"""In this day and age of specialization, W. Hodding Carter is an unashamed generalist. The man is curious about everything, and his books have taken him around the world. He’s followed in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, retraced Leif Ericsson’s journey to the New World in an authentic replica of a Viking merchant ship, and has written about the ecology of the Everglades, the history of plumbing, his quest for Olympic gold, and even how to build your own mackerel smoker with the same single-minded determination. These days, he’s finding adventure of a different kind—living within his means."""

"""In one sentence, StevenL spells out the problem that many have with converting to a fiscally responsible mindset. If you’re earning $80,000 a year, shouldn’t you be living an $80,000 lifestyle? The actual truth of the matter is that well-managed personal finance means that by living below your means now, you can live beyond your wildest dreams in the future. Perhaps an example will clearly illustrate this principle."""

One of my mini-goals in life is to have a closet full of awesomely cute shoes. Much to the dismay of my boyfriend, I'm getting mighty close!

Just the other day a friend of mine told me a story about paying off her car loan. She was in her office and was telling a coworker how excited she was to have just paid it off. Her coworker's response was enthusiastic but came with the immediate question, "So what car are you going to get now?" My friend was confused. She wasn't going to get a new car. She just paid off her current one and was happy to not have any more payments! Once I heard this story, it occured to me just how comfortable we americans have become with our debt and payments. It's typical to buy a new car immediately after paying off or often times before even paying off the current loan. It's unfortunate that we've become accustom to that because that kind of mentality can literally cost you millions of the course of your lifetime - and for what? Is it worth it to always have a new car that you won't care about in a few years anyway? Imagine if I could offer you an amount between $600k and 2.6 million dollars cash at the age of 62 if you could only buy cars under $12k until then. Would you do it? Here's how to make it a reality.

I'm currently in a situation that's about as opposite as you can get from traditional american culture. I left my big corporate job at IBM, left the condo life, left Chicago and am now travelling around, staying with friends and family most of the time. Technically I think I might be homeless and really I'm not even sure what state I'm supposed to be a resident of. This is something I never could have done years ago and only recently got comfortable with the idea of. Most of what I have left (which is not much) is in storage in a friend's basement. I loaded up my 1996 Civic with the rest of what I thought was really important, that is, the things I can not do without in life. Besides your basic clothes and toiletries, it turns out that the things most important to me right now are a bowling ball, ping pong paddles, a snowboard, an RC helicopter and my laptop.