Articles written by Cosmo P DeStefano - Benzinga

Income Has No Limit. Or Does It?

While the prospect of boundless earning potential is undoubtedly enticing, it’s not a free pass to become a spendthrift. Wealth isn’t just about what you make; it’s about what you don’t spend. Recently I’ve noticed several financial commentators posting on this topic. Here are two examples:

Leverage Is A Powerful Tool

Leverage (borrowed money) is a simple strategy so you can use a small amount of your capital (combined with the borrowed cash) to make a larger investment.

From Reflection To Action: A Financial Tune-Up

Planning Is Everything With 2024 fast approaching, it’s an opportune time to revisit and reassess your financial goals and your strategy to reach them. Take a moment to reflect on where you spent money this year, and how much. Consider jotting down the details for a clearer perspective.

Is It Your Income Or Spending Calling The Shots?

The paycheck-to-paycheck tango is familiar to many, and it has a common refrain: ‘If only I made more money.’ But is this dance a result of an income shortfall or spending habits gone astray?

Generalization In A Specialized World

Opening your mind to thinking outside the box begins by acknowledging that you are inside a box. Our experiences shape our ideas, beliefs, and our world view. The narrower our experiences, the smaller the box and the more confined that view remains.

Life Is Expensive: How Do People Do It?

It all begins with understanding this simple and absolute truth: You will not accumulate any measure of wealth or even get your head above water if you don’t spend less than you earn. To reach financial security you first need to become a savvy saver.

Weathering Financial Storms: Navigating Tail Risk With Confidence

We spent the better part of a decade discussing whether the Fed and world banks would move interest rates to 0% or even negative to keep economies chugging along. But then a virus quite literally shut down the global economy with 114 million job losses worldwide. The shock of those lost working hours was four times greater than that of the global financial crisis.

The 4% Rule: How Reliable Is It?

There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going. —Beverly Sills

Interest: The Reward And Risk Of Time

Few concepts are as fundamental and powerful as interest. Widely recognized as the bedrock of economic growth and wealth accumulation, interest is a force that shapes our financial decisions and long-term prospects. But at its core, interest embodies the paradox of being a reward and a risk—a duality that underscores its significance.

Does Residential Real Estate Belong In Your Portfolio?

He is not a full man who does not own a piece of land. —Hebrew Proverb

5 Investing Concepts That Are Counterintuitive

The Greater Your Skill, The More Luck Matters In any activity that involves both skill and luck, such as investing, as skill increases the vagaries of luck play an increasing role in the outcome. Financial author Michael Mauboussin describes this challenge as the Paradox of Skill.

Inflation Is Simply One More Expense

Inflation is the parent of unemployment and the unseen robber of those who have saved. −Margaret Thatcher

One Definition Of Risk For All Of Us

The future is the worst thing about the present. —Gustave Flaubert

Rethinking Fixed Income With Dividends

Against the backdrop of recent bank failures, stubbornly high inflation, and uncertainty around future interest rates, traditional fixed-income investments such as bank accounts, CDs, and government bonds, aren’t providing investors with the same level of comfort they once did.

Market Cycles Teach Us, But Do We Learn?

History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes. —Mark Twain

Is AI The New Dot-com Craze?

AI has been around in various forms for more than 50 years. Think language translators, facial recognition, Deep Blue (the chess-playing computer that beat world champion Garry Kasparov), autonomous cars, SIRI and Alexa, and everyone’s favorite: automated customer service phone lines!

Diversification: Don't Miss Out On Your Only Free Lunch

Of all the truisms about investing that Warren Buffett has come out with over the years, perhaps the most important one for investors to understand is this: “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”

True Financial Freedom Is Having Enough

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. —Rumi