Crash Proof 2.0

I've made a big change in how I invest over the last couple of weeks.

Among the books I read are a lot of investment books. Over the years, I have followed the advice of a few of the better books, at least in my opinion. I've had mixed results with them. I did pretty well in 2006 and 2007 before the bottom fell out of the market. Then I lost it all back and consider myself lucky that I didn't lose more.

I've also subscribed to a number of newsletters over the years. Some I've followed to the point of investing money in the things that they recommend. Same deal, when the market is going up, their recommendations go up, but when things turn around, I lose money.

After I retired, I kept doing the same things, until the bottom fell out and I sold everything and stayed in cash. When I felt it was time to get back in, I decided to go with Investor's Business Daily. I had read this newspaper off and on for a long time and had read all 3 releases of 'How to Make Money in Stocks'. I subscribed to their software and started watching the market. I made some money until the bottom fell out again. One of the things that they are good at is getting out when things go bad. So overall, I actually made a little money.

I would have probably stuck with IBD since one of their main rules is to protect your money in bad markets. Now that I was retired, I had the time to do the work they require.

However, over this time, and especially after Obama was elected, I've had a bad feeling about the future of the market over the next several years. Market pundits are saying now that the worst is over and things are starting to bottom out. I don't believe it. Even Obama is positioning himself for a double dip recession. I've believed this for a while and believe that it's going to be worse the second time than it was the first. The government isn't doing anything right to get the economy going again.

My problem was that I didn't know what to do to protect myself. I've either been treading water or actually losing money for a couple of years now, and if I keep going like this, I'll eventually wind up broke.

Then I read Crash Proof 2.0 by Peter D. Schiff. This is a republished and updated version of Crash Proof, written a couple of years ago. In it, the original book is presented as it was first published, followed by an updated section. This was done chapter by chapter. Many of Mr. Schiff's predictions from the original version had already come true and he gave convincing arguments why others were still coming. He wasn't telling me anything that I didn't already believe. However, he also gave a solution to the problem of what to do about it. Boiled down to a few words, it's this: invest overseas.

However, his recommendations went further. First, he explained that if you invest in foreign stock markets in most brokerage accounts, you would go through market makers who can take a big cut of your money. Secondly, most of the stocks in foreign companies were not listed in the U.S. at all, so your choice was limited. His solution was to use his brokerage, which invests directly in a multitude of foreign countries. The book says more, but this was the gist of it.

Whether my feelings are right or wrong, they are my feelings, so I took the plunge. My wife was a little nervous about moving everything at once, so I moved my IRA's and my daughters Roth IRA over to his brokerage. I expect to talk to him today to finalize my investments. He will have me invested in eight different countries, in addition to a few funds. One of the funds is their China fund.

I don't know if I'm doing the right thing. I believe I am, and I can't just sit and collect 1% per year interest while inflation is eating the value of my cash. I believe that for the next 3 years, at least, I'll be better off with my money out of the country. If I do well in the first 6 months, my wife will agree that the rest of my money can move over too.

I didn't give the brokerage's name because I didn't want anyone to make a move based on what I did. I'm hardly the one to follow. But if anyone else feels like I do, read the book and make up your own mind.

And if you pray, say a prayer for me too.

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When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder. - William J. Slim, British General

Random Thoughts

It's election day, and here in New Jersey it's an important one. John Corzine is running for re-election as Governor. I believe that the only reason he was ever elected was because he was willing to spend millions of dollars of his own money promoting himself. Nevertheless, even though he has outspent his opponents by several times over the last few months, it's still a very close race and he might lose. I'm actually ambivalent this time. His main opponent, Chris Christie, has said he will cut state workers and my daughter works for the state. I didn't want to vote for him, but I didn't want to vote for Christie either, so I voted, but left my vote for governor blank.

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I ordered a holster for my latest pistol today. The outfit I ordered it from has a 6 month waiting list and only takes orders on the first two days per month to keep the wait from becoming even longer. I'll probably get it right after the NRA Convention.

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My last blog was about looking for a part-time job at Wal-Mart and other places. I also applied at Target. I've already heard back from Target and they're not interested. I haven't heard back from Wal-Mart yet. Turning me down won't cause me to stop going to either place, but I doubt I'll be as happy when I go in there in the future. Maybe I should have applied to places that I don't go to.

