April, 2005:

Formula for Success

I think if you want to be rich and successful you really need to have the equipment for it. The most important part is your attitude towards life. You must have a goal that you really want to reach – a desire to succeed. This is best illustrated in the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It is a great book, very inspirational and motivational – a must read.

I think the “success” part has to come from within – it has to be true desire. You must have some part of you that really want to challenge and get through the laziness and procrastination. Everyone wants to be rich, everyone wants to be successful. But how many achieved that? How many tried? Most people are just all talk. They’ll say how they plan to do this and that. Once they reach a few obstacles (small ones mostly), those people immediately give up and return to their lazy thinking again.

I’m sure a lot of people can relate. How many of you try to lose weigh or keep an exercise schedule. How long did that last? I tried it myself. I told myself I was going to spend 20 minutes on the track-mill twice a week. I was excited about it for the few two weeks, and then I started watching TV and lost focus. I came up with excuses for myself. “I come home late sometimes.” “I’m tired from work.” Now, I’ve been away from the gym for almost a month.

I’ve realized the only way to achieve something big is to develop small habits that will help you move along in that direction. It’s true — little things add up. If I want to stay in shape, all I have to do is walk 20 minutes a day. It seems easy. I can just walk 10 minutes during the morning and another 10 minutes during the evening. Those 10 minutes sessions sound so attainable, but doing it everyday for a year takes much dedication. And don’t underestimate those 10 minute walks. They seems short but if done repeated overly time, they become very rewarding to your health.

It’s the same thing with your finance. Little habits bring you big bucks. If you sock away $50 a month in a savings account at an annual interest rate of 3% over ten years, you’ll come out with a total of more $7,000. Given you can tolerate some risk, at an average annual return of 8%, the same investment would net you almost $14,150. That’s a lot of money grown from 50 dollar seeds.

There’s a book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey that talks about how successful people have good habits built in their lives. Pick up that book and start building up some good habits.

With good habits and a strong desire, you’re bound to succeed. Your desire will push you in the right direction and your habits will work like your engines, they’ll keep pushing you towards your goal.

AT&T Universal Cash Rewards Card – 5% Cashback

Earn 5% cashback for 3 months.

Limited-time offer: reply by June 15, 2005

  • 0% on Balance Transfers until May 1, 2006** – No Annual Fee with this offerBalance Transfer fee applies***
  • Full 5% cash back on purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations — Full 1% cash back on other purchases*
  • Full 5% cash back on eligible AT&T consumer products and/or services*

This is one of the credit cards I have and use pretty often. I signed up a year or two ago with the same promotion. There are many good reasons to sign up for this card. If you have a lot of bills to pay or things to buy, you will earn 5% cashback with this card. If you have credit card debts, do a balance transfer to them so you immediately save on the high credit card APRs. If you don’t have debt, do a balance transfer to a high-yield savings account and earn interest off the money for a year. Do this only if you are responsible. You will have to make a minimum payment every month and pay everything back by the last billing cycle.

Mohegan Sun

I went Mohegan Sun around midnight and played until dawn. I played roulette and craps. Craps is fun. I didn’t do so well on roulette but I did pretty well on craps. I came out pretty much even at the end. If I didn’t lose, that’s pretty good. Here’s my view about playing in the casino. I don’t think any one should rely on gambling to get rich or to make a living. I see the casino as an entertainment place only. I know there are a lot of gambling addicts that go there frequently and they’re always going to lose in the long run because of the house advantage. If you have won money there, good for you, don’t go back and lose them.

Cisco dropped

The market is killing everyone right now. It’s so bloody, a lot of stocks are dropping very low. I re-bought Cisco in the mid 17′s. I still have faith in the company. Once the market picks back up again, Cisco is going back to the 18′s and up. I’m buying low and selling high.

Finally… taxes e-filed

Yes! I just finished doing my taxes and submitted online. Whoaaaaaaaaaaa!

For the last minute people, a lot of places are offering free federal online filing with no restrictions.
http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp?

Cisco closed at 18.24

Cisco Systems upgraded by Merrill Lynch

Cisco Systems Shares Climb After Analyst Tells Wall Street That Company’s Stock Is Undervalued
“The San Jose, Calif.-based company might grow earnings by up to 15 percent annually during the next few years and is poised to regain market share.”

