Recent content by TomH

I want to add that many of this list and possibility in this category run a business. So maybe it is not about the money but running a successful business. This reminds me of the book, Good to Great. There are good businesses but only a few are great businesses.

I retired from the Army as a Major (promotable) after 20 years and served from 1996 to 2016. I enlisted after college and my boss told me to start investing so I did a lot of reading that has paid off. I started out in mutual funds and later added real estate investing.

With 2 million to invest, I would have an emergency fund of $200,000. Then I would invest about 1 million in commercial properties. Next I would have $500,000 in dividend stocks and then $300,000 in cryptocurrencies.

Let me help clarify some things. First I invest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is one of over 1900 cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency developed in 2009 to avoid the influence of government and banks. It started off and then the creator, Satoshi Nakamoto...

Most of the audience of about 30 people had never invested in real estate but about 5-8 had. The first few hours the speaker just presented some ideas before getting into real estate.

No worries. I have been an investor for the last 10 years or so and always looking to learn more. That's why I attended the class.

The military makes up less than 1% of the population and those who retire are a small fraction of that.

I took a real estate class in December and one of the first slides brought up was a statistics showing the number of people at 65. When I looked at it, I estimate only 8% can really retire. The others are still working, passed away, rely on the government or family/friends. I added...

Interesting discussion. Why don't you find something you like to do rather than something for the income? It seems like you have done well financially and you should be able to find a stress free work environment.

I just finished reading Good Leaders Ask Great Questions by John Maxwell.

Here's a curve ball for you... What if you get married? What if you have kids?

I'm active duty Army and plan to retire next year. I was fortunate to have someone tell me to invest when I joined the Army. Since then I've invested in stocks, mutual funds, real estate, precious metals and learned tax planning. In the last 3 years I was in Money magazine twice, one for on...

I skimmed most of the comments but can tell you that you need to invest in Vanguard's S&P 500. Why? -Less than 4% of funds have beaten the S&P 500 -The one's that do, you need big money to invest with them -Most funds do not beat the index even using Morningstar's 5 star grade, it's easy to...

Don't fall in love with the property. Look up the numbers, mortgage, taxes, loan, PMI, insurance, and association fee. Will you get fixed or adjustable loan? Do the numbers make sense for you? Can you afford the payments years later? Also association fees can go up unexpectedly and...

Are you considering costs for your child's college education? College costs are crazy right now. This may delay your goal on when you plan to retire since your child still have 9 more years to go before hitting college age.