.5 Money Myths and Misconceptions

By MONKWEALTH

We all have misconceptions.

A field that’s especially misunderstood by the average person is personal finance. People are prone to believe various myths about money and end up sad, poor, and frustrated as a consequence.

This post is aimed to that segment of the general population – the people who think money is evil, that time is money, or that “the rich” owe them something. Enjoy.

1. Money Can’t Make You Happy

Okay, I agree. Money can’t make you happy, indeed. However, no money also can’t make you happy. Mind blown, right? I don’t fully understand how some people connect money to happiness in an exclusive way. But I understand that many use it as an excuse to indulge in excessive self-sabotage by disregarding the importance of personal finance.

.Tony Robbins’ 8-Point Guide to Reversing Your Fortunes in 2021

By Matt Crossman | December 13, 2020

What’s left to say about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? Dumpster fires and train wrecks think it was a bad year.

When viewed through the narrow prism of work, it was a nightmare for companies big and small, for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, employees, freelancers, members of the gig economy, and everybody in between. Maybe for you 2020 was bad enough to prompt, or even require, a reimagining of your work, your focus, or your dreams. Tony Robbins feels your pain. He knows, understands and shares in what you’re going through because he went through it, too

A life and business strategist, No. 1 New York Times best-selling author, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Robbins spent decades traveling the world speaking in front of thousands of people, and all of that disappeared seemingly in an instant. But did the end of large gatherings forecast the end of Robbins? Nope.

.10 Ways You Can Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is This Holiday Season

By Sarah Paulk | December 17, 2020

Like everything else in 2020, the holidays are in upheaval. Even a visit to see Santa means a socially distanced photo complete with face shields and masks. But unlike everything else in 2020, gift giving has not been postponed. In fact, maintaining simple traditions like wrapping and gifting presents can be an incredible stabilizer when it feels like the world around us is anything but.

The trick in this chaotic year is to find gifts that are meaningful and relevant. A lot of people on our lists are working from home, eating takeout at home and ordering their essentials from home, so gifting anything that signals dressing up or going out is bound to gather dust. Concerts, movies, wine tastings—events that make us crave a shared experience with strangers—don’t make much sense this year, and diamond earrings don’t exactly match the house slippers and sweatpants that have become a part of Zoom call chic.

.Warren Buffett's 6 Ways To Keep Your Finances Healthy During COVID

Doug Whiteman Sat, December 19, 2020

COVID-19 and recession it caused have been hitting everyone — including 90-year-old investing legend Warren Buffett.

At his massive conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the pandemic "has adversely affected nearly all of our operations, although the effects are varying significantly," the company said in its latest quarterly earnings release, in early November. But even with the challenges, Berkshire reported an 82% jump in net profit for the July-through-September quarter — so, billionaire Buffett would seem to be weathering the crisis just fine.

You can, too, if you follow his lead. Here are takeaways from six bits of Buffett wisdom to protect your money as the virus rampages on.

.5 Tips for Retiring a Millionaire From ‘Shark Tank’ Star Kevin O’Leary

by Robin Hartill, CFP®

Ready to start investing your way to millionaire status? Follow these five investing tips from O’Leary.

1. Expect saving money to be really hard.

O’Leary believes that pretty much everyone is wasting money on something. But when you commit to saving and investing that money instead, keeping that commitment isn’t easy. “No matter what happens that week, no matter how bad that week was, you have to have the discipline of finding $100 and putting it to work,” he said.

The world wants to take money from you, the “Shark Tank” star says. You’re bombarded with the temptation to spend money, whether it’s on new jeans, sneakers, games or phones.

“For all the stuff that the rest of the world wants you to give them money for, you have to have discipline,” he said. “And it’s really hard to say, ‘No. This $100 is for me.’”

.Anthony ONeal Can Help You Get Out of Debt

By Jamie Friedlander | October 21, 2020 | 0

When Anthony ONeal was 19 years old, he got kicked out of college for participating in a fraternity hazing event. He had racked up $35,000 in debt—a combination of credit card bills, furniture bills and student loans. He was homeless and sleeping in his old, run-down car. He showered at the YMCA.

ONeal’s dad eventually agreed to let him move back in with him, under the condition that he’d get his life—and finances—in order. He handed him an old-school Dave Ramsey budget form to get started.

