My Early Retirement One Year Anniversary at Age 26

early retirement one year anniversary
A pic I took while traveling Mexico this past January. I normally would have been commuting in the dark both ways to work while freezing my ass off

I’ve made it to my early retirement one year anniversary. In June 2015, I hung up my bond trader cleats and decided to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime. Since I “retired” at the age of 25, I’ve traveled to over three dozen countries, learned how to build a website, wrote my first book, started a student loan consulting business, almost finished my second book, and hope this next year has a lot more in store for me! I seriously want to thank my readers for sticking with me and lending your eyeballs to Millennial Moola. I’m lucky to be an American citizen. We live in an age where everyone has access to the tools they need to retire early. Whether my story just merely provides entertainment or inspires you to work towards financial freedom, I’m excited for the road ahead. Continue reading “My Early Retirement One Year Anniversary at Age 26”

New Jersey Stole From the Police Pension and Gave It to Teachers

new jersey stole from the police pension
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Imagine you are a police officer in New Jersey. You put your life on the line to keep the citizens of the state safe. When you are not risking bodily injury, you have to deal with all kinds of unpleasant situations like evictions, traffic stops, or looking for suspects with outstanding warrants for their arrest. All you want is a secure pension when you retire. How would you feel if you discovered that New Jersey stole from the police pension to shore up the failing teachers’ pension? Continue reading “New Jersey Stole From the Police Pension and Gave It to Teachers”

What’s an EFT? (And Other Funny Post-Brexit Questions I’ve Received)

funny post-Brexit questions
Featuring Easy E(-ngland), DJ Yella(-lot), MC (Sir Christopher W)Ren, Ice Cube(-in-my-Brandy), and Dr. Dre(-ary skies). Thanks to Source. Apologies to NWA.

While promoting my Brexit article Friday on Facebook, I couldn’t resist sharing with my friends that I thought Vanguard’s Europe ETF was a great long term buy. After all, it fell over 10% in a single day. That’s when I started getting a flurry of emails, texts, and other private messages as if I’d just shared an insider tip. Personal finance bloggers love to receive serious thought provoking questions from readers. At the same time, we also love to be entertained. Fortunately, these funny post-Brexit questions pass both tests. Continue reading “What’s an EFT? (And Other Funny Post-Brexit Questions I’ve Received)”

Brexit: Hogwarts Just Got a Lot Harder To Get Into

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I had to change my article for Friday at the last second. No one realized that the UK would be voting for the Brexit to leave the EU. Private traders hired prestigious polling firms to assure them that the UK would stay. The markets even rallied yesterday on the assumption that the matter had already been decided. Such is the danger when a highly unrepresentative and educated group of rich people in an urban bubble assure themselves of something. Perhaps some of you are freaking out about the parallels that exist between what just happened in the UK and what is going on in the US. I’m here to ruin all the fun and tell you what no one in the news will say today: it’s just not that big of a deal. Continue reading “Brexit: Hogwarts Just Got a Lot Harder To Get Into”

Butt Fumbling Money: Sanchez’s Financial Advisor Steals Millions

I grew up cheering for Tim Tebow at the University of Florida. Perhaps that is why I have never much cared for Mark Sanchez as an athlete. He first started all season in front of Tebow on the Jets. Then he came to my adopted NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and performed poorly. Unfortunately, now I have to feel sorry for him. Sanchez is famous for running face first into the behind of his own offensive lineman and fumbling the football in a game against the Patriots. Commentators coined a new phrase for the unprecedented act: the butt fumble.  I am taking the liberty to create a new phrase now that a financial advisor defrauded Sanchez and other professional athletes out of $33 million: butt fumbling money. It happens when you overly trust your financial professional and fail to know if they are acting in your best interest.  Continue reading “Butt Fumbling Money: Sanchez’s Financial Advisor Steals Millions”

Germans Should Hide Money Under the Mattress

Germans should hide money
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Historically, the German economy is famous for hyperinflation in the 1920s. Workers would earn paychecks and immediately go try to spend them. Consequently, their currency lost significant value every day. Average families needed wheelbarrows to carry their cash to the market to buy bread. We now have the opposite problem where Germans should hide money under the mattress because interest rates there are negative. Poor Germany. Continue reading “Germans Should Hide Money Under the Mattress”

Financial Advice is a Ripoff, Here’s What You Should Pay

financial advice is a ripoff
Know whose interests your advisor is legally required to put first, ie look for a fiduciary

Most financial advice is a ripoff, designed to make your advisors and their companies well off at your expense. One of my friends recently asked me whether his dad should use Fisher Investments. Despite their advertising that they put client interests first by operating on the fiduciary standard, their annual advisory fee is a ridiculous 1.25% for accounts greater than $500,000. Looking out for the client must happen after you pay their exorbitant fee. After discovering how expensive aggressively marketed financial advice firms tend to be, I realized it is tough to find a good advisor and know how much one should cost. To help, I am going to show you what you should be paying for financial advice. This could be one of the most important articles for the health of your pocketbook you ever read.  Continue reading “Financial Advice is a Ripoff, Here’s What You Should Pay”

Most Public Pension Investment Assumptions Are Impossible

public pension investment assumptions
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Looking at the latest New Jersey pension performance report made me realize how doomed pensions are for average people in America. If you work in the public sector, you need to be using a 403b and IRA to shelter as much as you can for your golden years. I seriously doubt all but the strongest funds will be able to pay their obligations in 30 years when many Millennial Moola readers will retire. This is mostly due to impossible public pension investment assumptions, and I have the numbers to prove it. Continue reading “Most Public Pension Investment Assumptions Are Impossible”

Chip Cards Give Extra 30 Seconds to Question Impulse Purchases

chip cards
Waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and … [falls asleep] REMOVE YOUR CARD! YESSSSS!! Source
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, most of your credit cards and debit cards have evolved into chip cards. This is a huge improvement to the old system of swiping. Not only is the security for in-person purchases far superior, cards now come with a built in anti-spending feature. This advanced technology dissuades you from making impulse purchases. Here’s how it works. Continue reading “Chip Cards Give Extra 30 Seconds to Question Impulse Purchases”

John Oliver Goes Off on High Fee Financial Advisors

John Oliver took the entire financial advice industry to the mat yesterday, royally embarrassed John Hancock financial services and brokers, and called out the ridiculously high fees in the 401k industry.

He also mocked Prudential’s domino commercial and a woman who wanted to use $4,000 to get an elf spotting certificate instead of saving for retirement. I highly recommend you check it out. The full video is about 20 minutes long. If you only have two or three minutes, skip to the end and watch his summary on how to build wealth for retirement.

Continue reading “John Oliver Goes Off on High Fee Financial Advisors”