Beat And Battered

We spent most of this weekend with our extended families. I’ll admit I had some stress and anxiety over this. Our families do not always get along, and there was a ton of work to be done around our house - none of which actually got done. When we finally got home and started getting ready for the week I found myself uncharitably thinking - What was my time worth?

Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the challenges of day to day life, and the frustration of things interfering in our schedules. But when you get right down to it, what’s more important?

We spend a lot of time talking about what our time is worth on the job, and how to calculate our true hourly wage. I have a different question for you today - What is your time with your family worth? When you calculate it against your hourly worth, you can put a number on it, but the part of me that refuses to operate by numbers says there’s a much higher value to that time.

For those of us (myself included) who would really say that the time spent with our families is worth everything - I wonder, how often does your job interfere with your family time? How often do you feel stress because you are not working when you think you probably should be? How do you deal with it?

The Week In Review:

Writer auditions are still going on! You can leave your feedback for a chance to win one of two $50 prizes!

Excellent articles from the Money Writers:

• Jeremy over at Generation X Finance gave us a very detailed article on the importance of diversifying your investment portfolio. (With real examples!)
• Silicon Valley Blogger at the Digerati Life wrote about how she masters her mindless spending, and plugs those holes in the monthly budget.
• Madison at My Dollar Plan discusses how to make early IRA withdrawals. While this is normally not a good idea, there are certain expenses and life events that qualify you to take your money out early. This is a nice concise article that tells you what you need to know - worth a bookmark!
• Frugal Trader at Million Dollar Journey did his regular net worth review. This was fascinating to me. So may times we just see articles highlighting “10 ways to save money!” and it’s rare to see a blogger put his money where is blog is and bare all.
• Brip Blap gives us some very sage advice: Stay away from the news! Yes. I totally agree. This is why we do not have cable. The internet is as full of news as everything else, but I can click that nifty little x in the top corner and shut up the talking heads any time I want. Somehow, I never seemed to shut the T.V. off the same way.
• Lazy Man @ Lazy Man and Money gives us the lowdown on what he earned from his blog last month, and what his expenses were.
• Sun at The Sun’s Financial Diary compares the savings accounts at Emigrant Direct and WT Direct. I was sad to hear the Emigrant Direct has cut their APY. I have recommended them for a while now - but no more. He also did his net worth review. Dare we compare?

Article highlights from The Money Blog Network:

• Nickel at Five Cent Nickel goes deep inside the housing rescue bill.
• The readers at No Credit Needed share their best personal finance tips. There are some good ones on this list!
• Free Money Finance shows us The Odds. Turns out there’s a better chance of being hit by an asteroid than winning the lottery!
• Flexo at Consumerism Commentary gives us the dirt on which savings accounts have the highest interest rates. With the recent financial shakeups, the interest rates at some banks have been dropping like flies. Nice to know there are still a few good ones out there.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter takes a unique stance on the price of gas with “I don’t care how much Exxon makes per second!” What do you think?

Around the Blog-o-sphere:

• Jim at Blueprint for Prosperity has an overview of Obama’s Emergency Economic Plan.
• Trent at The Simple Dollar looks at Debt Repayment as an Investment. Smart words in my book!
• Get Rich Slowly makes me virtually jealous with some excellent photos of his garden and how much money he is saving.
• Bible Money Matters reviews micro loans and the KIVA credit card. Boy, micro lending is sure taking the internet by storm! How do you feel about it?
• Money Ning discusses Upselling and the Supersize mentality.

Thanks to 2Paupers and the Carnival of Living Cheaply - August for featuring our articles. Thanks also to Megan @ Counting My Pennies for giving our Kung Fu Panda article a thumbs up!

Copyright © 2008 admin. Visit the original article at http://lexchoice.com/?p=97.
Tired of the monthly budget? Want to something a little out of the ordinary when it comes to saving money or reducing your debt? I just went for a three hour drive today on my way to a business trip and came up with this idea. What if there was some type of incentive every month for you to save money, wouldn’t it make it much more fun? So what’s fun and different about this idea you ask?

