Over the weekend, I was reading the Bible with Courtney, when we stumbled upon the section below, from James 2:14-17 (NIV):

(14) What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  (15) Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. (16 ) If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? (17) In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Wow.  Instantly after reading that passage, I had one of those lightbulb moments in life.  That’s me. I’m the guy who says “Have a safe trip… I hope things get better…  We’ll be thinking of you…”

I feel that I’m kind by nature.  I really do hurt for people when they are in need.  I really do wish that their circumstances would turn for them.  I’ll even take time to listen and provide any advice if that’s what I feel they need.

But often, I stop short of helping them in any real, tangible way. Why?  I’m not sure.  I guess because it’s convenient.  It’s convenient to think “Oh, I hope that homeless guy catches a break” or “I’m not giving him any money, he’ll just spend it on booze.”

So many times I hear myself saying, “If you need anything… anything at all… let me know!” I really do feel that way when I say it to people, but at the same time… this is such a cop-out.  I know 95% of the time, even if they were in need of help, they’d have trouble asking.  Even with an open invitation, our society teaches us not to rely on others… not to ask for help.

Talkers vs. Doers

Yesterday, J.D. Roth published a post entitled, Action Not Words:  The Difference Between Talkers and Doers.  You need to read that post, I think it is one of J.D.’s best posts he’s ever written.

It’s so easy to be a talker, especially when it comes to helping others in need.  It’s easy to put the ball in their court… Let me know if you need anything… It’s easy to hope that they get help.

But, we don’t have the time… make it!

But, we don’t have the money… change your priorities!

As a cultural, we love saying “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed.” It makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.  It lets me feel warm and fuzzy, while keeping my selfish priorities in tact!

But a Doer, they take the hard next step.  They offer help outright. They take the burden off the person and need and take it upon themselves.  They stop and talk to the homeless… they walk them to the food stand to buy them food.  They apply to be foster parents, even when they could easily have more kids themselves (or once their kids are grown and moved out).

They do more than wish and hope… they act. They prioritize their time and their money to enable them to give a little of both. They show their beliefs and their faith through actions.  They lead and inspire, both the people they help directly and the people (like me) on the sidelines and waiting to jump in the game.

Courtney and I have the ability to put helping others and volunteering at the front our lives.  In all likelyhood, so do you.

We’ve decided to take steps in the coming weeks and months to re-prioritize the role kindness and giving play in our lives.  We want them to be at the very front, leading our other values not just in theory… but in action.

I’ll share details about our personal changes in the coming weeks.  Come join us.  Take action.

photo by dhilung

Here we go again.

I’ve written extensively about credit cards and credit card rewards in the past and I rarely try to comment on the news of the personal finance world.  Today, however, I’m going to make an exception.

In the past couple of weeks, a new study has emerged which suggests that credit cards rewards represent a transfer of money from the poor into the hands of the wealthy.

My first reaction?  No $#!*, Sherlock!

A year ago this time, I wrote Bend Over… I’ll show you where you can stick your “Rewards”, where I shared that credit card rewards seemed to “feed on the vulnerable” section of our society.  By taking advantage of people who are stuck in destructive and cyclical habits, credit card companies can afford to pay out 2% to a smaller fraction of it’s users.

I didn’t have the math, statistics, and legwork to prove any of it.  I was simply expressing that it was a major factor in Courtney and my’s decision not to take advantage of rewards.  As it turns out, though, the Consumer Payments Research Center has the math, statistics, and legwork to prove it.

Here’s my rough summary of the new study:

• Credit card companies charge transaction fees to merchants when customers use credit cards.  This is nothing new, but some people don’t know this.  The charges are slightly less for purchases ran as debit (but still exist).

• Credit card companies prevent merchants from charging fees for credit card use and/or providing discounts for cash to help recoup costs.  In other words, they are greedy controlling sobs.

• Instead of being able to pass these fees on to only those consumers that use credit cards, businesses are now forced to raise prices for everyone. For example, if an average credit card transaction costs a business $0.50 they can’t charge credit card users an extra $0.50 charge.  Instead, they raise prices $0.35 (as an example) for all customers, regardless of how they pay, to cover this cost.

• Because of this above concept, consumers who use cash or other forms of payment pay marked up prices to account for the transaction fees generated by those which use credit cards.

• Credit card companies then pass along a big portion of the fees that they collect as rewards to the credit card users.  In other words, they collect fees from everyone (because they are built into the end price) and pass them back out only to those that use rewards credit cards.

Here’s how the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston summarizes the study on their download page:

Merchant fees and reward programs generate an implicit monetary transfer to credit card users from non-card (or “cash”) users because merchants generally do not set differential prices for card users to recoup the costs of fees and rewards. On average, each cash-using household pays $151 to card-using households and each card-using household receives $1,482 from cash users every year. Because credit card spending and rewards are positively correlated with household income, the payment instrument transfer also induces a regressive transfer from low-income to high-income households in general. On average, and after accounting for rewards paid to households by banks, the lowest-income household ($20,000 or less annually) pays $23 and the highest-income household ($150,000 or more annually) receives $756 every year. We build and calibrate a model of consumer payment choice to compute the effects of merchant fees and card rewards on consumer welfare. Reducing merchant fees and card rewards would likely increase consumer welfare.

The funny thing about this study is it doesn’t account for interest earned off of low-income households (correct me if I’m wrong)!  This is simply a look at how the transactions fees are charged, recouped, and handed back out.

My biggest grief with the credit card industry isn’t the way they charge transaction fees (as retarded as that is), but instead the fact that an even larger portion of their profits are being derived from the ridiculously high interest rates and fees they charge many consumers whom are trapped.

The recent credit card reform and legislation helped shine a light on some of the most shady practices in the credit card industry.  That’s generally a good thing, even if I disagreed with some of the extra clauses thrown into the bill.

But this “Rewards” discussion is only one part of the debate…

While I believe this is great food for thought, this is certainly not the only reason Courtney and I ditched credit cards.  Here’s an small excerpt from the guide Unautomate Your Finances, where I really dig into the issues:

“Never spend your money before you have it.” -Thomas Jefferson

What about people who aren’t currently carrying a revolving balance? Isn’t it possible to use credit cards as a “tool” to get “free money” through rewards?

Well, that’s one theory. *smiles*

On a serious note, many people try to make it into an issue of whether or not you can be “responsible.” For them, if you can’t “control yourself” you should cut up your cards completely. However, if you possess “self control” then you should be tapping into all the “free money.”

