I’m all about technology that brings online connections into the real world. In fact, I think that is the best use of technology. Prime Time Money created a useful map of US personal finance bloggers. I love the personal finance community. I learn something new everyday from many of the bloggers listed on the map.

I was in the shower yesterday, I try to shower everyday. All my good ideas either come in the shower, or at like 2am at night while I’m laying in bed.

Maybe that’s the only time my brain slows down enough to really be creative…I don’t know. But all my businesses successes have come from either shower or 2am ideas…but I digress.

I was thinking, oh crap, I’m almost 25 now. I started making stupid financial moves at 18. What if I could go back and give my 18-year old self advice? What would I tell the 18-year old me?

Here’s what I’d tell the 18-year old me (circa 2001):

Don’t lose that ability to feel

You have an amazing capacity to feel emotion. Don’t lose it. Sometimes it will hurt you, but overall it’s one of your greatest strengths. Learn how to channel it into healthy relationships.

Get 1 credit card. Yep, just one

One credit card is all you need to start establishing a credit history. Heck, one credit card is all you’ll ever need. Get one from your bank, and commit to keeping the balance low. Oh, and don’t buy that fancy digital camera, you won’t use it much. Do buy that T68i cell phone, that thing kicks butt for years.

Talk to Mom and Dad

I know you love your parents, but have you told them that lately? Oh, and take some extra pictures this Christmas, it will be the last time before Mom and Dad split.

Don’t read that day trading online book

Yes you, don’t read that book about day trading online and how much fun it is to scalp stocks. Be content with your crappy job. You interact with fun people, it beats watching Level II quotes at 5:30 in the morning in the long run…trust me.

Enjoy the summer

Don’t work so much in the summer! Yes, I know you want to be self-sufficient and make money but holding down two jobs and 15 credits is a bit overkill. Go for more runs, quit the more stressful job and go golfing more with your brothers. You have the rest of your post-college life to have summers be just another season.

Ask that girl out

I know you’re still hurting from your last relationship, but it’s been awhile now and you shouldn’t keep holding on to something that isn’t there. You meet plenty of nice girls…see if they want to go sometime. Go for a ride in Dad’s convertible. He’ll let you take it out, but only if you’ve got a girl to go with you (trust me on this one).

Don’t join that MLM Scam

If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Run it by Dad first, he sold Amway back in the day, he’ll understand how you’re intrigued by this. You’ll learn some great copy writing skills, but you could do that for free.

Write down your thoughts

I know you keep a written journal now and again, but starting writing more just for fun. Keep your journal online somewhere (livejournal!), it will help you process what you’re dealing with right now.

Never give up

No matter how hard things get. And they will get hard, and even if you follow my advice to the letter, life finds a way (thanks Jurrassic Park). But never give up. When you feel like giving up, go talk to Dad.

After seeing Iron Man this weekend with my brother (It was great escapism entertainment) I came up with some simple steps to succeed like Tony Stark:

1. Get Super Educated

2. Inherit Billion Dollar Company

7. Get the right woman

Success! It’s so simple : )

Just a quick shout out to Lending Club! They won the Banking/Bill Paying Category of the Webby’s (which is like the Oscars for online companies)! I write about once a week for the Lending Club blog. It’s great to see them recognized, and hopefully they’ll be coming out of their quiet period soon! I have $50 invested in loans at Lending Club.

Anyway, congrats to LC!

Sleep.

It’s really important, right?

The last few nights I’ve finally gotten enough of it, and now I can’t seem to get my fill. I hadn’t had a good nights sleep in over a week, and I think it finally hit me this week. I’m absolutely exhausted, with no concrete reason I see yet. I don’t feel great, but I don’t have any specific sicky symptoms either. I’m hoping I’ll feel better tomorrow.

Cash Situation

My business’ cash situation is better than it’s been in a long time. I made some good decisions in April, and May is likely going to be the most profitable month ever. I’ll start payments with the IRS this month, so it’s just in time.

But it begs a new question, one that I’ll be thinking about the next few weeks for sure. What do I do with any extra business cash? In my view, it really comes down to either investing or debt repayment. Both have trade-offs. And when I say investing here, I’m talking about investing into my current business, not stock type investing.

I may be the world’s worst stock investor, but when it comes to business investment, I’ve done well the last year or so. Some of my ideas are starting to finally pay off, and should continue too into the future.

I know I’m going to get a zillion comments saying, “pay down the debt!!!”. And yes, I will continue to do that, but that’s a very short-sighted and knee jerk answer to this question. Sure, I could pay more to the IRS, but that could limit my ability to potentially pay off the IRS much, much quicker. Same thing with my other debts, I could pay small amounts off….for 20 years, or I can continue to re-invest in my business and maybe pay everything off much quicker.

As I write this, it’s becoming more clear to me what my thoughts on this are: I need to reinvest (wisely) into my business. While not doing so might be at the short term level less risky, over the long term I believe my only chance of paying this all down quickly is by making significantly more in my business.

I have lots of ideas that I write down all the time on business expansion, it will just be a matter of picking one and executing it well. Or, reinvesting into my current projects and trying to maximize their value. We’ll see.

Oh, if anyone’s interested in my mattress quest, here is my goal chart (getting close!):

I created a page to track my student loans. Now that my bankruptcy has been discharged, these are starting back on a regular payment schedule.

