Category Archives for Saving Money & Frugal Living
Festival of Frugality # 322 – February 7th, 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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1. Squirrelers presents Hara Hachi Bu and Money: The 80% Solution posted at Squirrelers.
In this post, Squirrelers proposes the idea of applying an Okinawan approach to regularly eating until a person is 80% full, called Hara Hachi Bu, to personal finance (saving/spending in particular). Specifically, it is proposed that a person can start getting much further ahead in their personal finances by examining their current level of expenses, and trying to spend only 80% of the current expense level going forward.
Personally, I really liked this idea/approach. It gives people somewhat of a concrete methodology and goal to use to start saving more – rather than just recommending to “save more.” I think I’ll put this on my list of things to analyze for own personal finances as well and see if I can cut 20% in any areas.
2. Mr. Money presents Do You Save Your Pocket Change? For One Indiana Man, It Adds Up To a New Car Every 10-15 Years posted at Smart on Money.
In this post, Smart on Money shares the somewhat amazing story of an Indiana man who has purchased not just one, but several, cars using only spare change that he has accumulated throughout his lifetime.
I found this to be a very cool story! I didn’t know people were saving up to buy whole cars with spare change. I keep all of my spare change that I generate in a jar and usually cash it in and deposit to my savings account once it gets full, but probably do not spend enough cash to accumulate the level of change needed to buy a car.
3. Annabelle presents Which are most frugal: cats, dogs, or babies? posted at Shopping Detox.
This post shares some concrete estimated total costs (along with some awesome pictures!) for cats, dogs, and babies in order to determine which saves the most money over their lifetime.
I would agree with the conclusion that cats are probably the most frugal as well – mainly because they require fairly little interaction, eat less, and can be left alone for longer periods of time than dogs and babies.
And now, on to the best of the rest!
KT presents 3 Tried and True Ways to Find Money to Snowflake on Debt posted at Personal Finance Journey.
Corey presents Furnishing Your Apartment from Ikea? posted at 20s Finances.
Suba presents Simple Home Maintenance Anyone Can Do posted at Broke Professionals.
Erika presents How do you talk about money with your husband? posted at Newlyweds on a Budget.
YFS presents 10 Easy Tips for Saving Money on Car Insurance posted at Your Finances Simplified.
Jester presents Unexpected Crisis posted at The Ultimate Juggle.
Jen presents My Biggest Financial Fear posted at Master the Art of Saving.
Wayne presents Cheap Romantic Dates posted at Young Family Finance.
John presents Frugal Living is All About Creating the Debt Free Magic in Your Life posted at Married with Debt.
Hank presents How To Raise The Next Millionaire Entrepreneur posted at Money Q&A.
Eddie presents Airline’s Charge to Check Bags = One Big Cash Grab posted at Finance Fox.
FG presents Is Canada Immune to a Financial Blowup? posted at Financial God.
A Blinkin presents Are You A Mental Accountant? Grand Finale posted at Funancials.
Evan presents How I Saved $80 with Sprint and Why You Should Read Personal Finance Blogs posted at My Journey to Millions.
Money Cone presents This one thing will make a huge impact on how your car handles in snow and ice posted at Money Cone.
Matt presents Can You Live Debt Free and Still Have Credit Cards? posted at Living in Financial Excellence.
Jon the Saver presents We Won What? posted at Free Money Wisdom.
Peter presents Home Workout Programs can Be a Cost Effective Alternative to a Gym Membership posted at Bible Money Matters.
Justin presents How to Throw a Super Bowl Party on the Cheap posted at Money Is the Root.
Evan presents Our Frivolous Guilty Pleasures posted at Smart Wealth.
Miss T. presents How to Keep Your House Clean without Spending a Lot of Green posted at Prairie Eco Thrifter.
Beating Broke presents Take a Challenge to Start the New Year Off Right posted at Beating Broke.
D.J. presents 5 Tips to Slash Your Food Budget posted at The Family Wallet.
Marie presents Money Saving Tips for New Parents posted at Money Spending Mommy.
Cash Flow Mantra presents Getting More Miles Out of the Old Van posted at Cash Flow Mantra.
FMF presents Saving $2,000 a Year by Eating Samples at Costco and Grocery Stores posted at Free Money Finance.
Teacher Man presents More Rewarding: Earning vs Saving posted at My University Money.
John presents A Review of Food.com: Your Online Cooking Resource posted at Passive Family Income.
Kay Lynn presents 4 Things That Used to Be Too Expensive posted at Bucksome Boomer.
Marie at FamilyMoneyValues presents Win Rich Dad’s Cash Flow 101 Game posted at Family Money Values.
Everything Finance presents Can You Live a Cash Only Life? posted at Everything Finance.
Glen Craig presents Don’t Underestimate the Cost of Living When Deciding Where to Live posted at Free From Broke.
Glen presents 5 Kids Expenses to Budget For – Apart from College posted at Parenting Family Money.
Little House presents Are We Betting Against Death with a Life Insurance Policy? posted at Little House in the Valley.
SavingMentor presents Calling Retentions Can Really Slash Your Bills posted at HowToSaveMoney.ca.
Lisa presents How to Save Money on Your Super Bowl Party posted at Thriftability.
Lindy presents Making Cards, Not That Hard posted at Minting Nickels.
Marissa presents How much is commuting costing me? posted at Thirty Six Months.
Dr Dean presents Five Per Day: Keeps the Doc Away? posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog.
Melissa presents Do You Really Want a Typical Valentine’s Day? posted at Fiscal Phoenix.
Paula presents How Much Will It Cost to Maintain a House? posted at Afford Anything.
Kennedi presents How Stores Trick You Into Spending More posted at Face and Fitness.
Kurt Fischer presents Airline Ticket Purchase Timing posted at Money Counselor.
