This is a very thoughtful post.
I enjoyed your insights and I share your point of view.
By the way, I just read that a penny actually is made from 5 cents of metal.
I like the idea that there’s opportunity in every act and that there’s hidden value in a penny.
Thanks again!
I enjoyed my visit.
I pick up pennies all the time and I don’t care what people think. Just the other day a lady at work gave me a plastic bag full of pennies that they collected from the floor of our office.
It had over $3 in it. They were going to throw it away.
Bill Woessner on
January 26, 2007 13:33
In principle, I agree with what you’re saying. Social Security is a regressive tax and Medicare is a flat tax. When you take them together with the income tax, they have a flattening effect. Agreed 100%. But you can’t really look at our tax system without considering the whole.
The income tax is not as strictly progressive as you make it out to be. Thanks to the convoluted system of deductions and credits, many high wage earners end up paying very little in taxes. My wife and I are a prime example. Nearly HALF of our gross income is not taxed because of one deduction or another. For 2006, I estimate our federal income tax rate at 5.8%. Not what you’d expect from a doctor and a mathematician with no children.
And then there’s Warren Buffet. He recently did a tax rate exercise in his own office. All he did was ask his office staff to compute individual tax rates. He discovered, quite to his amazement, that his tax rate is substantially lower than anyone in his office. This is Warren Buffet: the 2nd richest man in the world. So much for progressive income taxes…
Then there are excise taxes. I don’t know of all the federal excise taxes, but I know that, at the very least, gasoline and cigarettes are taxed. I firmly believe (though I have no evidence to back it up) that these are HIGHLY regressive taxes. The poor can’t live where they work, so they commute and end up paying more gasoline taxes. I believe the poor are also more likely to smoke, though again, I have no numbers on the matter.
If you consider ALL the taxes that individuals pay, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that our tax system is actually regressive. I don’t know of any studies on the matter, but I would be interested to find some. Our tax system is an abomination. We need to throw it out and start from scratch. If we actually design it, instead of letting it evolve on the whims of legislators, I’m sure we could build a fair and simple tax system.
[...] Long Term Investments: Once you fund your current life (something not everybody does), and you are on your way to funding your Retirement, you can fund your great achievements. I put it last in your list of things to achieve because you can always buy a house later, but you should not be risking going into debt by not having emergency savings or the money to buy your luxuries, and you should not risk poverty on the years you are least able to produce money. This is money you will not probably use in the next couple of years, and as such you can invest it. A Mutual Fund, Electronic Traded Fund, or Brokerage account could be a good idea. Those with kids may want to think about Educational IRAs or 529 plans. Again, make the transfers automatic so that it requires less discipline on your part and that makes the goal more achievable. You may want to check into the Frugal Stock Market Choices for investment vehicles that may be appropriate for this kind of savings. [...]
[...] Short Term Savings: Start by setting up a savings account or money market account. Your local bank is fine, and it is not important to optimize the interest rate you get on it. Save 10% of your income there, as soon as you get your paycheck. Most banks will allow you to make the transfers automatic — do so, it will work better that way. As soon as you save a month’s worth of take-home pay (minus savings), move that money into a 3 month, self-renewing Certificate of Deposit. These are not investments, these are emergency savings. Keep saving until you can build a 3 month CD Ladder. Once you have your ladder, all the rest of the money you save into this account is to have fun. My brother calls his short term Savings Account his “Fun Account”. I call my short term Money Market Account my “Discretionary Account”. [...]
Good morning and welcome to the 85th Carnival of Personal Finance! Before we get started, I’d like to say a few words of introduction. First of all, if you’re new to FiveCentNickel then welcome! If not, then welcome back!
This site is nearl…
“Capitalist” is a loaded word.
Some people think a “capitalist” is a pig. Some think a “capitalist” is someone who takes advantage of others and exploits any resource he can to get wealthy. Some people think a R…
[...] Moneyandfinance talks about the Social Security tax in the context of tax brackets: By looking at hard numbers we can try to remove politics from it and see its effect on people and society. Increasing the social security tax rates will burden even more our lower income people and will create an ever flatter curve. Not doing something to fix social security now will create bigger issues to solve that will make society do hard decisions: like increasing retirement age or increasing social security tax, burdening people even more. [...]
[...] The main issue is that being a foreign entity they can’t really issue W-2 or even 1099 tax forms. They can’t just employ me either, since I would be a foreign national if they employ me directly. Essentially I had no choice but to form a corporation that will enter into a paid agreement with them to provide professional services: my services. This is how the Limited Liability Corporation had to be done. [...]
Though I keep track of “alternative income” instead of passive income. The difference is that income from my blog (my hobby) is definitely not passive. Yet, I feel it should count since it doesn’t come from my 9-5 job.
I also keep track of passive expenses, which I call “necessary expenses.” I add up things like rent, car payments, gas, food, cable, Internet access… pretty much any expense that I pay each month.
I subtract that alternative income from my necessary expenses to come up with a total of how how far away from one level of financial freedom. Obviously there are other costs each month and things like that, but I will have some kind of party when that income passes expenses. At that point, if I lose my job, my “burn rate” will be so tiny that I won’t be rushed into taking a job because I need it to get by.
You can see all this in a tiny box in the top right of my page. I keep track of both of mine on my homepage.
[...] Just like that, a month and a half since I left the world of gainful employment I will start at a new job in a Pre-IPO startup company (beginning of April 2007). So much for my self-employment trial, and I say that with sadness as I was already enjoying the fun of having my own business (which I will keep on the side for miscellaneous purposes).There is something I discovered during my numerous hours thinking about the business model: there is a stage in anyone’s career where the value of the ability to decide how perform a work exceeds the value of the ability to perform the work. My late employer valued my ability to decide how to perform a task or implement something a lot. The market also values my ability to perform it, but I have discovered that if I did 100 days of billable work at my current rate I would make close to what I made in gainful employment in base salary. If I do more than a 100 days of billable work the number will most probably come closer to what I have been doing, plus bonuses. [...]
[...] As a response to my 2007 Financial Resolutions posting someone asked what dividend generating stocks I use. I do have a mixture of growth stocks and cash cow stocks. Some of the growth stocks generate a small amount of dividends (and I still count those towards my yearly dividend goals), but that is not the point of this article: cash cow stocks are. [...]
[...] My administrative worries do not end there. I will have to open a business checking account as soon as I return to Massachusetts (I think Citizens Bank is the chosen one). For that I needed the Articles of Incorporation that I believe are the ones provided as a result of the Limited Liability Corporation process I went through. I also needed an Employer Identification Number to open the account — similar to a Social Security Number, but for Corporations. I will also have to learn about bookkeeping, taxes, self employment taxes, Self Employed Retirement Plans, and things I wouldn’t even imagine existed before. I will certainly learn how to handle invoices, and I had already started learning how to handle contracts: as I had to establish a few agreements before my engagement started. [...]
[...] The second finding I get is that what percentage of the earnings go into each bucket has a direct impact on the minimum amount of money that the salespeople could charge to their clients for consulting services. I have seen too many salespeople who try to outbid (or underbid) their competitors in order to win the business to later find out that they can’t find consultants willing to work for the amount of money they can pay them. For example, in our 15/15/20/50% example, this means that if you charge $1000/day for a consultant, the most you can pay such person is $500/day. From my previous 100 day/year billable time analysis I can conclude this consultant would earn $50,000/year (before paying all of his/her taxes insurance and administrative costs). Almost no computer worker would be willing to work for that amount. $2,000/day ($1,000/day for the consultant) would be more realistic, matching more closely what big companies charge for their average consultant. [...]
[...] x I happen to invest in both loan and cigarette producing companies. You probably have seen my cash-cow portfolio. One thing that both banks and Altria/Phillip Morris (MO) have in common is that they make addicts of very young people: before they even have an income to buy their products. [...]
[...] The middle class families are now complaining about the Alternative Minimum Tax. They are complaining that soon, even families earning $75,000/year will be hit by it. I do complaint about the unfair tax, and I consider myself middle class. However, I have to say this is a case where the middle class is a victim of their own ignorant creation.See, some people in the so called “middle class” keep arguing that the “rich” should pay the bulk of the cost of supporting this great nation. (In a different article, they already do!) The problem is that the Alternative Minimum Tax catched up with the people who asked the upper class to pay and now they don’t like it. [...]
[...] Just as I am returning from my down-under independent consulting gig I noticed that my incorporating article was referenced in the Working Solo Australian blog. I found it a nice coincidence!For as much joy as I am having now that I returned home I will have to do several administration tasks before finalizing this gig. I have to: [...]
Welcome to the April 2 edition of Carnival of Taxes. We’re a day removed from April Fools’ Day, but we’re going to keep a bit of the theme. This 15th Carnival of Taxes aims to keep you from making foolish tax mistakes. Let’s start with a post that …
I was the beneficiary of just such a year. I got a full $200 tax credit for putting money into my retirement accounts.
Interesting thing is with the Roth. Now that I’ve gotten the tax credit I could technically pull the contribution back out (since Roth’s are after tax money). I’m not sure why I would, but you could.
Sure there may be reason why you don’t want to buy a home, but I think if you want to buy a home you can. I think anyone can by a home. I bought my first home during my senior year of college. I then moved out of state, bought another home and rented out the first one.
You don’t have to commit to a single place. If you want/need to move, do so , and rent out the old place.
[...] Most of my dividend portfolio is based on banks, as described on my article Deposit at the Bank or Own The Bank. My father-in-law says (I rephrase) that any business that gets money in one hand and gives money away with the other hand is surely keeping something for themselves: a spread, a commission, administrative charge, or simply some revenue. Most importantly, they make money out of nothing at all: none or almost no inventory. Banks, casinos, insurance companies, and money changers fall into this category. [...]
[...] I believe that one of the reasons men do marginally better than women is because we are told by family or society to be ready to support a complete family with only our income. This makes many men a bit more aggressive at succeeding in their careers and bringing more money to the home: thus increasing their power within the house and within society. For women to become equally strong on their finances, they should feel the same way: capable of supporting a family by themselves. [This doesn’t mean men can manage money better than women. They may try harder to earn more.] — more on: Salary Differences, http://www.moneyandinvesting.net The book doesn’t expand on topics like supporting a significant other that becomes disabled or unemployed, the incremental expenses of having kids, or even provide detailed explanations on college education (a two page section on the two most popular college savings plans only). While I understand the interest of making the book brief, I am concerned that women will not be completely emancipated until they have equal or stronger money values than men: including the desire or perceived need to fully support a family on the economical sense (not only emotionally). Although some women will decide not to have kids, I believe the majority does ends up having them and may need to partially or even fully support them. [...]
Jason on
April 24, 2007 09:02
I just got a letter yesterday and it was much the same scenario. Letter said I owed over $20,000 in tax, penalty, and interest. Looks like I’ll really owe more like $1,600. ‘05 was the first year I had any capital gains to worry about and I totally muffed my tax return. On top of that, E-trade apparently sent the IRS a 1099-B for a same-day stock option exercise and sale, which was included in my W-2. So the IRS had me down for $35,000 in income (zero cost basis) just from that. I about had a heart attack at first.
[...] Many business owners frame the first dollar they are paid in some visible location on their establishment. I don’t happen to have an establishment (other than my briefcase), nor I think I will get payments in paper money. However, I feel proud to have received my first payment in the consulting business in the way of an International Wire. It arrived on 2007-04-20 09:21:27.19, and I guess the confirmation statement sent by the bank will have to serve as that first dollar to post somewhere.The actual mechanics of this ‘first dollar’ have been more complex than operating a cash register. I have had to set up a bank account first – opposite of what you usually do which is open an account once you have the money. That account was needed so that the customer could wire the payment. I also had to invoice for the services. [...]
I saw a study a long time ago that found there was even more discrimination against women if they were short, had a higher voice, and round (a few extra pounds.)
I think that if you did do research on this subject you would find that taller men do better regardless of ability.
Where I live there were huge cuts in education and when I looked at the research on who didn’t get a job it was females over 40 that were predominately looked over. The on-call lists now tend to be 80% female and only 20% male.
[...] While I can’t recall the exact place I heard it (although I’ve found at least one site that looks at the concept), I thought it was at least quickly looking into it. I compared putting money in a ING Direct “Savings Maximiser” account to buying stocks in four major Australian Banks: Commonwealth, Westpac, Suncorp, and Bank of Queensland. [...]
Great post. Although, as a professed beer snob, I could argue that the 2 beers you could get for $12 may have the tendency toward more alcohol content thus bringing you further away from sobriety. Especially if the beer is Belgian.
Hey, I’m Lacey. I was wondering if you might want to do a link trade with my Wedding Finance blog? My fiance and I are documenting our attempt at fundraising all of our wedding money.
2. Your Blog Title
3. Blog Description
4. URL of your blog
Best Regards
ge on
June 26, 2007 21:17
I just got the same thing and my heart nearly stopped. I do not owe anything else though. I am debating whether to use an account to clear this mess up on the first try or not. Did you hear back from the IRS and did your letter with documentation suffice?
Kathy on
July 12, 2007 01:29
Your article is 100% correct. I am a prime example.
I am currently making 70k per year.. and I am looking for a new job. When asked about salary preferences, I continuously say I just want the industry standard and NOTHING MORE. I am more interested in an interesting job with a nice work atmosphere.
For some reason, as a woman, I think I am depending on finding a man to help pay for the bills so I’m not worrying too much about it. This article has really opened my eyes to how society has brainwashed me to depend on a man! Great stuff!
Kathy on
July 12, 2007 01:33
There are free dump days in california where you can dump your junk in a dumpster for free.. although I guess you would have had to dissassemble everything.
I would never spend that kind of money on throwing stuff out. I would have placed a Craigslist ad and said “free execrise machine deliver not included”
THe moral bit is quite hard to say. Cause, if, someone purposely leave their WIFI signal for others to use, then it is ok. If i have a non time limited signal, might as well share it with other.
But if someone have WEP or other encryption, & we hack into it, then it is considered breaking and entry, I think. Morally & legally wrong. A few months back, Singapore prosecuted someone for piggybacking WIFI.
i saw in the news a few days ago, that somewhere in China, there are buns manufactered with 60% cardboard, 40% fatty meat :-6 makes u throw up. But the buns were for local consumption. Eventually that small factory was closed down a few days later.
goes to show what people without the correct values, would do to make a few extra bucks.
This was a funny/sad story. I am amazed by the lack of financial knowledge in this country. Sometimes people make the wrong choices on even the simplest decisions, such as buying a TV or paying for rent. I wonder how this mentality has been ingrained in part of some peoples’ lives.
[...] concussions. Peter Lynch is a good example of traditional style of investing. I have written some reviews, and these are some of his [...]
johnny lee buggs on
July 25, 2007 09:43
In 2004 i reported my refund cheak lost or stolen.The irs sent me a new check wich i reseaved.Now there holding me acoutable for the check becouse it was cashed.I was not the person who cash that check and should have not had to pay that back.I sent in the forms they sent me to prove my that it was not me,and in 2006 they toke my tax refund.i feel that they toke away my rights as a citazin.I think that this should be thought over again.12,00 dollers is a lot of money for someone just to take it from you.I feel like i was robed twise. from johnny lee buggs
Military members can now join the TSP to add to the militay retirement. The Thrift Savings Plan has the same amount as a 401(k), $15,000. No one can in the military can honestly afford to max that out; however, I recommend trying.
I like you site and I was wondernig if we could exchange links. I’m in the Air Force and I’ve created a blog to help military members with their finances. Thanks.
When you become a contractor you will be able to open a SEP IRA. These allow major annual contributions as a percentage of your salary. You can stash 40k+ a year in a SEP. Research it and go vanguard immediately to open your account. Good luck.
I don´t agree with all these ideas. If you see the good chance, you buy – you will not lower your buying price later, it´s pretty much killing yourself if you´re wrong. And if you´re wrong you need to know where´s your stoploss. Timing is everything.
Also if stock has increased 20%, often of time to buy even more, not sell your stocks. With derivative market different rulez certainly exist.
And thirdly fundamendals does not matter as their pretty much lag if particular stock is going to make turnaround, market smells even half year before the news. When fundamendal news hit the tape it´s allready too late.
- 10 loans isn’t very diversified. If one goes bad, you are almost guaranteed a loss. I would suggest going with 20 $50 loans, but it sounds a little late on this.
- Think about setting up a standing order for autofunding loans for your parameters. I’ve been finding one or two a day reach my criteria (AA-B, less than 25% DTI, 0 delinquencies, offering a rate over 14%). I don’t use public records, but I probably should and will soon. The standing order is great because you don’t have to do any work. The auto-funding is great because it can’t get bid down to nothing.
- I’ve been lending for around 18 months now, and it’s still difficult to determine how things are playing out, so it may take more months than you think. Since I switched to the above mentioned strategy, I’ve been doing quite a bit better.
Acero on
September 5, 2007 20:36
I’d like to echo Lazies input, 10 loans are not particularly diversified. I did sixteen $50 loans for my initial foray into Prosper. So far two of them are already kicking up and playing dead for me.
I was silly and decided to have some fun and bid on a HR for the hell of it. That one died quite quickly. Unfortunately even the B’s are not completely safe. The B had a completely clean credit report according to prosper, I almost feel sorry for that that now it will be ruined for several years.
Just try to make it fun so that the loses, if you are unlucky, are not to mentally damaging. With only a few months under my belt, I’ve almost made back a full loans worth of net income to make up for one of the defaults. Thats a nice feeling.
[...] And Investing started a Prosper portfolio and wonders whether Prosper can make him prosper. It’s an option, but I doubt any serious money can be made without a sizable [...]
FWIW, I have three $50 loans out there and it’s on B,C and E grade loans. So far so good. I think you are right to go with higher grade borrowers. Somehow I ended up with the E grade by mistake. I was only seeking listings that were C or better, with a homeowner and verified bank account. I think that the latter two criteria are very important, more than the credit rating itself. A serious listing will have done the verification/vetting first and a homeowner will have a better idea of their budget, usually, than a renter. I don’t factor in age, but I noticed that my loan holders are mostly over 30.
I would love to hear your results! For me, it’s still just mad money, but I could see it being a great investment vehicle if done right.
js on
September 14, 2007 12:44
What do you think of pfe?
It pays a great yield and I think it has definite room to grow over the long term. I like the fact that there has been a lot of negative talk about pfe’s future pipeline…but it has been majorly overblown and they are putting alot of R&D into america;s obesity problems…Some new drugs will be right around the corner.
the yield has been supporting this stock around 24-25 for several years. I think it will doublie in value in the next 3-4 years (with dividend reinvestment…your thoughts?
js on
September 14, 2007 15:39
Awesome analysis on pfe!
What about Costco (COST)?
Tell me your thoughts…the yield may be a little low for your taste and the valuation is a bit on the high side. Is it prudent to pay a premium for a great company (a la buffet)? I know this stock and company well. Although the retail sector worries me a bit, I think the management is a class act and they treat their loyal employees very well.
js on
September 19, 2007 14:10
How about DUK, GE, MO?
I would love to hear your analysis of thes high yielders…
Hey, whats up with WM washington mutual….that 6.8% yield is looking attractive and its share prices have been pummeled lately?
What do you think…would love to se your analysis on that one too…
js on
October 19, 2007 19:33
What about WM? The best dividend and pe play out there right now in my opinion.
CT on
November 5, 2007 10:33
I tried Prosper with a “test” $500 and I wasn’t impressed enough to put in any more money. I did research on it, including reading blogs, lurking in the forums and looking through the stats at the various lending stats sites. The bottom line is that there are much better investment opportunities out there then Prosper.
Here are the main problems I saw:
1. Liquidity. Prosper loans are one of the least liquid investments I’ve ever seen. All loans are for 3 years, and there is no secondary market, so there is no way to get your money out other than waiting for the borrower to pay it back. Even if you sign up for a 10 year CD, there it is still possible to cash out early (usually by giving up a few months of interest).
2. No interest on cash in your account. Most investment accounts have a way for you to put your excess cash into some sort of money market fund, but Prosper doesn’t. Any time that your money is not in an active loan (including the time Prosper takes to verify a loan after it has funded), it does not earn any interest. This also means that if you stop lending on Prosper a year from now, you still have to login all the time to transfer your earnings back into your bank account.
3. Too many lenders. Lenders have to login constantly to manage the money that they earn from their loans, and they usually put the earnings back into new loans rather than transfering it out. There are many more lenders on prosper than there are decent loans to fund, which drives the rates on the loans down to unprofitable levels. Also, because there are so many lenders on Prosper, Prosper itself has no reason to try to keep lenders happy. They are much more likely to try to make Prosper more friendly to borrowers, since that will make them more money.
4. Ineffective collections. Prosper handles collections on deliquent loans, and they don’t really have much incentive to spend much money on them. Let’s say I have a $5000 loan on prosper, and the borrower missed a payment. Prosper itself only stands to make less than $100 on the loan, because they only take a small percentage of each payment. I on the other hand, stand to make more than $5000 on the loan if the borrower pays it. It doesn’t make sense for Prosper to spend more than $100 dollars trying to get the loan current, because that’s all they can possibly make, whereas I would be willing to spend closer to $1000 if it was up to me. If you look at the collection statistics, Prosper is nowhere near the industry averages because they spend next to nothing on collections.
These problems combined are just too much for me to put any more money into. I’m seriously doubtfull that C or lower grade loans will even be profitable over the full 3 years, and it will be difficult to get a true 8%+ return on just AA, A, and B loans. If you adjust for defaults, taxes, and inflation, your real earnings will probably around 1 or 2 percent. Most other options, such as a long-term CD, high yield bonds (including municipal bonds), or stock market investment would probably give better long term returns with more liquidity.
js on
November 6, 2007 19:29
How do you handle the tax implications of the interest you get off the loan?
Does prosper send out a w2 or something?
Seems like it might be more of a hobby (that requires alot of work) than a good investment. But if you have the patience and time, it might work out.
Problem is the more money you have to “invest” the more time and searching you will have to do…especially when most people are only providing $50-$100 a loan.
What if I wanted to put in like 25 or 50 grand? is it even feasible?
js on
November 7, 2007 01:17
There is no way the Fed and the Government let any of the big banks fail. If even one goes down it could induce a panic that could lead to a castosrophe of epic proportions…think 1929 bad…a run on banks would ensue and the US would be headed for a path of implosion. The Fed will continue to ease and pump liquidity into the markets. When the housing and mortgage industry stablizes in the next two years this could be one of the best opportunites you will see in this sector in your lifetime. P/E ratios and dividend yields are brinking on outrageous value now…if they continue a downward slide, even better!
That being said WM is a great buy at these levels. But I would advise easing into the position over the next 12-18 months…
[...] I have been lending money at Prosper. (P2P lending where lenders spread their risk among many borrowers, and borrowers get a chance for better interest rates than they get charged at banks). I increased my loan portfolio to $3,000 and may increase it a bit more early next year. I still have the goal of earning an effective rate of 8% (after fees and defaults). That should be a bit better than depositing at the bank and than corporate bonds (without going into junk bonds). My strategy keeps being the same: $100 loans to B, A, or AA grade individuals with no reported delinquencies or public records. By the time I reach $10,000 invested in prosper I should have at least 100 loans so that no single loan default will wipe out more than 1% of my invested loan portfolio. [...]
As I write this (11-27-2007), the markets are getting ready to open after closing down the previous day. The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen nearly 240 points and the headline in the local paper is screaming “Wall Street suffers another big hit.” Serious-faced announcers on cable-TV are saying the Dow is down 10.03 percent from its mid-October closing high, officially putting the blue chip index past the 10 percent threshold that signifies a correction.
For Steven R. Selengut, author of The Brainwashing of the American Investor, corrections such as this are as welcome as rallies. The market, he points out, is just doing what the market has always done.
“Here is some advice that you just won’t hear on CNBC or read in The Journal,” he writes in this revised edition of an earlier book bearing the same name. “It is based on one incredibly simple market fact: There has never been a market correction that has not succumbed to yet another rally. So when the doom and gloom noise becomes deafening, get yourself out there and party.”
When the markets move into a correction, Selengut’s investment strategy already has investors sitting on a pile of cash — accumulated profits taken on stocks as the market rallied — plus cash thrown off from fixed-income securities. As the NYSE-traded stocks he follows move down 20 percent or more, he moves back into them and waits for a 10 percent profit to cash out and then look for another opportunity to repeat the process.
Even better, for skittish investors such as me, Selengut’s unique “Working Capital Model” reduces the emotional factor by taking the emphasis off market value and focusing on growth of working capital, defined as the total cost basis of the securities and cash in the portfolio. As long as working capital is increasing, market value is irrelevant.
As a recent retiree, I appreciate this conservative approach to growing working capital. I implemented and followed the trading strategy myself for about a year and a half before turning my account over to Sanco Services, an investment management company founded and operated by Selengut. The Working Capital Model worked the way it was presented. My only reason for turning the account over to Sanco was to be sure that my financial assets would be handled in such a way that my wife would not have to worry about an adequate income in the event that I was no longer able to manage the assets myself.
The Brainwashing of the American Investor is a book I wish I had been able to read 30 years ago. Those of you who still have years of investing ahead of you would do well to buy this book and read it thoroughly two or three times. It will save you a lifetime of mistakes that come from following conventional wisdom.
This is the book that Wall Street does not want you to read.
