Today, I baked some yellow zucchini, yams, mushrooms, onions, and garlic for 25 minutes and threw it on top of some pasta. I added some chopped tomatoes and basil from my garden, as well as some broccoli and topped it with a little parmesan cheese. Delicious!
I love cooking with fresh vegetables.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Just some thinking
Was doing some reading on an MLM called Mona Vie. According to a compensation disclosure that is on their website which can be found here: http://media.monavie.com/pdf/corporate/income_disclosure_statement.pdf
there are approximately 80,789 IBO's of which 7 make big bucks. That's like less than a tenth of a percent. Seven people apparently got checks for $3.5 million dollars. Woo. Sounds great, right? I don't know how this particular plan works but I do know that other plans, like at Amway, those giant bonus checks that Diamonds like to flash at people, those very same checks are how the rest of the people in that particular team's compensation plan get paid. In other words, that one bonus check does not go to one person, pieces of it have to be given to the downline on the team. So how much are those Diamonds really netting anyway? Well, if you're on the 6-4-2 plan, think about how many people are involved - its like 78 people. All those people get a cut, albeit smaller and smaller cuts, but they still get cuts - think about it: 78 people getting $30 equals $2340. And some of those people are getting larger cuts. And some teams may have a lot more than just 78 people on them.
Further, at Mona Vie, 66,534 IBO's (or 82% of all the distributors) netted between $1,536 - $2,032 over the course of a year working 8 - 10 hours a week. Now, if a person were to work an extra 8 to ten hours a week at a part time job where they were paid $8/hr, that person would make an extra $3328-$4160/year. And none of that income would have to go back into tools investments (and I use the word 'investment' loosely). Don't ever forget, no matter what you are doing, you are trading dollars for hours. I'd rather trade my hours for more dollars than less.
1% of IBO's at Mona Vie made about $29,000/year working 12 hours a week. ONE PERCENT. Are you in that one percent? Oh...and the more money you make, the more actual time you have to spend working. Those people making $53,000/year are working 14 hours a week (this is not bad actually, if you can do it) and those who are earning the big bucks are basically putting in full time salaried job hours.
Here are some proven ways to have more money or become wealthy:
1. Live below your means
2. Don't be a hyper-consumer - if you don't have the money for that Coach purse, don't put it on
credit. You still have to pay for it later with interest added. You don't need luxury goods.
Also, if you can't afford to take a trip, don't take the trip. This is common sense.
3. Invest $50/month in a 401k or a Roth IRA. There's this cool thing called compound interest
which basically means the money that you've invested in stocks earns money over the course
of a year (generally 8%/year but some stocks earn far more and some earn less but on
average about 8% - this includes crappy down years). You take that 8% that you've earned
and reinvest it the next year, while continuing to contribute. Over the course of time, the
money you earned on interest makes more money.
4. Get a second part time job.
5. Think long term
Alot of these MLMs might actually make an IBO some money if the downlines weren't so encouraged to buy motivational tools. These cut into your personal income from the MLM big time. AND they can be bought on Ebay for pennies. I've seen them listed 50 tapes for $9.99. Sure it's fun to chant about freedom and crap like that but 1% of people who sell for Mona Vie are making $29,000/yr on their efforts. Throwing away your money on tools for a 1% chance at making $29k/year is stupid, to put it bluntly. If you are spending $5,000 a year on duplication, tools, attending functions and you are not making $29k/year, and maybe more likely you are among the 82% of IBOs who are making $1500 - 2000/year, is this a net gain for you? It's not. It's simple math, folks.
Wouldn't you be better off investing in the stock market where the AVERAGE gain is 8% year over year? I can tell you most years I've done a lot better than that. I can tell you that this year, having contributed NOTHING at all, my 401k is up $7,000. Over the course of a lifetime, compounding interest can make a ton of money and you don't have to do anything extra to do it!
READ UP AND DO SOME RESEARCH.
Why am I not contributing? Well, I'm paying off a loan that I took out for my primary residence. Stupid I know. We don't always make the best decisions, but the loan will be paid off in six months or so and I'll be contributing again. And I'll be well on my way to having a comfortable retirement.
