Blog
Investing
4

Have No Fear, Market Crashes Will Always Be Here!

While I don’t believe that a bear market is coming, one big lesson from the last two recessions is that it can’t hurt to be prepared. Crashes will always come and go. Whether it’s six months or six years from now, nobody knows. The prospect of me becoming a thousandaire …

Read More
When the lender is a slave to the borrower
Credit
10

When the Lender is a Slave to the Borrower

You’ve probably heard Dave Ramsey say this many times before, “The borrower is a slave to the lender.” The quote was taken from the scriptures. That’s exactly what I had in mind when I decided to lend my sister $14,000 last summer. Finally, I can ‘enslave’ my annoying sister, who …

Read More
Investing
3

Thoughts About Bitcoin

I’ve recently started a Facebook group for this blog where members are encouraged to ask any question about money. Out of the blue, one member asked about Bitcoin. In an effort not to monopolize the forum, I waited several hours. But nobody was keen on answering the question. I eventually ended up …

Read More
Speculation
2

Aw, Snap! (I should not have bought the stock)

Buy what you know, and stick to companies with good long-term prospects and quality management– are three well-known rules that the famous investor, Warren Buffett, follow when buying stocks. None of these rules I followed when I bought 200 shares of SNAP when it went public last week. The purchase was done …

Read More
Relationships

Your Spouse Will Have the Greatest Impact to your Financial Well-Being

With Valentine’s Day just a couple of days away, I’m feeling the pressure to come up with something really special for my wife. Traditionally, it would be fresh flowers— a bouquet of red roses to be specific. In the past, I hated buying flowers. I’ve always thought of it as …

Read More
My wife posing at the Jersey shore.
Investing
1

The Real Cost of Buying that 65″ TV

Earlier this morning, I sold a mutual fund that I held for 15 long years– Laudus International MarketMasters Fund™ (ticker symbol SWOIX). As the name suggests, the fund invests in shares of companies outside the United States. It falls under Morningstar’s “Foreign Large Growth” category because the fund manager’s focus is …

Read More
Financial Planning

Your Household Needs a Year-End Report

Along with rebalancing my portfolio, the other thing that I do with my finances before the year ends is updating my household’s end-of-year spreadsheet. It doesn’t have to be overly complex. Mine is very simple and can be done by anyone who is Excel savvy. I’ve been updating the Excel document …

Read More
Rented lamborghini
Insurance

Drive Carefully. Don’t Skimp on Insurance.

One of the aspects of wealth building is being able to protect what you have accumulated. Even if you are extremely frugal with no debt, wealth that you have worked so hard for your entire life can be lost in various ways, among them: A natural disaster Medical emergency Ugly …

Read More
S&P 500 vs DOW
About me
3

I’m Officially a Millionaire After Trump’s Win

I finally reached the millionth milestone after Republican Donald Trump’s win. This is unexpected because I was expecting a market crash. It’s a testament that one should never time the market. Just a week ago, I jokingly suggested to my coworkers to move all their investments to cash, wait for …

Read More
Lifestyle

When Buying a Hybrid Car Make Sense

I’ve recently received an email from the Toyota dealer where I bought my Prius from. The email states that it’s due for its 80,000-mile scheduled maintenance. I replaced my Honda Civic with a Toyota Prius C in 2012 hoping to save a ton of money because I have a long commute. My eldest …

Read More