Trim The Fat

Back again

2006-04-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

At least I keep trying right? In a brief moment of sobriety I came up with all these ideas and all these plans about what to do.

Highlight: She said "you smell yummy"

Fat Pants

2005-12-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

That's all I can wear nowadays.

I have three pairs of pants (excluding sweats and track pants) that are work-appropriate and they are all fat pants. Two pairs of jeans and one pair of "diaper pants" as my wife calls them. She calls them that because they are really baggy, especially in the rear.

"It looks like you took a crap in them" she says.

I never tuck my shirts into my fat pants. Why? Because they would show the fact that even these so-called fat pants are too tight. When I wear my fat jeans, they always leave an imprint on my skin after I take them off. I can always see where the big button pressed against my flabby pooch.

And they are always too long. The worst part is that the inseam is always smaller than the waist. I just came to the realization that I'm wider than I am tall and that scares me.

As much as I hate my damn fat pants, I love my damn fat pants.

Another try

2005-12-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

It's been almost eight months since my last post, and I'm sorry to report that I was unable to make any progress on any of my goals. My only positive is several lucky investments that are yielding good returns. Here's a snapshot of where I stand:

My weight: 219. It only looks like I gained 5 lbs, but in reality it's more like 10. I managed to drop below 210 over the summer and spent the last 3 months putting it all back on.
My health: Not so good. Ive spent the last three or four months eating anything and everything. Not to mention that I've been drinking A LOT of beer.
My money: Adding a backyard to a brand new house is very expensive. There was the cement patio, the sod, and the fence. My original 27k now looks more like 18k. On the bright side, my stocks are up $1600 since April (AAPL, SIRI, ING, RMK, and QQQQ). I also have $12000 over at Emigrant Direct which will start getting regular deposits at the beginning of the new year.

So that's what you get when you spend eight months over-spending, over-indulging, and playing World of Warcraft obsessively.

Next step: come up with a plan.

its still exists!

2005-12-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

I going to get back into this...more to come tonight!

Double Failure

2005-04-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

I lost $800 in the stock market this week. I also gained 3 pounds, even though I hiked, ran, and walked. WTF?

Ok...I did finish my taxes, so that's one goal I met. I also set up the Emigrant direct account, which I'm going to use as my main savings account. So I did a couple of good things, but I didn't meet my real goals.

I did the complete opposite of increasing my bank deposits and decreasing my fat deposits. I'll try not to spend the whole day sulking....

Tax Time!

2005-04-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

I finally got my taxes done! I usually do these as soon as I get my W-2 forms, but I knew this would be the first year I would actually owe money. The good news is that it was less than $25! This tells me that the deductions on my paycheck are almost dead on, meaning that the government isn't making interest on money it owes me. What's funny is that so many people (myself included in years past) think that a refund is free money - but nothing could be further from the truth!

Tomorrow: did I meet the goals I made last Friday???

New link

2005-04-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a site that has simple and easy to understand explanations of economy terms, Moneychimp is for you!

I was trying to figure out what the trade deficit is and came upon a really nice explanation of it on this site. Here it is, along with an explanation of the GDP.

Good Times, Bad Times

2005-04-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Doing well healthwise....I've been exercising almost everyday and even woke up with sore muscles.
Bad times in the stock market though. According to Yahoo Finance, an increase in the trade deficit has sent stocks plumetting, which means a $200 loss for me in the last 2 days. Maybe it's time to cash out and wait this out....or is this the time to buy? More bad news means that the market will eventually bottom out. and things should start getting better after that. But who knows?

I hate losing money in stocks.

Off to a good start!

2005-04-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm getting the week of to a really good start, and I feel confident that I can lose those two pounds by Friday.

I started off by going on a hike with PS Yesterday. It was probably 2 miles each way with an elevation gain of 2000 feet. I hiffed and puffed thought the first third or so but eventually warmed up. The view at the top was incredible!

Today we woke up and went on a 5 mile walk/jog. Again, it took me a while to warm up, but I started feeling really good and jogged a good portion of the way back.

Here's the smoothie we had when we got home:

3 cups OJ
1.5 cups baby carrots
1 scoop of protein powder.

put all ingredients in a blender on high for about one minute - sit back and enjoy it along with your runner's high!

