My 1st Million At 33 - yes, you can do it too » Announcement

My Site Attacked by Virus

Frugal — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:08:53 +0000

Someone planted virus on my site, and after a huge effort, working with my ISP, I finally was able to clean out everything after almost 1 week. My ISP even said that they may be able to trace the hacker. My sincere apology for anybody who got affected by this. I also tightened up the site security and changed all of my passwords. Hopefully, it won’t happen again.

And if you were using Firefox, you won’t get hit. Internet Explorer however was vulnerable. In any case, virus would be caught by any active virus scanner or shield.

I’m on vacation

Frugal — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:16:04 +0000

I won’t be posting much until I’m back from my vacation. Annually I use up all of my vacation days just to visit my parents aboard.

In the meantime, hold onto your stock positions. It should turn up soon, I believe. It’s going to be a very difficult market, and it will get even more difficult next year.

I think we will be going into a depression, and then stay in a long recession. Job market will be terrible. Make sure you hold on to your job if you have one already, and good luck in finding your new/next job.

Regards,

Frugal

Crunch time at my work

Frugal — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:48:10 +0000

Sorry. I just couldn’t find time to blog, after working some 24+ hours through the weekend.

I’ve got a rare last minute problem found in my delivered work. And I need to fix it ASAP.

I should be back blogging tomorrow or Wednesday, I think.

Regards.

Back-filled for Wed’s post

Frugal — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:29:56 +0000

Boy, I forgot to hit the publish button for this Wed’s post. You can scroll back now to see it.

Yeah, I have been getting ever busy by days. My work is getting busier too. And I’ve got a car for sale for the last seven months, and I haven’t even had any time to do an ad for it, or even cleaning it up. I have 3 cars now after I bought a Honda Odyssey last year. I should really get rid of my old car before the gasoline prices go up even higher. Next car I will be buying a hybrid for sure. I don’t intend to keep my Odyssey if the gas prices go up too high.

Alright. It’s time to get into my stock trading pits again. I’m literally doing 3 jobs everyday. I apologize if I have been late on my replies of emails.

On the road today

Frugal — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:01:35 +0000

I am on vacation earlier today for the long weekend.

I shall see you next Monday or next Tuesday.

Have a happy Memorial holiday.

And yes, gasoline is really expensive now, $4.15 last time I saw for the least expensive refining grade.

Frugal

I will start my money management business

Frugal — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:01:13 +0000

Anyone interested in having their money managed by me personally?

My current plan is to use the platform at interactivebrokers.com. Your assets will be owned under your name, and under the custody of interactivebrokers.com. I will just have the trading permission.

The fee structure will be

1. Basic fee: 1% of your account size, charged quarterly.
2. Performance fee: If your account returns less or equal to 10% after interactivebroker’s commissions, there is no performance fee. Otherwise, for every 5% additional return beyond 10% return, the fee increases by 1%, and it will be prorated. This fee is charged annually for every annual period.
For example, if your account returns 23%, then the performance fee is (23-10)/5=2.6%.

I don’t plan to get a stock broker license yet (reasons at the end of post), but according to the state laws of California, I can manage up to 5 individual clients without a license. Because I only have 5 limited spots in total, I will rank the preference of the accounts in the order of potential account size, and then on a first-come first-serve basis.

If you’re interested, send me an email to 1stMillionAt33 # gmail.com (changed # to @), with the subject of “Money Management”. Let me know your estimated net worth (including your home equity value), and the account size that you would like to open. The net worth number helps me to decide how aggressively I will act in your account. Make sure that LESS than 15% to 20% of your net worth will be in this account for the sake of diversification. I don’t have a minimum account amount yet, but it’s likely that I will decline if the account size is less than $50K, unless you plan to add more cash after a short period.

I believe this year could be a banner year for commodity in general. Don’t miss the train. I’ve also back-tested my own proprietary buy/sell indicators for a long period, and it out-performed the ETF by about 600%.

P.S. Assume that I have 5 clients of $50K each, returning 10% annually, the total fee that I will get is just $2500. That will be just enough money to pay for stock broker license fee, and I haven’t counted incorporation, tax and accounting services. Are you going to work for a whole year and just get $2500 for it? So if it’s a terribly bad deal for me, it’s probably a good deal for you. Obviously and unfortunately, I cannot guarantee a good performance, but you can look around on this website for my past recommendations and performance.
By the way, to match my current wage, I will need to manage 10+ million. That’s one of the reasons that I haven’t been more pro-active, since going from 0 to 10 million asset will really take some time.

A New Guest Contributor

Frugal — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:00:34 +0000

Today we have a new guest contributor on 1stM@33. If you are interested in participating too, simply email me with a subject titled “Guest Writer”. Heather will be writing a few articles from time to time. Please welcome her contribution. Here is a short introduction on her.