First, you’ll need to do a little research into your budget. If you’ve kept a good budget then this shouldn’t be too difficult. Break down your budget into three categories:

1. Completely Mandatory - This category contains all the necessary bills such as home, auto loans, electric, water, credit cards, etc. This does not include cable, phone or internet.
2. Somewhat Mandatory - This category will include bills such as cable, phone, and internet services. It will also include grocery money, clothing money, etc. Things that you need but you could probably reduct the cost somewhat.
3. Not Necessary - Finally the not necessary category includes entertainment money, and blow money. Money that if you didn’t have for a month you could live without. You really don’t need to go to the movies or spend $60 on dinner!

Now here is where the contest comes in and your reward. Total up the amounts from each category based on your last months bills. For example:

1. Necessary: Electric $150, Water $35, Home $1000, Auto $400 total of $1585.
2. Somewhat: Cable $40, Phone $35, Internet $40, Grocery : $400, Clothing $250, total of $765.
3. Not: Entertainment $400, Blow $100, total of $500.

Now our goal is to reduce each category by a small amount each month paying down debt and rewarding ourselves in the process. Reducing all three categories may leave a good deal of leftover money. Use half of this money on paying down debt and the other half to spend on some type of reward. Something fun you normally wouldn’t buy yourself.

First, those necessary bills you can reduce your electric and water bills by simply being aware of the resources you are using. Turning off lights when you leave rooms, take showers instead of a baths, take shorter showers than usual, use lamps instead of overhead lights, don’t leave the water on while brushing your teeth or shaving, etc. As for that auto payment you may want to do something extreme like sell the car and buy something with cash you have on hand or finance something for half of your current payment. You can find decent cars for $5,000 or even less!

Second, those somewhat necessary bills can save us some major cash! Drop any premium channels from your cable service. You may be able to reduce your internet service by switching from cable to DSL or from DLS to cable. Drop that lan line phone service if everybody has a cell phone with enough minutes. Clothing is necessary, but name brand clothing is not necessary. Watch for sales and check out consignment shops for cheaper clothes. Groceries can also be a good money saver. Use those coupons you always toss out with the trash. Buy generic foods when possible. I’ve read multiple articles on saving hundreds of dollars per month on your grocery bill! It’s possible to save some good money in this category.

Finally, the enertainment/blow category can be your biggest savings area. Eating out is just not necessary and although enertainment is necessary it doesn’t always have to cost money. Limit eating out to a minimum. If you must eat out order water or get takeout and bring it home. Go to the park instead of the movies. Go on picnics and hikes instead of amusement parks. There are hundreds of ways to save money on enertainment.

Here is a revised sample budget and what can be done with the extra money.

1. Necessary: Electric $145 (old $150), Water $31(old $35), Home $1000 (old $1000), Auto $175 (old $400) total of $1351 (old $1585). SAVINGS OF $234.
2. Somewhat: Cable $40 (old $40), Phone $0 (old $35), Internet $35 DSL (old $40), Grocery : $360 (old $400), Clothing $225 (old $250), total of $660 (old $765), SAVINGS OF $105.
3. Not: Entertainment $350 (old $400), Blow $80 (old $100), total of $430, SAVINGS OF $70. 

In our sample budget we saved a total of $409!!! We didn’t make huge sacrafices just small sacrafices in each category. Now take the $409 and pay $200 toward one of your high interest rate debts and take the other $209 and spend it on something nice for yourself. You may even want to save the $209 for next month and pick up something much nicer. Reward yourself for saving money and it will be much more fun!

Here are a few ways you can earn $50 this weekend:

• Donate a lot of blood
• Spend a Saturday having a garage sale
• Work 8 hours in a minimum wage job
• Spend the afternoon as part of a survey focus group
• Take the time to sell & ship old stuff on eBay

OR

Simply spend a few minutes giving me feedback on the writers. They’ve finished their audition writing and now it’s time to choose the writer you prefer. Check out the posts from the writers below:

• Henry
• Connie
• Erik

Then let me know your opinion via the contact form. Each person that submits their opinion is entered to win one of two $50 cash prizes. Thanks for your feedback. Have a nice weekend!

