#MrSkeptical

The Testimonial of a Self-Proclaimed Skeptic
(and How I Eventually got “Converted”)

#MrSkeptical

The Testimonial of a Self-Proclaimed Skeptic
(and How I Eventually got “Converted”)

Have Your Doubts?  I Don’t Blame You.  Learn from My Mistake!

Tom Elliott

Hi, I’m Mr. Skeptical.   Actually, my name’s Tom Elliott and I’m one of the co-founders of Top Tier Business Systems LLC® and the Prosperity Solutions Group.  I’m a “co-founder” by default, mainly because I’m Lori Elliott’s husband.  So I can say, “I was there” when it all began.  But the credit goes to her… As you’ll see from my story, below, Lori does all the “heavy lifting” in the business: Managing people, managing sales, managing money, coaching & consulting, and all of the day-to-day operations.  I get the mail out of the mailbox for her once in awhile… just to be “helpful”.  I like to help out when I can, which is why I was happy to write my testimonial (below) for her about my first-hand experience with her debt payoff program.

A bit about me: I’m a “tough sell”.  I’m hard-headed.  I’m the epitome of “yeah, but…” in an argument or debate.   I can relate to the sarcastic little meme that reads, “I would agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”  I don’t accept things at face-value, and I’m always looking at the various angles that things might not work.  Some people call it “negativity” or “pessimism”, but I look at it as “being prepared”, having a “Plan B”, “Plan C”, “Plan D”, etc.  Must be the “Navy” in me: always take a multi-pronged approach to be certain that the job gets done despite any potential obstacles.  I’ve become a little “better” about having an optimistic outlook as I’ve gotten older, but in the back of my mind, the “pessimist” is never disappointed.  Professionally (in the Navy), part of what I did included forensic accounting of sorts… examining financial records, auditing accounts, etc.  I’m not half-bad with a calculator and spreadsheets.  And math doesn’t “scare” me.  I’ve got experience (good and bad) investing in real estate, stocks & bonds, precious metals, and crypto-currency.  For most of my adult life I’ve felt “comfortable” talking about money and thought I understood it.  In a nutshell, I’m analytical, cautious, and thorough because I don’t like “surprises”.  Like I said, I’m Mr. Skeptical.

 

“Confidently Clueless”: The Basis of My Skepticism

Tom ElliottWishful thinking is not a strategy for me.  So when it comes to money, you can imagine that I’m somewhat risk-averse.  I like a “sure thing”.  If it seems complicated or relies on the goodwill of philanthropy to provide a return on investment, I turn away and rely on something more tangible and established.  I’ve studied Dave Ramsey, Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, Suze Orman and others.  I can “speak”  their language of Baby Steps, Debt Snowball, ESBI, and so forth.  Good stuff, for the most part.  When it comes to getting results, I like proven systems, not speculation.

You can imagine, then, when my wife, Lori, wanted to begin working with “algorithm-based software” that promised that we could pay off our debts in just over 12 years, versus 28 that the banks had us scheduled to do… I was wary.  We had a mortgage of over $630K, over $50K in vehicle loans, about $30K in credit card debts, and close to $20K in student loans.  I looked at her notion with skepticism… SEVERE skepticism.  As a former Navy Supply Corps Officer, I was experienced working with large budgets and financial records, sometimes to the tune of $280 million per year.  I figured that I was more-than-qualified to “balance a checkbook”, and if there were such a way to knock that much time (and interest) off of our debts, I’d be able to do it myself.  Pride.  Ego.  Stubbornness.  That was me.  And looking back, I didn’t have a clue.  (But I was “confidently” clueless).

My Efforts to Debunk the Program

I captured screen shots
of our periodic progress over time.

At the time (beginning of 2017), the concept was fairly new to Lori as well.  She just had a better attitude than I did.  She’s the optimist of the two of us, always finding the silver lining.  When I saw how excited she was about a program to save time and money, I had to listen (because I love her… not because I was “on board” with it).  She didn’t convince me that it would work, but she convinced me to give it a chance to work.  I didn’t want to put a damper on her spirit, so I said “okay”, figuring that she’d ultimately be disappointed, but I wanted to be a supportive husband.  Plus, my “Plan B” was that the program was backed by a written guarantee… so I figured it was a safe risk when it didn’t work.  Pessimism at its finest.   Between the written money-back guarantee and the News 3 “Saving You Money Team” report (see the video below), I decided to risk it.  So, as I often hear her tell others, I was her “first sale”.

So we got started with our “new” plan to get us out of debt.  Meanwhile, being the skeptic, I tried every which way possible to figure out how it wouldn’t work.  It made NO SENSE to me that 28 years of debt could be paid off in-full in such a short time without 1) massive amounts of additional income, and 2) throwing every spare dime into principal payments.   I followed the program’s instructions, both spitefully to prove it wrong and just to be sure I was still eligible for the guarantee.  But I also dug in deeply to learn about the strategies the program uses to accomplish the seemingly-impossible claims.   Each month I plugged our snapshot-in-time numbers into mortgage amortization calculators to verify our progress, expecting to find that we got duped.  Every month I was surprised at the actual progress we made towards paying down debts and (I’ll admit) I was frustrated that my suspicions and doubts were unfounded.

Eventually I shifted from trying to prove it wrong to trying to understand how it might possibly work.  I did screen captures to track progress along the way (shown on this page), and in the learning process I gained a completely different view and understanding of financial literacy.  (The light bulb in my head started to glow dimly, and I started to come to grips with the fact that in my negativity, I might have been wrong about the program.)  I had to acknowledge (to myself) that my ignorant opinion didn’t change the facts of the matter, and my pride had become an obstacle to learning and growth.

Long story short, I understand it now, and the program does work.  Not only does it work, but our 12-year outlook was a worst-case scenario.  Three years into following the program, we were down to about 6 years until payoff.  Once I understood how the financial principles and strategies worked, it was a “slap my forehead” moment.  It’s not magic.  It’s just math.  That’s why a written guarantee is an easy promise to make: Mathematical formulas speak “truth”.  And it works better than the programs that famous authors and motivational speakers teach in their books, podcasts, and financial regimens.

