Visiting the 800 Pound Gorilla

I am starting to feel guilty about calling my vacation property an 800 pound gorilla. I mean, what did any gorilla do to deserve a designation as a problem? They are just gorillas, after all, peacefully chewing bamboo and contemplating the demise of Diane Fossey. Anyway, so we went up to visit the money pit, and its such a beautiful place, I get inspired when I am there. Inspired enough to think I can hang on despite the endless stream of bills and the mounting debt I am continually trying desperately to pay down so I can stick to my financial freedom plan and become job free. I know HOW to do it, but I am sort of stuck because of this property. BUT....I am trying to stay positive and new agey about it. Maybe there's a reason it has not sold! Maybe that 115K check I wrote to myself from "Universe Title Services" is going to happen! Next spring! Yeah!! Next spring!

Can't Get Rid of My 800 Pound Gorilla

So the saying goes. If you have one of these that is bringing you down financially, you need to get rid of it! My 800 pound gorilla is a vacation home that was supposed to be my ticket to job freedom, but instead has become a money pit. But as Jack Canfield would say, ask myself "What is the opportunity in this?" I suppose I have learned NEVER TO BUY A PROPERY THAT DOES NOT CASH FLOW, but I can't really be held responsible for the mortgage meltdown that has driven prices down and created a nearly impossible lending climate. So I just rented it on a ski lease, and really, the tenent got the better end of the deal. But he will pay all the bills for four straight months, and help out with the mortgage, and I will try to sell it again next spring. And I guess the opportunity in this is that I am now forced to think of really really creative ways to make more money. Having a huge mortgage on a home I don't even live in has forced me to acknowledge that short of foreclosing on it, I just need to make more money. Money making ideas anyone?

Update on my Quitting Date

I attended a pre-retirement seminar for my work and discovered that there is no real benefit to staying to the ten year mark. I can quit at age 50 and receive a small monthly paycheck and have medical and dental coverage, or I can stay until the ten year mark and wait to collect a bigger paycheck at 62, but have to suspend the medical and dental benefits until then as well. So....the time value of money and the cost of medical benefits means that the small paycheck plus the medical and dental benefits FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE at age 50 is a pretty good deal. That moves my quitting date up to Dec of 2009. I had better get on the ball and create my passive income streams. I am excited about the change on the horizon, investigating my options for doing something else, like teaching English abroad, or becoming a tour guide.
In other news, I finally listed the eight hundred pound gorilla on back (aka my vacation home) with a realtor. Any remaining equity will go to the realtors at this point, but I am going for debt relief. I can then spend the money I was putting into that on paying down the credit cards and getting this financial plan off the ground. I am determined to be financially free and I will make it happen. Stay tuned.

Set Your Quitting Date

I apologize to anyone following my blog for my lack of recent posts. I am not going to make excuses except to say that I have been working on the concept for my website and trying to figure out how to organize it. Its a bit more complex than blogging, because if you want any traffic you have to rank high in the search engines, so you have to learn about SEO (search engine optimization).

Anyway....I have set my quitting date for my job. I decided that by setting a firm date, it will push me harder to get the things done that I need to do to accomplish it. So...drumroll please.....my Quittin' date is.......June 10, 2010. Why 06/10/10? For a number of reasons, but mainly, I will have a ten year service retirement at my job, so I'll have a little retirment money coming in when I am 62. Also, I think it will take me another two years or so to get my financial house in order. If I can make it happen sooner, so much the better, but setting a date roughly two years in the future kind of makes me relax a bit (even tho' I hate my job) and plan accordingly. So my challenge to you all is to find out a plan that will make you financially free, figure out how long it will take, then set a date and keep it in your mind. Focus on it every day, and do something every day that will help you achieve that goal.

My Website is On the Way!

I have not posted in quite awhile. I've been brainstorming and working on my financial freedom website, which I hope to have available soon. Well, not too soon, theres so much to learn. But I have found a program that is amazing as it teaches you all about SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, as you actually build your site. I can't recommend this program highly enough. Its called SiteBuildit! and will most likely take years off your learning curve, and generate traffic for you. It costs 299 bucks, but you could pay several thousand for someone else to build a site, and this program has all the tools for finding the best keywords, etc. So check it out.

In other news, I've been trying to sell my money pit, AKA my vacation home in ski country. Its a beautiful home, but I just can't afford it anymore. I would rather put that mortgage money into becoming financially free. Later

An Intro to Quantum Physics

I am now reading a great book called The Field Updated Ed: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe . Its a layman's intro to quantum theory, but goes into some depth about different scientists and their discoveries about the subatomic world and how it relates to the mind. It requires some concentration if you have not encountered these ideas before, but for me, its kind of the final piece of the puzzle in the whole Law of Attraction movement. It actually presents scientific evidence of a Life Force, and an interconnectedness between all things and the universe. I am only halfway through it, so I can't comment on the entire manner in which this has integrated my other spiritual readings, but suffice it to say that the activity in the brain on a subatomic level is compelling evidence that what spiritual leaders and teachers have been articulating for centuries is most likely true. The book has also given me pause to think about psychic phenomenon and how quantum physics explains the high probability of truth in the second sight of mediums, psychics and intuitives. It also makes me think in more depth about the quantum mechanics of dreaming, and dream interpretations. I highly recommend checking it out.

Power, Freedom and Choice

I have been thinking alot about personal power, because tied to my job I don't feel I have a lot of it. I know, I could quit and make a go of something else, so I am really there by choice, but then again, quitting would subject me to alot of potential financial hardship, so I feel limited in my ability to choose. Perhaps I am just afraid?

Having personal power is paramount to living a life that is fullfulling and of service to others. Unfortunately, there are many ways in which personal power is lost to the individual. Sometimes it is abdicated. Sometimes it is taken away forcibly. And other times it is insidiously squirreled away by the powers that be so that you do not even notice it disappearing until suddenly one day you wake up and realize you are not free, and freedom seems impossible to attain. Freedom seems more than just elusive, it seem impossible.

So what is freedom? Freedom and personal power are closely related, if not the same thing. Personal power and freedom are the ability and the right to choose. Anything that hinders your ability or your right to choose is bringing you down. You are controlled by those things. If you are in a relationship where someone tells you what you can and cannot do, you are not free. Your power is in someone else's hands. If you are tied to mortgage on a second home that you don't even live in and you cannot make other financial decisions,(choices) you are not free and that mortgage controls you. You are powerless to spend your money any other way than on that mortgage. And like me and my job, I am right now powerless to choose to quit. My second mortgage has taken away my freedom to choose to be jobless. I am so clear on this concept right now.