See Me Get Rich Kindle Edition, Now Available

The See Me Get Rich Kindle edition is now available through Amazon.com. Of course, See Me Get Rich will continue to be available at SeeMeGetRich.com. However, if you would like to read See Me Get Rich on the Kindle e-reader, a monthly subscription costs just $1.99/month.

I myself am a proud owner of a Kindle 3, as reading books and magazines on the Kindle saves me a great deal of money compared to reading print publications. Needless to say, I am thrilled to make See Me Get Rich available for Kindle users. If you are a reader and have not yet purchased a Kindle, you would be doing yourself a huge favor by getting a Kindle.

My wife bought her Kindle long before I bought mine, and I held out for quite a long time before buying a Kindle for myself. Using the Kindle has made reading fun again for me, and it allows me to read more books at a fraction of the cost. And I can buy and download a new book wherever and whenever I want.

And if you are already reading this post on a Kindle, welcome to the See Me Get Rich kindle edition! If there are any changes to See Me Get Rich that would make for a better experience on your Kindle, please don't be shy. Just drop me an email or a comment below to introduce yourself.

I love to hear from my readers with any questions or comments. See Me Get Rich was originally designed to help me stay on track with my personal finances and investing goals, but it now exists primarily for my readers to spread basic knowledge about investing and personal finance. If I can be helpful to you, the reader, in any way, just let me know!

New Credit Card: Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard

If you know me, then you know I have a passion for all things related to trains. I am a railfan and a model railroader. My current town of San Jose, CA is one terminus of the Amtrak California "Capitol Corridor" route. As luck would have it, my hometown of Vacaville is right along the same route, as is my sister's home base of Sacramento, CA.

As such, I find myself taking Amtrak quite a bit. Amtrak costs only slightly more than gasoline for the same trip, and it is much more pleasant. On a recent visit to Amtrak.com (to buy Amtrak tickets to Sacramento) I noticed that Amtrak offers a rewards card through Chase.

Although I have been making a concerted effort to pay off credit card debt, I decided to apply for the Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard anyways (not an affiliate link). Now that my finances are getting to be more stable, I should be in a position to use a credit card for day-to-day purchases knowing that I will have the ability to pay off the balance each month in full.

The price of a one-way Amtrak ticket to my destinations of choice is usually in the neighborhood of $25-35. Using the rewards points to pay for these tickets could save me quite a bit of money (that I would spend anyways) in the long run. In addition, I can accumulate points toward the cost of a vacation or rail excursion to avoid looming travel expenses.

Credit cards can be used wisely, especially if the card offers a rewards program that adds a genuine benefit to your life in some way. I love trains. I like to take trains whenever possible. I will pay for train tickets anyway. The Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard will save me money if I use it responsibly (always the big "if"). Therefore, applying for the Amtrak rewards card is the right thing for me to do.

To sum up, I am not anti-credit but pro-responsible-credit. Learning to use credit wisely is part of financial maturity. Hopefully there will be even more rail trips in my future as a result!

PEY: A Monthly Dividend ETF for your Roth IRA Portfolio

If you are looking to add a dividend ETF into your Roth IRA Portfolio, I recommend PEY (NYSE: PEY). Although the price per share of PEY fluctuates, the reliable monthly dividend payment allows you to reinvest and compound your dividends more frequently.

The value of PEY has been steadily climbing out of its low point after the economic downturn of 2008. In 2007/2008, PEY reached a maximum price per share of just over $16.00. After sinking to a minimum of around $4.00 per share in March of 2009, PEY is currently valued at $8.93 per share (as of today, 12/28/2010).

The amount of the monthly dividend payments has fluctuated along with the share price for PEY. However, dividend funds such as PEY generally contain stocks that are relatively stable, because companies that pay dividends tends to have a stable enough cash flow to afford to return profits to shareholders as dividend payments. As such, a dividend fund such as PEY should continue to make a steady comeback alongside the economy as a whole.

If you enjoy watching dividends trickle in (like I do!), then PEY will make a great addition to your ETF Roth IRA portfolio. While I would not recommend PEY as a sole investment, the addition of 10-25 percent of a dividend fund such as PEY can help your portfolio ride the economic waves on a stable monthly dividend payment.

Merry Christmas from See Me Get Rich!

Christmas Eve is a time of hope and anticipation of the blessings, peace, forgiveness, and salvation to come. As Christians everywhere prepare to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, I have no words of wisdom for you tonight except to wish you all many blessings and to offer you the Lord's own words, that they might bring you peace:

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Cost of Healthy Food - A Long-Term Investment

How valuable is healthy food to you? How much are you willing to spend to ensure your long-term health and vitality?