Now 36, ONeal is not only thriving financially, but he is a personal finance expert, a national best-selling author and speaker with Ramsey Solutions who regularly joins Dave Ramsey’s nationally recognized personal finance show. He’s debt-free and recently purchased his first home in Columbia, Tennessee—a 2,500-square-foot custom build. He just bought his dream car and recently sent his parents on vacation abroad for the first time in their lives. He’s written three books about student loan debt, although he’s planning to expand to other finance topics beginning with his fourth. He hosts a popular YouTube show, and has a robust social media presence, with more than 250,000 followers.

.Time Limited

Jonathan Clements | December 19, 2020

OUR MOST PRECIOUS resource is time. I’m determined to waste as little as possible.

Unless we’re at death’s door, none of us knows how much time we have, but we all know it’s limited. Yes, money is also limited—but, if we squander money, there’s always a chance we can make it back. Time lost, by contrast, is gone forever.

My preoccupation with time and its dwindling supply has grown as I’ve grown older. I may be patient with my investments, but I’m not patient with much else. After 58 years of trial and error, I know how I want to spend my days—and what miseries I want to avoid. That’s led me to adopt nine strategies:

1. Fix problems quickly. Faced with a distasteful task, I’m often tempted to put it off until next week or next month. This is foolish. The distasteful task—calling customer service, dealing with my tax return, cleaning out the basement—is going to cost me time, but now I’ve compounded that loss by spending unnecessary days contemplating the need to do it.

.How to Find a Financial Advisor You Can Trust

By Jeff Desjardin

More and more people are using financial advisors to help them navigate the complex journey to financial freedom.

But although more Americans are seeking advice on matters of personal finance, they are also less sure that the advice they are getting is trustworthy.

Unfortunately, a growing amount of Americans see advisors as serving their companies’ best interests rather than their own best interests. According to a survey by The National Association of Retirement Plan Participants (NARPP), 60% of Americans now feel this way compared to just 25% of respondents in 2010.

.Could Knowing Your ‘Money Script’ Help Your Finances?

By Charlotte Cowles@charlottecowles My Two Cents Nov. 5, 2020

One thing I hate about most money advice is that it tells you what you should be doing, as if you didn’t already know. Most of us are aware that we need to spend less, save more, and plan better (thanks for the reminder). To me, the real question is how you actually get yourself to do those things, and what’s making it so hard.

Enter “money scripts,” also known as “money stories,” a concept that has been tossed around by financial therapists for years and more recently edged into mainstream financial planning. Loosely defined, money scripts are “what you learned about money from your upbringing, how you responded or rebelled, and what your current money dynamics and patterns are,” says Bari Tessler, a financial therapist and author of The Art of Money.

.The 6 Biggest Mistakes Ordinary Investors Make

By Jeff Desjardins

In many areas of life, we are often our own worst enemies. The realm of personal finance is no different. What’s the biggest threat to achieving financial independence? Unfortunately, it’s your own brain. You can invest in all the right things, minimize fees and taxes, and even diversify your holdings. But if you fail to master your own psychology, it’s still possible to fall victim to financial self-sabotage.

The Brain’s Design

Today’s infographic is from Tony Robbins, and it uses data and talking points from his #1 Best Selling book Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook, which is now available on paperback. The graphic is based on a chapter in the book that reveals the key psychological limitations of the human brain. It turns out that these fallible survival instincts have been hardwired into our brains over millions of years, and they become very troublesome when we try to make rational financial decisions.

.How To Live Your Best Life Without a Lot of Money

September 18, 2019 by One Frugal Girl

Live Your Best Life

I sit on the floor, surrounded by a group of smiling first graders. “What do you want to be when you grow up,” I ask. Their hands shoot up high into the air as they enthusiastically call out their answers.

“A doctor.” “A nurse.” “A basketball player.” “A builder.” “A teacher.” “A zookeeper.”

They are so excited they have a hard time waiting for their turn to share. As we go around the room, each child speaks confidently about their desired career. Their futures are full of possibilities. They have big plans to live their best life and no fear that they may fail. After class, I reminiscence about my childhood desires when an unexpected longing arises from deep within. A desire to go back to a time before obligations, bills and responsibilities altered my goals. A desire to live the best life I dreamed about as a kid.