I believe that being able to predict how things will turn out is an essential need for everyone who wants to get rich. Holding your eyes open and having an idea how things might turn out before they happen is always a recipe for success and money.

Our predictions for 2012:
(To see our predictions for 2011 go here.)

The World Will Not End in 2012

Despite popular opinion the world will still be here in 2013. Sure we might have more earthquakes, storms and catastrophies than usually but in the long run things even themselves out. It is my opinion that there are no real reason that the Mayans decided to end their calendar in 2012. The only one I can think of is that they ran out of space to add more years
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Obama Will Stay President of the USA

As I correctly predicted in our predictions for 2011 Obama has been losing credibility all throughout the previous years as president. At one of his lowest points of popularity it is difficult to believe that Barack Obama will be re-elected for a second term as president but that is exactly what will happen.

There is a major lack of a great Republican candidate and Obama will once again make America believe in a better future. This is a great situation for Obama to be in considering how much money the president makes.

The Euro Zone Will Not Collapse

In the beginning of 2012 the markets seem to agree that the Euro Zone will collapse.

The year 2012 will be a year of many difficulties for the monetary union but the Euro will persist.   I personally feel that countries like Greece that are in heavy debt should be evicted from the Euro Zone but this will not happen. The 2012 will not see a country kicked out of the Euro zone.

After surviving the hardships of 2011 and 2012 people will have renewed faith that just like the US dollar the Euro is a stable world currency.

New Apple Products

2012 will see a range of new Apple devices.

Ipad 3 – The Ipad 3 will launch as an all around better device than the Ipad 2 but there will not be anything revolutionally innovative. It will have better resolution, more memory, better processors and better cameras.

Ipad mini –  Although Steve Jobs has said that there will never be an Ipad with a smaller screen because it would be too small for a good user experience we will most probably see a device with a smaller screen. The market has shown that devices with smaller screens like the Amazon Fire and the Samsung Galaxy Tab can be popular. The new and smaller Ipad mini will become an instant hit.

Iphone 5 - In 2012 we will see the long awaited Iphone 5. It will have a  new design and hopefully a NFC chip. A NFC chip is basically an RFID tag that will allow us to make payments with our mobile phones by swiping the phone near a payment terminal. There will probably be a way to use it with your credit card. Going one step further we might see Apple launching a service similar to Paypal that allows us to make fast payments to other NFC devices and Apple Accounts.

Apple TV - Apple will come out with their TV. It will probably have apps and voice control.
I am also hoping it to have some sort of hand or body gestures (think Microsoft Kinect). Apple will also launch an app that you can use with your iPhone or iPad to control your new AppleTV. As always it will be absolutely beautiful, easy to use and people will generally like it.

Unfortunately for Apple the TV sales will not be as fast as they would like. Since everyone already has a TV it is a tougher market to conquer.

Apple Stock Price Will Drop

The Apple stock price has been increasing almost nonstop from 2003. On December 31st 2011 it was exactly 405 dollars and there was no sign of falling prices. Although Apple will launch some great new products in 2012 the stock price will not continue to increase.

Bitcoin Will Become More Popular

The digital currency Bitcoin that is still unknown to most people will start catching on. We will probably see a few Bitcoin booms and crashes. People who know what they are doing can use Bitcoin to make some relatively easy money speculating.

Bitcoin does not have any transaction fees, it allows immediate money transfers and is totally anonymous. This is all too good to be true and the governments of the world will try to shut it down. The main fear is that since it is totally anonymous it can be used for terrorism or for illegal activities such as paying for drug trafficking.

Occupy Wall Street Will Survive

In 2011 the government ignored the Occupy Wall Street movement and hoped that the problem will go away. In 2012 we will see Occupy Wall Street getting stronger and new protests with more people. Despite the media blockade the average Joe will slowly start to see that to get what he wants means he needs to take action.

Throughout the year there will be many politicians trying to win the support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I would not be surprised if the movement would play a major role in the upcoming presidential elections.

Kim Jong-Un Will Stay in Power in North Korea

After the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il the power has now gone to his youngest son Kim Jong-Un. Despite his youth and the general agreement that he will be overthrown from the government I predict that he will successfully stay in power. Being young and ambitious we will see several new things happening in North Korea.

