Be Financially Free , livre ebook

Marshall Cavendish International - Morten Strange

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

146 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Wouldn't it be great to be free from financial worries? To be able to live the life you choose instead of working your life away? You can achieve this if you understand how the economy works, how consumerism seduces you into debt, and how to use the tools at your disposal correctly. Financial independence is too important to let others manage it for you. Morten Strange, financial analyst, 'citizen economist' and naturalist, draws from his 50 years of experience through the 1973 oil crisis and various stock market crashes and economic recessions to show you how to manage your money so you can be financially free. He explains, in simple terms, the mechanics of financial products and types of investments such as savings, bonds, shares and property, and offers practical guidelines you can apply immediately. What sets this book apart is its focus on the current economy and the ominous direction that it is taking. While most analysts focus on short-term solutions, Be Financially Free takes a global view. In this time of impending ecological limits and the end of economic growth, what will you need to do to achieve - and protect - your financial independence in the long term?

Sujets

Personal finance

Informations

Publié par	Marshall Cavendish International
Date de parution	19 mai 2016
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9789814751780
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0550€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Be Financially Free

2016 Morten Strange and Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd
Published in 2016 by Marshall Cavendish Business
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: (65)6213 9300. Email: genref@sg.marshallcavendish.com
The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offices: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:
Name(s): Strange, Morten.
Title: Be financially free : how to become salary independent in today s economy / Morten Strange.
Description: Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Business, 2016.
Identifier(s): OCN 946967988 | eISBN: 978 981 4751 78 0
Subject(s): LCSH: Finance, Personal. | Investments.
Classification: DDC 332.024-dc23

Printed in Singapore by NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd
Contents