Heather Johnson is a freelance business, finance and credit writer, as well as a regular contributor for BusinessCreditCards.com site for comparing small business credit cardsShe welcomes questions, comments, and freelancing job inquiries at her email address heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com

On Vacation This Week

Frugal — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:01:31 +0000

I won’t be posting this week. I don’t get much break if at all. I decided I will just take a break. I will be back posting next Tuesday, January 1st 2008. I will see you next year. Some of my previous posts from last week are pre-written. In case you find them out-of-step with the market, just move the timing by one to two weeks earlier.

In any case,

Happy New Year. May you all have a prosperous year.

Frugal

Happy Xmas 2007

Frugal — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:01:36 +0000

No regular post today. I hope everyone has a happy Xmas.

This is a family time to get together with your loved ones, excluding your computer.

Best regards,

Frugal

Join me for a new invention?

Frugal — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:01:39 +0000

Are there any good mechanical engineers out there to join me for a new invention?

Video-taping my children has become a pain in the arm. I have thought about this a couple of times. If a person can mount the camcorder on the shoulder (probably not on the head due to a weird feeling), one can easily record videos with very few physical efforts. Of course, the biggest problem is that when you move and walk, the video quality will be terrible. But I think I may know how to solve that.

The answer is similar to those anti-noise earphones, where it cancels high noise. I’ve learned that trick in my senior year in college. That’s very old technology. Definitely decades ago.

Anyone out there, care to brain storm a little?

December Money Bomb

Frugal — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:01:20 +0000

This is a reminder that there is the last money bomb for 2007 this Sunday on Dec 16, 2007. I have pledged myself to donate $100 or more on that day at TeaParty07.com. But even if you just donate $5, that’s a mass democracy in action. Stand up and join together. Don’t let the big wallstreet and corporates to take over our government.

A money bomb for Ron Paul is a way to garner media attention to create the most donation per calendar day. This is to combat the deliberate disregards from the traditional media. On the previous successful money bomb in November, Ron Paul raised about 4 million dollar in a single day, breaking the records for all presidential candidates. I didn’t know about the November money bomb, and didn’t participate in it. But I expect that this December money bomb will make new history. Be part of the this history in making by donating just $5 or $10 here.

The biggest reason that I stand behind Ron Paul is because of his fiscal and foreign policies. This country has gone too far and too long in the wrong direction, and it’s time to down-size the big government and streamline the operations without wasting even more taxpayers’ money. Ron Paul’s understanding and his actions behind the fiscal and foreign policies are unparalleled and unmatched by ANY presidential candidates. I have registered myself as a Republican (converting from a Democrat) so that I can vote in Republican Primaries next year in California. I hope you will also join me because the future of this country is at stake.

If you are a citizen, you should love this country. If you love this country, you should support your presidential candidate. Be PATRIOTIC. Don’t be apathetic. Donate what you can, and take a stand, and vote. A democracy without participation is the same as having no freedom of voices. The big money and corrupted political power fosters and grows from the apathy of every voter. Ron Paul is one of the very few candidates that garner all grassroot supporters from all walks of lives. Be part of it.

An Open Letter to the Blogging Community

Frugal — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:26:47 +0000

As many of you know, 2008 is a presidential election year. The presidential elections in American represent in great part windows of opportunity to change the course and direction of the nation, and as such they deserve your careful attention.

After much thoughtful consideration, we bloggers have decided to endorse Ron Paul for President. Paul is a ten term congressman running for president on the Republican ticket. Paul is renowned on Capital Hill for his integrity. In fact he has been called the “One exception to the gang of 535” and the “Most honest man in politics” by former treasury Secretary Simon and current Senator John McCain.

For bloggers, Congressman Paul’ represents the best choice among the current White House contenders. Paul has consistently voted in favor of protecting the unregulated nature of the web and has never voted to tax internet commerce. Like many of you, we think it’s important that the web remain a free and open environment and recognize that a politician who supports these principles is deserving of our vote.

Not only does a Paul presidency offer the opportunity for protection of the internet, Paul has taken a firm stance regarding honest governance and fiscal prudence. In his career as a congressman, Paul has taken the least amount of lobbying money and he has never voted to increase taxes or cast his congressional ballot for an unbalanced national budget.

Like most people, you may also be concerned about taxation and your financial futures. Ron Paul advocates phasing out the IRS and reducing the size and scope of the federal government. In addition, Paul has proposed allowing participating in the social security system to be optional. And – like you we trust more in our own self reliance than in the wisdom of a sluggish and inefficient federal bureaucracy.

In 2008 the best choice may indeed come from within the finest traditions of America – integrity, fiscal prudence and free choice. With strongest conviction, we urge our fellow members of the personal finance community to vote for Ron Paul in 2008.

