FB7 More Q & A

More Q & A...

Q: What are good sites to use to research investments?

A: SeekingAlpha is my fave. It has smart articles and ideas, and you can track symbols you’re interested in, get email alerts, etc. But the real power of the site is in the comment section to any given article, which are typically well moderated and contributed oftentimes by knowledgable readers. What’s so great about these comments is you usually get a healthy constructive debate as to the pros and cons of the POV of the article, which can greatly help you judge the credibility of the POV, and the prospects of any given investment.

Motley Fool is probably the gold standard in investment sites. They can have counter intuitive insights to investments which often generate big returns.

Yahoo operates a finance section, and lets you track portfolios you create, as well as gives you charts and stats, and a customizable “my yahoo” page. The yahoo finance app for your phone or tablet is also really good and works in concert with whatever you do at the browser site.

Marketwatch is another worthy site. Some others:

CNBC, FBN, DRIP, Dogs of the Dow, Dividend, IRS (to see your gov’t tax account and pay), Forbes, Bloomberg, The Street, Kiplinger, Investopedia.

Official Exchange sites: NYSE, NASDAQ

Q: Any books you recommend?

A: Anything by John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, and maybe the person responsible for making more millionaires than any other single person in history. “Common Sense Investing” is a good one, or these.

Also: The Millionaire Next Door. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Freakonomics is an insightful book about unintended economic consequences, and Freedomnomics is an interesting rebuttal of sorts to it.

The Fairtax book is i think, the best proposal i have ever heard for raising tax revenue while simultaneously eliminating the IRS.  I also liked the sequel.

Q: What about my credit reports?

A: This really isn't an investing question, but it might apply if you ever want a margin line of credit to buy investments.  Either way, you should do everything you can to have the highest credit score / rating possible, b/c the higher it is, the cheaper money will be you borrow, the better rates you'll get on insurance, etc.

There are 3 main credit agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.  You can get FREE copies of your 3 full credit reports, by calling this number:

1-877-322-8228

...and carefully following the automated instructions for each of the 3 agencies.  I like to maintain a few years worth of paper copies of my full credit reports.  If you find any adverse info in the credit report, then you want to pay it off asap, (assuming u owe it), and then afterward, politely petition the company that reported you to please remove you from the adverse section.  

So if you owe Verizon money, pay them off, and after they have the $, ask them to please remove you from whatever combo of the 3 agencies they actually reported you to.  If you don't do this, adverse info can remain for 7 years, possibly longer.

More official info here.

Q: 

A: 

Stay tuned, more coming!

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FB6 Q & A

Questions and Answers!

Q: You really seem to love Vanguard, which is odd... what gives?  Getting a kickback?

A: Nope, I receive no compensation or special consideration from Vanguard.  I have however been with them for a long time & had good experiences; and more importantly I am a true believer in their structure or more essentially, their philosophy.

Fidelity, Schwab, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, etc all have two masters to satisfy: one master is their actual customers / clients, while their other master is their stockholders, (meaning those people / investors who own shares / stocks of JP Morgan, Fidelity, etc).  Its rare when someone is in both groups, and even if they are, it doesn't benefit them.  

These firms not only have to make money for the customer, but also for the stockholder, an obvious conflict of interest, (serving two masters), trying to get money to both, often satisfying neither.  

Vanguard on the other hand is unique, it has zero stockholders, there are no shares of Vanguard to buy, they don’t exist; the owners of Vanguard ARE the actual customers / clients / investors, (proportionally represented by how much each invests), so Vanguard only serves one master, and only has one master to make happy via returns, the investors! 

What this means is that since the customers actually own Vanguard, then why would they charge themselves more than the bare minimum to operate Vanguard?  This results in more of the investment returns (a greater percentage generally speaking than their competitors) reaching the customer, (as opposed to some separate shareholder, that other brokerages have, who likely isn’t even a customer, and it wouldn't matter if they were!).  A lower expense ratio, lower fees, etc, Vanguard runs lean so its customers can have more return!

Also, you rarely see Vanguard advertised anywhere, be it TV, online, etc.  Why waste the money, their owner's / customers money?  Yet Vanguard is #1 in assets under management, which is in the trillions.  This is a result based solely on their structure and reputation.

Vanguard is the best imo, for low costs and efficiencies, based on its unique business model.

Q: Does Vanguard have any drawbacks?

