Reminder: "Growth Is Painful. Change Is Painful." Meme

Invest In Yourself First

From Investopedia:: The Top 17 Investing Quotes of All Time

When it comes to the world of investing, three words come to mind: overwhelming, intimidating, and scary. For us "regular Joes," the questions seem never-ending. On that note, let's revisit what experts have said over the years on the topic of investing. The quotes date back to Ben Franklin, and some are from modern pundits like Dave Ramsey and Warren Buffett. Though markets may change, good investing advice is timeless.

1. "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin

When it comes to investing, nothing will pay off more than educating yourself. Do the necessary research, study and analysis before making any investment decisions.

2. "Bottoms in the investment world don't end with four-year lows; they end with 10- or 15-year lows." - Jim Rogers

While 10-15 year lows are not common, they do happen. During these down times, don't be shy about going against the trend and investing; you could make a fortune by making a bold move - or lose your shirt. Remember quote #1 and invest in an industry you've researched thoroughly. Then, be prepared to see your investment sink lower before it turns around and starts to pay off.

3. "I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." - Warren Buffett

Be prepared to invest in a down market and to "get out" in a soaring market. (For more, read Think Like Warren Buffett.)

4. "The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing." - Phillip Fisher

Another testament to the fact that investing without an education and research will ultimately lead to regrettable investment decisions. Research is much more than just listening to popular opinion.

5. "In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable." - Robert Arnott

At times, you will have to step out of your comfort zone to realize significant gains. Know the boundaries of your comfort zone and practice stepping out of it in small doses. As much as you need to know the market, you need to know yourself too. Can you handle staying in when everyone else is jumping ship? Or getting out during the biggest rally of the century? There's no room for pride in this kind of self-analysis. The best investment strategy can turn into the worst if you don't have the stomach to see it through.

6. "How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case." - Robert G. Allen

Though investing in a savings account is a sure bet, your gains will be minimal given the extremely low interest rates. But don't forgo one completely. A savings account is a reliable place for an emergency fund, whereas a market investment is not.

7. "Invest in yourself. Your career is the engine of your wealth." - Paul Clitheroe

We all want wealth, but how do we achieve it? It starts with a successful career which relies on your skills and talents. Invest in yourself through school, books, or a quality job where you can acquire a quality skill set. Identify your talents and find a way to turn them into an income-generating vehicle. In doing so, you can truly leverage your career into an "engine of your wealth."

8. "Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away." - Jim Cramer

There are no sure bets in the world of investing; there is risk in everything. Be prepared for the ups and downs.

9. "The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator." - Ben Graham

You are an investor, not someone who can predict the future. Base your decisions on real facts and analysis rather than risky, speculative forecasts.

10. "It's not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for." - Robert Kiyosaki

If you're a millionaire by the time you're 30, but blow it all by age 40, you've gained nothing. Grow and protect your investment portfolio by carefully diversifying it, and you may find yourself funding many generations to come.

11. "Know what you own, and know why you own it." - Peter Lynch

Do your homework before making a decision. And once you've made a decision, make sure to re-evaluate your portfolio on a timely basis. A wise holding today may not be a wise holding in the future.

12. "Financial peace isn't the acquisition of stuff. It's learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can't win until you do this." - Dave Ramsey

By being modest in your spending, you can ensure you will have enough for retirement and can give back to the community as well.

13. "Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas." - Paul Samuelson

If you think investing is gambling, you're doing it wrong. The work involved requires planning and patience. However, the gains you see over time are indeed exciting.

14. "I would not pre-pay. I would invest instead and let the investments cover it." - Dave Ramsey

A perfect answer to the question: "Should I pay off my _____(fill in the blank) or invest for retirement?" That said, a credit card balance ringing up 30% can turn into a black hole if not paid off quickly. Basically, pay off debt at high interest rates and keep debt at low ones.

