.The 10 Most Valuable Financial Lessons I Learned in 2018

By  Trent Hamm  Updated on 01-10-19

 Getting Started

​Each year, during the period between Christmas and New Year’s, I sit down and look over what happened during the past year, what I can learn from that, and what I can apply from that to the year to come.

 I usually come up with a big handful of life lessons during that review, things I learned from situations in my life that didn’t quite go as I liked. What went wrong? Where did I go wrong? What can I do better?

These life lessons spread across all spheres of life and usually number in the dozens. I tend to literally make a list of them as I review the year as a way to figure out how to do better in the coming year.

​Among the lessons I learned in the past year were 10 that have real personal finance implications, though some tend to branch over into other spheres of life. I thought it might be valuable to share those lessons, along with what I hope to do differently going forward.

 Lesson #1: If the stock market is scaring you in terms of your future, you’re either not invested appropriately or don’t know what you’re invested in.

 This is something I did right this year, but the bumps in the stock market reminded me of the panic I felt in 2008 when I watched my retirement balance fall by 40%. I didn’t change anything back then, but I was often sick to my stomach about it and my instinct kept screaming to run away from the risk.

But then… things recovered. Between 2008 and 2018, my retirement accounts tripled in value.

 The stock market is swooning again, but this time I don’t have the butterflies. Why?

.The 3 things you should do to build wealth in 2019 (updated regularly)

by  Steve Adcock    January 10, 2019

In December, I celebrated my two year anniversary of early retirement from full-time work. In 2016, I quit the rat race at 35 to pursue projects that I actually cared about (imagine that!).

Without the relatively comfortable full-time paycheck.

It’s been an amazing ride. I’ve learned a ton about freedom and what it really means to control every second of your day. Believe it or not, it’s not quite as cut-and-dry as many people believe.

I’ve written about my story a lot, and I’m as transparent as I can possibly be. We’re not your rags to riches story.

Both my wife and I enjoyed a solid upbringing as children. Neither of us struggled through college or to find a job. We both earned highly-marketable degrees and made good money in the technology sector.

In fact, we pulled down a combined $250,000 in our last years working.

We know how to build wealth, and those techniques enabled us to quit full-time work pretty damn early. We’re both in our 30s and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished.

How did we manage to build so much wealth? It’s simple, though not necessarily easy. And, it generally takes a lot of time. Let me explain.

.Personal Lessons Learned Since The 2008 Financial Crisis

By Financial Samurai

 On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers went bust. I remember this day clearly because I made a $200 side bet with my friend over the weekend that the US government would bail them out. To my surprise, the US government didn’t rescue Lehman, and the stock cratered that Monday and never recovered.

 Despite all the economic devastation, I wish I could rewind time. I’d rather be 31 than 41, simply because I love life and want to live as many years as possible.

 The period between 2008 – 2018 was the most exciting 10 years of my life. Here are some of the lessons I have learned since the financial crisis.

Lessons Learned Since The 2008 Financial Crisis

.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.