Securing An Internship (And The Best Companies For Them)

The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Toi Williams, who is a professional finance blogger for MarketBeat. She has backgrounds in personal finance, sales, and real estate.

For many students and graduates, the pathway to employment starts with landing the right internship. An internship is program offered by an employer to potential employees that allow interns to work either part time or full time at a company for a certain period of time. The Random House Dictionary defines an internship as:
“Any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession.”

Internships are an essential pipeline for talent for employers and a great steppingstone for students. Many students try to do a few internships throughout college to get a feel for what career they’d like to pursue. Internships are most popular with undergraduates or graduate students who work between one to four months.

Internships allow you to experiment with a career that interests you. Most American internships are work experience internships. There are also research internships, which are more common in scientific fields. Some internships offer college credit for the successful completion of the program.

Internships can be paid or unpaid. Paid internships for college students are less common than unpaid internships. Unpaid internships are usually subject to stringent labor guidelines. U.S. federal law mandates that unpaid interns must not be used to displace the work done by paid employees or benefit the company economically. Some states have additional laws that govern the activities of unpaid interns.

Just about any internship program would be a good entry on your resume, a great way to gain references, and help you with networking. You’re not bound to work for your employer after the internship is over. However, a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers that polled U.S. employers with interns found nearly 7 out of 10 internships result in a full time job offer after successful completion of the program.

If you’re hoping to change geographic location for your internship, there are some things to keep in mind. The first is where you will live during your time with the company. Some internship programs offer housing to students or include a stipend for housing and expenses. Others have developed some financially accessible options so their interns can focus on doing the job rather than worrying about their housing. Make sure you know where you will be living before you make your choice.

Today, employers are being a lot more specific about the skills they need from their interns. These days, interns at some of America’s most popular companies are responsible for a wide range of high level projects. Many companies use their internships as trial runs for potential hires or future promotions. Law firms and investment banks have operated like this decades.

According to a new report by jobs site Glassdoor, the 25 best-paying companies for internships generally pay their interns a median of more than $4,500 a month. Those companies are all generally pay their workforces well above average wages. The intern programs at Facebook, Google, and many of the other Silicon Valley companies on the list are notoriously competitive and challenging, somewhat justifying the higher pay.

Topping Glassdoor’s list is Facebook, with a median pay for interns at $8,000 a month. Microsoft was next, with a median pay of $7,100 a month. The rest of the list is as follows:
• ExxonMobil ($6,507)
• Salesforce ($6,450)
• Amazon ($6,400)
• Apple ($6,400)
• Bloomberg LP ($6,400)
• Yelp ($6,400)
• Yahoo ($6,080)
• VMWare ($6,080)
• Google ($6,000)
• NVIDIA ($5,770)
• Intuit ($5,440)
• Juniper Networks ($5,440)
• Workday ($5,440)
• BlackRock ($5,400)
• Adobe ($5,120)
• MathWorks ($5,120)
• Qualcomm ($5,040)
• Capital One ($5,000)
• Chevron ($5,000)
• Accenture ($4,960)
• Deutsche Bank ($4,640)
• AIG ($4,616)
• Bank Of America ($4,570)

While New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are the primary metropolitan areas for internships in the U.S., there are plenty of other locations that offer great unpaid and paid internships for college students. There are hundreds of thousands of internship opportunities available with employers across the country. You can focus your internship search by where you live, by your college major, or by specific company.

There are many avenues available for securing an internship. Internships.com calls itself the largest internship marketplace online, listing “202,897 internship positions from 123,218 companies located in 9,152 cities across all 50 states.” Another resource is Indeed.com, which lets you search for internships in your local area or any other US location you are interested in. WayUp is advertised as “the #1 place for college students & recent grads to get hired and launch their careers,” listing both available jobs and internships for companies across the nation.

Burning Glass Technologies, a research company that collects employer postings for internships, has released a list of the top 20 fields for internships by number of online postings. Those fields are:
1. Business Operations
2. Marketing
3. Engineering
4. Sales and Business Development
5. Media, Communications, and Public Relations
6. Data Analytics
7. Finance
8. IT Development
9. Arts and Design
10. Project and Program Management
11. Human Resources
12. Science and Environment
13. Health Care
14. Educations and Human Services
15. Database Administration
16. IT Support
17. Economics And Policy
18. Legal
19. Retail
20. Event Planning

Securing an internship will provide you with a wide range of benefits. You get a valuable opportunity to talk to real workers in the fields that you are interested in and experience what working for a particular company would be like first hand. Internships also give you a chance to hone your skills and improve your leadership talents. Employers overwhelmingly point to internship experience as the most important factor they consider in hiring new college graduates for full-time positions. Research shows that 85 percent of companies use internships and similar experiential education programs to recruit for their full-time workforces.

How about you all? Did you use an internship to start your career?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/inl/3466738936/sizes/l

The Advantages of Using a Mortgage Broker over a Bank

The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

Whether you’re a first-time buyer, a property developer, or an investor; could you really benefit by turning to a broker when it comes to borrowing money?

In this post, we’ll be diving into the advantages of using a mortgage broker instead of applying to a bank directly – and just how much you could save by doing so.