Robert Ashford on
December 10, 2007 10:32
Hello. My name is Robert Ashford and I am working under contract to the financial advice network, The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com/). I am currently tasked with promoting their UK operation, http://www.fool.co.uk/. Specifically, I am attempting to increase the traffic on the subpage, http://www.fool.co.uk/credit-cards/credit-cards-comparison.aspx. To that end, would you be interested in placing a link to the aforementioned page on your blog, http://http://www.moneyandinvesting.net/ or on any other site under your control in exchange for compensation? Please respond at your convenience.
This entire article is written with a very nasty and incorrect assumption — that being *perceived* as “smart” is the same thing as *being* smart and provides the same benefits.
You say “Being smart can be learned” and then proceed to write about ways to *seem* smart, not be smart.
I agree that execution is important — people who *are* smart (not just *appear* smart) will be more likely to execute. People who are *not* smart may execute, but their execution will not be as worthwhile. For example, I don’t want someone without a certain level of mathematical intelligence (ie., without “smarts”) piloting a plane (execution of a difficult task that requires this intelligence).
I don’t want someone who is not smart negotiating a business deal on my behalf, either. Maybe the not-smart person will get it done faster — but at what expense?
Minimum Wage on
December 24, 2007 21:00
If this society has been growing into a richer one within my lifetime, I’ve missed it. I can buy less – not more – of the same today as I could have in 1980. If the economy is growing, I’m not sure how much more economic growth I can afford.
The argument that 200,000 income has anything to do with saving is false. Income has very little to do with saving, it’s spending less than you earn and that can be at almost any income level.
Congratulations on joining the full time entrepreneur ranks. From the career blog you posted articles to I could tell you were destined to do greater things. I’ll be adding a link to your blog here, from the “Trusted Network” section of my new premiere vlog called Who Knows You? http://youconnect.wordpress.com – I’ll also add your site to my wordpress watch list and my RSS reader.
Being one of those lazy [entrepreneurial] persons who has had no job for over 16 years, I am at your service should you require some business running advice. I would like to find out more about your consulting company so I can possible refer clients to you.
taxing consumption is fairer (unless of course you’re living way beyond your means) than taxing income and then handing out deductions, and then trapping you with AMT.
India has a very straightforward tax system with 0% for long term capital gains on stocks and dividends. there’s also a 12.5% service tax plus local sales taxes.
that encourages investing in economic growth and discourages spending. simple, yet effective.
[...] Ironically, Prosper.com is the only one of my portfolios showing all nice and green. Better than I expected, it shows all loans either current or paid (1 paid). So far, I have issued 31 small/shared loans, one of them has been paid off. The initial principal was $3,000 (small amount, but significant enough to try). I am increasing the principal amount $2,000 more. Short term goal is to have around 50 loans or around $100 each. I started my Prosper Adventure on September 2007. [...]
I have been collecting stories about people making estate planning mistakes using Quicken and other products like it. You may want to review some of these mistakes before trying to create a will or trust yourself. In addition, Quicken has a disclaimer that it does not produce valid wills and trusts in LA and there documents are not up to date with what the current Florida Trust Law is. In addition, you have to purchase updated versions every time you want to update or change your will.
[...] Sam wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe traditional wisdom in the USA is that paying a mortgage early doesn’t make too much sense when you compare it to putting money into savings or investments. The Sub Prime crisis make me think again about this situation. … [...]
[...] both. I did went into consulting two times. One into Australia for two months. Then tried working full time again Packetfront, Inc. for four months and decided that my life had been changed in Australia [...]
[...] is next? Chances are the 2007 Financial Resolutions will include more dividends, more emergency funds, and some carryover from the “Will / Living [...]
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
I have also heard lot about Citizen Banks, one of my friends owes an account there.
Recently they have opened a new Brach my area and I am thinking to have an account there. Thanks for this information.
Very good article. It’s more important to keep your house “clean and tidy” (sellable) in these markets. If worst comes to worst and you HAVE to sell, you already have an edge over somebody who neglected routine maintenance.
It is also an EXCELLENT time to buy, like you pointed out. Real estate investors that aren’t in it for speculation are absolutely loving this market.
Your first goal… “stay independent”… is the long sought after goal for me. It would be hard to replace my salary by working on my own… therefore I need to pound away at passive income and maybe one day be able to use that as a cushion (or replacement) so I can work at home. I am doubtful that I can achieve that within the next ten years without buying two more real estate properties with big down payments, but we will see.
“The retail sector is a worry for sure: the high interest rates and the declining real estate prices are preventing people from taking a home equity lines to pay off the credit cards and buy more stuff.”
Folks with Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) are less likely to worry about declining Real Estate prices:
More and more folks are using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) as an interest cancellation account to accelerate their home equity and payoff their home *years* sooner than listed on their mortgage amortization schedule.
Unfortunately, today’s Real Estate market means that folks can no longer count on appreciation to build home equity. Those who realize that they need to pay down their current mortgage debt are looking for alternate ways to aggressively (yet safely) build equity.
And they’ve discovered a perfect online system to do that; they can focus on their wealth accumulation goals while accelerating their equity simply by using a Home Equity Line of Credit to ‘power’ the Money Merge Account™ financial solutions program.
A typical 30 year loan (of whatever type) can be paid down in 1/3 to 1/2 the time — it’s a great way to save *huge* amounts of income by eliminating a mortgage amortization front-end interest load. (On a million-plus dollar home, I’ve personally seen where the Money Merge Account™ program will save the homeowner $750,000 in interest charges!)
And the best thing – homeowners don’t have to refinance their existing mortgage or, in most cases, make any adjustments to their lifestyle.
It is unfortunate that most of us were never taught to follow three essential principles: (1) Avoid paying interest, whenever possible, (2) Use other people’s money, whenever possible and (3) Find and use a financial system that will guide you, especially if you have the tendency to go off-track. The Money Merge Account™ software and the program’s counselors use these principles to keep each homeowner focused on their wealth accumulation goals.
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptToday I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
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[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptA Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) can be treated as an S-Corporation or as a Partnership by the Federal Government Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (you fill out form 8832 to classify it as Partnership). When I established my LLC I … [...]
I found your site on google blog search and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Just added your RSS feed to my feed reader. Look forward to reading more from you.
“…pre-paying the mortgage may not be a bad choice.”
Absolutely. A home is not an asset until it has been paid off “free and clear” — and the best, fastest way to do that is via home equity acceleration:
More and more folks are using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) or a business-line-of-credit (BLOC) or personal-line-of-credit (PLOC) as an interest cancellation account to accelerate their home equity and payoff their home *years* sooner than listed on their mortgage amortization schedule.
Unfortunately, today’s Real Estate market means that folks can no longer count on appreciation to build home equity. Those who realize that they need to pay down their current mortgage debt are looking for alternate ways to aggressively (yet safely) build equity.
And they’ve discovered a perfect online system to do that; they can focus on their wealth accumulation goals while accelerating their equity simply by using a Home Equity Line of Credit to ‘power’ the Money Merge Account™ financial solutions program.
A typical 30 year loan (of whatever type) can be paid down in 1/3 to 1/2 the time — it’s a great way to save *huge* amounts of income by eliminating a mortgage amortization front-end interest load. (On a million-plus dollar home, I’ve personally seen where the Money Merge Account™ program will save the homeowner $750,000 in interest charges!)
And the best thing – homeowners don’t have to refinance their existing mortgage or, in most cases, make any adjustments to their lifestyle.
It is unfortunate that most of us were never taught to follow three essential principles: (1) Avoid paying interest, whenever possible, (2) Use other people’s money, whenever possible and (3) Find and use a financial system that will guide you, especially if you have the tendency to go off-track. The Money Merge Account™ software and the program’s counselors use these principles to keep each homeowner focused on their wealth accumulation goals.
Thank you for the favorable mention of my 16-year best-seller, now in it’s third edition. If you need a Mentor, check out my Private Roster Mentor Program on http://www.summitconsulting.com!
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAlthough informative, they give you very generic information. That was, until I found the book titled Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional’s Guide to Growing a Practice by Alan Weiss. He clearly […] [...]
[...] nabila_cute wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptToday I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Your a bit off on a few of your comments so I wanted to lend some expertise. Prepaid Teen cards, are in fact debit cards and even do carry the word “Debit” on them as you suggest. In many cases the cards are used in place of checking accounts because who needs to write a check these days? The prepaid cards can be used at ATM machines as well; you also suggested they couldn’t.
The major “Pro” for prepaid and the main argument against your post is that a prepaid debit card acts exactly like a checking account (you can even set up savings), except unlike the banks who claim to provide “free youth checking” and then slam you with $35 NSF fees, prepaid cards cannot be taken over balance and are much less costly for teens and parents. Stats show that teens go over balance on a teen checking account on average 3 times per year – that is $105/yr for a teen checking account.
Prepaid Teen Cards ARE Prepaid Debit Cards.
Consumers should realize that the prepaid teen card providers are actually the “good guys” in this industry. Our whole mission statement and corporate culture is governed by education and doing what is right for youth – not back-dooring you with fees. I think you might look at who you are routing for here…
I think those are some great tips for having a good time on valentines day while not spending your entire paycheck. It can be expensive for women too. I love all of these ideas and I would recommend that men especially should read those over carefully!
Investing Your Money in Fixed Assets Will Talk More of Your Financial Position. Your assets are one half of the equation of your wealth and understanding the impact of each type of asset to your financial circumstances and future is important. With such knowledge, you can then make informed decisions about how and where you spend your money. List down your assets in the appropriate category today and begin the walk towards financial freedom.
Poly Muthumbi is a Web Administrator and Has Been Researching and Reporting on Debt for Years. For More Information on FINANCIAL BELIEFS, Visit Her Site at INVESTING YOUR MONEY
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[...] Estate Tax: Won Battle #1 : This is not finished unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLast month we had to abate (appeal) [...]
First of all thank you for linking to my article. The payments work for me because I do not carry the rent payment as a balance on my credit card. I have a card that is at a zero balance that offers me cash back on all purchases.
I used to write a check for rent so now I just write the rent check to the credit card and use the card to pay the rent. The payment goes to the card within the twenty days grace period so I do not get interest charges on it and then the card goes back to zero.
I would only recommend this for people who are very disciplined as consumers….but if people are careful I would not discourage them from using cards to pay rent.
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These are the “benefits” of higher gas prices that the media never talks about. It forces people to conserve energy!
I wrote an article on my site about how consumers need to demand more fuel efficiency in their cars. Instead increasing the mileage of a car when they develope a more efficient engine, automakers take their fuel efficiency “dividends” and increase the cars performance.
I don’t wish ill will on people, but I do wish they would be more considerate of their own high energy consumption.
[...] Schools – (In Favor) Many parents are faced with a difficult challenge: find a good school for their children. Homeschooling become a very interesting option when compared to a private school. At stay at home parent can potentially teach their children better than a bad public school. This may save money versus moving to a better school district or paying for private education. [...]
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It’s a goal to make enough money to do what you want, and maintain an enjoyable life at the same time. The problem seems to most often be that they want a glamorous, rock star life but not have to work for it – or feel that they’re worth more then they earn without working like they deserve it. A conundrum!
[...] Annual Credit Report – My To Do List – Feb 2008 Today I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI have friends who tell me that they do not want to be like me. They do not want to worry about money or find a better job. Yet, they complaint that they do not have enough money and that they dislike their jobs but still have to do … [...]
[...] Laurel wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLong ago I had opened my Zecco Trading account lured by the Free trading offer. They still hold their promise and offer free trades if you hold a balance of more than a few thousand dollars. My initial visit to the website found it very … [...]
[...] Annual Credit Report – My To Do List – Feb 2008 Today I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLong ago I had opened my Zecco Trading account lured by the Free trading offer. They still hold their promise and offer free trades if you hold a balance of more than a few thousand dollars. My initial visit to the website found it very … [...]
You sound like just the sort of consultant that I like. I tend to avoid ‘you people’ at the best of times as I have dealt with too many who are just there to make the biggest profit for themselves as possible and do not care about my needs.
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[...] Dead People Can’t Pay Their Loans Need It Young people are often enticed to take a Life Insurance Policy on their Auto Loans, or even Credit Card Debt by very astute salesguys. [...]
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Great point uncovering a shady insurance sales tacktic! I’m curious if you have ever heard of or what you know/think about investing in Life Settlement Insurance policies. Obviously there are some crooks out there on this too but it was the credibility of Warren Buffett that got me really going with it. I’m now very invested and even marketing the concept, primarily because I can’t find anything better and think that in the coming market people are going to be looking for safer ways to get a good return. Your thoughts?…
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe Simple Wealth had an article published on the Carnival Ethics, Values and Personal Finance of that reminds us of remembering our past financial mistakes. It is important to learn from mistakes. In a society where talking about money … [...]
