Top 10 financial hacks

There is no point being a successful entrepreneur, or selling a startup if we have no idea how to handle the money we get. So here is my top 10 financial life hacks.

  1. Spend less than you earn, no matter what that amount is. The net result is happiness.
  2. Allocate cash to savings & investments before anything the day you get your profits, pay or dividends.
  3. Never go into debt for anything which does not appreciate in value.
  4. The real definition of an Asset: Anything that puts money in your pocket. The accounting definition of an asset is flawed.
  5. Do not trade stocks. Trading makes the broker and tax man rich and you poor.
  6. The greatest financial instrument is ‘compounding’. It only happens when we hold assets, not by trading them.
  7. If you can’t afford a consumer product in cash, you can’t afford it.
  8. There is no such thing as ‘financial engineering’. It was invented by Wall street to trick you.
  9. The best type of share investment is an Index Fund. They are investments in civilization. If that fails, we have bigger worries than our money.
  10. Invest more in education than entertainment & ‘things’ and you will outdo society financially.

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21 thoughts on “Top 10 financial hacks

  1. I like the idea of an index fund as an investment in civilisation. Where’s the plug for the ‘Sammartino Method’? 🙂

    John (@jngo via twitter)

  2. Hey Steve. nice post. I listened to the sammartino method podcast – also very interesting. I was wondering if you still invest via Vangaurd and what your opinion of the availability of Barclay’s i-shares Exchange Traded Fund in Oz is? I’ve heard they offer a broader range of investment opportunites? Any chance of a post on your approach to investing in real estate? Cheers!

  3. I don’t think the Barclays fund is on Australia. I’m still with vanguard. I mix my investment 50/50 between the ASX 300 and the Hedged International fund.

    Real Estate – I have some views on. I think there are ‘more’ valid strategies in real estate than shares. I say this because the investor can influence the returns more strongly in real estate as we can have a management influence in the actual returns, where shares it is invest and wait. I’ll write a post on my top 10 Real estate investing tips.

    Steve.

  4. Great article, I definitely agree with you. I think that small businesses in particular need financial startup money as well. However, small business owners need money from small business lenders.Therein lies the problem. Small business lenders are often times hesitent to offer money becuase of the duration that the company has been open. At iBank, however, we have created a network that matches small business owners with lenders. This would help small businesses greatly. Hope this helps!

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