There is nothing like walking in Chicago, especially Millenium and Grant Park. It is so hard to find things to do here that are free of charge. One activity I always look forward to is the Chicago Blues Festival every June. Parking your car is almost impossible. So, I always take the city bus. While this brings the Summer Blues, there is no better way to get the Spring Blues than by having your tax refund checks stolen by thieves.

It is bad enough to have forty percent of your wages donated to the IRS. It is even worse to have your refunds being stolen. The Federal Trade Commission claims that this is the number one complaint every year. 43 % of their complaints are about tax returns being stolen. After all the paper work and months later, you will get your refund check sent to. MONTHS! You can use the refund now to pay for your mortgage or car.  Identity Theft Increases To All Time High

What do we law abiding citizens do to prevent such crimes against ourselves. There are many many tips from IRS.gov: Tips From The IRS

• Do Not Carry Your Social Security Card
• Do Not Carry Medicare Card In Wallet With Social Security Number
• Check Your Credit Report (Best Every 3 Months)
• Protect Your Computer Against Viruses and SpyWare
• Do Not Give Personal information Over The Phone

There is one more tip to prevent such tragedies on yourself and your loved ones: File your taxes early. January is when I file my own and get a speedy tax return check from the IRS. Think about it for a second: the government has your taxes already and your employer’s payroll taxes. So, what does procrastination do for your benefit? Absolutely NOTHING! So why not make it easier for the IRS and yourself?

Living in New Jersey, I would say that I get about 20 phone calls from the IRS asking me to do my taxes over the phone. Then they ask me what is my social security number. This is the invitation to identity theft. The IRS would not need your personal information on the phone when they already know you as much as you know yourself. TIP: Never give your personal information over the phone.Twice I asked for their phone number to call back. The first one was in Nigeria and the second was in Sri Lanka. I advise to have you ask for a number to always call the telemarketers back.

If they do not give out numbers, hang up the phone. If they do give out information, please write it down and report it to:

• Department Of Justice

• IRS

• Federal Trade Commission

Your leak on the scams can help save thousands of hard working Americans their hard earned income. A little good deed like this can help save your fellow Americans suffering and court fees from identity theft.

To Healthy!

To Wealthy!

To Wise!

Any questions or comments are welcomed.

 

 

Lisa has always worked as a merchandising manager at a prestige Chicago department store. Since graduating college in 2004, she has always lived a frugal lifestyle. Since 2008 Mortgage Crisis, she has been investing in XLF, an Exchange Traded Fund for the entire banking sector. She was advised that the Housing Sector was starting to grow. From reading The Wall Street Journal everyday, she decided to start investing in XHB (Hombuilding Sector Fund).

Putting in as little at $ 50 a week in both funds, Lisa noticed that her money was quickly growing faster in both sectors just a year later.  getting an average of 8 % return o both funds, Lisa doubled her weekly investment to $ 100 a week for both investments. The further we forgot about the 2008 Mortgage Crisis, the more money she was building up from the banking and home building sectors.  XLF Graph Goes Up Since 2009

We see Lisa was wise to invest in rebound of the banking sector from the Bloomberg information provided. She was quite intelligent and wise for purchasing in a strong sector, even though America thought the whole country would collapse. Lisa looked back at all the other economic chaos moments in the past. She noticed America survived all of them and prospered. With just a bit of common sense and not getting emotional, she put her savings in the fast growing banking and housing sector.

Today she is 37 years old with a large nest egg. She gets huge dividend payments every 3 months. Intelligently, she reinvests the dividends in the two funds to make the money grow even faster in the long run. If she keeps investing the next 13 years in both sectors at this speed, she will have a nest egg over $ 6 million.

Imagine being 50 years old and having this much money in your nest egg. Would you like to be able to turn out as good as Lisa? Would you like to retire 10 years before the retirement age of 65? This is only possible by making small investments in small increments over time. Instead of day dreaming about winning the lottery, make your dreams into actions. How To Use ETFs As Safe Investments

It saddens me to shop at Kohl’s, Target, and Home Depot because of the many senior citizens having to work to make ends meet. When should anyone start investing? The time is TODAY! You can be 18 or 80; it is never too late to make a small amount of your money work for you. We can learn a life lesson from Jack and The Beanstalk; a few beans invested made him find The Golden Goose. So, where is your Golden Goose? Buying ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) is the one Golden Goose for everyday people to buy into a pool of many stocks in one whole sector.

 

Any questions or comments? Please ask away.

