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Merit Alone May Not Get You that Promotion

2011-09-29T02:38:00.000-07:00

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Merit Alone May Not Get You that Promotion

Here's a piece from Fortune that says merit alone may not get you that job promotion. The details:

So you've worked hard, produced great results, and have all the right qualifications. Nevertheless, that bigger job you had your eye on went to your boss's golf buddy, or old college roommate, or brother-in-law instead.

Scant consolation though it may be, but you've got plenty of company. A whopping 92% of senior executives say they have seen favoritism -- defined as the use of criteria other than performance -- determine who gets promoted, says a new study conducted by consultants Penn Schoen Berland on behalf of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

For those of you who think that performance alone will get you promoted, it won't. At least in many cases it won't.

And I wouldn't say that "favoritism" is the problem/issue/reason. I think what they're really describing above is likeability. And as I've noted many times previously, being likeable is just as important to your career growth as is performance. A few samples of what I've said:

Some "experts" think that being likeable matters more than being competent.
The characteristics that make someone "likeable".
You might not be getting hired because you're not likeable.
There's no such thing as being too likeable.
The more pleasant you are, the more job opportunities you have.

So, in addition to your three-point plan to deliver great results this year, it is probably worthwhile to spend a bit of time becoming more likeable as well. I'm not saying to fake it or to create some sort of character that you despise simply to get promoted, but we all can be a bit more pleasant if we tried, can't we? And given the fact that the smallest advantage between job candidates may mean the difference between promotion or no promotion, being hired or being turned down, isn't it worth a little effort to be slightly more likeable? I think so...

Posted on September 21, 2011 at 04:29 AM in Career 2011+ | Permalink

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When I was younger and dumber, I used to think that I would do great without playing politics, that my work alone would speak for itself and I would succeed strictly by the value I provided.

ha ha ha ha

The world just doesn't work that way. Look at it even from the college application process- legacies have priority over others. Unfortunately, you gotta learn to play the game...

Posted by:everyday tips |September 21, 2011 at 08:42 AM

I see this every day at my employer- but if you have a degree that is a true barrier to entry, it doesn't affect you as much and then it truly comes down to competence and skill. MBAs are not such a degree- JDs, MDs, PhDs in a hard science qualify, not many others do though.

Posted by:Pop |September 21, 2011 at 09:03 AM

That's the way the world works. I didn't quite get it until I started working.

In my schooling all the way through undergrad, it was all about grades. Do better, get a higher GPA, higher rank, etc. All was quantifiable, due to right or wrong answers.

Once job recruiting started in undergrad, I saw people with relatively lower (3.0) GPAs get certain jobs instead of top students with 3.9-type GPAs. Why? They knew someone, or were just plain likeable. They connected with the interviewers, and seemed like that type of people that would fit into companies and be great to work with. In short, someone you could grab lunch with or a drink after work.

When I got an MBA, a class participation grade was included, where professors were subjectively allowed to grade students on the quality of their comments and their peception with fellow students. At the time, I thought it was absurd - but now I see the brilliance in that approach. It was encouraging us to be likeable.

Posted by:Squirrelers |September 21, 2011 at 12:59 PM

Even if you have a PhD, at the very top levels promotions and plums are all awarded based mainly on likeability rather than actual competence.

Among my own peers, we call it "the golf index". As in, if you're puzzling about why so-and-so got picked to be Dean and you didn't, it's because he has a higher golf index than you do. (ie he socializes with the boss, even if it's not via an actual a golf game).

This really sucks if you're a woman, obviously. I can't "golf" with the boss or people will think I'm sleeping with him. To compensate for the gossip mill, successful women tend to act more hard line and keep their interactions with their colleagues very focused on work only. But then they're overlooked for promotions because they're "unlikeable". This issue is the main reason why there's few women at the top, IMO.

Posted by:MC |September 21, 2011 at 02:02 PM

In defense of the "like-ability/golf index", people skills are the glue in running things. When you are high up in a business your ability to communicate (public speaking to one-on-one interpersonal skills) is critical to get things done. At higher levels one's aptitude and competency are important but your people and communication skills are even more important. When I was a young engineer the people in my group held resentment toward those who got promoted on likeability rather than merit. It was not till later in life did I realize that a person with aptitude, competency AND good people/communication skills was more rare than a person with just aptitude and competency. These people & communication skills translate into leadership skills. It is what it is folks.

Posted by:texashaze |September 21, 2011 at 04:10 PM

Absolutely agree here. Likeability is everything. I am a scientist for the federal government, and while I'm certainly not unlikeable, I do not have a bubbly, charming, brown-nosing personality. I won many awards for my accomplishments, but when it came time for promotions, I would watch those whose qualifications were objectively much lower than mine get the job. While it is a struggle for me, I've adopted the idea of just being content with what you have and don't pretend you're someone you aren't. I can at least sleep that way.

Posted by:Mark |September 21, 2011 at 05:47 PM

Likability is pretty important and rightfully so. Who wants to work with people you don't like? Who wants someone in charge that isn't likable?

Of course theres always also various forms of favoritism, nepotism, cronyism, etc that aren't about being likable but about being associated with the people giving the jobs out.

Theres a huge difference between getting a promotion simply because you're a swell guy and getting one cause you're the bosses son in law.

Posted by:jim |September 21, 2011 at 07:21 PM

I've definitely learned this the hard way. In every job I've ever worked, the charmers always got ahead, over those of us who were good workers. Of course, in many cases, they ended up eventually getting fired too, because they never did any work. Their time was spent chatting everyone up, instead of doing their job.

I admit, I'm very introverted, and don't have a bubbly, likeable personality. I like to focus on doing top-notch, efficient work, and am always seeking ways to streamline work and improve the quality of my work. But while bosses love having me as an employee, I don't get "promoted", probably because of the likeability thing. That, and most of the jobs I've worked, there really isn't anywhere for a graphic designer to go, other than art director, which is almost never available.

It will be interesting to see how things go once I start my Accounting career. I'm terrified of this whole "charm" thing, where you have to be a schmoozer in order to get ahead. It doesn't seem fair.. .I'd rather work with pleasant people who do their job extremely well and don't talk much, than super-likeable party people who are too busy chatting around the water cooler to get anything done.

Posted by:BD |September 21, 2011 at 08:10 PM

Promotion if definately a formula. You are absolutely right...merit alone will not get you to the top...nor hard work alone...nor politics alone. You have to have a combination of everything. Unfortunately to succeed in the corporate world, you MUST play the game! In the words of Ice T..."Don't hate the player, hate the game".

On a serious note, if you really want to succeed you must self-promote. If you don't, someone else will. I once got a position that I was totally underqualified for and didnt' deserve, but I played the game better than the six other people that wanted it and had better numbers.

Posted by:Travis Scott |September 21, 2011 at 10:04 PM

Travis: I'm curious - How long did you last in that position? Were you able to keep up with the demands being underqualified?

Posted by:BD |September 22, 2011 at 01:23 PM

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Over 50% of Americans in Bad Financial Shape

2011-09-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

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Over 50% of Americans in Bad Financial Shape

The book Your Stronger Financial Future: The Eight Essential Strategies for Making Profitable Investments highlights the following findings from a Center for Retirement Research study:

24% of Americans believe they are in good financial shape and are correct
28% of Americans believe they are in good financial shape and are wrong
33% of Americans believe they are in bad financial shape and are correct
16% of Americans believe they are in bad financial shape and are wrong

What I found most interesting was the fact that 61% are in bad financial shape (whether they know it or not.) The book doesn't define "bad financial shape" and how severe it is, so we're left wondering. But given the finances of the average American, is it hard to believe that over 60% of Americans are in very rough financial shape? Not for me.

I was encouraged to see that 40% were in decent shape. I think many in the first group are readers here at FMF (you all seem so smart!) And we just need to get the word to the last group that they are doing fine -- and to keep up the good work. Then they can join the rest of us in the first group. ;-)

What's your take on this information? Surprised or not?

Posted on September 22, 2011 at 04:29 AM in Financial Planning | Permalink

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With the current state of the economy and the collapse of easy credit, no I am not surprised. There were way too many people living beyond their means.

Posted by:Matt |September 22, 2011 at 06:19 AM

I don't know their definition of 'bad financial shape', but I expected to see that more are in bad shape, at least on paper.

My neighbors are running away from their mortgage because they moved out of state. Yet they are both lawyers. Are they really in bad shape, or taking advantage of the system? Would they be counted in bad shape?

On the other hand, I know many that are in bad shape, but live like there is no tomorrow and they certainly dress like they are financially secure.

Posted by:everyday tips |September 22, 2011 at 08:17 AM

Seems to me if you're stuck in a mortgage that you can't get out of without harming your finances, you're sure not in good shape, no matter what you earn (surprisingly, these days many lawyers don't earn what we imagine).

These pronouncements are pretty vague, though. Define "good" and "bad" financial shape. And who is to judge what an individual believes is adequate for his or her lifestyle, values, and goals?

Posted by:Funny about Money |September 22, 2011 at 08:51 AM

I would love to know their definition of good financial shape and bad financial shape...

Posted by:Sarah |September 22, 2011 at 08:57 AM

If you care enough about your financial shape to read a blog like FMF, then you are either already in good shape or heading in that direction, I think.

Posted by:Paul |September 22, 2011 at 09:20 AM

The definitian is a bit tricky. I would like to be in "better" financial shape which means I'm not happy where I'm at --- does that mean I'm in bad shape (even though it's probably better than the average)?

Posted by:texashaze |September 22, 2011 at 10:02 AM

I would also like to know the definition of bad financial shape. If you ask Suze Orman, everyone is bad financial shape! There are also different age groups, family dynamics, ect. This has to be a very subjective survey!!!

Posted by:Travis Scott |September 22, 2011 at 10:42 AM

I would define the worst degree of "Bad Financial Shape" as:

No income.
No Healthcare.
Lots of Debt.
Behind in rent or house payments.
Very little savings.

or in other words, "A disaster waiting to happen".

The 33% referred to are more likely the group that are still functioning but one major car repair away from those I described.

Posted by:Old Limey |September 22, 2011 at 10:56 AM

That 61% in the "bad financial shape" category comes pretty close to the 69% in Jean Chatzky's "payday to payday" and "further in debt" categories, as mentioned in her book "The Difference".

Posted by:Mark |September 22, 2011 at 01:46 PM

A quick Bing search on "% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck" found estimates ranging from 2/3 up to 77% (you could probably find the same thing using a Google search if you insist on using an inferior search engine for whatever reason).

So I'm actually a bit surprised that only 60% are in "bad financial shape". I would have expected a higher number.

Posted by:Bad_Brad |September 22, 2011 at 02:02 PM

61% sounds right. But its hard to know without a real definition of what they think 'bad financial shape' means.

I'm surprised that 16% of people think they are in bad shape and aren't. That % seems high to me. They could be on the margin. Or maybe they think that cause nobody defined what 'bad financial shape' means??

Posted by:jim |September 22, 2011 at 03:09 PM

In my book, you are in bad financial shape if you cannot financially survive an extended period of unemployment.

Posted by:JimL |September 22, 2011 at 05:16 PM

JimL - I am surviving an extended period of unemployment - I'm retired! Ha!!

