Road to a Million

GPS for Your Financial Life

2009-07-19T23:31:30Z

I hate balancing my checkbook. It is a pain in the ass and not at all exciting. When I first got my checking account, it was no big deal. Then ATM cards came along and it got a little more challenging, but not quite. ATM cards eventually evolved into check cards. They're incredibly convenient, but I find myself using cash less and less. The convenience has a dark side, though. Keeping a tight reign on my financial life has become more and more difficult.

The first rule of wealth building is to spend less than you make, right? So that means you have to keep track of both your income and your spending. Over the years, I have struggled with that. There have been times where I have balanced my checkbook for more than six months at a time. I know, that's not good. I generally had no idea of where my money was going. I just made sure that I didn't get too close to zero. A few times, I wasn't very successful there, either. And, while they'll deny your credit card for going over the limit, banks seem to like the $35.00 for each debit transaction that overdraws your account. That makes for an expensive candy bar at the gas station.

For years, I have used Quicken to manage my money. Over the years, Intuit has built an incredibly powerful and comprehensive money management program. The problem is that it is almost too good. If I had a better understanding of accounting practices, I might be able to use it more effectively. Still, it requires the discipline of entering purchases and balancing your accounts. Even though it has some nice online banking integration, security protocols from my banks make it somewhat inconvenient to use.

Last year, I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at a local church. There, I learned to create spending plans and cash flow plans in a way that was empowering. Now, I had learned this in high school, but our teacher left me more terrified of this than excited. My money anxieties flared up any time I tried it, and I eventually gave up, but the tools that Dave provided in the course were easy and useful. By the end of the course, they had helped me to significantly reduce my debt and get my finances headed in the right direction.

My problem with Dave's tools were that they were mainly paper based. He does offer tools on his web site, but they don't integrate with my money tracking in Quicken. I tried using the tools in Quicken, but they were too complicated.

Over the past year, I spent some time looking at alternatives to Quicken. I found a number of programs that claimed to do the trick. Every one of them had some flaw that kept them from making the cut. Along the way, I did find a couple exceptional contenders. Money Well, from No Thirst Software, and moneyGuru, from Hardcoded Software, are among the best Quicken alternatives I found. The are both easy to use, provide comprehensive features, and help you see your financial situation at a glance. They're worth checking out.

About a week ago, however, I found an online program called Mvelopes from Finicity. It's also offered as a rebranded program through David Bach's Automatic Millionaire web site. I have to say that this is, by far, the best personal finance management program I have encountered.

When I first saw the program, I was hesitant. This is a completely web-based, subscription application. That means you pay a fee every quarter, year, or two years, to use the service. It's a little more costly than purchasing Quicken every two years, too. In order to use all of the features, you also have to give it information about your bank accounts, including usernames and passwords. Because it's a web-based application, of your financial data resides on their servers, not your own.

Those factors stopped me for a little while. I did some careful research into their security protocols, and found that they are solid. I realized a few things along the way. First, their servers are a lot more secure than my computer. Second, their connections are all heavily encrypted. Third, their computers are redundant, meaning something catastrophic would have to happen for my data to be lost. That third point was driven home when my mom's Quicken data file suddenly went missing from her laptop forcing her to start over from scratch.

I signed up for a free trial of Mvelopes and was ready to go within minutes (see tour). The most brilliant part of their application is that it talks to your banks. When I make a debit card transaction, once my bank clears the purchase, it's automatically entered into my account.

The application uses a digital version of the old envelope system that families have employed for decades to successfully manage money. When income comes in, it is divided into a series of envelopes. When expenses come in, they are deducted from your account as well as the corresponding envelope. That means you know what money is coming in and where it is going at all times. If you want to spend money, you look at the envelope to see if you have any money to spend. If the envelope is empty, you don't make the purchase.