Preface
Retire at 30?
A lucky break
The key to financial freedom
Make more
Don t listen to them
A case study
Spend Less
Why would you spend less?
13 ways to spend less
The paradox of thrift
Five ways to grow your money
Interest in Economics
Is economics boring?
How wealth is created
From Adam Smith to Paul Krugman
Capitalism can set you free
A few macroeconomic concepts
Derivatives
What are they?
Use of derivatives
Derivative trading is zero-sum
Gambler s ruin
Are you gambling or investing?
Investing in Stuff
Commodities trading
Some microeconomics
The case of oil
And the case of gold
Gold in finance
Alternative investments
Should you or shouldn t you?
Bonds and Property
The fixed income market
Bonds - the basics
The power of compounding
A bit about yield
Fixed income products
Bond ratings and risks
Investing in bonds
Bonds then and now
How to buy
Financing a home
(Almost) always own your home
A second property?
REITs
Shares
A share of what?
In business we trust
Now you are an owner
How to find a wonderful business
Checking the annual report
Digging a bit deeper
Which stock to buy
The bigger picture
What s a good price?
More tools
Is technical analysis mumbo jumbo?
Getting Started
Shares - the way to go
Start your portfolio
Executing the trade
A bit about risk
Spread it your risk
Going international
Prediction is difficult
Mix It Up
The right mix of assets
ETFs (exchange traded funds)
Gone Fishin
Not so sure about insurance
What should you expect in return?
Learning from the big boys
Reality kicks in
What lies ahead
It s a Finite World
Are there limits to growth?
Shrinking returns
The skeptics are growing in numbers
Who benefits?
Lingering reluctance
Not all growth is good
Too much of a good thing
What will the limits look like?
The more the merrier?
Meanwhile, on the islands of prosperity
But technology will save us, right?
Get used to it
So What Can I Do?
Position yourself to win
The big picture
What did nature ever do for me?
There are alternatives
Vote with your wallet
A do-gooder s guide to investing
Ethical investing in practice
Find your own way
Enjoy Your Freedom
The great disconnect
How do you cope?
By the way, what happened to me?
Plan for your liberty
Pensions and annuities
When will I be free?
Keep going
Why this book
Notes
Glossary
Persons referred to
References
Preface
If there s a book you really want to read, but it hasn t been written yet, then you must write it. - TONI MORRISON
A few years ago I attended a lecture at the Singapore Botanic Gardens by Ashleigh Seow about tiger conservation in Malaysia. Ashleigh has a university degree from Australia in politics and economics, but he has reinvented himself as a naturalist. At the event he called himself a citizen scientist . He said that science was too important to be left to the scientists; we citizens had to participate.
I thought of that. I was a naturalist at the time; I published nature books. But I was getting more and more interested in finance and economics. So now, like Ashleigh, except the other way around, I have reinvented myself. Now I consider myself a citizen economist . Economics and finance is too important a subject to be left to the professionals.
I wrote this book for two reasons: To share with my friends and with the public in general my experience in finance, and to say to you, You can do it too! You can set yourself free - free from consumerism and financial worries, free to do what you really want. But it won t happen automatically. You have to understand how to do it and use the tools at your disposal correctly. In this book I show you how to do that. The final choice, how you want to prioritise, is up to you.
The other reason for the book is: I want to share the insights I have gained about our current economic situation. My experience with economics and social affairs goes back some 50 years - I actually vividly remember the oil crisis in 1973 and the stock market crash in 1987. Living through these events is different from studying them in a business course textbook (I have crammed a few of those too). Together with my interest in natural resources and the environment, I have come to the conclusion that all is not as it appears in the economy of today.
We are reaching some limits, and that is why I devote the longest chapter in the book, chapter 10 , to dealing with these limits. These limits have a direct bearing on your ability to become - and stay - financially free. I feel I have to share this material with others. It is amazing how these factors are consistently left out by mainstream financial analysts and political decision-makers. The facts are staring us in the face, but they are ignored by most. I urge you to take the time and study chapters 10 and 11 carefully. Armed with this new insight, you will be better equipped to protect yourself against the limits we are facing, to position yourself financially, and to gain your freedom from consumerism and economic worries.
Some practical matters: The monetary references here are mainly in , meaning US or USD. Where I refer to Singapore dollars, I will make that clear with S or SGD. Currently US 1 is about S 1.40. I don t cite every single statement I make; this is not an academic work and much of what I write is easily checked on the internet. For specific - possibly contested - assertions, I use a basic reference to the source. I also don t list every single person or book I refer to, so as not to clutter the material, but I do explain who and what most of them are, so that you can go on and explore in more detail if you like.
Before printing I showed the manuscript to a few people to get their input and their reaction - I thank them all, especially Dr Marc Faber, who allowed me to use his comments in the book.
On the television show MythBusters, two dudes in northern California test the validity of various myths suggested by the public. The myths are either busted, plausible or confirmed.
Here are some economic myths that we often hear:
You can make money by trading financial futures.
Higher GDP is good for everyone.
Population growth is positive for society.
Electric cars are good for the environment.
We will get back to economic growth soon.

All these statements are repeated incessantly by mainstream economists and financial commentators. But I will bust these myths. Sometimes it takes an outsider to see things clearly, a citizen economist. I will show you that financial futures and options trading is zero-sum, and only the trading platform is sure to make money; higher GDP is sometimes bad; population increase stifles development; electric cars are bad for the environment; and most importantly, economic growth as we know it cannot go on forever.
But there is one myth that I will confirm: You can make your money grow - if you invest in a good company of honest and hardworking people who provide a competitive product or service that others are willing to pay for. And by controlling your spending at the same time, you can soon be free forever. I will show you how to get there.
Good luck!
Morten Strange Singapore April 2016
Retire at 30?
There must be more to life than having everything! - MAURICE SENDAK
A lucky break
When I was 25 years old I lived in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Granite City, they called it - many of the old buildings downtown were built out of large solid stone blocks. People spoke with a funny accent, but they were always nice and I liked it there. I bought a small apartment on Jamaica Street. It was on the top floor and had slanting ceilings near the outer walls.
That was in 1978. I didn t spend that much time in the apartment, though. I worked offshore on the oil rigs and platforms in the North Sea. In betw