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Beyond Buy-and-Hold #79
By Rob Bennett
 I thought you should know.
It does. It breaks my heart. I care about you guys. So talk to me!
I get the silent treatment all the time. I write three weekly columns and two monthly columns and lots of Guest Blog Entries. I can go weeks without seeing a single comment on my stuff. Here at the Out of Your Rut site, I got a good number of comments in my early days. Then people figured out what I am about and stopped commenting.
I sometimes feel that I am suffering from reverse Sally Field syndrome. I may someday blurt out: “You hate me! You really hate me!”
Except you don’t. Not really. I know from times when I have posted on non-investing topics that you love me as long as I am not doing the special thing I do in investing posts that causes you not to comment. You’ve even gone so far as to tell me what the special thing is and to ask me kindly to knock it off.
Continue reading It Breaks My Heart When People Don’t Comment on My Investing Posts →
By Kevin M
 Starting a new business isn’t just about the business itself. Becoming an entrepreneur is a life transforming event. You’re moving from a life in which you rely on an employer to supply your financial needs, to one in which you’ll be fully responsible for everything.
It’s a true high wire act, which is why it’s super important to construct a financial safety net, ready to catch you if you fall. And the best time to do that is before you even start your new business.
Preparing your savings
A large cash cushion is one of the very best assets you can have when starting a business.
Most financial advisors recommend that we have liquid savings equal to at least three months living expenses as a part of sound financial management. If you plan to be self-employed, six months is a much better metric. If you have less, it’s best you don’t even attempt starting a business.
Continue reading Preparing Your Financial Life for Self-Employment →
By Kevin M
 When I became self-employed—which was more of a process than an event—I slowly began to realize that it wasn’t just my work that was changing. Everything in my life was changing! While I was focused on finding a new way to earn a living (my primary conscious goal) the rest of my life was transforming with it.
Does that sound like an exaggeration? It isn’t. Becoming self-employed can change nearly every aspect of your life. Here are some of the areas of my life that changed.
Daily work
This isn’t just about doing different work. When you work for someone else, you’re not always doing what it is that you think is most important. Often, you’re doing what pleases your superiors at the moment, which can also change from one minute to the next. You’re also subject to organizational goals—whether or not you agree with those goals is irrelevant.
When you’re self-employed work priorities are completely different. You work on what’s most critical and/or what is most likely to bring in the most income. You don’t have time for much else. And routine? Typically, there is none!
Continue reading Self-Employment is a Life Transforming Event →
Beyond Buy-and-Hold #78
By Rob Bennett
It’s an economic crisis!
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?
Continue reading The Crisis That Doesn’t Really Concern Anyone All That Much →
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.
We have to create our own jobs
Continue reading Does College Prepare You for Self-Employment? →
By Kevin M
 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.
All of us have an opinion as to what drives success, but if I have to pick one trait that stands above the rest, it’s relentlessness. I credit that trait as the single most important one that enabled me to go from washed-up mortgage originator to a self-employed professional blogger in under three years.
I had no special talents, no specific education and no connections that would have made the journey worth considering, let alone likely, but the one thing that I did have was a commitment to succeed at it no matter what happened.
Why is relentlessness so powerful?
Continue reading The “Secret” to Self-Employment Success →
By Marshall Davis
 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!
The Beginning
In February 2006, my wife and I could take it no more! We were both employed by a large corporation, stuck in cubicles doing jobs we didn’t like. On the surface, it was a great place to work. The pay was decent, there were holiday and annual bonuses to look forward to, and the health benefits were pretty darn good. What our jobs were lacking was any sense of enjoyment or fulfillment, so something had to be done.
After talking about it for a few months, we decided to quit our jobs and enter the entrepreneurial world. Neither of us had previous self-employment experience, but that wasn’t going to stop us from breaking out of the corporate world and jumping into the deep end, and start making a living on our own. This meant that we were kissing those great health care benefits goodbye, and we had to figure something out to replace them.
Continue reading The Health Insurance Adventures of an Entrepreneur →
Beyond Buy-and-Hold #77
By Rob Bennett
Wanna know a secret? Valuation-Informed Indexing is works BETTER than Buy-and-Hold.
Not a little bit.
A lot.
I have come to believe that that’s one of the biggest problems I face in my effort to bring the Buy-and-Hold Era to a close. Say that Valuation-Informed Indexing represented just a small advance—in that case I think the Buy-and-Holders would be happy to make the change. Everyone wants to learn how to invest more effectively.
The problem we face is that Valuation-Informed Indexing is so much better in so many different ways that discussion of it is perceived as a threat by the Buy-and-Holders. When one strategy is so clearly superior to another, the idea of compromise goes out the window.
I cannot change the realities. We are stuck with the fact that we now know about a way to invest that will permit us all to earn far higher returns while taking on far less risk. Woe is us! What a terrible fate we have been asked to suffer!
Spreading the word about Valuation-Informed Indexing
Continue reading How Big An Advance Is Valuation-Informed Indexing Investing? →
By Kevin M
 Pssst…wanna lower your cost of living—I mean really lower your cost of living and do it for good?
Ditch your car. No, I’m not kidding, ditch your car!
Most people cut costs by trimming along the edges—clipping coupons, reducing eating out, eliminating vacations and the like. But sometimes that isn’t enough. You can cut all of those and still end up with a tightly stretched budget, one that doesn’t allow much room for savings and investment, for debt pay down and payoff, or for a plunge into the career unknown—a major theme on this blog.
It comes down to a choice between micro- and macro-frugality–do you cut your smaller expenses across the board, or do you target two or three of the biggest? For most people, housing is the biggest single living expense, but cars are a comfortable second. For many, cutting or eliminating car expense is far easier than making the same choice on a home.
How much can you save by not owning a car?
Continue reading How Much Can You Save by NOT Owning a Car? →
Guest Post
 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?
Here, we’ll discuss variable-rate mortgages (aka adjustable-rate) and fixed rate mortgages to help you establish a payment method you can feel secure with.
What’s The Difference Between Variable Rate and Fixed Rate Mortgages?
Variable rate and fixed rate mortgages sound complicated, but they’re really very simple. A variable rate mortgage means that the interest rate changes over time depending on changes in the market rate. With a fixed rate mortgage, the interest rate is locked in from the beginning and it never changes. Both types of mortgages have their ups and downs. Picking the right one depends on your ability to cover changing mortgage rates from one month to the next.
Continue reading Variable Rate Mortgage VS Fixed Rate Mortgage: Which Best Solution is Best for You? →
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OutOfYourRut Disclaimers
General: Any information in regard to money, credit, personal finance, or in regard to any other monetary topic, provided or shared on OutOfYourRut.com is presented for information and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. It is intended to provide general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice in regard to your specific circumstances...MORE-->
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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?
Continue reading The Crisis That Doesn’t Really Concern Anyone All That Much →