I Will Likely Be Moving $5,000

If I sat down and did an evaluation of your finances and spending... I am 100% positive I could fix that. When I first met my wife, she was working in the pharmacy for Walgreens. She had $39,000 in her 401k. I took it over and within about three years it was worth $150k. I won't tell you what it is worth now, but we have been together for 20 years and she hasn't worked for Walgreens for over 12 years, and it's worth quite a bit more than that. Not only do I know how to MAKE money. I know how to make it go farther. When we finally collect SS, it will be icing on the cake. We don't need it. That's neither a brag nor a diss. It's a simple statement to repeat something I have said time and time again here post after post after post. Income is NOT the issue, and NEVER is. If all you do, since I can't be there, is seriously evaluate that single statement I just made...your financial life will change forever. Look at the books. I mean seriously look at them. I guarantee you have more money and more opportunity than you think you do, and I'd bet my life savings on that. If you are broke, it's not because you can't have more money and a better financial outlook. It's because you don't know how not to be broke and you aren't bothering to understand why you are. Money has NOTHING to do with actual money or dollars and cents. It has EVERYTHING to do with one's money mindset, and the ATTITUDE they have about money. Just my two cents worth, which, invested and spent properly might be worth 21/2 cents. lol

My SS isn't even half what I made when I was working, but I am intrigued.

@rebelann Like I said. It doesn't matter. lol By the way, I added to and edited my comment. So, it is more than what you probably originally read before you responded. All that aside, I am a DM away if you ever need advice, thoughts or insight. One of my small aims in life is to improve one's financial prospects. And I don't charge for it. I am always happy to help.

22%? Wow! That’s an amazing interest rate. You can’t get anything near that in the UK unless you gamble on the stock market and get lucky.

@Orson_Kart I had to continually move my money around. I quite enjoyed it, especially when I was successful!

22% is a good return. Perhaps you should have been a hedge fund manager in a former life. lol

@porwest That's an impressive track record with BXMX! Finding an investment that delivers consistent returns over 30 years is the dream. Your point about active management is so true—it's the key to making sure your money is working as hard as you did to earn it.

@reploid When it comes to money, for me, the primary goal is to maximize it and minimize losing it. Seems like a pretty solid goal to me. lol

I have held BXMX, which had been called something else when I first invested in it, for 30 years at least, but it's been consistent and has always paid a good dividend. It's not directly tied to the S&P 500 and is not technically an S&P 500 tracking index fund, but it acts like one. I have never not been happy with it. As for money, yes. It's never a set it and forget it approach, nor should it be. If we want it to be there when we want it or need it... We have to manage it.

@porwest I´m sure that there are safe places even if they offer smaller dividend income. As I´m old, I don´t need too much money.

@marguicha I agree we need less money the older we get. But we still need to at least beat inflation to make sure we don't outlast our money. If inflation is 3%, you need to earn at least 3.01% just to get SOMEWHAT ahead. Many people miss that part. If you have $100 today and inflation is 3%, next year your $100 is only worth $97.

I don't know much about the options in Chile, including "safer" havens like what would be similar to an S&P 500 index fund here, but I am sure there are good options that could potentially make your money go very far and offer a nice dividend income for you.

@porwest I cannot put my own money into a CD because I don’t have much. And I should probably switch from Chase to another bank because the interest it pays is a joke. My problem is Chase has a lot of branches and others don’t, so if I need to go to an actual bank it’s gonna be an issue.

@lovebuglena Coming up with a plan, at least, to grow your stash, even if it is small, is rule #1. Build and grow, and maximize the growth opportunity wherever you can. It pays to "shop around" rates. It's your money, and you want it to be as valuable as you can make it. Settle for nothing. Do the homework and get the biggest bang you reasonably can and most of all... DO NOT CUT CORNERS. Every penny matters. Leaving even one penny on the table is a recipe for disaster. On top of that, "I don't have much" is the WRONG way to look at it. The amount doesn't matter. What matters is what you do with whatever amount you have. Big or small. Because as I have said time and time again, building wealth has NOTHING to do with how much money you have, and EVERYTHING to do with your attitude toward money and how you manage it. It is literally everything. Take my word on that. I MIGHT know a thing or two about this topic. lol

That may not be the case any longer considering interest rates have been falling. I can still get close to 4% though on a CD rate. It just depends. I'd say if you can lock in 4% now, it might be a good idea because these rates won't hold much longer. Granted, on new money. I'd leave any money held jointly alone until you know more about what the "situation" will actually wind up being.

Everyone can have these kinds of choices if they want to know the hows. Most people don't. Unfortunately. Most people also tend to follow the lead of other have nots and ignore the lessons offered by the haves. As I have said many times, building wealth is not a product of numbers, high incomes and money. It's a product of attitudes and mindsets around money. I have been writing about the hows for years, and it is no surprise to me that the same people who dismiss me now were the same people dismissing me then and the result for those remains to be what it is. An unchanged situation. Probably the best summation I can come up with that I wrote about recently in my post, "I Can't," is in there to explain the why.

@2ndchances24 Wrong.

@porwest some maybe even a lot of people just don't like or can't take the leap of faith that everything is SAFE to do to gain extra income. So to say "Everyone can have these kinds of choices" isn't right.

I am not sure I read that yet. I am a little behind here, but I will get to it.