The Online Investing AI Blog

It seems like a pretty simple question, but most people I talk to have never even thought about it. People just seem to go to work, come home, crack open a cold one, and watch TV until it is time to go to sleep. I guess people don’t like to think about this question because the answer is “a lot more than I have right now”.

After reading this article on Yahoo, I started thinking about it some more. If people had a concrete number, would that make it easier to achieve? In my personal experience, having a goal accelerated the process in a huge way. Even if when I set the goal it seemed like it would take forever.

I think part of the problem is that people don’t really think about spending money. They just buy what they want, and randomly say, “I can’t afford it” at other times. It seems that at the most important times, like when buying a house or a car, we do spend the money.

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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success budgets, compound interest, dreams, ERE, finance, goals, Money, planning, retirement, strategies, Success

When I was a freshmen on the track team I had one of the easiest jobs.

I set up the hurdles.

I knew exactly where to put them. They were pretty light.

Then I would watch the runners grimace–especially at the end–as they struggled to clear the obstacles.

The lesson: goals are easy to set up, but they’re hard to clear.

Likewise, your financial goals can be simple to formulate, but can be difficult to stick to. Here’s technology to the rescue.

Stickk.com offers you a way to set up a “commitment contract” and share it with your friends and family to stick to those goals.

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Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI assets, commitment, financial goals, goals, Money, stickk.com, stocks

Ray_from_LA @ Flickr

If you study the lives of successful people, there’s one money move that can make and break fortunes.

When it’s done effectively, it’s the greatest source of wealth and true success.

When it’s not done correctly, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll never experience wealth. But it won’t last long.

So, what is the single greatest money move you can make? Many personal financial experts agree,the most important money move you can make is finding the right spouse.
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Business Strategy, Great Books, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success couple, couples, financial goals, goals, marriage, Money, Success, wealth

Now is the time to make the time,
Hope is still in sight.
Let us not go gently,
To the endless winter night.

– Rush, Red Tide

I don’t know about you, but I love to plan. Plan the day, the month, and most importantly, the year. Most people are running around shopping like crazy, but I think now is the most important time to stop, think, and plan.

The end of the year is a great time to evaluate this year, and think about what we want to happen for next year. I like to ask myself the following questions:

Am I better off now than at the beginning of this year in the following categories:

• financially
• emotionally
• with respect to my relationships
• with my body and health
• in my career or business

If I have one most important goal in life, what would it be? How much progress did I make toward it this year?

Here are some more questions that are great to ask:

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Accelerating Technology, Dreams Come True, Success goals, happiness, health, holidays, job, planning, Success, work

For some people, investing is all about the Benjamins. They want to make as much money as quickly as possible. They can’t wait to buy that new car, new house or new plane. They believe that there is only one reason to invest: to make money, money, and more money.

Have you ever had a financial goal and achieved it? Maybe it was a new car. Or a promotion at work. It’s great to succeed and achieve, but there is a small challenge. Often when we achieve goals like these, there is a certain let down. Have you ever felt that feeling?

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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success cars, ferrari, goals, higher calling, Investing, Money, purpose

In the past few days, we discussed how visualization–the practice of mentally rehearsing your goals and objectives–can help you achieve success.

Visualization can help you generate income. It can help you with your trading and investing skills. It can even help you save money.

There’s actually nothing that mental rehearsal can’t help you achieve.

Experts on visualization say there are a few things to consider to make visualization more effective.

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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success achievement, Add new tag, financial success, goals, mental rehearsal, Money, reality, Success, tips, visualization, wealth

If you ask people about improving their financial situation, they usually say something like,

I wish I had a little more money.

Have you ever heard anyone say this? They think their financial goal is “a little more money.” But this is not a goal at all. This is just an impotent wish.

Wishes and hopes and desires are faint yearnings that come and go like a breeze. We feel like we want something, and then we never seem to get it. Goals are made of very special and different stuff. Goals are something that we are certain about. Goals have a specific number that we attach to them. Goals create a concrete crystal clear vision inside our mind. When we have a goal defined with precision, we can think of specific steps that we will take to achieve it.

How does this apply to money?

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Investing, Money, Success goals, Investing, lawyers, mistakes, Money, retirement, wage slaves

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

My last few posts were a bit negative in tone, so today’s post is positive. It is about achieving all of your hopes and dreams, in every aspect of your life.

Even if your dreams are not about cars!

Here’s my point. Its a free country. We are all free to make our choices to make our lives exactly the way we choose. We are not in Iran. We are not in Cuba. We are in America.

But we will only succeed as much as our choices allow us to succeed. Many people blame other people for their status in life. They blame their parents, their boss, their husband or wife, the economy and the weather. But none of those external forces have any real effect on how our lives turn out.

They may have an effect in the short term. We may have a boss that is a pain in the butt, and the weather may be rainy or hot. But we can always change jobs. We can always change where we live. If we like rain, we can go to Seattle. If we like sun, we can go to Arizona. Its our choice.

The same is true for our finances. Many people go through their lives without even really thinking about their finances. They say, “I hope I can retire before the age of 65.” Or, “I really should save some money for retirement.” I have to be the one to break it to you, but none of these ideas will lead anywhere that you want to go. Because they are merely vague wishes. And vague wishes are completely useless.

So, what’s the solution? The first step is to decide exactly what we want. How much money? How many cars? How big a house? How happy we are each day? The first step is to decide the details of what we really want. And, as we move away from vague wishes, we move toward a crystal clear image of exactly where we want to go.

So, if you were to decide right now, which car would you like most? Where would you like to live? How would you spend your days?

Dreams Come True dreams, ferrari, financial success, fxx, goals, happiness, Success