A Buck A Day!

Eating Out...

2011-12-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

I just opened my statement from my bank for the month of November. One thing stood out more than anything is the amount that I eat out in a month.

For the month of November I ate out for a total of 14 times for a total of $130.04 and an average of $9.28 per time out. So if I cut the amount that I eat out in half, to only 7 times per month, not only will I probably be healthier, but I will save about $65 per month! That's almost $800 per YEAR!

Bad Habits = Lost Money

2011-12-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

If you quit a bad habit or two you can save some serious CASH!

The New Year is almost here and everyone makes a New Year's Resolution.

So here is a little extra push to help you quit those nasty habits, just crunch the numbers!

Smoking:
On average a pack of Smokes cost $5, if you are on a one pack a day habit you can save $1800 a year by quitting! If you smoke 2 packs a day, you could save over $3600 per year! That could be an AWESOME Vacation! There is also the added side affect that you will be healthier too!

Drinking:
The average cost of a 6-pack of beer is $4.50. If you could stop drinking just one 6-pack PER WEEK, you could save over $230 per year! Over 20 years that's nearly $5000, and when you add in a paltry Savings Account Compound Interest, you will get to have one heck of a retirement party!

The same could be said for many habits, don't get that fast food dinner once per week, skip the coffee shop in the morning and save $5 per day, Go to the movies only once per month instead of twice per month and save over $100 per year (more if you buy refreshments!)

Save $2.37 per week...

2011-11-17T07:06:00.000-08:00

Do you eat at fast food establishments?

Most Americans venture into one 3 times per week. When most people go into a fast food place they order their food and a large drink. So if you ordered a small drink (and save about 79 cents) you can fill it up unlimited times in most fast food places as long as you are still inside the building.

.79 X 3 = $2.37 + tax

Keep an eye open

2011-11-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Always keep your eye open for a good deal. This blog is not only to help you make money but to save you money too!

There are a bunch of great deal websites out there to help you save money....the one that I am a big fan of is woot.com and I also like living social.com.

From woot.com I bought a digital camera for only $5!

Also check out your favorite stores, I bought 2 pounds of rock crab legs today to only $8! $8 TOTAL! (I will posting a video of how I cook these up)

Warning.... If you join a few deal sites...you do not have to buy every deal posted...only buy the ones that you were going to buy anyway at regular price.

Retirement

2011-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

You have to do it and you have to do it NOW!

Plan for your retirement that is! I just started a new job and am disappointed to find out that they do not offer a 401K but they will hold out part of your paycheck and purchase savings bond on your behalf.

It is better than doing nothing at all!

I will be creating my own IRA or looking for a part time job that provides a 401K that I can max out.

It is never too late to start trying to save for your retirement, the only thing is that the longer you wait the more you have to save out of every check!

Easy way to Invest in Silver

2011-08-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

If you are like me you look for investments that have nearly no risk but a lot of upside. Until now my money has been in 3 different Savings accounts (earning .8-1%), a 401K (earning just under 6%), and some select high dividend paying stocks. I knew there had to be a better way to protect and increase my money.

Believe it or not my breakthrough came from watching videos on youtube. I saw a video called Coin Roll Hunting. When I clicked on the link and watched the video, a light bulb went off and I was dumbfounded that I hadn’t thought of this before. The guy in the video went to the bank and bought $1000 in half dollar coinage and sorted through it to find the ones with Silver content.

I decided to give this a try and see how much of a profit I could make. The worst I could do is break even, because I can just deposit the non-silver coins right back into my account.
I went to the bank and bought all of the half dollar coinage that they had ($113). I sorted through the coins and found some Silver Coins! WOW! I deposited the non-silver coins back into my account, sold the Coins with Silver content on ebay and made a profit of over $20 after all fees and shipping! That is almost a 20% return!

Think of it this way, if you found only one 40% Silver half every month for the last five years, you would have profited over $300! With the economic turmoil that we are in now and the rising price of silver, just think how much you could make in the next 5 years.

Watch me sort through some Kennedy Halves at http://youtu.be/bmjJUGIt6gg

If you like this article you can find me blog at www.abuckadayblog.com or you can subscribe to it via the Kindle and Kindle App by searching for “A Buck A Day Blog”

Tips:
All Barber, Frankin, and Walking Liberty Halves are 90% Silver.

The 1964 Kennedy Half is 90% Silver and the 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1970 Kennedy halves are 40% Silver.

Dimes and Quarters made before 1965 are 90% Silver, if you would rather sort through them.

Some people are search through pennies; pennies made before 1982 are mostly copper and are currently worth nearly 3 cents each in melt value, also keep an eye out for wheat and indian head cents.

Sorry it took so long...

2011-08-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

A while ago I promised I would post a few pictures of the homemade paper that I make by recycling junk mail and scrap paper....

Well, hopefully I did one better, I made a video of how I do it!

Here is the link...

http://youtu.be/6QmJm0qTBH4

Let me know how you would do it differently...

Articles Coming

2011-08-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

I am working on a few articles that I am excited about:

Investing in Silver with NO RISK! What? Yeah, I am still testing it and currently making a video about it!

Vending Machines...Do they make money? I bought 2 vending machines and am in the process of getting them set.

I am still trying to sell all of the items that I purchased at the garage sales that I attended earlier this summer.

and finally...

Selling Stamps for a profit.....I have been working on this one for a while and it is starting to show promise...

Quick Update

2011-07-18T17:42:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update on the garage sale items...

I sold a book and 2 old liquor bottles....keeping the profit secret until everything sells.

I need a business idea.

2011-07-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am trying to think of a P.I.G. (Passive Income Generating) Company.

I have a day job but am always wanting to have something else going that is making me more money.

What I have now:

Currently I run a few websites/blogs :

www.Duperoo.com
This is an online information portal. I have also included a Free Online Classifieds Section for anyone to use.

www.ABuckaDayBlog.com
A website that helps put financial and business articles in plain speech. There are no big fancy words here to confuse anyone. This blog is also available for download on the Kindle from Amazon.

www.MyEarthShare.com
A website that gives ideas and tips on recycling, reusing, and reducing your carbon footprint. It helps people go green that don't know where to start. This blog is available for download on the Kindle from Amazon.

www.TheFoodieWithin.com
Love cooking? Want tips on cooking and recipes to try? Check out my website called The Foodie Within and begin your trip into my Culinary World. This blog is available for download on the Kindle from Amazon.

I make money by showing ads next to the content on these pages, these require minimal work on my part. I just have to write a post for these every so often So far these sites have shown OVER 400,000 ads and they are still going!

I also have stocks that pay dividends, they are stable companies that appreciate in value and pay me to hold them, I am counting these as P.I.G.'s

What I am thinking for a new P.I.G.

I used to have a vending machine in my house and I would get about $3 per week from friends and family. It was just a novelty for us to talk about, but I have since sold it. I am thinking about trying this out as a new money maker. I want to start with one machine, once it is profitable, use the money it makes to buy another machine, and so on. I know I can get one online for about $60 shipped. I like the vendstar 3000 models.

What are your questions/concerns/comments? Do you have a better idea for me to try? Remember, all ideas must require little effort on my part aside from initial set up. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thank you!

More stuff to sell...

2011-06-05T22:45:00.001-07:00

Well, one item so far has sold, but I haven't put anything up for sale except the books on half.com. I recently took the remaining balance and went on another garage sale binge, this time to Tuscola TX. I spent a total of $15.30. Here is what I got...

Canon Camera Lens
Perfume bottle made of milk glass
Bag of Candy molds
crystal S&P shaker
Silver S&P shaker
3 blue willow plates
3 antique perfume bottles

These items are being added to the items I already have to be put on ebay when I get a chance to test my question, "Is it still profitable to sell items on ebay"

Update on eBay Experiment

2011-05-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, back from the trip. I didn't spend my whole $100, not even close actually.

I spent $18.20 on:

(2) Gold Spoon Sets
(5) Books
(1) Box of Rumber Stamps (approx 25 stamps)
(1) 5 gallon bucket of old miniture alcohol bottles
(1) Antique milk glass compote
(1) Cream colored Vase (looks like McCoy)
(1) Kiln Slumped Art Glass Dish
(1) Box of miniture Amber Glasses (approx 4 dozen)

None of the items are listed for sale yet, but in a few minutes I will at least have the books listed on Half.com (it is owned by eBay) the link is here:

http://shops.half.ebay.com/buygreatonline_W0QQmZbooks

I am currently deciding how to ship these items the most efficient way possible for both me and the potential buyer!

Selling Items on eBay...Is it Still Viable?

2011-05-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have heard less and less about people selling items on eBay and making a fortune. I want to see if this is still a viable way to turn a profit. So...here is the plan:

This Saturday a small neighboring town is having a CITY WIDE GARAGE SALE. I am going to pack up and go to see what items I can find but I need to set some Ground Rules:

RULES:

1. Can only spend $100

2. Everything purchased must be listed for sale online on eBay

3. Must log how much everything cost

4. Must log how much in fees I pay for listing on eBay

5. Must log how much in fees I pay for using PayPal

6. How Much I charged for shipping for each item

7. How much shipping actually was for each item

8. How long did everything take, from listing to shopping etc...

Things I will need:

1. Paper/Tissure for wrapping delicate items

2. Paper and Pen to record how much I paid for items

3. iPhone so I can quickly see how much items are going for while on location to see if I should buy it (using the eBay app)

4. $100 in small bills

5. Box/Reusable bag to keep everything in

When everything is sold...I must list all numbers for everyone to see if this was profitable or not.

Since I actually agreed to take my grandmother, I am not going to count gas or food, this little experiment is a BONUS !

Check back Sunday for a short listing of what I found and a link to the eBay auctions.

Thanks and wish me luck!

Bank Changes

2011-04-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

My bank is changing a few things about their savings accounts that I personally dont like...it is awesome for other people to get them to save more....I save plenty, I use my savings account purely a tool to buy Certificate of Deposits with. With this new change, I will have to wait 3 months before I can buy another CD with this bank. What is your favorite bank? Online Bank? Send me a link... Here is my Twitter account @ThomasJowers

Have you bought a CD today?

2011-03-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Not one of the music CD's but a Certificate of Deposit.

Today there are many no minimum CD's out there, so you could actually take the cost of a music CD and buy a Certificate of Deposit.

If you did this every month, you could save OVER $200 a year, and make interest to boot!

Typical new Music CD cost $16.99 X 12 months = $203.88 + INTEREST!

How many Music CD's do you own???? Go Count... I'll Wait......Now multiply by $16.99....See how much money you could be sitting on!!!!!!

Tax Season is Here!

2011-01-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

This year, if you are lucky enough to get a tax return, try saving some!

Let's say you get $1200 this year...Try to put back $500 into some type of savings, buy a CD, pay off High interest debt, etc....

Then treat yourself to the rest instead of spending it all!

Tax tip*

When going in to do your taxes, make sure you have everything ready...pay stubs, charity contributions, stock gains/losses....etc...

Social Shopping

2010-11-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

Social Shopping and apps/sites that help you get discounts could come in very handy this holiday season. We no longer have the Bing Cashback program to help us but many sites are taking up the slack.

I recently took a mini vacation to San Antonio Tx, and a business trip to Odessa Tx. I was able to use some of these companies to save money.

First, to take the place of Bing's Cashback program, Ebay has stepped up with their ebay Bucks Program, I have already used this a little and have saved some money with it. So when you need to do that Christmas shopping, click on over to Ebay first and check their prices.

I relied heavenly on Foursquare to start my decision making on places to eat, Twice we went to Chilis because we got free Chips and Salsa with our late night drinks. Foursquare already has 4+ Million users. You can find me on Foursquare at www.FourSquare.com/thomasjowers

Groupon has not made it to my city yet but I have seen the groupon features on ebay. It looks like people can Amazing deals on certain products. Again, I have not used it yet, but am looking forward to it.

Also, you can get amazing one day only deals at Woot.com Woot was recently purchased by Amazon.com, so I am looking for them to really push Woot during the holidays.

2010-11-07T07:08:00.001-08:00

I have recently read the book titled "You Don't Change a Company by Memo" This is a great book if you are in the position to change a company. Are you a manager, team leader, etc.... It helps the person that wants to change their company for the better, it gives them a place to start. The book is a little old, but it still makes valid points that all management, CEO's, etc... need to build upon.

I am am Assistant Manager at an Entertianment Store, I see many things that I can use and implement during the holiday season to make my associates more productive. It will also let me associate know that we are a team, and not just a boss/employee relationship, I read this book over a few weeks, 15 minutes each time during my lunches.

Needs more Cowbell....MSO..Martha Stewart

2010-08-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not but I think Martha Stewart is a genius. The only thing is that I think she is selling her company short. Last quarter MSO lost money....It is mainly a content company...how do you lose money....?

Martha Stewerts Omnimedia currently operates the following divisions:

Magazine Publishing
Book Publishing
Internet Publishing
Broadcasting (TV and radio)
Merchandise

I saw the Martha Pet Line at Petsmart the other day...looks great!

I was very happy to see MSO purchase the media and merchandising company from Emeril Lagasse in 2008.

I personally think Martha has a lot more to offer and needs my help. Here is what I would do to truly expand the company.

First, Marth dear, you are not going to live forever...just like you did with Emeril...lets add a few more faces to the company.. lets diversify. Lets add a new chef to go with Emeril, an interior designer, a financial guru, a landscapist and a green expert...etc....
Each one of the new faces of MSO could have their own magazine, tv show, books, merchandise, and websites..

Lets start with the new chef...they need to be younger than Marth and Emeril...What about Sunny Anderson...? How would adding yet another cook to the franchise help MSO....
1. Younger Demographic
2. She already has a TV Show
3. Different line of Merchandise
4. Possible new cooking magazine (combine Martha, Sunny, and Emeril into a more contemporary magazine)
5. Cookbooks

A New interior designer...I really dont keep up with interior designers but I see another like of furniture that could be marketing and maybe another TV show on HTV or something, and of course, more books.

A financial guru. This would be a great place for MSO to expand. America needs a down to earth person de-mystifying personal finance...How to save money, cut expenses, explain financial terms...etc....
Again...books, tv show...merch...magazine..paid email subscription for stock info...etc...

A Landscapist....hey..most people that have a house care about how their yard looks...how to take care of plants in the house...there use to be a guy on HGTV that had gray hair and a beard...I think his name was Paul...He would be a great addition to the MSO empire..
Mags...TV show...Books...Merch

A green expert...This is a person that helps the everyday person cut back on electric bills, how to recycle around the house...crafts for reusing items...again, books, tv..merch

I know that Martha already has her name on many of the products that these people would be hawking too...but each person could use a different retail outlet to market these products...Emeril and Martha already have Macy's..but who has Nordstroms...? Martha has Home Depot...but what about Lowe's?

Dont get me wrong...Martha could be doing more too....I would like to see Martha (who has 90% of the voting stock) own at least 2 shows on the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) It would put her brand out there even more!

I would also like to see more things been done online...Maybe MSO needs to make a few small acquisitions of internet properties to increase traffic...What could be bought? What about Planting.com...its for sale...Lets see MSO turn this into a blossoming niche site for everything green...when to plant bulbs...tips for getting rid of pests...etc....

I also want to see a line of food products from Martha...Emeril already has this...I want to see Martha Seasonings...Marinades...Frozen Cookie Dough....I want them to be sold at Whole Foods or something...Not Walmart..Lets protect the brand a bit.

Okay...for the naysayers...Martha is about cakes, cookies, and crafts...not personal finance...Hogwash...MSO is about content and licensing deals...MSO would just be leveraging different people they way Martha does Emeril and herself...

What about finding talent in other countries and letting them have their own shows in their respective countries?

Okay...there are my 2 cents....Martha if you are reading this...I am mobile...am looking for a career change...would love to help MSO as an idea/creative guy. Just saying.

I own and am long MSO

Last week to save some Money!

2010-07-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

You have until July 30th to make a % back on your purchases from Bing.com!!!!!! I shopped yesterday and saved an additional 8% over the already cheap prices on ebay!

http://www.discoverbing.com/cashback/programupdate/index.html?fbid=7976P7XkgEe&wom=false

Click the link to visit the cashback program on Bing!

New Idea.....!?!

2010-07-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Back in 2006 I had a small antique/jewelry/coin store while I was attending college. It was perfect..it was less then 4 blocks away from my university and I opened the doors between classes. I also used the down time as study time. I shopped for items for the store on ebay, at auctions, at flea markets etc.....

One day a guy came in and bought nearly everything in my store.... I could start over trying to refill the store with items or get a job. I decided to get a job. I still have this job and enjoy many of the aspects of it.

My dilemma...I still have the paperwork for my store...the sales tax number...receipts...supplies.... (I occasionally sell items online)

I think I want to start again, but keep my job... How do I do this???

I am thinking that I could rent a small storage unit...fill it with items when I have time to shop..then open the doors once or twice per month on my days off and depending on the weather. I could just put an ad in the paper and be open for like 4 hours on a weekend or something. Gives me something to do, since I cant get a part-time job due to my changing schedule at my current job.

What do you think???? Should I do it????

p.s. I think that I might have enough items in the garage to fill up a storage unit and have a sale already.

Buy used books

2010-06-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Buying used books not only makes sense but saves Cents!

You can buy like new books at Half.com or Amazon.com...or from book sales in your local community.

I recently purchased $250 worth of books for only $10...read about my adventure at www.MyEarthShare.com

Nominate Me Please!

2010-06-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Please visit http://tj.mtv.com/open-nomination/ and nominate me for MTV Twitter Jockey just type in @ThomasJowers to nominate me...Thanks

Eating Out!

2010-06-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

You can save money eating at your favorite restaurant. Here are a few things you can do.

Order from the appetizer menu as your entree. The portions are usually large enough for a meal and usually $4 or $5 cheaper!
If you order an entree and have left overs...get it to go and take it for your lunch the next day! My lunches usually cost about $6. If you take your leftover entree as your lunch....you save $6!
Cook your dinner at home and go to your favorite restaurant for Dessert!

