Despite all the tough economic stuff we’ve been dealing with lately, what say we take a moment to think about what makes America special to us?

I’m a first generation immigrant turned naturalized American who came to this country almost 25 years ago to get an advanced education in the field I wanted to specialize in. I had planned to return to my home country soon after finishing my studies, but that didn’t pan out. I ended up staying in the United States because of the job opportunity I was soon afforded and the financial benefits I received by staying here. I’ve often wondered how my life would have turned out if I had stuck to my original plans. Do you ever wonder what your alternative life could have been like?

All I can say is that America has been a wonderful, incredible place to live in. I went through some pretty big adjustments to get settled here, but it was all worth it. Thanks to America I can:

• Drive by myself. The stereotype is true (not elaborating), I’m not a good driver and it was impossible for me to learn how to drive anywhere else.
• Drink water from the tap.
• Stop worrying about mosquitoes.
• Have a fast internet connection.
• Work at home.
• Use Tivo. I haven’t quite warmed up to online television.
• Invest in the stock market without having as much fear of being wiped out.
• Have a solid chance at success even while starting from scratch (or nothing). I guess that’s why they call it “The American Dream“.
• Start a business without paying lots of random fees that don’t have anything to do with the business.
• Do many things without having to pay anyone off first.
• Hole up at home and never EVER get bored!

I could go on and on… but I’ll spare you the details.

What I don’t like about this place so much? Sometimes things get too politically correct for my tastes… and we don’t have these available to the masses.

How Do I Love America? Let Me Count The Ways

I feel patriotic and I’ll tell you why. I’m basing some of my reasons on this political joke archive and Gizmodo. A lot of this is also snark, so I hope you can bear with me.

• This country is so accommodating. There are handicapped parking places everywhere, even in front of a skating rink.
• Only in America…do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a diet Coke.
• Only in America…do banks leave both doors to the vault open and then chain the pens to the counters. And where are the armed guards? (That’s an honest question!)
• Only in America…do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage!
• Only in America…do we buy ourselves answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to converse with in the first place.
• Only in America…do we have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
• Only in America…do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
• Where else can we get these crazy toys? Thank you Gizmodo for these finds!
  

  • George Bush Toilet Brush (aka Bowl Buddy) for $16.95.
  • Hillary Clinton Nutcracker (ugh!) for $19.99.
  • Guns in knives. Or is it knives in guns? For $699.
  • Yay for cheap barbecues on huge grills! And grillz!

• Many forms of work are decently rewarded. And we all love winners — America loves its champs and pays them well. Even eating is a sport where you can get prize money! You may even have a better shot at this than with the lottery, if you work hard enough.
• We love to work ourselves to the bone today, so that we can afford to relax and live lazy lives tomorrow. This article drives the point so well.
• We’re ready to multi-task in style!
• There’s a market for everything. Lots of business ideas, dumb or otherwise, come to fruition here. This place is a haven for senseless inventions that will command some of your dollars. Sometimes, we just can’t resist!

Viva Americana! What else is great about the U.S.? Well now it’s even much easier to get a piece of it! Buy America, it’s on sale right now . All humor aside, I feel truly blessed to be living here.

 
Image Credit: Craziest American Flag Art

This is a post from The Digerati Life.

• Trimming Our Gas Costs, Plus Saving $5,500 a Year Off The Road
• Nope, Not Selling Our House. Not Even For 1000% Rate Of Return In 2 Years!
• How Money Challenges Prevent You From Building The Life You Love
• Welcome, AllFinancialMatters.com and TheStreet.com Readers!
• The Minimum Budget: The Cost of Living For A Family of Four

Here are some factors that were key to the success of the Continental Army in winning the Revolutionary War and gaining independence for the United States.  We can follow these same principles in our quest for financial independence.

Sacrifice – The good news is we don’t have make the ultimate sacrifice for our cause like the many Continental Soldiers that died in the war.  In comparison to them, our “sacrifices” of going without material goods or services in order to save money should be no trouble at all.

Perseverance – Despite the miserable conditions at Valley Forge the Continental Army held together and emerged from the winter ready to do battle.  We’ll have tough days, weeks, and months in our quest to achieve financial independence but we can’t let them stop us from going after our goal.

