Before you take advice from someone to not get a job after college or quit your current job to “live your dreams,” breathe for a moment and punch yourself in the face. After you’re done with your deep breathing beat down, ask yourself what are the credentials of someone encouraging you to quit your job and self destruct?

More often than not, the person encouraging you to forsake the working world has failed in their own ability to find a worthwhile job, and/or is in the business of selling you a product to quit your job and lead a location independent lifestyle.  I absolutely LOVE the idea of living a location independent lifestyle  and have done so in Hawaii, Mexico, and on a cruise ship in 2011.  But, I’m telling you, making good money on your own is way harder than you think as you will read from four examples below.

There are millions of jobs in dozens of different sectors around the world.  Are you saying that you can’t find one that you enjoy?  If so, you aren’t looking hard enough!  Nobody quits a job they love to do, period!

The past several years have been tough for people to find jobs, and lifestyle blogs everywhere have popped up to encourage readers to live on their own terms.  These are the very same people great companies have rejected.  They can’t get into the Googles, Facebooks, Twitters, Wachtels, Morgans, and NBC’s of the world.  As a result, they have no choice but to bash the job market and tell everyone to quit and follow their dreams.

If you can’t rise up to the challenge, an often used tactic is to try and bring everybody down with you.  Don’t let others bring you down!

BEING A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR IS BRUTALLY DIFFICULT

It’s irresponsible for people to encourage others not to get a job after four expensive years in college or quit their existing job altogether without a financial safety net.  It is even more irresponsible if your parents paid for your college tuition.  You owe them something, and living in their basement, taking out the trash twice a week doesn’t count!  That’s a given, along with paying their utility bills, cleaning the entire house, doing your own laundry, and giving your mom a nightly back massage.

Someone can sell you a product to give you that motivation, but guess what happens after you’ve failed at going at it alone for 2 years?  You have one big gaping hole in your resume and a lot less money.  Meanwhile, the person who sold you the dream of quitting your job has your money and is relaxing on the beach, thank you very much!

Example One: A Millionaire

Erica from Erica.biz sold her web hosting business in 2007 for $1.1 million at the age of 26.  Erica’s timing couldn’t be better as financial markets started crumbling in 2008.  Selling for $1.1 million is her marketing tag-line, which is absolutely brilliant because $1.1 million sounds like a lot of money.  Or is it?

Erica is an entertaining writer.  My favorite post is “Dear California, I’m leaving you” discussing how horrible our state’s tax system is for entrepreneurs.  Assuming Erica owned 100% of her company, and has no debt, her net proceeds after taxes is around $750,000-$850,000.  Still sounds like a lot of money right?  If so, why did she decide to get a job in order to qualify for a $300,000 mortgage in Texas?  She explains it’s because of a lack of a W2 and the fact that perhaps there really isn’t $750,000-$850,000 left from 4 years ago.  Living in California is expensive!

You would think that with $1.1 million dollars, Erica would be rolling in dough, or at least have a bathtub full of one-dollar bills to soak in.   However, after selling your business, there’s no longer that hefty income stream. You’ve got your lump sum, and now you’ve got to figure out what to do with it. If you invested it all in the markets in 2007, you could have lost 30-50% of it in one year if you sold! I’m hoping that’s not what happened.

If Erica needs to get a job after netting $850,000 and founding her second business that does SEO and has a rank tracker program for websites,  what chance do you have of surviving online or doing whatever you want without a job and saving for your retirement?  Your chances are slim to none!  I hope you are enjoying your new job Erica, and not having to pay taxes in Texas!

Example Two: A Nomad Who Hates Debt

One of the reasons why I like Adam Baker is because he’s one of the most transparent lifestyle bloggers around when it comes to his income. Adam sells info-products teaching you how to get rid of your stuff and reduce debt. He’s also started a video course/seminar on debt reduction as well.

Adam writes how he made $104,550 in revenue in 2011, which is a handsome sum of money. But, Adam also highlights all his costs. At the end of the income statement, Adam’s profits before tax is just $20,000.  Pay a 15% effective tax rate and Adam and his entire family are left with $17,000, just enough to max out a company 401K if he worked for a company and have nothing left.

Do you know what the poverty level for a family of four is in America?  The level is around $20,000.  Practically every job in America pays at least $20,000 a year!  However, not every job is as fun as Adam’s.

I’m not worried about Adam and his family because Adam has invested for his future. You’ve got to investment money to make money. Given no other asset is more important than ourselves, I’ll argue that Adam is making the best investment of all. Forget the stock market, bond market, real estate, gold, and beanie babies.  Spend the money on yourself and your business!

Example Three: The Empire Builder

Mike from The Financial Blogger is one of my favorite bloggers because he’s been buying up a lot of sites over the years and showing his readers how to build a blogging empire.  I’ve followed Mike for the past three years and he is also a Yakezie Member.  His blog has semi-frequent income reports which break down exactly where he is making money.

One of the most eye-popping things I’ve learned about Mike’s reports is that he spends $35,000+ a year on virtual assistants!  That’s an amazing amount of money, letting Mike work just several hours a week on his sites.  In 2010, Mike wrote that he generated $125,000 in revenue.  However, he also had $66,700 is expenses, leaving him with a profit before tax of $58,300.  I’m not sure how much Mike has to pay in Canadian taxes, but let’s just assume 25%, leaving him with $43,725.  Still not bad, but not as eye-popping as the original $125,000 headline.  It looks like Mike’s business has continued to grow in 2011 with pre-tax profits reaching around $85,000 or so, a 40% jump.

