http://www.chipaside.com financial freedom Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:49:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Being a labour worker has the advantage of a certain "security": a fixed number in your monthly paycheck makes the life easier. You don't have to worry whether you will earn enough to cover next month's expenses. And if you needed financing your bank can give you a loan since ... http://www.chipaside.com/why-to-be-entrepreneur/ After more than one year being offline, I have decided to revive this blog for the sake of knowledge sharing. A lot has changed since then. The spreadbetting project I wrote about in my last post has turned out to be quite successful. During the summer months of 2007 I have ... http://www.chipaside.com/chipaside-is-back/ Okay, it took a bit longer for me to define a strategy for this project. And I didn't want to start using the spreadbetting account without it on Monday. Blind betting without a clear strategy is gambling, very dangeroug gambling... On the other hand, starting one day later means that I will ... http://www.chipaside.com/spreadbetting-project-getting-started/ Following is a small tutorial of how you can use excel (or similar spreadsheet program) to plan yor financial future.  1. Determine your income and spendings Before we start, a little work from your part is required. You should know (more or less) what you earn and spend monthly because this data will be ... http://www.chipaside.com/easy-financial-plan-in-excel/ Financial spreadbetting is the most risky, volatile and speculative way there is to make profit in the financial world. It's more like betting in the casino or in a horse race. In fact, the profit You make with spreadbetting is tax-free in the UK. I don't know whether it is ... http://www.chipaside.com/financial-spreadbetting-project/ Never invest money in anything that you do not thoroughly know, be it stocks, a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" or a new TV. In order for an investment to be an investment and not plain speculation, you need rock-hard, objective facts. Without facts, you either just gambling (which is a VERY risky way ... http://www.chipaside.com/investing-vs-speculating/ The following is a great exercise that enables you to think like an investor. And its fun, too!  Everything in life is investing: You use a set of resources in order to obtain something, which value is greater than the sum of those resources. Be it "investing" in its classical meaning or anything ... http://www.chipaside.com/facets-of-investing/ Following up my post about diversification in your investments I decided to share a neat calculator I've made some time ago for myself and for my clients at the work. Let's say you have: a very secure product like a normal bank deposit, which return % is known and a risky product, ... http://www.chipaside.com/portfolio-weight-calculator/ Whether you're a newbie or an experienced investor, playing safe is the only way to make profit again and again. The are different rules you have to follow depending on what you invest in. However there are two tips that can be applied to ANY kind of investment project: 1. Information How ... http://www.chipaside.com/playing-safe/ As a rule of thumb we (in the bank) say to our clients, they shouldn't invest more than 30% of their paycheck. I say, it depends. It depends on several things. First, you've got to record what you are spending for several months: rent, food, bills, etc. So you can approximately ... http://www.chipaside.com/how-much-to-invest/