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I was on the bus and bumped into a friend of mine who happened to be reading a disturbing article on how British Columbia is selling off many of it's rivers. I've kind of heard about it but for some time, but for some reason, it's not really at the forefront of the issues I should be thinking about, which will be changing, I think. In effect, they want to privatize our rivers – a valuable natural resource – and it turn, rent them back to us and future generations. Oh dear.

Whenever I read about the privatization of valuable resources, I usually get a little concerned. While I do feel that some services can be effectively privatized, at the end of the day, essential services and resources should be left alone. Why? I think with these resources, there is a greater purpose in mind. There are greater issues at play other than making money.

In terms of water and power, they are scarce resources and are crucial to our economy and have important strategic value. Many public entities in the past have taken on huge projects which on paper, didn't make any money, but in fact had important long-term strategic effects and provided important long-term benefits.

Some of these important benefits are:

• Ecological and environmental concerns.
• Servicing communities and groups that would otherwise be ignored.
• Creating a framework or infrastructure for the future economic benefit of all.

You have to wonder if a private corporation would do these things. Please note the highlighted words – long term.

Here are my concerns with regards to water:

• How much are we going to end up paying? It's our water and we should benefit.
• What if the water starts to run out – are we going to have priority? Will our prices start to go through the roof?
• What about the environment? Who's going to be monitoring the effects of any infrastructure projects? There seem to be quite a few of these in the works.
• What about the communities surrounding the rivers and streams? What will happen to them?

Clearly, it's a hot topic and there are people who are passionate on both sides. Here's the flip side to this water issue – apparently, there will be caps placed on these water licenses and streams will be still publicly owned. Ultimately, our ability to regulate our water resources won't be affected in any way. Hmm.

Here's is an analogy of why I'm concerned. I sold my condo back in 2004 for a decent price and then decided to rent 'for awhile'. Well, real estate prices skyrocketed since then – my condo actually doubled in value after I sold – and now rents in this city are going through the roof. Am I better off financially? Well, in the short run, back in 2004, I was better off, but clearly, in the long run, I am worse off now.

Will we be better off by giving away water licenses and buying back our own power? I'm not so sure if it makes sense to me but only time will.

Even though you may not live here in British Columbia, privatization seems to be happening everywhere. Cash-strapped governments are looking to private companies to save them money and hopefully, operate in a more 'efficient' manner.

RELATED POSTS

• Should Canada Sell Off Its Assets?

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Every year, on Dec. 31st, we tend to make New Year's resolutions with regards to every aspect of our lives, from relationships, to fitness and personal finance. Well, now that the tax season is over, I've decided to come up with a few tax resolutions for next year, that should make my life a bit easier.

INSTALLMENTS

As a self-employed contractor, I am supposed to make quarterly instalments so that once the tax deadline hits, I shouldn't owe anything. Well, this is great in theory, but I have to admit, I haven't been as good as I should. I've probably been spending the money, when I should be putting it aside. For next year, I will make all my tax instalments. This will also help lower or get rid of those nasty fines that I've been paying.

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT

I keep saying this every year, but I AM going to put more aside in my retirement account. This will give me a larger tax deduction which will lower my taxes payable. I think $500/month, would be a good figure to start with …

EARLY FILING

I think I'll make sure I do my taxes earlier next year. While I do a certain amount of tax planning and have a fairly good idea of my situation, getting the return done early is the best way to know for sure what I'll owe, if anything. It makes managing my cash flow easier and it lowers my stress a bit, knowing that it's finished. I can then focus on other things … like this blog!

RESEARCH

I think I need to do a bit more homework with respect to the types of deductions I can best utilize. I have a fairly good general idea of how to do taxes, but as we know taxes are complex and constantly changing. How will I do this? Well, my professional organization offers a tax update each year, which I should take. Also, the Canada Customs and Revenue Website (here in Canada) is a great resource for circulars and bulletins – they can explain how best to claim under certain situations or let you know what changes are coming in the future.

