April 25, 2009

FOCUS

Barrington’s Blog » 2009 » April: "Focus on your goals - and you’ll avoid the obstacles along the way. Young adults in their 20s and early thirties find it difficult to stay focused on their goals because the transition from college to career - is not as easy as we thought. Plenty students graduate from college in a bad job market, which means companies are not hiriing, and they decide or are forced to take their first offer or any offer that they can get.
Unfortunately, taking any job just to have a job can have lasting effects on an individual’s life. We may never leave the job and become hatefully complacent of it. As the years go by - life gets in the way (marriage, kids, mortgage, car note, etc.) causing us to never reach our goals and dreams because we got stuck in a bad position and lost our ambitions and our plan for personal success.
Remember:
Choices that we make today, whether meaningful or meaningless, have consequences that are realized today or will be realized tomorrow.
Stay focused on your goals, stay educated, and if you’re in a job that you hate - be sure to develop and execute a plan to get out of that position as soon as possible. Get back on track and get to the place that you really want to be in life. If you do not, then you leave your life to chance and you’ll never know who you might’ve been. Stay educated, because with education you have options.
BE FREE"

April 23, 2009

Passive vs. Active

Barrington’s Blog » 2009 » April: "Did you know that actively managed funds (i.e. mutual funds, your 401k, or 529 plans) underperforms an index fund on average? The money you contribute to your company’s 401k program or mutual fund is managed by some portfolio manager who’s guessing and gambling in his/her best efforts to beat the market - however, history tells us that these managers hardly ever beat the market at all. Yet, they charge us monthly fees and take a percentage of any profits recognized - for poor performance!
So as an alternative - why not take your money and passively invest in Index funds? Index funds are portfolios of stocks that mimic or benchmark the market, such as SPDR. By investing in an index fund you are outperforming most actively managed funds, not charged any management fees, and you get to keep all of your profits that your fund recognizes. Sounds like a winner to me….!
Investing in an Index fund is the best way for an individual who does not have all of the resources or time to research the stock market, but wants to still have their money grow at a decent percentage over time.
Let’s make our money work hard!
BE FREE"

April 19, 2009

Trying to get on the Airwaves

Barrington’s Blog » 2009 » April: "As I continue my studies to pass the CAIA exam - I have been constantly thinking about getting on the airwaves (radio) in order to reach out to the black community about finance and investing issues that concern us. There isn’t enough financial/investing education being put out on our stations! Yet blacks are the biggest consumers and lowest paid individuals in the USA…this just doesn’t add up.
So with that said, I am soon to write and submit my proposal to the predominantly black radio stations in the ATL - 103.3, 107.9, 102.5, 107.5 - to request a portion of time to answer questions and address issues from our community. Initially, I would like to to have maybe 5-10 minutes a week, maybe on a Friday, and have a segment on a station to give finance/investment education.
I believe that I am qualified to endure such a challenge given my educational background and my current studies, plus I have a distinguished name - Barrington Lewis - and a great charm.
I’ll keep you posted on the status….

April 10, 2009

Sorry for the slow posts!

Barrington’s Blog » 2009 » April: "Just to inform my readers - I realize that I have not written anything in a while. Sorry!~ I am boggled down with my study for the CAIA! But I will definitely put a few posts up every month beginning in May 2009 - I appreciate your patience.
I just bought 2 new stocks MEE and REP - I think they’re very undervalued and looking to make daddy (me) some big profits! Please continue your investing folks - it is no excuse for us not to be putting money into this stock market while they are cheap. BUY LOW - SELL HIGH
Until next time…."