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The coffee creamer that I use has suddenly gotten easier to pour and less clumpy, if that's a word. Now, when I use it, I probably use a little less than I did before, simply because it doesn't form a clump on my spoon. That got me to wondering. What happened to the person that thought up that improvement? Will the company be selling a little less in the long run, and if so, will the person who improved the product get in trouble?

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There's something I've been anticipating for a while. I read some time ago that a township in our county has turned off the traffic cameras at traffic lights in their township. Maybe other townships have done the same. The reason is that it affected the number of tickets that they were handing out and actually affected their revenue because people have been obeying the lights more. What I've been anticipating is a lawsuit by someone who was injured at one of the lights where they turned the cameras off. If drivers go back to driving the way that they did before the cameras, eventually someone will be hurt. I can see grounds for a big lawsuit there.

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Please visit my website at http://www.TheEngravableGift.com. Christmas is coming up and there are a lot of decorating and gift ideas for everyone on the site.

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You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. - Mary Pickford, Actress

Wal-Mart

I applied for a job at Wal-Mart today.

I'm looking for a job over the holidays to help pay for a new pair of hearing aids. For those who don't know, good ones will cost a couple of thousand dollars apiece. The last pair I bought several years ago cost about $4,000, and insurance didn't cover it.

I'm a retired computer programmer but I'm not looking to get back into programming. I would just be getting up to speed by Christmas, (although it would pay better.) I've been retired for 3 years and am not looking to get back into that grind. I'm just looking for help paying for the next set of hearing aids.

I chose Wal-Mart because I shop there. Two new Wal-Marts opened near me in the past year, and the one I applied to is the one that I go to. Another reason is that they have so many people that I figured I'd have a better chance. The third reason is that I've seen a higher percentage of people there that are my age or greater. No sense applying to a place that doesn't hire us old folk.

Besides, I like Wal-Mart. They have virtually everything that I use. They have a gardening section where my wife and I go in the spring and summer. They have a very large grocery section, where I shop. And they have sections that sell virtually everything else you would need for your house. The grocery section includes fresh meat, produce, a bakery and cold cuts. The only time I ever had to go to another store was for veal. They don't have veal or pork. And when I've needed assistance, I've never spoken to anyone there that wasnt't friendly and helpful.

I know that I'm not going to get rich working for Wal-Mart. If I get a job there, it's only going to be for a few months and probably won't pay for the full cost of the hearing aids, after taxes. Even if I get a full time job, I probably won't be there long enough to get any medical insurance. That's fine too. I am on my wife's policy where she works. But I'm in good shape for my age, exercise regularly and have time to spare. So we'll see.

I'll probably also apply at the Target that's near my house and maybe a few places at the local mall. Anybody that hires us retired folk.

Anybody have any other ideas?

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In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. - Warren Buffet

Twitter Tools

I started tweeting at about the same time I started this blog.

I had signed on to Twitter a lot earlier with a name that I use occasionally as a throw away when I don't want to give someone a permanent e-mail address. It changes every year and when I used it on Twitter, it was also designed to be temporary.

I just wanted to read the tweets of other people to get a feeling for what it was all about. By the time I wanted to go mainstream, I had a handful of followers, despite the fact that I never tweeted. So I notified these people that I was switching my name and then I did so and started tweeting. I'm now on Twitter using my real name, LouDornbach. (If you're wondering where this blog got its name, look at the first four letters of my actual name.)

As people followed me, I followed them back, but that didn't grow my followers very fast. However, I started seeing tweets about tools that would help bring in followers and make tweets easier to read, and I also read about them in Twitter Power.

So far, I've gotten two tools and am still on the lookout for more, if they would help me do something that the others don't. However, that is one of my problems now. I haven't been able to get one of the tools working yet.