The Potential to Compare Interest Rates

Have you ever actually sat down and tried to compile a list of the different rates offered by banks? Not only do most of those in Australia (and other parts of the world) propose varying rates depending on the type of loans available; there are also fixed and variable ones to consider, too. As you might imagine this process can be quite time-consuming and this is actually something that mortgage brokers typically specialize in.

Most will offer effective interest rate comparison services to those in need – and if you hire a great one, you could be looking at a selection of options in the space of a couple of days (or less!)

Recognizing a Great Deal

What’s the one thing that most borrowers will want to make sure they do when applying for a loan? Keep their costs as low as possible, of course. There aren’t many mortgages that won’t go on for at least a decade (or three) and so finding a great deal can make a lot of difference to your future finances.

A good mortgage broker should be able to compare the varying terms and conditions proposed with specific loan packages and hone in on the best available on behalf of a client.

Taking the Stress Out of Applying

Another frequently overlooked advantage of hiring a broker is the fact that they can actually take care of the technicalities, to minimize the stress that you feel when applying for a home loan. As they’ll be the middle-person when dealing with a bank you will often be able to submit your documentation to them directly, so that it can be forwarded to your chosen bank.

This can make it easy for you to minimize the formal activities associated with applying for a mortgage and allow you to focus on what really matters; getting approval.

You might need to cover a small cost when hiring a brokering agency up front, although some are happy to offer their services free of charge to you for a commission from a bank, just imagine the long-term financial savings that you could enjoy. For a relatively small fee at first, you could save yourself thousands of dollars by ensuring that you sign up to a cheaper deal than you would have when applying to a bank directly.

Smart Ideas to Stretch Your Holiday Budget

The following is a guest post by Vera. Vera is a blogger trying to lead a frugal (but not frustrating) lifestyle. For her, frugal living does not mean living a life you dread waking up to, or thinking that money controls you, when in fact, it’s the other way, you control the money. You can find her at Frugal Frogs.

When it comes to the holidays, most people spend more money than they intended to. Of course, that cuts into other bills, savings or something else that you didn’t intend to be affected by your holiday shopping. But you can make your holiday budget work for you with these smart ideas to stretch your budget. You may even have some money left over after the holidays have passed.

 

Set a Realistic Budget

The first thing that you have to do to make sure that your money stretches far enough to cover your holiday shopping is to set a realistic budget. This is something that many people have trouble with, and it is a common cause of running out of money before the holiday shopping is done.

Make a list of everyone that you have to buy for, and then take a few days to ensure that you have remembered everyone. You will probably have to add a few more names to the list. Once you do that, set a limit on how much you are going to spend for each person.

Some people will have a higher limit than others, and that’s fine, but make sure that you don’t regard the limit as an “about” amount but as an actual limit. Then you’ll know that you won’t go over your budget. If you do find the perfect gift for someone and it is a little over the limit, then make sure that you reduce the limit on someone else on your list to keep your budget the same.

 

Shop Online More Often

You also want to shop online more often, particularly with the site-to-store feature that many department stores are now offering. You can often find a much lower price this way and always check Amazon before you buy anything because they will often have a lower price and if you are a Prime member ($10 a month), you won’t have to pay for your shipping ever.

 

Find and Clip Coupons

This doesn’t necessarily mean scouring the local paper and physically clipping coupons. These days, with Groupon and other money-saving websites, coupons are more likely to be found online. There are apps for your phone that give you coupons, even those that check which store you are in and offer you coupons for that store as you shop, as well as member websites that give discounts on most of the well-known chain stores.

 

Strategize Your Travel

Saving money on travel is just as important as saving money on gift purchases and other holiday expenses. First, if you are traveling somewhere by plane for the holidays, make sure that you get your ticket far, far in advance and at as much of a discount as you can.

Even if you are not traveling any farther than around town to buy gifts, you can still strategize your travel and save money. Figure out which stores you are going to hit and then put them in order by creating a route that will take you to all of them without wasting any gas – which also allows you to spend your time wisely and avoid wasting it running all over town.

 

Seasonal Jobs

If you want to make your holiday budget stretch a little further a great way to do that is by getting a seasonal job. There are some great part-time gigs out there that last just throughout the holiday season like playing a mall Santa or elf, working at a gift-wrapping counter or hiring on at a store that needs extra help during the holidays. Holiday jobs are easy to find, and the employer usually doesn’t care that you plan to quit after you have earned enough extra money to complete your Christmas shopping.

 

Use Pre-Owned Gift Cards

Believe it or not, you can get gift cards, with the full balance still on them, for pennies on the dollar. There are a few websites out there like Raise.com that allow users to buy and sell their gift cards for any price that they want, even some that hook up local buyers and sellers so that you can instantly get the gift card in your hands when you fork over the cash.

 

Look for Rewards When You Shop

You want to keep an eye out for rewards and always buy with earning some type of reward in mind. You don’t want to go out of your way or spend more money than you would somewhere else, but try to earn credit card rewards, rewards from websites that pay you to shop and rewards from apps that offer everything from prizes to actual cash.

 

Buy Expensive Gifts Inexpensively

You can visit any of the multitudes of discount websites that offer anywhere from 50% to 90% off the purchase price (and in some cases, have free items that you only have to pay to ship) like Wish.com. These websites sell new items, so you aren’t getting something that is used and the person that you are getting the gift for will never know that you got it at a discount.

