Keeping up with the Joneses?

I have this fascination of others.  I can sit for hours and just "people watch".

You can tell a lot about a person by how they present themselves to the world.  But, (and this is a big but) how accurate is it?

You see your neighbours purchasing new vehicles, bigger homes, motor homes and yearly trips to Mexico.  And you wonder...how do they afford that?

I wish I had the guts to go and ask them.  But the one thing I have learned is that - things are not always what they seem.

After 17 years of marriage I have seen my share of marriages/relationships fail because of financial matters.  It becomes a one-up-manship.  "If you can buy a new ATV, I'm going to buy new furniture".  Ok, those are pretty big purchases but you get the idea.  I know numerous friends that hide what they buy from their husbands and husbands hiding money from their wives.

I think you know what ends up eventually happening to those relationships.  They can only last so long before either debt is too high or someone just can't handle the strain any more.

I call this the "Joneses Syndrome".  Where if our others have it we MUST have it also to make ourselves feel better and feel worthy.  Or you deserve it... whatever.  If you can't pay cash for it you shouldn't be buying it.  Tough talk.  But take it to heart that sometimes we truly need to be more grateful for what we have already rather than always wanting more.

 I just watched this movie called The Joneses that shows you exactly (well in an exaggerated way) what happens when you think a family is one way (they are hired to make you want to buy what they have) and you try to be like them.  Interesting...watch it.

Don't get me wrong I would love to buy new vehicles, take the kids on trips...etc.  But their was no way we could do it.  (OK, having 6 kids in 9 years had a huge impact on this.  Yes, I know this was our choice).  We had a car that I had to be sure I parked to drive forward as their was no reverse
( we just had our third baby then) and I would always get stuck going up hills.

We promised our oldest that we would go to Disneyworld so many times that now that we are going - none of her friends believed her.  She is now 16 yrs btw.  But the trip will be fully paid for BEFORE we leave - nothing on credit.

It took us a long time to dig ourselves out of a financial hole and that was with just the day to cost of living.  But with things breaking down, kids needing braces, and husband in school it was tough.

But I figure man, if we could do it anyone could do it.  Have you made that bank appointment yet?

My "RED" Day

So I was all happy on Monday. La, la, la my stocks are going up...then BAM! Today sucks! It's a BEAR ( ha ha).

BTW, I always wondered how the stock market used the words "Bear" meaning down and "Bull" meaning up meant. How you remember is a bear swipes its claw DOWN and bulls rear their heads UP. Now don't you feel knowledgeable?

Bear today - at least for me and the stocks I hold. But that is the market. You can't panic and sell off as soon as things go down - you have to look at it as an opportunity to average down even more (buy more stocks at an even lesser price that you originally bought at).

On the brighter side (I hope you all did too) I sold off my Lululemon yesterday, since it is now down almost $2 from when I sold it at.

I have gotten into some gold stocks - that are cheap and up and coming. One of them I sold too quickly (GNH) then bought more back (thankfully) and almost missed the large rise. But now it has dropped almost to the start point - but I believe in it and will take this time to buy more at a cheaper price.

It sounds like a lot of work but as I had mentioned the other day you can put a LIMIT on an order. Meaning you pick a price that you want to buy or sell your stock at and let it go. This way you don't have to worry about missing a low or high. Takes a lot of the stress off of things. This is what I did with my lulu I have set a LIMIT at $45.80 all week and it finally hit (though it did go .10 cents higher). I lucked out.

Be aware that it may go lower or higher than what you expected - which is part of stock trading that you have to learn to LET GO! Don't dwell on what you missed. It won't do any good and you will drive yourself nuts.

After I sell a stock (unless I plan on buying it back lower) I take it off my watch list, cause other wise I will go crazy watching it go higher and kicking myself in the butt for not hanging onto it longer.

Trading is all about confidence. Be content on your moves and choices and know that there is now way for us to see into that crystal ball. I don't care how much you research a stock there are too many variables in life/market to see what is coming.

If people feel threaten, they will sell off - no matter what someone else will tell them.

HOLD long and strong.

