I'm back!

Hey guys!  I'm back!  Sorry it's been so long.  Lot of interesting things happened to me in the year.  First of all, I got married, so here's a shoutout to my new bride (Priya)!  After that my sister got married, and then my new brother-in-law had a baby.  Also, the company I work for just got purchased by IBM. 

So as you can see, it's been a busy year for me.  Now that the excitement has calmed down, I'm going to go back to doing regular posts.

Now down to business.  I've changed the format and layout of the blog.  Looks like while I was out blogger added a bunch of new features which I'm going to try to incorporate in my blog.

I was looking over my earlier posts.  Crazy how things have changed since I posted.  Previously, I was blogging in the depths of the financial crisis.  Now the market has stabilized, and we're just waiting for the employment numbers to come back.  I want to review a little bit about what I blogged about before.

Corporate Bonds -  This strategy has been working out great.  Every bond I've purchased last year is over $100 (I recommend buying below $100).  A lot of my bonds have been called, a lot of them were "make whole" bonds that I bought, so I got my full value early.  I then rolled those over into other bonds that will hopefully be called at full value.  A lot of them also have given me tender offers where they will give me most of the money upfront instead of waiting 2-3 years for the rest.  This is thanks to low interest rates right now, since no one wants to pay these high interest rates when they can sell new bonds at lower rates.  Now, this does make it difficult to buy new bonds at higher rates since there are not as many since interest rates are so low, but I still do find bonds >5%.

Gold - As you guys know, gold is at it's all time high.  I blogged before about how I didn't understand gold and it is a speculative investment and so I wouldn't buy it.  I've changed my mind.  I ended up buying some at $1100 an ounce.  I feel that gold is in a bull market right now and it could hit $2000 an ounce.  I could be wrong but the way the government is spending and printing money, I don't see how gold will come down anytime soon.  Peter Schiff, who i follow, is prediciting $5000 an ounce.

I am going to be blogging regularly..if there are any questions you guys have or if there is any topic you want me to cover, let me know.

First Post!

Welcome to my first blog and the very first post! I hope this blog is useful for you and others.

Purpose

What is the purpose of this blog? This blog is meant to give alternative non-stock investment ideas to the average investor. By average, I mean the average person who has gone through the last 10 years trying to invest money in the market. These are the investors (like me) who have listened to all the analysts on CNBC, read news articles, tried different stock investment strategies, bought and sold stock, and after all that ended up losing money. This year made me realize, more than what I learned in 2000, that even the analysts and experts really have no clue and the market is a gamble. This blog is for people who believe stocks are not for them. I am not recommending not investing in stocks. I want to provide the reader with alternative investments to stock and help with their investing strategy. I read a large amount of financial articles and would like to share what I learn with you. I am not an expert myself, but I want to provide my thoughts on what I believe does WORK and is currently working for me. There is a risk that you may lose some or all of your money, and that is a risk you take with ANY investment. I am not a professional money manager and I am not recommending anything, I am just sharing my viewpoints.

I will try to have a new investment idea, strategy, or viewpoint with each new post. Since new investments do not come everyday, I will not blog every day. I do not want this blog to be a discussion on financial news. I also want to post some interesting links. Also, if you have questions/comments, please feel free to post. I am not sure who will be reading the blog and what their financial expertise is, so if there is something I write about that you don't understand, please let me know.

Basics

Money used on these alternative investments should only be used with your "extra" money. This is the money that is leftover once all the basic expenses listed below have been covered.

1. Have enough money to cover 6-12 months of expenses in Money Market/CD.

2. Have an IRA and make yearly contribution

3. If you have kids, contribute to 529.

4. Maximize 401k or at least get company match.

5. Buy a house to live in if possible.

6. Cover any other obligations you may have (Credit cards, etc.)

So let's start with my first and best alternative investment...corporate bonds. See next post.