March, 2006:

I was reading The Top Part-Time Business Schools article in the Forbes magazines and I was considering the MBA program. The only problem would be that I have to pay everything out of pockets. I thought of the expenses and they’re just too high. The 5 year part-time MBA program in my school of choice, NYU (Stern) is $166,000. That’s a lot of money. I ran some numbers on the Business School Calculator and the payback period comes out fives years and the 5-year MBA gain as a % of expenses. That doesn’t look very appealing at this point.

I always have a lot of thoughts when I’m out on the streets or on the bus or train, but I usually don’t have paper or pen near me. I keep my thoughts in the back of my mind, but I tend to forget them after I get to my computer. Now, I try to carry a pen on me, but even that is not efficient enough. There should be a mind recorder that can record all my thoughts. Wouldn’t that be cool?

How do you keep tabs of your thoughts?

Spring is coming. Today is sunny and the streets were packed with people. People were coming from all directions and every corner was loaded with humans. I haven’t seen that many people on the streets for a long time. It reminded me of how busy NYC can get.

Then I started to think of all the things I need to do. I usually put them in the back of my mind, but I really have to start taking notes. I have to find a way to organize all the notes and thoughts in my head and form a list that can I update and reference at all times. Time management is very important. There are always tons of things that need to be done, but I need to plan ahead and set priorities.

How do you manage your time and stay organized?

Employers Boost Payrolls by 243,000 in February

The job data report looks very nice. This is a bullish sign for the market and the stocks should be doing well for today.

After speaking to several people about their retirement savings, I’ve realized that some people still don’t understand what 401(k) is.

401(k) is a defined contribution plan in which the employee can elect a portion of his or her pay check on a pre-tax basis towards his or her retirement savings. The name 401(k) is derived from the section the plan falls under the Internal Revenue Code.

Many people confused 401(k) as an investment and often say that his/her 401k is doing well. Some people ask me what are the returns for a 401(k). First, I give them the confused look. Then, I explain it to them. 401(k) is a tax-sheltered account (as well as an IRA), and in that account, you can designate the investment(s) of your choice (usually mutual funds available by your provider). So, the returns for your 401(k) depend on which funds you pick to invest inside the tax-sheltered account.

In layman’s terms, a 401(k) is a shell, and it is what you pick inside the shell that grows. For example, I have a 401(k) with my employer. Inside my 401(k) account, I have two mutual funds — the S&P 500 index fund and a bonds fund. So when my funds do well, I say, “My 401(k) funds (or my 401(k) portfolio) have returned 10% over the past two months.”

I hope this gives you a better understanding of what 401(k) is, and next time when someone tells you his/her 401(k) is doing great, you can point out to him/her, “It’s the funds in your 401(k) account that are doing well.”

Everyone wants to get rich quick, because it’s easy and everyone likes shortcuts. But in reality, how many legitimate get-rich-instantly stories are there? Maybe once in a while someone hits the jackpot in lottery. Or someone receives a generous inheritance from a distance uncle whom he didn’t know existed. Or someone discovers a pile of gold in his backyard. So, there are a few stories like these, but chances are… that person in the story is not you.

In real life, getting rich or attaining a sizeable amount for retirement is a slow and dedicated process. The book, The Millionaire Next Door shows that most of the rich folks attained their wealth by saving up over decades. You must constantly remind yourself, the turtle is the one who’s going to win the race. Saving up and investing wisely is a huge part of working towards financial independence. And you want to protect your base. It’s better to have your wealth grow slowly and steadily than have it grow fast and disappear.

http://www.efytimes.com/fullnews.asp?edid=10585

An excerpt:

“Seagate is helping system builders meet growing demand for notebook PCs with desktop capabilities by delivering 2.5-inch disc drives that provide some of the industry’s highest levels of power efficiency, ruggedness, performance and capacity,” said Rajesh Khurana, country manager, Seagate India and SAARC. “Our transition to perpendicular technology increases our ability to meet the needs of our growing customer base.”

The surest way to establish your credit is to work yourself
into the position of not needing any. – Maurice Switzer

It’s a tough day for the storage sector. Seagate (STX), Western Digital (WDC), and Maxtor (MXO) all were down in anticipation of a price war. Seagate is down 5.7%, Western Digital is down 7.9%, and Maxtor is down 5.9% as of writing of this post. According to the article, It’s a Hard Day for Hard-Drive Makers, it looks like Seagate is in a good fighting position and Western Digital is on the edge. Seagate is efficient in their productions and with the completion of the merger, they’ll be able to expand their market exposure.

Looking at one-day graph of Seagate, it looks like STX has bottomed out from the news and money is pouring back in. The hard drive sector definitely has a lot of room for growth and buying Seagate (STX) is a great way to capture some of the returns.

Seagate’s (STX) price dropped to the mid 25′s. Seagate is not alone, the whole hard drive sector is down as a whole after a downgrade in Western Digital.

It looks like Western Digital is cutting off margins because of higher component costs but Seagate will not be affected. Seagate has the most advanced technology in the hard drive industry, however, Seagate may be hurt by the integration of Maxtor.

Still, over the long-term prospect, I think Seagate will do very well, and the stock price shall reflect that. This short-term price drop makes it a great opportunity to buy. I loaded up at $26.