Matt Cutts Has Some Financial Advice for Facebook (Updated)

While there’s no doubt Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid” is blasting through the speakers of just about every Facebook employee on the planet–especially Eduardo Saverin (are ...
Matt Cutts Has Some Financial Advice for Facebook (Updated)
Written by
  • While there’s no doubt Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid” is blasting through the speakers of just about every Facebook employee on the planet–especially Eduardo Saverin (are co-founders who make an absolute ton of cash from the Facebook IPO considered employees?)–some outside parties who have been down this same road have some advice for the newly rich:

    Congrats FB folk! $$ advice: Most money managers overcharge. Use Vanguard. Stick to passive index funds. Balance stocks with bonds and i18n.
    2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    While that reads like Latin to someone like me, all of you venture capitalists and IPO folks understand Matt Cutts quite clearly. The thing is, his financial advice doesn’t stop there:

    129 words of financial advice from Scott Adams that everyone should read: http://t.co/2BRWaftH
    14 minutes ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    The link goes to a Paul Farrell article on MarketWatch, which discusses Dilbert creator Scott Adams’ financial forumla. Even this is simple enough for a non-finance expert like me to understand:

    1. Make a will

    2. Pay off your credit cards

    3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support

    4. Fund your 401k to the maximum

    5. Fund your IRA to the maximum

    6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it

    7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account

    8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement

    9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

    Those 129 words Cutts refers to belongs to Adams’ “Unified Theory of Everything Financial,” and while the advice is sound, do newly-minted billionaires really need to worry about paying off credit cards? Who knows, maybe Facebook employees are like professional athletes and will spend all of their money on anything shiny, only to wind up broke a few years after they get out of the business. If that’s the case–doubtful–then all of advice in the world isn’t going to make much of a difference.

    In other news, who knew Matt Cutts had groupies?

    Update:

    For those of you wondering why Cutts is giving advice to Facebook, the man himself explains:

    @Areai51 @codepo8 I’ve run the gauntlet, so I consider it fair game to give that advice. 🙂
    51 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    He also reminds folks that yes, stocks do indeed fluctuate, which has been known to affect the bottom line, which helps supprt his bond investment suggestion. Of course, in regards to Mark Zuckerberg, a downward fluctuation would mean his worth dropped a few million dollars.

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit