The 7 Personal Finance Articles We Loved This Week
I recently realized that I’ve gotten lazy. Since moving to a new apartment in April, I’m spending a few hundred dollars less on rent each month — and I’ve been using those savings as an excuse to take more cabs/Lyfts. I thought it wouldn’t amount to much, but I was looking over my credit card statement yesterday, and yikes — I’ve spent nearly $100 on rides this month alone. I’m a walking warning for lifestyle inflation at this point. I do think it’s sometimes worth it to spend on that convenience, but wow, I really need to reel it in.
The thing about spending on things like taxis, though, is that we know it’s expensive. We know to take public transportation instead when we need to spend money. And it’s hard enough for me not to give into that temptation when I already know it’s bad for my wallet — but what about the budget ruiners we don’t talk about as often?
That’s why I loved ESI’s fifth pick this week, all about those expenses we never talk about that may be ruining our bottom line. For instance, this is one I’d never have thought about on my own:
Incurring High Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) Fees
An IFA is a person who advises you on where to invest your money and later may even manage the on-going investment.
They typically charge an up-front fee plus fees for executing trades on your behalf or moving the money to where it will do the best work. The drawback is that these costs can ratchet up quickly and if you don’t really understand what they are investing your money in you can end up with high fees with little return.
When moving forward with an IFA, ensure you truly understand what they are investing your money in, the risks and costs involved and finally if they come with a solid recommendation.
Be sure to check out the full post below, as well as the rest of this week’s great articles!
1. Is Retiring on a Cruise Ship an Affordable Option? – ESI Money
“Is retiring on a cruise ship an affordable option for me and others? What should I consider financially if I was really serious about living on a cruise ship? What should I do if I wanted to get a ‘good deal’ and make sure I was making prudent financial moves along the way? Or what if I didn’t have excess funds and needed to be a bit more practical? I’ll run through my numbers and thinking to provide an example.”
2. Why I Left an Airline Pilot Career Worth $8.2 Million – Golden Goose Guide
“If you work 9-hour days in a corporate job for five days a week, you’re nearly flipping the airline lifestyle around – now you’re spending only 25% of your life away from home and 75% of your time where and how you choose. This could be with your family, spending time with your friends, fitness and sports leagues, community events, enjoying life, sleeping and waking in your own bed, and having the weekends off.”
3. House Hacking: A Lucrative Passive Income Stream for Young Professionals – Physician On FIRE
“How are you able to live for relatively cheap or free? You get a house which has rental potential, and rent out your additional rooms or units to other people (friends, Craigslist people, strangers, etc.) House hacking allows you to get into the real estate game, and at the same time, have your housing subsidized by roommates or tenants.”
4. 17 Things To Stop Buying To Save Money – The Land Of Milk & Money
“Literally thousands of dollars had been thrown away because I hadn’t taken a few moments to consider an alternative. So I told myself: not anymore. Some of these things were insanely easy to switch from. Others took a little bit more effort. But all were absolutely worth it.”
5. 10 Wealth destroyers no one talks about – Boost My Budget
“The inability to improve our financial situation often comes down to simple issues most completely disregard. Here’s a list of ten major wealth destroyers people are making yet no one is talking about.”
6. Good and bad reasons to invest in individual stocks rather than index funds – Early Retirement Now
“Out of the over 10 percentage point of excess return over the market portfolio, only 3.6% are due to “alpha” (skill) and that regression coefficient is also not even statistically significant.”
7. What the Flintstones taught me about Wealth and spending – The Frugal Convert
“I am a kid of the 80s, when Saturday morning cartoons were everything. We woke up early and ate our cereal while watching the best cartoons on our first day of weekend freedom.”
Image via Unsplash
