Honda had offered to cover the costs of the parts but wouldn’t budge on helping with the repairs.  The service manager couldn’t understand why I wasn’t ecstatic that Honda was covering the cost of the parts. He just kept saying

“All you have to pay is the repairs, that’s a great deal!”

Sure, I was glad they were paying for the replacement parts but I told him that the $600 repair was still a lot of money.  That’s when he told me to just put it on my credit card. 

“Don’t you have a cash back card? Just charge it on there.”

I was pretty steamed; I wasn’t looking for advice on how to pay for the repairs, I wanted Honda to cover the costs.  I had talked at length with both Honda America and the dealer but neither one would do more than pay for the replacement parts. 

Paying for Car Repairs

Unfortunately, I was between a rock and a hard place.  We needed the car to get to work and didn’t have any more time to mess around with getting it repaired so I agreed to pay for the work. Of course, I did end up paying for the car repairs with my American Express Blue Cash and earned a little cash back on the purchase but that didn’t make the expensive bill easy to pay.

To top it off, our Accord has about 125K miles on it and I had the car to take it in for some maintenance.  After paying for the air conditioner repairs on the CRV and some work on the Accord it was certainly a big spender weekend.   The good news is we have money in our car fund to cover the costs. I paid for the repairs up front on the credit card and I’ll transfer over some money when the bills due.  The bad news is that our car fund is smaller than it used to be : (

Money Articles

Speaking of car repair, Get Rich Slowly has a write-up on quick and easy car maintenance.  I don’t think maintenance would have helped with our defective part but it can certainly help prevent other expensive car problems.  Here are some of the other posts I enjoyed this week:

– Brip Blap suggests that if you hate every job you have, the problem might be you, not the job.

– Lazy Man and Money has a guest post on Easy and Cheap Home Remodels.

– My Dollar Plan take a look at tracking your Roth IRA Contributions. 

– Sun’s Financial Diary talks about investing in commodities, here’s some more info about investing in commodity ETF’s.

– Frugal Dad has a guest post on 10 free dates your wife will love. I object to “go house shopping”, that could turn out to be a VERY expensive date in the long run.

– Million Dollar Journey gives us a look into a millionaire’s investment accounts.

– Generation X Finance has tips on how you can raise the value of your home with a little lawn care.

– The Digerati Life warns about the risks of buying penny stocks.

Money Blog Network

I can’t believe how small the cereal boxes are getting at the store these days, yet they cost the same. All Financial Matters lets us know portion shifting is now happening with beer as well.

– Five Cent Nickel reminds us of the continued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fallout from the credit crunch.

– No Credit Needed has an inspirational post, You. Can.  One of the reasons I think people end up failing is because they make too many excuses.  That’s why I started the no more excuses topic.

– Mighty Bargain Hunter offers up a few deals like a 50% coupon on Restaraunt.com for Grandparents Day!

– Free Money Finance suggests that Social Security isn’t the issue and recommends we save a ton of money for health care in retirement.

– Consumerism Commentary tells us how we can earn cashback at Costco, here’s some additional information on saving money on gas at Costco with the American Express True Earnings card.

Saving Money on Gas

– Blueprint for Financial Prosperity looks at some gadgets you can use to monitor your car’s fuel efficiency.

– Wesabe announces a new service named Fuelly that lets you track gas usage.

– For more on gas savings, check out the gas credit card survey, read how your boss can save you money on gas, follow these easy gas saving tips, and read the review of the best gas credit cards.

Money in Marriage

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been running a series of posts on money and marriage and recently wrote about joint checking accounts in marriage so I took note when I read Trent of the Simple Dollar decided to merge bank accounts with his wife. Trent has a good piece of advice to share on the topic:

Communicate with your partner about money from the beginning, and don’t leave anything hidden when you talk about it.

Personal Finance Highlights

Thanks to the following sites for hosting the carnival of personal finance and including our articles for the last several weeks:

• One Caveman
• Broke Grad Student
• No Debt Plan

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

When Should You Buy Life Insurance?