(Enough quotation marks for you? More on the way…)

But the discussion is much more deep than just whether you can “be responsible” or not…

Benefits of using credit cards:

• Rewards. Many credit cards will have rewards and/or points that equate to 1%-3% of the amount you spend. By using specific credit cards in the right combination (gas cards for gas, booking flights on specific airline cards, etc…) you can average between 1.5% and 2% of your overall spending. Many credit card users consider this to be “free money” that they receive when paying off their balances every month.

• Establish credit history. As long as you can keep from getting any negative marks (missed payments for example), showing a string of consistent use will help bulk up your credit history. When done properly, this can be an easy way for people with little or no credit to become more “established.”

• Convenience. Swiping a credit card is convenient. It’s easy. We’ve talked about the drawbacks of this heavily, but it’s still also a benefit to consider. Of course, debit cards are just as convenient to swipe in this instance.

• Digital Tracking. Albeit “passive”, credit cards do offer the additional convenience of making your traffic digital. The resulting data is thus much easier to analyze and sort. Once again, debit cards offer the same benefit in this area.

• Physically safer than cash. For situations where you are physically mugged or lose your belongings, credit cards are much safer than cash or debit. It’s easier to cancel credit cards; and while there may be headaches dealing with fraud on multiple accounts, you won’t lose any money directly.

• Misc. Protections. Some credit cards offer random bonuses for specific purchases. For example, they may provide lost baggage protection when you book a flight or extra rental insurance when you rent a car. Extended warranties are common, as well.

Benefits of slicing credit cards into tiny pieces:

• Opt-out of the industry. The credit card industry isn’t exactly on fire as of late. The limelight has recently exposed many of the sneaky techniques and back-room tactics that led to the enormous profits of the last decade. If given the choice, many prefer simply to opt-out of the industry all together.

• Simplifies Your Financial Accounts. Removing credit cards from your life simplifies your tangible accounts and eliminates the mental upkeep it takes to juggle them. Even many credit card users are cutting it down to just a single card.

• Intensifies focus. We’ve talked a lot about the power of focus. Many people enjoy ditching credit cards as a sign of commitment to a set of principles. For example, they may feel that a system in which rewards increased spending is not consistent with their ultimate goals.

• Lowers risk of identity theft. There are two different types of identity theft. The creation or opening of new lines of credit and the process of stealing existing account information. Each additional open account you have increases your risk for the latter. In addition, losing a wallet with $40 cash is bad, but losing one with 5 different credit cards may make you wish it was the cash instead!

• Heightened awareness. Studies have shown time and time again that people spend more with credit cards than debit cards or cash. It’s the convenience of the “swipe it and forget it” mentality in full force. It’s not impossible to spend consciously with a credit card, but debit and cash have proven to foster more awareness during purchases.

Ultimately, the decision on whether to keep credit cards in your financial life comes down to weighing the pros and cons above. Of all the credit card benefits, I’ll admit that earning rewards is the most appealing. However, the rewards simply aren’t enough to make it worth it.

Here’s why…

The credit card industry derives a large percentage of its profits from people stuck in a cyclical, destructive habit. They thrive on irresponsibility.

Let me be clear, the individual customers (the ones in debt) are to blame. I’m a big fan of personal responsibility. At the same time, we all have a choice. We can choose to support these industries, or we can choose to opt-out of the system as a whole.

Courtney and I haven chosen to opt-out.

We choose what industries, products, and services we use on a daily basis. In our life, credit cards will never be in this chosen group. Sure, most debit cards are still either Visa or Mastercard, but for now it’s a lesser evil.

Credit cards don’t promote sustainability. They don’t foster focus or passion. Worst of all, they thrive on us prioritizing convenience over consciousness. As you might guess, if we don’t have to be a part of the credit card industry, we won’t.

It’s that simple.

That was the overview of our thought process over the last two years and nothing has changed as of today.  Sure there is a bit more evidence now that the way in which credit card companies charge transaction fees deserves to be scrutinized more closely.  Once again, that’s mostly a good thing.

Additional reading:

• Be sure to read the actual study here.
• I originally saw the study via J.D. Roth, whom followed it up with a post over on Get Rich Slowly.  J.D. links several other major media discussions, as well as has 150+ comments from readers.
• How Much Does Canceling Your Credit Cards Affect Your Credit Score?
• The 3 Habits of Highly Responsible Credit Card Users
• The “Do-I-Have-Enough-More-For-This” Effect
• Is Your Credit Card a Tool… Or AreYou?

At the end of the day, nobody cares…

I’ve had this discussion enough to know that very, very, very, very few people are going to change their minds based on anything in this new study.  After all, it’s always been common sense that your 1-2% in credit card rewards are funded by those that that are irresponsible with credit cards and thus pay ridiculous interest.

Now there’s data indicating that even responsible CASH users are fronting part of the bill, too!

I know what most people will think:  ”That’s nice, but it’s not changing my habits… after all, I’m not passing up the money!”

Here’s a question for debate. You are on your computer getting ready to pay for a plane ticket.  A message pops up before you can pay… it’s from me!  I offer to pay for the main portion of the ticket for you.  Whoo-hoo!  There’s only one catch, I’m not actually paying for it myself…  I’ve recently walked door to door in the poorest neighborhoods of Indianapolis and squeezed $23 out of every household to pay for your ticket.  As long as you are o.k. with where the money came from, I’m willing to pay for the ticket!…

Would you do it?

The majority of people would, even if they say the wouldn’t.  Heck, I’m not saying I’d even turn down the money if you laid it in front of me.  I’m not claiming to be a Saint by any definition of the word.  In theory, most of us would claim where the money came from mattered, but in practice it’s a whole ‘nother ballgame.

Screw it… go ahead and take the money.  After all, it’s the American Way.

photo by Dunechaser

I’m a big fan of a process I call “imprinting mottos”.

No, that’s not a official or scientific term.  In fact, it’s a widely popular concept and probably does have a real name.  Instead of trying to figure that out, I just made up this ghetto name.  Only I know what it is, so it’s useless to everyone but me.  I tend to do this a lot.  *shrug*

Anyway, “imprinting mottos” is what I call the process of latching yourself onto a phrase, a motto, or a saying so intensely that it becomes part of your thought process.  Some astute people may call it “anchoring”… sure, that’s cool too.

Whether we realize it or not, we do this all the time.  ”I’m not good enough…”  ”I’m cold never earn that much…”  ”Just one piece is o.k….”  ”I work hard, I deserve this car…”

These sayings become part of our thought processes… part of who we are.

By nature, most of my automatic “imprinting” or “anchoring” tends to be negative.  They are mostly justifications or excuses to make me feel better.  What I try to do is find sexy, compelling quotes or concepts to help reverse my unfortunate natural trend.

