PassionSaving.com Home Page : The Financial Freedom Blog : September 2007
September 4, 2007 08:01 – Saving for Retirement Is a Dumb Idea
I’ve added an article to the “Upsizing” section of the site entitled Saving for Retirement Is a Dumb Idea.
Juicy Excerpt: Spending is not generally wasteful. Tie the success of your saving plan to persuading yourself that it is, and you have rooted your saving plan in a lie. Not good.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 5, 2007 09:42 – Investing Research and the Tricky Tricks Used to Trick You
I’ve added an article to the “Valuation-Informed Indexing” section of the site entitled Investing Research and the Tricky Tricks Used to Trick You.
Juicy Excerpt: He opts against making the move that would increase shareholder return in favor of the move that will allow him to keep his high-paying job a bit longer. You’d be surprised how persuasive even the smartest mutual-fund managers find the arguments of their tummies telling them to do whatever it takes so that they will be able to continue to have something to put on the table indefinitely into the future.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 6, 2007 08:12 – Shopping Partners
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently published an article entitled Better Shop Around: Save Time, Aggravation, By Picking the Right Shopping Partner.
Here is the text of the section of the article quoting my views:
“It’s one thing to go out looking around with a couple of girlfriends. But when you’re serious about making a purchase, if you’re going to make a date of it, it’s wise to pair up with someone who has a similar shopping style ‘The key in selecting a shopping partner is finding someone who shares the same general life goals and who communicates well with you,’ said Rob Bennett, author of the Financial Freedom Blog at PassionSaving.com.”
For most, shopping is more of a social activity than it is a financial transaction. Advertising shows this. When marketers are seeking to entice us to shop, they stress the social interaction that it facilitates. More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 7, 2007 07:04 – Investing Discussion Boards Ban Honest Posting on Valuations!
I’ve added an article to the “Banned at Motley Fool!” section of the site entitled Investing Discussion Boards Ban Honest Posting on Valuations!
Juicy Excerpt: Rob’s da man! Never in the history of the Diehards forum has one poster, always making civil and well thought-out posts, managed to irritate so many without anyone being able to articulate a good reason as to why. — Mephistopheles, Vanguard Diehards board, June 4, 2006.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 10, 2007 15:27 – You’re a Mean One, Mr. Effective Saver
The Cat in the Hat is a hero to children. The Grinch is a villain.
I ask people seeking to manage their money more effectively which of the two they think of as a “free spender” and which of the two they think of as a “miser.” Most think of the Grinch as the miser and the Cat in the Hat as the free-spender.
Why? There is nothing in the stories that indicates that the Grinch spends little or that the Cat in the Hat spends freely.
It’s because we think of those who are careful with money in all sorts of negative ways. We think of them as “cheap,” “tight,” and “stingy.” We think of spenders as “generous,” “easygoing,” and “happy.”
This is why so many of us have a hard time managing our money effectively. No one wants to be like the Grinch. Everyone wants to be like the Cat in the Hat.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 11, 2007 14:14 – Prepare Your Kids for Inevitable Career Change
Three tips:
1) Focus on the liberal arts in educating your kids. Most people downplay the liberal arts today on the thinking that studying the liberal arts doesn’t give the specialized training needed to get a first job. This is so. But studying the liberal arts gives the general skills needed in all jobs. When your area of specialization is going to be changing several times throughout a career, you don’t want too much focus in any one specialized area. You want strength in basic skills that you can fall back on no matter what. Our boy (Timothy, age seven) is learning Latin. This will not lead to any one particular job. But it will enhance his thinking skills and he will use those skills in all his jobs;
2) Stress the need to save to attain limited levels of financial freedom at an early age. People should not be shocked when they lose jobs. This is the new reality. The way to prepare is to think of yourself as You, Inc., a entity that is going to go through cycles of expansion and pullback. When you open your eyes to this, you see that you need to do something to even out your cash flow through the different stages of the cycles. Financially, you need to be taking money from the up times and making it available to yourself in the down times. You need to be saving not just for your old age, but for the workplace realities that affect you in your 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s; and
3) Teach your kids a love for independence. An independent-minded child will not want to return home after a job loss and will find a healthier way to respond to the problem. It is too late when the job loss comes. The desire for independence needs to be instilled far earlier. And it is best taught through example. The child needs to see the parent making sacrifices to insure his or her own independence. More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 12, 2007 15:48 – Embarrassing Work Incidents
The key to surviving an embarrassing work incident is turning to humor to help people feel at ease about what has happened. It is important, though, to understand the purpose of employing humor and thereby to know how to make use of it.
