Investing Archives - Live Debt Free

The Best Financial Books of 2021

09.16.2021 by Harry //

There are thousands of books out there about how to become better with finances, how to invest, and how to be okay with talking about money.

Listed below are books that will teach you how to go from living tightly with money to retiring debt and being worry-free. There are many books out there for those wanting to learn about finances!

Retire Before Mom and Dad: The Simple Numbers Behind a Lifetime of Financial Freedom by Rob Berger

Retire Before Mom and Dad is a book that teaches you how to improve your financial future by using psychology, finance, and self-help concepts. This is a great book for those that are just beginning to get into the world of personal finance or those that want to learn more!

Rob Berger is a litigation attorney and the founder of popular personal finance and investing website.

Rob’s goal is to help people achieve financial freedom by helping them live a life free of financial stress and worry by teaching them about wealth and living financially free.

In Retire Before Mom and Dad, Rob writes about the difference between a Roth 401K and a Traditional 401K, the ins and outs of investing, how to retire debt-free, and how to successfully and carefully analyze long-term decisions.

His simple approach and clear writing will teach you how to become financially wise and efficient, as well as how to invest and self-help. This is a great book for those just getting started in the financial world, or those wanting to learn more!

When She Makes More by Farnoosh Torabi

In When She Makes More, Farnoosh Torabi teaches the reader how to deal with income imbalances in relationships, and how to help women manage these circumstances that can have negative impacts.

Today, there are more women than ever working as the household’s top earners. However, they face higher risks of burning out, depressions, infidelity, and even divorce. Farnoosh uses her real-life experiences to connect the reader on a personal level.

Sold as a physical book or an audiobook, Farnoosh Torabi outlines rules to help her readers learn how to address financial imbalances that can affect relationships negatively and how to become okay with talking about these problems.

In When She Makes More, readers will learn how to deal with changes in dating and marriage in society, how to know when to let your significant other lead, and how to allow your significant other to become a stay-at-home parent without making their life too easy.

Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry

Written for Millennials, Broke Millennial gives great insights on how to save money, handle student loan debt, negotiate a pay raise, and how to ‘adult’.

Erin gives humor and empathy a fun twist in Broke Millennials!

No one likes to think about money, especially when money is tight. In Broke Millennial, the reader will learn how to be okay with talking out loud about money and how to deal with it.

Described as refreshing and conversational, Erin relates to her audience in a way that will guide them to a path of financial wellness!

Written for Millennials, Erin doesn’t use boring language to talk about investing and credit card debt, but rather uses analogies to relate those topics to Tinder, dating, and marriage.

Erin even talks about how to manage student loans and what to do when your dining out with friends and can’t afford to split the bill.

Written by a millennial for a millennial, this is a must-read!

How I Invest My Money by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy

In How I Invest My Money, you will learn about 25 experts and how they invest, spend, save, and give their own money.

Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy will teach you there is no right or wrong way to use your money!

Joshua and Brian talked to 25 different financial experts, including financial advisors, portfolio managers, and venture capitalists, and have turned their stories into essays about their lives, families, struggles, and aspirations.

https://www.harriman-house.com/Howinvestmoney

How I Invest My Money describes how there is no right or wrong way to handle your money, but rather use these stories to teach the reader how to figure out what works best for them.

You will read about different perspectives on bonds, stocks, funds, charity, and other means of achieving the life you have always dreamed of. How I Invest My Money will also teach your how to create and keep a healthy relationship with money and your values.

Spend Well, Live Rich by Michelle Singletary

In Spend Well, Live Rich, Michelle Singletary teaches the reader how to support a family while living on a budget.

Michelle also teaches the reader that it’s okay to not feel bad about not spending.

Michelle Singletary was raised by Big Mama, her grandmother who made $13,000 a year. Big Mama was the one who taught Michelle the “7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life.”

These mantras include “If it’s on your a$$, it’s not an asset,” “Sweat the small stuff,” Keep it simple,” and “Priorities lead to prosperity.”

How to Analyze Your Financial Upbringing

Check out our article on analyzing your own financial upbringing.

In Spend Will, Live Rich, Michelle teaches the reader how to teach children the value of money, how to become comfortable talking about money in relationships, how to save money as a household, and how to look for and get the best loans for your situation.

Summary

There are many resources to help you become comfortable with finances.

By becoming comfortable with your finances, you can have conversations about money in your relationships, learn how to save money as a household, and become okay with saying no. Start your journey to financial freedom today!

