I’ve got a confession for all of you: I’m getting impatient! It was approximately 10 years ago that I first learned what a 401k was (I had never even heard of one before) and began my first steps towards saving for retirement. Like many of you, I knew the path to create wealth would be lined with hard work, lots of saving, and choosing the right investments. I took the conventional financial advice and began with a modest 10% savings rate. It wasn’t until the last few years that I’ve tried to accelerate my results by bumping my savings rate to extremely high amounts. So is it any wonder that when I look at my 401k balance and see how long I have to go that I feel I’m playing a rigged game? Sure if I stay the course I might have a … [Read more...] about Is the Conventional System to Create Wealth Rigged?
Archives for January 2013
How I Made $1,200 with One Phone Call
Ask and you shall receive, right? Anyone who has never experimented with this mantra is missing out. It never ceases to amaze me how often I receive things at a discount simply because I asked for it. (Making deals with customers at my job has taught me that pretty much the price on anything is negotiable). Well … this one has got to be up there as a shinning example of why you need to try this. … [Read more...] about How I Made $1,200 with One Phone Call
What is Financial Freedom – The Easy to Follow Explanation
The tagline to My Money Design has always been designing financial freedom. For as long as I’ve been into reading financial books and blogs about money, I’ve seen a lot of them try to answer the question of what is financial freedom. However, I feel as though the weight of this term often gets lost or trivialized. In this post, we’re going to layout a definition for financial freedom and explain where we need to focus in order to achieve it. … [Read more...] about What is Financial Freedom – The Easy to Follow Explanation
Rethinking My Strategy for What Stocks to Buy This Year
One thing you will learn in investing is that nothing is ever absolute and that rules are made to be broken. With that said, I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to what stocks to buy this year and my previous declaration to use the Dogs of the Dow strategy. As I get closer to actually making a purchase, I’m starting to reconsider my initial plan and may have an alternative solution that would make more sense. Here’s is where my mind is at: … [Read more...] about Rethinking My Strategy for What Stocks to Buy This Year
Doing a Better Job Tracking My Passive Income Streams and Retirement Savings
I’ve got to admit: 2012 was not a bad year as far as my passive income streams go! Before blogging and investing, I was relying on sign-up bonuses, credit card rewards, and small stuff like online surveys to make a little side cash. A lot can change in a year and half … Since taking a leap of faith on blogging and investing, I’ve made a lot more money than I ever thought I would from passive income. Blogging has by far been the front-runner with its endless possibilities of advertising, affiliate sales, writing, etc. After a lot of research, I also laid the first brick of my soon-to-be castle of dividend paying stocks – an effort I expect to cross $100 per month mark in no time. But one thing I regret not doing since the beginning of … [Read more...] about Doing a Better Job Tracking My Passive Income Streams and Retirement Savings
P2P Investing Denied! What Should be My Next Passive Income Ambition?
And so it was over before it even began … The tires on my P2P investing (peer to peer) efforts quickly went flat last week when I discovered some very important information. To bring everyone up to speed, I had wanted to start off 2013 by adding a new form of passive income to my money design. Last year blogging income and dividend stocks were valuable additions. This year out of the available choices I had listed, P2P investing was the one that stood out. It intrigued me in a number of ways: • Potential higher net rates of return than a stock market index fund • A steady stream of interest income • Access to the earnings before retirement age (helping the early retirement efforts) • Potentially lower risk (if you pick borrowers … [Read more...] about P2P Investing Denied! What Should be My Next Passive Income Ambition?
Should I Sell My Structured Settlement? Some Reasons Why You May Want To
Have you ever heard of someone being awarded a large amount of money (from a lawsuit, lottery, etc) and wondered if they receive it all at once? Chances are … they usually don’t. Most of the time, the payment is broken up into smaller payments over a fixed duration of time. So for example, instead of receiving $500,000 all at once from a lawsuit, the plaintiff may receive $2,000 each month for the next 30 years. Putting it all together, this type of payment is called a structured settlement. Investopedia defines a structured settlement as: While we often focus on building wealth for the long-term, it’s important to look at things from both sides of the fence. Therefore, I recognize that there may be some situations where … [Read more...] about Should I Sell My Structured Settlement? Some Reasons Why You May Want To
So Long Current Bank Account and Your New Fees – I Found a Chase Bonus Coupon!
Want a chance to win $1,000 in cash? Keep reading and check out the free contest at the bottom of the post. So if you’re a bank, how do you reward someone who has had a bank account with you for the past 30 years or so? How about by sticking them with $11 per month account fees! Sounds like a solid business plan, right? Well, that’s exactly what my bank did! How to Lose a Life Long Customer: You read it right. The bank that I’ve used since I was a little boy called me up this week to tell me that they were involuntary switching over all their accounts in the new year, and that my new checking account would have a $11 a month fee unless I met certain minimums. Forget that! I flat out told them that this was disappointing … [Read more...] about So Long Current Bank Account and Your New Fees – I Found a Chase Bonus Coupon!