Roger the Amateur Financier presents Frugal Friday – Automobile Maintenance posted at The Amateur Financier.
Mama Squirrel presents That’s one frugal makeup bag (crochet projects) posted at Dewey’s Treehouse.
Amanda L Grossman presents The Zero Sum Financial Game: Ideas to Help You Juggle the Month posted at Frugal Confessions.
Aloysa presents Spending That I Can Afford posted at My Broken Coin.
Also, let Ryan (the Festival organizer) know if you are interested in hosting as well. It’s a bit of work, but a great way to get your blog out there and meet new folks in the process! I just took a quick look at the schedule, and it appears that almost all of the hosting dates are open for the rest of this year. So, there is plenty of opportunity!
***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-2630539049-hd.jpg
What Do You Refuse to Go Cheap On?
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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 was written by me and originally published on Nov 4th, 2011 on My Broken Coin as part of a “Yakezie blog swap.” The topic of this blog swap was to discuss a certain thing or category of things that we absolutely refuse to go cheap on in our lives. Below is my take on this topic. Enjoy!
When the host of this blog swap (Jon from Free Money Wisdom) introduced the common topic as describing an area of our personal finances that we refuse to be cheap about, I have to admit that I was somewhat intrigued.
Why is this, you might be asking? Well, if you’re somewhat familiar with the personal finance blogosphere, you probably know that the topics of frugality and saving money are widely popular. They are so popular, in fact, that you might even be hard pressed to look through your blog reader and NOT see a post titled something along the lines of “How I saved $1000 on a vacation” or “7 ways to save money this winter.”
Now, there is of course good reason why these types of posts are so prevalent, as people are looking to personal finance blogs for ideas for how they can squeeze a few more Dollars of savings out of their monthly needs in the difficult economic climate. And, I can’t say that I blame them at all!
However, it is fascinating to hear the opposite of the frugal-to-death approach to life, do a little soul-searching, and find out where we each draw the line as far as how cheap we go with specific items.
For me personally, I refuse to go cheap on 1) buying sports equipment that will help me to compete better in cycling and running races and 2) buying equipment that enables me to exercise without (or with minimal) pain.
I Never Go Cheap on Competitive Sports Equipment and Expenses
For me personally, there are three life values (“life pillars,” if you will) that I need in order to feel as if I am leading a fulfilling life. These are as follows: 1) health/exercise, 2) time with family or friends, and 3) contributing to society and making a difference. As such, each of these values holds a very high priority in my life, and I always strive to do the best I can in each of them.
One of my favorite ways to go about achieving the health and exercise life value is through competition in long-distance endurance sports such as cycling (which I used to do quite a bit but don’t anymore due to bio-mechanical issues) or half marathon running races. Essentially, anything that involves going up mountains for multiple-hour periods, I’m there!
Since I strive to do the best I can in these races, I am willing to spend extra money (if needed) to buy equipment, travel to races, and enter races that will enable me to achieve peak performance. Listed below are some various expenses and pieces of equipment I’ve purchased over the years that have enabled me to achieve peak performance in both cycling and running races. I’ve also included the price so that you can see that by no means did I SAVE any money by purchasing these items.
Running and Cycling Race Equipment/Expenses I’ve Purchased Over the Years (the Non-Cheap Variety)
- Cycling Purchases – 2001-2006
- Road racing bike (multiple purchases) – > $4,000.
- Biking shoes – $300.
- Biking pedals and cleats – $150.
- PowerTap power meter and training tool – $1,200.
- Biking helmet – $200.
- Biking clothes – $500 or more total – an ongoing expense because things wear out periodically.
- Aerodynamic time trial wheels – $1,200.
- Heart rate monitor – $200.
- Car bike rack – $400.
- Cycling training camp in Texas – $600-$800 per year.
- Race entry fees – Average of $50 each for > 20 races per year.
- Travel to races + hotel fees – A lot. I don’t even want to guess!
- Running Purchases – 2008-Present
- Race entry fees – $70-$120 per race for half marathon road and trail running races.
- Garmin ForeRunner GPS and heart rate monitor watch – $150.
- CamelBack hydration pack (for trail running races and training) – $100.
- Technical material (self-wicking) socks, t-shirts, and shorts – $200 – variable.
I Never Go Cheap in Order to Exercise Pain Free
As I mentioned above, I used to compete quite frequently in long-distance cycling races (I made it to being a Category 2 racer before I had to stop racing). However, in the 2004-2005 time frame, I developed some bio-mechanical issues that started causing knee and Achilles tendon pain while running or cycling.
Ultimately, these bio-mechanical issues (flat feet and a slightly curved back) forced me to have to scale back my cycling activities to recreation-only levels, but I still am able to compete in running races, which surprisingly only minimally cause pain after long races. Throughout the process of trying to correct these defects and even today in my training, there is not much I wouldn’t do or spend to be able to exercise pain free.
Listed below are the various treatments and products I’ve bought over the years to keep me “on the exercise pain-free train.” Again, I’ve listed the prices to illustrate that exercising pain free has not been, in itself, FREE.
- To treat/cope with my flat feet….
- Special ultra-arch-supportive running shoes – $130 – multiple pairs in order to find the right fit.
- Custom molded orthotic shoe inserts for my running shoes – $500
- Custom molded orthotic shoe inserts for my cycling shoes – $300
- To treat/cope with my slightly curved back causing misalignment in my bike position…
- Laser-assisted bike fit session in Boulder, Colorado with one of the world’s experts on bike fitting – ~$600 + plane travel to and from.
Conclusions
How about you all? What areas of your personal finances do you simply refuse to go cheap on? Why do you feel this way about these specific areas?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecastro/3053916892/sizes/l/in/photostream/
The Secondary Cell Phone Market and How You Can Make Money From It
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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.
So, you’re getting a new cell phone for your birthday, Christmas, or another holiday?
