If your financial success is similar to a combination lock and you already have three of the four numbers you need to unlock it, perhaps one of the big wealth lessons I learned in 2012 will be that last number you need to unlock your lock and achieve financial freedom.

My most important lesson of 2012 didn’t come from a real estate investing deal – it rarely does. It came from Gary Johnston – financial freedom teacher extraordinaire.

I’ve heard about Gary for the past four or five years but was always too busy to attend his seminars. I thought he was just a financial calculator guy. This past April, I heard Gary for the first time. He is a horse of a different color. Kim and I signed up for his May Financial Freedom seminar in Atlanta. That event changed our lives – the way we look at wealth and investing – forever.

Attend one of Gary’s programs. Don’t wait to pass go and collect $200 – sign up for it today. We’re bringing Gary to Atlanta to speak to our real estate investors group in March. Kim and I will be attending every event he teaches in 2013. Gary’s website is GaryJohnston.com. He really is this good.

The best book I read in 2012 was The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Darren writes about the compounding effect our little, everyday decisions have on our lives – both good and bad – over time.

Think of our everyday decisions like the story about the magic-doubling penny. Here’s how the story goes: You get to choose between getting three million dollars cash or a magic penny that doubles in value every day for 31 days. Which do you want?

Most people, because they drastically underestimate the effect of compounding, choose the three million dollars. If they had chosen the magic penny instead, after 31 days, they’d have $10.6 million dollars.

Here’s the important thing to remember: At day ten, the magic penny is only worth $5.12. At day 15, it’s worth a whopping $164. At day 20, it has climbed only up to $5,243.

Honestly, at day 20, if we were again offered $3 million for our magic penny, how many of us would jump all over the offer?

The compounding effects of our everyday decisions have a similar affect on our lives. If we want to be healthy when we’re in our eighties, then we must eat healthy and workout 45 minutes a day, every day, between now and then.

Likewise, if we want to be successful real estate investors, we must meet with sellers on a regular basis. If we want to be wealthy, we must live well below our means and regularly invest the difference between what we make and what we spend in high-yielding capital assets that increase in value over time and aren’t devastated by taxes. This is a simple concept – but it’s not an easy one.

Final thought: The other day, I was working with a seasoned investor. I had one of my Jim Rohn CDs playing. The investor complained that the “motivational stuff” doesn’t last for him. I was reminded of something Zig Ziglar always said: “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing - that’s why we recommend it daily.”

Bill and Kim’s North Georgia Real Estate Investors Association meets on the second Thursday of each month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Hilton Garden Inn off Main Street in Cartersville, Georgia. For more info, go to REIoutpost.com.