I have to admit, I get excited like a little kid when it comes to receiving mail.  I don’t get much mind you, and bills just don’t count, but once in awhile, there is something great in my mailbox.

That is exactly what happened today when I went to check the mail.  After digging through the bills, I found an invitation to a BetterTrades seminar that was going to occur in a little more than a month.  I had been to one before, and I had learned some very important investing advice there.

I guess I will have to register early and book the time off of work so that I can attend the seminar as it will be held a short distance from where I live.  I hope that my wife will be able to attend it with me as our financial future is in our hands, not just mine.  But I just can’t wait until it is on - I always like to learn new ways to make money!

A group of kids from a finance class at college gets together once a week to talk over coffee about things we have learned and information that might be of use to other students. This past week, someone brought up the topic of Michael Dinich. It is a topic that comes up quite often and one that we never tire of discussing.

This particular discussion centered around one of the students visiting the Your Money Matters website. He told us all that it was a good source of information for our class to write papers and just to learn certain things that may not be taught in class. He suggested it be a useful tool for all of us.

I decided to check it out and was immediately impressed with the daily article feature. I enjoy reading it and log on each day just so I can read what it has to say. I would say that there are tidbits of information that are particularly useful and I am glad that he brought it up. I wonder what we will discuss this week.

I am looking for information on a 401k plan for myself. I know the information is easy to come by, but I am the type of person who likes to be very informed about this kind of thing. I get tons of information before I make a decision and I want information about everything surrounding a 401k plan.

For instance, I want to know what the repercussions are if I was to decide to do an early 401k withdrawal. I know that there are penalties for this sort of thing and I am curious to find out all about these penalties and what would be gained or lost from doing this.

I also want to know what my 401k max contributions would be for one year, so I could decide how much I was going to contribute each month. Like I said, I want to be informed about everything and if I keep asking questions, I will be.

I recently had the opportunity to have an inside look at some Asheville Condos.  I am interested in purchasing, not for myself, but as an investment.  I am not from Asheville, but have been told that it is a good place to start investing and that good tenants aren’t to find.

I was impressed with what I saw, so I thought I should look some more at Asheville real estate.  The numbers were more than satisfying and I thought I would like to speak to some people to get first-hand information about what kinds of tenant I could expect to have.

This research was quite uplifting.  I know that now is the time to be looking at real estate for sale in Asheville, both for renting and flipping.  I think I will enjoy this business venture and am glad I am finally putting the money where the mouth has been for years.

There I’ve said it: mutual funds are not the best investments.  This comes from me who was big into mutual funds just six short years ago.  Now, my stance has not changed because of losing money in the market:  I made money and lost some too.  No, the reason I say this is because I have found some other ways to make money work harder and better for you.  Let me share a few of them here.

Real estate investing is the first one on the list because it is something that everyone needs.  Whether it be a home or some office space, people everywhere need it.  Also, real estate tends to be less volatile than stock markets and have had steady returns over the years.  I also like the idea of control over my investment - if I want to make more money, I can raise rents.

The second option I like is starting a business.  Though this option may require a little more dedication, education, and information than a mutual fund, the returns can be better.  Take for example a website that I setup in June and have done nothing to it since.  My $10 investment has returned $180 a 1800% return over the six months.  What did my mutual funds make?  1.5%.

The third option is one that I don’t recommend that everyone try, and that you only invest a little money.  This investment would be a high yield investment program (HYIP).  Now these investment programs invest your money in the Forex (currency trading) market, or other emerging stock markets around the world.  They typically can earn one or two percent per day of your investment.  Now, I caution you that there are good ones but there are also bad HYIPs that fail.  So, don’t invest all of your nest egg, or money you need to eat, rather make them a small portion of your portfolio - if you win, you win, if you lose, you don’t starve.

Though mutual funds are pushed as the investment of choice, they are not the best investment.  Consider investing in real estate, a business or a HYIP to dramatically increase the returns on your portfolio.

Well, today I woke up and went to get the paper out of the mail box immediately.  You see, our paper usually runs some sort of special in the business section on Mondays because they have no stock market information to report.  By adding the special section, it makes the paper seem a little thicker and worth the price.

So, I sat down with my coffee at the table to see what was in store for me - the special today was about the fastest growing franchises.  This was pretty exciting as I have been looking to find some of the top franchise opportunities to help me decide which franchise to invest in.

Now, I have thought for a long time that it would be great to open a Starbucks franchise in town - but from what I read that is not a possibility.  Inside that paper, it said that they don’t sell individual franchises to their stores - so too bad for me.

Well, I am going to read the rest of the paper - what can I say, I am hooked.  It is such a great way to start off the week - by reading the business special in the paper.

In the world of business, when you need financing, you need it now.  Time is usually of the essence, and there seems to never be enough.  Someone definitely had the right idea when business cash advances were created.  They are a great alternative to getting a business loan - and I will tell you why below.

A business cash advance tackles the issue of time remarkably well.  Unlike business loans for bad credit (which approval can take more than a week), a business cash advance approval takes less than 24 hours.  You will also see the money in your hand in less than a week.  Quicker access to cash can allow a business to be in the position to take advantage of any opportunity that comes their way.

The other issue that a business cash advance addresses is simplicity.  Unlike an unsecured business loan, where there is a pile of paperwork and financial information required, a cash advance has only one simple form to fill out online - that’s it.  So, instead of spending your time (or paying someone) to get all the documents together and take the lengthy process of filling out the forms, you can do it yourself in less than ten minutes.

Whoever came up with the concept for business cash advances was a genius.  With quick access to capital and a simple application process, a business cash advance is a novel idea.

When I want to try something new, I have a philosophy of trying to find a mentor.  Think of it as finding someone that knows what you need to know, and learning from them - not unlike your school teacher as a child.

In some respects the Internet makes it easier.  In fact, lots of experts are online sharing their expertise for those who would read it.  Today was a good example as I was reading a day trading blog. 

Now this blog detailed the journey and progress of a day trader following the Emini Trading course.  What really got me interested is that the writer highlighted his successes and his failures.

In fact, in my opinion, a true expert will share their successes and their failures.  The difference between someone who succeeds and someone who always fails is that the one that is successful learns from their failures.  I think by reading this blog and perhaps some others I will get the day trading education I need to succeed.