Jennie S. Bev

Not yet bottom, Californians

In California, property values haven't reached the bottom yet. Thus, it would be utterly stupid to keep a property that's already 65% underwater as it won't go back up to pre-mortgage tsunami in 5 or even 10 years. Use your brain, please, with 6-7% annual price increase in "normal" economy (not "bubble economy"), it won't happen.

And those who just bought your property, be warned that it has not reached the bottom means you'll experience even more plummeting in the next one or two years. In Stockton, a one-bedroom condo has reached $20,000, which is a big joke.

Why keep paying the full mortgage? Isn't it stupid in CAPS?

Grip on reality

Sometimes we have a strong desire to do things we like but we might not need at the moment. I love learning and have been studying GRE to earn a top score (1400) but I realize that I need to focus on my business ventures much more aggressively.

One full year without being a bookworm, can I?

For the moment, startups to focus upon are: online university, skincare, biodiesel farm, and online publishing. Starting a financial institution is being considered as well. Books are still being researched but they are no longer a priority. And yes, I still want to learn more about justice and compassion.

I have one life to live and I'd like to enjoy it to the fullest. And sometimes it requires temporary adjustments.

Life quality

Should we bother too much about GDP? What about GNH and GPI? I believe in quality of life, but I also believe in the purchasing power of money, so all those three make sense except for some underlying paradigm that I won't be discussing here (it should reserved for an academic paper or a newspaper article).

It is probably too naive to think that we can have good quality of life with minimal amount of monetary reserve. Poverty cannot breed happiness, but so can't richness. And "wealth" is something else, which is a combination of many variables.

Personally, I believe in high reserve by being fiscally conservative and I also believe in overall quality of life, which oftentimes involve monetary expenses, such as "buying" the peace of mind of being healthy and taken care of.

I guess that's the underlying reason why I have chosen the path as an entrepreneur-writer (an eco-friendly one) instead of something else.

Enjoyment

I didn't realize how busy I was until I tried breaking down the hours and activities. So far my activities are divided into:

• Business activities
• Academic research
• Writing columns
• Writing books
• Activism volunteering
• Household chores

Where is vacation and leisure time? I'd need to make another extra day for it. Can I work four days in a week and enjoy life the remaining three days? Let's see.

I've gotta! Will go to Vegas, finally, and enjoy the whole week doing nothing.

Business puzzles

A few business ideas to be considered in 2010 and 2011 following the launching of an online university:

• biofuel (bioengineering)
• skincare and fragrance
• financial institution (banking)
• Web media (multimedia, including apps)
• periodical print and online publishing (media group)