When I was practicing law, my colleagues would talk about how lucky they were to put their kids through college or. “I don’t know how we did it, but we put the kids through college , and now we’re hoping to start saving for retirement,” they’d say. In reality, they were saying much more—“Wow! We’re so lucky to barely be able to put the kids through college, now we’re just crossing our fingers that we’ll be able to start saving enough to retire.” I was on that path too, toward a life of just scraping by, where I’d spend just as much (if not more) than I earned, living financially strapped. It was only a matter of time before I made the same comments and had the same financial destiny. I thought having my own law practice would make me financially free, but my path (owning my own firm) wasn’t going to lead me there, as I learned from my colleagues. So I decided to get off the beaten path and head down a road less trodden, as difficult as it might be at first. In the end, the views are worth the extra effort. Why is it so difficult to get ahead? 1. We unnecessarily spend money on the “latest and greatest,” things we don’t need (but that emotionally appeal to us) 2. Debt—once we’re in the red, and spend based on habit and emotion, it can be very difficult to break patterns, discipline ourselves and get out of debt 3. Taxes take up to 50 percent of our salary. B.S. with Honors Hofstra University Long Island, New York, 1984. I finished my four-year undergraduate program in 3 years and graduated Cum laude as well as a member of Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity. I majored in Political Science with a minor in Sociology and completed my first legal internship. Hofstra University School of Law, Long Island, New York, 1987. During my three years of law school, I completed an internship with a New York Supreme Court Justice and second legal internship with a law firm and also began investing in real estate. Business: Immediately upon graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I opened my own law practice. From 1988 to 2001, I practiced with my partner under the name Miles and Gillard, where I concentrated in the area of real estate and business law. During that time, I had the privilege of working with thousands of clients in various aspects of their business and investing life. Find Out More: http://www.freetaxstrategies.com