I’m long overdue for a Money Report, so here’s one to check up on what I’ve been up to recently. Things have been proceeding as planned for the most part. A lot of my time recently has been spent on a big project at my real job and the rest of the time on minding the fort at home. Somehow, I have squeezed out some time for the following:
Blogs:
It would be nice to make money blogging. But my blogging frequency is still something I’d like to improve and hopefully raise to 4 or 5 times a week, but I’ve decided it’s more important that I do so regularly rather than worrying about how often I do this. I will still aim to post as often as I can, but with many obligations coming up with the last quarter of the year upon us, it’s going to be a challenge! There’s so much to write about but so little time….
Online Business:
So my spouse and I have decided to start an online business. We just got around to choosing the best web host from this list of cheap web hosting services. We’re still on pace with our goals, and just about ready to begin developing a website to house the online tools we’d like to build. We’re still experimenting on various for-profit ideas such as web tools and store fronts; if only I could devote as much time to these as I’d like! So I’d say it’s slow and steady, with a little progress each day.
Online Stores:
We have a couple of stores up now and we’re working on some concepts for interesting merchandise designs. Stay tuned to see what we come up with!
Equity Investments:
The stock market has been my friend the last few months. With the DOW over 12,000 and the S&P at 1368, we’ve had pretty good gains so far. We don’t have a fancy portfolio; we simply track the market with a third of our assets in stocks and bonds, and mostly in index funds. I am still working to reach an allocation that keeps 1/2 of assets in the market, but I’m rather cautious about the market’s record breaking levels these days, so I hesitate making large purchases at this time. For our age, it’s definitely highly recommended that we have half of what we have in long term investments.
Real Estate:
Wasn’t it mentioned somewhere that we were in a housing downturn especially here in California? The message is ubiquitous and everyone is starting to believe it! I know a couple of people trying to unload their houses right now and the story is that there’s a lot of interest and foot traffic during open houses. However, out of perhaps a dozen prospective home buyers, one will produce an offer and it’s a lowball of around 8% from list. So if you’d like to sell your house now, you’d need to discount it even further from your already discounted list price or face a waiting game and hope that a buyer caves in. These home buyers know that they have the upper hand.
Career:
Things going gangbusters and am part of a great team. Hey guys, are you reading this yet?
Budget:
Let’s see. I haven’t been watching our home budget as closely as I’d like. Somehow I keep hoping my market gains cover my weaker showing in this area. Given that I’m facing the holidays with a huge extended family, as well as community drives at work and in schools….well, you get the picture. Plus I’m beginning to receive those holiday catalogs from retailers everywhere and who can possibly resist those concoctions and gift baskets they feature? Well I for one, since you’ll be seeing me at Target or Costco loading up on the same concoctions at discounted or bulk prices.
That’s all she wrote. Here’s to having some exciting news to deliver down the road, especially in the realm of business.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
An agreement that gives an investor the right but not the obligation to buy or sell a stock bond or commodity at a specied price within a specic time period. A call option is an option to buy the security a put option is an option to sell. Even if the option is not exercised before the expiration date the money paid for the option is not returnable.
Well…the economy is certainly in an interesting state – but I think it has more to do with the media trying to scare the average Joe than reality. If people are scared, they won’t spend. If they don’t spend, the economy suffers. If the economy suffers, people don’t spend. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken for the good of all of us.