Superbowl Party Tips & Links

El Carino and I were visiting San Francisco the day of the division playoffs between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers. We ventured into a Marriott and were caught off guard by the abundance of NY Giants fans. This gaggle of folks spawned an interesting conversation about the finances of football fans. First, a little background, we are die hard football fans and have watched every single NY Giants game for years, on

SUPERBOWL PARTY - GO GIANTS

television. We have never been to a live game, although we did venture up to Albany, New York one summer to check out Giants training camp.

In the hotel lobby, we struck up a conversation with a girl dressed head to toe in Giants attire in town to see the game with her dad. They have season tickets and planned to go to the super bowl as well. El Carino and I decided to figure out how middle income folks can afford to attend live football games. We understand how the wealthy and corporations can afford the tickets, but what about those fans who are middle class. How do they do it?

How to Afford Live Football on a Middle Class Income

This is all conjecture, as we don’t know anyone personally who has season tickets to the NY Giants. Although my uncle did have tickets to the Bengals, but he was wealthy, so that doesn’t count. But for arguments sake, I have to believe the middle class can afford to attend live football.

Season Football Tickets (estimated)

NY Giants Season Tickets: $850.00 to $7,000.00

Parking: $200.00

Food: $300.00

Playoff game (including travel, hotel, tickets): $1,500.00

Total: $2,850.00 on Up

I am pleasantly surprised at the results of this calculation. For a single guy, making $55,000.00 per year, it is certainly possible to afford $2,850.00 for a season of football fun. (I’m not counting a superbowl visit) Granted, it’s 5%  of your gross pay. But if football is really important to you and you prioritize going to live games, it’s doable.

I’ve talked a lot about spending on what matters. In short, living in accord with your personal values. For a die hard fan, the majority of your entertainment spending can go towards football.  Skimp on other expenses, and it can work! Forgo an annual vacation and eating at expensive restaurants and a football fan could afford season tickets.

For the rest of us, here are some tips and thoughts for celebrating the Superbowl on the cheap.

Barb Recommends

How to Host a Superbowl Party on the Cheap at Personal Finance Journey

Superbowl Party Trays; Can You Save Money by Making Your Own? at Frugal Confessions

5 Ideas to Save on Superbowl Party Food, Recipes, and Supplies at Money Crashers

50 Party Recipes for the Big Game at iVillage

Superbowl and the Stock Market at Squirrelers

Score Big with a Superbowl Party at Blogging for Change

 Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance Across the Blogosphere

Be sure to visit these sites who published and promoted my work.

• Free Money Finance-Star Money Articles
• Young Adult Finance-What are Your Goals for 2012?
• My University Money-Carnival of Financial Camraderie
• Control Your Cash-Carnival of Wealth
• Carnival of Passive Investing-Afford Anything
• Totally Money Blog Carnival-Canadian Personal Finance
• Yakezie Carnival-Amateur Financier

 image credit; xboxaddict80

 & LINKS

“As a break,” I head over to twitter to see what’s going on. I retweet a few tweets and click through on a few more. Before I know it, 20 minutes has elapsed. What I hoped to accomplish was 3 fold:

Is social media worth it?

1. Take a break from what I was doing.

2. Work on building my online presence.

3. Drive more folks to my blog.

Did I accomplish any of those goals? Well, I took a break; check. Did I improve my online presence or drive more people to visit my blog? I’m not sure. Although I get a fair amount of traffic referrals from twitter and retweets from fellow bloggers, “Is it worth the amount of time spent on the twitter site?” Although I measure twitter referrals to my site, I don’t keep track of the amount of time I spend on twitter. So it’s difficult to determine whether the amount of time spent on twitter improves my blog in a substantial way or not.

The question, “Is it worth the time spent?” could be elaborated to include almost anything we do. Is the time spent on any activity worth the reward. Now, with your paid employment, the answer is quite clear. You do your job in exchange for a paycheck. Hobbies and part time activities raise different questions. Did I have enough fun at the movies to justify the $14.00 ticket, or was the movie and money spent a waste?

While watching the Giants-49ers playoff game, I decided to check the #Giants twitter feed. My family asked why I was going online when we were all watching the game and cheering together. Actually, I don’t have an answer to that question. What is the sociological explanation for tweeting during a football game?