 

 

 

 

We always hear about the conspiracy theories in the alternative media today that the end of America is coming closer to us everyday. We hear that the United States is headed for another deep Depression, like the one we had in the 1930′s. Retail sector had terrible numbers during the Christmas shopping frenzy. Macy’s, JCPenney’s, and other mega store retailers have cut back their employees to save extra money. But, we see that there is no holding back on oil consumption in America. In fact, it is quickly rising compared to other advanced and emerging economies today.   US Oil Demand Faster Than China

Just like many Wall Street analysts, I expected there would be a huge drop in oil consumption for 2014. But,  from the Russian Times article, I ask myself “What Recession”? We may have high unemployment numbers, but productivity has gone up since the Mortgage Crisis of 2008. When productivity goes up, so does corporate revenues. When revenues go up, so does IRS collecting the corporate tax (US being the second highest in the world after Japan). More money in taxes means we pay back our debts with more ease to our trading partners in Europe and Asia.

Thanks to the Bakken Shale discovery in North Dakota, we have immense supply of natural gas. Some experts say we have more than Canada, our most important trading partner for natural resources and agriculture. After Texas, North Dakota is the highest in natural gas resources in America.  Bakken Shale

Because of growing emerging economies (like India and China), Worldwide demand for oil would rise by at least % 4o by 2035. The majority of the oil will be going to Asia’s rapidly growing economies. Western Europe, United States, and Canada need to compete against India and China for the finite supply of oil in the world. With modern technology in fracking, we are finding new ways to keep energies prices affordable with new depositories in America. US Will Become Completely Energy Independent

We are all not seeing the big picture when we just look at only unemployment. Technological innovation and productivity are both boosting the US economy. Our soon to be independent oil production will make US economy grow further than we have ever imagined before. I do not see any end coming soon by looking the information researched by Federal Reserve, United Nations, and World Bank.

You comments and sharing are always welcome.

 

She touched a little box in her pocket. It was a square shaped and silver with a ribbon on the top. Very anxiously, Susan took it out and then stopped and stared at it. For 20 seconds she was wondering if it was the one gift that all women dream of getting. She was thinking about those four magic words to start a new life with the one person you truly love more than yourself. She was thinking that she is not a 23 year old childish adult anymore, but a fully grown and responsible woman.

So, she slowly opened the silver gift box. In there was a miniature size card with a silver locket. From all the excitement, her adrenaline slowed down. Susan felt kind of disappointed that there was no ring. Yet, she still had to open the little card. She read read the another five magic words in life: “Follow Your Passion. Love, Brian”. Wondering what does passion have to do with loving someone, she went for an hour long walk to Millennium Park to go for a leisurely ice skating at Chicago’s famous McCormick Tribune Ice Rink. She did her skating for a brief 15 minutes and then she fell on her buttocks. If she did not fall, she would have crashed into the famous Cloud Gate Sculpture.

When falling on the freezing cold ice rink, she figured out what Brian meant about following one’s passion. Working 50+ hours a week in a marketing corporation, she noticed that she is not following her passion in community service. She always wanted to go into being a speech therapist. There was nothing better than helping people, very much like her bi-weekly soup kitchen volunteering. She registered at Malcolm X College for obtaining her speech therapy certification in one year of studies.

After taking her skates off, she went back to Brian’s apartment near West Rogers Park. She thanked him for the silver necklace and wanted to go out to dinner. When both went to a nice Spanish restaurant, Karen explained to Brian that she found out what true passion in life is all about thanks to his short letter. Brian confessed that he wrote that comment because he found his passion as a photography. He made a huge career change himself from insurance sales agent to photography.

Because of changing their everyday careers, both of them felt there was meaning in life. Both were fully energized when they got up at seven in the morning. Does this only work for Brian and Karen? Of course not! It works for each and every one of us human beings. How is this so? Because we as humans have in our possession free will. We choose our own route in life and also can choose if we want change in life.

Many people married with 3 kids find that they are in a dead end and can not change direction because of too many responsibilities. This is incorrect. It is basically fear that we can not confess that we have. Fear is a stumbling block that makes us not want to leave our comfort zone. It looks foggy and has very little visibility. When we overcome the fear, we can see through our everyday problems and difficulties and move forward to achieve our passion.

What is your passion? Did you compromise on it in your career life? How can you change for the better?

Comments and sharing are always welcome!

 

 

 

The strange noises grew louder. Jack kept walking through the dark tunnel to reach through to that little speck of light at the end of the tunnel. On the humid August day, the noise was getting louder and noisier the closer to the speck of light. Jack did not walk back from the noise. He kept walking until he got to the dirty stairs with decade old chewing gum in the cement. He went up the stairs to West Broadway with noise he never grew used to or heard in suburban Long Island. This noise is The Big City.