I hadn’t been completely wrong in my assumptions that we’d need to earn more income and have to make extra principal payments.  But the program can do something that I couldn’t do: It helped create and find the money to use for the extra principal using existing resources.  If you think about it, that’s a game-changer.  Most debt payoff programs focus on paying down debts out-of-context from saving money or building a retirement.  Lori’s program addresses both at the same time, and it takes advantage of compounding interest you earn to offset interest that you pay.
It looked at all of our debts, interest rates, payment schedules, etc. simultaneously and within context of each other, and it also factored in interest-earning savings resources, interest float periods, and so forth to actually re-channel our household cash flow in ways that created the additional principal to use in paying down the debts.   The result: Using the program, we’ve cut 22 years off of our debt and will save over $400,000 in interest.  That’s money in our pockets that can be saved or invested… rather than taken from us by the banks.

Needless to say, I’m a lot more positive and optimistic now.  It’s easier to have a brighter outlook without the stress of debt.  And the program is easy to follow.  It takes about 10 to 15 minutes per month to work with it.

Our story isn’t unique, either.  Everyone I know who is using the program has saved significant time and money.  But when it’s your own money you’re talking about, everybody else’s “success” stories seem like a collective fairy tale “conspiracy” to convince you to ignore your own intuition.  After all, their success doesn’t touch your own challenges, concerns, or issues, so it’s easy to dismiss their testimonials as “irrelevant” to you.  I know.  I was there.  I’m Mr. Skeptical.

Debt Payoff Progress
Financial Acumen Course Coupon FAC-TELE-20

Lessons Learned: How to Avoid My Mistakes

So let me save you some trouble, if you’ll allow me.  Here are a few things I learned about the program and myself as it made a believer out of me:

    • skepticalI might be intelligent, but I don’t know everything.  My own analytical “smartness” would have cost us over $400,000 in unnecessary interest payments if I hadn’t listened to Lori.  And that would have been very “not smart”.  Don’t make the same mistake that I almost made.  The bottom-line takeaway:  Just because you think something won’t work doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.
    • My guarded behavior to “protect” us would have actually been more damaging to our future lifestyle and retirement, due to my own ignorance of money.  There’s a big difference between knowing how to pay bills & balance a checkbook, versus understanding financial strategies and the underlying algorithms of optimizing your household finances.  The bottom-line takeaway: Don’t hurt yourself trying to protect yourself, uninformed.  Too often, out of ignorance, we “don’t know what we don’t know”.  Take the time to at least become “consciously competent” with understanding money strategies.
    • Don’t assume you understand something and dismiss it prematurely.  Like I mentioned, I had made assumptions that were based on a half-baked understanding of what I thought I knew.  Again, I was ignorant of the facts and tainted enough by incorrect or incomplete assumptions.  Therefore, the original mental picture I painted of the program was all wrong.  The bottom-line takeaway:  Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s unconscionably expensive.
    • No, you can’t do it yourself and get the results.  I’m not being vain or conceited…  I’m not saying, “If I can’t do it, YOU can’t do it.”  That’s not it at all.  I’m saying (if you have more than 2 or 3 debts and/or more than a few years of remaining payments), NO ONE can do the copious amounts of math required to compute the action plan the program creates.  No exaggeration.  No joke.   The bottom-line takeaway: No matter how smart you are or how good you are at math, when it comes to factorial permutations, ratio calculations and interest computations, the computer has you outgunned.
    • It’s a no-brainer.  It’s mind-bogglingly complicated behind the scenes (the programming) to make it so mind-numbingly simple to use (following the instructions).  The bottom-line takeaway: If you say “no” to it after seeing the free report on how much it will save you, you either do not understand it, or you don’t believe it, or both.  But then that’s a shortcoming on you, not the program.  Do yourself a favor and don’t hinder your own future due to unfounded doubts.  Prove me wrong.  (You can’t).

Yeah, that last bullet point is a bit bold (maybe even “rude“), but at one time or another we all need a brick between the eyes to get our attention.  I would have rejected such a statement myself a few years ago, but it would have irritated me enough to take action and learn more, just to be sure.  Actually, it kinda did.

The Financial Acumen Course Workbook

In fact, I was so “blown away” by the material I learned that I wanted to make sure my kids learn it, too… at an earlier age than I did.  This is stuff that’s not taught in school, but should be.  So, to create a legacy to leave for my kids, I created a series of tutorial videos for them, to teach them about money: All the stuff I wish I had learned years ago.  I want my kids to benefit from my experiences, mistakes, and successes.  And, I also want them to get a good overall financial literacy.  If I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, they’ll have that now… and I named it “The Financial Acumen Course“, complete with references and citations.  Then it occurred to me that other people would benefit from the information, too, for their own kids or to learn it themselves.  So I gave it to The Prosperity Solutions Group, and Lori now has it as a resource to help people with improving their financial education.

So the Financial Acumen Course® is now available to everyone at www.FinancialAcumenCourse.com.  You can watch a preview of it in the videos below.

Okay, MY Proof Isn’t Necessarily YOUR Proof.
So If You Still Have Your Doubts…

On a parting note, if you have any questions about becoming debt-free, be sure to give Lori a call.  Her passion for helping people has only grown over time, and her mission-in-life is to help people get to a better place, financially.  Check out her Life After Debt Facebook page.  I’d appreciate it if you’d give her the “thumbs up” by liking posts that help you out, and please click “Share” to help your friends benefit from the material, too.

And my final thoughts on Lori’s algorithm-based payoff program: The interest savings shown on the free analysis she’ll run for you is truth, guaranteed.  It’s a mathematical fact.  Look at it and consider it carefully.  Someone is going to get that money.  Whatever that amount is, if you keep on the path you’ve been on, that’s money you’ll pay to the banks.  If you move forward with Lori’s program, it’s money you’ll keep in your pocket.  Take a look at the amount.  Think about what kind difference it would make in your life.  And look at the date you’ll be debt-free on the report.  The time is just a function of math, too.  Non-debatable.  What is that time worth to you?  Would it make a difference in your lifestyle?  Look at what it’s costing you for every month you don’t change your debt payoff plan.  And look at how much of a nest egg you could accrue if you did change your payoff plan.  The math paints the picture.  And it allows you to make an informed decision with 20/20 vision, looking forward at your life.  Based on the numbers for your unique situation, what path makes the most sense to you?  Once it’s laid out on paper, the choice becomes crystal clear.  So not only will you be able to make an informed decision, you can make a smart decision, and the right decision for yourself.