Honest Review of Titan Invest | Pros and Cons

09.15.2021 by Harry //

With so many new investment options popping up, it comes as no surprise that you’re interested in learning more about auto investing services such as Titan Invest.

After reviewing the services they offer and researching their investment strategies, we’ve got the key details about Titan Invest that you’ll need to make an informed decision about investing with their company.

Titan Invest is an auto investing company, which means that you set parameters for the types of portfolios you’re interested in as investments.

Titan Invest Review: Pros, Cons, and What We Like

Then, the company makes the specific investment decisions for you. Typically, auto-investing companies have a much lower cost associated with an initial investment, and Titan Invest is no exception.

You can begin investing with Titan Invest for as little as $100.

Are Titan Invest’s Services Legitimate?

The short answer is yes. Titan Invest does offer legitimate services. That said, however, their strategies and fee structure may not be for everyone.

Because of the nature of the company’s services, many users do not understand how the investing process works.

What Are the Pros of Investing with Titan Invest?

There are many pros to using Titan Invest to help you choose your investment portfolio. Some of the best benefits that Titan Invest offers include but are not limited to the following:

Investors can choose the risk level where they are most comfortable—conservative, moderate, or aggressive
Choosing a portfolio type is simple with Titan Invest because they offer a simplified menu of just three portfolio profiles
Getting started is incredibly affordable at just $100
The company employees their own professional team of investment researchers that do in-depth research on all stock options before they are added to portfolios
Titan Invest’s fees are relatively low
They offer an easy-to-use phone app for Android and Apple users
Once you set up your investment preferences, you don’t have to do anything else, and you can let Titan Invest complete all of the research and adjustments for you

What Are the Cons of Investing with Titan Invest?

Every auto investment company has its downside as well, no matter how many benefits they offer. Here are some of the most important cons of choosing Titan Invest-

While their fees are relatively low, their rates are higher than similar companies
Investors have no access to financial advisors
Titan Invest does not offer any assistance with tax strategies to increase your earnings
There is no customer support phone line
You are trusting people you’ve never met to handle your money for you

What Strategies Does Titan Invest Use to Make You Money?

Titan Invest uses three simple portfolio profiles to make things as easy as possible for new investors.

Titan Flagship

This is the default option for new investors signing on with Titan Invest. It is comprised of 20 stocks with large caps.

Titan Offshore

This is a new portfolio type just released in the spring of 2021. It is comprised of between 15-25 international companies stock for those interested in markets outside of the US.

Titan Opportunities

This final portfolio option is focused on growth over time, like the default option. Unlike the default, however, it is comprised of 20 stocks with low to mid-caps.

These three portfolio profiles offer investors with little to no experience in the market the opportunity to get their feet wet.

So if you aren’t confident about making decisions about stock options just yet, but you are interested in dabbling in the market to see what it’s all about, Titan Invest is a reasonably good choice to start with.

With their incredibly low minimum investment amount of just $100, you have little to lose if it turns out that this type of investment isn’t for you.

How Does Titan Invest Compare to Other Auto Investors?

There are several companies in close competition with Titan Invest that offer similar services.

Here, we’ll compare Titan Invest with two other auto-investing companies so that you can get a better idea of how Titan Invest stacks up against other options available to you.

Identifying a company that you feel like you can trust with your financial livelihood is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll ever make.

So, take your time and read through the details of how the following companies compare to one another before you take the dive and start investing in stock portfolios.

Fee Comparisons

Titan Invest’s two main competitors are Betterment and SoFi.

Betterment offers a set rate of 0.25%
SoFi offers a default account option with a 100% free-to-use robo-investor program

With a 1% rate for accounts with a $10,000 or more balance, Titan Invest comes in just behind Betterment in terms of rates.

Account Minimums Comparisons

Titan Invest offers a very reasonable, low investment minimum of $100. However, their two main competitors have them beat here as well.

Both SoFi and Betterment offer account minimums of $0, meaning you can begin investing with any amount you wish, from a dollar up.

Why Should You Choose Titan Invest Over These Competitors?

While Titan Invest’s two main competitors do have an edge in the categories listed above, the benefits that Betterment and SoFi offer essentially stop there.

Both Betterment and SoFi have reputations for lousy service with their free minimum account options. Their services primarily focus on their paid-for investment opportunities, which have minimums of $100,000.

So, now that you know a little more about these popular auto investing companies, you can easily see that the services offered are very similar.

The details of how your money is handled and the fee structure are all reasonable but tailored to attract clients with different preferences.

