring more investors into the market, thus causing an upswing.

There are two important ingresses this week: Mars enters Aries on April 22nd and Venus also enters Aries on April 24th. Aries is a cardinal sign and this would suggest that there will be changes in policy from central banks around the world. Venus is also squaring Pluto from April 3rd to May 2nd and this could result in yet another large company - probably a bank or a car company - being taken over by the US government.

Whilst there could be some temporary good news on the horizon, there are other factors that do not support this optimism. With the 20 month opposition we are currently in with Saturn in Virgo opposite Uranus in Pisces - expect more job losses, more unexpected crises, more banks failing, more companies being taken over by governments around the world.

The challenge with this opposition is to find the right balance between more regulation to wipe out dishonest business practices, with policies that reward innovation leading to new jobs and economic growth. With Saturn coming up to the third of its five oppositions to Uranus on September 15th 2009, followed by the first of three Saturn-Pluto squares beginning November 15th 2009, I seriously think that the aspects indicate that we will be in for more economic challenges in the weeks and months ahead.

The End of Depression?

We keep on hearing from the experts around the world that maybe this crisis is nearly over. We are coming through it. They will quote all kinds of dodgy information such as the fact that Wells Fargo posted huge gains this quarter, far above analyst’s estimates….that Intel announced larger than expected profits today…that unemployment is falling…
I would suggest that you take it all with a pinch of salt. How can this crisis be over when there is still an unknown figure of toxic assets that are still sitting on banks’ balance sheets. It has been said that JP Morgan alone has derivatives of over $90 TRILLION on its books! So the G20 figure of $5 trillion stimulus over two years pales into insignificance.

Look around you and see that this is far from over and it is time for us to start thinking for ourselves, to start taking responsibility for what we believe and see. It’s time to kick the junk-news habit, listening to the “powers that be” and to start questioning all around us. At least with the internet there is a plethora of opinion, news and information out there - the new revolution is for us to THINK and to join up with like-minded people. It’s time to make the decision that we are unwilling to be controlled any more. The systems have let us all down badly and it is time for a new world order.

The job losses are the worst since the Depression, credit cards and imploding, the housing market has not bottomed, governments will collapse, there will be a devaluing of all currencies, more hate groups will emerge, more crimes, more vandalism, protests will intensify, religiosity will rise, markets will fall further……….

Yes, it does not sound good, but isn’t it better to be aware and to prepare, rather than being shocked and have the rug taken away from you?

What can you do:

• Consider buying gold and silver
• Reduce your standard of living voluntarily before it is done for you
• Don’t buy everything you want - only buy what you need
• Don’t dream about getting rich- dream about covering your needs and being at peace with your neighbours
• Do something nice for at least one person every day
• This is the start to creating a new world - one that we will enjoy living in and feel safe and secure

Survive the Financial Crisis and 2012

An Interview with Barbara Goldsmith

Barbara Goldsmith (M.B.A., CeFA, CeMAP, Cergi) is an Astrologer and a qualified professional Financial Advisor who works with clients all over the world. Her combination of skills, knowledge, experience and passion makes her an extremely attractive person to interview and I was delighted that Barbara took me up on the invitation.

In order to preserve the integrity of her message, I have chosen to present it as a transcript of our conversation.

Welcome Barbara. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. I’ve read about you on your websites, but tell us about what you ‘do’.

I’ve been doing Astrology for the last thirty years. I had my first reading when I was 19 and then went on to study it in detail. I run workshops; I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of readings and have recently written a book about Astrology. I’ve got another three books I’m working on at the moment.

What attracted you to Astrology?

Astrology for me has the scientific bent as well as the artistic side, so it really stretches me. I needed to understand mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, psychology and the planets. It brings together so many different disciplines. Astrology can be studied on so many different levels: medical astrological, financial, relationship, mundane- which is looking at world events and what’s happening now. Cycles very often repeat themselves and Astrology can help us be a little bit more prepared in our personal and global lives and prepare for what’s really coming ahead.

You’re a qualified financial advisor – to what extent does this merge with Astrology?

The financial part started about 10-12 years ago when I had my own property investment and financial business in London. It was successful and I undertook all of my financial exams: my financial advisors, mortgages etc and got all the qualifications I thought I needed to drive people, including studying stock markets. I’m fascinated by everything to do with finance and how to help people avoid it ruling their lives. So we’re not a slave to finance but we can be the master of our finance both on a personal and a global level.

I can do astrological finance, which combines the two disciplines, so I’m accomplished at helping people on an astrological basis in a financial way. My other hat is being purely a financial and business advisor and very much keeping my eye on what’s happening around the world. I help to protect people’s wealth and also advise people who don’t have so much finance as to what they can do, so the global financial change isn’t a whole doom and gloom thing for the planet. It doesn’t have to be that way – that’s how I see it anyway.

How are finding the take-up of Astrology in business? Are there many businesses using Astrology to inform their business?

It depends where you are and who you talk to. Very small businesses certainly have an interest, particularly in the UK. There seems less resistance there and in the US and Canada. With regards to large Corporates’ using astrology, I wouldn’t know as that isn’t my area of focus.

From a global perspective, let’s talk about the financial crisis. From an astrological perspective, can you see why and how this is happening?

Absolutely. Most definitely 100%. We had Pluto in Sagittarius for the last 13-14 years. Pluto was only founded in 1930 so it hasn’t done its full orbit yet. It will take 250 years to do its full orbit right around the sun so we’ve only had certain cycles so far. However, this planet is very significant to do with global events. It’s the slowest moving planet in our solar system that we are aware of. Because of that it tends to have a global effect. Planets like Mars and Venus affect us more personally.

Looking at Global Astrology, this is the time the atom split, we realised we had the power to destroy ourselves if this energy was not used in a productive way. Pluto is the planet that can utterly destroy, to build anew. In the last 13 years we’ve had Pluto in the sign of Sagittarius. Sagittarius is very much the energy of going over the top, of over-doing everything, of putting rose-tinted glasses on and saying “everything is just fine” and creating all of these bubbles: the housing bubble, the real estate bubble the debt bubble – all of these various bubbles have been created during the reign of Pluto in Sagittarius.

November 26th last year (2008) everything changed. The vibration changed when Pluto moved into Capricorn. The vibration of the energies of these planets always happen a few months before they actually move into the sign, so the whole banking system worldwide around September 15th was a significant date in Astrology. This was when the whole world banking system was in danger of utter collapse. Astrologically, for the next 16 years until 2024 we are in a period where integrity comes to the fore. For example: what has happened with Bernard Madoff – all things that have been sick have to come out to the surface and honesty and integrity have to prevail.

This period is about pulling your horns in – no more extravagance, no more mad debt, becoming more self sufficient. We’re coming to this age now where we’ve also got an interesting configuration of two planets. For the last year Saturn has been opposite Uranus. Saturn is currently in Virgo, opposite Uranus in Pisces. This is two extremely different energies.  Saturn is about government, world business, banking, structure of our world economy, and of our governments in general. This energy is about how the world is run. Opposite that we’ve got the planet Uranus. Uranus is all about change and everything to do with revolution, the new, bringing in humanitarianism, everything to do with your life design system. All of these things that you’re doing (The Life Academy of New Zealand) is about the planet Uranus which is ruled by the sign Aquarius – which is everything about bring fairness and a sense of community to our world.

Uranus tends to do it in shocking ways. In ways that are so different and so new so that very often the old – the governments, the people, the powers that want to put their stamp on it say “no you can’t do that”. So we have this strong opposition from the government and powers that want to keep the status quo and you’ve also got this uprising of the average people – and there’s going to be more uprising. I’ve been saying it for a while.

Within the last three months we’ve had over a million workers in France go on national strike. Throughout America we’ve had various demonstrations in various cities – we’re going to see much more of this.

Come August 2010 we have a very big configuration astrologically and this is going to be when Pluto in Capricorn is making a square aspect between the Saturn and Uranus opposition. This is a very, very powerful aspect. Nothing similar has been seen since around the time America came together in 1776. This is massive, massive global change. I’m not a doom and doom person but there is going to be massive natural disasters such as massive earthquakes, massive volcanoes - nothing like we’ve seen before.

What’s the way through these changes?

The way through this is that people will come together in communities; get more self-sufficient and those that do remain will be creating a whole new world. In a way it is incredibly exciting, and in another way, incredibly frightening. Again represented by Saturn which represents people fear, opposite Uranus which is the new, the exciting, the technologically advanced. We’re going to find whole new answers to medical issues, breakthroughs that we never thought we could do. I think we’ll go to a whole new level with healing the body that we never thought we could do and I think much information is going to be available freely in every way for people on a massive basis. But before we get to that, there’s quite some pain and issues that need to be resolved because of the mishandling of the situation so far.

Do you think that people are picking up on the need to be self sustaining by longing for a sense of community that we’ve lost? I wonder whether our self-survival mechanism is kicking in…

By 2012, by all looks of things (which is why 2012 is a key date with the Mayan Calendar) and this is the build up that you are seeing at your community building , as we’re not far off 2012, there will be a critical turning point in the awareness and then the large majority of people will become aware. Yes, people are longing for it. It has been in our dreams but it hasn’t been our reality.

You must be noticing it in Tauranga but here in Christchurch, we’re starting to come together in communities where I live. There are 320 people coming together to try to create something – we’re trying to grow our own food – we’re helping each other. It’s amazing. It’s happening in England, in transition towns – its starting.

There are far too many people who are not aware. In New Zealand what concerns me more than anything, financially, is that I feel the average New Zealander is unaware of the severity of the financial crisis here. When I speak to the press, when I speak to the media, they don’t want to hear what I have to say. I’m not popular.

What’s the main thing you want people to know?

I really want people to know that the banking system in New Zealand is really, really unstable. The press that is being put forward is that its ‘okay’ and we’re not printing money yet like the US – and suddenly because the banks have gone around the world, and our banks are in the top 15 of the world, I feel there is a lot of misinforming going out to the general public. I feel very frustrated about this because people need to know how unstable this system is.

I feel its going to come under severe threat. It will happen suddenly and it will have a Uranian feel and people could lose incredible amounts of money, incredible amounts of pension and I feel its terrible vulnerable. I would say to people – at least have some cash on hand, not in a bank. And if you do have your money in bank, spread it around. I don’t know which ones are going to go, but they are not all going to be standing. I know it sounds drastic but I don’t know how to get it through.

Considering the average person doesn’t have access to the knowledge and expertise that you have, on what basis do you feel, understand and know how unstable the banking situation is? 

You can’t quite compare the two but looking at what happened to Iceland, and looking at the size of the country and looking at New Zealand, there are certain similarities that can be drawn. Look how suddenly the entire banking system, in what was a prosperous country, just went suddenly down. To give you a small example, their interest rates was coming down to 2-3%. Now only a matter of months later Iceland is at 16% interest rate. Right here in New Zealand, various companies are offering bonds – they want people to buy debt so they can borrow more money and they’re offering something like 6-7% which looks fabulous today, doesn’t it? So I can see many people in New Zealand, potentially losing money.

If NZ gets downgraded as a country, downgraded in terms of its viability to buy debt from overseas, (to trade money overseas if you like), which it could do, then we are potentially going to be in a similar position as Iceland was.
It may not be as bad, as I do feel New Zealand has huge advantages over Iceland in that we have arable land, rivers, agriculture, we have animals, and so I do feel we could be very self-sufficient here. I’m very positive about how I feel about New Zealand. I do feel that New Zealand has really come together and I’m hoping that when this time comes, which I don’t think is far off; we’ll have had the opportunity to be prepared.

I’m concerned about people who have saved all of their lives such as pensioners, people investing their money and then finding it worthless. I want people to be warned in advance and know in advance so they’ve got a chance to salvage some of their futures and not feel they’ve worked 20 – 40 years in vain.

Have you considered writing some sort of survival guide such as a community survival handbook (thinking I’d like to read it if so..)?

This is the handbook I’ve written called ‘Surviving the global financial crisis’. It’s a tiny book that covers what has happened, how I think things are panning out, what you can do to protect yourself, a bit of survival ’stuff’ and then some hope for the future – how I see that there is hope and how it is not doom and gloom.

When you are looking at things astrologically, is it always from a global perspective? Can you see how New Zealand differs from other countries or is that where you financial knowledge of systems and how one system influences another comes in?

 There is a form of Astrology where you do look at the country. You can look at when it was founded, you can look at what’s happening astrologically for that country – I do it frequently for the United States because the US is the world power at the moment and what is happening there affects the rest of the world. So yes you can and I have looked at New Zealand astrologically but for the most part I’m drawing my conclusions financially through my knowledge of financial markets.

Daily, I am keeping up with what’s happening around the world in every area such as the currencies, commodities, in the gold and silver markets, in China, Asia, the G20 countries – they are coming together and they will change the rules. We are in are in Venus retrograde - Venus rules finances - not only personal finances but global finances so when it goes retrograde there is the power to change it and to do something different.