Back to the initial question, “Is Twitter a Time Waster?”  I learned from Optify that you can actually build a Twitter Strategy. Does this stuff really work? I copied this tweet from my twitter feed;

Wondering how to build a #Twitter strategy for your business? Download The Ultimate Twitter for Business Guide. http:// blah blah blah / #b2b

Barb Recommends

 7 Financial Lies People Tell Their Spouses at Moneyrates.com. I just might have committed one of these, but I’m not telling.

FREE eBook, 6 Ways to Improve Your Wealth Right Now at Money Cactus. Who doesn’t like wealth and free?

What Buddhism Teaches us about Personal Finance at Prairie Eco Thrifter appeals to the Zen in me. I’m always trying to find that balance. What about you?

The Teacher Man wrote at Young and Thrifty, Germany and It’s European Family. It is an informative read about the ongoing economic trials and tribulations in Europe. I’m following the events with great interest. After all, we live in a globally interdependent world.

Krantcents gives you the Three Bs of Success. You can always count on great wisdom from Krantcents.

Real Estate Investing Resources from Family Money Values. Thinking about investing in real estate? Don’t miss this excellent read.

Get your free eBook, Student Loan Debt-Getting in Smart, Getting Out Painlessly from The College Investor. Read it or pass it along to someone who can use it!

Narrow Bridge disclosed some dirty secrets in How I Ripped People off With Store Credit Cards.

Everything Finance published a guest post by Newlyweds on a Budget entitled, How to Manage Money in a Marriage. Personally, I believe you and your partner have to decide what approach works for you. There’s no one size fits all!

Financial Highway hits on Extreme Penny Pinching. Personally, I consider these tips more practical than extreme. What do you think?

Are you nosey? Interested in how others spend? I certainly am. Check out Financial Samurai‘s latest credit card bill.

Young Adult Finances blogged about How to Write a Job Getting Resume. Excellent tips, if you are looking to update your resume, check out this article.

April Dykman wrote How to Negotiate your Salary at Get Rich Slowly. After you write an awesome resume, get a great job, read this one to up your pay! Lot’s of actionable tips.

 eMoneymakingonline offers some excellent blogging resources in 8 Plugins to Monetize Your Blog

Beating Broke writes how Frugality Will Change You. This article reminds you how practice makes permanent.

Canadian Finance Blog reminds readers to Upgrade Instead of Replace

Barb Across the Blogosphere

Be sure to visit these sites who published and promoted my work.

• Yakezie.com-Featured article, Patience and Persistence; The Path to Unlimited Success
• FindtheBest-PNC Cash Builder Visa, Is it For You?
• Are Facebook Ads a Fad or a Trend at Benzinga
• Family Money Values-Real estate investing resources
• Totally Money Blog Carnival at Family Money Values
• Self-directed Investing for Retirement Carnival; Ratings Downgrade Edition at Arbor Investment Planner
• Len Penzo.com Black Coffee; Why I Don’t Tweet Suze Orman or Have too Many Facebook Friends
• Yakezie Carnival-Credit Card Edition at Prairie eco Thrifter
• Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at My University Money
• Dividend Ninja-the Yakezie Challenge

What do you think, is twitter a time waster?

image credit; linkedmedia grp

REINVEST YOUR DIVIDENDS

With interest rates at historic lows and increasing volatility in major stock indexes, dividends have become the rallying call for investors. Blogs devoted to dividends proliferate and investors believe that dividend stocks are the best equity investment. Don’t get me wrong, dividends are fine, but just because a stock pays a hefty dividend does not mean it is a great investment. And the dividends the stock throws off are not “free money”.

What is a Dividend?

Dividends are earnings a company is electing to pay to the shareholder in lieu of reinvesting in the company. If the company does not pay a dividend, the earnings are used within the company to fuel growth initiatives, which if successful, will lead to higher share prices. If a company pays out a portion of those earnings, they are communicating that they believe you have a better use for those funds than the company does.

Wait a minute. Dividend paying companies are out of growth ideas?

Not exactly, usually dividend paying companies are older more established firms with a decent track record. These companies are confident that they will continue to grow into the future and decide to allow shareholders to participate in their profits now  instead of waiting until the shareholder sells their stock to benefit.

Why You Shouldn’t Spend Your Dividends?

Let me preface this statement by saying, if you are in the retirement phase of your life and living off of your investments, there is absolutely nothing wrong with spending your dividends. This message is directed at those in the accumulation phase of their lives and building their net worth.

Case Study

Marlon holds shares in Awesome Industries. He bought 100 shares at $10.00 per share, for a total outlay of $1,000.00. Awesome pays a 1.5% dividend. Annually, Marlon receives $15.00 from his investment in Awesome.

