Archive for 2010

Experiments In Finance – A New Start

Business & entrepreneurship

Hey people!

My name is Mike and I am the new owner of Experiments in Finance. You will discover more about this new guy who bought this blog throughout my articles. But instead of talking about me, today I want to share with you why I bought this blog.

I like blogging

The very first reason why I bought this blog is because I LOVE blogging. I currently run several blogs and I made it a business throughout the years. I started my online venture in 2006 and I can now think of living from my online income in a few years. But Experiments in Finance, which I like to simply call EXP, will not be about making money online. EXP will be about experimenting different things in the world of finance.

I have many common points with the previous author

I have been searching for a blog to buy for the past 3 months. When I found EXP, I really liked the topics that were previously discussed. I have found that I have many common points with the previous author:

– I do have a MBA

– I have 2 kids (and Leslie is having a second one in January ;-) )

– I like talking about investing (especially dividend and ETF investing)

– I like talking about entrepreneurship and career

– My friend (and partner in my venture) is pretty strong with excel ;-)

I want to share my financial experiences

At the age of 23, I got my first line of credit, loaded and invest 20K in the stock market. 3 Years later, I was buying my first home with a $50K cash down (and a cleared line of credit!). I have quit my first job after only 6 months working for a big financial firm. After 2 years of blogging for fun, I have created an online company and now earning 6 figures income from my venture. I’m now working 4 days a week at my “day job” and running my online venture. This is the kind of experience I want to share with you.

If you need to reach me, you can do it via email at thefinancialblogger (at) gmail (dot) com.

I hope you will like the new turn of EXP, this is going to be an awesome adventure!

Some news!

Blogging

Hi everyone,

Things have been busy the last few weeks as we’re expecting another addition to the family soon! I wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season, and also to announce that this site and blog will be transitioning to new owners sometime in the next couple of weeks. After pondering it for a while, I decided our upcoming family change would likely be a good opportunity to simplify life a bit given that we’ll be extremely busy again for several months. The new owners are well-versed in the personal finance field and so this site should be in good hands and continue to contain useful and helpful content like Excel tutorials, ideas for investing and saving, and the like.

Thank you very much to all my regular visitors and readers for the last few years!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blogging

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone! And happy bargain hunting if you’re into Black Friday :) )!!

Fired by email?

Career

A friend who was working as an ultrasound technician in the NY/NJ area got fired last Friday night over email out of the blue, with no explanation given on why. She just started the job a few weeks ago and as far as she knew, everything was going fine.

I’d heard of things like this happening only in passing or on the news but never to someone I personally knew.

She still “got” to go to work the following Monday but the doctor in charge of the practice didn’t show up so she didn’t get a chance to ask for a reason for her termination. For now, she’s looking on the bright side of not having to do a commute from Brooklyn to NJ at 5:30 in the morning, but if you know of any openings for pediatric echocardiographers, feel free to drop a line in the comment section. I know it’s not that helpful, but honestly, I’ve been telling her that a place treats its employees that way is probably not somewhere you’d want to work if you have a choice.

So here’s an ad-hoc poll:



Feel free to leave any additional details in the comments below, and my sympathy goes out in advance to anyone who’s gone through this.

Not sure what to think: vending machines that dispense gold?

Current events, Personal finance

Heard on BBC/NPR today: German company has apparently launched several gold vending machines (meaning vending machines that dispense gold, not gold-colored machines, although they are that as well) called .

Picture this: instead of putting in money and getting a Coke can, you put in some bills to purchase gold bullion. (And yes, the machine is apparently bullet-proof.)

Apparently the company specializes in selling gold online and has a robust IT security system but decided that a great way to expand the market even further would be to sell vending machines in public places like airports, fitness centers, cruise ships, and the like. It believes the recent financial crisis is at least half of the reason that people have become interested in purchasing gold, including from vending machines.

Spot prices are calculated every 8 seconds but prices in the vending machines change every 10 to keep up with market conditions. You can buy anything from gold bars at 1 gram to coins and bars at one ounce.

The first vending machine was installed in an Abu Dhabi hotel last year, and next month, machines will be set up in Las Vegas and Boca Raton, FL, according to an article in the Guardian published last Thursday. Because overhead costs are minimal, the company claims they can offer better prices.

So…would you buy gold from a vending machine?