The other day, I was checking on the comments on this blog and inadvertently received a message which I interpreted as spam. The message read, “Your a good, but lazy blogger.” Some might think that maybe a legitimate comment but the link provided with the message went to some obscure spam site. Well, they’re right! I am a pretty damn lazy blogger. Not to make excuses, lots of things are happening in my life. I’ve got maybe 5 projects at work. I’ve been working hard in starting one and maintaining the other one. You think with this economy, work would be slow. Not where I’m at.
I became a charter member and and officer for my company’s Toastmasters club (first one on the list). Sorry guys, this is only opened to employees of the company. I’m actually really excited about this one. For awhile now, I’ve been to join Toastmasters but with this opportunity, I can hone my public speaking skills. That’s one area I feel I need the most improvement on. Hopefully this will instill the skills I need.
I’m still settling in at my new home. Worked out a weekly routine now in which I pick a day to visit the folks and spend the rest of the week riding into work (if weather permits). I have my laundry day and my grocery shopping day on the bike. I’m definitely been car-lite. Only filling up twice a month. Riding about 50+ miles a week to work and running errands. I had a roommate who stayed for 3 months and moved out at the end of March. Although she was cool, it is definitely nice to have the whole place to myself. I am able to leave stuff all over the place as I choose. It is certainly one of those benefits where you couldn’t put any amount of money on.
My file-server died recently. I had to rebuild and recover the machine this past week. Upgraded to Slackware 12.2 for 10.0. Not much difference. I finally switched from a Dual Celeron computer to a P3 500Mhz . Yes very impressive. If you haven’t already realize, I don’t buy the latest and greatest when it comes to my computers. Heck, the computer I’m typing on was given to me by a co-worker who decided to buy a laptop when her hard drive died. It’s a P4 3Ghz w/HT Dell Dimension 4700. Decided to put Ubuntu 8.10. Main reason to see what the hype was all about. I have to tell you, I like it alot. I am able to do everything I can on a Windows or Mac system. I’m able to use virtual machines to run Windows for free using VirtualBox. I haven’t tossed my other systems away. Still using the laptops to portable access and the Mac for my home theater system. It’s nice to see how Linux has finally evolved to something that is useful and can compete with the likes of Microsoft and Apple.
Another thing I want to mention is that I’m thinking about doing 2 things that are going to be life changers. No, not get hitched! I’m thinking about going car-free. I read, “How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life” and got me thinking about a car free life. It is very doable considering I’ve already being car-lite. Even if I have to rent cars twice a month, I am not paying more than I am on car related expenses every year. I’ll be sure I’ll post up when that happens. The second big thing I am going to do is cut my hair. Not just cut it for my own selfish need. I am planning to donate my hair for a good cause.
See even guys can donate their hair. I’m thinking about giving it to this cause. I may or may not make a video like this guy but definitely some pictures will be required. Again, I’ll make sure to post up here. For more information on hair donation, check this page out.
If there was one book that you must read this year make sure it is Confessions of an Economic Hitman. I recently “read” this book on CD. This was a great listen! Kept me captivated from beginning to end. It basically went through the life of a guy who is hired by a private company which works really close to the government such as Bechtel and Halliburton.
This guy is sent out as an economist to third world countries to promote the modernization of their society. He would run estimates which favorably show how bringing modern technology will help a country prosper. The countries sign on and only a few get rich while the rest of the country is worse off than before. These countries end up being in debt to the US for billions and billions of dollars. So instead of paying the US back they return the favor in the form of giving US access to oil or other natural resources and sometimes UN votes. If a country refuses the deals from the US, they send what Perkins call “Jackals” in to do some convincing. If that doesn’t work, the US uses the military to pursuade them. That’s basically what happened in Iraq.
Conspiracy or not, this book opened my eyes on the impact of our selfish ways are leading to the eventually downfall of our empire. It is no wonder why so many people outside the US hates us so much. We should really be ashamed for our consuming ways and the fact that we ignore other countries who are suffering from a level of poverty that nobody here can imagine. Instead we hide behind the false pretenses of helping a country modernize but in reality is looking to take advantage of their natural resources. Our government starts wars now for the sake of terrorism and to free the people from terrorists. But in reality they have a different agenda. In exchange for the lives of soldiers, we are relentlessly trying to gain control of a country and use up its natural resources.
I’m typically neutral when it comes to politics but this book has opened up my eyes. It is no wonder why the author had mentioned that writing and publishing this book was a dangerous thing. He basically revealed what most conspiracy theorists could only imagine.
As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been reading Timothy Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Workweek”. I’m half way done on a 300 page book. It’s only amazing since I don’t read that much or that fast for ANYTHING.
What peaked my interest was his section on Automation. He proposed that everyone should have a VA – Virtual Assistant. You’re probably thinking what I was thinking, “I can’t afford an assistant.” Yes you can. According to Tim, the productivity you get from an assistant far out-weighs the time spent doing things on your own. He sited examples of using a VA to basically do the nitty-gritty work for you and you use the fruits of their labor to do what you need to do. For example, researching for a project or even researching for various things like blog posting.
The cost range from $5 – $20 an hour. The more expensive ones are located in the US or Canada. The middle of the line and cheaper ones are located off-shore in India, China, or Shanghai.
I think I can afford to pay someone to do some of my work and reclaim some of my time back. This realization is almost as big as the time I realized, “Hey! I can learn to ride a motorcycle and not worry about what my parents thought.” Exciting stuff!
I just started reading again tonight. The reason this time was that I have 2 books to read by September 17th. I plan on finishing those well before that deadline. In fact the book, “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris I’ve already completed 100 pages. I realized since I replaced my PS2 with my Xbox 360 console, I’ve been playing alot more games. I haven’t picked up a book since April of this year, when I bought the new system. I need to read more so hopefully reading these books will help me get back into the book-reading mood. So far so good.