What we will not see is Kim Jong-Un losing power.

Google+ Will Become Popular

After the launch of Google+ in 2011 we are seeing a growing amount of industry leaders voicing their opinions that Google+ is a flop and a failure. I believe that just the contrary is true – Google+ is just getting started.

Internet marketers and brands will slowly discover the enormous benefits they get from being in Google+. Having your product featured in Google’s newest social network means a better ranking in Google’s search engine and therefore increased traffic.

We will see major brands duplicating their Facebook campaigns in Google+. This will give the average users an extra reason to join.

Facebook Ads on Third Party Websites

Facebook will launch an expansion for the famous Facebook Ads. In addition to advertising on the social network they will allow advertising on third party websites.

This means that everyone can sign up and publish Facebook ads on their website and earn money. This simple move will over through Google Adwords and Adsense as the number 1 advertising platform on the internet.

The Ultra Rich Will Ask for Higher Taxes

Throughout 2012 we will see extremely rich people saying they would love to have higher taxes. Some of the ultra rich will let the public know that they are OK with paying more.

Nokia and Windows Phone

Although late to the smartphone party Nokia will aggressively move to get its mobile phone market share back. By the end of 2012 we will see Nokia starting to increase its market share and the Windows Phone platform getting more popular.

What are your predictions for 2012? Let us know in the comments!

Happy New Year everybody!

Another year has passed and it is time for us to make predictions for 2011.

No World War 3

World famous fortune teller Baba Vanga has said that the Third World War will begin as an ordinary war at the end of 2010 and last all the way up to 2014. As luck would have it North and South Korea have had several armed conflicts starting from November last year – so there is still a possibility for this prediction to come true.

Although 85% of Baba Vangas predictions have come true I am certain that World War 3 will not happen – at least not in 2011.

Wikileaks will get harassed but will still be around

The governments of the world who have something to hide will do everything they can to get Wikileaks banned. If possible they will look for a legitimate way but most likely this will fail – instead they will make the effort to discredit anyone who has something to do with the organization. More often than not this is done in secrecy in order to leave an impression that the governments had nothing to do with it.

Obama will keep losing credibility

A lot of the things that Obama promised while running for president have not come true. For instance the closing down of the Guantanamo Bay prison that is used to hold terror suspects was originally intended by January 22nd 2010 but it will most probably still be around on January 1st 2012.

Obama’s road of small failures will continue and as a result he will be losing credibility slowly but surely.

More trouble in the Euro zone

Although my home country Estonia was the 17th nation to join the Euro zone there are dark times ahead for the currency.

We will see at least one more European country getting into trouble that is eventually bailed out.

Despite of the trouble the Euro will still be around in 2012.

Oil prices over $120 per barrel

On January 1st 2010 the oil price is 91 dollars per barrel. It is my prediction that during 2011 the price will rise to over 120 dollars per barrel – an increase of more than 30%.

The main reasons area a weak dollar and an increased demand by developing countries.

Winter storms

The heavy winter storms witnessed in 2010 in Europe and USA will continue in the winter of 2011. This will raise several questions since people have not seen such severe storms for a long time. Are we in the beginning of a short ice age?

New Apple products

Apple will release their new iPad with a camera – this will give life to a boom of video calls using Skype and Apple’s own Facetime App.

The new iPhone 5 will also be released – nothing revolutionary there. In all aspects it will be slightly better than the iPhone 4 and very likely it will also be available in white. You can also hope for additional colors but they will probably debut with the iPhone 6 in 2012.

I will make a full income online

While I already make a hefty sum with my online ventures it is currently not enough to survive in luxury without a regular job. 2011 will most likely mark a year when I can start concentrating solely on my online businesses.

What are your predictions for 2011?

About a year ago president Obama announced that he will be making a 100 million dollar budget cut from the 3.5 trillion US budget.

What does this mean? How much is a 100 million dollars compared to 3.5 trillion? If you are like most of us you’ll probably think that both of them are enormous sums of money… That’s because people tend to have a problem with big numbers.
To see how big the budget cut really is compared to the whole budget, check out this video below:

In May 2008 I wrote an article about how inflation in Zimbabwe hit 100 000 per cent. Since then, almost 2 years have past and this is what has happened in the mean time.

