Life or Debt A One-Week Plan for a Lifetime of Financial Freedom

My Story This chapter is about me and my life. It's not necessary for you to know anything about me at all for this plan to work for you, so if you feel like skipping this part of the book, feel free. But I think it may make sense for you to know the person you're getting advice from, so here's the abbreviated version of how I came to be writing Life or Debt. Ever notice how practically all self-help or motivational books start out with the author revealing some sort of catharsis that suddenly caused them to see the light? You know, stuff like "There I was, forty-five years old, living on the street and eating from a Dumpster, when suddenly inspiration struck like a divine lightning bolt! All I had to do was follow the seven magic steps and I'd become rich beyond my wildest expectations. And sure enough, it's happened! Now I have a mansion in Malibu, my own helicopter, and I party at the Playboy mansion." What the author often leaves out, of course, is how much of that newfound wealth comes from following the seven magic steps and how much comes from selling books and videotapes on infomercials and home shopping channels. Here's the first of many embarrassing admissions I'll make: While I have made my share of stupid mistakes, I've never been poor, gone bankrupt, or had a sudden revelation that laid the "true path" to fame and fortune at my feet. Nor am I rich now, at least not in the "beachhouse in Malibu" sense. And while I hope that I make money from this book (and get invited to the Playboy mansion, for that matter), it's not really that big a deal to me one way or the other. Why? Because my life is fine exactly the way it is. I'm doing precisely what I want to do, and what I make doing it is fine by me. But that isn't how my life has always been. As you'll soon discover, there was a timeand not so long agothat I forgot who I was and what I wanted out of life. Here's how I came to be your humble narrator: In 1973 I was seventeen years old. For those of you who weren't alive and/or aware at that time, trust me, it was an interesting time to be in America. By 1973, the hippie message of love, peace, and togetherness may have been fading, but you couldn't tell it by talking to me. Another aspect of the love generation that I could especially relate to was the wholesale rejection of all things material. The idea of sharing with your brothers and sisters (that is, everyone younger than thirty) and thereby avoiding the traps that lurked in money, property, and politics seemed both reasonable and realistic. But I wanted to try it for myself. So promptly after graduating from high school, I left my middle-class home in Atlanta and hitchhiked across the country. My goal was to forget how my parents and society had taught me to view the world and instead to live life the way it was meant to be lived: with no obligations and plenty of adventure. And this wasn't a summer vacation we're talking about here. This was going to be my life. So for several months, that's what I did. I experienced the ultimate in freedom. I went where I wanted, did what I wanted, and stayed as long as I wanted. For most of that time, I didn't have two nickels to rub together. I survived mostly by doing day labor, stuff like furniture delivery or unloading boxcars. Always something different, which was cool because I got to learn how to do lots of things and had the opportunity to meet lots of people. Then, when I'd satisfied my curiosity and earned enough to meet my meager needs, I moved on. My ultimate goal was to reach the Mecca of my generation: San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury. That was the capital of this brave new nation, whereJohnson, Stacy is the author of 'Life or Debt A One-Week Plan for a Lifetime of Financial Freedom' with ISBN 9780345452139 and ISBN 0345452135.