My Personal Finance Journey

Creative Christmas Gift Ideas

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Shondell of Call Me What You Want, Even Cheap. She blogs about her recent car loan and mortgage pay off and a whole bunch more. Check out her blog right here.

With the imminent arrival of Christmas, the time to give and receive gifts has come again. Shops and supermarkets already have attractive promotional signs, posters and banners on their doors, windows, and wherever they can find unused space. There are clothes, cosmetics, and fashion accessories to buy for us women; clothes, shoes and electronics to buy for men; and clothes and toys to buy for children. Everyone loves receiving gifts, but the funny thing is that they are often forgotten a few days or weeks after it`s received.

Every Christmas, it’s the same old story. Can you still remember the gifts that you gave or received two years ago? I can hardly remember the ones that I gave last year, let alone two years ago. So, why not do something different this Christmas, something out of the box that will leave your friends and family awestruck. Instead of the usual stuff that you buy at the mall, you could do something creative.

Here are some creative Christmas gift ideas that both you and your friends and family will love.

Donate to your friend’s favorite charity: 

If your friends have a charity that they are fond of and have been asking you (directly or subtly) to make a donation, Christmas can be the perfect time to do that. This thoughtful gesture is sure to bring a smile on their face. You can even go and make the donation with your friend or you could just give the receipt to your friend. I know if I got a gift like that, I would never forget it.

Donate blood to the needy: 

Every day, there are hundreds of people looking for a pint or two of blood. They may be victims of an accident, someone needing an operation, or someone who is terminally ill. Christmas is a great time to donate blood because there is an increase in road accidents during the holiday season. Plus, it`s free! I am so afraid of needles, so this wouldn`t be my first option. But, for those of you who aren`t a wimp like me, giving blood is a great gift.

Donate books to your child’s school: 

Schools, big or small, are always in need of new books for their library. Donating books to your child’s school is an act of altruism that will benefit all the children in the school and your entire community. You could ask the librarian for a list of books they are in need of and then deliver the books just before the school closes for the holidays. After the school reopens, check with the librarian to find out how the school intends to use the books and give your own suggestions if you feel they need any.

Help pay your struggling friend’s debt: 

A friend in need is a friend indeed, the age old saying goes. And when your best friends are going through a financial crisis, could there be a better way to show them how much you love and care for them than to help them financially?

If your friend has a mortgage loan and he is struggling to make payments, then help him with whatever amount you can. I am not a fan of loaning people money, especially if you want to remain friends with someone. Giving them a gift to help out with their debts, or if you are in a position to pay off their debts, go ahead and spread that Christmas cheer!

Send a box of toys to an orphanage: 

Children love to receive gifts, and those without parents appreciate the kind gesture even more. Receiving even the smallest gift can help make a child feel like a million bucks. So, why not send a box of toys to an orphanage this Christmas? You can contact the orphanage to get some ideas of what the kids are in need of. On Christmas day, you could hand out the gifts personally to the children. Seeing their faces light up will probably bring tears to your eyes. If you have children, consider bringing your kids to participate as well.

Invite a homeless person to dinner: 

Homeless people are just like everyone else; the only difference is that life has been unkind to them and left them without a family or home. Picture yourself in their place and imagine how much they crave the warmth of a home, the delicious aroma of cooked food, and the kind gesture of someone more fortunate than themselves. The least you can do for them this Christmas is invite some of them to a sumptuous dinner. If you think the idea is risky, then deliver the food to them. I am sure they will be happy and grateful for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

How about you all? Have you ever given a Christmas gift outside of the ordinary gift?

 Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://www.callmewhatyouwantevencheap.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/christmas-gifts-300×224.jpg

    Tips to Help Tighten the Purse Strings For Christmas

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

    Christmas is the time of year where families find themselves in serious debt. It is such an expensive time of year – from buying Christmas gifts to attending parties and having the children at home and keeping them occupied to grocery shopping. 

    But, you don’t have to spend next year paying back debt from this Christmas. Tighten your purse strings and enjoy a debt free Christmas the easy way.

