How I Will Be Rich

With Christmas coming up, things can start to get really tight on our wallets. Over at MSN Money there is a great article called 10 Ways To Pay Cash For Christmas. It has some great ideas on how to save money or how to come up with some extra cash for those gifts. One idea that I think is particularly smart is that you can cash in your airline miles or reward points from your credit cards and use them towards gifts for the loved ones. I actually have a card that earns airline miles and I’m really considering cashing them in for some reward points. I’m not quite sure what the exchange rate is on them but it’s sure to get me something. Another thing that the list suggests is to cash in your coins. Go to a local Coinstar and trade all your change for cash. I do this pretty much once a year and usually walk away with at least a hundred bucks. The cool thing is, if you cash in your coins for an Amazon gift card, Coinstar doesn’t take their $0.08 per $1.00 cut. That’s great for Christmas because I can pretty much do all my gift shopping on Amazon.

Here’s a quick rundown of the list:
1. Adjust your income tax withholding.
2. Use your airline miles and trade them in for merchandise.
3. Use your credit card reward points for cool gifts.
4. Cash in your coins.
5. Get another job. Tons of places are hiring for seasonal positions.
6. Sell some stuff.
7. Sell other people’s stuff.
8. Cancel some subscriptions.
9. Call in your I.O.U.s.
10. Buy nothing else for a month.

Of course the article goes in to much more detail on each of these points. If you fear struggling through the holidays this year, this is a great place to start.

Read The Full Article Here.

Popularity: 29% [?]

 Subscribe in a reader

This is a question that many people ask. Should I take the money from my bank account and pay off my debt with it or take it and save it in my savings account earning 4-5%? My answer to this question is that it depends on the interest rate of your debt. If you carry a balance on a credit card that is getting an interest rate of 17%, you are much better off paying the balance of your credit card than you are investing the savings. It is basically like getting 17% interest on your money guaranteed. On the other hand, if you have an ultra-low interest rate of something like 3%, you are probably better off paying down the balance monthly and earning interest on your savings.

Let’s look at some numbers to get a little more in depth:

I have $10,000 in credit card debt. My credit card has an interest rate of 16%. I have $10,000 in the bank right now. Is it better to take my $10,000 and completely pay of my credit card or take that $10,000 and invest it?

If I take the $10,000 and pay off my debt, I will save myself $10,101.57 in interest payments over a ten year period.

If I take the $10,000 and put it in a savings account that earns 5% (My current savings account) and don’t touch it for ten years, I will gain $6,288.95 over that 10 years.

Clearly, it is better to pay off my credit card. I would have netted a loss of $3,812.62 over that ten year period.

Let’s start over with a 3% Interest Loan:

I have $10,000 in student loan debt. My loan has an interest rate of 3%. I have $10,000 in the bank right now. Is it better to take my $10,000 and completely pay of my student loan or take that $10,000 and invest it?

If I take the $10,000 and pay off my debt, I will save myself $1,587.29 in interest payments over a ten year period.

If I take the $10,000 and put it in that savings account that earns 5% and don’t touch it for ten years, I will gain $6,288.95 over that 10 years.

In this case, I come out ahead after 10 years by an amount of $4,701.66 by slowly paying down my student loan but investing that $10,000 in the beginning.

I really want to touch on this subject a lot more. It’s actually something that I’m just starting to learn a lot about myself. I really do hold some debt between my truck payment and my credit cards. I’m still investigating my best course of action to get them paid off and to invest my money. There are a lot more details that go in to the analysis of whether investing or paying off debt is the better solution. I’m using all these complex calculators that I’m finding on various sites and really trying to understand what they all mean. I promise I will follow up with further analysis soon. One of the great things about this blog is that it is really forcing me to learn this stuff.

Feel free to comment and/or point out flaws in my (basic) analysis.

-M

=================================================================================
The debt solution offers solution to debt problems by debt consultants with minimum amount of charges. The bad credit personal loans are not a problem any more as more and more companies are lending loans to such people with bad credit. These are payday loans without going to banks even. The consolidate debt is really helpful in reducing your debts and even getting you out of your debt faster then you estimate. The fair debt collection practices act briefs by collection dispute letters and commands to end bill collector’s illegal harassment. That means fair debt collection does not include any enforcement or assault. When debts are sent to a third party then only debt collection fees are allowed to be collected including recovery fees or expenses.
=================================================================================

Popularity: 26% [?]

 Subscribe in a reader

As anybody who’s been around the blogosphere probably already knows, today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of websites are all coming together to write on the same topic; the environment. Since this is a site about making money, what better topic to discuss than making money while helping the environment.

Recycle. It’s environmentally responsible of you to recycle whether there’s money involved or not and if you are not in a position to make money on your recycling, you’ve still got to take that, morally responsible, high ground and recycle anyway.

What I have in mind for this post is to list off the various things that can be recycled. There is so much more that can be recycled that a lot of people probably don’t know about. Here’s a list:

The Obvious:

• Paper - Everyone knows by now that you can and should recycle paper. Paper comes from trees and, obviously, the destruction of the rain forests is a huge and growing problem. Recycle Old mail, computer printer paper, envelopes, construction paper, newspapers, etc. Find your local recycling center. Some places may pay by the pound.
• Plastic - Round up your 2 liter bottles, milk jugs or any plastic containers and take them to your local recycling center.
• Aluminum - Save all your cans and take them to your local recycling center. There can definitely be some money made here. Collecting a lot of cans can round you up quite a good chunk of change.
• Glass - Clear, green, blue or brown glass can all be recycled. If you take them to the local recycling center. Some places may pay by the pound for these too.

Less Than Obvious

• Telephone Books - Most phone books have instructions somewhere in the book on the steps to take to recycle them.
• Ink Cartridges - There are companies out there that will pay for your old ink cartridges. They can refill them and resell them. Here is a site to recycle ink cartridges and make some money.
• Electronic Equipment - Computer parts, IPods, Stereos etc. can be recycled and the parts can be reused to make new electronic equipment.
• Old CDs - You can resell them to a local music trader or you can recycle them.
• Cell Phones - Companies will buy these off you as well. Cellphones contain an ore called Coltan. Coltan is mined in Central Africa. Miners have been intruding in wildlife reserves and it has been affecting the animal population. Recycling your cellphone cuts down on the mining of this ore, helping protect the Central African habitat.
• Oil - Oil needs to be disposed of properly. If not, it can be very hazardous to the environment. Used oil can actually be re-refined in to a usable lubricating oil. Read more about this here.
• Paint - Paint is very hazardous to the environment if not disposed of properly. You can donate the paint to a charity organization for use in their projects such as in schools, churches or community centers. If you have no place to donate it, make sure you take it to a recycling center or someone who can properly dispose of it.
• Tires - Tires are often piled in to landfills which can cause fires that are very difficult to extinguish. Tires can actually be burned to create a fuel. More information can be found here.
• Wood - As mentioned earlier, cutting down trees leads to big problems. Recycled wood, such as pallets or scraps can be ground down and used in composite woods and create, well, basically, new wood.

There is so much more than what is listed that can be recycled. I urge everyone to get more information on the subject. Anything that you are considering throwing away, “google” it and see if it can be recycled. Everyone can make a difference to help save the environment.

-M

Popularity: 83% [?]

 Subscribe in a reader

The short answer to this question: As early as possible.

The slightly longer answer. (Well, actually it’s more like statistics.):
If you start investing about $19 per week at age 25 and earn an 8% annual return on that investment then decide to completely stop putting money into that account at age 34, you would have invested around $10,000 over that 10 year period. Without adding another cent to that account, by age 65, your funds would have grown to about $168,600. On the other hand, if you were to start investing at age 35 and put $1,000 in the account every single year until you turned 65, you would have invested $30,000 and you would be retiring with only about $125,000.

If you are reading this right now and you don’t have some sort of plan for retirement, start now. Invest in a tax sheltered account such as an IRA. Social Security is close to the point where the government will be paying out more than it’s taking in. You need to rely on your own retirement strategies and not what the government might provide in the future.

One way to look at retirement is that you are saving up to buy it. Think about it. When you want to go on a nice vacation, you save up to buy it or when you buy a home you need to save to buy that. The most expensive thing you will purchase in your lifetime is your retirement. You need to save up to buy that time, free of working. It’s getting harder and harder for people to have a comfortable retirement these days because people are living longer and the effects of inflation are lowering the value of our money. So think about retirement as putting away money every month to save to buy that freedom later on in life. Invest under a tax shelter in index funds and start as early as possible.

-M

Popularity: 74% [?]

 Subscribe in a reader

My girlfriend, Alana, and I are going to look at dogs this weekend. She’s been talking about getting a dog for probably two years now and she’s finally decided that now is the time. I figured that, in light of this event, it would be a good time to talk about the benefits and the downsides that go along with dog ownership.

Benefits:

• You will have a buddy. A dog is always loyal and loves to see you everyday. He will become one of your best friends.
• Studies show that people who own dogs actually live longer. Dog owners, in general, have lower blood pressure. There is also a lower rate of depression in dog owners.
• A dog is a great way to learn responsibility. For people who plan to be parents one day, owning a dog shows you what it’s like to, all of the sudden, have another mouth to feed. This teaches and instills a sense of responsibility in to the pet owner’s life.
• Lower divorce rate - Believe it or not, dog owners tend to lead healthier relationships than non dog owners.

Downsides:

• The biggest downside of a dog is probably cost. You have:
  Purchase Price
  Food
  Vaccines
  Vet Bills
  Bed
  Doggie Treats
  Collars
  Leashes
  Training
  Flee Control Medicine
  Dog Shampoo
  And more that I’m probably not thinking of…
• Dog’s shed - Some dogs shed, leaving some extra cleaning to be done.
• Pet odors - Sometimes dogs have accidents which require clean up and odor remover…

Those are my pros and cons of owning a dog. I personally think that the pros far outweigh the cons. I am a dog lover and I believe that rescuing a dog and giving it a good home is worth the cost. I’ll give you an update once the deed is done and we’ve had the little guy for a while.

-M

Popularity: 13% [?]

 Subscribe in a reader