Do you ever pickup a book to read, and you just can’t seem to put it down until you are done?  Well, it hasn’t happened to me very often in my life, but it sure has today.

You see, earlier today, I went down to the bookstore to buy a book recommended to me by a colleague.  He is a big shot stock trader, and he has been trading the QQQQ for the past year with amazing results.  In fact, he is on track to retire in about two years, at the ripe "old" age of 35 - now wouldn’t we all love that!

So, I bought the book that he suggested to me and I sat down to read for ten minutes.  Well, those ten minutes turned into about six hours now, and I just finished reading the book.  Not only was it a stimulating read, but I think that I will follow the trading systems outlined in the book and retire a lot younger.

I will have to make sure to thank him for recommending this wonderful book once I get back from my holidays - I think he might have just changed my life.

Investing in green belt land for sale can be smart if you are prepared to wait several years for a return on investment. With the need for more housing in the UK land is at a premium and if you buy right, you can potentially earn hundreds times more than you paid.

Green field land is previously undeveloped areas that may or may not be zoned in the future for building either residential or business developments. Mainly its purpose is used for forestry or farming until someone decides that it is a good location for something else. Of course, there is always the possibility that the land won’t be zoned for construction ever, in which case, you’ll probably take a loss unless you sell to a farmer who needs it.

Large developers are not the only ones buying up this type of property either. Average citizens are seeing the benefits of land investment with this opportunity as well.

Now, I don’t think that a death in the family is something to celebrate, but I found myself in that situation.  You see, my great aunt passed away one week ago, and it turns out that she left me a bit of money in the will.  We had always been very close, so I will miss her, but I also think that it is even more important to do something productive with the money that she left me.

On one hand, if I were to reduce debt for myself, it would be a blessing.  Not only would it ease my financial burden, but it should leave me with some extra money each month to either spend or reduce my debts further.

But the other option available to me would be to use the money to start property investing.  In fact, there would be enough money that I could own multiple properties at the beginning and benefit from the extra monthly income.

I guess I will just have to weigh the pros and cons, and make my decision from there.

I subscribe to the local newspaper and I basically only read the business section.  I really have no use for the rest of the paper but I like to see what is going on with stock research every day.  In fact purchasing a paper just to read the business section is so worth it for me.

I myself enjoy to research stock and I’m not sure where this started.  I know my parents tried to teach me about investing in saving my money but I have since become such an addict when it comes to anything regarding the stock market and mutual funds.

It is kind of ironic that my dad will call me and ask me about my stock pick.  I actually love that he will come to me for advice and has no problem admitting that I have far surpassed any knowledge he has on the subject.  I think this has strengthened our relationship.

After investing in a number of income properties near my home, I felt it was time to venture abroad and find properties in another market.

Looking online, I found many potential markets, but not too many deals.  I realize that you need to wait sometimes for a good deal, but I didn’t want to leave my money in the bank too long - I am a big fan of making it work for you all the time.

I was just about to give up, when I came across a forum post about Greenville SC real estate.  I had to take a look on a map to see where it was, and then I came back to the site.  Many people mentioned that they had success with income properties in the region, and that the homes there had exceptional resale value as there is strong economic development in the area.

Looking at some realtor websites in the area, I realized I had found what I had been looking for - a new real estate investing frontier.  I will just have to take the time to crunch some numbers before I invest.

Now, I know that investing is not a sport, but I like to think of it as a competition.  The prize that goes to the winner with the most money can be as simple as that new car you want, or as nice as early retirement compared to your peers.

One tool in my arsenal has been my ability (and patience) to do due diligence on any investment program that I consider.  I take my time, and learn what I need to in order to ensure that I am making a sound investment.

Take for example the high yield investment program (HYIP) that I put some money in.  Sure I could have jumped in with two feet, but instead I did some research before investing and it has paid off.  My portfolio just doubled in three short months, and from the looks of things, that is the way the portfolio is going to perform.

It has also helped that I don’t put all my money in one investment, rather, I have money in different investments.  This has helped my portfolio have positive returns every month for the past five years, irrespective of the stock markets.  You sure feel a lot better knowing that you are making money each month as opposed to losing money each month.

