the richest man in atherstone

It's been over 35 hours since I extinguished my final cigarette and I'm still confident that I won't touch tobacco again.

I had a very stressful day yesterday and I didn't feel the need to smoke. I'm very stressed and tired today (personal problems - not because of quitting smoking) yet I do not want a cigarette. Everytime I think of smoking I remember how foul my final cigarette tasted and how great it is to be free from the weed.

The nicotine is gradually leaving my body. I periodically get light-headed when my body and brain want nicotine but it doesn't cause me too much bother or concern. I know that the reason my body wants nicotine is because of the previous cigarette and lighting up will only lead to another and another and another. By breaking the chain I am taking away my dependence on nicotine and soon enough, these slightly uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms will disappear.

I feel elated.

I received "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking" this morning at 7:30 and read it over the course of the day. I continued to smoke as he instructed as I read the book and finished it at 23:20. I extinguished my last ever cigarette at 23:25 and I truly believe that I will never inhale another puff of tobacco again.

And I don't feel deprived in any way whatsoever. Whenever I think of smoking, I think how glad I am to finally be rid of the weed. There are very slight withdrawal pangs but I'm actually enjoying the feeling knowing that I'm beating the addiction. After 3 weeks, 99% of the nicotine will be out of my body and I'll be able to enjoy the rest of my life free from the slavery of nicotine.

This is one of the happiest days of my life.

Long time readers of my journal will know that a while ago I decided to stop smoking and failed miserably. Well, the time has come for me to try again and this time I'm determined to kick the habit.

I'll be quitting in a week or two after I've read the book 'Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking', which is currently on order from Amazon. Allen Carr is supposed to have a cast-iron approach to quitting which is endorsed by many prominent celebrities including Sir Richard Branson and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Additionally, he claims that when I stop smoking, I will have no withdrawal symptoms and will never want to touch a ciggy again. His technique relies more on the psychological reasons (fear of quitting) rather than willpower or NRT.

I hope his claims are true because smoking costs me, on average, £250 every month. I must be mad to keep doing it! Should (I mean, when) I become clean I plan on using some of this money to accelerate my wealth accumulation. I currently save 10% of my salary, however without the cost of cigarettes I want to bump this up to 15%. The rest will be used to reward myself and my family for finally quitting.

I'll keep this website updated with my progress and I expect I'll include a book review at some point as well.

Plusnet Stock Part I, Part II, Part III

I said last week that I was considering selling my Plusnet shares due to their very poor performance over the last few months. They've fallen from £2.62 to £1.38, nearly halving in value. I've put a lot of thought into it and have decided to hang onto them because I believe they are under-valued at their present price.

What went wrong?
I think that the crash in Plusnet's share price has been caused by the following contributing factors:

1. After rising share prices across the board, all UK markets suffered a correction that saw share prices decrease in value.
2. One of Plusnet's senior engineers cocked up bigtime by accidently deleting emails stored on one of their servers.
3. Competing products offering "free" broadband from TalkTalk and BSkyB have seen customers looking for better deals.
4. Plusnet's Marketing Director, Marco Potesta criticised customers and ex-customers on the ADSLGuide forum.

Okay, so what are the good points?
Falling markets have not just seen Plusnet suffer. Many other companies have also seen their share price fall, although not by as much as Plusnet.

Although one of Plusnet's engineers messed up, the company have been entirely forthright and honest about the whole affair, which is something that I believe sets them apart from their competitors. They always inform their customers of what is happening and hold their hands up when they make a mistake. This is pretty unique within their industry and I, as a customer, appreciate this candidness.

Clever marketing campaigns by TalkTalk and BSkyB have seen many consumers jumping on the "free broadband" bandwagon. However, there are conditions when taking up the offer. Long contracts (18 months) means that consumers are stuck in a deal for a very long time. Conversly, Plusnet's contract is for 1 month only. Technical support is a lot more expensive with TalkTalk. BSkyB's offer is only available for Sky Digital customers and TalkTalk customers must also sign up for their telephone service. Also, both TalkTalk and BSkyB are newcomers to the broadband market so it is not inconceivable there will be 'teething problems' with their products. Plusnet have been in the business for years.

Plusnet have a very low operating cost. They have developed a piece of software called 'Workplace' which automates a lot of their business systems, therefore keeping expenses low. This allows them to be very competitive with their pricing structure and provide many services without the need for human intervention. This asset in itself increases the value of the company.

