Too many times I’ve heard the same words: “I don’t really think about my finances and I think everything will work out in the end.” I’ve heard this with college education funding. I’ve heard this with student loan debt. I’ve heard this with saving for retirement. It’s starting to get frustrated how often I’m hearing the words: […]
Archives for July 2013
A Lesson from a 66-Year-Old Regarding Saving for Retirement
When I first started my personal finance blog Budget and the Beach, I felt pretty embarrassed and ashamed of the careless spending I had done in the past. I was also embarrassed by my money struggles after I was laid off from my full-time job of eight years and started freelancing — so much so […]
How to Start a Successful Investment Club in College
Let’s face it: investing can be a pretty lonely journey. Poring over the Wall Street Journal, reading prospectuses, monitoring your brokerage account . . . these aren’t the kind of activities your college buddies are eager to come over and do with you. But what if they could be? It’s not impossible. By forming an […]
Would You Invest With Inside Information for Financial Gain?
When most of us hear the term “insider information,” our ears perk up. It’s taboo among personal investors to even mention the phrase at times, but that’s because most of us never seem to get any good insider information. Generally, the people with that kind of knowledge are CEOs like Martha Stewart or high-ranking company […]
Are All Colleges Proprietary Schools Which Seek a Profit?
By definition, a proprietary college or university is one which operates as a private, profit-seeking business. Some popular examples of proprietary schools in the United States are the University of Phoenix, DeVry University, Kaplan University, Strayer University, and ITT Technical Institute. I had a conversation recently with a colleague of mine, about whether or not […]
Learn How to Get Started Investing in High School
I get asked a lot about ways to get started investing in high school. That’s a tough question, because I’m a firm believer that you should start investing as early as possible. However, it’s really a bad decision for minors to own stocks. I think if you’re going to teach children how to invest, you […]
Netflix: The Most Absurdly Valued Company in History?
Netflix (NFLX) is a great service, but is it a great stock? I’ve brought up Netflix before here at the blog, saying that I expected very little from it. I have to own up for my error — it’s rocketed since I published that article. I’m willing to admit defeat on this one, but I still […]
10 Important Reasons to Keep Learning After College
Just because you have completed college does not mean you should stop learning! Lifelong learning is the secret to success in both your career and personal life. You might be finished with one degree, but here are some reasons why you should keep challenging yourself with new knowledge and skills in your adult life, both […]
Getting Paid What You Deserve — What You Need to Know!
This past week I was browsing through the Flipboard app on my iPad, and came across a story of a graphic designer who apparently was fed up with seeing Craigslist ads wanting experienced designers that were offering no pay whatsoever. In response, he posted his own hilarious ad: Hi, I’m a Graphic Designer and since […]
Better Know a Young Millionaire — Neil Patel of Quick Sprout
In this week’s installment of the Better Know a Young Millionaire series, I have the pleasure of chatting with Neil Patel from Quick Sprout. If you’ve been in the online marketing space over the last few years, you’ve no doubt heard about Neil. He started a web company called Crazy Egg, where you can see heat maps […]
Could a Monkey Beat Your Portfolio if You’re Day Trading?
I’ll never forget the first time I met a day trader face-to-face. He was dating a friend from college and I was a guest at their apartment-warming party. Amidst all the celebrating, I noticed him sitting alone at his living room desk, scanning a complicated-looking screen of stock data on TD Ameritrade. I was curious. […]
Is it Really Ever OK to Time the Market to Earn More?
We all know the stock market has been on a tear the past couple years making us all look like Warren Buffett. My 401(k) is up nearly 14% so far this year and all I’ve done is stay the course. I think I’ve looked at my asset allocation maybe once this year and there wasn’t much […]
What Time Does the Stock Market Open in the U.S. and Beyond?
If you’re a trader or investor, it’s important to know and understand what time the stock market opens. If you place a trade outside of stock market hours, your trade will wait in a queue until the start of the next trading session. This can also make a big difference on the prices you’ll get […]
Is Free Tuition Really Worth 24 Years of Bondage?
Many of you have likely heard of Oregon’s radical new program called “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back.” The catchy title belies a program that provides free tuition for students attending community college or a public university in Oregon. In exchange for this tuition, graduates would then pay back a small fixed percentage of their income […]
Can RetailMeNot Succeed Where Groupon Failed?
I’m one of those cheap freaks who googles a coupon anytime I buy something online, so you can imagine how excited I was when I realized that RetailMeNot would soon go public. RetailMeNot (SALE) is by far the leader in the online coupon category. The company lists coupons from tens of thousands of sites and […]
Confessions from Recent College Grads: The Reality of the Real World
Saving up is extremely important, but in order to do that we have to first get a job and hold it down. This can be much tougher than expected for recent graduates. According to the 2013 report released by the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is 8.8 percent (compared with […]
Creating Your Own Opportunities
At the height of the recession in 2008, I was laid off from my video editing job of eight years. Up until that point, I had it made. I earned a very comfortable $72k a year salary living in Los Angeles, had a huge office with state of the art equipment, an amazing boss, and […]
If You Read One Article About Selling Stocks, Read This One
Over the last several weeks there have been some huge developments in the stock market and the economy as a whole. It got me thinking about my investments, and the question that is always the toughest investing question to answer: how do you know when you should be selling stocks? It is so incredibly tough to […]
How One Student is Getting a Free Master’s Degree
“Well you sure can’t eat benefits!” I remember this conversation vividly from my childhood, as my dad talked to one of his younger coworkers at the time. My dad has worked for a public utility company for many years. He has a defined pension, free health/vision/dental insurance, and a generous 401(k) equivalent match among other […]
Lululemon Stock: Does This Trendy Pick Have Legs?
Lululemon (LULU) is a Wall Street darling. It should be. The company earns ridiculous returns on invested capital, operates as a cash cow that can internally fund its own expansion, and has some of the best profit margins around. Oh, and it has a reputation for selling boatloads of merchandise through a single store. Revenue […]
Better Know a Young Entrepreneur — Aron Susman
I’m really excited to share with you this week’s Better Know a Young Entrepreneur. Why? This week is a completely unique story of rising from tragedy to success. As you know, I’ve been sitting down and talking with young entrepreneurs about what they’ve done, how they did it, and what lessons they learned that they can […]
A Real Conversation With a Delusional College Student
The following is my best recollection of a recent conversation I had with a college student in my office. He was an incoming freshman who was coming in to talk about his tuition bill for the first semester. Me: “Good Morning! How can I help you?” College Student (CS): “Well, I’m not sure really. It […]