Struggling with money anxiety and finding balance

On Saturday evening, I had a chance to chat with my friends Wally and Jodie. You might remember them from a reader case study from last August. They're the couple that wants to get their finances in order but they're worried because they're starting with less than zero.

When we chatted in August, Wally and Jodie had over $35,000 in debt. They had variable incomes, but somehow seemed to spend exactly what they earned — about $3000 per month after taxes. Worst of all, they were behind on some payments.

Now, eight months later, their situation has improved.

Over smoked German sausage and beer, Wally and Jodie told me about their progress. (My dog, Tahlequah, was eager to take part in the conversation. Or maybe it was the sausage she wanted?)

Taking Baby Steps

“Based on your advice, we've worked hard to increase our incomes,” Jodie told me. “We've both been picking up extra shifts whenever possible. And I started a second job that pays pretty well.”

“So, you've been able to get a gap between your income and your spending?” I asked.

“You bet,” said Wally. “By working more, we don't have time to spend much money. In August, we didn't have any gap between our earning and spending. Our gap was zero. Now our gap is almost $2000! And we've been using the debt snowball method to get out of debt. We've already paid off a bunch of smaller stuff and now have $438 extra per month for debt payoffs. Plus, we have an emergency fund.”

“This all sounds amazing,” I said. “Great work!”

“It is amazing,” Wally said. “This is the best shape I've ever been in financially. But we're struggling to figure out what to do next.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well,” said Jodie. “We're getting married in September. We don't know how much to budget for that. Meanwhile, we still have a lot of debt. We owe about $10,000 on Wally's car. We had to replace my Mini Cooper last winter, and that brought us another $10,000 of debt. Plus, I still owe on my school loans.”

I did some mental math. While the couple's cash flow has improved, I was a little nervous that they hadn't actually decreased their debt since the last time we talked about money. That said, I know Jodie's old car had been a thorn in their side. And they have paid down nearly $10,000 in miscellaneous debts.

“The real issue is that we can't seem to find balance,” Wally said. “We're burned out. We've been working so much that we never have time for ourselves. Or each other. It's affecting our moods and our attitudes.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That's tough.”

Wally nodded. “Now I have a friend who wants us to fly out to his wedding,” he said. “We've done the math, and we can't afford it. He's offered to pay for the trip, but we don't know how we feel about that. We want to go, but even if we do accept his help, it'll cost us a few hundred bucks — plus whatever income we lose while we're gone.”

“What should we do?” Jodie asked. “We thought saving more would reduce the stress, but we're just as anxious as ever. Well, maybe not anxious in the same way, I guess, but still. We're worried about money — even with a $2000 gap each month.”

“Trust me,” I said. “The money worry never goes away. Everybody has money anxiety, no matter how much they earn, no matter how much they have saved.”

Worrying About Money

“Do you worry about money?” Wally asked.

“Yes, of course,” I said. “I'm basically financially independent, but I still have money anxiety. In fact, I'm so worried about it that this year I'm tracking every penny I earn and spend. And, just like you, there always seems to be something that comes up for me to spend on. There's my heart-attack scare, which now looks like it'll cost me $7500. I just paid a huge tax bill. And there's all of this travel I've committed to this year. It's always something.”

“Should we fly to my friend's wedding?” Wally asked. “I haven't seen him in a long time. I can tell it's important to him for us to be there.”

“That's a tough call,” I said. “And it's an example of how personal finance isn't just about the numbers. There are relationships and emotions to consider too.”

“From a financial perspective, I don't think you should go. But it'd be hypocritical of me to tell you that. My cousin Duane is still fighting cancer, but he wants to make another trip to Europe next month. At first, I was reluctant to join him. Like I said, I'm trying to cut expenses this year because I feel like I'm spending too much. But you know what? I'm going. So, you see, my advice and my actions are at odds here.”

I didn't know how to tell Wally and Jodie, but my biggest concern with their situation is that it seems like they're getting ready to stop the race when they've barely begun. They're not out of debt yet. They've made some excellent progress, but there's still a long way to go.

They've spent eight months on this project. From the looks of it, they have another eighteen months to go — but that's if they use the gap they've created to accelerate their debt payments. If they don't choose this route, it's going to take them even longer.

At the same time, I get where they're coming from about feeling cramped. Sure, there's a finite amount of time until they get the debt paid off, then they can loosen up. But when you're in the thick of it, eighteen months can feel like eighteen years.

Finding Balance

The key, of course, is to find balance. And I think that's what Wally and Jodie are trying to do.

They're not trying to quit the race early. They don't want to get behind on payments like they used to be. They don't want to spend their emergency fund or to stop their debt snowball. What they want is to find a balance between today and tomorrow.

I didn't mention it to them at the time, but I think they should look at the balanced money formula from Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi's excellent All Your Worth.

Warren and Tyagi argue that in order to achieve financial balance, your after-tax spending should be allocated like this:

• At least 20% should go to Saving (which includes debt reduction).
• No more than 50% should be allocated to Needs (which includes housing, utilities, healthcare, basic food, and basic clothing).
• The rest — around 30% — should go to Wants (which is everything else).

Warren and Tyagi are adamant that less than half your budget should go to Needs. If you pour too much toward necessities, you don't have room in your budget for fun or the future.

The authors are just as insistent that you should build room into your budget for Wants. “You should ask yourself,” they write, “are you making enough room for fun?”

Wally and Jodie aren't spending much on Needs at the moment, but they're not spending much on Wants either. They've been pumping most of their money into Saving (in the form of debt reduction). This is a Good Thing. But maybe it's too much of a good thing?

Making a Plan

On Sunday morning, Wally sent me an email. After meeting with me, he and Jodie formulated a plan:

• Until their wedding in September, they'll keep their debt snowball where it is today: minimum payments plus the $438 they've freed from satisfied debts.
• They'll use an envelope-like budget for entertainment, travel, gifts, dates, and personal items.
• With the rest of their monthly gap, they'll create a dedicated savings account for their wedding. After the wedding, they'll throw this money at debt.

This seems like a good, purposeful plan to me. It balances today and tomorrow. And you can be sure that I'll follow up with them in the fall to make sure they've stuck to the plan — that they've remembered to prioritize their debt snowball again.

In the meantime, I sent Wally this Reddit post in which a young guy realized that by pushing for a 65% saving rate, he was miserable. He writes:

I'm currently shooting for a 55% saving rate and I cannot tell you how much more I enjoy life. I went from feeling like I couldn't spend a dollar that wasn't strictly budgeted, to travelling with friends, going to concerts, and enjoying the pleasures of life. That 10% made all the difference in the world

As for me, I still feel anxious. I've done a good job of controlling my small, everyday expenses this year, but the big stuff is still stressing me out. I need to heed my own advice and find better balance. That will come, I think, as I consciously make better decisions about future large expenses — and as I work to increase my own income.

The post Struggling with money anxiety and finding balance appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

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How to Hack Your Credit Score

A good credit score is part of good financial health! You can hack your credit score to make it the highest number possible to ensure you get the best interest rates and most flexibility on borrowing to meet your financial goals. What is a credit score? They will say your credit score is a measure [...]

The post How to Hack Your Credit Score appeared first on Money After Graduation.

from Money After Graduation http://bit.ly/2GQk0Sc
#money #finance #investments

I’ve updated my best-selling book. Here’s what’s new and what to expect

Ten years ago, I published my book, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich.”

Do you remember what also happened 10 years ago?

In March 2009, we were in the depths of a once-in-a-lifetime financial crisis and full-blown recession. Chances are, you know someone who was laid off.

In fact, it was so bad that, as The New York Times noted:

On March 9, 2009, the day the bull market was born, the stock market, like the economy, was in deep, seemingly existential distress. The S&P 500 was down 57 percent from its 2007 peak.

Compounding the pain was the nationwide collapse in home prices, which landed a direct hit on most households’ greatest source of wealth.

Yes, my book was published at the bottom of the worst financial crisis of our generation.

The day it launched, it became the #1 book on all of Amazon, then sold out within hours, and became an instant New York Times best-seller.

That was what happened in public, but behind closed doors…

…my publisher was freaking out. Before the book went to print, they frantically asked me if I wanted to change any of my advice because of the recession.

I was like, “Why would I? Long-term investing doesn’t change.” They were concerned.

If you bought the first edition of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” and applied the book’s lessons when it was released, you’re financially set for life.

And now, after receiving the 19,435th email correcting or yelling at me about the interest rates I published in the book, I am thrilled to say that the new, updated version of the IWT book is here!

You can pre-order it on Amazon here.

In the 10 years since the first edition, I’ve added 80 pages with new tools, new insights on money and psychology (including why millennials continue to believe buying a house is always the best investment — untrue), a greater focus on managing money when you have a part-time side gig, and integrating money and relationships.

A majority of the things I said in the book 10 years ago still hold true today.

I’m proud that the advice I gave in the first edition stood the test of time (I’ve included dozens of real reader testimonials in the new book to show it). That’s the kind of advice I like — timeless advice that doesn’t fall apart after a few years. It doesn’t change with the whims of the market.

Below is a Q&A I put together as part of my publisher’s press kit, and I wanted to share my answers on what’s new, what I’ve learned, and what’s changed with you too.

Fortune called you “the new finance guru,” but your background is in technology and psychology — how did you come to occupy this spot within the world of personal finance?

Anyone who chooses to write about personal finance is a little weird. In my case, I don’t really get that excited learning the intricacies of Roth IRAs any more. But ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by human behavior — today more than ever.

Why do we claim we want to do something, then do exactly the opposite? (In the book, I explore the similarities between fitness and finance.)

When does it make sense to let peer pressure affect us — and when should we ignore it? (Should you buy a house? What if you want to spend $1,000/month on clothes, or eating out, or traveling? I show you how to decide.)

Most of all, understanding psychology taught me why most personal finance advice (like “stop spending money on lattes” and “keep a budget”) is forever doomed to failure. There is a better way.

Reaching financial independence seems like it takes a lot of work — what are the first steps you recommend readers take?

The good news is you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be rich — you just have to get started. Follow the automation system in the book, which will automatically move your money to save, invest, and give you guilt-free spending every month.

I show you exactly where to start, including the best accounts to use (and the ones to avoid), where your money should go first, then second, and so on … and finally, how to invest your money for real growth.

Plus, answers to questions like “What’s the best way to get free vacations using points?” and “Am I too late to start investing?”

The real fun comes in deciding what your Rich Life looks like: Do you want to pay off your debt years faster? Or travel for 4 weeks every year? You decide. Then use your money to create your Rich Life.

“I Will Teach You to Be Rich” features real reader results and testimonials throughout the book. What have your readers found to be the most effective during their personal finance journey?

I love this question. We included an incredible number of reader stories in the book, showing how they used this book to create their Rich Lives:

Notice when you look at their photos — they’re men, women, young, old, black, white, and every possible combination. The diversity is breathtaking. And representation is important. I want every reader to know that there is someone out there who looks like you and talks like you … who created their own Rich Life.

How has the insurgence of cryptocurrency, robo-advisors, and more shifted the way money is used and the relationship between money and technology?

What’s funny is if you ask most bitcoin speculators what the rest of their portfolio looks like, they’ll give you a blank stare back. “What? Portfolio? LOL, what a Luddite.”

I have zero tolerance for scams and fads that deprive ordinary people of their money. As an investment, bitcoin is great — only after you’ve already built a diversified portfolio.

In reality, if you want to make high-risk investments, it’s important to have a diversified portfolio first. Then, you can take 5-10% of your investments and go high-risk. I show you how and when it’s appropriate. Sadly, for the vast majority of bitcoin speculators, they fell all in with yet another fad.

Robo-advisors are a real presence, especially for my readers. I cover my thoughts in the book, including when to use a robo-advisor vs. a traditional advisor (and the exact accounts I use).

In the book, you focus on the importance of having the right mindset to attain a Rich Life. Why is that mindset important?

Think about the invisible money messages you grew up with. For example, how many of us had parents who said, “We don’t talk about money in this family.” Or “Easy come, easy go.”

In the book, you’ll be surprised to discover that your own spending behavior might be guided by the phrases you heard decades ago.

And once you understand your own behavior, you can change it. I’ll show you exactly how to rewrite your invisible money scripts and focus on the future.

What have you learned about integrating finances when marrying since your recent nuptials?

I’m still learning!

This was one of the most eye-opening financial journeys I’ve ever been on. I had to learn to compromise and to see money as a team. Along the way, my wife and I had a lot of tough conversations: How do we see money? How do we want to use money? Should we sign a prenup? I cover this in Chapter 9.

What do you hope readers walk away with after reading the second edition of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich”?

I’ve always wanted people to know a few key things about money:

• You can spend extravagantly on the things you love, as long as you cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.
• Buy as many lattes as you want. Get the 10 Big Wins right, and you’ll never worry about $5 expenses.
• Don’t listen to everyone. Buying a house isn’t always the best investment.
• It’s not too late. You can take control of your money this week. Nobody is going to do it for you.
• Most people say money is about “no”: no lattes, no vacations, no fun. I want to show you how to reframe money to saying “yes”: YES, I can take an extravagant vacation. YES, I can pay off debt years faster. And YES, I can decide on my Rich Life — and use this book to create it.

Mark your calendars: The book officially comes out on May 14, 2019! Preorder the book now on Amazon.

Thank you for reading, and if you’re a long-time reader, for your support all these years.

I’ve updated my best-selling book. Here’s what’s new and what to expect is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from I Will Teach You To Be Rich http://bit.ly/2PvS3C2
#money #finance #investing #becomerich

Why financial literacy fails (and what to do about it)

April is Financial Literacy Month in the United States. This is a pure and noble thing. I think it's great that there's one month each year devoted to promoting smart money habits. That said, it has become increasingly apparent over the years that most financial literacy programs fail. They don't work. And this isn't just me speaking anecdotally.

In a 2014 paper from Management Science, three researchers conducted a “meta-analysis” of 201 prior studies regarding the efficacy of financial literacy. Their conclusion?

Interventions to improve financial literacy explain only 0.1% of the variance in financial behaviors studied, with weaker effects in low-income samples. Like other education, financial education decays over time; even large interventions with many hours of instruction have negligible effects on behavior 20 months or more from the time of intervention.

To put it in plain English, financial literacy education makes no discernible difference in behavior. People who take personal-finance classes manage their money no better (and no worse) than the general population.

We're pumping tons of money and time into a fruitless endeavor. All of this push to promote financial literacy accomplishes nothing. Zero. Nada.

Why is that?

It probably won't surprise you to learn that I have some strong opinions on this subject. Today, let's talk about why financial literacy fails (and what to do about it).

Note: This afternoon (April 24th) at 4 p.m. Pacific (7 p.m. Eastern), I'll be part of a Facebook Live interview about this very subject. If you're free at that time, you should join us!

Why Financial Literacy Fails

Financial literacy fails because it almost universally addresses only one part of the problem: math and mechanics. FinLit (as it's sometimes called) focuses on facts and figures while largely ignoring behavior.

This is insane.

This is like promoting sex education that talks about penises and vaginas while never discussing what it's like to be madly in love with somebody, so in love that your brain stops working. For sex education to be effective, it has to deal with real-world circumstances and behavior. It has to teach about psychology and emotions, not just body parts.

The same is true with financial literacy.

In fact, the same is true with actual literacy. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy says that working literacy has two components.

• The operational piece of literacy focuses solely on knowledge. It involves word-level reading skills such as recognizing words.
• The conceptual piece of literacy focuses on everyday tasks: “Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.”

The first part of literacy is about mechanics. The second part is about practical application.

Modern financial literacy efforts spend nearly all of their time on the knowledge piece. I've reviewed maybe a dozen FinLit programs over the years. Most pay no more than lip service to behavior, to the conceptual piece of financial literacy.

Let me give you an example from my own life.

When I was in high school (w-a-y back in the mid-1980s), every senior in our district was required to pass a class in personal finance. It covered topics like compound interest, the Federal Reserve, how to write a check, and the dangers of credit cards.

I took that class. I aced every test. And five years later, I had the beginnings of a debt habit. I'd mastered the knowledge but not he behavior. The behavior was never taught.

From what I can tell, the kids from my high school grew up to be no different than the rest of Americans. We learned the basics of financial literacy, but it had no perceivable impact on the way we saved and spent and earned. We still made stupid mistakes. We still spent more than we earned. Why? Because facts and figurs are only one-half of financial literacy. (And I'd argue they aren't even the most important half.)

The solution to financial literacy isn't to feed people more facts and figures. It isn't to teach them how bonds work or to explain the sheer awesomeness of a Roth IRA. If we want to boost financial literacy in the United States, what we really need to promote is behavioral education.

Behavioral Finance

Personal finance is simple. Fundamentally, you need to know only one thing: To build wealth, you must spend less than you earn. The end. That's it. We can all go home now. Everything else simply builds on this.

Why, then, is it so hard for everyone to get ahead?

For some people, the problem is systemic. There's no doubt that some people are trapped in a cycle of poverty, and they truly need outside help to overcome the obstacles they face.

But for most of us, the issue is internal: The problem is us. In other words, I am the reason that I can't get ahead. And you are the reason that you can't get ahead. It's not a lack of knowledge about compounding and credit cards that holds us back, but a chain of bad behavior.