Copyright © 2008 admin. Visit the original article at http://lexchoice.com/?p=120.
Tracking your monthly spending is a very important part of planning a personal household budget. How many times have you asked yourself or your spouse, “I just don’t know where all the money went this month?” Knowing where you are spending every penny of your income is very important and only takes a few minutes of your time each day. You will probably realize just how much money you waste each month.

When it comes to tracking your monthly spending there are a few different options avaliable from pen and paper to highlty sofisticated computer software programs. Of course there are many other options in between, some free and some every expensive.

There are no excuses for not tracking your spending. Anyone can use a couple of sheets of wide ruled notebook paper and a pen. Simply write down the date of each transaction, how much you spent and where you spent the money. There are spreadsheet solutions that allow you to record the same information but automatically do the math. There are also complex software solutions to download or purchase that will basically do the same thing.

Record your spending for one month and you will quickly realize the categories where you are overspending. This will help you create a detailed budget showing you which categories you need to cut back your spending. Having this information will put you on the path to bulding a successful budget and leasding you down the road to financial success and freedom!

Alright, I have to admit I got caught by the 0% interest balance transfer game. We transfered part of loan a while back for about $4,000 on a credit card that had 0% interest for 6 months with no balance transfer fees. Sounded like a great plan since we would have the $4,000 paid off [...]

I spent a good part of this week with my car in the shop. Since it’s a used Cadillac the entire front end pretty much has to be torn off any time we need to repair something, and that’s frustrating for me since I am used to doing my own repairs whenever possible.

This time it was the alternator, and we spent a whopping $600 to get it repaired. I spent the rest of the week being thankful for my emergency fund. Having some money tucked away in savings kept me from having to use credit to pay the bill. That was one bright lining in an otherwise stressful week.

Do you actively put money into an emergency fund? Has it ever helped you out like it did me this week?

Writer Auditions

Writer auditions are still going on! This week the writers will be covering various investment strategies. Don’t forget, you can win $50 cash simply by offering your feedback on the writers.

Money Articles Review

There were some incredible personal finance posts around the web this week. Here’s a few that I loved from The Money Writers.

• Frugal Trader over at Million Dollar Journey wonders if we are hitting peak oil, or if we are just in a bubble. This is a really neat take on a hot topic - and he gets to play devil’s advocate from both sides. Don’t miss it!




• Madison over @ My Dollar Plan is going to quit her day job! She’s getting to experience early retirement, more time with her family, and all in all I’m green with envy. Congratulations Madison!




• Jeremy @ Generation X Finances put together a list of the 12 Money Mistakes Most People Make. I have to admit I’m guilty of at least two of these things: Lack of goals and lack of estate planning… How about you?




• Silicon Valley Blogger @ The Digerati Life has an interesting Immigration Story this week. She makes an excellent point about how economics and finances shape our families.




• Steve over @ Brip Blap wonders if you are a big picture person or a small picture person?




• Lazy Man and Money has 35 Tips to Save on Gas. There were some really good tips in this list. I’m going to print it out and keep it handy.




• Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary shows us how Google can help us with our budgets!

  
  

Here are some of the highlights from the Money Blog Network:

• A look back at the federal minimum wage over time @ Five Cent Nickel.




• Withdrawing Money from UPromise @ No Credit Needed.




• The Top Three Career Dilemmas at Free Money Finance




• Stay Cool This Summer: Air Conditioner Alternatives @ Consumerism Commentary




• Earn Free Visa Gift Cards for Searching the Web @ Mighty Bargain Hunter




Around the Blogosphere:

Trent over at The Simple Dollar reveals the Single Biggest Money Mistake He Ever Made. Can I get Rich On A Salary reveals the Smartest Financial Advise He Ever Got, and Get Rich Slowly poses the question, “How Can You Get Your Wife to Talk About Money?”

We were featured in several Carnivals this week. Thanks to everyone who took the time to include our articles!

• Carnival of Financial Planning #8 - Cute Kitten Edition @ Financial Learn




• Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness #51 @ Credit Card Lowdown




• Carnival of Debt Reduction: The Secret to Life Edition (#149) @ American Consumer News




• The 69th Carnival of Money Stories @ Almost Frugal




• Festival of Frugality #135 - The Frugal All Over Edition @ Antishay Ventenne




• Money Hacks Carnival #21 @ Help My Cash Grow




• Carnival of Financial Planning - July 26 2008 Edition @ The Skilled Investor




• The Carnival of 20-Something Finances @ Dollar Frugal

With the continued growth of technology and the convneience of the internet bill paying can almost be automatic these days. After taking over the finances a couple of months ago I recently decided to start paying as many of our bills online as possible. I was excited to see last month our electric company sent [...]

