The Man Behind the Curtain

I generally take my dogs outside around the same time in the mornings. And each weekday morning, for a number of years, my dogs have decided to bark towards a neighbor’s yard across the field.

I’ve looked each morning, scolding them, because I saw nothing of importance. I thought they were just barking at the wind so I told them to hush and be still.

Today as I sat on my stoop I happened to be examining the clouds in the distance when the dogs started their routine cacophony. Out of habit, I turned my eyes toward the yard…

…but this time I noticed something different.

Just beyond and to the right of that particular yard happens to be the entrance of one of our local water treatment plants. Moving around that entrance was a worker, opening the gates for the day.

Had my eyes followed their normal routine I would have never spotted him. He was far enough out of my normal focus that he would have remained unseen. Yet by changing my routine, changing the focus of where my eyes habitually go that man came into view.

I’ve spent this past decade scolding my pets for barking at that hour and in that direction. I spent this past decade scolding my pets for barking at nothing.

But they weren’t barking at nothing. They just saw something that I didn’t.

The same thing happened to me after Katie became an adult a few years ago. To settle the lost feeling I felt, I began to change my routine. I took a job, I read new books, I researched articles that I’d never thought to research in the past. I even started college.

I changed the focus of my mind as a result of those actions. And when I changed my focus I began to see things about our society that had previously passed unnoticed. During my research, I stumbled upon something that has shattered me.

Remember when I launched my grand goal to demonstrate that even the poorest among the poor could become wealthy? Remember even earlier, when I preached that we all just needed to live within our means? Remember when I announced that anyone could change their circumstances if they only worked hard enough?

I was convinced, completely convinced, that each and every one of those statements were true. I devoted my entire past life to proving the veracity of my beliefs. I spent this last decade, even longer, preaching those beliefs to you.

But when I shifted my focus I realized that I was wrong. There were things happening in the distance that I had not seen from my viewpoint because I had failed to shift the direction of my focus.

When my eyes finally traveled the right path they revealed to me a truth I found horrifying. A truth that I didn’t want to admit. I tried to turn away, tried to do the “business as usual” routine but I couldn’t. Once I spotted the truth, I was so disgusted that I could not look away.

My daughters must believe that I suffered some sort of mental breakdown over these past few months. I know some of my friends do. Because I went from chasing it “all” to where I stand today.

I quit my job and I lied to you when I did it. I lied to everyone. I told you I had enough coming in from my book royalties to surivive but the reality is a bit different. I was so horrified, so frightened that I couldn’t even process what was happening. So instead of revealing that I’d quit my job to supplement my income with my savings, I lied to everyone and inflated my income. I desperately needed to think, and in order to think I needed to remove the pressure that would have been placed upon me if I had revealed the truth. I needed to not only process what I had uncovered, but to make a decision about what to do with my discovery.

That lie is the reason I have not completed the book I promised to complete. That lie stuck in my throat and the words refused to come. I do not regret that lie but it is time to come clean. While it was a matter of mental survival at that point, I find the burden of that lie to be unbearable. It is time to explain my actions and accept the consequences of my misdeed.

When I began to change my focus to study the wealthy, the nature of business, and the stock market, I realized that the game has been rigged. Despite my father’s assertion that I could be anything I wanted to be, despite the fact that I have heard time and again that I can change my circumstances if I try hard enough and do enough work, the fact is that these statements are false.

I have been lied to my whole entire life. I am horrified and heartbroken and more than a bit embarrassed at the fact that I’ve preached those lies to the entire world my whole entire life. And I am not the only one who has been lied to. I suspect you’ve been lied to as well.

That is why the tone of my posts have changed. That’s also why I have been more than a bit erratic, because the pain I feel is so raw right now that I’ve yet to calm down. I am so upset, so furious at the truth I’ve discovered that I want to destroy it all. I have become the cat who has noticed the vase and I want so desperately to knock it down and see it shatter.

We are not poor because we choose to be. We do not struggle because we choose to struggle. If we pare our expenses to the bone, as I have, there is only so far down they can go. While frugality does help, it is not the solution to the problem.

The reason that we are poor and scared and broke is not because we’ve not done enough to improve our circumstances. The reason we are poor and scared and broke is because we have been brainwashed into believing that we are somehow wrong.

