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We know that this seems slightly off topic for a personal finance site but stay with us on this and we’ll explain.

Last Saturday morning we were off to a Rotary function. I was driving with Adrian as a passenger and my parents in the back seats. It was a hire car and I looked at the dash to increase the airflow since my passenger window had started to steam up. The car wandered slightly on to the dirt on the side of the road and I straightened the car, but then the back end fish tailed out and I hit the brakes. The car went into a spin and crashed into some trees, rolling onto the driver’s side. I screamed “No!” as I saw what was about to happen.

Miraculously (and I don’t use that word often) we were all okay. I had visions of killing my entire family just before we hit the trees. The trees were actually what saved us. They were strong enough to stop us from rolling down a steep embankment, but not too big to puncture the windows and injure us. I called the police and ambulance with my mobile (cell) phone.

A couple in a passing car and the Police helped us out, with the Ambulance officers checking that we were okay. We also had the State Emergency Services and the Country Fire Service attend the accident.

To everyone that helped us THANK YOU.

We are all okay except for a few bruises and a broken thumb nail. For the rest of the day I kept asking Adrian if it was true that we all got out alive. The Police told us (and I have been back to the crash site myself) that if I had rolled the car anywhere else then the result would have been very different due to the steep embankments.

Now almost dying – trust me this was genuine fear that I had injured or killed my entire family, tends to focus the mind. It sorts out what is and isn’t important.

I know that there will be some BIG changes taking place, although I don’t know what they all are yet.

I feel that I have been given a second chance….

When I was asking Adrian if we had died what regrets would he have and he answered “None”. I thought about the question and my answer would have been the same (apart from the accident - I feel that I have more to do here).

You see I tell those that mean most to me how much I love them (even more so during the last couple of days), and I have a business that I love. I love to teach and connect with people, whether it’s through the internet, phone, through speaking engagements or one to one.

Now the majority of people won’t have this simple a wake-up call. Most people are still waiting for the mythical “Someday”. Well we want to share our good luck with everyone.

You see life goes by so quickly – ask anyone over 45 and they will tell you this. The only place you can start to live the life that you want is right now, where you are with what you have. You can start now and to help you along, and to share our luck with everyone we have reduced the price of our Successful Personal Finance course by 40% for subscribers to our website.

This is not a sales gimmick. We are genuinely grateful to be alive and we want to share our gratitude.

So I will leave you with the question of the title - what regrets would you have if you died tomorrow? If not living your life fully and passionately is on the list then it’s time to for a change.      

Whether you agree with it or not, in several major countries the governments are giving stimulus money to help stimulate the economy. The idea behind this is that you will stimulate the economy by spending the money and if you’re in the USA then two-thirds on your economy is based on consumerism. However if you are successful in personal finance then you would think twice before spending any stimulus money.  

Australia is one of these countries that has already given out one handout and now wants to give every eligible adult up to A$950 (Household stimulus money bill 2009 ) for them to spend to help the economy. However the first handout was used mostly for savings so will this second handout do any better?

It’s hardly surprising that most people chose to spend the money on savings considering what the media tells us, and the media is where most people get their financial information. What we have to remember is that in most cases the media is selling advertising space, and bad news sells.

People need to work out how to use the stimulus money to their best advantage since it doesn’t make sense to spend the money if you’re already in debt or you’re in fear of losing your job. Successful personal finance isn’t really that difficult. At the very basic level work out your income and your expenses over a month and see what you have left. If you don’t have anything left then you need to one of two things – decrease or spending or increase your income.

Don’t just decide to spend the stimulus money because it’s what the government expects – they don’t know your individual circumstances and you do. No-one actually cares about your money as much as you do which is why successful personal finance is so important.

If you decide to save the money look around for the best interest rate you can get. Even though interest rates are going down there are still some good interest rates around in reliable banking institutions. If you’re in a relationship maybe you can put the money together and open a joint account with more money that may attract more interest.

What would I do with my stimulus money? I would invest in shares but that’s because I’m a share option trader and there are some shares that I’m interested in.

To achieve successful personal finance you could always chose to invest in yourself, to improve your own financial knowledge so that you are not relying on anyone else to look after you no matter what the economy is doing.

This week has seen Business Week interview 4 newcomers in it's list of 50 Most Generous Givers. It's a good reminder at the time of Thanksgiving in the USA that not all the rich are 'filthy'.

Some of the associations we have with rich people are not always good - you just have to look at the some of the saying we have associated with being rich:

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24)

"Filthy rich"

"Money is the root of all evil" whereas the proper quote is "The love of money is the root of all evil"

Now I realise that there are sayings in favour of money and of being rich but it seems to be the ones that are against being rich that are quoted most often.

However money is neither good or bad - it's neutral. It's what we do with it that matters and with the global economy in bad shape more and more organisations are going to rely on wealthy donors as the some people stop giving to charity.

To read the full interview on Business Week see:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_49/b4111056042305.htm

You can see a slide show of the Top 50 American Givers at:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1124_biggest_givers/index.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5

Some people wait until they have riches until they start giving but we can all give a little right now.

If everyone gave a little then the people who really need it would receive a lot.