atchan

To loan or not to loan

2024-01-02T01:06:00.008-05:00

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd start this year with an interesting post. I always said that it was better to take a loan vs using your cash. The fear of debt is ridiculous and will financially cripple you. I've got the data to back it up.

Google Sheet: To loan or not to loan

We are going to build on my previous post: Everything you're told about money is wrong - Buying a house

Assuming you've put 3.5% down and in 15 years, you've decided to do $200,000 in renovations.

Scenario 1 (8% Rate of Return)

If you took the $200,000 out instead of leaving it in your investment, you would have LOST $587,438.72.

If the money was left in the account, you would have $664,135.35 vs $76,696.63 if you took $200,000 out 15 years in.

	With Loan	Without Loan
8%	$664,135.35	$76,696.63

Is it worth it to pay the $103,788.46 in interest for the renovation to have an additional $587,438.72?

Scenario 2 (10% Rate of Return)

If you took the $200,000 out instead of leaving it in your investment, you would have LOST $759,499.66.

If the money was left in the account, you would have $1,151,660.55 vs $392,160.89 if you took $200,000 out 15 years in.

	With Loan	Without Loan
10%	$1,151,660.55	$392,160.89

Is it worth it to pay the $103,788.46 in interest for the renovation to have an additional $759,499.66?

Scenario 3 (12% Rate of Return)

If you took the $200,000 out instead of leaving it in your investment, you would have LOST $977,422.46.

If the money was left in the account, you would have $1,977,354.86 vs $999,932.40 if you took $200,000 out 15 years in.

	With Loan	Without Loan
12%	$1,977,354.86	$999,932.40

Is it worth it to pay the $103,788.46 in interest for the renovation to have an additional $977,422.46?

Conclusion

Is it worth paying the interest? You tell me.

Referral Links

2021-11-24T12:31:00.010-05:00

Goldbelly

Share this offer with friends. They get $25 on their first purchase, and you get $25.

https://www.talkable.com/x/ovlnLz

Everything you're told about money is wrong - Buying a house

2020-02-22T21:43:00.005-05:00

** Addendum 5/4/23 - I added PMI to this calculation. **

So, in this blog we're gonna cover the 20% down myth.

You can buy a house in the USA using the FHA loan. You don't need to wait until you have 20% down. Leverage the 3.5% down and make your money work for you.

Google searches just have too many ads. Here's a direct link to the FHA program via HUD, the government program.
FHA Link: https://www.hud.gov/buying/loans

This blog post is for those that have 20% down, still put 3.5% down. Your parents and realtors will push you to do 20% down for various reasons.

Your parents don't know any better and will say "save on interest". Little do they realize how little you save because the largest cost of interest is in the first 10-15 years.

Your realtor will have various reasons because they want to close the deal quicker, they get paid and don't care about your future. The home owner gets paid regardless. If your realtor pushes it, then find a new one.

The scenario I have chosen is a $400,000 house.

The interest that your parents claim you save between putting 3.5% vs 20% down? $47,433.87. With PMI costs of $39,602.00 would bring that total to $87,035.87.

If you invested the difference in mutual funds, by only putting down $14,000 vs $80,000, which would leave you with $66,000. If you invested that, this is what you could have at the end of paying off your house.

Scenario	Down	Rate of Return	Cash	House	Total Assests in the end
1	20%	None	In house	$ 400,000.00	$ 400,000.00
2	3.50%	8%	$664,135.35	$ 400,000.00	$ 1,064,135.35
3	3.50%	10%	$1,151,660.55	$ 400,000.00	$ 1,551,660.55
4	3.50%	12%	$1,977,354.86	$ 400,000.00	$ 2,377,354.86

The numbers speak for themselves. Make your money work for you. Your home is an asset that needs to be maintained. Use your money to your advantage.

Do you listen to your parents and save $87,035.87 only to lose out on $664,135.35 to $1,977,354.86? Wouldn't it be great to have a house AND $1,977,354.86??

Food for thought.

I've included the worksheet with the data here: 3.5 or 20 Down

Open Enrollment 2019

2019-11-07T21:16:00.003-05:00

Ah, another year of benefits selection and more changes. Here are some tips that should apply for all.

Life Insurance - Be sure to maximize this. Most people don't take advantage and it's a shame. It's one of the cheapest things you can do to benefit your family financially if something happens to you. The group rate from your company is better than any rate from private insurance.