If you use credit cards, this application is even more helpful. It prevents you from overspending and helps you to pay off your card every month. When credit card transactions are registered, it moves money from the corresponding envelopes into a special envelope for your credit card payment. Used properly, this means that you can get rid of credit card debt faster and never carry a balance again or wonder if you'll be able to pay your bill at the end of the month. It makes your credit card work more like a debit card.

Because of the envelopes, and great programming, budgeting is a breeze. Your net worth is available at the click of a button to gauge your progress. I already feel like I have a better handle on my finances. Better yet, it works perfectly with the money management practices that I learned in Financial Peace University, so I don't have to try to learn a whole new method. I'm actually excited about this program because it is so elegant and empowering. I highly recommend it.

On the road to a million, the difference between mvelopes and the other programs is the difference between using a GPS or a map and compass.

What About Bob?

2009-07-19T23:18:29Z

You probably have never heard of Bob Parsons. He's the ecclectic founder of GoDaddy.com and Parsons Technology. I've got to hand it to him, he's brilliantly taken a business as un-sexy as domain name registration and built GoDaddy into one of the most recognized brand names in the industry. Its as close to a household name as a company like that can get. Plus, he's a hoot and doesn't take himself too seriously.

Today, I stumbled upon his personal web page and video blog. A lot of his postings focus on advice for making money online. His most recent posting, however, is great advice for anyone. Check him out at www.bobparsons.me.

On the road to a million, Bob is probably a good guy to stop and ask direction from.

Debt Settlement

2009-07-11T21:43:40Z

If you have listened to the radio for more than ten minutes in the last few months, you've likely heard at least one commercial for a debt settlement company. The commercials entice those of us with credit card debt by talking about "secret programs that the credit card companies don't want you to know about" to help you get debt free. This only works for unsecured debts (e.g. credit cards, medical bills) and not for secured debts like mortgages and auto loans or government debts like student loans and taxes. There's a good chance that there are some ads right on this page for debt settlement companies thanks to AdSense. Check out their web pages and incredible claims.

What they Do

When you contract with a debt settlement firm to assist you, they will assign a negotiator to your case. As part of your initial paperwork, you will sign a limited power of attorney form that will allow them to call your creditors and negotiate a settlement. Your creditors won't negotiate an account that is current, so the settlement firm will counsel you to not pay your bills during this time. Instead, they will tell you to deposit this money into an account to use for your settlement when the time comes.

If you started with your accounts current, you will need to wait until you are behind on your payments about three months before they begin negotiating. The negotiators will usually wait until you have enough money saved up to make payment immediately upon settlement. That means additional waiting. When your creditors call you to collect, and they will call to collect, you will have to endure their collection attempts and advise them that they need to discuss this with your settlement firm. If you haven't been through this, it isn't pretty. Debt collectors can be manipulative, threatening, and mean.

Upfront Fees

Debt settlement firms require payment for their services, and, no, it is not a pay-for-performance type compensation. If you choose to work with a debt settlement company, you will pay a fee based on the amount of debt you owe. This will be between 10% and 20% of your outstanding credit card balance. Firms will require you to authorize a monthly debit from your checking or savings account. They will let you spread this out for about 10-12 months, but you will be required to pay them in full before you settle your debt.

Debt settlement firms won't work with you if you have too little debt. Often, they will require at least $12,000 in credit card debt before they will work with you. Therefore, expect to pay a minimum of $1,500 in fees to the debt settlement firm for their services. If you are setting aside $280 each month to pay your debts, for the first ten months, $130 of that will be available to eventually settle your debts until the eleventh month. At that time, the full $280 each month would be available for debt settlement.

Nothing You Can't Do

If you genuinely cannot pay your debts, your credit cards can and will work with you. They understand that it is better to collect 50¢ for each dollar you owe, rather than going to collection and litigation. This will definitely test your mettle. They will try to get you to go on a payment plan before they settle, and that could be preferable. Even on a payment plan, they may forgive fees and freeze future interest.