The math and mechanics of personal finance are easy. It's the psychological side of money that's hard.

One of the key tenets of this site is that money is more about mind than it is about math. That is, our financial success isn't determined by how smart we are with numbers, but how well we're able to control our emotions — our wants and desires.

There's actually a branch of economics called behavioral finance devoted exclusively to this phenomenon, exploring the interplay between economic theory and psychological reality. There's a new wave of folks who are exploring the gamification of personal finance; they're trying to turn money management into a game. More and more, experts are seeing that our economic decisions aren't based on logic, but on emotion and desire.

It's time that financial literacy programs incorporated these new(-ish) approaches into their curriculum.

For years, I struggled with money. I knew the math, but I still couldn’t seem to defeat debt. It wasn’t until I started applying psychology to the situation that I was able to make changes. For instance, I used the debt snowball to pay down my debt in an illogical yet psychologically satisfying way. It worked. And I’ve learned that by having financial goals — such as travel — I’m much more inclined to save than if I have no goals at all.

Behavioral Literacy

To me, the answer to our country's crazed consumerism and poor financial skills has nothing to do with traditional financial literacy. (Okay, maybe it has a little to do with traditional financial literacy.) Instead, I see two fundamental problems that need to be addressed.

• First, we soak in a bath of the mass media. We're constantly exposed to a barrage of programming in which we're given subtle messages about what people do (or should) consume. We cannot help but be influenced by the power of marketing. (I've talked to many people who think they're immune to marketing. I just shake my head and think, “You, my friend, are the most influenced of all.”)

• Secondly, we don't think about our spending. We spend on impulse. Or we spend to subconsciously keep up with our family and friends — to keep up with the Joneses. We spend to make ourselves feel better when we're down and blue. We spend to show off. We spend on things we think we want instead of the things we actually use and do. We spend because spending is a habit.

Instead of teaching Americans about credit cards and rates of return, we need to be teaching them about behavioral finance. We need to be showing them how to break free from the marketing messages that are all around. We need to be showing them how to set (and achieve) personal goals, especially financial goals. We need to teach skills like conscious spending.

There's a reason that my core message doesn't start with math and mechanics. It starts by asking people to think about their goals and purpose. This is the piece of financial education that's missing in our society. This is what financial literacy education ought to be teaching.

Note: For a clear demonstration of how I'd approach financial literacy if I were to design a program, check out my Money Boss Manifesto. It's a free ebook that outlines the financial philosophy I've developed after nearly fifteen years of reading and writing about money.

The Bottom Line

Sometimes people wonder why we don't spend more time on the nitty gritty of money around here. Why we don't cover more topics like where to find the best credit cards or how to create a budget?

It's because deep inside, I believe these things are secondary. I believe behavior is more important. Building a better budget isn't going to change your attitude toward saving and spending; but changing you attitude toward saving and spending could very well lead you to building a better budget.

Ultimately, if we want Americans to be smarter with their money, we need to encourage them to consume less media — to avoid advertising — and we need to teach them to master the emotional side of personal finance. We need to show them how to change their behavior. We need to appeal to their self-interest. We need to help them find intrinsic motivation to save.

Each of us needs to dig deep inside to find what it is that's important to us, what it is that brings us joy, and we need to prioritize that instead of all the other garbage.

I'm not suggesting that we abandon traditional financial literacy completely. But I think a constant push for more financial education is a waste of time if it's only going to focus on mechanics, to stick to facts and figures. To truly be successful, financial education has to address the behavioral side of money because that is absolutely the biggest piece of the puzzle.

Reminder: This afternoon (April 24th) at 4 p.m. Pacific (7 p.m. Eastern), I'll be part of a Facebook Live interview about this very subject. If you're free at that time, you should join us!

The post Why financial literacy fails (and what to do about it) appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

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Keeping up with the Joneses

It's always fun when disparate worlds of geekdom collide. Today, for instance, I learned that the term “keeping up with the Joneses” — a popular phrase in the realm of personal finance — actually originated in the funny pages.

That's right: “Keeping Up with the Joneses” started out as a newspaper comic strip. As a comics nerd, one who especially loves comic strips, this makes me happy. (Note: For some strips in this post, you can click on the image to open a larger version in a new window.)

Arthur Mormand created “Keeping Up with the Joneses” in 1913. This comic strip (which was very typical for its time) parodied American domestic life, especially the increasing drive toward conspicuous consumption.

The term conspicuous consumption was itself relatively new in 1913. This concept was introduced by Thorstein Veblen, a Norwegian-American economist and sociologist, in his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class. (You can download this book for free from the new Get Rich Slowly file vault.) People at all levels of life, Veblen says, buy things “as an evidence of wealth”, to signal financial “prowess”. This is worth an entire article of its own. (I should re-read the book and write it up, shouldn't I?)

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia's brief history of the strip:

[“Keeping Up with the Joneses”] debuted on March 31, 1913 in The New York Globe. The strip is a domestic comedy following a family of social climbers, the McGinises: parents Aloysius and Clarice, their daughter Julie, and the family's maid Bella Donna. Various strips feature the McGinis family attempting to match the lifestyle of their neighbors, the Joneses, who are often mentioned but never seen.

The strip was later picked up by Joseph Pulitzer's The New York World, and was subsequently syndicated in many other papers by Associated Newspapers. The title and central conceit of a family struggling to “keep up” with the neighbors resonated with its audience, to the point that the phrase keeping up with the Joneses became a common catchphrase.

According to interviews with Mormand, “Keeping Up with the Joneses” was based on his own life. He and his wife lived for a time in Cedarhurst, New York, a relatively wealthy community on Long Island. Mormand claimed his family lived “far beyond our means in our endeavor to keep up with the well-to-do class”.

Eventually, Mormand and his family gave up. They moved to Manhattan. There, he used his experience as source material. Mormand claimed that he originally wanted to call the strip “Keeping Up with the Smiths” but it didn't have the same ring to it as “Keeping Up with the Joneses”.

Some argue that the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” was already in use when Mormand started drawing his comic strip. This may (or may not) be true. Regardless, it was his work that made the phrase a part of the American vernacular.

While “Keeping Up with the Joneses” never became as popular as, say, “Gasoline Alley” or “Bringing Up Father”, it did achieve some measure of success. At one point, more than 150 newspapers around the U.S. carried the strip. And, for a time, a few of the gags were adapted into short animated films like this one.

If, like me, you are both a money nerd and a comics nerd, you might enjoy browsing this public domain collection of Keeping Up with the Joneses strips from 1920. (Again, this is part of the new Get Rich Slowly file vault.)

Mormand died in 1987, at the age of 101. He spent the latter part of his life working as a portrait painter in New York City, but his lasting contribution to American society was coining the term “keeping up with the Joneses”.

The post Keeping up with the Joneses appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

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How I’m Using Student Loans to Pay Off my Student Loans

By the time I graduate with my BA in Professional Writing, I will owe about $56,500 in student loans. Over the course of a 15-year student loan repayment plan, that balance would rise to almost $81,000 if you’re calculating with today’s prime interest rate of 3.95%. That’s only $19,000 short of a six-digit debt balance [...]

The post How I’m Using Student Loans to Pay Off my Student Loans appeared first on Money After Graduation.

from Money After Graduation http://bit.ly/2UnQsis
#money #finance #investments

This blog is now a teenager: Thirteen years of Get Rich Slowly

Thie middle of April is a Big Deal in my world.

The trees have nearly finished blossoming, which means my allergies will soon go away. We're seeing more of the sun, which means the worst of my seasonal depression is behind me. Yesterday, on the 14th, Kim and I celebrated seven years as a couple. And today, on the 15th, Get Rich Slowly celebrates thirteen years of existence.

That's right: This blog is now a teenager.

In the Beginning

When I started Get Rich Slowly, I had no idea what it was going to become. I had no grand plan or vision. I just wanted to write about money while accomplishing three goals.

• My primary goal was to document my own journey as I dug out of debt and (I hoped) eventually learned how to build wealth.
• My secondary aim was to help my family and friends get better with their money too. (Although, truthfully, in my entire social circle, I was probably the person with the worst personal finance skills.)
• And, third on the list, I wanted to make a little extra money with the site. I figured if I could make a few hundred bucks with it, I could pay off my debt a little sooner.

On 26 April 2005 — a year before I started this blog — I published an article called “Get Rich Slowly!” for my personal site. Here's what I wrote:

Today's entry is long and boring. It's all about the keys to wealth, prosperity, and happiness. Over the past few months, I've read over a dozen books on personal finance. Recurring themes have become evident.

These books have embarrassingly bad titles, seemingly designed to appeal to the get-rich-quick crowd: The Richest Man in Babylon, Your Money or Your Life, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich, Wealth Without Risk, etc.