Lack of Pride – Without the assistance of France the US may not have been able to win the war.  We can’t be too proud to accept the help of others.  Be willing to ask for help when you need it and learn from other people.

Training – Many people who fought in the Revolutionary War had to learn how to become soldiers.  Lacking the skills of the professional British soldiers, they went through drills and training to learn how to fight. A lot of their training also came in the line of fire. 

There may be many things you don’t know about finances, insurance, investing, etc but you have to teach yourself those things to be financially independent.  The best way to learn something is “in the line of fire”, just start investing or chasing your business idea and you’ll learn and adapt along the way.

Innovation – Out gunned and out numbered, soldiers like the Swamp Fox realized they couldn’t beat the British in the “conventional” methods of war.  They adapted their methods to suit their home turf and to maximize their strengths. 

There are countless numbers of ways to save money or make more money.  If you feel like you can’t get ahead working your current job and paying the bills, look for creative ways to save a little more each month or make some extra money.

Leadership – Every army needs a general like George Washington to make a plan, to set the direction of the troops.  We have to realize that we’re our own general. If we don’t make a plan and hold ourselves accountable to it there won’t be anyone else to lead us to financial independence.

Camaraderie – War is a horrible thing but the bonds that are formed in battle often last for a lifetime.  The camaraderie amongst soldiers is part of what keeps them fighting on. 

If you feel alone in your financial struggles, find a debt buddy, business partner, or mastermind group to share your experience with.  You can trade ideas, offer assistance, or just lend a listening ear. It’s always easier when you’re not alone.

Bravery – I remember when I was a kid and my dad shipped out for the Gulf War.  I’ll never forget a time before he left, sitting in our basement with his Army gear spread on the floor and talking about where he’d be going.  As a father myself now, I can only imagine how scared he must of been to go over there.  Knowing he may never see his family again, he got on a plane and flew halfway around the world. 

I admire the bravery of any person that puts on a uniform and goes into battle. Knowing the mental and physical challenges they face, it’s ridiculous to think we can’t be brave enough to live our lives a certain way in peace time.

Honor their Sacrifice By Achieving Your Goals
I think its Dave Ramsey that talks a lot about having the courage to make financial decisions that aren’t popular with your friends and family.  If our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, ….. were brave enough to fight for our country we should at least be able to find the courage to try and live the life we imagine; to exercise the freedom of choice and the pursuit of happyness that they fought and died to protect.

Happy Independence Day!

Free Money Friday will return next week with more great finds!

Top Articles

1. New Grads: 29 Money-Smart Tips
2. 10 Financial Tips for New Grads
3. 11 Fun & Frugal Summertime Activities
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5. We Sold My Car! What Worked and What Didn’t
6. What is Credit Card Arbitrage?
7. Small Business Problem: Advertiser Bounced a Check!
8. Free FICO Scores & Credit Reports

In addition, each month I report progress on the growth of My Dollar Plan and my personal net worth growth.

Site Statistics

My Dollar Plan had 17,184 unique visitors in June. Compared to 16,461 in May, it’s a 4% increase. In addition, there were 41,704 page views.

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Thanks to all the visitors, comments and subscribers this month!

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Here are the sites that sent the most referrals to My Dollar Plan during May (excluding search engines, aggregators and social networking). The number in parentheses represents the place on the list that each site was last month. Thanks for the referrals!

1. MSN Smart Spending
2. Frugal Dad (2)
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Thank You!

Thank you to everyone for making My Dollar Plan a success! I have received some great comments lately about improvements I can make. If you have any you’d like to share please feel free to drop me a line!

This is an article from My Dollar Plan.

• Month in Review for My Dollar Plan: May 2008
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I was listening to the radio yesterday and the 3 Days Grace song Never Too Late came on. It’s a pretty popular song. I was singing along when suddenly I realized I was signing the wrong lyrics. The radio had changed the song and censored out “end your life” with “change your life.” (It’s a pretty bad voice-over.) It got me thinking, since when did “end your life” become a phrase that you can’t say on the radio? What’s next? Do we rewrite Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet so that they change their life at the end?

