When our first daughter was very young–not quite two years old–we attended our first-ever birthday party for a three-year-old. (I recently talked about this experience on the Afford Anything podcast with Paula Pant). We went as a family of three. It was 2:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday. We arrived and were somewhat taken aback by the scene: was this a wedding reception? Considering the evidence of the multitude of adults milling around …
As we approach Thanksgiving in the United States, the bustle of life may seem to be slowing. That calm, however, is underscored by the advertising and enticements of retailers hoping to move into the black side of the ledger for the year on the day after the holiday of gratitude. Otherwise known as Black Friday. Indeed so many of us will go shopping on that day that it will almost appear that everyone is …
Imagine this: it’s the day after Halloween, and you are about to enter your local big-box store retailer. EVERYTHING about the store flashes “SALE!” Who or what is in control of your actions in this situation? Let’s consider two different mindsets and possible outcomes related to how we might approach our shopping trip in this scenario: Mindset 1: I can positively affect the wealth my household accumulates. Potential Outcome: I will shop and spend …
Our data consistently tells us that in the arena of personal-finance outcomes, behaviors matter. They matter a lot. So we thought it was time to try and quantify—from a dollars and net-worth perspective—exactly how much is “a lot.” We’ll consider savings rate as a critical behavior. We have talked here before about the difference in savings rates between “high-potential” and “low-potential” individuals, as measured by scores on the DataPoints Building Wealth assessment. As a quick …
In pop psychology and social media, there seems to be more interest in pop personality than in financial behaviors when it comes to talking about the things that will have the greatest impact on how successful we are at accumulating wealth. Who doesn’t love a one-question quiz that asks you about your favorite color and then gives you a report telling you you’re a terrible investor because you like magenta? Tests like the Myers-Briggs …