Much of the time, investors are rational and the stock market is understandable and makes intuitive sense, But when fear or greed takes hold of the steering wheel, anything can happen.
Proper financial planning does not require additional work. It requires timelier work.
We all have varying levels of human capital, and our mindset determines how we use and enhance that capital.
You can’t change your mistake. That ship has sailed. But you can resolve to never do it again.
Self-sufficiency can turn instability into stability by leveraging an abundance of time to save money.
In economics, there are only three ways to produce income—land, labor and capital. If you want to stop laboring [retire, reach financial independence, whatever], you need to acquire the other two.
If you’re going to sacrifice your current retirement plan to save your business, you’d better make sure your business is your retirement plan.
Passively “managed” products can be fine, as long as they are just following prices in whatever market they are tracking. However, if they become big enough that they become the market and are the one setting prices, it’s dangerous.
The reality is, a financial crisis was destined to strike your household at some point.
Tricksters abound in times of crisis. They are opportunistic and clever. As the COVID-19 outbreak advances, so do their efforts.
When a complex issue seems so overwhelming that a person becomes paralyzed with inaction, it becomes important to delineate and solve your challenges independently.
Whenever uncertainty abounds, such as the present, the brain seeks to find some semblance of control—even if it is just an illusion of control.
I’m not giving up on you or anyone else. Why? Because of the thousands of people who’ve rebuilt their financial lives right in front of my eyes over the last two decades.
At some point, the uncertainty will be resolved. The fear will be tougher to dampen.
When times get tough, and some jobs get eliminated, it’s the people who have cash to pay the bills, as opposed to liquidating depleted retirement accounts, who will come out on the other side unscathed.
Nobody knows how long and far the coronavirus outbreak will go or how it will end. In a global economy, near-term cash flows will be hurt, but cash flows going out 10 or 20 years will not be.
There’s a giant difference between the two, and knowing the difference can save your financial life. Patience is strategic, if not pragmatic, while waiting is a gamble.
The challenge is to create a spending strategy that allows individuals to optimize spending over an uncertain time frame without depleting a portfolio.
Unless you have an ungodly amount of money, you need to define exactly what it means to “pay for their education.” That’s a much bigger and broader promise than most people know.
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, found returns for the S&P 500 were positive (some strongly so) at 30, 60 and 90 days after the first U.S. case for the prior five viral outbreaks.
