How Billionaires See Themselves
.How Billionaires See Themselves
By Nathan J. Robinson
Originally published in our magazine’s hallowed print edition2020SEPT/OCTDETAILS
Reading the dreadful memoirs of the super-rich offers an illuminating look at their delusions.
Most billionaires stay out of the public eye. This makes sense, because according to polls, far more people distrust billionaires than admire them, and the overwhelming majority of the public want the government to seize a portion of billionaires’ wealth. It’s easy for anyone in possession of a billion dollars to make their name widely known, but evidently wealth without fame is preferred to fame without wealth (or the possibility of losing a small chunk of wealth).
Some billionaires, however, write books. These are some of the only documents that the ruling class has produced for the consumption of the masses. What is it they wish us to know?
How Billionaires See Themselves
By Nathan J. Robinson
Originally published in our magazine’s hallowed print edition2020SEPT/OCTDETAILS
Reading the dreadful memoirs of the super-rich offers an illuminating look at their delusions.
Most billionaires stay out of the public eye. This makes sense, because according to polls, far more people distrust billionaires than admire them, and the overwhelming majority of the public want the government to seize a portion of billionaires’ wealth. It’s easy for anyone in possession of a billion dollars to make their name widely known, but evidently wealth without fame is preferred to fame without wealth (or the possibility of losing a small chunk of wealth).
Some billionaires, however, write books. These are some of the only documents that the ruling class has produced for the consumption of the masses. What is it they wish us to know?
I have on my desk a stack of “billionaire books,” mostly memoirs. They include: Sam Zell’s Am I Being Too Subtle, Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity, Richard DeVos’s Compassionate Capitalism, Charles Koch’s Good Profit, Ken Langone’s I Love Capitalism!, Stephen Schwarzman’s What It Takes, Peter Thiel’s Zero to One, Marc Benioff’s Trailblazer, Sam Walton’s Made in America, Joe Ricketts’ The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get, and Michael Bloomberg’s Bloomberg by Bloomberg. (What a title. Bloomberg, whose company is Bloomberg L.P., also made his fortune on a device he invented called “the Bloomberg,” so it is clear he likes saying “Bloomberg.”)
What you may have noticed even from the titles of these books is that many billionaires are slightly defensive. Koch Industries, for instance, is significantly invested in fossil fuels and has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for violations of environmental regulations. Charles Koch, however, wants us to know that he makes “good profit,” by which he means that he creates “value for others” rather than just enriching himself.
Richard DeVos (Amway) and Marc Benioff (Salesforce) have actually both written books called Compassionate Capitalism. John Mackey (Whole Foods) called his Conscious Capitalism. “I am good,” they are saying. “I am not what you think. Please don’t hate me.” (The plea falls on deaf ears; to me, all of these books might as well be titled Expropriate Me.)
Some, like Ken Langone (Home Depot), are a little less concerned with appearances. Titling a book I Love Capitalism! is bold for a billionaire, since it invites the obvious reaction: “Yes, well, of course you do. It gave you a *** billion dollars. If you were the king you would probably write a book called I Love Monarchy! but it wouldn’t tell us much about whether monarchy is good for anyone else.”
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/01/how-billionaires-see-themselves/
Money Is the Megaphone of Identity
.Money Is the Megaphone of Identity
By Lawrence Yeo
There was an extended period of time in my twenties when I didn’t have a job. For most of us, that’s not a big deal. We have our whole lives ahead of us to work, so taking a few months off to “find yourself” can be completely justifiable. Well, let’s just say that wasn’t the case for me.
I spent sleepless nights scouring job postings for any company that might be interested in what little I had to offer. I smacked that “Upload Resume” button around like it was my arch nemesis, but made sure to carefully upload the proper file format before doing so. My days consisted of nothing but napping, eating, uploading, and submitting. To put it mildly, I was in a state of panic to find some sort of work. Some might have viewed this obsessive job search as an impressive character trait. It may have masqueraded as a signal of ambition, an indicator that I was a guy that had his priorities straight.
