Monday 28 September 2015

Balance and balance again

One of my favourite blogger is James Altucher. He got this somehow interesting view of a freedom and independence that it is overlapping the financial part - financial balance, with physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual balanced style of life. In his vision the finance is just a part, and in order to be happy you need to put all of them in order. Interesting, isn't it?
Now, regarding me, as i just jumped from 170 to 190 pounds in just two months, i start running. 4 times this week only. And i plan to continue at least until i am able to run 5 miles. I am at 2.5 miles at the moment. I start with the physical part as it seems to be the easiest one. No sense to save a lot of money if we will not enjoy them at some moment in the future.
And soon will be 1st of October and i will need to check my monthly results. Hip-hip-hooray!

Saturday 26 September 2015

Income streams

Soon i will work out to a new formula of income streams, to change the old one. In the old one i had like 13 income sources in different categories. But after a bit of study i just reduce them to 7 main income sources.

They are:
1. Earned income. This is out main job, our wages.
2. Profit. This is the profit we obtain by side hustle or our own proper business.
3. Interest. Amount of money paid by bank for our savings deposit.
4. Dividend. Amount of money paid by a company of which we hold shares.
5. Rental. Money coming from rent (real estate).
6. Capital gains. Money coming from shares increasing in value or companies we own increasing value.
7. Royalties.

Strategy and vision.

One sours of income is not a good idea. Never ever. Probably 2-3 are safe enough. I think that 4 of them will give us a proper safety even in case of a global crisis. More than 5 will probably result in too much time to manage, let's not forget that our main objective is to trade money for time. Time we want to use for our own happiness.

Send me your opinions, as usual. I am curious what you think about this.

Friday 25 September 2015

Such a powerful image




No comments


Who wants to live forever?

Queen's "Who wants to live forever" was always one of my favorites song. And this is how i start one of a somehow different blog post, but of the same relevance like my other posts. We all want to become financially independent, and to retire early. So, in the essence, that means that we want to live better, and to enjoy life when we are still young. In the light of this line of thinking, i would suggest to take a look at this article.

http://oneurbanfairytale.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/pathways-to-longevity.html

And to tell me what is your opinion related to this.
Thank you.

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Property crowdfunding - Most precious resource - Dan Zinger

* Today i will talk about a lot of interesting stuff. I will start with a property crowdfunding company called propertypartner.co, which invested massively in marketing lately. I would rate it 3/5 as the commission is not exactly stated, the monthly dividend is around 2-3%, the property valuation is updated monthly and seems to be alright, but the procedure used to send money back is a bit inconvenient as they will call you in the name of anti money laundering measures to check if you are real person and everything else. I would not use it as they are better companies on the market.

**  Did you ever heard about Dan Zanger? If not you should check on him and his portfolio, at least to learn how one will establish a world record ever, Dan took a portfolio of a measly $10,775 and turned it into an incredible $18 million in just 18 months. He shares his work because he loves his work, simple as that. How many people do you know that have done over 29,000% return in one year? None, and that is because Dan stands alone as the best of the best. Could be just luck? We will never know. A bit more data about him, he calls William O'Neills best seller, How to Make Money in Stocks, the “traders bible.” His website is something to study, even if it is a bit too flashy in my opinion. The link is www.chartpattern.com/  and his style is different than mine, but i was thinking that, even if i pick one thing and i improve my strategy with 1%, is still worth it.

*** And few words about resources. If Leonardo Da Vinci had enough ideas to cover four centuries of progress, but not the right resources to build his inventions, today the situation is completely different. We got almost any kind of resource needed to accomplish anything, but not enough ideas. And jumping from one idea to another, do you know what is the most precious resource on earth? No, it is not diamonds, platinum or gold. It is not Uranium either. It is TIME. And even if every one of us instinctively know that, we are still wasting our time carelessly sometimes. Because do not forget, as a FIRE trader, we are trading our hard saved money for time, in the end. And when we are gaining 15-25 years, retiring early, we are in the unique position of being rich beyond compare. Other would think themselves lucky for having a few extra months, and we got years. Just think about. I hope this would motivate you to save even more, and to get at that point of becoming financial independent even faster.

