Quick update from your friendly neighborhood Total Balance guy! Crowdestor announced last month that they were gonna give their website an overhaul, and it has now arrived. Why should you care, you ask? Well, I think it’s noteworthy when a young company decides to completely re-vamp their website and add extra security features at the…
Crowdestor gets a facelift and adds 2FA – yay!
Crowdlending platform (in)security check
On Oct 14, I received a disturbing E-mail from one of the Crowdlending platforms that I currently have investments with. This was the exact message: Kuetzal website was attacked this Sunday, it was successfully reflected by Kuetzal, but for security reasons, some passwords may be deleted. If you can’t sign in your account, please use “reset password”, or…
Why consistency (and time) is the only thing you need to become a decent investor
That’s right. You heard it here first (not really), people! The main trait you really need to become a decent investor, is time and consistency. We’ve all heard (or read) the term “Time in the market beats timing the market”. I’m not a big fan of this saying to be honest, but I understand the…
Why you shouldn’t invest like me
I’m going to be the devils advocate today, and explain why I think you shouldn’t invest like I do. It might be a bit counter-productive, but I think it’s important to own your investment strategy, and in order to truly do that, you need to explore alternative options. My (current) strategy is based on two…
Why I invest (heavily) in properties
Faithful followers of the Total Balance blog will know that I mainly invest in properties. I recently sunk the better part of my nest egg into a single property. It is not uncommon in the FI community to invest in properties, but most FI bloggers that I follow, tend to be more invested in stocks…
How to diversify your crowdlending portfolio
We all know the famous quote from Warren Buffet: Diversification is protection against ignorance. Well, admitting ignorance can also be a strength…So there! – I admit it: I’ve invested in 10 different crowdlending platforms, in hundreds of different loans to hundreds of different people/businesses of whom/which I know very little about. All I know is…
Say Hello to my little friend (Property #1)
It’s been more than 6 months, since I first introduced my plans of purchasing a chunk of real estate, via a real estate development company. 37 posts later (!), and here we are! Of all those posts, this one is by far the most exciting one to write! 😛 I’ve spent countless hours reading numerous…
New Pension provider!
Hello, new pension provider! After waiting for about 3 months, my pension funds have now been moved to a new provider (chosen by the company that I work for). I have been anxiously awaiting this move, as the new provider allow me to create my own custom investment strategy, in that they have a number…
The secret to becoming (or staying) wealthy
Today, I’m going to let you guys in on a little (big) secret (it’s really not that secret…). Here goes: The secret to becoming (or staying) wealthy, is to stop paying your taxes… But Nick, If you don’t pay your taxes, you’ll go to jail! Precisely! And what do you get in prison? Free accommodation,…
A night out – with Rich Dad (Property investing)
This week I attended a 2-hour (free) seminar on property investing, from the Rich Dad Education company. I didn’t really know what I was going into (the agenda was very sparse), so I tried to keep an open mind (I already read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, so I was pretty sure I already knew the…