My Personal Finance Journey

All posts by Jacob A Irwin

How the Frugal Mindset Will Change Your Life

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, SK. SK writes about the reasons we get into debt, changing the patterns that get us into debt, and examines small business ownership and real estate investing at her blog, American Debt Project. 

Being American wasn’t always synonymous with being wasteful. The facts are fairly well cited by now: 

  • Americans consume nearly a quarter of the world’s energy even though we make up only 5% of the population. 
  • We’re known for throwing away more garbage per capita than any other country in the world. 


We’ve become the ultimate conspicuous consumers with little to show for it. But, what I love about America is that we are one bootstrapping place, and we’re not afraid to make changes when we need to. I want to talk about how being just a little more frugal (or thrifty) will change your life and hopefully make the unflattering stereotype of the wasteful, reckless American a little less prevalent.


1. Being Frugal Means Being More Resourceful and Creative

When you first become frugal, you’ll start looking at every thing twice. Can I use these extra ripe bananas in a smoothie or some banana bread? If this cell phone bill is too high, can I find another option like getting a phone through work or finding a cheap prepaid option? What other entertainment can I take advantage of besides cable television? Do I really need day moisturizer and night moisturizer, or do they pretty much do the same thing? You’ll be able to cut out what you don’t need, make better use of what you have, and be excited about all the cool things you can do without a lot of money.


2. Being Frugal Gives You Discipline

Being frugal means making a choice. You may not be able to go to every single new release movie or eat at every fine restaurant within a 20-mile radius, and you have to cut out some or all of these activities to get to your goals. We don’t like to discipline ourselves: getting up early in the morning, working out everyday, staying on top of your tasks daily. None of those sound extra exciting, but we need to discipline to keep ourselves on track and make our lives and bodies what we want them to be. Seeing the changes that come about in your finances will make you excited to what else you can change, and suddenly, getting up a little earlier to work out doesn’t seem nearly as daunting.


3. Your Frugal Mindset has Less Stress and Gets More Done

Even though you might think you get more done working at the last minute before a deadline or when you are filled with stress, less stress makes you more productive. If you get serious about being frugal, saving money on your current expenses and approaching your new expenses with better insight and planning, then you won’t feel stressed with each new financial situation or expense. You’ll know you can handle your upcoming expenses and your relaxed mind can now focus on more important things: like a project or a business idea. It’s easier to focus and concentrate when you are not reacting to stress or feeling stressed constantly.

How about you all? Has being more frugal changed your life in other ways? 

 Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/4518528819/sizes/o/in/photostream/

    5 Tips for Business Success

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    Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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    The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

    Running a business isn’t easy. Large or small, there are lots of challenges in running any successful company. Mostly, these are financial. After all, business success is most easily measured in profit.
    To this effect, here are 5 tips to achieve success with your business. Whether it’s using online accounting software, or making sure that your staff get paid, these are all tips that can have a large impact on your business and its success.
    1. Monitor your cash flow
    When talking about financial success, your cash flow is key. Your cash flow shows both your income and outgoings; as such, you can easily and effectively see the success of your company. If you’re spending more money than you are making, then obviously you should be able to see that you are losing money. 

    Cash flow also involves monitoring of future expenditure; for example, if you can see that there is a big bill coming up in the next few months, such as a VAT or corporation tax bill, you need to plan ahead as to how you will be able to pay the bill as a business.
    Actively monitoring this on a regular basis can provide warning signals as to whether something might go wrong. If the flow of cash into your business starts to dry up, then that’s a clear warning that something might be wrong.
    1. Reliable Accounts Management
    Similar to your cash flow, it’s important to reliably manage your accounts. Great profits can be ruined by sloppy accountancy, so you need to trust whomever you place in charge of this. Whilst an educated accountant has many benefits, they are often highly expensive.
    A much more affordable option could be to utilise online accounts services. Not only do these allow you access to your accounts anywhere and at any time, but they also provide reliable and accurate results and figures. Many of these services can work in conjunction with your accountants, but give you great flexibility in terms of management.
    1. Pay your employees
    This might seem obvious, but a reliable payroll system can greatly affect a company’s success. Failure to pay your employees and sub-contractors on time can have disastrous results. Not only does it risk productivity, but there is the risk of lawsuits and legal action in extreme situations. You have an obligation to pay your staff; don’t assume it’s the first area you’re able to hold back on when you experience cash flow difficulties. A service such as Sage One Payroll makes it easy to manage your payroll and keep on top of legislative requirements.
    1. Budgeting
    Whilst monitoring your cash flow and managing your accounts will generally keep your finances in a healthy shape, budgeting also has its own advantages. In business terms, this means you should always be looking for better offers. Whether it’s acquiring stock or cheaper methods of sending out goods, there are various ways to reduce expenditure without sacrificing quality or productivity.
    1. Seek Advice
    Even if your company is successful, it’s not perfect. You should always seek advice on how to improve your company or service. Whether it is asking the public about your products, or seeking financial advice, there is always an opportunity to improve. 
     

