Made some changes to what I am doing

One of the problems I contribute to my financial problems is being not admitting I have a spending addiction and lack of knowledge of handling my money properly. In order to improve my life, I looked harder at my financial statements and continued reading articles and books by Jason Zweig. The majority of this work came about at the end of the year preparing my financial statements getting them ready for my accountant. What I have noticed on both side businesses my wife and I operate, we did not make enough money to cover our time and transportation costs. Even though we made over $7,000 in sales, our expenses came to $7,438 generating a net profit(A net profit is generated by subtracting your expenses from your sales). By not focusing on improving your financial goals, you can continually spend more money even though you are making money through sales. I have not decided what to do since you have to give a new business three years to determine if the venture is profitable.
Sunday, December 20, 2009

Education without going to class

After attending a meeting presented by the Chicago Camera Club in Oak Brook Illinois, I realized there are other alternatives then traditional education that can help you advance your lifestyle and self worth. At the meeting, they were having a picture competition. In those three hours, I learn more about taking pictures without paying the cost of attending a class. If I want to continue to learn, it only costs me $30 for the year to attend the meetings.

What type of investor am I?

After reading “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham on page 101, he points to two types of investors, one who continually researches and the one that creates a permanent portfolio. What is dictating my investing approach is the hostile work environment that I have to endure because of the lack of jobs. For me, I am adopting the later approach of crating a permanent portfolio that runs on autopilot in order to focus my time on finding a new job

Making the right business and financial decisions

On Sunday, November 15, 2009, I read Zweig article on “Ignoring the Yes-Man in your Head” in the Wall Street Journal. I can relate to that article because of my judgment, which resulted in bad business and financial mistakes. These mistakes occur because I am not asking the right questions by trying to disprove any business or financial situation. In the past, this was true especially when I was buying and selling stock continuously in which money was being lost. In terms of present and past business decisions, this is especially true with the Tastefully Simple consulting business and other entrepreneurial adventures previously tried.

Feedback is great

I am very blessed to have great friends that give me feedback and advice. I think now in this economy, having great friends is also important especially when they help you. I asked my friend T. what he thought about my blog. In his response, he gave critical information I think will help other people. In his email, he states “Mark it looks like you have put a lot of time into your posts. It is a good start. Perhaps simple things like how you save on shopping would be good too. For us we shop at the neighborhood stores which are regularly cheaper than the big stores like Jewel or Dominick’s(we have an Italian Market called Amicis and a fruit and vegetable stand called Nature's best-both have delis that are a lot cheaper than the big stores). In addition, we shop at the outlet stores for bread products (Pepperidge farm and Sara Lee). How about using coupons? Coupons.com is a good site”.

Making priorities

I always ask myself, what is the most important priority that has to be made when paying bills or even saving money? Today, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 I took money out of my savings account and put the money into my checking account. With the money I took out my savings, the amount dropped below $200. Why did I take the money out of my savings account? The main reason was to accomplish my goal or writing a book to generate money.

Finding the right broker

Over the past 12 years, I must have had 10 brokers through A.G.Edwards. Of the 10 brokers, I could trust at least three and then they left the company. After my last broker left the company, I moved my account to another company. What I like about the broker now, she shares the same sentiment as Graham and Zweig belief that it is hard to predict what the future brings. Additionally, she is also honest with me about the risks. According to my broker when I was asking questions about REI’s and TIP’S, her reply was Real Estate Investment trusts certainly did well when the real estate market was booming, and they also pulled back quite a bit when the market fell. In almost any growth, allocation model there is a component that has real estate. You do not own any specific mutual funds geared towards real estate investment trusts but inside the mutual funds, you will have some exposure. TIPS are great way to play inflation. If you think Inflation is going up then TIPS are a very good idea. Both are good investments if bought at the right time, but like everything else each one will have its day in the sunshine.