May 2011 Financial Goals Update – Short Term, Mid-term, and Long Term

————————————————————————————————————————
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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition


Back in January of this year, I laid out my short term, mid-term, and long term goals for the 2011 year. I do this once every year as part of my goal to create what author David Bach calls a Purpose Focused Financial Plan. The goal of this system is to employ money in your life in a way that matches your life values and dreams.

You can read more about my journey to create this system at the following links – Creating a Purposed Focused Financial Plan & My Personal Finance Journey’s Investment Strategy.


As part of making this system work, I wanted to give an update on how I’m doing so far this year with the goals I established. Overall, I feel that I am doing a satisfactory job. I got semi-behind on these updates (had to give a bulk one for the months of January-April, but this past month, I am much more on top of things! 🙂 Let’s keep our fingers crossed to keep this up! 


Short Term (< 1 year) Goals:

  • Contribute $5000 (or $420 per month) to my Roth IRA with Vanguard this year (maximum allowed) – Have contributed $3,550 so far this year. This puts me a little ahead of my target of $420 per month, but that’s all right. Only need to contribute $1,450 more to reach my target for the year. At the rate I’ve been going, this should be accomplished in the next 1.5 months. At that point, I will then begin pouring any extra money at the end of each month towards my condo home loan. Nice! 
  • Reach net worth target for this year (not displayed here) – Ongoing – getting closer and closer! Requires 20% increase in net worth. May not be possible to obtain, but will attempt.
  • Maintain target 6-9 months of expenses in cash reserve fund in Dollar Savings Direct account – Correct for this month, but ongoing.
  • Rebalance mutual fund portfolio to meet asset allocation target %’s (75% equity, 25% fixed income overall) – Correct for now, but ongoing.
  • Obtain 15% ownership / equity in condominium – Ongoing – currently have 10.7% ownership.
  • Put together a will and have it reviewed by a lawyer – Will completed. Not yet reviewed by lawyer.
  • Continue to save money for trip to Grand Canyon – Ongoing – need to figure out when to take this.
  • Upgrade condominium with investment in stacked washer/dryer combo – $1000 for unit, $1000 for labor/installation – Currently saving $87.50 per month for home maintenance and upgrades – Ongoing, but on track. By September of this year, I will have accumulated 1% of my home value in my home maintenance savings account. After that, I will be able to begin accumulating the $2000 that it will cost to get the washer/dryer in my condo. I’ll probably just keep the auto-transfer of $87.50 from checking to savings to accumulate this money. 
  • Invest $500 in Microloans for Latin America in 2011 ($41.67 per month) –Ongoing – Have invested a total of $208 this year so far to working poor fund in PeruThis comes with a pretty nice 3% interest rate.Note: I use Microplace.com to invest this money. It seems to work well and be dependable. I just logged in to my account, and it says that my money has been used to help 30 people down there! Pretty cool stuff if you ask me!
  • Donate $1,300 to Multiple Sclerosis Foundation in 2011 (5% of income) –DoneSo far, I have raised approximately $5000 to support finding a cure for this disease (with the help of company matches). If you’re interested in making just a $10 donation to my ride, click here.
  • Save 3% of take home pay each month (after taxes) for Dream Account.On target – Have an automatic transfer each month from my Bank of America checking account to my ING Direct high yield savings account.
  • Save ~30% of blogging income (if any) in a high yield online savings account in preparation for 2010 taxes. I have been very bad at doing this so far. I have a pretty large cash reserve built up, but it is all earmarked as emergency fund money. Thus, I need to get started doing this so I am not surprised come tax time in April of 2011.


Mid-Term (3-5 years out) Goals:

  • Continue contributing $5000 to Roth IRA each year
  • Reach intermediate net worth target (not displayed here, but is 2X my current net worth)
  • Own a rental property by 2016.


Long-Term (>5 years out) Goals:

  • Obtain a net worth of $1,000,000
  • Own a home free of mortgage payments
  • Own a vacation home in the mountains somewhere remote
  • Accumulate enough funds not have to work, but will probably anyways because I would get bored. 

How about you all? How have the months of April and May been for achieving your goals? What are your next milestones? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/4207563765_954cd50863.jpg

    Are Coupons Right For You?

