【龙腾网】如何应对经济困境

正文翻译

How do I manage it if I want to learn singing, but I don't have money? The economic condition is very bad, and I don’t have a job. How do I deal with this situation?

如果我想学唱歌，但又没有钱，我该怎么办?经济形势非常糟糕，我没有工作。我该如何处理这种情况?

评论翻译

Jay Bazzinotti
What are top advices about how to manage money?
1) Avoid easy credit and use it as infrequently as possible. Have only ONE credit card and pay it off in full WITHOUT FAIL every single month no matter how much you have to sacrifice to do it. Credit card debt is insidious and one of the easiest things to get into and one of the hardest to get out of. Avoid it as much as possible.
2) Make a budget and know where your money goes every month. Make sure your income covers your bills. Your mortgage is your most important bill. It must be paid beffore everything else. Your house is your most important asset. Never risk your house.

关于如何理财，最好的建议是什么?
避免轻易使用信用卡，尽量少用。只有一张信用卡，无论你为此付出多少代价，每个月都要还清。信用卡债务是阴险的，是最容易陷入的事情之一，也是最难摆脱的事情之一，尽量避免。
做一个预算，知道每个月你的钱都花到哪里去了。确保你的收入能支付你的账单。你的抵押贷款是你最重要的账单，必须先还这笔钱。你的房子是你最重要的资产，永远不要拿你的房子冒险。

3) Put money into some kind of retirement investment every single month. The earlier you do this in life the more it will pay off when you retire. Learn and understand the "Rule of 72" which tells you how long it takes your money to double at a particular interest rate. You divide the interest rate into 72 and the result is typically the number of years it takes your money to double. At 10 percent it takes 7.2 yearss to double your money. 100 dollars saved when you are 20 becomes 700 dollars when you are 69.
4) Avoid gambling.
5) The stock market is gambling. There are almost never any sure things, hot tips, guarantees. Just because a stock falls doesn''t mean it can''t go lower, including all the way to zero. If you want to invest in the stock market use Vanguard S&P 500 Index funds. Nothing has beaten them over 20 years. Use dollar cost averaging and put the same amount in every month regardless of whether the stock market goes up or down. Do it every month . It''s the best way to invest in the stock market.

每个月都把部分钱投入到某种退休投资中。你在生活中越早这样做，你退休时，回报就越大。学习并理解“72法则”，它告诉你在特定利率下需要多长时间才能翻倍。用72除以利率利率，结果通常是你的钱翻倍所需的年数。在10%的情况下，你需要7.2年的时间才能把钱翻倍。20岁时存下的100美元在69岁时变成了700美元。
避免赌博。
股市就是赌博。几乎从来没有任何确定的事情，热点提示和保证都不可靠。仅仅因为一只股票下跌并不意味着它不能走低，包括一路跌至零。如果你想投资股市，可以投资Vanguard标准普尔500指数基金。20多年来，没有什么能打败它们。使用美元成本平均法，无论股市是涨是跌，每个月都要投入相同的金额。每个月都要做。这是投资股票市场的最佳方式。

6) If you can, purchase some real estate. No matter what, even if the value falls, you still have the property. The number one factor about land is that it is indestructible. That is one of the definitions of land. Do your research and if you can, buy a HOME, not an "INVESTMENT" that you plan on selling to make money. If it does appreciate, you''ve made out. If it doesn''t you still have a place to live. Remember when it comes to real estate, location is key -- a mediocre or even a rather poor house in a great neighborhood is almost always bettter than a great house in a bad neighborhood.
7) If you MUST take college loans take the absolute minimum you need and never, ever use the money frivolously -- a 20 dollar pizza ends up costing 80 dollars over 30 years.
8) Save money for a rainy day. Some experts say that you should have six months salary in cash (such as a money market) for emergencies. At a minimum have some cash on standby in a money market or easy to access and liquidate account for emergencies. An emergency WILL happen sooner or later -- it''s the nature of life.

如果可以的话，买一些房产。不管怎样，即使价值下跌，你仍然拥有房产。土地的首要因素是它坚不可摧。这就是土地的定义之一。做研究如果可以的话，买一个家，而不是一个计划出售赚钱的“投资”。如果它真的升值了，那你就成功了。如果没有升值，你还有地方住。记住，当谈到房地产时，位置是关键——在一个好的社区里，一栋平庸甚至相当糟糕的房子几乎总是比在一个糟糕的社区里的一栋好房子更好。
如果你必须借大学贷款，那么就借你需要的最低限度的贷款，永远不要轻率地使用这笔钱——一个原本20美元的披萨在30年内最终要付出80美元的代价。
存钱以备不时之需。一些专家说，你应该存下六个月的工资现金（比如货币市场）以备不时之需。至少在货币市场上有一些现金备用，或者在紧急情况下可以方便地提取和清算的账户。紧急情况迟早会遇到——这是生活的本质。

9) Start a college fund for your child as soon as he is born. Encourage cash contributions from relatives instead of gifts that will go unused or forgotten. Contribute to it even in small amounts at least once a month.
10) Break bad and expensive habits and put the money into savings. A pack a day cigarette habit costs you over 3500 in a year. In an S&P Index fund that 3500 dollars could be worth over 100,000 dollars by the time you retire. The same goes for booze.
11) Avoid any investment scheme you don''t understand or can''t be made to understand easily. Anyone who tries to sell you an "investment vehicle" and can''t explain how it works to a fifth grader is conning you.

