My wife and I just got back from MacDo where we ate dinner and picked up a movie at RedBox (Blades of Glory if you must know). We were able to pick the movie up for free which is always a plus.

Obviously, it wasn’t a very fancy outing but we were able to get out and talk and generally have a good time. We also really like their fries which is a lot more than I can say for some other burger joints (if you’re familiar with In-N-Out you know what I mean). Probably the most obvious up-side to the whole outing was that it didn’t cost us a fortune. While we could have gone to some place like The Olive Garden, I wouldn’t have come home any happier or satisfied, but I definitely would be out a lot more money.

I’m not writing this to say that you should all rush out to McDonald’s because it’s the greatest experience ever. If you haven’t already formed an opinion about the place, I’d probably wonder what hole you’ve been living in. But that’s not the point.

What I’m getting at is that things don’t have to cost a lot of money for them to be enjoyable. For some reason people have gotten it in their heads that the more money they spend the better time they will have. I don’t believe this is the case. We should really be more self-aware and do those things that we actually enjoy instead of succumbing to the hype of what we’re told we should enjoy. And I enjoy MacDo every now and then. What do you enjoy?

I’ve had less time than usual to write because I’ve been working a lot of extra hours at work recently. Since I’m looking to go back to school in a year the overtime will definitely help out. The downside however, is the fact that I have less time to do the other things that I would like to do.

I’m also struggling to figure out which graduate schools to apply to. There are plenty of great schools, but I’m not too keen on living in the northeast or out in California. I need to decide soon though, because the application rounds are fast approaching.

I’m also working with a realtor to sell our first rental property which hopefully will net us a nice chunk of change. This will be my first experience with selling a property, but I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’ll be a great learning experience.

Well, this hasn’t exactly been all that coherent of a post, but these are a few of the things that are on my mind.

I’m going to briefly revisit the topic of procrastination. For some reason it’s been on my mind lately, and I think it’s an important issue that we all deal with. We all have things that we know we have to do, but for some reason or another we haven’t done them. Eventually these things will get done because they have to, but probably not as soon as they should have.

There is another area of our lives that I’m more concerned with. Those things that we would like to do or accomplish. These things in our lives will not necessarily get taken care of eventually because they don’t really need to get done. If you procrastinate in general, you will be forced to prioritize more than you otherwise would have. Your desires will fall to the wayside making room for the urgent.

This is the unfortunate cycle that people get caught up in. They will find themselves extremely “busy” on the surface but feel as if they’re not making any headway. Everything that they’d like to get done won’t because they’ve procrastinated too many other things.

Life doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of always playing catch-up, try and stay ahead of things. Anticipate what needs to get done so you consciously leave time for what you’d like to get done. You’ve also then built in time if an emergency arises. This is the same approach I use when paying bills. I pay them as soon as they come in the mail instead of waiting until the due date. This leaves a small buffer if something else comes up; I’m not frantically wondering how I’m going to pay for something.

The bottom line: Take care of needful things early in order to leave time for what’s ultimately important to you. It can be done.

This is a sponsored post.

Too often estate planning is associated with the protection of one’s assets after he or she passes away. While this is one way to look at it, we shouldn’t forget about asset protection while we’re still alive. Not only should you protect yourself against estate taxes, but also against lawsuits. As you accumulate more and more assets over time, you become and increasingly greater target for litigation. It isn’t the way it should be, but it is the unfortunate truth.

Generally this approach to estate planning involves the setting up of different legal structures. These include various trusts and the Family Limited Partnership. These entities will then hold legal title or own your assets for you. If you are then the target of a lawsuit, the assets will be protected because you don’t own them, the entities do.

Morris, Hall & Kinghorn is an Arizona law firm that would like to help you out with your estate planning. They will provide you with all the information you need and be able to guide you through the entire process. So stop putting your estate planning off because you think you won’t need it until you die. Instead, take the initiative to plan for your life.

Burger King goes healthy: You’re probably unsure why this would make it in the random news. Burger King isn’t the only restaurant chain doing this, but it got me thinking. So many people blame these fast food chains for making Americans unhealthy when in reality the people are making themselves unhappy by eating fast food. When was the last time someone forced you to eat at MacDonald’s?

China Pledges Lead-free Toys: Is anyone else sick of hearing the same thing over and over. They’ve said it before and there are still reports of lead in the toys. Maybe we should just stop buying the toys altogether. Most kids just want to play with the box anyway, right?

Led Zeppelin will play again: Unfortunately it’ll be over in London, but it’s true. To all of you who over the years have said, “I’d do anything to see them live”, here’s your chance. I must also assume that it’ll be quite an expensive ticket which would be hard to justify for a Fiscal Musings reader.

Today marks the six year anniversary of the September eleventh attacks. I’m not going to go into detail about that day or provide any of the commentary we’ve come to expect every year. If you want to debate whether the world or America is any safer today than six years ago, there are plenty of news outlets that I’m sure will oblige.

I do think, however, that it should serve as a reminder of those things that are most important to us. Too often we get caught up in a lot of meaningless daily activities that we fail to see and remember the big picture. I believe this has been characterized as failing to see the forest through the trees.

So what’s the “big picture” for you? I can’t say what it is or should be for you, but you need to figure it out. Take the opportunity today to help someone out. Make the donation that you’ve been putting off for some time now. Call up a family member or friend with whom you haven’t spoken in a while. Use today as an opportunity to do something meaningful. You’ll be glad you did.

Are you happy doing what you’re doing? I’ve thought a lot about this question recently, and I thought I’d pose it to all of you. I’m afraid that too many people work at something that they don’t enjoy, but do it because they “need the job”. Perhaps they feel stuck in a position because it’s their comfort zone and they’re afraid of something new. Maybe they feel that it’s the only job they could get and they’re lucky to have it.

Whatever you may be thinking, I still think it’s a valid question to ask yourself. If you’re genuinely happy at your job, fantastic. But for those of you that aren’t, do something about it. You don’t necessarily have to get a new job. There are probably things that you can do at your current job that will help you enjoy it more. You may be able to ask for different types of assignments that are better suited to your interests.

You also shouldn’t exclude the thought of doing something completely different, something that you really love. It probably won’t be something that you can immediately switch to, but you ought to start thinking about what it would take to get where you want to go. Maybe you need to go back to school. Maybe it’s finally getting to work on that side business you’ve been thinking about.

The bottom line is that you should do what interests you and what you’re passionate about. You’ll end up being much happier, and you’ll also probably do better financially because you’ll actually have an interest in what you’re doing instead of just putting in the time for the paycheck. It’s something to think about at least.