With the stock market down you’d think it would be the perfect time to invest in the stock market but many companies are cutting their 401k match, changing plan options to save money and in some instances, eliminating the hassle altogether.   Many people are also taking pay cuts so in order to make up the…
Category: Slow Wealth
Some Friends Are Abandoning The Stock Market
I had lunch with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while and we started talking about investments and the market. It seems my buddy has had enough of the stock market and essentially cashed out and bought some rental properties with his stock market money. I asked him why he did what he…
The Deed Is Done
The 401k deed is done. After some number crunching I’ve decided to lower my 401k contributions from max of $16,500 for 2009 to 6% with a 6% match for the 2009 year which will be ~20k for 2009.  I also decided to push all new contributions and matching funds into money market and a bond…
Creating Your Own Personal Finance Hedges
There are many approaches to saving, investing and cash flow operations on a personal level that I’ve read over the years. Most center on tight budgets, frugality and self-deprecation but I prefer to focus on capital investment and hedging. In hedging, I often calculate and create investments to offset anticipated expenses to realize a net…
It Takes Leverage To Get Rich
It occurred to me that one of the key corner stones of my wealth could be attributed to one thing: leverage. I know what you’re thinking, “oh great, leveraging is very risky, I don’t have that tolerance” but that’s where you would be wrong. I have actually leveraged many things to achieve the wealth I…
Why Not Double Down on Index Funds?
I just read a mind blowing article and I’m writing this post about it which won’t show up till Friday. I’ll have time to digest the material over the next two days to make sure I want to continue with this post but here the link to the original article. The premise of the article…
How Increased Wealth Has Transformed My Life
I received a message about all the high priced items I’ve been purchasing recently and its given me pause to reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m at now. A little less than twenty years ago, I was a struggling student trying to get by in life at $4.20/hour. I ended up working my…
Investment Research 101
Every investment activity starts with an idea.  I’m going to walk you through how I pick up investment ideas on any given day. I’ll run through this in a hypothetical scenario but it will apply just the same. Hypothetical: You work for company XYZ which has 700 employees.  You have money vested in your company…
It’s not Spend Less Than You Earn, it’s Make More Than You Spend
I wasn’t completely satisfied with my earlier post today. Something kept bothering me about the whole “spend less than you earn” mantra and I couldn’t put my finger on it until now. As long as inflation exists the cost of everything will always go up, you will ALWAYS need to spend more no matter what…
Save! Save! Save! But don’t forget to increase your income!
I’m always amused by advertisements claiming 50% off or 75% off of a product with a strong proclamation that you will SAVE money! You can easily save 110% by not shopping at all; you get to keep 100% savings of not shopping and you save another 10% in gas, vehicle maintenance, tolls, parking and other…