If Marlon spends that $15.00 per year, that’s it, the money is gone!

If Marlon is a savvy guy and decides to reinvest his dividends and use them to purchase more shares he’ll have a lot more cash at the end of 10 years. Assume that both the company and its dividends grow at 7% per year.

After 10 years, at 7% annual growth, if Marlon spends his dividends, his stock is worth $1,967.00.

But Marlon decides to reinvest his dividends each year in more shares of Awesome.

At the end of 10 years, Marlon’s initial $1,000.00 investment is worth $2,282.60. For an annual compound rate of growth of 8.6%.

By reinvesting his dividends, he earned an additional $315.60 or 1.6% annual  return.

The Takeaway

REINVEST YOUR DIVIDENDS AND YOUR MONEY WILL MAKE MORE MONEY. Spend your dividends and the money is lost.

Some of my Favorite Dividend Blogs

Dividend Ninja

Buy Like Buffett

Dividend.com

Dividend Monk

For those out there with dividend income, do you spend or reinvest?

Brian, the guy who cuts our grass began his conversation with me, “You look lovely today Ms. Friedberg.”

1. Great move to start with a compliment

Upon inquiring about Brian’s well being, he mentioned that he’s not doing too well due to his case of poison ivy.

2. Garner symathy

He went on to comment about the two big hideous brown patches in our yard where some trees were recently removed. Genially, he offered, “I have everything in my truck today to reseed the bare areas. I’m looking to offer you more services and help keep your lawn beautiful.”

3. Ask for what you want

How could I say no?

I was in a great mood, due to his initial compliment. Then, I empathized with Brian about his poison ivy. He set me up to say yes. When you are in a good mood, you tend to say “yes.” Needless to say, I agreed to the additional services. Brian made some extra cash that day, and I got some work completed I probably could have done myself for half the cost. Nevertheless, I was happy and so was Brian.

The Takeaway

I don’t think Brian went through this conversation off the top of his head. Brian had superior sales techniques, honed and practiced. He may have said to himself, I’m going to upsell every customer I see today and increase as many extra services as possible. We can all learn from Brian’s technique.

Have a success plan every day; make it specific, and detailed. Align it with your goals.

I doubt whether Brian sold extra services to every customer he saw that day, but if he succeeded with 50%, that may have yielded a few hundred extra bucks. Multiply that amount by 20 working days in a month, and he could double his monthly income!

Be a Success

There are opportunities to increase your income in every situation. By being a stellar employee and making money for your employer, you set yourself up for a raise. You don’t need to succeed 100% of the time to benefit.

Work for yourself? Set a big goal. Give yourself something great to reach for.

Improve your services, you will create additional income through excellent performance, and self marketing.

Set that goal. There are a group of bloggers taking the $30,000 Challenge, banding together to increase their blogging income this year. Whether they succeed or not, remains to be seen, but taking that pledge and setting the goal, is a step in the direction of greater wealth.

What commitment can you make to increase your income?

image credit; @Doug88888

INVEST YOUR EXTRA CASH TO GROW YOUR WEALTH

How to Make More Money Starting Now

In Part 1 of Enjoy Life and Make Money, I wrote, “One of the great challenges today is balancing your present needs and wants with those of the future.” I implored you to find out the things that make you happy and put your efforts in that direction. I went on to state that “wealth is an attitude.” If you are satisfied with your path, income, and lifestyle, you are wealthy.

But what if you want to grow your wealth more quickly? Creating some side money making gigs, to go towards saving and investing can beef up your net worth.

Today’s article touches on ways to make more money. I’ve found these “make more money” articles to be the most popular posts with my readers. And who doesn’t want more cash?

Here is an abridged list of some of my money making schemes;

• Sell lemonade
• Sell Avon
• Sell hand made shirts
• Provide tailoring for a shop (fired after one week)
• Provide individual career counseling
• Sell professional books
• Teach English in Spain
• Tutor students
• Blogging
• Sell items on Craigslist (which reminds me, I have an old bicycle gathering dust)

But, I want to go beyond the typical advice; “Find out what you are good at and then sell those services.” So in order to give you a really great and inventive list, I decided to do some hard hitting research!

Ways to Make More Money

In the fashion of great inventors, I’ve decided to steal a few great money making ideas from others, and repackage them for you; and add some of my own.