FRIENDS

Each year I do a few friends' taxes for free or for dinner or something like that. Well, my price is going up for these free tax returns! I want dinner at a NICE restaurant. No burger joints please. I'll also take a nice bottle of vodka or a few good bottles of wine, or all of the above. ;)

And finally, I stumbled on to the following link – 10 Things Your Tax Preparer Won't Tell You.

If you're thinking of hiring a tax preparer next year, it's an interesting article to read. Even I was a bit surprised by some of things I read.

Start thinking of your taxes now rather than waiting for next year!

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• Paying Someone to do Your Taxes
• Quicktax vs UFILE
• Owing Taxes and Dealing with the CRA
• Tax Planning
• 10 Tax Commandments

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My current contract is great and I feel lucky to have it, but in the past, I've had jobs that weren't so great … in fact, I dreaded going to work or worse, I even felt ill when I was there. The office was so stressful, it actually caused my body to react.Why?

Much of this reaction came from the stress of dealing with a boss. I think we can all related to a situation where a boss can make your life hell. They either micro-manage, manipulate or lie to get what they want out of you or they don't play very fairly. Such a boss can also make life difficult by being belligerent or just plain nasty. It all boils down to poor communication and management skills, which can lead to feelings of uncertainty with regards to expectations … and from there, it is a quick road to stress and misery.

It's not just the boss, though. It can also be the people you work with. I worked in investment real estate for a while about ten years ago and was surrounded by cut-throat sales people who didn't care how they got the sale. This made for a office full of backstabbing and lies, and again, wasn't much fun to come to in the morning. I've also worked in administrative offices where the people hated their jobs and made sure they let you know it. Not fun.

It's not just the job stress of the job and the people you work with, though. It can also be personal or life situations that can make it seem like work is the problem. Have you ever been broke or in serious debt? If your current job just isn't paying enough to cover your payments, a sense of hopelessness can set in. I know in my early years, when I had huge debt loads, it sometimes seemed pointless to go to work, since most of my paycheque went to debt payments. I tended to get angry at the job and the company and resented that I wasn't paid enough, when in fact, it was my own fault. It wasn't the company's job to pay my bills.

I've also been in situations where some of the people around me have been in their jobs for a long time. If you're being paid a lot of money, it's hard to leave the safety and security of a steady paycheque. But after twenty years, boredom can set in. I know I'd be pretty bored of the same job after so many years … but since the money is so good, the incentive to seek new challenges can be diminished. When you get this many frustrated, albeit well-paid, people sitting in one room, it's a recipe for disaster. They start to resent the company because they're bored, but they're too afraid to leave. This can quickly trickle into the day-to-day office life.

Toxic environments – there are so many reasons why they persist in the workforce today. Some of the fault is with the company but some of the responsibility could also fall on the people who work there.

Do you currently work in a toxic work environment? Ask yourself why? Is it your manager or boss, or the policies you're forced to live with? If that's the case, the best solution would be to get out as fast as possible.

But what about the other possibility? It's not the organization, it's you. You're either broke and hate that you can't make ends meet – it must be the company's fault, right? Or, maybe the challenge has left the job years ago and you're just counting the days.

If that's the case, it's up to you to make the appropriate changes – pay off your bills or retrain yourself for a better job.

Or, just take a chance and move on to something better, even if it means losing a bit of security.

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Have you every felt so tired and exhausted that you had a tough time even thinking about working or doing some of the things you love to do? Have you been working non-stop the past year without a break or have been so focussed on a goal, that you either ignore or don't notice the people around you? Are you afraid to stop because you think something bad will happen or you'll lose all the success you've worked so hard to gain? It could be that you are a candidate for burn out.

It seems we're all working so hard these days. For what? To pay the bills or prove that we can measure up? I'm not sure why, but we seem to be so goal-oriented and obsessed with accomplishing things … like that promotion at work or maybe getting a bigger house, or just paying off debt, that we're forgetting how to live. Now, there's nothing wrong with being achievement-oriented because I have a whole list of goals I want to achieve, too, but what happens when it becomes your life or when nothing else seems to matter?

