Mmm...cookies

Many years ago, I led my daughter’s Girl Scout troop during cookie sale season. These girls were ruthless. They met their sales goal and earned a camping trip to the now-defunct Peppermill Hotel and Casino in Mesquite, NV.  What? You thought they were going to sleep on the ground, pee in a hole in the ground and subsist on campfire rations?

Selling cookies taught the girls how to: 1) set and achieve a goal; 2) convince someone to buy something unnecessary; and 3) manipulate their parents into helping them succeed.  It prepared each girl for the life of an entrepreneur. Next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up a box of Thin Mints and help a girl succeed.

This crazy article about finding your cat-loving soul mate is from PetPlace.com

If there is a lack of cat talk, that is not a good sign. Somebody who doesn’t make cats part of your initial chat may not want to be part of you (sic) or your cat’s real life later on.

Is this site funny? I can’t decide.

The advice in this Huffington Post piece entitled 15 Gay Reasons to Watch the Super Bowl (Not Counting Madonna) is timeless:

Tom Brady is very, very handsome. Remember all those pics from VMan a few years back? And Eli Manning, though not as Bruce-Weber-ly handsome as Brady, possesses his own dorky cuteness. (They tried to dress him up for Men’s Vogue a few years back. An adorable effort.)

Here are dueling trash Trent Hamm posts from Control Your Cash:

Trent Hamm is a 30-something American who claims to function in the modern world. People actually read this dunderhead. By the way, his stratagem about taking showers (and using underarm deodorant) comes from the same invaluable post in which he tells us to brush our teeth.

and Financial Uproar:

Trent goes on to explain that you could save $10 per year by just adjusting the temperature. He doesn’t actually bother to do the math or anything (this isn’t such a bad thing) he just pulls the number out of his ass.

Because I’m not done with football yet, here’s a fascinating article from NFL.com’s new Football Freakanomics blog:

Our latest Football Freakonomics episode — the last one this season — argues that the draft is much more of a crapshoot than most of its practitioners would have us think. The evidence is everywhere. Consider the research of research of Cade Massey and Richard Thaler, who find top draft picks to be seriously overvalued.

What did you do last weekend?

Yep, that's a moat

From Wikipedia:

The Dry Tortugas, [Commodore John Rodgers] reported, consisted of 11 small keys and surrounding reefs and banks, over which the sea broke. There was an outer and an inner harbor. The former afforded a safe anchorage at all seasons, and was large enough to let a large number of ships ride at anchor. Of more importance, the inner harbor combined a sufficient depth of water for ships-of-the-line, with a narrow entrance of not more than 120 yards. Rogers said that if a hostile power should occupy the Dry Tortugas, United States shipping in the Gulf would be in deadly peril, and “nothing but absolute naval superiority” could prevail. However, if occupied and fortified by the U.S., the Dry Tortugas would constitute the “advance post” for a defense of the Gulf Coast.

The fort, which takes up almost all of Garden Key, was never finished. It’s now a ghost town 67 miles west of Key West, FL, and comprises most of Dry Tortugas National Park. Access to Garden Key is via seaplane or daily scheduled ferry. There’s a cadre of National Park staff and a small vistor center/bookstore, but no other public facilities.  There’s great snorkeling, tours of the fort* (ranger- or self-guided) and a moat. The tour’s highlight is the cell where Dr. Samuel Mudd was incarcerated after he was convicted for conspiracy in the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. In 2010 just 53,890 people visited Dry Tortugas.

Carnivals and Links:

No carnivals this week but Dr. Dean of the Millionaire Nurse threw me some link love.

Product Placement:

The Business of Your Business: Formula, Financials, Function and Freedom

I wrote this class for the Women’s Council of REALTORS® but the information and tactics work for anyone who wants to start or improve their business.

By the end of the online video course, you’ll be able to:

• Evaluate your net income and ensure increased profits by planning growth.
• Position your personal production by leveraging your assets.
• Manage your activities to create more money and personal freedom.
• Organize your business, freeing up your time to concentrate on your personal investments.

What’s on my Kindle:

Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy By Caroline Kennedy and Michael Beschloss

Outliers: The Story of Success By Malcolm Gladwell

Notes from the Cracked Ceiling: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for a Woman to Win By Anne E. Kornblut

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West By Stephen Ambrose

Why aren’t you rich? Probably because you fall into one or all of these categories:

You don’t have an education

To succeed in America, you must have a high school diploma and either a college degree or trade skills. You don’t have to spend have a lot of money on your education, you just have to know enough to get a job. Spending too much on your degree defeats the purpose of your schooling. Go to school to get a job.