A: Yes, but minor.  Sometimes they are so focused on being lean, that their services are a bit understaffed.  Normally, this doesn't matter.  They also ended their native banking functions, which I had for years, which was very inconvenient and short-sighted of them imo.  The only other complaint I have is that their online trading tools are a bit lacking or simplistic.  Where is a trailing stop-loss function??  Come on VG, its ridiculous you don't offer this!

Q: I have heard the stock market is no different from the casino, is this true?

A: No.  This is one of those so-called “conventional wisdom” nuggets that’s insidious, bc it just isn’t the case.  The casino is built and designed for them to win, and you to lose, in the short term & in the long term; the proof of this is how do you think they get those giant opulent tacky facilities built?  It isn’t via girl scout brownie sales. 

The markets meanwhile are built and designed for you to WIN, bc whats for sale is ownership of a business, and no business is started and designed to fail or rip people off, (outside of criminal corruption, which overall is a very rare occurrence). Every business wants to profit and succeed, and if it doesn't it won't be around very long for you to invest in!  All hail capitalism!

America has a long history of successful businesses, and over many years they grow, provide fair returns, and expand the economy, and that's why a basket of stocks in an index fund that tracks for instance the Dow Jones has proven to be a winner.  The stock market is designed for you to WIN, period, end of story.

Q: What about taxes?  I hate taxes.

A: Who doesn’t, taxes are the worst.  Maybe one day we’ll get the FairTax.  Until that blessed day ever comes, the closest you can get is a Roth IRA.  Yes, you pay tax now, upfront, (via earned income that was already taxed); but never again, no matter how much it earns, (provided you follow the basic Roth IRA rules, like no early withdrawls on earnings, etc). 

My advice is to get a good tax professional, be it a CPA, H&R Block, or whoever is qualified.  Hopefully they can show you the ropes to save you money, bc the idea is to always send Uncle Sam the least amount possible.  They can find deductions, file the returns, and most importantly act as a buffer between you and the government if the government, via the IRS, ever decide to audit you or assert there is a problem of some kind. 

Finally, in a normal taxable account, be aware that any holdings which are bought and sold in under a years time, are considered “short term” and taxed at a higher rate.  Conversely, any holdings that are bought and sold in over a years time, are considered “long term” and get much more favorable tax treatment.  (This is one reason why buying a basket of stocks in a fund and just holding it over years can often out perform any random single company’s stock or a more actively traded brokerage account; less activity = less taxable transactions, or financial events with tax consequences).

Q: What about charity?

A: Its important to remember that a lot of people can't even afford to invest anything.  Supporting charities is a way to advance causes you believe in and help those who are less fortunate.  Perhaps you care about animal welfare, or people with disabilities, or Veterans, or job training, or education... whatever your interests you can find a worthy charity that supports it.  But how does this relate to investing?

Well for one thing, charitable giving is a tax deduction.  This isn't why you should do it, but it is a useful tool in the tax toolbox, when your income is such that your charitable giving could help you save money on taxes.  This is a good reason to hire that tax professional, so they can help you see if, and how much, would X amount of giving help your tax bill.

Also, I am partial to giving to those charities that operate endowments, which basically means the money i give them is itself never spent, but rather invested into that charity's endowment, so that they then in turn can spend ONLY what money their endowment earns.  This means the impact of the giving will last into perpetuity, as opposed to a one-off impact.

Vanguard's sister organization, Vanguard Charitable is a great way for investors to easily donate to a one stop shop.  You direct funds to VGC, and immediately get the tax deduction, but while its there you direct it into safe broad based VG funds for it to earn until such time you direct VGC to make a grant to a specific charity.  This is a tremendously useful site, b/c it makes it easy to handle and even automate your charitable giving, (which otherwise can be a real pain in the neck, trying to get e.g. stock from your account to say a local animal shelter).  The drawback is that it takes $25k to open an account with them.

But VGC isn't the only such organization, others have less steep minimum requirements, and in any case many charities will allow small direct donations that are to be routed direct to their endowments.  However it is done, be it via direct donation, or using an intermediate site like VGC, my goal most of the time is to get my donations into an endowment (or scholarship)

IMPORTANT!  If you want to donate e.g. stock to a charity that shows a capital gain, do NOT sell it to turn it into cash first, and ergo realize the gain!  That creates a tax burden for you!  What you want to do, is xfer the stock in kind to the charity, so its all tax deduction for you, not new tax charges.

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FB5 Further Thoughts

Reserved for Future Use

...ABCD...