So, I will continue to analyze and find good investments that will help me amass more wealth.  I would really like to retire young (35 sounds good) and if my investment portfolio continues to perform as well as it has, it will definitely be a possibility.  I can’t wait.

I have been thinking for some time of investing in a franchise.  I have been leaning this way because I don’t really have time to setup my own company and figure out something to sell.  I really like the idea of having proven systems to follow, so I don’t have to figure them out myself.

Searching for top franchise opportunities is the easy part - picking one is a little harder.  I would really like to get into something that I am familiar with, or have used myself, so I would have a better idea of the value of the franchise.

Take Starbucks for example.  Now, I can see the locations in town here that would benefit from having a Starbucks franchise.  There is a definite need for them, since they only started popping up here in the last five years.

On the other hand, it is sometimes good to get in when the franchise is just growing and the market is not saturated.  I have been keeping my eye on the fastest growing franchises for something that would work for me - but there is nothing on the list that I would have any interest in.

So, I will have to continue looking for a good franchise for me to invest - and do a little more research.  Besides, I am not in a big rush, rather I am looking for a franchise that is a good fit for me.

If you look around in the real estate investing market, you will notice one thing if you are an investor: you have a lot of competition.  Seems that everyone is a real estate investor now, and there are more instances of bidding wars for property.

What is worse than the competition is the saturation of investors in some of the more lucrative markets.  A good example is the number of investors investing in repossessed properties - it was once a lucrative market with little competition - but not anymore.

This has made the need to find another investment market more important - the pioneer investors (the first ones if you will) tend to make the most money.  So let me share a little secret - how would you like to get repossessed properties before they were repossessed?

Sure you do.  You would get the discount on the purchase price and a better return on your investment.  How do you do it?  Start a sell and rent back program.  Basically you would buy properties from homeowners that are going to have to default on their mortgage and rent it back to them.  This can also result in instant cash flow from your property as you have tenants on day one.

You should get into this untapped real estate market as fast as you can - most communities have a need for this service - and I am sure your portfolio wouldn’t mind the extra income either

We recently decided to open a new shop - actually a coffee shop.  Now, I have had experience running a coffee shop, so I really wasn’t worried about figuring the operations of the business out.  What I was unsure about was the best way to equip our business - whether I should buy or lease the equipment.

I went to talk to a loan officer at the bank about equipment financing and whether or not it was a good idea.  He showed me the loans that they offered and the rates seemed reasonable.  He stressed that ownership was the better way, because leasing would just be like I was renting the equipment, and then the company would not have any assets.  After our meeting I thanked him for his time and told him I would think about it.

Later on that day, I went to a commercial leasing company to talk to one of their representatives about leasing.  Since I didn’t know a whole lot about it, I asked them to explain why equipment leasing would be good for my business.  I found out that there were tax advantages to leasing as well as all the maintenance was covered by the leasing company - that way I would know exactly what my expenses were each month.  They also stressed that a lease in no way would impair my ability to function as a business - it would not affect the amount of credit available to the company, so my line of credit would be there should I need it.

Thinking about my options when I returned to the office, it sure seemed that a lease would be a better way to equip the business.  The tax advantages intrigued me a lot - I think I will talk to my accountant and get their impartial perspective on my situation - and make my decision from there.

Well, my boyfriend’s birthday is coming up - he will be turning the big 29 shortly.  In the past I have gotten him a computer, rings, pets, plants - you name it, I have pretty much got it.

So this year I wanted to get him something different.  Something of some lasting value - something he might actually care about.  Lately he has been dabbling in in day trading - yet he has not taken any course - he has just been winging it.

And the returns he is getting shows that maybe he doesn’t know what he is doing.  In fact, if he keeps doing what he is doing, in a little while he will be broke.  I thought that some day trading education might help him out, so I went online eager to find something that would work for him.

Wading through the large number of search results I did manage to find the Emini Day Trading Course which looked very promising.  Even the price was reasonable, but really what got me was that the Emini Trading Course had a 60 day money back guarantee - so if the course sucked, we could get our money back.

I am going to order it later tonight when my boyfriend is out at work.  I sure hope he likes it!