4 Money Tips from 4 Personal Finance Legends
#1. Budget Wisely, and Give Every Dollar a Job (John D. Rockefeller)
Let’s start with the basics. Before you know where to go with your money, you must understand where you are.
Your budget is where it all starts. Budgeting is not a boring chore, but a tool to help you achieve self-mastery. Instead of a basic accounting of inputs and outputs, it becomes a declaration of your priorities.
How do you start budgeting in a sustainable way? First, create a clear and concise record of where your money is currently going. The easiest method is to look at your bank and credit card statements, and record what you have actually spent in the last three months. This is the only way to realistically analyze your purchasing behavior.
Depending on your habits, this may be a bit painful, and a bit embarrassing. And if you’re doing it with your significant other, you may unearth some things you didn’t expect. However, it is crucial to your future success.
Next, you need to determine your priorities. Your past actions do not dictate your future decisions. You can in fact use your money differently.
What’s important to you? Do you want to save up for a nicer place to live? Would you like to go on a great vacation? How about tackling that mountain of student debt? The choice is yours. The point is to decide deliberately, and act intentionally. Working within a budget allows you to gain control of your financial life, and build your future in a direction of your choosing.
Fortunately, you no longer have to use a little notebook like Rockefeller (unless you want to, of course!). There are some great websites and apps to make this process much easier, and help you think differently about your money. My wife and I use You Need a Budget, and it has been a fantastic tool. Other people use Mint.com, and it works well for them. But whether you use a notebook, a smartphone, or a system of envelopes, a budget can change your life.
(ArtOfManliness.com)
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
We Finally Got It & Now We're Bored With It
6 Reasons Why the NFL in L.A. Is Already a Big Fail
1. There's too much else to do here.
To say L.A. has a wealth of entertainment options is an understatement. The Dodgers are doing well and heading toward the playoffs, despite their bizarre late-season crappiness. Basketball starts in a little more than a week. Hockey just started. We've got soccer, too. This is basically the busiest sports season of the year.
Then there's everything else: movies, music, Hamilton and restaurants, which Tyler Cowen argues have become the center of American culture, at least among a certain class of Americans. Between Netflix and the beach, there's no shortage of weekend activities vying for Angelenos' time.
It is, perhaps, too early to write off the NFL's second tenure in Los Angeles as a complete failure. As NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters during a conference call this week, "To a person, both at the club level and here at the league office, we remain confident that the city of Los Angeles can support in a very strong way two franchises, and we’re committed to making that happen as we work toward the opening of the new stadium."
Maybe the new stadium will change everything. Maybe the Rams are actually good and in a few weeks everyone will notice. Maybe we'll get a Super Bowl. Or maybe we just don't give a shit about football.
3. Football games are too populist and too expensive.
Basketball arenas are small, intimate, like theaters or nightclubs. People crane their necks around to see who else is there. They're scenes, perfect for L.A. Football stadiums will never have that kind of vibe.
Which is not to say that Angelenos don't like cheap thrills. Plenty of people go to baseball games and soccer games. But tickets to those games won't set you back $100. And parking, just as important, won't set you back $100 — as it did at the Chargers home opener.
The NFL, at least in Los Angeles, is neither luxury product nor popular entertainment. It's in that awkward middle space.
Complete list (LAWeekly.com)
1. There's too much else to do here.
To say L.A. has a wealth of entertainment options is an understatement. The Dodgers are doing well and heading toward the playoffs, despite their bizarre late-season crappiness. Basketball starts in a little more than a week. Hockey just started. We've got soccer, too. This is basically the busiest sports season of the year.
Then there's everything else: movies, music, Hamilton and restaurants, which Tyler Cowen argues have become the center of American culture, at least among a certain class of Americans. Between Netflix and the beach, there's no shortage of weekend activities vying for Angelenos' time.
It is, perhaps, too early to write off the NFL's second tenure in Los Angeles as a complete failure. As NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters during a conference call this week, "To a person, both at the club level and here at the league office, we remain confident that the city of Los Angeles can support in a very strong way two franchises, and we’re committed to making that happen as we work toward the opening of the new stadium."
Maybe the new stadium will change everything. Maybe the Rams are actually good and in a few weeks everyone will notice. Maybe we'll get a Super Bowl. Or maybe we just don't give a shit about football.
3. Football games are too populist and too expensive.
Basketball arenas are small, intimate, like theaters or nightclubs. People crane their necks around to see who else is there. They're scenes, perfect for L.A. Football stadiums will never have that kind of vibe.
Which is not to say that Angelenos don't like cheap thrills. Plenty of people go to baseball games and soccer games. But tickets to those games won't set you back $100. And parking, just as important, won't set you back $100 — as it did at the Chargers home opener.
The NFL, at least in Los Angeles, is neither luxury product nor popular entertainment. It's in that awkward middle space.
Complete list (LAWeekly.com)
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