Home Owner & Auto Insurance Questions and Answers

Homeowners insurance and auto insurance are important financial tools to help protect you against catastrophic loss and financial ruin in the event of an accident or disaster.

Of course, we often feel like we’re paying too much for insurance and sometimes worry that insurance companies are taking advantage of us when we don’t agree with or understand how they process our claims.  Since Erik used to work in the insurance industry, he has some pretty good insights into how things worked so we decided to put together a short series on home and auto insurance for you.

We started off with the basics, insurance policies 101, understanding insurance policies and claims.  Then Erik offered some valuable tips on how to file an insurance claim so that you get the money you deserve when you send in your paperwork for an accident or incident.  The next topic he covered was how to get extra protection with insurance endorsements, also known as policy riders.  We rounded out the insurance coverage with 7 things your insurance company or insurance agent won’t tell you.

Hopefully you’ll find something helpful in some of these insurance tips.  Let us know if there are other insurance topics you’d like to see covered here.

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Job Interview Tips – Questions & Answers for Success in Your Job Interview

Job interview stressing you out? Job interviews can be daunting for even the most confident applicant but interviews can be manageable and even enjoyable if you are well prepared.  Today we’ll look at ten job interview tips that can help you get your next job.

Your online resume and job skills helped you get the interview, now it’s time to make your case in person. If you have a big interview coming up, it’s time to stop fretting and start prepping; these interview tips might help:

Do your research.
You need to be prepared to demonstrate that you have solid knowledge of the company, its business and its challenges. Check out their website, and study all of their press releases and what they seek to accomplish as a business. Chances are you will be asked the important question, “Why do you want to work for our company?” or “What do you know about our business?” Failing to show that you have done your research will tell your interviewer you didn’t care enough to take the time to prepare.

Shut up and listen!
While you will be anxious to tell the interviewer all about your professional career, don’t be so chatty that you miss important signals and messages from the other person. You’ll need to present your story in the context of what the interviewer is looking for. Listen for clues and adjust.

Remember what’s in your resume and cover letter.
Re-read your resume before you go to your interview and be able to talk intelligently about anything and everything included. You want to sound sharp if the interviewer brings up something in your resume.

Know how your qualifications relate to the company’s needs.
It is not enough to just be prepared to talk about your skills and qualifications. You need to relate your skills to the company’s needs. Examine the job description before the interview. Then identify the skills needed for the job and think of how your qualifications relate to those skills.

Don’t forget to prepare for telephone prescreen interviews.
When I was searching for jobs, I had about three phone interviews that caught me off guard. It’s a double-edged sword, because I didn’t feel prepared, but I also didn’t want to lose the opportunity when an employer called me. Prepare in advance for phone interviews just as much as you would any other interview opportunity. Many companies are now conducting phone interviews before they grant an in-person interview as a method of whittling down their pool of candidates to save time.

Practice.
The best way to be prepared for an interview once you have done your research is practice. Think about potential interview questions such as “Tell me about yourself,” “Why are you leaving your current employer?” and “Why should we hire you?” You should also be prepared for behavioral questions, such as “Tell me about a time when you had a problem at work and came up with a way to solve it.” Practicing with your significant other is always a good way to prepare for interviews.

Save the salary talk for later.
Discussing money is always tricky, and it is best to save the talk about salary for later, once you have received an offer.

Have a list of questions for the interviewer.
Almost every interview will end with this question: “So, do you have any questions for us?” Be sure to develop a list of questions to ask before you go to the interview. Do not ask questions that are clearly answered on the employer’s Web site and/or in any literature provided by the employer to you in advance. Instead, ask specific questions like “What is the organization’s plan for the next five years, and how does this department fit in?” or “Could you explain your organizational structure?”

Be confident.
If you are in for an interview, the company has seen something in you that is attractive. Now you just need to believe in yourself and let your talents shine. Balance confidence with being too cocky. Don’t come across as a know-it-all.

