Millionaire Man

The Millions in the UFC

2012-01-22T08:02:00.001-08:00

On my quest of making one Million Euros in less than five years, I have to share with you that my spirit is raised and I have doubled my energy during this last 50 days, I have been thinking to write this post for a long time. Every time I remembered my early days when I was 12 years old and as soon as the lessons were over, me and my then friends ran out to the streets and I would organize random fights outside my school making random bets and circulating a hand made newspaper presenting my young friends fighting outside the school I still remember that I even had to jump for the challenge to keep my honor and small enterprise going.

Back then I thought this is better than boxing. 20 years later someone added skills and made it a functional money making machine the UFC, see the video at the end of the post to see How this happened.

UFC fighters are among the toughest athletes competing in sports. Fiercely competitive, they enter the octagon knowing they could be cut, bruised or placed in submission holds that could render them temporarily unconscious. With each fight, they run the risk of suffering career-ending injuries.

But mentioning "fighter pay" to this same group of men brings forth a completely different side. They become consumed with fear. Flight instincts take over.

"Career suicide," one current fighter said when approached for comment.

"It would be the end of my career," said another current fighter, a former champion, when asked for an on-the-record interview about the UFC's fighter pay scale.

The men who run the Ultimate Fighting Championship are benefiting from unprecedented revenue growth -- the company purchased rival Strikeforce in March for $34 million, further tightening its stranglehold on the mixed martial arts industry. Recently, the UFC inked a seven-year deal worth a reported $100 million annually with FOX, its first significant broadcast agreement with a major network.

The UFC, $44 million in debt as recently as 2005, according to chief executive officer Lorenzo Fertitta, is today widely believed by industry insiders to be worth north of a billion dollars.

While paydays for top draws like Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre can run into the millions (St. Pierre recently told Agence France-Presse he earns between $4 million and $5 million per fight), entry-level fighters who compete under the banner of the UFC do so for as little as $6,000 if they fail to win their first match.

"We're basically fighting for crumbs," said one current UFC fighter, a veteran of more than a dozen years in the sport who also asked that his name be withheld for fear of reprisals from UFC management.

"The top 5 percent [of fighters] are definitely making good money, but you've got to look at the guys at the bottom of the card," the fighter said. "They can't fight anywhere else. If they make $10,000 a fight and fight every six months, they can't make ends meet."

"We're definitely not getting our fair share of the cash," said another fighter currently under contract with the UFC. A fan favorite, he, too, refused to be named, citing concerns about the reaction from UFC management.

"Any opposition, they [expletive] crush it," said the fighter. "Until somebody starts a union, we're all sort of at their mercy."

Fertitta, CEO of Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the UFC, said dissent among fighters is not only commonplace but tolerated.

"Anybody can talk about anything. We've had plenty of situations where fighters have come out and made statements. … Have they been blackballed or banned? Absolutely not," Fertitta said.

UFC management has had public disagreements in the past with some of its top fighters over the issue of compensation and image rights -- former heavyweight champion Randy Couture and top welterweight contender Jon Fitch to name just two.

Both were eventually welcomed back into the fold; Couture after a bitter legal fight with the UFC, Fitch after he was cut by UFC management and then reinstated a day later.

"Outside the Lines" recently conducted a wide-ranging interview with Fertitta about the issue of fighter pay and other aspects of the UFC's business.

Among items Fertitta noted:

• Since 2005, the first year the UFC became profitable, the company has paid more than $250 million to its fighters.

• 39 UFC fighters have become millionaires as a result of their earnings from the company.

• 29 fighters on the current roster receive a cut of pay-per-view profits.

• Since 2005, fighter pay has grown at twice the rate of revenue growth.

What Fertitta won't say is how much revenue the UFC currently generates. As the head of a private company, he's not obligated to disclose those figures to anybody, including the roughly 300 fighters with whom he and UFC president Dana White negotiate contracts.

According to a May 2010 "Standard and Poor's" report, 75 percent of the UFC's revenue comes from live pay-per-view events. The remainder comes from merchandising, distribution agreements and other live and taped television broadcasts (the UFC's contract with Spike TV to broadcast live events and "The Ultimate Fighter" ran through 2011).

When asked what percentage of that revenue goes to fighters, Fertitta said it's "not far off what the other sports leagues pay as a percentage of revenue."

Revenue-sharing formulas in the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL give athletes about 50 percent of revenue. "[It's] in that neighborhood, yeah," Fertitta said.

"That's an absurd statement," said Rob Maysey, an Arizona-based attorney who in 2005 founded the Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association. Largely powerless, the UFC has taken the tack of ignoring the organization, which claims about 50 fighters and trainers as members.

"The UFC is in the neighborhood of the major professional sports in terms of payout percentages compared to revenue generated in the same way as I am in the 'neighborhood' of challenging for Anderson Silva's middleweight title," Maysey said.

After examining pay-per-view numbers, live gate proceeds and other revenue streams, Maysey estimates the UFC has annual revenues between $350 million and $450 million.

Yet the median per fight income for fighters remains low, between $17,000 and $23,000, figures he said he obtained from his many conversations with current fighters.

Fertitta said that fighters have the potential to substantially boost their earnings through the company's incentive-driven pay model.

"We pay discretionary bonuses. No different than any other company that may be out there," Fertitta said. "We pay you for performance."

During each pay-per-view event, fighters are eligible to receive bonuses for either the submission of the night, knockout of the night or fight of the night. In addition to those structured incentives, which have ranged from $65,000 to $135,000 in recent years, the UFC also awards discretionary bonuses, Fertitta said.

"We've had guys that maybe were making $200,000 and said, 'You know what? This guy promoted the heck out of the fight. He performed. Write him a check for a million dollars,'" Fertitta said.

Even taking the unreported bonuses into consideration, Maysey said the 50 percent revenue-sharing claim is not accurate.

"The [UFC's] payout percentages in terms of revenue generated are far from the percentages paid to athletes by the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL," Maysey said. "If I'm taking all revenue from all sources, I would put it around 5 percent."

"Outside the Lines" interviewed dozens of sources about the issue of fighter pay -- current and former UFC fighters, managers, agents, rival promoters and former UFC executives. On average, they estimated the UFC pays fighters roughly 10 percent of the revenue generated from its live events, essentially the inverse of the boxing business model.

"I think they have a tremendous business paradigm," said Lou DiBella, a New York-based boxing promoter who spent more than a decade as a programming executive running the boxing division of HBO Sports.

The percentage of event-generated revenue that goes to a boxer could be as high as 85 percent, DiBella said.

"A 70/30 deal is completely common," DiBella said, meaning 70 percent of the revenue generated from the fight goes to the boxer, the remaining 30 percent to the promoter.

Under the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, a federal law DiBella helped author, promoters are required to disclose to boxers how much money their fights generate. No such law applies to the sport of mixed martial arts.

"You have one industry that's not disclosing and thriving, and another industry that is disclosing and dying," DiBella said.

Fertitta likened that comparison to apples and oranges: "What you have to understand is that our model is different. We are everything. … We're the promoter. We're the television producer. We're responsible for all the costs that go into the production, and you're talking millions and millions of dollars.

"We employ well over 500 people just to make this machine run."

Within the sport there has been talk of a fighter's union, and for the past three years, Maysey has been aggressively pitching fighters on the benefit of bargaining with a unified voice.

Maysey has traveled the country at his own expense, speaking to small groups of fighters and trainers, touting the merits of joining the MMAFA.

Among other things in his presentation to fighters, Maysey highlights the percentage of revenue the fighters receive from the UFC's live pay-per-view events.

He's gone so far as to venture into Fertitta's own backyard to make his pitch.

In early May, while UFC management was hosting its two-day "fighter summit" at the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Maysey booked a room at the same hotel. Red Rock is one of 19 gaming properties owned by Station Casino Group (Fertitta and his brother, Frank, also own a controlling interest in Station Casinos).

Maysey held an impromptu meeting in his hotel room, which, he said, quickly grew from four to 19 fighters as word spread through the hotel.

"There were fighters who were in the room who, if they thought their presence would be publicized, they wouldn't have gone," Maysey said of the gathering, which initially occurred under the radar of UFC management.

According to Maysey, he did not sell the fighters in attendance that day on the idea of starting a union, but rather an association, which he said would resemble the Major League Baseball Players Association or the Screen Actors Guild.

"I'm going to guys and saying, 'You have a very slim sliver of ancillary rights left. Join together. All the other sports figured that out,'" Maysey said.

It's a hard sell.

"The vast majority of people I meet with want to do it, but 75 percent of that majority fear repercussion, so they won't," Maysey said.

"The only way that you can get a union is to get all of the top 30 fighters in the UFC … all of them to agree that 'we're going to stand together and do this,'" said Iowa-based promoter and manager Monte Cox.

"If it's the top five, they [UFC management] can kill off the top five and still keep going," Cox said. Cox currently manages 70 fighters, 16 of whom are under contract with the UFC.

Talk of a fighters union is nothing new. Former UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich remembers similar discussions brewing back when he was competing, shortly after the Fertittas purchased the company in 2001.

"To organize a fighters union I think would be a colossal undertaking to be honest with you," Miletich said. "That's really going to depend on having the right money behind it, powerful people to be able to put it together."

For his part, Lorenzo Fertitta claims he's neutral on the issue.

"I'm not pro union, I'm not against a union. If the fighters want to form a union, that's fine," Fertitta said.

In practice, the Fertitta brothers have had a contentious history with organized labor.

"Station Casinos is an extremely anti-union company. It has been running an aggressive and nasty anti-union campaign," said Ken Liu, research director for the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Local 226 in Las Vegas.

For years, the Culinary Workers Union has been trying to organize service industry employees at the Fertitta-owned Station Casino properties, which largely cater to the local market in Las Vegas.

In an August letter to the FTC's Bureau of Competition, Liu attacked the UFC's restrictive business practices and claimed the company violated federal anti-trust laws.

"As a result of Zuffa's contractual restraints, athletes who compete in the UFC are denied the freedom of movement available to athletes in other professional sports. … These contractual restraints can have the effect of forcing some athletes under contract with the UFC to negotiate with one buyer, depriving them of any real bargaining power and depressing pay below competitive levels," Liu wrote.

On the surface, Liu acknowledges it may seem an odd pairing -- a union that represents cocktail waitresses, bus boys and chambermaids, among others, taking up the cause of UFC fighters.

"For us there's an eerie parallel in how the Fertittas treat their workers at Station Casinos and how they treat fighters in the UFC," Liu said. "As a union we have to continue to put pressure on this company from all conceivable directions."

In September, an administrative law judge with the National Labor Relations Board found that Station Casinos engaged in unfair labor practices more than 80 times.

The judge's 151-page ruling details alleged threats, bribery and interrogation tactics used by Station Casino management against employees who had engaged in union-organizing activities.

Station Casinos is appealing the decision.

In a statement on its website, the company dismissed the union tactics as "an ongoing campaign of harassment."

"The Culinary Workers Union filed baseless charges alleging violations of employee rights. … We are confident that the National Labor Relations Board will find that in no instance did Station Casinos violate any aspect of the law," the statement reads.

The case is instructive for Maysey, who's come as close as anyone to taking on the task of getting UFC fighters to organize.

While Maysey remains hopeful UFC fighters will one day join forces to negotiate better deals on their image and marketing rights, he is less than optimistic they'll ever mobilize into a full-fledged union.

Saving Money to Make Money in the New Year

2012-01-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

Becoming a millionaire isn't just about making money. Part of becoming a millionaire also involves saving money. As a classic rule of business, you can't be spending more money than you are taking in – especially if you want to experience any form of success. That's just common sense.

So if you are looking for ways to save money in the New Year so that you can increase your net worth, consider some of the following:

Renegotiate Premiums

Each year, insurance premiums, whether they be car or health, cost us hundreds of pounds. To save yourself money this year, shop around before recommitting to your current providers. There are a dozen sites showing cheap insurance quotes online so you are able to find cheaper rates than what you are paying now, and by bundling your homeowners insurance with that of your car, you can save even more.

Cut Out Vices

Cigarettes, alcohol, and other vices quickly add up. In fact, these types of vices are often the biggest unnecessary expenditures most of us face. To save yourself a substantial amount of money in the new year, in addition to doing something good for your health, give up those smokes, that after work drink, or those other indulgences that are robbing your pocketbook dry.

Lose Weight

Losing weight affects your wallet in more way than one. In addition to often spending more on food due to eating out, having extra weight can cause you to spend more on your health insurance and even on gas as your car is forced to carry around your extra pounds. If you want to save money, do your wallet and your health a favor and lose some weight.

Easy on the Coffee

While we all love our caffeinated beverage in the morning, stopping by the local coffee shop every day can quickly add up. If you want to keep some extra dollars in your pocket, brew your own coffee or tea in the morning and avoid the extra dollars spent every day at the local coffee shop.

Ditch the Car

In reality, having a car isn't a necessity for all of us – especially those of us that live in the city. If you have a short commute or live close to a public transportation stop, consider getting rid of your car or becoming a one car household. Not only will you save money on gas, but you will also save money on car insurance and general maintenance.

The new year is upon us and for many it means making some tough life changes. However, by choosing to save money, it will bring you even closer to your goal of becoming a millionaire.

2012 A year without Alcohol

2011-12-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

They speak of my drinking but never think of my thirst

This is the last day of the year and we all are wondering about our New Years resolution and considering that I have a commitment to make one Million Euros in less than five years I want to share with you, that the challenge is here and its coming true.

I just realized that I need more than one lasting personal goal or project, I have to be into something always at all times it is my nature, and what I have written is certainly too short to do it full justice; but at least I have touched on many aspects therefore I have decided to reform a habit.

I will go 365 days without drinking I know this will require making a conscious choice each and every time I’m confronted with the temptation. It’s not so much about setting a 365 day plan, but rather setting and living a moment-by-moment plan. It is my hope all of these moments of making the deliberate decision to resist the temptation will all contribute to the final result I’m seeking. I want to test my will once again I want to see if I'm able to have that never ending spark while sober if I can resist temptation... I can easily answer yes it is a simple task and I will do it. Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.

You may notice the headline for this last post of the year in the form of a statement. The reason for this is because I want it to be clear.

I have always experienced the gap, the thin line in my soul between alcoholism and sobriety as paper thin and always in danger of being erased, I used to always confront myself with the never ending existential problems while having a hangover, and I hate that lack of energy as a result of it. There is plenty of family history to suggest both a propensity and a genetic pre-disposition for alcoholism to surface inside me at any given time. It is a disease I have narrowly escaped most of my life – and I want to continue to do so.

My attempt to go 365 days without drinking a beer or having a glass of wine or Champagne will not erase my tendencies to drink for the wrong reasons and it certainly will not give me any moral ground to stand on if I am indeed successful. I just want to see if I can do it.

Too often, I have reached for alcohol to sooth my anxiety or to make me feel more comfortable when I’m with people I don’t know well. I associate going out at nights with drinking beer, champagne and wines and I eagerly look forward to that first Friday after-work drink, too.

Now, I want to try to experience all of these things without the usual assistance. My inner voice, my inner wisdom, has been suggesting this to me for some time now. Specially realizing that I lost some considerable money during my wild partying. Now It’s time to listen.

Day One started twenty days ago, Dec 11. 2011 Day 365 will be on Dec 11.2012. How I live the days in between will be the challenge. I really don’t have a roadmap or any past experience to draw on for these 365 days. All I have is determination and a hope I will learn new things about myself.

My hope is old wounds that sometimes open and fester with insecurity when alcohol is the instigator will begin to close. I will not be healed or fixed in these 365 days, but there is hope I will have gain valuable personal insight that will help me get the real major goal of a Million Euros.