Difficult Creditors

Not all creditors are created equal. Some are more aggressive than others. Many have sleazy collection practices. If you have a Discover card and ever too a cash advance or made a balance transfer, they will not settle your debt. American Express is another firm that is very difficult. If you work with a debt settlement firm and they tell you they can't help you with that debt after your fees have been determined or paid, be sure to demand a refund for that portion of your fees.

Hidden Costs

When you settle your debt rather than paying it, you will find there are a number of hidden costs. The one most likely overlooked when you're overwhelmed and scared is psychological. Your debt is a promise to pay, and when the dust settles, you know that your integrity has been compromised. As you go forward beyond the debt settlement, you will find that credit is harder to secure. Your other credit card rates may be increased, financing a home could be more expensive or difficult. Even your auto insurance rates could go up. That's because the debt settlement will appear on your credit report.

One expense your debt settlement company will likely fail to mention is that the IRS considers the amount of debt forgiven as taxable income. That's right. You will have to pay taxes on the amount forgiven. (See: IRS - Home Foreclosure and Debt Forgiveness). That means on April 15, after you settle your debt, you will owe the IRS about 25% of the amount forgiven as tax. If you can't pay that when it is due, be prepared for more penalties and fees. Remember, too, that the IRS does not settle on debt.

Bottom Line

Don't look to debt settlement firms as an easy way of getting debt free. Debt settlement is an option if you have a lot of debt and absolutely cannot pay. It's certainly better than going into bankruptcy, but its not a casual decision. Paying what you owe is the best route. Even if a debt settlement company delivers on a promise of getting you a settlement at 40% of the debt you owe, you will pay another 25 - 30% of the original debt amount as fees and taxes. By working with your creditors directly, you can save significantly by avoiding those fees. If, for some reason, you cannot work with your creditors directly, and you don't have someone you trust willing to negotiate on your behalf, don't contact a debt settlement firm thinking that it will be a quick fix. The road will be slow, difficult, and costly, but not as bad as bankruptcy.

On the road to a million, we're going to try to avoid this one.

I AM...

2009-07-07T22:40:17Z

Growing up, my parents, particularly my mom, worked to install the Ten Commandments firmly into my moral compass. I presume that my experience was hardly unique. Of course, my mom's favorite was "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you" (Exodus, 20:12). She would pull that one out any time she wanted to overcome our disagreement about doing something. She would often follow it with a reminder that disobeying could significantly shorten our days in the land.

Like many, I knew what the ten commandments were, but never developed a real understanding of them. After all, they are commandments. You should take them at their face value, right?

I think that Sunday School would have been more fun if I had some of the same perspective and knowledge that I now have. As a child, I took Sunday School with somewhere between a grain and a pillar of salt. From early on, it was clear that I was reverent, but never destined for a life of Christian Evangelical Fundamentalism. Still, I have a rich spiritual life and I am careful not to mix it too much with religion.

So, that brings us to a recent incident where I heard someone talking about the third commandment. In some translations, it reads, "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name" (Exodus 20:7 NRSV) or "You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7 NAB).

I was reminded of that commandment by my parents and grandparents more than once. Still, what is "the name of the lord?" For a long time, I assumed that taking the Lord's name in vain when the word "Goddamnit" was misspoken as three words rather than a singular exclamation. In the book of Exodus, God is not the name of the Lord. According to Exodus 3:14, the name of God is "I AM." Given that the commandment is given in Exodus, names in other books are significantly less relevant.

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the bible translates the text of the commandment as "make wrongful use of..." while the New American Bible (NAB), used by the Catholic Church in the US, uses the more traditional "take the name of..." as the translation for the commandment. It is useful to stop for a moment and think about what it means to "take the name of." Growing up, I thought it meant to utter the name of, but that doesn't really capture the literal meaning of those words. Looking up "take" in the dictionary, we find that it also means "to take possession of," "to claim," "to employ," or "to copy." Thus, when women get married, they are often asked if they are going to take their husband's last name.

