How Did You Learn About Money??

[rmark]

Graham, Bogle, Bernstein

[unclemick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmark Graham, Bogle, Bernstein

Yep - me too - in that order.

heh heh heh

[astromeria]

When I was growing up, it was my job to fold and put away the laundry. Guess I got a little snoopy when putting away Mom's unmentionables and discovered her passbook. I learned that over virtually my entire childhood/early teens, my parents usually had no more than $300 in the bank. Even as a kid, I knew that wasn't a lot. Oddly, when I was working poor in my 20s, I also had a consistent $300 in the bank (of course, with inflation it was worth less than my parent's $300, but I didn't think of that). I had the LBYM thing down from the get-go, and my mother's horror of debt and paying finance charges. But investing was a mystery to me unitl I read The Millionarie Next Door and the Beardstown Ladies book :. Although they blew it, the book gave me the idea that I could learn about investing. Starting talking to a couple of friends (of course, they were all in individual stocks, which made me nervous). We were late maxing ourt our 401ks--I didn't get into investing seriously until we had well over $100,000 in a savings account! hmmm...I learn slow, but I learn good. Since I stopped trading to get ahead of the market :, I've done very well...and have been consistently a bit ahead of the market due to heavy investment in foreign funds and some small & midcaps, and making use of hybrid funds such as DODBX and OAKBX.

[flipstress]

Trying to lower my taxes-- ( pretty funny, considering I have been making almost diddly-squat all my working life) and serendipity from that point on.

I started contributing to my 401(k) in 1994 when I was 32 because I didn't want to pay into taxes what I could save anyway.

In the mid-90's, I got into reading about Buddhism, simplicity, environmentalism, and found my way to "Your Money or Your Life."

Then, in 1999, an older friend suggested contributing to that new ROTH IRA thing. At around the same time, I discovered the Motley Fool, including intercst's Retire-Early forum, found out about Vanguard, saw dory36's posts there, and now I am here. Of the stuff that's been recommended here, I've been influenced most by "Four Pillars of Investing". I've also read Andrew Tobias' book, go to his website occasionally, and found out about David Swensen's "Unconventional Success..." which I have yet to finish.

I'm still learning. (astro, I bet I learn a lot s-l-o-w-e-r than you. ) I have mostly slice-and-dice index funds with Vanguard, and total-stock and total-bond index funds in my 457 plan.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Still steeply learning.

Half the battle is sorting fact from fantasy. There are so many issues where everyone has their own ideas but little evidence to back it up. Like meteorology or, dare I say, medicine, the strategy that works best for me in such "chaotic" systems is to be probabilistic.

That way you always know that you're making the right decisions, even if they don't work out very well in the end. It's the best I can do. Got a straight flush? Bet. You won't always win, but I'll take the odds every time.

Efficient market theory, diversification, long-haul thinking, 4% SWR, modern portfolio management -- all these things feel right for me because they are probability-based at some level.

[FinanceDude]

I think the problem is there is TOO MUCH info out there, sometimes even on here.

Where reality ends and personal opinions starts is a blurred line......

There's a lot of ways to get where you want to go..........but it all starts with a willingness to LBYM and an interest in actively pursuing your goals and dreams.......

[kcowan]

I just put together a spreadsheet showing how much I needed to sustain our current level of spending at 5% WR per year with a 2% inflation. When I finished one 5-year consulting assignment, we were short (only good to age 87) but I decided to give it a try rather than working into another 5-year assignment.

Had gained insights and skills when I managed the business plans function of a high tech company for 3 years. Also my years on sales commissions taught me how to deal with financial risks, i.e. LBYM.

So far so good, thanks to above plan returns and below plan expenses.

[retire@40]

Self taught, kinda.

I never missed a meal as a kid and remember having great quality time with my family, but I remember we never had any money in the bank. So we were poor, but I didn't know it. My parents did make me respect money by teaching me not to waste anything. I never ate at a restaurant until I was 16 and we never went away for vacations until my late teens when I went by myself. I paid for all my own college expenses and never took a dime from my parents (besides the food and rent-free home while in school), since they didn't have much money to give anyway. No complaints since I had a good childhood with a good family.

As I got older, I only realized how much I was worrying about not having money only after I started making some serious money on my own and was able to save some. Seeing the bank pay me for loaning them money was a good feeling. I had the thought of "living off the interest" since I was teenager, so I figured out a plan on how to do it that I'm still trying to perfect.

So, self-taught, and still learning.

[wabmester]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa Like meteorology or, dare I say, medicine, the strategy that works best for me in such "chaotic" systems is to be probabilistic.

Yeah, but those are physical systems governed by the laws of physics. People try to tease out the behavior of stocks using historical data, but they seem to forget that there are no physical laws to establish the fundamentals of stock market behavior.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wab Yeah, but those are physical systems governed by the laws of physics. People try to tease out the behavior of stocks using historical data, but they seem to forget that there are no physical laws to establish the fundamentals of stock market behavior.

Well unless you believe the markets have a natural "rhythm" like the Elliot Wave theorists preclude..............