If you’re always tapping at your budget and trying to find ways to cut expenses, you might want to check out The Simple Dollar’s recent article: Trimming the Fat: 40 Ways to Reduce Your Monthly Required Spending.
Trent has done an excellent job summarizing a lot of the things we think about but never act on in our budget… and he’s got a few more ideas. It’s worth a look.
I’ve never thought much about the financial savings of not having a TV in the house. Yet the gradual savings add up… and may lead you to a savings account of well over a million dollars.
An article on TheStreet.com illustrates the savings of no television that could turn you into a millionaire.
NPR is doing a nationwide project called StoryCorps where people are invited to share their lives. For forty minutes, a person can interview a relative or friend, have the information stored in the National Archives, and most importantly, walk home with a personal copy of the recording.
Ever since my dad and I decided that I would interview my grandma the day after her 90th birthday celebration, my dad has been urging me to record my memories before they become as fuzzy as memories are to my grandma.
Share your lessons on money
My grandma didn’t know much about her own money; my grandfather cared for the books. He died years ago, and I can no longer ask him about his experiences and lessons. Today, such disparities are few. You know about your money, and you know the strengths that are bringing you more money. Start keeping a record of your lessons.
The sad truth is that most of us don’t have living grandparents or family members experienced with wealth over time that we can talk to. It’s pretty hard for them to look back even if we have such people around.
You don’t have to have wealth now to record your experiences. In fact, that’s not the perspective future generations can truly learn from. The mission at Aridni is to walk our readers through our lessons. Have you ever seen a book or self-help program that truly starts at the beginning? Seems like they’re always skipping a step’like you already have the million dollar idea or something! These books sell a philosophy; they don’t offer frankness during each step of wealth building. A personal connection who wants YOU to succeed (not another book sold) offers far more useful nuggets.
I learned a lot from my grandma and family traditions that day. I only wonder how much more I could have learned if she’d written them down when she was younger.
How to write your financial journal
I have mentioned before that it is important to find a good partner when going into a partnership. And earlier today I ran into a great article by Robert Kiyosaki, author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad‘ on the topic that I found to be rather interesting.
Here is part of the article.
A Complementary Relationship
The second partner is Ken McElroy, a writer and personal friend. My wife, Kim, and I have made the most money with Ken. There are several reasons why:
– We share the same investment philosophy.
We buy, improve, hold, and refinance. We generally don’t like selling our properties.
– His expertise makes up for gaps in mine.
Ken owns the largest property management company in the Southwest, and his partner, Ross, is a real estate developer. Both men have nearly 20 years of experience in their respective fields.
Because of Ken’s years as a property manager, he has the experience and skill to evaluate the value of an existing property. And Ross has the know-how to bring the reconstruction of properties in on time and often under budget.
– We adhere to the same strategy.
Ken, Ross, Kim, and I like to put our money in, improve a property, bring in better tenants at increased rents, reappraise the property, and then borrow our money out and move the equity on to the next property. We then repeat the process.
And the rest of it is located at his column at yahoo finance.