I’m not sure what will happen on Dec 11. 2012 I can’t say if I will drink again or at what level and frequency. I do, however, have faith and confidence in whatever happens between now and then will be the right thing for me. So, a leap of faith begins.

By making this very public announcement, I’m asking to be held accountable for my actions. Some things in our lives are much bigger than we are. And I am already pleased with all the beauty around me.

Pride and arrogance contribute to our failure when we fail to ask for help. Ironically, it takes confidence and courage to ask. Confidence in that we believe there are people in our lives who care enough to listen and support us. Courage in the sense we want to keep moving forward in spite of the obstacles and pain.

It will be difficult finding alternatives for the Sunday afternoon glass of wine or the cold draft beer during a dinner out. For me it’s just been a matter of habit; a matter of comfort.

Just as the physical act of drinking is a habit, so is the dependency on the calming effect the alcohol provides. Therefore, I may substitute a beer for a glass of cold water, but more importantly, I will need to discover alternatives to finding comfort and peace. This will be the biggest challenge and hopefully the greatest opportunity for me.

Investing more time in reading, writing, investing, improving relationships, exercising and just thinking are seem to be the likely candidates right now. I know a certain degree of peace in my life can be rejuvenated and restored by focusing in these areas. I’m also certain I will find comfort by learning how to take better care of myself.

The thought of truly feeling all of my emotions without the faint haze of melancholy draping over me is invigorating. I’m looking forward to going into a Friday afternoon with the knowledge I can be at peace and content by just being Me; no other assistance will be required.

Some days will be easier than others because it wasn’t my habit to drink everyday. Typically, I would not drink alcohol during the week. It will be the weekends, or being in a restaurant or a night out that will be the most challenging. There is also a vacation planned for later in May that will undoubtedly give me some concern. However, the cliché take it one day at time is the best advice I can try to follow.

I know by heart that if I can manage this challenge I will have a clearer perspective and more energy to focus on my main goal and by now you all know what it is...so let me wish you the Best New Year ever!!! don't forget to let all your dreams come true, keep writing to me, keep investing and above all keep positive the real secret is that there is no secret!!! Happy 2012 and see you on the other side!

$1 million in 10 days from Comedy

2011-12-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Now that the snow is starting to make its presence in Finland and the Christmas feelings are all around I want to share what happened to Comedian Louis C.K. He was annoyed that he never saw a royalty check from sales of his standup specials through traditional outlets like DVD or iTunes. So he produced his own recent special, sold it online directly to fans for $5 -- and made a cool million in just 10 days. That is one of the great advantages of technology during this times, and this is just the beginning, many cases like this will flow during 2012

Louis C.K. announced the sales milestone on Wednesday night's episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

Louis C.K. began selling the special, filmed at New York's Beacon Theater, on December 10. He put up a simple website that directed customers to "buy the thing" through eBay's (EBAY, Fortune 500) PayPal for $5. A footnote explained that the file has "no regional restrictions, no crap. You can download this file, play it as much as you like, burn it to a DVD, whatever."

Louis C.K. called it an "experiment" when he launched the sale. Wednesday's $1 million milestone showed that it's paying off.

Jimmy Fallon asked: "You just said 'Hey, everyone who wants to see the show, you give five bucks'?"

Louis C.K. paid to produce the special "out of my own money," he responded. "So I had it. And I said, I can just give it to people for a little bit of money."

A friend told him "everyone's going to steal it...so I just wrote a note that said, you know, please don't do it," Louis C.K. said, as the audience laughed. "And they didn't. So it made a lot of money."

Louis C.K. said he was shocked as he watched the orders come in -- and then began to feel guilty about the amount he'd netted.

"I've never had a million dollars all at once. I grew up pretty poor and I was like, this is not even my money," he said. "This is just a five-dollar impulse that 220,000 people had, and now I have it. And I felt uncomfortable about having that much money."

So Louis C.K. set aside $250,000 to cover the cost of the expenses of producing the special, then doled out another $250,000 in bonuses for his staffers.

He then donated $280,000 to five charities: The Fistula Foundation, The Pablove Foundation, charity: water, Kiva and Green Chimneys.

"I was going to [donate] $100,000, but it's like blackjack -- I just kept dishing it out," he told Fallon.

That leaves $220,000 left over.

"Some of that will pay my rent and will care for my childen [sic]. The rest I will do terrible, horrible things with and none of that is any of your business," Louis C.K. wrote in a statement posted on his website.

A $220,000 profit is plenty, he added.

"I never viewed money as being 'my money' I always saw it as 'The money.' It's a resource. if it pools up around me then it needs to be flushed back out into the system," he wrote. "If I make another million, I'll give more of it away."

Great idea to end the year...Hope all the celebrations are full of hope and love keep witting the objective of 1 Million Euros in less than 5 years is closer than ever!

How to Choose an Investment Adviser

2011-12-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Investments advisers support clients on how best to save, invest, and grow their money. They can help you tackle a specific financial goal—such as readying yourself to buy a house—or give you a macro view of your money and the interplay of your various assets. Some specialize in retirement or estate planning, while some others consult on a range of financial matters. The idea of this blog is to give you an idea on what to do with your money to get the Millions, but what if you already have them? Then the best idea is to find someone to manage your money and assets in such a way that keeps them growing.

I recently received an e mail from a 45 year old couple asking me advise on Where to go and Who to see, of course my advise helped them for some time, but when they started searching for an adviser to manage their mid-six figure account, they learned that charges of 1.5 percent -- about $7,000 per year -- weren't unusual.

The good news for people like them is that there are less expensive solutions out there, even as investors transition away from commission-driven advice to fee-only, or fee-based approaches.

More advisers than ever are now following some sort of fee-driven approach in which investors pay for the advice and management they get directly, instead of having those fees hidden in higher investment costs that show up as commissions. Fee-only advice is generally considered to be a more conflict-free approach, and individual investors are starting to appreciate that.

From 2007 through 2010, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped a total of 17 percent, the average adviser's assets in fee-based accounts rose 24 percent, according to PriceMetrix.

But, as many people discovered including myself, those fees can be hefty, and, paradoxically, the less money you have to manage, the more it can cost you, therefore try to do it yourself until you can really pay for it. In the world of investment management, size matters. "Larger accounts are usually more cost effective for advisers than smaller ones," It's kind of like the financial services equivalent of getting a volume discount."

Indeed, half of portfolios in the $250,000 to $500,000 range pay annual fees of 1.5 percent or more, and one-quarter of them pay annual fees that exceed 1.75 percent. Those with $1 million-plus accounts fork over a much tamer 0.92 percent. On average, expect to pay fees of 1.32 percent of assets under management.

Now, a growing group of financial advisers are coming up with ways to charge half (or less) the amount of the industry average with flat fees. By doing so, they say they can shave $1,000 or more in charges a year for every $100,000 in the portfolio. Their services appeal to those who don't quite fit into the high-net-worth category, but who want complete oversight rather than just investment and allocation recommendations. An annual fee typically covers setting up the portfolio, phone consultations with an investment manager at least once a year, the cost of executing trades and periodic re balancing. I always offer cheaper ways to execute trades and periodic re balance as well as phone consultations twice a month, but my accounts are much more smaller.

The firm the couple choose, Flat Fee Portfolios, is part of MACRO Consulting Group, a New Jersey investment advisory and financial planning firm. The service, which includes semi-annual phone reviews by a manager assigned to the account, costs a flat fee of $199 a month. As a result, the Colons now pay a shade less than 0.5 percent a year for investment management fees.

Accounts of less than $250,000, which pay $129 a month, get a pared down version of the higher-priced service.

Another low-cost firm, Troy, Michigan-based Portfolio Solutions, charges 0.25 percent of assets to assemble and manage a portfolio of index-based exchange traded funds and mutual funds. There's a minimum annual charge of $2,500 per household, and the firm doesn't accept accounts of less than $500,000.

Another way to keep advisory costs low is to pay by the hour for just the advice you need. The Garrett Planning Network in Shawnee Mission, Kansas provides referrals to advisers who charge hourly rates. Consider an hourly plan to offer to your clients if their finances aren't especially complicated, once wrote to me Kent Grealish, partner at Quacera in San Bruno, California and a member of the national 329-member network.

Grealish, a former stockbroker with 38 years of experience, pegs the initial cost to set up a simple investment plan at around $2,400, based on his rate of $240 an hour. That comes to just under 1 percent for a $250,000 account. In subsequent years, when he needs to put in less time, the charge typically falls to $480 to $720.

In reality my clients only pay for the work I put in and a 50% of the profit I make, not by how much they have in the account. "That makes a lot more financial sense for most people than the traditional assets under management model."

While most discount brokerage firms offer investment management services, their charges vary widely. With Fidelity Personalized Portfolios service, fees start at 1.5 percent on the first $500,000 in assets, and the service requires an investment minimum of $200,000. Vanguard charges 0.70 percent of assets on the first $1 million, but has a $500,000 minimum and $4,500 minimum annual charge. And if a discount brokerage firm has its own brand of mutual funds or ETFs, it's likely those offerings will figure prominently in their recommendations.

Even if published fees appear high at first glance, there is often room for negotiating discounts, especially if it's likely you'll be adding money to the account over time or are in a position to help build business through referrals. (Vanguard doesn't discount its published fees for investment management, according to a spokesperson. Fidelity has no official policy on negotiating published rates on an individual basis, but says part of the fee is credited to the account if the portfolio holds Fidelity funds or any of the funds in the firm's brokerage network.)

People with $25,000 to $100,000 accounts who want investment management have a more limited menu of options to choose from. One of them, E*Trade's Managed Investment Portfolios, has an investment minimum of $25,000 and cost 0.75 percent of assets a year for amounts up to $100,000. Another smaller investor option, MarketRiders Managed IRA program, charges an annual flat fee of $495 and uses index ETFs and mutual funds to implement its recommendations.

Of course, fees are just one thing to consider when choosing an advisory firm. Lower-cost services focus almost exclusively on investment management and may include automated programs, so they tend to work best for people who don't need lots of hand holding and have low-touch, simple financial situations.

"One of my clients who used to pay $1,000 a year for investment management told me he missed getting calls from his adviser every couple of weeks,". "This guy was paying thousands of dollars for a lot of telephone calls he really didn't need."

So pay attention on How to find the best option and once you find it you should know that every conversation you have on any investment advise, could help you in the future, therefore here is a great tool to record any Skype conversation you want

Riviera for Skype is a Skype call recorder. It automatically records Skype calls and conversations to MP3 files. It is also very convenient for recording interviews, tech talks, conferences, audio casts, pod casts for learning later, etc.

You may get more food for thought from Riviera for Skype home page: http://www.jiteco.com/skype_call_recorder.html
Here is a link to download Riviera for Skype http://www.jiteco.com/download/riviera/riviera.exe

Let the Christmas magic festivities begin! keep investing here and now, it is time...and keep writing. I had a big setback during this weekend but now I know and I feel I learned the lesson keep in touch...

Wealth & Millions (The Wealth Cure)

2011-12-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas is here and the feelings of peace, Joy and happiness are all around, enjoying the most of my family... and then comes the time to share the best of a book written byHill Harper a New York Times Bestselling author. Hill is a graduate of Harvard and Brown Universities, and when he's not writing, he stars on CSI: NY. A couple of months ago Hill contacted me and I agreed to write a review of his newest book The Wealth Cure which looks at wealth as a reward of a gratifying life full of rich experiences, instead of in the monetary sense of it. While he does share ways to create financial stability, he reflects upon the idea that there is much more to personal wealth than money. The Wealth Cure came out August 23, 2011and it is my pleasure to write a brief review about it.

It is inspiring, encouraging, and insightful. The book is not just about money and how to save it or spend it. Instead, it’s about living a meaningful life enjoying every single moment and how money plays a part in that.

One of the main ideas of this book is to emphasize that wealth is comprised of so much more than just money, and that as a society we need to “create a new definition of abundance” so that our way of living will change for the better. He says we “make irrational and often destructive choices because we have given money and its pursuit too much value.”

Rather than defining wealth as merely having a high net worth monetarily, Hill defines true wealth as “having our life balanced and organized so we are free to pursue any dream or happiness.” He also challenges his readers to figure out what their individual “Wealth Factors” are. In other words, he wants his readers to really think about what is most important to them – what things provide them with a real sense of well being.

Hill also reminds his readers that “You can’t be free if the cost of being you is too high.” In other words, how do you ever except to attain financial freedom if you spend your pay check even before you receive it? How can you afford to do the things you love if you always spend your money on things that don’t even make you happy? Hill’s advice- “Stop spending what you don’t have on what you don’t need.”

Throughout the book, Hill also emphasizes the fact that money is simply a tool, and it’s neither good nor bad, it’s neutral. How you treat money actually defines what money is to you. Money is not a result as so many of us might assume. It just enables us to do what’s important to us. Hill goes on to emphasize that the purpose of money is NOT to spend it and that it takes courage to save money and not allow yourself to be pulled into spending. This gave me the insight to realize that you can get the amount of money that you really want one million in less than 5 years welcome to my journey.

Another interesting thought brought up in the book was that “our financial actions and our decisions about what we can and can’t afford can so easily be guided – and misguided – by fear.” When deciding whether to practice law or pursue acting, Hill’s wise Uncle Frank told him, “If you are making any decision solely based on money, then it is the wrong decision.” All too often we make decisions that are detrimental to our well being out of fear of not having enough money to pay the bills, etc. I think we all need to start listening to Uncle Frank. Sure, money may be an important factor in our decision-making, but it shouldn’t be the only factor. And we shouldn’t allow our fears to trap us into staying in jobs we dislike or living lives that are less than satisfactory we always have to enjoy what we do.

Hill provides his readers with advice on how to be successful and work towards becoming unreasonably happy. One suggestion is to form a “Mastermind Circle”. A Mastermind Circle is a group of individuals with a common goal or interest that acts as a support group where each member gains encouragement and inspiration, and every member contributes. These members do not need to be your friends but they need to be people who have your best interests at heart.

Another piece of advice is to determine that you are going to be happy. Make the conscious decision to pursue happiness in your life. Recognize that “when you decide to be happy, you take control of your life’s direction, as opposed to waiting for the right object to fall in your path or the right job opportunity to crop up.”

Another tip is to recognize the importance of actually talking about money. As Hill says, “If you don’t talk about money, how are you supposed to learn about it?” Ask your parents and trusted friends how they manage their finances or find a trusted adviser and learn as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to talk about money,don’t be afraid to learn about money.

Hill also emphasizes the concept of treating your life as a business. Are you a satisfied customer? Seek consultants to help you just as you would if you were running a business. Consider yourself an architect that is designing and building the business from the ground up. As your own architect, you are in control of your life’s direction.

Finally, and most importantly, Hill emphasizes that “the things we love can, and will, bring us the most joy and – believe it or not – the most wealth.” Don’t discount the things in your life that bring you the greatest joy – chances are, the things at the top of the list will not be money. And, many folks make a living doing the things that they love, so don’t discount the idea that your hobby could turn into a viable business someday. Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement.

So what is Hill’s Wealth Cure? Here’s what Hill has to say: “A true Wealth Cure for me is to seek a balanced healthy relationship with all things in my life, especially money.” And always remember, “Money can carry anything we assign to it. It can carry our doubts, fears, and greed. It can also carry our love, hopes, and generosity.”

The Wealth Cure is a definite must-read! A perfect gift for Christmas!. You feel as if you are sitting right across from Hill and listening to him telling you his own story. You will love it.

Keep the messages coming, next week a review for a great skype conversation recorder, keep the spirit up, keep investing two shares you must have from the Finnish stock market

1) Talvivaara TLV. Is an internationally significant base metals producer with its primary focus on nickel and zinc.

