Entitlement mentality for the “bling-bling” life style has taken over the entire USA, so it seems. Entitlement drives people to living outside of their means. Every time I pull up to a stop-light in my beat-up ten year old Honda Civic, I am certain to see a late model high-end luxury car or SUV next […]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if you don’t take care of yourself, no one will! Published today in CNN Money: Retirement scare: 60% of workers have less than $25,000 saved

I am absolutely amazed at how much time and energy is being wasted on complaining. Some complain about their job, others about not having a job. Some blame the current president for our economic problems, while others blame the previous. And the list of complaint topics just goes on, and on, and on… Maybe some […]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve been saying for a while now that if you ever had any thoughts about buying some income-producing property, now is the time to do it.  Never mind that the prices are likely to continue to fall for some time still.  It appears that Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, and Robert Shiller all […]

O.K. – I know I’ve said before that I don’t care when real estate values are going to stop falling and begin to rise again. And I mean it – I don’t! Nevertheless, for those of you out there who are just itching for a better answer, I do have one. According to an story […]

On Wednesday, February 22, 2012,there was a story in my local newspaper, THE LIMA NEWS, entitled “Wapakoneta Students Play Stock Game for Congressman“. Turns out that Congressman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Urbana, Ohio, visited a high school in Wapakoneta where the senior economics class students have been participating in the “Capitol Hill Challenge”, a […]

I spent last night scouring the web in search of a good conversation to take part in. What can I say – I felt frisky…I came across quite a few conversations focused on the issue of when real estate values will finally begin a turnaround. I briefly considered taking part in one of those, but […]

I had an interesting encounter today at the gym. A young lady was on a treadmill next to mine, who had spoken to me in the past and as such was aware of my real estate and finance background, confided to me that her entire well-being and future happiness depends on her boyfriend’s ability to […]

The following is a conversation that took place online between me and a visitor to my website. I feel compelled to provide all of the Cash Flow Freedom Builders with this transcript, as what was discussed gets to the heart of financial freedom. This is the email I received:   Ben,   I listened to […]

Most people measure financial success in terms of having “money in the bank”.  As such, whenever most people try to accumulate wealth the entirety of their effort is comprised of hoarding cash.  Although the ability to save money and be frugal is crucial, I believe that saving money in and of itself does not work; […]

“There are only two mistakes on can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” Buddha There are seven unarguable truths that come to mind when I think of financial freedom.  The vision that I offer to my readers is deeply rooted in my beliefs and perspective.  It is […]

“The  only  thing  worse  than  being  blind  is  having  sight  but  no  vision.” Helen  Keller   I  am  impressed  by  the  duality  of  our  universe.    The  same  paint  on  the  wall  looks  a  different  shade  from   different  angles;  an  identical  sandwich  seems  to  taste  different  from  one  day  to  the  next  depending  on […]

The effectiveness of rental real estate as a strategy for getting out of the rat race is dependant on one factor – cash flow.  If we can buy-up houses and apartments whereby the rents coming-in are greater than the sum of all of the expenses, then the only two questions are how many of them […]