Book Title: Time Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality
Author: Tad James & Wyatt Woodsmall
Year written/published: 1988
Book Source: Amazon
Some extracts:

Time line…

Who are we but our collection of memories? For years, psychologists have agreed that our past experiences do determine who we are and how we act. Memories are recorded and stored as we age and with time, they have more and more influence. Our Time Line is the memory coding of the brain. It is how people encode and store their memories.

Different Times…

These are the two ways that people organize time. One is Anglo-European, where there are linear, sequential, planned events. The other is Arabic, where time is an all-at-once event. … … … The Anglo-European type of time we call “Through Time,” and it is delineated by a Time Line that stretches from left to right (or right to left), or any other organization where all the past, present, and future are in front of you. The Arabic type of time, which we call “In Time,” is represented by a Time Line that stretches from front to back or any combination of past, present and future where a portion of the Time Line is inside your body, or behind the plane of your eyes.

Flying with time line…

I’d like you to float up above your Time Line again. And I’d like you to look at the continuum of past, present and future. Get up high enough so you can see the whole thing now. This time I’d like you to float out all the way into the future. Just go right up to just before the end of the future of your Time Line and turn around and look back toward now. You’re standing above your Time Line looking down on it so that you’re looking back all the way from the future, all the way across now, all the way into the past.

Guilt and shame…

Now, if you have discovered something near to lightweight guilt, I’d like you to float up above your Time Line. I’d like you to go back to one minute before the event about which you are guilty happened. Go back to one minute before the event about which you feel guilty and consider this question: Now, where’s the guilt? How many of you found that you were laughing? Do you still have the guilt? Some will say, “It’s right in front of me.” If that is what they say, then say, “is it in front of you, or is it gone now?” That will destroy the guilt of an event for almost everyone.

Sub modalities and time line…

It is most useful for a person to have a Time Line with contiguous or similar brightness, color, etc. The Time Line should have similar brightness, for example, running from the past through the future, with the future perhaps a little brighter than the past. The past should not be black or substantially darker than the future. The future should not be black or substantially darker than the past. When there is trauma, usually there are some gaps, holes and dark spaces in their Time Lines. In fact, dark areas are a tipoff that there has been trauma in the past.

Detaching Emotions

One of the other things I often like to do beforehand is to detach the emotional content of the memories. I’ll say something like this: “When you think of a specific event that is particularly unhappy for you, it’s OK for you to continue to remember that event, but perhaps you’d like to have the emotions detached from that event. As you think of that particular event, notice down at the lower right-hand corner a little hook there. What I’d like you to do is to unhook the emotions that are there, just unhook them. Now, step out of the picture and make sure you see yourself in the picture. Notice now that changes the event.” After you’ve done it with one event, you can do it with many. If they have a lot of negative events in their Time Line, you can then say, “What I’d like you to do now is to take all the events in the past that you’re not particularly happy about, unhook all the emotions that are there.” And it does happen. They unhook the emotions. Then the memories that remain are informational rather than negatively emotional.

We believe that the past should be informational rather than negatively emotional. We have learnings from the past. It is important that we learned from those events, and we probably stored those learnings in that special place we reserve for all such learnings. It is also important to remember that the past does not have to be negatively emotional. It should be informational, and it should contain positive emotions.

Book Title: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth: 8 secrets of how Ordinary Americans became successful investors and you can be to!
Author: Ric Edelman
Year written/published: 2001
Book Source: Amazon
My Comments: Great book! I especially liked the sections where people shared their experiences – the Biggest Mistake, Smartest thing I did… we learn from others’ experiences! Some common mistakes… I couldn’t help but see sooo many actually pointed out not starting to invest and save in funds and stocks early in their 20s! And some common smartest things were – marriage to a financial-savvy woman and going to a financial/professional advisor.
Some extracts:

There a lot to choose from:

Cash equivalents: Savings accounts, Checking accounts, Money Markets, Certificates of Deposit, US Treasury Bills and EE Savings Bonds
Bonds: US Government and Agency Securities, Municipal Bonds, High Quality Corporate Bonds, High-Yield (junk) Bonds)
Stocks: Large Cap Vs Small Cap, Growth vs. Value, Specific industry sectors
Real Estate: Residential, Commercial, Speculative
International Securities: Stocks vs. Bonds, Global vs. Continental vs. National Specific
Precious Metals: Gold, Silver, Platinum
Natural Resources: Minerals, Oil, Gas
Commodities: Options, Futures
Collectibles: Stamps, Coins, Gemstones, Artwork

