Increase Revenue, Decrease Cost

I started a new website dedicated to helping readers build net worth through increasing revenues and decreasing costs. The site's URL: www.increaserevenuedecreasecost.com pretty much sums up my objectives.

This should be an effective arena for readers to start to make the necessary tweaks in their life to optimize income. I would suggest everyone check out the site when you get a chance.

Thanks in advance!

24 Goals - Final Update

So it's time I share how I faired.

1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($13,136/$10,000) - Complete
4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($12,500/$20,000)
   
5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($6,912/$9,000)
6. Have 150 blog posts by December (92/150)
7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete
   
8. Read five books by August (5/5) - Complete
9. Create two more portfolio's in my VSE league (2/2) - Done, dedicated my portfolio to EMA technical trading.
   
10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (80/75) - Oh yea, next goal is 100.
    
11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - Reached this in December
    
12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (68%/80%) - Almost got there!
    
13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - Not gonna happen.
14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - Deadline passed; goal failed
15. Secure a full-time job - Yes
    
16. Convince five people to start investing (5/5)
    
17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (220/500) - A little to aggressive
    
18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (280/1000) - A little to aggressive
    
19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - Nope
20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (465/1000) - A little to aggressive
    
21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - Nope
    
22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free - Complete
    
23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - Complete
    
24. Give blood - Complete
    

In short, I am pretty satisfied with the results. I set 24 aggressive goals and was able to accomplish 13 of them.

24 Goals to Accomplish in 240 Days - UPDATE

It has been nearly six months since I shared my goals for the rest of the year. I have detailed the status of each of the goals below:

1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($13,136/$10,000) - Complete
4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($13,136/$20,000) - Organic Growth, Yea!
   
5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($7,092/$9,000)
6. Have 150 blog posts by December (91/150)
7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete.
8. Read five books by August (5/5) - Complete
9. Create two more portfolio's in my VSE league (2/2) - Done, dedicated my portfolio to EMA technical trading.
   
10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (40/75) - Will measure this month
    
11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - Will measure this month
    
12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (65%/80%) - Increased by almost 7%
13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - 4 double faults is still my average
14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - Deadline passed; goal failed
15. Secure a full-time job - Still working it
    
16. Convince five people to start investing (4/5)
    
17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (170/500)
18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (250/1000)
19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - No progress
20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (435/1000)
21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - No progress
22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free
    
23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - I would say I have a good grasp of this
    
24. Give blood - Complete

8 Goals down, 1 unreachable, and 15 to go.

24 Goals to Accomplish in 240 Days - UPDATE

It has been nearly five months since I shared my goals for the rest of the year. I have detailed the status of each of the goals below:

1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($11,608/$10,000) - Complete
4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($11,608/$20,000)
5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($6,975/$9,000)
6. Have 150 blog posts by December (90/150)
7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete.
8. Read five books by August (5/5) - Complete
9. Create two more portfolio’s in my Virtual Stock Exchange league (1/2)
10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (40/75)
    
11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - Still running, no timing
    
12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (58%/80%) - Increased by 5%
13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - 4 double faults is still my average
14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - Deadline passed; goal failed
15. Secure a full-time job - Getting some interviews
    
16. Convince five people to start investing (4/5) - Another roommate opened an account!
    
17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (160/500)
18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (240/1000)
19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - No progress
20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (420/1000)
21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - No progress
22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free
    
23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - No progress
24. Give blood - Complete

I think I can easily knock off #9, 11, and 16 this month! We'll see.

Links for Friday

This Week's Links: CNN Money Addition!

• What's the difference between a stock broker and a financial adviser? Consumerism Commentary answers this question in Financial Advisers and Stock Brokers: What's the Difference.
• Thinking about getting 15% by signing up for a store's credit card? Think again. The Simple Dollar explains why these cards are no good in Why Store Credit Card Are A Bad Deal.
  

Links for Friday

This Week's Links: CNN Money Addition!

• I was digging through my links repository a bit when I found CNN Money's Be a Millionare: 5 Ways to Get There, an simple article with supporting calculators.
• Sick of fees? Consult CNN Money's list of the 35 Most Outrageous Fees (and How to Avoid Them) to recognize and reduce common fees.
  