What is an investment?

2010-06-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Investment is the commitment of money or capital to purchase financial instruments or other assets in order to gain profitable returns in form of interest, income, or appreciation of the value of the instrument. It is related to saving or deferring consumption. Investment is involved in many areas of the economy, such as business management and finance no matter for households, firms, or governments. An investment involves the choice by an individual or an organization such as a pension fund, after some analysis or thought, to place or lend money in a vehicle, instrument or asset, such as property, commodity, stock, bond, financial derivatives (e.g. futures or options), or the foreign asset denominated in foreign currency, that has certain level of risk and provides the possibility of generating returns over a period of time.

Investment comes with the risk of the loss of the principal sum. The investment that has not been thoroughly analyzed can be highly risky with respect to the investment owner because the possibility of losing money is not within the owner's control. The difference between speculation and investment can be subtle. It depends on the investment owner's mind whether the purpose is for lending the resource to someone else for economic purpose or not.

In the case of investment, rather than store the good produced or its money equivalent, the investor chooses to use that good either to create a durable consumer or producer good, or to lend the original saved good to another in exchange for either interest or a share of the profits. In the first case, the individual creates durable consumer goods, hoping the services from the good will make his life better. In the second, the individual becomes an entrepreneur using the resource to produce goods and services for others in the hope of a profitable sale. The third case describes a lender, and the fourth describes an investor in a share of the business. In each case, the consumer obtains a durable asset or investment, and accounts for that asset by recording an equivalent liability. As time passes, and both prices and interest rates change, the value of the asset and liability also change.

An asset is usually purchased, or equivalently a deposit is made in a bank, in hopes of getting a future return or interest from it. The word originates in the Latin "vestis", meaning garment, and refers to the act of putting things (money or other claims to resources) into others' pockets. The basic meaning of the term being an asset held to have some recurring or capital gains. It is an asset that is expected to give returns without any work on the asset per se. The term "investment" is used differently in economics and in finance. Economists refer to a real investment (such as a machine or a house), while financial economists refer to a financial asset, such as money that is put into a bank or the market, which may then be used to buy a real asset.

The above information came directly from wikipedia.com Please visit them for more information.

Going on a money diet?

2010-05-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am on a diet.....again.

As I try to lose weight (6 pounds in 6 days) I have noticed that I am saving money...!

Here is how...

Lets do this for a typical week for me... I usually eat out twice a day for 5 days (work) and eat at home the other 2. My average ticket at the restaurants is about $7....

2 meals X $7 X 5 days = $70

My new plan cost me $10 per week for shakes, and a small meal with snacks. My snakes cost me $5 per week and my meals average $1.73 each at the store. Plus on my 2 days off I eat at home.

$5 + $10 + ($1.73 X 5 days) = $23.65

So I am saving $46.35 each week on food that I would have normally been spending!
Hopefully I can use that money to buy me a new wardrobe in about 6 weeks!

Read more about my actual diet at www.TheFoodieWithin.com

Mini Vacation

2010-05-03T18:09:00.001-07:00

One way to save a little money is to take shorter vacations. I recently took a mini vacation to San Antonio with 2 friends. We left on a Saturday morning and returned on Sunday afternoon.

Here is how we saved some money. We booked out hotel on priceline.com, we also booked a room close enough to the riverwalk so that we could walk there instead of driving or getting a Taxi. Since there were 3 of us we were able to split the cost of the room 3 ways. We also bought our SeaWorld Tickets online and saved another $10 each. We had free hot breakfast from our hotel, so that saved us even more money.

Before we even went we also decided to take the smallest vehicle between the 3 of us. Since I drive a truck I was out of the running. We saved about 50% in gas since we took a car instead of my big ol truck.

I am not saying that you need to stop going on vacations, I am just saying that you can go have a Great time and ome back rested with a mini vacation. I actually just requested the day off instead of using up my vacation days!

Rebalance Quarterly

2010-04-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

If you manage your own investments then you need to rebalance your portfolio every 3 months. One investment should never be more than 20% of your portfolio.

Example:

Anadarko 8%
Bonds 11%
BP 10%
Cash 12%
GE 15%
Exxon 15%
Microsoft 15%
Yahoo 14%

At first glance this looks somewhat diversified, but upon further inspection you will see the problems that need to be fixed. Anadarko, BP, and Exxon are all Energy plays, this represents 33% of this portfolio, Some of these positions need to be sold off and invested into another sector, maybe retail or food. Also you see Microsoft and Yahoo, these are both tech companies and the point could effectively be argued that they yahoo is more of a media company then a tech company, but it follows the trends of the tech sector more than the trends of the media sector. I would personally pare back my positions in Microsoft or Yahoo to make a combined total of 20%.

This needs to be done every 3 months simply because some investments will lag while others will prosper, eventually your portfolio will be lop-sided and no one wants a lop-sided portfolio.

Vegas Vacation

2010-03-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting but I was ...was....was...doing research, yeah, 'doing research.' The purpose of this blog is to help you make more money AND to save you money. I recently took a vacation to Las Vegas and was able to find some great money saving tips.

1) As soon as you check in and get to your room, you will find a coupon book. Look through it. I was able to find coupons for 35% off of merchandise at the stores, $$$ off of meals, and discounts on shows.

2) If you plan on doing any gambling, sign up for a Rewards Card. Use your rewards card every time you gamble. You will get free meals, free game play, and free shows. I was to use my card to get 3 free meals, $10 in free Game play, and $30 worth of chips for $20.

3) Once you get your Rewards card, do not pay for your meals, charge them to your room, same with room service. Before you check out visit the Rewards Booth and they may 'comp' some of the items that you would have paid for anyway. *We got this tip directly from a pit boss.

4) If a attraction is within walking distance.....do it! I stayed at the Luxor and it is connected to the Excalibur and Mandalay Bay. I was able to walk to each of them without having to pay for a cab. If you do need to get a cab to go to a different area, get a map and decide if you get a cab to the furthest location, can you walk to the others, then get a cab back instead of getting a cab for each location you go to.

5) Ask for stuff... The pit bosses don't know what you want. If you have been gambling for an hour or two, just ask if you have gambled enough for show tickets or a meal. We went downtown to the Gate Casino and was gambling, we played for about an hour when the pit boss handed us vouchers for a Free Large Shrimp Cocktail. It tasted even better knowing that it was Free!

My favorite part of the trip was when I bought seats for the Criss Angel 'Believe' Show. I bought the cheapest tickets (using a coupon) we started to go to our seats in the balcony, we simply said 'Thank You' to the attendent and she said, in a low voice, "Let me see your tickets" she preceeded to write something on them and handed them back to us and told us to go see another attendent. We had been UPGRADED! We were now in the 4th row right by the stage, Criss Angel came though our aisle during the act, we had to stand up to let him through, he shook our hand as he passed and stepped on my toe! (Criss if you are reading this, an autographed picture would make it feel better!) A very nice guy, best part of my trip, oh and I came home as a Las Vegas WINNER, I played Baccarat and Craps and did very well about 2 hours before I left to get on the plane! Anyway we bought $65 show tickets for less than $50 and we were given seats that cost over $150 each! WIN!

More than a Hobby.

2010-03-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

I finished reading "More Than a Hobby" last week. It is a very easy and interesting read and only took me about 3 hours to read it in its entirety. It is the story of how only $600 turned into the Arts & Crafts Behemoth known as Hobby Lobby.
There are many things that can be taken from this book: 1) move product that is not selling, Hobby Lobby purges its stock twice per year to make room for new merchandise. 2) Treat your employees well, if your employees like working for you, they will be more productive!

Please go grab this book and read it to see how the practices at Hobby Lobby can help you with your own business, help you at your current career, or just to see how they did it!

WHAT IS FOREX?

I think that if you want to start trading in stocks or currencies, you first need to do your research. Today I am including a link to wikipedia so that you read about forex. Even if you dont plan on trading currencies, it is nice to know how world currencies relate to each other. This really helps when a company you are investing in has a large footprint outside of the US. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/forex

3/15/10
Wal-Mart upgraded by Citi

AT&T Upgrades

2010-02-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

AT&T is upgrading their network.

In 2010 they will be spending $19 billion to add more towers and to upgrade existing towers to 3GS standards. Take THAT Verizon. This will help the image of AT&T and could possibly mean that the exclusivity of the iphone will stay with them. AT&T will also be the provider for the iPad from Apple.

RIMM being purchased?

2010-02-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

I think that RIMM (maker of the popular Blackberry) will be purchased this year by a large software company. My reasoning is as follows.

.Google launched their own branded smart phone.

.Microsoft thought about doing it but decided against it because they did not want to compete with phone makers using Windows Mobile. If Google and Android can do, Microsoft believes they can too.

.Microsoft is seeing their portion of the phone market fall to about 16%.

.Microsoft has a huge competitor in this market....Apple. Apple just bought a cell phone advertising company. If Microsoft wants Bing to win the Advertising Wars, it needs to battle on all fronts....including phones.

.Microsoft plans on releasing a mobile device this year and it has already been tested by posting to twitter. It is codenamed Pink and will probably be an extension of the Zune.

Of course I could be totally wrong and we will know soon enough. If they are going to buy RIMM they will most likely announce it in Barcelona Feb 15-18 at the MWC.

What are your thoughts? Please comment below.

Did you here the chatter?

2010-02-09T19:50:00.000-08:00

I heard through the online grapevine that Ask.com may be for sale.... I will post more once I hear or learn more...as for now it is just hear-say.

Microsoft/AOL and Ask.com Love in the Air?

2009-11-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

I remember hearing a few weeks ago that Diller would consider selling Ask.com (formally AskJeeves.com) I immediately thought of 2 suitors Microsoft (Bing) and Aol.com.

Both companies have made deals to increase their reach. Microsoft is making a deal with Yahoo and Aol purchased Bebo. Aol will be out of TWX soon and will need some kind of growth since its ISP business is all but dead.

Both companies need and want ask.com for its amazing content and reach of 'eyeballs'. Ask.com (IACI) has over 50 different branded companies. Most are in the top 5 websites for their niche. Some even have branched out into TV, the CollegeHumor series for one. They also have evite, citysearch, match.com, and zwinky. All of these properties could be expanded on their own or added to an existing property from the potential suitors. Some could even be spun off for a quick return of a portion of the purchase price.

Microsoft has not been the .com darling, they have literally thrown Billions of dollars at the internet with not much to show for it. Aol will always be tainted concerning its failed merger with Time Warner.

Curently, IACI trades at about $19/share with a market cap of $2.25 Billion. I can see Aol or Microsoft making a bid of $25 per share or $3.3 Billion for the entire company and walking away with a nice internet trophy.'

What are your thoughts?

I am long MSFT. I hold no positions in IACI or Time Warner AOL

Disclaimer

2009-10-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write articles about a Large Department Store that I work for. I sent an email asking permission and the response I received was a bit cloudy.

They said that they strongly preferred that I did not becuase I am employed by them but they also said that they could not hamper my free speech. The lady that called me was very polite and nice but said it would be better for everyone if I passed on articles about them.

Cell Phone Radiation

2009-10-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Is you life worth $20. Secrets about Cell phone brain tumors they don’t want you to know.
http://www.20dollars.weebly.com/

The Business of a Rock Band

2009-10-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

The Business of a Rock Band
I am not talking about the game, but an actual rock band. Not the hugely commercialized U2 but the indie bands that are still making the circuit on their home turf. They are big in their circles but relatively unknown in others.
The other day (9/19/09) was my birthday and a friend of mine (Nick R.) knew a band from his home town was coming into town. I am not a “rock” type but I had no plans and decided to go. I paid my $3 cover and settled in at a table with my friends. It is a typical club with 3 different areas so patrons can visit the area that best suits them.
Right out of the gate I feel sorry for this band because they are competing with the last night of a huge event that pulls in over $20 Million a year. There were approximately 30 people total in this section of the club. Next to the stage was their “merch” , that’s what they call their tupperware box of t-shirts and their pile of 6 CD’s they sell to help pay for coming to town.
For the “gig” the band will be paid a flat rate for coming in and playing 2 sets of music. They will sell a few shirts and a few CD’s. (I bought an autographed shirt and a CD) Usually the band will make more off of the “merch” sales than the actual “gig”.
Before the band started to play, my friends and I had a chance to sit down with the band outside. I started asking questions about their website, sources of income, future plans, and tours. The poor guys looked as if I was talking greek. Being a serial entreprenuer, I wanted to know the business side of the band where you can tell they live for the music.
Their income comes from iTunes, CD Sales, Shirt Sales, and Paying gigs. (Side note, I thought it was a myth, but clubs still pay bands in beer, I thought those days were gone!) One thing that impressed me is that at the end of their show they asked fans to join their MySpace account! Good! They also gave a plug for their website, again Good! They are trying to connect with their fans, because without fans, they don’t have a business.
When I got home (about 1AM) I checked out their website and social network accounts. Their website is really clean with links to all of their social connections.
· I would like to see a link to an online store where they can sell their “merch”. They also have a “look” where they all dress in suits with ties when they perform. Great idea but they should have branded ties that they could sell. Its their trademark look, run with it. Not only ties in their online store but their CD’s, different shirts ie long sleeve…short sleeve…colors. At the gig they only had black one & a whiteone. They could also sell keychains, they are cheap and something that every person could use, you cant wear their shirts to work but you can have their keychain in your pocket at work, a constant reminder to check their website to see upcoming concert dates.
· A link directly to iTunes so customers can buy their songs, same for Amazon music and Zune music.
· I did notice that they have a youtube account with a music video on it. They need to have more postings on their, everytime they go in to a radio station for an interview, it needs to be taped and posted on youtube. Keep it fresh.
· Twitter. They have a twitter account and link to it from their homepage, they need the widget from twitter on there so people can follow with just one click and see what is on the band’s mind. Tweet often, especiall a few days before the show and in between sets of a show. At the time of writing this they had 20 followers, in contrast I have over 19,000 followers. They can do better.
· A calendar. A calender with 12 different pictures of them but it already has some of their performance dates filled in for the person that purchases their calendar. This could be done using a print-on-demand company. This would also be a great tool to give to promoters and to venues that you play at. Every other month in the calendar, there would be the contact information so people could get in contact with them. Make sure the pictures are set for the type of fan base you want to attract.
· Adbrite. I would like to see a few banners on their website, that way everytime someone visits their site they get some ad dollars.
· A biography. Write a small paperback book about the band, each member, stories from the road, etc….. This could be done through Blurb.com POD. They could keep a few for sale at their shows but most would be sold through their online store. This could be done every year so that you always have something fresh so sell.
· Play more dates. I believe that a band has to constantly looking for the next gig, not hoping someone will call, but actively searching. Call all of the colleges within driving distance. See if you can play there every semester and sell “merch”. Many artist have started out by playing at colleges. You could play during the halftime show at a football game or even a basketball game. What a great way to expand your audience that might not come to a concert.
· Fundraisers. Call local charities and say that you would like to perform a concert. Lets say you charge $15 per ticket. The Charity gets to keep $10 from each ticket! The charity gets to raise money without cost to them, you have people out selling concert tickets on your behalf, and you still get to sell “merch”. They could also link to your website from their website increasing shoppers to your store.
· Free Advertising. Everytime you have a concert, submit the information to your local community calendar. This could be done online also via craigslist.com and Duperoo.com. Pass out flyers at locations where your fans hangout.
· An email Mailing List. Everytime you play a show, you need to let all of your fans know. The fans you bring into a venue the more money you can charge the next time you play there. Also send them an email showing off your new wares in your online store. Be sparingly with your emails so that they don’t label you as SPAM but frequently enough that they stay connected with you.
· A Brochure. Have the brochure at all of your gigs. Give them to patrons. If needs to have your website information, social network information, contact info for people that want you to play a special show for them, and a short bio about your band. List any awards you may have won or articles that you have been in. Also if you have opened for any big names or played at any really neat venues.
· CD’s. At the time of this article, the band was getting ready to into the studio to record another album. Great! Keep the music Fresh. But also don’t be scared to put out a Christmas album or if your music is Rock, how about a Halloween album? Do this every 3 years of so.
· Expand. Get your music on the shelves of larger companies. Online is great, but try Hastings or BestBuy. Tell the Store manager that you will perform a free concert in the parking lot if they will stock your CD’s and let you sell “merch” on the day of the concert.

The Band is www.LameOnline.com drop them a line, listen to their music on myspace and let them know that "Thomas" sent you there. Thanks for reading and please comment if you want!

To Do List.....

2009-05-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here is my To Do List for this week....

Get Duperoo.com redesigned and everything connected

Become a contributor to SeekingAlpha.com

Sell Stuff out of the Garage to pay for the new Kindle DX, it looks really cool!

My Opinion on the Auto Bailouts

2009-05-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

These are just my opinions and the do not correlate with any other company or individuals.

I think that the bailouts were handled incorrectly by 2 of the big 3 automakers. Ford got it right, they asked for a line of credit but haven't used it. I really admire Ford right now, and I was able to get double up through their stock! GM is just wanting more money without giving us affordable innovation. Come on, the Volt for $40,000! It should be about $25,000. GM should also spin off some of its brands instead of selling them. That way they can still profit from the brands in a good economy, stream line production, and keep suppliers open. Chrysler just makes me made....and I love my DODGE! They were taken over by Cerberus, but instead of Cerberus putting its own money into the company, they are asking for the governments help. The U.S. should ask for actual shares of the company, and to help stimulate the economy split those share and give them to every legally registered American. They can in turn sell or keep the shares, giving Americans money to spend on other items or it could help them start building a nest egg for the future. If we owned stock in a company we would also be more prone to buy vehicles from those companies!

There, I just fixed the auto industry. Whats next?

New Book

2009-04-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

I just finished edit and uploading my photo book. It is a coffee table book of interesting pictures that I have taken around my home town.

You can buy yours today!

pics

simple everyday pic...