Posted by:Georgia |September 23, 2011 at 02:33 PM

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Reader Profile: GB

2011-09-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

The following is the latest post on my new "Reader Profiles" series. Each post in this series details the financial situation and challenges of an FMF reader. The purpose of this series is to help us all identify with people like us (in similar situations -- not all will be, of course, but eventually I'm sure you will find someone like you here), get to know the frequent commenters on the site, and hear some financial wisdom/challenges from people other than me.

If you're interested in contributing to this series, then drop me an email. We've had a good number of these lately, but I'm always interested in more.

Next in the series is FMF reader GB. He answered my questions (in red below) as follows:

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a 47-year old, former D-1 basketball player who now works as a teacher, coach and administrator in south Georgia. I am married and have a son in kindergarten. My greatest joys in life are being a husband and a father. I also enjoy working with my students and athletes; I sometimes feel like I am an uncle to about 500 nephews and nieces.

While I was not always the greatest student, I did manage to will myself through four degrees: B.A. in History, M.B.A., M.A.T.L. in Spanish / TESOL and an Ed.S. in Administration and Supervision. I also completed an online Certificate in Financial Planning from FSU. My wife only has three degrees, so naturally I lord this over her every waking moment.

Away from school, I enjoy long distance running, weight-lifting and Pilates. I especially enjoy trail running during the cooler months; there are so many awesome timber / farm roads here. As of January, I have been on the Slow Carb diet, and I have lost 35 pounds without counting a single calorie! This dietary change has greatly helped my running and improved my overall health. This year I plan on running my first marathon. Depending on how I progress, I might also try to run an ultra marathon event.

At home, we watch a lot of cartoons, TV shows, movies and documentaries on Netflix; we have not had cable TV in almost three years. I do not miss cable's high prices and commercials! When I tell people that we do not have cable, I see a combination of disbelief and pity on their faces as if we lived in a cave. Don't worry about us folks; we have more than enough entertainment options. We also use the public library to the max. For example, I currently have 45 books checked out. We pay very little for entertainment ($10 for Netflix), phone ($60 a year for an unlimited Skype plan with “regular” number) and internet ($45). We eat out about once or twice a week.

At home, my wife and I split the cooking duties. Fortunately, we are both decent cooks, so we eat very well at home. My specialties include: jerk pork steaks, curried lentils, and curried chicken. We always have lots of good things to eat at home. (People should learn to cook the dishes they like the most. It’s much cheaper than eating out and it’s awesome to see your fridge loaded with leftovers that you actually want to eat!)

Describe your financial situation (who works in your family, how your income is (general), how your expenses are, etc.).

My wife and I make about $133,000 together. Our current district does not participate in the Social Security plan, so we got a 6.2% raise by taking this job. Our district kicks in another 5.24% into a 403b pension plan in place of Social Security. In our eyes, that nets an 11.44% raise from our previous school district, so we are very pleased with these financial aspects of our jobs. (We changed jobs in August of 2009.)

In addition to the district's retirement plan, we also contribute to Teacher Retirement System of Georgia. Our monthly contributions are 5.25% our salaries. The GA TRS starts paying out pensions at age 60. Our district also provides us access to optional 403b and 457 retirement plans. The last two years we have both fully funded our 403b and 457 accounts to the amount of $66,000 ($16.5K x 4). We also fully fund our Vanguard traditional IRAs ($5K x 2 = $10K); we both use the 2025 Target Retirement fund. In 2010 we saved over $82K in our retirement accounts, and we are doing the same in 2011.

Overall, we have retirement savings of about $415,000 invested in IRAs at Vanguard and 403b accounts at Vanguard and Valic. We also have $110,000 in Valic 457 accounts which we view as our emergency account since these accounts do not have early-withdrawal penalties like other retirement plans. All investments at Valic are invested in the short-term fixed account earning about 2%. I realize that we are losing money to inflation, but we prefer that option to being subject to stock market volatility AND Valic’s excessive fees. (I used to blog about the issue of 403b fee pillaging, but it was changing my naturally gregarious personality for the worse. Suffice it to say that I think the vast majority of 403b annuity products SUCK due to excessive fees.)

We have a 2,200 sq. ft. home in our previous hometown valued at $160,000. We owe $75K on the mortgage (@ 5.875%) and we owe almost $45K on a HELOC on the home. (More on the HELOC later) We also have $11K in credit card debt that we transferred to a 0% interest credit card (0% until 9/2012). Both of our cars are paid off, so we have no auto loans. We paid off our student loans for graduate school within two years of graduation ($40K). Good riddance to those loans!

In 2009 we took new jobs and began renting our home to a teacher friend. We feel fortunate to have a great renter in our home. The rent pays most of the mortgage, so we have not explored the idea of selling it. We presently live in a farm house that we rent for $750 a month. We are not sure if we will look to buy another home near our current job.

For our son we have contributed $2K in a Coverdale ESA every year since he was born. We also have a GA 529 account with Tiaa-Cref; we contribute $25 a month. Overall, we contribute $2,300 a year to his college accounts. Currently, they are worth $13K. I plan on discouraging him from taking on any student loan debt…what a racket that has become!
What are the current financial issues you're facing (saving, paying off debt, etc.)?

Our first financial concern is to pay off our credit card debt before September of 2012. I am sure that I could get another favorable balance transfer if we still havs a balance, but we are both ready to slay this beast. Next, we want to work on our HELOC balance. Our HELOC and credit card balances got so big when we used them to cover living expenses when moved from our previous jobs in 2009. Basically, we fattened our retirement accounts ($60K in 2009) via debt. I realize that most financial planner would recommend against doing what we did, but we will take care of this problem over the next three years. Currently, the HELOC has a 2.9% interest rate, and we are only paying the interest on the balance (about $110 a month). Eventually, we will use the HELOC and its lower interest rate to accelerate the payment of our mortgage.

For the remainder of 2011, we still need to plow $23K in our accounts to max our retirement savings. At the same time we will pay off at least $6K of credit card debt. Slowly but surely we are making progress towards our goal of having a $1,000,000 net worth.

What are your plans for the future. (retire early, build your career, etc.)?

At some point we would like to take a sabbatical in South America for at least a year. We want our son to learn Spanish and Portuguese, so we would like to get him there while he is still young enough to absorb the languages. As for career development, we plan to continue teaching and coaching but with more frequent “sabbaticals.” I do not see us teaching beyond age 60. Eventually, I hope to write a book about our alternative financial planning ideas. (I keep saying “we” and “our” because if my wife were not financially on board, few of our financial goals would have ever been achieved. Thanks Honey!)
What's your best piece(s) of financial advice and/or your general philosophy on personal finances?

Like most people, my financial worldview was shaped a number of influences. The first tidbit that springs to mind is something that Andrew Tobias wrote. Basically, if you do not save money regularly, your income level and investment prowess are both moot points. Saving money is the first step; in our consumer society that step is often overlooked. In some ways, a commitment to saving money is more important than increasing your income or investment return.

From John Bogle, I learned how investing fees can consume your return; consequently, I try to be a cost-efficient investor. Since Bogle also helped me understand how difficult it is to "beat the market," I use index funds (or funds made up of index funds) to "buy the entire market." My favorite financial writers are Scott Burns, Jane Bryant Quinn and Mary Beth Franklin. Finally, I think everyone should read Paul Terhorst’s “Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35.” While I did not retire at 35, Terhorst’s book changed the way I thought about money. It really made me focus on gaining my economic freedom through saving and investing. (Thanks Paul!)

Simply stated, my financial philosophy for success is: 1) to under consume, 2) to over save and to over invest, and 3) to almost pathologically avoid taxes and investment expenses (the 15% tax bracket is too much for us and any investment fee beyond 20 bips is ridiculous!). At the same time, I try to keep in mind that money’s value is that it can free up your time and allow you to enjoy life. So far this formula has worked for us.

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One Fee It May be Worth Paying

2011-09-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

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One Fee It May be Worth Paying

MSN Money lists 10 fees you shouldn't be paying including this one at #5:

Rewards card annual fees. An increasing number of rewards cards charge annual fees. However, there are cards with great perks and no fees.

Yes, it's true that IN GENERAL you do not need to pay annual fees to get a good rewards credit card.

And yes, it's true that an increasing number of rewards cards charge annual fees.

And yes, it's true that there are cards with great perks and no fees.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't cards worth paying an annual fee on.

For example, in How to Get 6% Cash Back on Grocery Purchases (Or $500 Cash Back) I highlighted one. Since I wrote that post I've gotten the card and have been using it very frequently. In fact, it's the #1 card in my current cash back strategy. IMO it's a SURE THING that this card has more than made up the $75 annual fee (and for new card holders, the $100 application bonus offsets the first year's fee anyway.)

Like with most things personal finance-related, there is a general rule and then exceptions. The general rule is that you shouldn't pay for a cash back rewards card. The exception is that there are some cards worth the money. Do the math based on how much you charge and where you charge, then decide if any specific card does or doesn't work for you accordingly.

Posted on September 20, 2011 at 03:45 PM in Making Money 2011+ | Permalink

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I paid $90 to get a British Airways card which came with 100,000 miles (after $3000 purchases in 3 months). That's enough for TWO flights from San Francisco to Europe (though to be fair, they have very limited selection of flights and there are a lot of extra charges to use the miles). Assuming that I can find good flights that fit my schedule, that's definitely worth the cost! However I'll be canceling my card soon now that I have the miles.

Posted by:SteveD |September 20, 2011 at 04:46 PM

I agree completely. I too refused to pay an annual fee until you made me aware of this card. I have never seen another card that offers anywhere near 6% on groceries year round with no limit on spending. My only issue with this card is that there is a one month lag in AMEX applying the rewards to your rewards balance. Other than that, the card has worked great. I hope that AMEX does not change this rewards program.

Posted by:Hamaca |September 20, 2011 at 04:51 PM

I also agree about the Blue Cash Preferred card. Even taking the half-year annual fee (the anniversary date for my AMEX account, originally a Blue for Students, is February) out of the cash back I've earned in the 2.5 months I've had the card, I'm still earning 3+% cash back. It would be nice if the one-month lag didn't exist, but it's a small price to pay for such an excellent reward.

Posted by:Matt |September 20, 2011 at 09:32 PM

Love the Blue Cash Preferred except for the month lag. As to the fee I was $25 ahead on the $100 cash back and then I referred a friend and got $75 for that. So one way of looking at it is, my fee is covered until 2013, then it's $50 for that year and all the rewards are gravy. I hope the rewards stay in place for the long haul.

Posted by:Tim |September 21, 2011 at 09:10 AM

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Is Your Wallet Too Fat?

2011-09-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

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Is Your Wallet Too Fat?

Smart Money laments the size of Americans' wallets with the following comments:

Here, on the posterior of many an American professional, lies one of the more unexpected twists in the evolution of personal finance. At a time when people seem increasingly reliant on their smartphones for all manner of interactions with the world, that oldest of handheld devices -- the wallet -- has remained a surprisingly enduring accessory. Indeed, for some people, the wallet is not only not disappearing, it's getting fatter -- with many Americans now hauling around so much stuff in their pockets that their billfolds have become, in the apt phrasing of one longtime lugger, "roving file cabinets." Even wallet makers, who have been pushing slimmer models for years, seem flummoxed by the trend: That plump bifold behemoth "is still our best seller," says a spokesperson for Wilsons Leather, one of the nation's oldest wallet specialists.

