Tag Archives: investing

How To Invest Without A Lot Of Money

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investing without a lot of money, how to invest $100, where to invest $1000, investing cheap

“It takes money to make money.” You’ve no doubt heard that phrase thrown around before. It’s a phrase that unfortunately stops people from investing before they even start. The idea that you need to have a lot of money before you’re able to invest (and make more) is all too common, and it’s simply not true.  Years ago when you needed a financial advisor at a big brokerage firm, and you had to pay them insane commissions in order to trade this may have been true. But now, the internet is your savior! You don’t need a financial advisor at all! Thanks to the internet, it doesn’t matter if you have $100, $1000, or $10,000. You can invest and get your money working for you no matter who you are. A couple of assumptions before we continue with this post…I’m assuming that A) you don’t have a mountain of debt hanging over … Continue reading →

Should You Buy Stock In the Company You Work For?

 
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financials

One of the most popular “perks” of working for a publicly traded company is that your employer will offer you the chance to buy their stock. Most, if not all companies have a company stock fund in their 401k plans that invests in nothing but your employer’s stock. I’ve even seen some companies who give their 401k match as a contribution into the company stock fund. Stock options are another popular way employers offer employees chances to buy company stock. Stock options are a chance for the employee to buy shares of stock in the company for a significant discount to the current market price of the stock. The catch with stock options is that there are usually a bunch of terms and conditions attached. You may have to work for the company for several years before your stock options will fully vest. There may be other restrictions on when, and how … Continue reading →

How Often Do You Check On Your Investments?

 
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stock-watch

Long ago, tracking your investment portfolio meant waiting for the morning paper and sifting through pages of ticker symbols in the business section to find out what price your stocks closed at the prior day. In order to make a trade you had to pick up the phone and call your financial advisor or broker. If you talk to people about what it was like back then, they’ll likely tell you about walking uphill both to and from school. They’ll tell you about how they only had 3 TV stations, and they liked it! Ok, maybe it wasn’t that long ago. Still…today Twitter brings us the news in real-time, we can get streaming quotes on all our investments from a number of websites, and we can buy or sell any stock instantly with just the click of a button. We live in a world of “now” and we’re better off for … Continue reading →

A Beginners Guide To Bitcoin

 
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what you need to know about bitcoin, bitcoin for beginners, what is bitcoin, intro to bitcoin

I’ve been hearing a lot about Bitcoin how it’s exploding in popularity lately, but until recently I had absolutely no clue what a Bitcoin was, how it worked or why anyone would ever want them. So I dug in, did some research, and found that Bitcoin is actually a pretty fascinating concept. What is Bitcoin? Simply: Bitcoin is a new, experimental, purely digital form of currency that could forever change how business is conducted online. Bitcoin is a decentralized currency, meaning there is no central bank or government controlling the currency. Instead, everything to do with Bitcoin operates completely over a peer-to-peer network.  The below video probably explains the concept much better than I can, so check it out: When you think of currency you traditionally think of physical bills and coins, be they US Dollars, Euros, etc… However currency in its most basic form is simply a medium of exchange. When you hold a … Continue reading →

Investing Experts and the Herd Mentality

 
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sheep

Buy low, sell high.  Any idiot off the street could repeat this phrase to you as if they had the secret recipe for investing success. Honestly, it’s good advice. One of my favorite investing quotes, and one I try to base my investing strategy around comes from the great Warren Buffet. He famously said “Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy.” On the surface it seems like Buffett is saying the same thing a different way. But what I love about his quote is that it’s actually much deeper than simply buying low and selling high. His quote also illustrates why “buy low, sell high” is much easier said than done. In the investing world, almost like no place else there is an amazing herd mentality. When things are going good, such as over the past month, all the talking heads will tell you how great of … Continue reading →

A Freedom Fund For Financial Independence

 
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freedom, financial independence, financial freedom

What are you saving for? I was sitting around the other day catching up on the other blogs I like to read when it hit me. I had never answered that question for myself! I had made it a point to save, I’d consistently funded my 401(k) and my Roth IRA. I’ve even built up a nice emergency fund. But I had never stopped to really plan what the hell I was doing it all for. Then the other day at work, during a particularly boring conference call, it dawned on me. I want to stop doing this as soon as possible! I have never been a big fan of the corporate 9-5 life. Even in job’s I’ve enjoyed, it always just seemed like I was trading my time for money. That’s why I’ve decided to start a freedom fund (or a f**k you fund for my french speaking readers). A freedom … Continue reading →