How to Retire With No Savings
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud
Friday, September 25, 2009
"Do you have any savings?" I asked my friend Tony this week.
"Not really, no," he answered.
Tony is in his 50s. And he didn't sound worried in the least. How is that possible?
I was surprised Tony was so relaxed...
My wife, for example, couldn't consider living like that. My wife is hard-wired to save instead of spend. She really doesn't spend. And even though we have saved and invested well... she STILL worries.
Tony quit his job three years ago. And then he sold off a good deal of his possessions to finance living his dream.
Tony now builds extremely fine guitars. He's earned critical acclaim. He's doing what he always wanted to do. And he intends to do it for the rest of his life.
This week, I visited Tony in Indiana. I came to visit so he could help me build my own guitar...
"This is my retirement," Tony said, pointing his arms around his shop.
"The Larson Brothers built guitars until they died in their 70s," he reminded me. "And John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto built guitars until they died, too." Tony intends to do like these legends did.
A few years ago, he had a "good" job as a computer graphic artist. And before that, he worked as a cabinetmaker. But making cabinets or pushing a computer mouse were not what he wanted to do with his life.
Guitars were always his passion. He'd been building and tinkering with them since the 1980s. So he took the leap. If it didn't work, he figured, he could sell off the contents of his guitar workshop and return to being a graphic artist.
I am not as bold as Tony. But I do admire him for following his passion. He took what must have seemed like an enormous risk three years ago. But now he's able to say something most people will never be able to say... he's living his dream, doing what he wants to for a living.
Tony has "retired" with basically no savings. And yet he is happy, because he has set up the rest of his life to do what he loves.
Is following your dream worth a shot? Can you turn that into a way to make money? If it doesn't work, do you have something to fall back on? You only live once... Think about it.
Good investing,
Steve
P.S. You can see more of Tony's work here: www.arkneweraguitars.com. |
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ONE OF THE GREAT INCOME SECRETS OF ALL TIME
Today, we present one of the greatest "pro income investor" secrets in the world.
Here's the standard income investor strategy: Step 1) Find a solid dividend-paying stock, a safe bond, or a rent-producing property. Step 2) Hold that baby and collect income for years.
This strategy works wonderfully when you buy assets for the right price. But here's a little-known "right price" strategy, which we've watched play out this year. Back in September 2008, Steve recommended shares of "virtual banks" to True Wealth readers as a way to collect double-digit income.
Now, here's the secret: When you get into a great income security before everyone else, a big capital-gain kicker comes into play. People wake up to the income you're collecting, and they want in on it too... so they buy and buy and push the value of your shares much higher than where you bought. This is exactly what's happening to virtual bank Hatteras. The stock is up about 70% for True Wealth readers... with most of the return coming in the form of capital gains. It pays to get in early!
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Bullets for sportsmen have been scarce for months. Some gun store owners and gun rights advocates say the demand is due to a fear that President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation.
The Obama administration has not proposed anything specific and the president recently signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.
The National Rifle Association says Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammo a year. That figure has jumped to about 9 billion in the past year.
– Associated Press
The Baltic Dry Index, the benchmark for freight costs for iron ore, coal and grains, fell for a ninth consecutive session on Wednesday, reflecting concern that demand for commodities from China was starting to weaken.
Chinese trade data for August, released on Tuesday, showed imports of copper, coal, crude oil and soyabeans all easing from the record highs reached in recent months.
The Baltic Dry dropped 3.2 per cent to 2,175 points and has sunk by almost half since reaching a high for the year in early June.
"The recent decline in the Baltic Dry Index may be an early warning sign," said James Lord of Capital Economics. "Commodity markets have priced in a strong recovery [in the global economy], which should cap any further near-term gains. As the recovery slows in 2010, we expect commodity prices to come under renewed pressure."
– Financial Times
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