November 2015 - Gen Y Finance Guy

Savings Rate – The Most Important Variable to Wealth Building, With the Math to Prove it

Gen Y Finance Guy November 30, 2015 Financial Analysis, Financial Freedom 38 Comments

When it comes to wealth building, there are many variables to consider: the power of compounding is amazing, but it takes a long time to realize its true power. Income earning is certainly important, and so is its sister, annual income growth. Taxes paid matter. Time in the market is important, too, of course. Investment returns, which are the glittery objects that many people focus lots of energy on, do matter, despite the fact that you have absolutely no control over them. And then there’s how much you save. But which variable matters most? As I have stated in my monthly financial reports many times, it’s the rate of savings that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. This is especially true in …

[Guest Post] Making Changes is Hard [Part 1 of 3]

Gen Y Finance Guy November 23, 2015 General Information 22 Comments

Today, we have the return of Mr. CEO after a multi-month hiatus. He had to step away from the blog for a while because of work, family, and other obligations. Today we take a short break from the normal financial post (although that does get honorable mention at the end). Mr. CEO is going to pour out what he has been struggling with a bit lately. This is his first attempt to make the changes he wants/needs to make in his life. We all have or have had struggles in our lives. And will have struggles in the future. That’s just a part of life! Without further ado here is one real person to another… Step your Game up Mr. …

[Guest Post] Freedom Fighter Interview #19 – Michael @ Financially Alert

Gen Y Finance Guy November 16, 2015 Freedom Fighter, Interview 17 Comments

Today we have our 19th Freedom Fighter interview in this series. Our guest today started an IT services company a couple years out of school that he and his partners grew to over $2M in annual revenues. After 10 years running his own business they decided to sell it for a sum that earned each partner a 10 year compounded return of 69%. Each partner put in $2,000 initially to get the business going and besides the income they enjoyed while running the company they turned that initial investment to $380,000 (each). After selling his company in 2012, Michael, stayed on the payroll for a while until negotiating a severance package to retire early and be home for his new …

Solar Power – Getting Paid $4,500 to Go Solar – With a 23% IRR to Boot

Gen Y Finance Guy November 10, 2015 Financial Analysis 27 Comments

Since buying our house in 2014, I have always been interested in going Solar. Living in Southern California means you have likely had at least a dozen or more Solar representatives come to your door. Our usage for a 3,300 sqft house is much lower than most in the neighborhood and I had always assumed that going Solar would not pencil. The typical conversation would go something like this (in 2014 during our first summer in the house): Solar Guy: Is the home owner available? Me: Yes, I am the home owner. How can I help you? Solar Guy: Have you ever considered going Solar? Because we have a killer deal going on right now… Me: I would love to go Solar, but I …

[Guest Post] Freedom Fighter Interview #18 – Matt @ Your Roaring Twenties

Gen Y Finance Guy November 5, 2015 Freedom Fighter, Interview 5 Comments

Today we have our 18th Freedom Fighter interview in this series. The 2009 financial crisis motivated our guest Matt to devour blog, books, and podcasts on the topic of personal finance. He recently published a book called “Your Roaring Twenties: Avoid the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Life as a Twentysomething.” This book really came as a result of a conversation he had with some friends that had absolutely no clue about 401k’s, tax deductions, or investing. But I will let Matt tell you all about his story in his interview below… Who are you and what do you do? What is your story? How are you fighting for your Freedom? Where did you start, where in the journey are you, and where do you …

October 2015 – Detailed Financial Report #10 – Net Worth $301,788 [+66.4% YTD]

Gen Y Finance Guy November 2, 2015 Monthly Financial Reports 23 Comments

GYFG here checking in for the October monthly financial report. If you have been reading these reports for a while you will notice that I introduce each month with the same intro month after month. I do this for two reasons, a) for the newbies to the site (which make up about 50% of the sites traffic) and b) to remind everyone what these reports are all about. By all means if you have read the intro at least once, then please feel free to skip down to the “Summary of October 2015” section where the new content begins (click the orange link to be taken there automatically). For those of you that are new around this corner of the internet, …