DISQUS

I guess Kiyosaki turned on a lot of people on finance and alternative income generation despite the fact that his main source of income is book/course sales ( some refer to that as the perfect passive income stream).
It's the simplicity of buying assets for income that's so appealing versus the save all you can all your life so that you can retire, which doesn't sound seksy at all!

I really agree with what BB is mentioning in his article, especially #6. If you do not project confidence in your abilities, then noone else will.

As far as being famous is concerned, it's funny how most stars of our age turn out to be crazy in the eyes of the media.. But based off this article, these people became stars because they were a little bit insane in my opinion in the first place.. Even my favorite actor Tom Cruise :-)

Soft skills are super important in my opinion. That's something I have always lacked and worked on improving.

BB,

Once again, a great piece. I enjoy reading your posts and then opening the links in your post for later reading. 2 hours later, I have 10 windows open and I am only halfway through.. I especially enjoy your career articles. Keep on posting!

I usually keep my goals in my head. I discuss them with important people in my life on a daily/weekly basis.. But for some reason i have had a tough time writing goals down..

saving diva,

I totally agree with you. I am wondering the same thing myself ( while chewing some dohnuts ;-) )

As for breakfast I have always heard that it is the most important meal of the day. I heard on the radio the other day a person quoting some research claiming that breakfast is so important, that its better to eat one-two dohnuts rather than skip it altogether...

Pretty good tips Brip Blap. In the case however that your city does have a good public transportation system (point 5) i would advice you to commute with friends/coworkers to your job.. That way its more fun and cheaper ;-)

As for Point 5, even if you don't know what to invest in, get a financial adviser but also seek advice from successful people that have been in your situation..

I would not exchange money with the locals unless they are very very good old friends of yours. Otherwise you risk being taken advantage of by : given obsolete currency, fake currency etc.. For example many countries in eastern europe have gone through at least one currency reform since the fall of the communism; thus if you go to Russia and someone tries to exchange your hard earned dollars for Roubles that were issued before 1998 ( or even 1990), run away!

Good luck on building your income streams.

If you live in a non-english speaking country, there is a big possibility that you'd be enrolled in english classes in high-school and college. I myself am not an english born speaker, but I have studied the language for more than 17 years ( including grade school, middle school, high school) and then unofficial being in an english speaking country for several years. I am still learning new stuff.
What really helped me learn english well enough, was watching CNN all day long..
I have also studied Russian and German, but I only know some phrases there.. I guess not having a german or russian version of CNN has impeded my learning curve for these two languages..
I do believe though, that in the 21st century it will be important to speak more than 1 language.. Even though everyone in the world seems to know/ or be in the process of learning/ english, speaking another major language should definitely put you at a big advantage over others..

Steve,

Good luck asking any company to spend any money on anything. Especially since you are a consultant, your word does not really matter to them ;-)

BTW I am all for planting trees and doing number 1 there..Except in the winter..

I agree that going to a prestiguous university will be a great investment only if you create a great network of friends. But if you are a poor kid who studies a lot in order to keep your grades and not lose your scholarship and you work full-time to support yourself, I doubt that you will be able to fully utilize the networking opportunities of a big school. Although I do believe that having an ivy league school on your resume will open doors for you..
Same as being in a social/business fraternity will open/close doors for you..
I myself paid for the last 3 years of college myself. My first year was paid by my parents. I knew that they won't be able to pay my education, so it was up to me to work hard ( academically and labor-intensively) and apply for scholarships smart. What I would encourage my kids to do is to work during summers and save money for college. Then work during college summer and winter breaks 2-3 jobs in order to pay for their expenses. That way the kid would really understand the value of the dollar - and learn to budget hopefully. Since I had to support myself and pay out of state tuition out of my own pocket ( I couldn't obtain student loans ) I knew I had to cut costs by living off campus.