This reminds me a little of Semi-Charmed Kind of Life from Third Eye Blind. Apparently you can’t say “crystal meth” on the radio either. I like to think this is a family website and keep an eye on my language. Still, I can’t imagine censoring topics like drug use and suicide… it would feel to me like we are pretending that they don’t exist.

For the Americans out there, enjoy Independence Day! I spread my fair share of gloom and doom about ye olde Union, but it’s still the only functional democracy in North America.  Except for Canada.  And except for the last 16 years, we’ve all managed to pull together as a country to solve the big problems.

But today’s not just about grills and beers, although in a way it should be.  Never has a nation had so many citizens so prosperous and so safe for so long.  There are a lot of problems with the US - a LOT - but it’s still one of the top name brands out there and the only thing to prevent us from greatness is ourselves.  I said that in 2004, too, but I’ll start saying it again because apparently it didn’t sink in last time.

Enjoy the holiday! And long after the warm fuzzies have worn off from July 4th, remember that you only owe one thing to repay the good times you have today - vote in November.

Most Popular MDJ Posts for June 2008

1. Hybrid vs. Gasoline Vehicle Comparison - Are Hybrids Worth it? - This article was quite popular as it generated quite a bit of controversy with the die hard hybrid fans. The numbers don’t lie however, hybrids are simply economically more expensive.
2. Apple iPhone 3G Coming to Canada - Canada is well known to lagg behind our southern neighbors in the latest and greatest technologies. As a pleasant surprise though, Rogers has teamed up with Apple to bring the latest iPhone 3G to Canada for a reasonable price. It’s too bad that Rogers is going to gouge the customer with their monthly plans.
3. Cats in the Cradle, Money, and Family - This is non technical money article that I wrote that drew a little more attention that I thought it would. What is money worth if you can’t spend time with those who matter most?
4. How to Open a TD e-Series (e-Funds) RESP Account - This was my experience in opening the ever popular TD e-Series RESP index mutual fund account for the little one. Read how I got conned into opening a chequing account with TD.
5. Top 10 Ways to Save Money in University/College - As I get quite a few emails from students in University/College, it got me thinking about how I saved money throughout school.

Top 5 Sites that sent the most referral traffic to MDJ in June 2008:

1. Canadian Capitalist
2. The Simple Dollar
3. Quest for Four Pillars
4. Wall Street Fighter
5. Moolanomy

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Thanks to all the readers and comment contributors.  In particular, Cannon_Fodder, DAvid, Nobleea, Dividend Growth Investor, Telly, GatesVP, MikeG, MunEconomics, and guinness416.  I apologize if i’m missing anyone, I will try to include you in the next monthly update.

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The Festival of Frugality #132 was brought to you by Budgets Are Sexy, with the theme “Frugal Is, As Frugal Does” ala “Frugal Gump” .

• How I Saved 30% on Breakfast @ No Debt Plan
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I’d also like to make special mention of the Carnival of 20-Something Finances, Brazil-Carnival Style! where Dollar Frugal selected my post on how to save money by paying ourselves first, as the #1 pick for this edition of the carnival. Thank you Brooke!

More Carnivals, Roundups and Lists You Can Check Out!

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This is a post from The Digerati Life.

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We’ve been doing a lot of interviewing at work lately and I’ve noticed that a lot of applicants list every single job they’ve ever had on their resume, regardless of whether they’re applicable to the job they’re applying for.

Looking at it from the perspective of the candidate, I guess they’re trying to show a long steady history of work ethics and continuous employment. Some of the jobs are quite diverse which I suppose could catch a potential employer’s eye and help them stand out. 

Just listing all your past jobs isn’t such a big deal but when you give extensive detail on past (irrelevant) jobs and even discuss them in the application letter or email it seems almost a form of “resume stuffing”.  As if you don’t have all the skills necessary for the job in question so you talk at length about other qualifications.

So what do you think, from the perspective of someone doing the interviewing/hiring for a specialized job do you care that the candidate delivered pizzas in high school?  When you submit your own resume, how do you decide which details to include and which to leave off? You can share your thoughts in the comment section below.