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matt on
May 2, 2008 12:31
Everyone is complaining about high gas prices but nobody is slowing down on the freeway. I slowed down to the speed limit and am getting 2-3 more miles a gallon. I have an 18 gallon tank which means I get 38 to 54 more miles out of my tank. Thats approximatley 1 to 2 gallons of savings on a tank. I wonder what would happen to gas reserves if everyone in the US slowed down and saved gas buy getting better mileage from their tanks. I wish some brain who works with numbers would figure that one out. We only have ourselfs to blame for high gas prices. We purchased these big gas guzzlers over the last two decades without considering the consequences. As REV. Wright says “The chickens have come home to roost”. I have heard people talking about not purchasing gas on a paticular day to get the prices to come down. It won’t work because we will need to get gas at some time and if we don’t conserve by getting more miles from a tank it won’t make a bit of difference when you get your gas.
Don’t blame the oil companies they were only doing their job supplying us with all the gas we wanted.
I run a site Stock Market for Beginners ( http://stockmarketforbeginnersguide.com ).
I believe it would be beneficial for both of us if we do blogroll link exchange.
[...] I have had some advantages, however. I did graduated from a career in high demand. Engineers, especially on the IT world can have a great salary just by graduating college. Most careers do not enjoy such an advantage. I know how to produce and work hard. I learned how to associate my work to things that sell. Another advantage: I am not afraid to sell – especially to sell what I can produce. Early in my career I got bored with the current production (engineering) task at that time and moved into pre-sales engineering (half produce half sales). I gained skills and confidence that allow me to sell – at least in a rudimentary way. (Produce and/or Sell) [...]
Nellie Hawkins on
May 28, 2008 06:24
Hello. My name is Nellie. I like your blog and I wonder if you could write a post (review) about my credit card site and place it on your blog (around 150 words, 1-2 anchor). Is it possible? What is your lowest final price?
If not, tell me what kind of links you can offer. Non- site-wide links please. NellieHawkins55@gmail.com
This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people. Its our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.
Time changes and with every passing day graphs of stock market changes which in turn changes the portfolio of investor. Like recent fall in Indian stock market
has ruined the portfolio of investors
who were invested in Nse and Bse
listed scripts. They have lost around say 60% of there money. But now once again after that correction in stock market Nifty and Sensex has picked up momentum. But
we again warns all investors that don’t be too over tempted by this rise as its just a minor upmove. Until Nifty doesn’t close above 5300 for 3-4 sessions we are not at all bullish in market. So invest in market for short term or prefer day trading commonly known as Intraday trading.
Apart from it rising price of Crude oil, Rising Inflation is a matter of concern. Though dollar is becoming stronger that will boost IT sector and Exporters.
All in all we suggest be in Indian stock market and if you are investor invest with the proper strategies like go Long for maximum 1 week that too with proper stoploss and target.
If you are day trader be a strict intraday trader then , clear your goals and trade with strict stoploss and target if you want to earn.
Awesome! Too bad the politcos and powerful corps. would never let it happen…they rely too much on the cheap foreign labor and have no interest in a long term view of developing human infrastructure…instead of doctors they want grape pickers and the ability to outsource the skilled labor to cheap overseas countries…ie india.
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I agree, what I do is turn the AC on right before I go to bed. I turn it off when i hop in and the house holds the temperature since it is cold outside. Then in the morning, i turn the thermostat up and close all the shades. When i get home the house hasn’t gone up in temp very much!
This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people. Its our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.
Today that is 20-June-08 Inflation data has broken the records of past 13 years. Today declared Inflation was 11.05% which is too high. From last one month market is in no trade zone. Everyone is feeling pain from market response.
Just watch
The Sensex has lost more than 27% since its January peak, and trading volumes are down 46%.
Investors has lost there 70% of portfolio .
But still we say there are many undervalued stocks which can be used for investment.
To name few
1. DIGJAM
2. SBI
Most of the stocks are trading near to there 52 weeks lows. There are many fundamentally strong scripts too that are trading at lower levels. One can buy and hold them.
Nifty is expected to correct bit more and after that we can say market will be bullish. As this correction was overdue reason being if we observe in past months speculated stocks whose fundamentals are zero has also shown tremendous upward rallies in the market and now again they are trading at there real values. But still investors are trapped in them and no one is sure those scripts will ever reach those highs or not.
Stock market is a ocean where there are many pearls ( here scripts) so one need to select the best one. We strongly recommend if you are not intraday trader but investor then do go through company fundamentals and then invest.
There is an exciting business tool provided by http://www.MileageLogger.com that will help you capture your business mileage automatically, no need for pen and paper.
Caren on
November 12, 2008 02:19
Hi,
My name is Caren.
I find your site http://www.moneyandinvesting.net interesting!
I have a few good credit card websites that could be useful for your readers. They have many visitors, high Alexa rank and PR from 0 to 4 and one of them takes its place in the Google top 10 credit card sites.
I would like to buy some links at your site.
Please let me know if you are interested and how much you charge via email.
Thank you for your time,
Regards,
Caren.
Hi, Discipline is the key now if you are a trader or investor in the stock market. As all global markets including Indian stock market have become highly volatile because of which many investors and traders are burning there fingers. Still we suggest there are lot many opportunities which can let you earn a lot from stock market.
We strongly advise everyone not to follow rumors and follow technical analysis.
If you have any doubt, lets share it in this blog and it will help lot many other traders.
You should really give Lending Club a shot. I think you’ll like how easy it is to auto-select loans, as well as get good returns on lower risk borrower notes.
We recently raised our minimum borrower FICO score to 660, as well as raised interest rates across the board. We want to make sure we are doing everything right to make our lenders happy!
The expected Christmas rally may have been priced into the market already, when it was defying all sorts of negative news to stay this level. I don’t think the market hasn’t bottomed out yet, as the gurus on CNBC and other channels have been declaring for the umpteenth time. I think we could reach new lows in the next few weeks because there is only indications of a deepening recession, without an end in sight.
As a fellow money (miser) saver I have followed your blog for a little while now.
So I have a little offer for you.
The company I work for would ;like to pay you to put a text link to a credit card site on your blog. I see you have other deals already and would love to join them on the same better terms?!
The website is called creditcardmenu.com and we will be launching a new fantastic looking credit card review and comparison service which is free to our customers; advertising with sites like your should be great for our profile.
So let the bartering begin??!
Alex Preece
Bad with my money, great with other peoples!
Negotiator
Giant Investments Limited
+ 44 (0)1273 224002
(I am based in London, England so excuse the weird times you get this email!)
Nice comparison of the two. The funny thing with consultants at my bank is that we use the word as an employee position too. It’s very confusing sometimes.
Lisa on
April 20, 2009 13:18
After reading your review, I am definitely buying this. Do you happen to know of any Coupon Codes for the refurbished neat receipt?
At this time, they are available for $99 at the NeatReceipts Website Store.
I am not aware of any further discounts or coupon codes.
Geoff on
May 5, 2009 18:34
Both columns in your table say “Contractor”.
Justine Anderson on
July 3, 2009 00:21
Hi,
This is justine, a webmaster. Congratulations for maintaining such a good blog on-Finance & Money!!
I own some websites on-different financial matters having good internet presence. Yesterday when one of our forum moderators informed me about your blog, I visited it. Man, your finance focused & nicely presented posts really make me admit that the content of your blog posts are standard and relevant. Keeping in mind the quality information of your blog, we are planning to build up a nice link exchange relationship with you. We would love to have you as our link partner.
Please advise whether we should go ahead. Feel free to contact me at my email: justine(dot)anderson08(at)gmail(dot)com when you get online.
I am always online at Google talk, so we can discuss online also regarding link issue.
Awaiting your earliest reply. Have a nice day.
Regards,
Justine
[...] time to time I do help my friends build up the job search documents and ideas - heping them maximize the value perceived by prospective employers. I help them practice for [...]
The work force is being down graded do to the removal of encentives and companys have only one option to get more for less. Memos that end with “up to and including termination” a penny pincher will always destroy a business.
Not too long ago, a wise man I trully respect with business advice, told me: “in business, anything you would say during a normal conversation, will be accepted as networking…”; today I got to prove it.
Someone gave my name as a refe…
I recently wrote a post about this subject on my blog and I couldn’t agree more than we don’t have our priorities straight. Too many people believe the money needs to be spent largely on national defense and don’t even know where much of the money is going. We are too many places where we (the US) are not welcome.
Love the descriptions of people who you should get in contact with. I agree though, there are some networking events that may not be worth the time of attending.
I have trouble understanding the mindset of kids who think that high paying jobs are just going to fall in their lap once they graduate.
Reminds me of a couple I used to know. They were still in school, had just got married. Both were doing BAs in something useless. I asked them what they were going to do when they graduated, and neither of them had a clue. In the meantime – the nice guy at the bank was just feeding them cheap money.
I’ve bootstrapped a couple of companies over the past decade. By “bootstrap”, I mean “start the company with whatever spare change is in your pocket, and make plenty of cold calls”.
Its hard work, but in the long run there’s no shortcuts in business anyway – so might as well build a good foundation.
The ramen noodle approach works best with consulting type businesses, where there’s minimal capital requirements. I’m not sure how you’d be able to start a manufacturing business that way.
Getting paid for something you love to do feels exactly like paid vacation time. Even if its every once in a while, we should all find a way to make it happen.
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To be cliché, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” whether your the company or the employee. When times are touch people need to suck it up, but at the same time an employer must consider the opportunity cost of loosing that employee and training another and the opportunity cost of what another employer will pay that very same employee.
Save Save Invest Invest- and I Avoid Credit cards
Big company, lots of money – get more money, plain and simple. Make loads of cash to feed my investments. ”
I like that one. Im which you on that!
This is a very thoughtful post.
I enjoyed your insights and I share your point of view.
By the way, I just read that a penny actually is made from 5 cents of metal.
I like the idea that there’s opportunity in every act and that there’s hidden value in a penny.
Thanks again!
I enjoyed my visit.
I pick up pennies all the time and I don’t care what people think. Just the other day a lady at work gave me a plastic bag full of pennies that they collected from the floor of our office.
It had over $3 in it. They were going to throw it away.
In principle, I agree with what you’re saying. Social Security is a regressive tax and Medicare is a flat tax. When you take them together with the income tax, they have a flattening effect. Agreed 100%. But you can’t really look at our tax system without considering the whole.
The income tax is not as strictly progressive as you make it out to be. Thanks to the convoluted system of deductions and credits, many high wage earners end up paying very little in taxes. My wife and I are a prime example. Nearly HALF of our gross income is not taxed because of one deduction or another. For 2006, I estimate our federal income tax rate at 5.8%. Not what you’d expect from a doctor and a mathematician with no children.
And then there’s Warren Buffet. He recently did a tax rate exercise in his own office. All he did was ask his office staff to compute individual tax rates. He discovered, quite to his amazement, that his tax rate is substantially lower than anyone in his office. This is Warren Buffet: the 2nd richest man in the world. So much for progressive income taxes…
Then there are excise taxes. I don’t know of all the federal excise taxes, but I know that, at the very least, gasoline and cigarettes are taxed. I firmly believe (though I have no evidence to back it up) that these are HIGHLY regressive taxes. The poor can’t live where they work, so they commute and end up paying more gasoline taxes. I believe the poor are also more likely to smoke, though again, I have no numbers on the matter.
If you consider ALL the taxes that individuals pay, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that our tax system is actually regressive. I don’t know of any studies on the matter, but I would be interested to find some. Our tax system is an abomination. We need to throw it out and start from scratch. If we actually design it, instead of letting it evolve on the whims of legislators, I’m sure we could build a fair and simple tax system.
[...] Long Term Investments: Once you fund your current life (something not everybody does), and you are on your way to funding your Retirement, you can fund your great achievements. I put it last in your list of things to achieve because you can always buy a house later, but you should not be risking going into debt by not having emergency savings or the money to buy your luxuries, and you should not risk poverty on the years you are least able to produce money. This is money you will not probably use in the next couple of years, and as such you can invest it. A Mutual Fund, Electronic Traded Fund, or Brokerage account could be a good idea. Those with kids may want to think about Educational IRAs or 529 plans. Again, make the transfers automatic so that it requires less discipline on your part and that makes the goal more achievable. You may want to check into the Frugal Stock Market Choices for investment vehicles that may be appropriate for this kind of savings. [...]
[...] Short Term Savings: Start by setting up a savings account or money market account. Your local bank is fine, and it is not important to optimize the interest rate you get on it. Save 10% of your income there, as soon as you get your paycheck. Most banks will allow you to make the transfers automatic — do so, it will work better that way. As soon as you save a month’s worth of take-home pay (minus savings), move that money into a 3 month, self-renewing Certificate of Deposit. These are not investments, these are emergency savings. Keep saving until you can build a 3 month CD Ladder. Once you have your ladder, all the rest of the money you save into this account is to have fun. My brother calls his short term Savings Account his “Fun Account”. I call my short term Money Market Account my “Discretionary Account”. [...]