Keep going to the next post, i will come back to this one later...

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Congrats on making it this far, for more about the riddle, check this and this out.

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FB4 Actionable Items

Ok, you've convinced me, but what should I actually do now?  What do I buy?  What are the next steps?

Well I'll give you a list of actionable items at the end of this post, but there's some exposition needed first. This is all pretty general advice and it may, or may not, suit your particular situation.

So you'll want to open a standard brokerage account (I recommend with Vanguard). You need to meet their minimum requirements, electronically connect your bank account, and send the brokerage cash that they will put into a prime money market fund, aka a settlement fund for you. This is the account you will do your non-retirement investment in, (fully taxed). 

Generally speaking, in a taxable account, you want your investments to last for at least a year, so you get the long-term gains tax benefit (as opposed to paying higher short-term tax rates, i.e. those investments held for under one year).

You also will want to separately have a Roth IRA account at the same brokerage.  This is where you invest your money for retirement.  All money put into a Roth IRA is “after tax” income, meaning the money you contribute you already paid normal income taxes on when u earned it.

Roth IRAs are the best b/c once the money is in the Roth, it will NEVER be taxed again, which means all the money it earns and generates and appreciates in value will be 100% tax free to the investor!  This is the greatest deal in finance!

There are also Traditional IRAs, but I don’t recommend using those, b/c while they avoid (defer) upfront taxes, they will ultimately get taxed for more when you go to take the money out years later.  If you have money in a Traditional IRA, roll it over to a Roth, but make sure it won't bump your tax bracket, b/c this conversion will be taxed.  If it does bump your bracket, do as much as you can per year without bumping your bracket over as many years as necessary.

You may also be eligible for a 401k from your employer.  I recommend using a 401k ONLY if the employer offers a “match” which if they do, is free ‘extra’ money to you.  So say an employer offers a max match of 3% if you contribute 6%...  then i recommend you do the 6%, but no more, in order to get the max 3% match out of the employer.

Then, once the money is vested, convert or “roll it over” into your Roth.  You will owe taxes at the moment u move money from a traditional IRA or 401k into a Roth; but it’s worth it, bc from then on it earns tax free.  It is better to pay tax now, today, then pay it later when the tax bill on your investments will be exponentially bigger b/c the money earned via that meantime will be bigger.  (The exception being if you're very close to retirement, then check with a tax professional, but make sure they really know their stuff!)

Know your employer's vesting rules.  If you have a big amount to rollover, and doing so would bump your tax bracket, then consider rolling over as much of it as you can across a multiple number of years without bumping up your bracket. (I'm repeating myself a bit, huh?  But its good to get it to sink in, and know the same principle applies to these differing financial scenarios)

List of Actionable Items:

1. Call Vanguard at 1-800-345-1344 (VG = Vanguard)
2. Ask them to open an account for you, & ask them to take your info over the phone, pre-fill out the forms for you, and create a login for you at their website.
3. Login to the VG website on your computer with the login info they give you, and have them walk you thru completing the forms to submit electronically, (no need to print anything out). Set your own password, don’t forget it.

4. Ask them to open both a regular taxable brokerage account for you, and a Roth IRA brokerage account for you. One login will access both.
5. You will need a minimum of $1,000 for each type, (taxable and Roth), to invest in a VG mutual fund. Ask them to walk you thru the procedure to add your bank account. Ask them to walk you thru transferring at least $1,000 from your bank account to each separate VG settlement fund.
6. Once the money shows in the VG settlement fund, you can invest in, or buy, VG mutual funds that only require a $1k minimum.

7. Decide when you want to invest. Generally speaking, trying to time the market is a fools errand, but you want to be aware of the news cycle, at least in the short term. Try to buy-in when the market is at a low, not a high.
8. When you’re ready, either ask them on the phone, or login by yourself, to buy $1000 worth of the “STAR” fund in the taxable brokerage account; and another $1000 worth of the target retirement year that applies to you in the Roth IRA. (If you’re ~25, and the year is 2020, you will probably retire ~2065, so you pick the “Target Retirement Year 2065” fund).
9. Don’t forget to go back in a few days and confirm the micro deposits on the VG website, that VG will make in your bank account.

10. Download the VG app to your phone and tablet.
11. If available, setup “voice verify” with VG about a week or so after opening your account.
12. If you have existing investments in another brokerage, or a 401k outside of VG, find out how much of it is “vested,” (the portion you directly own and control) and ask VG how to get that amount into a “rollover” account at VG. Just be careful to not bump your tax bracket if its rolling over from a non-Roth account to a VG Roth account.

13. If you are transferring existing investments to VG, ask VG if any of them can be transferred "in-kind" which if possible, might prevent a taxable event.
14. If possible, contribute $500 in after tax income to your Roth IRA every month.  That will let you hit your max contribution for the year, $6k.  If you can't do that much, do whatever you can, be it $250, $100, or $50; but whatever it is, do it every month.  Try to automate it from your bank account.
15. Also consider downloading to your phone and tablet the Yahoo Finance app, its good for tracking investments and market headlines and corporate news.

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If all else fails, just remember the riddle of steel. Money is worthless unless it is put to work for you! Wield it, learn to trust your financial discipline!

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FB3 The Secret to Making Money!

Now comes the best part, the Philosophical Tenets!  I reveal the man behind the curtain...

💰💰💰

• What is the Secret of Money? ...of making money? ...of building wealth?
    
  Watch the Riddle of Steel
  
  Like Steel, money is nothing unless it is wielded; and in this case the flesh-wielding is done by virtue of investing in business via stock markets, (or other income producing assets, like real estate).
  
  The steel sword is worthless unless it is in someone’s hand, being properly employed to do its job. Likewise, money is useless if it's in your mattress, or nearly as useless earning next to nothing in a bank account. Money needs to be respected by being properly employed, needs to be put to work, needs to be wielded, and working for you, as an investment earning a big, fat, juicy, worthy return!

• Always be making money, even while you sleep!
  
  The only way to make money while you sleep is to be invested in profitable stocks and businesses. Business is always being conducted, 24/7, 365 a year, somewhere on the planet at every moment. Own a piece of that business, let it work for you generating returns even while you sleep.
  
  Always invest whatever you can afford bc those companies will be working even when you’re not, whether its a single company like Exxon-Mobil operating in all 24 hour timezones every day of the year, or e.g. an index or “mutual fund” which is a basket of many company’s stocks in one fund; whatever you choose, get your piece of the 24/7 action!
  

• When all other things in the economy are equal, no dollar works harder for you than the first one you invest!
  
  This is because of the nature of time and compounding reinvestment.
  
  So, all other things being equal, if I invested ten years ago and let that money reinvest that investment will earn more money for me right now than an equal amount I put in today, bc it’s had ten years time to reinvest, compound, and build itself up, acquiring more earning power. (Not to mention, exceed the eroding power of inflation)
  
  The thing you can’t get back in investing is time. Once time passes, it passes forever. Investment is about compounding and reinvestment and dividends and interest and capital gains. You need as much time as possible, to max those functions, which if done properly will get you exponential returns. 
  
  The first dollars you put in, may ultimately be initially put into a bad investment, or at an unfortunate moment of time, (mistiming the market), but there’s nothing you can do about it b/c no one has a crystal ball; just use the best information you have available, evaluate later when necessary. Over the long run it will make little difference, even if you have bad luck to start.

• Do not try to “time the market” or guess a given stock or fund price, when it will be up or down, to make a buy, or a sale.
  
  As stated, no one has a crystal ball. What you do have is a wise long term strategy. Unless you’re an experienced day trader, make trades for the LONG TERM and stick to a long term strategy.
  
  It is ok to occasionally change what you’re invested in, if you think something else might be better than something you’re currently in, but not too often; what you don’t want to do tho, with rare exception, is pull your money off the table completely, keep it in the game via one investment or another!
  
  (It is easier to make strategic investment changes in a Roth, b/c there are no tax implications, so you can change without worrying about what the IRS ramifications are, but that still doesn’t mean changing horses more often is better, b/c it rarely works out that way even when not worrying about the IRS)
  
  Also, don't make the classic mistake of selling out of an under-performing fund, or buying into an over-performing fund. If a fund for the retail sector is over-performing, that's one you don't want to buy, but might want to sell, b/c its price will be higher than normal. Conversely, if a fund for the healthcare sector is under-performing, that's one you might want to buy while the price is low, but wouldn't want to sell, b/c that means you will realize actual losses, when if you were just patient, its likely it would eventually come back for you.
  
  When others are fearful, (the market is tanking), that's the time to be greedy, and when others are greedy, (the market is rallying), that's the time to be fearful. When others sell, you buy!  When others buy, you sell!  (Unless of course ur too smart to do either and just hold for years no matter what) Understand the power of contrarian thinking!
  
  Knowing when to sell is always harder than knowing when to buy, but no one ever went broke realizing a gain (i.e. selling for a profit).
  
  Summary:
  
  Einstein is often credited for saying that compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. This is true, EXCEPT for reinvesting in the market, which is even more geometric / exponential, and ergo, even more powerful.
  
  Give your money the time and respect it deserves, and it will take care of you. Invest early and often and you will eventually be rich!
  
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FB2 Brokerages

Brokerages:

A brokerage is a financial company that facilitates your transactions, your buying and selling of stock; and it will manage and hold your securities, automate your reinvestments and track your tax obligations.  They also offer their own products, usually in the form of Mutual Funds / Index Funds, or ETFs, (Exchange Traded Funds). 

Fund types:

Think of these brokerage's fund products as baskets of various stocks, (and/or bonds etc), meant to diversify a single monetary investment by the investor.  The brokerage's money managers operate the fund on behalf of the fund's investors.  The fund typically has a goal or philosophy behind it which guides its operation, and this is declared in the fund's prospectus.

A fund might represent certain sectors of the economy, like healthcare or energy; a year you want to retire; or a certain type of stock, like growth or value.  A fund might have no stocks at all and be just bonds, or a mix of stocks and bonds, or a blend of the 2, as well as small, mid or large caps, etc.  An index fund typically attempts to track and mirror a stock exchange index, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500. There are endless variations of funds to invest in.

The upside to brokerage funds is that they're more diverse than any one stock, so they mitigate the risk.  This means it is a safer option than buying any one stock, especially if you are a novice and don’t follow the market daily or have academic training in it.

The downside is that these funds are products that the brokerages charge a compensation on, usually a percentage of whatever the fund earns, so that piece earned goes to them instead of you.  Typically called an “expense ratio” it generally isn’t too prohibitive, especially if you use a quality low cost brokerage like Vanguard, so most of time, for non professionals, the expense ratio fees are worth it. 

(See the Q n A post as to why I recommend Vanguard) 

The main difference between mutual funds/index funds, and ETFs, is that you can use your brokerage to buy any other brokerage's ETFs; but you can only use your brokerage to buy your brokerage's own mutual or index funds, (which also means you can't buy other brokerage's mutual or index funds).  Also, mutual and index funds usually get the close of trading day's price, while an ETF gets the price at the moment the transaction is made, just like a normal stock would.  

Be aware that an ETF, can have a higher expense ratio than a comparable index / mutual fund.  That slightly higher expense is why brokerages offer what is essentially their own mutual funds, to other brokerages (via the ETF).  The higher expense also allows for the customer to trade the ETF like a stock, instead of relying on the close of day prices.

Finally, U.S. markets typically close at 4pm Eastern time, but brokerages won't reveal their funds new value per share until after 6pm. That's the price used for any mutual or index fund bought or sold that day, (so i typically don't trade in it til closer to 4pm, so i can see ~where the market is likely going to close).

Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, oh my!:

So how do you know what to invest in?  My recommendation to new investors is to start with diverse mutual (or index) funds.  The more you invest, the more fund choices the brokerage will give you.  As you gain experience, you can also try your hand at individual stocks and bonds.

You need to gauge your investment time horizon, your risk tolerance, your emphasis for dividends and income and reinvestment vs growth, and your level of interest in researching and maintaining your investment choices.

Summary:

Investing in public companies has many choices. It may seem overwhelming, but the best thing to do is get started!  You will get the hang of it, you don't need to be a genius or have training to do this.  Feel free to ask the brokerage for help and advice!

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FB1 Basic Concepts

MrSinatra’s Finance Bible

What everyone should know about getting wealthy 💲

Glossary of Terms
(in case one is used you aren’t familiar with)

Basic concepts: 

Personal investing is the practice of purchasing a slice of ownership in a company via stock. Ownership in publicly held companies are “traded” on public exchanges (like the New York Stock Exchange, or NASDAQ, etc) where buyers and seller's transactions set the market price.

When investing in a public business, buyers use a brokerage (like Vanguard) to purchase stock, or “shares” of that business. For example, if a company is represented in the market by 100 shares of stock, and you buy 4 shares, you own 4% of that business. If each share is worth $10, then you have $40 worth of stock and the company has a “market cap” of $1,000.

When you invest your money in a company, it means you are a partial owner of that company, and entitled to a return on that investment. Hopefully, over time, you will see the share price increase as the company becomes bigger and more successful.

Dividends: 

Many companies will offer a “dividend” which is a partial payment (typically of some of the company's profits) to shareholders, and generally are paid quarterly, (e.g. March, June, Sept and Dec); but the schedule can vary greatly, meaning both frequency of payment, and schedule of recurrence.

Smart investors take any dividends, (and / or separately any “capital gains,”) and automatically reinvest it, which means the money / payments are used to buy more of the same “security.” Over a long enough time, this works in a similar way to compound interest, which generates exponential returns.

So in our example above, if that company paid a one time annual 25% dividend (which is not common in the real world, unfortunately) you would get a $10 dividend payment, or return, on your $40 investment. That $10 would then be automatically used to buy another share of the business, so now you would have 5 shares; or put another way a $50 stake, and ergo 5% of the business.

Each year then, your buying power increases, as a result of the “reinvestment” of the dividends and / or any other payments. This is known as a “DRIP” strategy, and is key to building wealth. More on DRIP.

Value vs Growth: 

Stocks are generally categorized as either Value, or Growth.

Value stocks typically represent mature, established companies that are no longer growing at a fast pace, but have stable prospects.

Growth stocks are typically newer companies that are growing in size, market share, and earnings at a fast pace, and as such, they typically cost more b/c people are hopeful as to their future prospects, but they are riskier and not as stable.

(Higher risk can = higher reward, but there’s a reason its categorized as higher risk... its riskier! Generally speaking, this means its more likely to lose you money, than a value based investment.  This kind of gamble is sometimes called "speculation")

Company Size: 

As alluded to earlier, the financial size of a company, aka market capitalization, is determined by its share price, times the total amount of shares in the marketplace.

So repeating our earlier example, if a share is worth $10, and there are 100 shares representing the company total, and an investor buys 4 shares, then they have $40 worth of stock, or a 4% ownership stake in a company that has a total “market cap” of $1,000.

A company's stock is considered either a small cap (generally worth under $2 billion total), a mid cap, ($2 billion to $10 billion), or a large cap, (over $10 billion). Each brokerage determines the specific range, but thats the general rule of thumb.

Typically value stocks will have higher market caps, whereas growth stocks will have lower caps.

Bonds: 

Another investment option, bonds are issued for sale when a company (or gov’t entity) wants to raise cash for itself via issuing debt.

Companies (or gov’ts) are borrowing the investor’s money, and agreeing to pay it back with interest. The bond itself is a contractual commitment from the issuer (of the bond) to pay the investor (aka bond holder) a certain interest rate, usually monthly.

Bonds issued by gov’t are usually safer and tax free, but pay a lower rate. The rate of any bond might be tied to the variable prime interest rate, but not necessarily. The riskier the bond issuer, the higher the rate paid. ‘Moodys’ is a well known appraiser of bond ratings, a scale that indicates the likelihood that the borrower actually pays the bond off.

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Wuhan Solo

hello world,

so this initial post will be banal, but hopefully not insipid.

as the world panics in endless sequestration due to China's Wuhan virus pandemic, (stop eating bats and koala bears etc please), i have found hermitation thrust upon me.  what to do, what to do?  start a blog and amuse myself, of course!

its only a matter of time until i abandon this blog, but in the meantime i'll probably post on the obvious pop culture things, sports, whatever interests me, blah.  however, my first series of posts might actually help somebody.  i have been lucky enough to be exposed to some financial concepts and absorb them via osmosis mainly, but for most there is an alarming lack of financial education in schools, which frankly is very suspicious, since financial independence = true freedom.

in any case, over the years different friends have asked me about finance and investing and so on, and just 'what is it that they need to know, and how to do it?'

these posts are my attempt to address that in a conversational, informal, yet (hopefully) concise way for both a complete novice and others more skilled.  it is important to point out that i have no academic qualifications whatsoever, or any actual training, i'm not a CPA, etc.  what follows is just a distillation of pointers based on my personal experience; it's what i would say to any friend of mine asking for advice.  obviously, whether you listen or ignore, its all at your own risk!

so please feel free to comment and ask questions, and if blogger lets me edit indefinitely, i might address those comments in revised blog posts.  if you know me, please provide feedback here in the comments, rather than contacting me directly, b/c chances are someone else will have the same question or whatever it is...

finally, big thx to Chris Nugent for his help and feedback, which really improved what i was trying to do.

so anyway, on to Part One of MrSinatra's Finance Bible!