They offer some ideas on what to carry and not carry -- so you don't have to worry about carrying around a file cabinet the rest of your life. :-)

I last told what I carry in my wallet when I detailed my credit card strategy. Since then, things have changed a bit. Here's an update on my wallet status:

I got a new "money clip" from Walmart. It's a small, fake leather, bi-fold card holder with a money clip on the outside.
In the clip I carry cash (on the outside), my driver's license (in a see-through slot), my debit card (part of the high-yield account plan at my credit union -- I'll give you an update on how that's going in the next month or so.)
Four credit cards fit in as well. These are all the slots I need to easily manage my new credit card strategy.
My money clip is small enough that I can carry it in my left, front pants pocket.

No filing cabinet for me, though what I currently carry is a bit bigger than what I used to carry because I now have two extra cards -- a debit card and a new credit card.

So, as they say, what's in your wallet?

Posted on September 21, 2011 at 10:45 AM in Consumer News | Permalink

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I follow your trend pretty closely. Alot of us use the wallet to store receipts from purchases. My goodness people you have the best filling cabinet in the world in your other pants pocket. It is called your phone! Take a picture of the receipt when you get to your car and get rid of that receipt. What is even better is if you use an app like say Evernote, Springpad(personal fav), onenote. They will organize your receipts for you in a matter of moments and away you go.

I carry nothing in my wallet besides 2 credit cards, drivers license and 2 insurance cards(health auto). Everything else is in the smart phone and backed up to a secure location on my personal laptop all the time.

Posted by:Rod |September 21, 2011 at 11:00 AM

I carry a file cabinet in my back pocket. (Or cargo-pants-pocket when I can.)

Let's see.... cash, driver's license, minister ID card, photo of my wife, debit/ATM card (for deposits), 2 credit cards, 3-4 business cards (mine), a couple of discount cards, library card, auto insurance info, health insurance card, card that gets me into the high school football games for free, checks I need to deposit (none at the moment), and receipts.

Whew!

The receipts wouldn't be so bad if I would deal with them daily... or even weekly. They tend to stack up until it's ridiculous (3-5 weeks), and then I take them all out & deal with them. I have to turn them in for reimbursement, which means taking photos of them isn't going to work... not when I'd just have to print them out again!

Anyway, it's not really a very thick file cabinet, especially when I've emptied out the receipts. It's maybe 2 iPhone 4's thick (the only thing I have handy to measure it by). I've seen people with wallets 2-3 times as fat as mine. I have no idea what they're carrying in there.

Posted by:Rich Schmidt |September 21, 2011 at 11:20 AM

I currently have

1 Credit Card
1 Debit Card
1 Post-It note to myself
1 $20 bill
1 $1 bill

1 Driver's license
2 Auto Insurance cards, one for my car, one for my truck
1 Library Card for the local municipal library
1 Library Card for the scientific/technical library here on base
1 Health Insurance Card
1 Dental Insurance Card
1 Air Medical Services Card, which my health insurer instructs me to keep on my person at all times.

That's pretty typical. Usually I have a bit more cash, and no Post-It! note. I have a very slim, tiny, wallet, which I started carrying because I'm often in places where I want to slip it into my front pocket.

Posted by:MattJ |September 21, 2011 at 11:38 AM

I've got 3 credit cards, 3 ATM cards, driver's license, insurance cards, Costco and library card, electronic key card to my office parking lot, and some K-1 Speed gift cards. And cash - I like to have about $100 cash on hand.

I never use 1 of the credit cards or any of the ATM cards or any of the insurance cards, but they're things that you want to have when you DO need them. Also, I don't have any better place to store them, and if I take too much stuff out of my wallet then what's left falls out too easily because it's not packed in tight enough.

I use a tri-fold, so it gets pretty thick if I carry around much more cash. I put it in my back pocket while walking around, but always take it out when I sit down because I don't enjoy sitting on a slant.

Posted by:Jonathan |September 21, 2011 at 11:49 AM

I travel a significant amount (on a plane now with my iPad). As such, I carry a portfolio in my work bag for all my frequent traveler cards (hotels, airlines, etc) and receipts. That keeps my wallet light.

Posted by:JimL |September 21, 2011 at 11:53 AM

Fat wallets are uncomfortable and a pain to put in your pocket. I keep a Johnston & Murphy "weekender" http://www.johnstonmurphy.com/product.aspx?c=759&pid=56771 in my front pants pocket. It's small, lightweight and comfortable. All I need is my driver's license, my debit card and my new Chase Freedom card.... hassle free, I highly recommend it.

Posted by:texashaze |September 21, 2011 at 12:07 PM

And not one mention of the Costanza Wallet?

Posted by:David C |September 21, 2011 at 12:57 PM

2 personal credit cards, business credit card, Barnes and Noble, REI, and Sam's club discount membership cards, drivers' license, health insurance card, some of my business cards, a few business cards of others, couple of gift cards I need to remember to spend, a few receipts for purchased items I might want to return, misc cash, cash, stamps, and band-aids (yeah I'm a mom). That's all in my wallet.

I also always carry a checkbook and a smart phone with my addresses, calendars, and notes on it, all in my purse, obviously. My purse also contains other critical items including a comb, lipstick, medications, kleenex, my keys, pen and paper and, when I travel, a laptop and a bottle of water.

I am always amused by the people who brag about how light they travel compared to me. But they ask the woman with the purse when they need a pen, kleenex, aspirin, and a bandaid for that papercut they just got so they don't bleed all over the place during the presentation!

Posted by:MC |September 21, 2011 at 01:07 PM

MC --

Ha! That's probably why I can carry so little -- my wife has all the "extra" stuff with her. ;-)

Posted by:FMF |September 21, 2011 at 01:09 PM

David C, I made an indirect reference to it...sitting on a slant. My friend is not morbidly obese, but it's uncomfortable nonetheless.

Posted by:Jonathan |September 21, 2011 at 01:40 PM

I have found that I have been carrying around a lot of store club cards with me that have been adding to the girth of my wallet. Tried to go CardStar app on my phone to store them all but few of the store scanners can read the bar code off the phone. When it works it is great but when it doesn't you are stuck in line with the tab all run up and you lose money without the card. I hate the little fobs that are suppose to go on your keyring (rather have the discomfort on my backside rather than jabbing me in the front side from my keyring in my front pocket!)
I understand the medical insurance cards but I am curious as to why people have their auto insurance card in their wallet. I have always kept my insurance with my registration in the car glve box not on my person in case someoen else is operating the vehicle.

Posted by:Arimack |September 21, 2011 at 02:20 PM

sometimes magnetic strip on Cards (Not only credit/debit, but driver license / lib. card etc.) gets eroded if you have too many cards in clip

Posted by:Jani |September 21, 2011 at 02:53 PM

Too much:

5 credit cards (3 too many, waiting for Schawb card to die on 10/31) incl. business card
ID
Parking Card
National Emerald Club Card
$$$
3 bank cards (need to get rid of 2)
Dental and health cards (do I need these?)

Wow... I need a money clip and to get rid of most of this stuff.

Posted by:tom |September 21, 2011 at 03:51 PM

I used jcrew's magic wallet. It's amazing! Fits everything I need for my card strategy, and is a great size. And I buy it at the outlets, so it's cheap too.

Posted by:KTB |September 21, 2011 at 03:55 PM

1 drivers license
3 photos
4 business cards
4 credit cards
3 debit cards
7 store/misc cards
25 other various cards and misc items
7 receipts
$89 in cash

Yeah its WAY too much and I have a bad habit of carrying all that junk around all the time.

Posted by:jim |September 21, 2011 at 04:40 PM

Drivers license
2 Credit/debit cards
AARP card
Professional registry card
American Heart Assoc. BLS card
Health Insurance card
Small piece of folded paper with important phone numbers.
$125 cash
3 cards for free McDonalds stuff. 1 free value meal and 2 cups of coffee.

I could probably take out the AARP card. I haven't found a discount with that yet.

I don't carry my wallet very much. I usually just leave it in my truck, and if I go shopping I put it in my pocket, and after that put it back in the truck.

When I vacation/travel I carry a thin wallet with 1 debit card and cash. I carry it in my front pocket.

Posted by:billyjobob |September 21, 2011 at 07:43 PM

I have all the usual cards, insurance, credit cards, store rewards, ATM cards, license, car registration. Too many. Some receipts. I clean out the wallet occasionally to pare back but over time stuff creeps back in. I have a big wallet. Besides the cards and cash I carry:

An extra key to my car and condo. This has saved me when I locked my keys in the car or forgot to take my key when I left home.

A small list of phone numbers for relatives, work and emergency numbers. Good for if something happens to me and someone needs to contact my family or work.

A list of all my prescription medicines and doses.

A matrix list of my rewards credit cards with a summary of the rewards with the spending categories in specific months that get me the 5% cash back.

Some of my business cards.

Extra Metro fare card.

Posted by:Kathy F |September 21, 2011 at 11:00 PM

Too much stuff in my wallet.

Only 1 credit card.
Debit Card
Health Club ID
2 Grocery store rewards cards
Health/Dental/Prescription Insurance Card
Vision Insurance Card
Library Card
A half dozen of my own business cards to hand out
Drivers License
Concealed Carry permit
Motorcycle registration and insurance cards

Posted by:Jon |September 22, 2011 at 08:55 AM

I use a view slimmy.

Posted by:td |September 22, 2011 at 04:48 PM

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Taking a Private Boat Vacation

2011-09-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

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Any information shared on Free Money Finance does not constitute financial advice. The Website is intended to provide general information only and does not attempt to give you advice that relates to your specific circumstances. You are advised to discuss your specific requirements with an independent financial adviser. Per FTC guidelines, this website may be compensated by companies mentioned through advertising, affiliate programs or otherwise. All posts are © 2005-2011, Free Money Finance. var linkwithin_site_id = 29040;« Winning My Battle with Debt with Contests |Main| Star Money Articles and Carnivals for the Week of Sept 19 »

Taking a Private Boat Vacation

A few weeks ago my kids and I were watching House Hunters on Vacation when the family had the normal choice of which of three places to stay in for a week. Only one of the choices was non-traditional. Instead of a house it was a large yacht -- complete with its own crew (two people, I believe). We all immediately said how cool the ship was and that we would pick it if the choice was ours. So we were happy when the family selected it as well.

Given that experience, I was interested to read Smart Money's take on private boat vacations. The basic idea is that people rent boats -- either with or without a crew -- and spend their vacations on them instead of in a hotel.

I actually considered this option as I've looked at our Caribbean vacation. It might be something we do one day, but I think the cruise will work better for now. Why? Because the "renting a ship" idea is:

More expensive
Limits what you can do (you have fewer choices of non-boating activities)
Won't get to as many of the islands we'd like to see

That said, there are a lot of pros to renting your own boat (and crew -- I wouldn't rent just the boat since I know little about boating) such as flexibility to go where you want when you want, a week on the water (CLOSE to the water -- not like on a cruise liner), and so forth. In addition, with the poor economy Smart Money says that boat operators are more willing to negotiate, making this a more reasonable option price-wise.

Has anyone ever taken a boat vacation (or looked at doing so)? What did/didn't you like about it? Any tips for the rest of us?

Posted on September 22, 2011 at 03:45 PM in Consumer News | Permalink

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I have not done this and have no tips, but this is totally my dream. I'm looking to get a sailing certification soon, and want to rent boats locally for recreation thereafter, but I'd absolutely love to go spend a week or 2 sailing the Caribbean in a 40-foot boat once I get some experience.

Posted by:Jonathan |September 22, 2011 at 06:52 PM

Vacationing on a boat? Count me in!! This sounds great!

