Author: Mr. TFR

Raman Venkatesh is the founder of Ten Factorial Rocks. Raman is a ‘Gen X’ corporate executive in his mid 40’s. In addition to having a Ph.D. in engineering, he has worked in almost all continents of the world. Ten Factorial Rocks (TFR) was created to chronicle his journey towards retirement while sharing his views on the absurdities and pitfalls along the way. The name was taken from the mathematical function 10! (ten factorial) which is equal to 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 3,628,800.

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Got Risk? Get Over It!

Posted by Mr. TFRSeptember 1, 20166Investing, Life

Risky move or human ‘bridge’? It is how we see it.

“I would like to avoid risk as much as possible” is what we often hear or even say. That’s understandable for a conversation but the attitude we show towards risk is the single largest determinant of our success. And that attitude was likely formed even before you entered your teenage years. There could be any number of triggers for it.

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Not Another Buy vs. Rent Post!

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 30, 201614Investing, Money

Haven’t we seen a lot of those already? The personal finance blogosphere is filled with material, both strongly for and vehemently against, homeownership. Due to my preference for a globally mobile career and the ‘invincible’ DC market saga, you know which side of the fence I am on. But the real estate asset class can’t be broad brushed by individual experiences. It can be a delicious entree or a nice side dish in a fulfilling financial meal, if done well and in moderation. I will give you my personal recipe here.

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Are You Biased?

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 26, 201612Investing, Life, Money

It’s not so obvious always.

Of course, you are! We all are. We just don’t want to admit it. The biases we have are so hidden and yet, so effective, that they pretty much control how we think, speak and act in many situations. That’s a pretty tall claim, I know. In my life and in my corporate experience, I have often found that those who feel they are objective or unbiased often have deep-rooted biases that they think actually make them unbiased! Ironical, isn’t it? Such is the nature of cognitive bias (as psychologists call them) that it spares no one on its path. They can stop you from investing efficiently. They are enemies on your path to financial independence.

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How To Invest Efficiently

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 24, 201617Investing, Money

The real path. No gimmicks or short-cuts.

My past articles have been on many essential topics relating to life, work, savings and even relationships. Those posts serve as preparatory work for getting into a serious topic in this article – on investing. Before starting on our investing journey, it is clear that we should learn to save more and be sensibly frugal. The next step is to understand what efficient investing is – nobody taught me this but I learned the hard way by making mistakes, which I hope you will avoid. You are smart to learn from my past investment mistakes. Efficient investing is an important concept that will make a huge impact on your future, easily adding over $100,000 to your retirement stash with no effort on your part!

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Simple Trick To Save More

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 22, 20162Money

This trick is a cute little devil that helps you reach FI!

This trick is a little devil that works for your FI!

If you have read the article about retirement crisis, you would have rightly concluded that it is in many ways a ‘savings crisis’. Here at Ten Factorial Rocks, we believe in earning more income as a better way to increase savings, but let’s face it – for many people, that’s not an immediate possibility. However, that’s the direction to put efforts in the long-term if you want to accelerate your journey to Financial Independence (FI). In the meanwhile, should you use ‘less income’ as an excuse to put off savings? Clearly, that’s not sustainable behavior. The 10! way is ‘devilish’ about both income and expenses, but in a sensible manner.

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Money & Relationships: Rules That Work

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 19, 20167Life, Money, Relationships

Love may be blind but life isn’t! Long term domestic partnerships are not the garden path of roses leading to a velvety beach that romantic novels, movies and dating websites want you to believe. As a married man for over 12 years, and also, raising a kid together, I think I have earned the right to comment about domestic partnerships. 🙂 This post is about a topic that any person with a ‘significant other’ must confront at some point on their journey towards financial independence.

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Juvenile Philosophy?

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 17, 20164Life

Is this kid the carrot among TFR peppers?

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what’cha gonna get.” Thus declared the famous Forrest Gump, in a rare glimpse of his philosophical mettle way beyond his portrayed capabilities in the film. That quote resonated for me recently when I was speaking with my 10-year old kid for his ‘sub par’ performance in his exams recently.

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What gets measured gets GROWING!

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 16, 2016Money

Get your net worth growing and retire confidently! Quick, what’s your net worth today? Can you answer this question within a couple of minutes? It is vital to measure where you are in your journey towards financial independence (FI). With just a few keystrokes, there are modern tools available to track what you own, […]

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Your Job. Your Attitude. Your Independence!

Posted by Mr. TFRAugust 15, 20164Life, Workattitude, career, early retirement, financial independence

Boss: Aren’t we supposed to have a meeting now? Where is everyone? Secretary: Didn’t you read the memo? They have all quit and are blogging about ER.

Boss: Aren’t we supposed to have a meeting now? Where is everyone?
Secretary: Didn’t you read the mails? They have all quit and are blogging about ER.

It’s no surprise your job feels like a prison after reading many personal finance blogs. It has become a rite of passage for many early retirement (ER) bloggers to declare their freedom from the ‘chains’ of corporate life. After all, being free from what 99% of the world’s salaried class are doing every day certainly gives an early retiree the bragging rights. At times, the financially independent ER bloggers seem like the real 1% as we remain part of the 99%.