    Hide the Credit Card

    If you cannot afford to pay your credit card or store cards back within a short period, don’t use them. The interest you pay on your credit card can leave you paying back the whole of next year just because of one week of celebrations. If you can’t trust yourself, place your credit card in some water and pop it in the freezer, by the time you want to use it and pull it out and eventually chip all the ice away, you will have changed your mind.

    Use Vouchers and Coupons

    It’s the time of year when all the vouchers and coupons start pouring through the letterbox. Don’t be shy to use vouchers – you can save a lot of money in the long run. Grocery vouchers for family meals, discount vouchers for gifts and so much more. Take advantage of these now.

    Are You Paying Too Much Insurance?

    Now is the time to try and reduce your costs for next year, so plan ahead. Are you paying too much on your insurance? If so, shop around and try and get the best trade plan insurance policy at the lowest price, and save money looking forward.

    Shop Online

    While you may enjoy the thrill of wandering from shop to shop, you can save a large sum of cash this Christmas by shopping online. You can search for specific items, compare prices, and pay the lowest possible price. Take advantage of auction sites such as eBay and Half.com where you can find great deals for really good prices.

    Recycle Your Old Phones

    Are you one of the many that have old mobile phones lying around in drawers throughout the home? You can recycle them through a selection of companies and get a check back for your efforts, a little helping hand when buying Christmas gifts this year.

    Secret Santa

    You have a large number of friends and buying a gift for each friend can work out a really expensive exercise. So, why not have some fun with it and agree on a Secret Santa? 

    Everyone pulls a name out of a hat and buys a gift for that person for the agreed price. This way, everyone gets a gift, and you don’t end up emptying your purse.

    How about you all? What methods do you use to save some money during the holidays? 

    Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6722570555/sizes/l/in/photostream/

    Financial Planning for Late Starters

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

    A ‘late starter’ in financial terms generally refers to those who are over forty and have not yet developed any sort of financial plan for funding their retirement.

    If that’s you, don’t feel bad; there are plenty more folks out there in the same boat.

    Luckily, it’s never too late to get into financial planning. I mean, it would have been better if we’d all started yesterday, or last month, or ten years ago for that matter, but the main thing is to realize the need to get started right now.

    Financial planning is slightly different for late starters, although the basics are much the same.

    What Should Your Financial Plan Include?

    A financial plan, at any age, needs to address your financial needs in the present, as well as the short-, medium- and long-terms. It’s not much use saving huge amounts for a great retirement if you are struggling from day to day right now.

    Determine Whether Your Income Covers Your Current Expenses

    The first thing to do is work out whether your income covers your expenses at the moment. If you don’t know this off the top of your head, then I’m guessing you don’t have a written budget. You can’t have financial security if you don’t have a budget, so that becomes your first job.

    We’ve written about this before, but the basics of a good budget include all your income, added up to get a monthly or weekly figure (whichever works for you). Then, you list every expense – fixed amounts like rent or mortgage; variable amounts like food, transport, clothing, utilities, entertainment etc. Average all your expenses out to get a weekly or monthly figure, like your income. When you subtract your total expenses from your total income, you’ll see clearly if you spend more than you earn.

    If your expenditure is more than your income, you have some work to do to cut your spending in some areas, until you do spend less than you earn.

    If your budget balances, that is, you earn enough to cover all your expenses, and you don’t have a savings amount in there, you also need to cut some spending.

    If you’re over forty, you need to be able to save much more from every pay check than you would if you were still in your twenties.

    So, where do you stand with a budget?

    Do you have one?

    Does it balance?

    Do you have an allowance for savings in it?


    You need to answer ‘yes’ to each of these questions before you can plan for your financial security.

    Effective Financial Planning Strategies for Late Starters

    What are the best short-term strategies for late starters? Here are some ideas that will give you the best results in a shorter time.

