Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Investing

Betterment.com: Investing in Stocks and Bonds Made Simple – Review

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Have you been wanting to invest your money but haven’t been sure how to go about it?

Let’s face it, there are lots of choices out there when it comes to investing.  Even if you choose a couple of funds to cover everything you need to know which ones and find a brokerage to invest with.

There may be a simpler, easier way to do it for those who those who want to invest but don’t know where to start or think it is too difficult for them.

That answer may be Betterment.

Follow along in our review…

What is Betterment?

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5 Keys to a Frugal Retirement

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When we think about frugality, many of us consider the here and now.

However, it doesn’t hurt to consider that you might need to be frugal during retirement as well.

While many of us hope to be able to forget about frugality during our golden years, the truth is that you never know what will happen in the future to create uncertainty in your finances.

It makes sense to be prepared to live frugally in retirement, if the need should arise.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind as you prepare your retirement finances:

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Financial Freedom Starts with a Low House Payment

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Is achieving financial freedom an important goal in your life?

If it is, don’t follow the conventional wisdom of buying the most expensive house you can afford.

Sure, by buying the biggest house you can afford you can grow into it, live in it longer and maybe even avoid a costly trade up in a few years.  Fair enough.

But when it comes to achieving financial freedom, buying the most expensive house you can afford is the exact opposite of what you want to do.

In fact it can be said that the more expensive your home is the less chance you have of ever attaining financial freedom.

Expensive homes and financial freedom are what you might call “mutually exclusive”—having one reduces your chance of getting the other.

How could that be?

A house determines general consumption patterns

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Is Gold a Good Investment Right Now?

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Since reaching a high price of $1,913 back on August 23rd of 2011, gold seems to have fallen off the investment radar screen.

In fact it seems the only time gold is ever on that screen is when it’s on its way to establishing new record prices.

Now that gold has settled comfortably in the mid-$1,600 range no one seems to be paying much attention.

But how should we take that?

Will gold slowly drift its way back down below the $1,000 mark, or will it—as some claim—continue to rise to ever higher prices punctuated by periods of price stability? And should we even consider gold as an investment?

Why invest in gold at all?

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Investing: Why Boring is Good

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In many ways, we are conditioned to believe that anything boring is undesirable. However, in some cases, “boring” can be a good thing.  I like to think that investing is one of those things that can be better when it’s boring, rather than exciting.  I consider myself a rather boring investor, focusing mainly on index funds and dividend aristocrats.  Here’s why when it comes to investing, why boring is good: [Read more…] about Investing: Why Boring is Good