Category Archives: Starting Out

Three Little Pigs: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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This is a story about Three Little Pigs – you’ve just met The Good Little Pig in this video …

The Good Little Pig

He belongs to (in fact, is the “official spokespig” of) a wonderful organization called Feed The Pig: a worthy and noble cause sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and The Advertising Council with the aim of encouraging and helping Americans aged 25 to 34 to take control of their personal finances.

Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to bolster the meager savings rate of our next generation of movers and shakers, they seem to forget a Very Important Piece of Information …

… but, first let’s meet the 30 year old ‘Wolf’ [AJC: actually, he’s just a bachelor … but, as far as the girls go, he’s a wolf alright 🙂 ] earning $50k a year.

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The Good Little Pig – in his Sunday Roast Best Pink Suit – asks the Wolf to set aside 5% of his gross (or $2,500 this year), with the following assumptions:

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The Good Little Pig then tells the Wolf that if he agrees NOT to blow his little house of straw down, that he would show the Wolf how this will make him rich … accounting for all sorts of different life events …

… the Wolf thinks it’s a great idea!

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The Good Little Pig makes good on his promise and shows the Wolf how just saving $2,500 a year (5% of his salary) can mushroom (goes nice with pig) to anywhere from $179,000 (even if he loses his job, takes time out to go back to school, then starts his own business pretty late in life) …

… to a massive $555,000 (if the Wolf gets a job and promotions pretty quickly, followed by a bonus here or there).

The Wolf promptly blows the little house of straw down and eats the Good Little Pig.

He’s still hungry so he looks for another pig.

The Bad Little Pig

Fortunately (for the Wolf, not the Pig), the Wolf chances on The Bad Little Pig who has heard all about what happened to the Good Little Pig on the pig grapevine (vine goes very nicely with pig … particularly a nice Cabernet very slightly chilled below ambient) and admonishes the Wolf saying “how could you eat my bro’, when he showed you how a measly $2,500k could become anywhere from $179k to $555k over 35 years?!”

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The Wolf was surprised: “Why?” he said, “it’s clearly because I would be stuck in some lousy job, sucking up to my boss to get the max”.

To which the Bad Little Pig responded: “But, if you did nothing but save $2,500 a year and increase it just with minimum pay increases (nothing fancy, no promotions, no sucking up to the boss,) then I can show you how to get $678,000 over 35 years … surely, you’d like that?! But, only if you promise not to blow down my little house of sticks …”

Before the Bad Little Pig could finish his sentence, the Wolf blew the Bad Little Pig’s house of sticks down, finishing him off in just one bite (hic!).

But, not quite stuffed (unlike the pigs … in more ways than one), the Wolf went searching for more pig.

The Ugly Little Pig

Being Pig Season, the Ugly Little Pig was easy to find; he was honest and gave the Wolf the plain, ugly truth:

“Look, if you really promise to spare me – not that you can do much damage to my bricks & mortar financial stronghold (after all, the Lehpig Brothers have been around for a hun’erd and a score years or more) – I’ll tell you that you can’t get anywhere saving just 5% of your salary, no matter how many promotions you get. You can (and should) save at least 3 times that … $7,500 of your salary now and keep increasing it as your salary goes up …

… that will give you over $2 million when you retire in the lap of luxury in 35 years. Easy, simple … and (almost) guaranteed.”

The Wolf asked: “Wow! I’ll be a multi-millionaire … is that it, the best you can do?”

To which our very Ugly Little Pig answered, smug behind his brick facade: “What more do you want?! Start your own talk show if you want more, Wolf, now leave me alone”.

I don’t think that I need to tell you, what with the poor quality of mortar and workmanship these days, this was the easiest of all the pigs to get to and eat.

You see, our Wolf wasn’t as Good, Bad, or Ugly as the Three Little Pigs …

… he was an average Joe who didn’t just buy into the financial hype spruiked by the financial ‘professionals’ and the ‘do gooders’; at least not without also checking the numbers with a simple spreadsheet himself.

That little spreadsheet showed him just what I’ve been telling you all along: because of inflation (even if it only averages 4% for the next 35 years), $2 million in 35 years is only worth $507,000 today, which provides the Wolf a fairly ‘safe’ retirement income of just $25k a year (in 2009 dollars) … just half his current salary!

