Everyday, people lose their jobs, become seriously ill, and suffer other hardships that strain their household finances. Even so, a sobering study by State Farm found that 55% of those surveyed don't have a back-up plan for weathering a long-term ...
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100 Words On: The Importance of a Balanced Investment Portfolio
Conventional wisdom says it's unwise to put all your eggs in one basket. Likewise, having a large portion of your portfolio in any single asset class -- be it stocks, bonds, commodities, or cash equivalents -- is financial suicide. Maintaining a ...
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100 Words On: Why Tracking Your Net Worth Is So Overrated
Many people dream about reaching the million-dollar net worth milestone, as if that lofty benchmark somehow guarantees a strife-free financial life. Preposterous! Net worth -- the value of your total assets minus your total liabilities -- is ...
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100 Words On: Why It’s So Hard to Beat a Homegrown Tomato
There's a reason why tomatoes are found in 85% of all gardens, topping the list of most popular homegrown produce: Biting into the fresh and juicy sweetness of a vine-ripened homegrown tomato is pure nirvana for the senses -- a savory treat unmatched ...
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100 Words On: Why You Should Never Ever Be Afraid of Failure
Most of us learn to fear failure and avoid it at all costs. During our quest for financial freedom, however, well encounter plenty of failures. Usually, we learn from them and move on. Sadly, the fear of failure is also used as a convenient excuse ...
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100 Words On: Why You Need Emergency Savings AND a Rainy Day Fund
People often use the terms "rainy day fund" and "emergency savings" interchangeably when they are really two completely different forms of personal finance insurance. A rainy day fund is meant to help you weather short-term, relatively low-impact ...
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100 Words On: The Smartest Way to Eliminate Your Credit Card Debt
I don't care what you've heard about Dave Ramsey's debt snowball, the credit card debt-elimination method that calls for paying off cards with the lowest balances first -- regardless of their interest rate. It's wrong.
Ramsey claims the debt ...
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100 Words On: Why It’s Not Poor Etiquette to Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog
There are plenty of food snobs out there who insist that it is sacrilegious to put ketchup on a hot dog. That assessment is echoed by The National Hot Dog Council which proclaims that ketchup should never be put on a hot dog by anyone over the age of ...
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100 Words On: What You Should Always Do Before Buying Stuff Online
It's estimated that online sales in the United States was $870 billion in 2021 -- that's a lot of people clicking on website "Buy Now" buttons.
I recently saved $25 on a $100 online purchase simply because I spent two minutes searching the ...
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100 Words On: A Surefire Way to Beat the Lottery
I realize I've made this point before but, come on, talk about a sucker's bet: The odds are before you ever strike it rich playing the lottery you'll most likely be struck by lightning. Twice. Now consider this: Over a ten year period, somebody who ...
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100 Words On: Why Financial Freedom Requires Very Little Money
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that one has to be "rich" to attain financial freedom. There are lots of people earning millions per year who aren't financially free, just as it's also true that there are folks earning less than $50,000 annually ...
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100 Words On: The Importance of Always Paying Yourself First
When it comes to saving money, the biggest hurdle for most folks is the lack of available cash after paying all of the bills every month. Fortunately, this seemingly impossible problem is easily fixed by paying yourself first -- not your creditors. ...
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100 Words On: Why Luck Is So Overrated
We tend to give "luck" far too much credit for people's good fortune. Likewise, we often blame our own personal misfortunes on bad luck. While it's true that luck is often due to pure chance, more often than not it's the result of something we ...
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100 Words On: Why You Don’t Need an MBA to Manage Your Finances
Never assume that just because a person holds an MBA, he knows how to run a business; the road is littered with MBA-sporting CEOs who ignominiously drove their companies into the ground. Conversely, there are just as many CEOs -- guys like ...
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100 Words On: Why Time Is More Valuable Than Money
Although you'd never know it based upon the ways people treat time and money, the former is significantly more valuable than the latter because our life here on earth is finite. Yes, time is free; ironically, it's also priceless. That's because we ...
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100 Words On: Why Many ‘Rich’ People Are Only Fooling Themselves
Pablo Picasso said, "I'd like to live as a poor man, with lots of money." Sage advice. That's because doing the exact opposite is a recipe that's guaranteed to eventually bring financial trouble to anybody brazen enough to try it. Still, that doesn't ...
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100 Words On: Why Not All Debt is a Four-Letter Word
Not all debt is bad. Debt is generally okay whenever it is used to buy something that may increase in value. For example, going into debt can make perfect sense when you're trying to start a business, or expand an existing one. Very few people can ...
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Why Personal Responsibility Is the Key to Success
Nothing is easier in life than to blame the other guy when we encounter problems. That's because it takes real courage and integrity to look inward and take responsibility for all of the troubles that are a direct result of our own making. When we ...
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100 Words On: A Really Sneaky Way to Reduce Your Restaurant Bar Tab
According to the National Restaurant Association, 88% of all adults say they enjoy going to restaurants. It's really no wonder. Dining out is considered a relaxing treat by most folks; a great way to escape from the hustle and bustle of a hectic day. ...
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100 Words On: Why the US Postal Service Should Take Saturdays Off
Until 1912, the United States Postal Service delivered mail on Sundays -- and prior to 1950, the mailman came twice a day. Now, with the USPS expected to suffer a $160 billion deficit over the next decade, maybe Saturday delivery is on the verge of ...
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