Last night and today I was able to help a buddy of mine move. All in all it was a good time (aside from falling on the stairs cause they were wet). I had to cancel an 11:00 appointment to check out a 4-plex, but I can do that anytime. Tonight I’m going to a meeting at my church. I actually have to be there in a half hour.

I guess I’m mentioning all this because it feels good to be doing worthwhile things. I know that a lot is said about the difference between being productive and just being busy. I’m not really getting into that here, but it’d be a good idea for another post.

Before now, I would spend a lot of time doing really meaningless things. I’d sleep in when I didn’t have to work or go to school (and sometimes even when I was supposed to be in school). I’d go to the movies or rent movies or hang out with friends playing video games. I’m not saying that any of this is inherently bad or anything. I just think that I can have just as much fun if not more while doing other things that might make a difference.

I look at all kinds of people: successful and unsuccessful, rich and poor, energetic and tired, happy and melancholy. The common thing among all these people is the amount of time in a day. We all are able to prioritize our time, yet many (myself included) choose to “waste” a lot of it. I challenge myself as well as you to try and utilize your time more wisely to move closer to the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

It’s up to us to decide how we’re going to live and what’s important to us. That’s why it’s called “Self-Mastery”.

Anyway, I have to run. I’ll probably revisit this topic later. Also tell me what you think. Maybe I’m way off base here.

Typically, when people are in their car driving to and from work or running errands, they listen to their favorite radio station, CD’s, mp3’s or satellite radio. Nothing wrong with this, but it is just another form of passive entertainment.

When I can, I like to turn my car into what I call a “mobile university”. I go to the library and pick out different audio books on subjects that I want to learn more about (or have my wife pick them up when she’s there). I’ve listened to books on stock investing, real estate investing, entrepreneurship, business and other success books. It helps keep me motivated and focused on my goals. I’m also able to learn all about different subjects that interest me.

Another benefit from doing this is that I’m introduced to things that I’d never even heard about before, and I’m able to go and find out more. It makes things really difficult when you don’t know what you don’t know.

I’m also able to get all this information for free, and I can listen to it over and over again. The library is a wonderful thing. I can even go online and look at everything that’s available and put things on hold for me. They let me know when they’re available and I just go pick it up.

Now, this past week has been quite mind numbing at work. I haven’t been really all that busy, and the things that I needed to do didn’t really require all that much concentration. I could just relax and take it easy at work, content to just have my job and not be too busy. But, since I wasn’t too occupied I was able to bring in an audio book and listen to it during work. In this instance, I’m getting paid to learn what I want to learn.

When I told a guy at work what I was listening to, he just laughed and said that he’d never seen anybody wanting to better himself so much. I just laughed, knowing that there’s a reason why I won’t be working in the same job in 25 years.

So take it for what you will, but maybe try it out sometime. Turn your car into a “Mobile University”. You never know how what you learn will benefit you.

I don’t have a lot of time right now, but I had a thought that I wanted to share with everyone. Too often we all get bogged down in everything that we need/want to do. We all have goals, but they seem so far out there and so high that we often times just don’t do anything.

Even if you don’t know what the best path forward is, I challenge you to do at least one thing everyday that is in line with your goals. Today I made a couple of phone calls to realtors and put a call in to my mortgage broker. Once they get back to me, I’ll be able to look over the details of a few properties and decide whether I want to go after them or not. It wasn’t anything big, but it’ll move me just that much closer to my ultimate goals.

If you’re interested in stocks but don’t know where to begin, try going to the library and checking out one of the hundreds of books out there on stock investing. Even if you don’t have the money right now, try and find some companies that you’d like to invest in. It doesn’t cost you anything to look. Just like you can window shop for new clothes or the new TV, you can look around for stocks or real estate or any other investment.

The whole point here is to do something, and one day you’ll wake up and find out that you know what you’re doing.

I’m going to share with you the best piece of advice that I’ve received, and it’s what motivates me to keep striving for success. There’s a lot more to learn, but this is the quote that drives me:

“I’d rather live for a few years like most people won’t, to live the rest of my life like most people can’t.”

I heard this quote from a very wealthy presenter in my Entrepreneurship Lecture Series class back at school. It’s probably the one thing that I remember most from my five years in college (certainly not the things from my engineering classes).

Unlike most, I plan on keeping my living expenses as low as possible. It’s far too easy to let your spending habits inflate to the level of your income.

Unlike most, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to capitalize on in order to increase my income. It’s really easy to become complacent once you’ve landed a “good job” instead of trying to continually push yourself to become better and better.