Mutual Fund vs Stocks…

Will mutual funds make as much money as the top stocks? Of course not. By definition, they can’t – for the simple reasons that each mutual fund owns a dozen, even hundreds of stocks. And this extensive diversification effectively prevents mutual funds from earning as much money as one given stock might earn. But, of course, this very trait insures that no mutual fund will ever lose as much as the worst stock either. SO although you might not earn the most, you won’t lose either.

The best time to invest is when…

1.  you have money to invest
2. you plan to invest that money for a long time
3. prices are low

Buying your own company’s stock…

Don’t do it – regardless of how successful your company is or how successful you expect it to be. … … The reason being…. If you own only one stock, and if that one stock plummets in value, the results could be devastating to you. Even more so if the stock happens to be of the company you work for. A crashing stock price means the company is in financial trouble. Under those circumstances, the company may take radical steps to save money. Quickest way is to cut the staff. In other words, a declining price in your company stock could cause you to lose your job. And if that happened, you’d need to start selling investments to help pay your bills. But you could find that the biggest investment you own is – guess what? – company stock!

Real rich…

The reason rich people get richer and poor people get poorer is that rich people continue to do things that got them rich in the first place, while poor people continue to do the things that got them poor. So, let’s try to find out how rich people got that way. People don’t say inheritances. That might be how rich people stay rich, but that’s not how they for that way. GO back far enough in the family histories of wealthy Americans and you’ll discover that none of them started out wealthy. They were all poor – as poor as today’s poor. Actually, let me restate that. While today’s wealthy Americans were once broke, I don’t think they were really poor. Poor is a state of mind. Broke is the state of wallet. You can fix being broke; it’s not easy to fix being poor.

Our survey of successful Americans show that:

1.  They began investing when they were young. The average age when they made their first investment was 24; 10% of them started before they were 18
2. they invested small amounts of money. Their initial investment averaged just $658
3. They invested often. A whopping 92% saved regularly throughout their lives, adding to their savings whenever they could.
4. they invested intelligently. Most 81% set money aside into a special account earmarked for savings. They’d accumulate a few hundred, and then invest it.

Psychology of risk…

Some common traits..

1. the less money you have, the more checking and savings account you have
2. the less money you have, the more time you spend paying your bills
3. the less money you have, the more you micromanage it
4. the less money you have, the more you act like you have a lot of it

Budgeting vs. tracking expenses…

On the other hand, there’s widespread agreement that tracking expenses is worthwhile, because 76% of my clients say they do it. This is an important distinction because there’s a big difference between budgeting and tracking expenses. The former s a promise of how you will spend money; the latter reflects how you actually do spend it. And while budgeters foten spend more than they has earlier promised themselves – creating such problem as falling in debt, trackers keep themselves, well on track towards their goals.

I like this article – 21 Critical Life Lessons you didn’t learn in School… how true!

1. Choosing a Mate
2. Evaluating Relationships
3. Conversation
4. Handling Difficult People
5. Networking
6. Compassion
7. Teamwork
8. Giving
9. The Material Myth
10. Saving
11. Debt
12. Frugality
13. Debtor Responsibility
14. Passion
15. Practicality
16. Politics of Advancement
17.  Entrepreneurial
18. Positive Thinking
19. Personal Accountability
20. Setting and Achieving Goals
21. Health

I found this list in Wiki rather interesting - List of universities named after famous people. Surely the names were put due to their significnat contribution and to emulate their personalities and characters… it’s a list worth looking at i feel Some includes that i know of….

1. Cornell University – Ezra Cornell
2. Carnegie Mellon University – Andrew Carnegie

Book Title:Cashflow Quadrant-Rich dad’s guide to financial freedom
Author:Robert Kiyosaki with Sharon Lechter
Year written/published: 2000
Book Source: Amazon, Library
My Comments:Excellent Book! Cashflow talks about the 4 types : Employee, Self-Employed on the left side and how to transfer to the right side – Business Owners and Investors.

