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I discuss personal finances with many people. And the more people I talk to, the deeper we dive into their personal situation, the more I dig through the reasons why they aren’t saving more, the more I’m convinced that many people’s problem of not getting ahead is not that they are dissatisfied with how fast they are gaining financial ground. It’s the opposite, and I have this exact problem too.
We’re too satisfied.
We’re satisfied that we’re already contributing to our 401k. We’re satisfied we earned more than we did. We’re satisfied when we look at our investment portfolio as long as our investments don’t show a loss. We’re satisfied our net worth is growing as long as we look back a few years. We’re satisfied when we occasionally save a few bucks because we read a tip to use a cashback site before our online purchase. We’re satisfied to be consumers of financial tips instead of committed participants of those practices. We’re satisfied with our progress in our financial journey. We’re satisfied.
It wasn’t too long ago when I worked at a job that required 12 hour days, 7 days a week of commitment. There wasn’t much free time, but I wasn’t satisfied with just the day job. I chose to start a website on personal finance instead of taking a break. When the website took off and I was making more money than ever before, I looked for all sorts of ways to save money. When I was making money I was only dreaming of making when I was younger, I wasn’t thinking of buying a huge mansion or some supercar. I decided to cut out my cable bill to save $50 a month. I was happy to do it too. I wanted this. I wanted to get ahead because I wasn’t satisfied. [ continue reading… ]
I have a confession to make. The day before I wrote my post titled, 5 Undeniable Benefits to Living in a Small Home, my husband and I were talking about buying a larger home and a larger car.
We flirted with the notion of how nice it would be to have some extra rooms in our home, a bigger yard, and a car with third-row seating (such are the romantic conversations you have once you have kids, right?).
The truth is that those things would stress our budget. And if I’m really being honest, we don’t even need those things. We’re simply suffering from not being content with what we have, and falling into the trap of consumerism. [ continue reading… ]
A “normal job” usually meant working in a cubicle 5 days a week from 9-to-5. But times have definitely changed. The pandemic turned most office positions into work-from-home jobs. But that’s not what I’m talking about today. Even before the pandemic started, many companies started embracing the power of a remote workforce with all the technology we have these days, making telecommuting more and more common.
With unemployment shooting up again, many people could use some more ways to make a few more bucks. So how exactly do you find these work-from-home jobs? I’m going to tell you first that it’s not that simple and the number of remote positions are still small compared to traditional jobs. Plus, as you can imagine, the added flexibility of being able to work from anywhere has made the competition for these limited positions pretty intense. Still, don’t give up. We are talking about finding a company that will allow you to work from the comfort of your own home here even when the pandemic is over and we go back to a more normal life. It’s worth the effort. Take a look at these five work from home jobs anyone can do, starting right now: [ continue reading… ]
Did you know that your great grandfather could’ve turned $3,000 into a $41 million family estate if he just stayed invested in either the Dow Jones Industrial Average or S&P 500 since 1920? I read a fascinating piece recently from Barron’s as part of their celebration of the publication turning 100 years old. They dug into past history and found that both market indices returned about 10% a year in the past decade. If one were to be invested in the US market this whole time, a very respectable $3,000 at the time would turn into a very admirable sum of $41 million by the end of 2020.
And you didn’t have to lift a finger to build the wealth either. You didn’t need to work. You didn’t need to build a business. You didn’t need to pick the right stocks, nor did you even need to foresee and invest in disrupting companies in advance. Just good old buy and hold.
If only… right? Hindsight is obviously 20/20. As they say in the world of investing, “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” Still, the good news is that you can learn quite a bit from looking at what’s happened in the past. Here are a few golden nuggets that stick out. [ continue reading… ]
There’s no denying that men and women often view financial planning from different perspectives. The reasons are varied – everything from cultural expectations to practical considerations. And while most financial advice isn’t gender-specific, it’s clear that ignoring the differences between how men and women plan for their financial futures can put women at a disadvantage. After all, most financial advice being circulated are written by men and therefore often reflect their perspective of how to best tackle the issue.
Here are three money issues that often affect women, and how you can work around them:
1. Women live longer and tend to make less money
The pay gap between men and women has been news for what seems like forever. It’s disheartening, to say the least, that women still earn about 20% less than men do for the same job. This means women are already at a financial disadvantage in planning for retirement, as they have less money to put aside. [ continue reading… ]
January can sometimes be a very gloomy month. Aside from frigid temperatures and unpredictable weather, another reason this month might not be going so great for you is because of all the spending you did last month.
Overspending during the holidays can really make it difficult on the budget, especially as you try to forge ahead into the new year. The holidays are stressful enough financially and it can be even more challenging if they didn’t go as planned. While you can’t change anything now, you can create a plan to help you bounce back and recover from a blown holiday budget.
Understand How Much You Spent
First, you need to understand how much damage was done. Look at your holiday spending in totality: how much did you spend and on what? How much of it did you pay in full already? How much did you charge on credit cards? Can you pay off your upcoming credit card bill in full? You want to know exactly how much was spent and in what categories. This will help you devise a plan to tackle whatever debt is left over and also help you plan for next year. [ continue reading… ]
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