But, that doesn’t mean it’s not important. So take 5 minutes out of your day right now to give it a little thought. Future you will thank you.

Let’s start with some basic questions.

1. Have you started saving for retirement?

If yes, skip to question 2.

If no, read the next paragraph and take action now.

Start now. Really. If you’re eligible for a 401k call up HR and get the forms you need, because you can afford to contribute to your 401k. If you’re not eligible for a 401k, go online (hey, you’re already there) and open a retirement account at someplace like Vanguard. They can almost certainly help you out with what kind. And yes, I know you may not know what to invest in, etc. But START sending some money on a regular basis in anyway — leave it in cash if you must at first — and you’ll have the first step taken care of.

2. Are you saving enough for retirement?

If yes, that’s awesome. Pat yourself on the back and move on to something else.

If no, go increase your contribution amount by at least 1%, and more if you can. Then put a note in your calendar to do it again in six months.

If you’re not sure, join the club. It’s really, really hard to predict the future. But this is a good time to review what you’ve got so far, what you hope to do in retirement, and how your projections have worked out so far. Check out how much do you need to save for retirement for some excellent points & links to various calculators.

3. Are you getting close to retirement?

If yes, make sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row. Check with Social Security about any benefits you may receive, and with the IRS about any possible Required Minimum Distributions you may need to take.

If no, keep plugging away.

And of course, if you’re already retired, feel free to a comment describing what it’s like.

When my car hit a tree a while back, the rough estimate to repair it was $8K. I spent a lot of time debating between repairing it or replacing it. No one I talked to thought I should repair it. No one. Even though I loved the car and the alternatives I checked out were in the $30K-$35K range, most people thought I should either go buy a new car, or at least replace my current car with something similar. The body shop itself told me I should send it to the junkyard.

Not worth it

The common refrain was that it wouldn’t be worth it to repair it.

After all, it was old. (22 years old, to be exact.) It had a lot of miles on it. (About 227K.) I couldn’t even look up its Blue Book value online because of its age, but I’m guessing it would have been $900 or less. (However, the 90 Miatas we found for sale within the US ranged from about $3K to $15K.)

I also agreed that $8K would be kind of crazy to spend, but I wasn’t ready to give up. For me, it wasn’t just about the money.

Potential problems

So I talked to the shop about the possible worst and best-case scenarios. While my car didn’t have a lot of obvious mechanical damage, and the shop could only see one bit of structural damage, they couldn’t tell if other things might be wrong with it until after they made some of the repairs. They warned me that they could get into it and find a whole lot more wrong, and then I’d either have spent thousands of dollars for nothing, or would need to spend a whole lot more to keep going IF what they found wasn’t an irreparable safety issue. Best case, of course, was that it would be limited to the damage they could easily see.

So I spent like 10 days agonizing over this. I loved the car. I wanted to get it fixed. I literally cried at the thought of sending it to the junkyard. I knew I was being irrational, but…I still wanted my car back if it could be safely fixed. (Most of the obvious damages were things like needing a new fender, hood, and bumper.)

I probably called the body shop a dozen times. They assured me that they did things like this all the time on $40K+ cars, that things had changed in 20 years, and that it was perfectly safe to fix. Just expensive, and not worth it in my case. My normal mechanic told me the same thing. That it used to be a real pain and not always successful, but that with the new equipment they had available to use, it was fine.

I liked the Minis and a BMW, but…really wanted my Miata.

Not a life-changing decision

It finally dawned on me that this was not a life-changing decision, and it didn’t have to be an either or kind of thing. I could get my car fixed and get a new car, if I really wanted to. There’s no rule that says you can only have one car. I could put a few thousand dollars into my car and see where we were then. I could just keep walking. I could take my car home and let it sit there for “someday”. But whatever I decided, it didn’t have to be a permanent choice, so long as I didn’t send it to the junkyard.

And a lot of life is like that. Sure, you want to make the “right” decision, but…if you don’t, or if it turns out not to be the right decision for you, you can often change your mind. Looking at the worst-case scenario is a good idea to do in instances where you’re debating between options. In this case, worst-case would be that I’d have spent a few thousand dollars for nothing.

Well, I could live with that. I also knew that I would always regret it if I didn’t try.

So I decided to give it a shot.

The result

I explained to the shop that I realized it wasn’t the logical thing to do, but that I really loved my car and wanted to at least try and get it fixed. What was the bare minimum we could do to see if there was other damage? How could we keep costs down? Could I fix some of it myself?

They pointed out that the biggest expenses were OEM or aftermarket parts, and professionally painting each individual body part. I sure didn’t need to do that. I could just get the whole car painted later at someplace like Maaco instead. They charged me their cost for parts, and worked with me to find used parts for it, going so far as to send someone after hours to meet me at a junkyard to pickup the parts. They agreed that I could surely fix some of the things myself. They gave me discounts on labor.

