If you haven’t checked out the Major Trend page before, I recommend you check it out. It is my list of major trends that I’m following. These are trends that are multi-year, maybe even multi-decade stories that I believe are worth being a part of. As with any long term trend, there are ups and downs along the way. Short term movements don’t change the validity of the trend and from what I can tell, only major fundamental changes will make the train jump the track. …

The market is still looking for direction, range bound for several weeks now.  Until we break lower or higher from the range, it’s hard to tell what the next move will be.  S&P needs to break north of 1120-ish or south of 1080-ish.
For individuals who were waiting for a gold pullback to get in, we are close to $80 off its highs, now around 1140/o.z.  This is a decent pullback that might warrant some adding to positions.  Of course, if a major correction happens in equities, it will likely pull …

I’ve heard some criticism regarding the buildup of an emergency fund, typically referred to as cash put away that can cover 3 to 6 months of your expenses should an emergency occur.  These emergencies might be a loss of income, a medical emergency or some other large, unexpected expense.  The idea is that having the cash set aside prevents you from having to go into debt in order to get through the unusual, temporary  circumstances.
If these funds are designated for truly an emergency, wouldn’t a credit card suffice?  Through it, …

If you follow this blog, you know that turning this blog into a sustainable, growing income stream is a huge priority for me.  I document my progress each month with a monthly blog update.  The blog updates typically include traffic growth as well as income for the month.
Traffic & Readership
I like to break my traffic down into three categories: visits, page views and eye ball time.  Since page views per visit can depend on a look and feel and how a blog is organized, the eye ball time is probably …

Many people have aspirations to “learn how to invest” and to learn how to pick stocks and understand the markets better.  Most have no idea how to approach this.  Your 20s are a fantastic time to pick up other skills and abilities.  One of the most lucrative skills that you could pick up is the ability to become a more successful investor or trader.
There are some key things you should master in order to become a mildly successful investor (excelling past basic success requires time and continuous learning).  We will …

I”m a firm believer in expanding your skill set during your 20s, especially you young, single people.  A craft that I have worked on over the past few years is blogging, namely the business of blogging.  Most people assume blogging means writing some nonsense and publishing it to the world.  On the contrary, the business of blogging requires organization, understanding your market, developing revenue, capital allocation and yes, writing as well.
If you decide to undertake developing a blog into a legitimate income stream (a decision you shouldn’t make lightly), you …

Thanks for reading the blog.  Since I have a bunch of readers via RSS and email, I wanted to point out a few updates to everybody.
Toilet Reading
Toilet reading is a new feature that I recently added where you can download PDF’s of content that has been posted on 20smoney.com.  They are organized by topic.  The purpose is to be able to print out some content for you to read on the toilet.  For example, if you want to learn a few things about investing or maybe get a primer on …

I just realized that I went through the entire day without spending a single cent.  No coffee on the way to work.  No coke machine.  No spending money on lunch today.  No afternoon snack.  No dinner out.  Also, my wife didn’t spend a single cent today even though she ran a few errands (I guess you could count gas as an expense).
The point is that it’s really interesting how little we go through an entire day without spending a single cent.  Usually I will pat myself on the back for …