Without health, your passive income won't mean much...

Not directly related to passive income, but an important topic for happiness in life is HEALTH.

Rebecca and I just got back from a 4-day Peak Potentials (T. Harv Eker's company) training called Extreme Health. Although there were some speakers that I would categorize as "fruity", there weren't as many as I expected.

SIDEBAR
Let me clarify that by "fruity" I don't just mean non-Western medicine, I mean the people that want you to go inside your mind to heal yourself or manipulate you to allow your soul to "breathe again". They might work; I am simply very skeptical about these types of healing.

My wife is an MD specializing in Emergency Medicine, and even she really enjoyed the conference.

In terms of specific strategies for improving your health, we looked for several things from the speakers: 1) How healthy did they look overall?, 2) How did they look for their age?, and 3) Was it a program that Harv himself used?

There were four things we bought while there:

1) Raw food - David Wolfe presented on this subject, and his passion and vibrancy really came through. We especially liked his philosophy of just adding some raw foods to your current diet.

2) Mercury test kits - An MD presented on the multitude of ways mercury can affect the body - mainly neurological, but also general fatigue and other very serious diseases. Amalgam fillings is the most common cause. More info at http://www.mercout.com/; check out the video on mercury and live nerves. We highly recommend at least getting tested for this.

3) Gene SNP - They test for 36 common mutations in DNA that can cause susceptibility to certain diseases if you don't get the right nutrients. In other words, it is a test that allows you to know what levels of nutrients are critical for you to get in order to help avoid diseases you are prone to. based upon genetics as well as your diet and lifestyle (from a questionnaire).

Rebecca majored in genetics in undergrad, so we had to get this done. The test is much cheaper than from other places - I suspect because they also provide optional supplements that are tailored to your results. I don't really plan on using their supplements, but I certainly want to know my susceptibilites and that I am getting enough nutrients. More info at http://www.genesnphealth.com/. If you have trouble getting info, you might also contact Suzanne Stradley at 503-661-5050 or suzannestradley@comcast.net.

4) The "Cellercizer" - named not because you have to exercise in the cellar (or will quickly put this there) but because it exercises all of the cells of your body. Rebecca and I were most excited about this one (and are eagerly awaiting its arrival!), so I will give a little more detail:

I first recommend you go to the website and check out the information because I am not going to be able to convey the benefits as well as the guy who developed it.

Click here for more info

It looks like a trampoline but has some important design features that I (as a former engineer) appreciate. He also had a number of testimonials that say his presentation and went out and bought something cheaper before not being able to do some of the exercises (or even hurting themselves when something broke) and ultimately bought a "Cellercizer".

The balance benefits are amazing - he did a great demonstration of this by forcing people (even a yoga instructor) to lose their balance, then not being able to after just 30-60 seconds of bouncing.

Not to mention the strength and flexibility that he can demostrate superior to yoga teachers, and the "Cellercizer" is his only exercise.

He also is incredbly strong (and ripped), but not a big as a bodybuilder by any stretch. he builds all of his muscle just on the "Cellercizer" - no weights at all.

The muscle he has built is also very "soft" - let me try to explain: When building muscle, we typically rip muscle fibers and rebuild them larger, creating a little scar tissue (which is relatively hard) in the process. "Cellercizing" works the body without ripping the muscle fibers, building muscle without the scar tissue.

Again, you can't compete as a bodybuilder just doing this, but I think most people (guys at least) would love to be as muscular as he was.

You can do cardiovascular work very quickly: 2-10 minutes of intense exercise is more effective at fat-burning than a 45-60 minute workout in most cases. (This was mentioned by several of the presenters over the 4 days).

Finally, pretty much anybody can use it. Even people in wheelchairs or walkers can start to use it and often regain mobility by rebuilding muscle, improving circulation, etc.

Moral of the story: If you want to be more fit, this is a great tool to try out - less time, more fun, and better results! (30-day money back guarantee of course)

More Cellercizer info here

Book Review: Be Principled and Grow Rich

Wow - a new post is WAY overdue! I just read a short book with some great information, so this is the perfect opportunity for a new post. And since stock investing can generate passive income if done right, the post is even on-subject.

Be Principled and Grow Rich by Kirk W. Tofte with Samuel Case

This book was a very quick read, which is perfect for me since I have a relatively short attention span (like start making a sandwich, get distracted by something - anything, really - then find the partially made sandwich an hour or more later - that kind of short).

Not knowing really what to expect, I was somewhat surprised to find that it was a study on improving stock performance using a really simple tool - what the authors call Principled Asset Rotation (PAR). You may have heard about it, but I hadn't, so it was completely new to me.

To boil it down to the bare takeaways:

1) Figure out if the S&P 500 or Russell 2000 performed better last year.
2) If the S&P 500 performed better, invest in large-company growth stocks (ticker symbol IVW if you are into ETFs) the following year.
3) If the Russell 2000 performed better, invest in small-company value stocks (ticker symbol IWN if you are into ETFs) the following year.

