Having a Hard Time Saving and Investing? Let Me Make It Super Easy!!!

Written by Barbara Huson

After my divorce from the gambling husband and after I paid the outrageous tax bills, my nest egg was almost depleted. But I had a few properties that paid rent every month.

One of the first things I did, when that rent came in, before I spent a cent, I immediately put a portion of it into savings. Otherwise, I knew I’d spend it all.

And I did it automatically. It was so simple. I filled out a form and the bank automatically transferred money from my checking account to savings. The amount was small at first, but it added up quickly. I didn’t even have to think about it.

Automating gave me discipline without having to work at it. It’s easy to say that you’ll move money monthly into savings. In practice, however, it just doesn’t happen. You forget. You overspend, You have a hundred excuses.

But by automating, you don’t miss what you don’t see. This was the beginning of my creating really good financial habits—habits I still practice today.

The Real Reward for Taking Control of Money: A True Story

Written by Barbara Huson

It was a lunch I’ll never forget. Just after I sold my first book to the publisher, I flew to NY and met my editor at a restaurant.

As we got acquainted, I asked if she invested. She got really embarrassed. I felt horrible.

”Oh no!” she stammered. “I have no money.”

I felt terrible and dropped the subject never to address it again. Two years later, after my book hit the shelves, she called me out of the blue.

“Remember that lunch when I told you I had no money. Well, I did, but it was sitting in cash in my retirement account,” she told me. “But after working with you, I realized how foolish that was.”

So she started educating herself, found an advisor and her 401 (k) was now fully invested. She even emptied her spare change into a jar every night and had invested that too.

Another (Better) Way to View Market Volatility

Written by Barbara Huson

The market’s looking pretty scary these days, right? But honestly, it’s not the turbulence that will get you in trouble. It’s your emotional reaction to it.

Studies show that most investors, regardless of gender, tend to act on emotion, instead of rational thinking, when making financial decisions.

When markets take a tumble, our emotions, especially fear, take over, and we abandon ship, suffering losses.

The emotional reaction also happens in reverse. When the market is on a big run, there’s a tendency to take on too much risk and follow the herd, like so many did during the dot com and real estate booms.

May I suggest another way to view this volatility? Heed the advice of my favorite Wall Street Journal columnist, Jason Zweig: Be thankful that stocks are going down.

A Pep Talk For a Plunging Market

Written by Barbara Huson

What do you do when the market has more stomach-churning dips than a roller coaster? Like now!

Obey the rule of the roller coaster: You only get hurt when you jump off. Same with the market. You only lose money when you sell.

So what do you do when the market plunges? Follow the sage advice from investment firm, Ellevest, in their newsletter What the Elle.

Do Nothing.

As Sylvia Kwan, Ellevest’s Chief Investment Officer, explains: “Over the past 93 years, the stock market has gone up by an average of nearly 10 percent a year. But it didn’t go straight up!”

Indeed, markets always do what markets do: bounce around wildly. Like now.

The Secret to Investing Wisely–Understand the Investment Pyramid

Written by Barbara Huson

Let me introduce you to the Investment Pyramid. Understanding this pyramid was a game changer for me.

Decades ago, a wealthy family friend urged me to invest in a Limited Partnership, calling it a “an exciting opportunity.”

I didn’t know that a Limited Partnership was illiquid and I couldn’t sell my shares, even as I watched the company go bust.

When I told my accountant this story, he drew a triangle, divided it into 4 levels, explaining this represented the whole world of investing. My mistake was starting at the top.

Wealth Building Made Simple…Very, Very Simple!

Written by Barbara Huson

You’d love to be wealthy, right? But then immediately reject the idea as ridiculous. Let me assure you, creating wealth’s a lot simpler than you think. And you don’t need a lot of money to start.

What you do need is enough discipline to obey The 3 Rules of Wealth:

1. Spend Less—never spend money you don’t have. If you can’t pay off your credit cards in full each month, stop using them.

2. Save More—pay yourself first. Ideally, 10% of your income goes straight into savings. But $10 a month is totally fine. The idea is to get in the habit of saving.

3. Invest Wisely—put at least a portion of your money into assets will grow faster than inflation and taxes take it away, like stocks, bonds and real estate.

All 3 are critical. But Investing Wisely is how wealth is created. It’s also the rule that stymies most people.

The Difference Between Men & Women…in Investing

Written by Barbara Huson

For over 20 years, I’ve been baffled.

Sure, we women have become excellent dollar watchers and bargain hunters. But investors? Forget about it. We want to learn, but lack the confidence to act.

And here’s what’s really baffling. Once women enter in the market, we’re actually better investors than men. Key findings in a recent article on The Motley Fool, (https://www.fool.com/research/women-in-investing-research/) show that “female investors earn better returns than men—up to 1% in some studies and, on average, women lost 2.5% of their stock portfolio value in 2015, while men lost 3.8%.”

But, women are still less confident than men in their investing ability. Only 9% of women think they make better investors than men according a Fidelity report.

What the Hell is Robo-Investing? And Why Should I Care?

Written by Barbara Huson

In the beginning, I was skeptical…very skeptical. Now I’m a raging fan.

Robo-Investing is the best thing to happen for investors since index funds were invented.

In Robo-Investing, a computer—not a person—creates and manages a portfolio of index funds and ETFs. What are advantages for you, the investor?

The price is right. Fees are very low (0.15% to 0.50% compared to 1%-2% for human advisors). Plus there’s either no, or a very low, minimum required to open an account.

It’s easy to start. You fill out a short questionnaire to assess your situation, goals and risk tolerance, then choose among suggested portfolios based on your answers. That’s it…you’re ready to invest.

Great customer service, at no extra charge. Offerings include automatic rebalancing so your portfolio doesn’t get out of whack; tax harvesting to offset capital gains; retirement planning; and a variety of educational classes.

Compare Robo-Investing to traditional advisors or managed funds, which require much higher minimums, charge much higher fees, yet consistently underperform indexing (often called passive investing) over time.

No wonder Robo-Investing has experienced explosive growth since it started in 2008.

Interested? Here are my recommendations. Check them out.

Betterment and Wealthfront, were the first ones to launch in 2008 and still are the highest rated,
Vanguard is the largest and most popular.
Ellevest was created by women especially for women.

Have you tried Robo-Investing? Share your experience.

The Timeless Wisdom of Wealth Creation

Written by Barbara Huson

The year is 1926. Henry Ford announces the 40-hour work week. The first SAT test is administered. And the notorious gangster, Al Capone, is terrorizing New York.

But the real news is this. The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clausen—perhaps the best financial book ever written–hits the shelves.

This quaint parable, filled with timeless wisdom, became a classic because it demystifies wealth building like nothing else I’ve read.

When we first meet the richest man in Babylon, he is telling friends the secret to his fortune.

“I found the road to wealth,” he tells them, “when I decided that a part of all I earn is mine to keep.”

The men look at him incredulously. “Is that all?” one asks, insisting that of course everything he makes is his to keep.

The wealthy man just shakes his head. “You fool, you pay everyone but yourself,” he cries, pointing to the clothing sellers, sandal makers, and wine merchants.

Instead, the rich man counsels them, learn to spend less and pay yourself first. “For every 10 coins thou places in thy purse, take out for use but nine.”

This is the way that Wealth Builders live—a part of all they earn goes into their personal savings on a regular basis. In other words, they pay themselves first.

I’ve watched countless underearners transform small salaries into hefty bank balances by simply socking away small amounts into a savings account every month.

But now, unlike 95 years ago, you can do this automatically. Fill out a form and voila, the bank takes care of everything.

What do you do next? The rich man’s guidance is simple. Once you learn to live on less than you earn, next “seek advice from those who were competent through their own experiences to give it. And, lastly…make gold work for you.”

If you follow Clausen’s timeless wisdom faithfully—pay yourself first, learn from those with experience, and invest for long term gain–you’ll find yourself well on the way to wealth!

What gets in your way to creating wealth? Comment below and let me know

What Covid Taught Us About Money

Written by Barbara Huson

I’m a Wall Street Journal junkie. When I first subscribed, 25 years ago, I was totally intimidated. But I’d lay it on the kitchen counter and every day I’d pass by it figuring, by osmosis, I’d pick something up. I credit that ritual for greatly reducing my fear of investing.

The Journal is always filled with interesting and instructive articles. Last week, for example, I was riveted by the headline Personal Finance Lessons We Can All learn From a Pandemic Year.

“With 2020 in the rearview mirror,” the article began, “there’s a lot of economic damage to be assessed. But there are a lot of personal finance lessons we can learn—lessons that will put us in good stead whatever the economic future holds.”

There were 15 excellent lessons. Let me share my 5 favorites.

Investing

Having a Hard Time Saving and Investing? Let Me Make It Super Easy!!!

The Real Reward for Taking Control of Money: A True Story

Another (Better) Way to View Market Volatility

A Pep Talk For a Plunging Market

The Secret to Investing Wisely–Understand the Investment Pyramid

Wealth Building Made Simple…Very, Very Simple!

The Difference Between Men & Women…in Investing

What the Hell is Robo-Investing? And Why Should I Care?

The Timeless Wisdom of Wealth Creation

What Covid Taught Us About Money

Meet Barbara Huson

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