Let's talk about the "S" in "ESI Money." As noted in the explanation of the site's meaning, the "S" stands for "Save." Saving is the second part of the key financial guideline "spend less than you earn" (the first is to earn as much as possible) and is just as important as its brother. Two Parts of "S" As it relates to its use in this site, "save" actually has two … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2015
Earn Overview: How to Grow Your Income
Now that we've covered the basics of this site, let's spend the next few posts getting into ESI Money's three focus areas -- AKA the "three simple steps to wealth." Today we'll talk about the "E" in "ESI Money." As noted in the explanation of the site's meaning, the "E" stands for "Earn." Why It All Starts with "E" You've probably heard it said that the key to personal … [Read more...]
The Importance of Tracking and Managing Cash Flow
Now that we've covered the importance of measuring and tracking your net worth, let's move on to a financial measure that's almost as important. It's important because it's a major driver of net worth. It's called cash flow. What is Cash Flow? Cash flow is simply income minus expenses. It's what you make/earn less what you spend. Income less expenses. The difference … [Read more...]
How to Measure and Track Your Wealth
One key to building wealth is to measure it and track progress regularly. Just like there's no way to tell what's happening in a sporting event without a scoreboard, you can't determine your success in growing wealth without some sort of tracking. As a scoreboard is to a sporting event, your net worth is to your financial status. It tells you how much you really … [Read more...]
About the Logo
Developing a logo is a very tough process (but a vital one if you want to create a great website). It forces you to think hard about what you want your brand to stand for and (conversely) what you don't want it to stand for. Then you have to take those thoughts and put them into a creative process where much of what's "good" is highly subjective. Brutal … [Read more...]
What Does ESI Money Mean?
"ESI Money" doesn't really roll off the tongue. It sounds like it could be a bank, a financial services company, or (much worse) a payday loan website. Yikes! In this post I'll tell you how I came up with the name and what it means. Searching for a Name As you might imagine, naming a website is a tough proposition. But it's a vital part of creating a great website, so some … [Read more...]
Why You May or May Not Want to Listen to Me
So you know a little about me and why I started ESI Money. But I thought it would be helpful to give some reasons, both pro and con, on why reading ESI Money may or may not be worth your time (which translates into why you would or wouldn't want to listen to me). Here we go... There are several reasons why you should read ESI Money: Results - I've grown my net … [Read more...]
Who Am I?
I want to tell you a bit about me so you're aware of my perspective when approaching financial issues. Let's start with as much personal information as I'm willing to share, then we'll get into a bit of my life history. I think it's valuable for you to know something about my financial journey, especially that I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and at one point … [Read more...]
Why Another Financial Website?
I know, I know. The last thing the world needs is another financial website. After all, aren't there already a million blogs about money? Aren't there countless TV shows, mainstream websites, and magazines telling us all how to handle our money? Yes, there's more than enough personal finance advice out there. From the "top of the heap" mainstream media like the Wall … [Read more...]