Living Paycheck to Paycheck
March 1, 2014
I just read a post from an expert financial blogger, G.E. Miller of 20somethingfinance. He discusses the recent results from a nationwide based study where the FINRA Investor Education Foundation states that only 41 % of americans who responded to this report are spending less than they earn! (seriously?). Just over a third (36%) spend their income, and 19% are spending more than their income! Continue Reading
Don’t Set Your Cash On Fire
February 28, 2014
Controlling or at least limiting your vices can not only help you live a much longer and healthier life, it will likely make you much, much richer. (I don’t mean to preach, and I strongly believe in personal liberty). Perhaps the one to really try to avoid is smoking, or if you do smoke, I wish you best of luck if you decide to quit. Yes, tobacco is one of the most addictive substances you will come across in everyday life, and so quitting can be incredibly hard to do. In smoking your are literally burning money away Continue Reading
Upcycling
February 26, 2014
Have you heard of the term ‘upcycling’? It means converting a used product into something useful again, in terms of better quality and being better for the environment. What is this all about? Well, it’s really about using your creativity to generate a useful, fun product that can benefit your friends or yourself.
Here is a link Continue Reading
Buy Used
February 22, 2014
Perhaps it is best to try and restrain your shopping urges, focusing more on needs than wants. However, if you need something try your best to get it used. This could be from a car to electronics or furniture. For example, many friends are probably trying to upgrade their electronics, which tend to have very short life cycles and so you can get a relatively new printer, computer or phone extremely cheap. My most recent item was a relatively new printer, which was given for free 🙂
One of my favorite places to shop for good deals is Continue Reading
Savings = greater happiness
February 14, 2014
Did you read the recent interesting Ally study results saying that it isn’t necessarily the salary that you can earn but rather your savings that can really affect your levels of happiness?
If you would like to read in a little more depth I found a nice discussion on the topic here.
OK, so overall such a survey didn’t appeal to my rigorous scientific standards. However, the gist of it is that Continue Reading
Minted
February 8, 2014
I have been using mint.com for just over a year and have found it a very useful way to track my finances.It allows you to easily keep track of any accounts such as credit cards, bank balances and loans. This is in addition to including investments and property. Tracking your spending habits from short to long term can be completed with just a click of a mouse Continue Reading
Brown Bag It
February 1, 2014
One way is to bring lunch to work, for starters it can certainly be much tastier than the offerings you can get from many a canteen or food court. Moreover, you can keep to any organic, vegetarian and/or minus food allergen type of diet of your choosing much easier.
At $10 a lunch, for 5 days a week for 1 year is $2400, assuming 4 weeks vacation. Clearly $24,000 over ten years is nothing to be sniffed at Continue Reading
Ramp Up Those Savings!
January 28, 2014
What would you do if you won the lottery right now and became financially free? Would you work less, travel more, move to another part of the country or an entirely different country? Maybe engage in charity work or educational activities? Become become an excellent suffer (yes, I live in SoCal) or just lounge at the beach?
Assertively pursuing your financial independence allows you to achieve these types of life goals, rather than give them up, and hopefully get to them much more rapidly! So how can you achieve this? Well clearly it is earning more and/or spending less, and maybe somewhat surprisingly, it’s the spending less that really acts as the turbo charge in this equation. Continue Reading
Why Frugality?
January 21, 2014
OK, so the question of why frugality could easily turn into a very long winded and potentially quite boring essay, which I will try my best not to do!
To keep it relatively short, I see three major reasons for embracing frugality, where each of these are clearly intertwined. The first is financial independence. At a time when many people are worried about how they will get by in retirement, a very sad state of affairs, would you instead like to still be working, but knowing that you are already financially free? Continue Reading
Credit Monitoring for Free! – Credit Karma
January 14, 2014
I have started using Credit Karma, and there are a couple of features that I have found to be really useful, and would like to highlight to you. Perhaps my favorite is the credit report monitoring, notifying me of any changes and for free! Continue Reading