Friday, January 29, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 29, 2016: Debt = Interest Expense


Adding to your credit card balance unnecessarily creates an interest expense burden that people shouldn’t need to shoulder. In fact, debt should be avoided altogether if possible.

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Thursday, January 28, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 28, 2016: Stock Market Investing is Like Taking Ownership of Businesses


Long-term investors need to think like business owners. After all, you become part owner of a business when you buy shares of a business.


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 27, 2016: Wanting the Moon


People who buy everything that their neighbors have could end up broke quick.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 26, 2016: The Cookie Jar

Always save something, if nothing else put $5 per week in a cookie jar or some other container.

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Monday, January 25, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 25, 2016: Living Paycheck to Paycheck Creates Stress


Living from paycheck to paycheck can be aggravating. For instance, wondering whether or not you have enough gas to get to work before you get paid can really add strife in your life.


Friday, January 22, 2016

Bad Habits Week Day 4: Snuff


Let’s say you use a 5 can roll of snuff a week. This roll costs $16. This equates to $832 per year. At the oft quoted 10% compound annual growth rate for the stock market this equates to $37,655.70 over the course of a 40 year career span. At a 15% compound annual growth rate this amount goes to $222,862.47. You could conceivably have these amounts in 40 years if you give this up for one year.


Thursday, January 21, 2016

Bad Habits Week Day 3: Fast Food Soda

Another habit that I sometimes partake in is ordering soda at fast food restaurants. This is bad in two ways. First, it’s cheaper to go to the drive thru and then buy soda at the grocery store. Second, it’s bad for your physical as well as your financial health.

Let’s say you eat out twice a day. Fast food soda can cost $1.79 for a medium size cup. That equals $3.58 per day. Multiply that by 365 day and you get $1,306.70. Assuming a 10% per annum return over the course of a 40 year career span which is the oft quoted historical return of the stock market as a whole, you would have $59,140.27.  That figure balloons to $350,017.30 assuming a 15% compound annual growth rate. Remember that is if you give up fast food sodas and sodas in general as well as paying for bottled water for only 1 year.


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Bad Habits Week Day 2: Soda or “Pop”

Another bad habit that can add up over the course of time is being a regular drinker of carbonated sodas or “pop” as it’s known in the area of my upbringing.  This is one bad habit I am guilty of myself. A 12 pack of 12 Oz Coca-Cola can run around $5.

If you drink two of these of week it comes to $10 per week. This adds up to $520 per year. At 10% per annum, which is the oft quoted historical compounded annual growth rate of the stock market this equates to $23,534.81 over a 40 year career span. A good stock picker may get 15%, which compounds that single $520 amount to $139,289.04 over the same amount of time. Time compounds any unnecessary expenditure.


Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Bad Habits Week Day 1: Cigarettes

Cigarettes can really add up over time. Let’s assume that it costs roughly $5.00 per pack per day. It would cost $1,825 per year if someone smoked 1 pack a day. Giving up that habit for one year could turn into $82,598.14 over the course of a 40 year career span. This assumes if you invest that amount in an index fund that gets the historical stock market rate of 10% compounded annually. At 15% it goes to nearly half a million dollars. At 22% it goes to $5.1 million! Just double and triple these amounts when smoking 2 and 3 packs per day (table below).


Based on data for West Virginia from International Business Times

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Friday, January 15, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 15, 2016: Bad Habits Add Up


Bad habits can add up over the course of a life time. Stay tuned for bad habits week next week as I do future value calculations on some common bad habits.


Thursday, January 14, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 14, 2016: The Importance of Work


In order to save and invest, you first have to work. You have to work to make enough to pay your bills and then have enough left over for saving and investing.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 13, 2016: Stock Market Investing and Fear Don’t Mix


Fear is not a good thing when dealing with stocks. It causes investors to sell their ownership of fundamentally viable businesses. Always do your research and hold onto excellent publicly traded businesses for the long-term.


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 12, 2016: The “10% Method”


One good strategy to save is to utilize the 10% method. When you get paid, automatically set aside 10% of your paycheck and put it in a savings account.

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Monday, January 11, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 11, 2016: Fundamentals Rule in Investing


Remember that when you buy shares of company you are a part owner of a business. Over the long-term the fundamentals such as revenue, net income and free cash flow of a business largely dictates the stock price of your shares.

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Friday, January 8, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 8, 2016: Always Have Labels on Your Money


Always understand that every dollar has a purpose. Always allocate your income and assets. You can do this by budgeting or doing personal financial statements.

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Thursday, January 7, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 7, 2016: Know Where Your Money is Going


If you know how much money is going out then you can take steps to figure out how to save.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 6, 2016: Spend Less Than You Earn


Figure out ways to spend frugally. In order to have savings you need to spend less than you earn.

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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 5, 2016: Approach Your Personal Finances with a Level Head


Always approach financial decisions with a level head, if you pursue a financial goal aggressively with get rich quick schemes you could get burned badly. Always do your due diligence before making a savings or investing decision.

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Monday, January 4, 2016

Financial Thought of the Day January 4, 2016: Long-Term Investors Should Take Advantage of Falling Prices


Remember long-term minded investors should take advantage of lower prices and buy good fundamentally sound publicly traded businesses on the cheap.