Want to score a date with the right person? Get the cosmetic surgery, have the hair colored, get the right cut and style and you will be good enough for them to notice you.
Want to score the right job, the job that will allow you to pay all of your bills with money to spare? Get the degree, buy the wardrobe, speak and act in a certain way and your path will be golden. You’ll never have to worry about money again. Don’t worry about the debt you’ll incur as you do this; you’ll be able to pay it all off with ease once you earn your fortune.
Want to live like “normal” people live? Buy the six-figure house and the $50,000 car. Go out to eat at the fancy places. Wear the little boutique clothing. Watch your labels! Work the job, get the promotions, raise the kids, clean the house. Buy the tablets and the gadgets and the stuff. The person with the most toys wins. Anyone else is a failure.

Do you know why we’ve been taught to believe these things? We have been taught to believe these things because they keep us quiet. It is hard to protest against something when it’s our own damn fault we’re in our mess, isn’t it?

But it isn’t our fault. You see, when we spend our lives pursuing these things and believing those beliefs, our focus is so great that we miss the man operating just outside our line of vision. Just as I missed seeing that man open those gates each morning, we miss seeing the truth of what is happening.

We have been led to believe the things we believe not because they benefit us or are even true. We’ve been led to believe these things because they inspire us to take actions that keep that man behind the curtain in power. With each and every one of these actions, we work to make him richer and give him more control. From behind that curtain, he is using us in a plan that I can barely comprehend.

Let me explain.

Check into the names of the stuff you buy every day and you will discover that those brands are owned by corporations. Those corporations are owned by other corporations, which in turn are frequently owned by even another corporation and so forth. Like tiny little nesting dolls, this chain of corporate confusion is being used to funnel the money you give them to a very dark purpose.

It’s hard to track. I barely scratched the surface during my research but if you look closely you will start to see it. Companies take over other companies by buying up their stock; if one corporation buys below a certain number of shares they don’t even have to report the specifics. So if the person in charge of one corporation buys several other corporations, then uses those corporations to buy some more corporations, he can ultimately use all of the corporations in that chain to buy stock below the limit of what they have to report, in a method that is not only completely legal, but obfuscated to a degree that we don’t have a clue about what is happening.

It is by that method that a unknown number of people are trying to take over the world.

All of the money from all of those corporations is being funneled up the chain to one or more people who are so rich that they aren’t just after the money now. Their primary goal is to corner the markets to consolidate their power. They are currently using the funds to influence our politicians through lobbyists, campaign donations, back-scratching, and other methods of control.

I know that I sound like a conspiracy fanatic. This is why I went off the deep end for a time. I didn’t want to believe what I had uncovered during my research. I certainly didn’t want to be labeled a nutcase, so I tried to keep the knowledge to myself and just go on with my life but I can’t.

I can’t. I tried and I’m sorry but I can’t.

Because in this case to keep silent would be wrong. To keep silent would be to allow them to continue to grow their power until they manage to conquer the entire world. I don’t know what their plans are once they accomplish this but what little I discovered has left me terrified.

I don’t know how to fix this. It’s so far beyond my comprehension that I don’t have a clue. All I know is this. Every single dollar we use, every single purchase we make to the corporations in question is being used to fund their actions. And they have hidden their tracks very well.

This is why the rich have become so much richer these past few years. They are draining us, sucking us dry as they move to shift the pieces into place. This is why I began to beg of you to become more thoughtful with your purchases. This is why I have been acting erratic and have altered the course of my life.

I feel as if I’ve stumbled off a cliff and gone into freefall.

I hope you understand my actions a bit more now. And if you have any idea about how to handle this, I would appreciate it if you would let me know because, to be blunt, I am scared completely shitless.

Have I gone completely insane?

It is hypocritical to run a website about buying and living on less while begging your readers to buy your crap so I refuse to do it. That said, I live on the money I receive from book sales, so if you can find it in your heart to pitch in I would be immensely grateful.

I’ve written a lot of books sharing my odd view of life in hopes of helping others. My most notorious book is titled The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too, but The Minimalist Cleaning Method is pretty popular as well. You can find them at the following places:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iBooks
Smashwords (non-DRM)

Thank you for your support!