Here’s the kick in the nuts or a punch in the boobies if you prefer.  Mike shares with us that he has to split his profits 50/50 with his partner!  So take $43,725 and divide it by 2 to equal $21,862 per person for 2010.  Not bad, but again, not the initial big bucks we originally thought.  The irony is that Mike wrote a book called “Escaping The Rat Race”, and yet announced recently that he was excited to get a new job closer to home!

Given Mike has been so transparent with his income and reasoning for getting another job, I don’t think it’s hypocritical that he’s working.  It’s just the way it is, and the way it should be.  Work at a job you enjoy doing, and build the business on the side until it gets so huge you can’t help but quit.  Good luck Mike!

Example Four: The Network Creator

I’ve personally spent 20-30 hours a week without fail for the past 2.5 years building up Financial Samurai.  With ~150,000 page views a month, the traffic is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but it’s not nearly enough to live like Snoop Dogg.  I need 10X that traffic to live like Snoop, and then maybe I could really live it up like a corrupt politician on the Hill!

I don’t reveal my income, because I’m not in the business of teaching people how to make money online and I therefore would find it distasteful to do so.  My focus is on my writing, but let’s do the math.  If I make $3 per thousand impressions and I have 150,000 impressions a month, I’ll make $450/month for each ad.  Whoo hoo I’m making it rain up in here!  Sell 5 spots and I’m “raking” in $2,200 a month, enough for me to live in a crappy one bedroom apartment in San Francisco and eat burritos every day.  Of course if I raise my RPM from $3 to $6, well then, maybe I can eat the occasional burrito grande with extra guacamole.  I’d rather just shoot to raise readership to 1 million page views a month and then dictate my terms.

OK, so maybe I can do some affiliate marketing, write a book, and create my own product like Adam, Erica, and Mike to increase my revenues.  But shoot, who has the time working 50 hours a week at my day job and making sure the Yakezie Network continues to grow?  I’d rather focus on the writing because that’s the most fun, and seriously the main reason why I blog.  I know that if viewership jumps to 500,000/month+, there’s no doubt I can generate several hundred thousand in revenue a year.  Notice how I write revenue, and not operating profit.  My costs might balloon from $1,000 a month to $5,000 a month, who knows!

I’m not the brightest, nor the fastest person, and I’m sure I could utilize my time more efficiently.  However, I do have a dedication that will never die until someone chops off my hands, and even then, I will find a way to continue.  Average 70-80 hours a week working for 2.5 years and I promise your income will go up and you will create something of some significance!

A BETTER WAY OF LAUNCHING

Don’t be a donkey.  Go through Sydney’s checklist of things to ask BEFORE you quit your job so you don’t self destruct. The better way to living life on your terms is by finding a job you like and creating something new on the side.  24 hours a day is enough time to work a day job and a side job as you build your savings, experience, and skills.  That said, don’t underestimate how many hours a day you will have to work on your side business.  Things add up quickly.

Calculate your expenses and aim to save at least 24 months worth of monthly living expenses before you go on your own.  Two years is enough time for you to realize you are a failure, or that your venture will be a success.  If you are not making money after two years, you need to pull the plug unless you have an unlimited amount of money.  Remember, real entrepreneurs are successful.  Otherwise, you are just a hobbyist!

Two years is also about the maximum amount of time you can be out of the work force before recruiters start writing you off.  Anybody can understand a one year break.  Anybody can understand going out on your own and giving it a go for 2 years.  However, beyond that, companies will start feeling you’re just delusional and too stubborn to hire.  Your skills will be out of date and there are tons more qualified candidates to choose from.

While working on your side business, set revenue and net profit targets.  With financial targets, you’ll be focused on maximizing revenue, thinking more strategically on costs, and keep delusions at bay.  You should probably also set net profit targets as a percentage of your day job revenue so you have an idea of how much it takes before you are willing to quit your job and work on your endeavor full-time.

Next time someone tells you to quit your job, tries to make you feel bad for having a job, and attempts to sell you a product on why you should quit your job, ask them these questions:

* How much money do you make from your online endeavors?  Do not confuse revenue with net profit.  As you can see from my four examples above, making money by yourself is not easy.

* Do you live at home with mom and dad?  Seriously, if they’re not living independently, it’s hard to take them seriously.

* What is your educational background?  Not of supreme importance, but it’s nice to know whether they went to Columbia University or Chico State to get a hint of their intelligence and work ethic.

* What is your work experience?  If they have minimal work experience, then it’s hard for them to gain perspective.  Three years out of college and then teaching you how to be “epic” does not jive.

* Do you make money by telling people to quit their jobs with an info-product?  If nobody bought their info-product or affiliate products, would they still be able to make money?  This line of work is fine, but they just need to have the credibility.

* How many page views do you have a month?  Important to get a sense of blog authority.

* Have you paid your taxes yet?  Again, do not confuse revenue with net profit.  Taxes are a huge expense!

* How much money are you saving?  Nobody can work forever, no matter what the “do something you love, and it’ll seem as you will never have worked a day in your life” crowd says.  People who don’t save for a rainy day will get dumped on.

If the person admits he only makes $20,000 a year in operating income before taxes, has a site that gets only several thousand page views a month, has never held a job for more than 2 years consecutive years, and lives at home with her parents, forget about it!  There’s no credibility and you need to move on.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE IS WORTH SOMETHING 

It’s entertaining to watch others bash people like myself with day jobs.  I just feel bad for them because they just haven’t found a job they enjoy doing.  Society rejects them, so they reject society.  People are fooling themselves if they think any job or entrepreneurial activity is 100% fun, or even 80% fun.  There is always crap to deal with, no matter what you do.

