Fool.com: 6 Investing Lessons Learned [Commentary] September 29, 2003
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Matt Richey leaves us with some advice he has learned over the years. This is beneficial for anyone who wants to enter the stock market. Most people go in blindly, buying stocks they don’t really know much about. Matt emphasizes the importance of knowing details about the financial aspects of the company.

MSN Money – Are you on track to retire rich?

According to their charts, you could say I’m on track. The issue I have with this, however, is they use $1,000,000 at retirement as a goal. However, by the time I retire, due to inflation and to increasing life expectancies, $1,000,000 is not going to be enough to retire on.

I don’t think I could see myself fully retiring, anyway. It’s so far away from me, who knows whether I will want to stop working. If I am getting a great satisfaction from my job and I am still capable of doing it, I may not go until I am forced to, at which point I might just find another similar job. It’s too early to tell what I will want at that point of my life.

Building wealth, even with kids – Sep. 23, 2003

Some people say that it’s impossible to build wealth and have children. Others, like the author of this article, believe it is possible, but it requires some lifestyle adjustments.

“The way you get rich is moderation, moderation, moderation.”

Fool.com: Buying the Bubble? [Commentary] September 18, 2003

The author tackles with the question of whether there is a (national) housing bubble. He feels that there isn’t, but also notes that housing is not an investment. People should avoid thinking of it as one. It doesn’t provide income and any thoughts about future movement are purely speculation.

MSN Money – Is your degree worth $1 million—or worthless? – Saving for college

Find out which degrees and fields pay off, based on average amount spent obtaining the degree and average increase of lifetime salary. You’ll probably be happiest, though, if you don’t dig yourself deeply in debt for a field that traditionally doesn’t pay well. Make sure the size of your investment, in time and money, bears some relation to your eventual reward.

How rich are you compared to the richest people in the world? Find out here where you fall on the scale. Here’s a little diagram found deep within the website to give you an idea of how this is calculated. Read the rest of this article »

Fool.com: Is Your Cash Flow Normal?

The average family (statistically speaking, that is) in the United States earned $38,106 in 2001 after taxes were paid. The same average family spent $39,518, so if this trend continues, people will just grow deeper into debt.

The article breaks down that spending into several categories. See how you compare to the average American.

Inflation of expectations – Sep. 12, 2003

This article looks at consumption trends in home electronics, real estate, travel, cars and events, using the early 1960s as a reference for the current day. The author mentions an anti-consumerism movement and refers to the book, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf and the accompanying PBS special, Affluenza.