I just went through all of the links in the ‘discover more‘ section and took out quite a few. These of course were the ones that haven’t been updated in months, changed their content dramatically to something completely unrelated, or in one case completly let their domain expire.

With that, the discover more section has been significantly improved. There are some really good sites on there, and now it is even easier to find the gems.

If you are interested in getting your site added to our blogroll, we’d love to hear from you.

Just a quick note that the CNBC million dollar investing challange has begun once again. This time around the prize is actually a million dollars.

In CNBC.com’s Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, you play the market starting with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks. Every day you’ll be ranked based on the size of your portfolio, and each week we’ll award a winner $10,000 for earning the largest weekly percentage gain. At the end of ten weeks, the weekly winners, plus the ten highest ranked players - will qualify for THE FINALS.

On May 14th, those twenty street savvy investors start all over with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks in a brand-new
portfolio. They’ll compete to see who can build the biggest portfolio in just two weeks - it’s a winner-take-all challenge for $1,000,000 (that’s real money!)

So whether you’re in from the beginning or late to the game, have a strong long-term strategy or one solid week, you can make it to the finals for the chance to win $1,000,000!

During the their last game, the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio I didn’t do so great. I mostly stayed at the same level during the whole game. I was ahead a little at the end, but just not enough to win.

If you want to check out a contest where your odds of winning are a little better, make sure you check out our Aridni Poetry Challenge

I always expect my Saturday mornings to be a little groggy. This morning, though, I woke up with a million ideas about wealth and net worth, the good feelings that make me excited to begin my day. The following articles in our achieves can help bring the same freshness to your Saturday.

After all, the weekend is the time to make money for yourself, not your boss!

• Your goals are the engines that move, how’s yours running?
  Think of money from a grassroot perspective. “I want a million dollars” isn’t the same as thinking “This is how I’m going to get my first million”

• I met a millionaire today
  … I never would have guessed it, though. At age 53, she hasn’t worked in years. Read her secret.

• Time: what I’ve learned in my 90 years
  This afternoon, I am meeting with a 90-year-old friend for lunch. He flew into town for an aircraft convention and recertification conference. He shared his wisdom on time with Aridni—lessons about today that we could all benefit from in the path to wealth.

We are having our first ever poetry contest here at Aridni, but with a little bit of a twist. We want to see poems that relate to entrepreneurs, business, and finance. We want to find out how many Bukowski-Buffets, how many Walt Disney-Whitman’s and how many Ralph Walton Emersons are there out there and reading our little site.

We want to see how funny/creative/poetic you can be about money. Any form of poetry is accepted, so if you call it a poem, so do we! We’re looking for creative expressions on money, business, stocks, and just about everything! If we would talk about it on Aridni, then it is fair game.

The contest will go until the end of March, so if you need time to craft a masterpiece, you have a little. However, there is no limit to the number of entries that you can submit. So let your little poetic heart go wild!

PRIZES!
We’re giving away a couple of Amazon gift certificates to the winners.

The winner of the best poem will be given a twenty dollar certificate.
One random entry or trackback will be awarded a ten dollar certificate. Every poem–If you have a website / blog and would like talk about the contest, you’re eligible for the randomly selected price. Make sure to send a trackback to this article.

Rules

• 1. Poems must relate to Aridni topics
• 2. One entry per comment… submit as many times as you wish.
• 3. Contest ends Saturday March 31, 2007.
• 4. Tell others about the contest!

Well, perhaps number 4 isn’t exactly a rule, but depending on the response we’ll be able to host future contests, prizes, and events. We will announce the winners on April 4.

Get out your feathered ink pen and a stack of paper and start crafting some rhymes about making those dimes. Oh wow, I’m off to a good start!

Post your submission in the comments section below. Remember to use a valid e-mail address so we can pass over your prize.

Seems like a lot of people are making money through becoming landlords. Thinking of taking the plunge yourself? Landlords have to put up with a lot of crap… yet I’m finding that the crap may very well be worth the effort if you’re smart and know how to work the numbers. I’ve also written several pieces about how to buy your first house and what to do when considering real estate investments that may be useful to you.