More power to people for trying to make something happen when they can’t find their dream job.  It’s a competitive world out there, which is why staying in school to develop your skills is not such a bad thing.  I just hate reading when they say we should all be like them and quit our jobs…. and buy their product in the meantime.  It’s bullshit and you need to know this before spending a penny!

Don’t be irresponsible with your life just because someone tells you to.  If things aren’t going swell with your job, suck it up and figure out how to manage up and pursue new avenues.  Consult with your friends and family thoroughly and do a cost benefit analysis.  Calculate how long your savings will last if you go out on your own and make nothing.  Are you willing to go back to the well and ask your parents for money and shelter?

CONSEQUENCES

A massive hole in your resume to pursue your “dream life” can turn into a nightmare.  You could become one of the long-term unemployed and lose your life savings.  Because you are no longer employable, no man or woman will ever want to be with you if they didn’t know you in the first place.  Because nobody wants to be with you, you could lose your self-esteem and spiral down a dark hole of depression.  Because you’re depressed, your body fades away.  You’ll never have an option to start your own family, unless you adopt which would be so wonderful!  And when you’re “old and filled with regrets, waiting to die alone,” you’ll at least tell yourself that you gave it a go and decided to live life on your own terms.

Just make sure that having no regrets is worth everything and more.

Readers, what are your thoughts on people who tell you to quit their jobs?  Why do people who don’t have jobs bash those with jobs?  Are readers that easily manipulated?

Photo: “Broke and Hilarious”, Occupy San Francisco, 2011.  SD.

Regards,

Sam

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Can you survive on boiled eggs, toast, salads, and frozen dinners?  Well sadly, that’s the extent of my cooking and I certainly can’t!  OK, I exaggerate a little as I also know how to boil pasta and put some Prego on top, but beyond that, guests of Chef Sam aren’t in for a fine dining treat!

After spending 3 hours trying to read, prep, and cook a gourmet meal for a friend that tasted slightly above edible I decided to no longer spend my life cooking.  Some of those cookbooks alone give me nightmares frankly as they are so big and unwieldy.  Someone has got to tell the editor to cut those 100 step recipes down because one wrong move and instead of Yakisoba you might get Chicken Cacciatore instead.

Conventional wisdom says that eating in saves you a lot of time and money.  Whoever comes up with conventional wisdom clearly must not work for a living or has been a contestant of Iron Chef before!  Let’s go through several reasons why dining out not only saves you money, but increases the quality of your life.

The World Of Specialization

Henry Ford invented specialization when he first decided to build his Model T Ford.  Every factory worker had a specific role they did well to create the ultimate motor vehicle.  If one person or several people decided to build the entire car from scratch, it would take too long and probably fall apart after a short while.

Chefs are specialists in the cuisine you seek.  It is highly likely they know how to cook way better than you, especially if you go up the ratings scale.  Some of you are thinking to yourself that you can cook better than most chefs out there with your secret sauce spicy meatball recipe.  Trust me, you can’t and your family members and guests are just being polite.  I remember being served a mishmash of barley shoots, carrots, meat, and potatoes all in one by my mother growing up.  It was bad, but I ate it, smiled and thanked her anyway.  By going out to eat, you get to enjoy the finest food possible.

Your Time Is Worth More Than You Think

Let’s say you earn a healthy $80,000 a year, which equates to roughly $40 an hour if you work 40 hours a week.  That meal you spent two hours prepping and cooking doesn’t just cost the price of the food items, the meal’s cost also needs to include the $80 in forgone salary not working harder to get a raise and promotion!  You are probably rolling your eyes because you don’t agree about including your after work time as work.  Well, if you don’t believe your time is worth much after you come home from the office, stop by my house and rake my leaves please!  Ask an entrepreneur who works around the clock what their time is worth, and it could be probably worth hundreds of dollars an hour because they are banking their entire future on their project!

I can see you still rolling your eyes because you enjoy cooking so much and find it relaxing.  Well, that’s nice if cooking really does relax you.  However, your family won’t be relaxed when it comes time to eat it because going back to the World of Specialization, if you work full time, you likely aren’t a good cook.  And even if you are, you aren’t as good as professional cooks!

Unites Your Family And Saves your Marriage

After a long 10 hour day, the last thing you want to do is cook for yourself or any of your dependents.  In fact, if that is what’s expected of you, you’ll probably build up a resentment over time and blow it if someone criticizes your overcooked pees.  Let’s say you have the luxury of not working.  It’s not that great of a luxury because as a homemaker, you have the most important responsibility of keeping the house in order and the family fed and happy.  Your family’s expectations of you goes up as a result and that’s a lot of pressure!  A stay-at-home parent’s value is easily worth over $30,000 a year if not much much more in big cities.

When you are preparing a meal for a family or friends, you don’t have time to sit down, relax and communicate with your loved ones.  You’re always worried about how the food tastes, whether the veggies are getting cold, and hoping that the meat is medium rare.  You are going back and forth from dining table to kitchen like a mad person while your friends and family are enjoying or pretending to enjoy your food.  In other words, you miss out on family time!  Your resentment grows some more until you finally tell them to cook their own dang food!

“Yes Chef!”

By going to a wonderful restaurant to eat with the family, you let professionals wait on you.  Their service frees up time for you to communicate with your loved ones more.  The food will come out much better than you could ever make, not only because the chef is a professional, but the chef also has his or her own cooks specializing to prepare your dish as well – souse chef, pastry chef, saucier, etc!  Yes, dining out saves you money.  But not only that, dining out also saves your relationships, which are priceless!