Today was his first day starting a new career as a options trader at a European bank. He has joined in the matrix we call the workforce. People walking all over the city with briefcases and suits. They all are walking together systematically like the zombies in a horror movie. Everyone knows where they are heading to for the typical nine to five work week. Jack sees everyone is going to their designated place on his first day as a trader. Being an Ivy League business school graduate, he can see the riches and fame coming in the many years ahead.

We all today sound a lot like Jack. We need our own comfort zone with a typical nine to five career. When it hits five o’clock, we all are in zombie mode again to go home to the wife and kids. We spend a few hours at home with our family and get ready for the next nine to five workday. And then we are off to The Big City the next morning again.

How do we change such mediocre everyday repetition of the same career? What is the secret to making everyday an adventure? The only secret is one goal that is hard to do: leave one’s comfort zone and take risk in life. True, we do hit dead ends here and there. So, we make a K-turn and try a new road to meet our goals in life. Many people like Jack do not know that they have started a career after college that one day could send them to a mid-life crisis.

This typical crisis is because of the lacking of passion of their career. We all need passion of our career choices, not just greed and fame. The only way Jack and society as a whole can live the life full of meaning is by following their passions and desires. For instance, Jack loves going on vacation to exotic places. He takes a lot of photographs on the exotic beaches and in the mountains. Photography has always been one of his favorite hobbies since his teenage years.

With such passion for the art of photography, Jack compromised and went to business school with dreams of being a bank executive living the high life. Jack really did not have to compromise his dream of photography. He could have traveled every month to an exotic island in the South Pacific and do photography for a travel magazine making a six figure income. He could have worked 40 hours a week following his passion, instead of being enslaved in the zombie work week. Yet, change is always an option. Just like Jack, we all have the chance to start all over again in life. There is many routes to take to get to your final destination. It is up to our own free will (not society’s) to guide us to a life full of passion.

What is your passion in life? Your comments are always appreciated!

 

Oh No! It is that time of the year again! You know what I am talking about … those New Year’s Resolutions again. Why is it that we give up so easily every year on our hopes and dreams so easily? I believe we make our goals too high all the time. We should make our goals much lower. Even better, we should cut our one goal (like finanical freedom) into many goals to accomplish every month.

Speaking about financial freedom, here are a few tips and advice on how to achieve such a goal:

Number 1: Reduce Your Losses

This sounds so easy to do, eh? Well, we as every day people have losses all the time. A good example is buying Valentines Day gifts in February. One should buy their loved one a present at huge discounted Christmas gifts in January. Retailers are desperate in January to eliminate their excess inventory to bring in the new items for Spring shopping common soon. Personally, I buy these fancy Belgian chocolates at least half off from the Christmas shopping season.  Food is always a good gift to give anyone. Why? When was the last time you returned a cheesecake, chocolates, or a pecan pie because someone did not like the present? I would say almost NEVER. But, clothing or other non-perishable gifts are very common to be returned or exchanged because of dislike or wrong size.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-wang/new-years-resolution-3-ea_b_4527730.html

Number 2: Have A Credit Card Party

I bet you never heard of such a celebration before. I actually had one in my junior year in college. Me and 4 friends brought food and drinks to my dorm. We were ready to party over credit cards. Huh? How does one party with a credit card? Well, we bring a pair of scissors and each one of us clip the card and eliminate one of our debt instruments holding us back from success. Amazingly, you get an adrenaline rush from the feeling of freedom you get for getting closer to being one of the very few Americans that becomes debt free.  http://www.daveramsey.com/article/are-credit-cards-a-way-of-life/lifeandmoney_creditcards/

Number 3: Use More Cash For All Your Purchases

It sound insane using cash today. It is not how I can keep up with the Jones’. There is a news report you might have not heard: The Jones’ have filed for bankruptcy and cashed out their pensions. So, why keep up with people who are credit card enslaved for the rest of their lives? The secret to having a debt free life is to use cash for your purchases. If you have no cash, then use your debit card from your checking account. This is a key to eliminating your financial liabilities and become financially free.

I was just like you, your neighbor, or even your colleague 12 years ago. Credit cards took control of my life and I had no control of anything. Eighteen months later, I became free from the credit card. One discovery was that there is a huge emotional attachment to cash. It is physically in your hand when you spend the money. Using a credit card, it is just a piece of plastic with no emotional connection to you. So, one does not feel guilty buying a $ 500 cell phone.

As summary, one needs to go back to the days of old. Tradition 40 years ago was a cash based society. Today, we are becoming a cashless society with no real idea of how we balance our own budgets. Until we balance our own budgets, we will not see success. It is up to you to cahnge for yourself and your loved ones to make 2014 the year of success.