The 1 question to ask about $1,300 in overdraft fees

May 16 17 Comments latest by Peggie

I was having breakfast with someone today who told me the most interesting story. He had been dating his girlfriend for two years before they talked about finances. “It took me that long to get her trust,” he said. She was a public school teacher, so she didn’t make that much money. When he looked at her finances, he noticed that she had a lot of overdraft fees. He asked her to guess how much she had spent in overdraft fees. “About $100 or $200?” she guessed.

It turns out that her overdraft fees totaled $1,300 in the last year.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. He didn’t freak out or start yelling about how to negotiate out of bank fees. He simply pointed out something very gently: “What if you could focus on your overdrafts? If you eliminated just that fee, you’d be so much better off.”

Not set up an entire investment plan and global asset allocation. Not create a fully automated system with multiple accounts and savings strategies. Just focus on one big problem.

Now the question is…what’s your one big problem?

(Mine is eating out too much.)

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17 Comments latest by Peggie

Links: Hilarious real-estate bubble seekers, investing yourself (not through a broker), clueless friends and asset allocation

May 8 11 Comments latest by Beth

Down to the last two weeks of my book manuscript, so things are going to be a little quiet around here. For now, here are some interesting links I’ve been reading.

Amazon book comments on a book titled Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?: The Boom Will Not Bust and Why Property Values Will Continue to Climb Through the End of the Decade - And How to Profit From Them. Sadly, this book was written by the former head economist of the National Association of Realtors. The 5-star reviews from 2005 are sad, hilarious, cheerleader-ish comments for the real-estate boom.

Story about someone who had to cut his brother off because he kept asking for money.

JLP shows how you can save TONS of money by investing yourself instead of paying a broker.

How women look for men who have their financial house in order. It is wildly misconstrued by clueless commenters who are determined to miss the point.

His friends insist that long-term investing is “boring” but then have improperly allocated portfolios. With good math examples. Remember, asset allocation is the most important part of your portfolio, not the individual investments you choose.

See all my links on my del.icio.us feed and twitter.com/ramit.

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11 Comments latest by Beth