Some extracts:

Real education…

Many successful people have left school without receiving a college degree. People such as Thomas Edison, founder of General Electric; Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motors o.; Bill Gates founder of Microsoft, Ted Turner, founder of CNN; Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers; Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers; Ralph Lauren founder of Polo. A College education in important for traditional professions, but not for how these people found great wealth. They developed their own successful businesses …

Some words…

E quadrant words: “I’m looking for a safe, secure job with good pay and excellent benefits”
S quadrant words: “My rate is 20 dollars per hour”
B quadrant words: I’m looking for a new president to run the company”
I quadrant words: “Is my cash flow based on an internal rate of return or net rate of return?”

The fear of losing money seems to divide investors into 4 broad categories:

1. people who are risk-adverse and do nothing but play it safe, keeping their money in the bank
2. people who turn the job of investing over to someone else, such as the financial advisor or the mutual fund manager
3. gamblers
4. investors

Because so many people on the left side of the quadrant come looking for security, the stock market responds in kind. That is why you often hear the following words:

1. Diversification
2. Blue Chip Stocks
3. Mutual Funds

7 levels of investors:

Level 0 Those with nothing to invest: These people have no money to invest. They either spend everything they make o r spend more than they make. There are many ‘rich; people who would fall into this category because they spend as much, or more, than they make.
Level 1 Borrowers: These people solve financial problems by borrowing money. … … While they have a few assets, the reality is that their level of debt is simply too high. For the most part, they are not conscious about money and their spending habits
Level 2 Savers: These people put aside a ‘small’ amount of money on a regular basis. The money is in a low-risk vehicle such as a money-market checking account, savings account or a CD. … They often save to consume rather than to invest. They believe in paying in cash. They are afraid of credit card and debt, they like the ‘security’ of money in the bank.
Level 3 Smart Investors: This level is aware of the need to invest.
Level 4 Long Term Investors: These investors are clearly aware of the need to invest. They are actively involved in their own investment decisions. They have a clearly laid out long-term plan that will allow them to reach their financial objectives They invest in their education before actually buying an investment…. … It is doubtful that they are investing in real estate, businesses, commodities, or any other exciting investments vehicles. Rather, they take the conservative long-term approach recommended by investors such as Peter Lynch or Warren Buffet.
Level 5 Sophisticated investors:These investors can afford to seek more aggressive or risky investment strategies. Why? Because they have good money habits, a solid foundation of money and also investment savvy. They are not new to the game. They are focused, not usually diversified. They have a long track record of winning in consistent basis….
Level 6 Capitalists:Few people in the world reach this level of investment excellence…. These are the Kennedy, Rockefeller, Fords… It is the capitalists that provide the money that create the jobs, businesses and the goods… Level 5 investors generally create investments only for their own portfolio using their own money. True capitalists create investments for themselves and others by using the talents and finances of other people.

When the fear of losing money comes up, most people’s minds automatically start chanting…

• ‘Security’ rather than ‘freedom’
• ‘Avoid Risk’ rather than ‘learn to manage risk’
• ‘Play it safe’ rather than ‘play it smart’
• ‘I cannot afford it’ rather than ‘how can I afford it?’
• ‘Diversify’ rather than ‘focus’

People born into poverty, becoming wealthy…

1. They maintained a long term vision and plan
2. They believed in delayed gratification
3. They used the power of compounding to their advantage

It’s time to mind your own business…

It begins innocently enough with words of advice such as these…

1. Go to school, get good grades so you can find a safe secure job with good pay and excellent benefits
2. Work hard so you can buy the home of your dreams…. Home is after all the most important investment
3. Having a large mortgage is good because the government gives you a tax deduction
4. Buy now, pay later

People who blindly follow these words of advice often become

1. Employees making their bosses rich
2. Debtors making the banks rich
3. Taxpayers making the government rich
4. Consumers making other businesses rich

Charles Darrow sold the rights of his game to the Parker Brothers in 1933. He built this game during the Great Depression era. He himself was poor before this, and after selling his rights, he became a millionaire!

some links on Charles Darrow and the creation of Monopoly….

