I’m pleased to present our first reader case study on this blog. This is where I encourage you, the readers,to write in with your situation that you want looked at.
I do my best to answer your questions and provide recommendations for your situation. I also encourage you all to post your thoughts in the comments sections to help out our subject.
Today, we have Jim (not his real name) wanting to know what he should do next in order to achieve his goals of marriage, kids and retirement before 60 […..]
If we have choice that means we have control over our decisions. That is a fantastic thing, as many cultures do not have this luxury. Take arranged marriages in India for example.
The power of choice can be very powerful indeed. Imagine inheriting 2 million dollars […..]
I was invited to do a guest post at the ESI Money blog where I discuss the decision to pay off the mortgage or invest. Check out the comments as well for more thoughts on the matter.
While here, check out the ESI Money millionaire series of interviews. If you want to increase your net worth there is no better way than to learn from those who have already done it.
It seems nowadays we are inundated with options. Hundreds of TV channels, online clothing stores and many investment options. Even once we have finally chosen on a mortgage provider for example, then we have another set of decisions. Do we fix? Do we float? Both? Revolving credit? Interest only? Decisions within the decision if you will. This may seem like a good thing on the surface. More options mean more competition for our attention, which should result in a greater quality of product or service at a lower price.
However, the end result can make us tired of thinking and analysing, and potentially making a sub par decision. Or no decision at all
We have all been sold on the dream of owning a home. It is a national obsession. If we don’t own a house, we should be striving to own a house. Get a good job, work hard, start a family and buy a house.[…..]
What if I told you that dollar coin in your hand is not actually a dollar? You will look at me like I am crazy. More so than usual anyway. If you would just give me two minutes to explain before judging me […..]
Habits are what get us from point A to point B in the quickest amount of time and can be both fantastic and crippling. They are the actions we can do without even […..]
With the rapid rise of smartphones and the internet, we are inundated with information on a daily basis. This is both a blessing and a curse.
Readily accessible information is fantastic to discover new information that will improve our lives. The problem is that we are easily distracted. I am anyway. I’m sure I’m not the only one? Echo, echo, echo.
These distractions take us away from the valuable information we should be paying attention to and […..]
When reviewing our investment results, all may not be as it seems. Is that 7% return, actually 7%? Not if you have left out fees and inflation in your calculations. Two small, but not insignificant considerations that can eat away at […..]
Whether you are a buy and hold investor, or a buy and sell investor you will still be interested in reviewing your stocks. It is not as simple as it first appears.
We will often receive an annual report from our stock broker or online provider of how your stocks have done that year. 5%, 9%, 2%, -5% and so on. So, if our stocks over 10 years have returned 70% in total, that is 7% per annum right? WRONG. […..]
Markets go up, down and sideways. Why, for how long, and when, is the big mystery. No one knows. It’s easy to say after the fact, but knowing the trigger for market changes beforehand is anyone’s guess. Strategies of trying to time the market are often […..]
If we are picking individual stocks then we must decide whether to pick our own stocks or have an investment manager/adviser pick them on our behalf.
A self-managed portfolio has the benefit of allowing flexibility, in the sense that we get to choose every company we invest in. We also have significant cost savings, due to[…..]
Every investor will get things wrong. Not just once either but frequently. Heck, even full time professional investors consider 60% success rate as very good. This means that there are many professional investors hitting 50% or less. That is just as well as flipping a coin. The key to a good portfolio is […..]
So far in this series we have covered the different terminology used in investing, dispelled some common investing myths, different types of investments, how to approach the sharemarket, how to reduce our exposure to risk, and what impact our own behaviours have on our investments. Now we can discuss the different types of stocks available to invest in […..]
“The Behaviour Gap” is a fantastic book by Carl Richards. The premise is that despite knowing better, people continue to make the same mistakes over and over with their money. It is our emotions that get in the way of […..]
There are some things we can’t control when investing in the sharemarket. We can’t control interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, company bankruptcies, and so on. This is why many stay away from shares. The unknown. This is a shame, because returns from shares over the long term are arguably better than other accessible investments.
Today, we start a 14-part series that will aim to educate investors that don’t know where to begin investing their spare cash. For a new investor, it can be intimidating to invest money. A lot of the intimidation comes simply from […..]
Over recent years, there has been an explosion (excuse the pun) of internet bloggers retiring early and writing about the world of FIRE. It means Financial Independence Retire Early, or FI for short. The RE part is really optional.
So, what is FI? My interpretation of Financial Independence is […..]
Before we move on, emergency savings is a certain amount of money that is held in a safe, easily accessible place, such as a bank account, to be used in an emergency.
An emergency is something that is truly unpredictable such as […..]
The word ‘budget’ has many negative connotations. It is one of those words that make us squirm. It brings feelings of living cheaply and not getting to enjoy life. It’s no wonder budgeting is one of life’s least enjoyable tasks.
When choosing between more than one debt, there are two common schools of thought on repaying debt. One school is adamant that the best method is to pay down the highest interest debt first – called the debt avalanche. The other school is adamant that paying the smallest debt is best – this is called the debt snowball.
I’m pleased to present our first reader case study on this blog. This is where I encourage you, the readers,to write in with your situation that you want looked at.
I do my best to answer your questions and provide recommendations for your situation. I also encourage you all to post your thoughts in the comments sections to help out our subject.
Today, we have Jim (not his real name) wanting to know what he should do next in order to achieve his goals of marriage, kids and retirement before 60 […..]
If we have choice that means we have control over our decisions. That is a fantastic thing, as many cultures do not have this luxury. Take arranged marriages in India for example.