For example, Tony Robbins lent me this one “Nothing tastes as good as being fit feels!”. Sure, it doesn’t always work (especially for me), but occasionally I do find myself passing up certain foods or extra helpings because this phrase pops into my head.  I’ve made an active decision to adopt this…  I’ve repeated it to myself…  I’ve made it part of me (at least a small… small part).

I’m not talking about affirmations here, either.  I’m not suggesting you repeat “…and gosh darn it, people like me” a hundred times while doing jumping jacks.  I’m not against affirmations, but I’m not captain of the fan club if you will.

Let me find the point of all this…

Don’t ask… Don’t get…

Ah yes, I remember.  Probably the best example of “imprinting” I use in my life is with the following phrase:

If you don’t ask, the answer is always No!

I don’t remember where I first heard that saying, but as soon as I did…  it was mine.  I own it.  It’s a core part of who I am now.

Any time I find myself in a situation where I’m stuck or contemplating my options… this phrase pops into my brain.  I’m not smart enough to know how I imprinted it so deeply.  All I know, is that it happens all the time now.

And nearly every time it pops into my brain, it spurs me into action.  It gets me to do the most important thing 95% of the time when stuck…

Ask.

Ask for help.  Ask for what you want.  Ask for a discount… a raise… for an honest opinion.

So many of the best things in my life have come out of simply asking:

• “Will you marry me?”
• “Do you really want to go to Australia?”
• “How specifically did you build this community?”
• “Wait… how in the heck did you get pregnant?”

Ok… so maybe the last one isn’t a good example.  But the first three are questions that radically changed my experience of life for the better… and are all in situations where I was nervous and/or stuck.  Break through the hestitations and just ask…

Ask for a discount.  Ask for a better rate.

Ask for a raise.  Ask for a promotion.

Ask for advice.  Ask for honest feedback.

Most things in life aren’t going to just fall in your lap.  When was the last time you were at the register, getting ready to pay, and the clerk said “you know what… here’s a 20% discount.” Sure it happens, but not as often as when you ask.

You think your boss sits around and says “If Sally doesn’t mention or hint at a raise for another two months… I just may give it to her.” Again, rarely if ever.  You’ll get it faster by asking for it professionally and confidently.

Don’t get me wrong, you will still be told no.  Sometimes that’s the answer either way.  But one way to guarantee you never get a yes… is to avoid asking altogether.  You can play chance or you can make your own.

Don’t just ask others…  ask yourself…

In all the examples above, we’re asking others.  That’s where I started.  It’s helped me break out of decision-making paralysis and the far majority of the time actually ends up with a “sure” or “yeah” as the result.

But recently, I’ve realized that this isn’t just for asking others.  It applies to asking yourself, too.

So many times, I find myself trapped by fake excuses and barriers.  I, like you, put these up to keep me from uncomfortable change.

Leaving to live in Australia with a one year old was impossible all the way up until the point that… it wasn’t.

I’m not being funny, I’m being serious.  It was literally impossible in our minds until the actual point that it wasn’t.  You know what changed?  We asked.

We had thrown around the concept for a year, both laughing and sort of brushing it off.  It was an inside joke… it was a someday-it-would-be-nice dream.  It was impossible anyway, no need to think about it seriously.

Then, on a day filled with a unique amount of clarity, we simply asked… “Hmmm, is this actually possible?  Do we really want to go?  Could we really do it?”

All the sudden, the answer was Yes.  It went from impossible to probable in the time it took to ask a question. A year later we boarded a plane with no consumer debt, two backpacks, and a baby.

For Pete’s sake…  go look in the mirror and HONESTLY ask yourself what is possible.

As those of you know that have followed the blog for a while, not everything will be automatically peachy (wasn’t for us).  That’s not what I’m saying.  I’m not telling you that asking will always get you a yes.  I’m not saying that Yes is always the best answer for you either.

My point is this: The most powerful concept on this planet is a question.  Asking one, whether to yourself or someone else, has the potential to revolutionize.  If you never step up to the plate and ask, though, I can tell you what the answer will be.  It’ll be No.

Here’s to asking.

photo by Epi.Longo

This post is going to serve a couple purposes.  I want to update everyone on our travel “situation” (especially those who don’t follow me on Twitter or on Facebook).  And I also want to shed light on a tough crossroads that Courtney and I have found ourselves.

For anyone who doesn’t know, we are currently back home in Indiana. We’ve been home for a couple months now.  Undoubtedly, this yields two questions…

1. Why did you decide to come home?
2. When/where are you going to go next?

Unfortunately, neither of these questions have a single sentence answer!  (I know, right)

Why we decided to come home…

From the beginning, we had designed our initial overseas adventure to last a year.  In the end, we cut it a couple months short of that when we chose to leave Thailand early and fly back to Indiana.

Our decision to come home was prompted by two factors:

1. A private issue in our family that, while it didn’t require that we come home, encouraged it.
2. The fact that we were incredibly burnt out.

It would be convenient to say that #1 played the largest role…  that it was out of our control.  But that’s not the case.  The reality was that we were burnt out and looking for the first justification we could.

Our international travel has been divided up into three distinctly different experiences.  When we first arrived in Australia, we had no clue what we were doing and were frequently changing locations.  We were running on pure adrenaline, having just set forth on something we had previous thought to be impossible.  There was stress, but everything was new and interesting and compelling.

As the weeks wore by, we started to encounter our first real troublesome set of problems with visas and finding jobs.  In other words, it only took a couple weeks for our new fairy tale to turn back into real life…  it happened quickly.  Admittedly, we lost some of the “living in the moment” attitude in our quest to make the lifestyle more than a month long vacation.

As many of you know, our search led us to New Zealand where Courtney landed a teaching gig.  This entered us into the second clear phase of our travel.  We spent right around 6 months living in one location in downtown Auckland.  Courtney worked the 9-5, as I played stay-at-home-dad and poured nap time and evenings into this blog.

This was our true first taste of living abroad.  Really living.  We were spending less than we earned (while stationary) and if we had wanted, we could have stayed indefinitely (Courtney was offered to stay another two years at the school).  It felt good to know that we had “accomplished” a big part of our goal, but it was far a fairy tale.

After saving a little bit more money, we then entered into the third phase.  We spent two weeks driving the South Island of New Zealand.  To be honest, this was my absolute favorite part of the entire experience (I think Courtney’s too).  We had spent 6 months rather stationary and were ready for another adventure.

But we didn’t stop there. Looking back I don’t regret our decision to head to Thailand.  Part of me may have chosen to either stay in NZ or come back home for a pit stop if I had to make it again.  But missing out on Thailand would have meant missing out on a lot of new experiences and growth, not to mention missing out on meeting several amazing people.

