Financial Update: 7/30/08

It has been awhile since I have posted about my finances. I have listed below the projects that I am currently working on in relation to my finances.

1. Massage Therapy Business- I have updated my previous post and I still need to compile a resource list before I get back to Gainesville. I also plan to give a couple hours of massage everyday to family once the gas station is sold so that I will keep my hands familiar with giving a great massage.
2. Stocks- Currently, I am using The Motley Fool’s The Stock Advisor (my yearly subscription ends in Oct) for stock recommendations. However, I am trying to use that in conjunction with The Motley Fool Investment Workbook that I mentioned in a previous post to see if I come up with the same analysis that David and Tom Gardner do, two men with a proven investing track record. This way I can practice making analyses of stocks and form a base for further learning on this subject.
3. Prosper- I am currently looking into person to person lending (p2p lending). If you diversify, the risk isn’t as large as you would initially think. After evaluating three p2p lending sites (Prosper, Fynanz, and Lending Club), it seems that Prosper is the best choice for me. This site is a great place to start learning about p2p lending. If you want to get started, please comment and I’ll send you an invitation right away so we both get an extra $25 in our account to lend. Thanks.
4. HSBC Direct- Offering a 3.5% APY until September 15 on online savings accounts, HSBC Direct is offering the best return that I know of for online banking. To get started, go here.

Never talk to the police even when innocent

So apparently, the cop’s job is not only to solve the crime and find the criminal – his job is also to get a prosecutable case. Please watch these videos. Not only is it extremely informative but it offers an inside into how even someone innocent and educated can be proven guilty.

Professor James Duane from the Regent University School of Law explains why you should never talk to the police, even when you are innocent, in this video:

In another video, as Professor James Duane’s guest speaker, Officer George Bruch of the Virginia Beach Police Department responds to him.

My conclusion: Nothing you say to the police can help you but everything you say can hurt you. As a proud American, take the better road and exercise our 5th Amendment right to remain silent.

Live life, Save money

1. Walk/bike on nature trails or wherever you need to go. It saves gas and since we’re traveling slower, we have more time to experience the beauty of the world around us.

2. Get a few friends together to split groceries and experience the joy of cooking together. We save money, we have fun, and we improve our cooking skills.

3. Plant a herb, vegetable, or fruit garden. It is a great way to get in touch with our green thumb and it really does taste better when we grow it ourselves.

4. Meet up regularly with someone who knows a language you’re interested in but needs help with English. Devote half of the time to learning their language and half of the time to teaching English.

5. Empty your head of any worries and take a day off to relax in a serene place. I’m thinking along the lines of laying down, having a picnic, observing the beautiful world and its inhabitants, napping, and pondering the mysteries of life — all while sprawled under the shade of a tree.

If anyone else can think of any other good ways to enjoy life and save money at the same time, please comment.

Recovery point: remedy to being sick

When I was younger, I always got sick. I had a weak immune system and before 5 years of age, I’d probably be sick every other week. Being sick to me meant being cold yet hot and sweaty. It was an unbearable feeling that suffocated my body. It was hard to breathe. I couldn’t get out. Whenever I tried to clear my throat, there was that trademark taste of sickness I had come to know so well.

Though being sick stinks, it is something everyone has to go through. In the past, I always was in a bad mood and didn’t want to be bothered by anything or anyone. It was as if everyone else was indebted to me in some way since I was sick. Now that I am really sick again, as I haven’t been in a long while, I realized a few things.

First, it was a beautiful sunny day outside. It had rained previously so it wasn’t too hot as it usually is on a summer day in Miami.

Next, I have a lot to be thankful for. I decided to make myself a list of what came to mind. It is too extensive to list so I won’t.

Lastly, being sick is good for me.

Let me explain. I go on recovery mode whenever I’m sick and if I have slacked before, I automatically restart on great habits for better health. Just as a computer has a backup and recovery point to take the owner back to a previous point, I do too. I try to add any new tools that will help me recover and I keep my old tools that have worked for me when I’ve been sick.

In my opinion, this can be a launchpad for more than habits for great health — it can be a launchpad for lifestyle change and new goals. After recovery, the difference in energy can be noticed and to me, it’s almost like realizing that I have a pair of legs to run with when I have been crawling everywhere. Because this was a revelation for me, I will include some of the more important habits that I have when I get sick in a list below.

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Weber’s Remedy for Sickness

• Meditate (concentrate on breathing and body awareness)
• Truly observing the beauty of the world around you and what you have to be thankful for
• No medicines unless really needed.
• Light physical activity (I am a very active person so basically taking it easy. Listen to your body.)
• Plenty of rest (at least 8 hours a day for me)
• Ginger tea
• Plenty of water (I chug water when I wake up because my throat is killing me and I’m extremely dehydrated.)
• Eat and drink right (No sugar, No salt, No fattening foods. Balanced diet. Plenty of fruits. My body craves acidic fruits so I eat oranges and strawberries when I can.)
• If I feel hot and bothered, taking a shower is a great way to feel like a new man. The freshness and cleanliness I feel after my shower clears my mind and makes me happy.

[Note: This is what works for me but it might not work for you though in all probability, it will. Most importantly, listen to your body. It really does know best.]

