I Will Teach You to Be Rich/ Junior Achievement

May 9 I Will Teach You to Be Rich: This is a book and website by Ramit Sethi.  My sister loves him and his financial advice.  It's very informative and entertaining to read.  Before I read this book, I knew some things about finance from reading the business section of the newspapers in the past 3yrs (2010-present), and the few times I talked to a financial advisor at my bank in 2012. Saving: I was all about: "Save Your Money" ever since I was a little kid.  Now I have to add "Invest too."  Way back when I was 20 yrs old, I picked up a book from the library called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.  What I remember is this: "Poor dad: Save. Rich dad: Invest." I want to say: "Saving is very important.  You need enough money to save for your retirement.  If not retirement, at least enough for emergencies like if you got laid off.  I know because I got laid off three times." I'm sure all of you remember those other business emails I wrote.  You know like how one of my friends was working at a job that she hates because though she wanted to quit, she didn't have enough money saved up to be unemployed for awhile.  Or in a happy news slant, I told about an article in the newspaper about this East Indian woman who was holding out for her dream job.  She was unemployed for 4 months, but since she saved a lot of money she could afford to hold out and then get hired at her dream job. Investing: I find it hard to pay attention and read the investments articles in the newspaper.  What keeps me interested are business news like how a store is closing down, how this new business is affecting the industry, etc. I have read here and there about investing like, I remember one article that said: "Don't invest on your own.  You trying to predict the stocks instead of hiring a financial advisor is like you playing tennis against a professional tennis player.  You're not going to win." I am also really risk adverse about losing money in the stocks, and that I might as well just keep working and save my money.  Ramit Sethi changed my mind. Don't hire a fund manager: Myth: I should get a financial advisor to pick stocks and bonds for me, because they will know more about this than I do.  No matter how much I research, I won't know as much as a financial advisor. Sethi says: In his book, chapter 6 "The Myth of Financial Expertise."  On pg. 148: "Despite their astronomical compensation, fund managers fail to beat the market 75% of the time." Pg. 149: "47% of the 50 (advisory) firms continued to advise investors to buy or hold shares in the companies up to the date the companies filed for bankruptcy." Do automatic investing: Pg. 163: "You invest in low-cost funds-which replace worthless, expensive portfolio managers- and you save tens of thousands of dollars in trading fees, taxes, and overall investment expenses, outperforming most investors." Pg. 170: "Asset Allocation: Responsible for More than 90% of your Returns."  You must diversify your stocks.  I know that before I read this book.  It means to buy stocks and bonds. Stocks and bonds: Chapter 7 "Investing isn't only for rich people" is the chapter to read and to be able to tell you what the difference between stocks and bonds are.  The higher the risk, the more reward there is.  I am risk averse, but what I learned from reading this book is that: The younger you are like in your 20s and 30s, the more risk you can take by buying stocks.  The older you get like in your 50s, you need to be more conservative like have more bonds.  When you're young, the market will change and if you lose money, there is a chance it will than make up and gain money throughout the years. If you're in your 50s, you don't have as much time to live so you need to be more conservative.  Pg. 171: There's a good table to show the returns.  There are lots of tables throughout this book that gives your numbers to see how much your money will grow overtime. Stocks                         Bonds                    Cash Higher risk                   Lower risk               Ultra-low risk. Stored in an interest-generating                                                                 money-market account, not under your                                                                 mattress. 10.5%                         5.2%                      3.8% Pg. 174: There are these pie charts. 25 yrs old: 10% bonds, 90% stocks 35 yrs old: 10% bonds, 90% stocks 45 yrs old: 22% bonds, 78% stocks 55 yrs old: 37% bonds, 63% stocks May 15 Weddings: I'm reading the part about weddings and how the average cost of one is $28,000.  This brought a flashback of 2006.  I was working at the Office Supply store after I got laid off from Call Centre #1.  The boss told me she worked at this printing company before and they had an order of wedding invitations for $25,000.  This was just for invitations and not like booking some reception at a hotel. I was 20 yrs old back then, and didn't really think about how that is way too much for invitations.  Now I'm 27 and am more left- brain and thinking: "That printing company sure made a lot of money." May 18: I finally finished reading the book.  It's really good, I recommend all of you to read it too.  It's very educational about investing. Restaurant: Today was so busy at the restaurant, and we were short- staffed.  We usually have 5 bussers including me, but today we only had 2 including me.  One busser quit; she worked here for a few weeks and I thought she was good.  Another one had a day off.  Another one didn't show up. Yeah, well we managed. The other busser and I made a lot of tips because we didn't have to share between 5 of us. May 20 Junior Achievement: A couple of months ago I was at West Ed mall and there were these Junior Achievement booths.  This year, the products weren't that good.  Well they're not as good as last year's products.  There I said it.  These are teenagers who create products. H2GO: These are like water bottles and they're decorated.  I do like the name.  Here's the Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/H2GOJA?filter=3 Tech Support: The product is a place to strap your iPod as it's recharging.  You don't have to put it down on the floor, it can be attached to the wall. https://www.facebook.com/techsupportja DEO: It's a deodorizer that is also biodegradable. https://www.facebook.com/deojacompany?fref=ts Indivigital: This is a cool name.  They sell these screen cleaners with cute designs.  The designs are cats and butterflies, and it's useful.  Lots of people have cell phones, iPads, iPhones, etc. and they need to clean the screen. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Indivigital-A-Junior-Achievement-Company/338582186243274?fref=ts