    ————————————————————————————————————————
    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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

    A little over a week ago, I published a post about how online coupons can be used to actually save money on things you want to buy. This is in contrast to print coupons which, in my opinion (for the most part), just make you spend money on things you probably don’t need at stores you don’t need to be in.

    For example, let’s say you are a consultant and need to meet face-to-face with clients in another country. However, you don’t want to pay for the plane ticket every time you need to meet. So, you decide you want to buy computer meeting/desktop sharing software. Indeed, you could easily go online and search for “GoToMeeting coupon” and find promo codes that could make this acquisition a little less burdensome on your wallet/business cash position.

    Of course, this is all well and good. However, another important consideration to think about is whether or not coupons are a good fit for you/your situation in the first place.

    To start out, let’s take a look at when, in my opinion, everyone can benefit from the use of coupons.

    When Can Everyone Benefit From Using Coupons? – Larger, Infrequent Purchases


    Even in the case of my stingy, Great Value generic-brand-buying self, I honestly believe there is an important place in everyone’s life for coupons.

    What is this place? Easy! I believe that everyone can benefit from the use of coupons/deals on “one-off,” larger, infrequent purchases such as laptops, iPods, cars, kitchen appliances, etc. These are the purchases that are typically planned out in advance, and one can easily find the time to search for any deals that are on offer at the time.

    However, in the case of everyday purchases, the answer to this question becomes slightly more complex.

    When Does The Advantageousness of Using Coupons Become Situation Specific? – Everyday Purchases

    For me personally, when I go to Wal-Mart once a month to purchase mass quantities of food (most of which is Great Value brand) for my $2 per meal or less consumption, the last thing on my mind is coupons. Buying Great Value is a coupon! 🙂

    When it comes to every day purchases, the question of whether or not to use coupons becomes very situation-specific. Because of this, I’ve tried to summarize some of these situations/considerations below.

    • Do you buy generic items?
      • In my experience, the majority (if not all) of the coupons I have seen were for brand name items. Has anyone ever seen a coupon for Kroger brand corn or Great Value brand green beans? 
      • Because of this, if you tend to buy a lot of generic items, it most likely won’t be all that advantageous to cut/clip coupons. 
      • However, if you and your family likes brand name items (for example, my mom absolutely will not buy anything but brand name items for special dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas), clipping coupons can save you hundreds of Dollars throughout the year! 
    • Where do you shop?
      • Being honest with yourself about where you typically shop is important as well. 
      • If you do most of your shopping at places like Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Costco, you are probably saving quite a bit of money just from the mere act of shopping there, so coupons will probably be less crucial to save you money. 
      • However, if you do a lot of shopping at smaller, boutique stores (natural food stores, vitamin shops, etc), the prices can be much higher. And, it becomes very advantageous to plan out what to buy there in advance and obtain coupons for your purchases.

    • Do you enjoy clipping coupons?
      • Personally, I obtain no pleasure whatsoever from clipping coupons, since most of what I buy is generic brands. Also, I’d much rather be doing other things like learning more about index investing, asset allocation, or blogging.
      • However, I have a lot of friends who really enjoy sitting down with a magazine or newspaper on the weekends and finding deals. If this is the case for you, clip those coupons and enjoy it! It’s probably one of the cheapest forms of entertainment you can do! 

    • What’s your time worth to you (or to your family)?
      • The last consideration relates to the economic shape/state of you (or your family). 
      • If your family has a high net worth and both of the “breadwinners” of the family make $50-$100 per hour, it probably isn’t necessary to clip coupons. However, if you all enjoy clipping coupons, go for it!
      • On the other hand, if your family is in a more modest economic situation, you need to be looking for every little way to save money.

    So, those are the main considerations I could think of in order to help you determine if coupons have a place in your life. I hope you got some value out of this post!

    How about you all? Do you use coupons? If so, when do you use them? Do you know any one that uses coupons for everyday purchases? 


    Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/24218656@N03/4589929510/sizes/m/in/photostream/

      Does The Market Perform Better When Democrats or Republicans Are President? – An Update On Recent Results

      ————————————————————————————————————————
      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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition


      Note: This post was selected as the #6 pick in the 103rd edition of the Best of Money Carnival, hosted at My Journey To Millions. Stop by and take a peek at all of the other great articles as well!

