When you’re traveling on business, it’s tempting to skip exercise and grab fast food to save time. Bad idea.
You’re on the road for a good reason: There’s something important that requires your attention — and you need to stay mentally alert. The best way to do that is to maintain as healthy a routine as possible.
So make it a point — not just as an option or afterthought — to schedule in exercise and healthy meals. If you do, you’ll be sharper and make better business decisions.
When ETR arrives in your inbox on Monday, it will look different.
Clean. Focused. Easy to digest.
Starting Monday, we’ll be sending you just ONE powerful, provocative, advice-packed success secret each day that can help you grow your business, boost your income, cut costs, enhance productivity, achieve your dreams, or otherwise improve your life.
We’re confident that you’ll get even more value from this “new” format: a single, useful idea every day that has the power to make you wealthier, healthier, or more successful.
The changes we have planned will help you enormously in the weeks and months to come. I can’t reveal all the exciting details right here, so be sure you read ETR this coming Monday for a special announcement from Michael Masterson.
My brother was scanning CraigsList when he found the perfect apartment: cheap, in a great neighborhood, and the landlord was offering all sorts of extras.
Turns out the listing was fake (though the apartment was real). Something on CraigsList that’s not on the up-and-up? Shocking, I know. How did my brother find out? When he inquired about the rental, he got an e-mail asking for his Social Security number, driver’s license info, bank account details, etc. so they could run a “credit check” – and he knew something was amiss.
Yes, that’s the kind of information a prospective landlord is likely to ask for (legitimately) – but only when you meet him in person and after you have seen the property. And what have you learned about e-mailed requests for personal information from people you don’t know? That’s right, you’re probably dealing with an identity thief who’s doing some “phishing.”
It turns out that identity thieves aren’t the only ones misusing CraigsList apartment ads. Scammers are posting vague listings with no specific addresses – but rock-bottom rents. Those who inquire are asked to provide a credit report before they can see the apartment, and are helpfully given a link to get a “free” one. It’s a link to a company that actually does offer a free report… after you’ve signed up for their expensive credit monitoring service.
The lesson? CraigsList is a great resource, but caveat emptor. When a deal sounds too good to be true – it probably is.
[Ed. Note: Unscrupulous businesses got you down? Why not Unscrew Your Life with ETR's monthly newsletter designed to help you overcome life's annoyances, scams, and more.]
It started with a routine check on our website (which I do every morning)… and finding a crazy-looking warning on our front page – the same warning that several ETR readers wrote in about. Here’s one of the e-mails we received that day:
From: Kelly Brock
Date: Sun, May 17, 2009 at 10:15 PM
Subject: Google reported your site as suspicious with malware
Hi,
Google has reported your site has been loading with malware and suspicious activities, and has blocked users from accessing it. To be on the safe side, I am not opening the link to your website till all is clear. You might want to check and clarify. Attached is the browser screen. Hope this help.
Regards
Kelly
Our website was under attack.
I immediately started digging, and saw that certain pages of our site were trying to redirect our visitors to a Chinese site called gunbar.cn. That site then tried to pass along a virus to our visitors’ computers.
It seems that an extremely malicious Trojan/Virus had been released on the Web. ETR – along with WalMart.com and Variety.com, among others – was one of its latest victims. Colin Witucki, ETR’s Operations Manager, and I managed to eradicate the virus from ETR’s site. But this experience offers a good lesson for anyone with an Internet business.
If you take the proper precautions – like (more…)
I know… record keeping doesn’t sound very exciting. But the truth is – something as simple as a mileage log translates directly into saved money and time.
Good records save you money because they make deductions possible. (Read: Pay less taxes.) They save you time because they keep Uncle Sam off your back. Not having them puts you in Uncle Sam’s pocket (and maybe even in jail).
Follow these record keeping rules:
Rule 1. Keep all tax records for a minimum of 3 years and long-term records (real estate closings, stock transactions, IRA or retirement plan purchases) for a minimum of 10 years.
Rule 2. Receipts must be dated and include the business name. (Not yours – the name of the business issuing the receipt… even if it’s just a corporate ID #.) To qualify as a “receipt” for tax purposes, logs must be dated and kept continuously.
Rule 3. Sort receipts by date. Having all of each month’s receipts in one envelope is better than having, for example, all your gas receipts for the year in one envelope.
A good way to handle business-travel expenses for tax purposes is to keep a simple mileage log in your car and use the log to store all your travel-related receipts. At today’s standard rate of $0.55 per mile, 10,000 business miles would give you a $5,500 standard mileage deduction. (You can find a sample mileage log here..) On the last day of every month, take the receipts from your mileage log and put them in an envelope. Write “travel receipts” with the month and year on the envelope. Then stash it in a shoebox or desk drawer.
Simple steps like these can save you thousands.
[Ed. Note: Internet Money Club member Tim Clay is an Enrolled Agent (a federally authorized tax practitioner) and a certified QuickBooks Advisor with 25 years of experience. Visit www.AskTaxGuys.com to learn more and sign up for Tim's free tax-tips newsletter.
One of the best ways to reduce your tax bill for 2010 - while building a business that could throw off income for years to come - is to further your education. Learn how you could set yourself up with income for life right here.]
The recent outbreak of swine flu (officially called the H1N1 flu) is causing widespread panic and concern. But, as a physician, I feel there is no need for alarm. By all indications, it is no worse than the seasonal influenza A that usually strikes every winter. I did not see many cases of influenza A or B this winter in the Emergency Room, so perhaps “flu season” was just delayed this year.
People do not normally get swine flu. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has determined that this sub-type of the disease is contagious, though, and is being spread through large airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
In most people, the symptoms – fever, cough, sore throat, and runny nose – are mild. People with other chronic medical conditions and the very young and very old are at risk for complications, such as severe respiratory problems and bacterial pneumonia. However, swine flu is easily treated with anti-viral medications, including Tamiflu and Relenza.
You can prevent swine flu by minimizing your exposure. This includes avoiding travel to places where the highest numbers of cases are being reported. If you need to be around someone who has (or possibly has) swine flu, wear a surgical mask and wash your hands well after your interaction with them. If you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose and then wash your hands.
Eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and high-quality protein helps by boosting your immune system, providing the nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that fight infection. And regular aerobic exercise increases the number of circulating white blood cells in your system, which helps stop any developing infection.
As I said, there’s no need to panic. By taking a few simple precautions, you should be fine.
[Ed. Note: Lisa Forgione, MD, is an Emergency Medicine Physician practicing in Wadesboro, North Carolina. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Forgione participated in the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and has received several Physicians Recognition Awards for teaching from the AMA and AAFP.