Carnival of Personal Finance #85
Good morning and welcome to the 85th Carnival of Personal Finance! Before we get started, I’d like to say a few words of introduction. First of all, if you’re new to FiveCentNickel then welcome! If not, then welcome back!
This site is nearl…
Carnival of the Capitalists 01-29-07
“Capitalist” is a loaded word.
Some people think a “capitalist” is a pig. Some think a “capitalist” is someone who takes advantage of others and exploits any resource he can to get wealthy. Some people think a R…
[...] Moneyandfinance talks about the Social Security tax in the context of tax brackets: By looking at hard numbers we can try to remove politics from it and see its effect on people and society. Increasing the social security tax rates will burden even more our lower income people and will create an ever flatter curve. Not doing something to fix social security now will create bigger issues to solve that will make society do hard decisions: like increasing retirement age or increasing social security tax, burdening people even more. [...]
[...] The main issue is that being a foreign entity they can’t really issue W-2 or even 1099 tax forms. They can’t just employ me either, since I would be a foreign national if they employ me directly. Essentially I had no choice but to form a corporation that will enter into a paid agreement with them to provide professional services: my services. This is how the Limited Liability Corporation had to be done. [...]
Though I keep track of “alternative income” instead of passive income. The difference is that income from my blog (my hobby) is definitely not passive. Yet, I feel it should count since it doesn’t come from my 9-5 job.
I also keep track of passive expenses, which I call “necessary expenses.” I add up things like rent, car payments, gas, food, cable, Internet access… pretty much any expense that I pay each month.
I subtract that alternative income from my necessary expenses to come up with a total of how how far away from one level of financial freedom. Obviously there are other costs each month and things like that, but I will have some kind of party when that income passes expenses. At that point, if I lose my job, my “burn rate” will be so tiny that I won’t be rushed into taking a job because I need it to get by.
You can see all this in a tiny box in the top right of my page. I keep track of both of mine on my homepage.
[...] Just like that, a month and a half since I left the world of gainful employment I will start at a new job in a Pre-IPO startup company (beginning of April 2007). So much for my self-employment trial, and I say that with sadness as I was already enjoying the fun of having my own business (which I will keep on the side for miscellaneous purposes).There is something I discovered during my numerous hours thinking about the business model: there is a stage in anyone’s career where the value of the ability to decide how perform a work exceeds the value of the ability to perform the work. My late employer valued my ability to decide how to perform a task or implement something a lot. The market also values my ability to perform it, but I have discovered that if I did 100 days of billable work at my current rate I would make close to what I made in gainful employment in base salary. If I do more than a 100 days of billable work the number will most probably come closer to what I have been doing, plus bonuses. [...]
[...] As a response to my 2007 Financial Resolutions posting someone asked what dividend generating stocks I use. I do have a mixture of growth stocks and cash cow stocks. Some of the growth stocks generate a small amount of dividends (and I still count those towards my yearly dividend goals), but that is not the point of this article: cash cow stocks are. [...]
[...] My administrative worries do not end there. I will have to open a business checking account as soon as I return to Massachusetts (I think Citizens Bank is the chosen one). For that I needed the Articles of Incorporation that I believe are the ones provided as a result of the Limited Liability Corporation process I went through. I also needed an Employer Identification Number to open the account — similar to a Social Security Number, but for Corporations. I will also have to learn about bookkeeping, taxes, self employment taxes, Self Employed Retirement Plans, and things I wouldn’t even imagine existed before. I will certainly learn how to handle invoices, and I had already started learning how to handle contracts: as I had to establish a few agreements before my engagement started. [...]
[...] The second finding I get is that what percentage of the earnings go into each bucket has a direct impact on the minimum amount of money that the salespeople could charge to their clients for consulting services. I have seen too many salespeople who try to outbid (or underbid) their competitors in order to win the business to later find out that they can’t find consultants willing to work for the amount of money they can pay them. For example, in our 15/15/20/50% example, this means that if you charge $1000/day for a consultant, the most you can pay such person is $500/day. From my previous 100 day/year billable time analysis I can conclude this consultant would earn $50,000/year (before paying all of his/her taxes insurance and administrative costs). Almost no computer worker would be willing to work for that amount. $2,000/day ($1,000/day for the consultant) would be more realistic, matching more closely what big companies charge for their average consultant. [...]
[...] x I happen to invest in both loan and cigarette producing companies. You probably have seen my cash-cow portfolio. One thing that both banks and Altria/Phillip Morris (MO) have in common is that they make addicts of very young people: before they even have an income to buy their products. [...]
[...] The middle class families are now complaining about the Alternative Minimum Tax. They are complaining that soon, even families earning $75,000/year will be hit by it. I do complaint about the unfair tax, and I consider myself middle class. However, I have to say this is a case where the middle class is a victim of their own ignorant creation.See, some people in the so called “middle class” keep arguing that the “rich” should pay the bulk of the cost of supporting this great nation. (In a different article, they already do!) The problem is that the Alternative Minimum Tax catched up with the people who asked the upper class to pay and now they don’t like it. [...]
[...] Just as I am returning from my down-under independent consulting gig I noticed that my incorporating article was referenced in the Working Solo Australian blog. I found it a nice coincidence!For as much joy as I am having now that I returned home I will have to do several administration tasks before finalizing this gig. I have to: [...]
Tax Carnival #15: Avoiding foolish tax mistakes
Welcome to the April 2 edition of Carnival of Taxes. We’re a day removed from April Fools’ Day, but we’re going to keep a bit of the theme. This 15th Carnival of Taxes aims to keep you from making foolish tax mistakes. Let’s start with a post that …
Sounds like you kept a cool head through the ordeal. That is something I hope I don’t have to go through.
I was the beneficiary of just such a year. I got a full $200 tax credit for putting money into my retirement accounts.
Interesting thing is with the Roth. Now that I’ve gotten the tax credit I could technically pull the contribution back out (since Roth’s are after tax money). I’m not sure why I would, but you could.
-limeade
Sure there may be reason why you don’t want to buy a home, but I think if you want to buy a home you can. I think anyone can by a home. I bought my first home during my senior year of college. I then moved out of state, bought another home and rented out the first one.
You don’t have to commit to a single place. If you want/need to move, do so , and rent out the old place.
Nice post by the way,
-limeade
[...] Most of my dividend portfolio is based on banks, as described on my article Deposit at the Bank or Own The Bank. My father-in-law says (I rephrase) that any business that gets money in one hand and gives money away with the other hand is surely keeping something for themselves: a spread, a commission, administrative charge, or simply some revenue. Most importantly, they make money out of nothing at all: none or almost no inventory. Banks, casinos, insurance companies, and money changers fall into this category. [...]
[...] I believe that one of the reasons men do marginally better than women is because we are told by family or society to be ready to support a complete family with only our income. This makes many men a bit more aggressive at succeeding in their careers and bringing more money to the home: thus increasing their power within the house and within society. For women to become equally strong on their finances, they should feel the same way: capable of supporting a family by themselves. [This doesn’t mean men can manage money better than women. They may try harder to earn more.] — more on: Salary Differences, http://www.moneyandinvesting.net The book doesn’t expand on topics like supporting a significant other that becomes disabled or unemployed, the incremental expenses of having kids, or even provide detailed explanations on college education (a two page section on the two most popular college savings plans only). While I understand the interest of making the book brief, I am concerned that women will not be completely emancipated until they have equal or stronger money values than men: including the desire or perceived need to fully support a family on the economical sense (not only emotionally). Although some women will decide not to have kids, I believe the majority does ends up having them and may need to partially or even fully support them. [...]
I just got a letter yesterday and it was much the same scenario. Letter said I owed over $20,000 in tax, penalty, and interest. Looks like I’ll really owe more like $1,600. ‘05 was the first year I had any capital gains to worry about and I totally muffed my tax return. On top of that, E-trade apparently sent the IRS a 1099-B for a same-day stock option exercise and sale, which was included in my W-2. So the IRS had me down for $35,000 in income (zero cost basis) just from that. I about had a heart attack at first.
[...] Set up a business bank account for the LLC I incorporated. (With international wire capabilities). [...]
[...] Many business owners frame the first dollar they are paid in some visible location on their establishment. I don’t happen to have an establishment (other than my briefcase), nor I think I will get payments in paper money. However, I feel proud to have received my first payment in the consulting business in the way of an International Wire. It arrived on 2007-04-20 09:21:27.19, and I guess the confirmation statement sent by the bank will have to serve as that first dollar to post somewhere.The actual mechanics of this ‘first dollar’ have been more complex than operating a cash register. I have had to set up a bank account first – opposite of what you usually do which is open an account once you have the money. That account was needed so that the customer could wire the payment. I also had to invoice for the services. [...]
I saw a study a long time ago that found there was even more discrimination against women if they were short, had a higher voice, and round (a few extra pounds.)
I think that if you did do research on this subject you would find that taller men do better regardless of ability.
Where I live there were huge cuts in education and when I looked at the research on who didn’t get a job it was females over 40 that were predominately looked over. The on-call lists now tend to be 80% female and only 20% male.
[...] While I can’t recall the exact place I heard it (although I’ve found at least one site that looks at the concept), I thought it was at least quickly looking into it. I compared putting money in a ING Direct “Savings Maximiser” account to buying stocks in four major Australian Banks: Commonwealth, Westpac, Suncorp, and Bank of Queensland. [...]
Great post. Although, as a professed beer snob, I could argue that the 2 beers you could get for $12 may have the tendency toward more alcohol content thus bringing you further away from sobriety. Especially if the beer is Belgian.
[...] Money and Investing declares life is too short to drink bad tasting beer. What do you say? [...]
Hey, I’m Lacey. I was wondering if you might want to do a link trade with my Wedding Finance blog? My fiance and I are documenting our attempt at fundraising all of our wedding money.
Email me at lacey@savingforawedding.com and we can set up links. Thanks!
The site is Saving for a Wedding
Hi
I would like to invite you to add your financial/business blog link to our Financial Blogs Catalog at
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Submission is free!
We can add your link manually just send us:
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I just got the same thing and my heart nearly stopped. I do not owe anything else though. I am debating whether to use an account to clear this mess up on the first try or not. Did you hear back from the IRS and did your letter with documentation suffice?
Your article is 100% correct. I am a prime example.
I am currently making 70k per year.. and I am looking for a new job. When asked about salary preferences, I continuously say I just want the industry standard and NOTHING MORE. I am more interested in an interesting job with a nice work atmosphere.
For some reason, as a woman, I think I am depending on finding a man to help pay for the bills so I’m not worrying too much about it. This article has really opened my eyes to how society has brainwashed me to depend on a man! Great stuff!
There are free dump days in california where you can dump your junk in a dumpster for free.. although I guess you would have had to dissassemble everything.
I would never spend that kind of money on throwing stuff out. I would have placed a Craigslist ad and said “free execrise machine deliver not included”
THe moral bit is quite hard to say. Cause, if, someone purposely leave their WIFI signal for others to use, then it is ok. If i have a non time limited signal, might as well share it with other.
But if someone have WEP or other encryption, & we hack into it, then it is considered breaking and entry, I think. Morally & legally wrong. A few months back, Singapore prosecuted someone for piggybacking WIFI.
ed
i saw in the news a few days ago, that somewhere in China, there are buns manufactered with 60% cardboard, 40% fatty meat :-6 makes u throw up. But the buns were for local consumption. Eventually that small factory was closed down a few days later.
goes to show what people without the correct values, would do to make a few extra bucks.
This was a funny/sad story. I am amazed by the lack of financial knowledge in this country. Sometimes people make the wrong choices on even the simplest decisions, such as buying a TV or paying for rent. I wonder how this mentality has been ingrained in part of some peoples’ lives.
[...] concussions. Peter Lynch is a good example of traditional style of investing. I have written some reviews, and these are some of his [...]
In 2004 i reported my refund cheak lost or stolen.The irs sent me a new check wich i reseaved.Now there holding me acoutable for the check becouse it was cashed.I was not the person who cash that check and should have not had to pay that back.I sent in the forms they sent me to prove my that it was not me,and in 2006 they toke my tax refund.i feel that they toke away my rights as a citazin.I think that this should be thought over again.12,00 dollers is a lot of money for someone just to take it from you.I feel like i was robed twise. from johnny lee buggs
Military members can now join the TSP to add to the militay retirement. The Thrift Savings Plan has the same amount as a 401(k), $15,000. No one can in the military can honestly afford to max that out; however, I recommend trying.
