Year End Financial Results 2016

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Well, it that time of the year for reflection on how the year went!

My secret wealth goal has only improved a little, but this is not necessarily a bad thing!  I’m making a bit more these past few years, so much so that my wealth growth delta amount is just barely passing my accumulated earnings delta change.  If my salary was static, my wealth goal would be improving, but currently its growth is just a small improvement.  At a certain point, my secret wealth goal has the potential of having parabolic growth instead of the linear growth my accumulated earned total income amount.

The tail end of last year and this year has enabled me to cross a few of my wealth accumulated milestones!  While I’m not going to go into deep details, a couple of my thresholds have been crossed.  So much so, that I’m now coming up with new financial and wealth goals.  Including some that might go beyond my personal financial scope and instead enable me to help (albeit in a small manner) other with their finances.  This is a stretch goal for me, but I think it’s worth the risk and if I do it right!

Okay, on to my financial pyramid (or wealth pyramid).  Lately since I passed over into the green outlined region, the pyramid for me is really more of a wealth pyramid now instead of a financial pyramid.  And if you have read my blog from the beginning, you know that I mentioned a few time the concept of financial “critical mass”.  Well, while I’m still not rich yet, I believe that I have enough “critical mass” now to try a few financial things.  Hopefully, I’ll have more financial experiments in 2017!

So speaking of my financial or wealth pyramid, where am I now?

If you look at the pyramid below, I’m somewhere about 5 to 15% up into the lower Upper Middle Class area.  While I believe I have the core credentials to be considered Upper Middle Class, I’m still frugal and personally do not reflect the class that some could consider me to be apart of.  My kids and their friends too, belong to the the Upper Middle Class more than I do (and not sole because of on my efforts).  I still wear clothes that are 10+ years old, and wear shoes until they have holes in them.  Old habits are hard to break, and this is the way I was raised, so in many ways, I will never really be a part of the upper middle class class… no matter how far I’m able to climb on the financial pyramid below.

Financial Pyramid

I’m starting to think that in many ways I’ve been incredibly fortunate and lucky financially, especially considering where I started at, and in my opinion, how the cards were not exactly in my favor.  I definitely didn’t have a silver spoon in my mouth growing up, and I was actually born with a black eye.

Recently, I went through some old spreadsheets I created ten years ago, and believe it or not, but my wealth level is almost exactly what I predicted it would be at.  I’m just a little bit head because of the year-end “Trump rally” or “Santa Claus rally.  It just shows the power of planning as realistically as possible.

So my financial life is good overall, my kids seems pretty happy and fulfilled and I’m okay.  Overall, if I were to grade myself, I now think I would be at an “A-” level, so this new outlook is a small wealth advance from my last grading where I considered myself at a “B+” level.  It will be difficult to achieve the grade of a solid A though…  To accomplish that level, it may take me 10 years…

Here is wishing you all a great new year in 2017!

Don

I want a swarm of smart drones

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I bought my son a relatively cheap flying drone toy a few years back.  I thought it would be junk and more than likely, he would break it shortly after I gave it to him like some of the flying toy helicopters I bought him when he was a small child..  I was wrong in that assumption, and even now it is still a blast, but primitive in what it can be.

After my exposure to my son’s flying drone, I want a swarm of smart drones.  Smartphones are small, powerful, and light, but most importantly they are getting cheap like a calculator.  This means that the same technology could be morphed into a flying drone, and with good software, these smart swarms could be incredibly powerful systems in enhancing our lives.

