Are you looking for a way to change your finances?
Turn your money from small nuggets of gold into large platinum diamonds. Who wouldn’t? Lots of people could do with a financial facelift.
So, “tell me what you don’t like about your finances?”
That last question is a play on the signature line from the show, “Tell me what you don’t like about yourself,” but with a twist…a financial twist of course!
Nip/Tuck is an American serial medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010.
Opening credits song: “A Perfect Lie”, The Engine Room.
Taglines: Truth is only skin deep. L.A.’s newest implants.
The TV series Nip / Tuck, originally broadcast in 2003 on FX, focuses on McNamara/Troy, a controversial plastic surgery practice, and especially its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy played by Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon respectively. Each episode was named after the incoming patient. The show sold itself as a melodrama with a facelift.
It made me think what if people could have financial facelifts instead of actual ones?
However, it would focus on inner emotional stability instead of outer beauty.
We would build the foundation to allow people to start at building good and long-lasting financial habits.
Let’s begin our consultation.
WHAT DOES IT COST TO BUY FINANCIAL FREEDOM?
In all fairness, you have to work for your freedom. It could be as much as having $500,000 in savings and investments in one place or up to $2 million in another.
For instance, it was recently reported that no two places are equal to retire in around the United States.
If you want to retire in Mississippi, then it would cost you $950,000 versus retiring in California, in which you would need $2.1 million.
Why the variance? Things cost more on The Coast.
Housing is a premium. Dilapidated shacks in San Francisco are going for 50% above asking price.
For example, this home at 479 Silver Ave. listed on 2/8 of 2018 for $649K and was sold by 3/22/2018 for $1.125M, a 73.34% over-bid.
Homes in the Bay Area are going for a median 1.61 million!
You should plan your escape from the rat race keeping in mind where you want to live. If we use the financial freedom formula of saving 25 times your income, then you can look up what it will cost to live in certain places in America, Canada or other countries and determine if you are financially prepared.
WHAT DOES IT COST TO BE BEAUTIFUL WITH A LITTLE NIP AND TUCK?
The show was definitely like nothing I had ever seen.
One of the biggest shocks were the graphic plastic surgery procedures that were shown. I had to turn my head and look away. But when it comes to your finances, you cannot afford to be that squeamish.
You have to face the facts head on. And one of those facts is that plastic or any type of cosmetic surgery is expensive.
Lifting the face. The average cost of a facelift is $7,448, according to 2017 statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Facelift costs can widely vary. The average fee referenced above is only part of the total cost – it does not include anesthesia, operating room facilities or other related expenses.
That’s a lot of Benjamins. If you take that same $7,448 and invest it instead, after 40 years with a 10% return you could be closing in on $350,000!
I am all for people doing what makes them happy including what makes them look and feel good and confident. But at what price?
In another post, I discuss saving up money and using flexible spending to pay for braces and Lasik.
Lasik eye surgery, while life changing, is expensive. It can cost anywhere from $2500 to $10,000.
I prefer for people to pay cash if they do decide to have any cosmetic procedures performed. Who wants to pay interest on a $500 teeth whitening or $7,000 nose job?
In this case, I urge you to think of the opportunity cost.
Do you need clean, healthy teeth? Yes.
Do you need teeth so white that it blinds you every time you look in the mirror? No.
Think practically.
I have to agree with Dave Ramsey on this one: Learn to age gracefully.
MONEY IS A MOTIVATOR
A common theme on the show Nip/Tuck was money. Those guys lived in excess.
First, working in Miami Florida and then moving on to Los Angeles.
These guys knew where the money was and what type of clientele could afford their services.
They were not all about the money though. They performed tons of pro bono work.
I decided to pursue financial freedom because I did not want the lack of money to cause me to make bad financial decisions.
Pick a target number. Make a goal. Then aim for it. That is the secret sauce to financial independence.
However, the secret ingredient is patience.
It takes time to get wealthy.
It is not easy to get rich.
It is not easy to get thin.
All good things take time.
It took me a year to save up my first $10,000. It took me 6 years to start saving 40% of my income. It took me years to save up my first $100,000.
It usually takes 10 years to save the first $100,000. Then it takes about 4 years to make the next $100,000.
Knowledge and money accumulate and compound over time. YOU HAVE TO PUT THE WORK IN! And then be willing to wait. You get back out of anything what you put in.
The problem is that no one wants to GET RICH SLOW.
Dave Ramsey has said he worked his tail off for 25 years, but today people call him an overnight success.
The thing of it is, when you are not trying to get rich quick you will GET RICH SLOW. Or as I like to say, GET RICH LEISURELY.
Through automation of savings and investments over time. Those are the words and advice of The Automatic Millionaire author David Bach.
Let those words be a reminder and motivator for you to build lasting wealth with patience, time, and persistence.
That is why I have been blogging for 3 years.
The reason I write is because I want to inspire the uninspired to act.
So, “tell me has this post inspired you to pursue wealth?”