When asked why he ate all the pigs who were there to help him, the Wolf simply looked back at the numbers, and sighed:

“Why go without pig today, just to have the same or less pig tomorrow?”

Why indeed?

Disclaimer: No pigs, advertising exec’s, or accountants were harmed in the making of this post.

Insure your future?

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If you’re on the road to your Number – let’s say it’s $2 Million by the time you are 35 – and that milestone is well before your retirement accounts vest, you have a real trade-off to make:

1. Put that money that you would have otherwise invested in a 401k/IRA/etc. to work for you now to help you get to your Number, or

2. Keep socking money into your retirement account as a ‘safety net’ in case you fail.

The ideal strategy is actually 2., as you should always ‘insure your future’ …

And, some would say that you should keep socking that money away until you have something concrete to use your money for and then you can always pull your money out of your retirement account if you need to.

But, there’s the issue of taxes and penalties on early withdrawal, right?

Speaking of Motley Fool’s mastery of the sensational headline, I thought that I had found an easy solution for you when I saw this headline on their site: Tap Your IRAs to Retire Early. Unfortunately, it was only a ‘funnel’ into a pretty boring article that tells you that you can withdraw a couple of percent of your IRA each year, earlier than your standard retirement age.

Not much use to an aspiring multi-millionaire!

If you do what I suggest:

1. Implement sound MM101 strategies (save 15% of your gross income via 401k/IRA’s/etc.), as well as 50% of any ‘found money’ (lottery winnings. tax refund checks, inheritances, etc.)

2. Pay cash for your cars, don’t acquire credit card debt, buy your own home, obey the 25%/20%/5% rules

3. Increase your income (and save 50% of any such increase) through a second job etc.

… then you will probably have the ‘capital’ saved as cash (or in ‘spare equity’ in your own home) to start the types of businesses that I suggest that you start (eg low cost – perhaps internet – businesses) or to slowly start investing in real-estate without needing to ‘tap’ your 401k.

This is the ideal … but, if your business should be growing and you need the funds to expand further, then you may be left with some unsavory alternatives:

1. Hock the house, cars, children

2. Find a partner to invest in your business

3. Raid your retirement accounts

I’d probably go for 1., then 2., then 3., or maybe 3., then 1. then 2. – or maybe I’d put the partner second (never first) – but, I’m not sure. It all depends on circumstances … which we’ll have to explore further in future posts.

In the meantime, which would you choose?

Rapping up The Richest Man In Babylon …

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I was researching a post and it occurred to me that not everybody knows about the best-selling personal finance book, The Richest Man In Babylon …

… so, I found this rather ‘unusual’ summary of the book and its seven rules, which boil down to:

– Save 10% of your gross income and put it to work for you

– Reinvest the dividends (that’s how you kick in ‘compounding’ … it don’t happen automatically, bub)

– Budget your income (I’m not so sure how important this it other than to help you save the 10%)

– Own your own home

… if anybody can make head-or-tail of the other three ‘rules’ please put them in the comments 🙂

New Reader Question about debt …

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I am always pleased to receive questions and comments from readers – and, new readers in particular. For example, recently I have been in e-mail conversation with David, a new reader, who asks:

After spending half of my day reading various posts and links I have a better idea of where I need to be.  I do have a question – I have student loans that I unfortunately locked at a 9.9% interest rate back in the mid 90’s.  I still carry about 30k and I make about a $330 payment a month.  What is the best strategy for those?  I can’t refi them.  I can pay them off “quickly” but the money that I would be lopping off that is taken away from my nest egg and emergency funds.  If I pay them off on their schedule, it will cost me around $79k in the long run. What would you suggest?

While I’m not qualified to – therefore, don’t – give give direct personal advice of the financial or any other kind, I can use this question as ‘inspiration’ for this, more general, post …

This is a common problem, facing most folk these day … not specifically the student loan, but debt in general. And my response is generally the same: it depends 🙂

And, the thing that it depends on is actually two things, not one:

1. Do you have ‘spare income’ or cash floating around that you COULD be applying to this loan?

If not, then you need to keep paying the loan according the schedule and doing your level best to find some additional money through increasing income (MM201) and/or better personal money management (MM101). But, if you do have some spare cash floating around then you need to ask yourself the following question …

2. Where else could you put the money that would return more than 9.9%?

This is really a simple question, so you don’t need to beat yourself up about the answer …

If you want to start a business that can return, say 50+% if it’s successful, then you may be better off keeping the loan in place – making just the required payments, for now – and putting your spare cash towards startup/working capital for your business.

