The primary concept discussed in the travel hacking world has to do with maximizing frequent flyer miles and other “points” you earn when obtaining and using particular credit cards. Dedicated travel hackers have more credit cards than they need, and they obtain them in order to get the introductory bonus miles and additional points for hitting certain usage levels.

Miles/points aren’t just used to get free or cheap airfare, but can also be used for free or discounted cruises, hotels, rental cars, tours, and other travel items.

All of these programs are well and good, unless you’re credit challenged. Even though my credit score is finally emerging from the scourge of my bankruptcy, I still have a long ways to go before I can qualify for most of the offers that the travel hacking world relies on.

So where does that leave the frequent traveler that happens to be credit challenged?

Since I’m basically a permanent traveler at this point (I have not had a fixed, year-round home for several years), I’ve learned as much as I can about saving money while traveling, without having access to all the awesome credit card bonus mile deals and other perks that are out there.

Here are the basics for stretching your travel dollars.

Airfare

Your flight is typically the most expensive part of getting somewhere. You may have heard in the past that traveling slower means traveling cheaper, but that simply isn’t the case in all situations. In North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan, I’ve found that flying is often far cheaper than taking trains or buses within the same country.

How I find cheap flights:

1. Do a flexible date search on SkyScanner.com, Kayak.com, and the Kayak iPhone/iPad app.
2. Check the boxes to do comparison searches on other sites (CheapOAir, Travelocity, etc). They’ll pop up in separate windows.
3. Strangely, the Kayak iOS app returns more complicated route searches, and appears to search airlines not on the web site.
4. For complex, overseas, multi-city trips, also check AirTreks.com.
5. For domestic/short flights in a region, check local budget carriers directly, as they often don’t show up in major site searches. Examples:
• United States: Frontier, Southwest
• Europe: RyanAir, AirBaltic
• Japan: Peach
• Southeast Asia: Tiger
6. If the fare difference between the cheapest flight (which I usually just find via SkyScanner.com) and your preferred carrier (the one you’re accumulating miles with) isn’t that much, book directly with your favorite carrier. For me, this means less than $20 or so domestically and $100 or so for a long haul transoceanic flight, at which point I’ll just fly Frontier or United, since I’m kind of “locked in” to their mileage programs since I used to fly out of Denver all the time (Frontier and United are Denver-based).

For U.S. domestic flights, I will end up on Frontier, even if it’s a few dollars more, just so I can get my miles towards future free flights. Same with United, unless I find a far cheaper flight on SkyScanner, which is becoming more and more common.

Bear in mind that flights in the middle of the week are usually cheaper than weekend flights, and that booking at least 14 days in advance is usually required to get the best deal.

As an example, I just booked a flight from New Orleans to New York City yesterday, and I ended up paying nearly double what I would have paid if I had booked it last week when I was first looking. I should have booked it last week — it’s literally the same flight number I first looked it, but I basically forgot, and it cost me. I also paid a slight premium (15% or so) for taking a Sunday flight instead of a Monday flight.

Rental Cars

Because they are ALWAYS so much cheaper, I’ve reached the point where the only place I check for rental cars anymore is Hotwire.com. It’s not uncommon for them to give me a better rate for an Enterprise car (my preferred car company) than I get by booking directly with Enterprise. Hotwire will give you a popup to compare rates with CarRentals.com, which I probably end up using half the time.

I’m not picky about rental cars, and tend to just get the cheapest thing I can. I like Enterprise because they have a nice $9.95 per day deal on the weekends, and have good full week rates, too. I also have a good history with them and get their frequent renter deals with points I accrue through them.

I’ll also briefly mention car share programs. These are awesome, both domestically and internationally. I belong to two car share programs, and will probably join more.

Hertz On Demand (now called Hertz 24/7), for example, allows me to pay $6 to $8 per hour for a car in many cities across the U.S., when I need one for just short errands. My electronic access card for the cars, however, also works in France, Spain, Germany, and several other European countries (at higher hourly rates, due to higher fuel cost). The rates include all insurance and gas up to a certain limit.

Lodging

If I’m not camping, which I do less and less as I get older, then my first preference is to stay in a hostel, even domestically. Hostels are rare in America, but more exist than you might think. I’ve even stayed at hostels in places like Boulder, CO and Salt Lake City, UT.

Since I’m a member, I start with Hosteling International (hihostels.com) to see if they have a member hostel where I’m going. I also like HostelBookers.com and Hostels.com, since they don’t have booking fees. HostelWorld.com has more properties, including B&B’s, but has booking fees and usually higher rates listed for the same properties.

If you’re really adventurous, try CouchSurfing.com, and literally crash on a stranger’s couch in their home. I’ve done it, and it’s a fun way to meet new people, but it can challenge your comfort level.

In the United States, I basically live in motels. I’ll generally check Hotels.com and Hotwire.com, looking for the best rate. Both these sites are generally cheaper than what I find on Kayak, Priceline, Expedia, and Travelocity, so I basically quit looking elsewhere.

I’m a big fan of the “Hotwire Hot Rate”, where they sell last minute unsold rooms, but don’t tell you exactly which hotel it is until you book. I’ve always ended up somewhere acceptable by doing this.

Hotels.com has a decent rewards program, where you book 10 nights and then get 1 free somewhere. It’s available at limited hotels, but enough that I use it.

If you travel to the same places a lot, you’ll obviously find favorite spots. Check travel blogs for other people’s favorites, also. For example, in Sapporo, Japan, there’s only one hostel to consider staying at: Jimmyz Backpackers. In Maui, I was referred to Banana Bungalow in Wailuku by several travel writers, and my stay there was quite epic.

If you’re going to be staying in a place for an extended period of time (several months), it may be cheaper to rent a furnished flat (apartment). Look on Google to find short-term apartment rental agencies in foreign cities. In the US, check Craigslist. AirBnB.com is growing popular for this, too, but I’ve yet to use it.

Conclusion

Sticking with certain companies, and using their rewards programs, can help overcome what is lost by not getting the credit card bonus deals. As I discover new tips/tricks, I’ll update this blog post to list them.

Every place has it’s own unique draw. People, events, history, language, culture, adventure.

More powerful than any other factor, however, is simply the need to go. There’s something about me that’s wired differently than most people. I like to think that it’s the same short circuit that drove men like Columbus, Cook, Shackleton, and others. It’s the need to go somewhere simply because it’s there.

Georgia falls into that category, but it’s also so much more.

Georgia has really only been on my radar for a couple months. And in that time, my desire to go has grown from just a pit stop on an around the world trip, to wanting to move there, for at least a year. The more I learned about this amazing country, the more I yearned to go for rational reasons, not just a yearning to travel.

A former Soviet republic, sandwiched between Russia and Turkey, Georgia is one of the most unique places on Earth, in many ways.

The weather is perfect. From a standard Mediterranean climate along the black sea, season snowfall up in the Caucasus Mountains, and basically nice weather all year. Perfect sailing weather every day? Kind of hard to beat that.

In Bat’umi, a coastal town just north of the Turkish border, a brand new year-round indoor ice rink was recently built. Even better, it’s immediately adjacent to the public marina.

Georgia also has an incredibly fascinating history. It’s location has made it a critical connecting point for trade and transit from Europe to Asia. This location also makes it a vitally strategic military location, especially with it’s access to the Black Sea and the Med.

Georgia is also a religious crossroad. It was one of the earliest regions to be converted to Orthodox Christianity, and is literally THE transition point geographically between the predominantly Muslim and Christian parts of the modern world.

Then there are the Georgian people. I have yet to read a single blog post or news article in any way talking negatively about the Georgians as a populace. Many consider them to be the most hospitable group of people on the planet.

Georgia makes sense economically. With a cost of living about 1/10th of the United States, it’s only slightly more expensive to live than Thailand, but with far better weather (I severely dislike heat and humidity). Foreigners from a number of industrialized nations are given visa-free entry for up to a year at a time. That includes starting businesses, working a regular job, buying property… All with no visa necessary. I’m sure this is to encourage private investment in the country, and thousands are doing so, and I plan to join them.

Let’s talk language. Georgian is one of the oldest continuously spoken and written languages on the planet, and it unlike any other language still spoken. It has no resemblance to Russian or Arabic, as might be expected. The script shown here, which is still used today, dates to the 13th century, and is an evolved version of an earlier script from the 5th century. The spoken language became distinct roughly 1000 BC. Yes, we’re talking about a distinct spoken language, still in use, that is nearly 3,000 years old.

An incredible history, proud culture, fascinating language, abundant economic opportunity, perfect sailing weather, low cost of living, beautiful scenery, stable government, developing infrastructure, stable non-euro currency, well funded banking system, 360-day visa free entry, beautiful women…I could go on and on. What is there not to love about such a place?

It’s odd for me to me to still be this excited about a destination after two months. That tells me my logical reasons for going are in sync with my natural, inner Wanderer reason for wanting to go.

I have no delusions of finding eternal love and happiness in Georgia. And perhaps I’ll only be there for six months, I have no idea. But by all measures, it’s a place worth checking out, for numerous reasons. If I discover when I get there that it truly is all that it’s cracked up to be, I’m going to be hard pressed to not just stay and call it home.

