Monday Night Finance- Volume 51

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I tried to get rich off Dogecoin and all I got was this lousy blog post

Have you seen the stock market lately? Redditors have been fighting hedge funds on so-called meme stocks such as Gamestop and AMC. These stocks have thrust the stock market into the daily news and created a giant buzz about people dreaming of a get quick scheme. At the same time, there has been a giant spike in the price of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. While Bitcoin is by far the most notable and legitimate cryptocurrency, another cryptocurrency, called “Dogecoin” has been flooding the internet. Is Dogecoin a legitimate investment?

My Dogecoin phase wasn’t about investing for retirement. Mostly, I was just in need of a quick dopamine hit. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, and I don’t do drugs. Really, I’m a boring person. But now and then I like to gamble a bit. Mostly with betting on sports or making prop bets. ~Gov Worker FI

In this article, Gov Worker of GovernmentWorkerFI.com chronicles his attempt to buy Dogecoin. Gov Worker explains that while he does not feel Dogecoins are a legitimate currency, they do seem like a juicy prop bet. Additionally, the fact that they are meme currency associated with Shiba Inu dogs means that the currency will always live on in internet forums (if not actual value). In the end Gov Worker decided not to buy Dogecoin. Not because he didn’t want to. But instead it was just too hard to find a website that allowed you to trade Dogecoin that wasn’t called “Robinhood”.

Real Estate Syndication: What Is It And How Can You Profit?

We all know that real estate can be a great path to wealth. We’ve all heard stories of real estate moguls who seem to own half of major cities. However, it can be hard to start investing in real estate. To buy your first rental property, you’ll need a sizeable (~30%) down payment. And in that case all of your investable money will be tied to one single asset. Additionally, you may have to deal with day-to-day operations such as finding tenants and repairing broken pipes. What if there were a way to merge the returns of real-estate investing without the hassle of owning and managing individual properties?

Syndicated real estate was crowdfunding for real estate and was made possible by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS) passed by Congress. Before the passage of the JOBS Act, investing in real estate was confined to only the wealthy connected individuals as a result of the Securities Act of 1933. In short, the JOBS act made the process of raising capital simpler, cheaper, and faster and eventually made investing in crowdfunded deals possible. ~Financial Freedom Countdown

Real estate syndication is a method for you to “crowdfund” real estate investing. This article does a great job of explaining everything you need to know about real estate syndication. While you may be familiar with a real estate investment trust (or REIT), syndication is a completely different process. Whereas a REIT invests in many properties and must return its profits as dividends to shareholders, a syndicate invests in a single property. In this process a syndicate is formed to purchase a building, it operates the building, and then at the end the syndicate is liquidated. The article walks through many different examples and has great infographics. If you’re intrigued by the idea of a real estate syndicate, this article is a must read.

The Most Common Bad Investment Decisions that Screw Millions Every Year

Retirement and investing are like film and an old-timey camera. Having one doesn’t really work without the other one. Sure, social security can cover some of your retirement expenses. And you might be lucky enough to have a pension. But ultimately, you’re going to need to invest some money to live on in retirement. In general, people know this. However, even when people do manage to set some money away from retirement, they often don’t do the right things with it.

I grew up in the heart of rural America, complete with rolling cornfields and a history of horror stories. We’ve all heard of the epidemics that are plaguing American life, including racial gaps, drug abuse, and health crises. What we don’t hear about enough is the lack of financial literacy, covering everything from budgeting effectively to understanding how to invest. The most common bad investment decisions are so widespread that countless people lose out every single year. ~We Want Guac

In this article, Darcy of WeWantGuac shares some of the biggest investing mistakes that plague millions of Americans. Firstly, it’s important to realize that you need to educate yourself about how money works. Not just simple home economics, but how investing works. Do you understand compound interest and what stock market index funds are? If not, that’s a good place to start. You need this solid foundation even if you decide to outsource all of your decisions to a finance guru. Otherwise, how can you know if they’re setting you up for success or fleecing you for your last pennies? And that’s just the start of common mistakes that many people make. For the full list of cringe-worthy money mistakes to avoid, check out the article.