PPO & FSA or HSA - This was an interesting thing we learned. If you're fortunate enough to have both spouses working for a company that provides health insurance, this will apply to you.

My company hits me with a surcharge for covering a spouse that has access to insurance ($75 a month), so we are forced to have 2 separate policies. When she was pregnant, I paid the fee to cover her in case some complications arose. Luckily nothing happened and we paid practically nothing for the hospital visit itself. In the new year, we each have our separate plans, but cover the children under both our policies.
When you have dual coverage for the children, they go by the oldest spouse, not what you select as the primary insurance. So we kinda got screwed because I had the HSA plan and she was the PPO. So we couldn't just pay the co-pay. Be sure to have the older spouse select the PPO and the younger spouse with the HSA.
When you select the HSA, be sure to max out the benefit because there is a tax savings. In 2019 you can put $7,000 for the family. Under my PPO I maxed out my FSA at $2,700. Now remember that you need to spend the FSA money, NOT the HSA, by the end of the year. As a family, you can put away $9,700 pre-tax.

Also, a reminder, it's close to the new year so get ready to make that annual folder to see where you are financially and have a record of all accounts.

Get some free money for doing stuff you already do.

2019-10-01T22:01:00.000-04:00

Referral links to free money for both of us!

Rakuten (eBates) - Earn cash back when you shop online & in-store! Get $10 for signing up!
Click HERE: https://www.rakuten.com/r/WEB221?eeid=28187

Raise.com - Buy discounted gift cards! Get $5 when you sign up and make a purchase within 30 days of signing up for an account.
Click HERE: http://geta.raise.com/lchan

SoFi - A FinTech company offering you 2 options

SoFi Money today. As long as you fund your account with at least $100, you’ll get an extra $50. Then start saving, spending, and earning high interest—all in one product. Use my link https://www.sofi.com/share/money/2629302/
$100 for refinancing your student loan or taking out a personal loan. Use my link: sofi.com/share/2629302?src=copy

2018... New Year, but same old.

2018-03-14T04:37:00.000-04:00

So at this point, I can keep up with blog posts every 2 years. LOL

Keeping with my tradition of New Year Realization for 2017 & 2018:

2017: "Embrace change."

The world and technology is moving at a record pace. See the new, learn from it, adapt to it and protect yourself from it. Evolution works the same way, those that evolve move forward and those that do not, become extinct.

2018: "Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

There is so much noise and so many bubbles, it has become a haven for "click bait" ads. Don't be baited. The only thing that affects you, affects you directly. Everything else is designed to make you angry.

Other than that, what has changed? Nothing much, the same life rules apply, see my 2016 post: https://goo.gl/Y8BJFd

Some good reminders below:

Still need to complied a file of all your year end statements for the family or tell who manages the family finances they need to.
"The Brand Called You", still holds true. Makes sure your resume is updated, regardless if you are seeking employment or not. Opportunities come up so don't miss out. See this post: https://goo.gl/nuU9xr
Personal security online still applies: https://goo.gl/8s0EbD (Due for an update, so that will be another post in 2018. Look out for it.)

Till my next post...

Happy New Year! (It's been a while....)

2016-01-25T23:36:00.002-05:00

I can't believe the last post was in 2014!! Where did the last 2 years go??

Time for that annual review!

1. Don't waste your time on resolutions you are never going to complete. It's dragging you down and depressing you while leading you to a "Failure" mindset. Just remember we can't spell failure without U R A. LOL Seriously though, you need to have New Year Realizations! What did you learn last year? I'll start you with the first one:

"You can always make more money, but you can never buy more time."

Want to do something? Do it. Don't be that old person sitting there with regret. Don't have enough money? Work some over time or better yet, get a job that pays more and go do it. Make all the excuses you want, but ultimately, it's up to you. The world will continue to spin on and go on without you. It's too late when you're dead and time's up. For those cheapskates, remember that when you're dead, you can't take that money with you. You're hoarding money for the government to take or someone else to live it up on. Enjoy your hard earned money yourself, not on someone else.

2. Do that review of your finances. Besides tax season, make sure you have everything documented for your significant other or loved one. With everything digital, there is no hard copy. No one will find anything. Year end statements of everything. Put it in a folder and put it somewhere safe with a label on it.

3. Re-read my post from Dec 2012 (http://goo.gl/4K8nlm), the information is still relevant. Normally done during open enrollment, but still a good review and to be kept for this coming year.

4. Your personal security online. Most find it an inconvenience and annoying, but all it takes is one incident and you're completely screwed. Protect your self: (http://goo.gl/8s0EbD)

Have a happy and prosperous new year! See you next post!

What Radio Shack really needs to do…

2014-09-24T16:57:00.000-04:00

Radio Shack needs to retool and get out of being a cheap clone of Brookstone. What do they sell anyway? They truly need to embrace their D.I.T. (Do It Together) mantra, that is hidden on their site.

To me Radio Shack was always the go to place to find tools and gadgets you need to fix things. What happened to that? Now they sell junk gadgets, toys and cell phone contracts? It’s the cheap version of Brookstone.

Did you notice how many people are walking around with shattered smartphone screens? How many small “shady” places are offering repairs? Hello!? Why doesn’t Radio Shack get into that business? Sell warranties? Parts? Classes? D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself). If not, get a Really Smart Associate to fix it. Get it? RS? Radio Shack – Really Smart?

How to do that? Here’s the plan.

Buy iFixit.com, they already have a HUGE customer base, with videos on how to fix things and a retail business going. That’s already 50% of the work done for you.

Get into the warranty service business. Technology companies need this for all their gadgets, become the “Apple Store” for everyone else. Samsung, HTC, Blackberry, etc. Upsell the RS Complete Coverage, for ALL gadgets. Fill in the missing gaps.

Get into the trade-in business for electronics, can’t fix it? Buy it from us, while you’re here.

BE Maker Faire (http://makerfaire.com/). Embrace those customers, I mean people. They are people who will come back to your stores and support the brand. Goldsmith sponsor is good, but BE the Presenting Sponsor. Have one every week in your store!

Get into home automation on the ground floor. Home Depot and Lowes CAN’T compete. Get a Really Smart Installer to install the system and show people how to use it. It’s a growing field, be the pioneer!

Get into 3D printing, it’s going to be high margin big business. Get in on the ground floor. No one else has the distribution or reach that you do, right now.

A lot of these are very easy to get into immediately and wouldn't require much retooling, just branding.

Passwords made simple and secure

2013-10-08T01:30:00.001-04:00

A great comic strip explaining how easy it is for you to get hacked and how to make a better password. Be sure to also activate the 2 step verification from my previous post.

xkcd: Password Strength

Your personal security online...

2013-09-22T02:31:00.000-04:00

Everyone uses locks on their doors at home and some even have a security system to protect their personal belongings. Some get a car alarm and even one with a GPS to prevent your car from being stolen. A password on your phone, but what about your email? No one seems to secure email and it's the most important thing online now.

Why is email important? Think about it. Where are all your forgotten passwords resets sent? Especially for your banking and credit cards? Email. All I need to do is enter your password and is it even a secure one? Is it your kids name? Your wife's? Does it contain letters or numbers? Or even capital and lower case letters? Chances are it's a simple password. Is your password on this list?

25 most-used passwords revealed

Here are the steps to make it more secure and some recommendations:

1. Make a better password. Check this link out: http://xkcd.com/936/

2. Use Two-step verification. It's a second code that is sent to you or generated by an app, that needs to be entered. Think of it as your work VPN token. I have more information below.

Here are some links to popular email services with their "How-to". If you don't use any of these, I would seriously consider switching.

Hotmail or Oulook.com: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/two-step-verification-faq

Yahoo: http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_ACCT&locale=en_US&id=SLN5013

Gmail: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/180744?hl=en

Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5570

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150172618258920

Enjoy your new piece of mind!

The Way To Wealth By Benjamin Franklin (1757) Success Manual ...

2013-03-17T17:24:00.001-04:00

Something recently discovered and a good read.

The Way To Wealth By Benjamin Franklin (1757) Success Manual ...

Year end closeout...

2012-12-13T00:51:00.003-05:00

So, another year has gone by... did you keep your New Years resolution? Mine was to post more. I came close. Missed a few since August due to work.

With the holiday's and New Year coming up. We all do things for other people, but forget to do the important things. Things that will benefit you and your future loved ones even more than the latest/hottest gift.

