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How to Build Wealth, Part 3
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Own Things That Produce Cash Flow or Appreciate in Value
Once you’ve learned to spend less than you earn (or earn more than you spend) you should start to see money piling up in your bank account. But this isn’t the end - that money is sitting there doing nothing! Your money is like a little army of dollars and you are the general. It’s up to you to deploy it properly, so that it starts earning more wealth for you. Lazy money that relaxes in a checking account earning 0.0001% interest doesn’t build wealth. You need to use it to own things that make money.
How to Build Wealth, Part 2
Thursday, April 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Spend Less Than You Earn
Many personal finance writers like the mantra of “spend less than you earn”, but more than a few wish it could be reversed into “earn more than you spend”. They argue that by adopting a scarcity mentality you will spend your energy being a baggie-washing frugalist and never truly achieve wealth. › Continue reading
How to Build Wealth, Part 1
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments
The rules of building wealth don’t change. They’re the same now as they’ve been for centuries. It really boils down to two principles: › Continue reading
6 Bubbles
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Apparently I need to check my comments and email more often. If you get the chance, check out 6Bubbles - another promising blog. The title references the six bubbles that built America (hint: one of them was the recent real estate bubble)
The Fear Response
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Can you imagine what Batman would’ve been like if his butler Alfred had been a chronic worrier? Every time he’d try to go out and fight crime he’d have someone behind him going “oooooh, what if you get hurt?” or “maybe you’d better let the police get the Joker this time.” It would’ve been a real drag on Batman’s dreams. The same thing applies in personal finance (and life in general) - you need to have good, positive people on your side.
How to Save Money
Saturday, February 28th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
When it comes to saving money there are only a handful of basic principles. Once you learn them, you can apply them to any category in your life (such as cars, kids, pets, utilities, rent) and see new ways to save money.
How I Won $100 For Nothing
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
When I was in high school, there was a pamphlet distributed to my entire class detailing a scholarship offered by a local community center. The only requirement was to make a website promoting ethnic diversity. This contest was open to any high school student from the county, so this was advertised to literally thousands of students. Naturally, my best friend and I pounced on this opportunity. We quickly filled out the application form (which only required our names and addresses - you could submit a link to your final product later) and got to work. We spent a few hours dreaming up lofty ideas for our website - should it be serious? Or funny? How were we going to show diversity?
I Could Die Tomorrow
Friday, February 6th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Whenever I read personal finance articles online and the topic is saving money for the future, there is always one grasshopper among the commenters who berates us for wanting to save, saying something along the lines of “I could die tomorrow! Why not live life to the fullest now?”. Usually we personal finance types dismiss the call of carpe diem with a dose of realism: you probably won’t die tomorrow and if you spend all of your money now you will likely be SOL when you turn 60 with no savings. But what’s the truth? How likely is it that you’ll die? I looked into this using the 2004 actuarial tables from www.ssa.gov and the results were surprising.
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Whatever Happened to Hustle?
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Given the current state of the economy, I assumed that companies would be eager to make a sale or gain a new customer. But last week my girlfriend and I tried ordering a pizza and we were turned down by 3 places before we finally found a place willing to deliver. What kind of a pizza place doesn’t want to make a sale?
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How to Shine on a “STAR” Job Interview
Friday, January 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
If you’ve been looking for a job, you’ve no doubt sent out pallets of resumes but only gotten back a few phone calls and maybe an interview or two. It’s a tough environment for job seekers right now and employers are capitalizing on that by hiring only the best and brightest candidates. One tool used to evaluate applicants either on the phone or in person is called the STAR interview method and today I’m going to teach you how to ace this type of interview.