Some key points:
Bad market and tough sector is already priced in Cisco’s stock.
Merrill Lynch projects a $23 12-month target on Cisco.
15% growth over the new few years
Rating upgraded to BUY
VOIP market growing
Router demand is likely to increase
Second quarter profit jumped nearly 13%

Some fundamental data:
Forward P/E less than 18
ZERO debt
$6 Billion cash

The data above shows strong signs that Cisco is going to do well this year and the years following. Also, the CEO of the company is John Chambers, who is known to have strong leadership.

As always, before making any investments, do your own research.

I sold some shares and made some money today.

Magazine Subscriptions

I have subscriptions to the following financial magazines:

  • BusinessWeek
  • Forbes
  • Money
  • Smart Money
  • Kiplinger
  • BudgestLiving

I read BusinessWeek the most because they are delivered weekly and do contain the latest information. I used to read Kiplinger a lot. I find them very good for personal finance and their stock pickings to be amazingly accurate. I read an article on San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT) a year ago and since then, that company has been climbing up steadily over the year and have been paying among the highest dividends. Too bad, I didn’t buy it. The stock has gone up 30% and has a dividend of almost 10%.

If you like to receive any back issues of the magazines that I have, let me know and I’ll ship them to you.

2005 1st Quarter Expenses

Here’s a report of the monthly expenses year-to-date.

Expenses Jan-05 Feb-05 Mar-05 Total
Bills 640 644 708 1,991
Entertainment 224 101 236 561
Food 326 270 461 1,057
Gifts 200 214 200 614
Medical/Dental 70 306 55 431
Shopping 253 204 -108 350
Taxes 693 702 833 2,228
Transportation 105 111 115 331
Others 265 150 158 573
Total Expenses 2,775 2,703 2,659 8,137

Bills – Utilities/Rent
Entertainment – Movies/Social Events
Food – Groceries, Dining out, any thing I eat
Gifts – Money or expenses of gifts I give to others
Medical/Dental – Premium, co-payments, prescriptions
Shopping – Clothes, computer stuff, anything I buy
Taxes – Federal, State, Local, FICA
Transportation – Traveling Expenses

I ran this report in MS Money, which I use to keep of my daily expenses. The only thing I don’t like is that the report does not show the money I pay back to my student loans. It only shows the interest, and counts the principal repayments as a transfer from my checking account to my loan account, so I manually added that to the report above. (It’s included in the Others field. My minimum payment is low.) My food expenses went up a lot last month, because I have been eating out more. I usually dine out more during spring and summer. As for gifts, I give $200 minimum to my parent every month. My health expenses shot up in February due to my prescriptions. It’s interesting that I had a negative amount under Shopping in March. That’s because I returned something I purchased in February. My taxes withholdings went up slightly in February b/c my company is paying for gym and I have to pay taxes on that. In March, I got a pay raise, and that increased my tax withholdings significantly — 18%.

Free Magazine Giveaway

I’d like to donate a very special issue of Business Week to a eager-learning blog reader. It’s a great issue, lots of good articles. It also mentions the hot upcoming fields, so if you want to do investments, this is a great read. Shipping and handles fees will be incurred by me, courtesy of Growing Money financial blog. First person to post a comment gets it. Leave your email so I can get your shipping address.

BusinessWeek issue 1/3/05 – Where To Invest ’05
>> The Economy: Five Wild Cards for 2005
>> What Bush’s Plans Mean for Your Portfolio
>> Protect Yourself From a Housing Slump
>> The Four Hottest Global Plays
>> Invest Like Harvard
Plus:
Earnings Forecasts For 900 Companies
Alternative Energy (their picks went up almost 20% so far)
Cash-Rich Companies
Developing Giants: Four Countries You Must Own

Cisco closed at 18.15

It looks like a positive day for Cisco today. They closed with a 38 cents or 2.14% gain for today. I continue to hold my strong outlook on Cisco. The CEO, John Chambers have a lot to offer and the tech sector seems to be picking up again. Long term, the tech sector should do well and with Cisco being the leader in networking/hardware, Cisco will continue to grow.