If you live in the US and are planning to upgrade to your first Smart Phone (or a better, fancier Smart Phone) on one of the major US cell phone carriers, you most likely will be following the sequence of events listed below:
- Go down to your local cell phone carrier’s store.
- Get a new Smart Phone at a significant discount, as part of a service contract extension deal.
- Hand the cell phone company your current phone as part of the phone exchange/service contract extension deal.
However, have you ever considered what happens to your old cell phone once you hand it over your carrier during the exchange? Do they sell used cell phones for a profit? Or, do they place the old phone in some type of cell phone recycle program?
More importantly, have you ever wondered if you could you come out further ahead if you took matters in to your own hands and sold your old phone yourself?
The Secondary Cell Phone Market
Here enters the secondary cell phone market…
According to an article by Brighthand.com, only 3% of cell phone users recycled their old cell phones. Nevertheless, the article stated that of the people that did not recycle their phones, almost 44% left their old phones sitting around their home in boxes and/or drawers. Do you have any old cell phones in boxes or drawers at your house? I think I do! The rest of people either sold their phones on the secondary market or gave it to friends and family.
From these statistics, it is obvious that the secondary market for cell phones is alive and well these days. In fact, a Boston based study claimed that Smart Phones retain anywhere between 40-60% of their original value when sold in the secondary market. So, instead of simply letting your old phone sit around your house and take up drawer space, it could be very beneficial to search around the Internet in order to find a buyer for your old phone.
In addition, before automatically surrendering your old cell phone to your mobile phone carrier as part of an upgrade deal, it might also be prudent to compare the savings you’ll obtain with the upgrade versus how much you’ll make from selling your old phone to an independent party. You might just find that you can come out ahead selling the phone yourself. This could be particularly useful if you are dissatisfied and wanting to leave your current cell phone carrier anyway. At the very least, you’ll know you checked in to all of your options before proceeding.
How about you all? Have you ever sold your old cell phone in the secondary market? Or, have you merely exchanged your old phones for new models? Why did you choose the route you took?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iFrSLlCGyCY/SN0AmchXfTI/AAAAAAAAAVw/2IkuOIkLOLI/s400/nokia-n78-phone.jpg
Easy Like Sunday Morning Weekly Recap and Roundup – # 6 – January 22nd, 2012
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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.
Each week, the purpose of the Easy Like Sunday Morning Weekly Recap and Roundup series is the same – for me to be able to connect with you, the readers, on a more personal (non personal finance informational transmission only) level, encourage community, and also to give back to the other bloggers around the blogosphere who have mentioned My Personal Finance Journey throughout the past week.
As far as the theme goes, the title of the roundup gives it away. The roundup theme is named after the Lionel Richie song, Easy Like Sunday Morning (which I play once a week while putting this together), to remind us of the importance of slowing down at least once a week to take appreciation for that which transpired over the past few days.
So, without further ado, let’s get started with this week’s roundup!
Weekly Updates from Jacob’s Personal Finance Journey and Life
- As far as my life in general, since Christmas, I have been trying to power through the month of January – working in the lab on my Alzheimer’s disease drug development project and also trying to continue training for the full trail marathon I’m planning to do in March of this year.
- One thing that I am looking forward to is when the days get longer with Daylight Savings Time finishing. Since I bike ride to and from the lab where I work during the day and don’t get off work until 5 pm or later, it seems that I am ALWAYS riding home in the dark! It’s not too bad since I can ride on sidewalks the whole way, but it does take about 50% longer since I have to hop curves and stop more often than when it is light and I can be on the road.
- Also – this weekend, my family, girlfriend, and my sister’s boyfriend have embarked on a ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado for one week. Luckily, it appears that the snow in the Rocky Mountains has FINALLY started to pick back up. It’s been about 2 years since we last went skiing “out West.” Shown below is a picture of my sister and I from our last trip to Breckenridge in December 2009 about to brave the blizzard and do some “easy” slopes. Enjoy!
- As far as my personal finances go, the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 was a busy time with some deep thinking about what I wanted to accomplish financially during the coming year. You can see my resulting financials goals for 2012 by clicking here.
- In addition, the other big development during the Christmas to New Years time period was that I sent in my estimated tax payments for 2011 that I hadn’t paid yet for the entire year (oops!). Lesson learned though – I’ll be sure to be better about this in 2012.
| My sister and I about to go down some ski slopes in 2009 at Breckenridge, Colorado! Fun times! I hope the snow is this good this time! |
Guest Posts from Personal Finance Bloggers on My Personal Finance Journey
Over the past couple weeks, there were three guest post here at My Personal Finance Journey.
-Jason from Frugal Dad posted about The Effects of Reality TV Shows on Reality.
-Wayne from Young Family Finance posted about Back to the Basics: Control Your Spending.
-Rob Bennett from A Rich Life posted about Valuation Informed Index Investing.
If you would like to guest post on my site, please click here to read more details about how to kick off the guest posting process. I’d love to hear from you!
Blasts From the Past
For the first 6 months after I started this blog, I pretty much “blogged in a cave.” What I mean by this is that I cranked out over 200 very good blog articles in this time period, but since I didn’t know any better, I didn’t reach out to other bloggers, get involved with the online community through commenting on other sites, or do any kind of site promotion at all. As you can imagine, some of the articles written during this time period didn’t get the attention that I think they deserved corresponding to the content contained.
The Blast from the Past section will feature one old My Personal Finance Journey article each week that I feel is high quality, but was published prior to my blog having any sort of real readership. This week’s article is listed below:
Best Options for the Cash Portion of Your Retirement Account – This post discusses what an investor is to do with cash that he or she wants to keep in his or her retirement account, given the dismally low interest rates currently being offered. Unfortunately, the verdict is that if you want extreme liquidity in your retirement account, you’re not going to earn much in the way of interest. However, thinking back on this subject/post with what I know now, you might also think about trying a short term bond index fund for a stable investment similar to cash.
