Welcome to Monday Night Finance. Here are three articles we enjoyed this past week.
What is the Simplest Way to Invest?
We all know that investing is something we should do. Just like flossing, backing up your computer files, and starting to exercise. However, starting to invest, like any habit, is easy to procrastinate. There are a lot of decisions that need to be made. That’s why so many people put it off. If you want to start investing, or think you should start investing but don’t know where to start, this article is for you.
The truth is anyone who wants to invest can. In our experience, the most straightforward methods tend to be the most popular—and the most lucrative. ~DoughRoller.net
In this article, Chris from DoughRoller.net shares a comprehensive plan of how to start investing. The first step is to develop a savings plan. If you don’t have any money saved, then you can’t invest it. The remainder of the article focuses on helping you determine how to invest the money you have saved. An important step is understanding your investment goal. Are you trying to save for retirement? Or are you investing money that you hope to use in the next 10 years for a major purchase? These decisions will determine if you should put the money in a tax favorable retirement account (like an IRA) or put it into a brokerage account. The article then helps you gauge your risk tolerance and appropriate investment options. Finally, the article provides links so that you can learn more and start investing for yourself.
What it Means to Have 100k in Savings
Our culture loves millionaires (and billionaires). We love to dream about what it would be like to have amassed enough wealth where we could live comfortably with little to no income. We celebrate having 2 commas in our net worth so much that we’ve come up with our own word for it. Is having less than a million dollars even worth talking about? I was having a conversation with my eight year old daughter and she said her goal was to become a “hundredaire” and some day have $100. While I tried to explain to her that $100 wouldn’t get you very far, she was still obsessed with that idea. What about a “hundred-thousdandaire”? Is that worth celebrating? In this article, Darcy from WeWantGuac.com describes why amassing $100k is indeed a big deal and why you should care.
I mean, it ain’t a million dollars so is it at all worth celebrating? Dude. Of course it is. Six-figure wealth means you’ve got more money than roughly two thirds of the US population. WeWantGuac.com
Having $100k in savings puts you in elite company. It makes you one of the wealthiest people in the United States, which is the wealthiest nation in the world. Instead of comparing yourself to Warren Buffet, Darcy wants you to first give yourself credit for reaching this milestone. On top of that, your $100k worth of investments will continue to make money. Having $100,000 in savings also gives you options- with this level of wealth, you can consider leaving a toxic job or investing some of the money in yourself to increase your earnings later on. If you doubt that you’ll ever make it to millionaire status, check out this article about all of the benefits of being a hundred-thousandaire.
How to Save $40 a Month With Three Easy Fridge Hacks
You don’t really think a lot about your refrigerator until it fails. You put your food in, you take it out. Everything works pretty smoothly. In fact, because refrigerators work so well, I’m sure you haven’t given your fridge a second thought in years. But even if your refrigerator is keeping your food cold, that doesn’t mean that it’s operating at peak efficiency. Your refrigerator needs to run constantly to keep your food cold and that uses energy. In this article, Chrissy, from EatSleepBreatheFi.com urges you to give your fridge some thought and shows you how doing so can save you money.
I neither wanted to buy a new fridge nor keep throwing out food! So I got to work and did some research… and realized we were using our fridge all wrong. EatSleepBreatheFi.com
Chrissy noted that her refrigerator wasn’t running at the optimal temperature for many years and she didn’t even realize this. In this article, she explains how to properly set the thermostat on your fridge to optimally preserve you food. Once she did this, her produce lasted much longer and she was able to reduce the amount of food she composted. Want to know her secret tricks? Check out the article. Additionally, Chrissy gives a great tutorial on refrigerator maintenance to keep your fridge running in peak condition so it has a long healthy life. After reading the article, I was immediately inspired to move my fridge and vacuum out the coils.