Posted by:The Calculator Dude |September 22, 2011 at 10:19 PM

A friend did this. Four families on a nice boat on a fishing-oriented trip somewhere in either northern Minnesota or Canada (if I remember correctly). They LOVED it.

I believe that he said it came out at about the same cost as a cabin on a lake in the same area.

Posted by:Mike |September 23, 2011 at 03:38 AM

I did this! In the 1990's out in Seattle, I rented a large sailboat with 7 other graduate students for a week. We sailed up into the Straits of Juan de Fuca (Canada) and back. I think the rental cost was something about $800 per person--around $6500 in 1991.

It was really an adventure, but looking back now I think we were not aware of the potential dangers! I'm not sure I would do this again.

The Straits are really beautiful but are also home to major shipping traffic that smaller craft have to avoid, thousands of tiny islands and shoals, channels and currents that make navigation treacherous, and water that is very cold making survival problematic if you capsize. Also storms are common. A couple of my friends were experienced sailors and I guess they had some charts and things and had thought it through--I sure didn't--I was just along for the ride.

But we had a problem with the boat's motor not being in good condition--typical rental I guess. The motor failed altogether one night as we were trying to navigate against the wind around a point, during a storm. We couldn't make it around the point, or to any harbor, with just sails in the gale, so we dropped anchor and, after waiting in the dark for about 4 hours on a bucking boat in 30 foot seas for the storm to die down (it didn't), we finally had to radio for rescue by the coast guard. Thankfully the radio worked at least and they came and towed us in to safety. Besides the danger it put us in, it took us 2 days to get the motor repaired before we could going again.

If I ever did this again, it better be a really new boat! Hiring at least one crew member with the boat would be a good idea too.

Posted by:KH |September 23, 2011 at 04:54 AM

I have not tried to rent a boat, but I have been on both Caribbean and Bahamas cruises. I don't go for too much adventure so I think I would prefer it rather than the boat experience.

Posted by:Cherleen @ yesiamcheap |September 23, 2011 at 08:57 PM

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Winning My Battle with Debt with Contests

2011-09-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

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Winning My Battle with Debt with Contests

The following is a guest post from Matthew Fletcher, author at Contests for a Year.

I have a thing for hummus. I can go through an entire container in one sitting, though I try to leave just enough at the bottom so I don’t feel like too much of an addict. And there’s one particular brand that I’m absolutely in love with: Sabra. One afternoon while inhaling enjoying Sabra and pita chips, I noticed that the container was advertising a contest. Make a commercial for them and you could win a trip to the Mediterranean as well a year’s supply of their chic-pea ambrosia. Amazing! So I decided to take a dip into the world of contests. I shot the commercial, submitted it, and won. Here’s the video:

(PS- That’s me playing the Borat-type hummus lover in the Greek dancing costume. Opa!)

After the trip and my year’s supply of deliciousness, I had developed a new appetite…for contests. I entered a few more, and won those too! Now I was winning cash. It got me thinking that maybe I could get serious about this and use contests to develop an additional source of income. I mean, it worked for Julianne Moore in “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio” (It’s a B-minus movie, but a total A-plus true story about a woman who kept her family afloat by winning competitions in the 1950’s).

So, I started a blog where I enter an online contest every day for a year to see if I can win money in order to get out of debt.

So far, in 2011, I have won exactly $12,338 in cash and prizes. I have been able to put a lot of that towards my debt and have paid it down by about a third.

I’ve won for shooting commercials, creative writing, random sweepstakes and submitting crazy photos.

The world of contesting is vast. Companies host all kinds, ranging from the very straightforward to the totally bizarre-o. I’ve entered ones where I’ve wrapped myself in gold foil while playing tennis, guessed the cost of shipping a stuffed tiger (it’s $310,FYI) and designed a horse themed birthday party for girls who are horse mane-iacs. Some of the prizes are big, like the 10 grand I won for a Barbie commercial. And some of them are small, like the musical download I won of the Hot Pockets jingle. (Yup, that jingle. It was in my head for days…I nearly had a Hot Pocket melt down).

One of my best sources of winnings has been from the website Tongal. They are a commercial creation website. Through them, I’ve won over $11,000 by submitting concepts and commercials for Benjamin Moore, Lipton Iced Tea, Mattel, and Robert Half.

Do I always win? No. Do I think I should? Hello!!

Do I think that contesting is a smart and viable way to get out of debt? Well, somehow in my magical Hogwarts mentality, I actually think it might work. I’m showing up every single day and doing something towards getting out of debt. I’m not hiding my debt in a dark corner and pretending that it’s going away. I’m taking an active role in trying to reduce it.

Now maybe my debt solution approach might be a little fantasy-like, sort of like hoping that the doorbell will ring and it will be Publisher’s Clearing House outside (although I did enter that one, and do kind of think that that might happen. I should probably get an outfit ready for the photo op). But rather than living in fear and shame of my debt, I’m accepting and addressing it. I mean, first off, I’ve admitted to the world on-line that I am actually in debt, which is an important first step into getting debt free. I think that looking at it straight on, on a daily basis, has helped me to put it in perspective. The stigma is gone. A lot of my friends are in debt. They feel suffocated by it and ashamed. In talking about it with them, (and blogging about it) the pressure is released, and I find that I can begin to deal with it in a less hysterical way.

Do I recommend that other people enter contests to get out of debt? Absolutely not! That would totally decrease my own odds of winning (I’m just kidding…well, kinda). I’m good about sharing the wealth. I always post links to the contests on my blog.

If you are going to enter contests here are a few suggestions:

Do your contest research and find what suits you best. There are LOTS of different contests to enter, listed on of various websites and blogs (photo contests, video contests, recipe contests, guessing games). You can do a search for these websites, or even do a search for exactly what you want to win (win money, win a free sofa, win a trip to Spain).
Pay attention to the different rules for contests. Some of these contests ask you to get votes for your submission from your friends. This is a way for the companies to get more people’s information. This could either launch you into financial success (if you win) or ostracize you from all your friends and family for continually badgering them about voting (speaking from experience here).
If you enter a sweepstakes, enter as often as possible. There are people out there who are professional ‘contesters’ who do this practically as their day job and are submitting on a daily basis. Get in as many entries as you can.
Beware the evil contest taxes. You can’t claim your prize and just say “Thanks guys!” That Macbook Air you won?…there will be a prize tax on it come April 15th.

Contesting and blogging offers me a number of things. It gives me hope. Hope that I’ll be able to wipe out my debt once and for all. And although hope isn’t an action plan, it definitely helps me keep a healthy perspective. The blogging gives me a sense of purpose and direction in relation to my debt; I am actually doing something towards knocking down that beast of a number. And if I do it right, I get some cash. Then I can continue to pay off my debt in large (or Hot Pocket sized) chunks and maybe, just maybe, start to buy some nice things again: like the party sized tub of Sabra. Have you tried the stuff? I mean, I don’t even know where to begin. It’s hummus heaven.

Posted on September 22, 2011 at 10:45 AM in Debt, Making Money 2011+ | Permalink

Comments

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Meh not a fan of hummus, but winning I love! I can't believe you've won that much from contests! Where do you find em all?

Posted by:Jon | Free Money Wisdom |September 22, 2011 at 04:32 PM

Eep missed the part about Tongal. That's crazy though..congrats.

Posted by:Jon | Free Money Wisdom |September 22, 2011 at 04:33 PM

Sabra hummus with Stacy's Pita chips is the ultimate!

Posted by:texashaze |September 23, 2011 at 10:03 AM

In the 1980's I entered lots and lots of sweepstakes. The last 2-3 years, I won much more than I spent. However, I never won money. Usually the other gifts - 2 Black & Decker Under-the Counter coffee pots, a set of luggage that will last forever, children's gifts, books, a Buck Knife, and on and on and on.

I also won 2 r/t tickets on American Airlines to anywhere in the U. S. These and jewelry and furs are ones to avoid if possible. On the airline tickets, my daughter and I flew to Phoenix to visit family. The taxes on airlines, starting that year, per the IRS, had to be the regular charge for a flight that had no "no fly" dates, etc. I was notified that I would have paid $1,760. for those 2 tickets. Cost me nearly $500+ in taxes, state and federal. The tickets did have "no fly" dates and I could have flown on another airline for $300 for both those tickets. One of my losses. The IRS did this because most airlines have too many prices that are negotiable and cause loss to the tax base. Ha!!

But - it was fun and I loved to come home and check the mail each day and often have a win.

Posted by:Georgia |September 23, 2011 at 02:21 PM

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Money Blogs20 Something Finance
2million
Accumulating Money
All Financial Matters
Best of Money Carnival
Bargain Babe
BBB Consumer News and Opinion
Best of Money Carnival
Blogging Away Debt
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
Build Your Own House
Canadian Capitalist
Canadian Finance Blog
Canadian Financial Stuff
CheapScholar
Clever Dude
Don't Mess With Taxes
Eliminate The Muda
Everybody Loves Your Money
Everyday Tips and Thoughts
Everything Finance
Finally Frugal
Finance Professor
Financial Highway
Financial Rounds
Free By 50
Frugal Confessions
FX Madness
Generation X Finance
Graduated Learning
Green Panda Treehouse
How to Manage Money Tips
It's Your Money
Live Real, Now
Make Love, Not Debt
Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge
Marotta on Money
Master Your Card
Mighty Bargain Hunter
Money Reasons
Money Smart Life
Money Tips Network
Mortgage Loan Information
My 1st Million at 33
My Budget 360
My Dollar Plan
My Financial Journey
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My Wealth Builder
No Credit Needed
PFBlogs
Provident Planning
Roth IRA Blog
Saving Money Today
Shoeboxed
Sound Mind Investing
Stop Buying Crap
The Dividend Guy
The Penny Saved
The Simple Dollar
The Sun’s Financial Diary
Tight Fisted Miser
Top Money and Finance Tips
Tough Money Love
Very Smart Investing
Wealth from the Bible
Wise Bread
Stats

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Star Money Articles and Carnivals for the Week of Sept 19

2011-09-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pieces I found especially worthwhile and some of the carnivals Free Money Finance was in this week:

Enjoy!

P.S. Carnival Hosts -- If my post is in your carnival in a given week, please send me the URL to the carnival and I will include it in my weekly roundup.

View the original article here

Reader Profile: Rose

2011-09-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in contributing to this series, then drop me an email. I'd love to have you tell your story here.

Next in the series is FMF reader Rose. She answered my questions (in red below) as follows:

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a 33 year old single female. I live in the Midwest and work as an attorney for a company. I started out working for a law firm earning $125k and then moved around a bit and have been in my current job for over 4 years. However, now almost 10 years out of law school I am still earning not much more than I started out with in my career due to my job hopping, which totally defeats the purpose of job hoping but my first job was in NYC so anything after that was definitely going to be a decrease. My move from a law firm to a corporate job was the wake up call that made me look at my finances as I had been living paycheck to paycheck and I realized I earn way too much to be living paycheck to paycheck plus I needed to determine if could I afford to live on a little less. Turns out I could once I actually focused on expenses. I took a close look at my finances and started living on a budget and I have now reached the point where I can save a lot and spend on luxuries if I want to but I tend to be frugal so my idea of spending on luxuries is mainly limited to traveling.

Describe your financial situation (who works in your family, how your income is (general), how your expenses are, etc.).

