Playing With Money - And Making More

Ready to start playing with your money? Not interested in complicated businesses or boring bank C.D.'s? Here are some methods that aren't quite a business because you can do them once, or just whenever you feel like it. Start small and the risk is small.

Loan Sharking

Years ago a friend got a good job when I loaned him $300 to buy the necessary tools. I charged a $6 per week loan fee (don't call it interest) until he paid in full. That's more than 100% annual interest, and yes, we're still friends. Check the laws in your area if you try this, and take collateral. I don't loanshark any longer, but in my early twenties I loaned as much as $2,000 at a time ($100/month loan fee), and only once was stiffed on a small loan.

Investing In Other's Expertise

John showed me several car magazines before I understood why an old fiberglass car was a good deal at $2,300. What's a Corvette? He convinced me to put up the money, and after a new transmission for $900, he sold the 1976 Corvette for $4,300, netting us $1,000. I took half the profit ($500) for putting up the money for the two weeks.

I've done this many times with friends who know cars but don't have cash. Incidentally, if I had paid a $50 cash advance fee and 18% interest to raise the money with a credit card, my profit would still have been over $400, and John did all the work. I love playing with money. Do you have any friends who know about boats?

Buying Estates

My wife and I met a couple who buy out estates, sell some of it at flea markets, then run the rest through auctions. They've made a living at this for years. After negotiating to buy a whole house full of stuff, thay load up their trailer. If they don't want to do the flea market thing, they auction everything on Sunday afternoon for a nice profit.

If you're a good judge of value and have an auction nearby, you could also do this with rummage sales. Offer $100 for everything, then auction it off piece-by-piece. An auction near us lets anyone in, with no fee to enter - just a 25% commission on anything sold.

Playing With The Casino's Money

When I worked the roulette wheel at a casino I saw many people foolishly writing down the numbers that came up. Their theories were mostly nonsense. Casinos welcome these players and even hand them the pen and paper.

One man, however, was actually scientific about it. He found a bias in the wheel, after "charting" it for more than 5,000 spins. A number pays 35 to 1, but one of the numbers, due to manufacturing imperfections or whatever, was appearing 1 in 27 spins, instead of the average 1 in 38 spins.

He bet $10 a spin, and he profited $80 for every 27 spins of the wheel in the long run, or about $100 per hour. Since the ups and downs are dramatic, this is not for the faint-hearted. Even though he made tens of thousands, I saw him lose as much as $700 in a night. Remember too that not all wheels have biases (the casino eventually replaced that wheel). Have you ever tried "card counting" in blackjack?...

Steve Gillman has been studying every aspect of money for thirty years. You can find more interesting and useful information on his website; http://www.UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Out of the Dark Ages of Investing - Motley Fool

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-0fd=Rurl=http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/15/out-of-the-dark-ages-of-investing.aspxcid=1258240568ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHW-PWBtEQfh0NfoS2tvU84l3-f9QOut of the Dark Ages of bInvesting/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMotley Foolnbsp;-/font nobr1 hour ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Flash back to 1993, and you may recall that it was a bleak time for individual investors who might have entertained the notion of binvesting/b in stocks on b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-1fd=Rurl=http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/15/15-years-of-success-and-community.aspxcid=1258240568ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHEnNnRMyehWGUEr22W3n05rs51lg15 Years of Success and Community/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMotley Fool/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-2fd=Rurl=http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/15/educate-amuse-enrich.aspxcid=1258240568ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHksWYtiekcmDJVk9HaR9YnJXiRrAEducate. Amuse. Enrich./a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMotley Fool/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-3fd=Rurl=http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/15/the-bright-and-dark-sides-of-progress.aspxcid=1258240568ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHOCUkf8YBEvRQEW2A8e1jq9s4AFAThe Bright and Dark Sides of Progress/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMotley Fool/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1258240568hl=ennobrall 5 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

US Investing $250 Billion in Banks - New York Times

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/business/economy/14treasury.html%3Fbl%26ex%3D1224216000%26en%3D41016671e60e6f5d%26ei%3D5087%250Acid=1257778017ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGJmXj5LptuTKSTZenAN5be_bcgigUS bInvesting/b $250 Billion in Banks/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fNew York Times,nbsp;United Statesnbsp;-/font nobr17 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1He essentially told the participants that they would have to accept government binvestment/b for the good of the American financial system. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://www.3news.co.nz/News/InternationalNews/US-Government-invests-250-billion-in-major-banks/tabid/417/articleID/75789/cat/61/Default.aspxcid=1257778017ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFZIuYOvX9-IwQZ1iuwu3CqV-2FJwUS Government invests $250 billion in major banks/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobr3 News NZ/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-2fd=Rurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/10/world_back_from_the_brink.htmlcid=1257778017ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFTIITtQ3ZfbKDBcvc2GC4XE_vRcwWorld back from brink/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBBC News/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-3fd=Rurl=http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D502:bank-consolidation-figures-expected-to-grow%26catid%3D23:topnewscid=1257778017ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGvK8AX4tFnkWoIkHEhi_DR031ICQBank consolidation figures expected to grow/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBusiness Mirror/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-4fd=Rurl=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081015.RBANKSEXPLAIN15/TPStory/Businesscid=1257778017ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFJN9Fil0B1okrOi_TeFRRXUewpwwnobrGlobe and Mail/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-5fd=Rurl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403378.html%3Fhpid%3Dtopnewscid=1257778017ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGV9-FnAYzlVXSk3gNN6Jl-WAvWlwnobrWashington Post/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1257778017hl=ennobrall 2,887 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Treasurer defends Toll Road investments - Indianapolis Star

