Category Archives for Blogging
Best of Money Carnival #156 – May 21st, 2012 Edition
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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 $76.18 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 May 31st, 2012.
Welcome to the Best of Money Carnival (a weekly listing of the top 10 personal finance posts) – May 21st, 2012 Edition!
I hope you enjoy all of the posts I’ve selected for this week’s edition – and then come back to visit My Personal Finance Journey on my non-carnival days too.
For this edition, we had ~70 articles submitted. Below are my choices for the Top 10 Personal Finance posts of the last couple of weeks (that were submitted properly of course) in order from 1 to 10. A big congrats to all of this week’s winners!
1, Roshawn Watson presents 4 Ways To Reshape Your Views Regarding Money posted at Watson Inc. Perhaps one of the biggest ways to effect change financially speaking is to alter your belief system. Here are four ways to reshape your views regarding money.
2. FMF presents The Difference between Needs and Wants: Getting Spending Under Control posted at Free Money Finance. Achieving financial security is greatly dependent on our ability to make wise choices when it comes to spending money. Spending, not earning, is the key to financial security (though both are important, of course). And yet we live in a society where over-spending is almost the norm. The result for many people is a pile of debt and all the nasty struggles associated with it. It’s certainly not the pathway to financial security.
3. Harri Pierce presents Lessons from living below the line posted at TotallyMoney. A one week experiment to see how difficult it was to eat for less than £1 per day and how it can affect the rest of your life
4. Jason presents Should You Buy a Car Through CarMax? posted at Work Save Live, saying “Rust buckets, over-sized purses, methods of transportation, and a means of showing worth and status. Maybe it’s needless to say, but there isn’t a topic I detest more. When I hear the word ‘car’ all I can think about are over-priced machines that have gone from performing a function to being status symbols.”
5. Roger the Amateur Financier presents Advice for Students: What to Do With Your Summer posted at The Amateur Financier. A discussion directed towards students in high school and college, covering what they can spend their time doing in the summer in order to improve their finances and be in better shape economically.
6. Khaleef Crumbley presents 4 Reasons Why I Will Not File For Bankruptcy posted at Faithful With A Few. To file for bankruptcy is not an easy decision. Even though it has become more common, here are 4 reasons why KNS will never do it!
7. Ashley presents The Envelope System Works: Even on a 10 Year Old posted at Money Talks Coaching, saying “I’ve talked quite a bit about my frustration with my daughter and her lack of concern when it comes to money. She wouldn’t save money to save her life.”
8. Suba presents Should you buy Supplemental Unemployment Insurance posted at Broke Professionals. Unemployment is one of life’s setbacks that can seriously damage a person’s financial security. It can happen to anyone, even you.
9. YFS presents 10 Common Characteristics of Millionaires You Can Follow posted at Your Finances Simplified. Back in 2007, Forbes Magazine reported that all over the world there are a total of 946 billionaires, and according to Capegemini, a financial consultancy firm, in 2011 there are about 10 million millionaires. All of us probably have this dream of becoming millionaires ourselves, and sometimes we’re left wondering how these once ordinary people manage to make it big.
10. Hank presents How A Little Preparation And One Question Saved Me Over $1,000 posted at Money Q&A, saying “I hate buying a new car, but a little preparation and one simple question he me save money buying a new car this time with a little preparation.”
Well, that concludes this week’s Best of Money Edition. To all participants – it was a pleasure reading your articles this week!
Please submit your posts to the next edition of the Best of Money Carnival using the carnival submission form. The next carnival (#157) will be hosted by 20’s Finances and is scheduled for May 28th, 2012.
Also, If you’d like to host a future carnival, contact FMF asking for a slot.
$76.18 Giveaway – Community and Charity 10% Monthly Blog Income Give Back # 8 – May 2012 Edition
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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 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of May!
In case you missed the first seven editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
- 1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
- 2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is how the process will work:
- After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
- I’ll post the giveaway (similar to this post you’re reading now), and you’ll have approximately 2-3 weeks to enter.
- Once the giveaway is over, a grand prize winner will be announced, and then I’ll donate another 5% of my blog income to a charity. Once the giveaway entry window ends, I’ll send out the money to the blog reader winner(s) and personally drop off the charity donation.
- So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the first 6 editions of the 10% income give back. Read on below for some of the details:
- In October, $205 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, GreenPeace.
- In November, $201.40 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. If you’re interested, you can view the details of me going to drop off the check at the Food Bank by clicking here.
- In December, $74.52 total was given away, with $38 given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In January, $196 total was given away, with $96 given to the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In February, $141.20 total was given away, with $70 given to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- In March, $64.51 total was given away, with $30 given to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- In April, $46.95 total was given away, with $25 given to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- $76.18 total blog income to give away – $38.18 to a My Personal Finance Journey reader and $38 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Blue Ridge Chapter.
- $38.18 in the form of one prize available to one reader as follows –
- 1) Grand Prize = $38.18 Amazon Gift Card or $38.18 cash via PayPal.
- It’s been very fulfilling developing a relationship with the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through the MS150 fundraising bike ride I do each year. Click here to see the details for the 2012 edition of the ride I’ll be doing! I look forward to continuing to raise money for their efforts.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is Midnight, May 31st, 2012
Like last month, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for the April giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 7 entry points multiple times. You can also retweet the giveaway and/or share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the winner.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at midnight on May 31st, 2012 (about 2 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the winner (one with the most points accumulated) will be contacted via email to receive their prize.
$46.95 Giveaway – Community and Charity 10% Monthly Blog Income Give Back # 7 – April 2012 Edition
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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 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of April!
In case you missed the first six editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
- 1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
- 2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is how the process will work:
- After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
- I’ll post the giveaway (similar to this post you’re reading now), and you’ll have approximately 2-3 weeks to enter.
- Once the giveaway is over, a grand prize winner will be announced, and then I’ll donate another 5% of my blog income to a charity. Once the giveaway entry window ends, I’ll send out the money to the blog reader winner(s) and personally drop off the charity donation.
- So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the first 6 editions of the 10% income give back. Read on below for some of the details:
- In October, $205 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, GreenPeace.
- In November, $201.40 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. If you’re interested, you can view the details of me going to drop off the check at the Food Bank by clicking here.
- In December, $74.52 total was given away, with $38 given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In January, $196 total was given away, with $96 given to the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In February, $141.20 total was given away, with $70 given to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- In March, $64.51 total was given away, with $30 given to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- $46.95 total blog income to give away – $25 to a My Personal Finance Journey reader and $21.95 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Blue Ridge Chapter.
- $25 in the form of one prize available to one reader as follows –
- 1) Grand Prize = $25 Amazon Gift Card or $25 cash via PayPal.
- It’s been very fulfilling developing a relationship with the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through the MS150 fundraising bike ride I do each year.Click here to see the details for the 2012 edition of the ride I’ll be doing! I look forward to continuing to raise money for their efforts.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is Midnight, April 30th, 2012
Like last month, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for the April giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 7 entry points multiple times. You can also retweet the giveaway and/or share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the winner.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.Remember, the deadline for entries will end at midnight on April 30th, 2012 (about 2 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the winner (one with the most points accumulated) will be contacted via email to receive their prize.
Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #230 – March 30, 2012
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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #230 – March 30, 2012
Welcome to the March 30, 2012 Edition #230 of the Carnival of Financial Planning!
The Carnival of Financial Planning takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals and families. The focus is on efficient and sustainable personal financial planning practices that can lead to lifetime financial security.
This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.
Enjoy!
Budgeting and Economics
Justin presents What Should You Try Before You Take Out a Loan? posted at Budget Snob, saying, There are some situations in which taking out a loan is appropriate, such as buying a house or a car. However, in other situations, loans may not be the best choice. Before you take out a loan, its important to look at your options.
Chris presents The Recession Generation posted at Experiglot, saying, We really are the recession generation.
Tim presents 5 Business Lessons Learned from Monopoly posted at Faith and Finance, saying, Monopoly is good family fun and all, but its also a crash course in business. Here are 5 business takeaways you can learn from the old game Monopoly.
Janet presents Living expense tracking methods posted at Independent Financial Planner , saying, ” Many people do not track their living expenses and do not understand the magnitude of their consumption. Failure to monitor your consumption expenditures means that they are flying blindly regarding their future finances. “
Darwin presents The REAL Inflation Rate posted at Darwin’s Money , saying, Most Americans feel the government inflation numbers aren’t representative of the real inflation they see year to year. Here’s your solution.
Financial Planning
Craig Ford presents The Unpopular Truth About the Dangers of a Dave Ramsey Only Approach to Christian Finances posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “Christians should consider paying attention to other financial authors as well.”
Jeffrey presents Can We Stop Gushing Over Our Self-Affirming Financial Bull? posted at Money Spruce, saying, Did the title make you uncomfortable or defensive? Good, it’s probably not new news to you that everything likes to read things that simply back up what they already think and do. Finances are no different. We like to have all the answers, and we like to be on the right track. Sure, there are little tweaks here and there but not too much to rock the boat.