And how do we know if we're even having a problem? There are many healthy people who work long hours and who are goal-oriented and aren't suffering from burn-out.

Here are some of the signs or phases (from the article I link to)

• Compulsion to prove yourself
• Working harder
• Neglecting your own needs
• Displacement of conflicts (increase in aggression/cynicism)
• You dismiss your friends or hobbies.
• Denial of emerging problems.
• Withdrawal.
• Behavioural changes become obvious to others (they can see it but you can't)
• Inner emptiness.
• Depression.
• Burnout syndrome.

Do you see any of these in you? It could be nothing … but it could also be a warning sign.

I know I've been blogging the past year and had a goal of doing at least five posts a week, regardless of what else I was doing. Well, I work full time, workout at the gym, do yoga and have a few other side ventures, so I am pretty busy. I've also been doing some taxes on the side to make extra cash this month. I've even somehow managed to go out and have a great time (and drink too much, actually)

But something happened last week – I just couldn't fathom doing a blog post. I crashed and hit the wall. I simply ran out of steam and didn't have the energy to do a post. So, I decided to take a week off and recharge my batteries. I was worried – what would happen to my blog? Would it just fail and crash? Would anyone come back?

Well, nothing really happened, actually. My traffic has pretty much stayed the same. Looks like the world didn't end after all. And the best thing? I feel refreshed and ready to start again. I could have written crap all week, but I think that would have caused more damage then just stepping away.

This is an important lesson (especially for you micro-managers!) Sometimes, you just need to let things alone and they will work out for themselves. You can't do everything – yes, mistakes will be made, but you have to realize that perfection is impossible. Taking a break is a good thing – if you have the right people and processes in place, you'll be the stronger for it.

Burnout can happen when we start to forget about the joy in what we're doing and become too focussed on the outcome.

There's something to be said for enjoying the journey.

(My posts are going to be a bit less frequent the next few months, but I'm not going anywhere, so please keep coming back!)

Also, one of my articles was featured in the Carnival of Finance at Mighty Bargain Hunter. Check it out along with the rest of the excellent articles)

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I was recently reading this article about a local slumlord and it brought back memories of a trip I took back in 1997 when I worked for an investment real estate company. My job was to inspect a property, decide what needed to be done to bring it up to speed and then sell it off to investors.  When I arrived, I was in for a bit of a surprise.

The place was a dump. I couldn't believe people really lived there. There was mud and dirt everywhere and the exterior was hideous. Inside wasn't much better – old appliances, dirty carpet and an odd smell pervaded the apartment units. I realized that this place was a bit of a slum. My heart sank.

What surprised me was I crunched the numbers beforehand and the property was earning a fairly healthy cash flow. This was one of the reasons we were looking at the place. So, naturally, before I had seen the building, I made certain assumptions about the way it looked – if it was earning money, it had to look fairly decent, right?  Well, after viewing the units, I realized then, that there was money to be made by having people live in less-than ideal conditions. I wouldn't call it squalor but I wouldn't live there.

After touring the individual apartments and the grounds, it was readily apparent that many repairs were needed, from new appliances, carpet and fresh paint, to possibly new siding and roofing – even the plumbing was a bit suspect. I decided that I would recommend repairs that would make the place inhabitable according to my standards … sounds reasonable?

Well, unfortunately, the projected rental cash flow to our perspective investors didn't quite match up with what I thought had to be done, so things were scaled back quite a bit. I have to admit, I left the company shortly before the project was completed and I never got to see how it turned out. I think the investors who bought made some good money – actually, I should have bought a unit, but for some reason, it didn't feel right. They were quite cheap and the rents were fairly healthy, thus theoretically earning a healthy cash flow each month. I think the tenants were fairly steady as there wasn't much choice in the lower end of the market even back then.

So here I am twelve years later and I still think about those units. Now, every time I drive by a run-down house or some crappy looking rental housing, I wonder – who owns them?

