Wish You A Happy, Healthy, Safe, And Prosperous 2010, The Year of Tiger!
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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Happy New Year!
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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Goodbye to 2009. Earlier, I had been hearing a lot of people grumble about how glad they are that this year will soon be over. It was a pretty tough year for a good lot of people (particularly the first half of the year) so I’m sure most of you are relieved [...]
Happy New Year! Goodbye 2009 and Welcome 2010: It’s All Up From Here
[Note: While this post is football-related, it translated to any sport... and I tie the story back to money... I promise]
I’ve always believed there is something we can learn from everyone. This past weekend professional sports organizations may have learned a lot from a 12-year-old young gentleman in the stands football game… and he [...]
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Just received an email offer from Intuit. From now till January 4, 2010, you can get 50% off when purchasing Quicken 2010 and receive free bonus software valued up to $139.98. Products currently on sale (with brief description) and free bonus offers are:
Quicken Deluxe ($59.99, Promotion price $29.99): Makes budgeting and organizing your personal finances [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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UPromise World MasterCard from Bank of America (used to be with Citibank) is one of those credit cards that let you invest cash backs earned from using the card for your everyday shopping. It’s also one of the credit cards that I use regularly because, with the UPromise card, I can put the rewards into [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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1) Budget
Make a personal budget and stick to it. Track your spending for two weeks to find out what your true expenses are as well as your monthly and yearly expenses, such as rent or mortgage payments, car insurance and payments, taxes, groceries, clothing, entertainment, and child care costs.
2) Set Financial Goals
Think long and [...]
This sums up how I spent my evenings on most of my business trips over the past decade and a half:
No, really. Most of the time. (Watch here if you can’t see the embedded video).
Hey, have a happy New Year. Enjoy the bubbly.
Follow me on Twitter!most of my business trips over the past 15 years [...]
most of my business trips over the past 15 years is an original article from the website brip blap.
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey Dec 2009 Net Worth Update – year end summary edition.
2009 has been a great year for net worth growth due to a combination of factors. First, the markets were much stronger than I expected which has resulted in an aggressive portfolio recovery from the market crash of 2008. Second, [...]
Well folks, this is it. 2009 is just about in the books. Did you hit the financial goals you set back in December of last year? I accomplished a few of mine, but came up short in couple other areas. Just gives me something to shoot for this year!
Over the next couple days I’ll be [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
The joys of living in a small home.
For many people I know, a big house to call their own sure sounds like the ultimate dream. Think of all that wonderful space and room and potential to do whatever you want in that space. But there are obvious downsides to having a huge [...]
A couple news stories caught my eye yesterday. (To be entirely honest one caught my ear… I was driving.) It’s not often that I find two related stories (and relevant), however this is the exception.
The first story that I heard about is Good Riddance Day. The idea is to take [...]
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If you are like me then you have thought long and hard about your 2010 budget … but you haven’t actually committed it to paper yet. Maybe you are one of the lucky few whose financial situation is left unchanged by 2009 and you can continue using your 2009 budget into 2010. But chances are, [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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This is a guest article by Kevin. You can find Kevin at 20s Money, where he writes about financial topics geared specifically for young people in their 20s.
Young people are in dire financial conditions. A weak job market, crushing debt levels and a lack of fiscal responsibility are a perfect storm resulting in the disastrous shape of most young people’s financial lives.
There is great risk in not addressing the financial shape of one’s life when they are young. Most people are aware of the numbers, that if you start saving X amount of dollars when you’re 25, it will result in substantially more money when compared to someone who started saving when he or she is 35. We’re so aware of these numbers, that I think many of us are numb to them. They don’t have quite the impact that they should even though they tell a very accurate story.
The reality is that unless you start your journey towards financial health and financial independence now, when you’re young, there is a strong chance that you won’t achieve your financial goals.
Retirement is an easy “end goal” to focus on. Many of us naturally assume that we’ll make more money down the road; therefore, we’ll be able to put money towards retirement at that time. This will be sufficient for retirement, right? Furthermore, many of us believe in the assumptions that we’ll earn upwards of 10% every year on our money, and because of these easy returns, we shouldn’t concern ourselves with retirement yet. After all, I’m only 25!
Unfortunately, I believe that there are significant risks to the financial future of young people today.
Crushing debt levels. Debt at the individual level as well as the public level will take time to unwind, and every dollar put towards paying down debt is a dollar that is not put towards retirement or some other financial goal.
Prolonged inflation. It is a serious risk, and if it materializes, it will make our savings lose its purchasing power. Simply put, our money won’t buy as much tomorrow as it does today. This means you will need even more money saved.
Lower returns. Many credible economists believe that the best years of the American economy are behind her which means that money invested in the U.S. stock market might not earn the long term returns that we have become accustomed to. It’s better to assume a more reasonable 4-5% return over time in my opinion instead of the often mentioned numbers such as 8-12%. A lower return means you must save more.
It is because of these reasons I’ve outlined that saving, significant saving, is extremely crucial for young people today. There is no free lunch or easy alternative with regards to saving. It requires sacrifice and giving up on things that you want to buy. Rather than getting the latest gadget or a big house, maybe you should put more money towards your future.
Young people can have a bright future, but it will require sacrifice and dedication. Even if not all of the risks outlined in this article materialize, you should acknowledge that there most likely will be some sort of real obstacles in the way of financial independence. I encourage you to take a hard look at your financial picture, your lifestyle and the current actions you are taking towards your financial goals. Are you saving enough? Are you living beyond your means? Are you paying down debt? Be honest with yourself and make the necessary changes.