Personal Finance “Mad Props” of the Week Award
blogosphere, I’ll be so impressed in hearing about what a person did or wrote about, that all I can say to myself is WOW! This section of the roundup will serve as a running “home” for recognizing outstanding achievement.
If you know of someone in the PF blogging world that is really doing amazing things, feel free to send me an email for consideration in future roundups.
Giveaways
- The College Investor is giving away $300 to the biggest SuperFan until January 31st.
- Maximizing Money is giving away 50 personalized keychains until January 31st.
- Rafflecopter is giving away and iPad2 and a Kindle Fire until February 9th.
- Yes, I am Cheap is giving away a ton of prizes until February 4th. I am actually sponsoring one of the prizes, so be sure to hop on over and enter!
- Money Spruce is giving away $200 to readers and charity until January 30th.
- Cash Flow Mantra is giving away $150 to celebrate his blog’s one year birthday until January 25th.
- Super Frugalette is giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card until January 31st.
- My Personal Finance Journey is giving away $196 to readers and charity until January 31st.
If you’re hosting a giveaway and it’s not listed above, please send me an email to let me know, and I’ll get it included in next week’s roundup!
Blog Carnivals Featuring My Personal Finance Journey Articles
Top 10 Referring Sites to My Personal Finance Journey This Past Week
- Yakezie
- Free Money Finance
- Wise Bread
- Tight Fisted Miser
- Risk Management Monitor
- Invest it Wisely
- Wealth Pilgrim
- Giveaways Are Sexy
- Cav of Risk
- Financially Consumed
Top 5 My Personal Finance Journey Commenters From the Past Week
- Miss T @ Prairie Eco Thrifter
- Jon @ Free Money Wisdom
- Evolving PF
- Making Sense of Cents
- Frugal Beautiful
Best Reader Submitted Question From the Past Week
My Other Sites
However, I have several other domain names purchased, and I am currently learning WordPress Self-Hosted to get these sites live as soon as time allows! I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on progress.
Well, that wraps up this week! If you have any suggestions or recommendations for things you’d like to see in this weekly roundup, just let me know by sending me an email!
As always, thanks to all the readers for creating such a great community here at My Personal Finance Journey. Your interaction is what keeps me going on this blog!
Until next time – Jacob
How about you all? How is your January going for you?!
How To Make Money on Your Old Phones
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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.
The following is a guest post. Enjoy!
How It Works
Shop For Options
What If It’s Worthless?
How about you all? Have you gotten a new phone recently? How did you handle either disposing of or recycling your old phone?
Did you sell it somewhere or exchange it at your mobile phone carrier store for an upgrade?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- Interesting article here, especially with how many people I know did either get their first Smart Phone, or at least upgraded their phone, this Christmas!
- @ The market for recycling old phones –
- Since phones have become so much more advanced in recent years, they are really more like small computers instead of just phones (like they probably used to be).
- And, I never really considered (until now) of how much value they probably still have because of their internal components even after you are “finished” with a certain model and have upgraded.
- In fact, I never really thought about the “second hand phone” market at all, come to think of it!
- @ My experiences with upgrading or replacing my cell phone –
- In my experience, when I have brought in my phone to my mobile company (Verizon) for a replacement, they tend to ALWAYS have some requirement in the deal that enables them to keep the phone – either you lose your phone contacts if you don’t allow them to “recycle” your phone or you have to give them your old phone in order to upgrade with a contract extension and take advantage of a deep discount on a new phone.
- Now, I understand why; they are able to sell it and make some money out of the exchange! Interesting!
- Personally, I have never tried to sell my phone through an independent source. However, it’s definitely something I will have to keep in mind going forward!
***Photo courtesy of http://farm1.static.flickr.com/84/275333689_fef2a7c76a.jpg
Green Energy Makes Green Money
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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post. Enjoy!
With the cost of energy prices rising each year, many of us are tightening our wallets and looking for better ways to save money. One simple way you can save money is by choosing a
1. Reduce your carbon footprint
2. Solar energy
Solar energy can be captured by solar panels. Solar panels absorb the energy from the sun and transfer it to heat water. This may be expensive to begin with but in the long term it will save you a small fortune.
3. How big is your green energy venture?
Many families are generating their own energy at home. Based on your financial budgets, you can do this or go through commercial generation. Research about this topic today and see what energy deal is financially right for you.
4. Spread the green word!
Green energy benefits everyone and a great way of spreading the word is by getting the whole community involved. The local community can hugely benefit from renewable energy by reducing their utility bills and generating local employment.
5. Be a part of something special
Switching to green energy is extremely easy and quick and can minimize your carbon footprint by up to 33%. Go for a greener energy alternative today and help both your bank account and the planet you live in.
Green energy is the only way the planet can operate if it is to survive the threat of carbon emissions. The more we as a nation use renewable energy, the more we all benefit the eco-system, reinforce our energy security, create more local jobs, and help to better our economy.
How about you all? Do you use a green energy supplier, car, or household appliances? If so, did you realize any short term cost savings from the purchase? How long do you predict you will have to use the device/supplier before you recoup the purchase cost?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- @ Choosing a green energy supplier in the United States –
- Great article here! It’s always good to think about how we, as consumers and citizens, can reduce our carbon footprint, but not necessarily have the reduction come at the detriment of our living situation.
- As far as I know, in the United States, when you live in a certain place, you do not actually have an option as to what energy supplier you use for your electricity. There is only one electricity supplier in each area. In this sense, the electricity companies have what I have heard called a “necessary monopoly.”
- So, if your energy company is not practicing “green” techniques, you are unfortunately stuck with that one supplier.