Here are a few things you've probably missed:

1. Examining your 401k - Is it giving you the best return, does it need to be reallocated? Are you getting at least 12%?? No? Time to take a look. While you're there, be sure to increase your contribution by 1%. You'll never miss it and you'll thank me later!

2. Your emergency fund - Is your money sitting in a checking account earning something for you? Most banks are paying 0.01 - 0.05% on your checking account vs a national money market account which is about 1%. Know what that means for every $1,000? $10 vs $0.10 in interest. What would you like to be earning?

3. Insurance - For everything. Are you covered? Life, Auto, Home, etc? Talk to an insurance agent or 2. You can save money and cover yourself. If hurricane Sandy taught us anything, is that anything can happen, make sure you're covered.

Life insurance can help your family through a rough time, especially if you had a new addition this year. Update your beneficiaries too!

Not to mention that you could also save a ton of money by getting additional insurance. I saved an additional $200 on car insurance for buying a $100 renters policy which covered me for property loss, even if something is stolen from my car.

4. Company benefits - This has multiple parts.

FSA/HSA/Dependent Care - ALL pre-tax benefits. Your child care, your glasses, dental work, doctors visits, etc. Plan ahead. You save 25% in taxes by just planning ahead. 25%!! Think about it. Could you use $250 for every $1,000 you spend. I sure could. (If you don't know what these are, I would find someone who does and ask. Talk to your tax adviser/accountant this coming April.)

Company Stock - Does your company offer it? My company offers a 15% discount on the purchase price at the end of every quarter. 15% You don't get a rate of return on your money that easy, ANYWHERE! Think about it, every $1,000 you earn $150 in 3 months. That's an extra $600 a year. Not to mention that some companies also pay dividends. Do you hear the dollar signs?

Pre-tax transit & Parking - Want to save 25% off your transit costs? It's easy! Take advantage of your pre-tax commuter benefit. Most companies offer this. On average, we spend about $1,000 a year on trains and buses. Park at a Park & Ride? You can put away for parking also. Add that $1,000 to it and you save $500 a year.

5. Your living will - Very important. If you don't have one. Get one. It's cheap and easy. It will save your family a ton of problems in case you ever pass away. No matter how old you are, you have assets and it can be passed on. Work has life insurance, your car, your retirement account. It will help in settling your affairs. Make a list and check it twice. You may have more than you know!

At this rate, I think I've saved and earned you at least $3,000+ a year.

And that's all I have for now! Happy Holiday's and Happy New Year!! See you in 2013!

Free training online

2012-08-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

With the internet, there is no excuse of "Your company not providing adequate training.". It is really up to you to make time. Ease up on Facebook, You Tube, TV or any other time consuming activity. There are sacrifices to anything you want to do.

This is also true of anything you see in a job search. Don't know how to do it? Do a Bing or Google search on any skill. Be honest and put it on your resume, you learned it but haven't had the opportunity to apply it, but you'll love the opportunity to apply it. The willingness to learn is critical in any job. Welcome to the new world. Anyone not willing to learn a new task is unemployable. McDonald's employees need to learn new things too. Think they knew how to make that smoothie before?

Here are some links to common training that everyone needs.

Office 2007, 2010, 2013
http://office.microsoft.com

Microsoft software
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/products.aspx

Find out how on a Mac
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

If you Bing or Google search any topic, there's a ton of stuff out there for you to learn. ENJOY!

The importance of software updates and upgrades...

2012-06-26T11:22:00.000-04:00

With computers and technology advancing at an incredible rate, it is extremely important to do updates on existing devices and upgrade them when manufacturers end support on them. On average, technology has become obsolete in as little as 3 years. Support for those products also ends, which includes things like security updates and bug fixes. The most important being security fixes because this leaves you vulnerable.

One such example is the iPhone which is currently running iOS 5 with 6 due out later this year. As of 6/26/12, there are currently 141 vulnerabilities for that operating system. You can check the national database here:
http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search-results?query=apple+ios&search_type=all&cves=on

The other important reason to do the updates, is highlighted in my post here: http://www.atchan.com/2010/12/iphone-upgrade-warning.html

When you upgrade and migrate to your new device, it is best to keep up with incremental updates. As shown in my previous post. If you upgrade from iOS 1.1 to 3.1, there are A LOT of changes in how the data is handled. Things are improved, changed and fixed in each revision. If your data didn't do the natural progression of versions 1 to 2 to 3, you will lose that data. Software is designed to follow an order of progression, if you deviate, it will cause problems for you because the only way for them to keep track is through their revisions. Anything else creates too many variables that no one can track. Of course, you should always back up your data, but that is a totally separate post.

This also leads to another point. Large corporations, in an "attempt" to save money by pushing off "costly" upgrades and updates, actually pay much more, in most cases more than double, in the long tern when you are forced to upgrade when it comes to end of life support. Examples include additional hours required in attempting to keep the old data, problems that arise when attempting to connect older systems to newer systems, additional resources (hardware, 3rd party software, consultants) to bridge the time needed while the integration is tested, employee training, and down time related to problems in the upgrade. All these are additional costs that aren't calculated and end up costing so much more.

Software companies design the upgrade process into the newer products from the previous revision, not from older versions. For example, they will provide support for your migration from version 4 to 5, but as for version 3 to 5 you are on your own or will need to purchase 3rd party software specifically written to migrate that data and it is not always perfect because their software is based on a properly configured system. Which is NEVER the case because something is configured either differently or wrong.

The next generation of employment...

2012-05-01T01:09:00.000-04:00

So the news has been reporting on "unemployment", "economy" and "job creation". The larger problem lies in the people who are currently unemployed. There are several factors.

The primary reason is that they are missing the skill set required. The job market is not as terrible, as one is lead to believe. See the article below. This is just one example of many.

Halliburton adding 11,000 jobs, mostly in North Dakota
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney August 25, 2011: 6:25 PM ET
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/25/news/economy/halliburton_north_dakota_jobs/index.htm

The secondary factor is their location. Certain areas are hard hit by the down turn and shift that happened so it's up to the individual to make a change. If something you are doing isn't working or no longer required, then it is up to you the individual, to change. Sam Kinison said it best, "No jobs here? Well MOVE to where the jobs are!" I'm paraphrasing a joke on Ethiopia, but you get the idea.

With technology, menial tasks, paper pushers, etc. have essentially become extinct. Physical tasks that don't require skill are no longer needed. This will create a larger shift between the employed and unemployed.

Those that adapt and learn will always be employed. Those that resist change will be the ones left behind.

What HP really needs to do...

2012-03-26T18:48:00.002-04:00

HP needs a plan and direction. Not just a reorganization.

HP is in a very unique position in the coming years because they control unique parts of the future, like Sony did 5 years ago, but ultimately failed to capitalize on it. Apple came and ate Sony's lunch and kicked them to the curb. Steve Jobs got it right and realized that computers became a commodity business with low margins. So he turned them around to be the leading consumer electronics company. Along with content for all his devices, he ended up owning the things you use in your every day life.

Right now HP is still a house hold name. Chances are that everyone has a HP printer in their house or a laptop. What HP is missing is the vision. HP's acquisition of WebOS was a thought in the right direction, just executed badly. The market didn't need more fragmentation. They should have adopted their core strength and went the Windows route to create the entire home experience. They have the Windows Home server which ties your entire house together. Laptops and Desktops for the interface. A tablet and phone for when you are on the go. Make it seamless and easy for the end user and they will come.

1. HP needs to either bring back their PDA/Phones. The easiest is to acquire HTC, since they were their OEM for the iPaq's. You need the daily device in the consumers hand. A merger with Nokia would be rather large, but nice. Since the stock is trading at an all time low. Nokia would give them an amazing global presence.

2. Acquire Roku or SlingBox to capture the TV market. This gives them an automatic entry into the living room. You are no longer relegated to the home office.

3. Acquire Hulu or Netflix and integrate it with all your devices. There's your content automatically available to ALL your devices.

Now, this is no simple task to stitch this all together. But you do see the vision. They already have an infrastructure for the "cloud" servers. How cheap would it be for Hulu to build out their data centers if the parent company makes the hardware?

They already have the retail channels, you can leverage it all without building retail stores like Apple did. This would also give BestBuy a much needed boost with the retail sector being a dying business.

5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor

2012-02-06T15:26:00.000-05:00

So, I started reading the site Cracked.com. It's pretty funny and the humor is based on some facts.

I came across this great article: 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor | Cracked.com

It's funny, but horrifyingly true! I had a co-worker making decent money, but wasn't getting ahead. So I offered to help. All I did was reconcile his checking account to find that he was paying $600 a month in overdraft charges because his wife was using the debit card attached to their checking account!! That's $7,200 a year and it was going on for several years! At 3 years, it's $21,600!!

