Who’s In Your Personal Finance Support Group?

Do you have friends or family that you can share ideas, ask questions, and garner support from when it comes to money issues? Why would you want to be part of a money network? As the Beatles sang:

“I get by with a little help from my friends”

It’s really nice to have a group of people you can turn to for ideas, jokes, suggestions, laughs, comments, advice, feedback, (did I mention jokes)?  Nothing’s easy when you go it alone, financial matters are tough enough to deal with, why not get a little support?

A new personal finance network was announced online this weekend, the Personal Finance Network consists of:

• Blunt Money
• Canadian Capitalist
• Clever Dude
• Money Ning
• Quest for Four Pillars
• Squawkfox

The good news is you don’t need to have a personal finance site to form a money network.  Although I’m part of The Money Writers, I had my own personal network of friends, family, and co-workers that I discussed money topics with offline long before I started writing about personal finance.

If you don’t have a group of people you feel comfortable with offline you can always make some money friends in the Money Blog forum, Get Rich Slowly forum, or WiseBread forum.

Speaking of personal finance networks, here are some of the articles I enjoyed from The Money Writers this week:

– The Suns Financial Diary looks at how to triple your money.

– Brip Blap talks about being a location independent family.

– Lazy Man asks Is Now the Time to Take Advantage of the Housing Crisis?

– The Digerati Life shows you how to measure your return on investment on a home improvement project. 

– My Dollar Plan has a new way for you to discover good personal finance content, PopTop.

– Generation X Finance gives us a reminder to keep our beneficiaries up-to-date.

– Million Dollar Journey has an expert take a look at risk management with insurance.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere:

– Mighty Bargain Hunter asks if frugality will ever be ready for prime time?

– No Credit Need has a review of StreetRead.

– Five Cent Nickel has some ideas on how to improve your gas mileage and Free Money Finance has even more gas saving tips.

– Consumerism Commentary looks how leverage, emerging markets, and a few other things can  Lose You Money.

– Get Rich Slowly discusses young entrepreneurs.

– Blueprint for Financial Prosperity “recommends” getting a divorce to save money.

– The Simple Dollar talks about finding inspiration for change and has a book coming out sometime in the future!

---

Stock Market Investing 101 – How Can Stocks Make You Money?

Investing in the stock market can be overwhelming for a beginner but the potential financial rewards are enough to motivate many people to learn how to invest in stocks.  One mistake that many beginners make is to get caught up right away in buying and selling stocks without really understanding what a share of stock represents, how the stock market works, and why buying and selling stock can lose them or make them money.

The best place to start is with a few terms that are often used when discussing the stock of a company:

• share of stock
• share price
• shareholder

When investors buy stock in a company, they share the potential profit and loss of the company in proportion to the amount of stock they buy.  This concept of sharing is key to learning about investing in the stock market. 

What is a Stock?
A stock represents a piece of ownership in a company. You may ask, why would a company willingly sell the right to “outsiders” to become a partial owner of the company?  It’s a good question, many business owners work very hard to build their companies and don’t like the idea of someone else telling them how to run it.  However, all businesses need money to operate and grow and one way for a company to raise money is to sell some rights of ownership of the company.

Now the business owner doesn’t want to sell the rights to the entire business, just enough to get the money they need.  So they divide the rights of company ownership into units, each of which is a share of stock, and they make those shares available for investors to purchase.

What is an Investor?
An investor is a person who sees potential in the business and is willing to give the company money up front in return for a partial share of ownership, a share of stock, that entitles them to share in the future profit and loss of the company.  The reason for my heavy emphasis on sharing is that as an investor, or shareholder, the fate of the money you pay for your shares of stock is tied to the success or failure of the company.  Since you share in their profits and losses, you should only buy stock in a company that you think has a good chance of success.

How Do Investors Make Money?
As a shareholder, the reason you invested money into the company is that you expect the business to take that money and use it to create profits.  If the company is profitable, the value of your shares of stock should increase.  How much the shares increase and whether they increase at all is determined by the stock market, the details of which we’ll cover in later articles. 

