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It’s quite surprising that the most popular post we’ve had to date is about the possibility of a depression in 2009. I wrote that post at the end of last year, when this whole economic crisis is just getting started. Since then, the economy has steadily deteriorated. I wonder if more and more people are getting the idea that we could have another depression in the near future.

Notice that the title of today’s post is about the next depression. Many so-called financial experts on TV say, “I have never seen anything like this. We’re in uncharted waters.” This just means that they are clueless. There is nothing uncharted about depressions. In fact, a depression happens, on average, once every 80 years. There is no question that we will have another depression. The question is, will it be this year, or in another year?

Over the last few days, the stock market has rallied in a big way. Does this mean that the financial crisis is over? Absolutely not. There is nothing but bad financial news these days. And, the effects of layoffs, the falling stock market and bankrupt businesses is just beginning to have its effect. Besides that, it’s pretty obvious that the housing market will continue to fall quickly.

The chart of a stock or financial market index is nothing more than the sum of human emotion over time. Many people who think that they are financially educated, and have gone to college or sport MBAs believe that the price of the stock depends on fundamental values such as PE ratios. Although these fundamentals have some bearing on the stock price, there are other factors that are far more important. The most powerful factor that contributes to the valuation of the stock is human emotion.

Imagine a train going downhill, and the brakes are broken. How can you possibly stop it? It has so much momentum, and it’s so heavy, it is hard to imagine how much force is required to get it to stop. Our economy is quite similar. It has already generated so much momentum that it will continue to go down.

Is Obama going to be able to save us? Personally speaking, I don’t think so. However, the good news is that every individual has the power to save themselves. Each person can choose to drift along the river of financial loss, or take control of their ship and improve their financial future.

If you think this economy is all bad news, then consider this: in every economy, there are ways of making money. Here’s a recent post about some ideas about how to profit in the current falling economy.

Investing, Money, US Economy 2009, bankruptcy, depression, economy, finances, housing, layoffs, Obama, recession, stock market

Did you have a wonderful 2008? Did you take steps to achieve your dreams? Did you come any closer to being where you wanted in any way?

If you’re like 95% of most Americans, the answer is a disappointing “no”. Most people spend their whole lives going to work and watching TV, and never make any real progress to going where they really want to go most. It seems a bit of a waste, a bit sad, to live in the best country in the world and see people waiting to die, stuck in an office cubicle cell.

So what’s the solution? One of the goals of this blog is to help people find solutions to improve their life. Today’s solution is a wonderful post by Tim Ferris, of 4-Hour Workweek fame.

Have you read The 4-Hour Workweek? It’s a wonderful book that we highly recommend. It gives you step-by-step strategies to reduce the 40, 60 or 80 hour workweek to just four hours. Impossible you say? Many people love to judge without really knowing. I hallucinate most of the people who say it won’t work didn’t even bother to read it.

So what does this mean for you? It’s only two weeks into 2009, and we’re just getting started. If you’ve already abandoned your new years resolutions and wonder what happened, then make 2009 different and better! I suggest you do something different. And a great thing to do is to read this book. You can check out his blog and see all the wonderful ideas he has to achieve anything in this short life.

Dreams Come True, Great Books, Success 2008, 2009, four hour workweek, fulfillment, happiness, office cubicle, office imprisonment, Success, Tim Ferris

Starting today, most people are on vacation. It’s a great opportunity to stop and think about what we want for our future, and specifically for next year.

Probably the most well known and often hyped strategy for success is goal setting. Goal setting is easy. It’s simply a matter of deciding what you want, and writing it down.

Many people say, “Do I really have to write it down?” And, the answer is yes. You have to write it down. Anyone who cares enough about their goals to do anything to achieve them is willing to write them down.

But if you think about it, setting goals is perfectly natural. When we set out to go to a new destination in your car, do you have a map? Do you have a Google map printed up and ready to go? Do you have a GPS installed so that no matter what happens, you can find the place? Anyone who really wants to get to their destination has a clear idea of what it is.

And so it is with goals. Writing down clearly exactly what we want in which color, which model, how many doors, which options, and everything else is step one. (Perhaps you can guests some of my goals…)

As a matter of fact, you can even write down some of your goals, right here! What do you want, for 2009?

Dreams Come True, Success 2009, awesome dancer, awesome singer, ferrari, fxx, goals, Lamborghini, love, Mercedes, Success, ultimate relationship

This wonderful post on Broader Perspective Blog has some great predictions for 2009. Unlike financial markets, predicting the future of technology is much more certain It’s pretty exciting to look at these predictions and then come back at the end of next year and see how everything turned out.

One popular challenge with Accelerating Technology is that there is a limit at some point. For example, the size of transistors on computer chips is now 39 nm. The naysayers complain, “You can’t get too small, because there is a limit on how small a transistor on the chip can be. In a few years, they will not be able to make them any smaller.”

Although this argument is valid, it overlooks one small detail. There may be a limit to the size of a transistor, but there is no limit to human ingenuity. What has happened before, and what will happen again, is that a new paradigm or method or strategy will be developed that will replace the current technology.

In the past, there were vacuum tubes instead of transistors, and in the future we will have 3D chips or Quantum Computing , or some other technology that we may not even know about now. And, it may just be my own stupid belief, and you have to decide if you believe it or not, but I think anything is possible. What we don’t have now, we will have tomorrow. What we don’t have tomorrow we will have the following day.

All roads lead to the singularity. Enjoy the trip!

There is one small challenge, with the infinite possibility, of the singularity. It promises to give us everything that we want. But only for those in the know. If it will give you anything that you ask, what would you ask for?

Accelerating Technology, Dreams Come True 2009, Accelerating Technology, computers, CPU, human ingenuity, predictions, quantum computing, singularity

It’s silly for anyone to believe that they can accurately predict the future. However, it’s fun to make our guesses and see what happens!

My guess for 2009 is more financial chaos. As people sit home and watch TV over the holidays, the massive losses from mutual funds in their retirement accounts will become real for them. While they eat too much and attempt to enjoy the holidays, which have been consumed as marketing opportunities, most people will feel like they don’t have enough money.

This will cause selling in the beginning of the year, and push the markets down further. Most of the so-called experts on TV today say that we’ve hit a bottom and the markets will start moving up. But to me, that’s just wishful thinking. They depend on the markets for their paychecks, and as the markets go down the chance of them losing their job goes up.

What can you do? As the saying goes, if the hole is getting deeper, stop digging! It’s pretty clear that Americans as well as the whole country itself, has created too much debt. And, without the skills to invest properly, they have no way to significantly improve their financial situation.

The Internet is the great empowerer, and it is the most powerful “invention” in the history of of humans. There is no problem that human ingenuity cannot solve, and financial problems are no exception. What if people use the holidays to read a book, use the Internet, or form a plan to make 2009 a personal financial success? How would that be?

Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success 2009, debt, depression, finances, financial, Investing