A Book Appears On My Doorstep
One day back in February (I think) I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine about finances and how we planned to make improvements to ours. I have plenty of room for improvement in my finances, P-L-E-N-T-Y. One of the things I was talking about was starting with eliminating credit and working from their. I planned on using information from people such as Dave Ramsey and T. Harv Eker. Ramsey's latest book Total Money Makeover null and T. Harv Eker's Secret's of the Millionaire Mind null were going to be among the first books that I studied (not just read). My friend mentioned a few books he was interested in, and he mentioned Phil Town's book Rule #1. Several weeks later, I came home and there was a package in my doorway. I opened it, and it was a Phil Town book, Payback Time, so I thought maybe my friend was looking out for me and ordered it for me. When I called him and asked him about it, he told me he hadn't ordered it. So to this day, I have no idea how this book wound up at my doorstep, but I'm glad it did!
Who is Phil Town, and What Is Payback Time?
The book is called PAYBACK TIME: Making BIG Money Is The Best Revengenull. If you've never heard of Phil Town, in a nutshell he was a former river guide who became a self made millionaire through investing and then became a highly sought after speasker and best selling author with his book Rule #1. Rule #1 is a book that was written to be "a guide to stock trading for people who beleived they lacked the knowledg to trade." Stock trading probably sounds daunting to most people because most people think that the stock market is this big scary thing that only stock brokers know. Rule #1 was written to show people that they could trade just as well, and even better, than the people that many of us entrusted to handle our money (via 401Ks). Payback Time on the other hand is a book written to teach average people how to invest in stocks using a mthod called "stockpiling". Simply put, stockpiling is the method that Warren Buffett has used to become one of the richest men in the world. So if you can teach me what Buffett is doing, I'm sold!
Basics Of Payback Time
The book essentially takes you through the process of leraning how to invest like Buffett invests. He shows you that how when times seem to be bad (such as our current economic situation), they are likely to be the best times to be a wise investor. Through this book Town teaches you how to find good companies and how to properly invest in those companies, but only IF the price is right. Oh yeah, and he bashes the crap out of mutual funds and mutual fund managers. I've never been big on mutual funds myself, but thoughout the years I've always been told how I should be investing for my retirement, and how mutual funds were the way to do it. I even became a financial "counselor" at one point, basically selling mutual funds tied to insurance. It all sounds nice, especially when the good times are rolling. But when the market came tumbiling down in the early 2000s and then again in the late 2000s, and people lost 50% of their retirement funds, that convential wisdom didn't look so good. And if we were really made aware, we would have known that it was never really so good to begin with.
An Excerpt From Payback Time
Here's an excerpt from the book "A lot of what you read in this book flies in the face of conventional wisdom and certainly must irritate the institutions that control the stock market. The idea that an individual investor doesn't need to put money in mutual funds and should be finding good investments on his or her own is certainly revolutionary to the existing financial order. Should you find out you can do this better on your own, Good Lord, who knows what kind of craziness might ensue. Entire institutions might fall. We might lose most of our investment banks. Mutual funds might cease to exist. The financial world as we know it today might end. And, in particular, an unimaginable fortune in fees might be lost forever. Oh. Wait. Alot of that is already happening. The old financial order is crumbling before our eyes, driven to self-destruction by greed and envy and other people's money...."
Making A Fortune, Is It For You?
Making a fortune is not easy work. What is described in the pages of the book is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes learning and it takes time. He provides you with clear examples of how to navigate the terrain and even provides you some really helpful tools on his website http://www.paybacktimebook.com . Most people will feel much more comfortable allowing their money to be invested in mutual funds, and hoping that we don't go through more economic downturns (especially right before it is your turn to retire). If you want to take control of your finances, then this book is for you. You can get the book by clicking the image toward the top, and you can visit his site at www.ruleonerevolution.com.
If you are interested in his book Rule #1 you can get that here null
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Things To Be Desired
Being that today is "Good Friday" I decided to post one of my favorite poems, Desiderata. There is some confusion around it's origin, so with a little research this is what I found out (via fleurdelis.com)
The Confused History of "Desiderata"
The author is Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, who lived from 1872 to 1945. It has been reported that Desiderata was inspired by an urge that Ehrmann wrote about in his diary:
"I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift -- a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods."
Around 1959, the Rev. Frederick Kates, the rector of St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of devotional materials he compiled for his congregation. (Some years earlier he had come across a copy of Desiderata.) At the top of the handout was the notation, "Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692." The church was founded in 1692.
As the material was handed from one friend to another, the authorship became clouded. Copies with the "Old St. Paul's Church" notation were printed and distributed liberally in the years that followed. It is perhaps understandable that a later publisher would interpret this notation as meaning that the poem itself was found in Old St. Paul's Church, dated 1692. This notation no doubt added to the charm and historic appeal of the poem, despite the fact that the actual language in the poem suggests a more modern origin. The poem was popular prose for the "make peace, not war" movement of the 1960s.
When Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson had planned to use it in his Christmas cards. The publicity that followed gave widespread fame to the poem as well as the mistaken relationship to St. Paul's Church.
As of 1977, the rector of St. Paul's Church was not amused by the confusion. Having dealt with the confusion "40 times a week for 15 years," he was sick of it.
This misinterpretation has only added to the confusion concerning whether or not the poem is in the public domain.
By the way, Desiderata is Latin for "Things to be Desired."
DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
The Confused History of "Desiderata"
The author is Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, who lived from 1872 to 1945. It has been reported that Desiderata was inspired by an urge that Ehrmann wrote about in his diary:
"I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift -- a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods."
Around 1959, the Rev. Frederick Kates, the rector of St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of devotional materials he compiled for his congregation. (Some years earlier he had come across a copy of Desiderata.) At the top of the handout was the notation, "Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692." The church was founded in 1692.
As the material was handed from one friend to another, the authorship became clouded. Copies with the "Old St. Paul's Church" notation were printed and distributed liberally in the years that followed. It is perhaps understandable that a later publisher would interpret this notation as meaning that the poem itself was found in Old St. Paul's Church, dated 1692. This notation no doubt added to the charm and historic appeal of the poem, despite the fact that the actual language in the poem suggests a more modern origin. The poem was popular prose for the "make peace, not war" movement of the 1960s.
When Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson had planned to use it in his Christmas cards. The publicity that followed gave widespread fame to the poem as well as the mistaken relationship to St. Paul's Church.
As of 1977, the rector of St. Paul's Church was not amused by the confusion. Having dealt with the confusion "40 times a week for 15 years," he was sick of it.
This misinterpretation has only added to the confusion concerning whether or not the poem is in the public domain.
By the way, Desiderata is Latin for "Things to be Desired."
DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
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