How I'm Getting a DS Lite For 75% Off

well, it's not *really* a % off, it's more like a "i found $100 in my pocket" trick. the trick: a mere 1% cash back credit card and some (actually A LOT of) financial discipline.

most people look at 1% and really don't think much of it, i know i didn't. it just so happened that when i switched credit cards last year, i kinda just picked this one. i've had no credit card debt for the past year and along with the financial benefits of not having any credit card debt comes the mental benefit of being in the clear (which speaks volumes). anyways, how'd i juice $100 off this thing?

- pay daily things with it, namely food. for reals, who of us actually cook? we're more likely to go out for lunch and dinner and for about $5-15 bucks a pop also. let's say you spend $10/day on food (which is really cheap). that's $300/month = $3/month made from the credit card.

- pay bills you are going to pay anyways with your card. cellphone, cable, car insurance, gym membership, and online games (which we all put on a card anyway). this is stuff you will pay no matter what so *hopefully* you've already budgeted for it. all that stuff for me adds up to about $500/month = $5/month made from credit card.

- use it at the gas pump. i typically look at $40/tank and have to fill up about 4 times a month. $160/month = $1.60/month made from credit card.

and that's it.

notice i didn't even include "fun" items like games/dvds/movie tickets and the sort. the POINT is: just by paying things i HAVE to pay anyways, i'm looking at $9.60/month. so now you may be saying "jay, i make $10 in 15 minutes to surf the internet". yeah, i know, i know, but add that shit up for a whole year: $115.20. add $40 to that and i get a DS Lite, not too shabby (i'll be getting $.40 from that $40 on the DS, make no mistake about that).

now i'm not advocating crazy credit card spending, i'm saying as long as you keep it under control you can harness the power of the little 1%. i also know there might be better cards out there, but i haven't come across any worth the switch (yet). i think Discover is like 5%, but many places don't take that card and it's 5% if you spend at certain retailers, the one i have is 1% on all purchases. about 2 months ago, i got a HSBC mastercard that gives 5% on gas purchases (which ups my $1.60/month in gas to $8/month). i DID find this card though: chase freedom card, will do more research and number crunching before i choose to apply.

even if it's like $100 for a whole year of this, as saddistic as it sounds, i think most of the *fun* comes from nickel and diming the thing. kinda like opening up the entire sphere grid in ff10 for each character. i've cashed in on the points i've accumulated in the past year ($100)...now only if i could find a DS Lite in stock somewhere...ANYWHERE!!!


WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?!


There's a New Game In Town

and although initially it's the most expensive game i've played, when it's all said and done it will be the cheapest game i've played. and the name of the game? Stock Market. i'm not putting all my money into "playing stocks", that would be called gambling. what i AM doing is putting leftover money into my online brokerage account at Scottrade. $100 here, $500 there, another $200 when i feel like it, $150 when a chick pisses me off, and without really noticing i have put a total of $3000 into the account. i already do a lot of other longer term investing (403b, Roth IRA, a couple index funds, high yield savings account) so any money in my Scottrade account i basically see as play money. as of today, the assets in the account are about $3172. i'm gonna use this blahg to track my progress as i go through this crazy game.

only own 3 stocks at the moment:
NTDOY - Nintendo, 30 shares. the wii is gonna make a profit on each sale? that's totally opposite all other consoles. microsoft and sony are losing lots with their consoles. Nintendo will be pulling in cash like crazy over the holiday season through wii and DS sales. i bought it for $26/share. it's at $28.55 today....and the wii hasn't even come out yet.

GMKT - Gmarket, 40 shares. bought this today @$21.07. i figure this is kinda like the amazon.com of south korea. south korean online shopping has started to catch on and from what i've read, this is the main place you'd buy anything online from.

HMIN - Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc, 40 shares. bought this today @$30.70. this IPO'd fairly recently and the chinese market has been crazy hot lately. this one is more of a risk then the other ones.

what i've sold so far:
Danky - Danka Business, my first exposure to stocks that i bought years ago when i had no idea what i was doing. spent $500 to buy, sold it at $350 for a loss of $150. i bought it cause i read a "tip" that said it would double...ummm...i know what you're thinking and NO i will not just give you $150 also.

CTRP - Ctrip, the expedia.com of china. i love this stock and it was hard for me to part with it, but it has grown too much lately that it's growing is going to get slower and slower. i feel by selling this, i can take the money and find faster stocks and afford faster women. if you're looking for buy and hold, this one is a good one. bought 20 shares @$48.58 sold it for $59.30.

we'll see what happens a couple weeks from now to see what message i get: "congratulations! you are winner!" or "you are loser"


charts are my friends now, they give me money