You're the Problem

I am going to try to make this post as non-political and biased as possible.

Lets start off with, NO ONE OWES YOU ANYTHING. I have been seeing a lot of Facebook posts, and interviews, saying all this "free stuff" is a human right. 

Every single person points fingers, but no one points them at themselves. Have you ever wondered if you are the problem instead of the people around you? Everyone always tries to solve the problems that are wrong with America, or this world, but stop and think. You may be the problem. 

You are what you make of yourself. If you want to be a drug dealer, then you will not be viewed the same as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a school teacher, or a McDonald's manager. You can come from the lowest class, and make it to the highest class. You can also be at the highest class, and drop to the lowest class. No, the world does not revolve around who has the most money, or the coolest things, but you do whatever makes you happy. If someone wants to buy luxury watches, cars, and houses. That is totally cool. If someone wants to smoke weed and play xbox all day inside an apartment, that is cool too. Just keep in mind, no one wants to hear you complain on why you can't afford certain things. 

I view luxury items as goals, instead of needs. I am a fan of a nice timepiece, I want to start a timepiece collection, does that make me materialistic? Maybe, in some peoples eyes. To me it is more of a personal goal instead of a ego goal. 

I read comments on posts about how the rich should help the poor, I agree, they should, but guess what, it is their money and you should not tell someone else what to do with their money. Especially if you do not have any. Why would they listen to you? 

Greed is good. Some may not think so, but that is okay. Greed is the intense, selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. Some people will see a very very wealthy person worth 40b dollars and say something like "wow he is greedy he should spread his wealth to the poor". I see nothing wrong with the intense, selfish desire for something. That is why people are successful. They block everything out, they block the people who aren't on the gain train with them. Whatever you say is irrelevant to them. Greed drives success. Greed makes money. As weird as that sounds.

Now, greed on Wall Street. OF COURSE there is greed on wall street. Why do you think there is so much money? Sell your soul to Wall Street as an investment banker for 10-15 years you could be worth millions. Sell your soul to being a teacher you won't make millions. That is just how the world works. No one owes you anything. Enough ranting, the blog website I have been using keeps freezing up and it takes forever to write one post and I have been bombarded with school work. I may have to transition to just writing it in word and copy and pasting it onto a Facebook status. Might be easier for some, and harder for some.

If you do not have a Facebook I suggest making one and liking the page. 

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Chris Barto

Rich Dad Poor Dad Seminar

Rich Dad Poor Dad

I first read the rich dad poor dad book written by Robert Kiyosaki a few years back, needless to say I was impressed. Definitely changed my outlook on how I view money especially in the economy now a days, thank you Obama.

The book is very good, Robert talks about how he grew up with a poor dad, verse a rich dad, the poor dad was his own father who was a teacher with a stable job. The rich dad was his friends dad who owned multiple business and had cash flow from every angle. Which is a beautiful thing. I highly recommend reading this book, you will look at your current financial situation a lot different. Easy read.

Back to the point, the Rich Dad Poor Dad was basically a huge marketing powerpoint, although the speaker had very good points on real estate, he also had some very weird points on real estate. Especially when he said it is better to take a loan out from a private person than a bank, which is odd. The guy then tried selling the next few sessions during his presentation, I mean I would have fallen for it if i was a dimwit like everyone else was. 

The presentation highlighted some good points from the book, how you can't rely on anyone but yourself, how financial knowledge is the most important, how you should have multiple flows of income, and setting up retirement plans and a younger age.

The seminar was more geared towards real estate and how to get involved in it. I will eventually get into real estate myself, but not paying to learn. A few books and some mentors will be good enough. I learn from experience, not paying some guy to talk to me for eight hours a day for three days on what to do with my money.

It was very good marketing I will admit that, then again my friends, myself, and my father were smart enough to not get sucked into the next seminar. We might have been the only ones who didn't shoot right up and go spend 500$ on whatever it was they were selling..

I do enjoy his books, currently I am reading Second Chance by Robert Kiyosaki, i read a few books at the same time, don't ask why. Second chance is very good so far and I highly recommend it.



Chris Barto

The Rich and Taxes

Ever wonder why the wealthy pay less taxes? No, it is not necessarily because they have more "power", it is because they are financially smarter.