Well, I can tell you it's probably a smart investor or group of investors who are using an investment strategy – maximizing cash flow by minimizing expenses. They are also targeting a market that admittedly needs to be addressed – low income earners. Not everyone can afford to live in waterfront homes with a gorgeous view – that just isn't the way the world works. I'm not saying that everyone should live in luxury surroundings with marble countertops, but one would hope the basics would be provided.

Would I invest in a slum?

I don't think so. I'm not sure I'd feel good knowing that I was making money off people who were trapped and couldn't afford anything else. If I did invest in low-income housing, I would want to make sure that at least I would live there … that means no bugs, crime or anything like that.

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• Buying Real Estate Abroad, Part 2
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Just a short one today, folks. Just too busy with taxes right now.

Here is a brief list of great posts from the week:

Post-Claims Underwriting at Four Pillars – with this type of insurance – usually bought through a bank – the validity of a policy isn't confirmed until a claim is made. Scary.

How to Have No Debt at Brip Blap – a short primer on how to keep debt out of your life.

Make Extra Money as a Phone-Sex Operator at My Money Blog – what?

Talk Back to the Investing Experts at Blunt Money – Experts don't always get it right.

Here are a few Carnivals I'm in this week:

• Carnival of Personal Finance at MoneyNing
• Carnival of Money Hacks at Consumer Boomer
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights at Miss Thrifty

That's it for this week – I have to get back to work!

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There have sure been a lot of layoffs on the news these days with the economy going the way it is. Some people know they're being laid off and have plenty of warning – at the end, they'll receive a package which will hopefully last until they find a few job. Some people, though, get no warning at all and get fired on the spot.

But, is there nothing that can give us a hint? Surely, there are signs that you can spot in your workplace? Well, read on …

Here are a few warning signs you may want to look for:

1.) People avoid eye contact as you walk down the hall and there's a hushed silence when you enter a room. You just start to feel awkward and you can cut the tension with a knife.

2.) You stop getting broadcast emails that everyone else is getting … like that invite to the staff pizza lunch. Actually, I wasn't invited to the Christmas party last year and was a little concerned then found out they had a policy relating to contractors. Phfew!

3.) They forget to do your annual performance review. When you ask about it, they say, 'Oh, we'll get to it …' In some of the smaller companies I worked at, I actually rarely got performance reviews.

4.) You're security card stops working. This happens to me occasionally and causes a bit of concern. Thankfully, it does eventually work … must be a glitch. Actually, I once quit a job, and at the end of the day, my computer pass code just stopped working.

5.) You have an argument with your boss on a Friday and at the end he or she says 'we don't want you to go because we value your contribution. Don't worry'. On Monday, you're brought into a meeting and then fired. This actually happened to me. When someone says, don't worry, I immediately start to worry …

There's a saying I've often heard 'If you don't know who the patsy is … then you're the patsy.'

Always be aware and ready for the unexpected.

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• Can You Be Too Nice?
• 5 Corporate Survival Tips
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• How to Translate Employment Ads

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I was at the bus stop today and noticed the lady beside me recoil in fear (or was it disgust?) when I looked at her. I finally realized I was scowling because the bus was late and the line to get on was huge – it had nothing to do with her. It immediately reminded me once again of the importance of first impressions.

People will often judge you by the clothing you wear or the expressions on your face (demeanour) for the simple fact that they don't know you. Unfortunately, humans are lazy creatures and they frame the world through their own egos, needs and desires. That lady must have thought I was mad at her for some reason but in fact, I was just p*ssed off at the bus. In retrospect, I think it's kind of funny.

Actually, I'm now getting annoyed because I wish people would attempt to dig deeper and make more of an effort to not judge so quickly.

So, what lesson did I (once again) learn today?

With regards to first impression, remember the following:

• Watch your expression when you're walking around or at work – constantly remind yourself to smile. One thing that works for me, is to not clench my mouth shut – I always try to keep it slightly open, so that I'm not frowning (which is my natural state)
• Dress well if you're going to be around people and you're trying to network – I know this is a no-brainer, but they always say dress for the job you want. Successful people usually dress well, even if they're going to the store for eggs.
• You're telling people about yourself through the way you look and act.

