Money Sleeve Tattoos For Men

Here's something a Wall Street whiz would never tell you: You could do his job—and be just as successful at it. The same rules that help him close billion-dollar deals can help you build a million-dollar retirement.

I've learned these tenets by spending the past two decades as a financial counselor, helping real people increase their supply of real money. I've watched the ebb and flow of the stock market, the emergence of the 401(k), the credit boom and crash. A lot of people lost a lot of money as the indexes gyrated, but not everybody. The people who avoided disaster did so by embracing a few simple ideas. Collectively, these maxims can mean the difference between the penthouse and the poorhouse.

In a perfect world, you'll adopt these rules while you're in your 20s, and stick to them till you die (rich). But even if you start in your 30s or 40s, you can still retire in style; you'll just have to follow the rules a little more, well, vigorously.

Turn the page for my favorite money principles. Make them a habit, and rest assured that your money won't give out before you do.

Be Paid What You're Worth

Maximum pay. You want it, and that's okay—you might even deserve it. Follow these rules and it's yours.

For starters, insist on a decent living.
What's decent? Princeton researchers recently put the figure at $75,000, but clearly it's higher on Manhattan Island than in Manhattan, Kansas. In real life, "decent" is a sum high enough to pay your mortgage or rent, invest in a family, put gas in a car that's not a clunker, eat what you want when you want to, and take an occasional vacation. Oh, yes, and to save at least 10 percent of whatever you're bringing in (including saving for retirement and college, and your emergency stash. More on these later.) Remember: Once you earn that decent living, making more money will not make you happy. But making less will make you miserable.

Know your true value.
Are you worth more than what you're earning today, or less? If you're not sure, that's a huge problem. If you're underearning, you're losing money every day you're not asking for more. If you're overpaid, you're ripe for the chopping block, and you'd better update your skills or improve your productivity. You can find salary information at sites like salary. com and monster.com. Better yet, ask a colleague at a competing firm, "What would someone with my skills be paid at your company?"

Spur competition for your services.
If you've been at your job more than a few years, chances are you're underpaid. According to consulting firm Aon Hewitt, 2009 was the leanest year for salary increases in 33 years, and 2010 was projected to be only slightly better. Who did receive a good raise? The guy who jumped ship. Someone else recognized his value. You can do the same, but note: This gambit works best if your last performance evaluation was stellar and if taking the new job is something you're actually willing to do. Then it's the best way on the planet to earn a raise.

Use the four most powerful words in any negotiation: "Can you do better?"
You're on the phone with the cable company, at the mechanic's having an oil change, talking to a mortgage guy about locking in a refinance rate. Don't commit—at least not until you ask, "Can you do better?" It's the perfect haggle. You sound as if you know there's wiggle room and you're willing to let him work his magic.

When it comes to job hunting, know when to settle for good enough.
When an opportunity seems good enough, take it. When Columbia University and Swarthmore College researchers surveyed job-hunting college seniors, they found that those who searched for perfection generally did land jobs paying 20 percent more. Unfortunately, they didn't like those jobs. That makes sense: If you're looking for the ultimate opportunity, then the one you eventually take can't help but fall short. The not-so-picky students were happier with their jobs. The same applies to any big purchase. Spend days searching for the best flat-screen TV and you'll always doubt your choice. Find one in a few hours that fits all your needs at a decent price? You're going to love it.

Save on a Schedule

The house, the even better house, your kids, your kids' education, their weddings, your days of relaxation, the legacy you leave. Life is expensive. Here's how to afford it.

Pay your savings first.
Every time you're paid, aim to save 10 percent of your gross earnings off the top. That means before you pay the bills and before you pull cash from the ATM. Fifteen percent is even better. Even if you can't hit 10 or 15 percent, make saving a habit. Every cent counts, no matter where it goes—your emergency fund, your retirement kitty, college savings accounts, your house fund. When those savings accumulate, you'll be inspired to set aside more.

You have more control over your nest egg than you realize.
Don't focus on stock market returns. You can't control them. What matters more is what you can control—the year you start saving, and the amount you save. How so? Say you invest $250 a month starting at age 25, earning a hypothetical 6 percent interest. By age 60 you'll have amassed almost $360,000. Now, let's say you wait until age 35 but put away 20 percent more ($300 a month) and earn 50 percent more (9 percent). You'd have about $340,000. The lesson: Maximize savings now!

It's easier to save if you know what you're saving for.
Immediate financial gains light up the reward centers in our brains; waiting for tomorrow, not so much. That's one reason people are so lousy at saving. You can make it easier on yourself by visualizing what you're saving for. It's not retirement—it's the condo on the slopes in Stowe.

Set the bar where you can clear it.
Another big reason people fail in their efforts to save: overly ambitious goals. Don't shoot to save $5,000 in a year; aim for $100 a week—and then find the money.

Know what your time is worth.
Figure out your hourly rate: Remove the last three zeros from your annual salary and divide the remaining number in half. Use this to decide when it's okay to hire others and which tasks aren't worth doing. Drive 15 minutes out of your way to save $3 on a tank of gas? Not worth it if you make more than $12 an hour.

