Money Crashers

Earn Extra Money By Getting A Job Over The Holidays

Erik Folgate — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:26:23 +0000

The past 14 months have been one of the hardest time period for Americans looking to find work. The recession will not be over until the unemployment rate stops rising and starts receding again. Our economy cannot flourish without people contributing to the workforce and making enough money to put it back into the economy. I came across this article on Career Builder the other day revealing 10 companies hiring for the holidays

AT&T
Industry: Communications
Number of openings: 1000+
Seasonal positions available: Retail sales associates; store managers; and sales support
Location: Nationwide

A Wireless
Industry: Telecommunications
Number of openings: 250+
Seasonal positions available: Store managers; sales consultants; district managers; information technology; customer service
Location: Nationwide

Blockbuster
Industry: Entertainment
Number of openings: 1000+
Seasonal positions available: Retail sales associates; store managers
Location: Nationwide

HHGregg
Industry: Appliance and electronics retail
Number of openings: 800+
Seasonal positions available: Appliance and electronics sales
Location: Indiana; Ohio; Kentucky; Alabama; Georgia; Florida; North Carolina; South Carolina; Tennessee

Hickory Farms
Industry: Specialty retail
Number of openings: 4,000
Seasonal positions available: Sales associate
Location: Nationwide, shopping malls

Macy’s
Industry: Retail
Number of openings: 1,000 +
Seasonal positions available: Part-time season retail help in gift wrap, sales associates, etc.
Location: Nationwide

Olan Mills Studio
Industry: Studio photography
Number of openings: 100+
Seasonal positions available: Photographers; portrait sales; customer service
Location: Ala., Ga., Pa., Ky., Tenn., N.C., Ind., Mich.

RadioShack
Industry: Electronics sales
Number of openings: 1000
Seasonal positions available: Retail sales associates
Location: 250 cities

Toys”R”Us
Industry: Specialty retail
Number of openings: 35,000
Seasonal positions available: Management positions; sales associates, including cashiers, shelf stockers and customer service roles; and back-of-house stock opportunities
Location: Nationwide

UPS
Industry: Shipping and distribution
Number of openings: 200+
Seasonal positions available: Package delivery drivers; tractor trailer driver
Location: Nationwide.

Holiday Work Can Turn Into Full-Time Work

If you are still struggling to find work, the holidays are a great time to get your foot in the door. Sometimes these companies only want seasonal work, but often times these seasonal positions turn into full-time positions. If you land a seasonal position with a company that you like, then you need to bring your “A” game. Stand out from the others, go the extra mile, be flexible and show leadership qualities that make you stand out from others.

Holiday Work To Earn Extra Income

Holiday work is also a great time to earn extra money. Whether you want to catch up on your bills, make money for holiday gifts, or simply build up a cash reserve, finding an extra job around the holidays is easy. The nice thing about holiday work is that the employer won’t take it personally if you leave after 2 months, and they may tell you to leave after 2 months. I know that UPS pays well for hourly work, and you can work in the warehouse and never have to drive the truck. Are you good at sales? AT&T and A Wireless will be looking for sales associates, and they often pay commission. I recommend looking for jobs with sales incentives and bonuses, because this will give you more motivation to work hard and make more money. Related Posts:

Earn Extra Money By Getting A Job Over The Holidays is a post from: Money Crashers

How to Save Money While Vacationing In A Big City

Erik Folgate — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:59:30 +0000

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Chicago. I surprised her for her birthday and took her to the Windy City for four days. We have a best friend that just moved there, so that was part of the reason for picking Chicago to visit. Visiting big cities can be really pricey, because hotels, eating out, and entertainment are usually very expensive. We didn’t go frugal on this trip, but there were certain things we did that helped us save some money during the trip.

Use The Entertainment Book

Chicago had a huge entertainment book, and it gave us great ideas for places to eat and things to do with coupons. The entertainment book can be purchased for $20 online.

Look for coupons online

We found a buy one, get one free coupon for the Shedd Aquarium on their website. That’s a $25 dollar savings, because each ticket is $25.00.

We stayed with friends

For the first night, we pampered ourselves and stayed at the Four Seasons hotel. Even that was a deal, because we have a friend who works for Four Seasons and gets 50% off of room rates. The other two nights we stayed with our friends and saved a lot of money by not paying for two more nights at a hotel. The Four Seasons was AMAZING, by the way. By far the best service I’ve ever received at a hotel.

We didn’t go overboard with sightseeing

In order to avoid feeling worn out from your vacation, sometimes you need to take it slow. My wife and I aren’t dissapointed if we didn’t get to see or do something on our checklist. We are okay with hanging out with friends and taking it slow. This also saves money, because you aren’t running around and spending money on every tourist trap attraction in the city. Related Posts:

How to Save Money While Vacationing In A Big City is a post from: Money Crashers

Is Your Car Payment Destroying Your Life?

Erik Folgate — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:34:59 +0000

You’ve heard me get on my soap box in the past about car payments and how they can soak up a lot of your monthly income. I really don’t like car payments, and I don’t think you need one to have a reliable car that serves your transportation purposes. As Americans, we’re obsessed with having nice, new cars. We have been taught from a young age that car payments are inevitable. You buy a car on credit, you pay the payment for five years, then you sell it. Follow that cycle, and you’ll actually never own a car outright. Here is an email that I received from a reader recently.

I am in a dead-end situation..I am paying for student loans,credit cards, and my expenses including a car payment of $636 monthly. Last year, I had 2 part-time jobs and a full-time job making 30K, and then i quit both part-time jobs to study. I can’t deal with living paycheck to paycheck with no emergency. I traded in my Honda Pilot EX-L fully loaded to a Honda Civic Ex-Navigation to reduce costs in gas. On the Honda Pilot I owed 20K and the dealer gave me 15K for it. The Honda Civic cost me 25K plus the upside down of the Pilot and the finance charges left me with a loan of 35K. I took that other loan and now in this recession with a job that only pay $26k a year I see myself living paycheck after paycheck, and I hate it.

First, I am not treat this reader as a spectacle, but their situation is a perfect example of how a car payment can strangle your finances and your life. $636 a month is almost HALF of this reader’s monthly take-home pay, and there is no way that he/she can keep paying this payment and continue to live. The easy answer to this situation is that he/she needs to sell the car as QUICKLY as possible. Obviously, he/she won’t be able to break even on the sale, because there is negative equity from a previous car, and depreciation to factor in from the new car. What you need to do is go to a local community bank or credit union and ask for a personal loan for the difference between what you owe on the original note and the amount you can sell it for. So if you owe $35k and all you can sell it for is $22k, then you’ll be left with an unsecured loan of $13k and a much lower payment. Have 3 or 4 garage sales and scrounge up $1,000 to buy yourself a “beater” car that will get you from point A to point B. The embarassment of driving a $1,000 car will help teach you to never go out and get a $35k car loan when you make $30k.

Car Loan Rule of Thumb: If your car loan is close to half or more of your yearly take-home pay, then you need to sell the car. If it’s less than half, then you should be able to pay it off with aggressive debt payments. Related Posts:

Is Your Car Payment Destroying Your Life? is a post from: Money Crashers

7 Home Improvements To Increase Its Value

Erik Folgate — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:39:34 +0000

For the most part, the real estate markets around the country have flattened out, and homeowners are breathing a tentative sigh of relief. So, where do homeowners go from here? It will be a while before we start to see home values appreciate on their own, because demand will need to drastically increase before that happens. So, if you want to increase the value of your home, you’ll need to do it the old-fashioned way. Here are seven ways to improve home’s value.

Remodel the Kitchen. Take into account the value of your home. If you have a $750,000 house, you should probably put $50,000 into a kitchen remodel. If you have a $250,000 house, you can get away with $5,000 to $10,000 in remodeling. Instead of replacing cabinets, try refinishing or re-facing them. New tile flooring, upgraded countertops, and a new sink are great things to update that don’t cost a ton of money.
Remodel the Bathrooms. This doesn’t need to be a lot. A new vanity, new flooring, a fresh coat of paint, and new fixtures can be done for less than $5,000.
Put up a privacy fence. You’ll get 100% return on your money by putting up a privacy fence, and when you go to sell the house, your house will appeal to people with children and pets.
Replace the windows. This is a great upgrade that many savvy buyers will look for when they are shopping for a house. New windows helps improve energy efficiency to the home.
Finish Your Basement. We don’t have basements in Florida, because 10 feet below us is water. But many of you do have basements that are not being used or collecting junk. You can drastically improve your finished living space by putting up drywall, paint, and some carpet or laminate flooring.
Replace the Roof. You drastically improve the re-sale value of your home if you roof is new. Not only can you sell it for more money, but your house will stand out above other houses when trying to sell it. If a buyer is torn between your house and another house, a new roof can seal the deal, because many buyers don’t want to deal with buying a new roof when they first move in.
Add a deck. EVERYONE loves wood decks. They never go out of style and they are great for entertaining. Decks are always a great selling feature. My advice would be to have your deck professionally installed, unless you are great with carpentry. No one wants an uneven deck.