You don’t have a job

Get a job. Any job. Worry about the salary later.

Work hard. Learn stuff.  Solve problems. You’ll soon be rewarded with opportunities to earn more money.

You’re single

2 incomes are better than 1.

A few caveats: 1) Don’t go into debt getting married; 2) You and your spouse must each have an income; 3) Don’t marry someone with debt. Single with no debt is better than married with debt and a spouse who doesn’t work.

You have kids (and aren’t married)

Single-parent households are more likely than 2-parent households to live in poverty. Same goes for the children when they reach adulthood. Ladies, here’s the easiest way to create wealth: keep your legs together until you’re married to someone with a job, have a job yourself, and are debt-free.

You have an addiction

Alcohol, drugs (legal or otherwise), gambling, smoking or shopping. I’m sure I missed one or two. Rule of thumb: If it costs money, makes you unemployable, damages your health or otherwise interferes in your ability to control the first 4 items on this list, stop doing it.

You love to play the victim

You can never catch a break. You blame others for your problems. You expect society to take care of you and yours. Until you change your mindset, you’ll never be successful, wealthy or happy.

Adam Carolla profanely and succinctly cuts to the chase:

Pull out, get a fucking job  and stop counting on the government. We’re Americans. We don’t hope for shit, we do shit.

Walter Williams sums it up a little more genteelly:

Avoiding long-term poverty is not rocket science. First, graduate from high school. Second, get married before you have children, and stay married. Third, work at any kind of job, even one that starts out paying the minimum wage. And, finally, avoid engaging in criminal behavior.

Now you know the secret to getting rich.  It’s time to take control and build your perfect life.

A famous monastery had fallen on hard times. Formerly its many buildings were filled with young monks, but now it was all but deserted. People no longer came there to be nourished by prayer, and only a handful of old monks shuffled through the cloisters serving God with heavy hearts. On the edge of the monastery woods, an old rabbi had built a little hut. He would come there, from time to time, to fast and pray. No one ever spoke with him, but whenever he appeared, the word would be passed from monk to monk: ‘The rabbi walks in the woods.’ And, for as long as he was there, the monks would feel sustained by his prayerful presence.

One day the abbot decided to visit the rabbi and open his heavy heart to him. So, after the morning Eucharist, he set out through the woods. As he approached the hut, the abbot saw the rabbi standing in the doorway, as if he had been awaiting the abbot’s arrival, his arms outstretched in welcome. They embraced like long-lost brothers. The two entered the hut where, in the middle of the room, stood a wooden table with the scriptures open on it. They sat for a moment in the presence of the Book.

Then the rabbi began to weep. The abbot could not contain himself. He covered his face with his hands and began to cry too. For the first time in his life, he cried his heart out. The two men sat there like lost children, filling the hut with their shared pain and tears. But soon the tears ceased and all was quiet. The rabbi lifted his head. ‘You and your brothers are serving God with heavy hearts,’ he said. ‘You have come to ask a teaching of me. I will give you a teaching, but you can repeat it only once. After that, no one must ever say it aloud again.’

The rabbi looked straight at the abbot and said, ‘The Messiah is among you.’ For a while, all was silent. The rabbi said, ‘Now you must go.’ The abbot left without a word and without ever looking back. The next morning, the abbot called his monks together in the chapter room. He told them he had received a teaching from the ‘rabbi who walks in the woods’ and that the teaching was never again to be spoken aloud. Then he looked at the group of assembled brothers and said, ‘The rabbi said that one of us is the Messiah.’ The monks were startled by this saying.

‘What could it mean?’ they asked themselves. ‘Is Brother John the Messiah? Or Brother Matthew or Brother Thomas? Am I the Messiah? What could all this mean?’ They were all deeply puzzled by the rabbi’s teaching, but no one ever mentioned it again. As time went by, the monks began to treat one another with a new and very special reverence. A gentle, warm-hearted, concern began to grow among them which was hard to describe but easy to notice. They began to live with each other as people who had finally found the special something they were looking for, yet they prayer the Scriptures together as people who were always looking for something else.

