Accidental Income http://www.accidentalincome.com/ What if after working hard for years and years, you woke up to find that you'd made it, and that you're finally a millionaire? What if it happened overnight, by accident? What then? en-US Copyright 2008 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:04:51 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification A Word About Philanthropy and Giving Back No discussion about accidental wealth would be complete without a direct discussion of philanthropy. Not because I'm going to tell you that that you "should" be philanthropic, but because I want you to make a conscious choice one way or the other. It's too easy to conveniently forget as you come to terms with your new found situation and miss opportunities you hadn't thought of.

Yes, I want you to at least think about and make a decision about how you might give some of your wealth away.

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/a-word-about-philanthropy-and.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/a-word-about-philanthropy-and.html Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:04:51 -0800 Nor a lender be... This is something we struggle with periodically.

The conclusion we've arrived at is this: except under exceptionally rare circumstances we no longer make loans to friends, family or business acquaintances.

This has been a hard, and yes sometimes expensive, lesson learned.

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/nor-a-lender-be.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/nor-a-lender-be.html Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:17:59 -0800 Neither a borrower ... One of the thigns that has always amazed me is our societies reliance on credit: loans, credit cards, mortgages and the like. On would think that upon reaching a position of affluence the thing to do would be to avoid borrowing anything from anyone.

I mean, who wouldn't want the opportunity to say that they were truly "debt free"?

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/neither-a-borrower.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/neither-a-borrower.html Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:13:08 -0800 Quitting the Day Job I'm sure you've seen the classic scenario where a lottery winner quits his or her job the day after winning the big prize - before even cashing the check.

My opinion? A huge mistake.

No, not the quitting, necessarily, but the lack of thought put into the decision.

Having money doesn't mean that quitting your day job is the right thing to do. There more to work than just a pay check. Much more.

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/quitting-the-day-job.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/quitting-the-day-job.html Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:28:55 -0800 Being generous - in small ways Almost every year for the past several years I've made sure to get a $100 bill and put it into a Salvation Army kettle.

Why? It feels good!

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/being-generous-in-small-ways.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/being-generous-in-small-ways.html Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:42:20 -0800 What's More Valuable than Money? Time.

OK, many things are really more valuable than money, but for this discussion I'll be focussing on time, and how some habits that you developed before wealth may not be serving you as well now.

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/whats-more-valuable-than-money.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/whats-more-valuable-than-money.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:56:07 -0800 Lessons from The Two Million Dollar Car One of the first things we did after "winning the stock option lottery" was to exercise some of those options, sell some of the resulting stock, and then invest some of the proceeds and spend the rest.

I think we invested more than we spent. (I know we lost more than we spent, since this was also just before the stock market crash of 1987, but that's a story for another day.)

One of the things we spent money on was a new car for my wife. It was sorely needed, her previous car having been nearly totalled the year before.

Naturally we were in a position to get a "nice" car, and we did. This was 1987, and the car, a new Pontiac Bonneville, cost something like $20,000. To the car's credit, and to my wife's, it lasted nearly 10 years, so we feel like we truly got our moneys worth out of it.

Or did we?

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/lessons-from-the-two-million-d.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/lessons-from-the-two-million-d.html Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:04:26 -0800 It's not just about you. Forget the wealth, every time I hear the old adage that "money issues" are the leading cause for marital strife and divorce I'm reminded about how really lucky I am.

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/its-not-just-about-you.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/its-not-just-about-you.html Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:55:59 -0800 So just who the heck are you? I can almost hear the question: "So, just who the heck are you, and what makes you some kind of authority on wealth?"

Specifically who I am is unimportant. This site isn't about me, really.

I'm certainly no authority. Far from it, actually. I'm just a guy that got lucky. Really, really lucky.

]]> http://www.accidentalincome.com/so-just-who-the-heck-are-you.html http://www.accidentalincome.com/so-just-who-the-heck-are-you.html Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:35:24 -0800