Eisenhower’s Great Man

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“The qualities of a great man are vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation, and profundity of character.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Eisenhower’s quote talks of a great man with sterling qualities. I feel that though both nature and nurture contribute to the qualities of a man, a great man is made, not born.

Yesterday a circumstance of petty theft made me think that being strong and being right is not enough. A guy in his late 20s walks to the back of the store. He subtly puts a beer can into his pockets. He tries to exit the store after asking me if we have cans of corona as he saw it the other day. We never did. After asking him to come up to me, I told him to show me the beer. Then he tells me that he’s strapped and how he doesn’t want to take out his gun in the store, implying that he had it in his pockets where he put the beer. Well, you might think this was stupid but I told him to show it to me and also to prove me wrong about him stealing a beer. He starts telling me that I’m getting him hot. Well obviously, I don’t want trouble and I figured he didn’t either so I told him that. I also told him that he needed to give me the beer. Though it’s dumb to risk your life for something so petty, I had a feeling that he didn’t want to go to prison for a beer and that he didn’t really have a gun.

Now that I write that, it seems like I should’ve just given him the beer. However, another guy working beside me was a guy who has lived in the streets for 14 years. Though he is physically strong, he also doesn’t like confrontation. He asked me how I had the guts to face the guy down and it all amounted to that I knew I was right and I knew that the probability the shoplifter would pull his gun out (if he had one) was slim. Standing up for what you believe in can one day get you hurt, but I believe that it is a much better alternative than letting your fear rule you. Eisenhower’s quote represents the type of man I want to become — a great man with vision, integrity, and courage.

Massage Biz To-Do List

Because when I go back to school, I want to start off right away with my massage business. I will update my list I previously posted to make it a realistic to-do list. However, for those things that I will be able to do now, I will bold. At the same time, for those things that I have finished, I will give it a strikethrough. And for those things that I am not sure whether I should do it or not, I will italicize.

• Decide what to put in the Sorority Gift Basket and whether it is more financially feasible to make or buy soaps, potpourri, lotions, etc. to put into the basket
• Create a resource list of stretches and exercises for injury/pain
• Place Biz cards placement in strategic places such as library during exams week.
• Write on the back of biz cards, “This was the therapist I was telling you about.”
• Write a letter of introduction about my massage therapy business
• Massage business website for online presence and to make appointments
• Volunteering at nursing home giving massages
• Integrate myself into massage lifestyle (use sauna, talk to LMTs at massage school, visit massage classes, etc.)
• EDIT: Free membership card to be stamped for a free massage every 10 massages.

By the way, I finished my massage website though it is not online yet since I have to first buy a web domain. However, it uses very simple html. Everything is on one page and I color coded it in orange and blue. It is very likely that I will tweak it more in the next week or two to make it just right before I take it online.

Experiment #1: Final Summer Biphasic Sleep Schedule

I have finally found a sleep schedule that I can live on. For the past couple weeks, I have been sleeping 6 hours a night with a 20 minute nap before work. If I have Judo practice, I nap for another 20 minutes right before Judo. Otherwise, I skip that nap. This seems to be working very well and I can do everything I want to do without feeling exhausted.

Maybe when fall starts, I will change my schedule because of school, but right now, I will stick with this. It is comfortable. It gives me time to do what I need to do such as making my massage website (which I finally finished after working on it for a few days). It also is easy for my body to stick to.

Active Income: Learning HTML

In my previous post, I wrote some massage business ideas that I had including making a website for my massage business. I realized that learning html would help me with this massage website, make me more proficient with personalizing my blog, and is a good skill to have as a base skill for online income. I am learning HTML to help increase my active income with massage but I realize that it may potentially be important for earning passive income. I will give myself a couple hours each day for a couple weeks to learn this skill. I am starting here.

Edit: The website above is a great step-by-step site to learn html. After learning HTML, more step-by-step guides for more complex website design such as CSS and JAVA are available.

Active Income: Massage business ideas

Though I have been a licensed massage therapist for almost half a year, I have not done much with massage. Starting in September when I am back in school, I plan on vigorously pursuing massage therapy as a source of active income. I have made a list of some ideas that I have below:

• Gift Basket (soaps, potpourri, lotions, etc.) to sororities
• Meditation CD for clients
• Resource list of stretches and exercises for injury/pain
• Referrals – $5 off for every referral
• Biz cards placement in strategic places (write on the back of card “This was the therapist I was telling you about.”)
• Letter of introduction about my massage therapy business
• Massage business website for online presence and to make appointments
• Volunteering at nursing home giving massages
• Integrate myself into massage lifestyle (use sauna, talk to LMTs at massage school, visit massage classes, etc.)

I talked to a friend who would be willing to let me rent her massage office for cheap (i.e. $5/hour). Because it is already a massage office, the atmosphere of the room should be fit for a massage. I will just have to see how the location is. For example, how close it is to campus or where I live and whether it is in a good part of town or not.

Achieving strength list

• Being vigilant in your environment so you’re ready for anything
• Knowing where you stand on what is right, fair, and ethical
• Understanding yourself
• Avoiding anything you would be ashamed of or illegal
• Facing the consequences if you get blackmailed and don’t let anybody hold anything over your head
• Being able to back what you say with real evidence
• Trusting yourself
• Being yourself

I would appreciate comments on anything I missed or even personal clarifications on what I wrote.