Does it mean you have to be phony?

That's a tough call. I personally don't respond well to phony people and it has the opposite effect on me, but some people just eat it up. I often wonder, can't they see through it? But, I should learn from my own rule and realize it has nothing to do with me.

Why should I care if people like me?

It's actually not about that. Having a good first impression is just a life strategy on getting what you want. Yes, it is subtle manipulation to a certain degree, but you never know where your next opportunity will come from so be on alert.

My new twitter friend, @StAlison suggested I should 'snatch the lady's bag and teach her a NYC lesson about staring', but of course, once again, I would be making it about me and it's more about her. It would be funny, though.

So, tomorrow I will be wearing my perma-grin regardless of the bus schedule. At the back of mind, I will be thinking 'gotta make a good first impression'

Photo: J-Dub

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• How to Choose Your Friends
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• Communicating With Small Talk
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I have finally decided to get my estate in order and make a will. Why you ask? Well, first of all, I'm approaching 40 and my mortality is staring at me in the face. Secondly, it's not a good idea to be without one if you own any kind of assets. As a matter of fact, here in British Columbia, if you die without a will and you have more than $10,000 in assets, you'll lose control over many of the decisions in your estate which means extra costs and more time spent on the process for your loved ones.

I also wouldn't want lawyers or the government to take a bigger share then they have to.

So, here are a few of the things that I'm putting in my will:

• How my life insurance is to be divided up.
• Who gets my RRSP's.
• Who gets my savings.
• Who gets all my furniture, clothing and other assets (I imagine someone will want my 94 Tempo?)
• My burial arrangements.

To be fair, I'm not playing any favourites and will be dividing everything amongst my remaining siblings. I really don't get the point to cutting people out of a will … and telling them as much. Conversely, I don't believe in telling people that they're in the will. I've seen so many situations where the person who made the will holds it over any potential beneficiaries and tries to manipulate them into doing things.

A friend of mine, who is sadly no longer with us, had a grandmother (who is thankfully, no longer with us) who would wield the will like it was a weapon of sorts. She would dangle money in front of her relatives or would somehow threaten to cut them out if they displeased her somehow. Having said that, she did work hard for her money, and some of the kids were pretty thankless towards the end. I think I'd be a bit grumpy, too.

I think the biggest issue for me will be my burial arrangements or in my case, cremation. I'm going to make it so that the executor (whoever that may be) can quickly dip into my accounts and take out just enough money to pay for any burial costs. As we all know, funerals are very expensive and I wouldn't want my family to be out-of-pocket any expenses. I recently went through the process and had to pay all costs upfront myself – thankfully, I will get the money back.

A final thing to consider is – to use a lawyer or notary?

Another friend of mine, who is worth much more than I am used a notary and it seems to have worked so far … and I am in the will ;)  Granted, he is still alive, and we won't know if anything will be contested when the time comes. If you're dealing with a fairly complex situation you may want to consider a lawyer. Also, if you end up in court, you may have no choice but to use a lawyer.

There are also other issues – taxes, life insurance – but again, you should seek an advisor if you have any questions or aren't sure about your situation.

For me, my situation is fairly simply – for now – so I'll still be weighing my options, but I am leaning towards a notary.

But, I'm still fairly young and my situation may change over the next twenty years, so I'll also be updating the will as needed.

RELATED POSTS

• 5 Things Death has Taught Me
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This is a guest post from a colleague of mine, Shannon Chiarenza. It's a great post on how to properly use Twitter for the best results. Shannon also came up with the concept for my blog and the banner, which I think looks great. I wrote a post last week on Twitter … but this one is better and has changed the way I look at Twitter. Check it out!

5 Reasons Why People Won't Follow you on Twitter

Many people use Twitter as an online marketing tool for their business but fail miserably at it because they don't get that Twitters main purpose is to carry on a conversation.

Here are a few common mistakes:

Mistake #1 Talking to yourself

This is something I had to learn the hard way and it's the same for your website content and all other things you put on the internet; people don't care about you and what you have to say unless it relates to them.

