My Wealth Builder

Addressing What Our Daughter Doesn't Know

2012-01-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

How do you make good decisions? Good judgement. How do you develop good judgement? Experience. How do you get experience? Bad judgement. ~ my paraphrase of a discussion from a Salomon Brothers' new hire training session reported in Liars Poker.

Youth has many advantages: energy, enthusiasm, quick thinking, and resiliency are among them. I can no longer keep up with younger employees. In fact, sometimes I find it challenging to keep up with my daughter who is a first grader. However, youth does have one major disadvantage. A great challenge for youth is not knowing what one doesn't know.

There were times in my youth that I didn't have a clue, but I do now. Sometimes I think if I only knew what I know now when I was younger. However, since going back in time isn't an option, I recently shared with my seven year old daughter the by talking to mom and dad. We certainly don't have all the answers, but we definitely can help with lots are topics, especially those which she doesn't yet know she doesn't know.
For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial or parenting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Wealth Building Activities

2012-01-25T21:56:00.000-05:00

In my experience, I've learned there are several financial activities that helped build our wealth. Although the activities can be challenging to do, making them habits can be a great enabler. Here were the financial activities that I found helpful.

Living below our means. I consider this our number one wealth building activity because it meant we had money beyond our expenses, grew our savings and created an emergency fund. We have lived a comfortable but not extravagant lifestyle. For reference, here are some examples of products or services we don't have: cable or satellite service, gym memberships, smart phones, flat screen TV, and local newspaper subscription. We pay cash for our cars and they will turn eight years old in 2012.. My spouse has a pre-paid cell phone. I don't have a cell phone.

When I received a raise, we would put most of it into savings and use only a small part to increase our lifestyle. Before I retired, we were saving 20-30% of my gross salary each month.

Avoiding debt. With the exception of college, cars and homes, we never used debt to make a purchase. Even so, we've have been able to eliminate these sources of debt. We've paid off our college loans and are saving so that our daughter won't need significant loans. While we financed our first cars, I've paid cash for the three cars since then. My spouse has paid cash for her car since we've been married. Finally, in 2009, we paid off our mortgage since our bank would not refinance the loan.

Earning more. Although my starting salary as an engineer was good, it would have been impossible to save enough to retire if there was no salary growth. During my 27 years of employment, my base salary increased eightfold by the time I retired. This enabled us to have a comfortable lifestyle and still make significant contributions to savings.

These activities worked for us. Despite the economic crises of the past decade, I still believe these activities are still important to building wealth.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #63

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the sixty-third edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Super Saver presents Parenthood and Poverty posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "I expected married parent households to be better off financially, but I didn't expect the differences to be as large as the data shows."

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents How to Start a Money Making Blog?Part 2 posted at Grand Per Month, saying, "You can make money with a blog, but that shouldn’t be the primary focus. I am suggesting plenty of other ways to make extra money on this site, so if you don’t think blogging is for you, then check out another way to make $1000 per month. However if you feel that these traits describe you, let’s move on to step 2 in “How to Start a Money Making Blog”. Here is a link to part 1 in case you missed it."

Jon Elder presents 8 Tips on How to Get Along With Your Boss posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, "If you get into the all too common habit of seeing your boss as an enemy—or at least as an adversary—you will display that through your behavior and attitude. But see your boss as a friend in authority, and you might forge the kind of alliance that will advance your boss’s career and yours at the same time."

Insuring and Protecting

My Journey presents Most Readers Will Hate What I Did With Part of My Bonus posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, "My initial goal was to increase my term coverage with a 20 year term policy. I ultimately decided against this for two reasons, one my available income ratio would decrease which wouldn’t be good for getting that mortgage I mentioned earlier, and two, I got blood work back the other day and it wasn’t that great."

John presents Want Better Healthcare at a Lower Price? New Primary Care Models Are Gaining Traction posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "I think your reader’s will enjoy my submission this week because it talks about contemporary health care models that offer a lower cost to patients! Affordable healthcare? Now that’s a deal!"

misst presents Buying a Home With the Help of Mortgage Insurance posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "Today I want to share with you the top 20 foods you can eat for increased brain power. Eating these foods will increase your energy, provide clarity of thought and help sustain a good memory."

Investing

Dividend Growth Investor presents My Dividend Retirement Plan posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, "I invest in dividend stocks, in order to generate a sufficient income stream, that would meet and exceed my expenses in retirement. Retirement to me is the point where my dividend income exceeds my expenses, which means that I no longer have to work for money.I am a big proponent of value investing, which is why I would only consider myself financially independent whenever the dividend income stream generated by my portfolio exceeds 1.5 times my annual expenses. In order to get there, there are several simple, but crucial principles I need to follow."

MoneyCone presents 10 ETFs Cheaper Than Their Vanguard Peers posted at Money Cone, saying, "Here’s a list of the ten, commonly used ETFs that have an expense ratio lower than that of Vanguard’s."

