Wealthy Barber - Chapter Three intermission

Now, anyone who's been riveted by my ongoing Royston Notes version of the Wealthy Barber may wonder why I am choosing to have an intermission now, only two chapters in.

"Hurry up, I want to get rich!" I can hear you yell, some of you poised with a calculator and bank statement handy, waiting for me to distill the pearls of wisdom from this best-seller so you don't have to read it yourselves.

Slow down cowboys. Truthfully, Chapter 3 is boring as shit. It's about insurance and even I have to admit that trying to make any talk about insurance interesting is painfully hard. I've been trying to think of what to say in an entertaining way but uggg.. insurance. It's evil, like fake sugar evil. Sure, the argument can be made that, like cops, you will want it when you need it. Until then it just feels like you may as well burn your money that could be better spent investing. At least that's how I feel. I can guarantee I spent more on car insurance over my life than any amount I have had to pay out due to the accidents I have had.


And the amount of your payout isn't dependent on the length of time you have been paying. Of course, the catch is you can't immediately qualify for insurance the day before you get hit by a bus so in a way, insurance is much like buying lottery tickets. You will never win if you don't pony up. It's just a matter of timing the need for insurance right (like preferably 32 days before it is needed, minimum).

How does that help you get rich? Well, it doesn't. But it can lower your bills if you have payments to make, be it a mortgage or credit cards or even utility bills. Your death won't screw over the person left paying for the mortgage so there's that. Although you will still be dead.

But the Wealthy Barber tells us if you find the right insurance agent, they will get you the right insurance for your circumstances. So... just do that.

Hey... I just realized this isn't an intermission after all. It's my summary of Chapter three of the Wealthy Barber.

Man, I'm good... What I intended to write about was that I have skimming a lot of finance-related articles lately. And although we all want low-risk, high return investments (Get Rick Quickest), it's pretty much a crap shoot. For example, marijuana-related stocks had a couple field days before Christmas as everyone began to jump on that train. It even caused the stock markets to put a stop on all trading on certain companies as the price per share was rocketing. "Too volatile to continue trading" I think was the term.

So, if you bought at $3 a share of a MJ stock and cashed out when it was at $17, you laughed all the way to the next deal where you probably bought at $17 and finally sold at $3. The stock market is like that.

However, I found a great article that provides four GUARANTEED low-risk, high-return investments. You read that? GUARANTEED! And because I'm that kind of financial adviser, I am going to share them with you.

1 - Pay off your consumer debt.
You have a credit card, probably at 19.99%. Maybe you have a personal loan at 9%. It is very hard to get a comparable return on a low-risk investment portfolio that will get you anything over 5%. So, frame your thinking that your debt repayment is a return on investment. Consider your debts another form of taxes, only the less you owe, the less you are taxed. Then, that income you are no longer spending on interest payments can become the money you use to invest.  

2- Invest in your health 
Eat well, exercise, and relax. Smell the roses. You don't need a huge bank account to start down this path. And with good health comes good focus.

3- Invest in your friends and family
Improve your relationships, enjoy life. You only have one go on this merry-go-round so what better way to spend it than with the ones you love.

4- Invest in your own personal development
Pick up a new hobby, cross something off your bucket list, educate yourself on something that interests you (hey, like reading this blog!). Write down three ideas a day. Read a book.

Taking selfies of you taking selfies doesn't count as high-investment but
does count as low return. 

For the record, I didn't make these up but I really liked what the writer was selling. These type of investments are all guaranteed low-risk. You don't need to put large amounts of money into them. They will also give you a high rate of return as you find yourself, healthier, happier and smarter.

And when you are ready, you can start considering exactly what your real risk-tolerance is.

Next, Chapter four.