Readers, how often do you dine out?  Have you ever tracked how much money you spend on food a month?  You might be surprised, as I was to see how much we spend.  

Photo: My Big Carne Asada San Diego Burrito for $10.99, 2011. SD.

Note: Sydney is back from her trip next week.  Thanks for letting me sub in.

Regards,

Sam

Super Senior is to Superman like: A) Double Cheeseburger is to Happiness, B) College Is To Orgy, C) Binging Is To Barfing or D) All Of The Above.  Who cares?  It’s college baby, where the alcohol flows free and the ladies just want to say your name!

If there are any high school or college students who are reading this, I implore you to take your time and enjoy University! The real world is cruel because it’s competitive. If your fellow students beat you, all you get is a poor grade and a milkshake at the University Cafeteria to drown your sorrows. If a fellow real-worlder beats you, you’re jobless!  You don’t want to be a 25 year old college graduate living in your mama’s basement now, would you?

I took the standard 4 years to graduate from college. In retrospect, I wouldn’t have minded taking another full year. The problem was that my last semester consisted of only two classes: Advanced Golf and Advanced Economic Analysis! I literally went to class for two hours a day and used the rest of the hours to play $9 dollar rounds of golf, daytrade, and look for a damn job.  Oh how I wish I could play more $9 golf now!

I’m not sure if I told my parents that I was kind of twiddling my thumbs my last semester of senior year, but that’s because it didn’t matter how light the course load seemed. My mission #1 was to make some money and prove that my college experience was worth it with a job at the end of the rainbow.  Instead of taking more classes beyond golf and economics, I came up with a game plan to gain employment that required 1-2 hours of work a day instead.

WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE YOUR TIME IN SCHOOL

* The Holiday Inn. College is like a cocoon with fluffy pillows and tinted windows, sheltering you from hardship. Waking up at 7:30am to go to class for five hours is a dream come true, since even the most relaxed jobs have 8 hour workdays!  When I started work, I got in around 5:30am and left around 7:30-8:30pm on average for the first year and a half.

* You don’t have to face the music. It’s natural to feel anxiety during your junior and senior year because you realize you actually have to prove your worth. Everybody knows college is expensive, ironically making going to an prestigious private school that much more stressful! Imagine going to Yale at $60,000 a year only to graduate with a part-time job making $10 an hour? The guilt and stress would be immense! If you went to a community college and spent $2,000 a year and lived at home, then no big deal.

* Lots more action. You might think that money and a career will get you a lot of action with the opposite sex, and it will. It just won’t be as easy or as often as in college when you were dirt poor. In college, all it takes is going to a party a couple blocks away, having a couple Milwaukee’s Best beers, and walking two blocks back to your dorm room. In the real world, you’ve got to really put yourself out there, spend more than $2 on beer, drive, coordinate, and have the energy since you’re working all day. It’s just not as easy.

* You might self destruct.  If you come out too early and aren’t ready for 60 hour weeks and brutal honesty about how you are as a performer, you might very well implode.  There is a reason why the economic downturn of 2008-2009 corresponded with an explosion in the Lifestyle movement.  People couldn’t get jobs and needed a way to cope.  Excellent ideas and blogs were created, however, many many more failed.  You don’t want to graduate so soon and be bitter at the world.  Take your time.

* You have a lifetime to make money. You only have a limited amount of time to enjoy college. After 8 years, most colleges will kick your butt out because that’s just ridiculous. Anything over 5 years is probably a little ridiculous too, unless you have some family emergency, financial hardship, or are saving the children in a remote town. If you are a good student, with a strong work ethic, and a supportive network, you will find a job and make money. You might even make money with your own start-up. Sure, it’s better to graduate in a bull market than a bear market, but you can’t really time that. There’s plenty of money out there. No rush!

HAVE FUN, IT’S ONLY MONEY AND YOU HAVE A LIFETIME TO MAKE IT

Look at medical school students. Not only do they go to college for 4 years, they have another 3-4 years to get the MD, and another 3 years of residency before they can start making any sort of money! If you think you’re itching after 4 years to save the world and make some money in the process, what do you think about these guys?

If you’ve got a scholarship or your parents are paying for college, by all means take 4-5 years to have some of the best times of your life. If you are strapped for cash, or are taking down lots of debt, then certainly try and finish sooner. Just know that nothing is as artificial and cozy as going to college and that once you graduate, your official income clock starts.

Readers, what are your plans for college and after college? How long did it take you to graduate? Did you want to stay longer, or could you not wait to get out?  Anybody regret graduating early, even if it was to save money?

Best,

Sam

One of the WORST feelings is the realization you’ve lost your wallet. Whether it fell out of your pocket on the bus never to be seen again, you got robbed, or have no recollection of where or when you had it last, they are all equally awful. I’ve misplaced my wallet dozens of times, and always get a panicky feeling in my stomach when it’s not where I thought I put it last.

While not being able to find it right away is annoying in those cases, it’s nothing compared to the time I actually had my wallet stolen. The whole experience gave me a huge headache, I lost hours of time searching for it, and it left me with a really unsettling feeling.  I learned a lot from that experience and want to help you minimize the pains and frustrations I went through.

Here are my suggestions for you to follow now so you’ll be be prepared and know what to do when you’ve lost your wallet:

Minimize contents. Sit down at a table and empty everything out of your wallet, and ladies you’ll probably want to grab your entire purse(s).   Once everything’s dumped out, separate the contents into two piles.  One for your bare essentials and the other for the things you really don’t need to carry around that can just be kept at home in a safe place instead.  Declutter and simplify! The less you carry around, the less you’ll need to replace, and the easier it’ll be to fit your wallet in your pocket too.

