The US Securities and Exchange Commission has recently made available the online Financial Explorer which offers “interactive data pinpoints of all the facts and figures trapped inside dense financial documents”. The Financial Explorer provides an overview of a public company’s recent SEC filings and reports, information from the balance sheet, statement of income, and statement of cash flows.
The highly visual interface with graphs and diagrams gives you a nice summary view of a company’s reports. In addition, the Financial Explorer allows you to compare financial data over time. As they say on their home page … “however you wish to slice and dice the data.” Three word summary: Very cool tool.
These two statements mean the same thing and doing them will accomplish the same result. However, they approach sound financial management from two different directions. They are, so to speak, two sides of the same coin.
Spend less than you earn.
This is about controlling your expenditures. If you earn $2,000 per month, do not spend more than $2,000 per month. Reducing expenditures may not be easy, but many people can do it if they are willing to give up something that is not necessary.
Some call this the “latte factor” and they encourage people to identify the daily latte in their lives and then give it up. Of course, if you drink a $4.00 latte every workday and quit it, you’ll save about $80.00 a month if you work 5 days a week. And while that $80 can be helpful, there are other important ways to reduce expenditures.
Did you recently pay off your vehicle? Unless it’s literally falling apart, consider going a year without buying a new one. Save $400 a month on car payments instead. That’s $4,800 per year you’ll save. So, what if it needs new brakes? Spend a few hundred on a new brake job and you’ve still saved $4,500 a year by not buying a new vehicle.
Earn more than you spend.
Here’s the flip side of the coin. Once you’ve pared your expenditures to what you actually need, the other variable in the equation is income.
Think of ways you can increase your income. Stuck in a dead end job? Hang onto it while you search for another with a higher salary. Have a hobby that you enjoy so much you can’t stop? Find a way for it to provide income for you? Have too much stuff? Sell it!
The two sides of the coin of sound financial management are to spend less than you earn and to earn more than you spend. It’s basic, but too many see only one side of the coin and miss out on opportunities to reduce their financial stress.
Scott Adams is famous for the Dilbert® comic. His perspective on the world of work is funny because we all recognize the office dynamics portrayed by his characters.
However, in addition to cartoons, Scott Adams should probably be just as famous for his financial advice. He’s spot on and cuts straight to the important fundamentals.
"Buy American" is a phrase one doesn’t hear very often these days. Not like in the past. When I was a child television commercials encouraged consumers to "Buy American." I haven’t seen the commercial in a long time.
The "Buy American" concept was once so important that it became law. The Buy American Act of 1933 required that the US government prefer domestically produced products.
Of course, "Buying American" has become increasingly difficult because so many American corporations have outsourced their manufacturing processes overseas. It’s a little tongue in cheek to ask, but what DO we make in America anymore?
So many important things are imported, that it’s hard to remember when something wasn’t being recalled or a warning to consumers wasn’t being issued because of poor quality control at a foreign manufacturing plant. And it’s important to remember, poor quality control at a foreign manufacturing facility does not excuse the poor inspection procedures of American companies failing to adequately examine their imported products after they arrive but before they are offered to consumers.
When you purchase a product from an American company, you should be able to trust the company to provide a safe product. As more American businesses rely on imported products, it becomes more difficult to eat, drive, brush your teeth, etc. without being concerned about your health.
(So that you realize this post is not written with xenophobic slant, even when you Buy American and it was grown in the US, there’s still no guarantee of safety. It’s hard not to remember this year’s recall of e coli-infected greens grown in this country.)
Bottom Line: it’s time to be picky about what you buy and (when you can find it) Buy American.
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