When visitors came to the monastery they found themselves deeply moved by the life of these monks. Word spread, and before long people were coming from far and wide to be nourished by the prayer life of the monks and to experience the loving reverence in which they held each other. Soon, other young men were asking, once again, to become a part of the community, and the community grew and prospered. In those days, the rabbi no longer walked in the woods. His hut had fallen into ruins. Yet somehow, the old monks who had taken his teaching to heart still felt sustained by his wise and prayerful presence.

A story by Fr. Francis Dorff, O. Praem from the book A World of Stories for Preachers and Teachers: And All Who Love Stories That Move and Challenge by William J. Bausch.

Meditation is a way to get in touch with your soul, your inner voice, the part of you that is most closely connected to GOD.  Being still and listening to your inner voice is how you stay connected to the spiritual and ensure that you’re on the right path.

To begin, find a quiet and comfortable place where you can sit and relax; one free from distractions. Turn off the phone, TV, radio. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, but naturally. Imagine yourself in the most peaceful and soothing place you’ve ever been.  If you can’t think of a real location, make one up.

It may be the top of a mountain at sunrise or your garden in the springtime. As you form this picture of the perfect place, use all five senses to experience it.  What does it look, smell and feel like?  What can you hear and taste?

Here’s an example using my favorite place: a beach on Maui at sunset.

I’m sitting on the beach looking out over the ocean.  The sky is light blue with white clouds that look like cotton batting.  The setting sun is a bright orange ball sitting on the top of the ocean.  It looks as if it’s sinking. I hear the waves crashing against the sand, the distant voices of the surfers making one more run before it’s too dark.  As I inhale, deeply, I smell the salt of the waves and the sweetness of the tropical flowers that flourish throughout the island. The air tastes hot & moist. I dig my feet into the gritty sand, tunneling through the warmth of the surface to the cooler layers beneath.

Once you’ve created your private place, it’s time to think about the question. Ask yourself, aloud or silently, What is my purpose? What are my talents? How may I be of service?

After each question, pause and listen.  Whatever comes back to you, just take it in. Feel it, hear it, but don’t judge it.

Be silent and listen to what your inner voice is telling you.

It’s okay if you don’t understand the answers.

When you have finished your meditation, write down or use a tape recorder to note what you’ve learned.  Write or say exactly what you heard during your meditation.  It’s okay if it doesn’t make sense.

Try to do this every day for 3 days, going through the process, writing down your thoughts and feelings.  You may find that during this time, you’re also remembering dreams.  If you are, write those down too.  It also helps to write down a little bit of background on what’s happening in your real life right now.

After 3 days, go back and read through your writings. You’ll start to make connections among your notes, the dreams, and things happening in your life.  You’ll be amazed at how quickly your true passion will be revealed.  Once you know the truth, it’s up to you to take action.

Oh yeah!

Forget the Super Bowl. Read these articles instead. Okay, read them during the commercials.

This Deadspin article about the replay process is either groundbreaking or a waste of time. You decide.

44% of challenges on 1080i-broadcast games resulted in a reversal, compared to only 38% on 720p broadcasts. Taking the different number of challenges on each network into account, a replay challenge of a game broadcast on NBC, CBS, or the NFL Network was 5% more likely to reverse the call on the field than one on other networks.

Greg was welcomed back at ProBlogger with this article about blog carnivals.

I’m not talking about running guest posts, nor contributions from freelance or staff writers. I mean leveraging the work of dozens of other bloggers in your genre, for your mutual benefit.

Kathryn at Kathryn’s Conversations explains why ugly people have such a hard time in life:

Even when no sex is involved, good-looking people charm interviewers, get hired faster, are more likely to make more sales and get more raises. You look good and you’re compensated in return. People like to do business with people that they like, and people they like to look at. Being good at your job is a bonus.

Kathyrn’s bio tells us she’s “an expert in cutting through the onslaught of excess information; I read over fifty daily news briefs and pop culture trends (more on my research experience below), then curate and communicate any information that will help you to grow both financially and personally.”  Which means she can curate and communicate to us that attractive means to attract attention, prosperity and admirers.

I like when people agree with me. Eric Nisall at DollarVersity.com wrote:

Rather than choosing something that is realistic and achievable, people tend to set their sights on things that are unrealistic, then look to point the finger elsewhere rather than take responsibility and be accountable for the decisions they make. 

