Very early in my adolescent life, I’ve learned a wise Chinese saying: “When you must spend, you spend; when you could save, you save.” It’s a short and plain sentence. It may not strike any accord to your mind, if you simply scan through it. But for me personally, it has taught me everything about […]
Continue readingMany thanks for one of my readers, BlueDaze, for posting this link in the comments: http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html If I recall correctly, I visited this very same link probably three years ago, when Kiyosaki only had his very first book on “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I got all the negative information on Kiyosaki, which I never thought […]
Continue readingThis is the third article in the my dividend investing series. Actually most of these current income investments do not pay out the so-called traditional dividends. For royalty trust companies, they pay out royalties to the owners, instead of dividends. For investing purpose, there is not much difference except the origins of the income. However, […]
Continue readingThroughout my early life until age of twenties, I didn’t know what money was or what money meant. I was very fortunate that everything that I needed was there for me. My family was slightly above middle class, but we lived within our means, and no extravagance of any sorts. Because of my father’s profession […]
Continue readingA reader John has asked me about how to get the withheld taxes out of the paid dividends back, in my post of “My Dividend Investing ($11775.91 for 2005)”. He said that he has 28% withheld. 28% is a very weird withholding percentage. For all of my stocks, I had 15% withheld for foreign paid […]
Continue readingHow can you keep the money in your pocket, if you don’t know how it comes in and how it goes out? Granted, the most painful part about saving money is not to spend it. Deferring immediate gratification for the future takes some real discipline. Having a realistic financial goal in sight with a proper […]
Continue readingI actually started online banking back in 1998/1999 when I first read an article on online banking in BusinessWeek. The article was comparing two internet banks, and I chose to give NetBank a try. NetBank was one of the highest yielding banks in the nation at that time according to www.bankrate.com, and has been so […]
Continue readingSaving = Income – Expense Networth = Asset – Liability Accumulating networth is a process by which one controls the expenses and trickle down the savings into growable assets, while reducing liability. Sounds simple? Yes, it’s easier said than done. But that’s how it always is. If you don’t get a lottery income, or don’t […]
Continue readingWell, I should really qualify the title of this, by not buying the home in a bubble. Whether our current housing market is a bubble or not is debatable. Under normal circumstances however, buying a home is usually your best investment. And the reason is inflation. Historically, housing price tracks inflation fairly well. Since inflation […]
Continue readingMost people when they finally get out of school and start their first job, are so happy with their financial independence and the first paycheck, that they splurge the entire paycheck, if not more. Few people think so far ahead about the next stages in life, of getting married, having a family, and eventually retiring from work. If one doesn’t […]
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