    How about you all? What are one or two of the best tips you’ve ever received for how to succeed in your business life?

     Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtyhacker/2171524811/sizes/l/in/photostream/

    Help a Reader: Getting a Second Credit Card

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    Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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    Recently, I received the question below from a reader:

    Hey Jacob! I had a quick question I wanted to run by you. I think I should get another credit card, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions. 

    I currently have a Chase Freedom Visa that I use all the time. I was thinking of getting a Mastercard for diversity of cards (in case Visa is not accepted somewhere) and maybe something with good miles points. I got an application for a US Airways Mastercard that has great benefits, but it carries an annual fee and that generally goes against what I think a credit card is for. I don’t use my car very much, so I don’t think getting a gas credit card would make much sense. But anyway, if you have any advice to pass along that would be great! Thanks. 


    What advice would you give this reader? Should they get a second credit card? If so, what type of credit card would you recommend?


    Listed below are my thoughts (before I found out that they didn’t want a gas credit card):
    Great to hear from you! I hope you’re doing well.

    That’s a good question you have there! Personally, I think it’s a good idea to have a couple of different credit cards in the unlikely event that you lose one and need a backup for personal use. 

    There really is no diversification benefit as far as getting several credit cards in the event that one of the companies fails like you would diversify with stock investing, since 1) Mastercard and Visa I believe are owned by the same people and 2) the institution that actually ‘loans’ you the money for the transaction is the bank that you have the card with (Chase, for example). Mastercard or Visa only handle the path through infrastructure. 

    In addition, in the past 4 years, I personally have not been to an establishment that accepted MasterCard, but not Visa, so I think you would be OK with getting either type of card.

    In general, credit cards with annual fees aren’t worth it unless you are REALLY going to utilize the card for the benefits. For example, airways credit cards aren’t worth the annual fee unless you fly every week or use the card to pay for work trip flights. 

    There are a lot of great no annual fee credit cards out there. This web site gives a good list of them if you want to take a look –http://www.creditcards.com/reward.php.

    I use the Chase Freedom Card that you have for all of my purchases, but I also have a Chase BP Credit Card that I use for all of my gas purchases. It gives 5 percent cash back for all purchases at BP gas stations and has no annual fee. You might think about getting a gas credit card for your second card as well! Hope it all works out for you and thanks for your question!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/imtfi/5867775813/lightbox/

      Getting Travel Insurance is Worth the Risk

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      The following is a guest post written on behalf of Hughes Carlisle – http://www.hughescarlisle.com. You can visit their site for additional advice on a range of issues.

      Getting Travel Insurance is Worth the Risk


      If you plan to take a vacation abroad, there will be many things to organize  However, the one thing that many people leave to the last minute is the decision whether or not to buy travel insurance. Some people choose not to bother because they are confused by the types of policies and levels of cover available; however for anyone travelling abroad, travel insurance is vital. Follow our guide to travel insurance and find out why everyone should have it.

      Types of insurance and cover

      There are several types of travel insurance on the market, and they are usually broken down into gold, silver and bronze cover; with the main difference being that the amount paid out for each eventuality increases depending on which level you choose. There will also be a different excess (deductibles) for each type of policy. The main types of policy are ‘single trip’ or ‘annual multi-trip’ with other specialist policies being available such as those that cover winter sports and people travelling on a gap year or extended holiday.
      Policies do vary, but the sorts of things that are normally covered include emergency medical expenses, personal accident, personal money, passport, documents, and cancellations or delays to your trip. The amount that will be paid out in each eventuality will vary depending on the level of cover you have chosen.
      Most policies will also include an element of legal cover, and this can be necessary, if, for example you are involved in any incidents or accidents during your holiday which may involve the emergency services. There are solicitors in the UK who cover both holiday and road traffic accidents in Liverpool among other places and will be able to help you and whose costs should be covered, if you need them when you return from your holiday.
      There will be certain circumstances where travel insurance will almost always not pay out, including drinking too much alcohol, participating in activities that are not covered (Running of Bulls might be included in this!) and loss of enjoyment.