Assuming that the value of the shares of stock goes up when the company is profitable, you can sell your shares on the stock market for a higher price than you paid for them.  The difference between the original price you paid for the stock and the selling price, minus any transactional fees & taxes, is the amount that you profit.

Another possible scenario where an investor can make money is if the company has a profitable period and decides to give a portion of those profits back to investors.  The money given back is called a dividend, each shareholder would receive a certain amount of money for each share of stock they own.

Understanding the Stock Market
Now that you understand that companies sell stock in order to raise capital and that investors take the risk of buying the stock so that they can share in the potential profits of the company, the next thing to look at is how stocks are priced, bought, and sold.  In the next Stock Market Investing 101 article we’ll take a look at how the stock market works.

---

Save Money on Gas – Small, Easy Gas Saving Tips Take a Big Bite Out of High Gas Prices

Saving money on gas is more important than ever as fuel prices continue to climb.  Follow these gas saving tips to make it easier for your car to go farther with less fuel.

Make Your Car More Fuel Efficient

Although we’re the ones shelling out more money for expensive gas, don’t forget your car is still the one doing all the work.  Make it easier for your car to drive and it will use less gas.

• Air Filter – studies at FuelEconomy.com suggest replacing the air filter in your car on a regular basis can improve the gas mileage that you get with your car by up to 10 percent.
• Alignment – improper alignment will cause a certain amount of engine drag, which will increase the amount of gas that you are using.
• Gas Cap – replace lost gas caps and make sure you put them on tight to avoid evaporation of fuel.
• Tire Pressure – You may reduce the fuel efficiency of your car by up to 2 percent for each pound that the tires are under-inflated.
• Vehicle Weight – avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. According to fueleconomy.gov an extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2%. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle’s weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.

Save Gas with Your Driving Habits

How you drive your vehicle plays a big role in how much gas it uses.  For example, FuelEconomy.gov warns that aggressive driving wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Here are some things you can do to make your fuel go farther.

• Avoid speeding – “while each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.30 per gallon for gas.”
• No lead foot – Accelerating away from traffic lights increases the amount of gas used.
• Anticipate Stops – Keeping your eyes open for the need to stop down the road will help minimize the use of your brakes.  This will allow you to coast to a stop, instead of speeding up to a stop sign or stop light then slamming on the brakes.
• Avoid Idling – Your gas mileage while idling is 0 miles per gallon so avoid it when you can.
• Plan Your Trips – You can help prevent idling by avoiding the busiest driving times of the day when you have to sit in traffic.  Another benefit to planning your trips is you can combine all your errands into one outing and make your driving more efficient, saving you money on gas.
• Track Your Purchases – Use a fuel log to record mileage, gallons, and fuel costs.  Review your fuel buying habits periodically to look for potential improvements.

Pay Less for Gas

The most obvious way to do this is to buy a fuel efficient vehicle.  Thanks to high gas prices all automobile manufacturers want to tout themselves as fuel efficient nowdays.  When you’re shopping for a new vehicle, be sure to check out the fuel economy rating and gas mileage estimates before you buy.  FuelEconomy.gov points out

“the difference between a car that gets 20 MPG and one that gets 30 MPG amounts to $1,020 per year (assuming 15,000 miles of driving annually and a fuel cost of $4.08). That’s $5,100 extra in fuel costs over five years!”

You can also lower your gas bill by using resources like GasBuddy to find the lowest fuel prices in your area.  Their motto is “consumers working together to save money on gas”.  After fueling up members of the site report the price they paid and the gas station name and location.  Anyone can search the site by zip code, it will report the price, station location, and the time the last price was posted.

A third way to spend less on gas is to simply avoid the more expensive high octane gasoline.

Gas Saving Tips

Some stores are offering discounts on gas tied to purchases you make in their store.  Save your receipt and it could save you several cents per gallon on gas.

Here’s a tip I received by email but have I’ve never used.  Can’t vouch for this one but it wouldn’t hurt to try. When you finish filling up your gas tank try turning the nozzle of the hose a full 180 degrees. This will drain a bit more gas into your tank; in some cases up to an entire half cup that would otherwise be a bonus to the next gas customer.

