Beating Broke

The Millionaire Fastlane

February 22, 2012 By Shane Ede 13 Comments

By: MJ Demarco

If there was ever a case for a little less “hype-y” title for a book, this is it. I’m not sure what else I would have named it, but the title just seems like a whole bunch of get-rich-quick hype, and it kept me from reading the book sooner than I did. Which turned out to be a bit of a downer, since it’s really a good book. Demarco spends about half of the book describing his ideas on the different types of life travelers. There’s the “sidewalkers”, the “slowlaners”, and then, the “fastlaners”. Each describes a way of thinking about how we travel through our life, financially.

The “sidewalkers” are the people who subscribe to a 9-5 work life and save as much as they can in hopes that they can one day retire on a decent budget. The “slowlaners” are those that have started to break away from the 9-5 lifestyle and have some side income coming in, but they just don’t (or won’t) make the jump and get into the fast lane. The “fastlaners” are those who have made the jump to business ownership, entrepreneurship, and are making their money on their own terms.

The second half of the book is dedicated to the “fastlaners”. Demarco talks about the dynamics of earning money and how the way you make and spend your money is so important to becoming a “fastlaner”.

As someone who regularly writes about frugality, saving, and making the most of what money you do make, I have to admit that I was a bit off-put by the first half of the book. There is a large contingent of the world that will work most of their lives, save for retirement, and then enjoy the rewards of having done so. His arguement, of course, is that we shouldn’t have to work our lives away until we’re 60+ years old only to have our body break down on us and not be able to enjoy our hard-earned money in retirement. Instead, he talks about becoming a “fastlaner”, and creating your own wealth so that you have control over your life and your income.

On the flip side, as someone who recently quit my job, and am trying to make a go of it as an entrepreneur, I really felt that I connected with many of the “fastlaner” ideas. Going to college, getting a job, and working until you’ve got enough to retire on does seem like a long, fruitless pursuit. Going solo and building something worth a great deal of money that enables you to retire early and live life the way you want to sounds a lot less long and more fruitful. I think he makes a great point that many won’t be willing to make that jump and will, instead, settle for the “slowlane” lifestyle.

If you’ve ever given though to starting your own business, or are just unhappy with your job, I think this is an excellent book to read. It’s inspirational in that it really gives a good idea of what is really possible. Demarco comes across as someone who really is trying to help people out of the “slowlane” and into a “fastlane” mindset. I think some will struggle with the concept, and surely, with the ingrained mindset that we’ve all been taught growing up, but seeing that, and beginning to break away from it are excellent steps. Steps that will be helped by reading this book.

3 Big Steps to Fight Off Rising Produce Costs this Summer

February 20, 2012 By MelissaB 10 Comments

My family has been increasingly consuming organic produce because we are trying to eliminate all food additives, preservatives and pesticides from our diet. If you are trying to feed your family the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, you may be spending more than you would like on produce, regardless if you buy organic or not. Just for my family of 5, meeting the USDA dietary recommendations means feeding us 25 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, or 175 servings a week! Here are steps you can take now to save money this summer on fresh produce:

Grow a garden. If you have the space, consider growing your own garden. You will have an abundance of fresh, organic produce growing in your back yard, and food doesn’t get any fresher than that. Eliminate the chemicals and the long transportation time that your produce often endures to get to the grocery store shelves.

If you live in the city or don’t have room to grow a garden, consider getting a plot at a community garden. Community gardens are designated locations that usually have 15 to 40 plots available for members of the community to garden. You use a plot and plant what you would like. You just have to agree to maintain your plot and water it at least once a week. There is often a small fee. The community garden I plan to use this summer charges $20, but that money is refunded at the end of the season if you have tended your garden throughout the season.

Subscribe to a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Many CSAs offer organic produce and deliver it to a location near you every week. Programs often let you choose between a 1/2 bushel and a bushel of produce weekly or every other week and typically run for 18 to 22 weeks.

In return, you must pay for your share upfront, usually before May. In larger cities CSAs fill up quickly, so you may want to begin looking for a CSA in your area this month or next month. You also usually are not given much say in the produce you receive, so being open to trying new vegetables is necessary.

Freeze Your Excess. If you have grown your own garden or have a share of a CSA, you may find yourself with an abundance of fresh produce during the summer months. Rather than letting it go to waste, consider preserving some of it. True, you could can some of it, but I have done that before, and it was a miserable time. (This is just my experience; you may enjoy canning.) Instead, take advantage of your freezer. Shred the excess zucchini and put it in the freezer in small bags. Puree excess squash to sneak into baked goods during the winter. Make Jamie Oliver’s pasta sauce and freeze it for future spaghetti or pasta meals.

With careful planning during the rest of the winter months, you will be able to not only enjoy fresh produce during the summer and slash your grocery bill, but you will be able to save some of that produce for the fall and winter months, effectively lowering your grocery bill for produce all year long.

photo credit: Martin Cathrae

Are Electric Cars Worse for the Planet?

February 15, 2012 By Shane Ede 23 Comments

Not content to upset the recyclers in the community (See: Is Recycling Bullshit), I’m moving on to electric cars today. Rob at Say Anything Blog had an interesting post the other day citing a report from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville that talks about how electric cars might be worse for the environment than their gas guzzling counterparts.

To summarize the report, electric cars seem to be more hazardous to the environment because a majority of the electricity that they consume is created in fossil fuel burning electric plants. Rob points out that the study was done in China where a very large proportion of electricity is produced by coal powered plants, and that a smaller proportion is produced that way in the Unites States, but that the proportion still isn’t small enough to negate the negative effects of the increased pollution from production.

I think this is another case where the technology just isn’t advanced enough to support the new initiatives. Cleaner electricity production would, obviously, help the situation, but many of the clean energy production methods just aren’t mature enough to support themselves, let alone a growing fleet of electric cars.

Combine that information with the added expenses in maintenance of an electric car, and they begin to look downright unattractive. Not to mention that they have yet to create an electric car that is capable of reproducing the power that is needed for them to become mainstream in smaller cities and rural areas.

What do you think? Are electric cars an already dying breed? Should we continue to support them in hopes that electricity production technology catches up eventually?

photo credit: kevin dooley