Through my buying and selling experience, I realized later on that I was naturally improving my negotiation and bargaining skills. My 8 best negotiating and bargaining tips Learn to actively listen – I have learned to ask questions and then stop talking to let the other person talk. For example, it can get very silent and awkward when I am going through someone’s sports cards collection and I am trying to calculate the collection’s value,…
For this week I rounded up the following blog posts that I enjoyed reading. OMG My Money’s favorite personal finance posts of the week How to automate your money by Let’s Automate Your Money – click here My take – I am a big believer in automating your money. It is one or 10 less things to worry about. Why spend those brain cells remembering to pay yourself first or pay those bills when you can…
Back in July (2018), I wrote a post about getting motivated to pay off my student loan debt. In that post I did not set a specific date and simply noted that I wanted to pay a little extra per month. I had a great start last month in August paying an extra $9,600 towards my student loan debt. That is on top of the $2,000 monthly payment, which makes the total amount $11,600 in…
I read or listened to an audiobook or podcast several months ago about selecting the right role models according to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. I took notes on my phone so these might be a bit rough. Here are the 3 points to selecting the right role models Make sure your role model shares or has better core values than yourself “It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates…
I have always worked out at home despite some of the companies I worked for either subsidized or basically paid for a gym membership. Perhaps it is the introvert in me, but I find comfort working out alone. I also get to multi task and work on other things during my rest period. (Honestly though I would not recommend this because you will get distracted and the workouts end up going from 45 min to…
I enjoy my share of stand up comedy performances. One of my favorites has been the earlier Kevin Hart stand up called “Laugh at My Pain”. He has a bit (check out the clip below) about staying in your financial lane. I call this one of the best pieces of financial advice. It has to do with both keeping up with the Joneses and lifestyle creep or lifestyle inflation. I was pulled out of my…
Last month (August 2018) I posted 15 total blog posts, slightly lower than the 21 blog posts in July 2018. With so many posts, I thought I would start a monthly post recap to share the most viewed. I do not think I can do a weekly recap so baby steps for now. Most viewed August 2018 posts The lamest excuses I made for not saving money – I share the 9 dumb excuses I…
Summer is wrapping up and kids are either back in school or getting ready to go back to school. Randomly I thought it would be fun to share what an over thinker goes through when planning for a vacation. What areas do you over think or over research whether personally or professionally? Do you think this has held you back in some way? One personal example of over thinking is vacation planning. I think I…
I believe that you are more likely to achieve your goals (finance, career, personal) when you write them down. Well, I should say that I started believing writing down goals because I started this personal finance journey blog. This post is inspired by a blog post I came across at Making Sense of Cents. The questions to ask yourself is from MindTools. My full time job is in digital marketing for a multi billion dollar…
I have to admit, the older I get the less I want to think about long term plans. Similar to how I have been thinking about how the next Olympics is X years away and how old I will be. In 3 years I will be close the big 4-0, which is crazy to think about. Back in high school I used to think 30 was old. Well I am in my mid-30s now and…
I am sure you have seen the articles about how the average college graduate has a 5 figure student loan debt amount. Here is an article from CNBC for a refresher. I ended up owing a 6 figure student loan debt upon graduation and defaulted. Fast forward more than 10 years and I still owed the US Department of Education nearly $77,000 total. The minimum monthly payment on my student loan debt is $826.24. For…
I have been thinking about this for the past couple months and I want to take action within the month…just to take action instead of sitting around. I really want your opinions on testing retirement investment strategies left in your old employer retirement accounts. I am in my mid-30s and I am very open and understanding of the volatility of the stock market. I have been with my current company for several years and I…
Just as recently as January 2017, one of my good colleagues and I were having a conversation around investing. One thing led to another and I made a money moron statement that made my colleague speechless. At the time I did not think much of it. I told my colleague that I have leased a new car my entire life ever since graduating from college and will be perfectly fine to have a monthly car…
All of us have bad financial habits, right? I had some horrific financial habits in my 20s and even to this day I still have not cut some of those bad habits. Are there bad financial habits that you are trying to quit? Here are 6 bad financial habits to monitor and eventually quit Buying coffee, munchies, or lunch nearly ever day – this is a matter of laziness. I admit it. I am way…
I made a post about reaching my 6 figure annual salary goal and then I started doing some research around salary and happiness. I came across this article by MarketWatch. To sum up the article: Life satisfaction – $95,000 annual salary Emotional well being – $60,000 to $75,000 annual salary I am a single mid 30s male with no kids living in a vibrant city. Downtown living is expensive, but I am grateful for my…
I started planning for a major expense planned earlier this month (August 2018) to support my side hustle of buying and selling sports cards. Every year an annual sports card show takes place called The National Sports Collector Convention. 2017 was the first year I had gone to “The National” in more than 8 years so it was more about gaining the experience of attending a huge show and interacting with the big dogs who…
I recently started questioning where I should stash my emergency fund. The past several years, my emergency fund was split between a couple high yield savings accounts. I also saved more than a year’s worth because well, I am not sure why. I would love to hear where others are stashing their emergency fund. Here are 4 thoughts that have been going through my head regarding my emergency fund: Keep my high yield savings accounts…
When I was growing up, I wanted to be a stockbroker because I had the perception that stockbrokers made tons of money. I eventually made a goal to make a 6 figure salary. No age goal, no specific amount. It was simply an arbitrary 6 figures I wanted to make. I achieved the 6 figure salary goal in my 20s. Now in my mid 30s, I continue to earn 6 figures to this day as…
Throughout this journey I am on as a money moron, self reflection made me realize some of the lame excuses for not saving money. What are some of your reasons you have not saved money? The 9 lamest excuses I told myself for not saving money I don’t make enough – early on in my career during my early-mid 20s, I fell into the trap of telling myself, “if I were to make a little…
In a previous post, I shared my passion hobby. Buying and selling sports cards serves as my primary money making side hustle. I started collecting sports cards back in the 90s thanks to my dad. I then went in and out of the hobby until I went to college. I took out student loans to fund my entire Big 10 education. What do you get when you take out student loans and you are a…