I love the color green!

What a great start to Monday. Kids are off to school happy and healthy and my stocks are in the green!

As I mentioned on Friday, there are a lot of great sites to get your stock quotes from and to set up a portfolio.

I started off with simple Google Finance. I made it my home page so that it is the first thing I see when I open up my browser. You can see your recent quotes on the left hand side up to ten (which for now works great since that is all that I have).

I follow my portfolio on Stockhouse.com. I can see how much I have made (or hopefully not - loss) on a trade and it is a great way to keep track of stocks that pay a divided.

If you can find a divided stock that pays 7% or higher that is great. One such one that I just bought was COS.UN (Canadian Oil Sands Trust). It is a great stock that is at its low for the year and hey, you can't beat getting a nice divided payment.

I'm considered a LONG trader. I don't flip stocks quickly to make a profit. For one, I don't have the funds and I can't stand those commission fees! (OK, I do flip Lululemon, but it has been worth it).

You have to decided what kind of trader you wish to be.

Your age can play a large part in what kind of trader you are. I wish we had started earlier but life (with six kids) /money made it pretty hard. So in investment terms we are "slightly" older (ok we just entered the "40") but it just shows you it is never too late - or if your smart too early.

First Things First

BUILD IT, AND IT WILL COME. I have to say I was very impatient to learn how to do my own trades. But unless you can put away a couple of thousand in your account right away or manage to buy some penny stocks, you will have to wait and build it up first.

The first thing I bought was 100 shares of Lululemon Athletic Inc. (TSE:LLL). It was a very expensive first purchase - at the time the stock was at 28.60 (100 shares x 28.60 = $2,800.60) so it was a pretty big chunk of change. Plus the commission fee at the time was $28.90.

Always be aware of the commission fee, as you will be charged this buying and selling. So you have to take $60 (or what ever your fee is) off of your profits right from the top. So before you sell make sure you accounted for that difference. We were lucky in the first few months as our bank was giving a super low rate for $6.95 for trades (I realize now how cheap that was).

So back to my lulu - the reason I picked this stock is strictly personal. Which they say is the last reason why you should purchase a stock. But I look around me and EVERYONE (male and female) wears this brand. I have never gone into a Lululemon store and not seen numerous people in line holding at least 2 - 3 items. Don't even mention Christmas or sales. It's a mad house! I bet everyone of you reading this post as AT LEAST one item of Lululemon.

We can all admit those pants make your butt look awesome!

So this alone - no matter what the consensus says or how low it drops, to me it's always a good buy. I know it will go up eventually. Who doesn't want a nice looking butt?

Honestly, it is the one stock that currently I have made over $3000 on just using the old saying of "buying low and selling high". I currently am holding it and so far I am up over $800 - Hmm, yes, it is time to sell.

If there is a company out there that you truly believe in - go for it. Nothing beats a gut feeling sometimes. But the key is to not hold on too long and miss the money train.

Thats when a "stop limit" comes into play.

Monday, I will put this amazing button into action ( I wish I knew about it sooner). Send the kids off to school and put the babies down for their nap. We are going to have some fun!

What is an asset? What is a liability?

Last week I was in the search for a birthday present for hubby. Which in itself is an art. He is impossible to buy for and I know that a dress shirt for work would not do.

I love browsing the financial isle of the book store. I get inspired by all these books about how to make your money work for you - but I must admit, some of them are just too darn hard to read.

All the financial jargon that I am still trying to get a handle on drives me nuts! Can't they just spell it out in normal english? It's like some of them don't want you to know how to get rich without paying out your nose for advice.

Then I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad. Aha! This is a book I could get into. I quickly flipped to the middle and was instantly hooked. I not only found Dave's birthday present but it opened my eyes to another way of thinking.

That night I sat on the couch and read the whole book out loud (in between kids showers and bedtime stories) to Dave. My gift to him will hopefully be financial freedom and early retirement. Wouldn't that be awesome?!

So what was the "grab"? A simple sentence.... "What is an asset? What is a liability?"

