How I Will Be Rich

Archive for December, 2007

This is my last Roundup before Christmas. There’s a couple good posts that might help people out going in to Christmas and a couple other real good posts. No guest post this week. The end of December is always a rough time for me. The job at the shutter factory gets hectic. I’m also preparing to go back to school. I have a meeting with the councilor tomorrow afternoon and I’m officially starting back January 7th. I hope my blog doesn’t suffer. I believe, if anything, it will give me more to talk about.

Anyway, here’s what I found this week:

Why I Started My Debt Reduction Blog

• NCN has a great little write up about why he started blogging.
  

Money Saving Tips for Online Shopping | Moolanomy

• Here are some great tips for making purchases online. This is especially useful for me coming in to the holidays. I buy everything online.
  

15 Products that save Time, Money, and Space

• Here’s a great list of products to save time, money and space. There’s some really great ideas here if you are looking for gifts.
  

Carnival of Personal Finance: Naughty or Nice Edition ? Get Rich Slowly

• I participated in this carnival this week with my advice on investing in the stock market.
  

Millionaire Mommy Next Door: My Investment Portfolio Revealed

• I love seeing the portfolios of people who have been really successful with investing. Check out the Millionaire Mommy Next Door’s portfolio.

Enjoy

Last week I wrote a post about The Secret. I received a few responses back from people and it seems like most people have a very similar opinion of the whole idea. I thought I’d share what others had to say about it and also share my thoughts on the whole concept.

A reader named Tim said;

I saw The Movie and I was intrigued too. The whole premise of the movie is based on the law of attraction. The law of attraction says you can change the way you think and doing so will bring whatever you want into your life. To me, it is more symbolic than a known fact. It is symbolic of positive thinking, focusing, and perceiving opportunities. Be careful though, one of the characters is in trouble for taking money for investing and he spent it on himself.

Fiscal Musings said;

I also haven’t read this book, but I’ve heard a lot about it. I think they did a great marketing job by shrouding everything in secrecy, but ultimately it’s not really a new concept.

Napoleon Hill wrote a book on the subject that most people have heard of, Think and Grow Rich. I don’t really have any desire to read this new book though.

Brip Blap said;

I have seen (and own) the DVD, but haven’t read the book. I’m actually going to recommend Think and Grow Rich, too, because it’s the “original” motivational book – it inspired The Secret, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and a bunch of other books. My copy of it is so beat up and marked up it looks like it’s been attacked.

I doubt I’ll read The Secret, simply because I think the DVD is probably a fair representation of the book; at least that’s my guess based on reviews I’ve read. But who knows, might be something else in there that’s not in the DVD.

Martin Saenz said;

I’ve read the book and live the principles. Much of what is written is actually taken from “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace Wattles written in 1890 or something. The Secret does a nice job of wrapping the concept.

My thoughts:

I’ve actually had a few people recommend Think and Grow Rich to me. I think I am convinced enough to go buy it now.

As far as The Secret goes, I really like the concept. I know a lot of other people out there claim that it is B.S. or that it doesn’t work and I guess those people will just never know. The way I look at it is that it seems a little out there but what is it going to hurt. The people that are nay-sayers are not going to think positively because they don’t think it will make them successful? I think that it’s always good to think positively. If there’s really something to all of this then you will enjoy the benefits.

I don’t believe that you can have whatever you want just by thinking about it. I do believe that, by constantly thinking about something, you do whatever it takes to make sure it happens. Your mind, subconsciously, helps you figure out how to achieve your goals. This is what I believe the true secret is. Your mind is constantly working to figure out problems for you.

I have more thoughts on the whole concept and believe that a lot of this is related to Neural Linguistic Programming. You can mold your mind in to anything you want it to be. I will get more in to that topic at a later time…

Over at Brip Blap, Steve gave his advice towards investing. In the post he mentions that you should set up your investments and then forget about them. I want to go a little more in depth on how important that “forget about it” aspect is. If you are like me, you invest in index funds and ETFs and hold them for the long term. This has been the proven way to succeed in the market. If the buy and hold philosophy is the way that you invest, my best advice is to really forget about your investments.

Don’t check your portfolio daily.
When I first started investing I bought in to some stocks and checked them every hour. I would literally have a separate window open on my computer twenty four hours a day. I was obsessed with what the market was doing. Every time one of my stocks made the slightest dip, I panicked. I would get overly nervous every time it would move down one cent and I would jump for joy every time it would move up just one cent. It was crazy. For your own sanity’s sake, don’t check your portfolio too often. If you are in it for the long run, the day to day dips and peaks don’t really matter.

