Pop quiz: What’s the opposite of success? Did you guess failure? Good guess but that’s not correct. The opposite of success if apathy – just not giving a damn. Which is very odd if you pause and think about it. So many want the sweet fruit of success. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t. Yet, […]

How do you get to be different financially? It begins with thinking different. “Well, yeah!”, some of you may be saying right about now. But here’s the question… If thinking different can make such a positive impact, why don’t more people spend more time doing it? Researchers at Harvard Medical School offer one compelling answer. […]

Got a hypothetical question for you today. Let’s say that you live in proximity to an active volcano. Hey, maybe it’s on a cool island! The problem with island life is that the darn volcano erupts…with all too regularity. Mount Spewsonus rains ash and pours lava about once every 10 years.  You and your neighbors […]

Everyone makes mistakes. I’ve certainly made a few doozies and I’m sure you have as well. Which brings up a question… Wouldn’t it be great to know when you’re most likely to make a mistake? When you’re about to make a big financial oops? Commit a flub? A bad decision that will take you off […]

If you’re not familiar with value investing, it’s the bottoms-up style of investing used by many of the world’s greatest investors and the very investing method used by the greatest investor of all time – Warren Buffett. In short, the value investor looks to buy shares in quality companies that are selling below their intrinsic […]

That great philosopher Woody Allen famously (and hilariously) said, “For a man to be truly happy all he needs is the love of a good woman…or the love of a bad woman, depending on how much happiness he can withstand.” From my observation, there are a lot of people who cannot withstand happiness. They cannot […]

Is it possible to have too much optimism. In short, no. However, it is possible to have the wrong type of optimism. While negativity and pessimism are mental diseases, blind optimism and “happy talk” optimism lead countless people over financial cliffs. Here’s what I mean… When people who are in financial dire straits come to […]

Recently I was in a store and there was a small child barreling towards the stairs next to me… while simultaneously looking in the other direction. His mother was nearby and quickly uttered that oft-repeated warning to little children – “Watch where you’re going!” Good advice indeed, not only for children but for adults as […]

Thomas Stanley who wrote the book The Millionaire Next Door, explained in his book that the courage to be different is a contributing factor in most millionaire’s successes. “One of the reasons that millionaires are economically successful is that they think differently,” he writes. While no man is an island, those that profit from the […]

“Go to school and get a good paying job”. Ah, that age-old advice that’s been handed down by well-meaning parents for decades. Sounds great. Unfortunately, it’s so misguided. With this advice, your parents assume that you’ll get a good job and that they won’t have to worry about you. But the goals of “not worrying […]

Are your children making your poor? Boy, talk about a sensitive topic. Invariably when I’m asked for money advice, the conservation turns to how much money is being spent on the advice seeker’s kids. And how quickly the defensive walls come up! Those seeking my advice can be open to a lot of suggestions I […]