- However, I have heard that many energy companies these days are offering incentives to install green appliances and light-bulbs.
- @ Is green energy actually cheaper than fossil fuel energy?
- I haven’t done an in-depth analysis on this topic/question in general (I’ve only looked at whether green cars and recycled paper are cheaper than their non-renewable counterparts), so I’m very curious to get everyone’s feedback!
- The last I had heard on the news and from reports on technological innovations, green energy actually is more expensive than regular fossil fuel energy. And, in many cases, it can be MUCH MORE expensive, especially for solar energy since the energy efficiency conversion is fairly low.
- Going along with this, I have heard that the only time that green energy offers a cost savings is when the government offers incentives in the way of tax credits or deductions for making green purchases.
- In the US at least, I have been hearing that the incentives for using green energy/appliances have been less and less widely supported since the economy has been doing badly.
- Even though I personally believe very strongly in green living and of the importance of reducing carbon footprints, the fact of the matter is that we will not realize conversion of the majority of the population from fossil fuel-based energy to green energy until it becomes economically beneficial (or at least economically equivalent) to do so.
- In my opinion, I see this either being achieved by fossil fuel prices continuing to rise or by advancing renewable energy technology to the point where it is more efficient.
- Does anyone have better knowledge of the current “green energy economic climate” with tax incentives, etc? If so, do you know if green energy and household appliances are economically beneficially to use compared to traditional fossil fuels?
***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-2630539049-hd.jpg
2011 Year-End Financial Goals Review and Progress Update
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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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Along with signifying a new beginning, the time around Christmas and New Year’s each year represents a very special, almost sacred, occasion for me. It is a time when I put my normal life on hold and make the “pilgrimage” to my home-land of Arkansas to relax with my family for 1-2 weeks.
On this trip, aside from relaxing and having a good time with my family, I make sure to set aside time to tune out the normal distractions in everyday life – computers, laptops, cell phones (sometimes at the risk of annoying the girlfriend in not responding to her messages – oops!) – and reflect on the year that has just passed. I think about my accomplishments, my progress on my life goals, and how both of these things relate to what I want to achieve. These periods of deep thought often occur while I am sitting around the fireplace at my parents house (see picture below for an example of me relaxing with my cat, Cream).
| Pondering my progress on 2011 financial goals with my cat, Cream. He leaves the thinking up to me … I think.. |
And, since I am lucky enough to be quite a finance nerd, what usually materializes out of these reflection periods is a good list of financial goals for the coming year.
However, I can’t start listing out new financial goals for 2012 (keep an eye out for that post soon!) before summarizing my progress on my 2011 ones first!
I’ve gotten pretty behind on these financial goal updates with the year-end craziness (the last one I gave was on October 18th!). As such, this post/update will serve to reflect new progress that has been made in the November-December 2011 time-frame. Enjoy! I look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts, and progress on your own goals.
To quickly review, back in January of 2011, I laid out my short term, mid-term, and long term goals for the 2011 year. I do this once every year as part of my goal to create what author David Bach calls a Purpose Focused Financial Plan. The goal of this system is to employ money in your life in a way that matches your life values and dreams. You can read more about my journey to create this system at the following links – Creating a Purpose Focused Financial Plan & My Personal Finance Journey’s Investment Strategy.
Overall, I’ve been very lucky in the regard that my progress in 2011, for the most part, met or exceeded the expectations I originally laid out at the beginning of the year.
Short Term (< 1 year) Goals:
- Contribute $5000 (or $420 per month) to my Roth IRA with Vanguard this year (maximum allowed) – Complete. Have now contributed $5,000 so far this year.
- Because my graduate school employment doesn’t include the perk of a 401k, I had thought that my tax-deferred investing options for 2011 were exhausted when I maxed out my IRA contributions earlier this year.
- Because of this, during the summer time-frame, I began pouring any extra money at the end of each month towards my condo home loan. I made some great progress in building up equity in that investment.
- However, in December, I was able to open up and fund a self employed individual 401k with Vanguard. I then contributed $3000 to this account (pre-tax. Nice!). This helped immensely in reducing my tax liability for 2011.
- Reach net worth target for this year (not displayed here) – Not obtained – the equity markets didn’t seem to want to cooperate in allowing me to achieve this goal, as it requires an ~20% increase in net worth. However, all in all, I can’t complain too much.
- Maintain target 6-9 months of expenses in cash reserve fund in Dollar Savings Direct account –Complete – currently carrying ~9 months worth of expenses in cash in my emergency fund account.
- Rebalance mutual fund portfolio to meet asset allocation target %’s (75% equity, 25% fixed income overall) – Kept correct throughout whole year. Only rebalanced 1 time I believe.
- Obtain 15% ownership / equity in condominium – Complete – currently, I have 18.17% equity in my condo. Almost time to be eligible to remove the private mortgage insurance when I reach 20%!
- Put together a will and have it reviewed by a lawyer – Will completed. Not yet reviewed by lawyer.
- Continue to save money for trip to Grand Canyon – Savings ongoing – need to continue to evaluate when to take this.
- Currently, I have $470 saved up for this trip. I increased the monthly savings to $50 starting in October, and that has helped accelerate the savings nicely.
- Upgrade condominium with investment in stacked washer/dryer combo – $1000 for unit, $1000 for labor/installation – Decided to cancel this upgrade for storage space saving reasons.
- As of September, I officially had accumulated 1% of my home value in my home maintenance savings account. From then on, I began accumulating the $2000 that it would have cost to get the washer/dryer in my condo.
- However, I have since decided to hold off getting this washer/dryer since closet storage space will be at a minimum since my girlfriend and I have decided to move in to my condo starting in June 2012.
- Invest $500 in MicroloansComplete! It was fun doing this in 2011!
