CNN has a monthly feature titled “Millionaires in the Making”. Every month, they feature a young couple who make over $120,000/yr and have ‘amassed’ a nice nest egg, usually between $250,000 and $500,000 in just 4-8 years after graduating from college.

Yeah, gimme a frickin break!!!!

Any moron who makes over $100k/yr and bought a house more than 3 years ago and is contributing 10% salary to the 401k plan is worth over $100k now.

The last issue was no different. The Johnsons make $147,000 a year, put 10% into a 401k and have $120,000 in home equity. The only thing worth mentioning in the story is that the husband stopped wasting money on a new car every 2 years!!! Otherwise its almost the same frickin story every month!

They should atleast give some more info on what they like to invest in or something to change the story.

The great boom in US house prices that abruptly petered out in recent months was caused by increased global integration, not loose monetary policy, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, has claimed.

“I don’t think that the boom came from a 1 per cent Fed funds rate or from the Fed’s easing. It came from the collapse of the Berlin Wall,” Mr Greenspan told a private audience in Canada on Friday.

You can read the rest of it on MSNBC’s site.

YEAH RIGHT! The article also says that he think the worst of the he housing correction may already be over. I don’t see how this is possible, seeing as the price correction has barely begun. Real Estate is a slow trend. Once it picks a direction, it normally sticks to it for several years. Once its heading down, prices should over-correct to the point of being ridiculously cheap.

Money doesn’t supposedly buy happiness, but I’d rather be rich and miserable then poor and miserable!!!! Anyway, according to Jonathan Clemens at WSJ here are Nine Tips for Investing in Happiness.

• 1 Make time for friends. According to a 2006 report by the Pew Research Center in Washington, 43% of married people say they are “very happy,” versus 24% for those who aren’t.

“Married people spend less time alone,” notes David Schkade, a management professor at the University of California at San Diego. “There are parts of your brain that are stimulated by the presence of other people. You’re more active and energetic and engaged.”

For the same reason, seeing good friends on a regular basis can also bolster happiness.

• 2 Forget the pay raise. While regularly hitting the town with friends will likely increase your happiness, you probably won’t get the same boost from spending hours at the mall.

True, you are initially thrilled when you buy that new dress or that flat-screen television. But the thrill quickly fades and you start hankering after something else.

The same thing happens when you get a pay raise. Soon enough, you are taking the extra money for granted and you’re feeling dissatisfied again.

• 3 Don’t trade up. Research indicates that, once folks achieve a fairly basic standard of living, it takes a lot of additional money to bring about even a small increase in reported happiness.

Yet your income and wealth could still loom large — if you start comparing yourself with those around you. For instance, if you moved to a neighborhood you can barely afford, you would likely be disgruntled.

The reason: You will be surrounded by wealthy families, and that will be a constant reminder of your relative financial standing.

“If you can look out your window and see neighbors with lower incomes, you’ll be happier,” Prof. Oswald says. “People are very keen to move into the elite neighborhoods. They don’t realize that they won’t be as happy as they expect. That’s the curse of being human.”

• 4 Keep your commute short. Moving into a ritzy neighborhood would be even more harmful to your happiness if it means a longer commute.

• 5 Count your blessings. Your pleasure from your new house and your latest pay raise may subside. But you may be able to revive some of the good feelings by taking a few minutes to count your blessings.

Remember how wealthy neighbors can make you feel poor? What matters is what you focus on. Instead of obsessing over your neighbors’ riches, try focusing on the riches you have — and that will likely make you feel happier.

• 6 Enjoy a good meal. In surveys, eating ranks as one of our favorite pastimes.

• 7 Challenge yourself. Leisure is more pleasurable than work. But you should also think about how you spend your leisure time.

After a long day at the office, you might be inclined to stagger home and collapse in front of your new flat-screen television. But in fact, the research suggests you’ll be happier if you are more active.

• 8 Volunteer. If you want to help yourself, try helping others — by engaging in charitable activities.

• 9 Give it time. Surveys have found that reported happiness tends to be U-shaped through life, with folks becoming increasingly grumpy as they approach their 40s and then recovering from there.

Maybe our happiness gradually declines as we fail to fulfill our youthful ambitions, only to revive once we accept our lot in life. Alternatively, maybe this midlife unhappiness reflects the time pressures faced by those in their 40s, as they juggle work and family.

But whatever the reason, you are likely to grow happier as you grow older.

Maybe growing senile has something to do with that!