15. "The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'" - Sir John TempletonFollow market trends and history. Don't speculate that this particular time will be any different. For example, a major key to investing in a particular stock or bond fund is its performance over five years. Nothing shorter.

16. "Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing." - Warren Buffett

In the beginning, diversification is relevant. Once you've gotten your feet wet and have confidence in your investments, you can adjust your portfolio accordingly and make bigger bets.

17. "You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets." - Peter Lynch

When hit with recessions or declines, you must stay the course. Economies are cyclical, and the markets have shown that they will recover. Make sure you are a part of those recoveries.

The Bottom Line

The world of investing can be cold and hard. But if you do thorough research and keep your head on straight, your chances of long-term success are good.

Turn And Face the Ch-Ch--Changes

I've returned to Dallas after my month-long visit in Anchorage.

I'm now making the adjustment to the mind-bending three-hour time change. Traveling East is a bear. In the old days, the switch was even more radical -- a four-hour change -- but Alaska actually was forced to change its time zone, permanently, in order to extend its business hours with the East Coast and elsewhere.

I now also have to reset my super-sensitive circadian rhythms which are largely light-based. Those 19.5 hours of daylight in Anchorage were a bit manic -- you tend to stay up waaaaaayyy too late, because -- hey, it's still light outside. The old Alaskan joke is, "Oh, don't go home yet, it's hardly dark."

I've swapped pleasant 70-degree highs for 100-degrees scorchers in only eight short hours of near-miraculous air travel. Then there's the freefall in overall air quality -- towards the end of my visit I was roughed up by a tree pollen explosion in Anchorage, but in Dallas, aside from my year-round pollen, grass, and mold allergies, there's also the added cascade of air pollution from cars and trucks, massive "Orange Alert" loads of ozone, and of course -- the aforementioned source of this debilitating ozone overload -- the oppressive, hot, humid air.

To sum it up -- in the Summer, Dallas is filled with hot poisoned air. If the city ever rations its artificial, air-conditioning life-support system, I will be forced to abandon this Smogalopolis posthaste.

Each time I return from Alaska to Dallas, I re-evalulate my lifestyle here. It's a ritual -- my own personal period of New Year's-styled resolutions.

Yes, once again, it's really time to grow and get my s*** together.

Wikihow: How to Exercise an Open Mind

Georgia O'Keeffe, Blue Flower, 1918

One hour of increased brain activity via innovative thinking or experiencing new stimuli can make you smarter, more energetic, more creative, more sociable, and more open to new experiences and ways of thinking. The key ingredients are to be open to new experiences and to make changes in previous ways of thinking about these experiences. Here are some of the endless numbers of activities that can stimulate your brain.

1. Don’t allow yourself any dead time. While waiting (in line at the bank, a coffee shop, a restaurant, the grocery store, or waiting for someone to pick you up, or a show on TV to start), ponder things, calculate, and memorize. You can, for example, memorize digits of pi (you can get to 50 in a matter of hours, 200 in a matter of weeks), try to remember all of your high school teachers' names, memorize prime numbers, get good at reciting the alphabet backwards, learn the Greek alphabet (forwards and backwards), remember how many movies Tom Cruise has been in, or try doubling numbers (1, 2, 4, 8, 16…) until they become challenging. You can even try doubling numbers visually, as in picturing one simple object (like a marble), then two, then four, and so on. (A good way to do this is to imagine the objects in a grid or on a circle.)

2. Reflect on your own belief system. Every decision you make in life is based on your belief system. To open your mind, start to list your fundamental beliefs, and for each one ask yourself why you believe it. Then ask yourself whether you could imagine being you if you didn't exactly believe it anymore, but believed something marginally different. Then marginally different from that. Pick a belief a week and work at it. Ask some really good friends what they believe and how they acquired their beliefs. Understand this: your belief system is absolutely unique to you; your friend's belief system is unique to them. An open mind is comfortable with differences and with using a variety of lenses to view an issue.