Good luck my friends! See you tomorrow!

Monday 21 September 2015

MrMoneyMustache versus Ramit Sethi

How do i see it and who is winning this epic clash in my mind? Probably only a handful of people know what i am talking about. But i will do this post, mostly because those two are the one who inspired me to start my journey to financial independence. In the left corner of my mind ring we have MMM, the silent assassin of the useless desires, the stoic, MR. MONEYMUSTACHEEEE! In the right corner, the olive skinned toreador, and his golden cape, RAMIT SETHIII! Betting are on, who gonna win?

And despite my warlike scenario, the two of them like each other, i could say, even if they do not approve completely of their 'arch-nemesis' strategy. But they offered a beer one another's, and i see them drinking one of MMM home brew, or a Golden flake 12.000 dollars beer, depending on who is setting up the place.

Regarding me, i was always an adept of learning from everyone, so i applied some of techniques inspired by both. I would say that most of the time i go towards a Mustachian style of life, but then I would ask you, which way are you going if you will be asked to choose a position in between those two?

P.S. I am talking about the following blogs: MrMoneyMustache,com - personal finance and early retirement blog and iwillteachyoutoberich.com - a blog about how to reach a luxury lifestyle

Sunday 20 September 2015

Pathways to financial independence

Why i like Tony Robbins? Maybe because he can give a voice to my underwhelming bunch of thoughts and make it seems classy and elegant. And easy (even if i learned by now that it is not easy at all).  And this is what he was saying in 2013. By now he even finished his book Money - master the game, a book that is motivational enough to give it to some curious friend to read it instead of you  trying to explain the whole concept. My idea of a test. If he/she will read it then the basics are already covered and we can discuss more about. If not even this rised the interest about FIRE, then i will not waste my time.

Just watch this. Got some very useful ideas, right?


Friday 18 September 2015

FinCon 2015

What a list, my friends, what a list!
Just take a look here and you will see: http://finconexpo.com/attendee-list/

For those who do not know, FinCon is a peer conference for the money media community. At the annual event each Fall, this is what they do:

- attendees connect with others in the community,
- learn to create, promote, and profit from compelling online content, and
- discover new trends in personal finance and investing.

Originally called the Financial Blogger Conference, the event was shortened to simply “FinCon” to reflect changes to the scope of the attendees.

Their Mission: “To support the movement that is reaching millions of people with a positive money message.”

My only problem? Is happening right not in U.S. What about it, my British friends, shall we do something like this in UK? Even if it is on a much smaller scale?

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Bonds are forever (fun fact)

Did you ever heard about perpetual bonds? One of the five oldest bonds ever, emited around 16th century, is still paying dividends today. Yale university is the one to be paid, and you can find more about at this link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-16/yale-to-be-paid-interest-on-dutch-water-authority-bond-from-1648.

What do you think about?

Creating trends - Life extension - Anti-aging - Biotech

An important part of investing is being able to recognize trends and use them to invest your high risk percentage (mine is 10% of the total that i have allocated, that i invest in high risk high reward companies and projects).
For today i will take a look at the companies that research specifically to increase the life span. Just in case you don't know, our life expectancy at the actual moment is increasing with 4 hours per week. Just imagine that.

And i do not talk about this rare "disease" that is slowing aging, or about foundations and charities like Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (Sens) Research Foundation, Ellison Medical Foundation, Paul F Glenn Foundation for Medical Research but about proper companies that are researching difference pathways on their ways to technological immortality

When we talk about U.K. we think at Britain's booming biotech industry. Few facts that are good to know. Venture capital funding went up by 71 per cent to $430bn (£280) in 2014. IPO activity reached £408bn in 2014 - almost equal to the amount raised in the nine previous years. Two IPOs have already happened in 2015. The UK has outperformed the rest of Europe in the last five years. The future look bright in this sector.

