YTD Total Returns for the S&P 500 and Other Indexes Through May 2013
By JLP | June 3, 2013
Here is your total return update:
S&P 500, MidCap 400, SmallCap 600, & Other Indexes Performance (01-2011 – 05-2013)
This May’s 2.34% total return for the S&P 500 broke a 3 year losing streak for the month of May.
Topics: Investing, S&P 500 Index | No Comments »
My iPhone 5 Experience
By JLP | June 3, 2013
Yeah, you read the title correctly. I have an iPhone 5. I parted ways with my beloved BlackBerry and went with an iPhone 5.
I have had my iPhone 3 weeks. Here are my thoughts so far:
Pros:
• It’s a beautiful phone (of course it loses a lot of that beauty when you wrap it in an ugly case. I went with a holster/cover by Aduro that I ordered from Amazon. The Otterbox is huge and ugly and the belt holster would make me feel like I was lugging around a hammer.
• The phone is smooth. I really like the apps that are available. (More on this in a future post.)
• The camera is excellent (my boys tell me that the camera hasn’t changed from the 4s to the 5 so it’s not a “new” feature of the 5).
• iCloud synching is extremely useful. I love that I can add a contact on either my iPhone, iPad, or even my Windows computer and it a second later it’s updated on all the devices. With my BlackBerry, I had to manually update between my devices, which was a pain.
• Evernote on my iPhone, iPad, and computer is an excellent tool. I had a text version of Evernote on my BlackBerry but it wasn’t useful like Evernote is on my iPhone. Evernote was the big reason I chose the iPhone.
Cons:
Honestly, there is really only one con—other than typing on a touchscreen—that I can see with the iPHone 5, but it’s a big one…
• BATTERY LIFE STINKS! It’s almost as if Apple focused so much on making the phone pretty that they didn’t even consider battery life. Under normal use, my phone will not make it through a day without needing to be recharged. That’s unacceptable in my opinion.
I did some reading and found some suggestions on how to increase batter life. Some of them are things like: turn off location services, disable iCloud, blah, blah, blah. One website said that Evernote could be the culprit responsible for running down the battery. All of the suggestions require turning the iPhone into a pretty brick. In other words, what’s the point of an iPhone if you have to turn off all the features that make it an iPhone?
It’s possible that I have a bad battery. I’ll have to take the phone into an Apple store (the closest one is 100 miles away) and they can test it for me. If it’s bad, Apple will replace my phone, I’m sure.
So, that’s been my experience thus far.
What are your thoughts?
Topics: Miscellaneous | 8 Comments »
Take This FINRA Quiz
By JLP | May 31, 2013
I fund this quiz from FINRA last night. It’s pretty basic and was developed to get a sense of the general public’s knowledge of investing. It’s a 15-question quiz. I won’t go into details here because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I did miss one question because I didn’t read it correctly.
Take the quiz and report back here how you did.
Good luck!
Topics: Investing | 14 Comments »
Chart of the Day: The S&P 500 TR Since Obama Took Office
By JLP | May 23, 2013
I know the stock market has little to do with who happens to be the President but it’s still interesting to look at. I’m no fan of Obama but the S&P 500 has performed nicely since he has taken office (yes, it pains me to write that) as illustrated by this chart that I put together:
Topics: Politics, S&P 500 Index | 30 Comments »
Question of the Day: Personal Rate of Return
By JLP | May 22, 2013
We have had a good year so far in the stock market.
So, curious minds want to know…
What is your personal rate of return for 2013?
Our personal rate of return through yesterday is 16%.
We are 100% stocks:
I am not recommending this route to AFM readers. It can make for a very volatile portfolio with pretty big swings. Beware.
Topics: 401(k), Investing, Question of the Day, Retirement Planning | 1 Comment »
A Little Tuesday Morning Encouragement From Tyler Perry
By JLP | May 21, 2013
Tyler Perry posted this on his facebook page:
THIS IS FOR FRUSTRATED DREAMERS
I was driving in to work this morning and I started thinking about all the days I dreaded going to work. I was so sick of it… the job, my boss, the people I worked with, the traffic… I would wake up angry every morning. I didn’t want to deal with the crap of the job, but I was forced to go. I had been homeless, I was broke, living paycheck to hopefully the next paycheck. I couldn’t take a day off for fear I would get fired. I was just frustrated. I thought I hated my life and the job.
It was so aggravating because God had placed all these dreams and hopes in my soul and mind and I had no idea how they were going to come to pass. To have a dream of being something better and living better than the way I was at that moment and to not see a way of getting there felt like death to me. I thought, “Dear God, why would you give me so much hope and not make a way?” But what I learned through prayer was, with no path in front of you and no road map… this is where true faith begins. With faith I realized that I wasn’t frustrated with my life or the job, I was frustrated because I was a person who had dreams for myself, a person who had visions for my life and I wasn’t living it. Have you ever been there, where you felt so strongly that there was more to this life than what you see in front of you?
One of the most difficult things about being a dreamer is the fear that the dream will never happen. I’m here as a living witness to tell you your dreams can come true. You can’t give up. And I am here to let you know that everything can work together for your good. The time that you are spending on that job that you think is a dead end is not. You’re being prepared just like I was. I was a shoeshine boy, I worked as a bill collector, a used car salesman, in housekeeping in a hotel, and they all were preparation for where I am now.
What do these things have to do with where I am now? I’m glad you asked. I am able to use skills that I learned. I shined shoes, so I know how to shine my shoes if I need them to look nice. Selling used cars was a great way to learn how to close a deal. Bill collecting taught me great negotiation skills. Working at that 5-star hotel taught me a lot about travel. Every experience in your life is here to teach you something.
Today, while you’re at work, don’t be frustrated. Look around you and ask God what are you there to learn and how will it be a part of your future dream. Honor that job, do the best you can at it, because God will bless you for honoring something that belongs to another.
I hope this inspires you today. If you need a little more inspiration then watch my first sit-down interview in years with Oprah on Oprah’s Next Chapter. It airs this Sunday on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network at 9/8c. I talk a little about not giving up. I know it will move you.
Here’s a prayer for today: “God help me hold on, help me to get to what I dream of, help me to honor where I am today so that I can appreciate where I will be tomorrow. In Jesus’ name.”
Good stuff.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
AFM Inflation Project
By JLP | May 20, 2013
Tell me, what do you guys think about starting an inflation project?
Here’s what I have in mind:
Readers from different parts of the country (North East, East, South East, North Central, Central, South Central, North West, West, and South West) track a small number of goods (mostly grocery items) and report the numbers to me and I’ll put them in a spreadsheet for everyone to see.
Why would we do this?
Because I think the government’s numbers are fiction.
So, what do you think? Interested?
Topics: Announcements, Blogging | 10 Comments »