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.
Thought for the week when somebody asked how they were looking on retirement planning, “You should have enough money to last the rest of your life…unless you need to buy something…”
Financial Planning
- Here’s how much families have in retirement savings, and it’s pretty unimpressive and troublesome – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/how-much-us-families-have-in-retirement-savings-and-how-much-they-need.html
- An interesting breakdown of the most expensive housing counties in each state. This is where the well-to-do congregate – https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/04/16/most-expensive-housing-markets-every-state/499708002/
- The peace of a paid off mortgage. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve never had a client come back to me and say, “I really miss making my monthly mortgage payment. I want to load myself back up on debt.” People with debt tend to justify that debt with argument that don’t come from personal experience (as in “I’ve been in debt and I’ve been out of debt and one of them is much better.”) Try and find people that have been in both situations (in and out of debt) and then ask them which one they really like better. The people that trumpet the virtues of debt are usually those least likely to ever escape from it – https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/mortgage/the-peace-of-a-paid-off-mortgage
- An interesting look at wealth and divorce and what happens when you are so far removed from reality and stuck in entitlement – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/22/i-was-part-of-the-1-percent-but-everything-changed-when-my-husband-left.html
- 42% of Americans are at severe risk of retiring completely broke – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/42-percent-of-americans-are-at-risk-of-retiring-broke.html
- Here’s what it really takes in earnings to be in the 1% – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/how-much-you-need-to-earn-to-be-part-of-the-1-percent.html
- Here’s how much money you should have in savings at every age per another planner. My numbers and analysis and working with actual households point to goals that should be in the 12 to 20 times earnings (retirement savings to income prior to retirement) – http://time.com/money/5163014/money-at-every-age/
- Why your home is a lousy investment even though you think it’s a great one. Homes bleed cash year after year. The bigger and more expensive the home, the more it costs to own and maintain. What you pay for the home and what you sell it for isn’t the entire picture. It’s everything you spent to own that home in-between buying and selling that needs to be factored in – https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2018/02/18/why-your-home-lousy-investment-when-you-think-its-great/340516002/
- A 28 year old who retired with $2.25 million shares the secret to saving – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/02/28-year-old-who-retired-with-2-point-25-million-shares-secret-to-saving.html
Debt
- Global debt is now at the highest levels ever and even the IMF is taking note and warning about the consequences – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/global-debt-is-at-historic-high-and-governments-should-cut-levels-imf.html
- Some jaw-dropping statistics and metrics on global debt for governments, corporations and households. Everybody should borrow just a bit more to stock up on tissue when the tears start flowing – https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-16/global-debt-bubble-hits-new-all-time-high-one-quadrillion-reasons-buy-gold
- Older Americans are dealing with growing debt trends threatening their retirement and financial security – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/04/growing-debt-among-older-americans-threatens-retirement.html
- Americans are borrowing record amounts for auto loans even as interest rates rise (and they seem to forget that autos quickly depreciate). Not good financial planning if you ask me – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/americans-borrow-record-amounts-for-autos-even-as-interest-rates-rise.html?
- Alan Greenspan, the grand wizard of excessive financial stimulus and goofy monetary policy warns that we are in a bond market bubble (the end result of all of his policies from decades of crazy monetary policy). YAY ALAN!!! Thanks so much for warning us of the devastation that is coming as a result of central bankers like yourself going crazy. You can’t make this stuff up – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/ex-fed-chair-greenspan-we-are-in-a-bond-market-bubble.html
- Student loans have gone crazy the last 10 years. Federal Chairman acknowledges the problem on future economic growth – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/student-loan-problems-could-hold-back-economic-growth-fed-chief-says.html
- Buffett, quoting his partner Charlie Munger, says there are three ways to go broke: “Liquor, ladies and leverage” – (We probably should be more sensitive to women guys as plenty of men act like financial ding-dongs) – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/buffett-says-out-of-the-three-ways-to-go-broke-liquor-ladies-and-leverage-leverage-is-the-worst.html
Investments/Valuations
- Valuation analyst warns of a lost decade ahead for those buying equities at current prices – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/the-market-analyst-who-called-the-correction-sees-a-lost-decade-ahead-but-one-group-will-win.html
- More analysts sounding the sirens on a growing bubble that could burst at any time (which could be tomorrow, could be two years from now). Just because you don’t know when something will ultimately blow, doesn’t mean you should ignore the clear warnings – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/market-bubble-ready-to-burst-and-stocks-could-plunge-strategist-warns.html
- Investment chief of a $250 billion firm says financial markets are on a ‘collision course for disaster’. This is unusual for a Wall Street firm to pay heed to warnings as opposed to always preaching “keep buying and holding regardless of prices/valuations so our firms can keep making fees off of you.” – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/investment-chief-of-250-billion-firm-says-financial-markets-are-on-a-collision-course-for-disaster.html
- Bigger than any past bubble – warning of soaring household assets – https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-14/bigger-than-any-past-bubble-beware-of-soaring-household-assets?cmpId=flipboard
- The Federal Reserve thinks stocks and commercial real estate prices are getting too rich – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/the-federal-reserve-thinks-stocks-and-commercial-real-estate-prices-are-getting-too-rich.html
Macro
- Countries should run budgets and do long-term planning just like corporations and households. But when politicians are only worried about their own careers and getting re-elected, they fail to make the best long-term choices for the country they represent. Eventually, the bill comes due but by then, the politicians who made those poor choices are long gone. The U.S. growth rate won’t be anywhere near enough to control the deficit over the long-term – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/us-growth-rate-wont-be-enough-to-control-the-deficit-economist-warns.html?__source=sharebar|email&par=sharebar
- A short and sweet look on how economists tend to be a day late and a dollar short on predicting recessions – https://seekingalpha.com/article/4157520-recession-see-will-late
- Wealth to disposable income ratio sending dangerous signals for the economy. When paper assets (like stocks and bonds) diverge away from real disposable income (what people really earn through personal productivity) it can give you a tip as to, “Something just isn’t right.” There is no free lunch in economics and eventually cycles move into the second half of the cycle – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/20/net-worth-compared-to-income-at-all-time-high-and-sending-scary-signal.html
- At least one politician is trying to be honest with people – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/trump-tariff-or-not-ron-paul-warns-a-calamity-will-hit-stocks.html
Health
- Bionic kidneys may be on the way eliminating the need for dialysis within just a few years – https://www.troab.com/worlds-first-bionic-kidney-set-replace-dialysis-just-two-years/
- An interesting study on the benefits of fasting on the immune system – http://awarenessact.com/study-finds-that-fasting-for-72-hours-can-regenerate-the-entire-immune-system/
- Researchers now identify 5 different types of diabetes. No longer just Type 1 or Type 2 – http://time.com/5183350/diabetes-five-types/
- Hopefully this leads to a better way of managing our health care system. Kudos for trying something new – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/apple-launching-medical-clinics-for-employees.html
Other Tidbits
- Here’s how long you should keep your tax returns according to the experts – http://time.com/money/5217779/how-long-keep-tax-records/
- Sometimes the highest paid careers are those in religion – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/houston-megachurch-pastor-louisiana-financial-planner-indicted-on-fraud-charges.html
- A major oil company just agreed in court that humans cause climate change. This should get interesting – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/28/a-major-oil-company-just-agreed-in-court-that-humans-cause-climate-change.html
- Gibson Guitars on verge of bankruptcy. Even cool companies that make awesome products can get into financial trouble when they borrow too much money – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/19/guitar-company-gibson-reportedly-facing-bankruptcy.html