Your Future Starts Today!

People often talk about what type of future they would like to have. But if you keep doing the things you've always done, (get up, work hard, pay bills and try to save or invest a little money) then chances are good your future will be exactly as it is today. In one of the books I've been reading, the author said, "If you want healthy teeth in the future, brush your teeth today." Meaning, you don't wait until you have more time or more money, or until you've gotten more education or a higher paying job. If you want a future that is dramatically different, much richer and more enjoyable than the life you are living right now, then your future starts right now. You need to be taking steps today to build the bridges to your future life.

In my case, I want to stop working for other people. I've often written in my blog about wanting to stop working. I have worked hard all my life, making other people rich. I've decided it's time to do the same for myself. For a very long time now, I've always had a source of income outside my job and my stock investment portfolio. I've been involved in one small business venture after another. Mostly self employed, service type businesses. I have made money and learned a great deal from these small ventures, while I continued to work my day job. Now I consider everything I've done so far as an educational experience. I've been learning how to and how not to run a business. Recently I launched a new business that I'm very excited about. I haven't made a dime yet, but I can see the future and I can see how to get to where I want to be from where I am now!

I feel like everything I've done so far was leading up to this point and now is the time to make the move and jump on the fast track. Does this mean I'm giving up on saving and investing in stocks to provide for my future? Absolutely not. It simply means that my plans are beginning to accelerate and the future is no longer "some day" or "when I retire," the future I see for myself is starting right now!

Be Financially Free!

You Can Do This!

Want to get out of debt and live the life you've always dreamed of? Would you like to work from home? Don't want to sell vitamins or lotions or carry big inventories of product?

Then I urge you to check this out:

http://www.freedom.ws/bgnjcmo3

This is one business ANYONE can do!

Don't Take My Word For It

O.K., so I've been writing since January about how this is the perfect time to get in to the stock market, albeit on a very selective basis. I always search for investments that provide current cash flow and the possibility of future capital gains. For anyone who thought that I couldn't possibly know what I was talking about, check out this article from the Rich Dad Blog by Robert Kyosaki:

When Pessimism Prevails, It's Time to Get Rich

If you go back and read some of my articles for this past year, you'll see that I've been saying basically the same thing Mr. Kyosaki is talking about in this article. I've read most of his books and he is by far my favorite author when it comes to investing, so I was pleased to see that his most recent post is validating a lot of the things I've been writing about. So, don't take my word for it, read what someone who's already made millions has to say.

Quick Follow Up on My Last Entry

In my last article, I wrote about a new work from home business that I had started. I'm stunned by the amount of interest in the business! I've gotten more response in just 2 days than from any other business venture I've been involved in. I'm pretty excited about this one. I'll keep the readers updated on how it all goes.

Easy, Inexpensive, Internet, Work From Home Business!

Like so many other people I know, I have been searching for an Internet business opportunity that is simple to operate, inexpensive and easy to set up. I don't want to sell lotions and potions and the like, and I've already done the ebay thing (ran a store for over 3 years). But I've never really come across anything that seemed promising, until now.

If you'd like to set up your own website and start your own business online, but you don't want anything too complicated or anything that's going to cost you a ton of money and involve maintaining large inventories of products, I urge you to check out this website:

http://www.freedom.ws/bgnjcmo3

The above link will take you to a video presentation explaining the business and showing just how simple and inexpensive it really is. What's even better, you can sign up for a 7 day free trial! If you decide to stick with the program it's only $10 per month ($11 if you add Internet security). The profit potential is astounding! You can cancel at any time. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Check Out My New Blog On Yahoo!

I want to thank all of my visitors and readers who have supported my blog on Google. I will continue updating The Blue Collar Investor from time to time, but the bulk of my writing will be found on my new blog at Yahoo.com.

Be sure and visit me:

http://360.yahoo.com/bgnjcmo7

Buy Property With Little Down And Small Payments!

For those of you who, like myself, are interested in buying property but would like to find deals that require very little money up front and small payments, you might want to check out this website:

http://www.landsalesco.com/

It looks like a promising resource for finding affordable properties. I wasn't able to locate any property in Missouri that I was interested in, but you can sign up for property alerts. So I'm looking forward to seeing the deals they have available in the future.

I'm not interested in buying property just for the sake of owning it, like everything else I put my hard earned money into, I want property investments to provide income. I'm always looking at rental properties, with an eye toward investing. So far I've yet to take advantage of any of these, although I have come across some great deals. I am currently in the process of positioning my other investments to throw off more cash so when the right deal comes along, I'll be in a position to take advantage of it. I don't want to do more and more work, I want my money to work for me so I don't have to work so hard. Like I tell my friends and co-workers, I don't live to work, I work so I can have a nice life.

Oil Prices and A Few More Stocks I Like

I've written about oil prices before, saying it was all about price and demand. Well now everyone seems to be in agreement. When the price reached the point where most Americans had to start cutting back, the price is beginning to falter. Seems everybody is backing away from their predictions of $200 dollars a barrel for oil and $5 dollar a gallon gasoline. I truthfully never expected it to get to that price. Most of the people I know and work with simply could not afford it. They are struggling now at $4 per gallon, so add another $1 and they simply would be out of commission. When the public can no longer afford something, no matter what it is, the drive behind increasing prices is gone. The new catch phrase, "demand destruction" is occurring on a huge scale, just as I predicted it would. Will China and India continue to drive demand? Only if they can sell their products and how is that going to happen if everybody is spending their money on gasoline? Demand destruction is occurring, not only from consumers switching to smaller cars and driving less, but also from the shift to alternate energy sources, such as bio-diesel, solar and wind energy, all lessening demand for petroleum products. I wouldn't predict oil at $40 per barrel like the guy they interviewed on CNBC earlier this week, but I do see the prices dropping dramatically.

So how is this affecting my investments? Fortunately, since I'm mostly buying, the price drop in equities has been good for me. I'm searching for stocks that I feel have room for growth, solid earnings and pay current high dividends. While the share prices of my portfolio holdings have dropped, along with everyone else, my earnings from dividends have been increasing month after month. I am currently re-investing all dividend income in bargain priced dividend stocks. When the market starts to recover, I will re-evaluate my investment plan and possibly shift dividend income to fixed income opportunities or real estate investments. But while the prices are down, I'm being greedy and adding to my holdings as much as possible. Whether we're at the bottom or not, STOCKS ARE CHEAP! Buy when they're on sale.

My latest additions to my portfolio include Biovail Corporation (BVF), a pharmaceutical company with a whopping 15.10% dividend yield and Windstream Corporation (WIN), a small rural telecom with solid earnings and an 8.4% dividend yield. Both should fit nicely with my overall plan of building a portfolio of high dividend stocks and increasing monthly income from dividends. Any price appreciation on top of that is just icing on the cake. Since I have no intention of selling any stocks within the next several years, I can wait on price appreciation.

I currently don't need any of the income from my stock portfolio, but the ever increasing flow of dividends into my money market account make it a lot easier to afford new investment opportunities as they present themselves. Robert Kyosaki, one of my favorite writers, says to "look at a deal a day." I've made that my goal. I can't always afford the deals, but it keeps my mind active and on the lookout for my next investment.