When I was a teacher and a salesperson, I spent most of my time on my feet and in motion. Back then I could eat anything I wanted. Junk food, fast food, or anything else for that matter; I could eat as much as I wanted and my weight remained the same.

However, now that I have a job that involves sitting at a desk for a good portion of the day, I have been forced to become more health-conscious in my diet and nutrition choices in order to maintain my weight and health. Over the two-plus years that I have been with my current employer, I have put on nearly 30 pounds. While I am currently (and successfully) dieting my way back to my optimum weight, it takes conscious effort and wise spending on food in order to stay on track.

So why am I posting about my weight loss effort on a blog about personal finance and investing? From green tea at Starbucks, to six-inch turkey sandwiches at Subway, to fresh fruit and vegetables from the grocery store, eating healthy takes time, effort, and money, just like long-term investing.

In fact, it is wise to think of the cost of healthy food as a long-term investment. After all, you want to be around and active enough to enjoy the fruits of your long-term financial investments. And the best way to ensure that you stick around is to give equal attention to your biological needs as you would to your monetary needs.

Despite all the chatter I read regarding avoiding spending money eating out, the cost of a Subway sandwich or a Protein Power Plate at Starbucks is well worth it if it helps to keep my diet and healthy lifestyle on track.

In this day and age it can be difficult to find the time for a home-cooked meal. But as long as you are going to spend the money to eat out anyways, spend an extra few dollars and cents to get healthy food. Your older self may thank you, and you will much more likely to live to see your regular investments pay off. The cost of healthy food is a long-term financial investment!

Low-Cost Vacation Ideas

It is no secret that I can be something of a workaholic. But, despite my workaholic tendencies, I am taking a week-long vacation next week between Christmas and New Years. Although I am yearning for a quiet, stress-free vacation at home, I though it would be prudent to brainstorm some ideas for low-cost things to do while I am on vacation.

Here is the list of low-cost vacation ideas that I have come up with so far:

• Take the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train up to Sacramento to take my nephew to the California State Railroad Museum (The place hasn't changed in 30 years, but it's still awesome!)
• Look at houses, condos, and townhouses for sale in San Jose and surrounding areas. I am considering purchasing my first home, and shopping for houses is a great way to kill an afternoon and get a little exercise while I'm at it.
• Drive down to Santa Cruz to visit my old church (Christian Life Center, Santa Cruz) for worship and some fellowship with friends and fellow believers.
• Visit Petroglyph, the local pottery-painting store and make a food/water dish for my youngest cat, Chowder. I'm going hippie, y'all!
  
• Log some contacts on the ham radio, or perhaps build a better stealth ham radio antenna.
• Power-level my main toon on World of Warcraft to level 80 so I can play the new expansion, Cataclysm.
• Have coffee and cigars at Orchard Valley Coffee in downtown Campbell, and get to know the locals.
• Attend a local model railroad club or amateur radio club meeting.
• Learn to cook one of the many recipes I have saved to my recipe box on allrecipes.com.

I'm sure that many other low-cost vacation ideas will come to mind between now and the end of the week. Feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions!

Average Net Worth Increase: $862.74 per month

Back in June I provided an update on my net worth, which was $-66,935.64 on June 22 (net worth update 6/22/2010). Since it has been about six months since my last net worth update, I thought I would take moment to find out how the last six months have treated my personal finances and my net worth.

Below is a list of my debts and assets, with changes from June noted in parentheses:

Assets:

Retirement Accounts: $11,534.97 (down from $12364.30 in June)

Debts:

Bank of America Credit Card: $0 (down from $1,569.38 in June)
Capital One Credit Card: $503.97 (down from $3,122.55 in June)
Student Loan: $64,539.32 (down from $65,208.01 in June)
Auto Loan: $8,250.87 (down from $9,400.00 in June)

Total Net Worth: $-61,759.19 (up from $-66,935.64 in June)
Six Month Gain: $5,176.45 (average increase of $862.74 per month)

Although my net worth is still in the negative because of my student loan balance, an average net worth increase of $862.74 per month during an economic recession is very healthy. I owe this increase in net worth to stable employment (knock on wood), increased earning power due to education (and some luck), and an aggressive effort to pay off credit card debt over the last six months. Hopefully, I will have even better news to report over the next six-month period, from now until June 2011!