Checking too often leads to bad decisions.
I’ve made quite a few mistakes in the short amount of time that I’ve been investing. Most of these mistakes have been a result of panic selling. When you are constantly watching the market, hour by hour, you’ll be more inclined to panic at a slight dip and prematurely sell. I’ve had investments that I held for less than a week because in the first few days they dipped down a little. Of course right after I sold them, they would recover from the loss and if I would have held out, I probably would have made some money. Avoid the bad decisions that can be made. Keep clear of that stock ticker on a day to day basis.

Ignore what the media says about the market.
You are constantly hearing on the news that the DOW did this or the NASDAQ did that. You’ll hear about the fed lowering or raising the interest rates. None of this information should affect you if you are holding for the long term. Ignore what the media has to say about the market. Don’t let what the media says drive you in to a panic sell.

If you can have the discipline to invest in a safe fund and it ignore it for years and years, you will be a success at investing. The greatest thing for your investments is time. Take emotions out of investing and do what has worked for years and years. Buy, hold and ignore.

Photo Credit: rednuht

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Today I’m posting sort of a random personal post. I want to apologize for the sporadic nature of my posting. I’ve been having a hard time getting back on schedule. I like to write my posts at night right before I go to bed and set them to post the following morning. Coming in to the holidays, work gets crazy. Everybody wanted their order yesterday. Everybody seems to think that their order was supposed to be ready before Christmas. It gets really hectic. Lately, I haven’t been able to get myself to post right before bed; hence the random times of my various postings.

My girlfriend and I just purchased the game Rock Band. I’m not sure if anyone has played guitar hero but it’s very similar. You have the option to play guitar, bass, drums or even sing. The game is so much fun. It was kind of expensive to get the whole set but I’m a huge video game nerd and we splurged a little. We purchased the game the frugal way… We found it on eBay. We actually managed to purchase a copy for less money on eBay than it’s actually selling for in stores.

In Guitar Hero, you can play forever and it probably won’t ever help you get better at guitar in real life. Playing the drums in Rock Band, however, can actually teach you to become a good drummer. You’re basically going through the same motions you would in real life. It’s really cool. I think I’ve been getting a workout too. Joe would be proud of me.

I’ve re-registered for school. I’ve mentioned before that I’m working on a finance degree in school. I took one semester off to spend some time focusing on the family business. I’ve re-enrolled to get back on track starting in January. It should only take me ten more months and I’ll be done. Since I will be taking finance and investing courses, the topics of my blog may reflect this. I really want to get more in depth with investment topics so I would imagine that my blog may roll in that direction a little for a few months.

I hope people don’t mind my random rant of a post. If you do, just skip over it. I’m going to go play some more Rock Band before I go to bed.

Photo Credit: greatestpeopleever

Another week and there’s been a lot of great posts going around. I also wrote another guest post for Lazy Man and Money. I really love the personal finance blogging community. Everyone has been so helpful and there are so many great sites out there. Here’s what I found this week:

Time Alone is Time Well Spent

• I have another guest post up over at Lazy Man and Money. It’s about the importance of spending some time alone to gather your thoughts. Go check that out if you get a chance. Lazy Man is another one of the blogs that has been so helpful. He’s always so willing to help and I really appreciate everything he’s done for me and my blog.

My Foray into Prosper as a P2P Lender | Moolanomy

• I’ve been really wanting to get in to Prosper. I also learned about them because they are a sponsor here on this site. Pinyo talks about his experience with the system. A great read if you are interested in what the startup process is.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich » How I gained 5lbs in one week

• This is the site that made me want to blog. I absolutely love Ramit’s writing and his style. He’s in the process of writing a book so he hasn’t been posting much lately. I highly recommend his site if you are just now getting in to personal finance blogs.

Deep In A Buyer’s Market: Time To Buy A House on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

• Have home prices hit bottom? Is now the time to buy? I hope not because in San Diego, home prices are still outrageous.

Creating a Budget-Friendly Christmas List – 5 ways to make the holidays less expensive for your friends | Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life

• Mrs. Micah discusses making a Christmas list. This is how to do it so that you don’t make your gifter spend too much on you. Some cool ideas in here.

How I Became a Millionaire While Working in My Pajamas ? Get Rich Slowly

• A great guest post from The Millionaire Mommy Next Door about how she became a millionaire. It’s a great post and it’s inspirational to hear about how others have gained their success.

Carnivals I Participate in This Week:
(I Just Realized these links were broken. They’re fixed now)
Carnival of Money Stories #38 | Cash Money Life
Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness #25 | Credit Card Lowdown
103rd festival of frugality : plonkee money
2008 Financial Resolutions | Cash Money Life

Enjoy