With Confidence,

James, dinksfinance.com
Frugal, 1stmillionat33.com
Nirav, livingoffdividends.com
Matthew, financeispersonal.com
Alan, successwarrior.typepad.com
Laura, redstateeclectic.com

Cleaned up my blogroll

Frugal — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:05:12 +0000

I have cleaned up my blogroll. Those that don’t meet my criterion of posting twice a week were taken off. I tried to be generous in my pruning, so some are left there even though they didn’t strictly meet my criterion. Some were left there because they were guest contributors to the site. I have always wanted to help the new bloggers to get started, when I have time. Unfortunately, I have been extremely busy to work on anything related to blogroll.

Sometime next year I will try to make my time available to accept blogroll link again for a period of two weeks. Anyone who has been taken off, or anyone new is welcomed to exchange blogroll links with me via email (please don’t email me now, because I don’t have time to read them.)

I always wish I have more time for everyone around me, whether I know them personally or not. But I just have 24 hours a day.

I still keep all those removed blogroll links but only mark them invisible. I hope that there is no hard feeling. I just needed to make it more fair to any other bloggers who work hard.

Of course, my site is not one of the very top PF blog site. But again, anything that I can do to help, I truly wish to do them and help you out.

Regards,

My usual time to respond to comments & emails

Frugal — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:34:46 +0000

Just a note to all the readers who have left comments or send emails to me. These days I usually review my comments/emails at about Monday 1am. That means I won’t get to look at your comments/emails until an entire week is over (assuming that you leave comments on Monday’s post). I know all of my posts are pre-posting at 5am PST or 8am EST, but the actual time that I write my posts is usually 1am, or in this case 2:31am in the morning for this particular post and the regular Friday’s post. So I hope it is obvious to you that I really have very little time for anything, and you could understand that sometimes I just can’t reply to every email that I get, or get to respond to every comment that I receive.

Yeah, I only have 24 hours a day, like you do. It’s really not my intention of not engaging with you, since I highly appreciate all of you being here. But because of my extreme limited time, I can only do so much. Everyday, I try very hard to split my time between my job, my kids, my wife, my investment, and my blog. Oh, and my sleep time too.

Best regards.

Quit-lag

ML — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:00:07 +0000

Life changes rarely happen alone. I mentioned here the birth of my daughter in February. My mother-in-law has been staying with us since then. However, she’s leaving next week. After some long discussions, my wife and I decided that I’ll be the one staying at home to take care of our daughter for a couple of years.

There are many, many dimensions for this decision. Foremost on our minds is the well being of our daughter. I’m thrilled with the prospect of spending time with her and teaching her all I know. There are obvious financial implications in this decision given the loss of my income and associated benefits. Fortunately, my wife has a good job and supports my decision.

Looking at salaries alone, it would make more sense for my wife to stay at home instead if one of us has to. However, I’ve been mulling a career change and this is a great opportunity. As a research scientist I’ve built up expertise in a narrowly focused field that is, unfortunately, not very transferable. My wife, on the other hand, has a job that is in demand in most of US. Furthermore, my job demands a greater amount of time commitment than my wife’s. So we agree that it makes more sense for me to do this now and restructure our life for maximum flexibility down the line.

I’ve been writing mostly on concrete options in investing/personal finance, but big picture issues like where to live and what kind of job to take actually have far greater influence on the quality of life and overall well-being. Unfortunately, most of us are so bogged down by the pressures of daily living that we feel powerless in affecting our situation. For our working lives, my wife and I have been living beneath our means and investing diligently. We were not delaying the instant gratification of buying NOW in order to hoard, rather we were acutely aware of the freedom that a solid financial foundation can provide. It’s this freedom we’re cashing-in now.

Quit-lag mode
I’m leaving my company on very good terms. There is no sense burning the bridges even though it’s unlikely that I’ll go back. I gave more than a month of notice although my employment contract requires only two weeks. It’s also unusual that management let the news out over three weeks ago. I guess it was because I have a large number of tasks to hand over. Anyway, I have been in this quit-lag mode for a while now. This was a term that I first came across in this Business Week article. A quote:

When I went back to my desk, the piled-up papers looked like annoying debris. Now that I was leaving, my projects-in-process were meaningless to me. But I had two weeks to kill, so I went to work. I started creating a manual for the person who came after me. I wrote down procedures and lists of contacts and important events coming up in the future. That took about three days. Then I got to work cleaning house.

I threw out papers and cleaned out files. I reorganized employee records and made sure vendor contracts were current. I walked around the office and visited employees who had pending benefits issues or other matters that needed attention. Boy! they said. You are really on the ball this week! Heh, heh, I said to myself. What else do I have to work on?

I’m not sure if I was that much more efficient. But I’m certainly no longer sweating the things I can’t control. Several people commented on that I look relieved, and that’s on about six hours of discontinuous sleep per night!

Preparations for leaving
I’m not sure how common my experiences are, but I want to share my financial to-do list nonetheless.

