Fill your brain with some goodness and read some of these recommended articles on debt, investing, health, time management, and other interesting tidbits to give you a leg up in life.
Simplify your life. Find your truth. Work towards your goals.
Financial Planning
- This couple living in North Atlanta makes $180,000 a year and does not feel wealthy (of course not, they aren’t building wealth, they are just making and spending a lot more than the average U.S. household) – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/13/couple-earning-over-180000-we-dont-feel-wealthy.html
- Suze Orman explaining when to stop saving so much in retirement accounts and when to allocate that capital to paying off your mortgage. She makes an excellent math argument on how paying a monthly mortgage becomes very expensive as you have to withdraw from the very retirement accounts you were stuff and paying ordinary income tax rates on them. One concept that is rarely discussed but the crux of the issue is, “If you can’t pay off your home prior to retirement, you are most likely living in a home that is beyond your means, has been beyond your means, and will continue to be beyond your means into and through retirement sucking up what is then fixed and limited retirement income that could be allocated to other priorities as you age.” – Suze Orman: Here’s when you should ‘stop saving so much in your retirement accounts’ – CNBC – Suze Orman: Here’s when you should ‘stop saving so much’ for retirement – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/15/suze-orman-pay-off-mortgage-instead-of-saving-so-much-for-retirement.html
Debt
- This couple did some serious cost cutting and finally started making progress on eliminating their debt. One of the biggest success factors in eliminating debt is finally quitting initiating new debt. You can’t dig yourself out of a hole if you continue digging a deeper hole. Step #1 is – Stop Digging! Then climb your way out – http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/09/this-couple-did-some-serious-cost-cutting-and-paid-off-159000-of-their-debt.html
- Good solid advice that I agree with from Suze Orman. The single most important thing to do before you retire is pay off your mortgage. Usually the people that fight me the most on this piece of advice are those least likely to ever be able to do it as they have no financial discipline – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/suze-orman-pay-off-your-mortgage-before-you-retire.html
Investments/Valuations
- Lance Roberts is one of the most truthful and transparent guys in the investment world. This is a great article that exposes the bologna that happens on Wall Street everyday and how they take advantage of retail (small individual investors) every day, of every week, of every year. But somehow, the average person never seems to take note of this crooked system – https://realinvestmentadvice.com/the-truth-about-wall-street-analysis/
- For all who enjoy examples of the corrupt nature of Wall Street, financials engineering gone wrong, and the “partnership” between publicly traded companies (often mega Fortune 500 behemoths) and said Wall Street firms, look no further than this excellent summary of General Electric over the past 17 years. The biggest losers in this mess are the very shareholders of General Electric. Do you think executive management did get rich during the destruction of so much capital of retail investors, pension funds, and endowments? Heck no. Management got mega rich, Wall Street earned billions in fees and stockholders got left holding the bag for being the stupid suckers that they are. To keep things in perspective, this was all 100% legal and Wall Street endorsed. This same crap is happening at many other companies. – http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/ges-comeuppance-poster-boy-for-financial-engineering-run-amok/
Health
- It’s that time of year where many people start getting sick, run-down, and unravel (especially around the holidays when we tend to overdo it on things. Here are ten ways to help prevent colds and the flu naturally – https://www.amymyersmd.com/2017/11/preventing-cold-flu-naturally/
- Scientists continue to research the secret to a long life through DNA sequencing – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/health/supercentenarians-genetics-longevity.html