A Collection Of Personal Finance Cheat Sheets

Crib notes! 

Over the years I have generated a number of 1 page summaries and explainers related to personal finance and investing. That's because sometimes a picture or an infographic can explain things in way that is a lot easier to understand. Sometimes the different angle allows a concept to stick.

Nah, who am I kidding - people just don't like reading! :)

We're Emigrating

Trading flags. 

When it comes to my finances, I have realized that being efficient is a key skill. Doing the things that gives me the best return per unit of time, money and effort allows me to take the biggest strides forward.

This focus on efficiency is what lead me to move closer to my work, focus on a top down approach to cost cutting, and pretty much why I started forging my own path when it comes to retirement.

And during all of this, I started noticing more and more that one of our biggest expenses is also one of our most inefficient.

My Worst Financial Mistake

It's important to stay warm
during winter. 

Back in 2010 (wow can you believe the world cup we hosted was a decade ago!) I had just started a new job. Financially speaking it was a good time for me, this new higher salary was on top of my already low cost base – I was unmarried, childless, driving a paid off car, and renting. 

And so, despite beer being one of my biggest expenses, I was saving and investing quite a bit and this had allowed me to build up a decently sized investment portfolio.

2019 Is A Wrap

2019 is a wrap! 

And just like that we are coming to the end of 2019. So I thought it would be an opportune time for me to reflect a little on the blog and share some interesting stats around your fellow blog readers with you.

But then, while digging up some of the numbers, I suddenly found myself stopping dead in my tracks, taking a big sip of coffee, and pausing for a moment to reflect.

A Century Of Blog Posts

100 Not Out

Wowziz!

This is the blog’s 100th post!

Feels like just yesterday I was typing out the very first one!

How time flies when you having fun! Blink and you'll miss it!
[Insert your choice of overused cliché about the passage of time here]

2018 Is A Wrap

2018 is a wrap! 

We are fast approaching mid-December, and by now everyone is probably wrapping up (did you see what I did there?) and preparing for some well deserved downtime – myself included.

So this will be the last blog post for the year, and I thought I would use it to look at some off-topic numbers around the blog and to take care of some admin.

I'm 21 Again!

The key to some important financial
decisions

I recently turned 33 years old, which in itself may not seem very significant. However there is a totally lame pretty cool way you can make yourself feel young again – by converting your current age into hexadecimal¹ (it doesn’t always work, because you sometimes end up with letters in your age, but when it does, the psychological injection of youth has been know to put a smile on anyone's face.)

Anyways, after doing the conversion, it turns out that I just recently had my 0x21st²  birthday.

When Is The Right Time To Invest In Cryptocurrencies?

Well, that's one way to short a circuit
board... 

The incredible buzz (with associated rise in price) and then subsequent return to some semblance of normality (and related price drop) of Bitcoin reminded me a lot of a graphic I came across a few years ago.

The graphic was meant to illustrate how new tech generally goes through a cycle.

Some Housekeeping

Housekeeping. 

So it turns out that there are quite a lot of people out there wanting to do better with their finances. You know - reduce expenses, kill debt, get investing, and make sure there is ample for retirement, or even early retirement.

Fantastic!

As a result, this blog now has over 790 subscribers.

Fantastic!

You Got Mail

Male. 

FYI - this is the 50th blog post! Very chuffed about that! (Do I get to raise my keyboard to the pavilion? :)) I definitely think a cold one is in order tonight.

I figured an appropriate blog post for this momentous occasion would be one where I took a look at some of the reader emails I have received. For me, the interaction with the readers is definitely one of the best parts and and a very cool side effect of this blog. You guys keep me on my toes, point me to very interesting content, and give great insights. So thanks to all of you!

How To Avoid Telemarketers

"Good day, please allow me to irritate
the crap out of you." 

We all know the dreaded call - "Good day, can I please speak to Mr/Mrs/Ms *insert badly pronounced name and surname*."

"How are you today? I don't really care about your answer to that, but my script says I have to ask."

"Congratulations, because you are such a valued customer and your shit don't stink, you have been specially selected for blah blah blah".

The Investment Marathon

A bunch of sweaty people. 

Oh no! I promised myself that this would never happen!

Those of you who have read my About page will know that I am an avid runner. Now I really did try my best not to do an article comparing running to investing, but every time I am out on the road, the similarities smack me in the face! I guess it was inevitable. So here it is, cringe-worthy metaphors at their very best!

How To Save Money - The Car Wash

The car wash - for people who have
money to burn. 

I am not sure if it is a South African thing, but people here sure do love to wash money away their cars. At the garage around the corner from Stealthville, I see long queues every weekend as people spend hours waiting for their hunk of metal to be made all nice and shiny.

Now I have no problem with this, except for the fact that it is absolute madness!

Which Is Cheaper To Raise - Sons or Daughters?

Battle of the sexes.

We recently found out the gender of our baby, due in September 2016 - we are having a Mr. This got me thinking... I wonder if boys are cheaper to raise than girls? There are certainly different needs that each gender requires as they grow up. I gave this some thought and decided to put my observations down... Now this is a tongue in cheek post, and I may be slightly bias, so please don't be offended...

So, which is more expensive, boys or girls?

The Best Investment I Ever Made

A tree - the go to picture for anything
investment related.

I hope I have got you curious! What ingenious investment has Stealthy Wealth uncovered that we can all copy and change our lives forever? Please tell us - what is the best investment? Could it be an offshore property in London, a small Bio Tech company in the USA or the next big local invention? Well the bad news is I could never reliably pick any of those, but the good news is you can make the exact same investment as I have (if you haven't already) and be smiling all the way to the bank.