Here are some scenarios where you might want to protect your family with life insurance:

• If you buy a house together as a couple, buy life insurance. If one of you dies, then the other can take the death benefit and either pay off the house or invest it and pay the payment with the monthly interest that it earns.
• When you have kids. If you both die together in a car accident, you need to leave money behind for your children to live a happy and fulfilling life.
• When one spouse is a stay-at-home parent. If the primary income earner dies, the other spouse MUST be left with a death benefit to cover monthly expenses.

What Type of Life Insurance Should You Buy?

For a younger couple in these situations I would recommend level term life insurance. I think cash value life insurance such as whole life, variable life, and universal life insurance are horrible products for the consumer.  They attach a cash value account with a death benefit.  The problem with these products is that the investment accounts attached to these policies typically yield low returns and come with VERY high management fees. 

Honestly, these products only make life insurance agents richer, not you.  This is why many financial advisors and life insurance agents recommend these products, because they offer a higher commission than term life products.  Term life insurance is only a death benefit of a specified amount for a level amount of time, and the premium is VERY cheap for healthy individuals. 

For instance, I just looked on Zander Insurance for an instant term life quote, and I can purchase a 20 year policy for $750,000 for $342 bucks a year!  Don’t use a life insurance policy for your retirement investing.  Designate mutual funds, index funds, and real estate for your retirement nest egg.

How Much Should You Buy?

Buy 8 to 10 times of your yearly income. So, if you make $50k a year, then you should buy $400k to $500k in term insurance. The idea here is that your spouse could take that money, invest it in good mutual or index funds, and replace your monthly income with the monthly interest from the lump sum death benefit.

Where Should You Buy It?

Here are a few places I recommend:

• AIG
• Zander Insurance Group
• Met Life

or you could buy it from your local insurance agent or financial advisor that you trust.

I told you this would be a topic that you didn’t want to read about! It’s okay. The only things certain in life are death and taxes. Face reality and prepare for the worst. You owe it to your family.

If you think your family needs a life insurance policy and are looking for ways to pay for it check out the marriage budgeting tips and coverage of joint bank accounts for married couples to help make a plan and work together towards it. 

This coverage of buying life insurance in marriage is part of the Marriage Money Guide.

Joint vs. Separate Accounts

I have a strong opinion about this debate. I think that all married couples, new and old, should hold joint checking and savings accounts. I understand the argument for separate accounts, but when you said “I do” at the altar, you made a commitment to become one cohesive unit. You are a team, and you need to act like one. When you choose not to share your finances, you are choosing not to share one of the most important aspects of your lives. You can give me all of the excuses about how it works better with separate accounts, and it’s too confusing to share money. The reality is that you don’t trust each other, and you won’t put the time into sharing your money. Don’t settle for the compromise of spending whatever you make. Your marriage is not a business partnership, and if you weren’t ready to give up control of your money, then you weren’t ready to get married.

Responses To Advocates Of Separate Bank Accounts

“She/He spends too much money, and he/she won’t listen to me when it comes to saving money” The answer to this problem is communication and/or marriage counseling, not separate bank accounts. If your spouse refuses to change their financial habits and they are reckless with money, then you don’t have a financial problem. You have a marriage problem. You need to find common ground as a married couple, and help each other rather than get mad at each other. If you can’t communicate and resolve the problem on your own, see a marriage counselor. There may be a bigger issue that one of you isn’t talking about.

“It’s too confusing to share money. I’m afraid that we’ll overdraft on our account.” This is the excuse of a lazy couple that doesn’t want to communicate and budget money together. The solution to this problem is getting on a budget, and planning how you will spend your money each month. Set aside two hours each month to go over your budget and finances for the month with your spouse.

“She/He brought more debt into the marriage. She/He should pay it off on his/her own.” I’ve actually heard people say this before, and it makes me cringe every time I hear it. When you get married, you are coming together become one person, one flesh. You work as a team, and you help each other no matter what. If your spouse is bringing in a bunch of debt to the marriage, it’s now your debt. I don’t care who’s name is on the debt. You have an obligation as a marriage partner to share that debt.

