When it comes to financial issues, I'm generally a do-it-yourself guy. I don't need a financial planner because I'm my own financial planner. I don't need an investment advisor because I'm my own investment advisor. And the list goes on. I figure that if I know how to do something, why do I need someone else to tell me how to do it? Besides, no one cares more about my money … [Read more...]
Why I Invest with Index Funds
I've commented here a few times that I have a good portion of my assets in index funds of various kinds (US stocks, international stocks, etc.) Today I would like to give the reasons I have used index funds as my primary investment vehicle for the past 15 years or so. Before I begin, I'd like to make a book recommendation. If you want a great and detailed read on why index … [Read more...]
The Best Personal Finance Books of All Time: The Millionaire Next Door
I have read hundreds of books on all sorts of financial topics -- general money management, investing, retirement, and on and on. Unfortunately the vast majority of them aren't worth the paper they are printed on. They are poorly written and contain little valuable information. That said, there are many books that stand out for one reason or another -- and I mean this in a … [Read more...]
Financial Details of My Real Estate Investments
Now that I've shared how I got started in real estate investing, I thought I'd give you the details on my rental properties. Before I get into the specifics, I want to share a few general comments: There are three properties with a total of 14 units. They are in-line with my real estate objectives and strategy. Before I purchase any property, I run financials … [Read more...]
My Road to Becoming a Landlord
I've talked a few times about the fact that I own rental real estate. Today I want to share with you how I got started in it several years ago. Basketball Connection It all started several years ago when my son began playing basketball. A couple years into the process, a new family joined the team. Their sons had never played basketball, but they were both over 6 feet tall … [Read more...]
Moderate and Selective Frugality
A couple years ago I was in need of an audiobook to listen to during a long drive, so I picked up Money Secrets of the Amish: Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving. To say the least, it was an interesting "read." In case you were thinking about reading this book, I'll save you the time and give a quick summary. Here's why the book says the … [Read more...]
My Real Estate Objectives and Strategy
As I mentioned in Invest Overview: Fueling Your Net Worth and My Plan for Total Financial Freedom (AKA My Retirement Plan), real estate is a key part of both my investment and financial freedom plans. In a future post I'll share details and the financial performance of my rental properties. Before I do that, I wanted to highlight my objectives for investing in rental real … [Read more...]
My Entry into Peer-to-Peer Lending
As I mentioned in an earlier post, peer-to-peer lending (P2P) is part of my financial freedom/retirement plan because it allows me to diversify my investments while earning 6%+ on my money. But I didn't know much about P2P. Late last year I decided I needed to change that. FYI, I actually wanted to try P2P many years ago but I lived in a state that didn't allow you to … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Maximize Your Investment Return
In both Why Another Financial Website? and How to Measure and Track Your Wealth I mentioned how the financial media often doesn't understand financial principles (which is evident because of the terminology they use) and thus give out incorrect information. Well, they do many Americans a similar disservice when they focus on return rate to the exclusion of other investing … [Read more...]
Income and Spending Scenarios and the Impact on Wealth
We've talked about how cash flow over time leads to building wealth, which is also called net worth. Today I'll add a bit to past discussions by showing how these two work together in various scenarios, and what the wealth impact is in each case. Two Factors I've noted previously that there are two factors that account for whether you accumulate wealth or not: income and … [Read more...]
