I picked up this book recently over my brief vacation and read it over three days. This is nota get rich quick book. This book explains a way of living, a state of mind, a “lifestyle”, as it is referred to in the book. Tim is a successful, young, entrepreneur, and definitely worth emulating. He lives all over the world because he does not believe in grinding it out for 40 years, retiring and praying your money will last. Tim believes in living these experiences continually in chunks throughout your life.

   What gave this book value to me was that he used real examples. One example he uses is Doug Price. Doug Price aka Demon Doc has an online site trying to create a movement of open source music. On the site is a file with beats and loops that you can download called onliness. When trying to download this file initially i ran into a problem opening the file. I emailed using the link on that site and when I sat down to check it out again it was fixed. To me this shows Tim associates with good people.

   The focus of the book is automating you life. Turning your life into processes that can then be outsources to other people. And he means everything from birthday cards to product distribution. It is like looking at your life and turning it into a franchise.

   I can  not give specifics obviously , do not want to get sued, but a vital part of the 4 hour work week is having a business that can be automated. There are two important things here. One, you have to have a business if your are going to truly succeed. Its not to say you could not lead a happy fulfilling life, but you are working otmake someone else rich. Time can not be bought so it is priceless. Having a successful business will give you that freedom of time. I am not saying it will not take some work up front but the potential is infinite.

   Tim gives you an outline of the type of product you should create and how to build a business around your merchandise. He then writes how to go about setting up your business. The thing I really liked about The 4 Hour Work Week is that he gives you links and examples.  He talks about using Virtual Assistants to do tasks to free time for you to live life.

   I enjoyed this book, and definitely learned some new things. In my opinion it was worth the time to read. Remember people, there is no easy fix to your money trouble. If there was, I would have find it. Do what you can to continue to learn and put things into action. I think this is a pretty good blueprint of success. You obviously have to come up with your on idea but he gives you the steps and methods to action along the way.

Good luck!

~ Matt

   I found out something interesting today. Maybe I have been living in a bubble and everyone else is already aware of this little bit of information I discovered. Of course by discover I mean read in the current issue of Money Magazine. However, being persistent and unable to settle for one persons opinion I hit google for more affirmation.

   The title should be a dead give away but in case you are still unsure I will tell you. This article is about the United States dependency on “foreign oil” or the “middle east” for oil. We hear it spoken on the news constantly and most recently by President Obama. This is not a knock on him though, more a knock on the general spin of media.

   Let me get to the point. Money states that “Canada reaps the largest share of our crude oil dollars.” In case you missed that,  CANADA ! Not the middle east, not Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, South America, but Canada.  A paragraph on the Energy Information Administration website states, “Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in December, exporting 2.555 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a increase from last month (.023 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.444 million barrels per day.”

   I do not know about anyone else but this was an eye opener for me. We are lead to believe that war in the middle east and bombs in Iran are causing the punishing prices in oil we pay. That shipping costs and the war in Iraq are causing prices to have to increase dramatically. Not so believable now.

   If anyone knows more about this please let me know. As a consumer I feel very mislead by our government and media. I am not sure what our deal is with Canada but it must be good if we our so willing to point a figure so easily at other nations that are a much smaller piece of the whole pie.

   So the next time oil goes up chances are a Moose herd ran in to a pipeline than a kidnapping in Pakistan.

~ Matt

ref:
EIA of Department of Energy December 2008 Data

   I was driving in my car and heard a radio ad for Credit Answers on the radio. They are a debt settlement company. What made me listen was that they said now is the time to settle debt because of the economic stimulus and due to money banks received from the government. This is obviously very untrue. Creditors my be more willing to settle now because they know people are being crushed by the economy and would rather get some money than none, but at the same time they are raising interest rates and fees.

   There are a couple other things they said in the ad that bothered me but I cannot remember the specifics. However, I figured I would follow up and check the web site.  First of all there is no mention of their fees.  Wikipedia states some charge a montly fee while others charge a percentage of the money saved through settlement with the creditor. Second, they make a weak attempt at addressing the fact that this will affect your credit for seven years;   as quoted from their FAQ, “That depends on what your credit looks like when you enrolled in our debt settlement program. But in general if you do not make payments and pay your creditors according to the terms of your agreement your credit will suffer. That is one of the trade-offs you will have to make if you are serious about reducing your debt. “  Third, When asked if they can protect you from legal action, they say, “No, but we do have strategies on helping you manage the collection efforts and can direct you to an attorney to answer any suits that may be filed.” However, on a seperate page they state, “If you attempt to work a credit card debt settlement with a creditor on your own, you will lose the protection that comes from the involvement of a professional third-party credit card debt negotiation.” Which is it?

   Now I am not saying all these companies my be using predator tactics. There are firms that probably legitamately have relationships with creditors to expidite and maxamize savings in settling debt. Do not use this as a method of consumption, meaning settling your debt and continue to create new debt.  Hopefully, their fees and having to save the full payment for settlement would discourage such behaviour.

    Things to remember, Credit Answers does not disclose their fees because they want you to call but I think any good business should be up front about their costs. Debt settlement , charge-offs, and the like will remain on your credit report for seven years. Creditors may be more will to negotiate now because of economic conditions and the uncertainty of employeement but there are not any special programs or incentives in the stimulus for helping consumers with excessive unsecured debt.

   As always, be responsible, make a budget, pay off your debt, and good luck !

Matt