    • You need to know how much you are going to need for your retirement fund before you can know how much you need to save from every pay check. 
      • Obviously, the older you are, the more you will need to find each week for retirement savings. 
      • Work out a weekly and annual figure for retirement spending, multiply by the average number of years (usually 20 years) you will be retired; then divide this by how many years you still are going to work. 
      • Bring this figure down to an amount per pay period.
    • Chances are you are going to need to restrict your spending, so you need to look for ways to do this in your budget. 
      • Cutting back on new clothes and shoes may not be enough, especially if you are in your fifties, so consider more drastic measures like down-sizing your home, moving to a less-expensive area, taking a second job etc.
    • Consolidate your debts to reduce your obligations and the total cost of the debts. 
      • A financial consultant is the best person to help you do this. Make sure all money saved is put into your retirement savings account.
    • Consider investments, but avoid anything too risky where your savings are exposed. 
      • Remember that some long-term investments can be maintained during your retirement – you can spend the earnings but keep the principle intact to keep earning. 
      • Well-researched stocks and mutual funds are good options.
    • Even at this late stage, employer 401Ks are a good option, especially if your employer also contributes. 
      • Good returns are also available with IRAs and other retirement funds. While maximum contributions apply, older workers are often allowed to go over these limits. Utilize the tax benefits of these funds to your advantage.
    • Delaying retirement and working part time in retirement are two important strategies.
      •  The longer you keep working, the bigger retirement fund you will have, even if you just work a few years past the normal retirement age.

    Now, this last point may seem tough, but you need to consider your future financial security. If your kids have left home and have a job, let them make their own way. Don’t continue to support them; you are going to need every cent for your own retirement. It’s time to put yourself first so that you can continue to live the way you want, well into your senior years.

    How about you all? How have you approached retirement planning?

    Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7210/6870888815_24c39c51f3_m.jpg

      6 Ways to Keep Your Holiday Gift Giving Costs Reasonable

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food.  She blogs at Mom’s Plans, where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
      When my husband and I were first married, we had very little extra money.  That first Christmas, we budgeted carefully and only spent the little money we had set aside for gifts.  When we arrived at my mom’s house, we saw that she had many, many gifts for us.  And, we felt bad, so December 24, we were out frantically shopping to buy her some more gifts.  We spent $150 more that day, and when you don’t have any spare money, that is a lot.

      I still remember frantically trying to raise money when the credit card bill came in by selling books on half.com and trying to find some extra jobs.  It took us until March to pay off those presents we hadn’t planned for.
      Needless to say – we never did that again.
      If you’re looking to keep your holiday gift spending reasonable, there are several steps you can take, now, so you aren’t paying off the presents several months after Christmas is over.

      1.  Tell your family your situation.  If money is tight for you this year, give your family and friends an early warning that the Christmas gifts may be a bit sparse this year.  Chances are, most people would rather you be honest (and stay out of debt) rather than spend money you don’t have.

      2.  Raise money before you spend it.  Last year, Financial Samurai challenged himself to make money for the holidays before he spent it.  Several hours of work paid for every gift on his list.  He did it through lining up a few advertising deals for his blog, but there are many ways you can do this–get an extra job, donate plasma for a few weeks, sell stuff around the house that you don’t need on Craigslist or eBay.  My husband and I recently sold stuff we didn’t need, and in two weeks, we made $475.  That would be plenty for Christmas gifts.

      3.  Make homemade gifts.  I am continually impressed by the homemade gifts that The Prudent Homemaker is making.  If you have to get gifts for children, you may be inspired by her gift a day series.  Pinterest is another great place to find homemade gift ideas as are frugal mom blogs.  You can make something like a scarf or make cookies or fudge or give soup kits or even make muffin tin crayons from old crayons you have lying around.

      4.  Draw names.  Don’t feel the need to buy gifts for everyone.  If you have a close circle of friends, maybe this year you can draw names and only buy a gift for one person instead of all of your friends.

      5.  Cash out rewards points.  If you get credit card reward points, consider cashing them out.  I cash out 5,000 reward points from my credit card every year to get my mom a $50 Red Lobster gift cards.  It is one of her favorite gifts because she goes there so frequently, and it doesn’t cost me any money.  If you are planning to do this, do so sooner rather than later to give time for shipping.

      6.  Check out Craigslist and eBay.  You may feel a bit funny about buying presents on Craigslist and eBay, but you can find good stuff.  We had a brand new suitcase that had never been used that we didn’t need.  We sold it on Craigslist for $20 to a woman who was going to give it to her mother as a Christmas present since she would be traveling abroad in February.  By checking Craigslist, she easily saved herself $50 to $70 on a new, large suitcase.
      The holidays can be a joyous time, but don’t make them any more stressful on yourself by feeling the need to overspend.  There are plenty of ways you can spread holiday cheer without regretting it for months after Christmas.
      How about you all? What are your favorite strategies for keeping holiday spending in check?


      Share your experiences by commenting below!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/luminarie/2179728755/sizes/l/in/photostream/

        3 Essential Tips for Selling Your Home

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

         Selling a home can be just as nerve-wracking and anxiety-producing as it is exciting. While those who sell their homes often have a lot to gain, the wrong move can turn into a rather huge loss. There’s no getting around the fact that it is essential to be careful when selling a home, especially if you or your family has never sold a home in the past. 

        The following are just a few tips that can help to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible, and that you reap all of the potential benefits.

        1. Educate Yourself on Bonds and Investments 

        Many people don’t realize just how important it is to learn as much as possible about bonds and investments before setting out to sell a home. Chances are the buying and selling of a home will be one of the largest investments you’ll make in your life, and going in blindly is never a wise idea. Surety bonds, for example, often pop up when a home is being sold, and learning more about them and how they work can help to ensure that you don’t make any quick, unwise decisions. The more you know about the different types of investments that are available to you, the better prepared you’ll be to sell your home.

        2. Hire a Realtor

        It’s not uncommon for people to feel as if they have what it takes to sell their home without the assistance of a Realtor. While this may actually be true, it’s not exactly typical, and it’s difficult to argue with the fact that working with a professional can help you to maximize your gains when selling a home. Hiring a realtor isn’t always as easy as it may seem, however, as it requires one to do their homework to ensure that the person they end up going with will actually do a good job.

        Look for Realtors that have been selling real estate for many years, and be sure to know exactly what they expect in regards to commission. While you’ll end up spending an extra chunk of money on a Realtor, they may be able to get you much more for your home than you could on your own.

        3. Hire a Lawyer

        Just because you’ve hired a Realtor doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. In order to get the most out of selling a home, you’ve got to hire a lawyer to help with the closing and oversee the entire process as a whole. The legal side of selling a home can be very tricky to navigate, and you don’t want to do it on your own. With a good lawyer on your side, you won’t have to worry about this aspect of selling your home at all.

        By hiring a lawyer, getting a good Realtor, and learning as much as you can about investments and bonds, you can ensure that the process of selling your home goes smoothly, and that you get the most out of it.

        How about you all? Have you sold your home before? What was the hardest part of the process?

         Share your experiences by commenting below!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/7605435738/sizes/l/in/photostream/

        My Personal Investment Journey

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        Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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        Click here to enter my free $60 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 November 30th, 2012.

        The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Kristina, who is a lifestyle and personal finance blogger. Kristina has over a decade of experience working in personal finance. She helps people plan their financial lives from college to retirement. You can follow her on Twitter @TKBlogs.

        From a very young age, we are told to always save money because it is a good financial habit.  From the time that I was 15-years-old and started working at McDonald’s, I got into the financial habit of saving money.  

        Every two weeks, I would set aside a percentage of my pay check and put it into my savings account.  Back then (in 1995), high interest savings accounts did not exist, so I was saving my money in a basic savings account.  As a teenager, I didn’t have a lot of expenses, and therefore I had a lot of money to spend at my own free will.



        How I started investing

        As a teenager, I had a great financial life. I had money to hang out with my friends, go to concerts, and buy anything that a teenager in a small town needed. Whenever my parents questioned my spending habits and asked if I was saving money, I would say “yes” because technically, every two weeks, I was putting money into my savings account.  The problem with keeping money in a savings account is that you have access to it anytime.  Therefore, whenever I wanted to buy something and I didn’t have enough money in my checking account, I would simply dip into my savings.  Later in life, I would learn that this is not a good financial habit.