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/gotcredit/33887741275/sizes/l

5 Ways To Start Investing With Less Than $1,000

The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

There is a common misconception that you have to have thousands and thousands of dollars to start an investment portfolio, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are dozens of ways that you can start investing with $1,000 (or less). It’s important that you start investing for your future, but if you’ve never gotten in the investment waters, it can be a scary jump to make. Luckily, there are several simple ways that you can put your money to use.

 

Betterment

If you’re looking for a simple investment that you can make, without having to pour over different graphs and reports to decide which investment is the best option, then Betterment could be an excellent choice. Betterment is the better choice for anyone that is looking to set it and forget it.

With Betterment, all you have to do is create an account, set your goals, and start investing. After that, their robo-advisors will invest your money based on your risk preference and goals. They will even continue to reinvest your money as you make it, which means that all you have to do is sit back and watch your money grow. You can easily start investing with $1,000 and not have to worry about making the wrong choice for your money.

 

Motif

Maybe you want a little more control of how your money is invested, then Motif is another excellent option. Motif is an excellent website that allows you to purchase 30 stocks of companies that all revolve around the same idea. For example, you can buy 30 stocks in business that all deal with medical technology.

There are several advantages to Motif, but the most notable is that the trading fees are going to be drastically lower than any other brokerage that you’ll find. Motif allows you to invest in the industries that you want, without having to pay the massive fees.

 

Pay off Debt

Most people don’t see paying off debts as a form of investing, but it could be the best option for you $1,000. If you’ve got credit card bills or lingering student loans that have been hanging over your head, it’s vital that you pay those off as quickly as possible.

The amount of money that you’ll pay in interest will hinder the amount of money that you can invest. Use any extra money that you have to pay off those debts, then all the money that you save can be invested.

 

Save for College

If you have kids, you may not be thinking about sending them off to college yet, but that could be the perfect use for your extra dough. If you didn’t know, college is expensive. Very expensive. It’s important that you start saving as early as possible.

There are several ways that you can start saving for your children’s college, but the best way is to open up a 529 Plan. These are special accounts that you can put the money in, but you’ll get several tax advantages as long as you use the money for any college expenses.

 

Set it Aside for a Rainy Day

You never know when something is going to break or need replacing. If your water heater were to go out suddenly, or your car broke down, you probably wouldn’t have the money that you needed to pay for that bill, but setting aside the $1,000 is a simple way that you can invest in your future. That’s a great way to have a rainy day fund, which can prevent you from having to use a credit card for any sudden bills that you run into. It’s not the most exciting way that you can “invest” your money, but investing in your future by having a safety net is one of the wisest things that you can do with your money.

 

Investing $1,000

These are only a few of the hundreds of different ways that you can put your money to work. It’s vital that you make the best decision for you and your money. Investing is going to be the foundation for your future and the security of you and your family.

Take the time to look at all of your different options and decide which one is going to work best for you. It can be scary investing your money because of the horror stories, but thanks to the Internet, investing your hard-earned money has never been easier.

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/gotcredit/33502814980/sizes/l

Smart Money Management vs. Cheapness: The Eternal War

The following is a guest post by CM at Infinite Transcendence. Enjoy! 

Which Side Are You On?

People are often big on saving money since budgeting is a major part of life in your personal life and in business.  With poor money management, even the richest person can become poor very quickly.  There are countless stories of people with money going broke, and our country is a debtor nation.  Clearly, we need to spend and utilize our resources wisely.  The average person has student loans, car loans, mortgages, and a manner of other expenses.  Controlling these wisely is essential to living a life of freedom.

The difference comes down to how people choose to manage their money.  A few people manage their money from an overall cost evaluation while others simply cut down costs as much as possible no matter the expense.  Today, I’d like talk about the major difference between effective money management and being cheap.  This is something, when done properly, will make a major difference in how you live your life.  You will essentially increase your productivity while reducing costs.  That’s why smart money management is important.

 

What Is Cheapness?

Cheapness and effective money management are two different things.  Some prefer to use the word frugal to describe wiser money management.  I prefer the term smart money management because it looks at other factors outside of simple dollar and cents costs.  An individual who is cheap is someone who values monetary cost above all others.  They’ll waste immense amounts of time, comfort, energy, and sanity just to come ahead a few pennies.  They’ll drive clear shot across town to save a few pennies on gasoline.  Nothing is ever irrational if it’ll save them a few dollars, even if the cost is countless hours of frustration afterwards.

Have you ever:

1. Bought food that was expired just to save a few dollars?
2. Spent lots of time arguing over a minor price difference just to save a few dollars even if it meant burning a few bridges?
3. Sacrificed quality to an extreme level to get minor savings?
4. Massively inconvenienced yourself for a good deal: i.e. sleeping in front of a store for a weekend just to save on some item?
5. Gone without something you really need for a long time because you simply didn’t feel like paying the price?
6. Given up a lot of time, convenience, and quality in any other way in a disproportionate way compared to the cost?

