Finance Clever

Saving and investing are two key elements to reach financial independence. In this post I review one of the best books about investing I have read so far: A Random Walk Down Wall Street – The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing. I believe this is a good read for any curious mind looking to improve their understanding of money and investing. Burton G. Malkiel, the author, has a great deal of professional and academic experience in the world of investments. So you can be confident that the advice on this book is coming from someone who is very knowledgeable. The … Read more…

As we enter the second half of the year, I thought it would be a good time to check up on our net worth and show you how I track it. What is Your Net Worth? In simple words, your net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe. In accounting jargon, it is your assets minus your liabilities. Pretty simple stuff so far. Why Should You Track It? Your net worth is like the blood pressure of your financial life. Leave your blood pressure unchecked for a long time and you might be in for an ugly surprise. … Read more…

About 4 years ago, Elisa purchased her first (and so far only) car. I thought it would be interesting to look at how much this car has cost us and see how it compares to what the average American spends on his/her vehicle. At the time, we were not thinking about financial independence. In fact, we didn’t even know what it meant. We just wanted to make a responsible decision, so we looked at the things we were hoping to get out of the car: Safe and reliable transportation Efficiency and low maintenance That’s it. In my opinion, that’s all a car … Read more…

Management guru Peter Drucker said “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it“. So in order to take control of your finances, you first need to know where your money goes. I know a guy who thought he was saving about $200 per month. He wasn’t actually tracking his expenses, the $200 savings was just his best guess. After a couple of months of actually tracking his monthly expenses, he found out he was actually losing $300 per month! Don’t be this guy. There are many approaches to budgeting and staying on top of your finances. We actually don’t … Read more…

This past February, the story of Ronald Read, “The Millionaire Janitor”, started making headlines in mainstream media channels including CNBC. Mr. Read passed away in June 2014 at the age of 92. Most of his life he worked as a janitor and as a gas station attendant. Upon his death, his estate donated $4.8 million to a local hospital and $1.2 million to a local library, and his total net worth was estimated at over $8.0 million. How could someone who worked minimum wage jobs for most of his life amassed such wealth? Did Mr. Read win the lottery? Did he stumbled upon … Read more…

One of the reasons I started this blog, was to help people become better at managing their own money. Most people don’t receive any formal education on personal finance and just tend to follow what everybody else does, which is terrible! How terrible? About 75% of people in the U.S. are living paycheck to paycheck! Which means they have basically nothing saved up for emergencies, retirement, and let alone financial independence. This is sad because personal finance is one of the most powerful things we can learn and master in order to improve our lives. Through some of my personal experiences, I … Read more…