There are two ways to face down personal financial upheavals: decrease expenditures and increase revenue.
In other words, save money and make money.
As the number of coupon clippers and group sales social networks attest, a lot of people are getting the first lesson. They’re trying hard to save money.
That’s only one part of the equation.
To really take control of your financial picture, you need to save money AND make more money. You also need to set definite goals. (For some, saving money is hard to maintain–it just takes a major purchase or a shopping binge to throw you off your game.)
You might want to consider the ten percent-ten percent solution.
Business Strategy, Internet, Investing, Money, Success
budget, coupons, earning, finance, groupon, income, job, living social, Money, saving, work
It seems like a pretty simple question, but most people I talk to have never even thought about it. People just seem to go to work, come home, crack open a cold one, and watch TV until it is time to go to sleep. I guess people don’t like to think about this question because the answer is “a lot more than I have right now”.
After reading this article on Yahoo, I started thinking about it some more. If people had a concrete number, would that make it easier to achieve? In my personal experience, having a goal accelerated the process in a huge way. Even if when I set the goal it seemed like it would take forever.
I think part of the problem is that people don’t really think about spending money. They just buy what they want, and randomly say, “I can’t afford it” at other times. It seems that at the most important times, like when buying a house or a car, we do spend the money.
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success
budgets, compound interest, dreams, ERE, finance, goals, Money, planning, retirement, strategies, Success
OK.
Make sure there’s no one reading this over your shoulder. Is the coast clear? Cool.
So, here’s the number one most incredible money secret: there are no secrets.
People are continually using The Secret this, or The Secret that to make their information appear occult or specialized. Bloggers are notorious.
Hey, guilty as charged. Here’s my Money Secrets post. And the Financial Secrets of an Abundant Mind.
The thing is, these are open personal financial secrets. There’s nothing secret about handling your money astutely. It goes a little like this.
Save regularly.
Spend smartly.
Invest intelligently.
Those aren’t really what I consider secrets. They’re obvious. They’re the subjects of millions of books, articles, posts, and bull sessions.
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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI
finance, financial, funds, Money, personal finance, secret, secrets
I’m not really a soccer fan.
But I do get caught up in the World Cup. Most of the teams I rooted for are out. Even Ghana.
Initially, I had trouble sitting through the early matches. First, the scores were so low. Then the constant racket of those infernal Vuvuzela horns. It sounded like locust on crack.
Sheesh.
But, you know what? After a few games, I don’t even notice.
I think there’s a lesson. This could help you with the personal finance vuvuzelas: the financial media.
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Automated Trading, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
advice, finance, noise, personal financial, personal financial freedom, soccer, vuvuzela, world cup
Finance can be a pretty complex situation.
Some people are just afraid of numbers. And fractions. And percentages.
There’s help out there, number-phobes.
You can find financial calculators that can tackle all of your challenges–whether it’s finding a great investment, or saving for your honeymoon.
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Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI
calculators, finance, finances, Money, money management, wealth, wealth management
Pic @ Flickr Creative Commons
I’m in with the in crowd, I go where the in crowd goes
I’m in with the in crowd and I know what the in crowd knows
I’m in with the in crowd, I go where the in crowd goesI’m in with the in crowd and I know what the in crowd knows.
–Dobie Gray
We all want to be part of Dobie Gray’s in crowd, don’t we?
It’s a good feeling to be accepted and popular. Being popular improves our self-esteem and sense of value. We also feel we’re right in the decisions we make when the crowd agrees with us.
Does that extend to the stock market? According to a study published last week in the journal Current Biology, the answer is “you betcha.”
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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy
emotions, finance, fundamental, indicators, psychology, science of trading, sentiment, stock market, technical
pic by mckaysavage @Flickr
May you live in interesting times.
–Chinese curse
We do live in interesting times, perhaps the most interesting times in the history of civilization.
That can be good.
And that can be bad.
We seem to be caught up in the eddies of a great transition. These economic, social, and technological forces can toss an individual around. It’s in these interesting times that we are fortunate to have some interesting voices who will help us steer our personal financial ships by offering us advice and issuing us warnings.
In this edition of Weekly Wisdom, we’ll review some of the best posts and articles on personal finance and improvement.
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Accelerating Technology, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
advice, discounts, finance, Investing, investment, Links, Money, personal finance, roundups, saving, wealth
Pic by phaul @ Flickr
Just when you thought it was safe to start spending and investing again, right?
The recent turmoil in Greece has had a bubbling effect throughout the world. The crisis may or may not have been responsible for about a trillion dollar drop in the stock market, but it was definitely responsible for a trillion-dollar bailout.
But, who cares? Those things are not on your personal financial radar map.
Or are they?
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Investing, Money, Online Investing AI
bailout, consumer, finance, greece, greek, interest rates, Investing, Money, predictions, spending, stock market, taxes
Pic by Alan Cleaver at Flickr Creative Commons
Mint.com, Wesabe, Bundle.com and other personal finance technology hubs were the first to recognize the democratizing power of technology in the money management sphere.
Online personal finance tools can unleash a team virtual accountants and analysts in your laptop.
You can now run reports and check graphs on everything from creating a budget to monitoring your spending habits to pinpointing your best investment returns.
Now, banks and credit card companies are growing wise to this tech trend and bolstering their own sites and online banking portals with personal finance technology.
Most customers are wondering, “what took you so long.”
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Accelerating Technology, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy
banks, credit union, finance, Money, money management, personal finance, technology
Pic courtesy s_husson @ Flickr CC
I’ll start off our weekly collection of wise posts with a question: why do we call these “lessons.” Aren’t you learning more? Then, shouldn’t the right word be more-ons… oh, maybe that explains it.
Anyways, I’ve scoured the web this week to find some of the best posts on investing and making money. And some other personal financial topics, too. Please feel free to peruse and click.
Also, I get email after email asking me: why didn’t you include my post? “I’m wise,” they say. “I’m interesting. Validate me.” I just want to tell both of you that I included the posts this week. Sheesh.
If, however, you believe your post was wrongly rejected by my scientifically-powered roundup, please include the link in the comment section.
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Accelerating Technology, Automated Trading, Business Strategy, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, US Economy
blogs, finance, fiscal, Money, posts, roundup, summary, weekly, wisdom
I'm George Ulmer. Matt and I started this blog and launched the Online Investing AI business. Our goal is to develop the technology to allow anyone to retire after working for 10 years.
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
