Tag Archives: Benjamin Franklin

Financial Freedom

Don’t take money too personal

Gallery Leave a comment
Arm-Wrestling, Indian Wrestling

“I tell college students, when you get to be my age you will be successful if the people who you hope to have love you, do love you.” – Warren Buffett

I have spent the last 12 years devoting myself to the study of the wealthy.

In all that time, I learned that they are right about one thing: Money does not solve all your problems.

I thought when I finally had some money things would change. Everything would go my way.

Related image

Forget Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong, will not go wrong! The money will cushion my fall. It will shield me from water, wind, and fire. I’m unstoppable. Right? Wrong.

My life actually hasn’t changed all that much. I still live in the same house, drive the same car, have the same family and friends.

So, what the heck? Where are all the trumpets and parades? I guess they’re down by the Macy’s Day Parade floats where they belong.

I know money is emotional. However, money is just a tool. It is not good or bad.  It is what you do with it. Only you can decide. As Captain Planet would say, “the power is yours.” So, be rationale.

Image result for captain planet the power is yours gif

BORROWING TO GET AHEAD

“Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet

I understand why people borrow. It is because at the present moment they do not have the means to finance what they want or need at that particular time. That is why people borrow extensively for college.

On the opposite side of that spectrum, is to lend money.

“Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.”

However, in my observations on the task of lending, it often comes with unforeseen consequences.

You lend money to a friend or family member thinking you are just helping them out. Right?

Image result for bachelor party tom hanks gifs
Bachelor Party 1984 with Tom Hanks and Adrian Zmed

Of course, they will pay you back. Unfortunately, I have seen more situations where people do not pay back their obligations; thus, ruining relationships with creditors, family, and friends.

When you lend money to a family member or friend, you do so out of trust. If that trust gets violated, it hardly ever gets repaired. The damage is done and many times is irreversible.

Image result for barney how i met your mother the lords work

You can end up losing a friend and making an enemy such as a business associate or contractor you decide not to pay. That is not a good thing to have happen because you are likely to make an enemy with a long memory.

The way Nyssa al Ghul (played by Katrina Law) said it when talking to Oliver (played by Stephen Amell) on the show Arrow put it so succinctly. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Image result for nyssa al ghul enemy with a long memory
Arrow on the CW

That is because people are wired to be self-serving. I do not think it is done maliciously. I believe this is for survival. Memories are self-serving. The purpose is to help you live and avoid danger. If you remember that the stove is hot, then you are less likely to get burned. Something like that.

“People tend to remember the loans they give, and forget the loans that they get.” – George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University

However, Benjamin Franklin states, “Creditors have better memories than debtors.” You are supposed to pay your debts because it is the right thing to do. I’m like a Lannister, I always pay my debts.

Even if it meant for me to go without. That taught me self-sacrifice and discipline.

“Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” – Benjamin Franklin

I feel the way Shelley Long of Cheers fame said in in the film The Boyfriend School (Don’t Tell Her It’s Me) describes this phenomenon best. Her character’s name is Lizzie and she says to her brother Gus, played by Steve Guttenberg, “People always do the right thing. When it serves their purposes.” Exactly.

Image result for shelley long the boyfriend school
Scene from the film

DO NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” – Jim Carrey

Image result for i wish everyone was rich and famous

Personal Branding expert, TEDx Talk and Keynote Speaker Leonard Kim described the meaning of Jim Carrey’s words. He stated, “that everyone chases money, wealth, success and fame, thinking it will bring them happiness.  Once they attain it, the person sits there and thinks “That’s it?  That’s what all the hype was about?  I don’t feel happy.  I don’t feel fulfilled.  I don’t feel anything.”

This was how I felt in a nutshell.

It was such an empty feeling. It felt so hollow. The only thing I had was the relationships I had built up with people. So, I learned to focus more on relationships than money.

I have no desire to buy a Ferrari, move to an expensive zip code, buy tons of couture clothing, or start collecting valuables that may try to take the place of some void.

See my post Name Brand Labels or Fat Stakes? You decide

Material possessions have not ever made me happy. Maybe, that is why I hold on to stuff for so long and repair instead of replace. I rarely shop. I don’t need anything.

The neighbor’s do not have to worry about keeping up with or competing with me or vice versa.

Related image

I am content to simply read and write. I try to focus on building relationships and not tearing them down.  I do not want to hold grudges. Good luck to any person I have come across that we could not see eye-to-eye. I let you go with a full heart. I wish you no ill-will. I am happy being who I am.

I am more concerned with doing the common good.

Image result for barney how i met your mother the lords work

See my post on A Christmas Carol: Lessons in Finance, Business, and Life

I took a page out of another blogger’s book and focused on my goals. I would do the following:

  • Help three people
  • Read two books on finance/personal development a month
  • Research organizations to donate to

Anything is better than someone asking me this.