Playing investment advisor

2005-04-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

I helped one of the younger gals at my work set up her 401(k) and felt pretty good about it. She had a TON of questions and I was actually surprised by the fact that I knew the answer to almost all of them. If I didn't have the answer right there and then, at least I knew where to look for it! After a while, other people overheard our conversation and started to crowd around, which led to a lively discussion about investing and retiring.

I guess its kind of nerdy, but it felt good to help others with their financial future.

Status Report

2005-04-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here's how I'm doing as of today:

(sorry about the white space - I have no idea why it's there!)

	Day 1	Today	Goal
Weight	215 lbs	212 lbs	170 lbs
Body Fat	39%??	36%	20%
Net Worth*	~25k	$27,441	1m
401(K)	~25k	$25,563	1m

Goals:

To lose 2 lbs by next friday. I want to be at a solid 210.
To create the new bank account I mentioned in my last post. Also by next Friday.
To finish my taxes. I've been putting these off because this is the first year I have to pay!

Three ideas

2005-04-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

The first has to do with understanding an industry and whether or not a company's stock might be a good buy. You have to understand it's key metric. For example, in the oil industry, the key measure is price per barrel. In the retail industry, the measurement is comp. store sales. In music, it's the number of albums sold. If you are buying a stock and haven't a clue what the key metric is, you need to do more homework.

Second idea: Picking my wife as my exercise partner has many advantages. Not only do we spend more time together, but we challenge each other as well. She also has a bigger stride so I have to push myself to keep up. Last, and definitely not least, who doesn't appreciate a nice tight.....

Third idea: Here's how I want to set up my accounts. The high yield savings account will be a depository of sorts. I will put the bulk of my current cash there and add to it every paycheck. I will then downgrade my platinum account at WAMU to the standard fare and use that for day-to-day expenses. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually "pay" myself at the end of every month this way. The investment account will stay the same, except that I might bank cash from time to time to the savings account, especially if the bears are running the show.

Not Impressed with Emigrant

2005-04-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

I recently decided to start an "American Dream" account with EmigrantDirect because it pays the best interest rate out there - a whooping 3.25%. Unfortunately, I'm not very happy with the process or service so far. First I was told to wait for them to activate the account. When I didn't hear from them for a week, I sent an email and they said everything was set up all along. I finally get to log in and I can't figure out how to transfer more money!!! I'm either inept or their site needs lots of polish. I'm going to try ING Direct (even though the APY is a quarter of a point lower) and am setting the whole thing up with Jonathan over at MyMoneyBlog. If he refers me we both get a bonus, so I'm going for it!

Healthwise, I managed to go on the 4 mile run/walk this morning, but then made up for it by having eggs and bacon for breakfast, a huge plate of Chinese for lunch, a bag of rice crackers, a hot-dog at Ikea, Lemon Salmon with rice for dinner, and two Hawaiian sweet rolls. Oh yeah, I also spent $100 at REI and $35 at Ikea.

So much for yesterday's pep talk.

Time to Hunker Down

2005-04-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Despite all my ramblings on this Blog, I've not only gained weight over the last week, but my net worth has also decreased by about 2 grand. What the heck?!?!

I'll admit that I've made some progress with my portfolio. I've been doing a lot of reading and research and I'm starting to see some good gains. My bank account and my weight, however, are not doing as well.

Admissions:

I drink and eat way too much.
I spend money like crazy. I'm getting better here, but I need more self-control.

Mindfulness and self-control sometimes elude me - I can't let my desires control me! I am proud of the fact that I haven't had a smoke in over a year. As my Doc said "Anything you do to improve your health won't make a bit of difference until you quit smoking." I'm not going to downplay my sucess in overcoming nicotine addiction, I'm just sayng that I'm very far from where I really want to be.

Self-control, John. Self-control.

Thanks JP!

2005-04-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Jonathan over at MyMoneyBlog mentioned my blog on his very popular site. Thanks man!!! I'm pretty sure that we both went to the same school - Go bears!

Week in Review

2005-04-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

My positions had a pretty decent week, even with the dip in the market early on. Here's what my portfolio looks like along with the percentage based on my original basis.

Apple - Up 10.51%
ECA - Up 8.23%
Yahoo - Up 6.16%
Lucent - Down .73%
Sirius - Down 7.64%
URBN - Down 1.06%
QQQQ - Down 1.49%

According to Jim Cramer's Sane Investing in an Insane World, a personal portfolio for an "investor hobbyist" should have 5-7 well diversified holdings. Admittedly, mine is not as spread out as it should be - what am I missing? Health care, financial, transport...I'll look into diversifying more in the weeks to come.

Spring Cleaning

2005-03-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Based on someone's advice, I made the following changes to my portfolio this morning.

Sold MSFT - Honestly, this stock just isn't a whole lot of fun. Plus, I took a $200 loss on it and I don't want to watch it going lower every day.
Bought URBN - Fundamentals look good, it's on the rise, and the chart and MA's look promising. Plus it was a suggestion from the aforementioned source.
Bought LU - ditto from above.
Sold SPY - mainly because I already have an Index ETF and I needed to diversify.
Bought YHOO - To replace MSFT as my tech stock.
Bought ECA - This is my test stock. Will this person's advice work?

On another note, the Tanita scale registered an even 210 lbs this morning! I want my goal for April to drop below 200, but I really need to get disciplined if I want this to happen. Truth be told, I've been slackin' lately and I need to get back on track. Less snacks (no gummy bears!), more water, and more exercise!

The Rules

2005-03-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

Trader Mike turned me on to Jim Cramer's Rules of Investing, which I found to be quite interesting and applicable to my current portfolio. These are my favorites:

Pigs get slaughtered - The key point here (I think) is not to get too greedy and to know when its time to pull out. The greedy pig keeps the same position long after it tops off and ends up with a big fat loss. This happened to me with both STEM and SIRI. Both stocks soared right after I bought them. Instead of selling when they hit the high, I kept them expecting more. I also didn't sell because I didn't apply rule #2.
It's ok to pay taxes - Would you rather pay 25% on a $100 gain or nothing on a loss? This one is pretty simple.
Do your homework - Until recently, I had no idea what this meant. My entire portfolio consists of whimsical purchases based on my own brand preferences or speculation. In fact, my first purchase of SIRI was based entirely on the fact that I've listened to Howard Stern for the last 10 years.
Buy Best-of-Breed Companies - Basically, if you have to choose Yugo and a BMW, buy the beemer.
Don't own too many names - His rule of thumb is this: If you buy a new stock, sell an old one.
Cash is for winners - There is nothing wrong with pulling out completely until things turn around. This is good advice.

Moves based on the Rules:

Quiksilver and Whole Foods are intriguing, so I'll need to do some homework on them. I especially like the latter because it follows a business model similar to my favorite non-public company, REI.
I also think its time to clean house. I might sell the shares of Microsoft at this point since it's been so flat for so long.
Should I walk away from Apple? This is the only stock that has made any money for me. It's possible that I'm being Piggish with this one and should just walk away with the gain.

Any suggestions?

Keep on keepin' on

2005-03-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Exercise is a wonderful thing. Over the past week I have been trying to do something at least once a day and I've been feeling great! The three walks and two bike rides have left me a bit sore, and even though I haven't lost much weight (Last weigh-in put me at 210.5), I'm walking around with my gut in and my shoulders back. I even tucked my shirt into my jeans, which I NEVER do because I'm afraid it will accentuate my big belly.

Keep up the momentum!

New Links

2005-03-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

Time to add some links (see bar to the right)

Some of these are sites that I check on a regular basis, others have just been inspirational. Eventually I'll split them between financial sites and fitness sites.

Workin' It

2005-03-23T18:09:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling pretty good the last couple of days. Here is an update of what I've done:

Long walk this morning and short walk during my lunch break. While my weight hasn't changed, the Tanita scale reports that I've lost 2% body fat. I'm not quite sure if I believe that but I'll take anything I can get at this point!
Transferred another $1,500.00 into the Ameritrade account. I really don't like having so much idle cash so I'm going to start putting it in high yield accounts, new stock positions, or maybe even some bonds. For now, I'm going to bet on the Satellite Radio business and buy some shares of XM.
The Emigrant direct account seems to be going as described in their website. I confirmed the two little deposits and then they withdrew my initial $100.00. Once I get the famous paper letter I'll probably put $5,000 there.
Payday Friday is coming soon!!!!!!

A New Week

2005-03-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

I want to recover from the disaster that was the weekend. I started by going on a nice bike ride last night and then a brisk walk this morning. I just need to remind myself that I can't indulge like I usually do. Not to mention the harm that it does to the bank account. Looking at the monthly statement, groceries are by far the single biggest controllable expense. This is one category that would benefit both the cash deposits and the fat deposits.

Self control John. Self control.