I seriously thought I knew this. Just the other day, Dave and I were going through how much we thought we owned. We counted of course our investments, how much we thought our house was worth, cars and household "stuff" and added it together and thought - ok not bad.

But herein lies the catch!...ASSETS are something that makes you money - generates income.

Does your house generate income? We all know our cars sure don't. We've all heard the old saying that your car depreciates 20% as soon as you drive it off the lot.

But our pride and joy home is not an asset?

Stop right there! I know you are thinking - well once it is paid for (no mortgage, the ultimate goal in life) it turns into an asset. BUT IT DOESN'T. It will ALWAYS cost you something.

You will always have to pay tax, heat, water and maintenance. The only way I will let you say your home is an asset is if you have a renter that pays enough to you that it covers all of that plus some.

Hmmm, makes you think doesn't it? You may scream and yell at the computer all you wish and tell me that you will sell your home for double the amount you paid! Good for you. If you get that amount and downsize (which most people don't - they always super size) and you take that extra cash and invest it and make 10% on your money to cover and pay for those yearly expenses.

I love that sentence. To me that is the key. It sucked to discover that we basically have no assets but it sure kicked me in the butt to get me some of that "asset stuff".

He really focused on purchasing real estate. Now I don't understand how to go about doing that with limited cash flow, plus he is from the States, which does make it harder to convert over to Canadian rules of real estate. Either way, great book. I recommend picking it up for $10 bucks.

So this is my new task - to find a way to bring in more assets - one of course we have started - Investing.

It is time to "Mind my own Business". ( I love that he calls it that).

Lets Make Some MULA (aka MONEY)!

I'M A MOM ON A MISSION! To make money - not by clipping coupons (though we do this also) but on the stock market.

I know what you're thinking...what does a stay-at-home-mom to six kids know about trading? Well a year ago, nothing.

One year ago, we were like, I think, every other middle income family - trying to pay off credit card bills/personal line of credit/mortgage/car loans...etc. We thought we had a good plan in place. Being avid junkies of the show Till Debt do Us Part, we followed her advice and made a budget (her website has great budget sheets you can fill out) taking our net income and subtracting our fixed expenses and figuring out what our cash flow was to be.

Thinking we were doing pretty well, paying off one bill and taking that payment and adding it onto the next highest (highest interest first) and so on.

But it just wasn't working. We would get so far ahead and then something would come up - like car repairs or kids dental work (stupid braces!). We just couldn't get ahead.

As luck would have it, I got a call from our new Financial Adviser. (I'm a true believer in things happening for a reason). Figuring we had nothing to lose. We made an appointment - which has forever changed our lives.

We consolidated our loans which freed up $1700 a month to invest and he introduced us to TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) and showed us how we could trade stocks and purchase options on our own.

I STRONGLY recommend this. You can save $5000 a year in these accounts and ANYTHING you make above and beyond is TAX FREE! How cool is that? Dave (hubby) and I both opened accounts to the maximum of $10,000 each (started in 2009). Of course, we didn't have that kind of money so we set up an automatic withdrawal every month of $250 each. You have the option to change this amount any time - but just be aware of hitting your maximum contribution.

Fast forward to present time, I have come to realize after talking (more like pulling teeth) with friends and family how little we are willing to talk about finances.

I was desperate to find information about what stocks to buy, how others were successfull with their money but nobody wanted to talk about it.

Either they too were in the dark about it as I was or they just were not willing to discuss it.

So I purchased lots of books (more great info to come) and searched online (some great websites to visit) regarding stocks/bonds/equities and options and thanks to our new best friend (Financial Adviser) we have made over $4000 in profit.

We have made it our mission to share this new found knowledge. We are welcoming you into our financial lives. With me we can go step by step into financial freedom. Which in the end is what we hope for.

Everyday, I will let you know what stocks I am playing. Talk about making money not just getting out of debt. No more secrets. Let's put it all on the table and learn together.

LETS MAKE SOME MULA!!....

**(The trades I make are in no way a guarantee. Please DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE! If you wish to add opinions on stocks or have some great information or ideas - please share!!)