The Online Investing AI Blog

Greece implodes!

California teeters!

States withhold tax refunds!

I’m not sure about you, but I’m starting to call the second decade of the 21st century, the “Exclamation Point Decade.” Bad, scary news is reported 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The breathless fear seems to increase with every headline and news segment.

Why should I be any different. I recently read some statistics at CNN Money that are pretty fear-inspiring. (As always, I have a sunny spin on it…)

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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy CNN Money, personal finance, savings, spending, spending habits, statistics, stats

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

Stafan Baudy @ Flickr

Personal finance is really about asking the right questions.

Should you buy and hold? Should you sell and walk away?

How much should you save?

How much should you spend?

What’s the best investment?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers to all those questions–but a lot of smart bloggers and columnists do. And I’ll let them do the talking in this week’s edition of Weekly Wisdom.

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Business Strategy, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success Investing, Links, Money, personal finance, questions, roundup, saving, wealth

One day, your ability to generate wealth will be automatic and ever-present.

How can we make this assertion?

The exponential wave of technology, which is turning the globe into interconnected, untethered web of information, will eventually wash over the world of personal finance.

Those first waves have already lapped onto the shore. The tsunami, though, is building.

In this untethered world, the power of mobile financial apps are growing in power.

Here are some  great apps you can use to monitor the market and, in some cases, use to trade.

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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI apps, financial, management, mobile, Money, personal finance, tech, technology, wealth

Pic by beachpiks on Flickr

The best of the best. That’s what the Olympics is supposed to be about.

But it’s also about inspiration. When we see a perfectly executed triple axle, or a record-breaking slalom run, maybe we’re not ready to strap on the skates and skis, but we might be inspired to achieve another slightly less death-defying goal in our own field.

As a blogger, I feel the same inspiration. When I read some of my favorite blogs I realize I won’t be able to match the performance of these writers, but I feel inspired to try.

So, if blogging were a sport, and if this week was the start of the personal financial blogging Olympics, here are posts that would receive perfect scores:

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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success blogs, Links, Money, personal finance, posts, roundup, wealth

Pic by R. Stanek @ Flickr

On this Valentine’s Day edition of Weekly Wisdom, we’d like to explore the connection between passion and personal finance.

Passion is like love in action.

Passion can propel you to do things you once thought were impossible. When you’re passionate about your financial freedom, you’ll learn how to save money–probably something that once seemed difficult.

You’ll learn how to earn money, on your own terms.

And, you’ll invest it wisely and in a way that’s aligned with your values.

So, here are some of the best posts that I discovered this week. Passionate posts.  I hope they fan those flames of financial freedom, if you already have an inferno burning. If you just need a spark, I hope these can serve as tinder.

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Online Investing AI Links, love, Money, passion, personal finance, roundup, valentine's day, wealth, weekly wisdom

Do you have a problem with your personal financial picture?

Most people engage in problem-solving in a series of steps. They isolate the problem. Brainstorm several solutions. And then they try each solution until they arrive at one that seems to work.

But, often, the problems are so big and the solutions so varies, that they quit and go back to the status quo.

Chip and Dan Heath, authors of “Made to Stick,” say there’s a better way in their new book, “Switch” According to the authors, who talk about the process in Fast Company, it’s a matter of finding a bright spot.

Bright spots are areas of success.  You want to copy success, not solve problems, they say.

“A problem may look hopelessly complex. But there’s a game plan that can yield movement on even the toughest issues. And it starts with locating a bright spot — a ray of hope.”

Here’s how you can apply it to your finances.

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Accelerating Technology, Great Books, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success books, bright spot, heath, made to stick, personal finance, switch

A lot of people avoid personal finance.

How can I tell? Look at the economy. Look at the states that are mired in debt. Look at the country. No one with any personal financial brains would let their communities slip into this kind of morass.

It’s easy to surmise that people avoid personal finance subjects because they thing it’s boring. A bunch of math. You have to deal with fractions and percentages.

But it’s not that way at all. There are webmasters and bloggers out there that make personal finance exciting–and reveal the exciting path of wealth we could be on.

So, let’s go:

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Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy debt, edge, Links, Money, personal finance, roundup, wealth, wealth wisdom, weekly wisdom

Pic by Alan Cleaver at Flickr Creative Commons

Mint.com, Wesabe, Bundle.com and other personal finance technology hubs were the first to recognize the democratizing power of technology in the money management sphere.

Online personal finance tools can unleash a team virtual accountants and analysts in your laptop.

You can now run reports and check graphs on everything from creating a budget to monitoring your spending habits to pinpointing your best investment returns.

Now, banks and credit card companies are growing wise to this tech trend and bolstering their own sites and online banking portals with personal finance technology.

Most customers are wondering, “what took you so long.”

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Accelerating Technology, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy banks, credit union, finance, Money, money management, personal finance, technology

Pic courtesy DavidDennis @ Flickr

There’s a killer on the road. His brain is squirming like a toad.
–Jim Morrison

Remember Jim Morrison? He was the Lizard King.

Seth Godin says that being king of your lizard brain is a good thing. For Seth, the lizard brain is that deep, dark shadow of the evolutionary past. It’s the part of the brain that squirms with the fear, fight,  flight, and fornicate responses.

Even though the lizard brain hasn’t been called on to lead us out of sticky situations involving bears and mastodons in thousands of years, our lizard brain still pumps out signals of imminent doom and demise in the form of resistance.

Resistance, according to Godin, leads to compromise and failure. (Steven Pressfield talks about it here, too.) Resistance and compromise have implications in personal finance.

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Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy, Great Books, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy book, linchpin, lizard brain, panic, personal finance, resistance, seth godin, stock market