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents Selling Covered Calls and Time Value posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, "I had a reader question last week about selling covered calls so I wanted to take the opportunity to offer up some practical tips regarding selling call options."

Dividends4Life presents Utilities Stock Funds Were 2011's Bright Star posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Utility dividend stocks. When you hear those words what do you think of? Long considered the domain for "widows and orphans", utilities have developed a somewhat stodgy reputation. Why are utilities considered good for widows and orphans? Here a few reasons:"

Kanwal Sarai presents Learn Investing Online |Online Investing Course: Dividends posted at Simply Investing Blog, saying, "When considering a stock for purchase, don’t think of it as a piece of paper (a stock certificate), think of it as buying ownership in a company. If you had the money would you buy the entire company? If not, then reconsider why you are buy shares in this company."

Novel Investor presents Asset Allocation And The Benefits Of Rebalancing posted at Novel Investor, saying, "How your money is invested, its asset allocation and consistent rebalancing will be the most important decision you'll make as an investor."

Living Frugally

B.B. presents Frugality Will Change You posted at Beating Broke, saying, "Drug habits, smoking habits, and coffee habits are all habits that are easy to pick up because they cause a pleasure response in you body. A savings habit is a bit harder to pick up. But, as Ninja will attest, it can be done.How? Repetition"

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Party Tips for the Broke Young Professional posted at Frugal Living, saying, "How can you open your home and make your friends feel welcome without going broke in the process? Check out the frugal party tips below."

Theresa Torres presents Can You Afford Another Baby? Yes You Can! Seven Money-Saving Tips posted at Baby Development Milestones, saying, "Before you give in to the thought of having another rosy-cheeked angel, here are some things to consider so that you will be better prepared."

Retiring

Peter presents The Future Value Of Your Roth IRA posted at Bible Money Matters, saying, "Maybe it’s time to reassess your retirement plan, and a self-directed Roth IRA presents you with a unique opportunity."

Saving

W presents Additive vs. Multiplicative Thinking About Money posted at Off-Road Finance, saying, "A look at two different ways of thinking about money, and some ideas about which is appropriate for a given problem."

Taxes

Jackson presents Tips For Small Business Owners posted at 2009 Tax, saying, "For many sole traders or small businesses it can be difficult to find the time to maintain all paperwork on a regular basis, meaning a large amount of admin is left until it is absolutely necessary to sort out."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from January 17 - 23, 2012

2012-01-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from January 17-23, 2012:

Carnival of Financial Planning #220

Fun For Your Friday

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Think Positive Thoughts When Going to Sleep

2012-01-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

One day I was half watching a personal development speaker on TV and he offered a tip that resonated with me: Think positive thoughts when going sleep. I don't recall all the reasons since I wasn't paying full attention, but it seemed to be related to not having negative thoughts during time spent sleeping, which could be 6-9 hours a day. It would be better to have positive thoughts during that larger portion of the day.

I like the idea so much that I started using it right away. So now I go to bed thinking positive thoughts. Since starting, I've been going to bed earlier most nights and been getting up early each morning motivated to take on the day's challenges.

Hopefully, I can make this positive thinking strategy a habit and continue to get the benefits over a long period of time :-)

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or positive thinking advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Working Through My Clutter

2012-01-22T21:54:00.000-05:00

In 2009, I started reducing the clutter  in our house. Although I had a good start, I didn't get very far. Then I came up with the idea of working on the task for one hour a day but then I got too busy by accepting a temporary full time job for a non-profit. So once again, I didn't get very far.

However, my replacement has been hired and the job is winding down as I do the transition.   So I now have time to work on my projects again.  I've been getting up early before everyone and using the time for my "alone" projects, of which decluttering is one.

I've started in my den, which is a great beginning point since I wholly responsible for the clutter. I'm trying to invest about an hour a day on decluttering and cleaning up that room. I've been working on it about a week now and there is already a big difference.   Hopefully, it won't take more than 30 hours, so I should be able to wrap up by mid-February. Then I can move on to my next declutter project, the garage or basement storage area. By the end of 2012, I hope to complete the decluttering of our house. Surely, I'll be able to do that with 365 hours of invested effort at one hour a day.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial, or organization advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Excellent Customer Service Surprises

2012-01-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

It may be my imagination, but I seem to be getting surprisingly excellent customer service from companies which manufacturer toys. I don't know if the reason is because of the great recession, or if toy companies just have better customer service in general. Here are some my experiences:

Broken part. We purchased a child's play tent system and after year, one of the support poles broke. After a call to the retailer, I was able to identify the manufacturer and a toll free number. When I called the manufacturer, I explained what had happened. The customer service rep told me I could go to the website and order a complete set of poles for a very small cost. I explained I had already tried to do that, but that the ordering website was down. The customer service rep apologized and took my order over the phone. When I asked how much I owed, he told me it was no charge. The parts arrived within a week and I was able to make the repair.

