code to create thermometer bars

This code was kindly given to me to creat thermometer bars:

Whereever you see a [left], please replace it with <
Whereever you see a [right], please replace it with >

[left]span style="font-size:85%; font-style:bold"[right]$4M networth by 2033[left]/span[right] [left]div style="width:200px; height:20px; background:#999999; border:solid 1px #000000;" class="goal"[right]
[left]div style="padding-left:5px; height:20px; background:#003900; color:white; width:16.1%;" class="progress"[right] [left]span style="font-size:10px; color:#FFF; display:block; cursor:help; text-decoration:none;" title=""[rihgt]16.1% $642,640[left]/span[right]
[left]/div[right]
[left]/div[right]

If this doesn't work, you may want to look at the html source for my page.

Good luck.

Regards, makingourway

back on line

Life has been incredibly chaotic and hectic.
Joint venture I've been running worked out well, is launched and about ready to move on to next major mission.
Am a bit sick of the politics.
Also sick of 18 hour days.
At leaset I've gotten some recognition for the hard work.
One of the big sacrifices was inability to blog.
Looks like i have more time to do so now.
Thanks to the many that sent me messages asking where we were.
We're back now.

Some major activities on the plate:
1. sell old house - what a market!
2. re-engage financial planner
3. reconcile furnishing new house with saving plans

any advice on the above.

regards, makingourway

Is sitemeter working?

I've noticed over the last few days that sitemeter is not providing real time site visitation statistics - this is important to me - I'd like to see if people are visiting the 30s and 40s personal finance carnival. I noticed on some days that the meter had no visitors the entire day and would update to a possibly more accurate amount, the following day. It's quite mysterious.

Do I need to pay more money to have real time statistics? It's a bit frustrating.

What do other bloggers use for their efforts? It seems like sitemeter is the most popular meter out there.

Regards, makingourway

Call for Carnival Submission - 30s and 40s personal finances - wealth accumulation

Please submit articles to the new blog carnival we are starting called:

30s and 40s personal finances - wealth accumulation

Submissions are due next Saturday February 3, 2007 by midnight.

The first edition will be posted Wednesday February 7, 2007.

The blog will be hosted here at makingourway.

Please submit any questions to makingourway or post comments here.

Thank you for participating, makingourway

30s and 40s Personal Finances - The Accumulation Stage

I've decided to create a new blog carnival called "The Accumulation Stage".

The carnival will focus on family, career and investment financial planning for people in their 30s and 40s.

What is the accumulation stage?
It is the stage in our lives where we are past the hurdles of starting careers, college is far behind and we are concentrating on:

* Raising families, planning to do so, or deciding not to do so
* Growing in the careers we have chosen and moving up the ladder
* Moving from starter homes to more substantial housing
* Dealing with more complex investment and tax considerations
* Planning for future generations with estate planning and investment plans
* Financially stable enough to afford more exotic or expensive investments
* Have the goal to see our investment equity growth match or even exceed our savings
* Handling personal matters, such as children or aging parents, with substantial $ impact
* Taxes are more complex at this stage with numerous deductions, choices and opportunities

In general, we are experienced investors moving ahead in our careers. We already know how to invest, how to buy a house and how to get a job. We are far beyond money 101.

I will start the carnival off every other week and try to increase frequency to weekly if I have sufficient support.

Rules for entry:

1. One submission per person (until we can add categories).
2. Please make sure the posting is relevant to the group's topics of interest
3. Please avoid any profanity, hate language or otherwise offensive content
4. Please provide content that does not repeat mainstream media content

I hope you enjoy the carnival and it has great meaning and help to you.

Please post comments on thoughts regarding rules, guidelines, etc.... Your guidance will be greatly appreciated - as will your participation.

Regards, makingourway

Personal Finance Blogs and Lemmings - what do they have in common?

My friend, Moom, had a wonderfully brilliant comment on my last posting, which you can see here. In that posting I asserted that the purported purpose of so many personal finance blogs - to create a public leader board of one's financial progress (and thus enhance accountability) - had been corrupted by a misled desire to convert said blogs into media empires.

Moom mentioned this "I actually see quite a lot of financially unsuccessful people taking advice from each other online...."

So the question I have for you is this:

Do you evaluate the blogger who's advice you are considering? Who's advice may influence your investments for the next 30 years?

Far too often bloggers read each other's blogs without care, criticism or peer review (that would be rude - right?) and rush ahead on any seemingly acceptable direction. Do they pay attention to who they're listening to (to whom they're reading)? Is the writer someone who has proven success in their purported approach or is merely hypothesizing? A hypothesis is a very week financial foundation.

More often than not, blogs circulate untried and unproven ideas that although appealing are often downright wrong and foolish. I can think of no better metaphor than lemmings rushing thoughtlessly over a cliff.

