How to see through a job disguised as a business …

The best way to give up your ‘day job’ is to watch my Live Show this Thursday @ 8pm CST (9pm EST / 6pm PST) at http://ajcfeed.com ….

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Lots of people come up to me to proudly tell me about their wonderful, growing businesses … how do I look them in the eye and tell them that I really think that what they have is actually a job?

… and, no, I’m not just talking about the obvious: the accountant, doctor, attorney who earns an income from their own labor, whether individually or in a partnership.

Anthony asked me to post on this (I had said I might … so, I guess he was just encouraging me!), when I mentioned in a recent post that I would comment on this exact topic: 

You should. I want to start my own business in an artistic field and every-time I think of having an employee create my vision, I shudder, just a little bit. That’s where modelling someone comes in. Model those who were able to export their vision to other people.

To me the difference between a ‘job disguised as a business’ and a ‘true business’ is:

1. Could it run 3 months without you?, and

2. Can you sell it?

The first point is self-evident: no employees/partners = no ability to run without you (unless, you can totally automate your business … in which case, call me … I want in!).

Therefore, no business!

The second point is a bit more subtle: if the business is not saleable (a) it probably also fails the first point (i.e. no employees), and (b) you are tied to the business and it is tied to you … when you stop, the business stops … when the business stops (market changes, product life-cycles end, etc.) … you (at least your income) stops.

To me, that’s a job; sure, it’s a flexible job with extra benefits … but, a job none-the-less, just like that ‘self-employed’ accountant/doctor/etc.

Now, how do you make a ‘glorified job’ into a true business?

First, you create Positions in your company!

Now, the business may be you, your Mom and your Dad (that’s a whole series of other posts right there!) … but, if you are going to morph into something that meets our two requirements (i.e. runs without you; and, is saleable), then you are going to need to create a simple Management Structure:

CEO (the gal who runs the show); CFO (the guy who runs the finances); Sales/Marketing Manager (the guy who brings in the business) … right on down to Mail Girl.

If there’s only one, two, or three of you … well, you’re each going to be wearing lots of hats for a while. The key is, though, that each ‘hat’ (i.e. position) has only ONE person who wears it! Only ONE of you gets to be CEO (now, I let me know when you have your first Owner’s Meeting … I sure want to be a fly-on-the-wall wall for that!).

Now, for small businesses it can be very difficult to understand this concept, so try this one one:

When the OWNERS walk in the door, they become EMPLOYEES … when they leave at the end of the day, they become OWNERS again. Simple … critical!

Next you create Systems!

You need to get down and document absolutely everything that you (and everybody else!) does in the business.

As Michael Gerber (whose ground-breaking book, The E-Myth Revisited, taught me everything that I know about business!) says, you should act as though your business is a prototype and that one day there will be 500 more just like it.

Even if your little store is ever going to be the only one, this step will allow you to easily grow and add staff, and sell the business … because the purchaser will see how well everything is documented.

Of course, if you’re like me, you could never believe that your business can run without you … here’s how I learned otherwise:

In the early days of one of my businesses, every file would come to me for approval … now, I had experts – trained in the field in which we were operating (compared to me: I was self-taught when I decided to get into that particular business!) – yet, I still checked every major file.

Eventually, my staff stopped bringing me every file … gradually, at first (they’d ‘forget’ to bring me one here and another one there).

When I didn’t notice – because I was so damn busy, running myself ragged doing ‘other stuff’ – they conveniently ‘forgot’ to bring more and more files to me until, they stopped bringing any to me for approval at all!

If I had noticed, would I have got so upset that I would have fired somebody? Probably. Ego does that.

Did the business run any worse after they stopped bringing me the files? Of course not … I said they were trained, and I wasn’t! I just needed a lesson in faith and trust.

So, that’s how I was gently pushed out of Operations and never again stepped a foot back in … in ANY of my  businesses.

But, I was CEO … without me at the helm the business would hit the rocks and sink … or, so I thought:

A year or two later, I closed on an opportunity to acquire a business in the USA, requiring me to move countries. I decided to move to the USA (where we’ve been ever since) as this would be a much bigger business – but, at the time, I wasn’t selling any of my overseas interests.

