i'm not bored at all. i made some changes. i quit hiring hunting guides, and sleep in a tent. still running through the woods like a natural born vegetarian...harmlessly annoying animals. my trips (vacations) have gotten about a billion times more exotic. 3rd world countries are inexpensive, but you will have to crap in the occasional hole. but nothing makes me grin like turning over $100 american dollars, and getting back local money IN A BOX!

my motorcycle inventory is nonexistent. i love life, and want to see more of it. i will not retire to low income housing. hehehe.

And I was expecting you to come back with "do two chicks at once."

Man, your deep. :)

With regard to my finances, getting married was the single biggest mistake I ever made.

... actually, now that I think about it, strike everything before the comma.

Put money away and pretend like i never had it. Anywhere from 5% to 10%. Get used to living below my means.
I've been doing that since i was 20 and it adds up pretty quick when you get to be an old fart. Now get off my lawn!

Money saved equals freedom. Buying toys equals slavery. (tm)

I should put that on a bumper sticker.

ESIT: sorry, missed the short term caveat.

I've taken control of my investments.
Dumped worthless Merrill Lynch, got out of the market before the big crash.
No thanks to those overpaid POS investment advisors.
Made some real money last spring investing in Bank of America when it was $7. Now $16.
Today holding Ford, lots of Ford. Bought under $10. I'm thinking good till $20.
Thanks Ford & Toyota.
Some gold as well, if and when inflation hits.
Still looking for something when Ford runs it's course.

They who don't know may laugh...:rolleyes:

Wrong guy. That would be sniper.

work, work, work, work , work, work , work

oh yeah, and work

The one thing? Buying a new business. (Buying... because its not done yet, but soon)

Life is good :) I'm with Motion too; enjoy your life!
Get a CAN DO attitude.

That being said, I still want one of those pony cars in my stable.

My bad. :D

Ditto, but with a different investment firm. Those advisors were a total waste of money.

Quote: "one thing you've done to improve your finances the most... "
_______________

NOT reporting my wife's stolen Credit Card.

The Perp. is spending much less.

Stuck with my advisor(s) after they left several firms....which were soon afterwards graced with the public spotlight of "non-standardized" practices.
They are only human, but the bottom line is that the investor needs to keep one eyeball on the numbers, one above the water, and preferably a third in the clouds.
B****ing about commisions and petty things is pointless. Staying "above average" these days means they are doing their job.

best thing I did was inflicted on me: getting laid off last year. As toxic as the work environment had become, I never would have left that job. Being pushed out was like hitting "reset", and I decided I wasn't ever going to "work" again.

Now I *only* get $$$ from doing things I enjoy. I sell real estate and I have a weekly 10 minute radio spot talking about cars.

The first few months were tight, but I just started doing my taxes and realized I made more in 2009 than I did in 2008. Funny enough, it's that weekly car spot that tipped the scales. Sometimes a bit of income from something you really enjoy can make a BIG difference.

Now THAT is funny.

The one big change I made was to not assume I could pay off CC debt in the future. I have a lot of company stock options that used to be worth a lot and caused me to assume I could sell those anytime I needed some cash. However they are now not even toilet paper worthy. That woke me up from my dream and now I live well under my means. My wife has been a huge help (supportive and financial) in helping pay off my all time high of 70K in CC debt.

Hopefully this is the year when we finally finish off the last of the CC debt!
I can't wait to actually save some money rather than give it to the damn CC company.

Grad school. More than doubled my income in 12 months.

Whoa! What is your profession?

Here is what I am thinking about to boost my academic career and get quick promotion: (1) Get a sex change operation and become transexual, or (2) Get a skin color change and become African American. (3) Do both for a direct promotion to Professor II, the highest possible level, >$200k/yr.

I am not really kidding, having one of these attributes (while still keeping the brain I have) would mean automatic acceptance of any NSF research proposal I could write and promotion I would request. Thanks to the perversion of the system through "diversity" rules and bias.

All those rules should be eliminated. I never see sexual/racial discrimination in the workplace. At least not in the past 20 years.

Here is what I did on my meager income compared to most.

Stop drinking 5 nights a week.

Wow! did that have an IMMEDIATE change on my savings. I went from living paycheck to paycheck to taking a trip to jersey, started saving for a car, a planned trip to montreal in June for the gp, and paying for school. All on my own dime. And even with doing all of that I was able to save 35% of my income for the year of 2009.

Needless to say, I am a very proud guy.

Congrats, I stopped drinking beer regularly too. I also stopped going to Starbucks like I used too. Come to think of it, Starbucks may have saved me more money than the beer-cut did. :D

Drinking!!!!

I NEVER could afford that leisure

WOW! You sound angry that I am happy. Gee thanks. (actually you sound more frustrated than me)
If you stop being so insulted that I don't follow your way of doing things you might go back a read what I said. It has to start with how much risk you are willing to take, how much time you are willing to use chasing stuff... Financial advisors call it risk/pain threshold.
I have a blast in life. Its not like I have taken some vow of poverty. I eat very well (Ribeye 2 times this week already), drive nice cars, live in a great house. Do I have more toys than anyone? No. But I have what I need to enjoy life. Maybe you need more than me to be entertained. Maybe you need to keep busy. Maybe you are just a better man than I... In my life, contentment is better than stuff so you chase the stuff, I'll stay with where I'm at and be content. Now we're both happy. SmileWavy

Joe, my post wasn't directed to you personally. Sorry if you took it that way. No frustration here :)

Sold my Porsche....then bought another one so I guess I'm back to square one.

Cashflow & Budget

1. Put together a cash flow spreadsheet to see where our money was going.
2. Sat down with the wife to review our cash flow and came up with a realistic budget.

We paid-off all credit cards plus Sallie Mae.

However the one thing that improved our finances the most (over the last few years) is...making significantly more money! Foolproof solution to financial woes. Unless you're a real fool like some of these NBA/NFL "stars" who blow every penny no matter how much they make.