1. PT Money recommended Cashcrate.com, a clever company which claims to pay you for trying new offers. I cannot vouch for this system, but it certainly sounds like a good idea.
2. Elance.com offers online employment in a variety of areas. From their website, “If you have skills and talent and are seeking independent work online, Elance offers access to qualified clients, a virtual workplace and guaranteed pay for great work..” I’ve heard good things about this site from individuals on both sides of the trade, the sellers of services and the buyers.
3. PTMoney also reminded me of Fiverr. This is a really cool site where you can sell almost anything for five bucks. Now five dollars doesn’t sound like much, but if you create the product or service in a few minutes and sell it for $5.00 many times throughout each day, the money starts to add up.
4. Look for ads to be a focus group participant. I’ve tried this before and the pay is fairly good.
5. If you live near a medical center or research hospital, there are multitudes of research studies looking for participants. Sign up and get some free health care along with the cash.
6. Lawn care and baby sitting are frequently relegated to the younger set. If you have a lawn mower or are good with kids, put together some flyers and distribute in your district. Don’t forget to post some ads on Craigslist for greater visibility.
7. Tutors make big bucks if you are well educated and an articulate teacher. Every library or a Barnes and Noble coffee shop has men or women tutoring children in their basic subjects. Again, flyers (especially in the libraries) and Craigslist ads are great for marketing your skills.
8. Financial Highway had an abundance of methods to develop multiple income streams. This next one hit home as I spent $200.00 paying someone to haul our boxes away after we made our cross country move. If you own a truck and a strong back, consider hiring yourself out for debris removal. There’s lots of money in this one.
9. For you bloggers out there, this one has made the rounds; be a virtual assistant. There are thousands of people who work online or work remotely and have no assistant. Their days are filled to the brim with work and they frequently need some help. That’s where a virtual assistant comes in. If you’ve got decent communication skills, hire yourself out for any number of computer and related writing tasks. And there are no geographic limitations for this one.
10. Lots of folks have an extra room and would be willing to take in a room mate or just rent the room out to the occasional tourist. Now that type of money really adds up. Just make sure to screen your roomies well. After a quick online search, I came up with quite a few services which can help with process.
11. Do you like to write? ProBlogger Job Boards lists lots of writing and web related gigs. The more quickly you produce content, the more income you mke.
12. Retail is starting to pick up, with night and week end hours available. Take on a shift or two per week, get some store discounts, and boost your weekly pay.

Growing your personal wealth takes time and determination. Earn more, spend less, and invest are time tested strategies. For tips on investing your extra cash, sign up on right for my WEALTH TIPS NEWSLETTER and receive a free eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing.

Action Steps:

Get a notebook label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it for all of your personal finance goals, thoughts, activities, and plans.

1. List 10 ways to increase your income that are realistic.

2. Choose one money making strategy and begin this week.

 How do you define wealth?

a version of this article was published in March, 2010

Enjoy Life First

“Buy what thou hast no need of and ‘ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities.” Benjamin Franklin

There is a ton of junk online and in print. I spent a good part of this morning reading a book called Millionaire Fastlane which proclaimed that the traditional “get rich slowly advice” is false and that anyone can get rich fast.

Get Rich Quick is a Fallacy

I’ve had the good fortune to know many very wealthy individuals. They include large real estate developers, business owners, even the CEO of a fortune 500 company. I’ve also read extensively of others experiences and it is the rare individual that gets rich fast. Sure, it can happen, you make a groundbreaking invention, you sell your company to google, you hit the lottery, you become a professional athelete; it is possible to get rich fast. But it is rare.

If you are interested in developing financial wealth, it will take some time. If you want to get rich overnight, you can stop reading right now, because I don’t have a clue about getting rich fast!

Pure Fun

That said, I have some ideas about how to get wealthy over time, and how to enjoy the journey. My personal experience is that the process is more fun than the outcome!

A Dilemma and A Solution

One of the great challenges today is balancing your present needs and wants with those of the future. It requires quite a bit of introspection.  While almost every Ben Franklin quote oozes wisdom, this one in particular, speaks to the reality that if you go overboard consuming recklessly, you will run out of money, fall into debt, and end up in a bad way!

There is much said about saving for this and saving for that and a lot about sacrificing and giving up something today so you have money for tomorrow. And of course, you all know that in order to have money to buy stuff later, a car, a home, a vacation, etc.; you have to save. But, who has actually sat down and figured out; EXACTLY what you will want in the future and just how much IT WILL COST?

