Month: June 2014

Recommendation of the Month · The Millionaire Next Door

Millionaire Monday Chapter 4: You Aren’t What You Drive

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Happy Monday.  I hope you have had and/or having a prosperous beginning of the week.  As I reviewed this chapter for the second time in preparation for this post, it occurred to me that many of the lessons we have read are truly common sense lessons.  Here are a few of my favorite common sense lessons thus far:
1.  If you don’t have the money, don’t spend it.
2.  Pay yourself first.
3.  A penny saved is a dollar earned.
4.  We can always find money for that last minute splurge but can never find money to save.
5.  Budgets and tracking our spending are wealth building practices.
6.  Frugal is not a bad word.

The most striking realization I have experienced in my readings, is that isn’t the knowledge that is holding us back.  It is the execution because of our lack of self-discipline.  That realization led me to finally pick my one word of the year – DISCIPLINE.  But more on that later.

Without further delay, here are the questions of the week. 

1.  What s a super-PAW?

2.  Why is Mr. Allen financially independent?

3.  What is Mr. Allen’s view on money?

4.  What is a threat to a highly efficient lifestyle?

5.  According to this study of millionaires, how much do millionaires pay for their vehicles?  How much did you pay for your vehicle? What percentage of your net income is the total cost of your last car purchase?

6. Since your household is your business, what impact has purchasing motor vehicles had on your bottom line?

7.  There are 4 distinct vehicle buyer types profiled, which one closely resembles you at this moment?  Which one would you like to become?  If different, why?

8.  True of False   Used vehicle-prone dealer shoppers are the least aggressive of all profiled.

9.  What can one learn about affluent people by analyzing their vehicle buying habits?

10.  Which vehicle type purchaser is the most illuminating for studying the path to affluence?  Why?

11.  What factors explain variations in wealth accumulation?

12.  What are the beliefs that were associated as being behind frugal behavior?

13.  What does the parable of the seeds teach us about money?

14.  How did Dr. Bill become a millionaire?  What does he teach us about wealth & entrepreneurship?

15.  _____ offense & poor ____ translate into ___ accumulation of wealth.

16.  What should Gary & Mr. Norman know about motor vehicles purchases?

I know I posted more questions than the norm this week but this chapter just called to me to emulate the car ads we see on TV and hear on the Radio.  Their Ad:  Come see us and we can put you in a car!  My Ad:  Save $ & Practice Frugality and you won’t need the dealer’s manipulations to buy the car of your choice.  In other words, just because they tell you it is a deal, it likely isn’t.  Next to shelters cars are that one expense that some of us are required to make. 

As I prepare to end this post, I wonder – What are your top common sense lessons in the readings so far?

Til next time,
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading” – Lao Tzu

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Failure Can Be The Start of Something Great

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This evening I managed to devote some uninterrupted & solitary time to rocking my baby to sleep.  We have a nightly ritual of bedtime stories with the kids and after his final story was read, I attempted to lie him in his crib and return to getting his brother ready for bed.  But as usual, he had other ideas.  You see he has this funny habit of waking up whenever you stop talking, so talking is what I went back to doing.

What does this have to do with failure?  Everything.  It was during this failure of putting him down that I decided to multitask – read him back to sleep & catch up on my reading.  It was during this reading that I came across this inspiring article from Inc. Magazine:

4 People Who Succeeded by Failing http://feeds.inc.com/~r/home/updates/~3/z09hGtKx1bk/story01.htm

When you find a source of great inspiration,  I find it is important to share it.  This article and the individuals/products they profile articulate the meaning of perseverance. While no one likes failure, the lessons we learn can translate into great things.

Til next time,

“First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.” –Aristotle

Recommendation of the Month · The Millionaire Next Door

Millionaire Monday: Chapter 3

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Its Millionaire time, time to refocus our minds towards improving our financial outlook.  This is the beginning of a new week of reflection, planning and implementation.  Our goal this week corresponds with the title of our next chapter -“Time, Energy, & Money” In honor of this title, I am disclosing my plan to obtain additional income for investing – I am scheduling time to make coffee at home, spending energy on packing and carrying my lunch and saving the money which would typically be spent for my daily coffee and meal.

It is my hopes that making these simple changes will provide me with additional revenue for investing.  I have also praised my mother for raising me to be economically dependent.  It is my hopes that we teach our children the lessons we are learning during this co-reading session.

I have been engrossed in World Cup Soccer and found myself delayed in posting today.  So without further adieu, here are this week’s questions for reflection:

1.  What is the most important component of wealth accumulation?

2.  What can Mr. Dennis teach us about wealth?

3.  True of False Planning & controlling consumption are not key factors to wealth accumulation

4.  How do PAWS allocate their spare time?  How do you allocate your spare time?

5.  What is the difference between Dr. North’s & Dr. South’s children?  Whose parenting style are you more like and what can you do to improve it, if any?

