Editor: Crass Cash 

Warren Buffett shocked the financial planning world last year when he released exactly what was to be done with his wife's inheritance.  He wanted the actual funds to be broken up into two categories.  The first is a low-cost index fund that follows the S&P 500.  The rest should be put in short term treasuries.  That's it!

90% would go into the index fund and the other 10% would go into treasuries.  Keep It Simple Stupid!  

The last thing that your heirs need to deal with is a complicated estate plan while they're grieving.  Obviously they're free to do with it as they please when you die unless you set it up in a trust, but if you "trust" them then this is a pretty good plan.  

If the person enacts the 3% rule as I've previous instructed than they could quite easily live off of the 10% treasuries for 4 years while the stocks appreciate and while you also get dividend income.  There's no guarantee that the stock market will be higher in 4 years, but there's  a pretty good chance it will be.  

Ideally you'd want to be in a situation where the heir can live off of the dividend income exclusively for the rest of their life without ever having to touch the principle.  Take a look at the website firecalc.com to see how much you need to virtually eliminate the possibility of running out of money.  

For instance, I would need to accumulate $1,100,000 in order to live for 60 years and not run out of money.  Assuming my current spending rate of $36,000 per year.  What's yours and what would your heir need?  

Editor: Crass Cash

One of the best books I've read on statistics is Antifragile by Nassim Taleb.  He's also written Fooled By Randomness and the Black Swan.  Also excellent books.  

There really is no proper word that describes something that is antifragile in any language according to Taleb.  Something that is fragile weakens as it's attacked.  So the complete opposite is something that becomes stronger when it is attacked.  What's the point of this?  To become antifragile with your finances! 

In order to profit and become stronger while other's finances become weaker is what we're after.  

1. On the investment side you can do a couple of things that I know of.  You can buy large out of the money options that are cheap, but you can make a huge amount of money on if the market crashes.  The other option is to have a portion of your portfolio "short" meaning that you make money when the market crashes as well.  This is somewhat risky in my opinion because the stock market over long periods of time has grown not fallen.  
2. As for real estate you can pay off your debt.  This makes you more robust than antifragile, but sometimes that all you can do.  
3. As far as your personal finances go.  You buy a boat load of insurance!  House burns down, lose your job, become disabled, become sick, spouse dies, etc etc.  These are all types of options where you profit if something bad happens.  If you can afford it, load up on insurance it will make you more antifragile.
4. Own multiple currencies. When the civil war hit in the United States, Rhett Butler didn't have all of his eggs in confederate currency.  He had it spread around Europe for diversity and safety.  If the United States failed it would be the biggest Black Swan of our lifetime regardless of what country you're from.  The Swiss Franc is a great antifragile currency.  It often appreciates when others fail.  

Editor: Crass Cash

I know many of you just love New Year's resolutions.  I hate them because people rarely stick to them.  However, if you feel like you must than here are some things to do TODAY!  Not tomorrow or on Thursday, but TODAY!

1. Find ways to cut your expenses.  I helped a friend with hers this weekend and between mowing her own lawn and cutting cable, we saved her an extra $200 a month that can now be doubled into her employer retirement plan. 
2. Go to HR at work and tell them that you want to sign up or the 401k plan or whatever it is that your company has.  Tell them you want to start off with just $50 per week or the equivalent depending upon how you got paid.  
3. Take all of your insurance to a new agent and see if they can save you money.  For most people you can save least a few hundred a year doing this. 
4. Go to the Books tab at the top of this website and read at least one book a month from the list. 
5. Cancel your gym membership that you signed up for last January.  You know you're not using it so save the money and go for a walk every day for 30 minutes.  It's free and you'll have plenty of time now that you don't have cable.