The two tools I've gotten so far are TweetAdder and TweetDeck. I can't say enough good things about TweetAdder. You'll have to take this with a grain of salt, since I'm hardly an expert on Twitter tools. That said, TweetAdder works well and has a good manual to get you started. And, when I couldn't understand something or figure out how to do something, I e-mailed them through their help screen. They sent back replies promptly and the replies explained what I needed to know. They've also told me some things about a future release. It has several features that I haven't used yet, but for me, it automates following and unfollowing users and automates some tweets. For more information, go to www.TweetAdder.com. (I have no commercial interest in this tool.)

TweetDeck is another story. It was mentioned in Joel Comm's Twitter Power and appears to work fine. It is a tool that is in a Beta version, and so far, it's free. What it does is let you see tweets in columns. You can reportedly break up your incoming tweets into columns so that they will be easier to read, (or ignore). It appears to be stable and works fine. It has a lot of options that I haven't used yet, but I can't figure out how to do one simple thing. That one thing is how to move Twitter users from one column to another.

I put in a help question about 2 weeks ago but so far, I haven't gotten a response. Their website has my question up, the number of days it's been open, and even the name of the person it's assigned to, so I can't exactly say that they're ignoring me. It's likely that the person who has my problem hasn't even looked at it yet. I say that because the problem doesn't appear to be a hard one. Once he sees it, I should get an answer quickly. Either that, or I misunderstood what the tool does. It actually does have a decent help screen, but I can't find my answer. I've tried just fooling around but I haven't found the answer that way either. I suspect that it's something so obvious that they didn't think it was worth documenting. Unfortunately, it's not obvious to me. I still want to use the tool because it looks like it would be a big help once I learn how to use it.

Is there anyone out there that uses this tool that can help me get started with it?

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Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it. - Margaret Thatcher

Tattoos

Strangely enough, I've been thinking about getting my first tattoo.

I probably would have never thought of it if not for my daughters. Both of my girls have multiple tattoos, including large ones on their backs.

When my youngest daughter got her first tattoo, I assumed that it was because my older daughter had some and she was just following in her sister's footsteps. Eventually, it didn't really matter. In fact, I'm not sure that either of them are finished.

The good thing is that they both went to good artists, so the tattoos are good quality. My older daughter had a few small ones on her back that were marginal, but later had them overlaid by a larger one.

If I got a tattoo, it would be one of my family. My wife and two girls. And therein lies the problem, I guess. When my daughters got theirs, they were copied from something. My older daughter probably got something that was in the artist's studio. (Do they have them hanging on the walls or in a book? I'm not sure.) My youngest daughter had a design picked out and took it to the artist. They came out very well, but if they didn't match the design exactly, no one would notice.

However, if you're getting pictures of people tattooed on you, you want it to look like the people in the picture. Pretty much exactly.

My experience with tattooing is such that I only know one person that I would trust to do that tattoo on me: Kat from LA Ink. I think all of the people on that show are great artists, but Kat, the shop's owner, is probably the best when it comes to tattooing images of people. Unfortunately, I'll probably be in a nursing home before I could get an appointment with her. And, also unfortunately, I live on the wrong coast.

Would I do it if I could. Probably. I've been doing a lot of new things since I retired. Skiing when I go to visit my cousin in New Hampshire, joining the NRA and travelling to the last two conventions, transferring my old videocassetts to DVD and my old albums to CD's, going with my wife on our first cruise, and target shooting.

Why would I do it? I'm not really sure. Mostly, it's probably because I love my family. I wouldn't consider getting anything else tattooed on me. At least not the first tattoo. A little is because it's something new. I figure I have at least 10 more years before I get too old to do some of the things I didn't do when I was younger. Maybe more if I'm lucky, but I can't count on it. Do you think I could get an appointment anytime in the next ten years?

Maybe I'm lucky I live on the wrong coast.

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All of us have schnozzles ... if not in our faces, then in our character, minds or habits. When we admit our schnozzles instead of defending them, we begin to laugh and the world laughs with us. - Jimmy Durante

Sarah Palin

When John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate, I didn't have a clue who she was. Like most of the rest of the country, I guess.

I fell in love with her when she gave her speech at the Republican National Convention, and I haven't looked back. It didn't take long for me to wish that she were on the top of the ticket. I was never a big fan of John McCain, but given the choice, I was a supporter anyway. I saw McCain as far too liberal. He didn't present as much of a difference from the Democrat as I would have liked. It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, because Obama was going to be elected no matter what.