6. How are you allocating your time?  What activities are you partaking in to increase your wealth?

7. What is one disadvantage for being an employee in terms of wealth building?

8.  In terms of wealth building, what are the steps you should take in order to operate your household like a business?

I hope these questions are helping you as you journey on this road of self-improvement and financial planning.  This book focuses on the aspects of millionaires but it is also integral in helping you realize that anything is possible with a few lifestyle & behavioral changes. 

Til next time,
Things may come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle – Abraham Lincoln

The Millionaire Next Door

Millionaire Monday: Chapter 2 Part 2

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Happy Millionaire Monday.  Are you implementing the skills and practices highlighted within the pages of this book?  Have you learned anything about yourself and your family?  It is my hopes that this group read a long has resulted in a renewal of self discipline towards at least one goal of economic independence.  This book recommendation was not selected to motivate you towards millionaire status, it was selected to demonstrate to you the skills/practices needed to move from paycheck to paycheck.  This self-discipline would allow you the opportunity to pursue your dreams.  “Self-respect is the root of discipline:The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself” –  Abraham Joshua Heschel.

While these posts contain up to 6 questions, I have many more questions for self-reflection which will be made available at a later date.  Stay tuned for details on how to obtain this information.  In honor of moving forward with our reading and review, I am posting the remainder of the questions developed for Part 2 of Chapter 2.  We will return to the practice of 6 questions on next week for Chapter 3.  Now without further delay, here are the questions for today.

Questions for Self-Examination:
1.  Do you wish to become affluent & stay affluent?  If yes, evaluate your household utilizing the questions below:
a.  Does your household operate on an annual budget?
b.  Do you know how much your family spends each year for food, clothing & shelter?
c.  Do you have a clearly defined set of daily, weekly, monthly, annual, & lifetime goals?
Do these goals include financial goals?
d.  Do you spend a lot of time planning your financial future

2.  Do you understand this statement?  “Income in the form of capital gains”

3.  The author profiles two types of individuals, Mrs. Rule & Mr. Friend.  Which individual more closely resembles you financially?

4.  Mr. Friend’s parents taught him that one earns to spend.  What are you teaching your children?

5.  Are you teaching your children the value of investing?  If no, what changes will you need to make in order to begin teaching this lesson?  What resources are available for you to access?

6.  Many individuals without wealth often state that they do not have any money to invest.  If you gave up one small expense in order to reinvest that money, how much would be available in one month?  one quarter? one year?

7.  How can someone change when all of their experience is as a UAW?

8. To build wealth,  __________ your realized income and _________ your unrealized income.

9. What gives Barbara the advantage over Sharon?

10. What would allow Barbara to easily survive for twenty or more years?

11.  How does Perot minimize his tax bill?

12. What is the Congressional Medal of Taxation and Consumption?   Are you teaching your children how to receive this medal?

13. What is the relationship between realized income and wealth?

14. What actions translate into financial independence?

15. Is your domestic overhead taking away potential investment money?

Til next time,
“Always Remember to take your Vitamins: Take your Vitamin A for ACTION, Vitamin B for Belief, Vitamin C for Confidence ,Vitamin D for Discipline, Vitamin E for Enthusiasm!!” – Pablo

The Millionaire Next Door

The Millionaire Next Door Chapter 2 Part 1

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Last week we took a brief break from our weekly posting of questions associated with The Millionaire Next Door in order to pay tribute to veterans/families for Memorial Day.  This week finds us on Chapter 2.  There is so much information in this chapter that I feel it is important to break it down into 2 parts. 

Indicated below are the questions for reflection regarding the chapter entitled Frugal, Frugal, Frugal.  Hopefully you have identified areas in your life in which change is necessary.  Read each question carefully and consider how you will implement the lessons you have learned.

1.  Allocating ______ & ______ in the pursuit of looking superior often has a predictable outcome:  ______ economic achievement.

2.  What are three words that profile the affluent?

3.  In the lifestyle of the typical american millionaire, Johnny Lucas indicates what six characteristics that might threaten the audience?

4.  If you live in America and are not affluent, why?

5.  When asked the following three questions during the study, the affluent answered yes.  What are your answers?
a.  Were your parents very frugal?
b.  Are you frugal?
c.  Is your spouse more frugal than you?

6.  According to The Millionaire Next Door, How is great offense defined?  Does your household meet this definition?

7.  According to The Millionaire Next Door, how is great defense defined?  Does your household meet this definition?

8.  True False Based on your personal experience, answer the following questions:
a.  A couple cannot accumulate wealth is one of its members is a hyperconsumer?
b.  Few people can sustain profligate spending habits & simultaneously build wealth?

Til next time,
“Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.” – Ludwig van Beethoven