Beginner Level
This is the beginner level of Personal finance.
This section encompasses financial articles for beginners who want to manage money as well as their saving and investing. The Neighborhood Finance Guy covers budgeting, life insurance, how to buy your first home, your first investments up to retirement planning, and tax and estate planning.
Personal finance depends on your income, expenses, goals, and desires. As such, it’s important to become financially literate, so you can make S.M.A.R.T.E.R decisions.
Here are some beginner-level tips: Develop or follow the Net Max Financial Plan, Run an inventory of your assets and liabilities, Start tracking your wealth (also known as Net Worth), Set a Budget you can follow, Allocate at least 15% for additional debt pay downs, at Least 20%-30%% toward savings, and the rest to your needs.
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The ‘Millennial Dream’ of a Condo, EV, Farmer’s Market, and Travel Now Costs $6.8 Million
From EVs, expensive homes, farmers' markets, and travel; our 'Millennial Dream' is expensive. We will need nearly $7 million.
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Breaking Down Our Strategy to Achieve a $1,000,000 Investment Portfolio
A breakdown of our household's investments as of March 2024 through 2025. Still, on track with the Net/Max Financial Plan to retire early.
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If You Think It Costs A lot Today, Check Out These 2030 Estimates
Nothing erodes Wealth faster than Inflation. If the cost is $73k in 2020, it will balloon to $95k by 2030. Are you making the adjustments?
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Sitting on Cash Could Cost You a Lot of Money
Cash comes with an opportunity cost – by sitting in cash, investors may miss out on the potential upside stocks could see in a soft landing, lack the protection that bonds can offer if a recession does happen, and lose out on the inflation protection that real assets have.
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How Did Black Wealth Increase by 60%
In a surprising turn of events, median Black household wealth increased by 60 percent from 2019 through 2022. This represents a significant boost of $17,000. Ultimately, this is a great offset to the seismic decrease of 61 percent from 2007 through 2010. According to the recent 2022 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, the median American household experienced a 37 percent boost. This represents a (net) positive increase through the pandemic. What changed? And, will this pivot help to improve the odds of reaching racial wealth parity? Why does this increase in Black Wealth Matter? As of Q3 2023, Black households held less than 5 percent of total US wealth. In…
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How to Redefine Achieving Meaningful Success through Conquering Fear
There is nothing left to fear but fear itself.
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The Top Seven Most Productive Ways to Close Out the Year
And just like that the 4th quarter is here; it's not too late to be productive and close out strong. The goal is to set up the next year.
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American Households in 2022 spent $72,967. How much did we spend?
The Average American Household earned $94,003 pre-tax and spent over $72,967 in 2022. Unfortunately, they only saved $8,742. How did we do?
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More Fables, Myths, and Financial Lessons from Short Stories
When discussing Financial literacy, it’s important to remember that we learned a lot of lessons from short fables, stories, and folklore. By the way, I didn’t write these stories. Just resharing them here to help jog memories with aha! moments. These stories were once pivotal as warnings or cautionary tales. When I was growing up Aesop Fables and Grimm Fairytales were amazingly dark. There were rarely happy endings with a heavy emphasis on life not being fair. Yet, they offered financial nuggets that stand the test of time. The Most Dangerous Financial Lessons Trusting Your Instincts A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river. The frog is…
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How Short Stories Can Instruct Us on How to Interact in Modern Society
By the way, I didn’t write these stories. Just resharing them here. These are financial lessons wrapped in life lessons. They stand the test of time. The Donkey and the Tiger The donkey told the tiger, “The grass is blue.” The tiger replied, “No, the grass is green.” The discussion became heated, and the two decided to submit the issue to arbitration, so they approached the lion. As they approached the lion on his throne, the donkey started screaming: ′′Your Highness, isn’t it true that the grass is blue?” The lion replied: “If you believe it is true, the grass is blue.” The donkey rushed forward and continued: ′′The tiger…
