January 2010

What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter the Real World

01.30.2010 by Guest 2 comments

I read What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter the Real World by Joseph Sangl. I wanted to read this book to see what types of information would be shared with someone that is not familiar with money before becoming independent. In my life I know some of the mistakes I have made regarding money and I realize if I had been taught about money and debt early on then maybe I would not have made some of the choices I have made…

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Understanding the Difference between Multi-Level Marketing Programs and Pyramid Schemes

01.29.2010 by Guest 25 comments

Occasionally you may run across an old friend or acquaintance who has a deal too good to be true. You hear “Just buy a few of these and sell some of those and you’ll retire at thirty.” These pyramid/multi-level marketing/sales pitches are enticing, but it’s important to understand what’s worth it and even what’s legal. Understanding the difference between the scam known as a pyramid scheme and a legal multi-level marketing design is important to anyone wanting to try out one of these sales businesses…

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The Secret to Staying Out of Debt: Control Your Spending

01.28.2010 by Craig Ford 15 comments

Sorry, there really is no secret to staying out of debt. What I’m about to tell you is, in fact, neither fancy nor glamorous. The secret to staying out of debt is discipline. You must control your spending.

How Do You Stay Out Of Debt? Step #1: Identify Why You Went Into Debt… If you are in debt or have been in debt, your first task is to identify the reasons why you went into debt. You cannot ever fight against an enemy that is unknown. The reason is you are always spending too much money. At times the spending is understandable (like a house) or unexpected (medical bills), but debt means you are spending or spent too much money…

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Establishing Confidence in Your Finances

01.27.2010 by Jason Price 0 comments

Performance intelligence involves 5 different areas (focus, confidence, self discipline, winning game plan and competitiveness), but I’m going to focus on the area of confidence in this post. How do we develop more confidence in our ability to manage money wisely? Isn’t that really what everyone wants who is striving to be a better steward of their finances? Wouldn’t it be great to have confidence knowing that you’re doing your job in this important area of life? But how do we get there?

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Free Federal Tax Software Download with TurboTax

01.26.2010 by Bob 5 comments

There are a bunch of places offering a free federal tax return, but only a few restricted offers that allow you to file your state tax return for free. So TurboTax is probably banking on the fact that the free federal return will get customers in the door and it will be too inconvenient to file a paper return for your State taxes (or qualify for one of the free deals). TurboTax is also making some bold guarantees about the program as well…

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Make Your Own Personal Budget: Articles, Tips, & Resources

01.25.2010 by Bob 18 comments

I have written quite a bit about budgeting over the last few years since I consider it was a key component to getting our finances under control. Just like most people, I always hated the idea of budgeting, but once you get a better understanding of the freedom that comes with using a budget you fall in love with it. Or at least I have.

The thing I regularly finding myself telling people is that budgeting is not necessarily a restrictive task. It isn’t all about telling yourself “NO” all the time. In fact, as Linda and I have become better at budgeting, we find that it allows us to tell ourselves “Yes” many times when our natural inclination would be to not do something…

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401k Fees – See What You Are Really Paying

01.24.2010 by Bob 3 comments

One of the biggest downsides of the 401k is that there are so many people who need to get paid in order for the whole process to work. So with the administrators, fund managers, brokers, etc all needing to charge fees for their work, it can really cut into the investors’ earnings. To add to it, the fees you pay on your 401k kind of work in an “out of sight, out of mind” type of way. You don’t get billed for your fees, rather they are conveniently taken out without you really even knowing about it. Sure, if you do some digging you can find out a bit about what you are paying, but it is all pretty ambiguous to the average 401k account holder.

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Five Reasons to Stop Contributing Toward Retirement

01.22.2010 by Craig Ford 9 comments

When it comes to retirement most financial gurus emphasize one thing – save as much as you can as early as you can. They’ll tell you to put as much money as you can in the IRA, 401k, or other retirement savings vehicle. The classic advice is to save as much as you can as soon as you can. Yes, of course that is awesome financial advice. Advice that I completely agree with. Nevertheless, you might be in a situation where you think it might be wise to stop contributing to retirement, but you are finding it difficult to get any feedback on the implications of that decision…

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Where to find affordable health insurance for the self-employed

01.21.2010 by Bob 17 comments

So yesterday I spent a couple hours just reading as many articles I could find about health insurance and what other self-employeds are doing out there. From my reading it is a challenge to find a great solution. Paying a lot of money seems the punishment for not finding a good option. So because I haven’t nailed down what we are going to do, this is going to be a little bit of a brain dump of ideas I have come across so far…

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New Law on Bank Overdraft Fees & The “Courtesy” Overdraft Protection

01.20.2010 by Bob 58 comments

Recently Consumer Reports released an article discussing the new Federal law pertaining to banks and their overdraft services. Not sure if the motivation for the new regulation was customers like the one above, but I think it is probably a good thing.

Believe it or not, that $35 fee that the bank charges you when you overdraw your account is actually a “service” that your bank is offering you. They care so much about your well being that they want you to be able to buy that Snickers bar without being told that you don’t have the money in your account. And then they charge you $35 when you spend 50 cents more than you have in your account…

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Could We…Should We Pay Off Our Home Early?

01.19.2010 by Joe Plemon 24 comments

“It seems like we will be making house payments forever. We owe $140,000 at 6% interest and are paying $1000 a month. How much sooner could we pay it off if we started paying an extra $100 a month?”
The above is a hypothetical question, but it could be you. There are two answers: the quick one and the dig deeper one. By clicking a few buttons on a financial calculator we discover the quick answer is 21 months; paying an extra $100 will reduce the payoff from 20 years to 18 years and 3 months…

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10 Options for Personal Financial Planning Software

01.18.2010 by Bob 9 comments

I’ve had readers ask me about some of my favorite financial planning software options, so I decided to write a little bit about a few of them out there. I have used some of this software much more than others, and I am glad to share my thoughts about them, but since there are so many aspects to consider I suggest digging deeper into them before making a purchase.

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The Guidelines Regulating Debt Collectors & Your Consumer Rights

01.17.2010 by Bob 1 comment

I found this great video from the FTC explaining our rights as consumers when it comes to debt collectors and their methods. Debt Collection Agencies are notorious for crossing the line and it is good to know what your rights are and how to deal with them…

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← Previous Entries

January 2010

What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter the Real World

Understanding the Difference between Multi-Level Marketing Programs and Pyramid Schemes

The Secret to Staying Out of Debt: Control Your Spending

Establishing Confidence in Your Finances

Free Federal Tax Software Download with TurboTax

Make Your Own Personal Budget: Articles, Tips, & Resources

401k Fees – See What You Are Really Paying

Five Reasons to Stop Contributing Toward Retirement

Where to find affordable health insurance for the self-employed

New Law on Bank Overdraft Fees & The “Courtesy” Overdraft Protection

Could We…Should We Pay Off Our Home Early?

10 Options for Personal Financial Planning Software

The Guidelines Regulating Debt Collectors & Your Consumer Rights

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