<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Millionster</title>
	<atom:link href="http://millionster.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://millionster.com</link>
	<description>Personal Finance and Small Business Ideas</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:47:46 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Thank you for supporting Millionster, since 2006!</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/1023/thank-you-for-supporting-millionster-since-2006/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/1023/thank-you-for-supporting-millionster-since-2006/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:05:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[New]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/?p=1023</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Thanks to all our friends and fans that have suppoported us since 2006! We&#8217;ve gone through a number of changes over the past 7 years, and I can&#8217;t wait to get back in touch and find out what stories and adventures you&#8217;ve had. I&#8217;ve been working hard on getting Millionster.com back up to its previous [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thanks to all our friends and fans that have suppoported us since 2006!</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve gone through a number of changes over the past 7 years, and I can&#8217;t wait to get back in touch and find out what stories and adventures you&#8217;ve had.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been working hard on getting Millionster.com back up to its previous awesomeness, so bare with me while we re-organize everything and get our new design out the door.</p>
<p>If you have a blog or site you would like to partner with on upcoming version of Millionster, please let me know.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/1023/thank-you-for-supporting-millionster-since-2006/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Linode Hosting giving away $100 credit to new accounts</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/1019/linode-hosting-coupon-code-201/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/1019/linode-hosting-coupon-code-201/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:41:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Deals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discount]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[linode]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[promo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web-hosting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/?p=1019</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hey there, I just signed up with Linode because they&#8217;re giving away $100 credit for their VPS Web Hosting Service. The prices are pretty good, but at least the credit will give you a chance to try out their plans for free. I&#8217;m already liking it better than Dreamhost. To get the promo just sign [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey there, I just signed up with Linode because they&#8217;re <a href="http://www.linode.com/?r=e9ea41551f5d0150d48537b0c599f4a64a23d38a">giving away $100 credit</a> for their VPS Web Hosting Service. The prices are pretty good, but at least the credit will give you a chance to try out their plans for free. I&#8217;m already liking it better than Dreamhost.</p>
<p>To get the promo just <a href="http://www.linode.com/?r=e9ea41551f5d0150d48537b0c599f4a64a23d38a">sign up for any of their services </a>before their $250,000 pot runs out.</p>
<p>By using my links here you&#8217;ll get the $100 credit and I&#8217;ll get a $20 referral bonus. Win-Win situation if you ask me.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/1019/linode-hosting-coupon-code-201/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Whoo Hoo!</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/1005/whoo-hoo/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/1005/whoo-hoo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 May 2011 23:05:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Millionster Admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Millionster.Com]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/?p=1005</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some time later I&#8217;ve managed to move this site over to an upgraded server. You&#8217;ll see some changes over the next couple of weeks! So stay tuned!]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Some time later I&#8217;ve managed to move this site over to an upgraded server. You&#8217;ll see some changes over the next couple of weeks! So stay tuned!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/1005/whoo-hoo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Priorities.</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/270/priorities/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/270/priorities/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:54:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[New]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/new/priorities/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Still working on finding a way to make this site a priority again. Wish me luck!]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Still working on finding a way to make this site a priority again. Wish me luck!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/270/priorities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Have a great domain name idea? Avoid Domize.com</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/269/searching-for-domains-dont-use-domizecom/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/269/searching-for-domains-dont-use-domizecom/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:46:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[New]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/new/searching-for-domains-dont-use-domizecom/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m so annoyed this morning that I have to dust off my 4-year old blog which I haven&#8217;t posted on in 2-years, to give you a word of caution. I had a great idea for a website and I went to what was once my favorite domain research tool domize.com. The domain showed up as [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m so annoyed this morning that I have to dust off my 4-year old blog which I haven&#8217;t posted on in 2-years, to give you a word of caution. </p>
<p>I had a great idea for a website and I went to what was once my favorite domain research tool domize.com. The domain showed up as available, nice. I went to register the domain on my webhost, and it was available there too. After I went to complete the purchase the domain was, what? <strong>UNAVAILABLE?</strong><br />
<span id="more-269"></span><br />
Ridiculous!</p>
<p>I went to look up the WHOIS information for my domain and it was purchased <strong>TODAY</strong>, literally 2 minutes before I hit the purchase button! </p>
<p><strong>Did some eyes from the backend of domize.com watch my domain searching session and purchase my domain literally seconds before me? </strong></p>
<p>This is too much of a coincidence for me to write it off as coincidence. Of course, there is no real way for me to know the exact truth in this situation.</p>
<p>So let me err on the side of caution, there are too many TRUSTED domain registrars and domain name tools out there, ones with no particular conflict of interest. </p>
<p>How much do you want to bet that there&#8217;s a troll or gnome on domize.com watching the searches that people do and swiping their valuable domain ideas before they even get a chance to buy it. </p>
<p>I mean come on, do you know how <strong>HARD</strong> it is these days to come up with a good domain name, research it, buy it, and keep it?</p>
<p><strong>STAY AWAY from DOMZIE.com</strong></p>
<p>And, btw for all you friendly search engine&#8217;s out there, here&#8217;s a lovely link for you to parse and add to your search database: <a href="http://domize.com" onClick="javascript: alert('Hey there human, you probably dont want to go here! Ive saved u the trouble and disabled this link. This is a link for searchbots');return false;">Domize.com sucks, never trust their silly tool</a>, that is all. Thank you.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/269/searching-for-domains-dont-use-domizecom/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wamu Investors Rally to Fight Short Sellers</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/268/wamu-investors-rally-to-fight-shorts/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/268/wamu-investors-rally-to-fight-shorts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:45:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/investing/wamu-investors-rally-to-fight-shorts/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Die-hard investors of the beleaguered bank are fighting hard to keep Washington Mutual out of the pockets of greedy short sellers. Short sellers are notorious for artificially driving down stock prices of otherwise healthy companies &#8212; or at least companies that have a fighting chance to pull out of murky waters. The downfall of financial [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Die-hard investors of the beleaguered bank are fighting hard to keep Washington Mutual out of the pockets of greedy short sellers. </p>