Financial intelligence is what I am trying to give to you readers, I want you to understand that even if you never make 500k a year, let alone 100k a year, it is not impossible to live the life you want. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer for many reasons, not because the poor are getting cut off because the rich are "taking it all". It is because of financial intelligence.

The middle class is shrinking, yes, in my opinion it is because they are not spending their money right. No one lives below their means anymore, everyone has to have a big hat with no cattle. Inflation is also a big killer, average inflation rate is 3% per year, if you're earning 100k a year without getting raises to keep up with inflation your salary is basically decreasing, 97k the next year, 94k the next year, 91k, and so on. My point is, if you're ever wondering why you are having a hard time affording certain things like you used too. It is because your salary is not keeping up with inflation.

Now, why do the wealthy pay less in taxes? Too many reasons. Lets start off with this, most of the super rich earn their money from investments. The capital gain tax is LOWER than income tax. This is why I urge people to invest, you are paying less taxes on your capital gains than your salary.

Inequality? Not a single bit. Raising taxes on them? Good luck.


Here are a few tax-deductions they receive.

1. Mortgage interest deduction, giving you a break on interest on your house. This can benefit middle class as well
2. CAPITAL GAINS. This is why Warren Buffett and many other investors pay less taxes.
3. Tax-deffered accounts, this can help anyone.
4. Charitable deduction

People talk down on the rich all the time, it isn't that they aren't paying their fair share, they pay their taxes, they just know how to pay less taxes than us. 

Listen, nothing in life is fair. Life is not fair. No one deserves participation trophies for just being alive. We must all work together, help each other, but all in an agreeable way. I am providing free financial help/education and I hope it turns someones thoughts around on how to become financially intelligent. 

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Chris Barto

Blue Chip or Micro Cap?

Large Cap or Small Cap

This post will be on large cap verse small cap and a few pros and cons about both types of stocks. 

Large cap stocks generally have a market capitalization of 10 billion dollars or more. 

Pros

1. Long term stability
2. The dividend payout you receive if they have one
3. More research has been done on them, usually very valuable
4. Not too aggressive of growth
5. Steady income

Cons

1. Not as aggressive as small cap 
2. Lower return
3. Not as much ownership 
4. You can lose money (just as with any other stock or investment)

A few large cap company names are

1. General Electric
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Facebook

Now, for the Small Cap, when I say micro cap I'm talking between between 200 million and and 2 billion dollars. 

Pros

1. Can be more profitable than buying large cap (10 billion or more)
2. Grow more quickly
3. Diversification in a portfolio
4. More focused than a large cap

Cons

1. Lack of analyst coverage 
2. Thin markets for the company
3. Volatility, not every investor enjoys that
4. Some may be penny stocks (trading less than 5 dollars per share)
5. Dividends are hard to come by

A few small cap are

1. Five Below
2. yelp
3. Groupon

I hope these posts have been helping even in the slightest bit, I enjoy writing them. I am learning more just as you are.

https://www.facebook.com/chrisbartoinvesting/

Chris Barto

Negative Interest Rate

Negative Interest Rate

Lets start off with what a negative interest rate is. A negative interest rate is when depositors are actually charged an amount of interest to keep their money in an account with the bank. 

The Bank of Japan has recently announced they will be charging negative interest rates in order to inflate their own economy. How do these interest rates work? The bank basically wants to dissuade lenders from putting cash in the bank. In return, they hope for the lender to lend to individuals and businesses for their use. By lending to individuals and businesses, this will hopefully boost the economy and help with inflation.

The global economy, as we all know, has been descending slowly. This will be Japans attempt to inflate their economy. Yes, other central banks have done this, Sweden and Switzerland.

In summary, using the negative interest rate will theoretically reduce the cost to borrow for the companies and households which will then increase the demand for some loans and investments, along with consumer spending.


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Chris Barto

Retirement Thoughts

Retirement Thoughts

Will you ever be able to retire in whatever profession you are in? Yes. Why wouldn't you be able to?Unless you did not save and use your money wisely, that is. I see people all the time use money in the strangest ways possible and it riles me. So instead of putting some cash away into a safe investment, you would rather buy a tattoo or piece of clothing. Then when you are 50 that 100 dollars could have been $500 or even $1000.