It's shocking the lack of financial education in the United States. When I used to hear how important education was, "Go to school!" from my parents day in and day out. I realized that they don't necessarily know why. They see that people with college degrees make more money so they equate that with success.

In reality, it's not just the degree. If it was, certain people will not have succeeded in life, such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to name a few. The focal point should be the desire to LEARN in life. Know why is it that way and not just take it. For example, the "Occupiers" are mostly the "educated ignorant" people or the sheep that woke up one day and said something is not right with the "System", when in reality it's them who failed the system.

If you're poor reading this, there is hope. Know what is wrong and go about fixing it. Don't get sucked into a bad daily pattern of poor. Change your habits and you can change your life. Unless you like the way it is now, then ignore this post and go back to Facebook.

For those that are still reading, take notes from the article above and keep that money for yourself. Stop giving your money away and start saving it for yourself.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

New year, new beginnings...

So, how to keep relevant and employed in the new year? That's the million dollar question. Here are a few considerations and if you see yourself answering yes to these questions, be sure to keep reading!

1. Does your job seems mindless to you? You just go in hang out and go home? Do you just push paper around? Can a monkey do your job? (Well, not a real monkey. But someone out of college or an illegal immigrant?) Are you making a decent salary doing it?

2. Are you keeping up with your industry? Still using old ways? Don't know about the new technologies in your industry? Not current on your industry certifications?

3. Has business been declining? Have there been less people every year at work? Is management rumbling about business being bad? People NOT being hired? Seeing more managers than actual workers?

4. New companies and/or technology in your industry taking over and doing better? Your company fighting to be relevant?

These are just a few off the top. But if you've agreed or relate, you're in for a shock. Still confused, I'll elaborate with an example.

The US Post Office.

10 years ago, they gave the packaging business and express mail away to UPS and FedEx. They spent billions on technology to install high speed readers than handled letter mail.

Well, there was this thing called the internet and email that came around and decimated their letter business.

Now the post office is regulated and constrained. Unable to move into new businesses, so they will shrink to a point where they will almost disappear and another 5-10 years.

Things they should have gone into.

1. Maps. Most people don't realize, but they have the most up to date maps and business address of anyone. After all they have to deliver it. That data is extremely valuable to providers, such as Google Maps, Bing Maps and GPS manufacturers. The issues they face today, is the ability to update them. The post office does this on a daily basis.

2. Secure email. They can provide a secure email account, easily. Think about it, no fake accounts. Like a PO box, but you have to go to the post office to validate with a federal ID. No fake accounts, these people would be the people they say they are. Spam? A thing of the past. If you aren't on the approved sender list, then it gets junked. You have to send a person the mail first and they need to reply to send future mail.

3. Drop ship locations. Like the UPS stores. They have the MOST locations of any retailer. Accept packages from your competitors. Amazon also has a "Locker" at select locations.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200689010

How to avoid this?

This is hard. In the end, it's up to you the individual. NOT your company.

Most companies have a large middle and upper management with lots of internal politics. Things won't change, it's what's wrong with the government now. But that's another story. So ultimately, it's up to you, because people will always save themselves first. It's rare that they don't, but don't be upset when they don't. They have families and priorities also.

The best example I can use, is myself. You can tweak the information to benefit you.

1. Check Monster. Are there a lot of positions available in the industry doing what you do? Is the job in demand? If you see the salary declining... as in desktop support becoming a $15 an hour job vs a $80,000. It's time to get out.

2. Keep up with your industry. Read blogs, news, trade journals, etc. Learn the new technology that comes to your industry.

3. Partake in new things at your company. New projects, new technology, etc. Go with it and don't fight it. It may help you in your new job.

Cash is king. Make money work for you.

2011-08-29T00:12:00.001-04:00

I hear this all the time. People making large cash deposits on low interest loans. Regardless of it being a home, car, credit card, etc. In the long run you lose money even more money.

Due to a lack of a proper financial education, most of us actually get financial advice from the people closest to us. Our parents. Now like most people, your parents aren't wealthy millionaires. Chances are they've worked most of their lives, lived frugally and have scrapped by to have the little that they have.