So, I did the responsible thing: I hired a replacement CEO months ahead of my planned relocation …

… who decided to leave less than 6 weeks before my departure for the USA!

Luckily, after a frantic phase of executive search that consisted of me calling the only guy that I thought could do the job (even though he had no direct industry experience) and him saying ‘yes’ immediately (phew!), I found somebody who could start exactly 4 weeks before I was leaving … remember, this is a business that COULD NOT POSSIBLY run without me, and here I was putting in ‘New Guy’ with only 4 weeks ‘training’!

Needless to say, he took over seamlessly, didn’t miss a beat, never called me about ANYTHING (bruised ego on my side!) and, not only did he keep the business running, keep the staff happy, and keep the clients equally happy, he damn well GREW the business!

In his favor, he did have Positions all neatly laid out and filled before he joined, and he did have a whole Operating Manual full of Systems that worked …

… and, in my favor, I had a business not a job! How do I know for sure?

Not too long after, I found a buyer …

How about you? Do you have a business or a glorified job?

The $7million Real-Estate Rule

Yesterday’s post, The $7million Real-Estate Question(s), was aimed at the first-time investor, perhaps stuck on making their first real-estate investment (not home) purchase decision by the – perhaps too many – factors that they would need to consider.

In essence, what I said is: in a commodity market, buy the commodity at commodity prices … and wait!

Wait for what?

Ideally, forever … but, at least until the values have improved.

But, what kind of real-estate are commodities?

Houses and apartments in most areas are commodities; small multi-units (duplex / triplex / quadraplex) can be, too. Anywhere where there are lots of them near each other …

… preferably lots for sale, and fewer vacant [AJC: Too many vacancies can show an area that’s declining in population and/or jobs (with job growth being, by far, the most important of the two) … we don’t want that!].

Also, for residential property (that you don’t intend to live in) you really need to go for an area that will/can appreciate as it can be very difficult – if not impossible – to get them to cashflow-positive on a reasonable deposit (say, 10% – $20%).

Even so, my first two $7million Questions showed you the right type of market to buy in … which is, right now!

But, when evaluating more complex real-estate transactions, such as: commercial apartments (6 and above); offices and factories of all sizes … surely the The $7million Real-Estate Questions are not enough?

And, surely you are right …

These types of properties are sold as ‘businesses’ in that they have:

a. Income (or rent)

b. Expenses (or outgoings)

c. Taxes (unfortunately)

d. Profit/Loss (or Net Operating Income)

I will run you through how to analyse some of these types of property in future posts; for now, I want to tell you one way to assess these types of Investors’ Real-Estate that is NOT as important as you may be lead to believe, and another way that is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT.

Because commercial property runs at a profit (or loss) and has an Income Statement, people tend to buy (and sell) these types of rel-estate on the basis of their financial statements alone …

… and, not on the sale of comparable buildings around!

This is critical to understand – as it is totally opposite for the types of residential real-estate that most of us are used to.

The second thing to realize is that these buildings sell on a variety of bases, but usually the ‘expert’ real-estate acquirer will assess the Net Operating Income during Due Diligence and buy for a multiple of that … there is usually a multiplier [AJC: that the real-estate books that you read will all say is around 10 … but, these days in many of the hotter markets in the US and overseas, it will be as high as 12 to 16 – or even more when things get crazy].

This is called a Capitalization Rate or simply Cap. Rate.

Yippee!

This is just another way of saying that when you buy the building, it will return 10% of the Purchase Price (for a cap. rate of 10) by way of Net Operating Income (which should improve as you increase rents).

A larger Cap. Rate when you talk “times” (or smaller when you express it as a %) is BAD for purchasing (but, great for selling if you can increase the rents a lot!); here’s why:

A 12 times Cap. Rate means that a $1,000,000 property will only return (NOI or Profit) a little over 8%

A 16 times Cap. Rate means that a $1,000,000 property will only return (NOI or Profit) a little over 6%

So, a serious investor will pull out all the numbers, take a look at the Cap. Rate and make a decision whether to buy (obviously, there will be a lot of other factors … this will drive the financial decision).

How will they typically make that decision?

Well, they’ll compare the % return to what the cost of funds are … if they can make enough to cover the mortgage … then they’re in. So, with a Cap. Rate of 8% and Mortgage Interest rates at, say, 7%, it’s slim … but, they’re in front!