Some of the books out there — most of them? — really are as bad as their titles. Others, however, offer outstanding, practical advice. The best books seem to have the same goal in mind: not wealth, not riches, but financial independence.

According to Your Money or Your Life, which I consider the very best of the financial books I've read, “Financial independence is the experience of having enough — and then some”. More practically, financial independence occurs when your investment income meets or exceeds your monthly expenses. Financial independence is linked to psychological freedom.

How is financial independence achieved? Again, the best books all basically agree. (To some of you, this will be common sense, stuff you've known all your life. To others, like me, this kind of thinking is a sort of revelation.)

Here, then, is my personal summary of the collected wisdom found in these books.

“It's nearly impossible to get rich quick without luck,” I concluded after summarizing all of these money books. “Getting rich quick is a sucker's bet. There's only a slim chance that you'll have the sort of luck that's required. You might as well play the lottery.”

Instead, I thought the underlying message of these books was simple: “It is possible to get rich slowly, however, with no risk, and with no luck. All that's required is patience and discipline.”

Get Rich Slowly 1.0

That original “Get Rich Slowly” article at my personal site proved popular. It went the 2005 version of “viral”, being shared at sites like Boing Boing, Lifehacker, etc.

A year later, I was still searching for a way to earn money on the side to help me dig out of debt. I decided that maybe I could earn a few bucks by starting a site about saving and investing. I actually thought mine would be the first personal-finance blog on the Internet! (Ha — little did I know! There were already dozens — dozens! — of other money blogs out there.)

On April 15, 2006, I launched Get Rich Slowly. It was successful from the start. For whatever reason, the stuff I wrote resonated with readers. They shared the site with their friends and family.

Within weeks, I had several hundred readers. Within months, the audience had grown to several thousand. Within two years, more than 500,000 people per month were coming to the site. It was crazy. It was completely unexpected. I was shocked. And grateful.

Those early days of GRS were a hell of a lot of fun. I was figuring this money stuff out in real time, and writing about my successes (and, yes, my failures) as they happened. I did some stupid, stupid stuff — but as time went on, I got better at managing my money.

Needless to say, writing about smart money management every day — for 1000 days — produces a lot of articles! Certain articles stood out as particularly popular — I think because they were particularly helpful. Anyway, here are some highlights from the first three years of the site:

• In praise of the debt snowball (28 Sep 2006) — When I started Get Rich Slowly, I had over $35,000 in consumer debt. I lived paycheck to paycheck on a salary of over $50,000 per year. Basically, I was your typical American consumer. To get out of debt, I used Dave Ramsey's version of the debt snowball. A lot of folks want to complain that using this method is based on bad math, but so what? If math were the issue, I wouldn't have been in debt — and neither would many other people. The debt snowball works, and that's why I love it.
• Are index funds the best investment? (24 Jan 2007) — At first, I was a bad investor. In fact, I was a gambler, not an investor. I took chances on random stocks in the hopes they'd shoot through the roof. Reading and writing about money quickly taught me that pros like Warren Buffett (and many more) actually endorse a simple investment strategy for average folks like you and me. For us, putting our savings into indexed mutual funds is the most reliable long-term investment.
• Which online high-yield savings account and money market account is best? (21 Mar 2007, although this link is to a recent update) — As I started learning smart money habits, I realized it was dumb for me to leave my money in a big national bank that paid me no interest. But where should I save my money instead? To find out, I polled GRS readers. Whoa! Who knew this simple question would create such a huge response? Readers left over 1700 comments with suggestions about where to get the most bang for my buck.
• Free at last! Saying good-bye to 20 years of debt (03 Dec 2007) — It took a lot of time and effort, but my new habits finally paid off. Three years after starting my quest, I wrote a check for the last of my consumer debt. From here, I could start building future wealth instead of repaying past folly.
• A real millionaire next door (13 May 2008) — I used to live next door to an old guy named John. John was a retired shop teacher who had managed to build big wealth on a small salary. Now, in his 70s, he spent part of the year working on farms in New Zealand, part of the year on an Alaskan fishing boat, and part of the year puttering around his home in Portland. Later, I decided to interview him about what led to his financial success.
• You can't always get what you want (24 Nov 2008) — Notes from a conversation with my cousin: It's okay to have something in your life that you hate. And it's okay to have something you want. It's natural. The problem is that once you get that thing, you're just going to hate something else, you're just going to want something more. It's not want that's the problem, but the habit of constantly satisfying wants.

So much happened in my life during these years, both good and bad. It seems odd to summarize that entire period in just a few articles, but I don't want to overwhelm you. (If you want to read more, check out the archives.)

Get Rich Slowly 2.0

While the early, heady years of GRS were carefree and fun, running the site eventually became work. A lot of work. Plus, all sorts of stuff was going on behind the scenes in my personal life. My best friend committed suicide. I was unhappy in my marriage. I struggled with my weight. It was all too much.

In early 2009, I decided to listen to the offers from people who wanted to buy Get Rich Slowly. Shortly after the site's third anniversary, I agreed to sell it.

When I sold, I became financially independent. (I was already on a path toward financial independence — or “FI,” as we say — but the sale helped me leap ahead several years.) My plan was simply to walk away and be done with writing about money. Turns out, I couldn't bring myself to do that.

You see, I love the GRS community. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to continue answering emails, sharing reader questions and stories, and documenting what I was learning about money. Instead of walking away, I stuck around for another three years as editor and primary writer.

During that time, we brought in other writers to help me manage the workload. I was always amazed at how each new voice added another dimension to the site. And our content changed in yet another way because I was becoming much more philosophical about money at this time.

I'd always stressed the importance of psychology; but as my financial philosophy matured, I became even more convinced that smart money management was all about mindset, not math. The math is easy. It's the emotional stuff that's tough. Some of the best articles from this era of GRS really get to the heart of these issues, and I hope that what I learned will be helpful to others, too.

• The razor's edge: Lessons in true wealth (18 Jan 2009) — This is perhaps the most important article I ever wrote for Get Rich Slowly, although most people would never know it. In early 2009, my best friend took his own life. It had a profound impact on me. Here I wrote about what I learned from Sparky's life — and his death.
• How to negotiate your salary (06 May 2009) — I don't think people spend enough time looking for ways to boost their income. There's a reason I mention this over and over and over again. Learning how to negotiate your salary is one of the best ways to improve your financial well-being.
• Understanding the federal budget and The truth about taxes (August 2009) — We cannot have informed discussions about taxes and government spending if we don't have the baseline information. Because my own education on this subject was weak, and because I wanted GRS readers to be informed, I spent 12 hours researching a variety of tax topics. These two articles record my attempts to provide that baseline information. (I need to update these for 2019, don't I?)
• Action not words: The difference between talkers and doers (30 Aug 2010) — If there's something you want to be or do, the best way to become that thing is to actually take steps toward it, to move in that direction. Don't just talk about it, but do something. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Just take a small step in the right direction every single day.
• America's love-hate relationship with wealth (14 Nov 2011) — While writing about money, I've noticed that people in general (and Americans in particular) have a complex love-hate relationship with wealth. People want to be rich — but they're suspicious of those who already are. Why is that? How can we learn to be happy for the financial success of others?
• A place of my own (16 Jan 2012) — The toughest blog post I've ever had to write: After months of hinting at things, I revealed that my wife and I were getting a divorce, and that I'd moved into an apartment of my own. This post explored some of the implications of that decision. (For the record: Kris and I continue to maintain our friendship.)

Eventually, after three years of lingering at GRS, I reached the point where I was willing to cut the cord. I gradually reduced my involvement until I was ready to walk away. I eased myself out of the site and into the life I'd been hoping to pursue.

The Quinstreet Years

I sold Get Rich Slowly in 2009 but stayed on as editor (and primary writer) for another three years. By mid-2012, it seemed that Quinstreet, the company that had acquired the site, was ready to run the site on its own. Plus, it felt like both the audience and I were both ready for me to leave.

So, I retired. Sort of.

Although I no longer had any active involvement in Get Rich Slowly, I still contributed articles from time to time. Plus, I wrote about money for other outlets.

In 2010, I published Your Money: The Missing Manual. (I'm proud of that book but it's sorely in need of an update.) From 2011 to 2014, I wrote the “Your Money” column for Entrepreneur magazine. In 2014, I released the Get Rich Slowly course. In 2015, I started a new site called Money Boss (which is now a part of GRS). And so on.

Plus, of course, Kim and I embarked on our awesome 15-month tour of the U.S. by RV.