If you have similar objectives in your life and career, then you’ve probably read various books and blogs that address the subject. The vast majority of the advice out there about becoming a globe trotting expat will tell you to do one of the following:

1. Start a local business where you can be an absentee owner.
2. Create an automated online business.
3. Move your professional services business into a virtual environment.

If you’ve followed my story at all, you’ll know that I went with #3, then started creating #2, which is largely automated now and requires only a few hours each business day for me to manage, which is fine by me.

There is one thing that all the books and blogs miss, however. And in reality, it’s the one thing that provides the EASIEST method for living the dream of being abroad, yet still making your money from your home country, which is usually the objective for many people. As the saying goes, “earn dollars or euros, spend baht or pesos”. It’s called currency arbitrage.

For many of us, the real dream is to either be filthy rich and not have to work at all, or to have a business that is so heavily automated that is just prints money for us and we only have to work a couple hours per week. This idea, popularized in pop culture by Tim Ferriss and his book, The Four Hour Workweek, is fairly grandiose, and beyond the reach of most of us mere mortals.

However, living abroad, in someplace awesome, and still working is a fairly achievable dream. Over 4 million Americans live and work abroad, and hundreds of thousands do so working online part-time. I’ve reached a point where I can actually do that, and have made the trips overseas to test it, and it works.

But what if you don’t have passive income sources set up yet? What if you lack the tech skills to run something online? Is there another option?

Well, yes there is. There is one incredibly overlooked profession that lends itself very, very well to the expat/permanent traveler lifestyle. It requires working full time, 40 hours per week, and staying in one spot during the work week, if not weeks or months on end. For an American, Canadien, Australian, or anybody else from a country that has 90-day visa-free tourist stay privileges in many countries, this is a great way to use that 3 months, and just bounce from country to country.

What’s this magic profession that I’m talking about? Sales.

Yep, good ol’ fashioned professional selling. Selling what? Doesn’t really matter. Anything that is traditionally sold for commission, over the phone, and has either a high transaction value (to earn large commissions) or a high repeat order frequency (to generate repeat commissions).

Professional salespeople (and sales support staff) that work entirely by telephone exist in numerous industries. While some products are traditionally sold face to face (such as cars), there are numerous products that are not necessarily sold face to face (such as manufacturer’s OEM parts that go into those cars). I’m not going to try making an exhaustive list of products and services that can be sold over the phone, but here are just a few random examples:

• Insurance
• Investments
• Consulting
• Computer systems
• Advertising
• Web design, programming, and SEO
• Graphic design
• Communications services (telephone, cable, internet)
• Print & mail services
• Industrial equipment and services
• Commodities (oil, grain, metals, etc).
• Accounting, tax, bookkeeping services
• Network marketing programs (lotions, potions, & pills!)

I’m sure there are a billion more. The point is that if your job is to cold call all day, make appointments for face to face salespeople, answer pre- or post-sales questions for customers, close sales yourself over the phone and by email…then there is absolutely no reason for your job to be constrained at one location.

Even if you work for another company full time, if your job is literally to sit at the same desk all day and never leave it, doing sales related activities of any sort, then there is no reason you can’t do the same job sitting in a chair at a desk 10,000 miles away. Technology: It loves you, so love it.

Negotiating a remote work arrangement with your employer may sound hard, but it’s actually not. Simply come up with an excuse to work from home one day a week, then after a while make it two days, then five. Your boss can put somebody else in your desk, saving money on having to rent more office space or buy new furniture when expanding. Once you’re working from home, you can just take off, with or without anybody knowing. If you work from home in the U.S., try running off to Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver Canada for a week and work from a hotel room.

With powerful laptops, good quality VOIP phones, and high speed internet pretty much everywhere, if you have a phone-based sales or sales support type job, you can literally work from anywhere. If your income is derived from closing sales over the phone, or you’re a professional services provider where most of your clients are people you never meet face to face, you can do this, too.

By many measures of modern society, I have been a failure for most of my life. In fact, for the things that are actually of most importance to me personally, such as family, I consider myself a horrible failure.

The interesting thing about that, however, is that the vast majority of successful people throughout history have been dismal failures, too. They have been failures before, after, and during the successes for which they are most known.

Dan Kennedy, the “millionaire maker” marketing guru that has generated billions of dollars in sales for his clients, and a guru that I follow closely, has been divorced three times, bankrupt one, and at one point had a serious drinking problem.

Personal self-help guru Tony Robbins has been divorced, had a child out of wedlock, and other personal problems.

One of my best friends and a person that I look up to in a myriad of ways has been dealing with financial difficulties the past couple years.

A highly successful international ladies singles skater that I know has basically had her skating career fall to pieces in the past year. She’s arguably one of the top couple dozen technically skilled ladies figure skaters in the history of the sport, but has taken a lot of heat from the skating community in the past year for some personal decisions, and is most likely on her last year as a competitive skater (much to the detriment of her country’s chances for a medal in Sochi, in my opinion).

In my tax world, famous examples include legendary singer Willie Nelson, who paid the IRS millions of dollars in back taxes in the early 90′s, and actor Wesley Snipes, who is currently halfway through a 3-year prison term on Federal tax evasion convictions.

I’m sure that if I took the time to do so, I could come up with dozens of examples of famous people that are highly successful in one arena, but dismal and embarrassing failures in other areas of their lives. I don’t watch TV and don’t track celebrity gossip, but what I do occasionally see indicates that the rich and famous are awash in failure.

The reality is that there is no success without taking risks, and taking risks implies a high degree of potential for failure. All of us have finite time and resources, and more often than not there is an opportunity cost to doing one thing instead of another. For example, my recent decision to take up sailing terminates my competitive shooting career (although it was effectively already over).

I have operated a number of businesses in my life — I am the shining definition of a serial entrepreneur. Some of those businesses have temporarily paid the rent, but most of them were failures. My most successful business ever is the one I’m currently in, and my goals for that business are even far greater than where things currently are. Expanding the company means taking on additional risk.

Wherever there are goals and dreams, wherever there is money or love to be made or lost, there is potential for failure. Failure is a very real danger in just about everything we do. Some endeavors, such as a manned mission to Mars or the capture of a violent psychopath, have a multitude of risks that could all lead to death. Failure in other areas can lead to physical problems, financial hardship, or simply mental anguish.

But despite all the failure that we experience, we go into new things knowing that failure is an option, and do so anyway. When the potential rewards are great, the risk of failure is worth it. Asking the pretty girl to dance comes with the risk of rejection, but it can also lead to happiness.

The beautiful thing about failure is that it gives us feedback. As a species, we are capable of learning and improving from our failures, which over time leads to greater successes. When one rocket blows up, we learn from that failure, and make sure the next one is better.

Failure is not optional, it’s inevitable. What we do with our failures is what defines our character. Used strategically, failure breeds success. No matter how many times you fall, you can get back up, and eventually you’ll land that Axel, sail the Pacific, finish writing your epic novel, learn Spanish, own a home free and clear, have a loving marriage, or whatever milestone you’re aiming for.

True failure only occurs when you make the conscious decision to not get up anymore. So, GTF off your ass and get to it.

Without a doubt, the United States is the most heavily armed nation in the world, with an estimated 45% of American homes possessing at least one firearm. An estimated 270 million firearms are privately owned by American citizens. Private firearm ownership as an individual right is unique to the United States, and is guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment to US Constitution.

While many anti-gun lobbyists have attempted to convince the masses that the 2nd amendment applies only to military use of firearms, even a most rudimentary reading of the letters, debate minutes, and other writings created during the drafting of the Constitution and Bill of Rights clearly indicates that the 2nd amendment was intended to permit armed citizens to revolt against any government tyranny.

While today this is an uncomfortable thing for most citizens to consider, the historical record is quite clear that this was the purpose for the inclusion of this particular amendment. The Anti-Federalists insisted on it’s inclusion in the Bill of Rights as a counter to their concession of the inclusion of the provision for a standing Army in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. This individual right to firearm ownership has, for the most part, been interpreted as intended by the Founding Fathers since it was right, with only occasional and glaring exceptions. One of these exceptions, the Washington, D.C. handgun ban, lead to the Supreme Court decision in 2008 in the District of Columbia v. Heller case. The text of the decision is worth reading for a historical review of the crafting of the amendment. In this decision, the Supreme Court upheld that the right to keep and bear arms, including handguns for personal protection, is an individual right.

Almost all gun control arguments in the United States center around the issue of reducing crime. Despite the fact that violent crime rate in the U.S. has been on a steady decline since 1980, according to the Department of Justice, the United States still has a fairly high overall violent crime rate among developed nations.

Some gun control advocates claim that the United States has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, but statistical evidence clearly demonstrates otherwise. Most of Central and South America, Africa, and much of Eastern Europe have homicide rates that are substantial multiples higher than the United States. It should be noted that almost all of these countries with incredibly high murder rates all have very restrictive gun control laws, demonstrating that gun restrictions in and of themselves do not keep crime in check.

Studies conducted to compare pre- and post-gun control crime rates are difficult to do. In every study I’ve ever seen trying to create a correlation between crime reduction and gun control, there is no direct correlation that gun control was responsible for crime reduction. Professor Gary Kleck, from Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, conducted what he referred as an “elaborate before-and-after study” of Baltimore and Washington crime rates following the Washington, D.C. handgun ban that was at issue in the Heller decision. He claims that Baltimore is a good parallel city to examine Washington by, due to their similar makeup and proximity. “The law itself had no effect one way or the other,” Professor Kleck said (info from this New York Times article).