      Why you should buy travel insurance

      Although travel insurance can seem like another expense on top of the cost of your holiday, if you do not have it, you could end up paying out much more if anything should happen. Circumstances where your insurance could be invaluable include your flight being cancelled, if you have a medical emergency while you are away, or you are a victim of theft.

      Making sure you buy the right travel insurance 


      Ensuring that you are purchasing the most appropriate cover is not just important in terms of what is covered but also in financial terms. You may discover that you already have some things covered through home, life and car insurance, so you might only need the most basic travel insurance policy and can avoid paying out unnecessarily for a more expensive policy.

      The most cost-effective way to purchase insurance is through an independent insurer rather than your tour operator or travel agent and to shop around. Use price comparison websites to make sure that you are getting the best value for money. It is also important to make sure you mention any medical conditions which may affect the insurance. While this may mean that your premium will be higher, as long as the insurer is fully aware of any conditions, they should pay out if necessary.
      The value of getting travel insurance before you go abroad cannot be underestimated and knowing that you have it will mean that you can have a stress-free and enjoyable holiday.

      How about you all? Have you ever taken out a travel insurance policy before going on a trip to another country? Are you aware of if any of your existing insurance policies covers travel-related incidents?

       Share your experiences by commenting below!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy/5566283661/sizes/l/in/photostream/

        The Snowball Effect: Simple, Effective Debt Reduction

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        Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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         The following article is by MPFJ staff writer, Miss T, from Prairie Eco-Thrifter. If you want to learn how to live your dream life in a sustainable, healthy, and money savvy way, check out her site here.

         Are you snowed under with debt? 

         If you are, you are among the tens of thousands of people struggling to keep their heads above water. A growing number of people are struggling with a home mortgage, a couple of loans, as well as numerous credit cards (the other day, I heard of one guy who has more than thirty cards!) 

         Every month, they have to perform a juggling act to find the payments and not fall behind. When you use the snowball effect, you target one debt at a time, freeing up extra funds to get it paid off faster. It’s really quite simple, but you’ll need to be disciplined and committed to sticking to it.

        Let’s look at a fictional case study:

        Bob and Margaret are a couple in their mid thirties with three kids at school. Bob has a well-paying job as a Sales Manager; Margaret works part-time in a fashion boutique so she can be home for the children after school. They have a mortgage, a car loan for the new SUV they bought last year, a personal loan for the holiday they took to Disneyland with the kids, three store cards, and six credit cards. 

        They use their credit cards for most things they buy and just make the minimum repayments each month. Usually, this means that they have to use one card to make the payment of another – a process commonly called robbing Peter to pay Paul.


         They sound like a fairly typical family, don’t they? Like so many others, they were managing OK, until an unexpected emergency happened. Margaret got sick, so they had extra medical bills, and she couldn’t work for six weeks. The credit card and loan payments fell behind, and all cards became maxed out; they started receiving letters of demand. This was when Bob and Margaret realized that they needed help; they did the best thing they could have done – they consulted a debt consolidation specialist (which can often be costly in and of themselves!). Ignoring your worsening debt situation is the worst thing you can do.

         This was when they heard about the snowball strategy, among other things. 

         This method of debt reduction involves paying just the minimum repayment on all debts while throwing all the extra cash you can at one debt to get it paid off quickly. When you get one out of the way, you put the money you were paying off the first debt, onto the next one to get it paid off quickly too. Make sense?

         If you have multiple credit cards and/or store cards, and are struggling to maintain their payments and get the balances down, the snowball method is for you.

         It’s simple, but it isn’t going to be easy, especially at first. You’re going to have to have commitment, discipline and persistence. It will only work effectively if you are committed to becoming debt-free, and have the discipline to pay as much as you can every month off the debt you are working on. Can you do that, do you think? Of course you can!

