Finance Archives - Page 3 of 3

Move Slower: How To Deal With the Fastness of Life

February 13, 2018September 17, 2023 Nik

In investing, there’s this idea of a backdoor play.

For example, in 2014, Facebook announced it was going to use satellites, drones, and lasers, to bring the internet to the unconnected. Now, instead of buying Facebook stock and hoping they would succeed, you could’ve tried to figure out who they’d get the equipment from and buy their stock. Because even if Facebook failed, they’d purchase a lot of parts in the process.

In that sense, one of the best backdoor plays on cryptocurrencies must have been Twitter. The stock is up 100% year to date, partly because the platform dominates the crypto discussion.

…and that’s only half the all-time high.

While there is a lot of noise around this heated topic, a few clear voices stand out. Like Luke Martin, who’s amassed close to 150,000 followers in less than 8 months. One of Luke’s core ideas is to move slower with your investments.

Success Has Nothing To Do With Self-Improvement

October 6, 2017September 17, 2023 Nik

Tʜɘ ɔloƨɘɿ you looʞ, ƚʜɘ lɘƨƨ you ƨɘɘ.

Charles Bukowski was born about two hours from where I grew up, in Andernach. Sadly, his resting place is a slightly longer trip, for it holds the bigger lesson, chiseled into his tombstone.

“Don’t try.” In the first chapter of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Mark Manson decodes some of the hidden meaning of Bukowski’s final message:

If You Secretly Dream About Being a Billionaire, This Is For You

August 2, 2017September 17, 2023 Nik

I was raised with a lot of privilege. I’m not trying to deny it. But you know what the massive side dish is that comes with privilege? Delusion. You always expect more food to magically appear on your plate, without so much as leaving the table.

One of the most common, yet most dangerous illusions my generation secretly indulges in is the idea of becoming a billionaire.

Go ahead. Feel it. Deep down. It’s there.

“I’ll become a billionaire.”

As if it was just a matter of when. If you just felt a slight tingle, I have a few questions for you. Questions for future billionaires.

You Still Have Time To Make 2017 The Best Year Of Your Life

April 28, 2017June 15, 2021 Nik

13 Ways to Get Your Grip On Life Back

With each passing year, I find more and more truth in this:

“The days are long, but the years are short.” — Gretchen Rubin

It’s that time of the year again. Tax day’s got you throwing your hands up in frustration, your New Year’s resolutions have long vaporized into thin air and you feel like your hold on 2017 is getting weaker and weaker.

I’m here to tell you: You still have time. Read More

Return On Time: Why No Income Is Passive

April 21, 2017June 15, 2021 Nik

You know how sometimes, within a few seconds, an idea you had taken as true for decades is shattered to pieces? For example, when I was little, my dad told me the glass windows in churches were thicker at the bottom, because glass was actually a liquid. Just last week I told this to a friend. Well, two minutes ago, this false belief burst.

Some of these urban myths are more pervasive than others. Occasionally, even more people will fall for the lie than stumble into the truth. I think passive income might be one of those extreme cases.

Today, we’ll debunk this concept, and replace it with a better one.

Which Skills Have the Highest Hourly Pay?

April 2, 2017September 17, 2023 Nik

Meet Charles Proteus Steinmetz.

Charles was a German-born, American mathematician, electrical engineer, who spent most of his life in Schenectady, New York, as a professor at Union College.

You can thank him for the thing we all most depend on in life: Electricity.

Charles helped shape the development of alternating current (AC), and is the reason you can plug your toaster, blender, TV or lamps into the sockets on your wall.

As soon as General Electric got word of this little (he was indeed just 4 feet tall) genius’s work in New York, they bought out the company he worked for in 1892, and with it, the man’s expertise.

In 1965, a Life magazine reader, Jack B. Scott, wrote in to tell the story of an encounter his father had made with the so-called “Wizard of Schenectady” at Henry Ford’s River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan.

Ford’s engineers had a problem they couldn’t fix, and so Steinmetz went down there on behalf of GE. Here’s the excerpt from Smithsonian Magazine:

Investing For Millennials: How To Really Go For Financial Freedom

March 17, 2017June 15, 2021 Nik

Last week I accused my fellow millennials of not preparing for their financial future. But pointing fingers is easy. So this week, we’ll do something about it. In fact, I have been doing something about it for quite some time.

I started investing 25%+ of my monthly income in January 2015, and have since been growing my money at just under 7% compound annual growth rate.

But I never could’ve done it without the advice of several personal finance books, which are what I’ll draw on this week to present to you: my guide for investing for millennials. I think this is one of the most practical approaches to reach financial freedom.

Of course this isn’t just for millennials, but it does help if you have time on your side. When I look at how I’ve gotten to the point I’m at right now, it breaks down into seven steps:

Let’s walk through them.

How to Come Up With REAL Startup Ideas

February 12, 2017December 31, 2023 Nik

“Fruit salad!”

I had to blink a couple times. She couldn’t possibly be serious, could she?

“What do you mean, ‘fruit salad?’”

“I want to create a fruit salad brand. The best one ever! You know, I want to become the Hershey’s of fruit salad!”

My roommate and I were attending a startup event at a reputable VC fund in Munich. Free food, free booze and more hot air than in Richard Branson’s balloon, most of which came straight from the founders’ mouths.

The Most Important Thing to Do in Your 20s

February 4, 2017September 25, 2023 Nik

Learning how to pay for your own shit. You’ve spent enough time sponging off your parents. It’s time to start living in the real world.

One of my biggest “I wish’s” is “I wish my parents had forced me to take a job when I was younger.” I never had to work for anything growing up. If I wanted an Xbox, I could just wish for money for Christmas or my birthday and boom, there it was.

It’s not that I was horrible with money – I knew it was limited in supply. But I had no idea just how limited.

One time I remember trying to get a paper route. It would have meant delivering papers for 8 hours a day, twice a week – for 200 bucks a month. That’s a little over $3/hour for hard, manual labor.

In the end, my parents told me not to take it. I wish I had. Because after that, I would’ve learned an incredible valuable lesson: It’s fucking hard to make 200 bucks. And I never want to do it this way again.

The 5 Most Powerful Questions Every 20-Something Should Ask Themselves

February 3, 2017January 1, 2024 Nik

It was a random moment. Not one you’d celebrate. Or even notice, for that matter.

I was walking along the sidewalk, like every day. Morning snack from the bakery in hand, headphones in my ear, Kygo playing on repeat.

Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks.

*Ping!*

The insight hit me like a stun grenade. I actually had to step aside, into a little alleyway, so people could pass me by.

“You will never figure out life. There will never be an end to all the questions. You’ll just get better at dealing with them and learn to do it faster.”

Category: Finance