For more on current health issues, plus plenty of strategies for eating better, getting fit, and living longer, sign up for ETR's FREE natural health newsletter. ]
The stock advice for American travelers seeking safety information for other countries is to check out the advisories at travel.state.gov. It is also recommended that you register with the State Department before your trip, and then check in with the local U.S. embassy or consulate once you get there.
But those should be the first – not only – steps you take, especially if you’re traveling to areas known for conditions that make them unstable or dangerous (e.g., civil unrest or disease outbreaks). You see, the U.S. isn’t always up to date when it comes to issuing travel warnings. And in emergency situations… well, U.S. travelers in Mumbai during the recent attacks report calling the embassy only to be told to watch TV news for more information.
So you should also register for e-mail alerts from the Australian (smarttraveler.gov.au), British (fco.gov.uk), and Canadian (voyage.gc.ca) governments. Their worldwide travel advisories tend to be more current and more frequent than those from the U.S. Plus, they’ll send you e-mails and text messages quickly and often during emergency situations.
(Source: Conde Nast Traveler)
[Ed. Note: Staying safe when traveling is just one of hundreds of situations you can learn to handle with aplomb with Unscrew Your Life. It's a monthly newsletter with tips for overcoming life's sticky situations, large and small. Find out more here]
I don’t spend much time thinking, talking, or writing about tax-saving strategies. The reason is twofold:
1. Despite what you may have been led to believe, there are no significant tax loopholes for wealthy people. Except for the regular benefits you get from having your own corporation, high-income earners have to pay their 40 percent taxes or go to jail.
2. Even if there were any tax shelters left, they aren’t worth the time and trouble required to get into them. Everyone I know who has been involved in a tax shelter or some tax-avoidance scheme eventually has regretted it. If you want to pay less tax you’ll have to earn less income. As long as Uncle Sam is leaving you enough money to become financially independent, it doesn’t pay to work yourself up over taxes.
[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence, published with permission from John Wiley & Sons. Get your copy today.]
Tomorrow’s the deadline for filing your taxes, and you’re not ready. Maybe you had personal problems. Maybe you kept procrastinating… or are a little lazy. It happens.
What should you do?
Don’t panic…
Simply by filing Form 4868, the IRS gives you an automatic extension of six months (until October 15).
With the extension, you avoid getting hit with a late-filing penalty, and that can be considerable. The penalty is 5 percent (of the tax you owe) per month up to a maximum of 25 percent of your total tax bill. Avoiding this penalty is too easy to just “let it happen.”
But, there are still two more ways for Uncle Sam to ding your pocketbook.
• Late-payment penalty. If you owe money on your taxes and do not send full payment with the extension application, the late-payment penalty kicks in – and this can be up to another 25 percent of the tax due.
Not quite sure how much you owe? Come up with a “ballpark” figure based on your 2007 taxes, and send as much of that as you can. That way, even if you end up owing more, at least you avoid some of the late-payment penalty.
• Interest. In addition to the late-payment penalty, you’re going to be charged interest on any balance due (tax owed minus the payment you wisely make with Form 4868) at the Federal Short Term Rate plus 3 percent. The rate changes every three months, and the interest is compounded daily.
So get Form 4868 filled in and filed NOW!
[Ed. Note: Internet Money Club member Tim Clay, E.A., is an Enrolled Agent - a federally authorized tax practitioner - and a certified QuickBooks Advisor with 25 years of experience. Visit www.AskTaxGuys.com to learn more and sign up for Tim's free tax-tips newsletter.
One of the best ways to reduce your tax bill for 2010 - while building a business that could throw off income for years to come - is to further your education. Learn how you could make between $50,000 and $5 million by starting your own Internet business - and get ETR's 10-pound "playbook to Internet riches" right here ]
Over the past 14 years, Wendy G. has worked her way up from hotel front desks to operations and beyond. She’s trained hotel reservationists to negotiate prices… and she knows better than anyone how to work the system.
Here are her five tips for getting a great deal on hotels with three or more stars:
1. Book directly with the hotel.
Call the front desk and ask to speak with the “on-site reservationist.” Avoid the reservations 800 number, which will usually connect you to an outside company that isn’t open to negotiation and can’t access the best deals.
2. Appeal to the “human factor” for negotiating power.
Once you get an on-site reservationist on the phone, let her know why you’re excited about going to that particular hotel. Going on your honeymoon? Let your excitement show.
3. Be nice.
“If you’re nice,” Wendy told me, “you’re much more likely to get what you want. If you’re unkind, you’ll pay full price for the room by the elevator.”
4. Try someone else.
If you still don’t get the deal you’re looking for, call back a few hours later to see if you can catch someone on the next shift.
5. Ask for a nicer room.
If you’re already getting a discount, you’ll be less likely to get upgraded to a nicer room for free. But if you’re paying full rate, make sure you ask if a room upgrade is available.
[Ed. Note: Keep up to date on the latest travel tools, tricks, and tips by signing up for The Right Way to Travel FREE e-letter, brought to you by AWAI's Travel Division. Sign up here.]
“I just read Marc Charles’s article about getting 100,000 people hawking your products. I have a special situation, and would like your guidance.
“I have almost finished producing the first of four hour-long instructional DVDs. I have found that there’s an average of 3,000 hits daily from folks wanting this informational product, but there is nothing out there to fill the demand.
“This product is perfect to sell online. Organizations such as ClickBank, however, handle only digital, downloadable products, not physical products like mine. (I’ve looked into it and, because the video is so long, have not yet found a way to allow buyers to download it immediately upon purchase.)
“Who do you know that can effectively put my product on the market? My time will be taken up with production, shipping, and other such details that will limit my opportunities to handle marketing.”
Edith Benjamin
Dear Edith,
When you say there are “3,000 hits daily” from folks wanting this informational product, that doesn’t tell me what I need to know. “Wanting” and “buying” are two different things. A lot of people want information but are not willing to pay for it. And where are these “hits” occurring? In Google? Another search engine? Across the entire Internet?
You say that “there is nothing out there to fill the demand.” This is a big red flag! As marketing master Michael Masterson has said time and again, “Base your plan on the success of someone else. Don’t reinvent the wheel.”
Whenever someone comes to me with a product idea they want me to develop, I require three specific examples of a similar product already selling in the marketplace. I’m not interested in trying to develop or sell a product when there is no competition. If there’s nothing out there to fill a “perceived” demand, it usually means there is no demand for that product in its current form and at its current price point.
The first thing you have to do is prove that your product will sell. You’re looking for someone else to do the marketing because you say your time will be taken up with production, shipping, and other details. This is a huge mistake. Right now, 90 percent of your time, money, energy, and passion should be focused on marketing and making the first sale. Production, shipping, and other details are irrelevant unless you can do that.
