EL

Will Cash Retire

PayPal changed the world by offering an online exchange of funds between anybody in the world. Now fast forward a decade later and almost every bank offers electronic money exchanges. Some of you are thinking nah physical money will never go away. But I think one day it just might face a horrific demise. Not that I am a proponent of this happening, I am all for holding those green dead presidents in our hands. I just think the tide will turn one day and there is nothing we can do about it, the government will have the last say in this argument. Have you heard recently about BITCOIN and all the hoopla facing this weird monetary vehicle? Well this is the eventful future and not exactly like those coins, but something similar to it. Thus I keep thinking will cash retire?

Have you ever seen an option to send money online now days by your bank? Well they are all pushing for the end of physical cash because then they will have less operating costs. Is this a shock to all of you? I hope not because as you should know banks always want to decrease expenses while controlling the money with tight-fisted grips. A digital age is becoming more prevalent as wire transfers become just as easy to send as having somebody’s email. Soon there will be an app for that as cell phones are holding more power now than a computer for managing finances on a daily basis. Wait that little white device (Square) that can be attached to your cell can accept a credit card payment for services rendered in a summer garage sale. Guess what that device will eventually assist the final retirement party for good old Benjamin Franklin. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but maybe you will now realize that this could very well be the future of money.

Here are a few facts about; Will Cash Retire:

-Canada got rid of the penny, soon other coins will follow

-USA wants to get rid of all coins

-Direct Deposit is pushed by all employers and government programs. (Social Security/ Disability/ Unemployment)

-Banks only give promotions to new customers when you set up direct deposit

-Retail Companies want you to get their store card (20% off if you do it – One time)

-PayPal money exchanges are growing every day (Be Careful There’s a fee for this service)

-Square is taking over! 6 Billion Yearly in money exchanges- wowzers (It will cost 2.75% of all sales)

-Online Banks like ING offer the same service to send money to others.

-BITCoin ATMs will soon hit a mall near you. (Hopefully a Fad)

-Trillions of dollars are being exchanged everyday by Currency Dealers (Largest Exchange in the world)

-In 1990 Cash and checks consisted of 85% behind all spending; now it is about 39%

-Every day we all are using less and less cash (See a trend)

-In 2010 3.1 billion was paper transactions and 4.8 billion was cards/electronic

What do you think of those facts? If somebody all the way in japan wishes to purchase a product you have listed on EBay, no problem PayPal to the rescue. I feel that one day we will be viewing physical cash in a museum, unless you are a PF blogger and have the foresight to stash a variety of crisp bills in a photo album hoping they will turn into a collectible one day.

Will Cash Retire? Comment below with your point of view on this topic?

For further Reading look here:

Rich Uncle EL

Some facts were found in Fortune Magazine

What Did You Purchase in 2012

Hello I did a what have you purchased post like this before about 1 year ago. Here it is to refresh your memory-Assets. I believe it is time for an update. Annual updates are easier for me to share with all of you as I am busy more often now a days. I will disclose what I have purchased and hopefully you guys can share what you bought as well. If you are shy then do it anonymously. For all of you not scared to share your success stories let me be the first one to congratulate you.

I will begin listing all the assets I have purchased and mostly all of them will go up every quarter as I have them on automatic reinvesting status. I will also list any other major purchases that add value to my life one way or another. I do not wish to share too much info, but I hope you can still get some value out of the post and then can track your own accounts.

What did I purchase in 2012:

1. 100 shares of a risky cheap Bank Stock-One Time (HCBK)
2. 100 Shares of a risky telecom Stock-Dollar Cost Averaging (WIN)
3. 100 Shares of various 401k Funds -Quarterly
4. 50 Shares of various Roth IRA Fund Shares-Quarterly
5. A new computer for my blog business and personal use.
6. A new mattress as back was hurting (Unfortunately New mattress has not helped)

It is really exciting to see the numbers increase from time to time, and I hopefully one day will be able to live off my investments. Did you know that if you owned 1000 shares of Altria Stock (MO) it would cost you about 34K dollars to buy all those shares. The dividend you would receive would be about, $ 450 dollars quarterly and $ 1800 dollars per year. Every quarter my dividends are greater as the number of shares grow. Compounding makes me a happy camper.