The fix:

Do your tweets look like this?: "just baked cookies, ate 3 already yum!".

Our self indulgent ego assumes we are the center of the universe...but we aren't and no one cares that you just ate cookies. Here's how to fix that statement so everyone else benefits from your baking:

"Just baked cookies, ate 3 already, so delicious here's the recipe" AHA! Now we love you, and we will RT (retweet) that so we too can be the ones that shared a great recipe and then you become this valuable resource for all good things...see how that works?

Or do your tweets look like this:

"Just updated my blog..." "Just updated my website..." "Just wrote this post..."

"Want to learn how to think like a millionaire? Click this link which leads to my affiliate website that I'm trying to pass off as something I read and liked when really I'm tricking you" (kinda like what I just did with the cookie recipe)

Twitter is social media, think of it like attending a gathering of people, you wouldn't approach someone and talk about yourself immediately because you look like a jerk. People want know "what's in it for me, how are you going to benefit my life?" Keep that in mind whenever using social media, especially while promoting your business.

Mistake #2 Presenting Yourself as a Business and Not a Person

Why would I want to follow ABC moving company? Even if I was moving, why would I want your boring tweets scrolling through my twitter updates? Seriously, no one likes advertisements and that's all you're doing is advertising. There are very few exceptions like Starbucks, they're a huge company with many fans and can get away with it, but for everyone else, we want to talk to a real person not a logo.

The Fix:

Talk to people, get to know them, comment on their tweets, RT the ones you like. Use your expertise in your field to jump into a conversation and give some advice but don't use twitter as a billboard for your business.

Mistake #3 Going on a Following Spree

I get many different people following me from personal trainers promoting their protein powder to wrestling enthusiast and I know they're only following me to gain more followers for themselves...but I check their updates anyway to see if they are worth following. What makes them worth following is seeing they converse with others and are actively participating in the bigger conversation through Twitter.

The other thing I check for is the ratio from followers to following, if they're following 1,200 people but only 200 are following them I know they went on a following spree clicking on anyone and everyone hoping to beef up their twitter followers. I usually won't follow back unless they have interesting tweets.

The Fix:

Stop following people and start tweeting interesting things, start a conversation. I've had people follow me with an empty twitter page, why would I follow you if you literally have nothing to say? Let the followers come to you, it's not a popularity contest, it's the quality of your tweets that matter.

Mistake #4 No one likes a Negative Nancy

Whining, complaining or just tweeting about all the things that piss you off in this world really won't land you too many followers. The exception to that is if you're clever and witty about it and it's become your trademark. However most of the time it's a drag and it makes you look sour and can be very bad for your business.

The Fix:

Look for positive things to say, compliment others on Twitter, brag about someone else's achievements, point out something that makes you happy and share it with others for them to try. Avoid talking politics and religion unless that is what you tweet about, it's too easy for those tweets to spiral into a heated argument...and they almost always do.

Mistake #5 Too Narrow of a Niche

I've had people follow me who tweet about something I'm not at all interested in like golf. I don't golf and I personally find golf incredibly boring, no offence to those that love the sport, it's just not my thing. So if you follow me and all of your tweets are about golfing I'm not going to follow you back because I have no interest in the sport.

The Fix:

Talk about other things too, comment on other conversations, post a link to a funny video. It's ok if many of your tweets are about golf as long as you add other things that aren't related so someone like me can find something in your tweets I can relate to.

And just for an added bonus:

Big, BIG Mistake...Direct Message Abuse

When someone follows you, never send a direct message that says: "thanks for following, check out my secrets to online wealth at www.Icouldcarelessaboutyou.com". I've stopped following a few people for that. This is better: "thank you for following I look forward to your tweets!" It's a bit generic and I get that a lot but it's much better than blatant self promotion!...Like this: Follow Me on Twitter.

RELATED POSTS

How I Use Twitter

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Now that I'm approaching 40, I've been reflecting on my life over the past 15 years and all the lessons I've learned. One thing that has always intrigued me is our human nature to always look for something better. Have you noticed that no matter how happy we are in a job (or anything), it never seems to be enough and we keep looking for more?

