success

I believe that cash flow is one of the most powerful concepts in personal finance. People tends to know how they feel about their personal finance — e.g., whether they are comfortable or are struggling. Unfortunately, not too many people truly understand cash flow and how important it is to your finances. When you understand [...]

A common lesson from a children’s story book has become one of the guiding principles for investing: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” But lately, I’ve come across a few articles where people are questioning the wisdom of diversification. Today, we are going to ask the question – could you make more [...]

Financial independence is a term typically used to describe a state where you have sufficient assets to live a certain lifestyle indefinitely without having to work or be employed.  Whether your income is derived from interest on savings, investment income, real estate income or something else, it really doesn’t matter.  The key is that you’re [...]

Although I am fairly young, this is the most difficult job market that I can remember or can even imagine. Everyone I speak with seems to have some level of job insecurity. During tough economic times in the past, there were always a few professions that were “safe”: medicine, law, government, etc. These days however, [...]

I recently read an article in The New York Times (hat tip for bringing it to my attention: MAPping Company Success) about the increasing trend of using real money to pay for virtual goods. The article also addresses the rise of credit, via a company called Kwedit.com, to pay for virtual purchases online. This article [...]

If you read enough personal finance blogs, you’ll see a common theme and the number one answer to your financial dilemma — “Spend Less than You Earn”. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done, otherwise, we wouldn’t have this rampant debt problem in our society. Fortunately, I went through this myself, and over the years, I’ve [...]

If you have kids, you probably know that only health care cost increases can compete with the inflation seen by education costs. This means that you are probably going to need to do what you can to help your child get the college financial aid that he or she needs. Even if you have been [...]

On January 18th of this year, I finally decided I was ready to make some New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never really done the resolution thing in the past, and so I wasn’t compelled to do it come December 31 or January 1. But I recognize that goals are good — and so I came up [...]

Whether planning a vacation, a business trip or a getaway to see family, traveling is a very expensive, yet important part of life. In this article, I’ll share some ideas to help you find ways to save money when booking a flight, hotel, and rental car to make your experience less stressful and lighter on [...]

Your financial life has a certain trajectory — similar to a train on a track. There will be twists and turns, but you can easily determine where you will end up if you stay on the financial track you’re currently on.  What if the traditional methods of working hard, cutting expenses, and saving don’t work [...]