The Amateur Financier

Today, October 27th, is my birthday.  Once again, another year managed to come and go without me being able to stop it.  Oh, well, I suppose that this is the natural order of things for us mortals.  I had a nice visit with my family a few weeks ago, and I’m planning to visit my fiancee this coming weekend.  I suppose I don’t really have right to complain; things are going pretty well for me at the moment.

It did occur to me as I reflected on everything that’s changed int the past year, that there’s quite a lot I still haven’t learned that I wish I had.  I suppose this happens to everyone as they age; part regret for missed opportunities in the past, part hope for the future, looking at where I want to expand my knowledge helps me to figure out where I should put my mental energy to work.  On that note, here are some things I’d like to learn before I turn the big 2-9 this time next year:

1) Speed Reading: Given the ever increasing size of my ‘To-Be-Read’ pile (both the physical pile of books and magazines I own, and the virtual list of websites and blogs I follow), the ability to cut down my reading time is one of the things that could make the most difference in my daily life.  I actually requested a book on speed reading as one of my presents, and hopefully my reading speed will increase as a result.  It’s not a cure-all, of course; no matter how fast I read, if I keep adding things to the list, I’ll never dig myself out of the hole I’m in.  (Although, I always wondered how someone digs themselves ‘out’ of a hole…but that’s neither here nor there.)  Which brings me to my next learning goal…

2) How to NOT Procrastinate: I’ll be the first to admit, I have a horrible habit of procrastinating.  There are any number of things I do to avoid doing the the things I should be doing, from cruising the internet randomly to re-watching TV shows to simply daydreaming.  I’ll even procrastinate while I’m doing something to avoid doing real work, like continuously checking email when I mean to be blogging when I should be studying for an upcoming test.  (Yes, much as I love to write here, even my blog can be a form of procrastination when there’s something more urgent or important to do.)  This one is going to be tricky, but I’m trying to set goals for myself and stick with them as well as I can.

3) Learn to Speak a Foreign Language: Alright, this one might not be possible in just one year (at least, a year when I have graduate level classes and research on top of my blogging goals to achieve), but getting a start on learning a foreign language, at least, would help make me feel that the year has not gone to waste.  I’m leaning toward Japanese, myself; I realize it’s not supposed to be an easy language for native English speakers to learn (at least, compared to European languages such as Spanish, German, or French), but it has a certain air of exoticism to it.  (As I’ve mentioned several times before, Sondra and I are both big fans of Japanese culture, and we would like to visit Japan at some point.  Plus, knowing Japanese could come in handy as we watch our anime.)  Hopefully, with some time and effort put into learning the language, I can become conversant, if not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

This is far from a complete list of things I hope to learn before this time next year (a list that includes advanced biochemistry and most of my other school subjects, as well as personal finance and self-improvement topics), but it’s a decent start, and a pretty good reminder of some of my long term goals.  Hopefully, if I can keep myself motivated and focused (and not procrastinate too much), I’ll be able to write about completing all of these tasks, at least to some extent, when my next birthday rolls around.  Have a great day, everyone!

This weekend, I passed a major milestone, one I’ve been working towards to the best of my ability since nearly the beginning of the year.  (Technically, it’s one I’ve been working towards since I started this humble blog, but one that I became aware of and started to actively work towards only earlier this year.)  If you’ve been reading The Amateur Financier for any sizable length of time, you’ve probably heard me mention the Samurai Alexa Challenge, the attempt by Financial Samurai to boost himself and a group of other interested bloggers into a personal finance force, by focusing on increasing their Alexa rankings.  (You can read more about the challenge, the rankings, and how to improve your own Alexa standings from this guest post by The Investor.)

I joined, back when my ranking was in the mid 500,000s, setting my sights on the lowest hurdle in the challenge: boosting my rank to 200,000.  As of this weekend (Sunday, in particular), I’ve made it to my goal.  Yes, my rank is now higher than 200,000!  In the course of just over two months, I’ve managed to go from 568,000 to 199,000, increasing my blog rating by 369,000 ranks or so.  I’ll admit, I feel very proud of myself and my blog for coming so far.

Celebratory Fireworks!

But as the title of this post says, the best is yet to come.  Now that I’m in the top 200,000 sites on the web, the next step is clear: setting my sights even higher, looking at that next rung, and trying to climb high.  I know that the higher my Alexa ranking becomes, the more difficult it will be to boost it even higher; as with any competitive event (and creating quality websites has definitely become competitive over the years), the higher you climb in the rankings, the fiercer the competition.  (Financial Samurai himself is a perfect illustration of this; in the period my blog moved up 369,000 rankings, his blog moved up 35,000 rankings, from 74,000 at the start of the challenge to 39,000 today.)