Before you even think about how much money you need later, there is an important step to take first.

Life is Uncertain; What to do?

Figure out what makes you happy.

Simply put, spending time and money on things that improve your life is the way to have a better life!

Trent, from The Simple Dollar site wrote a fascinating post on February 5, 2010 about change called, “What’s Coming Next?” He surveyed his life over the past several years and compared his LIFE EXPECTATIONS (take some college classes and work in a factory; work at Microsoft; remain in debt, unmarried, and childless) with his REALITY (work in a genetics lab, a non-profit, become a full time writer, get some books published, get married, get out of debt, and have 3 kids). His post reminded me that life is uncertain. And this two year old article still holds important wisdom. Trent has gone on to grow his website and work on writing fiction as well. He certainly was not an overnight success yet he is an inspiration to those who want to follow their dreams.

Plan for the Unexpected

Yet, in spite of this uncertainty, it is important to plan and set some goals.

Because, if you don’t figure out what you enjoy, and make some effort to get more of those pleasurable activities in your life, it just won’t happen.

Life is best led striving to do what you love.

By becoming a full time writer and published author, Trent turned his passion into cash. And that is a life lesson for all!

Figure Out What Fulfills You        

If you don’t already know what you are passionate about, take some action to figure it out! Life is much better when you spend time on activities which are important to you. Having a job you like is fabulous, because it doesn’t feel so much like work! So if you aren’t sure what you are passionate about, check out What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles. Also, think about the times in life when you lost yourself in what you were doing? Ask yourself, “Can I do more of those types of activities?”

Spending more time on satisfying activities equals more pleasure!

You may discover that some of your passions cost money or even more schooling or training. Maybe you want to transition into another career, learn to sky dive, take an art class, or explore Asia. And of course, most of us realize that we want the option to have some cash when we retire to enjoy our potential longevity. But if you don’t consciously explore your passions and set some goals, you are left with little possibility of achieving them.

I went back to graduate school in my 40′s and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It set the stage for my life today.

Wealth is an Attitude

There are those with millions, unsatisfied with their lot and looking at those who have more. Turn your glance inside for a minute or two. Take some time to determine what you value, and then set on a course to get what you want. After you know what direction to head, figure out the dollars and cents of your aspirations.

In part 2 of Enjoy Life and Make Money, learn about the abundant ways to increase your income and net worth. But, while you are pursuing your financial  goals, remember to drink in the enjoyment of the wealth and good fortune you already have.

Action Steps:

Get a notebook label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it for all of your personal finance goals, thoughts, activities, and plans.

1. List 25 activities you enjoy.

2. Practice one from the list daily.

 Which activities give you the most wealth in your life?

We have records of the performance of the stock market dating back to 1870. During that time we have experienced four stock crashes. The market tops came in: (1) 1900; (2) 1929; (3) 1965; and (4) 2000. Stock returns were poor for the 20 years immediately following each of the first three crashes and so far for the first 12 years immediately following the fourth crash.

Crashes obviously hurt all investors (and, indeed, even non-investors — the losses suffered in crashes cause economic crises which dramatically diminish economic growth for the entire society in which they occur). But they don’t hurt all investors to the same degree or in the same way.

This column looks at how crashes affect investors at four stages of the investing life cycle in different ways. The four stages are:

(1) Young Investors (age 25 to age 45)

(2) Investors Approaching Retirement Age (age 45 to age 65)

(3) Investors in the First Decade of Retirement (age 65 to age 75)

(4)Investors Beyond the First Decade of Retirement (age 75 forward).

 Young Investors (Age 25 to Age 45)

The dollar hit delivered to these investors is minimal. In fact, looking only at the dollar hit, it can be argued that stock crashes benefit this group.

An investor close to retirement age might have $1 million in his portfolio. A price drop of 65 percent would cost him $650,000. That’s a devastating hit. It’s far better to take the hit at a time when you only have $100,000 in your portfolio. The $65,000 loss might seem like a big deal to the person with only $100,000 of life savings. But crashes only occur once ever 35 years or so. So getting the crash out of the way when you are 35 means not needing to worry about the next one until you are 70. The investor who experiences a crash early in his investing lifetime will see huge gains uninterrupted by crashes in the years of greatest wealth accumulation (the late 40s, 50s and early 60s).

