One Cent At A Time

Yakezie Member Post: Delta Class

by in Personal Finance on Feb 20th, 2012

I was preparing to go to sleep. It was 11PM on Sunday evening. I checked my mail for one last time before calling it a day. There was an email waiting to be read. It was from Sam, informing me on a decision to accept OCAAT as a Yakezie member.

Fellow Yakezies, this is a note from your newest member One Cent at a Time, a blog that inspires you to get ahead in life.

I was ecstatic that night, not that I was not expecting it. It was a moment a dream came true. Finally!

The day I started blogging I noticed Yakezie badge on sites I loved. I read and re read the challenge requirements. In those days I couldn’t think of consistent blog writing and the requirement of posting 2 – 4 times a week looked impossible to me. I didn’t join Yakezie.

After three months I was all prepared to leave blogging, I was not getting enough time, I was not getting enough readers, I was not getting enough comments and encouragement. In a last-ditch effort I accepted Yakezie challenge. Rest is history! I broke in to Alexa 200,000 in record 36 days.

Here I am writing membership posts, after 8 months of joining Yakezie on June 17th. 182 posts, 3500+ comments, couple of grands in blog income, nomination as the best new personal finance blog of the year and 500+ subscribers later I finally completed Yakezie challenge.

The interesting part is, I didn’t feel pressured to write 2 -4 times a week. I enjoyed writing, I enjoyed attention, I enjoyed Yakezie forum.

About SB Read More

Becoming A Better Manager By Unintentionally Crossing The Mexican Border

Left Does Not Mean Right

by in Personal Finance on Feb 14th, 2012

A couple days before my 27th birthday I took a solo business trip across the southern border of the United States. I was working for a duty free company—you know those stores you see at the borders of Canada and Mexico and at airports that advertise discounted liquor, tobacco, and luxury goods—and the owner of the company wanted me to see more locations.

The most efficient way to see the stores in California is to fly into San Diego and drive to the border. I had my map and thought I was following my directions correctly. The duty free store is the last stop before the border. The parking lots of duty free stores are designed so that you exit into either Canada or Mexico. You do not have the option of reentering the United States.

BIENVENIDOS A MEXICO Read More

What Makes You Happy?

Nostalgia And Great Memories

When I was in school, I had hardly any money. Why should I have anything? I was dependent on my parents and only made $3.25 an hour cracking eggs with both hands at McDonald’s sophomore year.  Junior year, I made $4/hour stuffing envelopes as a temp.  And finally, senior year I worked moving heavy boxes for a small business that was changing offices for $3.75 an hour.  Ouch, my back!

Almost every summer, I insisted on traveling overseas to either study a new language or culture, and even then, I somehow landed odd jobs. One job in particular paid a 3-month salary consisting of pastries in the morning and tea in the afternoon just to keep us awake into the night.  I worked as the clapper “ready, set, action” guy and crew hand for the first Chinese-American film JV in Beijing starring Catherine Kellner, Sarita Choudhory, Geng Le, David Wu and even Josh Lucas. These guys started at 6am and regularly finished at 10pm, 5 days a week!

COULDN’T WAIT TO WAKE UP Read More

Find Your Leverage And Change Your Life

Are You Leveraging Yourself Towards a Better Tomorrow?

by in Personal Finance on Feb 6th, 2012

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes

Leverage can be defined as the power to accomplish something, or a strategic advantage. We’ve heard it used in many different ways. Archimedes, assuredly, used it in a much more mechanical/mathematical sense. Financially, it’s been used as term to describe the use of funds in lending and investing. It’s been used in a social way to describe the advantage someone has over another person. But, I don’t want to talk about those usages. I have no current use for moving anything large, haven’t the funds to lend or invest in large enough amounts to warrant leverage, nor, do I have any crazy ideas of leveraging information to advantage one person over another. Instead, I want to talk about leverage in a completely different sense. Leverage as it applies to you, me, and each of us, individually.

LEVERAGE DIFFERENCES Read More

How To Profit From Facebook And Live Happily Ever After

Facebook Riches For The Outsider Looking In

by in Personal Finance on Feb 3rd, 2012

The Facebook effect is palatable here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Just the other night, my no-limit poker buddy who works as a product manager at Facebook said, “Sam, let’s raise the blinds from $1/$2 to $10/$20!

Umm, no Egor, you might wipe out my lunch money for a year with those type of stakes!” I replied.

Facebook is by far the biggest internet IPO of the century.  With the bankers looking to raise some $5 billion in new capital, valuing the company somewhere around $80-100 billion dollars, there is going to be a ton of wealth creation!  By many estimates, there will be over 1,000 newly minted multi-millionaires and a few billionaires as well.

Mark Zuckerberg, himself will be worth some $20-$30 billion, depending on valuations.  Unfortunately, not all of us work at Facebook, and not all of us managed to get into Facebook 5+ years ago, even if we did have the foresight.  As a result, we’re left to ogle at the riches and lament at yet another missed opportunity.

Don’t feel bad!  I’m here to tell you how you too can profit from Facebook and live happily ever after.