Follow up.
Your best-laid interview plans will go to waste if you neglect to follow up with your interviews. Send a thank-you letter immediately after your interview that reiterates positive characteristics about yourself and, if possible, refers to some part of your conversation. E-mail is a little less personal, but it’s the most common way to shoot a thank you to the hiring manager, because it is the quickest and easiest way to do it. Check out my article about the importance of following up with people.

Job interviews can be stressful but if you prepare for them you can really make yourself stand out from the other candidates. Don’t forget, your resume got you in the door, but your interview skills will likely land you the job.

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Are You Meeting Your Goals This Year?

How are your goals for 2009 coming along?  Any progress?  I outlined an action plan back in January to help make this my most productive year ever and thought it was time for a review.  As a reminder, I limited myself to three goals so that I could have a lot of focus on each of them.  Here is an update on my progress:

Exercise Four Days a Week
My exercise and healthy eating have been right on track! I hurt my back shoveling snow yesterday so this will be the first week that I won’t hit four days of exercise.  Of course the shoveling was pretty exhausting so maybe I could count that as a workout 🙂 

I don’t know how much weight I’ve lost, I haven’t gotten on the scale once.  I’m trying out what I call the “un-diet” where I just eat healthy and exercise and don’t focus on how much weight I’ve lost.  My goal is to make it a lifestyle change and the weight loss will follow.

Outsource 3 Major Tasks
I’m halfway through a great book called “Cloning Yourself for Fun and Profit” by Edward Savio that’s walking me through the process of smart outsourcing of tasks. He’s a screenwriter and novelist who’s successfully used virtual assistants in his work and documents his process in the book.  I’ve only been reading it so far, haven’t taken the time to go through the workbook so that’s on my list of things to do.

I’m also in the middle of putting together a screening process for people that apply for the jobs that I want to outsource.  My goal is to spend the time up front defining the tasks and objectives and then let my screening tool filter out the best people for the job.  I committed to having it completed before our baby is born this Spring so the clock is ticking!

Limit Myself to 3 Projects  & Complete One a Month
Unfortunately, there were several projects that I had to stop working on all together in order to help get my outsourcing system in place.  My goal is to get them back up and running eventually once I find quality people to help me with them, but for now, they’re on the back burner. 

I’ve done a pretty good job of staying focused only on my outsourcing process and keeping up to date with this site.  I’ve had many distractions come along but I’ve managed to pretty much avoid them; of course taxes are something you can’t avoid so I had to make time for those. 

I haven’t done so well on the “closure” aspect of this goal, I said that I’d finish one project a month and I didn’t finish one in January or February so the pressure is really on this month.  I’ve made a lot of progress but don’t have anything finalized yet, I don’t want the first quarter of the year to end without finishing a project so by the end of this month I WILL have one done.

How about you? Are you tracking and working towards your goals to help make 2009 the best year yet?

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Financial Confession – I’m a Bad Tipper

I think we all have financial confessions to make, little things we do with our money that aren’t so smart or that we’re not proud of.  The thing is, no one else really knows about our “dirty little secrets” so we’re not accountable to anyone to change our bad habits.

To help keep me honest I’ll occasionally be running a financial confessional where I talk about a money topic that I’m not proud of.  Feel free to chime in and let me know how foolish or selfish the habit is, or whether you suffer from the same affliction.

Bad Tipping Habits

I’ll start it off by openly admitting that I’m a horrible tipper at restaurants.  I know that people work hard for their money and deserve to be compensated for their efforts but due to some mental block, I have a learned instinct to try and tip as little as possible. I guess it basically boils down to the fact that I’m cheap and don’t like to part with my money but I feel guilty about the impact it has on hard working waiters and waitresses.

Luckily for me, I married a woman that doesn’t have the same flaw so I’ve found an easy solution to under-tipping.  Anytime we go to a restaurant, I simply pass the receipt onto my wife and have her leave the tip.  I know that she does a good job leaving a fair tip and will be much kinder to the server than my stingy tip mentality would allow.

So what do I do when she’s not there?  Usually the only time I go out for food is when I’m with my family but on the occasion she’s not around I always think WWWD (What Would Wifey Do).  I usually have a lower number in my head that I feel like tipping, but instead I go with the higher amount that I know my wife would leave.