        Where I learned about investing

        I went away to university to study French and Urban Planning, but I quickly changed my major to Economics after I started working for a bank. I was fascinated by money and how people can use it in their everyday lives. I had no idea that there was a whole world of investing outside of my basic savings account.

        During the day, I learned about supply and demand in university and in the evening, I learned about investment products at the bank.  I loved talking to experienced bankers about their personal investments. I wanted to read stories about the great depression, and I wanted to learn what makes the market move on a daily basis.  I quickly became overwhelmed with all of the information that is available for new investors, but I couldn’t stop reading about it.

        As I continued to gain investment knowledge at the bank and learn about the economy in school, I decided that my new personal passion in life was money.  I came to realize that the most important part of personal finance is the personal aspect.  Investors have to make sure that their investment choices are really the best option for their personal goals; the only way to know this to learn about individual investment products.

        Common mistakes made by new investors

        As a financial professional, I see a lot of common mistakes made by new investors, and as a person who has had her share of financial struggles, I can recognize a new investor when I see one.  Investing doesn’t have to be complicated, but sometimes people get so wrapped up in following the market movements that they forget about their personal goals.

        The number one rule of learning how to invest is to keep it simple.  I know that trying to become an experienced investor by reading financial articles can be very tempting; but the truth is that experience comes with time, not with books. 

        Many new investors want to jump right into the market and purchase high risk investments such as individual stocks, but this is a big mistake.  If you are not familiar with fluctuations in the value of your money, then you should ease into investing.  Start by purchasing pooled investments such as mutual funds or exchange traded funds, which give you market exposure and lower your risk with diversification.  As you gain experience and become comfortable with fluctuations, you can dabble into more sophisticated investment options. 

        High risk investments, such as stocks, can offer high potential returns, but they can also have high potential losses.  If you are a new investor, the odds are that you don’t have a lot of money to invest, so the possibility of losing it all with one bad investment can be devastating.  This is why I always caution people to ease into investing.

        How about you all? What is your best advice for new investors?


        Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/11139043@N00/1439804758/sizes/m/

          Seven Simple Tips For Smart Investing

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          Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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          Click here to enter my free $60 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 November 30th, 2012.

          The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Toi Williams, who is a professional personal finance blogger from Fine Tuned Finances. She has backgrounds in personal finance, sales, and real estate.
          Many people are afraid to invest because they believe that investing is complicated and that the only people that make money investing are the people that have a lot of experience with it.  Fortunately, this is not true, as many people have made money investing by investing smartly and keeping things simple.  You do not need to read hundreds of annual reports or have a degree in economics to be a smart investor.

          Here are some simple tips that you can use to become a smart investor.

          Keep It Simple

          Investors typically sabotage their results when they try to get too fancy with their investments because they usually complicate things with products that they do not fully understand.  Choose investments for your portfolio that you understand and that you have done your research on.  These are the investments that you can trust to perform profitably over time.  Even though the rate of growth may be slower with these investments, you are not assuming the outsized risks that come with the more exotic investment products.

          A great example of an investing platform that keeps things very straightforward is Betterment.com. You simply specify the asset allocation that you’d like to maintain, and they automatically rebalance your portfolio of passively managed index ETFs as the market fluctuates.

          Begin With Your Retirement Fund

          Funding your retirement should be one of your primary goals during your working years, so begin your investing by funding your retirement account with a percentage of your income.  Some retirement accounts allow the money to be taken on a pretax basis, such as an employer-provided 401(k) plan, and some companies offer their employees matching funds for their contributions, up to a certain percentage of their income.  Under certain circumstances, 401(k) plans and Roth IRAs allow you to access a portion of your savings penalty free, allowing you to buy a house or pay for a college education.