      In the 2002 edition of the book, Stocks For The Long Run, Siegel includes a lovely little analysis/study of whether or not the stock market has had higher real returns (so this = after inflation has had its effect) when Republicans vs. Democrats have held the office of the President of the United States.


      What exactly did he find from this study? Let’s take a look!

      Siegel’s Results

      Now, I definitely don’t want to make this a big political battle, because I am not a very “involved” political person.

      However, it is no secret that the stock market in general reacts better to Republicans than Democrats. Republicans pride themselves on being champions for lower capital gains taxes and supporting the businesses that make up the stock market.

      Indeed, Siegel’s findings support the theory that sentimentally (short-term), the markets do favor Republicans being President as compared to Democrats. This was determined based on the study results showing that since 1888, the market has risen 0.7% (on average) on the day following a Republican victory vs. falling an average of 0.5% the day after a Democrat victory.

      This is definitely an interesting finding. However, what is really important is to determine how the market acts during the entire term of having either a Democrat or Republican in Office.

      To do this, Siegel and his research team computed the annualized real return (after inflation) during each Presidential term since Harrison became President in 1888. The results of this portion of the analysis are listed below:

      • From 1888-2001…
        • For Republicans, the annualized nominal return was 8.79%, and the annualized real return was 7.20%.
        • For Democrats, the annualized nominal return was 10.84%, and the annualized real return was 6.48%.
        • Result = Republicans win. Democrats produce higher stock returns, but also higher inflation. Republican have produced higher real returns since 1888 by 0.72% (so not by much).

      • From 1948-2001…(the results are quite different)
        • For Republicans, the annualized real return was 6.11%.
        • For Democrats, the annualized real return was 11.25%.
        • Result = Democrats win by a landslide. To give an idea of the magnitude that this difference in returns would make, if you invest $10,000 in 1948 and assume a 6.11% annual return, your money would have been worth $231,785 in 2001. However, if you had realized an 11.25% return, your same $10,000 would be worth $2.8 million. Wow! That is a huge difference! 

      So, from these results, we can conclude that during the time that most people reading this blog have been investing, having a Democrat in office has been favorable.

      However, since I just have the 2002 version of Siegel’s book, I wanted to check up on this and see how our Presidents have performed since then.

      Update on Recent Presidents

      Just as an example, I pulled up the Google Finance chart of the performance of the S&P500 index during the Clinton presidency. During his terms, the stock market went up 203%.

      The same S&P500 chart for G.W Bush’s two terms is shown below. During his time in office, the market decreased 29% overall. However, he did have a nice run in the 2007 time frame!

      Obama is fairly new to the Presidential office compared to the others. However, the performance of the S&P500 index during his term so far has shown a 44.18% increase (see chart below).

      So, it appears that the trend of the markets performing better when Democrats are President vs. when Republicans are in Office has continued.

      Will it continue to be this way? As far as this question goes, I don’t have any answers, as I am not one to ever try to time/predict the market. As a passive investor, I merely adjust my asset allocation to my targets on a monthly basis based on the fluctuations in the market.


      Another thing I don’t have an answer to is why Democrats being President cause the markets to do better (at least in the past 60 years)? Because one would think they would do better with Republicans in Office! I need your help to shed some light on this.


      How about you all? Why do you think the market has performed better when Democrats are in Office the past 60 years? Is it just residual policies being enacted from when Republicans were there? Is it because Republicans control the Senate/House during this time? Or, is it because Democrat policies enable lower and middle class people to have more money/spend more money?


      Share your experiences by commenting below!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3366720659_b746789dfd.jpg

        Petsmart vs. Petco – Which Is More Affordable? – Guest Post Live Today At Budgeting In The Fun Stuff

        ————————————————————————————————————————
        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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

        Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I have a guest post up today over at one of my Yakezie friend’s sites, Budgeting in The Fun Stuff.

        The post is a cost analysis between the two major pet supply stores we all know and love (or at least spend money at), Petco and Petsmart. The goal of the study was to determine whether driving the extra distance to one or the other will save you significant money in the long run.

        Read all about it by clicking the link below!

        Petsmart vs. Petco – Which Is More Affordable? – BITFS.com

        How about you all? Do you shop at Petco or Petsmart? Why do you choose one over the other? Which do you find is cheaper? 


        Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-305571892-hd.jpg

          What Is Your Best Day-to-Day Money Saving Tip?

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

          This post was originally posted as a guest post on Happy Simple Living on February 4th, as part of the Yakezie Personal Finance Blog Network “post swap” event.  In this initiative, Yakezie participants are paired up to exchange guest posts on each other’s sites on a common topic each month. Enjoy!

          Saving Money On Food & Drinks

          When I was informed that the topic of the 2nd Yakezie blog swap would be to share our most effective money saving tip we employ on a daily basis, I immediately knew what my answer would be.

          The answer is simple. I save big money on food and even bigger money on drinks! How do I do this and how much do I save, you ask? These ideas will be the topic of this post!

          Before we get started on sharing my tips on how to save money on food and beverages, I want to address the question about just how much you can save by reducing the amount of eating/drinking out you do.


          Up Against The Averages


          The average cost per meal (included tax and tip) for one person eating out is $17. Obviously, this varies depending on where you live. But for now, we’ll use that as the average for our analysis.

          How Do The Totals Look?


          According to UCSD Nutrition Link, Americans eat out an average of 4-5 times per week. Assuming the frequency value of 4 times per week, this equates to $68 per week, or $272 per month. This is incredible!

          According to a report from the USDA in 2007, the average monthly per person cost on groceries is $112.


          In looking at these numbers, it occurred to me that I am clearly spending more on groceries every month ($200 is my average grocery bill per month), but since I am only averaging eating out once per week (total eating out bill of $68 per month), my overall food cost is greatly decreased.

          Let’s put this in to plain English, shall we? My monthly savings over the spending schedule above would be $272+$112-$200-$68 = $116. This equates to saving $1,392 per year!

          If instead of spending that extra $116 each month on food, I invested it in my Roth IRA in an index mutual fund averaging 10% return from now (at age 25) until the age I retire (age 67), it would be worth $748,000 due to the miracle of compounding interest.

          As you can see from this example, it is clear that there is a lot of potential for accumulating wealth with this money saving tip alone.

          So, let’s take a look at some of the things I do to save money on food and beverages.

          Money-Saving Strategies for Food and Beverage Purchases

          1) Purchasing $3 Bottles of Wine

          This potent strategy works wonders on relieving the strain on your pocket book. Every two months or so, while I am at the grocery store (I shop at either Kroger or Wal-Mart), I stock up on approximately 8-12 bottles of $3 wine. At Kroger, the brand I buy is Bay Bridge, and at Wal-Mart, the brand is Oak Leaf.

          This is the type of wine that I drink when having larger get-togethers or am just eating dinner at home by myself and feel like a glass of wine.

          For special occasions (one when I can really appreciate the wine), I have several “nicer” bottles of $10-$20 per bottle local Virginia wines that I drink. By employing this one method, I save most likely several hundreds of Dollars per year.

          2) Only Purchase Wine at Restaurants on Special Occasions


          At a restaurant recently, a bottle of local Virginia wine was listed on the menu for $45. The price to buy this same wine at the grocery store or at the winery was $15. This represents a 3X markup! Wow! Now that’s profit!

          As it turns out, the average markup for bottles of wine at restaurants is 2.5-4 times the normal retail cost. Personally (maybe I am just plain weird), but I find it very hard to actually enjoy the taste of something when I know it is ripping me off from the inside out.

          Therefore, unless it is special occasion and I have planned for it financially, I personally don’t buy wine at restaurants!

          3) Never Go Out to Eat Alone


          This is one of my favorite money-saving strategies, and it is so simple. Only go out to eat when you are going out with friends!

          Think about it. If you’re like me, you probably eat 80% of your meals by yourself (including breakfast and lunches). By simply eating at home or bringing lunch to work with you, you can save tons of money if you just make it a policy to avoid restaurants/fast-food if you are by yourself.

          After all, who wants to eat out alone at a restaurant anyway?!

          4) Buy in Bulk and Buy Generic

          At least once a month, I make it a policy to go to the local Wal-Mart to stock up on the bulk of my groceries.

          Why? Simply put – no one can beat Wal-Mart’s prices when it comes to their generic Great Value brand. And, I bet you “name-brand” loyal shoppers out there would be surprised how good the quality of a lot of their items is.

