Articles
How to Fail
Why would I title a blog about building wealth, “how to fail”? Because part of a viable success strategy means figuring out how we could screw it up – and eliminating failure as a possible outcome. While it may seem there are endless ways to fail, the good news is...
Wall Street’s Advice: Diversify your Risk. Hogwash!
Stock markets are at all-time highs - even as the economy remains stuck in neutral. That has even the Wall Streeters nervous - and they’re preaching “diversification” to their clients. But diversification will do little to protect an investor from an overall market...
The Great Home Equity Debate – Part II
In our last article Jack and Jill each had $100,000 of cash - and bought identical homes next door to one another. Jack paid cash for his, while Jill invested her cash and took out a mortgage to buy her home. Both homes appreciated to $110,000 one year later, so both...
Home Equity Generates a Return on Investment of Precisely Zero
Let’s solve one of the great financial debates of all time. Does home equity generate a return on investment? Jack and Jill both have $100,000 of cash - and both decide to buy identical houses next door to one another - each priced at $100,000. Jack uses his...
Your Bank May be a Dangerous Place to Store your Money
If you’re old enough to remember the Great Depression - or “It’s a Wonderful Life,” then you know that banks haven’t always been the safest place to keep money. In fact, FDIC insurance came into existence after massive bank failures during the Great Depression....
Eighteen Ways to Get Tax Free Income
People are so concerned about taxes, that Forbes writer William Baldwin has penned a few articles on the subject. One of his latest is titled, “Eighteen Ways to Get Tax-Free Income.” Let me save you the trouble – here are his 18 ideas in bullet point fashion – more...
The New 401k “Tax” Nobody Will Tell you About
Joe and Mary were looking forward to a life of travel and golf. They’d retire with $40,000 in tax-free Social Security benefits, and supplement it with $55,000 they planned to draw from their former 401k’s – now IRAs. Sure there’d be $10,000 in taxes on the IRA...
Five Things You Don’t Know about 529 Plans that can Hurt You and Junior
Parents and grandparents often want to do something to help Junior build a college account and the 529 Plan can seem the natural choice. After all, how can you beat tax-deferred growth - and penalty-free access for college expenses? Not so fast. Here are five...
Buckle Up – the Last half of 2013 Could be in for Some Turbulence
Equity markets have pulled back 8% from their mid-May highs based on Fed Chairman Bernanke’s hint that an end to our near zero-interest-rate climate may be at hand. But the worst may be yet to come. Employers are starting to get serious about how they’re going to...
The New 401k “Tax” Nobody Will Tell you About
Joe and Mary were looking forward to a life of travel and golf. They’d retire with $40,000 in tax-free Social Security benefits, and supplement it with $55,000 they planned to draw from their former 401k’s – now IRAs. Sure there’d be $10,000 in taxes on the IRA...
Eighteen Ways to Get Tax Free Income
People are so concerned about taxes, that Forbes writer William Baldwin has penned a few articles on the subject. One of his latest is titled, “Eighteen Ways to Get Tax-Free Income.” Let me save you the trouble – here are his 18 ideas in bullet point fashion – more...
Tomatoes and Wealth-Building – Huh?
All winter, we’ve been buying tomatoes. Now that Spring is finally here, we’re growing our own. I bought a pack of seeds in January for $.65, plus $.04 in sales tax. According to the package, I’ll get about 100 pounds of tomatoes this summer. The same 100 pounds of...
How Much of Your Money Do I have Your Permission to Lose?
Let me ask you three questions I consider to be of monumental importance to wealth-builders: Do you pay a professional advisor to help you invest your money? Have you ever lost money in an investment? Did you give your advisor permission to lose your money? We never...
Would You Pay Your Investment Advisor $1,000,000?
It sounds like a silly question – but the shocking truth is that hundreds of thousands of people will do just that over their lifetime. Could you be among them? Consider this – an investor who saves just $1,000/month from age 25 to 70 – stops - then draws income for...
First, Lose No Money
Our last blog talked about the three failure traps. We crossed two of them off the list – leaving us with just failure trap number two to figure out – how to avoid putting our money into things that can – and often do – lose value.
Avoiding Failure Trap No. 2 is so critical, my number one rule of wealth-building is First, Lose No Money.
Why your 401K is absolutely, positively – the most expensive way to invest!
The Federal Government has weighed in on the debate over investing fees and commission related to tax qualified plans like IRAs, 401ks, Keoghs, SEPs and others. In 2012, new disclosure rules were designed so you can see just how much you pay to use these plans. But...
What’s the big deal – Everybody makes a bad investment now and then?
People think of investing like a batting average – “As long as I get more hits than strike outs, I’m winning.” But in investing – those strikeouts (investing losses) are far more costly than most of us understand. Let’s go back to 9th grade math. When we start with...
What We can Learn from Warren Buffett
Warren Buffet is the greatest investor of our time – perhaps in history. Not coincidentally – Buffett’s first rule of investing is the same one I lifted up in my last blog – “First, Lose No Money.” In fact, it’s so critical – that Buffett’s second rule of investing is, “Refer to Rule Number One.”
Of Hot Air Balloons and Sandbags…
Watching a hot air balloon fill and take off is a breath-taking experience. It’s not until you’re up close, that you realize just how big those things really are.
Before liftoff, you’ll notice sandbags hanging from the sides. Those keep the balloon grounded – and unless they’re cut loose – the balloon will not ascend.
How to Fail
Why would I title a blog about building wealth, “how to fail?” Because part of a viable success strategy means figuring out how we could screw it up – and eliminating failure as a possible outcome. While it may seem there are endless ways to fail, the good news is...
So You Want to be a Millionaire
Who doesn’t? Everybody dreams of fine things and a comfortable retirement. It just takes money. But building wealth today – and far into the foreseeable future, will require a different skill set, and different strategies than those that served our parents over the...