Weekend Report

2005-03-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

I didn't do so well this weekend.

While I did manage do get some exercise in, I overindulged on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Current weight: 212

I also went out and spent $270 on a new MP3 player and related accessories. This will be my last big purchase for a while. I really need to get out of my "I can afford anything" mentality because it will eventually drain my account. Assets vs Liabilities....I just need keep repeating those words.

Do Something Every Day

2005-03-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

That will help you reach your goals. No matter how small it is, over time everything you have done will add up. Here's what I did today to meet my goals:

Walked 4 miles with my wife. I tried to make it more fun at the very end by racing her - no running allowed.
I signed up for automatic bill pay with my cable company. Benefit: Instead of writing a check, it will come from my 1% back credit card. Plus I'll save the stamp. Next I'll do the same with the car insurance and phone bill.

Baby steps eventually add up to big leaps.

401(K)

2005-03-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Here is my current retirement account at Fidelity:

FID FREEDOM 2030
$278.64

FID FREEDOM 2040
$12,076.11

SPARTAN 500 INDEX
$13,089.09

Total
$25,443.84

I currently contribute 6% of my pre-tax wages bi-weekly, up from 2% a couple of weeks ago.

Good news, Bad news

2005-03-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

Physically

I redid my last body fat reading and came up at 34% this time. It's still one third of my body weight, but its a heckuva lot better than 39%. I wonder if the scale needs to be calibrated in any way? I do remember reading that you shouldn't do it right after exercise and maybe that's what I did.

The bad news is that I'm back up to 213 lbs.

Financially

Like I said yesterday, I'm starting a new account at Emigrant, so that's good news because I'll be earning more interest on my "parked" money. The other good news is that AAPL keeps going higher. I'm very bullish on this stock, even though I don't own a single apple product and probably never will!

The bad news is that I just shelled out $1,400 for the patio. Here's how I rationalize this one: Since its part of the house, its really an investment in the value of the property. Therefore, its an asset and not a liability because I'll see that money again when I sell the house. I can live with that.

New Account

2005-03-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

After four days of trying, I finally got the account at EmigrantDirect.com all set up. All I need to do now is wait for those small deposits to come my way and then I'll be in business. I'm not sure how much to put in there, but I'm thinking the more the better. I mean, what's the point of keeping a "platinum account" if it's not earning a high interest right? The downside is that after doing the math, that 10k will only pull in a whopping 29 bucks a month!

New positions

2005-03-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

My funds finally got transferred into the Ameritrade account so I picked up those index ETFs that I've been wanting. Here's my portfolio:

(I have no idea why there's so much white space here)

Stock	qty	Price	Mkt. Value
AAPL	54	41.25	2,227.50
BPUR	120	0.38	45.60
MSFT	38	24.76	940.88
QQQQ	55	36.78	2,023.40
SIRI	250	5.22	1,305.00
SPY	17	119.41	2,029.97
STEM	100	4.37	437.00
Cash			20.15

Total Account value = $9029.50

Annoyed

2005-03-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

The funds I transferred to my Ameritrade account have not gotten there.

Also,

I tried to start an account at Emigrant Direct because they raised their rates to 3.25% APY, but the server timed out and my info didn't go though.

Ugh.

Starting is the hardest

2005-03-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

but I did it!

I went on that bike ride I promised myself I would. No official numbers because I didn't set my cyclometer but it was definitely at least 30 minutes. Johnny's out of shape.

Here are the numbers according to my Tanita scale:

211.5 lbs
39% body fat

According to the Tanita website that makes me obese. Hmmm....not good. Sounds like I'll need to add yet another goal to my sidebar. Healthy bodyfat for my gender and age is between 8% and 19%. I'll shoot for 20%.

Financially, Ameritrade is taking it's sweet time in transferring my funds. I'll have to wait till later in the day to buy my ETFs. I think I'll split the 4k between SPY and QQQQ. Warren better be right.

The $40 Sand Trap

2005-03-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

I took my wife and her mom out to the ocean today. The weather was really nice and we were sick of spending our weekends doing house related errands. Anyways, I decide to go driving on the sand, like I had done several times before with no adverse effect. The thing I didn't take into account was that the lack of rain had made the sand extremely soft. The net result is that I got stuck. Eventually a "Sand Angel" (basically a guy with a big truck and some towing cables) came and offered to rescue us for $40. I couldn't say no, but my ego was bruised for the rest of the day. I saw him later scouring the beach for other suckers like me and all I could say was **** you. However, as AB would say, "That's another blog."

