Electronic Trading: Conclusion

If you are a long-term investor, you can take this tutorial with a grain of salt. At least now you have some insight into how electronic systems give direct access to the market. We hope this has enlightened your outlook and helped you achieve a greater understanding of how the execution of stock orders is done. For those who are looking to become a trader, this is the tip of the iceberg and we'd advise you to do a lot more research in this area before jumping in.

Let's recap what we have learned:

•The NYSE is an auction market and uses specialists to trade securities.
•The Nasdaq is an OTC market where trading is facilitated through market makers.
•Each stock listed on the NYSE is allocated to a specialist who matches up buyers and sellers, provides liquidity and finds the fair price at the beginning of each trading day.
•A market maker provides continuous bid and offer prices within a prescribed percentage spread for shares in which they are designated to make a market.
•SuperDOT system is an electronic system used to place orders for stocks on the NYSE.
•ECNs network major brokerages and traders, so that they can trade between themselves without involving a middleman.
•SOES is an automatic order execution for individual traders with orders less than or equal to 1,000 shares.
•There are three levels on the Nasdaq that vary on the amount of information and access they provide to investors.

Electronic Trading: The Role of a Specialist

The NYSE facilitates trading through a human being who is known as the specialist. Each stock listed on the NYSE is allocated to a specialist and all the buying and selling of a stock occurs at the location of this person, known as "the trading post." Buyers and sellers represented by a floor trader will meet at the trading post to learn about the best current bid and ask price for a security. These bid and ask offers are called out loud and indicate the current prices to any interested party. A trade will be executed when the bid and ask orders meet. (For more insight, see Why The Bid-Ask Spread Is So Important.)

The specialist doesn't only match up buyers and sellers. Many specialists are forced to hold an inventory of shares themselves to minimize the imbalance of buy and sell orders. The specialist does this until an equilibrium price is reached, which is when demand and supply are very close. Buying an inventory of stocks is not a common occurrence. In fact, it is estimated that a specialist will be in on only one out of every 10-15 trades.

Another duty that a specialist attends to occurs if a customer's order is priced at a level higher than the lowest ask, or lower than the best bid price (known as a stop order). The specialist will then hold the order and execute it if and when the price of the stock reaches the level specified by the customer. (For related reading, check out Understanding Order Execution and The Basics Of Order Entry.)

A final responsibility of the specialist is to find a fair price for each of the stocks that he or she is responsible for at the beginning of every trading day. This fair price is based on the current supply and demand of the stock. The NYSE opens for trading at 9:30am, but if the specialist can't find a fair price, he or she may delay the opening of trading on a stock until that fair price is found.

It is the specialist's job to act in a way that benefits the public. Because specialists are responsible for keeping the market in equilibrium, they are required to execute all customer orders ahead of their own.

Roth Or Traditional IRA ... Which Is The Better Choice?

As U.S. taxpayers contemplate funding IRAs, they may wonder which type of IRA - Roth or Traditional - is the better choice. If you are one of these individuals, here is an outline of some of the differences between the two retirement accounts, their eligibility requirements and other factors to consider when choosing the account that's right for you.

Contribution Limits
The contribution limits for the Roth and Traditional IRAs are the same. For tax year 2010, for example, you could contribute up to $5,000 to your IRA, plus an additional $1,000 catch-up contribution if you reached age 50 or older by the end of the tax year.

Deductibility
One of the major factors for deciding between a Roth and Traditional IRA is your eligibility to deduct Traditional IRA contributions and in turn get a tax break for the year you make the contribution. Your eligibility to deduct Traditional IRA contributions, however, depends on whether you meet certain requirements. Contributions to Roth IRAs are never deductible (see the chapter "Contributions" in the tutorial Roth IRAs).

Contribution Age Limitations
If you want to be able to contribute to your IRA for as long as you like, you need to consider the age limits placed on IRA contributions. You may not make a participant contribution to a Traditional IRA after and for the year you reach age 70.5. For Roth IRAs, there is no age limit.