So many distractions these days with the Xbox, birthdays, weddings, and other social functions. The only device that has been good for me is my iPod. I use that the most but listening to music and podcast doesn’t get in the way while I’m doing other things.
2006 was certainly a year for me to remember. It was the year I finally became debt free. It was also the year where I learned how to manage my retirement money and began to seriously analyze and save for my future. My goal is to make my first million in 10 years. So far so good.
I am happy to report that my investments from 2006 went up 7.76%. This amount did not include contributions. With contributions, my portfolio rose 11.01%. The first quarter of 2006 I was up 5.74% from previous year’s amount. Second quarter performance sunk my portfolio down to -0.30% when the market sold off. By third quarter, I recovered my losses and was up 2.46%. I began making contributions to my 401K again in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
HOW MUCH DO YOU KEEP? I kept 10.6% of my income. Goal: Increase the percentage of income you keep.
DOES YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU? 2.5% of my income is working for me. Goal: Increase your percentage of passive or portfolio income.
WHAT IS YOUR INCOME AFTER TAX? I pay 35% in taxes. Goal: Decrease the amount of tax you pay.
HOW MUCH OF YOUR NET INCOME GOES TO HOUSING? 24.7% of my income goes to housing (thanks to coming back home to live with the folks). Goal: Keep housing costs under 33% of net incoming.
WHAT IS YOUR RETURN ON ASSETS? My cash-on-asset return is 3.67% Goal: Increase your cash-on-asset return.
HOW WEALTHY ARE YOU? I can live for 9.26 months without worrying about my expenses. Note: Once your monthly passive income exceeds your monthly expenses, you’re infinitely wealthy because your assets are working for you.
Goal: To purchase assets that generate passive and/or portfolio income in excess of your monthly expenses.
If I was to give myself a grade, it would probably be a B or B-. I think I can do better as far as saving more and improving on these numbers. Let’s see what 2007 will bring.
In about less than 24 hours I will finally be setting foot in my 2nd Radiohead concert. I seriously cannot wait. I’ve been waiting for them to tour since the last time I saw them at Coachella. I’m wondering what they will be playing for tomorrow night. Anyhow, just want to rejoice before I jump right back into the current book I’m reading. It’s only the 3rd day and I’m already 3/4 finished.
In a recent post, I had dabbled in the idea of compounding interest. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Today, I learned something even more incredible and worth sharing. Ever since that last post, I wanted to figure out why more people are so excited about compounding interest. I mean I can figure out how long it will take for me to double the amount of money just by using a simple calculation, but why was this important?
To my surprise, the answer was right in front of me. Well, not really in front of me, but it was in the form of a podcast I was listening to. I subscribe to Doug Fabian’s podcast. The author of “Maverick Investing”. Even though I listen to him on a daily basis, I was never intrigued with what he had to say. But recently he had his dad, Dick Fabian, come on the show and explain the idea of trend following and importantly compounding interest. For some reason Dick Fabian had an incredible appeal where I was paying more attention to what he had to say. You can tell he was very passionate about the subject even to this day after retirement.
After his interviews, I went to visit his web site and found his document explaining the power of compounding. It basically described how you can invest $100,000 and retain an earning of 20% every year for 15 years, you will earn $1.5 million. That isn’t the amazing part. The amazing part is that the earning is equivalent to gaining 96% return on the initial $100,000 every year until 15 years. Meaning even though you’re gaining 20% annual on your lump sum, because of compounding interest where the interest is applied to the lump sum plus all previous gains, you’re actually getting more than 20% every year and eventually returning a much higher interest as you let the amount compound. This to me is truly amazing since you don’t need to find an investment that yields higher than 20% to get a higher gain. All it takes is time and working to find investments that gives you at least 20% gains. He quickly points out that there are hundreds of mutual funds that yield that much or more. All we need to do is go to the library to see the year-end edition of Barron’s, WSJ, or USA Today to look at mutual funds listings. And more importantly, if you use his worksheet, you can monitor your investment every week to make sure they are retaining a 1.67% growth every month. Why 1.67%? That’s 20% gain for a year (1.67% * 12 = 20%). I think I might just subscribe to this trend following methodology in investing. Its basically monitoring the trends using the 200-day moving average, which you can get from Finance Yahoo! page for any symbol you’re looking up. I’m sure there’s more to this so I’m going to find out what else I need to do. But for now, the reality of possibly retiring a millionaire by age of 45 is a reality and not a dream.
Ever feel that your life is so disorganized and you don’t know where to start or end? Not a problem if you follow the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. Ever since reading/hearing this book, my life has been more calmer and I’ve actually “gotten things done”. David Allen sure knew what he was talking about when writing this book. Not only have I’ve been productive, I am feeling much less stressed for the last month. I also feel I am using my Palm Tungsten to its full potential using The PigPog method approach to GTD.
GTD gives you a way to collect, process, organize, review, and make choices on what to do. When done correctly, one can unload all their thoughts and ideas in one bucket, whether it being a Palm Tungsten or a sheet of paper. The idea is to have all things that you are stressing over out of your head so that you can deal with it as you go so that you’re not constantly stressing over it. This system allows you to organize and deal with your issues in a calm manner and keep thinking about the next steps for all your tasks. I urge those who feels overwhelmed with all the daily tasks and stress of life to give this a try. I have both the paperback and CD-ROM for those who want to borrow for a read. Please share any ideas you may have. Also visit 43Folders, and entire blog developed because of GTD.
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I’ve already completed 100 pages. I realized since I replaced my PS2 with my 