I got supplemental disability insurance. The disability coverage (65% of income, to age 65) I receive through my employer will end shortly, so I work with an agent (my sister-in-law actually) to get some supplemental insurance. You may have to do this well ahead of the final date.
I re-read my employment contract so I’m clear on my rights and obligations.
I still have company stock options that I have 3 months to exercise after departure. I have been exercising them gradually this year. I will continue with cash-less exercises at certain price targets. I decided against exercise-and-hold because of the AMT implications and the high expense of put options I would need to purchase to guard my profits.
I set aside one year’s worth of cash needed to pay for living expenses (in addition to my wife’s income) and put it in our HSBC online savings account.
I started investigating income generating securities. [If you were wondering why I was writing about those high yielding closed-end funds, this is why.]
I started a self-employed 401(k) account at Fidelity in preparation for rolling over the 401(k) at work. [See why I’m not rolling it into an IRA here.]

Friday is my last day at work. This is going to be a whole new experience for me. Wish me luck!

Catching up emails & comments this weekend

Frugal — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:01:17 +0000

If you have emailed me and don’t hear from me after this weekend, please feel free to email me again. With the tax season going on and the stock market actions, I have been about some 10 days behind on some of my replies.

It has been busy no doubt like always. But I try very hard to keep the blogging going (without upsetting my wife too much).

Regards,

Frugal

Congratulation to my partner ML

Frugal — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:02:40 +0000

My blogging partner ML just had a new baby daughter (click to read more details) arrived in his family.

I want to take this chance to congratulate to him and his family.

A new life is precious in all ways. I wish that God will bestow all good fortune and wisdom upon his new daughter Alexandra.

Frugal

No postings on Thursday

Frugal — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:01:04 +0000

My job has become quite busy. I am unable to write more. I decide to cut back on Thursday, so that there will be posting on Mon, Tue, one of the days from Wed/Thu, and Friday.

I’m not sure if I want to make this permanent yet. But it will be like this until further notice. Writing at 2:51am is no fun. Barely keeping myself not falling asleep. Yeah, another 4 to 5 hours and I really have to wake up.

Have a good day.

Frugal

Money Carnivals 1/29/07 to 2/4/07 Part II

Frugal — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:01:27 +0000

The following carnivals featured 1stM@33 submissions. Please check them out for more stimulating readings. I decided to move Carnival announcement to Wednesday so that it is less confusing.

Enjoy!

Money Carnivals This Week

Frugal — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:01:09 +0000

The following carnivals featured 1stM@33 submissions. Please check them out for more stimulating readings.

Enjoy!

A Formal Apology to All Real Estate Carnival Participants

Frugal — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:52:13 +0000

To all who have just participated in the Real Estate Carnival,

I apologized that I accidentally picked a plagiarized entry for the pick of the week. I have removed the entry right after I saw those who commented. I have re-picked another entry. Please let me know if you find any more problems. I will take care of it as soon as I see your reporting.

Frugal

Money Carnivals 1/22/07 to 1/28/07

Frugal — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:55:09 +0000

The following carnivals have featured 1stM@33 posts. Carnivals are growing bigger these days, and I’m so sure that you would find some good articles there. Please check out the following money/finance carnivals for more readings.

Carnival of Investing at Journey To Financial Freedom for investing tips.
Festival of Stocks at Rule One Investment Community for any stock ideas.
Carnival of Personal Finance at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity for handling your personal finances.

Carnival of Real Estate – Jan 29, 2007

Frugal — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:01:28 +0000

Welcome to the carnival of real estate, hosted at 1stMillionAt33. There are over 30 entries. Plenty of readings for anyone interested learning more about real estate. The entries are listed mostly in the submission order by the categories. Please check out the articles that interest you.

My personal pick of the week for carnival of real estate is Timeshares: Good Investments or Travel Scam? from Queercents.

TheLandJournal.com presents Rural land pricing will never look this good again to buyers, expect huge sales.

Getting Green presents The Many Faces of Mortgage Fraud & Rip-offs.

Investment Property Insider presents A Roadmap For Commercial Real Estate Syndication, Part 1.

Aridni presents Real estate that saves your wallet, but not much more.

Searchlight Crusade presents Vampire Properties.

Realty Thoughts presents Niche Real Estate Blogs.

YoChicago today presents Olympic Village is coming to Chicago, games or no games.

Chicago’s Home Weblog presents Urban Legend, The Top 10,000.

The Real Estate Guide presents Don’t Try To Time The Market.

investing

Dorky Dad presents Trying to get it right: Ben Stein is wrong about Real Estate Investing.

Queercents presents Timeshares: Good Investments or Travel Scam?.

BloodhoundBlog presents The Right Time to Buy: An Investor Perspective. With interest rates creeping up and home values creeping down, is now the time to make a large purchase?

