My Personal Finance Journey

The Secondary Cell Phone Market and How You Can Make Money From It

————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————

Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.

So, you’re getting a new cell phone for your birthday, Christmas, or another holiday?

If you live in the US and are planning to upgrade to your first Smart Phone (or a better, fancier Smart Phone) on one of the major US cell phone carriers, you most likely will be following the sequence of events listed below:

  1. Go down to your local cell phone carrier’s store.
  2. Get a new Smart Phone at a significant discount, as part of a service contract extension deal.
  3. Hand the cell phone company your current phone as part of the phone exchange/service contract extension deal.

However, have you ever considered what happens to your old cell phone once you hand it over your carrier during the exchange? Do they sell used cell phones for a profit? Or, do they place the old phone in some type of cell phone recycle program?

More importantly, have you ever wondered if you could you come out further ahead if you took matters in to your own hands and sold your old phone yourself?

The Secondary Cell Phone Market

Here enters the secondary cell phone market…

According to an article by Brighthand.com, only 3% of cell phone users recycled their old cell phones. Nevertheless, the article stated that of the people that did not recycle their phones, almost 44% left their old phones sitting around their home in boxes and/or drawers. Do you have any old cell phones in boxes or drawers at your house? I think I do! The rest of people either sold their phones on the secondary market or gave it to friends and family.

From these statistics, it is obvious that the secondary market for cell phones is alive and well these days. In fact, a Boston based study claimed that Smart Phones retain anywhere between 40-60% of their original value when sold in the secondary market. So, instead of simply letting your old phone sit around your house and take up drawer space, it could be very beneficial to search around the Internet in order to find a buyer for your old phone.

In addition, before automatically surrendering your old cell phone to your mobile phone carrier as part of an upgrade deal, it might also be prudent to compare the savings you’ll obtain with the upgrade versus how much you’ll make from selling your old phone to an independent party. You might just find that you can come out ahead selling the phone yourself. This could be particularly useful if you are dissatisfied and wanting to leave your current cell phone carrier anyway. At the very least, you’ll know you checked in to all of your options before proceeding.

How about you all? Have you ever sold your old cell phone in the secondary market? Or, have you merely exchanged your old phones for new models? Why did you choose the route you took? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iFrSLlCGyCY/SN0AmchXfTI/AAAAAAAAAVw/2IkuOIkLOLI/s400/nokia-n78-phone.jpg

Life Insurance Considerations for the Over 50 Crowd

————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————

Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.


The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

Life Insurance Considerations for the Over 50 Crowd

Once people begin to enter the advanced stages of their life, mortality comes into view and various decisions have to be made that will impact not just the rest of their own life but also the lives of those left behind. 

Many individuals, particularly those with spouses, children, and loved ones, need to think about a world in which they are gone and how their dependents will cope without them. This can put a huge strain on the last few years of an individual’s life. The best way to ensure peace of mind in your last few years is to invest in over 50s life insurance – a policy which will provide a pay-out once you have passed away so as to ensure your loved ones are okay.

What is Different about Life Insurance for People Over 50 Years Old?


For those who are not well-versed in the intricacies of over 50s life insurance, the whole process can seem rather puzzling. However, the whole process is rather simple once a few areas have been studied. 

The first thing that should be known about over 50s life insurance is that anybody can apply for it regardless of their current health; no test is required. Another aspect of note is that over 50s life insurance is usually purchased not in one lump sum but in smaller increments spread out over the year; this duration often lasts from fifty through to the age of ninety. Once ninety has been reached and payments have stopped, coverage continues. The end of payments does not necessitate the end of coverage.  

If individuals would like to top up their policy upon hitting ninety, they are able to do so although this will usually mean paying much larger increments. Between the ages of fifty and ninety, a policy may ask an individual to make payments of £10 per month with the aim of accumulating £100,000 by the end of the accumulation period. If, however, the individual decided that they would like to make a payment for one month of £50 rather than their scheduled £10, they would be able to do this.

Remember to Read the Fine Print of Your Policy


Another point of note is that it is worth checking the specifics of every individual policy. 

So, for example, an individual may find that some contracts he is offered will only pay out in the event of his or her death if it is as a result of natural causes whereas other insurance packages may have policies that will only pay out if a death is caused through accidental means. This means much diligence and due care should be taken in selecting a policy which can be taken to fit a set amount of requirements.

Finding a Policy that Best Fits Your Needs


There are a couple of ways to find a package which best fits your needs.  The first of these involves utilizing an insurance professional, such as a broker, to conduct research on your behalf. The second is to use online resources to customise searches which allow you to add or remove requirements. Whichever of these two you use, it is essential to remember to do your homework in selecting the proper policy. Once you hit 50, insurance will allow you to have great peace of mind.

How about you all? Do you currently have life insurance? If so, what type of policy do you have? Term or whole? 