In reality, gun control laws in the United States have no effect on crime. According to the Department of Justice, gun crime in the United States did, in fact, go down overall during the most recent Assault Weapons Ban (1994-2004), which banned many semi-automatic rifles and limited magazines to 10 rounds. However, the DoJ openly admits that the ban itself had no impact on casualty rates in attacks (you just have to reload more frequently), nor was there any significant reduction in crimes in which a banned weapon was used. Violent crime went down during this period simply because crime rates overall were going down.

The above referenced NY Times article also points out another interesting fact: In Europe, countries with fewer guns per capita actually have higher murder rates than countries with lower numbers of firearms per capita. This data table from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol. 30, No. 2 shows the relevant figures:

While each country obviously has it’s own unique culture and history, modern Western Europe is much more similar culturally than most similar-sized regions of the world. This data shows no clear correlation between murder rates and gun ownership by the citizenry, but does demonstrate that some countries with lower gun ownership do have higher murder rates.

According to the FBI, the drop in the U.S. crime rate actually accelerated following the expiration of the assault weapons ban in 2004. Following the expiration of the ban, gun sales in America skyrocketed, starting in 2005, according to BATFE statistics (based on NICS background checks, which have increased by double digit percentages year over year since 2006). If more guns in civilian hands actually meant that crime rates go up, we should be in the middle of a massive crime wave. However, FBI data clearly indicates that the rate of decrease in U.S. violent crime has been accelerating since the end of 2006. In 2011 alone, violent crime across America dropped by 4%. The FBI counts all murders, forcible rapes, assaults, and robberies in this total. This data does NOT prove a correlation between more guns = less crime, but it DOES prove that more guns does not equal more crime.

There are very few modern examples to examine in order to try and correlate crime rate with gun control, due to the fact that most nations with tight restrictions on firearm ownership have had such restrictions for 50 to 300 years. What is known, however, is that even in cuontries with very strict gun laws, criminals still possess firearms.

In China, for example, there are an estimated 40 million firearms in private ownership, despite the fact that civilian arms ownership is punishable by a minimum of two years in prison, and is actually punishable by death at the choice of the government. It is also estimated that at least 10 million unregistered weapons roam the streets of India, despite a 1958 ban. Mexico is an interesting example, because it’s Constitution provides for the right to keep arms, but other laws make it all but illegal to possess a weapon at all. Due to this, the black market for weapons is rampant in Mexico, and gun ownership is actually quite common amongst regular households (not just drug lords).

In the search for statistical examples of the effect of gun control following massive restriction in private arms ownership, there is really only one modern example: Australia.

As a country with wide open range, a history as a British penal colony, and a fight to quarantine or kill the native people, Australia adopted a gun culture that was probably more similar to America’s than just about any other place on Earth, despite occasional and varying gun restrictions throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In general, however, firearm ownership was much more common, and legally easier, than in most other world countries except the U.S.

This all changed on April 28, 1996, when Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded 23 in Port Arthur, Tasmania. This is still one of the deadliest one-man mass murders in recorded human history. Following the attacks, the Australian government consolidated numerous state laws and created the 1996 National Agreement on Firearms. This effectively ended mass civilian ownership of firearms in Australia, and expressly prohibited somebody from obtaining a firearm license for the stated purpose of self-defense.

Almost overnight, semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns evaporated from civilian homes. The laws were confiscatory in nature, and a nationwide gun buyback program resulted in the meltdown of over 630,000 firearms.

Now let’s look at crime rates before and after this sweeping legislation. If you want to skip straight to the conclusion, there has been no appreciable drop in violent crime in Australia as a result of gun control. Australia has always had fairly low crime levels in comparison to other countries. Overall violent crimes rates have not changed in Australia in many decades, and the rate of firearms use in these crimes started decreasing in the early 1980′s. Between 1991 and 2001, firearms related deaths dropped by 47% in Australia. Note that this time period includes the Port Arthur shootings, and the gun ban took place halfway through this period. In other words, causation cannot be declared because of gun control — the trend did not accelerate after 1996.

Between 1997 and 2003, over 80% of all firearms confiscated by law enforcement officials in Australia were never properly imported and registered into the country. In other words, because of gun control laws, criminals simply smuggled weapons into the country, which is relatively simple given the massive coastline to bring boats in and expansive open areas with no people in which to land aircraft undetected.

Since 51% of all U.S. firearm deaths are actually suicides, it’s worth looking at such statistics following the gun buyback in Australia. In 1997 and 1998, immediately following the gun buyback and gun control implementation, firearm suicides did, in fact, drop by 10%. However, suicide rates by all other methods increased by 20%,resulting in a net 10% increase in suicide rates for those two years. Extensive public suicide prevention efforts in Australia since 1999 have been successful in reducing the suicide rate each year since.

In 2005, the head of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Don Weatherburn, noted that the level of legal gun ownership in New South Wales increased in recent years, and that the 1996 legislation had had little to no effect on violence within his state. Weatherburn stated, “The fact is that the introduction of those laws did not result in any acceleration of the [already existing] downward trend in gun homicide. They may have reduced the risk of mass shootings but we cannot be sure because no one has done the rigorous statistical work required to verify this possibility. It is always unpleasant to acknowledge facts that are inconsistent with your own point of view. But I thought that was what distinguished science from popular prejudice.”

Numerous studies across the Australian continent attempted to demonstrate that violent crime had gone down because of the gun control laws, but these results were never demonstrated. Because of this, the British Journal of Criminology decided to conduct an exhaustive review of all available statistical data spanning the period from 1996-2006, and published what is currently considered the most scientific analysis of Australian crime statistics to compare pre and post ban. The full paper can be purchased here.

The paper concludes that the only measurable impact on firearms use may have been the suicide numbers cited above, and that the observed drop in homicide rates in the ten years following the ban and gun buyback were identical to the predicted homicide drop calculated by extending the existing decline that started in the early 1980′s. The study postulates that, based on available data, people who choose to legally acquire a firearm are not pre-disposed towards homicide. This data is backed up by studies in the United States, several of which are cited in the BJC paper. The study also concluded that legally acquired firearms are involved in less than 3% of firearms-related crimes in Australia. This 3% includes firearms that are stolen from their rightful owners.

Current Australian crime data is also interesting to consider. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 2/3 of Australian murders in 2010 used a weapon (e.g., 1/3 of murders were committed WITHOUT a weapon — chew on that one). In murders where a weapon was used, one third used a knife, and only 17% used a firearm. Interestingly, 98% of sexual assaults, 89% of abductions, and a whopping 61% of robberies did NOT involve a weapon at all in 2010.

What about the general crime trend, not just involving firearms?

According to Australia’s Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Australia’s murder rate declined 31.9% between 1995 and 2007 (America’s declined by 31.7% in the same time frame), a trend which we’ve already discussed. But what about other violent crimes? Unfortunately, not so rosy. Also between 1995 and 2007, rape increased 29.9%, assault increased 49.2%, and robbery increased 6.2%. From 1995 to 2007, Australia’s overall violent crime rate increased 42.2% on a per capita basis. At the same time, U.S. violent crime dropped by 31.8%.

As already mentioned, Australia provides the only real laboratory for evaluating the modern impact of gun control and confiscation on crime rates. Statistical evidence shows that, despite the elimination of 630,000 semi-automatic weapons from Australian homes and extensive gun control laws nationwide, no correlation can be found between the ban and the drop in the murder rate, as the murder rate was already going down, and continues to do so. At the same, other violent crime in Australia has increased substantially since the weapons ban, obviously indicating that the ban had no effect on preventing violent crime. Lastly, over 80% of gun-related crimes involve a weapon that was brought into Australia illegally (smuggled).

In conclusion:

1). There is no statistical proof that gun control reduces crime anywhere in the world. In fact, some studies conclude that gun control laws are followed by crime increases (causality not correlated).

2). Criminals, by definition, don’t respect the law, and therefore acquire firearms illegally as they need them for their other illegal activities.

3). Firearms are mechanically simple devices, and no law will prevent somebody from setting up a desktop CNC mill, lathe, and 3-D printer (total equipment cost: about $5,000) in his basement to manufacture semi-automatic weapons and high capacity magazines.

4). In the United States only, this discussion is completely moot anyway, as our Constitution guarantees the individual the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of armed revolt against a Federal government turned tyrannical, and this individual right has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, to include handguns for self-defence purposes.

5). The data is old, and no recent studies have updated the figures, but even with statistically-adjusted estimates of old FBI data from 1980-1995, civilian firearms stop/prevent approximately 100,000 crimes each year in the U.S., simply by the presence of the weapon. That’s home invaders scared off by a gun-toting resident protecting her family, CCW holders pulling their weapon when confronted, etc.

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Additional Information

1. Very well written article (by a leftist, FYI), explaining precisely why the 1994-2004 Assault Weapons Ban was a waste of legislation, and why mass murders such as Columbine, VA Tech, and Sandy Hook, while tragic, aren’t worth reacting to the way that people do: Why Not Renew The Assault Weapons Ban? Well, I’ll Tell You…

2. Wikipedia entry, list of countries by firearm related death rate. Compare this to the per capita gun ownership rate by country, and it’s quite obvious that there is no statistical correlation between rates of private gun ownership and rates of gun deaths.