Even before my bankruptcy I had been deferring my student loans (hardship deferment) while I was trying to get back on my feet. I made over $600 in payments this week on them, and it felt really good!

Maybe it’s just me, but I really love paying bills. To me, it’s incredibly satisfying when I actually have the money to pay what I owe. I know that’s probably a normal thing for most people, but for the past year that hasn’t been the case for me. It feels really good.

Here’s my student loan charts (with a 0 balance being the eventual goal!)

I just got back from my meeting with the IRS downtown.

I survived, and it wasn’t too harrowing of an experience.

The good news

The good news is that while a lien will be placed against my business (I knew this was coming), I should avoid one against me personally since the business plans to pay the amount owed.

The best news is that the payment plan will likely be around $600 a month. It’s a little higher than I was hoping, but I think I can swing it, I just have to super careful when it comes to cashflow and no extraneous business expenses.

The bad news

The bad news is that the final number is about $6000 higher than I was anticipating. I’ll have the exact number in a few weeks, but it looks like around $28,000 vs. the $22,000 I was expecting.

Overall

All in all, it wasn’t too bad meeting my IRS agent in person. It was a very businesslike meeting, but it didn’t feel like an inquisition by any means. I had to fill out a few forms, but nothing I didn’t feel comfortable with.

I’ll probably start making my first payments mid to late May. I received a number of comments/suggestions that I needed a lawyer to handle all of this. To be honest, so far I’m glad I haven’t got one. I’m not trying to hide anything. I don’t have a million bucks stashed somewhere (that would be nice!). I’m trying to pay it back through the business. A laywer at the meeting today would have been incredibly awkward. Maybe I’m naive, but so far the IRS has been the easiest creditor for me to work with.

So, I should be receiving, like most American’s a $600 “Economic Stimulus” check in my bank account shortly.

This poses the question that many are asking:

What the heck should I do with my stimulus check?

Hey, that rhymed.

The main divisions for most people are going to be:

1. Spend it (on what?)

2. Save it (invest it or pay down debt)

3. Give it away (to whom?)

In my case I have an option for each of the above. I could easily spend the check. I could put it towards getting a new mattress, or some pots and pans I’ve been looking at, or do something totally non-practical like get the new ASUS that’s coming out mid-may (although work wise, it could be practical!)

I could also save the check. I could put it in my Emigrant Direct savings account, or invest it in stocks in my Sharebuilder account.

But, since I owe my mother a crapload of money, my check is likely going to pay her back. One (smart) reader once pointed out that I have my whole life to invest, but my mother does not. So, any “investing” I do should be paying down the $140K or so that I owe her. I like this option, and unless she refuses it or some super fantastic too good to pass up alternative pops up, it’s likely what I’ll be doing with the extra $600.

While I actually have the money right now for the mattress I want, I’m going to hold off. I need to earn this, you know? First, I want to save up at least for a few more weeks. And I also won’t purchase the mattress until my business hits some sales goals.

So, in the next few weeks, I need at least 20 new sales before I will purchase the mattress and frame.

Oh, and if you’re curious, that chart above is produced by the Simple Goal Chart Plugin that I’ve been working on the past few weeks. You’ll see more of the charts in the future as I move to using this plugin to display my current debt numbers and the like.

It’s my first Wordpress plugin, and I think it’s pretty handy!

I got tagged by BeingFrugal with the MEME about “when life gives you lemons….”

Well, you know the rest.

I’ll share a little about what it was like losing my house, and what I did to try and make the best of living in my office for two months:

My Lemonade Story (oh, I loved that Lemonade Stand game as a kid!)

I’m an optimist. Sometimes that’s a bad thing, like when I was *optimistic* that I could turn $50,000 into $1 million day trading currencies. That was some bad optimism. But sometimes it’s a good thing.

When my house sold (I did a short sale during the foreclosure process), I didn’t have a place to live. I didn’t have any money. What I did still have was a small office where I had been running my business the previous few years.

Choose your own adventure!

I decided the first night there that this was going to be an adventure (it was), and not a pity party. I slept on a camping pad, on the floor, and really tried to pretend I was in summer camp.

It worked.

I wasn’t miserable. I got a little buffer because I had to go to the gym each morning to shower. I tried to think of it as the dorm experience I never had in college. I had a little shower bag and I would walk to the gym before my employees showed up. I really made the situation into a game. I got caught once (an employee came in early), and I almost thought I was getting arrested once (the SPD is everywhere), but overall I tried to make the best of it.

I slept in my car some nights when I was too tired to make up my bed. And yeah, that wasn’t the most fun, but at least I had somewhere, you know? Many people don’t have an office, or even a car to sleep in each night. Plus, the whole living in my office thing is a pretty darn good entrepreneur story. It will just be allot funnier when I’m actually out of this mess!

I’ll tag: No Debt Plan

Debt is a four letter word

My Debt Blog

LIFE GAVE ME SOME LEMONS - IT’S OK, I MADE DELICIOUS LEMONADE - MEME Rules: * Copy and paste these rules to your blog post. * Link back to person who tagged you. * Write about an incident in your life you first thought was really bad, but ended up being a blessing. * Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. * Let each person you tagged know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (* And if you want to - link back to this original Lemonade Meme post too.)

end official rules stuff