Dave presents Passive Investing – Active Investing – Alpha Returns posted at Wall Street Nerds , saying, ” The Old Testament of indexing is Burton Malkiel’s classic A Random Walk Down Wall Street, first published in 1973 by W.W. Norton and now in its ninth edition. For typical individual investors, without special access to information, it offers what is likely the best financial advice they will ever get: It is hard to consistently beat the market, especially after fees. A passive strategy will do better in the long run. “
Philip Taylor presents We Finally Completed Our Last Will and Testament, Living Will, and Durable Power of Attorney posted at PT Money Personal Finance, saying, Discusses our personal estate planning, as well as our choice to pay a lawyer versus using a website such as Legal Zoom.
Jen presents Make Money While Drinking Beer? posted at Master the Art of Saving, saying, I started thinking about it – can you really make money while drinking beer? Yep, I’ve decided that it is quite possible for somebody to make money while drinking beer– though most of these things can also been done by sober people.
Shaun presents What to Do If You are in a Car Accident posted at Smart Family Finance, saying, While being a party to a car accident might be outside your control, knowing what to do after a car accident will help keep you safe and potentially avoid you legal headaches down the road.
TSI presents Where’s Waldo? – The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance. posted at Skilled Investor Blog , saying, ” If investment mutual fund managers were truly skilled at beating the market, then you would expect mutual fund manager performance prowess to persist over time. Unfortunately, the evidence indicates that superior past professional performance among mutual fund managers tends not to persist. Past superior mutual fund performance is simply not a predictor of future superior mutual fund performance. “
Everything Finance presents 7 Fun Ways to Teach Children to Save posted at Everything Finance, saying, Creativity is a child’s bread and butter, so why not use that to your advantage to teach them about saving money? These clever tips are ideal for teaching your child how to make smart money decisions.
Kevin presents Would You Destroy An Entire Industry? posted at Thousandaire, saying, If you invented something that would benefit consumers immensely but would destroy an entire industry at the same time, would you release your product?
Eddie presents How Do We Measure Success? posted at Finance Fox, saying, Here’s my two cents. Singularly education, money, cars and the circle of friends do not measure ones success. Success is measured with a combo of all the above four.
Income
Corey presents How To Make A Killing As A Bar Server posted at Bar Whiz Blog, saying, Although a tight fitting tank top and a pair of orange short-shorts won’t hurt, showing skin is not the only way to make a killing as a server. Following these “tips”, anyone can make a surprising long-term income from serving.
John presents Wage Slavery and Money Myths posted at Married with Debt, saying, Wage slavery, for some, is an everyday reality. For others, there’s no such thing and work is a pleasure.
MR presents Can A Side Blogging Business Help You At Your Primary Job posted at Money Reasons, saying, Can working at a blogging side business help you at your employed day job? I think so and here is my story.
Daniel presents Salary vs Commission: Which Do You Prefer? posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, Do you like working for commission? Do you prefer a salary? There are several compensation options and each has it’s own advantages and disadvantages.
Insurance and Risk
Paul Vachon presents Saving Money on Home Insurance posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, There really are no secrets to saving money on home insurance. The trick is to include evaluating your insurance needs as a part of your yearly financial review. Most individuals don’t do this and are losing out on potential savings. Here are some of the best ways to save money on home insurance:
Investing
Kanwal presents The Biggest Investment Mistakes Canadians Are Making posted at Simply Investing, saying, I was recently interviewed for this article by Cindy Waxer she writes for publications including Technology Review, The Economist, TIME, Fortune Small Business, and CNNMoney.com. Have a look. ManyCanadians are falling short of their investing goals.
Boomer presents Pros and Cons of Holding Your Mortgage in Your RRSP posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, One investment that is eligible to be held in your RRSP is your mortgage. You need to have enough cash, or assets that can be converted to cash, and hold your mortgage in a self-directed RRSP. You then make your mortgage payments to the RRSP instead of a financial institution.
Bobby Boughton presents Is it Better to Invest or Pay off Debt? posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, Ah the age old question: Is it better to invest or pay off debt? This article goes through a few scenarios and helps you decide which is the better route to go.
Dividend Growth Investor presents Does entry price matter to dividend investors? posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “The reason for the lost decade in stocks is that many otherwise quality companies were overvalued in the early 2000s. For example Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) was trading at 29.30 times earnings in early 2000, whereas McDonald’s (MCD) traded at 26.90 times earnings. Even some of the best dividend stocks are not worth paying more than 20 times forward earnings.”
Teacher Man presents ETF Investing Low Maintenance and Stellar Returns posted at My University Money, saying, So the big day is finally here and we are ready to unveil our eBook the world. A huge thanks goes out to all of the great help Ive had building and marketing the eBook! Without further ado.
Mike presents What You Need To Know About ETF Investing posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, Everything you need to know on the topic.
Managing Debt
Steve presents 10 Things You Can Do to Get Out of Debt Starting Today posted at Money Infant, saying, Are you always wondering why you can’t get off the debt treadmill and live a satisfying life without constant money worries? 10 things to help get out of debt
Martin presents Do You Know Who Has Your Credit Card Number? posted at Studenomics, saying, The scary possibility of credit card fraud.
Real Estate
A Blinkin presents Should Homeownership Still Be The American Dream? posted at Funancials, saying, This was initially a guest post I wrote for Sam at Financial Samurai. Let me know what you think. There have been numerous studies performed over the years which clearly outline the social benefits of homeownership. In the mid-2000’s it was nearly impossible to argue against the advantages of owning a home.
Little House presents Are Homeowners Really More Credit Worthy than Renters? posted at Little House in the Valley, saying, Aren’t I, the renter, the more stable consumer than the homeowner who couldn’t afford a home to begin with?! Don’t my years of rental payments count for something! Why is it that rental payments aren’t factored into credit worthiness and therefore counted towards my score?
Glen Craig presents What is Mortgage Amortization and How Does it Work? posted at Free From Broke, saying, People get confused when they hear the term Mortgage Amortization. Don’t be. It’s not that confusing. See what mortgage amortization is and how it works.
Retirement
FMF presents Determine Your Retirement Number posted at Free Money Finance, saying, The first step in determining how much money you will need to save for retirement is to answer a few basic questions about your future. If you can answer these six questions accurately then your retirement savings number will also be accurate.
Madison presents Unveiling The Retirement Myth: Book Review posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, There are so many books about saving, investing, and building your portfolio, that it is rare to find a good book about spending down your portfolio, or the distribution stage. The book Unveiling The Retirement Myth by Jim Otar does a great job on explaining the distribution stage, in detail, with actual numbers.
Savings
N.W. Journey presents Start Planning and Saving for the Holidays Now posted at Networth Journey, saying, “Discover why now is the best time to save for the holidays.”
Ashley presents Saving For College; How to do it and why you shouldn’t feel guilty for not posted at Money Talks Coaching, saying, Saving for college is a huge task. Not only does the cost rise faster than inflation you have a very short time frame in which to save.
Kyle presents How to Save 10 Percent on Your Grocery Bill Without Cutting a Single Coupon posted at The Penny Hoarder, saying, If you’re someone who won’t use coupons or you’re somebody who uses coupons, but wants to save even more, I’ve got an unconventional way to cut the grocery bill.
Taxes
Cash Flow Mantra presents Update on Income Tax Situation posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, For those of you who might be unfamiliar with this part of my financial life, I owe some money to the IRS, and it is not just a little bit. I had to come up with another plan which involved borrowing money from individuals so I could avoid paying more taxes plus a nasty penalty on funds withdrawn from a retirement account. Yes, I am a little like Greece and kicking the can down the road, but I think that things will be getting better.
Money Cone presents Handling Royalty Trusts in Turbo Tax posted at Money Cone, saying, If you own Royalty Trusts in a tax-deferred account, you can skip the tax preparation step and unlike MLPs, owning Royalty Trusts in your 401K or IRAs wont trigger the dreaded UBTI. But if you happen to own them in a taxable account, be prepared to spend some time doing the tax math for each Royalty Trust you own.
Super Saver presents Where’s My Refund? posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Despite getting a refund this year, I have not filed and therefore know why I haven’t received a refund. However, for many that have filed, their refunds have been delayed.”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Financial Planning using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
$64.51 Giveaway – Community and Charity 10% Monthly Blog Income Give Back # 6 – March 2012 Edition
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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!
————————————————————————————————————————
The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of March!
In case you missed the first five editions of the 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
- 1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
- 2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is how the process will work:
- After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
- I’ll post the giveaway (similar to this post you’re reading now), and you’ll have approximately 2-3 weeks to enter (I apologize for the late start this month!).
