The 7 Phases of Expat Life – Are You Financially Mature Yet?
There are 7 phases of expat life. Most people skip the real money-making stage and go straight back to being an ex-expat. Don’t be like them! You need to reach Financial Maturity.
Investing
The Ultimate Guide to Buying Life Insurance for Expats (Say NO to Whole Life)
Whole life insurance plans have always been controversial globally. They exist mainly to make the insurance company and their sales ‘advisor’ lots of commission. You must avoid them, escape from them and warn other people. Here’s what to buy instead and how to do it.
Interactive Brokers removes inactivity fees
Interactive Brokers used to charge $10 per month. As of July those fees are gone, leading to less confusion and fewer reasons to avoid jumping in and getting started. Let’s have a look at the implications.
Unplug From Work: Your Money Must Work Harder Than You Do
If you’re someone who can never switch off from your phone / work / checking your stock portfolio then you are not doing yourself any favours.
I went on holiday for a whole week and decided a FULL unplugging was required.
How Crypto Can Make You A Better Passive Stock Investor
Last week, I bought some crypto. I’m going to skip a lot of the how to, use cases, risks & FI community reactions to focus on what’s important: the psychology.
10 ways to stop your brain’s love of complexity from messing up your saving & investing
Our brain instinctively defaults to addition and complexity when problem-solving. Understanding how this knee-jerk reaction messes with your finances will help you increase your wealth and reduce your stress. Who doesn’t want that?
New Vanguard stock fund worth a look for expats
On 25 March, Vanguard launched a new set of all-world exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are highly relevant for any expats or people living in developing countries. One of them could become the only stock fund you need in your portfolio.
Update on brokerage protection limits
Interactive Brokers is by far the cheapest brokerage for people living in developing countries. I use them myself (and I don’t have any further affiliation with them). They are large, well-capitalised and secure. The extra capital protects them against shocks, unlike Robinhood which had to scramble to raise money in January. But what would happen to your money if IB failed?
Should GameStop & Bitcoin change our investing?
99.99% of the financial news should not change how you invest. Read it out of interest for what’s going on in the world, but don’t let it change your investment approach. Just don’t. It’s a slippery slope that leads to shiny object syndrome, FOMO and market timing, all of which will part you from your money. Let’s have a look at a couple of newsworthy events and see if they merit a reaction.
12 fantastic reads that will improve your life and money
It doesn’t take much to distract you away from categorising your credit card spend, so here are 12 good distractions to expand the mind. Usually better than scrolling.