There’s another side to the story. Crashes cause economic crises. Younger workers are far more in need of job opportunities than older, better established workers. Experience a crash in your 20s or 30s and you may never see the career growth you need to see to be able to retire at a reasonable age. It’s good to experience your stock crash when you are young if you have a good job before the crash hits. If the crash hits before you are established in your career, it could be that the hit you experience from not being able to obtain a good job will be far larger than the hit you experience as a result of a drop in your portfolio value.

For young investors who have established themselves in good careers before a crash hits, the crash can actually be a big plus. Stock valuations always go to one-half of fair value before the bear market comes to an end. When stocks are priced at one-half fair value, the most likely annualized 10-year return is 15 percent real. Young investors experience small dollar losses in a crash and are then positioned to experience huge gains in the years when they are earning enough to invest heavily in the market.

Investors Approaching Retirement Age (Age 45 to 65)

Since crashes only come once ever 35 years or so, those experiencing crashes in the years leading up to retirement enjoy a good number of years of compounding returns before the crash takes place. This gives them the opportunity to accumulate large amounts of wealth.

The problem is that investors who accumulate large amounts of wealth without suffering a crash often come to believe that they are immune to the market laws that insure that we will see crashes ever 35 years or so. Investors who enjoy big gains for decades often ramp up their spending on the presumption that there will never again be a crash. This hurts them in three ways.

One, they become accustomed to a living standard far beyond what they will be able to afford after the effect of the upcoming crash is taken into consideration. Two, they lose the ability to see gains on their portfolios once the crash hits (remember, stocks provide poor returns for 20 years following a bull market top). And, three, these investors take their hit at the worst possible time for doing so, when their portfolio values are nearly large enough to finance a middle-class retirement.

Investors in the First Ten Years of Retirement (Age 65 to Age 75)

This is the worst time to experience a crash. The historical data shows that retirees that survive ten years without being wiped out in a crash almost always work until the investor’s death. But even portfolios that appeared on the day the retirement began to be plenty large enough to support a long retirement can fail if there is a big hit in the first ten years of the retirement.

The problem is the compounding returns phenomenon. Investors who count only direct dollar losses greatly underestimate the price they pay for living through a crash. Each dollar lost is a dollar that would have been generating compounding returns for many years to come had the crash not taken place.

Non-retired investors can mitigate this effect by making new contributions to their portfolios, contributions likely to earn big returns because the market always dishes out truly mouth-watering returns in the years following the end of a bear market. But retirees are not able to make new contributions. They suffer all the downside of a crash and none of the upside.

Investors Who Have Been Retired More Than Ten Years (Age 65 and Up)

These investors suffer the smallest hit. It’s scary to see a huge drop in your portfolio value at an age when you are not able to return to the workforce. But the financial reality is that, if your retirement was adequately funded at the outset and you went 10 years without seeing a major hit, you have experienced enough gains that your plan should work even if you live a long life.

The one big downside to a crash for investors who have been retired for more than ten years is that it reduces the amount that they will be able to leave to heirs and to charities.

Barb’s comments; I would be remiss without giving a remedy to the chilling impact of large scale stock market investment declines. Asset allocation, tailored to your age and risk tolerance will soften the blow of market drops. If you are in retirement, you should have a large portion of your investment dollars in cash and fixed assets, so that when the stock portion of your portfolio falls, the impact will be cushioned by the stable value of cash investments.

How have the recent stock market delines impacted your investing strategies?

image credit; astrycula

Quick Money Tips to Increase Your Wealth in Time and Money

& Links

Small and steady steps lead to great success. Today, get some inspiration to make those small life changes to boost your overall well being and happiness. Implement these ideas in small bits for lasting success.

In reading Money Magazine’s, Get Happy in 2012, I was intrigued by the research based money tips to improve well being. The following suggestions are shamelessly borrowed from that article.

I found it incredible that in a survey of 28,000 Americans, from the University of Georgia, having an emergency fund is the greatest predictor of financial satisfaction. I wasn’t surprised that having a rainy day fund was important, I’ve been stressing that for eons. But, that is was the largest predictor of financial satisfaction, even greater than paying off credit cards or owning a home was a surprise.

For financial satisfaction, make saving for that emergency fund PRIORITY NUMBER ONE.

It’s not news that having credit card debt causes stress. But here’s an easier way to eliminate it according to State College, Pa. financial planner Jeff McClarren. Choose a monthly amount to pay off (make sure it is much bigger than the minimum payment) and focus only on that amount! Worry less about the total amount of the debt, which can be overwhelming and scary and keep paying that monthly amount and the debt will decline before you know it. Of course, do not charge anything else. Apparently, it’s overwhelming to look at the aggregate amount of debt. You can handle tackling that payment every month.