There are many improvements you can make to your home, but only few of them will actually increase the value to your home. Also, make sure that you factor in where you live. You don’t want to put $100,000 into a house in a neighborhood full of $150,000 houses. Find the most expensive and the cheapeast homes in your neighborhood, then make improvements to put your value somewhere in between the median home prices and the most expensive prices.

Leadership Lessons From Truett Cathy, Founder of Chick-fil-A

Erik Folgate — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:36:49 +0000

Tonight I went with my wife to an event called “Live, Love, Lead” put on by Chick-fil-A and the entire Cathy family was there. It was a great event, and it was done very well. Like anything done by Chick-fil-A, it was done with class. I’m a big fan of the company, because I love their commitment to serving others and their out-of-ordinary business practices like closing on Sunday and choosing high-quality and high-character franchise owners and employees. The event focused on three main concepts: Your physical health, your marriage health, and your leadership skills. Here are some highlights and lessons that I took from the event.

2nd Mile is 2nd Nature

This is a customer service concept, but it applie to all of our professional lives. Many companies go the first mile to provide good customer service, but going the 2nd mile is doing something extra special. Going the second mile is pulling the chair out for a pregnant woman or refilling a customer’s drink at a quick-service restaurant. Chick-fil-A sought to make the second mile second nature, meaning they taught all of their employees that the extra special services should be automatic, not something they do every now and then. Apply this to your professional life. Do you only do what’s expected of you or do you go the extra mile to make things perfect or make your work better? Do you take pride in what you do and do you serve your clients/customers with everything you’ve got?

You cannot manage a business if you cannot manage your own household

Cathy has been married for 61 years. He is huge on always improving your marriage and never giving up on it. He believes that since no perfect people exist, no perfect marriages exist either. And if you have problems in your marriage or in your household, it will be a direct reflection on how you run a business. Your family should always come before your business. If they are not taken care of, your business will suffer, plain and simple. This also goes along with the reason he decided to stay closed on Sundays. He believes families need Sunday to spend time together, and his restaurants do better, because his employees work harder for him the rest of the week and they are refreshed for the new week.

Perseverance

Truett Cathy took a huge step in the restaurant business by opening his second restaurant, and it burned down. But, instead of filing for bankruptcy, because he didn’t have it properly insured, he put up tents with grills and continued to serve customers next to the burnt down building until he was able to pay to repair it. That’s perseverance, and that’s the will to never give up, even when the WORST happens.

He never forgot his roots

One comment that Cathy said that stuck out to me the most was when he said, “I feel blessed to have grown up in poverty”. How many people do you know that say something like that? What he meant was that growing up in poverty helped him become the man that he is today. He never takes his wealth for granted, he understands “small town America”, and it taught him life lessons that he would have never been taught if he was spoiled as a child or lived a comfortable childhood. I’m not glorifying poverty, but I thought that if more people who grew up in poverty would take that approach, we would see a true revolution in the war on poverty. Feeling sorry for ourselves will never get us anywhere. I also liked when Dan Cathy, his son and current president, said that their children must work for two years outside of the family business before they are allowed to work in the family business. The idea behind this was that the Cathy’s don’t want their kids assuming that they are automatically given a big-wig job with Chick-fil-A from a golden spoon. They want them to experience what every other college graduate experiences, finding a job on their own.