- Once the giveaway is over, a grand prize winner will be announced, and then I’ll donate another 5% of my blog income to a charity. Once the giveaway entry window ends, I’ll send out the money to the blog reader winner(s) and personally drop off the charity donation.
- So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the first 5 editions of the 10% income give back.
- In October, $205 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, GreenPeace.
- In November, $201.40 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. If you’re interested, you can view the details of me going to drop off the check at the Food Bank by clicking here.
- In December, $74.52 total was given away, with $38 given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In January, $196 total was given away, with $96 given to the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In February, $141.20 total was given away, with $70 given to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- $64.51 total blog income to give away – $34.51 to a My Personal Finance Journey reader and $30 to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Blue Ridge Chapter.
- $34.51 in the form of one prize available to one reader as follows –
- 1) Grand Prize = $34.51 Amazon Gift Card or $34.51 cash via PayPal.
- It’s been very fulfilling developing a relationship with the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through the MS150 fundraising bike ride I do each year. Click here to see the details for the 2012 edition of the ride I’ll be doing! I look forward to continuing to raise money for their efforts.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is Midnight, March 31st, 2012
Like last month, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for the March giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 7 entry points multiple times. You can also retweet the giveaway and/or share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the winner.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at midnight on March 31st, 2012 (about 2 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the winner (one with the most points accumulated) will be contacted via email to receive their prize.
Professional Indemnity Insurance Explained
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The following is a guest post. Enjoy!
How about you all? If you are a business owner, do you have business insurance and/or professional indemnity insurance? Why or why not?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- Personally, I have zero experience dealing with business insurance, so I cannot comment too much on the points in this article.
- Overall, I think that having business insurance is a very good idea for most business owners.
- However, before blindly deciding to take on this added insurance, you should make sure that the nature of your business warrants the need for this added protection and expense item.
- For example, for my sole proprietorship that I have set up for my blog, I don’t believe there is very great of a need for business insurance since 1) I don’t have a separate physical office away from my home that needs to be protected, 2) have no employees to look after, and 3) I do not provide physical goods or services to customers/clients that I could be sued over if something went wrong.
- Sure – there still exists the minute risk of me being sued for something like slander or using intellectual property without authorization, but there are many steps that can be easily taken to avoid/control these things. So, overall, I don’t feel that I need business insurance just yet.
- However, if I had a business such as a doctor’s office or bakery, I would be much more apt to have a business insurance policy.
***Photo courtesy of http://www.public-domain-image.com/cache/people-public-domain-images-pictures/male-men-public-domain-images-pictures/employees-discuss-in-office_w725_h483.jpg
$141.20 Giveaway – Community and Charity 10% Monthly Blog Income Give Back # 5 – February 2012 Edition
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The 10% give back giveaway fun rolls on for the month of February!
In case you missed the first (October), second (November), third (December), and fourth (January) 10% Blog Income Give Back, after doing some thinking at the beginning of October 2011 about what direction I want this blog to grow and evolve towards in the future, I decided that any income made from this blog would have more significance to me at a personal life values level if I knew that a portion were being given back to the following places:
- 1) The readers – Obviously, without you here to read my articles and interact with my ideas, there would be no blog in the first place (let alone blog income). As such, it is only fitting that you receive a portion of any blog income.
- 2) Charitable organizations – If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a big believer in donating a portion of my money to charity. Each year, I donate between 5-10% of my income to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of the Bike for MS fundraiser that I do. Beyond the good that is done by donating your money, getting used to contributing to charity is also a good practice to emulate the actions of affluent individuals (T. Harv Eker discusses this in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I would definitely recommend reading if you have a few hours).
Because of these considerations, I’ve decided that each month going forward, I’m going to give away 10% of my net (after-tax) blogging income/profit to My Personal Finance Journey readers (5%) and to charity (5%). Listed below is how the process will work:
- After each calendar month passes, I’ll tally up my net blog income and determine what Dollar value correlates to 10%.
- I’ll post the giveaway (similar to this post you’re reading now), and you’ll have approximately 2-3+ weeks to enter.
- Once the giveaway is over, a grand prize winner will be announced, and that winner will then select what charity they’d like to have 5% of my blog income sent to. Once the giveaway entry window ends, I’ll send out the money to the blog reader winner(s) and personally drop off the charity donation.
- So far, I’ve been very happy with the success of the October, November, and December 2011, and the January 2012 10% income give backs.
- In October, $205 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, GreenPeace.
- In November, $201.40 total was given away, with $100 being donated to the charity, The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. If you’re interested, you can view the details of me going to drop off the check at the Food Bank by clicking here.