By thomas r. jowers

Book Preview

Raising Money for Expansion

2009-04-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing gives you that feeling deep in the pit of your stomach like seeing your new iphone in the bottom of the washing machine. Thats what I saw 2 weeks ago. So I quickly went online and researched places to repair it. Well, I found a place and sent off my phone, I got a call and the repair was nearly as much as a new phone. So, I decided to just buy a new iphone. I went about 10 days without my connection to the outside world.

Well I am also raising money to expand my advertising company. I am planning on buying on some hardware that will take my company from just online advertising to online advertising and guerrilla advertising on the ground. I am really excited about this and need to raise about $2500 dollars for the hardware. I already have some items on ebay and will probably get a loan for the rest, or I can make due with $1000 to get started, then scale up from there.

Check out my items for the next 7 days on ebay buy doing an advanced search for items from seller BuyGreatOnline.

Business as Usual

2009-03-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new website for my online empire. I will unveil it as soon as it is ready. I have also been promoting my classifieds/auctions/banner exchange/directory/ppc website on ebay. Last month was able to gain 3 new members. This month I am setting a goal of 10.

Revisiting Microsoft

2009-03-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

Things have changed since I last expressed my opinion on what aquisitions Microsoft should make and what direction they need to move in. Some of what I said to do has actually happened while a few things have not yet materialized. If you remember we were acting like we had the same amount of that was spent on the aquantive deal. So here is what I think should happen since everything has changed.

Twitter: $525 Million I had first thought that this company was worth only about 50 million, but this site has garnered much press and could radically change the face of search as we know it.

Digg: $70 Million I believe that this site would go great with the new KUMO portal that is about to be launched.

AdBrite $125 Million Since I first wrote this blog entry, they have added another 10,000 websites to their que! They are growing at a huge clip.

MentalFloss $2 million With magazine shuttering all over the country I think that they need to add this as a pure cool factor. Since Microsoft's clothing line SoftWear taking off, this would be a great venue to sell more clothes and get free advertising for upcoming games and software.

TheStreet.com $80 Million This is cheaper than last time because their stock price has fallen considerably. But this site has memberships and would make a great finance destination for their new KUMO portal. Plus TheStreet.com own Promotions.com another advertising company.

Skype $1 Billion Microsoft should take this off of Ebay's hands and roll it up into some of its business bundles. Also with the economy in the tank, Microsoft could scale this up because everyone wants a good deal on phone calls.

Looksmart, Miva, and iRobot $310 Million Microsoft should buy all of these 3 companies because robots will be HUGE in the future and Microsoft needs to write the software and the robots. Looksmart and Miva are just a way to gain more advertisers for adcenter.

I am extremely happy that Microsoft has started to push its "Surface" commputers into other venues other than bars and AT&T stores. I still think that Microsoft should build an upscale computer that people would take notice of. Like how Apple started doing years ago, but these would be more expensive than Apple and come preloaded with all Microsoft Applications.

Disclaimer, I own stock in Microsoft, AT&T, and TheStreet.com

My Personality

2009-02-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

I took the free personality test at eHarmony.com and this is the results that I received. I think they hold true, but hopefully some of my friends will chime in on the comment section and we will see if eHarmony was correct. * Everytime you see the word 'you' they are actually talking about me. I really like the results because it gives you a negative response and a positive response.

My interactions with other People:

Fair
Considered
Collaborative
Responsive
Sensible
Diplomatic
Contemplative
Indulgent
Rational

You are important. So are other people, especially if they are in trouble. You have a tender heart, but you know how to establish and keep personal boundaries. You are empathetic and compassionate, but you also believe that it's best if people solve their own problems and learn to take care of themselves, if they are able.You are deeply moved by the needs of others, but you know that if you don't take good care of yourself, you'll wind up being of no use to anyone. So yours is a thoughtful compassion. You strive to be fair and sensible, taking care of others while also taking care of yourself.When someone really is in trouble, you like to collaborate with them toward a solution; they do their part, you do yours. You consider carefully, and respond in a sensible way; they do their part, and together you move through the difficulty. You seldom act impulsively; rather, when a problem arises, you take your time to think through the situation. This contemplative quality usually means that you'll arrive at a diplomatic solution, one that's fair for the other person and also fair to you. It's frequently a win/win situation. Negative: For people who are ruled by tender-hearted compassion, your more diplomatic response to problems might seem too cool, too focused on fairness and not filled enough with sympathy and selflessness. For them, when someone's life is on fire, what is needed is not collaboration but rescue. And the person who experiences their life on fire may resent the time you take to contemplate. "I need you, and I need you NOW! This isn't about fairness, it's about the fire." "All deliberate speed" may seem too deliberate and not fast enough, either to the more compassionate or to people in genuine trouble. At the other end of the spectrum of compassion, those who believe people should take care of themselves may find even your thoughtful sympathies too soft. They expect people, themselves included, to work their own way out of trouble. They are convinced that the helping hand you lend just fosters dependence and is not good for the development of character, either in you or in the person you assist. Positive: Many people, perhaps the majority, will come to appreciate your balance as a compassionate person. The more they get to know you, the more they will admire your thoughtful compassion for others and its compliment in the sensible ways you take good care of yourself. Those whom you help will appreciate the way you leave them with their dignity by expecting them to collaborate in their own rescue. Those who are more tender-hearted will find in you a balance they lack; when they've run out of energy because they fail to take good care of themselves, you will still have enough compassion left to lift others out of trouble. Even the tough-hearted, those who believe people should solve their own problems, might come to admire your tenderness which they don't find in themselves. So the people you help will be grateful, and the people who see your balance between self and others will admire you. Certainly, balanced is not bad at all as a way to be known among your friends.

My Openness:
Like someone who can sleep comfortably on either side of the bed, you are equally at home with ideas and beliefs that you have held for a long time and with new ways of thinking and believing that grow out of your intellectual curiosity. Your sense of who you are and what your place is in the world around you rests on values and principles that are the solid ground you walk upon. You've tested them, they work for you, and much of the time you are content to trust them, that is, until some provocative new idea slips in from a conversation, book or some flight of your active imagination. "Hmmmm. What's this. Never thought of it before." And off you go, exploring. Since you love to learn, you've always been teachable; you absorb new information, which means you are well-educated in things that matter to you. Sometimes your intellectual exploring will lead you back to where you started; the "next new thing" proves too shallow or impractical to you. But once in a while a new idea or belief will dislodge you from the ground you've stood upon; it is so compelling and persuasive that you step away from the tried-and-true and embrace this notion that is brand new to you. Because you hold both solid beliefs and are open to new ideas, you are accepting of other people and other ways of thinking and believing. You are flexible enough to listen to something new and different, or something outside of your comfort zone; if it works for you, you'll take it in, and if not, you'll let it go. In this sense, you know who you are: you are neither closed-minded nor wildly open-minded, but walk somewhere near the middle of the intellectual road. Negative: Not everyone will be thrilled by your flexible, middle-of-the-road ways of thinking and believing. A few people are so taken with flights of imagination into whatever is new that they might find your commitment to long-standing values and beliefs too confining, if not too boring. Oh well; so be it. They'll just have to be in free-flight without you. Others are content with the ideas that have served them and their culture well; they're not excited by the prospect of moving on. And some people are afraid of new ways of thinking because they are somewhat fragile; they have trouble maintaining their current worlds and don't want someone like you, for instance pushing out the edges of their intellectual cosmos. So don't be surprised if your solid values sometimes make people distrust you as an explorer, or if your flexible and open mind sometimes gets you criticized by people who walk away from the very same explorations that you find refreshing. Positive: Many others will find you trustworthy and therefore an attractive companion on the intellectual journey. They will appreciate the combination in you of open-mindedness and a commitment to the tried-and-true. In an intellectual climate sometimes dominated by the extremes of either wild innovation or dug-in traditionalism, your moderate views and your proper acceptance of a wide range of possibilities will be a distinctive and refreshing quality. Because you join your curiosity to strong foundational ideas and beliefs and practical solutions to problems, people will trust your occasional explorations into new territories to be reliable, and not "something new for newness sake". You are accepting of others, flexible in your own intellectual commitments, well-informed in areas that matter to you, and comfortably aware of who you are and where you stand. This combination will make you a desirable companion on the intellectual journey for many, many people.

My Emotional Stability:
In some ways, you've got the best of emotional worlds. When emotions rise up from inside you or are brought forth from a conversation by a friend, you know how to engage them. You deal with sadness, fear, joy, anger - whatever comes up - in ways that are perceptive and flexible. You can adapt to whatever level of emotion is appropriate to the moment. At other times, you are able to cope with your emotions in a more reserved manner. Because you are aware of what does and does not make emotional sense in a particular situation, you will decide when it is an appropriate time to express your emotions and when it would be best to keep them to yourself.All of this gives you a rich emotional life. You are free to express your passions about certain subjects with appropriate people. But you are also emotionally adaptable; if the conversation needs to be more cerebral, you'll keep it "in your head" and talk calmly through whatever issue is on the table. This emotional awareness serves you well. You seldom get in over your head, either by opening up to the wrong person or by triggering in someone else's emotions they may not be able to deal with. Negative: When it comes to dealing with emotions we all meet some people with whom we don't match well. You bring a balanced approach to your emotional life. As such, those who are at the extremes are most likely to have a negative reaction to you. Those who live in their emotions may feel you tend to "live in your head" while those who go through life as an emotional rock may feel that you are a bit too "touchy feely" for their approach.And of course it is always possible that because you do balance your emotional approach to life you may misread others - we all do at times. So there have undoubtedly been those times when you have misread cues and stayed in your head with someone who hoped for a more open emotional approach or you may have opened up emotionally with someone who keeps their emotions bottled up. But these things happen and since you do have a good balance of being in touch with your emotions and not being overly impacted by emotional swings, you undoubtedly are able to adapt.Another potential problem is that as people get to know you well, they will discover that you have a great balance between emotional expression and emotional control. If they don't have this balance they may wind up envying you. They can't express feelings as well as you, or they are too often out of emotional control and resent you for your ability to cope so well with the very emotions that may trip them up. Postive: Many people will be grateful to find a friend like you who can stay in control when emotions verge on chaos, but who can also go into the tangle of emotions when it is safe and appropriate to do so. Because of your ability to engage them at whatever level they are comfortable, to adapt to whatever changes in emotion emerge in the conversation, and to cope so well with all of it - well, they'll be very glad they found a person like you. You may, in fact, wind up as something of an emotional mentor. Your awareness of the emotional temperature of a situation, your ability to adapt to either heat or cold, and your ability to cope with whatever winds up happening in the conversation could be models for them to follow as they come to terms with their own emotional worlds.

Work Ethic:
When you take on a task at work or at home, you are reliable; you get the job done. In an organized way, you define the goal, lay out a plan, figure how long the task will take, and get to work "solid and dependable you".But and this is important you're not a slave to the plan. You're committed to it, but not chained to it; the connection is more casual and informal. You know that sometimes "the best laid plans" fall off the tracks; when this happens, you clean up the train wreck and start over, undeterred. Though not happening often, when plans change, you're okay with it. In fact, sometimes you change the plan. It's too nice of a Saturday to finish organizing the garage. Let's go for a bike ride instead. True, the next rainy Saturday will likely find you back in the garage, but for now the work can wait. What an interesting combination of qualities in you're organized, but casual; solid, but compliant; and dependable, but informal. At home and at work, people know they can rely on you. You take great satisfaction in knowing that people think of you as disciplined and responsible, but you also know that you have something of a free spirit in you, and when this spirit moves you, off you go, following the impulse of the moment. You are rightly proud of your work ethic, but you also enjoy your willingness to lay the tools down, crank up the music and play like a child. Negative: Some people live like Marines: duty-bound, disciplined and driven. To these people you might seem uncommitted; where they would never leave work for play or change plans in the middle of their life's forced march, you let the circumstance sway you and move in a different direction, and they don't understand. Others live like kites on a string, attached by thin threads to the solid ground of responsibility and are blown about by every gust of impulse or imagination. To these people you might seem too cowardly, like you'll flirt with your impulses but never give in fully, play on a Saturday but never blow of the entire work-week to "follow your bliss".While these Marines and kite-flyers might look down on you for your combination of focus and flexibility, others might be envious. They can't free themselves from a sense that they're not doing enough, or from the equally frustrating feeling that they're not free enough. And here you are with your accomplishments and your pleasures, getting the job done but also getting your hair blown back as you run with the wind. As far as these people are concerned, you're lucky you've got the best of both of the worlds in which they feel they fail. Positive: What a great life you have, and a great attitude to boot. You know when to buckle down and push ahead to get the job done, and you do it well. You know when to lay the tools of your trade aside, grab your kite and head for the meadow where you can run with the wind. Many people will see and admire in you this lovely combination of a person who can focus, but who is flexible enough to know when to let the spirit move you in some new and livelier direction. It's a life they aspire to, and they delight in seeing it played out in your life. They may ask your advice and turn you into a mentor of the full and balanced experience. They will want to know how you do it, what the costs are, and if you get frightened that you're not working hard enough or playing often enough. They may make you think about your own life more than you have, so you can share it with those who want to emulate this balance between flexibility and focus. They may be correct, lucky you!

My Personality:
People light you up. In conversations, planning meetings or almost any social situation, you bring your energy and your friendly, outgoing personality into these engagements with other people, and you come away pumped up. You can hardly wait for the next event, as long as other people will be there. And you're good at it. You know how to communicate. You listen well, the first rule of good communication, and then, when it's your turn, you talk vigorously and with animation; in your uninhibited way you give all that you've got to the encounter. In situations where you feel very safe, when you know and trust the people you're with, you can be very kindhearted and unrestrained. You let your affection for and pleasure in being with others flow freely. You're wide open And when you get back this same kind of unrestrained warmth, you are deeply satisfied. Because you are so friendly and full of life, these are among your favorite moments. Negative: As much as you like being with other people, not everyone will like being with you. Hard to believe, but your gregarious and warm manner is not everyone's cup of tea. Some people are more cautious than you in personal encounters; others think the work place should be more formal, more impersonal than is comfortable for you. Still others, who may want more of the spotlight, will find you too much to compete with once you get your lively and outgoing self in motion. Here's another word of caution. You've been at this warm and open way of relating for a while, but for some people it's a brand new experience. They may be protecting something inside themselves, some fear or guilt or shame, or some private part of their story that they're not yet ready to share. Your openness might threaten them, and they'll take a step back and be reluctant the next time to engage you in the kind of exchange you find so easy and satisfying but they find so dangerous. Positive: Many people, most probably, will be glad to be in the room you're in. At work you make the environment livelier and the banter more interesting, so the time moves swiftly and the experience is a happier one. At home you keep everyone connected because you engage each of them in the conversational action, and as a result they are more connected as well with one another. You make home a warmer and more interesting place for everyone who lives there. You might also be helpful to some people. There are those who need to talk but aren't very good at it. They don't know how to begin the kind of conversation that would allow them to share whatever is in their personal stories that they'd like or need to talk about. You could make that easier for them with your way with words. Some people just need an example and a little encouragement to come out of their shell and get into the greater fun and personal connectedness that will make their lives so much more satisfying. Again, you might be just the right person to make that happen for them. So almost everyone will be glad to be with you, you make life more interesting for those you live and work with, and you could help some of your friends who need just a little encouragement to open up and find in themselves the kinds of energetic and warm connections that you thrive on. Not that you are a pushover; in fact, you are often quite assertive. In taking care of yourself you also make sure that others are engaged and energized.

We Love Gadgets....

2009-02-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

It is amazing how reliant on technology we are. For example, think of how many times in a day you use a gadget or computer or phone.

Let's take my day so far for example. Today I woke up via my alarm clock. Checked my email on my laptop before even getting out of bed via wireless Internet. I then checked my text messages on my iphone. I then preceded to text a few messages to people. I ate breakfast, but before I could I had to enter the meal into my iphone because I have a calorie counting app on there, (yep, I'm Dieting). After getting ready for class and eating, I made a quick stop to blackboard via my desktop computer to make sure I had finished my homework for the upcoming day.
I then left home in my truck to drive the 20 miles to Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Tx. Instead of listening to my radio, I chose to listen to my Zune 80 that I had downloaded music to the night before from watching the Grammy's. Got to my first class, Chemistry, had to use my Texas Instruments calculator to solve a few word problems. During my 1 hour break in between my Chemistry class and Spanish II class I again checked blackboard via my laptop to make sure hadn't been cancelled and that I had done that homework (glad I checked because I hadn't finished) I had to use my iphone translator app to help with a few new vocab words. Went to class early, sat for 15 minutes listening to my Zune and playing pool on my iphone. After Spanish I have 1 hour till my Genetics class. Again, made good use of my calculator.
I then made my way to Hastings Book Store Coffee Shop where I sit now to type this blog (and drink a White Chocolate Mocha). I am wasting time until I go to work at 6PM. I have my iphone sitting beside me at the bar just in case I get a phone call or a text message. Here at Hastings I am using the internet via Xanadoo wireless. I over heard the coffee shop manager negotiating a deal to sell desserts from a local restaurant owner. (A large markup is involved! I heard the exact deal!)
When I get to work in a bit, I will log in to my company's secure intranet and check my corporate email....(excuse me, just got an email with a possible job offer, looks good ;-)) Once I check the email and answer the emails from my higher ups, I will check out my stores online website (I am in charge of online sales for our store) for sales. I will then check reports for our outside sales department, (yep... I'm in charge of that too)
If I am able to land the job interview that I just received, I will use my TomTom to get to that location because I don't know the streets too well here.
I am sure there were many other instances where I used gadgets today or will use today, but my brain is hurting and I am excited about a possible new job interview!!!!!!

Many of the items I used today weren't even around 10 years ago. Look how far we've come and how far we have to go! Have a Great Day!

