The Online Investing AI Blog

It has been quite interesting to watch Bitcoin as it has gone through one bubble, and consistently risen since. Many people thought that Bitcoin was finished after its stratospheric rise in 2011, and it’s subsequent collapse to $3. Can Bitcoin survive such a massive devaluation?

Image courtesy Bitcoin Charts

Recently Bitcoin has achieved quite a bit of attention, because of WordPress.com announcing that they will accept payment in Bitcoin. More recently, Reddit has decided to accept Bitcoin. The more interesting (and perhaps) exciting development is that you can now buy pizza with bitcoins.

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If you’ve ever visited the department of motor vehicle’s office, or an open bar office Christmas party, you know that the number of jackasses in the world considerably outnumber the rest of humanity.

These are the same people who bought dotcom stocks for thousands of times their net worth and took $700,000 mortgages on homes worth about $200,000 a few years before.

So, that’s bad for investors, right?

Not according to Michael Dever and just some good old common horse sense. You can actually learn how to take advantage of these jackass investors.

Dever, who is Founder, CEO & Director of Research of Brandywine Asset Management, says you can take advantage of jackasses to make money as an investor. In fact, he’s written the book about it. It’s called Jackass Investing: Don’t do it. Profit from it.

The book, which Dever says is the result of a decade of research and three decades of trading experience, teaches some contrarian lessons.

For instance, Dever believes that every decision is a trade–even the decision not to trade. He names that decision the Rush trade, after the rock band.

One difference between investors and jackass investors is whether they know if they’re investing… or gambling.

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We’re all grateful for our armed service members.

But, there’s a group of Americans who are too grateful.

Credit cards, pawn shops, payday loan organizations often treat soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force personnel like sheep coming in for the fleecing. If you don’t believe me, look at the strips of pawn shops and shady banking operations that line the streets leading to any major military bases.

These are just the obvious ones–internet and mail-based insurance, investing and banking scams target military members, as well.

Here are a few tips that will help military personnel devise a strategy for personal finance.

Credit attention
Most people entering the military are young and have little credit history. They also have little idea of how debt can impact not just their current bottom line, but their future financial lives, as well. And don’t the credit sharks just know it? They spread tantalizing offers for easy money in front of our military men and women, like landmines. You don’t see the harmful effects until it’s too late. Your best bet, then, is to avoid them entirely. Do you need emergency money? It happens. But there are other sources. Can your buddy spot you a few bucks? How about the folks back home? Another thing. Make sure it’s actually an emergency.

Flanking Budget Problems
For service members, money seems to be pre-budgeted. Meal allowance. Housing allowances. Clothing allowances. Extra money for hazardous duty. And so on. This arrangement may lead some service members to forego creating their own budgets and that can lead to lazy personal finance. They treat it like a lottery win or a bonus. A big payout.

One suggestion is to actually use the money allotted for the actual purpose. In this case, you would pull out the clothing allowance, for example, and use it for only clothing. Saving what’s left.
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There are the Easter eggs that you’ll find dyed and hidden.

Then there are idea Easter eggs.

These are colorful ideas that you find unexpectedly. They can range from unconventional breakthroughs to good, old, common sense wisdom that serve as reminders. Easter egg ideas can challenge your conventional wisdom, or reinforce your views.

They can change your life.

Here are idea Easter eggs that I found this week.

Pick the Brain — How to Breathe — Literally

Immortal Humans — The Health Benefits of Red Wine

Dumb Little Man — You Have to Work for Your Happiness

Financial Samurai — Shit is Fucked up and Bullshit and The Psychology of Wealth Giveaway

Untemplater — How Much Severance Pay Would You Need to Leave Your Job?

Money Reasons — Are You Trying to be Financially Independent?

Fast Company — IBM’s Quantum Computers Could Change the World

BBC News — Print Your Own Robot

The Digerati Life — Using Debt Leverage: Should You Use Debt to Get Ahead

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Federal Reserve Building--Creative Commons

After two record-breaking attempts to jump start the economy through with no signs of success, the Federal Reserve is now debating a third round of quantitative easing.

QE 3, as it will be called, won’t work. But, beyond that, this is a reckless and unethical way to subvert the traditional role of the board. This continual monetization of debt and debasement of the currency could lead to a super bubble–and a resulting pop that will make 2008 look like a slight recession.

Let’s look at why the Fed is considering a third round of easing. It’s simple: the election year is coming up. A sitting president who is facing high unemployment and a weak economy will not get re-elected. Like a giant campaign kitty, the Fed is going to kick in hundreds of billions to make sure the president gets reelected. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican thing either, folks. Both sides do it.

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About two years ago, I saw a Porsche GT3 parked in the garage of my apartment building. The GT3 is one of my favorite cars, and I can’t wait to get one. When I saw it parked it reminded me of all the dreams that are associated with it. And this was a beautiful example. There was no damage to it, and it looked like it just came off the showroom floor.

Image courtesy of Ryan Holst

It’s easy to remember the TV commercials about the wonderful German engineering and images of beautiful people speeding down the deserted autobahn at 150 mph. (Top speed is approximates 190 mph.) No wonder it has a place on the list of dream cars of so many people.

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Last week’s tax and unemployment package was just one of a long series of events that will destroy the dollar. While most people are blissfully unaware, the government is working to undermine the U.S. dollar. I have written about this massive change that will affect all of our lives many times before.

Photo by dcJohn

This latest act of congress makes it clear why the dollar has no hope for survival: our government has no desire to be financially responsible. America is a country of debtors. We have the lowest saving rate of any developed country. Why would our elected representatives be any more responsible than we are?

How did this happen?

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As America’s unemployment “problem” continues, we keep hearing about the importance of education. The mantra has not changed: “Go to college so you can get a good job.”

Photo by Ian Lord

The question nobody bothers to ask is, “Who wants a job?” Now, more than ever before, more people are finding it harder to survive depending on a job. If they have not lost their job already, they are afraid of losing it. Call me crazy, but it doesn’t sound like a good solution to me.

Why do people keep repeating the Mantra of Education?

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Unfortunately for the American people, the U.S. national debt is approaching $14 trillion, and growing at a record pace. In fact, this works out to about $45,000 per citizen. This is far greater than the average savings of each citizen!

Are we bankrupt yet?

After ignoring the problem for decades, the media has finally begun to publicize the problem. And, the congress is actually considering doing something about fixing it. People say that democracy moves slowly, but if they take action within the next two years that would be great.

How are we ever going to get out of this debt?

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After writing my post yesterday about the benefits of a Debt Free Life, I wanted to share with you the details of a system for saving that I developed. It is called the Success Saving System.

Saving for a new iPod Nano

Here’s how it works:

1. Do research and find out exactly how much the item costs, including tax and shipping.
2. Open a separate account or get a box to put money in.
3. This is a critical step. Write down twice that amount on the box, or name the account with twice the amount that the item costs.
4. Every time you get paid, set aside a certain percentage of your income for that item. It might be 10%, for example. Put it in the box or transfer it to the account immediately.
5. Check to see how much money you have saved often! The more often you check the better.
6. <Once you have saved up the amount of money, buy the item. Then, take the remaining money (which is equivalent to the item’s cost), and transfer it into a savings and investment account.
7. Once the money is in the savings and investment account, it can never be spent. It can only be invested.

Why does this system work?

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