Competition Closure
The Competition has ended roughly 7 hours ago. I apologize for the lack of updates and postings this month I haven’t had much free time on my hands, with the time I’ve had I’ve been consuming as much information as I can about the credit situation that is rocking the world.
It appears that BM has come in first but I still need to tally up the points. It’s seems as though all links have not been showing up in my dashboard so I ask that within the next 5 days - if you feel you have a chance at being in the top 5 then please comment in this thread with all of your links
Thank you to all of those that have participated and If I decide to have another one in the future I will make sure I am better prepared.
I can’t promise many updates this month but I will try to get a few posts up. I have decided that it is best to avoid the market at this time and I set all of my holdings to sell last Monday at the opening bell - it was a great move and everything has been hammered down the past few days.
Not holding any securities doesn’t jive to well with my Blogs niche or theme so It may undergo a name change once I get back to Blogging regularly.
Now is a better time for me to be taking in information rather than putting it out -it’s a crazy world out there and I’m trying to get a grasp on world economics, how severe our current crisis is, and why my Country has turned into a Socialist state.
I’ll try to give an update within a few days. Thank you to all participants!
Prepare for the Worst - The Financial Mess
The Financial Mess - I believe that sums up the current situation pretty well. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I am not prepared at all for the worst case scenario - The Collapse of Paper Currency
“The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch-Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference– that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars.” - Ron Paul
Well said Ron. This recent bailout ushers in a whole new era - an era of fiscal recklessness that is beyond comprehension. We and when I say “we” I am referring to our “elected” officials have decided that businesses no longer need to be held accountable for their actions - CEO’s can now drive Corporations into the ground and get rewarded for it, with Millions!
We bailed out the banks, we bailed out the auto industry, we’re buying up all of the foreclosures, and on top of all of that they threw in a bunch of pork
“Senators quietly tucked a number of earmarks into the tax package of the 451-page bill that was passed Wednesday night and is expected to be put to a vote in the House today: a $2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children; a $100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners; $192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry; $148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers; and a $49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.”
A Race Track? Tax benefits that stem back to 1989!?! The only thing I remember hearing on the news last week was that our Economy was in imminent danger - and if the bill doesn’t pass we’re on the verge of a financial apocalypse, who the hell was talking about fabric producers and fishermen when this “life saving” bill was being created!
I’m all for tax breaks but not in this “life saving bill” this is getting completely out of hand. The Fed - who has been broke for ages now continues to pump out monopoly money at our expense. They’re trying to artificially prop up the market to prevent a collapse of the derivative market, this is why the bailout began - they cannot let Hundreds of Trillions in leveraged debt collapse upon the market so they’re going to keep feeding the system money in hopes that it will stabilize. IMO it’s never going to happen.
The world is growing tired of the dollar because they’re starting to realize that we don’t pay it back - we just turn on our machine and pump out Trillions more, the more money that is thrown onto the market place the less our All Mighty green backs are worth, letting us return the money with weaker money - I anticipate that the party is winding down and our spending binge is coming to an end.
The truth is that many politicians and voters essentially believe in a free lunch. They believe in a free lunch because they don’t understand basic economics, and therefore assume government can spend us into prosperity. This is the fallacy that pervades American politics today. - Ron Paul
And the one guy who has a grasp on Economics doesn’t even stand a chance at being elected President. Instead of Ron Paul we’re stuck with Obama or Mccain both of which receive the majority of their campaigning dollars from the very banks we just bailed out - so you know that with one of these two at the helm banks won’t dismantle the derivative market - which is what needs to be done if we’re going to have a chance at avoiding our downfall. And don’t forget about the Billions we gave to GM and Ford - who just so happen to employ thousands of voters in the key battle ground states of Ohio and Michigan.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin
As I stated earlier I am not prepared if the dollar were to become worthless or worth 1/10th of what it is today - which pumping Trillions more into circulation is setting us up for. I looked at other currencies to see where I could shift a portion of my money but at this time nothing looks good. Canada, it’s close to the U.S so it has that going for it.
On the 3rd of the month Headlines read “Canada says Bailout needed in U.S, not in Canada”
On the 4th Headlines read “The Bank of Canada has put an Additional $12 Billion US into Market to make sure Canadians have access to loans”
What happened Canada? you were fine just yesterday!!
Maybe I should convert my money into pounds?
“The Bank of England last week quietly increased the amount of emergency credit available to banks to levels equivalent in scale to the US bailout.”
Or Not..
He’s not looking too “chipper” - I feel your pain man.
The Euro?
They look a little confused “Wait wait wait - so you’re trying to tell me we’re all going to share the same fiat currency but not the same regulations!” Smart move Europe - good luck getting out of your mess. Take a cue from us - just get print happy, it seems to have no consequences.
As you can see it’s not looking too good for Paper Currency all around the globe - I’d examine Asia but it’s starting to look like a domino effect and I don’t think I’ll feel safe in anything paper right now.
So what shall I do if I can’t trust my green paper to retain much value as the central banks of the world pump out what is possibly going to be Tens of Trillions?
It’s time to buy some Bling
Pic provided by Flickr.com
Gold, Silver, Palladium, and possibly some Platinum. I’d say Palladium is the smarter P metal to buy though.
And we all thought Hip Hop Artists were stupid for spending all of their money on Gold and Platinum - they’ve retained more wealth than most Investors!
So it looks like I’m going to be liquidating the majority of my stock portfolio - as much as I hate saying this I think it’s best to be prepared - I’ll start Investing for Dividends again after I have accumulated some Tangible wealth - just in case the “Mighty Dollar” becomes the…well whatever the Fed wants it to become.
