I am in no way an expert. My wife will confirm. But, with 5, 3 and 1-year old boys, I know slightly more than I did 5 years ago when I was learning about swaddles and football-holds. Here’s a compilation of thoughts I’ve had, things I’ve read and tips that would’ve been helpful to know from the …
33 year-old with 19 Rental Properties Shares What He Wished He Knew Before Investing in Real Estate
I originally wrote this article for Axios - Charlotte. Real estate is sexy. And there seems to be a common desire to treat our local streets like a personal Monopoly board and get paid $200 every time someone lands on Central Ave. But, real estate is also complex, expensive and one of the …
Gamestop, WallStreetBets and the Big Short Squeeze
This past week may have changed everything. Or nothing. Regardless of where we go from here, the “GameStop Frenzy” is an incredible story. But, because of lazy journalism and biased media coverage (I’m looking at you, CNBC), you may not know the full story. Here’s the TL;DR version: The …
The Stock Market will Always feel Overvalued.
In 1956, at the ripe age of 25 years old, Warren Buffett formed Buffett Partnership, Ltd. The business model was simple: he pulled together a combined $100,000 - from his mother, sister, aunt, father-in-law, brother-in-law, college roommate and lawyer - and invested it in companies he believed to …
The Dow is Dumb
When you pull up the stock app on your iPhone, the first thing that greets you is a quote from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) along with an eye-popping headline. Dow plummets 600 points [followed by whatever Trump tweeted recently]. Solid click-bait stuff right there. While our …
3 Game-Changing Lessons my Dad Taught Me about Life & Money
A LendingTree study just revealed that Dads are the number 1 source of financial advice. Thankfully, my dad, a Chemical Engineer by trade, is one of the smartest people I know. He taught me a great deal across a wide-range of topics, from changing the oil in a car to swinging a golf club (I'm …
Don’t Hate Your Kids. Open a 529 Plan.
I’ll never forget it. I was 18 years young during the Spring semester of my Senior year and the cost of college was looming on the horizon. My mom, like many moms, encouraged me to apply for as many scholarships as I could within the span of a few months. For one scholarship in particular, my …
10 Highly Effective Career Hacks I’ve Used to Dramatically Increase my Income and Find a Job I Love
I remember my college counselor telling me that companies would be fighting over me like a black Friday deal at Target. But, that didn’t happen. Far from it. Instead, I (along with a lot of you) started adulting at one of the worst possible times of the last 100 years. Thankfully, times …
Why I Trust Vanguard with my Investments
One of the best aspects of Capitalism is that, over the long run, companies that create the most value and help the most people will profit the most; and the founders of said companies will be handsomely rewarded. There are two exceptions to this: In the short-term, companies can prioritize …
M1 Finance: The Future of Investing is Here
Within hours of publishing an article highlighting the best investing apps of 2018, I had to re-order my rankings because I stumbled upon what I believe to be the investing platform of the future: M1 Finance. Why? Because if you take the best features of every other company disrupting the …
The Best Investing Apps – 2018
The investment industry has historically been very complex, lacked transparency, been loaded with fees and sophisticated advice mostly catered to the wealthiest 1% of our country. But, thanks to financial technology (FinTech), those days are gone. Each month, I'm reading about a new company popping …
Am I Crazy for Paying Down My 2.875% Mortgage?
When I was a $hitty Financial Advisor, the thought of paying down a sub-5% mortgage was ludicrous. The logic was simple: Why payoff a loan at 5% (or less) when I can invest and earn 7% (or more)? But, as I've gotten older and realized that money management is more about psychology than …
The 5 Best Investment Resources You’ve Never Heard Of (And They’re All Free)
“Improve finances” is the second most common New Year’s resolution right behind “lose weight.” For many Americans, “improve finances” is code for “I should save and invest more.” But, investing (and, specifically, knowing where to start) can be intimidating. So, I've compiled the best investment …
5 Important Lessons I Learned About Investing as a $hitty Financial Advisor
I always wanted to be a Financial Advisor. And then I became one and quickly realized that my dream wasn't everything I thought it would be. There were 3 things, in particular, that drove me nuts and ultimately led to my demise. Most people hate to think and talk about money. We spend more …
Words of Wisdom from Ben Franklin’s Twitter, Probably
Ben Franklin was an impressive guy. He was one of our Founding Fathers, invented the lightning rod and bifocals (among other things) and was one of the most prominent abolitionists opposing slavery. Needless to say, Ben Franklin was ahead of his time. But, most of this, you already knew. What you …
Here are 7 Ways Your Brain May Be Costing You Money
How exciting was that Superbowl? Could anyone have written a better script? The greatest quarterback of all time...making the greatest comeback of all time...in the greatest championship game of all time! And can we also proclaim Lady Gaga's bungie jump/mic drop/cannon ball combo the greatest …
The Importance of Diversification Explained in Super Simple Terms
Check out this window: Question: What happens when a rock is thrown at this window? Answer: The entire thing shatters. Next, check out this window: Question: What happens when a rock gets thrown at this window? Answer: 1/4 of the window shatters. Lastly, check out this …
Harvard Agrees, This is How You Get Out of Debt
"Improve finances" is usually the second most common New Year's resolution right behind "lose weight." For many, "improve finances" is simply code for "get out of debt." In the same way those extra pounds take a toll on your body, the weight of debt can be felt physically by way of unnecessary …
5 Big Mistakes Broke People Make with their Money
Here's what normal looks like: Average household income: $52,000 Average mortgage: $172,000 Average student loan: $48,000 Average auto loan: $27,000 Average credit card debt: $15,000 Breaking this income versus debt into a monthly budget would look something like this: …
Favorite Personal Finance Books
It's important to be intentional about what you put in your body. This is obvious with food, but less obvious when it comes to information. Between 24/7 news, blogs, podcasts, social media and friends and family, there is no shortage of content, opinions and people telling you what to do. For that …