Lori's Business Card

SO, what can she do for you?  If you’re carrying any kind of debt, she can help you systemize your financial picture and potentially help you pay it off in 1/3 to 1/4 the time that you would otherwise be under the bank’s thumb.  That’s right…  If you have a brand new, shiny 30-year mortgage along with a few student loans and credit cards, you might be pleasantly surprised to be able to pay it all off in 7 to 10 years… free-and-clear.  You won’t know for sure until you talk with her.  So plan to do that soon!  I’ve included her business card, here, with her contact information, or you can schedule an appointment with her via the “Schedule Your Consultation” button, below.

And…  That’s my testimonial about my financial journey to get out of debt with Lori Elliott.

Now, here’s my advice to you (or perhaps, better stated, the lessons I’ve learned):

    • Learn from the mistakes of others.  You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
    • Don’t be like I was, “confidently clueless“.  Put aside dismissive pride, ego and stubbornness.  Keep an open mind.  Learn something new.
    • Your opinion that it “won’t work” doesn’t change the fact that it works.  Realize that sometimes misguided opinions get in the way of progress.
    • It’s okay if you don’t understand it all.  When you turn the key to start your car or push the “on” button to start your computer, a lot happens behind-the-scenes that you probably don’t understand.  As long as it works, you don’t really care about the details.  In other words: You don’t need to be an auto mechanic to drive; you don’t need to be a computer engineer to check email and surf the web; and you don’t need to know how to code algorithms or be a mathematician to use the debt-payoff program.  As long as your car, your computer and your algorithm-based debt payoff program work, be happy!
    • It’s not “too good to be true.”  It’s “too good to pass up.”  It’s based on math, not magic.  And it’s backed by a written guarantee as well as credible third-party reviews.   (Example: Play the News 3 at 5 Video below, at the bottom of the page).

Okay.  Still Scratching Your Head on HOW?

ConfusedHere is a loose parallel to an algorithm-based debt-payoff program.  Think about playing chess with a friend.  Now think about playing chess against a computer.  It’s the same game, but the way the game plays out is a lot different!

When you play a friendly (or competitive) game of chess with your buddy, you can each ponder the options and respond to each other’s moves (and mistakes).  Sometimes to get into a winning position, you have to make three or four (or more) strategic moves first, narrowing down your buddy’s options and finding the way to eliminate your opponent’s pieces while minimizing the loss of your own.  (It’s kind of an analogy to paying off your debts to your creditors, maximizing your savings and minimizing the interest you pay.)

ChessWhen you play against the computer, after every move you make, the computer examines each of it’s options.  It then examines each of your possible responses to those options, and continues “mentally” playing out the entire combination of possibilities to arrive at the most efficient way to win the game.  For every move you make, it determines all of the “winning” combinations, and then it picks the shortest one.  That’s when it makes it’s next move on the board.   When you make your next move, it does all of that work again, from scratch, with the new picture it sees.  The computer always knows the number of moves ahead, to put you in “checkmate” and win the game.  (If you’ve ever “beat” the computer at chess, it’s because the “difficulty” setting was set to something other than “most difficult”.  Setting the difficulty level to something easier simply forces the computer to reduce the number of moves ahead that it examines… so you didn’t exactly “win” based on being a better player…  sorry to pop your bubble.)

Artificial Intelligence

With an algorithm-based debt-payoff program, you’re playing “chess” with your finances.  In this case, your program (the computer) calculates every possible move to get to zero debt the fastest.  It looks at interest rates, simple vs. compound interest, payment terms, ways to cut costs, ways to earn interest towards principal payments, and so on.  It runs every combination of financial computations for all possible future payments based on your current snapshot in time (your financial chess board).  Then it “taps you on the shoulder” and tells you what moves to make.  As your situation changes, it re-computes the entire “game” to ensure that it knows exactly how many moves (how much time and money) you have to get to zero debt, given all of your options.  If you follow the program’s instructions, you achieve your fastest debt-payoff.  If you decide to do something different, it looks at what you did, then re-computes the path to your destination, just like a GPS does if you take a wrong turn.  You remain in control, but your program program can see your financial picture years down the road.

Click the “Information” button below to get “deep into the weeds” of how Lori’s algorithm-based program works.

For those who think you’re even more skeptical than I was
and still haven’t wrapped your mind around it, click below.

Yeah but How

Have Your Doubts?  I Don’t Blame You.  Learn from My Mistake!

Tom Elliott

Hi, I’m Mr. Skeptical.   Actually, my name’s Tom Elliott and I’m one of the co-founders of Top Tier Business Systems LLC® and the Prosperity Solutions Group.  I’m a “co-founder” by default, mainly because I’m Lori Elliott’s husband.  So I can say, “I was there” when it all began.  But the credit goes to her… As you’ll see from my story, below, Lori does all the “heavy lifting” in the business: Managing people, managing sales, managing money, coaching & consulting, and all of the day-to-day operations.  I get the mail out of the mailbox for her once in awhile… just to be “helpful”.  I like to help out when I can, which is why I was happy to write my testimonial (below) for her about my first-hand experience with her debt payoff program.

A bit about me: I’m a “tough sell”.  I’m hard-headed.  I’m the epitome of “yeah, but…” in an argument or debate.   I can relate to the sarcastic little meme that reads, “I would agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”  I don’t accept things at face-value, and I’m always looking at the various angles that things might not work.  Some people call it “negativity” or “pessimism”, but I look at it as “being prepared”, having a “Plan B”, “Plan C”, “Plan D”, etc.  Must be the “Navy” in me: always take a multi-pronged approach to be certain that the job gets done despite any potential obstacles.  I’ve become a little “better” about having an optimistic outlook as I’ve gotten older, but in the back of my mind, the “pessimist” is never disappointed.  Professionally (in the Navy), part of what I did included forensic accounting of sorts… examining financial records, auditing accounts, etc.  I’m not half-bad with a calculator and spreadsheets.  And math doesn’t “scare” me.  I’ve got experience (good and bad) investing in real estate, stocks & bonds, precious metals, and crypto-currency.  For most of my adult life I’ve felt “comfortable” talking about money and thought I understood it.  In a nutshell, I’m analytical, cautious, and thorough because I don’t like “surprises”.  Like I said, I’m Mr. Skeptical.