Written by Guest Author
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This is a guest post from Joe Plemon from Plemon Financial Coaching who authors the blog Personal Finance by the Book.
“Geraldine”, a sassy lady portrayed by the late Flip Wilson, answered her husband thusly when he demanded an explanation for yet another new dress: “The Devil made me do it! I was walking down the [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
I’ve written about how to set New Year’s Resolutions but what’s the best way to make sure you actually reach the goals that you set? Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist offered up some tips on the subject today that I thought were useful enough to expand on, and her title was good as well so I borrowed [...]
Mark is an IT contractor residing in Alberta and needs some advice about what to do with excess capital and general tax optimization.
Here is the story:
We’ve got a rental property which we decided to try and sell. We located an investor who is interested. We’ve agreed on a price of $25,000 ‘cash to mortgage’. Once [...]
Usually, you can get Amazon Prime for free in the one-month trail period, which is a pretty good deal during the holiday shopping season as Amazon Prime will give free shipping on any order, regardless the total amount of the purchase. Now you can get Amazon Prime membership for free for 3 months. Here’s how [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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Could your Scottrade (or other investment) portfolio use a dose of bonds?
We often cover the world of equity investing here, and we’ve also discussed safer investments like the stable certificate of deposit. This time, we thought to cover some fixed income investing basics. I suppose if we categorized all the investment information out [...]
Financially, the decade of the 2000s was one that most people would probably like to forget. We kicked off the decade with the bursting of the tech bubble and the events of 9/11. Along the way, we witnessed the housing market collapse and wrapped up the decade with the worst United States economic [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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The time has come where many (including myself) will be making New Year’s Resolutions. But how many people actually attain the goals they set out to complete each year? According to Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal-Free Living, one in four people who make New Year’s Resolutions never succeed. Perhaps this is because people are lacking the stamina they need to obtain their resolution, which is suggested in a study from the Clinical Journal of Psychology that found that only 46% of Americans who make New Year’s Resolutions make it past the six month mark. Or perhaps the goal just seems unattainable and overwhelming, and some people simply do not know where to start.
So how can you set goals without feeling overwhelmed and without giving up mid-year? Take baby steps. By taking several baby steps throughout the year, you will lead yourself towards your goal. When mid-year creeps up on you, you can give yourself a checkup and see how far you have come since 2009 on reaching your goal. If you have taken baby steps all along, or even just a few, then the work you have done should provide great motivation to take the next steps needed in the latter six months of 2010.
Roughly 1/3 of resolutions are financial ones and I suspect that this year, that percentage will be even higher. Below is a list of common financial resolutions, and the baby steps that you can take starting on January 2nd, 2010.
Is 2010 the year that you are finally going to tackle that debt of yours? If doing so turns your stomach or feels overwhelming, you can break this resolution down into multiple baby steps.
This is one of my personal New Year’s Resolutions for 2010. Every six months, I know that the insurance is due on one of our vehicles…yet I allow it to creep up on me so that I have to scramble for the money twice a year. This year I am doing it differently and will be saving myself a few headaches. For you, the bill could be taxes, association fees, childcare fees, etc.
Perhaps you have been feeling pinched in 2009, and would like to increase your monthly cash flow for 2010. Here are a few ideas of how to do this in order to get you started.
This is the year—not next year, not the year after—when you need to open a retirement account (if you do not all ready have one) and consistently deposit money into it. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Suze Orman live a few weeks ago, and she had something very thought-provoking to say about people who complain to her that they do not have any money to save for retirement right now: If you can’t pay all of your bills now, then how are you supposed to pay your bills without a paycheck?
Credit cards have wonderful perks for disciplined users, and I personally like to take advantage of this. However, it looks like many credit cards are now going to charge an annual fee to their best customers: the ones who pay off their balance each month and only use the credit card for the rewards. Perhaps it is time for some of us to switch our financial systems over to cash, or for people who use credit cards without as much discipline to switch to cash all together.
If you are living on credit cards now (even with discipline), this means that you are charging this month’s living expenses to next month’s tab. Essentially this means that if you quit cold turkey, then you will have to pay cash for everything in the month you are in, as well as pay off last month’s living expenses. In order to do this, you will need to either pay off last month’s credit card debt/living expenses with your savings, or slowly make the transition to paying with cash so that you do not need to touch your savings at all. I prefer the slow transition, and here’s how you can make it.
Let 2010 be the year that you can look back on with pride for your achievements.
Written by Amanda
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Every year I make out a list of goals or resolutions for the year to come. I keep my list in google spreadsheets so that I can track my progress and see how I’ve done at the end of the year. I try to make the list reasonable and attainable.
Here are 8 Ideas [...]
The following guest post is by Forest, from the frugal living blog Frugal Zeitgeist. Forest spent the last couple years living in Montreal, Canada, but currently lives in Cairo, Egypt, where he works full time online as a graphic designer and a blogger. If you are not following his blog, you are missing some excellent frugal ideas [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
Want to know the secret to keeping your New Year’s Resolutions? Pretend that you’ve already acheived them!
I’m not saying that if you imagine yourself as 30 pounds lighter or $5000 richer that it will automatically happen. However, visualizing how things will be in your life once you’ve reached your goal can be the first step [...]
I use a debt consolidation calculator to illustrate how much you can save with the right kind of personal loan.
The other day, I wrote about some ideas on how to become debt free faster. If you’re someone with a strong credit rating but with credit card debt and various loans to your name, you [...]
I thought I’d recount some of the Christmas gifts I received of note. However before I get to that I have to recount the ones I gave. On the positive side, realizing that my wife had Boxing Day off to go shopping turned my numerous gift cards into one of the smartest gifts [...]
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