Income Limitations
One factor that determines whether a Roth or Traditional IRA is better for you is your income, which dictates your eligibility to contribute to a Roth IRA. If your income exceeds the limit, you may not contribute to a Roth IRA. In addition, your Roth IRA contribution limit may be lowered if your income falls within certain ranges (between a certain amount and the income limits listed above). Consult with your tax advisor to determine the maximum amount you may contribution to a Roth IRA.(For more on this subject, see our tutorial on Roth IRAs.)

Income caps do not apply to Traditional IRA contributions.

Required Minimum Distributions
If you don't ever want to be required to start distributing your retirement assets at any time, you need to consider the IRA rules for required minimum distributions (RMD). With a Traditional IRA, you must begin to take RMDs by April 1 of the year following the year you reach age 70.5. This means you must gradually reduce your IRA balance and add the distributed amount to your income, even if you are not in need of the funds.
Roth IRA owners are not subjected to RMD rules.

Tax Treatment of Distributions
The tax treatment of distributions is a big factor that determines whether the Roth or Traditional IRA is better for you. Generally, distributions from a Traditional IRA are treated as ordinary income and may be subject to income taxes; furthermore, the distributed amount may be subjected to early-distribution penalties if the amount is withdrawn while the taxpayer is under the age of 59.5.

On the other hand, qualified Roth IRA distributions are tax and penalty free. Roth IRA distributions are qualified if they meet the following two requirements:


The distributions are taken no earlier than five years after the taxpayer funds his or her first Roth IRA. This five-year period begins with the tax year for which the first contribution is made.
The distribution is taken as a result of any one of the following:
•You have reached age 59.5.
•You are disabled.
•Your beneficiary receives the distribution upon your death.
•You purchase a first home (subject to a lifetime limit of $10,000).
From a general tax perspective, the Roth IRA is the better choice if your tax rate during retirement will not be lower than your current tax rate, as the Roth IRA allows you to pay the taxes now, and receive tax-free distributions when your income tax rate is higher. If your tax rate will be lower during retirement, then the Traditional IRA may be the better choice if you are eligible to receive a tax deduction now when your tax rate is higher.

Your financial planner will help you determine whether there are other factors to consider that would make either IRA more suitable for your tax-related financial planning needs.

Splitting Your Contribution
If you are eligible to contribute to both types of IRAs, you might want to divide your contributions between your Roth and Traditional IRA; however, your total contribution to both IRAs still must not exceed the limit for that tax year (plus the catch-up contribution).

If you decide to split your contributions between both types of IRAs, you may choose to contribute the deductible amount to your Traditional IRA (see Traditional IRA Deductibility Limits) and the balance to your Roth IRA.

Before splitting your IRAs, however, consider additional fees, such as maintenance fees charged by your IRA custodian/trustee for maintaining two separate IRAs. Note also that placing bulk trades into one IRA instead of placing separate trades in separate IRAs could help you save on trade-related fees. Finally, consider the short-term benefits as well as the long-term benefits and decide which outweighs the other.

Deciding Which Is Better
For some taxpayers, their eligibility to deduct Traditional IRA contributions is the main deciding factor in choosing between a Roth and Traditional IRA. However, being eligible to deduct your contribution does not mean that the Traditional IRA is your better choice. Consider whether the benefits of the Roth IRA - such as freedom from the RMD rules and taxes, and penalty-free distributions - outweigh the benefits of a deduction.

You may contribute to a Traditional IRA and elect not to claim the tax deduction even though you are eligible to do so. The benefit of not taking a deduction is that the distribution of the equivalent amount is tax and penalty free - like the distributions of the Roth IRA. The earnings distributed from the Traditional IRA, however, will be treated as taxable income, whereas qualified distributions of earnings from a Roth IRA are tax free.

Finally, you may split your contribution between both types of IRAs and enjoy the benefits of both.

Be sure to consult with your tax professional, as there are usually other factors that could determine which options are most suitable to meet your financial needs.