I started reading her tweets on Twitter, but soon after, she resigned from the Governor's office and stopped tweeting. I'm not sure exactly why she resigned, but I would suspect that part of it was all of the frivolous lawsuits that were filed against her and the cost of fighting them.

Now, for a while at least, she's giving speeches. Only one that I know about so far, but there will be more to follow, I'm sure. She behaved and didn't really bash Obama, although a part of her wanted to. I'm sure of that, too.

The next presidential election is about 3 years away, although the campaigning will start in earnest in about a year and a half. At least that's my guess. There will probably be a lot of Republicans trying to get the nomination for the next election, since Obama will be so vulnerable. He'll be seen as weak if he doesn't get his big bills passed, like health care reform, and even more vulnerable if he does. The more measures he gets passed, and the sooner he gets them passed, the more vulnerable he will become. The country as a whole is not nearly liberal enough for what he wants to do.

Republicans are already licking their chops at the 2010 elections, even though there are only 2 senators being elected, (or maybe three since Ted Kennedy died). The one I'm familiar with is Arlen Spector. He was a liberal Republican in a Democratic state, Pennsylvania. Recently, it seemed probable that he wouldn't even win the Republican nomination this time, so he switched to the Democratic party. I'm not sure that will help. I'm also waiting to see what will happen in the House. There probably won't be a big movement to the right in 2010, but I believe that there will be a net gain for the Republicans.

I also believe that in 2012, whoever represents the Republicans will have their work cut out for them. The press is overwhelmingly liberal and the Republican nominees will have to weather a year of lies, distortions and just plain bad press. I hope that they are able to weather that storm.

Republicans in the White House tend to forget the lies and distortions that the Democrats spewed during the campaign. On the other hand, Democrats want to go after everyone that they disagree with. They're starting to do that now. They forget nothing.

I hope it's Sarah running in 2012, but whoever it is, they will need to be strong. And if they do get into the White House, they need to remember.

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The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think. - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Physician, Author

Dieting

I used to be really skinny as a kid.

When I hit 21, I put on some weight. That year, every part of me got bigger, not just the waist. My shoulders, arms and legs all expanded. When I was 19, I had joined the Marines and my uniforms fit fine for a year or so. But by the time I hit 22, nothing fit except my shoes. I had to replace all of my dress uniforms.

As a young man, I drank beer during the week and bourbon on the weekend. I wasn't what anyone would call an alcoholic. I didn't drink every day and didn't get drunk every time I drank. I just liked an occasional beer, and on the weekend, when I didn't have a date, I went clubbing.

When I got married, I mostly stopped the hard stuff, except occasionally with my wife, when we went out. And I cut back on the beer, at home. For a few years, I worked in a place where the men would go out to drink after work. I drank a lot more beer then and put a strain on my marriage. But eventually, things settled down again.

During that time, I started carrying around a little more weight than I should have. The problem was that I never really took it off. I got up as high as 230 about six years ago. At that point, I realized that I'd need to take some of that weight off. I just really cut back on everything.

I knocked off about 50 pounds, to about 180. I hadn't been that low in decades. Since then, it's been creeping slowly back up. I was up near 210 a few months ago. Now I'm back down to 200 and trying to take off some more.

My parents were both pretty thin their entire lives, so I can't blame them. My father was retired for about 30 years, didn't do much, drank pretty steadily until he became diabetic, and didn't gain a pound. I must be a throwback to one of my grandparents.

A big problem for me is that when there's enough food for seconds, I'll have seconds. My wife always cooks too much, so I always have seconds when she cooks. If I cook for myself, I always cook too much, too. That's why, starting about six years ago, I began eating small Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice frozen dinners. I have these 5 or 6 days a week with a piece of bread. The other days, I'll make something different or my wife will cook.

It's helped both of us because Kathy doesn't cook a big meal when she's cooking for herself. Sometimes, her meal is mostly a salad.

The only problem now, and one of the reasons I started to put the weight back on, is that after six years, I'm starting to get tired of the frozen dinners.

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Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others. - Samuel Johnson