investing Archives - Page 9 of 9

August 12, 2019August 12, 2019

Fear: Here’s How It’s Holding You Back

Do you ever pass on requesting vacation because you fear your work ethic will be called into question?

Do you avoid international travel because everything seems so different?

Are you convinced that crime is getting worse, so you should take more drastic measures to protect yourself and your family? Crime has in fact fallen sharply.

Above are just a few examples of how fear dictates our actions and inactions on a daily basis. Frankly, every week I fear that you, dear reader, won’t like what I write here. Boy, I sure hope you do. But are we letting our lives pass us by because we fear the unknown?

April 15, 2019August 9, 2021

Reader Case Study: Maximize Adventure or Career?

Full disclosure, I’m posting this week’s case study as an interview, but no one is being interviewed here. This post is the amalgamation of several email discussions I’ve had with readers in the last two to three months. The premise is this: folks out there know some form of career is necessary, but they’re overwhelmed by the idea of 40+ years of something that isn’t the dream job. Oh yeah, and they’re obsessed with rock climbing.

I’m going to outline below the basic way we’ve structured our lives to be career-focused for only a small portion of our adult lives. From there, we’re free to pursue whatever it is that gets us giddy (which can still be a career).

March 4, 2019June 21, 2019

Personal Finance: Not Very Sexy, huh?

In terms of interests, I’ve always strived for simplicity. Drawn to the outdoors at a very young age in the dense Appalachian forests of western North Carolina, and later to rock climbing, I believed fully that a life in pursuit of simple pleasures was good enough. I didn’t need a big salary to buy nice things to impress others. Sadly, this is the rhythm and life of too many people. I never considered the utility of a personal finance strategy. So why should you?

December 3, 2018December 26, 2018

Keeping the “Safe” in Safe Withdrawal Rate

Musings on How We Plan to Live off our Money

The question we are asked the most about financial independence — and especially the “retire early” portion of the equation — is how we plan to live off the money we’ve saved and invested. Are we even going to retire early? What will we do with our time? What if the market goes down? Sorry, that’s more than one question, isn’t it? The first critical aspect to address in a post-FI life is the safe withdrawal rate. Let’s take a look…

Continue reading “Keeping the “Safe” in Safe Withdrawal Rate”

November 12, 2018January 22, 2022

Part 2: The CC Family Investing Strategy

Investing Strategy: Where Exactly is Our Money?

This is Part 2 in a series. Check out Part 1 for our investing strategy and asset allocation.

Now you have a sense of our investing strategy in terms of asset allocation, but that’s not helping you get started. Let’s take a look at some common investment “buckets” and how we are dividing out our investments.

It’s easy to get lost in the details, so let’s break it down to the basics right up front. No more paralysis by analysis. Below are our top five pillars of a sound investing strategy.

November 5, 2018January 22, 2022

Part 1: The CC Family Investing Strategy:

Philosophy and Asset Allocation

We’ve spoken now in shades of vagueness about our investments and investing strategy. We’re focused first and foremost on simply getting folks to save more. Begin with allocating the majority of your effort to increasing the gap between money in and money out. Slowly chip away, with a goal of spending less than half of your income. If you can make step-changes in this area, you are light years ahead of most Americans, and frankly most humans. So yeah, start there.

…We’re focused first and foremost on simply getting folks to save more.

The next element of this game is getting your new-found savings to start making money for you. Your traditional savings and checking accounts are not your friend. With an average interest rate on a typical savings account at 0.08% APY (!), your money is losing value over time as your courageous dollar fights a valiant, but fruitless battle against the tyrant forces of inflation (current inflation rate is around 2%). Remember, goods and services today will cost more next year. You either need more income or higher interest rates on your savings, just to keep up!

October 15, 2018October 24, 2019

We Lost Thousands of Dollars in the Stock Market, and That’s Okay.

The middle of October has been a wild ride for investors, with a drop of over 5% in the S&P 500 over two days, October 10th and 11th. Friday’s rally (October 12) offered a bit of a bounce-back, but much uncertainty remains regarding the near future of the United States economy. Our net worth took a hefty ding in just two days, so why bother with this stuff?

This week we’re going to step away from all that soft touchy-feely philosophical stuff and take a more technical look at investing and the psychology of betting your future on the stock market. Sound scary? It can be.

September 20, 2018August 8, 2021

Having Your Cake and Eating it Too: The Millionaire Dirtbag, Part 2.

Changing Focus

This is Part 2 in this series. Check out Part 1 here.

No matter your age (but especially if you are young), specific measures can be taken to drastically increase net worth. Generally speaking, in 10 years or less, you could be putting a traditional career in the rearview mirror, in a situation where your money now makes money for you. Your input is virtually no longer needed. The FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) community pursuing this movement is loaded with brilliant minds who have gamed this system. All you have to do is make some simple — yet profound — decisions on how you structure your life. For us, these are the basics: