Morgan Housel has spent thousands of hours reading about investing. As a former columnist for the Wall Street Journal and The Motley Fool, he’s spent more than a decade reading, interviewing, thinking and writing about how to manage money. And he’s come to a simple conclusion: less is more. Doing nothing is often the best…
This week, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer five questions about investing, retirement, insurance, travel and selling an expensive car. Eliana is 25 and makes $63,000 per year, plus a little extra from freelance work. She holds $95,000 in cash, $67,000 in retirement investments, and no debt. She doesn’t necessarily hold early retirement…
There’s a scene in a classic 1950’s TV show, The Jack Benny Program, in which a mugger points a gun at the title character. “Your money or your life,” the mugger says. Jack Benny is silent. “I said, your money or your life!” the mugger repeats. “I’m thinking it over!,” Jack replies. The scene is…
In the 1970’s, a woman named Vicki Robin teamed up with a man named Joe Dominguez. They came from different backgrounds: she was an Ivy League graduate with a comfortable upbringing; he was raised in Spanish Harlem on “welfare cheese.” But they shared one common thread: a commitment to financial independence, not just as a…
“My dreams feel impossible. Everything is so far away. Five more years until I pay off the car. Twelve more years until I pay off the house. Do I have to wait until I’m 50+ to enjoy life?” ______ Let’s say you have a goal that’s audacious and unconventional. You want to create $45,000 per…
Tony lives in Chicago, where the returns on rental properties are so-so. He’s thinking about investing in Indianapolis, where he consistently finds rental properties with cap rates that are greater than 8 percent. Should he invest locally, so that he can get a primary residence mortgage and keep a closer eye on the space? Or…
Once upon a time, in southern California in 1994, there lived a man named William Bengen.⠀ His friends called him Bill. Bill was born in Brooklyn, and he studied aeronautics at MIT. He wrote a big paper on advanced model rocketry. Then he became an executive at a soft drink company. Finally, 17 years later,…
After Liz Thames graduated from college, she couldn’t find a job. “Nowhere would hire me,” Thames says. “I had what I thought was this nice resume, and I sent out over 50 applications. Nowhere called me back.” She took a temporary job at a document-scanning agency, then joined Americorps to serve as a full-time volunteer…
Roger Whitney, age 51, calls himself The Retirement Answer Man. As a financial planner, investment analyst and podcast host, he focuses on helping Baby Boomers craft a traditional (past-age-60) retirement. Today, he joins me to answer two questions that come in from our community. Our first question is from Emily, who says: “I’m trying to…
A few years ago, my friend J.D. Roth told me a story that’s stuck in my mind ever since. ⠀ ⠀ During his 20’s and early 30’s, J.D. was broke and in credit card debt. But in his mid-30’s, he started a business, and within three years, he sold it for a significant sum. He…