Keeping with the responsibility theme, Teacher Man from MyUniversityMoney.com tells recent college grads to (wo)man up and get on with their lives:

I can see the attraction to piking your head out of the proverbial gopher hole that is your university/college, being terrified of the chaos around you, and diving right back into safer surroundings in the form of a graduate degree.  This will definitely extend your period of youthful bliss and allow you to feel intellectually superior to man around you; HOWEVER, it is probably not what is best for you in the long-term, at least not from a personal finance perspective.

No wonder those college students don’t want to leave academia. Atlanta’s CBS TV affiliate looked into the startling trend of college students receiving food stamps.

A sum of $200 is awarded to program participants each month, which is to be used toward grocery bills.

According to this story, a basic meal plan at Georgia State University runs $1,700. Why doesn’t the state just buy these students said meal plan and save $700?

Finally, 2 entries from the category of “Who put this guy in charge of the economy?”

Steve Sailor wrote about the Obama family finances:

The Obama thinking appears to have been:

1. Borrow against home equity and consume.
2.
3. Get rich!

But, hey, it worked.

Over at the Washington Times, Richard Rahn takes a closer looks at the President’s proposed Buffett Rule:

 The actual tax rate Mitt Romney, Warren Buffett and most other wealthy people pay on dividends, when correctly calculated, is about 52%, as reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes the federal and state corporate-level profits tax burden, plus federal and state taxes on dividends.

There’s a lot more good stuff about double taxation, the difference between dividend, capital gains and ordinary income and how the US stacks up against other industrialized nations vis-a-vis the taxation of these different kinds of income.  Read it all before you start talking about inequity in the current tax system.

What did you do last weekend?

Exhausted after climbing Florida's highest (mole)hill

Britton Hill in Lakewood Park, Florida is the home to the lowest state high point. The park, along with commemorative marker (shown above), is so far north it’s almost in Alabama. According to Wikipedia: “ …as of 2010, the roof of the Four Seasons Hotel Miami is the highest non-natural point in Florida. Topping out at 789 feet, the tower is more than twice as high as Britton Hill”

Carnivals and Links:

Don’t Mess with Taxes included my article Don’t Play Fair in the Tax Carnival #96-Dealing with Tax Dragons

Product Placement:

Receive paycheck – deposit – pay bills – hope you have enough to cover them – repeat. That’s no way to live. Nor does it have to be.

You’re just one person, with the same daily 24-hour allotment everyone else has. In other words, how much you can earn is far more limited than how much your money can earn. If you work 40 hours a week and want to double your income, there are two direct ways to do it:

1. Put your money to work for you.
2. Work 80 hours a week.

The people who build wealth via passive income vastly outnumber those who do it just by the sweat of their brows.

Read The Unglamorous Secret to Riches and find out how the people who earn more than you (while somehow having more time on their hands than you) manage to do so.

It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. You don’t have to sell anything, or even talk to anyone. AND NO, IT’S NOT MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING, EITHER. COME ON, GIVE US A LITTLE BIT OF CREDIT.
But it works. And it’s relatively simple. And no, it’s not particularly exciting.

Pick-up my latest eBook through Amazon Kindle:

What’s on my Kindle:

3 great business reads:

Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch
Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Good to Great by Jim Collins

Who are you?
What’s your purpose in life?

People spend thousands of dollars for self-help seminars, therapy, and books to help them answer those questions. They join religious groups, social groups, and professional organizations, searching for the answers.

Finding your purpose is the first step to living a successful, satisfied, spiritual life.  If you believe in a higher power, it stands to reason that you’d believe your life has a higher purpose.

Ask yourself: “In what capacity can I contribute?”

Every one of us is unique and precious.  What is your gift? And are you using your talent to improve your life and the lives of others?

The Gospel according to Matthew (25:14-30) recounts the following parable:

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.  To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.

Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.  So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.  But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.” His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

The man with the two talents also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more”. His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Then the man who had received the one talent came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”

“Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This is a story about our ability to make a difference, using our GOD-given talent and facing fear.  All of that in one powerful parable.

The story begins with the employer calling the three men to action.  He asks them to serve him, and gives them “talents.” (Note: The modern meaning of the word “talent” stems from its original meaning, a unit of currency. It’s not a coincidence that people equated money with aptitude and ability.)  Their talents differ, just like in real life. Each of us is as unique as our individual set of talents.The employer gives no direction on what to do with the talents.  Each man is free to choose how to best use them.

Two of the men thought carefully, and decided to use their gift to create abundance.  The third gives in to fear.  He’s afraid of misusing his talent.

When the employer returns and demands an accounting of the priceless gifts he gave each man, the message is clear: abundance breeds abundance.  Treasure your gifts and you’ll get more. Hide your talent and you’ll lose it.

GOD has given each of us a special, unique talent, along with the free will to invest it as we see fit.  He expects us to use our talent to our full ability.

What is your gift?

For some, it’s obvious. If you’re drawn to medicine, law, etc., you’re often where you’re meant to be. That’s why a noteworthy occupation is often referred to as a “calling”. If you’re unsure of your gift or if want to verify that you’re on the right track, here’s an exercise to help you find your gift and determine your purpose:

Think about what makes you happy.

We spend a lot of time doing what we should do; working at the job we should have, marrying the appropriate person, living in the right neighborhood.  Are you letting other people live your life?  Do you let society, your family, or your peers determine your choices? If the answer is “yes”, now is the time to stop and find out what’s right for you.  No one else can give you this answer. It lies within you.  You just have to listen.

Life is not supposed to be hard.  We make it hard. GOD wants you to be happy, healthy, & successful.  If you believe this – and why wouldn’t you? – you have to examine your life and ask: Are you living the life GOD created just for you?

What is your destiny? If that sounds like a big question, it is.  It’s your only life. Don’t you want the best one possible?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXCZVmQ74OA

The Constitution, with its system of checks and balances, not only allows for gridlock, it practically guarantees some degree of it. The Founders knew that gridlock can be a very good thing. If nothing can be agreed upon in Washington, harm to the country is limited. Considering the Obama administration’s ideas of what caused our problems, and how to solve them, the wisdom of the founders certainly shines through today.

Ron Paul

Remember this quote the next time you read about how gridlock and obstruction in Washington are bad things. Ron Paul wants to reduce the impact of the federal government on its citizens’ lives, cut $1 trillion in spending during his first year in office, and restore individual liberty by returning to Constitutional basics.  You may not agree with (or like) everything he says, but you know he’ll stand by his beliefs.  That’s called integrity, a trait the other candidates would do well to emulate.

Still wondering which candidate is right for you? Take this quiz at Reason.com.

Here’s what I’m reading during the commercials in the Republican debates and State of the Union address:

Garth Turner  at the Greater Fool Blog (via Financial Uproar) sounds like he’s auditioning for a job at Control Your Cash:

Most people – the vast majority – will continue down their path to financial ruin. Utterly lacking in self-control, they’ll spend unearned money chasing stuff they want, but do not need. There’s no clear plan to repay any of this borrowing. Just a vague notion things will turn out, and an ingrained sense of entitlement.

Nelson from Financial Uproar, guest posting at Sustainable Personal Finance, explains the problem with electric cars:

The average Canadian spends about $2200 per year on gasoline. Even if driving a Volt cuts that down to $1100 per year, (which I think is a generous allowance) you’re still waiting 13 years before the investment becomes worth it. And that’s not factoring in a dime for the extra electricity needed to charge the thing.

Despite the cogent financial argument against electric (or hybrid) cars, the commenters still think electric cars are feasible.  The industry just needs more government subsidies and higher gas prices.  Of course the best way to get higher gas prices is to increase taxes.  It’s a win/win for big government and the electric car makers, and a great big loss for the taxpaying consumer.

My other half teamed up with the brilliant Paula Pant to pen this post championing content over clicks at ProBlogger:

But until the day the robots achieve sentience, there will always be an audience for innovative content spawned from inquisitive human minds. And unlike link analysis or pageview counts, worthwhile content is impossible to engineer artificially.

Megan McArdle at The Atlantic tries to do the math on the “Warren Buffett’s secretary pays more taxes” meme:

There is no way at all to pay effective federal income tax–or even effective federal income tax + payroll tax–that sums to 35.8%.  You can–just barely–get a marginal tax rate of 35.8% if she is making almost exactly the taxable social security limit of $110,000.

McArdle herself is best in small doses but her commenters are some of the smartest on the web.

We waded into the Suze Orman prepaid debit card controversy over at Control Your Cash with this account of Greg’s appearance on the self-proclaimed personal finance expert’s show.