 

“Confidently Clueless”: The Basis of My Skepticism

Tom ElliottWishful thinking is not a strategy for me.  So when it comes to money, you can imagine that I’m somewhat risk-averse.  I like a “sure thing”.  If it seems complicated or relies on the goodwill of philanthropy to provide a return on investment, I turn away and rely on something more tangible and established.  I’ve studied Dave Ramsey, Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, Suze Orman and others.  I can “speak”  their language of Baby Steps, Debt Snowball, ESBI, and so forth.  Good stuff, for the most part.  When it comes to getting results, I like proven systems, not speculation.

You can imagine, then, when my wife, Lori, wanted to begin working with “algorithm-based software” that promised that we could pay off our debts in just over 12 years, versus 28 that the banks had us scheduled to do… I was wary.  We had a mortgage of over $630K, over $50K in vehicle loans, about $30K in credit card debts, and close to $20K in student loans.  I looked at her notion with skepticism… SEVERE skepticism.  As a former Navy Supply Corps Officer, I was experienced working with large budgets and financial records, sometimes to the tune of $280 million per year.  I figured that I was more-than-qualified to “balance a checkbook”, and if there were such a way to knock that much time (and interest) off of our debts, I’d be able to do it myself.  Pride.  Ego.  Stubbornness.  That was me.  And looking back, I didn’t have a clue.  (But I was “confidently” clueless).

My Efforts to Debunk the Program

I captured screen shots
of our periodic progress over time.

At the time (beginning of 2017), the concept was fairly new to Lori as well.  She just had a better attitude than I did.  She’s the optimist of the two of us, always finding the silver lining.  When I saw how excited she was about a program to save time and money, I had to listen (because I love her… not because I was “on board” with it).  She didn’t convince me that it would work, but she convinced me to give it a chance to work.  I didn’t want to put a damper on her spirit, so I said “okay”, figuring that she’d ultimately be disappointed, but I wanted to be a supportive husband.  Plus, my “Plan B” was that the program was backed by a written guarantee… so I figured it was a safe risk when it didn’t work.  Pessimism at its finest.   Between the written money-back guarantee and the News 3 “Saving You Money Team” report (see the video below), I decided to risk it.  So, as I often hear her tell others, I was her “first sale”.

So we got started with our “new” plan to get us out of debt.  Meanwhile, being the skeptic, I tried every which way possible to figure out how it wouldn’t work.  It made NO SENSE to me that 28 years of debt could be paid off in-full in such a short time without 1) massive amounts of additional income, and 2) throwing every spare dime into principal payments.   I followed the program’s instructions, both spitefully to prove it wrong and just to be sure I was still eligible for the guarantee.  But I also dug in deeply to learn about the strategies the program uses to accomplish the seemingly-impossible claims.   Each month I plugged our snapshot-in-time numbers into mortgage amortization calculators to verify our progress, expecting to find that we got duped.  Every month I was surprised at the actual progress we made towards paying down debts and (I’ll admit) I was frustrated that my suspicions and doubts were unfounded.

Eventually I shifted from trying to prove it wrong to trying to understand how it might possibly work.  I did screen captures to track progress along the way (shown on this page), and in the learning process I gained a completely different view and understanding of financial literacy.  (The light bulb in my head started to glow dimly, and I started to come to grips with the fact that in my negativity, I might have been wrong about the program.)  I had to acknowledge (to myself) that my ignorant opinion didn’t change the facts of the matter, and my pride had become an obstacle to learning and growth.

Long story short, I understand it now, and the program does work.  Not only does it work, but our 12-year outlook was a worst-case scenario.  Three years into following the program, we were down to about 6 years until payoff.  Once I understood how the financial principles and strategies worked, it was a “slap my forehead” moment.  It’s not magic.  It’s just math.  That’s why a written guarantee is an easy promise to make: Mathematical formulas speak “truth”.  And it works better than the programs that famous authors and motivational speakers teach in their books, podcasts, and financial regimens.

I hadn’t been completely wrong in my assumptions that we’d need to earn more income and have to make extra principal payments.  But the program can do something that I couldn’t do: It helped create and find the money to use for the extra principal using existing resources.  If you think about it, that’s a game-changer.  Most debt payoff programs focus on paying down debts out-of-context from saving money or building a retirement.  Lori’s program addresses both at the same time, and it takes advantage of compounding interest you earn to offset interest that you pay.
It looked at all of our debts, interest rates, payment schedules, etc. simultaneously and within context of each other, and it also factored in interest-earning savings resources, interest float periods, and so forth to actually re-channel our household cash flow in ways that created the additional principal to use in paying down the debts.   The result: Using the program, we’ve cut 22 years off of our debt and will save over $400,000 in interest.  That’s money in our pockets that can be saved or invested… rather than taken from us by the banks.

Needless to say, I’m a lot more positive and optimistic now.  It’s easier to have a brighter outlook without the stress of debt.  And the program is easy to follow.  It takes about 10 to 15 minutes per month to work with it.

Our story isn’t unique, either.  Everyone I know who is using the program has saved significant time and money.  But when it’s your own money you’re talking about, everybody else’s “success” stories seem like a collective fairy tale “conspiracy” to convince you to ignore your own intuition.  After all, their success doesn’t touch your own challenges, concerns, or issues, so it’s easy to dismiss their testimonials as “irrelevant” to you.  I know.  I was there.  I’m Mr. Skeptical.

Debt Payoff Progress

Take The Financial Acumen Course®.
Learn What I Learned!