Image credit:[KAROLINA GRABOWSKA]

Is a Franchise a Good Business Opportunity?

08.23.2021 by Harry //

Instead of starting their own business, entrepreneurs may become a franchisee. The franchisee buys the rights to the franchisor’s license and they can then operate under the franchise’s name and use their successful business model.

With a proven successful model, franchisees are already a step further than if they were to start their own business from scratch.

Each franchise opportunity is different. The prominent factors that determine if franchises are a good business opportunity are:

Franchise Fees
Brand Potential
Profitability
Commitment
Geographical Availability

Now, let’s look at each factor individually.

Franchise Fees

What is the initial investment?

Setting up a franchise requires fees and upfront costs.

Upfront costs are needed by the franchisee as part of an investment. Depending on the company, this number can vary from hundreds to millions of dollars.

Ongoing fees like royalty fees (also referred to as franchise management or service fees) require the franchisee to regularly pay the franchisor, which helps to cover the support services the franchisor provides.

Brand Potential

How seen is the brand?

Take McDonald’s for example. It is undeniable how seen they really are. With franchises all over the world, their success continues daily, but this impacts how much you must invest.

McDonald’s requires millions of dollars to open a franchise. Although investing in larger corporations like McDonald’s reaps many benefits, it may not be attainable for you.

https://www.franchisedirect.com/ultimate-guide-to-franchising/franchises-vs-business-opportunities/

If it is a smaller brand, the initial investment may be lower, but you need to think about the brand potential. How seen is the brand? Does it have room for scalability?

Profitability

How profitable is the brand?

If they’re not worth much, it may not be the best investment.

To help determine a business’s profitability, you can examine the following:

Unit Growth: How many franchises do they have? How many of these have opened recently?
Success Rate: How successful are the new franchises? Are they struggling or are they making a profit?
Financial Evidence: Does the franchisor have sufficient financial evidence? Does it prove their successes?

Commitment

Investing in a franchise isn’t like any other business investment. They require you to be fully committed, take part in vigorous training and work for up to 80 hours per week. This of course depends on the franchise, but if you aren’t committed, your franchise won’t grow.

https://investorjunkie.com/entrepreneurship/do-franchises-make-good-investments/

If you lack the time or business experience, you could become a silent partner if you have the capital to invest. You can team up with someone to oversee the franchise and you could reap most of the profits.

Geographical Availability

Franchises are more likely to profit if there aren’t many of them in a specific location. You should find out from your franchisor whether the geographical location that you have in mind is suitable. If not, you may have to reconsider your options.

Top 10 Franchises to Buy

McDonald’s
7-Eleven
Dunkin’ Donuts
The UPS Store
Popeye’s
Sonic Drive-In
Great Clips
Taco Bell
Kumon Math and Reading Centers
Sport Clips

The Positives of Franchising

Franchising means that you don’t have to do it alone. By operating under an already established brand, you can offer products and services that people already know and love whilst having access to their resources.

Here are some positives of franchising:

Training: Franchisees will have access to training programs and ongoing opportunities that will help the success of their franchise.
Support: Franchisees will receive support and professional advice from franchisors and a team of qualified staff to assist them when needed.
Advertising and Marketing: Franchisees will have access to marketing research and strategies that they consistently use throughout all their franchises. This will also help to reduce costs by having readily available resources.
Equipment: You can rent or buy equipment that you may need. Some franchises offer payment plans to their franchisees which makes costs more manageable.
Hiring and HR: Franchisors should have hiring guidelines in place which detail what they expect from employees. This should help you to find suitable employees for your franchise.

The Negatives of Franchising

Whilst there are fewer negatives for franchising, they’re big ones! Becoming part of a franchise means that you’re part of a specific culture, and if that’s not what you want, then it could be a massive turn-off for you.

Limited Freedom: Whilst you have the rights to their license, you still must operate under their requirements. They don’t wish for you to change their model but to adhere to it.
Fees and Expenses: It’s safe to say that becoming part of a franchise can be a little pricey. From upfront costs to regular fees, you may not be able to keep up with all the costs that are needed to secure or maintain the franchise. Whilst money is no object for some people, others may have to take out loans to support them.

Conclusion

Whether franchises are a good business opportunity relies heavily upon you and your situation. Arguably, it depends on your financial situation and whether you can afford the initial investment costs and the costs thereafter.

If you carefully consider all these factors and think that it’s the right decision for you, then go for it!

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