Back to the point, retirement is something we all want to look forward too. I was on Facebook the other day and read a quote that had to do with working hard in your 20s, grinding in your 30s, and relaxing in your 40s. This is what should happen with majority of people. This is what your goals should be for the future. 

Obviously not everyone wants to retire, some people love what they do and continue to work during retirement. For me, I want to work, make a few deals, and sit on a beach and have absolutely no worries. Especially financial worries. It may sound like I am repeating myself in some of these posts when I'm not talking about investing or investing strategies, that is because I want all of my readers to have the mindset of saving money before spending. Especially when you get your first big paycheck, or bonus, you should use it wisely and not blow it. That is critical in making money, with your money.

Then again, who am I to tell you what to do with your money. I just want to make sure people understand it is not hard to be stable in the type of economy we live in, or who is president, or who takes as much taxes out of your paycheck as possible. You cannot rely on the government, let me repeat, you CANNOT rely on the government. You should focus on yourself, and your own problems and not let the government interfere with what you want to accomplish (providing it is one hundred percent legal).

What is the average retirement amount? There are too many "estimates" in my opinion. I suppose it depends on your living standards. My living standards are very low, all I am looking for is an average house, a few solid cars, and some real estate to have passive income, along with my stock market investments. I have read posts that 3 million is good retirement, I have heard 10 million, I have even heard 50 million. How do you even become a millionaire? (May I suggest reading The Millionaire Next Door). They did a fantastic job with illustrating what a current day millionaire does, and how they spend their money. To me, my personal goal for retirement is a solid 10-12 million dollars. Net worth speaking. Yes it is possible, for those of you saying it is not, thats why you will never achieve it.

Millions? How? Why? You don't need that much money! I am sorry I forgot there was a limit on how much currency you can acquire. That stuff makes me laugh.


I hate to say it, I may be only 19, but I am aiming for a retirement age at around 50 years old. Life is too short to just work. Even though you need to put in work to gather money, you know what I mean.



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Chris Barto

Random Thoughts & ETFs

Random Thoughts

Recently we have seen the market taking a pretty brutal beating, scaring people away, and investors pulling out. Let me remind you, fear does not create wealth, confidence does.

Do not let this market scare you away from investing.

The sooner you start investing and saving for your future, the better your financial stability will be for the future. You will be better off than the guy who spent his money on various vacations, cool technology, and expensive useless materialistic things. Even though we all want those, sometimes saving instead of buying those would be a better option.

For those of you who read these blogs, you will have the edge over someone who doesn't read them once the posts start getting more in depth. You will have more knowledge than those who decide to skip over the posts, the choice is yours. Free information is the best information, utilize it. I realize you could just pick up a book and read about this stuff, probably learn more, and it will be more in depth, but I want to help get simple points across and give you different point-of-views on things so you can analyze things. 

Today I want to talk about what an ETF is, or an exchange traded fund, are one of my favorites. An ETF is basically a security that tracks indexes, commodities, bonds, or a handful of assets like the index funds.

Are these like mutual funds? Sort of. ETFs trade like the common stock, they experience changes in price just like stocks, and you can buy and sell them throughout the day. They tend to have higher liquidity and lower, to almost no fees than mutual funds do. The low commission fees make ETFs way more interesting to investors than mutual funds. Some brokerages have commission free ETFs, some you may have to pay.

The ETFs own assets, for instance, the ETF $IBB or iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (which in fact I do own) has holdings or assets. Some of which include, Celgene Corporation, Biogen Inc. Amgen Inc. Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Yes this is healthcare, personally I do like to invest in healthcare because everyone will always need healthcare. 

Shareholders of an ETF are entitled to profits, interest or dividends paid.

What are advantages of incorporating an ETF into your portfolio? 

1. Diversification, obviously.
2. Little to no commission fee with ETFs.
3. If you do not know which company to individually invest in, buying an ETF of the sector could help.
4. Easy to trade, traded on the stock exchange. 

Remember, the sooner you start, the better off you will feel financially, plus who doesn't like watching their money grow?

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Chris Barto