MONEY MATTERS with Christopher Hensley

Peter Bregman, author of the   Wall Street Journal   bestseller   18 Minutes,   offers strategies to replace energy-wasting, counter-productive habits that commonly derail us with truly effective ones. The things we want most—peace of mind, fulfilling relationships, to do well at work—are surprisingly straightforward to realize. But too often our best efforts to attain them are built on destructiv...

Jia Jiang came to the United States with the dream of becoming the next Bill Gates. But despite early success in the corporate world, his first attempt to pursue his entrepreneurial dream ended in rejection. He was crushed. Jiang realized that, like so many others, his fear of rejection was a bigger obstacle than any single rejection would ever be, and he needed to find a way to overcome his fear....

"Its not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."-- Mother Teresa DEFINITION of 'Charitable Donation' A gift made by an individual or an organization to a nonprofit organization, charity or private foundation. Charitable donations are commonly in the form of cash, but can also take the form of real estate, motor vehicles, appreciated securities, clothing and other assets or services...

"The most important thing is getting clarity about the big picture so you can cope with the unexpected. Maybe you’ll lose the job you thought was secure; you’ll take a financial risk that doesn’t pan out; you’ll have twins when you were only budgeting for one. In other words: Life will happen." Carl Richards Today we were joined by the author of the new book The One Page Financial Plan, Carl Richa...

We have all heard about the enviormental benefits of building green. How does building green translate into hard dollars? What is the economic impact of building green? We were joined today by Mike Collignon Executive Director and Co-Founder. Mike engages in national and state-level advocacy, co-produces quarterly research reports, and publishes a bi-monthly e-newsletter, a monthly member publicat...

April is here and many of us are done with taxes. Now what? April is also Financial Literacy month and celebrated locally as Houston Money Week. Houston Money Week is a financial education initiative for people of all ages. FREE workshops are scheduled from April 11 - April 18, 2015.   We were joined today by Houston Money Week Partner Ogadi Fields     You can find out more about Houston Money Wee...

  We are at about 75,000 Energy and Oil job losses nationwide since the drop in oil prices began. Here in Houston we all have friends or family members who might have been in this initial round of layoffs. The bad news in that it is not over yet. According to our guest the 2nd round of cuts will be coming shortly down the road. The good news is that there is hope. If you know someone who has been...

Learn the secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits and earn up to thousands of dollars more each year with expert advice that you can’t get anywhere else. Want to know how to navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits? You could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules),...

When your child has picked a school and decided they want to go to college the next step is paying for it. After we get over the sticker shock that is the current cost of college tuition we most figure out where the funds to pay for school actually come from. Today we answer the question how do we pay for college. Jackie Aguilera has over 20 years experience in adult education and curriculum devel...

For me a car has always been a tool to get you from point A to B. I have said in the past that a car is a depreciating asset as soon as you drive it off the lot. The only exception to this rule is classic and/or collectible cars. I recently toured a classic and collectible car facility here in Houston that made me change my thinking. After learning about how much some of these cars have recently g...

In Jane Austen's "Persuasion," Captain Wentworth writes to his love interest, "I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach." When it comes to actual persuasion, however, not all learning leaders know exactly what that reach is, let alone what's within it.   We were joined today by Author Juliet Huck. I wrote The Equation of Persuasion™ to empower you to reach your highest potential as...

For many of us who speak for a living our business and careers depend on making powerful presentations. For others you might have to occasionally make a presentation in front of a group of co-workers or clients. How do you go from a good speaker to a great speaker?   We kicked off the show today with Houston Business Journal's Money and Law reporter Suzanne Edwards for our 2nd installment of a loc...

When spring fever hits and you start tossing out old clothes and scrubbing the floors, don't forget to give your finances some fresh air, too. Today we discussed how do we get started Spring cleaning our finances. Today we were joined live in the studio with  AVP of South Texas Community programs with Comerica Bank and Houston Money Week partner, Vanessa Reed Vanessa Reed, AVP of the South Texas C...

For many college-bound students, the end of January means wrapping up applications and waiting to hear back. But getting into college is one thing. Paying for it another. Just as students talked with guidance counselors about finding the right schools to apply to, families may turn to help about figuring out which schools make fiscal sense. Today we were joined live in the studio with Houston Hisp...

How creative are you? How do you know? How can you discover and develop your real creative powers? These questions lie at the heart of Creativity on Demand, and Michael Gelb explores them with an assurance and compassion that come from a lifetime of expert practice and deep reflection. There's enormous interest these days in creativity. Businesses everywhere, for example, know that their survival...

So we made it through Christmas, but here it is January and we still are barely juggling the bills? How do you make a plan of attack to get back on track? Do you have a Christmas credit card hangover?  We explored a cure for the Christmas credit card hangover w/Jennifer Guzman from Texas Capital Bank and Houston Money Week Partner. Native Houstonian Jennifer M. Guzman lived in Washington, DC and S...

Could falling oil prices actually be a good thing for certain industries in Houston? If Houston is doing well why is there such a large unbanked or under banked population compared to the rest of the country? We explored both of these questions on a new monthly segment with Houston Business Journal's Legal and Money Reporter, Suzanne Edwards.   Edwards most recently comes from Shanghai, China, whe...

In the past if someone wanted to rob you they would buy a knife. They would wait in a dark alley and when you passed by they would stick you up . With the invention of the locomotive the same thief was able to scale his business by robbing hundreds during a train heist. Fast forward to last year December. 1 out of every 3 Americans were exposed to the Target data breach last year. Millions of peop...

Doctors may be experts at treating patients. But when it comes to running their own businesses, many are making rookie mistakes.   In an environment of rising health-care costs and declining reimbursement, many physicians often find themselves having to see twice the amount of patients to earn the same amount of money. The burden on physicians to navigate the cost of doing business while remaining...

If you went to school to do something creative for a living, you were probably taught the latest software (at the time). You were probably taught how to develop a concept and defend the finished product. You were probably taught the basic principles of your craft. BUT you probably never learned things like: What if my client refuses to pay? Should I work for free to build my portfolio? How do I fi...

Retirement income literacy is of essential importance to the financial security of retired Americans. With limited or no ability to earn additional money through work, this group must know how much they need to accumulate by the time they retire and know how to manage their money during retirement. Further, retirement income literacy will become more important  as the number of people entering  re...

"I can think of no other condition that places such heavy burden on society, families and communities and of course the economy." - Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General, World Health Organization More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, and unless a medical breakthrough is discovered that number is expected to soar to more than 7 million by 2025 a...

When life hands you lemons what do you do? Well complaining certainly doesn't help anything, and nobody really listens anyway. Truth is, most successful people have failed their way to the top. For every successful person that you see, what you don't see is the trail of bankruptcies, failed partnerships, and pricey mistakes that made them who they are today. So does that mean every entrepreneur ha...

How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? What do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers do in common to beat the norm? One way or another, they do it like computer hackers. T...

By 2015, 77 million Americans will be 50 to 69 years old! As the first generation to be so long-lived, we face the challenge of taking personal responsibility for the quality of our extended lives. Well be log-term pioneers, making the second part of our lives as rich and rewarding as the first, if not more so. But aging isn't the point. The point is lifelong development- our ability to live skill...