Imagine waking up to do what you please without being tied down to achieve other peoples dreams, and can contribute as much or as little towards your own dreams. The point in life is to become independent while accomplishing your passion. I feel we all can do this with the right investment strategy. See below for two great articles one about dividend stocks and the other about a retired blogger who is living his dream.

Article on the highest paying dividend champion stocks- Here

Look at numbers Retire by 40 is posting for his update on income and expenses.

What did you purchase in 2012?

Comment if you keep track of your finance accounts like this?

Rich Uncle EL

The stocks mentioned above are not listed or recommended by moneywatch101.com, do your own research before buying any stocks.

Debt Freedom Done Right

How do you get the monkey off your back you ask? Well it is simple and easy to explain; first and foremost you have to stop spending aka adding more debt. Second thing you have to do is really feel an urge to be free while at the same time get the mindset ready for many months of cutting back with slicing debt here and slicing debt there. I want you to think about that for a second because when all your friends are going out clubbing every other weekend you might have to go every other month for a year or two. It will be hard and your emotions will test the heck out of you. But you can do it, because if a desire is present then anything is possible. Getting out of debt is the initial feeling, but the real underlining urge is to build a great financial foundation. Where you can have surplus cash flow and invest here and there without the worries behind bill paying all bottled up inside.

If you have doubt then you are not ready as the journey will go from tough to tougher every day. I want you to be prepared with the strength of all your ancestors because this stuff is not easy. (Depending how deeply indebted one is)

Debt Freedom Done Right:

Do not add more debt

Feel and desire to be free

Cut back on anything that is not a need

Add up the daily and weekly interest fees for each loan

For the smallest balance loan, pay as much as you possibly can

For the rest of the loans pay the minimum

Pay double the weekly interest fee plus the monthly payment amount (Smallest Balance) (Per Week)

Keep the cycle going, with every loan until you can yell, BE GONE DEBT!

This simple advice can help you achieve great momentum with debt freedom. Why you ask?

You are paying more than the minimum on the smallest balance loan until it is paid off
You are paying double the interest fee weekly thus reducing the principle dramatically
You will see results monthly and will save yourself money with interest payments
You will see the debt shave off with every balance that is paid off and get one step closer to freedom

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Comment if you agree with the, debt freedom done right revolution coming soon to a bank near you?

PS: The books above are all debt freedom books from respectable financial gurus. This post is not a review of the books but are offered here as an additional resource for you to use if more information is required.

Rich Uncle EL

Can You Find Extra Money

The best place to find extra money is to earn it, negotiate it, save it and not to waste it. These simple steps will give you a leg up on your emotional spend thrift self. The not wasting it part is basically allocating funds to the right place month after month, and it is called a budget. The savings part is simple, but will provide you retirement leverage due to the compounding effect. Everyday you’re purchasing power is getting less and less, thus making retirement that much harder. Can you find extra money? Look right at your paycheck first. Then look in the mirror second.

Continue reading Can You Find Extra Money

Quotes 7

When will you see that quotes can spark something within you to reach for a better improved life? The theme for today’s post is believing in yourself without any reservations. I know for a fact that with every person that doubts you that you have more supporters cheering you on. Think about this for a second as you might be hesitant to do the little things in life to allow you to succeed. One thing I cannot stress enough is the fact that the biggest supporter you will ever have is yourself, say this out loud on a daily basis and you will not allow failure to creep in life.

I am not saying anything new or revolutionary, this has been said many thousands of times before, but a constant reminder does wonders as well. During tough times the faith we have in our abilities tend to go by the way side, and it takes courage to pull through and get the confidence back in line. To be honest nobody can bring you down more than the negative actions you take. That is why I want you to read this and not fall victim to beating yourself up for a minor setback, just forge ahead and let the past stay where it belongs behind you.

Quotes 7:

I can’t let the best of me get the best of me, until I reach the pinnacle of life. – Rich Uncle EL

When fear gets the best of you, how will the world know the best you can be? – Rich Uncle EL

Fear plays a part in being successful; let it take its course – Rich Uncle EL

What do you think of the quotes above, which one motivated the most to really think and analyze your life in greater detail? I wanted to explain them a bit further from my point of view because these could be interpreted in a different light.