Financial Acumen Course Coupon FAC-TELE-20

Lessons Learned: How to Avoid My Mistakes

So let me save you some trouble, if you’ll allow me.  Here are a few things I learned about the program and myself as it made a believer out of me:

    • skepticalI might be intelligent, but I don’t know everything.  My own analytical “smartness” would have cost us over $400,000 in unnecessary interest payments if I hadn’t listened to Lori.  And that would have been very “not smart”.  Don’t make the same mistake that I almost made.  The bottom-line takeaway:  Just because you think something won’t work doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.
    • My guarded behavior to “protect” us would have actually been more damaging to our future lifestyle and retirement, due to my own ignorance of money.  There’s a big difference between knowing how to pay bills & balance a checkbook, versus understanding financial strategies and the underlying algorithms of optimizing your household finances.  The bottom-line takeaway: Don’t hurt yourself trying to protect yourself, uninformed.  Too often, out of ignorance, we “don’t know what we don’t know”.  Take the time to at least become “consciously competent” with understanding money strategies.
    • Don’t assume you understand something and dismiss it prematurely.  Like I mentioned, I had made assumptions that were based on a half-baked understanding of what I thought I knew.  Again, I was ignorant of the facts and tainted enough by incorrect or incomplete assumptions.  Therefore, the original mental picture I painted of the program was all wrong.  The bottom-line takeaway:  Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s unconscionably expensive.
    • No, you can’t do it yourself and get the results.  I’m not being vain or conceited…  I’m not saying, “If I can’t do it, YOU can’t do it.”  That’s not it at all.  I’m saying (if you have more than 2 or 3 debts and/or more than a few years of remaining payments), NO ONE can do the copious amounts of math required to compute the action plan the program creates.  No exaggeration.  No joke.   The bottom-line takeaway: No matter how smart you are or how good you are at math, when it comes to factorial permutations, ratio calculations and interest computations, the computer has you outgunned.
    • It’s a no-brainer.  It’s mind-bogglingly complicated behind the scenes (the programming) to make it so mind-numbingly simple to use (following the instructions).  The bottom-line takeaway: If you say “no” to it after seeing the free report on how much it will save you, you either do not understand it, or you don’t believe it, or both.  But then that’s a shortcoming on you, not the program.  Do yourself a favor and don’t hinder your own future due to unfounded doubts.  Prove me wrong.  (You can’t).

Yeah, that last bullet point is a bit bold (maybe even “rude“), but at one time or another we all need a brick between the eyes to get our attention.  I would have rejected such a statement myself a few years ago, but it would have irritated me enough to take action and learn more, just to be sure.  Actually, it kinda did.

The Financial Acumen Course Workbook

In fact, I was so “blown away” by the material I learned that I wanted to make sure my kids learn it, too… at an earlier age than I did.  This is stuff that’s not taught in school, but should be.  So, to create a legacy to leave for my kids, I created a series of tutorial videos for them, to teach them about money: All the stuff I wish I had learned years ago.  I want my kids to benefit from my experiences, mistakes, and successes.  And, I also want them to get a good overall financial literacy.  If I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, they’ll have that now… and I named it “The Financial Acumen Course“, complete with references and citations.  Then it occurred to me that other people would benefit from the information, too, for their own kids or to learn it themselves.  So I gave it to The Prosperity Solutions Group, and Lori now has it as a resource to help people with improving their financial education.

So the Financial Acumen Course® is now available to everyone at www.FinancialAcumenCourse.com.  You can watch a preview of it in the videos below.

Okay, MY Proof Isn’t Necessarily YOUR Proof.
So If You Still Have Your Doubts…

On a parting note, if you have any questions about becoming debt-free, be sure to give Lori a call.  Her passion for helping people has only grown over time, and her mission-in-life is to help people get to a better place, financially.  Check out her Life After Debt Facebook page.  I’d appreciate it if you’d give her the “thumbs up” by liking posts that help you out, and please click “Share” to help your friends benefit from the material, too.

And my final thoughts on Lori’s algorithm-based payoff program: The interest savings shown on the free analysis she’ll run for you is truth, guaranteed.  It’s a mathematical fact.  Look at it and consider it carefully.  Someone is going to get that money.  Whatever that amount is, if you keep on the path you’ve been on, that’s money you’ll pay to the banks.  If you move forward with Lori’s program, it’s money you’ll keep in your pocket.  Take a look at the amount.  Think about what kind difference it would make in your life.  And look at the date you’ll be debt-free on the report.  The time is just a function of math, too.  Non-debatable.  What is that time worth to you?  Would it make a difference in your lifestyle?  Look at what it’s costing you for every month you don’t change your debt payoff plan.  And look at how much of a nest egg you could accrue if you did change your payoff plan.  The math paints the picture.  And it allows you to make an informed decision with 20/20 vision, looking forward at your life.  Based on the numbers for your unique situation, what path makes the most sense to you?  Once it’s laid out on paper, the choice becomes crystal clear.  So not only will you be able to make an informed decision, you can make a smart decision, and the right decision for yourself.

Lori's Business Card

SO, what can she do for you?  If you’re carrying any kind of debt, she can help you systemize your financial picture and potentially help you pay it off in 1/3 to 1/4 the time that you would otherwise be under the bank’s thumb.  That’s right…  If you have a brand new, shiny 30-year mortgage along with a few student loans and credit cards, you might be pleasantly surprised to be able to pay it all off in 7 to 10 years… free-and-clear.  You won’t know for sure until you talk with her.  So plan to do that soon!  I’ve included her business card, here, with her contact information, or you can schedule an appointment with her via the “Schedule Your Consultation” button, below.

And…  That’s my testimonial about my financial journey to get out of debt with Lori Elliott.

Now, here’s my advice to you (or perhaps, better stated, the lessons I’ve learned):

    • Learn from the mistakes of others.  You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
    • Don’t be like I was, “confidently clueless“.  Put aside dismissive pride, ego and stubbornness.  Keep an open mind.  Learn something new.
    • Your opinion that it “won’t work” doesn’t change the fact that it works.  Realize that sometimes misguided opinions get in the way of progress.
    • It’s okay if you don’t understand it all.  When you turn the key to start your car or push the “on” button to start your computer, a lot happens behind-the-scenes that you probably don’t understand.  As long as it works, you don’t really care about the details.  In other words: You don’t need to be an auto mechanic to drive; you don’t need to be a computer engineer to check email and surf the web; and you don’t need to know how to code algorithms or be a mathematician to use the debt-payoff program.  As long as your car, your computer and your algorithm-based debt payoff program work, be happy!
    • It’s not “too good to be true.”  It’s “too good to pass up.”  It’s based on math, not magic.  And it’s backed by a written guarantee as well as credible third-party reviews.   (Example: Play the News 3 at 5 Video below, at the bottom of the page).

Okay.  Still Scratching Your Head on HOW?

ConfusedHere is a loose parallel to an algorithm-based debt-payoff program.  Think about playing chess with a friend.  Now think about playing chess against a computer.  It’s the same game, but the way the game plays out is a lot different!

When you play a friendly (or competitive) game of chess with your buddy, you can each ponder the options and respond to each other’s moves (and mistakes).  Sometimes to get into a winning position, you have to make three or four (or more) strategic moves first, narrowing down your buddy’s options and finding the way to eliminate your opponent’s pieces while minimizing the loss of your own.  (It’s kind of an analogy to paying off your debts to your creditors, maximizing your savings and minimizing the interest you pay.)

ChessWhen you play against the computer, after every move you make, the computer examines each of it’s options.  It then examines each of your possible responses to those options, and continues “mentally” playing out the entire combination of possibilities to arrive at the most efficient way to win the game.  For every move you make, it determines all of the “winning” combinations, and then it picks the shortest one.  That’s when it makes it’s next move on the board.   When you make your next move, it does all of that work again, from scratch, with the new picture it sees.  The computer always knows the number of moves ahead, to put you in “checkmate” and win the game.  (If you’ve ever “beat” the computer at chess, it’s because the “difficulty” setting was set to something other than “most difficult”.  Setting the difficulty level to something easier simply forces the computer to reduce the number of moves ahead that it examines… so you didn’t exactly “win” based on being a better player…  sorry to pop your bubble.)

Artificial Intelligence

With an algorithm-based debt-payoff program, you’re playing “chess” with your finances.  In this case, your program (the computer) calculates every possible move to get to zero debt the fastest.  It looks at interest rates, simple vs. compound interest, payment terms, ways to cut costs, ways to earn interest towards principal payments, and so on.  It runs every combination of financial computations for all possible future payments based on your current snapshot in time (your financial chess board).  Then it “taps you on the shoulder” and tells you what moves to make.  As your situation changes, it re-computes the entire “game” to ensure that it knows exactly how many moves (how much time and money) you have to get to zero debt, given all of your options.  If you follow the program’s instructions, you achieve your fastest debt-payoff.  If you decide to do something different, it looks at what you did, then re-computes the path to your destination, just like a GPS does if you take a wrong turn.  You remain in control, but your program program can see your financial picture years down the road.

Click the “Information” button below to get “deep into the weeds” of how Lori’s algorithm-based program works.

For those who think you’re even more skeptical than I was
and still haven’t wrapped your mind around it, click below.

Yeah but How

Have Your Doubts?  I Don’t Blame You.  Learn from My Mistake!

Tom Elliott

Hi, I’m Mr. Skeptical.   Actually, my name’s Tom Elliott and I’m one of the co-founders of Top Tier Business Systems LLC® and the Prosperity Solutions Group.  I’m a “co-founder” by default, mainly because I’m Lori Elliott’s husband.  So I can say, “I was there” when it all began.  But the credit goes to her… As you’ll see from my story, below, Lori does all the “heavy lifting” in the business: Managing people, managing sales, managing money, coaching & consulting, and all of the day-to-day operations.  I get the mail out of the mailbox for her once in awhile… just to be “helpful”.  I like to help out when I can, which is why I was happy to write my testimonial (below) for her about my first-hand experience with her debt payoff program.

A bit about me: I’m a “tough sell”.  I’m hard-headed.  I’m the epitome of “yeah, but…” in an argument or debate.   I can relate to the sarcastic little meme that reads, “I would agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”  I don’t accept things at face-value, and I’m always looking at the various angles that things might not work.  Some people call it “negativity” or “pessimism”, but I look at it as “being prepared”, having a “Plan B”, “Plan C”, “Plan D”, etc.  Must be the “Navy” in me: always take a multi-pronged approach to be certain that the job gets done despite any potential obstacles.  I’ve become a little “better” about having an optimistic outlook as I’ve gotten older, but in the back of my mind, the “pessimist” is never disappointed.  Professionally (in the Navy), part of what I did included forensic accounting of sorts… examining financial records, auditing accounts, etc.  I’m not half-bad with a calculator and spreadsheets.  And math doesn’t “scare” me.  I’ve got experience (good and bad) investing in real estate, stocks & bonds, precious metals, and crypto-currency.  For most of my adult life I’ve felt “comfortable” talking about money and thought I understood it.  In a nutshell, I’m analytical, cautious, and thorough because I don’t like “surprises”.  Like I said, I’m Mr. Skeptical.

 

My Efforts to Debunk the Program

I captured screen shots
of our periodic progress over time.

At the time (beginning of 2017), the concept was fairly new to Lori as well.  She just had a better attitude than I did.  She’s the optimist of the two of us, always finding the silver lining.  When I saw how excited she was about a program to save time and money, I had to listen (because I love her… not because I was “on board” with it).  She didn’t convince me that it would work, but she convinced me to give it a chance to work.  I didn’t want to put a damper on her spirit, so I said “okay”, figuring that she’d ultimately be disappointed, but I wanted to be a supportive husband.  Plus, my “Plan B” was that the program was backed by a written guarantee… so I figured it was a safe risk when it didn’t work.  Pessimism at its finest.   Between the written money-back guarantee and the News 3 “Saving You Money Team” report (see the video below), I decided to risk it.  So, as I often hear her tell others, I was her “first sale”.

So we got started with our “new” plan to get us out of debt.  Meanwhile, being the skeptic, I tried every which way possible to figure out how it wouldn’t work.  It made NO SENSE to me that 28 years of debt could be paid off in-full in such a short time without 1) massive amounts of additional income, and 2) throwing every spare dime into principal payments.   I followed the program’s instructions, both spitefully to prove it wrong and just to be sure I was still eligible for the guarantee.  But I also dug in deeply to learn about the strategies the program uses to accomplish the seemingly-impossible claims.   Each month I plugged our snapshot-in-time numbers into mortgage amortization calculators to verify our progress, expecting to find that we got duped.  Every month I was surprised at the actual progress we made towards paying down debts and (I’ll admit) I was frustrated that my suspicions and doubts were unfounded.