My car is home now. Its used replacement body parts still need to be painted to match the rest of the car, so it looks pretty rough, but it actually seems to run and drive better than it did before. It rattles a lot less, and drives straighter and smoother. I lucked out, and there was no additional structural or suspension damage. And I paid about $3500. Not $8K+. You can bet I will be recommending the shop to anyone who needs collision work done, and writing them some glowing reviews.

A happy ending, either way

Sure, this story has a happy ending. But while I would have been ridiculously sad if it hadn’t turned out well, I still would have been glad that I tried. That’s because I made the decision that was right for me. I know from past experience that every single time. I’ve gone with my head over my gut, I’ve regretted it. I went with my gut, and my gut said to give it a shot.

So sure, seek advice. Get opinions from experts and people you trust. But in the end, choose what works for you — whether or not that makes sense to the majority of people you know. They aren’t you. You’ll be glad you stuck with what was right for you.

Not surprisingly, people make a lot of decisions that relate to money based on how much things cost, how much they could potentially make, or both. So of course those things get talked about a lot.

But after a certain point (the point where you’re not stressed out about where you’ll be living next month and whether or not you’ll have food to eat on a regular basis) money doesn’t have to take priority.

Other priorities

Sure, you may want to earn lots of money and minimize your expenses, but you can have other priorities too. And the option that leaves you with the most money out of two choices may or may not be the one that’s right for you.

There’s nothing wrong with deciding that you’re going to take a less stressful job even though you won’t make as much, as long as you’re willing to do what it takes to live within your new lower means. And there’s nothing wrong with deciding to keep some of your money in a plain-old savings account even though you could probably make more by investing it. Or in paying more for something you really love even though you could get a “better” version for less. Or in any number of things that may not be the optimum thing to do financially, IF those other things are your real priorities.

Money is a tool

Money is a tool that’s there to serve you, not the other way around. Use it wisely to get what’s most important to you, not just to end up with as much as you can of it.

Keep your real objectives in mind, and make smart decisions with your money based on how it will help you achieve those. Remember why you use money.

Your short- and long-term money plans

You need a plan that covers both the short- and long-term. Short-term could be considered anything from what you intend to spend at the grocery store tonight, to how you’re going to pay your car insurance bill that’s due in six months, to where you want to vacation next year. Long-term, of course, is everything farther out than that. Your future, in other words.

Do you want to be able to pay for your kids’ college? What about retirement? (Even if you don’t think you’d ever want to retire, you should be able to if you have to.) And what about becoming wealthy?

If you don’t plan for those things, they won’t happen. Either at all, or in any way remotely close to what you’d actually like.

Do the two step

Since you’ll need to plan for both the distant future and for things that’ll be happening soon, you need a bit of a financial two-step. First, you need to think about what your hopes and dreams are. If you could do anything with your money, and you could have enough of it, what would you do?

Think about what you really want. Don’t be afraid to dream big, but also don’t just toss out “move to a deserted island” unless that’s truly what you would like for your life. (Personally, I think a lot of folks would get bored. Unless they’re like this guy who bought an island.)

Once you’ve got your dreams in mind, think about your immediate needs too. You know, stuff like paying the bills and getting yourself on track financially.

The secret weapon

Then use the secret weapon of money-plans, zero-based budgeting, to help you accomplish both. Once you start making your money do what you want it to do — instead of whatever it feels like — a funny thing will happen.

You’ll end up with more of it.

That’s because when you pay attention to your money and are responsible with it (and by responsible I mean that you do things like saving, investing, and paying off debt) you learn, grow, and it becomes easier to make more of it. So get yourself a plan. A plan that will help you reach your goals. YOUR plan.

Does the idea of working on the internet, wearing slippers with the kids, dog, garden, and coffee pot sound appealing? I personally had my doubts – would I be able to work with all that activity around me?  Let me be the first to say that you can definitely organize work time around school schedules and make it happen. Step by step, create your empire with a policy of diversification.

No man is a robot, and although you may work harder as a freelancer than you did as an employee, it’s a completely different scenario advancing along your career than reacting to what your boss has to say. Put another way, I set my income parameters for the month and go for them, whereas at my job I was concerned with maintaining my level of pay (or a job, period) knowing full well that the economic situation was against me. A young middle aged woman, I heard the bells a-tolling and began building my second income, also known as “Plan B”. It was actually Plan A – to leave the JOB but building a business takes time – so best to start as soon as possible.

Making the switch

How did I switch over?  It is scary, to be sure, so it must be done in baby steps. I had originally planned on saving a huge stash of money before I did – but that didn’t happen. My January 2011 New Year’s Resolution was to be fully employed as a freelancer by the end of the year, and I was – by October 1.

If you write, the first step is to get better at it by doing more of it. I joined Hub Pages a year ago where I learned SEO, SRP and how to utilize the Google Keyword tool. With a little luck, you may gain a following, which will help when you start your own blog. (In this business, almost everything seems to be interrelated.)  The objective is to practice and get paid a little residual income from Google AdSense along the way. Don’t quit the day job – yet. Building streams of passive income is an important part of any freelancer’s career.

