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Arizona Lou kiteboarding in San Carlos, Mexico; 1.6 minute video with Christian Canese on the camera

Arizona Lou Kiteboarder


Smart Stuff


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What we tell you young people

People wonder how we can afford to go on four-month kiteboarding trips. In a nut shell, we economize, do some planning and did a few smart things when we were younger.

What we tell you young people (and almost every kiteboarder is younger than us) is:

  1. Without exception live on less than you make. That means absolutely no debt of any kind
  2. Do some planning and investing
  3. Retired life will be good to you, and so will life in general.

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Favorite talk show hosts

Surround yourself with good quality people who match your standards and goals. Listen to people who know more than you do. That is why our favorite radio talk show hosts are:

Bob Brinkers Basic Rules of Investing

  1. Pay yourself first - invest at least 10% what you make
  2. Work toward owning your own home - Don't borrow against it!
  3. Dervisy your investments to spread your risks
  4. Have a long-term mindset for your investments: 10, 15, 20 years
  5. Include inflation-protected securities (a recent development)
  6. Take advantage of no load, exchange-traded and index funds
  7. Eliminate emotion from your investing decisions
  8. Stay away from the sharks who will tell you anything to get your money
  9. Educate yourself with Bob's reccommended reading list

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Online Resources

Budget charts Budget help to get you organized - easy, mostly automatic, free and all three are highly recommended!
            Mint.com             Rudder.com             Thrive.com

  Symbol Excellent summary of reputable low-cost investment funds

  Symbol Vanguard Star Fund: Good balance of investments; $1000 minimum to open

  Symbol Schwab Total Stock Market Index Fund - $100 min. to open; VERY low expenses

  Symbol Fidelity Four-in-One Index Fund: Excellent balance of funds

  Symbol T. Rowe Price: Adjusting Allocation Fund: adjusts as you approach retirement

  Image of Calculator Graphical Investment Calculator, Monthly Contributions
  Image of Calculator Graphical Investment Calculator, Yearly Contributions
  Image of Calculator Basic Investment Calculator


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Sugested Ratios for a non-stressful life.


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Credit Reports: Your Credit Report is available for free once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies. The ONLY lagadimate source is annualcreditreport.com. Others will rip you off even when they say it is free. Your FICO is the only credit score that you should get. That is what the lenders use.


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Bargains to stretch your dollar further

Thrift Stores are fun to browse, awesome and an amazing way to save mucho mula.

Zenni Optical - Single vision prescription glasses under $10, including frames. I got all the coatings, photosensitive tents and progressive lenses at an amaazing price.


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Retiring

Collecting SS (Social Security)

In spite of what the Social Security Administration might tell you, unless you are in financial straits you do not want to start collecting SS early unless you intend to die young. If you wait until you're 70 instead of 62, your monthly SS check will be about 70% higher. It would take you about eight years to make up what you lost at the lower rate, between ages 62 and 70. The rest of your life it would be gravy, as they say.

We started taking our SS at about 62 at the recommendation of our SS advisor (big mistake). Now it would cost us about $80k to pay back what we have received so far in order to reapply for retirement at age 70 and get the higher rate. Since we do not have the 80 grand laying around, we'll probably just stick tight and spend the rest of our life kiteboarding and with the puny SS payments. Hind sight is always 20/20! (The above information was current as of 2010)


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Miscellaneous

Arizona Lou's Pie Theory applies to almost every area of business. Instead of spending our energy fighting over our share of the pie, we could be working together to increase the size of the pie. As the pie grows each will get more pie. In the case of kiteboarding shops, we need to get word to people who have not yet heard of the sport.

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