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The Best Interest » Dear Reader

Dear Reader

Jesse Cramer

Thank you for stopping by the Best Interest. I’m Jesse Cramer. And I want to teach you about personal finance and investing.

The Best Interest started as my creative outlet, but it’s gained national recognition for helping people improve their financial literacy. No topic is too simple or too complex.

The Mission

I want to improve lives by teaching valuable skills & knowledge. Personal finance and investing are tangible, vital, and universal knowledge sets.

Improving personal finance == improving lives. 

That’s the mission.

“People Like Us…”

Readers of the Best Interest share a common core of beliefs. Or in the wise words of Seth Godin, “People like us do things like this.”

Are you in the tribe?

  • We’re curious, seeking new information to make better decisions.
  • We’re frugal, knowing that spending money has a limited effect on happiness.
  • We value time. Used wisely, we turn time into growth (e.g. through investing). But when it’s wasted, we’ll never get that time back.
  • We invest in each other. I’m here to invest in you. I love your feedback (a.k.a. you investing in my growth). And we know that investing in the world around us is the tide that raises all ships.
  • We’re fun. Life’s too short to not make jokes. Money can be a fun topic, too.

If you’re here, you’re already doing “things like this.”

Thanks for being a part of the Best Interest.

My Five Core Principles

The Best Interest sits on a foundation of five core principles. Ahh yes, the classic five-legged stool.

These principles guide me in my writing and in my financial life.

And I think these principles can help you too.

1) Personal finance is personal

There are best practices in personal finance. But they might not be best for you.

We each have our own circumstances—goals, responsibilities, debts, etc. Your unique situation will dictate how best to handle your personal finances.

The Best Interest is here to teach you what is best for many, not to dictate what is best for all.

2) Money involves math and psychology. Both are important.

Money is all about numbers. That’s why math is important.

But those numbers elicit feelings in your brain. Those feelings are unique to you (see #1). That’s why psychology is important.

Some questions in personal finance have “best” mathematical answers. But if that answer stresses you out, then it’s not the best answer for you.

The Best Interest keeps that difference in mind.

3) When investing, optimize your success-to-stress ratio

Imagine a fraction. Wait don’t leave yet!!! This fraction isn’t scary.

For a positive investing experience, we wan Successful returns to go up and Stress to go down. That’s how our Good investing fraction hits its maximum.

Earning money is not fun if you’re losing your hair over it. That’s what the Best Interest’s investment education is all about.

4) Personal finance isn’t rocket science. It just needs a good teacher.

Personal finance doesn’t have to be hard.

We just need more good teachers.

The Best Interest aims to be one of those teachers.

5) Money isn’t a dirty subject

I stole this one from my friend Brandon at Rinkydoo Finance! Thanks Brandon 🙂

Western culture treats money as a taboo subject, similar to politics and religion. Feelings get hurt too easily when discussing these topics, so we tend to avoid them altogether. It’s understandable, but I say…

Humbug! You don’t have to be a grumpy Scrooge when discussing money. Healthy conversations about personal finance are important. The Best Interest is a place where we’re having those conversations.

The Best of the Best Interest

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Or you can peruse the entire Best Interest Archive.

Thanks for stopping by

If you’d like to comment or say hi, leave me a message here on the Best Interest website, or on Twitter (@BestInterest_JC), or on Reddit (u/BestInterestDotBlog).

Many of my posts have been directly influenced by my readers’ feedback. It’s the most fun part of writing this blog. Don’t hesitate to reach out.

And as always, thanks for reading the Best Interest.

–Jesse Cramer