In November 2008 inflation in Zimbabwe hit 89.7 sextillion percent – that is 89 700 000 000 000 000 000 000%.

To get a rough idea how much that is – a sextillion is a billion trillions.

In addition to the staggering hyperinflation, unemployment in Zimbabwe also went up to 85% and over the third of the people left the country. Check out the pictures below to get an idea how was life in Zimbabwe during the hyperinflation

Pictures of Inflation in Zimbabwe

A boy with 200 000 dollar notes…

At the time this picture was taken – 200 000 dollars of Zimbabwe were about 0.10 US cents.

On December 22nd 2007 a new 500 000 Zimbabwean dollar note was introduced

A few days later the 750 000 dollar note hit the market…

January 2008 – a ten million Zimbabwean dollar note

A man holding 60 million Zimbabwean dollars in January 2008 – about 40 US dollars at the time of taking this picture.

In May 2008 10 million Zimbabwean dollars are worth about 6 US dollars

A boy going to buy groceries

A case with 65 billion dollars… Too bad it is only 2000 US dollars.

A local citizen going to a supermarket. The exchange rate was about 25 million Zimbabwean dollars for $1 US.

See this huge pile of money? Well, it’s only worth about $100

Things keep getting better… well actually worse… A 50 million dollar bill is introduced to the people of Zimbabwe

And a few days later the 250 million dollars from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe… Or should we say the local print shop.

Want to but a T-shirt? No problem… 276.5 million dollars please! Compared to the 2.765 billion the trousers are going for, it’s a steal…

May 2008 – a 500 billion Zimbabwean dollar note is introduced. This was also the time where I wrote the blog post about inflation in Zimbabwe. For some reason it was listed under Fun

By this time the hyperinflation was at 100,000%.

I wrote:

June 2008 – 25 billion and 50 billion notes are printed. In the background you can see president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe – the mastermind behind the hyperinflation. It all started in the beginning of the 2000s when he decided to confiscate all the land from people with white skin – effectively ending all farming in the country.

A quote from president Mugabe:

“The only white man you can trust is a dead white man”.

July 1st 2008 – a 100 billion dollar bank note is issued

What can you buy with it? Well… it’s not enough for 4 eggs but you can get 3…

I have an idea – lets have a fun evening in the restaurant! (better take the truck for all that money)

Restaurant bill for the evening: 1 billion 243 million 255 thousand dollars and 0 cents.

Too much money to stack under the mattress, too much to carry it all to the bank…

August 2008 – the government of Zimbabwe decided to take 10 zeroes away from each dollar bill.. You know – they just didn’t fit…

Not again??? Despite getting rid of the zeroes, the inflation kept going up… This was the amount just 1 month later you needed to buy 4 tomatoes!

Want some bread? No problem…

Late September – 1 month after losing 10 zeroes from each note of money… the new 20 000 Zimbabwean dollar bill is born!

A couple of weeks later… the new 50 000 dollar bill…

The largest bill in the history of money

As time went on the inflation became unbearable. The government of Zimbabwe had to issue the largest bank note ever in the history of mankind – the one hundred trillion dollar bill.

How the inflation in Zimbabwe ended?

In 2009 the government of Zimbabwe was tired of printing new money (and they were probably out of paper as well) and decided to get rid of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Instead they are currently using the South African rand and the US dollar.

Having the right kind of a woman can make all the difference in the world. There are two types of women that every man knows about.

Gold Diggers

These are the women who usually marry a guy for his money. These women want a good life more than they want true love.  If you married a gold digger you can typically recognize her because she demands you to buy her things – selfish things like jewelry, cloths and so on. The right woman also likes to have nice things but she puts you as a couple before herself.

If you are trying to save money for starting your own company the gold digger wife would constantly know that this is a bad idea and that you should instead use the money for traveling or to buy some nice things. The right kind of woman would help you to save more money to get your company going faster.

The Right Woman Material

If you have a wife or a girlfriend who constantly makes you push yourself harder to achieve your goals you are in luck. These women make you achieve all you can become. They want a successful husband who is happy because he gets out of life what he wants. These kind of women know that if they help their husbands become who they can be – it will benefit both of them plus their family.

Women like this are a real god send.

Here is the best story of a woman like this that I have ever heard of. As far as I can tell this actually happened.