Create a card log. Trying to remember all the various cards you were carrying around when they’re suddenly gone can be difficult and stressful, especially when you start worrying about someone racking up charges and stealing your identity.  Take a few minutes now and write down all the different cards you typically carry around.  Or if you’re too lazy to write it all down, take a picture or make a photocopy of all the cards together – super easy.  It’s also really helpful to have the account IDs and phone numbers of each customer service department you’ll need to alert all in one place.   You’ll be able to react quickly if needed and will feel more at ease knowing that you contacted ALL the necessary vendors.

Plastic > Cash money. Minimize the amount of cash you carry around and avoid depositing large amounts of money at ATMs at night or in sketchy areas. Same goes for making large withdrawals. Be street smart and trust your sixth sense.  Only carry enough cash for what you actually plan to spend (bus fares, cash only restaurants, tips, parking) and use a credit card for the rest.  Also consider keeping an emergency use only credit card and stash of cash in a secret place at home so you’ll have enough to get food and the basics while you wait for your new cards to arrive.  Just don’t hide them under your mattress because that’s one of the first places burglars like to look!

Make Copies of your IDs. Keep a copy of your current drivers license and passport in a safety deposit box or a wall safe. Copies can’t legally be used as replacements but they can assist in verifying your identity when you go to get official replacements and you’ll also have your identification numbers handy to help expedite the location of your records.

Contact me card. Consider keeping a “Please contact xyz if found” note in an easy to find place within your wallet. There are good people in the world who will try to return lost items to their rightful owners, and having a contact me card will make it easy for them to reach you. I suggest using a phone number and email different from what you have on file with your bank and credit card companies for your own protection just in case a malicious person gets a hold of it.

Fraud alerts. All three major credit agencies allow you to place free fraud alerts on your credit report if you suspect you could be a victim of identity theft or if your credit card information was stolen or compromised. You only need to notify one agency because they will automatically alert the other two.  Creating a fraud alert makes it much more difficult for someone to open a new line of credit using your stolen information.  Note that initial security alerts last for only 90 days, so you may need to call and extend the period if you suspect someone is actively using your identity.

File a police report.  If you know your wallet was stolen, make the effort to report it so the police can help track down the thief.  Sadly it’s unlikely to increase your chances of getting your wallet back by much, but you never know – a good samaritan may have found it and dropped it off at the station, or the police may have a lead on a repeat offender and your description could help them catch the thief.

Already lost your wallet and can’t think of what you had in it?  Here’s a list of common things we carry around:

• Cash

• Drivers license

• Credit cards

• Debit cards

• ATM cards

• Insurance ID cards

• Office ID cards

• Transit cards

• Spare keys

• Business cards

• Contact lists

• Security cards

• Memory cards (ex. SD, Compact Flash)

• Thumb drives

• Password lists (not a good idea btw!)

• Parking tags and access cards

• Gift cards

• Gym ID

• Library card

• Receipts

• Dry cleaning tickets

• Photos

• Coupons

• Point cards (ex. Get 10 stamps, get XYZ free)

• Frequent shopper cards

• To do lists

• Raffle tickets

• Concert tickets

As you can see, the list can get quite big!  That’s why it really helps to follow the steps above so you have less to lose, logs of what you do carry around, copies, and contact lists handy.  Hopefully you will never have to go through what I did but if you worst happens you’ll know what to do when you’ve lost your wallet and can make a quick recovery and get back to fun, untemplate living!

Untemplaters, was there anything I missed that you carry around in your wallet?  Have you ever had your wallet lost or stolen?

When you run your own business, juggle multiple jobs to pay off school debt, or are just plain swamped with life, it can be quite a challenge to eat healthy.  Fast food is everywhere, constantly tempting us to stuff our faces so we can quickly curb our hunger and get back to our massive to do lists.  An occasional burger and fries isn’t that big a deal, but if you give in on a regular basis, you’re gonna blow up like a balloon and have a laundry list of health problems to deal with.

While I’m pretty good at avoiding fast food, I have a bad habit of eating lots of frozen dinners and take out.  Even though I pick meals that are low fat and preservative free when I can, it’s just not the same as cooking at home where you get to see and control exactly what goes into each meal.

If You SEE What Goes Into The Foods You Eat, You’ll Make Healthier Choices

For those of you who love to cook, you’re probably already eating lots of healthy foods, especially since you see everything that goes into what you eat.  I went through a brief baking craze phase (try saying that 5 times fast ) in my 20′s and ended up getting rather grossed out after I saw how much butter and sugar it took to make a lot of recipes.  I stopped eating sugar cookies and pound cake after that!

Several of my 2012 goals are focused on health and fitness and I’m really making an effort to work on them this year.  I’m getting regular exercise into my schedule now, decreasing my intake of processed foods, and eating more raw snack foods when like veggies and fruits.  Cutting back on frozen dinners and take out is another goal I’m working on, and I’m starting to cook dinner at home again a few times a month.

Good News – It’s Hard to Screw Up Easy Slow Cooker Recipes

I’ve never considered myself a good cook, probably because I’ve had a fair amount of disasters in the kitchen. What I have learned however, is that simple cooking can have amazing results without talent!  A recipe really doesn’t need 20 ingredients, 3 saute pans, and a double boiler for it to taste delicious.  Those are the ones that usually end up terrible due to getting the portions of different ingredients mixed up, not timing things right, or substituting too many ingredients when you don’t have everything on hand.

Cleanup and planning are my least favorite aspects of cooking and fortunately I’ve found a solution to both – easy slow cooker recipes.  I am a KLUTZY cook but I’ve had a lot of success using a simple slow cooker!  They aren’t expensive to buy, and many have containers that lift out making it easy for serving and storing leftovers in the fridge.  Most importantly though they make the simplest of ingredients taste delicious!

Save Time And Eat Healthier

I used to spend a lot of time flipping through cookbooks and making huge grocery lists and it lead me to dread cooking.  With a slow cooker you can save yourself a lot of time and headaches because you really don’t need anything fancy – pop in some veggies, protein, and a broth or sauce and you’re set.  I’ve even made a few of my own easy slow cooker recipes – most recently a vegetarian chili that’s healthy and really basic:

Sydney’s Vegetarian Chili

• 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 15 oz. can black beans
• 8.75 oz. can kidney beans
• 8.75 oz. can corn
• ~ 1/3 cup chopped onions
• 2 large green peppers chopped

Combine all ingredients together in the slow cooker.  Turn on low when you leave for work and it’ll be ready for eating by the time you get home!  I didn’t even need to add ANY salt!

Try it some time and feel free to modify it to your liking.

Untemplaters, do you like to cook?  Have you ever created your own easy slow cooker recipes?  What steps are you taking to eat healthier this year?

I can’t count the number of times my parents and grandparents used to say to me as a kid “well when I was growing up we didn’t have xyz.”  That really used to annoy me in my teenage years and I used to love to roll my eyes when they said that.  Now that I’m older though, it really amazes me how many things can change in our lifetimes.  It’s no wonder parents say the things they do.

Just the other day I was writing about how the publishing industry is changing and how literary agents like David Fugate believe “In the entire history of the written word, there has never been a better time to be a writer.”  It’s exciting to see how the influence of technology is directly impacting such a vast industry.  With the explosion of tablets like the iPad, smartphones, and travel friendly laptops, we are getting more and more hooked on digital books and ditching paper ones.

The Backpack Burden

Technology is everywhere and I for one am totally addicted to my gadgets.  Even though I love reading paper bound books and magazines, my obsessive minimalism habits are driving my purchasing habits away from traditional books because they are a pain to lug around.  Plus I think I’ve given away roughly 50-60 books in the last twelve months in favor of more empty space on my shelves.  The world of books that we’ve known since we were kids is going to be entirely different in the next few decades and I think that’s cool!

The expanding area of digital publishing that I’m the most pumped about is eTextbooks.  I never had a car during high school or college and I had to lug my super heavy backpack everywhere.  It sucked.  I was a total nerd and took a lot of classes, which meant I had tons of 2 lb textbooks weighing me down and even though I sold almost all of my books, it was almost insulting how little money I got back.

Laptops And Tablets Are The New Norm

I was fortunate enough to have a laptop during college but I didn’t take it with me to class.  For one, the battery wouldn’t have lasted more than one class, and electrical outlets in the lecture halls were few and far between.  My old laptop was also a lot heavier than my textbooks so it was easier to take notes in class on loose leaf paper or in thin spirals notebooks.

Fortunately more and more colleges and universities are device friendly now and have classrooms equipped with wifi and electrical outlets for each seat, and thus can accommodate a class full of laptops and tablets.  It’s no longer weird to bring a laptop to class (it was really rare when I was in college), and with tons of textbooks available for purchase in electronic format, it’s also much more convenient to take notes digitally instead of on paper now.

Where Can You Get eTextbooks?

One website that offers a wide assortment of eTextbooks is eCampus.com.  You can find books on calculus, physics, business, health, entrepreneurship, engineering etc. etc.  And if the ones you need for your classes aren’t available in eTextbook format, you can always purchase a new print version or search for used copies too.  You can even sell your old textbooks through their website and get some cash back.

Or if you already know you don’t want to keep your textbooks after you’re done with the semester and want to avoid the selling process, you can sign up for their textbook rental service and have the books delivered to you with free return shipping for when you’re done.

 What Are Some Features of eTextbooks?

One thing to be aware of with eTextbooks is they are generally available for a limited subscription period after you buy them.  So unlike printed textbooks, you won’t have access to the content for years down the road.  But honestly, you’re probably never going to reopen your textbooks after your final exams so don’t let the time limit worry you!  I know I didn’t miss my textbooks one bit after exams. 

Here’s an example of eCampus’s pricing based on format for N. Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics textbook at the time of writing this post:

New Textbook $194.35

Used Textbook $129.56

eTextbook $121.19 (180 day subscription)

Rent Textbook $62.26 (1 semester, due back June 1)

As you can see, renting is the cheapest way to go, but it also means you have to lug around the physical book when you want to study at the library or go to class.  Plus you have to take the time to mail it back when you’re done and can’t scribble all over the margins with pen or highlighter.  Buying New is totally ridiculous IMO and definitely not worth the money.  If you’re still buying new textbooks, please go smack some sense into yourself.  Lastly, the eTextbook falls in the mid range and is definitely the way I’d go if I needed this book for class.

Untemplaters, have you ever purchased eTextbooks?  For those of you like me who didn’t have that luxury, would you happily go digital if you went back to school now?  Any of you actually prefer print over eTextbooks?

