Its no secret the last week has been brutal for the US market. Government bailouts are an incredibly temporary “solution” that will probably just make conditions worse. Stocks are falling to record lows. The value of the dollar is slipping. Gas prices are more volatile than a mobile meth lab. Banks are closing with increasing momentum.
BE AFRAID!

I’m not really afraid. My main reason is that I’m very young and so far I’ve been fairly safe with investments, building an array of long-term holdings. Yes it hurts to look at the numbers where they stand now, even from a year ago. In many cases, however; I won’t be touching the actual value of those investments for many years to come.

For the short-term, I’m trying to remain in as much control as possible. I’ve cleared all debt aside from my fixed-rate mortgage and am investing time and money in myself and my personal business. In this way I know that any immediate risk falls back on me, I am in control.

At the same time, I am still happy that I have started this early. Despite some immediate downturns with my long-term holdings, I know that over the course of time I am in a better place than an individual who waits until they are 30 or 40 before getting educated in investments.  Start learning as soon as possible. The more informed you are the more secure you will feel in any investment.

I’m happy to write that earlier this week I had the pleasure of writing the final check to close out my car loan. The bank no longer has any hold on my car or a small piece of my paycheck! The loan was not due to be paid off until sometime in 2010, so I’m way ahead of schedule. I’ve only been able to do this so quickly by staying frugal and paying off small chunks at a time. Keeping score of the amount left also kept me motivated to continue paying it down.

On to the next goal, time to fill my savings account. In order to make my goal I’m going to need to focus my savings on a rather extreme level. Time will tell.

I haven’t abandoned this, make no mistake. The new company line has been taking over my time. I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts between products, marketing opportunities, and which direction to take the business now. As you might imagine all of these things can add up very fast and without my trusty notebook I might forget more than a few ideas.

Yesterday I had a chance to get back into the trenches of the new work though, which is great. Every time I actually get to produce something I get empowered and motivated to keep going. The master plan keeps growing without end (good thing?), but what it really comes down to is each product I design, produce, and add to the inventory.

This upcoming weekend I get to hit the streets and try marketing in person on a very small level. Time will tell what comes of it, but I’m hopeful.

I have a Prosper update coming up in a few days, was going to include it here but the site is currently down for maintenance.  :\

This is hardly personal finance related, but it is a new goal I have come up with as well as getting a few of my friends interested. During a football game this weekend, one of the announcers said that one of the players had done over 100,000 push-ups over the past year in training. That is a sick amount of push-ups and I’m in no shape to get near that number. Instead I have come up with a personal goal of completing 10,000 between Sept. 1, 2008 and Sept 1, 2009. I am using google docs to keep track of my progress and have added the goal to my list. I know its only a measly 29 push-ups a day, every day, for a year. Even so, its additional physical training I wouldn’t do otherwise and its a goal on the lighter side of things.

If you would like to join in the challenge, I would be happy to add you to the spreadsheet and make you a collaborator on the document.

I’ve been talking for a few weeks about this new project I’ve been gearing up for. Well the day has finally come and I have begun working in a new market. Currently all sales take place on http://sprocketbox.etsy.com but I expect to start custom orders soon as well. I will be specializing in custom auto decals and vinyl wall graphics. The shops offerings are a bit thin currently, but I’m just getting started and filling up the inventory more each day.

I was a bit aprehensive about starting this and have been wondering how it will go. After having two sales on my first day, I’m quite pleased already and am looking forward to larger projects (and sales).

I know withoutexcess has been lacking for a few days, and its all a result of this. I think this will add another dimension to what I know about finances, and learning more tends to be positive for everyone.