Say that you have accidentally sent an e-mail containing personal information to a large number of people. You need to make use of humor to make light of the incident. You should send a follow-up e-mail to the people who were sent the first e-mail with a message saying: “You may have noticed that yesterday I mistakenly sent an e-mail containing personal information to a large list of people. I apologize for spicing up your day that way! Please be assured that I will not be sending any additional e-mails without double-checking the list of names listed as recipients.”
Note that the humor used here is understated and that the explanation is short. The idea is not to get people to laugh. It is to put them at ease. There is a need for a little humor, but not much. What is needed to restore people’s comfort in you in a professional sense is that you demonstrate that the embarrassing incident is in the past. Once it has been dealt with, do not bring it up again. Move on. The office culture can accept that these things happen. It cannot accept dwelling on them. More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 13, 2007 09:00 – Middle-Class Investors Are At a Disadvantage
I’ve added an article to the “Investing for Humans” section of the site entitled Middle-Class Investors Are at a Disadvantage.
Juicy Excerpt: One investor has $3 million in assets and experiences a price drop of 50 percent. Another has $600,000 in assets and experiences a price drop of 50 percent. The first investor is left with assets of $1.5 million. The second is left with assets of $300,000. Which investor feels more pressure to break his buy-and-hold commitment and to sell? It’s the middle-class investor who is feeling far more pain in these circumstances.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 14, 2007 10:51 – The Early Retirement Forum Discusses “The Troubles”
Here is a link to a thread at the Early Retirement Forum where the community discusses “The Troubles”:
Juicy Excerpt: But beyond hostility to some people, there is also hostility to some ideas. Something Twad said earlier in this or possibly another thread goes to the heart of too much of this board’s hostility to certain ideas. He said this is his church, where he comes for help in keeping the faith in the safe withdrawal rate (SWR), etc. I know it was hyperbole, but others also over the years have openly talked of keeping the faith. I know this is only a metaphor, but perhaps less farfetched than we might hope, especially at times of market stress.
Here is a link to a thread at the Greaney’s Little Stinkers board where I offer play-by-play analysis on the Early Retirement Forum thread:
Juicy Excerpt: It’s like children who have parents who let them eat nothing but candy. The children get sick and they long for parents who impose some reasonable guidelines in a loving and effective way. We are the loving parents of the Retire Early community. The Goons start out thinking that it would be a blast to run wild with their Smear Campaigns. They end up hating themselves for having done so. Our job is to rein them in. Our job is to see that they become better versions of themselves, to over time transform the Goons into Normals. More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 17, 2007 06:19 – Knowwho
MSNBC’s “Your Career” column recently ran a piece entitled On Labor Day, Readers Seek Some Work Advice. Here is the text of the section of the article quoting my views:
“You sound like you’re going through serious financial pressures, and just walking away from a job isn’t an option for you. So you have two options: Start looking for a new job, or try a different tack at your present one.
“If you want to try out the latter first, Rob Bennett, author of the Financial Freedom blog and author of Passion Saving: The Path to Plentiful Free Time and Soul-Satisfying Work, suggests getting on your networking hat right away. Connect with other managers in other departments if you can. Get friendly with them. Ask them to lunch. By knowing the right person at the right time you can make big leaps in your career, he says.
“Don’t go overboard and start muscling your way into other managers’ offices. Feel people out and see if there is an opening for you to get to know them. For example, say, ‘I like what your department is doing and I want to learn more about it.’ Also, take advantage of any mentoring programs at your work; or approach a manager you admire and ask them if they’d mentor you. But be sure not to alienate your present boss.
“This type of relationship building can take time to pay off, Bennett stresses, but when a new position comes up at least you’ll be on the radar screen of more than just your boss.” More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 18, 2007 08:47 – “We Didn’t Need to Get Married”
I’ve added Jan Geiger’s story (she is the author of Getting Your Assets in Gear) to the “Middle-Class Millionaires” section of the site.
Juicy Excerpt: When I met the man who became my next husband five years later, he was really terrible with his money. I told him that if he would not get out of debt, get on a budget, and start saving for our financial independence, we didn’t need to get married. In the first eight years we were married, we more than quadrupled our net worth.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 19, 2007 08:25 – Eight Investing Questions You Need Answered Before Putting Money Down
I’ve added an article to the “Investing for Humans” section of the site entitled Eight Investing Questions You Need Answered Before Putting Money Down.
