Learning process - money mistakes

Jan. 13, 2019

Introduction

It is my personal finance research. I like to learn from those years from 1988 to 2018 until I started to work on my personal finance research Nov. 2017. I learned from the talk from ANC, the quick money does not provide me the learning process, so it is a big check syndrome. Easy come and easy go. I need to work on my personal finance research and find out my real personal finance personality fatal issue. 

How much lessons I learn in terms of dollar amount?

Currency exchange

US saving rate from 1.2 to 2.85% in Jan. 13, 2019.
But Canadian dollar worth lowest value compared to US dollar, now it is 0.75
I bought us dollars $3600 for a central AC for my boca raton Condo
I bought us dollars using Canadian dollars,  $22,000 Canadian dollars -> $18,000 US dollars
2010 April 23, I sold $17,000 dollars one deal -> $15,000 Canadian dollars

I learn from lottery winner, quickly gain and quickly loss. One thing I like to do is to protect myself to avoid this problem.

Credit card debt

Credit card is a plastic, it is so easy to make purchase. But I quickly make purchases without carefully recording all expenses. Review and audit, and design a strategy to find those negative influence friends and relatives.

1999 I spent $2,000 on clothing
1999 I spent $6000 on material things, vacations, and restaurant, gadgets
2000 I spent $2,000 on clothing,
2000 I spent $6,000 on material things, my mom vacation, and restaurant, gadgets
2001 I spent $2,000 on clothing 
2001 I spent $5000 on China vacation in August,
2001 I paid for six people vacation to Shanghai over near 2000 us dollars

2010 - 2018
I spent over $3,000 Canadian dollars on clothing
I will continue to count all expenses.

Total expenses on clothing  over $10,000 dollars from 1998 - 2018


What did I learn from those money mistakes? Am I bread winner hard working? Am I a lottery winner?

Date my money - third date on my money

Jan. 13, 2019

Introduction

It is my personal finance research. I learn that I need to date my money, I need to set up fourth date on my money. I documented my first three dates early this year by using tag "Date my money".

My fourth date

This one is not an easy date. I have a CD over $2600 New York community bank in the city of Boca Raton. It is not an IRA CD, I can break 6 years term. I like to break CD term of less than 2%, and I like to transfer to US Chase bank my checking account, and then I will write a personal check to my Canada scotia bank. I will go to kingmark to sell US dollars to get Canadian dollars.

It is a complicated date. I like to get into more structured way to describe and push myself to learn how to date better next time.

New York community bank - CD with six year term - break the contract
Chase bank - transfer $2600 US dollar to Chase bank
Scotia bank - US saving account - write a personal check from Chase and deposit to Scotia bank
Scotia bank - wait 21 business day, cash to sell in kingsmart, save personal check fee $7.5 dollars
Scotia bank - save 1.3 * 2600 Canada dollars. The rate is 1.32, 3348 Canadian dollars, 748 extra dollars.

That is my date, I will cover the loss of my three transactions from 2010 to 2017.

Learning process

US saving rate from 1.2 to 2.85% in Jan. 13, 2019.
But Canadian dollar worth lowest value compared to US dollar, now it is 0.75
I bought us dollars $3600 for a central AC for my boca raton Condo
I bought us dollars using Canadian dollars,  $22,000 Canadian dollars -> $18,000 US dollars
2010 April 23, I sold $17,000 dollars one deal -> $15,000 Canadian dollars

I learn from lottery winner, quickly gain and quickly loss. One thing I like to do is to protect myself to avoid this problem.

1999 I spent $2,000 on clothing
1999 I spent $6000 on material things, vacations, and restaurant, gadgets
2000 I spent $2,000 on clothing,
2000 I spent $6,000 on material things, my mom vacation, and restaurant, gadgets
2001 I spent $5000 on China vacation in August,
2001 I paid for six people vacation to Shanghai over near 2000 us dollars

What did I learn from those money mistakes? Am I bread winner hard working? Am I a lottery winner?

Blog keyword search: lottery winner

Feb. 9, 2019

Introduction

It is my favorite reading when I feel tired and like to learn something related to money. I search my blog using keyword: lottery winner, here are blogs to read.

Case study: Lottery winner

Here is the article. 