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/30883314.htmlcid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNF7bwQGrDuRcK4NCJ7OeXgJ4w1q4gimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=3mrmqy8Da1wJimgurl=media.indianasnewscenter.com/images/Decision200810.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Indiana#39;s NewsCenter/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20081015/NEWS0502/810150425cid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFmWRnV-XGoMYzzFlUFJ-3Aw9DnnATreasurer defends Toll Road investments/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fIndianapolis Star,nbsp;United Statesnbsp;-/font nobr3 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Mitch Daniels, criticized the state for binvesting/b 22 percent of money in the state#39;s Major Moves fund in mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae while b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-1fd=Rurl=http://www.wibc.com/News/Story.aspx%3FID%3D101159cid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHIIWnGcxJnfZXtqNPt2teY0CVHhgLong Thompson Blasts State Investments/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobr93.1 WIBC Indianapolis/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-2fd=Rurl=http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp%3FID%3D32046cid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGh6IU9vlXkiSH8L1a-lE0XN2Y-BgLong Thompson Questions Major Moves Investments/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrInside INdiana Business (press release)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-3fd=Rurl=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/oct/15/debating-major-moves/cid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGfDcI2gXNioqbFznqaR6wkb3nQBADebating Major Moves/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrHenderson Gleaner/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-4fd=Rurl=http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D9181771%26nav%3D9Taicid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGkq2rIxtW8IQu9aRmwXWssbjVyBAnobrWTHR/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-5fd=Rurl=http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20081015/LOCAL/810150334/1002/LOCALcid=1257652701ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFcfh5dPL3-aspuWzhRsaSB47pXLwnobrFort Wayne Journal Gazette/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1257652701hl=ennobrall 98 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Editorial: Investing in the places that bring us all together - NRToday.com

This Is the New Financial World Order - Motley Fool

Woelk: Investing long term with Buffs still not bad idea - Daily Camera

The Wallet covers the latest personal finance and investing news ... - Wall Street Journal Blogs

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6i-0fd=Rurl=http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2008/10/15/loose-change-101408-2/%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=0ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHdEfIvugJq3CiukuErYlK1zKbaiAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=5CyOnM0oAlQJimgurl=s.wsj.net/media/frankenstein_art_200v_20081015083605.jpg width=56 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Wall Street Journal Blogs/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2008/10/15/loose-change-101408-2/%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=0ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHdEfIvugJq3CiukuErYlK1zKbaiAThe Wallet covers the latest personal finance and binvesting/b news b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWall Street Journal Blogs,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobr8 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1-Bank of America announces that they’ll be meeting with former Countrywide customers to renegotiate mortgage terms. End result might not end up being all b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

McClure says her investing savvy would help Corporation Commission - Tucson Citizen

Your portfolio: Poised for a comeback - CNNMoney.com

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-10-voa18.cfmcid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGqqLZcCQPFlmo_RHs45U4IuIQKyAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=Hv_xsdJilH8Jimgurl=www.voanews.com/english/images/afp_us_dow_jones_175_09Oct08.jpg width=77 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Voice of America/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/14/pf/Ask_the_mole.moneymag/%3Fpostversion%3D2008101504cid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHyXC7uevrsNCrcLE52DU02KBEr-AYour portfolio: Poised for a comeback/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCNNMoney.comnbsp;-/font nobr12 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Do you really think binvesting/b in stocks is a good idea? The Mole#39;s Answer: After coming off the worst week in the history of the stock market, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dw-bHukIFnfocid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHMBbV1ibvjXU5cgfus9WrQ5rlm5QVideo: Wall Street Soars on Gov#39;t Aid Pledges/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAssociatedPress/nobr/fontobject width=448 height=356param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/w-bHukIFnfo/paramparam name=wmode value=transparent/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/w-bHukIFnfotype=application/x-shockwave-flashwmode=transparentwidth=448height=356/embed/objectbr/fontfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://www.valleynewstoday.com/site/news.cfm%3Fnewsid%3D20159517%26BRD%3D2703%26PAG%3D461%26dept_id%3D555139%26rfi%3D6cid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNGQPUIm4ttW5MyI0zmYzhixT4656gOn bInvesting/b: What you should know about Market corrections.../a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrValley News Today/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-09-voa77.cfmcid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFZn0jW4E84gbIBYL18tMlf41VL4gWomen#39;s bInvestment/b Club in California Plans to Weather Stormy Markets/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrVoice of America/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-4fd=Rurl=http://www.redding.com/news/2008/oct/12/what-to-do-in-a-volatile-market/cid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNHFqcwnho6m0lwe2tX4d4bUSNB7TQnobrRecord-Searchlight/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-5fd=Rurl=http://www.rgj.com/article/20081014/NEWS10/810140349/1321/NEWScid=1257461006ei=yGH2SLmaMqH8ygSinf2TCQusg=AFQjCNFRNsah5_bKHI-f_6lcR-OIGk5ZXgnobrReno Gazette Journal/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1257461006hl=ennobrall 6,576 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Financial crisis: Few regulatory fears for alternative investing - Telegraph.co.uk

