Thursday, March 13, 2008
how to be rich
i’ve been reading many personal finance blogs recently and i’ve come narrow down what they say into two basic tenets:
1. keep your expenses to a minimum and be happy with what you have
2. re-invest your expendable income so that it grows into more money
reading these blogs has taken a lot of time recently because they not only provide many detailed tips and information on investing and how to be more frugal with my money, but most of their daily posts provide links to other related blog posts that i find fascinating as well. most of the time the posts i like the most are how to make a cost-effective, simple, and healthy meal. however, i’ve noticed that even though i haven’t started any formal adoption of their techniques, i am definitely making smarter decisions about what i buy - and i can pretty much avoid most impulse purchases because i get the daily reminder that each dollar i save now can be so much more after invested.
i also like how they provide tips on saving money on the necessities and to be happy with what you have. i’ve never been one to buy the latest and greatest but it’s always nice to hear tips that can help me save even more money. even if you aren’t investing every saved penny, it’s still a good idea. the less you spend on daily living expenses, the more you have to spend on yourself now (or later when you retire). i have more money for my hobbies because i’m spending less on my daily living. it’s a great incentive to not make that impulse splurge when shopping - i just tell myself i have to put it on my wants list and come back later for it, or else i won’t be able to buy that new snowboard =D
one of my favorite blogs is “get rich slowly” (thanks jay for showing this one to me!). he also has a related blog called “get fit slowly”. it’s not a get-rich quick scheme, but rather a lifestyle that encourages healthy living/spending habits.
here are some of the related articles that i’ve found in the past few days that i thought other people might be interested in.
million dollar journey is the blog of a guy who did a guest post on get rich slowly about how he went from $40,000 of debt to having $285,000 in five years.
time banks is a good way to volunteer your time and earn “time hours” which you can redeem for goods/services you need without paying for them. in the article i read, the girl received 2 tickets to a $75 show which was 2 hours long, so it used 4 of her time bank hours to pay for it. there’s none near me in southern california, but there is one in nebraska! i thought laura and les might be interested because they do alot of community things out there.
urghh… there were a buncha other articles that i wanted to share but i already closed the tabs. oh well… i’m sure i’ll find more stuff later than can help us all save money =)