For starters, we found out that Thailand really wasn’t for us.  We didn’t dislike our experience and it seems like an amazing fit for a decent portion of people.  It just didn’t speak to us.  We didn’t connect on a deep level.

To be honest, the cards were stacked against Thailand. We were on more limited funds by this point.  We had just spent two weeks camping and driving.  We had unreasonable expectations on what it would be like (and how cheap it would be).  On top of that, we were experiencing a new “phase” with Milligan.

When we started traveling, Milligan was just 13 months old.  She could walk, but wasn’t interested in that form of transportation for too long.  When it was time to nap… she napped, whether that was in a hostel, a backpack, or a bus.  Most importantly, she hadn’t yet realized that screaming in a foreign place, surrounded by strangers, got her a boatload of attention very quickly.

Towards the end of our stay in the apartment in New Zealand things were different.  She wanted to walk everywhere.  She only liked her backpack about 20% of the time.  If there were cool things going on, she’d want to be up and exploring… not napping (missed naps are never a good thing).  Oh, and she quickly realized that screaming on a completely packed, completely silent rail train in the middle of Bangkok got everyone’s attention… quickly.

It wasn’t all bad, though. Most of the time in Thailand was actually spent in a private, pool-side Bungalow, across from another location independent family.  Milligan quickly made friends with the all female staff and genuinely had a blast.  But the on/off nature of her journey into the “terrible twos” weighed on Courtney and me.

Looking back, I don’t think that Milligan was the problem.  I think that self-generated stress on my part clouded my perception of what was going on.  Under stress, I only concentrated on her tantrums and not the 80% of the time she was smiling, running around, and saying Thai phrases like “thank you” and “bye-bye”.

I think my short comings were in my failure to be fully present, because of the stress of this blog (specifically monetizing all my hard work) and the stress of ongoing travel.  I think very little of it had to do with the environment or our schedule, both of which found decent grooves.

Whatever the cause, we were presented with an opening to come home… and we took it.  It wasn’t a snap decision.  We thought out the pros/cons and just decided there was nothing wrong with cutting the trip short a few months.  We did incur extra cost, but were able to mitigate a lot of that by finding a deal on airfare.

We ended up dipping into our emergency fund to make it home (on the flights), but it was a decision that we deemed worth it.

Since coming back to Indiana…

After two pit stops (including a weird one in Hong Kong) we finally landed in Chicago a full day after we boarded the plane in Ko Phi Phi, Thailand.  As we went through customs, I handed our passports to the guy working the incoming arrivals section.  He scanned all three passports, checked our faces against our photos and then looked up at me and said…

“Welcome home.”

We still had a short flight from Chicago to Indianapolis, but I actually teared up after hearing those words.  It may be hard to understand the situation and I fully realize there are thousands of people whom spend much more away on much more important causes (military, international volunteers, etc…).

At the time we were under plenty of stress, had minimal sleep on 24 hours worth of flights, and knew our families were waiting for us after our 35 minute flight to Indy.  I just felt… relieved.

After a couple weeks of staying with family, Courtney and I reevaluated what we wanted to do.  We knew we needed a break, but weren’t about to sign a year lease somewhere.  A year just seemed way too long to commit to anywhere on the planet.

Ultimately, we found a three bedroom house for rent and negotiated no deposit and only a 6-month lease.  We knew this would give me time to finishing launching a product that had been in the works for months and months and would let us weigh some of our future options.

Well, we’ve been here going on 2.5 out of 6 months now. As you know, I finally did finish and launch Unautomate Your Finances (thank you again!).  Courtney decided to take a two-month maternity opening at a local school (actually one we both attended in elementary) and for the first time in her life Milligan is going to daycare with a local homeschooling family.

So that’s the update. It’s not as sexy as some of the past, but we are already feeling recharged.  It’s awesome to have the support of our family and I know they enjoy having Milligan around.  I’ve been able to make some big strides with turning this blog and my writing into a full-time business.

Coming home was a fantastic decision.  That said, we are itching at what to do next.  We are at a crossroads.

What’s next…  where… when… how long…

We don’t know.  We don’t know where.  We don’t know when.  We don’t know for how long.

Well, we do know we have a little over 3 months left here at least.  Courtney will be finishing out her temporary teaching gig in 5 weeks and I’m diligently working on product number #2 (“Sell Your Crap” guide). 

But in 3.5 months we have a really, really big decision.  One that has been weighing on us.

First, I firmly believe we could do anything. That’s a good feeling to have, but at the same time, not one that helps with the decision making process.  We’ve consider going to South America, RV’ing around the U.S., staying in Indiana for another year, and even staying permanently and having babies and houses (I know, right).

To be honest, there is no clear choice.  Both Courtney and I feel that it still isn’t the right time to plant our roots.  And even if it was, neither of us is fully comfortable with Indianapolis as the choice.

The only reason in the entire world we’d stay in Indiana is our family.  Problem is, that’s a big reason.  We are really blessed to have an overwhelming amount of support while we are here.  Not a weekend goes by where we aren’t visiting family in some fashion, sometimes 3 or 4 locations every weekend.  It’s something we really missed while traveling.

But is family, and only family, reason enough to stay in Indianapolis? It’s tough.  Every other day I waiver, but it doesn’t feel right.  At least not right now.

The longer we stay here, the more the area is drawing us to make it permanent.  We are accumulating more and more stuff, despite trying to keep things minimal.  Courtney is slowly being pulled to consider a more permanent position and I’m even having thoughts of real estate and property management again (part-time).  It’s like an unidentifiable life force that gets stronger and stronger each week we stay.

But we just spent the last 2 years fighting against a very similar life force that was taking us down a path we didn’t necessarily want.  In fact, the core of this blog… the core of our philosophy and journey has been not to allow those life forces to pull us in a direction we didn’t want to go.

As it stands, neither Courtney or I want to stay in Indianapolis longer than another year.  We’ve decided that.  But staying another school year (until next summer) has a lot of benefits.  Courtney could get a full-time position and with the projected success of my business/writing income over the next 3-6 months, we could likely attack a BIG portion of our student loans.

At the very least we could once again buckle down and save tens of thousands of dollars if we wanted.  It’s not only possible, it’s likely… if we chose to stay another year.

But I’m scared.

I’m scared that staying that extra time will generate even more excuses.  I’m scared the life force will catch up to us and we’ll have a mortgage, and a bowling league, and a big screen t.v.

In addition, staying a year, but knowing you are leaving is tough.  We’ve done it the last two years in different spots.  You want to join a church, but know you will be leaving.  You want to deepen relationship with local friends, but know you’ll be ditching them in less than a year.  There are countless activities where you say…  well, this would be nice to do if we weren’t leaving.