Plusnet's customer base combined with 'Workplace', their technical expertise and experience in the broadband market make them a very attractive takeover prospect by a larger company. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if TalkTalk or BSkyB put a bid in for the company!

Putting all these factors together makes me think that Plusnet is seriously undervalued at its present price and that the current problems are temporary. Therefore I will be hanging on to the shares and reassess the situation in 9 months time. When I originally made the purchase, it was with the idea of keeping them for a minimum of a year and I tend to stick by any decisions I make. My only regret is that didn't wait until now to buy the shares.

Title: Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
ISBN: 0-7515-3271-1
Publisher: Warner Books

The best-selling book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ looks at the subject of personal finance from the point of view of the rich and teaches the reader how to change their perspective so that they too can become wealthy.

Kiyosaki talks about his life from the age of 9 when he met the man whom he calls his ‘Rich Dad’. Rich Dad is actually his friend’s father, a self-made millionaire whilst Poor Dad is his real father, a relatively poor goverment worker. Throughout the book, Kiyosaki compares and contrasts the beliefs and opinions of these two influencial figures. He made the decision quite early on that for financial matters, he would follow the advice of his Rich Dad.

The aim of the book is to teach the reader “Total Financial Self-Reliance”. This means being able to live without the need for a job or salary.

“The poor and the middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.”

He explains how the reader must change themselves and learn to control their emotions to make logical financial decisions. Fear and greed are the biggest two emotions that must be tamed to help acquire wealth.

Kiyosaki puts great emphasis on knowing the difference between an asset and and liability.

“Rich people acquire assets. The poor and the middle class acquire liabilities, but they think they are assets…An asset is something that puts money in my pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of my pocket.”

He gives, as an an example, a person’s home. They may think it is an asset, however because of bills, upkeep costs and council tax it is really a liability. Personally, I disagree with this because everyone needs a place to live and a lot of people do make capital gains on their abode but I do understand the point he is trying to make. He recommends spending your life keeping expenses down and acquiring assets. As the income stream from the assets increases eventually there will be enough cashflow to passivly cover exenditure and luxuries. Any left over should be pumped back into the asset column.

The importance of understanding legislation including the formation of companies is also recommended by Kiyosaki. Not only can it help keep your tax bill low but also allows you to play the system by working within the law.

A common theme is to invest in financial intelligence. Reading books, going to seminars and talking to people are all examples of this. Having increased your financial intelligence, he continues by stating that you must have the courage to use the knowledge.

“In reality, the only real asset you have is your mind.”

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, although there were a number of times when I became annoyed due to lack of structure. It is a bit like reading through someone’s notes that have been hastily stitched together and Kiyosaki does tend to ramble at times and repeat the same things over and over again. The first chapter or two are in the style of a storyteller, whereas later chapters are in the style of a speaker. The change in prose is quite odd. There are also advertisements for Kiyosaki’s board game scattered throughout the text, although they are kept within the context of the point he is trying to make. Also, there are periods where Kiyosaki sounds as though he is boasting about his achievements, although I feel he has done this on purpose to ignite a flame of passion in the reader.

On the whole, the book contains lots of great theoretical advice and has certainly changed my perspective on a few things. If you can get through the waffle, bragging and disorganisation, this book is a great read.

The Rich Dad Website
John T. Reed’s scathing analysis of the book

Plusnet Stock Part I, Part II

As you may recall, I bought shares in the company Plusnet(PNT) a couple of months ago and I thought I'd provide an update on how they're doing.

I originally bought 100 shares at £2.62 each followed by another 100 shares at £2.35 each.

They are now worth £1.47 (data from Yahoo Finance).

I originally invested £497 and my shares are now worth £294. A loss of £203. In fact the price dropped on exactly the day I bought it and has continued to plummet!

Now I need to decide whether I cut my losses and liquidate the asset(?) or hang on the hope that prices will rise.

Okay. You may now mock me and laugh at me. In fact, why not point and laugh? When you've finished, you might want to bless me with any advice you may have. I'd be very grateful.

The way to learn is to do something. I'd rather have bought the shares than do nothing (of course, i'd prefer to have made money on them more than anything) and there's a lot of valuable lessons that I can learn from this. I'll share the most valuable of them soon when i've decided what to do next...