Stock-Picking Strategies: Value Investing

Value investing is one of the best known stock-picking methods. In the 1930s, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, finance professors at Columbia University, laid out what many consider to be the framework for value investing. The concept is actually very simple: find companies trading below their inherent worth.

The value investor looks for stocks with strong fundamentals - including earnings, dividends, book value, and cash flow - that are selling at a bargain price, given their quality. The value investor seeks companies that seem to be incorrectly valued (undervalued) by the market and therefore have the potential to increase in share price when the market corrects its error in valuation.

Value, Not Junk!
Before we get too far into the discussion of value investing, let's get one thing straight. Value investing doesn't mean just buying any stock that declines and therefore seems "cheap" in price. Value investors have to do their homework and be confident that they are picking a company that is cheap given its high quality.

It's important to distinguish the difference between a value company and a company that simply has a declining price. Say for the past year Company A has been trading at about $25 per share but suddenly drops to $10 per share. This does not automatically mean that the company is selling at a bargain. All we know is that the company is less expensive now than it was last year. The drop in price could be a result of the market responding to a fundamental problem in the company. To be a real bargain, this company must have fundamentals healthy enough to imply it is worth more than $10 - value investing always compares current share price to intrinsic value not to historic share prices.

Value Investing at Work
One of the greatest investors of all time, Warren Buffett, has proven that value investing can work: his value strategy took the stock of Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company, from $12 a share in 1967 to $70,900 in 2002. The company beat the S&P 500's performance by about 13.02% on average annually! Although Buffett does not strictly categorize himself as a value investor, many of his most successful investments were made on the basis of value investing principles. (See Warren Buffett: How He Does It.)

Buying a Business, not a Stock
We should emphasize that the value investing mentality sees a stock as the vehicle by which a person becomes an owner of a company - to a value investor profits are made by investing in quality companies, not by trading. Because their method is about determining the worth of the underlying asset, value investors pay no mind to the external factors affecting a company, such as market volatility or day-to-day price fluctuations. These factors are not inherent to the company, and therefore are not seen to have any effect on the value of the business in the long run.

Contradictions
While the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) claims that prices are always reflecting all relevant information, and therefore are already showing the intrinsic worth of companies, value investing relies on a premise that opposes that theory. Value investors bank on the EMH being true only in some academic wonderland. They look for times of inefficiency, when the market assigns an incorrect price to a stock.

Value investors also disagree with the principle that high beta (also known as volatility, or standard deviation) necessarily translates into a risky investment. A company with an intrinsic value of $20 per share but is trading at $15 would be, as we know, an attractive investment to value investors. If the share price dropped to $10 per share, the company would experience an increase in beta, which conventionally represents an increase in risk. If, however, the value investor still maintained that the intrinsic value was $20 per share, s/he would see this declining price as an even better bargain. And the better the bargain, the lesser the risk. A high beta does not scare off value investors. As long as they are confident in their intrinsic valuation, an increase in downside volatility may be a good thing.

Screening for Value Stocks
Now that we have a solid understanding of what value investing is and what it is not, let's get into some of the qualities of value stocks.

Qualitative aspects of value stocks:

Where are value stocks found? - Everywhere. Value stocks can be found trading on the NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX, over the counter, on the FTSE, Nikkei and so on.
a) In what industries are value stocks located? - Value stocks can be located in any industry, including energy, finance and even technology (contrary to popular belief).
b) In what industries are value stocks most often located? - Although value stocks can be located anywhere, they are often located in industries that have recently fallen on hard times, or are currently facing market overreaction to a piece of news affecting the industry in the short term. For example, the auto industry's cyclical nature allows for periods of undervaluation of companies such as Ford or GM.
Can value companies be those that have just reached new lows? - Definitely, although we must re-emphasize that the "cheapness" of a company is relative to intrinsic value. A company that has just hit a new 12-month low or is at half of a 12-month high may warrant further investigation.
Here is a breakdown of some of the numbers value investors use as rough guides for picking stocks. Keep in mind that these are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules:

Share price should be no more than two-thirds of intrinsic worth.
Look at companies with P/E ratios at the lowest 10% of all equity securities.
PEG should be less than one.
Stock price should be no more than tangible book value.
There should be no more debt than equity (i.e. D/E ratio < 1).
Current assets should be two times current liabilities.
Dividend yield should be at least two-thirds of the long-term AAA bond yield.
Earnings growth should be at least 7% per annum compounded over the last 10 years.