Frequent little splurges, yield greater happiness than infrequent big indulgences. The result, more happiness at less cost. So get that special bottle of nail polish, spring for a CD or DVD at the used media store, or indulge in a gourmet box of cookies. You’ll feel rewarded and satisfied, on a budget.

Next, check out what I’ve been reading. Lots of money and happiness articles .

BARB RECOMMENDS

Time Magazine reported about happiness and money in a study which found that you need to earn $75,000.00 per year to be happy. I don’t claim to know whether this is true or not, but if you need a benchmark to shoot for, here it is. Read about what others have to say on this money and happiness topic.

Arthur Brooks from The American Magazine also asks, Can Money Buy Happiness? The response is no, but success can! So here’s another take, become successful and increase happiness, of course I bet money will also follow.

Ben Edwards writes, 5 Reasons Money Can Buy Happiness for Wise Bread.

Can Money Buy Happiness? Yes it Can, according to Suba at Wealthinformatics. What are your thoughts?

Happiness and Money; How Much Money do You Really Need? asks KNS Financial? Are you one of those folk who reaches one financial level and then raises the bar? Well what do you think is the limit?

Money and Happiness; What Say You? at the Millionaire Nurse Blog. More thoughts on this age old question.

PT Money says You Need to be Happy to build wealth. I’m not so sure. What about you?

Krantcents asks, Will Money Make Me Happy? Certainly having no money will not make one happy.

Narrow Bridge want to know If Money will Make You Happy? There certainly is a lot of discussion on this topic.

Money Reasons has a new solution to happiness: Multitasking and Making My Family Happy.

5 Reasons Money Can Buy Happiness at the humorous Cracked.com.

Jeff Rose’s guest article on Smart Passive Income is a must read for anyone with a dream! He maps out how his persistence led to both blogging and personal business success.

Barbara Friedberg Across the Blogosphere

Take some time to visit these excellent sites which recently featured my work.

The Yakezi.com; Featured article, Patience and Persistence-The Path to Unlimited Success

FindtheBest; TD Ameritrade Research Tools

Len Penzo Black Coffee

Totally Money Blog Carnival at Mother Miser

Carnival of Personal Finance-Ask the Right Questions at Wealth Pilgrim

Tax Carnival #95 at Don’t Mess with Taxes

The Frugal Toad Weekly Round up-Playoff Edition

Carnival of Financial Planning at Credit Cards Canada

Do you think money can buy happiness?

image credit; Princ Arora

I have a confession, I hate negative feedback. Constructive criticism is awful, and figuring out what you did wrong is a pain. I hated those red marks on my college papers. Receiving feedback goes in the category of stuff I need to do, even if I don’t want to. This category is a big one including brush my teeth, tidy the house, do the dishes, cook, and the list goes on.

When someone starts out a comment with, “You may not like what I have to say, but……”, I know I definitely will not like it!

WHY I PUSH MYSELF TO GET OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

There’s a mysterious phenomenon, when one does something difficult or scary, and overcomes their hesitation, they feel great and their life improves.

In order to prevail and succeed in life you must be fearless and do that which you avoid.

My dad, one of the most disciplined and successful people I know, had a saying when he was drinking one of his disgusting “health” drinks, “I don’t care how it tastes because it will keep me healthy.”

Practically, there is something that Ramit Sethi mentioned in a talk at the Personal Finance Bloggers Convention (2011) that hammered this point home. He said he measures everything he does to determine if it is working or not. When he sends out an email letter, he compares the success rate to determine if he is improving. Adam, from Man vs. Debt did the same thing.

The TAKEAWAY

The only way to determine if you are meeting your goals is to keep track.

Many bloggers write about net worth as a way to hold themselves accountable. Others publish their financial picture, debt, goals, progress etc. and use it as motivation for improvement; Life and My Finances, Debt Sucks Blog, Retire by Forty, PT Money, Budgeting in the Fun Stuff and others.

If you are trying to lose weight, you must step on the scale regularly to check your progress. Want to get rich? There’s no way around keeping track of how much money you have going in and going out. You must monitor your expenses, spending, saving, and investing.