So I guess you could say she’s my tip muse : )  I haven’t broken the bad tipper affliction, it seems to be baked into my psyche, but I’ve found a way to at least get around it.  Anyone else a bad tipper?

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Job Search – Find a Freelance Job

If you’ve been laid off, your hours have been cut back, or you are simply making a job change due to relocating to a different city you’re probably looking for a way to make some extra money right away. Picking up freelance jobs in the industry where you have the most expertise can lead to some quick cash and thanks to the power of technology it’s easier than ever to find a freelance job. Here’s a list of a few websites where you can find freelance jobs:

Elance

Elance: You might be familiar with this site, but have you tried using it yet? Scroll or search through the thousands of jobs they have to offer and see how many you could bid on and successfully complete.

The way it works is you pick a posted job and bid on it. The person or company who posted the job will pick someone to fulfill the job based on the most competitive bid and your credentials to get the job done. If you open a basic account, there is no charge to create a profile and start bidding on work so you have nothing to lose if you want to just try it.

Elance has a private message board system where the person looking to hire someone will likely contact you for additional information once you place a bid.  If you have the winning bid, Elance also helps you work with the person hiring you to set project milestones, track progress, and resolve any issues that arise.  Depending on the amount and duration of the work, you may get paid at milestones throughout the project or at the end once you’ve completed the task. 

Using Elance’s escrow service helps make sure that you get paid for the work that you’ve done.  Elance doesn’t make money until you get paid so it’s in their best interest to facilitate the project and help things go smoothly.  Their fee for helping you find and manage freelance work is 4–6% of your earnings, depending on the type of provider account you have with them.  To get started as a freelancer with Elance – Click here

Craigslist

Craigslist: For as many permanent job postings as there are on Craigslist, there are probably more freelance job offers on Craigslist. If you are an accountant, software programmer, web designer, writer, or consultant, you can easily find a few jobs to apply for on your local Craigslist. If you’ve got an iPhone, you need to have the Craigslist application, it’s a great way to search for jobs and other things on Craigslist quickly and efficiently.

Guru

Guru.com: This is another great site similar to ELance, and it has a sophisticated rating system for freelancers and employers. It shows how much a freelancer has earned on the site, a rating system, and quality points awarded after each completed project. Like eLance, there are thousands of postings in industries from web design to business consulting.

Freelancing

I have done freelance writing work for various websites for the past three years, and it has been great extra money for me and my wife. I have paid off thousands of dollars in debt from my freelance work. Even if you have a steady job, picking up freelance work here and there is a nice way to make extra income, and there’s no gimmicks about it. Freelance work is usually very straightforward, and that’s why I like it. Complete the task, and you get paid, it’s as simple as that.

Ben’s Notes

Technology has certainly made it easier to find freelance work but the people doing the hiring may be in a different part of the country or even a different part of the world so you have to work hard to build their trust to the point where they’ll hire you without ever having met you.

This is another reason why building your personal brand is so important, if you can refer potential employers to a place where they can learn about your skills, get to know you better, and see if you’re qualified they’ll be much more likely to hire you.

For a little insight into how employers view and approach hiring on Elance, check out this Elance interview from John Jantsch. I met John a few weeks ago, he’s a great guy and has TONS of resources on his site for small businesses.  Listening to how employers use Elance might give you some insight into ways you could gain some competitive advantage when bidding on jobs as a provider.

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Job Search: Find a Job With a New Degree, Certification, Or License

Finding a job in your industry is easier when you have a personal brand that can serve as an online resume and a place to document your expertise.  But what happens when the industry you’re in goes into decline, suffers massive layoffs, and there simply aren’t many jobs to go around?  Could it be time to find a job in an entirely new industry?

Starting a New Career

An obvious example of this is the struggling auto industry. As Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler layoff thousands of people some of those workers will be forced to learn new skills and start new careers.  It’s not an easy thing to start your career over again but there are certainly several different approaches you can take.