The P/E and PEG Ratios
Contrary to popular belief, value investing is not simply about investing in low P/E stocks. It's just that stocks which are undervalued will often reflect this undervaluation through a low P/E ratio, which should simply provide a way to compare companies within the same industry. For example, if the average P/E of the technology consulting industry is 20, a company trading in that industry at 15 times earnings should sound some bells in the heads of value investors.

Another popular metric for valuing a company's intrinsic value is the PEG ratio, calculated as a stock's P/E ratio divided by its projected year-over-year earnings growth rate. In other words, the ratio measures how cheap the stock is while taking into account its earnings growth. If the company's PEG ratio is less than one, it is considered to be undervalued.

Narrowing It Down Even Further
One well-known and accepted method of picking value stocks is the net-net method. This method states that if a company is trading at two-thirds of its current assets, no other gauge of worth is necessary. The reasoning behind this is simple: if a company is trading at this level, the buyer is essentially getting all the permanent assets of the company (including property, equipment, etc) and the company's intangible assets (mainly goodwill, in most cases) for free! Unfortunately, companies trading this low are few and far between.

The Margin of Safety
A discussion of value investing would not be complete without mentioning the use of a margin of safety, a technique which is simple yet very effective. Consider a real-life example of a margin of safety. Say you're planning a pyrotechnics show, which will include flames and explosions. You have concluded with a high degree of certainty that it's perfectly safe to stand 100 feet from the center of the explosions. But to be absolutely sure no one gets hurt, you implement a margin of safety by setting up barriers 125 feet from the explosions.

This use of a margin of safety works similarly in value investing. It's simply the practice of leaving room for error in your calculations of intrinsic value. A value investor may be fairly confident that a company has an intrinsic value of $30 per share. But in case his or her calculations are a little too optimistic, he or she creates a margin of safety/error by using the $26 per share in their scenario analysis. The investor may find that at $15 the company is still an attractive investment, or he or she may find that at $24, the company is not attractive enough. If the stock's intrinsic value is lower than the investor estimated, the margin of safety would help prevent this investor from paying too much for the stock.

Conclusion
Value investing is not as sexy as some other styles of investing; it relies on a strict screening process. But just remember, there's nothing boring about outperforming the S&P by 13% over a 40-year span!

Pfizer information

I have been thinking about and researching Pfizer for a while now. I really like this stock and want to purchase some shares. I wanted to post up some information about the company that I have come across that leads me to really like this stock.

First off they are paying a 9.64% dividend! That is like a 9.64% savings account! Here is some information about the stock.

Beta -- 0.66
Dividend & Yield -- 1.28 (9.64%)
Earnings/Share -- 1.20
Forward P/E -- 5.98
Market Cap. -- 91.12 Bil
P/E -- 11.35
Return on Equity -- 13.11
Total Shares Out. -- 6.74 Bil

Here is some information about the company that I found on MSN Money:

Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) is a research-based, global pharmaceutical company. The Company discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines for humans and animals. It operates in two business segments: Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. Pfizer also operates several other businesses, including the manufacture of gelatin capsules, contract manufacturing and bulk pharmaceutical chemicals. In June 2008, Pfizer completed the acquisition of all remaining outstanding shares of common stock of Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Inc. through a merger of Pfizer's wholly owned subsidiary, Explorer Acquisition Corp., with and into Encysive. In June 2008, it also completed the acquisition of Serenex, Inc., a biotechnology company with a Heat Shock Protein 90 development portfolio. In January 2008, the Company completed the acquisition of Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc., a company whose area of capability is immunotherapy with emphasis on Toll-like receptor research and development.

