Last weekend, I spent some hours playing with GraphCalc, a free graphing calculator program on the Windows. On the Mac OS X, there is a similar program called Grapher, it is bundled with the Mac OS X operating system. In comparison, GraphCalc is a freeware, you need to download and install yourself.
I started to read about graphing calculators a couple of months ago, reading about the Texas TI-89 series and the Voyager series, the latter with a full qwerty keyboard, and the HP-48, and HP-49 series. However, later, I decided that I don’t need a physical one: I can always use the EasyCalc on my Palm, and Grapher on my Macintosh PowerBook, and GraphCalc on my PC. I can always easily access my laptops and desktops, and my Palm PDAs, so there is no point for me to get a dedicated graphing calculator. However, it is fun to read about them.
There is an episode about installing GraphCalc on one of my Windows PC. This is a Windows Media Center 2005 Edition, with an nVidia GeForce 7300 LE video card. At first, the 3D graphing part of the GraphCalc did not work. I spent quite some time trying to figure out what’s going on. Finally, I went to nVidia’s website and downloaded the latest driver for the card. All problems gone, the 3D plotting works normally.
The merit: always check the device driver versions first, or be prepared to spend quite some hours battling with the non-working 3D programs.
Although I devoted a lot of my time on reading, my reading list still keeps growing faster, outpacing my reading speed. Nevertheless, I keep adding new books to the list. Oops, where is my read list? Oops, I lost it. No biggie, I just rebuild one from scratch, here it is, my first one:
William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism
Obviously, this is a masterpiece biography on the famous scientist, the elder brother of the novelist Henry James, William James. Obviously, you can draw the conclusion that it is good to be born in a rich family.
I read The Great Mutual Trap: An Investment Recovery Plan by Gregory Baer and Gary Gensler a couple of months ago. A very helpful book for me, a financial novice. The main point of the book is: invest passively, do not expect to get rich quick. Index funds and ETFs are good, and those actively managed funds are bad for small investors. It makes sense to me. Afterwards, I continue to read A Random Walk down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel, The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham, and The Intelligent Assets Allocator and Four Pillars of Investing: Lessions for Building a Winning Portfolio by William Bernstein.
However, the book started all my inquiry into the personal financial business is The Number by Lee Eisenberg. Although it is not a really personal finance book per se, it instigates people to think about this issue.
Some advice from The Great Mutual Fund Trap:
- Ignore all rankings! Stop thinking all it takes to beat the market is a magazine subscription.
- Watch financial news for entertainment value only. Financial media is bad for your portfolio.
- Realize that analysts aren’t really talking to you. They are catering fund managers.
- Never underestimate the power of an index fund. Low expense ratio is the key.
- Better yet, ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) is better in certain situations.
- If you are paying a percentage of your assets to try to beat the market, stop.
- Take control of your tax situation.
- Sit down and draft an asset allocation plan.
- Don’t try to time the markets.
- Take every dollar you intend to save for your kids’ or grandkids’ education and invest it in a 529 plan.
- Recognize that there is an ongoing revolution in the bond business. Direct purchase from the issuer.
- If your employer does not include index funds among your 401(k) options, then consider it a pay cut.
- Avoid variable annuities.
- Do not support the privatization of Social Secuirty. (is that a secret agenda of the book?)
- Spend more time with friends and family (and less with the market ticker).
Sounds good to me.
