tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194731662024-11-26T02:08:35.622-05:00A personal finance site for young professionals...written by young professionals.RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1148434977175740602006-05-25T20:05:00.000-04:002006-05-25T20:07:55.190-04:00

We have had a few discussions in the past on the topic of renting a place versus buying a home...check these out for more information:Rent or BuyMore Rent or BuyRent or Buy: Real Life ExampleTo add some more information to the discussion, Chris over at Investor Geeks has written a great article that comes down on the side of the renter, entitled "Misconception: Renting if for Suckers." I tend to

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1148244295233445622006-05-24T07:59:00.000-04:002006-05-24T08:02:20.156-04:00

Some may remember that I was thinking about signing up with Sharebuilder, mostly just to take advantage of their $50 bonus offer. I finally did signup in mid-April with $50 of my own money. I invested my $50 in VWO (Vanguard Emerging Markets Viper) which is at just about the same price as when I bought it. After that it was just a matter of waiting to get the $50 bonus.Well, my $50 Sharebuilder

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1148349360924273462006-05-22T21:53:00.000-04:002006-05-23T20:54:33.250-04:00

The latest batch of Carnivals are now up. Make a point to check them out, there is always good information contained in them.Carnival of Personal Finance Number 49 hosted by Frugal for LifeFestival of Frugality hosted by Tired but HappyCarnival of Investing hosted by Mighty Bargain HunterCarnival of Debt Reduction hosted by Make Love, Not Debt________________________________________________For

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1147461610506186632006-05-18T11:15:00.000-04:002006-05-18T14:44:27.603-04:00

The Frugal Living series will take a look at some of the steps that the Young Professionals use to save a little extra dough on the things that we buy.Today's frugal living post comes to us from Educating the Wheelers and is something that I know Mrs. RS and I could be doing better at. They have put together A Lazy Person's Guide to Eating More Meals at Home and it is a place where we could

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1147703458018112742006-05-15T10:28:00.000-04:002006-05-17T20:32:15.436-04:00

The latest batch of Carnivals are now up. Make a point to check them out, there is always good information contained in them.Carnival of Personal Finance Number 48 hosted by 2MillionFestival of Frugality hosted by Boston Gal's Open WalletCarnival of Investing hosted by Investor GeeksCarnival of Debt Reduction hosted by Savvy Saver________________________________________________For those that

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1147287952510270782006-05-14T22:48:00.000-04:002006-05-14T22:50:50.973-04:00

The Frugal Living series will take a look at some of the steps that the Young Professionals use to save a little extra dough on the things that we buy.Today's entry into the Frugal Living Guide was sent to us by fellow Young Professional, Jonathan. We really appreciate it Jonathan and would love to hear from any other readers if you have some Frugal Living tips.Jonathan wrote to tell us about

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1147287354653429952006-05-10T14:53:00.000-04:002006-05-10T14:55:54.820-04:00

Have been greatly exaggerated. However, the demise of my free time is completely accurate. I am really noticing the difference in the amount of free time that I have now compared to how much I had over the winter. I have so much going on with the outside of my house right now that I have not even had any time to sit down and watch TV or play some XBOX 360. Between my regualr job all day, working

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1145043738549172792006-04-27T14:31:00.000-04:002006-04-27T14:33:36.500-04:00

The Frugal Living series will take a look at some of the steps that the Young Professionals use to save a little extra dough on the things that we buy.Today's post on Frugal Living saved us a lot of dough a few years ago. It probably saved us between $40 and $70 a month on average. What could possibly save someone that much a month you ask? Switching from a regualr telephone service to a VOIP (

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1146027727660301792006-04-26T00:59:00.000-04:002006-04-26T01:03:43.146-04:00

The latest batch of Carnivals are now up. Sorry that this post is a little late this week, I am still trying to catch up on all my mail and blog reading after vacation. Make a point to check them out, there is always good information contained in them.Carnival of Personal Finance Number 45 hosted by Million Dollar GoalFestival of Frugality hosted by MoneyBlogNetworkCarnival of Investing hosted by

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1145040668242753702006-04-25T11:20:00.000-04:002006-04-25T11:22:46.156-04:00

The Frugal Living series will take a look at some of the steps that the Young Professionals use to save a little extra dough on the things that we buy.Today's post on Frugal Living is a tip that can really only be used once a year...your birthday. There are many places where you can get free stuff on your birthday, here is a small list of birthday freebies from Smartmoney. My personal favorite is

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1145932222545667332006-04-24T22:28:00.000-04:002006-04-24T22:30:22.560-04:00

Just a quick update to say that I just got back from a wonderful vacation. Mrs. RS and I went on a cruise with 5 other couples to the Western Caribbean. It was a lot of fun, but it is good to be home too. We woke up in Florida at 2AM this morning and finally made it home to New York by about 3PM this afternoon. Long day on just 2 hours of sleep. Must get some sleep soon!!!Tags:Misc

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1145024028137378132006-04-14T13:29:00.000-04:002006-04-21T10:05:14.733-04:00

Let me start this post off by saying that it is a really good thing that I went to college. The reason? Well, if I wasn't a computer programmer and had to do a job that required a good deal of physical labor...I would probably not be good at it. How do I know this? Our landscaping project is not going very well.That last statement isn't entirely true, the first retaining wall that we started

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144720832651841542006-04-14T10:59:00.000-04:002006-04-14T11:01:14.516-04:00