        Here’s what to do to get started: 

        • Make a list of every debt you have.
          •  Against each debt, list the amount owing, the minimum repayment and the interest rate. 
        • Now, arrange them with the smallest account balance at the top of the list and the biggest at the bottom.
        • Next, add up all your minimum repayments. Check your household budget.

        What! You don’t have a budget written down?

        OK, that’s the first job. You have to know where your income goes and how much excess cash you can find to throw at these debts. (I said you needed commitment and discipline, didn’t I?)

         The biggest thing your budget should tell you is that you spend less than you earn. Maybe you are like so many others and you have been spending more than you earn – this is a recipe for financial disaster, as you’ve probably already found out.

        To make this method work for you, you need to have sufficient income to cover all your minimum repayments and still have some money left over. If you don’t, get some professional financial help right away before it gets any worse.

        OK, now you’re ready to get started on getting rid of one credit card completely. Sound good? Great!

        Decide which one it will be – usually the one with the smallest balance because it will be the quickest one to get rid of and you’ll feel fantastic when you have your first financial ‘win’.

        So, you keep making all your minimum repayments, including the one you are targeting first to snowball – this is really important as you don’t want to fall behind with anything.

        Check your budget to see how much extra you have each month, because you are going to throw all the spare cash you can lay your hands on, at your smallest balance. Be creative; look for new ways to find an extra few dollars every month – eat at home more; take your lunch to work; hold a yard sale. The more you can throw at it, the sooner it will be gone! So will some of your stress!

        This first account will soon be paid in full. This next step is vital – cut the credit card up! This is the only way to prevent getting back where you were before.

        Now, choose the next lowest balance to attack.

        Like before, you keep making all those minimum repayments; at the same time, put the amount you were paying off the first account, onto your new target along with its minimum repayment. Keep finding ways to free up some extra cash and throw this at your new target too. When you pay this one off, cut up that card too and then throw all the money you had been paying off it onto the next one on your list.

        See how the cash has snowballed so you can throw so much more at the one debt as you get more paid off?

        You must keep the discipline up, or all will be lost. Don’t be tempted to use the money you were paying off an account for any other purpose than throwing at the next debt. Give yourself a little reward each month for staying on track and reducing your balances. Soon all those nasty cards will be paid off!

         So, are you in debt? If so, what have you tried to do in reducing it?

        ****Photo courtesy of sparkia

        Increasing Fuel Prices Require Increased Creativity

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        Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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        The following is a guest post sponsored by the Energ Group, which specializes in assisting people with additional cost saving measures to help with their energy bills or general energy updates and building management systems. Enjoy! 


        Increasing Fuel Prices Requires Increased Creativity


        As fuel bills continue to rise, energy efficiency is a vital part of every household budget. The best strategy is to start from the outside and the structure of the house and then work inwards to the fixtures and fittings.

        Insulation

        The heat in every house rises through the ceiling of a room, into the attic, and out of the roof to the outdoors. Preserve this heat by insulating the attic. Newly built homes will have cavity walls, so ensure that these, as well as the attic in older homes, are well insulated. Use fiberglass  cellulose, or polystyrene as the insulating material, depending on your budget and the shape of the spaces to be insulated.
        Double glazed windows are superior insulators to single glazing. If your budget cannot stretch to replacing the windows, make sure that any air spaces or leaks around the windows are well sealed. Curtains are some of the best insulating material for windows. Try to hang some that extend from the floor to the ceiling for the best insulation effect.

        Heating

        Try replacing your existing heating system with a ground source heat pump. These pumps harness the heat from the earth with a mechanism that operates rather like a fridge in reverse. A network of pipes is buried in the ground to a depth of between four and 100 feet. A mixture of water an anti freeze is pumped through the pipes, warmed by the deep ground temperature, and is pumped back to a domestic heating system. Ground heat pumps use a combination of an evaporator, compressor, and condenser connected to the domestic hot water supply, and heating will increase the temperature to about 48 degrees C. This heat is sufficient to use in radiators, hot water systems, and under floor heating.
        Meanwhile, turn down the thermostats on your heating and hot water systems. You always need far less heat than you imagine. There is little purpose in having scalding hot water coming out from a tap. If you have a hot water tank, make sure it is properly insulated.

