Neville's Financial Blog

As of 11-30-2004 here are my current holdings:

Current Assests:
General Account: $1621
Business Balance: $675
Spending Account: $320
Investment Account: $653
Permanent Savings: $2,803
Backup CD Savings: $5,036
Credit Card Balance: $0
Stock Portfolio Value: $5,613

Changes:
I took out $500 from the Investment Account and put it towards stock. I bought 25 shares of Syntel at $19.05 (I got lucky and caught a nice $.54 dip) with the $500. This is in addition to the Syntel stock I already own.

Stock Portfolio News:
My total money invested is $4,800 but the portfolio is at a current 16% gain (It varies wildly througout the day). I am holding a very small postion in SCON which is a big loser so far, but will get better in the years to come. Dynegy is performing very nicely and Syntel is poised for a big move within the next three months.

Labels: Financial

A lesson for the future: Whenever you need something done requiring specialized knowledge or skill, go to a college campus. There are literally thousands of students, TA's and professors who have the knowledge you seek (such as programming, web design or anything else) who will do the work for cheap.
I have told people before, "I will pay you $50.00 on the spot if you do (insert specialized task here) for me" and you will always find a taker.

One thing that helps me out yet gets in the way is college. Right now I have plans to carry out, businesses to start, websites to design, stocks to buy and research to do....and a full time course load.

I have always placed business priorities above school work, but that needs to change for the end of this semester. I am a borderline student because my heart has never been into school, and that border is dangerously close right now. I need to get my educational act together and start concentrating on school. I have enough hours in the day, but I need to study more efficiently.

Reminer to Self: Semester is almost over and you are borderline, rise above that line with some hard work...PLEASE!

The white-haired giant has proved himself right (again and again) in my trading strategies. Dynegy (DYN), a stock I bought for long term holding has exceeded all my expecations. It feels extremely good to sit back and let my extremely small investment of around $1,500 gain 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and as of now 25%. I am riding on $400 profit as I type.
I figured I would take a big loss at first and let it even out in the long run, but this stock has been charging ahead based on financials and not emotion, a situation I love.

In my community there is a very successful man by the name of Mr. Bhandara. I have had the good fortune of working closely with Mr. Bhandara and his son who is also on a sure path to great success. I have learned an incredible amount by working with them and learning new business tactics.

What I found a little unnerving was the way people summed up his greatest business deals to Luck. Mr. Bhandara has built up his business not through what some perceive as luck, but by doing his research and purchasing properties when no one else wants them. He happens to get lucky when his real estate value skyrockets because the area becomes better. This was done by taking risks and having the courage to buy when no one else would. He took all the risk, all the expense and all the time, and therefore is entitled to all the rewards.

I truly admire his ability to spot a diamond in the rough through constant observing, and going through with his plans despite criticism. I hope to learn even more than I already have from Mr. Bhandara and his son. I feel extremely lucky they have both allowed me to tag along and learn.

It seems a lot of people expect me to get a job right after I graduate college. Why must that be the norm? Does a company care about your family and income when you loose your job? NO. So why should you slave away your life working for somebody else? Why work for a company when you can own it?

I think if you are up to the challenge and willing to take the risk of not having a steady income, you can become a very successful person if you work hard and if you work right.

I plan on becoming an Investment Creator, or one who creates investment vehicles for himself. These include businesses, stock investments and real estate. These things can all be done while holding a job or working full time towards them. The trick is to treat it like a job, in other words if you treat investing like a part time thing then you will not get full results.

After college I plan to either jump right in, or work for people who know the knowledge I seek then apply it to my own investments.

Analyzing myself, am I where I want to be right now? And am I on the track to being where I want to be in five years? NO. I have accomplished a lot more things in my life than the average college student my age, but it is not even close to enough. I have high expectations for myself, and whenever I meet them...I raise them.

I've had in my mind a few things to start which I haven't. I keep blaming school for interfering with my side projects, but that is no excuse.

I need to accomplish these few things within the next few months, definitely before I leave college:
-Videotape traffic patterns, contact traffic engineer researcher on campus and implement my traffic strategy on I-35 with a crew.
-Do research on starting my advertising company idea.
-Start Resumite Personal Sites and make it the largest of its kind on the internet. Fast turnaround, lots of services, upfront/cheap pricing.
-Trademark the name Resumite (even if it gets rejected, at least you now know how).

These few things are accomplishments I would like to have at least tried before I leave college. Even if they all fail they will bring in an untold amount of knowledge and experience. I also want to have the stigma of being a go-getter and someone who GETS THINGS DONE. Laziness and lack of ambition sicken me.

Labels: Goals, Personal

Current Assests as of 11-23-2004:
General Account: $1,390
Business Balance: $676
Spending Account: $310
Investment Account: $1,093
Permanent Savings: $2,764
Backup CD Savings: $5, 036
Stock Portfolio Value: $5, 034
Credit Card Balance: $0

Labels: Financial

HouseOfRave.com:
Rave, Club, Party and Light Up Supplies.

