Yes a budget is designed to help you reach your future goals, but you don’t have to sacrifice your happiness today in order to get there. You can easily do both. This post is going to show you how to really live on a budget, be happy now, and make progress towards your future goals. Continue Reading
You hear the news stories all of the time. Today’s workers are earning less than the previous generation. It seems as though companies have wired us to be grateful for a 3% raise when in reality we should be getting more. Think about it, if inflation averages 3% and you only get a 3% raise, you are never really getting ahead. You are just treading water. If you want to get ahead, you need to get the raise you deserve. Continue Reading
Technology continues to change at a faster pace every year. The next thing you know, we will be in flying cars! But for now, when it comes to technology, you have to be smart. You know when that fancy Blu-Ray player came out it was over $1,000. Now you can have one for around $100. The key is being smart so you can save money on technology. Continue Reading
When it comes to investing, our main priority is that it makes us money. We want it to grow through share appreciation, dividends and capital gains. Unfortunately, many investors don’t take into account taxes as they should. As a result, they end up not growing their portfolios as much as they potentially could. In this post, I will walk you through how to structure your portfolio so that you can save money on taxes and as a result, grow your portfolio to larger amounts. Continue Reading
My finances were working out great. I had everything set up the way I wanted. Money was being saved for retirement. I had monthly transfers for some mutual funds I was investing in and I had the goals I was saving for written down and memorized. Then I met a woman. We eventually moved in together and got married. The chore of combining finances happened. Continue Reading
Thanks to the changing landscape of health care, more and more companies are pushing health savings accounts to their employees as a viable insurance option. While they push these plans because it saves the employer money on health care costs for employees, it can also save you money as well, both now and in the future. In this post, I am going to walk you through 6 potential benefits you could see if you decide to pick a health savings account as your insurance plan. Continue Reading
If you are like many people, you rely solely on your income from your primary job. You might think this is OK, but in reality, you are setting yourself up for trouble. When you rely on one income, you are at a major risk should you lose your job. How will you pay your rent or buy food? Ideally you have some savings to fall back on, but at the end of the day, if the economy tanks and your company lets you go, you are going to have to figure out a backup income source quickly. Continue Reading
Have you ever skipped out on an expense? There is great power in doing this trick. I am not suggesting you never buy something again or go without an item for an extended period of time, but rather going without for a short period. Doing this has a few benefits, which we will detail in this post. Continue Reading
In our materialistic culture, it’s easy to tempted by the allure of new and exciting products, especially as advertising becomes ever more targeted. Companies know more than ever about our personalities, lifestyles and buying habits, and promote products and services accordingly. This often leads to impulse buys which can result in budgets being stretched too thin. In fact, a CreditCards.com study found that 5 in 6 Americans make impulse buys, while 54 percent of those surveyed have spent $100 or more on something they didn’t plan to purchase. Continue Reading
When it comes to investing, you probably have set some goals for yourself. Unfortunately, they are bad goals. Don’t get me wrong, goals are important. But you have to be setting the right type of goals if you want to be successful, especially when it comes to investing. In this post, we will run through the type of goal you are probably setting now, why it’s bad and how to set the right kind of goals. Continue Reading