There is nobody on Earth I know who enjoys taking a needle and jabbing their eyeballs. I also don’t know anybody who takes pleasure in dropping a dumbbell on their bare toes. Doing either of these things is completely irrational. Given not saving is like jabbing your eyeballs with needles, it’s safe to say that everybody saves money. With this premise, the economy is very resilient to downturns as people use their savings to wait it out.

Many of you have argued against the premise that “many people” have nothing to show for after 15, 20, 25, 30 years of work in my post entitled, “Is Unemployment Really That High?” You and I know people who have worked for 15-30 years have PLENTY to show for, because anybody with a calculator will realize that compounding any savings or investments over the past 15-30 years yields tremendous results. As a result, we really shouldn’t worry about those who become unemployed after so many years of work experience.

Furthermore, it’s important to note that there’s a trend of “you know somebody who is suffering, yada, yada, yada” yet you yourself are doing just fine. The fact of the matter is, if you are everybody, and you are doing fine, then everyone is doing fine!

THANKFUL AFTER SO MANY YEARS

I’m reminded of an AP article I read that highlighted how several 45-50 year old people were so thankful to have unemployment insurance be extended further. They talked about how it was “their life line” after being out of work for over a year. I’m really excited that the unemployment benefits are working and going to people who need it most.  Up to 99 weeks of benefits is a tremendous amount of time.  The people profiled in the article all sounded like hard working people who just need a little bit of help to get by.

Part of me started wondering what happened though? After working for 28 years, shouldn’t we logically have at least 25 years worth of savings to hold us over for the rest of our lives?  In fact, I would hope we’d be about to double dip by collecting 99 weeks of unemployment while also living off the interest and dividends from my savings and investments!

If you saved just $10,000 a year on average for 28 years, you’d surely have more than $500,000, if not millions due to compound interest and investments! Take a look at the numbers in my retirement savings guideline by age table and you’ll see what I mean.  It’s possible to save more for your retirement even if you don’t make that much money too.  So I got to thinking, perhaps the government should skew their unemployment benefits more towards younger unemployed workers and less towards older unemployed workers instead?

WHY WE NEED TO HELP OUR YOUTH

If you are 28 years old and get laid off, chances are you don’t have much savings to hold you over for a long time. After only 6 years of working, you are at the bottom of your earnings power, while the fixed cost of living is relatively high compared to your salary. You might even have school loans to pay off. As an unemployed 28 year old, your last resort is to move back home with mom and dad after your friends get sick of you for sleeping on the sofa.

Some may say the younger you are, the more resilient and resourceful you are. Really? Is that just an excuse older people make? If you’re older, you’ve got that many more connections and that much more knowledge. I know I am way more resourceful and savvy now than I was 15 years ago.

Others may highlight that when you’re young, you have much less responsibility, debt, and dependencies. True, but you also have much lower savings and income. Whatever the case may be, there always seems to be an excuse for everything. All I know is that the longer you work, the more you have time to save and invest. We all talk about the time value of money and the miracles of compounding.

SAVE OUR YOUTH?

It is a tautology that a younger person is at a disadvantage to that compounding miracle as the older person. Hence, if you look at any demographic wealth chart around, you will see that younger people are worth less! There’s no gray areas here. Since younger people are disadvantaged by time, perhaps they should get even higher benefits from unemployment than older people. Perhaps after working for 30 years, maybe you shouldn’t even be allowed to get unemployment. It sounds cruel, but this post is a thought exercise in allocating resources properly. The government does it all the time by punishing the rich and redistributing income to the poor.

What are your thoughts about using unemployment to help out the younger unemployed over the older unemployed?  Or, are our elders more deserving since they paid more into the system?

Do people like to inflict plenty of harm on themselves by not saving and investing? If so, why?

Regards,

Sam

A lot of people, myself included, have dreams of writing a book someday and getting on the best seller list.  There’s something magical about books and I’ve been fascinated with them ever since the days when my parents first read to me as a toddler.  I love spending hours in the library browsing up and down the aisles and pulling books off the shelves.  After a visit to the library, I often walk home with a backpack and both arms full of books on travel, cooking, science fiction, crafts, mysteries, photography, biographies, foreign languages, computer guides, or whatever else caught my eye.  (Yes I actually have hit the 50 item checkout limit on my library card before!)

With SO many books already published and new ones coming out each day, it can be extremely intimidating to write your first book, let alone even think about trying to get published.  But fear no more!  Life is too short to be scared of failing at becoming a published author, and you won’t be able to succeed unless you try first!  Don’t let another year slip by without making some serious progress on your writing goals.  Skip the sorry excuses of writers block, procrastination, and giving up after your first rejection letter.

One Resource Is All You Need To Learn How To Get Published

I just finished reading the Unconventional Guide to Publishing and I can’t believe how much I learned!  I’m a big fan of Unconventional Guides, and this is their newest product that just came out this week.  At 45,000 words and nine enlightening chapters on how to get published, the guide goes into all the details you’ve been looking for on key topics like putting together proposals, finding an agent, pitching your book to publishers, and tips on getting the best possible contract for your needs.

The guide is straight to the point, easy for even complete industry novices to understand, and doesn’t waste your time with fluff or mindless repetition.  The chapters are well organized and the font is also easy on the eyes, which is important since it is sold in PDF format.

Industry Expertise At Your Fingertips

When you want to learn how to get published and give yourself the best chance possible, advice from an experienced industry guru is priceless.  The Unconventional Guide to Publishing is written by David Fugate, a literary agent who has twenty years of industry experience and has represented more than 1,000 books.  Yes, you read that right – over one THOUSAND books with more than 40 different publishers!