If you apply these four principles to your career and professional life, you’ll naturally succeed, because you’ll be putting yourself aside and others in front. This is how you get ahead in life, but many people think it’s the other way around. Many people still believe that they must only look out for themselves in order succeed and get ahead in their careers, but it’s a huge lie. Serve others and give back. The rewards will be three-fold.
Related Posts:

Leadership Lessons From Truett Cathy, Founder of Chick-fil-A is a post from: Money Crashers

3 Reasons Why You Shoud Avoid Bankruptcy

Erik Folgate — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:36:28 +0000

I listen to the Dave Ramsey Radio Show every once in a while on my way home from work, and one of the most common topics I hear from callers is the question about bankruptcy. So many people call in for advice about whether or not they should file for bankruptcy. Ramsey, having gone through a very messy bankruptcy himself 20 years ago, almost always talks people out of filing for bankruptcy. There are some cases where bankruptcy is the only option, but after listening to his show for a while now, I’ve realized that bankruptcy doesn’t need to be the first option for someone in serious financial trouble.

But bankruptcy sounds so easy, right? You hire an attorney, they file some papers, and your slate is wiped clean. Well, it’s not quite that easy, and many people take filing for bankruptcy lightly nowadays. Here are three reasons why you should try to avoid bankruptcy at all costs.

You’ll be dropping a bombshell on your credit. The bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years, and you’ll be treated like an untouchable when it comes to getting a loan in the future. The only people you’ll attract are sub-prime loan sharks. The worst part is that it will take at least 3 years to be bankable again for a mortgage. You’ll need to pay for everything on time and not slip up ONCE if you want to think about buying a house after a bankruptcy.
It puts an emotional strain on your relationships. You’ll be getting sued, dealing with attorneys, and going to trial hearings. It’s not a walk in the park, and if you’re married, it will definitely affect your relationship. Ramsey is very candid about the fact that his marriage was hanging on a shoestring while they were going through a bankruptcy and raising two kids. It’s not a fun and easy process. It’s not the “start over fresh” feeling that some portray it to be.
It Can Be Expensive. That’s right, filing for bankruptcy isn’t for free, and if you want to do it right, you’ll need a decent attorney to handle it for you, and attorneys aren’t free! If you don’t use an attorney, you leave yourself vulnerable to possible liability for debts you can’t pay. Remember, it can be expensive to go broke!

Most people don’t need to file bankruptcy to get out of their financial mess. Most times it only requires you to get organized, take control of your life, and start systematically paying off debt. Get on a written budget, work another job, sell a bunch of stuff, and get your debts paid off. It sounds so simple, but the hard part is overcoming the person that got you into this mess…yourself. If you can overcome yourself and make wiser decisions, you can win with money and avoid bankruptcy.

10 High Paying Jobs That Don’t Require An Undergraduate Degree

Erik Folgate — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:59:55 +0000

We’re going through one of the tougher recessions in the past few decades, and jobs are very hard to find. Going to school for four years and paying for four years of undergraduate schooling is not on the minds of very many people right now. Survival mode is more on your minds, and one of the biggest misconceptions about finding a career that pays a lot of money is that you MUST have at least a bachelor’s degree. This is simply not true. There are thousands of careers that pay very well and do require schooling or an apprenticeship, but this is more like one to two years, rather than four. Some jobs just require you to have a great sales personality, the determination to succeed, and a certification/license. This article from Yahoo Finance caught my eye about the top 10 high paying jobs that don’t require a degree., and I want to share it with you.

Air Traffic Controllers: $117,200
Industrial Production Managers: $77,670
First-Line Police and Detective Supervisors: $69,300
Funeral Director: $49,620
Police and Sheriff Patrol Officers: $47,460
Advertising Sales Agents: $42,750
Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents: $39,760
Occupational Therapist Assistants: $42,060
Occupational Therapist Aides: $25,000
Physical Therapist Assistants: $41,360

My Thoughts On This List

Air Traffic Controllers make great money, but it is consistently one of the most stressful jobs to have. If you are great at attention to detail and you thrive on high-pressure situations, then it’s definitely worth checking out. Real Estate Agents and Brokers are great professions for those without a four-year degree, but they are not for everyone. You must have an entrepreneurial spirit, because essentially you are running your own business. You have to go and get your own clients, do your own follow-up, pay for a lot of your own advertising, and you need to spend a lot of time developing the career, but it can be VERY rewarding once you establish a good foundation with a good pool of leads to clients. My favorite one on this list is the physical therapy assistant, because it pays well, it’s in the health care industry which always has shortages, and it doesn’t require a ton of schooling like many health care jobs do.

