But the book “The Millionaire Next Door” goes one step further by saying you can actually become a millionaire.

How?

Budget – Set a limit and stick with it.

Plan – as much as a year in advance for buying high end products such as a car so you can research and pick the best for your needs

Live a simple life – you buy the car that is dependable rather then has the most bells and whistles.

Take graph paper and draw a line where your income is. Next draw a line ten or twenty percent below it and that is where your spending should be. Easy? Again it’s the mindset. You must believe that financial independence is more important than high social status.

I read this book a while ago and was recently reminded about it. Everyone should read it. It sites many stories about people who were not born wealthy nor have exotic jobs but have become millionaires all on their own.

Most of the truly wealthy don’t live in Hollywood or on Park Avenue they live next door. I remembered after I read it wondering if any of my neighbors could actually be millionaires. I couldn’t tell because all of them seemed like everyone else which was just like the book described.

Baby boomers have a different mentality about retirement. They want to retire on their own terms and sometimes that means easing into retirement by working part time or working only part of the year. The transition is easier than finding yourself gainfully employed and active one day and the next retired and wondering how to fill all the hours in a day.

Thank goodness some companies are finally recognizing this trend and see how they can profit from this. The result - If you want to ease into retirement consider a bridge job. A bridge job follows a full- time career and is either part time or lasts less than 10 years, or is both.

Many companies are finally getting smart and offering this flexibility to older workers. CVS Pharmacy, Home Depot and Borders have “snowbird” programs to allow older workers to travel south in winter, and take their jobs with them.

I have a couple of friends that have “retired” to working at Home Depot and they love it. They have retired from the high stress and responsibility of management in a career. But because of the wisdom they have from years at their jobs, they have so much help to offer the new home builder.

It’s a perfect set up. The customers get great customer service and tips from experienced individuals and therefore it benefits the company. In return, the workers usually get flexibility with hours and offers of other benefits.

It was submitted to the 2006 California Design Challenge contest held at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show. Ten teams competed for the challenge that had the theme “An L.A. Adventure” and GMC won for the design of the PAD.

GMC calls it an LAV or Living Activity Vehicle. The owner can just park where he wants and live and work out of it. It’s completely high-tech and packed with the latest in communication equipment.

Thank goodness it is only a computer design and not real. I don’t believe the world is ready for it yet. I do like the idea of it as a portable site for an Emergency Response Team

See it here.

Captain Kirk would have loved it. Beam me up Scotty.

Have you ever been told to stop being so emotional? I have. Is that good or bad?

We all know the more stress we have in our life the more physically sick we can become. Our bodies respond to stress, anger and disappointment by shutting down and getting tired or sick. We get overwhelmed and under produce.

The noted psychologist Abraham Maslow said we only have five basic needs in life.

1. Physiological needs such as food, water and air

2. Safety needs such as freedom from danger, security

3. Love and belongingness needs such as acceptance and affiliation

4. Esteem needs such as status and achievement

5. Need for self-actualization such as personal fulfillment

Most people have no trouble getting the first two needs but never rise to self fulfillment in step five. When it comes to love and self-esteem we have so many emotional issues and scars. We were trained to suppress our emotions and feelings to get the approval we so desperately wanted.

Interesting to note is that the word “emotion” is a latin word meaning “to move.” Our emotions are either steering us toward or away from things. Sometimes we have so many emotions we don’t know whether we are coming or going.

Take inventory of the emotions that negatively affect you. Which ones are steering you towards what you want and which are steering you away. Simplify your life by making the choice to get rid of damaging emotions and make room for the positive emotions.

It simply feels good.

In his book, Tim Ferriss uses a four step approach for re-inventing oneself.

Definition – In a nutshell, find what you want. Get rid of your baggage and fears ask yourself “What do I really Want?”

Eliminate – Focus on the 20% that’s important and get rid of the 80% that isn’t

Automate – Outsource your Life. Develop a muse or business that will generate income and run on auto-pilot.

Liberate find a way to work remotely or find a way to kill your job.

This is my three step approach for Second Act Living.

Simplify your life - In a nutshell, find what you want. Get rid of your baggage and fears ask yourself “What do I really Want?” Includes outsourcing and automating your life.

Mini-Retirements – practice taking small retirements and work towards achieving unrestricted mobility

Freedom – unrestricted mobility and second act living
Liberation, freedom or whatever you want to call the last step. The goal is to put a little living into your life.

When you think of describing yourself what can you say and then what do you wish you could say?

This is an important question. Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side write down any words that come to mind that describe you. It does not have to be sentences, just keep writing. Then take the left side of the paper and scribble anything at all that you wished you did or where. Consider everything, brainstorm and let your mind wander. Remember, no one but you will see this.

Finally, what does your gut feeling tell you? Are you queasy when you are visualizing what you want or do you have a warm fuzzy feeling? This is important. If you are queasy or feeling unsettled is it because something is holding you back or is it because what you are visualizing is not really what you want but what someone else wants for you?

Choose to remove whatever is holding you back. Has something happened in the past to affect your self esteem? Do you immediately have negative thoughts as soon as money and success come to mind? If you are not choosing success then it is likely that something is blocking your ability to change and follow a new path. Let yourself go and by all means, be emotional. You never know what may pop into your head that was never a consideration in the past

Important to remember is anything can happen. Oprah explained it very well when she said as she was growing up all she wanted was to someday own a house with two trees in the yard. By being open with herself and honest about her abilities she now has a multi-million dollar home with fifty trees just in the front yard. This was something she believes she never could have imaged herself. The key, she explains, was that she did not let her own mind limit her possibilities.

Don’t let your own mind limit your possibilities. That is the no brainer answer to the mind blowing question, “What do I really want?”

When you answer that question, you are on you way to Second Act Living.

So today, ask yourself two questions. They are important questions to answer because it will help remove any excuses you are harboring.

First, ask yourself, “If money was no object what would I want?” This is the age old question many people have asked, however have they really answered it?

Second, if you had no family or no one else holding you back ask yourself, “What would I do right now or where would I go?” Again, think money is no object.

The key is being honest about yourself, serious about the questions and not letting anyone else influence you.

Not getting what we want in life many times can be directly attributed to the fact that we let our own minds limit our possibilities. We simply do not believe we deserve the best or could ever get the best. The object of this exercise is to eliminate all the excuses.

Tomorrow, we put everything together and it will all make sense.