Jeff Louderback's Write Perceptions

Founders of Coupon Sherpa introduce newest web sites centered on frugal living – Mr. Free Stuff and Mrs. Sweepstakes

Who says finding bargains and saving money can’t be fun? That is what Mr. Free Stuff and Mrs. Sweepstakes ask. The cartoon characters - Mrs. Sweepstakes is Mr. Free Stuff’s better half - represent the newest online destinations in Luke Knowles’ frugal living theme.

 

In April, Luke Knowles debuted Coupon Sherpa (www.couponsherpa.com) with his wife, Maisie Knowles, and his brother, Jesse Knowles. Coupon Sherpa allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to access in-store coupons from their mobile device and present that coupon to the cashier at the participating merchant. Mr. Free Stuff (www.mrfreestuff.com) is a site where visitors can find free samples and free products. Mrs. Sweepstakes (www.mrssweepstakes.com) is a source of online sweepstakes and contests.

 

“We were inspired by ‘The Incredibles,’ except in our case we have a super hero family of characters that represent their own money saving web sites,” Luke Knowles said. “Coupon Sherpa, Mr. Free Stuff and Mrs. Sweepstakes are all professionally designed and managed web sites, and we wanted to give them a whimsical feel, so we created characters for each site.”

 

Mr. Free Stuff features offers for freebies in a variety of categories, from Audio & Music and Animals & Pets to Home & Office and Sports & Fitness. On a recent day, the home page showcased access to a free coupon for a Mars Candy Bar, a free quart of eggshell paint from Glidden, a free sample of Hugo Boss Element cologne and a free one-day invitation to shop at Sam’s Club.

 

Mrs. Sweepstakes provides consumers a one-stop destination for an array of traditional sweepstakes that award cash prizes, but it also informs readers on contests for shopping sprees, products, vacations, gift cards and tickets among other items. A recent day’s listings included contests such as a $1,000 Bloomingdale’s shopping spree, tickets to see Britney Spears in concert in Los Angeles, $2,500 worth of gasoline, and a year’s supply of Kraft Mac & Cheese.

 

On both sites, all visitors have to do is click on the links to sign up for the offers.

 

Mr. Free Stuff and Mrs. Sweepstakes represent the two newest additions in Knowles’ initiative to create a cluster of web sites focused on frugal living. More sites with specific themes are under development.

 

“Especially in the midst of a sluggish economy, people are interested in opportunities to save money, get free products and services and win prizes,” Knowles said. “We are striving to make it easy for consumers to find money-saving offers in a central location.” 

Dr. Susan Spraker’s financial advice shows women that financial independence equals opportunities

Financial independence opens doors and provides options. This is what Dr. Susan Spraker tells her wealth management clients and her financial planning workshop students. It’s a message that she knows is true from first-hand experience.

 

Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in rural South Carolina as the only daughter of parents who often struggled to keep their small tourist business afloat, Dr. Spraker vowed that she would lead a more financially secure life. While earning a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of South Carolina, she worked at numerous jobs, including as a waitress. After college, she taught for a year, then was recruited to work at South Carolina National Bank. During her teaching and banking jobs, she kept waitressing to make extra income. That work ethic, and a commitment to saving money, allowed Dr. Spraker to pursue and earn graduate and doctorate degrees at Indiana University, where she was the school’s first female Ph.D. in the Urban Geography program in the mid-1970s.

 

“At the bank I worked five days a week, and then I worked both weekend nights as a waitress at two high-end restaurants. I made more money waitressing, and I was able to pay for my first car in one year and save quite a bit,” Dr. Spraker said. “When I learned that as a female I was not allowed to be a branch manager trainee, I decided to leave the bank and pursue my master’s degree.  I had the freedom and the power to do this because I had no debt and plenty of savings to fall back on.  I was willing to take the risk of quitting a secure but low paying job to invest in myself and my future earnings capability.

 

“My education and financial independence have opened a lot of doors,” asserts Dr. Spraker. “It (financial independence) is about having choices, more confidence to take reasonable risks, being less restricted in making personal and business decisions.”

 

A fee-only financial planner with over 25 years of experience in the retirement planning field, Dr. Spraker provides clients a full spectrum of wealth management guidance. She was recently named again to Wealth Manager Magazine’s Top 50 Women in Wealth Management list. Spraker Wealth Management, which Dr. Spraker founded in 2008 after leaving her partnership of 10 years to pursue active portfolio management, is an independent, fee-only financial planning and wealth management firm.