<p>Short sellers are notorious for artificially driving down stock prices of otherwise healthy companies &#8212; or at least companies that have a fighting chance to pull out of murky waters.</p>
<p>The downfall of financial firms including AIG, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, including the downward pressure on WaMu and Morgan Stanley are widely beleived to have been at the mercy of unscrupulous short sellers.<br />
<span id="more-268"></span><br />
Short selling has gotten so out of hand that the SEC has amped up efforts to curb market manipulation.</p>
<p>Jv at <a href=" http://www.marketingfinanceobama.com/2008/09/google-finance-board-fights-man-saves.html">Marketing, Finance and Obama</a> says &#8220;The idea is that if enough people do this, short selling will be limited, and share price will increase. Of course, it&#8217;s also just nice to be part of the effort, which I am. Go WaMu!!&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;WaMu stockholders are taking their shares off the market by placing &#8216;Good Until Canceled&#8217; sell orders on the shares they own, at prices considered to be unattainable. With these orders place, the shares are not eligible to be shorted.&#8221;</p>
<p><b>Two ways to help Wamu!</b></p>
<p><b>Put in a GTC order to fight shorts:</b><br />
1. put in a sell order<br />
2. make it a limit order, not market order<br />
3. set the price at $7.50 +<br />
4. set expiration as GTC (Good Til Canceled), and leave the expiration<br />
date blank.</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://millionster.com/go/freechecking" >Help Wamu, Open a Free Checking Account With only $1</a><br />
Your deposit is FDIC insured up to 100,000$</strong></p>
<p>If you aren&#8217;t an investor &#8212; you can help Wamu simply by <a href="http://millionster.com/go/freechecking" >opening a free checking account</a>. More accounts at Wamu give big firm investors more faith; they will throw their money at if we do too. $1 is all it takes. No she aint a starving child in Africa but she is a bank worth saving:</p>
<p><img src="http://media.kidk.com/images/stock_wamu.jpg" /></p>
<p><b>Find out more about what investors of WM are talking about</b><br />
<a href="http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.611408/browse_thread/thread/3aab72cb14c195fe"><br />
Google Finance Boards for Wamu</a></p>
<p><a href="http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_(A_to_Z)/Stocks_W/threadview?m=tm&#038;bn=19978&#038;tid=273100&#038;mid=273100&#038;tof=4&#038;so=E&#038;frt=2">Yahoo Finance Boards for Wamu</a></p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong><br />
So far investors have amassed nearly 2 million shares (approximate) from tallies on Yahoo and Google Finance Boards.</p>
<p>Plus some traction at <a href="http://digg.com/business_finance/Save_our_financial_system_block_WaMu_shorters">Digg</a></p>
<p>Being that 11% of the stock is owned by individual investors not sure how much of an impact this is gonna have but hey it&#8217;s great to see people together &#8211; share ideas &#8211; learn a thing or two.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/268/wamu-investors-rally-to-fight-shorts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Nuns Make a Run for the Bank (WM)</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/267/nuns-make-a-run-for-the-bank-wm/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/267/nuns-make-a-run-for-the-bank-wm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:36:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/news/nuns-make-a-run-for-the-bank-wm/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A large group of so-called &#8220;nudist colony nuns&#8221; &#8212; names withheld &#8212; have emptied out their collective coin jars to put together a compelling offer for WM. Bolstered by the recent surge in Nude Tellers and accompanying lines of customers aching to put their money where the nudists are, the Nuns released in a statement [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A large group of so-called &#8220;nudist colony nuns&#8221; &#8212; names withheld &#8212; have emptied out their collective coin jars to put together a compelling offer for WM.</p>
<p>Bolstered by the recent surge in Nude Tellers and accompanying lines of customers aching to put their money where the nudists are, the Nuns released in a statement this afternoon &#8211;&#8221;We think their brand is moving in a direction that is consistent with the ideals that are at the very heart and soul of nudism. By EOD tomorrow we hope to have not only refitted all WaMu ATMs with a new pro-nude logo, but to also have equipped all WaMu branches with an army of Nude tellers to encourage increased deposits. &#8221;</p>
<p>Story from CNBC<br />
<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/25677167/for/cnbc/" >http://www.cnbc.com/id/25677167/for/cnbc/ </a></p>
<p>**dont believe everything you read at CNBC**</p>
<p>Thanks =)</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/267/nuns-make-a-run-for-the-bank-wm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Yawn, Stretch, Six Figures Club</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/264/yawn-stretch-6-figures/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/264/yawn-stretch-6-figures/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2008 18:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/news/living-life/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[*Taps on the screen* *yawns* *stretches* You know, salvo the 90 or so comments I have sitting in my inbox here this place has been rather quiet. Ah well, it&#8217;s just me being me. I thought I&#8217;d come by and say hello, just in case you&#8217;ve missed me. I&#8217;ve missed you too. The last article [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>*Taps on the screen*<br />
*yawns*<br />
*stretches*</p>
<p>You know, salvo the 90 or so comments I have sitting in my inbox here this place has been rather quiet. Ah well, it&#8217;s just me being me. I thought I&#8217;d come by and say hello, just in case you&#8217;ve missed me. I&#8217;ve missed you too.<br />
<span id="more-264"></span><br />
The last article I posted was pretty dumb haha. So I took it down, but hey! You should be glad to know that I havent turned a blind eye to beautiful millionster. In fact while everyone&#8217;s been out toiling away at their usuals, I have been secrectly working on the big M. She&#8217;s there. I dunno what I&#8217;m waiting for really. I just need to flip the switch.</p>
<p>In other news Ive officially made the ranks in to the 6 figures club! Only 4 years ago I was making $0 how cool is that? *laughs*</p>
<p>Well I&#8217;m just sitting here in my new digs, and waiting for a meeting. I&#8217;ll be back. This place tugs at my heart. Sure it&#8217;s been a minute, but it won&#8217;t be much longer. I hope.</p>
<p>So yes I&#8217;ve been sucked into the myspace vortex of death playing mister popular (it&#8217;s fun really lol), but I wonder what all my old blogging buddies have been up to&#8230; I&#8217;m not brave enough to venture into the blogosphere having been away so long. People get mad when you forget about them! LoL.</p>
<p>Well I havent forgotten. Just waiting for the right moment I guess!</p>
<p>Juan.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/264/yawn-stretch-6-figures/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Carnival of 20 Something Finances</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/263/carnival-of-20-something-finances/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/263/carnival-of-20-something-finances/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:09:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Carnivals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/carnivals/carnival-of-20-something-finances/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Welcome to the November 15, 2007 edition of twenty something finances. Without further ado, the frills free oh my god my stock price dropped by 65% in one day edition! Ana presents Start early for retirement savings! posted at DebtFREE-Revolution. Jorge H. presents Powershares QQQ (Symbol: QQQQ) &#8211; Index and ETF posted at My Adventures [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
Welcome to the November 15, 2007 edition of twenty something finances.