Cap. Rates are really useful, when you can a property for, say, $1,000,000 – add $50,000 of renovations that allow you to increase rents by 10% … all of a sudden, your property is now worth $1,100,000 – a 100% Return on your $50k rehab. investment!

But the Cap. Rate alone doesn’t give you the true picture for the original purchase decision … there’s a MUCH better way to look at the financial decision … first, here’s why:

A. Your investment in real-estate is only the deposit – typically 25% (plus Closing Costs) on commercial

B. The Bank’s investment in real-estate is the mortgage – typically 75%

But, you get the ‘return’ or the Net Operating Income on the entire building

Because of this wonderful benefit of buy-and-hold, income-producing real-estate, the ‘right’way to value an investment is by it’s return on what YOU put in: it’s called your Cash-on-Cash Return.

So if you put in 25% deposit on a $1,000,000 building with a Cap. Rate that’s returning 1% over the mortgage rate, then you are getting:

1. 8% return for the 25% that you put in, plus

2. A ‘free’ 1% for each matching 25% that the Bank puts in – since they put in the other 75% that’s another 3% effective return.

All of a sudden that ‘small’ 8% return that seems only a little above the bank’s interest rate of 7% swells into a real 11% Return on your money [AJC: most investors will look for a return on their money (in real-estate) in the 10% – 20% range; this requirement will increase as Mortgage Interest Rates increase] … and, we haven’t even counted on any appreciation, yet (!):

i) As Rents increase, so does your return because YOU don’t have to put in any more money … inflation does all the work for you!

Example: if interest rates remain the same (and, they will because you DID fix them, right?), but the rents go up a mere 4% per year over costs (and, they will because you DID put a ratchet clause in the lease, right?), in just three years the building’s 8% return will swell to 9% …

… and your cash-on-cash return will jump to 9% + (3 x 2%) = 15% – try getting thatin CD’s, Bonds or Stock Funds!

ii) As the building appreciates, so does your future return, even though you can’t cash on this right now (unless you refinance, of course).

Example: If cap rates don’t change (that, unfortunately, is up to the market), the 4% increase in rents will ALSO increase the value of the property by 4%. Which sounds great, until you realize that you only put up 25% of that …

… so, YOUR return increases by 16% – try doing that with Stocks!

Now, how does a 30% return (half now, half when you sell) sound to you? And, what happens if you hold for a little longer?

You do the math!

The Myth of Diversification

Important Announcement: Applications for my 7 Millionaires … In Training! ‘grand experiment’ CLOSE TONIGHT (June 2) at Midnight CST !!! This is your last chance to throw your hat in the ring …

I have been just itching to write this post … it falls straight into the category of ‘uncommon wisdom’ and will probably be jumped on by every Personal Finance author and self-appointed ‘finance guru’ out there.

All I can say is …

… bring it on, baby!

If you’ve read my posts on the only three ways to invest in stocks and the follow-up post that quoted some of Warren Buffet’s views on Index Funds vs direct stock investments, you’ll have some idea where this is heading.

But, if you’re just reading 7million7years for the first time, here it is in a nutshell:

1. Diversification is only suitable as a mid-term saving strategy – it automatically limits you to mediocre returns: The Market – Costs = All You Get … period!

Now, saving money this way, and compounding over time (a loooooonnnnnngggggg time) will put you way ahead of the typical American Spend-All-You-Earn-Then-Some Consumer ….

Just don’t confuse it with investing or wealth-building: it simply can’t, won’t, will never make you rich … nor will it make you wealthy …. nor will it even make you well-off ….

… because as long as you run, the dog of inflation is nipping at your heels!

However, it WILL stop you from being poor, broke and you may even be able to retire before 70, on the equivalent of $30k or $40k a year – not in today’s dollars, but in the inflation-ravaged dollars of the day that you retire!

But, if that’s all you need, then relax, that’s all that you need to do 🙂 But, if you need more then …

2. Concentration puts all of your eggs into one (well, a very few) baskets – it automatically gets you above average returns … if you get it right!

Investing implies taking some risk … it means choosing a vehicle (stocks, business, real-estate) … it means selecting one or a very few, well-chosen targets … it means putting your all into those well-selected targets and actively managing them for above-average market returns … until you get close to retirement.

