The Helpful Parrot

Don't Be Afraid to Take Chances: No Balls. No Babies.

2007-07-22T10:36:00.000-05:00

"... When I was about 23, I was in Vegas playing blackjack for the first time. I was at the $5 table and asked the dealer if I should double down. He told me, "No balls, no babies." Sometimes you just have to go for it..."

On getting started on your dreams early:

"... The younger you start, the better. If you are single, have five roommates, and a beater for a car, you have nothing to lose. The more stuff and obligations you have, the more likely you will pussy out and not leave a paycheck ..."

Mark Cuban. Maxim Magazine.

Best financial tip and Worst financial move

2007-07-08T15:36:00.000-05:00

Here's some advice from an interview done on mint.com of the author of The Digerati Life blog. It includes an answer to the blogger's top financial tip and also has a financial move that everyone should avoid.

Best Financial Tip:

"... Never take your money for granted. Educate yourself in the areas of finance and business, stay reasonably frugal and invest your savings in index funds..."

Worst Financial Move Ever:

"... Emotional investments in independent stocks. Shorting stocks and participating in overly complicated schemes that involve money. I realized that the more complicated a money making scheme or venture was, the worse my returns were..."

Full interview here

Be a Warrior: Take life as a challenge

2007-07-04T18:25:00.000-05:00

"... The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse..."

"... We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same..."

>> Carlos Casteneda. Peruvian-born American author and writer.

How much does it take to retire rich? $5 million according to Fortune Magazine

2007-06-30T13:12:00.000-05:00

Fortune Magazine's recent retirement issue writes that you will need $5 million to retire comfortably. Here's what they wrote in their introduction to the issue:

"... Back in the day, $1 million was the symbol of wealth - and the amount financial-planning types said we all needed to live large in retirement. But $1 million just isn't what it used to be. (Forget for instance the beachfront home on Hilton Head Island.) What does it take now?

As we explain later in this issue, figuring out what you'll need is educated guesswork. So let's start with the pile of money pictured at left. That's $5 million, your new magic number. Using a 4% withdrawal rate, that kitty would get you a hefty $200,000 a year, which should be plenty to live richly.

Think $5 million and a life of ease are beyond your reach? (Hint: read the Fortune Magazine issue duh.) Read on for great advice on choosing stocks and funds, finding bargain condos - and making the tricky transition from working stiff to lucky stiff..."

Eric Gelman from Fortune wrote this intro. My favorite part was the last line: "making the tricky transition from working stiff to lucky stiff". If only I get so lucky!

In business you only need to be right once: the rest is just hard work!

2007-06-27T17:27:00.000-05:00

"... Then I took my money and started trading technology stocks that were in the areas that MicroSolutions focused on. I remember being told how lucky I was to have expertise in such a hot area, as tech stocks started to trade up. Of course, no one wanted to comment on how lucky I was to spend time reading software manuals, or Cisco Router manuals, or sitting in my house testing and comparing new technologies.

The point of all this is that it doesn't matter how many times you fail. It doesn't matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because:

All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are..."

>> Mark Cuban. Billionaire businessman. Chairman of HDNet. Owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Uber-Blogger with a lot more readers than the both of us.

Click here to view Mark Cuban's article in full. Unabridged and uncut.

Getting the most out of work

2007-06-26T19:49:00.000-05:00

"... It's easy to sit and do your work all day and go home at 5pm. A damn monkey could do that. The superstars are the ones who get their work done and then go the extra step. The hardest part isn't coming up with an idea. The hardest part is pushing it through the organization: identifying the right people, figuring out what motivates them, positioning it right, and following up. Or... you could no nothing..."

>> Ramit Sethi. Life entrepreneur, financial blogger at iwillteachyoutoberich.com

This is a reminder that it's important to be entrepreneurial in all aspects of your life. If you work for a company large or small, work for yourself, or anything in between you should always thing big and have a bias towards action.

The Hartford: Retirement Ad

2007-06-24T11:31:00.000-05:00

Warning! Nerd Alert: I got my Fortune magazine today and I'm very excited because it's their annual retirement issue! There was an ad from Hartford Financial that really got my attention. I tried searching for it on the net but couldn't find a similar one anywhere, so I did the next best thing, I took a picture of it with my digital camera and included it for your viewing pleasure.

As soon as I read the ad's text "You're not preparing to retire.... You're preparing to live" I asked myself a couple of questions: Am I allowed to live now as well or is it only a post-retirement phenomenon? And why can't I be in that little plane now?

I get the ad's original message but if you look at it from a different perspective you can come up with a completely different conclusion. At least I did and that's why I cut out the add and sticky taped it prominently on my wall!

The difference between being a traveler and a tourist

2007-06-23T11:46:00.000-05:00

"... The traveler is active; he goes strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes 'sight-seeing.' "

>> Daniel J. Boorstin

"... A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."

>> Lao Tzu. 6th century BC Chinese philosopher.

Are you 'for real busy' or just busy like an ant?

2007-06-21T18:23:00.000-05:00

"... It is not enough to be busy; so are ants. The question is, what are we busy about?"

>> Henry David Thoreau. Author, naturalist, philosopher. Best known for documented experiments in simple living in his book Walden.

Go on now read the post the below, and then geet r done.

Knowing what is really important to you

2007-06-21T18:10:00.000-05:00

"... How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters to us."

>> Stephen Covey. Author of the international best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

This is an excellent point. Think about what matters most in your life. It can include a number of things such as family, friends, work, hobbies, travel or something random like fantasy baseball or competitive eating. Whatever floats your boat. Remember that we are all unique creatures. Try and rank these in order of importance. And then figure out how much time you spend on each per week (you're allowed to choose different ones). Begin!

If we have no time to enjoy, no time to explore...

2007-06-17T09:14:00.000-05:00

“... If we have no time to enjoy, no time to explore, no time for family and friends, no time to refresh and re-create the root of recreation, then what exactly do we have?”

"... Time is the fastener of friendship and family and gives us the space to explore more than the buttons on the snooze alarm."

>> Joe Robinson. Author, keynote speaker and work-life balance expert

More on retirement...

2007-06-15T18:51:00.001-05:00

“ We focus on retirement for the same reason we look forward to the weekend: we hate our jobs”

This one is by a reviewer named September17th from Amazon.com for the book 'Die Broke'. I promise to keep searching in random places for words of wisdom.

Is retirement right for you?

2007-06-15T18:26:00.000-05:00

"... Conventional wisdom says go to school, get a degree or qualification, get a job, work til you 60's then hopefully have enough to enjoy your "twilight years". One day we will arrive at that magical time when we can apparently sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour. In the meantime we defer living to accomplish the doing."

>> A quote from the Perfect Life Project that got me thinking more about my own assumptions

I took some time today to read up on retirement. Background info about me in 10 words or less: I started my first job out of college recently. Being a little anal-retentive I spent a lot of time worrying and stressing about how much I will need to save each month for retirement. Numerous excel spreadsheets and calculations later got me nowhere. Then it occurred to me that I haven't thought at all about a much more important question: do I want to retire and do I even like the concept of retirement?

I've decided to still save some money for when I'm older but to also create a travel and entertainment fund for the next 12 months. I'll post one more quote and then I'm off to tap into that fund! I'll be much happier looking back when I'm 60 about the memories I'll make tonight!

Small details

2007-06-12T19:40:00.000-05:00

"... Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."

>> Ernest Hemingway. American novelist, journalist and WWI ambulance driver

The First Post

2007-06-12T19:11:00.001-05:00

"... When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like, ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself:

‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

>> Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple. Maker of your iPod. An excerpt from his commencement address to Stanford grads.

Welcome friend! Here's what you can look forward to in this blog: posts that are meant to inspire and remind us of the need to manage our lives well. The posts will largely consist of thought provoking quotes gathered from far and wide along with some of my own comments about them. Being a realistic guy I realized that posting other people's reflections does mean less work for me. Just trying to keep it real. Please enjoy!