</p>
<p><span id="more-263"></span><br />
Without further ado, the frills free oh my god my stock price dropped by 65% in one day edition!</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Ana</b> presents <a href="http://www.debtfree-revolution.com/2007/10/17/start-early-for-retirement-savings/"<br />
>Start early for retirement savings!</a> posted at <a href="http://www.debtfree-revolution.com"<br />
>DebtFREE-Revolution</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Jorge H.</b> presents <a href="http://investingadventures.com/2007/10/powershares-qqq-symbol-qqqq-index-and-etf.html"<br />
>Powershares QQQ (Symbol: QQQQ) &#8211; Index and ETF</a> posted at <a href="http://investingadventures.com"<br />
>My Adventures into The Street</a>, saying, &#8220;The first in a series of index and ETFs most widely used by options traders.  The first is the popular Powershares QQQ (Symbol: QQQQ)&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Matthew Paulson</b> presents <a href="http://www.financeispersonal.com/2007/10/unhappy-with-your-bank-switch-to.html"<br />
>Unhappy With Your Bank? Switch to a Competitor and Cash-In</a> posted at <a href="http://www.financeispersonal.com/"<br />
>Getting Green</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Ian Welsh</b> presents <a href="http://agonist.org/ian_welsh/20071101/bernanke_cuts_another_quarter"<br />
>Bernanke Cuts Another Quarter</a> posted at <a href="http://agonist.org"<br />
>The Agonist</a>, saying, &#8220;What this means for you is simple enough: the prices of food, heating oil and transportation will keep going up. If you&#8217;re in an inflated housing market, expect the value of your main asset to drop. And expect inflation to break out from food and energy into a lot of consumer goods.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Ted Reimers</b> presents <a href="http://www.scholarships.campusgrotto.com/index.php?option=com_content&#038;task=view&#038;id=14&#038;Itemid=37"<br />
>College Scholarships and the College Admission Essay</a> posted at <a href="http://www.scholarships.campusgrotto.com"<br />
>College Scholarships</a>, saying, &#8220;The college admission essay can be the deal breaker in college scholarships.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>poetloverrebelspy</b> presents <a href="http://nobudgettravel.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/do-vacations-spoil-everyday-budgeters/"<br />
>Do Vacations Spoil Everyday Budgeters?</a> posted at <a href="http://nobudgettravel.wordpress.com"<br />
>Less Than a Shoestring</a>, saying, &#8220;Our values travel with us when we travel:  if you have accepted and practice strict budgeting measures at home, there is no reason why you can&#8217;t follow the same when on vacation.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>ispf</b> presents <a href="http://gradmoneymatters.com/2007/11/should-parents-try-to-influence-their.html"<br />
>Should Parents Try To Influence Their Children&#8217;s College Applications?</a> posted at <a href="http://gradmoneymatters.com/"<br />
>Grad Money Matters</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Logan Flatt, CFA</b> presents <a href="http://www.powerwealth.com/powerwealth/2007/11/by-logan-flatt-.html"<br />
>&#8220;Growth Investing&#8221; Nothing More Than Rank Speculation</a> posted at <a href="http://www.powerwealth.com/powerwealth/"<br />
>PowerWealth.com</a>, saying, &#8220;Thanks to decades of promulgation by the financial services industry, it is now common for many people not unlike Mr. Authers to mistakenly use the terms â€œvalueâ€ and â€œgrowthâ€ to describe two contrasting styles of investing. However, there are not two styles of investing. Instead, there is investing and there is speculation.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Jason Elder</b> presents <a href="http://www.bankruptcylawyerarticles.com/2007/11/03/chapter-7-bankruptcy-5-good-reasons-to-file-bankruptcy/"<br />
>Chapter 7 Bankruptcy &#8211; 5 Good Reasons To File Bankruptcy</a> posted at <a href="http://www.bankruptcylawyerarticles.com"<br />
>A Bankruptcy Lawyer&#8217;s Blog</a>, saying, &#8220;Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a popular form of bankruptcy in the United States. For some, it is the last resort of those who have experienced a sudden job loss or a major medical issue that they had no control over. Through bankruptcy liquidation filed under this chapter the debtor can get a fresh financial start by receiving a discharge of all debts.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Allen Taylor</b> presents <a href="http://www.investingworldtoday.com/2007/11/01/planning-retirement-stock-what-you-need-to-know-to-make-a-fortune-with-your-investing/"<br />
>Planning Retirement Stock &#8211; What You Need To Know To Make A Fortune With Your Investing</a> posted at <a href="http://www.InvestingWorldToday.com"<br />
>Investing World Today</a>, saying, &#8220;When it comes to planning retirement, stock is very important helping you achieve your retirement goals. The stock market is one of the main avenues of revenue for many investors today, and it can be a great source of revenue for you. Combined with real state, the stock market is probably one of the most famous investment vehicles there is today.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Thomas Humes</b> presents <a href="http://www.wealthbuildingworld.com/?p=440"<br />
