Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: Five Cent Nickel lists his UPS holiday shipping projection. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity lists his (and others’) best and worst money moves ever. Consume…

My Best and Worst Money Moves Ever

http://youngandbroke.typepad.com/young_and_broke/2006/11/my_best_and_wor.html

There is no doubt that your successful NEGOTIATION should be considered a “good move”, however to consider the result of your negotiations your “BEST money move so far” is YET to be determined- the truth is that only time will tell.

To truly determine the overall and long term value of your negotiations there are many factors which you need to analyze (and quite frankly most of these factors should always be weighed PRIOR to making such a decision). Among these factors the following two have the most bearing:

1) The terms used to finance the transaction:
a) interest rate
b) length of time financing
c) amount of down payment used
2) The actual costs of ownership:
a) Property Taxes
b) Insurance
c) Maintenance of property
d) Association fees etc.

Market timing, on the other hand, will have very little relevance (if any relevance at all) in the overall LONG TERM return of your investment. That is to say if you are planning on buying and holding a property for a LONG period of time, and NOT simply looking at “flipping” a property for a short term profit then market timing is something you should not worry about.

In most cases, however, (not all- there are a FEW exceptions to this) to tie-up equity in your home during your income producing years is a “bad move”, although most financial planners will tell you the contrary.

Since the majority of the people and our financial planning community have bought into the “myth of home ownership”, it continues to ensue in most everyone’s financial picture.

Very little analysis is often put into the purchase of real estate- partially because we are so focused in “negotiating a good deal”. Most overlooked however are the costs and expenses in owning the real estate over a long period of time.

Once you factor in interest, insurance, taxes, maintenance and inflation very few home purchases even come close to “breaking even” after 25 to 30 years of ownership. Yet most seem content to point out how much they bought a property for 20-30 years ago and compare it to what they sold it for today. They all seem to forget how much money it actually cost them to have that property for all that time.

Disclaimer for the squeamish: I am a commission based Financial Planner who specializes in what would be considered unconventional Financial Planning. On my downtime I humbly enjoy participating and dispelling conventional financial beliefs on this, my favorite blog, and many other blogs. As difficult as it may be to actually find one, I do not recommend, however, that you implement any financial strategy without the guidance of a competent professional. Please continue to visit Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and feel free to visit my lens at: http://www.squidoo.com/yourmoney/

As for my BEST financial decision I would have to say that starting my OWN business and investing my capital into MYSELF rather than giving it to someone else to manage has been, by far, my best financial move.

My worst financial move was having remained an employee for many years thinking I did not have enough capital to go out on my own. It took me long to realize that I had all the capital I was ever going to need right inside my HEAD. I now realize that no amount of money could ever surpass a persons will and imagination.