Use a gas credit card to earn cashback on your gas purchases.  Here’s a review of the best gas credit cards to save you money at the pump.

---

Stop Whining & Start Making Some Money

Are you an economic whiner?  I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had my share of negative things to say about gas prices, taxes, & government red tape.  However, what I witnessed last week has inspired me to whine less and work harder.

If they can do it, so can I…

Who are they?  The hard working entrepreneurs in under developed countries who give their all to make a better life for themselves.  As we drove slowly through pot-hole filled roads in the Dominican Republic last week I saw example after example of people who are maximizing their limited resources to try and make ends meet.

They work hard for their money

As we headed for the airport I felt a huge wave of guilt as I saw people manning fruit stands and souvenir booths that couldn’t have been earning them more than a few bucks a day.  Here I am complaining about paying $4 a gallon for gas and these people don’t even have a car or moped to put gas into. (Mopeds seemed to be the vehicle of choice in the DR)

Incredible opportunity

I imagine some of these workers would love the opportunity to come to the US to start their own business.  When I look at the resources & opportunity available to me, I realize there is no excuse for not being successful, or at least working towards that goal. There is no room for whining, I need to shut up and start making some money.

Bootstrapping Others

I’m also going to help out potential entrepreneurs in the Dominican Republic. Thanks to Kiva, I can lend money to aspiring entrepreneurs in the Dominican.  Kiva will work with local partners Fundación San Miguel Arcángel, Inc. and Esperanza International to lend the money to people wanting to start or grow businesses in Clothing Sales, Jewelry, Services, & Personal Products Sales.

Understandably, not everyone can get the visual that I saw while I was there.  It was my first trip to that country and may have been my last. You’ll have to trust me when I say that if you’re living in the US reading this, chances are you have far more resources available to you than those people with fruit stands and sunglasses shops ever will.  I urge you to make good use of those resources to help meet your potential, and to help out some of the people that aren’t as fortunate as us.

---

Meet Your Virtual Neighbors – Reader Survey Demographic Results

Were you fairly represented in the reader survey?  Check out the results below to see where you fit into the mix of Money Smart Life readers.  If you feel your demographic group was under represented, go ahead and take the survey, I can’t count you if you don’t take the survey!

Anyhow here are the results as of today in pie chart format, about 6% of the total readers have taken the survey so far.  So when I use the term reader, I’m referencing readers that took the survey.  Survey Gizmo provided some great looking charts for most of the data, there were a few I wanted to analyze in a different format so I used Excel to build charts of my own.  For the 62% of you that are reading this either in a feed reader or via email, you may have to visit the site to see the graphs.

 

More Girls Than Guys

Maybe women readers are just more open to sharing than men, or perhaps females are more concerned about learning about and managing money?

 

Gen X, MTV  Generation, and Gen Y

Almost half of the readers are 30 or younger; over two thirds of readers are 40 or younger.  I fall into this group as well. My bet is Social Security won’t be around for us so start saving today!! Since I’m more familiar with the financial aspects of those generations, I’d love to hear from the other age ranges what financial topics interest you most, you can contact me and let me know.

 

Non Bloggers

The majority of people taking the survey do not have websites of their own.  The question was whether the reader had a blog of their own, as you can see 80% do not. Maybe all the bloggers were too busy writing articles to find time to fill out the questions : )

 

Reader Education

About three fourths of readers have some type of college degree and 95% have some higher education.  This seems to make sense.  Everyone must have spent so much money paying for school, now we’re looking for ways to make some of that money back and pay off school loans, so we read personal finance sites.

 

Reader Income

With 28% of people having a total household income of $81K–$100K, 21% earning $61K–$80K for the household, and 12% making over $100K, the readers are doing much better than the average family in the US.

 

Marital Status

Money can be one of the biggest stresses on a marriage, so I congratulate the 57% of readers that are working through “couple budgeting” and want to warn the 22% of single readers to know their future spouse financially before they say I do.  I don’t have any personal experience to share with the 6% of divorced or separated readers but I have friends and relatives who have gone through the tough times and could offer some advice.