Damaged game piece. For her birthday, our daughter received a nice travel game set. On the very first trip, one of the pieces broke. Although I thought I could glue the piece back together, I called the company and asked if they could replace the piece. It turns out the game rights had been sold to a new company, and I needed to contact the new company. When I contacted the new company, I found out the version I had was made prior to the rights transfer. Thus, the customer service rep didn't think they had the part. However, she continued to work with me when I said the parts of the other games would be the same shape, but perhaps a different color. After a few minutes, she learned that the version I had was given a new name in the rights transfer. Thus, she was able to find the exact part and she mailed another parts set to us for no charge.

Extraneous materials. Last year, my spouse purchased a housing set to use with a toy. When I opened the box, there were remnants of a latex glove finger included with the housing. Having worked in a consumer products industry, I knew the manufacturer would want to know of the issue. I called and explained that I was not complaining. I was just informing them that a piece of a latex glove was accidentally included in the package. The customer service rep apologized and asked if the glove piece could be sent to the company. My reply was yes, and they sent me a pre-paid postage envelope to use. I mailed the glove piece in and to our surprise, we received a complementary additional housing set for our daughter's toy a couple of weeks later.

In all three cases, the customer service exceeded my expectations. I was very satisfied with how my comments and requests were handled. I would buy these companies' products again.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or toy repair advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My Golf Confession

2012-01-20T23:38:00.000-05:00

I'm retired and I don't love golf.   In fact, I don't even like golf all that much. However, I do enjoy golf when I play. To Love Golf, Just Play Once a Year from The Wall Street Journal summarizes how I feel about golf. I bought a nice set used clubs eight years ago at a rummage sale when we were living in Japan for about $40, bag included. (I didn't take my clubs to Japan and then decided I had to play golf at least once in Japan.) Prior to 2010, I played about two to three times maximum a year. I didn't practice, take lessons or invest in new equipment to get better. I was in control, not golf.

In 2010, I accepted a volunteer job of playing golf with a handicapped person. We play on an the same executive nine hole course on a weekly basis.   On good days, I'll get the rare birdie or the occasional par.   I only have three or four good golf days in a year.

Even though I've played more golf in the past two years than my entire previous life, I am still in control.  I still don't practice, take lessons or invest in new equipment.   So even I don't expect to be better than a hacker, I am still enjoying golf.

If golf ever stops being fun, I just won't play any more. Or so I think for now :-)

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial, retirement or golf advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Dealing with Unfinished Meals

2012-01-19T18:22:00.000-05:00

Our seven year old daughter has always been a picky eater. For example, she doesn't like brown bananas, egg yolks and a number of other foods. Sometimes, she won't know she doesn't like something until she sees it or tastes it. Then, even if she does like the food, she often doesn't finish the serviing.

Her food actions used to irk me a bit. When I was a child, I ate whatever my mom placed in front of me and I always cleared my plate. We didn't have the luxury of choosing which food we liked and which food didn't. The choice was to eat or go hungry. Also, we were always reminded that there were children in some third world country who would be glad to eat our food.

However, I've come up with a solution to our daughter not finishing her meal 90% of the time. I now assume that she will leave some food and I save some room to finish her leftovers. So now there is less waste and I am less annoyed and more full.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Surviving the Great Recession

2012-01-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The past few years have been the toughest economic times through which I have lived as an adult. The Great Recession has truly been a test of economic survival capability. Here are some of the actions we took and how they helped us survive so far.

Work a paying job. Although in early retirement, I decided it would be a good idea to work some part time jobs for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to reduce the withdrawal rate from our retirement and savings accounts. Second, I wanted to maintain my job skills in case I needed to return to permanent full time work. Third, I wanted to have contacts with people who knew me and could offer full time work.

As it turns out, reducing the withdrawal rate was the least of the benefits since a $2 change would either eliminate or exceed any earnings from the part time jobs. However, staying in the workforce has helped me keep a network of contacts and demonstrated my capability to be employed. After all, I felt an employer would more likely hire someone that was working than someone who had been long term unemployed.

Reduce spending. Although our family was already frugal, we worked to cut our expenses by another 5% without an impact to our lifestyle. Our first idea was to eliminate waste , i.e. money that's spent on goods and services but not effectively used. Our second idea was to buy below the regular price. Our third idea was to take advantage of free offerings. Our fourth idea was choose only the options we need when making a purchase. Our fifth, and final, approach was to enjoy what we already have enjoy what we already have.

We were able to implement many of these ideas to help reduce costs.

Eliminate debt. We only had one debt when I retired, our mortgage. In May 2009, we paid it off and reduced our monthly expense by 24%. This was one of the best financial decisions we ever made.

If I had only listened to my spouse and paid off the mortgage in early 2008, we would have avoided losing some of our retirement funds in the great bear market.

While the economy has not yet recovered to pre-2008, it appears to be stabilized. For now, we are not taking any additional actions. However, given the situation in Europe may get worse, we are prepared to do another round of significant actions for financial survival.