3. Push the limits of your body. By using your body in new ways, you can learn more about yourself and expand your mind. Walk backwards through your whole house for a completely new spatial perspective (being careful not to trip over anything or fall down the stairs). Learn to do a handstand, backflip, or a kip-up. Take martial arts classes. Try some hip-hop classes or learn a breakdance move. Can you touch your toes? Work on it. Try skiing, snowboarding, jet skiing, hang gliding, parasailing, surfing, and anything else that pushes the limits of your comfort zone! Learn to spin a pencil around your thumb, solve a Rubik's Cube, or try cup-stacking]]. Don't know what something is? Look it up!Learn to juggle. A great workout for your brain, eyes and reflexes. Are three balls too easy? Try four, or better yet, five. If you get extremely good, try 10! 20! 50! Think it's impossible? Keep an open mind. Try contact juggling for a different challenge.Try a new physical sensation. Take a dip in a glacial lake or a hot spring.

4. Stimulate your eyes. Go to a cheap or free art gallery. Even if you think it's bad art, it can still be thought-provoking and introduce you to people with different tastes from your own. Watch movies or shows in genres that you don't normally explore. Immerse yourself in cyberpunk, horror, anime, documentaries, stand-up comedy (Eddie Murphy, George Carlin, Louis CK, etc.), or anything else you haven’t gotten around to trying (and potentially loving).Watch shows that you discriminate against. Do you hate (or think you’d hate) the O.C.? Make a point of trying it once or twice. Do the same with a soap opera, science fiction, or fantasy show. Watch the Spanish channels, religious channels, the Discovery, Travel, or Disney Channel, even if only for a few days.Try not watching any TV for two weeks. Fill your newfound free time with new and exciting activities.

5. Stimulate your ears. Listen to music you haven't had much exposure to, such as classical, new age, zouk, rap, hip-hop, drum and bass, dubstep, trance, metal, jazz, exotica, polka, international, mariachi, country, or Afro-blues. You don't have to like it at first, but if you keep an open mind, you can still find it interesting. Listen to a radio station you typically don't listen to or use an online music player such as Pandora that will expose you to new artists based on your proposed interests.

6. Learn about different people and lifestyles. A great gateway into this is Wikipedia, where you can read articles on a wide variety of practices, such as BDSM, swinging, Wicca, Christianity, the Green Party, conservatism, communism, anarchism, Sunnis, discordianism, Tutsis, and the Amish. Consider how many members they have worldwide. Volunteer with an organization that works with a community of people you are unfamiliar with.

7. Learn something new. Take unusual classes at a community college or community-based educational program near you: pick up a catalog and open your mind to learning things like art history, basket-weaving, first-aid training, or business ethics. Your local university likely offers easy survey courses with no prerequisites, such as meteorology, nutrition, or Japanese pop culture. You could even find unexpected topics such as Vampires and Werewolves. Learn different languages (Norwegian, Esperanto, Japanese, French, Arabic, Italian, Finnish, Saami, Chinese, Navajo, etc.), especially those with roots very different from your own. The internet is a great place to find obscure classes cheaply or for free. Look for free lectures on YouTube or KhanAcademy.org. Join clubs based on things you have no knowledge of. A Scrabble club, investment club, folk dance club, etc., would not only teach you something new, but also make you new friends.Build ridiculous things like radios, legos, robots, and trebuchets.

8. Improve your literacy and numeracy. Learn how to write or speak backwards. (Leonardo DaVinci, the quintessential Renaissance man and a jack-of-all-trades, wrote all of his notes backwards so that they could only be read with a mirror.) Or try writing upside down, or reading backwards. None of these is as hard as it might seem; you'll soon get the hang of it. Learn to read and write any language that you don't know. Here are a few ideas: Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Aramaic, Mandarin, Maltese, Cantonese, Russian, Finnish, Latin, Welsh and Dutch.Learn to count in a different numeral base than the one you're used to (chances are you're using decimal), use binary (base 2), octal (base 8), duodecimal (base 12), hexadecimal (base 16), vigesimal (base 20 used in Mayan numerals) or another numeral system. When you start getting familiar with basic operations, try converting from one system to another. Next, mix different systems in a single operation. Throw in some of this or that and one day you might be able to multiply rot13-encoded hexadecimal by xor'ed vigesimal.Learn classical cipher schemes and algorithms. Encode and decode using the Vigènere cipher, a Bible cipher, or your own code.

