.On The Importance Of Putting First Things First

By J.D. Roth

Holy cats! That was an interesting 72 hours.

For the past three days, I’ve been fighting a terrible cold. Or maybe the flu. I’m not sure which. It hasn’t been fun.

On Sunday, while I was in Florida attending an early-retirement retreat, I woke with crap in my lungs. All day, I was coughing and sneezing and hacking. I still felt relatively strong, though, so I made sure to get in my four-mile training run. (I made two goals involving running this year: I want to run at least one mile every day and I want to run a half marathon at the end of March.)

On Monday morning, I felt worse. Still, I rolled out of bed and tromped the one mile I had scheduled for myself. It was a l-o-n-g mile, let me tell you. I was wheezing and gasping the entire ten minutes.

.4 Risky Life Decisions Millionaires Made — But You Shouldn't

By Emily Guy Birken 19 June 2018

When you read about self-made millionaires and billionaires, it can often seem as if their success was an inevitable result of their tenacity and savvy decisions. But sometimes those choices are less savvy and more borderline irresponsible — and it would be foolhardy for most of us to try some of these stunts in our own lives.

The stories of people going from rags to riches may be inspiring, but most of us need to remain practical. That's why you should avoid copying these four life decisions successful millionaires have made. (See also: 5 Bedtime Routines of Famous Financial Gurus)

Dropping out of high school

There are a number of hugely successful individuals who did not complete their high school educations, and it did nothing to stop them from reaching the top of their fields. For instance, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, Tumblr developer David Karp, director Quentin Tarantino, and Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson all dropped out of high school and still went on to become multi-millionaires.

.6 Things I Learned About Money From Famous People's Wills

By Carrie Kirby

I've always been fascinated by William Shakespeare's will. Specifically, by the way he left his wife his "second-best bed," especially since historians are at odds over what he meant by it.

Was this an insult to a spouse he didn't get along with, or a tender gesture? After all, since everything was handmade, furniture was much more valuable back in the 1600s than it is today.

Thinking about Shakespeare's seemingly odd bequests made me realize that what people list in their wills says a lot about what they value.

So when Ancestry made a searchable database of 170 million will and probate documents available to its subscribers, I eagerly dove in. Of course, most Ancestry members use this information to learn more about their family members; the site touts these records' value in particular for African Americans searching for family history, since wills from the slavery era may name their ancestors as property.

Stop! Don't Make These 6 Dumb Mistakes With Your Financial Windfall

By Kentin Waits

Maybe your lottery numbers finally came in. Maybe a favorite aunt remembered you in her will. Heck, maybe one day while you were shootin' at some food, up through the ground came bubblin' crude — oil that is! Texas tea! (See also: 50 Smart Things to Do With Your Tax Refund)

Whatever the source, you're the lucky beneficiary of a financial windfall. Revel in it and protect your new-found wealth by avoiding these six dumb moves.

1. Act Impulsively

Receiving money unexpectedly is exciting, and it can send even normally down-to-earth folks straight into the stratosphere. In those dizzying weeks and months following a financial windfall, we're really not ourselves, so making big decisions during that time is usually a terrible idea.

.How To Build A Financial Plan Without A Professional Financial Planner

Jim Wang

Years ago, I dropped my business card into one of those fishbowls near the front door of a restaurant. You've probably seen them too – put your card in to win a free dinner for you and eight of your friends!

I just graduated college, was working for the first time, and I had a box of a thousand business cards. Certainly it was worth it to drop one in the bowl!

It turns out the meal might have been free but it still cost me. It cost me over an hour talking with a “financial planner” who was more sales person than planner.

After realizing I was simply parrying offers of life insurance and overpriced mutual funds (even back then, in my naivete, I knew that paying 1%+ in annual fees plus a sales load/commission was a bad bad bad idea), I thanked the young guy for the food, the pitch, and for remembering that there's no such thing as a free lunch after all.

