The Katana: Revisiting Our New Year’s Resolutions
The last month of the first quarter is upon us. Now is as good a time as any to revisit our new year’s resolutions to make sure we’re on track. I’m on pace to achieve 4 out of 8 so far: 1) meet 36 new people, 2) see the good in others, 3) stay consistent, but not obsessive over this site, and 4) save 50% of my gross income. Regarding the other four goals, I’m not on pace to make a million bucks, haven’t won any tennis tournaments yet, nor have I been regularly practicing my acoustic guitar or cooking skills. Hmmm, what a slacker!
With 10 months left in the year, it’s time to really ramp up the creative juices and think up some back-end business to help create additional income. Tennis season is starting up and I plan on doing everything possible to give myself at least a physical edge over the competition. Finally, from now on at least one hour every weekend will be dedicated to guitar and cooking.
In terms of predictions for 2010 it’s still too early to tell, but 4 of 5 have held up: 1) inflation and interest rates remain low with the 10-yr yield still below 4%, 2) the USD dollar has strengthened, 3) the markets have not double dipped, and 4) The Samurai Fund is outperforming the S&P 500 by 2.64% as of Feb 28. Regarding #5, it’s just a matter of time before Facebook goes public and Twitter gets bought out don’t you think? We’ll revisit the predictions mid year and see if they still hold true!
Readers, how are you guys doing with your new year’s resolutions? If you wrote any prediction for 2010, I’d love to see them so feel free to post your links below.
FINANCIAL SAMURAI ARTICLES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
* “Be A Sloth And Don’t ROTH – Why Converting to A ROTH Is A Mistake”
* “How To Get Your Super Motivated Boyfriend (SMB) To Marry You”
* “Do “C” Students Deserve “A” Lifestyles?”
* “Someone Always Farts In A Crowd – The Moral Hazard Of The World”
* “Let Freement Reign! Spending Paralysis, Material Lust and Obsession”
* “Where Americans Pay The Most To Live And Why”
HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE:
* “Plutus Awards” hosted by Flexo has nominated Financial Samurai for three categories: “Best New Personal Finance Blog Of 2009″, “Most Controversial Personal Finance Blog“, and “Best Non-Collaborative Personal Finance Blog“. Thanks for your consideration folks! Honored to be in such great company.
* “Will The CARD Act Turn Credit Card Users Into Payday Loan Users?” asks Credit Card Chaser. A lot of good info here, including his 5,000 word credit card act post.
* “How To Increase Your Salary Without Changing Your Job” by top commentator Monevator who forgot to allow comments on his post when it was first published. Nice.
* “Why My Kids Shouldn’t Expect An Inheritance From Me” writes Len. Poor kids.
* “Podcast 45: Gary Belsky, Behavioral Economics” is a fun interview from Tom and Flexo on one of my absolute favorite subjects. Also, if anybody would like to guest post on Consumerism Commentary let Flexo or I know.
* “Pricing Your Disability Insurance” from Evolution of Wealth gives some important details on something most of us probably don’t think about.
* “Exactly Why You Need A Will” from Evan on MBA Briefs is another very helpful post for anybody without a will. There really is no good excuse not to have one.
* “Five Ways People Waste Money” from Greg-San reminds me of the movie Seven for some reason. Do none of these five things, and save boatloads!
* “Maximizing Value. The Opposite Of Earn More Spend Less” is an insightful post from Fin Engr. You’ve really done well with the launch of your site!
* “The Best Time To Have Kids” from Don shares his thoughts on a topic I plan to write more about in the near future!
Winners of The Snark Handbook: Greg from Eliminate The Muda who provided the most relevant snark: “The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.” ~ Kin Hubbard. The second winner is newcomer Jeremy Johnson who writes, “Ned, I would love to stay here and talk to you. But I’m not going to.” from Ground Hog Day.
YAKEZIE ODA INITIATIVES:
* “Yakezie Member Badges” courtesy of Greg-san, CJ-san, and David-san. Thanks guys for creating the badge for the 50 strong Yakezies to display on their sites!
* “Yakezie Challenge Carnival #1” hosted by Jeff from Deliver Away Debt! The weekly carnival is literally booked up for the next 15 weeks until Jun 13th! I ask all challengers tweet and link back to each carnival.
A funny thing has happened. The Google Docs page limits the number of entries on Daniel-San’s list to 50. On the one hand, we’d like to keep the list manageable so we can create a tighter bond. On the other hand, we’d like to let the initiative spread the world over!
One suggestion is to create different groups and leaders to manage teams of 50. Another suggestion is to replace group members who are inactive after a while to ensure a collaborative, meritocratic environment where we selflessly help others. You are welcome to join the challenge even if we can’t put you on the list.
We’ve got a Yakezie Google Group formed where dialogue has been ROBUST to say the least, a carnival, a list, and a host of members visiting other sites and promoting each other. It has been enormously fun so far! The collaboration has far surpassed my expectations, and for that I’m so proud of the group.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As part of the promise to provide a monthly update of my net worth for Kyle’s “Wealthy Bloggers Page“, the Freedom Fund increased by about $20K last month. The sources came from normal monthly savings and a portion of a year end bonus. The general idea is to save roughly $5-6,000 month, with the occasional asset sale (stocks, property, valuables, etc) to provide a boost. Nothing exciting, just slow and steady.
After reading everybody’s insightful comments on “The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams“, I’d like to focus a little bit more on Career & Employment for the next couple months. It seems as if there are way too many of us who feel like the living dead. Let’s change!
Regards,
Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”
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