Added May 17, 2010, By
mfd with 4 comments
Recently I’ve begun to wonder why I make the personal finance choices that I do such as understanding my need for early retirement. If I can understand why I make theses choices then I can be in a better position to make these decisions and adapt quickly.
Why People Save
Now I’ve begun to wonder why do I save? For me saving falls into three categories:
- Fun – There are people out there who have made a game out of saving. Their enjoyment stems from finding new and interesting ways to save and watching their bank account grow. Overall I think this is probably a healthy reason if you enjoy doing it.
- Fear – Most savings motivation probably stems from fear. Fear of the unknown and saving to compensate for that fear. Its good to have a small amount of fear in everything you do but if left unchecked it can get out of control. Try not to turn into misers afraid of spending a dime until eventually you go the way of the Collyer brothers.
- Just Because – Some save just because. They aren’t really fearful and they don’t enjoy doing it. They do it because its the responsible thing to do. You save for retirement, build an emergency fund, save for your child’s education, etc.
For me
My savings seems to stem from both fear and just because. My savings goal is to achieve early retirement but not really. I’ve discussed in the past that I would love to spend time traveling the world so my savings is less about early retirement and more about the freedom to travel.
Fear comes into play in the sense that it keeps me from doing extensive traveling now. There is nothing that says I can’t work part time and save enough to start traveling now. The only thing holding me back is not knowing. I can’t bring myself to do it without the security of having income to support us. The key is not letting this fear consume me and enjoy small aspects of my retirement now.
Talk Back:
Look deep down inside and ask yourself honestly “Why Do I Save?” I’d love you hear you reason.
Added May 12, 2010, By
mfd with No comments
Whenever you go to a store or a dealership the salespeople focus in. They have their defined list of tactics to get the sale. Don’t be fooled by their tricks and be cautious about who you trust with your money:
Calls you by your first name often – By using your first name they are trying to establish some trust with [...]
Added May 10, 2010, By
mfd with No comments
Last month I turned 31 and while some friends and I were getting a coffee I was asked a simple question:
How does feel to be 31?
I thought about this for only a second when I replied:
The same except I might be a little happy being a year closer to retirement.
What a strange response that is! I began to wonder if [...]
Added May 3, 2010, By
mfd with 1 comment
I’ve been gone for quite a while. I had to take a break while I studied for a certification that I wanted to complete. Needless to say I passed my CISSP and now I’m refreshed and ready to start posting again. See everyone next week.
Are there still people hanging around ?
-mfd-
Added Sep 4, 2009, By
mfd with 5 comments
Another week has passed and this time I covered some money saving tips from a teacher (my wife). We also had another increase in our net worth for the month of August. Finally I ask people to take a closer look at the extended warranties being offered instead of blindly turning them down.
Carnivals
This week I was an editor’s pick at [...]
Added Sep 3, 2009, By
mfd with 4 comments
It’s quite common in the personal finance community to be “hating” on the extended warranties. Some of the main points people make about warranties are the “warranty costs more then the item” and “if it breaks it will do it within the first 6 months and will be covered under standard warranty”. Now I don’t necessarily disagree with these statements [...]
Added Sep 1, 2009, By
mfd with No comments
Another increase in August which is good. It seems we are still trying to get our footing back on some solid ground after the wedding. We manage to put some cash into savings. At first glance it may look like we took a big hit in savings but that’s because we put a large lump sum payment into the mortgage. [...]
Added Aug 31, 2009, By
mfd with 1 comment
Kids are almost back to school and some may already be back and parents are looking to save some money . I’ve enlisted the help of a teacher (my wife) to get the inside scoop on how parents can save. Here’s what she came up with:
Say no to binders: Don’t get your child those big binders since duotangs are [...]
Added Aug 28, 2009, By
mfd with 2 comments
This week I looked at whether price wars make for a good investment. I also had some follow up thoughts on the funemployed and how it will lead to the fall of society as we know it. I know its a bit dramatic but its how I feel about these sort of things. Finally I looked at how hindsight [...]
Added Aug 27, 2009, By
mfd with No comments
Ever hear the saying “hindsight is 20 20″? Its gets used across all aspects of life and especially in the investment world. People have a tendency to simplify the gains to be made from investing after the fact. After a 40% drop in stock value everyone can sit there and say it was obvious that the market was heading towards [...]
Added Aug 25, 2009, By
mfd with 6 comments
Last week I wrote about being funemployed and some considerations before pursuing that route. Now I want to discuss a far more sinister issue, the impact to employment insurance.
Whats the beef ?
Unemployment Insurance is a social program established in order to help people who have lost their job and not a means to fund an extended vacation. Now [...]