A Post from the Past:

• Understanding that stock price is determined not only by a firm's financial success, but also investor sediment. The intuition behind using of both of these factors is explained in June's Use Behavioral Finance When Picking Stocks.
  

24 Goals to Accomplish in 240 Days - UPDATE

It has been nearly four months since I shared my goals for the rest of the year. I have detailed the status of each of the goals below:

1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($11,000/$10,000) - Complete
4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($11,000/$20,000)
5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($6,902/$9,000)
6. Have 150 blog posts by December (87/150)
7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete.
8. Read five books by August (5/5) - Complete
9. Create two more portfolio’s in my Virtual Stock Exchange league (1/2)
10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (40/75)
    
11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - I have been running, but still have not timed myself
    
12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (53%/80%) - Increased by almost 20%
13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - 4 double faults is still my average
14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - Deadline passed; goal failed
15. Secure a full-time job - No progress
16. Convince five people to start investing (3/5) - No progress.
    
17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (150/500)
18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (220/1000)
19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - No progress
20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (410/1000)
21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - No progress
22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free
    
23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - No progress
24. Give blood - No progress

I really need to start addressing my physical goals. Hopefully with school starting, I will be able to establish a more conducive schedule for these goals. The problem with this new schedule will be its potential impact on my net worth goal. Having a part-time job may only allow me to stabilize my current net worth. We'll see how it works out!

Links for Friday

This Week's Links:

• I am a big fan of The Simply Dollar, but I have to agree with JLP's stance on investing in a down market.
• CurrentTrading.net keeps the good posts coming. Here are the site's Top 100 Day Trading Blogs.

A Post from the Past:

• Still thinking about starting to plan your retirement strategy? Consult June's It's Really All About Asset Allocation: Part 2 of 2 to help define retirement knowns and unknowns in order to accomplish your retirement goals.

Updated Performance and Transactions

I sat down today and updated my performance and transactions spreadsheet (check out the right sidebar). It is pretty interesting how quickly the market has changed over the last month. With the S&P only up 1.71% this year, I am pretty happy with my current year-to-date performance.

Many of my readers can attest to my recent personal finance binge and the lack of investment posts. That currently does not mean I have stopped trading! I thought I would detail some of the transactions have I been negotiating in an effort to shield myself from this volatile market.

Deal Arbitrage:

I presented several opportunities mergers and acquisitions offer to investors last month. Some privatization deals are particular lucrative to small investors, such as the MCBF trade. While there are certainly some risks with these trades, deal break-offs and shareholder disapproval, statistically, these trades are pretty sure investments. If you are looking for stable returns in-excess of fixed income investments, these deals are a good place to start.

Aggressive Hedging:

I may do a more formal write-up detailing what hedging means, but for now I will simply explain the strategy individuals can implement in this uncertain market. The idea is simple, purchase a stock you feel is going to simply outperform the broader index, maybe it is undervalued or showing great technicals, and short the index that closely follows that stock. If the broader market goes down, your long position in your stock may fall, but your short position in your index will net positive returns. The reverse strategy can be implemented as well.

In short, risk-adverse investors should look for sure-things in this market environment. In order to appropriate protect yourself from this variable market, I would suggest taking both short and long positions. Good luck and happy trading!

Links for Friday

This Week's Links - Firefox Extension Addition:

• Use Firefox? Love investing? Check out the 13 Firefox Extensions Every Investor Needs posted by CurrencyTrading.net.
• Use Firefox? Love saving money? Check out the 20 Essential Firefox Add-ons for Frugal Web Shoppers posted by Credit Card Lowdown.

A Post from the Past:

• Thinking about starting to plan your retirement strategy? Consult June's It's Really All About Asset Allocation: Part 1 of 2 to help define retirement knowns and unknowns in order to accomplish your retirement goals.

Links for Friday

This Week's Links:

• CurrencyTrading.net shares a 24 hour trading schedule. For readers that are obsessed with trading, this link is for you!
• The Simple Dollar explains how being frugal can be more beneficial that responsible investing.

