“I Can't Afford It” No one likes having to say they can't afford something. It was the hardest thing for me to say for years. The honest truth is that it's still hard for me to say. It has a stigma about it. Saying that I can't afford something must mean that I'm not successful enough to do things that I believe I should be able to do and am not go

Renting protects your liquidity. You don't have to tie up assets! Renting is a form of insurance. It protects you from a wide range of outcomes. It is much easier to get out of a lease than it is to get out of a house in a down market.

From my experience, new house or old house, you should anticipate 2 percent to 3 percent of the building value in expenses.

Most people pay off their good and bad debt early and save later. They should do the opposite: Keep the good debt, build up assets early, and harness the power of compounding. You can always pay down good debt later.

It is essential to remember that I started by saying that not everybody needs debt. If your net worth is more than 15 to 20 times your income, and/or if you have more than 20 years until retirement and your savings rate is higher than 20 percent, you can carefully consider if you need debt and the Value of Debt®.

More often than not, math will show not only that consistent returns are better, but also that slightly lower consistent returns are better than slightly higher but much riskier returns.14

As a general rule, I prefer to restrict Aggressive investments to two types of investors. The first type is an investor who does not have enough assets to meet his or her long-term goals. This investor has to take higher risks in an effort to achieve their goals. The second type of investor is one who has more assets than they will ever need and me

The problem with small positions, such as a 1 percent position, is that if you're right and the asset goes up 100 percent the portfolio only goes up by 1 percent. There's no point in taking that risk for a 1 percent increase. At the same time, if you make an Aggressive investment worth more than 10 percent of your holdings, you could lose 10 percen

Aggressive investments should account for 0 to 30 percent of your total portfolio. A 4 percent position is ideal because if you hit a winner and it goes up by 100 percent, the portfolio goes up by 4 percent. If you pick a dud and it drops by 50 percent, the portfolio goes down by only 2 percent. If the choice is a complete disaster and goes to zero