For more on The Practice of Personal, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from January 3 - 16, 2012

2012-01-17T21:53:00.003-05:00

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from January 3 -16, 2012:

Carnival of Financial Planning #219

Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week

Baby Boomer's Blog Carnival #126

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #62

2012-01-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the sixty-second edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Jon Elder presents Use your Personal Brand to Make More Money posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, "If you’ve branded yourself as an expert, clients are less likely to micromanage and second-guess your decisions, which helps you retain clients when they don’t get the results they want. This is because they see you as a trust agent, somebody whose knowledge gives them credibility so that people take what they say about their area of expertise to be true. You can then use this to market yourself as an expert in your field and charge expert rates."

Sunil presents How Multiple Streams of Income Work & Why It Is Important to Have Them posted at The Extra Money Blog, saying, "The effect of multiple streams of income works just like a snow ball that is rolling down a snow hill. The longer it rolls, the more momentum it gains and picks up more snow (income in our case) along the way."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Top Five Ways to Boost Your Income Online posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, "The following is a list of the five best ways to help you boost your income from the Internet and reach your working goals."

Shamelle presents 8 Ways To Use YouTube Videos To Promote Your Products On Your Website posted at Promote Youtube Videos, saying, "Many marketers and entrepreneurs alike use YouTube to create inspiring videos to promote either themselves, their products and services or their websites even.
Here are a few ideas on how you can create videos for your company/website."

Insuring and Protecting

Rachel Cleary presents Insuring a Teenage Driver: Mitigating the Cost posted at Auto Insurance Quotes, saying, "Insuring a teen driver is extremely expensive. Depending on the age of the driver, the type of vehicle driven and applicable state restrictions, adding a teen driver can increase insurance rates as much as 100 percent or more. With the cost of insuring young drivers so high, it’s surprising that parents are even willing to license their teens."

Evan presents Can you eliminate PMI? posted at Smart Wealth, saying, "Until recently, I always thought that you had to get to 80% loan to value by either paying down your mortgage, or hoping that your home’s value rises and then refinance to eliminate PMI. However, there is another program you may want to consider instead."

Investing

Peter presents Lending Club Returns At 11.23% Despite My First Charged Off Loan posted at Bible Money Matters, saying, "While Lending Club had a good year, the returns I saw last year were good as well, better than I saw in my retirement or savings accounts. I think Lending Club and social lending in general are a great way to diversify your savings and investments especially in turbulent times like we’re going through right now."

Dividends4Life presents Dividend Growth Stocks: 9 Dividend Stocks Trading at a 20%+ Discount posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Fair value is really a simple concept. Given some select information such as dividends, dividend growth, holding period, discount rate and few other inputs, one can easily calculate the fair value of a stock. As with most simple things, the devil is in the details - the inputs must be correct to calculate a reasonable fair value, otherwise, garbage in, garbage out."

Mike Piper presents REITs Are Stocks posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "Despite misconceptions to the contrary, REITs are simply a type of stock. And they're already included in most broad index funds."

Investor Junkie presents 2011 WTF Fund Update posted at Investor Junkie, saying, "As of January 5th 2012 I am up 14.5% from my initial $10,000 investment, mostly because of owning Apple (AAPL)."

Living Frugally

misst presents How to Save Money on Food Costs posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "If your finances are tight and you already have several credit cards with high balances, it is time to change your shopping behavior to save as much as possible. One of the first places you can start is on groceries."

DJ presents {Save Money} – Brand Names Versus Store Brands posted at The Family Wallet, saying, "If you just concentrate on food products to save money, you will find out that most store brands are very similar to brand names and usually are made from the same ingredients. The only thing that is different is the name."

Marie presents Getting The New Year Off To A Good Financial Start posted at Money Spending Mommy, saying, "Here are a few tips for improving your financial health this year:"

Lazy Man and Money presents Top 10 Couponing Tips from the Lazy Couponer posted at Lazy Man and Money, saying, "Last month I was in the bookstore and I happened across a book called The Lazy Couponer by Jamie Chase. Chase's approach is novel in that you can get the results, free stuff, without all the hours and hours of planning."

Lisa presents Living on a Budget and Your Pet’s Last Days | posted at Thriftability, saying, "Becoming aware of your pet’s condition can give you both the peace and insight to make such a decision – if it is right for the pet. It may not be: you might have a good treatment option available, or your pet might be best living out his or her final days. In other cases, putting your pet to sleep can put a peaceful and calming end to his or her life, and can be best."

SavingMentor presents The Best Price Comparison Sites In Canada posted at HowToSaveMoney.ca, saying, "Using price comparison websites is one of the easiest ways to save money when shopping online. They also come in handy when shopping offline because prices are usually identical for stores that have both an online and an offline presence"

Nick presents 5 ways to slowly but surely become a millionaire posted at Step Away from the Mall, saying, "Five things you can do to retire a millionaire assuming you only mirror what the Dow Jones Industrial Average has done over the last twenty years."

