28 April 2009

Step 2: Turning 2 dollars into 4 dollars

Well, my goal for the month of April has been to take the 2 dollars and make it 4 dollars. The month isn't up yet, and I'm not giving up on this step. I have invested $0.50 of my two dollars into a Fisher Price wagon with 1 Peek-a-Block. Yes, I have been garage sale shopping and feel that I have come upon a great investment opportunity. Considering the first Fisher Price wagon that I came across was going for 40 dollars and included 40 blocks and the second Fisher Price wagon I stumbled upon was going for 25 dollars and came with maybe 29 or so blocks, my find from a couple of first or second grade kids running a garage sale offered their Fisher Price wagon with 1 Peek-a-Block at 25¢ and 3 pennies. My wife, however, gave them 2 quarters because we did not have the 3 pennies on us. Although I have not sold this item and my daughter has fallen in love with this Fisher Price wagon, I was able to render some services to an individual that was in need of help. While my intentions were strictly from an intrinsic standpoint, he insisted on paying me. After rejecting the money a number of times, and him forcing it into my possession, I gave in and graciously accepted the money. While my good deed for the day has still been left undone, due to the insistent compensation of my friend, I now have more than 4 dollars in my possession and from an investing standpoint, the return has been well beyond 100%.

31 March 2009

20 Steps to Make a Million Dollars

So here is the math:

$1 - $2
$2 - $4
$4 - $8
$8 - $16
$16 - $32
$32 - $64
$64 - $128
$128 - $256
$256 - $512
$512 - $1,024
$1,024 - $2,048
$2,048 - $4,096
$4,096 - $8,192
$8,192 - $16,384
$16,384 - $32,768
$32,768 - $65,536
$65,536 - $131,072
$131,072 - $262,144
$262,144 - $524,288
$524,288 - $1,048,576

It's amazing how easy it looks on paper, but getting started and implementing it can be much more difficult than it looks. This project will attempt to explore all the steps in each transaction and of course, is a giant work in progress. However, if along the way one of these steps works for you and it can be replicated over and over great! The idea is to discover a myriad of ways in which your dollar can work for you.

Step 1: Transforming 1 Dollar Into 2 Dollars

The Step I took in turning one dollar into two dollars actually occurred by luck. I opened up an online savings account through HSBC and during the process realized that my one dollar deposit had doubled. In the process of opening an online savings account with HSBC, the bank will make two small trial deposits into an already existing bank account. To verify that the account you are setting up is yours, you will then relay to HSBC the two amounts they sent to your bank account and after all the processing is done you're account is open. These small deposits that HSBC sends are both under a dollar, but can add up to the amount of a dollar or more if you happen to be lucky. Luck was smiling upon me and my deposits came to a few cents more than a dollar. So now the account I have open with HSBC has slightly more than two dollars in it. Although this is not a guarantee to double your money, it can be one way in which you can transform one dollar into two dollars. As with all posts, suggestions and comments are welcome, and any ideas you want to throw out there will be posted as long as the content is clean.