A Post from the Past:

• Check out May's post What You Can Do Today To Be Rich in the Future to quantify the power of implementing a few frugal strategies and investing the cost savings.

24 Goals to Accomplish in 240 Days - UPDATE

It has been nearly three months since I shared my goals for the rest of the year. I have detailed the status of each of the goals below:

1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($10,800/$10,000) - Complete
4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($10,800/$20,000)
5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($6,700/$9,000)
6. Have 150 blog posts by December (82/150)
7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete.
8. Read five books by August (5/5) - Complete
9. Create two more portfolio’s in my Virtual Stock Exchange league (1/2)
10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (40/75) - No progress
11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - I have been running, but no measurable progress
12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (33%/80%) - Increased by 8%
13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - 4 double faults is my new average
14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - Deadline passed; goal failed
15. Secure a full-time job - No progress
16. Convince five people to start investing (3/5) - Added my sister!
17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (140/500)
18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (240/1000)
19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - No progress
20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (380/1000)
21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - No progress
22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free - Potentially
23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - No progress
24. Give blood - No progress

Looks like the goal process is going well. Due to summer employment commitments, I have not been able to attack this list as much as I wanted to this month. So far I have managed to complete five goals, while only allowing one to slip away.

Links for Friday

This Week's Links:

• Wise Bread has started a series on frugal lessons from mothers. This particular article described one mother's ability to save on ketchup and napkins.
• Consumerism Commentary describes how the television show The Office relates to finance. The web clip of Dwight and tipping is just hilarious!

A Post from the Past:

• Considering that the market took a beating this week, one may want to investigate risk-free investment options by reading up on May's post: What to Do With The Rest of the Money That Is Not in Stocks.

Links for Friday

Little late with these...

This Week's Links:

• A lot has been made about the drama around CNBC's stock-picking challenge. Mighty Bargain Hunter questions the value of these contests in his post: Are stock-picking contests totally worthless?
• freemoneyfinance shares a great way to save a lot of money on basketball shoes created by Stephon Marbury.

A Post from the Past:

• For investors that want to start learning technical trading, consider reading my review on Dr. Alexander Elder's Come Into My Trading Room: A Complete Guide to Trading.

Arbitrage Trade

Oh, the privileges of being a small investor. It is really nice that big hedge funds are too occupied with million dollar arbitrage and currency trades to capture all available arbitrage. A couple thousand is insignificant in their books, but for many small investors, a trade of that proportion could add 10% to their net worth! As my risk tolerance diminishes, I continue to look for opportunities that provide substantial returns with limited risk. One such opportunity is Monarch Community Bancorp (MCBF).

Background:

Monarch Community Bancorp specializes in... oh wait a minute... it doesn't matter what they specialize in, what matters is what they are doing with their stock. In February MCBF agreed to execute a merger transaction in an attempt to reduce their number of shareholders in order to become a private company. MCBF calculated that in order to reduce the number of individual shareholders to 300, the maximum number of shareholders of a private firm, the company would need buy out shares from investors with less than 1,000 shares, at a price of 13.50 per share. The deal is scheduled to close sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

Required Transactions:

The trade is pretty simple for this arbitrage opportunity: go long, right now, at any quantity under 1,000 shares.

Expected Results & Risks:

The only risk involved with this trade is merger abandonment. I have no reason to believe that the deal will fall through based on my initial research on the transaction. It appears that the company is progressing nicely toward privatization. So if the deal does finalize, investors could easily snatch up almost 10% in four months!

*Disclaimer*
The writer of this article currently owns shares in Monarch Community Bancorp. Investors should always do their own individual research before executing a trade.

Some Thoughts On Earnings Season

This week marks the first round of earnings reports. Companies expecting to report include Eaton (ETN), Merrill Lynch (MER), Coca-Cola (KO), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Intel (INTC), Yahoo (YHOO), Altria (MO), JP Morgan (JPM), eBay (EBAY), Google (GOOG), and Caterpillar (CAT). These reports will try to justify the great month that all of the major indices are having.

