Why Are We So Clueless About the Stock Market?:Book Review and Giveaway

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I was recently provided a copy of the book, “Why Are We So Clueless About the Stock Market?” by Mariusz Skonieczny. As I usually do when provided with books for review I will be giving away a copy as well. The giveaway rules will be at the end of the post.

This book starts out explaining what stocks are and how the stock market works. This explanation is simplified so that even a novice investor should be able to understand it.

The author then goes in to some detail on how to evaluate a stock for purchase. He mainly focuses on the company’s projected earnings compared to its current price. He points out that if the stock doesn’t offer a return greater than you would get from a Treasury note than the stock is a pass. He also prefers to invest in companies with “moats”, which are barriers to competition.

The book also includes a chapter on when to sell. This is an important part of stock investing that is often overlooked.

His advice on diversifying goes against the conventional wisdom. He warns against over-diversifying which can prevent your top picks from having much impact on the overall performance of your portfolio.

In summary, I think this book would be a solid resource for anyone who is looking to invest in the stock market or simply wants to learn more about stock investing.

Leave a comment on this post if you would like to win a copy of this book. I will be choosing a winner at random this Friday. Only one entry per person and you need to have a U.S. mailing address. Good Luck!

2009 Expenses – $12,090.99

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My total expenses for 2009 were $12,090.99.  That does not include the purchase price of my car although it does include all other car expenses associated with the car purchase such as the sales tax and registration.  It doesn’t include business expenses either as those are deducted from my business income.

I’m fairly satisfied with that total although I want to do better this year.  I had a goal of keeping my expenses under $10,000 last year which I obviously did not meet.  I did come close to my backup goal of keeping my expenses at $1000 a month.  Considering I spent over $1000 on travel and over $1500 on entertainment it is surprising I came as close to meeting my goal as I did.  I do plan to cut back on my entertainment expense this year but I will probably spend just as much on travel.  That means I am going to have to be extremely disciplined in all other areas of my budget. Considering I didn’t have a car most of last year it will be hard to keep my expenses in 2010 below the 2009 level but I am making that a goal.

My Online Income Was Way Down This Year

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My online income dropped to $3740.12 this year from $4644.28 in 2008. There were two reasons for this. The first one is that in 2008 I made about $1500 from credit card referrals. I don’t think I even made $150 from credit card referrals this year. People were not applying for cards and many of the credit card issuers cut back or eliminated their affiliate sales.

The other cause of my decline in income was from decreased competition. The site Bankaholic.com sold for $15 million last year and that spawned a ton of new bank sites. My bank blog BankBonuses.info has been my main source of online income but its amount of search engine traffic declined this year due to all the new sites.

With the acquisition of MyRetirementBlog.com my income should go up in 2010 but I would like to increase the income from my other sites as well. I don’t currently break down my income by site but I am going to start doing that next year so I can get a better idea of where my money is coming from and hopefully come up with some ideas to increase my earnings. I will probably start breaking my income down by source also.

I know there are a lot of bloggers that read this site – Did your earnings go up or down this year?

Dealing with a Lost Wallet

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Sometime over the Christmas holiday I managed to lose my wallet.  I think it is most likely somewhere in my mom’s house but she hasn’t been able to find it.  I only had $2, a credit card, a debit card, and my driver’s license in my wallet so it isn’t a major loss.  I have my cards on hold right now in case the wallet shows up.  I will probably go ahead and get a new driver’s license though so I won’t be driving without a license. That will probably be the biggest hassle of losing my wallet.  Overall, it isn’t going to be that big of a deal but I am kinda beating myself up over it because I like to think of myself as an organized person who doesn’t do things like lose a wallet.

This is why it is a good idea not to carry too much cash and only keep the credit cards you are using in your wallet.

I’m thinking I will get a money clip to replace my wallet.  Maybe it will be harder to lose.

Stuff I Didn’t Spend Much Money on This Year

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Off the top of my head here are a few things I didn’t spend much money on this year that most people spend a lot of money on.

  • Haircuts – I didn’t spend any money on haircuts this year.  I use clippers to cut my own hair and am quite happy with the results.
  • Clothing – I bought two pairs of hiking shorts at $1.15 each.  That was my only clothing expenditure for the year.  This number will go up a little in 2010 since I’ll need to replace my underwear and socks but I don’t plan to spend any other money on clothing.
  • Cable – I haven’t had it and don’t plan to.  I spend too much time watching TV with just the over-the-air channels.
  • Landline Phone –  I have a cell phone that costs me $30 a month and includes unlimited texts and data.  That is a much better value than a home phone.
  • Personal Hygiene – Ok, this one sounds bad but it isn’t.  I get most of my personal hygiene items for almost free from CVS or Walgreens by playing the drugstore game.  The fact that a 99 cent bottle of shampoo will last me all year helps also.

That is just a few of the items I don’t spend much money on. I’m sure I’ll think of a few more things later.  What items do you spend little or no money on?