So you end up living a half-assed, gimped life, because you are scared of entering into an experience that will keep you tied down.  Too much thirst for not being tied down, means you suddenly find yourself living with single-serving friends, in single-serving social settings, pursuing single-serving passions.

I’m not sure there is a way to have both.  I’m not sure there is a way to live “in the moment” and as passionately as if you planned on doing something the rest of your life, but then pack up and leave it.  Lots of “lifestyle designer” and “travel hackers” claim to have found it.  But I’m not sure I believe any of them.

I know one thing.  We are neither “lifestyle designers” or “travel hackers” and we certainly haven’t found the sweet spot.  And honestly, the spot is going to be different for each and every person/family.  A female solo-travler, a male solo-travler, a young couple, a retired couple, a young family of 3, or a family of 8 roaming the countryside.  They aren’t even all fruits, let alone the same fruit.

Ultimately, I think that we still want to have travel as part of our permanent lifestyle. But I think it looks different from our first trip out into the world.  I think it involves having a home-base (wherever we decide home is) and traveling for 6-month on/off.  Maybe 3 months in one location, 3 months in another.  Staying in one place and really getting to experience one culture.

Let’s get an apartment in Argentina for 3-month and then hop over to a cabin in Alaska for another 3, before returning home for the summer/winter.  Something like that.

We’ve not even touched 95% of the world and I’m not o.k. with getting hit by a bus tomorrow and knowing that.  The older Milligan gets the more of the world I want her to experience.  That’s the real priority for me.

So here we are.

I know there isn’t a right answer.  And I know a lot of you may not be able to relate to the specifics.  But our journey, both the ups and downs… the impulses and the hesitations, are a core part of this blog.  And sharing our experience, not only captures it, but helps me reflect on it.

I don’t want “do what you love” to just be a saying in the banner of this site.  Courtney and I both deeply believe in it and want it to be a core principle of our life.

But how can you “do what you love” when you have no idea what you… love?

Heck, maybe I’ll just throw up 10 options and have you all vote on it.  That seems unlikely to backfire…  o.O

Note:  If you made it this far…  thanks.  I’m pumped to have you along for the ride! 

photo by monkeywing

At the beginning of every new years, there are usually two sects of people:

1. Those who endorse ‘resolutions’ and goal setting at this time of year.
2. Those who are critical of this process: “It’s the same as every other day”.

I can see both sides.

I get the fact that most resolutions are too vague or too unrealistic.  But at the same time, there’s a lot of energy right now.  There is a ton of optimism for the new year and the new decade.  People are fired up, dreaming big, and digging down deep.

Wouldn’t it be a waste not to tap into this atmosphere?

I, for one, am going to buy into the hype.  I’m going to declare my intentions for 2010 in public.  It helps me to write them down.  It helps me to shout them from the rooftops.  I’m going to focus on building momentum now.

February will be here soon enough.  I’ll worry about it then.  If all this buzz only gives me one great month, I’ll take that.

Here we go:

Man Vs. Debt 2010 Blueprint

2009 was all about opportunity for me.  It was a ‘yes’ year.  I said yes to every tangent, chased every rabbit hole, and explored countless options to find what I enjoyed doing most.  It was a lot of work  for very little tangible rewards.

But it paid off. I’m much more concrete about what I love doing and what I don’t.  I’m positioned well online for the short time I’ve been around.  I have a great blossoming community and dozens of other bloggers I call friends.

That being said, 2010 is going to be more focused.  I will be saying ‘no’ to many more tangents and rabbit holes.  It’s go time for me, now.

The main switch will be mentally.  I will be exploring ways to treat my online endeavors like true businesses.  Many ‘opportunities’ will be cut back and simplified, that’s just part of the shift.

Don’t worry, though.  I’ll still be accessible, transparent, and vulnerable. The truth is that is my business model.  It’s also what I love most.  Responding to comments, e-mails, questions.  Building the community and interacting with readers, bloggers, and media.  It’s a blast and I’ve had success.  That won’t change. 

Here are some of the ways I plan to kick ass in 2010:

• Gross $48,000 this year through light affiliates, light freelancing, and the product launch plan below.
• Become an A-list Blogger. Move from the B/C list to the A list through media mentions, targeted guest post surge, collaborate w/ other A-listers, making full-time income.
• Become confident with/known for use of videos.
• Position myself for speaking/prominent book launch in 2011.

Product Launches for first half of year:

• • Unautomate Your Finances with Leo Babauta.  An eBook/guide that has been in the works forever.  A comprehensive, simple/minimalistic approach to getting finances in order.
  • Sell Your Crap Online.  An in-depth guide with specific videos, a lengthy written guide, and interview/success stories for organizing your stuff and selling it on Ebay, Cragslist, Amazon, etc…  Three levels:  Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced selling techniques/walk-throughs.
  • Blogging/Branding/Networking Workshop & Consulting.  This will likely be both a workshop for small groups of 3-4 and the release of private consulting options, as well.  It will contain an in-depth case study to how I grew/grow MvD, including the literal e-mails I sent, what I did right/wrong, freelancing, guest posting, networking, and building community quickly.  It’ll be How NOT to Suck at Blogging, but on steroids, updated (I’ve learned a lot since then), and personalized for each participant.

The idea is that these three products tap into topics/audience of different interests and will provide a base (or tripod) for the rest of my business ventures.

• Other Mini-Goals/Plans:
  • Make MvD 50% written and 50% video based. I’ll let you in on a secret.  I’m not a writer.  I don’t like it at all, really.  I like doing big projects/cool posts, but I don’t enjoy writing.  Never have and not sure I ever will.  So, I want to keep my written posts on MvD as the huge, detailed, and comprehensive projects and posts that have done well for me.  For everything else, I will continue to explore video as a medium (including the “Do Shit You Love” series).  Actually, I’m fairly close to this split now (for the last month or so) anyway.
  • Execute a HUGE Guest Posting surge. This is going to come either after the 1st or 2nd product launch I do.  I’ll be targeting the biggest and best names in the blogosphere and writing ridiculously high-quality content.  I won’t be going for quantity, but rather quality.  I’ll be attacking 10-15 of the most well-known names, many outside of personal finance or life design.
  • Go after more Media Mentions, Interviews, and helping others w/ projects. I’ll be focusing more on getting our story out in other forms of more traditional media.  I also want to do many more interviews.  In fact, if an interview with me can help you in anyway, let’s schedule it!  I’ll record a video, do it on Skype, or even in text (if you insist) .  This will also include helping other people by contributing to their eBooks, guides, and projects in small but powerful ways.
  • Explore Speaking Gigs and a Book Deal. This will be my projected focus for the last quarter/couple of months of 2010.  With the continue growth of the community, I want this sort of activity to be vibrant in 2011+!

