Net Worth Update: Five Years Later
If you’re one of the smart ones who follow my blog, you’re probably aware I share our household net worth, for the past four or five years, on Labor Day. This tradition has symbolic importance. Never mind if you have a desk job sitting comfortably in front of a computer. …
The Benefits and Perils of DIYing a Basketball Court
If you happen to have a spacious backyard and want to utilize the space to maintain an active lifestyle for you and your, otherwise Xbox-obsessed kid to enjoy, one option is to build a pool. But the maintenance cost has the potential to suck your discretionary income dry. The last …
What Turning 50 Means to Your Finances
If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen a new post in weeks, it’s because I was extremely busy. For starters, I’ve built a mini-basketball court in my backyard, moving 20 tons of gravel using a wheelbarrow in the process. My employer also demanded that we start working in the office, …
Calculating Warren Buffett’s Rate of Return (and what you can learn from it)
In a 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, Warren Buffett stated that if someone invested $10,000 in a stock index fund back in 1942, it would have been worth $51 million. An index fund is a type of mutual fund designed to match the performance of the overall market. For …
Top Careers That Could Make You a Millionaire (and tips on how to maximize ROI)
Here’s a list of top careers where you could sock away a million by the time you retire— many of them don’t even require advanced degrees!
The True Cost of Luxury (or why the Joneses suck)
My wife and I had a small money argument the other day. I opened a newly delivered Amazon box in my name, and it turned out to be a hiking bag she bought and already owns. We’ve been spending many of our weekends and holidays in the Appalachians lately. “Didn’t …
Impact Investing: the Economy is Moving Away From Profit and Toward Purpose
In life, there are two main ways you can achieve financial freedom: you could get rich at all costs and not care about anything else, which could also put you in trouble and make enemies along the way, or you could become a conscious investor with a purpose. The first …
How to Lose Weight and Save a Ton of Money
Would you rather be fat and wealthy with no guarantee of ever becoming fit? Or would you rather have excellent health for the rest of your life with no guarantee of having good fortune? Any smart person would pick the second right away. If you’re guaranteed good health, you’re already a …
Why You Probably Don’t Want to Live in a Mansion
I grew up thinking my family was poor. We lived in the heart of Manila but outside of gated wealthy villages in nearby cities. My parents didn’t buy me toys or new clothes. I only got to wear hand-me-downs because I have eight older siblings. I knew we were better …
How to Protect Yourself from Rising Inflation
Talks about inflation have been the rage across news outlets and social media lately. Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package is freaking out too many stock-market pundits faster than the vaccine rollout. Some are probably on drugs to even suggest it could reach hyperinflation levels. This fearmongering has led people …