Posted by André Nosalsky :: December 28, 2007 @ 9:34 am

There are support programs for everything in life. They are there for a reason, and the reason is that it is much easier to accomplish something when somebody is there with you who has gone through it, understands what you are going through and wants to you to pull through it and win.

In sports, support is readily available – from other people that are doing the same thing, from coaches and from trainers. In training for a half-marathon, the best support that I found effective was having a friend who was constantly there when I didn’t feel like showing up for training.

When training for your Money Marathon, it is important to use as much help as there is available, and there’s a lot of it available if you know where to look and what to look for. Here are several types of support that might be available to you:

1. Unbiased Professionals – These are the lawyers, accountants, advisors, SCORE counselors, and other veteran professionals from your field. For example, sometimes when you’re in a financial bind, you can call your accountant and ask for advice. Because of his or her unique position you may be able to get some general advice to keep you moving further.

2. Biased Professionals – There are many professionals out there, from bankers to brokers to insurance agents, who are willing to explain everything about their products. However, you should keep in mind that they are looking for your business and might not tell you the whole story. It’s best to approach them when you already know what you are looking for and only need them to fill in some details and start the ball rolling on what they are offering.

3. Fellow Marathoners – There are always people that are in a similar race to you who are local. It might help to ask around and research other people who are on the Money Marathon and would be interested in talking about saving, investing and related topics.

4. Online help – Since you are reading this on the web, it is safe for me to assume that you have access to the Internet on a regular basis. There are thousands of sites and groups dedicated to providing support and sharing information on savings tips, investing in stocks, real estate, p2p lending, cost cutting and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Start with a search on Google Groups and Google for forums such as “investing forum” or whichever topics interest you.

We here at Lending Club remind you: don’t go racing off on your Money Marathon alone. It is much easier to be running with somebody or even as a group and having fun along the way, while at the same time supporting each other and sharing information.