rockyfive

Yes. Before you can find the right answer, you need to know the right question . So it is with personal finance: most pf bloggers will answer a whole variety of questions: - How can I become debt free? - How can I pay off my credit cards? - How can I save for retirement? - How can I be more frugal? BUT, these are not the questions that you need to be asking … at least, not at first. No, there are only TWO questions that you need to ask. The first is in two parts, and it simply... Read Full Story

I first published this post in 2008 (exactly 3 years ago, today); it’s one of my favorites because I believe that it’s an important new twist on an old story … … but, you will see from the comments that not everybody agrees with – or, even understands – my deeper point about setting yourself up properly for the day when you can’t – or, no longer want to – work. I’m republishing this because I’d like to hear your thoughts? __________ “I write to you the story of a fisherman in a... Read Full Story

Here’s some interesting ’information’ that I picked up: Apparently, all Polar Bears are left-handed. Well, it seems that there are two types of people in this world: those who will now run off and propagate this ‘fact’ at trivia and pub nights, and those who will go and check their sources. I’m in the latter … now, I’m not obsessive about it, so this information ‘seems’ right, but I’ll let a polarbearophile prove me right or wrong with these Polar Bear Myths: - A hunting bear will... Read Full Story

I guess I am one of the few personal finance writers qualified to answer this interesting question that came to me the other day: What advice would you give a new 32 year-old multimillionaire that you wish you had known at that age? Firstly, don’t overestimate your wealth. Spectrum (a Chicago-based consultancy that specializes in understanding the High Net Worth individual and family) surveyed a number of people whose net worth was in the $1m, $5mill, and $25m+ ranges about how much... Read Full Story

I think, these days, if you aren’t starting YOUR FIRST BUSINESS as an online business then you aren’t serious about making money. Let’s face it, we’ve all tried lemonade stands, paper rounds, flea markets and even working at McDonalds as ways to make money. But, compared to these, an online business can knock it out of the ballpark. Let’s take my son as an example: At age 12 he came to me and said he was starting an eBay business; he asked if he could use my eBay account (I said ‘yes... Read Full Story

Have you seen those acts where the magician calls a volunteer up from the floor, hands them a rope then says to “do exactly as I do”. The magician walks the volunteer, step by step, through the process of knotting his rope, while the volunteer tries to copy him exactly. Of course, at the end, the magician’s rope is neatly knotted and the volunteer has rope all over the place and looks a little foolish. You see, the magician has some extra steps that the volunteer doesn’t pick up, or... Read Full Story

What % of your retirement ‘nest egg’ can you safely withdraw each year, to make sure that you money lasts as long as you do? Many would say that this is a question best answered by highly educated practitioners of the highly specialized field of Retirement Economics, who will give you an answer – or, more likely, a range of answers – accurate to many decimal places. But, I can give you a single answer … … one that is accurate to at least 17 decimal places, yet I am not an economist of... Read Full Story

To some people, it seems that I promote high-risk strategies. For example, long-time reader, Josh says: I wondered over to your blog to see what’s new and after reading a few posts I realized why I don’t visit anymore, and it’s because your articles are drenched in pro-debt/leveraged strategies. This is something I don’t agree with and don’t practice. I do understand the mathematical ramifications of using debt to leverage yourself, it’s just something I plan to do without. Firstly, what... Read Full Story

I don’t know if you follow the startup scene, but you will see a huge movement to the concept of ‘lean startups’ as championed by Steve Blank and Eric Ries . However, one man’s lean is just another man’s bootstrap . That’s not exactly correct: bootstrapping a company generally means starting it without much / any outside finance and launching it on the smell of an oily rag. For example, Guy Kawasaki famously started Truemors with just $12,107.09 … … if you know Guy [AJC: he's an early... Read Full Story

KC points me to an article in Yahoo Finance: A new AP-CNBC poll finds nearly one-third (31 percent) of U.S. residents believe they would need a minimum savings of $100,000 to $500,000 if retiring this year in order to be confident of living comfortably in retirement, and 22 percent believe the minimum is $1 million or more to retire comfortably. I’ve just conducted my own survey and I’ve found: - Nearly one-third (31 percent) of U.S. residents are totally deluded if they think that they... Read Full Story