WHAT ARE WE LEARNING ABOUT MONEY FROM THE CURRENT CRISIS? The truths of so many of Tom's lessons that you ignored are now obvious. How can we remake our financial lives so we don't make the same mistakes after things get back to normal? Also, should you be investing now when things are awful? WWWBD? (What would Warren Buffett do?)
This piece from The Motley Fool offers thoughts about investing in bad times from billionaire Warren Buffett.
Tom's room at 3 Denise Court in Selden, New York and the window that froze over.
Got money questions or comments? Tom wants to hear them: tom@blowmeuptom.com.
HOUR 1
Comments
Married People
Fuck them them married fuckers, they gonna get divorced during home quarantine lockdown and they will feel the real love then!
Great Advice Tom
I followed your advice Tom. Not only do I have an "F.U. Fund" but I also have a rainy day fund that is well stocked. I also have a Costco account. Their price for 87 octane is currently $1.39/Gal in my city. On top of that, I just received a $60 Costco Shop card in the mail for signing up for the Costco Visa CC. Thank you so much Tom.
I'm so proud!
Congrats on all your success!
Tom
I Started Out Poor, Too...
God, the second you mentioned carnation dried powdered milk... *shudder* I know exactly what that shit tastes like. I've been there. There was a time when I was living off of cup noodle and baked beans, for chrissakes. Shitty lunch meat sliced wafer thin for a sandwich, like that Carl Buddig "roast beef" bullshit. Going to Aldi, because I couldn't afford shit - - even though their bread was cheap and other stuff there. Chicken/Turkey hotdogs, ugh. That kind of shit.
Luck favors the prepared. And after all that shit I became focused on building my wealth. I think you're right, being poor leaves a lasting imprint. It made me want to do better.
Hope you get a chance to watch that "Pontypool" movie, I'd love to hear your feedback.
A long episode ! FINALLY
I was one of the few who listed to you 3 hours a day tom.
Thanks TOM
THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT EPISODE!
I am living fully paid off life. Co-worker jag off; Mr. "you should refinance & buy rental property" ain't soundin' so smug now! My "eff you" fund, and a lead spittin' "Teddy Bear" are keeping me oh so warm at night. I always tell my friends that I never felt like a "grown up" until I was completely out of debt/ living in paid off house. ALSO, people used to joke about me always fixing up used cars to drive, (and not being into :"show offy" luxury cars). Feels better to me in these hard times rolling in a low key car now, not an "in your face" chrome donkey of a high end luxury car. My mother got a degree in, and taught "HOME ECONOMICS", so I grew up living all the frugality tips that AMERICANS USED TO TEACH THEIR KIDS, ESPECIALLY THEIR DAUGHTERS(good luck trying to get todays fussy spoiled loud sassy American woman to be frugal)!!!!! Powdered milk? oh yeah, still tasted shitty even after they included that "kiss of cream"! I always tried to get it as cold as possible, to make it more palatable. Meat loaf with more loaf than meat? Yep! Cigar boxes and jars with buttons, misc. screws, nuts, bolts, anything needed to fix house stuff were all lined up on our shelves! My Parents had skilled careers, but were always frugal. They always shopped for months for the most highly rated( always swore by CONSUMER REPORTS!) compact car. They let me know that the NOUVEAU RICHE lifestyle was a trap for foolish spendthrifts. My parents' parents were scorched by the privations of the great depression. "Protestant Thrift" was not just a saying. It was LIFE AND DEATH. My cousins' bougie female friend asked me when I was going to "settle down" and "find someone". I said I didn't feel like losing my house and end up living in an old RV by the warehouse district in Oakland(while still paying mortgage on the house ex wife would live in). Blew her mind by dropping the irrefutable Leykis self presevational knowledge on her!! She was stunned that I had "looked behind the curtain" of the female life strategy and fortified myself with walls and shields against that shit! Tom, I kneel in reverence to you for the sacred gift of knowledge you have bestowed upon us...
A PROUD (AND THANKFUL) LONGTIME SP1
So glad you liked it!
Congratulations on all your success!
Tom
I've got 10 years of expenses...
The global pandemic couldn't have come at a better time for me.
After 15 years of slogging & saving, I've now got 10 years of living expenses in cash, *plus* about four times that amount in the index fund.
If the stock market drops, I can live of cash until I get work. If/when the stock market goes up, I can live off dividends/distributions until I get work.
Funny thing is, I'm still employed, so I'm hanging onto this job for dear life so I can invest the income in cheap index fund units!
Tom, your advice over multiple decades has saved my life! Thank you!
Check Out This Study -- Most Americans Are Nearly Broke
https://zety.com/blog/living-without-pay
Scroll down to the charts -- a shocking 24% have savings for 1 - 3 months of no pay, while only 4% had a full 12 months that Tom advises people save.
Its going to get bad out there the longer this goes on...
I'm winning, so far.
I already had a fuck-you fund before I started listening, and since then it's more than doubled. I drive a zippy little Ford Fusion that gets 28 miles to the gallon and just started doing basic maintenance on it myself. Never carried a solitary cent in credit card debt. I'll admit I didn't follow the risk-tolerance investing advice but I'm young enough that keeping risk high and riding the waves is the best thing to do right now, and I'm smart enough to not have so much of my wealth tied up in the market that my standard of living depends on what stocks are doing. The virus is the least of my worries right now. The thing that I'm actually stressed about is that my essential job has me pulling double duty while the rest of the world is complaining about having too much time off.
Episode April 10
On point as always Professor