Welcome
Average Joe Finance strives to aid everyone in taking control of their finances and build lasting wealth. The goal of this blog is to teach you how to master your finances by guiding you through the rapidly changing landscape of the 21st century.
You can read more about me and my mission here.
After spending countless hours building and further refining the site, I thought it would be a good idea to create a page that pulled everything together. This way new readers can quickly get up to speed with navigating the site and returning readers can easily find upcoming content.
The Road so Far
Cue Carry on Wayward Son. If you’re already a fan of Supernatural then you already know what I’m talking about. If not, then you’re welcome.
The idea for this blog started a few years ago. After graduating college and starting out on my own, I quickly became frustrated with the information available for managing my finances. Most of it was either extremely technical or it was written for previous generations. Written for a time when you could count on working at one or two jobs your entire career and then living comfortably on a pension and Social Security. But I wasn’t planning on working 30 years at one company and I definitely wasn’t banking on Social Security. Plus, I became interested in making money in addition to my full-time job. I was interested in all the different side hustles available thanks to new technologies and the sharing economy. So I set out to make a site that focused on the financial questions and issues that my generation faces on a daily basis. It took me a little while to finally get started, but it’s been an incredible experience thus far.
Categories
My philosophy for managing my finances is a three-step approach. Ultimately the goal of this approach is to build lasting wealth. This way you can retire comfortably at a reasonable age and be able to provide additional wealth for future generations (either your own or others through charity). The main categories of this blog are based on this approach.
First you need to save. This is a two pronged process. You can increase savings by either earning more or spending less. Ideally, you do both to supercharge your savings. Luckily for us, there are plenty of opportunities to increase savings today. The plethora of side hustles available makes it easy to use your skills to earn extra income. Also, as more and more content and service more to a digital format, their costs drop (take paying for Amazon Prime Video
Once you have a solid savings base, the next step is to invest. Investing can take many forms. You can invest in traditional stocks and bonds or you can invest in hard assets like real estate. Here again, the digital age provides more investment opportunities that didn’t exist even a decade ago.
If you want to invest in yourself, you can take online course at sites like Udemy or Lynda to learn a new skill. Or you can invest in startups or real estate ventures. No matter what you invest in, the important things are that you have a good understanding of the risks and potential return and that you take investing seriously. You worked hard for that cash, the last thing you want to do is lose it in a bad investment.
After you begin investing and you will start building a portfolio of income producing assets. Once this occurs, you began building lasting wealth. The income those assets produce can then be used to purchase more assets, thus compounding their returns. Once the income stream from your assets exceeds your expenses, you’ll become financially free and will have reached a level that most of the population doesn’t think is possible. But you know it’s possible, that’s why you are here. It’s going to take years of hard work and dedication, but you can do it.
All the other categories on the site are either off-chutes or support one of these three main categories.
Favorite Posts
If you are looking for a good place to start, these are some of my favorite posts so far.
Goal Setting
I’m a big fan of setting goals. Creating a list of goals is a great way to keep yourself accountable. I’ve also found that by breaking your goals down into smaller action steps, what seems like an impossible dream becomes much more manageable. If you’re ready to stop waiting and start taking action, then check out my 5 day goal setting process. Plus, you’ll get my goal setting worksheet.
Join the growing Average Joe Finance Community
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Contact Me
Have a topic you would love for me to cover? Want to tell me how much you love (or hate) the blog? Just want to say hi? Well feel free to contact me any time using the form below or on the Contact Page.
The Road Ahead
All this information is great, but what’s the future hold? I’m continually striving to find new and exciting ways to reach readers, so this section is a great way to discover what ideas I’m working on.
Book Club
I’m an avid reader and I believe that reading voraciously is a great way to get an edge when it comes to your finances. I can’t say how many books I’ve read overall, but I usually read 2-3 a month and I seem to have a never-ending list of books. One thing I’ve noticed is that often an idea in one book will build or expand on an idea from another one. Seeing these links and discussing how they can be used together is extremely valuable. One of my goals for the blog is to establish a book club, where I recommend and analyze a book for the community to read.
Behind the Scenes Information
After going through the process of creating this blog and seeing all the questions and issues I ran into, I see how valuable that knowledge can be. Thus, my plan is to be as open and honest as possible as to how I create and run this blog. I’ll share whatever tips and tricks I can, but if you have any specific questions just let me know.
Passive Income Series
Creating a robust passive income stream is a great wealth building tool. The problem seems to be that there are so many different choices. Should you start an Amazon FBA business? Maybe create your own online course? How about creating your own blog? The possibilities are endless, which makes them both a blessing and a curse. With so many options, it is difficult to know which one is right for you and how to start after you have decided. My goal with this series is to research and test out a side hustle then provide you with the results from start to finish. This way you can learn about the pros and cons of various options so you can spend less time researching and more time implementing.
Financial Analysis Tools
I love analyzing data. I’m not even sure if my love of spreadsheets and numbers led me to becoming an Accountant or vice versa. When it comes to your finances, being able to quickly and accurately make decisions is important. Am I saving enough each month for retirement? How much can I afford to pay for my next house? Is Apple or Google the better investment? These questions can be answered with one piece of data or another. As time goes on, I plan on building out various tools to help you with these and many other questions.
To Infinity and Beyond
Thank you for coming this far with me. It’s all of you awesome readers that make Average Joe Finance possible. I’ve learned a lot so far from all of you and hopefully you’ve taken something positive away as well. As time goes on, I’ll update this page, so check back every now and then to see what’s new.