Smart Saving and Investing

Over at Get Rich Slowly, J.D. talks about firing an employee in his family business. I thought I’d share my story on something like that as well.

I had to fire my boss. Actually, I had to fire the person who hired me years ago, who used to be my boss.

As I very slowly moved up the ranks of the company I eventually became an equal to the person who hired me to work at the company. I became his boss and eventually had to fire him.

Although it took years to get to this it was not easy. I could not grasp it too well at the time.

Both of us found it ironic and of course that person was extremely upset because of the whole deal. I can’t imagine this scenario happening too often but maybe I’m wrong.

The Scenario

My boss had worked long and hard to make the section of the company run smoothly. I was part of that for years.

As I made small impressions here and there over a long time (years) I was promoted over time to various positions until my boss’s boss made me an equal to my boss.

Up to that time, my boss who hired me, slowly got involved in other personal areas of his life such as turning his hobby into a small business that ultimately took up some of his work time at the company.

Kids

I saw him get a bit more involved in his kids’ lives a little too much as well. I think a lot of parents get way too involved in their kids’ lives. Instead of raising them up from a guidance perspective, a lot of parents seem to own their children’s time, direction and thoughts.

Picking his kids up during work hours and taking them here and there. Rescuing them during trying times in college by doing their college homework for them and a whole host of tasks that provide young people with valuable experiences at that age if they get the opportunity to learn from them.

Anyway, I knew he was a typical “one paycheck away” from losing his comfortable life.

I don’t know what happened to him after that but I’m hoping he dug his heels into his hobby that had become a small business for him. You never know, that could have been the catalyst to his “greater tomorrow” .

Thoughts

This experience leaves you with those simple questions, “What would I do if I lost my job right now?“. This will help drive your online savings contributions really quick.

Let me know what you think or any experiences with firing or being fired.

written by Bill Stevens

Do you have multiple streams of income? More importantly do you have multiple streams of passive income?

At this site, I stress the three actions most people can do in their lives to increase their wealth over a lifetime. However, I also talk about the options market too because that is something I consider to be one of my other streams of income.

I’ve been using options to create extra income since 1999. It’s not an easy game to figure out and play. It does take time and energy to do.

You need startup money. You need patience. Sometimes a stomach made of steel. Some of it can be “outsourced” to others. Like what options to pick. There are services out there that provide better options selections than I could select. So for that service I pay a fee.

Multiple streams of passive income are streams of income you create and at some point that stream generates income so you don’t have to do too much to keep it going - at some point.

Examples include:

• Writing and selling a hit song
• Recording a hit song and selling a million copies
• Writing a book and selling millions of copies
• Playing the options market and actually making money in the long term
• Writing a blog that is so popular it makes you money while you sleep
• Selling a product or service that you don’t have to actively be involved with and again, makes money while you sleep
• Owning Rental Property
• You fill in the rest…

Now, the hard part is finding that stream of passive income that fits into your life. Maybe it’s something that takes a long time to implement or maybe it’s something that you could get other people to implement for you - for a fee of course.

Whatever it is, multiple streams of passive income are definitely something that makes your financial life better but your personal life could temporarily suffer or suffer for a long time as you work towards a lofty and meaningful goal.

A Story

When I was going to college about 30 years ago, I used to work in a pizza and sandwich shop, a liquor store, as well as being a musician on various nights of the week and weekends.

At one music job, I met an older gentlemen in the hallway outside of the hotel ballroom my band was playing at. He asked me what I did and eventually got around to asking me what I planned on doing with the rest of my life.

This caught me off guard since I was young and didn’t think too far ahead into the future. It did get me thinking and I’ll never forget the conversation either.

He just happened to be the speaker that night for the engagement I was providing the music for. He was a Tony Robbins type speaker who energized people with his presentations.

During our conversation he mentioned that he planned on trying one career every 10 years to keep his life interesting. I was twenty years old and looking at a future of one career forever. I never really thought that far in advance to plan like that.

Another tidbit of wisdom he shared with me was, always have a project to come home to at the end of the day that inspires you. Whatever it is.

This guy worked a regular day job for many years while trying to become a motivational speaker and in the evenings he would spend hours building an airplane. That’s right, an airplane.

He would do this after he came home from his day job to his wife and two boys, have dinner, spend some time with the family, then go to the garage and start working on his airplane.

After 2 or 3 years of doing this he finished his plane and flew it. WOW!! Now if someone can take that time to figure out how to build an airplane, do it and fly it, then most of us can strive to do what we want to do over the course of a life time.

That man’s name is Raymond Lemke and I met up with him last year, 2006. I told him the story about how I met him 30 years ago and the conversation we had as well as what he said to me that evening and how I never forgot it.

Although he said he didn’t remember it, he was very happy I came up and I told him about the impression he made 30 years ago.

You can listen to a sample of him here. Here’s his book Yes, You Can!: An Innovative Approach to Happiness

written by Bill Stevens