At what point in your life did you decide to take out the policy? Do you think it is wise to wait until you’re over 50 to purchase insurance, or should you get it earlier?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

  • Interesting post here! 
  • Since I decided that life insurance wasn’t needed for my current personal situation, I don’t have a ton of experience in this area. As such, it’s always good to bring this topic to the forefront of the discussion.
  • When someone hits 50 years of age, I would not imagine that their life insurance needs and/or considerations would change all that drastically. 
    • For example, you would still follow the same advice for purchasing a term life insurance policy, avoiding whole life insurance policies since they are generally not worth the money. 
    • In addition, you would pay premiums on a policy that would be enough to cover your funeral expenses and to support your family for the lost income.
    • If you don’t have anyone that relies on your income, you would still want a small term life policy and/or use your investments to cover funeral expenses once you pass on.
  • In fact, I would probably argue that most people should have their life insurance policy plans figured out before turning 50, since by then, most people are either married or have had children and hence, have people that depend on their income. 
    • pre-existing medical conditions you have, which could increase after the age of 50.
  • In reading the post above, one thing I was not aware of was that some policies have restrictions for paying out, depending on whether or not your death was caused by an “accident” or “natural causes.” I would imagine that you would want to make sure that the policy you decide on provides coverage for both of these possible outcomes. 

***Photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/4117033888_c1d5a23fac.jpg

Spread Betting – How It Works and Risks Involved

————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————

Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.

The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

Spread Betting – How It Works and Risks Involved

Spread betting is a derivative product that allows you to trade on price movements of underlying investment products – such as indices, individual stocks, currencies, commodities, and more.  You can use spread bets to speculate on price movements both up and down.  If you go long, you will profit on upward movements, and if you go short, you will profit on downward price movements.

Since spread betting involves two underlying transactions, you will be quoted two prices, a buy price and a sell price.  The difference between the two is the spread. The tighter the spread, the easier it is to maximize your profits since underlying prices will need to only move a small amount for you to be in profit. Equally, prices can move against you and you may encounter a loss.

How Spread Betting Works

A good example of how this works is as follows.  The UK100 Index is currently trading at 5700, and the spread bet is 5700/5701 (where 5700 is the sell price, and 5701 is the buy price). 

If you think the UK100 is going to rise, you buy the price, enter your bet at 5701, at a stake size of £10 per point (which is a standard stake size).

If the UK100 Index rises, your profits will rise in line with each increase on the price above 5701. So, if the UK100 Index rises to 5725, you can cash out at the new spread price of 5725/5726.  As you bought to enter the spread bet, you now sell to close it at the sell price of 5725. So, your profit would be 24 points (5725-5701) multiplied by £10, so a profit of £240. 

The Risks Involved

However, the downside risks apply as well, especially since this is a margined product.  If the index price goes down in the example above, to say 5650, you would lose 51 points (5701-5650) multiplied by £10, equals £510.  Because of this, risk management needs to play a role in your trades.

You can minimize the risks by using stop-loss orders (which close a trade after a certain price is reached), or even a Guaranteed Stop Loss Order, which guarantees the closing exit price if price move against you.  Either way, pay close attention to downside loss potential. 

How about you all? Have you ever investigated spread betting? If so, have you ever given it a try? How did it work for you? 

Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

  • Very interesting post here. It’s always fascinating to learn about new types of investing that are available to the market today.  
  • In reading this article, spread betting reminded me slightly of options, a tool I learned about while getting my finance undergraduate degree, in the respect that you do bet on either the upward or downward movement of the underlying security. 
    • However, spread betting is slightly different since the spread is involved, and not just the call and put prices of the option. Additionally, with spread betting, you don’t have the “option” of refraining from transacting your bet if the result is unfavorable, as you do with options.
  • Personally, although spread betting is very interesting to learn about, I don’t believe it is well suited for my personal finances. This is because 1) it would not fit in my passive investing strategy / overall asset allocation with index mutual funds and ETFs, 2) it is slightly too risky for my tastes, being as that it is a margined product, and 3) I don’t believe I have the ability to correctly time markets, currency, and/or index price movements. 
  • As always, when learning about new investment strategies, make sure it aligns with your current long term plan and goals to make sure you stay on the right track.

***Photo courtesy of http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/3409354257_3f03fd9b88.jpg

Pros and Cons of Investing in Gold

 

The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

Gold investment is a common topic in many television and Internet advertisements. However, it has developed a reputation for being unsafe and uncertain. Recent turns in the gold market make this reputation questionable. Additionally, certain investment strategies can help you avoid losses and risk.

Performance of Gold Investments

Gold has been on a bull-run for the past decade. Investments in gold have been largely rewarding, due to increased flux through the market (through groups like Cash 4 Gold). Additionally, the Euro Zone crisis has helped gold futures following the International Monetary Fund’s agreement to raise additional money for the Euro Zone. In the short term, it appears gold will continue to appreciate in value as the economy turns around and currency equities rise.
However, it also appears that investing in gold has been on the decline recently. This means lower demand and lower prices, but whether this indicates a long-term trend towards gold devaluation is unclear. Gold, therefore, may make a stronger short-term investment rather than a long-term investment. Markets, both domestic and international, need to be watched for trends towards depression or deflation.

What Will the Future Hold for Gold Investing?