Biggest and most known names in UK are:

AstraZeneca
Pharmaceutical company
AstraZeneca plc is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

AstraZeneca PLC
LON: AZN - 15 Sep 17:07 GMT+1
4,328.00 Price increase 43.50 (1.02%)

Shire plc
Company
Shire Plc is a Jersey-registered, Irish-headquartered global specialty biopharmaceutical company. Originating in the United Kingdom with a large operational base in the United States.

Shire PLC
LON: SHP - 15 Sep 16:56 GMT+1
4,766.67 Price increase 23.67 (0.50%)

Some small companies are known for different reasons, like  

Oxford BioMedica
Company
Oxford BioMedica is a biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development and commercialisation of innovative gene-based medicines. It was established in 1995 as a spin out from Oxford University.

Oxford BioMedica plc
LON: OXB - 15 Sep 16:36 GMT+1
8.45Price increase0.00 (0.00%)

Big world companies that are doing well (or not very well lately) are:

Pfizer
Pharmaceutical company
Pfizer, Inc. /ˈfaɪzər/ is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City, New York, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut. It is among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies by revenues.

Pfizer
LON: PFZ - 15 Sep 16:43 GMT+1
33.00Price increase0.11 (0.33%)

Novartis AG
Pharmaceutical company
Novartis International AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number one in sales among the world-wide industry in 2013

Novartis AG
VTX: NOVN - 15 Sep 17:30 GMT+2
93.40Price increase1.10 (1.19%)

Sanofi
Pharmaceutical company
Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, as of 2013 the world's fifth-largest by prescription sales.

Sanofi SA
EPA: SAN - 15 Sep 17:37 CET
87.99Price increase0.36 (0.41%)

GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmaceutical company
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Brentford, London. It was the world's sixth-largest pharmaceutical company in 2014, after Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, Hoffmann-La Roche and Merck

GlaxoSmithKline PLC
LON: GSK - 15 Sep 17:07 GMT+1
1,290.00Price increase5.00 (0.39%)

AbbVie
Company
AbbVie Inc. is a research-based biopharmaceutical company.

AbbVie Inc
NYSE: ABBV - 15 Sep 18:26 EDT
59.20 Price increase 0.26 (0.44%)

Calico Resources Corp and Human longevity inc are some companies good enough to keep an eye on their evolution.




Sunday 13 September 2015

Pros and cons - financial education in schools?

Yesterday i was reading on some regional newspaper, i do not say which, big one. And i was like what?, i could not believe it. Some reporter made an article about how people lose money monthly with workplace pensions because of automatic enrollment. And like a lot of people shared this on Facebook and we're upset because of this. "I lose 50-60 pounds monthly because of that" was one of their opinions. So really, i could not believe how many of them are not properly informed about. My next thought was that probably financial education is a good idea for college or university, even as some extra curriculum activity or club, if not mandatory.
Just imagine, even if seems a bit of science fiction, how cool will be to learn about early retirement when you are ready to start your first job, what will be the impact on your life and what the consequences ?

What do you think?

Saturday 12 September 2015

HMRC change of details - Passive income - Biochemistry of early retirement - Quote of the day

1. If you didn't know what to do with this, just read at the following link https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-change-of-details .

2. Active versus passive income. What are they? How we do it? Crash course.
Passive income is usually found on paper, or lately online accounts. Shares, government or company bonds, ETF or mutual funds, this is first type of income.
Passive-active income like real estate is the second type of income.
Active income like your own business is the third type of income.
In order to become financially independent, even if you do not want to retire early, you need a mix of first and second type of income, and occasionally the third. At least two of them types are required in order for you to be protected in case of a global crisis.

3. The biochemistry of early retirement - What part of the brain do you need to achieve early retirement? I will tell you. The prefrontal cortex is the seat of executive control, or self-regulations - the part of the brain responsible for planning, self control and will power, complex cognitive behaviors, personality expression, decision making and regulating social behavior. The prefrontal cortex allows you to differentiate between conflicting thoughts, predict outcomes, set expectations, suppress urges that might lead to non-resourceful outcomes.
Homework for everyone: find at least 3 ways to make your prefrontal cortex to be more efficient.

