A colleague of mine saw this blog the other day and he is not convinced that I am the type who is focused on savings ( umm..is he trying to be funny or what?) I reinforced to him that it's not really about counting my daily pennies..but rather -- my quest for long term savings by making my investment portfolio stronger today!
The thing is: After my investing madness, I only have a couple of hundreds left in my pocket ...so in order for me to enjoy what's left -- I am clipping coupons, finding deals online etc etc. Whew! Yes..my friend..if I can stretch my left over money - - I will!
For sometime now the stock market is down...so I am happy to note that in the last few months, slowly the value of my small investment is crawling up again ( when I say small..it's really small ok?).
HOW DO I STAY FOCUSED ON MY INVESTMENT GOAL? Not sure if I have the right answer - - but my strategy is simply to:
- AVOID DEBT: I refuse to pay interest on credit card!
- DELAY HIGH VOLUME PURCHASES: I drive an old car that is fully paid for and I don't care if a customer service rep in our company drives a Hummer and makes me look smaller than my 5'4 95 lbs.
- PAY MYSELF FIRST: This is the most important factor. I am into the habit of allocating a fix percentage of my income for stocks and emergency fund, maximize 401K investment allowed per year and any extra money goes to my Roth IRA....hence why I have a couple of dollars left every month after deducting the bills, mortgage etc
- TRACK PROGRESS REGULARLY: Since I have no cash in my wallet, I placed my attention of counting the virtual money performance on a monthly basis. This motivates me (in my dreams) that sometime 20 years from now...these stocks will hit a jackpot and I will be a millionaire! See FINANCE TRACKER FORM
- LEARN WHAT REAL MILLIONAIRES DO: If you want to read more about value of investing today, you can read the following:
(Article by Bill Donoghue (MarketWatch, 12/11/07)
Roth IRAs Save Dessert for Last
Article by Martha M. Hamilton (Washington Post, 12/31/06)
- SHOW LOVE TO KRAMER: I don't care about what other networks say, but I am inspired with Jim Kramer's passion on stocks! Makes me want to invest more
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