Here's the aim of this blog.

Fitness moves:

Get up and ride my bike - no matter how lazy I feel.

Financial moves:

Initiate a new position on QQQQ
Look into starting a new account at one of those high yield banks.

Goals

2005-03-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

So I'm working on the table in the side bar and it dawns on me that I don't have any real specific goals yet! I mean, lose weight and save more money is good, but its not SMART (See post below for definition of this acronym)

So what's my goal?

I'd like to lose 40 lbs. This would put me at about 175, which according to most height/weight charts, is where I need to be.
I'd like to be able to work part time and while earning my current income. Ultimately I want to spend more time with my wife doing things we both enjoy. As such, my short term goal is to increase my net worth by....every year (I'm not sure what to put here)
Or should the goal above be to earn enough interest to make up for not working full time?

I don't have that answer right now but at least I'm thinking about it! This is a big leap from just a couple of days ago.

Time to Invest

2005-03-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

After giving it some thought (and reading some of the more popular PF blogs out there) I decided to do 2 things. First, I will open a high yield savings account, either ING Direct Or Emigrant. I'll probably put 5k there and set up an automatic deposit. I'll also purchase an ETF - preferably an S&P index.

My other thought is to put more into the high yield account and downgrade my platinum account for day-to-day expenses and bills.

Inspiration to save

2005-03-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

All but the last one came from the site below

http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/

You cannot save $5000 until you save $1000. You cannot save $1000 until you save $500. You cannot save $500 until you save $10.

The majority of people go through life without truly understanding the difference between assets and liabilities. The rich got where they are by purchasing assets. Low- and middle-class people got where they are (and stay there) by buying liabilities.

The more money you make,the more money you will spend.

The amount of money a person makes is important, but it is secondary to the degree to which that person controls his expenses. Budget and plan your expenses earnestly. Demand value for the dollars you spend.

Set SMART goals. This in one I picked up at work. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.

Start with Simple Goals

2005-03-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

I want to make this as easy as possible.

My main fear is that if I get too crazy with goals or rules they will be too out of reach. So here's the plan, Im going to try the following for the next month:

For weight loss:

Drink more water (64 oz a day). I've heard this advice more than once. In fact, I read somewhere that ice water has negative calories because of the energy expenditure required to warm it inside your body.
AT LEAST 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week.
No more crap at work. This one is tough because there is so much food floating around ALL THE TIME.

That's it. Today is 3/12 so I'll see if this made a difference on 4/12.

crabby

2005-03-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

I've been waking up crabby the last couple of days...plus I had the weirdest dream. I had to redesign uniforms for some hairdressers I was living with. My main caveat was that they be sexy. I really wanted something like the cocktail girls in Vegas. - short and semi-revealing. Something that made you want to look longer and deeper.

Anyways, I wake up crabby because I'm slightly hungover. That's the second part of this Blog - to trim the fat from my unhealthy lifestyle.

Health goals:

Lose 40 lbs (this involves both diet and excersice)
Limit drinking to once a week (this should help with the one above)

some changes

2005-03-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

ok...I changed the name and got a new skin. Now its time to get down to business. I read a couple of blogs earlier today which really inspired me so I'll follow their lead. Here is the first one.
This guy really seems to have everything planned out. His goals are : $100,000 non-retirement by mid-2007, $1,500,000 net worth by age 55. I think I can shoot for the second, but I'm not so sure about the first. Here is my current financial picture:

ASSETS
Interest earning checking: $25,709.64
Ameritrade Investments: $5,045.30
Fidelity Retirement Acct: $25,582.30

Total $56,337.24

LIABILITIES
Credit Card $1,183.92

NET WORTH $55,153.32

Its not as much as the website mentioned above, but its close. I guess some tables or speadsheets would make this look better.

My old blog still exists!

2005-03-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

I actually had to frantically delete everything because I left it open and the wifey saw it and I got in huge trouble.

Anyways, the new blog will have an entirely different purpose. I want to take complete stock of my life and set some goals for improving. Like I tell my employees, even if its small steps at a time, I want to see continuous improvement.

Here are the categories I want to focus on:

1. Money
2. My weight and overall health

That's it. Once I get home I'll make more sense of what this means and what my goals should be. I'll also rename the blog and get a new skin.