Don't fool yourselves. Amway is a J-O-B. Mona Vie is a J-O-B. Generally, they are jobs that don't pay a person what they are worth. Lets do some more simple math. If you are putting in 10 hours a week to earn only an extra $1500/year you are being paid $2.88/hr. That's well below minimum wage. I'd rather trade my hours for more dollars.
there are approximately 80,789 IBO's of which 7 make big bucks. That's like less than a tenth of a percent. Seven people apparently got checks for $3.5 million dollars. Woo. Sounds great, right? I don't know how this particular plan works but I do know that other plans, like at Amway, those giant bonus checks that Diamonds like to flash at people, those very same checks are how the rest of the people in that particular team's compensation plan get paid. In other words, that one bonus check does not go to one person, pieces of it have to be given to the downline on the team. So how much are those Diamonds really netting anyway? Well, if you're on the 6-4-2 plan, think about how many people are involved - its like 78 people. All those people get a cut, albeit smaller and smaller cuts, but they still get cuts - think about it: 78 people getting $30 equals $2340. And some of those people are getting larger cuts. And some teams may have a lot more than just 78 people on them.
Further, at Mona Vie, 66,534 IBO's (or 82% of all the distributors) netted between $1,536 - $2,032 over the course of a year working 8 - 10 hours a week. Now, if a person were to work an extra 8 to ten hours a week at a part time job where they were paid $8/hr, that person would make an extra $3328-$4160/year. And none of that income would have to go back into tools investments (and I use the word 'investment' loosely). Don't ever forget, no matter what you are doing, you are trading dollars for hours. I'd rather trade my hours for more dollars than less.
1% of IBO's at Mona Vie made about $29,000/year working 12 hours a week. ONE PERCENT. Are you in that one percent? Oh...and the more money you make, the more actual time you have to spend working. Those people making $53,000/year are working 14 hours a week (this is not bad actually, if you can do it) and those who are earning the big bucks are basically putting in full time salaried job hours.
Here are some proven ways to have more money or become wealthy:
1. Live below your means
2. Don't be a hyper-consumer - if you don't have the money for that Coach purse, don't put it on
credit. You still have to pay for it later with interest added. You don't need luxury goods.
Also, if you can't afford to take a trip, don't take the trip. This is common sense.
3. Invest $50/month in a 401k or a Roth IRA. There's this cool thing called compound interest
which basically means the money that you've invested in stocks earns money over the course
of a year (generally 8%/year but some stocks earn far more and some earn less but on
average about 8% - this includes crappy down years). You take that 8% that you've earned
and reinvest it the next year, while continuing to contribute. Over the course of time, the
money you earned on interest makes more money.
4. Get a second part time job.
5. Think long term
Alot of these MLMs might actually make an IBO some money if the downlines weren't so encouraged to buy motivational tools. These cut into your personal income from the MLM big time. AND they can be bought on Ebay for pennies. I've seen them listed 50 tapes for $9.99. Sure it's fun to chant about freedom and crap like that but 1% of people who sell for Mona Vie are making $29,000/yr on their efforts. Throwing away your money on tools for a 1% chance at making $29k/year is stupid, to put it bluntly. If you are spending $5,000 a year on duplication, tools, attending functions and you are not making $29k/year, and maybe more likely you are among the 82% of IBOs who are making $1500 - 2000/year, is this a net gain for you? It's not. It's simple math, folks.
Wouldn't you be better off investing in the stock market where the AVERAGE gain is 8% year over year? I can tell you most years I've done a lot better than that. I can tell you that this year, having contributed NOTHING at all, my 401k is up $7,000. Over the course of a lifetime, compounding interest can make a ton of money and you don't have to do anything extra to do it!
READ UP AND DO SOME RESEARCH.
Why am I not contributing? Well, I'm paying off a loan that I took out for my primary residence. Stupid I know. We don't always make the best decisions, but the loan will be paid off in six months or so and I'll be contributing again. And I'll be well on my way to having a comfortable retirement.
Don't fool yourselves. Amway is a J-O-B. Mona Vie is a J-O-B. Generally, they are jobs that don't pay a person what they are worth. Lets do some more simple math. If you are putting in 10 hours a week to earn only an extra $1500/year you are being paid $2.88/hr. That's well below minimum wage. I'd rather trade my hours for more dollars.
Pray
Sometimes I look at my nephew and I want to pray.
I am not religious at all by nature, but I want to pray.
I look at him and tears fill my eyes and I want to pray.
I don't even know what to ask for but I want to pray.
I can get as far as Dear God, and then I don't know what to say.
It's more of a wordless hope, a wish fulfillment, a please let there be something in his eyes that
all is not lost and he knows us and that we love him and that we will help in any way.
I am not religious at all by nature, but I want to pray.
I look at him and tears fill my eyes and I want to pray.
I don't even know what to ask for but I want to pray.
I can get as far as Dear God, and then I don't know what to say.
It's more of a wordless hope, a wish fulfillment, a please let there be something in his eyes that
all is not lost and he knows us and that we love him and that we will help in any way.
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