Patient Experience

Last year I invested in Corus Entertainment, a Canadian company I stumbled upon when I first began investing in the stock market. I could sense that they were about to make some serious changes to the company; based upon that and a gambler’s hunch I bought in.

Sure enough, just as I expected, the company slashed their dividend. However, I hadn’t anticipated just how that would affect the stock price.

It tanked.

I decided to ride it out. It hurt, watching one of my very first investments, one of the very first companies I’d invested in using my limited experience to drop so sharply. I counted it as the cost of experience. I would learn something from this; even if I lost every penny of my investment it would be worth the price of admission.

It would also test a theory of mine. Based on my studies, I believed that in a quarter or two that the stock price would rise again as the company used the money previously allotted to a dividend to improve itself.

I was right.

Over the past few weeks I’ve watched the price of that stock slowly tick upwards. Yesterday, in the excitement of a new earnings announcement I watched the company’s price briefly hit $5.41/share.

I only paid $4.94/share when I bought in.

So what have I learned? I’ve learned that dividend cuts can be a very good thing for shoestring investors. Wait until the cut is announced. Watch as the price of the company’s stock tanks, and then buy as much as you can afford. In a few quarters as the company uses the extra funds to grow stronger, the stock price will advance again.

I am currently using that method on another company I’ve discovered. I intend to buy until the stock reaches a certain price and then move on to my next target.

Patience is key. Just as a successful business isn’t built in a day, a profitable portfolio isn’t built overnight.

I have now discovered that I learn best through practical experience. I’ve learned to pay the price of admission, even if I don’t fully understand the game. I’ve learned that experts can be wrong, and the only way to discover that is to do your research and make your own decisions.

What have you learned lately? Please share your stories in the comments below.

My Stock Market Investment Strategy

After a lot of thought and research I finally settled upon a specific set of criteria to use while searching for stocks to invest in. While I do allow the occasional exception, for the most part this is how I locate stocks for purchase.

My Stock Market Black List

These are the reasons I pass up investing in a lot of companies.

Index Funds and ETFs. If the market seriously tanks I’ll reverse my decision but for now I avoid them. I believe that they are currently overpriced.
Non-dividend-paying stocks. My goal is to build passive income through dividends. With one exception (I’ll discuss this in a later post), I have avoided them.
Stocks in the Finance Sector. Finance companies make money through loans or investing in groups of loans bundled up in packages. I have personal issues with the use of credit. I’m also honest enough to admit that I don’t understand derivatives and other financial jiggery-pokery well enough to make investment decisions in this sector so I am avoiding them entirely. If I learn enough to feel safe, this limitation will be lifted as well.

What I Search For In A Stock

Companies with a history of paying dividends. A decade or more is preferred.
Companies with a large volume of insider buying. If insiders are purchasing on the open market it is usually a sign that the stock price will go up in six months to a year. I don’t include stock options that have been issued in this analysis, though I do investigate further if an insider is selling a large amount of stock.
Companies with a significant amount of major investors. I take note if I discover that the big dogs are scooping up shares. They have access to more information than I do so I like to ride on their coattails whenever possible.
Companies trading for $5 a share or less. This is a budgetary restriction.
Companies with excitement in the voices of their board members. I close my eyes and listen to their voices on their conference calls, noting the emotions. Any company that doesn’t display obvious hope or excitement for the future, who has board members that seem bored or disgruntled, are eliminated from my list. I do keep an eye on them, however. One company I recently invested in went from sounding hopeless to excited about the future as they described how they had managed to pay down millions in debt over the course of a single quarter. I jumped on that stock as soon as I noticed the change.

Since I am investing on an extremely limited budget I focus on companies that have fallen out of favor with investors. I search for companies that have reduced their dividends in order to pay off debt or expand their businesses. Investors hate companies that slash their dividends so this usually causes their stock prices to tank. Since major exchanges will only allow stock prices to go so low before they are de-listed, these companies are motivated to do whatever it takes to keep from slashing dividends further and will do whatever it takes to increase their stock price over time. I love locating companies that are reallocating dividend money to pay off debt. I take that as a positive sign of fiscal responsibility despite the fact that most investors disagree.

My criteria severely limits my stock selection but that’s okay. It’s a start. I’ll be able to lift some of the restrictions as I learn more and work out ways to increase the amount of money I have available to invest. It will just take time.

Do you have any specific criteria for your personal stock market investments? Please share your stories in the comments below.

My Financial Freedom Game Plan

Despite the fact that I spent more than I like last month I still managed to have money left over for investment. I took the $67 I received in royalties and added $63 from my paychecks to it in order to scrape up $130 to invest this month. I plan to stick every penny into a single stock I’ve targeted.

This will increase my annual dividend income by over an hour’s wage.

My Game Plan

Keep my expenses low to maximize the amount I can invest each month.
Invest in stocks that fit the criteria I’ve worked out (I’ll write more on this later).
Reinvest any dividends received.
Repeat.

In time this method will allow the annual dividends to grow to the point where they match the annual income from my day job. I mark my progress by my original hourly wage of $7.25 an hour. Every hour’s worth of dividends I receive takes me closer to freedom.

So far, factoring in the dividend cut from my miscalculation on the one stock, I’ve managed to build my investments to the point where the dividends are close to a single week’s wage. I only have fifty-one week’s worth of wages to go in order to achieve financial freedom.

Not bad for a beginner.

Do you have a plan to achieve financial freedom? Please share your stories in the comments below.

Missing the Boat

One of the first stocks I researched happened to be the company that originally owned the store I work in. Since they had sold my company off I decided not to buy, but since the owners of my franchise happened to also own another store that was involved in the company, I set up some news alerts just to keep abreast of how they were doing.

The other day my inbox started buzzing. The trading volume on this stock was insane! I loaded a live chart of the action and watched the price of the stock climb higher as new 52-week highs were reached. This stock that originally traded for around $13 in March at their 52-week low was now selling for over $20 a share and going higher!

By the time it was done the company in question had been bought out by another company at over $32 a share. If I had purchased 100 shares of this company at its 52-week low, I would have netted a $1,900 profit.

But I missed the boat.

So what have I learned so far with these two experiences? I’ve learned to always wait to make sure that a stock has bottomed in price before investing. I’ve learned that, while cutting dividends to pay down debt or grow a company may be a good thing that investors don’t agree and the price drops drastically as a result.

I have learned the value of patience and research.

I’ve also learned that I am on the right track. I can invest in dividend-producing companies at their 52-week lows (after checking into why the stock dropped to make sure it is a good investment), hold onto the stock until it reaches a new 52-week high then sell at a profit, receiving dividends while I wait.

I’ve also learned that there is an odd chance that I might get very lucky and make a mint like the one I lost out on. I’m not going to count on that, however. Stumbling upon a coup like that is kinda like winning the lottery, in my opinion.

I’m finally starting to form a game plan. The proof will be in the pudding, however. It will take about a year before I learn if this method will work or not.

I can wait.

A Stock Market Ouchie

While I was digging through the bargain bin at the Stock Market I stumbled across a company with a LOT of potential. This media company, while it has its fingers stuck in traditional media sources like television and radio stations, not only creates its own content but has been slowly transitioning to embrace the new way people receive media. I dug through their financials. They had a lot of debt but were otherwise doing okay. Even better, they had realized that the times were changing and, unlike other companies I’ve researched, they were adapting.

Due to the significant dip in their stock price, the dividend was very attractive, enough so that I continued digging. I realized that this company had something in the works to not only reduce its debt but to continue the transition that I’d discovered. I didn’t know what the plan was but I decided to buy in. I scrounged up every penny I could and bought 191 shares, planning to round it out to 200 shares as my finances allowed.

This stock was trading around $5 a share. I ended up investing close to $1,000 in it. Satisfied, I sat back to see what would happen next. Considering that this company, in the years it had been on the exchanges rarely traded for less than $9 a share I figured I could hold it a couple of years and then sell for a tidy profit while receiving dividends for my trouble.

I woke up one morning a couple of weeks later to discover the stock price completely tanking. My pulse went through the roof as I stared. What the hell? I hit the news feeds. As I had predicted, this company had taken some drastic steps to reduce its debt. It had not only written down the value of some assets in order to save money on taxes by reporting a loss for the quarter, it had used that legal jiggery-pokery as an excuse to slash the dividend payout. The money saved would be used to aggressively pay down its debt.