          While I am at Wal-Mart, I try to buy as much as possible of items that won’t go bad. Examples of these items include bagged cereal, oatmeal, pasta, canned beans, salsa, tortilla shells (I love burritos!), frozen fruit, etc.

          5) Buy Frozen Foods and Canned Foods

          The last money saving tip of today’s post may also be one of the most effective; I save big money by buying canned and frozen foods.

          Even though canned and frozen foods do not taste quite as good as fresh foods, they keep for longer, can be bought in bulk, and are much much cheaper.

          Furthermore, recent studies have shown that since frozen vegetables and fruits are picked and flash-frozen at the peak of ripeness (instead of when they are green so that they ripen while being shipped from Chile to California over a 2 month period), they contain a much higher level of nutrients.

          Well – those 5 tips are the main ways I save money on a daily basis. Thanks to everyone for reading my guest post. I hope you can use some of these tips in your daily life to save money for your future.


          How about you all? What strategies do you use to save big money on a day-to-day basis?


          ***Photo courtesy of http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1217/5125464384_9182d3426f.jpg

          Stocks For The Long Run by Jeremy Siegel – Book Review

          It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 4 years since January of 2007. However, that’s how long it’s been since I first started learning what investing was for real through self-directed reading.

          Sure, I had learned about personal finance topics in my finance classes in my undergraduate degree. However, if I had relied on learning everything about personal finance from those classes, this blog would never have gotten started, and you most likely wouldn’t be reading it right now.
          You heard me right folks. I am willing to bet that you can get a better education about personal finance yourself by reading some of the high-quality books out there then you can from any university professor. This whole debate is an entirely different matter (and one that I feel very strongly about – keep an eye out for a future post), so let’s get back to the subject of today’s post before I go off on too much of a tangent.
          In January of 2007 (during a trip to Macchu Picchu, Peru with my family), I read “Stocks for the Long Run” by Jeremy Siegel for the first time. Since then, it has truly become one of my favorite personal finance/investing books of all time (up there along with A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Malkiel and What Wall Street Doesn’t Want You to Know and Swedroe).
          I consider this my “investing bible.” I may even have a problem because I just realized that I have been sleeping with it no less than 2 feet away from me on the bookshelf for the past couple of years! haha
          In this book, Siegel and his Wharton Business School research team explore pretty much every question you have or could ever wonder about regarding long-term investing in stocks, bonds, and cash-based securities.
          The book is divided into five Parts:
          In Part 1, Siegel examines historical data to determine what trends are present to discriminate how the equity and fixed income markets function. In Part 2, the research team analyzes different techniques to value securities and to predict the future returns investors can hope to obtain. Unfortunately for us, their findings indicate that future returns will be significantly lower due to the bleak outlook of dividends.
          In Part 3, which is in my opinion, one of the most interesting sections of the book, Siegel analyzes how stocks and bonds have performed during specific periods in history. For example, he analyzed performance during the Sept. 11, 2001 disaster, during wars, and how they have performed when Republicans vs. Democrats are President of the United States. Some of the results are counter-intuitive!
          Part 4 of the book explores various short-term periods in history in an attempt to discern whether or not patterns are present which can be exploited to profit when incorporated into one’s investment strategy. Unfortunately, the team pretty much finds that there are no short-term fluctuations that can reliably beat the market averages.
          The final section of the book, Part 5, is my favorite portion because it basically summarizes how all of the evidence he presented in the previous Parts can be used to create an intelligent investment strategy. And guess what, he concludes that low-cost index mutual funds are the best way to go! How about that?! That’s why my investing strategy is based on fixed income and equity mutual funds instead of individual stocks.
          One thing that I think could be improved upon in this book is to add additional detail showing example portfolios of how asset allocation should change throughout one’s life.

          However, for the most part, if you are wondering anything about stocks, bonds, or any security for that matter, this is the book to go to!

          Recommendation for purchasing the book (if you so desire)

          If you’re interested in buying this book, I would recommend purchasing a cheap, used copy from Amazon. There are two editions available for purchase – 1) the 2007 edition and 2) the 2002 edition.