 

Not only does Dr. Spraker advise clients nationwide, but she also conducts financial planning workshops for women, like the one entitled "Women, Money, and Realizing Dreams: Control Your Financial Life and Live Your Real Life" at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif.

“Even though the roles of women in society have changed dramatically in the last couple decades, many women in their 20s, 30s and 40s still have the same issues, not knowing what to do with money, not having experience managing money, spending too much money on frivolities, and being convinced they just don’t understand how money and investments work,” Dr. Spraker said. “So often, a woman gets married, has children and focuses on running a household while her husband manages the finances. Then when  widowed or divorced, the woman suddenly struggles financially because she is forced to become involved and make decisions in an area she has chosen to avoid.   Sudden money is intimidating and can be very dangerous if the right advisors are not chosen.”

 

In her workshops, Dr. Spraker addresses critical financial planning topics such as risk tolerance for investing, credit pitfalls and asset allocation strategies, but she also explores the very emotional and often avoided issues of one’s deepest life goals versus current spending habits and financial balance sheets, as well as the psychological impacts upon financial decisions of parental money beliefs and spending, saving and hoarding habits.

 

Among Dr. Spraker’s recommendations are:

 

Make a commitment to avoid credit card debt. “People become slowly entangled in debt, once credit card at a time. I recommend cutting up every card but one. If you have accumulated date, use no credit whatsoever until all balances are paid off.  Apply all income over and above mortgage payments, food and medical to making the credit card payments.  Then make no new purchases on the one remaining card for at least 90 days to prove to yourself you can live without credit. Freeing yourself from debt is the first step to financial independence.”

 

Start tracking expenses. “In my workshops, I have everyone fill out a living expenses worksheet. It’s a rude awakening for many people. They recognize that they cannot keep their current spending pace and get out of debt or realize their real dreams. People feel empowered when they realize they can control what they spend and can escape debt.  Our consumer oriented society can relearn what’s important, focusing on personal goals and dreams instead of owning the latest advertised car or new gadget that isn’t going to get you to your true life goals. Once automatic consumption of frivolities stops, serious monthly investing can start. That’s the short-term behavioral goal. Learning to systematically invest to reach life goals.”

 

Write your life goals and work towards achieving them. “Many people are unhappy in their jobs, burned out, but they cannot change careers because they have no savings to fall back on. Once they find they are spending more than they are making, they have to decide if they have the determination to start making the required changes to spend less than they are making. A lot of people have more than they need to live comfortably. I ask them, if you were financially independent, what would you become? What would you do differently than you are now? If you had only five years of life remaining, how would you spend it? This focuses them on real life goals and how to use money to reach life goals. It’s about the person you want to become. Maybe you want to teach but can’t afford to. Getting out of debt, controlling consumption and becoming committed to  building your nest egg helps you to achieve your true life goals and dreams.”

 

Dr. Spraker is striving to show women that they can be self-reliant financially, even if they currently are struggling and searching for a way to improve their financial picture.

 

“You can get out of debt just as you got into debt,” Dr. Spraker said. “Knowledge and direction are important, as is discipline. Once you have knowledge and direction, it is easier to maintain discipline because you feel empowered, and you have hope.”

Three Simple Strategies for Investing Success

Just like playing the lottery or dropping a quarter in a slot machine, investing is not a sure thing. Though most of the financial world likes to pretend that investment decisions are purely based on logic and rational thought, the truth is that the majority of these investment choices are driven by emotional and psychological factors, Dr. Joshua Helman believes.

 

A Harvard-trained M.D. who is also a CFS (Certified Fund Specialist), Helman learned first-hand that traditional brokerages are not interested in providing their clients with sound, academically-based advice. He put his medical career on hold and accepted a position with a prominent Wall Street financial institution with the intent to learn about the ins and outs of investing so he could help his friends and colleagues. Instead, he discovered that the institution’s primary goal was not to offer “sound, academically-based advice” but to sell its own products without concern for the clients’ best interest.