• about.com
• world’s first monopoly

Candlesticks charts for trading were invented in Japan and now they are used heavily in stock market charts similar to this. Rather than a line graph, a candlestick chart graph can give you very basic information visually and at a glance. And the very basic will be this understanding…

Some links on Candlesticks in Trading…

• Stock charts
• trading day
• incredible charts

A stock index is a substitute for the market or for a particular segment of the market, depending on the index being used. Some indexes attempt to measure changes in the overall market, while others are better at measuring a narrow segment.

And some Stock Indexes includes…

• Dow Jones Industrial Average
• Standard and Poor’s 500 Composite Index
• NYSE Composite Index
• American Stock Exchange Composite Index
• Nasdaq Composite Index
• Wilshire 5000 Index
• Russell 2000 index
• Value Line Average

Book Title: The Buffetology Workbook – Value Investing the Warren Buffet Way
Authors: Mary Buffet and David Clark
About the Author: Mary Buffet is the former daughter-in-law od Warren Buffet
Year written/published: 2001
Book Source: Library, Amazon
My Comments: An excellent book!! I’m gonna buy this… in fact I read it twice in the same week. I have been reading about stocks and such, but never before did I realize the much importance of knowing about companies and their financial situations, their products, mergers, board of directors in order to play well in the stock market. There was plenty of maths as well… I couldn’t really grasp them the first time. Need to read this book once more. Brilliant book!
Contents page:

1. Part 1: Understanding Value investing
2. Part 2: Warren Buffett’s intrinsic Value Equations

Some extracts:

Introduction…

• Warren is not interested in popular investments such as Internet Companies
• Warren discovered that vast majority of stock market investors are short-term oriented, that they buy on good news and sell on bad
• The short-term stock market mentality sometimes grossly undervalues the long-term prospects of a great business.
• Warren likes to buy on bad news

Identifying the economic engine Warren wants to own

• Warren has separated the world of business into 2 different categories: the healthy consumer monopoly type business and the sick commodity type business
• A consumer monopoly is a type of business that sells a brand name product or has a unique position that allows it to act like a monopoly.
• A commodity type business is the kind that manufactures a generic product or service that a lot of companies produce and sell

Commodity type business has the following characteristics:

• Low Profit margins on sales coupled with low inventory turnover
• Low returns on shareholder’s equity
• Absence of any brand loyalty
• Presence of multiple producers
• Existence of substantial excess production capacity in the industry
• Profitability that is almost entirely dependant upon management’s anilities to efficiently utilize tangible assets

Consumer Monopoly…

• A consumer monopoly is a type of toll business. If you want to buy a certain product you have to purchase it from that one company and no one else.
• Warren’s test for a consumer monopoly is to ask himself whether it would be possible to create a competing business even if one didn’t care about losing money.
• A consumer monopoly sells a product where quality and uniqueness are the most important factors in the consumer’s decisions to buy
• Consumer monopolies, though excellent business, are still subject to the ups and downs of the business cycle and the occasional business calamity

Can you identify if the business has a consumer monopoly?

1. Can you identify a consumer monopoly type product or service that the company sells?
2. Do Historical earnings show a strong and upward trend?
3. Is the company loaded with debt?
4. Does the company earn a high rate of return on shareholder’s equity?
5. Does the company have to spend a high percentage of its retained earnings to maintain its current operations?
6. Are retained earnings free to be invested in new businesses or used to repurchase the company’s shares?
7. Is the company free to adjust process for inflation?
8. Will the value added by retaining earnings lead to an increase in the stock market value of the company?

There are basically 4 types of consumer monopolies…

1. businesses that make products that wear out fast or are used up quickly, that have brand name appeal, and that merchants have to carry or use to stay in businesses
2. communications businesses that provide a repetitive service that manufactures must use to persuade the public to buy their products
3. businesses that provide repetitive consumer services that people and business are consistently in need of
4. Retail stores that have acquired a quasi-monopoly position selling such items as jewelry and furniture

Bad news that creates a buying situation…

1. Stock Market corrections and Panics
2. Industry Recessions
3. Individual Calamities
4. Structural Changes

Some links …

1. Yahoo! Financials
2. MSN Money
3. Value Line Investment Survey
4. mergertsat.com

Share repurchases…

• through the use of share repurchases it is possible for a company to cause an increase in per share earnings while increasing the ownership interests of the remaining shareholders
• share repurchases leave the pie the same size while increasing the size of the slice
• share repurchases make economic sense even at really high share prices
• through the use of share repurchases it is possible for a company to cause an increase in per share earnings while actual net earnings remain the same
• with share repurchases it is also possible for a company to enhance the economic performance of the company
• share repurchases cans sometimes mask poor performance

