By Kevin M
I realize that this question violates many, many people’s equilibriums—what ever the career issue, there’s a collective sense that a college education is the answer. That, I believe, is the exact reason why the question must be asked.
It’s no secret—the days of lifetime job security with a large employer are fast coming to an end. A job isn’t just harder to find, but it’s also increasingly hard to keep. Technology and off-shoring of jobs have turned this into a long term trend. A lot of people are clinging to the notion that as the economy improves the job market will “go back to normal”. Don’t be on it. Employers who survived the Great Recession have learned how to maintain and even grow their businesses with fewer employees.
The truly relevant question right now is what should we do in response. To default to what we know from the past could be a strategic error.

Ask anyone who’s succeeding in their own business the question, ”What is the most important trait for success?” and you’ll probably get a few different answers. Education, talent, connections, being in the right place at the right time… luck! I think there’s at least some merit to all, but while each of them might represent a step in the right direction at some point in the process, none—with the possible exception of talent—are likely to sustain you over the long haul. And even talent won’t get the job done if it isn’t consistently applied.
This month, my wife and I celebrate six years of self-employment. Another way of saying this is we are celebrating six years of having to pay 100% of our health insurance premiums and related costs. Boy, has it been an educational experience and quite the adventure!
Wanna know a secret? Valuation-Informed Indexing is works BETTER than Buy-and-Hold.
Pssst…wanna lower your cost of living—I mean really lower your cost of living and do it for good?
If you’ve been looking into buying a home, condo or financing a home improvement project, you’ve probably come across a wealth of different mortgage loan options. But which is best suited to your needs and budget?
Maybe I’m painting with a very broad brush here, but I think most people would like to be self-employed—if not now then “later”. At a minimum it’s a dream, even if it’s not being actively cultivated. What keeps that pursuit from coming into being varies by person, but I’m sure that fear of the unknown ranks real high on the list. 



The Crisis That Doesn’t Really Concern Anyone All That Much
Beyond Buy-and-Hold #78
By Rob Bennett
We all say that. We use that word. But we don’t really believe it applies.
Actions speak louder than words.
The Republicans are still yelling at the Democrats. The Democrats are still yelling at the Republicans. If we thought it were a genuine crisis, we would pull together and get about doing whatever it took to solve the crisis.
We have never made a serious effort to figure out what caused the crisis. Something to do with bankers. Or with mortgages.
Huh?
Do we seriously want to know the truth?
Read more »