Related image

IT IS OKAY TO SAY NO

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” – Warren Buffett

I like to observe people. Nothing gives you a better predictor of future behavior than past behavior. You do not have to try and people please. It is okay to say no when someone asks you for something.

Matter of fact, it is likely that saying no may save your friendship. Unlike what Robocop said, some things are not able to be fixed such as a lost friendship. No one wants that.

Robocop 1990

You are better off giving people the money they ask for than expecting it back. If it is more than you can afford to lose, then don’t lend it. Or just lend what you can afford to lose. It is just that simple.

Who cares if people get mad? It’s your money! They shouldn’t be coming to you simply because they think you are a soft touch. I once heard Pamela Anderson say that in an interview.

Related image

Always do what is in your heart. It is the only way not to be bitter and make sure you do not live life full of regrets. Better to say no and keep the friendship and your sanity intact.

Thanks just my 2 cents.

Financial Independence, Saving

Become your own bank

Gallery Leave a comment

“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.” —Benjamin Franklin

Growing up one of my favorite toys was my piggybank.

I used to put all the spare change and money I found or received into it.

It was my ice cream truck money.

I just loved having my own.

It was such as source of pride, freedom, and independence because I was allowed to spend my money on the things I wanted.

That is how I want everyone to feel.

A sense of ownership and accountability over oneself and your actions.

In order to do this, you have to go back to saving the old-fashioned way, like putting money inside that old piggybank.

Here’s how.

A HOUSE IS NOT A PIGGYBANK

First, you need to stay away from borrowing. And if you truly must borrow, make sure to only get what is absolutely necessary. Every dollar you borrow just keeps you in debt.

Case in point, if you do a cash out refinance on your home, that can reset your mortgage debt-free clock and cause you to owe more interest over the life of the loan.

No one wants that.

You need to keep your hands off of large piles of cash. This includes the equity in your home, your 401(k), and easy access savings accounts.

It’s like losing weight. You have to keep your hands out of the cookie jar. In this instance, it’s the money jar. If you keep taking out of it, you will never reach your goals.

Forget taking out huge auto loans and personal loans. You do not need to drive a BMW to the airport on the way to Jamaica. That is the road to broke, if you cannot afford it.

I would rather you drive a Honda to the Grand Canyon, if this will keep you out of debt.

HOW TO START SAVING YOUR COINS

The most important step is to decide to save. If you want to save more, you have to earn more, slash expenses, or both.

Set a goal.

I started out with a goal of $50 per month and worked my way up to saving $13,000 a year by increasing yearly savings goals.

You have to write it down. Otherwise, it is a wish and not a goal. A goal requires action. It starts with writing it down. A written plan is 80% more likely to succeed.

I started saving my change. I would put it into a jar or bag.

I would save up anywhere from $25 to $100 dollars in change and then deposit this into the bank.

When you see the money add up and feel how heavy that coin jar or bag is, it gives you incentive to keep going. After, mastering the coin game, I moved on to bigger gains.

TURN SAVING COINS INTO SAVING DOLLARS

Then I started turning my attention onto dollars.

I started with manually transferring $50 per month into my savings account.

From there, I set up an automatic deposit of $25 every two weeks.

However, I was also getting tired of having to pay ATM fees. So, I found a way around this.

I would have to either go to the bank and take out a large enough amount of money to get me through the week, go to free ATM’s, spend less, or go to stores and do cash back.

For instance, grocery stores will allow you to do a debit card cash back of anywhere from $100-$300 depending on what store you go to.

Other places, like the convenience store, may allow you to get between $20-$80 cash back with a purchase.

I slowly worked my way up to saving more.

Every year, I would re-evaluate what my saving goals were, I would write it down, and figure out a way to make it happen.

If you zero sum budget, then you know when something gets paid off or you eliminate any type of expense that money gets freed up and must go somewhere or it disappears. Like all good dogs, it goes into heaven, I call it dollars heaven.

I started saving my money first from income I earned, and then spending what was left over.

I would decide to save $300 per month and figure out how much more to bring in to increase my cash flow or what I could cut in my budget to lower my expenses and then save that money.

It went down like this:

Year 1: Save $600.

Year 2: Save $1,800.

Year 3: Save $2,500.

Year 4: Save $3,600.

Year 5: Save $10,000.

Year 6: Save $13,333.

WHERE TO PLACE YOUR MONEY

Since, I knew I did not want to depend on having to go to the bank or grocery store every week, I decided to place money into a cash box.

I would put no more than a few hundred bucks in it.

I was placing my savings into several savings accounts such as regular savings and money market savings.

