Posts tagged Money

WOW! Breakthrough!

0
300 days
by in Learning / Experience / Financial

WOW!!! So, today was a HUGE day for me. Over the course of the last 9-10 months, I have increased my Net Worth by almost $50,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO ME!!! I’m afraid to tell any of my peers (thus, the point of this blog) because they may start to take it personally (there’s so much negativity in the world). Even according to Felix Dennis, (if I remember correctly) you spend most of your time trying to hold onto the money you earned (especially once your peers find out how much money you have). Besides, in some of the books I’ve read, there was talk of “Stealth Wealth“. Which is basically where nobody really knows how much money you are worth. Not that I’m very wealthy. After all, in the grand scheme of things, $50,000 is not that much. However, this is definitely still the beginning for me and even on my small scale, $50,0000 is A LOT of money. My Net Worth is still around -$1,000 but from almost -$48,000 9-10 months ago, I don’t think that’s too bad.

The next post will probably be me FINALLY HAVING A POSITIVE NET WORTH! Anyway, here are the graphs (below, from Yodlee.com).

Ag's Net Worth 04-29-2011

Ag's Net Worth 04-29-2011

And… The last 12 months…

Ag's Net Worth 04-29-2011 (Last 12 Months)

Ag's Net Worth 04-29-2011 (Last 12 Months)

And the Year-To-Date…

Ag's Net Worth 04-29-2011-YTD

Ag's Net Worth 04-29-2011-YTD

By the way, I finished “88: The Narrow Road” (By: Felix Dennis) as well. Yet again, another interesting set of words. A blazingly fast read (way faster than “How To Get Rich”). For the most part, many of the same concepts, but virtually no anecdotal evidence whatsoever.

Publications Examined / Articles To Have A Look At

0
569 days
by in Publications

Fortune Magazine:

  • June 2010
    1. The top picks from 25 great investors
    2. Brazil and India emerge

Money Magazine:

Forbes Magazine

  • March 2010
    1. Follow that billionaire
      William Baldwin
    2. New Frontiers of the Super-Rich (Advert?)
      “The world’s wealthiest people share a number of characteristics that factor significantly into their wealth creation and success…”
      “One such philosophy is being centered. It’s concentrating your efforts and resources on explicit, predetermined goals without getting distracted by day-to-day life or new opportunities, and knowing how to leverage your unique skills to the greatest effect and creating a complementary infrastructure that can fill in the gaps. Another example would be nodal networking, methods of connecting with other people and institutions that maximize your time, efforts, and, ultimately, profits.“
  • April
    1. Tony Stewart: Race To The Bottom Line
      “…my key is I underpromise and overdeliver.”
  • June 2010
    1. Too Good To Be True

Rules Of The Game: Roth IRAs, IRAs, 457 Plans, Lending Club… Retirement…

0
575 days
by in Learning / Experience / Financial

So the other day I was, yet again, researching all of this financial garbage. The way I see things is that everything is a game. It’s like that old adage, “Don’t take life so seriously, you’ll never make it out alive…” Based on what I have been going through, if you see things as a game, you’ll see things more objectively. Which, in this case, can really only help you get ahead. So… STOP BEING SO EMOTIONAL ABOUT EVERYTHING!

Anyway, since I see it as a game, all of these financial “tools” are just parts of the game. For every game, there is a set of rules. This game is no different. YOU are the token and you move around collecting various “tools” throughout the game. The main issue that most people have with this game is that the rules are constantly changing. For me, that’s one of the things that is the most fun and exciting. There is always something new to be learned.

This week, I learned a few more rules of the game. These include IRAs, Roth IRAs, 457 Plans, and retirement finances as a whole. Roth IRAs, Traditional IRAs, and 457 plans are cool because they allow you to have a tax advantage of some sort. Depending on your situation, these tax advantages can range from being tax-deferred to being totally tax-free. I would encourage everyone who doesn’t have an IRA or some sort of plan to definitely look into them. Technically, your child(ren) could pretty much have their retirement taken care of with a little bit of money before they turn 5 years of age! Look into being a custodian (I think that’s what it’s called) of their account. Once again though, you’ll have to do the research for your particular situation.

I started doing some more research on Lending Club (peer to peer lending) as well. It seems great until you start to see just how dishonest people can get. I have 2 notes that are over 30 days late (one of them is only on the first payment). Granted, I have a little bit over 300 notes, but 2 / 300 = 0.66%. That’s kind of a large chunk and I’m only 2 months into this test (these statistics don’t inspire a whole lot of confidence either). I also went with a riskier portfolio, but I definitely learned my lesson. I was on Lending Club with a PRIME account. The selections that they do for you seem to only take into account the borrowers’ Lending Club “rating.” This means that they “shoot from the hip.” Thus, I made arrangements to get out of the PRIME account and I’m now going to start analyzing every single one that I invest in. However, I can’t get caught worrying about it too much and over analyzing, because then it won’t be worth the investment of time.

Anyway, here’s another look at an updated Net Worth chart (Yodlee.com)…

Ag's Net Worth 07-28-2010

And the Year-To-Date…

Ag's Net Worth 07-28-2010-YTD

Note: The HUGE fluctuations are because of the accounts being added at different times.

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