Money Reasons

Smart Reasons to Save, Use and Invest Money

Posts Tagged ‘three little pigs’

The Three Little Financial Pigs: Pig #3 Update

May 19th, 2011

I like to think of the third little pig as myself, but I don’t really know if I”m really qualified to make that claim. In my last post I stated that I’m really more of a Pig #2 1/2 or even a Pig #2 3/4 than the full pig 3 type.

Pig #3

If you are new to this storyline, the basis of all three little financial pigs are two of my childhood friends and myself. I blog about each of their stories in the original articles listed below:

So now onto my update, have I made progress? Yes, my net worth has increased by much more than $10,000 since last year. Part of that increase was in my investments such as my 401k and my regular brokerage account. Most of the increase has come from the saving of my paycheck into these investment accounts. It’s a long rhythmic journey this point forward. I like to think of it as a long almost straight road with a slight incline.

The Steps that I’m currently taking on my journey are:

Earn money from being employed
Save more than 20% of the earned money
Invest that 20% amount into investments
Repeat until wealthy.

It’s not glorious, but it’s a solid path and plan.

Unfortunately the steps above will never get me to the superrich level though, but I should be able to make it to a lower level of a millionaire next door type.

I think the most important aspect to remember is to start doing it, and the sooner the better. I’ve been guilty in the past of having slow starts with tasks, but over time I’ve learned (and I’m still learning) that your attempt doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. It’s much more important to start the task than to worry about getting it perfect or even right.

Hopefully this year my net worth will grow at a quicker rate.

Cheers,

MR

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Posted in Entertainment

Tags: pig 3 steps to wealth three litte financial pigs three little pigs wealthy pig 3

The Three Little Financial Pigs: Pig #2 Update

April 28th, 2011

A few days ago, I talked about my friend that represents Pig #1. Today I’m going to talk about my other friend that represents Pig #2.

Pig 2

If you are new to this storyline, the basis of all three little financial pigs are two of my childhood friends, and myself. I blog about each of their stories in the original articles listed below:

Pig #2 of The Three Little Financial Pigs

This little pig of the three little pigs, has done extremely well lately. In my initial story of Pig #2, I state that he was living like he was still in college. That mindset has changed for the better. Now he spend more time with his kids by coaching and planning special frugal vacation (camping mainly), with just them.

While it’s obvious that he’s a better father, what impressed me the most was how in the past year he has become much more financially savvy! Lately, he’s been talking of selling his boat because of gas prices and how it’s a money pit.

He stopped leasing cars a while ago, but I though he’d be flipping to a new car every 2 years like he had done in the past. But to my surprise, he’s stuck with the ones he bought 4 or 5 years ago. He’s actually stoked that they are almost totally paid off. Now he’s constantly talking about saving his money and frugal deals that he finds.

Pig #2 has always rode the trends closely though, so perhaps this is just his attempt to ride the currently popular frugal wave that the US is experiencing. Afterall, it’s cool to be frugal now, at least for now it is…

I’d say that even though my friend puts on a good front, that he’s still on the same level as the original storyline Pig #2, or perhaps a quarter closer to Pig #3 level. We’ll see…

If he does continue to be frugal and starts investing his money, he may become financially independent in 20 to 30 years.

Whether he is just riding the current tend of frugality or not, it’s impressive the changes he has made! Again, I’m very impressed with his progress!

-MR

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Posted in Entertainment

Tags: little pig #2 three little financial pigs three little pigs

The Three Little Financial Pigs Update: Pig #1

April 26th, 2011

Pig #1 of The Three Little Financial Pigs

Pig 1

In the past, using two childhood friends and myself as examples, I compared the three of us to one of my favorite childhood stories, “The Three Little Pigs“.

Of course I put a different spin on the story, to make a financial comparison of our lives. I really enjoyed writing the stories of the three financial types that my friends and I represented so I thought I’d provide an update on the three of us (in this article, it’s Pig #1), if you haven’t read the original stories, check them out too…

Little Pig #1 Update:

Many consider Pig #1 to be the most interesting of the lot of us, since he was once a VP at a few large companies (read his story called: The Three Little Pigs, Pig #1). For a while, he lived high on the hog (pun intended), owning a Mercedes and every year going on fancy vacations and hosting elaborate parties. However, when hard times hit, his family had to live in his brother’s basement when he lost his job.