But, if you are thinking (instead) of paying down your home loan, with its current interest rate of 6% (probably at least partly tax deductible) then I would suggest that you instead pay off the student loan.

And, if you had a car that you absolutely had to purchase and were thinking about financing it at, say, 11%, then I would instead suggest that you pay cash for the car and keep the student loan in place.

The decisions, to me, only become more ‘difficult’ if you have no clear idea of a better use for your money other than “Maybe investing in something one day” … in which case, I would take the ‘sure thing’ i.e. pay off the ‘student loan’ debt,

OR

The available options are so close in interest rate earned or spent e.g. should I pay down the 9.9% student loan or buy some units in an Index Fund that should return a bit over 9.9% over the next 10 or 20 years …  in which case, I would again take the ‘sure thing’ i.e. pay off the ‘student loan’ debt.

Other than that, simply apply the principles in this recent post and you won’t go too far wrong …

BTW: don’t forget to compare interest earned and/or spent AFTER TAX. To me, a rough estimate (rather than paying for a consultation with your accountant UNLESS the decision is major or strategic) is probably usually good enough … but, when in doubt, work it out WITH YOUR ACCOUNTANT.

Oh and one more ‘trick’; if you have another asset that you can acquire new debt on to pay off the more expensive old debt, can/should you do it?

For example, if David has a house with ‘spare equity’ can/should David refi the house and pay off the student loan entirely. At an effective current (tax deductible) interest rate on the refi of, say, 6% (compared to a ‘locked in’ 9.9%) the answer is most likely a resounding YES, however, now we have to think about locking in and term:

The student loan is likely to be locked in to a repayment schedule that will see it paid off in just a few years, but a mortgage will probably be offered at 15 to 30 years to keep the repayment schedule low … if the purpose if simply to repay the student loan, then you should divert the money that you would be using on a monthly basis to repay the student loan to repaying the mortgage (i.e. pay off the mortgage with the original mortgage payments PLUS the former student loan payments).

Because the combined interest rate is now lower but your repayments are the same as before, you should actually be paying debt off at a slightly faster rate …

Of course, if you do have a hot new business or investment idea, then you may instead refi the house, pay off the student loan and apply any spare cash (over and above what the bank says that you HAVE to pay on the mortgage) to building that little ol’ warchest … but, this is an advanced – and more risky – Making Money 201 concept … only needed if your Number says so 🙂

Dismantling the Ladder of Personal Finance …

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For those who are new to this blog, 7 Million 7 Years is not about saving money, retiring on 75% of your salary in 30 years, stock or real-estate investing, frugal living, ‘getting rich quick’ or anything else that you are likely to find around the blogosphere …

… this blog is simply aimed at those who want to get rich(er) quick(er) more so than any of these other things – on their own – can possibly accomplish. That’s why, from time to time, you will read things here that (a) you won’t see anywhere else, and (b) will fly in the face of conventional wisdom.

You can choose to follow these suggestions or to ignore them; either way, this is unique opinion offered by somebody who has already made their millions and is doing one thing and one thing only: giving back to the best of their ability. Enjoy!

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iwtytbr-bookRamit Sethi, the personal finance blogging phenom – and, champion of Gen Y (18 to 30 y.o.) has finally published his book.

Naturally, it is being reviewed all over the blogosphere, including a review by my good blogging friend JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly, who ventures close to giving the book his highest possible endorsement (JD’s Caveat: for the right audience):

I’m often asked to recommend personal-finance books for young adults. I’ve read a few (and have more in my to-read stack), but there are only two that I promote … however, my friend and colleague Ramit Sethi has written a money book aimed squarely at those in their twenties. If you’re under 25 and single, and if you make a decent living, this book is perfect.

I have to confess that I have not (yet) read the book, but if JD recommends it, then it is probably worth a read.

However, I did find a ‘sneak peak’ of one of the pillars of the book, “The Ladder of Personal Finance“; Ramit says:

These are the five systematic steps you should take to invest. Each step builds on the previous one. So when you finish the first. go on to the second. If you can‘t get to number 5, don‘t worry. You can still feel great, since most people never even get to the first step.