I’m actually in the middle of such a transition myself.  I used to work for insurance companies but for the past six months, I have been trying to figure out the best way to make a career transition into financial planning without having to sign up with some of the companies that offer commission-only gigs that are more of a salesperson than a financial planner.

There are salaried positions out there in the financial planning industry, but they are hard to find. There are also entry-level positions out there as para planners, analysts, and financial planning assistants, but they are very competitive as well. I have come to the conclusion that the only way I am going to land one of these positions in the future is to bolster my resume with more professional education.

You may run into this same situation when looking for a new job or making a career transition. Sometimes, going back to school, studying to test for a professional designation, or receiving a professional license might be what you need to land a job with a lot of competition.

Getting A New Degree

Thinking about going back to school is a horrible thought for many of us. It’s more money and more time that you don’t have right now but getting an online master’s degree, or a bachelor’s degree might be what you need to land the new job.

Monster Degree Program and Monster Career Resource Center are a great resource to search for online degree programs, financial aid, and career paths for a particular degree or designation. Getting a whole new degree is the most extreme option when looking for a new job, and it’s a decision you should make with a lot of thought and research. Make sure that the time and money spent goes toward a degree that has a high rate of getting degree recipients hired quickly for SPECIFIC entry-level jobs.

Industry Certifications

In the case of the financial planning industry, there are many different certificates a job seeker can study for and receive. There are the Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, Chartered Financial Analyst and many other certifications to earn that could give you an edge against other applicants.

In the Information Technology industry, there are dozens upon dozens of certifications for areas such as programming, network administration, and computer security. It’s not just IT managers that like to see these certifications on a resume when looking at candidates, the same applies for most every industry.

Significant certifications in a given industry usually require quite a bit of course work and test taking, but they can have a smaller price tag than a new degree. Some certifications require work experience before you can put their initials after your name, but many employers still appreciate the fact that you satisfied the education requirement for the certification. Another good thing about certifications is that you can work on earning them on your own time on the weekends or in the evenings, rather than having to go back to school.

Professional Licenses

Getting a license for a new job is often required for many positions. If you want to make a career transition to real estate, passing the licensing requirements is required first. The same rule applies to many other careers such as a mortgage broker, stock broker, insurance agents, and claims adjusters.

While some companies will hire you first and sponsor you to study and take the exam for a certain license, many other applicants already have these licenses. Understand that a company would rather hire someone who doesn’t need to go through licensing, than someone they would be footing the bill to get licensed.

Paying For Additional Education

I am not sure about Ben’s position on this subject, but I do not think anyone should go into debt for additional education once they have been out in the working world for a few years. You know how to make money, and the last thing I would want for you is to take on more debt payments to make a career transition.

Devise a two to three year plan to make your career transition. Take classes as you are able to pay for them, and you will thank yourself at the end. Don’t be in such a rush to make a career transition or get the job you really want. It may require you to take a job that pays bills and save money until you have completed the necessary education.

Ben’s Note. While I agree with Erik that you should plan out any career transition, sometimes, especially in bad economies, people don’t have that option.  I have friends that have been laid off and gone back to school full time to get a new degree and are very happy they made that choice. I also know people who were let go that have gotten a job just to pay the bills and taken weekend and evening courses to get a different degree.

Either approach will work I think it just depends on your personal situation.  The main point is that you have a variety of degree, certification, and licensing options to help you learn new skills and get a new job.

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Is Opportunity Passing You By?

When I wrote about my grandfather’s legacy last year I mentioned that people will always remember him for his jokes.  Every time I saw Grandpop he had a joke to tell, I can’t remember them all but one of them came to mind this week and I wanted to share it with you. 

A woman was trapped on the roof of her house as the flood waters rose and she knelt in prayer to ask for help.  Not long afterwards the family down the street pulled up in a canoe and offered to make room for her in the back.  “No thanks”, she said, “I don’t need a ride, God is going to rescue me”. 

 

The canoe pushed off and made their way to safety; shortly after the police showed up in a big motorized rubber raft. “Thank you so much for coming but I don’t need to be rescued, God is going to save me”, she said. 