The Bottom Line

Don’t sit around and settle for waiting tables or being a secretary if you don’t have a four-year degree. It’s not the end of the world. There are plenty of great careers to be had, but you must put a lot of effort into them to make them work. Also, starting your own business is another career path that requires no college degree.

The Carnival of Personal Finance #228: Halloween 2009 Edition

Erik Folgate — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:30:50 +0000

Welcome to the 228th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! This week’s theme is Halloween, even though I think Halloween is a big waste of time and money! I’ll try not to be the Scrooge of Halloween, because I know it’s fun for kids, it gives us something to do before Thanksgiving and Christmas, and there have been some great scary movies spawn from the Halloween “holiday”. I have included a couple of scary images, so if you don’t like those, then I apologize in advance! So, does your bank account scare you? Does budgeting give you the creeps? Is your credit report haunted with collection ghosts? If so, use this collection of spook-tacular articles to help you improve your financial situation.

Here are my favorite submissions:

MLR from My Life ROI presents Gifts for Kids: Who Do They Belong To?
JLP from AllFinancialMatters.com presents Bill Miller vs. the S&P 500 Index.
Jim from Bargaineering presents True Power of Compound Interest.
David from Money Under 30 presents Seven Signs You’re At Risk for Identity Theft
Kyle from Suburban Dollar presents When Debtors Go AWOL
Mighty Bargain Hunter tells us to Do this and you’ll manage your checking account successfully
Peter from Bible Money Matters presents 10 Attributes Of The Perpetually Broke
J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents Does it matter who the “breadwinner” is anymore?
Baker from Man Vs. Debt presents 92 Quotes About Debt That’ll Make You Think, Laugh, & Tweet! Here’s a massive compilation of 90+ famous quotes on debt that are all less than 120 characters long!
Patrick from Cash Money Life presents The Early Adopters Tax. Electronics are very expensive when they are first released and you can save a lot of money by waiting until the second generation of the item is released

Halloween/Spooky Themed Articles:

Len Penzo highlights Scary Stories: Bloggers Share Their Tales of Buyer’s Remorse. Muahahahaha (scary laugh)
Little House in the Valley shares Halloween Decorations That Won’t Scare Your Wallet
Austin from Foreigner’s Finances shares Credit Card Debt Facts That Will Scare You Into Staying Out of Debt for LIFE, and says, “A look into the real numbers behind credit card debt and the opportunity lost while stuck paying extra money in interest to the credit card card company every month. “
FIRE Finance presents The Witch of Wall Street – Henrietta “Hetty” Green . Haha, good stuff!

The rest of the best…

Taxes

Free Money Finance reveals Who Doesn’t Pay Taxes Only half of Americans pay for income taxes. Yikes, this makes me angry that only half of us contribute to the luxuries that our community provides.
Michael B. Rubin from Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck tells us that the First time home buyer tax credit may actually expire. Rumors flying around Congress that it will be saved and that it will expire. Which is it?

Budgeting

Susan from Brain Dead Simple tells a story about a Financial Organizing Soap Opera Episode #1. Meet Holly & Jack, fictional characters facing a real-life financial organizing and planning challenge.
Henry Stern from InsureBlog explains Budgeting for Healthcare. He asks, “What could be more scary than facing a big bill for unexpected health care?” I don’t know, maybe a blood-sucking vampire? Check out the video!
Jason from One Money Design presents The Bucket Budget: A Simplistic Approach to Budgeting. The bucket budgeting is a great approach to budgeting for those who like to keep it simple or don’t like to budget.”

Career

Mr. Cheap from Four Pillars explains what it’s like Working With Computer Nerds. Hey, what’s so funny about working with computer nerds?
Miss M from M is for Money presents Group Legal: A New Workplace Benefit.

Saving

Evan from My Journey to Millions tells what he is going to do with a $1,000 that he won! Congratulations, can I have some?
Studenomics reveals to us Money Saving Techniques That Work & Don’t Work. This is a list of ways to save money that simply make no sense.
Paul from FiscalGeek asks if You Should Treat your Emergency Fund as an Investment

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Free High Yield Checking Accounts, and says, “I still need to get the most out of my checking account. I review several checking accounts that offer returns.”

Single Guy Money presents Save Money On Your Auto Insurance.

Being in a lot of debt can be scary, but not quite as scary as the Jigsaw character from the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, the original “Saw”.

Credit/Debt

The Credit Toolbox presents Debt All Rolled into One. Is your debt spread out in a million different places? Consider consolidating it!

Carrie On The Cheap reminds us What You May Be Forgetting When You’re The Victim Of Identity Theft Carrie was a victim of identity theft, and she has learned some tough lessons!

Brad Chaffee from Enemy of Debt presents his EOD Challenge: Need Motivation To Pay Off Debt? I think that by challenging yourself to take a “nice challenging” hike, you will give yourself a glimpse into how getting out of debt feels.”

Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians explains How Not to Recover From Bankruptcy. This post challenges some conventional beliefs about the best ways to recover from bankruptcy.

Xanthia Berry from Becoming Zofie presents Catch 22: Student Loans.

Clint from Accumulating Money explains How Balance Transfers Work

The Smarter Wallet presents How 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards Can Save You Money

Banker, Saver presents Should You Get Branded Retail Credit Cards?

Cecil Dellison from Clear Choice Credit Cards explains that a Tougher Credit Card Situation Helps Pawn Shops.

Mr Credit Card from Ask Mr Credit Card reveals that Citibank closes Shell Credit Card Accounts.

Economy

Helen from Affine Financial Services presents Sustainable Energy: Solar Cell Skeptic. The government is investing millions in solar cells, but she remain a solar cell skeptic.

Money Management

Fabulously highlights The Paradoxes of Money & Women, and explains that she wasn’t given too much direction about how to manage money as a young girl.

The Financial Blogger tells it like it is: Americans Consumers Are Like Children Are Americans spending less because they have learned to become frugal or simply because they have less money in their pockets?

Darwin’s Finance reveals 5 Reasons Living Paycheck to Paycheck Costs You Thousands of Dollars. Hidden fees and missed opportunities can financially kill you over the long-term.

J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly asks if you Should Stop Funding Retirement to Focus on Debt?

In order to answer this question, you need to factor in your personal life situation.

Simon from Realm of Prosperity says that just because you are using Coupons, Discounts, and Sales Do Not Mean You Are Saving. Very true, it’s so easy to buy things you don’t need or will never use when using a coupon.

Bob from Christian Finances presents How he used a third car to prevent a financial catastrophe

B.B. from Beating Broke asks “Are Your Personal Finance Skills Holding You Back?” Are you letting your skills and goals hold you back? Have they limited your ability to live your life passionately?

The Canadian Finance Blog presents 10 Money Management Tips For Expectant Parents With a baby on the way

Frugality

MoneyNing asks the question, Does Maturity Affect Spending? Do you spend more or less because you are more mature?”

Paul Williams from Provident Planning explains his experiment with Raising a Cow for Beef: Month 2. I’m by no means a member of PETA, but I think I would get too attached to the cow if I raised it from birth with the sole intention of eating it! I guess I’m not cut out to be on the farm!

Sandy from The Always Frugal Blog asks, “Are Rechargeable Batteries Cost Effective?”

The Everyday Minimalist from The Everyday Minimalist shows us How to deal with and stop bad gifts. Controlling the gift-giving process can save you money in many ways.

Investing

Gather Little By Little tells Why I will probably never buy gold because gold has a horrible long-term track record.

Don’t Quit Your Day Job questions Predicting the RecessionHe asks, “Can the stock market predict recession?”

Intelligent Speculator says,The Dow hit 10,000..that is so last century. In fact, it hit 10,000 in 1999. Get it, that was last century!

Ben from Money Smart Life explains How To Outsource Your Investing Decisions.

Dividends Value gives us 8 Dividend Stocks With The Right Stuff. Every dividend growth investor is looking for a stock that will increase its dividend every year, and he has found that stocks that are able to do this share some common characteristics.”

Mike Piper from The Oblivious Investor analyzes Financial Advisors and Unique Investment Portfolios

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents asks if You Can Reverse/Undo a Roth IRA Conversion

Don from Keep My Dollar tells us his take on the rule of 72

Elle from Couple Money gives some examples of Mutual Fund Expenses?

Investing Toolkit asks if the Spot Gold Price is Headed For $1,200. I guess it has a chance if the dollar continues to weaken due to inflation.

Madison from My Dollar Plan compares and contrasts ETFs Versus Index Funds.

