Financial Freedom On $5 A Day?

About a decade ago, when the investing bug first struck me, a nice little book called Financial Freedom On $5 A Day (Chuck Chakrapani, M.Sc., Ph.D., C.I.M., Self-Counsel Press) was fed to  my voracious investment-reading appetite. The book is aimed at "small investors" and shows people how can achieve financial freedom through investing, but can start small by saving just $5 a day. While the book was originally published in 1983, my copy was dated 1996. Still, I think that the wisdom presented therein are still relevant today. In fact, a quick Googling shows that the book seems to have been revised since.

Does Saving Money Require Discipline?

After recently browsing through dozens of personal finance websites and several hundred articles, one conclusion leaped to my mind: most people have a difficult time saving money. They often focus on the feeling that they are chasing their tail, keeping up with the Joneses.

I'd have to agree with this, from both my own experience, as well as that of close friends. On the far end of the spectrum, there are those people that save and save but never give themselves an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor, and thus end up becoming miserable. What can be done about this?

What Makes A Good Investment?

The old saying goes that one man's junk is another man's treasure. The same wisdom applies to financial investments. Back in the late 1990s, when I was contemplating writing my stock broker's exam, I learned some suprising statistics about personal savings. To summarize, the fact is, North Americans have a hard time saving money, primarily because they go about it with very little guidance. Every pre-college student should learn more about investment and savings than just the mathematics of calculating the interest on a loan or a savings account. But that is unfortunately not the case, even though the financial health of the nation depends on this knowledge.

HSBC Direct Review

The HSBCdirect Online Savings Account is a popular choice among consumers. HSBC was one of the first "big name" banks to offer a high interest rate on online savings account (most banks offer a measly half a percent or so). This high interest rate, coupled with with a blue chip reputation, makes HSBCdirect an attractive option for anyone who needs to stash some money away, earn interest, and stay liquid.