I have historically been a proponent of buying the “dip.” That is, purchasing stock more often when the market is distressed. I found that some methods of buying the dip provide better returns than the more commonly recommended strategy of, “dollar cost averaging.” However, lump sum investing typically beats both strategies.
Read More
Though numbers don’t lie, people do and if you don’t know how to do basic financial analysis, it’s difficult to make informed financial decisions. In this post I will scrutinize a real proposal for solar power that was given to my mom, to show how marketers pump up the perceived value of their products. I’ll also demonstrate an interesting method to net over $23,000, by switching to solar power..
Read More
I’ve come to terms with the fact that U.S. schools probably won’t be teaching my kids, or your kids, about personal finance. They don’t teach them how to stick up for themselves, how to think critically, or a slew of other important stuff either. With my background, I think I can do a decent job teaching some of that, however, since some parents don’t, or can’t, fill the gap, many kids become disadvantaged in ways that have a life-long, negative impact.
Read More
Being “bad” with money is not usually the result of stupidity, negligence or even bad luck. More often, being bad with money is simply the consequence of having personality traits that are better suited for other things. Studies like this one have demonstrated that some people seem to be born with an affinity for saving money and investing, while others lean towards instant gratification, even over a potentially bigger reward down the road.
Read More
In late 2021, consumer prices rose 6.2% in the United States, compared to the previous twelve months, marking the highest inflation rate in over 30 years. Let’s take a closer look at how that figure breaks down.
Read More
There are some expenses we just can’t avoid, like taxes, health care and funeral costs. Sure you can maximize your tax savings and try to avoid overpaying for health insurance, but generally we must live, and die, with these costs. However, you can control most of your other big-impact expenses and with a little foresight, you can use these budget and investment adjustments to supercharge your net worth.
Read More
There’s a lot of talk, mostly in online personal finance forums, about the benefits of being completely debt-free. Not just somewhat debt-free, 100% debt-free, as in only buying cars with cash-on-hand, not using credit cards and avoiding mortgages. Though I can understand the attraction to being totally debt-free and even once wrote about why you should never borrow or lend money, being completely debt-free is a money mistake that you cannot afford to make.
Read More
One of the best things you can do to build future wealth is to develop multiple income streams now. Mostly, ones that require more time than money to create. Most profitable passive income sources demand a lot of your time, however, starting just one revenue stream today could prove highly profitable down the road. I started Valuist without much of a plan or even a consistent publication schedule. But after writing for a while, opportunities to make money
Read More
Paying off a 30 year home mortgage must feel incredibly liberating. Decades of effort have finally paid off leaving you with a huge increase in cash-flow and sense of accomplishment. And that’s certainly true, especially if you don’t take another loan, but that doesn’t mean you should be paying off your house faster than the amortization schedule.
Read More
The major problem with this proposal is that we’re no longer talking about the mega-wealthy here, this hurts middle class investors who don’t make the majority of their earnings from investments but want access to private equity. The vast majority of Regulation D (private equity, rather than public stock) offerings are made to accredited investors. Further, these investments are typically not highly liquid…
Read More
In my position as a tax compliance specialist in an investment firm, I actually spend a lot of time thinking about the tax implications of investments. So, I wanted to share some of the insights I’ve gleaned over the years and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of some of the most tax efficient investments.
Read More
You have a lot of options to get your stuff from one place to another and from what we found, there is no perfect option. Doing everything yourself is a monumental task but having someone else handle things can become expensive quickly. In the end, we opted for a hybrid moving model, wherein we handled some tasks ourselves and hired out others. A lot of what you will decide will depend on how fast you want to move and what you are personally willing or capable of accomplishing alone.
Read More
Attaining a high income, however you interpret that, can seem very important. Your level of compensation is often a direct reflection of your education, hard work and experience – though
Read More
Buying houses is stressful even at the best of times, but in a super competitive real estate market, just finding a house, any house, to buy can feel overwhelming. The first time we tried to buy a house in the competitive Denver metro area we ended up building one instead.
Read More
if car insurance protects your car, home insurance covers your house and health insurance is for your medical expenses, what does private mortgage insurance (PMI) insure you against? Nothing, actually.
Read More