          Personally, I would buy the 2002 edition because it is only $0.48 vs. $23 for the newer edition. I seriously doubt that the added material is worth >$20 more in purchase price, because the 2002 version is already very good!

          How about you all? Have you read Stocks for the Long Run by Siegel? What did you enjoy and what would you change? What are your favorite investment and/or personal finance books?

          Share your experiences by commenting below!

          Yakezie Blog Swap # 6 Roundup and My Favorite Picks

          ————————————————————————————————————————
          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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition


          On Friday of last week (29-April-2011), My Personal Finance Journey participated in the 6th Yakezie Blog Swap. In this event, members and challenges of the Yakezie Personal Finance Network paired up and exchanged posts on the common topic of, “if you were homeless, what would you do to improve your situation?”


          There were 16 bloggers who participated, and this blog swap was set up as a trail of crumbs. There were four total stops. At each stop, you were sent to the next post until you made it back to the first.


          My Favorite Swapped Post


          In this blog swap, I really had two favorite posts, each selected for different reasons. Read more about them below!

          In my opinion, the most entertaining and well-written post was the one Debt Payer posted at Modern Tightwad. This was a favorite because it reads as a story in first person narrative and is very engaging! – What Would You Do if You Were Homeless?
           
          My favorite post based on the actual content was the article written by The Saved Quarter posted at Debt Payer about Getting Out of Poverty before you are even in it. I really learned a lot from this one! 



          My Swap

          I posted at The Saved Quarter with how I would Improve My Situation If Homeless by working for tips.
          Andi B. from Modern Tightwad posted at on my site with a clever idea for bathing – A Homeless Plan to Guard Against Hopelessness.



          The Rest

          Debt Free Divas posted at FSYA Online about securing shelter first. Poor or Homeless.
          FYSA Online posted at Smart Money Focus about using education to help with a Homeless but not Hopeless situation.
          Smart Money Focus posted at Life and My Finances, reminding us that the U.S. is still seen as a place of luxury with Thank God I’m Homeless in the U.S.!
          Life and My Finances posted at Debt Free Divas with a very smart $4 dollar plan to getting back to comfort. If I was Homeless and Poor.
          Khaleef from KNS Financial posted at Money Talks about humbly asking for help and getting back to full recovery.
          Money Talks posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance and had an idea for getting immediate cash and food in one fell swoop with I’m Homeless, Now What?
          Barbara Friedberg posted at Narrow Bridge with a backup plan for taking on the challenge of poverty with You’re Homeless…Now What?.
          Narrow Bridge posted at KNS Financial with How To Recover From Being Broke by first taking responsibility.
          Bucksome Boomer posted at Debt Eye about hard work with Poverty Can Teach Lessons for Life.
          Debt Eye posted at Retire by 40 with What if You’re Homeless? and mentioned how any job would be worth it.
          Retire by 40 posted at The Single Saver with What I Would Do If I Were Homeless and suggested starting a small business.
          The Single Saver posted at Bucksome Boomer and mentioned that the best defense is a good offense with How Do You Plan for Financial Disaster?
          Be sure to visit each blog and share your thoughts on the topic!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcopapale/382187039/sizes/m/in/photostream/

          How You Can Actually Save Money By Using Online Coupons (The Non-Annoying Variety)

          ————————————————————————————————————————
          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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

          One of my many financial pet peeves is the copious amount of books or magazines of coupons I receive each week.

          Why is this one of my pet peeves?

          Essentially, the coupon system in the USA is out of control. Coupons have become more of a way of getting us to spend more money that we don’t have at stores we would never step foot in (or be on their webpage), as opposed to what they should be – a way to save money on things we already need to buy and for stores to reward customers. On top of this, all of the different coupon packets sent to me each week (Red Plum and Valpak, just to name a few) go directly in the garbage and fill up our landfills.

          Let me give you all a quick example of the uselessness of the current system.

          Today, I received a Hometown Magazine booklet of coupons. I just flipped through the booklet cover to cover, and I did not see one coupon for something that I already needed to buy this coming week. However, there were plenty of good looking deals to get me to spend more money on things I don’t need, like going out to eat at the China King Buffet and getting $2 off, getting 5% off car repair work if the repair job is over $350, or getting a discount price on a golf club membership for $1799 per year.