 

Tax Deductions… I Mean Kids

The tax break they bring is nice but kids sure are expensive, I’m sure they cost us way more than we save in taxes.  Looks like about a third of people have kids.  Hats off to those having more than 4, I don’t know how you do it!  If you’re interested in sharing, contact me and we can cover the financial challenges of big families.

 

Thank You!
Thanks for sharing a little about who you are and where you are in life!  This information will definitely help shape the topics covered on this site.  As I mentioned in the beginning, if you feel your demographic group wasn’t represented in the reader survey you can still take the survey to help tailor the content of the site to your financial needs.

To say thanks for sharing, I’ll announce the winner of the second $50 cash prize tomorrow.

---

Personal Finance Review – Caribbean Vacation Edition

We enjoyed our vacation in the sun! We traveled to the Dominican Republic to be part of a beach wedding for one of my wife’s good friends. It hadn’t rained the whole trip but the evening of the wedding the clouds rolled in and the rain came down. Luckily the showers ended in time for the ceremony, so other than the wet seats the wedding went off wonderfully! We’re back to the real world now, sad to leave the beach but really glad to see our little guy again.

Although we were supposed to have a wireless Internet connection in our room it only worked 10% of the time so my apologies to those readers that contacted me over the last week and haven’t gotten a response yet I’m digging through emails now so look for a reply message soon.  Here are a few articles people shared while I’ve been away.

The Money Writers

– The Digerati Life reviews ways to control your wild wedding costs. Our “destination wedding” experience was inspiration for a whole new series about saving money on weddings that I’ll publish pretty soon.

– Million Dollar Journey recommends 10 ways to save money in college.

– Suns Financial Diary shows US stocks impact on International ETFs.

– My Dollar Plan suggests 11 fun & frugal summertime activities. Now that we spent summer entertainment budget on our trip, these might come in handy : )

– Generation X compares ETFs and Mutual Funds.

– Lazy Man & Money looks at the best credit cards for international travel.

– Brip Blap shows us saving doesn’t have to be hard, with 9 ways to save without breaking a sweat.

Money Blog Network

– Five Cent Nickel shares a way to improve gas mileage by 15%. You can also check out the best gas credit cards or save on gas by riding the bus.

– Free Money Finance talks about making a fortune being a tutor.

– Mighty Bargain Hunter lists ten ways being fat costs money.  A great article to read after you spent a whole week at an all inclusive (all you can eat) hotel : )

– No Credit Needed looks at the value of a fully-funded Roth IRA.

– Consumerism Commentary gives a heads up, get ready to consolidate your student loans, providing more student loan tips for graduates.

– Get Rich Slowly looks at picking stocks with Motley Fool’s CAPS.

– All Financial Matters addresses the question, how much do you need for retirement?

Other Articles

– Blueprint for Financial Prosperity asks if you know you’ve been cheating on your taxes.

– The Simple Dollar has a good review of the book Ready, Fire, Aim.

– Madame X is looking to play money match maker, she’s looking for interested singles! 

---

For Sale By Owner – How to Market Your House With a Local Area Guide

Many home buyers look at dozens of houses in their search for the perfect home.  How can you make yours stand out from the rest, make it appealing and memorable?

One of the marketing methods you can use to sell people on the value & benefits of your home is to create a custom local area guide that’s specific to your home address.

Think of it as a guide for what buyers could expect if they were to purchase your house.  Chances are a lot of this information has already been compiled in local magazines or other guides; all you have to do is customize it for your address.

Here are some of the things you may want to cover:

Schools 
List the public schools that kids would attend if they lived in the house.  Cover the distance to the school, awards it has won, & programs it offers.  In addition list private schools in the area and their details.

Fitness & Sports
Build a list of the gyms and sports facilities in the surrounding area. Mention parks, running trails, and bike paths. You can also cover the youth sports possibilities in your area.