1. This is what I thought when I wrote this, you know those people who succeed and let fame get to their heads, thus they begin to live crazy reckless lives? Well this quote is my thinking based on that and if I were to get to another level of success I wish to stay humble and keep striving for more. Not that I will be greedy for success, but the fact that I have bigger goals for family, my community, generations to come, and myself. Point blank I want to give back in a big way.

2. This quote hits the core because people stay stuck in a specific stage in life and then settle. I tend to use the fear to propel myself to change and evolve.

3. This is a similar quote to number 2, but it elaborates a bit deeper. It stresses that when you reach a level of fear in business or passion driven activities that you must accept it and use it to move forward. The fear will continually pop up from time to time and it is ok because it is a part of life.

Comment if you want to add to the quotes above?

Rich Uncle EL

Portfolio Tracking by CNN Money

portfolio tracking by CNN Money

Would you give up all your investment / retirement account passwords to a website that is known for money and stock market news reporting? They track data from various sources; then report the findings eventually in random posts / articles. So how do you actually know if your portfolio tracking data will be safe? I think for me it is a real issue because I am always hesitant to trust another online entity tracking my accounts. It took me almost a year before I could allow myself to even sign up for Mint a few years back. Mint worked well and has a very respectable firewall and security features in place, but one issue I had all the time was several accounts did not link up correctly aka update when I would log on. The website left me with the wrong account info from time to time. I just got used to it, but maybe this service by CNN will not have the same bugs. (Fingers Crossed if I decide to sign up one day) Handling financial information might be a bit daunting, but Portfolio Tracking by CNN Money will help you keep up with your investments.

Details of the Portfolio Tracking by CNN Money:

– One View of all your Accounts: Sync and Track

– Real Time Quotes: Can help see buy and sell opportunities

– Your Portfolio Insights: Measure performance against Indexes.

Now CNN money wants to get all your passwords and help you keep track of all your investments, with some tools to help you become a better investor in addition to being your online portfolio manager. (They Say) How comfortable would you truthfully be, to allow them access to your precious retirement figures? What if they share your data with competing investment websites, who now continually pester your life with ads by email, hoping you will switch on over to their house of stocks. I appreciate the simplicity of this service, but I still feel some trepidation with releasing all that precious password info.

On another happier note, if they save your information by the last time you logged in, should that be considered another source of backing up people’s data. If an investment company happens to have a major computer meltdown and they were to lose all traces of your accounts, you can hopefully provide proof of the missing funds by asking CNN money to remember the last time you checked your accounts and the figures you held in those accounts. That is one of the positives I can see with this service, besides the stock analysis and stock market research data you can get from this service. It should be noted of course that the CNN service is just a portfolio tracking service (as well as offering stock analysis and research data), if you’re looking to actually trade stocks independently then you will need a stock trading platform such as this one offered by AVA Trade.

Many of you have already signed up with CNN money to track your stock and mutual fund accounts in 1 place, but if you have not, what other features might get you to sign up for a similar portfolio management service?

What additional concerns might you have that you can share?

Leave info about how Portfolio Tracking by CNN Money might benefit you?

Rich Uncle EL

Pic credited to: CNN

The Layoff Generation

Hello the Layoff generation term came to me like the many other random ideas I get throughout the week. Many people I know including myself have been laid off at least once in their lives and I’m beginning to question are we the new layoff generation. The generation where a pink slip is always on the back of people’s minds and can come at a moments notice. Where is the loyalty company’s had back in the 80’s for its employees, or the security company’s provided employees in the 60’s? Back then it was the norm to work at a single employer for decades. Now we average about 10-12 jobs in our lifetimes. Leaving all of us to wonder what can we expect for our kids and grandkids careers? Will they be laid off twice as much as us or maybe three times the average.

I think work is becoming very much a make me a lot of money and I will not release you to acquire a cheaper faster younger version of you. This is just downright sad to slap millions with unemployment, during the worst recession in U.S. history, after giving all those years of hard work and effort. That will just make this generation feel abandoned, scolded, and guarded in the next job we get. “Corporate America is evolving and if you are not in line with our profits then move and get out-of-the-way they say.” Even the government has adopted the same policy and will cut people’s pay while adding a furlough period on top of it to save money. How about cutting all the bloat funds going to the military, before cutting federal employees’ salaries I say. I think common sense has taken a back seat to company’s bottom line. Loyalty was stuffed in time capsule back in the late 80’s never to be found. Enough is enough.

