Rohail Rizvi

Just thought it’d be a good idea for me to keep track of where my money is:

Emigrant-Direct 4.25% American Dream Savings Account $101.67

BofA Primary Checking $44.44

BofA Regular Savings $300.82

PayPal Balance $22.00

Total: $468.93

Other variable assets:

Stocks~$1000

Liabilities

Student Loans $8000

Credit Card paid off in full each month-$0

If anyone is looking for a place to put their money in a savings account, I strongly recommend a high-yield online savings account such as those offered by Emigrant-Direct, ING, HSBC, and now CitiBank.

A quick comparison of the four as of April 17, 2006:

Emigrant Direct 4.5%

ING Direct’s Orange Savings Account 3.8%

Citibank e-Savings 4.5%

HSBC 4.8%

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Coming soon to an airport near you. I’m just about to head out to JFK airport and remembered about an article I had read about MetroNaps. The company provides napping “pods” where tired travellers at locations such as airports can take a quick 20-minute nap for $12 and $4 for each additional 10 minutes. They are “white, ladle-shaped chairs that are partly enclosed to allow privacy without inducing claustrophobia. Headphones emit soft nature sounds to help drowsy travelers drift off to sleep. Attendants watch over the belongings of those in dreamland, who are gently awakened by soft vibrations. Post-nap peppermints and citrus-scented towelettes are provided, and nappers can arrange to have food waiting upon wake up.” Too bad JFK doesn’t have any in place as of yet :/

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I think one of the biggest parts of entrepreneurship is experimenting. It doesn’t even have to be something big…just something that will be enough to learn something from. For example, a blogging friend of mine ran a bottled water experiment where he bought cases of Dasani bottled water, got a cooler, gathered some bums to help him out (paid them of course), and sold cold water at roadway intersections for a $1 each. He ended up making a profit of $5.43. Not an incredible amount but he learned several things: He should work alone, buy cheaper water, buy less ice, and buy more water.

So considering this, I want to set up a few experiments for myself. Something crazy and remarkable like what my friend did. So I’m asking you, faithful blog readers, for any suggestions as to any crazy entrepreneurial experiments you can think of. Comments?

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I recently read that the number of people going to college has increased tremendously while at the same time the average salary of college graduates has dropped for the first time. Nevertheless, the average salary of high school graduates has increased. Combine this with the increasing costs of going to college as average tuition and board for a private university is around $39,000 per year and $12,000 for a public university, the advantages of investing in higher education seem to be diminishing slightly. Nevertheless, more and more people are going to college and some might say that having a college degree these days is equivalent to that of having a high school degree a couple decades ago.

As for other budding entrepreneurs out there, I know college is a tough issue as to whether it is worth the investment or not considering they could be working on their ventures full time otherwise. However, I still see a few advantages to sticking through your courses and getting that degree.

Your degree acts as somewhat of a certificate of authority, saying to others that I have this degree and I know as much as you do and am in no way underqualified.

Allows you to avoid the inevitable and incessant criticism by your parents and everyone else in your family that you should have gotten your degree.

College gives you the opportunity to network with others that might potentially be very useful links in the future.

There exists an enourmous amount of resources at college whether it be professors or technology-based student organizations that can prove invaluable when trying to get your project off the ground.

So there you go. If you’re thinking about whether getting that degree is worth it, these few positive aspects might help you realize some of the reasons why staying at college might be helpful. Feel free to comment.

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Just got myself a new digital camera off of ebay. It’s the samsung digimax a402…nothing big just for casual use. Here’s what it looks like:

It’s about time considering I’ve been using this huge Kodak 3.1 MP for a while

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One of the reasons I’ve decided to start this blog is to make it easier for me to follow up on the goals that I have set for myself. These consist of several short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals and are as follows:

Short-term

Set up merchant account to allow credit card purchases on CampingCook.com
Start thinking of other niches that I could get into to further my online presence.
Link to other blogs.
Look for ways to promote my online business.
Look for a good web designer for one of my bigger upcoming projects.
Read Think and Grow Rich.
Read as many books on start-ups as I can.
Have at least $1000 a month coming in from my business ventures by the end of summer.

Medium-term

Become a “yopo” or young professional on okdork.com
Have at least 4 different sources of income, balanced for diversification.
Pay off student loans within 3 years of graduation.
Accumalate at least $1,000,000 $3,000,000 in assets by the age of 27.

Long-term

Create as many investment vehicles as possible and generate positive cash flow each month.
Save as much as I can towards retirement.
Retire by the age of 35.

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My first online business is finally up after months of research and hassle with middlemen. You can check it out at www.campingcook.com. I think I picked a good niche, let’s hope it works out.

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I bought my first stocks yesterday. Finally getting into some of this Wall Street action. Honestly, I’ve been playing those online stock market games for a while and am excited to finally be in. My purchases include the following:

Cryptologic, Inc. (CRYP)
Drew Industries (DW)
Fuel Tech NV (FTEK)
First Marblehead (FMD)
Yamana Gold Inc. (AUY)

My total purchase was $1,000 and I am definitely long-term on these picks.
I will continue to add more to my holdings as I bring in that paycheck from my new job.
Speaking of which, I will be working at a corporate consulting firm in Edison, NJ for the summer.

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This blog is devoted to tracking my journey to financial success by way of investing, entreprenurial ventures, and other crazy ideas. I am 18 today, let’s see how far I can advance financially by the age of 19.

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