I have been remiss

 My apologizes;

I have been a bit neglectful of this web site and keeping up My Blog here. I have no excuse, I have been busy making money and that might be personally rewarding but a busy man should make time for his friends.

What I have been doing is increasing sales at “patiostore.com” hiring more employees. That was interesting to do. I ran one ad on “craigs list” and had great response, I called six people in for interviews and got six good people. Normally you get a few flaks, a few no shows and slim pickings. I hired two people instead of the one I had planned for. Wish me luck. OH! One person will work in sales – customer service and the other will train for web site marketing.

The stock market is doing good, well last week anyway. Over the last six months I have watched my portfolio go down 40% and back up. I sold most of my stocks last month 66% and paid off the IRS, at least thats over. I repurchased on 04-01-09 a basket if under $10 stocks for a total of investment of $18,500 and as of today (04-04-09) that basket is worth $20,980. Keep in mind I am playing not investing and it could just as easy have gone, and may yet go, the other way.

I have looked at a couple of real estate deals (my passion) but I have note taken action on them. At my age (60) I want very good deals as I do not want to wait more then a few years for returns and I want great returns. I got rich by going for long term real estate returns (see real estate articles on this site) but at 60 I have to take the five year out look rather then the ten-to-twenty year plan. The deals are out there in droves, but as my business is doing good (up 20% in sales) I also want deals that will not consume to much of my time.

This and that:

The bulk of the bad economic news is over, the rest is just posturing. The economy is already starting its recovery more in some places then others but on its way up.

The stock markets is heading up, it will be a roller coater ride but over all, it is up this year.

Retail sales will be a struggle all year as people in general adjust their credit buying habits. Consumer debt, is a bad word and will be for a few years more.

Jobs will struggle, including the ones on wall street, until wages and other compensations find a parity with the new realities of business.

Congress is spending the country into a deficit nightmare. Expect higher taxes and inflation for years to come. They will do a lot of social good, but at what price. All you businesses owners, expect to pay dearly for their spending spree.

There is opportunity out there folks, more then I can ever remember seeing, makes a man wish he was 40 again. Gotta love it.