 

This is why Helman divorced himself from these traditional financial institutions andcreated the Institute for Healthy Investing, which is based in the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary. Helman is aligned with Abundance Technologies, an investment firm that was founded and is operated by Mark Matson. Abundance manages $1.7 billion and uses the Nobel Prize-winning research of Merton Miller, Harry Markowitz, and William Sharpe, and the groundbreaking research of Eugene Fama and Kenneth French from the University of Chicago. . Their philosophy is based on the Free Market Portfolio Theory investment approach, which emphasizes academic principles in investing.

In his “Investor Awareness Guide,” Helman offers readers these Three Simple Strategies for Investing Success:

 

Eliminate Speculating and Gambling in Your Portfolio

 

Anytime you pay a fee or a commission to managers for picking stocks they believe will beat the market, you are gambling that those stocks are the winners and that others are the losers. The first strategy for investing success is to stop this self-destructive behavior.

 

Compare investing to dieting. It is important to eat the right kinds of food, but it is also crucial to stop consuming massive portions of cakes, cookies and ice cream. Success with your diet involves a lifestyle change.  You must identify healthy and empowering foods and activities, and start consistently incorporating them into your life while recognizing destructive behaviors and eliminating them. Investing works the same way. To have success, you should eliminate speculating and gambling with your money via stock picking, market timing and track record investing.

 

A Dalbar study determined that, over a 22-year period from 1984-2005, the S&P averaged 15.67 percent. The typical investor, placing his money in mutual funds trying to beat the S&P, made a meager 4.12 percent over the same 22-year period. These investors believed in a fund manager’s performance and mutual funds that had seen a profitable five or 10-year period, thinking that it was that fund manager’s superior ability which generated the returns. Instead, it was the underlying asset category that accounted for the results. Investors are often unaware that they could lose 20 to 50 percent of their money. After massive losses, panic spurred them to sell the funds and invest in other assets that were up, repeating the destructive cycle.

 

Every time this cycle occurs, it produces more profits and commissions for the brokerage firms. Whether you win or lose, the brokerage takes its cut. Thus it is important to eliminate stock picking, market timing and track-record investing from your investment strategy.

 

Use market forces; don’t fight them

 

Don’t fight market forces by attempting to beat the market because a majority of managers do not achieve market returns. Instead, harness the power of free markets by owning structured market portfolios that are designed to deliver market rates of return. These funds buy a cross section of all the stocks in a given asset category and often employ effective trading strategies to minimize trading costs to the portfolio.

 

Many investors are surprised to learn how generous market rates of return have been over long periods of time, and there is no stock picking or market timing required to achieve results. Research indicates that the average active mutual fund underperforms the market by two or three percent each year. If the market has historically earned double-digit rates of return and the average investor has seen just 2.6 percent, this means that the investor’s behavior accounts for about a 10 percent annual loss.

 

Based on this knowledge, you only need to allocate your assets into various asset categories to achieve market returns and remain disciplined over long periods of time. Of course, that is easier said than done, thus the value of a financial coach. By focusing on market returns, there is no stock picking involved, and no gambling on beating the market. You own as many stocks as possible in a respective asset category.

 

Hire a financial coach

 

Just as you would hire a coach to improve your golf swing or tennis game, you can turn to a financial coach to maximize the benefits you receive from your investment strategy.

A coach can help you make prudent decisions about how much volatility and risk you want to incorporate in your portfolio. The coach helps you learn the difference between a prudent and imprudent risk. A good coach also provides you with guidance about understanding and measuring diversification in your portfolio.

 

Traditional commission-driven financial planning often leads to fear, anxiety and confusion for consumers. Brokers do not explain all of the options, just the ones that involve the products their financial institutions sell. A financial coach helps you wade through the complex issues and maintain long-term discipline in the investing process because, ultimately, investing roadblocks are caused by people, not portfolios.

 

Importantly, a financial coach will make independent recommendations – not based on commissions, but focused on what is in your best interest.

For more information about Dr. Joshua Helman and the Institute for Healthy Investing, visit www.freemarketinvestor.com.

 

 

“Navigating the Fog of Investing” is a film that exposes the conspiring minds of brokerages

Few topics are more confusing than investing. Consumers are bombarded by television commercials and slick magazine advertisements from big-name brokerages. In the wake of dwindling portfolios caused by a major recession and Ponzi-scheming financial advisors, it is more difficult than ever to know who to trust.

