Financial Samurai

Watch Texas Rangers relief pitching if you want to learn how to NOT be clutch! Wow, I mean come on.  How does that one kid throw 11 balls in a row and walk two SF Giants batters in the 8th inning of Game 2 when the bases are loaded?  It’s absolutely unbelievable how bad the Texas Rangers relief pitching was, and it’s simply due to mental weakness.  Texas going from having a chance down 0-2 in the 8th to losing the game 0-9 is a 100% ass kicking.

I understand how difficult it is to close things out due to competitive tennis.  I’ve blown my share of 5-4, third set leads before, and 9 times out of 10, it’s because my mind broke down.  Tennis, like many one-on-one sports is a complete mind bend.  I started worrying and thinking about all the “what ifs”.  What if I shank the ball when going for it?  What if my calves start cramping?  What if he starts catching fire?  As soon as I start filling my mind with doubt, my body follows suite and then before I know it, I’ve blown the lead and lose.

I’ve since been able to calm some nerves that have helped me cross the finish line in tight situations before.  Here are some tips for keeping your head in the game. Read more…

Over poker one night, we got to talking about what we always talk about: entrepreneurship.   Out of a table of 10, four work at start-ups, three are at Google, one is a high-tech lawyer, one works as a medical correspondent for CNN, and then there’s me, a hybrid.  I had just got done working on Yakezie.com for three hours after working an 11 hour day, and needless to say, I was a little bit tired.

I love going to Friday night poker mainly because I get to bounce ideas off of really smart and incredibly hard working people.  When I hear stories of one start-up player working from 7am to 3am every night for two weeks straight to launch a product offering, I get pumped.  When the Venture Capitalist player recounts his firm rejecting a pitch by Tim Westergren, Pandora’s founder in 2008, I wince, but daydream in amazement.

THE QUESTION Read more…

Yesterday was one of those perfect gastronomic days.  For breakfast, there was all you can eat fruit and pastries.  For lunch, some deliciously “low calorie” Greek baked spaghetti with garlic bread you see to the left.  To top off the evening, a bone-in filet mignon, with baked potato with the works, blue cheese wedge salad, and a couple glasses of pinot noir from Napa Valley.

All told, I probably consumed some 5,500 calories worth of food!  I didn’t feel incredibly sick to my stomach (OK, maybe a little bit!) because I made sure I played an hour and a half of tennis before dinner.  It was actually a wonderful experience since I normally eat half as much.  When I was in the cab ride home, I had an epiphany.

Perhaps the reason why there are so many large folks in America is because people purposefully gorge themselves in order to lose weight!  Eating great food is such a wonderful pleasure that it’s irrational not to.  It trumps any negative feels about packing on weight otherwise we wouldn’t let ourselves go.  Furthermore, the reason why there are so many people in debt is because it’s just so rocking fun to spend money you don’t have!  Finally, it feels great once you pay back that debt!  Double pleasure going both ways is why there is such a correlation.

GAINING WEIGHT IS THE PERFECT SOLUTION Read more…

 The following is a guest post by a regular reader who just turned 30.  Hope you guys enjoy and help her share in her thoughts!

So often we let society overly influence how we feel and act. I could go on for hours about topics like body image, nutrition, and politics but for now let’s just touch on age and children.

Maybe I’m on my own in this, but it annoys me that society teaches us that couples should raise a family once they’re married. While I have no ill feelings towards you wonderful parents out there, it frustrates me that I still find myself doubting my lack of interest in having kids because it’s abnormal, against the grain.

TO HAVE OR NOT TO HAVE Read more…

This is a guest post by Paul Williams from Provident Planning. He’s a fee-only financial planner in Lancaster County, PA, and regularly writes about personal finance from a Christian perspective. If you want to become a CFP^®, he’d be happy to talk with you.

I was excited when Sam invited me to write a guest post for Financial Samurai on how to become a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM (CFP^®). I’ll finally finish the requirements in Novemeber 2010 and be eligible to call myself a CFP^® after I fill out the last bit of paperwork.

Sam mentioned he’d like to become a CFP^® after he retires from his job, so he’s curious about what he’d have to do. I’m sure some of you might also be interested in becoming a financial planner if you’ve got a strong interest in personal finance.

This post is going to be about the process of becoming a CFP^® rather than deciding if you should even become a CFP^®. That’s a very different question and one you should have an answer to before you start the process of becoming a CFP^®. It’s certainly not a cheap certification to get (in money or time).

Fulfill three requirements to become a CFP^®: Read more…

I clicked the 2 minute super nuke button on my microwave before leaving to park my car.  Moose was left outside after a late night of partying and I didn’t want the parking crazies to give me a lovely $70 ticket for blocking my own driveway.

Two minutes should have been enough sizzle time to keep my food toasty before I got back.  Eight minutes later (checked and read the mail too), I came back to ravish my leftover Pad Thai.  Oh, how disappointed I was and so I tweeted:

“If room temperature is considered warm, why does my food always get cold? #Deepthoughts as I ponder the meaning of life while writing.” via @FinancialSamura

My question was sincere, in the moment, and with no time to think.  I got a couple sincerely interesting responses. Read more…

There’s a new site called SolutionAuctions.com which smartly allows people with questions to buy solutions and sellers to sell their solutions.  The site is very well designed and easy to use.  One of the main draws for sellers is that you can sell your solutions over and over again, earning a passive income stream for life.  Sounds great!  The real question is, will people go there to pay for answers?

The main thing the site lacks is credibility of the sellers.  It’s one thing to take advice online without having to pay for it.  It’s another thing to actually spend money for advice.  A brief glance shows that solutions are being sold for anywhere between $2 to $10.  That’s not a lot, but it’s $2 to $10 more than what many people will pay thanks to the invention of Google, Bing and other search engines out there.

LURE & DILEMMA Read more…

When the state of California raised the sales tax by another 1% on April 1, 2009 I was pretty pissed.  What kind of government expects their residents to pay a whopping 10% tax on everything they buy?  Pedro doesn’t want to pay $200 in taxes on his $2,000 60-inch LCD TV.  Nancy shouldn’t have to pay $300 more on her $3,000 diamond encrusted bracelet.  And I certainly don’t want to spend $5,200 in taxes on a handsome $52,000 BMW!  That’s just ridiculous!

We the people of California deserve our luxury items just like every other parrot-brained consumer in America.  Who’s to dictate what we can and can’t waste our hard earned money on?  Certainly not some bureaucrat in Sacramento counting all his money under the table, no way!

GOVERNMENT WANTS YOU TO SAVE WHILE THEY SPEND Read more…