I like you site and I was wondernig if we could exchange links. I’m in the Air Force and I’ve created a blog to help military members with their finances. Thanks.
Brandon J
http://moneyformilitary.blogspot.com
When you become a contractor you will be able to open a SEP IRA. These allow major annual contributions as a percentage of your salary. You can stash 40k+ a year in a SEP. Research it and go vanguard immediately to open your account. Good luck.
I don´t agree with all these ideas. If you see the good chance, you buy – you will not lower your buying price later, it´s pretty much killing yourself if you´re wrong. And if you´re wrong you need to know where´s your stoploss. Timing is everything.
Also if stock has increased 20%, often of time to buy even more, not sell your stocks. With derivative market different rulez certainly exist.
And thirdly fundamendals does not matter as their pretty much lag if particular stock is going to make turnaround, market smells even half year before the news. When fundamendal news hit the tape it´s allready too late.
Regards,
http://just-charts.blogspot.com/
[...] the 2nd time in my life I am going into independent consulting. Today I quit my steady job and will dedicate [...]
If I can make a couple of recommendations…
- 10 loans isn’t very diversified. If one goes bad, you are almost guaranteed a loss. I would suggest going with 20 $50 loans, but it sounds a little late on this.
- Think about setting up a standing order for autofunding loans for your parameters. I’ve been finding one or two a day reach my criteria (AA-B, less than 25% DTI, 0 delinquencies, offering a rate over 14%). I don’t use public records, but I probably should and will soon. The standing order is great because you don’t have to do any work. The auto-funding is great because it can’t get bid down to nothing.
- I’ve been lending for around 18 months now, and it’s still difficult to determine how things are playing out, so it may take more months than you think. Since I switched to the above mentioned strategy, I’ve been doing quite a bit better.
I’d like to echo Lazies input, 10 loans are not particularly diversified. I did sixteen $50 loans for my initial foray into Prosper. So far two of them are already kicking up and playing dead for me.
I was silly and decided to have some fun and bid on a HR for the hell of it. That one died quite quickly. Unfortunately even the B’s are not completely safe. The B had a completely clean credit report according to prosper, I almost feel sorry for that that now it will be ruined for several years.
Just try to make it fun so that the loses, if you are unlucky, are not to mentally damaging. With only a few months under my belt, I’ve almost made back a full loans worth of net income to make up for one of the defaults. Thats a nice feeling.
[...] And Investing started a Prosper portfolio and wonders whether Prosper can make him prosper. It’s an option, but I doubt any serious money can be made without a sizable [...]
FWIW, I have three $50 loans out there and it’s on B,C and E grade loans. So far so good. I think you are right to go with higher grade borrowers. Somehow I ended up with the E grade by mistake. I was only seeking listings that were C or better, with a homeowner and verified bank account. I think that the latter two criteria are very important, more than the credit rating itself. A serious listing will have done the verification/vetting first and a homeowner will have a better idea of their budget, usually, than a renter. I don’t factor in age, but I noticed that my loan holders are mostly over 30.
I would love to hear your results! For me, it’s still just mad money, but I could see it being a great investment vehicle if done right.
What do you think of pfe?
It pays a great yield and I think it has definite room to grow over the long term. I like the fact that there has been a lot of negative talk about pfe’s future pipeline…but it has been majorly overblown and they are putting alot of R&D into america;s obesity problems…Some new drugs will be right around the corner.
the yield has been supporting this stock around 24-25 for several years. I think it will doublie in value in the next 3-4 years (with dividend reinvestment…your thoughts?
Awesome analysis on pfe!
What about Costco (COST)?
Tell me your thoughts…the yield may be a little low for your taste and the valuation is a bit on the high side. Is it prudent to pay a premium for a great company (a la buffet)? I know this stock and company well. Although the retail sector worries me a bit, I think the management is a class act and they treat their loyal employees very well.
How about DUK, GE, MO?
I would love to hear your analysis of thes high yielders…
[...] 2007 Q1 Dividend Stocks [...]
At what point should we load up on BAC and WB?
Hey, whats up with WM washington mutual….that 6.8% yield is looking attractive and its share prices have been pummeled lately?
What do you think…would love to se your analysis on that one too…
What about WM? The best dividend and pe play out there right now in my opinion.
I tried Prosper with a “test” $500 and I wasn’t impressed enough to put in any more money. I did research on it, including reading blogs, lurking in the forums and looking through the stats at the various lending stats sites. The bottom line is that there are much better investment opportunities out there then Prosper.
Here are the main problems I saw:
1. Liquidity. Prosper loans are one of the least liquid investments I’ve ever seen. All loans are for 3 years, and there is no secondary market, so there is no way to get your money out other than waiting for the borrower to pay it back. Even if you sign up for a 10 year CD, there it is still possible to cash out early (usually by giving up a few months of interest).
2. No interest on cash in your account. Most investment accounts have a way for you to put your excess cash into some sort of money market fund, but Prosper doesn’t. Any time that your money is not in an active loan (including the time Prosper takes to verify a loan after it has funded), it does not earn any interest. This also means that if you stop lending on Prosper a year from now, you still have to login all the time to transfer your earnings back into your bank account.
3. Too many lenders. Lenders have to login constantly to manage the money that they earn from their loans, and they usually put the earnings back into new loans rather than transfering it out. There are many more lenders on prosper than there are decent loans to fund, which drives the rates on the loans down to unprofitable levels. Also, because there are so many lenders on Prosper, Prosper itself has no reason to try to keep lenders happy. They are much more likely to try to make Prosper more friendly to borrowers, since that will make them more money.
4. Ineffective collections. Prosper handles collections on deliquent loans, and they don’t really have much incentive to spend much money on them. Let’s say I have a $5000 loan on prosper, and the borrower missed a payment. Prosper itself only stands to make less than $100 on the loan, because they only take a small percentage of each payment. I on the other hand, stand to make more than $5000 on the loan if the borrower pays it. It doesn’t make sense for Prosper to spend more than $100 dollars trying to get the loan current, because that’s all they can possibly make, whereas I would be willing to spend closer to $1000 if it was up to me. If you look at the collection statistics, Prosper is nowhere near the industry averages because they spend next to nothing on collections.
These problems combined are just too much for me to put any more money into. I’m seriously doubtfull that C or lower grade loans will even be profitable over the full 3 years, and it will be difficult to get a true 8%+ return on just AA, A, and B loans. If you adjust for defaults, taxes, and inflation, your real earnings will probably around 1 or 2 percent. Most other options, such as a long-term CD, high yield bonds (including municipal bonds), or stock market investment would probably give better long term returns with more liquidity.
How do you handle the tax implications of the interest you get off the loan?
Does prosper send out a w2 or something?
Seems like it might be more of a hobby (that requires alot of work) than a good investment. But if you have the patience and time, it might work out.
Problem is the more money you have to “invest” the more time and searching you will have to do…especially when most people are only providing $50-$100 a loan.
What if I wanted to put in like 25 or 50 grand? is it even feasible?
There is no way the Fed and the Government let any of the big banks fail. If even one goes down it could induce a panic that could lead to a castosrophe of epic proportions…think 1929 bad…a run on banks would ensue and the US would be headed for a path of implosion. The Fed will continue to ease and pump liquidity into the markets. When the housing and mortgage industry stablizes in the next two years this could be one of the best opportunites you will see in this sector in your lifetime. P/E ratios and dividend yields are brinking on outrageous value now…if they continue a downward slide, even better!
That being said WM is a great buy at these levels. But I would advise easing into the position over the next 12-18 months…
[...] I have been lending money at Prosper. (P2P lending where lenders spread their risk among many borrowers, and borrowers get a chance for better interest rates than they get charged at banks). I increased my loan portfolio to $3,000 and may increase it a bit more early next year. I still have the goal of earning an effective rate of 8% (after fees and defaults). That should be a bit better than depositing at the bank and than corporate bonds (without going into junk bonds). My strategy keeps being the same: $100 loans to B, A, or AA grade individuals with no reported delinquencies or public records. By the time I reach $10,000 invested in prosper I should have at least 100 loans so that no single loan default will wipe out more than 1% of my invested loan portfolio. [...]
As I write this (11-27-2007), the markets are getting ready to open after closing down the previous day. The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen nearly 240 points and the headline in the local paper is screaming “Wall Street suffers another big hit.” Serious-faced announcers on cable-TV are saying the Dow is down 10.03 percent from its mid-October closing high, officially putting the blue chip index past the 10 percent threshold that signifies a correction.
For Steven R. Selengut, author of The Brainwashing of the American Investor, corrections such as this are as welcome as rallies. The market, he points out, is just doing what the market has always done.
“Here is some advice that you just won’t hear on CNBC or read in The Journal,” he writes in this revised edition of an earlier book bearing the same name. “It is based on one incredibly simple market fact: There has never been a market correction that has not succumbed to yet another rally. So when the doom and gloom noise becomes deafening, get yourself out there and party.”
When the markets move into a correction, Selengut’s investment strategy already has investors sitting on a pile of cash — accumulated profits taken on stocks as the market rallied — plus cash thrown off from fixed-income securities. As the NYSE-traded stocks he follows move down 20 percent or more, he moves back into them and waits for a 10 percent profit to cash out and then look for another opportunity to repeat the process.
Even better, for skittish investors such as me, Selengut’s unique “Working Capital Model” reduces the emotional factor by taking the emphasis off market value and focusing on growth of working capital, defined as the total cost basis of the securities and cash in the portfolio. As long as working capital is increasing, market value is irrelevant.
As a recent retiree, I appreciate this conservative approach to growing working capital. I implemented and followed the trading strategy myself for about a year and a half before turning my account over to Sanco Services, an investment management company founded and operated by Selengut. The Working Capital Model worked the way it was presented. My only reason for turning the account over to Sanco was to be sure that my financial assets would be handled in such a way that my wife would not have to worry about an adequate income in the event that I was no longer able to manage the assets myself.
The Brainwashing of the American Investor is a book I wish I had been able to read 30 years ago. Those of you who still have years of investing ahead of you would do well to buy this book and read it thoroughly two or three times. It will save you a lifetime of mistakes that come from following conventional wisdom.
This is the book that Wall Street does not want you to read.
Hello. My name is Robert Ashford and I am working under contract to the financial advice network, The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com/). I am currently tasked with promoting their UK operation, http://www.fool.co.uk/. Specifically, I am attempting to increase the traffic on the subpage, http://www.fool.co.uk/credit-cards/credit-cards-comparison.aspx. To that end, would you be interested in placing a link to the aforementioned page on your blog, http://http://www.moneyandinvesting.net/ or on any other site under your control in exchange for compensation? Please respond at your convenience.
Thank you,
Robert
This entire article is written with a very nasty and incorrect assumption — that being *perceived* as “smart” is the same thing as *being* smart and provides the same benefits.
You say “Being smart can be learned” and then proceed to write about ways to *seem* smart, not be smart.
I agree that execution is important — people who *are* smart (not just *appear* smart) will be more likely to execute. People who are *not* smart may execute, but their execution will not be as worthwhile. For example, I don’t want someone without a certain level of mathematical intelligence (ie., without “smarts”) piloting a plane (execution of a difficult task that requires this intelligence).
I don’t want someone who is not smart negotiating a business deal on my behalf, either. Maybe the not-smart person will get it done faster — but at what expense?
If this society has been growing into a richer one within my lifetime, I’ve missed it. I can buy less – not more – of the same today as I could have in 1980. If the economy is growing, I’m not sure how much more economic growth I can afford.
The argument that 200,000 income has anything to do with saving is false. Income has very little to do with saving, it’s spending less than you earn and that can be at almost any income level.
Jose,
Congratulations on joining the full time entrepreneur ranks. From the career blog you posted articles to I could tell you were destined to do greater things. I’ll be adding a link to your blog here, from the “Trusted Network” section of my new premiere vlog called Who Knows You? http://youconnect.wordpress.com – I’ll also add your site to my wordpress watch list and my RSS reader.
Being one of those lazy [entrepreneurial] persons who has had no job for over 16 years, I am at your service should you require some business running advice. I would like to find out more about your consulting company so I can possible refer clients to you.
Buena Suerte!!
C. E. Reid
Chief Savvy Intrapreneur
http://www.SavvyIntrapreneur.com
I somewhat agree with you.
taxing consumption is fairer (unless of course you’re living way beyond your means) than taxing income and then handing out deductions, and then trapping you with AMT.
India has a very straightforward tax system with 0% for long term capital gains on stocks and dividends. there’s also a 12.5% service tax plus local sales taxes.
that encourages investing in economic growth and discourages spending. simple, yet effective.
[...] Ironically, Prosper.com is the only one of my portfolios showing all nice and green. Better than I expected, it shows all loans either current or paid (1 paid). So far, I have issued 31 small/shared loans, one of them has been paid off. The initial principal was $3,000 (small amount, but significant enough to try). I am increasing the principal amount $2,000 more. Short term goal is to have around 50 loans or around $100 each. I started my Prosper Adventure on September 2007. [...]