Sister, your card is for people who will never be rich, largely because they’re swallowing advice undigested from an imbecile. Your card is only for people whose credit is already so horrible, no bank or credit union will let them open an account.

What did you do last weekend?

Crazy Horse's completed head is 87½' high.

Started in 1948, the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota is both huge and unfinished. The latter, because the foundation that owns it relies solely on private donations. The family-run foundation owns the land, supervises the building of the monument, and operates a bustling visitor center.  No taxpayer funds have been or will be used to build this magnificent tribute to the Oglala Lakota warrior.

Here’s the family’s mission statement:

• Continuing the progress on the world’s largest mountain sculpture, carving a memorial to the spirit of legendary Lakota leader Crazy Horse and his culture;
• Providing educational and cultural programming to encourage harmony and reconciliation among all people and nations;
• Acting as a repository for Native American artifacts, arts and crafts through the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational & Cultural Center;
• And by establishing and operating the Indian University of North America, and when practical, a medical training center for American Indians

Here's what the finished monument will look like. It'll be 641' long and 563' high.

With Mount Rushmore just 17 scenic miles west, you can easily view both monuments in one trip.  In 2007 the LA Times wrote:

If you take a right turn on the way out of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial and head west on South Dakota 244, the two-lane route will take you winding through a gorgeous Black Hills medley of pines, slopes and jutting boulders.

Eventually, you reach U.S. 16, and turn south toward the town of Custer. But before you get there, you’ll see Custer’s nemesis on your left.

Carnivals and Links:

No joy.

Product Placement:

Still haven’t bought my book?

Here’s a free sample.

What’s on my Kindle:

End the Fed, Ron Paul

The Revolution, Ron Paul

Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman

When you subscribe to the belief that everything is out of your control, you give up your power.  To create the life of your dreams, you don’t have to be smarter, better connected nor luckier than anyone else. You’ve only got to be willing to take control of your life. Start now by doing these things:

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”  Peter Drucker

What do you want your life to look, smell, taste and feel like?  There’s a reason why all my articles about success start with a vision.  It’s the foundation for everything. Until you’re completely engaged, excited and immersed in your future vision, you’re just going through the motions. Every thing and everyone will be able to make you react instead of act.  It’s when you react to people and situations that bad things happen. Or, you’ll be so busy dealing with everything coming at you that you can’t act on opportunity. If you don’t know what the outcome looks like, you can’t make the best choices on how to get there.

Write out a plan

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.”  Bobby Unser

With your vision firmly in mind, it’s time to write down exactly how you’re going to make it a reality. I’m not going to lie, it’ll be hard work. Most people you think of as lucky are just way more prepared than you are.  What will you do every hour, every day, every year to make your vision real? Your plan is part inspiration, perspiration and aspiration. Reach high, work hard, believe in your future. Ready to get to work?

Live with integrity

“Borrow trouble for yourself, if that’s your nature, but don’t lend it to your neighbours.” Rudyard Kipling

If your plan is the map, your values determine which road you’ll take.  We all have friends who say one thing and do the opposite.  We call them hypocrites. They’re also unhappy. Be honest about what’s important to you and then hold yourself and everyone in your life to the highest standards. Don’t allow anyone in your life who’s not going to live by the same standards you set for yourself. When you loosen this rule, you end up hanging out with people who will distract you from your journey. If misery loves company, happiness demands a certain level of solitude.

Live below your means

Net worth has nothing to do with your annual income. It’s all about how you handle your cash flow. Every month cash comes in and it goes back out. Where is your cash going? Are you spending your cash on stuff or assets? Even worse, are you using credit cards to purchase that stuff? Here’s one easy way to spend less money: don’t smoke, drink, gamble or do illegal drugs. All of these addictions cost lots of money.

Stay out of debt 

“I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the disease is incurable.”  William Shakespeare

Do whatever it takes to get and stay out of debt. If you don’t have debt, it’s a lot easier to live below your means. When you’re debt-free, you have more options, more freedom, more happiness.

Work your plan everyday

Are you ready to work hard everyday to make your perfect future a reality?  Do something everyday that will move you toward your outcome. Don’t get sidetracked by the frivolous, futile, or feel-good for now. Sacrifice today for tomorrow.

