How to get out of debt.
“The essence of finance is time travel. Saving is about moving resources from the present into the future. Financing is about moving resources from the future into the present.” – Matt Levine, Financial Journalist One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future. The movie is about Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), an average American…
I don’t usually get my financial advice from rappers, but Dee-1, a popular New Orleans rapper, has it figured out when it comes to cars. As I wrote about in an earlier post, spending too much on a car is one of the quickest ways to destroy your chance for financial success. Cars don’t define us, and most of us spend far too much money trying to impress others. Save some money and concentrate on things that really matter.
Here is a great video with Dee-1 talking about the car he drives, and why he doesn’t upgrade. Don’t let the “Parental Advisory” at the start stop you from watching. I didn’t find any reason for it in the video. Great advice and very entertaining:
Years ago the teacher in a college math class I was taking told a story I enjoyed. He claimed the story was absolutely true. While on vacation with his family the pilot on one of the flights decided to have some fun with the passengers by having a contest. He announced the plane’s direction of…
Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners. – E. Joseph Crossman I have long thought that cars were a great destroyer of middle-class wealth. Recently I stumbled across some evidence confirming this. The evidence came in the form of a graph created by the Wall Street Journal…
The American Mosquito Control Association declares, “Mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism.” Wikipedia quantifies this suffering, stating “Nearly 700 million people get a mosquito borne illness each year resulting in greater than one million deaths.” Those who escape the worst consequences of mosquitoes still don’t get off unscathed. Mosquitoes have ruined countless…
Gazelle Intensity Popular debt elimination evangelist Dave Ramsey teaches that, after setting aside $1,000 for emergencies, your only financial priority should be paying off all debt except your home mortgage. Everything else, including saving for retirement, should be put on hold until your debts are paid. Ramsey uses the term “gazelle intensity” to describe the…
There is an old poem I like called “The Fence or the Ambulance” by Joseph Malins. It tells the story of a town built near a cliff. Many people have fallen off the cliff, so the town has a meeting to decide what to do about the problem. Two solutions are put forth: build a…
Another of my posts has been selected to run on Rockstarfinance.com, a website that promotes itself as “A Collection of Awesome Money Articles.” It is my post originally published on January 28, 2014 titled “The Power of Thrift: A Penny Saved Is…” If you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, take a look. …
In the heart of the world-famous red-rock country of Southern Utah, about five miles from what is presently the entrance to Zion National Park, lies the small town of Rockville, Utah. On January 20, 1863, not long after the town was settled by hardy Mormon pioneers, my great-grandfather, Jacob Heathcote Langston, was born. Family legend…
What you can afford has little to do with what a mortgage broker will lend you for your house…. Just because you take out a mortgage for 20% less than the maximum amount the bank or mortgage broker is willing to loan you does not mean you are being financially prudent – 20% less than…
