 | The four measures of financial success |
| If you want to do well financially, you must first understand what it is you have to achieve. It's not just a matter of making more money. Instead, there are four factors you must consider. |
| The rule that's the base of all wealth |
| Go to any bookstore and you'll see hundreds of books on making money. Financial institutions offer a dizzying range of products to make you rich. Despite this often confusing mountain of information, secret of all wealth is based on one simple rule. |
| Understand opportunity costs |
| A critical idea to understand for a successful life is that of opportunity costs. It is one of the key concepts of economics, but is very easy to appreciate for anyone. |
| Money and possessions are a means to an end |
| We live in a materialistic society. Often, it can seem like the only measure of a person's worth is the number and quality of goods they possess. Certainly, owning nice things can contribute to your well-being. There's nothing fun about being broke. |
| You can't trust people with money |
| What is it with money that makes otherwise good people lose all moral perspective? The dubious real-estate agent may well be a good and trustworthy friend away from the office, but he'll tell his clients anything to get a few extra dollars out of them. |
| Are you one of the 95% trapped in a financial prison? |
| Most people in free countries still have one master with absolute control over their existence - money. No matter how much we like to pretend it doesn't matter, our financial situation has a powerful hold over us. |
| The secret of wealth is working easier, not harder |
| Want to get rich? Just work hard and you will is the conventional wisdom. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Since the dawn of humanity, the road to wealth has been through working easier, not harder. |
| Ten good rules-of-thumb for investing |
| I've been investing money for about 14 years now and have had more success than failure along the way. I've also read a large number of books and articles on good investment strategy. Here are my rules-of-thumb if you want to get ahead in the investment game. |
| Seven ways to get richer |
| Most of us could use a little extra money in our pockets, but sometimes we feel stuck on how to get it. Here are some simple suggestions to increase your income and wealth. Not all of them will make you "rich", but they should make you "richer". |
| The easiest way to fool smart people |
| There’s a saying among con-men that smart people are easier targets, because they don’t think they can be conned. I’m not sure if that’s true, but there’s one scam that’s almost guaranteed to make smart people switch off their brains and reach for their wallets. |
| Cut all your credit-cards in half |
| I've never owned a credit-card. Most people are pretty surprised when I tell them that. They look at me like I've just said I've never had a glass of Coke or made a phone-call. |
| My eight best negotiation tips |
| Negotiation is a part of life we all have to deal with. Being able to do so successfully can make a big difference to our outcomes. Here are eight tips that have helped me. |
| The best type of business to be in |
| In the 1967 film, The Graduate, an experienced and successful Mr McGuire gives the main character Benjamin a piece of advice on what type of business to pursue - "Plastics". This sums up many people's attitude to business. |
| How to work out if you're better off renting or buying a place to live |
| It's a decision we all face sooner or later: Should I rent or buy? We all need a roof over our heads - somewhere to have some privacy and bring up a family. |
| Don't rely on the charity of others |
| When we see a man begging in the street, most of us realize this isn't a very good strategy for building a happy life. That's not to say the beggar necessarily has any other option, but that the option he's trying is unlikely to be successful. |
| Focus on total cost, not just price |
| W Edwards Deming was an American college professor who played a big part in Japan's growth to industrial dominance after the Second World War. He boiled down much of his philosophy of business into 14 simple points, many of which are as relevant to the person in the street as to big corporations. |
| Enough hyperventilating about AdSense |
| There's been a popular theme on lots of blogs lately about how much money there is to be made from Google's AdSense advertising program. For those not in the know, this basically involves earning money from Google ads like the ones on this site. Now AdSense is a great program, and I'm happy to make some good spending money from it every month. |
| The easiest way to get rich |
| Judging by their behavior, most people have an obsession with wealth. Politicians promise to create it, most popular magazines are filled with gossip about those who have it, and the average person spends much of their adult life trying to obtain it. |
| Financial success advice for young people |
| I received an email from a young man who lives in a tough community in the US. He wanted to know how he can break out of his difficult circumstances and live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Rather than responding to him individually, I thought I'd write a general success article for young people. |
| If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging |
| Years ago, I overheard interesting conversation between two friends of mine, one of whom is a lawyer. Basically, the first guy say his company hadn't paid him for over a month, even though he was supposed to get salary money weekly. |