You’re right. ClickBank does not handle physical products. But hundreds of sites do. Nightingale-Conant, for instance, is one of the top marketers of instructional DVDs. However, they tend to focus on products produced in house. The lion’s share of instructional DVDs are being sold on eBay, Amazon.com, Yahoo! Marketplace, and BN.com.
You can set up your own affiliate network to sell your DVDs with Linkshare.com, Commission Junction (cj.com) and PayDotCom.com, and Pepperjam.com. And don’t forget about selling on Google directly with organic search and pay-per-click keyword ads.
Search Google today to discover who’s selling instructional DVDs successfully and how they’re doing it.
I hope that helps!
- Marc Charles
[Ed. Note: Marc Charles is an expert at finding low-cost business opportunities. He'll reveal a new money-making method each week in Profit Center Dispatch. Sign up now.
Have a question for an ETR expert? Send it to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com.]
The death of a loved one is tough enough. But hearing from debt collectors just weeks after the funeral makes it much worse.
Before you make any promises to “settle” your relative’s accounts, whether a cellphone bill or credit card debt, know this: You probably don’t have to pay a dime out of your own pocket. The debt can be paid with the deceased’s estate and whatever you have inherited from it. But, although laws vary from state to state, heirs are not usually required to pay off the deceased’s bills with their own money.
That doesn’t stop collection agencies from asking you to do just that by using carefully worded language. Some even position themselves as helping you with payment plans.But if you ask them directly, they should admit that you do not have to pay.(Source: The New York Times)[Ed. Note: How to deal with unsavory creditors is just one of the dozens of tricks and techniques to improve your life at work, at home, and everywhere in between that you'll learn with ETR's Unscrew Your Life newsletter. Sign up today and get a valuable free guide to getting past hundreds of life's little irritations.]
My cellphone plan includes free text messaging. But on last month’s bill, there was a charge for two of the dozens of messages I sent – for a total of about 50 cents.I called the company and, as you might expect, spent an hour or so on hold, being transferred, and explaining my gripe to a succession of reps.When I hung up, it occurred to me: That hour of my time could have been much better spent.
Instead of quibbling over 50 cents, I could have brainstormed Internet business ideas, started writing a sales letter, done keyword research, found public domain works to repurpose for sale. ] The list goes on. In short, in the time it took to snatch back my half-dollar from the jaws of corporate America, I could have started setting up a profit-producing Internet business that would ensure my financial future.
Some screw-ups are worth complaining about. But before you spend the time to call up customer service over a couple of bucks… or race back to the grocery store to get your Buy 1, Get 1 Free deal… consider whether it’s really worth it.It can be tough to let go of that “It’s the principle of the thing” mentality. But, most of the time, it’s not really worth it. As Robert Ringer said in his article “When Not to Save Money,” “Pennies may add up to dollars, but the time required to save those pennies can add up to a lot of stress – and enough stress might just add up to serious illness or premature death.”
Take a minute to reassess the moneysaving measures you take – and whether they are worth the time, energy, and stress you put into them.
[Ed. Note: Have a spare hour? With Early to Rise’s Internet Money Club Independent Learner Edition, you could turn every spare moment into a moneymaking opportunity as you learn to build your own Internet business from the ground up. Get all the details for starting a cash-producing venture online right now.
I’m a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. His books, especially The Tipping Point, have validated many of my long-held business philosophies.
But when his new book, Outliers, came out a few months ago, I started getting e-mails from friends and colleagues with disturbing news.
“Did you see Malcolm Gladwell’s new book? It’s great… but it looks like Gladwell borrowed one of your ideas. Didn’t you write about how many hours it takes to master a skill several years ago?”
I did. (Way back in 2000.)
Here’s my theory in a nutshell:
There are four levels of proficiency in any valuable skill – incompetence, competence, mastery, and virtuosity.
• To get past incompetence, you must spend about 1,000 hours practicing the skill you eventually want to master.
• After putting in about 1,000 hours, you will be competent. To achieve mastery, you will have to continue to practice that skill for a total of 5,000 hours.
• Virtuosity is extremely rare. You can’t get it simply by practicing. You must also have a natural gift. Even then, you must practice at least 10,000 hours to achieve it.
Michael Jordan was a virtuoso basketball player. Mozart was a virtuoso composer. Warren Buffett has been a virtuoso investor. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you must become a virtuoso. You can achieve greatness and make a fortune by becoming a master of your chosen skill.
In his most recent bestseller, Gladwell observed that it takes about 10,000 hours for a person to become the best in his or her field. He doesn’t distinguish between mastery and virtuosity. But he does talk about the many hours of practice it takes to be good.
Did he get it from me? I don’t know. I’ve been saying it for 10 years. Maybe it was intuition on my part that turned out to be right. Or it maybe it’s an example of a tipping-point idea – many minds thinking about similar things at the same time.
The main thing is that both Gladwell and I agree on the importance of practice. When you see Tiger Woods swing his nine iron, you may think, “He’s gifted. He’s got a natural talent for golf.” But what you don’t see are the 12-hour days he puts in – even now – perfecting that natural swing.
Gladwell calls the people he examines in his latest book “outliers.” He points out that these virtuosos achieved greatness not only because they practiced their skills for many hours, but because of a series of lucky breaks. They had such advantages as living in the right places, having access to the right resources, and/or having well-to-do parents who gave them lots of encouragement.
He claims that without the benefit of such advantages, a person cannot become great – no matter how talented they are or how hard they work.
He supports this argument by pointing to Bill Gates and The Beatles, among others.
Gates got his start at an exclusive, privileged high school – one of the only schools in the country that gave students access to computers. This early exposure – combined with hard work, ambition, and a number of other opportunities that came his way – put Gates on track to be where he is today.
The Beatles began as a high school bar band in Liverpool, England, destined for an undistinguished and short run… until they were invited to perform in Germany. They played in Hamburg five times between 1960 and 1962 – eight hours a night, seven nights a week, for a total of more than 2,000 hours. As a result of that experience, they ended up perfecting a wide range of music that was the basis of their breakthrough success back home in 1964.
Gladwell is very good at what he does. And I was tempted, while reading the book, to buy into his argument that you need these “special circumstances” to become great.
But, ultimately, I think it’s B.S.
To master skills and achieve greatness, what you need is tenacity, humility, time, and a good teacher. Here’s the Michael Masterson formula for success.