I have no doubt that I’ll succeed, though; this challenge and the sense of accomplishment it has given me has left me feeling confident and motivated, more so than almost any experience I’ve had since I’ve begun blogging.  (Although, having my blog entry quoted on MSN is definitely a strong contender.)  I’m still a ways away from conquering the blogging world or giving up my job search and settling down as a full-time, professional blogger (although, that latter suggestion sounds more and more tempting every day), but with more effort and time, I’m sure I’ll only get closer each and every day.

But I won’t do it alone.  If nothing else, this Alexa challenge has shown me that it’s only as a group that we who send out our thoughts into the ether of cyberspace can succeed.  So, allow me to end this celebratory post with a few thank-yous to those of you who have helped make this moment possible.  (I’ll do my best to keep from getting too sappy on you all, but I make no promises.)

First, thanks to you, Financial Samurai.  This Alexa challenge is one of the most unique events I’ve ever encountered, and it’s brought together a diverse group of bloggers in a spirit of cooperation and mutual help that’s rare to see anywhere nowadays, let alone in the wilds of the Internet.  Keep up the good work, my friend, and keep setting the bar high so the rest of us have something for which we can aim.

Thanks also to all of my fellow Yakezie members.  I know that many of you have already zoomed past the 200,000 ranking (including those of you who were much higher at the start of this challenge), and to you I say, good job; but watch your backs, because I’m coming up fast!  To those of you who are still striving towards 200,000, remember this: anything is possible, as long as you keep working diligently and doing your best.  I’ve visited many of your blogs, and I’m always impressed at the level of writing and quality of the sites I see.  Keep up the excellent work, and soon I’ll be the one who has to watch his back!

A most gracious thanks to everyone who has featured, tweeted, written about, or otherwise promoted my blog.  It’s thanks in no small part to all of you and your help in getting the word out that I’ve managed to reach this point.  Personal finance writing is, as I discovered well after creating my blog, one of the most competitive areas of writing on the web, and it’s only because I’ve had friends willing to give me a boost that I’ve grown above being an obscure writer working on a blog nobody’s ever read into the powerhouse I currently am becoming.  Thanks for the boost, and here’s hoping I can continue to boost others in turn.

Finally, to all my readers, the biggest thanks of all.  I realize that many of you fall into the previously listed categories, but just in case you haven’t, allow me to say that it’s because of the encouragement I get from knowing that my posts are read and appreciated that I can keep writing everyday and trying to help others to understand and appreciate money.  Let me just say one last little thing:

Truly, the best is yet to come.

Well, it’s the end of the year, a time when we look at ourselves, at our accomplishments and our failures, and make plans to improve in the new year.  With that in mind, it’s time to look over my life in 2009, see what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I intend to do in the future.

Luckily, I’ve been blogging for most of this year, so my year-end review process is going to be much easier than it has in the past.  I’ve been pretty open about my personal and financial life when writing this blog, so it should be a much easier process to go through and spot my high and low points.  Come along and enjoy the fun!

The Good:

I started a new personal finance blog!  In hindsight, maybe personal finance wasn’t the best niche to focus on, but it has kept my interest and spurred on my writing for this past year, and hopefully quite a while into the future.

Celebrate the Good Times!

I was able to spend another Valentine’s Day with my beloved.  (I promise this won’t turn into a list of the celebrations I had with Sondra, although a few more might sneak through…)

Speaking of which, this was also the year that we got engaged!  *Does his happy Roger dance to celebrate, again*

After only a few months, I decided to go at making this blog interesting and productive, and decided to leave Blogger for my own site (which you’re reading now).  It’s been a great move, in my opinion.

I shared seven things with my readers that they probably didn’t know (unless they’ve been stalking me…)

As part of my attempts to ingratiate myself more fully with the PF blogging community, I hosted a carnival, the first of several, actually.

I got a new job, with good pay, at a place I’ve been trying to get into for quite a while…

The Bad:

…Which I unfortunately lost before too long.

I had to make semi-major repairs on my car, at a time when I was unemployed and trying to stretch my savings as much as possible.  On the bright side, I did get another post out of the deal, so there was some good that came from the whole ordeal.

And deal the bad times

While I had a wonderful trip out to visit my fiancee’s extended family, our trip home was horrible.  I hope I never have to deal with that kind of aggravation again.

The Ugly:

I tried not to spend too much time on the whole real estate melt down and the after effects, but it was hard to be a blogger in 2009 without expressing some opinion on the whole situation.  So here is my rant on the causes of our financial mess (which is far from completely cleaned up).

I’ve run into some complications getting my unemployment benefits paid, after the aforementioned job loss.  (As of this writing, it seems to be resolved, but I’m not counting my chickens before they are hatched after all the trouble that I’ve had.)

My Year in Review

I’ll be honest, I’m a bit surprised at how many good things happened this yes, and how few bad ones.  It’s easy to get lost in the bad things and forget all the positives.  But all in all, 2009 was a pretty good year.  Yes, I wish that I hadn’t had so many job problems (and all the associated money problems that went with them), but it was also a year filled with positives.  I got engaged!  I started a blog!  I held several jobs over the course of the year, and I’m sure I can get another job soon.