          Clearly, this type of coupon system is not working. What is a needed in today’s shopping environment is a searchable interface where you can actually find deals for things you are looking for.

          But, There is a Promising Solution!


          Online coupons providers are becoming a very promising resource for consumers to “strike back” and save some real money. One of these resources that I was recently exposed to was PromotionCode.org.

          This system allows you to search for the specific store you normally shop at (whether it be Target, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc) and find coupons on the actual items you normally buy. There is also a cool feature that allows you to sign up to receive new coupons via email when they are posted or get coupons that specifically offer free shipping on online orders.

          An example of how this system can be used is as follows:

          As you all know, my favorite place to buy cheap, used financial books is through Amazon.com. And, one of the books that I already know I want to buy is The Power of Passive Investing by Rick Ferri. By simply searching for Amazon, PromotionCode.org’s system directs me to the Amazon coupon codes page. Listed on this page are several 5% off promo codes that can be used to reduce the cost of buying this book. It also lists the success rate that other users have had with the codes, as well as a system that allows you to report faulty or expired deals.

          This is definitely something that would never be possible to obtain from a ValPak booklet.

          How about you all? Do you ever use the coupons that you receive in the mail? Have you had good luck with online coupons recently? What resources do you use? 


          Share your experiences by commenting below!

            ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/24218656@N03/4587200719/sizes/m/in/photostream/

            A Homeless Plan to Guard Against Hopelessness

            ————————————————————————————————————————
            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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

            The following is a guest post from Andi B. with Modern Tightwad. It was written as part of a Yakezie blog swap, where different participants in the Yakezie Personal Finance Network partnered up and traded posts on the common topic of “What would you do to improve your situation if you were homeless?”

            You can view my post today over at The Saved Quarter (another great Yakezie blog) by clicking here.

            A Homeless Plan to Guard Against Hopelessness
            A couple years ago, our financial situation was dire, and my husband and I talked about what we would do if we were homeless. One of my friends was kind enough to tell me, “You’ll never be homeless because you have friends,” but I know better than to depend on the unending kindness of friends or family, or to believe that we cannot be crippled by unknowable circumstance. Ben Franklin’s notion of spending a maximum of three days with friends is probably on the short end, but there can still be a limit to how long you can crash.
            Homeless Plan:
            Our working assumption is that my husband and I have lost our jobs, our home, and have no savings. For the sake of argument, we also assumed that we don’t have any friends we can stay with for any duration.
            Step 1: Sell our second car. 
            We have two cars, a 2000 Mitsubishi Mirage and my husband’s 1969 Datusn 510 wagon. We would sell the Mirage because we could get $1000-1500 to put into savings. Although it is our “nicer” car, the seats in the Datsun fold down to accomodate a twin size air mattress, and we could sleep in there if need be.
            Step 2: Sell everything else. 
            If we’re at the point where we may have to stay in our car, a PS3 and a television is unnecessary. I’m pretty sure that we can scrape together another few hundred easily. This should give us up to $2,000 in our savings account, including the money from the car.
            Step 3: Make a sleeping decision.
            With the car, our tent, and the money we’d converted from savings, we could temporarily live in a campground. We could stay in a by-the-week hotel. A priority would be looking for work that included housing. For example, my husband and I both have years of experience in the hotel industry so we would look for a motel or bed & breakfast management position that included an apartment.
            Step 4: Get all the help we can.
            I’m hoping that at this point, we’ve already applied for unemployment. We would also apply for food assistance. If we managed to obtain food assistance, we would utilize local assistance matching programs. 
            The Portland Farmer’s Market, for example, matches up to $5 each week for assistance recipients to obtain fresh local food stuffs. We have a dog and would look to the Pongo Fund for help in taking care of him. Many would advocate giving him up, but since he is my assistance dog, that’s not really an option.
            Step 5: Prioritize food.
            Outside of governmental food assistance, I would also approach local farms and ask if we could help with the harvest or work at their farmer’s market booth in exchange for a share of food, or if we could glean. Gleaning is the process of walking through the fields and picking food that the harvesters miss, food that would go bad if it weren’t for individuals picking through.
            Step 6: Focus on finding work.
            Part A: Gym Membership
            If our sleeping decision doesn’t include bathroom facilities, we decided to get a family gym membership at a local gym. We could get a family membership for $60/month that would provide us with a place to use the bathroom and shower each day. Good hygiene is essential to getting a new job, and a job is needed to get back on our feet. It also may give us something to do for an hour or so each day so we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves.
            Part B: “Borrow” an address.
            A huge stumbling block for people to get work is to have an address and contact number for employers. If we couldn’t borrow an address from a friend, a local church or non-profit may be able to assist.
            Part C: Get a number.
            As stated above, it’s nearly impossible to get a job without a contact number. A prepaid cell phone would be in order. Our last phone would have been surrendered. We’ll worry about paying the cancellation fee when we can.
            A big issue my husband and I discussed would be our attitudes prior to and during our homeless situation. We would guard against complacency or surrendering to what we felt was inevitable. We would be willing to travel anywhere to find work. Unfortunately, if our situation was due to a severe medical problem, or something else, we may have to consider a different plan. However, we are fortunate that if homelessness was an extreme possibility, we both have family in several parts of the country who would be willing to take us in for a month or so to get a job and get on our feet. Not everyone is that lucky. We also have the humility to ask for help, hopefully before our situation becomes desperate. 
            Due to our previous financial circumstances, tragedy is always in the back of my mind. We’ve been house-hunting over the past six months, and currently have an offer in on an house with an accessory dwelling unit – a small 300 sf studio apartment. I was comforted by the fact that if something horrible happened and we lost primary income, we could move into the studio, rent out the main house and more than cover our mortgage. Once we discussed what we could do in a worst case scenario, I no longer struggled with worry. Even if something happens and we become homeless, I’m not hopeless.

            How about you all? What steps would you take to improve your situation if you were homeless? Have you ever known any one that was homeless? 


            Share your experiences by commenting below!

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

            • First, thank you so much Andi for writing this article. It was very insightful! I’m so sorry that your situation was so dire several years ago. Was that caused by loss of a job?
            • @ Jobs that include housing – The idea of finding a job that provides housing is a very interesting one that I had not previously considered. I know that resort and cruise ship workers get housing providers, which enables them to save a lot of money. I didn’t know that normal hotel workers could stay in the hotel though for free. Do a lot of hotels do that?
            • @ Unemployment benefits and food sources – In writing my post over at The Saved Quarter, I completely forgot to mention the idea of applying for unemployment assistance and food assistance from the government. The idea of “gleaning” for food is innovative as well!
            • @ Idea of asking for help – I’m really glad that you mentioned the idea of being humble enough to actually ask for help. I think that is something that gets a lot of people in trouble (even with debt problems), because help is available, they are just too stubborn or ashamed to admit to needing it.

            ***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-4307313294-hd.jpg

            FREE Netflix For All For 1 Month!

            ————————————————————————————————————————
            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 giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

            Good day folks! The Netflix Santa Claus is here!
            Ok, not really, but I do have four 1-month free trials of Netflix’s DVD movie service. And after all, who doesn’t like to get free stuff?! That’s right – no one! 
            As many of you all know, I am a big Netflix fan and heavy Netflix user. I have written several previous posts about Netflix (place details here). I just recently watched the entire 7-season Star Trek Voyager series from Netflix! It only took me 4 months!
            The 1-month trial comes with no obligation, and you can cancel at any time during the 1 month trial membership. However, it’s important to remember that if you don’t cancel before the end of the trial term, your credit card (which you have to enter to participate in the free trial, but will not be billed) will be charged the $7.99 or $9.99 monthly fee for the Watch Instantly (unlimited) or 1-DVD-Out-At-A-Time plans, respectively, that you selected upon signing up.
            Having said that, listed below are the details for how to redeem your 1-month free trial:
            • Go to Netflix.com/tellafriend
            • Enter one of the four priority codes listed below before June 15th, 2011.
              • M829180488735
              • M869110488775
              • M513995667115
              • M899120488725
            • When you use one of the codes above, do your fellow readers a favor and post a quick comment below letting them know which code you took out of the running. Thanks!

            How about you all? Do you currently use Netflix to save money on your monthly cable bill? If not, how much do you pay for your TV channels? 

            Share your experiences by commenting below!

              ***Photo courtesy of http://www.consumerqueen.com/consumerqueenwp/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/netflix.gif

              >