Personal Finance Blogs
Featuring the Best Personal Finance Blog Articles
Today's Personal Finance Articles
View articles only on the topic you search below.
Dear Kristy, I just wanted to say that you have truly changed my life… Messages like this make my ears perk up. Despite having last heard from this particular reader about a decade ago, I remembered them. Back then, they had just discovered FIRE, and peppered us with questions about savings, investing, taxation, etc. Chief among her concerns was that she earned $60,000 a year and lived in an expensive city in the USA. Was […]
A few days ago I was catching up with a friend, and our conversation drifted to focus. We both agreed that staying focused feels harder than ever. Everyone I talk to seems to be fighting the same battle. Even when we’ve cut down on social media and turned off notifications, our minds wander. That chat stuck with me. I wondered why focus remains elusive even when we avoid obvious distractions. I pulled out my journal […]
The role of a financial advisor can vary greatly depending on each client’s needs. I often joke to my office neighbors, many of whom are therapists, that I am an “untrained therapist.” While the joke is entirely unfair to their post-graduate education and profession, I have been surprised by how much of my work requires similar skills to those of a therapist. Here are some of the many hats I wear in my day-to-day work as a financial advisor.The MirrorSometimes I am a mirror, helping to reflect the client’s words back in a more digestible format. People want to be heard and to be understood. The most essential skill for a financial advisor is learning to remain quiet and to listen. In recent years, I have adopted a practice of allowing time for silence after a client stops speaking. The silence invites them to share more. What is shared after a few seconds of silence, often, is the most important thing, but you have to wait for it. In the role of a mirror, I will summarize what I have heard a client say in my own words, and then ask for clarification. This allows the client to correct anything I may have misunderstood and to add more to the topic. The SpongeThere are also times when clients need me to be a sponge and absorb what they need to unload. This role is the most similar to that of a therapist. Money is a vital topic, second only in importance to health. But our brains are not wired to watch the value of a portfolio change wildly with market movements. Add in the 24-hour doom news cycle, and it’s easy to accumulate a ton of mind garbage that needs unloading. Emotions are inextricably linked to money and investing. But making investment decisions based on emotions is almost always a mistake. Being a sponge to help release those emotions is a key role of a financial advisor. The Intellectual Sparing PartnerInvesting is a heady endeavor. It requires learning a mix of economic and statistical model, academic theorems, and equations. All of this math is mixed with a relentless attempt to predict an uncertain future. News stories and headlines provide a constant drum of ‘evidence’ either supporting or negating one’s predictions. Clients often need someone to debate the pros and cons and to provide a framework for making decisions. I am a fan of using the worst-case scenario possibility and working backward from it. It is so easy to get lost in the potential upsides that we develop blind spots to risk. Acting as a neutral, intellectual sparing partner is a fun and stimulating role to play. The Punching BagOne of the top reasons to hire a financial advisor is to take the pressure off of making investment decisions. The advisor becomes the person to blame when markets take their next, inevitable downturn. This is when I assume the role of a punching bag to absorb a few blows. Similar to
A poor millionaire sounds like an oxymoron, but they definitely exist. Roughly 6% of U.S. households are millionaires, yet many of them still don’t feel rich. A poor millionaire is someone worth over $1 million but unable to access much of their wealth. In other words, their net worth is highly illiquid. A layoff, bear market, or […] The post Poor Versus Rich Millionaires: Liquidity Is The Difference appeared first on Financial Samurai.
See how Ron built a $4M portfolio and retired early to live as a nomad, spending less than his growing dividend income. Learn the DGI strategy that made it possible. The post Yielding the Dream: Ron’s Journey to $4 Million and Nomadic Retirement appeared first on European Dividend Growth Investor.
Year 4 of COVID in the Bay Area Year 6, Day 182: I woke up at 5 am with hands curled into claws. My fingers, stiff and swollen, couldn’t be straightened. At first I was confused but then I realized I’d done this to myself. The kids needed outdoor exercise time yesterday but my skeletal […]
With Q3 2025 in the books, it is time for a quarterly update on my 2025 goals and resolutions. For those of you who are new, since 2019, I have set goals and resolutions at … Read more
🎙️Episode #454 – What if you could earn 50% more rent without the headaches of Airbnb? Discover how midterm rentals give investors higher returns with… The post The Rental Strategy Most Investors Are Missing Right Now appeared first on Coach Carson.
Today I have an update for you from a previous millionaire interview. I’m letting three years pass from the initial interviews to the updates, so if you’ve been interviewed, I’ll be in touch. This update was submitted in August. As usual, my questions are in bold italics and their responses follow… OVERVIEW How old are you? I will turn 57 this year, my husband is 61; we just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. The other day, […]
Quali sono le migliori alternative a Trade Republic? Quale scegliere e perché? Ricorda: Investire comporta rischi di perdite. Informati a dovere, valuta bene la tua propensione al rischio e non investire in strumenti che non comprendi.Nota: Investimi potrebbe guadagnare una commissione sulle vendite realizzate dai partner grazie ai link contenuti in questa pagina. In accordo con le nostre linee editoriali, le opinioni e le valutazioni non sono in alcun modo influenzate da tali accordi commerciali. […]
If you’ve ever had the thought, “my husband isn’t who I thought he’d be” you’re not alone. Maybe it’s subtle — the way he parents, how he handles stress, or the fact that his goals have shifted since you first met. Or maybe it feels bigger — you imagined a different kind of emotional connection, more help at home, or a shared vision that just isn’t lining up right now. It’s a quiet but jarring […]
If you lost your job today or had some sort of emergency that required some extra cash, would you be able to cover the costs and how long would you be able to pay your bills without landing a new job? If the answer is I couldn’t then it’s time to start putting money into […] Continue Reading The post Monday Money Tip-Emergency Funds appeared first on My Worthy Penny.
For many small business owners, the struggle to maintain healthy cash flow often has a hidden culprit: inventory management. The challenge becomes acute for e-commerce ventures. Managing the delicate balance between stockouts and overstocking demands precision. Without reliable systems, business owners rely on guesswork. As online retail expands, tools for managing inventory have improved. Modern inventory systems now bring small businesses capabilities once limited to major retailers. Real-time data and automated reordering can quickly improve […]