Strategies for Sharing Bank Accounts

Our Strategy: I married a girl who is more frugal than me. In fact, she makes fun of me for the gadget cravings that I get and my weakness for spending money when we go out at night on a date. I got lucky. I never worry about her going on a spending spree with our money. She follows our budget religiously. There was no question when we got married that we would share a checking and savings account. We have a Bank of America checking account for convenience, and we have an ING savings account for short-term savings. I have a 401k for retirement, and now that she’s working, we’re going to open up Roth IRA’s with Sharebuilder in the coming months. We’ve shared a checking account for three years, and it’s been a great decision. We sit down every two weeks to go over our finances and map out what we’re going to do with OUR money, even though I was the only income producer for the past three years.

Joint Checking Account with Two Separate Checking Accounts: If you simply can’t grasp the concept of having one joint checking account, then try this method. Keep a joint account that feeds all of your income into it, and pay all of your bills through this account. Keep a separate checking account for yourself and for your spouse. Divide up 5 to 10% of your income into the separate accounts. Make a pact that you can do whatever you want with that money and your spouse can’t question you about it (as long as its legal! haha). My wife and I do something similar with cash. We give each other a certain amount of money each month called “mad money”, but instead of putting it in separate accounts, we keep it as cash. I like having some cash on me at all times, because there are still situations in life where you can’t swipe a piece of plastic, and sometimes cash speaks louder than plastic.

Checking Accounts of Interest for Married Couples

• Washington Mutual Free Checking
• Sun Trust Bank Checking
• Wachovia Checking
• Charles Schwab Checking

I know that i made some bold statements in this article, but I will stand by them. It was not my intention to offend you, but I hope it gets you thinking about your current financial set-up with your spouse. I am sure there are people out there that have separate checking accounts with a healthy marriage, but it is the minority. Think of this is a challenge to get you to think differently, not an attack on your current opinions. You must be on the same page with your finances, and sharing every aspect of it is part of the foundation of a healthy marriage.

For more money tips for couples you can read about budgeting money for newlyweds, tips for finding an apartment after marriage, and a couples guide to buying an affordable house.

This article on joint bank accounts in marriage is part of the Marriage Money Guide.

1) Ask your caterer where you can cut corners – compare prices between a buffet and individual meals. If you caterer has been doing this for any length of time, they should be able to design a package that fits your budget.

Don’t let your caterer talk you into going overboard. Talk to your future husband or wife, and decide what the two of you want most.

Everything over and above that is a bonus, but not required. If you go in with that mindset, then you will not end up paying unnecessarily for seven or eight types of Hors d’Oeuvres.

2) Invite Fewer Guests to Your Wedding and Reception – If you are paying by the head, or by the plate, fewer guests means less expense. It is so easy to go overboard when inviting guests to a wedding. Just make sure the people you really want to attend are counted first, and invite the rest according to your budget.

3) Go “pot luck” - You can always opt for an informal reception and ask your guests to bring a dish. You are virtually assured that everyone will have enough food, and that the food will be the best anyone can make. After all it’s your wedding, and these are your friends and family. They will cook up something special for your big day! Do make sure that you have enough drinks and things on hand, and keep a list of what everyone is bringing. There’s no sense leaving it completely to chance!

4) Skip the open bar, or limit the choices – The bar is the big deal breaker for many weddings. Most places require deposits, attach extra fees, and force you to pay by the bottle - even if the entire bottle is not used up. You can save a lot of money on your reception by skipping the open bar entirely, or by deciding with your future spouse exactly what you want to serve, and how much you want to spend. Make sure that your caterer is on the same page though, or you could be in for an ugly surprise after the wedding.

5) Consider serving only one, or at most two meats – every meat you add to your menu will up the price of catering considerably. Find one that your think your guests will enjoy, and stick to that. Also, consider a vegetarian alternative. It’s going to be cheaper, and allow your guests who don’t eat meat to feel like you considered them in your plans.

6) Consider local restaurants - You do have to have a catering license to cater an event, but more and more local businesses are getting them. If the place down the street has amazing chicken or barbeque, then why not hire them? Having a well known local place cater your wedding is going to be a lot more fun, and cheaper, than the standard rubber chicken buffet fare.

Of course, the reception is only one of the major expenses of a wedding. Some other places you can cut costs are saving money on wedding pictures, planning a low cost honeymoon, and reduce the expenses of planning your wedding.

These wedding tips on cutting the costs of your wedding reception are part of the Marriage Money Guide.

Photo Credits: pumpsandgloss.wordpress.com

Here are some other ways you can save money on your wedding:

• Save money on your wedding dress
• Save money on a destination wedding
• Save money planning your wedding

This list of ideas to save money on your wedding pictures is part of the Marriage Money Guide.

Photo Credits: pixcellence.co.uk

After that, you don’t give it much thought.

Affects of Foreclosure
What you may not realize is that the foreclosure is indeed going to affect you in one way or another. Whenever a house sells in a neighborhood, the amount is sells for is noted and has an effect on the general housing prices within the area. The market value of your home depends largely on the price the homes around you sell for. In other words, if people look around your neighborhood to buy a house they’ll want to know how much comparable houses have sold for recently within the area.

Enter: Your neighbor’s foreclosure.

The house sells for much less than it would have if it hadn’t slipped into foreclosure, and if his house is similar to yours in square footage and features then this can pull your market value down. The same goes for instances when people sell their homes for less than the homes are actually worth because they just want to get out from under the mortgage loan. Every real estate transaction in your neighborhood has the potential to raise or lower the market value of your home.

So now you’re probably thinking, “…and here I thought the ‘Foreclosure Sale’ sign in his yard was annoying.”

What can you do about neighboring foreclosures?
There isn’t really much you can do unless you want to run through the neighborhood giving people money to catch up on their mortgages. What you should do, however, is to realize that this is a real concern for you, especially in a couple of instances:

1. You plan on putting your home on the market soon.
2. You maxed out your home equity with loans back when your home was worth more.

Selling Your Home
If your plan is to attempt to sell your home soon, pay attention to the sales going on around you. Are your neighbors getting their full asking price? Are some of them falling into foreclosure? If this is the type of thing going on with your neighborhood then you should brace yourself. In other words, selling isn’t going to be pretty. Why should someone pay full the full asking price for your home when they can walk across the street and buy your neighbor’s similar home at a much lower price?

Home Equity
If you have quite a bit of second mortgage debt – such as home equity loans or home equity lines of credit – the foreclosures happening around you might bring your home’s market value down and you might suddenly owe more than your home is worth. Why should you know this? It may be the reality check you need in order to stop using that ELOC and instead make an aggressive effort to pay these loans down. The sooner you build up some equity, the better.

Thanks to Johnathon from Master Your Card for this guest post on home values and foreclosures.  If you enjoyed the post you can read more about the site or subscribe to the feed.

Earn More or Enjoy More?
I’ve been on the job hunt recently and had a really interesting opportunity come up that pays less than I earn now.  Is it worth it to me to take a job that I’ll probably enjoy more even though I’ll earn less money?

Job Comparison Tool
Luckily, I have the job comparison tool to help me make my decision. I plugged in scores for 16 different criteria, including salary, and the tool suggests I should go for the new job.  Even though I gave salary the highest weight in the model there were enough other benefits of the new job that the final score suggests the new job would be a good move.

Document Job Details
One of the things I didn’t mention in my coverage of the job comparison tool was that you should create another set of columns off to the side of your spreadsheet where you provide the data behind the score for each criterion.

For example, if you rate one job as a 2 for salary and another job as a 1, you should put the salary for each job in the columns off to the side of the model.  This will remind you of the reason why you scored each job feature the way you did. 

