WEEK IN REVIEW

Been busy at work this week, not really sure why.  With school out and being past the first of the month, the restaurant business usually slows down, but not this time around.  Got in some extra hours, but the heat has really been getting to me. 

Added to my positions in PFF, AEA and CNP in my taxable portfolio and AFL in my IRA account.  Also made a cash deposit to my IRA to purchase shares of B&G Foods.  Earned some extra cash on Sendearnings.com, will be getting another check from them soon.  I'll be adding that to my regular investment account.  Stocks have had a turbulent week to say the least, but it's helped me pick up shares at a lower price, so I'm not entirely disappointed with that.  I'm looking for a few good months of lower prices to help build up my holdings.  Want to be in a good position when the market eventually starts to rebound, in the mean time I'll be happy to collect the dividends along the way.

Still learning as much as I can about "extreme couponing".  It fits in so well with my whole savings and investment plan and has already allowed me to increase monthly cash deposits to my accounts.  As I get better at saving on purchases, I'm planning to redirect all the savings towards income producing investments.

Read an interesting article on CNBC.com today about OPEC.  Ex CIA director, James Woolsey said, in order to be really secure the U.S. has to "break oil's monopoly over transportation and to break OPEC's monopoly over oil."  He makes the point that we are currently funding both sides of the war on terror by fueling the coffers of the very terrorists who seek to destroy the United States.  I've always thought the way to put a stop to terrorism is to take away the money, in other words find a replacement for imported oil.  Without the billions we spend on oil, funds for terrorism would soon dry up.  It can be done, we as a nation just have to make up our minds to do it.