Jeffery from Personal Finance Advice has a post asking what others coin jar looks like. It is a very timely post since I was just about to write a new post for the Frugal Living guide about coin jars. Mrs. RS just emptied our coin jar so that we could use the proceeds for extra spending money on our vacation next week. We are going on a cruise with 5 other couples to the Western Carribean...it

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144778972370918652006-04-11T13:30:00.000-04:002006-04-11T14:19:57.100-04:00

I lived near a golf course and my brother and I would often search for golf balls then sit at the 15th hole and sell the golf balls. We had egg cartons for them and had 4 price categories based on the golf ball condition... most expensive being like 75 cents (pristine condition, no scratches or marks). This hole was also near a lake so there were those that would buy a bunch of the cheap 10 cent

DDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01517207247895298869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144723128168672832006-04-10T22:37:00.000-04:002006-04-10T22:38:48.513-04:00

The Frugal Living series will take a look at some of the steps that the Young Professionals use to save a little extra dough on the things that we buy.Our tip today actually comes from Oprah...old school Oprah, not debt-diet Oprah (sounds like action figures). Many, many years ago, Oprah told Mrs. RS (not personally, but through her show) to get a change jar to help save a little extra money.

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144472142458200462006-04-10T08:11:00.000-04:002006-04-10T08:13:30.276-04:00

The Budgeting Babe has a post about Turning Down Jobs (I don't think that I have ever turned down a job) and it got me thinking about jobs that I have had over the course of my life. In particualr, the first couple of jobs that I had:My first "real" job (real = not mowing the lawn or babysitting siblings for me) was at McDonald's. I worked the register and the drive-thru. It was a good starting

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144643536769438212006-04-10T00:30:00.000-04:002006-04-11T09:58:25.120-04:00

The latest batch of Carnivals are now up. Make a point to check them out, there is always good information contained in them.Carnival of Investing hosted by A Financial RevolutionCarnival of Personal Finance Number 43 hosted by MyMoneyBlogInteresting discussion in the beginning of this carnival this week. It also sparked another post from Punny Munny on the subject of carnivals.Carnival of Debt

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144526591240130142006-04-08T16:01:00.000-04:002006-04-08T16:03:12.123-04:00

Last week, I posted about the Sharebuilder $50 Promotion that I was thinking about signing up for. Well, I did sign up with Sharebuilder, but I have a couple of questions that I was hoping someone could help me out with.I added $50 to my account and was just planning on investing that, plus my free $50 from the promo, in the Vanguard Emerging Markets Viper (VWO).When do you get the $50? I would

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144449199877340232006-04-07T17:50:00.000-04:002006-04-07T19:55:25.160-04:00

In all my mortgage shopping, I debated a number of different types of mortgages in trying to find what one would be right for me.3/1 and 5/1 ARM (adjustable rate mortgage)Here I was very tempted to go with the lower rate and allow for the variable rate since it could very well be lower in 5 years. After all, the rates have been going up for over a year now and seem likely to end soon. The Fed

DDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01517207247895298869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144335747897585792006-04-06T11:00:00.000-04:002006-04-10T22:43:49.923-04:00

The Frugal Living series will take a look at some of the steps that the Young Professionals use to save a little extra dough on the things that we buy.One of the things that you can do to save a little extra money (actually, earn a little extra money) is to take advantage of some of the various deals that are offered from online savings banks from time to time. Not only will you earn some extra

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144297187218986032006-04-06T00:18:00.000-04:002006-04-06T00:19:49.730-04:00

Tomorrow it begins...my neighbor and I start spending tons of money on landscaping our new houses. We have been getting estimates for almost a month now on what it would cost for a retaining wall in the front of our house and to get a lawn put in. As I mentioned before, it costs a lot more than we have to spend. So, we decided to do what any other men with not enough money to do landscaping would

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1143872188052353152006-04-05T10:32:00.000-04:002006-04-05T10:33:38.350-04:00

This problem has come up a few times recently...someone is selling their house with a real-estate agent, but they find a buyer on their own. Now they are stuck paying a real estate agent commission (usually 5%-6%). So, if you are selling your house, you should at least talk to your real estate agent about having the following clause in your contract with them...if you (as the seller), ever find

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144105796633963412006-04-04T13:37:00.000-04:002006-04-04T13:39:22.913-04:00

I was pointed towards a new site this past weekend and I just started checking it out. It is called An Uncommon Way to Wealth. Along with some good articles, he has some really nice Excel spreadsheets on the site that you can download and use for free. These Excel spreadsheets will help you track various parts of your financial life.Here is a list of the spreadsheets that he currently has

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1143872329341184672006-04-03T13:25:00.000-04:002006-04-03T13:28:06.060-04:00

Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted last week about a new Sharebuilder $50 promotion that I was considering trying out. My current brokerage is E*Trade and I don't really want to switch (unless Sharebuilder ends up being really great), but I don't want to pass up $50.I need to look into Sharebuilder a little more...see if it is worth doing. Someone said you need to put money in

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19473166.post-1144085750279138582006-04-03T10:12:00.000-04:002006-04-06T10:14:50.290-04:00

The latest batch of Carnivals are now up. Make a point to check them out, there is always good information contained in them.Carnival of Investing Number 16 hosted by Free Money FinanceCarnival of Personal Finance Number 42 hosted by Okdork.comCarnival of Debt Reduction hosted by The Frugal DutchessFestival of Frugality hosted by

RShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616145406462828782noreply@blogger.com1