Friday, June 30, 2006

Millionaire Mind

I have been reading Secrets of the Millionare Mind by T. Harv Eker. It's turned out to be pretty interesting. Eker states that it's our money blueprint that enables us to either succeed or fail. In order to succeed we must have our money blueprint in order. Part of this is actually wanting to be rich. Eker says that there are three levels of so-called wanting.

The First Level is "I want to be rich." That's another way of saying, "I'll take it if it falls in my
lap."
The Second Level is "I choose to be rich." This entails deciding to become rich.
The Third Level of wanting is "I commit to being rich." The definition of the word commit is
"to devote oneself unreservedly." This means holding absolutely nothing back; giving 100
percent of everthing you've got to achieving wealth. It means being willing to do whatever it
takes for as long as it takes. This is the warrior's way. No excuses, no ifs, no buts, no maybes
-and failure is not an option. The warrior's way is simple: "I will be rich or I will die trying."
(Eker, pg. 69)
The third level of wanting is so empowering. How awesome is that? The warrior's way - "I will be rich or I will die trying." Now that is commitment. As my commitment to being rich, I plan on working on a five year plan and setting some goals with my wife. I also commit myself to making a budget and paying off our credit cards. I plan to continue investing and following the Rule #1 method. Taking small steps makes things manageable, and will keep me on track.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Amazon...

Well it seems that I have changed my mind about Amazon. While ordering
Buffet: The Making Of An American Capitalist, I had my credit card number jacked while paying for the book. Luckily it was my company card and they caught on right away. The thief tried to buy $300 in costumes, and around $800 in who knows what from Japan. This makes this the most expensive book that I have ever bought. Needless to say I will no longer be buying from Amazon if they can't keep their orders secure. I was talking to the credit card company and they said that this problem happens all the time with Amazon. Anyway, hope this book turns out to be pretty good for all the hassle I went through.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

How I Got Started...

I usually hate seminars and try to get out of going to them as a rule, but I was unable to get out of going to a Get Motivated seminar for my work which turned out to be lucky for me. There were a lot of great speakers, but the person who really made an impact on me was Phil Town. The ex-river guide gone investor, was able to spark an interest in investing for me because he makes it understandable to the layman. I was still aprehensive, so I googled Phil Town and he seemed to be on the up and up. I ordered his book off of Amazon, my new favorite shopping place, and decided that I could take control of my financial future. Rule #1 is an excellent book for the amatuer investor. It got me into paper investing and then opening up an online brokerage account. I also decide that I wanted to learn more, so I started to read The Intelligent Investor. Value investing seems the way to go for me and Phil Town's approach seems to be a modification on that style.

I've also been checking out a lot of financial blogs and have found that there is a ton of excellent information out there. I decided to start my own blog to track my progress as an investor, so that I can learn from others, and maybe every once in a while contribute some information that may help someone else.