9. Explore other cultures and religions. Start by trying new foods. Have you had sushi? What about Vietnamese? Mediterranean? Indian? Native-American? Cajun? Have you ever tasted a boba? A shot of wheatgrass? Have you smoked a hookah or eaten durian or the Filipino delicacy, balut? While you’re at it, attend churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, trade union meetings, and meditations.

10. Face your fears. Are you computer-illiterate? Putz around on a computer for a while. Don't be scared. You won't break anything. Learn a programming language. Nothing is as hard as anyone makes it out to be. Build your own computer. Think it's hard? You'll never know until you actually do it. It's somewhat ridiculous how many how-to's there are on building a computer.

11. Open your mind to other political or religious points of view. You may find it hard to stomach at first, but in time you might find a grain of truth in what your nemesis has to say. Even if you don't, you'll be able to argue with one of "them" much more intelligently. Here's a hard but effective method: take a controversial issue that you have a strong opinion about. Write an essay defending your opinion with as much evidence and actual citations as possible. Then, write another essay defending the other side, again with evidence and citations, considering that side's arguments seriously and being scrupulously honest and putting in as much effort as you did the first essay.

12. Try blocking out one of your senses. Do everyday things, like cleaning up your room or using your cell phone, with a blindfold. It puts things in perspective when you are forced to "create" new ways of doing things you've already figured how to do. You could also try using a different part of your body to do things, like write with your teeth or type with your toes.

13. Play strategy games. Strategy is the poetry of the mind. Bridge, checkers, chess, shogi, and Go are all great ways to exercise your mental flexibility. Doing jigsaw and/or brainteaser puzzles will also help you subconsciously think of things in new ways, and you may surprise yourself at how talented you are at certain types of puzzles!

14. Travel. Becoming an outsider really exposes a mind to new things. You can even do this travel inside your country or state! How well do you know your own city? Have you tried using only a bike, or only using your own two feet and public transportation? (Ever considered what it's like if that was the only means to get around, say if you were physically unable to drive around? Being a pedestrian once in a while will make you a better driver.) Go off the beaten path!

15. Give some thought to the mysteries of the world. Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Or think about places like the Bermuda Triangle: why do so many people disappear? Check out books and sites on these strange topics.

16. Learn to play a musical instrument. Piano is very popular. Or try learning the African drum Djembe. You do not need to have the best instrument to start learning. If you have a friend that can play a certain instrument, he/she will surely help you start. If you enjoy it, you can join a class.

17. Talk to someone you wouldn't normally talk to. Chat up your bus driver, a protestor, someone on his or her lunch break, a homeless person, or anyone else you might not otherwise give much thought to. Everyone likes to tell the story of their life.

18. Spend a whole day without ever checking what time it is. Wake up when you wake up and go to bed when you are tired. You'll see that a day is a lot longer than you thought and that the sun still moves without those little numbers ticking. What separates the real from the artificial?

19. Learn to draw and paint from life. Life drawing will change the way you see the world. Practice is the best way to get good at it. Look for free online art lessons and books including a series by Andrew Loomis. Local groups sometimes get together offline for a Sketchcrawl or other "plein air" trips. Treat yourself to a pocket sketchbook, sketching set and a good pen or just improvise with free ballpoints or pencils and the backs of old printouts.

20. Browse something that you are not familiar with the internet. Read random topics on Wikipedia. Type in a random work in a search engine and see what's happens. Try sites such as Stumbleupon and Digg to find different stuff on the web. Browse eBay. Look up recipes.


Hardening of the categories causes art disease!