Juicy Excerpt: Would you fall for that if a fellow trying to sell you a car pulled it on you? If you were looking for a car with a fair market value of $20,000 and you went to a dealer who quoted a price of $40,000, you would walk out. What if he called you the next week to tell you the good news that he was now willing to take 10 percent off and let you have the car for $36,000?
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 20, 2007 09:30 – Boss Annoyances
The Top Ten Boss Annoyances:
- Making excuses for not getting the job done or for not getting the job done right;
- Complaining about the deadline for a project or the difficulty of the project;
- Being critical of team members to outsiders;
- Being overly pushy in drawing attention to one’s own accomplishments;
- Giving vent to frequent expressions of negativity or pessimism;
- Failing to listen to instructions;
- Failing to seek clarifications of requirements at an early stage of a project;
- Being critical of customer demands;
- Missing deadlines without warning; and
- Stretching out staff meetings with excessive discussion of minor points. More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 21, 2007 11:02 – MSN Money Profiles Rob’s Retire Early Plan
Liz Pulliam Weston has written a profile of my early retirement plan for MSN Money. It is entitled Retired by 50: Real-Life Stories.
Here is the text of the opening segment of the profile:
“Rob Bennett was 35 and had no savings when he was laid off in 1991. He’d loved his job as a reporter for a tax newsletter and hadn’t seriously thought about doing anything else.
“But being jobless made him feel vulnerable enough to consider other possibilities.
” ‘It was a horrible feeling,’ Bennett remembered. ‘I told myself I would never be in that position again.’
“Bennett and his soon-to-be wife, Mary, decided to make financial independence a priority. The first step for Bennett: Make more money, and save as much of it as possible.”
If you’ve been wondering what I look like, click that link! More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 24, 2007 14:47 – Gift-Giving Madness
Those practicing a frugal lifestyle at some point need to face the question of how to gracefully decline participation in gift-giving madness. It truly has become a madness in today’s culture.
The best approach is a direct and simple and quiet one. My wife and I do not exchange gifts with adult relatives at Christmas. There is a great amount of waste attached to such gifts; many of the gifts are never used and were purchased only to satisfying the “requirement” to give a gift. Explanations should be kept short (“we are electing not to participate in this sort of gift-giving”) because explanations of any length will generate defensive reactions (those who do participate see the craziness of what they are doing and feel a need to justify their behavior). The idea is not to change minds, but just to give notice that you are opting out.
People think it’s odd. But they forget about it quickly if no fuss is made over it. In time, they come to respect it and in some cases even to question their own gift-giving practices. This doesn’t happen on the spot, however. It takes time. So the explanation given up front should be kept short. It is not the time to explain the “philosophy” of electing out of gift-giving madness. More on This Topic
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 25, 2007 11:12 – Cash Is King — I’ll Prove It With Numbers
I’ve added an article to the “Valuation-Informed Indexing” section of the site entitled Cash Is King — I’ll Prove It with Numbers.
Juicy Excerpt: Stock prices reached new highs recently. It means little. The numbers cited as new highs are not inflation-adjusted.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 26, 2007 11:43 – Why Investing Books Are Boring
I’ve added an article to the “Investing for Humans” section of the site entitled Why Investing Books Are Boring.
Juicy Excerpt: Do you remember how people used to say that Ronald Reagan had no business in politics because he was just an actor in B-Grade movies? It turned out that Reagan went pretty darn far in the politics field despite his lack of credentials. What he possessed was communication skills. Communication skills matter.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 27, 2007 10:39 – The Taboo on Talking About Money Hurts Us
I’ve added an article to the “Start Me Up” section of the site entitled The Taboo on Talking About Money Hurts Us.
Juicy Excerpt: Thoughts don’t travel from the pages of a book to your eyes and then into your brain. It is by giving voice to new ideas that we come to understand those new ideas. If you cannot repeat something you have learned, you probably do not understand it well. If you do not give voice to new money ideas, it is not likely that they will remain in your memory for long enough to inspire a change in behavior.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
September 28, 2007 15:42 – “Made Me Want to Raise the Bar a Bit”
I’ve added a testimonial by Anson for my book Passion Saving: The Path to Plentiful Free Time and Soul-Satisfying Work to the Can I Get a Witness? page of the site.
Juicy Excerpt: It is a great philosophy on saving and I will adopt some of the ideas that are in it. In a way, it is kind of what I always felt and it is nice to see it written down to get motivated by. It also filled in a lot of the gaps that were missing in my saving strategy…. Reading your book made me want to raise the bar a bit and see how much sooner I can start enjoying the good life.
To reference this entry please copy the url in this link: (Permalink)
July 2007 << >> October 2007