Let’s all welcome Michael of Financially Alert. Michael is a FIRE (financial independence retire early) blogger. He retired early after accumulating over a cool million from hard work and sacrifice while building a business. Or was it two million? Can’t remember. Doesn’t matter cause he’s here sharing part of his story with us! He graciously accepted my invitation for an interview. Well Michael you have officially been Greenback’d. 🤣
Just some quick background information.
I was introduced to Michael’s blog from a Google search I did for last years FinCon, where media meets money conference.
I was unsure if I should go or what to expect.
His website kept popping up on advice when attending a conference including FinCon. It was so thorough that I decided to do what he said and I reached out to him via email to ask if we could meet at the conference. And to my surprise he said yes!
He was pleasant, laid back, and super down to earth. He was even kind enough to send me an email and asked me to lunch! This is what it’s like meeting Michael. We ended up hanging out for a pretty good chunk of the 2nd day of the conference.
I met so many people that I couldn’t even count! So I introduced Michael to a lot of them. We could barely keep track of so many new faces.
Michael even introduced me to the founder of FinCon, PT Money.
After the conference ended, I took his advice and reached out to people to be on the blog and send invitations. And here we are today.
Let’s go!
MEET MICHAEL AND LEARN HOW TO BECOME FINANCIALLY ALERT
Starting A Financially Alert Money Blog
What prompted you to start a blog about money?
I started my blog as a way to share good money habits and knowledge with those of us who weren’t given the exposure to sound financial principles. Becoming financially alert is less about a number, and more about developing a smart and practical mindset around money. If you have the right money mindset, the mechanics are easy and your money will keep growing. I also want people to realize money is simply a tool. It can be used for good things, and likewise bad things. However, in my experience, those who feel in abundance are more likely to share with others who do not.
Why blog?
I've had people wonder what a blogger REALLY does? What is a petsonal finance blogger? Is that a real thing? Blogging about money.
Yes, sir. It is.
I and many others try to help people with financial literacy.
My blog is LEGIT!!! Put some respeck on my name!!!
“Tonight, darling, we are going to right a lot of wrongs. And we are going to wrong some rights. The first shall be last; the last shall be first; the meek shall do some earth-inheriting." – John Green, Paper Towns #papertowns
Ahh… there are so many. But, in terms of impact, Rich Dad Poor Dad really breaks things down into simple digestible concepts. I love his cash flow quadrant which speaks to the different ways people earn money.
GBM Miriam: I am providing a copy of The Rich Dada Poor Dad Quadrant for inquiring minds!
Let’s break it down.
Once you understand cash flow, you can really begin to grow your money with intention.
3. What are you reading right now? What’s on your night stand?
Dustin thoroughly guides you through the real estate investing process.
GBM Miriam: And I too love to read. I am reading several books about money right now!!!
GBM Miriam: That reminds me of the real estate website Bigger Pockets. I read their book on How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started. And I did a post on it.
I grew up wanting to working the movies as a special effects guy. So, when I sold my business, I took some time to myself to attend a special fx class. It was pretty fun to blow up a car – don’t try that at home kids!
In that interview, I read that you would like to travel to island with the amazing animals, it’s called Galápagos Islands. I’ve always wanted to go since I saw that video about it at the Virginia Aquarium. It looks so cool. And watching stuff blow up is right up my alley! No wonder we got along so well at FinCon18. This was a really good post. Thanks for sharing so much about yourself. I too noticed that PoF was everywhere. I had to step my game up because of him. 😉
And yes ladies and gentleman, that Tony is motivational guru and New York Times best-selling author Tony Robbins! Here is the photo Michael posted on his website. Awesome right?
See Michael’s posts on his Tony Robbins seminars a Date with Destiny and Life and Wealth Mastery
In the second post link, you will get to see Michael swinging from a trapeze in an attempt to face down his fear, which is so Tony Robbins!!!
Fun Fact: Trapeze is a piece of equipment which is used in acrobatics. It is considered to be one of the most demanding aerial arts. History. The art of trapeze performance was developed by Jules Léotard, a young French acrobat and aerialist, in Toulouse in the mid-1800s. He invented the flying trapeze, practising over his father’s swimming pool. A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It can also be known as a aerial hoop, or fabric known as an aerial silk.
And Michael is still inspired by Tony Robbins all these years later. Check out one of his recent tweets 🙏😉
5. What’s in your wallet? How did you start building wealth?
$83 cash
4 credit cards
1 debit card
fishing license
insurance card
coupon for bare naked granola
drivers license
AA card
FINALRT Michael: I started building wealth the old fashioned way… saving! As soon as I got my first job, I started paying myself 20% automatically into my savings account. Over time it grew, and then evolved to other asset classes like stocks/bonds, and real estate.
GBM Miriam: That’s what I’m taking about!!! Take control over your finances. Control your finances, control your life. 👍
The lazy way to build a fortune: automate your savings and investments.
You can build great things when you work on things over time. Just like Voltron. 🤣I just love when things come together. Don’t you?
