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What’s the most important financial concept?

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AUTHOR: Jonathan Clements on 5/14/2021
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Matt Morse
4 months ago

Specifically for investing…costs matter.

Ken Begley
4 months ago

You have to save big to have big money. Allocation will not make it by itself.

Wayne Koppa
6 months ago

Live within your means.

Kathy C
6 months ago

Living WELL below your means, get that emergency account established with 9 mos. of living costs, save for retirement as soon as you get a job!!!

emily wade adams
6 months ago

Spend less than you earn.

William Dorner
6 months ago

Bill D Learn why Compounding is so important. Learn the rule of 72. Get an interest bearing bank account at 10 years old and learn why the bank pays you interest. Since we are not all Buffett’s, learn why indexing is for us, and it is OK to set aside a small amount to buy your fav stock. At whatever age you start working, ALWAYS save something, in stocks, an IRA, think Roth, so you can came out ahead of inflation. Make sure to get your company’s FREE match to their limit. The key to a healthy financial life, is to start saving EARLY.

Klaatu
6 months ago

The time value of money.

Captain FI
1 year ago

that compound interest can rule your lifestyle, either for the better or the worse!

Jim Bowie
1 year ago

compound interest, understanding it tells you the future value of a dollar saved as well as the eventual cost of a dollar borrowed. It can work for you, or against you. Saving vs borrowing decisions can have long term consequences, yet it often is a simple binary decision.

Dennis Hurley
8 months ago
Reply to  Jim Bowie

And quantify compound interest using the “Rule of 72” for figuring out doubling times so that your children and grandchildren can quickly see the effect of their saving & investing, and spending decisions. This can easily be done in nominal dollars or in real (inflation adjusted) dollars.

Martin McCue
1 year ago

There are lots of great comments here. I’d add two I didn’t see.

The first and to me, the most important is understanding the TIME VALUE OF MONEY – understanding why a dollar tomorrow is never the same as a dollar today – and being able to calculate what the difference is with some simple formulas. This is the basis for understanding things like inflation, interest, depreciation, installment purchases and compounding, among others.

The second is to understand the concept of OPTIONS – not just the investing kind, but the recognition that most significant decisions in life involve options, and that there are pretty good tools for assessing them. The value of the options you choose can depend on factors like the level of uncertainty you face, the volatility of the situation, and the length of time you want to preserve your choices. The rules governing options apply to things like job offers, moves, significant purchases, educational choices, medical procedures, marriage choices and so much more!

Bruce Keller
1 year ago

Patience is THE virtue.

Seigo Tsujimoto
1 year ago

Compound interest

Kevin Thompson
2 years ago

It seems many of us agree on the impact of savings so I will not mention that. I would venture to add the ability to effectively leverage one’s assets. Savings will get you to square one, and to create wealth you need to effectively use leverage and rates to add in exponential growth on that asset.

Banks borrow for less than they lend, so I would say act like the bank. Yes I am aware you would need deposits (savings) first, and that has been palavered on this thread, but if we are talking about a financial concept, the effective use of rates and leverage has to be up there as well.

Last edited 2 years ago by Kevin Thompson
Kenneth Tobin
2 years ago

Index Investing-irrefutable by anyone

Kevin Thompson
2 years ago
Reply to  Kenneth Tobin

That is interesting. So are you saying if Buffett, Thiel, Tudor Jones, Lynch, etc.. would have just indexed they would be as wealthy? It just seems to me what was once good for the goose is no longer good for the gander while all the money was made on buying into corporations and owning good companies through fundamental investing. Yet, they say the average investor should index.

Look at Buffets holdings, yet they tell you to index.

Last edited 2 years ago by Kevin Thompson
John Wood
2 years ago
Reply to  Kevin Thompson

Buffet actually agrees with both of you gentlemen. He’s often said that savers with no particular expertise in valuing businesses will be well-served by indexing. He’s also said that, if you do know how to identify 3 or 4 excellent businesses, that’s all you need to create appreciable wealth (and he and Charlie Munger have certainly proved that with Berkshire).

Jeff
3 years ago

Pay yourself first, live below your means, educate yourself about all things finance.

Jerry Pinkard
3 years ago

Live within your means. Regardless of your income this is most important and is essential to apply other financial concepts as well.