Unlike most, I’m looking for investments that will provide cash for me to live on. It’s easy to take your paycheck and look for the new car you always wanted, or take the vacation you say you deserve.

I could go on, but there’s a pattern here. I’m not advocating a lifestyle of deprivation, but one of carefully considered priorities. I can be just as happy on a picnic with my wife or watching a movie at home with her as I could be at an upscale restaurant or in a movie theater. I find happiness in spending time with those around me that I care about. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing. It’s the time that matters. That’s why “I’d rather live for a few years like most people won’t”. I want to secure for myself what most people can’t have. And that’s “time freedom”.

The Roth IRA is a favorite place to stash savings and retirement funds. Pretty much every personal finance blogger talks about it. I have mine with Scottrade. It’s very simple to set up online, just go to www.scottrade.com. Now, I have no desire to reiterate here how it works along with the pros and cons, but here are some of the highlights:

• Contributions are made with after-tax money
• Earnings, capital gains, and dividends are tax free
• Withdrawals after age 59 1/2 are tax free
• Amount equal to the contributions can be withdrawn anytime without penalty

I’d like to focus on the last bullet here. It may sound contrary to conventional wisdom to highlight the fact that you can withdraw your contributions, but it’s an important point. Also, since you’ve already been taxed on the money, it only makes sense that you’d be able to take it out. It’s the investment gains that enjoy the tax deferment.

I’m not suggesting that your Roth IRA be used as an emergency fund. There is still a maximum contribution that can be made each year. If you take a withdrawal one year, you can’t make it up in a later year. This is important to keep in mind.

I would be very careful in deciding to take a withdrawal from your Roth, but there could be situations where it would not only make sense, but be very beneficial. I personally am considering using the advantages of the Roth IRA to save up for a down payment on a rental property.

The tax advantages of real estate are comparable to that of tax advantaged retirement accounts. I’ll talk more about the advantages of different investments later, but what I’m focusing on today is the flexibility of the Roth IRA.

Contribute what you can to the Roth IRA, and just keep your options in mind.

I’ve talked before about your personal income statement. The important principle to take from this is the free cash flow. It’s the part of your income that’s left over after you’ve paid all of your living expenses. Most people think of this as their savings, but there can be a little more to it.

This free cash flow is also called our discretionary spending. We can choose to save it, invest it, give it away, or do anything else you like with it. This is the problem so many people have when they rely on credit and spend more than they earn. They deprive themselves of this discretionary income. Everything they earn is already spoken for. You owe it to yourself to have something left over every month and to increase this amount.

Here are the two ways you can increase your cash flow:

1. Increase your income.
This is obvious, but it’s not exactly easy. You can try to work overtime at your current job. You can look for another job that pays more. You could take on a second job during the evenings or weekends. You could start a side business that would bring some extra money in. You can also sell some of the things that you don’t use/need anymore. The most popular site for this Ebay (check out the link on the right). The point here is to find new and creative ways to earn as much as you can.

2. Decrease your expenses.
It’s pretty simple to find ways to cut your expenses, but actually doing it is the tough part. You get so accustomed to your lifestyle, that you don’t want to cut back. If you’re not willing to cut the cable or satellite TV, you may be able to at least find a better price. Perhaps by bundling the services with your phone and Internet bill. You can also shop around for for cheaper rates on your insurance premiums. As you accumulate more savings, try raising your deductibles. Ask yourself if you really need to go to that restaurant, or if the new “iToy” is really a must have. There’s much more, but you get the idea.

Start to think of different ways that you can increase your free cash flow. The next step is to develop a plan for what to do with it. Without a plan for it, you’ll end up just spending it. Spending has a crazy way of inflating to the level of income. Later I’ll talk about what to do with this freed up cash.

Let us know some of the ways that you’ve been able to increase your income and decrease your expenses, and good luck with your free cash flow…

So many are focused on accumulating, earning, saving and investing that we lose sight of what’s really important in life. As I’ve talked about before, the real goal here is financial, and therefore, time freedom. It’s not just “all about the money”.

I submit that an integral part of every personal finance plan should be charitable giving. It reminds us how blessed we really are and it turns our focus to what’s important. It’s the people that really matter.

“Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.” -John D. Rockefeller

I personally donate 10% of everything that I earn to my church. It’s the first thing that I take out of any received income. In addition to this, I try to look for other ways that I can give back and help others. I started giving out what I call “fivers” to people who I thought deserved them. It’s amazing how rich you’ll feel when you concentrate on giving to those around you.

Just remember that living is giving… and giving is living…