Make Your Decisions

The decision to be wealthy and prosperous can be made right now. If your reading this text, chances are you are prosperous when compared to the poorest people in the word. Some people have absolutely nothing. No food, no shelter, no family; this is true poverty. when compared to your wealth, you are most likely infinitely more wealthy then the person who has nothing, yet so many people are unhappy with what they have and strive to get more stuff in order to be happy. I would hypothesize that people aren't really after nice cars, money and houses, if you dig deeper you can see people just want to be happy and they figure that if they obtain more physical possessions it will make them more happy. History tells us this is not true. There are many examples of people with great wealth who no matter what they accumulated or possessed, remained bitter and upset. These people have made a decision to remain discontent and unhappy. The poor can make the same decision but in the opposite direction. They can decide to be happy despite their lack.

Make a decision today to be content with what you have, this should help to increase your general happiness, which is in my opinion, the best measure of wealth.

Discipline Is Imperative

Discipline is the characteristic needed to:

• push yourself past the point most others stop at
• Resist the urge to spend more then you should
• Pull second shift working on your part time business after getting home from your day job
• See the potential in that stock, ignoring the fear
• Continue to learn, grow and risk

...succeed in whatever you want to succeed in.

I'll leave you with some motivational quotes.

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want the most."
"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments."

Motivate Yourself To Make Money Part 2

This is the second part of an X-part post (I'm gonna just keep posting on this subject as I come up with ideas) which focuses on becoming motivated from the inside, because most likely you don't have a personal motivation coach just waiting in the wings to cheer you on when you don't feel like pushing forward.
My tip for this month is to constantly tell yourself, "my time is valuable" whether you think it's true or not. Would someone who's time is valuable watch television, stumble aimlessly online, or socialize to much? The answer is obviously, no.
I also find this statement empowering and enlightening in a plethora of situations. So try it the next time you find yourself evading a task you need to accomplish.

How To Motivate Yourself To Make Money

This is something I struggle with often. Motivation is the fuel needed to launch those projects and ideas you have that need sweat equity before any profits come out on the other end. Usually the source for long term motivation is clear (i.e., infinite freedom, time with family, etc), but what about short term motivation. What is going to put the fire under your ass when all you want to do is sit on the couch and watch a night of T.V. pass you by (while you should be working on your business for example).

I believe I have a solution: DEBT

For someone who has strong, basic financial principals down (saving, no consumer debt, etc) debt can be an excellent motivating factor for making money.

If I can't pay my bills one month, and I have to carry over a balance on my credit card (after paying the minimum), or I'm carrying a balance on my checking plus account with my bank, these facts role around in my head all the time, 24 hours a day, I'm even dreaming about where I'm going to get the money to pay for these expenses. This acts as a fuel to think of new ways of coming into some money. Now that extra "motivation" pushes me into coming up with new ideas, working on previously abandoned projects and forces me to put down the remote control, and find new/old ways to make some cash.

As for how to get into debt, there IS a certain way to do this: Instead of paying off all your monthly expenses, let the non-urgent expenses wait, and deposit those extra funds into some sort of investment vehicle. I believe this strategy is also called "paying yourself first".

What strategies do you use to motivate yourself?

Negotiate With Patience

As I learn more and more about making money, I see several patterns which seem to emulate over and over. One of them is the importance of buying low and selling high (obviously). And in order to do this effectively, having patience on hand will always give you the edge needed to buy low, thus giving you the ability to sell higher.
An example of this could be buying a used car. If you have the luxury of time and the ability to use patience, a quality used vehicle can be purchased for significantly less then if you were in a rush and needed to buy immediately.
Another example could be the purchase of stock, and using a limit order instead of a market order. Using limit orders effectively allows you to negotiate the stock price instead of simply purchasing whatever is for sale at that moment, although a little patience may be needed.
So if you happen to be in the market for a car, or shares of XYZ, don't only exercise good judgement, but also take a moment to exercise patience.

Feelings On Retirement

My girlfriend is taking a class called "Dimensions of Aging" and retirement is a large subject in class.

One assignment in the class was to watch a PBS documentary on retirement and answer several questions. One question was...

5. After looking at this documentary,...how do you feel about the process of retirement? Do you plan on retiring from the workforce in the traditional fashion (i.e., taking Social Security as well as withdrawals from any private pension plans you might participate in), or do you plan on working beyond the normal retirement age determined by Social Security? Do you have any other questions or feelings about the process of retirement after viewing this video?

The link to the video is Here. By the way, it's 2 hours long; so I'll understand if you don't watch it. And just in case your curious, here's my answer to the above question.