Entertainment
Dining – Give the most popular restaurants across a variety of different cuisines, mention a few local spots close by, and let out the secret of your favorite restaurant.  Talk about a mix of fancy/pricey places and also a few cheap/fast ones.

Movies – Going to the movies is universal entertainment. List both movie theatres and movie rental stores in the area.

Performing Arts – For the more culturally minded people cover the various concerts and plays available.

Medical
Medical facilities are a major concern to many people.  List the community hospitals, how far away they are, and any particular specializations or awards.

Transportation
Getting in and out of the neighborhood is important to everyone. Review the common access paths to your home and talk about your commute. List the highways.  Mention the public transport options and even carpooling choices.

Neighborhood Updates
Everyone wants to know about their neighbors.  Don’t include names but you can talk about the people that live around you.  Cover the community that exists in your area and what kind of events they have.

Utility Services
Who are the trash, recycling, water, and energy providers for your area?  What are their rates and what kind of service have you experienced?

Local Area Marketing Guide – Summary
Of course not every prospective home buyer will have the same needs but  the more you cover, the more people you stand a chance to reach. You can hand out a copy of the local area guide to every potential buyer that visits your home to give them a better feel for the area.

Personalize the local guide as much as possible and mention specifics whenever you can. Remember the idea is to paint your home in a positive light. If your commute downtown is 1.5 hours one way, you might not want to highlight that fact.  If they ask for the detail, share it with them, you just don’t have to publicize it in your guide. Next time in the For Sale by Owner Tips series we’ll look further at marketing your home.

---

For Sale By Owner – Getting Your House Ready to Sell

Preparing your home for sale is kind of like getting ready for a date.  You spend a lot of time getting ready but when those first suitors walk through the door you’re really glad you put in the time.

Preparing the House
Our neighbors spent several weekends organizing, repairing, and cleaning to get their house ready to put on the market. Of course this is something you’ll need to do whether the home is for sale by owner or via a realtor. Here are some of the things they did:

• Had a garage sale to “clean out”
• Moved all leftover “garage clutter” into our garage
• Greased squeaky doors
• Fixed leaky faucets
• Patched holes in the wall
• Re-painted several rooms
• Planted new bushes
• Trimmed & mowed regularly

Home Enhancement Tips
One of the realtors that they talked to when researching the market volunteered to walk through their home and point out anything that could change to help improve the likelihood of a sale.

She recommended replacing several of the light fixtures since that’s one thing that most people notice and it’s a relatively inexpensive way to give a room a new look.  She also suggested they change out their beat up old brass colored door knobs to a cleaner chrome color.

Getting Your Home Ready to Sell – Summary
This part of the pre-sale process can be a lot of work and requires a lot of attention to detail.  Every house needs a little work but all the little things add up in the end to make your home more attractive to buyers. Focus your time on the changes that have the most impact on potential owners. Next time in the For Sale by Owner Tips series we’ll take a look at marketing your home.

---

For Sale By Owner – How to Prove Your Home is Worth Your Asking Price

If you were a home buyer and the property owner told you all about how wonderful the house was and all the reasons it was a great place to live, would you believe them?

Homeowners Are Biased
After all, they’re just trying to sell their home and might say anything to close the deal.  Not that most people would lie to house hunters, it’s just that the home owner is not the most objective person to ask when looking at the quality and value of the property because they have a lot of money and emotion invested in their house, condo, or duplex.

Understanding the home buyer perspective can definitely help when trying to sell your home. Of course almost everyone selling a home was at one time a buyer and can relate to this situation.

Proving the Value of Your Home
So how can you the home owner convince prospective buyers that your property is worth your asking price?  One of best ways is to get a trusted third party to document the condition and value of your real estate.

Home Inspectors – The first thing you might want to do is hire a home inspector to examine your property and document all their findings.  There are actually several benefits to hiring a home inspector.  The first is that you’ll discover any issues and have a chance to correct them before buyers start looking at your home.  If you find something you don’t feel the need to correct, don’t have time, or can’t afford it you can at least determine the cost of fixing it and have that information when it comes time to negotiate price.