The Grahamian Equation

G=the expected gain in the event of success
L=the expected loss in the event of failure
C=the expected chance of success, expressed as percentage
Y=the expected time of holding in years
P=the current price of the security

Applied    CG – L(100% – C)

The Buffettology Worksheet

1. Does the company have an identifiable consumer monopoly?
2. Do you understand how it works?
3. If the company in question does have a consumer monopoly, the nest question is: What is the chance that it will become obsolete or replaced in the next 20 years?
4. Is the company a conglomerate?
5. What is the company’s earnings per share history?
6. Is the company consistently earning a high return on shareholders’ equity?
7. Is the company conservatively financed?
8. Is the company in question actively buying back its own shares?
9. Is the company free to raise prices with inflation?
10. Is the company’s stock price suffering from a market panic, a business recession or an individual calamity that is curable?
11. What is the initial rate of the investment and its expected annual rate of growth? How does it compare to rate of return being on the US treasury bonds?
12. The company’s stock as an equity/bond calculation

Book Title: Billionaire in Training: Because Millionaire just isn’t rich enough …
Author: Bradly J. Sugars
Year written/published: 2002
Book Source: Amazon. Library
Summary: This book talks about making money from businesses – buying, growing and selling them.
My Comments: Bradley’s candid writing really hits the point. Never really read a book about selling and buying real businesses… so this was kinda different perspective in the world of wealth. 
Contents page:

1. Getting Rich
2. 5 Levels of Entrepreneours
3. Buy, Build, Sell
4. How to raise money for your new business
5. 7 rules for buying a business
6. Selling the business

Some extracts:

Being a generalist

Working in a job you have about 1/3 of your pay taken off in taxes, about 1/3 taken for your mortgages or rent and even more to pay for your car and so on. Eventually you;ve got just enough left over to EXIST on.
Generalists on the other hand, think for themselves. They are great leaders, they take on risks and reap the rewards from things like tax deductions and more importantly, they collect long term income from the work they do today. They also enjoy the profits, as well, as so much more

Paper assets…

To be RICH, you need to have 2 things that will allow you to produce the third. You need a rather large CASHFLOW and a solid PHYSICAL S|ASSET base. These 2 things combine will allow you to create the 3rd part of getting RICH… PAPER ASSETS.
What then are paper assets? They are things like shares, contracts, licenses, royalties, and franchises documentations. Share floats are one of the best paper assets because you get to choose how many shares you get to keep.

So true about looking rich…

They would ask questions likes: :Who do you work for?” :How much do you earn?” But the one I liked most of all was: “What car do you drive?”
Now I don’t mean to be rude, but to some I will be. These people fell into the category I call “LOOKING GOOD, GOING NOWHERE…”
They rather look rich than be rich. Another way to describe their life would be to say that they live it by the second had. They do everything to build an impression of themselves to the outside world, and when the outside would says it’s true, they believe it – even thought it’s just an illusion they’ve created.

Income and wealth….

Your income and wealth are 2 entirely separate, and in most cases, non-related items. I’ve met people who make a million dollars a year in salary yet they are still poor because they spend more than that million on STUFF.
… … Your income doesn’t determine your wealth. It’s what you do with your income that determines your wealth.
Remember income does not equal to wealth. The 3rd belief I want to examine and discard is this: Because I’m more intelligent, more skilled and more experienced, I have a higher chance of becoming wealthy.
Once again, I have met a lot of very poor professors and very rich school drop-outs.

In order to grow, the investor has to learn and master…

• Business
• Real Estate
• Stock Market

Changing the way you think involves the following 4 step process:

1. Idealisation
2. Visualisation
3. verbalisation
4. Materialisation

The formula for building business…

Leads X Conversion Rate X Customers X Number of Transactions X Average Dollar Sale Price = Total Turn Over

Is it all about working harder?

If you think you can earn more by working little harder, it’s time for a reality check. Take a look around you. 1000s of people you know all work hard, but are they all really getting nowhere? No of course not.
The aim of the game isn’t to work harder; it’s to create better results with less effort.