The Online Investing AI Blog

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Conventional wisdom is usually not conventional and not really wise. It’s often an agreed-upon lie, at worst, or an excuse to keep trying to do the same things over and over again.

It’s a mass-thinking rut, often.

You can find examples of conventional wisdom everywhere–at work, at schools, and at the town hall. But, if you really want to see conventional wisdom at work, check out the world of investments and personal finance.

How can you tell when conventional wisdom is at work? When you hear the same debate or argument over and over again, chances are you’ve stumbled on a conventional truth.

Conventional wisdom doesn’t have to be a thought that is believed by all of  the population. Different groups have different conventional truths. Ironically, these bits of conventional wisdom can be exactly opposite of someone else’s conventional truth.

And the other problem with conventional wisdom is it leads to fatalism. You believe the conclusion of a certain “truth” is writ in stone, simply because it’s the conventional truth of so many people.

An open mind is the cure for conventional wisdom.

Here’s one way to exercise that open mind and break through the walls of conventional wisdom.

What you do is to define some challenges that are part of conventional thought–things you hear in the mainstream media, or talk about with your friends. Then, write down some options that will contradict their conclusions, or change the game entirely. Try to make them positive. Here are some of mine:

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Business Strategy, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy conventional wisdom, economy, personal finance, rich, truths, wealth, wisdom

Home of Grace Groner, secret millionaire

It’s hard to be a buy and hold investor in this economic condition. We’ve seen major companies get bailed out, or evaporate like a pool of water on a hot summer day.

But think what it was like to be a buy-and-holder in 1935, the depths of the Great Depression. That’s when Grace Groner spent $180 on three shares of her employer’s stock. Over the next seven decades, those shares in Abbot Laboratories split many times and she reinvested the dividends, too.

And guess how much she ended up with when she passed away in January?

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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy buy-and-hold, invest, Investing, lessons, millionaire, millionaire next door, rich, Success, wealth

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Personal finance is really about asking the right questions.

Should you buy and hold? Should you sell and walk away?

How much should you save?

How much should you spend?

What’s the best investment?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers to all those questions–but a lot of smart bloggers and columnists do. And I’ll let them do the talking in this week’s edition of Weekly Wisdom.

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Business Strategy, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success Investing, Links, Money, personal finance, questions, roundup, saving, wealth

Thanks to you, our readers, February set all time highs for visitors and page views. There were 70,298 visitors and 150,898 page views.

The top blog posts were:

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John Grogan was a hard-working writer.

He rose up through the ranks of journalists, winning lots of awards and recognition. The pay wasn’t bad either–by journalist standards. But it certainly wasn’t enough to fund his real dreams–those aspirations that bubbled under the surface. The ones that his friends and families probably rolled their eyes when he mentioned. The ones that “didn’t pay.”

John wasn’t deterred, though.

John worked hard and wrote a tale about his attention-deficit dog, Marley. The book–Marley and Me–and the movie based on the book became blockbusters and the financial freedom opened up new career paths for the writer, including his dream of becoming an editor of an organic gardening magazine.

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Dreams Come True, Money, Online Investing AI, Success aspiration, dream, employment, inspiration, job, John Grogan, marley and me, work

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OK

The groundhog was right.

Another week and another two feet of snow for some folks. More high winds, too. And don’t forget the below-freezing temperatures.

But that hasn’t chilled the aspirations for us to bring you the best blog posts and articles about how you can become financially free. From productivity tips to ways to save a nest egg, you’ll find some solid advice in this week’s collection.

So, let’s start…

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Dreams Come True, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success fiscal, making money, Money, money tips, personal financial freedom, saving money, secrets, tips, wealth, weekly wisdom

As a limited time promotion, we are giving away the first two chapters of The Wealth Singularity for free. What is the Wealth Singularity?

We believe that technology accelerating at an ever increasing pace. But that is not all that is changing. New technology is used throughout the world to make money, for both individuals and corporations.

How will Artificial Intelligence revolutionize the investing game? How are blogs, Twitter and Facebook revolutionizing the Internet? How can you achieve financial freedom without wasting a lifetime in a cubicle?

These are important questions that are answered in this eBook.

Why get left behind as other people and businesses are using new technology to cash in?

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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Great Books, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success ebooks, finances, financial success, learning, Money, spending, Success, the wealth singularity

PBA World Championship

Last Christmas, Tom Smallwood found himself in a position that millions of Americans are now facing.

After years of loyalty and hard work, he was laid off from the General Motors plant. That was bad enough, but the layoffs timing–right before Christmas–was just salt in the wound. He quickly applied for conventional jobs, but never heard back from the companies.

Tom, his wife, and his young daughter faced an uncertain future.

But Tom had a  secret weapon: bowling.

Tom believed he was a good bowler; he even won a few local tournaments. With his wife’s blessing, he tried out for the Pro Bowler’s tour. And made it!

Then he won a major tournament. Tom pocketed $50,000 during a championship match–making more in a single event than he ever earned in a year working at a conventional job.

So, if you’re laid-off, or worried that you will be laid-off, just remember: you can always bowl. At least in the allegorical sense. Maybe you can’t bowl, but, like Tom, you have talents and knowledge that can generate new careers and new sources of income.

You can even follow Tom’s method:

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Dreams Come True, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy bowling, dreams, financial freedom, hobbies, job, jobless, part-time, unemployment

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Most employees are bound by a strict code. To keep employed, they’re expected to be loyal, dependable, perform tricks on demand, and subvert their own will to the will of the organization.

If this description sounds vaguely familiar, it should. This is basically the description of both a good employee–and a good dog.

In most workplaces, employees are cogs in the inevitable means-to-an-end. And that’s the way they’re treated.

The problem is that most people want to be good employees. It’s tied in with the work ethic that makes these workers feel like they are both a bad employee and a bad person if they don’t offer anything but their best work. On the other hand, they don’t want to be treated like a faithful hound, either.

There are ways, though, that you can be a bad employee, but remain a good person. It starts with the novel idea that no matter who signs your checks, you are always working for yourself.

Here are a couple tips:

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Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success boss, career, freedom, labor, office, responsibility, salary, self-reliance, wealth, work

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The best of the best. That’s what the Olympics is supposed to be about.

But it’s also about inspiration. When we see a perfectly executed triple axle, or a record-breaking slalom run, maybe we’re not ready to strap on the skates and skis, but we might be inspired to achieve another slightly less death-defying goal in our own field.

As a blogger, I feel the same inspiration. When I read some of my favorite blogs I realize I won’t be able to match the performance of these writers, but I feel inspired to try.

So, if blogging were a sport, and if this week was the start of the personal financial blogging Olympics, here are posts that would receive perfect scores:

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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success blogs, Links, Money, personal finance, posts, roundup, wealth