2) Oral ORA The dental care company just recently came to the Finnish market The company is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Oral Hammaslääkärit comprises of 600 dental care professionals. The company's net sales for 2010 amounted to EUR 39.4 million.

Both of them are less than 3euro per share a must have until mid next year.

All about Credit Cards, still Make Millions

2011-11-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

During the last month I have been submerged in celebrations, so days of glory are now gone, a broken door another party, another feast of pleassure, then go back to normal on the objective of the Million waiting for you, waking up another day to celebrate the father's day, back to life once again, another chance, however and when I felt stronger I tested my luck trainning again trying kick boxing and there it was the crude reality a broken rib, nothing to do but wait... and here Iam writting again and now the "credit crunch"

The objective of this post is to pay and help you pay all your credit cards so you and me could have a fresh start for 2012 as I previously stated cash is king, so the main point is to use your credit card only and only then when you really need to...

I have around 7 credit cards and the more I was offered credit, the more I gladly took, now it is common sense that if you have a daily job and a business here and there, then you can easily afford to pay the monthly and yearly fees, so against the general idea of cancelling your credit cards I would say keep them and use them only when you need them, If you have been reading this blog you could have a certain appreciation to use the credit for Investing ...paying back the credit then cash the gains and start all over again...but to get there first we have to undestand how credit cards work,

Have you ever stood behind someone in line at the store and watched him shuffle through a stack of what must be at least 10 credit cards? Consumers with this many cards are still in the minority, but experts say that the majority of U.S. citizens have at least one credit card -- and usually two or three. It's true that credit cards have become important sources of identification If you want to rent a car, for example, you really need a major credit card. And when used wisely, a credit card can provide convenience and allow you to make purchases with nearly a month to pay for them before finance charges kick in.

That sounds good, in theory. But in reality, many consumers are unable to take advantage of these benefits because they carry a balance on their credit card from month to month, paying finance charges that can go up to a whopping 23 percent. Many find it hard to resist using the old "plastic" for impulse purchases or buying things they really can't afford. The numbers are striking: In 2011, American consumers charged about $2.43 trillion on their general-purpose credit cards.

Let's start at the beginning. A credit card is a thin plastic card, usually 3-1/8 inches by 2-1/8 inches in size, that contains identification information such as a signature or picture, and authorizes the person named on it to charge purchases or services to his account -- charges for which he will be billed periodically. Today, the information on the card is read by Automated Teller Machines(ATMs), store readers, banks and Internet computers.

Here are what some of the numbers stand for:

The first digit in your credit-card number signifies the system:

3 - travel/entertainment cards (such as American Express and Diners Club)
4 - Visa
5 - MasterCard
6 - Discover Card

The structure of the card number varies by system. For example, American Express card numbers start with 37; Carte Blanche and Diners Club with 38.

American Express - Digits three and four are type and currency, digits five through 11 are the account number, digits 12 through 14 are the card number within the account and digit 15 is a check digit.
Visa - Digits two through six are the bank number, digits seven through 12 or seven through 15 are the account number and digit 13 or 16 is a check digit.
MasterCard - Digits two and three, two through four, two through five or two through six are the bank number (depending on whether digit two is a 1, 2, 3 or other). The digits after the bank number up through digit 15 are the account number, and digit 16 is a check digit.

Now If you went too deep on the use of the plastic here are some ways to Pay off your debt...remember 2012= "0" bebt.

You can throw the reminders in the Cuisinart or chuck them into a garbage can, but that won't make the debt go away. Debt hovers like a carrion bird over a dying beast, with annual rates of 20% or more compounded monthly, month in and month out. You can't wish it away. But you can pay it down with determination, and the good graces of a few wealthy relatives here are some ways to get out of debt:

1. Pay more than the minimum
First, break the habit of paying only the minimum required each month. Paying the minimum -- usually 2% to 3% of the outstanding balance -- only prolongs the agony. Besides, it's precisely what the banks want you to do. The longer you take to repay the charges, the more interest they make, and the less cash you have in your pocket. Don't play their selfish game.

Here is a good example and demonstration. This is true to the fullest. In case anyone wants to see the math it goes like this...

debt 10,000 - minimum payment 142 = 9,858

9,858 * .17 * 1 / 12 = 140

17% being the interest rate

9,858 + 140 = 9,998

Real amount paid to credit card company = 10,000 - 9,998 = €2.00

Instead, bite the bullet and pay as much as you can each month. If your minimum payment is €100, double that to €200 or more. Examine your normal expenses -- you can find the money. Skip eating out at lunch, and bring it from home instead. Eliminate desserts. Give up happy hour. We all have "luxuries," and you know what yours are.

Make a few sacrifices, and you will find the extra money needed to increase your debt repayments dramatically. Those increased payments will save you hundreds, if not thousands, in interest payments. Plus, you will get out of the hole you've dug for yourself much more quickly. Is it fun? No. But it sure beats living a hand-to-mouth existence, fearing bills each month.

2. Snowball your debt payments
Take a long, hard look at all your credit cards. Pay particular attention to the one with the lowest interest rate. Have you reached the maximum limit on that card? If not, consider transferring a higher-interest bill to that one. Many credit cards permit this, and it's positively Foolish to trade an 18% debt for one at 12%.

If your entire balance is too large to fit on one low-interest card, pay at least the minimum amounts due on all of your cards except one. Funnel the majority of your debt repayments into that card, and pay it off as quickly as possible. When the balance on that card reaches zero, move on to the next with the same aggressive repayment plan.

Lather, rinse, and repeat. This method of repayment is aptly called "snowballing." As your debts decrease, the amount of money you have to attack them increases. Your payments snowball until all of your debt is pummeled. Pretty neat, eh?

Another way to transfer higher-interest debt to a lower-interest card is to take advantage of the promotional offers many banks use to entice you to their line of credit. You've seen the come-ons. "Transfer all your credit card balances to us, and pay just 5.9% until next January." It could be worth it. Moving to 5.9% from 18% interest could mean substantial dollars to you. And the money saved in interest could then be applied toward the principal each month, thus reducing your outstanding debt balance even further.

Take care, though, before you act. Examine the offer closely. Look for the hooks. Will the interest rate after the introductory period be higher than you're paying now? If so, you may have to switch again at that time. That, in turn, could give rise to another surprise. Banks have caught onto the charge card hoppers who switch from card to card to take advantage of the low introductory rates. Many of these offers now stipulate that if you transfer balances from the new card within a 12-month period, the normal interest rate will be applied to all outstanding balances retroactively. That proviso could be a bitter pill to swallow for someone short on cash, and it certainly doesn't help the debt repayment schedule. Read the fine print.

3. Cash out your savings account
Let's say you have 50,000€ on a savings account but 10,00€ on debt then the smartest thing to do is to cash out your savings and investments and use the proceeds toward debt repayment. Yeah, no one wants to do that. But sometimes it's just Foolish not to do so. Even when debt interest is at 12%, your investments would have to pay more than 20% before taxes to equal that outflow of euros. We doubt the euros in your savings account are earning anywhere near that rate of interest. Pay off the debt, and it's the same as getting that 20% return without any risk on your part. The higher the interest rate on your debt, the more attractive repayment versus investment becomes.

4. Finagle family and friends
This is the best strategy but I can't affort to use it not until 100 years from now...perhaps your family or friends could float you a loan. Who else knows, trusts, and loves you like they do? Unless you're really the black sheep of the flock, chances are you'll get a very favorable interest rate. They may even tolerate a late payment or two. But if you want to maintain the relationship, it's best to keep things on the straight and narrow by using a written agreement. You should clearly establish the interest and repayment schedule in writing to avoid misunderstandings and hard feelings. And it goes without saying that you must be scrupulous about adhering to that schedule. Otherwise, you can forget the family reunions and birthday presents.

5. Get a home equity loan
Do you own your own home and have equity that's accumulated through the years as you've paid off the mortgage? If so, now's the time to consider a (HEL) line of credit for the maximum amount possible.

A HEL gives you two ways to save. First, by using the loan proceeds to pay down your debt, you trade something like an 18% loan for a 6%-7% loan. Second, if you itemize deductions on your tax returns, HEL interest is a deductive item under most circumstances. In a 25% marginal tax bracket, the 6% loan really has an effective rate of 4.5%, and that's probably the cheapest interest rate you'll see on personal indebtedness.

The danger here is falling into a common trap. Many get an HEL, pay off existing debt, and then ring up the charges on the credit cards all over again. Now they have the HEL to repay on top of the credit cards. The hole just got much deeper. you can use the HEL to pay off the credit cards, and then keep them paid off until the HEL is repaid.

6. Renegotiate terms with your banks and creditors
OK, you've done all you can. Savings are gone; relatives have been tapped out; you don't have a home to borrow against. You feel like you're against that proverbial wall. The money just isn't there. Is bankruptcy the only way out? No way. Try pulling an ace out of your sleeve prior to taking that step. What ace? The threat of bankruptcy, of course.

Let your creditors know your situation. Tell them that if you are unable to renegotiate terms, you'll have no other recourse but to declare bankruptcy. Ask for a new and lower repayment schedule; request a lower interest rate; and appeal to their desire to receive payment. Faced with the prospect that you may resort to such a drastic step, creditors will do what they can to protect themselves against a total loss.

Indeed, many will negotiate away the farm before they'll write off your debt. As I love to say, "everything is negotiable" Therefore, what do you have to lose, except time? It's worth a try. And if you don't wish to do this yourself, organizations exist that can do it for you.

7. As a last resort, file bankruptcy
What if you decide you can't pay down your debt using any of the methods listed above? What should you do? The absolute last resort is bankruptcy. Within Fooldom, I firmly believe everyone has a moral obligation to repay their debts to the utmost of their ability. There are times, though, when repayment may be impossible. In those cases, bankruptcy may be the only available course of action. Nevertheless, be aware of the significant drawbacks.

Your credit record will contain this information for 10 years, thus ensuring you will have a tough time obtaining credit you can afford during that period. Additionally, as odd as it seems, it costs money to file for bankruptcy. Attorney and court filing fees cost in the hundreds of dollars, and they must be paid to obtain the relief sought. Finally, bankruptcy laws have gotten a lot tougher in recent years, so you may not qualify for complete relief.

There are two types of personal bankruptcy relief: Is straight bankruptcy that allows the discharge of almost all debts. Those that aren't discharged are alimony, child support, taxes, loans obtained through filing false financial statements, loans not listed in the bankruptcy petition, legal judgments against the petitioner, and student loans.

While you are relieved of the responsibility of repaying most creditors, you may have to surrender much of your property to help satisfy the debt. However, different countries have different laws that grant you exemptions on certain types of property, such as a certain amount of equity in your home, a low-value vehicle, small amounts of jewelry and other personal property, and tools you use in your trade or business. These exemptions usually aren't huge, but they do mean you won't have to start over with absolutely nothing.

You can keep your property but surrender control of your finances to the bankruptcy court. The court approves a repayment plan based on your financial resources that provides for repayment of all or part of your debt over a three-to-five-year period. During that time, your creditors are not allowed to harass you for repayment. You also incur no interest charges on the indebtedness during the repayment period. When all conditions of the court-approved plan have been fulfilled, you emerge debt-free from the bankruptcy.

Now here is the trick make the credit cards work for you and understand the numbers involved and there will be great gratifications.

I just got an e mail from one of my business partners and it seems that I got paid to plubish two articles a month even when I love what I do... I totally forgot this agreement so I will write as much as possible until December. So I can start a positive healthy 2012 in search of the Million Euros in less than 5 years...let's keep the journey toguether!

Here is some inside info I got from the City Boy,

Healthy Living Leads to Wealthy Living

2011-10-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason why obesity is at record levels throughout most of the industrialized world is because high quantities of food and high volumes of food consumption are historical components of survival and success. Humans are hardwired to equate edibles with wealth, and rightly so – we have to eat to live. But the mistake so often made in modern times, especially in industrialized societies, is that we feel we must continue to maximize our food consumption despite the fact that virtually no one in these societies is at risk for malnutrition if they commit to modest diets. The result is not only unhealthy living, but the curtailment of goals to grow personal wealth. Nothing is free, especially not food.

Measures to reduce the daily costs of living usually amount to decreased entertainment and a transition to prepaid phones and other forced limitations on spending. Yet they very rarely involve cutting down on the calories. Our natural survivalist instincts keep us from wanting to limit the food we feed ourselves and our children, yet for more reasons than just the savings such a decision could be soundly beneficial. The cost savings can and will take a back seat to the self-improvement seen if healthier approaches to eating are taken.

The federal government of the United States under President Barack Obama is encouraging American citizens to plan their meals through effective understanding of proper portions. This measure, enacted primarily through the website MyPlate.gov, is best conveyed via the update to the American food pyramid, which has now become a plate pied up into four separate sections of differing size, each identified by their food group. It's matter-of-fact limited courses such as these that not only help families improve their healthiness, but also beef up the sum of their available spending money.

The math is simple. Two helpings per meal per day reduced down to one can decrease monthly grocery bills by 50%. Chances are the reduction will in no way make members of your family become malnourished. Instead, chances are that your family will start consuming healthier portions than they otherwise would. It's a win-win situation for families looking to earn more income and stay physically fit.

Auditing, overhauling, and regulating family food consumption is a guaranteed way to not only make your family healthier but make your family wealthier. There's no reason to pack on extra pounds when you could be saving extra pounds instead. Put your family on the path to a better life by limiting what gets put on their plates. Autumn is here don´t let it get you down, keep moving keep writing me a thousand success stories are waitting to happen and Millions are ment to be made.

Cash is king if you know how to use it!

2011-09-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

After having a two week holiday all around the Nordic countries, I had the time and pleasure to enjoy many of the fruitful conversations with my beloved aunt, she knows my purpose, One Million Euros in less than five years...the Holliday was awesome, in fact I haven't been able to sit and recapitulate until now I have been busy with the pleassures of life.

During all this time I was totally surprised that Hill Harper a New York Times Bestselling author, with titles including The Conversation, Letters to a Young Sister, and Letters to a Young Brother, has contacted me. Hill is a graduate of Harvard and Brown Universities, and when he's not writing, he stars on CSI: NY. Hill has contacted me to write a review of his newest book The Wealth Cure which looks at wealth as a reward of a gratifying life full of rich experiences, instead of in the monetary sense of it. While he does share ways to create financial stability, he reflects upon the idea that there is much more to personal wealth than money. The Wealth Cure came out August 23, 2011and it's going to be my pleasure to review his book in my blog soon.

Also Thomas Herold, Wealth Educator and Financial Author has contacted for the same purpose a review on his new book Building Wealth with Silver His new book reveals the most crucial facts on what’s happening with the world economy. How we got into this mess and what’s likely to happen in the coming years. It’s an essential guide that helps people protect their money from inflation. It also gives profound insider tips on how to make a fortune by investing in silver now.

But on the Stock Market arena I have to say it straight forward, right now it is advisable to cash out immediately I know I shouldn't be saying this because I love the game but I just did, I sold almost all my positions in the Stock Market because I just got the idea that we as humans we respond to all the social interactions of the external influences meaning that now summer is gone and difficult times are approaching but we have to remember the fact that when there are losers there are also winners so better be on the right side of the spectrum.

Investors seem finally to be taking the full measure of the panoply of risks and the exceptional uncertainty they face. What are their options in the current context?

Gold, perhaps the oldest refuge of nervous money, has attracted enormous interest from investors who have been rattled by the financial crisis. As of Thursday, gold’s annualized real return over the past five years is a stunning 18.3%. That rise has pushed gold into bubble territory, diminishing its claim to safe haven status; putting money into a bubble is hardly a prescription for capital preservation.

The yellow metal is even overpriced against our second candidate, the Swiss franc—despite the fact that the franc itself also looks overheated, as Buttonwood remarked last month. The Swiss National Bank, which is not prone to hyperbole, called its currency “massively overvalued” and promptly cut the target range for its key policy rate to 0.00-0.25%. The franc has appreciated by close to 40% against the euro since January 2010.

Finally, Treasuries are a reflexive choice in a crisis. Sure enough, the 10-year yield fell by roughly 20 basis points (yield is inversely related to bond prices), but locking in a 2.40% nominal yield is more akin to surrender than a genuine defensive strategy. Naturally, you can sell the bonds before they mature i just did, but that leaves you exposed to price risk.

In the flight to safety, however, investors are overlooking one asset class: Cash. Not all investors, mind you. The Quantum Endowment Fund—George Soros’s vehicle—is reportedly 75% in cash. At FPA Capital, Robert Rodriguez, a respected value investor and one of the few people to anticipate the credit crisis, has over 30% of his flagship fund in cash. And in an interview published on July 23rd, the head of PIMCO, Mohamed El-Erian told Barron’s:

And don't underestimate the value of cash; in a volatile world both good and bad assets are impacted, and the higher the probability of being able to buy good assets at really cheap levels. You don't want to be fully invested today.

In my own Multi-Asset Fund, JC'S holdings which I manage and control, I have 60% cash, which is very significant planning to make an agreemen on diversifying some of the Investments.

As Mr El-Erian suggests, cash has a characteristic that is often overlooked: its optional. Having cash on hand in a volatile market gives you the flexibility to purchase assets in the future at discounted prices. And that is exactly my next strategy purchase assets at discounted prices, It’s a mistake to feel compelled to be fully invested in an environment in which there are few attractive opportunities. Or as hedge-fund manager Seth Klarman puts it: "Why should the immediate opportunity set be the only one considered, when tomorrows may well be considerably more fertile than todays?" During periods of significant dislocation, when other investors are forced to liquidate positions, cash’s embedded option becomes particularly valuable.

The best measures of long-term value—the q ratio and the cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio—both suggest stocks are overvalued, even after the recent price declines. What if those discounted prices never materialise? It’s true that markets can remain expensive for long periods before value re-asserts itself, but the numerous risks in today’s environment are potential catalysts for that process to occur. When it does, prices typically overshoot on the downside along the way, at which point buying opportunities will come.

Keep writing me, keep thinking, and keep winning!

Why Leaders Fail & How to overcome failure.

2011-08-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Donald Trump, paragon of the real estate world, files for bankruptcy. Richard Nixon, 37th U.S. President, resigns the presidency over the Watergate scandal. Jennifer Capriati, rising tennis star, enters a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. Jim Bakker, renowned televangelist, is convicted of fraud.

In the recent past, we’ve witnessed the public downfall of leaders from almost every area of endeavor — business, politics, religion, and sports. One day they’re on top of the heap, the next, the heap’s on top of them.

Of course, we think that such catastrophic failure could never happen to us. We’ve worked hard to achieve our well-deserved positions of leadership — and we won’t give them up for anything! The bad news is: the distance between beloved leader and despised failure is shorter than we think.

Why Leaders fail?

1: A Shift in Focus

This shift can occur in several ways. Often, leaders simply lose sight of what’s important. The laser-like focus that catapulted them to the top disappears, and they become distracted by the trappings of leadership, such as wealth and notoriety, parties and pleassure.

Leaders are usually distinguished by their ability to “think big.” But when their focus shifts, they suddenly start thinking small. They micro manage, they get caught up in details better left to others, they become consumed with the trivial and unimportant. And to make matters worse, this tendency can be exacerbated by an inclination toward perfectionism.

A more subtle leadership derailer is an obsession with “doing” rather than “becoming.” The good work of leadership is usually a result of who the leader is. What the leader does then flows naturally from inner vision and character. It is possible for a leader to become too action oriented and, in the process, lose touch with the more important development of self.

What is your primary focus right now? If you can’t write it on the back of a napkin, then it’s a sure bet that your leadership is suffering from a lack of clarity. Take the time necessary to get your focus back on what’s important.

Further, would you describe your thinking as expansive or contractive? Of course, you always should be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, but try never to take on what others can do as well as you. In short, make sure that your focus is on leading rather than doing.

Poor Communication

A lack of focus and its resulting disorientation typically lead to poor communication. Followers can’t possibly understand a leader’s intent when the leader him- or herself isn’t sure what it is! And when leaders are unclear about their own purpose, they often hide their confusion and uncertainty in ambiguous communication.

Sometimes, leaders fall into the clairvoyance trap. In other words, they begin to believe that truly committed followers automatically sense their goals and know what they want without being told. Misunderstanding is seen by such managers as a lack of effort (or commitment) on the listener’s part, rather than their own communication negligence.

“Say what you mean, and mean what you say” is timeless advice, but it must be preceded by knowing what you mean! An underlying clarity of purpose is the starting point for all effective communication. It’s only when you’re absolutely clear about what you want to convey that the hard work of communicating pays dividends.

Risk Aversion

Leaders at risk often begin to be driven by a fear of failure rather than the desire to succeed. Past successes create pressure for leaders: “Will I be able to sustain outstanding performance?” “What will I do for an encore?” In fact, the longer a leader is successful, the higher his or her perceived cost of failure.

When driven by the fear of failure, leaders are unable to take reasonable risks. They want to do only the tried and proven; attempts at innovation — typically a key to their initial success — diminish and eventually disappear.

Which is more important to you: the attempt or the outcome? Are you still taking reasonable risks? Prudent leadership never takes reckless chances that risk the destruction of what has been achieved, but neither is it paralyzed by fear. Often the dance of leadership is two steps forward, one step back.

Ethics Slip

A leader’s credibility is the result of two aspects: what he or she does (competency) and who he or she is (character). A discrepancy between these two aspects creates an integrity problem.

The highest principle of leadership is integrity. When integrity ceases to be a leader’s top priority, when a compromise of ethics is rationalized away as necessary for the “greater good,” when achieving results becomes more important than the means to their achievement — that is the moment when a leader steps onto the slippery slop of failure.

Often such leaders see their followers as pawns, a mere means to an end, thus confusing manipulation with leadership. These leaders lose empathy. They cease to be people “perceivers” and become people “pleasers,” using popularity to ease the guilt of lapsed integrity.

It is imperative to your leadership that you constantly subject your life and work to the highest scrutiny. Are there areas of conflict between what you believe and how you behave? Has compromise crept into your operational tool kit? One way to find out is to ask the people you depend on if they ever feel used or taken for granted.

Poor Self Management

Tragically, if a leader doesn’t take care of him- or herself, no one else will. Unless a leader is blessed to be surrounded by more-sensitive-than-normal followers, nobody will pick up on the signs of fatigue and stress. Leaders are often perceived to be superhuman, running on unlimited energy.

While leadership is invigorating, it is also tiring. Leaders who fail to take care of their physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs are headed for disaster. Think of having a gauge for each of these four areas of your life — and check them often! When a gauge reaches the “empty” point, make time for refreshment and replenishment. Clear your schedule and take care of yourself — it’s absolutely vital to your leadership that you continue to grow and develop, a task that can be accomplished only when your tanks are full.

Lost Love

The last warning sign of impending disaster that leaders need to heed is a move away from their first love and dream. Paradoxically, the hard work of leadership should be fulfilling and even fun. But when leaders lose sight of the dream that compelled them to accept the responsibility of leadership, they can find themselves working for causes that mean little to them. They must stick to what they love, what motivated them at the first, to maintain the fulfillment of leadership.

To make sure that you stay on the track of following your first love, frequently ask yourself these three questions: Why did I initially assume leadership? Have those reasons changed? Do I still want to lead?

Heed the Signs

The warning signs in life — from stop lights to prescription labels — are there for our good. They protect us from disaster, and we would be foolish to ignore them. As you consider the six warning signs of leadership failure, don’t be afraid to take an honest look at yourself. If any of the warnings ring true, take action today! The good news is: by paying attention to these signs and heeding their warnings, you can avoid disaster and sustain the kind of leadership that is healthy and fulfilling both for yourself and your followers.

At this prescise moment, I am enjoying a glass of red wine, thinking about my wife my kids and my family and updating my blog. Today I have also been thinking about the mistakes I have made. If you are a leader, good luck the pitfalls are numerous. And to my wife, that has managed to stay married to me for all these years. I love you; you are strong, smart and amazing. I am still looking to give you the paradise I promissed.

Sometimes leaders are sunk. Going down. Headed for disaster. Immediate thoughts when an event, a phone call, the beach the party and then all, goes completely wrong. We’ve all been there. The feeling of dread, mixed with embarrassment and worry. Even worse if people were counting on you and you are going to have to let them down. But who says that failure is the only option when problems arise?

“The conquering of adversity produces strength of character, forges self-confidence, engenders self-respect, and assures success in righteous endeavor.” – Richard G. Scott

Yes, it can be difficult to pull yourself up and try to figure out a solution when everything looks bleak, but there are some steps that you can take to lead to towards *hopefully* a new solution.

Look at it from a different angle. I am sure many of you glanced at this picture and saw a sinking ship. Reality? The boat isn’t actually sinking, it is the angle of the shot. Captured at just the right moment, it just looks like the back end is under. It’s not really a disaster, it just looks like one. Next time you feel like something is crashing down around you, see what other angles you can look from – you may be surprised what you find.

If all else fails, be honest. If at the end of the day, nothing can save the event, the date, the whatever…just be honest. Don’t sit an complain about how everything fell apart, but do tell people what happened. People appreciate honesty, and understand that we are all human.

Don't panic. Assess, review, regroup, be grateful. In any situation there are worse scenarios...as a rule. Count your blessings. Keep the faith...faith suggest rhyme and reason...which in turn suggests that all things can have a positive aspect. Try to see the silver lining. Also try to understand what you could have done better, find the cause...this is not about blame it is about cause. Fix the cause and you fix the affect.

Learn how to: Instead of making a mountain out of a molehill, learn how to make molehills out of mountains. It is not the end of the world. It's not a killer tsunami. Forget the small stuff: its all small stuff. Breathe. Regroup. Get council. Attack anew. And remember this set back or "failure" will help you and others in the future. Ten years later you may be giving council to someone who has failed...you will know what to say because you too have gone through the fire. Fire purifies...it is all good. but at the same time, you can never downgrade. it’s all up from there and the most important we are still alive.

Imagine The Millions!

2011-07-11T11:26:00.001-07:00

On my quest to make a Million Euros in less than five years summer is here so hot and bright
I realise that we are but an Ilussion, once John Lennon entitled a song "Imagine." Thoreau once said: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." Neville once said: "Imagination is the very gateway of reality."

Are you waking up to a new way of being? Can you feel something rumbling deep within you, calling out to live more creatively, successfully, joyfully? When you see a radiant beautifull face can you feel the need to kiss it?

The fragmented ways of your old thinking cannot bridge the divide between mind and matter, body and soul, challenges and dreams.

What if you build your finances, your business, your health, your relationships and your life around imagination and use your mental images, thoughts and feelings to attract the fulfillment of your dreams?

By intentionally shifting into new states of consciousness you can change your blueprints of reality and affect your world.

Imagination is power and you have it! Imagining creates reality, Use your Ilussion...

Life is a white paper.
So why are so many starving to death with unfulfilled desires? Laziness, complacency, no time, fear of the unknown - you name it and the excuses line up.It's up to you to change your subconscious mind with beneficial images of success. Doing this allows you to shift from undesirable patterns of being disempowered into habits that empower you.

Everything begins with a dream, a purpose or a goal.
Being able to focus and concentrate in the midst of chaos gives you the Winner's advantage.

You are a "focuser of energy." Focus plus uplifted emotional moods are the keys to your success. Whatever you do, never lose focus!

Everybody wants a better life, but if you do the same old things in the same old way you will get the same old results.

If a farmer plants corn seeds, he gets corn; he doesn't get tomatoes. If you focus on failure, poverty, or violent ideas how will you harvest success, wealth, or peace. If you want to change the results you are getting, you must change your images, because thought is creative.

How to begin? First you must have a desire that is far greater than what you are currently experiencing that´s the simple reason why I set my goal to one Million Euros not sixty thousand or one hundred but a Million.

The world is a series of pictures, frames in a piece of film, or states of consciousness. What you are conscious of is real to you because you think and feel it is real.

Your world is your very own personal mirror, forever mirroring your thoughts. It is your dream or your nightmare.

What would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?
What would be different in your life and how would you feel if you realized your dream?

The key to Intentional Creation is to know that everything is first created in your own imagination from an idea. It is then projected out into the world as experience. If your experiences aren't fulfilling, or what you had hoped for, then perhaps it is time to shift into a new state of awareness! and have always new challenges!

Just Imagine
Images or mental pictures are your prayers. Your inner blueprints (images) determine your behavior and the results you attract in life. They set the boundaries for what you can and cannot accept. Living your life without a proper success image is like building a house without a blueprint.

- Do you know how to design a success blueprint?
- Is your dream worthy of your talents and time?
- Would having it enable you to help those you love?
- What will becoming a conscious imagist do for you?

Here are some Keys to Fulfilling Your Dream and Achieving Your Goal:

Design a mind-compelling blueprint for success that has deep meaning for you to complete.

Propel yourself into action. Never despair over the time it takes for your dream to become a living reality.

Focus! Concentrate on your goal, not the challenge and you will burn a hole in anything that stands in the way of your success.

Expand your thoughts as you modify your habits and behavior.

Be patient. Recycle feelings of anger and fear into joy and gratitude.

Be receptive and responsive to inner guidance and outer assistance.

Success in any endeavor is measured by your belief in your deeper self.

Walk in the awareness of answered prayer.

What kind of mental image do you hold of yourself?
Everything you attract is an expression of your beliefs. Every person, your job, income, kinds of friends all correspond to your inner blueprints.

Nothing is impossible to Imagination not poverty, stress, and not even adversity. Riches are within your reach.

Anything you dream of - a healthy body, gainful employment, loyal friends, or a greater understanding of the Source of Supply can be summoned, once you consistently practice it. Imagine what you will attract once you know how to consciously use the Power of Imagination on your own behalf.

John Lennon - Imagine by hushhush112

Your ability to succeed is unlimited. Never close a door on a dream, your dreams are calling you!

Keep writting me, Enjoy the summer and Be Happy!!!

Zynga is Going Public Before Facebook!

2011-06-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Another day, another idea to make one Million Euros in less than 5 years, another experience of Victory, at the black jack table a few weeks ago it was a Victory that got me closer to my objective, more summer celebrations enjoying the daily job at it's best and another report suggesting that another rapidly-growing web company could be about to strike it rich again. This time it’s the Wall Street Journal, suggesting that Zynga is out to raise a new $250 million round of funding (one that comes on top of the $500m it already has). It would, the report suggests, value the company at $7 billion.

That could be big news: Zynga’s been on a tear recently, buying out social browser Flock and New York’s Area/Code. But this latest morsel is likely to raise all sorts of questions. Is the company worth that much? Does it have the legs to continue growing at the same pace? What would new investors want to see? And, inevitably, are we seeing a bubble inflate? The bubble is more than Obvious my advise would be to stay on the Winning side of the spectrum

Those are all valid concerns, but I think the questions that potential investors should focus on are the ones around the company’s most pressing dilemma: its relationship with Facebook.

The two services have gone through their ups and downs, there is undoubtedly a symbiotic relationship between them. Zynga couldn’t exist without Facebook, which has given titles like Farmville and Mafia Wars a platform to succeed I have to mention that I even stopped playing Maffia wars 6 months ago when I realized that the more I conquer the more they create to keep me wasting my time, time that is of most value when tradding in the real world. And while Facebook might not like to admit it has been boosted by Zynga’s efforts, the levels of engagement that social games bring to it are financially important, both in terms of advertising and virtual currencies.

