Personal Finance Archives - Page 9 of 11

How to Become a Money Maven

I appreciate being here in this blog space talking about how everyone can improve on the complicated issues regarding personal finance. I hope to enlighten you today / this weekend with some fun quotes and posts about life plus money. If you keep motivation and positivity at a high level you will achieve goals and succeed. It’s safe to say that you may possibly become a money maven. I come up with these quotes for myself, but they turn out so good that I have to share with all of my readers. If after reading them you do not understand them, leave me a comment and I will elaborate further.

Anyway back to the topic at hand, life and money will always be intertwined as long as we have a capitalist economic system. When you fully understand both of these topics, and the importance of managing money to make life more peaceful you will see the point for all of this talk about becoming an expert with money management aka Money Maven. If you do not take this advice and embrace it, then you will stay a novice for a long time. If you want to be better than the average person, then it is best to listen while absorbing any information that will help you. See below for the best quotes and posts on how to become a money maven:

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Money is not the problem, it’s Patience

When you look at your checking account and you see a big fat zero, you may think to yourself dammit I am feeling broke. The next few days you mope and complain that you can never make enough Benjamin’s in this life. The last few months the bank account incurred several overdraft fees. Why is all of this bad misfortune happening to you? One Simple answer to the myriad of complaints listed before, because of the reflection in the mirror. You Have No Patience! People wake up, as the lack of money is not the problem. When you lack patience it makes you do things on impulse, which results with spending above your limit.

Let’s do a big picture exercise, multiply your income X the number of years you have been working. What does that equal? Then add up how much of that you have saved? Kind of low when you compare it to all the income you have made in your entire lifetime.

Example: Average US Income 35 thousand X 5 years working history = 175, 000 dollars. How much of this have you saved? KEEP YELLING YOLO HUH!

Pick up your jaw off the floor now because this is the truth and now you must face it. Many of you want things now, and you will not take no for an answer. If that is how you want to live life then expect to be broke. Also expect to work forever, why because that impatience is taking away from the years you can retire early. I will propose something right now to help anybody struggling out there. Relax and take time to do things. The new summer wardrobe you have to have, it can wait. The new flashy Audi you have been desperately seeking for, it can wait. The yearly 4 thousand dollar vacation you have to take, it can wait. When can the time come to enjoy some fruits of our labor? See below for two very important money equals patience guidelines.

Money is Not the Problem, it’s Patience Checklist:

– Get Patience in Check. Control it now

– Do a Simple Budget, Income Minus Expenses should = Surplus

– If No Surplus cut things immediately

– Save up for raining day fund aka to avoid adding new debt

– Revisit budget to constantly improve upon it

– Track Net Worth Monthly

– Systematically Remove Debt and Increase Net Worth

– Stalk your checking account, from home computer or Cell Phone App

– Keep improving on patience to not fall victim with Money Issues

When can the time come to finally do what you want and not have to worry about money? Simple Solutions:

When you are debt free (Excludes Mortgage)
When you are consistently saving for retirement 15% or better(401K and Roth IRA)
When you are giving / generous $$ without hurting your budget 5%
When you have ample surplus to do what you want with cash
When you can invest in stocks for a retirement back up plan 5% or better

Patience is just as important as the ability to earn money – Rich Uncle EL

Comment if you agree with money is not the problem, it’s patience?

Rich Uncle EL

What is the Most you made in a Day

Did you ever think back and calculate what is the most you made in a day? Silly things like this can make financial matters into a fun game. Take a second and think back to what day in your whole life when you raked in the most dollars. Obviously this project will exclude windfalls like, sale of a home, inheritances, insurance payouts, and lottery winnings. Also regularly scheduled paychecks and bonus money do not count because it is usually divided into a specific time frame, thus not qualifying for a daily amount. In addition to the exclusions above also add in tax return money.

This game is only calculated by what you earned from working your blood sweat and tears to the ground. It can consist of 1, 2, or 3+ jobs or side hustles. If for example you made 3k in a week then you can take that amount and divide it by the number of work days to give you a daily figure.

It could have occurred in the year 1999 or 2013, the point I want to communicate with all of you is to remember that fun day and try to replicate or top the massive amount of dollar bills you placed in your pocket. If you set goals you will eventually exceed them, so this project will keep the big amount fresh in your mind and you will hopefully look to top it everyday from now on. Maybe next time we can touch on; What is the most you ever made in a week or month or year. Now after this post I will keep a eye on all the income sources to try and top this figure. See below for my figure.

What is the Most you made in a Day:

– 580 is the most I’ve made

I hope you can find the objective of this money exercise because we all can get motivation by this type of game. My figure consists of my day job money, sale of a sneaker, and a part-time job. Just imagine making that every work day. I took out my handy little calculator and that is about 11K a month or 140K a year. That is some serious paper right there. I have a little sense of what type of money big wig executives make. Guys you can also include any dividends or interest money you made in the stock market. Maybe at the end of December I can calculate my daily money average I made for 2013. I am hoping my website can get me some good side income to push my average up. I know some of you are going to share some fun and exciting amounts, especially all the night owls who do not sleep to make those dollars.

When you hustle you will reap great results – Rich Uncle EL

Comment on what is the most you made in a day?

Rich Uncle EL

Why you should not take Money for Granted

I see it all the time, people taking money for granted. No I’m not talking about a person walking by a penny and not picking it up. I am referring to the thousands of dollars every year being funneled out of bank accounts and into the hands of the already filthy rich companies. Banks everywhere are making out with your money. Credit Card companies are buying businesses with your interest payments. Auto Sales men are funding their pockets with every signature you sign on the dotted line. Higher Education is laughing to the banks because of the 1 trillion dollars in student loans debt.