- In December, $74.52 total was given away, with $38 given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- In January, $196 total was given away, with $96 given to the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. You can view the details of the donation drop by clicking here.
- $141.20 total blog income to give away – $71.20 to a My Personal Finance Journey reader and $70 to the charity selected by the giveaway grand prize winner (see bullet point below for additional details on how the charity selection will work this month).
- $71.20 in the form of one prize available to one reader as follows –
- 1) Grand Prize = $71.20 Amazon Gift Card or $71.20 cash via PayPal.
- The personal finance topic I want to place in the spotlight for discussion in the giveaway comments this month is if and/or how people are carrying health insurance coverage these days.
- Recently, I wrote a post about the various options for obtaining health insurance coverage aimed at helping the millions of Americans who are having trouble affording regular health insurance, but yet do not make a small enough income to qualify for federal assistance programs for families below the “official” poverty level. This post was inspired by me hearing about several of my own friends who are facing this very dilemma, and I felt very strongly about trying to help figure out what options they had available.
- As such, I’m requesting that entrants leave a comment below this post about either #1 or #2 listed below:
- 1) If you currently have health insurance coverage, what type of coverage do you have/where is it provided from (independent plan, employer plan, etc), and whether or not it is affordable.
- 2) If you do not currently have health insurance, what are your barriers from obtaining it? What options have you looked in to for getting coverage that either worked or didn’t work?
- Because of the success experienced in the November-January give backs with building relationships with local charitable organizations, I’ve decided that for February, we’ll keep how we select the charity that receives the 5% blog income donation the same as last month. Continue reading below for more details:
- Instead of having each entrant specify any charity in the world, the goal for this month will be for My Personal Finance Journey to develop a relationship with one of the 7 charities listed below. The Grand Prize winner will select which of these 7 organizations receives the donation on behalf of the blog.
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia
- The Nature Conservancy
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville
- Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville-Albemarle
- United Way Thomas Jefferson Area
- Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA
- Alzheimer’s Association of Central and Western Virginia
- All of these charities were selected because 1) they are high quality organizations who do very good things and 2) they all have a significant presence/office in the area in which I live and operate this website (Central Virginia).
- I have contacted the local offices of these organizations and told them that they are part of the 10% blog income give back in February. After the Grand Prize winner is selected and the selected charity announced, I hope to be able to visit the local office of the organization, meet their staff, and present them with the money personally.
- It’s been very fulfilling developing a relationship with the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through the MS150 fundraising bike ride I do each year, and I’m hoping that this experience will be just as awesome! I look forward to seeing which organization is selected.
How to Enter the Giveaway – Deadline to Enter is Midnight, February 29th, 2012
Like last month, I’ve decided to use the RaffleCopter giveaway management tool to handle sign-up facilitation for the February giveaway, so simply go through the steps listed in the widget below to enter the running for the prize and accumulate entry points.
There is no limit to the amount of points you can earn. If you refer 10 subscribers – your name will have accumulated 170 entry points! Or, if you link to the giveaway more than once, you can accumulate those 7 entry points multiple times. You can also retweet the giveaway and/or share other My Personal Finance Journey articles via social media sites once per day. In the event of a tie, I will be using a random number generator to select the winner.
Important instructions: After you complete an entry method, make sure to click and fill out the “I Did This” or “Enter” button in the widget so that I have a record of your points.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.
Remember, the deadline for entries will end at midnight on February 29th, 2012 (a little over 3 weeks from today – the start of the give back). Good luck to you all! Please contact me if you have any questions. After the deadline for entries passes, the winner (one with the most points accumulated) will be contacted via email to receive their prize and select this month’s charity organization for the donation.
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/westbaltimoresquares/5680315829/sizes/l/in/photostream/
January 10% Blog Income Give Back Charity Drop
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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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A little over a week ago, the points were tallied from the My Personal Finance Journey January 10% Blog Income Give Back. Our Grand Prize winner was Donna B (also the winner of the November 10% give back as well!). As such, $75 in cash was transferred via PayPal to Donna. A big thanks to everyone for participating in the January Give Back event!
Having processed the the blog reader portion of the January give back, it was time to turn my attention to the question of which of the 8 local charities listed below would receive the $96.00 charity portion of the give back.
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia
- The Nature Conservancy
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville
- Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville-Albemarle
- United Way Thomas Jefferson Area
- Sexual Assault Resource Agency
- Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA
- Alzheimer’s Association of Central and Western Virginia
After asking our Grand Prize winner, Donna B., which charity she wanted to see receive the $96 donation, she informed me that her choice was the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. To me, it sure sounded like a great cause I could get behind and would be happy to support once again!