A recap of the situation (see the story for all the details):

• Personal Line: $3,500 balance @ 15% - $7,000 limit
• Credit Card #1: $2,300 balance @ 9.6% - $5,000 limit
• Credit Card #2: $6,600 balance @ 8.5% - $8,000 limit
• Credit Card #3: $1,900 balance @ 18% - $2,000 limit

He has $1510 available each month for payments and $9300 in company stock and upcoming bonus money available.

Here are some highlights of what readers have suggested:

1. Use a 0% Interest Card

Transfer all the credit card debt to a 0% interest card and decide on a set amount to pay each month. - John

Get a 0% credit card and put $14,300 on it. Pay himself $1166 each month into ING. Pay minimums on the card each month out of the ING account and pay the remainder off next year right before the 0% comes due. This will allow him to earn interest on the money, stop throwing away interest, and avoid selling company stock. - Julie

2. Make Equal Payments

Treat each account as if it was an installment loan and make equal monthly payments that should leave him with a zero balance at the end of four months. He can pay $902.51 each month on the personal line of credit, $586.55 a month on credit card 1, $1679.32 on credit card 2, and $492.95 on credit card 3. This is a total payment of $3661.33 each month. He ends up paying around $350 in interest on all the accounts over that time period. The main advantage to this method is that it’s fairly simple and everything is paid off at the same time.
- Jon

Five months of interest isn’t enough to sweat the details. The advantage is light at the end of the tunnel - a few months of serious ratcheting back then he’s done! It also seems silly to sell off stock in this short term plan, unless he absolutely cannot payoff otherwise and MUST be done by November. - Jay

3. Pay Highest Interest First

He should pay the minimum payments on the personal line and credit cards 1 & 2. He should sell his stock that he receives and use his bonus to pay off credit card 3 first. Then use the extra money to pay of the personal line, credit card 1, and finally credit card 2.

It’s best to pay off based on interest rate and not on balance or type. Why keep the stock? He won’t, on average, earn more on the stocks than he will be paying interest on those accounts. - Joshua

Use stock to pay off the personal line with the remaining $300 to credit card 4. Pay minimums to credit card 1 and 2 with the rest going to credit card 4. In August payoff credit card 4, and use the stock towards credit card 2 and 3. - deepali

4. Pay Smallest Balance First

Liquidate all non-retirement assets (including company stock and future bonuses) and throw it at the credit cards, in addition to any extra monthly money he can cash flow. Pay the credit cards off smallest balance to largest balance. - Frugal Dad

5. Avoid Future Debt

He should cut up all but one of his cards and decide to never carry a balance ever again. It sounds like he’s fairly intelligent so he should be able to do some ‘light’ reading to educate himself about debt and it’s compounding effects. - Brad

6. Subtract Charges Immediately

Once the cards are paid off, I would suggest on his rewards card that he wants to use for gas that when he charges an item to write it down in his check book (debit it) so that when the bill comes he has already accounted for the charges and the bill can be paid in full. - Dawn

7. Watch out for Tax Ramifications

One way would be to sell your stock, but you should be very sure of the tax ramifications of doing so before selling it. - Beating Broke in Debt Plan: My Dollar Plan Reader

My Thoughts

I’ll be back soon with a plan for him. All of these ideas are great, and I’m incorporating many of these points and some others. Stay tuned!

This is an article from My Dollar Plan.

• Help a Reader Payoff Debt
• The Great Credit Card Debate Continues….
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• Credit Card Arbitrage Q&A
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During her search she came up across this item… Tiffany’s Bunny Bank - Baby’s first savings account. The $1,225 price tag sure is a lot of savings. If that money was invested and it earned 6% a year (not an unreasonable amount after taxes, inflation, and investment fees), it would be worth more than $54,000+ in 65 years. That’s real, spendable money in today’s dollars. If he uses the money when he’s 80, he could go on a spending spree of $129,600 (again in today’s value of dollars).

I get the feeling I know what Cap would say about this purchase. Is this just something for the rich uncle to buy? I just love the irony behind this product.

Recommended by Lazy Man: Prosper.com - Make money by lending money or join and consolidate debt.