- Donate $1,300 to Multiple Sclerosis Foundation in 2011 (5% of income) – Done. In the 2011 Tour de Vine event, I raised approximately $5625 to support finding a cure for this disease (with the help of company matches). My bike ride happened on June 11-12, 2011 and was a huge success.
- Save 3% of take home pay each month (after taxes) for Dream Account. On target – Have an automatic transfer each month from my Bank of America checking account to my ING Direct high yield savings account.
- $30 per month save for doing running races as part of health life values account – On target.
- $20 per month save for buying fresh vegetables as part of health life values account – On target. If I don’t do this automatic savings, I can forget to buy fresh veggies and only buy canned ones! haha
- Save ~33% of blogging income (if any) in a high yield online savings account in preparation for 2011 taxes. Done – 4th quarter quarterly estimated tax payment sent in.
- I’ll be sure to put together a future post on estimated taxes, as it is something that crept up on me without knowing almost in 2011. I did a good job estimating/saving for my blogging income taxes, but I did a VERY bad job of saving money for estimated taxes on my day-job research fellowship income.
- Because of this, I had to pay about $1,500 more in estimated taxes for 2011 than I was planning for. Lesson learned!
- Implement dollar value averaging for my 2012 Roth IRA contributions. Canceled.
- I’ve decided that dollar value averaging, even though it will produce a slightly higher return on investment, is not well suited for me in the long term. Explaining why this decision was made will be part of a future post.
Mid-Term (3-5 years out) Goals:
- Continue contributing $5000 to Roth IRA each year and using dollar cost averaging.
- Reach intermediate net worth target (not displayed here, but is 2X my current net worth)
- Own a rental property by 2016.
Long-Term (>5 years out) Goals:
- Obtain a net worth of $1,000,000
- Own a home free of mortgage payments
- Own a vacation home in the mountains somewhere remote
- Accumulate enough funds not have to work, but will probably anyways because I would get bored.
How about you all? How have the months of November and December been for achieving your goals? What are your next milestones? Have you set financial goals for 2012 yet?
How about you all? Share your experiences by commenting below!
The Effects of TV Shows on Reality
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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 $74.52 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 December 31st, 2011.
The following is a guest post written by Jason, the Frugal Dad. Check out FrugalDad.com for more personal finance advice and retailer coupons and deals.
More Real than Reality?
What if a person watches nothing but reality programming? From exposing themselves to these shows, they create a reality for themselves where embarrassment, disrespect, and degradation are the norm. In this constructed reality, relationships must be tumultuous and self-centered in order to be normal. Marriage is something that can be annulled in a second but perhaps worst of all, parenting is an adult centered soap opera where the children are barely considered and hardly protected.
Reality Television At Its Worst
How about you all? Do you watch a lot of reality TV? If so, what do you find draws you to watch the shows? If not, why do you avoid it?
What are the positive and negative effects of reality TV on today’s society in your opinion?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- @ The world’s obsession with reality TV –
- Personally, I probably am not the best person to ask/comment about reality TV since the only reality TV shows I’ve really ever watched were Survivor and some of the series on the Discovery Channel, such as Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, and Deadliest Catch. And, as far as I know, these shows aren’t the “stereotypical” reality TV shows that people most often think about.
- However, I do agree with the findings of the research study mentioned in the article above that mentions that many people choose to watch dramatic reality TV in order to feel better about one aspect of their lives or another.
- It could be argued that even with “light” drama reality TV shows such as Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs, people could watch these in order to feel more empowered/better about their own occupations.
- Do I think this is why I watch these shows? I didn’t until I read this post, but now, it has made me stop and think….It could be that on a sub-conscious level, I like to watch Dirty Jobs to feel glad that I don’t have to deal with that sort of stuff in my day-to-day routine.
- However, the conscious side of me says that I really like to watch the show just for the sake of it being interesting to find out what other jobs entail.
- After all, I have started a business that involved scooping up dog droppings from other people’s yards, so I definitely don’t feel like I am “above” jobs that involve getting your hands dirty.
- However, it’s definitely an interesting idea to ponder, since it’s not often that you think about what’s going on at a subconscious level.
- But, one thing that is for certain is that reality TV is wildly popular in today’s society! I once heard that more people voted for the winner of American Idol than for the President of the USA. Crazy!
- @ How reality TV affects today’s society –
- Another intriguing question is, how does reality TV affect the world’s population?
- First, I do feel that reality TV does shape our perceptions about what is considered “cool,” “attractive,” “socially acceptable,” as is touched upon by the article above.
- However, another potentially harmful effect that could be experienced with a large portion of the world’s population being glued to the TV set for many hours each week is a decrease in productivity.
- For example, instead of watching reality TV (or any TV for that matter) 4 hours per week, could that time be used to start a side business to help secure your family’s financial future?
- Instead of watching TV, could you be studying more? learning new skills? doing your homework? The list continues….
- It’d be interesting to do a future post to investigate any linkage between hours of TV watched per week and wealth/financial success! It’d be cool to see what trends could be observed!
***Photo courtesy of http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/2873334814_c45bcd0527.jpg
Easy Like Sunday Morning Weekly Recap and Roundup – # 5 – December 17th, 2011
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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 $74.52 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 December 31st, 2011.
Each week (even though I missed the past two weeks! – Oops!), the purpose of the Easy Like Sunday Morning Weekly Recap and Roundup series is the same – for me to be able to connect with you, the readers, on a more personal (non personal finance informational transmission only) level, encourage community, and also to give back to the other bloggers around the blogosphere who have mentioned My Personal Finance Journey throughout the past week.
As far as the theme goes, the title of the roundup gives it away. The roundup theme is named after the Lionel Richie song, Easy Like Sunday Morning (which I play once a week while putting this together), to remind us of the importance of slowing down at least once a week to take appreciation for that which transpired over the past few days.
So, without further ado, let’s get started with this week’s roundup!