So, on Tuesday of this week, I took a lunch break at the lab and ventured off on my bike to drop off the donation at the Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA) office near downtown Charlottesville.
It was a very nice clear and luke-warm February day out, and the outing made for a pleasant break during lunch. After biking the ~2.5 miles from the University where I work to a little East of the downtown area, I arrived at the specified office location address (see picture below). The office is located in a very pleasant neighborhood, which appeared to be a bunch of older houses converted in to small office buildings for doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.
| Pulling up to the Sexual Assault Resource Agency Office in Charlottesville, Virginia to drop off the donation check! |
Margaret explained to me a little about the background of the Charlottesville agency, including how they are an independent organization (not part of a national chain) and have been in operation for 32 years now. The agency first started as a group of volunteers, but it has since grown to a full-time staff consisting of 10 professionals, including 2 full time counselors. Quite the success story!
CHALLENGES FACING THE Sexual Assault and resource agency of charlottesville
When I asked if there are any particular challenges that SARA faces in the Charlottesville area, two primary things were mentioned, as discussed below:
- First, since Charlottesville is home to a big University (University of Virginia – go Thomas Jefferson!), the number of sexual assault cases is naturally slightly higher since the young adult (under 25) age group is one of the highest risk groups for becoming victims. However, it was mentioned that this University phenomena is experienced nationwide, and is not isolated to only this area.
- Second, I found out that the SARA agency in Charlottesville services a large rural population in the surrounding areas/counties. In fact, I learned that 1/3 of their clients in 2011 and 48% of their clients so far in 2012 were from rural locations.
- Because of the small population-nature of rural areas, confidentiality of sexual assault (and receiving treatment/counseling for sexual assault) is of the utmost importance. And, as you can imagine, it is also particular challenge because we as humans are naturally curious people to learn about what others are doing.
Overall, it was a truly great experience to see that what we do here at My Personal Finance Journey can have a real life impact. Through this charity give back that you all have helped to make possible, we are able to help a difference in either preventing future sexual assault cases and/or improving the life of a survivor. Just take a look at what a difference even small amounts of money can make (taken from SARA Donation tab on website).
- $30 provides a new set of clothes for a victim seen at the Emergency Room whose clothes are collected as evidence.
- $50 provides a therapy session for a child or adult victim of sexual violence.
- $20 keeps the SARA sexual assault hot line running for a day.
- $150 provides a full day of prevention programming to a local school.
So, thank you all for helping with this journey, and remember to always live for a higher purpose and ask yourself what more you can do to help others. Also, be on the lookout for the February 10% give back event, on the way in the next few days!
Spread Betting – How It Works and Risks Involved
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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 $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.
How Spread Betting Works
The Risks Involved
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- Very interesting post here. It’s always fascinating to learn about new types of investing that are available to the market today.
- In reading this article, spread betting reminded me slightly of options, a tool I learned about while getting my finance undergraduate degree, in the respect that you do bet on either the upward or downward movement of the underlying security.
- However, spread betting is slightly different since the spread is involved, and not just the call and put prices of the option. Additionally, with spread betting, you don’t have the “option” of refraining from transacting your bet if the result is unfavorable, as you do with options.
- Personally, although spread betting is very interesting to learn about, I don’t believe it is well suited for my personal finances. This is because 1) it would not fit in my passive investing strategy / overall asset allocation with index mutual funds and ETFs, 2) it is slightly too risky for my tastes, being as that it is a margined product, and 3) I don’t believe I have the ability to correctly time markets, currency, and/or index price movements.
- As always, when learning about new investment strategies, make sure it aligns with your current long term plan and goals to make sure you stay on the right track.
***Photo courtesy of http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/3409354257_3f03fd9b88.jpg
December 10% Blog Income Give Back Charity Drop
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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 $196 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is January 31st, 2012.
A little over a week ago, the points were tallied from the My Personal Finance Journey December 10% Blog Income Give Back. Our Grand Prize winner was Greg K. As such, last Sunday (January 8th, 2012), $37.26 in cash was transferred via PayPal to Greg K. A big thanks to everyone for participating in the December Give Back event!
Having processed the the blog reader portion of the December give back, it was time to turn my attention to the question of which of the 9 local charities listed below would receive the $38.00 charity portion of the give back.