        Fixtures

        Replace incandescent light bulbs with LED lights. LED lights have between four and 20 times the lifetime of both incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). They do not shatter to pieces and do not produce poisonous mercury vapor like the CFLs.
        Throw away old electric appliances. These eat up more energy than you may calculate. If you are keeping party food in an old fridge for another occasion, you’ll probably save more money by buying a fresh supply. The best rule is to have just one fridge in the house but make sure you have the most energy efficient model. Also, work out the configuration of your fridge and freezer. It can be more energy efficient to have a freezer incorporated into the fridge rather than a stand alone freezing cabinet. It may be worth calculating just how much food you need to keep frozen and how much you can buy fresh day to day.
        Always turn off electrical appliances when they are not in use. A television or computer on stand by uses as much electricity as when it is functioning.

        How about you all? What strategies do you use to save some money on your energy bills? 

        Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinmusic/39529798/sizes/l/in/photostream/

          Are Men or Women Better Investors?

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          Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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          Ah yes – the never-ending interest in explorations of the differences between men and women in different financial issues rolls on on My Personal Finance Journey! 
           
          Today, I am interested in doing a little research and hypothesizing about whether or not men or women make/are better investors.
           

          Cue the Stereotypes…

           

          However, before we get started digging in to the actual facts, let’s explore some of the possible stereotypes of men vs. women I found on the Internet that might contribute in some shape or form to one sex emerging as the better investor. 


          • Men never admit when they are wrong (read – overconfident).

           

          • Men never ask others for directions/advice when they need it.

           

           

          • Men don’t listen to other people that well. 

           

           

          • Women let their emotions guide them too much. 

           

           

          • Women take forever to make a decision.

           

           

          • Women tend to leave the household finances up to men.

           


          Not surprisingly based on the history/lack of use-fullness of stereotypes, these stereotypes don’t really help us too much to make an informed decision about whether men or women have a better track record as investors. 
           
          So, let’s proceed to some more factual information, shall we?
           
           

          Men vs. Women Stock/Mutual Fund Investing Track Record

           

          In doing a Google search, I quickly found that this topic/question has been explored from MANY different angles in the past. One thing that was fairly surprising is that while there were a lot of posts/articles that discussed and hypothesized about this question, there were relatively few numerical studies that ventured to give definitive answers.  


           
          Nevertheless, listed below is a summary of the facts I found about the men vs. women investor question:
          • Value Walk  recently reported that between 2000-2009, hedge funds run by women returned 9% on average, compared to only 5.82% for hedge funds run by men. This was despite the fact that 97% of hedge funds are run by men.
          • Side note: During this same time, the S&P500 index returned -26%. Yikes!! 

           

          • The Wall Street Journal recently reported that several finance professors performed a study which found that women’s risk-adjusted annual returns were 1% higher than that of men. 

           

           

          • Vanguard (my personal favorite for low cost investing) reported in 2011 a large number of comparative facts between men and women investors:

           

          • Women are 10% more likely to join their employer’s retirement plan – a definite benefit for tax-sheltered investing. 

           

          • Women save 10% more of their income than men. 

           

           

          • Women are about 10% more likely to be better diversified with fixed income investments than men (which protects their nest egg in the event of a market decline). 

           

           

          • From 2007-2009 (during the market decline), men were 10% more likely to abandon stocks than women. This enabled women to take advantage of the huge increase in stock prices that followed from March 2009-present. 

           

           

          • In 2001, a study found that men were 45% more likely to make frequent trades than women. As passive investing knowledge dictates, frequent trading decreases returns, more often than not. 

           


          In my opinion, the facts above CLEARLY establish that women are indeed better investors and have a better track record than their male counterparts. And, not only this, I think that the facts shared by the Vanguard article are sufficient evidence for WHY this is the case as well. 
           
          How about you all? In your experience, are your male or female friends and/or family members better investors? 
           
          What are your opinions of the stereotypes I found on the Internet above? Do you think they are true and play a role in making men or women the better investor? 
           
          Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnthescone/2541001551/sizes/l/in/photostream/

          Big Debt, Big Relief

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          Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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          The following is a guest post by Amanda Green. Enjoy! 

          Big Debt, Big Relief

          Being in debt is financially and emotionally stressful. Not only do you have to worry about how you are going to pay off your debt and make ends meet, but you also have to deal with harassing creditors. If you are tired of the chaos, it is time to take action.

          There are many resources available to help you get out of debt and stay debt free. If you have good credit, you can apply for a debt consolidation loan. This will make your debt more manageable, and you can pay it off more easily. As long as you live within your means at the same time, you will eventually be debt free.
          There are also debt relief agencies that help you get out of debt. Some of these agencies are non-profit, while others charge a small fee for their services. The agencies help you negotiate with creditors to stop collections activity, giving you immediate emotional relief.

          Then, they help you create a budget that will allow you to pay off your debt over a period of time, and still live within your means. Once the debt is paid, you can use the budget to ensure that you do not get into debt again.

          This is the best way to get out of debt. If you are not able to pay a portion of the debt to all of your creditors and still make ends meet, you can try another option. You can make one payment to your most expensive creditor each month until that debt is paid off. Then, you make a payment of the same amount to your next expensive creditor, getting that debt paid off faster. You continue in this fashion until all of the debt is repaid. The downside to this method is that you have to suffer through collections activity on the accounts you are not currently paying on.

          Many people turn to bankruptcy whenever they find themselves in debt. However, unless you have more than ten or twenty thousand in outstanding debt, this is generally not a good option. Not only will your credit suffer, but you will also have to fight to keep your mortgage or car loan.

          You could wind up with much less than you have now by filing bankruptcy. It is much better to use one of these methods to get out of debt. Click here for more information on how you can become debt free and stay that way.

          How about you all? What resources have you used to help you pay off debt?

          Share your experiences by commenting below!

            ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/paparutzi/2758346373/sizes/o/in/photostream/

            Easy Like Sunday Morning Recap and Roundup – # 10 – October 28th, 2012

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            Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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            Each time, the purpose of the Easy Like Sunday Morning Recap and Roundup series is the same – for me to be able to connect with you, the readers, on a more personal (non personal finance informational transmission only) level, encourage community, and also to give back to the other bloggers around the blogosphere who have mentioned My Personal Finance Journey throughout the past few weeks or so. It’s been about a month since the last roundup, so we definitely have some catching up to do! 

            As far as the theme goes, the title of the roundup gives it away. The roundup theme is named after the Lionel Richie song, Easy Like Sunday Morning (which I play once each time I put this together), to remind us of the importance of slowing down at least every once in a while to take appreciation for that which transpired over the past few days.

            So, without further ado, let’s get started with this edition’s roundup!

            UPDATES FROM JACOB’S PERSONAL FINANCE JOURNEY AND LIFE 

            • As far as my life in general, the months of September and October have been very enjoyable and productive at the same time. Below are some of the highlights:
              • In my graduate school research, we were finally able to finish up the follow-up experiments required to respond to the manuscript reviewer’s comments. Currently, my advisor and I are putting the finishing touches on the revised manuscript to submit to the ACS Journal of Biomacromolecules. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that it gets accepted this time! 🙂
              • I’m now 2 months in serving as a Teaching Assistant for a Transport Processes / Fluid Dynamics 3rd year undergraduate chemical engineering class. I’ve really enjoyed the role so far, as it’s given me a chance to teach problem sets for the homework each week. 
              • Another thing that I’m very proud to report is that my sister has just recently gone under contract to purchase her first ever condo! Due to the severely-depressed real estate market these days, she was able to get a killer deal/value! Congrats to her for making this big leap! 
              • Normally, this time of the fall is a big time for me to do running races. However, two weeks ago, I went for a short trail run near my house and very badly twisted my ankle. Because of this, I haven’t been able to exercise very much on the weekends. Instead, I’ve been filling up the void by visiting some of the many gorgeous local wineries near our area of the country here in central Virginia. A picture of me at one of these wineries (The Trump Winery) is shown below. If you look really hard, you can see the grape vines growing in the background!

            • As far as my personal finances, I would characterize the months of September and October as “busy.” 
              • First, the good news:
                • At the beginning of August, I was able to max out my Roth IRA contributions for the 2012 tax year. 
                • Since then, I have started contributing any leftover money (after blog investments) I have had to my Individual Self-Employed 401(k) with Vanguard. So far, I have made some good progress, with about $3,400 contributed thus far for 2012, on top of the $5,000 invested in my Roth IRA. 
                • In addition, I have now met my short term net worth goal for this year! Great news! 
              • On the other hand, the past month or so, one of our greyhounds, Charlie, has had a significant amount of health problems. As a result, we incurred $1,300 in vet bills and health expenses for him during the past month alone. The total we’ve spent on doggie-related things since June 2012 has been $2,300 (not counting an $800 tooth cleaning for Charlie in late May 2012). However, because of some well-timed financial planning, these expenses did not throw me off of my financial goals too much. 
            • As far as my blog goes, October has been the first month for My Personal Finance Journey to feature posts by our staff writing team!

            GUEST POSTS FROM PERSONAL FINANCE BLOGGERS ON MY PERSONAL FINANCE JOURNEY

            Since the last roundup, there was one guest post here at My Personal Finance Journey.

            If you would like to guest post on my site, please click here to read more details about how to kick off the guest posting process. I’d love to hear from you!

            BLASTS FROM THE PAST

            For the first 6 months after I started this blog, I pretty much “blogged in a cave.” What I mean by this is that I cranked out over 200 very good blog articles in this time period, but since I didn’t know any better, I didn’t reach out to other bloggers, get involved with the online community through commenting on other sites, or do any kind of site promotion at all. As you can imagine, some of the articles written during this time period didn’t get the attention that I think they deserved corresponding to the content contained.
            The Blast from the Past section will feature one old My Personal Finance Journey article each roundup that I feel is high quality, but was published prior to my blog having any sort of real readership. This week’s article is listed below:
            Frozen vs. Fresh vs. Canned Vegetables – Which is Better? – In this short-but-sweet article, I analyze how these three preparations of veggies compare based on cost, taste, and nutritional content. The results were quite surprising to me. Enjoy! 

            PERSONAL FINANCE “MAD PROPS” OF THE WEEK AWARD

            Every once in a while, when I’m reading an article or site in the personal finance blogosphere, I’ll be so impressed in hearing about what a person did or wrote about, that all I can say to myself is WOW! This section of the roundup will serve as a running “home” for recognizing outstanding achievement.

            This week, this award goes to Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents. He has come up with a very awesome idea called, The Debt Movement. The goal of this will be to rally the resources and expertise of the personal finance blogging community to help readers pay off 6 figure digits of debt over the course of 3 months. The movement starts soon, so keep an eye out for more information, and also, check out the website above for updates!   
            If you know of someone in the PF blogging world that is really doing amazing things, feel free to send me an email for consideration in future roundups.

            GIVEAWAYS

            Listed below are the giveaways I’ve come across in my journey through the personal finance blogosphere this week (along with the links so that you can head over and enter!). It’s great to see everyone giving back to their readers through these promotions.


            If you’re hosting a giveaway and it’s not listed above, please send me an email to let me know, and I’ll get it included in next week’s roundup!

            BLOG CARNIVALS FEATURING MY PERSONAL FINANCE JOURNEY ARTICLES

            ·         Free Money Finance hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance and included 11 Personal Finance Lessons I Learned from Bicycle Racing.
            ·         ReadyforZero hosted their Weekly Shout Outs and included 11 Personal Finance Lessons I Learned from Bicycle Racing.
            ·         The Festival of Frugality included Save Money on Your First Car.
            ·         Money Smarts hosted the Carnival of Financial Planning and included 11 Personal Finance Lessons I Learned from Bicycle Racing.
            ·         iHeartBudgets hosted the Yakezie Carnival and included Financials of a College Football Game.
            ·         Walking to Wealth hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance and included How Much of Your Net Worth Should be Sitting in Cash of Low-Interest Savings Accout
            If you are hosting a carnival that includes (or included) My Personal Finance Journey and I missed listing it here (I don’t get trackbacks since I’m not on WordPress, so I have to rely on direct email and Google Alert notifications), please email me so I can include it in my roundup. Thanks!

            SEVERAL POSTS I’VE ENJOYED READING SINCE THE LAST ROUNDUP

            1. Credit Card Negotiator posted at Enemy of Debt.
            2. Do You Know When to Accept Help posted at Sustainable Personal Finance. 
            3. Len Penzo posted about Saving Lame Excuses for Someone Who Cares.
            4. Time is More Valuable than Money posted at Squirrelers. 
            5. What are REIT’s? posted at Free from Broke.  

            TOP 10 REFERRING SITES TO MY PERSONAL FINANCE JOURNEY SINCE THE LAST ROUNDUP

            1. Lance @ Money Life and More.
            2. Canadian Budget Binder
            3. Money Beagle
            4. Sustainable Life Blog
            5. Thomas S. Moore

            BEST READER SUBMITTED QUESTION SINCE THE LAST ROUNDUP

            This section will serve as a running location for any very insightful, high quality questions submitted by readers throughout the week.

            If you are wondering something about personal finance, please feel free to email me and ask!


            MY OTHER SITES

            Currently, my only other site besides this one is The Carnival of Passive Investing, which runs monthly editions. For the upcoming October edition, we have LH from Little House in the Valley as our host. If you have any passive investing posts you’ve written recently, you can submit them to be included in the carnival.
            However, I have several other domain names purchased, and I am currently learning WordPress Self-Hosted to get these sites live as soon as time allows! I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on progress.
            Well, that wraps up this edition of the round-up. If you have any suggestions or recommendations for things you’d like to see in this roundup, just let me know by sending me an email!
            As always, thanks to all the readers for creating such a great community here at My Personal Finance Journey. Your interaction, questions, and knowledge are what keeps me going on this blog!
            Until next time – Jacob
            How about you all? 

            How is the Fall going for you so far?!

            The Third Weekend – An Odd Budgeting Phenomenon

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            Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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            The following post is by MPFJ staff writer Travis.  Travis is a customer blogger for CareOne Debt Relief Services, and also appears weekly at Enemy of Debt.  Travis candidly shares his personal journey to pay off $109,000 of credit card debt and the tips he’s learned along the way. As a father and husband, he provides a unique perspective on balancing debt, finances, and family.
            Regularly scheduled budget talks, looking over recent bills posted to our checking account over breakfast, and planning our spending have become almost daily activities as my wife and I have made tremendous strides in getting a grip on our finances.  We thought we were getting the hang of it, and had all our bases covered, until we encountered something we hadn’t thought of.
            The Third Weekend.
            The Third Weekend is a phenomenon that happens to us once every three months.  As a software engineer, I get paid bi-monthly.  As this is a our main source of income, it drives our entire budget and spending plan. Since each pay period is about two weeks in length, each budget cycle includes two grocery shopping trips and two weekends.  The problem is that each cycle is really half the month, which is slightly longer than two weeks.  This results in a pay period every three months that has an extra weekend.  
            This throws our entire budgeting scheme out the window since the weekend is where we do the majority of our social and entertainment spending.   Each budget cycle has the same amount of funds available for entertainment, but when this phenomenon occurs, we have this third weekend to deal with.
            The last time this calendar phenomenon occurred was the second half of September.  During our budget discussion for that pay period, we launched a brainstorming session to come up with solutions.
            1.)    Be Hermits: We could simply budget zero funds and treat it like the apocalypse by holding up inside our house and shunning the outside world for the weekend.  Give me NFL football, the Internet, and a bag of chips and I’d be 100% fine with this.  This idea, however, did not go over well with my lovely wife as she is much more of a “have to be around people” person.  It’s also just not realistic.
            2.)    Spread the available funds for the pay period between all three weekends: This is the easiest solution to implement, but does significantly impact available funds for three consecutive weekends.
            3.)    Spread projected available funds throughout the entire month:  This solution has less impact on a single weekend in the month, but still reduces each weekend’s available funds in that month my a significant amount.
            4.)    Treat “The Third Weekend” as an irregular expense and save for it: We would determine how much we would need to remove from each weekend’s discretionary amount to have (roughly) the same amount each weekend, including “The Third Weekend.”
            Vonnie and I concluded that #4 was the best idea, as it gives us the most amount of time to plan and prepare for it.  It also provides consistency in the amount of funds we have available for each weekend.  The most important thing when dealing with known irregular expenses or budget anomalies is to determine to the best of your ability when they will occur, and plan for them.
            Do you experience “The Third Weekend” or some other odd budget phenomenon?  If so, how do you handle it?

              ***Photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

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