I'll confess: I didn't pay much attention to Get Rich Slowly after I moved on. I checked in now and then, but mostly I ignored it. Looking through the archives, here are some of the articles that stand out during the Quinstreet years:

• How to handle people who undermine your success (06 Jan 2012, by April Dykman) — April Dykman was always one of my favorite staff writers here at GRS. I loved learning from her progress. Here she shared some thoughts on how to handle haters in your life. As you work toward a better financial future, you will encounter people who think your choices are foolish. April — and the commenters — have some tips for coping with the criticism.
• The power of personal transformation: Change yourself, change the world (16 Jul 2012, by J.D. Roth) — In July 2012, I spoke at World Domination Summit. This is the written version of that speech, which was all about overcoming fear, finding focus, and taking action. I argued that by finding the courage to change what's wrong in your own life, you'll not only improve yourself, but improve the world around you. (This material has become the psychological core of my financial philosophy.)
• Romanticizing poverty and learning financial independence (03 Jan 2013, by Kristin Wong) — Kristin Wong was another great GRS writer. In this piece, she talks about different perceptions of wealth and poverty — and how those perceptions influence our choices. Her articles always led to great discussions.
• All you need to know about saving for retirement (15 May 2013, by Robert Brokamp) — Before I left GRS, I brokered a deal with the Motley Fool that brought regular contributions from the hilarious (and smart) Robert Brokamp. He contributed many terrific pieces over the years, but I particularly like this crash course in retirement savings. If you're wondering where to start, start here.
• You are the boss of you: How to find success with money and life (01 Aug 2013, by J.D. Roth) — I've always said that nobody cares more about your money than you do. But I've come to realize that nobody cares more about you than you do. The key to success — in every area of life — is to understand that you control your own destiny. If you want to be successful with money and life, you must act as your own boss.
• How to track your spending (and why you should) (24 April 2014, by Holly Johnson) — Holly is another one of the great staff writers that GRS hosted during the Quinstreet years. (I'm excited because she's promised to give me a guest post soon about some of her home improvement fiascos. Should be fun!) I like this article, in which she takes a friend to task for not tracking his spending. He and his wife make a lot of money but they're constantly broke. Why? Because they have no idea where there money goes.
• 29 Ways to build your emergency fund out of thin air (18 Jan 2016, by Donna Freedman) — Donna has contributed a lot of great articles to GRS over the years. (And I hope that at some point in the future, I'll be able to afford to hire her to write here again.) I liked this piece, which provides tons of tips for boosting your saving rate. Saving more isn't just for building an emergency fund; it's also important for digging out of debt and, eventually, pursuing goals like homeownership and financial independence.

During the Quinstreet years, the GRS audience dwindled. This was in part due to the way they managed the site. They had good intentions (and lots of smart people behind the scenes), but they didn't have the same passion for personal finance that I did. Plus, they tended to make decisions that favored short-term results instead of long-term growth. I can't fault them for their choices — they did what was right for them — but I'm sad that the community eventually collapsed.

Not all of the collapse was due to blog management, though. Even if I hadn't sold the site, it likely would have faded eventually, and for a number of reasons: the rise of social media, the “death of blogs”, and increased competition from awesome new sites on a variety of niche subjects.

Get Rich Slowly 3.0

In 2015, I “unretired” from blogging. I founded Money Boss, a site where I posted long, meaty articles about managing your money as if you were the CFO of your own life. I had fun. The site didn't grow as quickly as GRS had nine years before, but after eighteen months, the site had acquired several thousand dedicated followers.

Then, in the spring of 2017, Quinstreet approached me. They asked me if I wanted to re-purchase Get Rich Slowly. Looking at the numbers, I realized it probably didn't make much financial sense to do so — but I didn't let that dissuade me. In October 2017, I bought Get Rich Slowly.

In the eighteen months since my return, I've published a lot of articles that I think are especially good. Here are some highlights:

• What the rich do differently: Habits that foster wealth and success (18 Dec 2017) — I'm fascinated by the differences between rich people and poor people. Are the differences mostly a matter of class and economic mobility? Are people born to wealth and poverty and destined to remain there? Or are there observable differences in attitude and action that tend to lead people to specific levels of affluence? From my experience, it's some of both.
• Start where you are (04 Jan 2018) — My main message to family and friends who find themselves at forty or fifty and feel behind the curve is: Don't panic. All is not lost. You're not too late. This isn't a contest. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
• The plight of the poor: Thoughts on systemic poverty, fault, and responsibility (28 Feb 2018) — There are very real differences between the behaviors and attitudes of those who have money and those who don't. If we want ourselves and others to be able to enjoy economic mobility, to escape poverty and dire circumstances, we have to have an understanding of the necessary mental shifts. The problem, of course, is that it's one thing to understand intellectually that wealthy people and poor people have different mindsets, but it's another thing entirely to be able to adopt more productive attitudes in your own life.
• The forever fallacy (11 Jul 2018) — The forever fallacy is the mistaken belief that you will always have what you have today, that you'll always be who you are today. The truth is that everything changes. You change. Your circumstances change. The people around you change. Nothing is forever. The challenge then is to balance this concept — everything changes — with living in the present. You must learn to enjoy today while simultaneously preparing for a variety of possible tomorrows.
• The boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness (26 Oct 2018) — Last October, I spent a week exploring the relationship between cost and quality. Quality tends to come with a price. While there are ways to mitigate some of these higher costs — buy used, wait for sales, etc. — if you want to buy new quality items, you're going to pay a premium. Because of this, quality is often something reserved for the rich. Like so many things in life, this is fundamentally unfair. But that's how things are.
• Why frugality is an important part of personal finance (31 Jan 2019) — Depriving yourself of certain “standard” choices now means you don't have to lead a life of deprivation when you're older. When you choose to spend less, you're not just boosting your bottom line. You're also gaining the time and freedom that would have been required to earn that money. Thrift isn't deprivation. It's wealth.
• Saving regret — and how to avoid it (27 Feb 2019) — Very few people regret saving money. In fact, research shows that less than 2% of people would save less if they could re-do their earlier life. On the other hand, two-thirds of people wish they'd saved more when they were younger. Poorer people tend to regret not saving most of all. The bottom line: To avoid regrets when you're older, save more now.

I won't lie. While I'm glad to be back and I've enjoyed the past eighteen months, it's also been tough. I have lots to say, but I've struggled to figure out exactly how to say it. Blogging has changed. Expectations are different. I am different than when I started this site.

I'm constantly wrestling with questions like: How often should I write? (Once a week? Three times a week? At random intervals?) Should I share only new stuff? Or should I republish updated material from the archives? In the olden days, I used to share tons of things from other sites. Should I continue to do that? Or should I focus on my own thoughts? How long should my articles be? (A few hundred words? Or…a few thousand?) What topics should I cover?

If you walk through the GRS archives, you can see how I've struggled to find a rhythm for Get Rich Slowly 3.0.

My publication pattern for the past year has been…well, irregular. There are some months where I write and publish a ton, both from myself and others. There are other months — like this one — during which I publish little. (Real Life has been distracting me lately. I have plenty I want to write about, but no time to do it.) And my articles are all over the place.

I'm not worried, though. I know I'll figure things out. In the meantime, I'm having fun. I hope that you are having fun too. And, as always, if you have any suggestions and/or requests for things you'd like to see around here, please let me know. I want GRS to be a useful resource for you — for all of you.

The post This blog is now a teenager: Thirteen years of Get Rich Slowly appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

from Get Rich Slowly http://bit.ly/2IuS73D

When is Unpaid Work Worth It?

It seems to be more and more frequently that students and recent graduates are faced with the option of taking work as “volunteer experience” or “exposure”. Of course, exerting yourself for free is not ideal for broke brand-new professionals, but there are some situations where this can hold enough value to be worth it. The [...]

The post When is Unpaid Work Worth It? appeared first on Money After Graduation.

from Money After Graduation http://bit.ly/2IqpaWC
#money #finance #investments

Welcome to fifty: My first health scare as a middle-aged man

Three weeks ago today, I had a major health scare.

Because it was Monday, I was at the family box factory. I had just finished running payroll and had taken paychecks out to the shop. I exited the building and *bam* my chest just sort of seized up.

“Ouch,” I thought. But, being a Roth, my thought process didn't go much farther than that. (We Roths don't like doctors and we tend to deal with injuries for weeks or months or years before having them looked at.)

On the way back to the office, I stopped to talk to my cousin Duane. He was digging in the dirt, prepping a spot for his summer garden. We chatted about blueberries, tomatoes, and greenhouses. We admired the warm spring day. After a few minutes, I realized that my chest still hurt.

“I don't want to alarm you,” I said, “but I'm having chest pains. It's probably nothing. But just in case it is something, I thought you should know.”