There’s little doubt that without each other, the two businesses would be smaller than they are today.

So then you start to wonder whether Zynga can — or should — float before Facebook does. How much of its value would be tied up in a private pseudo-parent? How much effort should it put into moving away from Facebook? This theoretical round of funding will no doubt generate speculation about a potential stock market flotation, not least because other outfits such as LinkedIn and Pandora are both winners on the real game. But until the relationship between Zynga and Facebook is clearer, it’s difficult to know what dangers the company and its investors could expose themselves to on the public markets.

This is made even more complex because waiting for Facebook may be trouble in and of itself. Few months ago it was pointed out that Mark Zuckerberg and his pals are considering a private share issue and don’t seem in any rush to go public.

That leaves Mark Pincus and Zynga’s board of directors in a strange position. What if they leave it too long to make a decision? I’m not sure what the answer is, or what the outcome would be. Any ideas? Feel free to leave them in the comments or send me an e mail.

Linked in First Trade, $175 million gift

2011-05-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

LinkedIn, which was founded in 2003. has begin trading its shares, under the symbol LNKD, on the New York Stock Exchange this morning. As we learned yesterday, LinkedIn priced its IPO at $45 per share, giving the company a valuation of $4.5 billion. Today, the company began trading at $83.00 per share, a 84 percent increase from $45 per share. That’s a $7.8 billion market cap. It’s now up to $90 per share, LinkedIn is offering a total of 7,840,000 shares and is looking to raise as much as $406 million in the offering. Currently there are 94.5 million shares outstanding plus 1,176,000 shares to cover over-allotments. If the company sold the over allotment, LinkedIn’s valuation could be as high as $8.5 billion.

This is the the biggest U.S. Internet IPO since Google. Yes, that’s right. LinkedIn, which barely made $15 million in earnings last year, is worth about $8.5 billion.

Let me be more clear on this, LinkedIn’s IPO, which priced last night at $45 a share, now has doubled in early trading, up to $90 a share.

LinkedIn's underwriters, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, just fooled the company and its shareholders to the tune of an astounding $175 million. By wildly underpricing the deal and selling LinkedIn's stock to institutional clients way too cheaply.

LinkedIn's stock was trading above $80+ a share earlier this morning. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley sold the same stock to their best institutional clients at $45 a share last night. The value of LinkedIn-the-company, it seems safe to say, has not appreciated by 90%+ in the past 12 hours. And that means that, on its underwriters' advice, LinkedIn sold its stock way too cheaply. It also means that the institutional investors who bought LinkedIn's stock last night are high-fiving each other this morning, celebrating their instantaneous 90% gain. (Lots of them are probably also selling some stock).

By underpricing the stock, Morgan and BOFA gave their best institutional clients a gift of at least $175 million this morning. And that money came right out of LinkedIn's pockets and the pockets of the LinkedIn shareholders who sold on the deal.

(Specifically, assuming a fairer price for the stock would have been about $60, LinkedIn probably left about $130 million on the table. LinkedIn's selling shareholders, meanwhile, left about $50 million.)

And the best part of this screwing is the fact that LinkedIn probably has no idea it got screwed. In fact, the company is probably thrilled with the IPO result. Why? Because they've been told for so long, by so many people, that having a big "first day pop" is what every company should pray for in their IPO.

But it isn't.

Here's a simple analogy:

Imagine if the trusted real-estate agent you hired to sell your house persuaded you to sell it to her best client for $1,000,000 by telling you this was the best price she could get. And then, the next morning, the person who bought your house immediately turned around and sold it for $2,000,000 (using the agent to sell it, naturally).

And it's also true that underwriters should always try to modestly underprice deals, to the tune of a 10%-15% "IPO discount." They do this to reward institutions for taking the risk of analyzing and buying the stock of an unproven company. If there were no discount on IPOs, there would be little incentive for big investors to play ball before the offering: They'd just wait until the stock started trading and buy it then. This, in turn, would make it harder for companies to raise capital. So the modest discount, in which companies and underwriters reward investors with a good deal, makes sense.

But there's a huge difference between at 10%-15% IPO discount and a ~50% discount, which is what LinkedIn's IPO just sold for. The institutions that bought the LinkedIn stock last night are now 100% richer, just by virtue of being good clients of BOFA and Morgan. And that money came right out of the pockets of LinkedIn and the LinkedIn investors who sold on the deal.

If LinkedIn can sustain a price above, say, $75 a share, BOFA and Morgan should have sold it to institutions at $60. Because the stock was instead sold at $45, LinkedIn and its existing investors just got screwed to the tune of $175 million.

While this makes LinkedIn look like the greatest thing there are a couple of huge caution flags in this monster opening jump, One, the underwriters left a LOT of money on the table. Given this level of demand for LinkedIn stock, this IPO could have been priced much, much higher.

That would have meant more money into the coffers of LinkedIn, rather than into the pockets of the investment community. At $90 a share, LinkedIn and its selling stockholders would have raised $705 million rather than $352.8 million.

Second, the LinkedIn stock debut must raise huge questions about the private markets for selling shares in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other non-public companies. Shares of LinkedIn on those thinly traded markets such as SharesPost valued the company at $2.5 billion. If the private market valuations are off by so much, how much can we trust them?

This is the perfect scenario to see if a new bubble is being created or if it pays off to be a big client of Morgan and BOFA, at the end of the line, clients will always keep coming back for more.I really want to see the happy ending of this until then... keep writting, keep investing, 1 Million euros in less than 5 years let's make it happen.

The Millions in the World Press 2011 Amsterdam

2011-05-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

The song and the goal remains the same a Million Euros in less than 5 years and a week of a getaway took me to my third home in Amsterdam I lived unbelievable memories missing my family but reassuring the ethernal friendship...

On my last day I got to walk alone and found myself out of the everyday working, exchanging, trading, monotonic investing way of life and I was submerged in the crude reality of life for a couple of hours I was suffering while trying to understand the images of the World press photo contest 2011

The annual World Press Photo Exhibition is the best known of World Press Photo's activities and is a leading event in the organization's calendar. Every year following the World Press Photo Contest, the winning images go on tour. In April, the exhibition was officially opened in Amsterdam and can be seen at venues around the globe until March of the next year. The tour program takes in approximately 100 cities in 45 countries and is still expanding.

The exhibition is a showcase for creativity in photojournalism and a platform for developments in the profession, part of World Press Photo's aim of encouraging and stimulating the work of press photographers around the world. The show also attracts a broader public and, because of the wide-ranging focus of the contest, forms an eyewitness record of world events from the previous year.

There were images that will stay in my memory forever and some of them were so raw that I could not find the difference between art, photojournalism and yellow journalism. Here are some of my findings:

"Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, emerges from a panel discussion at the University of London. During the year, WikiLeaks had made public a large batch of classified US military documents on Iraq and Afghanistan. It went on to release sensitive correspondence between American, Middle-Eastern, and other international diplomats, including revelations on the stance taken by Palestinian negotiators in connection with Israel. At the beginning of September, the Swedish Director of Prosecutions re-opened a previously dropped case against Assange on allegations of sexual assault. The following month an international warrant was issued for his arrest, sparking accusations of a smear campaign".

"People press through the crowd at the Love Parade in Duisburg, Germany, in a crush that left 21 dead and more than 500 injured. The Love Parade, a public party and music festival first held in Berlin in 1989, has attained cult status around the world. The Duisburg event, held on festival grounds at the site of a disused railway depot, had only one entrance - a tunnel 100 meters long and 16 meters wide. Revelers packed into the tunnel after police attempted to control access to the grounds. Estimates after the event put attendance figures at 1.4 million, but a later police statement reduced that to 400,000. Argument continued for months as to who was responsible for the disaster and an official investigation into the affair looked set to drag on into 2012. The head organizer of the Love Parade announced that the festival would not be held again".

"Julie sits with Rachel, aged 3 months, in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco, where she lives with her partner Jack, who, like her, is HIV positive. The Julie Project. For 18 years the photographer documented the life of Julie Baird, whom she met by chance in San Francisco. Julie was then 18 and HIV positive, with a newborn child and a history of drug abuse. The photographer aimed to provide an in-depth look at poverty, Aids and other social issues by focusing on one woman’s struggle. Later, she wanted the project also to be a record for Julie’s children of their mother’s story, after Julie lost custody and had to give them up for adoption".

"The photo that first appeared in Berlingske in September. In the Name of Victoria. In September, a Danish daily newspaper ran a picture of an 18-month-old orphan from Nepal with hydrocephalus – the condition also known as ‘water on the brain’. She had been abandoned at birth and had no name – though hospital staff called her Ghane (‘Bighead’). Although the condition can be treated in the West, doctors in the hospital could not help her. Danish business executive Cecilie M. Hansen was deeply affected by the photo and decided to try to help the little girl. Cecilie visited Nepal, gave the girl a name – Victoria, for victory – and made arrangements with Nepal’s leading neurology clinic to operate, covering the cost herself. Because nothing had been done to relieve Victoria’s condition since birth, surgery was risky. In the time Cecilie was in Nepal, she bonded closely with Victoria, but eventually had to return to Denmark. A few days after arriving home she heard that despite doctors’ efforts, Victoria had died from heart failure".

"Milan Fashion Week. The show of TV star-turned-fashion designer Valeria Marini"

"Matador Julio Aparicio is gored by a bull after losing his footing during a bullfight in Madrid. One of the animal's horns pierced his throat and punched through the bottom of his mouth, puncturing his tongue and fracturing his jaw. After an emergency one-hour operation in the medical center at the bullring, Aparicio was transferred to hospital for further surgery. He recovered, and returned to the ring in August".

"The Netherlands' Demy de Zeeuw is accidentally kicked in the face by Uruguay's Martin Caceres during a World Cup semi-final soccer match in Cape Town, South Africa on 6 July. The Dutch won the match 3-2. De Zeeuw was taken to hospital with a suspected broken jaw. He was later able to rejoin his teammates but was not selected to play in the final, when the Dutch lost 0-1 to Spain".

Overall it was a great weekend full of surprises and now back in business waitting to fulfill dreams that will become true soon, just with the idea that time goes by... and I want to keep the real moments forever. keep writing keep dreaming a Million euros in less than 5 years welcome to my journey...

Playboy Party Warren Buffet & Inside trading

2011-04-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Finally it seems that the last fling of winter is over … The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it. It is warm now to the touch, it has come alive, it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell and the objective to make One Million Euros seems closer than ever, being one year wiser and with the magic number on my side, helps me to reinvigorate the spirit, a flow of celebrations... and the sun has come to stay.

During my birthday I was invited to the Official Playboy Party in Helsinki Finland. For the 2nd annual time The Tiger nightclub hosts a party for the one and only in the adult magazine industry. It was a night to remember filled with the classic Playboy flavour, excellent music and all the right people.

Rock 'n' roll star, king, czar, and a kaiser / A room full of friends / A mouth full of cake ...

On the Investing arena Warren Buffett should be directly responding to the unprecedented criticism he is facing over the behaviour of his one-time heir apparent, but experts fear he is being hampered by a lack of corporate management or board depth.

Buffett has maintained his planned silence following the March 30 letter in which he disclosed David Sokol’s resignation and now-questioned investment in Lubrizol Corp. In the meantime, though, he has been slammed with the kind of rebukes and questioning from the media and investors that he just isn’t used to.

Even journalists with whom he has engaged often, like Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times, have taken Buffett to task.

Sorkin — one of three reporters designated to ask Buffett questions at Berkshire’s annual meeting — has written two columns in the past week questioning his handling of the whole episode, which netted Sokol about $3 million in profits.

Image experts say Buffett cannot wait until that April 30-May 1 annual weekend gathering to address an issue that threatens to overshadow an event he calls the “Woodstock for Capitalism,” usually a multi-day celebration of all things Berkshire for an adoring crowd of 40,000 or more shareholders.

“If I were counseling Buffett I would recommend a very frank and complete discussion soon — 25 days is too long to wait,” said Lew Phelps, head, energy practice, Sitrick & Co, a top crisis communications firm. “There’s obviously a lot of concern in the marketplace about what this means. This is a situation where silence is not golden.”

The situation was compounded when Sokol went on the CNBC cable channel on March 31 and defended himself, noting that he was not the only Berkshire executive to recommend investing in a company after buying stock in it. Berkshire vice-chairman Charlie Munger did the same, he said, with Chinese car maker BYD.

Sokol was called out in a filing by Lubrizol late Monday. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Sokol knew Lubrizol intended to discuss a deal with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. That’s months before Sokol bought a $10 million stake in Lubrizol. He ended up reaping a $3 million profit under the terms of the $9 billion cash deal. See SEC filing for more details.

Until now, Buffett has stood by Sokol’s story that the investment didn’t break the law. Many legal analysts have agreed, though many said Sokol’s trading was a borderline transaction. Roger Altman, who advised Lubrizol, conceded that “it wasn’t Mr. Sokol’s finest hour.”

Legal analysts will now have to decide if Sokol used “nonpublic, material information” as the law defines it, to make an inside trade.

There is, of course, no evidence Buffett knew how Sokol acquired the information or that Sokol told him about the meeting with Citigroup Inc bankers where Lubrizol says he learned of the talks.

But even if Buffett didn’t know, it doesn’t reflect well on him. Sokol’s meeting with Citigroup bankers about potential deals — and he didn’t report back to Buffett? At the very least, Buffett has shown an error in judgment when it comes to picking a successor.

Not as bad, perhaps, as trading ahead of a deal. But if there’s one thing Buffett seemed to have a grasp on, it’s knowing all of the ins and outs of every deal, especially those he built. So lets remember that Every dog has its day...keep writing me, keep connecting, keep Investing keep in touch and keep winning!!!

Why Even Millionaires Need Deposit Accounts

2011-03-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

During this days the winter is comming to an end and somehow the air seems fresher, the stockmarket is running steady, time to celebrate all women, and with the constant idea of filling all ways possible to Make One Million Euros in less than 5 years, the energy attracts new connections, one of them is my new friend. Brandon Rowe he is the webmaster at Bromoney.com an expert on deposit accounts, he kindly offers me to write for my blog an offer I could not refuse, he also gave us for free his just created savings rate firefox addon that you will find at the end of this post enjoy!

Everyone knows that the stock market is the best place to get a strong return on your investments. It's no surprise that the wealthiest people keep their money there in order to get the most out of their wealth. However, the big drawback to the stock market is risk. We all saw how risky the stock market can be for the short term. The Dow Jones dropped over 50% during the recession and it has taken quite a while and it still isn't back to the highs of where it was before the plunge. Over the long term it will end up being a great investment, but it has the potential to have stretches of years where you make no money or even lose money.

So what should investors do about this? Everybody should have some of their investments in deposit accounts because they are insured funds. You can't beat a guaranteed return on your investment now can you? Now when looking at bank deposit accounts, there are two main types you should be invested in: http://www.bromoney.com/savings-account-interest-rates">high yield savings and certificates of deposit.

Certificates of deposits, or CDs, allow you to lock in a guaranteed rate for a specified period of time. The catch is that you can neither deposit money or take money out of a CD. The trade-off is that CDs usually have higher yields than your standard savings account.

With a savings account the interest rate you get is variable. It can change every month, so you're not guaranteed that your rate will remain high for years to come. You should invest some of your money in both types of accounts. This is true of not only for millionaires, but everybody. Some of your money can be locked away in CDs, and some can be stored in savings accounts, where you will be able to access the cash any time you please. These accounts give you access to cash when you need it, and also give you a return on your investment while giving you the peace of mind in knowing that you won't lose money while investing in deposit accounts.

