Tag Archives: three little pigs

The Three Little Financial Pigs: Pig #3 Update

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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:

  1. Earn money from being employed
  2. Save more than 20% of the earned money
  3. Invest that 20% amount into investments
  4. 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

Bought My First and Last Lottery Ticket

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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

The Three Little Pigs, Pig #3

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Initially, I was going to portray myself as Pig #3, but now I realize that I’m more like 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 :))

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

My shortcomings:

Of the 7 items, I mentioned 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 the 7 tasks listed above.  He has also been buying real estate as rental properties.  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 skills, 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 skills are 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).

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.