RealProspex presents Commercial real estate buyers: 8 ways to find the right deal without searching

real estate market

Yahoo! Search blog presents Home Search Update Now with Schools.

Moneywalks presents 5 common homebuyer mistakes you want to avoid.

Big Time Real Estate Listings presents Rocker David Grohl buys 3rd home in Oxnard.

1SiliconValley.com presents How Much House Can I Afford? (Part 2 of 2).

No Down-Payment Home presents No Down Payment Home – How I Did It.

Leslie Pandey at Zillow Blog presents Hollywood’s Heartbreak Homes.

Salt Lake Real Estate Blog presents Housing Panic Disingenuous?.

Reasoned Audacity presents Are Children at Risk in Red States?

360Digest presents Shack Prices, referral fees, cherries and designer dresses…

1031 Exchange Lowdown presents 77 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Home’s Value.

real estate professionals

Mike’s Corner Web 2.0 For Real Estate Pros presents How Podcasting Impacts Local Search Relevancy.

Altos Research Real Estate Insights presents MeeboMe as Killer Real Estate Marketing Tool. Instant Customer Service & Lead follow up with Meebo

Real Estate Convergence presents Housing Glut Gives Buyers Upper Hand.

Mortgage Home Loan and Real Estate News presents Mortgage Loans presents: Mortgage Loan Shopping: LendingTree, E-Loan or Quicken Loans?

Renthusiast presents BrightSale defines what it means to be 2.0. Online Estate Agents BrightSale.co.uk give their definition of a 2.0 value system and why they feel ready to change the way the UK buys and sells property.

MiOaklandCounty.com presents The Answer to Everything Can Be Found On The Internet!!

Mike’s Corner Web 2.0 For Real Estate Pros presents Interview: Ken Brand – Exceptional Leadership Through RE Blogging.

The Most Opinionated Mortgage Broker presents Wanna be a Trust Deed Broker?

Clifford Jacobson presents Real Estate 2.0: High Tech, High Touch, or High-Tech Touch? Thoughts for Agents about Real Estate 2.0, High Tech and High Touch.”

Overseas Properties presents Bets on Brazil property as future favourite.

Transparent RE.com presents Cyberhomes and its future.

Thanks to all those who have participated in this carnival. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Message to New (or Old) Fellow Bloggers

Frugal — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:01:51 +0000

To all the diligent bloggers,

If you guys just started blogging, and want to exchange link with me, JUST ASK me by EMAIL. My only criteria is that you need to be blogging for two full months, and for that period and going forward, you MUST post at least 2 posts every week. Also you must link back to 1stM@33 too. I do reserve the right to remove the link when I find your site doesn’t post twice a week.

I have been there before, and I know how hard it is for everyone who just starts blogging. I tried to ask for blogroll exchange, and was met with all kinds of rejections. But besides frustrations, I was also greeted by some kind and generous bloggers. Because I know how hard it was, I can link to your site if you only ask (provided that you’ve met my criteria). My page rank is 4, so that should help you a little. You may not gain a lot more traffics, but a link is a link (and helps your Technorati rank). Unfortunately, I’ve temporarily paused doing My Digg of the Week, due to the lack of my time to surf my partnered linked sites for good articles. Otherwise, I really like to promote every one of your site, provided that there is a good article. But maybe I will come back to do My Digg of the Week in the future when I have more time.

I’m not a rich spoiled kid. I’m a Frugal ordinary folk who likes to give anyone a hand especially if there is not much trouble.

By the way, don’t leave a comment here asking for blogroll exchange. Email to me directly.

Best luck to all of your endeavor. I truly admire EVERY blogger out there for their extra diligence and time spent on publishing on the internet. And I believe in the potential of every one of you to become the next greatest blogger.

Frugal

P.S. Please DO give me a couple of days up to one week to respond to your emails & requests. Sometimes, I’m so behind on everything that it could take a bit longer to respond to you.

Money Carnivals 1/15/07 to 1/21/07

Frugal — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:01:21 +0000

Check out

Carnival of Investing at The Sun’s Financial Diary. Lots of posts this week for anyone interested in investing & money in general.
Carnival of Capitalists at Endless Gibberish PF blog. Lots of posts on money, economy, politics, and even 1031 exchange.

Money Carnivals 1/8/07 to 1/14/07

Frugal — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 13:01:56 +0000

I decided to put this post on Monday instead of Wednesday, so that my fellow bloggers can get more exposure. But it also means that the notice will be late by a week.

Here are all the great money/finance carnivals featuring 1stM@33 submissions. Please visit them for more good readings.

Happy New Year 1/1/07

Frugal — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:01:23 +0000

Happy New Year!

I hope you’re not reading and are having lots of fun with your friends & family.

Best regards, and I will see you around tomorrow.