Now, I could wax lyrical on this subject all day, every day … but, why trust me when you hardly know me and you can simply go to a source that everybody knows and can respect … Warren Buffet, who says:

I have 2 views on diversification. If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration. For everyone else, if it’s not your game, participate in total diversification. The economy will do fine over time. Make sure you don’t buy at the wrong price or the wrong time. That’s what most people should do, buy a cheap index fund and slowly dollar cost average into it. If you try to be just a little bit smart, spending an hour a week investing, you’re liable to be really dumb.

If it’s your game, diversification doesn’t make sense. It’s crazy to put money into your 20th choice rather than your 1st choice. “Lebron James” analogy. If you have Lebron James on your team, don’t take him out of the game just to make room for someone else. If you have a harem of 40 women, you never really get to know any of them well.

Charlie and I operated mostly with 5 positions. If I were running 50, 100, 200 million, I would have 80% in 5 positions, with 25% for the largest. In 1964 I found a position I was willing to go heavier into, up to 40%. I told investors they could pull their money out. None did. The position was American Express after the Salad Oil Scandal. In 1951 I put the bulk of my net worth into GEICO. Later in 1998, LTCM was in trouble. With the spread between the on-the-run versus off-the-run 30 year Treasury bonds, I would have been willing to put 75% of my portfolio into it. There were various times I would have gone up to 75%, even in the past few years. If it’s your game and you really know your business, you can load up.

Over the past 50-60 years, Charlie and I have never permanently lost more than 2% of our personal worth on a position. We’ve suffered quotational loss, 50% movements. That’s why you should never borrow money. We don’t want to get into situations where anyone can pull the rug out from under our feet.

In stocks, it’s the only place where when things go on sale, people get unhappy. If I like a business, then it makes sense to buy more at 20 than at 30. If McDonalds reduces the price of hamburgers, I think it’s great. [W. E. B. 2/15/08 ]

So Warren Buffett seems to be suggesting that the average investor should be diversifying … not true. He is saying that unless you educate yourself, you should be ‘saving’ not ‘investing’ … but, here is what the difference between the two strategies means to you financially:

 i) Warren Buffet-style Portfolio Concentrationhas produced 21% returns compounded annually since warren Buffett took the reins of Berkshire-Hathaway 44 years ago. This is how he became the world’s richest man, and created many other multi-millionaires in his wake.

ii) Common Wisdom Portfolio Diversificationas measured by an index such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) averages out to just 5.3% compounded annually, even though the DJIA appeared to “surge” from 66 to 11,497 during the 20th century.

When you subtract 4% average inflation from each of these sets of returns, which do you think has ANY CHANCE of making you rich? 

But, it’s true that it is far better to be earning $30k – $40k (albeit in ‘future dollars’) in retirement than being flat-broke … so you need to build a safety net before you take on the additional risk that concentration implies.

Here’s how:

1. Create two buckets of money: your long-term savings, and your risk-capital.

You should first create your long-term savings bucket, as your fall-back … this means, max’ing your 401k; being consumer-debt-free; buying your own home and building up sufficient equity to satisfy the 20% Rule; and holding some money in reserve (this could be a 3 – 6 month emergency fund, or extra equity in your home that you are prepared to release in an emergency).

2. Maintain your long-term savings with the first 10% of your current gross salary, but using excess savings (i.e. any additional money no longer required to pay off debt now that you are debt-free); 50% of future pay-rises or other ‘found money’;  50% of any second income (e.g. from a part-time business) all to fund your risk-capital account.

3. Educate yourself on the investments that you will specialize in … then do your homework on the specific investments that you want to make and seek professional advice before stepping (not jumping) in.

4. If you fail … fall back to Step 2. then try and learn from your mistakes … but do try again/smarter.

Which path will you take?

My biggest mistake?

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I’m not really sure how it works, so I just submitted 3 or 4 of my posts to see what happens … I hope that you will visit PF Buzz, find them, and give each post the rating that it deserves 😉 It’s just an experiment … we’ll see how well it works … in the meantime, here’s today’s post …

I’m often asked what my biggest semi-financial mistakes were … and, I can point to some doozies:

1. I was offered the opportunity to head up a regional business unit promoting one of the first ever PC’s in the market … I said “no thanks … the future’s in mainframes!”

2. I sold 5 ounces of gold (losing money on the transaction) about a week before the 1980’s boom that took gold from $350 and oz. to over $1,800 an oz.!

3. I constantly choose to enter the markets just at the end of a major bull-run … because that’s when I happen to be cashed up.

But, my biggest financial mistake? That’s easy … not getting ‘religion’ early …

Explanation: we all know the benefit of SAVING early:

The following graph shows three investors, each of whom invests $1,000 a year until age 65. However, one begins at age 25, investing a total of $40,000; one at age 35, investing a total of $30,000; and one at age 45, investing a total of $20,000. Each earns 7 percent per year and, for purposes of this illustration, the effects of taxes and inflation are ignored.

The Power of Compounding

Source: Investment Company Institute

And, you already know my view on this: big deal … for each $1,000 invested the start-early guy saves $215k by the time he is 65 … or $2.15m if he can scrape up $10k each year from the age of 25.

That will provide the equivalent of about $30k a year (today) in retirement living (then) …. big deal.

No, I’m talking about the equivalent compounding power of starting to boost your income early … so that you can pump far more than $10k a year into your ‘retirement investments’ …

… imagine what you would get OUT if you could pump $100k a year IN?

The key is to get religion early … the ‘religion’ that I am talking about is the massive why that leads to the massive action that leads to massive amounts of money.

I can easily divide my financial life into two distinct parts:

1. Pre-Why: Until 1998 I plodded along with my little business slowly trying to grow it. I worked hard, but had no particular goal other than to try and eke out a living. My results were unspectacular, to say the least.

2. Post-Why: In 1998, I read the E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber; in it he recommended thinking about what I wanted my life to be like when I was ‘done’ and to think about how much money that would take (and by when).

I now had a massive ‘why’ and an ‘oh shit’ amount of money required to support it!

That’s what kicked off my $7 Million Dollar Journey.

So, what was my ‘big mistake’???

There was NOTHING that I did in that 7 years that I COULDN’T have done in the preceding 7 years, or in the 7 years before then!

If I had ‘got religion’ early, I may have reached my goal early … that little ‘financial mistake’ makes every other financial mistake that I could have made, did make, and probably will still make … pale into insignificance.

Which brings me to a comment made by Blogrdoc to a recent post, in which he says:

I seek business success primarily as a challenge and because I want more in life. Not more money, but more impact on others and being able to have fun.

When you’re a 9-5 corporate stiff like me, it’s so easy to just let life ‘happen’. For me, the motivation to get off my ass and try something different from my 9-5 is the tough part.

That was me, pre-1998 … but, 7 years post-1998, I went from there ($30k in debt) to $7 million cash in the bank … fully retired a couple of years later at the age of 49.

Mistake? Hell, yeah …

… I could have just as easily have retired in the same financial position at age 39 or 29!

At the very least, I would have had a helluva buffer against failure: Shoot for 29 … missed? Oh, well … shoot for 39 …

So, when you are still in your 20’s or even 30’s, I suggest that you try and ‘get religion’ early. Here’s how Blogrdoc might do it:

1. He could look for the real meaning in “I want more in life. Not more money, but more impact on others and being able to have fun”.

What would it mean to Blogrdoc … his FAMILY … hell, the WORLD ! … for him to have this?

What about your WHY?

Would it mean enough to you to really need it?

Would it mean enough to you that you would feel that your life was a failure if you didn’t have it? Would it be enough of a need to carry you through the 1st, 2nd, and 100th obstacle that will get in your way?

If not, stop now!

You will never have the emotional strength to crash you through the invetiable HUGE obstacles that will get in the way of you and (say) $7 million: you won’t get rich and you will ‘die’ trying …

But, If so … great … you have the WHY!!!

2. The, you should  think about HOW MUCH in today’s income (as if you did it today) you will need to live the life that gives you your WHY (think about costs like travel, housing, cars, donations, etc.); also, decide if you need to quit work entirely to do it … the difference is how much PASSIVE INCOME that you need.

Remember: even if you do decide that you can still work, you may need to rerun these numbers for when you stop work entirely as well … sort of a pre-quit and post-quit plan.

3. Think about WHEN you need this to all happen by (not want it to happen by, NEED it to happen by); DOUBLE the amount of income that you calculated in Step 2. for every 20 years until the WHEN (you can prorate, eg add 50% for 10 years and so on … it wll be close enough).

Multiply by 20, 25 or 40 depening on how conservative you are and how much of a buffer you need (remember, once you stop ‘earning’, what you have in savings and investments has to last your whole life, therefore, I use 40 .. perhaps, excessively conservative) … that’s your Number.

3. Oh shit?

Great!

Now, you have the WHY that leads to the WHEREFORE that leads to the MONEY  …

… and, you just may get there 10 or 20 years before I did 🙂

People will usually trade equity for peace of mind …

There was a bit of to/fro on a recent post that I wrote about applying the 20% Rule; one of my readers pointed to a contra-view on an excellent blog by 2million who advocated paying down his home mortgage, whereas I advocate not to (as long as you always ‘fit’ into the 20% Rule), so I wrote to $2mill and asked him to clarify his position.

$2million wrote back and said:

I previously posted an analysis that I did that showed i would earn an after tax return of 6.7% on the mortgage prepayment your commenter is referring to (due to being able to cancel PMI).  I am only chasing returns — not paying off my mortgage — I felt this was the best no-risk investment for our cash savings.

Now, I have written recently about this very subject – why the small gain in reducing interest rates is offset by the huge benefit of leverage, particularly when applied to an appreciating asset such as your own home – but, so many people still choose to pay down their mortgage instead.

Why?

I think that $2million speaks for most people who recommend or follow this approach when he says:

Feels good to paydown mortgage emotionally, but have always recognized its not the best return for the investment.

“Feels good emotionaly” a.k.a. ‘peace of mind’ – perhaps one of the most motivating statements in the business world …

… how many $20,000,000 mainframes have IBM sold because ‘buying IBM’ would give the CIO ‘peace of mind’?

It is also truism in the personal finance world that people make decisions emotionally, then look for rational reasons to support their decision … it’s why it’s very difficult to change the way that people think … first, they have to WANT to change.

It’s why it is said that you have to “win their hearts THEN their minds will follow” …

Jason Dragon [great name!] was the commenter on both $2million and my posts; he wrote me an interesting e-mail the other day:

In the investing club I belong to we have a saying.   “People will usually trade equity for peace of mind” and it is so true.  This is the reason you can get a house for 60 cents on the dollar because someone is 1 payment late and scared.  It is also the reason that people don’t invest like they should. It just boils down to the fact that most people are too risk adverse. 

This is one of the best times in history to see emotion-driving-rationality at work: look at the emotions that pushed the markets and real-estate so high all the way through towards the close of 2007 … to be followed by an equally emotional ‘crash’.

Sure, there were economic reasons for both … but, the emotional swings were much, much larger than the rational/economic swings on their own could justify.

Where the heart goes … the mind will follow; it’s why I say on my About page:

If your target is just an amount like $1 Million in 15 years, then you do NOT need to read this blog – you will get far more benefit for your time invested in reading here, here, and here, or probably ANY of the places listed here.

… there’s no reason to waste anybody’s time … if they don’t need $5 mill. – $10 mill. in 5 – 15 years, then why bother reading a blog about the rationality of ignoring much of the Common Wisdom surrounding Personal Finance?

But, for those who have the burning need to break through and be truly financially free – Jason has some more words of wisdom:

One nugget of info can change your life. It is much easier to live below your means if you increase you means. You do need to control costs, but spend more time increasing income than controlling costs and you will be ahead in the long run.

Jason, it’s true: one nugget of info can change your life (little did I know it at the time, but it did for me) …

… but, first your heart has to be receptive to that change!

AJC

PS  2million did later explain that he put money into his mortgage as a temporary savings strategy – as it offered a better rate of return than other savings or debt repayment options available to him. 2million is a blogger after my own heart, who intends to pull that money out to buy his 3rd investment property soon.

Who is the Devil's Advocate's "devil's advocate"?

Have you noticed whenever you have an idea that goes against the mainstream (as most of my good ideas seem to) that people always pop up to rain on your [idea] parade?

They often justify their negativity under the guise of that old cop out: “oh, I’m just playing the Devil’s Advocate” … meaning that you get to listen to their endless diatribe. If you’re unlucky, they just may succeed in having you ‘come to your senses’ [a.k.a. miss yet another opportunity]. 

My response usually is: “In that case, I’m the Devil’s Advocate’s Devil’s Advocate! ;)”

… which means, this time I get to explain why their [contra]-ideas are dumb, and they get to sit there and listen!

I particularly like to play Devil’s Advocate’s Devil’s Advocate with the typical Personal Finance mantras as published in so many PF books and blogs – and, we have already covered a few, with a whole lot more to come – because so many of them are so self-limiting.

I go the idea for this post from a PF blog that I like, Bargaineering, who has a whole section called Devil’s Advocate … I have reprinted a section from his latest roundup, and have included the links in case you want to review the actual articles [AJC: I haven’t had time to review them all, yet]:

I have a few good ideas in store for future articles but I wanted to do a little roundup, in part for myself to see all the topics we’ve covered, so that you could join in the rock throwing against mainstream ideas.

  1. Don’t Invest in the Stock Market
  2. Cancel Unused Credit Cards
  3. It’s Okay To Ignore Your Problems
  4. Ignore Personal Finance Experts
  5. Don’t Have Kids
  6. Buy More House Than You Need
  7. Don’t Move From Job To Job
  8. Get A Store-Branded Credit Card
  9. You Don’t Need College to Succeed
  10. Four Reasons You Should Get A PayDay Loan
  11. Don’t Get Married
  12. Buy That Home Warranty
  13. Adjustable Rate Mortgages Are Awesome!
  14. Pay Cash for Everything
  15. Don’t Budget to the Penny
  16. Invest In Your Company
  17. Say No To Credit Card 0% Balance Transfer Arbitrage
  18. Why Roth IRAs Are Bad
  19. Lease A Car, Don’t Buy It
  20. Don’t Just Buy Index Funds
  21. Don’t Optimize Payroll Deductions
  22. Rent Forever, Don’t Buy A Home
  23.  

My view?

Great ideas – in fact, I made a fortune by FOLLOWING ideas # 4, 6, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21. ;)

Here’s how I look at it:

Follow conventional thinking and you’ll get conventional results.

Follow Unconventional Wisdom, and you just MIGHT get rich, too (but, don’t be stupid about it, because you will probably remain poor) … but, you need to throw in some ’special sauce’ as well [AJC: that’s what this blog is for].

Nothing wrong with following good advice … nothing wrong with ignoring it, either … I’ve made money both ways – just be sure you know WHY you are following/ignoring it!

Here are the Top 4 Personal Finance Myth’s that I will be doing my very best to destroy over the coming weeks:

1. ‘Bad Debt’ is to be avoided at all costs!

2. Your house is NOT an asset or Your house IS an asset!

3. Max. your 401.k and other Retirement Accounts

4. You can [and, must!] save your way to wealth

5. The Magic Number is $1 Million

… a whole plethora of ideas for us to explore!

But, first a word of caution:

If your target is just an amount like $1 Million to $2 Million in 15 – 30 years, then you do NOT need to read any further – this blog is NOT for you and you will get far more benefit for your time invested by reading here, here, and here, or probably ANY of the places listed here instead.

However, if you are going to join me on this exploration of Anarchic Personal Finance Ideas – and be the Devil’s Advocate’s Devil’s Advocate – then let me know which DUMB 😉 ideas that worked for you, so far …

Want to see more personal finance blogs?

Here, we cover basic as well as advanced topics designed to help you make serious amounts of money over time … no scams or ‘get rich schemes’ … you have to WORK for it, Bud!

But, do you also want to see what other Personal Finance bloggers are writing about? You should …

I got an e-mail from Guy Kawasaki today telling me that he has listed this blog on his new site: Alltop.com … a nifty ‘dashboard’ that aggregates stories from all the top personal finance sites on the web and displays them on a single page!

It’s not just all about personal finance, though … Alltop has a series of pages on all topics from celebrity gossip to autos to news to ‘geekery’ (gadgets, computers, technology), and many, many more.

Check out Alltop Personal Finance, or head over to Alltop’s main page and pick your area of interest.

Let me know what you think?