These types of activities will only ensure that you end up further behind when it comes to building wealth and intelligent financial management.  People who want to succeed at not only managing money effectively but also in terms of building wealth will avoid this behavior like the plague because it only ensures that you’ll expend more time than what your money is worth.  Time is far more limited than money and people who want wealth are cheap with time.  Treat your time and your energy sacred.  You’ve already traded it once to make the money.  Don’t trade it again being cheap.  You’re then spending a multitude of time for a minor savings benefit.

 

The True Cost of Cheapness

People don’t look at the true overall cost of being cheap.  I have known many people who will indeed drive across town to save gas, or go through other extreme lengths to save a dollar.  One situation I remember with my own family was when we were moving.  Instead of paying for a larger U-Haul truck and hiring some extra help, they wanted to do it without help on a smaller truck.  It took around 7 trips and 4 trips on two smaller trucks to get it done.  What should have been a day or two job ended up taking several days.  This time could have been spent putting the items in the house or relaxing and using the time on something more fulfilling.

I had another friend who just used their cars instead of U-Haul and it took them an entire week!  They would have been better off hiring the help.  These things often come up in business where the time it would take to do something would be better off spent being subcontracted so that you can focus on the things that will generate you the most business.  It’s the principle of working “on” your business and not in it”.

Another negative is using cheap or inadequate tools.  This can easily run you in the red because you’ll have poorly done work or you’ll end up with sub-par equipment or machines that can fall apart on you.  This can even put you in risk in certain situations.  Many people have been harmed or killed due to machine malfunctions.  In most cases you’ll end up spending a lot of money fixing problems that could have been fixed the first time.  A $1000 job ends up costing $5000 because you tried to cheap out and spend $500.  Compounded with the time cost this is just not an effective way to manage your resources.

 

Avoiding Cheapness In The Future

Here are some ways to avoid cheap behavior in the future:

1. When making a purchase decision whether its’ a product or a service, analyze the true cost of everything. Time, money, frustration, and time spent fixing problems again should all be analyzed.
2. Think buying time instead of strictly saving money.
3. Hire people when you can. That time could be used to increase your productivity elsewhere. If you can hire someone for a job that’s $50 that takes them 7 hours, is it worth it to do it yourself when you make $20 an hour?  You’re paying yourself a low wage to do the work in this instance.
4. Use quality tools whenever you can. It saves time and you don’t have to replace them as often.
5. Use quality parts when doing repairs. Nothing is worse than nickel and diming yourself over cheapness.
6. Look at freeing yourself up. This means having the time to do the things you enjoy in life.

Following these tips should launch you ahead in managing your money and time resources adequately.  Simply remember with wealth management that time is a major factor as well as money.  Don’t squander your time for meager financial savings.  You’ll find that you end up digging yourself deeper into the hole.  Go out and start budgeting wisely today!

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7408506410/sizes/l

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying Your First Rental Property

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Laurie Blank.  Laurie is a wife, mother to 4 and homesteader who blogs about personal finance, self-sufficiency and life in general over at The Frugal Farmer. Part witty, part introspective and part silly, her goal in blogging is to help others find their way to financial freedom and to a simpler, more peaceful life.

There’s a certain appeal about owning and managing rental properties as a source of semi-passive income. Brick and mortar book stores, online websites and late night infomercials boast a luxury life where rental property owners do very little work and spend all day cruising around in their yachts, heading off to exotic destinations while the money just magically appears in their bank accounts.

The truth about rental property ownership is that there’s a little more to it than just buying a house and collecting rent checks. Before you jump into purchasing a rental property, it might be a good idea to ask yourself some questions such as the ones listed below.

 

Do I Thoroughly Understand How the Rental Property Business Works?

Before purchasing a rental property, it’s smart to educate yourself on how the rental property business works. What are the laws regarding tenants and evictions? What responsibility does a rental property owner have in terms of keeping the property in good condition? How can a property owner proceed legally if rent isn’t paid?

There are many legal and financial obligations surrounding rental properties that you should know about before jumping head first into this popular business venture. Checking out books by experts on the subject and reading past the benefits and discovering the risks will help ensure you don’t go into rental property ownership with rose-colored glasses or without an understanding of what your legal rights are – and what the legal rights of tenants are.

 

Does the Property Make Financial Sense to Purchase?

In other words, does the property “cash flow”? Will the property net you an income each month after the mortgage and taxes are paid, and additional money is subtracted for potential repairs and to cover potential vacancies?

One mistake many first time rental property owners make is that they buy a property based on potential appreciation of that property and don’t consider the cash flow aspect. However, assessing the cash flow potential of the property will help you avoid getting into a situation where a rental property is costing you money instead of making you money.

As you assess the price and maintenance costs of a property, it’s a smart idea to balance that with average rental costs in the area the home is located in so you have a good idea of what a reasonable monthly rent expectation is. Knowing what rent you can expect for the location, size and condition of the property will help you better determine whether or not the property will cash flow. If it won’t, you might want to offer a lower bid or avoid the property altogether.

 

Do I Understand the Financial Responsibilities of Purchasing/Owning the Home?

Purchasing a rental property will cost money out of your pocket if you don’t have an investor waiting in the wings to cover the costs. Most mortgage lenders require 20% to 25% down on rental property purchases.

