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Simply Living Simply

Written on July 14, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Money

simple_house Bigg success is life on your own terms. Today we’ll focus on money, one of the five elements of bigg success. There’s a tendency to define bigg success as having more money.

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But is it possible to have too much money?

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george I remember Donald Trump being asked about the difference between $70 million and $700 million. He said, “A bigger boat.”

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marylynn
Some people don’t need a bigger boat. Other people don’t need a boat at all!

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george That reminds me of something one of my mentors once said, “There are two good days in the life of a boat owner. The day you buy it and the day you sell it!”

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marylynn Toys are the fun side of money. It’s the side we usually think about. But more money also means more responsibilities – more legal issues, more accounting hassles, more management headaches even if it’s just managing your portfolio.

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A lot of people think you can just hire someone to do those things for you, but you have to be careful how much you delegate. No one will look out for your money like you will.

A simple choice

While our society often seems to equate bigg success with bigg money, it’s important to determine what you want. Bigg success is life on your own terms. Live the life that makes you the happiest.

For some people, there is such a thing as too much money. They choose a different path to bigg success.

We can reduce this to a simple choice:

adjust your lifestyle to your wealth or …

… accumulate enough wealth to support your lifestyle.

Now don’t think it’s a rags or riches mentality. You don’t have to live like a pauper if you choose to adjust your lifestyle.

Many people are perfectly content simply living simply, but comfortably. They have a nice house, drive nice cars, and take nice vacations. Of course, you get to define nice.

Simply pick your number

Let’s look at the difference between these two choices. First, let’s say you can live life on your own terms with an income of $100,000 a year. Financial planners tell us we can draw down our portfolio at the rate of 4% a year when we retire. So that means you would need $2.5 million of assets to support your lifestyle.

Now, what would it take if you wanted to live large? We hear a $250,000 a year income is now considered “rich” here in the States. So let’s use that as the magic number.

Then you would need a portfolio of $6.25 million.

Quite a difference, huh? You don’t have to stress about accumulating such a large portfolio if you adjust your lifestyle to your wealth.

Some people enjoy a higher quality of life by choosing to simply live simply yet comfortably.

They worry about money less because they have less money.

It’s life on your own terms. You pick the path that makes you the happiest. That’s bigg success!

What about you? Are you happy living simply or do you want to accumulate wealth?

Share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 888.455.BIGG (2444) or e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

Thanks so much for simply spending your time with us today!

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Please join us next time when we’ll talk about the one-minute layoff. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by ba1969)

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Live Like a King on Less

Written on July 13, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Play

ocean-view Most people’s portfolios have been hit hard. They’ve come back some but we’re still down. People who are close to retiring are the most worried. However, we all have to think about having enough money for retirement.

We have three options – invest more, risk more, or plan to live on less when we do retire. None of those sound particularly attractive, do they?

Unless you can live like a king or queen on less!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn share what they've learned about living in Panama on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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That’s why a recent article in Business Week caught our attention. It says that Panama is becoming a popular destination for retirees. It’s been going on for a few years now but really seems to be gaining momentum.

We hasten to say that, even if you’re not thinking about retiring soon or you wouldn’t even consider retiring outside your country, you still might consider putting Panama on your list of vacation destinations.

In addition to the Business Week article, we referred to PanamaInfo.com as a source for the information we’ll discuss today.

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george From everything I saw as we prepared for this show, I’d say a trip to Panama is in our future! I want to check it out.

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marylynn I’m on board, George. When are we leaving? Actually, let me rephrase that … I’m good with our weather this time of the year. I want to go there in the winter when it’s freezing cold here and 80 degrees there!

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Climate

It’s tropical and humid during the day most of the year in the highlands, which includes the capital of the country, Panama City. Temperatures range between eighty and ninety degrees Fahrenheit during the day.

The main tourist season corresponds with their dry season which runs from mid-December through May. In the rainy season, though, it rains for an hour or two about every day. That’s also when the hotels offer special rates.

Topography

Panama is an isthmus that connects Central America with South America. Hence the Panama Canal!

It has about 1,000 miles of coastline and 1,500 islands nearby. A mountain slices through the middle of the country. Panama also has five million acres of parks and more species of birds than the U.S. and Canada combined.

Cost of living

The main reason retirees are flocking to Panama is its low cost of living. The government encourages retirees to spend their golden years there. Seniors get discounts on just about everything.

For example, they save 50% on tickets to concerts, the theater and movies. A movie ticket normally costs $4 (dollars are the currency in Panama). Seniors pay $2.

They also get 25% off at restaurants, a 30% discount on most travel, except flights on which they save 25%. You name it and seniors likely get a discount, even on things like dentist and doctor visits.

Not that the price is high, relatively speaking, in the first place. The Business Week article points out that Panama has first-class health care at Third World prices.

Seniors even get a 50% discount on home closing costs. Once you buy your property, you have all the ownership rights any Panamanian would have.

And you don’t have to pay any property taxes for 20 years or pay any tax on your foreign income.

To give you some perspective on how inexpensive homes are there, the Business Week article mentions a couple who bought a 3,000 square foot oceanfront penthouse in 2007 for $250,000. At that time, it would have cost $3,000,000 to buy that same property in Miami.

Of course, it’s a lot cheaper in Miami now, but it’s still not close to $250,000. Speaking of Miami, Panama is only about a 2½ hour flight from Miami.

There’s a local joke that Panama is just like Miami. Except that it is safer. More people speak English. There are no hurricanes. And Americans are more popular!

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