I walked back to the office and sat down at my computer. Instead of going back to work, however, I googled heart attacks. I read the list of symptoms. I wasn't experiencing anything except chest pain but still…Every site said the same thing: Don't mess around. If you're having chest pain, have somebody drive you to a doctor.

Duane came in. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

“I'm still having chest pains,” I said.

“Do you want me to drive you to the doctor?” he asked.

I debated things in my mind. “It's probably nothing,” I thought. “Or maybe it's a panic attack like twenty years ago.” In 1998, I experienced two similar episodes that turned out to be panic attacks. I was under a lot of stress then. I'm not under a lot of stress now.

“Plus, if I go to the doctor, it could end up costing a fortune. My health insurance sucks,” I thought. “But if it is a heart attack and I don't go in, I could end up dead.”

“Well?” Duane said.

“Tell you what,” I said. “I know I'm not supposed to but I'm going to drive myself to urgent care. If you don't hear from me in fifteen minutes, come find me.” (There's only one logical route from the box factory to the nearest clinic.)

I gathered my stuff, hopped in my pickup, and drove slowly to the clinic.

Hurry Up and Wait

At urgent care, they expedited my case. Within minutes, I'd been hooked up to an EKG machine. While he worked, the doctor asked me lots of questions about my past and current health.

“Everything looks normal to me,” he said. “Your blood pressure is high, but the EKG is good. So is everything else. Are you still having the pains?”

“Yes,” I said. “And they're now in my back too.”

The doctor frowned. “I don't think you're having a heart attack,” he said, “but we should make sure. I want you to drive yourself to the nearest emergency room.” He gave me a printout that explained my situation and wished me luck.

Twenty minutes later, I was in the ER for the first time in my life. (I've been there for other people but never for myself.) A nurse ran another EKG. “Everything looks fine,” he said, “but we're going to do some more tests.”

First, they drew blood. Then they ran chest x-rays. Then they ran another EKG. Then they ran a CT scan. “Oops,” the doctor said when he saw the results of the CT scan. “They didn't scan the right spot. That's my fault. I goofed up. I pressed the wrong button. I guess we'll do an ultrasound to check out your abdomen instead.” So, I got an ultrasound. Then more blood tests and another EKG.

Can you guess what I thought when the doctor admitted he'd run the wrong test? That's right: “I'd better not be charged for this!” In any other business, if the service provider makes an error, the customer isn't charged for it. Is that the same with hospitals? We're going to find out.

After five hours of tests and waiting, they let me go.

“I'm not sure what's wrong,” the doctor told me. “Your blood pressure is high, but you're the healthiest person I've seen all day. Follow up with a heart specialist. Go enjoy the sun!”

Paying for Pain

Since that heart-attack scare three weeks ago, life has been a whirlwind. We've been planting trees and bushes and flowers and seeds. We celebrated my birthday. Kim had knee surgery. Plus, there's all the rest of Real Life to take care of.

I tried to follow up with the recommended heart specialist but he's out of my network. “You should find somebody on your own insurance,” his office staff told me. I haven't done that yet.

Last Friday, two other things happened.

First, I had to go back to urgent care. (When was the last time I sought medical help twice in three weeks? Has it ever happened?) I have miserable allergies this time of year, but my throat seemed even more raw than normal.

Turns out, I have a simple canker sore…on the back of my throat. The doctor prescribed a numbing agent. “Your blood pressure is pretty high,” he said before I left. “You might want to have that checked out.” He suggested that I buy a blood-pressure monitor while I was picking up my prescription. So I did. (Nothing says “I just turned fifty” like browsing blood-pressure monitors at the pharmacy.)

When I got home with the meds and the monitor, there was an Explanation of Benefits waiting in the mailbox. I opened it to learn the initial cost estimate for my ER visit. (For non-Americans, the Explanation of Benefits is a statement we receive after health care but before we receive actual bills. My understanding is that it's an estimate of what is being billed to whom. But it's not always 100% accurate.)

According to the Explanation of Benefits, I'm on the hook for $6858.49. That's enough to give a person a heart attack! (Haha.) I'm under the impression that my insurance plan covers all emergency room visits, so this number could change. Right now, though, I assume I owe nearly $6900 for my four hours in the ER.

A Change of Heart

Over the weekend, I tested my blood pressure several times. It's high. I haven't figured out my new blood-pressure monitor well enough to state definitively that I have hypertension, but it seems as if I'm pre-hypertensive at a minimum. In any case, it's clear that I need to make some changes.

Over the next few months, I want to:

• Scrutinize the hospital bill. I want to know what I'm being billed for and why. (I'd better not be charged for the mistaken procedure in the ER!) As much as I hate phones and confrontation, I might have to use both. Good thing I just read this article on how to fight expensive medical bills. I'm curious to see what I'm actually billed for compared to the estimates on the Explanation of Benefits.
• Look into health savings accounts. This is one of my financial blindspots. I've never read about HSAs, so I don't know the pros and cons. I don't know anything about them. From what little I do know, it sounds like an HSA might be a way for me to cushion unforeseen medical expenses.
• Get serious about my physical (and mental) fitness. For the past few years, I've been coasting. I've been overweight and out of shape during most of my adult life. In 2010, I lost fifty pounds and gained muscle. I was the fittest I'd ever been. I maintained that for a few years, but have gradually softened. I've made occasional half-hearted efforts to change. It's time to give 100% effort again.
• Find a primary care physician. I had a primary doctor I liked but when Kim and I left to explore the U.S. by RV in 2015, my doctor moved. I haven't had a regular doctor now for four years. This is enough of a passive barrier to keep me from seeking medical help. Dumb but true. I need to find a new doctor.
• Find a therapist. Like last year, I'm struggling with depression this spring. It sucks. It's not as bad as it was in 2018, but it's still enough to sap me of motivation. I need to get some help.
• Be proactive with my heart health. My family doesn't have a history of heart disease. We have a history of cancer. I've been worried about cancer all this time, but what if I should have been caring more for my heart? Fortunately, managing high blood pressure doesn't seem too onerous.

There's on other thing I'm going to do — especially if my final bills do amount to $6900 and I can't get them lowered.

My health insurance carries a $7900 annual deductible and $7900 annual maximum out-of-pocket expense. If I end up owing $6858.49, then there's only $1050 left until I reach the maximum I can possibly pay this year. That gives me a strong incentive to get as many medical procedures done this year as possible.

Final Thoughts

I'm glad that I didn't have a heart attack. I'm disappointed with myself for allowing my fitness to erode, but I'm trying not to beat myself up to bad. I can get back in shape. And I can lower my blood pressure. It'll take time and effort, but it's doable.

In 2012, I was worried about my lack of energy. I asked my doctor to run some tests. “You have nothing to worry about,” he said when the numbers came back. “You're one of the healthiest 43-year-old men I've ever seen. I'm serious.”

No doctor would say that about me now at age fifty. But if I apply myself, maybe in a few years my doctor will tell me, “You're one of the healthiest 53-year-old men I've ever seen.”

The post Welcome to fifty: My first health scare as a middle-aged man appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

from Get Rich Slowly http://bit.ly/2OWT6e5

By the numbers: My spending for March 2019

March was a mixed month in my financial world. I ended March with a slightly higher net worth (up 0.6%) but my spending was the highest it's been this year: $5989.10. Yet, that spending was mostly mindful. I wasn't frittering away money on silly things.

If I wasn't buying dumb stuff, then where did my money go? A few worthwhile places:

• I spent $653.31 on the yard and garden. Specifically, Kim and I tore out a big cedar tree in the corner of the yard, then converted that space to a small orchard. I use the word “orchard” loosely here. We planted three fruit trees, four blueberries, four grape vines, and a bunch of strawberries. I hope to write about this more in the near future.
• I spent $625.72 on health and fitness. In the middle of the month, I had quite a scare. Out of nowhere, I had chest pains, so I visited the local hospital ER. My co-pays and prescriptions are reflected in March's spending — and there's more to come. (We're about to have a l-o-n-g article on the $6800 hospital bill I received in the mail yesterday. That'll happen in April or May.) Meanwhile, Kim had knee surgery at the end of the month. I paid for some of her stuff out of my pocket.
• I spent $579.36 on gifts in March, which is very very unusual.
• I paid the $450 annual fee on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. (Yes, I know this seems like a lot. But remember the card comes with a $300 travel credit, which means my effective annual fee is $150. I believe I receive $150 in value from the card's other benefits.)

I don't consider any of that spending frivolous although I recognize that some of it isn't necessary. (Do we need an orchard? Do I need to give gifts?)

That said, I did have some weak spots in my spending. I bought several movies on iTunes. In fact, I spent $72.63 on iTunes in March. I need to be careful lest I return to my former profligate ways. No more looking in the iTunes store! I also spent $230.15 on alcohol during the month (most of which was beer).

How did I do with groceries? As you know, my food spending had grown out of control, which is one of the primary reasons I'm tracking my spending in detail this year. Last year, I spent over $1000 per month in food. This year, I'm spending less than $700 per month.

I was very proud of my food spending for most of March. I spent a total of $658.21 during the month: $468.27 on groceries and $184.24 on dining out. That's my lowest monthly food total in two years (excepting months during which I've been on the road).

Going into the last week of March, I'd only spent $241.87 on groceries. That's amazing! Things fell apart, however, when I stocked up on food for Kim's convalescence. Meanwhile, we only had three restaurant meals during the month. For one of those, I paid for two guests. Not bad. Not bad.

Quarterly Spending

Now that we've made it through the first three months of 2019, I was curious how my quarterly spending compared to last year. Monthly spending can fluctuate quite a bit. You can get a better idea of your actual habits by looking at a bigger picture.

Here are some highlights:

• I spent $116.56 at the iTunes store during the first quarter of 2019. That's less than I spent on movies and TV shows during any single month last year, so that's a win.
• I spent $2076.54 on food for the quarter, which is lower than any quarter in 2018. I spent $1179.53 on groceries, $323.52 on HelloFresh, and $542.29 on dining out. That restaurant spending is another big win. The grocery spending was good — better than any quarter in 2018 — but I feel like I can do better.
• I spent a lot on health and fitness during the first three months of the year: $1752.60. And the thing is, it's not going to get much better.
• This year, I decided to separate hot tub expenses into its own category. I spent $151.88 on hot tub stuff (chemicals, etc.) during the first three months of the year. And, no, that doesn't include electricity.
• Our zoo — three cats and a dog — cost us $447.54 during the first quarter of 2019.
• You know where I could save big bucks? By drinking less. I spent $586.36 on alcohol during the first three months of the year (and that includes four weeks during which I didn't drink a drop!). That's $6.44 per day. Time for me to cut back on my craft beer obsession…

I spent a total of $15,364.85 during the first quarter of 2019, an average of $5121.62 per month. That's not a great number, to be honest. It's pretty much what I was spending last year. Still, I'm trying not to get too stressed about things…yet.

The whole point of this exercise is for me to figure out where I'm spending my money and why. Once I have a clear picture, I can make some course corrections.

April Is the Cruelest Month

Unfortunately, April is going to have some crazy, crazy spending numbers. My accountant called yesterday to give me my tax bill. I owe $20,000. (I'm not joking.) The hospital called too. They wanted to let me know that I owe them $6800 for the ER visit in the middle of March. To cap things off, payment is due on the vacation that Kim and I booked a year ago. We'll be headed to Greece and Italy in August — but we're paying for it today.

Fortunately, I knew that some of these expenses were looming, so I have cash set aside to pay for taxes and our trip. (The ER visit was a surprise, obviously, and I don't have money set aside for that.) That doesn't change the fact that April's expenses are going to be insane, though. It just means I'm somewhat prepared for the insanity.

The upside to having a $6800 hospital bill so early in the year? It gives me a chance to make maximum use of my health insurance! My max “out of pocket” is $7900 annually. Since it looks like I'm going to hit that, it makes sense to address all medical issues that are bugging me in 2019.

At the end of 2018, I had a net worth of $1,334,227.20. At the end of March, my net worth was $1,397,545.18. That's a leap of more than $63,000 (or 4.75%). That's great! In reality, this simply reflects a hot stock market. My investment accounts are up $77,933.04 this year (11.45%).

A hot stock market can cover a multitude of sins…

The post By the numbers: My spending for March 2019 appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

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How I Cut My Spending in Half

In a fit of procrastination, I recently took a deep look at my spending all the way back to 2016. I was shocked to find that for a brief period, I was spending about 800$/month, not including my set bills. Luckily I have since cut spending! I had never spent that much before, and I [...]

The post How I Cut My Spending in Half appeared first on Money After Graduation.

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Lifestyles of the Rich and Foolish

It's the first of April. You know what that means. Spring is here! Your friends and family are pulling April Fools' Day pranks. And my tree allergies are kicking my butt. Every year, tree pollen makes my life miserable. This year is no different.

Facebook kindly reminded me this morning that three years ago, Kim and I were in Asheville, North Carolina. After wintering in Savannah, Georgia, we'd resumed our tour of the U.S. by RV.

While in Asheville, we toured the Biltmore Estate, the largest home in the U.S. This 250-room chateau contains 179,000 square feet of floor space — including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces — and originally sat on 195 square miles of land. (Today, the estate “only” contains 8000 acres.)

“This feels like Downton Abbey but in North Carolina,” I said as we walked the endless halls. Just as Downton Abbey documented the excesses of British upper class, so too the Biltmore sometimes feels like an example of how rich Americans indulged in decadence.

George Washington Vanderbilt II, the man who built Biltmore, was a member of one of the country's wealthiest families. His grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, was born poor in 1794, but by the time he died in 1877 he had become one of the richest men in the world. During his lifetime, he built a fortune first from steamships and then as a prominent railroad tycoon.

By family standards, grandson George didn't have a lot of money. He inherited about $7 million, and drew income from a $5 million trust fund. He decided to use the bulk of his fortune to build a huge house high in the Appalachians. Work on the Biltmore Estate began in 1889, when George was 26 years old. Six years and $5 million later, he moved into his palace. (That $5 million would be roughly $90 million in today's dollars.)

Strolling the grounds of the Biltmore Estate got me thinking about the stories we hear of wealthy people who squander their riches. How and why do they do this? Are there lessons from their stories that you and I can put to use?

We hear all the time about the “lifestyles of the rich and famous”. Today, on April 1st, let's look at some lifestyles of the rich and foolish.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Foolish

There are so many stories of athletes and entertainers who have blown big fortunes that it's tough to know where to start. Who should we pick on first? Since I've never been a fan of Nicolas Cage — and since he seems to be especially bad with money — let's use him an example.

Over a period of fifteen years, Cage earned more than $150 million. He blew through that money buying things like:

• Fifteen homes, including an $8 million English castle that he never stayed in once.
• A private island.
• Four luxury yachts.
• A fleet of exotic cars, including a Lamborghini that used to belong to the Shah of Iran.
• A dinosaur skull he won after a bidding contest with Leonardo DiCaprio.
• A private jet.

It's not fair to characterize Cage as “broke” — he's still a bankable movie star — but his net worth is reportedly only about $25 million. (That's like someone with an average income having a net worth of roughly $25,000.) He could be worth ten times as much but his foolish financial habits have caused him woe.

Cage got in trouble with the IRS for failing to pay millions of dollars in taxes. He's been sued by multiple companies for failing to repay loans. His business manager says that he's tried to warn Cage that his lifestyle exceeds his means, but the actor won't listen.

Cage is but one of many celebrities who have done dumb things with money. Other prominent examples include:

• MC Hammer sold the rights to his songs to raise money after being bankrupted by his lavish lifestyle. Hammer earned more than $33 million in the early nineties, but spent the money on a $12 million mansion (with gold-plated gates), a fleet of seventeen vehicles, two helicopters, and extravagant parties. [source, source]
• Actress Kim Basinger paid $20 million to buy the town of Braselton, Georgia in 1989. When Basinger filed for bankruptcy just four years later, she was forced to sell the town. [source]
• On the night of 01 February 1976, Elvis Presley decided he wanted a Fool's Gold Loaf, a special sandwich made of hollowed bread, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a pound of bacon. He and his entourage flew from Memphis to Denver. The group ate their sandwiches and then flew home. Price: $50,000 – $60,000. [source]
• Even authors get in on the act. Writer Mark Twain made tons of money through his work, but he lost much of it to bad investments, mostly in new inventions: a bed clamp for infants, a new type of steam engine, and a machine designed to engrave printing plates. Twain was a sucker for get rich quick schemes. [source, source]

When it comes to frittering way fortunes, it's hard to compete with sports superstars. In a 2009 Sports Illustrated article about how and why athletes go broke, Pablo S. Torre wrote that after two years of retirement, “78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress.” Within five years of retirement, roughly 60% of former NBA players are in similar positions.

Some examples:

• Boxer Mike Tyson earned over $300 million in his professional career. He lost it all, spending the money on cars, jewels, pet tigers, and more. He eventually filed for bankruptcy. [source]
• When Yoenis Cespedes signed a new $75 million contract with the New York Mets, he drove a new vehicle each day during the first week of training camp, including a Lamborghini Aventador ($397,000) and an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione ($299,000). [source]
• Basketballer Vin Baker earned $100 million during his career. He's now worth $500,000. He manages a Starbucks store in a small town in Rhode Island. (To be fair, Baker sees to be turning his life around, which is awesome.) [source]
• Hall-of-fame pitcher Curt Schilling earned $112 million during 20 years in the big leagues. It wasn't enough to keep up with his spending. Plus he lost $50 million through the collapse of a company he owned. In 2013, he held a “fire sale” to avoid bankruptcy.

It can be tough to sympathize with these folks. Used wisely, their immense fortunes could sustain them and their families for a long time. Instead, they squander their money on fleeting pleasures and the trappings of wealth.

Still, I believe it's best to keep the schadenfreude in check. “There but for the grace of God” and all that, right? I've seen plenty of examples of average folks who have wasted smaller windfalls. In fact, this sort of thing seem to be the rule rather than the exception.

But why does this happen? The answer might be Sudden-Wealth Syndrome.

Lottery winners have the same kinds of problems. A 2001 article in The American Economic Review found that after receiving half their jackpots, the typical lotto winner had only put about 16% of that money into savings. It's estimated that over a quarter of lottery winners go bankrupt.

Take Bud Post: He won $16.2 million in 1988. Within weeks of receiving his first annual payment of nearly half a million dollars, he'd spent $300,000. During the next few years, Post bought boats, mansions, and airplanes, but trouble followed him everywhere. “I was much happier when I was broke,” he's reported to have said. When he died in 2006, Post was living on a $450 monthly disability check.

Sudden-Wealth Syndrome

In 2012, ESPN released a documentary called Broke that explores the relationship between pro athletes and money. How does sudden wealth affect young men? What happens when highly-competitive athletes with high incomes hang out together? Lots of stupid stuff, as it turns out.

Here's a nine-minute montage from Broke in which wealth manager Ed Butowsky talks about why athletes get into trouble with money:

Broke is an interesting film. The players speak candidly about the mistakes they've made: buying 25 pairs of shoes at one time, buying fur coats they never wore, buying cars they never drove. They're not proud of their pasts — some are ashamed — but they're willing to talk about the problem in the hopes they can help others avoid doing the same dumb things in the future.

Curious how much your favorite actor or athlete earns? Check out Celebrity Net Worth, a website devoted to tracking the financial health of people in the public eye.

Broke does a good job of explaining why our sports heroes can't seem to make smart money moves. The problem is Sudden-Wealth Syndrome. Essentially, young folks who earn big bucks don't get a chance to “practice” with money before they're buried with wealth.

The typical person earns a little when they're young, but watches their salary grow slowly with time. Their income peaks during their forties and fifties. As a result, they get time to make mistakes with small amounts of money first which means (in theory) that they're less likely to blow big bucks down the road.

On the other hand, athletes (and entertainers) have a completely different earning pattern. They leave school to instant riches. For a few years, they earn great gobs of money. But usually their income declines sharply with time — until it stops altogether.

Here's a (pathetic) chart I created to help visualize this phenomenon:

Athletes and entertainers need to figure out how to make five years of income last for fifty years. This never occurs to most of them. “[A pro athlete] can't live like a king forever,” says Bart Scott in ESPN's Broke. “But you can live like a prince forever.”

Sudden-Wealth Syndrome doesn't just affect athletes and actors. Lottery winners experience it too. So do average folks who inherit a chunk of change or business owners who sell their companies.

The fundamental problem is that nobody ever teaches us how to handle a windfall. Windfalls are rare, and in most cases they can't be planned for. (Some folks might be able to plan for an inheritance or the sale of a business, but these situations are relatively uncommon.) As a result, when the average person happens into a chunk of change, they spend it.

Here's what you should do instead.

How NOT to Waste a Windfall

When you receive a windfall, whether it's a tax refund, an inheritance, a gift, or from any other source, it's like you've been given a second chance. Although you may have made money mistakes in the past, you now have a chance to fix those mistakes (or some of them, anyhow) and start down the path of smart money management.

It can be tempting to spend your windfall on toys, trips, and other things that you “deserve,” but doing so will leave you in the same place you were before you received the windfall. And if that place was chained to debt, you'll be just as unhappy as you've always been.

If you receive a chunk of cash, I recommend that you:

• Keep five percent to treat yourself and your family. Let's be realistic. If you receive $1,000 or $10,000 or $100,000 unexpectedly, you're going to want to spend some of it. No problem. But don't spend all of it. I used to recommend spending one percent of a windfall on yourself, but from talking to people, that's not enough. Now I suggest spending five percent on fun. That means $50 of a $1,000 windfall, $500 of a $10,000 windfall, or $5,000 of a $100,000 windfall.
• Pay any taxes due. Depending on the source of your money, you might owe taxes on it at the end of the year. If you forget this fact and spend the money, you can end up in a bind when the taxes come due. Consult a tax professional. If needed, set aside enough to pay your taxes before you do anything else.
• Pay off debt. Doing so will generally provide the greatest possible return on your investment (a 20 percent return if your credit cards charge you 20 percent). It'll also free up cash flow; if you pay off a card with a $50 minimum monthly payment, that's $50 extra you'll have available each month. Most of all, repaying debt will relieve the psychological weight you've been carrying for so long.
• Fix the things that are broken. After you've eliminated any existing debt, use your windfall to repair whatever is broken in your life. Start with your own health. If you've been putting off a trip to the dentist or a medical procedure, take care of it. Do the same for your family. Next, fix your car or the roof or the sidewalk. Use this opportunity to patch up the things you've been putting off.
• Deposit the rest of the money in a safe account. It can be tempting to spend the rest of your windfall on a new motorcycle or new furniture or new house. Don't. After attending to your immediate needs, deposit the remaining money in a new savings account separate from the rest of your bank accounts — and then leave this money alone.

To successfully manage a windfall, you must allow the initial euphoria to pass, getting over the urge to spend the money today. Live as you were before. Meanwhile, calculate how far your windfall could go. Most people have unrealistic expectations about how much $10,000 or $100,000 can buy.

In 2009, I received an enormous windfall. The old J.D. would have gone crazy with the money. The new, improved model of me was prepared, and made measured moves designed to favor long-term happiness over short-term happiness.

Today, the bulk of my windfall remains in the same place it's been for the past five years: an investment account. That cash eases my mind. It helps me sleep easy at night. And that's more rewarding than spending it on new toys could ever be.

Setting a Good Example

Not everyone who gets rich quickly does dumb things with money. Especially as the plight of pro athletes becomes better known, there are prominent examples of young superstars making savvy money moves. They're learning from the lessons of those who came before.

Take Toronto Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard, for instance. This 27-year-old NBA MVP earns $23 million per year — but still clips coupons for his favorite restaurant. He drives a 1997 Chevy Tahoe. Sure, he bought himself a Porsche, but he's not interested in flash and bling. “I'm not gonna buy some fancy watch just to show people something fancy on my wrist,” he says. [source]

Jamal Mashburn has made wise use of his wealth. So has LeBron James, who takes his investment advice from Warren Buffett:

Here are other superstars who act as money bosses:

• During his 12-year career in the NBA, Junior Bridgeman never earned more than $350,000. Unlike most players, however, he planned ahead. He recognized his basketball income would eventually vanish. He bought a Wendy's fast-food franchise and learned the business inside-out. He became a hands-on owner. He expanded from one store to three to six — and then to a small empire. Today, twenty-five years after retirement, Bridgeman owns more than 160 Wendy's restaurants and 120 Chili's franchises. His company employs 11,000 people and generates over half a billion in revenue every year. His personal net worth tops $400 million. [source]
• Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski — who just retired last week — is a shining example of how to handle sudden wealth correctly. The 29-year-old earned over $53 million for playing on the field — and hasn't spent any of it. Here are his own words: “To this day, I still haven't touched one dime of my signing bonus or NFL contract money. I live off my marketing money and haven't blown it on any big-money expensive cars, expensive jewelry or tattoos and still wear my favorite pair of jeans from high school.” [source]
• Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch has a similar story. During his twelve-year NFL career, Lynch has collected nearly 57 million from his contract. Reportedly, he hasn't spent a penny of that money. Instead, he's been cautious to live only off his endorsement earnings. Whether this is true or not, Lynch is known to be a good example to his teammates, helping them with their 401(k)s and other financial issues. [source]

Sometimes superstars who have been poor with money have a flash of insight and they're able to turn things around. Former NFL player Phillip Buchanon is a perfect example. After watching ESPN's Broke, he realized he was headed for trouble. He mended his ways and started managing his money wisely. Now he's written a book with advice for other folks who are fortunate enough to encounter a windfall. [source]

When people make a lot of money, they're able to spend a lot of money. Sometimes the super-rich can afford to build a place like the Biltmore Estate. The problem isn't a single extravagant purchase, but a lavish lifestyle in which they spend more than they earn. Real wealth isn't about earning money — it's about keeping money.

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