In 2012, gold has already seen a rise in value greater than 5%. This well exceeds inflation, and a return on a long-term investment would be positive if this trend continues. Although no market is certain, international debt crises seem to indicate that, until markets show a definite turnaround, gold will continue to appreciate in value. It is a buyer’s market for gold, though how long the window of opportunity will be open is unclear.
However, American jobless numbers are beginning to decline (or at least stabilize), which means gold futures could start to decline. However, if other countries continue to suffer from the recession, gold will continue to be a strong and potentially high-yield investment opportunity. The most difficult determination will be when gold has hit its peak value.
You can more or less be guaranteed a positive yield on a gold investment if you wait long enough. Although the prices fluctuate like any other commodity, gold demand is consistent and gold production is continually on the decline. If the economy takes a strong turn for the better, gold for products like jewelry and decorations will be in higher demand, driving the price of gold upward. Gold is generally reserved for special occasions, such as weddings, for the average consumer. But, when you factor in that consumer gold comprises millions of consumers, small fluctuations in the ring the average consumer can afford could equate to thousands of ounces of gold, driving demand and prices up.
Whether you’re looking for a short-or long-term investment, now is the time to invest in gold, especially with the current convenience of online trading with a leading broker.. Gold as an alternative for currency will continue to be desirable as long as economies are winnowing. As the markets improve, expect temporary declines in gold until consumer demand begins to rise. If you’re looking for an intermediate-term investment, gold is uncertain–the gap between economic upswing and consumer demand may result in temporary declines in the value of gold.

How about you all? Is gold currently incorporated as a part of your investing strategy? Why or why not? What’s the best way you’ve found to invest in gold? 


Do you think gold will continue to go up in price?


Share your experiences by commenting below!


Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article:

  • Fairly frequently, I get asked about my thoughts about using gold as an investment. Unfortunately, I have very little expertise/knowledge about gold, so I cannot provide very much guided assistance. However, it’s good to have another post here to bring this topic to the forefront!
  • @ The future direction of gold – 
    • I do know that gold has been an investment of choice in the past few years since the recession in 2008-2009. As such, the prices of gold have increased drastically.
    • Because of this, I would be very careful about placing a lot of money in to gold due to risk of buying in at the “top” of the upward price swing.
  • @ Whether or not gold is a safe and/or good investment + how gold should/should not be incorporated in to one’s investing strategy – 
    • Personally, I do not have gold incorporated as part of my investing strategy.
    • However, is gold a good thing to have in one’s investment mix? My answer is “probably,” however, I would need to do some more research about this to tell for certain.
    • If I did, I would either use ETFs or precious metal index mutual funds to do this, as opposed to buying physical metal holdings.
    • Additionally, I would ensure that only a small proportion of my total investment holdings were placed in gold/precious metals.
    • One very attractive characteristic about precious metals is that they have relatively low correlation coefficients with the returns of normal equity investments. As such, the addition of precious metals to my investment portfolio would give further diversification and help shifting the efficient frontier for risk/return trade-off.

***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-3400039523-hd.jpg

Easy Like Sunday Morning Weekly Recap and Roundup – # 6 – January 22nd, 2012

————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————

Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.

Each week, the purpose of the Easy Like Sunday Morning Weekly 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 week.

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 a week while putting this together), to remind us of the importance of slowing down at least once a week to take appreciation for that which transpired over the past few days.

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

Weekly Updates from Jacob’s Personal Finance Journey and Life 

  • As far as my life in general, since Christmas, I have been trying to power through the month of January – working in the lab on my Alzheimer’s disease drug development project and also trying to continue training for the full trail marathon I’m planning to do in March of this year.
    • One thing that I am looking forward to is when the days get longer with Daylight Savings Time finishing. Since I bike ride to and from the lab where I work during the day and don’t get off work until 5 pm or later, it seems that I am ALWAYS riding home in the dark! It’s not too bad since I can ride on sidewalks the whole way, but it does take about 50% longer since I have to hop curves and stop more often than when it is light and I can be on the road.
    • Also – this weekend, my family, girlfriend, and my sister’s boyfriend have embarked on a ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado for one week. Luckily, it appears that the snow in the Rocky Mountains has FINALLY started to pick back up. It’s been about 2 years since we last went skiing “out West.” Shown below is a picture of my sister and I from our last trip to Breckenridge in December 2009 about to brave the blizzard and do some “easy” slopes. Enjoy! 
    • As far as my personal finances go, the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 was a busy time with some deep thinking about what I wanted to accomplish financially during the coming year. You can see my resulting financials goals for 2012 by clicking here. 
      • In addition, the other big development during the Christmas to New Years time period was that I sent in my estimated tax payments for 2011 that I hadn’t paid yet for the entire year (oops!). Lesson learned though – I’ll be sure to be better about this in 2012.
      My sister and I about to go down some ski slopes in 2009 at Breckenridge, Colorado! Fun times! I hope the snow is this good this time! 


      Guest Posts from Personal Finance Bloggers on My Personal Finance Journey

      Over the past couple weeks, there were three guest post here at My Personal Finance Journey.


      -Jason from Frugal Dad posted about The Effects of Reality TV Shows on Reality.
      -Wayne from Young Family Finance posted about Back to the Basics: Control Your Spending.
      -Rob Bennett from A Rich Life posted about Valuation Informed Index Investing. 

      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 week 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:

      Best Options for the Cash Portion of Your Retirement Account – This post discusses what an investor is to do with cash that he or she wants to keep in his or her retirement account, given the dismally low interest rates currently being offered. Unfortunately, the verdict is that if you want extreme liquidity in your retirement account, you’re not going to earn much in the way of interest. However, thinking back on this subject/post with what I know now, you might also think about trying a short term bond index fund for a stable investment similar to cash.

      Personal Finance “Mad Props” of the Week Award

      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.

      Unfortunately, I didn’t come across any candidates for this honor during the past week. 

      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. 
      • The College Investor is giving away $300 to the biggest SuperFan until January 31st.
      • Maximizing Money is giving away 50 personalized keychains until January 31st.
      • Rafflecopter is giving away and iPad2 and a Kindle Fire until February 9th.
      • Yes, I am Cheap is giving away a ton of prizes until February 4th. I am actually sponsoring one of the prizes, so be sure to hop on over and enter!
      • Money Spruce is giving away $200 to readers and charity until January 30th. 
      • Cash Flow Mantra is giving away $150 to celebrate his blog’s one year birthday until January 25th.
      • Super Frugalette is giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card until January 31st. 
      • My Personal Finance Journey is giving away $196 to readers and charity until January 31st.     

      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

      ·        Wealth Pilgrim hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance and included 2011 Year-End Financial Goals Review and Progress Update.
      ·        Mother Miser hosted the Totally Money Blog Carnival and included Green Energy Makes Green Money.
      ·        Magical Penny hosted the Festival of Frugality and included Green Energy Makes Green Money.
      ·        Boomer & Echo hosted the Carnival of Passive Investing and included Opening and Managing a Self-Employed Individual/Solo 401(k).
      ·        Money for College Project hosted their weekly round-up and included The Effects of TV Shows on Reality.
      ·        The Skilled Investor hosted their Top Financial Planning Articles of the Week and included 2011 Year-End Financial Goals Review and Progress Update.
      ·         Financial Success for Young Adulsts hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance and included Buying the Right Foreclosed House in Today’s Market.
      ·         Invest It Wisely hosted the Totally Money Blog Carnival and included How to Ignore Market Volatility.
      ·         Arbor Asset Allocation Model Portfolio (AAAMP) Blog hosted the Self-Directed Investing for Retirement Carnival and included Opening and Managing a Self-Employed Individual / Solo 401(k).
      ·         20’s Finance hosted the Yakezie Carnival and included What Does a Passive Retirement Look Like?
      ·         My University Money hosted the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie and included Four Letters That Will Help You in Your Debt Payoff Journey
      ·         Faith and Finance hosted the Totally Money Carnival and included Money-Saving Travel and Flight Apps
      ·         Living Richly on a Budget hosted the Festival of Frugality and included Vacation Budgeting, Saving, and Execution + An Example of This Process in Action From My Recent Trip to New York City
      ·         Money for College hosted their weekly round-up and included November 10% Blog Income Give Back Charity Drop
      ·         My University Money hosted the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie and included November 10% Blog Income Give Back Charity Drop

      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!

      Top 10 Referring Sites to My Personal Finance Journey This Past Week

      1. Yakezie
      2. Free Money Finance
      3. Wise Bread
      4. Tight Fisted Miser
      5. Risk Management Monitor
      6. Invest it Wisely
      7. Wealth Pilgrim
      8. Giveaways Are Sexy
      9. Cav of Risk
      10. Financially Consumed 

      Top 5 My Personal Finance Journey Commenters From the Past Week

      1. Miss T @ Prairie Eco Thrifter
      2. Jon @ Free Money Wisdom
      3. Evolving PF
      4. Making Sense of Cents
      5. Frugal Beautiful

      Best Reader Submitted Question From the Past Week

      This section will serve as a running location for any very insightful, high quality questions submitted by readers throughout the week.
      There were no questions submitted this week. However, 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 January 31st edition, we have Paula from Afford Anything as our host, and passive investing author, Mark Hebner, will be assisting to select the top articles. 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 week! If you have any suggestions or recommendations for things you’d like to see in this weekly 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 is what keeps me going on this blog!

      Until next time – Jacob


      How about you all? How is your January going for you?!

      Welcome Enemy of Debt Readers!

      Welcome Enemy of Debt readers! Thanks so much for stopping by my site by way of the my guest post today over at my friend Brad’s site listed below. As the picture to the right shows, I’m very happy to have you! 🙂

      Using Your Credit Card As Your Primary Emergency Fund – An Alarming Trend in Society?

      If you’re stopping by my site for the first time, I just wanted to give a little guide towards what I offer here, since information overload can occur quickly and time is our most valuable asset.

      To introduce myself, my name is Jacob. I started this site back in January of 2010, and since then, have poured my heart and soul in to the site to produce a product I am proud of and I think adds value to the world. You can read a little more on my background and even see a picture of me on the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us.

      What I Write About Here At My Personal Finance Journey

      In short, I like to offer actionable personal finance advice with the goal of achieving long-term success. 


      Specifically, I really enjoy writing about the following areas (I’ve also listed several posts related to each topic in case you’re interested in reading more):


      Articles Similar to My Guest Post Today at Enemy of Debt


      Additionally, if you liked the theme of the guest post I wrote for Enemy of Debt today and are interested in similar posts I’ve written in the past, you might want to check out the ones below:


      Ways to Stay in Touch with New Content


      If after sampling some of the content above you think that my posts will add value to your life, there are many easy ways to stay in touch with new material when it goes up! See below for details:

      10% Monthly Blog Income Giveaway

      Also, each month, I give away 10% of any income I make from this site, with 5% going to blog readers and the other 5% going to a charity selected by the grand prize winner. You can read about all of the details by clicking here.

      So far, we’ve given away:

      • Current total given to charity = $238
      • Current total given to blog readers = $245

      If you want to enter in to the January 2012 giveaway for $196, click here. It ends January 31st!

      Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cP3Pd1BRVXc/S4RnpK8cc1I/AAAAAAAAD0E/gvEpjN8QQBc/s400/smile+dog.bmp

        How To Make Money on Your Old Phones

        ————————————————————————————————————————
        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!
        ————————————————————————————————————————

        Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.


        The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

        How To Make Money on Your Old Phones
        Did you get a brand new iPhone or Smart Phone for Christmas?  A lot of people all over the world did. In fact, it is estimated that Apple has sold over 6 million iPhones.  However, with everyone upgrading to the newest phones, a lot of old mobile phones are just laying around.   What many people don’t realize is that you can sell mobile phones back and get cash for them.

        How It Works

        If you are thinking about selling your old phone, there is a basic process that just about every company follows.  Either you go to a kiosk or online, and you input your mobile phone make and model number.  The company will then give you an offer for your phone.  If you accept the offer price, you simply drop your phone in the mail and send it to your respective company.
        Most companies offer free shipping when you send your mobile phone back to them.  Once they receive your phone, they will send you payment.  Some companies offer cash, others a check, and some can even send PayPal payments.  Another option that is relatively new is gift cards. With gift cards, you can usually get a higher payment if you accept it as a form of payment instead of cash or check.  As always, it is important that you check around for the best deal before proceeding.

        Shop For Options

        There are a lot of options for selling back your phone, such as Envirophone, Cash 4 Phones, 8 Mobile, The Recycling Factory, and more.  There are even new websites which will compare several different companies, and provide you with the offers of each.  You can then compare and decide for yourself which company you want to use to recycle your old phone.

        What If It’s Worthless?

        If your phone is really old, it could have no value left.  Instead of tossing it into a landfill, many of these companies also offer free recycling of your old phone – including shipping.  So, you can still do the right thing for the environment and enjoy your new iPhone or other Smart Phone tool at the same time.

        How about you all? Have you gotten a new phone recently? How did you handle either disposing of or recycling your old phone?


        Did you sell it somewhere or exchange it at your mobile phone carrier store for an upgrade?   


        Share your experiences by commenting below!

        Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

        • Interesting article here, especially with how many people I know did either get their first Smart Phone, or at least upgraded their phone, this Christmas!
        • @ The market for recycling old phones – 
          • Since phones have become so much more advanced in recent years, they are really more like small computers instead of just phones (like they probably used to be).
          • And, I never really considered (until now) of how much value they probably still have because of their internal components even after you are “finished” with a certain model and have upgraded.
          • In fact, I never really thought about the “second hand phone” market at all, come to think of it!
        • @ My experiences with upgrading or replacing my cell phone – 
          • In my experience, when I have brought in my phone to my mobile company (Verizon) for a replacement, they tend to ALWAYS have some requirement in the deal that enables them to keep the phone – either you lose your phone contacts if you don’t allow them to “recycle” your phone or you have to give them your old phone in order to upgrade with a contract extension and take advantage of a deep discount on a new phone.
          • Now, I understand why; they are able to sell it and make some money out of the exchange! Interesting!
          • Personally, I have never tried to sell my phone through an independent source. However, it’s definitely something I will have to keep in mind going forward!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://farm1.static.flickr.com/84/275333689_fef2a7c76a.jpg

        Investors Who Ignore Valuations Are Like Overeaters Who Ignore the Risk of Heart Disease

        ————————————————————————————————————————
        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!
        ————————————————————————————————————————

        Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.


        The following is a guest post by Rob Bennett. Rob has recorded numerous podcasts on how to invest wisely, addressing such topics as market timing, diversification, and dollar cost averaging. His bio is here if you are interested in reading more!

        Investors Who Ignore Valuations Are Like Overeaters Who Ignore the Risk of Heart Disease

        Jacob (the owner of this blog) and I have had a number of good conversations about my belief that indexers need to move from the conventional Buy-and-Hold approach to indexing (under which the investor stays at the same stock allocation at all times) to the Valuation-Informed Indexing strategy (under which the investor changes his stock allocation in response to big valuation shifts in an effort to keep his risk profile roughly constant. Jacob does not endorse Valuation-Informed Indexing. But, he finds it worthy of further examination. You can read his take here.


        The Risks of Ignoring Market Valuations in Your Investing Strategy

        The difference between Jacob (and the vast majority of investors) and me is that I view valuations as not just another factor to consider in adopting an investing strategy, but rather as the the most important factor by far. The trouble that I have persuading people of the merit of the new approach is that the importance of valuations varies greatly. In every investor’s lifetime, there are time-periods in which valuations are close enough to fair value that it makes little practical difference whether investors consider valuations or not. Investors can go many years without suffering any penalty for failing to consider valuations. 

        Then, everything can suddenly change. One day, the investor wakes up to find himself going with a high stock allocation at a time of insanely high valuations and the insanely high level of risk that applies at such times. Over the next 20 years (in every case in history in which valuations have gone to two times fair value, it has taken that long for stocks to begin providing good long-term returns again), he loses so much of the accumulated wealth of a lifetime that he delays his retirement by many years.

        The valuations problem (lack of paying attention to valuations that is) in the stock market is like the heart disease problem for those of us who eat too much and exercise too little. Physicians often tell their overweight patients that they could extend their lives dramatically by making a few common-sense lifestyle changes. 

        The patients often tune out the advice because they have never suffered any serious negative effects from overeating. Then comes the heart attack. 


        Why I Started Paying Attention to Stock Market Valuations – Safe Withdrawal Rates During Retirement

        I learned about the importance of valuations by studying safe withdrawal rates. The safe withdrawal rate is the percentage amount of a portfolio that a retiree may withdraw each year with virtual certainty that the retirement will survive 30 years, presuming that stocks perform in the future much as they always have in the past. 

        For many years, financial planners told their clients that the safe withdrawal rate (SWR) for a high-stock portfolio is 4 percent. That is, someone retiring with $1 million at age 65 can take out $40,000 each year to live on with no worries that he will run out of money even if he lives to 95. 

        I am the person who discovered the error in the old approach to calculating SWRs — the conventional methodology contains no adjustment for the valuation level that applies on the day the retirement begins. Numerous big names in the field have confirmed my findings in the 10 years since I put forward a series of posts at a Motley Fool discussion board showing that in reality, the SWR can drop to a number as low as 2 percent or rise to a number as high as 9 percent. 

        Please take a look at a sobering report recently posted at the Raddr’s Early Retirement and FinancialStrategy Board. The report examines how a retiree who placed his faith in the conventional retirement studies for a retirement beginning at the top of the bubble is doing today. Please scroll down to the update put up on January 1, 2012 to read some words that I believe will drive home to you why I view it as imperative that those investing in stocks never take their eye off the valuations ball.

        Raddr examines the numbers and concludes that: “The poor retiree’s real net worth has dropped nearly two-thirds (from $1,000 to $367) in only 11 years, and he is now withdrawing about 11 percent of his portfolio per year, which is a recipe for disaster even if the market heads up big-time from here. It looks like his portfolio very likely will fail in the next decade and is virtually certain to fail in the 30-year time frame which was touted as “100 percent safe” by many respectable market gurus and financial planners just a decade ago.”

        There are too many retirement portfolios dying an early death as a result of our decision as a society not to engage in the serious discussion that this critically important topic very much merits. 

        How about you all? Do you consider market valuations in putting together your long term investing strategy and asset allocation? Why or why not? Do you feel that ignoring market valuations in your investing strategy exposes you to unmanageable levels of risk?


        What do you feel is a safe rate to withdrawal your money during retirement?


        Share your experiences by commenting below!

        Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

        • Great post here, Rob! Your articles always get me thinking about what I do in my investing strategy and seeing if there are any places for improvement. 
        • @ The conventional approach to indexing / passive investing that I support  –
          • In the article above, Rob mentions that the conventional approach to indexing involves an investor staying at the same stock allocation at all times. 
          • While this is generally the strategy that I follow and promote, there is one big specification that I want to make clear before we proceed to other points in this discussion.
            • While I do advocate staying at the same stock allocation regardless of market valuations, I absolutely do not recommend staying at the same stock allocation regardless of the life stage you are in. In my opinion, this is far too risky.  
            • Instead, what I advocate is assessing your cash needs for the coming years, your tolerance for risk, your age, life status, etc, and then set a fixed income / stock asset allocation from there based on your tolerance for risk and time to retirement.
            • My belief is that by rebalancing your portfolio periodically, you can properly manage your risk and exposure to stocks.
            • For example, just because right now at age 26, my asset allocation is 75% equity / 25% fixed income, that doesn’t mean that it will be at those same levels when I am 55.
            • Got it? Right! Let’s proceed with some other fascinating aspects of this discussion. 
        • @ Why I haven’t yet been persuaded of adopting Valuation Informed Indexing – 
          • As Rob mentioned in the post, I have done an in-depth analysis comparing the performance of the Valuation Informed Indexing approach to my passive investing approach over the past 20 years. 
          • From this analysis, I found that since the market has been overvalued from a historical perspective for the past 20 years, Valuation Informed Indexing (VII) had the investor shy away from stocks during this time. 
          • Because of this, passive investing outperformed VII during the time period, although VII showed much less risk / standard deviation of portfolio value. 
          • In addition to the under-performance I saw from my analysis of VII, I felt that as an investor, I probably wouldn’t have the will-power to stick to the VII strategy. 
            • If you’ve done much reading about investing strategies, you’ve probably heard that one of the most devastating things that someone can do is bounce around to different approaches, following whatever advice happens to be given to you. While I’m not saying that VII is some shady penny stock newsletter/tip, I feel it would keep me too far from the performance of the market that I might not keep to the plan.
            • Just think for a second – would you really be able to hold to only investing 30% of your money in stocks during the late 90’s through 2008 if you are trying to aggressively save money for retirement? It’s likely that most people would not be able to stick to this plan.
          • Nevertheless, I do hope that we can one day tweak the VII strategy in such a way that I can become convinced enough to switch. As I mentioned in my analysis post, I really do believe it has potential since VII provides a concrete numerical system (using PE10 values, which keeps emotions from getting in the way) and so effectively reduces risk / standard deviation.  
        • @ The current PE10 ratio 
          • Just out of shear curiosity, I wanted to check what the current PE10 (valuation indicator) value was, since I hadn’t checked it since I finished my VII analysis in June of 2011. 
          • According to Robert Shiller’s data, the current PE10 is 20.75. This is down from 23 during June 2011, so this means that the markets are slightly less overvalued. If the PE10 goes below 20, VII dictates moving to a slightly more stock aggressive “base” asset allocation. During this time, the market has gone up overall ~2%.
        • @ The issue of safe withdrawal rates and providing income for retirement –
          • (I will preface this section by saying that I know much less about safe withdrawal rates during retirement than I do about the investing / nest egg accumulation phase – probably due to my age).
          • The concerns about safe rates of withdrawal for providing income during retirement are well-founded in my opinion, as this is a serious issue to consider.
          • In particular, if you had a high-stock allocation portfolio at the time of retirement, I do agree with the fact that you would do well to consider market valuation (because your all-stock nest egg could drastically decrease) when thinking about rates of withdrawal.
          • However, I personally do not believe people should have a high stock allocation portfolio at the time of retirement in the first place.
            • If you follow life-stage asset allocation advice set forth in books such as A Random Walk Down Wall Street, in your mid 50’s, you would have only 55% of your retirement funds in stocks + real estate. In your late sixties and beyond, you would only have 40% in stocks + real estate. The rest would be in ‘more stable’ investments like bonds and cash.
            • By having the majority of your money in secure investments, you actually don’t need to rely on your stock holdings for your current income.
            • Personally, the way I plan to attempt to structure my retirement income is lock in a guaranteed source of monthly payments through an annuity so that it is absolutely certain that I won’t run out of money. Then, any money I have invested in stocks, bonds, and cash will be separated from the income source. 
            • By doing this, I could simulate how people still in the working stage of life have an income source separated from their investments.
          • Overall, if you are using an annuity or another instrument to lock in your retirement income, I do not believe that you need to consider market valuations in your nest egg withdrawals or investment strategy (reasoning would be similar to that used above) during retirement. You are simply wanting to attempt to grow some of your money for your later retirement years and large purchases.   
          • However, what if you don’t have enough saved up to lock in a guaranteed annuity retirement income and will definitely need to withdrawal the money now/later from your limited stock allocation to cover everyday living expenses? Should market valuations be considered with how quickly or slowly you withdrawal your retirement savings? Should you use Valuation Informed Indexing in your investment strategy?
            • This is a much more complex set of questions, and I’ll have to do some more research and come back to you all in a future post about this!  

        ***Photo courtesy of http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/127076756_efb656e584.jpg

        December 10% Blog Income Give Back Charity Drop

        ————————————————————————————————————————
        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!
        ————————————————————————————————————————

        Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.

        A little over a week ago, the points were tallied from the My Personal Finance Journey December 10% Blog Income Give Back. Our Grand Prize winner was Greg K. As such, last Sunday (January 8th, 2012), $37.26 in cash was transferred via PayPal to Greg K. A big thanks to everyone for participating in the December Give Back event!  

        Having processed the the blog reader portion of the December give back, it was time to turn my attention to the question of which of the 9 local charities listed below would receive the $38.00 charity portion of the give back.


        After asking our Grand Prize winner, Greg K., which charity he wanted to see receive the $38 donation, he informed me that his choice was the         Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. To me, it sure sounded like a great cause I could get behind and would be happy to support.  

        So, on Friday of this past week, I took a lunch break at the lab and ventured off on my bike to drop off the donation at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge office in downtown Charlottesville.


        It was a nice clear January day out, and even with it being a little blustery/windy, it made for a pleasant break during lunch. After biking the ~2 miles from the University where I work to the downtown area, I arrived at the specified office location address (see picture below). The office is located in a very pleasant location in the heart of downtown Charlottesville directly above a popular local bar/restaurant, Zocalo.  

        Arriving at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge Office Location



        Upon arriving, I didn’t know quite what to expect as far as what type of facility and/or office they would have. After getting only slightly lost in the upstairs office corridors, I eventually found the entrance to their office (see picture below) above The Downtown Mall.

        After a temporary period of disorientation (aka getting lost), I found the Big Brothers Big Sisters office and headed in!  



        Upon entering, I met Becky, Director of Programs for the Central Blue Ridge branch, and handed her the donation check. 


        She explained to me a little about the background of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge chapter, including how they had recently moved locations from Waynesboro to Charlottesville to centralize their chapter operations after losing nearly half of their operating budget for the 2012 fiscal year as a result of government cutbacks on a three year federal grant they were receiving.

        Challenges Facing the Central Blue Ridge Chapter of The Big Brothers Big Sisters

        Additionally, she told me that the two primary challenges the Central Blue Ridge Chapter is currently facing is:

        • 1) Getting male volunteers interested in being matched as Big Brothers, and 
        • 2) Tight funding due to the issue mentioned in the previous paragraph. 

        I found the first issue (having MANY MORE females than males volunteers as “Bigs,” as the mentors are called) fairly intriguing. Indeed, when I stop and think about my friends and family that have volunteered to be part of Big Brothers Big Sisters, they have all been girls/women as well. Therefore, this may be an indication that many chapters face this same issue.


        Personally, I can think of three possible reasons why Big Brothers Big Sisters sees more females than males as volunteers. 

        • First, it could be that women are simply more apt to be volunteers (regardless of the type of organization), and therefore, it’s more likely from a shear numbers perspective that more women will show up to help.
          • I know that for me personally, even though I am very good at donating 5-10% of my own money to charity each year and doing fundraisers for charity, I do VERY LITTLE actual volunteer work that involves me donating my time (unless I am using that time to raise money for my fundraiser) since I feel like I don’t have much free time at the end of the day and my work related activities are sufficient to satisfy my “making a difference” life value. However, I do wish I could do more volunteer work at some point! 
          • Nevertheless, the primary volunteer work I have done where no money fundraising was involved was 1) helping to walk dogs at the local SPCA here in Virginia and 2) being a dog foster at a dog rescue when I lived in Pennsylvania. In both of these organizations, I would say that about 90% of the other volunteers were women. While I’m not certain that we can make universal claims based on my limited volunteering experience, it is a striking result nonetheless. 
        • Second, it could be that guys are not attracted to being a Big Brother because they are afraid it will make them look too “non-manly” and “soft” in some way or another. 
        • Third, it could be that more women than men are attracted to being a Big in order to practice some of the skills that would be involved in being a parent (if they don’t currently have a child and want one).

        How about you all? In your area, do you think more women than men volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters? If so, why do you think this is? 


        Also – in general, have you found that women are more apt to volunteer their time and/or money in general than men? Why do you feel this occurs?

        Additional Information About Big Brothers Big Sisters Central Blue Ridge

        In addition to obtaining some great information from the office staff, I also received a brochure that contained some cool statistics about the chapter as well.


        A few of these statistics are listed below:

        • 90% of every Dollar donated goes directly to making and supporting Big-Little matches.
        • Chapter has been running for 30 years in the local area. 
        • 77% of Little’s who have reached adulthood reported that they did better in school after the mentoring program.
        • For every $1 invested in Big Brothers Big Sisters, communities see a $3.28 benefit through reduced crime.

        Overall, it was a truly great experience to see that what we do here at My Personal Finance Journey can have a real life impact. Through this charity give back that you all have helped to make possible, we are able to help another child get matched with a mentor and increase their chances to succeed in life. 


        So, thank you all for helping with this journey, and remember to always live for a higher purpose and ask yourself what more you can do to help others.

        Happy 2 Year Birthday to My Personal Finance Journey!

        ————————————————————————————————————————
        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!
        ————————————————————————————————————————

        Click here to enter my free $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.

        Happy Monday folks! Just a quick post here this afternoon to announce that today marks the official 2 year birthday of My Personal Finance Journey! Wooohooo!

        It all started 730 days ago with a simple little post about a $30 sign up bonus offer for the Chase Amazon Credit Card. Coincidentally, I still have that credit card and use it for all of my Amazon purchases. It provides a pretty nice cash back feature too!

        Since that first post on January 16th, 2010, here at My Personal Finance Journey, we’ve had about 115,000 visitors and 521 total posts. It’s been a great ride, and I look forward to another success year of learning and interacting from all of you.

        To celebrate reaching the 2 year mark on this site, I’m giving away $196 as part of the ongoing monthly 10% blog income give back project. Be sure to hop on over to that post to enter to win and help a charity all at the same time!

        Thanks again for all your support!

        Jacob

          ***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/skambalu-04540b8d817365b83e0878d99b53b735-hd.jpg

          1 … 110 111 112 113 114 … 164
          >