          If you’re interested in opening up a Roth or Traditional IRA account, this can be done either at a traditional mutual fund company, such as Vanguard of Fidelity, or at one of the many discount brokerages available online, such as Sharebuilder (currently offering $50 of free money with a simple promo code), Scottrade, ETrade Financial, TradeKing, or TradeMonster.

          Monitor Your Risk

          Different types of investments have differing levels of risk associated with them, so it is important to regularly review your investments to make sure that you are not assuming more risk than you are comfortable with.  Although stocks often return more than bonds, with riskier stocks returning the most, you can also lose more very quickly if the stock does not perform as planned.  A good rule of thumb is to invest more in stocks when you are younger and as you age, gradually shift to safer bonds to ensure that you will have the money that you need for your retirement years.

          Don’t Chase Results

          Chasing results is a terrible way to manage a portfolio because there is a good chance that you will buy after the price has gone up and sell after the price has gone down.  Investors that chase results are always one step behind because they are following trends set by other investors.  A better strategy is to choose investments that are expected to perform over time and allow them to mature; selling once the investment reaches a predetermined point that will result in a profit.

          Choose Low Fee Investments

          The more you are paying in fees to a purveyor of an investment service, the less money there is for you.  You do not want to choose high fee investments because all of the money you make will be paid back in fees, dramatically decreasing your expected returns.  Do not make the mistake of thinking that a high cost investment will justify its expense with higher returns.  Take careful note of the fees that you are paying for each of your choices and do not be afraid to change something that you feel is costing you too much.

          Diversify Your Portfolio

          The types of investments held in your portfolio and the proportions in which you own them will matter more in the long run than the costs you are paying in fees for the investments.  In order to minimize your risk, you should hold a mix of stocks and bonds and should include some other types of assets in your portfolio.  Choose carefully to ensure that you are not overexposed in any one company, industry, or region.  You can achieve a well-diversified portfolio by choosing several low-cost funds or a single target-date fund.

          Stick To Your Plan

          Create a long-term plan for your investments and stick to your plan as closely as you can for as long as you can to reduce your risk and possibly even boost your returns.  Novice investors that go online to check the value of their portfolio every hour easily spook themselves out of long-term profits with minor downturns in the stock price.  If you have carefully chosen the investments in your portfolio, you should be able to wait out any market downturns and your stocks will recover with the market.

          Conclusion

          By following these simple tips for smart investing, you can create an investment plan that minimizes your risk while providing you with steady returns for years to come.  As long as you do your research and choose your investments carefully, you will be able to reach your financial goals and provide handsomely for yourself during your retirement years.  The trick is to choose the right mix of investments and fund them in proportions that do not leave you over-exposed to outsized risk.  As you learn more about the stocks and bonds you are holding, you can make adjustments to your portfolio to better meet your goals for the future.
          How about you all? Have you tried any of these investing tips to improve your portfolio or diversify your investments?  What investing tips have worked for you?  Share your story below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANYSE127.jpg

          Buy Generic and Stay Out of Debt

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          Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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          Click here to enter my free $60 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 November 30th, 2012.

          The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

          Everyone knows that they can save some money if they buy the supermarket’s own brand instead of the pricier alternatives that are marketed to you on a regular basis. But, it can come as a surprise to many people exactly how much they can save. There’s absolutely no reason to buy products that you are told are “scientifically formulated” when you know full well that the generic looking own brand version is concocted in a laboratory too.

           Here are just a couple of budgeting tips that can save you from paying a visit to your bank manager.

          Medications

          First on our list is medication. There are only a couple of ways to make things like painkillers. You can pay literally ten times as much for something that is literally the same product – you might claim you can tell the difference between the supermarket’s own brand of breakfast cereal and the expensive one that you remember being advertised to you when you were a kid – but you probably can’t. You LITERALLY can’t when it comes to aspirin, because it is LITERALLY the same chemical composition, no matter what packet it comes in.

          Razors

          Second: razors. If you don’t remember ever seeing your grandfather with a beard, do you ever recall going in his bathroom and seeing a razor with five blades, that vibrates, and coats his chin with aloe vera? More likely he had one blade – he probably didn’t have a post shave balm – and he probably cut himself less often than you do. A disposable razor can last pretty much the same amount of time as a single head for your expensive branded version, and costs 1/50th of the price.

