Our Personal Finance Friends and Foes

Personal finance is about choices. In our experience and from observations, I've seen some choices as helpful and other choices as not so helpful. I've characterized these choices as either "friend" or "foe" for us:.

	Personal Finance Choices
Activity	Friend	Foe
Saving	Early and often	Later and infrequent, or none
Debt	Funding large long term purchases such as a home	Using to live above means or to fund routine living expenses
Higher Education	Positive financial return	Incurring burdensome debt
Investing	Good quality for longer term	Speculative or market timing

Although I have categorized each behavior as friend or foe, the dividing line can be fuzzy. I've also done actions which I have listed as in the foe category. For example, I purchased my first new car with a loan and subsequent vehicles were purchased with cash. Also, for a small part of our investment portfolio, I buy speculative stocks or try to time the market.

However, in general, I find that we are better off when our choices predominantly in the friend category.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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