What happen to thinking about good old numbero 1 from time to time? What happen to making You, Inc. more profitable and self-sustaining by stashing your cash? If you keep throwing money in the wrong direction, it will eventually make you feel like taking two steps back and no step forward. I am ready for a challenge to take You, Inc. into the next level of success with money management. How do you ask with a blank stare are you going to do this? Well it is simple by not taking money for granted. By sending it express mail in the right direction, thus having the little green dollars work hard for you. It’s real easy send it to your online bank account and build it every month for emergencies. Once a real emergency occurs, then take out your free online money. By now the money you have been saving is making you free money by compounding.

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What is the Happiest Money Moment You Ever Had?

I think we all have had a few great, unforgettable, happiest money moments to hit our lives. I like reminiscing on random things like this, because frankly our past can somewhat shape the future. How did the happiest money moment creep into your life? Did you have control over it or was it just pure luck? I bet I am going to get some very interesting stories from my readers.

The point for this post was triggered by me just remembering a time when I was happy due to either getting a small downfall or finally achieving a great money goal. I will share the happiest money moments with all of you and I want you guys to just try to remember one you can share as well. Those moments were given to you for a reason so why not remember them and honor the moments.

What is the Happiest Money Moment You Ever Had?

The first ever paycheck
The first time I found a dollar bill on the street
The first time I received a bonus check
The first time I invested my hard-earned money
The first time I found over a 100 dollars
The first time I saw a thousand dollar+ check in my name
The first time I received a Holiday bonus check
The first time I saved 5 grand
The first time I paid for Candy with Cash

Now that I have shared with all of you please be so kind to return the favor, we all can appreciate talk like this because it let’s us connect better with a topic (Money) that is deemed negative most times. Just writing about all of these memories makes me smile. I worked really hard for my very first paycheck and cashing it was a euphoric experience, after I received the cash I was thinking wow this is all mine. I immediately made a budget in my mind, that I would save half and spend the other half.

Back track 7 years and I was running to the candy store during lunch time in middle school to buy some goodies with the dollar bill my father gave me that morning. I couldn’t believe all the stuff I could buy back then with 1 dollar. Now things are different, kids are lucky if they can get 4 candies with 1 buck. That candy would last me about a week and you can bet that I ate each and every one. Now I am looking towards the future for a few more happy moments with money that I can be proud of, maybe I can share them with you in the future.

If you leave a comment I will add this post to one of the happiest moments with blogging.

Thanks for the support follow by Bloglovin, Twitter, or Facebook.

Rich Uncle EL

Investing When the Markets are High?

If you are investing when the markets are high you could be setting yourself up for major losses in the future. Many people think backwards when it comes to investing, they buy when stocks are going up instead they should be buying when stocks are crashing. Reason I say this is because the facts do not lie, when things are going good in the markets, people want to ride the roller coaster and get some easy profits. Billions and Millions of new investment money is thrown into the markets when things are going good, and when things are gloomy in the markets people run for the hills.

But if you think about it in its simplest form, would you buy milk for $7 dollars because you noticed the price going up? The answer is no because milk usually costs $3.49 a gallon so why would you pay double for the price for milk? Unless there is a shortage of milk nobody should ever consider paying more for it, and the same should go for stocks. Three years ago Verizon stock was listed for around $30 dollars a share and now it is steadily close to $52. I personally prefer to pay the $30 dollar per share price, what about you? Not only do you risk buying at the high point only to see capital most likely drop, your yield will be less if it is a dividend paying stock.

OK now that we got that out-of-the-way and you fully understand when people should be buying. What do you buy when the markets are high? The options are index funds, ETF’s, REIT’s, bond funds, and stocks that are trading in the lower range of the 52 week moving average. As of right now the picking might be slim, but the deals are out there. How can you find these investments? Look in Google Finance, Morningstar, or CNN Money. These sites offer a ton of financial information on where to place your money when things are bullish. But I am going to give you some examples of where I would put my money when the markets are high.

Investing When the Markets are High:

SDIV – ETF

GOV – REIT

GE – Stock

Pimco Bond Family – Bond Funds

These choices are either priced relatively low or not affected as much price wise by the recent bull run. For example GE back before the major recession was trading between $40-50 dollars a share. As of this posting the stock is currently trading at 21 dollars a share. The stock still has a long way to go to even come close to trading at those high levels. REIT’s are always a good buy because they pay such a high dividend yield, this particular investment is still trading in the 20 dollar range, compared to some of its competitors who are over $45 dollars a share. The Pimco bond funds have ticked up a bit in price since 2010, but not as crazy as the blue chip mutual funds, you can safely park your money in those bond funds and wait to see if the market corrects itself, (aka crashes) then at that point you will move back into equities.

Did you expect me to list Bit Coins, gold or maybe Greek debt above? I hope not, because those types of speculations are for the birds. When it’s all said and done you can always just save it in an online account and have the cash ready to strike when the next market crash hits.

Comment if you have a favorite stock, bond, ETF, REIT, or Mutual fund you invest in when the markets are high.

Rich Uncle EL

Can You Find Extra Money

The best place to find extra money is to earn it, negotiate it, save it and not to waste it. These simple steps will give you a leg up on your emotional spend thrift self. The not wasting it part is basically allocating funds to the right place month after month, and it is called a budget. The savings part is simple, but will provide you retirement leverage due to the compounding effect. Everyday you’re purchasing power is getting less and less, thus making retirement that much harder. Can you find extra money? Look right at your paycheck first. Then look in the mirror second.

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Chess is like Money Management

Why do I feel chess is like money management and therefore can be compared to one another? Well for the most part I like the fact that I embrace both of these as a part of my life. I also believe that with practice the things you enjoy doing can be perfected every day. See below for my list, which helps solidify why chess and money management are very similar through my eyes and hopefully through yours as well:

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