Resurrection

Happy resurrection day to me. Well not quite; I'm still in the trenches, but I'm slowly but surely coming back to some kind of normalcy. On my priority list of things to do, get caught up on the blogosphere and complete a 30 day detox. Please believe me when I say that I have completely abandoned any decent eating habits during the last few months. When you're working 7 days a week, 12 - 18 hours a day, it's challenging to do the planning and prep work necessary for semi-healthy eating. I've had more Mexican food, pizza and chicken (shout out to Chick-Fil-A) in 3 months than I probably had all of 2008. As tasty as those guilty pleasures were/are, the effects on my energy level and skin are not as beneficial. Oh and wait, since I'm confessing here, let me not leave out the endless 20 oz bottles of coke products, almost any coke product, classic coke, coke zero (sorry, me no like diet coke), fanta orange and sprite.

Exactly what kind of detox will I do for 30 days? I plan on sharing more but I do warn anyone out there with real knowledge of such things, the detox plan that I share will be completely made up by me, supported by nothing more than my thoughts and perceptions. In a nutshell, the detox will consist of a lot of no-no's: no fried foods, no refined sugars, no processed foods, no meats and no breads. How dreadful it sounds when I focus on what I can't have, let's see, what can I have ... oh yes, fruits, veggies, beans, grains, nuts, okay, yeah, not helping. Oh well, I'm going to do it, I have to do it, I must do it! Now that I've shared this with the world, failing is not an option;-).

I'm glad to be back. I missed yall!

***There will be a post on the financial impact of such careless eating. You'll be surprised.

Still Here

Hey blog readers and friends, I'm still here! Work is busy, busy, busy ... just out of control (which I guess is a good thing in these times huh?).

Hopefully I will be back to regular posting & commenting next week (or sooner because I miss yall ... sniff sniff).

Have a fantastic week,

Moving My Eggs Around

Since my previous post on diversification, I have remained committed to finding ways to diversify my savings. Having all of my wealth in the stock market no longer makes sense to me for several reasons ... (1) I'm not truly diversified, (2) while I'm not freakin out about the current downward spiral of the market, I am paying closer attention to how my investments are structured and (3) I do not want my long term savings to be solely based on speculative investments.

Investopedia defines diversification as a risk management technique that mixes a variety of investments within a portfolio. The idea here is to reduce your exposure to risk because investments are unlikely to move in the same direction at the same time. When one investment is down, the other investment should be up or at least stable. Needless to say, we are currently in unprecedented times when everything, stocks, bonds and real estate are all moving in the same direction, down! So can I really achieve diversification? Yes, I think so. Here are a few investment ideas that I plan on adding to my portofolio, in addition to paper investments (i.e. stocks & bonds):

• Pay of my mortgage! Yes, this is already a goal but I have taken steps to increase the amount I'm sending each month as extra principal payments. The way I see it, a paid off mortgage will fit in quite nicely with my long term savings plan. Unless I have some life changing circumstances, I am in my house for the foreseeable future so why not expedite the payoff. Certainly we all know the benefits of not having a mortgage.
• Small Business - I have an investment in a small business and it's actually in the black! I will continue to monitor the business and maintain my investments as long as it's a viable option. One of my long-term goals is to invest in more small businesses. Perhaps I'll post more about this later because this goal gets me pretty hype!
• Rental Real Estate - At some point I plan to include rental real estate in my portfolio. I have no plans on taking the plunge until I have enough cash to make a hefty down payment. Actually I would prefer multi-units or commercial properties. I have little to no interest in managing single family homes.

Now that I have specific investments identified, I am feeling better about being diversified. Am I risk adverse, absolutely not, I just don't want all of my eggs in one basket. Aah, it feels good to have a plan ;-).

Financial Nugget 12

I must admit, I am trying everything I possibly can to avoid blogging about politics because frankly, I did not start this blog to be political or voice my political views. While I have zero interest in chatting about politics, this week's nugget was definitely inspired by recent political events. I'm not sure who said it, where it came from or when it was first said but it's definitely worth repeating ....

You cannot borrow your way out of debt, period.
~author unknown

FREE Training in Metro Atlanta

This info was passed on to me by a fellow reader. If you are currently unemployed, CED Solutions is offering a free 5 day Microsoft Office Training in the Atlanta area. You can find out more by clicking here.

According to their website, CED Solutions is the largest training and testing center in North America. Since they have classes all over, it's possible that free training is being offered in other states as well. Please pass this information on to anyone who may find it useful.

Thanks!

Financial Nugget 11

Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon.
~Peter Lynch

If only we had listened to the simple wisdom in this week's nugget, just maybe we could have avoided or at least softened the pain of this self-inflicted wound that our economy is feeling today. An economy that grows exponentially as a result of creative financing, derivatives, hedge instruments and securitizations backed by sub prime lending cannot sustain itself for very long. The market will eventually have no choice but to self correct, and that my dear readers is where we are today.

Mondays

Are you one of the many people who dread Monday mornings? When I was a member of that group I used to get the downers around 6:00 pm every Sunday evening. I remember dreading Monday mornings and the start of another work week. Today I don't feel that way. The heaviness that used to settle in the pit of my stomach every Sunday evening no longer comes to visit. After I became consumer debt free I made some life adjustments that allowed me to rearrange my work schedule so my Mondays became much better ... however there is a new threat lurking.

Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over the course of 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945. The job-loss reports continued to climb in January, which saw over 200,000 job losses. January 26th was the day that some labeled as Bloody Monday because several fortune 500 companies announced over 65,000 job cuts combined. Those companies included Caterpillar (20,000 jobs), Pfizer (20,000 jobs), Sprint (7,000 jobs) and Home Depot (7,000 jobs).

Monday February 2 - Macy's announced that they will cut 7,000 jobs. Other companies announced job cuts later that week (Panasonic 15,000 jobs, and PNC Financial 5,800 jobs).

Monday February 9 - Japanese automaker Nissan announced 20,000 job cuts (technically it was announced Sunday but it hit US mainstream news Monday).

Flag on the play! Who wants to start the week hearing about the infinite number of jobs being lost everyday? And why on Monday? If there has to be a weekly announcement I suggest that companies do it on Friday when most of us are floating high at the anticipation of the weekend;-). I shall not be recruited back into the Monday morning blues. I know we're in a recession, I know the economy is shaky, I know the markets are extremely volatile, yes, I know all of these things. I also know that I do not want to begin each week with Monday's gloom and doom report so effective immediately, I am replacing Monday morning news with Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog.