Yes, I'm a chess nerd.But in the worst sort of way. I love chess but am terrible at it. At least compared to most people who consider it a hobby. That's because I usually only play blitz chess, a quick version where the time allowed to move is severely limited. The long version just takes too much time for me. Which makes me not a great player as I'm not a deep, strategic … [Read more...]
Things I Used to Think that I No Longer Think
They say that as you get older, you get wiser as well.I hope that's true of me, but I'll let you be the judge of that after this post. :)Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to list things I used to think about money but no longer do -- just to see how I've hopefully improved over the years.Or how foolish I used to be. Pick which you like better.With that … [Read more...]
Are Newspapers Worth Anything These Days?
Warning: there may be a rant ahead. :)Today I'll be talking about local newspapers. You know, those things invented a few centuries ago that have somehow survived despite being worth very little. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.Let's start at the beginning...or at least our most recent beginning. Moved to Colorado When we moved to Colorado we thought about … [Read more...]
The Cost of Divorce
In The Ten Worst Money Mistakes Anyone Can Make I listed the following as #7: Marrying the wrong person As I noted, this can be a double-edged sword. I stated: There are actually two major financial mistakes related to marriage: marrying a spendthrift and getting divorced. In this post I'd like to discuss the latter of these two problems. 50% of 50% of 50% of 50% of 50% is … [Read more...]
Brands I Love
We all have brands we love, right? Those companies that for one reason or another we go back to again and again.I thought it would be interesting for me to share mine and for you to do the same! My Criteria But before we go there, let me detail the criteria I use before I decide to "love" a company:Good value -- It doesn't have to be the cheapest price (in fact, … [Read more...]
Playing Financial Chess
As I noted in What I've Been Reading, the Leadership Team at work has been reading Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0).It's a basic management book in many ways (and yet most companies don't implement the basics) but also a very good one if you're interested in business.A quote from the book stood out to me and I … [Read more...]
When Did Amazon Get So Amazing?
As ESI readers know, I don't spend a lot of time bragging about how good stores are.It's partly because no one cares and partly because there aren't that many that are great.But this time I have to say something because Amazon shocked me. Background Before I get into that, let's cover a bit of back story.It started several years ago, probably the same way it did … [Read more...]
The Ten Worst Money Mistakes Anyone Can Make
When it comes down to it success in managing personal finances is pretty simple: spend less than you earn over a long period of time and invest the difference. Said another way, they boil down to E-S-I. :) If this is the heart of your financial plan, it's likely that you’ll be prosperous.That said, there is one other thing you’ll need to do – you must avoid the financial … [Read more...]
2015 Net Worth Review
As I noted in How to Measure and Track Your Wealth, I track my net worth monthly using Quicken.I update all my asset accounts and record all my expenses, then run a net worth report. I review it and compare it to my goal for the month (I have an annual goal I break into months) as well as consider steps I need to take the next month to make progress.I've been doing this … [Read more...]
The Goal: Financial Freedom
We've been through the basics of this site -- what it's about as well as the details behind earn, save, and invest. We've also covered the key topics of net worth and cash flow.We've also noted that if you put all these together in the right way, you will become wealthy.But what we haven't covered is the underlying question: why do we want to become wealthy? One … [Read more...]
