Not very long ago, I listened to an audio-lecture on NPR about shopping and investing locally. This was from a man named Michael Shuman, he is the author of the book ‘ The Small-Mart Revolution.’ In this book he talks about the benefits of a locally owned and operated businesses. During his lecture he talked about these issues as well as some of the problems involved in attracting local investors in a fiscally responsible way.

Each community needs to develop its own self reliance and maximize the opportunities presented. This will help them to grow in a sustainable and reliable way.

Michael currently runs the site Smallmart.org and I found this article. About halfway down he has a list of things that will help you appear attractive to local shoppers.   This list includes…

1. Being locally owned - The most needed part of the equation!
2. Develop a local identity - Let people know that you are local and be proud of it.
3. Behave Responsibly - Respect the workforce and the environment if you want anyone to respect you.
4. Give back to the community - Let them know your business cares.
5. Maximize ‘Local value added’ - Do more than locate your headquarters here, put your factory or do your business here as well.
6. Cater to local markets - You can still sell to the rest of the world, but make sure you sell to those around you first.
7. Develop local partners - This could be contacting other businesses for one time events, or perhaps shopping in local stores for any supplies you need.
8. Grow deep - Expand your offerings to the local crowd.
9. Avoid predatory behavior - Just because you offer some of the same goods or services doesn’t mean that the other company is your enemy, just your competition.  Perhaps possibly even a local partner in the future.
10. Exit locally - When you close up shop, who will take over your business?

I really enjoyed the lecture that he gave, but I think I’ll need to pick up the book in order to extract as much of his ideas as possible.

I seem to be much better at picking and buying stocks than I do at selling them. The number one reason for this is because I often forget to sell on the gains. But if I could always call the tops and bottoms of every stock than ranking with investing legends would be a snap.

Where will the market top? Where will it bottom? Buying after a correction or after a company has a rough week is easy. Learning to sell right before one happens is the real trick.

So If I’m not claiming to be a great investor what exactly do I need to be doing to get there? One thing that I need to work on is determining my selling point and timeframe BEFORE I buy the stock.

From there it is a matter of sticking to your guns and selling when you have hit the mark. Of course if significant news come out you will need to re-evaluate where you are going.

If I would have been following my own advice here within the past month I would have been able to sell off one of my stocks at my price, right below the top. Now I have lost much of the gains that could be out growing in another investment.

Well, I have learned quite a bit from this, and hopefully that will make me a better investor in the future. I suppose only time will tell.

What lessons have you learned in bear markets?

I received my property tax receipt yesterday along with a note:

Just a reminder that this parcel is delinquent for 2006.

WHAT! I’ve always thought that I was on top of all our bills. The key here, though, is BILLS. I didn’t actually get a bill for this property last year when I received all of the other tax bills. If I don’t have a bill for something, how can I know to pay it?

We bought the property last year, and the bill was sent to the previous owner. Now most local folks would probably forward tax bills to the new owners because that’s what us good guys do. But we bought the property as a foreclosure. The maga-bank who sold the property doesn’t waste time with details like, I don’t know, TAXES. They just tossed the paperwork.

Now I owe $75 in interest, and state law absolutely positively does not waive payments. Unless you’re the governor, I think. On one hand, I’m really frustrated. I would have paid those taxes one year ago. Where was the title company lady’s obsessive highlighter on the line item TAXES?

But on the other hand, I’m also thankful that one of the Treasurer’s secretaries took the time to write me a note. Otherwise, I NEVER would have known until the horrible day when I would receive this deadly note:

Your property’s up for auction due to dilenquent taxes.

Seriously, you only get one notice of taxes each year, and you only get one warning that you’re about to lose your property for unpaid taxes. Wouldn’t you think that maybe, just maybe, this year’s tax bill would have included a mention of unpaid taxes from the past?

So I’m writing a huge check right now and hand-delivering since 2007 taxes are due TODAY, and fees gets jacked up a notch tomorrow for late payments like mine. Thank goodness I mailed my taxes early this month and was warned! And even more thankfully, I’m glad property tax payments don’t make it to credit scores.

I have just put up a glossary here on Aridni. As of right now it contains primarily terms for trading and investing stocks, but it is a starting point to grow from. I will be adding terms to it as the site grows further.

I hope that you can find it useful in your work.

Glossary

Sideways Market: A situation where stock prices change little over a specific period of time.

Speculator: A person who tries to make money buying and selling futures and options with the sole intention to make a quick profit.

Stochastic Index: A computerized tool measuring overbought and oversold conditions in a stock over a certain period.

Stock Market: A market in which shares of different companies are bought and sold.

Technical Analysis: Anticipating future price movements using historical prices. trading volume, open interest, and other trading data to study price patterns.

Picking a piece of property to build on is a hard task. A few pointers my husband and I have compiled that we think are important in the hunt are:

1. Talk to the Planning Department about zoning ordinances, and get a copy of the zoning ordinances

2. Examine the access roads if you’re heading toward the country. Can you get through in the winter? Do creeks need bridging? Landslide potentials or possible trees that might tip? Oh and who OWNS the access roads?

3. Look at surveys and topography maps. Get a survey.

4. Research utilities. This is the biggie. Internet access? What about power? The line itself costs upward of $6-$10/ft. Then you have to burry it. What about water? Is a well feasible? And sewer/septic. That’s a fun one. These issues are so huge in price that it can make the difference between a good investment and a horrible burden.