          How about you all? What items do you buy generic and save a lot of money on?

           Are there any items that you ABSOLUTELY will not buy generic?

           Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/4477728568/sizes/l/in/photostream/

          Helpful Tips for Managing your Debt

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

          Click here to enter my free $60 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 November 30th, 2012.

          The following article is by MPFJ staff writer, Miss T from Prairie Eco-Thrifter. If you want to learn how to live your dream life in a sustainable, healthy, and money savvy way, check out her site here.

           Personal debt has unfortunately become a way of life in the 21st century, with levels reaching all time highs.

          Easy credit, a have-it-now mentality, and the consumer-driven society have all created this situation. A recent survey in the US showed that increasing numbers of people are filing for bankruptcy, as their debts reach levels they simply cannot service. Managing your debt is vital if you are to avoid going down this road.

          There are some simple ways to manage your debt, and you will find four helpful tips here in this article. I learned many of them from personal experience when I realized that I had to do something about my credit card debt that was spiraling out of control. I was spending more than I earned, using my several credit cards to buy just about everything, and paying off one balance so I had enough credit to pay another. Does any of that sound familiar?

           When I came clean with a couple of my friends, I discovered that they were in a similar situation, and they knew others who were also struggling with high debt levels. We made a pact to gather information and share ideas for managing debt. I’ve got to say, talking about the problem really helped, and I felt good knowing I was doing something about it.


          Tip # 1 – Keep Debt Payments to Less than 30% of Your Take-Home Pay

          One of the things we found out was that debt, in itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s the volume of debt that becomes a problem. I mean, debts like mortgages, student loans and car loans are almost a necessity in this day and age; the trick is to keep your repayments below 30% of your income or things can get unmanageable. The total of all your repayments on loans, mortgages, and credit cards must be less than one third of what you bring home in your pay packet. This is the first tip for managing debt; do the math and work out exactly where you stand financially, how much you owe and what your repayments are each month.


          Tip # 2 – Create a Budget and Stick to It

          The best tool for getting a very clear picture of your financial situation is a personal budget. If you don’t have one, create one; it’s the best way of seeing at a glance what you have coming in and what your commitments are. A budget also shows you where your money goes; some spending patterns might come as a bit of a surprise. Look for one or more areas of spending where you can cut back to help you get rid of excess debt sooner.


          Tip # 3 – Contact Your Creditors and Negotiate Your Situation With Them

          Like me, you were probably way over the 30% figure when you realized that you were heading for financial trouble. So, the next thing you need to do is look for ways to reduce your commitments. I was told by a financial advisor to contact my lenders and credit card companies and negotiate a better deal. He said that credit companies want their money back, and most are prepared to cut you some slack to help to get your debts under control. They have a better chance of getting their money if you can manage your debts rather than declare bankruptcy.

           I tell you, this was one of the scariest things I’ve done but I was amazed at how kind and helpful every company was. I simply explained my situation and asked how they could help me meet my commitments. So this is tip number three – contact your creditors and ask for their help. What I found was that some were prepared to waive repayments for a few months; one restructured my loan and reduced the repayments, while one company actually lowered my interest rate. I would never have believed this could happen. When I shared this finding with my friends, they all did the same and got similar results.


          Tip # 4 – Shop Around for Better Interest Rates

          This tip led one guy to investigate different interest rates. He found one company which offered a competitive rate and was prepared to consolidate some of his debts into a lower interest loan. He reduced his monthly commitment as well as saving big time in interest. It certainly pays to shop around; I started looking for credit card companies that offered a better rate than I was paying. I found one company with a really good interest rate and I was able to transfer three of my biggest balances and pay a really small rate for the first six months. It felt great to cut up those three cards, knowing how much money I was saving! The fourth tip, therefore, is to shop around for better interest rates and look for companies that will consolidate several loans into one.

           Use these four tips to start to get some control over your finances by managing your debt. Use any money you save to throw at other debts to help reduce them faster. Make debt reduction your focus to get the fastest results. Good luck!

