I love selling on-line and find it an extremely enjoyable way to make money. I really enjoy working with you and learning how to build and tweak my website. At this point my website, http://makegreatconversation.com, has brought in about $830 on 13 sales. It is great to be able to open my PayPal account and see the sales and money adding up.

With Prosper, it is great to have someone looking over my shoulder, who knows what to do and can direct me, instead of just stumbling along by myself. I am looking forward to having my website beginning to really produce and to setting up a second and third website very soon. 

Joe C.
Everett, WA

We purchased a foreclosure property in Falmouth on December 10, 2008, for a purchase price of $185,000. We used a hard money lender, which everyone thought we were crazy to do, but he financed 100% for us (unusual). We started to rehab the property, replace windows, siding, flooring, kitchen and baths.

While talking to our friends we came across a buyer. We showed them the property on December 21, 2008, and on Christmas Eve we agreed on a sales price and had them sign a purchase & sale with an earnest deposit, and a closing within 30 days. What a way to start our new future with investing in real estate.

We bought the property for $185,000 and sold it for $295,000. Once everything is finished, paying the investor and finishing the project, we’ll have profited between $35,000 - $40,000. Not bad for our first flip! Now we’re off to try another.

Thanks for everything!

Sean and Kim W.
East Falmouth, MA

The year of 2008 has been an incredible year for us.  Since starting the program, in late January 2008 we have gotten rid of $53,754 worth of debt.  We want to thank God first and foremost for giving us the strength and foresight to start John Cummuta’s TDIW program.  We still can’t believe that we have really reduced our debt by $53,754 in 1 year.

We have paid off 7 credit cards totaling $13,997.28, a car payment totaling $11,500, which is now paid off.  When we started we owed $29,950 on a timeshare and we have that down to $5459-WOW!  We have also paid $3756.56 towards our 2 mortgages. 

How in the world we have done this is beyond us—we we are so far ahead of our initial projections.  If you remember we didn’t even apply our 1st accelerator payment until Feb. of this year.  At first we were hoping to come up with an extra $400 per month or $4800 for the 1st year.  We had our projections for the entire year paid for in the 1st couple of months and the acceleration began and took off like a rocket.  With the help of our coaches we restructured our mortgages, home and car insurance to help increase our accelerator payment.

If it wasn’t for us needing a water purification system for our entire house we could have added an additional $5400.  We also put insulation in our attic costing $1000.00 and we bought a pick – up truck and maintenance on it had cost us $3000.00.  The total unplanned extra expense we had was $9400.  This doesn’t include our vacation we took this past summer, which was paid in full with cash for the 1st time ever for us!  No stress vacation!  We had money left over.

We only have 2 credit cards left and our timeshare.  If everything works out, we will have this paid off by June of 2009 and then we can start on our 2 mortgage payments.  We are still committed to our $400 accelerator margin.  Over the past year we have actually paid an average of $4479.62 per month extra on our debts! 

Soon, in 2009, we are planning to have about $2000 in accelerator margin.  Thank you so much for your help and guidance, we could not have done this without you and John Cummuta, and Prosper.

Ed and Fannie M
Washington Crossing, PA

We joined the Finish Rich Program because we wanted to create financial intimacy in our relationship. I attended a David Bach seminar in December 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, and signed up to be interviewed for the coaching program.

Our desire to be coached was our way to create and educate ourselves so we could move forward together with short and long term goals accomplished and a positive understanding on how to become debt-free, create cash flow management, create additional investments in multiple ways, and build our retirement within the next 10-15 years.

We’ve learned to pay ourselves first consistently, pay for our purchases with cash only, not credit, because of that, we’ve created more cash flow, added to our investments, expanded our business ventures, and overall created a better understanding as a couple how to communicate together for our greater financial goals.

We took our credit card debt, assessed how much debt we had, stopped using our credit cards all together, consolidated some of our credit and changed the overall APR from 30% interest rates to 8.99% interest rates and transferred other cards from 9.99-12.99% APR interest rates to 0% APR interest rates. We have paid off most of our credit cards within the last 4-5 months. We have tracked all of expenses since the end of January and for the first time know exactly how much money we spend a month, need to make ends meet, and how much goes out vs. how much we create, save, and invest.

We have begun to meet our goals by getting a hold of our debt. We have learned how to assess the difference between want and need when it comes to our purchases and pause and discuss whether it is an impulse or planned purchase, and whether we have the money or not already put aside to actually be able to afford it without going against our overall plan which is to be completely debt free. It has definitely made a difference in our spending patterns. We still have leaks to plug, but feel confident with the tools we have been given that we are on the same page and can openly discuss together which naturally creates a positive cash flow management for our present and future.