Couple Other Projects I Will Be Supporting.

This list is sure to expand throughout the year, however at the start there are a couple other projects I’ll be helping support in one way or another.

1. Nomad Baby – This is Courtney’s blog/project she is starting.  She will be featuring one photo from our travels for each day in 2010 (365 total).  She’ll be exploring techniques and showcasing her best snaps in attempt to show her growth throughout the year.  Pictures will mostly center around the sights and activities of Milligan.  All of the cool travel photos I share on posts are already taken by her.  This will show off even more.  If you enjoy photography or our travels, be sure to check it out!
2. Untemplater – I’m one part of an awesome team of people behind a new group site, that’ll focus on helping Gen Y figure out what the heck to do with our lives .  The launch team includes Jun Loayza, Cody McKibben, Carlos Miceli, Monica O’Brien, Andrew Norcross, and another couple dozen of awesome writers/contributors.  There will be a personal finance section, as well as one for entrepreneurship, mobile lifestyle, and personal development.  It launches on January 5th and there will be some killer giveaways and a free manifesto (with my own story included).  Stay tuned.

10% of any Man Vs. Debt revenue (gross) to Charity: Water.

In 2010, I’ll be pledging 10% of all income generated by Man Vs. Debt (my own products, affiliates, advertising, consulting, etc…) directly to fund a well with Charity: Water.

It takes $5,000 to fully drill a well for a community and I would like to support one in Courtney and my name (through this 10% and other personal donations), as well as an extra one through donations from the MvD Community.  I plan to ‘give up’ my 26th birthday and other major holidays next year to help this happen.

Although I don’t have advertising on my homepage at this point, I will be making room for a non-intrusive Charity: Water banner to link to the community project.  More info soon!

Personal Goals:

In the interest of accountability and for those of you who are interested, here are some of my personal goals for the year:

• Fitness: Meet and maintain weight of 200 pounds. Although, I’ve sacrificed updating Man vs. Fat, my diet change is still going well.  I’m down between 20-25 pounds, but have a long way to go.  In 2010, I’ll be working with Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness (which I love) on a bodyweight-based exercise routine that I can do while traveling.  If we decide to spend more than 3+ months in any one location, I’ll be exploring martial arts regularly (Muay Thai in Thailand, BJJ if back in States).
• Family: Stop taking marriage/fatherhood for granted. Milligan is hitting her ‘terrible twos’ phase.  She’s exploring expressing herself, but hasn’t been taught/can’t yet communicate fully (especially frustration).  For the first time in her life, I feel myself getting angry/burnt-out easily and not knowing what to do.  She’s been such an easy infant/baby, I’ve not had my comfort zoned as a father stretched until now.  The same is true for Courtney and me.  We’ve just sort of put our relationship on default mode.  It’s strong, which is why we’ve been able to adapt to the life changes, but we often forget we need to set aside time to actively work on it, too.  I feel like it’s above-average on default/coast mode, but I want it to be extraordinary. With Milligan and while traveling, we need to remember to give our relationship focus, time, and concentrated effort, too.  I plan on attacking these both the same way I do everything…  reading books, blogs, and exploring strategies/techniques to be a better father/husband.  Anyone have suggested reading?
• Travel: Stretch comfort zone, be more confident. We’ll be heading to Thailand for a couple months, which will be a different level of comfort/traveling for us.  I don’t think we will be done traveling after Thailand, though.  We’d like to visit home, but will look for ways to tour the U.S. or possibly South America.  With each week of mobile lifestyle, we are become more honed in our system and our confidence with this lifestyle.  I want to be more in control, but without having to plan out every detail.  This is the sign of a confident traveler in my mind.
• Spirituality: Commit to exploration. I’ve neglected this arena (by choice) for at least the last couple of years.  For me, it’s not about one dogma or religion over another, but simply exploring my options.  I want to see how Buddhism affects the daily life in Thailand and explore the Christian Church community more when visiting/traveling the States.  I also want to read several more books on NLP, which I personally view as part of spirituality/self-control.
• Hobbies: Build diverse skills, find releases. I tend to struggle with having light hobbies.  If I start to pick-up something, I start to dig in and really want to master it.  Since starting blogging, I’ve done little else from a personal perspective.  I’m starting to revisit Speedcubing (solving the Rubik’s Cube) and am back down to just under 60 seconds.  I’d like to average between 30-35 seconds per solve.  I’d also like to devote an hour or two a week to the Harmonica (I love music and desire an outlet for it).  I also want to explore martial arts more.  It’s not about the specific options, but rather just devoting 5-10 hours per week to something purely fun outside of planning travel or blogging.  A healthy release if you will. 

I told you I was buying into the hype!

Long story short, 2010 is going to rock for me.  My word for 2010 is going to be Confidence.

Confidence as a father and a husband.  Confidence in my business and travels.  Confidence in my body and spiritual exploration.

I don’t and won’t have all the answers, but I will be confident in the journey.

Don’t bet against me this year.  Heck, don’t bet against yourself, either.

Let’s do this.

photo by Doug8888

By the time this post is published, we’ll have around 24 hours before we move out of our Auckland apartment.  Our rag-tag schedule looks like this:

• Next 2 weeks driving, camping, and hosteling the South Island of New Zealand.
• First week of the new year in Melbourne, Australia (working and visiting).
• A minimum of 9 weeks in Thailand.  Probably the first in Bangkok, but after that unplanned.
• Rest of our lives?  Still up for debate after that. 

Only in the last day or two has it really started to sink in.  As we go about the normal routine of canceling utilities, re-minimizing and packing our stuff into backpacks, and double-checking flight itineraries, we’ve had some time to look back on our experience thus far.

Over a month ago, when we first revealed we were heading to Thailand, reader Kevin M. wrote:

I can’t believe no one has asked this, maybe it’s premature, but do you think your time in Australia & NZ has been worth it*?

*By “worth it” I mean spending time and money to move across the world, not being able to pay down your debt other than the minimums, losing potential income while traveling, and being away from your friends and family for a year?

Maybe I’m reading into it, but it seems like after all the preparation and effort that went in to moving you’re giving it up rather easily. Perhaps it wasn’t the experience you hoped for?

These are just the kind of things we’ve been pondering the last few days.  I think at one point or another any one who devotes time to long-term travel is confronted with the same question.

Is Travel Worth It?

There are only two ways for me to approach this question.  The first is strictly what my gut tells me.

