Personal Finance
5 Reasons to Live Below Your Means
Living below your means is an essential step in your path to financial freedom. However, spending less than you earn goes against the consumer first culture we live in. Marketers do not profit from our financial well-being, they profit from our spending. Go against the grain, spend less, earn more and be happy about it. Here's 5 reasons why: 1. Reduce Stress According to one study by the American Psychological Association, finances are the leading cause of chronic stress in America. When you submit yourself to chronic stress your body releases adrenaline and other hormones. If this becomes a [...]
What is Liquidity? Mastering Financial Liquidity
Liquidity is the ability to quickly convert your investment into cash with little or no loss in value. This is important if there is a possibility that you will need cash in the near future. For example, a down payment on a new home means that you can sell the house later and turn it into cash. But a property like that can take a while to convert. However, assets like bonds or stocks can be turned into cash fairly quickly. Cash is the most liquid asset, while investments such as land or other sorts of real estate are less [...]
Risk – Who Cares?
If you are one of the 947 companies that rely on us (taxpayers) for a free ride, this newsletter is not for you; if you are a taxpayer without the bailout luxury read on and learn about two types of risk, tolerance and capacity. Risk tolerance is behavioral based and risk capacity is goal based, each type is different but equally important in the process to knowing your investment goals. Risk Tolerance Risk tolerance is the degree in variability of investment returns that you, the investor, are willing to accept. Anytime you invest, whether in large or small amounts, the [...]
Time Horizon
This week we will continue on the path to knowing your investment goals by discussing what is my time horizon. Your answer to last newsletter's question, why am I investing?, will directly relate to how you answer this week’s question, what is my time horizon?. Time horizon is the period of time from when the investment is made to when it is liquidated or sold. If your answer to why am I investing was to fund your retirement, then your time horizon is from now to sometime between the day you retire and the day you kick the bucket. If your [...]
Get Cash Back Rebates When You Shop Online With These Sites!
Maybe you're thinking of going on a huge shopping spree or perhaps, it's the holiday season and you want to make some purchases. Whatever the occasion, just about everyone can use a little extra cash and that's the purpose of cash back rebates! So today, rather than our usual investment talk, we’ll load your wallet with an online shopping tip that pays, therefore, saving you money! Plus you know what they say, 'If you don't save, you can't invest'. What is a Cash Back Rebate? A cash back rebate (not referring to credit card rewards) is a system where you're paid back a percentage [...]
Know your Investment Goals – Why Do We Invest?
The next chapter in the investment fund series is "Know your investment goals". I'll take you through an easy and repeatable process to help clarify how to choose the right investment goal(s). It is difficult to become a successful investor if you don't know your investment goals, thus we ask our-self. Why do I invest? All our situations are unique, as no one investment goal is right for everyone. If your goal is to purchase a home and your neighbor’s is to prepare for retirement, the specific investments will likely differ. Thus the first step to knowing your investment goal(s) [...]