Here's an example: how many bloggers chase 0% interest credit card advances or transfers with the hope of investing the balance for 5%? How may realize how vulnerable they are to the daunting and complex language the credit contract imposes? How many miss the exchange date and owe retroactive interest - destroying their arbitrage benefit? Here's a dose of reality - most credit card arbitragers will seldom obtain more than $10,000. 5% interest for an entire year is only $500.00! Virtually anyone capable of obtaining a $10,000 credit limit can find part time, side work or something to sell that will earn them an additional $500, without the downside risk of 9 months of retro 18-25% interest. Frankly speaking, it's alot of work to obtain easy money that in the end is not so easy.

How many PF Bloggers have even bothered to read any of the major books on investing or personal finances? I'm not talking about Money Magazine, Smart Money or other finance magazines which entice mutual fund advertisers with rotating "xx Mutual Funds you MUST have!" - sounds like a used car commercial. Frankly speaking Kiwosaki, et. al. are more along the lines of motivational speakers than true finance writers and a distraction from those truly interested in maturing their financial knowledge. Bernstein wisely wrote that most personal finance journalists learn by reading each other's writings rather than scientific / academic research. It certainly explains the sorry state of popular financial journalism and unfortunately the poor quality of financial advice amongst PF Bloggers.

I strongly recommend Barry Barnitz's blogs - he has several, but here's one on asset allocation theory. Barry uses his blogs to aggregate peer financial reviewed academic research. The articles are often quite fascinating and certainly never as exciting as "The five mutual funds you can hold until you die," etc.... As mundane as they may be, they very well may help educate the reader and demonstrate the true value of blogs by providing access to valuable information that may not easily be available in books.

One line of thinking does successfully challenge my criticism here - it's the Journeyman's adventure. Everyone loves reading stories about young people naively entering the world of personal finance and investing, making mistakes and learning what they must until they achieve success. It's a form of emotional (and financial) voyeurism, but many people love these stories - look at the popularity of mm's site at pfblog.com.

However, it is essential to distinguish the trial and error laden path of a journeyman from the wisdom of a successful practitioner. I assure you, although I studied anatomy in high school and might be able to follow surgical directions, you do not want me removing your appendix - even if I'm a fast learner. Odd how so many are willing to protect their appendix, but put their retirement at risk.

Next time a blogger recommends a method of earning money, I would post a comment asking him to validate the approach. I wonder what he (or she) will say.

Regards, makingourway

The Great Big Lie about personal finance blogging!

I often wonder why many PF Bloggers do what they do?

One of my good friends publishes Personal Finance Blog - he considers the blog part of his effort in pursuing financial discipline. The blog helps hold him accountable. $2 Million seems to follow in this path as well. I think this is one of the best results one can expect? These gentlemen seek to work hard, save and invest to the point they achieve financial freedom.

Many personal finance bloggers are looking to escape the daily grind in a Robert Kiwosaki-like effort to create income producing assets. They don't want to be employees, they want to be rentiers - investors with enough dividends and income to not have to work for anyone, but themselves. They read books like Multiple Streams of Income, Rich Dad, Poor Dad and wonder how can they become more independent from their jobs.

Empty Spaces at Money Shaker is one of the best examples of those who aggressively try to develop assets outside of their job that produce significant income. He's doing quite well with real estate, private loans and some oil royalties. He also admits he's sacrificing career growth in his current job for external success.

Then there are others who try to turn their own blogs into commercial engines in their own rights. Very few succeed at this. Consumerism Commentary, PFBlog and PF Advice (by Jeffrey Strain) are three examples of those that seem to be taking in quite a bit. What drives their success is the following:

1. A business like approach to creating a network of financial sites focussing on niche topics
2. An organizatin - whether with one's wife or business partners to accelerate content generation
3. Regular and consistent publishing
4. Creation of attention grabbing properties

My point in this posting is that many people think they can or will escape the rate race by becoming personal finance bloggers; i.e. the advertising and related income from their personal finance blog will be enough to replace their day jobs and day income.

Except for those with very limited needs, demands and lots of time, this is a pipe dream. It's fairly easy for me to identify a small number of financial successful PF Bloggers because there are so few!

The most compelling personal finance blogs are written by financially successful people! Who wants to read a rehashed article about the mutual fund of the month - no one! You can get that from MONEY magazine on line. People do want to learn how to make and save more money than they have - and they want it from financially successful people. Look at the interest in PFBlog - mm is saving very large amounts of money - increasing his networth by almost $200k every year - people want to follow his story and emulate it! Most of his income is still generated form his day job (and expatriot tax benefits). His actual planned investment gain per year is only 8% - though he hopes to do better. However, he plans to save more than $100k from his regular job. Enough years of saving $100k and he expect his investment income to eventually exceed his regular income. People want to read about that.

Remember how popular nycmoney's blog was? She managed to start an internet business (SEO), create an on-line retailer and then grow her $400k in $750k through wise investing. People wanted to know that story.

However, there are many people who believe that by creating a personal finance blog, they will garner large amount of advertising revenue and one day be financially independent. The truth is - it's a lie! Most will never find independence through on-line publishing. Advertising pays very little - hopefully enough to cover webhosting fees, etc....

And let's think about this quite honestly, if you're income is so low that advertising can replace it - if you're fortunate enough to acquire a good amount of advertising - are you really living at a sustainable income? Will personal or family needs change requiring a larger income in the future? If you're happy living like a monk, will many people want to emulate that lifestyle?

The most powerful use of PF blogging is to use it for what it is, a platform to declare your values, goals and mission and compare your progress against them. Secondarily, it's a wonderful source of support along the way and discussion to relevent topics. A blog should not be a MONEY magazine or Personal Finance for Dummies - those things exist - and are done very well by an army of professionals. Why struggle to be second best when you can be yourself - and very successful at it.

I often wonder how many people who earn more than $200k a year complain about jumping out of the rat race? Usually these people are executives and in fairly comfortable positions with attractive future growth options in their current career path. If they live modestly and save much, they can easily save up enough money to be financially independent in 10-20 years. That's not an attractive option for those who want it today.

But for many, there is an important question - should you spend more time thinking about how to succeed in your job and less about starting a side business? Should you spend more time saving what money you have and investing it carefully than starting a side business to live up to your income?

Regards, makingourway

Thinking about blog changes

I was up quite late last night playing around with blogger's new drag and drop editor.
It's quite interesting.

Here are some changes, I'm considering that might make the blog more readable:

1. Collapsing / better managing the numerous labels - I have too many - Is there a better way? In the absence of a better way, I'll recategorize everything into a smaller number of labels. Anyone have any ideas? Is there a label cloud widget?
2. I plan to add a bookshelf of recommended reading. I might add other more static references from the main page. The idea is to have several posts perm. marked from the home page in order to make them available for easy access. Candidates might be: retirement plan contribution limits, bookshelf, etc.... Any recommendations or favourite posts will be considered.
3. I'd like to add delicious scripts to the post, but am uncertain how to do it - any advice? $2M provided some help, but I'm still playing with it.
4. I've thrown in some advertisements, but have tried to keep them inobtrusive. Please let me know. My goal is not to achieve financial independence through blogging - I don't think the top side is that strong, but rather to have it generate some supporting income to allow me to invest in commercial tools, etc....

Have a wonderful day, makingourway

how much does your oppinion cost?

Would you accept payment to write articles on a specific topic from a third party?

Would you let that payment effect your oppinion on a specific topic - perhaps a favourable review?

Would you disclose that you were paid to write the posting?

I've heard about a number of bloggers accepting fees to write on specific topics.

This is something I'm very uncomfortable with. It becomes a issue of conflict of interest. It's one thing to request a product for review and be able to keep it - such as a book, gadget, etc... the item is given without expectation of the resulting review and is usually of nominal cost.

However, being paid to write on topics - especially when one seeks further "assignments", cannot lead to independent thinking and honest results. Failure to disclose being paid is even worse. In the academic world it's a career disaster. In "amature" blogging it's something not yet discussed.

Here's one consideration. Most bloggers have at least a little advertising. Do they advertisers suspect they are supporting a paid public relations site or are they being deceived as well?

I'd like to think that my oppinion costs more than $40, does yours?

Regards,
makingourway

Hmmm is Adsense working for me?

I've earned $0.59 from Adsense. I'm new to it and it's an experiment. Certainly making alot less for me than the rented links - which don't earn a fortune, but do earn some money for me.

Unlike other bloggers, I'm not really interested in quiting my job to blog, I earn far too much money in my job to do so. However, I wouldn't mind if my blog generated enough money to allow me to invest back into it for things such as:

1. professional web design - how to do that and be anon?
2. pay for books and classes
3. pay for giveaways for books, etc...
4. pay for premium services

Granted I can pay for the above out of my pocket, but I'd like the blog to be self-sustaining.

Regards,

makingourway

Finally...I've upgrade to the new blogger

Hmm...what does that mean, so far it meant:

• not having to type the word verification when I comment on my own posts
• ability to use labels - need to learn how to do this one
• disappointment that the editor (for posts) looks essentially the same
• curiousity about drag and drop template editing - hmmm what will it break?
• wonderful experience replying to user comments - the edit posts feature shows a list of posts and a link to the comments for each one
• curiousity about having blogger connect directly from my domain (which I already do from 1and1 - is it worth configuring blogger to do this?

One thing I'm curious about is switching to a smaller font. Please tell me if this smaller font is acceptable to you, my readers. If it makes it harder or easier to read?

Thank you.

Regards,

makingourway

PS How do I get rid of the double spacing between paragraphs!!!