"I believe the process of retirement is as good as can be expected. The population as a whole is asked to delay gratification now in anticipation of the inability to work at a reasonable age. This request is asked 30-40 years prior to gratification. In the age we live in today of McDonald's and microwaves, asking someone to delay gratification and set a significant amount of money aside each paycheck is asking a lot.
I plan to retire in my early 30's from the sale of various independent business' reinvested in stocks and possibly real estate.
I feel that society as a whole has lost the discipline and frugality needed to endure the temptation to spend more then you earn and not save at all. These virtues need to be infused into the curriculum of pre-k through high school; until we give our young the tools to act responsibly, how can expect them to save and invest in the fashion needed to independently secure their future?"

What's your answer?

Decreasing Costs

One of my largest expenses is gasoline. I'm sure it's not a mystery to anyone that fuel costs are increasing and now I'm spending almost $80 to fill my tank. This is a problem because like many young American men I enjoy a love affair with driving and consider it a necessity to be able to drive myself anywhere on a moments notice without a second thought (the same reason I used to own an AWD sedan for northeast winters).

In an effort to rediscover my driving freedom I have decided to sell my 95' 530i BMW (20 mpg avg.) and purchase a 97'-98' Honda Civic HX (34 mpg avg.). The Honda is a less expensive car and I expect to have around $1000 left over after selling my Bimmer. This will go directly to my Zecco account to be invested; turning liabilities into assets, that's what it's all about.

In order to receive the best possible price for my current vehicle here are a few things I do to prepare.

1. Make it look pretty.

Get out the wax, Windex, and leather cleaner and give the car a good detail.

2. Make calculated judgements

If there are items that need replacing, determine whether it is worth fixing before selling it. In my own situation, the front bumper needed new trim and a left fog light; I got both for $40 off Craigslist. Something cheap and easy to replace can boost the value enough to warrant a replacement. The other side of the spectrum would be for example the drivers seat which is showing excessive ware. To replace that seat, with a used one in better condition would cost well over $300 and I wouldn't even expect to get that back after selling the car.

3. Sell at the right time

BMW's and generally all rear-wheel drive cars sell better during spring and are harder to sell during fall and winter when most drivers have an AWD or 4X4 in mind. Kinda like buying and selling a motorcycle.

4. The test drive

During test drives with potential buyers, be mindful of where you go. If your cars suspension is on the way out, take them on nice smooth roads where that feature won't stand out. But this doesn't mean to not be...

5. HONEST

An honest person always comes off as genuine which is the most important ingredient when selling anything.

Be On The Offensive To Credit Cards

Stopped by a cool blog called Debt Free Hispanic, left a comment and thought I'd share it

@-Debt Free, just recently became debt free as well and I can't stand it whenever I call Citibank for something; they are always pitching this $10,000 dollar personal loan to me, it always gets me pissed off. So to get back at them I use there credit cards for all the purchases I would have made anyway and rack up on their cash back. I've already made over $100 from my Chase Freedom and I love getting 5% off my gas from Discover. If you can resist the temptation to use those cards for un-needed purchases then take advantage of the credit agencies by playing them at their own game.

I especially like the gas incentive. If your getting 5% back, that's like paying $3.57 for gasoline that costs $3.75 per gallon. If one gas station was selling gas for $3.57 and another for $3.75 across the street, deciding which gas station to patronize would be an easy decision. Just be sure to pay that card off asap; if you can, pay the card the next time your online even though the CC company hasn't asked for it yet.

BTW - the link to the gas card I'm talking about

How To Spend Other People's Money

It was recently my birthday, a side affect of this occurrence is people close to me decide they want to buy me stuff. Usually people buy things they think are meaningful and what usually happens is they either collect dust (what they were destined to do in the first place) or are regifted.
This doesn't happen in my family because we have an extremely evolved gift giving practice. When the individual who's birthday it is, is asked what they want, they simple reply with the item and/or place to purchase the gift or they just request cash. This negates having the gift giving party wasting time, attention, and energy giving a gift that wasn't needed or even wanted. Their are exceptions of course, like a very thoughtful gift from my sister (Quicken Software) which she thought I would want but wasn't specifically asked for. She is of course going to buy the sunglasses I requested of her. Chillies Eye Gear (a.k.a Pepper's Eyeware) are great by the way, cheap polarized lenses, that you won't kick yourself for breaking or loosing them because their so inexpensive.
Another example of intelligent gift giving practices my family uses would be how I'm waiting until June (Father's Day) to purchase tools because they will be on sale like they are every year, instead of right now. The only problem with this one is my Grandma loves to give and waiting until June to give me my birthday gift maybe requesting to much ; ).