Richard Lustig
“I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor, and I like rich a whole lot better.”
Richard Lustig is one of the rare exceptions. The 65-year-old Florida man is a seven-time lottery game grand-prize winner who is still basking in riches after hitting it big about two decades ago. “Obviously it’s changed my life big time,” he told TIME on Tuesday. “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor, and I like rich a whole lot better. We’ve lived in big, fancy houses. I drive a Jaguar. We’ve gone on cruises. I can’t complain.”

The former professional drummer, who banked his largest payout of $842,000 playing Mega Money, has kept most of his earnings and wrote the book, Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery, in 2010 after his latest lotto win of $90,000.

The book has been flying off shelves in the last two weeks. “It’s been insanity. We’ve sold thousands of dollars because of all the publicity,” he said. “We wait for these kinds of moments, when jackpots get really high. When it happens, boom!”

Lustig, who has two children with his wife of 30 years, said the key to staying happy is to hire a good financial planner and a good accountant after paying off all debts. “I’m smarter than that,” he said. “People, they just don’t think. You have to secure your future.” “The reason why you hear those horror stories about people who win huge amounts like that and all of a sudden they’re filing bankruptcy is because it’s usually from people who have never had that kind of money before in their lives,” he added. “They just go through it like crazy. They think there’s no tomorrow. Well, there is a tomorrow and eventually it will run out.”

8 big lottery winners whose money and luck ran out

Here is the link.

The winner needs to figure out day-to-day cash needs, insurance needs and emergency needs before anything else.

Case I:

William “Bud” Post III

“He did everything you would expect of a guy who became a millionaire overnight,” Lacher told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “While you might buy one laptop, Bud would see the same laptop and buy 30.”

Case II:

“A few of my relatives were angry because I had so much.”

Case III:
Andrew “Jack” Whittaker, won $315 million dollars

Whittaker started drinking heavily. He was robbed often and said he was battling more than 400 legal complaints at one point.


Case IV:
Florida residents Alex and Rhoda Toth were downtrodden in 1990. 

“It caused us to lose a lot of friends, some family members,” Rhoda Toth told the St. Petersburg Times in 1997.

A crash course in taxes is a must for lottery winners.

Case V:
Winning a $31 million Texas Lottery jackpot in 1997 initially looked to be a cure-all for Billie Bob Harrell Jr.’s financial woes.

But the endless pressure of strangers asking for money took a toll. Harrell was forced to change his home phone number more than once. He and his wife separated.

One of the first things to do is put together a list of people you trust and make one of them a buffer — someone who will deal with those who come out of the woodwork, because you now have a target on your wallet.

Case VI:

In 1993, Janite Lee, a South Korean immigrant, was running a wig shop in St. Louis when she won $18 million in the Illinois Lottery

She also donated generously to Washington University, and its School of Law named a reading room after her.

But the annual, after-tax payments of $620,000 couldn’t match her spending.

When she filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 2001, the extent of Lee’s debts became clear. She had only about $700 but owed $2.5 million, according to The Augusta Chronicle. And, she had lost nearly $350,000 gambling at casinos during one year.

Gambling financially is never a good idea. But with CD rates on the rise, they’re a low risk way to earn an almost 3 percent return on your investment.

Case VII:

Suzanne Mullins won $4.2 million in the Virginia Lottery in 1993. After she split the money with her family and taxes ate away some of the prize, her 20 annual payments of less than $50,000 weren’t remotely enough to lead a millionaire’s lifestyle.

Case VIII:

Denise Rossi had been married for a quarter century when she won $1.3 million in the California Lottery in 1996.

In 1999, a judge declared that Denise Rossi had violated state asset-disclosure laws. The result? Her ex-husband received all of her winnings.

Actionable Items

I like to look into the following topics. 

Case II: buy same laptop 30 of them. 

I used to purchase shirts/ pants 6 dollar each pieces, i bought 8 pieces some time from 2010 to 2014, the total cost is $48.00 dollars plus tax.  I used to go USA shopping jeans, I bought more than six pieces of jeans since I do not want to go shopping any more. 

The idea is to set limit on my purchase. Do not buy any clothes anymore. Do not buy grocery each time more than $50 dollar in Costco. Do not purchase any grocery in crystall mall more than $50.00 dollars. 

I also need to spend time to document each purchase with items in detail. Also I need to push myself to find time to generate monthly expense report. 

Case VI:Gambling financially is never a good idea. But with CD rates on the rise, they’re a low risk way to earn an almost 3 percent return on your investment.

I sold VIGRX fund with one thousand dollar loss in 2002. And then I sold all stock and mutual fund after 2008, since the value of loss is more than $5,000 dollars. 

So I have to learn to make my investment in stock market as a business. I need to document the purchase. Even if it is 50% of loss, it is still better for me to spend on vacation or shopping. Those items I can sell them with 10% of value easily. 

Historic '81 lottery winner Lou Eisenberg now living in mobile home

Here is the article.

As his fame grew, so did his spending. There were days at the track, trips to Europe and Hawaii, and dinners where the newly minted millionaire always picked up the check.  "Whoever needed something, I gave cash. I wanted to be nice to people," he said.

He said he gave a big chunk of his winnings to his second ex-wife. He married a third time, but that didn't last either.

By 2001, after he cashed the last lottery check, he was broke.

Hamilton lottery winner fritters away $10 million

Here is the link.

Case study: Charles Schwab 401 K account

June 27, 2019

Introduction

It is my personal finance research. I start to learn every feature on Charles Schwab website, I login in my Par 401 account, and today I found the button to add non-Charles Schwab account. So I added my US dollar account.

Case study

I added my Chase bank account, and then TD Ameritrade.com account. I could login my BB& account, and then I plan to close NYCB CD account very soon.

I got my information ready. It is the very beginning for me to learn how to manage myself in terms of personal finance.

I started my personal finance research from Dec. 2018, and then I found out that I should learn and be frugal, and then next step is to learn how to invest on stock market. I should have learned how to invest properly from 1998 to 2019.

I have confidence on my talent of research, so I just go ahead to move my research on algorithm and data structure to investment. What I do is to learn from basics, every feature on Charles-Schwab website, ask question about product feature, and then work on it day by day, one hour a time.

If I am humble and appreciated what I have early, then I must have learned how to invest on stock market, my 401 K and IRA should have doubled or tripled from 2010 to 2019.

Actionable Items

I did some research about lottery winner and went-broke after winning. One thing I can tell is that those winners are lack of personal finance knowledge, education, experience. They also do not study behavior finance, how to treat relative and friends with money issue.

I know that before I can accumulate more wealth, I should have good knowledge of Ameritrade product feature, how to read my own data, and also get familiar with various app to track the performance.

I am still learning from various source about investment basics. I will turn 53 years old this October. I like to prepare better for my finance health.

My personal finance research progress report - 2019-03

March 14, 2019

Introduction

It is the first time I decided to start personal finance research started from Nov. 2018. I also like to work on 10,000 hours in order for me to master basic principles, rules, and build very good personal finance habits. I may have spent over 500 hours to study on the personal finance research last 5 months.

Progress report

I like the personal finance research. It is a new world for me. I find that there are so many things to learn, books to read, videos to study, and ideas to think about; I do not have a lot of asset, but I spent 23 years in United States and Canada. This is the first time I like to get educated from youtube.com videos, books and talks.

I like to be a self-learner. I learn from my own experience to how to get a gold medal, top 4% rating from over 10,000 players on hakerrank.com. I know the term called mental toughness.

Here are some highlights I did, and I like to use them to showcase my progress.

1. I make a few purchases of Canadian dollars, called date my money in series, I, II, III, IV .
2. I did some case study based on my citi credit card statements from 1996 to 2017.
3. I also reviewed all documents based on papers, and documented them first.
4. I did spend time to learn stock market, economy, and money, and I find some good mentors.

Milestones of personal finance research

Nov. 12  Home price study, $100,000 up in 2 years
Nov. 14  Mint app
Dec. 15  10-15% saving from paycheck 2010 - 2018
Jan. 14  Francis Kong   personal finance, major leak/ min leak. One pen, one paper, diligent heart
Jan. 16  Citi bank, credit card statements available from 1996 to 2017
Jan. 13  Date my money
Feb. 9   Lottery winner study
Feb. 12  Mental accounting, investor psychology study
Feb. 22  Warren Buffet
March 10 What if I sell the condo in Boca Raton

I started from frustration and worry about housing problem in Vancouver, and then I started to learn personal finance. I found out that I do not do basic personal finance habit check. I do not keep all bank statements, receipts, and I do not do any annual analysis from 1996 to 2017.