My gut tells me this is the single best decision we’ve ever made.

I think I’ve grown more as a person and we’ve grown more as a couple/family than I could have ever imagined.

This doesn’t mean that it’s been all roses and skipping down sandy beaches.  There have been some extremely trying times.  Both Courtney and I (me longer than her) spent nearly 5-6 weeks in a rut a little after we had come to New Zealand.  The only one who has seemed to remain consistent and strong the whole time has been Milligan.

But the point is we did it.  We proved to ourselves that we could do it.  It may seem like nothing to some, it may seem borderline heroic to others.

But we got on that first plane.  We showed up in Cairns with no job, no connections, and not knowing a single person in the entire country.  We hit hurdle, after hurdle, after hurdle throughout the last 8 months.  But, we found a way over each time.

Sometimes we went to bed angry.  Other times it took a chunk out of our wallets.  Some decisions took hours of research, while other much larger ones were made in mere seconds.

But you know what?  We’re still here. We still have a little in the bank.  We’re still together as a family.  We’re still excited about what the future holds.

We’re the same family we were just a few months ago.  We’ve just picked up a few new international friends, a slideshow of lifetime memories, a shit ton of flexibility and patience.  You know what, I’ll take that.

That’s what my gut says.

But I don’t want to totally ignore the specifics of what Kevin brings up (the second way to approach the question).

Giving up on what we had ‘hoped’ for.

If I haven’t already been clear above, let me be so now.  This has been nothing like what we had in mind when we left.  So, as far as being the experience we had hoped for…  definitely not.

It’s fallen far short in some of the more shallow visions we had.  But I truly feel it’s been much more rich in ways we had never anticipated.

I guess we had kind of honed in on the naive view that we would just find a couple minimum wage jobs in the tourism industry and work somewhere on the beach.  After all, our expenses were low.  Our stuff was minimal.  We didn’t mind taking a break and working some basic jobs for some fun and relaxation in the sun.

Um, well…  it didn’t work out that way.

Like I pointed out, we didn’t know anyone.  Plus, a couple months before leaving we found out that we were ineligible for working-holiday visas that would make this sort of arrangement much more realistic.  No beach-side Scuba store had any reason to sponsor a work permit.  They have a million people wanting to work already on legit holiday options.

After the second day it hit us.  All the pre-trip planning in the world wouldn’t make up for just having one friend or connection in the area.  If we were going to last more than a glorified tourist-filled month, we were going to have to learn to adapt.  And fast.

Monetary sacrifices

Of course, given the nature of the blog this was a big one for us.  I’ve written about finding this balance many times, so I won’t regurgitate everything.

I think almost all of our tangible monetary sacrifices have been a trade off.  For example, we could have stayed home, worked two jobs, put Milligan in daycare, and been debt free in towards the the summer/fall of this coming year.

I’m not sure what our debt levels will be like towards this time next year, but I’m confident they won’t be at $0.

At the same time, Milligan would have had less time with one of her parents being home.  There would be no Man Vs. Debt, as this was started after I sold my Real Estate business and before we left.

Even ignoring the benefits gained from travel (flexibility, growth, experience, etc…), I strongly believe that Man Vs. Debt alone will eventually make up the tangible monetary sacrifices.  I’m far from proving that.  But if I were you, I wouldn’t bet against me.

Sure, we’ve made some costly errors while traveling.  Also, being cheap-asses has led to unnecessary stress on several occasions.  So money plays its role, I wouldn’t claim otherwise.  But this is another area where I feel the trade offs have been worth it.

Hopefully the next 6 months will prove this to be true. 

Time away from family and friends

And here we’ve come to the kicker of this discussion.  If there is any one single part that would make me second guess myself, it would be this one.

We drastically underestimated what it would be like being away from our family and friends.  Especially from a social standpoint.  Back in Indiana, we’d commonly drop by family and friends. I dramatically miss spending my Sundays watching football at each of my own parents homes, playing cards once per month with Courtney’s extended family, or staying up all night playing board games with our old friends.

It’s been really lonely on the road so far.  Couchsurfing stepped up early on to help a little.  I’ve been blessed with many new and surprisingly close friendships with other bloggers and readers.  Courtney’s gotten a little bit of a fix from other teachers, who went out of their way to welcome her.

But there’s a big gap from home still left to fill.  Much bigger than we anticipated.

Have we missed out on having ‘real’ travel experiences?

There’s yet another side to this coin.  As Tyler K. commented on a more recent post:

Meanwhile, for all your travel emphasis, you’re posting about the X-Men and losing weight. I don’t mean it to be insulting, although like I mentioned at the top, it’s obviously critical, but it just seems that you’re missing out on the part of travel that makes it travel. You seem to just be at home, but in a different city.

…

Why go to Australia and New Zealand and Thailand to “be settled” and “not travel” and not write about travel? Doesn’t that feel like a bit of a missed opportunity to you?

The short answer is no.

I don’t feel like we’ve missed out on anything, because for me, in order to miss an opportunity it has to be within your grasp.  You can’t miss a free throw, if your standing on a baseball field and there’s no basketball in site.

When we started we simply didn’t have the means to travel long-term without tackling it from a more settled standpoint.  We could have made it 2 or 3 months.  We could have traveled even more cheaply than we did trying to experience all the deep, cultural, life-changing, ‘religious experience’ type of travel events you hear people refer to.

Frankly, we have had some life-altering experiences so far, but it’s been far from a daily or weekly experience.  We’ve had to tackle things from a more practical approach for the time being.

Courtney leaves to catch the train at 7:30 a.m. and gets home at 4:35-5:00 p.m.  We try to spend some time as a family of three before I start writing and working on the blog and online ventures you see pop up.  I usually work from at least 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. to myself.

Did I mention that Milligan was only 13-months old when we started this little detour?

During the weekends, we’ve tried to get out and meet some people.  Going to school functions, barbeques, picnics at the beach, and the usual landmarks you hit in a new city.

Is that the adventurous, scuba-dive-instructor-in-a-small-hut-by-the-beach life we had dreamed up before we left? Nope.  But does that mean it can’t also be part of the experiences that make travel, travel?

Regardless of that answer, now it is our time to take center stage.

We get our two weeks of renting a car and driving the scenic South Island.  We have our tent ready to test camping in the countryside with a soon-to-be two year old.  Courtney’s camera is warmed up, my Flip will be by my side, we’ll be bungie jumping, glacier climbing, and celebrating Christmas in a town we’d never heard of 4 months ago.

We’ve both worked our butts off to have the chance to be more mobile now.  To experience a little more of a variety for the next couple of months.  But it’s all part of the give and take.  It wouldn’t have been possible to last this long without 4-5 months of living a more settled life abroad.