• First, identify the skill you need to master in order to accomplish the goal you are after. If, for example, your goal is to become the owner of a multimillion-dollar business, the skill you need to master is marketing. If you want to be a professional golfer, you need to master a consistently perfect swing. As Ben Hogan says in his classic book Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, “No one can play good golf unless he has a correct, powerful, repeating swing.”
• Suppress your ego and accept the fact that, right now, you are probably not very good at that skill. But that’s okay. You are just starting out. Find a teacher and start practicing. After 1,000 hours of practice, you will be competent.
• Resist the urge to coast on your competence. Most people – regardless of the goal they choose – get to a level of competence and try to wing it from there. This is a common but deadly mistake. The world is full of competent people. Competence means average. If you settle for competence, you will perform at an average level, earn an average income, and never know the pleasure of being very good.
To rise from competence to mastery, you can expect to put in a total of 5,000 hours of concentrated effort. You can accelerate the pace and reduce those hours – maybe by one-third – by getting a master to train you. But you must put in the time.
• Once you have achieved mastery, you will have to deal with your ego in a completely different way. You will be tempted to think that you can become a virtuoso. Or, worse, you may already think of yourself as a one. This is the mistake of hubris, the prideful sin that Aristotle said is the fatal flaw of most great men.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell seems to be saying that your ultimate goal should be virtuosity. I think that is foolish. If nature has blessed you with the gifts to become a Tiger Woods or Warren Buffett, you will be the best of the best. But that is not what you are after.
My Jiu Jitsu instructor, Marcel Ferreira, made this point the other morning during my lesson. We were talking about the skill levels of the many submission wrestlers we know. I said, “Being a black belt is such an accomplishment.” He said, “The practice of Jiu Jitsu starts when you are a black belt.”
If he had said that to me 10 years ago, when I was a white belt, I wouldn’t have understood what he meant. Now I do.
Think about it this way: Of all the people who try to develop a particular skill – like playing golf or making money – only 10 percent become competent at it, and only 1 percent become masters. Only one-tenth of one percent (maybe fewer) become virtuosos. So that’s not even worth shooting for.
Shoot for becoming competent. Competence will give you as much enjoyment as you could wish for from that skill. For instance, becoming a competent French speaker will allow you to get around Paris with ease and be able to follow all but the most complicated conversations.
If you want to go beyond competence and get more extensive benefits from your skill, you must put in the time to achieve mastery.
Once you are a master, you just keep practicing being a master. If you have extraordinary talent, you might become a virtuoso… but that doesn’t matter. You will get no more pleasure from being one.
Most important, don’t discount your potential to succeed just because you don’t have a natural talent or the benefits of wealth or privilege on your side. You can be very successful by achieving mastery. Choose the right skill. Get instruction. Practice well. Put in the time. And stay humble.
[Ed. Note: You can save about 30% of the time it takes to become a master just by hooking up with a mentor. Virtuoso copywriter Bob Bly is going to reveal his best secrets to selling on the Internet to a select few copywriting hopefuls. See if there are still spaces available right here.
Get more of Michael Masterson's surefire strategies for getting ahead in business in True Path to Profits: A Master Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Success. Find out more (including how you can get a bonus subscription to his VIP newsletter, Ready Fire Aim) here.]
Tax planning effectively and immediately reduces your tax burden. It lifts a load from your shoulders and lets you enjoy more of the money you’re earning.
And there’s nothing wrong with doing everything you can to legitimately lower your taxes. Consider this famous quote from Judge Learned Hand:
“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the Treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”
It’s pretty much too late to do anything about reducing your tax bill for 2008. Trying to save on your taxes at tax time is like closing the barn door after the cows have run away.
But you CAN reduce your tax bill every year from now on. Today, I’m going to show you how.
Take the following tax-saving strategies with you when you visit your tax professional. Ask him to show you the difference these strategies will make in your financial health. You’re going to be meeting with him anyway, right? So go in prepared with this advice.
1. Invest in a Retirement Plan
Investing in a 401(k), SIMPLE IRA, individual IRA, or similar retirement plan gives you three benefits with one effort.
First, the money put into these plans grows tax-free. (It is taxed only when taken out.) That means a 20-year-old who puts $50 a month into a 401(k) can look forward to having $263,703 at age 65 (assuming a growth rate of just 8 percent).
Second, the contributions made to these retirement plans are tax deductible. Fifty dollars socked away every month gives you a $600 annual contribution. So, at tax time, you’ll end up with (approximately) $150 in tax savings (based on a 25 percent tax rate).
Finally, this money helps you plan for retirement. Younger people may feel it’s not necessary – but I have two words of warning: Social Security. Don’t depend on it. Take advantage of the tax law to plan your future.
2. Invest in Your Education
You’ve heard it from Michael Masterson: You can increase your income by expanding your expertise.
Take courses that maintain or improve your employment qualifications. It’s not only a good self-investment, it can help lock in job security – which is more important than ever these days. And the cost of this education and training is tax deductible.
The deduction can be taken as an optional deduction or as an Education Tax Credit. Choose the one that gives you the greatest tax benefit.
3. Invest in a Home-Based Business
Home-based business owners are able to take deductions that employees cannot – for a business phone, Internet service, office supplies, a vehicle, etc.
When you start a business, any initial losses translate into bigger tax refunds. As the business grows and makes money, legitimate deductions continue to lessen your tax burden. In his book Lower Your Taxes Big Time, tax accountant Sandy Botkin says that having a home-based business can generate $3,000 – $9,000 in tax savings.
Not sure what kind of home-based business to get into? Consider an Internet business or affiliate marketing. Both have a low cost of entry.
The idea, with a home-based business, is to build it around something you’re passionate about. That transforms it into a source of relaxation as well as financial reward.
Let’s say you love to knit. You’ve been doing it for years, and you’ve become really good at it. In that case, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out some way that you could turn some aspect of knitting into a home-based business – maybe by giving lessons, selling knitting supplies online, or marketing a video demonstrating complicated stitches. That would give you additional income, as well as tax deductions and benefits.
One Last-Minute Tax-Saving Strategy for 2008…
As I said earlier, it’s pretty much too late to reduce your 2008 tax bill. But there is one last-minute tax-lowering strategy you might be able to take advantage of.
If you work for someone and you’re not covered by a retirement plan, you have until April 15, 2009 to fund an individual IRA for 2008. You could save $1,250 ($1,500 if you’re over 50) in taxes (assuming a 25 percent tax bracket) just by taking this one action.
If you are already covered by a retirement plan, make sure you’ve contributed the maximum amount allowed. Then keep “maxing it out” every year.