Invest in yourself and your future

What do you need to know, do or be to reach your goal?  Go to school, find a mentor, take an apprenticeship to get the knowledge you need.  Practice these skills every day until you become unconsciously competent. Delay the gratification that comes from spending money you don’t have on trinkets, alcohol and frivolity. Spend your time planning, learning and practicing.

Create a network

We all want to do business with someone we know, trust and who gives us business in return. This is the premise of all networking.  When you meet someone new, ask yourself: “How can I be of unique service?” and  ”Who do I know who can be of benefit to this person?”  You’ll need to know your market, your product, and how to communicate its benefits concisely. This should not be a sales pitch; it should be a natural extension of your introduction. Linking your connections to others maximizes your exposure and brings additional value to your inner circle.

Be thankful 

Take a moment every day to give thanks for all that you have,  Don’t think you have much?  Concentrate on all the people who have even less than you.

Follow these steps and people will call you lucky.

Many years ago, I worked with a guy who constantly used sports metaphors when talking to his employees.  I told him that his female employees weren’t moved by this language and, since his workforce was 90% female, he needed to find other ways to express his thoughts.  At the next employee meeting, he busted out a shopping reference.  I told him to go back to sports.

A metaphor is supposed to help you understand a concept by relating it to something with which you’re already familiar.  Conventional wisdom tells us that by using sports metaphors we exclude or confuse women, foreigners and homosexuals. Let’s look at some phrases we all use:

I can’t finish my workout. I’m throwing in the towel.

I like the cut of his jib.* 

I’ve got to run an errand.  Will you run interference for me until I get back?

Let’s huddle up and try to figure out where we are.

That was a slam dunk!

That’s a bit of a sticky wicket you’ve gotten yourself into.

That last one comes from the most confusing sport ever.  Everyone knows what these phrases mean.  Looking back I realize that instead of telling him to get rid of the sports metaphors, I should have helped him use more familiar imagery.

Here are some medal-worthy reads:

In this post from last year, Control Your Cash used Brett Favre to demonstrate how the free market works.

Nelson at Financial Uproar does a great job with this article pointing out how running a major league baseball team  equates to your personal finances.

Suffering from Tebow withdrawal?  ESPN’s Rick Reilly wants you to believe.

14 reasons why football is just like personal finance from Dr. Dean  at The Millionaire Nurse.

Bankrate looks at the 5 cheapest football stadia.  Fans of supply and demand will not be surprised by #1.

Mint put the information used by Bankrate in the above post into an infographic breaking down average game cost per team.

One last article comparing sports to personal finance: Lazy Man and Money uses his fantasy football tribulations to explain some basic investment concepts.

Visa and the NFL teamed up for a project called Financial Football. Choose your team, your opponent and the degree of difficulty for each play.  Answer the (basic) financial questions correctly and your chosen play is executed.

Finally, this article from Education World teaches teachers how to use sports, teamwork and acronyms to get their students excited about learning.

What did you do last weekend?

I read Mutts Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed.  A non-Kindle book by Patrick McDonnell, creator of the Mutts comic strip. The book consists of Mutts strips juxtaposed with photos and stories of real-life rescue animals and their owners.  A touching, funny and educational read.

This weekend, take a ride to your local shelter or go online to find the love of your life.

Carnivals and Links:

Carnival of the Vanities 

Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week

Product Placement:

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What’s on my Kindle:

Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today’s NFL
John Feinstein

The Little Book of Coaching
Ken Blanchard and Don Shula

Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports are Played and Games are Won
Tobias Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim

*Thurston Howell III and I may be the only people who use this phrase.

Let’s play word association. Or to be more accurate, acronym association. I’ll go first.

“IRS”.

“Invasive.” “Confiscatory.” “Heartless.” “Unbending.” “Bureaucratic.” “Dictatorial.” “Arbitrary.” “Capricious.”

Okay, that’s a start. Here’s another one: “Anti-business.”

Or more specifically, anti-sole proprietorship.

If you’ve spent as much time trudging the depths of our nation’s tax code as I have, you reach two inevitable conclusions:

1. The whole colossal, unreadable, internally contradictory thing needs to be demolished;

2. As it stands right now, it treats regular salaried workers worse than it treats anyone else.

No one pays through the nose come April 15 worse than Lunchpail Larry and Cubicle Candice alike. And who benefits while they suffer? Those no-good businessmen, that’s who.

You developed a skill, became an expert in your field, found clients, made them happy, continue to, and now you’re turning profits. The American dream — better living through entrepreneurship. Everything is going great, so should you bother with the extra work and the legality of it all?