3. Homicide rate by country, also good for comparison and demonstrating that gun ownership and homicide are globally decoupled.

4. The table by country of gun violence is fascinating, because it shows both the firearm and non-firearm home rates per capita, and indicates whether *any* level of firearm ownership is considered a right in that country. The data clearly indicates no correlation between the right of gun ownership and homicide rates. There are plenty of countries with extensive gun control laws that have extensive gun crime problems, as well as countries with a lot of guns that have low murder rates.

5. The above referenced Wikipedia entry also states that 60% of global homicides come from gunfire. However, if you read the U.N. report that is the source of that statistic, it is readily apparent that the countries and regions of the world where the vast majority of homicides occur (Southern Africa, Central America, South America) would have their massive murder problem regardless of whether or not firearms even existed, due to other cultural and societal issues at play in those regions. Due to poverty, strife, and cultural factors, the vast majority of people murdered in these countries would still be dead even if guns did not exist. Recorded human history going back over 6,000 years clearly demonstrates this behavior, using whatever weapons are most common at the time.

SUGGESTED STUDENT PREPARATION

The following workouts are designed for two categories of people:
Category I are those future BUD/S students that have never or have
not recently been on a routine PT program. Category II is designed
for high school and college athletes that have had a routine PT
program. Usually athletes in sports that require a high level of
cardiovascular activity are in Category II. Swimming, running, and
wrestling are good examples of such sports.

WORKOUT FOR CATEGORY I

RUNNING: The majority of the physical activities you will be
required to perform during your six months of training at BUD/S will
involve running. The intense amount of running can lead to overstress
injuries of the lower extremities in trainees who arrive not
physically prepared to handle the activities. Swimming, bicycling,
and lifting weights will prepare you for some of the activities at
BUD/S, but ONLY running can prepare your lower extremities for the
majority of the activities. You should also run in boots to prepare
your legs for the everyday running in boots at BUD/S.

The goal of the category I student is to work up to 16 miles per
week of running. After you have achieved that goal, then and only
then should you continue on to the category II goal of 30 miles per
week. Let me remind you that category I is a nine week buildup
program. Follow the workout as best you can and you will be amazed at
the progress you will make.

RUNNING SCHEDULE I

 

WEEKS #1, 2:      2 miles/day, 8:30 pace, MWF                (6 miles/week)

WEEK #3:          No running. High risk of stress fractures.

WEEK #4:          3 miles/day, MWF                           (9 miles/week)

WEEKS #5, 6:      2/3/4/2 miles, M/T/R/F                     (11 miles/week)

WEEKS #7, 8:      3/4/5/2 miles, M/T/R/F                     (16 miles/week)

WEEK #9:          same as weeks 7 & 8                        (16 miles/week)

Physical Training Schedule I

(Mon/Wed/Fri)

 

              SETS OF REPETITIONS

WEEK 1:          4 X 15 PUSHUPS

                 4 X 20 SITUPS

                 3 X 3 PULLUPS

 

WEEK 2:          5 X 20 PUSHUPS

                 5 X 20 SITUPS

                 3 x 3 PULLUPS

 

WEEK 3, 4:       5 X 25 PUSHUPS

                 5 x 25 SITUPS

                 3 x 4 PULLUPS

WEEK 5, 6:       6 X 25 PUSHUPS

                 6 X 25 SITUPS

                 2 X 8 PULLUPS

 

WEEK 7, 8:       6 X 30 PUSHUPS

                 6 X 30 SITUPS

                 2 X 10 PULLUPS

 

WEEK #9:         6 X 30 PUSHUPS

                 6 X 30 SITUPS

                 3 X 10 PULLUPS

* Note: For best results, alternate exercises. Do a set of
pushups, then a set of situps, followed by a set of pullups,
immediately with no rest.

Swimming Schedule I

(sidestroke with no fins 4-5 days per week)

WEEKS #1, 2:    Swim continuously for 15 min.

WEEKS #3, 4:    Swim continuously for 20 min.

WEEKS #5, 6:    Swim continuously for 25 min.

WEEKS #7, 8:    Swim continuously for 30 min.

WEEK  #9:       Swim continuously for 35 min.

* Note: If you have no access to a pool, ride a bicycle for twice
as long as you would swim. If you do have access to a pool, swim
every day available. Four to five days a week and 200 meters in one
session is your initial workup goal. Also, you want to develop your
sidestroke on both the left and the right side. Try to swim 50 meters
in one minute or less.

Workout For Category II

Category II is a more intense workout designed for those who have
been involved with a routine PT schedule or those who have completed
the requirements of category I. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WORKOUT
SCHEDULE UNLESS YOU CAN COMPLETE THE WEEK #9 LEVEL OF CATEGORY I
WORKOUTS.

Running Schedule II

 

                    (M/T/R/F/S)           TOTAL

WEEKS #1, 2:        (3/5/4/5/2) miles     19 miles/week

WEEKS #3, 4:        (4/5/6/4/3) miles     22 miles/week

WEEK  #5:           (5/5/6/4/4) miles     24 miles/week

WEEK #6:            (5/6/6/6/4) miles     27 miles/week

WEEK #7:            (6/6/6/6/6) miles     30 miles/week

*Note: For weeks #8-9 and beyond, it is not necessary to increase
the distance of the runs; work on the speed of your 6-mile runs and
try to get them down to 7:30 per mile or lower. If you wish to
increase the distance of your runs, do it gradually: no more than one
mile per day increase for every week beyond week #9.

PT Schedule II

(M/W/F)

 

WEEKS 1, 2:          6 x 30 PUSHUPS

                     6 x 35 SITUPS

                     3 x 10 PULLUPS

                     3 x 20 DIPS

 

WEEKS 3, 4:          10 x 20 PUSHUPS

                     10 x 25 SITUPS

                     4 x 10 PULLUPS

                     10 x 15 DIPS

 

WEEKS    5:          15 x 20 PUSHUPS

                     15 x 25 SITUPS

                     4 x 12 PULLUPS

                     15 x 15 DIPS

 

WEEKS    6:          20 x 20 PUSHUPS

                     20 x 25 SITUPS

                     5 x 12 PULLUPS

                     20 x 15 DIPS

These workouts are designed for long-distance muscle endurance.
Muscle fatigue will gradually take a longer and longer time to
develop doing high repetition workouts. For best results, alternate
exercises each set, in order to rest that muscle group for a short
time. The above exercises can get a bit boring after awhile. Here are
some more workouts you can use to break up the monotony.

PYRAMID WORKOUTS

You can do this with any exercise. The object is to slowly build
up to a goal, then build back down to the beginning of the workout.
For instance, pullups, situps, pushups, and dips can be alternated as
in the above workouts, but this time choose a number to be your goal
and build up to that number. Each number counts as a set. Work your
way up and down the pyramid. For example, say your goal is R5″,

               # OF REPETITIONS

PULLUPS:       1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1

PUSHUPS:       2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2	(2x #pullups)

SITUPS:        3,6,9,2,15,12,9,6,3	(3x #pullups)

DIPS:          same as pushups.

Swimming Workouts II

(4-5 days/week)

 

WEEKS #1, 2:     Swim continuously for 35 min.

WEEKS #3, 4:     Swim continuously for 45 min. with fins.

WEEK #5:         Swim continuously for 60 min. with fins.

WEER #6:         Swim continuously for 75 min. with fins.

*Note: At first, to reduce initial stress on your foot muscles
when starting with fins, alternate swimming 1000 meters with fins and
1000 meters without them. Your goal should be to swim 50 meters in 45
seconds or less.

Stretch PT

Since Mon/Wed/Fri are devoted to PT, it is wise to devote at least
20 minutes on Tue/Thu/Sat to stretching. You should always stretch
for at least 15 minutes before any workout; however, just stretching
the previously worked muscles will make you more flexible and less
likely to get injured. A good way to start stretching is to start at
the top and go to the bottom. Stretch to tightness, not to pain; hold
for 10-15 seconds. DO NOT BOUNCE. Stretch every muscle in your body
from the neck to the calves, concentrating on your thighs hamstrings,
chest, back, and shoulders.

Nutrition

Proper nutrition is extremely important now and especially when
you arrive at BUD/S. You must make sure you receive the necessary
nutrients to obtain maximum performance output during exercise and to
promote muscle/tissue growth and repair. The proper diet provides all
the nutrients for the body’s needs and supplies energy for exercise.
It also promotes growth and repair of tissue and regulates the body
processes. The best source of energy for the BUD/S student is
carbohydrates. The best source of complex carbohydrates are potatoes,
pasta, rice; fruits, and vegetables. These types of foods are your
best sources of energy.

Carbohydrates, protein, and fat are the three energy nutrients.
All three can provide energy, but carbohydrate is the preferred
source of energy for physical activity. It takes at least 20 hours
after exhaustive exercis to completely restore muscle energy,
provided 600 grams of carbohydrates are consumed per day. During
successive days of heavy training, like you will experience at BUD/S,
energy stores prior to each training session become progressively
lower. This is a situation in which a high carbohydrate diet can help
maintain your energy.

