Category: Personal Finance
Cheap Stock Trades
October 7, 2014
You can use various brokerage firms for your investing, so I decide to have a look at the cost of trading with these to find the cheapest. They all can be fairly competitive for various reasons, but my thinking was which ones are the cheapest for buying stocks, and hence useful for a new/small investor just beginning his portfolio but wanting full control over his/her trading. The three I found were Continue Reading
Free Stock Trades – LOYAL3
October 1, 2014
In a previous post I wrote about using Betterment to get into investing in an automated way without having to pay for trades with the ETFs that they invest in. Well, what happens if you want to invest in certain stocks for various reasons, such as the ones you like have great dividends or that you see tremendous value or potential for growth? Well, I have found one place that allows you to buy and sell a select group of shares for free, which is pretty fantastic. This investing site is Continue Reading
Want To Be a Millionaire?
September 26, 2014
Your financial goal could be to become a millionaire, so can you go about this? Well, as I mention in an earlier article a great way to get there is to really ramp up your savings, cutting down on wasting your income. Let’s run some numbers to motivate you to get to this millionaire status. Continue Reading
Betterment – Avoid the Stock Transaction Fees
September 20, 2014
I have recently discovered an investment site, which looks pretty interesting especially for beginners in terms of its ease of use and simplicity. The site is Betterment, which is an investment broker and registered investment adviser, and which has a half a million dollar SIPC insurance guarantee on the balance of each individual’s account, in case of fraud or closure. What looks particularly interesting is that if you use Betterment, Continue Reading
1 Years Salary Spent on the Wedding?
August 20, 2014
I just read an interesting article on Fox business news describing that the 2013 Real Weddings Study revealed that the average US wedding costs are close to $30,000. Wow that is a fair chunk of change, considering the average household income is in the low $50,000 range. As may be expected, there is quite a range of costs between the states, and it looks like if you want to spend the least the best state is Continue Reading
Financial Freedom Killers
July 4, 2014
Here is a list of the ways you can rapidly destroy your financial well-being, and so should be avoided!
No. 1. Not paying for insurance. Make sure that you have your basic insurances covered, including medical, life, auto and home. Not covering can open you up to loosing your home, car, etc, so don’t take the chance.
No. 2. Buying too much car. This was my major lesson in finances Continue Reading
Statistic Brain – Look at the Stats to Get Motivated
July 1, 2014
This post is probably most exciting for the scientists, engineers and mathematicians among us. I found this cool site cool Statistic Brain, which gives the stats on many interesting things, including financials, entertainment, education, food, health crime, and demographics.
Clearly, being a blogger about frugality and how to gain your financial freedom I went straight to the financials. (Although other pages such as food or health had some important stats about the US and the world, and reading these certainly makes me want to do even more exercise and give more to charity, be it time or money). Continue Reading
Never Retiring?
June 15, 2014
I just read an article on MarketWatch about never retiring. Before we get into the idea of never retiring, there were some troubling statistics in the article that I would like to highlight. Fidelity (the retirement/investment brokerage firm) is quoted as saying that merely one-third of americans that are working are going to be able to pay 95% plus of their expenses in retirement. Even more scary is that an additional 12% will be able to cover just their essential expenses, leaving 55% likely to have difficulty in covering these. We are talking about not being able to pay for food, healthcare, housing, all of which sound pretty important to me. Continue Reading
Why Are You Not Rich?
April 24, 2014
Are you financially free or even rich? If not, what’s stopping you?
Well, perhaps the main reason is that you may be living like you are rich already, and so hopefully, reading this blog will improve your financial savvy. The following is a list of major traps that can confine you to many years as a financial slave in the rat race, so avoid or escape these as soon as you can: Continue Reading
Living Paycheck to Paycheck
March 1, 2014
I just read a post from an expert financial blogger, G.E. Miller of 20somethingfinance. He discusses the recent results from a nationwide based study where the FINRA Investor Education Foundation states that only 41 % of americans who responded to this report are spending less than they earn! (seriously?). Just over a third (36%) spend their income, and 19% are spending more than their income! Continue Reading