Financial Literacy Blog

June 14, 2018
by Michael

What Is Asset Allocation?

Asset Allocation is essential to being a successful investor. Asset allocation tells what percentage of your overall portfolio is in stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles like real estate, precious metals, etc.

Financial Literacy

June 14, 2018
by Michael

What Is Asset Allocation?

Financial Literacy

BLOG CATEGORIES:

April 14, 2018
by Michael

Net Worth Defined With Precision

Net worth, the yard stick for comparing financial success is a loosely defined term (irritatingly so to our brains). See our diagram for the break down of "total" vs "investable" net worth. After you read ...

Financial Literacy, Net Worth

March 8, 2018
by Michael

The Idea of Utility and Why It Matters for Budgeting

Utility is the overall usefulness you get from something. Everyone instinctively makes decisions based on utility all the time, but do you consider it when you make a big purchase or setup a budget?

Financial Literacy, Budgeting

January 9, 2018
by Michael

Understanding Net Worth

Net worth is a way of measuring your progress towards financial goals. It is calculated by adding up the net market value of your assets and subtracting all your debts. If you want to build ...

Financial Literacy, Net Worth

December 1, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

Cryptocurrencies - Get Rich Quick (or not) and Investment vs Speculation

Lots of people are giddy over the sky rocketing prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It’s easy to confuse speculation with investing. We explain the difference.

Financial Literacy

August 18, 2017
by Emily

Understanding Savings Accounts

One of the simplest tenets of wealth creation is to “pay yourself first.” In other words, put money into your savings account. There are many types and we explain them here.

Financial Literacy, Personal Finance

June 11, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

What is Passive Index Investing?

Passive Index Investing is an investment approach characterized by four main features: 1) the index, 2) the index fund, 3) passive management as opposed to active management, and 4) low costs.

Financial Literacy, Personal Finance

May 23, 2017
by Michael

Inflation - Why Prices Usually Go Up

Have you ever noticed that prices are slowly rising all the time? That effect is called inflation. We’ll discuss where it comes from and how to make it work in your favor, or at least ...

Financial Literacy

April 25, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

What is an Expense Ratio? Part 2

The components of a fund's expense ratio explained in detail. In short it goes to the fund's management, advertising cost, and company 'slush fund'.

Financial Literacy, Personal Finance

April 19, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

What is an Expense Ratio? Part 1

Expense ratio is one of those cryptic financial terms that has a dramatic impact on the performance of your mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF). And if you invest in mutual funds or ETFs, ...

Financial Literacy, Personal Finance

March 31, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

The Golden Rule: Keep Your Investment Costs Low

Want a bigger slice of the pie? If you desire financial independence, remember to keep your investment costs low because you put yourself in position to lose less money. And likewise, you’re in better position ...

Financial Literacy

March 19, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

The Eighth Wonder of the World - Compounding

If you understand compounding—the idea that interest grows on interest—you probably already know more about money and how to build wealth than 90% of the population. And you will have at your disposal a weapons-grade ...

Financial Literacy

March 6, 2017
by Steven Gilbert

The Time Value of Money

How well do you think you know money? Money in hand is great, but at what point is it smarter to defer and receive a larger amount in the future? Here's a challenge for you...

Financial Literacy, Personal Finance