>Financial Freedom &#8211; Learn How to Always Be Ahead of the Game</a> posted at <a href="http://www.wealthbuildingworld.com"<br />
>Wealth Building World</a>, saying, &#8220;The following are my top tips and recommendation for anyone seeking to put an end to the rat race and achieve financial freedom.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>FIRE Getters</b> presents <a href="http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2007/11/car-pool-ride-share-hitch-hike-your-way.html"<br />
>Car Pool, Ride Share, Hitch Hike your way to Fun &#038; Dollars!</a> posted at <a href="http://firefinance.blogspot.com/"<br />
>FIRE Finance</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Aahz</b> presents <a href="http://www.philaahzophy.com/2007/11/06/a-bathroom-full-of-cash-top-5-tips-for-saving/"<br />
>A Bathroom Full Of Cash &#8211; Top 5 Tips For Saving</a> posted at <a href="http://www.philaahzophy.com"<br />
>Philaahzophy</a>, saying, &#8220;This is my first ever submission to Twenty Something Finances!&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS</b> presents <a href="http://www.livingoffdividends.com/2007/11/02/making-3000month-in-passive-income/"<br />
>Making $3,000/Month In Passive Income</a> posted at <a href="http://www.livingoffdividends.com"<br />
>LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS</a>, saying, &#8220;Here&#8217;s an inspiring way to make money each month with minimal effort.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>KCLau</b> presents <a href="http://kclau.com/investment/power-of-compounding-interest/"<br />
>Does Compound Interest Really Apply to Unit Trust Investment?</a> posted at <a href="http://kclau.com"<br />
>KCLau&#8217;s Money Tips</a>, saying, &#8220;Unit trust is an easy means of obtaining a spread of investment. It is suitable for passive investor, who doesnâ€™t want to, or doesnâ€™t have extra time to invest their cash savings. For an investment capital to grow, we must not underestimate the power of compound interest &#8211; what Einstein calls the â€œ8th wonder of the world.â€&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Ralph Jean-Paul</b> presents <a href="http://www.potential2success.com/startmanagingyourincome.html"<br />
>Managing Your money</a> posted at <a href="http://www.potential2success.com"<br />
>Potential 2 Success</a>, saying, &#8220;Some quick and practical ways to start mastering your money and increasing your wealth&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Nadege</b> presents <a href="http://nvizion.powweb.com/blog/"<br />
>Financially stAble</a> posted at <a href="http://nvizion.powweb.com/blog"<br />
>Financially stAble</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>kdickson</b> presents <a href="http://www.investorblogger.com/archives/buzz-financial-gravity-is-it-holding-you-back"<br />
>Buzz: Financial Gravity &#8211; is it holding you back?</a> posted at <a href="http://www.investorblogger.com"<br />
>InvestorBlogger</a>, saying, &#8220;Have you got concrete shoes when it comes to money?&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>ChristianPF</b> presents <a href="http://www.christianpf.com/6-tips-for-a-debt-free-christmas/"<br />
>6 Tips for a Debt Free Christmas</a> posted at <a href="http://www.christianpf.com"<br />
>Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog</a>, saying, &#8220;6 Tips for a Debt Free Christmas&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Sarah Aswell</b> presents <a href="http://seaswell.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/britney-spears-is-spending-sarah-is-saving/"<br />
>Britney Spears is spending, Sarah is saving &laquo; BROOD</a> posted at <a href="http://seaswell.wordpress.com/"<br />
>BROOD</a>, saying, &#8220;Even though Britney Spears makes a lot more than me, I&#8217;m making smarter choices with my money.&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Super Saver</b> presents <a href="http://my-wealth-builder.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-much-is-enough-money.html"<br />
>How Much is Enough Money?</a> posted at <a href="http://my-wealth-builder.blogspot.com/"<br />
>My Wealth Builder</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Silicon Valley Blogger</b> presents <a href="http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2007/02/05/10-hot-jobs-in-big-demand-how-my-job-stacks-up/"<br />
>10 Hot Jobs In Big Demand: How My Job Stacks Up &raquo; Silicon Valley Blog About Money</a> posted at <a href="http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog"<br />
>The Digerati Life</a>, saying, &#8220;hot jobs!&#8221;
</p>
<p><!-- Carnival Submission --></p>
<p>
<b>Mr Credit Card</b> presents <a href="http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/balancetransfercreditcards.html"<br />
>Balance Transfer Credit Cards Video Tutorial and Guide</a> posted at <a href="http://www.askmrcreditcard.com"<br />
>Ask Mr Credit Card</a>.