Money Is the Megaphone of Identity
By Lawrence Yeo
There was an extended period of time in my twenties when I didn’t have a job. For most of us, that’s not a big deal. We have our whole lives ahead of us to work, so taking a few months off to “find yourself” can be completely justifiable. Well, let’s just say that wasn’t the case for me.
I spent sleepless nights scouring job postings for any company that might be interested in what little I had to offer. I smacked that “Upload Resume” button around like it was my arch nemesis, but made sure to carefully upload the proper file format before doing so. My days consisted of nothing but napping, eating, uploading, and submitting. To put it mildly, I was in a state of panic to find some sort of work. Some might have viewed this obsessive job search as an impressive character trait. It may have masqueraded as a signal of ambition, an indicator that I was a guy that had his priorities straight.
The truth, however, was far from that. I wasn’t driven by some magnificent search for purpose, or the nagging desire to provide value to society. I was driven by something far less chivalrous:
My intense, terrifying fear of being homeless.
For the longest time, this fear is what drove my panicked desire to find stable, well-paying work (regardless of how pointless it was). I thought that as long as I could save some money with each paycheck, I wouldn’t have to sleep in the streets if something went awry.
Some of you may understand this fear, while others may view it as deeply irrational. I know people from wealthy backgrounds who have this fear, and people raised on welfare that don’t. My family didn’t have much money growing up, but that doesn’t quite justify the existence of this strain of fright.
Regardless of its origin, this fear was very much alive in me throughout my twenties, and it framed my perspective of money. Instead of viewing money as a generator of wealth, I saw it as an immediate safety net that (barely) kept me away from living on freeway on-ramps. The more of it I had, the more relief and distance it gave me from the streets.
Falling Into Money Safety Net
Well, many years have passed since then, and fortunately, I no longer have this fear.1 However, that doesn’t mean that I no longer think about money. It’s the greatest story humanity has ever subscribed to, so it will always be a central character in the theater of everyday life. What has changed isn’t money itself, but the way in which it colors the way I view the world.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
The Micro and Macro Building Blocks of Wealth
.The Micro and Macro Building Blocks of Wealth
By Billy B | Money
I had an epiphany this week: Our financial present and futures are created from all of the micro-and-macro financial decisions in our pasts. From a personal perspective, as I look back on my life, it wasn’t one lucky break or genius skill that sent us skyrocketing toward being rich. It was a routine set of every-day decisions, mindset, and attitude, on a micro and macro level, that led us be become relatively wealthy ($266K net worth), in a relatively short amount of time (6 years.)
As I realized this, my mind was thrust into a time-traveling speed warp. My entire life appeared in a collage of memories. These visions contained all of the micro and macro decisions I’ve made throughout my lifetime. These memories were the primordial substance that grew into the present and future I am living now. As I stared into the collage of old memories, I saw our wealth is just a collection of micro and macro financial decisions that put us on the right path. Below is a list of the best micro-and-macro decisions that helped us succeed with our money:
The Micro and Macro Building Blocks of Wealth
By Billy B | Money
I had an epiphany this week: Our financial present and futures are created from all of the micro-and-macro financial decisions in our pasts. From a personal perspective, as I look back on my life, it wasn’t one lucky break or genius skill that sent us skyrocketing toward being rich. It was a routine set of every-day decisions, mindset, and attitude, on a micro and macro level, that led us be become relatively wealthy ($266K net worth), in a relatively short amount of time (6 years.)
As I realized this, my mind was thrust into a time-traveling speed warp. My entire life appeared in a collage of memories. These visions contained all of the micro and macro decisions I’ve made throughout my lifetime. These memories were the primordial substance that grew into the present and future I am living now. As I stared into the collage of old memories, I saw our wealth is just a collection of micro and macro financial decisions that put us on the right path. Below is a list of the best micro-and-macro decisions that helped us succeed with our money:
Macro Decision #1: Skip the Expensive Wedding.
In 2015. we were in love and wanted to get married. But weddings are crazy-expensive and we wanted our marriage to start on a financially strong foundation. So we had a decision to make: Pay for an expensive wedding. Or do it on a tiny budget and learn how to invest the money we did have. We chose to avoid an expensive wedding by getting married for $600 in my parent’s living room with immediate-family only. We cooked a steak dinner after as a group, and we rode off into the sunset as a newly married couple with a lot of money still in our pockets.
It was a liberating, and stress-free experience to start building the life we wanted from day #1 of our marriage, rather than feeling the pressure to host and pay for a wedding that other people wanted more than us.
Macro Decision #2: Buy a Modest House.
Since we didn’t have the cost of a big wedding to pay off, we were able to buy a house with a 20% down payment to start our life together. But since we were young and still starting out, we couldn’t afford our dream house right away. Our budget limited us to choose between a single-family home in a less desirable area, or a multi-family home (townhouse, twin-home) in a really nice area.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.wealthwelldone.com/the-micro-and-macro-building-blocks-of-wealth/
Money Lessons From a Truly Terrible Year
.Money Lessons From a Truly Terrible Year
By Charlotte Cowles
What are we supposed to learn from this hellish year financially? It beats me, to be honest. To suggest that there are money lessons from 2020 implies that its events were logical or within our control, disasters we could have budgeted for. Personally, I want to throttle anyone who says the pandemic should teach people to save more in case of emergencies. Of course, it’s always helpful to have savings! But that’s maddening advice for the millions of people who didn’t and won’t be able to for a long time — and for the plenty of people who did and still ran out of money anyway.
One thing is for sure: This past year changed everyone’s outlook on their finances and their security in general. And that must have taught us something. To get a better sense of what we may glean from it, I spoke to several financial experts about what they learned in 2020 — for better or worse — and what they hope to carry forward in the future. Here’s the advice they gave.
Money Lessons From a Truly Terrible Year
By Charlotte Cowles
What are we supposed to learn from this hellish year financially? It beats me, to be honest. To suggest that there are money lessons from 2020 implies that its events were logical or within our control, disasters we could have budgeted for. Personally, I want to throttle anyone who says the pandemic should teach people to save more in case of emergencies. Of course, it’s always helpful to have savings! But that’s maddening advice for the millions of people who didn’t and won’t be able to for a long time — and for the plenty of people who did and still ran out of money anyway.
One thing is for sure: This past year changed everyone’s outlook on their finances and their security in general. And that must have taught us something. To get a better sense of what we may glean from it, I spoke to several financial experts about what they learned in 2020 — for better or worse — and what they hope to carry forward in the future. Here’s the advice they gave.
1. Understand where your money is.
“I discovered this year that many people don’t know their numbers,” says Tiffany Aliche, author of The One Week Budget. “A lot of my friends weren’t sure whether they had private or government student loans or what the interest rate was. They didn’t know how much money was on their credit card or what that interest rate was, either. When everything is fine, that may not seem like a big deal, but when you lose your job, those details really matter.”
For me, doing a detailed inventory of my money (and my debt) was a huge part of keeping my sanity this year, especially during scary patches. Right before the pandemic hit, I paid a small fortune in vet bills trying (unsuccessfully) to keep my beloved cat alive. As a result, I decimated my savings just in time for the economy to implode.
That same month, I lost a work contract that had supplied a reliable stream of income. Then the world locked down for the foreseeable future, and I was ready to panic. So I did what I normally do to calm myself down: I drank too much wine and then (the next morning) wrote everything down. I made a spreadsheet of my expected income, my bills, and what I could pay when. Doing the math helped me realize I wasn’t quite as broke as I felt as long as I kept track of everything and stuck to the plan.
