Saturday, September 30, 2006
Simplify Financial Accounts
Many of us have the experience overwhelmed with multiple statements from different financial institutes and lost track. Consolidating these accounts to make life easier.
Credit Union and/or Bank Accounts
Need two accounts. A local one where you can deposit/withdraw chaecks and cash. An online one to park cash with higher rate.
Mutual Fund and/or Brokerage Accounts
Again two accounts. A regular brokerage account and tax-derred accounts.
Credit Card Accounts
I do not carry balance over, therefore reward cards are no brainer. A mastercard/visa card and an American Express Card.
In an ideal world, all these accounts are offered by a single institution. Many years ago American Express tried "One" account, did not really work well. This service still exist, but the deal is not sweat as it once was. However, one can still consolidate these essentail accounts into fewer institution. For example, Wells Fargo 's PMA account or Fidelity Investment account.
Credit Union and/or Bank Accounts
Need two accounts. A local one where you can deposit/withdraw chaecks and cash. An online one to park cash with higher rate.
Mutual Fund and/or Brokerage Accounts
Again two accounts. A regular brokerage account and tax-derred accounts.
Credit Card Accounts
I do not carry balance over, therefore reward cards are no brainer. A mastercard/visa card and an American Express Card.
In an ideal world, all these accounts are offered by a single institution. Many years ago American Express tried "One" account, did not really work well. This service still exist, but the deal is not sweat as it once was. However, one can still consolidate these essentail accounts into fewer institution. For example, Wells Fargo 's PMA account or Fidelity Investment account.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Simple Principles of Costco
I am a big fan of Costco for business model: quality products, narrowed categories, selected choices, low price. This is a model we can use to simplify personal finance.
Quality Products
Costco normally carries only high quality products.
Selected Choices
Costco does not offer all categories of products, only the common ones. The products are pre-selected by Costco so the members do not have to do the homework.
Low Price
The price may not be the cheapest, but cheap enough because of selling in bulk.
Quality Products
Costco normally carries only high quality products.
Selected Choices
Costco does not offer all categories of products, only the common ones. The products are pre-selected by Costco so the members do not have to do the homework.
Low Price
The price may not be the cheapest, but cheap enough because of selling in bulk.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Simple Ways To Make More Money
There are tons to ways to make money. I am sure most people have heard of Suze Orman or Robert Kiyosaki. You can find hundreds of books of this kind online at websites such as Barnesandnoble.com. What are the simple ways?
Keep Healthy
Both physcially and mentally. Above all, youself is the most valuable asset. Eat right, exercise, check up with doctors regularly. Floss, use sunscreen. Love others and be loved. Be positive and constructive. We all know what to do. The difficult part is keep doing those.
Learn Some Skills
To me, the simple way is to go to college. Sure, Bill Gates and Michael Dell dropped out college, but were they at least in college already? As a matter of fact, a professional degree is almost a garantee forone to join the millionaire club. Skills can also be learned elsewhere. It does not have to be skills to start Google, to be a NBA player or to win a reality show. It just need to be something that you are good at to make a decent living.
Invest
Once accumulate some capital, you need to start invest. There are many ways to invest: business, commodities, real estate, stock markets, and so on. It seems to me the richest people invest in business, too bad I do not know how. I only knows stock market.
Keep Healthy
Both physcially and mentally. Above all, youself is the most valuable asset. Eat right, exercise, check up with doctors regularly. Floss, use sunscreen. Love others and be loved. Be positive and constructive. We all know what to do. The difficult part is keep doing those.
Learn Some Skills
To me, the simple way is to go to college. Sure, Bill Gates and Michael Dell dropped out college, but were they at least in college already? As a matter of fact, a professional degree is almost a garantee forone to join the millionaire club. Skills can also be learned elsewhere. It does not have to be skills to start Google, to be a NBA player or to win a reality show. It just need to be something that you are good at to make a decent living.
Invest
Once accumulate some capital, you need to start invest. There are many ways to invest: business, commodities, real estate, stock markets, and so on. It seems to me the richest people invest in business, too bad I do not know how. I only knows stock market.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
SIMPLE FINANCIAL RULES
The complexity to manage personal finance could be overwhelming. These are a few simple rules to simplify personal finance that I learned through the years.
Make More
This sounds strait-forward.
Spend Efficiently
Note it is spend "efficiently", not "less".
Consolidate Service
Consolidate accounts in as few financial institutes as possible. This not only saves one from dealing dozens of statements every moth, but also make it easy to track income and spend.
Go Digital
Online banking, trading, bill-pay, statement, e-file tax, etc. Use a personal finance software such as Quicken or Microsoft Money. Backing everything up into a protable external drive.
Enjoy Life
Isn't this the whole point of doing the above?
Make More
This sounds strait-forward.
Spend Efficiently
Note it is spend "efficiently", not "less".
Consolidate Service
Consolidate accounts in as few financial institutes as possible. This not only saves one from dealing dozens of statements every moth, but also make it easy to track income and spend.
Go Digital
Online banking, trading, bill-pay, statement, e-file tax, etc. Use a personal finance software such as Quicken or Microsoft Money. Backing everything up into a protable external drive.
Enjoy Life
Isn't this the whole point of doing the above?