 

“Navigating the Fog of Investing” exposes the conspiring minds of the brokerage community and their tawdry ways, Dr. Joshua Helman says. Armed with a hidden camera, Helman and associates reveal stock brokers and investment gurus for what they really are -- financial cheerleaders without the skirts. The movie is to the personal finance industry what Michael Moore's “Sicko” film is to the healthcare industry.

 

A Harvard-trained M.D., Helman is the ideal person to spearhead the movie. Discussions with his father, also a physician, and his father’s colleagues led Helman to enter the financial coaching arena. He learned that physicians were typically pushed into high-risk investments that netted little return but generous commissions for the financial institutions. Helman put his medical career on hold and accepted a position with a prominent Wall Street financial institution with the intent to learn about the ins and outs of investing, so he could help his friends and colleagues. Instead, he discovered that the institution’s primary goal was not to offer “sound, academically-based advice” but to sell its own products without concern for the clients’ best interest.

 

He left the company and started the Institute for Healthy Investing, which is based in the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary. Helman is aligned with Abundance Technologies, an investment firm that was founded and is operated by Mark Matson. Abundance manages $1.7 billion and uses the Nobel Prize-winning research of Merton Miller, Harry Markowitz, and William Sharpe, and the groundbreaking research of Eugene Fama and Kenneth French from the University of Chicago. Abundance's philosophy is based on the Free Market Portfolio Theory investment approach, which emphasizes academic principles in investing.

 

Throughout “Navigating the Fog of Investing,” Helman asks viewers “to get real” about separating the truths and myths of Wall Street. He appears periodically, along with a number of seriously heavy hitters, from Nobel laureate Markowitz to former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Arthur Levitt, who reinforce Helman's argument that in truth there is no such thing as a broker who can predict how the market will perform.

 

From ads by the financial institutions that have little or nothing to do about their business to financial news programs on television, much of today’s world of investing is more about entertainment than helping Americans build wealth. In one part of the film, viewers learn that Susan Krakower, producer of the Jim Cramer juggernaut Mad Money, used to produce The Jerry Springer Show.

 

For more information about “Navigating the Fog of Investing,” visit www.investingfog.com.

Go Frugal blog’s Best Time to Buy Guide offers consumers guidance about how to save money on more than 45 products

Timing is everything. The old saying especially applies to consumer purchases. You can save hundreds and even thousands of dollars every year by knowing the best time to buy products - from automobiles, appliances and furniture to clothing, cookware and linens. With this in mind, Luke Knowles has created the Best Time to Buy Guide for more than 45 products. The in-depth feature is available on his popular “Go Frugal” blog at http://www.freeshipping.org/blog/best-time-to-buy-guide.

 

Knowles understands this concept first-hand. In December 2007, he and his wife, Maisie Knowles, co-founded FreeShipping.org, which is a one-stop destination for consumers to find online retailers that offer free shipping deals. The site grew rapidly and it now features more than 1,320 merchants. Knowles - who also wrote an e-book about free shipping and recently created Coupon Sherpa (www.couponsherpa.com), an application that allows iPhone users to access coupons on their mobile device – hatched the idea for the Best Time to Buy Guide when he started conducting research for his own use.

 

“We are having a house built, and within weeks we will need to make several purchases, such as furniture, appliances and electronics,” Knowles said. “We were curious about when we should buy these products, and that made me realize that other people would be interested, too.”

 

Among the items detailed in The Best Time to Buy Guide are:

 

Big Appliances

The new models for large appliances roll out in September and October, so stores will be working to make room by discounting previous models. Some stores will keep older inventory in stock through the holiday months and then reduce what ever is left at the beginning of the new year.

During the rest of the year look for holiday sales around Memorial Day and Independence Day.

Best time to buy big appliances: October and January

 

Cell Phones

The best deal on a cell phone is offered when signing up for new service. Consider moving to another carrier, if you are at the end of an existing contract. Another way to save on cell phones is with rebate savings. "Free After Rebate" offers are made on most every popular phone at some point. Pricing usually includes a combination of instant savings and a rebate. The best time to buy is when you can get a cell phone for free, either by signing up for new service or with "cash back after rebate" offers.