Rung 1: If your employer offers a 401(k) match, invest to take full advantage of it and contribute just enough to get too percent of the match. This is free money and there is, quite simply, no better deal.

Rung 2: Pay off your credit card and any other debt. The average credit card APR is 14 percent. and many APRs are higher. Whatever your card company charges, paying off your debt will give you a significant instant return.

Rung 3: Open up a Roth IRA and contribute as much money as possible to it.

Rung 4: If you have money left oven go back to your 401(k) and contribute as much as possible to it (this time above and beyond your employer match).

Rung 5: If you still have money left to invest, open a regular nonretirement account and put as much as possible there. Also, pay extra on any mortgage debt you have, and consider investing in yourself: Whether it’s starting a company or getting an additional degree, there’s often no better investment than your own career.

ladder

It appears that Ramith Sethi has outlined a simple plan to financial success that is aimed at removing debt and ensuring that you have a great retirement, IF you are prepared to work until retirement age.

My major issue with it is that the book is called I Will Teach You To Be Rich and I will need to read it to see what Ramit thinks ‘rich’ is, because inflation will erode a good chunk of the benefit of any time-based ‘retirement saving plan’ …

… but, if you’re reading this blog, you probably want to become rich(er) quick(er) [AJC: After all, this blog IS called How to Make 7 Million in 7 Years 😉 ], in which case I have a simple solution for you:

Turn Ramit’s ladder upside down!

The 7 Million 7 Year Patented Upside Down Ladder of Personal Finance might look something like this:

Step 1: Start investing in yourself: start a side-company or get an additional job

Step 2: Put at least 50% of the extra money into a regular nonretirement account

Step 3: Pay off your credit card and any other non-mortgage, non-investment debt

Step 4: Start investing in real-estate, stocks, and/or your own business

Step 5: Since you will have money left over (i.e. at least 10% of your original – pre-Step 1 income) feel free to feather your 401(k) nest with it (grab the employer match if you do)

A simple solution with a powerful result … and, if you don’t get past Step 4 then I won’t be terribly upset. 🙂

Guest Post by Andee Sellman: What you really need to know to win the personal finance ‘game of life’ …

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This is my third ever Guest Post: Andee Sellman agreed to it, after I had come across his blog and linked to one of his videos on this site.

Andee soon contacted me and we realized that we both live in the same city (Melbourne, Australia … well I split my time between Melbourne and Chicago) and share similar philosophies on personal finance.

This ‘video post’ explains the ultimate goal of Andee’s unique Personal Finance game (called Where’s The Money Gone).  Andee’s video can be accessed by clicking on the image below; I really think that you enjoy it …

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picture-42Many people have been fooled by the financiers over the last 15 years of boom into looking at the wrong ratios. As a result they don’t know whether they’re being fiscally responsible.

Have you heard of the ratio 80% LVR. This stands for 80% loan to value ratio. Another way of expressing ratio is this :-  400% Debt to Equity!!!

If people continually focus on looking at the lower ratio they will be lured into buying overvalued assets, funding them with too much debt and then wondering why they’re struggling with their cash flow when they’re supposed to be feeling wealthy.

In this video I explore a better ratio to focus on. This means wealth creation is built more sustainably and with less risk.

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Thanks for the video, Andee!

It really helps to explain why people go broke in buying too much property (home and investment) and/or other investments on finance, even though we’ve always been told to borrow more to invest more. In upcoming posts, we will explore the link between Andee’s ‘twin equations’ and our own Equity and Income Rules …

BTW: Andee filmed this video in the lovely (if a bit dry due to the extended drought) Stephens Reserve – a section of parkland near his office in Vermont (an outer suburb of Melbourne); Andee plans to do a ‘video tour’ of Australia, filming a number of videos at scenic locations around the country … or, perhaps the world!? If you want to keep an eye out for these videos – which are sure to be instructive and entertaining – I suggest that you check in at Andee’s blog from time to time.

My balance sheet doesn't …

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financial-fence

There’s an old accounting joke:

Q: What do you call a balance sheet that doesn’t balance?

A: An expensive sheet of paper! 😛

I don’t know if that really is an old joke because I think that I just made it up (actually, I just modified a really old joke about boomerangs) … but, the point is that balance sheets always DO balance; they have to, so once your accountant fiddles the numbers to produce the desired result what do you do with it?