I started writing this article in October, and picked it up again to revise in January. As I put on the finishing touches, I am cringing. I do not like the message. I like positive feedback! As I embark on my Finance Class teaching assignment at a local university, I am well aware that at the end of the class, I will be evaluated. Even though that is my least favorite part of the teaching experience, I am working to make my lectures and activities the absolute best I can- and the expectation of feedback is pushing me to improve.

This article is written both for you and me. Push yourself to do the difficult. Seek out feedback. Focus on the tough “big picture” activities and don’t delude yourself that checking email 20 times per day is really accomplishing anything.

As I write this article, I sent out a Wealth Tips Newsletter (sign up; top right of site) to my subscribers. Aweber makes it really easy to check statistics to see if readers are opening the message and following up by visiting this site for more informaton. But if I don’t use the data they offer, then I’m just being a coward. In order to propel myself forward to reaching my goals, I set up a spreadsheet to analyze my initiatives and determine whether they are growing my readership and subscribers. I know in the long run, I will benefit, in spite of the temporary discomfort.

ACTION STEP

Get a notebook and label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it for all of your personal finance thoughts, activities, and plans.

1. Challenge yourself to get feedback. Ask someone for their honest opinion. Compare the results with your expectations.
2. Use the information to improve.

How do you check your progress?

image credit; Karl Horton

MSN Money selected their Top Money Stories of 2011. Initially, I began to dissect their list and intended to write about them all. But, I got stuck on the low interest rates for savings. This is a huge topic and decided it warranted an entire article. In fact, The Huffington Post suggests this environment, instead of helping the economy is actually keeping consumers from spending.

ANEMIC RETURNS ON SAVINGS

This one impacts anyone with money to invest in a savings account, CD, or short term bond. The historically low savings rates are slashing retirees lifestyles. All the folks looking to earn a return above 0.9% on their savings need to do some digging around.

LOW INTEREST RATES

As I updated our familys’ asset allocation this week, I was smacked in the face with the deplorable return. As we keep a hefty 20% of our portfolio in cash investments and 20% in bond type investments, I relentlessly searched for some sort of return on the fixed portion of our portfolio.

TIPS

I decided I would pursue investing in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). After all, at least they will keep up with inflation. Much to my dismay, Charles Schwab had none yielding a positive return. I certainly am not investing in a TIPS fund right now, because as soon as interest rates rise, the principal value of the fund will fall, netting a certain loss. In fact, the TIPS fund we currently have is priced at $117.00. Fortunately, we bought the shares when it was priced at $100.00. I decided to wait and put in a bid for the April auction and hopefully, buy individual TIPS at par. With individual TIPS, you always receive the principal payment back when the bond matures plus an adjustment to compensate for inflation.

SERIES I GOVERNMENT BONDS

Series I (for inflation) Governement Bonds are similar to TIPS. With I bonds you not only get a FIXED (does not change) rate of interest, but you get a BONUS; you receive an ADJUSTABLE rate of interest that changes along with the inflation rate. So the combined interest rate includes a fixed interest rate (currently zero) plus an inflation adjusted rate for a new combined interest rate which adjusts every six months. These bonds can be bought at your bank in small denominations up to $10,000.00 per year. They are among the best choice for inflation protection.

SHORT TERM BONDS

Next, I went on to Schwab and searched their fixed listings for bonds with terms of between 2 and 4 years. I found a great A rated bond paying close to 3% and maturing in  2013. When I went to purchase, I realized the minimum investment was $100,000.00. That was a bit steep for us! None of the other short term bonds paid more than 2%.

CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT

On to CDs to find out what type of interest rate I could snare for the next 2 to 3 years. At Bankrate.com the best interest rate I found was 1.29% for 2 years. For a 3 year CD, the top rate shot up to 1.53%. Although the Federal Reserve Bank alluded to keeping rates steady into 2013, there is something upsetting about settling for such a low rate.

Personally, I would rather keep our uninvested cash and fixed funds totally liquid in case rates rise in the next six months. Or maybe I’ll bite the bullet and buy a one year CD. I’ll keep you posted.

SAVE THIS ARTICLE

Although the returns on these investments are presently quite low, they will go up. Print this list out and save it. These are some good ideas for your short term funds. One thing I’ve learned from decades in the financial markets, rates go up and down. For those borrowers out there, there will come a time when you are crying for these low interest rates. For the savers and fixed investors, rates are bound to rise.

In sum, get the best rate you can but don’t tie your money up for too long as rates will eventually go up.

Where are you parking your short term cash?

image credit; Doug88888