About
BluefieldMoney.com:
This is my blog on taking a straight forward, hopefully entertaining and sometimes brutally honest look at personal finances and investments, then engineering them for the best results possible. My friends and I discuss various forms of investing vehicles for gaining wealth so I thought I’d create this website to track what I’ve done, the progress I’ve made and try to help others. Being an engineer I attempt to solve all sorts of mechanical problems using common sense, reason and logic. In this Blog I’ll try to explain how I try to apply those same principles to “engineer” the financial portion of my life.
How do you “Engineer” or “Hack” your Personal Finances and Investments?
Engineering is all about organizing, prioritizing and optimizing for maximum benefit from the minimum of resources. Instead of designing the strongest/tallest structure with the least material/cost, you’re looking for creating the most personal wealth with the least risk and investment.
Hacking is a term frequently used in computers for the unauthorized accessing of another system. This term has evolved into a slang for “reverse engineering” or determining how a system/product works in order to achieve a desired result not intended by the original designer/manufacturer. For example, “hacking” a Tivo to increase it’s storage capacity or “modding” a PS2 to play ripped/burned games.
So in terms of money, I’m not talking about scanning/printing money, that would be stupid and illegal. There are many thing you can do to make your money work harder for you. Or do things in your life which consume less money or make life more efficient. You can click on Engineered Living Category to find many ways I Engineer/Hack my money and life to increase it’s efficiency.
Why doesn’t this website have music and wild videos? This site is simple by design to make downloads as quick as possible. No fluff. Form Follows Function.
Me:
Hi, I’m J.D. Bluefield and work as an engineer living in Hawaii. Through the years, I’ve progressively tried to increase my wealth using any (legal) means possible, savings, CD’s, stocks, eBay, sales, real estate, the list goes on.
One of my core beliefs is that if it doesn’t make you happy or make you money, it’s not worth doing. So if something is holding you back, ace it out of your life. I’m very upfront about most things and I’m not afraid to say what is on my mind. I’ve always been very astute with my money and will not make a purchase unless I know it is a good deal. A prime example is that I refuse to buy a brand-new car. Why? I can’t stomach the fact that it loses 10-20% of its value the moment I drive off the lot. Let someone else eat that loss. Last, being an engineer, I do a cost-to-benefit analysis on everything… EVERYTHING!
Good luck and happy investing!
My Investing:
My main focus of investing is passive income and value. I look for the highest passive returns in every aspect of investing with the least risk. I don’t invest in the latest technology or the hottest stock tips. Screw Google or XYZ Tech, I want something that is going to pay me day-in, day-out, market-up, market-down. I’m not a squirrel looking for a nut, I’m a squirrel looking for a tree.
I don’t trade stocks, I buy companies. Trading stocks just don’t make sense, you lose money to taxes, commission and market swings. I prefer to look for good companies currently trading at a discount.
I love dividends. Only one of my stocks pay less than 2% in dividends, with the majority of paying between 3-6%. Sadly with Federal overnight rates cut, my stocks are now producing a greater passive income than any CD’s and online banks, which have decreased to around 2.75 - 3% APY. Another great part about stock dividends are the maximum 15% tax rate, whereas savings and CD’s are taxed at your higher federal income tax rate, which can be up to 35%. Unfortunately, these tax benefits may all disappear with the next presidential election, we’ll just have to wait and see.
My Mentors:
Warren Buffett: I didn’t know a lot about either of these men growing up or in college, but are now integral parts in the way I invest. During college everyone was “making money in Tech”. Fortunately my Dad convinced me to no jump into the fray. He said that if Warren Buffett wasn’t touching Tech, neither would he. After watching friends ride the Tech stock roller-coaster into the ground, I wanted to find out what the “Oracle of Omaha” knew that apparently no one else did.
Benjamin Graham: After reading about Warren Buffett, its very easy to find his mentor and teacher. Graham’s best work, as told by Buffett, is the Intelligent Investor. I highly recommend reading it, but know that most won’t due to the 368 page count.
I saved the mandatory sappy part for last, but shockingly… My Parents: Growing-up my parents were very hard workers and always imparted on me that education and learning are very important for success.