Judy Blackburn presents How To Get Out Of Debt-The Smart & Quick Guide posted at Debt Consolidation, saying, "The holiday season is just about behind us and what lies ahead for many is the mounting piles of bills left over from the spending- and over spending- that frequently goes on this time of year."

Andy Boyd presents How to Save Money as the Cost of Living Keeps Rising: 10 Tips posted at Credit Cave, saying, "A post listing 10 tips to keep your costs down, even as the cost of living is rising."

Theresa Torres presents Jan 4, How Granny's Beauty Tricks Can Save You Money posted at Look Great, Lose Weight, Save Money, saying, "With the high cost of beauty products these days, we have to be wise and look for affordable ways to help us look great. Here are some tips and tricks from Grandma."

Will presents Control Your Spending Without Making A Budget posted at Former Banker, saying, "How to keep track of your money even if you hate making a budget"

Retiring

Mr. Money Smarts presents Double Check Your Employer’s Retirement Plan posted at Smart On Money, saying, "When you work for an employer, you might have access to benefits, including a retirement plan. Your company’s retirement plan — usually a 401(k) — can be a way to help you build your nest egg through the power of investing and compound interest. However, you want to double check to make sure that your employer’s retirement plan is what you want to be devoting your resources to."

Saving

B.B. presents Start 2012 Off Right - Beating Broke posted at Beating Broke, saying, "Setting specific goals and being diligent about tracking and saving towards those goals is a great way to improve your financial situation. Even if you’re not sure that you can do it, I encourage you to give it a try with a few small goals."

Taxes

Robert Moore presents Should I File A Tax Return This Year? posted at 2011 Tax, saying, "The law requires you to complete a tax return when you have income above a designated amount."

Tushar presents Can You Deduct Moving Expenses When You File Your Taxes? posted at Everything Finance, saying, "Like many people, you may have moved last year to start a new job. If you did, you may qualify to deduct any moving expenses your employer does not reimburse on your taxes this year. However, there are a few requirements you must meet to be eligible to deduct moving expenses."

Tim @ Faith and Finance presents States With No Income Tax posted at Faith and Finance, saying, "Looking to eliminate state income tax from your vocabulary? You're in luck! Seven states don't have state income tax - do you know which ones they are?."

Steve presents House Republicans Agree On Short-Term Renewal Of Payroll Tax Cuts And Other Benefits posted at FastSwings, saying, "Republicans in the House of Delegates caved on Thursday to the President's, congressional Left wingers ', and fellow Republicans ' demands for a renewing of payroll tax cuts for employees."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Successful Problem Solving

2012-01-16T06:42:00.002-05:00

"Bring me solutions, not problems." ~ supervisor comment to employee

In a recent workshop, the presenter shared with attendees a great principle for getting ahead. Don't just identify problems for your company or your boss. Solve the problem. Great advice, but usually not easy to do :-)

From my experience in R&D, here's a process that I've seen successful problem solvers use:

Define the problem. The first step is to define the problem in a way to maximize the possibility of a good solution. Too often the problem is defined too narrowly or already with a specific solution in mind.
Do research and get knowledgeable input for ideas. Often a solution or variation a solution already exists. Rather than create a solution from scratch, investigate what's been done before from reputable resources.
Evaluate options. Look at the pros and cons of each idea and identify the ones with the highest probability to work.
Choose an approach and test. Do a small experiment to test the selected solution. If it works, go to the next step. If it doesn't work, try the next solution.
Expand. Once a solution demonstrates success, roll it out to the rest of the organization.

In my experience, this process improves the probability of finding a workable solution. However, being right a little more than average can go along way in the business world.
For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Renaissance Man II

2012-01-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

In the post Renaissance Man, I wrote how I was taking a variety of continuing education courses at 1-1/2 years after retiring. I was taking courses in a variety of skills that I didn't have time to develop while working: Masonry, Electrical Wiring, Gourmet Cooking and Residential Landscaping. I learened enough to be able to do minor work around the house in each area.

Since then, I have also worked in a number of different part time jobs unrelated to the career from which I retired: Census Clerk, Park Staff, Tutor, Tax Preparer, Teacher, and non-profit Executive Director. I've also done a little work in my field of expertise as an R&D consultant.

For most of my working career, I was mostly focused on one product and one major skill. Retirement has provide me the opportunity to learn a variety of new skills and work a variety of new jobs, which I very much enjoy doing.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.
This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My Career Turning Point

2012-01-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

The first twelve years of my career were mediocre at best. I was doing good work and I had advanced the required one level to maintain employment. I was definitely a journeyman. I liked what I did could do the work my entire career at the company.   Or so I thought.

