Subject: Re: I'd love to...
Hi Manlobbi -

Thanks for your reply and compliment on the post. It's Christmas Eve and we are feeling especially blessed with family and friends at this time of year!!

Here are my thoughts on the questions you asked:

Started my own IT consulting firm in 1985. At first, doing work on the side, then in 1987 did it full-time.
Would you say that this was the one critical turning point in increasing your savings

Absolutely. I saw the opportunity and grabbed it. I think there are many people who are presented with opportunities in their lifetime and do not have the resources, self-confidence or ability to weigh risk vs rewards. This is unfortunate, as being a business owner can lead not only to future wealth but also provides an opportunity to create jobs and foster growth in the careers of others. I would also add that the day that I hired my first full-time employee (not sub-contractor - but employee) I didn't sleep as well as I used to. Knowing that YOU are responsible for someone's family and mortgage payments, car payments, etc. can be quite nerve wracking - especially when you are waiting for a big contract to be signed, or a customer's payment is late.

I can honestly say that I am probably a poor investor as I seem to lose my objectivity
This is a foundation idea of my writings, and whether this is good news or bad news, it is certainly so common as to almost be the norm.

Well then, that's good news to me! At least I'm not alone when losing my objectivity looking at RED!

For example you could invest directly 10% of your equity (with your market timing ideas for example), and treat that as your actual portfolio, and place the other 90% with a *important* different.. a different discount brokerage in RSP (equal weight index fund), with no margin facility that you can ever borrow from, that you simply forget about entirely. This move will allow you to get from 7 to 8 effectively guaranteed.

That's a good suggestion! As stated in my original post, I am a numbers guy and a paranoid Quicken user. I check Quicken daily (with automatic downloads from all banks / brokerages, etc.) and I am festidious about 'managing my money'. I think it would take a real Act of God for me to keep my hands off of 90% of our investments / savings!! Our Quicken setup shows that we have 16 investment accounts. They include IRAs, US Treasury Accounts, HSAs, and my wife's 403b accounts from her employer. Also due to our balances, we want to make sure that all of our funds are covered by FDIC insurance, so we deliberately choose to 'spread our money around' to keep under those limits. It would be quite a bit of work to move those accounts - maybe I should just hide them in Quicken instead :-)

Merry Christmas! Your shrewd old friend.
'38Packard
- I'll also check out Manlobbi's Descent board as well.