Back in the Day

2009-02-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Getting back to my roots. Starting soon I will start talking about stocks, ways to make extra money, debt reduction, and many other things. I will no longer posts my monetary accounts on here due to that I am selling and buying ETF's way to much to keep up with on this blog. But I would like to give some insights on why I am doing this. I will also disclose all holdings that I have if I talk about a company that is public.

Thanks and let's make some money!

Tax Time

2009-01-27T16:58:00.000-08:00

Tax Time is here and you need to be ready when you walk into tax office. This year I changed companies. Let me tell you why:

Last year I walked into the office and waited 3 hours to get the lady to do my taxes. The lady was extremely nice but during small talk I learned that she had just finished her training to be able to do my taxes. Now due to my businesses, job, stocks, dividends, college, and interest on savings accounts and personal loans that I collect, my tax return does seem to be a little more intensive then the normal person's return. While this lady was doing my return I could see the computer screen and I noticed that she had said that I had a 'gain' on sell of stock, I knew that I had taken a loss last year, I called her on it and she said that she was right and I was looking at it wrong. So I said fine, whatever, we'll see. That day lasted about 4 hours, that included 3 hours waiting and cost about $200. About 2 weeks later I received a letter from the IRS, stating that there were some irregularities on my return and that it would be advised for me to check into it. Well I went back to the tax office to get it checked out, waited an hour so that I could talk to the same lady that did my taxes so she would be familiar with my account. She had no idea, so she asked the gentlemen in the next cubicle, he said that my taxes were done completely wrong!!!!! So the manager came out and did my taxes for me again, this took about another 2 hours, when it was time for me to leave, I started to walk out the door the manager stopped me and told me that I needed to pay for his services. I HAD TO PAY ANOTHER $150!!!!! I had to pay because they messed up! Needless to say I will never use them again or recommend them.

So this past summer I was fortunate enough to land a paid internship at Enterprise Rent a Car. On one of the pick ups that we do, I met the owner of a large tax chain. I told him about my ordeal and he told me to come to one of his office and he would take care of me. So I got all of my information together and went today (I had time because classes were cancelled due to ice, but they didn't broadcast it on radio or TV, till I had already left the house, so I arrived to an empty college) I literally did not have to wait to get someone to do my taxes. It took about 30 minutes, as I was signing papers and disclosures, he grabbed my huge stack of papers and receipts and started to work. At the end of the 30 minutes he took my check ($208) and walked to the back, he came back with a $20 bill and said 'Thank You, we appreciate your business.' That means a lot to me. I will be writing them a very nice letter and will make sure that the boss knows that his associate that did my taxes was very polite and professional! (but before I do I will wait 2 weeks to make sure I don't get a letter from the IRS this year!)

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Check back thursday, I will be writing about my new website!

Online Job

2009-01-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Since the economy is not at the top of its game right now, the best thing I feel like I can do would be to get a second job. A few months ago I looked into some Work-At-Home enterprises and found them to be scams. (envelope stuffing)

Getting a second job will be tough since I already have a job in retail (which we all know a retail job takes away your weekends) and I go to school full time. I also own my own small online business that is in the middle of being restructured and downsized in some areas.

I have had some luck fillinf out surveys online, really just from one company. ACOP.com I have done surveys for them and I have been paid (by check) up to $10 per survey, but most have been $4 for a few minutes work, that's not half bad, but not enough to brag about. I might do 2 per month.

So I have decided that I will try to find an online job, like tutoring or something, as soon as I find something out I will post!

Combining Blogs

2009-01-11T17:34:00.001-08:00

I have another blog that is dedicated to the running of my online ventures, As of the new year I will be combining it with this blog.

Update Your Resume

2009-01-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

The economic slowdown finally hit Abilene, Texas. Many of our retail stores have DRASTICALLY cut the amount of people working and the hours they work. I have personally not been affected yet, but I might soon. I want everyone that reads this to spruce up their resume at this time. To your resume I want everyone to add relevent accomplishments and generally just make it more up to date. If you are in School/College ask someone from the Career department to check over it for you.

I also wanted to add something to my New Year's Resolution list.

I want to take at least 12 online business/marketing courses this year. I think these will look great on my resume.

I also want to find a job or get a promotion that pays at least $15 per hour! That would be a 23% pay raise to what I make now.

Also, I am getting ready to file my taxes for last year. I am still waiting on my two employers from last year to send me my W2's, if you attended college last year, wait on them to send some paperwork for you too. I forgot last year and had to get my taxes re-done, and it costs a pretty penny.

My Resolutions for 2009

2008-12-29T20:44:00.002-08:00

My Financial Resolutions for 2009

I want to increase my TXDOTCU and ATFCU Accounts by at least $250 each, I want to add another $100 into my prosper lending account. At least $1500 into my 401K, $1000 into my investing account, and pay off 3 different credit cards.

I have written these resolutions onto a white board that is on my bedroom door. At the end of every month I have to update the board so that I always know where I am, and what I need to do to reach my goals.

I also want to turn my "jack of all trades" business into a budding online advertising agency.

READ, read, READ

2008-12-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

I think that one of the main things that a person does to be successful is READ. I personally have 7 magazine subscriptions, 2 newspaper subscriptions, read at least one book per month, read stock information every weeknight and purchase the occasional magazine/newspaper when out in public. And soon will be reading headlines on my new iPhone that I am getting for Christmas.

Reading keeps your brain active! NUFF SAID.

But really, it can give you insights about a particular subject, of course the news, and sometimes it is just a good way to relax. I am not saying that you need to read nothing but business magazines, I personally have a subscription to a gamers magazine, I hardly play my game, but it is nice to know what is going on in that world. I also like to read a classic book every now and then. The last book I re-read was Journey to the Center of the Earth....great book. Then rented the brenden frasier movie.

You can get steep discounts on magazine subscriptions, if you have one magazine that you like, do some research and see what other magazines that particular publisher also owns. If you find one you like, just call them and say, hey, I really enjoy magazine "X" and would also like to sample these other magazines you have, if I like them I will pay $5 for each subscription. I tried this and IT WORKED!

Cheat....I think that a podcast is like reading, I use my ZUNE to get about 5 Video Podcasts per week, I usually watch them when waiting in line for something (store, fastfood, doctor, etc...) I get up to date news, stuff from national geographic and a few others. They are really cool and make me look techie when in a public place. Plus the Zune screen is large enough to really see the podcast.

Point being....read SOMETHING

If I was Microsoft and Wanted to Win.

2008-11-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

I think that now is the best time for companies with a lot of cash on hand to invest in acquisitions while company valuations are so low. One company I am going to focus on is Microsoft. I am going to pretend that I have $6.3 Billion of their money to buy other companies. ($6.3 Billion because that is what they used to purchase AQuantive.com) Microsoft has $20-$25 Billion in Cash. Listed below is the companies I would buy or invest in, how much I would invest, and why. Some of the companies are privately held and some are public, some are large, some are small. All of my recommendations offer strategic moves for Microsoft to make them more effecient or position them for growth. Microsoft could already have business plans similiar to these businesses, but adding these companies could help them leapfrog other competitors. My choices center around advertising and media, while a few have other agendas. The last item is a division that I want Microsoft to expand in, not buy into.

In no particular order or importance, each acquisition would add its own mark on Microsoft. The price next to the company is what I would pay/offer if I were making the terms, I do not know the valuations of private companies, I can only guess. This is a pretty long list so get ready.

ATTN Microsoft, I would love to work in your strategic acquisitions division. I will take a salary and so many shares of stock every quarter and a nice office and house. Just email me ThomasJowers@Aol.com

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Freewebs.com $1.6 million, This is a company that lets users create Free Websites, the site in turn gets to put advertisements on those websites unless the members choose to upgrade. If I remember right this site uses Google ads. Purchasing this property would give another outlet for MSN AdCenter, and serve a small blow to Google ads. For a small investment this should create a wealth of ad space for Microsoft.

ZoomShare.com $500,000, This company is almost exactly like Freewebs.com but smaller, again more viewers for Adcenter ads and a small hit to Google ads.

Digg.com, $75 Million, Believe it or not, Digg is still a hot web property. Microsoft could intergrate Digg into its own news site and it could also fit into Facebook (Microsoft is a minority owner of Facebook) Just think of all the eyeballs that visit Digg.com everyday, lots of ad space. It also plays on the social news genre! Digg is the best of best when it comes to social news sites.

Twitter.com, $55 Million, An amazing social site that everyone from politicians to students are using. Right now it has a few monetization problems but Microsoft could fix that with ad support on the website, enroll in a profit sharing contract with text message providers, and even intergrate this into the Zune. The Zune now has wifi capabilities at McDonalds around the country, now people can "Tweet" from their Zunes when at McDonalds. How much would McDonalds pay to send a Tweet to every Zune in wifi range letting Zune owners know about special McDonalds Deals. I own a Zune and would love this! Everytime a Zune is sold it could come loaded with the Twitter Application!

Interactive Corp. (IACI) $2.4 Billion, A search engine with built in advertisers and cash flow. It is a hip and cool search engine that has lots of other web properties including: Evite.com, Match.com, CitySearch.com, and Ask.com among others. This could be merged into the Adcenter platform. I would like the websites to still look the same but the advances in search technology would help Microsoft. With interactive Corp, Microsoft would gain more search share, more advertisers, and more web presence. I am also sure that with this company Microsoft could restructure part of the company to account for some cost savings and ineffeciencies within its own platform.

AdBrite.com, $68 Million, Currently Adbrite already has 85,000+ websites in its network serving over 375 Million ad inpressions daily.....daily. What a boost that would be for Microsoft Adcenter. I us Adbrite for a few of my websites and have been very pleased! It is already the 3rd largest ad network on the net, larger than Microsoft!!!!!

NetFlix, $128 Million, 11% stake in the company. I think that this would help Microsoft get its hands on a cash cow. Monthly memberships, plus a blossoming movie streaming service. Would make a great addition to the partnership they already have in XBox Live, and they could also extend the service to the Zune. Another reason to pick the Zune over the ipod, and another reason to pick the xbox over the wii or PS3.

Mint.com $45 Million, A great way for Microsoft to expand it Software as a Service idea and a way to bundle its profitable Microsoft Money software to consumers that are uneasy putting personal financial information on the web. Also a great platform for financial related ads!

TheStreet.com TSCM $115 Million, I personally think one thing that other portals have on MSN is their financial website, I personally use AOL's, but I like Google's and Yahoo!'s Financial pages. If Microsoft owned TheStreet.com it would hve one of the best Financial website out there. It would also have prime web realestate for Finance Ads. This could also help sell Microsoft money software. If Microsoft purchased TheStreet.com it would also get Mainstreet.com, Stockpickr.com, BankingMyWay.com, Geezeo.com, Realmoney.com, and Dividend.com. Let's not forget the talents of Jim Cramer!

Skype.com $1.2 Billion Currently owned by eBay (they overpaid for skype but wont admit to it) This would be a great addition to Microsoft because it could be a great ad on to Microsoft business partners. Plus it is growing at an impressive rate and generates CASH!

ClickSpeed.com $7.5 Million This is a quirky company that handles a lot of marketing for clients and really could help expand Microsoft's Adcenter program.

Achieveinternet.com $3.25 Million This company creates small social networks for midsize companies. Think of the monthly fees Microsoft could make and the non-competitive ads they could serve in these social networks! Sony and BestBuy already use this company, why shouldnt Microsoft own it for a mere 3.5 million?

StatBrain.com $250,000, StatBrain would be to Microsoft like Alexa is to Amazon. This site would be a stand alone site but would also be integrated into Adcenter.

Sirius XM Radio $95 Million, Microsoft would get 210 Million share of the combined satellite company, 10 commercial radio stations that all sirius xm subscribers would get for free. Microsoft would be interested in this partnership because they would control the commercials on those 10 stations. Again, making google jealous. Also, Sirius would be integrated into Xbox Live and the Zune with a 50/50 profit sharing split for Microsoft! FREE MONEY! Plus Microsoft would have access to satellites in orbit!

MetalFloss $4.2 Million, This would be cool factor for Microsoft. With MentalFloss, Microsoft would gain control of a great website, blog, Magazine, and a quirky shirt company. Microsoft could sell ad space on the site and blog, gain access to print ad sales, and have people all over the country wearing their funny t-shirts!

Superior Internet Solutions, Superiorroi.com, $4 Million, This company does online marketing for small and midsize companies, it also helps outsource projects for the same companies. A great little tack on for Microsoft.

MindFireInc.com, $5 Million, A great ad on for Adcenter, helps marketers make sense of and track traffic coming to their site.

LookSmart.com $33 Million, A publically traded search portal. It already has built in advertisers and users. Another way for Microsoft to take a jab at Google. Looksmart gets its search results from ask.com which gets its results from Google. Looksmart has $30 million in cash already. If Microsoft were to buy Looksmart, they would also get their own social bookmarking site, Furl.net, yep, you know what I am thinking, more ad space to sell!

Miva.com $18 Million, Another add on for Adcenter. It already has a pretty extensive list of users and advertisers. Why not fold those into Adcenter and create a wider base of users?

iRobot $300 Million, This would be a great growth area for Microsoft. I think that robotics could have a huge market in a few years, especially when consumers really embrace robots as anything other than toys. The zoomba is awesome! Plus, lots of government contracts. Think of all of the businesses that would buy a robotic janitor that you turn on at night and let run till morning, no 401K, benefits, sick days, etc....

BuyItSellIt.com $200,000 An online store format that would let users create a free online store. As of now, it is totally free, I would like to see Microsoft charge a small commission for sold items. I think this would fit in great with the cashback search program.

Build a Computer. $10 Million, This is the section where I would like to see Microsoft build from within. I want Microsoft to build high end PC and Laptops for affluent consumers and businesses. I mean the starting PC would start at about $2,200 and laptops at about $2,500 or higher. These should be the BEST personal computers on the market, best everything! This would help create Microsoft as a status symbol. Like the Mac is now. Create a Cool name for the division and focus on quality not quantity. Microsoft already sells Microsoft branded mice, keyboards, webscams, headsets, etc.... They would come pre-installed with Microsoft software and OS. Maybe curbing some of the market share Safari has taken lately. This would not be a high growth area for Microsoft but a great niche area that could lead to other Microsoft purchases. These computers would only be available shoppers at Saks or other highend retailers as well as online. As other computer makers are slashing prices and margins, Microsoft could court the top 3% of the market where the profit margins are higher! These computers should be built one at a time and everything should be done in one location! Put a Made in the USA stamp on it and really make it something to tout and be proud off. Like the Surface computers Microsoft is already selling.

Who says that Microsoft needs Yahoo.com to be a factor in Online Advertising. If Microsoft were to get these properties, I think Microsoft would become one of the premier Marketing/Advertising firms in the world! And guess what, the total for all these business is $4,568,500,000, or $1,764,500,000 less than the AQuantive Deal. They could use that money to make sure they are the defacto authority in Mobile Search by paying a nice payment to Verizon and AT&T to be the default mobile search company! My recommendations would make Microsoft and Online Powerhouse, make the Zune way more attractive than the iPod, make the XBox the best media center out there, and maje a new outlet for the extremely profitable software sector. It was also give new advertising outlets for Print ads and Radio ads, as well as beefing up hardware sales and profit margins. Another use for the $1.7 Billion would be to create a trust that pays out every 6 months a special dividend to stock holders that has held the stock for at least a year. That would make the stock price go up and stay up. *To create a great buzz, Microsoft should negotiate all of these deals in private and release them all on the same day. What a bonanza that would be.!!!

Again, my prices do NOT represent the value of a company and again, just my guess!

I have an XBox, Zune, use Vista, have Microsoft Money, Microsoft Office, I have used Cashback search, and a few pc games sold by Microsoft.

Disclaimer, I own stock in Microsoft, TheStreet.com, SiriusXM, and McDonalds

I didn't get to Vote!!!!! :-(

2008-11-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you why I didn't vote today.

A few months ago I registered to vote, because my last voter registration card had expired. I was going to vote early this year at the local Hastings but completely had a brain lapse and drove right past it on the way home.

So I was going to vote today 11/4/08 at the K-Mart because I was going to be in town today anyway because I had to take a Spanish Test and I had a small meeting at work. Work is about 8 miles from school and K-Mart is smack dab in the middle. So I pulled into the K-Mart parking lot and made sure that I had my new orange voter registration. I walked around inside K-Mart for at least 20 minutes looking for the voting area, which is usually in the mens clothing section, I know because I have voted there before. Well after 20 minutes I actually asked where the voting area was. The Associate had no idea what I was talking about, a manager finally was paged to let me know that K-Mart only did early voting now and that I had missed the opportunity to vote at K-Mart by a day. So, I felt left down, hung my head and walked out of the store and drove my 23 miles to get home.

I was too disgusted to leave the house to look for another place to vote.

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PS The Dow was up 300+ today and I already have a stock that I bought last week that doubled!!!!! More about those stocks to be posted in the morning!

Invest in Yourself!

2008-10-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

I had an awesome teacher that taught me that I should pay myself first. The saying was 10% is mine to keep.

If you don't invest in you, no one else will. If I am able to accomplish anything with this blog, it will be to hammer this point in. Try to put 10% (or more if you can) up for you.

I currently put 5% into my 401K (because that is the maximum that my employer will match) and I try to put more into one of my other accounts.
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If you have a small business, now is a time to build your business by hitting the pavement and getting the word out about your business. That is exactly what I am about to get ready to do. I own a small business that encompasses online auctions, classifieds, PPC, custom websites, online advertising and a few other small sections. Over the next few months I will be redesigning a few of my sites, buying a few more, and getting the word out about my custom website business, (my best division!). More updates and links to come about my businesses. I wanted to keep this blog seperate from my businesses, but they tie in so well. I promise to not turn this blog into one big ad for my company.
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UPDATE on investing

I forget to turn on my investing account for this last week to buy stocks. It actually worked out because the market fell tuesday and wednesday. I was able to purchase some stock today during a sell off but will be buying more later next week, so that is when I will disclose everything I did.

I also put a deposit of $150 into my Spain Fund!

