Category: Frugal Living, Saving Money & Life Hacks
Best Personal Finance Posts and Website Growth
After reading dozens of posts this past week, I have saved the best for you, my faithful readers. Have a look and enjoy four of the top articles that I have read this week:3 Weeks After Quitting My Job – by Living A FI – This guy has officially saved enough to quit his job and become completely financially independent. And, his wife will quit her job in the summer. This is an amazing accomplishment and makes for some fascinating reading.What I’m Teaching My Son About Money – by Mr. Money Mustache – MMM and his family spend a total of $25,000 a year and live solely off their investments. His son, who is 9 years old, has a growing curiosity about why his friends’ parents
Becoming Wealthy or Being Cheap? Or Both?
Are you taking actions toward becoming wealthy or are you actually just being cheap, likely never to get truly wealthy? And what’s the real difference? As Ramit Sethi often talks about on his blog, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, cutting out a few expenses is not going to dramatically change your financial future. In fact, if you ordered a tall latte every day before work for a year, it would cost you about $1,000. That sounds like a lot of money, but what if, during that same year, you started a side business that generated an additional $10,000 in profits?As my nifty graph shows above, the difference maker was not those negative lattes, it was the positive business income. Becoming wealthy is often
What is Forex Trading? What Are the Pros and Cons?
Have you ever heard of Forex trading before? It goes by other names as well: FX trading, foreign exchange trading, or just plain currency trading. At its most basic form, Forex trading is simply trading one currency against another in the hopes that your purchased currency will become stronger, meaning that you can purchase more goods (or another currency) with the money.So let’s say that you thought the United States’ Dollar was going to become weaker when compared to the Euro. To take action on this hunch, all you would have to do is hop onto a foreign exchange trading site and purchase a number of Euros. Then, you would just sit back and wait to see what the exchange became between the two currencies. If
Underpaid? It’s Time To Leave; Why Job Hopping Isn’t So Bad
Ever since millennials began entering the workforce, media outlets have perpetuated the story of employers not knowing what to do with job-hopping millennials. Apparently, we’ve gotten a bad rap for not sticking around our jobs long enough. There’s only one problem with this story: according to a recently published article on FiveThirtyEight, the job hopping story is misleading. First, younger workers have always changed jobs more often than older workers. In fact, the turnover of millennial workers today is the same as it was for 20-somethings in the 80s. Second, today’s 20-somethings change jobs less frequently than 20-somethings in the 90s, according to statistics from the Department of Labor, The reality is: In your twenties, job hopping isn’t bad; it’s normal. In fact,
Your Employer Wants To Check Your Credit; Now What?
There is more than one reason to be conscientious about your credit history. Prospective employers can — and often will — check your credit report during a job application. When an employer runs a background check, it’s both an effort to cover the company’s backside and stalk you a little bit before they hire you. It’s no different than when you Google a prospective date to ensure he/she is not an escaped murderer. Even though it’s understandable a company would verify job applicants’ criminal histories, does an employer have any business running credit checks on potential employees? And could a charged off account or a few years of lackadaisical bill payments after college prevent you from landing your dream job? Here’s
The 2015 Millennial Money Survey: How Much Do 20-somethings Earn And Save?
How much does the average 20-something save? What are other 20-somethings earning? How are YOU doing financially compared to other young adults your age? Wonder no more. Here are the results of Money Under 30’s second annual Millennial Money Report in which we take a look at the state of 20-somethings’ finances in the United States. We conducted an online poll of 253 Americans between the ages of 21 and 29. Respondents were invited from a broad Internet audience – not just Money Under 30 readers, who tend to be a bit more money savvy than average. (You can pat yourself on the back for that!) Today’s 20-somethings remain financially optimistic, despite current struggles. We asked respondents three questions about their present finances and their outlook on the future.
How to Find Well-Paying Freelance Gigs by Avoiding Job Boards
This post is from Careful Cents contributor Kayla, who owns the blog ShoeaholicNoMore. Over the next six months she’s documenting her journey to quitting her job and taking the leap into self-employment. When I was just starting out as a freelancer I was actively looking for new writing and VA jobs to add to my portfolio. I sought out and read lots of blog posts and articles with tips about how and where to get new jobs. Most of what I read suggested using job boards, like Upwork (formerly Elance and Odesk) as well as Fiverr. After reading these articles I did what most new freelancers probably do, I went to job board websites to see if they were legit. Honestly, I had no idea how
DRAFT App Review: Simple Portfolio Analysis For Every Investor
Comparing yourself to others isn’t always healthy. For example, you’ll be happier if you’re grateful for the things you have instead of envying the things your friends have. But in some situations, such as analyzing your investment portfolio, comparisons are useful. I’m not talking about comparing how much you’ve invested, rather comparing how your investment choices are performing compared to your peers. For decades, we’ve all used popular indices – the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500 – as benchmarks to judge whether our own investments have performed better or worse than average. DRAFT is a new app that may provide you with more – and potentially more useful – ways to see how your investments stack up. DRAFT recently demoed their product at Finovate,
14 Healthy, Cheap Recipes You Don’t Need To Be A Chef To Make
I never learned how to cook when I was growing up. As a result, I ate out a lot once I moved out on my own. The meals I did make at home were prepackaged foods or something a little kid could make, like cereal or mac and cheese. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. There are tons of simple yet delicious foods that you don’t need to be a chef to prepare. You also don’t need to spend half the day cooking or spend a fortune. Knowing some easy recipes is a great way to keep the food budget in line while still eating well. Here are seven main dishes to get you going this week.
How To Prepare For A Job Search While Still In College
Finding a new job always takes longer than you might think. Whether you’re a college student with a looming graduation or sense pending layoffs at your current employer, the sooner you an begin to prepare for a job search, the better. Here are five ways to prepare for a job search, even if you don’t think you have to yet. Clean up social media pages It’s 2015. There’s no excuse for NSFW pictures on Facebook. The reason is simple: Most prospective employers are checking your social media accounts. They’re looking deeper into an applicant’s past than ever before, in an attempt to find the perfect candidate. Your social media activity can give an employer a glimpse into your beliefs, attitudes, and opinions. And
How To Choose An Online Bank: 7 Features To Look For
Personal encounters that previous generations took for granted have either disappeared entirely, or are getting pretty darn close to extinction. Wherefore the milkman? The telephone company operator? The research librarian? And, with ever-growing frequency, the bank teller… Online banks have become a reality, in large part because they are so convenient. Ridiculous fees are easy to dodge, too. It’s not unusual for big brick-and-mortar banks to charge $30 or more a month, even if you’re an outstanding customer—even though they’re already making money off of holding your money. If that makes you mad as hell, it might be time to find an online bank. But how do you choose? Just recently, GOBankingRates.com released a list of top 10 online banks. Ally Bank finished first
