WIN Update

The first WIN meeting was light and informal.  The purpose was to get acquainted, discuss general market climate and formulate ideas for upcoming meetings.  We discussed the publications that would be valuable and split them up so that we could each have a manageable reading load.  The plan is to share with each other what we learn.

For our next meeting we were fortunate to have guest speaker, Brigitte Madrian Professor at Harvard Kennedy School, speak to us about common mistakes investors make.  She was passionate about the research that she and others have done.  Here they are:

Mistake #1 Naive diversification (thinking they are diverse, but they are not)
Mistake #2 The Disposition Effect (being reluctant to realize losses)
Mistake #3 Trading too much and the wrong stocks (returns chasing - the stocks people buy have lower future returns than the stocks people sell)
Mistake #4 Investors trust the familiar (home bias and employer stock)
Mistake #5 Investors make portfolio decisions in isolation (they do not take into account asset allocation in their employer match account when making the choices for their own contributions
Mistake #6 Investors pay too little attention to fees (either don't read or don't understand the fund prospectuses)

For our March meeting we will hear from very successful wealth adviser, Wyatt Larsen.  He will talk about wealth management, risk management and the current investment climate.

Bring it on!

Tuesday I met with two very sharp individuals at Salem Five Mortgage Company. I liked them, they liked me so...we're teaming up. I think I'm going to like learning the business and the good news is they don't expect me to know what I'm doing for 18 months. (Gotta love that pressure).

For now, I lay awake at night thinking of classy, subtle ways to market. I've got my first school auction booklet Ad ready once I've cleared the HR people. When I have my first customer I can lay awake thinking about all of the new governments regulations. That should put me to sleep faster than counting sheep.

Sawzall Fun

I needed to tweak some fantastic gifted curtain rods to get them to work so where did I go for tools? Steve of course. I got to use a sawzall for the first time - he even had the metal blade in it already. While I was there (his big, amazing home renovation) I told him about my idea to build a house. Not only would he be an amazing resource, but he is willing to do the design (and not make me pay him until the house sells - or I move into it). I love friends like Steve.

Tomorrow I splice the rods together to make one very wide rod and I will post more pics of the family room.

I plan to put my house on the market at the end of April - hopefully interest rates will stay down for a while :)

Overwhelmed by some things

Here is a copy of an email I sent to a friend as I am wrestling with what to do with my life:

I guess I feel extremely overwhelmed trying to learn about investing. Nowhere does the 'information age' seem to be more fitting. I know that I am smart enough to do it, but I feel like the sheer quantity of what I want to learn is daunting at this phase of diapering, dinner and driving carpool. Most days I feel paralyzed not knowing what to study or feeling like I can't possibly 'make a dent'.

I also feel overwhelmed at the thought of building a house or taking on a big flipping project for the same reasons - I have too much to learn and it would require a lot from me outside of my duties at home. But this is where I really want to be five years from now.

The mortgages seem a better fit for me right now - wouldn't be that hard to learn and I could essentially set my hours and decide how busy I want to be. I guess what I need to do is find out if the woman who wants to bring me on is willing to take what I can give right now.

Best,
Julia

If you were the woman - would you want to bring me on considering that I can't give 100%?

Family Room 99% Complete

Here are the 'after' pictures. The electrician will come tomorrow to finish tying in the HVAC. I will get to the window treatments and baseboards some day :). I am ready for my next project.

General Contracting Stint #4

One of my career options is to do house flipping or building. This is my fourth general contracting stint (#1 Bathroom #2 Kitchen #3 Attic). Here's my days work on the patio conversion that I'm currently working on. Exterior was done last week by someone I hired. My husband and I finished the demo and I installed the fiberglass insulation. Drywall will be done tomorrow. I will do the trim carpentry, painting and possibly the hardwood floor installation. Nothing like on-the-job training and a friend with skills and tools that he's willing to share.

Count Down to WIN 1st Mtg

I attended an 'investment' seminar (along with 7 seniors) at the Wellesley Library. Now I know how to find all the research materials that my tax dollars already pay for. Finding the time to research stocks, funds and ETFs is hard enough - doing it at the library will be even harder so we'll see what I end up utilizing there. I think my favorite resource presented was the online 'Morningstar Investment Research Center'. I'll probably go back in March to get an in depth training on it since it can compare two or more stocks, funds or EFTs to see how they can work together in a portfolio.

I already have a Scottrade Account online - I think I'll finally buy my first investments after the WIN meeting (January 26th).