What a wild Ride!

2008-10-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks have been a wild and crazy wild ending with a lot of pain for many people. I couldn't be happier!

I am only 24 years old and have many years to build a winning portfolio. I had a pretty good portfolio already with great stocks like GE, MSFT, MCD, AXP, KO, T, and BP. I had a few laggers like FNM (that I bought on the way down) and SIRI. I even made a small profit earlier last week, I had a small position in NAPS and BestBuy decided to buy them. I sold my shares for a nice little profit. If you notice most of my stocks have a nice dividend. Its like these stocks pay you to own them, I Love it!

I am in the process of selling some stocks that I think are unhealthy and I am purchasing more Great Stocks at a Huge bargain. I suggest that if you have a few hundred bucks somewhere to do some research and buy a great company in the bargain bin. Again, I really like dividend paying stocks here. I should be done buying next week and I can share with you what I did, and you can decide if I am a genius or a loser.

My 401K looks like crap but don't forget, I still have a lot of work left in me and everytime I get a check in this crummy market, I am getting shares at a discount thanks to my 401K. I had previously (6 months ago) moved most of my 401k distributions into safer areas like bonds. I actually got lucky there, but I'll take it. So I have lost considerably less then my co-workers. I now have 4 savings accounts. One in my 401k, at 2 credit unions, and on Paypal.

I think that we have seen the last of the major pain, the Stock market will still have some down days but not has severe as the last few sessions. One exception, if there is a huge rally I think that there will be a sell off the next day because people will use that time to get out of the market and take some profits. That is perfectly fine but it will make the stock market look volitile.

*Disclaimer I am not a trained professional. Please discuss all financial movements and stock purchases with your financial advisor.

Stock Term Defined:
ETF
A security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. ETFs experience price changes throughout the day as they are bought and sold.

New Sponsor and Cool Site to Check Out

2008-10-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

If anyone is planning a trip or vacation we all know that it is a huge ordeal. You have to pack, get tickets, hold your mail......etc...
One thing just got a little easier, getting tickets. Everyone has heard of Expedia or Priceline but has anyone ever heard of Westbay Travel. They are another place to compare prices to make sure you are getting the best deal. Also, they are another way for you to make money.

Everyone knows what I am all about making money and trying new ways to make money. WestbayTravel.com has a way for people to make money buy giving them their own website to promote. From what I hear a bunch of college students are making money from this site also.
www.WestbayTravel.com

How our Congressmen Voted on the Bailout

2008-09-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE The BILL PASSED TODAY, SOME CONGRESSMEN (WOMEN) WOKE UP!!!! YEAH, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS COMING INTO VIEW, MIND YOU IT IS STILL A WAYS OFF. 10/4/08
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My congressman voted AGAINST the bailout losing retirment savings for me and other tax payers (and voters). He will NOT get my vote for RE-Election.

I usually dont get political but I have had it when you wipe out 7% of the nations wealth by being stupid.

It is expected that this bill will be voted upon again later this week, be looking for my update. I watched President Bush talk about this today, and he too was very disappointed.

How did your Congressman Vote, This is just snippit from a longer story, here is the link.

ALABAMA
Democrats — Cramer, Y; Davis, Y.
Republicans — Aderholt, N; Bachus, Y; Bonner, Y; Everett, Y; Rogers, Y.
ALASKA
Republicans — Young, N.
ARIZONA
Democrats — Giffords, N; Grijalva, N; Mitchell, N; Pastor, N.
Republicans — Flake, N; Franks, N; Renzi, N; Shadegg, N.
ARKANSAS
Democrats — Berry, Y; Ross, Y; Snyder, Y.
Republicans — Boozman, Y.
CALIFORNIA
Democrats — Baca, N; Becerra, N; Berman, Y; Capps, Y; Cardoza, Y; Costa, Y; Davis, Y; Eshoo, Y; Farr, Y; Filner, N; Harman, Y; Honda, Y; Lee, N; Lofgren, Zoe, Y; Matsui, Y; McNerney, Y; Miller, George, Y; Napolitano, N; Pelosi, Y; Richardson, Y; Roybal-Allard, N; Sanchez, Linda T., N; Sanchez, Loretta, N; Schiff, N; Sherman, N; Solis, N; Speier, Y; Stark, N; Tauscher, Y; Thompson, N; Waters, Y; Watson, N; Waxman, Y; Woolsey, N.
Republicans — Bilbray, N; Bono Mack, Y; Calvert, Y; Campbell, Y; Doolittle, N; Dreier, Y; Gallegly, N; Herger, Y; Hunter, N; Issa, N; Lewis, Y; Lungren, Daniel E., Y; McCarthy, N; McKeon, Y; Miller, Gary, Y; Nunes, N; Radanovich, Y; Rohrabacher, N; Royce, N.
COLORADO
Democrats — DeGette, Y; Perlmutter, Y; Salazar, N; Udall, N.
Republicans — Lamborn, N; Musgrave, N; Tancredo, Y.
CONNECTICUT
Democrats — Courtney, N; DeLauro, Y; Larson, Y; Murphy, Y.
Republicans — Shays, Y.
DELAWARE
Republicans — Castle, Y.
FLORIDA
Democrats — Boyd, Y; Brown, Corrine, Y; Castor, N; Hastings, Y; Klein, Y; Mahoney, Y; Meek, Y; Wasserman Schultz, Y; Wexler, Y.
Republicans — Bilirakis, N; Brown-Waite, Ginny, N; Buchanan, N; Crenshaw, Y; Diaz-Balart, L., N; Diaz-Balart, M., N; Feeney, N; Keller, N; Mack, N; Mica, N; Miller, N; Putnam, Y; Ros-Lehtinen, N; Stearns, N; Weldon, Y; Young, N.
GEORGIA
Democrats — Barrow, N; Bishop, Y; Johnson, N; Lewis, N; Marshall, Y; Scott, N.
Republicans — Broun, N; Deal, N; Gingrey, N; Kingston, N; Linder, N; Price, N; Westmoreland, N.
HAWAII
Democrats — Abercrombie, N; Hirono, N.
IDAHO
Republicans — Sali, N; Simpson, Y.
ILLINOIS
Democrats — Bean, Y; Costello, N; Davis, Y; Emanuel, Y; Foster, Y; Gutierrez, Y; Hare, Y; Jackson, N; Lipinski, N; Rush, N; Schakowsky, Y.
Republicans — Biggert, N; Johnson, N; Kirk, Y; LaHood, Y; Manzullo, N; Roskam, N; Shimkus, N; Weller, X.
INDIANA
Democrats — Carson, N; Donnelly, Y; Ellsworth, Y; Hill, N; Visclosky, N.
Republicans — Burton, N; Buyer, N; Pence, N; Souder, Y.
IOWA
Democrats — Boswell, Y; Braley, N; Loebsack, Y.
Republicans — King, N; Latham, N.
KANSAS
Democrats — Boyda, N; Moore, Y.
Republicans — Moran, N; Tiahrt, N.
KENTUCKY
Democrats — Chandler, N; Yarmuth, N.
Republicans — Davis, N; Lewis, Y; Rogers, Y; Whitfield, N.
LOUISIANA
Democrats — Cazayoux, N; Jefferson, N; Melancon, Y.
Republicans — Alexander, N; Boustany, N; McCrery, Y; Scalise, N.
MAINE
Democrats — Allen, Y; Michaud, N.
MARYLAND
Democrats — Cummings, N; Edwards, N; Hoyer, Y; Ruppersberger, Y; Sarbanes, Y; Van Hollen, Y.
Republicans — Bartlett, N; Gilchrest, Y.
MASSACHUSETTS
Democrats — Capuano, Y; Delahunt, N; Frank, Y; Lynch, N; Markey, Y; McGovern, Y; Neal, Y; Olver, Y; Tierney, N; Tsongas, Y.
MICHIGAN
Democrats — Conyers, N; Dingell, Y; Kildee, Y; Kilpatrick, N; Levin, Y; Stupak, N.
Republicans — Camp, Y; Ehlers, Y; Hoekstra, N; Knollenberg, N; McCotter, N; Miller, N; Rogers, N; Upton, Y; Walberg, N.
MINNESOTA
Democrats — Ellison, Y; McCollum, Y; Oberstar, Y; Peterson, N; Walz, N.
Republicans — Bachmann, N; Kline, Y; Ramstad, N.
MISSISSIPPI
Democrats — Childers, N; Taylor, N; Thompson, N.
Republicans — Pickering, Y.
MISSOURI
Democrats — Carnahan, Y; Clay, N; Cleaver, N; Skelton, Y.
Republicans — Akin, N; Blunt, Y; Emerson, Y; Graves, N; Hulshof, N.
MONTANA
Republicans — Rehberg, N.
NEBRASKA
Republicans — Fortenberry, N; Smith, N; Terry, N.
NEVADA
Democrats — Berkley, N.
Republicans — Heller, N; Porter, Y.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Democrats — Hodes, N; Shea-Porter, N.
NEW JERSEY
Democrats — Andrews, Y; Holt, Y; Pallone, Y; Pascrell, N; Payne, N; Rothman, N; Sires, Y.
Republicans — Ferguson, Y; Frelinghuysen, N; Garrett, N; LoBiondo, N; Saxton, Y; Smith, N.
NEW MEXICO
Democrats — Udall, N.
Republicans — Pearce, N; Wilson, Y.
NEW YORK
Democrats — Ackerman, Y; Arcuri, Y; Bishop, Y; Clarke, Y; Crowley, Y; Engel, Y; Gillibrand, N; Hall, Y; Higgins, Y; Hinchey, N; Israel, Y; Lowey, Y; Maloney, Y; McCarthy, Y; McNulty, Y; Meeks, Y; Nadler, Y; Rangel, Y; Serrano, N; Slaughter, Y; Towns, Y; Velazquez, Y; Weiner, Y.
Republicans — Fossella, Y; King, Y; Kuhl, N; McHugh, Y; Reynolds, Y; Walsh, Y.
NORTH CAROLINA
Democrats — Butterfield, N; Etheridge, Y; McIntyre, N; Miller, Y; Price, Y; Shuler, N; Watt, Y.
Republicans — Coble, N; Foxx, N; Hayes, N; Jones, N; McHenry, N; Myrick, N.
NORTH DAKOTA
Democrats — Pomeroy, Y.
OHIO
Democrats — Kaptur, N; Kucinich, N; Ryan, Y; Space, Y; Sutton, N; Wilson, Y.
Republicans — Boehner, Y; Chabot, N; Hobson, Y; Jordan, N; LaTourette, N; Latta, N; Pryce, Y; Regula, Y; Schmidt, N; Tiberi, N; Turner, N.
OKLAHOMA
Democrats — Boren, Y.
Republicans — Cole, Y; Fallin, N; Lucas, N; Sullivan, N.
OREGON
Democrats — Blumenauer, N; DeFazio, N; Hooley, Y; Wu, N.
Republicans — Walden, Y.
PENNSYLVANIA
Democrats — Altmire, N; Brady, Y; Carney, N; Doyle, Y; Fattah, Y; Holden, N; Kanjorski, Y; Murphy, Patrick, Y; Murtha, Y; Schwartz, Y; Sestak, Y.
Republicans — Dent, N; English, N; Gerlach, N; Murphy, Tim, N; Peterson, Y; Pitts, N; Platts, N; Shuster, N.
RHODE ISLAND
Democrats — Kennedy, Y; Langevin, Y.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Democrats — Clyburn, Y; Spratt, Y.
Republicans — Barrett, N; Brown, Y; Inglis, Y; Wilson, Y.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Democrats — Herseth Sandlin, N.
TENNESSEE
Democrats — Cohen, Y; Cooper, Y; Davis, Lincoln, N; Gordon, Y; Tanner, Y.
Republicans — Blackburn, N; Davis, David, N; Duncan, N; Wamp, N.
TEXAS
Democrats — Cuellar, N; Doggett, N; Edwards, Y; Gonzalez, Y; Green, Al, N; Green, Gene, N; Hinojosa, Y; Jackson-Lee, N; Johnson, E. B., Y; Lampson, N; Ortiz, N; Reyes, Y; Rodriguez, N.
Republicans — Barton, N; Brady, Y; Burgess, N; Carter, N; Conaway, N; Culberson, N; Gohmert, N; Granger, Y; Hall, N; Hensarling, N; Johnson, Sam, N; Marchant, N; McCaul, N; Neugebauer, N; Paul, N; Poe, N; Sessions, Y; Smith, Y; Thornberry, N.
UTAH
Democrats — Matheson, N.
Republicans — Bishop, N; Cannon, Y.
VERMONT
Democrats — Welch, N.
VIRGINIA
Democrats — Boucher, Y; Moran, Y; Scott, N.
Republicans — Cantor, Y; Davis, Tom, Y; Drake, N; Forbes, N; Goode, N; Goodlatte, N; Wittman, N; Wolf, Y.
WASHINGTON
Democrats — Baird, Y; Dicks, Y; Inslee, N; Larsen, Y; McDermott, Y; Smith, Y.
Republicans — Hastings, N; McMorris Rodgers, N; Reichert, N.
WEST VIRGINIA
Democrats — Mollohan, Y; Rahall, Y.
Republicans — Capito, N.
WISCONSIN
Democrats — Baldwin, Y; Kagen, N; Kind, Y; Moore, Y; Obey, Y.
Republicans — Petri, N; Ryan, Y; Sensenbrenner, N.
WYOMING
Republicans — Cubin, Y.

What Happened????

2008-09-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today the Dow fell 777 points or 7% because the House rejected a bill to provide a $700 Billion boost to our ailing economy. Why, Because people in office can't read. I am a staunch Republican and even I support this bill.

The bill does NOT just give $700 Billion to these companies, leaving the tax payer (you and I) to pay for it.

It actually is a HUGE investment for the government that would actually make us money. For the $$$ we would be getting ASSETS!!! When the economy is stronger in a few YEARS the ASSETS would be worth MORE than the $700 Billion spent. WE WOULD WIN. The U.S. Government is one of the only organizations large enough to hold a $700 Billion Investment for years, but stupid enough to let it slip through their fingers, this could have been a way to staive off paying for medicare and social security for a few more years, until a better alternative arose. I am disgusted and will be checking to see which way my congressman voted to see if he deserves my vote!

I do believe that the market should correct part of itself as Goldman Sachs has and Wachovia being seized and sold.

_______________________________________

My portfolio has fallen over 28% so far this year, yes my portfolio has some risky investments like Sirius and Fannie Mae, but I also have corner stone companies like Microsoft, GE, Wells Fargo, Coca Cola, and McDonalds. I am extremely lucky that I didnt put my Spain money into Stocks, I was thinking about it though.

All of my Spain money will stay in a money market account. I do believe that this is a buying opportunity for some stocks that were down that do not have a huge connection with the credit markets.

At least my loans in Prosper are doing well..... Want to make a quick $25, let me invite you to join prosper. (I make $25 too!)

New Idea

2008-09-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

I was given the idea that if I created a place for people to upload logos or a Sponsor's Section, I would get more companies to Donate to my Trip. SO....... I will now have a sponsored section and everytime someone donates $25, They will make it to the sponsored section! I received that idea from Linkedin.com connections!

I also purchased www.SpainorBust.com and that is set to my new online store!

I am also going to try and get a good name for selling books online! I will post it here when and if I can get one1

First Deposit for Spain Trip

2008-09-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

I made my first deposit into a money market account that will go toward my college trip to Spain. I deposited $750, I used a money market account because I can earn extra monthly interest. So, I am now 10% to my goal and need to raise the rest. I plan on having an online garage sale, online store, and by getting donations and selling things door to door. I am also getting things ready to put an ad in the paper where I will take left over items and put them in a local auction to raise money. I am also trying to do online surveys to get that little bit of extra money too! Let me know if you have an idea, I will try it and blog about it too!

What did I get into This Time??!!??!!??!!

2008-09-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am completely changing the direction of this blog... I usually talk about my finances for investing on a college students budget. Well, not till June of 2009 will that continue. I signed up to go to Spain for spanish credits in May 2009. I need to raise $7,000.00 for this trip. I will only putting in $700 of my own money. So I will need to turn that little bit into the big amount. More as it comes available, I am still thinking about how I am going to do this!

Back to School

2008-08-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

It is about 8 hours till classes start at my college, I am finishing my summer project and thought it would be nice if I wrote a little tip page!

1. DON'T BUY BOOKS at the bookstore, use eBay, Half, or Amazon. I do this every semester and save about 60% on my books, and when it comes to selling them back, I just resell them on the internet, sometimes I even make a profit! Actually, never set foot into your bookstore, you can everything you need online or at a supermarket for a much lower price.

2. NETWORK, It is very important that you create good solid relationships with fellow students and teachers. They can help you get jobs, scholarships, internships, etc.... LinkedIn is a great way to network professionally with teachers or acquaitences or facebook for good friends.

Look me up on Facebook or LinkedIn , My name is Thomas Jowers or my email is Cokkadudledue@aolSPAM.com remove SPAM from email

3. Buy a cheap notebook calendar and write EVERYTHING down. On the first day the teachers usually go over the syllabus, right down important dates!

4. Take a Fun Class...You have electives..use them..take a course you can't see yourself taking.. you will meet interesting people and make awesome contacts, and maybe learn something.

5. Tutor people! You can get paid $10 an hour or more to help people. Find a subject you are good in and post a flyer at the lunch room. Who knows that tutoring job could help pay down your student loans. You can even sell Notes! <---- I wanted to do this but never did it!

6. Get a Job, it has been proven that students that have a job, will better handle time contraints. Shows prospective employers after college that you were not a slouch. Also, make and invest some money!

7. Create Study sheets. Have a test coming up, set down and type yourself up a study guide that you can take with you and read when convenient, Lunch at work, waiting in a line, right before bed is good too! Always look at your notes RIGHT before you walk into the room for the test!