In the movie Megamind, the writer already predicted the rise of smart drone swarms.  While real-world smart drones will not look exactly like the movie version, some of the intelligence and centralized AI control of each unit will be very similar.  I’m still amazed by the scene when the smart swarm made a 3D sculptor of Megamind’s face while flying in the air.

smartdrones

Below are a few of the smart drone swarm members on the right side of Megamind.

smart_drones

In the Simpsons, the writers always have Mr Burns saying “Release the hounds” on people… but what if a flying swarm of drones was your security system instead of dogs?  You could be sleeping, and these smart drones could be released into action by a nefarious trigger that could set them off.  Or potentially a few could be in the air at all times on a continually rotating schedule while the rest of the drones are resting and charging.  Some of the drones could record the offensive activity and even follow the perpetrators effectively taking photos and providing an instant video and audio stream to an online site (perhaps even directly to a future police monitoring system or security company) effectively tracking the potential criminals. A separate part of the smart swarm could attack the intruders.  Oh not with bullets but with pepper spray or some other nonlethal deterrents.  Such a system could almost guarantee safety through prevention or at least conviction of the captured criminals since the system would practically be escape-proof.  Bad guys beware!!!  I’m just scratching the surface of what smart drones can and should do!

A smart drone or swarm of smart drones could follow you at all times, shading you from the sun, rain, and even wind (it would almost be portable indoors if they could hold their change and provide climate control like a car) they could also serve as a portable nonlethal security system too.  Having such a system would be deterrent enough so the smarter “bad guys” would not even try anything against that individual.  I could also see the government using such systems at both local, state, and federal levels.  The concept of “Big Brother” in the book 1984 would pale drastically compared to the surveillance and algorithmic power of smart swarms that hook into a governmental AI backend.

When I think about it, with the predictive analysis of autonomous AI algorithms added to the system, the government could have the power to track and effectively micro-monitor practically every aspect of our lives.  Even George Orwell would be shocked at the surveillance depth such modern “Big Brother” systems could collect, especially when teamed with predictive analysis algorithms.

This article is long enough, but I’m just scratching the surface and keeping the concept fairly simple.  I think I will write more on this in the near term.

Thanks for reading my thoughts, 🙂

MR

Common Auto Insurance Questions for Households

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Common Auto Insurance Questions for Households

There are many questions for households need to consider before purchasing auto insurance. Even with a load of information available on the net, sometimes it’s best to wise up and ask the following questions directly to your insurance agent; after all, not all agencies will do things the exact same way.

Are Minimum Limits Adequate?

While every situation is unique and every individual needs to decide the best route to take for specific situations, minimum limits do nothing more than satisfying the basic requirements. For some people who is enough, and for other people, it is important to have more coverage.

While you might think that $25,000 sounds like a lot of money, if you get into a multiple care pileup, your limit might be exhausted before you are even done with the second car. When you consider some of the car insurance states that have minimum limits as low as $15,000 as listed by Cars.com, it’s hard to truly feel the security of insurance coverage with a measly minimum limit in place.

Do I Want My Teen on My Policy?

This question comes up a lot, and the short answer is: it depends. On one hand, you could have a teen who has no experience, isn’t eligible for a good grades discounts, and drives their own brand new car. In this case, adding your team would be extremely costly.

On the other hand, your teen could wind up not having their own car, so they are only insured for liability. You could also make them take a driver’s safety course in addition to making them work harder toward a good grades discount. And if the car they do occasionally drive is used with great safety features, they’ll be much cheaper (while still expensive overall) to add to your policy.

If you want to crunch some numbers yourself without getting on the phone to talk to an agent, take advantage of sites like CoverHound, which streamline the comparing car insurance quotes process. Simply input different scenarios into their quote generator to know how you can save the most money.

Do GPS Tracking Systems Work?

In short, GPS tracking systems work well. Even though every company is coming out with their own version, and even though many are frightened about the prospect of giving up their privacy, this technology can actually wind up tracking your driving behavior and giving you a very strong discount if you prove that you practice safe driving habits. For the most part, the only things that the car systems will track is braking and accelerating behavior, length of drives, the time of day that you drive, and how often you drive. All of these things can make your rates go down, and according to Marketplace, it is already happening for many people. The point is when you get a car insurance rate you are paying what an average driver would pay. However, you just need to show that your driving would put you in a class that is better than average.

Does It Really Make Sense to Bundle?

In almost every case for this question, the answer is yes. You need to simply think about the idea of administrative costs and the amount of time it would take you to call two separate companies, write out two separate checks, file the paperwork for two separate policies, and so on. Then, when you think about the time it would take to combine that all into one task and one policy, you can see why companies encourage bundling. They can save on administrative tasks so that you can save on your overall premium payments. Everybody wins.

There are always questions to ask, and chances are good that there will be many more down the line as well. The important thing to do is to take the time and look into what you can save just by doing certain things. Insurance is a bit confusing, but you can also save a lot of money if you use the right resources.

Thanks,

Chase

Will Fully Automated Robotic Systems cause the Death of Capitalism?

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First let me say that Capitalism has been an incredible economic system for the United States, and really the heart and soul of all social classes in the United States, especially the middle class.  In fact, Capitalism has been such a hit that other countries want to join the party and as a side effect the are now growing vast middle class populations.  The success of the Western society’s Capitalistic model is the reason why both Russia and China morphed into a version of Capitalism with respect to their economics and politics.

Ala Wai Canal

So why am I saying that Automated Robotic Systems could cause the Death of Capitalism?

Because we have never had such an intelligent blend of artificial intelligence and mechanical systems!  My primary job isn’t even in the automation field, but I’ve been able to create automated systems that could reduce labor hours down from 40 or more hours into a mere 30 seconds or less.  Noting that my 30 seconds number is being very conservative and it should really take less than 10 seconds.  I’m not mentioning that I could have totally automated the system so it could happened without human intervention at all!

So again, “What does this have to do with the death of Capitalism?”

Well, we have intelligent (and usually centralized interconnected AI based) robotics systems doing a large part of it autonomously or very close to that point.  By this I mean that they don’t really need to be turned off because the AI (or some type of intelligence programming) can made decisions based on sensory, or timed data and literally just perform tasks when needed.  What is scary from a human perspective is that these systems don’t sleep, work literally 24 x 7, don’t eat, drink or any other human function.  They don’t mind if the work environment is too cold or hot, or too light or dark…  These systems are for the most part environmentally agnostic and will just plug and chug along until the break! The only thing they really need on a continuous basis is power and periodically some small maintenance which if done correctly means no downtime ever the process that it’s performing (business or otherwise).

To kill Capitalism, in the short and near team, it’ll take diverse and sometimes specialized automated robotic systems.  Such technological systems will harvest the energy, control the movement of the energy and even replace robotics systems that may be having issues (even before they do have issues using baseline performance data and predictive analysis based on mean time to failure for parts and the like).

You see, the thing is that robotic systems will continue to develop and for a lack of a better word, evolve into a complete economic model that potentially could completely negate the need for money.

If “smart” robots make the product (organic or inorganic), mine or make energy, and have robots that can maintain other robots, then is there really no need for money (or as much human labor), and if there is no need for money, then isn’t Capitalism dead?  Because money is the blood that flows through the heart of Capitalism.

If Capitalism isn’t completely dead, at least we might have a hybrid economic model where so much is free and just a few unnecessary specific items cost money.

Let’s say that one day the government (or somebody like Buffet or Gates) decided to buy property and the put in robotic gardening system that is wind, solar, or battery based to grow food, do up to the minute, day and night weeding and pest control, pick food and then finally transport food to the end target.  With mainly the upfront cost, we could have a perpetual system that is a completely free food supply process.  You could view it as a complete AI robotic ecosystem.

In the near term, we can definitely imagine some type of free electric (via solar, wind and/or battery) automated public transportation system that has no human involvement and takes people on a predefined route or even individualized routes.  These might even include some kind of security or robotic system to protect all riders of such a transportation system.

Lately my mind has been really spinning on the possibilities.  If you include virtual reality which enables the ability to visit other places and even do activities without even leaving home, then having money might not be all that important to most people in the near future.

This is why I believe the Capitalism might lose some of it’s luster in the next few decades.  I’ll be honest, it saddens me a little because I wasn’t born yesterday.  Because the children of the future might get most of the benefits of a truly “free” society that runs on intelligent robotic labor and systems.

Time will tell…

Don