If all you do is create a product or perform a service that people love and are willing to pay for, you will be pecked to death by state and federal income taxes.  So much so that you’ll want to give up your aspirations of self-determination.

Play The Game

You can rail about the unfairness of this. Or you can do what almost everyone can, but few bother to: play the IRS’s game; only make sure that you’re on the winning team.

In other words, if you own and/or operate a business, incorporate. Create an artificial entity that doesn’t eat, sleep, or breathe. All it does is get tax breaks.

Tax Breaks

“Tax breaks” is a vague term, but for our purposes, we’ll define it as being taxes that a salaried worker pays that an entrepreneur doesn’t. By the way, it’s not like there’s some special 4-year training period you have to complete to become an official entrepreneur. Nor do you need a prohibitive amount of money. The ranks are wide open. When you incorporate, you reduce the tax liability for you and everyone else who owns a piece of your company.

Liability Protection

Say your business loses a massive amount of money in a short time, by incurring an unforeseen, uninsured expenditure like a civil suit. The sole proprietorship could end up owing more money than the business itself is worth.  So where would the additional money come from? You, the owner. That’s called personal liability, and it sucks all manner of foodstuffs.

When you structure your business as a corporation, you’re taking advantage of the legal principle of limited liability: (your share of) the business can’t be responsible for any more than what you put into it. For example, if you owned $2,000 worth of Enron shares, and it turned out that the company didn’t really produce anything, the worst that could happen to you as a shareholder was that you’d be out your $2,000 when the stock price fell to $0. No one who sued the company (and there were plenty) could sue you, as an owner, for more than your investment. Now if you were a director of Enron, on the other hand…

This is called the corporate veil, and it really comes in handy on the smaller scale of a you-sized business. Considering that 2/3 of new businesses fail, you have to protect yourself against any inevitable downside. Unless you’re so masochistic that you enjoy having creditors come after your car, house, personal bank accounts, and maybe your baby if it’s healthy and has all its organs.

2 Ways to Incorporate Your Business

If you know even a little bit about this, you might know that there are two common ways for your business to incorporate. The more common one is called an S Corporation, the other is as a limited liability company.

Under either an S corporation or an LLC, your private assets are protected. No one who feels slighted by your company can “sue you for all you’re worth”, as the invective goes. This isn’t the case when you’re a sole proprietor: for legal and tax purposes, you’re indistinguishable from the business itself.

An LLC doesn’t technically pay taxes. Instead, the government taxes the LLC’s (taxable) profits, which are distributed among the owners. Those profits get taxed at the same rate as regular income. Your LLC issues you a K-1 statement, which lists your share of the LLC’s income and expenses, to be transferred to your 1040.

An S corporation is a little more work, but usually worth it.

There are minutes, resolutions, the election of officers, formal financial statements, etc. You’re even supposed to hold an annual shareholder meeting, but that’s not hard to do if you own all the shares.

From a tax standpoint, there’s virtually no difference between an LLC and an S corporation. The biggest difference between them is how the IRS treats excess profits. If you own and operate an S Corporation and pay yourself a “reasonable” salary, the remaining profit is “distributed” to you at the end of the year and isn’t subject to 15.3% self-employment tax. Not so with an LLC.

Other Reasons to Incorporate

Hopefully, your business gets so successful that you end up selling it. Which for most of us is the ultimate goal anyway. Take it from someone who’s been there; while a sole proprietorship is easy to create, it’s a pain to sell.

If you operate your real estate business as a sole proprietorship, you have to sell every single asset individually. If you incorporate, the entire business moves as a unit.

Besides, if your business is viable and the new owner halfway intelligent, the first thing he’ll do is incorporate anyway.  Save him the trouble and do the incorporating yourself, then add the incorporation fee into the price. And charge a premium for the privilege, of course.

Even if your business has multiple owners, and even if those owners are just you and a spouse or a sibling, selling your share will remain a snap if you’re incorporated.

Are you ready to play the game?

Or you could just keep filing your annual 1040s, and try to figure out why you’re not getting rich.

Obligatory legal disclaimer:  Although most states allow a real estate licensee to operate under a single-member LLC, you should check with your state real estate division to be sure.  Ask your attorney or accountant if an LLC or an S Corporation is the right choice for you.