The second reason that having your home inspected can help you sell it is that you have documented proof of the condition of your property from an objective third party.  Of course, “objective third party” is a key component so make sure you hire a well known and inspector with good credentials.

Home Appraiser – Once you’ve identified/corrected any issues with your home hire a real estate appraiser to document your home, research it’s value, and prepare a report on how much money it’s worth in the current market.  This will give you an idea of where to set your asking price and can be used a proof for the buyer that the home is worth the price.

Document Home Improvements
Another thing you can do to help demonstrate both the quality of the home and the care you’ve shown for it is to prepare a list of all the minor & major enhancements and repairs that happened to the property while you were it’s owner.  If you’re not the original owner and have details on work done before you bought it, include those as well.

Building Trust in Buyers
Think about it from the buyer’s perspective.  If a home owner gives you a copy of a home inspection, real estate appraisal, and documents on all the enhancements and repairs for the property you’ll likely feel that they’ve not only done a good job taking care of the home but also that they’re being upfront with all the details and can be trusted.

What’s Your Home Worth – Summary
Having trusted third parties document the condition and value of your home allows you to build trust with home buyers and can help establish the validity of your asking price.  Next time in the For Sale by Owner Tips series we’ll look at a few minor things you can do that make a big difference when getting your home ready to sell.

---

For Sale By Owner – Tips for Selling Your House Without a Realtor

A home for sale by owner can save you thousands of dollars in real estate commissions but it also gives you the job of unofficial realtor and requires you to learn many different selling skills if you want your house to sell for what it’s worth.

Our neighbors recently put their home up for sale by owner and have shared with us some of the tips and ideas they’ve learned in the process.  I’ve gathered these tips into a “for sale by owner” series that we’ll be covering over the next several days.

Why For Sale by Owner?
Are real estate agents worth the money you pay them in commission?  I asked this question last fall and it generated a heated discussion between realtors and home buyers, with both sides making good points.  I won’t go into the details here but you can read the comments here and judge for yourself.

One of the main reasons that people decide to sell their house without a realtor is to save on the commissions that real estate agents charge to list and sell a home.  Of course, if you don’t hire a realtor to do the work for you that means you’ll have to take on the task yourself.

Researching Real Estate
One of the benefits of hiring a realtor is that they’re familiar with your local market and how your home compares to the rest of the properties for sale in the area.

Despite what you paid for it, your home is only worth what someone else is willing to pay you to move out.  If the market is down or there are many other similar options available then house hunters may not be willing to spend as much on your home.

So how can you find out where your home fits into the local real estate market? The best place to start is to call up a couple of real estate agents and spend a few minutes with them on the phone.

Ask a Real Estate Agent
Call up a realtor and explain you’re trying to decide between selling your home by owner or hiring an agent and have a few questions.  Let them know that if you hire a realtor that you’ll take them into consideration.

Talk to at least six local real estate agents about your market.  Take notes during each conversation and compare their responses for trends and common topics when you’re finished.

Look at Homes for Sale
Keep an eye on houses for sale around your neighborhood, find out what they’re asking and how long they’ve been on the market.

You can easily keep tabs on prices in your area with websites like Realtor.com and ForSaleByOwner.com.  As you’re comparing real estate prices and features, not only should you keep a spreadsheet of all the information you collect, you should also study the real estate ads, notice which ones catch your eye.

When you go to market your own home it will be good to have an idea of which types of ads grab attention and what seems to matter most to home buyers.

Learn About Selling a Home
Buy or check out a book on how to sell your house yourself, a popular one lately is How to Sell Your Home in 5 Days by Bill Effros.  Real estate agents have tons of experience and knowledge on how to sell a house so you have some catching up to do.  You can also check out the home selling education section on ForSaleByOwner. They cover tips on the whole home selling process, including:

• Pricing
• Staging
• Marketing
• Disclosures
• Negotiating
• Closing
• Repairs
• Financing
• Foreclosures
• Real estate market

Next in the series we’ll take a look at getting your home ready for sale.

---

Page 128 of 190« First«...102030...126127128129130...140150160...»Last »