skibum - 3:11 am on Jul 31, 2012 (gmt 0)

This is KEY! Save your windfalls so when the wind stops blowing and your sail no longer carries you, you have the luxury of time to make your next move and ideally never, ever have your back against the wall when deciding where to seek your next paycheck or income stream.

My point? SAVE YOUR MONEY WHEN YOU MAKE IT! I know people that are house poor, car poor, etc. because they buy like idiots on the way up, don't pay off their bills, and never see the possibility of being back to ground zero. I paid off all the debts, bought cars with cash, reduced the mortgage to half the local rents and banked as much as possible including SEP IRAs.

It is very easy to scale up and spend more more often. If you keep your lifestyle significantly lower than the big spikes in your income, so the SEP IRA, the ROTH IRA and all that jazz while investing conservatively, your income may fall but your lifestyle can remain steady for quite some time.