2. Figure out where to get help.
Anyone who says they got through this year under their own steam is probably lying or in denial. We all had to lean on someone — a family member who provided free child care, a landlord who offered a break on rent, a friend who gave useful financial advice. Asking for help is a humbling experience, but it also forces us to kick the tires on our support networks.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.thecut.com/2020/12/money-lessons-from-a-truly-terrible-year.html
Left Penniless
.Left Penniless
Isaac Cathey Humble Dollar December 31, 2020
AS A PARENT, it’s my responsibility to teach my children good financial habits. Core among these are deferring gratification, saving diligently, giving generously and making sensible spending choices. I feel it’s also important to make my children aware of financial pitfalls. Succeeding financially—and in life generally—seems to be as much about avoiding self-destructive habits as it is about cultivating good ones. My wife and I have been homeschooling our children for the last couple of years. Our attempt at home education has been a smashing success, thanks almost entirely to my wife. While she handles the bulk of the teaching, I do occasionally step in to teach certain concepts. Recently, I was tasked with helping my five-year-old daughter understand probability.
Seeing an opportunity to turn a dry academic exercise into a valuable life lesson, I designed a game for the two of us to play. In the game, I offered my daughter the opportunity to take money from her piggybank and quickly turn it into more money. To play the game, we needed 50 cents in pennies and a die (or dice for those who aren’t sticklers for proper English usage).
Left Penniless
Isaac Cathey Humble Dollar December 31, 2020
AS A PARENT, it’s my responsibility to teach my children good financial habits. Core among these are deferring gratification, saving diligently, giving generously and making sensible spending choices. I feel it’s also important to make my children aware of financial pitfalls. Succeeding financially—and in life generally—seems to be as much about avoiding self-destructive habits as it is about cultivating good ones. My wife and I have been homeschooling our children for the last couple of years. Our attempt at home education has been a smashing success, thanks almost entirely to my wife. While she handles the bulk of the teaching, I do occasionally step in to teach certain concepts. Recently, I was tasked with helping my five-year-old daughter understand probability.
Seeing an opportunity to turn a dry academic exercise into a valuable life lesson, I designed a game for the two of us to play. In the game, I offered my daughter the opportunity to take money from her piggybank and quickly turn it into more money. To play the game, we needed 50 cents in pennies and a die (or dice for those who aren’t sticklers for proper English usage).
The rules were simple:
To throw the die, you must pay one cent to the dealer (me).
Before throwing the die, you must guess how it will land (one through six).
If you’re wrong, there are no consequences beyond losing the initial penny paid.
If you’re right, you get five cents.
At first, my daughter was doubtful that this game would be any fun. I started her with 30 cents from her piggybank. After her first couple of throws, she’d lost a couple of cents. But before long, she guessed correctly and was rewarded accordingly. My reaction to her losses was muted—basically a subdued shrug. I struck a sympathetic tone and reassured her that the losses were but a temporary and inconsequential setback. Meanwhile, when she won, my reaction was boisterous and jubilant.
This commotion attracted the attention of her younger siblings, who gathered around her to observe the spectacle and take part in the celebration. When her balance temporarily hit 50 cents, I pointed out that today must be her lucky day. When I asked if she wanted to stop playing, claim her winnings and go do something else, she enthusiastically responded that she wanted to keep having fun making money.
Within a few minutes, her luck predictably turned and (to borrow a phrase from John Bogle) the relentless rules of humble arithmetic took over. As her balance fell below her original 30 cents, she set the goal of breaking even so she could walk away. Ultimately, this attempt failed within minutes and she was left penniless (pun intended).
Interestingly, she asked me if she could take more money from her piggybank to try to make back her losses, but I decided it would be best to end the game and move on to the teachable moment. Here’s a summary of the lessons learned:
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021
.Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021
By Physicians On FIRE
Happy New Year! Yes, 2020 is over. The no good very bad year that was 2020 is no longer. Thank goodness.
Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 yet? Mine include a dry January, avoiding COVID between now and when it’s my turn for the vaccine, and beginning to slow travel once again. I’d like to give you some achievable financial New Year’s Resolutions to ring in the New Year. Each of these dozen items will help you improve your financial situation, and most of them are something you can accomplish, check off the list, and move on to the next one.
Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021
By Physicians On FIRE
Happy New Year! Yes, 2020 is over. The no good very bad year that was 2020 is no longer. Thank goodness.
Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 yet? Mine include a dry January, avoiding COVID between now and when it’s my turn for the vaccine, and beginning to slow travel once again. I’d like to give you some achievable financial New Year’s Resolutions to ring in the New Year. Each of these dozen items will help you improve your financial situation, and most of them are something you can accomplish, check off the list, and move on to the next one.
Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021
#1. Calculate Your Net Worth
This is a great place to start. If you want to set financial goals for yourself, it helps to know where you’re at, first. It’s not a complicated equation. You add up your assets, subtract your liabilities, and the result is your net worth. People get hung up on what should and shouldn’t be included. Vehicles? Jewelry? Art? Football cards? You can get as specific as you want, but if it’s a depreciating asset and/or its value is < 1% of your net worth, I wouldn’t bother counting it.
I’ve got supposedly “valuable” football and baseball cards and other junk. Any jewelry my wife owns has more sentimental than monetary value, and that monetary value is a drop in the bucket compared to our invested assets. Our vehicles might be worth $50,000 combined, but they cost money to operate and will depreciate as we use them. I don’t count any of it when I calculate our net worth.
I do count the value of all our investment accounts and properties owned.
We’re debt-free, but if you’ve got mortgage debt, student loan debt, credit card debt, or any other debt, those go in the liabilities column.
I don’t have a pension coming, but I should receive Social Security eventually. I don’t include this in my calculation, but if you’re near retirement and your pension or Social Security appears to be a sure thing, you can find a calculator to estimate the value of that benefit as a lump sum in today’s dollars if you so choose.
I do count the value of my home and any money set aside for college (529 Plans) in my net worth, but not in my retirement assets. If you’re married with combined finances, you should be looking at your net worth as a family, as we do.
The fine details aren’t all that important. Just figure out where you stand today and monitor that number at least annually to ensure you’re headed in the right direction.
Passive Income MD asked, “Should You Track Your Net Worth?” My answer is yes.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Start Where You Are
.Start Where You Are
by J.D. ROTH 1 January 2021 – Get Rich Slowly
How to Start Where You Are
Start where you are quote by Arthur Ashe Clearly, this is easier said than done. It's one thing for me to sit at my desk and type out pithy advice; it's another to actually deal with the situation day-to-day in real life. But here's the thing: In order to get where I am, I had to start where I was. In order for other Get Rich Slowly readers to get where they are today, they had to start where they were.
When I say “start where you are”, I mean that you should accept that who you are and what you have today is, essentially, your starting hand. Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes. Don't blame others for getting you into this situation. These are the cards you've been dealt (even if you've dealt them to yourself), and it's now up to you to play them as best you can.
How do you do this?
Start Where You Are
by J.D. ROTH 1 January 2021 – Get Rich Slowly
How to Start Where You Are
Start where you are quote by Arthur AsheClearly, this is easier said than done. It's one thing for me to sit at my desk and type out pithy advice; it's another to actually deal with the situation day-to-day in real life. But here's the thing: In order to get where I am, I had to start where I was. In order for other Get Rich Slowly readers to get where they are today, they had to start where they were.
When I say “start where you are”, I mean that you should accept that who you are and what you have today is, essentially, your starting hand. Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes. Don't blame others for getting you into this situation. These are the cards you've been dealt (even if you've dealt them to yourself), and it's now up to you to play them as best you can.
How do you do this?
First and foremost, take care of yourself. Pause. Breathe. Prioritize your physical and mental health, even if that means spending a bit of time and money. Exercise. Eat right. If you need the help of a therapist, see a therapist. Money spent on self-care is never wasted.
Next, take stock of your situation. Figure out exactly where you are starting from. Set aside a Saturday morning to perform a “financial inventory”. Ideally, you'd take the time to begin tracking your money with a program like Quicken or YNAB or Personal Capital. At the very least, calculate your net worth and list all of your debts, bills, assets, and income. You need a snapshot of your current financial situation so you know what you're working with.
Figure out where you want to go. It's great to decide that you want to change, that you want to improve your financial life, for instance. But you'll have greater success if your reason for change is specific, not nebulous. Craft a personal mission statement, and maybe use this to set up a series of smart goals to act as waypoints along the road to your destination.