What’s More Important than Money?
There are several reasons the new job is appealing to me:

Less Stress
To start with I’d have less responsibility, fewer tight deadlines, little client interaction, and no pager.

Flexible Work Schedule
They also offer a flexible work schedule, you can work 4 ten hour days, 9 nine hour days with every other Friday off, or 9 hour days Monday – Friday, then work from home for 4 hours on Friday.

Career Development
Another benefit is that I’d be working with a much broader range of technologies in the new job.  About 60% of the job would involve web application development and the other 40% would be composed of technolgoy research and development for the company.  This exposure to new technologies is not only interesting but also makes my resume more versatile.

Paid for Your Effort
To top it off, you get paid for every hour you work!  Although it is a salaried position, it also pays overtime. Due to the type of work the company does and the way it bills clients, the company pays employees overtime for every hour they work over 40. 

The company tries to avoid paying overtime so I probably wouldn’t make much extra money but what it does mean is that I wouldn’t typically have to work over 40 hours in a week.  Not that I’m opposed to hard work, I just like to get paid for the work that I do.  Contrast this with my current job where I could work a 60 hour week and still get paid the same.

Decisions, Decisions
Of course, the downside is that I’d earn less money, about 4% less than I do now.  I’d also lose a week of vacation since I’d be starting fresh at a new company.  Even so, when I put all the features of the two jobs into my job comparison tool it suggests I go for the new one.  They’ve made me an offer so I have to decide soon whether to accept it or not.  I’m heavily leaning towards the new job….

What do you think? Would you take a better job for a lower salary?

How to Save Money On Your Wedding Dress:

1. Make use of sample sales – Sample wedding dresses normally come in sizes 6, 8, and 10. Occasionally you can find plus size samples as well, you just have to call around. Buying a “sample” dress can save you a lot of money and you can always have minor imperfections or dirt removed before your big day.
2. Shop for your wedding dress on Ebay – Ebay features a nearly limitless train of wedding dresses both used, and new. You can even set up alerts and Ebay will email you any time a new dress is listed. Start early enough and you are sure to find your dream dress at a fraction of the price. Make sure you buy from a reputable seller though, and be aware of the return policy in case something is not exactly right.
3. Search Craigslist – Sometimes you can find excellent deals on wedding dresses, and other wedding items on Craigslist. The sooner you start planning your wedding, the longer you have to look for that perfect dress for yourself or your bridesmaids.
4. Check out Brides Against Breast Cancer - Brides Against Breast Cancer is a charity organization where brides donate their dresses, and new brides purchase them. The money from the sale of the dresses goes toward breast cancer research. By buying your dress through them you not only get a gorgeous dress at a discount, but you help out a great cause too. Not all the dresses are used either - many designers donate the previous season’s dresses, as do bridal warehouses.
5. Wear Your Mom’s Dress – Wearing your mother or grandmother’s dress can really make your big day special since you are wearing part of the history of your family. If you do this make sure that you have plenty of time to take the dress out, try it on, and have it altered or repaired before your big day. Depending on how well their dress was stored, you may not have to do anything but have it cleaned, or you may have to take it to have sections that were worn or damaged by time repaired.
6. Find a Talented Tailor or Seamstress – An expert tailor can take an ill-fitting or worn dress and turn it into something spectacular – a made to order, perfectly fitting jewel for your wedding day. I do not recommend using the tailor that your bridal salon will suggest. At least, not before you check them out! They may turn out to be a specialist, or they may turn out to be a struggling business person giving kickbacks to the salon. Don’t trust your dress alterations to just anyone. The money you spend with them is as important as your dress, because the finished product - how well your dress flatters you - is up to them.
7. Choose a classic dress without a ton of fabric or beaded embroidery – The less fabric the dress is made from the cheaper it will be. Also, having to alter a dress with a ton of detail will make even the most experiences seamstress cringe – and it may not look as good when they are finished. A classic dress with simple lines and a minimum of beading and detail will not only make you look nice, but be cheaper at the store, and at alteration time.
8. Before you set a wedding date, call your local bridal stores and ask them when they usually run their sales - If you can time your wedding with their sales and discounts, you (and your bridesmaids) can get much more impressive dresses, for far less money.
9. Ask for a pre-sale preview – If you aren’t afraid to ask, then this will net you first crack at the sale and discount dresses, and most bridal stores are happy to accommodate you. After all, you can always have them place the dress on hold until the sale is official.
10. Spend some time thinking about what you envision your dream dress to look like, and give some consideration to which type of dress will look good on your body shape – no two women are the same, and not all wedding dresses look good on everyone. If you have an idea of what you want, then you will save time, and money when you start searching for your dress.
11. Get designer dresses at a discount – If you absolutely have your heart set on that couture wedding gown, then the internet is your best friend. Search, search, search, until you find it on sale. You can find the real designer dresses as much as 50% off, and the designer knock offs far cheaper than that.

