Headlines Making Noise: Keeping You Informed and Empowered 📝💡

In a recent interview with ET Now, investing legend Jim Rogers expressed that he is “extremely worried” about what lies ahead.

“The U.S. has not had a problem since 2008-2009, that’s the longest streak in American history. America, and the world, are long overdue for a problem,” Jim stated.

During the interview, Jim mentioned that he is in no hurry to put the cash he’s hoarding to work.

Also holding cash on the sidelines is well-known investor and multi-billionaire Warren Buffett. According to Berkshire’s latest quarterly report, the company is sitting on $224 billion of cash as of June 30, 2024.

Jim finished by saying if he were buying today (and he’s not) he’d be buying silver or agriculture.

Do you think we’re headed for another recession soon?

It’s Story Time 📖

I was 5 years old the first time I remember being told I had done something wrong.

I wanted a pin in the shape of a Canadian flag from a small convenience store, but my parents wouldn’t let me get it (it was $0.50).

So I decided it would be a good idea to steal it.

Minutes after leaving the store, I dropped it on the ground and said “look what I found!”.

My mom acted surprised at first and then asked “Alex, did you take that from the store?”

I immediately broke down in tears.

The worst part: my mom made me go back to the store and return it.

I was so embarrassed.

To this day, this story stands out as being one of the biggest lessons I’ve ever learned.

Because if you don’t learn from your mistakes, they’re worthless.

I can tell you with full certainty that I have never stolen a single thing since.

But enough about me.

Because I’m sure you’ve made a few mistakes during your time on this Earth.

Which is why today, we’re going to be covering 4 of the biggest financial mistakes you can make.

But first, a word from our sponsor…

The 4 Biggest Financial Mistakes You Can Make

1) Believing An Emergency Fund Is Fake News

For many of us, early adulthood is a period in our lives where money is tight and living becomes expensive.

The idea of building an emergency fund while living like this seems like such a ridiculous concept.

This is likely due to the belief that we must deposit a certain amount of money into our emergency funds every month, which doesn’t have to be the case.

In fact, throwing some spare change in there every month is more than enough.

For example, let’s say you can throw an extra $12 in your emergency fund every week.

After a year, you’ll have $624.

That doesn’t sound like a lot but imagine your dishwasher stops working.

New dishwashers can cost anywhere between $400 - $1,200 for a basic model.

Instead of having to put the cost of the new diswasher on your credit card, which may incur interest, you can pull from your emergency fund and use that money to cover the full amount or at least the majority of the cost.

That’s why emergency funds exist.

They also exist so that you don’t have to pull from your investments in times of emergency.

2) Carry Credit Card Debt

Credit cards can be a great weapon in your financial tool box.

But they can also turn against you if you don’t manage them properly.

Based on data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Census Bureau (based on 2024 and 2023 data respectively), each American household carries an average of around $8,674 in credit card debt in a year.

To make things worse, the median average credit card interest rate for August 2024 is 24.74%

This means if you make a minimum payment of $200/month against your credit card debt, it would take you 9 years and 3 months to fully pay off your balance.

The worst part is that you will need to pay a total of $22,009.02, of which $13,335.04 goes towards interest payments.

Paying down credit card debt is by no means an easy task, but it’s one of the best things you can do for your financial situation.

Imagine having to pay an extra $13,000 in interest cost, just because you decided that you could afford to buy that one thing on credit (when you couldn’t).

That’s one expensive purchase!

Don’t lose out on money because of poor management.

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What I like the most about this platform is the stock screener.

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Filter by:

• Payout ratio

• Revenue growth

• Dividend yield

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And more.

Also included is a projection tool. Put in your contribute amount per month, your expected rate of return and your financial goals, and Snowball will tell you exactly how long it will take you to get there.

Here’s a goal I have to reach $50,000 in dividend income (adjusted for inflation).

According to the projection tool, if I contribute $3,000/month at a 6% dividend growth rate and assuming an inflation rate of 3.5%, I should be able to get there in less than 20 years.

I have yet to find a better portfolio tracker than Snowball Analytics.

If you want to sign up, click here.

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3) Putting Off Retirement Savings

I get it, when you’re in your 20s or 30s, it’s hard to imagine yourself ever getting old.

And if we can’t imagine it, why even save for it?

Listen, I’m not mad at my 12 year old self who spent every waking minute playing Call of Duty, but I would have loved a kick in the ass butt at 18 years old to start contributing more to my investment accounts instead of blowing it all on take out food.

Not starting early enough can force you into “catch up mode”. And nobody likes playing catch up.

Think about it, if you’re playing catch up, you’ll need to allocate more money to your investments. Doing so, you’ll have less money to spend on your home, your vacations, your kids or whatever else you might spend your money on.

Playing catch up in your later years is not worth the stress that comes with it.

Will you live like royalty if you started investing 5 years earlier than you did?

Probably not. But you might have a bit more freedom. And freedom is what we’re all chasing.

4) Impulse Buying

Check out these stats:

• The average consumer spends $281.75 per month on impulse buys in 2024 for a projected total of $3,381.

• Also in 2024, the average consumer makes 9.75 impulse buys per month for an average of $28.90 each.

It’s so common that we don’t even notice we’re doing it.

Whatever the reason for our impulse purchases, emotional spending can completely destroy a budget.

Imagine how much different your bank account would look if you started limiting your impulse purchasers.

You may not be able to get ahold of this overnight, but here are some tips to controlling the urge:

• Create a monthly budget. Seeing where your money goes every month will keep you accountable.

• Think about the future. The money you spend today is money you could use on your kids educations, travelling the world, or paying off your house.

• Sleep on it. If you really want to buy something, sleep on it for 72 hours. Chances are you’ll realize you didn’t need it, you only wanted it.

See you in the next one!

Alex (The Dividend Dominator)
Founder and CEO of Dividend Domination Inc.
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