8. Have fun and do your work! Thats it, it is your college years, now I dont mean be stupid, but have fun. I am in my last stretch and am already missing it. I was fortunate enough to have take classes at 4 colleges, some online. I received a broad spectrum of education and dont regret any of it!

Dont forget you can look at items to decorate your dorm room at my new online store. www.BuyGreatOnline.com

New Venture

2008-08-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start an online store to go along with this site. I was going to use Microsoft Office's online store because they partner with Ebay and it was $2 cheaper per month. Then I saw the fine print, I was only going to get the discounted price for a year, then it doubles, plus I still had to pay Ebay fees. So why not and go to the source? I opened an online store on ebay. I connected it to a domain that I already have. So now if you type in www.BuyGreatOnline.com you are taken to my online store, at the moment I don't have all of the items in it, but I am working on it.
My items are being dropshipped so I don't have to worry inventory, but to keep things interesting, I am going to sell some things that I find at garage sales!

July 2008 Results

2008-08-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Starting Tally from June:

My Savings Account: $258.07

My Investing Account: $600.47

My Money Market Account: $39.73
Don't forget this amount is actually in my Day Trading Experiement* $.11 is actually in the account.

My Personal Lending Account: $248.85
Currently loaned: $232.90
Waiting to be Loaned: $15.95

Ending Totals for July were:

My Savings Account: $258.72 <+.65>

My Investing Account: $706.69 <+106.22> $95 was new stock added

My Money Market Account: $226.61 <+186.88> $150 new deposits

My Personal Lending Account: $250.35 <+1.50>
Currently loaned: $228.79
Waiting to be Loaned: $21.56

My portfolio gained $295.25 for this month, but $245 were deposits for the month, so they dont count. So I really made $50.25 for the month or $1.675 per day! Mostly due to stock market rebounding!

June 2007 Results

2008-07-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

Starting Totals for June 2007

My Savings Account: $258.07

My Investing Account: $668.82

My Money Market Account: $60.87
* Don't forget this amount is actually in my Day Trading Experiement* It increased .02 cents because it was in the money market account for a few days before it was transfered to the investing account!

My Personal Lending Account: $245.39
Currently loaned: $241.51
Waiting to be Loaned: $3.87

Ending Totals for June 2007

My Savings Account: $258.07 <0>

My Investing Account: $600.47 <-$68.35>

My Money Market Account: $39.73 <-$21.14>
* Don't forget this amount is actually in my Day Trading Experiement* $.11 is actually in the account.

My Personal Lending Account: $248.85 <+3.46>
Currently loaned: $232.90
Waiting to be Loaned: $15.95

The Not-So-Grand Total for June is $1147.62 or a loss of $2.76 per day. That Sucks!

Since July 1st I have already bought stock in a new company, which will be released in the July Reports. It is an energy play and pays a nice dividend. Also I was planning on going to a casino yesterday and blowing some serious cash, but that didn't happen, so...I will be depositing some of that ear-marked money into my accounts. I am planning adding to some of my positions concerning some of stocks I already own.

This bear market is a blessing in disquise.....Everytime my dividends are paid to me they are automatically reinvested into more stock. With my stocks being down, my dividends are buying more shares and when the market eventually rebounds, I will have a nice little position in these stocks that didn't cost me much. AWESOME!

Waste of Money

2008-07-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Want to know about a huge waste of money??? Fireworks... Don't get me wrong I buy fireworks every year and will continue to do so.. I have 2 little brothers that were just adopted, one is 2 and the other is 3. They love to watch them.

If you are going to purchase fireworks, look for deals. If you are going to stop at the road side stands, ask for deals, if you spend so much they should throw stuff in for free. I usually spend $300 per year on fireworks becuase I am usually trying to out do my family members with the best display. This year..I only spent about $50 so that I could impress the little ones because they get scared of the big ones!

Most Important. If you are going to do Fireworks, Please Be Safe!

The only thing about fireworks is, I just think through the years, how much money I have wasted that I could have invested!

Hope everyone has a Great Fourth of July!

June Results

2008-07-01T18:22:00.001-07:00

The results are on the way, my new deposits, new stocks, and EVERYTHING, just waiting for a few more other ventures!

What a Day.

2008-06-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today was horrible for the stock market and share holders in general. ALL of my stocks went down today. I am SO glad that I put that amount (see last post) into my money market account instead of stocks just yet. I will eventually put this money into stocks, but I don't think we have reached the bottom yet.

So is June going to make $1 a day for me, Not a Chance. My stocks may be down, but my 3 other accounts are all up.

I think the safest play for investing right now is CASH and MONEY MARKET Accounts! (I am not a pro, take my advice with a grain of salt and make your own decisions, or call and ask an investment banker!)

What a Crappy Deal!

2008-06-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

The stock that I was trying my day trading experiment on did a split. now most people think that is Awesome but.... this stock did a reverse split, which means for every 530 shares I owned, I know only have 1 share. So my 1.5 Million shares are now just under 3000 shares of the company. So, I now have a new plan...(well new for this blog) I am going to try and buy a majority stake in the company. I already own about 3% of all outstanding shares. Since the reverse split, the share will fall in value and I will be able to buy them at a discount (I hope) plus there are fewer shares for me to buy!

Also I deposited $50 more into my money market account. I did this so that I can have more money earning more interest. I am looking at 2 stocks right now that are becoming Very attractive with the market falling as of lately! If I buy something, I will be sure to post it here!

Sorry I have not been able to update this blog as much as I should, I am working about 80-90 hours per week and I really just want to sleep when I get home! Plus I am still working on a may-term for my University!

The Results for June are almost here!

May 2008 Results

2008-06-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Starting Totals for May were:

My Savings Account: $258.07

My Investing Account: $670.11

My Money Market Account: $60.85
$35 came from Cash infusion and will not be counted as profit.

My Personal Lending Account $242.98
Currently Loaned: $194.22
Waiting to be Loaned: $48.76

Ending Totals for May

My Savings Account: $258.07 <0>

My Investing Account: $668.82 <-1.29>

My Money Market Account: $60.87 <+.02>
* Don't forget this amount is actually in my Day Trading Experiement* It increased .02 cents because it was in the money market account for a few days before it was transfered to the investing account!

My Personal Lending Account: $245.39 <+2.41>
Currently loaned: $241.51
Waiting to be Loaned: $3.87
* I made another loan using the cash flow from the previous loans.

The Grand Total for May is........ +$1.14 or + $.036 per day!

Today is Friday the 13th, and my day fit accordingly. As you know I am working 2 jobs at the moment and still trying to find time to work on my other ventures. I have postponed my custom website business until mid August, Which is okay because it gives me time to build a platform for all of the new sites I am expecting. I am currently working about 90 hours a week at the jobs, whewww, am I ever tired!

I plan on depositing some money into the stock fund because I really want to double down on one of the stocks I currently already own!

I didn't reach my goal this month but I still have next month!

Don't forget, if you have something you want to ask me or something for me to comment on, just let me know!

may results

2008-06-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

may results are on their way, i am just waiting for my statement from prosper.

I was also able to add the hit counter to see how many hits this blog gets to try and start making a few bucks off of it!

Also, This blog has made it onto Blogged.com I need some reviews on it to hopefully move it up the rankings, be honest! I also have to add this link so that they know that I own this blog.

I am in phase 2 of my day trading experiment. I have bought up all of the shares that I am going to do (about 1% of the company, I actually own more, but that is for an investment, not for day trading) so know I just have to put all shares up for sale and see if I can double my money this week!

Bored

2008-05-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

We'll I'm here in Austin, Tx. lying on my bed in the Awesome suite at the Holiday Inn Express. The rooms are actually very nice and I am using the free wireless internet to type this.

I was able to sell some of the items on ebay and will post the results sometimes when I get back and actually ship everything out. One item is going to Australia.

Monetizing this Site.
On June 1st I plan on putting a hit counter on this site to moniter the amount of traffic this blog is receiving. After one month I will start selling text links that are financial related. All proceeds will be posted here, for everyone to see.

My company. I can't remember if I mentioned it already or not, but I own a company. I am about to shake things up a bit, by closing a whole division! I will have a whole post about this soon!

Want to buy Stocks?

2008-05-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

I get this question a lot. "What Stocks should I buy?"
Not an easy question, do you want growth, steady income, inflation hedge, when do you retire? All of these questions have to be answered before you need to make any decisions on stock.

Also, you need to do research, does the company make money, have good management, facing any new competition? You want a great company that will last and will be able to ride any rough tides. (This applies to investing, not trading)

I always suggest that you get yourself a practice account, just to test any strategy. Currently CNBC.com is running a stockpicker challenge with weekly prizes. At one time I was in the top .03% of accounts. I have fallen a bit but I have faith that I will be back up there.

Update
Last time I posted about how we were going to try the envelope stuffing thing, well, after reading the materials that were sent to us, we decided that we were being scammed, 2 of the ones said we would make 50% commission from selling roses and alarm systems, We would have to stuff the envelopes with the catalogues and hope we got an order, but it did not describe how the company would keep track of the orders we generated. The other one wanted us to send a deposit, but it would only accept cash, but it had a great tagline, $9 per envelope. So, needless to say, we will not be sending any money to any of these companies, Also we tried calling the BBB from where these envelopes originated, but it was the weekend so we got no answer.

Items on ebay

2008-05-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here are the items that I am putting on ebay, I paid about $25 for the lot of 5 items. You can see how they are doing by visiting ebay and doing a search for items for sale from Greenbadger75 (thats me)

there are 3 other items including wedgewood and 2 other pieces of art glass, take a look!

stimulus check

2008-05-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, everyone is getting free money from the goverment. I got $600! yay!
What am I going to do with it? invest in something of course!

What people should do with their stimulus check. The government wants you to spend it. I want you to save it, at least part of it. Here is what you should do, (given that you get $600 also)
$150 needs to go to a savings
$150 to investing (different than savings)
$100 to pay on credit card bills
$100 to put toward an extra payment on car or house or etc...
$100 to give to yourself to do whatever you want, (movie and dinner, mini vacation etc...)

What I am going to do...
I am going to use $100 of it to try a new experiment. A small town about 20 miles away is having a flea market this weekend. Well before work on saturday, I am going to visit them with my $100 and see what I can buy and resale on ebay! I will then deduct all fees and what I paid for the items and deposit the remaining into my money market account and count it as made money! (I hope to have pics and links to ebay by sunday!)
Some of the money is also going to go toward a credit card payment. Some into a savings. I am going to add another $40 toward my day trading venture. And I would like to take a 2-day mini vacation on my next 2 days off before my intership starts. I also have another friend that is wanting to invest in something with me, so some will go toward that!

The prosper loan thing...
I was outbid on the first loan that I blogged about the other day, but I submitted a second bid on another loan, I ended up winning and I paid $51.99 to get a 14% return on it.

What am I doing for May?

2008-05-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, since I am now done with classes for a few weeks, I will now have more time to work on making money!!!!! (I still have a may-term that I am working on)

My plans:

I am going to try day trading, well, kind of, I am going to place limit orders everyday and see if I can at least quadruple my money market account balance. I am putting my money market balance with some other money that I have to see how I do for the month.

I also now have enough funds in my personal loan account to start bidding on another loan. I am currently bidding on one with about a 15% return on it! Like I said, if you want to join Prosper.com let me recommend you and we will both get $25!

I am also trying a little experiment with two other friends. We plan on "stuffing envelopes" to see if someone can actually make money at it. I am going to front all start-up costs. I just mailed off for the information today, so I will keep you posted.

Those are my plans for May and don't forget I start my internship at the end of this month, so I will be very busy. I also plan on trying to sell some items on ebay this month, probably tuesday! I will post when they are listed!

Also, I might have a possible post about a friend getting a second summer job to help make ends meet!

Gas Prices Soar

2008-05-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

Oil is going to $150 to $200 per barrel by the end of this year and regular unleaded is going to go 20-30% higher per gallon. For me in Abilene, tx, that equates to about $4.20-$4.80 per gallon! i drive a 2004 Dodge Ram V8 1500 pickup truck. When I first got this truck in 2006 it got 13.7 mpg, I have gotten it to 14.5 mpg. I am already spending $300 or more per month on gas expenditures, making it harder for me to save $. So, here is what I plan to do...

Drive Less and try Gas tips to try and increase my mpg. I was looking for a new vehicle that got around 20 mpg, but gave up looking because no one wanted to give me a fair value for my current truck. I may try looking again after my income tax comes in.

I normally get 2 days off from work a week and now that classes are over, I plan to not drive for an entire day every week! That alone should cut gas intake by about 14%.

I also found these gas tricks from wikihow.com

Don't drive. Don't drive a car when you don't have to. Ridesearch or Carpool, walk, take the bike, or take a bus. These will not only save gas, but also will help save our environment and may be better for your health. Do you really need to drive to the store that is only a couple of blocks down the street?

Get a better air filter. More efficient brands of air filters cost a little more but will pay for themselves in most vehicles in fuel savings. (I am going to check mine)

Get Low Resistance Tires. Some tires, such as Michelin Energy MX 4 Plus are supposed to increase gas mileage. (yeah, but they cost over $100 per tire, how long to recoup those cost?)

Get a membership card. Some gas stations offer membership benefits. There are also department and grocery stores that give discounts at the fuel pump when you use their store membership cards. Make sure you understand the benefits; getting a 5-cent discount on gas that consistently costs 10 cents more than the next guy isn't much of a deal. (I have a card to the Flying J, I save a penny per gallon, pay with my credit card that saves another 5%, and they have the cheapest gas in town!)

Give your car a tune up. While properly maintaining your car won't actually save you money at the pump, it will save you gas. Using less gas saves you money. Have the oil changed, and have a certified mechanic give your engine a look over.

Check the web for deals. Web sites let you find the best deals in your area. Check out the external links below to start.

Buy a Diesel. Diesel cars can often get better mileage than comparable hybrids. Getting a Diesel car also allows for use of Biodiesel or even Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO/SVO) fuel.
Buy a hybrid car. Not only do hybrid cars give you immediate savings at the pump, the U.S. government and your local state offer tax breaks for people who use gas-saving cars. Federal deductions for using gas-saving cars can be as high as $2,000.00, but check before buying to see if they're still in effect. If you can't afford the growing number of hybrid cars out there, consider getting a regular car with good MPG (miles per gallon). In general, the smaller the car, the better the mileage. (my next vehicle will be a hybrid, not only because of the gas, but for the environment as well.)

Reduce your commute. Move closer to work, work closer to home, or take public transportation to your job. While you're considering spending all that money on a new hybrid or diesel vehicle to 'save money', you could move closer to your job, or get a job closer to your home. Then you will be able to walk or ride a bike on nice days, and spend a lot less time in the car when the weather isn't so nice. You may even be able to get rid of one family car. If you walk or ride almost all the time, it doesn't matter what sort of mileage your current car gets while it collects dust in the driveway. (Yeah, im not moving closer to work, i dont want to be there in the first place!)

Use the lowest recommended octane for your car. The lower octane gas is cheaper. Most modern cars are engineered to run most efficiently on lower octane fuel, and often recommend not using higher octane fuel. Check your owner's manual to be sure, as not all car engines should use lowest octane gas. (use what is reccomended in your owners manual)
Mix octanes. In some areas, the lower octane may be too low for your car and the mid-grade or higher octane may be more than what you need. To avoid overpaying and still get the correct octane for your car you can mix the gas. For example, if your car takes 87 octane and the pumps have 85 octane and 89 octane, then when filling your car, fill half the tank with 85 octane and the other half with 89 octane and this will give you an equivalent of 87 octane plus it will save you money because the lower octane gas costs less.

Avoid idling. While idling, your car gets exactly 0 miles per gallon. Although starting the car used to use a lot of gas, it's now the same as idling for about 30 seconds. Idling to warm up is particularly bad, as the engine needs extra fuel to warm up. After start up, allow your car to idle 15-30 seconds, then drive conservatively until it reaches normal operating temperature. Park your car and go into the restaurant rather than idling in the drive-through. Idling with the air conditioning on also uses extra fuel.
Stopping and starting the engine frequently will cause extra wear. Don't stop the engine if you are going to idle for less than a minute.
In very cold environments, it is recommended to allow the vehicle to idle and warm up, rather than just start it and take off. You might save gas, but your engine oil won't do its job until it's fully liquid, so you'll spend more money on overhauls.

Combine trips. If you can do several short trips in one longer trip, you will save fuel and time. Make lists to avoid having to go back. Call ahead to avoid wasted trips.

Walk between stops. Once you get into town, some of your stops may be near each other. Park between some or all of them and walk.

Plan your trips in advance. This can prevent wasting fuel and wasting time. Plan to use alternative routes. Often back roads can prevent you from stopping at traffic lights and more importantly sitting in traffic jams.

Buy a GPS system. Global Positioning Systems help you navigate to find the fastest and shortest distance to your destination. A good GPS can save you time and fuel. Also the cost of GPS systems has really come down and you can get a good GPS system for around $350. Also, there are some creative ways you can use GPS systems to save money on gas. For example, you could use a GPS to calculate how far away you are from the next state and if you know fuel tax is less in the next state, just put enough fuel in to get you to the next state and fill up with gas where it is cheaper. (I bought a TomTom, because i needed a GPS and I liked the name!)

Check the tire air pressures weekly. Buy an inexpensive air pump and an accurate tire gauge (not a pencil gauge as they are not accurate). Keep all tires inflated to the pressure as recommended for your car. Go by the tire wall; the sticker on the door frame, fuel filler flap, or manual is for comfort, not fuel efficiency. Generally speaking, a slightly higher pressure will improve fuel mileage and handling, but too high will degrade traction and wear the tires rapidly. (I will check this today!)

Drive at a consistent speed. Avoid high acceleration and hard braking. Use cruise control when you can.

Maintain a safe following distance. Don't stick to the bumper of the car directly in front of you. You will brake more and accelerate more to keep that unnecessary and dangerous narrow gap. This also gives you a lot more room to play with when you are timing traffic signals. Likewise, ignore tailgaters. They will tailgate you whether you go the speed limit, or 100MPH over the speed limit. Allow them pass when it's convenient.