Do you ever wonder if there is a better way? I have. So I did some research and learned some things on my own, rather than take advice blindly. Would you take restaurant advice from someone who's never opened or ran one? Do you take advice on how to beat a ticket from someone who's never beat one? You get the idea.

It's always a debate, so I've put it down in a spreadsheet below. Click on the link to see the full view. It should be self explanatory, but inc ase you do have questions I'll sum it up after the link.

Last 10 years Saving vs Debt

In the spreadsheet there are 2 separate sections. The top is someone who invested their money and below is someone who paid off debt first before saving.

As you can see I've use a real mutual fund in the example with 10 years worth of returns.

In the mad dash to save $3,700 in interest they sacrificed $16,000 in gains.

So, the big questions is do you want to save $3,700 or make $16,000? I'd rather have the $16,000 in cash. Wouldn't you?

Not all debt is created equal...

2011-06-24T21:35:00.001-04:00

What does this mean? Not all debt is the same. Some debt is good. Believe it or not, paying off debt can cost you more money than you imagine.

What do I mean? Here's an example:

Low interest debt, which is anything in single digits, can actually work to your benefit. The best example is my previous post: The Power of Saving Early You can apply that to this. So you have low interest debt (Student loans, car loans, mortgage) and want to pay it off first before saving. BAD! Why you ask? If you look at the break down in the spreadsheet. You avoid saving and paying off debt of $30,000. You lose $48,000 in trying to catch up for retirement vs saving early and it costing you $12,000. Not only that, you also lose in the financial gains you may missed out on, which is highlighted in the spreadsheet below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSQTiorIeNCt4YQTXZ6RYHPfy2GB68xpCYJZYD4BmzQ7nSRuVyjbADg0RmVDdfAm7PbMT_T_GBVkviK/pubhtml

Now, in the example above.

Person B paid of debt early and was debt phobic. They started saving later and managed to save a nice $1.5 million.

Person A started saving early and paid off their debt slowly. They have $3 million dollars saved for retirement.

Who would you rather be? Person A I hope.

The Power of Saving Early

2011-04-14T00:37:00.000-04:00

So, here's a graph I saw in my previous life as Financial Advisor and recreated. (The link is below.) We demonstrated the power of saving early, to convince people to start saving early. Initially I always thought of it as marketing, until I actually put it together in a spreadsheet.
Here's the SHOCKING part. If you look...

Person A saved $2000 a year starting at 21 and saved until 26 ($12,000). To get $1,510,252.43 for retirement.

Person B started late at 27 and had to save until 65 ($78,000). To get $1,532,182.84 for retirement.
It costs $66,000 more, because they started late, to get ONLY $21,930.41 more in savings for retirement.

If you truly think about it, it's only $77 per check every 2 weeks or $167 month or $5.48 a day to save the $2000 a year.

It's AMAZING how college graduates or even high school students aren't taught this in school.

Check out the link: https://goo.gl/3DpvFH

* Based on a rate of return of 12% per year. I'll show you how in another post! Stay tuned!

Happy New Year! New online identity!

2011-01-27T15:20:00.001-05:00

For those of you who run your own business, work in marketing or want an online presence this year (or anytime), you'll need to establish your own identity/persona.

I've done this with atchan. If you need help, reach out to me. So here are some basic steps:

1. Decide what your goal is.

2. Pick an identity that isn't online. Create something and google it. If it comes up, chances are it's taken. If not, great!

3. Check to see if the domain is taken. Click this link and check on Godaddy.com to see if your name as a domain is available. If so, buy the .com for around $8. Don't buy the additional services, you don't need them.

4. Establish email for your domain. It's free. You may need some technical help with this.
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

5. Go to, and register yourself and your new identity (This is only a few, depends on what you are looking to do.):
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.blogger.com/
http://www.facebook.com/
http://www.twitter.com/

6. Content is up to you.

Mind you this is only a start.

iPhone upgrade warning....

2010-12-27T00:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Holiday's everyone!

So I spent my holiday in a frantic trying to recover the data from a failed update. Apparently you can't migrate your data from iPhone OS 1.1.1 to 3.1.3 . iTunes doesn't tell you this and all the internet searches say "It's easy." NO it's not. Not sure if it's Apple propaganda or not. Good luck getting support for an out of warranty Apple device.

The firmware update happend flawlessly. The phone came back and booted into the home screen. Then it said to restore the data. After that the phone stayed on the Apple logo and the status bar never moves.

