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Debt can be a useful tool and it can also destroy you, and going from useful to destructive is much easier than we like to admit. Cash can be a source of freedom and it can also be a crutch, and there’s not a brightly lit sign anywhere telling you where the the line is.
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Charlie Munger died yesterday, just a few days shy of 100 years old. His life was full of the sort of wisdom and common sense that so often seems to evade Wall Street Types™ and those who blindly follow them, and I’m grateful much of that wisdom and common sense was so quotable that we
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It’s Giving Tuesday. To quote Kevin Kelly: “When you give away 10% of your income, you lose 10% of your purchasing power, which is minor compared to the 110% increase in happiness you will gain.” A few notes about giving: Giving won’t erase your debt, and it won’t magically lead to “blessing” in the form
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Somewhere in the chasm between apathy and obsession there is simply “paying attention.” This is where you want to be when it comes to your money. You can call it budgeting, or you can make up your own word and call it that, but whatever you do, just pay attention. At various points in your
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There is a certain brand of financial media that would like to convince you that a $4 coffee from Starbucks is all that’s standing between you and financial freedom. If only you had the discipline–so the line of thinking goes–to stop that habit, and instead invest that money at unreasonably assumed returns, then bam! You’d
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My kids get these magazines with puzzles and interesting nature facts in them, and sometimes the puzzles involve looking at a picture and circling the things that don’t belong. You can play a similar game with the following picture: That comes from a Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Pay Raise People Say They Need
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The cost of chaos is much higher than what shows up in your personal income statement. Put another way, a reduction in income which in turn reduces chaos may be one of the best decisions you ever make. Clearing calendars, eliminating some moving pieces, creating a margin in time you can use to cultivate relationships,
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“Hidden Demon Uncovered in 18th-Century Painting” is the title of an article in the Wall Street Journal this week. And I suppose a healthy part of our lives out to be the regular restoration of ourselves, so to speak, so we can uncover our own demons while we are still able to address them head-on.
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Assuming you are starting from scratch and don’t have the pile of cash already sitting around, is it better to: Some more questions: The most important questions:
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Oreo eaters are making a big fuss about the possibly shrinking–or at least highly variable–amount of creme between the chocolate cookies, and I have to say, I agree with them. Not only are they right in their diagnosis, but they’re also right to make a fuss about it. Small rituals are important. The morning breakfast
Meaningful Returns 