</p>
<p><!-- EDIT THIS: the conclusion begins with this paragraph: --></p>
<p>That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of<br />
<b>twenty something finances</b><br />
using our<br />
<a target="_blank"<br />
title="Submit an entry to &ldquo;twenty something finances&rdquo;"<br />
href="http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_1991.html"<br />
>carnival submission form</a>.<br />
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our<br />
<a target="_blank"<br />
title="Blog Carnival index for &ldquo;twenty something finances&rdquo;"<br />
href="http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_1991.html"><br />
blog carnival index page</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/263/carnival-of-20-something-finances/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>20-Something, Do-Nothing (Productive) Weekend</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/262/typical-20-something-do-nothing-weekend/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/262/typical-20-something-do-nothing-weekend/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:22:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/daily/typical-20-something-do-nothing-weekend/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I did absolutely nothing productive this weekend except go out and get drunk &#8212; oh and play Guitar Hero 3! I really needed a break though; last week at work was killer &#8212; I was so stressed out. (boo hoo) On Saturday I went to the city to meet up with some of my [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I did absolutely nothing productive this weekend except go out and get drunk &#8212; oh and play Guitar Hero 3! I really needed a break though; last week at work was killer &#8212; I was so stressed out. (boo hoo)<br />
<span id="more-262"></span><br />
On Saturday I went to the city to meet up with some of my homies. I was prepared to throw down about $100 or so on drinks/cover since it was my friend&#8217;s birthday (which he tried in vain to keep a secret), but I actually ended up spending only $7. Everytime I turned around I was handed another beer; by beer #8 I realized there was some sort of conspiracy to get me drunk. The band was lame and I was going deaf by the end of the night, but I had a blast. </p>
<p>On Sunday I burned several hours familiarizing myself with the soundtrack of the recently released Guitar Hero 3 (on Xbox and PS3) and I&#8217;m not much of a rock aficionado but a few <a class="boldLinks jumpdata" target="_new" href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=DLQkyaHK0Zs">tunes</a> had me hooked. I spent much of Sunday night looking for those same songs to put in my ipod and watching I Love New York 2 while working out in the gym. </p>
<p>So, yeah seems like a typical 20-something, do-nothing (productive) weekend , and to be honest I do feel a little guilty about not writing much or working on any of my business stuff &#8212; kind of &#8212; haha. </p>
<p>Yes, for once I wasn&#8217;t being a crazy workaholic &#8212; sanity comes at the price of a few beers and hours of vegging out in front of an Xbox (or Wii).</p>
<p>Anyway how was your weekend? Did you make any money?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/262/typical-20-something-do-nothing-weekend/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Going For the Unlimited Minutes on MetroPCS, Bye Sprint!</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/260/metropcs-unlimited-calls-over-sprint/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/260/metropcs-unlimited-calls-over-sprint/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:52:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Deals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/deals/metropcs-unlimited-calls-over-sprint/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My calling plan on Sprint is getting pricey (averaging over $100 last couple of months) for all the additional minutes of calls I&#8217;ve been making. This seems like a bad deal, especially when MetroPCS has unlimited plans starting at $30 &#8212; it&#8217;s time to give MetroPCS a spin. The cool thing about Metro is the [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My calling plan on Sprint is getting pricey (averaging over $100 last couple of months) for all the additional minutes of calls I&#8217;ve been making. This seems like a bad deal, especially when MetroPCS has unlimited plans starting at $30 &#8212; it&#8217;s time to give MetroPCS a spin.<br />
<span id="more-260"></span><br />
The cool thing about Metro is the first month is free so if I don&#8217;t like them I don&#8217;t have to pay anything. I might keep my Sprint plan though, just depends on how good Metro is &#8212; I&#8217;m still trying to determine if I can offset my early termination fee from Sprint. </p>
<p><em>Ugh! I sould like a salesperaon, but let me just say this is not an ad! </em></p>
<p>Since I only need it to make calls in the San Francisco area, I don&#8217;t need a big expensive plan, at least not for the next few months. And I&#8217;ve been making calls a lot more than normal. I heard somewhere that you could put your phone on hold for up to 6 months at a time &#8212; which might be cheaper than straight out canceling&#8230; I think it&#8217;s like $20/mo (x6 = 120) still cheaper than canceling at $150. Who know&#8217;s maybe in 6 months time I might want to use my Sprint service again.</p>
<p>I think I might actually try AT&#038;T next time I go with a national carrier. Not sure though. I hate wasting money on stuff I don&#8217;t need &#8212; which is why despite the fact that I really really want a Blackberry, I can&#8217;t justify the additional &#8220;data&#8221; cost of $35/mo in addition to a $50 calling plan &#8212; especially when I already have the internet at home.</p>
<p>I took a look at the helio phones for about 2 seconds and then ran away screaming. Their cheapest plan is $65 and for that much I could have a Blackberry.</p>
<p>Do you see how difficult it is to make a choice?</p>
<p>For now I just need to make lots of calls, so it&#8217;s Metro or die.</p>
<p>Anyway, Metro has only a handful of phones to chose from, but these guys are the ones I&#8217;m looking at. Like i said I&#8217;m going for cheap so I&#8217;ll probably get the $99 Nokia. </p>
<p><strong>I know I said this wasn&#8217;t an ad, but just in case your curious you can click on a phone for info on that phone with MetroPcs Service:</strong><br />
<br clear="all" /></p>
<div style="width:500px;float:left" >
<p><a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-2391689-10274042?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.letstalk.com%2Finlink.htm%3Fto%3D915332&#038;cjsku=2000404" target="_top"><img src="http://www.letstalk.com/img/prod/cell-phones/metropcs/utstarcom/33293_brw.gif"  style="float:left" border="0" alt="UTStarcom CDM-7025 (Metro)"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/dn115zy5u14JMNTLQSTJLKMROKOM?sid=MENLOPARK&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.letstalk.com%2Finlink.htm%3Fto%3D594166&#038;cjsku=100089" target="_top"><img src="http://www.letstalk.com/img/prod/cell-phones/metropcs/nokia/31982_brw.gif"  style="float:left" border="0" alt="Nokia 2865i (MetroPCS)"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-2391689-10274042?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.letstalk.com%2Finlink.htm%3Fto%3D715964&#038;cjsku=100096" target="_top"><img src="http://www.letstalk.com/img/prod/cell-phones/metropcs/motorola/32244_brw.gif" style="float:left" border="0" alt="Motorola SLVR L7 Black (MetroPCS)"/></a></p>