So, that takes us to my new understanding of the third commandment and its relevance to building wealth. Forget the exclamations that happen after you stub your toe. How many times do you use the Lord's name in a day? What if those declarations create our experience of life? Modern psychology seems to support this idea. When we say "I am sick," we further that experience. The Lord is unforgiving of this misuse and allows you to create that reality with all of the power of the Lord's name behind it. Financially, we often follow "I am" with phrases like broke, buried in debt, poor.

I won't suggest that we give up taking the Lord's name. In fact, the commandment doesn't even discourage taking the Lord's name. It only warns against misusing it or using it in vain. So, what if we used it more consciously. Become aware of using "I am" and declare good things for yourself. "I am rich." "I am happy." "I am debt free." "I am cared for." "I am better and better." From a biblical perspective, the word preceded creation, so there is no lie in any of that.

State Legislatures Threaten Internet Entrepreneurs

2009-07-02T21:47:39Z

The recession is hitting many of us hard. We look at our retirement accounts and see that they're significantly smaller than they were before. I've got a few years to go before retirement, but many people don't have that luxury. Today, I was at an office furniture store and met a man, Bill, who, after a very successful career, found himself on the sales floor. He had looked at his 401K and there just wasn't enough there. His wife, who retired after a 20+ year career with IBM, found herself in the same position. Bill works for the office furniture store four days each week and then works with his wife at the antique shop where she works another two days each week. He seems happy about it, and some studies say work may help him live longer. That's a choice that we would hope to make freely at that age, not under duress.

While many, like look to traditional brick-and-mortar type businesses to supplement their incomes or retirement funds, others are stepping out onto the digital frontier. Internet based businesses are sprouting up everywhere. People can make a good living online, in part, through affiliate programs. The Associated Press reports on a man who makes $80,000 each year through affiliate marketing. More than half of that is coming from a single affiliate -- Amazon.com.

Individuals are not the only ones who are feeling the pinch of the recession, though. State governments are hurting for money and looking for places to find revenue. For years, online retailers have been exempt from charging sales tax for online purchases, with a few exceptions. Typically, the exception is for states where they have a physical presence.

Now, legislatures are looking to the affiliate programs as a potential cash cow. Several states, like North Carolina, Hawaii, and Rhode Island, are looking to require online retailers to charge sales tax in any state where they have an online affiliate marketer. For retailers like Amazon.com, there are few states where they do not. As a result, these businesses are cutting their losses and ending their affiliate programs in those states. Where they were once looking to increase revenues, they are losing revenues.

One of Aesop's fables was about a dog to whom the butcher had thrown a nice juicy bone. As the dog crossed a bridge over a pond, it looked down to see another dog, with a nice juicy bone. That bone looked even bigger than the one he had, so the dog barked at the other dog and sprang from the foot bridge after the other dog. When the dog made its way back to the shore, he found himself wet, muddy, and without any bone what-so-ever.

Whether you're an Internet entrepreneur or not, watch your state's legislative agenda carefully. Using affiliate marketers as a way of scaring up revenue will undoubtedly backfire. Small businesses will find themselves without affiliate programs. Along with not realizing sales tax revenues, the states that make these moves will lose the business tax revenues on the small businesses that are in the affiliate programs. When all is said and done, we'll all be wet and muddy.

Don't be shy telling your elected officials what you think about this.

A Journey of a Million Dollars Begins with One Trade

2009-06-12T13:12:33Z

Right now, it seems like forever ago that I setup my brokerage account, but yesterday was the first time I actually executed a trade. It took a while, but last week I finally got the rollover disbursement from my previous employer's 401K account. When I logged in last Friday and saw it all sitting there as cash, I realized that I better get studying.

Now, as someone who does training and development as a career, I've studied adult learning theory. One of the foundations of adult learning is that adults learn better when it is relevant. As I sat there last Saturday re-reading my investment books, knowing that cash was just sitting there doing nothing got me moving a bit. I didn't feel rushed, but it felt like much more of a priority, for sure. Learning changes dramatically.