Best time to buy a cell phone: When starting a new contract

 

Clothing

Once merchandise has been in stores a month or more, retailers begin dropping prices to circulate new items. Stores begin stocking shelves on Thursday to prepare for the weekend. Weekends are when the most items are sold so the best selection and best prices can be found if you make it to the store before the weekend.

Save additionally by shopping at the end of the season. Clothing stores need to make room for new collections and will mark down clothing significantly to reduce stock. As a new season nears begin looking for deals on clothing. For example, spring is the time to get a good deal on winter clothing.

Best time to buy clothing: Thursday evening and end of season

 

Computers

Computers have become essential items for students which is why most retailers have big back to school sales in August. You can also get a good deal on a computer during the run up to Christmas.

Technology blogs and manufacturer websites should have information about when new computer models will be released. If you have your eye on an older model and a new model is soon to be released, it may be worth the wait in order to buy it at a lower price.

Best time to buy a computer: August and December

 

Mattresses and Box Springs

The best time to buy a mattress and box springs is in May when retailers need to make room for new models. Your chances of getting a great deal at this time are quite good as manufacturers leave retailers enough room to reduce prices.

Best time to buy a mattress: May

Founders of Coupon Sherpa and FreeShipping.org introduce free shipping iPhone app that allows users to access free shipping codes and price discounts for online purchases

Commerce over mobile devices, such as iPhones, is booming in the United States. With this in mind, the founders of Coupon Sherpa and FreeShipping.org have introduced an iPhone application that allows users to find coupon codes for online shopping and make purchases off their iPhone.

The app, which is $1.99 and available at the iPhone App Store, is also ideal to conduct a price comparison and see if you can get a better deal online versus an in-store purchase. The free shipping app features codes for price discounts as well as free shipping deals from participating merchants. Users can search by store or category.

 

“A rapidly growing number of people are making purchases online through their mobile devices, so it makes sense to give them an app where they can get codes for discounts and free shipping offers,” said Luke Knowles, who founded FreeShipping.org (www.freeshipping.org) with his wife, Maisie, and Coupon Sherpa (www.couponsherpa.com) with his Maisie and his brother, Jesse Knowles. “This app is especially convenient when you are in a store and you want to know if the price there is good, or if you can find a better deal online. The only drawback to buying something online is shipping costs, and our app gives you free shipping coupon codes so you can save even more money.”

 

Knowles is building a cluster of businesses centered on frugal living. Launched in December 2007, FreeShipping.org is a one-stop destination for consumers to find online retailers that offer free shipping deals. The site, which now includes more than 1,500 name-brand stores, allows visitors to search by brand or category. Among the major retailers on FreeShipping.org are JCPenney, Macy’s, Target, Bloomingdale's, Kohl’s, Sears, Best Buy, Old Navy and Nordstrom.

 

Knowles debuted Coupon Sherpa, which is also $1.99 and available at the iPhone App Store, in April. Coupon Sherpa allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to access in-store coupons from their mobile device and present that coupon to the cashier at the participating merchant. Finish Line, Zales Jewelers, Coldwater Creek, Gordon’s Jewelers, CompUSA, Jackson-Hewitt and Tiger Direct are among the retailers that offer coupons on that app.

 

The new free shipping app is essentially a mobile version of FreeShipping.org, Knowles says.

 

“We are changing the way people use coupons. We believe this is the future of shopping,” Knowles explained. “The free shipping app is a perfect complement to Coupon Sherpa because the free shipping one is for online shopping and Coupon Sherpa is for in-store purchases.”

 

 

 

The pre-season meeting between coaches and parents can lead to a smooth and successful youth baseball season

It’s a common scene that happens in youth baseball leagues in towns across the country. A parent is unhappy that his or her child is not in the starting lineup, batting in a certain spot in the order, playing a certain position, or perhaps that parent is displeased about another issue. The parent directs that anger towards the coach, an argument ensues and tension is created for the rest of the season.

Jack Perconte understands the challenge a coach faces with parents of players. After a 12-year professional baseball career that includes seven seasons in the majors, Perconte retired in 1987 and opened a baseball training academy in Naperville, Illinois. He estimates that he has given more than 60,000 hitting lessons. Perconte’s book, “The Making of a Hitter: A Proven and Practical Step-by-Step Baseball Guide” (www.themakingofahitter.com), details how parents can teach hitting to their children, and coaches can teach it to their young players. It also educates coaches about how to effectively communicate with the parents of his team’s players so everyone can enjoy the entire season.