[Ed. Note: Internet Money Club member Tim Clay, E.A., is an Enrolled Agent - a federally authorized tax practitioner - and a certified QuickBooks Advisor with 25 years of experience. Visit www.AskTaxGuys.com to learn more and sign up for Tim's free tax-tips newsletter.
One of the best ways to reduce your tax bill for 2009 - while building a business that could throw off income for years to come - is to further your education. Learn how you could make between $50,000 and $5 million by starting your own Internet business - and get ETR's 10-pound "playbook to Internet riches" right here.]
The ETR offices have been buzzing for the past few weeks…
One of Michael Masterson’s core prohibitions has been turned right on its head!
As our regular readers know, Michael loathes TV. It’s a waste of time. It numbs your brain. And it creates an action-inhibiting lethargy that is murder on your goals.
Nonetheless, according to a Nielsen Company survey, the average American watches about 151 hours of TV per month.
And now, ETR wants you to watch more TV!
Okay, okay. There is a little catch…
We don’t want you to indiscriminately turn on the boob tube…
What we want you to do is tune in once a week to ETR’s brand-new feature: ETR TV.
We figure, if you’re going to watch television anyway, why not profit from it at the same time?
You see, ETR TV isn’t like normal television. In each segment, we’ll aim to give you at least one piece of useful advice or cutting-edge information that you can use immediately to improve your health, your mind, or your financial future.
ETR TV will bring you expert advice on breakthrough marketing techniques from MaryEllen Tribby… proven business-building strategies from Michael Masterson… techniques for writing strong sales copy from Charlie Byrne… steps for increasing your website traffic from Edwin Huertas… and more.
We’ve got some edgy debates coming up that could change the way you think about business. Our experts will respond to some of our most-asked reader questions. You’ll get an up-close-and-personal look at some of ETR’s most powerful marketing and business-building techniques. And we’ve even got a few “roving reporters” who plan to bring you behind-the-scenes action from ETR conferences.
ETR TV is a new way to get useful advice from the experts you trust… and get your TV fix at the same time.
Our first episode airs in a few weeks. Keep reading ETR to learn the details.
[Ed. Note: Help make ETR TV the best TV show on the Net! Let us know what topics you’d like us to cover right here.
“Please forgive a very basic question. To join the ETR Affiliate Program, must one have a website? I do not currently have one.”
Katarina
Hello Katarina,
I’m glad to hear about your interest in our new affiliate program. One of the best possible ways for you to begin making good money immediately – to create a second stream of income and, at the same time, develop skills (direct-marketing skills, copywriting skills, selling skills) that will help you get wealthy in the long term, is to join an affiliate marketing program like the one we offer. After all, we give you all the tools you need to succeed. You just have to put them into action and cash the checks!
Now you don’t technically need a website to join our affiliate program. We’ll talk about how you can do it “website free” in an upcoming ETR article. However, we do think that having a website will provide you with the best opportunity to make money with the program.
You can sign up to be an ETR affiliate before you create a site. And it’s easy to do. WordPress offers free software for setting up a simple site. Or you can use XSitePro, the beginner-friendly software we use to help our Five Days in July attendees build sites. It’s also the software we provide as part of ETR’s Internet Money Club Independent Learner Edition.
When you’ve got a site up and running, I recommend that you pack it full of useful, actionable content geared toward creating wealth, beating the recession, and making money online. Internet marketing expert David Cross has some guidelines for what a good website should include in his article “A Word Is Worth 1,000 Pictures.” And to get a better idea of exactly what topics to address in your website content, check out all of the products you can promote as an ETR affiliate.
This will give you a good understanding of how to structure the content on your website. And keep in mind that we have plenty of text ads, page peels, links, and other sales copy you can upload onto your site once you become an approved ETR affiliate.
ETR Affiliate Marketing Manager
[Ed. Note: 541 Early to Risers have already decided that they want to make cash as an ETR affiliate. We’ll give you $20 just for signing up! Get all the details here. http://www.etraffiliates.com/
Have a question for an ETR expert? Send it to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com.
Have you noticed the new “advancements” on ETR’s website?
If you haven’t, you’re missing out. They give you a chance to get more of the high-quality ETR content you want to see.
Simply visit our site, skim through the new articles we post there every day, and tell us what you think. You can do this in two ways:
1. Leave a comment.
It’s easy. After reading any article on www.EarlytoRise.com, scroll to the bottom. Type out your thoughts about the article in the box you’ll see, then hit “Submit Comment.” You can leave your real name or a pseudonym – it’s up to you.
We read each and every comment ETR readers leave on the site. If there’s a question, we do our best to answer it. (Note: If you have a customer service question, please leave it here.)
Commenting on articles is a great way to congratulate an author on a great article… to point out any objections you have… to interact with other ETR readers… and to let us know which articles are most useful to you.
2. Assign a rating.
You can also rate the articles on our site. Right above the comment box at the bottom of every article, you’ll see the following:
Rate this article:
All you have to do is award the number of stars you believe the article deserves.
These two easy-to-use tools will ensure that you get more of what YOU want. We keep a close eye on those ratings and comments to help plan future content for ETR.
Video games are big business.
When a Sony Playstation comes out… when the Nintendo Wii was finally released… every time a new version of Halo hits the market…
Video gaming makes national news.
Why? Because a whopping 40 percent of Americans play games on a computer or console. (That’s according to a 2006 poll by AP-AOL Games.)
“What of it?” you might be thinking. “It’s a harmless pastime.”
Claims that video games “improve coordination” and “increase dexterity” aside… they are almost as bad as TV.
They eat up your time, preventing you from working on more valuable pursuits: starting a business, developing a financially valued skill, or educating yourself on your industry.
Even worse, 42 percent of video gamers say they spend at least four hours a week playing.
If you’re a video gamer, it’s time to cut back. If you spend one less hour a week in front of your Wii or computer screen, that’s nearly one and a half weeks’ worth of time you’d be “reclaiming.”
[Ed. Note: Can't get away from your computer? You can make it work FOR YOU and help you earn money by starting an Internet business. Learn how to get step-by-step guidelines to getting your online business up and running right here.]
Take a close look at your last water and electric bills. Are the meter readings on these bills “estimated” or “actual.” If a meter reader can’t (or won’t) read your meter, standard practice is for the utility company to use an estimated reading (based on your past usage). Many companies just don’t have the manpower to read every single meter out there every month, although they are required to do so at least once or twice a year.
Sounds reasonable until you realize that this practice could result in two problems that could cost you money. For one, your actual usage could be much lower than the estimate, so you’re stuck paying much higher bills. On the flipside, you could have been paying much less than you’re supposed to, which is okay until an actual reading is taken and your bill jumps drastically.
Check your utility bills every month. If a meter reading is estimated, call the company and ask for an actual reading immediately. If the meter is behind a locked gate or in a basement, make sure you are there to give access.
(Source: Consumerist)
You may be one of the millions of people who regularly shop on eBay. I’ve done it on occasion, and never had any trouble. Until recently. As a result of that experience, I learned a few lessons that can help you deal with two of the potential problems you might encounter.
Here’s the story…
One of the things on my brother’s birthday wish list was a pair of jeans. He’s hard to fit, but there is a brand/style he’s been wearing for years. Unfortunately, that style has been discontinued. So I thought I’d try my luck to see if I could find it online.
A few clicks of the mouse, and Eureka! A vendor on eBay had not one but three pair of the exact jeans I was looking for. I bought all three, paid for them via PayPal with a MasterCard, and patted myself on the back for being such a smart shopper (and thoughtful sister).
The jeans arrived promptly, and I immediately gave the seller “positive feedback” on the eBay website.
I should have waited. My brother was thrilled with the jeans… but one pair didn’t fit. They were enormous. Clearly the wrong size, but mismarked on the label.
Here’s where the first caveat comes in: Not all eBay vendors are established, professionally operated businesses. Some are just folks who get their hands on some merchandise and make a few extra bucks by selling it. There’s nothing wrong with that – except most of them don’t really have a policy in place for handling customer service complaints. And when a problem arises, the customer is not automatically “always right.”
Had I bought the jeans from a major online retailer, there would have been no question. I could have returned them for a refund or exchange, even if they hadn’t been mismarked. But the small-potatoes vendor I bought them from refused to do that, saying “I do not accept returns unless I made a mistake, which I did not.” She had bought the jeans “on a final closeout sale from a specialty shop that went out of business.” She couldn’t return them, but that shouldn’t have been my problem. Unfortunately, it was.
I had already blown my first recourse by prematurely giving her positive feedback on eBay. So I took the only other avenue open to me and filed a dispute with PayPal. But I didn’t stop there. I filed a dispute with my credit card company, too.
That’s the second caveat: PayPal does an excellent job of resolving disputes, but don’t rely solely on them. Things can happen that are outside of PayPal’s control. So wear a belt and suspenders. In addition to working with Pay Pal, you can – and should – contact your credit card company directly about any charge to your account that you disagree with. Had I not done that, I would have been out $60.
Briefly, here’s what happened: PayPal investigated, and the seller agreed to issue a refund upon receiving the merchandise. I sent it off via certified mail, return receipt requested, and waited. And waited. And waited. For some reason, it took almost a month to reach its destination. (That’s an example of what I meant when I said “Things can happen that are outside of PayPal’s control.”) When it arrived, the seller refused delivery, presumably taking advantage of the fact that the time limit PayPal had given me for returning the merchandise had expired. Meanwhile, as far as PayPal was concerned, my case was closed.
But as far as MasterCard was concerned, the case was still open. They had issued a conditional credit as soon as I reported the problem. And finally, finally, finally – four months later – I received this from them in the mail: “Great News! Our investigation is now complete and we are pleased to inform you that the conditional credit you received for $60 is now permanent.”
The belt broke, but the suspenders held.
[Ed. Note: Have you ever had a customer service "issue" with an eBay vendor? How did you resolve it? In hindsight, is there any way you could have avoided the problem? Share your experience - and advice - with your fellow ETR readers here.]
By now you should be well aware of e-mail scams: authentic-looking messages “from” your bank or credit card company that are actually from scammers “phishing” for your personal information. But now scammers have gone mobile. They are sending similar messages to cellphones via text messaging.
So keep an eye out for “alerts” from banks or credit card companies – even if they look official – urging you to call a number or text back personal information. Instead, call the financial institution directly through its official phone number (found on your statement, card, or the company website) to find out if there really is a problem with your account.
A good rule of thumb: Never, ever give out PIN numbers, bank account details, or Social Security numbers over the phone (or through a text message) to sources you don’t know. That goes for e-mail, too.
(Source: Consumerist)
“This year will be the year of rebuilding customer brand loyalty and service. Having the biggest discounts will not ensure that consumers stay loyal to a brand. What is important is developing a sound marketing and communications strategy that allows companies to listen, react, and engage with consumers across multiple communication platforms.”
(Source: CNN)
If your job or business requires you to travel frequently to meet with clients, attend conferences and seminars, or consult with business partners… it could be affecting your home life.
One way to tip your work/home balance back the other way is to bring your family with you on the road.
This is not a good idea if you’re going to be working 18-hour days. But if your schedule allows for free time, you may be able to play with the kids before you head out in the morning, have dinner with your spouse, and enjoy watching a movie together in the hotel room in the evening. You could even tack on an extra day or two at the end of the trip for sightseeing or to visit nearby attractions.
If appropriate, you might even let your spouse or an older child tag along to a meeting or business dinner. Showing this “other” side of you can be a great way to form closer relationships with colleagues and clients.
Taking your family on some of your business trips not only allows you to spend more time with them, it has an added bonus: They get to see (and understand) what you do for a living. Having them “on your team” makes it more likely that they’ll support your work, and will make it easier when you have to go on future business trips without them.
[Ed. Note: If spending more time with your family and less time at work is your goal, you probably need to radically increase your income. You can learn dozens of ways to break free of the corporate rat race and control your own financial future at the upcoming Early to Rise Profits in Paradise wealth-building summit in Orlando. Find out more here.]
While it seems like a simple enough proposition, the fact is that choice can be a very complicated subject. I think most people believe “You are a victim of your own choices.” They have shared story after story about how they made bad choices that led to their downfall, as well as good choices that led to great success – often in the face of enormous obstacles.
I agree that where we are at any given point in our lives is primarily the result of the choices we’ve made. But I’m not as hard line on the issue as you might expect. For example, if a person does not have the mental capacity – or emotional makeup – to make good choices, it is virtually certain he will make a lot of bad ones. This is the plight of the so-called “special needs” child.
I’ve taken some heat from hard-core conservatives and libertarians for saying that Seung-Hui Cho, who murdered 32 fellow students and teachers at Virginia Tech in April 2007, was a victim as well as the perpetrator of a heinous crime. No one has the wisdom, let alone the moral authority, to decide who is, and is not, mentally capable of making good choices.
Another interesting way of looking at choice was sent in by one of my readers who said: “I would assert that none of us ever has free will or choice. Choice is an illusion – an illusion that ego is ever so proud of.” He went on to explain that extensive studies have shown that the brain is “already in the process of executing all actions and thoughts one full second before the action takes place, and a half a second before the action/process is noticed by attention/consciousness.”
In other words, the ego/mind notices something that’s already happening and, while it is happening or sometime afterward, says, “I did that!” or “I chose for that to happen” or “I willed that to happen.” But, my reader pointed out, since “the action had already started and would continue even if it never made it into consciousness/attention/ego/mind,” that makes us nothing more than stimulus-response machines.
So, it all comes down to the same old question: Does man really possess free will – the power to choose? Or is our every thought just a result of the way our brains evolved? Was the “thought” in my mind to type these words already set in motion 14 billion years ago, as well as the thought to even ask the question? Is my belief that I am, of my own free will, sharing all this with you just an illusion?
Gosh, I hope not. For if we are nothing more than organic automatons, life has no meaning. If we do not have free will, we are but actors on a cosmic stage, playing out our parts exactly as we were programmed to do. Which would make for rather dull theater.
And that makes the Dalai Lama no better or no worse than Adolf Hitler. One of them was simply programmed to be a good toy, the other a bad toy. In fact, aside from criminal defense attorneys and politicians, you’d have to give everyone a free pass for their “bad” actions. Which is why, though I believe in free will, humility compels me to admit that I don’t understand it.
Why not just make everyone good? Why give anyone the power to make bad choices?
Regardless, to one extent or another, most people do believe in free will. Which means they believe in some degree of self-determination, a concept with two divergent groups of adherents – humanists and “spiritualists.”
To oversimplify it, a humanist believes that man is totally at the controls and that science, in effect, invalidates God. From an intellectual viewpoint, the problem I have with this is that while man continues, at an accelerating pace, to figure out how things work, it seems clear that he will never be able to answer the “why” question. Why does gravity work the way it does? Why do atoms combine to form certain specific molecules? Why is math the language of the universe?
I am what I would call a “straddler.” I believe in self-determination brought about by connecting with a “Universal Power Source.” But, at the same time, I believe that many things are not within man’s control. Yet, there are two important questions this viewpoint does not answer:
First, why do certain events seem to be predestined and out of our control? And, second, which events really are out of our control? We pretty much know that macro events such as earthquakes, typhoons, and collisions between objects in the cosmos fall into this category, but what about events in our day-to-day lives?
And what about the age-old question: Why do bad things happen to good people? I’ve listened to many people do mental cartwheels in an effort to glide around this one, but my own answer is as straightforward and honest as I can make it: I simply don’t know.
The subject of fatalism versus self-determination constitutes far more than just a fascinating philosophical discussion. It gets at the very heart of making good choices. If you believe in fatalism, there is no reason to even try to make good choices. On the contrary, it gives you a good excuse to embrace the most extreme form of narcissism. This, I believe, is the underlying, perhaps subconscious, mindset of the John Edwards Genre.
But if you are among the millions who believe that some things are predetermined while others are not, my advice is that you not spend a great deal of time worrying about which things fall into which category. It makes a lot more sense to make a conscious effort to make good choices at all times. This doesn’t guarantee that you will always succeed in making good choices – but if you don’t even make the effort, it does guarantee that you will rarely make them.
And what if our choices really are nothing more than illusions? What if we really are nothing more than stimulus-response machines? Not much you can do about that except enjoy the illusion that you have free will, and keep on imagining that you’re making good choices… just in case, somewhere down the road, you should discover that you do have the power to control your own destiny.
[Ed. Note: Choose today that you’ll make a positive change in your life this year. ETR can help you accomplish practically anything you decide to pursue – becoming a better parent, rebuilding your retirement nest egg, finding a new career. With targeted, actionable advice from our Success Mentor, you could make this the year you get everything you want out of life. Learn more here.
For a treasure chest of proven ideas, strategies, and techniques for increasing your income many times over, check out Robert Ringer’s best-selling dealmaking audio series.
Just as The Joker is to Batman and Dr. Evil is to Austin Powers, rent control is the landlord’s enemy. Supporters of rent control claim that without it many people couldn’t afford housing. But what happened to the basics of economics? The law of supply and demand should determine what your rental unit is worth, not the government.
Because of the handcuffs it puts on landlords, rent control creates rundown properties. Utilities, taxes, and insurance keep going up, but landlords of rent-controlled properties are unable to recover those costs through rent increases. This means they have less money for maintenance and improvements.
Have you noticed the lack of new apartments being built in cities where rent controls are in place? Developers choose to build condos instead, because it’s difficult to make money on a newly developed apartment building. And in many cities that have rent controls, apartment buildings get converted into condos so they can be profitable.
The loss of good quality rental units hurts the very subset of the population that rent controls were intended to protect! And it makes life pretty challenging for those of us who are real estate investors.
So what can you do if you’re a landlord in one of the U.S. cities or Canadian provinces with rent controls? Here’s how my husband and I make it work with our investments, which are all in rent-controlled provinces in Canada:
1. Increase your rents every year by the maximum amount allowed. This varies by province/city and usually changes each year.
2. When a tenant leaves, in most cases, you can raise the rent of that unit to the market rate.
3. Make sure the person on the lease is the person living there. I have a friend who lived in a New York City rent-controlled apartment for years. I don’t even think my friend knew the person who was on the lease – it was a friend of a friend! They were paying a paltry sum of money for a great place overlooking Central Park. Had the landlord been paying closer attention, my friend could have been evicted and the landlord could have more than doubled the rent to the market rate.
4. Renovate the unit. In many places, the law will allow for the landlord to give a tenant notice to vacate in order for renovations to be done. And if, for example, you spend $2,000 on renovations, then get $500 more per month in rent, it won’t take long to make back the cost of the renovations and start earning more profit.
[Ed. Note: Renting properties is a great way to make extra cash in any market. For more strategies for making money with rental property, sign up for Internet Money Club member and real estate investor Julie Broad's free monthly newsletter. Get your free report for making money with real estate here.]
It’s one of the most respected business journals in the world. But it can still be dead wrong. For instance…
“The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World,” announced the front page of The Wall Street Journal business section. Sounded promising, so I took a gander. What I found left me scratching my head:
“Many marketers have been trained to bludgeon consumers with advertising – to sell, sell, sell anytime and anywhere consumers can be found. In an online community, it pays to resist that temptation.”
Two things about this directive struck me as horribly off.
1. You should never have to “resist [the] temptation” to market.
As MaryEllen has said, time and again, “Don’t be afraid to sell.” If you’re offering something worthwhile to your prospects – and if you’re not, what are you doing? – you should want to market it to the high heavens.
2. You should never be using advertising as a bludgeon. The authors of that WSJ article claim that Web 2.0 – blogs, online communities, wikis, and social networking sites – is all about relationship building. Not about marketing.
