Category: Millennial Personal Finance

The cabin above was built by my great great grandfather in the mid 1800’s. It is one of the oldest surviving structures in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Visiting it gave me great perspective on the toughness of my frugal ancestors. Why are some people spenders and others savers? There are definitely exceptions, but I think the values you grow up with have a lot to do with it. People ask me how I live in such “poverty.” These folks want to know what motivates me to not buy new clothes for two years or eat Brussels sprouts for lunch. To answer the question adequately, I think I need to explain my family history.

Continue reading “My Frugal Ancestors Help Explain Why I’m So Extreme”

I read a shocking statistic the other day that I felt compelled to write about. Around 75% of households headed by an African American or Hispanic have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. To put it in perspective, $10,000 will generate about $33 a month in retirement income. I did further research into the financial disparity between black and brown Americans and the rest of us, and found stark racial inequality in savings in America. Once you see how serious the problem is, perhaps you become convinced like I did that we need federal financial literacy standards in our schools to help pull minority communities out of poverty.  Here are a few areas where the numbers absolutely stunned me.  Continue reading “The Extreme Racial Inequality in Savings”

I’ll never forget one night I was out on the town for a business dinner with some financiers from Wall Street and learned about ‘house as a work of art syndrome’. They ordered two $150 cheesesteaks at a time I had never heard of a sandwich that cost more than $20.  The conversation meandered between the professional and the personal. I got to find out how much you pay in taxes on a $3 million bonus and how difficult it was to find a good private preschool in NYC. One of the young men at the table confessed to the group that he was moving in with his girlfriend, and they had been to a home decor boutique where she had picked out some curtains that cost thousands of dollars.  The other guys at the table said just wait, that curtains were only the beginning. Continue reading “Do You Have House as a Work Of Art Syndrome?”

Have you ever noticed that superheros have a tendency to be worth billions of dollars? It seems like having a huge net worth can give the financial freedom necessary to fight crime. They use their billions to create cover stories and build fancy gadgets. It is no wonder that superheros usually need a lot of money, given that they do not have the time to dedicate to a stable job. There is one notable exception to the big spending type. Indeed, Captain America is the most frugal superhero perhaps in the whole world. Continue reading “Captain America is the Most Frugal Superhero of Them All”

It took me almost 26 years of life to realize that fine dining had a widely recognized rating service, the Michelin star system. All this time, the only Michelins I knew about were the ones that burned rubber. Believe it or not, I do from time to time go out to eat. After all, I am not very good at cooking. Traveling around the world for months on end has made going out to eat fairly common in my life. However, there is a huge difference in the establishments that I frequent and the ones that get reviewed by a NY Times food critic. I prefer a Goodyear restaurant. Continue reading “I Prefer a Goodyear Restaurant To a Michelin One”

If you put your money in a bank or credit union in the USA, the government guarantees your deposits up to $250,000. While you could lose a lot of money to fees if you bank with a major financial institution, the money in your account is secure. This is one of the biggest lies in the American financial system. Continue reading “Your Bank is Riskier than the Stock Market”

Bernie Sanders believes that there is a group of rich, international capitalists conspiring to rip off the poor and middle class. While that might be partly true, the poor and middle class do far more to rip themselves off. 62% of Americans do not have $1,000 in a bank account. A majority of college students carry credit card debt. The average millennial only has $16,500 in their 401k, and that figure includes workers all the way up to age 34! To use a biblical analogy, we have a lot of planks in our eyes that we need to clean up first before we blame millionaires and billionaires for our financial problems. Here are a few practical ways to rig the economy in your favor.  Continue reading “How To Rig the Economy In Your Favor”