Category: Financial & Investment Tips
The $6 tip that made me rethink my approach
Last weekend I decided to take Linda on a mother’s day trip to Nashville for the weekend. She has proved to be an awesome mother to our baby boy for the last 15 months and she deserved a little trip away. On the morning we were set to come back home, we began packing up. As I pulled out my wallet to leave a tip for the cleaning lady I flipped through the cash and saw that I had $46 (two $20s and six $1s). I opted for the $6 and left it on the pillow. We finished packing up our stuff and made our way into the hallway. As we did, the cleaning lady was standing right there. She was probably in her mid
The one thing I would teach a recent college Grad
It is so SIMPLE to retire well off, if you make just a little sacrifice now. The alternative is making a huge sacrifice later on (in your 40s) and still probably not doing as well as if you made a small sacrifice now. You just finished your degree and you are probably looking for your first “real” job. This is the perfect opportunity to decide how you would like your financial life to be. You have the choice to spend and buy whatever you feel like which will likely put you in heaps of debt. If you choose this path, you will be in good company. You can be sure most of your peers will take this path. Or, you can take the road less traveled.
Questions About YouTube, Negative Families, Moving Out, and More!
What to do with old magazines and cassettes? Photo: Cassettes What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Family negative about financial goals 2. Free MBA 3. Feeling pressure regarding inheritance 4. Old financial magazines 5. Box wine tip 6. Buy it for life: bottles 7. Coupon bonds 8. Making YouTube videos 9. Discussing family finances with kids 10. Preparing for an inheritance 11. Time to move out? 12. Length of employment for resume 13. Why care about credit scores? 14. Worried about buying a condo 15. Audiocassette collection I’ve always been a sucker for graduation speeches – at least the ones where people put thought and care into their words. A graduation can be a powerful and
Financial Advice That Needs to Die
Should you spend a whopping two months’ salary on an engagement ring? That depends on whether you listen to your own instincts, or a global jewelry company’s marketing department. Photo: Mary McCartney/DeBeers via Facebook Recently, one of my friends was curtain shopping when she received some pretty crazy advice from a friendly store employee. “You should expect to spend around 5{7dabfd103aa443fce219eea47f0f346a11a54ce587a1a0cbb74f06b9f7a304ca} of your home’s value on curtains and draperies,” the saleswoman explained as she sauntered around the sales floor. Of course, my friend balked at the idea. Not only is spending that much money on curtains absolutely absurd, but it is also highly unrealistic. Where we live, you can get a really nice four-bedroom home for $200,000, throw a few Wal-Mart
This Mom Created a 5-Figure eBay Business in Her Spare Time
Over the last decade, motivated individuals have invented plenty of creative ways to make money on the internet. One of the most popular strategies involves the online auction site, eBay. All over the web, you can find countless examples of people who have used eBay to build fortunes and even long-term sustainable businesses. Many people even use eBay as a platform to create a full-time job that lets them quit their day jobs, once and for all. I recently had the opportunity to interview one such woman. Julia is a wife and mom who created a five figure eBay business working in her spare time. She provided incredible insight that could prove valuable to anyone who hopes to go down the same path, and she
How to Hack College and Graduate with ZERO Debt
The following guest post is from Martin of Studenomics. Today, Martin officially launches Next Round’s On Me, where it makes good financial sense to start saving in your 20s so that your older self will thank you. I graduated college with zero debt and plenty of stories that I’m never going to forget. That’s a statement I’m very proud of. Now that I’m 27 and a few years removed from school, I constantly thank my younger self for surviving college financially. I’m so grateful that I don’t have to worry about making payments on my debt because life’s too short to be broke and I likely would’ve never gotten involved with personal finance blogging. Before you dismiss this article by assuming that I’m some
College Without Debt – Is It Possible?
With the cost of college rising every year, the possibility of attending college without debt is starting to seem like a fantasy. But given the harsh realities of carrying large amounts of debt after graduation, every effort needs to be made in order to keep student loan debt to an absolute minimum. The Big Picture Problem of Student Loan Debt The student loan debt issue is rapidly becoming a national crisis. Not only are high levels of student debt interfering with the financial progress of college graduates, but the evidence is beginning to mount that it’s also taking a toll on the whole economy. According to a Wall Street Journal article, Congratulations to Class of 2014, Most Indebted Ever, the following debt statistics apply to the college class
27 Signs You Are Financially Stable
“How do you want to pay for it?” I had recently returned from Iraq and my wife and I were hunting for a couch for our new home. We found one that was on sale we both thought it was perfect. Okay, it was a red couch and she thought it was perfect. I, personally, didn’t understand why anyone would buy a red couch but apparently I didn’t understand home decor. Nonetheless, the wife’s vote trumped mine. When the sales clerk asked how we wanted to pay suggesting we take advantage of their great in-store financing, an exciting thought ran through me – “we can pay cash”. A year prior, that wouldn’t have been an option. Not even close!
The Step-by-Step Guide to Clean and Repair your Credit Report
Nobody’s perfect. You aren’t and neither am I. But neither are the credit bureaus who compile your credit history or the creditors who report to those bureaus. If you have some splotches on your credit report the odds are that at least some of those black marks are there by mistake. The good news is, it’s not that difficult to repair a flawed credit report. While accurate, verifiable and complete data must stay on your credit report for up to 10 years, you can wipe clean a lot more negative data from your credit report than you might otherwise expect. And you can do this yourself. You don’t have to hire anyone to do this for you or make this into a full-time job. With a little
10 Personal Finance Myths Busted
Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something–Thomas Edison If you spend any time reading about personal finance, you’ve no doubt encountered a ton of rules. Whether it’s that credit cards are evil or that school loans are ‘good’ debt, these rules all have their place. A problem arises, however, if you view these rules as inviolable. They’re not, and believing that they are can lead you down the wrong path. Here are 10 of my favorite personal finance rules that are often meant to be broken: 1. You need a budget: No you don’t. A budget is not an end in itself. You don’t need a budget to feel like your are being financially responsible. And
8 Homemade Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for Under $20
With Mother’s Day around the corner, I wanted to present some ideas for homemade, low cost gift ideas for mom. The problem is that I’m not really a “homemade, low cost gifts for mom” kind of guy. Fortunately, our daughter loves crafts. So I asked her to find some great gift ideas from Pinterest. Here’s what she found, along with her comments about each idea: Mason Jar Picture Frame Vase This idea is for those who don’t want to spend $70 on a vase from Pier 1 or Crate and Barrel. It’s a fabulous way to take an old picture and turn it into a keepsake that will be passed on. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/26458716536209399/ Dollar Store Tiered Tray What mom doesn’t want
