Game plan

I read the next chapter on investment from fool.com. The article was a little boring at first, so I won't hash everything. Here are the summary:

1. What is real return? You gotta consider tax, inflation (CPI, bureau of labor statistics)
2. You gotta know what your goals are: retirement, education, second home, etc.
3. Wanting to make it big in a short time instead of following a long term plan is as bad as gambling.
4. Don't invest money you need in the next 3 yrs in stock cuz it's pretty risky.
5. Know your investment style.

Alright, I'm being lazy today and will continue with stocks for the next chapter.

Basic types of investment

I'm following the investment basics from Motley Fool (www.fool.com) for now and will post whatever I've read. I usually get only about an hour of free time a day so I can only read a little. I'm sure some of my next few blogs has info that is pretty basic and a lot of people already know, but hey it doesn't hurt to review the basics.

So to start with, there are savings acct, CD, etc considered to be "short term investment" since their return is low but is fairly safe. I'm not going to go into those. I mean even my mom knows what a CD is (no offense mom). The stuff that is more interesting is the long term investments which are:

• Bonds
• Stocks
• Mutual Funds
• ETF (Exchange-traded funds)

ETF isn't listed as one of the long term investment vehicles in the article, but my friend mentioned it to me. I also remember hearing about it from Suze Orman (www.suzeorman.com). You know that lady who is always giving financial advice on TV shows. She mentioned a while back that it's way cooler than Mutual funds. I figure I'll put it down here so I don't forget.

The article also mentioned about different types of retirement plans:

• IRA
• Roth IRA
• 401k/403b
• Keogh
• Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) Plan

I've always heard about IRA, 401k and the less popular Pension plan. I had no idea there is Keogh for self employed people. I guess if I ever want to start my own company, it'll be good to know about this option since there will be no 401k. The article gave some basics on them, but let's be honest, they're so vague I'll forget about them before I hit publish, so I won't even bother to review them. Besides the tax benefit for each one is so different, I should spend more time to research about them.

Like I said, pretty basic, but I'll just stop here for now.

Is everything from China bad?

I just saw a news article about Simplicity and Graco cribs from China are being recalled. What the hell is going on with all these recalls? And why are they all made in China? I'm having a hard time deciding whether Chinese manufacturers have poor quality control or the country is being targeted for bad press.

I mean, let's face it, what isn't made in China? If you subscribe to Parenting magazine like I do, you will see plenty of recalls in every month's issue. When has the "Made in China" tag become almost equivalent to saying something is unsafe? Look at cnn.com. The link to the article about these cribs is Chinese-made cribs being recalled. Shouldn't it be Grace and Simplicity cribs being recalled? While China is definitely responsible for the hazard, so are Graco and Simplicity!

It's like saying you use Windows operating system, it crashes all the time. It turns out that the program that keeps breaking is written by engineers in India. Instead of saying Microsoft has poor quality control, people say India has bad programmers. It doesn't really make too much sense, right?

My sister thinks this is all part of the trading war that's going on between China and United States. It can very well be. I just hope I don't hear about these kinds of recalls again.

And spaweek

I swear, I'll get into learning something new.. maybe tomorrow. I just have to mention about Spa Week (www.spaweek.org). This is the coolest site ever. They work with these spas to offer 3 50 dollar treatments every once a while. That includes expensive facials, massages or whatever it is the spa offers. The website helps promote these spas, especially the ones that are new in business and don't have a customer base yet. The spa week is going on this week in Los Angeles until Sunday. It is not too late to make an appointment for a nice massage or facial yet!

Oh well, let's start with a bargain

Well the whole point of making money is so you can spend money. So let's start with sharing a good bargain. I was over at The Children's place (www.childrensplace.com) today. They're having a 50% off on sale items! I got a bunch of long sleeves shirt for my son for 2.5 a piece. 2.50!!!! And nice corduroy pants for 5 bucks. I know my son doesn't really need more pants, but who can resist a good deal (except maybe my husband).

Why I'm starting this blog

Let me first introduce myself. I'm a mom with a toddler. Before I had my baby, I was a young professional in the software business. My future was bright. I kept getting promotions and raises, making pretty good money for someone that age. While enjoying my success, I had always known that I wanted to be a mom.

Then I got pregnant and became a mom. Pregnancy went smoothly, but the reality of having a newborn kicked in the minute I gave birth. My baby was pretty high maintenance. He was colicky and never wants (even now) to leave mommy. While my plan was to go back after my extended 5 months maternity leave, it was obvious that my son would not thrive if I did so. Okay, he probably would be fine, but I couldn't stand seeing that cute little face cry because I have to go back to work.

We saved up enough money so that we will be fine even on one income for a while. After months of being home, I'm starting to feel a bit useless. Yes I am a housewife and a mom, raising a child, but I can't help but feel a little empty. I need something else to keep me busy, and something that I can say that I've achieved. Going back to work is certainly one option but I have no idea how marketable I'll be when I am finally ready to go back to work.

So let's be honest. I want to be able to stay home, make money and spend as much time with my baby as possible instead of shipping him to daycare. I'm in many mommy network. I guess I'm not the only one who feels this way. A lot of my mommy friends are starting their own business. I don't know if I'll ever come up with that brilliant million dollar idea. And before I do that, I'll focus on educating myself something that should help me make more money one day.

The first thing that I know I should be learning is on investment. I'm tired of saving all my money in the bank because I don't know how to invest properly. I will go through books, websites and blog whatever I've learned. Hope you will enjoy my journey as well.

So investment 101, here I come. Let's start with the stock market.