At the same time, spruce up the resume, update it with your writing skills and begin the process of shamelessly marketing yourself. Try to send a resume out every day. Conduct Google searches with a fresh cover letter each time for the position that interests you.  With intuitive email like Gmail, related URL addresses will pop up in the margin. As a matter of principle I didn’t pay anyone to hire me.
I signed up for Freelancer, Elance and Odesk as well as ProZ, a bilingual job board signing up for their RSS feeds. 

In the beginning, take what you can get (a 300 word blog entry for $1 – $3) and build from there. You’ll need experience and positive feedback to start. Happy clients will return, and keep sending out your resume – lather, rinse and repeat.

After a few months time, you could have a decent part time income going. But don’t stop there. Apply for jobs that you think you could do but don’t technically have experience for (if they don’t specifically ask for it). If they don’t ask, don’t tell. The point is to increase your skills so you can get better jobs. If you got good marks in grammar, editing is a good job to land (non-native English writers usually need help with this).

E-books are also good but be careful for the milestone payments. So far I haven’t gotten burned but it can happen, especially on large projects. I recommend PayPal which is very convenient with a once a month transfer to my bank account. Be sure to invoice right away for a job even if the terms are Net 30 and ask “would it be possible to pay me right away?“  They probably have the money and are just dragging their feet. Working for yourself means you get to wear all the hats, which means you get to develop as manager, accountant and more. I try to read and listen to CDs to keep my frame of mind positive and people-friendly as “brain food“– good human relations is a crucial part of being a successful freelancer. Not long ago, two of my clients were able to complete a satisfactory business transaction – they both live in India – with me as their mutual link.

Benefits

Six months later after taking the plunge, I was making at least the same amount of money as “before,” but now my kids have their Mom home with them. Not only have my expenses gone down but the quality of my life and those around me has definitely gone up. My home seems to function better and my kids are flourishing in school because I can attend their PTA meetings and soccer games. I’m available to help them with their homework instead of leaving them to fend for themselves until sometimes 10 p.m. when I eventually returned home from my job. That for me was the worst part of working for someone else – I was at the mercy of a schedule which worked against me.

As a side benefit of freelancing, I have been traveling more, even taking a long-desired birthday trip to Brussels and Venice while keeping my workload under control. With the work flexibility offered by freelancing, I also completed a very intense bilingual tour guide course which should pay off as another source of income between bread and butter writing jobs.

Be sure to save some of your earnings in case of a dry spot or two – I’ve experienced them and they’re no fun – but all in all, a single day of freelancing is better than 100 days working for someone else in my very humble opinion. If it’s something that you’ve always wanted to do, let me be the first to urge you to just start the process and continue.

CA born and bred, Anastasia Kingsley Kinkusic has been living in Europe since 1999.  Married with two kids, she’s a college educated business lady who switched gears to be a SAHM and freelance writer and editor, dabbling in tourism and translation.  Follow her on HubPages at http://eurocafeaulait.hubpages.com/ where she write about Croatia, financial planning, American and Mediterranean recipes, national parks, creativity, and living green.

Let’s take someone who wants to be a model as an example. Sure, sometimes a model is “discovered” while walking down the streets of New York, but that’s the exception and not the rule. And even if they are discovered, they still have to do the work. It’s not like, bam, they’re rich, famous, and successful because they decided to step out for donuts one day.

No, they have to show up for the hours of prep work. They have to smile on cue all day during the work itself. They have to make sure they don’t gain weight (and they probably have to lose some too) in order to keep on getting the work. They have to face rejection from people who decide they “aren’t right for the job”. They have to work to make sure that what money they do earn doesn’t fly out the window into the hands of unscrupulous people.

That word I keep using

Did you notice that word I keep using? It’s work. To wrench open the door to success, you’ve got to do the work.

Decide what you want to have happen, and do what it takes to get there — whether that’s finding a new job in a field that interests you, getting your money in order, or being a good parent.

Do more than just try

And and you can’t just give something a try and then shrug your shoulders if things don’t end up perfectly. “Oh well, I tried” isn’t saying much, unless you really, REALLY tried, for an exceedingly long period of time. And I don’t just mean sitting around talking about how you really want to succeed at something.

I’ve been saying for a long time that I want my Pay Off Debt app to really take off. But what have I done to actually help it succeed? Well, I’ve made an ad for it, which you can see in the right hand column here. I put it out to a few review sites. I asked folks if they would review it. And I started a web site about getting out of debt. That sounds like a lot, but realistically it’s not. I haven’t worked at it every. day. I haven’t tried everything I could. I haven’t even tried consistently. I’ve mostly whined. And whining will get you nowhere.

Change your habits

To really wrench open the door to success, you’ve got to change your habits. Think about what you did yesterday, and what you normally do each day. If there isn’t SOMETHING in each day that’s leading you toward where you want to be, you haven’t made success a habit yet.

And it’s got to be one. So figure out where you want to be, and then change things up so that you habitually work at getting there. That’s how you wrench open the door to success and step right on through.