I went out to a baseball game last night and had a great conversation about all the things I'd recommend to become Financially Independent. Because I didn't want to ruin a fun night out for everyone, I kept my answer simple: Just follow the Three Rules.
1) Earn money 2) Spend less than you earn 3) Invest the rest It really is this simple. But that doesn't make it easy. We'll get into the how as we go, but, at the highest level, this is what we'll come back to. So, just to be sure, all you really need to remember about personal finance are these three rules: 1) Earn money 2) Spend less than you earn 3) Invest the rest Don't forget! Until next time, -MMM
0 Comments
Today it begins. I decided to go public. Not with my company or anything, but with the blog. All the stuff I've been yammering about for years. Everything I've learned in the last ten years. All the details. I'm putting it all out there.
For ten years I've kept track of my finances - my income, expenses, assets, debt. I've defined my goals and put together plans to achieve them, and have done a lot of research each time I had to make a financial decision. I've earned millions of hotel and airline points, paid minimal fees on interest or investments, and benefitted tremendously from compound interest (even after just a decade!). I track everything in an excel spreadsheet <yawn> but I know where every penny went! This is good stuff. I keep a dashboard of some cool charts and visuals I like to check every few days. So who cares? Well, you might. If I can get you even 1% as excited about your finances as I am about mine, I'll have accomplished something great and you'll thank me someday. So how did I get here? My journey really started when I realized we all have a choice: we can either work for money for the rest of our lives, or figure out how to get money to work for us. And besides, empire building is fun. I especially get a kick out of getting a good deal. I'm not into clipping coupons or passing up a hot coffee on a cold day to save money, but I do enjoy finding a good happy hour special or saving on a flight by being flexible with my travel dates. Every dollar counts. Before I really get going with this blog, though, what do you want me to write about? Are you interested in knowing what I spent on Saturday? Or the big picture stuff like what goals I'm working toward? Do you want to know why I still haven't bought the Harley I've been eyeing up for over a year, or would you rather talk about asset allocation? Any feedback is welcome, and now you can publish comments below. Anyway, I'm looking forward to sharing all kinds of stuff here - ways I've managed to save money, how compound interest works, what you should look for in a credit card, things to consider when buying real estate, why asset allocation is the key to successful investing, and so on. I'm psyched to start these conversations and look forward to your feedback! -MMM |