What to look for in a good deal

The best piece of real estate that you can buy follows the rule of tens:

Don’t put down more than 10% on the property

Don’t pay more than 10% interest

Buy at least 10% below the market price

1. Don’t put down more than 10% on the property
The coolest thing about being a landlord is that tenants pay off your property. The entire mortgage is tax deductible. If you don’t have a lot of cash sitting around, use leverage—let the bank’s money make you money. The less money you invest in the house, the more banks carry and tenants pay off.

2. Don’t pay more than 10% interest
Investment properties hold higher interest rates with banks because they’re a bigger risk. Investments don’t hold much sentimental value. If you’re in a pinch, banks know that you’d rather pay off something that matters to you personally—like your own home.

3. Buy at least 10% below the market price.
Rental homes don’t need to be the nicest on the block. And the misfortune of leasing your property is that it’ll probably be in worse shape than when you started. As I said in the point before, you take better care of things that you are emotionally attached to. Since tenants don’t own your property, they’re less likely to be as meticulous about the home’s care. Plus buying undervalue property means that when you sell at value, a few extra dollars will come your way.

When you’re ready to make an offer

The person with the highest offer isn’t necessarily the person who the owners want to sell to. Sellers are interested in the extras. A few of those brownie points that I have found helpful are:

Keep your offer simple

Offer a quick closing

Buy “as is”

1. Keep your offer simple
You can line up a lot of contingencies on a property purchase: home inspection, mold inspection, lead-based paint inspection, bank financing… The list goes on and on. Owners get nervous when you start checking off that list of contingencies. They just want to sell the property! Keep the number of check points smaller; it equals a quicker sale in the minds of an owner

2. Offer a quick closing
Sometimes, a closing can drag on forever. It can take months. Owners have already detached themselves from the home, and they’re ready to move on. They want the money. You know that phrase: a hen in the hand is worth two in the bush? Why’d that line come about? Because we’d rather have less now than wait for more later. People are impatient, which is great for you. Offer less, but offer it now.

3. Buy “as is”
Owners want to sell. But what if the house is filled with problems? The electrical needs some work, the carpet is stained, the windows in the back bedroom are cracked from baseball games. Say you’ll take the house as is! (With a lower price, of course) Be sure to have a home inspector evaluate the severity of the home’s faults if you’re not well experienced. The last thing a seller wants to think about is making all those minor repairs.

It was about a year ago that Katie and I started Aridni, and in the last year we have had some all kinds of articles. Some good ones, some Great ones, and of course some lousy ones. Today I want to highlight what I think have been some of the years best articles for each month in 2006.

1. January - Investing: When can you start? How can you start?

One of the earlier articles from Aridni to help get you going in the stock market. What are the issues and skills you need to be aware of and possess?

2. February - I’ve got a Big Sky Booya coming at ya!

Watching Jim Cramer is like jumping into the stock market. It isn’t easy for the novice, but here are some tips to getting started.

3. March - “Acey said ten percent.” – Why less is more.

I still really like this ideology about investing less to learn more.

4. April - Weekend Homework: Define ‘Value’

What is important to you? How are your actions stacking up to what you hold important?

5. May - Marketing with MySpace

While this approach works out well in theory, it’s a lot harder than my article makes it look. I’ve been trying things out and will certainly post some new ideas about it.

6. June - How you might destroy $1,000,000 dollars or more today.

Do you keep track of your ideas? Tomas Edison didn’t either, until got fed up with losing to many. From then on Tom and ‘the boys’ filled up thousands of notebooks with all kinds of ideas and discoveries.

7. July - Expand your business with “The Three C’s”

What’s the best way for you to set raise the capital needed to increase the output of your business?

8. August - An employee finds a second job. An entrepreneur finds an opportunity.

Katie takes a moment to ask just what exactly is she working towards.

September - Have you ever considered that you are not good enough? With Billions of people in the world, you might not be good enough. By no means does it mean that those who are won’t be willing to work with you.

9. October - Is real estate calling you?

This is an article Katie wrote about some of here experiences and thoughts after spending some time in the real estate market.

10. November - On hiatus for the month!

A little break before it’s back to the grindstone.

11. December - Step back from the obsession with $

Katie gives us some reflections about money and the desire for wealth. What is money, and how does it work?

Katie found some of her favorite posts from the past year and put them in an article called Seeking Goals and Reaching Objectives - THIS YEAR

I hope that we can provide another great year of ideas and inspiration. And as always, feel free to leave a comment or even send a message with our Contact form