When this blog was first founded, it featured stock market advice and sportsbook tips in addition to ways to make money online. Over the past few years of operations, I have drastically narrowed the focus on blogging… but I believe that the new year will be the perfect time to implement a change in policy.

Two New Post Categories for the New Year

Those of you that have been long-time readers probably know that I absolutely love the financial markets. I’ve managed a $400K stock portfolio to a 18.5% outperformance over the S&P 500 in 2008 (nearly a 40% nominal gain), worked in investment banking at a major bulge bracket firm and presided over a mutual fund with assets under management (AUM) of over $4 million. On the side, I manage my personal portfolio which continues to beat the overall markets year after year… and I think that I want to shine a light on my stock picks when I buy and sell.

Additionally, some of my older posts are sportsbook recommendations and gambling picks every week. While I am more successful on NFL Football games than anything else (and the season it winding down), I am going to pick up in 2011 and begin sharing my thoughts on weekly props. In particular, I’ve had records over .500 for quite some time, and if you can manage this kind of track record you will make money over time if you bet proportionately. Therefore, I think this fits well with the investment theme and I would like to start to keep a running tally of my successes and failures on the blog.

Is this going to change everything?

I wouldn’t worry about this blog changing too heavily from what my core competency is. The goal here is to diversify what we are talking about… as I believe having numerous ways to invest is key in this economy. And heck, I really enjoy writing about the stuff.

Hope everyone has a great New Years… tons of great material to come in 2011!
-Jimvesting.com

…and we’re back!

After being out of commission for the summer and these most recent months, the time has come for me to resume blogging and get you that information that you crave. My apologies for my disappearance, but now that school has resumed I am prepared to deliver on some new excellent content that will get you back off your feet making money online in no time.

Wait… You Were Gone This Summer!?
Yes! I actually used a ghostwriter all summer to fill in for me and keep Jimvesting populated with articles. Because I used a freelance writer, I told him that I wanted to have him put information up about the merits of freelance writing, as that was a topic that I haven’t hit on much and is certainly a valid way to make money online in your spare time.

Who did I use? None other than Chris from Chrisblogging.com. Chris and I had a good arrangement over the summer to blog, and I think that he did an excellent job writing convincing content that was intellectually-stimulating to boot. When I accepted an internship offer in New York City over this past summer, I knew that I would need a writer if I wanted to keep things running. Chris is actually one of our readers here at Jimvesting.com, and because I knew he was interested in my blog I figured that he would be a good candidate to help out. This just goes to show that the relationships you form on your blogs can carry you through your online careers.

What I Did This Summer

Over this past summer, I worked at a major investment bank on Wall Street. I interned in the investment banking division as a summer analyst and will be returning full-time next year as an analyst. At the bank, I was given the opportunity to work closely with CEOs of several multi-billion dollar companies, created valuation models to pitch new investment ideas to our clients and even got to work on one of the largest M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deals of the year.

When you hear about investment banking in the news, it sounds like a completely different industry than blogging… but I think that you would all be surprised as to just how many synergies there are between the two. One characteristic that allows people to excel in banking is an entrepreneur attitude: the ability to think outside the box, deliver quality work and be as efficient as possible. Needless to say, anyone who has a positive work ethic and can deliver creative solutions is fit to work in many industries outside of the online realm if they so choose.

Regardless, I am back at the helm at Jimvesting.com and ready to put more awesome material into your inbox every morning. Stay tuned for updates, and thank you for sticking with us!

-Jimvesting.com

Come one come all… the Net Fool is now JIMVESTING!

We’re transitioning our old blog located at The Net Fool to our brand new website at Jimvesting.com! Why the sudden change? Well there were plenty of pressures pushing me toward re-branding, and I think there are going to be numerous benefits involved with making the switch. Sure, there will be an initial knee-jerk reaction to switching over cold turkey, but it is a move that needs to be made!

Major Advantages of Moving to Jimvesting Dot Com:

• “Jimvesting” is a more recognizable/brandable name than “The Net Fool”
• The added professionalism provided by the Jimvesting name will add to the overall credibility of the site’s content
• Our new theme will allow for more streamlined content, better monetization and a renewed focus on content quality over aesthetics
• A fresh new look should encourage a renewed surge in participation and interest. The old theme & brand had gotten a bit tired… and Jimvesting.com is a great solution to start things up again!

One of the biggest changes here is dropping the old theme and adding this new one. I think that I will be selling the rights to the old theme, as it seemed to be quite popular. However, I think that one of the disadvantages of that theme was that it took too long to load and see the actual content — the header was so large you could hardly see the first post when you loaded up the page!

Our new theme, based on a design from ProductiveDreams.com, lets you see the first post as SOON as you load up the page. There is plenty of advertising room to work with, and there is much more of a social media presence all across the site. As the web is evolving, we want to move with it… so while the old theme was certainly “fun,” Jimvesting’s new look will allow us to deliver a better experience and Search Engine Optimized performance. The advantages are real, and the design is still just as slick, sexy and original!

Welcome to the new website, let us know what you think below!
-Jimvesting Dot Com

Everyone knows that the economy is rough right now. While the worst may be behind us, there certainly won’t be any measurable amount of “recovery” for quite some time. As people search for more work in tough times, I remind you that blogging may provide that supplemental income to put you over the edge… and quite possibly make you very very successful down the road!

Want to Start a Blog, but Don’t Know How to “Get the Wheels in Motion?”
Introducing Jimvesting’s “Blogger Stimulus Package!!!”

I believe strongly in lending a helping hand to others who are interested in starting their own online ventures, but just don’t have the “know how” to do it all themselves… at least, not without burning a LOT of time on learning how. Therefore, I am reinstating my previous “Blog Domination” package, but I am UPPING THE ANTE and making the deal even sweeter. Now, not only will I design your blog for you… but I will personally go out and buy you any commercially available “premium” theme that you want… for free! Read the rest of this entry »

When you visit a website… what is the first thing you see?
The answer (to this “lay-up” question) is THE HEADER!

While it may be an overstatement to say that theNetFool.com is now sporting the greatest header that has ever been created for a weblog (and I do this simply for a great post topic ), I’ve made some more changes that I am sure you have noticed by now. By adding a clever opt-in newsletter subscription box, and in a very aesthetically pleasing manner, I will be boosting the amount of turnover this blog generates… and we all know that more subscribers = more POWER.

The Inspiration for Change?
My inspiration was actually a video I saw a week ago from one of the most famous MMO bloggers of all time, John Chow. Now, John takes a lot of heat from people who claim that all of his material is either 1) fluffy and unimportant; or 2) wrong or misleading. I feel that most of this is coming from the fact that he is a top dog, and people love to hate the champ. In summary, the video is about how he makes money blogging… and a lot of his success revolved around the fact that he used his blog as a machine to capture email addresses. I noticed that I wasn’t doing this currently, and I have Read the rest of this entry »