He made enough money in his prime, that he would have easily been a millionaire if he invested the money he made instead of spending it like he did. The fault isn’t totally his fault, he picked a spendthrift spouse that definitely hurt their financial position too. Please note, a frugal or realistic spouse is very important in wealth accumulation!

Today, Pig #1 is doing much better! He found a new girlfriend that has more common sense and is a better person all around.

He also got a new job (right before his unemployment benefits were to run out)! It’s not a VP position, but he does head up a division as a director. From what he has told me, he’s already impressing the top brass. This doesn’t surprise me, he’s top-notch in the quality of work he performs. Too bad he doens’t employ the same vigor with his finances.

I regret to say that although he is better off today, I fear that his new girlfriend (while much better) also like to spend money freely and quickly. I’m sure they will be in a better position than he was previously, but I don’t see him every becoming truly wealthy from a financial sense.

So while he has improved, and I don’t see him every moving back into his brother’s basement, I don’t see him becoming financially independent either. The house his parents bought for him will at least provide him a decent base to cling to.

As for his status, I’d say that he’s beyond being a solid Pig #1! I think he’s more half way between the Pig #1 and Pig #2 types now!

Here’s to wishing him the best!

-MR

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Tags: broke broke living in a basement From Riches to Rags little Pig #1 Little Pig 1 update Picking the right spouse The three little pigs three little pigs

Bought My First and Last Lottery Ticket

January 27th, 2010

Yep, it’s true! I bought a lottery ticket, the value of the potential prize was multimillions of dollars. This is not a frugal way to get money! In fact, it’s very wasteful.

So why did I do it?

Well, last night I went out to eat and to see a movie (Sherlock Holmes) with both friends from The Three Little Pig post. They were doing well, Pig 1 has been on a few interviews since I last spoke to him.

As we arrived at the theater parking lot, I noticed that both my friends were still in Pig 2′s car on cell phones. Eventually, they came out… Apparently, both friends were calling their significant others to go out and buy a lottery ticket. I found this quite amusing! Instantly, I thought of the three little pig story again…

So we bought our movie ticket to get into the movie, but we had 20 minutes until the movie started. Instead of waiting, we decided to go buy their lottery tickets. We went to a gas station, and both friends bought their tickets. This is when I decided, why not… So, this is when I bought my first and last lottery ticket (that’s not a scratch off one…) I knew it was wasted money, but this was a rare occasion, and I wanted to fit in with the camaraderie!

So, did I win?

Nope, I just check online and it was a waste of money as expected. Next time I won’t buy one, but it was good to be part of the lottery ticket buying club for a few minutes. We talked about what we would do with the money if we won… It was a good little distraction.

-D

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Posted in lifestyle

Tags: lottery lottery tickets three little pigs wasted money

The Three Little Pigs, Pig #3

January 20th, 2010

Initially, I was going to portray myself as Pig #3, but now I realize that I’m more like a Pig #2.5. I’m still building my house of bricks…

The third little pig

My definition of the traits of Pig #3: (It’s hard to try to be as objective as possible with a made up character )

Consistent and persistent attention to goals (in other words, organization)
Smart investor (house of bricks vs twigs or straw, tools instead of play things)
Hard worker
Frugal lifestyle (versus going out and partying all the time, special occasions are okay, but not every night)
Can do attitude
Follow through (finishing tasks that are completable)
Pride in work

My shortcomings:

Of the 7 items I mention above,

I don’t have great organization skills.
I don’t consistently have a “Can do attitude”
I don’t have a “Follow through” mentality (I get something over 80% done and then stall, sometimes)

Yep, I’m Pig # 2.5, My boss at work, is more of a Pig #3 than I am.

My boss does all 7 tasks listed above. He has also been buying real estate as rental property. He’s a consistent investor in diversified investments, while living a more frugal lifestyle than I live.

So how can I become more of a Pig #3 type?

My weakness is organization, this is my most important area to work on. If you don’t have organization, it’s difficult to work on your other weaknesses effectively. Organization is the key to maximizing all of the other 6 items identified above. “Can do attitude” and “Follow through” are related to confidence in your work. This is something that with time you can build too, I no longer have problems with confidence in my work, or at least not as much (thanks google).

Click the links below to read about the other three little pigs:

So the question is how do you define yourself? When I started writing this series, I thought I epitomized Pig #3, but now I realize that I’m not quite there yet.