The holidays are one of the best times of the year, but they can also be one of the most expensive. And things aren’t getting better: according to the National Retail Federation, holiday spending is expected to reach record levels in 2023, with a projection between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion. If you’re one of the millions who expect to spend more this year, try these these holiday budgeting tips. Key Takeaways Set a holiday […]

One of the most anticipated Christmas activities at our house is our Christmas book countdown. All of our kids, currently ranging from 6 to 17, enjoy this nightly tradition to count down the days in December until Christmas. Even though most of the books are the same every year, there is an element of surprise since all of the books are wrapped. Half of the fun is getting to unwrap something before Christmas. The other […]

The worst investments I’ve ever owned all share one thing in common—I couldn’t sell them. Whether we are talking fractional shares of expensive artwork or private investments in friends’ companies, I didn’t realize the paramount importance of liquidity until quite recently. And I’m saying this as the Just Keep Buying guy. Trust me, I don’t sell investments often. But, sometimes, I have to. Sometimes it’s for a rebalance. Sometimes it’s to generate a tax loss. Either way, I need to sell. But, what if I can’t sell them? What if there’s no secondary market for these assets? What’s the point of owning 9 square inches of a Basquiat if no one ever buys it? What’s the point of having private shares in a company if they keep doing down rounds? Illiquidity can be brutal. I didn’t understand this as a younger investor. I assumed that having more asset classes was always better. Have a little bit of everything because diversification, right? But now I’m paying the price for that decision. Owning un-diversified, illiquid assets is one of the worst things I’ve done as an investor. It’s worse than just losing money because when you lose money you know the end result. The uncertainty is gone. But owning illiquid assets, especially those that aren’t doing well, is investment purgatory. I have private company shares that are worth more to me as a tax loss than their current value on my balance sheet. Of course, I don’t want these companies to fail. But locking up my money for a decade and watching them fail anyways would be the worst of both worlds. Though I’d still get my tax loss, I’d only get it after it’s been devalued by inflation for a decade. This is why I now despise illiquidity in my portfolio. But not everyone agrees. Some see illiquidity as a feature, not a bug of a great investment. This seems to be the case when it comes to private equity and venture capital investments. As Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the Markets highlighted, top quartile funds typically don’t return capital for over 15 years: This illustrates just how long it can take for these kinds of investments to play out. And, unless you’ve accepted this going in, then you shouldn’t even bother. I didn’t realize this when I made all of my illiquid investments in 2021. Then again, if some of these investments had done well, today I’d probably be singing a very different tune. Unfortunately, they haven’t. But it’s not just me who’s struggling with illiquidity. Dan Rasmussen recently gave an interview where he discussed the liquidity issues he’s seeing across private equity: I think we’re in phase one where private equity can’t sell the assets that they have. So people are saying “Oh gosh, they can’t get distributions.” But they still think it’s worth exactly what the private equity firms are telling them. The only logical conclusion from Rasmussen’s analysis is that prices must fall. Unfortunately, private equity doesn’t have a

If you’re going to be buying a new house, there are some important steps that you need to follow. Skipping any of them could result in you purchasing a home that isn’t suitable for you, and one that you regret purchasing not long after the sale goes through. We don’t want to see this happen to you, which is why we’re going to outline these steps down below. If you’d like to learn more, feel […]

We look at the different options your lender may offer you when when overpaying a mortgage and examine what each one does. The post What is the best way to overpay a mortgage? appeared first on The Financial Wilderness.

Honest Lebara review: coverage via Vodafone, EU roaming, international calls, pricing, pros/cons—see deals and whether Lebara beats O2/VOXI/Smarty. The post Lebara Mobile Review appeared first on The Financial Wilderness.

Which press release regarding using AI to do your complaints About half of people are now using AI to search online, but new Which? research into AI tools finds the likes of Chat GPT, Gemini and Meta AI giving inaccurate, unclear and risky advice which could prove costly if followed. Under controlled lab conditions, Which? tested six AI tools – ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Gemini AI Overview (AIO), Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta AI and Perplexity – to […]

Image Source: Shutterstock While most of us scroll past influencer content without a second thought, some creators are quietly building empires behind the scenes. One such power couple, Tamara and Simon Hill-Norton, turned a personal frustration into a global brand worth £300 million. Their company, Sweaty Betty, began as a response to the lack of stylish, functional women’s workout wear. What started as a boutique in London has grown into a fitness fashion juggernaut adored […]