I take care of myself and generally do ok. My committed expenses are approximately 25% or my income. I like to think that number is low as I have worked to cut down as many unnecessary expenses as possible and every year, I focus on my budget to see what else I can decrease. I have a mortgage-an 80/20 loan with the 20% balloon coming due in about 10 years and at 7%, and the 80 being an ARM which has adjusted annually over the last three years to a much lower rate than I could ever hope for. I am paying about 3% and every year I look at refinancing but I live in a condo so am a bit underwater plus I have been intending to move for the last two years so I don’t think the costs of refinancing would be worth it. I am comfortable I would be able to deal with any rate increases (they are capped at increasing to no more than 2% each year) for at least 2 years once rates start to rise. My other big expense was a car. I saved and had enough to pay for my new car last fall. I ended up financing at 0.9% but then paid it all off earlier this summer. I preferred the cash flow and my savings were not earning much at ING. I also have student loans of about $50k at 1% so I am paying those off very slowly.

Monthly, I invest and save about 45% of my income, investing mainly in index funds. I travel a lot for work and for personal since my family and friends live all over the world so that’s probably my biggest expense. As I moved to my current job 4 years ago, I took a really close look at my finances and for almost 2 years, tracked every penny. I have since managed to save up a 1 year emergency fund plus extra and even though I no longer track each penny, I still have a budget so the majority of my dollars are accounted for.

For retirement, I save 6% in my company 401K and I get the max 6% match. I also have a rollover IRA from previous jobs and I funded a regular IRA for the last two years.

That leaves me with about 30% of my paycheck which I further save or spend as necessary.

What are the current financial issues you're facing (saving, paying off debt, etc.)?

The fact that my mortgage has a huge ARM component weighs on me since I like security but I check the rates every few months and since the Fed has announced that they do not plan to raise rates for another 2 years, I am hoping I will be out of this mortgage by then. I am underpaid in my current job and this has been confirmed by peers or subordinates who have taken similar jobs at other companies and has also been confirmed by headhunters. I really enjoy what I do but I am sure I can do similar work at a different company with less stress and feel more valuable. I am hoping to move to Texas once the economy picks up. I have been underpaid for about 2 years and it’s frustrating but I also know with the uncertainty in the economy, now is not the time to jump ship without knowing what’s next. Being able to get rid of my mortgage and my current job and my current city would be wonderful once I have something even better to fall into.

I always feel I can be doing more to save for retirement but my investment vehicles are pretty limited to the IRA and 401K, the latter of which is limited to 6% under the highly compensated employee rules since my company is bottom heavy—lots of plants and employees who don’t participate in the 401K so everyone else is limited as to contributions. And this has been going on for years so well before the recession started. All other retirement savings is in taxable accounts.

What are your plans for the future. (retire early, build your career, etc.)?

I plan to get married and have kids within the next 2 years. I plan on continuing to work until retirement although I do not have a set date yet. I would love to retire in a lower cost of living country but I have at least 25 more years before seriously contemplating those options. I absolutely believe in taking a year off to raise kids instead of the standard 6 week maternity policy in the US which I think is atrocious and sucks for women, but that’s for another post. I don’t know how that will work out with a job but I will do what I have to.

My motivation to keep saving, even though I have reached my major goals of an emergency fund and travel funds are that I can use the money if I need to move or for a wedding. Writing this profile actually helps me think about why I keep saving but I have most everything I need that money can buy so I am quite happy to save the rest for the future and continue charitable donations as often as possible. I actually have an account named ‘charitable contributions’ in my online savings account so whenever it gets to a certain amount, every few months I can donate to my favorite charities instead of waiting till December like I usually would.

What's your best piece(s) of financial advice and/or your general philosophy on personal finances?

I started reading personal finance blogs with the last job change and they have really made all the difference so thank you FMF!

There are a few key phrases I have picked up and everyone knows the basics:

Know where every dollar goes
Spend less than you earn
Balanced budget plan- determine what percentage of your income falls in the following brackets for [needs- (committed expenses e.g mortgage)] [wants- not committed expenses but other expenses] and [save/spend]

My committed expenses (needs) are about 25% of my take homes so I get to save 45% and spend the rest. This relieves me from feeling guilty when spending my hard earned money and lets me sleep at night knowing a rainy day won’t ruin me.

My main philosophy is determine what your “Enough” point is. It’s so easy to keep buying stuff, but once you decide you don’t need anymore stuff, your money can really go far. This is also helped by not really caring about the Joneses and not trying to impress everyone around you. It has made such a difference in my outlook.

I plan to teach my kids as much as possible about personal finance. I can’t say my parents deliberately taught me but my mom and dad are polar opposites. My mom would go shopping and hide the results in the trunk till my dad was asleep or out. My dad preferred to save save save although spending on the kids was fine. I come out somewhere between though more on my dads side as my mom’s propensity to shop without purpose helped me to now as an adult, avoid shopping malls or other temptations unless I have a purpose.

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Financial Strategy #1: Planning for Retirement

2011-09-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

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Financial Strategy #1: Planning for Retirement

The book Your Stronger Financial Future: The Eight Essential Strategies for Making Profitable Investments lists eight misconceptions, truths, and strategies to help readers deal with a variety of major financial issues. I'll be highlighting these in several posts and giving you my thoughts on them.

Today we'll look at strategy #1 which deals with planning for retirement. The book says the following on this subject:

The misconception: You're already prepared to retire.
The truth: Recent trends make it much more difficult to retire.
The strategy: Overcome the misconceptions and chart your course.

I have to agree with the misconception here. Many people think that they have Social Security and that's all they will need to retire. These people are sorely mistaken (and by a long-shot.) If you are counting on Social Security as your sole source of retirement income, you are NOT prepared to retire (and you won't be until you change a few things.) I'd go so far as to say if you count on Social Security for a large portion of your retirement income, you're probably not prepared to retire.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to save enough for retirement, as they point out in the "truth" statement. They note that Social Security will likely be decreasing benefits, traditional pensions have gone away, 401ks are not working as planned, and a whole host of other issues that point to the fact that it's tough to retire. I have to agree here as well.

Their strategy is listed in six steps as follows:

1. Develop an overall financial plan.
2. Identify the inflation-adjusted amount of money you will need at retirement.
3. Retain a licensed financial professional.
4. Develop a personal emergency fund.
5. Instead of accruing debt, store up savings.
6. Consider annuities to overcome longer life expectancy.

I'm not so sure about steps #3 and #6. #3 could be something like "learn about personal finances so you can manage your own money," though you'd then probably want to make this step #1. And #6 is "ok" as long as the emphasis is on the word "consider." It's fine to consider all your options IMO, but I can't tell if this is what they truly mean or if they are endorsing annuities for everyone.

What's your take? Did they get it right or is something off/missing?

Posted on September 24, 2011 at 06:08 AM in Retirement 2011+ | Permalink

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5 Ways To Get Started With A Regular Savings Habit

2011-09-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

I meant to start up a savings plan a few months ago and then something cropped up. The car needed repairs so I had to pile some cash into that. Then –- what happened? Oh, I think I plain forgot about it the month after. Maybe next month…

Does this sound familiar? Thousands of people across America (indeed the world) are going through similar events like this every single day. And what are we talking about? We’re talking about the act of setting up a savings account.

Added to this, there is the fact that many people have a savings account –- but they have nothing in it. So with that in mind, I’ve explored five ways to get some cash into that account super quick, no matter what kind of budget you might be on.

1. Decide on one thing you can do without for a month and funnel the cash into your savings instead. We’ve all got things that fall into this category; for instance, what about a weekly magazine? How about that expensive latte you have every morning on the way to work? Sling the saved money into a pot each day and then put it into your savings account.

2. Do you buy lottery tickets? How about a newspaper every day? All these little “essentials” add up. Write them all down for a whole week and then figure out how much you spend on them. Then you’ve guessed it -– save all that cash up for a week or two and see what a difference it makes to your savings.

3. Sit down with all your bills and try and reduce them by downsizing, cost cutting or consolidating your debt. Work out how much you’ve saved and channel it all into your savings -– every single month. It takes work at the beginning, but you will soon see the benefits.

4. Ever heard of the cereal diet? This is where you have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a normal lunch and then substitute dinner for another bowl of cereal. Buy cheap cereal to eat and save loads of money by not buying any meat, poultry, potatoes or other dinner ingredients for up to a fortnight. Guess where the money goes? But take care not to turn this into a permanent set up as you’ll want to stay healthy with a balanced diet.

5. Generate more cash by holding a yard sale. Not only will you clear out all your junk, you can also look forward to raking in some cash to funnel into your savings.

Okay so these are five good ways to get you started. If you do one of them, you’ll notice a difference. If you tackle all five, you will definitely be pleased at how much money you’ll get in your savings account as a result.

Take note here that the main object of the exercise is to encourage a healthy habit of saving. Even though you will actually be putting various sums of money aside all the time, you will still want to put away even more whenever you can. So by creating this habit, you will definitely end up with a bigger and better savings account in the future. Instead of savings being something that is dull and boring, it will become something much more exciting and well worth doing too.

Isn’t it time you finally got started with getting some dollars into that savings account?

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Categorized under: Managing Money, Money Saving Tips

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Moonlighting Tips: What To Consider Before Taking A Second Job

2011-09-27T04:49:00.000-07:00

Moonlighting is something that many people are either doing now, or are wanting to do, in order to try and make ends meet. The past recession has been hard on us all, but there is no doubt that some have found it harder to cope with than others.

You can moonlight in one of two ways. You can get another job with another employer, working part time either during the weekends or in the evenings. Alternatively, you can start working on your own business, fitting it in whenever you possibly can, in order to get it off the ground. In the case of the second situation, the eventual aim is to build the business up enough so that you can leave your main employment and work on it full time.

But there are certain things that are well worth bearing in mind when it comes to moonlighting or working at a second job.

#1 Don’t forget your main job!
When moonlighting, there is always a risk that you will take your eye off the ball when it comes to your main job. This is a bad thing to do –- after all, your main focus should always be on your main source of income.

If you were to lose your moonlighting income, you would still be left with a full time job. But if you lost your full time job, you would see a big drop in income –- one that you may not be able to manage for very long. So keep the right amount of focus on your full time job to ensure nothing changes in that respect.

#2 Be dedicated to your full time job.
It might sound like we are repeating the point made above, but we’re not. In this case, we’re focusing on what you do while you are at work. We all know it is not enough to show up for the required number of hours. If you start falling asleep at your desk or if you simply stop putting in the effort you used to apply to your job, then your boss will very soon know that something is wrong. It could also put your job in jeopardy.

#3 Check your work policies before doing anything.
Depending on whom you work for, you could very well find that there is a policy in place regarding moonlighting. Some companies frown upon it but others allow it with some rules and limits.

You may need to use your common sense here; after all, it wouldn’t work to do a 9am to 5pm job and then work from 6pm until 3am at another job, giving you no time to sleep in between. It wouldn’t be long before you started getting health problems as a result.

But if your main job states that no moonlighting can be done, or you have to ask for permission before you take on another position elsewhere, then make sure you DO follow the rules. If you try to go under the radar and you are caught, it could have major consequences for you.

As you can see, moonlighting can be a good way to bring in some extra cash and can possibly lead you down a better track for the future. But make sure you know what you are getting into before you start; otherwise you might come up against some nasty surprises at some point later. Starting in the right way is always the best way to go.

Categorized under: Job and Career

How To Make Tasty Homemade Chips & Fries: Give Them Some Zip!