I did a mental test of my hypothesis. I imagined being 55 and doing the exact same work I was doing in my thirties.   Although, I liked my work at the time, I couldn't imagine doing it for another 20 years.   In addition, if I continued to do the same job, I would likely be reporting to someone in their thirties when I was in my fifties.  I definitely didn't want to be training new managers to whom I reported when I was in my fifties.

So I decided to change my approach to working.   Here's what I did:

Communicated my goal. Previously, my approach had been to work hard and hope to be recognized and rewarded. It wasn't working. I had a conversation with my department manager and shared my goal of promotion. Management now knew my career goals.
Focused on results. I realized my job was more than showing up and doing the work. My job was to commit to and deliver outstanding business results. My supervisors needed workers that developed and executed solutions to the issues that were identified. With the attitude change, I delivered more projects successfully.
Accepted tough assignments. Management's confidence in me grew and they gave me more responsibility. I received several tough (and undesirable) assignments. Although these assignments were always presented to me as a choice, I knew that the right answer was an unqualified "yes."
Expanded influence. As my credibility grew, I began to expand my influence beyond the are of my direct control. I effectively began to do the work of the level to which I wanted to be promoted.

That mental experiment I did at year twelve made a big difference. Four years later, I was promoted to a first line manager. Three years after that I was promoted to the next level, which was part of the top 5% of our organization, and. I was able to take early retirement from this position seven years later. I am definitely glad the changes made to how I did my job had such a significant impact.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.
This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Retiree Workers Clash with Corporate Culture

2012-01-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

A year ago, I noted how the company for which I did seasonal part time work was changing and how it wasn't what I signed up for. However, last year the office still had the same office manager we always had. So the office did the minimum needed to comply, which kept the long time staff happy. However, this year the office manager was demoted to staff and replaced by a hand picked employee. The new office manager is seriously talking and walking the company line and it isn't going over well with the staff, most of which are retired from much larger companies, are near retirement or are part time working parents. None of the staff is interested in the corporate bureaucracy the change will bring.

Although I am an experienced staff person, I am not usually part of the controversial discussions in our office. However, I overheard the new office manager discussing a mild confrontational interaction she had when directing a staff to do a task (I think). I've been told one of the mid seniority staff may leave at the end of this month. Another of the more senior staff complained to me that a requested task being done was "ridiculous."

I expect the new office manager to continue to implement the company plan, which will be good for the company. I also expect that many experienced staff people will decide this isn't what they signed up for. I hope the company figures out one of its valuable assets is its part time season retiree work force that likes the work but wants to avoid the bureaucracy, which should be left to the career full time workers to handle.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial, retirement or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Wisdom on Longevity

2012-01-12T23:06:00.000-05:00

I like to learn from the experience of others . Often, the experience of those who were successful and unsuccessful can help me think through the challenges I'm facing. One my recent concerns is the quality of life as I get older. Since I play golf with someone in his eighties, I quizzed him on his advice on longevity and being so active at his age.

He had a simple answer: don't smoke, stay thin and exercise. Here's how I'm doing in those categories.

Don't smoke. Fortunately, I do not smoke, except for an occasional cigar, which occurs about once every five years. I don't expect to take up smoking either.
Stay thin. He clarified this statement as, "Don't eat too much." My corollary is that there are not many fat men in their eighties. While I eat much less than I did in my youth, I'm still about 7% above the maximum of the weight range. I need to get back to below my weight in high school to be within the ideal weight range. I've been close since retiring, but I haven't been able to hold the weight for more than a month yet.
Exercise. While I do get exercise, it's probably not enough. I've started jogging again about three times a week. I also play tennis a couple times a month, down from once a week. I'll also probably do some light weight lifting.

Also, I would add the importance of having challenging interests, which he does. For example, in preparation for our golf matches, he practices a couple times a week and still takes lessons. Hopefully, I'll be as successful as he is for having a long and active life.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.
This is not financial or aging advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Emergency Funds Can Augment Retirement Funds

2012-01-11T06:50:00.003-05:00

With relatively low use, an emergency can become a retirement fund. The idea of a one to six month emergency fund is well known. Some advisors are even recommending larger emergency funds of one year or longer. Emergency funds with enough money to cover long periods of time can eventually become part of an retirement.

Looking back, once I got into the habit of saving for an emergency fund, it became easy just to keep saving after meeting my goal. First, I saved one month, six months, one year and then five years of gross income. Since my gross income was 35% higher than my net income and my net income was 50% higher than our expenses, our "emergency" fund was actually enough for 10 years. To save this much, we did two things: lived below our means and saved the majority of my raises.

Although we did use the emergency funds, the funds were never fully depleted. Our major uses of the emergency funds were for buying our cars for cash and replacing a roof. We were fortunate that we didn't need to use the emergency funds for everyday living expenses..
Thus, when we retired, our emergency funds rolled over into being retirement accounts, providing another 10 years of living expenses.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, saving, or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #61

2012-01-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the sixty-first edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

My Journey presents Analyzing the Perception of the “1 Percent” posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, "One of the reasons we are having Occupy Wall Street protests and backlash towards the “1 percent” is because the public doesn’t understand what it is like to have money."