4. And finally the quote of the day is:

"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money." - Pablo Picasso, artist (1881-1973)

Thursday 10 September 2015

Two of my favorite shares for dividend portfolio

All of us have some favorites. I usually use mutual funds but from time to time i buy individually shares. Two of them that i always liked are:

Halma plc
Technology company
Halma plc is a group of technology companies that makes products for hazard detection and life protection.
LON: HLMA - 10 Sep 16:38 GMT+1
745.82 Price decrease 0.18 (0.02%)

Pearson PLC
Publishing company
Pearson PLC is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London. It is the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world.
LON: PSON - 10 Sep 16:52 GMT+1
1,145.62 Price decrease 15.38 (1.32%)

Do you have any companies that you really like?

Big crash - Small crash

Prices goes down, everyone panic, what we can do? I will not talk about the ones keep printing dollars like there is no tomorrow, or the situation in China. I will just suggest one very wise point of view.
 “If you believe the stock market may not come back this time, then you have much more to worry about than your investment portfolio.” –Rick Ferri
That is so true. And we must endure. The portfolio value will go up and down. I doesn't matter for us. Because we are looking at the end of the road. Not at next month, or even at next year. We will endure. And we will prevail. (Knight rules, isn't it?).
Just one small note, According to Charles Schwab, over the past 50 years, the average length of a bear market has been a little over one year, and the average time for the market to recover and reach its previous highs has been less than four years.

Wednesday 9 September 2015

What is the secret of becoming financially independent?

I always asked myself, why some people get whatever they want, even if they do not deserved (in my eyes), when other never had a chance, even if they probably deserved (again, in my eyes). There is one thing above all that make the difference, and the one that said "where there is a will, is a way!" was very close to the truth. "One ring to rule them all". (i know, i know, i am a nerd!)
One word.
Commitment.
Did you get it? I will say it again. Now think about it. You will find that i am right
COMMITMENT.
That's it. No secret behind the secret. You need only to do it, again and again, despite problems, despite being bored or despite the lack of results. Keep going. And never stop. Never.
One day you will be there. You will. I am sure.

Commitment - by Abe

Added 10.9.2014: And looking around i found this wonderful article about commitment. Click here to read it. 

Monday 7 September 2015

Best financial advice ever

"The secret is there are no secrets." John Bogle say it and it is no more true than ever. In the Internet era we got access to every bit of information. We have every data starting from the "Richest man in Babylon" book to the last struggle of George in his way to achieve financial independence. We got everything and all we need is the desire to succeed. If you do not know what to do, just take a look at my blogroll, choose one of them and read it. That's all you need. Others already did it before you. They say that a clever men learn from his mistakes, a wise one learn from everyone's mistakes. Be wise. This is my advice for today.
Good luck!

Tuesday 1 September 2015

1 September - monthly statistics

Just few of my relevant financial statistics:

Money from interests and dividends this year (up to 1.08.2015) - 320 pounds (+48)
Month average (first 8th months of my early retirement project) - 40 pounds (+6)
Yearly ROI percentage prediction - 10.66% (-3.58)
Retirement fund percentage achieved : 5.20% (still the same 5.20 after all decreased and i added funds)
Security fund investment: 48.36% (-3.38)
Risk fund investment: 51.64% (+3.38)
Total investment: 5762.09 pounds (+50)
Total debt: 780 pounds
Net worth: 4982.09 pounds (+50)

Income:
Wages  - 1646
Investments - 48
TOTAL: 1694

Expenses: 3567

So, on the paper is somehow disastrous, but my nephew was born, I started a new job and i was surviving on my saved cash until i was paid at the end of this month, i just had a holiday in Malta and Norway for me and Mrs and my cash reserves is literally ZERO. (I still consider it a success as i still got 11 pounds in bank after i paid everything - bills, rent, flight, food etc). Time to rebuild the cash now. A wedding at the middle of November and not much until then.

I am open to answer to any common sense question about mine or yours retirement project.