The House Of Rave Full Story

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BodyMonkey.com:
Entertainment and Gift Supply

The start of BodyMonkey

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Palm R e p o r t . com:
Online Palm Reading.

Someone once told me I had a small "Money Line" on my hand. I was trying to play a joke back on them and prove them wrong, and was surprised to see a lack of places to get your palm read online.

Seeing an opportunity, I had my favorite Romanian developing team create a custom system that could accept image uploads and Palm R e p o r t was born. Of course finding a palm reader that wasn't totally full of BS was a whole other adventure!

Recently sold it. (links removed after sold)

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Enwon Inc:
The parent company for an of my ventures.

How I got the name.

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FacebookProfile.com: (Sold)
Facebook ASCII Art, Tips, Tricks, Hacks & Apps Reviews.

Started it for $220 in May 2006.
Sold it in August 2007 for $5,500.

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Resumite.com: (sold)
Custom Resume Webpages

To earn some extra cash in college I started Resumite which developed resume websites for individuals. It worked decently well, mainly I got all my business around the UT campus from flyers I posted.

I stopped doing this and site laid dormant for a long time, I later put it up for sale and got around $200 for it.

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NevBlog.com:
Personal blog of Neville Medhora.

Starting at the age of 22 I started documenting my financial situation for all to see. This made me get serious about my own finances and get serious about improving the situation. Since the start this blog has been featured in many large publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. I used to track all the income I made, but I recently removed it. I don't consider this blog to be a business, but I have experimented with putting up advertising several times (1, 2, 3) to see if I could make money.

I enjoy maintaining this blog because it helps me keep track of what I've been doing and it helps me meet all sorts of interesting people I otherwise would not have met.

I think by far the thing most people enjoy is the Bottled Water Selling Experiment and the Scratch Lottery Experiment. The story that's helped the most people (I get emails about this every single day) is the House Of Rave story which explains how I setup a drop shipping business from my high school computer.

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Other Projects:
I've always loved starting websites, and I won't go into great detail here about all the small projects I've started then stopped over the years. Every one of them COULD have been a success had I devoted all my effort. However some of them were either just not worth the effort, or more importantly, just not interesting to me.

At one point I remember having a wall covered with 10 different to-do lists from 10 different sites I created. From there I realized one of the most cliched pieces of advice is actually true: You've got to love what you do.

Oddly enough the most successful things I've done were things I really enjoyed doing. My earliest example was "Neville's Cool Car Archive" from when I was 16. I was obsessed with cars, so I would take pictures from internet, Photoshop the backgrounds black and post them online as computer desktop wallpapers. I did this from the only domain I owned: Neville1.com. Back then the site was getting so much traffic it kept overloading my hosting account, and since I never thought of trying to make money from it, I eventually turned it into a personal website.

Labels: eCommerce

A million in liquid assets is an extremely lofty goal. Is it even possible? Of course. To make $1,000,000 in five years I will need to:

Save $200,000 per year
Save $16,666 per month
Save $3,846 per week
Save $549 per day

Keep in mind this is saving $X.XX per year and does not include expenses.

I mandatorily put away $400 per month for investing and permanent savings, and after I get paid (from any source) I put away 60% if not more. Since I started working, I have been putting away roughly $685 per month. My current savings per month needs to increase by 2,400% immediately to meet my goal by 27.

Labels: Financial, Goals, Productivity

After several bad and good trades over the last few years, my portfolio is several hundred dollars in the green. My current holdings are:

DYN - Dynegy - Good Performer
SYNT - Syntel - Good Performer
SCON - Superconductor Technologies - Poor performer

My girlfriend surprised me with a visit for my birthday last wednesday..it was a wonderful surprise. Few financial points to post:

Pho for lunch - $15
General Spending money - $60
Liquor Store - $49
ATM Withdrawl for Night Out - $42 ($2 fee)
Trulucks Dinner - $105
TOTAL Cost of 5 Day Visit - $290

This does not include the grocery store bill, although I really can't complain because she is a fabulous cook!

The easiest way to get my attention is to leave a comment on my site. All comments are emailed to me, even on old posts.

My contact info is located on my original website: Neville Medhora.
It would be easier to just give you my contact information here, but I want make you hunt for it.

Advertise on NevBlog?

Why does your page look so simple?
-I'd rather focus on content than site layout.


You seem to be all about money. What's up with that?
-This is a financial blog, therefore everything I write will somehow pertain to money.


I've noticed you don't write too much about about current events, why?
1.) My opinion doesn't matter unless I am going to take action on the event
2.) I find it pointless to simply reiterate and comment on the news.


For a personal financial blogger, you do not seem to be very frugal.
-That's because I have no trouble spending within my means. I spend in areas where it counts and I only will spend what I can truly afford.


Won't all work and no play make Nev a dull boy?
-I work hard and play even harder. I also find being entrepreneurial to be "fun". Working at a job is alright, but entrepreneuring is often enthralling, even when performing mundane tasks.


What are your views on the books "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "The Millionaire Next Door"?
-Rich Dad - I think it is a decent inspirational book written by someone who found success during a full swing bull market.
-Millionaire Next Door - This is the way most Americans with a steady job should live their lives, but the slow route to riches presented in the book is not really my style.