</div>
<p><br clear="all" /><br />
I was almost tempted to buy a phone on craigslist but that&#8217;s too much work &#8212; this is getting shipped next day to my office.</p>
<p>But oh, I&#8217;d really like to have a crackberry!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.tqlkg.com/1q98snrflj478E6BDE4657C9597" width="1" height="1" border="0" align="right" style="border:none" /><br />
<img src="http://www.lduhtrp.net/image-2391689-10274042" width="1" height="1" border="0"  align="right" style="border:none" /><br />
<img src="http://www.awltovhc.com/image-2391689-10274042" width="1" height="1" border="0" align="right" style="border:none" /></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/260/metropcs-unlimited-calls-over-sprint/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Larceny by Check, A Renter&#8217;s Horror Story</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/259/larceny-by-check-renter-horror-story/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/259/larceny-by-check-renter-horror-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:30:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Real Estate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/real-estate/larceny-by-check-renter-horror-story/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you recall, a few months ago I was having an oh-so-awesome time trying to keep my old pad but after a failed attempt to convince the lords of the land not to extract more gold from my satchel, that exposÃ© quickly digressed into me trying to find a new home in a hurry. I [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you recall, a few months ago I was having an oh-so-awesome time trying to keep my old pad but after a failed attempt to <a target="_new" class="jumpdata boldLinks" href="http://millionster.com/articles/real-estate/too-much-for-rent/">convince the lords of the land</a> not to extract more gold from my satchel, that exposÃ© quickly digressed into me trying to find a new home in a hurry. I hunted all throughout the peninsula, (because the east bay is too ghetto even for me), and because I needed to find a place closer to my job. After two weeks of stalking renters on Craigslist, doing the whole song and dance of â€œIâ€™m an excellent tenantâ€ I found what I thought was the perfect place, but boy was I mistaken.<br />
<span id="more-259"></span></p>
<p><strong><em>In case you were wondering <a target="_new" class="jumpdata boldLinks" href="http://millionster.com/articles/news/when-life-brings-you-limesand-stuff/" >why I hadn&#8217;t been around</a> for much of the summer, this in part explains why</em></strong></p>
<p>I should have known something was up when the guy that was renting the house out told me there was no written lease. To make matters worse there was a â€œprevious tenantâ€ still living in the house that just was not ready to let go yet. I didnâ€™t mind so much because I just wanted to get out of â€œlooking for a place to live modeâ€ and back into â€œdoing what I normally doâ€ mode. I was in a rush and possibly blinded by my love for the picturesque neighborhood that was not unlike <a target="_new" class="jumpdata boldLinks" href="http://millionster.com/articles/real-estate/score-cant-live-without/">my kick-ass community in west downtown San Jose</a> â€“ trees, parks, shops, bars, gym, etc. It was great (and I miss it terribly.)</p>
<p>
<img src="/img/dot.gif" width="500" height="1" alt="divider" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:none;border-bottom:1px dotted #666"  /><br />
</p>
<p><em><strong>My old digs in downtown San Jose</strong></em><br />
<img src="http://media.rent.com/media/property/502/502435.jpg" /></p>
<p><em><strong>I lived here, isnt it nice? (Too expensive!)</strong></em><br />
<img src="http://media.rent.com/media/property/502/502434.jpg" /></p>
<p>
<img src="/img/dot.gif" width="500" height="1" alt="divider" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:none;border-bottom:1px dotted #666"  /><br />
</p>
<p><strong>A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood</strong><br />
My new temporary roommate, Mr. Grumpy, on the other hand was not so great. When my friends and I pulled up to the house to unload the moving truck, we sat on the curb for nearly 30 minutes while Mr. Grumpy argued it out with the owner of the house.  To my astonishment even one of the roly-poly neighbors came to add his two cents to the argument. Things were getting pretty shady, but my friends and I were both tired and hungry from moving tons of heavy junk down four flights of stairs. En fin, I didnâ€™t pay much attention to what was being said â€“though, I specifically recall a comment about the â€œthugsâ€ sitting on the curb â€œjust waiting to throw a drug partyâ€ â€“ which couldnâ€™t have been farther from the truth. </p>
<p>Suffice it to say that the tone was set for the nightmare that was to be, but of course that was only the beginning. To save you the pain of reading too much prose, let me summarize my experience with the house by saying that at night that place was straight creepy yaâ€™ll!</p>
<p>
<img src="/img/dot.gif" width="500" height="1" alt="divider" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:none;border-bottom:1px dotted #666"  /><br />
</p>
<p><center><br />
<img src='http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/545025314_42f0278357.jpg?v=0' /><br />
</center></p>
<p><em><strong>*not the actual house but just as creepy</strong></em></p>
<h2><a style="font-size:20px" href="http://millionster.com/articles/real-estate/larceny-by-check-renter-horror-story/2/" class="boldLinks" >Cont&#8217;d: What&#8217;s In The Attic? &raquo; </a></h2>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/259/larceny-by-check-renter-horror-story/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Susceptible to Foolishness But, Oh, I&#8217;m Having a Great Day</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/258/susceptible-to-foolishness-having-a-great-day/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/258/susceptible-to-foolishness-having-a-great-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:00:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/daily/susceptible-to-foolishness-but-oh-im-having-a-great-day/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So, you know it&#8217;s happening again &#8212; I&#8217;m head over heals for another girl. I can see you all shaking your heads at me now since, whenever I get sprung like this the dust starts to collect on my various projects and I start coming to work late again. How does this relate to money [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So, you know it&#8217;s happening again &#8212; <a target="_new" class="jumpdata boldLinks" href="http://millionster.com/articles/personal-growth/my-super-hero-euphoria/">I&#8217;m head over heals for another girl</a>. I can see you all shaking your heads at me now since, whenever I get sprung like this the <a target="_new" class="jumpdata boldLinks"  href="http://millionster.com/articles/news/im-not-in-love-really/">dust starts to collect</a> on my various projects and I start coming to work late again. How does this relate to money and stuff?<br />
