- RT @mymoneyshrugged: The government breaks your leg, and hands you a crutch saying "see without me, you couldn't walk." #
- @bargainr What weeks do you need a FoF host for? in reply to bargainr #
- Awesome tagline: The coolest you'll look pooping your pants. Yay, @Huggies! #
- A textbook is not the real world. Not all business management professors understand marketing. #
- RT @thegoodhuman: Walden on work "spending best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy (cont) http://tl.gd/2gugo6 #
New Year Goals
I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. They are generally drunken promises made on December 31st that are broken by the middle of January, if they are remembered at all. I don’t make resolutions.
My goal for 2010 is to complete one major self-improvement project each month. That’s an entire year of 30-day projects. As each month goes on, I will be updating this blog with the status of each project. Some of the projects will be physical, some will be mental, some will be improvements on my relationships. My goal is to do something meaningful, useful and challenging each month.
Here’s my list:
- January: Wake up at 5am AND read to my kids every night before bed.
- February: Do 100 push-ups at one time by the end of the month. There is also a secret project this month. I’ll be keeping notes and posting in March.
- March: Do 100 sit-ups at one time by the end of the month.
- April: Spring Cleaning. I will declutter every room in my house this month.
- May: Have a sit-down dinner with my family, at the dining room table at least 3 times per week.
- June: No computer use, while anyone else in the family is awake, except for household necessities, such as bills.
- July: Write fiction every day.
- August: Buy nothing new this month.
- September: Attempt to learn a new language. http://ijaar.com/29-free-websites-to-learn-a-new-language/
- October: No yelling at the kids.
- November: No complaining. Not at home, not at work.
- December: I will have done 14 projects this year. December is a month off.
Selling Your Home: For Sale by Owner
- Image by Casey Serin via Flickr
When you’re preparing to sell your home, your first instinct is often to rush straight to a realtor. There are benefits to using a trained real estate agent, but it isn’t always necessary.
The biggest motivation to skip the realtor is avoiding the fees, which can run as high as 7% or more in some places. What does that 7% get you?
First, it gets you experience. Realtors know which hoops you have to jump through, from both a legal and a marketing perspective. Do you need an inspection? How much of your stuff should you move to storage? Are you comfortable with high-dollar negotiations?
Time is another critical item in the fee. Do you have a minimum of an hour to dedicate to advertising and screening potential buyers? Every day? Do you have a flexible schedule to show your house at times convenient for the buyers?
The third element is access to the Multiple Listing Service(MLS), which lets other realtors see your home listing. There are alternative listing services you can use, but none are as widely know as MLS.
There are some good reasons to use a realtor, but none of that means you can’t sell your home yourself. FSBOs are done every day.
If you are nervous, your local community education program may have a course on selling your home yourself. These courses are usually very affordable.
Some tips:
- Be objective about pricing. Look at the selling price of similar homes in the area, NOT what your dream price is or how much you have spent on improvements.
- Always keep your home ready to show. Keep the dishes done, everything put away, and the floors mopped. The “lived-in” look will not help your house sell.
- Keep track of the potential buyers. Put the name, address, phone number, and any identifying notes in a spreadsheet so you can follow up later if your house doesn’t sell.
- A bid is not binding. Don’t stop advertising until you close on the sale.
- Make a fact sheet and blank purchase agreement that potential buyers can take home.
- Hire professionals where necessary: lawyers, inspectors, and closing agents.
Selling your home yourself can be intimidating, but it is a job you can tackle yourself for a significant savings. Would you try it?
A Bit of Christmas Magic
On Thursday, my wife left with my kids and dog. I had to work all day on Friday, so she took off to get an early start on Christmas at my brother’s house. I followed Saturday morning.
Two nights with no whining, and a bed to myself.
Friday afternoon, my wife called to tell me about her day.
When she got to my brother’s, she took her tailgate down to get the suitcases out of the back of her truck. She left the plastic container full of presents in her truck, since we’d be exchanging presents at my parent’s house nearby.
Friday morning, she left to feed her shopping addiction for a few hours.
When she got to the giant store that had our new car seats on sale, she discovered that she had neglected to put the tailgate back up on the truck when she unpacked. This was the box that held most of our budgeting overspend.
Gone.
When she called me, she was retracing her steps, hoping to find the box.
I was upset.
She didn’t find the box on the side of the road.
Gone.
Normally, this would be a strong object lesson in the futility of rampant consumerism. A lot of zen-like “the stuff you own is fleeting”, amidst the wailing of children who are discovering that their Christmas presents evaporated in a ditch somewhere.
Somebody found the box. I don’t know who.
Whoever it was, opened the box and saw the tears of small children inside. She read the name tags and, amazingly, recognized enough of the first names to place the family.
Keep in mind that I live more than 100 miles away, and moved out of the town 15 years ago.
This anonymous Christmas elf brought the box into a nearby gas station, and asked them to call my parents, since the names on the tags matched those of my parents’ grandchildren.
Everything was still in the box.
Everything was still intact.
Anonymous Christmas Elf saved Christmas for my family
.
Regret
There comes a time when it’s too late to tell people how you feel.
There will come a day when the person you mean to talk to won’t be there. Don’t wait for that day.
“There’s always tomorrow” isn’t always true.
What Is Your Binary Options Strategy?
When you are just entering the world of binary options trading or investing, you may be on the receiving end of a lot of advice. It is not uncommon to hear people tell you to implement different gambling strategies because binary options are based on chance more than anything else. You will also hear a lot of advice from those who say there are many good ways to develop an effective strategy using indicators and market signals. Some will insist that with proper analysis of market data, a solid strategy can be developed too.
Are they all correct? Interestingly enough, the answer is yes. The reason for this is simple, and as one expert writes, “there is no such thing as a perfect strategy for every trader. There is only a best strategy for each individual trader.” Thus, your strategy has to be shaped around a few things:
- Your willingness and ability to follow your chosen strategy.
- Your personality. For instance, are you restless if you are taking the safe route or a higher risk strategy?
- Your budget and goals,
Identifying the answers to these questions is the first step to formulating a strategy. You should also understand that the winning percentage of most strategies will be somewhat constant, but the total number of successful trades varies on an individual basis and is based entirely on the strategies used.
For instance, some investors want a high percentage of winning trades and are more comfortable with risk averse trading. Others are ready to take more risk and are entirely comfortable winning fewer trades if the returns on winning trades are dramatically higher. This enables them to implement higher risk trades. The interesting thing about strategies and the kinds of trades they generate is that they are all built from the same data.
The Data of Strategy
For example, almost all strategies will look at issues like market trends, trading trends, highs and lows, reversals, and various kinds of indicators. The reason that high and low trends pay off in strategy development is simple: binary options trading applies to whether or not an asset rises above a strike price or doesn’t. It is the proverbial “yes or no” part of the proposition and analysis for either outcome pays off.
As an example, a lot of risk-averse investors will look for breakouts. They use these for trend line investing, which can be as brief as sixty seconds to a day, but can be used to coordinate investing in the direction of a short trend. Although this seems complex, it really is not. The key is that analysis cannot be broad and across all available markets. Instead, focused analysis on a specific area will allow even a novice investor to analyze for a breakout and then invest in binary options accordingly.
Just being able to detect a reversal or a downward trend over the course of a day can yield a very rewarding investment. The key is to understand your strategy based on your budget, personality, and your ability to stick with the strategy, even if it does not yield immediate success. When you do this, and use the right tools for analysis, you can create an effective strategy that brings you closer to your goals.
This is a guest post.