This is how I approached spending before I started learning about finances🤦♀️ 😂
I personally like focusing on starting salary. Negotiating a good starting salary can set you up to be even better down the line. Kind of reminds me of that scene in Clueless 🤔 starring Alicia Silverstone and Avengers Endgame Ant-man Paul Rudd.
Financial makeover. Who here wouldn’t do things differently if they knew then what they know now?
It’s like Cher (the real one not the one from the movie Clueless) said, “If I could turn back time.”
Speaking of Clueless…
I love makeovers!!!! So I wrote a post about having a financial facelift. 😉
Whatever you do, financially or otherwise…Own it!!!
I made it out of living paycheck-to-paycheck woohoo!!! I appreciate all the support from the personal finance blogger community. 💖Especially in doing interviews like this one. 😉 xoxo 💋 I feel the love. I felt just like Mulan. The finance community definitely made a man I mean blogger out of me. 🤣
Bonus Questions (pick any of the questions from the top or below that you want to answer)
6. Any life or money lessons from a favorite movie or TV show you would like to share?
TV loves to glamorize our consumer culture. While it’s fun to watch shows like Million Dollar Listing, the reality is that happiness is controlled by us individually and doesn’t required luxury items.
How can you use your money to make the biggest positive impact on your family and friends?
Well said Michael. 👏 And excellent question.
Embarrassment of riches book portrait of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews.
GBM Miriam: I have learned to not focus on having privilege, but on doing things that help myself, my family and my community. A lesson Cher (Alicia Silverstone) started to learn as the film Clueless progressed.
While shopping with her friend Dionne (Stacey Dash), she started feeling like there was more to life than shopping, like helping others. 😉
7. If you found a lottery ticket that ends up winning $2.5 million. What would you do?
After giving a chunk to charity, I’d buy a McDonald’s franchise! Who wouldn’t want a french fry cash machine??
16. What was your best MacGyver moment?
I recently was doing a video and couldn’t ad-lib the content to save my life. So, I started researching ways to help me create a better video. I stumbled upon teleprompters and was like, OMG that’s it!The problem though is that teleprompters start at $200 and go up from there. I didn’t feel like making that kind of investment for a single video, so I put on my MacGyver hat and built my own. I used an 8×10 frame from Walmart, a cheap 3 ring binder, some cork-board from Dollar Tree, and electric tape from Home Depot… total costs to build it – $12.84.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with MacGyver, here is some background info.
Angus “Mac” MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series MacGyver. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both portrayals MacGyver is shown to possess a genius-level intellect; proficiency in multiple languages; superb engineering skills; excellent knowledge of applied physics; military training in bomb disposal techniques and a preference for non-lethal resolutions to conflicts. The hit television series MacGyver, which lasted from 1985 to 1992 and was highly successful throughout its seven-year run.
The character Angus MacGyver, also known as just MacGyver or Mac, was an optimistic action hero who was notable for using a Swiss Army knife instead of a firearm as his tool of choice.Young war hero Angus `Mac’ MacGyver has an extraordinary knack for unconventional problem solving and an extensive bank of scientific knowledge that he believes can best be put to use saving lives, both of which come in handy when he creates a clandestine organization within the United States government to tackle high-risk missions around the world. Working under the sponsorship of the Department of External Affairs, MacGyver quietly prevents disasters.
The character is portrayed as a non-violent problem solver and typically eschews the use of guns. Even in cases where he must resort to physical violence, or when his improvised devices are used to attack hostile opponents, he is always doing so in self-defense and, if possible, subduing or disabling rather than killing.
MacGyver is passionate about social causes, having on several occasions volunteered to help the less-privileged, showing a particular affinity for – and connection with – children. For example, he is shown to be a “big brother”, conducts hearing research at a school for deaf children, and helps out in a mountain excursion for delinquent youths.He strives to protect the environment and endangered species such as eagles, the black rhino,and wolves It was also established that he became a vegetarian at an unspecified date during the series run.
MacGyver’s persistence and the improvisational nature of his plans make him difficult to thwart, as his nemesis Murdoc pointed out, because not even MacGyver himself knows what he is going to do next. Unlike stereotypical “macho” or stoic action heroes, MacGyver exhibits grief in the face of tragedies, open fear in perilous situations, and shows pain after a fight. A sensitive character, Mac has a tendency to blame himself for personal losses and tragedies. He usually carries duct tape, chewing gum, a Timex watch, strike-anywhere matches, a flashlight, and an ID card. Yes, that’s what he uses to get out of every near death situation.
In short, he’s awesome.
17. How would you sell hot coco in Florida?
I’d add some ice and throw it in my vitamix for the perfect blended frozen hot coco!
Oh yea. As cool as ice!! 🤣
Thank you for stopping by Greenbacks Magnet!!!!
Hope you enjoyed this latest blogger interview. I try to keep it 💯here and help people improve the quality of their financial lives. Thank you for reading.
GBM Miriam: Thank you Michael for treating us all for an inside look to becoming financially alert. You’ve been a great guest!
Want more financial wake up calls from Michael. Follow him on Twitter and read his blog at Financially Alert.
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