Steadfast Finances

 Consumer Education, Frugal Living, Humor         4 comments

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Leave it to the master of observational comedy — George Carlin — to crank out one of the best anticonsumerism bits in history before the war against “stuff” became an observable microtrend.
I say microtrend because don’t believe the movement (if you can call it that) against buying “more stuff” has …

 Administration         3 comments

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In true self-deprecating humor fashion, I often insinuate that I created this blog just for fun or a way of venting all of the financial knowledge I’ve collected over the last 15 years so it doesn’t erase some important memories from my childhood. After all, I’ve invested a lot of …

 Investing 101         3 comments

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One of things that still baffles me about the stock market is the vast sum of money that exchanges hands (electronically of course) at such a blistering pace.
In the blink of an eye, a few million dollar orders can be quietly executed in any given stock and no one …

 Index Funds, Investing 101, Peer to Peer Lending         13 comments

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Some interesting, perhaps troubling, results from the Merrill Lynch Quarterly Affluent Insights Survey this morning.
Younger investors are more risk averse than older investors. Those in their 20s and 30s are more risk averse than the 40s and 50s demographic because they been burned twice in the last decade.
Older investors are …

 20s Something Advice, Saving Money, Strategic Planning         62 comments

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Due to the popularity of the visualizing how your stuff owns you post from several weeks ago, I thought it would be beneficial if I documented exactly how I use a simple monthly calendar and a few personal finance metrics to visually represent how many hours, days, even weeks, I …

 20s Something Advice, Career, Strategic Planning         12 comments

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Some people can never have enough. Alternatively, some people are satisfied with just eeking out a living doing what they love.
It all depends on your goals, your upbringing, and maybe even your sensitivity to the law of diminishing utility. In other words, asking how much of something (money, time away …

 Administration, Financial Crisis         1 comment

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I haven’t posted a Best Reads article in some time due to the monster snowstorm that knocked out power and web access subsequently throwing a monkey wrench in my schedule, as well as the chaos revolving around the holiday season, so it’s time to highlight a few posts from around …

 Budgeting, Credit Cards, Debt Reduction         8 comments

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I drafted this article after spending two weeks of discussions with an old friend who finally acknowledged her debt was beginning to influence her behavior. By creating a budget and drawing up a plan to aggressively pay down her debt within 15 to 18 months, she now claims she can …

 20s Something Advice, Auto Sales, Business Trends, Consumer Education         10 comments

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There are just some things that Gen Y won’t pay for: news, music, banking fees, etc. Apparently, this social media savvy cohort doesn’t find a tremendous amount of value in these items or they can simply get them for free somewhere else.
This trend seems have spilled over — perhaps temporarily …

 Budgeting, Frugal Living, Saving Money         18 comments

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To get a change of pace from my normal push ups, sit ups and treadmill routine, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to go back to free weights 2 to 3 times a week or use a few high tech cardio machines (elliptical machines, rowing machines, …

 Documentary Films, Investing 101, Investor Psychology         6 comments

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Perhaps nothing encompasses the roller coaster ride that was the 2000 to 2009 decade better than David Faber’s The Bubble Decade. If you haven’t seen it, set 45 minutes aside and take a look back at just how gullible we actually were to follow the herd and buy into some …

 Business Trends, Consumer Education, Market Themes, Strategic Planning         8 comments

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Now that the Greater Fool Decade is over, I thought I would dust off my prognosticator hat and do a little strategic planning since we just experienced the stock market’s second worst performing decade ever.
Here are a few of my top, and relatively simple, investing themes for 2010 that will …