In my previous post, a few commenters brought up the issue of market timing, generally taking me to task for appearing to advocate it. Market timing is a topic of much discussion, primarily in the world of stock investing. With this post, I hope to explain the issue and show how it applies to you, even if you never invest in a stock or mutual fund.

What is market timing?

The oldest investing advice in the book is "buy low and sell high." Market timing is an attempt to do just that: Sell when the market is high; buy when it's low. Obvious, right?

This year, I learned a lot about money. I think the biggest breakthrough I had in 2013 was to connect the ideas of personal and financial freedom. I spent a week in Ecuador talking with folks about this subject, and then I spent a couple of months putting my thoughts onto paper. I've done a lot of writing and thinking and speaking on this topic.

But you know what? I've come to realize that the essentials of financial independence can be boiled down to just a single page.

Last week, I wrote about a conversation with my investment adviser. In the article, I mentioned that my current income roughly covers my current spending except that I've been spending an average of $2,000 per month on travel. Because of that spending deficit, I've been drawing down my medium-term savings, which should last me until the end of 2014. Meanwhile, I'm exploring a variety of options to bring the income and spending into equilibrium.

Some GRS readers were taken aback by this.

"Maybe the name of this blog should be changed to Get Poor Quickly," Marsha wrote. Brian from Debt Discipline expressed the common concern that withdrawing from my investments seems like a step in the wrong direction. And Greg wrote that this blog must be losing its way if I'm writing about "stealing from the future to maintain a current lifestyle of travel."

Once every six months, whether I need to or not, I meet with my investment adviser from Fidelity. I've been doing this for five years, and have come to value the experience as truly educational. On Tuesday, for instance, my new adviser Michael talked me through some income planning.

My financial life has been turbulent over the past few years:

• First, I was deep in debt and struggling.
• When Get Rich Slowly began to grow, I paid off my debt and accumulated cash.
• When I sold Get Rich Slowly, I invested the windfall in index funds and municipal bonds.
• When Kris and I divorced, she received the municipal bonds.
• When I bought my condo, some of my index funds were converted into real estate.

For years, my income and expenses have been all over the map with no semblance of normalcy and no consistency. Now, at last, things are settling into something of a routine and I can think about planning for the future. Since June, I've once again been tracking every penny I spend in order to get a clear picture of my financial situation.

This is an article by Sam, author of Financial Samurai, "How to Engineer Your Layoff," and founder of the Yakezie Network. 

Finance and investing don't have to be complicated. Consistently buying low and selling high can make you rich beyond your wildest dreams. Of course, if investing were so easy, we would all be kicking back and letting our money work for us instead of slaving away at the office every day.

When I started working on Wall Street in 1999, it felt like I was drinking from a fire hydrant because I was inundated with financial metrics. As a good institutional equities salesman, I should know the latest GDP forecasts to get a grasp of the overall macro momentum of the country. I'd then need to be able to speak eloquently about inflation expectations to differentiate between real and nominal growth. Finally, I'd have to drill down to a stock's specific sales, operating profit, net profit, and margin assumptions to figure out whether the company was a buy or sell.<

How would you feel if the financial adviser you hired to take care of your investments had four previous instances of customers filing a complaint against them? What if they had been fired from two previous financial institutions? Hopefully it would give you the same sick feeling it gives me.

How would you feel if you learned that you could have discovered all of this if you had spent less than 10 minutes doing some online research? Don't answer that quite yet. More on that in a bit…

Navigating the choppy waters of the investing world isn't easy. You've got a multitude of account options to consider and even more investments and insurance to protect your family. Having a solid financial adviser by your side to guide your ship through to calm waters is an invaluable asset. Continue reading...

This article is written by Naomi Mannino. Naomi is a freelance consumer personal finance and health journalist who reports on health, medical and personal finance news and how it will affect your life today. You can follow Naomi on Twitter @naomimannino.

Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income.

Can you really buy a house at auction on the courthouse steps for $100? Do you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars as the house-flipping guys do on TV?

As it stands right now, there is just over $4 trillion in 401(k) plans. That's trillion with a capital "T." If you're working for a company, then you're probably one of the 67 million Americans who have a 401(k). It was included as one of those perk benefits that got you even more excited about the position.

The only problem is that your job probably didn't offer you any guidance beyond the lovely welcome packet you received during your orientation. I envision the conversation went a little something like this:

Your employer: "Congratulations, you now have a 401(k)."<

This year, it happened -- something many have been predicting for years: Taxes went up. And most likely, the hikes will just keep coming. There's no other way to pay off the country's debt and fund the ballooning entitlements due the baby boomers as they retire. The increases may not affect everyone, and those who earn more will pay more, but someone's gotta pay.

One way to hedge against higher tax rates is to contribute to a Roth retirement account. Your contributions aren't tax-deductible, but the withdrawals are tax-free once you turn 59 ½ and you've had a Roth account for at least five years. Who wouldn't want tax-free money if tax rates are just going higher?

Well, as attractive as the Roth can be, it's not always the best choice for everyone. You see, a contribution to a Roth means you are forgoing a contribution to a traditional retirement account, which might give you a tax-deduction today in exchange for paying taxes in retirement. So the choice is: Should you pay taxes today or in retirement? Continue reading...

A Coverdell savings account, or a Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA), is an investment account that is tax-free when used for qualified higher-education expenses.

Assets in Coverdell accounts can be transferred to other family members if the beneficiary doesn't need the money (whether because of scholarships or other circumstances) and many find the main benefit is that these funds can also be used for K-12 school-related expenses. The biggest drawback is that you cannot contribute more than $2,000 per year, even across multiple accounts.

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