In addition, I would label my savings accounts to ear mark that money for things I wanted to pay for such as a vacation, car, home down payment, or college.

I then started looking into Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA).

Earn Money with High Yield Savings Accounts

With the high yield accounts, you can start to earn money on your money, that you can spend any way you want.

HOW TO BE YOUR OWN BANKER

Now that you have a cash cushion and cash box, you need banks less and less.

You should get to the point of not needing to borrow for much of anything.

You can keep 1s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s, and 100s in your cash box. Enough money to make your own change.

The savings account allows you to earn interest on your money and use this to save up enough to pay for hotel stays, rental cars, and vacations.

You can also earn through peer-to-peer lending because you now have enough dough to start lending to others like a bank does. And earn interest too!

ROLLING IN THE DOUGH

At this point, you should be able to start saving at least 10% to 25% of your income, after you eliminate debt and put your money to work for you.

So, now you know how I did it and what you can do too.

I went from saving $50 to over $13,000 per year! See how here 

How Millennial Money inspired me to start saving $13,333.06 a year

I started doing 5% of my income to now saving over 41% of my gross income!

It took years to get to this point.

Once I made the decision to save, I wrote it down, and created a plan.

It took over 5 years to get here!

So, take my advice, do not rush to try and do so much and then do nothing.

Take small steps toward bigger ones. That is the key to building wealth. The kind of wealth that lasts takes time to build. There are no shortcuts. Only patience, discipline, consistency, and time.

Entrepreneurship, Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Investing, Self-Made Millionaires, Wealth

How Benjamin Franklin used 13 virtues to get rich

Gallery Leave a comment

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin 

Benjamin Franklin is not only one of America’s founding fathers (known as one of the signatories the Declaration of Independence), but also its first millionaire.

He did this by investing in what he knew. That is how he built his fortune.

You can do the same to build yours.

I listen to what people have to say, but I always make my own decisions.

I research any industry I want to know and then focus on investing in what I know. I try to put my money where my values are.

I prefer consumer staples such as food, beverage, toothpaste, cleaning supplies, tissue, and other household items.

Companies like Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Kimberly-Clark. Clorox, and PepsiCo.

You can find many of these companies included in many mutual funds such as any 500 index fund like the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500 index), the Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares (VFINX), the Fidelity Spartan 500 Index Investor Shares (FUSEX), the Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX) or the   T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 Fund (PREIX).

I figured a good way to start my wealth journey was to learn about those that became wealthy.

Benjamin Franklin also created a list of 13 virtues to develop his character. This lets me know that your character is your destiny.

Here I provide you with his checklist. See which ones you can try to emulate to help you on your road to wealth accumulation.

THE 13 VIRTUES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

In 1758, Benjamin Franklin published his essay The Way to Wealth.

Although, it was written 260 years ago, the advice still is holds up, even to this day.

Below is a copy of his checklist.

SPOTLIGHT ON FRUGALITY

My personal favorite is frugality because it includes all the other virtues.

Frugality is basically the will to spend money on what is important and avoiding spending on what is not.

Frugal is not being merely cheap or miserly like Ebenezer Scrooge.  See my post on Money Lessons I Learned from Scrooge McDuck. It is about saving money on things you do not really need.

Saving money allows you to put that money to work for you.

Imagine every dollar is a little soldier. What do soldiers do? They fight.

You have to fight for your money because everyone is trying to part it from you. Don’t let them.

Invest that money and each dollar (soldier) fights for you everyday 365/24/7. Even while you sleep.

FOCUS ON FRUGALITY

In this world, you’re on your own. Benjamin Franklin knew that. So, he set out to start a business in a field he knew. He was a printing apprentice and started a printing shop. He became an expert at that one thing and did it so well that people paid him for it.

He then reinvested the profits back into his business.

That is how he grew rich.

He knew to become wealthy, he had to ignore the charlatans or hype. He had to focus on himself and his spending habits.

And that is what you must do. Ignore the hype. Forget what everyone else says or thinks. Trust your gut.

FORGET THE FANCY SET OF WHEELS

You do not need a fancy car to make you happy. Ride a bike and get some exercise. Better yet, buy an inexpensive, older Chevy where the bumper looks like it will fall off any second.

Then people will be less likely to ask you for money, if they see you riding around in a clunker because they will think your broke, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

It’s not that you do not like nice cars or can’t necessarily afford one. It’s that you choose not to spend your money on it. Sounds pretty good right?

And watch out for the hangers on. They tend to come around when your last name is followed by an M.D. or Esquire.

FORGET THE BIG HOUSE

You do not need a mansion to live in. You know what that does? It just causes you to spend more money to heat, cool, maintain, and furnish it.

You fill the home up with stuff. No one likes an empty corner. Every inch is piled high with stuff.

How is that stuff paid for? Usually with credit.