All in all, 2009 was pretty good.  I can only hope that 2010 will be even better.  But I suppose my year will be only as good as I can make it… Happy New Year, Everyone!

It’s finally happened: I’ve reached 250 posts of The Amateur Financier!  I’ve managed to keep blogging through nine months, two jobs, and any number of other distractions.  It hasn’t always been an easy task, continuing to put up new articles on a (mostly) timely basis, but it’s been surprisingly fun and entertaining, to say nothing of introducing me to a variety of good blogs.

Now, if you’ll indulge me for a bit, before I highlight some of the interesting posts from other blogs in this past week, I’d like to do a retrospective of sorts and look at a few of my favorite posts from the first stage of the Amateur Financier.  Some were popular, some were highly informative, and some simply stuck in my mind as being fun to write, but all of them represent some of my favorite works of the Amateur Financier.  In no particular order, here are some of my top picks:

My Favorite Posts (So Far)

Three Things I Wish I knew When I Was Younger – One of the advantages that comes with age is wisdom, while one of the disadvantages is regret.  Here’s a list of a few things that, in hindsight, I wish I could have learned earlier in my life, but still appreciate gaining the knowledge now.

Let's party like... we aren't being forced to wear silly hats!

One Million Dollars – A few priorities I would have for how to spend one million dollars, if I happened to stumble across it.  Looking back, I can already see (less than one year later), that I would do things quite a bit differently (in particular, providing more money to my mother) than what I have listed here.  I suppose that’s the nature of goals; they are always moving and changing.

Unemployment 102: Know Your Fees! – A reminder to those who are unemployed (as I was at the time of this article): you have to be careful about fees that might be attached to your unemployment benefits, particularly if you are getting your benefits through a debit card.  The last thing you want to do is to be nickeled and dimed by small fees every time you attempt to get at your money.

5 Ways to Get Rich Quick – A list of simple, highly effective, and easy to put into effect plans to generate millions, even tens of millions of dollars with practically no time or effort… published on the first of April.

Ten Steps to Control Your Finances Reviewed – I spent an entire week in May going step by step to show everyone how to get their finances in order.  Here’s a summary of all my tips, in order; all are good to follow, although given some of the comments, I do sometimes consider whether I made the right choice in their order…

Trick Tips – More of a ‘fun’ post than anything else, this is simply a collection of ways to calculate a tip when you don’t have a calculator handy or printed tips suggestions on the bottom of the receipt.  If you find yourself in such a situation, or simply like trying to keep your mind sharp with some regular algebra, these tips could prove helpful.

Blog Posts I Liked This Past Week

You’re Rejected!  How I Use Rejection to Motivate Me Every Single Day – Many of us (and I’ll gladly include myself in that number) go out of our way to avoid being rejected by the people around us, be they friends, coworkers, or even random strangers in a public setting.  But as the Financial Samurai reminds us, rejection is one of the best ways to learn and grow.  Keep that in mind, and perhaps you’ll start looking at rejection in a new light.

How to Pay Off More Than One Debt – If you’re in a situation where you have more than one debt to pay off, it can be tricky to know where to start.  Luckily, Stephanie of Poorer Than You has created a helpful little Google document that will allow you to organize all your debts and sort them according to the lowest balances, highest interest rates, or even Stephanie’s own favorite, the ‘annoyance factor’ you feel about repaying the debt.  Good if you want to find some place to start with your debt repayment.

Top Fifteen College Degrees by Starting Salary – My Life ROI covers the top degrees for those of us who want to profit from our education.  I’m a bit miffed that my major (biochemistry) doesn’t make the list, while the degree I would have gotten if I stuck with my original major (pharmacy) tops it, with a six figure salary to boot.  Ah, well, such is life, and perhaps in a non-round-up post, I’ll have to share more of that little story…

Retiring on Investment Interest and Dividends Alone – An interesting idea I’ve heard tossed about in various places, to live off the dividends and interest your investments can produce rather than drawing down the principle.  In theory, doing so would enable you to stretch your retirement dollars much further, as your principle would remain the same through the course of your retirement (or preferably, increase as you reinvest some of your dividends so that your income keeps ahead of inflation).  However, as Generation Y Investor points out, doing so requires a rather hefty amount of money up front, even in favorable climates for dividends.  Still, it’s one idea I’m definitely going to look at for the future.

Make Money With a Garage Sale – I’ll admit it: I’m a pack rat.  It runs in the family, our tendency to accumulate more and more stuff without really having any place to go with it.  Luckily, there are ways to get rid of it, including a garage sale.  If you go that route, be sure to (a) check out Studenomics’ article on making money with a garage sale to pick up some good tips, and (b) invite me, so I find some deals!  (What?  I’ve already told you it’s genetic…)

That’s it for this week at the Amateur Financier; here’s to another 250 posts, and many hundreds more after that!