Weekly Updates from Jacob’s Personal Finance Journey and Life
- As far as my life in general, since Thanksgiving, time has seemed to fly by at warp speed (please excuse the Star Trek analogy).
- It seems like it was just yesterday that I was taking my Mom to the airport after she visited for Thanksgiving. And now, I am trying to finish up my last set of experiments before leaving next Friday to go home to Arkansas for Christmas. I am definitely looking forward to having some time back where I grew up.
- So far this December, the weather has been strangely warm. As such, I’ve been taking advantage of the mild weather to get some good long runs in. Several weeks ago, I decided that I’m going to attempt my first ever FULL marathon in March of 2012. I’m planning to start small with a new flat trail marathon race located just an hour East of where I live that has only been going on for one year. So, if I do terribly, I won’t be too embarrassed in front of thousands of people.
- Generally, I like to try to get in a ski trip to Snowshoe, West Virginia in December before I leave for the winter break. However, the warm weather this year has delayed the snow-blowers from making large amounts of snow, causing only about 20% of the ski trails to be open so far. Because of this, I haven’t yet gone skiing, but maybe today, I’ll head over!
- Aside from running and itching to get out on the ski slopes, I have been staying busy attending the various Christmas/holiday parties hosted by various friends and groups I’m associated with.
- Below is a picture taken at a recent Young Professionals Hollywood Christmas party. They had all sorts of fun wigs and props that people could dress up in, so I decided to slap on the Michael Jackson gloves and Mit Jager hair! haha Enjoy!
- As far as my personal finances go, there have been two primary occurrences since the last roundup. These are discussed below:
- First, as mentioned in the last roundup, I had decided to open a self employed individual 401(k) account as a way to shelter some of my self-employed income from 2011 from the tax man.
- Shortly after the last roundup, I was able to successfully open and fund a Vanguard Individual 401(k). It felt great to get this done before we got too close to the holidays!
- Because Vanguard requires a $3,000 minimum to purchase most any of their index mutual funds, I had to do some major reshuffling of my tax savings, December home loan payment, and December day-job income to free up these extra funds.
- However, things should return to normal once January rolls around. However, I will need to figure out my strategy for how I’ll contribute to my individual 401(k) account in 2012, since I now have more options for where I can invest any excess funds I have (home loan, Roth IRA, and now, a self-employed 401(k)).
- Second, in the past few weeks since Thanksgiving, (like many people) I have devoted a moderate amount of funds to buying Christmas presents for my family and friends.
- I didn’t buy anything overly extravagant and stayed well within budget, but the purchases definitely add up.
- As such, I think It’s important to remember around this time of year that only gifts that one can afford should be purchased. You’re under no obligation to give expensive gifts, so you should never go in to credit card debt simply over buying people presents.
| My girlfriend and I at the Young Professionals Hollywood Xmas Party Last Week. We’re having some fun dressing up with the props at the photo-booth at the party! Don’t I look good as a blonde? |
My Favorite 10 Posts of the Past Week
If you’re interested in submitting an article for consideration/inclusion to this roundup, just email me by clicking here. Since I’m only 1 guy without a time-machine to give me unlimited time each day, sometimes I miss some really good articles in the blogosphere, and it’s good to be notified of them directly.
Guest Posts from Personal Finance Bloggers on My Personal Finance Journey
Over the past week, there was one guest post here at My Personal Finance Journey.
Rob Berger, founder of Dough Roller, posted about, “How to Ignore Market Volatility” Thanks so much Rob for the post! It was great to hear the strategies you use to keep the market ups and downs from adversely affecting your investing strategy.
If you would like to guest post on my site, please click here to read more details about how to kick off the guest posting process. I’d love to hear from you!
Blasts From the Past
For the first 6 months after I started this blog, I pretty much “blogged in a cave.” What I mean by this is that I cranked out over 200 very good blog articles in this time period, but since I didn’t know any better, I didn’t reach out to other bloggers, get involved with the online community through commenting on other sites, or do any kind of site promotion at all. As you can imagine, some of the articles written during this time period didn’t get the attention that I think they deserved corresponding to the content contained.
The Blast from the Past section will feature one old My Personal Finance Journey article each week that I feel is high quality, but was published prior to my blog having any sort of real readership. This week’s article is listed below:
Beer – Bottled vs. Canned, Wine – Corks vs. Screw-Top – Which Are Better? – This post analyzes the somewhat controversial topic of whether or not the taste/quality of beer and wine is better when it is bottled vs. canned or packaged with a cork vs. a screw top, respectively. In an effort to seek an answer to these outstanding questions, I examine some of the research and studies that are available. Take a peek at this article – the answers might surprise you!
Personal Finance “Mad Props” of the Week Award
Every once in a while, when I’m reading an article or site in the personal finance blogosphere, I’ll be so impressed in hearing about what a person did or wrote about, that all I can say to myself is WOW! This section of the roundup will serve as a running “home” for recognizing outstanding achievement.
If you know of someone in the PF blogging world that is really doing amazing things, feel free to send me an email for consideration in future roundups.
Giveaways
- My Money Blog is giving away $5,000 cash and 2 iPads until December 21st.
- Free From Broke is giving away a $50 Amex Gift Card until December 19th.
- Mom’s Plans is giving away a $50 Starbucks gift card until December 19th.
- Finance Fox is giving away $500 in total prizes until December 18th.
- Dr. Stock is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card until December 24th.
- Invest it Wisely is giving away $300 until December 25th, with half going to blog readers and the other half going to a Canadian charity.
- Your Finances Simplified is giving away $50 cash via PayPal until December 19th.
- Budgeting in the Fun Stuff is giving away $200 in to readers and charity until December 19th.
- Sustainable Personal Finance is giving away over $1200 in cash and tech gadget prizes for their 1 year blogoversity until December 19th (I’m sponsoring one of their prizes!).