News flash: There should be no difference between what you think of as “marketing” and what you think of as “relationship building.” Essentially, they are one and the same. Good marketing – no matter where or how you’re doing it – is about building a relationship. Every time you speak to a customer, every time you write an article, every time you post a comment on a blog, every time you answer a question on a forum – it’s all marketing, because it all reflects back on your business and its ability to fulfill your customers’ needs.
Marketing your products – and doing so in a way that builds a relationship with your customers – should always be a top priority. No matter what you’re doing, or where you’re doing it, you should be giving your prospective customers a reason to trust you… a reason to do business with you… a reason to think of you when they have a need or desire.
[Ed. Note: To get a jump-start on your marketing, pick up a copy of Amazon's best-selling book Changing the Channel. Inside, marketing masters Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby reveal 12 proven, highly effective marketing strategies that you can apply to your business.]
Since his sentencing in December, I’ve thought long and hard before chiming in on the latest O.J. saga. Given that everyone is now pretty much in agreement on the character of this psychopathic primate, I’m not interested in getting in a few “me too” jabs.
Nevertheless, as I watched O.J. near tears in court, the word karma came quickly to mind – as it probably did with you. Not only because of the way his life has turned out, but also considering the lives of so many of the other actors in the 14-year run of this modern-day Greek tragedy.
About a year-and-a-half ago, I wrote a two-part article titled “Karma and Compound Interest,” in which I pondered the possibility that the late Johnny Cochran, who died of a brain tumor in 2005, might have been a victim of his own karma.
I took a lot of heat for that, but I wasn’t passing judgment on him. I was merely thinking out loud. When I asked, “Was Cochran’s gruesome death compounded interest that came due on his karma debt?” I just wanted to give readers some food for thought.
As we can all vividly recall, Cochran brilliantly transformed the O.J. Simpson trial into the trial of Mark Fuhrman. And for years, Cochran insisted that he believed O.J. was innocent. I never bought it. Cochran was smart, and he had to know that he was responsible for setting a vicious double-murderer free.
As they led O.J. out of the courtroom this time around, I also thought about Robert Kardashian, Simpson’s former friend who is best known as the guy seen carrying a garment bag from Simpson’s home the day after the murders. He then signed on to the Simpson legal team, apparently just to be able to claim attorney-client privilege regarding the matter. Kardashian died in 2003 of cancer of the esophagus at age 59. Karma? Who knows?
And how about “good karma”? Think of the many people who became famous and built careers as a result of the O.J. case. Mark Fuhrman became a respected contributor to Fox News. Marcia Clark is the legal correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, and she made big bucks on her book Without a Doubt. Most amazing of all, Greta Van Susteren became a superstar! (Hmm… after sticking up for O.J. on CNN every night throughout the trial? Go figure.)
Then there’s Kato Kaelin who is… well, he’s still just Kato Kaelin, still searching for his sixteenth minute of fame. And if he doesn’t find it, I guess he’ll have to be satisfied with going down in history as the world’s most famous houseguest. Some karma.
As I said in my previous two-part article on this subject, “Everything that goes around comes around” is a nice, tight, philosophical view of life that is very comforting – until we come up against two scenarios that don’t fit:
Since I’ve already written about the above two possibilities, I won’t go into them again here. But I will add another one that the most current O.J. trial brought to mind: What about people who get away with dishonest or criminal behavior and don’t get caught? I’m talking about a sort of lesser version of “When good things happen to bad people.”
Why do scoundrels like Joran Van Der Sloot, among others who have been in the news, seem to be able to escape the consequences of their actions? I think this question not only baffles most people, it frustrates them.
But I don’t let it bother me, and I’ll tell you why. When you believe someone has gotten away with something, you are assuming that you know how things will turn out for them in the long term. But you don’t. After years of seeming to get away with murder (some figuratively, some literally), universal law finally caught up with such moral giants as Drew Peterson, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, Rod Blagojevich, Charles Rangel – and let’s not forget O.J.
And even if O.J.’s conviction were to get overturned on appeal, you still don’t know what the future holds for him. Plus, no one knows what his life has really been like all these years behind those TV shots of him yukking it up on the golf course. The fact is that the life of the world’s most insatiable social animal has been reduced to that of a leper for the past 14 years.
One last thing that crossed my mind as I watched the latest act in the O.J. drama play out on TV: What do all of these people have in common? Answer: Arrogance. No, incredible arrogance.
John Edwards ran for president while his wife was terminally ill and he was fathering a child with another woman. Governor Blagojevich openly invited bribes for Obama’s Illinois senate seat, even though he knew he was under criminal investigation. Eliot Spitzer enjoyed numerous encounters with prostitutes after spending years criminally prosecuting others for the same activity. And Charles Rangel, the man who serves as chairman of the committee that writes the tax code, “forgot” to pay taxes on his Dominican Republic property for 20 years!
I know, I know… it’s tempting to say, “When’s the karma going to kick in for all of the other guys who seem to have been escaping the consequences of their actions?” To that I would answer… be patient and watch as their lives unfold in the coming years. Remember, it hasn’t been that long ago that we were asking the same question about O.J.
The best thing you can do is forget about everyone else’s karma and focus on your own. And the best way to do that is to live every moment as though the whole world were watching.
[Ed. Note: Karma or no karma, good deeds and honest living make you a better person from the inside out. Of course, as with any worthwhile pursuit, becoming a better person takes work. Sometimes you need a little push to get yourself going... and some simple techniques to help you become the person you've always wanted to be. Discover how to get everything you want out of life right here.
For a treasure chest of proven ideas, strategies, and techniques for increasing your income many times over, check out Robert Ringer's best-selling dealmaking audio series. And be sure to sign up for his Voice of Sanity e-letter.]
Andy Gordon (www.InvestorsDailyEdge.com) reveals the best thing about falling markets – and two companies you should consider investing in for 2009.
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Driving through Montana on a recent visit to my family, my car’s thermometer hit a number I haven’t seen in years: 24 degrees… below zero.
As a Montana native, I’m no stranger to severe dips below freezing. But there are places where it gets even colder than my home state.
In the U.S., the coldest temperature recorded was minus 79.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the Endicott Mountains of northern Alaska. Worldwide, the coldest temperature recorded was in Vostok, Antarctica – minus 129 degrees Fahrenheit.
But that’s nothing compared to what physicist Wolfgang Ketterle has cooked up. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Ketterle and his team “created” the lowest temperature ever recorded: 810 trillionths of a degree Fahrenheit above absolute zero. (Absolute zero is minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit.)
(Source: LiveScience, InfoPlease, and SmithsonianMag.com)