This 4×6 index card has all the financial advice you’ll ever need

Post by Afforess » Tue, Sep 17, 2013, 3:28 AM UTC

timr wrote: post #100

Afforess wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4% return is conservative. 7% is actually the historical average. So my 4% left plenty of room for bad years. RETIRING in San Francisco would be a massive mistake. If you are retired why the hell are you living in a uber-expensive city. Location matters less when you don't have a job. Move up to Oregon. Also if you decide to have children, that is a conscious decision you made to dump your millions down the toilet. I…

"4% return is conservative. 7% is actually the historical average. So my 4% left plenty of room for bad years." It's only "conservative" if you don't understand variance. The risk isn't in the value of the average. The risk is in the variation around that average. Like I said: if you invested 66% of your net income in the stock market in 1999, you'd be a long way from retirement today. And if you're tempted to keep a…

Post by azelfrath » Tue, Sep 17, 2013, 3:42 AM UTC

staccatomeasure wrote: post #156

dragonwriter wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Poor people: save money and pay off credit card debts. So, "poor people, get surplus income". Or, equivalently, "poor people, stop being poor". > And saying poor people couldn't save even a dollar is nonsense. If you can reliably meet the requirements of life without charity or depletion of reserves, you arguably aren't meaningfully poor. Poor people can save sometimes , but that's mostly saving a reserve for the b…

No. Poor people cut out non-essentials, be more efficient, and save money. A lack of nice things now will help later. Buy cheaper clothes, stop smoking, stop drinking, eat out less, don't have a fancy car...etc. Don't live beyond your means and consider your means what allows you to save 20%. Exactly what I'd have to do if I wanted to save more money. Stop pretending like poor people are all dizzy starving idiots tha…

Post by sopooneo » Tue, Sep 17, 2013, 3:47 AM UTC

mrb wrote: post #58

zedpm wrote: post #37

Seems like good advice, though a great many Americans are at a disadvantage because their employer doesn't offer a 401k. Even with no employer match, a 401k allows an individual to save much more money in a tax-advantaged account ($17,500 for a 401k vs. $5500 for an IRA). If you're a W-2 employee but your employer doesn't offer a 401k then you're pretty much stuck paying higher tax rates on any savings beyond $5500/y…

With no employer match, a 401k has ZERO tax advantages. Because it merely delays when your income is taxed: after withdrawing it from the 401k. Mathematically you end up with the same capital whether your pay income taxes today and invest post-tax money, or whether you invest in a pre-tax 401k and pay taxes later.

Post by vadman » Tue, Sep 17, 2013, 3:48 AM UTC

superuser2 wrote: post #147

derekp7 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've owned cars since I was 17 year old, and never had to borrow money for a car till I decided to buy a brand new car years later Since then, I've decided to do the following: So you make "car payments" into your savings account every month, and after 1 - 3 years you can get a usable or very nice used car. Then continue to make car payments into your savings, and 5 years afterwards you can get a brand new car -- one…

Buying brand new cars is not good financial advice either. Instant depreciation, no time for problems to blow up in someone else's face first, tiny longevity gain over buying a 2-3 year old car for drastically less.

Post by sopooneo » Tue, Sep 17, 2013, 3:55 AM UTC

gremlinsinc wrote: post #166

this is nothing new... this is stuff straight out of the automatic millionaire by David Bach..wanna get rich? First step is pay yourself and get out of debt... then build up some solid investments.. real estate is a good way to build assets and wealth flipping or rentals..rentals for long term obviously. Or do what 80% of us reading hn plan on doing ...build something awesome and get bought out for 10 mill.