I know I've been guilty of this. In my twenties, I'd be in a job and no matter how well it went, I couldn't help but think how I'd make more money or get better benefits somewhere else. I'd look around at my friends and it always looked like they were better paid or had a better position in a better company. So, a few times I did leave for what I though were better 'conditions', but at the end of the day, it was never the case, and actually, things were sometimes worse.

Here's the deal when it comes to moving jobs – you have to start at the bottom again. Your vacation starts at the lowest amount, as does your wage and standing within the company. You have to spend at least another 6 months getting used to the office and learning all the politics. It's actually a real pain. I've been doing contract work the past 4 years – by choice, as I wanted to travel – but I've been through this so many times, it's getting a bit tiring.

You have to wonder, would you be doing better if you'd just stayed where you are?

I know people who've been at companies for periods longer than twenty years and while they may not always have the highest wage, their benefits at at the top as is their vacation. Plus, they know their jobs really well and they have a certain standing within the company. If they get laid off, they'll get huge packages since they've been with the company for so long.

It's not just with jobs – this concept holds true for investing, as well. How well do people do that buy and sell their investments constantly … always chasing the hottest stock or the highest return? They're constantly trying to beat the market but it never really works out, does it? How many people actually beat the market when they'd be better off pursuing a buy-and-hold strategy?

This actually happened to me. I sold an equity mutual fund and thought I was buying something better. Unfortunately, my new investment tanked and looking back, I would have done better just by holding onto the equity fund.

I think both examples illustrate the power of sitting still.

More often than not, you'll do better in life by just staying where you are. I'm not saying you shouldn't aspire to be better or seek better opportunities in life, but it's important to carefully consider your options to make sure you'll actually be farther ahead.

Here are a few things to think about:

• The grass is NOT always greener on the other side.
• Comparing yourself to others is futile.
• It's really hard to beat the market.  Really hard.
• Find the good in what you already have.
• More isn't always better. Sometimes, having just enough is good enough.

As I head into my 40's, I can already feel myself slowing down. I think I will be sitting where I am for a while.

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Here are a few great posts to read on this Easter weekend:

10 Ways to Green Your Life from BeingFrugal – some great trips to make your life a little more environmentally friendly. Best tip – no more bottled water!

Warren Buffet = The Man at Budgets are Sexy – I really like Buffet and his outlook on life.

9 Ways to Save on Baby Costs at FreeFromBroke – babies are sure expensive … from diapers and formula, to toys and then expensive clothing when they hit their teens. Then, they start hating you …

Seven Life Insurance Mistakes You're Probably Making at FreeMoneyFinance – life insurance is very important but people still make these common mistakes.

The Subtle Power of Product Packaging at Get Rich Slowly – like it or not, how something is packaged affects our buying decisions, even though the underlying product is the same.

Money Can't Solve Poverty by KCLAU – this post is bang on when it comes to poverty. Quite often, throwing money at the problem doesn't fix the underlying issues.

Is Organic Food Worth It? at Million Dollar Journey – is it really worth it to go organic given that it can be up to twice as expensive?

Why I'm Glad I Didn't Kill Myself by Mrs. Micah – heart-wrenching story on one person's battle with depression.

How Much of an Emergency Fund Do We Need? at No Debt Plan – always be prepared for the financially unexpected.

The Secret Power of a Positive Attitude by MoneyNing – one of the most important tips, I think, when it comes to personal finance.

How to be a Millionaire: As Explained by a Fourth Grader by Prime Time Money -

CARNIVALS

Here are a few carnivals I'm in this past week:

• Carnival of Personal Finance at ABC's of Investing
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights at Wisebread
• Carnival of Money Hacks at Greener Pastures

Thanks and Happy Easter!

If you like this post, then subscribe for free email updates HERE or click on the bright orange logo on the TOP RIGHT section of my blog. You can also sign up for updates via RSS FEED. What is RSS?