Update 11/12/2018: Wall Street Journal now reporting it’s official. Amazon HQ2 coming to Crystal City! Bezos confirms. Read on to learn five potential ways to invest based on the Crystal City selection. #1 is Fundrise, a D.C.-based real estate investing platform. Own high-quality D.C.-area real estate assets for a $500 minimum investment. Amazon ignited a rush […]
When I lost my job last year, my former employer didn’t have the means to pay me a severance. Not even close. Our family had emergency savings, but it was our multiple income streams that kept us afloat. Five years earlier, a job loss would have been much worse. But since I saved and invested […]
Update: Four winners have been chosen. Thanks for all your responses! I’m super excited about today’s post because it’s my first book giveaway after more than five years of blogging. The book is a sterling piece of work by my friend Chad Carson of the blog Coach Carson, that is already helping thousands of people […]
What’s the difference between investing vs. gambling? Well the simple answer is math, but there’s more to it than that. In my mid-teens, I went to Atlantic City with my family for an evening on the boardwalk. I was deeply interested in money for someone my age so the idea of gambling was intriguing, to say […]
In a recent post about alternative investments, I wrote about how to invest in websites (#7 on the list). There are a few ways to do it and I barely scratched the surface. Another blogger read that post and offered to go further in depth with a guest post, specifically about buying niche websites for […]
One mistake that I see people making today is reminiscent of the years leading up to the last big recession of 2008-2009. When economic times are good, people tend to assume it will stay good and do little to prepare for the next recession. A good economy and job market are validation to take risks […]
Diversification is said to be the only free lunch in the investment world. If your portfolio is heavily weighted toward one asset class, you may benefit from exploring other places to put your money. The alternative investment ideas in this post may be a good starting point for your search. Conventional investments include stocks, bonds, […]
Buying compact discs (CDs) used to be a thing. That’s how we bought music back in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I spent a few thousand dollars on CDs throughout high school, college, and my early working years. One summer, I worked in a record store to earn money because my internship at a financial services company was […]
One of my new favorite podcasts is the Animal Spirits Podcast hosted by bloggers Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson of Ritholtz Wealth Management. These guys are prolific writers and tweeters who often poke fun at investment pundits and fund managers who try to predict future market returns. Turn on CNBC and there’s always someone who claims to know […]
In the almost five years of sharing my investments on this blog, I’ve never shown exactly how I track dividend income. This article lays out the steps (with screenshots) I take each month to import dividend data into my tracking spreadsheet, estimate forward dividend income, and easily capture dividend increases. My forward 12-month investment income […]
Most of us aren’t looking for extravagant wealth. We simply want sustainable and long-lasting wealth that provides financial security for our families and enough money to fund the lifestyle we desire. That kind of wealth is more attainable than most people think. But there are no shortcuts. By consistently following a tried and true strategy over […]
Google announced its purchase of a minority stake in LendingClub in May 2013. That event opened my eyes to the potential of earning passive income via peer lending. Five years after making my first note investment, my LendingClub holdings are back to providing reliable returns after some turbulence over the past 18 months. This LendingClub investor review shares […]
A New York-based company called Construction Robotics has designed and built a bricklaying robot called SAM (Semi-Automated Mason) that can place up to 3,000 bricks during an 8-hour day. That’s about three times the number of bricks that the fastest human bricklayers can set. The machine requires at least two humans to load materials and finish […]
In 2002, a nineteen-year-old garbage man in the U.K. named Michael Carroll won a lottery jackpot worth $14 million dollars. Instead of making smart money moves with his winnings, he spent his fortune on jewelry and a mansion where he threw lavish parties with drugs and prostitutes. A decade later, he was broke and working […]
