Hello friends! How are you this fine morning? Have you ever left an employer and accidentally forgotten about your old 401(k) account? Maybe you intended to roll it over to a new retirement plan, but the paperwork felt daunting so you never got around to it ... (About 30% of you should be nodding your heads right now, according to studies.) Then after years of the
Investing
WTF Is an NFT?
Odds are you’ve seen the letters “NFT” floating around in financial and tech news for the past few months. And if you’re like me you’re totally confused about all this NFT and crypto art stuff. So I reached out to my smartest blogger friend, Jesse from Best Interest, who has a gift for breaking down complex topics and explaining them in layman's terms. Jesse explains the NFT
2 Big Differences Between Successful and Unsuccessful Investors
I have a friend who is a cryptocurrency millionaire. Woohoo! ...But another friend has LOST thousands of dollars messing with crypto. ☹️ I know a couple who made more than $1 million dollars on GameStop stock. Crazy! 😳 ...But I also know that many people LOST large chunks of money trading GameStop during the recent wallstreetbets fandango.
Dollar Cost Averaging vs Lump Sum Investing (What to Do With a Pile of Cash)
A friend of mine just admitted to me a big money problem… She has a little over $200,000 in CASH sitting in her checking account! 😳 Hot dang! That’s a lot of moolah!!! Some of you might be thinking, “What’s the problem? That’s awesome! I wish I had that much in savings!”... Well, the problem is, her money isn’t actually invested in anything. It has wicked
How Big Should an Emergency Fund for a Rental Property Be?
I got the following note from a reader the other day... “Joel, I noticed you keep a big emergency fund for your rental property. 2 questions for you... 1) It seems like you have too much cash because shouldn’t you only need 3-6 months of mortgage payments as a cash reserve? 2) Also why do you keep this emergency fund separate from your personal emergency fund?” Great
2 Big Investing Mistakes That Actually Made Me Smarter
Back in 2013, I bought 25 shares of Tesla stock. I remember seeing electric cars starting to pop up around my neighborhood at the time and thought they were so cool! Like most beginning investors, I checked the stock price every 15 minutes after making the trade. (Actually that’s a lie -- I probably checked the prices every 5 minutes! 🤣). My $1,350 investment in
Why I’m Transitioning Away from Rental Properties
First, I must preface: this is not an anti-real estate post. I think real estate is an excellent wealth building tool, and don’t want to discourage anyone out there from buying rental properties. That being said, I’m thinking about downsizing my rental portfolio this year, and don’t have any plans to buy more properties in the near term. A few people reached out and asked
2021 Financial Goal-Setting and the Fresh Start Theory
Have you ever heard of the “fresh start theory”? It’s basically a theory that people are more likely to tackle and achieve their goals if they begin them on a landmark date ... Like the 1st of the month, their birthday, January 1st, or any date of significance. Landmark dates are motivating. They mark the exact date when you stop being the old you, and start being the new
HM Bradley: A 3% Interest Checking Account Based on your Savings Rate
I just learned about a cool new bank that some of you nerds might like. It could be a great tool if you are currently building up an emergency fund, saving up a down payment for a house, OR, if you want to earn a decent interest rate on an existing pile of cash! This bank is called HMBradley, and they offer a 3% interest rate on regular checking accounts. Pretty dang
Net Worth Report #3 – “Cup of Tea”
Well, paint me green and call me a pickle! Last month the Dow Jones industrial average experienced its biggest monthly gain in more than 33 years!! The last time this happened was the month of January1987! But then, just 9 months later in October 1987, the Dow recorded the biggest single *daily* LOSS ever. “Black Monday” they call it (or in Australia they called it Black