What happens if you need that money? For instance, homes need maintenance.

Do you know what the repair bill is for a roof on a mansion? Well, you don’t want to know. One thing we do know for sure is that it costs more than what you would spend on a smaller house.

What about PMI? Private mortgage insurance is what you must pay if you put down less than a 20% down payment. And folks, that money is on top of the insurance and a monthly mortgage payment. We aren’t talking chicken feed here. It can be hundreds of dollars per month!

What about property taxes? It can add hundreds or thousands to a monthly mortgage payment. That’s money that’s not working for you in the bank.

You want to be investment rich, not house poor.

Every dollar that goes toward the house, can’t be working for you in an investment account.

I know they say the value of the home will go up and your equity will increase as you are making the house payments. However, let’s not forget the 2008 housing bubble.

When that bubble burst, so did most folks equity. Foreclosure notices were going out in the mail all over the country. Many lost homes. And many have still not recovered.

FORGET THE DESIGNER CLOTHES

You know those people who say dress to impress. Well, that’s fine and dandy, if you can afford it. However, if you can’t swing it, then walk by the $400 clothing rack and head to the sales rack in the back. Forget sartorial superiority. Who wants to be the best-dressed poor person?

I now see more people walking around with designer purses today than I have seen at any other time I can remember. Who’s paying for it? Mr. credit card, that’s who.

I see people opening up store cards all the time.

They have so many different color credit cards in their wallet it looks like a skittles bag exploded.

Places are handing out applications for credit cards every, single day.

You must resist. Resist the urge to spend. Credit is seductive. The temptation is too great.

So you must decide, what is more important. Buying a designer’s clothing and paying for their summer home or funding your own future.

FORGET THE EXPENSIVE WATCHES AND JEWELRY

I read about an NBA player who had bought dozens of watches. And not just any watches, but Rolexes!

Just because. Well, hey, you know bosses got to be on time.

Do you know what those things retail for? Well, last time I checked, it could be anywhere from $2500 to $40,000 and up.

The guy could have started a college fund. He could have funded an entire small city of kids $1k college scholarships.

Who needs 30 watches? Someone who wants to know the exact moment they went bankrupt I guess.

FORGET THE EXOTIC VACATIONS

So you want to travel. That’s great. But unless you can afford it or do it on someone else’s dime (like for work).

You may just have to watch the latest episodes of House Hunter or any show on the travel channel.

I once read it is a great thing to go travel and see the world as it is a great education, it will only cost you: $25,000.

I think I’ll just read a good book on world travels instead and invest that money until it earns enough interest that I can pay for the trip with cash.

Here are some of my suggestions on traveling when your travel budget is on life support.

You want to see the northern lights in Iceland? See it on a YouTube video.

You want to go skiing in Switzerland, Aspen, France or Vail? Watch a travel show until you can afford it.

You want shopping sprees in Milan, Paris, Rome, New York’s Fifth Ave, or Rodeo Drive?  Focus on buying things that will appreciate in value. Clothes, once purchased, is money that’s burnt.

I know you watch the television shows and see all the families going to Disneyland or Hawaii. However, what they don’t tell you is how much it costs to go to these places. Lots of times the studio or the network is picking up the tab.

They do it for ratings. Because who wants to watch a show about people sitting on couches all day. They want to see the lifestyles of the rich not the broke and unknown. I say just stop watching those shows.

Focus your attention on earning and working. If your head is down working, you never can look up and notice what everyone else around you are doing.

FORGET FOMO (fear of missing out). It’s a myth.

I know plenty of people that go out, spend money, buy nice cars, big homes, fly to the islands, and go to lots of parties.

However, they are not the boss. They work a 9-to-5 just like everybody else. One missed check could cause havoc on their already precarious finances.

Many people are one paycheck away from being on the sidewalk.

Don’t be like them.

Practice the 13 virtues. Be frugal. Then you can live like no one else because you will actually be rich instead of acting like you are.

FORGET PRETENDING TO HAVE MONEY

Forget pretending to be rich. The only time bluffing works when it comes to money is at the poker table.

And you know what happens when the hand is over, the bluffing stops there.

So leave the bluffing at the table and check it at the door.

Remember that scene in the comedy movie Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield. He was a wealthy guy named Thornton Melon, but always said to his son: A man without an education is nothing.

There was one scene in the film where he was talking in class about being in business and all the things a businessman is doing to make it in the real-world.

The teacher disagrees with his assessment, even though he was coming from a place of information.

When the professor asks where to build the business after scolding Melon he replies, “How about fantasyland.”

When it comes to your money you cannot afford to live in a fantasy. You have to keep your feet planted firmly on the ground and your actions based in reality.

Earn money, save it, invest it, and get rich slow.