tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post367068855671553409..comments2024-03-20T09:32:16.592-04:00Comments on Michael James on Money: Book Giveaway: Your Money RatiosMichael Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10362529610470788243noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-79875665609903868932011-01-27T00:49:35.197-05:002011-01-27T00:49:35.197-05:00Gene, that book (MND) had a profound effect on me....Gene, that book (MND) had a profound effect on me. Along with Rich Dad, Poor Dad (not for the usual reasons), it got me on the path to sort out personal finances and good habits.<br /><br />Also, as per "cable, Internet, etc..." as need I can partially agree: cable TV is (to me anyway) pretty much worthless, and cell phones are convenient but not essential. For better or worse, though, being competent on using Internet resources is absolutely a must nowadays in many situations. <br /><br />As to what the future holds, wish I knews... best I can come up with is to make educated guesses on how things will work out and live according to those guesses...Fernandonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-23163381190640837832011-01-25T23:42:46.704-05:002011-01-25T23:42:46.704-05:00@Gene: I remember that speeding ticket case. May...@Gene: I remember that speeding ticket case. Maybe everything should be means tested so that your wealth would be completely unimportant (and saving and working would be unimportant as well).Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10362529610470788243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-90143712996546558752011-01-25T22:30:42.418-05:002011-01-25T22:30:42.418-05:00Hmmm, food for thought as usual, Michael. I never...Hmmm, food for thought as usual, Michael. I never thought of that angle before: asking for a pay cut to improve the wealth accumulation factor. Good idea!<br /><br />Wealth tax would be horrible indeed. Not sure why they haven't implemented it yet. Must be enough wealthy politicians out there to keep it off the agenda. Danny Williams for PM! Reminds me of a means-tested speeding ticket Teemu Selanne got in Finland: $40,200.<br />http://www.trafficticketsecrets.com/speeding-ticket-news-finnish.htmlgenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05608927986297939720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-17333735188495282002011-01-25T22:14:25.965-05:002011-01-25T22:14:25.965-05:00@Gene: Apparently, I'm either a prodigious ac...@Gene: Apparently, I'm either a prodigious accumulator of wealth or terrible at negotiating my salary. <br /><br />When the government jacks up wealth taxes in the future you'll realize the foolishness of having saved money and see that spenders (who spent money borrowed from you) had it right all along. (I hope I'm wrong about this whole paragraph.)Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10362529610470788243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-39148186606397567532011-01-25T21:58:14.282-05:002011-01-25T21:58:14.282-05:00I like the idea of ratios to evaluate one's su...I like the idea of ratios to evaluate one's success at saving and investing. Fernando's reference to "The Millionaire Next Door" reminds me of a useful ratio from that book. An average accumulator of wealth will have a net worth of (age/10)*salary, prodigious accumulators of wealth would have at least twice that amount, and under-accumulators of wealth would have half that amount.<br /><br />Saving 12%-15% of salary sounds like a good strategy. I usually see on various forums everyone complaining there are unable to save any money because their expenses are too high. I don't think this is a reasonable argument, since we all must make the best financial choices possible. If we over-extend ourselves by overspending on housing, cars, cell phones, cable TV and Internet, that is the flip-side of foregoing these same expenses.<br /><br />When I was a boy (switching to Grandpa mode) cable TV, Internet, and cell phones didn't exist. How could these possibly be necessities now? I'm pretty sure my parents never had a car payment, though to be fair, the company provided housing for our family as part of my father's employment, at least by the time I was two years old. My age cohort wants everything, and I'm sure I would shudder when looking at some of their balance sheets. Can I hear an "Amen!" from the choir? Just kidding. Sorry, I kind of went off on a tangent here.genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05608927986297939720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-65972901008856841462011-01-25T09:35:59.726-05:002011-01-25T09:35:59.726-05:00@Fernando: The book covers the issue of whether t...@Fernando: The book covers the issue of whether to focus on individual income or family income. In general they use family income unless one spouse is only employed sporadically. The book treats home equity separately. So, the saving is retirement saving.Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10362529610470788243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465015914589377788.post-76826230473378463812011-01-25T09:27:01.387-05:002011-01-25T09:27:01.387-05:00Hi! Thank you for the article!
Some of the questi...Hi! Thank you for the article!<br /><br />Some of the questions I have about this type of work - starting with 'The Millionaire Next Door' so long ago... - are:<br />- are the numbers, ratios, ... it provides are for the INDIVIDUAL or the FAMILY? I imagine the family, but it is never clear.<br />- when talking about "saving x%", does it mean "adding to net worth somehow" or specifically "adding to a retirement account"? How does home equity gets computed?<br /><br />Thanks!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13692259403489890253noreply@blogger.com