<span id="more-258"></span></p>
<p>Well like I said it totally puts a roadblock in my desire to do anything else &#8212; but is nonetheless a necessity for an &#8220;exceptional life&#8221; per my soon to be discussed &#8220;6 Pillars of Greatness&#8221; &#8212; only problem is I&#8217;m up to my ears in &#8220;infatuatedness&#8221; so figuring out just how to balance things out is going to take a minute&#8230;</p>
<p>Last night I was perfectly intent on going to bed at 9pm and getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to do my morning mile &#8212; but no &#8212; I get sucked into a 3 hour conversation and don&#8217;t make it to bed until 1am. No, more like 2am &#8212; since it took me an hour to get over the high of talking to someone who thinks &#8220;I&#8217;m the hottest guy in the world&#8221;. <a href="http://millionster.com/articles/lifestyle/hidden-cost-of-girlfriends/ target="_new" class="jumpdata boldLinks" >My cheeks hurt</a> from smiling so much. To say the least &#8211;it was well worth coming into work late and not being a workaholic for one night.</p>
<p>Anyway, I wanted to post a &#8220;daily&#8221; to kind of mellow out the serious tone from my previous posts &#8212; that isn&#8217;t to say of course that I won&#8217;t be back to it. I&#8217;ve really enjoyed taking a sort of controversial position  but I should point out that my &#8216;philosophy&#8217; isn&#8217;t for everyone. I&#8217;ve gotten a couple of emails from folks either being offended, or offering some sort of rebuttal, which is really great because I love dialog. Maybe <em>I am</em> just another punk-face gen-y guy who doesn&#8217;t know any better &#8212; certainly me falling in love from time to time might allude to some of the inherent foolishness of youth to which I may be susceptible. </p>
<p>But like it or not I&#8217;m a trail blazer, foolish, young and full of ambitious energy! </p>
<p>Let the jading begin! Bring it on, bring it on!</p>
<p>Yee-haw! I&#8217;m having a great day, I dunno about you people! </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/258/susceptible-to-foolishness-having-a-great-day/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Clearly, You Are An Ass.</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/257/clearly-you-are-an-ass/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/257/clearly-you-are-an-ass/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/new/clearly-you-are-an-ass/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In ancient Rome, men and women who had been liberated from slavery wore a red liberty cap as a sign of their newfound rights as citizens of Rome. Over the centuries the memory of the red cap became a powerful symbol of freedom and equality for all people; it inspired revolution after revolution as free-thinking [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In ancient Rome, men and women who had been liberated from slavery wore a red liberty cap as a sign of their newfound rights as citizens of Rome.  Over the centuries the memory of the red cap became a powerful symbol of freedom and equality for all people; it inspired revolution after revolution as free-thinking people united to adorn their hearts with this red hat and proclaim tyranny and oppression an enemy to all. These people gave their lives for the many freedoms we take for granted, and despite all their best efforts can we the sons and daughters of liberty truly consider ourselves free? I don&#8217;t think so.</p>
<p><span id="more-257"></span></p>
<p>Today we live in spite of the efforts of our timeless heroes as slaves to what appears to be a nameless tyrant.  Before when oppression had a name, a face and a crown, it was easy for people to identify and unite against a common enemy.  In modern times, tyranny has become more advanced by relying on the same impregnable power of ideas that have afforded us our freedoms through symbols like the red cap, how ironic.</p>
<p><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1007/1176378987_bc088a4b9e.jpg?v=0" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>Of Queens and Carrots</strong><br />
Believe it or not there are still kings and queens prancing around the nation forcing their will on free citizens.  And no, they aren&#8217;t beheading people or snatching their first born to do it all, &#8212; that&#8217;s way too much work and totally not worth the effort &#8212; plus a dead body is a non-gold-producing body.  There&#8217;s a much easier, more cash-increasing way to get all the gold they can lay their grubby hands &#8212; it involves an ass and a carrot.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.dipaola.org/steve/char/king.jpg" alt="" /><br />
So, guess who&#8217;s the ass&#8230; Now guess what they do with the carrot! (Get your mind out of the gutter please)</p>
<p>That&#8217;s right you, and well, me. Sadly, we are the asses. The carrot is gleefully dangled over our shoulders, a harness is placed over our back and we mill along chasing that carrot and dragging some plow behind leaving milk and honey as we pass. We don&#8217;t care about the milk and honey because we are asses and we need carrots. In fact we don&#8217;t even notice that while we sweat, and cry, and strain over reaching that carrot and we pull and tug and struggle that plow holding us down, the kings and queens are behind us scooping up all that precious milk and honey.  To make matters worse, the carrot dangling over our shoulders is not even a real carrot!</p>
<p><img src="http://trilux.org/img/donkey-carrot.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>They call it cutting their expenses, of course &#8212; after all, why use a real carrot when a picture does the same job?</p>
<p><strong>You are an ass.</strong><br />
So why do you chase this imaginary carrot wearing that heavy plow? Because you&#8217;re an ass, your mother and father were asses, and your grandparents &#8212;  all asses.  From the day you were born you were destined to wear that plow harness and make money for those kings and queens, and neither you nor your family could do anything about it. You like your family were taught to chase the carrot. You were taught that the carrot was good, and that it was something to aspire towards and that anything else was unacceptable.</p>
<p>In fact, everything you&#8217;ve done from your childhood until now is part of a cleverly developed plan to make you believe that you are an ass and that you cannot live one day without your beloved carrot (although unbeknownst to you, you will never actually have a carrot). You were trained, manipulated and coerced to love carrots and sadly you had no say in the matter, but neither did you care &#8212; You love freaking carrots.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://a0.vox.com/6a00c2252bb8e2549d00cdf3a9b9e8cb8f-pi" alt="" />&nbsp;</p>
<p>From your teacher to your boss, your lover and your friends &#8212; no matter where you look, asses and <a class="jumpdata boldLinks" href="http://millionster.com/articles/commentary/destined-for-mediocrity/" target="_new">a desire for carrots abound</a> &#8212; apparently the royal plan is working.</p>