Here is their contact information:

235 East 42nd StreetNew York NY 10017
http://www.pfizer.com/
Phone: 212-5732323
Fax: 212-5737851
Industry : Drug Manufacturers - Major
Employees : 81,800
Exchange : NYSE


Pfizer Declares Q2 2009 Dividend
April 23, 2009
The Board of Directors of Pfizer declared $0.16 second-quarter 2009 dividend on the Company's common stock, payable June 2, 2009, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 8, 2009.
So if you buy before May 8th 2009 you will receive $0.16 per share on June 2nd 2009.

Please check out my Internet Income Streams blog here:

http://internet-incomestreams.blogspot.com/

Link to the 1st post in this series that has links to all the other posts:

My quest for financial freedom: Back ground for this quest

Main link to this blog:

http://quest-for-financial-freedom.blogspot.com/

Real investing and finance information

I apologize to the readers of this blog that came here for investment information. I have been side tracked by these Pay Per Click, Pay to Post, and paid survey sites. I am going to get this blog back to talking about real investing, finance, and money making.

I have been talking to a person I met recently at work and his ideas for some stock purchases are Marvel and Hasbro due to the upcoming motion pictures that will hit theaters soon. I have done some checking and they might be a good option to invest in.

He also mentioned that Fannie Mae may not be that good. One thing he told me that I did not know was that the Government mandated them to come up with 5 Million in liquid assets. They did not know why because they are doing fine as a company. They only have a 2% default rate on their loans, and they own 70% of the home mortgages in the US. So the other 38% of defaulted loans come from the other 30% of all companies that loan money. That means that those companies are in big trouble.

The Government also issued themselves 10,000 shares of Preferred stock in Fannie Mae when they had come up with the 5 million in liquid assets. So what that says is that when and if anyone makes money from Fannie Mae the Government will get paid first due to the preferred shares vs the common shares that most of us own.

I still think that Fannie Mae is a viable option for investors. I am confident that they will recover and bring in nice profits to common and preferred share holders.

Link to the 1st post in this series that has links to all the other posts:

My quest for financial freedom: Back ground for this quest

Main link to this blog:

http://quest-for-financial-freedom.blogspot.com/

Companies for financial products

Here are the companies I currently use to do my investing through. They consist of a Bank (Zions Bank), a Brokerage firm (Zions Direct) and a Mutual fund company (Vanguard).

Zions Bank

https://www.zionsbank.com/

I use Zions bank because it has been in business since 1873, it is a very stable bank with good rates and a very good business ethic.

A brief history of Zions First National Bank On July 10, 1873, Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Company was incorporated under the laws of the Utah Territory under the direction of Brigham Young, becoming Utah's first chartered savings bank and trust company. During its first day of business on October 1, 1873, the bank's cashier and tellers recorded deposits of $5,876.20. The bank prospered and grew, surviving its only major threat – the depression caused by the stock market crash of 1929.

A major event happened on December 31, 1957. Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Company (1873), Utah Savings and Trust Company (1889) and First National Bank of Salt Lake City (1890) merged to form Zions First National Bank. The newly enlarged institution had a total of $109.5 million in deposits. At this time, the long-familiar apostrophe in Zion's was dropped.

In early 1960, authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided to divest itself of its banking interests, and on April 22, 1960, the Church sold majority control of Zions First National Bank to Keystone Insurance and Investment Company. Keystone was owned by a group of businessmen headed by Leland B. Flint, Roy W. Simmons and Judson S. Sayre. At the time of the sale, the Bank had total deposits of just under $120 million.

On February 17, 1961, Zions First National Investment Company was incorporated in Nevada and became the majority owner of the bank stock controlled by the Keystone group. In 1965, the name of the investment company was changed to Zions Bancorporation.

Today, Zions Bancorporation operates full-service banking offices in ten Western states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington. Zions Bank operates 114 full-service branches throughout Utah, 24 full-service branches in Idaho, and nearly 200 ATMs in the two states. In addition to a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions offers a comprehensive array of investment and mortgage services, and has a network of loan origination offices for small businesses nationwide. The company is also a leader in providing electronic banking services, including electronic municipal bond trading. Founded in 1873, Zions has been serving the communities of the Intermountain West for more than 130 years.