Slow down. Air resistance goes up as the square of velocity. The power consumed to overcome that air resistance goes up as the cube of the velocity. Rolling resistance is the dominant force below about 40 mph. Above that, every mph costs you mileage. Go as slow as traffic and your schedule will allow. Drive under 60-65 since air grows exponentially denser, in the aerodynamic sense, the faster we drive. To be precise, the most efficient speed is your car's minimum speed in it's highest gear, since this provides the best "speed per RPM" ratio.

Clean out any unnecessary items in your car. If you have heavy objects in your car that you don't need, remove them. If your car is lighter, it will use less fuel to get where you're going.
Remove unneeded racks. If you have a bicycle or ski rack, remove it when you're not using it. It causes drag and lowers mileage. (Great idea, I just cleaned the junk out of the bed of my truck)

Don't fill until the last quarter tank. If you do this, it can extend your gas because you are hauling a lighter load as the tank nears empty. This also allows you to buy gas on low-cost days. However, in cold weather, you run an increased risk of condensation in the fuel tank. And you never know when you might be in an emergency and need some gasoline in your car!
Fill the tank full. If you need to fill up, fill up all the way. The more money you try to save by adding $10 today and then $20 tomorrow will be wasted since each time you will have to travel to the station and wait for a pump. Instead, do it all at once to save time and money.
Determine whether gas with ethanol is right for your vehicle
If there is a high proportion of ethanol, the lower energy content of the fuel will almost always lower mileage. However, 10% or less ethanol actually helps gasoline burn more completely, resulting in better economy.
Fuel with ethanol may be more expensive than standard gas, but the minimal price difference is often offset by lower fuel taxes or subsidies.
Ethanol is much better for the environment, however, fuels with ethanol additives can corrode fuel lines in vehicles not designed with ethanol fuels in mind.
Turbocharged cars often get better mileage with ethanol blends. This is because the higher (over 100!) octane of ethanol permits more boost, which means more efficient fuel usage.

Avoid having to stop. If approaching a red light, see if you can slow down enough to avoid having to actually stop (because you reach the light after it is green). Speeding up from 5 or 10 miles per hour will be easier on the gas than starting from full stop. (but dont run red lights)

Anticipate the stop signs and lights. Look far ahead; get to know your usual routes. You can let up on the gas earlier. Coasting to a stop will save the gasoline you would otherwise use maintaining your speed longer. If it just gets you to the end of a line of cars at a red light or a stop sign a few seconds later, it won't add any time to your trip. Ditto for coasting to lose speed before a highway off-ramp: if it means you catch up with that truck halfway around the curve instead of at the beginning, you haven't lost any time. (Do not coast to slow down until you're in the exit deceleration lane, unless you have checked your mirror to make sure you won't interfere with non-exiting traffic in the right-hand travel lane.)
Take off slowly from a full stop. This is one adjustment that will have dramatic effects on your gas mileage; don't tear off from a stoplight or stop sign! If you move out slowly, it will help save you money at the pump. Also, if you are driving a stick shift, note that 50% throttle at 1200 rpm's uses less gas than 10% throttle at 2500 rpm's. As long as the engine is not lugging or pinging, shift as soon as possible and use plenty of throttle. The engine is more efficient when it does not have to pump air past a closed throttle plate. Warning: The last part of this advice is only true for fuel-injected cars or those with constant velocity carburetors.

Park in the first spot you find. If you wander all over the parking lot looking for that really close parking space, you'll use more gas. Don't be afraid to walk a ways if it comes to that - the walk will do you good! (i need to walk anyway)
Stay well away from store fronts Even if there is a space open there, avoid it. If possible, avoid parking lot lanes that bring you near the stores. You will spend significantly less time getting in, and less time blocked in because of pedestrians and other vehicles. More spaces to choose from, and fewer keys and loose carts further away from the doors, too.

Use A/C only while slowing. This is sometimes enough to keep your vehicle at a reasonable temperature without using fuel and going easier on the brakes. You can also use the A/C to cool the car and then switch to the fan only. (Turning on the A/C at low rpm's may save the compressor from a "jolt" and additional wear.) (we do this in Texas anyway)

Shift into neutral if you are not comfortable with downshifting. Standard transmission vehicles may save gas by shifting into neutral when going down hills steep enough to maintain speed (although engine braking is safer on steeper declines). Do not do this in a Hybrid car, they use this "regenerative engine braking" to generate electricity and charge the batteries. NOTE: This strategy will result in more wear and tear on your brakes. Neither of these strategies is recommended for normal automatic cars. Also, if you own a car with fuel injection, it is more efficient to keep the car in a high gear while going down hills. Simply take your foot off the gas. ( i really dont like this tip, it sounds dangerous to me)

Park in the shade. Gasoline actually evaporates right out of your tank, and it does so faster when you park directly in the sun - winter or summer. Parking in the shade also keeps it cooler inside, and you will need less A/C to cool off when you get back in. If there is no shade available, park so that your gas tank (the actual tank under the car, not the valve to fill it) is facing away from the direct sun.

Drive a small motorcycle or scooter instead of a car. They are cheaper and often get 70 MPG or better. Riding gear is available for most weather conditions. A good example is the Kawasaki EX250, which costs about $3,000, gets 60-70 MPG at highway speeds, and can go 0-60 MPH in under 6 seconds! (i am thinking about a golf cart to go to the post office and back in my small town)
Use a synthetic oil instead of mineral oil. This will cause your engine to run better and give you better mileage. (Synthetic oil is more expensive than mineral oil, per gallon.)

Get a credit card. Some right credit cards offer gas savings when you use the card for purchases. This works in much the same way that some credit card companies allow you to earn frequent flyer miles when you use their card for purchases. But watch for interest rate charges. However, some stations still charge a higher rate for using a credit card. (got one!, thanks American Express)

[edit] Tips
Gas prices are statistically the cheapest on Wednesdays, but this is only statistically true over a large number of days. It won't be true every week.

Getting a fill-up three days before a holiday will help you save on the price bump.

At every oil change, check your air filter. Clogged air filters cause engines to work overtime which requires more fuel. Reusable air filters are not recommended, as they can destroy expensive Mass Airflow Sensors if they are over-oiled. A quality paper filter does a better job of filtering.

Use a fuel injector cleaner or complete fuel system treatment occasionally. Not only will you see a boost in gas mileage, but in your car's overall performance. Fouled injectors vaporize fuel poorly, affecting how completely the fuel is burned. (i try to do this once every 2 months)

Most car modifications do not improve mileage. Extra wings add drag. Power improvements often hurt mileage. However, if your car is turbocharged, chiptuning may result in a mileage boost. The mileage boost will be canceled out if you drive more aggressively due to power improvements.

Many of these tips change slightly if your engine is turbocharged or diesel. For instance, diesel engines use almost no fuel while idling. Diesel trucks will often be left idling all night to provide heat or power for the trucker inside the cab, at the cost of relatively little fuel.

Wholesale unleaded is now a traded commodity. Watch the futures price as it will forecast price at the pump, which will be about equal to the wholesale price plus taxes plus about a nickel per gallon for the station.

Keep meticulous records of what you spend and how many miles you drive so you can quickly spot changes in vehicle performance. It will also help focus you on the goal of saving.

Every MPH faster yields you less advantage than the last one. Going 10MPH is a big difference over 5MPH, but there is very little difference between 55MPH and 60MPH, unless you are on a very long trip. Many people mindlessly speed wherever they go, and gain absolutely nothing but a heftier fuel bill. Assuming everything goes perfectly (and when does it?) going 5MPH, even 15MPH faster on a highway for a short trip will yield nothing but aggravation as you keep catching up to slower traffic.

Slow down a little below the speed limit, and the highway can seem like it is wide open.
Often the right-most lanes keep moving more than the left-most in areas prone to traffic-jams. Vehicles continue to exit, which keeps leaving 'gaps' to fill in.

If you weren't already about to buy a car, don't buy a brand new car to 'save money' on fuel, especially if you own your current car outright and there's nothing especially wrong with it. It's hard to burn a new car payment (and additional registration taxes and insurance) worth of fuel savings. A new car loses thousands of dollars of its value as soon as you drive it past the dealer's curb, so consider how many miles you'll need to save in order to save that value in fuel.
Think especially hard about the 'savings' if you're exchanging a vehicle that has other kinds of utility that you often use (more passenger positions, more cargo, towing, hauling yard debris, etc.) for a small car that offers economy, but only 'basic transportation' and little cargo space. You might find yourself trading in the little car and buying something similar to what you already have now.

If you frequently need a truck, do you need a shiny, new one for your every day commute? Could you live with a 'junker' truck that you use infrequently for those messy jobs and errands (and maintain yourself through a policy of 'retarded decay'), while you drive a smaller, more efficient car for daily use?

A manual transmission saves an average $1000 on the cost of a new vehicle, and eliminates routine transmission maintenance that an automatic transmission requires (and most people never do this maintenance once the warranty is up - so a used car with an automatic is a risky purchase). In most cases, an automatic transmission gets significantly worse mileage overall than a manual transmission. (uh-oh)

Neutral is also a 'gear' on a manual transmission, which you use constantly anyway. Learn how to coast between traffic lights, applying power only as needed to keep the car rolling (more or less) with traffic. Learn to judge terrain and use neutral to its full potential to keep the car moving 'for free', and save more gas over time.

'Regenerative braking' recovers far less energy than acceleration requires to replace the momentum it loses. To 'coast' further without regenerative braking excessively slowing your automatic transmission equipped hybrid, putting just the right pressure on the accelerator can prevent the 'regen' drag without adding engine power (i.e. if done right the engine won't start AND the regenerative braking won't kick in). With manual transmission hybrids, just leave it in neutral to defeat 'regen' and coast further.

Try to schedule your trips and errands when traffic is lighter.

If you are always stuck in rush hour traffic after work anyway, try to find something to do near your work until the traffic dies down, rather than try to fight through it.

Some cars have a 'zig-zag' shift pattern for their automatic transmission (like certain 'Lexus' models). Many people shift the car past 'D' and into '4' because it 'feels right', then drive down the freeway complaining about bad gas mileage.

If you want more information about the mileage NOW, and your car doesn't have a real-time fuel economy distraction, there are various OBDII reader devices (like the 'ScanGauge' or 'Equus 3130') that can be plugged into cars with an OBDII port, and provide 'live' real-time information about fuel consumption rate (gallons per hour), engine RPM, speed, whatever you want that's tracked by the engine computer. Some of them also allow the data to be recorded and downloaded to a computer with a serial or USB cable. Some are little more than a serial/USB cable that plugs into a portable computer with software to give you all manner of 'instruments'.

The more convenient it is to check your tire pressure, the more often you'll do it. If you are dedicated enough to do it with a manual hand/foot pump, fine.
You can spend a little extra on a pretty good self-contained electric one with a jump start and flashlight on it, too, and then consider it a 'safety' purchase.

If you have a garage, an air compressor has many uses besides tires.

If you have a larger vehicle (with higher pressure truck tires), you will need a 'real' air compressor; the little electric ones made for cars will fail right away, and you'll wear yourself out trying to pump it yourself.

DON'T TOP OFF. It is wasted money, bad for the environment (releasing extra fumes) and evaporates in 10 minutes of driving.

Instead of running your AC, lower your windows; AC can waste up 15% of your gas, while having your windows and catching a nice breeze wont waste any of your gas. Plus you get fresh air into your car and yourself which is healthier for you. However, at faster speeds, studies have shown that the significant drag caused by sunroofs/windows being open nullifies the difference. The point at which AC is more efficient is at 35-40 mph.
Go to RideSearch.com and find a carpool.

These tips come from howtoadvice.com:

1. Avoid prolonged warming up of engine, even on cold mornings - 30 to 45 seconds is plenty of time.
2. Be sure the automatic choke is disengaged after engine warm up... chokes often get stuck, resulting in bad gas/air mixture.
3. Don't start and stop engine needlessly. Idling your engine for one minute consumes the gas amount equivalent to when you start the engine.
4. Avoid "reving" the engine, especially just before you switch the engine off; this wastes fuel needlessly and washes oil down from the inside cylinder walls, owing to loss of oil pressure.
5. Eliminate jack-rabbit starts. Accelerate slowly when starting from dead stop. Don't push pedal down more than 1/4 of the total foot travel. This allows carburetor to function at peak efficiency.
HOW TO BUY GASOLINE
6. Buy gasoline during coolest time of day - early morning or late evening is best. During these times gasoline is densest. Keep in mind - gas pumps measure volumes of gasoline, not densities of fuel concentration. You are charged according to "volume of measurement".
7. Choose type and brand of gasoline carefully. Certain brands provide you with greater economy because of better quality. Use the brands which "seem" most beneficial.
8. Avoid filling gas tank to top. Overfilling results in sloshing over and out of tank. Never fill gas tank past the first "click" of fuel nozzle, if nozzle is automatic.
HOW TO DRIVE ECONOMICALLY
9. Exceeding 40 mph forces your auto to overcome tremendous wind resistance.
10. Never exceed legal speed limit. Primarily they are set for your traveling safety, however better gas efficiency also occurs. Traveling at 55 mph give you up to 21% better mileage when compared to former legal speed limits of 65 mph and 70 mph.
Buy Now
11. Traveling at fast rates in low gears can consume up to 45% more fuel than is needed.
12. Manual shift driven cars allow you to change to highest gear as soon as possible, thereby letting you save gas if you "nurse it along". However, if you cause the engine to "bog down", premature wearing of engine parts occurs.
13. Keep windows closed when traveling at highway speeds. Open windows cause air drag, reducing your mileage by 10%.
14. Drive steadily. Slowing down or speeding up wastes fuel. Also avoid tailgating - the driver in front of you is unpredictable. Not only is it unsafe, but if affects your economy, if he slows down unexpectedly.
15.Think ahead when approaching hills. If you accelerate, do it before you reach the hill, not while you're on it.
GENERAL ADVICE
16. Do not rest left foot on floor board pedals while driving. The slightest pressure puts "mechanical drag" on components, wearing them down prematurely. This "dragging" also demands additional fuel usage.
17. Avoid rough roads whenever possible, because dirt or gravel rob you of up to 30% of your gas mileage.
18. Use alternate roads when safer, shorter, straighter. Compare traveling distance differences - remember that corners, curves and lane jumping requires extra gas. The shortest distance between two points is always straight.
19. Stoplights are usually timed for your motoring advantage. By traveling steadily at the legal speed limit you boost your chances of having the "green light" all the way.
20. Automatic transmissions should be allowed to cool down when your car is idling at a standstill, e.g. railroad crossings, long traffic lights, etc. Place gear into neutral position. This reduces transmission strain and allows transmission to cool.
21. Park car so that you can later begin to travel in forward gear; avoid reverse gear maneuvers to save gas.
22. Regular tune-ups ensure best economy; check owner's manual for recommended maintenance intervals. Special attention should be given to maintaining clean air filters... diminished air flow increases gas waste.
23. Inspect suspension and chassis parts for occasional misalignment. Bent wheels, axles, bad shocks, broken springs, etc. create engine drag and are unsafe at high traveling speeds.
24. Remove snow tires during good weather seasons; traveling on deep tire tread really robs fuel!
25. Inflate all tires to maximum limit. Each tire should be periodically spun, balanced and checked for out-of-round. When shopping for new tires, get large diameter tires for rear wheels. Radial designs are the recognized fuel-savers; check manufacturer's specifications for maximum tire pressures.
26. Remove vinyl tops - they cause air drag. Rough surfaces disturb otherwise smooth air flow around a car's body. Bear in mind when buying new cars that a fancy sun roof helps disturb smooth air flow (and mileage).
27. Auto air conditioners can reduce fuel economy by 10% to 20%. Heater fan, power windows and seats increase engine load; the more load on your engine, the less miles per gallon.
28. Remove excess weight from trunk or inside of car - extra tires, back seats, unnecessary heavy parts. Extra weight reduces mileage, especially when driving up inclines.
29. Car pools reduce travel monotony and gas expense - all riders chip in to help you buy. Conversation helps to keep the driver alert. Pooling also reduces traffic congestion, gives the driver easier maneuverability and greater "steady speed" economy. For best results, distribute passenger weight evenly throughout car.
30. During cold weather watch for icicles frozen to car frame. Up to 100 lbs. can be quickly accumulated! Unremoved snow and ice cause tremendous wind resistance. Warm water thrown on (or hosed on) will eliminate it fast.
EXTRA TIPS
Install pressure regulator valve (sold in auto parts stores)... Use graphite motor oil... Beware of oil additives, regardless of advertising claims... Add Marvel Mystery Oil into gas fill-ups... Investigate fuel/water injection methods and products... combine short errands into one trip... Use special gas additives to prevent winter freezing of gas lines... convert your V8 engine over to a V4 - no special kits needed!!!

April 2008 Results

2008-05-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

April was not kind to me, I gave back nearly everything I had made in March, hopefully May will be better to me.

The Starting Balances for April were:

My Savings Account: $256.24

My Investing Account: $704.82

My Money Market Account: $25.83

My Personal Lending Account: $240.95
Currently Loaned: $199.29
Waiting to be Loaned: $41.66

The Ending Amounts for April:

My Savings Account: $258.07 <+1.83>

My Investing Account: $670.11 <-34.71>

My Money Market Account: $60.85 <+35.02> $35 came from Cash infusion and will not be counted as profit.

My Personal Lending Account $242.98 <+2.03>
Currently Loaned: $194.22
Waiting to be Loaned: $48.76

The Grand Total Earnings for April are.........-$30.83 or -$1.028 per day.
The Running Total for this Blog: +$3.76

What really got me this month was my investing account and my money market account only returned half as much as last month. 3 of my 4 accounts went up but the one with the majority of money in it went down.
I had originally planned to write a piece on Prosper.com and how the person to person loans were working. I was also going to bid on another loan, but one of my loan payments that I was supposed to get was/is late. So I will be doing that for the month of May! Oh yeah, if I would have gotten my other payment, my total would have been fractionally higher for the personal loan account.