 

Hours later, with the water almost covering the whole roof, a helicopter lowered a rope to pull the women to safety.  She waved the helicopter away yelling, “I said a prayer, God will save me”. 

 

Sadly, the water continued to rise and after the women was swept into the flood and drowned, she made her way up to heaven.  “God, why didn’t you save me?”, she asked.  God patted her on the head and smiled saying, “I sent a canoe, a boat, and a helicopter.. what else did you want?”

To put the joke in context my grandfather was a very religious man.  He was a very devout Christian and gave a lot of his life to helping others, so the joke isn’t meant to poke fun at those who have faith in a higher power. 

Rather, the message is that help or opportunity doesn’t always come in the form we’re expecting.  She was looking for a divine wind to sweep her up to safety so she totally missed her chances to survive.  I think all of us are hoping or praying for something, especially in these turbulent times, so make sure you keep your eyes open.  Help or opportunity won’t always come in the form that you’re expecting : )

Money Articles

Sadly, I can’t offer you any financial help, but I can point you to some useful money articles around the web:

– The Digerati Life has some investing tips for beginners.

– Generation X Finance points out a free economics course.

– Lazy Man and Money shows us how to save money on hotels.

– Brip Blap sold his house and is moving to sunny Florida!

– The Sun’s Financial Diary takes a look at the homeowner affordability plan.

– Frugal Dad suggests some ways to save money at a sporting event.

– Million Dollar Journey talks about deciding who pays the bills.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

• My Dollar Plan
• Credit Karma
• Five Cent Nickel
• Stop Buying Crap

– Mighty Bargain Hunter looks at the tax implications of the stimulus bill.

– Get Rich Slowly had an inspiring article on building confidence.

– No Credit Needed lists some places you can look for loose change.

– Consumerism Commentary asks whether a family should walk away from their mortgage?

– Bargaineering discusses investment clubs.

– Free Money Finance suggests steps you should take before hiring a tax preparer.

– The Simple Dollar shows us how to save with bulk breakfast burritos. 

Carnvials

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned these so I apologize to the hosts for the delay. The following posts were included in one of the Carnivals listed below valentines day flowers, understanding insurance policies, lending money to family, tax preparation services, tax forms for your tax return, best tax software:

• Broke Grad Student
• Canadian Personal Finance 
• Funny about Money
• Empowering Mom
• Working at Home
• Little Miss Know it All
• Dollar Frugal
• DIY Home Tips
• Rich Life Carnival
• Dollar Frugal (Personal Finance)
• American Consumer News

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Quickbooks Software Makes Accounting Easier

QuickBooks is small business accounting software, made by Intuit, the same company that created the user friendly tax software, TurboTax.  QuickBooks has made my life much easier over the past week as I’ve gathered the business finance records for our accountant. 

Quickbooks Accounting Software

I neglected recording our business income and expenses throughout the year so I worked last week to put everything into Quickbooks.  Luckily the whole task wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, Quickbooks allowed me to easily import our bank and PayPal records. Unfortunately I hadn’t been downloading the credit card data and they Chase only would let me download the last 45 days worth of transactions so I had to input those by hand.

Quickbooks Reports

I actually bought QuickBooks Pro back in 2007 and setup the business account but didn’t use it much in 2008 so I thought it would take forever to get all my information in the software.  Learning the basics of Quickbooks accounts and how they handle income and expenses wasn’t too bad and the reports it creates are great.  You can create Profit and Loss, Income and Expense, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow reports that give you good insight into the finances of your business.  I love how the reports let you looks at your financials from many different perspectives.

Quickbooks & Taxes

I took along the Profit & Loss report Saturday night when we went our for dinner with our tax guy, also my college roommate, he looked it over and said it would certainly save me money.  Last year I gave him a spreadsheet with the whole year’s worth of business finances so he had to bill for all the time it took to organize and categorize the data.  This year the reports Quickbooks generates will make it much faster and easier for him to prepare our business tax return, which means its cheaper for me!

