Confound it! Nah, compound it.

Okay, so I wake up today with a hideous credit rating. I've emailed my card company and told them I'm canceling and will be making arrangements to pay off my balance.

And then I thought, this is crazy, I can't do this for the rest of my tax-paying life. If I can afford, so the gov't says, to give 20% of my yearly hard-earned pay to the gov't as taxes, then I hope to Midas that I can pay myself 10% annually. Ok, so there's that. I realize I was writing my resolutions in advance.

Anyway, 10% annually is not that bad. Hmmm. Well, from zero, no from negative, to 18,000 savings a year is definitely not bad. But I'm a dreamer and a slacker, so I want to retire by age 50, as in not lift a finger by age 50 type of retirement. That's 18,000 * (50-24) = 468,000. If I plan to live another 30 years after 50, then that's a mendicant living of 1,300 a month. Not very much worth living for.

So I get all boiled up and crazy, searching the web for solutions. Tah dah! Mutual funds! For a very can do away with amount of 5,000 initial investment and succeeding 1,000 deposit every now and then, you can earn an annual average of something a little over the inflation rate, let's say 11.8%. That's important because inflation rate means your peso today is worth dust in ~12 years, if the rate is 8%. 

Ok, so on the first year that's 5,000+(1,000*12)=17,000*(1+11.8%)=19,006!!! On the first year you've earned 2,006, which you can withdraw minus the rate (around 3%) that the bank or the processing company charges for withdrawals. Anyway, let’s cut the math, I’m not even sure if it’s precise, although it was fun figuring it out. On the 22^nd anniversary of your investment, you would’ve become a millionaire, it would have grown into 1,075,224.66, and over the course of those 22 years, your total withdrawals would be 824,273.66. If I’m 24 by January, plus 22 years, I can retire by age 46 ^_^

But let’s say I get a raise and I can afford NOT to withdraw the monthly earnings. I just keep depositing 1,000 every month and forget about it. Well, that makes me a millionaire by the 21^st anniversary of my investment, a whopping 1,121,427.46

Ok, maybe I did the math a bit wrong but the whole point of it is, 5,000 initial investment and 1,000 every month… Come on, that’s less than what we pay for taxes! I say if we can give the gov’t 20% of our pay, we can give ourselves 10% back each month. It’s not as instant as winning our first million on a game show, but neither is it as embarrassing nor as having such a statistically low probability and it’s definitely worth it. And if a writer can figure this much out, so can you. 

Green-Collar Jobs, I want one, but where do I sign up?

from http://www.greenforall.org/green-collar-jobs

What Are Green-Collar Jobs?

Background

What’s the best way to give Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds a tangible stake in fighting for issues like global warming?

Easy: Make it their livelihood. Every day, about 135 million people go to work in the U.S. Imagine what would happen if millions of those jobs—plus new ones created for people who are currently unemployed—were in fields like renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and green building.

Our two crucial concerns about survival—the environment and making a living—would be combined. A person’s commitment to their job would also be their commitment to the planet. Right now, there’s a great opportunity not only to make America’s economy stronger by making it greener, but to make Americans living in poverty part of a revitalized middle class. The first thing we have to do is provide the training that will turn 20th century blue-collar jobs into secure 21st-century green-collar jobs. Did You Know... There’s already a huge green economy developing. In 2006 renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies generated 8.5 million new jobs, nearly $970 billion in revenue, and more than $100 billion in industry profits. According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, the major barriers to a more rapid adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency in America are insufficient skills and training. In December 2007, President Bush signed the Green Jobs Act to train workers for green collar jobs. It authorizes $125 million for workforce training programs targeted to veterans, displaced workers, at-risk youth, and families in extreme poverty. It will train people for jobs like installing solar panels and weatherization. Green-Collar Jobs…  Rebuild a Strong Middle Class Provide Pathways Out of Poverty Require Some New Skills (and some new thinking about old skills)  Tend to be Local Jobs  Strengthen Urban and Rural Communities Protect Our Health and the Health of the Planet  Learn More... We're developing a clearinghouse full of resources, case studies, and tools from people all around the country who are working to implement green-collar jobs.  Explore it: www.greenforall.org/resources For a more detailed overview of green-collar jobs, read: www.greenforall.org/resources/green-collar-jobs-overview

Ok, I'm relenting. I'll retire by 50.

Your XX000.00 current monthly income will be Php 34380.00 after 17.00 years at inflation of 5% a year. The 34380.00 a  month is Php 412560.00 in a year. You should have a net retirement fund (after 17.00 years) amounting to Php 4125600.00 that earn not less than20.00% per annun to give you Php 34380.00 a month or Php 412560.00 in a year to sustain your current lifestyle without working.In order to have that retirement of Php 4125600.00, you need to start saving Php 38946.25 a year or Php 3245.52 per month for the next 17.00 years at a rate of 20.00% per annum.

If I want to retire by 40, according to Colayco

Your XX000.00 current monthly income will be Php 34,380.00 after 17.00 years at inflation of 5% a year. The 34,380.00 a month is Php 412,560.00 in a year. You should have a net retirement fund (after 17.00 years) amounting to Php 4,125,600.00 that earn not less than 20.00% per annum to give you Php 34,380.00 a month or Php 412560.00 in a year to sustain your current lifestyle without working. In order to have that retirement of Php 4,125,600.00, you need to start saving Php 38,946.25 a year or Php 3,245.52 per month for the next 17.00 years at a rate of 20.00% per annum.