The power of choice can be very powerful indeed. Imagine inheriting 2 million dollars […..]
Lucky you, three posts this week.
I was invited to do a guest post at the ESI Money blog where I discuss the decision to pay off the mortgage or invest. Check out the comments as well for more thoughts on the matter.
While here, check out the ESI Money millionaire series of interviews. If you want to increase your net worth there is no better way than to learn from those who have already done it.
Have a great weekend.
It seems nowadays we are inundated with options. Hundreds of TV channels, online clothing stores and many investment options. Even once we have finally chosen on a mortgage provider for example, then we have another set of decisions. Do we fix? Do we float? Both? Revolving credit? Interest only? Decisions within the decision if you will. This may seem like a good thing on the surface. More options mean more competition for our attention, which should result in a greater quality of product or service at a lower price.
However, the end result can make us tired of thinking and analysing, and potentially making a sub par decision. Or no decision at all
There are 3 things to consider whether a financial adviser may be worth while or not. Whether we have the […..]
We have all been sold on the dream of owning a home. It is a national obsession. If we don’t own a house, we should be striving to own a house. Get a good job, work hard, start a family and buy a house.[…..]
What if I told you that dollar coin in your hand is not actually a dollar? You will look at me like I am crazy. More so than usual anyway. If you would just give me two minutes to explain before judging me […..]
This is the million-dollar question – quite literally in many parts of the country.
Buying a home is probably going to be the single biggest purchase we ever make, so it needs to be well considered.
The number one consideration we should make when looking at buying is […..]
Habits are what get us from point A to point B in the quickest amount of time and can be both fantastic and crippling. They are the actions we can do without even […..]
I can’t count how many times I have seen or heard someone say: “I bought my home for $400,000, and sold it for $700,000. We made $300,000”.
On the surface, it looks like a fantastic result for the homeowner and it may well be, but it is not the whole story. What is the story missing? […..]
With the rapid rise of smartphones and the internet, we are inundated with information on a daily basis. This is both a blessing and a curse.
Readily accessible information is fantastic to discover new information that will improve our lives. The problem is that we are easily distracted. I am anyway. I’m sure I’m not the only one? Echo, echo, echo.
These distractions take us away from the valuable information we should be paying attention to and […..]
When reviewing our investment results, all may not be as it seems. Is that 7% return, actually 7%? Not if you have left out fees and inflation in your calculations. Two small, but not insignificant considerations that can eat away at […..]
Whether you are a buy and hold investor, or a buy and sell investor you will still be interested in reviewing your stocks. It is not as simple as it first appears.
We will often receive an annual report from our stock broker or online provider of how your stocks have done that year. 5%, 9%, 2%, -5% and so on. So, if our stocks over 10 years have returned 70% in total, that is 7% per annum right? WRONG. […..]
One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute
Markets go up, down and sideways. Why, for how long, and when, is the big mystery. No one knows. It’s easy to say after the fact, but knowing the trigger for market changes beforehand is anyone’s guess. Strategies of trying to time the market are often […..]
If we are picking individual stocks then we must decide whether to pick our own stocks or have an investment manager/adviser pick them on our behalf.
A self-managed portfolio has the benefit of allowing flexibility, in the sense that we get to choose every company we invest in. We also have significant cost savings, due to[…..]
Every investor will get things wrong. Not just once either but frequently. Heck, even full time professional investors consider 60% success rate as very good. This means that there are many professional investors hitting 50% or less. That is just as well as flipping a coin. The key to a good portfolio is […..]
So far in this series we have covered the different terminology used in investing, dispelled some common investing myths, different types of investments, how to approach the sharemarket, how to reduce our exposure to risk, and what impact our own behaviours have on our investments. Now we can discuss the different types of stocks available to invest in […..]
“The Behaviour Gap” is a fantastic book by Carl Richards. The premise is that despite knowing better, people continue to make the same mistakes over and over with their money. It is our emotions that get in the way of […..]
There are some things we can’t control when investing in the sharemarket. We can’t control interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, company bankruptcies, and so on. This is why many stay away from shares. The unknown. This is a shame, because returns from shares over the long term are arguably better than other accessible investments.
How can we reduce the risk of the unknown? […..]
— George J Stigler
Let’s dive straight into it and briefly explain the 5 main asset classes […..]
We can invest in the top 50 companies in NZ or the top 500 US companies with as little as […..]
Today, we start a 14-part series that will aim to educate investors that don’t know where to begin investing their spare cash. For a new investor, it can be intimidating to invest money. A lot of the intimidation comes simply from […..]
2015 started like any other year for me […..]
Over recent years, there has been an explosion (excuse the pun) of internet bloggers retiring early and writing about the world of FIRE. It means Financial Independence Retire Early, or FI for short. The RE part is really optional.
So, what is FI? My interpretation of Financial Independence is […..]
Before we move on, emergency savings is a certain amount of money that is held in a safe, easily accessible place, such as a bank account, to be used in an emergency.
An emergency is something that is truly unpredictable such as […..]
The word ‘budget’ has many negative connotations. It is one of those words that make us squirm. It brings feelings of living cheaply and not getting to enjoy life. It’s no wonder budgeting is one of life’s least enjoyable tasks.
If I offer you one million dollars cash now or 1 cent that doubles in value every day for a month, which would you choose and why?
When choosing between more than one debt, there are two common schools of thought on repaying debt. One school is adamant that the best method is to pay down the highest interest debt first – called the debt avalanche. The other school is adamant that paying the smallest debt is best – this is called the debt snowball.