Having deposit accounts will allow you to weather any sudden drops in the stock market, because you know you have plenty of money stashed away in your deposit accounts.

When you decide to open new deposit accounts, you should make sure that you're getting the best possible rate on your investment. Just because you're getting a lower rate of return than you would on the stock market, is no reason not to get the best possible rate of return on your deposits. Make sure to compare savings accounts and CDs online for the best rates.

Your local banks will sometimes offer great rates as well in order to attract new customers, so you should be on the lookout for these great deals. They often advertise high rates in local newspapers. You can also call up your local banks and credit unions to find out what rates they currently offer, and compare them to the rates you've found online.

If there's one thing that every millionaire knows, it's that compounding interest adds up to big earnings over time. So a half percent interest rate increase might not sound like a lot, but over 10 years the compounding interest will have a enormous effect on your deposit accounts.

Oh and here's the link to my firefox addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/savings-account-rates-monitor/ It's received a preliminary review, but it should receive a full review within a few days.

Please give me one Million Dollars (Euros)

2011-02-17T10:42:00.001-08:00

During this cold and lovely month of february, in search of One Million Euros in less than 5 years, more ideas come to mind, new strategies of investing, some interesting news for Nokia and Microsoft let's see what comes later out of this multicultural marriage...

I remembered a quiet evening telling my wife about and idea that comes to mind on the basic subject and premise of this blog "One Million Euros in less than 5 years welcome to my journey" So I told her what if I explain and expose my reasons, She said what you mean?

So I told her the idea of making a video about my self and the reasons why I need the Million Euros, I have been quietly working on the project until of course I could not be the ONLY one right?

So sketch comedian Craig Rowin put out a video request back in November for a millionaire to give him one million dollars saying, “I don’t need it for anything specific, but I think it would be awesome.” Well, guess what? It looked like a millionaire was making Craig’s wish come true!

The original ‘Please Give Me One Million Dollars’ clip went up on November 21, 2010 followed by another video by the same title to update millionaires. He told viewers that he had not yet received one million dollars but he had received many emails at his PleaseGiveMeOneMillionDollars@gmail.com email account. A couple of weeks later Craig updated viewers once again in ‘Still Please Give Me One Million Dollars’, in which he rips up a $5,000 check because he asked for one million dollars! His arguments are quite interesting you might hate him but the idea is great!!!

Craig even plead his case and requested one million dollars from Alabama’s millionaires in an interview on Wake Up Alabama. In the interview he says, “I don’t have any current debt, but I am asking for a million dollars because it would be pretty awesome to have.” Helping Craig’s case was the fact that he really is hilarious. In the Alabama interview you can hear the anchors cracking up while he’s answering their questions. And surely the guy who has decided to give Craig one million dollars must have a great sense of humor as well.

In one of his latest video uploaded to the RoryAndCraig YouTube channel, which Craig shares with his fellow sketch-comedian in crime Rory, Craig announces his success! We don’t get any specifics, aside from the fact that the millionaire who is giving him the money is named Benjamin and that he will be receiving the money live on stage at the UCB Theatre on February 2 at 8 PM. He says he has received a notarized letter that he will give Craig one million dollars and expect nothing in return. “On February 2 I will be a One Millionaire!”

Now of course I was expecting to find out what happened on February 2, Did he got his Million? or was all that an act? to attract publicity after all he is a Comedian, see the video to find out,

So after all this joke I still have some hope and time to make my own version of my own idea and maybe acomplish my goal in less time than expected. So all Millionaires reading this Blog...contact me and give me one Million Euros!

keep letting the snow ball rolling and keep in touch...

Rebalance and Invest in 2011

2011-01-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Finally I have the opportunity to say "Happy New Year" to all my readers may this year bring the Millions we are waiting for, of course there is no easy way, during 2010 I experienced multiple ideas to make One million euros in less than 5 years and so far it is more than working, I experienced interesting surprises during 2010, I welcomed a baby girl named Katariina, got a new job, got a new house, increased my assets, met new and interesting people, diversified and increased the portfollio I manage, got new advertisement deals and I was able to work and collaborate with Investors and entrepeneurs that I admired in the past, and all this in a way happened just because of you My Readers.

So a new year has come 2011 a year to cash out and keep Investing, but before we do that let's have a look at my favourite positions and their respective profit during 2011 just in the Helsinki Stock Exchange all my International positions could be tracked on my previous posts with amazing results.

I will just show an example of 4 of my stock picks and their performance during 2010, Why would you like to put money into your 35th -best idea right?

1) M REAL B

Offers paperboards as well as office and other papers for consumer packaging, communications and advertising end-uses.

Has 13 production units in five European countries and about 4,700 employees.M-real is part of the Metsäliitto Group, one of the largest forest industry groups in the world, and is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. This share increased 88.46% during 2010, and it will be a major player of my portfollio during 2011.

2) OKMETIC

Okmetic is the world’s leading supplier of silicon wafers for MEMS manufacturing. Crystal growth technology is at the very core of Okmetic’s expertise. It provides the foundation also for highly doped, low-resistivity wafers that enable extremely high performing power semiconductors. This share increased 75.40% during 2010, a must have.

3) RAISIO VAIHTO

Raisio Oyj, known internationally as Raisio Group is a company that makes cereal products, potato products, animal feeds and engage in life-sciences. Raisio produces benecol a ingredient used in a range of Cholesterol-reducing spreads, products and condiments marketed under its Benecol brand name, this share has increased 77.27% during the last two years.

4) PANOSTAJA Oyj PNA

Panostaja is a financially secure Finnish multi-field corporation that creates healthy companies Their goal is to elevate their investments in different fields from 5 to 10 years. I had the pleassure to meet one of his financial advisors and he gave me the trust and confidence to keep Investing with them, this share increased 41.75% during the last five years.

As you can see the average profit of this concentrated portfolio is 70.72 % and follows the basic rule of investing don´t lose money, so let´s assume you invested 10,000€ on these three stocks with a return of 70.72% you would have 17,720€ a perfect time to cash out some profit and rebalance.

Rebalancing is the process of bringing one’s portfolio back into proper asset allocation if you can do it yourself, or the time to change to a new money manager if you are not happy with the one you have.

During the year, the mixture of stocks,bonds mutual funds, and cash has likely shifted. Stock and bond values go up and down all the time. Your portfolio mix may be out of whack.

For example, you may have started the year with 60% of your money in stocks and stock funds and 30% in bonds and 10% in cash. The stock portion of your portfolio may have grown larger than your initial allocation percentage. Now you may have 80% of your money in stocks and 20% in bonds. You will want to trim your stock exposure back to its normal level.

the dynamics of your portfolio have to change. Every year, your stock percentage should go down 1 percentage point and your fixed income securities should go up one percent. Every year that you get closer to retirement, the more conservative that your portfolio should become.

If you handle your own portfolio, then you will want to shift your assets from the portfolio portion that has become too top heavy. For example, reduce your position in a stock or stock fund that has gained significantly during the year take the initial Investement and reinvest the profit a win win situation.

Add these proceeds to the portion of your portfolio that is lagging. For example, let’s say own an aggressive small cap fund and a moderate large cap fund. If the aggressive small cap fund has significantly outperformed the large cap fund then you may want to trim your position. Make sure that your portfolio fits in line with your risk tolerance. A lot of people thought they were risk takers until the market crash of 2008 caused their portfolios to crash 50 to 60%.

A good strategy to take is to sell off funds that have become big and bloated. Maybe you are overly invested in domestic markets and need more international exposure Finland is a great option send me a line or two. Look for funds that may have underachieved the last year or so that may be due for a breakout. Yesterday’s market losers may be tomorrow’s winners and yesterday’s winners may be tomorrow’s losers.

remember to rebalance every single year many people never rebalance their portfolios and do not find out that they are overly concentrated in one area until it’s too late, the ones who rebalance are the ones that keep winning. You can pick the time of year that work’s best for you. I prefer to rebalance my portfolio at the beginning of the year. This way I can sell off positions that I want to get out of and start the year off fresh. It also allows me to take any necessary tax losses to offset gains on my portfolio.

There are so many interesting topics to Invest during 2011, I will have a close look to currencies now that I´m constantly evolving in that field specially Asian currecies (JPY,CNY,HKD,SGD) Also AUD and let's not put aside the precious GOLD that drives people crazy just have a look at it's interesting performance during the past year:

So there are endless opportunities to acomplish the objective of one Million Euros in less than 5 years let's make it happen during 2011, eager to hear your comments and ideas don´t hesitate to contact me, have a great start of the year!

Millions at stake with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange

2010-12-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

With major positive changes in my life in the search of 5 Million Euros and just recently moved into a new home, I feel confident with the white winter snow falling in Helsinki, important changes are taking place, Europe's top central banker Jean-Claude Trichet tried to calm the financial markets after another turbulent day when the borrowing costs of several major economies remained at unsustainably high levels.

Amid signs that the contagion from Ireland's debt crisis was spreading to some of the biggest economies in the 16 nation eurozone, the premium demanded by investors to hold Spanish, Italian and Belgian government bonds compared with German bonds touched record levels.

French, Portuguese and Irish bonds were also caught up in the rout. However, Europe's political leadership remains adamant that the currency can survive and Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank president, waded into the argument by calling for more, not less, harmonisation within the eurozone as the way out of trouble.

Then we see the political game between North and South Korea we have to remember that the main engine for any economy is war, and then the reason of my writing today
and to distract us a bit we have the interesting case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange the leader of an organization devoted to divulging the world’s secrets using technology unimagined a generation ago.

Over the last year his information insurgency has dumped 76,000 secret Afghan war documents and another trove of 392,000 files from the Iraq war into the public domain–the largest classified military security breaches in history.

Sunday, WikiLeaks made the first of 250,000 classified U.S. State Department cables public,the cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.

Offering an unprecedented view of how America’s top diplomats view enemies and friends alike: And many of them make some pretty harsh–and blunt–comments on various world leaders. Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe? Deeply ignorant on economic issues. Libyan President Muammar al-Qaddafi? “Just strange.” Silvio Berlusconi? “Feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader, physically and politically weak" whose "frequent late nights and penchant for partying hard mean he does not get sufficient rest" The WikiLeaks dump reveals that Qaddafi apparently gets botox injections. But perhaps the meanest words were reserved for Kim Jong-Il, who was called a “flabby old chap,” by a diplomat’s source.The Pentagon and State Department leaks are just the start.

On November 11, Assange said that he’s still sitting on a trove of secret documents, about half of which relate to the private sector. And WikiLeaks’ next target will be a major American bank. “It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume,” he said, adding: “For this, there’s only one similar example. It’s like the Enron emails.”

Julian Assange, since enraging governments the world over and facing rape charges in Sweden, has been searching for a nation that will offer him asylum. Now his website is seeking refuge, too–from the largest cyberattack it’s ever faced. Some portion of Wikileaks’ servers are at the “Pionen” White Mountains data center owned by Swedish broadband provider Bahnhof, as first reported by Norwegian news site VG Nett. That data center store's Wikileaks’ data 30 meters below ground inside a Cold-War-era nuclear bunker carved out of a large rock hill in downtown Stockholm. The server farm has a single entrance and is outfitted by half-meter thick metal doors and backup generators pulled from German submarines have a look...

the company’s data center is “a kind of metaphor” for Bahnhof’s commitment to resist any sort of intrusion, physical or legal. “We’re proud to have clients like these,” he says. “The Internet should be an open source for freedom of speech, and the role of an ISP is to be a neutral technological tool of access, not an instrument for collecting information from customers.”

A WikiLeaks source who asked not to be named says that half of WikiLeaks servers have gone offline under a two-day flood of fraudulent traffic, what’s commonly known as a denial of service attack. WikiLeaks is actively searching for new hosts for its Web servers, ideally offered free-of-charge by volunteers, according to the source. The source also said that the attack was the largest in the whistleblower site’s history, and the first to “actually cause harm” to WikiLeaks, although none of the site’s private data has been compromised.

It seems that Julian Assange will have to be on the run for a while he has declared a verbal retaliation to many influential politicians, I agree on the freedom of speech but not in such a degree in which you will have to hide for a living.

This week keep it safe as the strong players in the stock market will stay the same or move down a point or two, send me an e mail and keep in touch...

Now I really have to say this is getting out of hands, Julian Assange appeared in court in London just hours after he emerged from a month in hiding and surrendered to police.

Filmmaker Ken Loach, Jemima Khan, and campaigning journalist John Pilger each offered to put up part of his bail but a judge in London refused, saying a court would review the situation at a hearing on December 14th.

Online supporters of whistleblowing website Wikileaks are fighting back after news of Julian Assange’s arrest hit the wires.

Immediately afterwards online activists known as “Anonymous” have initiated what they called Operation:Payback, a call to action to bring down the websites of companies that have publicly removed services once used by the Wikileaks website.

Anoymous has already targeted the Swiss bank PostFinance, a bank that froze all payments to the controversial website, after it promised to take down PayPal, the online payment company that cancelled Wikileaks’ account that it used to solicit donations.

Its current target? Mastercard. The website is currently down for a large number of users after a DDOS attack.

All of the groups actions have been publicly posted to the Anon_Operation Twitter account; the Paypal attack was posted to Twitter on December 6, the PostFinace attack was declared 17 hours ago and just hours ago it was confirmed by the group that Mastercard had been taken offline as a result of its online assault.

Anonymous is a collection of online activists formed from popular online message boards, attacks are not for profit but are in most cases to demonstrate a show of force to promote unfair practises or highlight sensitive political issues.

The three attacks here could just be the start of an uncomfortable battle about technology and Political issues, we all know the power of INTERNET my only concern at this moment is that since now the use and control of the WWW will be more regulated, I hope not. Anyway the leaks are still comming now with one that really raises concern:

An extensive blog post untangling an alarming story from the state department cables: "another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp,

I finally plea for the use of knowledege for a good cause that is really what matters, keep in touch...

Wikileaks given data on Swiss bank accounts:

$600 billion in bonds for the economic recovery

2010-11-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

My purpose to make one Million Euros in less than 5 years seems more than possible considering all the substancial factors that we are experiencing in the financial world today!

The Federal Reserve has now the power to revitalize the U.S. Economic recovery with a plan to pump $600 billion into the financial system, this move is designed to stimulate the economy in large part by lowering mortgage and other interest rates.

Although the approach carries significant risks for both the economy and the central bank's credibility, the steps announced by Fed policymakers could represent the nation's best hope for breaking free of sluggish growth, especially with bold initiatives unlikely from a newly divided Congress.

The Fed usually manages the economy by adjusting short-term interest rates. With those rates already near zero, Fed officials had to dust off a strategy for boosting the economy that debuted during the darkest days of the financial crisis. The Fed plans to create money, essentially out of thin air, and then pump it into the economy by buying Treasury bonds on the open market. These purchases are to be finished by the end of June.

Using this technique, called "quantitative easing," the Fed bought more than $1.7 trillion in securities during the financial crisis and in its immediate aftermath. The central bank's holdings jumped to their current level of $2.3 trillion, and the figure will approach $3 trillion when the new purchases are complete. This new wave of bond buying is a dramatic turnabout for an institution that just six months ago, amid a false spring in the economy, was weighing how it would begin unloading all the securities it had purchased.

The Fed action, will make it cheaper for Americans to take out mortgages and for businesses to borrow money to expand, all these events influenced the market even before the steps were formally unveiled. Average mortgage rates had already fallen from 4.5 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan over the summer, when Fed officials first said they were considering new steps, to 4.2 percent last week in USA the collateral effect was already visible in Finland with an average mortgage rate of lees than 3.5% for a 25- year fixed- rate loan (a perfect time to get a new appartment if you can get and manage a loan) .