Investing - Google News

RELATED ARTICLES

Well Managed Investing Risks Bring Rewards!
"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing!" Warren Buffett (1930 - )We often listen to people who hesitate to invest in the stock market because they fear risk. There are older people who fear that a stock crash could leave them destitute.

Why Do You Want to Become a Online Trader?
Motivational guru Tony Robbins teaches that the reason for doing something rates much higher than the methods you use to get the job done. In order to make your goal REAL, you need to attach severe, horrifying, intense and profound fear to failure.

How Do I Start Investing Online and What Are Some Basic Tips?
If you are new to investing online, don't put your entire life savings into an online account. Start with a smaller sum, which will be easier to handle and keep track of.

The Realities Of Market Timing
Market timing systems are based on patterns of activity in the past. Every system that you are likely to hear about works well when it is applied to historical data.

Creating Momentum with Options - Pro and Cons of At-the-money, In-the-money, and Out-of-the-money
To create momentum in your options trading you need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of at-the-money options, in-the-money options and out-of-the-money options.An at-the-money option has both advantages and disadvantages over stock and in-the-money options.

Annuity Help
Many people today are looking for annuity help. The biggest challenge seems to be that most of the help is biased.

Chile Leads the Latin Pack
Everyone's talking about China. Don't miss the opportunities in the other CHI.

Straddle Strategies in Option Trading
The straddle strategy is an option strategy that's based on buying both a call and put of a stock. Note that there are various forms of straddles, but we will only be covering the basic straddle strategy.

Investing for Retirement - Not an All or Nothing Play
In 1519, Hernando Cortes, beached on the shores of unexplored Mexico, made a fateful decision: he would burn the ships he and his men arrived in and attempt to overthrow Montezuma and the mighty Aztec empire. The decision was risky.

Trading Tips No 3: Online Trading and Investing: Buy, Hold, and Hope
So you have learned how to trade the markets by mastering a few trading tools like Moving Averages, Channels, Stochastics, MACD, or RSI - that is a great accomplishment achieved by only a few. However, having the tools and rules to trade markets successfully, year in and year out, is only half of the challenge.

Ask The SEC
Who is the SEC and why should I ask them anything? The Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC is the government bureau that regulates the securities industry. They make the regulations that all stock exchange listed companies, brokerage houses and mutual funds must follow.

Why You Need To Buy and Sell Gold Coins (Part 3)
Putting Rare Coin Market Cycles to Work for You..

Advice for International Investors on How to Safeguard Their Profits
What are the risks?Today, investors are increasingly turning to global markets to find opportunities for profit, giving urgency to the issue of protecting returns from foreign exchange risk. While there are many excellent investment opportunities to be found all over the world, volatility in the currency markets can and does affect the profitability of these investments.

Creating a Financial Future--Putting Your Plan Into Action Part 2
Real Estate can be a useful tool for investing. The simplest real estate investment is not truly an investment, but a cost-reduction - that is owning your own home.

Coca-Cola - A Value Stock?
There has been much talk lately about Coca-Cola and its potential as a value stock - as it now spots a dividend yield of 2.6% (which is the highest dividend yield since the late 1980s) and a P/E or less than 21 - right at the bottom of its five-year low.

Making It Second Nature
Not long ago I was laying on my son's floor throwing one of his toy balls back and forth in the air to myself and I had a strange revelation. I noticed that as I threw the ball up in the air my left arm automatically started to move to where the ball was going to come down.

The Power of Small Numbers: Trading Success is Based on Consistency, Not Home Runs
Online trading is so seductive - just sit, click, and rake in the profits! But as anyone who has ever seriously attempted online trading will probably tell you, it's just not as easy as it sounds.Many beginning traders are seduced by the lure of the "home run", that big trade that makes you an instant millionaire and retires you overnight to your own private island paradise.

Sell Discipline for Investors: Importance and Execution
Investors usually don't have an aversion to buying an asset. The real gut wrenching decision is when - and if - to sell.

Buying a Home - Your BIGGEST Investment
This column has often focused on intangible investments like stocks that a young investor might hold in their portfolio. While these are one of the most important components of an investment plan, it is not the dominant one for most young people.

Building The Foundation For Wealth
You wouldn't build your home on anything less than a solid foundation. Similarly, you can't build wealth and financial independence without first having sound foundational principles to build upon.