These days, almost everything is getting more expensive.  It kind of sucks for people that saves money because it’s like a hidden tax that steadily erodes your purchase power.  So there’s definite an incentive to spend it, but wisely.  Heck, first take care of the basic necessities, then invest rest in stocks or gold, the former if you know how to read the financial reports, the latter if you don’t. 

The basic cause is because the Fed is keeping the interest rate low to stimulate economy.  The low borrowing cost creates a lot of money suddenly that dilutes the existing purchasing power.  Here’s a link that explains how Money as Debt works. 

Buy low, sell high.  Screw the market price.  Throw enough wild offers, and eventually something’s gonna stick.  See example below.  Bought the stock recently at  $1.40.  A couple of days ago, it soared to a peak of $1.97, triggered my sale order, and then plunged back to earth  I felt like a 6 year old kid who got locked in a candy store.

It’s kind of funny. But ever since I was a kid living in China during the 80s, still a time when most of locals talked more about communism than capitalism, I knew that I wanted to be rich. And until I was in my early 20s, I thought of wealth in terms of the accumulation of money. But it was after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad that I began to think of cashflow as the means for financial independence.

It’s actually a very simple formula. When your passive income, or money that flows in even when you don’t have to actively work, exceeds expense, then you are essentially financially independent. Of course how you build that passive income requires hard work, unless you win the lottery or get a generous inheritance. I had planned on 2 ways to achieve my dream, real estate & business startup, and originally planned to do the former. However, being rather conservative with money, I thought that the housing market was outrageously expensive, a bubble waiting to pop. So far, living in Seattle area, I’m still waiting for it to happen…

The other option is to build my own Internet publishing business. Having the experience in the industry in my previous jobs, I feel pretty confident about my success. But I still work like a manic to get if off the ground. It’s a risk that I willing to take for a better future.