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We looked at the idea of taking risks in your 20s. Regardless of how you feel about the notion of taking chances with your time and money, I wanted to share some investment risks that I believe are worth taking in your 20s.

Going back to school to upgrade your skills.

If youre not happy with your current spot in your company or with how much money youre earning, you always have the option to upgrade your skills. This is a risk because youre going to give up an income if you have to quit your job to go back to school. The other risk is the time involved. If youre in your late-20s, youre giving up a few good years.

On the upside, this risk is definitely worth taking because investing in yourself is much more beneficial than complaining about your income or your job. By upgrading your skills you can increase your income, find a new job that you enjoy much more, and even improve your self-worth.

Starting some sort of a business.

As you can tell by now, Im a huge fan of starting your own business in your 20s. The beauty is that you can start a side business with no money right now.

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Many real estate forecasters tend to speak about the arrival of a bottom in the U.S. housing market as an answer to everyones woes, but a look to the past shows that may not be the case. Analyst Tim Iacono references economists Robert Shiller and Barry Ritholtz in a discussion about the dip in Los Angeles home prices in 1996. He notes that prices stayed low for four years following the dive, suggesting that any bottom that may come in 2012 will likely not be the answer everyone hopes it will be at least in the near term.

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I spent December mostly working and the first weeks of January mostly planning but I am glad to be back at the blog.

The post title is self-explanatory and focuses gives some ideas on investment issues to pay attention to in 2012. I will be blogging about some of these issues in depth for the next 4 months (as you may know, this blog ends April 30 of this year). Without further ado,

1. Work on one aspect of your personal finances this year. Studies show the more diverse your goals, the less likely you will achieve any of them (my review on the book Willpower will be posted this month)

2. Setting a goal and achieving it are two different concepts. Track your goal religiously and have an accountability partner to help you.

3. Remember you are ultimately responsible for the outcomes in your life.

4. Do not forget to work on your human capital. Find ways to increase your earning potential through skill improvement, networking and gaining new experiences.

5. Returns on the market have always been unpredictable.

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Another One and Done Streak! We have not had a nice streak of one and done trading in awhile. Normally we have 2-3 days a week of one and done trading and 2-3 days a week of recovery trading. Trading really is all about the recovery, but it sure is nice to have quick one and done days! Especially with the volume being so low. It’s literally like watching paint dry!

So all last week and up to day – all one and done! Nice way to start the year!

If you are ready to learn how to day trade for a living, have a look around our site! Ask questions, and see if Tick Trading is right for you!



Do you want to work for yourself? Are you fed up with your annoying boss and even more annoying co-workers? Do you want to finally break free?

You likely do. I have a feeling that you want to see what it’s like to be your own boss and set your own schedule.

2011 was the first year that I worked for myself. It was an interesting experience. Instead of sharing my emotional reflections on the year, I wanted to share some simple rules that you need to follow or be willing to follow if you want to break off on your own.

What are the 7 laws of working for yourself?

1. You can NOT pass the buck.

You’re on the hook for everything when you work for yourself. You can’t have a lazy day. You can’t let the evening shift finish off your work. You can’t take a vacation and leave your work behind. You always take your work home with you. You always have work on your mind. There are no weekends. You absolutely can not pass the buck if you want any success at all.

You can’t blame anyone else for your failures. You can’t rely on anyone else to finish the job off for you. This is the toughest aspect mentally when it comes to working for yourself. We’re all so used to passing the buck, that we need some time to get used to the idea of being on the hook for everything.

2. You need to be willing to work the most random hours.

The hours are ridiculous! When you’re on your own there are no set hours. Sorry to tell you. This goes hand-in-hand with the point earlier on not being able to pass the buck. Your hours are now going to be completely random. If you want stability in your life, I suggest staying in your current job. If you’re willing to work random hours, then you can consider working for yourself.

You can’t really close down for the day. If something happens you need to deal with it. You also can’t decide when your best ideas will hit you. You can’t pick and choose when you’re going to be hit with problems.

The good news is that you get to set your own hours. You can work any 18 hours of the day that you want to. I’m not trying to smarmy either. I just love to be ruthlessly realistic.

3. Be ready for ridiculous money fluctuations.

The money isn’t ridiculous in a hip hop sort of way. You know that steady pay check? That’s gone. Your income now depends on how and how smart that you work. You don’t get an hourly rate. You don’t have an income ceiling. You also don’t have a floor either. You can make an abundance of money. You can also make no money at all one month. You can even lose money for a few months. If you want to work for yourself you need to be ready emotionally and financially for the income fluctuations.

4. You got to figure out how to start your day.

You have no idea where to start. Some days you just don’t know where to start. You have so much that you want to do. You just don’t know what’s important. You don’t know if you should eat breakfast, go for a workout, get dressed, or watch music videos on YouTube. You just don’t know what to do first.

This is why it’s an important law when working for yourself that you create a plan for how you’re going to start your day.

5. You need to learn to stop.

You don’t know when to stop when you work for yourself.

As I’m writing this it’s three in the morning. I sort of have to be up early. Oh well. I’ve learned to deal with it by consuming a serious amount of caffeine. Not that I’m proud of that. I would eventually want to drink less coffee and have more natural energy. The problem is that I just don’t know when to stop working and this impacts my sleep greatly.

Another sub-law of working for yourself is that you always take your work home with you because you are your own boss.

These two factors combine and it’s going to be tough to stop.

You need to learn how to stop working and when to stop working. I’m pretty sure it’s not healthy to be always working. I try to set boundaries and time limits so that I don’t lose my mind working. Whatever you do, you need to find a way to know when to stop working so that you can live a balanced life.

6. Be ready to annoy your friends.

You’re going to annoy your friends. There’s only so much patience that your friends or girlfriend can have. It’s annoying when you bust out your laptop on a vacation. It’s annoying to be always jotting down ideas. It’s annoying to always be thinking about how you can improve something. You’re really going to annoy some people around you.

Your true friends will accept that you love working for yourself. Some will get frustrated and not want to hang out with you anymore. You can’t win them all.

You just must accept that one of the laws of working for yourself is that you’re going to annoy some of your friends. There’s no way around this one.

7. Your business will be your life.

The idea of starting an iguana grooming business so that you can spend more time on rock climbing (lifestyle design) just isn’t going to cut it. Your business will be your life. Your business will consume all of your energy and time. Besides thinking about sex and your social life, what else will be on your mind?

I just hope that you’re starting your own business because you want to work on stuff that matters to you. There’s no way around this. Your business will be your life. You want your life to be consumed by something that you enjoy.

Those are the 7 laws of working for yourself. Be ready to follow them if you want to be your own boss and thrive without a 9-5 gig.

Are you ready to break off and give it a shot? Are there any laws that I missed in this post?