Random Thoughts to Make Your Life Easy

Credit Cards with Annual Fee

2011-03-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

Why do you need to have a credit card that charges you a fee when you can have many that are free? Since I pay my credit card bills on time and don't really need to shop for lower interest rate, it just does not make sense to have a credit card with annual fee. So I cancelled one of my credit card that had $60 annual fee. Do you pay credit card fees? If yes, then why?

Investing Tips for Current Times: Make 4% or More For Sure

2010-09-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an opportunity to talk to a CEO of a wealth management company. She manages millionaires’ wealth and I assume her company must be doing well because she was travelling first class.

Since I had an opportunity to talk to her, I asked her if she can give some quick free advice on where to invest money in these tough economic times.
Her reply was

Stay and invest in the stock market if you have more than 8 years to retires
Invest in bonds if you want to retire in less than 8 years
Pay off your mortgage it is a sure way to make 4% or more (i.e. you won't have to pay interest on your mortgage).
Look into real estate for investing, though it might see some more downward pressure in near future.

What do you think?

Pay off your mortgage or invest in the market?

2010-06-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

Recently a co-worker asked my opinion on paying off mortgage or investing in the market. I am not an expert in this field but have gathered enough data to help me provide an intelligent answer.

My answer: Pay Off Your Mortgage. No matter what "experts" say, once you payoff the mortgage you know that you have a place to live that is yours. You own it. Returns in the market are not guaranteed but saving that interest and having a peace of mind is guaranteed when you payoff the mortgage.

I made a huge mistake of investing my money in the stock market before I bought my house. I lost most of it and am still recovering from it. Now I make sure to pay extra towards my mortgage. I still invest some but paying off the mortgage is my priority.

What do you think?

Want people to pay attention to your emails?

2009-08-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

Keep them short and to the point. Nobody has time to read long emails. When I get an email which has a lot of questions then I put them aside thinking that I will get to them soon but that soon never happens.

Some famous quotes on this subject

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ~Thomas Jefferson

If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. ~Dennis Roth

“Brevity is the soul of wit” - Shakespeare (Hamlet)

Need someone to respond to your email? Do not ask too many questions in the email. Make it easy for them to respond.