Investing

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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If you have been paying attention at all to the finance world, you know that it is important to have a diversified portfolio.

You do not want to have all of your eggs in one basket – such as having a majority of your money invested into a single stock.

Well, I believe that I have a well-diversified portfolio through a variety of mutual funds.  The issue is that all of these investments are impacted by global/world/regional events that may or may not have anything to do with the mutual funds I own.

This is why I own a house.  It is an investment that helps my financial portfolio become more diversified.

I have owned quite a few homes, but the home I now own is the first older home I have purchased.  This house was in some dire need of structural improvements AND decorative updates.

However, I bought this house at a discount because of all of the issues with it.  It was NOT move-in ready.

Here is a list of problems that it has/had:

• Dog pee all over the carpets
• Dog damage from climbing on window sills, digging up the yard
• Rotten floor
• Leaking roof – several spots
• Sagging roof
• Old appliances
• Wood paneling with horrible wallpaper all over it
• Leak damage on the walls/ceilings

Now, I am the son of a home builder.  I know a little bit about working on houses.  I will tell you that this is my first attempt at updating a house myself. As a result of this project, I have developed a short tip list for you should you consider doing this.

Tips

• If you have no clue about updating houses – do NOT do it unless you have a pile of green portraits of Ben Franklin that you want to donate to others.
• Have a contigency fund for the problems you will discover as you fix other known problems
• Get help when you get in over your head
• Don't move in to the house until you have fixed the structural issues.  It is so much easier to complete a major project when you are not living there!
• Develop a budget for the projects and HOLD TO IT!  Be realistic on estimated costs!
• Cry when you need to.  It lets some of the frustration and anger out.

In the end, you will have a nice house for a good price and have some good ole sweat equity built up!