Eventually I shifted from trying to prove it wrong to trying to understand how it might possibly work.  I did screen captures to track progress along the way (shown on this page), and in the learning process I gained a completely different view and understanding of financial literacy.  (The light bulb in my head started to glow dimly, and I started to come to grips with the fact that in my negativity, I might have been wrong about the program.)  I had to acknowledge (to myself) that my ignorant opinion didn’t change the facts of the matter, and my pride had become an obstacle to learning and growth.

Long story short, I understand it now, and the program does work.  Not only does it work, but our 12-year outlook was a worst-case scenario.  Three years into following the program, we were down to about 6 years until payoff.  Once I understood how the financial principles and strategies worked, it was a “slap my forehead” moment.  It’s not magic.  It’s just math.  That’s why a written guarantee is an easy promise to make: Mathematical formulas speak “truth”.  And it works better than the programs that famous authors and motivational speakers teach in their books, podcasts, and financial regimens.

I hadn’t been completely wrong in my assumptions that we’d need to earn more income and have to make extra principal payments.  But the program can do something that I couldn’t do: It helped create and find the money to use for the extra principal using existing resources.  If you think about it, that’s a game-changer.  Most debt payoff programs focus on paying down debts out-of-context from saving money or building a retirement.  Lori’s program addresses both at the same time, and it takes advantage of compounding interest you earn to offset interest that you pay.
It looked at all of our debts, interest rates, payment schedules, etc. simultaneously and within context of each other, and it also factored in interest-earning savings resources, interest float periods, and so forth to actually re-channel our household cash flow in ways that created the additional principal to use in paying down the debts.   The result: Using the program, we’ve cut 22 years off of our debt and will save over $400,000 in interest.  That’s money in our pockets that can be saved or invested… rather than taken from us by the banks.

Needless to say, I’m a lot more positive and optimistic now.  It’s easier to have a brighter outlook without the stress of debt.  And the program is easy to follow.  It takes about 10 to 15 minutes per month to work with it.

Our story isn’t unique, either.  Everyone I know who is using the program has saved significant time and money.  But when it’s your own money you’re talking about, everybody else’s “success” stories seem like a collective fairy tale “conspiracy” to convince you to ignore your own intuition.  After all, their success doesn’t touch your own challenges, concerns, or issues, so it’s easy to dismiss their testimonials as “irrelevant” to you.  I know.  I was there.  I’m Mr. Skeptical.

Debt Payoff Progress

Take The Financial Acumen Course®.
Learn What I Learned!

Financial Acumen Course Coupon FAC-TELE-20

Lessons Learned: How to Avoid My Mistakes

So let me save you some trouble, if you’ll allow me.  Here are a few things I learned about the program and myself as it made a believer out of me:

  • skepticalI might be intelligent, but I don’t know everything.  My own analytical “smartness” would have cost us over $400,000 in unnecessary interest payments if I hadn’t listened to Lori.  And that would have been very “not smart”.  Don’t make the same mistake that I almost made.  The bottom-line takeaway:  Just because you think something won’t work doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.
  • My guarded behavior to “protect” us would have actually been more damaging to our future lifestyle and retirement, due to my own ignorance of money.  There’s a big difference between knowing how to pay bills & balance a checkbook, versus understanding financial strategies and the underlying algorithms of optimizing your household finances.  The bottom-line takeaway: Don’t hurt yourself trying to protect yourself, uninformed.  Too often, out of ignorance, we “don’t know what we don’t know”.  Take the time to at least become “consciously competent” with understanding money strategies.
  • Don’t assume you understand something and dismiss it prematurely.  Like I mentioned, I had made assumptions that were based on a half-baked understanding of what I thought I knew.  Again, I was ignorant of the facts and tainted enough by incorrect or incomplete assumptions.  Therefore, the original mental picture I painted of the program was all wrong.  The bottom-line takeaway:  Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s unconscionably expensive.
  • No, you can’t do it yourself and get the results.  I’m not being vain or conceited…  I’m not saying, “If I can’t do it, YOU can’t do it.”  That’s not it at all.  I’m saying (if you have more than 2 or 3 debts and/or more than a few years of remaining payments), NO ONE can do the copious amounts of math required to compute the action plan the program creates.  No exaggeration.  No joke.   The bottom-line takeaway: No matter how smart you are or how good you are at math, when it comes to factorial permutations, ratio calculations and interest computations, the computer has you outgunned.
  • It’s a no-brainer.  It’s mind-bogglingly complicated behind the scenes (the programming) to make it so mind-numbingly simple to use (following the instructions).  The bottom-line takeaway: If you say “no” to it after seeing the free report on how much it will save you, you either do not understand it, or you don’t believe it, or both.  But then that’s a shortcoming on you, not the program.  Do yourself a favor and don’t hinder your own future due to unfounded doubts.  Prove me wrong.  (You can’t).

Yeah, that last bullet point is a bit bold (maybe even “rude“), but at one time or another we all need a brick between the eyes to get our attention.  I would have rejected such a statement myself a few years ago, but it would have irritated me enough to take action and learn more, just to be sure.  Actually, it kinda did.

The Financial Acumen Course Workbook

In fact, I was so “blown away” by the material I learned that I wanted to make sure my kids learn it, too… at an earlier age than I did.  This is stuff that’s not taught in school, but should be.  So, to create a legacy to leave for my kids, I created a series of tutorial videos for them, to teach them about money: All the stuff I wish I had learned years ago.  I want my kids to benefit from my experiences, mistakes, and successes.  And, I also want them to get a good overall financial literacy.  If I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, they’ll have that now… and I named it “The Financial Acumen Course“, complete with references and citations.  Then it occurred to me that other people would benefit from the information, too, for their own kids or to learn it themselves.  So I gave it to The Prosperity Solutions Group, and Lori now has it as a resource to help people with improving their financial education.