孩子一出生，就为他设立一笔大学基金。鼓励亲属给现金，而不是那些会被闲置或遗忘的礼物。即使是小额现金，每月至少存一次。
改掉坏的和花钱的习惯，把钱存起来。一天一包烟的习惯一年要花掉你3500多元。在标准普尔指数基金中，到你退休时，3500美元的价值可能超过10万美元，酒也是如此。
避免任何你不理解或不容易理解的投资计划。任何试图向你推销一种“投资工具”的人，却不能向一个五年级学生解释它是如何运作的，那他就是在欺骗你。

12) Never buy a new car. Always buy a used car. New cars are almost never worth the money. All vehicles are depreciating assets including boats, campers, cars, trucks, motorcyles and so on. It takes a great deal of investment and work to even break even on a "classic" or "antique" automobile.
13) The older you get after the age of 35 you should be investing more money in US bond funds. They NEVER lose value. It''s easy to invest online using I bonds from U.S. Department of the Treasury. Open and account and put the minimum in. Some experts say that you should increase the percentage of money you save in bonds one percentage point every year until you retire. Many older people were destroyed when their 401Ks crashed in 2008. That didn''t happen to bonds.
14) Many people will talk about the chipping away of earnings through taxes and inflation. You can minimize this by using a good and trusted accountant. Shop around, talk to them and pick the right guy. He can help you minimize your tax burden far more than HR Block or doing it yourself with tax software, especially if your tax situation becomes more complex as you mature. This is not always true but it is often true.

千万不要买新车，总是买一辆二手车。新车几乎不保值。所有的车辆都是在贬值的资产，包括船、露营车、汽车、卡车、摩托车等等。要想在一辆“经典”或“古董”汽车上实现收支平衡，需要大量的投资和工作。
35岁以后年龄越大，你应该把更多的钱投资于美国债券基金。它们永远不会失去价值。在线投资美国财政部的I类债券很容易，开立账户存入最低金额就行。一些专家说，在退休之前，你应该每年将存在债券上的钱的百分比提高一个百分点。许多老年人的401k计划在2008年崩溃时被毁，债券没有发生过这种情况。
许多人会谈论税收和通货膨胀导致的收入减少的问题。你可以通过聘请一位优秀且值得信赖的会计师来最大限度地减少这种情况。货比三家，和他们谈谈，选对人。他可以帮助你减少你的税务负担，远远超过HR Block或自己用税务软件，特别是如果你的税务情况随着你的成熟而变得更加复杂。这并不总是正确的，但通常是正确的。

15) If your company offers an ESPP you would be foolish NOT to take advantage of it. I am always amazed by people who do not invest in ESPP. It''s almost always a free 15 - 20 percent earnings on your money every year and it''s like a getting a bonus if you cash out right away. If your company is a blue chip you might consider letting the money accrue; if not, cash in the stock and invest it in Index Funds. One of the best things a VP ever told me was "Sometimes you have to make it real." Stocks are NOT real money. They are the HOPE of money. You only get real money when you sell them. NEVER FORGET THAT. I had friends building million dollars homes on their stock portfolios who ended up living in their cars when the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s. Sometimes you have to make it real. On the other hand, I once paid cash for a house I bought with my accrued Cisco ESPP stock.
16) All advice, even this, should be viewed with caution. No advice applies to everyone or every situation. You have to take into account your own personal situation. You need to set goals and determine how you will achieve them, especially at retirement time. You cannot count on Social Security, at most you will get the equivalent of about 25,000 dollars a year in the US

如果你的公司提供员工股票购买计划（ESPP），你不利用它是愚蠢的。我总是对那些不投资ESPP的人感到惊讶。每年你的钱几乎总是有15% - 20%的免费收益，如果你马上兑现，就像得到了一笔奖金。如果你的公司是一只蓝筹股，你可以考虑让钱积累起来；如果不是，就把股票变现，投资于指数基金。一位副总裁告诉我的最好的事情之一是“有时候你必须把它变成现金。”股票不是真正的钱。它们是金钱的希望。只有当你卖掉它们时，你才能得到真正的钱，永远不要忘记这一点。我有一些朋友凭借他们的股票投资组合建造了价值数百万美元的房子，当21世纪初科技泡沫破灭时，他们最终住进了车里，有时你必须把它变成现金。另一方面，我曾经把我累积的思科公司ESPP股票变现后买了一栋房子。
所有的建议（包括这些建议），都应该谨慎看待。没有任何建议适用于所有人或每种情况。你必须考虑到你自己的个人情况。你需要设定目标，并决定如何实现这些目标，尤其是在退休时。你不能指望社会保障，在美国，你每年最多能得到相当于2.5万美元的收入。