Also, many properties require upfront repairs and modifications to make the home ready for tenants. If the home has a homeowners association (such as a condominium or townhome) there will be monthly HOA costs and potential larger costs for replacement items such as roofs. And let’s not forget the aforementioned vacancy costs and home repair costs. If the home is vacant for any length of time, the monthly mortgage payment on the property comes out of your pocket.  If the water heater goes out, you as the property owner are responsible for paying for a replacement.

Knowing all of the financial responsibilities before you buy will help you be prepared to shell out the cash needed to buy and maintain the property.

 

What’s My Plan if I Discover Rental Property Ownership Isn’t for Me?

Many investors have bought into the real estate rental game only to discover they weren’t cut out for the business. If that happens to you, what is your plan? Will you have a rental management team take over? If so, how will that cost affect your bottom line? Will you sell to another investor? If so, how will realtor’s fees and closing costs affect you financially?

It’s good planning to have an exit strategy mapped out before you purchase your first rental property so that you can work to absolve yourself of the property with minimal financial and other ramifications.

Rental property investments can be a great way to grow your wealth, provided you know what you’re getting into before you buy that first property. Spend plenty of time educating yourself on the ins and outs of rental property ownership before you invest, so that your experience as a real estate investor will be a good one.

How about you all? Do you think owning a rental property would be right for you?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/gold-beach-real-estate/4641338334/sizes/o/

Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Discounts

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Marie. You can read more of Marie’s articles over at her own blog, Family Money Values. Enjoy! 

After I started blogging at Family Money Values, my research led me to discover the “Woodstock for Capitalist” – the annual meeting of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway company.

 

The meeting.

To my knowledge, this is the only shareholder meeting that offers not only a chance to vote on proxy items in person, but also access to the ‘sage of Wall Street’ and his side kick Charlie Munger as well as a chance to glimpse some of the board members, including Bill Gates.  Buffett and Munger (he is a riot by the way) host a question answer period to a jam packed convention hall for most of the day.  The actual meeting typically lasts less than an hour.

There are dinners, a chance to mingle the night before with other shareholders, a 5k run, a huge exhibition hall and multiple shareholder discounts.

Eager to see the spectacle, I bought B shares of BRK stock in 2012.  Unlike the A shares (which as of 5/2/17 were valued at about a quarter of a million dollars per share), the B shares were only around $112 per share.

That first year, my spouse, my two grown sons and I drove to Omaha and spent the night so we could get to the meeting in time to see the movie.  The hotels were booked as early as January but we managed to get two rooms in a not so nice hotel at a price I could stomach.  We drove to the meeting in the morning and made it in time to see the starting movie – from the nosebleed section of the hall.  It was sort of a funny movie, with a lot of subtle and not so subtle advertising for Berkshire companies.

It was interesting seeing and listening to Buffett and Munger and hearing the questions folks came up with.

For lunch, the food vendor stalls in the hall are open and doing a brisk business.  We ate standing up as their were no empty seats.

Later, we strolled down to the exhibition hall and looked around.  There were some pretty good discounts (we bought a couple of knife sets) and then there were things that still seemed a bit too expensive (like the See’s Candy)

We didn’t take advantage of the 5k run, the reception on Friday at Borscheims, the steak dinner for shareholders (you still have to pay) at Gorat’s, or compete with Buffett in the Newspaper throwing challenge.  Nor did we get over to the Omaha Nebraska Furniture Mart or the Borscheims – where even more shareholder discounts were said to occur.  We did ride over to see the Netjets planes at the hanger.

Each year since, my spouse and I have attended the meeting – driving up the morning of it.

As the meeting attendance has swelled over the years, straining the area resources (hotels, convention room etc), the Berkshire folks have made some adjustments.

Last year, they initiated a live stream of the Saturday meetings.  If you are interested you can view that on Yahoo Finance https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream/

 

The discounts.

This year, Berkshire-Hathaway opened up the shareholder discounts to include all locations of the Nebraska Furniture Mart – NFM –  (Omaha, Kansas City and Dallas-Fort Worth), instead of limiting the discounts to the Omaha store.

I was excited about this one as we live near one of the other stores and was hopeful that the discount amounts would be significant, since we had gotten some good deals in the exhibit hall.  So, as soon as our proxy material arrived, with the form to fill out to receive shareholder credentials (which you need to get into the meeting and to get the discounts), I sent it back and got our max of 4 credentials in the mail.

The discounts run for several days prior to and throughout the weekend of the annual meeting. Yesterday was the first day of the NFM discounts so I geared up and went shopping to check them out.

As I had never been and couldn’t find any information online, I had no idea about what to expect.  Would they be limited to certain items?  Would the discounts be a set percent?

As soon as I entered the store, I asked the first person encountered how the discounts worked.  Unfortunately, that person was a security guard and didn’t have much information.  But he did tell me that I should talk to a sales person.  The appliance section was near (NFM at this location is huge so distance mattered!) and I quickly found a salesman to help me out.  Here is what I found.

The discounts are embedded inside the store’s database, not displayed anywhere.  You have to find an item in which you are interested, scout out a salesperson (who is usually on commission), show him your credential and ask him what the discounted price is.

Alternately, if you are the actual shareholder, you are in that database too and you can call in to check on prices and make an order.