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
I have been collecting stories about people making estate planning mistakes using Quicken and other products like it. You may want to review some of these mistakes before trying to create a will or trust yourself. In addition, Quicken has a disclaimer that it does not produce valid wills and trusts in LA and there documents are not up to date with what the current Florida Trust Law is. In addition, you have to purchase updated versions every time you want to update or change your will.
http://www.floridaestateplanninglawyerblog.com/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=107&IncludeBlogs=107&search=%22do+it+your%22&submit=
[...] Sam wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe traditional wisdom in the USA is that paying a mortgage early doesn’t make too much sense when you compare it to putting money into savings or investments. The Sub Prime crisis make me think again about this situation. … [...]
[...] both. I did went into consulting two times. One into Australia for two months. Then tried working full time again Packetfront, Inc. for four months and decided that my life had been changed in Australia [...]
[...] is next? Chances are the 2007 Financial Resolutions will include more dividends, more emergency funds, and some carryover from the “Will / Living [...]
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Allen Taylor
[...] vehicles to expand: Real Estate, Bonds, and Prosper [...]
[...] vehicles to expand: Real Estate, Bonds, and Prosper [...]
[...] out how I did in 2007 and 2006. Send me a link if you have a blog posting with your resolutions for 2008 or your success [...]
[...] about other blogger’s 2008 Financial Resolutions in my next [...]
I have also heard lot about Citizen Banks, one of my friends owes an account there.
Recently they have opened a new Brach my area and I am thinking to have an account there. Thanks for this information.
Very good article. It’s more important to keep your house “clean and tidy” (sellable) in these markets. If worst comes to worst and you HAVE to sell, you already have an edge over somebody who neglected routine maintenance.
It is also an EXCELLENT time to buy, like you pointed out. Real estate investors that aren’t in it for speculation are absolutely loving this market.
[...] a little (I am not convinced they do it as much as other measures you can take). … credit : [...]
Your first goal… “stay independent”… is the long sought after goal for me. It would be hard to replace my salary by working on my own… therefore I need to pound away at passive income and maybe one day be able to use that as a cushion (or replacement) so I can work at home. I am doubtful that I can achieve that within the next ten years without buying two more real estate properties with big down payments, but we will see.
Nice goals. Maybe I’ll concoct a list.
TheWalrus
“The retail sector is a worry for sure: the high interest rates and the declining real estate prices are preventing people from taking a home equity lines to pay off the credit cards and buy more stuff.”
Folks with Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) are less likely to worry about declining Real Estate prices:
More and more folks are using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) as an interest cancellation account to accelerate their home equity and payoff their home *years* sooner than listed on their mortgage amortization schedule.
Unfortunately, today’s Real Estate market means that folks can no longer count on appreciation to build home equity. Those who realize that they need to pay down their current mortgage debt are looking for alternate ways to aggressively (yet safely) build equity.
And they’ve discovered a perfect online system to do that; they can focus on their wealth accumulation goals while accelerating their equity simply by using a Home Equity Line of Credit to ‘power’ the Money Merge Account™ financial solutions program.
A typical 30 year loan (of whatever type) can be paid down in 1/3 to 1/2 the time — it’s a great way to save *huge* amounts of income by eliminating a mortgage amortization front-end interest load. (On a million-plus dollar home, I’ve personally seen where the Money Merge Account™ program will save the homeowner $750,000 in interest charges!)
And the best thing – homeowners don’t have to refinance their existing mortgage or, in most cases, make any adjustments to their lifestyle.
It is unfortunate that most of us were never taught to follow three essential principles: (1) Avoid paying interest, whenever possible, (2) Use other people’s money, whenever possible and (3) Find and use a financial system that will guide you, especially if you have the tendency to go off-track. The Money Merge Account™ software and the program’s counselors use these principles to keep each homeowner focused on their wealth accumulation goals.
I’d be happy to provide further details…
[...] of the benefits of incorporating is sepparating your personal liability from your business liability. Banks, however, do not like [...]
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptToday I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
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[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptA Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) can be treated as an S-Corporation or as a Partnership by the Federal Government Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (you fill out form 8832 to classify it as Partnership). When I established my LLC I … [...]
I found your site on google blog search and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Just added your RSS feed to my feed reader. Look forward to reading more from you.
- Randy Nichols.
“…pre-paying the mortgage may not be a bad choice.”
Absolutely. A home is not an asset until it has been paid off “free and clear” — and the best, fastest way to do that is via home equity acceleration:
More and more folks are using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) or a business-line-of-credit (BLOC) or personal-line-of-credit (PLOC) as an interest cancellation account to accelerate their home equity and payoff their home *years* sooner than listed on their mortgage amortization schedule.
Unfortunately, today’s Real Estate market means that folks can no longer count on appreciation to build home equity. Those who realize that they need to pay down their current mortgage debt are looking for alternate ways to aggressively (yet safely) build equity.
And they’ve discovered a perfect online system to do that; they can focus on their wealth accumulation goals while accelerating their equity simply by using a Home Equity Line of Credit to ‘power’ the Money Merge Account™ financial solutions program.
A typical 30 year loan (of whatever type) can be paid down in 1/3 to 1/2 the time — it’s a great way to save *huge* amounts of income by eliminating a mortgage amortization front-end interest load. (On a million-plus dollar home, I’ve personally seen where the Money Merge Account™ program will save the homeowner $750,000 in interest charges!)
And the best thing – homeowners don’t have to refinance their existing mortgage or, in most cases, make any adjustments to their lifestyle.
It is unfortunate that most of us were never taught to follow three essential principles: (1) Avoid paying interest, whenever possible, (2) Use other people’s money, whenever possible and (3) Find and use a financial system that will guide you, especially if you have the tendency to go off-track. The Money Merge Account™ software and the program’s counselors use these principles to keep each homeowner focused on their wealth accumulation goals.
I’d be happy to provide further details…
Thank you for the favorable mention of my 16-year best-seller, now in it’s third edition. If you need a Mentor, check out my Private Roster Mentor Program on http://www.summitconsulting.com!
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAlthough informative, they give you very generic information. That was, until I found the book titled Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional’s Guide to Growing a Practice by Alan Weiss. He clearly […] [...]
[...] nabila_cute wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptToday I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Eric Hundin
Your a bit off on a few of your comments so I wanted to lend some expertise. Prepaid Teen cards, are in fact debit cards and even do carry the word “Debit” on them as you suggest. In many cases the cards are used in place of checking accounts because who needs to write a check these days? The prepaid cards can be used at ATM machines as well; you also suggested they couldn’t.
The major “Pro” for prepaid and the main argument against your post is that a prepaid debit card acts exactly like a checking account (you can even set up savings), except unlike the banks who claim to provide “free youth checking” and then slam you with $35 NSF fees, prepaid cards cannot be taken over balance and are much less costly for teens and parents. Stats show that teens go over balance on a teen checking account on average 3 times per year – that is $105/yr for a teen checking account.
Prepaid Teen Cards ARE Prepaid Debit Cards.
Consumers should realize that the prepaid teen card providers are actually the “good guys” in this industry. Our whole mission statement and corporate culture is governed by education and doing what is right for youth – not back-dooring you with fees. I think you might look at who you are routing for here…
Take a look at my post on the topic when you get a chance: http://www.choresandallowances.com/2007/10/well-fargo-launches-teen-checking-pilot.html
Dave
CEO – PAYjr
http://www.PAYjr.com
http://www.Buxx.com
http://www.ChoresandAllowances.com
I think those are some great tips for having a good time on valentines day while not spending your entire paycheck. It can be expensive for women too. I love all of these ideas and I would recommend that men especially should read those over carefully!
Investing Your Money in Fixed Assets Will Talk More of Your Financial Position. Your assets are one half of the equation of your wealth and understanding the impact of each type of asset to your financial circumstances and future is important. With such knowledge, you can then make informed decisions about how and where you spend your money. List down your assets in the appropriate category today and begin the walk towards financial freedom.
Poly Muthumbi is a Web Administrator and Has Been Researching and Reporting on Debt for Years. For More Information on FINANCIAL BELIEFS, Visit Her Site at INVESTING YOUR MONEY
[...] while for others, the decision to tip cash vs. credit seems to have religious significance. I have heard several reasons, along with my thoughts on [...]
We lend funds to small business without a personal guarantee, if you agree to hold the funds on deposit until you give them back to pay us off.
We report to D&B and to Experian Small Business. No credit check of any kind.
Why? What possible negative can come by showing a larger unused credit line bring?
Your FICO is based on utilisation, so if you only use 1000 on that card, your utilisation is lower than if the limit was 3000.
thanks for the link!
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[...] Sujatha Ganesan just wrote an article aboutHere’s a preview of it: [...]
[...] month we had to abate (appeal) the Real Estate Tax Assessment the town had placed upon one of our rental properties. We got $25,000 shaved off the assessed [...]
[...] Towns and cities are increasingly Faking It. They are inflating the assessed value of a home tens of thousands of dollars more than their market value — and I bet they know it! It is happening all across the nation (according to CNNfn.com). It did happened to us!! [...]
[...] Estate Tax: Won Battle #1 : This is not finished unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLast month we had to abate (appeal) [...]
On another note gas costs $12.50 in the Caribbean….but people still use it.
First of all thank you for linking to my article. The payments work for me because I do not carry the rent payment as a balance on my credit card. I have a card that is at a zero balance that offers me cash back on all purchases.
I used to write a check for rent so now I just write the rent check to the credit card and use the card to pay the rent. The payment goes to the card within the twenty days grace period so I do not get interest charges on it and then the card goes back to zero.
I would only recommend this for people who are very disciplined as consumers….but if people are careful I would not discourage them from using cards to pay rent.
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These are the “benefits” of higher gas prices that the media never talks about. It forces people to conserve energy!
I wrote an article on my site about how consumers need to demand more fuel efficiency in their cars. Instead increasing the mileage of a car when they develope a more efficient engine, automakers take their fuel efficiency “dividends” and increase the cars performance.
I don’t wish ill will on people, but I do wish they would be more considerate of their own high energy consumption.
Ben @ Trees Full of Money
[...] Schools – (In Favor) Many parents are faced with a difficult challenge: find a good school for their children. Homeschooling become a very interesting option when compared to a private school. At stay at home parent can potentially teach their children better than a bad public school. This may save money versus moving to a better school district or paying for private education. [...]
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It’s a goal to make enough money to do what you want, and maintain an enjoyable life at the same time. The problem seems to most often be that they want a glamorous, rock star life but not have to work for it – or feel that they’re worth more then they earn without working like they deserve it. A conundrum!
[...] Annual Credit Report – My To Do List – Feb 2008 Today I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI have friends who tell me that they do not want to be like me. They do not want to worry about money or find a better job. Yet, they complaint that they do not have enough money and that they dislike their jobs but still have to do … [...]
[...] Laurel wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLong ago I had opened my Zecco Trading account lured by the Free trading offer. They still hold their promise and offer free trades if you hold a balance of more than a few thousand dollars. My initial visit to the website found it very … [...]
[...] Annual Credit Report – My To Do List – Feb 2008 Today I ran my free annual credit report. You can do this three times a year if you request one annual report at a time. This maximizes your chances of spotting any identity fraud activity early. The truth is, I often forget to run them … [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLong ago I had opened my Zecco Trading account lured by the Free trading offer. They still hold their promise and offer free trades if you hold a balance of more than a few thousand dollars. My initial visit to the website found it very … [...]
[...] is my poor’s man portfolio [...]
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You sound like just the sort of consultant that I like. I tend to avoid ‘you people’ at the best of times as I have dealt with too many who are just there to make the biggest profit for themselves as possible and do not care about my needs.
[...] Money Zen They do not want to worry about money or find a better job. Yet, they complaint that they do not have enough money and that they dislike their jobs but still have to do them to earn their […] [...]
[...] Dead People Can’t Pay Their Loans Need It Young people are often enticed to take a Life Insurance Policy on their Auto Loans, or even Credit Card Debt by very astute salesguys. [...]
[...] Dead People Can’t Pay Their Loans Need It Young people are often enticed to take a Life Insurance Policy on their Auto Loans, or even Credit Card Debt by very astute salesguys. [...]
[...] Dead People Can’t Pay Their Loans Need It Young people are often enticed to take a Life Insurance Policy on their Auto Loans, or even Credit Card Debt by very astute salesguys. [...]
[...] Then you need to modify your budget to give yourself a slush fund. Each month you get an allowance for a certain amount of money you can spend however you want. It should be cumulative so if you don’t spend it one month, you can accumulate it to get something more expensive. Also make sure you have a fully funded emergency fund. A good strategy is to build up a CD ladder. [...]
