All The Simple Dollar

Trent Hamm shares his financial wisdom with these 10 simple rules: 

Retiring early and living off the interest of your investments is a marvelous goal, but it requires a tremendous amount of work and a fair number of difficult choices to make it there before retirement. Some people are willing to pursue it – others aren’t.

In most marriages, one spouse is the primary handler of family finances. This works to an extent, but relying solely on one spouse can increase financial risk. Both partners should be involved in financial decisions, Hamm explains.  

Yes, slow cookers save time, but where slow cookers secretly shine is in the amount of money they can save you. 

There are lots of reasons to avoid store-specific credit cards, including high interest rates and the heightened possibility of identity theft. But those drawbacks mainly apply to people who aren't already practicing good personal finance.  

Credit card companies offer different cards with a wide range of fees and benefits. Which card is right for you? Look at where you use your card and how much you spend, Hamm explains. 

Though 'Retail therapy' is a tempting way to deal with job and life stress, it's only a temporary solution and can worsen problems long-term. Instead, engage in healthy activities to de-stress, Hamm explains. 

Home ownership can be a great investment, but it's also a giant money and time pit, Hamm writes. Whether you decide to rent or own, make sure you think about it carefully.

Living on Ramen or doing a money-free weekend is something you can sustain for a short burst, but it’s also very valuable in terms of figuring out what you actually enjoy in your day to day life because it forces you into new experiences, Hamm writes. Sometimes new experiences, even under pressure, are just as good as the old ones.

People rarely have long tenures at a single company. With that in mind, it's important to harness a strong professional network and maintain updated resume, Hamm explains.

Credit cards create an illusion of wealth– a person with a salary of $40,000 can spend as if they're making $60,000 or $70,000. Be weary, Hamm warns, as this illusion cause financial distress later down the line. 

Good connections are important to building a career. But how does one build a network of professional connections? Hamm offers some advice. 

In personal finance and in life, setting an 'impossible' short-term or mid-term goal drives people to achieve something more than they would have ever believed that they could, Hamm writes.

The 'buy low, sell high' maxim is a tempting one to look at right now. Stocks are high, so is it time to sell? If you can move into something with less volatility and still achieve your financial goals, sell. If you can't, stay in, Hamm explains. 

Worrying about making the 'right' investment often prevents people from getting started on their investment. But the key thing is to start investing now and to contribute as much as you can, using frugality to your advantage, Hamm writes.

Many people live their lives aiming for a day in the far-off future when they feel settled in their finances, Hamm writes. What's your financial target, and how do you plan to get there?

Halloween offers parents an opportunity to teach their children to make better eating and purchasing decisions, Hamm writes.

A person with no dependents surely has a different financial strategy than a husband with three children. Hamm analyzes the differing rationales behind the financial decisions of a single man and a father. 

A lot of people freshly out of college face the difficulty of having more debts than assets, Hamm writes. The key to handling negative net worth is to focus on forward progress, not the overall total.

The only way to make money consistently online is to produce a lot of content on a very consistent basis, Hamm writes. You have to treat making money online like a second job.