We loved working with our Financial Coach. He really helped us get real with our spending practices, helped us to recognize our patterns, and shared with us what we would need to do if we really wanted to achieve our goals. It wasn’t always easy listening to what he had to say, but the truth of the matter is that these lessons repeatedly mentioned in David Bach’s series of books have proven to work. Our coach mentored us weekly and managed successfully to always make us accountable and realize how our little shifts in our minds and our actions added up to many positive results.

Felicia & Randy
Los Angeles, Calif.

Kendra B. of Springfield, Mass. recently enrolled in our Finance program and is excited about where she is going.

For the past few years I have been doing a lot of reading about personal finance and everyone seems to have their own ideas of what is most important. David Bach’s Automatic Millionaire and Smart Women Finish Rich made a lot of sense to me, but then there was Dave Ramsey, Suze Ormon, Robert Kiyosaki and others.

Because of this I found it very difficult to decide what I should focus on first. Should I build my emergency fund first or pay off debt? Should I fund my 401k or wait until I have paid off my debt and have 3 to 6 months of savings?

One day I received an invitation to learn more about the Finish Rich Coaching Program from Prosper and I immediately wanted to find out more information. I was assigned my coach and together we worked on a financial plan that was right for me and my individual needs and circumstances.

Since joining the coaching program and taking part in the webinars, homework and conference calls, I now have clear direction on what I need to do first. I have been able to think about my dream and goals and give them dates of when I plan to achieve them.

Prior to the program I couldn’t see any further than just my debt. I learned that my net worth was a negative amount and that was really troubling. I also learned that I clearly need to rethink how I spend money and how to prioritize my spending by what is important to me. So far I have consolidated my credit card balances onto a card with 0% for balance transfers and am working on building up an emergency fund. I am also looking at ways of increasing my income.

This success story was recently submitted by Beth A., a student in San Mateo, California.

Prior to joining this program, my finances were completely out of control. I had incurred a lot of debt and it would have been worse now if I had not sought professional help. It was difficult to get out of the debt circle on my own. I felt hopeless and stressed out by the condition of my finances all the time. I felt too embarrassed. Frugality was a word I didn’t understand. I was living way beyond my means and helping people even if I couldn’t afford it. I realized that if I wanted to be financially independent, I had to learn to say NO to myself and to others.

I’ve learned many things in the TDIW program. One thing I will value forever is the way that my mindset has changed when it comes to spending. I’m learning to value the money I’m making for me and my future, not for show-off at the moment.

I’ve been tracking all my expenses and trying my hardest to stay within my monthly spending plans. When I go grocery shopping, I try to only get the things I need for the week and get out of the store as fast as possible. I never realized that using coupons could be fun and rewarding. A big adjustment is for me is cooking more and bringing lunches to work rather than eating out everyday. It freed up a lot of cash to add into my accelerator margin.

I’m very excited to share that I have paid off a credit card and my car! And in less than four years, I will be completely out of debt! I can’t wait!

In conclusion, I’m really glad and proud of myself that I signed up for this program. Although it’s hard being frugal now, I’m so willing to do it because I know it will bring me a brighter future. There are so many things I’d rather do with my life than working till I’m 65. There has to be a better purpose in life. I would like to be able to retire in 20-25 years. I would like to travel abroad with family and friends and help plant churches all over the world.

Beth A.
San Mateo, CA

Prosper’s students regularly share their successes with us. Here is a story we recently received from a student in Georgia. To see more financial student success stories, click here.

Personal Finance Student Eliminates $8,000 in Debt

I started this program last November. I had tried other programs and was overly skeptical about this one, but something in this program stood out above all the rest. A little fearful, I enrolled. Who would have thought that I could pay down my debt and start a business? In my mind, I never dreamed that I could be an entrepreneur, much less on my way to being debt free.

I just didn’t have the touch and I sure didn’t have the capital to start a business, or so I thought.

It is now six months later and I have already paid off more than $8,000 worth of my debt, not to even mention starting my own business. I paid off two credit cards and two student loans in less than six month of enrolling into this program. I give thanks not only to God but to my two Prosper coaches.

I had been bound by debt for years, robbing Peter to pay Paul. Living paycheck to paycheck was all I seemed to know. To pay off some of my debts and see the fruit of my hard work and faith in action was a dream come true for me.

Rosa Kelly P.
Decatur, GA