Great point uncovering a shady insurance sales tacktic! I’m curious if you have ever heard of or what you know/think about investing in Life Settlement Insurance policies. Obviously there are some crooks out there on this too but it was the credibility of Warren Buffett that got me really going with it. I’m now very invested and even marketing the concept, primarily because I can’t find anything better and think that in the coming market people are going to be looking for safer ways to get a good return. Your thoughts?…
[...] Continue Reading [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe Simple Wealth had an article published on the Carnival Ethics, Values and Personal Finance of that reminds us of remembering our past financial mistakes. It is important to learn from mistakes. In a society where talking about money … [...]
[...] (Weblog originally posted on the Anes Weblog. Also related to the post: I Want Expensive Gas.) [...]
Everyone is complaining about high gas prices but nobody is slowing down on the freeway. I slowed down to the speed limit and am getting 2-3 more miles a gallon. I have an 18 gallon tank which means I get 38 to 54 more miles out of my tank. Thats approximatley 1 to 2 gallons of savings on a tank. I wonder what would happen to gas reserves if everyone in the US slowed down and saved gas buy getting better mileage from their tanks. I wish some brain who works with numbers would figure that one out. We only have ourselfs to blame for high gas prices. We purchased these big gas guzzlers over the last two decades without considering the consequences. As REV. Wright says “The chickens have come home to roost”. I have heard people talking about not purchasing gas on a paticular day to get the prices to come down. It won’t work because we will need to get gas at some time and if we don’t conserve by getting more miles from a tank it won’t make a bit of difference when you get your gas.
Don’t blame the oil companies they were only doing their job supplying us with all the gas we wanted.
I agree! If more people would listen and have a plan BEFORE they buy we would have fewer proplr in trouble!
Hi there
I run a site Stock Market for Beginners ( http://stockmarketforbeginnersguide.com ).
I believe it would be beneficial for both of us if we do blogroll link exchange.
Here is the Dsecription for the Link Exchange
Title Stock Market For Beginners
URL http://stockmarketforbeginnersguide.com
thanks
John Border
[...] presents Avoid Working for Your Moral Opposite posted at Money And [...]
Received your comment.. Added you onto my Blogroll.
[...] presents Be Open About Your Financial Mistakes posted at Money And [...]
[...] •Be open about your financial mistakes at Money and Investing [...]
Hi,
Interesting Blog. I think it will be beneficial for both of us if we link our blogs.
My site is
http://www.stockinvest.in
sandyk
[...] I have had some advantages, however. I did graduated from a career in high demand. Engineers, especially on the IT world can have a great salary just by graduating college. Most careers do not enjoy such an advantage. I know how to produce and work hard. I learned how to associate my work to things that sell. Another advantage: I am not afraid to sell – especially to sell what I can produce. Early in my career I got bored with the current production (engineering) task at that time and moved into pre-sales engineering (half produce half sales). I gained skills and confidence that allow me to sell – at least in a rudimentary way. (Produce and/or Sell) [...]
Hello. My name is Nellie. I like your blog and I wonder if you could write a post (review) about my credit card site and place it on your blog (around 150 words, 1-2 anchor). Is it possible? What is your lowest final price?
If not, tell me what kind of links you can offer. Non- site-wide links please. NellieHawkins55@gmail.com
Dear Visitors,
This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people. Its our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.
Time changes and with every passing day graphs of stock market changes which in turn changes the portfolio of investor. Like recent fall in Indian stock market
has ruined the portfolio of investors
who were invested in Nse and Bse
listed scripts. They have lost around say 60% of there money. But now once again after that correction in stock market Nifty and Sensex has picked up momentum. But
we again warns all investors that don’t be too over tempted by this rise as its just a minor upmove. Until Nifty doesn’t close above 5300 for 3-4 sessions we are not at all bullish in market. So invest in market for short term or prefer day trading commonly known as Intraday trading.
Apart from it rising price of Crude oil, Rising Inflation is a matter of concern. Though dollar is becoming stronger that will boost IT sector and Exporters.
All in all we suggest be in Indian stock market and if you are investor invest with the proper strategies like go Long for maximum 1 week that too with proper stoploss and target.
If you are day trader be a strict intraday trader then , clear your goals and trade with strict stoploss and target if you want to earn.
Regards
SHARETIPSINFO TEAM
9891655316
9899056796
9891890425
Awesome! Too bad the politcos and powerful corps. would never let it happen…they rely too much on the cheap foreign labor and have no interest in a long term view of developing human infrastructure…instead of doctors they want grape pickers and the ability to outsource the skilled labor to cheap overseas countries…ie india.
Great post, I really enjoyed it. I will have to bookmark this site for later.
[...] some more attention by all of us. … A. your company will calculate the discount as income, …http://www.moneyandinvesting.net/2008/02/20/espp-employee-stock-purchase-plan/The NCEO Employee Stock Purchase Plan ESPP Survey2006 employee stock purchase plan ESPP and FAS … [...]
I agree, what I do is turn the AC on right before I go to bed. I turn it off when i hop in and the house holds the temperature since it is cold outside. Then in the morning, i turn the thermostat up and close all the shades. When i get home the house hasn’t gone up in temp very much!
Dear Visitors,
This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people. Its our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.
Today that is 20-June-08 Inflation data has broken the records of past 13 years. Today declared Inflation was 11.05% which is too high. From last one month market is in no trade zone. Everyone is feeling pain from market response.
Just watch
The Sensex has lost more than 27% since its January peak, and trading volumes are down 46%.
Investors has lost there 70% of portfolio .
But still we say there are many undervalued stocks which can be used for investment.
To name few
1. DIGJAM
2. SBI
Most of the stocks are trading near to there 52 weeks lows. There are many fundamentally strong scripts too that are trading at lower levels. One can buy and hold them.
Nifty is expected to correct bit more and after that we can say market will be bullish. As this correction was overdue reason being if we observe in past months speculated stocks whose fundamentals are zero has also shown tremendous upward rallies in the market and now again they are trading at there real values. But still investors are trapped in them and no one is sure those scripts will ever reach those highs or not.
Stock market is a ocean where there are many pearls ( here scripts) so one need to select the best one. We strongly recommend if you are not intraday trader but investor then do go through company fundamentals and then invest.
For any query feel free to contact us.
Regards
SHARETIPSINFO TEAM
+91 9891655316
+91 9899056796
+91 9891890425
There is an exciting business tool provided by http://www.MileageLogger.com that will help you capture your business mileage automatically, no need for pen and paper.
Hi,
My name is Caren.
I find your site http://www.moneyandinvesting.net interesting!
I have a few good credit card websites that could be useful for your readers. They have many visitors, high Alexa rank and PR from 0 to 4 and one of them takes its place in the Google top 10 credit card sites.
I would like to buy some links at your site.
Please let me know if you are interested and how much you charge via email.
Thank you for your time,
Regards,
Caren.
Hi,
Discipline is the key now if you are a trader or investor in the stock market. As all global markets including Indian stock market have become highly volatile because of which many investors and traders are burning there fingers. Still we suggest there are lot many opportunities which can let you earn a lot from stock market.
We strongly advise everyone not to follow rumors and follow technical analysis.
If you have any doubt, lets share it in this blog and it will help lot many other traders.
Regards
SHARETIPSINFO TEAM
[...] Prosper: My First Loss [...]
You should really give Lending Club a shot. I think you’ll like how easy it is to auto-select loans, as well as get good returns on lower risk borrower notes.
We recently raised our minimum borrower FICO score to 660, as well as raised interest rates across the board. We want to make sure we are doing everything right to make our lenders happy!
Can I email you something? Thanks.
dk
Product Ambassador
lendingclub.com
The expected Christmas rally may have been priced into the market already, when it was defying all sorts of negative news to stay this level. I don’t think the market hasn’t bottomed out yet, as the gurus on CNBC and other channels have been declaring for the umpteenth time. I think we could reach new lows in the next few weeks because there is only indications of a deepening recession, without an end in sight.
If you’re in the Worcester area, there is a group of activists trying to restore Liberty and Economic properity in America
Meeting on Jan 11th – http://www.masslpa.org you’re invited if you’d like to network.
When I write to our Represenative about the bailouts(theft), I get a negative response also.
Brad
PS Capping children tax deductions is an interesting idea that should get alot of press as America is compared to China.
Hello there,very nice place
Hello Money & Investing Author,
As a fellow money (miser) saver I have followed your blog for a little while now.
So I have a little offer for you.
The company I work for would ;like to pay you to put a text link to a credit card site on your blog. I see you have other deals already and would love to join them on the same better terms?!
The website is called creditcardmenu.com and we will be launching a new fantastic looking credit card review and comparison service which is free to our customers; advertising with sites like your should be great for our profile.
So let the bartering begin??!
Alex Preece
Bad with my money, great with other peoples!
Negotiator
Giant Investments Limited
+ 44 (0)1273 224002
(I am based in London, England so excuse the weird times you get this email!)
Nice writing style. I look forward to reading more in the future.
Nice comparison of the two. The funny thing with consultants at my bank is that we use the word as an employee position too. It’s very confusing sometimes.
After reading your review, I am definitely buying this. Do you happen to know of any Coupon Codes for the refurbished neat receipt?
At this time, they are available for $99 at the NeatReceipts Website Store.
I am not aware of any further discounts or coupon codes.
Both columns in your table say “Contractor”.
Hi,
This is justine, a webmaster. Congratulations for maintaining such a good blog on-Finance & Money!!
I own some websites on-different financial matters having good internet presence. Yesterday when one of our forum moderators informed me about your blog, I visited it. Man, your finance focused & nicely presented posts really make me admit that the content of your blog posts are standard and relevant. Keeping in mind the quality information of your blog, we are planning to build up a nice link exchange relationship with you. We would love to have you as our link partner.
Please advise whether we should go ahead. Feel free to contact me at my email: justine(dot)anderson08(at)gmail(dot)com when you get online.
I am always online at Google talk, so we can discuss online also regarding link issue.
Awaiting your earliest reply. Have a nice day.
Regards,
Justine
[...] time to time I do help my friends build up the job search documents and ideas - heping them maximize the value perceived by prospective employers. I help them practice for [...]
The work force is being down graded do to the removal of encentives and companys have only one option to get more for less. Memos that end with “up to and including termination” a penny pincher will always destroy a business.
[...] Money and Investing blogs fixed cost vs. time and materials. [...]
Networking for smart dummies…
Not too long ago, a wise man I trully respect with business advice, told me: “in business, anything you would say during a normal conversation, will be accepted as networking…”; today I got to prove it.
Someone gave my name as a refe…
I recently wrote a post about this subject on my blog and I couldn’t agree more than we don’t have our priorities straight. Too many people believe the money needs to be spent largely on national defense and don’t even know where much of the money is going. We are too many places where we (the US) are not welcome.
Love the descriptions of people who you should get in contact with. I agree though, there are some networking events that may not be worth the time of attending.
I couldn’t agree more.
I have trouble understanding the mindset of kids who think that high paying jobs are just going to fall in their lap once they graduate.
Reminds me of a couple I used to know. They were still in school, had just got married. Both were doing BAs in something useless. I asked them what they were going to do when they graduated, and neither of them had a clue. In the meantime – the nice guy at the bank was just feeding them cheap money.
I’ve bootstrapped a couple of companies over the past decade. By “bootstrap”, I mean “start the company with whatever spare change is in your pocket, and make plenty of cold calls”.
Its hard work, but in the long run there’s no shortcuts in business anyway – so might as well build a good foundation.
The ramen noodle approach works best with consulting type businesses, where there’s minimal capital requirements. I’m not sure how you’d be able to start a manufacturing business that way.
Getting paid for something you love to do feels exactly like paid vacation time. Even if its every once in a while, we should all find a way to make it happen.
[...] ugly truth is that if you got laid off or are about to, Those Jobs Will Never Come Back – New Ones Will, and you may have to change careers and start again, but there is nothing bad with that. If you [...]
This is something most people never see as an option. I sure will have it in mind from now on for people asking me for advice.
[...] through the one of the last post of Money and Investment, (I seriously recommended it) where the author presents us with the need of an Exit Door for most [...]
[...] through the one of the last post of Money and Investment, (I seriously recommended it) where the author presents us with the need of an Exit Door for most [...]
[...] is nothing wrong with a W-2 positions. With the high unemployment rate we have, any work opportunity is a good opportunity. Don’t be discouraged by it. [...]
[...] their employee is taking advantage of them in a recession. It may well be true – an employee value may have been diminished due to availability of cheaper, unemployed [...]
To be cliché, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” whether your the company or the employee. When times are touch people need to suck it up, but at the same time an employer must consider the opportunity cost of loosing that employee and training another and the opportunity cost of what another employer will pay that very same employee.