Posts by jsangl
Investing – FUN with mutual FUNds
Anyone who reads this blog with regularity knows that one of the key reasons I want you to become debt-free is so you can invest more! Investing means that Jenn and I will be able to achieve many of our hopes and dreams! It means that our current sacrifice will allow us to purchase financial freedom for our future! (Perhaps the number of “!” indicates my level of excitement about this!!!
Well, one of the most common questions I receive is “What mutual funds do you recommend?”
My answer is always, “I don’t recommend mutual funds. I can only tell you what ones I own. What you choose is up to you.”
So today, for those inquring minds who want to know, I am publishing some of the mutual funds/investments that I own.
As I prepared this list, I realized several things:
- We have too many accounts. We have a rollover 401(k), rollover 403(b), 529, Roth IRA, 401(k), and a SIMPLE IRA.
- I am OK with some risk, but for some reason or other I have purchased some bond funds. Maybe that is part of my inner-security needs bleeding out … ?
- I can’t tell you exactly why I own all of these funds – that CAN’T be good. I really hold to the belief that I should not own anything that I can’t tell you exactly why I own them.
Do you have any funds that you really like that you think I should be considering?
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Book Review: The E-Myth
I was talking to my friend who visited over the weekend and he mentioned this book called The E-Myth.
I borrowed the book from another friend on Monday and completed reading it on Wednesday. It is a great book for small business owners or anyone contemplating starting a small business.
A key reason that this book applies to me is the fact that I really want to help over 100,000 people accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances by October 2011. This will require a humongous team effort!
Here are some things I am taking away from this book.
- The same thing that prompted me to write THIS is what will enable this effort to reach 100,000 people. I certainly can not do it all!
- Great doers don't necessarily make great leaders.
- Putting together a structure and a system always trumps "flying by the seat of the pants"
- Consistency in the overall "experience" is HUGE
- Following the system – everyone following the same system and protocol leads to this consistency
- Great people have a vision of their lives that they practice emulating each and every day.
- I want to go to the hotel the author mentions in chapter 15.
Well worth the few hour read!
Tony also offers his takeaways from this book HERE.
Looking for additional Personal Finance Resources? You can obtain free tools by clicking HERE and purchase books/materials by clicking HERE.
I want you to be 100% debt-free
Anyone who has read this blog knows clearly that I want you to be debt-free – including the mortgage!
Think about that for a minute … Debt-free INCLUDING the house. How much money goes out to pay debt and the house every month? For the average family it is somewhere between $1,000 and $3,000 every month! What would you do with that money if it did not have to go to service that debt?
A www.JosephSangl.com Financial Hero, David Bach, recently wrote an article on Yahoo! Finance about "How to save big on your mortgage".
In the article, David makes a fantastic statement. David writes …
I'm often asked if it makes more sense to prepay a mortgage or invest the money in stocks and bonds. Rather than ponder which asset will get you a higher return, I think the better question is which investment decision will free you financially and allow you to retire earlier.
In my 9 years of experience as a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley, the clients who paid their debts off early — specifically their mortgages — retired 5 to 10 years before those who didn't.
I ran the calculations for a $150,000 30-year mortgage with 6.0% interest:
I just love the idea of all of us reading this blog being debt-free including the house!
Looking for additional Personal Finance Resources? You can obtain free tools by clicking HERE and purchase books/materials by clicking HERE.
You know you have financial freedom when …
You know you have financial freedom when …
- You forget when payday is.
- The car engine blows up, and you just go pay cash for another one.
- You are not afraid to tell your manager that he/she is wrong and that there is a better way. (I have seen many people who are afraid to tell their manager this for fear of retribution or loss of their job. That's too bad … I believe that most managers would love to have their employees tell them when they are wrong!)
- You lose your income and your savings allows you to live for months without incurring any debt.
- You lose the fear of negotiating a better deal. (Seriously, if it costs more than $100, it is worth negotiating – including with services like doctors, dentists, chiropractors, massage therapists, house cleaning, cable, etc.
- Bill paying time takes a total of 30 minutes a month.
- You can go take the job you were put on earth to do … regardless of the income potential!
- You have enough.
What are some others?
Finish the sentence … "You know you have financial freedom when …"
Looking for additional Personal Finance Resources? You can obtain free tools by clicking HERE and purchase books/materials by clicking HERE.
Emergency Buffer Fund – Bulletproof Vests
I remember the days when Jenn and I had $4.13 in our emergency buffer fund. Wow! Talk about living life on the edge!
When you have $4.13 in the bank account and life throws a curveball your way, you have no room for it!
From experience, I know that $4.13 in the bank does not quite cover
- replacing a broken dryer
- fixing a broken car – power steering, brakes, tires, air-fuel mix thingy
- an emergency room trip for the child
In the Financial Freedom Class that I teach, we cover the need for an emergency buffer fund in great detail.
An example I use to prove the need for an emergency fund is the fact that police officers wear bulletproof vests.
I ask the redundant question, "Why do police officers wear a bulletproof vest?"
The class will dutifully respond, "Because in their line of work, it is possible that they might get shot at!"
To which I respond, "Then why don't they just wear the bulletproof vest on the day they are going to get shot? I mean, that vest is uncomfortable and so hot on a southern summer day!"
The class stares at me like I am completely ignorant and most deserving of the "Stupid Person of the Year" award. "Because they never know when they will be shot at!", they say.
Hummmmm. They never know when they will be shot at … SO they wear it EVERY SINGLE DAY – JUST IN CASE!
That, my friends, is the EXACT same reason you need to have an emergency buffer fund of cash! You never know when life is going to happen and require that money, but the fact is that you will need it someday. If you do not have an emergency fund when life happens, you will be highly tempted to fall into the debt trap. That, my friends, is no fun.
By the way, a church member who is a police officer was shot today. He had on his bulletproof vest. The following is a line from the news story …
… an officer was shot at least four times … Officer Fikes is being treated for two gunshot wounds to his arm … two other gunshots were stopped by the officer’s vest … (Office Fikes) was alert, oriented and in good spirits …
JUST IN CASE. Are you ready?
Looking for additional Personal Finance Resources? You can obtain free tools by clicking HERE and purchase books/materials by clicking HERE.