1. The Four Laws Of Debt Free Prosperity
By: Breann Bate
Period. 8
Personal Finance 1050 Semester Project
The Four Laws Of Debt Free Prosperity
The book is explains the four laws through the story of Paul Smith and his neighbor Mary Sessions. Paul is a man deeply in debt his bills include: minimum payments on five credit cards, a home equity loan, a first mortgage and a car lease, and is on the brink of financial disaster.
One day after chopping down a Christmas tree he decides to go to Mary’s house, Mary is his elderly neighbor. Mary is also a retired IRS agent who has a 2 million dollar bank account. She begins to explain the Four Laws of Debt Prosperity through a game of chess. Mary says she will pay him 2 million dollars if he gains mastery over the concepts. This motivates Paul to start to follow the laws to get his finances on track.

2. The First Law 1st Law: Tracking
Recognizing spending habits is a very important step in making sure you make the best use possible of your money.
Getting a handle on where your money goes can help to
make smarter spending decisions so that you have more
money left over for savings or do the things you love.
In the book Paul is committed on learning and applying Mary’s instructions. He starts and records every single purchase that he spends money on. He ask his wife and kids to do the same thing . Paul tracks all his monthly expenses, money spent on food even his newspaper. He notices changes he can make, and visits mary after about a month to report to her.
She then tells him about the second law, Mary tells Paul that he now needs to start setting goals. She tells him about how she worked for the IRS IRS and saw teachers who made 20,000 a year become millionaires, and on the other hand doctors making 100,000 a year that were nearly bankrupt. 
By applying this law it helps to learn how to ease financial problems by finding money that slips through the cracks. If paul pays attention to every detail of what he is spending he can not help cutting back on unneeded spending when they see how unnecessary spending money on that really is.

3. The Second Law 2nd Law: Targeting
Setting financial goals in your spending
is essential in staying out of debt or getting
yourself out of debt.
Instead of just talking about what you want to
do to improve your financial well being it makes
you more obligated to take action.  
She then tells him about the second law, Mary tells Paul that he now needs to start setting goals. She tells him about how she worked for the IRS IRS and saw teachers who made 20,000 a year become millionaires, and on the other hand doctors making 100,000 a year that were nearly bankrupt.  Setting Goals makes you accountable.
By targeting your goals you will have something to push yourself for.   If you have nothing to compare yourself to you will not have anything to work up to.   When setting goals they should be written down.
Your goals should answer: Where you are;   where you want to be;   and how long it will take you to get there.   By having your goals with you at all times it gives you an incentive to follow the first law of tracking also.

4. The Third Law 3rd Law: Trimming ; Living on less than you earn.
Spending less than you earn creates money you need to make larger payments on your debts.
Helps you begin to save.
Relieves stress.
Paul has quickly started to turn around his financial problems just by tracking his expenditures and setting goals.  Mary tells him that she has a large net worth by following the third law. She tells him that he needs to start to live as if he earns less than he does. She then tells Paul to pay himself ten percent of his income to pay of his debt or to invest it. Then use the 90% to live off of. She tells him to pay off his credit card with the lowest amount first and then work his way up.
   If one takes out, at the beginning of the month, 5%, 10%, or even 15% this is identified as surplus to reduce debt that forces you to live on what is leftover.

5. The Final Law 4th Law: Training
“Success happens when preparation meets opportunity”.
In the book he finally is able to beat her in chess and Mary challenges Paul to go to a real estate seminar as well as a stock, bond and securities investment seminar. Just to plan ahead for when he does have the money to invest he will be well informed and have a greater success rate.
 This law deals with investing money after out of debt so it may earn interest and set one up for retirement.   If a person invests their money wisely when they retire after working hard their whole lives, they could live off just their interest depending on how much they invested in the beginning.
The authors expresses that many wealthy people have gotten to where they are because they understand the importance of smart investing. They recommend taking financial education courses to help you understand your money and the smart ways you can use it to grow wealth once you‘ve eliminated your debt.

6. Making Tracking a habit
I have started to track my daily expenses.
Set Limits
Learned to live on less than I earn.
Pay yourself first.
-I have used a widget on my smartphone to track all of my purchases.
In the past before taking this class as well as reading this book I used my debit card as if it held an unlimited amount of money. I was constantly going over and luckily because my account is still recognized as a “teen account” I was not charged for going over. But if I would have not learned these skills and continues to use my debit card in this way I know in the future I could have potentially been in a lot of financial trouble. With my debit card I have placed limits on each of my different accounts so I don’t go over and I know my spending limits.
Recently my car broke down and the cost to repair it was 800 dollars, but because of the fact that I have learned to save I was able to pay for my car to be repaired without having to borrow money. Before taking personal finance whenever I earned money I would immediately spend it and then would have no liquidity when I needed it.
Every paycheck I get I take out 10% and make sure that I have not gone over on my debit card and I make sure to pay my bills for my car, and car insurance. Tracking really has tremendously helped me. I now look back on my expenses and see what I can cut back on in order to make sure I am able to pay all of my fixed expenses first.

7. Application Shopping Plan Get rid of Debit Card Car insurance
-I have started to shop less and only for the things I do need. I also have done allot of comparison shopping lately and it has saved me quite a bit of money.
-Plan: At the beginning of each month I make a spending plan. I first take out the money I need for insurance and gas and then I put side fifty dollars a month for unexpected expenses. The rest goes into savings.
At the end of this month my plan is to cancel my debit card for the time being. I often get in the mind set that I can just swipe the card and pay it off later and that is not a good mind set at all.
Car insurance: I have recently found a cheaper car insurance that covers more and is saving me allot of money each month.
In reading this book I have seen that getting out of debt is not quick, but if you have a plan and you stick to it, it really pays off. Being in debt effects so many aspects in someone’s life in the book Paul’s relationship’s were strengthened because he was getting himself on track. It is good to see that if you are in debt you are not alone. There are so many resources that you can turn to if you need help. You just have to make the effort and be able to admit that you really do need help.

8. Sources Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007; Clip Art
"The Four Laws of Debt Free Prosperity: The Chequemate Story." Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan
Harris, Blaine, Charles A. Coonradt, and Lee Nelson. The Four Laws of Debt Free Prosperity. Salt Lake City, UT: Chequemate International, Print.

9. Sources Continued
"Miva Merchant: Fatal Error." Miva Merchant: Fatal Error. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan <
"Illustration -." 123RF Stock Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan <