.From Debtor To Millionaire: How A Windfall Changed My Life

 Post From   Financial Samurai

This is a guest post from J.D. Roth, who founded the blog Get Rich Slowly in 2006 and is the author of Your Money: The Missing Manual. I first met JD four years ago for lunch up in Portland when I was still working.

By that time, J.D. was already a mini-celebrity in the personal finance world through his story telling abilities and topical focus of paying down debt and living a more frugal lifestyle. We came from opposite ends of the financial and topical spectrum, but as fate would have it, we’re in pretty similar boats now.

I admire J.D. because he is a “blogging purist” – someone who writes for the love of writing first, community second, and income a distant third. Instead of an interview, I asked J.D. to share his story of how he went from debtor living paycheck-to-paycheck to financially free in just a few short years.

His latest project is a year-long course on how to master your money, which explains how to slash costs, properly budget, and boost income so that you can pursue early retirement and other goals. Please enjoy this great post about struggle, loss, change, and love.

.The 7 Worst Money Mistakes Married People Make

By Sarah Winfrey

Everyone knows that disagreements over money can cause a huge amount of stress in a marriage. However, money may be more important than we think. A recent study out of Utah State University shows that couples who report fighting about money at least once a week are 30% more likely to divorce than those who only argue about it a few times a month.

In addition, the same study says that arguing about money is one of the best predictors of divorce. It correlates better with the divorce rate than arguing about sex, in-laws, and more.

.5 Money Conversations Every Couple Should Have

By Ashley Marcin February 2017

Did you know that the secret to a healthy relationship maybe hiding in your wallet? No, money can't buy you love, but talking about the dollars you have may make a lot of, well, sense. In a recent study, researchers discovered that lack of communication about money leads younger couples to both arguments and added stress.

Here are some financial discussions worth having, especially if you share the bulk of your expenses. Heck, they may even bring you closer together!

.Your Financial Family Tree: What Our Parents Teach Us About Money

By J.D. Roth —19 November 2018

We inherit more than physical features from those who came before us. We also inherit culture and psychology and values. And yes, we inherit financial habits from our parents and grandparents.

Each of us has a financial family tree.

My Financial Family Tree

I write often about our money blueprints, the set of subconscious “scripts” that define our behaviors and attitudes toward money. Society at large — our friends, co-workers, the mass media — plays a role in writing these scripts, but most of our money blueprints are inherited from our family — especially our parents.

In a way, it's as if our money blueprints are a product of our financial family trees. Our grandparents passed their feelings about money to their children, and these children instilled their habits and attitudes into us.

.How Projection Bias Could Be Destroying Your Finances

By Emily Guy Birken

Have you ever gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach? If you’re like most people, you come home with all kinds of random junk food and disparate ingredients you have no specific plans to use, all because they looked good at the time.

So when you decide to throw some “lightly expired” shrimp, Lonely Gal Margarita Mix for One, and an entire shelf’s worth of tortilla chips into your cart when you only needed a gallon of milk, you are falling victim to a cognitive bias known as the projection bias.

This bias causes you to believe that however you are feeling in the moment is how you will still feel in the future. So when you are feeling rumbly in your tummy while cruising the grocery store, you believe you’ll still want to eat shrimp-covered nachos once you get home — even though your enthusiasm for shrimp that’s gone to the bad place will definitely wane once you’ve had a snack.

.Emergency Fund Examples – Be Prepared for These 7 Financial Disasters

May 1, 2019 By Andrew

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard the conventional wisdom that you need an emergency fund.

And of course it makes sense to save for a rainy day. Yet life gets in the way, the normal bills continue to pile up, and emergency savings gets pushed to the back burner. In fact, according to a recent survey, only 39% of Americans could cover a $1,000 emergency expense without dipping into credit cards or some other form of debt.

It makes sense – we tend to prioritize expenses right in front of us instead of the unknown ones of the future. But when the future unknown collides with present reality, it can create a lot of undue stress if you aren’t prepared.

Emergency Fund Examples

So what are some examples of situations where an emergency fund is a necessity?

Lucky for you, I am one of those people that worries unnecessarily about future uncertainty and hyperventilates when there is less than $10k in the bank account. As such, I have pre-worried about all the possible emergency fund examples so you don’t have to. You’re welcome!

.How To Never Worry About Money Again

The No-Sweat Way to Protect Yourself From Financial Disaster

lauragoldstein2014

Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel daunting. Start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

That nagging feeling that a bit of bad luck—a medical emergency or a layoff—could derail your finances is widely shared. A new survey from the American Psychological Association found that 54% of people rated paying for unexpected expenses a very or somewhat significant source of stress.

And people across the income spectrum tend to be underprepared. A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis finds middle-income households typically have the equivalent of 20 days of income to tap, and even high earners have just 52 days. Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel like a daunting task, given all your expenses and savings goals, but you can start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

Preparing for The Coming Economic Slowdown

How to Prepare Your Money for the Coming Economic Slowdown

By Denise Hill

Predicting an economic downturn can seem as mystical and convoluted as reading tea leaves. However, the economic tea-leaf readers — financial experts — are warning that the economic winds are changing.

Even though unemployment is still low, there are other economic indicators causing financial analysts to predict lean financial seasons. First, economic growth has all but stalled. The rate of wage increase has stagnated.

The Constant Maturity Treasury (CMT) rates, which are used to measure and predict future interest rates, economic growth, and output, are near flatlining — and threatening inversion. This means that as the economy continues to slow down, consumer interest rates will rise and investment earnings will lose momentum, possibly even losing money.

.10 Things You Didn't Know About Millionaires

egstark  Kara Brandeisky    

 When you think "millionaire," John D. Rockefeller might spring to mind. But most American millionaires look more like your neighbor.

The seven-figure club is chock-full of surprises

Thanks to rebounding real estate prices and a bull market in stocks, millionaires have been staging a comeback since the financial crisis. The number of American households with more than a million in assets has hit 9.6 million, according to the Spectrem Group, finally surpassing the pre-recession high of 9.2 million. (And that’s a million bucks without counting your primary residence.)

If you want to join their ranks, take this quiz to figure out your best path, then adopt one of these seven strategies to get there. But first, get to know your future peers.

.How To Manage A Cash Windfall

By Roger Wohlner     AAA | 

Many of us fantasize about winning a big lottery jackpot. Let’s say that actually happened? What would you do with the money? How would you manage it? 

While winning the lottery is a real longshot, cash windfalls are not that uncommon. People inherit money or receive a life insurance payout when someone dies, they sell businesses or professional practices, they win a judgment in a lawsuit, receive a sizable divorce settlement, or take a 401(k) rollover or lump-sum distribution from a pension account all of which can result in a sizable windfall.

The number 70% seems to be a common one in terms of the percentage of lottery winners and retired NFL and NBA players who end up in financial difficulty. If you're the recipient of a cash windfall what should you do, how should you manage it?

.10 Questions to Ask Yourself as an Aspiring Millionaire

By  Anum Yoon

Most accomplished individuals and millionaires often find the best way to navigate to success is by questioning the status quo.

This isn’t just about asking numerous, random questions or simply being contradictory. This will only waste time and energy, which are valuable assets that could be better served elsewhere in your business and life.

Instead, remember the key to success is knowing the right questions to ask. These are instrumental in developing positive daily habits that reinforce your goals and objectives.