5. Check for existing easements* (like access roads, power lines, mining rights, etc.)

6. Look for any liens–voluntary and involuntary

7. Any restrictions placed by previous owners that are on record? (Like “thou shall not build a house here ever”)

8. Who holds subsurface/mineral rights? Check for timber and hunting rights, too.

9. How close are you to large operations like airports, slaughter houses, chemical plants, active mines, and polluted/superfund sites? These things can have a huge impact on the enjoyment of your property. If you’re really lucky, an aerial flight in a small plane or helicopter can show you everything you need to see. Otherwise, check out aerial photos.

*An encumbrance is any right or interest in land that is possessed by a person who doesn’t hold title to the land. These rights can lower the value of the owner’s estate, so you want to check on them. Lucky for us, this task is typically pretty easy; the title company does the labor. An encumbrance doesn’t prevent you from enjoyment of your property or the ability to transfer it.

Good luck with your hunt. Or in most cases right now, good luck with the dream!

A lot of people love satelite TV, and I can understand why. What I can’t understand, though, is justifying such an expense every month.

I was looking at a row of houses built by Habitat for Humanity and started wondering. I’m not here to make judgment calls about these people’s habits, but I plugged in some numbers you and your friends might want to think twice about.

If you paid an additional $50 toward your mortgage every month, a thirty year mortgage could be paid off in 24 years! (I assumed a 7% interest rate, which is higher than you want for your own home.) 24 years!

Think about what a few extra bucks each month could do to any loan. Interest is a powerful thing, especially when it works to your advantage. Know of any other powerful examples?

(NOTE that some lenders don’t allow prepayments without penalty, so read the fine lines of the contracts you have signed.)

According to The Motley Fool (fool.com) now is historically the best time to invest in the stock market. In their article “Now Is the Best Time of the Year to Invest” they bring up some historical data about the average return of the market during the year.

Average return, November to April: 6.52%.
Average return, May to October: 0.98%.

Yowza.

Surprised?
That’s one of the lesser-reported stock market stats I’ve ever seen.

Of course, you’ve probably heard the old Wall Street adage to “sell in May and go away.” So, there’s some conventional wisdom that the summer has historically poor returns. Many are also aware that October (mother of a pair of Black Mondays, and more than a few other Black Days of the Week) is a scary month.

November, on the other hand, has clearly been a very good month for market returns, perhaps juiced by the weak three months that typically precede it. For 11 of the past 12 Novembers, the market has had positive returns.

There is of course a tendency for many of the articles at the Fool to end in promoting one of their investment advisory groups, and this article is no different. It’s a good read, just skip the last paragraph.

The National Realtors Association keeps an up-to-date database of recommended books on real estate and personal finance. Check out their Weekly Book Scan for some good reads, many of which you may never have heard of before.

Sometimes that is good enough, not always, but sometimes knowing more than everyone else will allow you to advance. Of course it helps to know what everyone else is thinking before you claim to be smarter than them.

I just ran into a site called Buzzdash. They constantly run polls and about all kinds of things. The stock market, business, and finance being one of them. While I wouldn’t be using this information directly to invest, it can possibly help you determine some trends of everyday people.

Personally I will be sticking with Motley Fool’s CAPS, as that holds people accountable for their predictions and any market analysis that they make. Although with the market’s recent turns, I am not so excited to log in and see how my ratings are doing!

Last night, I picked up “The Everything Homebuying Book” at my local library. As a real estate agent, I expected this book to be as dry and mundane as my real estate courses were. But the book was surprisingly to the point with tidbits scattered throughout.

The book covers everything from buying a fixer upper to selecting your town (with consideration to taxes, schools, and community programs) and determining the perfect home and finance strategy. The only thing the book lacked from my opinion was sample paperwork. What does a deed look like? How about a buy/sell agreement or rental contract when I rent out a bedroom?

We have an article on Aridni that might be useful to you, too.

And when you’re thinking of buying a home, this book may be invaluable to you… especially if you can get it for free at your local library, too!

Do you need more help learning how to invest like Warren Buffet? Most people do, with the exception of perhaps only one. Of course that person is Warren Buffet himself!

I ran into this article from the Motley Fool a little while ago called “Buffett’s Words of Wisdom.” It gives out a bit of advice that Warren seems to follow, as well as tips and hints on becoming a better investor yourself.

“I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.”

All in all it is a pretty good read, check it out.

I think that I am finally approaching a point in my life where I can start saving and investing in the market. Instead of investing in something like the stock market, I want to start a ROTH IRA. I knew that this form of investing in mutual funds and national and international portfolios made sense; I just didn’t realize how much sense it actually made. Check it out:

1. You invest after-tax money. All of the money you withdraw is tax free. You never have to pay taxes on the interest!
2. You can pull the money out early if you need to without being taxed as long as you’ve had the account for five years.
3. This year, you can invest $4,000, and you have until tax day in April to consider your money a 2007 investment. In 2008, you can invest $5,000.
4. The IRAs and 401(k)s require you to start withdrawing money at age 70½. You’re never required to withdraw this money, so if you don’t need it, you can keep doing tax-free investing.
5. When you die, your heirs don’t have to pay ANY taxes on what they inherit from your Roth.

Seems like a logical savings plan to me!