Just a month after he retired from 60 Minutes, we were said to hear of the passing of Andy Rooney.

It’s a reminder of the way things used to be.

Work to live

Back in the day, people often retired from the workforce only to retire to the afterlife a short time later.

We’re all familiar with the phrase “shop ’til you drop.” In reality, a lot of people work until they drop.

BIGG success is life on your own terms. Work is one of the five elements of BIGG success. Just one.

Work is but one part of your life. Your life is a system.

So work to live. Don’t live to work.

The purpose of work

With that in mind, we hasten to add three notes about work:

Work adds value.
Work creates growth.
Growth leads to meaning.

So the problem comes when you define yourself by your work. Your work is a part of you, not the other way around.

Work is not the end. It is the beginning.

It is one of the ways you learn about yourself. Your work is the manifestation of who you really are, deep down inside.

So work is important because it helps you discover yourself.

Never retire

And that self-discovery never end. As long as you keep working.

So never retire!

Now this doesn’t mean you have to work 9 to 5 for the rest of your life.
You don’t have to be at the office Monday through Friday.
You don’t even have to trade time for money.

You can volunteer. You can go back to school. Or you can start your own business.

You can do anything. But the important thing is to do something.

So don’t plan to retire. Plan to move on to something bigger and better. Do it sooner rather than later. That’s BIGG success!

Image in this post from stock.xchng

A growing chorus is singing the song of the entrepreneurs. We think they’re out of tune.

Bankers have at least two ways to get their money back or they won’t loan you money. Venture capitalists have an expectation of how they will get out before they get in.

As an entrepreneur, you have a greater stake than anybody else in your business, no matter how much money they tie up in it. You need to know how you might exit even if you don’t plan to exit.

It’s about liquidity.

At some point in your life, cash may be a more valuable Asset than a business. With every other Asset, we invest cash thinking it will turn back into cash someday. Why should our businesses be any different?

It’s about legacy.

Exit planning is continuity insurance. You’ve put your heart and soul into your business. Do you want to risk that it falls apart if you’re not able to be there for one reason or another? Of course not.

Most importantly, it’s about options.

If you plan on an exit and run your business accordingly, you’ll have the ability to walk out completely or at least step away and create some distance. At some point in your life, you may find more enjoyment from activities that don’t involve building a business.

It doesn’t mean you ever have to retire. It doesn’t mean you ever have to sell out. It does mean you’ll be able to live your whole life on your own terms.

Do you need help planning your exit? Maybe we can help. E-mail us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leave a voice mail at 888.455.2444.

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You may have noticed that the market is up year-to-date. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we’re still off quite a bit from the top.

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The main market indicator, the S&P 500, hit its highest level in history on October 9, 2007. The good old day, we guess you could call that.

It hit its most recent low on March 9, 2009, off 57% (excluding dividends) from that high nearly one-and-a-half years earlier. Of course, now we’re up over 49% from that March low but we’re still off about 35% from the high if we factor out dividends.

The bottom line is that our portfolios have still taken quite a hit. It made us wonder …

Are there investments that don’t lose value?

It depends on your goal.

Your investment goal

Why do you invest? Obviously, you want more money. Why?

For some people, it’s the end. However, the end is pretty empty. For most of us, it’s a means to an end. Instead of financial returns, we really want emotional returns.

We want to be happier!

If that’s the case, research shows there may be a more direct path to happiness, assuming that basic needs — food, shelter and clothing – have been met.

Invest time in work you love

We tend to follow an indirect path to happiness. For example, many people strive to build a portfolio that allows them to retire when they want.

One direct path to happiness is to do the work you love. Bea Arthur, the late-great actress, said:

“Actors don’t retire. People who work in jobs they don’t like retire.”

Invest time to find the work you love. Invest time doing the work you love. It’s an investment with returns beyond your wildest dreams.

Invest time in relationships

Some people want more money so they can buy things. There is a more proven path to happiness.

Invest your time in relationships. Research shows this delivers higher returns on the happiness scale than having more money.

The direct path creates synergy

Bigg success is life on your own terms. The bigg idea behind bigg success is synergy. One place to search for synergy is between the five elements of bigg success.

Let’s look at two of the five elements of bigg success – money and work. You don’t need as much money to be happy if you’re doing work you love.

The funny thing, though, is that research shows that doing the work you love often leads to more money. If you put first things first, you end up better off all the way around. That’s synergy!

Now let’s look at money and play. Research shows that strong relationships lead to greater happiness than more possessions. You can save money by having friends.

It’s also interesting that, in our interconnected world, those relationships may very well lead to more money if you don’t force the issue. Put the relationship first and let the money follow.

Invest directly in happiness by investing time doing what you love with people you love. That’s bigg success!

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Thank you so much for checking in with us today. Please join us next time when we discuss mixing business with pleasure. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00456-081009.mp3

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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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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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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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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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Thanks for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we ask, “Can you have too much money?” Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00435-071309.mp3

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Financial freedom … can you imagine it? To use the lingo from our last couple of posts, it means freedom from money worries or, even better, freedom to choose how we spend and live.

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Financial freedom is just one piece

We’ve defined bigg success as life on your own terms. There are five elements of bigg success – money, time, growth, work and play. Bigg success comes faster when these five elements work in synergy; that’s part of the bigg idea behind bigg success.

So while financial freedom is a worthy goal, be sure you’re looking at it as part of the bigg picture. What does life on your own terms mean to you? Only you know the answer that’s best for you.

Framing financial freedom

You are the entrepreneur of your own life. As the entrepreneur, you need to understand the two basic financial statements: your Income Statement and Balance Sheet.

The Income Statement shows how much money you brought in the front door and how much money went out the back door. Financial freedom means more income and less costs.

The Balance Sheet shows how much you own (your Assets) and how much you owe (your Liabilities). Financial freedom means more Assets and less Liabilities.

6 ways to define financial freedom

• Debt free

There are variations of this. You may consider yourself free if you don’t carry a credit card balance forward from month to month. Other people want everything paid off except their house. For some, they want no debt period.

You focus on the Liabilities side of the Balance Sheet with this path. You want to minimize what you owe. Better yet, owe nothing.

• Low standard of living

Some people take this to an extreme, but they’re the only ones who have to be happy with it. This is a very simple, yet proven path. Focus on spending less so you’re free to spend the excess money however you want.

Obviously, this path focuses on the Expense side of your Income Statement. “Low” is a relative term; it means low relative to your Income.

• High salary

Conversely, you can focus on making a lot of money. Make a lot more than you spend and you’ll feel free financially.

We called it “salary” but it can be active income from any source – commissions, business ownership and the like. Obviously, we’re on the Income side of the Income Statement here.

• Cash in the bank

If you have an amount equal to three to twelve months of living expenses in the bank, you may feel a sense of financial freedom. It doesn’t have to literally be “in the bank.” For example, you may have the money invested in a money market mutual fund.

This is a Balance Sheet strategy focusing on Assets, specifically Cash and Cash Equivalents.

• Retirement nest egg

Here you get that sense of financial freedom by having enough money stored up to allow you to live comfortably, without working, for the rest of your life. Your focus is on building up the Asset side of your Balance Sheet. Unlike our third definition, this path is about building passive income from these Assets.

• Wealth-creation

For some people, financial freedom means being wealthy enough to buy anything they want. There are a lot of degrees here. “Everything you want” doesn’t have to mean a jet or a yacht, but it can if that’s what you really want!

This is a complex path. You’ll probably need to manage both sides of the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet. You may not try to minimize Liabilities; instead, you’ll focus on having Liabilities that have paid for Assets that make you money.

It’s important to define financial freedom so you can determine your goals. With your goals in mind, you can develop strategies to achieve them. That leads to bigg success!

What does financial freedom mean to you?

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

We’re so thankful that you took the time to read our post today!

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Please join us next time as we wrap up this series on freedom. We’ll talk about being a free agent. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00429-070209.mp3

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