Impact of Home Purchase on Future Expenses
This blog will be useful for first time home buyers and long-time renters.I recommend those in he age bracket of 25-30 years that are staying with your parents/ guardians to…
Posted inAlternate Investments Investments
Should I Invest in Emerging Markets?
Investments in Emerging Markets has been on attractive investment avenue for several years. Emerging markets provide an opportunity for faster growth of your portfolio. BRIC report published by Goldman Sachs…
How Does Spending Correlate to Child Age?
This blog is useful for parents/ to-be parents that plan to have their children stay with them. Pre-read: Expense Trending & Budgeting - Myfinancejournal You have now created a detailed…
Posted inAlternate Investments Investments
Taxes & Fees: The Silent Killers of Return on Investments
Just like anything else that includes money, the money managers and governments bodies would like to get some portion of the share of your profits. Over the years and geographies,…
Investment Considerations (When? Where? Why? How? How Often?)
Investments are essential part of our Financial Strategy. They help us save for the future and also provide a decent growth of our monies over a period of time. Prudent…
Asset Classes for Mutual Funds
Shares are a great way to invest and will provide in some cases "abnormal returns" over short to medium time periods. They also carry market risk as they can wash…
Posted inInvestments Personal Finance Basics
Importance of Regular Investments
We have gone through all details of how to manage your expenses, cash flow and reduce the cost of your existing mortgages. You should be familiar with all the tricks…
Posted inAlternate Investments Investments
Home as an Investment Property
Just like other assets (bonds, stocks, mutual funds), home can also be used a potential avenue for investments. We need to be aware of Investment Rule 1: Do not use…
Posted inExpenses Investments Savings
How to Determine Budget for a New Home?
You need to prepare a home purchase spreadsheet similar to the below illustration: Table: Calculating Down Payment Purchase Price$532,410Down Payment to Builder($19,370)Credits and Incentives($12,943)Outstanding Balance$500,097Down Payment Rate (% of Purchase…
Posted inAlternate Investments Expenses Investments Savings
Should I Rent or Buy a Home
Staying in your own dwelling is always a nice thing to do once you are settled from a personal milestone perspective. You need to do a thorough financial evaluation on…
Posted inCash Flow Expenses Investments Savings
Maintain Minimum Balance in your Savings & Checking Accounts
The prime reason for us to have a balance in Current and Savings accounts to help with liquidity and easy access to money when we need it. Usually Savings and…
Posted inAlternate Investments Investments
Individual-controlled Retirement Schemes
The other avenue I was referring in the earlier section where you would have more control over your investments are the IRA schemes which you can purchase any time during…
Posted inAlternate Investments Investments
Comparing 401K and Equity Investment
Assumptions: Annual contributions are $18,000 each year (these contributions increase slightly).Money is invested in the same portfolio through 401K and Investments.Returns are based on the actual past 15 year returns…
Posted inAlternate Investments Investments
Special Purpose Investments
I had briefly covered special purpose investments as an objective earlier. I will detail out the products available and their relative benefits and disadvantages in this section. As the name…
Posted inInvestments Personal Finance Basics
Investment Avenues
There are several areas where you can invest your money. Our choices depend on our Objectives and Orientation. Stocks Historically, stocks indices have provided the highest returns over long period…
Posted inExpenses Investments Personal Finance Basics
Factors Influencing Spending & Investing
There are several factors beyond your control that will determine the allocation of your investments or provide you an indication if time is ripe for large borrowings, home loan refinancing…
Posted inInvestments Personal Finance Basics Savings
Recommended Allocation
Now that we know the Categorization of our money based on objectives, it is appropriate to discuss what factors would dictate investment in one objective over another and what triggers…