Frugal

No regular post today 12/29/06

Frugal — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:01:49 +0000

Today is the last trading day of this year. Sell anything that you want to capture capital loss for tax purpose. Since I put out two posts yesterday, I’m going to work on capturing my capital losses today instead of writing another post.

After new year, I will be reviewing my past market calls from last year, reviewing the current stock market progression, and reviewing how well I invested last year. Don’t miss out. I think all of them are pretty interesting. Throughout the entire last year, I only made one major move. Want to know how I did?

Reviewing the past is always good. Without learning from the past, you cannot get better.

Good luck trading. Don’t be too aggressive and greedy.

Have a happy new year & relax.

Frugal

Carnival of Real Estate is Up

Frugal — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:01:31 +0000

Here are all the great money/finance carnivals featuring 1stM@33 submissions. Please visit them for more good readings.

Carnival of Real Estate #23

That’s it for this week. (Oops, I forgot to participate in carnivals! It’s holiday time….)

Happy Xmas

Frugal — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 18:31:22 +0000

No post for tomorrow 12/25.

Happy Christmas!

Great Carnivals This Week

Frugal — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:01:30 +0000

Here are all the great money/finance carnivals featuring 1stM@33 submissions. Please visit them for more good readings.

Yeah! Shame on me! Although I submitted to various carnivals, I have been simply too busy AND lazy to write up this regular post week after week. Initially (actually just 6 months ago), I didn’t bother to write this, since I derived most of my site traffics from carnival participation. But I guess there is probably some amount of traffics that I can share back with the carnival hosts now. Hopefully by doing this, I can add a little to the vibrancy of the online money/finance blogging.

Anyway, I will try to do this in the future week after week. And if I don’t forget to do that, PLEASE ping & pinch me. I truly owe all of the weekly great hospitable carnival hosts this post.

No Posts during Weekend

Frugal — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:01:31 +0000

To all,

From now on, there won’t be any posts during weekend. Due to the demand on my time for blogging, I have been thinking how I can handle this with my job & my family. The site audience is not really growing much. But I don’t want to close down the site outright either. Inevitably I think I will cut down the number of posts that I’m doing.

Starting now, there won’t be posts during weekend (except My Digg of the Week, whenever I find time to do that). I am also thinking of doing some survey on things people like to read more, to improve the site a bit. I would like your feedbacks on whether you like more content on general stock market, economics, real estate, precious metals, personal finance, or misc. And also whether you prefer interesting news reporting from what I’ve read (news), my personal opinions (commentary), or even more basics on finance/investing (fundamentals). You can send your feedback by email to me, leaving a comment here, or wait for me to construct the survey later.

I wish I am a superman, but I can only sleep less hours for so long. I’m not like the energizer bunny which keeps going and going….

By the way, during weekends, I do advise ALL readers to take a outing, do some (Xmas) shopping, or get together with friends & family. Internet is supposed to change our lives, but we are not computers, nor an extension of computers. Take a break away from everything, especially screens (TV or computer). Relax and have a good time.

Frugal

Book give away update

ML — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:19:52 +0000

Update 12/14, 10:30 pm
I got 6 more takers who will each receive one copy. The book give away is now closed. Thanks everyone and happy holidays!
Idris, Brent, MarryAnn, and Wing, I still need your mailing addresses.

Original post here

Thanks to all those showed an interest! At least I know now that some people are interested in the more technical posts I write. 15 copies of Elliott Wave Principle were sent today to: Abbas, SD_Stormrider, fitzsimm, Jason, Vaibhav, Andrew, Sheriff, LuctorEtEmergo, Caleb, Merez, Novice, terrence, Sanjay’s friend, Sky and Bishop. Those on the west coast can expect them in about a week; those elsewhere can expect it sooner.

There are still 5 copies left. Remember that you have to leave a comment to the original post and email me your mailing address to claim your copy.

Book give away

ML — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:00:12 +0000

I realize that I have been featuring charts extensively in my writings while not every reader is up to snuff in technical analysis. For those of you who are inclined to learn more, it’s a good idea to get some free lessons before plucking down big bucks for Murphy’s or Pring’s books. I recommend two such tutorials: StockCharts chart school and Barry Ritholtz’s Apprenticed Investor series.

I also have been using Fibonacci levels quite extensively. They are a key component of the Elliott wave analysis which is a special branch of technical analysis. There is a lengthy tutorial from Elliott Wave International. Furthermore, I received copies of Elliott Wave Principle by Frost and Prechter for being an associate of EWI. As a gesture of appreciation, I want to make this book available to the readers of 1stmillionat33. All you have to do is to leave a comment and send you mailing address to me at “investmiddleway (at) gmail (dot) com”. Your contact information will only be used for sending this book to you.

Since I’ll be paying the postage, this offer is only good in the lower 48 states. There are 20 copies available.