“The key to a successful parent-coach relationship is having a mandatory pre-season meeting between parents and coaches,” Perconte said. “Encourage both parents to attend.

“In the invitation, let the parents know that invitation that attending the meeting is important because it will give them the opportunity to learn about your philosophies and guidelines, and it will give them to chance to ask questions,” Perconte added. “At the meeting, try to address every issue you can think of that could possibly lead to friction as the season progresses.”

Here are Perconte’s suggestions for a thorough and successful parent-coach meeting:

1. Give the parents background information about the coaches, especially about their playing and/or coaching experience related to the game. Be honest about your background.
2. Express your philosophy of coaching. The three ultimate objectives are winning, player development and fun. I suggest a 30, 30, 30 split on these objectives and applying the remaining 10 percent for the area most needed. This 10 percent will be determined by the competitiveness of the team and the league. At the meeting, clearly state the goals of the season. I believe it is alright to play to win even at a young level, as long as it is kept in perspective. Remember, you want the ballplayers to develop their skills and have fun.
3. Discuss your philosophy about playing time, batting order and positions played. Let the parents know how you plan to run the team. For example, do players have to earn their position on the field or in the batting order, or will you rotate the players? Give parents a chance to ask questions, and make sure your answers are clearly understood. Be sure to recognize and discuss the objectives of the league and level at which the team is playing.
4. Discuss when and how the coaches can be approached during the season so there are no confrontations. Set up a system where conversations are held away from the players, other parents and the crowds. There will be issues that arise from time to time, but let parents know that disagreements will be handled in a civil way away from the players.
5. Effective communication is the key to averting problems. Make sure parents also reiterate the coaches’ philosophies to the players. Most of the time, young people are happy and content with playing and being around their friends. Troubles start to when parents start to grumble at home to the players about the coach. Insist to the parents that they approach you before getting upset and expressing that displeasure at home.
6. Most issues arise because the parent does not think the coach is being fair. It is important that the coach fulfill his or her philosophies detailed in the pre-season meeting. If you change your philosophy in the middle of the season, then problems can arise.
7. Just as hitters are made, coaches are also made. Coaches should be a role model and a teacher to their players. It is easier to help players develop their baseball skills and enjoy the game when the parents understand the reasoning behind the coaches’ philosophies.

Jack Perconte played 12 years of professional baseball, including seven in the majors for the Dodgers, Indians, Mariners and White Sox, posting a career .270 average in the majors and a .311 mark in the minors. He was a 16^th round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976 and made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 1980. After retiring from professional baseball in 1987, Perconte opened a baseball training academy in Naperville, Ill. The hitting drills, mental training and coaching tips found in “The Making of a Hitter” (www.themakingofahitter.com) were culled from the 60,000 hitting lessons Perconte estimates he gave while operating the academy.

Institute for Healthy Investing shows consumers why traditional brokerages don’t have your best interests in mind

Dr. Joshua Helman is no friend to brokerages that promote traditional investment strategies. He doesn’t want to be, and he thinks that you shouldn’t either since they are more interested in their bottom line than yours. Helman believes in evidence-based science, whether he is using it as an emergency medicine physician or a financial coach.

An incurable entrepreneur, Helman is a Harvard-trained M.D. who is also a CFS (Certified Fund Specialist). All it takes to understand his investment philosophy is a glance at the documentary he created, “Navigating the Fog of Investing: A Scathing Rebuke of the Financial Industry and its Marketing Machine,” and the book he co-authored, “The Dirty, Filthy Lies My Broker Taught Me and 101 Truths About Money and Investing.” His company, the Institute for Healthy Investing, emphasizes evidence-based investing.

Helman has impressive credentials as a physician. He completed his undergraduate work and medical school at Harvard University and earned a master’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Cambridge in England. He trained at Duke University Medical School and the University of Michigan, has served as a practicing physician since 1993 and is now an attending emergency medicine physician in the Orlando area.

Discussions with his father, who is also a physician, and his father’s colleagues led Helman to entering the financial coaching arena.

“Physicians, like most high income earners, are seen as targets by financial institutions,” Helman explained. “I heard my father and his colleagues talk about how it was difficult to retire, and I wondered why since physicians are high-income earners. The more I listened, the more I learned that they were receiving poor advice from their financial advisors. They were pushed into high-risk investments that netted little return but generous commissions for the financial institutions.”