It’s a sad day but it’s best not to get caught with my pants around my ankles.
It is not too late to change course. The United States can again be viewed as the shining city on the hill and an example to other nations by re-embracing the kind of foreign and economic policies that made us wealthy and admired across the globe in the first place. This means less government, less taxation, and no foreign meddling. Regaining our economic security will go much further toward guaranteeing our national security in the future. -Ron Paul
Run 3rd party Ron…Please? Maybe you can dig us out from our grave in 4 years.
Anyone else investing for the Financial Apocalypse?
Monthly Wrap Up - Sept 08
Photo provided by flickr.com
I’ll be doing a Monthly Wrap-Up every month on or around the 1st of the month. I just completed my first month with this Blog and I am pleased with it’s progress.
I’ll be listing my current portfolio’s value, my annual expected dividend income, what companies I own, and any other income I earn online through my Blog or other online activities. Now that you know what will be included in my Monthly Wrap-Up it’s time to get started.
Sept - 08
Portfolio Value - $32,294.55
Current Holdings - Bank of America(BAC), Kraft(KFT), Pfizer(PFE), Procter and Gamble(PG), and Marvel(MVL)
It was a pretty recent decision of mine to only invest in dividend paying stocks. I ended up keeping MVL but I dropped everything else I owned. As time passes my Portfolio will become more and more diversified. I purchase when I have the money and I feel it would not be a wise decision to purchase in smaller lots for sake of diversification. When I purchase I normally buy between $4k - $7k worth. I may start purchasing in the $3k range(but no less) I haven’t decided yet.
Annual Dividend Income - $1,166
Not a bad start to my Compounding Machine, my Income would be higher if I dropped MVL but I can’t bring myself to do it - I just hope they start paying a dividend within 3-5 years.
Online Earnings - Total -$11.43
Adsense - $11.05
Kontera - $0.38
Not a fantastic start - but it’s a start. I’ve only had kontera up for about a week - I’m contemplating on killing it off but on the other hand I think it will be worthwhile to keep once my search engine traffic increases - is it bothersome or tolerable?
125×125 Ads - I threw these up there when I put the Blog up without much thought, I just wanted something up. Within the next few days I’d like to change at least 2 of them - also geared towards search engine traffic. Realistically, not too many Financial Bloggers are going to be clicking on blog Ads.
The Google Chart -
This became my new crack a few days ago and then all of a sudden the forward progress stopped - the very next day! The day it was at its peak I submitted my site to a few web directories, I wonder if somehow I got penalized for doing so or if that was the same day as the PR change and sites got bumped ahead of mine.
I don’t know what happened but I want the momentum back on my side. This month I plan on learning a little more about SEO - search engine traffic is something I’d definitely like to build up. I’m not a sales man and I have no intention to sell my readers anything so the only way to make any money at this will be to increase my ad clicks - Search Engine Traffic seems to be more interested in Ads than Bloggers are.
This past month I covered a lot and I wanted to start off my Blog by setting a foundation for my readers who may not know much about Stocks, Dividends, or how the Market works. I covered some basics such as Stock valuation Measures and Dividend growth. I may go back to this and start a series from the ground up on everything that an investor should know before they get involved in stock picking.
In the month of September we’ve begun to witness just how bad the credit situation is. There have been numerous bank crashes in the U.S and it’s beginning to expand globally with the Belgian-French Financial Group Dexia needing a 6.4 Billion Euro infusion to prevent it from failing.
I wrote a few reviews this past month on The Single Best Investment by Lowell Miller, The Motley Fool Income Investor and The Motley fool Stock Advisor. Sometime during the month of October I’ll share a review on the Ultimate dividend Playbook by Morningstar Inc for you all to read. it’s been a great book so far but I still have a few chapters left.
Amazon sent me an email a few weeks ago to let me know just how much My Blog Sucks but I’m going to have to disagree with them; I’ll keep shopping there anyways.
It’s been an interesting month and I’ve decided that blogging is something that I enjoy doing, it keeps my mind busy while I’m out here in Iraq - sometimes too busy. I’ll probably be switching back to 12 hour days here in about a week so I don’t think I’ll be able to keep the content coming at such a rapid pace - I’ll be getting days off though so the few articles a week I do get out should have an increase in quality. We’ll be trading quantity for quality and I’ll get to see how my blog reacts. Working 7 days a week for the past few months is starting to get old - real old.
I also started a Competition in September where I will be giving away over $250 USD - it’s been going well so far but it’s still anyone’s for the taking. If you’re already involved - Keep up the good work! If you’re just finding out about it now then I recommend you get started today, there’s still 10 days left so catching up should not take too much work.
That pretty much wraps up the month of September, I don’t have a set game plan for this month but it’s sure to be fun and there’s the possibility of another competition kicking off towards the end of the month.
If you haven’t taken a look at my Blog Traffic Group go ahead and check it out- it’s free and available to anyone, and while you’re in the sign up mode add my RSS FEED, you can find it below this post or in the top right corner of my Blog.
And we’ll end my first Monthly Wrap-Up with a joke, the funny thing is - the joke’s on me. I meant to mark down how many comments everyone had this month before the comment list reset it self for the new month. well I went to the gym this morning and before I came back the list had changed-Doh!. it looks like I’ll be spending tomorrow morning counting everyone’s comments for the competition - you live and you learn.
If there’s anything you would like me to talk about this month then let me know and I’ll do my best to get to it. If you have any questions about the previous month you can go ahead and ask me here also.
Here’s to October,
Jake
