Hot Trends, Bad Ideas

A few dumb ideas I've seen: A House is a Liability The next time the CPAs I work with need a good laugh, I should bring this up. Houses are assets (they can be sold for cash), mortgages are liabilities, and repairs and maintenance are expenses. These are important differences if you're trying to put together some personal financial statements to see how you're doing. How to Succeed without Really Trying No, this can actually make you poor. A coworker and I figured what this advice would cost us--to eat out, hire a cleaning service, hire someone to mow the lawn, and hire out every little repair on the house. I came up with $13,000; she came up with $17,000. That's just for one person for one year.  The long-term cost of fluffing off your chores: let's assume $15,000 per year to start. Invested in the stock market at 8% per year, that adds up to $1.76 million in 30 years. Even if you're spending your time reading, meditating, and writin...

That's the wisdom of Naval Ravikant for becoming wealthy. Really. I take that to mean that you'd go to work, and instead of spending your free time cooking, cleaning, doing home repairs, sitting through a stressful commute, etc., you'd pay someone else to that all that for you. How would that work out in real life? I'll include meals, housekeeping, lawn mowing, and repairs & maintenance on the house. I won't include taking a cab or Uber to work because in all honesty, I usually enjoy my commute, even though it's long. Eating out three times every day: $25/day => $9,125/year Housekeeping: $50/week => $2,600/year Lawn mowing: $20/week (35 weeks per year) => $700/year Repairs & maintenance: $500/year Grand total: $12,925 per year. Ouch! After taxes and a substantial 401(k) contribution, that's almost half my take-home pay. How do you get wealthy by the modern equivalent of supporting a houseful of servants? (That's what I ...