What reading material do you like?
-There are a sleu of blogs such as TheKirkReport I read everyday along with the basic newsources: CNN, NYTimes, BBC etc.
-I print out and read the BerkshireHathaway notes to investors all the time.
-The undoubtedly best book I've ever read was "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill.


Why should I take financial advice from you?
-You shouldn't.


What is your major?
-Government with a business minor.


Shouldn't you have gone for a business degree since you are more finance minded?
-No.


How often do you post?
-Every other day except weekends. I might post once a day if I feel like it. No, scratch that...I'll post whenever the hell I feel like it.


Do you report EVERY penny you have on the site?
-I post accurate information about many of my accounts.


Do you post all your business adventures on the site?
-No. Many of my ventures are not posted as some require a certain level of anonymity for different reasons. The best stuff is often the most confidential.


What is the purpose of this site?
-I created this site for one selfish purpose, to keep track of my fiancial progress.

Labels: Personal

This is where I will put any links.

Disco Balls - The best selections of Disco Balls on the internet, including full mirror ball sets that are ready to light a party.

Glowing Fingernails - this is a really cool item on House Of Rave that was recently added. It's a set of 10 mini-glowsticks in fingernail form that you affix to your fingers with the included self-adhesive strips. A really cool product!

Oggz - Oggz Color-Morphing Eggs. Oggz are soft, ever-changing accent lights that operate without wires and are rechargeable! Watch the Oggz slowly change color like magic, transforming colors through the whole rainbow. Oggz are ideal as a centerpiece for your dinner table, outdoor patio parties, holidays, and more... and of course, we clubbers can just imagine the cool possibilities of taking the soft squishy Oggz with us to a club and watching the crowd just go nuts for this unique light.

Name: Neville Medhora

Age: 24

Location: Austin, TX.

Ethnicity: Indian

Religion: Parsi Zoroastrian

Occupation: HouseOfRave.com, BodyMonkey.com, PalmReport.com, Enwon Productions and SEO consulting on the side.

High School: Langham Creek High School (Houston, TX.)

University : University of Texas Austin, graduated in 2006 with a Government major and Business minor.

Instruments Played: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Doumbek, Piano, drums. A little bit of harmonica.

Idolize: People who are self-made.


This blog was originally started for the sole purpose of keeping a track of my financial goals and status. I often use this blog to look back on what I was doing at (x) time this year, so I try to keep it populated with financial events in my life. Occasionally I try to help people learn something new.

Labels: Personal

Money sources:
Online Business: $300 to $1000 per month pure profit.
Work: Two paydays per month, usually between $230 and $320 per check.
Parents: $60 per month.


Where the Money Goes:
Permanent Savings: Deposit $40 per week + 30% of money brought in.
Investment Account: Deposit $60 per week + 30% of money brought in.
Spending Account: Deposit $10 per week + 20% of money brought in.
General Account: Whatever is leftover from business + 20% of money brought in.


Current Assests:
General Account: $1,349
Business Balance: $652
Spending Account: $371
Investment Account: $963
Permanent Savings: $2,654
Backup CD Savings: $5, 036
Stock Portfolio Value: $5, 094
Credit Card Balance: $0

Synopsis:
Monthly Mandatory Additions to Perm. Savings: $160
Monthly Mandatory Additions to Inves. Account: $240
Monthly Mandatory Additions to Spend Account: $40

Labels: Financial

My new money making avenue will be Resumite Personal Websites. I should have this business up and running by Dec. 15th.

Short Term Goals:

• Ideal Goal: By December 31st, 2005, I should have at least 3 different sources of steady income (not including a job). All sources of income should together average about $7,500 of dependable income per month.
• Minimum Requirement: By December 31st, 2005 I should have found a way to independently pay all my bills/expenses for myself and have money leftover for investing, savings, rainy day and spending. My liquidable balance should be slightly over $45,000 with an investment portfolio of at least $25,000.

Medium Term Goals:

• Have at least 4 different sources of income, balanced in different industries to survive good and bad markets.
• Accumulate somewhere near $1,000,000 in liquidable assets by age 27. This includes cash savings and stock.
• Get mentioned in at least 5 of these sources by age 27: CNBC, New York Times, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Register, The Financial Times, Yahoo News, Google News, Bloomberg, BBC, Wired, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics.

Long Term Goals

• Form Enwon into a conglomerate with at least 5 different subsidiary companies under the corporation. Companies will be balanced in different industries to survive good and bad markets. These would most likely include the liquor industry, asset management, 2 inventions in the consumer products area and real estate.
• Follow plan outlined in my aspirations

Labels: Goals

This blog will be dedicated to tracking my financial progress. Today I turn 22, let's see how far I can financially advance by the time I am 23.

Labels: Blogging, business ideas, eCommerce, Events, Financial, Goals, house of rave, Housing, Learning, Links, Meeting CEO's, Money Experiments, Personal, Productivity, Quotes, Transportation