I don’t know why it took me so long to finally make full use of QuickBooks but I’m glad I did, it’s a great piece of accounting software and it’s made my life easier!

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What Will the Recession Mean for My Kids?

My poor kids, they will be paying off our debts for their whole lives. Penelope Trunk recently had some interesting commentary on how different generations view the sad state of the economy:

The baby boomers got us into this mess. They borrowed against future generations. They mishandled SEC regulations. They ignored the environment. They set up a social security system that is going to break as soon as they’re done taking from it. And they took the best education this country had to offer, and then depleted the education system for the next generation.

 

Obama is the first Gen-X president. And, to the surprise of all the baby boomers who have been trash-talking Gen-X forever, it’s Gen-X that will bail this country out of the mess the baby boomers got us into.

 

In the meantime, Generation X is the first generation in the US ever that will earn less than their parents. And Generation Y has an incredible amount of debt due to baby boomers pushing up college costs and housing costs while real wages went down.

As the US government spends billions to try and revitalize our economy the debt that my kids will carry around just continues to grow.  What will this financial meltdown mean to them?  How will it effect their lives?

I was listening to some Johnny Cash last night as I worked on my taxes and his song “I’ve Been Everywhere Man” started me thinking about the impact the weak US dollar could have on my kids ability to see the world. 

I’ve been fortunate, I’ve been able to travel quite a bit in my life. I can’t say I’ve “been everywhere” but I’ve met a lot of interesting people and learned a lot about other parts of the world and the people that live there. Here’s a list of countries that I’ve spent some time in:

• Mexico
• Canada
• England
• Ireland
• Scotland
• France
• Monaco
• Germany
• Spain
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Russia
• Italy
• Austria
• Greece
• Switzerland
• Czech Republic
• Turkey
• Isreal

The way I view the world and my outlook on life has been greatly impacted by the experiences I had getting to know the cultures and people of those countries.  How far will the weak US dollar and struggling economy reach into my kids lives?  Will they be able to experience the world as I have? What other opportunities might they be denied due to our national debt?

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Job Searches Are Easier When You Have a Personal Brand

Job searching is easier if you begin by building an online profile and resume that you can refer people back to anytime you’re discussing a potential job with them.

The good news is that today’s technology makes it simple enough for most anyone that can use a computer to be able to publish their own information on the web.  You can take a simple apporach and open a free account at Blogger or you could put more time and effort into getting your own branded website, which option you choose isn’t as important as just getting started on the process.

Since all of you are at different levels of comfort with technology and self-publishing, here are four different approaches to getting started:

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced
• Expert

Job Searching in Reverse

As I mentioned in yesterday’s job search article, it helps to build your personal brand by targeting the end goal of the interview that will get you a job.  The first thing you have to do is to prove that you’re qualified for a job in your industry and have the skill sets that an employer is looking for.  The simplest way to do this is to write on your website about specific topics in your industry.

If you currently have a job, simply write about the projects you’re working on, problems you’ve solved, and any awards or recognition that you’ve recieved.  If you’re unemployed, write about the same topics just use an old job as an example.  This collection of information will become your online portfolio of what you know and who you are as contributor to your industry.

You don’t have to write every day, simply once every week or two will build you a site with a personal profile over the course of a few month. If you ever start to feel like you’re wasting your time, keep this in mind, a recent survey revealed that half of the people that self-publish on the web are better known in their industry, and one in four have used their blog as a resume enhancement. 

Getting Job Referrals

Once you have enough information on your website that demonstates your knowledge of your industry and the tools required the next step is to create something that will differentiate yourself from other candidates.  Probably the best way to do this is to get other people talking about you and recommending you.  Luckily this is easier than ever now that you can connect and interact with people everywhere thanks to social media.

Here are some good examples of ways you can use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to network, get recommendations, and help find yourself a job:

• Personal Branding on Twitter 
• New Jobs on Facebook
• Networking on LinkedIn

After you’ve created your online profile with your own website and used social media to build a network of contacts you will have plenty of information available for hiring managers that are looking for good candidates; a step that will significantly increase your chances of find a job.

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