# A complete financial plan in one "tweet"



## Jon Chevreau (Apr 4, 2009)

Details in column in this weekend's National Post:

http://bit.ly/tbhpO

My attempt to condense the 76,000 word Findependence Day into the 140 character limitation of Twitter. 

The tweet itself, just about 140 characters, is:

_Eliminate debt. Cut up plastic. Join pension. Buy home. Pay it off. Spend little. Save tons. Invest wisely. Be tax smart. Marry for life._

Suggested improvements welcome!


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## stardancer (Apr 26, 2009)

That's neat. Very concise but right on


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## Rickson9 (Apr 9, 2009)

Cool idea! Sign of the times!


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## MoneyEnergy (Apr 5, 2009)

Nice job! I should retweet it - but then that would automatically take more than 140 chars. Hence, writing for "retweets" means ... 140- the #chars in your name - two for "RT"


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## Ben (Apr 3, 2009)

Sounds about right!

I would like to join a pension....! But if we all joined the government, it would be a sorry country wouldn't it?

Not read the book, but is cutting up plastic really necessary, provided you use it responsibly? Sometimes needed for various purchases (online, hotel rooms, etc). Likely a victim of Twitterization, where the nuance is lost...in general, avoiding use of credit cards is a great idea.


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## canabiz (Apr 4, 2009)

Excellent Tweet Jon, although some folks will argue about the last one where one does not have to get married to enjoy financial freedom or complete a financial plan.


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## onomatopoeia (Apr 8, 2009)

canabiz said:


> Excellent Tweet Jon, although some folks will argue about the last one where one does not have to get married to enjoy financial freedom or complete a financial plan.


That's true, but marrying more than once is a sure fire way to not complete a financial plan


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

I agree with the comment about CC debt - I'd be tempted to find a way to say (something like) "use credit cards responsibly" - but too wordy! Perhaps just "avoid debt." I use CCs all the time, but never carry a balance (except some super-low-interest rate balances right now, because I can't justify paying them off!)

And in place of the "marry for life" comment I think a general comment about "cultivate options" or "develop a recovery plan" or "remain flexible" or "oversave" - or something. The reality is that for many of us "life happens" and while the ideal is to not get knocked off track, it is still possible to recover. 

Same deal with pensions. I have never been a permanent employee anywhere, and I haven't worked at a place with a pension option in the last 16 years. And I'm still financially successful - I just have done so without a pension. Perhaps "maximize retirement savings"? I started contributing to RRSPs at 18, and in my case that is all it has taken. 

Sorry Jon, I'm way beyond 140 characters here. But those are my tweaks to your tweet.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

The only thing I'll add is "Control expenses and emotions (in investing)" but then again, it will be well over the 140-character limit.


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## Jon Chevreau (Apr 4, 2009)

Thanks for the tweet tweaks! 

So, MoneyEnergy, I take it I need to cut it to 126 characters in order to accommodate [email protected]? [11 characters for my handle; 3 for [email protected]]

I've not quite mastered retweeting: any basic instruction welcome. 

I'll try and refine and blast out a 126 character version. One email correspondent thought I could get rid of the credit card reference since that entails being debt-free and once you are credit cards can be kept for emergency or convenience purposes.

Will use some of this in next blog, linking back here.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/wealthyboomer/default.aspx

www.twitter.com/jonchevreau


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

...you either cut to 126 or let your re-tweeters cut for you!


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## Tommy_Act (Apr 17, 2009)

Your financial plan tweet is right on! How about "frugal plastic"? Wouldn't it be nice and helpful if each regulation had to be a tweet?


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Jon Chevreau said:


> The tweet itself, just about 140 characters, is:
> 
> _Eliminate debt. Cut up plastic. Join pension. Buy home. Pay it off. Spend little. Save tons. Invest wisely. Be tax smart. Marry for life._


Here's my take:

_LBYM. Buy home. Get rid of all debt. Join pension. Invest wisely. Control expenses, emotions & taxes. Make a will. Buy term insurance._

Weighs in at 134 characters.


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## michika (Apr 20, 2009)

I'd change it to;

no debt, buy home, spend & invest logically, make a will, save, be prepared.

It makes more sense when we keep out the marriage portion, or even if it was changed to something reflecting life events, as aren't all of those expensive? Marriage/divorce, children, death?


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## Jon Chevreau (Apr 4, 2009)

Thanks. Good suggestions all. I've incorporated as much as I could into the "retweetable" 126-character version. And thanks for several retweets, especially from forum members here.

Here's v 2.0, which I tweeted earlier this afternoon. If it's still over length, maybe the "spaces" are using up real estate? 

*Lose debt. Join pension. Own home. Spend little. Save tons. Invest wisely. Be tax wise. Marry 4 life. Insure life. Make will.*


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## BradMac (May 12, 2009)

*Tweet length financial philosophy*

Here's my take on it, after reviewing many others'. In the order of importance/sequence, I think.

And marry for life doesn't mean you have to marry, just that if you do, stay put. And a corollary is don't have children unless you are married for life.

Develop pension includes those who don't have a DB pension (most of us don't, and fewer in the future). But you can create a personal pension in a number of forms. DC pensions are a bad idea unless you can control them. I am always in favor, though, of taking employer matching funds for retirement planning, as long as you can control the plan.

Here it is:

Plan. Review regularly. Be insured. No bad debt. Be tax smart. Develop pension. Own home. Invest wisely. Update will. Marry for life.


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## gemma119 (Apr 6, 2009)

I whole heartly agree with bradMac!


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

Plan? I thought I read somewhere that only 14% of working age individuals had a financial plan. (numbers forecasted out in time including non-investment elements)

What's up with that?


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Maybe if they could express their financial plans in 140 characters or less, they'd be more inclined to have a written financial plan?


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

I consider a meaningful financial plan one which actually informs the subject where they should sit on the saving/spending continuum. Its all very well to say 'save lots'/'spend little', this feeds the investment community's coffers. I would prefer to see something quantified such as _...."If you keep spending at this rate, you will be sucking air at 75"_, or _"if you keep saving at this rate, your broker will be muy happy, and your rotten kids will inherit a gazillion dollars.... (maybe) you should save less."_

Numerically determining a financial plan is serious business... squishing some platitudes into a haiku or tweet, less so.


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