Not long ago, we worried a lot about the lack of jobs. We talked about rising unemployment rates and worried about students graduating into an economy that had absolutely no jobs to offer. We saw individuals with years of work experience and advanced degrees getting laid off, struggling to find any work. The problem we seem to be facing now is similar–still troublesome, still limiting. Now we’re left wondering where exactly the wages are. We’ve got the jobs–the labor market is approaching...

The millennial generation is known for a lot of things–tech savviness, high student loan debt, a reluctance to spend forty plus hours a week in a windowless cubicle working for a boss you don’t particularly care for. The millennials and the generations to follow have the entrepreneurial bug and it shows no signs of disappearing. There’s this idea that working for yourself is the way to go, and ultimately it’s not a bad one. By taking charge of your strengths and interests, you’re responsible...

There’s a lot of talk about the rising cost of energy, and you’ve probably heard discussions about solar power. Perhaps you’ve seen solar panels or billboards advocating for one side or the other. But what exactly is solar power? Simply, it’s the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Concentrated solar power systems rely on lenses and mirrors to narrow sunlight into a small beam, while Photovoltaics convert light into electric current–and both work to produce solar power. While there are...

Lottery winners have become collectively famous for their inability to manage their money upon winning. New lotto millionaires misspend and misuse, fail to invest, end up with less money than they started with. The same can be said for NFL athletes–men who beat up their bodies for wealth that frequently ends in bankruptcy or corruption. Of course, anyone can spend their money poorly–the rules of proper investing cross all levels of wealth. Jason Hartman believes in the value of real estate...

Jason Hartman has often said that Wall Street is the modern version of organized crime. And he’s not wrong–the things that happen on Wall Street are beyond deplorable. Masquerading as the place where our financial heart beats, where our cash arteries thrive with the life force of money, Wall Street is instead a bit of a hole down which we flush our financial dreams. Some pretty crazy things have gone on there, but what are the worst among them? Quite honestly, it can be hard to tell–but...

You’ve probably heard a number of children respond to the question—what do you want to be when you grow up? And the answers vary, if only slightly. Many children want to be firefighters or doctors—and still more want to be professional athletes. Whether they’re gunning to drive a racecar or dribble down the court, from an early age, kids want to be professional athletes. As children, we’re probably more into it because of the cool factor—the very idea that a person could play a sport for a...

We hear about it all the time–scams aimed at swindling money from innocent people. Especially targeted are the elderly, who may not be (though this is certainly changing) as familiar with technology, making them easier to take advantage of. This is happening across the country–no city, large or small, is immune to this troubling behavior. John J. Packard, of Long Beach is accused of this type of conniving behavior. He’s the co-founder of a failed apartment investment firm and will be...

If you participate in social media, you’ve likely seen the memes that put millennials under the microscope. Statements like they’re uncommitted or they spend too much time indoors have a way of downplaying the types of jobs and job market they’re being presented with. Then again, social media has a way of taking everything to one extreme or another. In actuality, millennials do change jobs a lot. But it isn’t because they’re perpetual job hoppers without the ability to see anything through....

You’ve probably heard a number of children respond to the question—what do you want to be when you grow up? And the answers vary, if only slightly. Many children want to be firefighters or doctors—and still more want to be professional athletes. Whether they’re gunning to drive a racecar or dribble down the court, from an early age, kids want to be professional athletes. As children, we’re probably more into it because of the cool factor—the very idea that a person could play a sport for a...

Like rats leaving the Titanic, billionaires’ Warren Buffett, John Paulson, and George Soros have been quietly divesting their portfolio of of stocks. The question is why? The stock market is in the midst of a historic rally, real estate prices have been showing signs of strength in some areas, and unemployment, if not exactly improving, at least seems to have stabilized somewhat. So why the rush for these financial titans to get out of stocks? Is it possible they don’t know what they’re...

A property management scam is when someone claiming to be a property manager implements a purposeful scheme to deceive and defraud you out of money. As heinous as that thought is, Jason Hartman reminds you that, as a landlord, you should keep in mind that there is a difference between the incompetence displayed by a legitimate manager who is simply bad at his job and the illegality perpetrated by a scam artist. While there are many different types of scams circulating in the property...

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw claimed that youth was wasted on the young. When it comes to finances, whether or not a young investor appreciates the advantages of having logged fewer years on planet earth is irrelevant. What matters is that a savvy twenty-something can build a substantially larger portfolio over time simply on the basis of recognizing his youth and allowing that to dictate an investment strategy. Here are three reasons it’s great to be young. Take More risks! Don’t...