What can you do to avoid being victimized by the layoff experience? Take a proactive approach and learn as much as possible. Make your skills speak for themselves and make them want you by entertaining various offers every year from other companies. Go to college and get a profession that will give you a career you can control. Not even CEO’s who originally founded their companies are safe now days. Just ask the Groupon CEO, who recently got the boot with no severance. Imagine you build a great website with a million readers, make the company public, thus needing a board to police the CEO and the company, then getting fired from the company you started. That is just wrong, and should never be considered unless the CEO was abusing the company’s value and possibly hurting the bottom line.

Professional Careers that will help you beat the layoff pink slip:
Doctor – (Degrees and Certifications in the medical field)
Lawyer and Judges
Dentist
IT Professionals – (Learn all programming skills)
App Development – (Learn coding for application creation)
Registered Nurse
Police Officers with 5 years or more already served
Certified Financial Professional (Auditor, Treasury, Payroll, Tax, Comptroller)
Engineers with high credentials
High level School Administrator – (Principles, Superintendents)

These are just a few of the positions that will help you avoid the possibilities of being laid off. In addition to this you will have the skills necessary to be in demand anywhere in the US and possibly internationally. I hope you can see the difference between having a regular job and having a career like the ones I mentioned above. It will take hard work to achieve a career in these fields, but anything is possible. As long as you begin your journey in the right way and if you know early on in college what is it that you want to do will help a lot? Consistently building skills will eventually get you to achieve more and possibly save you from a future lay off.

Feedback from the Readers:

Comment if you feel we are the layoff generation?

Comment if you already are in one of these positions? How difficult was it to accomplish? Have you avoided being laid off?

Rich Uncle EL

Who are you really?

This question was asked in a Oprah interview I saw on TV over the weekend. Who are you really? I know what your thinking, but keep those crazy thoughts to yourself. Oprah asked this question to a famous celebrity, because they live life partly open and mostly secretive. So I get why she asked this question because this person has millions of fans and you guessed it fans are curious. Furthermore I still think it is very important for everybody to answer this question so here it goes.

I feel it is my obligation to share a little bit of myself from time to time to let you in to my world. I am doing this blogging thing and started it without disclosing everything 100%. I do not feel comfortable sharing my income and my net worth yet because a lot of family and friends read this blog.

Because of this I can still share with you some of my goals and what I want out of this life in greater detail. Hopefully you can read it as a way to help me along the way if you enjoy the website and care to give some support or maybe you don’t give a rats @ss and will never read my blog again. Either way I respect your decision, but I do feel I add some value to my readers lives.

Who are you really? : A Family man who wishes to provide for his family all the things necessary in life with a few luxuries from time to time in order to enjoy life. I want to do these things year after year while decreasing my currently restricted time given towards work and increasing my free time to spend on the things I want to do. (Family time, hobbies, volunteering, and personal goals) I want recognition for the things I do,(PF Blogger and Financial Professional), but I do not want or expect full-blown fame at this point in my life. Kind of daunting to fathom blowing up from one day to the next, like MJ. I want success but in the financial aspect of it. Meaning I want my efforts to pay me more than my bills and lifestyle while allowing me to save for a secure future. I want to get the things that I need first and foremost, then my wants, without having to worry if the income will be their next month or if a layoff is around the corner. Meaning I want to take matters everyday more into my hands and work for myself and less for somebody else.

Goals prompted by asking myself: Who are you really?:

– Increase twitter followers to 500, Facebook to 200, and email readers to 100.

– Increase income by 25% by getting a better paying career, side income, or business income.

– Become Certified in financial planning and also become certified in personal training.

– Double Family Net Worth in two years and every two years after that.

– Eliminate school loan debt in two / three years.

– Travel to new places and learn different cultures with the family.

Article on finding yourself: Link

Comment if you agree or disagree that knowing who you are really will help you achieve goals?

Rich Uncle EL