PROFITING FROM FACEBOOK THE ALTERNATIVE WAY Read More

The No Excuses Approach For Achieving What You Desire

by in Personal Finance on Jan 30th, 2012

When it comes to finances I’ve heard all of the excuses in the book.

I don’t have time. I don’t have enough money. When I make more money then I’ll…
I don’t know how…

When starting a new year we like to make resolutions and set goals. Whether it’s about your finances, or lifestyle, I think it’s good to start planning for the future. But none of that thinking and planning matters if you can’t get out of your own way.

I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you listen to your excuses and let them keep you from moving toward your goals, I can guarantee that 2012 won’t be like you hope.

WHAT 50+ MILLIONAIRES TOLD ME Read More

Is This A Business Expense?

An Open Discussion On Tax Deductions And The Power Of Justification

by in Personal Finance on Jan 26th, 2012

Someone gave me a great tip on business expenses when I asked him jokingly whether I could deduct my pet food.  He said, “Sam, everything is a business expense so long as you can justify it.“  Interesting!

I’m no accountant, but I have read hundreds of financial statements and understand the basics of maximizing revenue, minimizing costs, and thereby maximizing profits after tax.  A company’s expenses are different, depending on industry.  The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for an individual blogger might be $0, since the individual is writing all his or her own content.  COGS is very straight forward.

It’s the operating expenses which gets a little gray.  Operating expenses are essentially all expenses that are necessary for you to make profits happen.  There are a whole set of rules of what you can and cannot deduct.  What I’d like to do is have a open discussion using an example to understand more.

AN INCOME STATEMENT SNAPSHOT Read More

Welcome Yakezie Delta Class Challengers!

Enter The Year Of The Dragon

by in Personal Finance on Jan 22nd, 2012

Dear Yakezie Delta Challengers,

Has it been over 6 months already?  Yes it has!  Congrats on making it through the Yakezie Challenge, where you’ve each strived to develop great blogs and new friendships in our online community.

The Yakezie Challenge is open to all who desire to be a part of a collaborative community of bloggers. Once you are a Member, you will be listed on the official Yakezie Blog Network page and gain exclusive access to various Yakezie initiatives.  Our mission is to help our readers, help each other, support educational efforts through our Yakezie Writing Contest, and have a fantastic time in the process!

THE COMMUNITY IS PRIORITY Read More

Debt And Tax Advice For A Friend

What do you do when the government grabs hold and doesn't let go?

by in Personal Finance on Jan 17th, 2012

A friend contacted me about the debt problems he has. While I know a lot about investments and alternative investments, I’m not an expert with defaulting on debt and the legal issues that come along with it.

I figured a great way to help my friend was to contact my fellow Yakezie members and ask for their expertise. Any advice or suggestions to my friend is greatly appreciated. Please comment on this post and help my friend out.

My Friend’s Story

My friend has been a computer programmer for over 30 years. With only a high school education he started in the mail room (literally), and worked his way up to the position he is at now. His income is in the low six figures, has no dependents, and lives in a New York city borough. He rents, and the only decent sized asset he has is a truck which is worth approximately $700.

Around the middle of 2007, he suffered a massive depression. Nothing he did seemed to work in getting out of it. He sought out help from friends and family, but no one was able to help him. He started to see a therapist, but wasn’t helping much either. Another friend of his, who had bouts of depression, suggested he see a doctor. Eventually my friend went to see the doctor, and received medication for his depression. Read More

How To Stop Your Career Or Business From Failing By Avoiding The Big Dig Mentality

When You're In A Hole Stop Digging

by in Personal Finance on Jan 12th, 2012

For those of you who have never heard of the “Big Dig”, I learned about it in business school. I graduated before the project reached completion.

According to Wikipedia: “The Big Dig was the most expensive highway project in the U.S. and was plagued by escalating costs, scheduling overruns, leaks, design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials, criminal arrests, and even four deaths. The project was scheduled to be completed in 1998 at an estimated cost of $2.8 billion (in 1982 dollars, US$6.0 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2006). The project was not completed, however, until December of 2007, at a cost of over $14.6 billion ($8.08 billion in 1982 dollars)as of 2006. The Boston Globe estimated that the project will ultimately cost $22 billion, including interest, and that it will not be paid off until 2038. As a result of the deaths, leaks, and other design flaws, the consortium that oversaw the project agreed to pay $407 million in restitution, and several smaller companies agreed to pay a combined sum of approximately $51 million.”

From my recollection in business school, the consensus was that at numerous times during this project it was evident that the costs involved did not outweigh the benefits. Since so many millions had been “sunk” into this project, those who were part of this project just kept on promoting it and wasting more money. Think about it, if your paycheck was coming from “big dig” funding then of course you would want the project to continue. One of the takeaways of this project is that people involved in this project should not have been the decision makers as to whether or not it should be continued. It was in THEIR best interest that the project was continued, not necessarily in the best interest of the city of Boston.

I mention this little story because I have seen so many people lose their careers to the “big dig” mentality. People invest so much time and effort in a particular career pursuit that they often fail to see that their money or time is not being well spent and in the end, they may lose everything that have invested into this project. Usually people sink money into degrees that are useless or people fail to walk away from a business pursuit when it is failing. Read More

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