Oh, the financial reporters were screaming! I could almost see them shaking with rage as they ranted against the dividend cut online. This stock had been considered a staple in dividend portfolios yet the company had the nerve to actually slash it–how dare they! Retirees had been counting on that dividend!

As I watched the value of my investment tank I ran the numbers on the new dividend amount. At the price I paid for the stock the return was still a reasonable 5%, yet people were ditching the stock in droves. I watched as the value of the stock dipped lower and lower, debating. Should I sell and then re-buy when it finally bottomed? I’d already lost over $150 in value when I’d discovered the mess. What should I do?

I sat back, took a deep breath, and let it fall. When last I looked the stock was trading at $3.49 a share. It has lost almost $250 in value since I purchased it. I’ll finish up my lot and perhaps buy even more once it hits bottom, if only because I can tell even now that the company is a scrapper. They are paying down their debt while they work out the best way to navigate the challenging media landscape. While I’ve no idea how this will pan out I’ve got faith.

I cannot believe that I am taking this so calmly. Maybe I have what it takes to be an investor after all.

Why I Won’t Invest in Index Funds

I’ve had a lot of recommendations concerning Index Funds as of late. It seems that many people believe that they are the way to go.

I happen to disagree, especially with current market trends.

An Index fund is a business that buys shares in some (weighted funds) or all of the companies listed on the stock market. As a result, the value of your investment goes up and down in relative sync with the stock market itself. These have become famous in recent years as Warren Buffett and others began recommending them for folks who don’t know much about the stock market.

I have a big bone to pick with them, however. When you purchase shares in an Index fund, you don’t own a piece of the individual companies. Instead, you own a piece of a company (or fund, whatever you want to call it) that happens to own pieces of individual companies. You don’t actually own a bit of the individual companies themselves.

I prefer to cut out the middle man because I’m ornery like that. Why pay someone else big bucks so they can buy and benefit from the stocks? If I wanted to go that route, I’d simply start collecting shares on my own (which I might do someday).

My primary concern at the moment isn’t quite that nitpicky, however. My concern is with the fact that the stock market seems to be on the verge of a bear market. As a result, the value of Index Funds could drop dramatically. It’s gotten to the point that Vanguard no longer allows its employees to invest in their own product, the S&P 500 Index Fund.

When a cook refuses to eat their own cooking you need to run for the hills because something is seriously wrong.

I believe I know what it is. Here is a screenshot of the S&P 500 Index:

See that slow, downwards trend? That’s the value of an S&P 500 Index Fund starting to go down around mid-January of this year.

Here’s another one:

This is the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It’s been trending downwards as well this year. Like the S&P 500, the trend is gradual, but it’s still there. In fact, the only major one still trending upwards this year is the Nasdaq:

The Nasdaq is very tech-oriented, so its gains are doubtless tied to the FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google). I suspect that upwards trend is about to change. Look at this:

This is a long-term view of Amazon’s stock rise. See how steep the trend is? If there is one thing I’ve learned during my research, the steeper the trend, the less sustainable it is. Amazon is the darling of the stock market but you can bet your buttons it won’t be able to sustain that momentum forever. It will tank, and tank hard. The only question is when. If you look very closely at the chart (just click on the image to see it full-size), you can see that the top is already beginning to round out. This may very well signal that the price is about to drop, though it is a bit too early to tell at this point.

I read somewhere (I really wish I had saved the link), that it is the FANG stocks currently supporting the stock market averages. Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google (now called Alphabet), and by extension Apple, Microsoft, and Intel are providing around 85% of current gains on the stock market. As a whole, over 60% of the stock market is down, so when the FANG stocks plunge, those invested in Index funds will see their nest eggs wiped out.

The worst part is, that plunge is already starting. Here is a screenshot from Facebook’s stock:

See that big drop, like the stock fell off of a cliff? It will take them months, if not years, to recover. I suspect that the price of the stock will fall even lower before it’s done since they usually do.

Here is Netflix:

Netflix is on its own roller coaster ride downwards.

Google (Alphabet) is the only one of the primary FANG stocks that seems to be in a stable trend upwards:

So out of the four primary stocks fueling market gains, only one of them seems to have the ability to continue to move upwards for the long term.

In addition to this, as I look through what I call the “bargain bin” I am noticing that many of the stocks there began a major downtrend in January, coinciding with the start of the downward S&P 500 trend that’s starting to appear. My guess is that these companies are the “canaries in the mineshaft”–more sensitive to change than the overall market. I’m seeing stocks that traded for $5, $10, or more a share prior to that time taking a sudden drop–and staying down despite the fact that nothing within the company has really changed.

I may be far from an expert but to me the warning signs are significant enough to pay attention. We may not be in what is called a Bear Market right now (I don’t even think they are calling it a correction yet) but I highly suspect that one is coming. Those who are heavily invested in high-flying stocks like the FANG group or so-called “safe” Index Funds will be hurt the most if I’m correct. Vanguard has apparently seen the writing on the wall but since they will make money on their Index Funds regardless of how well (or poorly) they do, they will continue to market them to the unsuspecting general public as they protect their employees by not allowing them to invest in it.

In conclusion, as a result of my research, my answer is a firm no. No, I will not invest in Index Funds at this time. If Vanguard doesn’t even recommend for its own employees to invest in their product, I refuse to touch it with a ten-foot pole.

I hope you understand my reasoning now. This is why I firmly believe that my best bet is to scrounge around the “bargain bin” for companies already suffering from the downtrend. For the record, all of this could very well blow over–if it does and my concerns are eased, I will consider the investment.

For Further Reading:

Top Economist: Get Ready for a Stock Market Drop

Why the 1929 Stock Crash Could Happen in 2018

‘A storm is brewing’ in the US economy, says economist Diane Swonk

The Challenge of Investing in the Stock Market

One of the major challenges of entering the stock market on a shoestring is brokerage fees. These are fees that you have to pay any time you buy or sell a stock. While there are a number of discount brokerages out there, many of them require that you open an account with anywhere from $500, $1,000, or even more. When you live on minimum wage, saving up that sort of money can be daunting!

Once you open a brokerage account the challenge doesn’t stop there. In order to reap a profit you have to factor in those fees. For instance, the last I checked, a popular Dividend Aristocrat, Proctor and Gamble (PG) was trading at $79.28 a share with a quarterly dividend of $0.717.

Think about this. You work minimum wage. If you’re lucky, you might be able to save up $100 to invest every month or so. That means you will only be able to purchase a single share of the stock at a time. Using my brokerage fee of $6.95 as a guideline, in order to purchase a single share of Proctor and Gamble at $79.28 a person would actually have to spend $86.24 for the privilege. If you were just investing for dividends, it would take you over 27 months just to recoup the fee you paid to buy the stock! I’m not including the potentially increased value of the share itself since appreciation is not guaranteed. In fact, the value of your stock can tank overnight so in reality, when one invests for dividends the safest attitude to have is that you might very well lose the entire price you paid for a stock if the market turns. Even if the market didn’t turn against you, in order to receive a profit from that single share you would have to wait until the stock sold for over $93.19 simply to recoup the amount you paid to buy and sell it!

With that sobering reality, it would be better for the shoestring investor to stash their cash in a savings account.

So how do these big dog investors make money then? They buy in bulk, that’s what they do. It costs the same whether you buy one share or 100 shares so they leverage that to reduce their trading fees to an acceptable level.

Using Proctor and Gamble as an example, if a person bought 100 shares of the company the trading fee works out to seven cents a share to buy, or fourteen cents a share to both buy and sell. The first round of dividends would be $71.70, an amount that completely covers the brokerage fee to purchase the stock and netting a $64.75 profit. Every quarter after that would be pure profit. When the stock increased in price just fourteen cents a share, the brokerage fees would be covered even if you didn’t hold the stock long enough to receive a dividend.

There’s one major problem with that scenario, however. Folks on minimum wage generally don’t have $7,928 to invest at one time. While you can adjust the numbers to accommodate purchasing a smaller amount of shares, one has to be very careful. The goal here is to make a profit–not give it all to the brokerage firms!

My goal here is not to just feather my nest. I want to work out a way that an average person on minimum wage can invest in the stock market and receive a profit. With that in mind I am going to rule out the big dogs as an investment option. While I’m good at saving money I have no desire to save up an entire year’s wage before I could invest.

There has got to be a better way. I have noticed that there are a lot of companies who have seen their stock prices tank starting back in January of this year. I am going to sift through this “bargain bin,” searching for quality companies to invest in. To minimize my trading fees I intend to purchase no less than 50 shares at once, though if at all possible I want to be able to acquire a minimum of 100 shares per purchase.

Is this risky? Yes, it is. I could very well lose every single penny I invest in the stock market using this method but that’s okay. The very worst that can happen is that I have to continue working until I die. Considering the fact that I’d have to do that anyway, the fear doesn’t bother me.

This isn’t the first time I’ve risked everything. When I left my husband, all I had to my name was a ratty old mobile home. I didn’t even have a job when I started but I made it work. I risked it all again when I decided to become a full-time writer. I managed to live on my royalties for several years as a result of that leap.

As for this? This is about more than just me. If I can pull this off, if I can figure out how to play this game and make a profit, I can figure out a way to distil what I’ve learned and teach others how to escape the rat race. I’ll not only achieve my own personal financial freedom, but I’ll be able to help others do it as well.

I’ve got to try.

A Lesson in Silver

My silly little silver investment has paid off, not in dollars, but in knowledge. I’ve not only learned how to read price charts now but I’ve also realized that there is a big difference between investing in precious metals and the stock market.

While silver, gold, and other precious metals might go up in price you never know exactly when that is going to happen. It is also something of a chore should you decide to sell. If you don’t sell it locally then you have to arrange for a sale with an online broker, package it all up, ship it to them, then wait for them to pay you.

That alone is a pain in the tukus.

The stock market, on the other hand, is a whole lot easier. You buy your stock, wait a bit for the price to go up, then press a few buttons to sell it. You’ll get paid within minutes. I learned this after making a few experimental trades with my new brokerage account. I made a $40 profit just playing around in the past couple of weeks, while the value of my silver has essentially remained flat.

Even better, I’ve learned that certain stocks issue dividends. Buy these stocks and you will receive a small amount of money every one to three months (depending upon how they do their accounting). They are like buying a cow and then selling the milk!

If I can learn how to combine the two methods of investing for dividends and harnessing stock price increases, I should be able to grow my little nest egg into a tidy profit over time. It won’t be overnight, especially with the current stock market fears, but it’s something to look forward to.

In essence, my silver investment may have ended up being a short-term bust, but it taught me more than I would have learned had I not experimented. I’ve even gotten a little memento to keep in my pocket to remind me of what I’ve learned.

What have you learned from your mistakes? Please share your stories in the comments below.

A New Focus

First off, I want to thank everyone who has commented or messaged me with suggestions. You are awesome, and you’ve given me a lot to think about.

Second, I’ve been burning the midnight oil as I try to work out a way where I, the Shoestring Girl herself, can build up some sort of passive income stream that will support me in the future so that I won’t have to worry about working should I become unable to.

I’ve temporarily ruled out real estate, though it is something I would like to explore once I get my income in a higher range. As it is, with Katie planning to move out at some point in the future, the expense of acquiring a vehicle to attend any real estate purchases is a bit more than I feel my current finances can handle. The insurance alone (since I haven’t had any for several years) would destroy my budget.

My research has revealed that the stock market has a very low entry point; you can start an account with no minimum deposit; a variety of stocks trading there go for a pittance. Did you know that Ford Motor company is currently trading for around $12 a share? I was floored at some of the prices listed. I thought you had to be rich to even enter that arena.

Thanks to Carla for recommending that I read about Derek Foster! I’ve got two of his books due to arrive any day now. In the meantime I’ve acquired several books on the stock market to read while I’m waiting. Here is a list of the titles:

Buffetology
Investing for Dummies
The Intelligent Investor
Get Rich Carefully

This is going to be interesting. I know nothing about the stock market except for the fact that my dad invested in it when I was a teen and lost a small fortune. Since he invested with Merrill Lynch I decided to sign up for an account with Merrill Edge, their online brokerage. They have no minimum deposit to start, they have a ton of information available to help beginners, and they charge a flat rate of $6.95 a trade. I found cheaper brokerages out there but sentimentality won out.

Let’s see if this old bird can figure this out.