Tempis Fugit & Letting Sleeping Investments Lie

Well, it's been a few months since I posted here! I promised a video, and here I haven't even put the darn thing up!

To be honest, I've been really swamped with schooling (welding, which is going along quite nicely), and keeping up with the social groups I've joined in the last few months. So, lets just get on with one of my favorite topics: Money.

Over the last few months, going to school, I haven't had any money to invest, and I have been hesitant to sell any of my investments as they have been both paying dividends, and rising in value. Don't fix what's not broken, right?

So I come to my point of the day:

If you are comfortable with your investments, or you can't think of a really good reason to sell them, then Do Not Sell Them!

I have made that mistake in the past, feeling so embarrassed that I didn't even mention it in this blog. I lost about $300 (a mere rounding error for some, but a good chuck of money for me!) when I sold low because I was SCARED.

Unfortunately, as in life, the brave and the bold walk away with the prize.

So the moral for today is:
1. Research your investments thoroughly
2. Follow a contentious plan
3. Keep to the course!

Do you have any topics you want me to tackle?
Let me know by dropping a comment below!

Back from the dead

It's been some time since I've posted.

This is primarily due to the fact that I was in a major motor vehicle accident.

My car was totaled, and I was moderately injured.
I've been in physiotherapy to regain my full range of motion in my arms and neck for the last couple months. My job was so kind as to lay me off during this period (sarcasm), as they did not take my injury seriously.

Out of all this, I am frankly happy to still be alive, and to have all of my body parts. I was told several times by several people that I was very lucky to have survived so unscathed, and that if the odds were a little different, I would have been decapitated by the hood of my car, as it sliced through my windshield like a hot knife through butter.

It's a very strange feeling to have come so very close to death. And not a foreseeable death, like cancer or another relatively 'slow' disease, but in such a sudden, and dramatic fashion.

Sometimes, late at night, I have nightmares about what would have happened, if my girlfriend, and my parents, were called to identify me, my head hanging to my body by a thread, my neck the equivalent of ground beef.

It's truly terrifying.

Well, that said, I was given severance from my job, and my placement for my welding training has been moved up (March 26,2012), and it's now in the evening, so I can also attempt to hold down a part-time day job to trying and get some money coming in. These are both good things.

I've also decided that I'm going to start filming a series of short video posts that allow me to more fully describe my investment ideas that I am able to on this blog.

I've always found it easier to talk then to type, so I feel it's a natural extension of my work here. I hope that you readers will find it entertaining and educational, and as always, feel free to comment on here, (or the video's themselves) if you have any thoughts or ideas.

Thanks for baring with me through my absence - I've been having a really hard time this last while, but I'm confident in the future - Both of this blog, and life in general.

So you want to be rich.

So you want to be rich, eh?

Well, this may come as a bit of a shock to the trust-fund babies in the back row, but most of the 'rich' in North America (which I personally define as having over $500,000 in net worth), do not come by their money by ways of inheritance or gifts.

Actually, the largest majority of the rich are working class folks such as your tradesman neighbour.

Ye of little faith, check out 'The millionaire next door'.

Although this book is a little old, having been published in 1998, I personally believe that many of the tenets within have held true.

By working a steady job, earning a decent wage (much like most trades will provide), early in ones life, living below ones means, and investing patiently, I believe that anyone can retire at an earlier date, and with more assets then most.

For example, we can take a person such as myself:

Age: 26
Occupation: I.T. - soon to be Welder
Expected Wages:
   I.T. - ~$40,000 /year
   Welder - ~$45,000 / year + Overtime

I will work hard and make $50,000 take-home, with raises of ~$2000 /year as I gain experience and education.
I will invest as much as comfortable (~$25,000 + $1000 /year)
I will seek investments that are >2% dividend yield.
If I realize a return of ~4% after inflation (~3%), I will see a growth of ~7%.

Over the next 14 years, this investment will grow to over ~$733,000!

This means that when I am 40, I will have 3 quarters of a million dollars to my name.
Does this take into account taxes? No.
Does this take into account large raises or significantly higher wages? No.
Does this take into account market volatility (up or down)? No.
But, it does show that if you have the balls, and some luck, you can be rich before you're 40.

Will it be easy? No.

But it is possible, and as a wise man once said:

"The first hundred-thousand was hard. After that, it got easier."


----

Want to see the math in action? I've posted the results of my spreadsheet calculations below, and also ran them out to the usual '40 year' working period:


Bonus Calculation Chart:

Year	Invested	Rate Of Return	Result
1	25000.00	0.07	26750.00
2	52750.00	0.07	56442.50
3	83442.50	0.07	89283.48
4	117283.48	0.07	125493.32
5	154493.32	0.07	165307.85
6	195307.85	0.07	208979.40
7	239979.40	0.07	256777.96
8	288777.96	0.07	308992.42
9	341992.42	0.07	365931.88
10	399931.88	0.07	427927.12
11	462927.12	0.07	495332.01
12	531332.01	0.07	568525.26
13	605525.26	0.07	647912.02
14	685912.02	0.07	733925.86
15	772925.86	0.07	827030.68
16	867030.68	0.07	927722.82
17	968722.82	0.07	1036533.42
18	1078533.42	0.07	1154030.76
19	1197030.76	0.07	1280822.91
20	1324822.91	0.07	1417560.52
21	1462560.52	0.07	1564939.75
22	1610939.75	0.07	1723705.54
23	1770705.54	0.07	1894654.92
24	1942654.92	0.07	2078640.77
25	2127640.77	0.07	2276575.62
26	2326575.62	0.07	2489435.91
27	2540435.91	0.07	2718266.43
28	2770266.43	0.07	2964185.08
29	3017185.08	0.07	3228388.03
30	3282388.03	0.07	3512155.20
31	3567155.20	0.07	3816856.06
32	3872856.06	0.07	4143955.98
33	4200955.98	0.07	4495022.90
34	4553022.90	0.07	4871734.51
35	4930734.51	0.07	5275885.92
36	5335885.92	0.07	5709397.94
37	5770397.94	0.07	6174325.79
38	6236325.79	0.07	6672868.60
39	6735868.60	0.07	7207379.40
40	7271379.40	0.07	7780375.96

Want to use this spreadsheet for your own calculations? Comment below and I'll e-mail it to you!