March Money Madness Challenge

If you have ever filled out a bracket for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, you can play this game! 

It works the same, only using stocks instead of basketball teams.

So, sign up, test your investing skills against people from all over the country, and you could win a new Apple iPad!

In fact, as more people sign up here, I may add additional prizes, so tell all of your friends!

The Advisor and the Champ

 

I stopped by Pittsburgh Today Live and brought along my good friend, former classmate and new Super Bowl Champion Darnell Dinkins from the New Orleans Saints with me to talk about we can all learn about our money from the world of sports.

122 Million Reasons to Have A Happy Valentines Day

Jay Z and Beyonce Top List of Highest Earning Couples

My guess is that it was a very Happy Valentine’s Day at the Knowles Carter household seeing as how the couple earned $122 million between June 08 and June 09, putting them at the very top of Forbes’ list of highest earning Hollywood couples.  Of course, I’m a little disappointed in them since they slacked off this year.  Last year they earned $162 million…step your game’s back up guys!

I suppose Forbes doesn’t consider Steadman a celebrity or doesn’t consider he and Oprah as a couple or those two would have been the Queen and King of this list since she earned $275 million all by herself over the same time period.

Homorable Mention:

Harrison Ford/Calista Flockhart $69 million

Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie $55 million

Will Smith/Jada Pinkett $48 million

David & Victoria Beckham $46 million

Finding Your Perfect ’10

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It’s easy to make financial resolutions, keeping them is the hard part.  Here’s how to make sure you keep those promises to yourself so you can have a perfect 2010.  What, you thought I was going to tell you how to nab Halle Berry?

Let’s Talk About Cents

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They say that men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, and that is especially true when it comes to money.  Here’s an update on how to make sure that you, your money and your mate can all play nicely together.

City honors young local black leaders

Boy, this was a really nice program and a great honor.  The other nine people that we honored are really making things happen, so I was just glad to be up there with them!

To the left is a picture of me receiving my award from Mayor Like Ravenstahl.

[From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

About 100 people attended an opening reception Wednesday for the city’s tribute to Black History Month, an exhibit of photographs and biographies honoring 10 local black leaders.

The exhibit, “History in the Making: Honoring our Young African American Leaders of Today,” will be displayed at the City-County Building through Feb. 26.

Among the 10 honorees chosen were Paul Ellis Jr., 40, of the Hill District, a lawyer who helped negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement with the Penguins, and La’Tasha Mayes, 28, of Morningside, a Philadelphia native who founded New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice.

Read more here.

The Blueprint ’10

JENESIS Magazine (Its not a movement, its evolution defined)

Learn from the last decade, make money in the next.

The champagne has been popped, the ball has dropped and now it’s time to get down to business in a new decade.  It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting next to my generator with a can of pork-and-beans and a flashlight because the world as we knew it was supposed to come to a halt when all the computers crashed during Y2K.  It turns out that Microsoft and Home Depot just decided to play a big joke on us…but what a great way to sell new laptops and plywood!

 Though that joke wasn’t very funny, I think that we can learn a lot from Y2K and many of the events of the past decade.  Here’s your blueprint for getting your paper right in the ‘10s.

 What Goes Up, Must Come Down (then goes back up)

The 2000s were full of ups and downs.  We entered the decade riding a wave on which we thought sites like Pets.com would become the next Wal-Mart and any jackass could put “e” in front of anything and raise $100 million in an IPO (why oh why didn’t I start eSocks when I had the chance!).  Well, that wave turned into weak ripples when we realized how much it cost to ship pet food (besides, can you really afford to wait for kitty litter to arrive in the mail?) and stocks like eToys.com went from a price of $84 per share down to 9 cents! Lots of people lost their shirts when they didn’t sell as soon as it became clear that those high stock prices didn’t make any sense.

Ahh, but we love a good comeback story, and the market came back with a vengeance.  This time instead of the e-geeks, it was the house flippers that led the market to new highs.  Inexplicably, banks started loaning homeless bums $200,000 to buy abandoned townhouses and to go on a Home Depot shopping spree in hopes of selling it to the next idiot for $500,000 in six weeks.  It worked…until it didn’t, and HGTV almost helped usher in the new Great Depression.

But just before the soup kitchens opened back up, the market decided to rebound…again, by going up over 50% from March ’09 until the end of the year.  Way to end on a high note!

The point is, yes, investing can be scary at times, but the market has taken a licking and kept on ticking.  You need to be in the game; just don’t run your portfolio like the Detroit Lions.

[Read more...]

He is Young Money

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Happy New Year! Ok, to start things off right, check out this story of a 14 year old investor that has amassed $50k by investing in stocks in things he knows…like Nike.

He is really ahead of the game. How much did you say YOUR portfolio is worth again?

 

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Get Rich or Buy Trying

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The holiday season doesn’t have to be all about spending.  Here are some ideas on how to give smart financial gifts for Christmas.

America’s Next Top Gold Digger

Nik Pace

Model Sues NFL Star for $70k per Month in Child Support

I know that 50 said “Have a baby by me baby, be a millionaire,” but I don’t think he meant for it to be taken so literally.

ANTM finalist Nik Pace is suing Jets WR Braylon Edwards for $70k per month in child support for the son that she birthed in September.

In one of the most ridiculous funniest statements that I’ve heard this year, her lawyer called Edwards’ petition to be recognized as the child’s father in Atlanta rather than in New York a “cold, calculated act to pay less money.”

If it takes $70k per month to raise a child these days, I’m scheduling my vasectomy in January.