The only real earnings precursor came last week with reports from Alcoa (AA) and General Electric (GE). Both stocks boosted strong earnings results and investors responded nicely, but I am not entirely confident that the post-earnings rallies were due to the financial status of the firms. AA was down pre-market, but when an analyst suggested the buyout attractiveness of Alcoa, the ticker arrows quickly shifted direction.

GE had a really great report as well, but the total market was in the mist of a strong rally and GE may have simply rode the market wave last Friday.

Some final thoughts and a Bearish Warning:

Last season I suggested that investors would continue reacting well to earnings beats, even with the lowered yearly expectations. I am confident that if the beats continue, investors will once again ignore the lowered expectations and reward successful firms. I also predict that in-line reports will not be good enough to sustain the summer rally. A large part of this bullish run is unwarranted and not justified by earnings reports, leaving much of this month's run-ups susceptible for a pullback. I would encourage investors to wait a day or two and investigate the initial reports to better gauge the potential success for the rest of the earnings season.

Good luck all!

Links for Friday

This Weeks Links:

• The Motley Fool presents a great deal arbitrage opportunity. The hedge fund has already implemented this strategy.
• Smart Money adds to ConsumerReports list suggesting when to buy certain items.

A Post from the Past:

• Consult May's Some Thoughts for Students Entering the Job Market when considering a potential career. The post helps readers calculate their true hourly wage as well as their relative salary value based on work location.

Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek

I took a break from the heavy finance books to read Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Workweek. The book has had excellent reviews from many respectable critics, so I thought I would give it a go.

Overview:
The book basically lays out a strategy to create automated income and free yourself from the dull life created from our 9 to 5 society. The basis of Ferriss's writing focuses on using DEAL (definition, elimination, automation, and liberation) to formally join the NR (new rich). Each chapter offers ways the reader can shift from a steady work-life, toward a life full of travel, leisure, and mini-retirements.

Personal Takeaways:
Honestly, the book is full of information. I am entirely convinced that all readers will find something of value embedded within Ferris's chapters. For me, the income via automation and comparison of travel costs vs. traditional costs were pretty compelling.

Automated income is very powerful and does not necessarily involve linking millions of databases together. Ferris details how to find your niche, use it to create a source of income, then automate it. The automation chapters explain that you can hire virtual assistants to do anything from responding to customer inquiries to sending your significant other flowers. Auto-response emails and a couple of outsourced resources can create a business with no maintenance. Amazing!

Ferris also busted the expensive overseas travel myth. In relation to the expense you are already paying now in the states, you could very well vacation as royalty practically anywhere else in the world.

Recommendation:
I recommend this book to everyone. It is informative and proactive (offering an array of activities to help achieve inner happiness) and will help readers uncover what is truly important in life. It is a quick read and will having you laughing more often than not.

And make this post finance related, consider borrowing this book from a friend or checking it out from your local library.

Links for Friday

This Weeks Links:

• I really like this post I found on Lifehacker about multiple positives. The article suggests to simply surround yourself with activities that provide multiple benefits.
• Get Rich Slowly shares a hilarious story about buying stock tips from a 10-year-old's lemonade stand.
  

A Post from the Past:

• Considering using a financial professional? Forget about it. Just consult May's Financial Calculators Galore for all of your financial calculation needs.

24 Goals to Accomplish in 240 Days - UPDATE

It has been nearly two months since I shared my goals for the rest of the year. I have detailed the status of each of the goals below:

1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($10,800/$10,000) - Complete
4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($10,800/$20,000)
   
5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($6,700/$9,000)
   
6. Have 150 blog posts by December (74/150)
7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete.
   
8. Read five books by August (4/5)
9. Create two more portfolio’s in my Virtual Stock Exchange league (1/2)
10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (40/75) - No progress
11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - No progress
12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (25%/80%) - Increased by almost 12%
13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - 9 double faults the last time I played
    
14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - No progress
15. Secure a full-time job - No progress
16. Convince five people to start investing (2/5)
17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (140/500)
18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (230/1000)
19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - No progress
    
20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (342/1000)
    
21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - No progress
22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free - No progress
    
23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - No progress
24. Give blood - No progress

Woo-hoo, I have completed four goals already! I still really need to start working toward achieving the fitness goals. Feel free to share how your goals are going!