<p>The plan is so deeply embedded into everything in our lives that has become the standard of living &#8212; the standard of the carrot. And you are the ass, chasing that carrot.</p>
<p>You are such an ass that you think the people who don&#8217;t have carrots as nice or as big or as orange as yours were less of an ass than you. And to this day you aspire to be an even bigger ass than you are chasing even more &#8220;promising&#8221; carrots.</p>
<p>Clearly, you are an ass. But are you a free ass? Or are you a slave of your own ignorance, or possibly something worse?<br />
<strong>To be continued.</strong></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/257/clearly-you-are-an-ass/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Are You Destined For a Life of Mediocrity?</title>
		<link>http://millionster.com/id/255/destined-for-mediocrity/</link>
		<comments>http://millionster.com/id/255/destined-for-mediocrity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:41:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>1mil</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://millionster.com/articles/commentary/destined-for-mediocrity/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Judging from the perspectives shared among blog readers and writers I think it&#8217;s safe to assume that most people buzzing around the money blogosphere are &#8220;Middlesters&#8221; &#8212; that is to say that they, (like you and me), are a shade in the spectrum of middle class. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but look [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Judging from the perspectives shared among blog readers and writers I think it&#8217;s safe to assume that most people buzzing around the money blogosphere are &#8220;<a href="http://millionster.com">Middlesters</a>&#8221; &#8212; that is to say that they, (like you and me), are a shade in the spectrum of middle class. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but look at where the buzz is on blogs that talk about money: how to invest in your retirement fund, where the latest deals and promotions are, how to get out of debt, how to pay for college, how to find loopholes in credit card agreements to make an easy buck, and of course one of my favorite topics <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata" href="http://millionster.com/articles/debt/increase-fico-credit-score/" >how to increase your credit score</a>. These are all <em>consumeristic</em> middle-classs money topics at best, and while they have their place in creating a solid financial foundation they are not the keys to the rocket ship that are going to blast your life off into the stratosphere. No, no, they are the keys to the Lexus parked in valet. </p>
<p><span id="more-255"></span></p>
<p><em>Of course, in this backward ass-hat of a nation some people actually prefer luxury sedans over <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata" href="http://millionster.com/articles/millionster-theater/bought-my-own-rocket-ship/">rocket ships</a>. Can you believe it?</em></p>
<p><strong>80% of Americans Are Destined For a Life of Mediocrity</strong><br />
So go ahead and get out of consumer debt, (you shouldn&#8217;t have been there to begin with, but eh, credit happens). Go to college and get professional credentials, (hell, put your whole family through college via the <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata" href="http://poorerthanyou.com/2007/02/18/upromise-easy-college-savings/">529 College Savings Plan or Upromise</a>). Work everyday for the next 40 or so years and live off a PHAT retirement check (and hope that you did all the right things while you were young and impressionable). Live, work, learn and play by the rules and <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata" href="http://www.howisavemoney.net/daily-life/the-tuna-diet-here-at-how-i-save-money/">tricks</a> established by the money blogosphere and you MIGHT be one of the most deep-pocketed, well-respected, family-cherishing, environment-saving, <strong>middlesters</strong> on your posh, pear-treed, suburban, gated-community, block.  You MIGHT even be worth an easy million with a fancy Lexus or Lincoln rubbing elbows with the waspiest of wasps!</p>
<p><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/361427786_116f87449b.jpg?v=0" /></p>
<p><strong>Imagine with me if you will &#8230;.</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/505994136_5dd3986fcd.jpg?v=0" /></p>
<p><strong>Aaaahhh, Lexus &#8230;.</strong> (dream bubbles)</p>
<p>&#8211;And let me be clear, that&#8217;s a big &#8220;might&#8221; &#8212; as in &#8220;maybe&#8221;. </p>
<p>Lovely, but not likely&#8230;</p>
<p>Despite all the knowledge and wisdom of the googled world most people will not achieve even that type of middle-class success. Bills and taxes will still need to be paid, medical costs will increase with age, and a plethora of unforeseeables make achieving real middle-classness a moving target. Americans are completely blindsided by these issues and many more, not least of which is their own ignorance or incompetence. </p>
<p><strong>Most people are &#8220;<a href="http://millionster.com">Middlesters</a>&#8220;!</strong></p>
<p>Think about it &#8230; Most people:</p>
<p>+ are driven mostly by their emotions.<br />
+ aren&#8217;t smart or lucky enough to get big breaks.<br />
+ are resigned to a &#8220;balanced&#8221; life of cycled consumerism:<br />
<strong>( paycheck -> taxes -> save -> spend -> expend -> dividend -> paycheck) </strong><br />
+ can&#8217;t tell the difference between marketing and real information.<br />
+ don&#8217;t know exactly what they want or where they want to be in life.<br />
+ don&#8217;t know who or what they are.<br />
+ follow whatever seems popular (to their peers).<br />
+ define themselves in terms of other people.<br />
+ prefer to fit in rather than to be different.<br />
+ are judgmental and prejudice.<br />
+ think that being right is about being &#8220;right&#8221; (or first).<br />
+ are afraid of changes and challenges.</p>
<p>&#8211;This is a recipe for mediocrity. </p>
<p>Each of these issues is a potential stumbling stone to knock you off course. Without buckets of luck or opportunity pouring on your doorstep these stones become a real hindrance to progress.</p>
<p>In my continued quest to escape the ghetto, <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata" href="http://millionster.com/articles/daily/one-month-out-of-prison/">free myself of those Middlester &#8220;chains&#8221;</a>, and become a <a href="http://millionster.com">Millionster</a> I&#8217;ve been able to identify <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata"  href="http://millionster.com/articles/debt/lose-weight-gain-control/" title="">some of these issues</a> in myself and <a target="new" class="boldLinks jumpdata"  href="http://millionster.com/articles/new/10-things-before-starting-a-business-1/">address them accordingly</a> &#8212; others I&#8217;m still working on.</p>
<p>What about you? </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://millionster.com/id/255/destined-for-mediocrity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
