Weekly Roundup - February 15, 2014

We're now into week 3 of February which is crazy.  This past week was extremely busy for me between finishing up a job, going home for a few days, and coming back to work to start a new job up.  It's good to be back at work though and have things settle down a bit.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be at home all the time but for some reason they won't pay me to not work.  If only I could figure out a way to convince them that would be best for all parties.

I was way too busy while home for a few days to get too much moving forward with the rental property and it's quite disappointing.  I'm going to do my best to keep searching and researching ideas and learning as much as I can until I get home again.  I should be back home in around 2 weeks and this one will be a bit longer so hopefully I can get an offer in if the deals/interest rates still work out right.  I'm excited for 2014 to be under way and so far it's been great.  I finally started posting to Seeking Alpha as well as networked with a lot more bloggers.  There's some big plans in the works and it'll be great to put them into action.

I do want to put you all to task though.  I need to get a laptop to be able to use while I'm away from home and so I'm putting you all to work to get some suggestions.  The main uses are going to be for blogging tasks and movie/tv watching as well as running some home design software.  I'm not that big into computer games so it doesn't need to be anything super high tech.  My price range is probably around $350 pre-tax.  Any suggestions/recommendations would be great.

Thanks again to each and every one of you that has stopped by, commented, or shared anything from Passive-Income-Pursuit as well as my new outlet on Seeking Alpha.  It means so much to me that you all stop by here and you all continue to motivate and inspire me along my own journey.

Now on to the links!

Give yourself credit (Progress is progress) on Done By Forty

Detach spending from income by Freedom Thirty-Five

Utilize the Roth IRA as an early retirement tool by Retire Before Dad

Real estate investing:  My biggest mistakes made so far by FI Fighter

It ain't just money - Goals for 2014 by Write Your Own Reality

Optimal cash allocation for dividend investors by Dividend Growth Investor

How Apple got here and what they can do about it by Fast Weekly

Recent dividend increases by Dividend Mantra

2014 Goals & Objectives by Financially Integrated

The most overused analogies in finance by A Wealth of Common Sense

Climbing the mountain of financial independence by Financial Independence UK

Five blissful months of early retirement by Root of Good

Goals and dreams for 2014 by Dividendasaur

I hope you all have an awesome weekend.  The weather is supposed to be great here so I'm going to do my best to spend a bit more time outside.

Comments

  1. Thank you for the inclusion JC. You have been swamped lately, but I'm glad you've found time to keep writing. Talk to you later

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan,

      It seems like I'm always busy busy busy. Between my job, my part-time job of the blog and then taking care of everything once I get home there's not much time for rest. Although I still get it in when I can.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Hi PIP

    Thank you for including me in your weekly roundup.

    With regard to your request for thoughts on a laptop, have you thought about a tablet? I now use a Microsoft Surface Pro, which replaced both my laptop and iPad, and I think it is a fantastic piece of kit. I know the Surface Pro is way above your price range, but you can now get other makes (Dell, Asus, Lenovo plus others) which are much cheaper. The benefit of the Windows tablets is that they can run Microsoft Office which means that I always have my spreadsheets with me, and using the Microsoft cloud service means they are always backed up for you.

    Please email me if you do have any questions.

    Good luck on your search

    FI UK

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FI UK,

      No problem. I had thought about the Surface Pro because I really like the fact that you can have the keyboard with it and use it like a regular laptop. That's a huge bonus. I'd like a tablet just for ease of messing around and browsing the internet but it doesn't really work for having to do any kind of work on. I'll have to do some more research on them to see if I'd rather pay up for a "convertible" tablet or if a straight up laptop is what I really want.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
    2. PIP

      I find that my surface isn't too bad for doing work on (excel & word), but I have also used Photoshop on it to edit photo's.

      Don't know what kind of work you need to do, but it isn't as bad as you think.

      Other benefits are that you can connect via USB, use a memory card, link to second screen and keyboard / mouse (I use mine with a kvm switch at work).

      It really is a different animal than an iPad or Android tablet, but when I cycle to work I can take my Surface whereas 15" laptop is too big and heavy to fit in my pannier with change of clothes, lunch etc.

      Delete
  3. Thanks for including me JC! Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy the outdoors!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. w2r,

      It's been a pretty good weekend so far, but now it's back to the grindstone. I wish I could have gone camping Friday night since I was off. That would have been so much better, but the weather was great for what bit I was outside.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. Hi PIP,

    Thank you so much for the inclusion in your post, I am honored.

    I think the tablet idea above is a good one, but as for the laptop, this is the best that I could find around your price range, it is ($399)
    I have always been a fan of ASUS products.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231456

    It is definitely one to look into and consider. It is tough when you get into this price range, as it seems every option has its own problems/quirks. For this one it seems to be the overly sensitive touchpad.

    Anyways, thanks again and take care!

    -Dividendasaur

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividendasaur,

      I really like the tablets that can also be laptops with a keyboard attachment, but they are way out of the price range I'd like to stay in. I've heard really good things about Asus but have never used one myself. Since I don't really need it for anything specialized I think it's probably best to go the cheaper route. It's not like you need a whole lot of computing power to use Microsoft Office, browse the internet and watch tv/movies. I'll take a look into the Asus laptop.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Pursuit,

    Good luck on the hunt for a computer/tablet. I may need to get one sooner rather than later as my Toshiba is getting quite old and slow. But I'll keep it until I absolutely have to replace it.

    Thanks for the mention! I hope you're having a great weekend. :)

    Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DM,

      I hear ya and with the upgrades in basic computers due to technology advancement coupled with the decline in price I don't see a need to go and get a new computer all that often or get it fixed. It's just run it into the ground and then get a new one.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. I have fought the "Apple" trend for years and I never thought I'd see myself say this but you need to get MacBook Pro brother. I know it's way out of your price range but it makes up for it. I have a pc laptop now but it will be the last one I ever get (my wife took over the MacBook Pro) the next laptop I get will be a Macbook. Hope the hunt goes well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marvin,

      I guess I really need to go and play around on one for a while. The price tag has always been what really throws me off. I think the purchase might come a lot sooner than I was planning because of some of the work I want to do with my blog over the next year and other online ventures. Plus it doesn't hurt if I can essentially get some of the income to be written off to cover a business expense since a computer is pretty vital to online work.

      Thanks for the suggestion and for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the mention! It is crazy how fast time seems to be moving this year. Next thing you know, we'll be in March. Best of luck on the SA articles. Hopefully that'll be fulfilling and help you spread the word and attract more traffic to this blog.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FI,

      I hear ya! It seems like every year it goes faster and faster. The SA articles have been pretty good so far and brought in a bit more side income. Still nothing spectacular but it's better than nothing, especially since I was going to write them anyways. I have seen traffic pick up a bit more though since I started writing there which is always good.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

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