 

Examples of the underwhelming discounts

So, I checked out some of the items I’m interested in obtaining to see what kind of discount they had.

I was underwhelmed, to be honest.

• Samsung washer – manufacturer suggested retail price of $899, sale price to any shopper that day at NM of $643, and BRK shareholder discounted price of $630. Hmmm only $13 less than anyone else.
• Samsung matching dryer – same prices as the washer.
• GE black basic refrigerator freezer with ice maker – manufacturer suggested retail price of $994, no sale price to any shopper that day, BRK shareholder discounted price of $974.12 – only discounted $19.88.
• Wood swivel counter height stool – regular NFM price of $159, discounted for shareholders to $127. While this was a better percentage than the appliances I checked, it was nowhere near the 30% off I had dreamed about.
• Upholstered swivel counter height stool – regular NFM price of $369, discounted for shareholders to $295.

While it is nice to get a shareholder discount, the process used and the seemingly small percentage off what others pay was discouraging and time consuming.

Still if you are buying something anyway, and have access to shareholder credentials, it is worth checking out.  Who knows, maybe other merchandise was discounted at a higher percentage.

I have enjoyed going to the meetings and hearing first hand from the sage, but even better has been the growth in share price of BRK-B (which was at $166.65) as of the last quote – a rise of $54.65 per share – gee, which I had bought more!

Discounts aren’t everything. How about you all? Have you encountered any underwhelming discounts recently?

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/132053576@N03/17063139357/sizes/l

7 Tips for Helping You Sell Your Home Quickly

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer,Laurie Blank.  Laurie is a wife, mother to 4 and homesteader who blogs about personal finance, self-sufficiency and life in general over at The Frugal Farmer. Part witty, part introspective and part silly, her goal in blogging is to help others find their way to financial freedom and to a simpler, more peaceful life.

Real estate experts say spring is the busiest home buying season, with June being the peak month for home sales. However, simply listing your house for sale during the busy season won’t necessarily get it sold quickly. Appearance and marking still play a part.

Here are 7 things you can do to help your home sell fast no matter what the market.

1. Use a Good Realtor

As with any other profession, not all realtors are good at what they do. Ask for referrals from friends and family, and interview at least three realtors before choosing the one who will help you sell your home. A good realtor can mean the difference between a pleasant home selling experience and a not-so-pleasant one.

2. Stage Your Home Well

Staging your home means making it look as much as possible like a model home you would see in a new housing development. Staging well involves taking special care to make your home shine using the following techniques.

Do Some Serious Decluttering & Depersonalizing

The goal with staging is to enable those who view your home at showings to be able to see themselves living there. Put away all items that personalize your home, such as family photos, monogrammed items and stuffed animals.

Also, minimize the amount of stuff that is in your home, even in closets and storage areas. You want your home to appear as if there is plenty of room in it and as if it is well taken care of and kept super clean. This might mean needing to rent a storage garage or having to give away lots of “stuff” to local thrift stores. Your home should look its very best, being clean, shiny and uncluttered.

Remove Overly Worn and Tacky Furniture and Accessories

That singing fish you got from Uncle Joe last Christmas? Yeah, that needs to go while your house is on the market. So does any overly worn furniture or accessories. If you need to replace overly worn items, do so by buying stuff you were going to purchase anyway or by getting super good deals on replacement items at thrift stores or on Craigslist. Make sure any new items you bring into your home match the current décor and don’t carry with them any odd smells or stains.

Update the Interior

If you’re still boasting mint green and peach walls and bedding, now might be the time to change things up. Paint where necessary using modern and neutral colors that appeal to a large variety of tastes on your walls and for your bedding, etc.

Don’t Forget Curb Appeal

The last but possibly most important part of staging your home to sell is to make sure your lawn looks neat and attractive. Make sure that the lawn is mowed, weeds are eliminated and any flowers or bushes are well trimmed. Remove and clutter from the yard and be sure the entrance area appears welcoming by adding a small mat, sitting bench, flowers or other accessories. Your house should shine on the outside as well as on the inside.

3. Price it Right

Your realtor should be able to show you comparable sales and listings that can give you an idea of what price you should list your house for. Use your own research too, checking online for similar sizes and conditions of homes in similar areas to help determine what you should price your house at. Pricing too high will result in a longer market time, and pricing too low will mean you lose out on thousands in cash.

4. Make it Easy to View Your Home

Be accommodating to prospective buyers and be ready to leave your home for showings on short notice, keeping it clean and organized at all times. Prospective buyers who have to try two and three times to see your house may just give up and shop elsewhere.

5. Remove Evidence of Pets

Where possible, remove all pet paraphernalia such as litter boxes, pet toys and feeding bowls. Also, make sure your house is thoroughly vacuumed and get the carpets cleaned if necessary, so that pet evidence is minimal to none.

6. Ensure the Listing Has Good Photos

Photos on your listing should be of good quality, accenting the best features of your home. Have a large kitchen? Make sure your realtor takes the picture from the view that will best highlight that. Does your master bath have a Jacuzzi tub? If so, include that in the pictures. The photos on your listing should help your home put its best foot forward.

7. Be Willing to Negotiate

When buyers make an offer on a home, they will often ask for perks such as seller paid closing costs or the inclusion of furniture or other items. Your home will sell faster if you are flexible on your price and/or other aspects that make potential buyers feel like they are getting a good deal.

By taking the steps above you are creating an environment that will help your home sell quickly and easily.

How about you all? What features attract you when you are home shopping?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/cloneofsnake/727899051/sizes/l

Facing High Medical Debt? Here’s What You Should Do

The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Toi Williams, who is a professional finance blogger for MarketBeat. She has backgrounds in personal finance, sales, and real estate.

Medical debt is becoming a big problem for many in the United States. According to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, medical debt collections currently make up about 52 percent of collection accounts on credit reports, a much higher rate than other types of debt. About a quarter of adults ages 18 to 64 reported having past-due medical debt in 2015, compared with 10 percent of people over 65. An estimated 43 million consumers with a credit report at a nationwide consumer reporting agency have one or more medical accounts in collection.

Of the consumers with only medical collections accounts, 50 percent have otherwise “clean” credit reports. However, having a single collections item on a credit report can hurt a credit score severely. A person with a FICO score of 680 could see their credit score drop 45-65 points once a collections account has been added to the information. Someone with a score of 780 could see a decline of 105-125 points.

This makes it very important to act on the medical debt quickly before it is sent to collections. There is currently no set standard for when a medical debt will be sent to collections, so it could happen anywhere between 30 – 180 days past the billing date. Here are some steps to take that will make handling high medical debt a little easier.

 

Examine Medical Bills Carefully For Errors

Medical bills are complicated and are often full of codes and terms that you may not understand. Those with chronic conditions, medical emergencies, or lengthy hospital stays face even more challenges because their care often results in multiple bills from multiple providers. Requesting itemized bill from each provider will allow you to check how much you were charged for each service.

When reviewing your medical bills, make sure that you were not mistakenly charged for services you didn’t receive. If a provider listed is unfamiliar, check the date of service to see if you had a medical treatment that day. Some providers may be associated with a hospital where you were treated but chose to bill you directly for the services.

 

Review Circumstances Of Denied Coverage

Many cases of high medical debt are due to the patient’s insurer denying coverage for certain procedures. Unless it is a medical emergency, in most cases you will know what your insurance will cover before receiving treatment. If coverage is denied for something that you believe should have been covered, there are several things that you can do.

First, review your health insurance policy to see exactly what providers and procedures are covered under your plan. If the questionable items should be covered, make sure your provider has your correct insurance info and that they used the correct billing codes when submitting the claim to your insurance company. A small mistake can lead to expensive bills for procedures that your insurance should have covered.

 

Dispute Inaccurate Charges

If you have reviewed your medical bills and find that you have been charged incorrectly, it is important to dispute the bill as quickly as you can. The first step is to send a written notice to the provider detailing which portions of the bill you are disputing. Be sure to send copies of all relevant documents along with the written notice, including copies of the bills with the errors clearly indicated and copies of medical records related to your claim.

In many cases, the provider will revise the bill to correct the errors once this notification has been received. It is important to stay on top of the matter until you can confirm that the necessary changes have been made. Keep a record of contacts made with the provider in your efforts to correct the bill. This information can be valuable if the medical bill is sent to collections still containing errors.

 

Ask If Discounts, Payment Plans, Or Financial Assistance Is Available

Medical care providers know that many people have trouble paying high medical debt and many offer ways to make paying the debt easier. For example, some medical providers will offer a discount to those that can pay the discounted amount right away. Others will accept the Medicare rate for their services, which is typically lower than the rate charged by private insurers. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

Some hospitals and clinics have a financial-assistance program to help people that are unable to pay their bills, but there are typically income limitations on who can apply for these programs. The provider might also offer a monthly payment plan that enables you to pay off the debt in installments at little or no interest. You may also be able to negotiate the amount due directly with your health care provider. In many cases, they will be willing to work with you to come up with a plan that you can afford.

One of the worst things you can do is put large amounts of medical debt on your credit card. If you cannot pay off the balance right away, you will be subject to a much higher interest rate on the debt than the provider would have charged you. If the debt is sent to collections, it will look like any other credit card debt to creditors, severely harming your ability to obtain credit in the future. Explore other options for repayment first and only use your credit card if you can pay off the entire amount before the next billing cycle.

How about you all? Have you been struggling with high medical debt? How have you been coping? Tell us in the comments.

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/4567202913/sizes/l

A Talk All Couples Should Have

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Marie. You can read more of Marie’s articles over at her own blog, Family Money Values. Enjoy! 

After 9/11/2001, I started sharing a written record of our finances, with our children – who are our trustees.  Each year, I try to update it to make sure it somewhat matches reality.  It is meant to be a help if both my spouse and I die together and the kids have to pick up the pieces.

This year, as I was doing my updating, I realized that was not enough.  I am the primarily financial person in our marriage at this point.  I make the investment decisions, update the financial records and file the papers.  I usually do the prep work for our taxes to send to the accountant.  My husband and I do freely discuss our finances and do split some of the financial duties.  For example, he usually pays the bills and subtracts out the check register, while I do most of the other planning and reconciling work.  I also run both of our two limited liability corporations, since he is interested in neither.

Lately I’ve come to realize that my spouse may not know what to do if I die first, and my family history is of early death while his is of longevity.

He has never had to deal with the minutiae of death, and I have minimal experience.  There is a lot to do when one of a couple dies and if no discussion has happened the decisions involved can be heart rending.

Immediate decisions as to life support withdrawal, organ donation, preferences on how the body is handled, and things like what kind of wake to hold, where the service should be, and how much to spend on a funeral are just a few of many the surviving spouse will have to handle quickly.

Becoming single after our 45 plus years of being a couple will be a dramatic change for the survivor.  While documenting financial activities and accounts is important and needed, knowing ahead of time what your partner might prefer you to do can help the surviving spouse handle those immediate and imminent decisions during a grief filled, busy and stressful period.

 

Have that death talk.

Suggested questions for discussion/decision could be as follows.

 

Do you want to donate any organs?

How does each spouse feel about it?  What do you think the relative’s reactions will be – will they make it hard on the survivor?

 

Do you want to prepare a living will and/or a medical power of attorney?

What are your wishes if you can’t speak for yourself.

When my Dad’s cancer was determined to be terminal, he and Mom had this discussion and their decision was to do everything possible to save Dad.  He was after all only 65.

 

What do you want done with your body?

Do you want to be cremated, embalmed, buried naturally?  Do you want an open casket or a closed casket?  Do you want your body preserved within concrete vaults so it doesn’t decompose or do you want your earthly remains to decompose? Does your religion approve of your wishes and if not, how will your family handle it when the survivor implements your decision.  For instance, my husband was raised Roman Catholic.  According to Church doctrine, having an intact body at the funeral is of high importance.  Does that mean cremation is out?

 

Where do you want to be interred?

Do you want a particular cemetery or type of cemetery (religious, green, local, family and etc).  Should there be a head stone, or flat to the ground grave marker?  How do you want it engraved?  If cremated, what should be done with your ashes, your urn?  Would you prefer they be placed in a mausoleum/Columbarium, scattered, kept in the family home, etc?.

 

How much do you think should be spent on your funeral?

Just discuss to get an idea of what price levels you each think are appropriate?  Do you want to go with bare bones arrangements or something more elegant (and can you afford it)?

 

What should be considered for your memorial service?

Do you have certain songs, music, passages or speakers you want to involve in the funeral service?

Do you want others to stand up and give eulogies?  Should that be done at the funeral service, during the visitation, online or some other way.

 

Are there any documents or pictures you want to make sure get distributed?

I am planning on writing my autobiography.  I’ve asked my spouse to make sure that whatever I have done at the time of my death gets distributed to my heirs.  On a similar note, it is important to me to have my side of the family genealogy and history (which I spent considerable time gathering) preserved and passed along to future generations.

 

What do you want to leave as your legacy?

Is it important to you to leave assets to the kids or grand kids?  Do you want to fund certain charities or organizations (either with your assets or via donations in lieu of flowers at your service).  Are there certain accomplishments you wish to have memorialized  – such as Thomas Jefferson did when he instructed that of all his many accomplishments only 3 were to be memorialized – being the author of the Declaration of American Independence and of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom and being the father of the University of Virginia.

 

What income and expense levels can the survivor expect?

Now is the time to do some planning to make sure your partner will not be driven into the poor house when you die.

Our good friend Bill was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  He was a funny, hardworking carpenter, but he had no pension, no savings and his wife there fore would have no income.  She was handicapped and was suddenly left, not only without her life partner, but also without any economic support.

 

What tasks are done substantially by one person or the other?

Discuss how you have divided up the chores of life.  Make sure the other person is aware of all you do,  how to do it, when to do it and why to do it.

Bring the other party up to speed, especially on critical and financial tasks.  Make sure each one is aware of how to find things, who to call, and etc.  Make sure there is a common list available to both of doctors, mechanics, dentists, lawyers, accountants and etc.

 

How do you picture your life changing when I’m gone?

Help each other envision what life might be like when left behind.  By all accounts widows and widowers have a long, hard, somewhat lonely road ahead the first few years after the death of a partner.

But thinking (and talking) through possible scenarios can be helpful.   Will you keep the house?  How do you feel about  being single?  Do you think you might marry again some day (and how does the other person feel about that)?  Are there things you might want to explore that perhaps you didn’t have a chance to pursue so far?

 

What kinds of things are you going to do to get past the first couple of years alone?

Some experts say that keeping busy and socially involved can  help.  Others say you should grieve however you want.  Some say don’t make any big changes, as you are not in your best mental state while grieving.  How will you handle day to day activities that require more than one person?  Who will you call when you want or need to talk.

 

What do you want done with your ‘stuff’?

My spouse is a collector.  He fears that all of his wonderful collections will be sold off, because the heirs don’t want them.

Should there be a museum?  Is there a charity you should donate it to?  Are there certain things with special meaning you would like passed along to certain people?  My Mom requested that her jewelry be passed down the female side of the family.  I’m doing the same with all of her jewelry and with mine.

Life can and does end suddenly at times, totally unexpected.  Although not a fun topic, the above death talk is worth talking through.

How about you all? What difficulties do you foresee in initiating such a discussion with your life partner?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/halfchinese/235051813/sizes/l