I like your thoughtful and insightful articles that you write. Becoming a FT blogger would make you even more interesting IMO.
Enjoy your break while you can.. Spending time with your family will be your best reward imo.. I remember when my dad had a 2-3 month "break" when I was a child. It was awesome!

drelfei,

It does look like Buffet does not account for dividends in his forecasts of the 5.3 % return. I read a research paper, where they calculated the value of Dow Jones Industrials Average with dividends being reinvested. They found out that if you started in 1928 and reinvested all dividends untill 2000, the value of the Dow would have been around 250,000 by 1999 yearend. Pretty nice, compared to the 11,750 high that Dow hit in 2000...

Also, do not believe everything that Buffet tells you. Buffet is a market timer. HE does sell stocks occasioanly. He does trade in futures ( currencies). He does use derivatives in his insurance businesses ( he also sold some long-term put options contracts (20 years or more) )
If you read his early partnership letters from the 1950's and 1960's , you will see that he always forecasted below average stock index returns.
But he also mentions that he is not in the business of forecasting ( lucky for him) but in the business of buying good solid companies.

Well, I think that most bloggers out there use the 10% stock performance norm for simplicity purposes.
Stocks have returned 10-11% annually before inflation and taxes. But the link from 'J at Home Finance Freedom' is an overstatement as well, because he mentions that the Vanguard Fund has returned 12% annually from 1976 with inflation being at 12% untill the early 1980's. What he forgets to mention is the fact that inflation has been closer to the long term average of 3% for the majority of the study period from 1976.
As Hunter Nuttall mentioned, the chart that Steve presented is a little misleading on the taxation issue, because they seem to be subtracting the 31% tax at the end of every year from the performance. In fact, it could be argued that only the dividends from the fund would have been taxable.

What could be argued about the long-term future returns ( without accounting for taxes and inflation) is that the dividend component, which historically has accounted for 40% of average annual returns, has decreased significantly over the past 2-3 decades. With current yields around 2% in the S&P 500, the future returns could turn out to be around 5%...

Thanks for the info. I also signed up for one of these magazines. Hope there's no catch :-)

Thanks for sharing the pros and cons of being a consultant BripBlap. I thoroughly enjoy your work related articles :-)

I was a "consultant" once. The funniest thing that happened to me was when I tried to use the coffee machine they informed me that because I was a "seasonal employee" I couldn't drink coffee from the machine.. It was very funny that they let me access confidential info but wouldn't let me drink coffee.
The person that told me that (a middle finance manager) prompted me to write up a certain memo to upper management about how certain people spend their workday ( checking how much coffee is being used vs doing what they were hired to do) and to give some process improvement suggestions.. :-)
Never be rude to consultants. They could always get back at you :-)

Self management in any way is essential for personal and professional success. The problem is that few people choose to asses what they are doing. They like doing the "easy" thing and keep on spending more than they can affotd to. And what's even worse, they don't even think about ways to make more money. I was talking to some friends of mine about opening a certain online account that would give them a $25 bonus if they put $1 ( Etrade). And they looked at me as if I was going to scam them ( or if I was talking out of my....)

That's alarming for me. I hope LC does not go down with our money :-(
I really hope that Prosper, LC and others are not pyramid schemes where you get paid to refer people and then the money is borrowed by P2P lenders themselves and paid out in bonuses to new members in order to attract fresh money from outside. At the same time the default ratio of loans increases...

I totally agree with your points. I disagree about number 2 though. I have tried this and I did stand out.. I was informed that because I didn't have the required major I was not eligible even for an interview.
But you could still stand out in an interview. If you did something out of the ordinary. However the most important thing to do is establish a good relationship with the interviewer from the start. Find a common ground and you will most likely succeed.. And last but not least - networking is important. Build a list of contacts and try to make them help you in your job search.

Great post. Discipline makes you prepare more for your specific field and continuously improve yourself... Overtime this compounds into a lot of positive things for you. ( money, relationships you name it)
Napoleon Hills book was the first motivational book on self improvement that I ever picked up. My philosophy teacher recommended it to me.

wow, those are some complicated rules. I do like the blog though, especially since I am an accountant myself..

So you are saying that these big corporations are waiting for the recession in order to buy companies on the cheap. Maybe we should be investing our cash in stocks now ;-)