A financial plan is so important yet so few people have them. You don't have to hire a financial planner to build one of your own, this site will show you step by step how to do it today! He did give me one gift though – I knew I didn't have a financial plan. I wasn't married and I didn't have kids, so not having a plan wasn't a big deal. Fast forward a few years, marriage, and two kids; a financial plan is crucial.

But you don't necessarily need a “financial planner” to help you develop your plan. You have all the tools already, you simply need to learn how to fit it all together. I'll show you today.

.Obvious Things That Are Easy To Ignore in Finance

Sep 16, 2020 by Morgan Housel

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody ever observes,” says Sherlock Holmes.

In a different scene he tells a friend while thinking about a crime: “It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult.”

Lots of things work like that. Learning from something has two parts: whether it’s important and whether it captures your attention. The number of things that check the first box but not the second are higher than any of us want.

It’s not that the simple things are hidden. It’s that our attention is drawn to things we assume make the biggest difference, and the idea that obvious equals ineffective is more powerful than the reverse.

Two examples of obvious things that are easy to overlook in finance:

.12 Personal Finance Skills Everyone Should Master

By Dr Penny Pincher

I was happy to see that my son signed up to take a personal finance class in high school next year. I think mastering basic personal finance skills is one of the most important things you can do to improve your happiness and quality of life. But you're a full-fledged adult. If you haven't already, the earlier you start developing and using personal finance skills, the more time you have to reap the benefits.

Here is my list of personal finance skills every frugal person should master.

1. Budgeting

Setting and following a budget is probably the most basic personal finance skill, yet only about one-third of people actually have a detailed budget. I went for years without an accurate budget, using my checking account balance as a rough gauge of how much money I had available to spend.

.The 5 Biggest Success Factors of Self-Made Millionaires

By Nate Lee

It was after my first “real job” out of college that I became a true student of success and wealth. Just days after graduating I found myself employed and living in a completely different city.

Corporate Self-Made Millionaires?

It was a great experience, but that job lacked something. Good money…big money. The job I landed paid me according to current market rates for recent college grads. However, I was convinced I wasn’t being paid enough. After spending four hard years with my nose to the grind, there was an expectation that I was to come out of the gates, guns a blazing, and making some real money. But that didn’t happen.

As soon as I got my hands on that first paycheck, my dreams felt dashed. Let’s just say, that first paycheck was nothing to brag about. Maybe you can relate?

It only took a few weeks of receiving that pittance of paycheck from the fortune 500 company I was employed with, that I realized, “This is not what I went to school for”.

It was in that moment that I decided to learn how to start making the real money. So, I became a student of success and wealth. I put all of my attention on what many other self-made millionaires were doing.

And, to my delight, what I’ve learned so far has been paying off.

.5 Great Success Lessons We Can Learn From Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn is one of the best motivational speakers in the world;

If you’re looking for an advancement in your life (be it in your professional life, your relationship or simply your well-being) one of the fastest ways is to learn things from a mentor of your own. If you’re looking for a great mentor to learn more from, then Jim Rohn is definitely one of the greatest mentors out there.

It never used to be very easy to find a mentor of your own that you can look up to and gain knowledge from. Nowadays however, all you have to do is just take a book, watch a video on YouTube, have a quick search on the web or buy a video program made by your desired mentor.

So, this article outlines 5 great lessons you can learn from Jim Rohn, one of the most influential America’s business and life philosophers, and shows exactly why you should have someone like him as your mentor.

.11 Myths About Personal Wealth You Shouldn't Believe

By Forbes Finance Council

Successful accounting, financial planning & wealth management executives from Forbes Finance Council share trends and tips.

For many people, a long-term goal is to amass and maintain personal wealth for financial security. There are many different paths to get there -- savings, investments, passive income, etc. -- and there are plenty of "rags to riches" success stories to inspire people's financial aspirations. But there are also many myths about wealth that color the perceptions of those who wish to attain it.

We asked a panel of Forbes Finance Council members about the biggest and most common misconceptions about personal wealth and the important correct information individuals should have instead. Their best answers are below.