Don Southworth
3 years ago

Give away at least 10%, save at least 10% and live on what’s left.

baldscreen
2 years ago
Reply to  Don Southworth

Totally agree with this. I don’t normally comment on these questions, but came here to say, and Don beat me to it. Along the same line, as Christians, my spouse and I believe God owns it all and we are just the stewards of what He has given us.

Mike Drak
3 years ago

I’m a big believer in the F.I.R.E. concept other than the R.E. part.

Philip Stein
3 years ago

If we confine our discussion to personal finance, I would claim saving is the most important concept.

If we’re unable to live below our means and save money, we will have no money to invest and a bleak financial future. From my perspective, everything else pales in comparison.

Curiously, the inability to save isn’t restricted to people with low incomes. The book “The Millionaire Next Door” provides examples of people with high incomes who, due to lavish living, have little net worth. You don’t have to be a humble wage earner to fall into this trap.

Roboticus Aquarius
3 years ago
Reply to  Philip Stein

+1. In my experience, the propensity to save has little to do with your salary in the sense that a lot of wealthier people have no money sense, they simply make enough that their mistakes have fewer consequences… and the only thing that stops a lot of poor people from saving is the need to spend the income they do have on necessities. Money is an artificial concept, and because of that I believe the truth is that a large number of people of all incomes and ages and backgrounds make very poor money choices.

Bob Wilmes
3 years ago

Luca Pacioli was the Venetian monk who invented double entry accounting (and also taught math to Leonardo de Vinci). This is the most critical financial concept to understand.

Until you understand simple accounting you will never understand how assets equal liabilities plus equity, that is needed to understand what is the value of an investment is.

OUTinMinnesota
3 years ago

What you don’t measure, you don’t control.

What successful business operates without a budget… and absolute confidence that they’ll never run out of money?

Roboticus Aquarius
3 years ago
Reply to  OUTinMinnesota

Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy California is a good example that. The guy who founded it was visionary who had made a lot of money in the grocery business… but he tried to run it without standard financial controls and ended up having to sell it. It’s now called Gilroy Gardens and it’s owned by the city. It’s a wonderful place to bring young children, and i think it’s the only amusement park I routinely left more relaxed than when I entered.

Roboticus Aquarius
3 years ago

The most important concept imho is automation.

Automation allows everything to happen without you having to manage it, which means you are free to do more valuable things with your time. Retirement savings, insurance, debt reduction (or avoidance) can all be put on autopilot, making you free to chase your interests and/or earning power. Automation also allows you to decide which goals are important to you and to prioritize those goals. This means that you are making progress towards your goals while you simply focus on the details of life.

Richard Gore
3 years ago

I’m going to agree with Albert Einstein and say ‘Compound interest.’

This is one reason why the legacy of slavery, followed by Jim Crow, and the theft of Native Americans’ land should be addressed.

Ronnie Rawls
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Gore

I’m just going to concur with most important financial concept being Compound Interest. I saw a chart once that showed how investing the max in your IRA over the first six years (then stopping) would result in just about the same total after 30 years (I think) as starting to invest the max beginning in the seventh year and continuing for the next 23. This was years ago when the max contribution was only $2K, but it really got my attention. Imagine putting in only $12K over six years early on vs. putting in $48K over 24 years later, then ending up with almost the same total at the end (within a few $K). I was floored — and absolutely convinced. MAGIC! BTW, I held onto that article with the chart and shared it with many youngsters for several years before I lost it, and I think it made impressions on many.

Mike Zaccardi
3 years ago

As Carl Richards says, “The entire purpose of financial planning is to align your use of capital with what‘s important to you.”

Of course, compounding interest and returns is important – being on the right side of it makes the world of difference.

Not being afraid to upgrade your life a little bit when your financial situation improves is OK! Lifestyle creep gets a bad rap, but isn’t that the point? You want to better your life and have more fun when you can. You just have to be sure to keep up your saving at all times.

Catherine
3 years ago

Know what you care about, and save for the inevitable rainy day, so that unexpected circumstances will interfere less with living according to your values.

R Quinn
3 years ago

Save as much as you can as early as possible and save regularly no matter what.

Andrew Forsythe
3 years ago

Spend less than you earn, invest the rest, and start early in life!

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