The majority of carbohydrates should come from complex
carbohydrate foods that include bread, crackers, cereal, beans, peas,
starchy vegetables, and other whole grain or enriched grain products.
Fruits are also loaded with carbohydrates. During training, more than
four servings of these food groups should be consumed daily.

Water is the most important nutrient you can put in your body. You
should be consuming up to four quarts of water daily. It is very easy
to become dehydrated at BUD/S; so it is extremely important to
hydrate yourself. Drink water before you get thirsty!!! Substances
such as alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco increase your body’s need for
water, So, if you are going to drink, do so in moderation! Too much
of these substances will definitely harm your body and hinder your
performance. Supplemental intake of vitamins, as well, has not been
proven to be beneficial. If you are eating a well balanced diet,
there is no need to take vitamins.

TRAINING TABLE CONCEPT

NUTRIENT               INTAKE

 

Carbohydrates          50-70% of calories

Protein                10-15% of calories

Fats                   20-30% of calories

An emergency Western Union transfer, trip to the US Embassy in Bern, and an overpriced flight from Zurich, got me back to the U.S. Since Japan doesn’t grant entry permission on a passport valid for less than 6 months, and an emergency replacement passport is only valid for 4 months, I was forced to cut this trip short and come back to the States.

This experience has taught me several valuable lessons about a number of different topics, so I’ll just list them all out here.

1. There are still genuinely good people left in the world. People that will go out of their way to help another human being. I was starting to lose hope, but that hope has been restored by the Chappuis family.
2. Even if you think you’re in an incredibly safe place, watch your stuff. Carabiner your bag to the luggage rack if you’re going to use it, and keep your credit cards, phone, and ID physically on you, just in case.
3. My dream of working from Internet cafes is probably bunk. With my iPhone 4S stolen, I tried working from the public pay Internet stations which are common in Switzerland. Unfortunately, they are limited to web access only, and the machines were slow and used outdated browsers. I kept wishing I had my own laptop with me.
4. I thought I had taken a minimal amount of stuff, but having everything stolen made me realize that I need even LESS. I spent an entire week without a bag, a change of clothes, or anything else. I have a whole new travel packing philosophy as a result.
5. Nothing is irreplaceable. The stuff we consider vital is all completely replaceable. Clothing, passports, credits cards, sanity, all are replaceable. Lacking your stuff is merely an inconvenience in the vast majority of situations.
6. Meeting new people, having fun, and exploring cultures and languages are what matter most when you travel abroad, and you can still do this regardless of the circumstances.

First of all, let’s do a quick tech rundown. The following are the services that I consider essential for being able to cloud surf:

1. VirtualPostMail.com or EarthClassMail.com for converting postal mail into digital format
2. RingCentral.com, Nextiva.com, or HelloFax.com, as the IRS will not communicate by email, but willingly fax stuff
3. Web-based email service
4. Cloud storage service – I use DropBox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Apple iCloud, and Google Drive all to some extent
5. Google Docs, plus a web-based PDF editor (there are several, just search for one)
6. Google Voice and Skype, for voice communications.
7. Click2Mail.com, the web platform contractor for the US Postal Service, allows me to send outgoing correspondence and direct mail marketing.

My current incarnation of cloud surfing bypasses possession of a laptop — I’m not taking this machine with me in two days when I leave for Europe. Theoretically I will only ever need a computer during tax season, as my tax software only runs on a full machine. Many people are discovering that an iPad or other tablet works well for them, others not. Personally, I’m opting for just using the iPhone 4S (it’s basically a tablet, in my mind) over wi-fi and Internet cafes when I need to.

So what about the time management stuff? Here are some of the things I’ve already started doing and will continue to do as I travel:

• Cater to a more specific clientele in both my tax practice and my marketing and practice management consulting business. I no longer accept any or all cases that come my way, and I have structured my client intake flow to better fit my lifestyle design objectives (require client financials before starting work, retainer paid before filing Power of Attorney, etc.).
• I no longer accept live calls. All calls go straight to voicemail, no matter who it’s from. I simply can’t take phone calls from clients, prospects, even IRS agents while I’m out hiking the Alps.
• Batch process everything. One or two days per week, make all phone calls I need to make, and do it within a set time block. Do all my IRS paperwork for the entire week in one sitting. Do all my blog writing in one sitting (and keep in mind, I write for 5 blogs each week and write two paid newsletters).
• Use webinars as a key prospecting tool.
• Have a strict “no fires” policy. Most business owners spend most of their time putting out “fires”, rather than working on their business. The reality is that, in business, there is no such thing as an emergency. Unless something is on fire or somebody is getting shot or mauled, it’s not an emergency. In my situation, even a bank account levy by the IRS is NOT an emergency — it can wait a few days to address (the money doesn’t go anywhere for 3 weeks).

My properly utilizing technology tools, batching tasks, and ensuring that everybody that works with you does so on your terms and by your schedule, you can successfully cloud surf and still keep your business intact.

Quick example: On my ship, we once had a guy remove a monitoring instrument from a pipe as part of routine maintenance. These instruments were swapped out every couple months for maintenance and calibration. Apparently in a hurry to get his work done and go home, he simply pulled the instrument out, replaced it, and took the old one out down to our division office to drop off for somebody to pick up to take to the calibration lab. He didn’t bother properly bagging the instrument, just carried it by hand down to the office.

Normally, not a big deal. Except this instrument was dripping wet with radioactively contaminated water. To quote one of my skating coaches, this would be “no bueno”.

Routine radiation monitoring of the ship the next day revealed a path of radiological contamination from the pipe system in engineering, straight to our division office. There was, of course, an incident report. Then an investigation. Then several people lying about certain aspects of it. Then a Captain’s Mast (Article 15 non-court martial proceeding) and some punishment handed down.

If the individual in question had exercised integrity from the get go, it never would have happened. If he had exercised integrity after his initial mistakes were uncovered, he would have gotten a slap on the wrist. Instead, his career was essentially destroyed.

In short, what happened here was a failure of his integrity.

What does this have to do with Personal Prosperity? Pretty simple, actually: Customer service has gone down the toilet. When a business, a co-worker, and many times even our friends, actually KEEP a promise to do something, we’re now in awe that they did it. It’s such a rare thing for people to actually follow through on the things they say they will do.

One of the biggest “aha” moments for me lately has been the realization that I don’t need to have the big, grandiose plans that I think I needed to. Recently, James officially gave me “permission” to not think so big. Why was this important to me, and why was it holding me back? Because I felt like I have to strive for huge achievements, but the stress of not being able to follow through on everything was holding me back, and locking me into “analysis paralysis”. In short, I was violating my own integrity by thinking big, because there was simply no way that I would actually follow through on everything.

In the tax resolution industry, failures of integrity are the number one complaint. Sales people outright lie to prospective clients, practitioners fail to maintain open lines of communication with their clients (I’ve been guilty of this myself in the past!). When I work with a client and don’t maintain proper communication, I can feel the frustration coming from my client, and I’m quickly reminded that this one thing (which has always been a challenge for me, no matter what I do) is probably the biggest key to my success in my profession.

The old saying of “underpromise, overdeliver” is just as true today as it was 100 years ago. With everybody these days automatically suspicious of big businesses and any conversation about getting ahead or creating an “unfair advantage” for yourself, it’s important to be able to follow through on what you promise.

When I look at Jame’s business, he has an obligation to clients. James has a business model that is different from any other real estate agent you will ever meet: He charges his a client’s a $2,000 up front retainer in order to work with him. This is credited against commissions at closing when that client buys a house, but by accepting that up front retainer, James takes on a huge commitment to his clients, all of whom are real estate investors. James has to deliver on his promise represented by that $2,000 retainer: To find investment opportunities suitable to that investors buying criteria. It is entirely a matter of integrity for him to deliver on this promise. In order to do so, James has built an incredibly complex system of property analysis, created numerous checklists to keep him on track towards his customer’s objectives every day, and works a well defined system to ensure he can deliver on that promise.

I came across this article in Fast Company about the concept of overpromise, underdelivering that exists in our world today, and it contains several examples that are worth reading: Under-Promise. Over-Deliver. And Your Brand’s Fans Will Talk.

How does this apply to your Personal Prosperity Plan™? Your personalized plan contains numerous promises to yourself and your family. If your plan contains a business element, which it most likely does, then you are creating promises to customers. In order to succeed in your Plan, you must have integrity. There is an awful lot of follow through you’re going to need to do, and integrity is required along every step of the path.

Who is Dan Kennedy? And what exactly is a wealth magnet? Well, Dan Kennedy is the “millionaire maker”. He’s one of the single greatest contributing minds to the field of modern marketing that is still alive. He’s written probably two dozen books I’d imagine, has spoken on thousands of stages, and is the man-behind-the-man in numerous fields. If you come from outside the marketing world, you may have never heard of him, but within the marketing world, he’s basically treated like an idol. He is the marketing genius behind the success of many TV infomercial products, the most commonly famous of which is probably Proactiv acne treatments.

Dan Kennedy defines a “wealth magnet” as a habit or personality trait that helps a person to naturally attract opportunities to them. Described in full detail in his excellent book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy, available on Amazon, Kennedy discusses 28 different traits that, when combined, make a person a nearly unstoppable force for success, no matter what their chosen endeavor (not just business — the principles apply in athletics, spirituality, the non-profit world, politics, etc.).

I highly suggest reading the book, and making a personal study of it yourself. Ben Franklin had a list of 13 traits he wished to embody, and spent 1 week working on each of them in turn, and repeated the 13 week cycle for most of his life. Kennedy’s 28 traits would make for a 6 month cycle at one week each, and is probably worthwhile. However, it also fits nicely into a monthly cycle, and my mentor James Orr and I have discussed doing this several times, and repeating the cycle monthly as an exercise.

The past few days, I have been privately communicating some thoughts to James about the wealth magnet that corresponds to the day of the month, but he agreed that these would make great blog posts, so for the next 30 days, they will.

Each day, I will briefly explain my own viewpoints on the Kennedy Wealth Magnet, and how it applies to the overall concept of Personal Prosperity (I’m not going to replicate Kennedy’s thoughts — seriously, buy the book, it’s worth the $11). Then, I will briefly discuss how it applies to my life right now, and also how it applies to James’ real estate business. In all reality, these latter segments are really to better myself and for James to see my perspective on his business. While the particulars of how it applies to my business or James’ business may not be of immediate interest to you, the reader, hopefully seeing a day to day application of the principles to real businesses will help you see how you can readily apply the concepts to YOUR life, your business, your goals, your Personal Prosperity Plan™.

I hope you enjoy reading these over the course of the next month, and that doing so contributes to your own Personal Prosperity.

Personally, I consider bankruptcy to be one of the single most intelligent financial decisions I’ve ever made.

Yes, I’ve been through bankruptcy, and I’m happy I did it.

In the summer of 2007, I was flat broke. I was unable to pay my bills, including the mortgage. This was the beginning of the real estate bust, and definitely the end of my career as a real estate broker. By January 2008, I had swallowed my pride and accepted an entry-level administrative job at a tax firm in Denver (an hour commute each way). By April 2008, my home was foreclosed on, and I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection the next day.

For a divorced guy that eschewed material possessions, I had an enormous amount of debt. In my bankruptcy, I flushed a high six-figure amount of debt that I had amassed over the course of my adult life.

In August 2008, when my bankruptcy was discharged, I was floating on a cloud. Why? Because the burden of being massively in debt was suddenly lifted off my shoulders.

Also, by this time, I had made myself significantly more valuable at the tax firm I worked at, and was well on my way to obtaining my Enrolled Agent license from the IRS.

In other words, being broke and having to do what I had to do in order to stay afloat directly lead me to where I am today. In other words, going belly up directly set the stage for finally finding a career I truly love, and living a lifestyle that I wanted to live.

The single biggest benefit to filing bankruptcy is that the stress of dealing with bill collectors suddenly goes out the window, because they can’t call you anymore. Reduction in stress lets you focus on other things, and work towards being successful in other words.

If bankruptcy is something that’s crossed your mind, sit down with an attorney and discuss your options. It may be a discussion that you wish you’d had much sooner.

Just walkin’ down the street,
Doesn’t even need a beat,
Steppin’ to the walk real neat,
That girl got some awesome feet!

Ain’t all about the fame,
Knows life is just a fun game,
And if you wanna dance,
Well hey, here’s your chance!

Gotta take your dance floor with you,
Everywhere around you is dance space,
Just keep movin’ ’til your blue,
‘Cuz with your moves you be the ace!

While there are obviously expensive places to live abroad (Tokyo, Japan is the most expensive city in the world in which to live, as of January 2011 data), it’s possible to travel for far cheaper than you can live in the United States. Let’s look at some numbers.

Denver, the largest urban area in the Rocky Mountain region with a population of over 2.5 million for the metro area, is fairly representative of the average cost of living for the United States, with a cost of living index of 105 (3rd quarter 2011 data — the national average is set at 100). Since Denver represents fairly close to the national average, and is close to me, I’m going to use it as a baseline example for crunching some numbers.

A one bedroom apartment in Denver averages $977 per month (as of August 2011). The IRS National Standard (used to calculate allowable expenses in IRS collections cases, and also for bankruptcy proceedings and other legal purposes) for food, clothing, and household items for a single person in Denver is $534 per month. The national average car payment is about $400 per month, with operating costs (insurance, gas, etc.) set at $236 per month under IRS financial standards. Add in about $100 a month in utilities, and a $70 per month cell bill.

So, for a roof over your head, food on the table, clothes on your back, and transportation, a single person in Denver is sitting at about $2,136 per month to live. Add in about $100 a month in utilities, a $70 per month cell bill, and let’s just say $100 a month for entertainment, and you’re getting a good picture of what your typical single person in their mid-20′s to mid-30′s, living on their own, is spending to live in Denver: over $2,400 per month.

As a dummy check, I looked up the median per capita income for Denver County, which is just over $24,000 per year. The median household income in Denver is right at $40,000 per year. $2400 a month is close enough to $24k a year for our purposes, and meshes well with the household figure and splitting of expenses across two wage earners.

Using this data as a baseline, let’s compare it to the cost of spending time overseas. I’m going to compare it somewhere I’ve actually been recently: Tokyo. Do recall that Tokyo is considered THE most expensive city on Earth in which to live.

Or is it?

I’m a big believer that one of the greatest joys of traveling is the people you meet, and I don’t think there is any better place to meet people abroad than in hostels. Some hostels are dives, some are very nice places that are basically somebody’s house, such as Jimmyz Backpackers in Sapporo, where I stayed for about 3 whole weeks. Hostels are also really cheap – $15 to $50 a day around Japan, depending on where you are and how nice it is. Most hostels give discounts for longer stays, and so I was averaging about $25 a night to stay in hostels.

$25 times 30 equals $750 per month. That’s already cheaper than our one bedroom apartment in Denver.

On top of saving a couple hundred a month on rent already, consider this: No utilities. Most hostels have free wi-fi. If you’re only spending a month or two in a country, Skype quickly becomes your communication friend. I chose not to have a local cell phone in Japan, and it worked out just fine. But let’s say you want one: $50 a month for basic communication (Tip: Get it at the airport when you arrive!).

So, we’re at $800 a month.

Let’s look at transportation. Tokyo probably has the most efficient mass transit system on planet Earth. Subways and buses take you anywhere you want to go, and surface trains go just about everywhere else in Japan. Japan also has an incredible domestic air transit system, and if you want to travel on open water, you can go long distances on the cheap by taking a ferry.

Using discounted tickets for foreigners, weekend and seasonal deals, and the discounts you get for using electronic tickets, getting around Tokyo becomes a $3 or $4 per day thing, if you go places EVERY day. Call it $100/month. If you commute on particular routes, you can get monthly passes (teikiken) even cheaper.

So, we’re at $900 a month to live in and get around in the most expensive city in the world.

Whoops, I guess we need to eat, don’t we?

All over Tokyo you can find these awesome little family restaurants, usually down weird alleys and twisted back roads, where you can get a bowl of rice with beef strips and vegetables, for example, for about $5. Fresh fruit is expensive in Japan, but staples of the Japanese diet are fairly inexpensive in markets. If you love rice and fish, you can eat even cheaper. Eating out for *every* meal does get expensive – I was pushing $20 per day on average just to eat, but that was by choice. You really can eat for $5 or less per day if you cook for yourself, even in Tokyo.

So, $150 to $200 per month to eat in Tokyo. Let’s add a party night once a week, and give ourselves a $100 per month entertainment and booze budget. Now we’re at $1200 per month.

Did I miss anything? $1200 a month to live in the most expensive city on Earth, and have the time of your life doing it.

Let’s look at airfare. Round trip airfare for me to Japan was about $1600. An American can stay in Japan for 90 days on a single entry tourist visa, so amortized over 3 months, airfare is $533 per month. If you plan to continue traveling around Asia, you can just buy a one-way ticket, which ranges anywhere from $600 to $1000, depending on the time of year. But even at the round trip price, added to monthly cost of living, we’re at $1733 per month.

Yup. $1733 per month. And I mentioned we’re living in the most expensive place on Earth, right?

I realize that this grand equation doesn’t take into account the fact that our example single person has to work a job back in Denver, and that’s not possible when you’re just traveling. I’m fully aware that most people don’t have the luxury of working from anywhere, via the Internet (although I have a firm belief that just about anybody CAN put themselves into that position, but that’s a subject for another post).

So, let’s look at things a bit differently. Our 20 or 30 something single person in Denver makes $25k to $35k per year doing whatever they do. Instead of that $997/month apartment, let’s get them in a house with two other people, and paying $400 a month for rent and utilities. Let’s also ditch the car payment, and let’s ride the bus, live within walking distance of work, buy a beater of a car, or ride a motorcycle (the option I choose — a motorcycle can cheaply be stored when abroad). Let’s also cut back on out cell plan, use Skype when possible to avoid eating up cell minutes, and pack our lunch to work every day.

In other words, let’s live in Denver under a similar lifestyle as we could live cheaply in Tokyo. All of a sudden, we’re not spending $2400 a month to live. Instead, we’re spending $800 or less, and saving $1600 per month.

Do this for a year. That’s $19,200 saved up, cash in the bank, in ONE YEAR.

$1600 airfare, $17,600 remaining. That buys TEN MONTHS living in Tokyo. Your visa won’t last that long. So, you stay 3 months, then go to South Korea. Then Taiwan. Then Hong Kong. Then Manila. Each of these places is far cheaper than Tokyo. All of a sudden, ten months turning into 18 months abroad.

Some people are going to look at these numbers as unrealistic. However, these are real numbers, based on real cost of living norms. For foreigners reading this, YES, that is what Americans blow every month to live the American lifestyle.

Is it worth drastically dialing down your American consumption and materialism for one year so that you can save up the cash to spend a year, maybe even two years, abroad?

Only you can answer that question. But for some of us, the answer is an unequivocal YES.

See you at the airport…

-Jassen

So, how do I pull this off? There are probably dozens of effective ways of doing this, ranging from signing things with a stylus input device to just drawing your signature carefully with your mouse. Here’s what I do. Your mileage may vary.

First, you need a scanned copy of your signature. My signature is pretty distinct (and some would say weird). So, I simply did one that was really big, in thick, blue ink, with my full flair. Then I scanned it. You can do this at Kinko’s if you don’t have a scanner.

Then, I routinely use three very important tools. Yes, there is probably ONE tool that does all this (on a Mac, I’d be doing it all in Graphic Converter, but alas, there is no such program for Windows).

Since I work with a lot of PDF files, I need to be able to extract pages for signature, then reinsert them. For this, I use Foxit Phantom, which is the single best PDF editor I have yet to find out of half a dozen I’ve tested (I’m kinda cheap when it comes to software — I refuse to spend the money on Adobe Acrobat Professional).

After extracting a page to sign, I have to convert it to an image. For this, I use Office Convert PDF to JPEG Free, which is also the best of several I tested.

Then, I open the converted image into MS Paint, which comes with Windows. I’ve tested other graphics programs, including IrfanView, GIMP, and other big names in the shareware Windows world, and I’ve found Paint to be sufficient. I shrink my signature to fit, then copy and paste it into the document. Since Paint can’t handle transparencies, I fit the signature into a block, then literally use the line tool to re-draw the lines in the form that my signature block may have overwritten.

Then, save the image, and use Phantom’s “Insert Page” command to insert the JPEG image back into the PDF it came out of.

Voila!

Yep, it’s kind of a pain in the rear, but it’s a cheap and simple process that’s there when I need it. If I had to sign things anymore than I already do, I’d look for a better all-in-one solution, but for me, this system works just fine!

OK, so I’m biased. I’ve been here for two weeks, and will be here for two more. Oh, and I guess I should admit that I haven’t stayed at any other Sapporo hostel or hotel. And to be honest, I’m not interested in doing so.

Jimmy himself is a pretty cool guy. He speaks excellent English, which comes from going to college in Orange County, California. In addition, he’s a great tour guide, being very knowledgeable of the local attractions, both ON and OFF the beaten tourist path.

The hostel itself is pretty amazing. In all reality, it’s much more like staying at somebody’s house than a hostel. Jimmyz is much smaller than most hostels. The mixed dorm holds six people, and there is a separate room that houses another 6 in a women-only dorm-style room. On the main floor, there is a small tatami-floored dining room, hardwood-floored living room, men’s and women’s showers and bathrooms, and a small kitchen.

Jimmyz is most definitely not a big place. In fact, the entire house (yes, it really is a house) is smaller than most American 2 bedroom homes. But honestly, that’s what makes it awesome. Not a single night has gone by where I haven’t met awesome people from some different corner of Japan or even the world. I’ve hung out with several gorgeous women from Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan. I’ve clinked drinks with gents from Norway, the U.S. Air Force, Britain, America, and South Korea.

If you’re looking for either a very affordable (less than 3000 yen per night) place to stay, and/or a clean, cozy, and intimate hostel for either one week or a month (discounts for stays over 7 days), then book at Jimmyz Backpackers. It really is the best Sapporo hostel, and I say that not even needing to say elsewhere.

To book at Jimmyz, visit his web site and send him an email: Jimmyz Backpackers Sapporo Hostel (English site)

Some other cool tidbits about Jimmyz:

-only a 5 minute walk from Susukino, the largest entertainment district in Japan outside of Tokyo
-easy access to the subways (Hosui Susukino station about 4 minute walk)
-for figure skaters, about 20 minutes by foot and subway from ice rink (Tsukisamu Gymnasium, off the Toho subway line, Tsukisamu-chuo station, go upstairs, around the corner [LEFT!], down a block, just past the tennis courts)
-one block away from the awesome river running paths (currently under reconstruction from recent flooding damage)
-gorgeous girls often stay (what?!?!?! I’m a dude, this is important!)

So if you’re in Sapporo, spend the night at Jimmyz Backpackers. It really is a great place. I like it enough to stay here almost a month — it really is that nice of a place. Again, it’s small, cozy, very clean, and Jimmy speaks perfect English and can direct you where you want to go.

See you out and about in the world,
-Jassen

Why would somebody want a second passport? For a number of reasons. For some of us, it has to do with having the freedom to travel visa-free to certain countries that your native country’s passport doesn’t cover. For others, it has to do with work authorization, and being able to live and work freely in another country (or group of countries, as with an EU passport).

Be extremely careful of information you read online about the process of obtaining dual citizenship, alien registration, and second passports. Very little of what I’ve seen appears to be based on the person experience of the writer, and I’ve seen quite a bit of just plain incorrect information.

So how DO you obtain a second passport, permanent residence, or citizenship elsewhere? In short there are three major ways:

1). Ancestral lineage. Some countries, such as Ireland and Poland, may grant you citizenship under ancestral programs. The idea is to bring descendants of those nationalities back to the homeland within a certain number of generations. Ireland, for example, will go up to three generations back in certain circumstances, and still grant you citizenship. If you are Jewish, Israel has a return program that provides numerous incentives for returning to the Jewish homeland, including job placement assistance and very low interest rate government-backed mortgages for buying a home. You have to prove your ancestral lineage, of course, and there may be residency or other requirements to obtain citizenship and/or that second passport.

2. Economic citizenship. There are places in the world where, if you have enough cash, you can simply BUY you’re way in. Yep, cold hard cash. Economic citizenship requires that you either pay a sum of money to a government entity, invest a certain amount of money in the local economy, or both. There are often also residency requirements. Small island nations in the Caribbean, such as St. Kitts and Dominica, both offer this type of program for just paying a fee (it’s a lot — six figures in USD). Other countries will let you at least start the process of establishing residency simply by showing up, paying some fees, filling out some paperwork, and dunking money into a local bank account. Uruguay, for example, in order to encourage foreign investment, is allowing this for as little as $8,000, according to the last information I had from several months ago. Finally, you may be able to obtain economic citizenship by buying land and sitting on it for a while. Several of the former Soviet republics in the Baltic are currently actively promoting such programs.

3. Permanent residency. Some countries will let you immigrate and apply for naturalized citizenship simply because you’ve been there for a while. In fact, for many countries, this is the only way to obtain citizenship and a second passport from that country. Of course, you have to have a legitimate reason for being there in the first, which often requires a work visa and a sponsor. For example, in Japan, where I’m writing this from, you can apply for permanent resident alien status (a “green card”, in American parlance) after living here for 5 years. Note I said “apply” — it’s far from automatic, and you have to demonstrate that you contributed significantly to Japanese education, technology, economy, or culture. Being an English teacher at an eikaiwa for 5 years doesn’t count; being a research professor at a university often does.

The only countries I’ve researched this subject extensively on are a few Latin countries, Japan, and Australia. Australia has long been my immigration target, and I am actively engaged in working on boosting my point totals under their skilled immigration program in order to qualify for permanent residency in that country. However, it’s a 2 to 3 year process that I’m barely a year into.

If this is something you are seriously interested in, due your homework and due diligence. You may also want to speak to an immigration attorney in the country in which you are interested.

Note: I am NOT qualified to answer questions on the immigration subject — only in relation to the American taxation of your foreign earnings and investments.

First of all, let’s talk money. Just about everybody in America believes that Japan is one of the most expensive places in the world to visit, let alone live. Actually, let me back up a bit. Any discussion about the cost of Japan has to start with the cost of converting currency. Unless you live under a rock, you know that the U.S. dollar has been getting weaker and weaker by the day. In high school and studying Japanese, I remember the dollar being worth about 140 yen. Today, I got exactly half that when I pulled money out of the ATM: 70 yen to the dollar. Think about what that means in terms of purchasing power. If you earn money in yen and spend it in dollars, you’ve got a golden ticket. But earning dollars and spending yen, quite frankly, sucks.

Next, let’s talk costs. Yes, Japan can be a very, very expensive place to visit. The standard rate for a Western-style hotel that we saw during the vacation phase of coming here was about $120 per night, for an incredibly tiny room with it’s own bathroom. However, Japan also has a huge quantity of budget accommodations. Although we didn’t do this, there are traditional Japanese ryokan for under $50 a night, and some Buddhist temples can accommodate overnight guests for under $50/night. In Nagoya, we stayed in a super budget hotel for about $25 for the night, and the place didn’t even have showers (think “sponge bath”). In Tokyo, we stayed (and I still am), at two different capsule hotels, one of which is more like a hostel than a business capsule hotel, and it is less than $40/night (plus I get to meet some interesting foreigners, but that’s a subject for another post). Some of the onsen (hot spring public baths) will let you stay the night for very cheap, if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor.

