Investing might sound scary or intimidating, but really it’s about one simple idea:
How to make your money work for you.
You earned it once, now how can you multiply it in a way that aligns with your risk tolerance?
It’s weird, but I sit on both ends of the spectrum on this, at once having made big bets on my own business and experimenting with “alternative” investment platforms, and on the other hand being paralyzed into sitting on the sidelines by fear the market might go down.
In this section of the site, you’ll find information on real estate investing, trading stocks, and even buying businesses.
Your net worth is the sum of all your assets (cash, savings, mutual funds, equity in your home, etc.) minus your liabilities (student loans, credit card debt, mortgages, etc.).
One tool I like to help calculate your net worth is Personal Capital. It’s free!
What’s the goal of your investment? A goal of accumulating wealth to retire in 30 years is very different than a goal of earning $1000 a month in passive cash flow.
If you’re evaluating all your different investment options, it can be a little overwhelming. This cool quiz from my friends at Money Made can help narrow down your choices and point you in the right* direction.
*Nothing on this site should be considered financial advice.
Smartwater is a brand of bottled water produced by the Glaceau company — the same company that makes those colorful VitaminWaters. I was surprised to learn Glaceau is a subsidiary of Coca-Cola. But what makes Smartwater so special? Is it really any different from regular water? Here’s what we know. Vapor Distillation Smartwater is “vapor … Read more
With two years of Prosper.com lending under my belt, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the 50+ loans that have defaulted on me during that time. Prosper does NOT make it easy to access or analyze this information on an aggregate level, so it turned into a pretty tedious data-entry project. (Which I … Read more
My experiment with peer-to-peer lending at Prosper.com continues, and it’s been a busy year. New listings are posted at 9am and 5pm, and because the account spins off cash almost daily, I’m kind of addicted to log in and see which new loans I can reinvest in. Summary My loans are earning 9.88% (“seasoned”) and … Read more
I am happy to report my initial experiment with peer-to-peer lending at Prosper.com has been a success. Returns My investment has earned 11.11% so far, far greater than the <1% that money was earning in savings. There is more risk and it’s not as liquid but I’m happy with the results. Strategy As part of … Read more
I had a hypothesis that text messaging is a huge cash cow for mobile phone carriers; a high-value product with virtually no variable expense. So I did some homework and found out I was right, and it was even worse than I imagined. Text Message Pricing On Verizon, text message pricing is as follows: $0.20 … Read more
Satellite radio is an interesting business model. They have extremely high overhead (satellites definitely aren’t cheap), but the marginal cost of additional customers is basically zero. Their satellites are already up there beaming signals down to earth; if the signal hits one receiver or a million, it’s all the same to them. In December, mom … Read more
How Restaurant.com Works Restaurant.com sells gift certificates to local restaurants at deep discounts. Their normal price is $10 for a $25 gift certificate, but they often run promotions where you can buy the same $25 gift certificate for just $2 or $3. $25 worth of food for $2! What’s the catch? Each restaurant has their … Read more