If you’re anything like me, you file it under “who cares?” …

When I ran my businesses, I really struggled with understanding the numbers – as represented by the Profit and Loss (or Income) Statement and the Balance Sheet. My accountant didn’t even bother to run cashflow statements or forecasts for me, and I would have had no idea what to do with them if he did!

Yet, that opened me up to ‘success [or failure] by luck’ rather than by design …

My friend, Andee over at onesherpa.com, being a former Big Business bean-counter-type, understands the problem all too well and has developed a much better way of looking at the numbers in your business – or your life – called The Financial Fence.

Here’s what Andee has to say about the dreaded balance sheet:

You may have seen a balance sheet that shows; Assets minus liabilities equals Equity … [but] here’s how we do balance sheets in the 21st Century.
Working Capital Plus Fixed Capital equals Debt plus Equity.

Think about buying your first home. Probably looked like this:

    Home (which equals Capital).
    Paid for by:
    Debt (borrowed from the banks),
    Plus
    Equity (contributed by you).

That’s how we do balance sheets because they make sense to the average person who has bought a home. It’s very easy for them to understand.

Think about your business for a minute:
You will have working capital (Inventory, accounts receivable, accounts payable, employee provisions etc.

You will have fixed capital (plant & equipment, motor vehicles etc).
And these will be paid for by:

    Debt (borrowed from a bank) and
    Equity (which is your wealth tied up in the business).

When you do balance sheets like this it becomes easier to understand what you’re accumulating and how you can use this to help you run your business.

This is a surprisingly simple yet powerful way to rethink your business/personal finances and I suggest that you learn everything that you can about it … to get you started, Andee has a great game, which I feel is a worthy rival to Robert Kiyosaki’s CashFlow series of games and which will really help you in your personal financial life.

Why get your knickers in a knot over Robert Kiyosaki?

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Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary is getting his knickers in a knot over Robert Kiyosaki’s definition of “asset” and “liability”:

A house, like any other object that comes into your possession, is classified as an asset. An asset is something you own. A house has a value. Whether you assign the value as the price at which you purchased the house or the price at which you believe you can sell the house, that amount is how much your house is worth.

You can offset the value of the asset with the value of the mortgage, your liability. Your house, an asset, subtracted by your remaining mortgage, your liability, results in your wealth due to your house. That’s commonly called your “equity,” but that has a murky definition, too.

So why do so many people claim that your house is a liability if it’s clearly incorrect from a financial standpoint? Most of this stems from one personal finance “guru.” Robert Kiyosaki, a successful marketer of products, believes an asset is anything that provides cash to you, while a liability takes your cash away. These are not the traditional meaning of the words, but this establishes a framework for the ideas Kiyosaki tries to sell. Kioysaki believes you should strive to increase the assets that provide positive cash flow (Kiyosaki-assets) and reduce the assets that require negative cash flow (Kiyosaki-liabilities).

The concept is sound, but Kiyosaki’s use of the words “asset” and “liability” angers those of us who understand finance and prefer not to confuse the general public by redefining words.

First of all, let me put on the record that (a) I like the general thrust of Flexo’s blog, and (b) he is ‘technically’ correct in what he says here, BUT …

… Robert Kiyosaki is simply trying to make a critically important point (in his famous book Rich Dad, Poor Dad) that I covered in my earlier post on this subject:

Poor Dad vs. Rich Dad

My Poor Dad Says My Rich Dad Says
“My house is an asset.” “My house is a liability.”
Rich dad says, “If you stop working today, an asset puts money in your pocket and a liability takes money from your pocket. Too often people call liabilities assets. It’s important to know the difference between the two.

I guess that Kiyosaki could solve the problem by saying that “My Poor Dad says that my house is an Asset, but my Rich Dad says that the mortgage is a liability” … but, that doesn’t really present the view that you can have a fully paid off house and still live like a pauper (asset rich … cash poor).

Also, I could point you to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition of ‘Liability’ (“one that acts as a disadvantage” “drawback”) and state the obvious i.e. Kiyosaki is using the general definition, not the financial definition, but that’s not the point either …

… regardless of definitions, I feel that the ‘issue’ of taking a technical term and ‘bending’ its use in order to make a point that could mean the difference between your future financial success and failure is a relatively small one … as long as you understand that there is a technical definition of the term as well, just in case you do need to converse with professionals (who are all trained to talk in your lingo, if necessary, anyway) 🙂

So, can you live with two definitions – a technical one and a ‘functional’ one?

How to really practice Smart Personal Finance …

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piggy-bankThere’s a small, but growing movement to try and ‘package’ personal finance advice into various ‘systems’ …. heck, I am [still] working on my own Grand Unified Theory of Personal Finance …

Hint: it will come with all sorts of strings attached 😉

… for example, take these Tips on Practicing Smart Personal Finance from Think Your Way To Wealth [AJC: I’ll leave you to read the post, which has some great suggestions].

But, if I were to write some of my own tips on ‘practicing smart personal finance’, it would surely begin with the end: know your objective.

Then it would suggest that you find our where you are today and come up with a plan to bridge the gap between the two; for example, my list might look something like this:

1. Understand WHY you need money

2. Decide HOW MUCH money you need

3. Plan for WHEN you need it

4. Find the Annual Compound GROWTH RATE required to get you from HERE to THERE

5. Get Started … take the first step

6. Make sure you don’t spend the money that you need to grow

7. Plan NOW for how you ar going to keep your money safe once you get there

8. Ensure your plan (this is not the same as – but, MAY include – insuring your plan).

That’s pretty much what I like to call Making Money 101, 201, and 301 … and, if you do it right, it’s not merely ‘smart personal finance’ … it’s Stupendously Intelligent Personal Finance 🙂

Left Brain v Right Brain

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brain

Are you left-handed?

I find myself noticing actors in movies and on TV who are left-handed …. it seems (but, maybe my reticular activating system is blinding me to the statistics) that more leading actors are left-handed than the typical 10% or so that is the society ‘norm’.

Artists, too …

So, is there truth that the right-brain controls the left hand? And that the right-brain is responsible for our emotional / creative side? In which case, left-handed people are more creative?

I’m not sure.

But, I DO know this to be true:

Most decisions are made emotionally then justified rationally

I heard this once many, many years ago … and, even though it is widely quoted, I have not managed to find the source … but, I have found it to be true in business, investing, and in life.

It helps to explain impulse purchases despite reading the classic ‘frugality’ blogs like Get Rich Slowly.

It helps to explain the behavior of the stock market, supporting the findings of the Dalbar Study.

It helps to explain my wife 🙂

It helps to explain why the real answer to the Deal or No Deal conundrum is “Not Sure” …

… the reality is, you will NOT know what you will do in the same situation until you are faced with the same ‘on the spot decision’ yourself.

UNLESS …

Unless You Have A System to Guide You

Anytime you have a ‘rational’ decision to make – and, you can at least anticipate that you will one day need to make such a decision – then you MUST prepare ahead of time with a system that  you strongly believe that you must follow in order to achieve [insert very strong emotional outcome of choice].

The System, of course, will be a rational system: it will be well grounded in research, logic, and proven results.

And, it must be one that – in advance of the real decision that you will face – you strongly believe and/or have faith in.

Religions offer such a system for Life … if you subscribe to one, you do it because of Belief and Faith and then you follow it ‘religiously’ – according to your level of belief – or suffer the consequences …

… consequences that may range from guilt and/or discomfort on the mild end of the ‘consequences spectrum’ to great fear of [insert religious punishment of choice] on the extreme end of that same spectrum..

And, this blog is slowly unfolding such a system for Personal Finance. If you do not follow it, you may (on the mild end) feel guilt and buyer remorse, and (on the extreme end) fear that your money may run out before your do. Somewhere in the middle should be the very real fear that you won’t achieve your Number in time (i.e. by your Date)

The key is that when the decision pops up, the emotions around failing to follow the system must outweigh the emotions (temptations?) leading you towards the irrational decision …

…. ultimately the execution of the decision will always be made ‘in the moment’ and emotionally, and then you will justify your success – or failure – rationally later on so that you can live with your choice.

That’s why you need to commit the 7million7years version of this ‘truism’ to memory:

Most decisions are made emotionally then justified rationally unless you have a system to guide you!

Now, go find a system for personal finance that you feel that you MUST follow – and, a strong reason for doing so (e.g. so you can get on with living your Life’s Purpose … seems a pretty strong reason to me; how about you?) – and then follow it, or suffer the consequences … harruummph! 😉