A four-year degree really isn’t necessary for success in life, but spending the money and going to college is the right decision for most people. You will do much better, though, if you plan ahead, and make an effort to lower your costs.
Some of the essentials, if you want to minimize the amount of money you borrow in student loans, include working toward scholarships, applying for grants, saving money in a 529 plan, and even getting a job. You can also find other ways to save money as a college student. As you do these things, though, you can also make plans about where you will attend college. Sometimes, where you go matters quite a bit in getting the best bang for your education buck — and keeping you from crippling student loan debt.
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Let’s try a little experiment. Make a list of all the words you can think of that begin with the letter R. Now, come up with a list of all the words you can think of that have R as the third letter in the word. Based on your lists, which is more common — words beginning with R or words with R as the third letter?
If you said words beginning with R, you’ve just fallen victim to the availability heuristic. This phenomenon describes how our brains assign more probability to an outcome that we can more easily think of. It’s much easier to come up with a list of words beginning with R, so our brains believe that R words MUST be more common. But it’s simply not true.
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Back in the days, you may hear about the sizzling returns of a stock whose company you’ve loved for years, or the gambler mentally in you urges you to try buying a few speculators. It could have started even when you learnt of your best friend’s massive profits from the stock market just a few short weeks ago. Whatever the case may be, it’s safe to say that buying stocks is how many people are introduced to investing.
When we are young with relatively few assets, investing in stocks is fun. Even if we fail to make money, it could set ourselves up for success. But like many people, they approach their thirties and sometimes even forties with only stocks in their portfolios. A quick check with wildly accepted wealth management theory says that this is no big deal though, because we want to have most of our assets in stocks when we are young to capture the greatest long term appreciation. But stocks bring volatility, and…
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In theory, making all your holiday gifts sounds great. Not only will you save money but your recipients will be charmed and love that you put so much thought and effort into your gifts and not only that, you’ll be striking a blow against materialism and consumer culture.
Except when that doesn’t happen…
No matter how good it sounds in theory, not every homemade gift will be loved and appreciated. Sometimes it’s because the recipient is an ungrateful brat. Sometimes it’s because the holidays are hectic and things get overlooked. And let’s be honest, sometimes it’s because the homemade gift giver just didn’t put enough thought into it. It’s also far from a given that it will wind up saving money and keeping you out of the store.
To give your homemade gifts the best chance of being loved and appreciated and frugal, ask yourself these questions first.
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If you ever kept a gym membership long after it has become clear that you are not now and will never be a gym rat, then you have felt the effects of loss aversion. This particular effect of behavioral economics explains why people are more likely to work to avoid a loss than they are to earn a gain. Loss aversion is the wiring that makes us feel more depressed at the loss of $100 than elated at winning the same amount of money. No, it’s not rational, but it does affect how you handle your money.
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Since owning rental property for the past 23 years is what allowed me to retire at the age of 45, I can offer some tips on how to rent to decent people who will pay their rent on time and won’t trash your house or apartment.
Before I share those tips, let me first tell you that owning and managing residential rental property is not for the weak of heart. There are times you will be required to be confrontational. You will have to say no. You will, in some cases, have to evict your tenants. You will have to take money from their security deposit to cover damages and they will fight you on this. If you don’t stand up for what is right, your tenants will walk all over you.
I learned this the hard way. In the early years I absolutely had to have tenants in the two apartments that were below my part of the first tri-plex I owned. I couldn’t make my mortgage payment without them, so I pretty much ignored red flags and rented to anyone and everyone. I went against what my gut was telling me about some tenants, since they were waving 100 dollar bills in my face and I needed that money. Sometimes I got lucky, but more often than not, I didn’t. This is not a smart way to do business. Below, I offer the following list of tips on how to become a successful landlord.
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