The stock market, meanwhile, moved higher and the value of the dollar declined about 14% over the past two months in anticipation of the central bank's action.(here comes another temporary "market contradiction" How can we see a recovery with such a declined currency?

"This approach eased financial conditions in the past and, so far, looks to be effective again," Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke wrote in a Washington Post opinion article published Thursday. "Stock prices rose and long-term interest rates fell when investors began to anticipate this additional action. . . . Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will support economic expansion." I don´t quite agree with the second paragraph but I know I can play the game .

Mortgage and other interest rates could again decline in the coming months if the economy weakens and the Fed expands its purchases further. But those rates could just as easily increase if the economy starts picking up and the Fed ends its purchases as scheduled, or perhaps curtails them sooner. The action might also be suspended or scaled back if inflation spikes to dangerous levels.

Inflation is not the only risk that the Fed's initiative entails. It could cause new bubbles in the stock market or housing prices, if asset prices rise beyond what's justified by their fundamentals. Also, the value of the dollar could decline rapidly. We have the risks of future financial imbalances and an increase in long-term inflation expectations that could destabilize the economy.

Some analysts doubt the effectiveness of efforts to further reduce long-term interest rates, because they are already exceptionally low and credit, at least for larger companies, is easily available.

I really hope that all the Fed officials really know what they are doing, if they are playing with the economy with $600 billion in bonds it is feasible that knowing what I´m doing gets me just a Million €.

Fed officials viewed their move Wednesday as roughly equivalent to, in normal times, cutting their short-term interest rate target by three-quarters of a percentage point. That is enough to provide a real boost to growth but is not a shocking, unprecedented amount of monetary stimulus. And Fed officials framed their decision as being designed to fulfill its "dual mandate" to maintain maximum employment and stable prices. Now I wonder How helpfull was the idea of the economics nobel prize winners on this issue? employment and stable prices?

Have a good one, in the short term let's keep investing but the reasoning behind bonds is as follows:

A Bond is simply an 'IOU' in which an investor agrees to loan money to a company or government in exchange for a predetermined interest rate.

If a business wants to expand, one of its options is to borrow money from individual investors, pension funds, or mutual funds. The company issues bonds at various interest rates and sells them to the public. Investors purchase them with the understanding that the company will pay back their original principal (the amount the investor loaned to the company) plus any interest that is due by a set date (this is called the "maturity" date).

Bonds provide an element of stability that offsets some of the volatility of stocks. However, they are vulnerable to economic changes that can undermine their value.

The biggest economic threat to bonds is rising interest rates. If you own a bond and interest rates go up, the value of your bond on the open market, with few exceptions, will go down.

Of course, if you plan to hold the bond to maturity the value of your bond doesn’t change because interest rates change. You’ll still get the amount promise when you bought the bond, all other things being equal.

However, if you plan to own bonds for investment purposes - that is you buy and sell bonds as you would stocks - then interest rates are very important.

Bond prices move inversely to interest rates. When interest rates go up, bond prices go down and when interest rates go down, bond prices go up. Remember, we’re talking about previously issued bonds trading on the open market.

The Importance Of An Emergency Fund when making Millions

2010-10-28T02:59:00.000-07:00

Especially in today’s economy, establishing an emergency fund is a critical step on your journey to make millions. We all know that life happens, and if all of the sudden you needed cash quick, would you have it on hand? If not, do you know what the long term consequences could be? Here is a look at what an emergency fund is and why it is so important.

An emergency fund is simply a fund that you stash cash into in case of an emergency. Let’s face it, emergencies do happen. What if you came home one day and your furnace had died, what if you had a sudden accident with thousands of dollars in uncovered medical bills or what if you showed up for work, only to find out your job had been eliminated. What would you do? If you have an established emergency fund you can take the money from there without a lot of unneeded stress. If however, you don’t have an emergency fund you will be scrambling.

If you don’t have an emergency fund for when life happens, your options are not the greatest. You could cut into your monthly budget to get by, but what would you have to sacrifice? Would you have other late payments with tacked on late fees? Would you be able to pay your mortgage and put food on the table?

You could use your credit cards, but when would you be able to pay them off? Credit card interest and other fees add up fast, and the long term consequences can be financially devastating. Also, in today’s tough credit world, you may not have enough credit or even be able to get credit to cover emergencies.

Another option would be to take the money from your retirement, but that is not wise either. Most likely you will have early withdrawal penalty fees and depending on the account you may also have to pay taxes on the money. Not to mention that every time you withdraw from these accounts you are taking hard earned money away from your retirement.

The solution is to save some of your money in an easy access account for emergency purposes. The amount you save is really up to you. You need to look at your own individual circumstances. As a rule of thumb, many financial experts will tell you to save somewhere between three and twelve months worth of living expensed in your emergency fund. If you have a stable job, usually the three to six month range is good, but if you are in fear of losing your job, the more months you have saved, the better.

Where to keep your emergency fund is the next question. The key is to make sure it is accessible, while hopefully making a little interest. Some options include keeping the fund in a high yield savings account, , in short term CD’s (Certificate of Deposits) or in a number of CD’s using what is called CD laddering. The goal is to have cash at hand.

As a recap, an emergency fund will:

* Keep you financially prepared for unexpected “life happens” emergency events.

* Keep you from having to rely on credit and in turn prevent you from going into debt.

* Keep you away from your retirement accounts.

* Help keep you from experiencing financial stress.

If you don’t already have an emergency fund, start one today. Work to fund it quickly and then don’t touch the money except for emergencies. Having the protection of the emergency fund very well could help you achieve saving millions.

This article was the result of a joint cooperation with my friend and colleague,

Barbara Montgomery is a freelance writer who specializes in articles and blog posts on numerous topics including banking, finance, debt management, health, travel and more. She is a frequent writer for reliablewriters.com and a guest blogger for DepositAccounts.com, where you can compare savings account rates from dozens of banks in one place.

Keep your comments coming, with wise Investing and great ideas.

$1.5 million Nobel economics prize

2010-10-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

While submerging myself on economic theories and various Investing methods to acomplish my goal of a Million Euros in less than 5 years I just find out that two Americans and a British-Cypriot economist won the 2010 Nobel economics prize, for developing a theory that helps explain how many people can remain unemployed despite a large number of job vacancies.

Federal Reserve board nominee Peter Diamond was honored along with Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides with the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.4 million) prize for their analysis of the obstacles that prevent buyers and sellers from efficiently pairing up in markets.

Diamond — a former mentor to current Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke — analyzed the foundations of so-called search markets, while Mortensen and Pissarides expanded the theory and applied it to the labor market.

Their work, dating back to the 1970s and '80s, sheds light on why the classical view of markets, in which prices are set so that buyers and sellers always find each other and all resources are fully utilized, doesn't always apply to the real world as we already knew.

One example is the housing market, where buyers can struggle to find new homes even though there are a number of unsold properties available.

Another is the labor market. Because searching for jobs takes time and resources, it creates friction in the job market, helping explain why there are both job vacancies and unemployment simultaneously.

The laureates' models tries to help us understand the ways in which unemployment, job vacancies and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy,.But it seems that we already knew that...

Their work resulted in the so-called Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model, a frequently used tool to estimate how unemployment benefits, interest rates, the efficiency of employment agencies and other factors can affect the labor market.

"One conclusion is that more generous unemployment benefits give rise to higher unemployment and longer search times," a clear example of that phenomena could be analized in Finland.

Diamond, 70, is an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an authority on Social Security, pensions and taxation.

President Barack Obama nominated Diamond to become a member of the Federal Reserve, but the Senate failed to approve his nomination before lawmakers left to campaign for the midterm congressional elections.

Senate Republicans have objected to what they see as Diamond's limited experience in dissecting the inner workings of the national economy.

Bernanke was one of Diamond's students at MIT. When Bernanke turned in his doctoral dissertation in 1979, one of the people he thanked was Diamond for being generous with his time and reading and discussing Bernanke's work.

Diamond said the U.S. stimulus spending last year helped prevent much higher unemployment, and a second round would also be beneficial.

Pissarides, a 62-year-old professor of economics and social sciences at the London School of Economics, was the first Nobel winner with Cypriot citizenship.

Speaking from his north London home, Pissarides told The Associated Press the announcement came as "a complete surprise" though his work had already helped shape thinking on both sides of the Atlantic.

For example, the New Deal for Young People, a British government initiative aimed at getting 18-24-year-olds back on the job market after long spells of unemployment, "is very much based on our work," he said.

"One of the key things we found is that it is important to make sure that people do not stay unemployed too long so they don't lose their feel for the labor force," Pissarides told reporters in London. "The ways of dealing with this need not be expensive training — it could be as simple as providing work experience."now I ask myself is this a real major discovery or just common sense?

Mortensen, 71, is an economics professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He is
currently a visiting professor at the University of Aarhus in the neightbour country: Denmark,

Mortensen told AP he was asked not to share the news until the announcement in Stockholm 30 minutes later.

Diamond wrote a paper in the early 1980s that found that unemployment compensation can lead to better job matches. Workers "become more selective in the jobs they accept" because of the employment aid. And, that makes for better matches and increases efficiency, he found.

He told a Senate committee during his nomination hearing in July that a central theme of his research has been how the economy deals with risks that affect both individuals, and the entire economy.

"In all my central research areas, I have thought about and written about the risks in the economy and how markets and government can combine to make the economy function better for individuals," he said in that hearing.

The economics jury was the last of the Nobel committees to announce 2010 winners.

Last week, British professor Robert Edwards won the medicine prize for research that led to the first test tube baby. Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov shared the physics prize for groundbreaking experiments with graphene, the strongest and thinnest material known to mankind.

The chemistry award went to Richard Heck and Japanese researchers Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for designing techniques to bind together carbon atoms.

Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa won the literature prize( a victory for L-A ) and the imprisoned "Chinese democracy "(Axl was visionary :) campaigner Liu Xiaobo was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The awards are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

Some Excerpts from the citation awarding the 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences to Americans Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides, a British and Cypriot citizen.

___

"Why are so many people unemployed at the same time that there are a large number of job openings? How can economic policy affect unemployment? This year's Laureates have developed a theory which can be used to answer these questions. This theory is also applicable to markets other than the labor market."

___

"On many markets, buyers and sellers do not always make contact with one another immediately. This concerns, for example, employers who are looking for employees and workers who are trying to find jobs. Since the search process requires time and resources, it creates frictions in the market. On such search markets, the demands of some buyers will not be met, while some sellers cannot sell as much as they would wish. Simultaneously, there are both job vacancies and unemployment on the labor market."

___

"This year's three Laureates have formulated a theoretical framework for search markets. Peter Diamond has analyzed the foundations of search markets. Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides have expanded the theory and have applied it to the labor market. The Laureates' models help us understand the ways in which unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy. This may refer to benefit levels in unemployment insurance or rules in regard to hiring and firing. One conclusion is that more generous unemployment benefits give rise to higher unemployment and longer search times."

___

"Search theory has been applied to many other areas in addition to the labor market. This includes, in particular, the housing market. The number of homes for sale varies over time, as does the time it takes for a house to find a buyer and the parties to agree on the price. Search theory has also been used to study questions related to monetary theory, public economics, financial economics, regional economics, and family economics."

So let´s keep investing and finding out what this theory is all about so far it seems to me that the Nobel Commitee is just running out of talent and common sense or maybe is just me that while trying to aproach my difficult task of one Million in less than 5 years, I get more and more critical of all and everything...

Anyway keep the ball rolling, some late picks to keep at least until June 2011 are: Mreal and Marimekko. Keep in touch remember lets make it happen.

How to change your job and stay on the game

2010-09-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I just had a baby girl, she gave me the energy to change the job I had held for three years and 7 months, I have given the topic of job-changing a great deal of thought. However bad a job may be and however much you dread Monday mornings, making the decision to leave the job — especially one you have held for some years — is never an easy process.

There's a large degree of comfort in your current responsibilities and the company you're familiar with. Part of your brain knows you're capable of more, but another part is fraught with self-doubt and wakes you from sleep at 2am in a cold sweat, beaming an image of you in your job frozen by ignorance, out of your depth, and facing termination.

So how do you know when it's time to go? Based on my recent experience, here are some indicators that it's time to make the change.

You know you aren't performing to the best of your ability
We all go through slumps, bad days, even bad weeks when we just don't care, don't give it our best... but what if that week turns into months? Specially if you are aiming at Millions just like me, If you just don't have what it takes to give it your best, something needs to change. This is a common sign of burnout or of being overworked, under-worked, under-challenged or out of your depth. I wanted to grab the moon but I got into the rutine.

If lack of motivation is the only issue, it may be possible to effect change within your current company by requesting different responsibilities, more training or another position. But if none of these options is available, it's time to update your resume.

You can't picture your future with your current company
Do you remember those questions the last time you were interviewed: "Where do you see yourself in three years? Five years? Ten?" Perhaps it's time to ask yourself those questions again. But this time ask, "Do I see myself HERE in three years? Five years? Ten?" If the answer to any of these questions is no, what is your plan? Where do you want to go? When were you planning to make your move?

As much as we'd all like to simply wake up one day to find ourselves in the perfect job, the chance of it happening is probably slightly slimmer than becoming a Millionaire in less than 5 years. If you know that you want to be working somewhere else at some point in the future, it's never too soon to make a plan. Now that I finally changed my job I regret not doing it before.

You take inventory of your job's pros and cons... and the cons win
If you're having a hard time deciding whether to change jobs, try this simple exercise. Create a document with two lists — things you like about your current job, and things you dislike. Next, apply a weighting to the items. This can be as simple as a value from one to 10 to rate the importance of each factor. For example, if the stringent dress code is on your list of cons but it isn't that important to you, give it a 1 or 2. But if the excellent health insurance is a pro, it would probably warrant at least a 7 or an 8.

Next, add up each list. If the cons outweigh the pros, it's probably worth at least considering a change. If nothing else, this exercise will force you to focus on what you specifically do and do not like about your current position and give you a more concrete idea of what to look for in a new position.

You look for ways to improve your current situation but you can't turn it into what you really want
Another useful exercise is to take your list of pros from the previous exercise and expand upon it. Elaborate on the items already on the list and add other items you wish you could claim about your current position. When you're finished, review the list for items you may be able to make happen at your current company.

If you want more responsibility or more flexible hours, you might be able to work that out, whereas if you work for a missile manufacturer and happen to have developed pacifist beliefs since accepting the position

… your only reasonable option is to seek a position in a different company. In other words, before jumping ship under the assumption that a new position will make all your problems vanish in an instant, make the effort to effect improvements in your current position. If trying to make changes proves futile, you'll be more confident that seeking a new position is the right thing to do and believe me it works, while I was having a break to celebrate the birth of my baby girl I enjoyed every single moment of the long nights improving my resume.

Your skills are lagging and your position offers no opportunities to update them
How is your skill set? Are you able to keep your skills up to date? What would happen if your company went under today and you were forced onto the job market? Would you struggle to find a better or even an equivalent position because your skills are out of date? If this is the case, is there anything you can do to rectify the situation in your current position? Are there training opportunities you haven't been taking advantage of?

If it's not possible to stay employable in your current position, it's definitely time to make a change, even if you enjoy the job and your company seems stable. You may be able to supplement your company's deficit by paying for your own training, but without the opportunity to use your new skills in a work environment, such training will be of little value. To determine the current marketability of your present skill set, try searching for jobs equivalent to yours. Do you meet the minimum requirements? As I was working in the payment Industry at Rahaxi Processing Oy I decided that my new job will have to deal with money so it did.

