The Online Investing AI Blog

Last night I was watching the news (a terrible habit I need to get rid of!) and there was another story about how bad the economy is and how hard it is to find a job. I always have the same reaction when people say they are looking for a job. It makes me wonder, “Who wants a job?”

Having a job for decades and retiring on a pension was a system that ended in the 1980’s. Since then, the economy has changed so rapidly that working in the same job for 20 years is nearly impossible. Besides that, the financial mismanagement of companies and the government has made pensions and social security unreliable.

So what’s the solution?

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Accelerating Technology, Dreams Come True, Great Books, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy economy, Investing, jobs, Money, pensions, social security, Success, technology, the wealth singularity, tv

Pic by woodleywonderworks @ Flickr

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

Just remember, when you control the mail, you control… information.
–Newman

And, dear Newman, when you control information, you control money.

Money used to be hard, solid objects. Arrowheads. Tools. Gold. Coins. They were all used at one time as money.

But these objects still represented an idea. That idea could be protection. It could be progress and ease. It could represent power and the ability to control scarce resources.

Eventually, though, money and wealth became more conceptualized. Look at where we’re at now. For good–and some would argue for ill–money is now just information.

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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Great Books, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI economy, info, information, Money, wall street, wealth hackers

The new record breaking budget deficit of $1.8 trillion could have massive repercussions for the economies of this country and for the entire world. The future deficits are expected to rise. This deficit might be the straw that breaks the dollar’s back.

Image courtesy of The Heritage Foundation

There have been many factors that have been putting pressure on the dollar, going back nearly 100 years when the government started running a deficit. It’s been a free ride for the last century because the dollar was the default currency for the world. America was the most powerful economic superpower, and the only country that was a military threat was the USSR. It was like having an infinite line of credit; we could print as much money as we wanted.

What has changed?

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Great Books, Money, US Economy debt, deficit, economy, government, hyperinflation, inflation, Medicare, social security

We’ve been through a lot the last few years. It’s been called economic hard times, a depression, the Great Recession. And on and on.

It’s nothing.

When we see the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, we see a real personal and economic tragedy. This is a true calamity. Haiti and the Haitian people have seen more than their share of misery, from revolutions to extreme poverty.

The sad truth is made even sadder after several studies and reports indicated that Haiti’s economy had been steadily improving.

For most of us, this should serve as a reality check for our own lives and finances. No matter how bad things are for us, they pale in comparison to the hardships that the Haitian people face.

I hope you spend a little time today thinking about and praying for the people of Haiti. I also hope you spend some time thinking about just how lucky we have it.

Sending help…

Click here to donate to UNICEF’s relief efforts.

Click here to donate to Yele Haiti.

Click here to donate to the Red Cross.

Clicke here to donate to Mercy Corps

Click here to donate The Salvation Army

Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy depression, disaster, earthquake, economy, haiti, response

You’re an economist.

Don’t believe it? You may be shocked.

Sure, you’re probably thinking that economists are geeky guys and gals who wear thick glasses and who scan spreadsheets looking for relationships between interest rates and egg production in Paraguay.

And while that description is exactly true, writer Tyler Cowen will show you that you use economic principles every day and offers weird roles that economics plays in your own life.

If you liked Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, you’ll enjoy Discover Your Inner Economist. Here’s a smattering of the things you’ll learn:

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Accelerating Technology, Great Books, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy books, discover your inner economist, economy, freakanomics, management, Money, tyler cowell

beadmobile @ Flickr

Here’s the big lesson: nothing has changed.

The main misconception of what’s been termed (at least for now) the Great Recession is that the rules of personal finance have suddenly and inexplicably been changed.

This recession, though, isn’t an aberration in personal or macro financial laws, it’s the culmination of those rules. A contraction proves that the system works and smart money moves are still smart. Maybe even smarter.

We may have forgotten these lessons. We may have dismissed them. But they’re still relevant.

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Online Investing AI economy, employment, lessons, Money, personal finance, wealth

Photo by BrotaBra @ Flickr

The original idea for Online Investing AI is to help everyone retire exponentially earlier than current investment systems that are available. (See, I was nice and said “systems,” not schemes.)

Is that so wrong?

Actually, it might. Or, at the very least, that goal and our own conception of retirement may need refinement based on an article from the Amen Clinics.

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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy active, Amen Clinics, brain, economy, learning, retire, retirement

Argonne scientist Elena Rozhkova examines brain cancer cells under a microscope. (Laboratory @ Flickr)

A group of international scientists may just have given humanity a Christmas present–and taken us one more step down the path of the Singularity.

Investor’s Business Daily reports that scientists have identified all of the cell changes in two forms of cancers. The investigation has produced a complete cancer gene map.

According to most scientists, this study by international scientist and the U.K.’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a game-changer. It’s effects could change not just cancer treatment, but could alter health care and the economy.

An effective treatment for cancer would save trillions of dollars. According to a Chicago economist, curing cancer, for example, would save $30 trillion. Just a one percent decrease in the mortality rate of cancer patients would save about $300 billion, the study adds.

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Accelerating Technology, Online Investing AI, US Economy Accelerating Technology, cancer, cancer code, economy, medical technology, medicine, treatment

terren@flcikr

Climate change is in the news–almost every day.

The one thing missing from the debate is that the climate always changes! The world’s climate has continually shifted. Ice ages have given way to warm periods. Warm ups have turned chilly. Not only has the global climate shifted, but regional climates change.

People have learned to adapt to the whims of climate.

What does all this have to do with investing?

Investment climates change, too. Global investment climates shift. National climates change. Even local economies alter.

The investor who wins is the investor who adapts. There are a few rules for this type of adaptation.

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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy adaptation, climate change, economy, investment, investment climate, Money, wealth