An Everyday Influence

 Credit Scores What is a credit score?      A credit score is a measurement of how likely you are to pay back any type of loan. A good credit score tells lenders that you are responsible with your finances and will most likely be able to pay them back for borrowing money. Similarly a bad credit score tells lenders that you are not trustworthy with your money, and lending money to you would be a risky venture. Lenders view us as potential investments or liabilities similar to how you or I would speculate on certain stocks, bonds or ETFs. As with all finances, the common mantra, "high risk, high reward" and "low risk, low reward" hold true, even to lenders. Lenders charge higher loan rates (known as "APR" or Annual Percentage Rate") to individuals who are at a higher risk for being unable to pay back a loan. You can think of this policy as the cost of doing business, and the cost of risking their money on an unsure bet. Inversely, lenders will reward pe...

 The Savings Cascade     Before making any risky financial plays, you must first build a firm foundation. A healthy saving and retirement fund allows you greater compliance in making riskier financial decisions since your overall exposure to risk will be much lower. The Savings Cascade is both a litmus test and a template to help you understand when and if you are ready to try your hand at nontraditional investments and possibly (though hopefully not) trading. High Liquidity Funds 1. Checking Account     Your checking account should be the backbone of your day-to-day financial life. It should contain 1-2 months of necessary expenses but should not exceed more than 4 months of necessary expenses.  There should be just enough money to pay the bills on time, but not so much that you're losing out purchasing power and investment opportunities in order to pad an already ample supply of readily available cash. If you're currently living paycheck to paycheck there...

5 Basics for Financial Freedom A Caveat:      I am no financial expert; I do not have a degree in finance, nor do I have a CFA. For legal reasons everything mentioned down below is the ramblings of a guy with a modest investment portfolio, a small list of alternative investments and a modest Roth IRA. If you are in dire financial straits, seek professional help, don't listen to the ramblings of random men on the internet. Money Made Simple     Many real financial experts will tell you that simplicity is key when delving into personal finance. Everything you need to know about money, should be easily summed up onto a notecard. With that in mind, I thought it a prudent action to list out the simple things I have learned in my own journey through personal  finance and explain the rationale behind it. Rule One: The Budget is the Backbone of Personal Finance.     Before stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, gold, silver, crypto, real estate, and...

Judge a Book by its Cover.      There is a growing generation of adults dressing in poor taste. They justify their excessively scantily clad attire and their messy, unkempt fashion with excuses like "Why do you care?", "Don't sexualize my body.", "Why does it matter?", and "It's my body, I will dress how I want." These excuses often leave the older generation exasperated without retort. It is my hope that I can shed some light-on why dressing like a hooker or a homeless POS is against your best interest. Heuristics, Hedonism and Egotism.     It takes exactly 0.4 seconds for someone to form an opinion on you. Before you open your mouth, you are filed away into some mental category. That snap judgement of your merit is quick, decisive and often reductive of one's identity. In 0.4 seconds, the opposite party will decide if you are a peer, an enemy, someone to take seriously or someone to blow off. The post-modern ideology is to blatantly...