The Evolving World Of Publishing

We all can recognize that the future of books as we know them is changing.  Our grandparents told us stories about how they used to walk 5 miles through the snow to get to school carrying their books with leather book straps, and someday we’ll be telling our kids how we used to carry big heavy textbooks in our backpacks between classes, which sooner or later will sound so old fashioned because someday everything will be digital.

You might think that the changes in the publishing industry with giants like Borders going under are signs that becoming a published author isn’t a good idea anymore.  I’ve had those doubts myself, especially since I’ve seen so many book stores close in the last few years, and each time I’ve felt SO sad.  Thus I was thrilled and rather surprised when I read Fugate firmly believes, “In the entire history of the written word, there has never been a better time to be a writer” in reference to this time of significant industry changes.

Find The One That Works For You And Get Started

Are you excited and ready to learn about all the specifics on how to get published with Fugate’s help in the Unconventional Guide to Publishing?  Well good news – there is not just one, but three convenient packages available for purchase!  Each one is at a different price point which is great if you’re on a budget.  The gents at Unconventional Guides have cleverly named each of the 3 packages after a famous author, The Hemingway, The Austen, and The Fitzgerald.

Not only does each package include the 45,000 word guide in PDF format, they also come with MP3 interviews with established editors, detailed transcripts, and free updates for life!

If you act fast, you can even take advantage of a price reduction that’s currently in effect on the top level package, The Hemingway, through midnight January 13th.  The Hemingway package includes bonus audio interviews as well as a video interview on Book Marketing with best selling author Jonathan Fields.

Props to Chris Guillebeau and Sean Ogle for producing another fabulous Unconventional Guides product!  And Untemplaters, just so you know, the links in this post are affiliate links, which means if you complete a purchase of the Unconventional Guide to Publishing, a portion of the proceeds goes towards supporting Untemplater!  And there’s nothing to worry about because your information is kept private and the purchasing process through Unconventional Guides is easy and safe.

For more information, pricing, or to buy a package please visit the Unconventional Guide to Publishing.  A BIG thank you in advance if you make a purchase, and no hard feelings if not. 

Untemplaters, do you have dreams to write a book and get published?  What genre(s) are you interested in?  Are you a fan of traditional bound paper books, or do you now prefer ebooks?

The first few months of the year are usually a hectic time when companies experience high periods of turnover. People are disappointed with their bonuses, or even lack of bonuses, and it can be a sensitive time for those who didn’t make it into the office wide promotions announcement. Emotions run high and you might find yourself fuming and ready to storm out the door screaming, “I QUIT!”

I gotta admit I’ve fantasized about yelling that exact phrase at several times in my career, but I’m really glad I didn’t let my emotions get the better of me. Although I’m sure it would feel exhilarating in the moment, quitting your job is not a decision you should make on the fly or in the heat of the moment!  So before you quit your job or do anything crazy, I’d like you to ask yourself several important questions.

What are 8-10 triggers that are driving your desire to quit? Everybody wants more money, less hours, shorter commutes, and more vacation days so a list of only 3-5 reasons isn’t going to help you much in your decision. Get as specific as possible in identifying the things that you dislike about your current job.

How will you avoid those triggers in your next venture? Like it or not, there will always be issues of some sort in any job you take, even if you become your own boss and start your own business. Figure out which of those triggers you want to prevent the most in your next role and how you plan to achieve that before you quit your job.

Are YOU to blame for any of the reasons you want to quit? Everyone always wants to blame someone else when they’re unhappy at work, but in some cases they should be pointing the finger at themselves. If you’re suffering from boredom, have you taken enough initiative and asked for new assignments? If you’ve been passed up on a promotion for 3 years, have you discussed the reasons with your manager and asked for ways to improve your skills? Have you truly given your current position all its worth?

How many months of expenses do you have in savings? Before you quit your job, figure out how long you could survive on your own if suddenly you didn’t have any income coming in.  This is a great personal finance exercise even if you’re not thinking about quitting.  The key is not to guess how long – actually calculate it out! Real numbers matter.

What is the dollar value of your benefits package? We often forget how much our benefits actually cost, but the companies we work for don’t. If you quit today, what choices would you have for health insurance, life insurance, and disability? Do your research and be prepared. Remember that even if you find a new job tomorrow, full benefits usually don’t kick in until you pass a probationary period, so factor that into your budget as well.

How do you plan to find a new job? It’s certainly not as easy as it used to be. Even though we have a lot of great online resources now for job search, it’s still a very competitive market out there and not all industries are hiring. If you haven’t interviewed in a long time, plan on brushing up your skills because there are plenty of folks out there with a lot of practice who have that advantage over you.

Would you want your current job back if you failed at finding something new? It may sound silly, but it’s something to consider to help you determine if you’re really ready to quit or not. Build a better relationship with your manager and ask for new assignments to give yourself new challenges.

Do you really have to quit right now before finding a new job? Personally I suggest getting a signed offer on the table before you quit your job so you can keep your benefits and income while you apply and wait for interviews. Locking in a new job can take a long time, and hiring firms usually prefer to meet with candidates who are currently employed versus those who have been out of work for extended periods. If you’re thinking about changing industries, look into part time MBAs or night classes and use your day job money to pay for tuition.

Are you fully utilizing your free time? Sometimes people blame their jobs for their overall unhappiness when they’re really just in denial that they aren’t do anything rewarding with their free time outside the office. A healthy work life balance isn’t just about working less hours, it’s also about staying active in your personal life.

Untemplaters, how would you rate your current level of satisfaction with your job? What were some reasons that lead you to quit in the past?  Did you find a new position before you quit your job or after?