This was truly a week of learning for Aunty.  Not only from the great asset protection and tax relief workshop this weekend, but also from websites I visit, books and newsletters that I have read, and listening to CDs in my car.

One sad bit of news to report is that Real Deals Hawaii will not be having their monthly meetings (so this week’s meeting is off) until they start them up again in September.  They said to go visit them on Facebook/RealDeals, which I will be doing since I am already going through withdrawals from not seeing these guys.

So wassup and what has Aunty learned?  (stay tuned for the big AHA)

From one of Raymond Aaron‘s web lessons – listen for brilliance.  In fact, I had to tell Uncle that because I notice that his eyes tend to glaze over when I am talking to him.  Aigoo! (Korean way of saying “auwe”), Aigoo!  That’s okay.  It is still a good lesson and worth trying.  The next time I see you I hope to hear your brilliant thoughts and ideas.

From Doug Bench’s “Mind Your Brain” course I learned that in order to put a thought or memory into one’s long term memory where it can be used, one must do something to get it there from the short term thought flash before it disappears into the short term memory library and is never recalled again.  Repetition, association, fierce emotional feelings, and something else (but I forget, lol).  Good stuff though, and I will eventually do a Review on this excellent program.

Kung Fu Girl of KungFuFinance.com wrote her blog entries from Florida, where she is absorbing information from world experts on our economy, black swans, hyperinflation, police states, etc. etc…. so prepare for the worst because it seemed like almost everyone predicted the end of the USA’s role as the world power it is today.  Scary stuff, but Kung Fu Girl will be writing a post about surviving the coming storm in the near future.

Mike Dillard’s (Elevation Group) credit score improver Anthony Gaalaas says to keep ALL balances of credit cards and lines of credit below 25% of the full line.  Pay down immediately if it rises.  Now is the best time to improve your credit score in order to be able to take advantage of super low mortgage rates for as much real estate as you can borrow.  However, Aunty REALLY likes to get Hawaiian Miles VISA credit cards often – a big no-no for the credit score health, but sometimes the hit is worth the travel benefits.

A mean man, but he means well (I think)

John Reed.  I subscribe to his $125/yr Real Estate Investor’s Monthly and almost asked for a refund.  In his April 2012 issue, the man’s ego was quite distasteful with his bashing of some well known names as well as a rude tribute to the recently departed Thomas Kinkade, calling him a BS artist.

However, though distasteful and egotistical, this man sometimes imparts gold nuggets of information that I find very useful.

Many of his articles were about hyperinflation, money, mortgages and real estate, somewhat in line with Kung Fu Girl‘s reports from the Florida Casey Conference this past weekend.

To quote John Reed, “Those who owned real estate in Austria, Germany, and Hungary during the hyperinflation in the early 1920s were glad they did, IF they could hang onto it, and if they could find food to eat.”

Then, in another article about do-it-yourself-ing, he touched on living off the grid of electricity and how difficult it could be, though having generators, wood stoves and solar panels could help.  He started off the article with how the West was settled – the government gave land grants to young men and after 5 years, the land was theirs.

That’s when the aha(!) moment hit Aunty like a big AHA!

Aunty had to jump out of her chair and talk to Uncle.  “Uncle!”, I said (well I don’t actually call him Uncle), “How about we buy agriculture acreage up in Waimanalo or Maui (instead of beachfront for his fishing pleasure) with a 1031 exchange of a property or two, get a mortgage on it, rent it out for a year or so, and then build our ideal simple house on it with solar panels, water catchment system and live in it while I grow vegetables and raise chickens for food?”

There was a long pause as Uncle looked at me.  You see, Uncle has been baptized in a Christian religion that totally believes in God’s salvation for man as prophesized in the Bible.  Uncle is a very calm deliberate thinker and has learned to ask simple questions and wait for explanations when I come up with some of my ideas.

“What?” and then “Why?”, came out of his mouth as he sat there in the middle of finishing up a letter.

We must plan and live in order to prosper and survive

Whether the worst case scenario comes to pass, or our economic and social woes slowly and miraculously get fixed after a few major overhauls, doing nothing and hoping for the best is not good enough.

Just as those pioneers packed up and hauled their life’s belonging in a wagon across the prairies, it is our turn to “Go West”, but in Aunty and Uncle’s case, “Go Country, not Beach.”

So, the plan is to live where we can grow food to sustain ourselves – banana, papaya, mango, lichee and avocado trees, soy beans, herbs, vegetables, chickens to lay eggs for our protein and eat the bugs in the garden.

Stock up on canned foods like spam and vienna sausages, packaged foods and mixes, portable water filters.  Buy lots of soap, matches, batteries, lanterns, candles, whiskey, and other goods that can be used for barter.  (from this point on Aunty is asking for those little bottles of whiskey on the airplane since frequent fliers get 2 free drinks per flight.)

Buy as much cheap silver coins (or gold if you can afford it) like old dimes, which can be used as currency for goods.  Start thinking like people in the bartering society of old, and keep building up a supply of barter desirable items.  Keep the 2 bicycles that we have in riding shape.

Becoming self sufficient with solar panels tied into batteries and back up generators, gas stoves, water system or access to water, just in case.

The world as we know it might stay exactly the way it is and has been, but it is the just in case that Aunty fears.  I hope it never comes to pass.  Even if it doesn’t, this projected way of life is a good plan, or so Aunty believes.

December 21, 2012?

Hopefully not even a ripple on the water, like how YK2 (year 2000) was nothing but a nothing.  The Rapture?  Hope not.

There are too many things to do, people to meet, places to go.  Keep well, stay dry, make money, and be happy.  For Aunty’s sake, start taking little steps to get financially stronger, safer and wiser.  Maybe I’ll see you in Waimanalo!

This weekend was a fantastic learning experience!  Aunty was in a 3 day Asset Protection and Tax Relief class put on by the great folks at the Anderson Law Group (see alglaw.com), Michael Bowman, Rod Buttars, and Aaron Yen.

For whatever reason, the class was not full, so we had a lot more attention and time for questions and answers as well as longer one on one consultations than in the past.

And this time, this class was the BEST Continue reading →

Although Aunty’s fantasy about meeting the Dalai Lama face to face and bumping foreheads, or having our eyes lock in recognition did not happen, it was still a highlight to have heard and seen the Dalai Lama at the Pillars of Peace on April 15, 2012.

Aunty did a page about the Dalai Lama.  Such a cute and kind man.  He said that everyone is like an old friend to him.  Indeed.  He had no airs, no arrogance, no pretense.

Aunty is glad to have a new old friend.