a blurb about investments

I should preface this post by stating that I am in no way responsible or for how you choose to invest your money. That said, today I sold my remaining taxable mutual funds, to help pay off my student loans (yay, i’m officially debt free!). Not touching my retirement accounts though. Cashing out now after months of crawling back to close to pre-financial crisis levels is pretty much a no-brainer, considering that student loans these days have a higher interest rate (4.5-7%) than stock returns on average.

My investment philosophy for the most part hasn’t changed much. If I had more dough, I’d still be continuing with my passive investment approach (i.e., buying mostly index mutual funds w/ low fees). However, at this stage in my life, cash is king and I believe there are better types of investments out there. I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that the behavior of the stock market is out of one’s control. I’d rather invest in things that I have more control over. Such as Formal education, furthering one’s skills, or learning a new trade. Ironically, this is coming from someone who was initially skeptical about the value of graduate school just two years earlier. Now two years wiser, I believe that while one’s still young, the best investment one can make is to invest in him or herself (and others too). Go back to school and get an advanced degree/degree or learn new skills to make yourself more competitive out there on the job market. Don’t believe the hogwash about buying a house to make money (it depends on one’s financial situation and opportunity costs) or your prospects of beating the stock market. Go get better and try to help others along the way.

new philosophy on grocery shopping

Until recently, I’d usually go for the cheaper food item at the supermarket (except for chocolates). Heck, who doesn’t want to save money? However, I found that while this strategy may work for non-food items such as shampoos, deodorants, and personal care products, going for the cheaper products usually costs more in the long run, assuming that the level of disposable income remains the same. A lot of the cheaper items are probably worse for you-healthwise–than the more expensive products, for the most part. For instance, the cheapest TV dinners probably cost less than $1. One that comes to mind is the Banquet Fried Chicken Dinners. Before you know it, you end up buying like 5 to 10 of these (I say 10 only because your freezer probably can’t hold much more than that). When you’re hungry, you’re reminded of what a great deal you got the TV dinners for, so in the back of your mind, you’re open to the possibility of eating even 2 of these TV dinners at a time, or having one for a midnight snack.

Or consider the issue with spaghetti sauces and pastas. You can go for the ultra-cheapo brands such as Ragu or Prego, or the mid-tier Classico and Newman’s,…yes, good bang for the buck, but like the cheap TV dinner example, you’ll be tempted to buy more sauces at a time and you’ll soon be eating spaghetti every other night (your waist won’t exactly thank you for that). Instead, I found that if I buy the premium stuff that goes for uprwards of $9 a jar such as Rao’s or the overpriced organic stuff, then, you’re less likely to go crazy and buy multiple jars at a time. Again, while it may cost you more upfront (and thus, may prevent you from overeating), you’re actually saving more by keeping your body in better shape, which will likely prevent your medical costs from getting high down the road.

Before, I would envy those who had a cartload full of snacks, hamburger helpers, and other artery-clogging munchies and wonder how their bill only came out to $60. Until I saw the figure of the person pushing the cart. I still maintain more or less the same weekly budget for groceries and eating out. However, with the higher prices of healthier foods, I’ll probably end up buying smaller quantities and therefore, eat less.

Note: The above only works if you minimize consumption of carbonated beverages and guilt-inducing foods such as ice cream and chocolates.