You can't get enough positive reinforcement to keep your spirits up
Do you feel valued? Feeling valued in your job is one of those almost indefinable benefits or forms of compensation that can't be measured by any objective means. The degree to which someone needs to feel valued to be happy in a job varies greatly from person to person. Some people are perfectly content never to receive a word of praise or public acknowledgment of their achievements. For others, this type of recognition is more important than a generous salary.

The first step towards obtaining an appropriate position in this respect is to become aware of your own needs. The next step is to develop some techniques for determining whether these needs will be met when considering a new position, perhaps by asking appropriate questions during interviews or by finding current employees willing to talk. If you're already in a job that you otherwise like, figure out what you need in order to feel valued and find ways to communicate these needs to the appropriate person.

If the only time your boss talks to you is to tell you that you need to do better or improve your attitude, try explaining that it would also be helpful to know when you are doing something right. Try being proactive and ask your peers, your users or your superiors to let you know if there's more you can do to help them. This could have the pleasant side effect of eliciting some positive feedback when they tell you that they're perfectly satisfied with your current level of service. If you still can't get the validation you need, it could be time to seek it elsewhere.

Your salary just isn't enough
Are you paid what you're worth? Although receiving inadequate financial compensation for your efforts is rarely the sole or even the most important reason that people change jobs, it's a significant factor. For most people, being paid what they're worth — at or above the going market rate for their job function — is an essential aspect of feeling valued. Don't know what you are worth? Try looking at comparable positions on job hunting Web sites, review compensation surveys, or update your CV and submit it to a headhunter to solicit feedback after I did my so-called homework on this issue I was contacted by 4 companies.

My request to keep my job under stable circumstances was denied, so I took the only reasonable course of action and secured a position with a different company. In this case, salary was not the only factor, but it was the one that finally persuaded me to make a change into The Change Group.

Your company or work situation has changed radically since you were hired
Your job used to be perfect, but now it has changed. Maybe your company was bought out or your boss retired or got reassigned. Or perhaps your company had a significant shift in operating philosophy or in its mission, and now you're no longer working in the same environment into which you were originally hired.

If such changes occur, you basically have three choices: go with the flow and make the most of the situation; quit; or stay and complain. These types of changes can be so far-reaching in their impact upon your daily life that the result is not dissimilar to being forced to change jobs and companies. You may be going to the same physical location each day, but every other aspect of your job has been transformed.

Even if you're not unhappy with the changes, this is a good opportunity to re-examine where you are in your life and make sure you take full advantage of the new circumstances. As a follower of this Blog remember that even if you have a great job and you want to change it just like I did, you have to keep investing and searching for alternative options to make the goal of a Million euros in less than five years.... as a reader pointed out to me not so long ago " Habit is second nature"

There is a new trend that also might be helpfull to you in your search for a new job, the video resumes have a look and keep in touch:

Muskil Gusha and the Millions

2010-08-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

On my objective of having one million euros in less than five years, with the realization that I am already a Millionaire with my wonderful kid and being as grateful as I can be for receiving the miracle of life once again, welcoming to this world my second child a beautiful baby girl. I feel it is time again to thank eternally, and I feel compeled to pass this great story to be told on thursday evenings Enjoy and read till the end.

The Story of Mushkil Gusha

Once upon a time, not a thousand miles from here, there lived a poor old wood-cutter, who was a widower, and his little daughter. He used to go every day into the mountains to cut firewood which he brought home and tied into bundles. Then he used to have breakfast and walk into the nearest town, where he would sell his wood and rest for a time before returning home.

One day, when he got home very late, the girl said to him: ‘Father, I sometimes wish that we would have some nicer food, and more and different kinds of things to eat.’

‘Very well, my child,’ said the old man, ‘tomorrow I shall get up much earlier than I usually do. I shall go further into the mountains where there is more wood, and I shall bring back a much larger quantity than usual. I will get home earlier and I will be able to bundle the wood sooner, and I will go into town and sell it so that we can have more money and I shall bring you back all kinds of nice things to eat.’

The next morning the wood-cutter rose before dawn and went into the mountains. He worked very hard cutting wood and trimming it and made it into a huge bundle which he carried on his back to his little house.

When he got home, it was still very early. He put his load of wood down, and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Daughter, Daughter, open the door, for I am hungry and thirsty and I need a meal before I go to market.’

But the door was locked. The wood-cutter was so tired that he lay down and was soon fast asleep beside his bundle. The little girl, having forgotten all about their conversation the night before, was fast asleep in bed. When he woke up a few hours later, the sun was high. The wood-cutter knocked at the door again and again and said, ‘Daughter, Daughter, come quickly; I must have a little food and go to market to sell the wood; for it is already much later than my usual time of starting.’

But, having forgotten all about the conversation the night before, the little girl had meanwhile got up, tidied the house, and gone out for a walk. She had locked the door assuming in her forgetfulness that her father was still in the town.

So the wood-cutter thought to himself, ‘It is now rather late to go into the town. I will therefore return to the mountains and cut another bundle of wood, which I will bring home, and tomorrow I will take a double load to market.’

All that day the old man toiled in the mountains cutting wood and shaping the branches. When he got home with the wood on his shoulders, it was evening.

He put down his burden behind the house, knocked on the door and said, ‘Daughter, Daughter, open the door for I am tired and I have eaten nothing all the day. I have a double bundle of wood which I hope to take to market tomorrow. Tonight I must sleep well so that I will be strong.’

But there was no answer, for the little girl when she came home had felt very sleepy, and had made a meal for herself, and gone to bed. She had been rather worried at first that her father was not at home, but she decided that he must have arranged to stay in the town overnight.

Once again the wood-cutter, finding that he could not get into the house, tired, hungry and thirsty, lay down by his bundles of wood and fell fast asleep. He could not keep awake, although he was fearful for what might have happened to the little girl.

Now the wood-cutter, because he was so cold and hungry and tired, woke up very, very early the next morning: before it was even light.

He sat up, and looked around, but he could not see anything. And then a strange thing happened. The wood-cutter thought he heard a voice saying: ‘Hurry, hurry! Leave your wood and come this way. If you need enough, and you want little enough, you shall have delicious food.’

The wood-cutter stood up and walked in the direction of the voice. And he walked and he walked; but he found nothing.

By now he was colder and hungrier and more tired than ever, and he was lost. He had been full of hope, but that did not seem to have helped him. Now he felt sad, and he wanted to cry. But he realized that crying would not help him either, so he lay down and fell asleep.

Quite soon he woke up again. It was too cold, and he was too hungry, to sleep. So he decided to tell himself, as if in a story, everything that had happened to him since his little daughter had first said that she wanted a different kind of food.

As soon as he had finished his story, he thought he heard another voice, saying, somewhere above him, out of the dawn, ‘Old man, what are you doing sitting there?’

‘I am telling myself my own story,’ said the wood-cutter.

‘And what is that?’ said the voice.

The old man repeated his tale. ‘Very well,’ said the voice. And then the voice told the old wood-cutter to close his eyes and to mount as it were, a step. ‘But I do not see any step,’ said the old man. ‘Never mind, but do as I say,’ said the voice.

The old man did as he was told. As soon as he had closed his eyes he found that he was standing up and as he raised his right foot he felt that there was something like a step under it. He started to ascend what seemed to be a staircase. Suddenly the whole flight of steps started to move, very fast, and the voice said, ‘Do not open your eyes until I tell you to do so.’

In a very short time, the voice told the old man to open his eyes. When he did he found that he was in a place which looked rather like a desert, with the sun beating down on him. He was surrounded by masses and masses of pebbles; pebbles of all colours: red, green, blue and white. But he seemed to be alone. He looked all around him, and could not see anyone, but the voice started to speak again.

‘Take up as many of these stones as you can,’ said the voice, ‘Then close your eyes, and walk down the steps once more.’

The wood-cutter did as he was told, and he found himself, when he opened his eyes again at the voice's bidding, standing before the door of his own house.

He knocked at the door and his little daughter answered it. She asked him where he had been, and he told her, although she could hardly understand what he was saying, it all sounded so confusing.

They went into the house, and the little girl and her father shared the last food which they had, which was a handful of dried dates. When they had finished, the old man thought that he heard the voice speaking to him again, a voice just like the other one which had told him to climb the stairs.

The voice said, ‘Although you may not know it yet, you have been saved by Mushkil Gusha. Remember that Mushkil Gusha is always here. Make sure that every Thursday night you eat some dates and give some to any needy person, and tell the story of Mushkil Gusha. Or give a gift in the name of Mushkil Gusha to someone who will help the needy. Make sure that the story of Mushkil Gusha is never, never forgotten. If you do this, and if this is done by those to whom you tell the story, the people who are in real need will always find their way.’

The wood-cutter put all the stones which he had brought back from the desert in a corner of his little house. They looked very much like ordinary stones, and he did not know what to do with them.

The next day he took his two enormous bundles of wood to the market, and sold them easily for a high price. When he got home he took his daughter all sort of delicious kinds of food, which she had never tasted before. And when they had eaten it, the old wood-cutter said, ‘Now I am going to tell you the whole story of Mushkil Gusha. Mushkil Gusha is the remover of all difficulties. Our difficulties have been removed through Mushkil Gusha and we must always remember it.’

For nearly a week after that the old man carried on as usual. He went into the mountains, brought back wood, had a meal, took the wood to market and sold it. He always found a buyer without difficulty.

Now the next Thursday came, and, as it is the way of men, the wood-cutter forgot to repeat the tale of Mushkil Gusha.

Late that evening, in the house of the wood-cutter's neighbours, the fire had gone out. The neighbours had nothing with which to re-light the fire, and they went to the house of the wood-cutter. They said, ‘Neighbour, neighbour, please give us a light from those wonderful lamps of yours which we see shining through the window.’

‘What lamps?’ said the wood-cutter.

‘Come outside,’ said the neighbours, ‘and see what we mean.’

So the wood-cutter went outside and then he saw, sure enough, all kinds of brilliant lights shining through the window from the inside.

He went back to the house, and saw that the light was streaming from the pile of pebbles which he had put in the corner. But the rays of light were cold, and it was not possible to use them to light a fire. So he went out to the neighbours and said, ‘Neighbours, I am sorry, but I have no fire.’ And he banged the door in their faces. They were annoyed and confused, and went back to their house, muttering. They leave our story here.

The wood-cutter and his daughter quickly covered up the brilliant lights with every piece of cloth they could find, for fear that anyone would see what a treasure they had. The next morning, when they uncovered the stones, they discovered that they were precious, luminous gems.

They took the jewels, one by one, to neighbouring towns, where they sold them for a huge price. Now the wood-cutter decided to build for himself and for his daughter a wonderful palace. They chose a site just opposite the castle of the king of their country. In a very short time a marvellous building had come into being.

Now that particular king had a beautiful daughter, and one day when she got up in the morning, she saw a sort of fairy-tale castle just opposite her father's and she was amazed. She asked her servants, ‘Who has built this castle? What right have these people to do such a thing so near to our home?’

The servants went away and made enquiries and they came back and told the story, as far as they could collect it, to the princess.

The princess called for the little daughter of the wood-cutter, for she was angry with her, but when the two girls met and talked they soon became fast friends. They started to meet every day and went to swim and play in the stream which had been made for the princess by her father. A few days after they first met, the princess took off a beautiful and valuable necklace and hung it up on a tree just beside the stream. She forgot to take it down when she came out of the water, and when she got home she thought it must have been lost.

The princess thought a little and then decided that the daughter of the wood-cutter had stolen her necklace. So she told her father, and he had the wood-cutter arrested; he confiscated the castle and declared forfeit everything that the wood-cutter had. The old man was thrown into prison, and the daughter was put into an orphanage.

As it was the custom in that country, after a period of time the wood-cutter was taken from the dungeon and put in the public square, chained to a post, with a sign around his neck. On the sign was written ‘This is what happens to those who steal from Kings.’

At first people gathered around him, and jeered and threw things at him. He was most unhappy.

But quite soon, as is the way of men, everyone became used to the sight of the old man sitting there by his post, and took very little notice of him. Sometimes people threw him scraps of food, sometimes they did not.

One day he overheard somebody saying that it was Thursday afternoon. Suddenly, the thought came into his mind that it would soon be the evening of Mushkil Gusha, the remover of all difficulties, and that he had forgotten to commemorate him for so many days. No sooner had this thought come into his head, than a charitable man, passing by, threw him a tiny coin. The wood-cutter called out: ‘Generous friend, you have given me money, which is of no use to me. If, however, your kindness could extend to buying one or two dates and coming and sitting and eating them with me, I would be eternally grateful to you.’

The other man went and bought a few dates. And they sat and ate them together. When they had finished, the wood-cutter told the other man the story of Mushkil Gusha. ‘I think you must be mad,’ said the generous man. But he was a kindly person who himself had many difficulties. When he arrived home after this incident, he found that all his problems had disappeared. And that made him start to think a great deal about Mushkil Gusha. But he leaves our story here.

The very next morning the princess went back to her bathing-place. As she was about to go into the water, she saw what looked like her necklace down at the bottom of the stream. As she was going to dive in to try to get it back, she happened to sneeze. Her head went up, and she saw that what she had thought was the necklace was only its reflection in the water. It was hanging on the bough of the tree where she had left it such a long time before. Taking the necklace down, the princess ran excitedly to her father and told him what had happened. The King gave orders for the wood-cutter to be released and given a public apology. The little girl was brought back from the orphanage, and everyone lived happily ever after.

These are some of the incidents in the story of Mushkil Gusha. It is a very long tale and it is never ended. It has many forms. Some of them are even not called the story of Mushkil Gusha at all, so people do not recognise it. But it is because of Mushkil Gusha that his story, in whatever form, is remembered by somebody, somewhere in the world, day and night, wherever there are people. As his story had always been recited, so it will always continue to be told.

Will you repeat the story of Mushkil Gusha on Thursday nights, and help the work of Mushkil Gusha?

3 Useful tips to eliminate student debt

2010-07-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been receiving various e mails from students asking for advise on student loans , after thinking about it for a couple of days and undestanding the financial situation some people faces the option of going back to school after losing a job therefore incurring into more debt. In the last few years, an increasing number of students have incurred student debt. The cost of higher education has reached sky high. Sometimes, students are not able to finance their education cost through one loan. They are compelled to take multiple loans. These loans often have different payment schedule. Thereby, it becomes extremely difficult for the students to remember the due dates of all the loans. Also, when they graduate, the pressure of paying off student loan debt becomes overwhelming. However, student debt elimination is not an impossible task. Go through this article to know about some effective student debt elimination tips.

Student debt elimination tips
The 3 smart student debt elimination tips are given below:

1. Consolidate student debt: You can opt for student debt consolidation loans. With the help of this loan, you can consolidate your multiple student debts into a single loan. You can get these loans from various lenders and financial organizations. However, the lenders are likely to charge higher interest rate on the loan if you have bad credit or poor credit score. The interest rate of these loans is generally low. This will help to reduce your monthly payments. Thereby you can have some spare cash in your hand. Also, you’ll have to make single monthly payments instead of several.

2. Make payments: If you really wish to eradicate your student debt, then you should start making payments as soon as possible. If you can afford, then you make some extra payments also. This will help you eliminate student debt quickly. Keep in mind that if you miss payments or make late payments, then your student debt load will only increase. Also, it will have a negative impact on credit score.

3. Refinance student loan debt: This is a great student debt elimination tip. You can also refinance your student loan debt. By refinancing student loan debt, you can extend the loan term and reduce your monthly payments. However, you analyze the pros and cons of refinancing before opting for it. The reason is you might end up paying more over loan term.

The last student debt elimination tip will be to opt for federal student loans. This is because the interest rate of these loans is very low.