For other ways to save money on your wedding, read how you can save money on a destination wedding and save money planning your wedding without spending a fortune.

This list of ideas to save money on a wedding dress is part of the Marriage Money Guide.

Photo Credits: alibaba.com

It’s back to work, back to business, and we all have a list of things to get done.  What’s on your list of things to accomplish this fall?  Let me guess, there are a few things on your list that may have been there for months, maybe years. 

I have several goals I’ve been working on fruitlessly for many months and I recently realized why I wasn’t achieving them.  I’ve been making excuses that have held me back from pursuing my goals!

The good news is, I’m through with these excuses.  In the audio below I share how making excuses has held me back and how I’m going to get past these roadblocks in my life. Click on the play button to listen (RSS and email readers may have to visit the site to listen).

[No More Excuses Transcript]

Click here to follow along or enter your email address below:

The Basics of Budgeting for Married Couples

• Start doing it the moment you get married. The more you wait to start a budget, the less likely that it will become a habit in your household.
• Create a budget together. One of you might like maintaining and forming the budget than the other, but you BOTH need to be present to contribute to the budgeting plan for that month or period of time.
• Choose how you will keep your budget organized. You can use a pencil and paper, Microsoft Excel, Quickbooks, MS Money, or you can use an online application such as Mint.com.
• Write down all of your monthly recurring bills such as utilities, mortgage, cable, debt payments, and insurance. Then, estimate your other monthly expenses that tend to fluctuate such as food, gas, entertainment, clothing, and car maintenance.
• Continue to tweak your variable expense allowances over the next three months.

Budgets are not perfect, and they can make life a little frustrating at first. It’s no different than starting an exercise regime. Your body will resist the exercise at first, because it’s not used to doing it, but it will get easier the more you do it. Budgeting is the same way. Here are some common budgeting struggles that newlyweds often face:

One spouse is on board to budget, but the other is not. Talk through it, and try to figure out the root of the issue. Do you share the same goals with money? If you can’t come to a resolution, then seek out marriage counseling. You can’t have one spouse following a budget while the other spends whatever they want. It won’t work.

Neither one of you has the will power to follow the budget. Seek out another couple to keep you accountable. Ask friends of yours to keep you accountable with your budget. They can call you once a week to see how it is going. If you have someone else asking you about it, it will help you follow the budget better, because you’ll feel embarassed if you keep telling them that you busted the budget.

You get easily frustrated that the budget isn’t working. You will not get immediate results with a new budget. It takes three or four months to tweak the budget and start seeing results. Once you get it right, you’ll quickly see how much more money you have at the end of the month.

Here are a couple of free excel files to help you track your plan to get out of debt and create a budget.

• Budget Worksheet
• Debt Elimination Plan

Remember, budgeting is a way of life. You must develop the habit of budgeting, or you’ll drop it like any other fad. Once you see the results and the immediate income boost by spending your money on paper before you spend it, you’ll get excited. So, get excited, and start your budget today.