One of the benefits of not working for some big financial conglomerate is I have no filter from the compliance department. I can say “hey, individual investors, there’s some serious bullshit out there” if I want to. This is one of those times. This is a story about some serious bullshit. As a follow-up to this post, there’s more that needs to be said about LendingClub and there definitely needs to be something said about how the issue extends to America’s favorite cult-hero / Personal Finance Guru, Mr Money Mustache. Mr Money Mustache, if you aren’t familiar, is an extremely popular, uber-frugal, vehemently anti-debt, anti-automobile, and pro-financial independence blogger from Colorado. His intentions seem to be pure until you dig a …
A Cheapskate’s Arsenal
It’s true: I consider myself to be a card-carrying, Certified Cheapskate™. Some may say the patron saint of our kind is this man: However, George Costanza’s cheapness is driven more by pettiness – mine is driven by a deep love and respect of compound interest. Save more = invest more = compound more interest. It’s that simple. Here’s a slice of my tools of the trade – you might call it a diversified portfolio of thrift: Simple – I cannot think of a better banking experience than the one I’ve had with Simple. No checks, no branches, tons of ATMs, photo deposit, awesome spending tracking, beautiful app, fast and responsive customer service and best of all: FREE. It’s a bank in …
You’re Only As Good As…
…Your Goalie …Your Closer …Your Kicker …Your 4th Quarter Free-Throw Shooting …Your Short Putts to Force a Playoff in the US Open …Your Worst Bluff …The Worst Day Your Brakes Have You get the picture. So where’s the investing angle? There’s always a tie-in! Here it is: Regarding investment professionals…. You’re Only as Good as Your Worst Conflict of Interest Dave Ramsey recently caused a stir in the world of Finance Twitter because of his ridiculous tweet regarding pending legislation to force stockbrokers to act as fiduciaries toward clients: The thing about Dave is he has a lot of good philosophies regarding personal finance. He has a very large following because of the huge megaphone his radio program provides, and it allows him to share …
Why Hire an Advisor? It’s a No-Brainer
Yes, I happen to be an investment advisor myself but I’ll try to prove to you this is not some self-serving advertisement with links to SIGN UP FOR MY SEMINAR! I see it as a no-BS manifesto for the power of low fees and simple advice. The added value of being an investor with a trusted, reasonably-priced partner in your corner tends to far outweigh the monetary cost of the relationship. It may even be more important now than ever if we consider the outlook for returns in the medium-term. All scenarios below are *hypothetical* and all numbers are *estimates*. Givens: You need to save money for the future. You need that money to grow faster than inflation if you hope to stick …
Newton’s Law of Finance
It’s really hard to start a new financial habit and in some cases it’s even harder to change one already in place. We have routines, tendencies and grooves worn in the pathways where our money flows. After all, it’s basic physics: an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force. Your habit is that moving object and sometimes it’s necessary to take action and change its direction, or to stop it completely. Changing habits is not an easy task but this simple chart shows it gets much better after that first step. Since money triggers such emotion in most people it’s understandable we take great effort to avoid making decisions and changes. The bright side: the …