In a perfect world, we would all have the following critical financial ideas pounded into our heads at the earliest possible age, preferably before 10. However, the reality of parenting and the educational system is that few of us are exposed to proper thinking about money early, if ever. Young Wealth is here to rectify the situation so, in the likely event your parents forget to cram the financial wisdom of the world down your throat – here it is. Don’t say you were never told. 1. It takes...

Conventional wisdom says, rightly so, that commodity investing is a risky pursuit. The capacity for a new investor to get badly burned is higher than in the stock market. Generally speaking, the commodity market is more volatile than stocks. Driven to a large extent by speculator demand, prices can rise and fall in the blink of an eye on news of natural disasters around the world, poor crop, great crops, or even for no particular reason that anyone can discern. In short, danger, Will...

If you’re a young investor who has been following the Young Wealth blog for a while now, you might have noticed a slight intemperate tone, at times, when the subject of the stock market is broached. For several reasons, which we may get into at a later date, our two plus decades of investing experience has revealed gaping holes in what used to be Wall Street’s unassailable position as Middle America’s primary path to building wealth. Suffice it for now to say the stock market, driven by...

Contrary to popular belief, the Small Administration (SBA), a federal government agency, does not normally make loans directly to small businesses. Instead, the SBA acts as a guarantor against risk for banks and other lenders to offer loan funds by agreeing to pay back some of the loan if the borrower defaults. While the SBA is an excellent source of general information about starting or expanding your business, if money is what you seek, go directly to your local bank or lender to start the...

It’s getting more expensive to own a checking account these days. Young Wealth wonders if the sudden rash of fees and penalties is a surreptitious last ditch effort by banks to recover from years’ worth of hideously poor decision making in regard to mortgage loans? In this Twilight Zone-esque drama known as the sub-prime mortgage crisis, we’re reluctant to say anything is impossible, but recent data released by Bankrate.com makes us wonder exactly how far the industry can go before citizens...

If you happen to be one of the umpteen million Americans who have constructed a nice, fat mountain of debt due to non-existent budgeting and a life devoted to impulse shopping, welcome to the club. You’re not alone. Resolving to get your finances under control is not simply a matter of doing what’s right – debt can effect areas of your life you might not have realized like: 1. The ability to get a cell phone 2. The ability to rent an apartment 3. Getting hired for a great job Let’s take...

All we can say to the reports that Americans appear to be regaining control of their previously out-of-control credit card spending habits is…no…way. Way! It’s crazy but true. Apparently the recession is a better financial education than everything else put together. Thanks, Mr. President. Without you, we’d still be spending money we didn’t have and wondering how we were going to pay the bill later? Wait a second – that strategy is still being used by someone, somewhere. We...

When it comes to investing strategies, better to stick with the age old wisdom than jump on the newest flash-in-the-pan idea. New and different doesn’t automatically equate to better. After you’ve made your money, then it’s okay to put a small chunk on a crazy new scheme. Better yet, take it to Vegas, have some real fun, and maybe get a free lobster dinner. The first exchange that approximated today’s stock market appeared in Belgium in 1531. Since then, successful practitioners of the art...

The phrase “Write about what you know.” is sometimes credited to Mark Twain but there doesn’t seem to be hard proof of that. And it doesn’t really matter who actually said it or even if the advice is valid but perhaps investors can learn something about how to build wealth by transferring the sentiment to the financial markets. If you happen to be an expert on a particular industry, why not take advantage of that fact? Let’s look at the stock market, specifically the video game industry,...

Are you familiar with the name Elon Musk? The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is and gave Musk their 2010 Navigator Award for propelling advancement in the fields of science or engineering. Let this be motivation to the young investor – Musk is only 41 years old. What has the guy done? Quite a bit. He founded a little company by the name of PayPal, the online payment service used by everyone and their grandmother. Next up was his role as founder of the private space travel company,...

The renowned physicist, Albert Einstein, may or may not have given the world the following quote: “Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.” Whether or not Mr. Relativity spoke those words or someone attributed them to him, investing young and doing just that will go a long ways toward building the kind of wealth that financial independence is made of. The concept of compound interest is simple. No matter the asset you invest in, take the profit every year and, rather...

In these stormy economic times, you might be called upon by a friend in crisis for a loan. Young Wealth would normally say “Bad idea!” at the top of our voices and remind you that doing so would qualify as dicey money management on your part. There is, however, one situation where we don’t think this kind of loan is risky. We’ll get into that later. It’s not that loaning money to a friend is always a bad idea. After all, you may have a better idea about their propensity (or lack of) for...

In case your school forgot to include this in a financial education lesson plan, we’ll introduce COLA to you right now. COLA is an acronym that stands for Cost Of Living Adjustment and is an annual figure calculated by the government that measures how much inflation has gone up in the past year. But we don’t care about inflation, right? It doesn’t really have an effect on anything. Wrong. It has everything to do with your purchasing power and ability to create wealth through...