George from Fat Pitch Financials presents Ideas from the 2009 Value Investing Congress, New York This post Includes stock ideas from Bill Ackman, Whitney Tilson, Alexander Roepers, Julian Robertson, David Einhorn, David Nierenberg, and more.

Financial Highway presents Gold Investment Wow, gold investing is on a lot of bloggers’ minds lately.

Alex G from Value Investing Pro presents Joel Greenblatt On CNBC. Joel Greenblatt talks about the magic formula on CNBC.

Personal Finance

Mrs. Accountability from Out of Debt Again gives us an Update On the Denied Insurance Payments, and it turns out that they are going to fix everything and retroactively reinstate his policy.”

Doughroller presents A Buyer’s Guide to Rent-to-Own Homes. The experience has taught him two very important lessons, read on to find out.

Elizabeth G from Modern Gal asks us, “Does Greed Always Trump Fear?”

Matt B from Financial Methods asks, “Do You Follow a Financial Task Schedule?”.

Reviews

Adam from Rabbit Funds outlines a Review of writing a Will on LegalZoom. He gives his honest review of what he liked and didn’t like about preparing a last will and testament on LegalZoom.com.

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Free High Yield Checking Accounts A review of several quality checking accounts that offer a return on your money.

Next Week’s Carnival will be hosted by: THE CENTSIBLE LIFE

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope it is very safe for you and your kids. Remember, you can do a lot of fun stuff with the family without spending much money at all!

photo credits: officially dead, Hub Pages, Night Side, and Life In The PresentRelated Posts:

Festival of Under 30 Finance – March 23rd Edition

5 Tips For Saving Money This Halloween

How To Handle A Credit Card Debt in Collections

Five Steps to Effective Budgeting

Choosing Your Credit Spending Wisely

The Carnival of Personal Finance #228: Halloween 2009 Edition is a post from: Money Crashers

Become Wealthy By Being Invisible

Erik Folgate — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:37:36 +0000

Last night, I read this article from Kiplinger’s about “The Invisible Rich”. This article sums up everything I believe about money and how to become wealthy. We are programmed from an early age that money comes easy, wealth can be built quickly, and that having nice things is an indication of having a lot of money. It’s simply not true. Net worth is really the only indicator of someone’s wealth. You either have money or you don’t have money. Sure, you could have a lot of stuff that added up to a large sum of money, but those assets are depreciating, so every year your net worth is decreasing because of depreciation. Here’s my favorite line:

The message in all this: The biggest barrier to becoming rich is living like you’re rich before you are. Why? Because all that discretionary spending — the chic apartment, frequent travel and restaurant meals, consumer electronics, fancy clothes and cars — crowds out the saving that will enable you to be rich someday.

If you never learn anything else about personal finance, learn this one thing. You can never build wealth if you’re constantly trying to act like you’re wealthy. Our culture is so obsessed with stuff. We want nice cars, a nice house, a nice TV, a nice laptop, and nice clothes. This starts as soon as we get that first job and we’re making decent money. The hardest thing to overcome as a young person is to transition from a broke college student to a broke professional with a monthly income. The first thing many young people do is go and buy a car on credit with a hefty car payment. Then, they buy brand-name business clothes at retail prices, and then they buy some new furniture from Rooms-To-Go at sticker price. Isn’t it true?

If you can master the art of supressing your wants and pay cash for big-ticket items at a young age, it will set you up for a much easier path to wealth. Be invisible at a young age. Don’t draw attention to yourself. If you buy a house, make it a modest one. If you buy a car, buy a used one. If you buy a suit, buy it from JC Penney. Thomas Stanley’s famous book, “The Millionaire Next Door” is all about the average millionaire, and Stanley’s findingers were remarkable. Most millionaires drove used cars, wore suits off the rack, and they lived in modest homes. But, they had a HUGE net worth. Will this be you?
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Become Wealthy By Being Invisible is a post from: Money Crashers

New Theme And Twitter Account

Erik Folgate — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:00:54 +0000

As you may have noticed, we have totally changed the look of Money Crashers. A fresh, new look was needed, and we want your feedback! So, what do you think. What do you like? What do you not like?

We Are On Twitter!!

Have you followed us yet on Twitter? If not, why not? We will be doing giveaways, providing exclusive content, and interacting with you, our readers, and other personal finance bloggers on a more personal level.

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New Theme And Twitter Account is a post from: Money Crashers