2011-09-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

How much do fries cost where you live? And do you ever really honestly love eating them?

Homemade fries or chips are a lot cheaper and you can do a lot more with them as well. The simplest thing is to get some good quality potatoes, chip them and fry them in a deep fryer at home. Just shake on some salt and vinegar after they’re cooked and you’re good to go. You’ll get perfect chips that are cooked to your liking and which are much cheaper too.

Another option is to think about leaving the skins on. They are the best bit of the potato anyway and you don’t get any waste at all when you cook them like this.

But these are the mere basics. What about trying out something a little bit different?

The key here is that chips or fries are just the beginning. You can come up with all kinds of different recipes that make potatoes that are a little bit more interesting even if you have them every single day. And since you can buy a large bag of potatoes very cheaply, you can save money in two ways by making different variations of chips at home. Firstly you can save by buying potatoes in bulk and secondly you can save by not having to go out to buy them ready made and cooked. You may also want to go a step further by growing your own potatoes at home.Herby chips are a great favorite of mine as it entails cooking them in the oven. Just chip your potatoes, chuck them in a bowl with some salt and pepper, and shake on some herbs. Sometimes, something simple such as parsley or freshly chopped chives work well. Try it with different herbs depending on what you are having with it. Slosh in some olive oil, put them on a baking tray and cook them until golden. Again, dried herbs are cheap to buy and they last as well — or have your own garden! You can even experiment with using different oils to get a different flavor for your chips. Think of store cupboard ingredients as well –- what can you do to make a dish more appealing? If you have dried onion powder, then sprinkle a bit of that in with the salt and pepper before cooking them in the oven. You’ll love the taste of your chips, I guarantee it.Paprika is another good bet for more interesting chips. In fact, once you get the idea that cooking them in the oven allows you to add more ingredients (since they are not going in deep fat) you’ll be trying all kinds of things. Cheese goes well with oven cooked chips as well, and once again, this is something you are bound to have in your fridge. Chip your potatoes, add salt, pepper, olive oil and some parmesan or another cheese of your liking. Shake them about, throw them into a shallow baking dish and shake some dried parsley on the top. You can even serve this one straight from the oven to the table — with oven gloves of course.

As you can see, there are countless things you can do to revitalize chips at home. Most of them use what you already have in new ways, saving you money as well as revitalizing your appetite.

Are you hungry yet?

Categorized under: Money Saving Tips

Make Dishes Out Of Leftover Mashed Potatoes

2011-09-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Mashed potatoes are incredibly hard to judge when you are making them for several people. Sometimes I feel that I can’t get it right. If the potatoes are too soft and I boil them for too long — usually because I forget and don’t quite catch them in time — I’m left with a saucepan full of very little by the time I strain them off. Ideally, I use the right potato for the right job, but even when I don’t, I still manage to have loads of mash left over.

Now I hate wasting any kind of food because I hate wasting money. And given that I grow potatoes at home, it’s all the more necessary for me to know how to utilize every potato that comes out of my garden! But leftover mash looks very uninspiring, doesn’t it? So I set off to see if I could find some ways to revitalize it enough to make me want to eat it the next day.

First off, I tried adding cheese, and this actually worked really well. What I usually do is to grate some cheese into the potatoes, stir it in and then put it in an oven dish. Top it off with herbs and you’ll end up with a browned dish that has melted cheese and crispy potato on top as well. Just keep it rough on top and don’t flatten it down. How easy is that? And it’s quick and simple to prepare as well, with no waste and very little extra cost involved.

Mash potatoes can also be a great topping for lots of other dishes. Sometimes, I deliberately make extra and use it for this reason. Shepherd’s Pie is a great option and all you need is some ground beef, onions, some stock and anything else you want to add in. This is good for bulking out with some chopped carrots and even a tin of baked beans –- lovely! For the record, I also grow carrots at home.

You can also try some unusual things such as pasta parcels. Make some homemade pasta and cut it into small squares. Mix some grated cheese and onion in with the mash and put a small amount in the middle of each square. Put another square on top and seal the edges by moistening them. Then just cook them in boiling water as you normally would with pasta. These are excellent served with tomato sauce.

Corned beef hash can also be made with a potato topping if you wish. In fact, there are lots of things you can do with a potato topping, such as a fish pie, a meat pie and even a vegetable pie. Don’t discount anything –- try all the different variations you can think of and remember that you might be able to use other leftovers and combine them with the mash as well. This will result in less waste, which means that every penny you put towards your food shopping will be a penny well spent.

One other thing I learned recently was that you can actually freeze mashed potato. Who would have thought you could do that? But you can — and this means that you don’t need to worry about having to throw away or recycle your mash right away, if you’ve got any extra. Instead, you can bag it and freeze it, and simply have it ready for the next suitable dish you have that comes along.

In short, you’ll never need to waste another potato in your entire life!

Categorized under: Money Saving Tips

Generating Wealth Beyond The First Million

2011-09-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Curious, isn’t it? You must surely have read stories about entrepreneurs and how they made their first million. It is something we all want to know more about, and it’s not hard to see why. Most of us would be delighted to make one million dollars, so it stands to reason that we would want to hear about how other people did it. In learning their stories, we might be able to move closer to making our own first million as well.

But even when we do find such stories, there isn’t much of an epilogue. Why is it that there is so much interest in the first million and no sign of any information about the second million?

Maybe it has to do with the fact that a million dollars is still a fairly significant amount. Perhaps we assume that once someone has made a million, they have all the tools they need to scale their earnings up to the next stage and beyond.

Of course things, aren’t always so simple. But why then do we not read about it? It’s almost as if we expect to learn about the trek to the first million and then to skip all the way to where they are now.

Personally, I think that the concept of making a million dollars is still how we believe that success is made. Once we hit the magic million mark, we are a success and we have achieved our goals. But this may very well be the first and only stage of that success. If there’s a next stage, it is arguably more challenging than the one before.

I have this belief that there are far more things that could go wrong when you have made a million and you are looking to get to the next step. An entrepreneur who has reached this hallowed stage must feel as if they can do no wrong by now. After all, if you can hit your first seven figure goal, then surely you can accumulate ten million dollars or more quite easily?

The truth of course, is very different. Reaching multi-millionaire status involves dealing with much bigger figures. This means that there are bigger mistakes that could potentially be made. To me, this makes for a far more fascinating insight into the life of an entrepreneur than you would get from learning about their first ventures. The story stops just as things really start to get interesting!

The best way I have found to get the answers we seek is not to read interviews with these people. Instead, find the autobiographies of entrepreneurs who have become truly successful and have gone beyond their initial goals. They will have more answers than you could get through any other way.

In truth, unless and until we end up reaching the stage where we leave behind the idea that making one million dollars signifies success as an entrepreneur, these people won’t volunteer the information on how they carried on from there. We need to ask the questions we want answers to.

Look out for this question in the future: “so, tell me how you went on to hit another seven figures…”

Categorized under: Small Business

One Pot Cooking For Easy, Delicious and Cheap Dishes

2011-09-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

by Allison W. on July 17, 2011

Don’t you just hate washing up? The good news is that you can save money on your food bill and on liquid dish washing detergent simply by giving one pot cooking a go. This can be the easiest way to cook and serve up a meal if you’ve had a hard day at work; there is no reason why you still can’t have a tasty meal as well.

The good thing about it is that you can use pretty much any kind of ingredient. If you think about a casserole or stew for example, you will know that you get your meat, vegetables and potatoes all in one dish. It’s certainly nice to eat on a cold winter night, but there are one pot dishes that will suit all different times of the year as well.

The first thing you need to bear in mind is that your pot could be a saucepan, a crock pot or casserole dish, or even a shallow oven dish. It could also be a wok if you fancy a nice light home cooked Chinese dish, for example. So don’t restrict yourself with your cooking receptacle, because there are plenty of them you can work with.

Think about ingredients as well, because there are lots of ways you can cook up a one pot meal to make it go further. Personally, I love things like lentils and pulses, because not only are they good for you, but they also bulk out all kinds of dishes to fill you up and keep down the cost. Buy them in bulk and keep them handy: you’ll use them a lot more than you might think.

Some other great articles on easy-to-cook meals:

A slow cooker is ideal for one pot cooking, particularly if you are out at work all day. Just pop everything in first thing in the morning before you head out, and when you get home you’ll arrive to the smell of dinner already cooked for you. What could be better than that?

You can also look forward to being able to think practically and to save even more money by portioning out food for other meals as well. Buy some freezer bags or containers and get ready to divide up the leftovers into clearly marked bags for future meals. This is another advantage of one pot cooking: you can stock up your freezer and defrost your own ready meals to reheat whenever you want them.

Thinking ahead can certainly save you even more money when you use one pot cooking as the basis for a nutritious meal. Try and plan two meals a week using this method and think of ways you can get the cost down as much as you can. Being able to bulk out a one pot meal is great because it is easy to do –- it’s not so easy to bulk out other meals without it looking obvious.

Trawl the internet for recipes for your one pot cooking challenge, and you will find more material and information than you might imagine out there. And don’t forget that you can always add your own twist of genius to them as well, by creating your own personal versions of these dishes in the process.

So save money and save time by skipping on the dish washing, starting right now.

Categorized under: Money Saving Tips

Why Is It So Darn Hard To Save Money Sometimes?

2011-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that it’s good to save money. The more you can save the bigger the cushion you’ll have if anything goes wrong in your life or something needs replacing in a hurry.

But saving is a bit like dieting. You can start off in good form and save regularly every day, week or month for a while… but then things start to go wrong. It’s almost as if you think you’ve done so well that you can let yourself off the hook for a while. It’s the worst possible thing to do though, because you then scupper your new habit and replace it with the old one of getting through all your available cash in record time and not having any left over to save.

But why should it be this hard?

Temptation lies in every direction.

You know it doesn’t matter how good your savings habits are. You will end up straying off the path if you are easily tempted to buy things.

We’ve all been there and I know I certainly have. There has been many a time when I have congratulated myself on my savings habits only to walk into a store and see something I absolutely must buy. It could be a bargain and it could even be something I would use. But that doesn’t mean it is a good decision to buy it. A lot depends on how much available cash I have and whether I have achieved my savings goals for that month.

The here and now versus the future.

Think about that saying. It’s one reason why lots of us manage to fall into spending rather than saving. Yes, we all know the future is important to save for, but at the same time it is always a lot nicer to be doing things and buying things now.

If you’re twenty five and you are trying to save for retirement, you are going to find all kinds of reasons to put things off and procrastinate on saving for retirement. You’d rather spend the money now instead. Who wants to stay indoors and live a boring existence when they could be out spending money and having a good time right now?

It’s clear that there is a fine balance here, and this is why so many of us consider saving to be so hard. We tend to think it’s an all or nothing event. Instead of looking for reasons to go down one path or another, maybe we should let ourselves off a bit easier every month. If we save a bit less and leave a small fund available just for splurging, we get to fulfill both strategies and hopefully carry on saving cash over the long term.

There are times when we all struggle to save money and there are plenty of reasons why this is the case. We can probably all sit here now and think of a couple of weak points in our spending habits -– points that would lead to us saving more if we could resolve them completely. But we’ll always have our heads turned by cars, clothing, gadgets and numerous other things. So we should just be prepared to face up to our weaknesses and try to live with them as well.

