Got enough emergency money? The self-employed might need heaps—and retirees might go without.
NO. 19: WE SHOULD make future spending as exciting as possible, so we’re less tempted to spend today. That means visualizing our goals and imagining how great it’ll be to achieve them.
TRIM YOUR CHECKING account. If there were a guaranteed way to earn a few extra percentage points a year on your investments, you’d jump at the opportunity. So why would you leave excess cash in your checking account, where it likely isn’t garnering any interest, when that money could be in a high-yield savings account earning a decent sum each year?
NO. 101: THE TIME horizon for your portfolio may extend beyond your lifetime. Suppose you’re age 75. If you have more than enough set aside for your own retirement and plan to bequeath assets to your children or grandchildren, you might be dealing with a time horizon of a half-century or more. That’s plenty of time to make good money in stocks.
OVERCONFIDENCE. Most of us believe we’re above-average drivers, smarter than most and better looking. This overconfidence is often a good thing—it can boost happiness and help our careers—but it’s terrible for investment results. As they try to beat the market, the overconfident trade too much, take unnecessary risk and buy costly investments.
NO. 19: WE SHOULD make future spending as exciting as possible, so we’re less tempted to spend today. That means visualizing our goals and imagining how great it’ll be to achieve them.
WE BOUGHT A SAILBOAT and trailer in 2008 for our son for his 15th birthday. At the time, he was too young to own a boat, so I registered it in my name.
Fast forward 15 years, and we finally got around to transferring the title to our son. Transferring the boat was quick and easy. Transferring the trailer was not.
Cars, trucks, boats and trailers all have unique vehicle identification numbers, or VINs.
CONSUMER REPORTS and other authorities will tell you that you get the greatest value for your car-buying dollar by purchasing a two- or three-year-old vehicle. They also often recommend selling your current car after you’ve owned it for about seven years.
We favor a different strategy—one that suits our family but certainly isn’t for everybody.
My wife’s No. 1 priority is that her vehicle be reliable. She insists that every time she gets in the car,
My 2014 Honda Accord recently hit 99,000 miles. It’s nothing fancy to look at, but it drives well. Recently I’ve been having an issue with the starter. The push start works intermittently. Sometimes it starts on the first push, sometimes it takes multiple tries. I think the most it has taken is 6 tries. I’ve kept up with the maintenance, but I drive it infrequently, so the time between service has spread out. It was due for an oil change,
AS AN ENGINEER and a believer in keeping things running, I haven’t owned many automobiles during my lifetime. Instead, my focus has been on extending each one’s longevity.
Among the maintenance and repairs I’ve undertaken: oil changes, spark plug and wire replacements, carburetor cleaning and adjustment, belt and hose replacements, distributor and timing settings, brake replacements (disk and drum), master and slave brake cylinder repairs, clutch adjustment, alternator repair, radiator repair, heater core repair,
“NEVER BORROW MONEY to buy a depreciating asset.” This personal finance tip is often used to dissuade folks from taking out car loans. But does a car really leave folks poorer?
When we value an asset, it’s typically thought of as its dollar value on a balance sheet. The monetary value of my car might indeed decline, and quickly at that, but it has far more usefulness than my personal balance sheet shows. When I consider my car’s true value,
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