What about small New Zealand businesses that are concerned about the recession? How much of a positive mindset to create a business with a higher purpose – one  that is honest, integral and is service-orientated will help survival?

We are in a global depression (I feel), not recession. Depression - a severe time of contraction. During these periods there will always be people who can make money – who can survive and do very well. They are in the minority however. People like Richard Branson, people who can try different things, people who are able to adapt to the varying circumstances. However during this downturn I feel there is going to be certain industries that will thrive better than others.

If you are in the food industry, agriculture, growing and food I would think this is a growth – especially if you are local. I would also think a growth industry is related to the tax system which is going to be more and more complex. Anyone who is good at book keeping, who likes figures and wants to do bookkeeping and accounting – I don’t think they will be out of work. Certain businesses involving technology can do well. It’s just going to be dependent on what is happening around us, so anything that is sustaining, that can be bartered.

We’re going to have different barter systems (and its already happening) where we are not dependent on world currencies. We will have a new reserve currency. The US will not stay the reserve currency of the world. This will change. Within that, within our communities, we are going to have complimented currencies. That is, currencies that we use within our communities that are outside of the tax system - and outside of government. It’s already happening, particularly in the UK and to a small extent around me here but only a little bit. It’s about using peoples time. More and more people are unemployed. In the UK, a client I spoke to a couple of days ago was telling me about 4000 people applying for one janitor’s job. What are the 3999 people going to do? We need to find ways in which they can contribute in terms of hours – its very exciting and having looked at your website I think it ties in a lot with you are looking at and where you are going.

At the Life Academy of New Zealand we have an alternative exchange system where people can give of their time in exchange for a class. The exchange involves a Business Sponsor who covers the costs of the class. So in future, based on your model, we might see more ways of exchanging…

Yes and I think you’ll probably have a mixture of both (money and time) and of being much more adaptable and reaching out more to people around us. For example: not having food flown in. Let’s grow our own – what’s the matter with us? There are some simple solutions and we need to relearn how we come back to being a community which I feel many people want.

With regards to personal development, would you advise people not to focus on skills just to get a job and making money but to learn how to contribute, learn skills and knowledge that will sustain them and allow them to be given in exchange?

Very much so. We’re going to need to live by the ‘seat of our pants’. The change is going to come so rapidly. The days of staying in the job for 20 years have gone. The more skills you have and the more adaptable you are, the more you are going to survive in this environment. Yes, I agree with you entirely – widen your horizons.

How can we become better a managing our resources? What vital ingredient have we lost in our lives?

This is a time now as we move into the Age of Aquarius. We’re on the cusp of the New Age. This is now about taking personal responsibility for your life, for your decisions, for everything. This means no longer allowing governments and people in power to do it for us, and to trust them. This is not the age for it. This is the age for us to do our own thinking, and to take responsibility for that thinking. We’ve allowed the government to take our power away (this is how I see it).

What role do you see organised religions playing – will it come back into our community or will we see more personal self-realisation.

I want to see much more of the self realised people. What we are also going to see is that huge discontent and uprisings in the religious areas. This is because we are coming to the end of the age of Pisces which is all about religions. It’s already happening in the US since President Obama has now granted federal funds for stem cell research. I don’t know if you realise quite how much discontent and discord in the United States. Particularly right-wing, fascist people are coming out with guns and are going to be very violent.

I think we will have the extremes of the people. If you look at the glyphs for the sign of Aquarius there are two waves – there will be people who will live on one wave – the self realised people who live for community and want to create a better world and connect with the higher consciousness and you have the other portion of the populus on the other wave which is a very destructive and a powerfully violent wave.

How do you see your role in the future?

To the best of my ability, my skills definitely lie with simplifying the world of finance for the lay person, making it understandable and reachable. It’s the same with Astrology, making it personal and approachable to the every day person. I do feel the earth changes are coming and I feel as though I’m here to help and give guidance as I can, as I am sure you are too. Many, many of the predictions have happened – there was an event only yesterday, what just happened off the coast of Tonga where the volcanoes erupted – to me this is a very serious sign that we are now into the massive earth changes.

On a lighter note, on April 9th, we are going to have a moon meditation (with the Full Moon being April the 10th). It’s our first at The Life Academy of New Zealand. Any advice you’d like to share?

The full moon in Libra is a time of harvesting all the energies you’ve been putting out and bring them to a culmination so with a full moon in Libra it’s all about sharing. Sharing and talking about ideas, socialising and having some fun.

Great – we’ll make sure there is time for socialising! Thank you so much Barbara for your time. It’s been an extremely fascinating discussion!

You can read Barbara’s blogs on our website!

Time to Build Community

It’s our world, our opportunity. The Life Academy of New Zealand has been inspired by Barbara’s interview. Where ever you are, if you are interested in joining a community of people, that together, will learn how to survive and thrive in self-sustaining and self-empowered ways, complete the form below and we’ll keep you informed of our plans.

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Take Financial Responsibility

It’s time to start taking responsibility now!

Well, it’s all happening around the world: governments using “Quantitative Easing” i.e. posh way of saying printing money – to try to solve the financial crisis. Who is going to get bailed out next? How will they decide who to save and who to allow to sink? Who else will be exposed for vast fraudulent activities? It seems to be endless – while the average person is concerned about their job security and their home – the people at the top seem to be in charge of our destiny.

It is time for us to begin to think for ourselves and not to just elect a new government every few years and then sit back and let them do as they wish. They haven’t made a very good job of it have they?

It is vital to begin to deepen your understanding of the issues, to start to help your community and to see a world in which money becomes our slave and not our master.

The next 20 years are going to be completely unlike the last 20 years. There is a sharp corner coming, and those who are well-informed will be better off than those that will undoubtedly be taken by surprise.

Here are a few things that I saw that just didn’t make sense:
- we were consuming way beyond our means
- the gap between incomes and house prices was getting larger and larger
- the decline in credit standards was becoming ridiculous – anyone and everyone had the opportunity to take out a loan
- credit was expanding faster than the economy

All these things alerted me to the fact that there was going to be a huge problem ahead of us.

It’s time now to Trust Yourself. If you see something that doesn’t make sense – trust your instincts. You can avoid much of the pain coming if you listen to your intuitions. Your future is up to you. It’s time to take responsibility. You have a lot more control than you think.

The first step is the awareness, then the understanding and finally you will come up with the solutions.

As I see it at the moment:
- get your money out of the banks or at least spread it around a few financial institutions
- have some cash on hand
- get gold and silver
- get out of debt
- rent rather than buy
- get your health seen to while there is time and resources left
- get your car serviced and running well
- learn how to become self-sufficient
- get off the grid or at least have a backup solution
- reach out to your community and get involved with projects that will make you more self-sustaining.

What is Real Wealth?

I believe that when we let go of our desire for greater financial wealth, we allow a natural flow of energy through our lives that will take us to a whole new level. Don’t we just want to be happy? Don’t you think that we have placed too much emphasis and belief that physical things will bring us this happiness? The irony, perhaps, is that when our lives

are flowing its natural course of meaning and purpose, we naturally create wealth and abundance. Some of the wealthiest people I have spoken to, are inspired and doing what they love most.

I spoke with Mark Falzon, CEO of Ark Total Wealth in Australia about what people want. Mark says:

“It’s fairly typical when you ask lots of people about what they want in their lives that they want freedom, choice, happiness, and abundance. And then there’s a whole range of material things that they want.

But when you work behind the scenes and you’ve lots of people creating the things they want, for whatever reason, those who have a lot of money are not necessarily happy. And when you look at that, typically it comes back down to a few things in our experience and one of them is ’service and contribution’.

People who have created wealth that move into the next phase of service and contribution outside of themselves find much more happiness, fulfilment and meaning in their lives, than those that create wealth just for the sake of creating wealth.

Part of our program for our clients is to move them through that process. They come to us, get some advice, learn about wealth creation, understand the mechanics and dynamics and principles of wealth creation, and then move into the more philosophical and esoteric domains of wealth creation and what it means to make a contribution and to be of service.

When we start talking to clients about those sorts of issues it seems to just resonate with them. It’s like some mysterious truth that they all know, but can’t articulate. When they hear it, they say, ‘Yes, that’s it!’.”

At a deep level we know that this “mysterious truth”, is about connecting to a cause that resonates with our own desires for success and that our pursuit of happiness, comes to an end when we are sharing our natural, inherent gifts, and contributing to something meaningful to us.
 
What do you think we need to do, as individuals or groups, to start creating real wealth? Leave a comment…