My response to everyone is…  why not?  Why pay rent in Indiana when you could be paying rent in Auckland?  Maybe not the rest of your life, but at least for a little while.

That’s how we presented the question to ourselves.  We could have sat on our asses in Indiana the rest of our lives.

We could have plotted and planned, waiting for the perfect time to really be able to travel.

We could’ve waited til we paid off our debt, saved for Milligan’s college, started our retirement, and had a down payment for a house.

We could have done all that…

But we didn’t.

We chose to get on the plane.  We chose to fight to stay.  Its not been perfect, nor will it ever be.

But you know what?

Tomorrow, while much of the U.S. bitches about the cold weather, we’ll pack our bags and catch a plane to what is widely considered one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Had we not made the sacrifices we did, I’d most surely be scraping the ice off the window and trying to start the car to head into work.  When I think about it that way, it’s hard to even consider this topic a real question.

And it’s summer, here.  So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Balance.

Excess stuff.  Excess debt.  Excess hate.  Excess food.  Excess stress.

It’s easy to feel the weight of these liabilities.

But too much of a good thing exists, as well.

Excess money.  Excess energy.  Excess friendships.  Excess love.  Excess opportunity.

Excess in any form adds burden.  And burdens are burdens are burdens.

Blurred are the modern lines of excess and abundance.  Easy to cop out.

All things in moderation.  Excess simplicity is no different.

Debt -> Stuff -> Business -> Life

My realization of this fact progresses:

Excess is a liability.

In the video above (click here if not shown), I share recent thoughts that came to be as a result of being presented with the question:  “Would you kill a stranger for a billion dollars”? The reflection caused me to realize just how much influence money has on how I process different concepts through my value system.

Note: I am making an internal assumption that the money referred to in the question would be used to help others.  That’s why I start to refer to it as a “greater good” issue from the get-go.

• [o:oo] – The audacious question and what it does and doesn’t mean to me.
• [0:45] - My first conditioned response to the question:  “No way…  no one human life is more valuable than another”
• [1:15] - Why my first response isn’t consistent with my other values.  For example, there are many different times we all begin to place value on life, myself include.
• [2:40] - The tricky part is when we try to attach a tangible value (why associating a dollar amount feels negative).
• [3:05] – Flipping the question around:  Would I sacrifice my own life to save the life of 100,000 strangers?
• [3:45] - Adding money as a medium:  Would I sacrifice my own life if it resulted in a billion dollars given to charity?
• [4:40] - Even though the billion dollars can help save tens of thousands of people, why these two questions trigger drastically different responses from me.
• [5:25] - Coming back to our original question:  Why the dollar amount makes a difference in how I feel about it.
• [6:50] - Does removing money change your response:  Would you kill a stranger if it meant saving the lives of 100,000?
• [7:15] - What I really took away from the question.

My questions for you…

I’m not looking for a yes or no answer to the headline.  That’s not the point.

Rather, I’m interested if adding or removing money as a medium changes how you look at these questions (as it did for me).

More importantly, why does the addition of money make these sort of questions feel so negative? Why does the “greater good” question become so much deeper (or even more debatable) when we remove money from the equation?

This article is a guest contribution by Paul Norwine. Paul recently threw his lucrative day job to the curb in order to ‘blaze his own path’ online.  He can currently be found blogging (and doing videos) on personal growth over at PaulNorwine.com.

They say that life is just a game. They also say that life is a bitch. I say that life is both.

Maybe I’m being presumptuous but I think it’s safe to say we all have deep-seated dreams and desires. We all have visions of how great our lives could be. Whether we admit it or not, we all have a nagging feeling that we really can create a life even beyond our wildest dreams. But something always seems to hold us back.

We start to convince ourselves that a better future is just a pipe dream. We convince ourselves that we aren’t quite good enough, or we don’t truly deserve what we want. We convince ourselves that we aren’t lucky enough to have the ball bounce our way, or we wait for circumstances to be just right before we make a move.

We get scared. We fear the unknown, we fear change, we fear success, and we fear failure. We begin to fear so much that we become paralyzed and instead begin to settle for a comfortable life of mediocrity. We justify letting the river of life sweep us away without fighting the current by saying, “hey, life’s a bitch and then you die.”

Well, I say **** that.

I’m not going to live my life this way. Life may be a bitch…but it’s also a game and it’s a game that I want to play. I refuse to waste this life sitting on the sidelines. I refuse to float through life because I am too scared to get in the ring.

So cue the music, baby, because I’m coming out swinging like Rocky…

Obviously, the Rocky montage is a little tongue-in-cheek, but there’s a reason Rocky is the people’s champion. The odds were completely stacked against him. It would have been easy for him to give up the first time… the sixth time… and every time in between. But he didn’t give up. He kept fighting and, through it all, became a champion (over and over again).

In all seriousness, I’m convinced that underneath all the bullshit and all the excuses that prevent us from going after what we truly want in life, we each have the heart of a champion. Deep down, we all have a little Rocky Balboa in us.

There’s no denying that we will get knocked down. We will fall flat on our faces from time to time. That’s life. But we always have a choice. We can play the victim and let life keep us down. Or, like Rocky, we can get back up and keep on swinging. It’s as simple as that. Get knocked down seven times, get up eight.

So sack up, get in the ring, and give it hell. After all, life is a game we only get to play once.

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!” -Rocky Balboa

Baker’s Note: I thought this would be a great post to finish off the week.  You all know I love a good motivational post every now and then.  I also love guy-movie pop culture and am a sucker for awesome montages.  So I couldn’t resist.  Thanks go to Paul for giving me a shot of adrenaline to carry me through the weekend!

What motivates you to get back up? What’s the biggest hurdle between you and the life you want?  Debt?  School?  Job?…

[If you cannot view the video above, click here to go directly to the post]

Overview of topics discussed in video:

• [0:05] – The Dow Jones closed above 10,000 yesterday.  Stock market up 50% since March.
• [0:30] – The bad news of this event and why it makes me bonkers.
• [1:05] – Crossing some ‘magical’ number doesn’t mean anything.
• [1:30] – Buying into the hype is dangerous
• [2:10] – The only ‘market’ worth timing in our lives…  is our own personal markets.
• [3:00] – You or I can’t predict the market any better than Milligan can

[Please ignore the epic lighting fail in the video...  I have limited equipment on hand.  Sigh.]

What are your thoughts on all the media speculation?

Are you changing anything about your finances based on this stuff?  Are you sick of all the coverage or does it have it’s place? What ‘markets’ are you trying to time?  Let everyone know below!