In our final part of this three part series covering ETF investments, we’ll look at different strategies for investing with exchange-traded funds. Have I bored you? I hope not! Actually taking the time to learn about the hundreds of different investment products on the market is tedious, but the reward will be great. If you take the time to educate yourself about investing, budgeting, insurance, and ways to save money, you will be a wealthy person in your later years. To recap, the ETF has all of the diversification of a mutual fund, it’s sometimes cheaper than index funds, trades like a single stock, and you can buy funds that target certain sectors and/or markets.

Here are four different strategies for investing with exchange-traded funds:

The Primary Method

The primary method is the approach that the ETF would be your primary investment vehicle in your portfolio. The exchange-traded fund is designed so you can get exposure to a broad range of securities at a low expense. Instead of buying a 100 single stocks, you could buy a commodities ETF that targets the entire commodities sector. This is a risky method to only use ETFs for your primary investment strategy. it’s risky because many ETFs don’t have a track record longer than 10 years. If you want to buy and hold an ETF, it’s hard to judge its performance based on one or two years of performance.

Dollar-Cost Averaging Method

If time is on your side, let the power of compound interest take over for you with this method. Dollar-cost averaging is a great method to use for investing in ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds. The idea is that you invest a fixed amount of money at a given interval such as every month. This eliminates the need to time the market. You will buy less shares when the price is high and more shares when the price is low. Over a long period of time, the average cost that you purchased the shares will outperform a method of trying to time the market. If you want to experiment with an ETF, this is the method for you. This is the best method for those of you who don’t want investing to be your full-time job. Let the money pull automatically from your checking account and watch it grow over a long period of time. it’s a beautiful thing.

Sector Rotation

For those of you who are more active traders, this could be the method for you. If you read the Wall Street Journal religiously and keep track of market trends, then you should consider sector rotation for your exchange-traded funds. The idea for this strategy is to rotate in the ETF that targets the hottest markets and rotate out the markets that are declining. For instance, in today’s market you would want to rotate in an energy ETF and rotate out a real estate market ETF. This method is very risky. It’s a method that relies on timing the market correctly. You need to know what you’re doing if you choose this method. Although, it would be a fund strategy to experiment with using less than 10% of your investment portfolio.

Asset Allocation Method

The idea of the asset allocation method is that our investment strategy changes as we age. When you are young, you can invest aggressively with equities, but as you grow older, you want to shift your investments to more steady, income-producing investments. Using an ETF to shift your assets can save you money, because it takes less trades to do it. You can rebalance your portfolio with a few changes in the ETF’s that you invest in, rather than switching out mutual funds for bonds and dividend producing funds.

The Bottom Line

Have I convinced you to try out the exchange-traded fund? I bought my first one recently in my 401(k). Our company complained enough that there were no exchange-traded funds or index funds in our plan to choose from, so they finally granted us a few ETF options. I am eager to see how it performs. It tracks the Russell 2000 index. The bottom line is that the ETF is a great alternative investment that can easily be implemented into your portfolio to provide diversity with low costs. They offer broader exposure to markets and sectors that index funds do not track. Speak with your financial advisor or other financial professional about your options to start trading exchang-traded funds.

When you get the chance, please comment on your thoughts, experiences, and questions about the ETF.

Writer Auditions - Author Erik Folgate - Offer Your Feedback

Alright all you financial gurus here is the question of the day. Currently my wife works in a school system in a different county than we live. We live right on the border but if we want our kids to go to school with my wife then we have to pay out of district tuition [...]

Ready to close a home loan and don’t have 20% cash or equity to put down on your home then you have herd your lender talk about PMI or private mortgage insurance. PMI is insurance that you are required to pay if you don’t have at least 20% equity in your home.

In mortgage market standard is important and therefore not all loans are considered secured loans. There are more of unsecured loans that can be a bad credit loan at any time.