          How about you all? Have you used any of these strategies to help you better manage your debts? 

          What percent of your take-home pay do you currently put towards debt repayments? Is it less than or greater than the 30% target mentioned in this article?

           Share your experiences by commenting below!

            ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07/7214450550/sizes/l/in/photostream/

            Do You Spend Rationally or Emotionally?

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

            Click here to enter my free $60 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 November 30th, 2012.

            The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Greg Johnson. Greg is a proud husband, father, and debt crusader who is in the process of becoming debt free. Along with his wife, Greg co-founded the personal finance blog Club Thrifty, where they encourage readers to “Stop Spending. Start Living.”

            When it comes to doing simple math, most of us are more than capable of handling the basics. We know that 3-1=2 or that 1-4=-3. For the most part, we do these formulas without even thinking about it. It is almost second nature.

            Furthermore, many of us deal with simple math problems every day at our jobs. Some of us even deal with complex mathematical problems that the average person would find difficult, if not impossible, to solve. We are obviously intelligent people.

            So, why is it that so many of us have difficulty making the math work when it comes to budgeting and our personal finances? Isn’t budgeting simply a basic math problem?

            While it is true that budgeting one’s finances doesn’t take a math genius, the fact is that our personal finances are more complicated than just looking at the numbers in a vacuum. If we look at it from a purely objective viewpoint, it is easy to see that spending $1,000 more per month than we are earning is going to put is deep in the hole. Rationally, we know that this is not a good thing. However, when it comes to money, there are other things/elements in play.

            Rational vs. Emotional Spending

            Ideally, we would all love to be rational spenders. However, emotions play a huge part in how we deal with our personal finances. The way in which we handle our emotional reactions to money can have a lasting effect on the security of our financial future. Some of us may decide to go shopping in order to lift our mood. Others may be experiencing a midlife crisis and decide to splurge on a new convertible. There are a range of different emotions that can effect the way that we save and spend money. However, the biggest emotional driver of our spending and saving is fear.

            How Fear Affects our Financial Health

            Fear is something that is the driving force behind many of the financial decisions we make in life. It is also an extremely effective marketing tactic used to get people to do or buy things. All you have to do is turn on the television to find out what sort of havoc fear is wreaking today. Oil prices may rise or fall based on fears of conflict in the Middle East. Markets may drop drastically, citing fears over government defaults. Lately, there has been a lot of talk mentioning a fear of the U.S. government falling off the fiscal cliff. Yes, those who would profit from fear can use that emotion to manipulate the financial markets…and there seems to be a lot of fear mongering going around lately.

            On a smaller scale, fear affects many of the purchases and financial decisions that we make as well. Many of us fear aging, which is why botox procedures have become so popular. The fear of intruders propels the growth of the firearms and home security industries. Some folks will spend all of their money buying goods to prepare for whatever the next version of the apocalypse is. Still others decide to hoard their money out of a fear that they will never be able to make any more – or worse yet, fear that they will somehow lose it all. While it doesn’t relate directly to spending, many of us fear not being able to pay our bills – which is why we stay in jobs we don’t like rather than trying to find work that we do like. The emotion of fear pervades most of our financial decisions whether we like it or not.

            While fear may seem like a bad thing, the fact is that fear can also motivate us to make good purchases. Fear of dying and leaving your dependents with nothing may motivate us to buy life insurance. Exercise and diet programs are the products of fearing an unhealthy lifestyle. The fear of not being able to keep the lights on or having a place to live also keeps us making mature decisions.

            The next time that you make a financial decision, remember that there are a lot of people and companies out there who are looking to take advantage of your tendency toward emotional spending. In fact, many of them may even help to create fear in you so that you may decide to buy their products. Try and remove emotion from your financial decisions. Be rational. The better you become at removing the emotion, the better handle you will have on your financial health.

            How about you all? Do you find yourself spending rationally or emotionally? Why?

            Share your experiences by commenting below!

              ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/21313845@N04/2397388906

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