If you are interested in the principles behind it (like I am - I can take very few things at face value without understanding the underlying principles), definitely read the book. My brief explanation is thus:

The economy moves in cycles. The stock market is a forward indicator of the economy. Therfore, performance of stocks in certain sectors of the economy in one year predict where we will be in the economic cycle and therefore which stocks will do well.



There were a couple of things I found odd about the book:

1) The authors did not mention exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for using this investment strategy. I think they would be a perfect tool because they nearly perfectly mimick the indices the authors mention (less about a 0.2% expense ratio).

2) They propose several other strategies with historically worse returns (presumably because they get farther away from the underlying principles) because the transaction fees might be "too high" for some investors with small caps. With ETFs (or even the mutual funds they mention), this should not be an issue at all.

These things don't detract from the book, I just thought it interesting...

All of the data in the book ended in 2001. As a former engineer, I couldn't help but run the data from 2002 to 2007. The book's method outperformed the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 over that total time period (like 55% vs. 23% vs. 48%), but didn't do well at all in 2007 (based upon the 2006 indicator).

I suppose when you arbitrarily pick a calendar year, that is bound to happen, but I am certainly impressed with the overall results. (I will also mention that 2002 to 2007 was a little weird as the small-cap value was the choice every year over that timeframe.)

I plan to play with this using a small portion of my portfolio this year, then maybe move a larger portion (up to 25%) into this strategy.

If you have read the book or implemented the strategy, I (and other readers) would love to hear your feedback.

Good luck!

How you do anything...

...is how you do everything.

Everything you do matters

Harv Eker likes to say: "How you do anything is how you do everything."

At a basic level, your actions determine who you are (or, arguably, who you are determines your actions).

Therefore every little thing you do makes you more like that action

Why so I say this?

Sins - God's Perspective & Man's Perspective

Well, Rebecca and I have been going through catechism at church, and I am learning (or at least more fully understanding) interesting things about sin:

1) We sin pretty much constantly.
2) All sin is equal to God - we have put our own hierarchy on which sins are not too bad or really bad.

For example, not reporting when you are undercharged at Wal-Mart is stealing. So is taking a pen home from work and never bringing it back. So is robbing a bank. In God's eyes, you are stealing in any of these cases.

We tend to make excuses for situations like the first two or think they are "no big deal".

The Little Things Make a Big Difference

So if we want to be people of integrity, we need to demonstrate that everywhere.

If we want to help people, that should start with those we are closest to.

Every little decision you make to take action (or not take action) takes you farther down that path.

I know I have done - in all likelihood - millions of things that I wish I had not (or wish I had in the case of omissions). They did not lead me to become the person I want to be.

For instance, I haven't murdered anyone physically, but I have murdered people in my heart. That is just as bad in God's eyes.

Help!

Unfortunately, it is much easier to see someone else's inconsistent actions than your own. If you are married, you may have noticed that your spouse is painfully good at pointing out some of your faults :)

If you really care about the people you are close to, you can help them out by very gently letting them know if you see them do things that you know are not consistent with the person they want to be - help hold them accountable.

Let me stress that you want to talk about this beforehand with them and make sure they will be receptive to your help :) Otherwise, it call easily come off as overly critical or naggy.

Everything we do makes a difference - let's help each other start acting like it.

Costa Rica summary

What I left out of our detailed description of the Costa Rica trip was a summary of our Costa Rica experience and how we feel about having land down there.

What I Liked

1) The natural environment. At our lot, the water has 50% fewer contaminants than Evian. Everything is raised "organically" - just because they don't need to use chemicals, etc. All of the food we tried really tasted great. Costa Rica protects the natural environment so that everyone can enjoy it.
2) The people. Everyone was incredibly friendly. Apparently it is a fairly conservative Catholic country and they even like Americans. Can't get much better than that for international investing.
3) The way of life. Costa Rica is very laid back and family-oriented. I can't think of a better culture to spend time relaxing in (not that I know that many cultures...).

Why We Want to Live There

1) It's Costa Rica! I have yet to meet anyone that visited Costa Rica and did not like it. If you are one of those people, I would love to hear why it wasn't for you.
2) The natural food (and water). See above.
3) Plan B. In case something goes wrong in the states - economically (Social Security crisis, anyone?), socially, politically...who knows. I just like having someplace I can go if necessary.
4) The climate. Although it is slightly humid for my tastes, it is not bad. Anyplace that you can essentially go without heating or air conditioning year-round and still be comfortable is my kind of place!

As with anyplace, it is not perfect - the roads leave a lot to be desired, cars are very expensive because of duties/taxes, etc. I strongly recommend checking it out sometime. We might even have a rental villa that we can give you a deal on :)

To find out more about the properties that we invested in, check out: http://www.best-costa-rica-real-estate.com. Unless you want to spend a lot of time learning the culture and finding someone down there you really trust to help you, I think Ventana del Pacifico is a great place to buy (I suppose that's obvious since we bought property with them).

If you are serious about learning more about Costa Rica real estate, I am also happy to answer any questions I can about travelling down there, etc.

Pura vida! (means "pure life", the unofficial motto of Costa Rica)