Categorized under: Money Saving Tips

Five Ways to Save Money While You’re On the Road

2011-09-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

By Charissa with 1 Comments

So, I’m making a cross country move using only my car because I wanted to avoid paying for a moving truck. With all of my belongings stashed away in the trunk and the back seat, I set off on what could easily become a three day drive. Limited on both time and money, I decided it was best to keep my costs as low as possible while driving from the East Coast to the Midwest. Here’s what I’ve done so far.

Find a friend or family member to stay with overnight. Staying with the people that you care the most about is far more fun than spending the night alone in the most expensive luxury hotel. If this is not an option for you, consider signing up for an account at CouchSurfing.org. It’s free to join and easy to find a place to stay for a night or two. Look at the profiles listed, contact the member with your request, and voila, you score free lodging for a day or two. It’s as easy as that. My friend Vicky traveled all over Latin America very cheaply as a Couch Surfer.Pack snacks and beverages that are easy to consume in the car. Using the passenger seat as my “kitchen”, I was able to prepare a number of hassle-free snacks including pretzels with individual tubs of peanut butter, fresh fruit and raw veggies, and pumpkin seeds. I also have a cooler stocked with ice and bottles of water and juice. This allows me to eat and drink what I want without having to stop every few hours for a meal. You can easily put together a couple of sandwiches and eat these as well. Think about items that require little effort to eat while driving. Squeezable tubes of yogurt as well as individual bags of chips, crackers, and dried fruit are easy to unwrap or open with one hand.Find the cheapest gas by using a mobile app like GasBuddy. Using my iPod Touch, I am able to locate the cheapest gas wherever I go. I just open an app like GasBuddy, allow the internal GPS to locate the city that I’m closest to, and select the filling station that has the best price based on the listings. This allows me to get out and stretch my legs from time to time as well. (By the way, I have to have a wireless Internet connection to do this. I prefer Virgin Mobile’s MiFi card because there is no contract and it is very reliable. You can connect up to four wireless devices using it.)Avoid buying cheesy souvenirs. I have a brand new digital camera that I couldn’t wait to put to use. Instead of picking up bags upon bags of t-shirts, postcards, and magnets, I opted to take really beautiful pictures. High up in the mountains of Alabama, I was able to get some incredible shots. I was also able to see sights that I’ve only seen on TV. Now’s how’s that for amazing? If you really want something to help you remember a trip, consider picking up a cheap spiral notebook or dollar store journal. Record your memories that way.Earn some income while traveling. There are a number of income boosting opportunities that can come out of a road trip. For example, if you’re a writer, you can share your experience with others by writing a travelogue of how-to article. The Lost Girls have a list of websites willing to pay you for your work on their website: http://www.lostgirlsworld.com/2011/01/travel-freelancing/. You can also take photos and sell them to magazines or websites. Here is another great resource: http://www.great-adventures.com/know/plan/publish.html.
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When Talk Is Cheap: Ways to Save Money On Your Phone Bill8 Ways to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill8 Ways to Save Money When Going Out to EatFive Ways I Plan To Save Money in February7 Easy Ways You Can Save Money in CollegeFiled Under: saving money • Travel

Tags: saving money • Travel

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Money as a Relationship Builder

2011-09-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

By Jon the Saver with 2 Comments

You’ve probably heard it before but I’m here to say it again. Bickering over money is ranked as the number one reason the majority of couples fight within their relationships and marriage. To be honest, this statistic does not surprise me at all. Whether it’s fighting over how to spend money or how to manage personal debt, finances play a big role is the fighting between couples. Don’t let fighting about money break down your relationship or marriage. Let’s take a closer look at what we can do to avoid relationship destruction.

Like a conflict during football season, going back to the basics usually solves your problem. Same thing goes with relationships and bouts about money. Who’s in charge of managing the finances? Who’s in charge of budgeting? Who spends the most and who wants to save for something big? These are questions that any couple needs to consider when resolving conflicts about money. Get back to the basics and find common ground.

A tip I’ve been given from mentors in my own life is to throw away all preconceived notions given to you by family and friends. Your relationship becomes your new “family” and you get to set the rules. Don’t let past experiences decipher what is the rule of law within your personal finance life.

I recommend that couples talk about finances at the very beginning of their dating lives. However, some people wait until their honeymoon. Which ever case may be, talking about finances and getting the conversation started is often times the biggest battle.

If you’re a newly married couple, you need to lay some ground rules. These ground rules will help the two of you better communicate and avoid any unnecessary conflict. Sit down and decide how the two of you will manage money and how money will be spent. This is where a budgeting tool like Mint.com comes in. For many couples, seeing their money visually helps a lot. I happen to love visual pie charts myself!

Don’t try to hide spending habits. Get everything out into the open and take charge of the situation. Lying about something now will just come up again later down the road. It’s not worth it. If one person in the relationship loves going out to Starbucks and the other likes buying expensive meat at the grocery store, talk it out an decide whether or not these types of items are affordable.

Sometimes, a compromise will be your resolution. As a couple, you need to find common ground and resolve the conflict. This is where a budget comes in. Seeing the money on paper can provide a common vision for a couple and move things forward with what’s important when it comes to spending money.

At the end of the day, you might never come to a compromise. In this case, the worst thing to do is to give up. Seek out counseling and and keep the conversation going. Letting things stall could wreck havoc on your relationship. Fighting about money is just flat out not worth it. Seek out people that have been around the block a few times. Chances are there are countless people waiting to share their wisdom with you.

Treat money like a strength building tool for your relationship. Like in life, doing things together and seeing a goal conquered will bring the two of you together. Don’t let a conflict go to waste. Use it as a time to work out kinks in your relationship and grow stronger together. Work as a team and you will soon find yourself conquering other goals on your list!

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Tags: budgeting • Personal Finance

About the Author: Jon the Saver is a personal finance writer at Free Money Wisdom. His mission is to help you succeed in your personal finance life. When Jon is not writing on personal finance, he spends time with his girlfriend, lifts iron at the gym, and plays Scrabble. You can subscribe to his site through EMAIL/RSS or you can also find him on Twitter and Facebook.

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When Hiring Happens It Will Be in Technology and Science

2011-09-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

The job market is undergoing an irreversible transformation. The industrial revolution’s centuries-old propulsion of modern societal evolution is finally running out of steam. New technologies are replacing people as the components that drive forward movement. There’s no longer an endless supply of factory jobs and management careers for the billions of people alive on Earth today. In a world where one computer can perform the tasks of fifty-times as many humans, where will the currently unemployed and future legions of would-be professionals find work?

Chances are they will find it in the technologies and sciences.

Once upon a time you needed a pair of hands to do just about anything. Whether it was organizing archives or processing credit card applications, a human had to do it. Ever since the early 1980's that’s been changing at an exponential pace. Every year, one or two professions became obsolete due to a newfangled machine or revolutionary software. In order to remain employed, many people had to return to school and learn a new trade. Typists became paralegals; assembly line workman became auto mechanics, et cetera.

But now even the paralegals and auto mechanics are becoming obsolete. The well of opportunity is running dry to a critical point. Add in the economic slump and resulting shrinkage of human resources across belt-tightening industries and the obvious result is an extreme shortage of employment options for present and future populations.

Those serious about remaining viable in the modern workforce need to investigate the frontiers of modern industry. It is there that the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects will achieve the most growth this decade. The BLS anticipates the “professional, scientific, and technical services” sector to increase by 34%, far ahead of any other category on the list. Conversely, “management of companies and enterprises” are only expected to see 5% growth in the next several years.

Consider the following: if technologies are replacing jobs, then the new jobs must be in creating these technologies. The logic doesn’t add up to the math when you factor the entirety of unemployment, but that of course is why you pursue higher education and make yourself one of the few people who can remain useful in these budding industries.

The “second industrial revolution” won’t happen overnight. Countless preexisting industries will continue to exist; they’re just expected to change drastically. These outlining sectors may not demand as much cutting edge expertise as those at the forefront of technological achievement, but they nonetheless still qualify as technical pursuits. For example, the BLS predicts that the “healthcare and social assistance” sector will grow by 26% in this decade, no doubt a reflection of massive healthcare overhauls and the demands for them. Waste management remediation follows third at 18% growth by the year 2018.

Meanwhile employment in utilities is expected to decrease by 11%. Improved industries are a double-sided coin though. It’s imperative that you consider a technical profession where the technology isn’t expected to out-do the human element. Look for industries primed to improve that still demand the interaction of human hands and more importantly the human brain.

The number of careers that were similar to those of previous generations is dissolving rapidly. In their place are few opportunities to succeed in the advancement of technologies that are themselves the replacements. But this is where aspiring professionals must look to find work. When hiring resumes to pre-recession levels, it will not likely be to the tune of the pre-recession job market. The employment landscape will be almost unrecognizable. Will you know your way around?

Ryan Sandberg is an Internet Marketer working for Growth Partner Capital with a passion for entrepreneurship, efficiency and ice hockey. He enjoys sharing his opinions/findings on finance, marketing, entrepreneurship and current tech trends.

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How Online Classes Can Really Save You Time and Money

2011-09-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

We’re a society obsessed solutions that save the most money, as we should be. Thrift is no small attribute. We also like things quick and easy. For these reasons, online classes appeal to many people. But this is because online degrees are often advertised as cheap and immediate solutions to what’s perceived by many people to be an expensive, time-consuming process. Many people enroll in online colleges believing they’re getting a discount.

While this is somewhat the case, the savings are not what you think and they’re certainly not going to be found on your tuition bill. Likewise, a four-year degree can be achieved in less than three years, but that road is far from straight and simple. In this article we’ll breakdown the true savings of online universities and explain why and how noticeable savings in time and money can be increased when choosing to earn a degree through the World Wide Web. Even if you don’t want to go and earn a full degree, there are plenty of free online financial courses to help you expand your knowledge.

There’s certainly no doubt that some universities are better than others. Therefore, some degrees are considered more valuable than others. Typically, this is reflected in the cost of the actual degree itself. But the higher education system of the United States does a decent job making sure that accredited universities stick to basic principles within their degree programs. While more prestigious universities typically have very high tuition, the majority of private and state-funded schools have relatively equal costs. This is due to the fact that most programs obey the same principles, and therefore incur the same charge.

Therefore, the idea that an authentic degree online is going to cost significantly less than if it were earned through traditional methods is erroneous. If this were the case, then the quality of the education itself would be significantly lower than what would otherwise be gained. When it comes to identical online and non-online programs at the same school, the same amount of cost was put into both. As a result, the tuition stays the same.

Earning a degree in less time than you would attending a traditional college is mostly a result of less rigmarole. By rigmarole, I mean the time spent commuting to and from campus, taking breaks during the summer, and the disbursement of courses over the span of a week. Yet, these courses are equally designed to demand roughly the same amount of time and labor from the student. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be identical. The time you save is that of time wasted negotiating the real-world logistics of going to a real-world college.

The discounts of an online degree come mostly from the presumed changes in your lifestyle. For instance, by avoiding traditional college you avoid one of two certain costs: dorm life or the gas tank. That’s an immediate source of savings that’s sure to make a difference in your daily budgeting.

But you also save money by not partaking in the usual campus habits: migrating from one coffee shop to the next, snacking during lectures, and spending the rest of your disposable income on off-campus socializing with your classmates.

You also have more freedom when it comes to textbooks. The one you need might be available at your local library, while the one copy at the campus library will be reserved five days-deep throughout the whole semester. You may not even need a textbook at all – one of the possible rare differences between online and on-campus college.

Online college isn’t an instant ticket to a faster, cheaper education. Nor should it be. The point of online higher education is to let those who otherwise can’t make it to a campus still have access to a degree, not to bypass the hard parts of advanced learning. The savings are also yours to gain, not yours to be given.

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How to Talk to Your Aging Parents About Their Finances

2011-09-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

If you have aging parents, you know the time will eventually come when you may be called upon to help with their finances. As we continue to extend our lives to 80 and beyond, there’s a better chance that the resources people put aside for retirement just don’t last as long as expected. In addition, illness later in life can render someone incapable of being able to take on their financial obligations. That’s where you come in as their child.

One or both of your parents may become ill, incapacitated, susceptible to scams and fraud, or unable to keep up with their financial affairs as their mental and physical abilities wane. It will be easier to intervene and prevent problems if you have talked to them about their finances in advance. Obviously, this isn’t an easy discussion to have, and in some cases and cultures talking about money was off-limits. But by planning ahead and having these difficult discussions before a crisis arrises can help ensure their wishes are carried out and help minimize problems with other family members in an already difficult time.

So, how do you even begin to approach this subject? Let them know that it will be easier for you to help them later when they need you if they share the details about their finances with you now. Take baby steps. If your parents are unwilling to discuss these details with you, at the very least they should tell you where they keep their important financial documents in case you need them in an emergency. This is an important first step, and ultimately will be the most important thing to know if the unfortunate happens.

The time for preparing powers of attorney and living trusts to give someone else the authority to make decisions about financial affairs or health care is before the need arises, while your parents still have their mental faculties. If your parents aren’t mentally capable signing these documents, you may have to seek legal guardianship, which can be a long and painful process. So it is imperative that these issues are discussed. It may still be too early to move forward with these measures, but it should at least be out on the table so that if health does start to deteriorate, prompt action can be taken to get the documents in order and it won’t come as a surprise to bring this topic up in an already difficult time.

What do you really need to know? The more you know the better. Having an understanding of their complete financial picture is helpful, but more important are the answers to questions such as: Do they have a will? Where is it kept? Do they have a living will or medical directives so someone can speak for them in case they are unable to speak for themselves? Do they have a durable power of attorney so someone can handle their financial affairs if needed?

Other information you should know:

Social Security numbers.Details of insurance policies, including health, life, and long-term care.Health records.Medicare numbers.Debts and payments.Income, including retirement plans, social security, annuities, dividends, etc.Savings and investments, including bank account numbers and names of financial institutions.Tax returns.Location of safe deposit boxes and keys to the boxes.Names and phone numbers of legal advisors, doctors, attorneys, insurance agents, accountants, etc.

If it becomes necessary to take over the administration of your parents’ finances, it’s important to respect their rights and wishes. Give them as much control as possible and don’t make them uncomfortable. Keep their money separate from yours. Involve them as much as possible. Keep them informed.

Sure, this is an awkward discussion to have with your parents, and it won’t be easy. That’s why it is important to start slowly, and start early. Don’t just sit them down and tell them that you need to know all of their financial details. Instead, approach the situation casually. Maybe start by just bringing up the topic of wills over dinner or something. Mention that you and your spouse just updated your own will. This will often open the door to a discussion about your parents’ will, or lack of one, and from there you can learn more about their situation. Even better, if you learn they don’t even have a will, this is a great opportunity to get them to take that next step. From this initial discussion you will then be in a better position to go a little deeper and tackle some of the more serious issues.

Finally, let this be a reminder for you as well. It’s time to look at your own legacy planning. So, go through your financial accounts and make sure your beneficiaries are up to date, update that will, or get a will for the first time. None of these things are fun to think about, but they are just as important to your financial plan as saving and investing for the future. Your family will thank you if you take the time to get this stuff in order.

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How to Get Free Redbox Rentals

2011-09-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

By Charissa with 2 Comments

Who doesn’t love a free movie rental from time to time? I do and that’s what makes Redbox so enticing. Not only do I see a kiosk when I pass by the supermarket, drug store or neighborhood McDonald’s (there are 27,000 Redbox locations nationwide), the selection of titles to choose from usually appeal to every member of my family. Seldom do I find myself saying, “I’ve seen every movie being offered.” I also like the fact that you can reserve titles in advance.

Here are a few ways that you can get free Redbox rentals:

Reserve a title online. Pick it up and watch it. Return it to a kiosk. Receive a code for a free rental on your next visit.Sign up for texts. If you have unlimited text messages, consider signing up to Redbox updates via your mobile phone. From time to time, the company sends you a free rental code good for one day only. Text REDBOX to 727272 to get exclusive freebies & deals!Follow Redbox on Twitter. If you have a Twitter account, follow Redbox for upcoming new releases and free rental codes. Just type Redbox into the search field and click on the button to follow the company’s tweets.Become a fan of the company on Facebook. “Like” Redbox and the company’s posts will show up on your wall. Pay close attention to announcements because codes are often posted this way. In fact, right now they have an offer where you get one free rental just by liking their Facebook page.Pay attention to special offers at your local grocery store or supermarket. Catalina coupons are the coupons that are printed along with your receipt at the register. From time to time, you will receive free Redbox rental codes for purchasing specific products from sponsors. Not too long ago, I made my monthly grocery purchases and received a Catalina coupon with four free rental codes. That’s one free rental a weekend for a month!

For less than the price of a Dollar Menu item, you and your closest friends can enjoy an entertaining evening. Spend a few moments getting to know the Redbox website which is located at http://www.redbox.com. Make sure to sign up for alerts and follow the company on the different social media networks. This ensures that you never miss a free movie rental.

With the average movie ticket costing between $8 and $12, doesn’t it make sense to watch movies from home? Sure you have to wait a few months for them to be released on DVD but a free movie from Redbox beats $100 worth of tickets and refreshments. In fact, for that kind of money, a large family could watch a movie, make homemade pizza, enjoy unlimited snacks, and still have money left over. It makes sense to me and that’s why I continue to be a fan of Redbox.

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Tags: deals • freebies

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The High Cost of Immediate Gratification

2011-09-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

By Charissa with 0 Comments

What a rush to be able to buy whatever you want whenever you want it! Instead of shopping around or waiting for the price to drop significantly, you pull out your trusty credit card and purchase your item that day. You walk into the store, select the item that you want and walk out with very little concern for your finances. That is, until you get your monthly credit card statement and see how much these spur-of-the-moment purchases have cost you.

From the five dollar lattes you drink on the way to work to the new pair of shoes you saw in the department store advertisement, these purchases give you a sense of immediate gratification after you buy them but once you consume them or take them home, you realize just how little value they add to your life. Does it really require that much effort to brew your own cup of coffee every morning? Couldn’t you buy a less expensive, yet well-made pair of shoes?

The fact of the matter is that, “Yes, you can enjoy everything you did in the past without squandering away a fortune to do so.” It’s really easy but it requires patience. For an entire month, write down every penny that you spend. This includes the newspaper you purchase Sunday morning to the weekly lunch you enjoy with your friends. Once you have a better idea of how much money is leaving your bank account each month, you can change your approach to spending. You can make small changes each week to improve the state of your finances without feeling discouraged or deprived.

Here’s how you can live a gratifying lifestyle without going bust:

Come up with a long-term goal that you want to save for. Maybe it’s a trip to Europe or a new car. It can even be a necessary expense like a house repair or braces for your child. Whatever your goal is, write it down and figure out how much you will need to save to make it happen. Divide this number by 12 and this will give you a monthly goal to use as a guide. If you want to figure out how much you will need to save weekly, divide that number by 4. Then begin identifying different areas of your life where you can cut back.Allow yourself to have one small treat every time you meet your monthly goal. Try to choose a reward that costs $20 or less. This can be a movie night with your family courtesy of the free rental code Redbox sent you or a homemade loaf of banana bread from your local farmer’s market. The point is to be creative and to save money. If your treat is free, it’s even better.Purchase quality items that don’t require constant replacing. Some purchases require that you spend more money initially but they last for a really long time. Others have lifetime guarantees. These items are the ones worth splurging on. For example, L.L. Bean and Mountain Hardwear offer a lifetime guarantee on their products. That means that if your new jacket or backpack wears out before its time, you get a new one free of charge!

Immediate gratification is great but costly. You can still live the life you dreamed of by changing your mindset when it comes to making unnecessary purchases. Put that credit card away and put on your thinking cap. Instead of making excuses for not being able to afford your dream vacation, put your money into a savings account with a high interest rate and watch your money grow. Those extra grande lattes are doing nothing for your figure anyway!

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Should You Co-Sign a Loan?

2011-09-24T03:41:00.001-07:00

Let’s say you are approached by a friend or relative asking you to co-sign a loan. Obviously, they assume that they will make good on their loan, pay it in full, and you will never have to worry about it. Being the nice person that you are, you are likely to oblige. But wait! Before playing the nice guy, you should really sit down and think about what it is you’re actually agreeing to.

According to the FTC, most lenders revealed that of all the co-signed loans that go to default, as many as three out of four co-signers are required to repay the loan. Now those aren’t good odds if you’re the co-signer.

Remember, your friend or relative has asked you to co-sign because he or she has been turned down for credit by a lender and can’t borrow the money on their own. If they raise a red flag with lenders, it should at least raise your suspicious as well. Granted, sometimes this is due to a lack of credit history rather than bad credit, but the reality is that a lender, who is in the business of lending money, felt that the borrower is too much of a risk. This should give you pause for thought.

In most states, if the borrower misses a payment, the lender can come after you first, without trying to collect from the borrower.

You could be required to pay late fees or attorney fees.You could have your wages garnished.You could lose any property you pledged against the loan.You could be sued.

Before you co-sign for a loan, be sure you can afford to pay the debt if the borrower defaults on the loan. You may feel confident that this won’t happen, but consider the unexpected: people lose their jobs, become ill or disabled, or die unexpectedly. Others are just irresponsible. When you co-sign a loan, be sure you are capable of repaying the loan, and that it wouldn’t cause a financial hardship or jeopardize your own credit. But if you’re in a situation where having to pay this loan yourself would put you into a financial hardship, resist the urge to co-sign even if it means helping a close friend or family member.

Yes, it will. The loan you co-sign will show up as a liability on your credit record, which may prevent you from obtaining credit yourself. If you’re planning to buy a house, car, or other large purchase during the life of the co-signed loan, you may want to think twice. Keep in mind this is different than being an authorized signer on an account. Those typically don’t show up on your credit score, but when you co-sign, you’re pledging your credit.

Despite the risks, there are times when it makes sense to co-sign a loan. For instance, many parents do it for their kids to help them establish credit. This is especially true that these days with new credit card rules in effect it’s harder for young adults to obtain credit. Obviously, parents co-signing for children is a bit different than if you were to simply co-sign for a friend who is in a financial bind.

If you do decide to co-sign a loan, try to get the lender to agree in writing that in the event of a default, you would be responsible for only the principal balance of the loan. This would protect you against legal fees if the lender decided to sue.

Also ask the lender to agree in writing to notify you if the borrower is late with a payment. This could give you valuable time to try to rectify the situation before it gets out of hand. And make sure you get copies of all the paperwork for the loan. If the lender won’t give them to you, get them from the borrower. Finally, before you make the decision to co-sign a loan, you should know the purpose of the loan, type of loan, and terms of the loan. Make sure you read all of the fine print as if you were getting the loan yourself.

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