Anyone care to share their money management advice? Perhaps what has worked well for you or money mistakes you've made & learned from? It can range from investments to budgeting but I thought it might be nice to share here.
I'll start with the following:
- Never invest more in the stock market then you can afford to lose and if it sounds too good to be true it usually is unless your the type of person who has a horseshoe up your butt & I never was.
I learned this the hard way back around 2001. Lost a ton of money because I got too darn greedy in '99, when tech stocks were sexy. Listened to bad advice from a close family member who told me I was crazy not to jump on the wagon even though I have always been very risk adverse & conservative (only in regards to money lol). Got caught up in the stock market excitement to see my portfoliio increase 90% to then have it later crash. I figured I earned a PhD through that lesson in money reality and still recovering from it to this day.
- Pay yourself first
You hear this cliche all the time that you should save 10% of all income you receive right off the top & yet the reality is it really does work. I've been doing it for years whether it was as low as $10 just as habit. (Only wish I had started it even earlier.) Opened up an ING account & started transferring 10% over immediately & have never allowed myself to touch it. Whenever I am tempted to I just go look at the account (love the graphics on ING) & seeing the amount build over the years stops me.
- Beware of all the financial gurus
I used to read all the articles & books from the financial gurus when I opened my first self directed investment account back in '99. At first I was naively impressed with all their glitz & fancy credentials but I soon realized most of it was a lot of hot wind. Probably the best read I ever had that was informative & good solid advice I could relate to was the plain & easy to read book The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton. (Dragon's Den fans will recognize him as the newest Dragon on the television show.) In fact I still think it's relevant today & believe he did a recent follow up edition.