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How Much You Keep, Not How Much You Earn

Rich people who die with money issues tells us that spending more than you earn is risky for individuals, and for entire countries

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The tragic death of Robin Williams in 2014, who took his own life while suffering from severe depression as well as facing money problems among other things, reminds us of a truism of personal finances: it doesn’t matter how much you make in any given year, or in the span of your career.

If you spend more than you make, and do it in a hurry, you can end up as bankrupt as anyone. This last year has been particularly tough for many people and so prudent finances are more important than ever before.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yesteryear, we often read about professional athletes or entertainers who annually earned multimillions of dollars, but then, a few years out of the sport, or out of the celebrity limelight, fell into financial ruin.

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How could someone raking in several million dollars a year, we thought, end up penniless? How foolish, how reckless, how wanton could people be with their money?

Today, at least among pro athletes, money managers ensure that said individual will have regular annual income for life. In pro contracts, clauses stipulate how much of an athlete’s earnings will actually be dispensed in any given year.

Hence, 15 to 20 years out of professional sports, an athlete who had been earning, say, $10 million a year will be assured of income for life as a result of effective money management. Celebrities who are wise enough to choose effective professional financial counsel are similarly aided.

Low Debt = Breathing Space

No matter how much you make, if you don’t effectively manage your money, it can all go to pot. Studies show that an inheritance, of any size, is dissipated on average within seven years. So, whether someone receives $5,000 or $500,000, on average, far too soon all that money is gone.

Being in debt is not conducive to having breathing space. In fact, it’s the antithesis. When you’re in debt, that reality has a way of dominating your day. When the next bill arrives, you think about your finances. When the next mortgage or rent  payment becomes due, the issue arises again.

Every time you write a check, or surrender your credit card to a vendor, or even take money out of your wallet, you are reminded of your tenuous financial condition.

When you’re in debt and seek to re-pay it, you tend to work longer and harder. You want to make extra money to pay down credit card balances. Living beyond your means, however exhilarating in the short run, is insidious in the long run, for people and for entire nations.

The constant drum beat in the back of your mind, “I’m not making it,” “I owe others,” and “What if people find out?’ can wear down an individual in ways that we don’t even fully understand.

Construct a Cash Flow

The fastest and easiest way to understand the state of your current as well as future personal finances is to construct a 12-month cash flow spreadsheet.

A well-constructed cash flow plots all of the incoming cash and revenue from all sources, and to the best of your ability projects all of the expenses you will be incurring. A 36-month cash flow is more ambitious and more revealing.

It’s too easy to get caught up in thinking, “I’m making a big bucks annually, and my goodness, what do I have to worry about?” The fate of rich people who die with money issues tells us that you have plenty to worry about if you spend more than you earn.

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Jeff Davidson is the world's only holder of the title "The Work-Life Balance Expert®" as awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is the premier thought leader on work-life balance, integration, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management. Visit www.BreathingSpace.com for more information on Jeff's keynote speeches and seminars, including: Managing the Pace with Grace® * Achieving Work-Life Balance™ * Managing Information and Communication Overload®



 
 
 

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Elections

Election Fraud is Massive and On-Going in America

Across the U.S., the magnitude of voter fraud that occurs year after year, election after election, is staggering.

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Jay DeLancey is founder and president of the North Carolina Voter Integrity Project, and has much to say about voting in America:

Our system begs for transparency at all points along the election process. Who can vote, who did vote, how did they vote, and what was the tally? Today, unfortunately voter fraud is real and of enormous magnitude, as we saw in 2020 and 2022. Nowhere is this more evident than with absentee ballots.

Who, in any voting precinct, literally visits the homes of voters who filed absentee ballots to ensure that they are out of town? Even among those who have a legitimate quest to vote by absentee ballot, who can assure that their vote is counted properly and tallied accurately?

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The absentee ballot initiative started as a viable effort to increase the ability of qualified citizens to vote, but has now become into a primary tool of manipulation. The more we can see, the fairer the elections are likely to be. The less we can see, the greater the likelihood that fraud will occur. Centralized absentee ballot collection is exactly the opposite of local voting in a precinct where there’s a chance that those with whom you register or vote alongside are your neighbors.

Ensuring the Rights of Qualified Voters

The local voting precinct is better positioned to spot perpetrators of voter fraud. Local poll workers on the scene are better able to assess if you are not the person you claim to be. They will tell you to leave, but by law that’s all they can do.

They can’t retain someone and hold them until authorities arrive, even in the case of blatant voter impersonation. Why? Because in the 1960s, to safeguard the voting capability of those who had been disenfranchised, laws were passed to reduce the incidence of intimidation, accusation, and retention.

Those times have long passed, and now we need ways of ensuring that qualified voters’ civil rights are upheld. Every time an unqualified voter is allowed to cast a vote, it demeans and diminishes the rights of all citizens. As such, voter fraud is the civil rights crisis of our time.

Fraud Occurs Year After Year

If you hear from anyone or from any group that voter fraud does not exist, or that it’s minimal and inconsequential, rest assured most of these proponents believe they are in the right. As long as you vote for their candidate, they’re content to ignore the magnitude, of voter fraud that actually occurs, year after year, election after election, across the U.S. They know they are ‘right,’ so why forsake their ironclad view that voter integrity groups are secretly voter suppression groups?

We’re always asked, how do you know that voter fraud exists? We have case histories, anecdotes, cross tabulated data, eyewitness testimony, and more. Voter fraud is real and rampant. Yet, we will routinely encounter some academic, usually from some law school, saying, “The science is settled on this. Voter fraud is a myth.”

Professors will proclaim from on high declaring that few people ever engage in voter fraud. Such professors are people of influence, they teach students, write papers, give lectures, attend symposiums, and spew authoritative misinformation. Cognizant or not, the damage that they do to society is ongoing and significant.

A Mortal Threat to Democracy

“The science was settled” in the early 1500s, that the sun rotated around the earth. Copernicus and other brave souls risked death to proclaim that earth was not the center of the universe as we knew it, or even our solar system.

We swim against the tide of what was launched in the 1960s but today has morphed into a mortal threat to democracy. The challenge we all face is to guarantee transparency in elections so that everyone can see the results and, more importantly, accept the results when their candidate does not win.

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Life

Creating a Little Heaven on Earth for Yourself

When you carve out few moments for yourself, the world is a different place

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What would your life be like if you had the ability to drop back when you wanted or needed to do so? To have time for true rest and relaxation? To have time for quiet reflection?

Despite the pace of change in society, the constant development of new technology, all the paper and information that confronts you on a daily basis, and everything that competes for your time and attention, you have the ever-present opportunity to remain resilient.

Carve It Out

When you carve out even a few moments of breathing space for yourself, the world is a different place; it does not seem so hectic. Often, things work out for the best. You have a sense of control almost independent of your environment.

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The feeling of being in control of your life, while acknowledging that you are only a small part in the overall scheme of things, enhances your experience of the world around and within you, every day.

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