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents How To Make $1000 Per Month as a Blogger posted at Grand Per Month, saying, "This is the name of the game when it comes to online ventures. If you want to make money by starting a blog, you need to make sure that it’s (1) interesting/useful for the readers and (2) marketable for advertisements."

Lazy Man and Money presents Robert Kiyosaki and Multi-Level Marketing Exposed! posted at Lazy Man and Money, saying, "Today, I'd like to share some thoughts on the business of MLM and pair that with well-known personality Robert Kiyosaki, co-author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. As you can tell from the title, this is going to be a little harsh on Kiyosaki, but keep in mind that Rich Dad, Poor Dad was major motivation for me to begin this blog."

Insuring and Protecting

Kyle Berks presents Why Is Https:// Important When Submitting Your Financial Information Online? posted at Online Payday Loan Companies Reviewed For Your Safety, saying, "Knowing that your social security number is secure between your web browser and the website you are submitting your information on is extremely important. Identity theft is one of America’s most common crimes. If victimized, one will have to jump through many hoops and you will encounter many headaches along the way in putting your life back together."

Marie presents How to Find Cheap Dental Insurance posted at Money Spending Mommy, saying, "Finding cheap dental insurance often seems like an impossible task, but it can be done. While you might not find a plan that covers all of your dental needs in full, most people can find one that will save them some money."

Investing

presents The Basics of Bonds--Why Do Bond Prices Change? posted at Money Counselor, saying, "Bond investors have generally done well in recent years. Before you dive in with the hope of earning more than your bank’s 1% CD rate, take the time to understand what drives bond prices."

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents Dividend Income for Fourth Quarter 2011 posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, "I have a multifaceted approach to setting myself up for retirement. Dividends play one part in this plan."

Dividends4Life presents 6 High-Dividend, Low P/E Value Stocks posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Before the Internet and even before computers, critical financial information was printed daily in newspapers. Though many newspaper still print this information, most people find it easier (and faster) to get information on their stocks from financial websites. So back when financial information was a tedious and manual process what was considered relevant enough to warrant inclusion?"

Kanwal Sarai presents What are dividends? Why should you care? posted at Simply Investing Blog, saying, "Dividends aren’t just something rich people talk about, or a Community Chest card in Monopoly. They are the most consistent and easiest way to gain passive income as an investor."

W presents In Defense of Technical Trading posted at Off-Road Finance, saying, "A look at the advantages of technical trading."

Hemant Beniwal presents Best Mutual Funds to Invest in 2012 in India posted at The Financial Literates, saying, "Indian Government has allowed foreign individual investors to invest in India. India is an emerging economy & everyone can divert some part of their portfolio in Indian Mutual Funds."

Dr. Dean presents Football and Personal Finance-14 Corollaries! posted at Dr. Dean's TheMillionaireNurse.com Blog, saying, "Financially speaking, it’s been a tough year, but then, every year can be. Need a ‘pat on the butt’ locker room pep talk? Get one here and then be ready to ‘get back in the game’"

Kevin presents Book Review and Giveaway Part Two: Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, "Welcome to part 2 of my review of “Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School“!"

Living Frugally

DJ presents Cheap Birthday Gifts for Every Budget posted at The Family Wallet, saying, "Birthday gifts do not have to cost an arm and a leg to be special. Thoughtful items such as handmade crafts or supplies mean more and cost less. Putting an effort into the gift is the important part, as these gifts will remain valuable many years from now."

Lisa presents Budgeting and Your Car Loan posted at Thriftability, saying, "Considering an auto loan should be carefully weighed against your budget and financial situation. While there are some general rules which should be taken into account, your financial status, plans, and other personal elements play a large role."

Jon Elder presents Keeping the Doctor Away with Quality Food posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, "Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring and it doesn’t have to be expensive. I am here as a testament to say that I felt better than ever on this healthy lifestyle change and spent less."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents How to Get Your Kids to Stop Treating You Like an ATM posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, "When raising children, no one sets out to raise a brat. No parent thinks to themselves, “I want my child to be irrational and demanding.” No one purposely fosters unreasonable expectations. And yet many parents reach an unpleasant day when they look at their child and realize that somehow, they have."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Do-It-Yourself Baby Food posted at Money Mum, saying, "Making baby food from home is the healthiest, most cost-effective way to give babies exactly what they need as they begin solid foods. Read on for some basic tips to get started."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Early to Rise

2012-01-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

Now that I've acknowledge my mortality, I have a much greater sense of urgency. The last couple of days, I've been getting up early, really early since I've been retired.. This morning I was up by 6:30 AM. I used the two hours for "me" time: decluttering, exercise, investment reading, working on a couple projects and planning my day. It was exhilarating.

