Saving Yourself Is Taking Care Of Yourself

For a few hours in February 2008, Suze Orman allowed her book Women and Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny to be downloaded from Oprah.com at no cost. As I had barely been able to read through only a portion of The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom before becoming disinterested, I was hesitant on taking advantage of this free offer. Yet, free is free, so I did.

As expected, it languished around just waiting for me to read it. Well, now I can say that I've felt the Buddhist proverb in action: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. After finally diving into Women and Money sometime in the fall of 2008, I did enjoy its message...because I was ready to accept it, that is. Again, I could only take the message in by small doses but I kept coming back to reading it. And thankfully so.

When I came to the chapter about the "Save Yourself Plan" that Suze had created in partnership with TD Ameritrade, I was intrigued. When the book was published, the terms were that if you opened a new money market deposit account at TD Ameritrade anytime from February 27, 2007 through March 31, 2008 and agreed to deposit at least $50 a month for 12 consecutive months, TD Ameritrade would "reward your commitment with a $100 deposit to your account".

Fearing that I had lost out, because it was now past the deadline, I went to the "Save Yourself Plan" website none-the-less hoping for the best. The terms had changed to a minimum deposit of $100 a month but the bonus of $100 was still intact. It took about a month for me to work up the nerve to do it but I finally did. On February 2, 2009, I opened my account and made my very first $100 deposit.

That was a crucial, pivotal step in my life. My need for safety and my need to be a spender have always been in conflict, yet here I was allowing $100 less of my money to be in my control (read "my money" and "my control" with a bit of a frightened voice...the 'what if's' scared me!) Yet, I knew that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and it was time to begin to slowly change myself into a saver. This was huge for me at the time and I have come so incredibly far within these past 12 months.

With absolute joy I can report that, on February 2, 2010, TD Ameritrade did deposit $100 into my account. By February 4th, all of the money (my deposits, accumulated interest on those deposits and the bonus) had been transferred back to my personal savings account. Although I'll soon be bidding adieu to TD Ameritrade, they will never be forgotten. Suze Orman and TD Ameritrade helped me to begin to save myself and I will never forget that.

Until next time...Take Care Of You!

On a side note: Another offer on Oprah.com to download a later book called Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan for free has expired. However, with a revised and updated version called Action Plan: New Rules for New Times due out on March 23, 2010, you might want to keep an eye on Suze's page on the Oprah site if you want a downloadable copy for yourself. Suze has shared her insight and knowledge for free before and it's possible to happen again!

Copyright © 2010 by tcoyou.com | all rights reserved

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