Self-reliance revisited

Reduce-reuse-recycle, that has long been the catch phrase for saving our planet. I think that if you consider it to be a catch-phrase for saving your cash you can take it further. There are many different ways we as Americans can reduce the amount of crap we buy and subsequently throw away if we do a little creative thinking but since I know that we are not all creative thinkers, I have found a few resources that are jam-packed with great ideas. http://www.facebook.com/ModernPioneer is a page for facebook users that can show us how to reduce by growing our own food sans packaging, www.motherearthnews.com/ is a great little website that gets more involved in all three aspects of the phrase and they produce a printed magazine, if you are more interested in producing your own power as a way to reduce your spending take a look at www.proudgreenhome.com/ or www.thenakedscientists.com. According to Waste Management the average individual in my state is responsible for approximately 10 lbs. of trash daily, if we could prevent 1 lb of trash from being generated per person per week in my state alone that would be 52 lbs/year/person and 990,992,184 lbs/year for the state...in case numbers are not your thing that is almost 991 million pounds of trash if each person in Florida prevents one pound of trash per week. Remember that every time you unnecessarily spend your hard earned money on something you ultimately throw all or part of away, you are reducing your personal economy and throwing your cash away.

Reduce spending-reuse instead of rebuying-and recycle the money you have already spent.

-TODD

Personal Economy

Let's talk about personal economy, let's talk about saving. Talking about GDP and earnings is great but what about savings and retirement. A strong and stable society is composed largely of hard working smart individuals who plan for the future and are prepared to meet it. What do you do if you live paycheck to paycheck and your car breaks down or if you have a serious injury/illness and no nest egg? I do not know and I do not want to find out. Some of the best financial advice I have ever received was from a small business owner named Roger who became a friend and mentor to me, he said, "put away $10,000 to cover emergencies, it may take quite a while to do it, but make sure you do (if you save $100 every week it will take less than two years). When you have your emergency fund start putting away at least 15% of your annual income into solid long-term investments, that is your 15% for wealth building. And remember this is your actual paycheck so pay yourself before you pay anyone else, no one else will do it for you." I took this to heart and followed through, it has made a difference in almost all aspects of my life. This is also something I try to share with as many of my friends as will listen. A good starter long-term investment (and one I still invest in every year) is Treasury Direct. At this site I purchase government bonds, as long as I do not pull my money out early I have zero risk of losing it and guaranteed interest, not bad for a starter investment. I do also have a Roth with Vanguard with a targeted retirement account and other more sophisticated investments, but I believe that starting with something as long-term and low risk as possible is the wisest recommendation I can make to beginning investors/savers. Go start saving put away what you can and invest, maybe, just maybe you will not end up as a Walmart greeter at the age of eighty...here's hoping.

"A penny saved is a penny earned"-B. Franklin

-TODD