Recently I have been selling old books on Amazon. I discovered that it is actually a great way to get rid of them. The Amazon Marketplace is a very efficient and fairly easy to use system for sellers. And the prices are surprisingly high.

I tend to read books only once. I have about 10 favorite books that I can read over and over, but besides those I generally never read a book twice. If it makes a good reference book about trading or programming, then I might look at it many times. I take care of them and after I have read them they are still in new condition. That means they fetch a high price on Amazon.
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Business Strategy, Internet, Money, Success
Amazon, books, business, fulfillment by amazon, Internet, Money, sales, shipping, technology
Now I am reading Delivering Happiness
by Tony Hsieh. Tony is a co-founder of Zappos, the online shoe company that was recently sold to Amazon for $1 billion. I highly recommend this book because it is entertaining and fun to read.

Yet it is also filled with some deep meaning. Tony shares his story about how he sold his first company, Link Exchange, to Microsoft for $265 million. His own share was $40 million. But here’s the interesting part. He would be paid $8 million for staying with the company for one year.
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Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Great Books, Internet, Money, Success
Amazon, billionaire, customer service, entrepreneur, fun, millionaire, Money, Success, tony hseih, zappos
Here at Online Investing AI, we are dedicated to using new technology to develop Automated Trading systems. But there is one small problem with a purely programming approach. It does not allow us to leverage off the best trading strategies that people have already developed. That’s where you come in.

Are you a successful trader? Are you looking for ways of using new technology and Artificial Intelligence to improve your trading strategies? If the answer is yes, then we are looking for you.
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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Business Strategy, Success
AI, Automated Trading, backgammon, business p, chessrtner, Money, partnership, Success
Here is the second installment about my new investment system. So far, I explained some trades in silver and gold. This post is about trades in the currency markets.

Unlike many currency trading system, this system is not an intraday system. I expect the trades to last for several months, at least. They are based on global economic policy, and the massive printing of U.S. dollars. These trades are based on the belief that the Indian and Chinese economies will perform better than the U.S. economy in the near future. Read more…
Investing, Money, Success, US Economy
currencies, dollar, forex, Money, risk, rupee, stop loss, Success, US, Yuan
After reading about 25 books on investing, trading and automated trading, I finally came up with an investment system. Hopefully it will help crystallize your own investment philosophy.

Although there is an unlimited amount of information available about investing, it is a real challenge to find the good stuff. What is the good stuff, anyway? I think “good” information about investing (and in general) has the following characteristics: Read more…
Automated Trading, Investing, Money, Success
401k, eft, gld, Investing, methods, Money, plan, retirement account, slv, Success, system
After writing yesterday’s post about the True Cost of a Car, I took a look down and saw my cell phone. I thought about how much a cell phone really costs, in the context of financial freedom.

A $45,000 Cell Phone
How much does a cell phone really cost? How much do you pay? For a cool phone like an iPhone, it costs $299 for the phone, plus $36 for an activation fee. Then, it costs about $110 per month for calls, data and text. Add taxes and other fees and it comes out to about $135 per month. Divide the startup costs by 24 (months), and the average monthly cost is $150.
Why does it cost $45,000?
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success
android, cell phones, crowds, ERE, iPhone, Money, spending, status, Success, waste
Like most things in life, we usually make snap decisions about buying a car. We go to a dealership to “look at cars”, and two hours later we are excited to discover we are driving our shiny new car home. Has this happened to you? It has to me.

Unfortunately, this is the worst possible way to buy a car. $250 per month may sound affordable, but nothing could be further from the truth. $250 per month does not come close to the cost of owning and using a car.
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success
car, cost, debt, ERE, groceries, Investing, Money, payment, retirement, Success, work
I recently received a call from a recruiter, and he sounded like the guy from Idiocracy
. Have you seen this movie? If not, you really need to see it. It is about the dumbing-down of America and the lowest common denominator of human being. It’s about drinking Gatorade and eating fast food.

The Guy from Idiocracy
After talking to the recruiter for a few minutes, I actually thought it was a joke. Why would anyone trust him to find good people? Why would anyone even bother to talk to him? His diction was so poor I didn’t really understand what he was saying. I could tell he knew absolutely nothing about programming. I just kept remembering the frustrations of the main character in the movie when he tried to communicate with the “normal” people.
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Dreams Come True, Money, Success, US Economy
dumb, fast food, future, government, idiocracy, Money, politicians, singularity, Success, tax check
After reading this article about Hedge Funds Buying Gold, I remembered so many of the reasons that it is such a great investment. I have posted about gold numerous times in the past. Many individuals think that gold is overvalued because it has quadrupled in the last 10 years. But if you consider many different metrics, it is actually undervalued.

Gold Price 2000 - 2010
What kind of metrics would you use to figure out how accurately gold is valued? I think the best one is its ratio to the money supply. There is a relatively fixed supply of gold. When governments (like the U.S.) start printing money at a furious pace, then the price of gold is going to rise. Since gold is priced in dollars, more dollars naturally makes the price of gold rise.
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Great Books, Investing, Money, Success
gold, government, hedge funds, Investing, job, Money, Success, trends
This article on Yahoo finance really got my attention. It’s about how the state of Connecticut is about to run out of money. It’s interesting because many states are in dire financial straits, but most people are, as usual, blissfully unaware.

Recently I did some research about bonds, and was interested in purchasing some. I discovered that municipal funds are supposed to be among the safest bonds that you can buy! I thought, “Isn’t that funny. Many states and cities are going bankrupt, but people think these bonds are very safe.” It sounds like the same game the ratings companies have been playing for decades: give the bond a AAA rating even if it is risky.
Why are municipal bonds more risky in this financial environment?
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Money, US Economy
aaa, bailout, bankruptcy, bonds, California, chaos, Connecticut, debt, Money, problem, ratings, spending