If needed, restructure your life. We all suffer from “financial drift”. We become complacent and lose sight of our larger goals from time to time. When you press the reset button, when you start your financial journey, it's the perfect time to make changes, large and small. Analyze all of your spending. Cut the crap you do not need. Consider changing jobs. Ask yourself if it might make sense to move to a cheaper home — or to a cheaper city or state.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Advice for Giving Advice
.Advice for Giving Advice
January 3, 2021 by Michael Batnick
What do you say when somebody asks you what they should do with their portfolio?
Here’s what you say, “Sorry, I can’t help you.”
I know that sounds oddly robotic, especially if you work in the financial services industry.
In general, people who don’t work in finance expect those who do to have an opinion on Apple, Tesla, Bitcoin, or whatever they’re asking about. So they’ll probably look at you like you have two heads if you come to them with that response. A way to soften this is to joke, “If I could see the future then I’d be happy to tell you what to do, but I cannot, so I will not.”
What’s the big deal, you might be wondering? Why not just answer somebody’s honest question? Nothing good can come from giving casual investing advice. Nothing. Especially when it comes to the future direction of an individual security. They won’t remember what you said. They’ll only remember what happens.
Advice for Giving Advice
January 3, 2021 by Michael Batnick
What do you say when somebody asks you what they should do with their portfolio?
Here’s what you say, “Sorry, I can’t help you.”
I know that sounds oddly robotic, especially if you work in the financial services industry.
In general, people who don’t work in finance expect those who do to have an opinion on Apple, Tesla, Bitcoin, or whatever they’re asking about. So they’ll probably look at you like you have two heads if you come to them with that response. A way to soften this is to joke, “If I could see the future then I’d be happy to tell you what to do, but I cannot, so I will not.”
What’s the big deal, you might be wondering? Why not just answer somebody’s honest question? Nothing good can come from giving casual investing advice. Nothing. Especially when it comes to the future direction of an individual security. They won’t remember what you said. They’ll only remember what happens.
There are 4 possible scenarios to the question, “Should I buy x?”
You say buy, and it goes down. You were wrong, and they’ll never forget.
You say buy, and it goes up. You were right, but they’ll forget.
You say don’t buy, and it goes down. You were right, but they’ll forget.
You say don’t buy, and it goes up. You were wrong, and they’ll never forget.
In the words of Adrian Balboa, “You can’t win!”
I recently found myself in the fourth scenario. On November 17th, with Bitcoin at $17,500, my brother-in-law texted me the following: “Hey. What do you think about buying 1 share of bitcoin?” He knows my shtick. We’ve had these discussions before. He knows that I avoid these questions at all costs. But I had to give him something. I couldn’t just not respond. Here’s what I wrote:
“I would have felt better about saying “sure, why not?” a month ago. But it’s up 40% in the last month alone, so I wouldn’t feel great about saying “yes, now is a good time to buy.” That said, no guarantees you’ll get a chance to buy it lower.”
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2021/01/03/advice-for-giving-advice/
What Should I Do With a $50k Inheritance?
.What Should I Do With a $50k Inheritance?
Mark Henricks Wed, December 30, 2020
It’s not uncommon for people to receive sizable inheritances, but it’s less common for them to make the most financially advantageous decisions about what to do with their newly acquired assets. If you inherit a significant amount, such as $50,000, a strategy for wisely handling a windfall is likely to include making a long-term plan that considers your age and goals, starts with a well-stocked emergency fund and employs tax-advantaged investments if available. Consulting with a financial advisor is a great way to develop a realistic long-term plan and lay out some strategies for reaching your goals.
Over an eight-year period, one in five American households, including older workers, got an inheritance averaging $67,000, according to a 2006 research report. But most spend the money in a few years and have little left to show. A decade after getting an inheritance, the typical heir still has just a third of the windfall, according to a Swedish study from 2016. Here’s how to make an inheritance last.
What Should I Do With a $50k Inheritance?
Mark Henricks Wed, December 30, 2020
It’s not uncommon for people to receive sizable inheritances, but it’s less common for them to make the most financially advantageous decisions about what to do with their newly acquired assets. If you inherit a significant amount, such as $50,000, a strategy for wisely handling a windfall is likely to include making a long-term plan that considers your age and goals, starts with a well-stocked emergency fund and employs tax-advantaged investments if available. Consulting with a financial advisor is a great way to develop a realistic long-term plan and lay out some strategies for reaching your goals.
Over an eight-year period, one in five American households, including older workers, got an inheritance averaging $67,000, according to a 2006 research report. But most spend the money in a few years and have little left to show. A decade after getting an inheritance, the typical heir still has just a third of the windfall, according to a Swedish study from 2016. Here’s how to make an inheritance last.
Inheritance Strategies
The first thing to do after receiving a sizable inheritance is to place the funds in a secure account, such as a bank savings account or money market fund, while you take stock.
Whether you do it on your own or with professional assistance, create a sensible plan for handling the inheritance. Start with your current circumstances. Consider your age, income, assets and debt. Factors like your personal risk profile, future obligations such as children’s college and personal goals such as business ownership come into play.
Note that inheritances are not considered income by the IRS, so you won’t have to pay taxes on the money you inherit. However, any interest or capital gains on investments you make with the funds could be subject to taxes.
Before making any long-term investments, creating a rainy-day fund is likely to be a priority. Loading a secure, easily accessed account with three to six months of basic expenses can provide peace of mind while avoiding the need to borrow or tap illiquid funds in the event of an emergency.
Reducing high-rate debt could be next. Paying off revolving credit card balances will save more on interest than most investments can ever return. Getting into the habit of settling credit card accounts in full every month will prevent taking on more high-cost debt in the future.
Specific Options
After these priorities, much of the inheritance will be invested to build wealth long term.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/50k-inheritance-161412124.html
An Incredible Year For Gold
.An Incredible Year For Gold
Notes From The Field By Simon Black, Sovereign Man
December 30, 2020 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile
Gold has been one of the world's best performing asset classes over the past few years, and it has shined this year in particular. But while the financial gains have been impressive, I've long argued that the real reason to own gold goes far beyond making money. As I've written before, I personally don't have much interest in trading paper money for gold, only to trade the gold for more paper money in the future.
To me, gold is like an insurance policy. You can buy insurance to protect your home, your car, and your family. You can buy 'put options' to protect your stock portfolio against major declines. You can buy credit default swaps to protect your bond portfolio against bankrupt governments.
An Incredible Year For Gold
Notes From The Field By Simon Black, Sovereign Man
December 30, 2020 Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile
Gold has been one of the world's best performing asset classes over the past few years, and it has shined this year in particular. But while the financial gains have been impressive, I've long argued that the real reason to own gold goes far beyond making money. As I've written before, I personally don't have much interest in trading paper money for gold, only to trade the gold for more paper money in the future.
To me, gold is like an insurance policy. You can buy insurance to protect your home, your car, and your family. You can buy 'put options' to protect your stock portfolio against major declines. You can buy credit default swaps to protect your bond portfolio against bankrupt governments.
But these are all known risks... things that we know -might- happen. We know that stocks might decline, or a house might catch fire.
But gold is like an insurance policy that covers all the true unknowns... things that we never see coming. And there were certainly a lot of those this year.
Below is an article that I wrote in early January of this year-- before Covid, riots, and the rest of the fiasco of 2020 took hold.
As I wrote:
"I know this is the time of year where people make all sorts of predictions about what’s going to happen in the year ahead.
Frankly I don’t think anyone can credibly say that they have any idea what’s going to happen in the world in 2020. And that’s why I own gold."
This statement remains absolutely true. Here is the full article:
The price of gold is up nearly $100 since Christmas, reaching around $1,575 per troy ounce as I write this letter.
This most recent price bump is due to the panic over Iran. But the gold price is up nearly 20% over the last year, so there have obviously been plenty of other factors driving the price higher before the Middle East started flaring up again.
And there will be plenty more after these tensions cool down.
Trade wars, economic crisis in China, Bolshevik nonsense in the US, Brexit woes… the world is definitely not lacking in major issues that could continue to drive gold prices higher.
Throughout history there have always been periods of relative calm and stability, followed by periods of chaos and uncertainty.
The 1960s were incredibly chaotic, for example. Riots, assassinations, war, etc. were the dominant stories of the time.
By comparison, the 1990s were relatively calm. Peace and prosperity reigned. And life was so easy that the biggest problem of the decade was Bill Clinton’s love stain.
We seem to be sliding head-first into another period of turmoil (though I would argue that we’ve been there for a few years).
Stability is gone. Trade wars, shooting wars, terror attacks… pretty much everything is back on the table now.
Bolshevik politicians are taking hold all over the world, even in places like the United States, where, only a few years ago, it would have been considered preposterous for a socialist candidate to run for President.
Now there’s more than a dozen.
Most of all, the Social Contract is breaking down; people everywhere are becoming angry and unglued. We’ve seen it in the streets in places like Hong Kong, Spain, Chile, Lebanon, France, etc. And we see it every single day in social media.
People are demanding change and revolution in everything from our basic system of economics, down to the very words we can and cannot use.
This is all part of a level of conflict and turmoil we haven’t seen in decades, and it’s possible we’re just in the early stages.
I somehow doubt that all of these woke social justice warriors will suddenly capitulate their war on gender pronouns, or that Bolshevik presidential candidates will abandon their Marxist ideology and embrace the free market.
Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not suggesting this is the winter of our discontent. I’m incredibly optimistic about the world and it’s opportunities.
But I sure am glad that I own some gold.
It’s not the fact that the gold price is up $100 in a month, or that precious metals have performed very well as an asset class. (Silver is up 21% in the last six months alone.)
The investment benefits are a nice bonus. But the real value of gold is that it’s one of the best things to own in times of turmoil and uncertainty.
Gold is a global asset with a 5,000+ year history of value and marketability. It’s a hedge… an asset you can rely on when you can rely on little else.
In many respects it’s like a life insurance policy… with the added cherry-on-top that you don’t have to be dead to benefit from it. And your gold dealer is probably not going to give you prostate exam first.
I know this is the time of year where people make all sorts of predictions about what’s going to happen in the year ahead.
Frankly I don’t think anyone can credibly say that they have any idea what’s going to happen in the world in 2020. And that’s why I own gold.
To your freedom and prosperity, Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com
10 Survival Tips for Lottery Winners
.10 Survival Tips for Lottery Winners
No wonder some lottery players are dreaming big. Behemouth jackpots are being awarded, including prizes over $300 million each in the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries. With payouts like these, winning the money is only half the game. Winners need to have — or quickly assemble — a strategy for staying sane, anonymous and in the black for the rest of their lives. Keep reading to learn what every new millionaire lottery winner should know. It’s not the usual blah, blah, blah.
10 Survival Tips for Lottery Winners
No wonder some lottery players are dreaming big. Behemouth jackpots are being awarded, including prizes over $300 million each in the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries. With payouts like these, winning the money is only half the game. Winners need to have — or quickly assemble — a strategy for staying sane, anonymous and in the black for the rest of their lives. Keep reading to learn what every new millionaire lottery winner should know. It’s not the usual blah, blah, blah.
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1. Stay anonymous
Recently, a lottery winner in Jamaica collected his $95 million dressed in a Darth Vader costume. The name he used: “W. Brown.” The disguise was an effort to hide his identity and also to deter theft, says Fox News. He had the right idea. When you win big, the impulse is to shout your good fortune from the rooftops. But hold back; stay anonymous, advises State Farm Insurance. Some lotteries require winners to participate in a press conference and give interviews. But, if possible, keep your big news to yourself.
Otherwise, you’re inviting a deluge of appeals for donations, as well as scammers and other predators looking to take advantage of your new wealth.
2. Find a financial adviser and an attorney
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2135056510583/10-survival-tips-for-lottery-winners