This led Helman to put his medical career on hold and accept a position with a prominent Wall Street financial institution with the intent to learn about the ins and outs of investing so he could help his friends and colleagues. Instead, he discovered that the institution’s primary goal was not to offer “sound, academically-based advice” but to sell its own products without concern for their clients’ best interest.

He left the company and started the Institute for Healthy Investing, which is based in the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary . Helman is aligned with Abundance Technologies, an investment firm that was founded and is operated by Mark Matson and manages $1.7 billion and uses the Nobel Prize-winning research of Merton Miller, Harry Markowitz, and William Sharpe, and the groundbreaking research of Eugene Fama and Kenneth French from the University of Chicago. The philosophy is based on the Free Market Portfolio Theory investment approach, which emphasizes academic principles in investing.

“I believe investing advice that champions Nobel Prize-winning research is more credible than the so-called guidance given by traditional financial institutions,” Helman said. “Americans are bombarded with Wall Street’s version of how to create and maintain wealth, but they have massive advertising budgets and their own agendas.

“Without relying on sound, academically-based research about investing, consumers are certain to fall victim to the myths and lies promoted by traditional financial institutions,” Helman added.

Helman calls his company the Institute for Healthy Investing because he believes in the academic-based approach, and he applies certain elements of what he learned in medical school to investing. Among these elements are:

• Don’t recommend something different to the public than you would your own family.

• Ask what evidence is this based on?

• Put the patient’s (or in this case, the investor’s) interest first.

“My objective is to help clients reduce excessive hidden fees they are paying traditional financial institutions to invest, reduce risk through prudent diversification and offer access to and knowledge about academically-tested and evidence-based investing,” Helman said.

Helman is implementing his philosophy through books and DVDs. “Navigating the Fog of Investing” exposes the conspiring minds of the brokerage community and their tawdry ways, Helman says. Armed with a hidden camera, Helman reveals stock brokers and investment gurus for what they really are - financial cheerleaders without the skirts. With Matson, Helman co-authored the book “The Dirty, Filthy Lies My Broker Taught Me and 101 Truths About Money and Investing.” The package he is selling, which for a limited time is $100, includes a copy of the DVD and the book as well as:

• The Investor Awareness Guide (which includes details about what you should know before you make your next investing decision)

• The Investor Inventory workbook and audio CD (which includes 20 questions you should answer before investing)

• The workbook “Separating Myths From Truths: The Story of Investing”

• The audio CD “Seven Deadly Investor Traps That Destroy Your Wealth and Three Power Strategies to Fix Your Portfolio.”

For more information, visit www.investingfog.com and www.freemarketinvestor.com.

Coupon Sherpa allows shoppers to access coupons on their iPhone and iPod Touch

It’s a situation that, as a shopper, you have likely encountered. You are in a store, find a product you want to purchase and recall seeing a coupon for a healthy discount. If only you would have remembered to bring the coupon along. Now, if you are carrying your iPhone or iPod Touch, you can access on your screen if you have downloaded Coupon Sherpa.

Approved by Apple, Coupon Sherpa (www.couponsherpa.com) is $1.99 and available at the iPhone App Store. Finish Line, Zales Jewelers, Coldwater Creek, Gordon’s Jewelers, CompUSA, Jackson-Hewitt and Tiger Direct are among the retailers that offer coupons on the application. Among the coupon categories include men’s and women’s clothing, electronics, restaurants, pet supplies, sporting goods, restaurants and local services.

Coupon Sherpa is user-friendly. When shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, consumers show the cashier the appropriate coupon from the application on their iPhone or iPod Touch. The cashier then types in the bar code, or scans the coupon if that store has an optical scanner.

“We are changing the way people use coupons. We believe this is the future of shopping,” said Luke Knowles, who created Coupon Sherpa with his wife, Maisie Knowles, and his brother, Jesse Knowles. “A friend of ours mentioned that he longed for the day when many in-store coupons would be available on the iPhone. We thought that was a good idea and set out to make it a reality.”

Knowles understands the consumer demand for discounts, and how retailers that provide those discounts can increase their bottom line. In December 2007, Luke and Maisie introduced FreeShipping.org (www.freeshipping.org), a one-stop destination for consumers to find online retailers that offer free shipping deals. Despite the recession, FreeShipping.org continues to grow. There are now more than 1,250 retailers who offer their free shipping deals and coupons on the site.

Knowles expects similar success for Coupon Sherpa, which allows retailers to post an unlimited number of coupons on the application for free. More than 20 million people own an iPhone, and even more have an iPod Touch. Coupon Sherpa gives merchants a forum for customers to save money and shop in their bricks-and-mortar locations.

“In this economy, many people are shopping on the Internet, and they are looking for every opportunity to save money,” Luke Knowles said. “Just as retailers have embraced free shipping offers, they are also interested in making their coupons readily available for iPhone and iPod Touch users.

Coupon Sherpa gives users access to coupons from many retailers that are exclusive to Coupon Sherpa users. The Coupon Sherpa staff also scours the Internet daily to bring customers a variety of printable coupons. This allows users to search coupons by store name or category and present it to the cashier at check out, or e-mail it to themselves and/or friends and family members to print. New coupons are added daily.

“In the future, most if not all coupons will be presented on mobile devices,” Knowles added. “Retailers who become involved now, when the trend is new, can differentiate themselves from their competition.”

The history of coupons starts with Coca-Cola and Grape Nuts and evolves into free shipping deals to lure online consumers

Long before consumers turned to the Internet in increasing numbers to make their purchases online and years before FreeShipping.org debuted as a one-stop destination for retailers to offer free shipping deals to shoppers, entrepreneurs who created two recognizable products introduced Americans to the concept of coupons.

In 1894, druggist Asa Candler bought the formula for Coca-Cola. To spread the word and stimulate sales, the Atlanta businessman used handwritten tickets for a free glass of Coca-Cola to help market his new soft drink. Within a decade Coca-Cola was available in every state, and in two decades one of every nine Americans had received a free Coca-Cola soft drink.

A year later, grocer C.W. Post embraced the concept. His coupon offered consumers a one cent discount on his new breakfast cereal, Grape Nuts.

Like today, when the United States is mired in one of the worst recessions in its history, the Great Depression of the 1930s was a period when coupon clipping was prevalent and necessary. By the 1940s, when supermarket chains started to slowly but surely replace small corner markets, those chains used coupons to attract customers.

Gradually, coupons became commonplace in the United States. In 1957, The Nielson Coupon Clearing House was established devoted entirely to coupon redemption. Half of all American households were clipping coupons by 1965.

The Internet age provided a new forum for discounts. By the mid 1990s, retailers added printable and downloadable coupons that could be downloaded. Then coupon codes online debuted. Most of these online coupons provided for a percentage discount or free shipping on orders.

Today, free shipping is considered a requirement from consumers, and not just a perk. Without free shipping, consumers are less likely to complete their online order since they are repelled by the shipping costs at checkout.

Launched in December 2007, FreeShipping.org is a one-stop destination for consumers to find online retailers that offer free shipping deals. The site allows visitors to search by brand or category.

“Many online shoppers can identify with the experience of finding a great deal and then discovering an expensive shipping charge during checkout,” said Luke Knowles, who founded FreeShipping.org with his wife, Maisie. “Shopping online is more appealing when you know that you won’t have to pay for shipping.”

FreeShipping.org recently introduced My Favorite Coupons, a section that allows visitors to create their own page and select coupons from specific merchants. For example, if you want to receive coupons related to electronics, those coupons will be displayed on your page. In addition, consumers can sign up to have a daily or weekly e-mail sent with requested coupons.

Despite the recession, FreeShipping.org continues to grow. There are now more than 1,250 retailers who offer their free shipping deals and coupons on the site.

“Shoppers are searching for retailers that offer free shipping, and we are a user-friendly site that gives shoppers access to deals offered by lots of big and small retailers,” Knowles said. “Our coupons are accurate and up-to-date, and our site is easy for visitors to navigate.”

The recession has reshaped the priorities of many retailers, Knowles believes. They are searching for effective ways to reach consumers, and they recognize that free shipping is now considered a requirement and not a perk.

“Everyone wants to save money, especially in this economy,” Knowles said. “Every day, we get e-mails from merchants who offer free shipping and want to be on our site. Big and small merchants alike are reaching out to us to promote free shipping offers.”