From the vision of founder Brigham Young to the reality of one of the nation's most impressive banking organizations, Zions continues to be a pioneer in banking.

Zions Direct

https://zd.zionsdirect.com/

This is the company I chose to use as my online brokerage account. They charge $10.95 per trade which is competitive, and offer a really good range of products.

Why Zions Direct?

Everyday great value guaranteed! Trade stock and bonds online for $10.95 regardless of the size of trade or how many trades you place per month, quarter, or year. Compare Zions Direct to online brokers.

You are in control! Trade stock, bonds, and mutual funds at everyday low prices and get up to the minute news, research, and planning tools to help you make intelligent investment decisions. They provide the tools - you call the shots.

Convenience - Access your account anywhere - tools to plan and invest! They provide the online access and the tools for you to manage your portfolio; however, if you ever need assistance with handling a trade or customer service on your account, you can always contact an experienced Zions Direct Service Representative between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. MST at 1-800-524-8875.

Opening an account is easy! Click here to view account types and ways to apply. Consolidate your accounts - transfer your online brokerage account to Zions Direct.

BRIEF HISTORY

Zions Bancorporation originated as Keystone Insurance and Investment Co., a Utah corporation, on April 25, 1955. In April 1960, Keystone, together with several other individuals, acquired a 57.5 percent interest in Zions First National Bank from the LDS Church.

On April 23, 1965, the name of the company was changed to Zions Bancorporation. However, later that year the name was changed to Zions Utah Bancorporation. The first public offering of shares in Zions Bancorporation was made in January 1966. There continued to be some minority shareholders in Zions First National Bank until April 7, 1972 when the company exchanged the remaining minority shares for common shares. In April 1987, Zions Utah Bancorporation again changed its name to Zions Bancorporation.

TOTAL ASSETS

$52.9 billion (as of December 31, 2007)


OWNERSHIP

Zions Bancorporation is a publicly traded company. The company's common shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "ZION." The Company had 106,720,884 shares of common stock outstanding at the close of business on December 31, 2007.

Vanguard

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/home?fromPage=portal

I use Vanguard Mutual Fund company for their selection of funds available, and for their very low fees. They offer some of the lowest fees of any mutual fund company.

For a complete list of their funds visit their home page.

Our mission statement
Vanguard's mission is to help clients reach their financial goals by being the world's highest-value provider of investment products and services.

Corporate headquarters-Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Founded-May 1, 1975

First fund-Wellington Fund (inception date: July 1, 1929)

U.S. offices-Charlotte, North Carolina,Scottsdale, Arizona and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

International offices-Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Brussels, Belgium, London, England, Melbourne, Australia, Paris, France, Seoul, South Korea, Singapore, Sydney, Australia,
Tokyo, Japan and Zurich, Switzerland

Total assets-Approximately $1 trillion in U.S. mutual funds (as of December 31, 2008)

Number of funds-150 domestic funds (including variable annuity portfolios); plus additional funds in international markets

Number of employees-12,500 in United States

Average expense ratio-0.20% (expenses as a percentage of 2008 average net assets)

Mailing address-P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482

Link to the 1st post in this series that has links to all the other posts:

My quest for financial freedom: Back ground for this quest

Main link to this blog:

http://quest-for-financial-freedom.blogspot.com/

Financial information and links

I just wanted to post some links to my favorite financial and money management sites. I have learned a lot from these sites. They are a really good source of knowledge for when you start investing, or if you already invest they will help you find out what are some good investments.

MSN Money-http://moneycentral.msn.com/

This site has a lot of good features. I use it to look up stock prices, and to do research on companies I am interested in.

Fool.com- http://www.fool.com/

This site is really good for research on companies and for gaining insight into different investment options. They have several paid services also, but they offer enough information for free that I do not see the point in paying for their services.