I have to push myself to learn and find my personal finance data. One thing is to start to sort out all paper works I saved from 1996 to 2017, and second thing is to find out citi bank credit card statements from 1996 to 2018. I started to analyze those statements.

I also started to work on case studies; whenever I learn things from youtube videos, books, and articles, I also try to apply to myself. I love those case studies.

My top 10 favorite case studies will be listed here.

Say goodbye to a weekend personal finance research

Jan. 14, 2019

Introduction

It was a busy weekend since I only spent one hour on tennis court. All other time I watched ANC money videos and read articles, and wrote some blogs in the same times. I like to select three blogs to mark the end of personal finance research for this weekend.

My learning

I start to learn personal finance, and I understood that what was wrong with my mindset. When I first time spent time to analyze my expense from 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, first surprising is the total amount clothing amount is $6500 US dollars. I just could not believe that, that is the amount I gave to my mom to pay her condo 890 square foot.

Second thing is to understand that those citi credit card statements expenses 80% are not needs, those are what I want. I could save 1999 at least $8,000 out of $10,000 expenses, I should get rid of Bally gym contract, I should rent extra bedroom out. Same applies to 2000 and 2001. I just could not believe that I was behaving like a lottery winner.

No. 1, ANC on the money: My money story - Francis Kong

No. 2, ANC on the money: Cost of Setting Up A Business

Money management 101: How to manage your manage for financial freedom

Nov. 23, 2018

Introduction

It is 14 minutes video and I like to watch again and again. The way I learn personal finance is so interesting, I made net income over $110,000 in three years but I only saved less than $20,000 dollars from 1999 to 2001. I made the mistake when I was 20 years younger, but I still did not learn the lesson after 18 years. It is time for me to start to learn, I choose to follow the teaching from Project Life Mastery, here is the link of 14 minutes video.

Manage my finance

I just could not believe that this is the first year I try to do income, expense item by item, and analyze my behavior as a consumer, investor, and a university graduate with mathematics degree.

I like to get some education first, and I like to get ideas how to do it quickly.

Learn how to learn manage money. The skill is very important and the first thing to learn.

My most favorite teaching

First five minute 2:00 - 4:00/ 14:49
1. Money management
Lottery winner as an example;
Do not change the habits or mindset. You will get back in debt. Establish mindset, and then learn how to handle it.

Surgery to lose weight as an example.
Challenge is that the life style will not change.

Case study: Ameritrade Key Largo portfolio

June 27, 2019

I like to work on reports related to my key largo portfolio. I have to figure out how to track my portfolio, and also keep learning. I like to design a product like Ameritrade.com, and like to explore all product features on the website. One thing I can do is to go over them, blog them, train myself to pay attention to detail.

Key largo portfolio

I installed Jstock app on June 25, 2019. I like the experience to use this app to track my portfolio. 

Ameritrade Cost basis is my favorite product feature

Dividend is so good to allow my portfolio easily to beat the bank return

Stock market, if you like to go to correction, bear market, I am ok. I can wait you come back in 6 months, or 12 months, or 18 months.

Actionable Items

I did some research about lottery winner and went-broke after winning. One thing I can tell is that those winners are lack of personal finance knowledge, education, experience. They also do not study behavior finance, how to treat relative and friends with money issue.

I know that before I can accumulate more wealth, I should have good knowledge of Ameritrade product feature, how to read my own data, and also get familiar with various app to track the performance.

I am still learning from various source about investment basics. I will turn 53 years old this October. I like to prepare better for my finance health.

Since I build portfolio based on S \& P index, and global index, so I just need to start to learn more about index and how economy works overall. Another idea is to get familiar with all product features of Ameritrade.com, and I should push myself hard to learn more about personal finance literacy. 

'The curse of the lottery': Why a multimillion-dollar jackpot winner is fighting to keep identity private

Here is the article link.