So the Financial Acumen Course® is now available to everyone at www.FinancialAcumenCourse.com.  You can watch a preview of it in the videos below.

Okay, MY Proof Isn’t Necessarily YOUR Proof.
So If You Still Have Your Doubts…

On a parting note, if you have any questions about becoming debt-free, be sure to give Lori a call.  Her passion for helping people has only grown over time, and her mission-in-life is to help people get to a better place, financially.  Check out her Life After Debt Facebook page.  I’d appreciate it if you’d give her the “thumbs up” by liking posts that help you out, and please click “Share” to help your friends benefit from the material, too.

And my final thoughts on Lori’s algorithm-based payoff program: The interest savings shown on the free analysis she’ll run for you is truth, guaranteed.  It’s a mathematical fact.  Look at it and consider it carefully.  Someone is going to get that money.  Whatever that amount is, if you keep on the path you’ve been on, that’s money you’ll pay to the banks.  If you move forward with Lori’s program, it’s money you’ll keep in your pocket.  Take a look at the amount.  Think about what kind difference it would make in your life.  And look at the date you’ll be debt-free on the report.  The time is just a function of math, too.  Non-debatable.  What is that time worth to you?  Would it make a difference in your lifestyle?  Look at what it’s costing you for every month you don’t change your debt payoff plan.  And look at how much of a nest egg you could accrue if you did change your payoff plan.  The math paints the picture.  And it allows you to make an informed decision with 20/20 vision, looking forward at your life.  Based on the numbers for your unique situation, what path makes the most sense to you?  Once it’s laid out on paper, the choice becomes crystal clear.  So not only will you be able to make an informed decision, you can make a smart decision, and the right decision for yourself.

Lori's Business Card

SO, what can she do for you?  If you’re carrying any kind of debt, she can help you systemize your financial picture and potentially help you pay it off in 1/3 to 1/4 the time that you would otherwise be under the bank’s thumb.  That’s right…  If you have a brand new, shiny 30-year mortgage along with a few student loans and credit cards, you might be pleasantly surprised to be able to pay it all off in 7 to 10 years… free-and-clear.  You won’t know for sure until you talk with her.  So plan to do that soon!  I’ve included her business card, here, with her contact information, or you can schedule an appointment with her via the “Schedule Your Consultation” button, below.

And…  That’s my testimonial about my financial journey to get out of debt with Lori Elliott.

Now, here’s my advice to you (or perhaps, better stated, the lessons I’ve learned):

  • Learn from the mistakes of others.  You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
  • Don’t be like I was, “confidently clueless“.  Put aside dismissive pride, ego and stubbornness.  Keep an open mind.  Learn something new.
  • Your opinion that it “won’t work” doesn’t change the fact that it works.  Realize that sometimes misguided opinions get in the way of progress.
  • It’s okay if you don’t understand it all.  When you turn the key to start your car or push the “on” button to start your computer, a lot happens behind-the-scenes that you probably don’t understand.  As long as it works, you don’t really care about the details.  In other words: You don’t need to be an auto mechanic to drive; you don’t need to be a computer engineer to check email and surf the web; and you don’t need to know how to code algorithms or be a mathematician to use the debt-payoff program.  As long as your car, your computer and your algorithm-based debt payoff program work, be happy!
  • It’s not “too good to be true.”  It’s “too good to pass up.”  It’s based on math, not magic.  And it’s backed by a written guarantee as well as credible third-party reviews.   (Example: Play the News 3 at 5 Video below, at the bottom of the page).

Okay.  Still Scratching Your Head on HOW?

Confused

Here is a loose parallel to an algorithm-based debt-payoff program.  Think about playing chess with a friend.  Now think about playing chess against a computer.  It’s the same game, but the way the game plays out is a lot different!

When you play a friendly (or competitive) game of chess with your buddy, you can each ponder the options and respond to each other’s moves (and mistakes).  Sometimes to get into a winning position, you have to make three or four (or more) strategic moves first, narrowing down your buddy’s options and finding the way to eliminate your opponent’s pieces while minimizing the loss of your own.  (It’s kind of an analogy to paying off your debts to your creditors, maximizing your savings and minimizing the interest you pay.)

Chess

When you play against the computer, after every move you make, the computer examines each of it’s options.  It then examines each of your possible responses to those options, and continues “mentally” playing out the entire combination of possibilities to arrive at the most efficient way to win the game.  For every move you make, it determines all of the “winning” combinations, and then it picks the shortest one.  That’s when it makes it’s next move on the board.   When you make your next move, it does all of that work again, from scratch, with the new picture it sees.  The computer always knows the number of moves ahead, to put you in “checkmate” and win the game.  (If you’ve ever “beat” the computer at chess, it’s because the “difficulty” setting was set to something other than “most difficult”.  Setting the difficulty level to something easier simply forces the computer to reduce the number of moves ahead that it examines… so you didn’t exactly “win” based on being a better player…  sorry to pop your bubble.)

Artificial Intelligence

With an algorithm-based debt-payoff program, you’re playing “chess” with your finances.  In this case, your program (the computer) calculates every possible move to get to zero debt the fastest.  It looks at interest rates, simple vs. compound interest, payment terms, ways to cut costs, ways to earn interest towards principal payments, and so on.  It runs every combination of financial computations for all possible future payments based on your current snapshot in time (your financial chess board).  Then it “taps you on the shoulder” and tells you what moves to make.  As your situation changes, it re-computes the entire “game” to ensure that it knows exactly how many moves (how much time and money) you have to get to zero debt, given all of your options.  If you follow the program’s instructions, you achieve your fastest debt-payoff.  If you decide to do something different, it looks at what you did, then re-computes the path to your destination, just like a GPS does if you take a wrong turn.  You remain in control, but your program program can see your financial picture years down the road.

Click the “Information” button below to get “deep into the weeds” of how Lori’s algorithm-based program works.

For those who think you’re even more skeptical than I was
and still haven’t wrapped your mind around it, click below.

Yeah but How

Explainer Videos

Click on the videos below to learn more about strategic debt payoff and some of the tools I share with my Clients.

Coming Soon

Explainer Videos

Click on the videos below to learn more about strategic debt payoff and some of the tools I share with my Clients.

Coming Soon