Comments on: Book Review: Killing Sacred Cows (and a giveaway)

By: ffb

ffb — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:52:21 +0000

@ Joe – I’d have to go back to the book for the specifics but he did offer alternatives. Check out his link about 401(k)’s:

401(k) Hoax

By: ffb

ffb — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:33:12 +0000

@ Mark – And in the end, when you work on creating wealth it’s like you’re making your life and opportunities bigger rather than thinking smaller when you focus more on cutting costs.

By: ffb

ffb — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:31:39 +0000

@ Arohan – Good points! Thanks for the info.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:51:58 +0000

There is a movement in congress that examines the possibility of eliminating the 401(k) and replacing it with a government managed plan (sounds much like Social Security 2, IMO):

http://simpledebtfreefinance.com/george-miller-teresa-ghilarducci-and-the-end-of-your-401k/

Does the author recommend a replacement for the 401(k), or are we supposed to kill our sacred cow and simply do without milk?

Money is not the root of all evil, LOVE of money is.

I’m with you, it looks like some of his points make sense, while others are perhaps only to make us think and reconsider what we “know”.

Joe’s last blog post..Political Interference in Bank Bailout Decisions – Disgusting!

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:01:41 +0000

"Focus on increasing wealth rather than cutting costs. We spend so much energy cutting costs when a better strategy would be finding ways to increase wealth."Strongly agree. This is one of the core principals of my personal finance philosophy. A lot of the time spent on finding ways to be frugal have a lower time return than waiting tables.Mark’s last blog post..Wow! Cheap is an Understatement!

By: QuickHits: Late Edition | Prime Time Money

QuickHits: Late Edition | Prime Time Money — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:19:19 +0000

[...] Book Review and Giveaway: Killing Sacred Cows (@ Free From Broke) I’m reading this book as well and hope to provide a similar review and giveaway. Looks great so far. [...]

By: Arohan

Arohan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:39:10 +0000

401Ks do not always make sense, specially if you are a business owner you should also consider the cost of administration of the program. A business owner will also look at the company match component and think, ‘I can reinvest this amount in the business growth and deliver salary increases to the employees that will beat any stock market investment product in the 401K plan in terms of total return’. The one benefit that a 401K plan delivers is disciplined investing/savings, but if you have that discipline yourself than you do not need to be locked in.

Lack of liquidity has a cost too, which everyone glosses over.

I wrote a post regarding this over a year ago which may be worth a read. Link: http://www.arohanvalue.com/2008/01/04/investing-in-401k-plans-when-is-it-not-worth-the-trouble/

I believe Lazy Man and Money also reached a similar conclusion earlier. His post can be found at: http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/5-reasons-to-throw-away-your-401k/

Sorry for self promotion, but I wanted to let readers know that there is analysis out there that they should look at.

Arohan’s last blog post..Is it Time to Buy Stocks?

By: ffb

ffb — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:05:08 +0000

@ Hank – Yes! What if instead of scrimp and save we took what extra money we had and developed ourselves and new streams on income? It does make you think!

By: hank

hank — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:43:35 +0000

I’m actually about 1/3rd of the way through this – slowly but surely and it really is opening my eyes a bit to a different way of seeing money. The big thing is the “squirreling your money away” versus “making it work for you”. It is a concept I’m not 100% wrapping my head around yet, but it really does make sense.

By: ffb

ffb — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:13:05 +0000

@ Patrick – What you are saying is some of what the author talks about in the book. It seems that we tend to view our personal finances differently than we would a business but that shouldn’t be the case. It’s important to improve our cash flow and increase our sources of income. Sometimes we may take on debt to do this but that’s ok so long as we cover our expenses.