Investopedia- http://www.investopedia.com/?viewed=1

They have a lot of financial advice available on their site as well. It is another good source for financial information. They have simulators that you can use to see how well you would do at different kinds of investing as well as many articles and tutorials to help you learn about investing.

Wealth Intelligence Academy- http://wiacademy.com/

They offer classes on many different topics and investment opportunities.

The Street.com- http://www.thestreet.com/

They offer their stock picks, videos, investing A-Z, a personal finance section, business news and portfolio tools.

Google Finance- http://www.google.com/finance

They offer real time stock prices as well as many different kinds of investment information.

CNN Money- http://money.cnn.com/

They offer Business news, Market information, Information on personal finance, Retirement information, Technology, Luxury and Small business.

Of course there are many others, but these are where I spend most of my time when I am doing research for my investments.

Link to the 1st post in this series that has links to all the other posts:

My quest for financial freedom: Back ground for this quest

Main link to this blog:

http://quest-for-financial-freedom.blogspot.com/

Back ground for this quest

My name is Michael and I am here to blog my journey to financial freedom. Follow me as I build my Internet Businesses, and build my portfolio.

I will not accept failure!

I have spent the past couple of years educating myself about finances, and investing. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, precious metals, liveing frugally, etc...

So far I have read the following books:

"One Minute Millionaire" by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen (very good starting point)
"Multiple Streams of Income" by Robert G. Allen (really good book)
"Multiple Streams of Internet Income" by Robert G. Allen (must read!)
"Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki (Good book about how to think about money)
"Why We Want You to Be Rich" by Donald J. Trump and Robert Kiyosaki
"The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
"The Little Book of Value Investing" by Christopher H. Browne
"How to Buy, Sell & Profit on eBay" by Adam Ginsberg (very good book, a must have)

I am really into the "Multiple streams of income" idea. I decided to make the Internet my first stream.
So far I have created a business name Skypher Industries, a business email, skypherindustries@live.com and an eBay account: Skypher Industries.
I also set up an affiliate program here:
http://affiliates.sitesell.com/Skypher_sales.html




Links to the other posts in this blog:

My quest for financial freedom: My goals

My quest for financial freedom: 03/10/09

My quest for financial freedom: New stuff

My quest for financial freedom: Brainstorming

My quest for financial freedom: Affiliate programs, and other stuff

My quest for financial freedom: Google AdSense

My quest for financial freedom: Signature links

My quest for financial freedom: Zions Bank Stock

My quest for financial freedom: Internet business update

My quest for financial freedom: Clickbank

My quest for financial freedom: I found the "Secret" to "The Secret"

My quest for financial freedom: Pro Blogger and AdSense

My quest for financial freedom: Pro Blogger

My quest for financial freedom: Blogging for money

My quest for financial freedom: Financial Journey update

My quest for financial freedom: Stock questions

My quest for financial freedom: Update on the Internet business

My quest for financial freedom: Paid surveys and Fannie Mae

My quest for financial freedom: BidVertizer

My quest for financial freedom: Monetizing your blog or website

My quest for financial freedom: Affiliate programs

My quest for financial freedom: Financial Freedom comming along slowly

My quest for financial freedom: Pay to post

My quest for financial freedom: PTP site

My quest for financial freedom: My earnings update

My quest for financial freedom: Post Parker Site

My quest for financial freedom: Making money online

My quest for financial freedom: Financial Freedom forging ahead

My quest for financial freedom: New financial earnings update

My quest for financial freedom: Financial information and links

My quest for financial freedom: Companies for financial products

My quest for financial freedom: Earnings report 4/13/09

My quest for financial freedom: Pay to click adds

My quest for financial freedom: Sqip.com

My quest for financial freedom: Earnings report 4/23/09

My quest for financial freedom: Real investing and finance information

My quest for financial freedom: Pfizer information

My quest for financial freedom: Thrill of CD Auctions Lures Investors

My quest for financial freedom: My Stocks

My quest for financial freedom: Investing clubs