I ask nothing in return; however, in this season of giving, I do urge you to consider a donation to your favorite charity. If you don’t have one, then consider the following:

CancerCare is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer: people with cancer, caregivers, children, loved ones, and the bereaved.

Find out more why I picked this charity here.

Festival of Stocks #13

Frugal — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:01:29 +0000

Welcome to Festival of Stocks #13 at 1stMillionAt33.com. Thanks to all those who participated, and thanks to George at Fat Pitch Financials to give me this opportunity to host. To find out how to participate and host this carnival event, go to the home page of Festival of Stocks.

If you’re on my site for the first time, I welcome you to take a look at my SiteMap or look through my categories and popular posts at the left column.

Onto the Festival of Stocks, posts are listed in the order of submission. Since majority of the posts are of high quality, I won’t be highlighting any to make differentiation.

Long or Short Capital presents 2×2 Matrix: Less & More. Commentary on Google, Yahoo, Clear Channel, and newspaper.
“D”igital Breakfast presents Small Cap Value Pick – Basic Energy Services (BAS). A value play which has bounced off support.
HedgeFundDomain presents The Essence of Price. An argument for trading based on price-only.
Market Poetry presents How to Get Rich Without Going Crazy. Very cool poem on investing and the Market. Refreshing reading.
Debt Free presents Motorola vs. Apple for World Domination? Some observation on the strategies and competitions among the two tech companies.
RDoctor Medical Portal presents Insurance Expert Discusses Health Care Crisis. Sort of. An interview with Hank Stern on the state of healthcare.
Scatterbox at stevensilvers.com presents The big picture behind congressional investigations that are going to create new corporate scandals. Political wins of Democrats mean a hard time for frauds in big business.
CONTROLLED GREED.com presents Kerkorian Unloads all of GM. Have you heard about this yet? Check it out.
Stock Market Beat presents Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting for More Semiconductor Buyouts. I agree with Trent’s analysis.
TradeRadar Operator presents Use ETFs to profit in down markets as well as up markets. Using ETFs that either long or short the market can help you time the market easily. Well, that’s assuming that you are right about the timing of the market. That’s probably the hard part.
Sox First presents How does Google stop turning evil? Pick a partner! Never really understand Google’s philosophy. Don’t do Evil? That’s a very tough word to define. You might as well use a tautological definition: whatever Google doesn’t do.
China Law Blog presents China’s “Hottest” Companies. A list of great companies publically trading in Asia.
StockReply presents Automotive War. From the analysis, I will certainly buy Toyota over GM or Ford for the long term.

That’s all for this week. Next week, Festival of Stocks will be hosted at Endless Gibberish Personal Finance Blog. Remember to check it out.

Back from my vacation

Frugal — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:00:53 +0000

Hello, everyone,

After a long trip, I’m back and refresh. I will be replying to any unreplied questions/comments slowly in the next two weeks.

I hope everyone had a refreshing Thanksgiving long weekend too.

Happy Thanksgiving

Frugal — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 12:01:19 +0000

No post today, but one more post tomorrow on Friday for the long weekend.

Happy thanksgiving to everyone.

Frugal

Going on an extended vacation

Frugal — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 12:01:27 +0000

My family and I are flying back home to visit my parents back in Asia. I will be away for the following three weeks, and come back after Thanksgiving holidays. I have pre-arranged most of the posts at this website, and my partner ML will be taking over control of any other side issues if they arise. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to reply your questions/comments in most expedient ways, but only after I come back from vacation. Please do feel free to continue leaving your questions/comments. In case that your comments don’t appear immediately, they are probably blocked by the spamming filter, and I will release them when I come back.

I thank you for your continual visits and supports on this site. It’s your readership that continues to inspire me making this site better.

Best regards.

Frugal

P.S. During my vacation, new posts should be available on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Anything extra will be up to my partner ML’s discretion. (Sorry, I have pre-written this, so I don’t know with 100% certainty how many posts will appear. There is only so much that I can pre-write. At least 4 posts per week is my plan.)

Futures & COT Reports: Welcoming A New Regular Guest Writer

Frugal — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 12:01:22 +0000

I’m thrilled of having James West to agree to be a regular guest writer on my site. For those who are not familiar with his work, he regularly watches and reports on the COT (Commitment of Trader) Reports at various futures/option exchange market. What is futures? Here is from investopedia:

A futures contract is a type of derivative instrument, or financial contract, in which two parties agree to transact a set of financial instruments or physical commodities for future delivery at a particular price. If you buy a futures contract, you are basically agreeing to buy something that a seller has not yet produced for a set price. But participating in the futures market does not necessarily mean that you will be responsible for receiving or delivering large inventories of physical commodities….

James’ articles regularly appear at financialsense.com. His reporting on COT is important to put together pieces of puzzles in the stock & various other markets. When you go to casino and play black-jack with dealers, assume that you can count dealers’ cards accurately, won’t you have a much higher long term success due to additional information on calculating the odds of having a bigger (or smaller) number card?

Likewise, it is the same with futures market. Most of the time, people only look at the stock market, stock options market, but forgetting that there is also a futures market. The major brokerage companies are the House in this case. And if you don’t look at the futures market, you are not counting all the cards (or even majority of the cards). Maybe by the outstanding open positions in the option market, you would conclude that market would more likely rise. But you may not be looking at the futures market, where more House money has been betted for a market fall.

By having James reporting on the COT data, I hope readers at 1stMillionAt33.com can be better informed of the futures market.

Let’s hope that James West will continue to make his articles available on an indefinite basis for everyone here. Please welcome James West, and be sure to visit his own site too.

Frugal

Carnival of Investing #46

Frugal — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:04:43 +0000

Welcome to the 46th Carnival of Investing, hosted at My 1st Million At 33! Thanks to all the contributors to the carnival to make this another great carnival for more learning on investing your money, and thanks to Jonathan for making hosting arrangements.

Using my own judgment, I have highlighted the posts that I like better by RED color. There were a couple of posts that I have struggled with my binary RED/not RED decision. Please don’t take my color codes too seriously. Also, the listed order is however RANDOM. All the comments/color codes are only of my own opinion. Readers are encouraged to investigate on their own for each post.

Victor Fam presents Millionaire Factors posted at Victor Fam. Victor shares the tips from the book of The Millionaire Next Door.
TJP presents Can Gap Inc. (GPS) turns things around? posted at Investor Trip. TJP gives 3 reasons GPS may not be doing well.

Finance Buff presents 401(k), Roth IRA, then Back at 401(k) posted at The Finance Buff. Comments on a few rules in the list of 25 Rules to Grow Rich By from Money magazine.

indexfundfan presents Cash balance interest and margin account posted at Indextown. A good detailed strategy on how to maximize your cash balance interest earnings while waiting for an opportunity to invest the money.

F. D. Bryant III presents Newsvine – Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme: Why we must switch to Personal Accounts posted at FDBryant3′s Newsvine. Yes, I agree with the author to some extent.

Andrea presents Starting in Real Eatate posted at To Become Wealthy.

Steve Faber presents This Can Make You Money – But You Must Dig Deeper posted at DebtBlog.

MillionDollarCountDown presents Some Strategies For Down Market posted at MillionDollarCountDown. Strategies for managing your portfoilio when market goes south.

Ralph Morgan presents Asset Class – Fine Art posted at Enough Wealth.

Ricemutt presents Diversifying into real estate through REIT ETFs. posted at Experiments in Finance. An introductory post about four REIT ETFs.

Michael K. Dawson presents The Commodities Bull Market is Back posted at The Time and Money Group.

Andy presents Spend and Save at the same time! posted at Andy.

Trent presents Counter Intuit-ive posted at Stock Market Beat.

Christine Kane presents Don’t GET Rich Quick. BE Rich Quick. posted at Christine Kane.

Gina presents Include Net Capital Gains in Investment Income posted at Gina’s Tax Blog.

The Dividend Guy presents 7 Stocks for the Really Long Term posted at The Dividend Guy Blog. A collection of stocks for the long term.

Super Saver presents Investing 101 – Managing Risk Successfully posted at My Wealth Builder.

goldguru presents A Closer Look at Tagish Lake Gold Corp posted at goldguru. Detailed look at Tagish Lake for massive gold and silver deposits. Get in while the getting is good.

Tom Hanna presents The Week Ahead: Your Financial Roadmap for October 30 to November 3, 2006 posted at Financial
Options. Economic calendar.

Mike presents Investing In Stocks and Personal Morals posted at The Road 2 Riches.

A Samuel presents Sama Dubai Snap Poll shows Dubai Property Outshines China and India posted at Nubricks.com.

Scott presents New Prosper Features posted at Scott.

Jonathan presents Trade Execution: Why It Matters, and Broker Comparison posted at MyMoneyBlog.

Paul Paulson presents Gold For Thought posted at MoneyKeg Blog.

Michelle presents How to Invest For High Returns & Avoid Losing Your Original Investment posted at EconoEdge.

Jim presents Don’t Invest Borrowed Money posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Investing borrowed money makes you more emotional.

Andy presents Desire to Retire: “3 things to consider when think… posted at Andy.

Mister Juggles presents Save These Hot Boobs from Cancer posted at Long or Short Capital.

Bryan C. Fleming presents Million Dollar Savings club Update: Day 65 posted at Bryan C. Fleming .com. I wouldn’t invest $100 IMHO.

MyMoneyForest presents eBay – The Maturing Dot Com posted at MyMoneyForest.

FMF presents The Best Investing Book of All Time posted at FreeMoneyFinance.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of investing using carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found at blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of investing, blog carnival.