North Korea actually performed nuclear tests over the weekend resulting in a 4.2 magnitude earthquake.

Lets see if this shakes the stock markets and causes a spike in gold prices.

Oil is over $60 per barrel again. I filed gas this weekend for $2.30/gallon. Haven’t seen these prices for nearly 2 years! I’m currently reading a very good book on how oil prices affect the stock market and the economy in general. Its called The Oil Factor: Protect Yourself and Profit from the Coming Energy Crisis by Stephen Leeb.

Its very interesting and I highly recommend it.

One of my coworkers decided to quit smoking almost a year ago. One day he work up and realized he’d spent around $12,000 on smoking over the past 10 years and had nothing to show for it [except filthy lungs!].

He decided to quit smoking and spend the $12,000 on something more tangible. Since he was in the market for a new car, he spent $12k more than he originally budgeted and got himself a very fancy set of wheels. Since that day he hasn’t smoked a single cigarette and has actually started going to the gym everyday.

Of course I didn’t feel like telling him that he should’ve calculated the present value of $12,000 over a 10 year period and spent only that much. But nevermind, he succeeded in quitting smoking and I guess thats priceless!

In the past few weeks there’s been some pretty spectacular economic news. Oil and Gas prices have sunk to 2 years lows. Gold prices are down. The Dollar has seen recent strength. It seems interest rates might start to drop next year. CPI is projected to drop. The stock market is up. And now the Jobs report came in ok.

Everything is just peachy!!!!

Seems a little too perfect! I’ve heard rumors that our government is manipulating everything and shortly things will return to the way they really are. I have no clue whether this is true or not but if anyone else has a better explanation, I’d love to hear.

Even a wacky conspiracy theory would do too!

Although Amazon’s affiliate program is a bust, Linkworth has been working out nicely for me. Well enough to pay for some real hosting and some nice forum software. So I’ve set up a forum at The Weekend Investor.

You can read about why I set it up.

Now I’m faced with the chicken and egg problem. I can’t drive traffic there unless there are already posts, and I can’t get a lot of posts without any traffic. [unless of course, I spend the next few months writing ficticious posts and answering them, which I’m sure some people have done in the past].

So I’ve come up with a absolutely marvelous marketing strategy. Within the next 30 days, anyone who registers and makes a post will be eligible for a $50 gift card from Amazon.com. Each post counts as another entry, so the more you post the greater your chances of winning.

There’s also a Classifieds forum to advertise any real estate or coins or investment books you might want to sell. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Any comments or suggestions about this strategy?

And does anyone have any other marketing ideas that are cheaper? 😉

Adventures in Money Making is over a year old now!!!! Since the beginning,
I have been a member of the Amazon affiliate program. Initially it was pretty good. I made around $20 a month, enough to buy a book every month.

Since July however, its dropped off considerably. I’ve made $3.25 in the past 3 months. While I wasn’t expecting to make much money off this anyway, making around a buck a month is pretty worthless. I found out that Amazon dropped the cookie lifespan from 30 days to just 1. Which means if you don’t make a purchase immediately, I won’t get credit. Also considering the fact that Amazon only paid around 4% commissions to begin with, it wasn’t ever going to be a big money maker for me anyway.

Since most small-time bloggers won’t be making any money off Amazon’s affiliate program, I wonder how this will affect their sales?? Probably won’t make much of difference to them.

I had lent out some money to a developer at 24% [2% per month] over the year and a half. Every month around the 7th I’d get my 2% like clockwork. Easiest money I never had to work for! The money was secured by a trust deed on the property.

Sadly those days are coming to an end. I was notified that he was either going to refi and pay us off or put us on some other scheme where we get 12% plus 20% when the project is completed.

Since I’m sending my mom some money to buy an apartment, I opted to get my money back. But it was good while it lasted. But in a few months I’ll be selling one of my houses and freeing up some capital and will have to look for more ways to get a good return.

I’ve also given some money to a developer in Arizona. He doesn’t pay any interest but after 18 months starts paying us off at the rate of 80% total ROI. Its been a year already. Hope he doesn’t go BK on me!!!!

Anyone else doing private money lending?

Remember how Pulte Homes was giving $99k discounts in California? Well it looks like its becoming a common occurance along the coasts. Check out this ad in the Daytona Beach News Journal.

Lennar builders just announced their profits were down 40% and guess what, the stock was actually up on that news! Jim Cramer must have real balls recommending buying home builders right now!