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge
- The Nature Conservancy
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville
- Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville-Albemarle
- United Way Thomas Jefferson Area
- Sexual Assault Resource Agency
- Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA
- Alzheimer’s Association of Central and Western Virginia
After asking our Grand Prize winner, Greg K., which charity he wanted to see receive the $38 donation, he informed me that his choice was the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge. To me, it sure sounded like a great cause I could get behind and would be happy to support.
So, on Friday of this past week, I took a lunch break at the lab and ventured off on my bike to drop off the donation at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge office in downtown Charlottesville.
It was a nice clear January day out, and even with it being a little blustery/windy, it made for a pleasant break during lunch. After biking the ~2 miles from the University where I work to the downtown area, I arrived at the specified office location address (see picture below). The office is located in a very pleasant location in the heart of downtown Charlottesville directly above a popular local bar/restaurant, Zocalo.
| Arriving at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge Office Location |
Upon arriving, I didn’t know quite what to expect as far as what type of facility and/or office they would have. After getting only slightly lost in the upstairs office corridors, I eventually found the entrance to their office (see picture below) above The Downtown Mall.
| After a temporary period of disorientation (aka getting lost), I found the Big Brothers Big Sisters office and headed in! |
Upon entering, I met Becky, Director of Programs for the Central Blue Ridge branch, and handed her the donation check.
She explained to me a little about the background of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge chapter, including how they had recently moved locations from Waynesboro to Charlottesville to centralize their chapter operations after losing nearly half of their operating budget for the 2012 fiscal year as a result of government cutbacks on a three year federal grant they were receiving.
Challenges Facing the Central Blue Ridge Chapter of The Big Brothers Big Sisters
Additionally, she told me that the two primary challenges the Central Blue Ridge Chapter is currently facing is:
- 1) Getting male volunteers interested in being matched as Big Brothers, and
- 2) Tight funding due to the issue mentioned in the previous paragraph.
I found the first issue (having MANY MORE females than males volunteers as “Bigs,” as the mentors are called) fairly intriguing. Indeed, when I stop and think about my friends and family that have volunteered to be part of Big Brothers Big Sisters, they have all been girls/women as well. Therefore, this may be an indication that many chapters face this same issue.
Personally, I can think of three possible reasons why Big Brothers Big Sisters sees more females than males as volunteers.
- First, it could be that women are simply more apt to be volunteers (regardless of the type of organization), and therefore, it’s more likely from a shear numbers perspective that more women will show up to help.
- I know that for me personally, even though I am very good at donating 5-10% of my own money to charity each year and doing fundraisers for charity, I do VERY LITTLE actual volunteer work that involves me donating my time (unless I am using that time to raise money for my fundraiser) since I feel like I don’t have much free time at the end of the day and my work related activities are sufficient to satisfy my “making a difference” life value. However, I do wish I could do more volunteer work at some point!
- Nevertheless, the primary volunteer work I have done where no money fundraising was involved was 1) helping to walk dogs at the local SPCA here in Virginia and 2) being a dog foster at a dog rescue when I lived in Pennsylvania. In both of these organizations, I would say that about 90% of the other volunteers were women. While I’m not certain that we can make universal claims based on my limited volunteering experience, it is a striking result nonetheless.
- Second, it could be that guys are not attracted to being a Big Brother because they are afraid it will make them look too “non-manly” and “soft” in some way or another.
- Third, it could be that more women than men are attracted to being a Big in order to practice some of the skills that would be involved in being a parent (if they don’t currently have a child and want one).
How about you all? In your area, do you think more women than men volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters? If so, why do you think this is?
Also – in general, have you found that women are more apt to volunteer their time and/or money in general than men? Why do you feel this occurs?
Additional Information About Big Brothers Big Sisters Central Blue Ridge
In addition to obtaining some great information from the office staff, I also received a brochure that contained some cool statistics about the chapter as well.
A few of these statistics are listed below:
- 90% of every Dollar donated goes directly to making and supporting Big-Little matches.
- Chapter has been running for 30 years in the local area.
- 77% of Little’s who have reached adulthood reported that they did better in school after the mentoring program.
- For every $1 invested in Big Brothers Big Sisters, communities see a $3.28 benefit through reduced crime.
Overall, it was a truly great experience to see that what we do here at My Personal Finance Journey can have a real life impact. Through this charity give back that you all have helped to make possible, we are able to help another child get matched with a mentor and increase their chances to succeed in life.
So, thank you all for helping with this journey, and remember to always live for a higher purpose and ask yourself what more you can do to help others.