Making money if you're ever absent

If you own the right kind of property, you can make money as an absentee owner. Owning an apartment building is a fairly uncomplicated process that can bring in good money. Your manager or superintendent runs the building but all the rents are sent directly to you. When any fuel oil is delivered, or anything else for that matter, the bills are sent to you. When the manager needs outside repairmen to work on the building, he has them send the bill to you. Thus, since you control all the cash flow (in from the rents, out to pay bills) you can be totally in charge yet you need only devote a few hours once in a while to actually go and look at the building to make sure your manager is taking good care of it.

If you must pay, then pay as little as possible.

Ok, let's face it; the above methods, good as they are, may not always be available to you. You may actually have to pay to travel and have a good time. Well, you can still travel in style yet pay very little. The trick is to know that high-quality, low-priced alternatives are available. For example, your airline fare will most likely be your biggest expense. So try not to take a scheduled airline flight at the height of the season leaving in daylight hours on a weekend. If you can, avoid the regular flights and get on a charter flight. Under recent law, charter flights are now freely available to individuals. You don't have to be part of a group. What you must do, though, is book your flight well in advance. And if you can't avoid taking a regular airline, then fly at night in the middle of the week. And even if your trip is really a vacation, try, nevertheless, to do something connected directly to your business while there. That's because airlines generally offer a better price to a vacationer who buys a round-trip ticket and stays on vacation for three weeks or more. Most business trips take only a few days and that round trip fare is higher. But if you take a 5 week vacation, say, and conduct business for 8 days during those 5 weeks, then you can deduct from your taxes your air fare and your expenses (hotel, food, etc.) for the 8 days you were conducting business.

So go ahead and get your share of the good life; just remember it's even more fun if you can make a profit or save money. You didn't get the money you have by being wasteful or careless. Enjoy yourself, sure! Just watch what you're doing so you'll have plenty of money to keep on enjoying yourself.