- The Frugal Toad is giving away $75 via PayPal or Amazon gift card until December 21st.
- Thirty Six Months is giving away $50 via PayPal or Amazon gift card until December 19th.
- Live Real, Now is giving away over $500 in cash and prizes until December 23rd.
- Jeff at Good Financial Cents is giving away a Nook, Kindle Fire, and an iPad 2 until December 18th (today!).
- Net Worth Project is giving away $50 cash until December 30th.
If you’re hosting a giveaway and it’s not listed above, please send me an email to let me know, and I’ll get it included in next week’s roundup!
Blog Carnivals Featuring My Personal Finance Journey Articles
Top 10 Referring Sites to My Personal Finance Journey This Past Week
- Free Money Finance
- Yakezie
- Carnival of Personal Finance
- Wise Bread
- Financially Consumed
- So Over Debt
- Punch Debt in the Face
- Tight Fisted Miser
- Giveaways Are Sexy
- Wealth Informatics
Top 5 My Personal Finance Journey Commenters From the Past Week
- Miss T @ Prairie Eco Thrifter.
- Jon @ Free Money Wisdom.
- Evolving PF.
- Net Worth Project.
- Smart Family Finance
Best Reader Submitted Question From the Past Week
My Other Sites
However, I have several other domain names purchased, and I am currently learning WordPress Self-Hosted to get these sites live as soon as time allows! I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on progress.
Well, that wraps up this week! If you have any suggestions or recommendations for things you’d like to see in this weekly roundup, just let me know by sending me an email!
As always, thanks to all the readers for creating such a great community here at My Personal Finance Journey. Your interaction is what keeps me going on this blog!
Until next time – Jacob
Buying the Right Foreclosed House in Today’s Market
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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!
Although recent indicators suggest that the housing market may be showing signs of life, trying to sell your home can still be a very difficult process these days.
Buyers are few and far between, realtors have been raising their fees, and lenders are tightening the purse strings for those looking for a fixed rate mortgage. Due to these reasons, more Americans are staying put than ever before. Our nation, historically defined by such trends as suburban growth and Western expansion, has ceased to be a mobile one in the face of economic struggles.
While there are many reasons, then, to stay in your current home rather than selling it, you still may be tempted to take advantage of the current buyer’s market. This is especially the case when it comes to foreclosures.
Although most bank-owned houses would carry little appeal on the open market (almost seeming like damaged money), there are foreclosed homes out there that are located in great neighborhoods, that have been recently updated and meticulously maintained, that would represent a considerable improvement in space from your current home – and that can be had for a fraction of the normal price. If you are diligent enough, then, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to find the gems that pepper the foreclosure market.
But how can you pick out a gem when you see it? Here are a few considerations to keep in mind:
Know The Neighborhood
This is the essential first step to take when examining a foreclosed home. Even if the home is nice, the neighborhood may be lacking when it comes to safety and economic stability; most foreclosed homes sit in impoverished areas or on the exurban outskirts of cities.
But, if you do your research, these issues can be quickly resolved. Check the neighborhood’s foreclosure rate, its crime rate, and the reputation of its public schools. Websites like greatschools.org and city-data.com can be very helpful here.
Know The History
A foreclosed home that is being auctioned off for $50,000 may at first seem like a steal. But, once you look into the home’s history – its construction, its original cost, its past inhabitants – you may realize that the construction was shoddy, the place was left in disrepair, and that it may have been greatly overvalued during the housing bubble. For this reason, it is important to fully understand the history before buying something primarily because it seems like a great deal.
Think Long-Term
In today’s market, buying a foreclosed home with the intention to quickly turn it around for a profit is a highly risky endeavor. The housing market will not match the pre-2007 bubble anytime in the near future, and most foreclosed homes sit in areas that burst thoroughly when the bubble popped.
If you find a beautiful, recently-built, foreclosed home in an exurban suburb, you certainly may have found a great place to live for the next 20 years. But, don’t expect that you can quickly make a profit on this purchase – no matter how nice the home or how undervalued it may seem.
These are just a few considerations to keep in mind when searching for appealing foreclosed homes. In this buyer’s market, those gems are certainly out there, but don’t let yourself get fooled by a fake.
How about you all? Have you ever purchased a foreclosed property either as an investment or primary/secondary home?
If so, what attracted you to do so? What “red flags” did you have to be very cautious about?
If not, what made you stay away from looking at foreclosures?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- @ Lenders being tight with fixed rate mortgages these days –
- This one is definitely true these days and very consistent with my experiences.
- When I was first trying to obtain a mortgage to buy my condo in early 2010, the mortgage broker I was working with was highly selective in what he needed in order to give me a mortgage.
- Essentially, he wanted to see a guarantee that I would be employed for more than one year in my current job. This was pretty amazing, when you compare it to stories during the real estate bubble years when you pretty much could get a mortgage just for having a beating pulse!
- @ The over-hyped danger of foreclosed homes –
- So, I’ll be the first to admit that I have absolutely ZERO experience buying or selling foreclosed real estate property.
- However, it is my un-educated opinion that the dangers of foreclosed real estate properties are slightly exaggerated in today’s society.
- When I was looking around town for condos to buy with my real estate agent, I inquired first about many properties selling for cheap prices (naturally, being the cheapskate I am).
- However, almost immediately, she recommended against ANY of the properties on the list I put together, either citing safety reasons or problems with the title or foreclosure.
- Personally, I just thought it odd that the real estate agent immediately dismissed the properties just for the foreclosure reason.
- I began to wonder – has it been her experience that foreclosures just aren’t worth the effort for normal real estate purchasers who simply want to find something as quickly as possible…??? Could be…
- What’s you all’s take on this? Are the headaches of foreclosed properties really that bad that most people should just ignore them?
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/aldon/2753028529/