So, I did my homework. I identified industries where the institutional money is going and that are performing well in the market. Then I drilled down and found stocks that had solid fundamentals. The financials were good and the price trend was upward. Moving on, to the technical analysis, they were moving strong against their moving average in a consistent uptrend. The MACD and Stochastic were looking good. In fact, right now, they still are.

Wednesday night, before bed, I logged into thinkorswim and placed my orders. Before doing that, I calculated my risk. In all, I would place two trades. For each, I did my math to ensure that neither would put more than 1-2% of my account at risk. To do this, I placed a simultaneous BUY order with a simultaneous STOP-MKT order. The stop orders were placed about 10% below the purchase price. That way, the maximum loss on either trade would be about 10%. The market stop order would protect me in case the price went into rapid free fall. Believe me, I went through all of my books and notes to make sure I was doing it right. I didn't want to screw up and put in a limit order. That wouldn't really protect my losses because there are conditions where limit orders won't trigger the sell.

I clicked the confirm button and the orders went in queue, waiting for the markets to open.

I'll admit that I was pretty nervous about it as I peeled myself away from the computer last night to go to bed. When I woke in the morning, the markets hadn't opened so I went and showered. Finally coming back to the computer, I saw an alert warning me that my account was not authorized to day trade and if I did it too often, I'd have problems. Worried, I looked into what happened.

As I pulled up my trades in thinkorswim, I saw my first one sitting there. It had executed beautifully. The stop loss was sitting there waiting just in case. The other trade looked a bit weirder. Within minutes of the market opening, it turns out, both the buy and the sell orders executed. All of my homework couldn't prepare me for an odd pocket of volatility on that stock this morning. I bought at 8:30:07 and sold at 8:32:40. It was a bit upsetting.

I sat there and watched the stock price jump around. It dropped down to the mid sixteens and I thought to myself, "Surely this is just odd volatility. I can buy back in and make my money back as it swings back up where it belongs."

That's when it really occurred to me that the most important thing to learn about investing or trading is market psychology - particularly your own. Investools lists that as the number one thing you can (and should) learn.

I fought off the urge to endulge my get-even-itis and left for work. Yes, I learned a lot for my first day. When trading was done and the market closed, one of my purchases had risen 5%. That softened the blow of the $0.49 per share I lost on the other one. I was down about $50 overall.

At first, I was irritated by the stop order. I was thinking I set it too tight. Still, if it hadn't triggered, I would have ended my day down $177 on FUQI. The method did exactly what it was supposed to do in protecting my assets.

I'm also happy with myself for being careful. I could have bought six, ten, twelve, or more stocks today. Instead, I went in with about 25% of my available cash and that was it. While it was not cool seeing that cash sitting in my account doing nothing, it would be even worse to see that cash shrink.

After this happened, I came across a blog entry by Phil Town that confirms what I was thinking. In a market like we have right now, there's nothing wrong with sitting on cash. He points out that Warren Buffett is sitting on plenty of cash right now, just waiting for the right opportunity (http://www.philtown.com/phil_towns_blog/2008/01/cash-is-good-un.html). There will be plenty of buying opportunities, but patience is key.

I don't regret my trades today. The jewelry sector is hot and I believe FUQI is a solid buy. The volatility today was in part, regression toward the mean. The price got too far from its moving average and had to snap back into line. It's still well undervalued by more than 50%. I may try back in, but I thing I'll let Friday ride out and watch it for another day.

The Debt Burden

2009-06-09T02:53:17Z

On June 5, Market Watch reported that, for the seventh month in a row, Americans paid off more debt than they took out. We should all give ourselves a collective pat on the back for that. Its great. The numbers are mind boggling. In March, the collective debt dropped $16.6 Billion. In April, it dropped another $15.7 Billion.

That still leaves us with a lot of debt. Right now, we all have about $930.9 BN in credit card debt and $1.59 Trillion in other non-credit-card debt. The numbers don't include mortgages and home equity loans. The raw data is available from the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve also calculates something called the Debt Service Ratio, or DSR. This is an interesting little number that compares debt payment to disposable income. A DSR of 1.00 would mean that, for every dollar we have of disposable income, we owe one dollar in debt. A DSR of 5.00. would mean that we owe $5.00 for every dollar we have in disposable income.

By disposable income, we're not just talking about money we have to go to the movies or out to dinner. That is part of our disposable income, but disposable income actually refers to our gross income minus taxes. Disposable income means all of the money that we have available to us for spending or saving.

Okay, here's where this gets really a bit disgusting. The overall DSR for the third quarter of 2008 was 13.80, up from about 10.60 in the early 1980s. The good news is that is down from an all-time high of 14.29 in the third quarter of 2007, but it still means that, for every dollar we had to spend or save in 3Q09, we owed $13.80. Even worse, that assumes that we're only making the minimum payments on our credit cards. If you want to see it for yourself, you can go to the Federal Reserve Board's Household Debt Service and Financial Obligations Ratios page.

I'm not above this. I owe more than a year's worth of disposable income on my student loans. Luckily, I paid off my car at the end of last year. Many of us have debt for good reason. We are still wise to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

About a year and a half ago, my sister told me about Dave Ramsey. When I first heard him, I was a bit resistant. His attitude towards debt seemed a bit extreme. Still, I kept listening to his show as a podcast from time to time, and in the Spring of 2008, I took his Financial Peace University at a local church. I've come to really respect the man and what he teaches. Now, I have not shredded all of my credit cards. They're there like a little security blanket, but I avoid using them as much as possible. Chase just sent me a letter telling me that they closed my account because they figured I didn't need their it because I hadn't been using it. I'm working hard to get rid of the debt that I have. I've hear Dave quote Proverbs (22:7) too many times, saying "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." That is as true today as it was in ancient times. With a DSR of 14:1, we are certainly not working for ourselves.

So, back to consumer debt. According to indexcreditcards.com, the average credit card rate in the US was 14.30% on May 20, 2009. That means, if we make a minimum payment of 3% on our credit cards, we rack up $10.89 Billion in credit card interest every month.

Congress passed the credit card reform bill last month, and credit card companies are squirming. If we keep up like we have the past two months, though, we can go a long way to reforming credit card companies, and America. Imagine what we could do with a spare $10.89 Billion each month. And, in with the markets running down and sideways, paying off our debt has a much better rate of return than most mutual funds going.

First Steps

2009-05-25T00:42:15Z

How do I go about getting rich? Sitting around and thinking about it won't get me very far, that's for sure. Still, there is an inner component to getting rich. Lately, there's been a lot of talk about the Law of Attraction as made popular by the movie The Secret. Some reject it as new age snake oil. I admit that, for a while, I rejected it as a slick marketing vehicle. When I finally sat down and watched it, my opinion changed significantly. But this is not entirely about The Secret.

In his book, The Millionaire Mind, Thomas Stanley looks at the characteristics of Millionaires. Working hard was fifth on the list of success factors. Making wise investments wasn't even in the top ten. The top three factors, however, were honesty, discipline, and sociability. Others like Napoleon Hill and T. Harv Eker seem to agree Their writings focus on the inner elements of wealth.

Beyond the inner game, there are the practical steps of getting rich. Let's assume that I'm interested in real wealth, as reflected on a balance sheet, not just income. That would mean I can increase my wealth by lowering my liabilities (debt) or increasing my assets (wealth). Let's also assume that only legal options are on the table. Those could include increasing income from work or business, investment income, winning the lottery, or anything else of that sort.

That leaves me three areas of focus:

Inner Game
Debt Reduction
Income Growth

Those are the three areas for focus right now. I'm a pretty visual thinker, so I need a structure like that to serve as a map for what is to come. This will probably evolve, but it's a good start for now.

Intimidating Endeavor

2009-05-11T22:15:54Z

I remember opening an account on eTrade.com about ten years ago and it wasn't too bad. Today, I finished opening my account on thinkorswim.com and I have to admit being a bit overwhelmed by the experience. They expect someone to read and sign a mountain of agreements with mind boggling, semi-comprehensible, legal-ease. I printed some of the agreements, but not all of them. The list of forms includes:

AMEX Agreement
CME Vendor Agreement
IRA Financial Disclosure
IRA "Simplifier"
NASDAQ Agreement
NYSE Agreement
OCC Disclosure
OPRA Agreement
Penson Privacy Agreement
Roth IRA Agreement
Roth IRA "Simplifier"
Signature Cards

I am going to wait until I can get a live person on the phone before I start funding my account. I have funds in other places, but I want to consolidate it all into one place so that its easier to take care of. There's also the matter of account maintenance fees. The brokerage I'm using doesn't charge any. The two companies where I have Roth IRAs charge $10-15 each year in maintenance on top of their 12b-1 fees. That seems silly to me. Well, I'll take a deep breath and plug away at it again later.

Slowly Getting Started

2009-05-07T00:28:42Z

I have to admit that, despite my initial enthusiasm, it has been slow getting started down this road. There has been a lot of housekeeping stuff to take care of. I was saving for a new computer, so that I could do this effectively. Racking up consumer debt would be a move backwards.

While it is easy for me to get excited about getting computer, I have to admit, I showed some good restraint on this one. I didn't buy the top of the line or any fancy upgrades. It's a nice Apple iMac, and that will do just fine. It's pretty sexy actually. The laptop its replacing was manufactured in 1999. It still does a decent job on a lot of things, but it was not up to supporting this endeavor.

After setting up the computer, I decided to get some financial software and start learning. Today, I created an account at thinkorswim.com and downloaded their Paper Money trading software. I wouldn't go out to sea without knowing how to rig my boat, so this will give me the opportunity to learn and practice. I heard about it at an Investools seminar last fall that was put on my Success Magazine. It's a pretty impressive software package and will allow me to practice trading and learn my way around things before I set out to sea. The downside of the software is that its really powerful, so it has a lot of really complex features for professional traders. It can be a little overwhelming.

Oh, and I'm not sponsored by any of the companies listed above. I promise you that, if any money is changing hands here, it's my money.

Taking the First Step

2009-03-29T15:37:02Z

Stood alone on a mountain top,

Starin out at the great divide

I could go east, I could go west,

It was all up to me to decide

Just then I saw a young hawk flyin'

And my soul began to rise

And pretty soon

My heart was singin'

- Bob Seger (Roll Me Away)

A few months ago, I decided that I was tired of the status quo in my life. Here I am, in my early thirties, and I'm not exactly happy with where I am at. I've got a significant amount of student debt. I think about taking a vacation and get anxious because I don't want to have to put it all on credit cards. Money gives me anxiety, plain and simple. Still, there is a quality of life that I want to achieve. Some of it is materialistic, I admit. There are things that I want to have. More importantly, there is a lifestyle that I want to achieve so that I can enjoy my time and my family. I want to explore more than the five-mile stretch of highway between my one-bedroom apartment and my corporate cube-farm. I grew up in a town where people generally had a lot of money. My grandfather was a doctor and many of his friends were doctors. I lived on the less affluent side of town and knew we weren't as well off as many of my friends. My family didn't go to Mexico, Hawaii, or the Caribbean for spring break. We didn't get to go to Europe over the summer. I rode my bicycle to school, even in high school after many classmates had their own cars. My childhood was not miserable. I had a loving family, good friends, and a supportive community. At this point in my life, though, I could barely afford to buy a house and live there. I still can't afford to take exotic vacations, and I worry about my money. I'm only a little past living paycheck to paycheck, but it wouldn't take much to upset that apple cart. I don't remember the exact moment, day, or time when I made the decision. Like Seger, standing on the mountain top, I realized that I could go east or west and it was my decision. One way was the path of the status quo in my life, which feels much like mediocrity. The other way is the path that will be an adventure. And so it is that I decided to become a Millionaire. This blog is the story of my journey, in real time.