Personal Finance: Thinking Like a Business Person vs. a Consumer

Business Mind

I’m a big fan of Panasonic; all my stuff is Panasonic. Over the years I’ve found that they make great quality electronics and, you either get more features for the same price as other premium brands, or you get the same feature set for a better price.

In December, my TV (which I’ve had for 10 years) finally gave up the ghost. It was time to buy a new one and after some deliberation I finally narrowed it down to 2 choices:

  1. 42″ Plasma full HD
  2. 32″ LCD 480i

Right now you’re thinking ‘Woohoo – get the plasma!!’ Which makes a lot of sense because even though I don’t have an HD player right now, everything’s moving towards HD and I might as well plan for the future, right?

Well, that’s just your consumer brain thinking and it can be very convincing.

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American Express Plum Card: The Credit Card Wars Heat Up

American Express Plum Card

There was a lot of speculation on how well the Mastercard IPO would do in 2006. The stock’s done well. Very well. And investors are waiting anxiously for the coming Visa IPO which has got fortune-maker written all over it.

These public offerings are raising the stakes in the credit card arena significantly and the offerings we’ll see from the various credit card issuers as they duke it out is going to get a lot more competitive.

Understanding Trade Terms in General

Most businesses have credit accounts with other businesses (their suppliers). When it come to trade terms on business-to-business transactions, the most common set of terms is net 30 days; you buy something and you have 30 days from the invoice date to pay for it.

But there’s another common term that’s used for B2B credit accounts called 2% 10 days. What this means is that if you pay within 10 days of the invoice date, you get a 2% rebate on the invoice amount. 2 percent 10 days is a set of terms that’s usually forced on small companies by large retailers and distributors because it’s a good deal for these cash-rich buyers.

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The Must-Have Stock Pick for 2008: Visa IPO

Charge!

Again and again I hear talking heads on the boob tube talking about how sitting on a diversified portfolio over the long haul is a great way to invest your money. And while that’s a safe bet, unless you get lucky, the chances are pretty good that you’ll never make a ton of money doing that.

If you want to make good money you have to catch the waves. You have to keep your money moving in and out of the opportunites as they come along.

It’s not fire-and-forget. You have to get in the game. You have to get involved in your own investing.

There are two kinds of stock plays I really like:

  1. Buying small to mid caps on bad news
  2. Can’t-lose IPOs

Both of those plays will give you better than average returns. And you can make anywhere from 200% on your money in a couple weeks to 500%+ in a year or two. A lot better than the run-of-the-mill 10% annual return you’ll make in a diversified mutual fund.

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Making Money with the Boom, Bust, Blitz

The standard business cycle lasts about 10 years. There’s also a bigger cycle called the long economic cycle which covers a span of 50 to 60 years. Both these cycles go through a boom, a bust, and a blitz, and at each of these stages there are some great opportunities. The key to making a … Read more

Get Out of Debt, Part 3: Thinking Rich

« Read Get Out of Debt, Part 1: Stop the Bleeding « Read Get Out of Debt, Part 2: Grab the Bull by the Horns It’s very easy to add up everything you owe, figure out how long it will take you to pay it off, and get extremely discouraged. That’s why it’s important to … Read more

Get Out of Debt, Part 2: Grab the Bull by the Horns

« Read Get Out of Debt, Part 1: Stop the Bleeding Like most things, getting out of debt is about doing the right things in the right order. So it’s no accident that Part 1 is about how to cut your expenses. Cutting your expenses is the easiest part. And making some progress there will … Read more

Get Out of Debt, Part 1: Stop the Bleeding

Several years ago, I had a mass of debt that I just couldn’t shake free. This might sound familiar if you’ve ever struggled with debt yourself. I’d gain a little ground and pay some of it off, and then a couple months later I was right back where I started. Whenever I worked out a … Read more

Investing In Rental Property … Bubble Or No Bubble

There’s still a good buck to be made. Despite the fact that we’re in the largest housing price bubble in history. And despite the fact that subprime lenders are losing their shirts thanks to a massive spike in foreclosures … you can still get into investing in rental properties with the right opportunity. And that’s … Read more

Think Rich: Use Your Credit Card The Right Way

I hate to tell you, but that high interest rate you’re paying on your credit. It’s because of people like me. I was reading about Andreas Bard’s credit card experience. I found a link to the post on Nate Whitehill’s Powerful Posts of the Week and I thought I’d weigh in on what’s good and … Read more

Building A Grass Roots Movement: The Billion Dollar Take-Down

I got an email from a friend the other day. You know the kind … the pass-it-to-10-people chain-mail powerpoint presentation kind. This one’s plight was simple: Stop buying gas at selected gas stations to spark a price war that would push the price of gas down. The Pitch In Canada, PetroCan and Shell are a … Read more