Spend Less than You Make

Five years ago we were spending $1.01 for every dollar we earned. We're still feeling that debt hangover. Make sure it never happens again.

Cash is king.
You'll spend more if you pay with a credit card than with a debit card, more with a debit card than with cash, and more when carrying small denominations than big ones. Why? The big ones are psychologically tougher to part with. So stock your wallet with $100s, bag your lunch, and call it a day.

Good debt is cheaper.
Good debt puts a roof over your head, wheels below your feet, and a diploma on your wall. But the gray area between good debt and bad is wide enough to slide your new refrigerator through—because after all, you'll need a new fridge if the old one goes kaput. Try to use emergency savings to finance these purchases, and then replenish those coffers over time.

You're nothing but a number.
Your credit score is an important barometer of how responsible a human being you are. Protect your score—and qualify for lower interest rates—by paying your bills on time, not using more than 30 percent of your credit limit, not applying for new cards for the heck of it, and not closing cards even if you're not using them.

All debt is expensive.
When you take on new debt, even at 0 percent, you're making a commitment against your future income. What could you have done with the $379 a month you spent on the second car? Over a month, not much. But over 60 months?

Shop with a list.
Last year, 80 percent of Americans made impulse purchases. The average annual cost: nearly $500. That's rent. Or a car payment. Before you buy anything that isn't on your shopping list, ask yourself: Why am I doing this? You're in a bad mood? You had a fight with your girlfriend? Understanding your motivation may help you walk away.

Invest What You Don't Spend

Congratulations! You earn good money and you've treated it well. Now it's time for your money to start paying you back.

Build a boring portfolio.
Individual stocks and managed mutual funds are exciting. Index and exchange-traded funds are not. Why? With the latter type, a computer—not a Mercedes-driving fund manager—picks your investments. Index funds and ETFs strictly track a group of stocks that all have something in common—the S&P 500, for example. They move up and down slowly. (Think dirigible, not roller coaster.) But these funds are cheap to own, cheap to trade, and cheaper on taxes. That's why over the long run they largely outperform actively managed funds.

Automate.
There's a 50 percent chance you'll run out of money during retirement. Cut your odds: Automate your investment contributions, and increase your percentages with every pay raise. If you've never saved before and money's tight, start with 3 percent and then increase your contribution by 2 percent a year until you max out at around 15 percent, in your mid-30s. If you're approaching 40 and you still haven't started, you'll need to suck it up and supersave. Start with 10 percent until the pain subsides (it will!) and then ramp up to 15 percent. Just 20 years of contributions to a 401(k) trims your chances of running short of money to 20 percent.

Schedule an annual checkup.
Seven out of 10 investors don't rebalance their retirement plans every year. Why is this a problem? This year's winners are rarely next year's winners. Say you have 25 percent of your portfolio in international stocks, which are so hot that they make up a third of your portfolio's value at the end of the year. Do you really want a third of your nest egg riding on the economies of Eastern Europe? Move some of that money back into stocks, bonds, or even cash.

Realize that you stink at investing.
It's biology. Your brain's amygdala, which is responsible for emotions and fear, dreads losing money more than it enjoys making it. And so you hang onto tanking stocks way too long. The solution? Refer back to "Build a boring portfolio." Set it and forget it.

There is no financial aid for retirement.
Ideally, your fancy salary would fund retirement and college for your kids. Most parents' salaries can't. There's plenty of financial aid for college. So help your kids as much as you can, but not to the detriment of your own retirement. Otherwise you'll end up living with them, and that will suck.

Protect Yourself from Catastrophe

Bob Dylan knew it: A hard rain's a-gonna fall. Cover yourself.

If you can't afford to replace it, insure it.
If you can, don't. Likewise, if people are depending on you for your income and wouldn't be able to replace it if you died, buy term life insurance. If not, don't. Single people with no kids generally don't need life insurance.

Your heart will stop or the tumor will grow.
Think about the last person you know who was laid low by cancer or leveled by a heart attack. Not too hard to come up with an example, is it? And every year, you'll know more and more victims. This is why you must—even before 2014—buy health insurance, even if all you can afford is a high-deductible policy that covers only worst-case scenarios. Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States.

You must have four pieces of paper.
These are a living will (which tells a hospital whether you want life support); a health-care proxy (which gives someone the ability to make health-related decisions for you); a durable power of attorney for finances (which gives someone else the ability to handle your accounts and your money); and a will, because...

You'll die, but your money will live on.
It sucks to think about, but you must put your life in order for the people who love you. A will determines who gets your stuff and, if applicable, custody of your kids. You may also want a trust. This is a legal document that complements your will, ensuring that assets pass on smoothly. Trusts can also help your heirs avoid being hit with a tax bill. A bypass trust, for example, allows you and your spouse to pass down as much as $5 million tax-free. You may also want trusts for your kids so they don't inherit too much too soon. Often, they'll inherit from their parents in chunks—at ages 25, 30, and 35, for instance. The hope is that your irresponsible 25-year-old will have seen the light by 30. And who knows? Maybe your good planning can help instill good financial values in your son or daughter as well.

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