An update without the users data is useless...

BUT! I have a fix and managed to learn a few things...

1. BACK UP! Always back up before you perform any upgrade or update!

2. Apple sucks for backwards compatibility. They REALLY aren't backward compatible friendly. If the device is "Out of scope" it's just not supported. Like 64-bit on older iMacs that have a 64-bit processor, but due to a bios lock you can't run Snow Leopard in 64bit mode. WHY?? Oh, that's right. I have to buy a new iMac because the one that's only 3 years old isn't supported. End of life...

3. It's NOT easy locating Apple fixes in online searches. I pull up A LOT of pages telling you how to do it. Not many, when it fails and it does fail.

4. Apple.com support KB's sucks even more. Their searches are almost useless.

So, how did I recover?

1. Look for where your back up is stored. The file names won't look like anything you know. I had to go by the date and time it was modified. Copy the entire folder to a USB drive or other locations. DO NOT use the original files. You may need to go back to them.

On a Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
On Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
On Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

2. I located an app. http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com/ It saved my life for $25.

3. I extracted the data from the files and there is no easy way to get the files back on the phone. EXCEPT... to export the Contacts as CSV files and Calendar as iCal file.

Both Hotmail and Gmail support Active Sync. I suggest importing them into those mail clients and use Active Sync to get your mail. This will also provide an online back up for all your contacts so in the future something like this won't be a disaster.

I hope this helps.

Browser Has Been Hijacked ?

2010-11-27T01:37:00.000-05:00

Home page or other settings change on your computer. Links are added that point to websites that you'd usually avoid.
You can't navigate to certain web pages, such as antispyware and other security software sites.
A seemingly endless barrage of ads pops up on your screen.
New toolbars or Favorites are installed that give you icons and links to web pages that you don't want.
Your computer runs sluggishly. Malicious software can slow down your computer.

The following six tips can help restore your browser's settings:

Stop cascading pop-up windows. If endless pop-up windows appear on your screen, you'll probably want to stop them first. To do this in Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 while using Internet Explorer:
- Press CTRL+ALT+DEL, click Task Manager, and then click the Processes tab.
- Click IEXPLORE.EXE, and then click the End Processbutton.
This closes all instances of Internet Explorer. Then you can re-open the program to continue browsing as usual. To help prevent future attacks, you should also have a pop-up blocker turned on.
To turn on the pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer 8 click theTools button (the gear icon), point to Pop-up Blocker, and then click Turn On Pop-Up Blocker.
To turn on the pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer 7:
- Click Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Privacy tab.
- In the Pop-up Blocker box, select the Block pop-upscheck box. Click OK.
If you still experience the other effects of a hijacked web browser, try the following:
Install Microsoft Security Essentials or another antivirus and antispyware program. Microsoft Security Essentials is free software that will help protect your computer from malicious software such as viruses or spyware. Many browser hijacking programs can be identified and removed by downloading, installing, and running Microsoft Security Essentials or a similar tool.
Run the Malicious Software Removal Tool . This can catch some, but not all, kinds of hijacking software.
Reset Internet Explorer settings. If you're using Internet Explorer and your home page has been changed, you can often reset it yourself.
Note If you use Microsoft Security Essentials, Forefront Client Security, Windows Defender, or the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool and these tools have detected and removed hijacking software from your computer, these tools might change your home page and your search page to help protect against the malicious software.
For more information and step-by-step instructions, see How to restore your Internet Explorer home page and search page preferences.
Disable add-ons. Many browser hijackings come from add-ons, also known as ActiveX controls, browser extensions, browser helper objects, or toolbars. These items can improve your experience on a website by providing multimedia or interactive content, such as animations. However, some add-ons can cause your computer to stop responding or display content that you don't want, such as pop-up ads.
To learn how to disable add-ons in Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), read How do browser add-ons affect my computer?
Get more help. call 1-866- PC safety
go online to Here let system try and fix these issues for you.

This is a combo of article posted on the Microsoft site.

Taken from http://blog.mir.net/2010/10/browser-has-been-hijacked.html . Great post Jay!

FREE Antivirus from Microsoft

2010-10-14T11:02:00.000-04:00

No need to buy an Antivirus program. Microsoft offers one free to all it's users.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

About Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

*Your PC must run genuine Windows to install Microsoft Security Essentials. Learn more about genuine