What about food and drink? Again, there is a huge range. Last night, I splurged 14,000 yen ($182) on a 6-course meal of the best bar food ever and unlimited beverages for four people (all you can drink in two hours). But today I had a delicious lunch of cucumber rice rolls, fried prawns, and shredded cabbage that was more than filling, and it was about $5. In other words, I had a fairly healthy lunch for cheaper than the McDonald’s that was a block down the street, and it was delicious.

Transportation in Japan is another thing that can be considered expensive. Flying from place to place within the country can run $100 to $300 on way, which is high compared to regional flight costs in the U.S. and Europe. Also, the bullet trains (shinkansen) can be pricey. For example, going from Tokyo to the northernmost point in Honshu (the main island) is going to be close to $200 by shinkansen. If we had traveled from Shikoku back to Tokyo all on express or bullet trains, we probably would have spent close to $1,000 on transit.

However, all the rail lines offer various discount tickets. The JR Rail Pass is a bargain if you use it a lot, but can only be purchased outside the country. In order to be worthwhile, you HAVE to use the shinkansen I think, just from a cost standpoint. We used a special ticket intended for teenagers and college kids on school breaks, but that is available to everybody, in order to get unlimited travel on JR local trains, which enabled us to see more of Japan by town hopping back to Tokyo. These tickets run about $35 per day, and are worth every dime if you travel the countryside extensively for a day on local trains. Also, if you purchase airline tickets at least 45 days in advance, the major carriers and the budget operators offer steep discounts. You can fly from Tokyo to Sapporo for well under $100 if you plan it right.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the ferries. Japan is an island nation, of course, so it is well suited to water travel. Ferries operate daily between all the major cities in the country. While they are not the fastest means of getting around, they are super fun and also super cheap. We took the ferry from Tokyo to Tokushima, Shikoku. The trip took 18 hours or so, overnight, and was a blast. It was much cheaper than flying or train, also, and we had a private cabin for not much extra money — it was about the price of a Western-style hotel room for the night to make the trip. If it weren’t for the approaching typhoon (that’s what they call hurricanes here — they are the exact same thing in meteorological terms), I’d take the ferry to Sapporo instead of the shinkansen.

Within Tokyo, it can add up quickly to bounce around between the two competing subway operators and the JR trains that encircle the city. However, for $12/day, you can get unlimited use of the subway system, and for about $20 a day you can get an unlimited use pass for both subway lines and the JR trains. These tickets can be purchased at almost any ticket machine, and will save you possibly hundreds of dollars during a week or two in Tokyo.

As I plan for living here in Japan short-term, I’ve been looking at other expenses. The interesting thing I’m discovering is that Japan is not as expensive to live as people in America think it is. The horrifying sticker shock to find a place to live here really comes down to what is called “key money”, essentially the same as your first and last month’s rent plus deposit, except bigger. In many cases, two year leases are the norm on an apartment, and your “key money” is equal to six months worth of rent. In some cases, that can essentially be the equivalent of a down payment on a house in some parts of the U.S.

But, again, there are less expensive options. Since Japan is a major destination for both foreign tourists and international business people, there is an entire industry here that caters to providing short-term (which can become long-term) housing for gaijin (foreigners). The most common of these places are called “gaijin houses”. Basically, they are just regular apartments or houses that are owned or managed by property management companies that specifically cater to the foreign market, and offer deposit options that are much more “normal” to Westerners. Some of these guest houses can accommodate couples and even families. If you’re single, the options greatly expand, though. For example, dorm style guest houses, with two to four blokes to a room, can be had for under $350 per month and a $100 deposit. For a private room in a house, rents are closer to $600 to $800 per month and deposits of about $400. However, compared to your own apartment, this is a bargain, and really is in line with what most Americans are used to paying for rent if they live in any large U.S. city.

As somebody that likes to splurge on occasion, but that is basically a cheapskate at heart, exploring these kind of options is of value to me personally. My place in Sapporo (I’ve narrowed it down to two options) won’t be posh by any means, but it also won’t be any worse than where I lived in Provo before coming here. On top of that, there’s the great benefit that it’s someplace interesting and living with people from other countries. Since part of my objective here in Japan is to not only work on my Japanese, but also begin picking up a European language (such as Spanish, French, or German), the opportunities in a gaijin house are quite spectacular.

I hope that this quick and dirty guide to doing Japan on the cheap is helpful to somebody out there on the interwebs. If you have any interest in visiting Japan, just go — don’t be frightened by sticker shock perpetuated by people in the travel industry that have never been here physically on the ground. Just like anywhere you go, it’s what you make of it, and if you want to or have to do it on the cheap, you totally can.

Also in response, the S&P downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+. This was completely symbolic — it has no impact on what the US government can or will do.

G7 and G20 leaders have been meeting to discuss how the U.S. economy is collapsing and how our national debt is almost 100% of GDP. They forgot to discuss the fact that many of THEIR national debts vastly exceed 100% of GDP already.

The media is screaming holy terror. Democrats are calling Republicans insensitive. Republicans are calling each other sellouts. Republicans are calling Democrats idiots. Reporters are saying your retirements accounts are hosed, and we all need to snuggle into our bomb shelters and await the end of the world as we know it.

What does the U.S. debt crisis and the responding market conditions really mean to you?

Not a damn thing, that’s what.

Did gas prices spike overnight? Nope.

Did unemployment skyrocket the next day? Nope.

Did little Jonny and Susie have to eat out dinner out of a dumpster for the first time? Nope.

Did anything really change? Not a bit.

Here’s the reality of the situation: What Congress does, what the Treasury does, what Wall Street market makers do…None of it has any real impact on your day to day life.

Your daily activities stay the same. For the most part, the price you paid yesterday for this or that will be the same price tomorrow, more or less (yes, it trends up over time, it’s called inflation, you should be used to it by now). You still go to work, take the kids to soccer practice, and blow money on absolutely, 100% non-essential goods and services.

What if you own a business? You should be worried, right? Wrong. If you run a business, you shouldn’t give one shit about what the economy as a whole is doing. Instead, focus on YOUR business. Focus on what YOU can actually DO to market your products and services and get more paying customers through the door. So, again, nothing changes.

How can I be so callous, you ask? I’m not being callous. I’m simply reminding everybody about this little thing called reality. Back in the Depression, people still scraped by. As a matter of fact, more millionaires were created during the 1920′s than at any time in U.S. history, both before and after. People with good business sense will always do well. So will people with good, marketable job skills. If your only employable skill is manual labor, you’re gonna have a hard time in ANY job market.

So if you’re sitting around fretting about what is going to happen to you, your business, your job, or your family…Stop. Just stop. Life goes on just as normal.

Look at it this way: Do you think your average Iraqi citizen is sitting around worried about the global economy? Nope. He still has to take his goods to market, go to work, feed his family, and show up for his kid’s soccer game. Despite the fact that his country’s infrastructure is now shrapnel, his economy is in the crapper, and there is the constant threat of violence in the streets, he still has to go about living his life.

You, my friend, need to do the exact same thing. In fact, YOU should be thriving, because you probably won’t get shot at today.

Perspective is a bitch, ain’t it?

If you owe the IRS back taxes, and they are actively coming after you to collect the money, then you are in a collections situation. Therefore, tax relief for you probably means getting the IRS off your back. What I mean by this is that you need to stop the collections process, particularly to get the IRS to not come after your bank accounts and your wages.

If you’re already on an Installment Agreement, then tax relief for you might be obtaining a reduction in the penalties. This process, called a “penalty abatement”, requires you to meet certain criteria and demonstrate that, despite your best efforts, you were unable to pay your taxes on time because of reasonable cause. Reasonable cause itself has a variety of criteria, which I actually outline in an article on my firm’s web site about penalty abatement reasonable cause criteria.

Another scenario with a slightly different definition of “tax relief” could be if you have years and years of unfiled tax returns, and the IRS files returns for you based on the information they have on file. Since employers, brokerage firms, and other companies are required by law to send copies of your W-2′s, 1099′s, and other documents to the IRS, they have all that data regarding your wages and transactions. If you don’t file a return, they will file what is called a “Substitute For Return”, or SFR for short. This return is literally a worst case scenario — they give you no deductions, nothing but the standard deduction and usually only one exemption unless you have a prior history of filing married, and they assess you the highest possible tax under this scenario. The solution to this little nightmare is to file actual returns and replace the ones the IRS prepared for you.

In most cases where I have filed real returns to replace Substitute For Returns filed by the IRS, the tax liability, as well as the penalties and interest, end up getting slashed by 50% to 70%. Therefore, it’s worth spending the money to have real returns prepared on your behalf if this happens to be your situation.

For other folks, “tax relief” may be having your property tax valuation more accurately reflect the value of your home. This has become a common scenario as market prices have dropped, but property tax valuations have not. Most counties have a process by which you can contest the property valuation — most people these days either don’t realize that or simply fail to do it. Having your assessed value of your home accurately reflect it’s value can save you thousands of dollars in property taxes over the years, and if this is the type of tax relief you are looking for, then I would highly encourage you to look into it.