I want to thank the "Tye News" for putting an article about this blog in their paper.

Credit Card Debt vs College Loans

2008-04-25T08:18:00.001-07:00

I was recently asked my opinion on what to do with credit card debt vs college debt.

I believe that the 2 types of debt should be looked at completely different.

Credit Cards
With credit cards, you should try and pay them down as much as possible while in school. If your monthly payment is $45, try and send at least $75, get your balance down to where the monthly payment is only about $15, do NOT completely pay off of your card, that can actually hurt your credit. Try to keep something charged on your card but always pay it on time if not early. The average credit card rate is 14% or more!

College debt is a double edged sword, some is good and some is an evil necessity.

Subsidized Loans
Government backed loans are the best ones, do not even try to pay them off while still in school, but try to budget for the payment by saving some money every month and putting it into some kind of SAFE investment, then when you do graduate and it is time to start paying off these loans. Start putting what you were saving (while in college) as your monthly payment and also try to put 1/2 of the interest from what money you were able to save toward your loan. It may only be $1 or $2 per month. But since you are only using 1/2 of your accrued interest you are still getting some compound interest that will eventually let you pay more per month toward your loan. In reality this technique will help boost your credit score and pay off your loan sooner, rather than later.

Private Loans
The other type of college loans is private loans. These can be some of the worst loans you can get. They will have higher interest rates. Try to start putting SOMETHING toward these loans everytime you can, even while in college.

I personally think that a college student should try to save as much as possible during college so that they do not have it so hard when they graduate.

My Loans
I personally have government loans and credit card debt (3 cards)
2 of my credit cards have under $200 on them combined just to keep the credit line open and to establish credit. My other card I use for gas every month because I get 5% off gas. My monthly payment for that card is about $95, but I pay at least $200 every month, just to get it down and help boost my credit rating.
My government loans are subsidized, which means as long as I am in college, Uncle Sam pays the interest on these loans for me. I am paying the rest of my tuition with cash that I make from doing little things here and there. I still have a social life, I still take friends out to dinner, go play pool with them, go on vacations at least every 2 months, and go to the bar every now and then to socialize. I am a typical college student in some aspects, but I am also looking toward the future.

Update.
ps. I just received my dividends from my savings account, that amount will be reflected in April's Results. Which aren't looking to good due to low stock prices and a deliquent personal loan through Prosper.

New Money

2008-04-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

March is now over and I was paid for my Credit Card Applications that I received for my employer. I deposited $35 into my money market account for the purposes of this blog. I am looking for ideas on what to do with it?

Oh yeah, Thanks to the reporters at "The Brand" because they did a story about this blog in this last issue!

"The Brand" is the monthly newspaper for Hardin Simmons University.

Credit Applications update

2008-04-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

If you remember on March 7th I told everyone that I was in a contest where my employer was going to give me $2-$4 for each person I got to sign up for a credit card. I had to get at least 5 to get paid, well...as of Right now I have 9 or 10, so next friday I will post on how much money was made, I also said that I was going to put it all into one of these accounts. Those totals will show up in the April Update, or I might just start a new account with something else. Also I will be depositing my change too. so we will see how that did!

March 2008 Results

2008-04-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, It has now been a month since we started this experiment. It is now time to see if we lived up to our plan and made on average $1 per day for the month of March.

The Starting Totals for March:

My Savings Account: $256.24
My savings account is though a credit union that you must be a relative of to get in, I got in through my Great-Grandfather a few years before he died.

My Investing Account: $672.40
I hold positions in General Electric, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, AT&T, Napster, & Sirius Radio. All of my dividends are automatically re-invested into these companies.

My Money Market Account: $25.79
This is handled by the same company that handles my investment account and at any time I can move this amount into my investment account to purchase stock.

My Personal Loan Account: $238.82
Currently Loaned: $206.02
Waiting to be Loaned: $32.80 * does not make any of interest while waiting.
Thanks to Prosper.com I am able to make loans to individuals and make a lending fee off of each loan. If you want to join Prosper let me know and I will send you a link and we will both get an extra $25.

The ending Totals for March 2008 are:

My Savings Account: $256.24 <0>
A net change of <0> becuase interest/dividends are paid out quarterly and even though March is the end of the quarter, I have yet to receive a statement telling me how much interest was incurred. I will receive it in a few weeks and they will be reflected in April's results.

My Investing Account: $704.82 <+32.42>
Most of my stock positions did well for the month, only 2 were lower: Napster and Sirius. I am surprised Sirius is lower because the DOJ gave them the greenlight for a merger. They just need one more approval. My other stocks: GE, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, AT&T, and McDonald's all were up. We also added in the dividend from GE stock.

My Money Market Account: $25.83 <+0.04>
That doesn't seem like much now, but that is the beauty of a money market account. You get monthly compound interest and relatively safe place to harbor your hard earned money!

My Personal Lending Account: $240.95 <+2.13>
Currently Loaned: $199.29
Waiting to be Loaned: $41.66
Some time during mid-April, enough payments will have been made to offer another $50 Loan to some individual. When this happens I will post about the process.

The Grand Total Earnings for March are.........+$34.59 or $1.1158 per day! Our first month out of the gate and we did what we wanted to do.

I will think of and try some new ideas this month.

For the last 2 months I have been going through the interview process to try and get an intership for the summer. I was successful! (yay me!) I will try to keep my current job at the retailer so that when the internship is finished, I will still have a job. But, I will have less days off and will be needing to think of some real creative ideas that won't take up much time. I have a few ideas in my head right now (drop off recycling, lemonaide stand, selling water, and a few more) but am looking for more! I am also looking for imput on how to reuse magazines so that we can make some money, I have 5 subscriptions netting me 9 magazines per month.

Update

2008-03-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I am going to count and deposit my change at the end of this month, so it will show up on the totals for April.

I think I have a pretty good chance of reaching my goal of $1 per day this month because of the Sirius/XM merger, since I have about 40 shares of Sirius for this blog that will be affected. I currently have a sell trade set up if the stock reaches $4.65. The shares for this blog were purchased in 5 increments of $2.84, $3.02, $3.80, $3.81, and $3.95. So I will make a small profit for this blog, if a sell is reached.

I am also looking for some ways to recycle magazines, I have 3 magazine subscriptions which gets me about 7 magazines per month. I am looking for a way to be green and make some green.

The worm thing is very interesting and helping me protect my identity. I am able to shred the credit card offers that I get in the mail with all of my information on it and feed it to the worms.

By the way, the totals for the worm experiment are as follows.

$2 plastic barrels (bought 2 but only needed one, the coca-cola company sellss their old barrels for $1, plus I own stock in them)
$10 8 dozen worms (dillie variety since I couldnt find the red wiggler variety locally)
$12 extra organic dirt
$23 Containers, these will be used to sell single doses of compost tea mix, I got 100 containers.
So so far I am down $47 for the worm experiment!

I will be selling some items on ebay and will be giving 10% to this portfolio, to help keep the principal growing, so I can make more money!

As of right now, the portfolio ha made over $1 for the month, but that is mostly due to stocks, that could all change in the last week of the month.

Those Recycling Worms

2008-03-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

This post will be updated periodically as needed. If you remember, I started the work project for two reasons: to make money and to do something Green!

So...on this post I will keep track of how much has been recycled or saved from the landfill!

To start out:
2 tires
2 plastic barrels
1 newspaper
1 pc of junk mail

March 20th
3 pc of junk mail
coffee grounds
coffee filter

March 24th
Some brown lettuce that I forgot to eat in the fridge, about 1/4 pound

April 2nd
about 4 cups of green ruffage from when I was cleaning some vegetables

April 17th
Coffee grounds
2 tea bags from Starbucks (I had a cup of tea for lunch) *How many other worms do you know of that get Starbucks! LOL

April 31st
1 newspaper
3 pc junk mail

Save that Change

2008-03-10T12:31:00.001-07:00

Many people (including me) primarily use a debit card, credit card, or check to make everyday purchases because our paychecks are electronically deposited into our accounts at our favorite banks. We may be losing the advantage of one of the oldest and easiest savings methods there is.

Save your Change!

If you were to go to the bank right now and take out $50 to pay for small ticket items, like a coke, snack, toll booth etc.. you would have a pocket full of change at the end of the week! In most cases you would have close to $5. Let's say you put all of your change into a jar and didn't count it for 3 months. After that time you would have about $60 to invest! That's $240 a year!

What I do, like I said, I hardly ever use cash, so I go to the bank and ask for $50. I then use that money to buy lunch, bottled water (it's $1.25 so I get .75 cents everytime) etc... Every night I put my loose change into an old Coka-Cola piggy bank that I have had literally for years. Every 3 months (when I receive my dividend check from my credit union) I roll up the change and deposit it into my savings account! My change is now making me interest and I don't miss any of it!

*Note*
Depending on your where you are depositing your change you will take it in loose or it has to be rolled with your account number on it, call before you go to your back. Nothing sucks more than having to unroll $80 in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters so that it can be put into a coin counting machine!

Let me know if you do something like this or do it better!

UPDATE 3/11/08
Yesterday alone I was able to put $2.59 into my change bank and so far today I have got .53 cents back from the post office!
Makes you want to bend over and pick up that penny huh!

Also, today I will be taking advantage of my "day off" (I have to go in for about 2 hours) and I will be building my worm beds. I was able to find 8 dozen worms. more on that later, I will post pics of the process!

What to Do?

2008-03-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am trying to decide what to do with the $25 I have in the money market account.
I am thinking about buying a share or two of PBT, a royalty stock that pays a monthly dividend (it would cost $4 to move it but, if I did would set the dividends to be put into the money market account instead of being re-invested)
-or- I could use it to add to the personal loan account and collect a monthly interest dividend
-or- I could leave it where it's at and collect the monthly dividend amount?

Another option would be to add $25 to my investment account, and add another $25 to my personal loan account? That would cost me another $50 this month which may be unrealistic for many college students to do every month? hmmmmm....what to do?

Here's a solution, this month my job is offering to give me $4 for each credit card application that I receive. I will see how much money I make from that and use that income for this blog, instead if just giving it a cash infusion. This way I am taking advantage of a promotion that is being offered.

Many college students (me included) get a part-time job at a retail outlet while in college to help pay bills. That is why I feel that I am able to include this post into my blog, because a large number of students have the same option. I know that Sears, Lowe's, and Dillard's all have this promotion. I am sure that other retailers offer this also. Now, I usually don't get the minimum to get paid, (we have to get 5 credit apps) but I have gotten as many as 27 in one month! (that would be over $100 if I can do it again) So I will be trying really hard to get some this month.

I will post my results next month and I am also trying to locate some cheap worms for the worm bed and a large plastic barrel, I was told to try the local Coca-Cola plant, they may give me one or two for free!

If you have any ideas on what I should do with the $25, let me know, I might just do it to see what happens!

New Idea

2008-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

I had a great idea for a small money making business (I hope).

I was trying to find something that I could do to help the environment. (I was actually going to buy a solar phone charger off of ebay) I was looking on ebay for ideas, solar power, wind turbines, etc..... then I came upon vermiculture! That is where you have a worm/bed and you put shredded paper and food scraps into the worm pile and they eat it. After a while, you have organic matter for your garden, since I just planted my herb/tomato/onion garden last week, I liked this idea. Plus...since I do a lot of stuff online, I am always printing items off, giving me an abundance of paper.

So I decided I was going to do it, all I need is the supplies, I already have dirt! I need some containers, (I am sure I can find some barrels in my grandpa's scrap pile for free) All I really need is the worms, (and I am too busy to catch my own) so I went to the bait store to buy some worms, THEY WERE OUT!!!!!!! I told the old guy what I wanted the worms for and he said that if I can get a colony started, he would buy all of his worms from me!!!! (The red wiggler type, not the night crawlers)

So here is my thinking....I recycle paper and food scraps......saving them from the landfill, and I get worms to sell! From the little research that I have done so far, it shouldn't take much capital to set up and hardly any to maintain.

I will post a list of items needed to do this, a business plan, how much this is costing me, and the plans and pictures of me building my home made vermiculture farm.

From what I have read, you can do this on a small scale in a house -or- garage and won't take up a lot of precious time. So, there you go, let me see if I can make some money and save the planet at the same time! If you already have tried this, send me some tips or insights!

I actually started out with the intentions of just helping the environment, then the money bug hit me when I found a small niche that I could inhabit.

Garage Sale Results

2008-03-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am a little disappointed to report that my Garage Sale Experiment failed horribly for me. I sold absolutely nothing ...but... my mother and grandmother both made over $1000 each. Oh well, off to the drawing board.

The Beginning Totals of all Accounts

2008-03-01T08:31:00.001-08:00

How I got to these totals:
If I had $12,251 in msft stock, i took the $251 and left the $12,000 off, same with the savings account, money market account, and personal loan account. I consider it reasonable that a student could have some money in some type of account already, or even a piggy bank at home, and hopefully through this blog, we can get students invested in the economy and not just storing cash in their mattress.

My Savings Account: $256.24
My savings account is though a credit union that you must be a relative of to get in, I got in through my Great-Grandfather a few years before he died.

My Investing Account: $672.40
I hold positions in General Electric, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, AT&T, Napster, & Sirius Radio. All of my dividends are automatically re-invested into these companies.

My Money Market Account: $25.79
This is handled by the same company that handles my investment account and at any time I can move this amount into my investment account to purchase stock.

My Personal Loan Account: $238.82
Currently Loaned: $206.02
Waiting to be Loaned: $32.80 * does not make any of interest while waiting.
Thanks to Prosper.com I am able to make loans to individuals and make a lending fee off of each loan. If you want to join Prosper let me know and I will send you a link and we will both get an extra $25.

So...The Grand Total is............(drumroll please)...........$1,193.25

My Goal is to increase this amount by at least $1 per day for at least a few months in roll. We will try experiments about making money and trying new things and old ideas...(I am thinking about a lemonade stand in the next few months to just see who profitable one would be)
If you have any ideas, let me know, I want to try it!

DUH

2008-02-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

I must apologize for my brain lapse, I will be able to post the totals of all the starting accounts tonight because March 1st is not a trading day. Duh, what was I thinking?

First Field Experiment A Yard Sale

2008-02-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

Again, totals for the accounts will be posted March 1st 2008.

I just heard from my Grandmother that a friend of hers is having a yard sale, but she doesn't have enough items to entice enough people to stop. Well, they knew that I had some stuff in the garage from when I had a commission/antique/store back in 2005. (long story, its closed now)

I have a few pieces that I am going to send over there and see if they sale (see pic). The reason that I am posting this one is that everyone has some stuff they need to get rid off, you know, that ole' bean bag chair, an old computer monitor, some clothes that are out of style or don't fit anymore, etc....
If you don't have enough stuff to have a yard sale yourself, partner with a few friends or neighbors and have a yard party!
Anyway, this yard sale is happening March 1st and will last all day, so I will post the results on March 2nd.

Tips for a yard sale:

Do a little research and see how much your stuff is worth. (check ebay or visit a yard sale yourself)

Make sure everything is priced

If you are doing this with someone else, make sure everything is labeled, whose items is whose.

Have plenty of small money to make change with

Prepare the night before and it will probably be an all day event

Put an ad in the local paper, -or- if you live close to a busy street, put up bright colored and easily readable signs

Work in shifts, someone needs to be there the whole time to answer questions and take money

Have Fun

If you want to try and make a few more bucks, run to your local wal-mart and buy whatever cokes and bottled water is on sale, (not too much, 2 six packs of cokes and maybe 10-12 bottles of water and a sack of ice) Put them on ice and put up a sign that says "Ice Cold Drinks $1" if all else fails, you have some drinks for the fridge. I have seen some people sell cookies and brownies too.

*Remember, One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure!

I want to make about $20-$50 for this one day event, let's see what happens.

p.s. The child in the picture is the youngest of 2 kids that my parents are adopting. His name is Mason and he is about to be my little brother. He's a little monster! (in a good way!)

The Start of it all

2008-02-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

My name is Thomas Jowers and I am 23 years old. I am a senior at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Tx.

From reading interesting blogs like Nevblog.com and others I decided that I wanted to do something a little different.

So my goal is to try to make $1 a day by the end of the year but investing with the budget of a college student, since I am one.

I actually have a lot more money/investments than what I will be expressing in this blog, again, I am trying to do this from the vantage point of a college student.

So I am going to act like I just received my Income Tax money and my birthday money, and I want to make it make me money. (p.s. I haven't received my income tax money yet due to a screw up from my mainstream tax preparation service providers that charged me over $220, due to me owning a business)

If I add money to one of my accounts that we are following in this blog, it will not count as money made but will be seen in the totals. I will not include my 401K savings or money made from my online ventures. I will add the money made from advertising on this blog because a college student could easily start and secure advertising on a blog like this one.

Totals will be updated on the first of every month with other note worthy items posted as they happen. I will also try to do experiments like Neville does to have fun with this site and get more students interested in making cash in unconventional ways. We will also have investing and savings tips, but we will NEVER recommend a stock!

My accounts include:
My Investing Account (will have less than $1,000 again to simulate the savings of a student) (this total will be posted at the end of trading on March 1st, 2008 to give me a bench mark on which to calculate returns)
Money Market Account (any student can get one)
Savings Account (most students already have one of these)
Personal Loan Account (I will let everyone know how to get this started, I have tested it for over a year now!)

If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I have been setting up seperate financial accounts for this blog so I can keep everything seperate! This experiment is meant to be fun, exciting, and informative.
After I reach my goal of making A BUCK A DAY, we will set a new goal to keep this blog alive. I want students to learn from my mistakes and implement the things that work!

Coming Soon

2008-02-27T08:03:00.001-08:00

coming soon.

How I plan to make A Buck A Day. Doing nothing but investing on a college student's budget!