A Story of a Real Wife

Years ago when the first George Bush was President he went out campaigning for his second term in office.
While on the road they needed some gas and the driver pulled into a gas station along the road.

As the attendant started fueling the car Mrs. Barbara Bush got out of the vehicle, walked around, hugged and cheerfully spoke with the attendant. After they finished talking, she got back into the car and sat next to her husband.
President Bush asked her, “Who was that?”

She responded, “A high school boyfriend.”

To which he replied, “You mean to tell me, that you left the car to talk to him? Do you realize that you are married to the President of the United States? If you had married him, you’d be the wife of a gas station attendant.”

She responded:

Have you ever wondered what is the yearly salary of the president of the United States of America? Well – you don’t have to look any further.

President Barack Obama’s Yearly Salary:

In 2009 the presidential salary for Barack Obama is 400 000 dollars per year.

In other words the president makes 33 333 dollars a month or 8 333 dollars a  week.

The president of the United States has always been the highest paid member of the government – that means that no one working for the government has a larger income than the president.

Up until 2001 the yearly salary for  president was $200 000 but thanks to a decision approved by the congress and former president Bill Clinton it was raised to 400 000 dollars.

The presidential salary had been 200 000 dollars since 1969. If adjusted for inflation it is actually the equivalent of 1,175,000 today’s dollars.
This means that the president makes about 3 times less in 2009 than he made 40 years ago in 1969.

Additional Money The President Gets to Spend:

In addition to the 400 000 dollars that the president of USA makes yearly he also has a whopping 169 000 dollars to spend on the things he likes.

$ 100 000 – The presidents non-taxable travel account.

This is the money Barack Obama can use if he wishes to travel or make purchases while outside of the United States.

In reality all the presidents travels and visits are paid by the government. The president always uses a private plane or an helicopter that flies wherever the president wants to go. The operating cost of the president’s plane Air Force One is over  $56,000 per hour! With that rate it would about 2 hours to go over Obama’s travel budget.

$ 50 000 – Annual Expenses account

In addition to the 400 000 dollar salary and the 100 000 dollar travel account the president has a 50 000 dollar annual expenses account that he can use for pretty much everything he needs to help him be a good president. Obama can use this money if he wants to buy a new tie or even an apple if he is hungry but just like with the travel account – he rarely has to use this money. The president gets everything for free.

$ 19 000 – Entertainment Account

In addition to everything else there is a 19 000 dollar entertainment account that the president can tap into if he wishes. The necessities of life are however covered – the White House has its own movie theater, bowling alley, pool room, tennis court, jogging track and putting greens for practicing golf. Needless to say – the $19 000 will only be spent if the president wants to do something not already present in the White House.

Full Amount the President Can Spend Every Year:

What Else Does The President Get

The president sure does get paid a lot when you compare him with the average American but you could also say with a degree of certainty that there is no one who wants to be a president for the presidential salary.

That being said – in addition to the US presidential salary and the presidential pay compensation – there are a lot of things that the presidents get for free.

He gets to live in a mansion with 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, its own staff and the world’s best cooks. In addition, he gets to travel around the world wherever he wants with his private plane.

On top of all of that, the President gets  to use all the White House employees and services as he wishes. This includes  cooks, housekeeping, doctors, barbers, security and taking the Presidential limousines for a spin

Retirement

After a president leaves office he gets a life time pension. Today the pension is set to the level of the current administration’s cabinet secretaries or 191,300 dollars per year.
Additionally the ex presidents get travel accounts and free mailing privileges.

The Vice President

No one really cares about how much the vice president makes but nevertheless it is an interesting fact to know

The salary for the vice president of United States is 208,100 dollars. He also gets to spend $10,000 for expenses.

There is nothing in this video that would make it acceptable that I am posting it here on FinancialJesus.com – a site about making money, getting rich and achieving your wildest dreams!

In the video below you will see Garry Kasparov – one of the worlds best chess players and a candidate for becoming Russias next president, giving a speech when suddenly something extraordinary happens…

We can learn 4 things from this video:

1. I have a twisted sense of humor
2. After an event like that no one will ever remember what Garry Kasparov was there to talk about
3. A flying pen*s is cool!
4. If you would do the same thing with George W. Bush – you’d have your own fan club

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