If you’re like my wife and I, sometimes you just like to get out and go on relaxing drive. Sometimes we’ll go into the mountains for a nice quiet scenic drive, other times we’ll just explore areas of our city we haven’t managed to get to. Occasionally, we’ll travel to the uppity areas and gawk at the mansions, with their well-manicured lawns just waiting for my dog to discover the holy grail of lawn pooping places.

As fun as it is to day dream about having a 10,000 sq ft. mansion that we’d get to spend hours vacuuming every week, for me, it’s all about the cars. Being a car guy, I never miss an opportunity to attend a car show. There’s nothing like drooling over a brand new Ferrari, Lamborghini, Dodge Viper, or my personal favorite the McLaren. Knowing that the chances of me ever personally owning one are about equivalent to that of me benching 400 lbs and looking like the Terminator, I love to get up close and personal to those beauties, even if it’s only for a brief moment. I had that opportunity to do just that this past week.

I recently traveled for work, from Los Angeles to Mississippi. The evening prior to my return was a beautiful gulf coast evening. The air was crisp and cool, the beach was almost empty, the sun reflected a deep red off the water, and as I strolled along I couldn’t help but envy how relaxing everything felt. It was a completely different feel from that of Los Angeles. There were no car horns, no road rage, no concrete highways 8 lanes wide, and best of all, no traffic. Oh, and this was a Thursday….

Hey all you financial fanatics!! By this point I hope you’ve read the first two parts of my little Getting Your Financial House in Order segment (Renegotiate/Cancel Everything and Budgeting). I hope you’re running a good and tight budget, scrutinizing all purchases, and learning to handle money like Yoda handles a light saber! Yeah…I just made a Star Wars reference. Don’t act like you don’t love it.

As you do start to build up savings, knowing what to do with the money is as important as initially saving it. For example,

• In the late 1990’s, you could have rushed out and invested in Beani Babies. That’s right!  Those plush little things were the biggest damn craze since sliced bread. What a debacle that was!
• Maybe you just love tigers and boxing. So why not follow in the footsteps of the Former Heavy Weight Ear Eating Champion Mike Tyson, and pick yourself up a few Bengal Tigers? That’s a great investment…..right?