Okay, I’ve never been a party girl, but I wouldn’t consider myself a complete bore either. Now I find out that I might be a bit of a YAWN.

A recently published AP article defined what YAWN stands for: Young and Wealthy but Normal. Erm, that’s a bit forced but I get the idea. Bonus points for creativity… I guess.

So what does this shoehorned acronym really mean? Apparently YAWNs are people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who fit the profiling as described but who love to live green and be socially responsible.

The article goes on to say that trends come in cycles. The over indulgence of the previous generation has swung the pendulum back to a leaner lifestyle. Less is better and so is having a social conscience. Thank goodness considering consumer debt…

Some of the big YAWNers are from the IT field who made millions working in Silicon Valley. Instead of living over the top in their extravagance, they lead simple lives and give their money to charities. Good on them.

At this point in my life, I’m a little YAwN. Notice the w in lower case letters. I have yet to transcend to the highest level of Maslow’s little pyramid scheme because let’s face it, when your needs are met or set for a lifetime, you sleep better at night. After that, then you can work to save the world.

Look out world, here I come.

Charity, Definitions :: 7 Comments »

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It was in early February that Microsoft offered Yahoo a stock and cash bid totaling $44.6 billion. The resulting news skyrocketed Yahoo’s share price 48%.

Hmm, I wonder how much the share price will drop after it was announced that Microsoft backed away from the deal Saturday? This is despite a last pitch effort to sweeten the offer by increasing Yahoo’s share price from the initial bid of $31 to $33. The Yahoo execs wouldn’t budge from $37.

I also wonder if this is yet another coy tactic by Microsoft to rile the Yahoo shareholders into a murderous frenzy. You have to hand it to Microsoft, this parting rivals Rhett Butler’s walk out on Scarlett O’Hara with the very dramatic, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”.

According to an analyst quoted from this Bloomberg article, it is estimated that the Yahoo share price will drop $8, or 28 percent when trading resumes Monday. Analysts are sometimes hit and miss but this can’t be considered good news for Yahoo shareholders. This is especially bad for those who wanted to play the buy on rumor, sell on news game.

As my previous article explained, this buy on rumor, sell on news axiom has been one of the most regurgitated sayings in the finance industry. It will leave those looking for a quick buck disappointed.

Let’s face it, when these rumors hit our pedestrian ears, it’s not rumors anymore. It’s news because we probably read it/watched it from mainstream media. And how often do these “rumors” come true? All talk and no action. What a tease.

Who knows, this still might be posturing from Microsoft but this is too much of a roller coaster ride for my liking. And the screaming I hear are from the Yahoo shareholders in the front caboose.

In the news, Investing, Investing myths :: 2 Comments »

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I mentioned a couple of months back that I’m on a big project at work. It’s even more hectic than I first expected. Even though I’m recognized for my input, I’m spinning my wheels and wondering how much other people’s ass covering I can stomach in the future. Not for long.

Which brings me to my point. I think it’s time to ramp up my wealth generation so I can escape the dreary confines of my daily prison – aka my office cubicle.

This blog has always served a two fold purpose for me:

• to document my views in the wacky financial industry
• to play around with web technology as I am in IT

I never had illusions that I’d be able to make money online but a few bucks wouldn’t hurt. I wanted to learn what was going on at the grass roots level as what was “hot” in blogging. I must admit that it has been helpful in my job as an “intangible” skill. And it was a good idea to kill two birds with one stone as I’d finally learn how to be responsible with my money and to put it to good use.

I read a lot of make money online sites and wrote about my experiments with the products they were promoting like the Million Dollar Wiki and Teaching Sells. In all honesty, I made friends through the forums of these programs. However, did they make me money? That would be a no. The truth is, a lot of these make money online schemes are scams. I’m just glad I didn’t spend a lot of money on these pursuits.

So, when one is a new blogger and has flirtations with making some money online, how does one recognize these scams? Drumroll please… ripping the scammers a new one is Vic Franqui of Blogger Unleashed.

Vic is a straight shooter and holds no prisoners in calling people out for scamming unsuspecting newbies. A word of warning, the language of his blog is harsh. As a Canadian, and thus predisposed to being politically correct, I admit I cringed when I read / watched some of his posts. But if you can get past that, there is so much substance in his words that you cannot dispute. Quite frankly, he admits that the use of his colorful language is an attention grabber and effective in communicating his message. And his message is good, folks. Vic specializes in SEO and blogs about the techniques and the tools he uses to make money online. These are real how-to tips which is much appreciated in a market saturated with MMO blogs that have all converged in a single mind-meld, devoid of independent thought.

So, if you have ever contemplated making money online, I’d give Blogger Unleashed a try. I finally do believe that it is possible and not the pipe dream that other internet marketers sell for their own self interests. As you dig more into each posts, you’ll find that there’s a lot of sincerity in Vic’s desire to help people. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover and this unleashed blogger is a welcome change.

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I stumbled upon this post in Scientific American about the Mind of the Market. I don’t post about behavioral economy much but I still find the topic fascinating – especially when ideas challenge outstanding notions.

The premise of the article is that humans have been hardwired by evolution to be psychologically fair and we still haven’t deviated from this moral high ground. An experimental procedure was conducted called the Ultimatum Game. Given a $100 to split between a subjet and their game partner, most partners would refuse a share of anything less than $30. Now why would anyone refuse free money?

The answer is moral fairness.

Primates exhibit this behavior as well. When working on a task together, if one monkey gets a cucumber and the other gets a juicy grape, the cucumber recipient gets mighty peeved off – at times refusing future tasks. And even though it’s still free food, I wouldn’t blame them. Choking with anger, that cucumber must taste like a piece of crap.

So, despite the popular conclusion that we have become more selfish in our evolution of the survival of the fittest, it’s nice to know that some of us are still hardwired to do the right thing. And while other have evolved into something else… well, they are just mutants.

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I’m pretty sure the New York govenor scandal of Eliot Spitzer with a call girl is pretty old news now. However, when your blog name is Money Relations, anything related to money goes.

It’s interesting what you can learn on the web. In personal finance, tracking your money is a big thing. So here’s a twist in a Forbes article on how authorities track your money  when you do bad things. Basically, don’t do it.

The net is tighter now after 9/11 with new anti-money laundering rules in place. They were designed to capture terrorist and drug dealers when large amounts of money are transfered but as we see in the Spitzer saga, johns are getting caught as well. Dumbasses.

Here’s a news flash: cash is king. Haven’t they ever seen movies where they tell you to get off the grid and don’t use your credit cards? I could scoff in bewilderment at what poor choices these politicians are making but frankly, I’m sure that there are countless others doing exactly the same thing but haven’t been caught – yet. But they are doing their job… well.

All I can say is if you pull a stunt like that, be prepared be humiliated and pay. So the call girl went for $4k plus? What went through my mind was how much it’s going to cost him when I saw his wife stand at his side during his public announcement of shame. That’s got to be a few million at least. Cha-ching.

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