Personal Finance News

Warren Buffett is the most successful investor in the world, and he’s also one of the world’s s wealthiest person. Surely we can learn from his insights and sage advice. The Motley Fool collected some of the best pieces of personal finance advice Warren Buffett has ever given. Here are the 5 best money tips from Warren Buffett:

1. Avoid debt: “You really don’t need leverage in this world much. If you’re smart, you’re going to make a lot of money without borrowing.”
2. Invest in yourself: “Anything you do to improve your own talents and make yourself more valuable will get paid off in terms of appropriate real purchasing power.”
3. Learn about personal finance: Keep on reading. “That’s how knowledge builds up, like compound interest.”
4. Trust a low-cost index fund: “If you invested in a very low-cost index fund — where you don’t put the money in at one time but average in over 10 years — you’ll do better than 90% of people who start investing at the same time.”
5. View money as a long-term game: “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

(fool.com)

Despite the importance of financial literacy, the Council of Economic Education said that only 17 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance in its 2016 annual report. Without the required knowledge in personal finance, many young adults commit poorly financial decisions in life. In a recent survey released in March 2016, college students know almost nothing about consumer credit. “The survey showed that 42.5 percent of respondents did not believe that student debt was important in determining a credit score—and this despite the fact that seven out of every 10 college graduates leave campus with an average of $30,000 in student loan debt. Also, 42.4 percent of respondents could not name even one way to improve a credit score. Nearly half (45.5 percent) of respondents could not identify even one factor used to determine a credit score; 65 percent said they did not have a credit card in their own name; and 72 percent of the respondents who did have a credit card said they did not know their credit score.” (dsnews.com)

We all made mistakes and learned from them. But there are certain financial mistakes that could haunt you for the rest of your life. Kiplinger asked a panel of personal finance experts to point out some of the most consequential mistakes people can make with their money. Learn all you can from the financial mistakes of others so you can avoid regretting about them. Here are the major financial mistakes:

• Borrowing from your 401(k)
• Paying the minimum on credit cards
• Putting off saving for retirement
• Bankrolling your kids
• Avoiding the stock market
• Quitting school

(kiplinger.com)

Discover did a survey and found that American high school seniors who took a personal finance class were more likely to have a budget, 60 percent versus 40 percent for those who did not take a personal finance class, and were more likely to invest, 32 percent versus 17 percent. Brooke Alcuran, writer at the University of Hawaii, argues that personal finance classes should be mandatory for all U.S. high schoolers that would give them the skills to make prudent financial decisions in life. Alcuran explains that financial literacy is even more important for American youth because of the lack of government aid, high student loan debts and dwindling Social Security benefits. Our nation would be stronger if young people are well-educated about personal finance. That could help the nation to avoid financial crisis in the future. (kaleo.org)

In a new study, The Guardian found that Millennials are falling behind financially: “A combination of debt, joblessness, globalization, demographics and rising house prices is depressing the incomes and prospects of millions of young people across the developed world, resulting in unprecedented inequality between generations.” In the US, under-30s are now poorer than retired people as Millennials’ income growth has been lagging behind the national averages for the past 30 years. They are also burden by  $1.3 trillion in student debt. Around the world, prosperity has plummeted for young adults. “We definitely have to make more compromises. Compromises like if I want to have kids by the time I’m 30, or even 40, can I still have the career I want to do?” Millennial Tanaka Mhishi said. Millennials have a lot of catching up to do, including educating themselves about personal finance. (theguardian.com)

Amazon has been around for a long time now, and it has become one of the top eCommerce shop. Now there’s a way for you to find out how much you’ve spent on Amazon over the years. Amazon allows you to download spreadsheets that show all of your orders over a lifetime. You can then use a simple formula to add up the grand total. Here are the steps:

1. Open Amazon page
2. Click on “Download Order Reports” in the Orders section
3. Put January 1 of the oldest available year in “Start Date” box
4. Click “Use today” link next to “End Date” box
5. Click “Request Report” and downloand “.CSV” file
6. Open the file using Microsoft Excel or Google Docs online
7. Put in the formula in the cell at the bottom of the column showing the transaction totals: =Sum(X1:X1000) then hit enter
8. Replace “X1” and “X1000” with the actual cell names for the first and last numbers in that column

Now you know how much you’ve spent on Amazon over the years. (businessinsider.com)

The conventional wisdom tells us that we normally save more by spending less. However, personal finance blogger Allan Liwanag writes: “There are cases when spending less can cost you more in the long run. For example, buying disposable utensils constantly over a number of years will cost more collectively than making a one-time buy of a set of stainless utensils. In addition, purchasing brake pads for cars from time to time will cost you more collectively over time than purchasing brake pads with a lifetime warranty.” Indeed, in certain situations you can truly save more by spending more money such as spending more on healthy food, long-lasting tools and energy-efficient appliances. (thepracticalsaver.com)