I'll see how long I can keep this up. Right now, I can't wait to get going in the morning. Maybe it's because the days are getting longer or the unseasonably warm winter days. Hopefully, I'll get into the zone and getting up early will become a norm again.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Looking for Fifteen More Good Years

2012-01-08T21:59:00.001-05:00

“The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective.” ― James Patterson, The Angel Experiment

I've come to the realization that my remaining time is relative short. My parents were very health and pretty active until a little after 70. After 70, their physical capabilities noticeably declined and there was also a slight decrease in their mental capabilities, but nothing debilitating. So I estimate that I have fifteen good years left.

Until now, I've never felt a great urgency to get my life priorities complete. I always felt I had time and let life unfold. Things have always seemed to work out . Although I don't have a life list, I am feeling more anxiety about beginning work on personal and family priorities. I don't want to look back fifteen years from now and regret not having done something. When I'm 70, it may be likely be too late to do something that I missed earlier.

So no more procrastination :-) I'm going to make sure I don't regret missing doing something when I turn 70.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Five Outrageous Predictions for 2012

2012-01-07T21:52:00.001-05:00

"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." ~ Yogi Berra

This is the time of the year to make predictions about 2012.

Obama starts governing. President Obama wakes up one morning and realizes that he is the incumbent and that campaigning for hope and change won't work again. Instead of blaming others, he adopts Harry Truman's desk sign of "The buck stops here." Obama begins working a bipartisan economic solution for passage in the summer of 2012.

Michele Bachmann poses in Playboy. Scott Brown, the junior senator from Massachusetts, posed in Cosmopolitan before his career as a politician.   After a poor finish in Iowa, Ms. Bachmann evaluates her options to become a viable candidate in the Republican primary.   When Ms. Bachmann successfully reinvigorates her campaign, Ron Paul decides to try same strategy.

Stock market hits record high. In anticipation of a government that supports opportunity over entitlement, the stock market surges to an all time high for the Dow. Stocks become the preferred vehicle for savings and investments.   IPOs, e.g. Facebook, jump 100-200% on the first day.   Traders and investors are euphoric once again.

Republicans take Presidency, Senate and House.   The Republican Presidential candidate (no prediction on who) does a pivot. Instead of supporting entitlements for business and the wealthy, he runs on an "opportunity" platform which resonates with the American public. The Republicans win in a landslide victory.

End of the world in 2012. In late November 2012, the end of the world forecast by Harold Camping Family Radio network happens.   All conservatives around the world are taken from earth leaving only liberals who decide all remaining people are entitled to $1 million a year in government support. The Occupy movement loses momentum since they are now the 100%.

So there are the My Wealth Builder predictions for 2012. In December 2012, I'll review the percentage I got right.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

How Did I Have Time to Work?

2012-01-06T22:55:00.000-05:00

One day in December, I had a dental appointment, our daughter's class holiday party, a friend's annual holiday gathering at a local restaurant, and a funeral.   I managed to get in a couple hours of work to wrap up my temporary full time job. Earlier that week, I scheduled a couple appointments for a home repair and a home improvement estimate. This was in addition to a do-it-yourself repair on our outdoor hot tub. I also had lunch once with my daughter at school. Finally, I've been working on an investment strategy to minimize the volatility on our investments.

At the holiday gathering, I commented to a fellow busy retiree, "How did we have time to work?"   Recently, he has moved to his retirement home and joined the board of a local non-profit. He knowingly nodded and agreed.

As I complete the transition of my temporary full time job, I'm starting work on the projects that were put on hold so that I could do the work.   Projects that I didn't have time to do while working. The list is long and it got longer while I was working. I look forward to getting back to my home improvement, investment, exercise and family projects.

I've learned my lesson from the past two years. I've significantly cut back on my hours in my part time jobs to avoid over commitment and to make sure I have the summer of 2012 off.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The End of an Era

2012-01-05T20:17:00.001-05:00

My parents have always been there for me. Then six years ago, my dad passed away after six months of complications from pneumonia. Over the holidays, my mom passed away after an extended time in a nursing home. I never expected to be without them.

It seems like yesterday that I was a child going to elementary school, high school and then college. Twenty-seven years at work passed by quickly also. The time went by too fast.

Now, I will need to carry on without their counsel and guidance. Fortunately, my parent's values and guidance helped me develop a strong foundation of life and financial skills. Through my parents, I learned to live below my means, increase my earnings through higher education, and save for retirement as they did successfully. .

I am thankful they were my parents and will miss them very, very much.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Parenthood and Poverty

2012-01-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Getting married was one of the best financial decisions I made.

According to Census data, being married statistically decreases the likelihood of being below the poverty threshold. For households with children under 18, 26% of single father households and 42% of single mother households are below the poverty threshold. Only 10% of married parent households with children under 18 are below the poverty threshold. For reference, the poverty threshold counts any government assistance (e.g. housing, food stamps or EIC) that may be received.

I expected married parent households to be better off financially, but I didn't expect the differences to be as large as the data shows.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, lifestyle or parenting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC