The Dangers of a Formula Based Life

A formula-based life is something that most of us live to some degree.  Basically, important actions and decisions are guided by a specific formula that’s expected to produce specific results.

A Familiar Formula

For example, one common formula many of us have or will follow has to do with our career.  The formula says – Get a degree so you can get a good job.  Then if you work hard and do your best you’ll be rewarded with a stable job with pay raises and promotions.  So put simply Degree + Hard Work = Steady & Increasing Paychecks.

I’ll be the first to say that in many ways I’m a formula kind of guy.  I like consistency and efficiency and I appreciate all of the positive things that a formula can bring to a process like finding a good job.  Without formulas life would be more chaotic and probably less productive.

However, there are two dangers to a formula-based life that you should be aware of.

Danger #1 

The first danger is you might follow a formula but down the road discover that you don’t actually want the expected result.  Sticking with the earlier career example, let’s say you follow the formula of getting a degree and working really hard but end up in a high stress/high paying job and realize you’re miserable.

I’ve known several people who invested years of their life and large amounts of money to get specialized degrees in medicine or law.  Then they started working insane hours and making insane amounts of money but they had zero work/life balance and discovered they didn’t love the work enough to sacrifice all their personal time for their job.  (Does this guy look happy to you?)

So they followed the formula, got the result, then realized they didn’t want it.  Where it gets tricky is that sometimes the formula you follow includes steps that make it hard to reverse course. 

For example, let’s say you took out enormous student loans to pay for law school or for a medical degree. Even if you decide you don’t want to be in that profession any longer, it’s tough to walk away from a well-paying job when you have huge student loans to pay down.

These days debt plays some role in many formulas. If something like a business loan, home loan, or student loan is part of a plan that you’re considering, carefully consider how much you’ll owe and what kind of restrictions this will put on your future.

Danger #2 

The second thing to be aware of in a formula-based life is that you don’t always get the end results that the formula is supposed to deliver.  

Back to the career example, you could work insane hours and dedicate your life to your job and then get passed over for a promotion that you deserve.

You feel like you did everything right (you followed the formula) but you still came up short. Running into a scenario like this can be hard to avoid because there are obviously things in life that are out of our control.  You could look at them as variables in the formula that offset or redirect all of your efforts.

So for any formula you decide to follow, it’s smart to protect yourself from the variations by not putting all your eggs in one basket.  If you hedge your bets and diversify then everything won’t be riding on those expected results.

In the career world this might mean mastering a complementary skill that you don’t need for your job but is related and opens other career paths.  Or it could simply mean keeping your resume up to date, staying up on your industry, and maintaining an open dialog with recruiters in your field.

Formula-Based Life Case Studies

The reason I started writing about this topic is because a blogging buddy of mine, Adam Baker, is working on a project to give us all more insight into a formula-based life and potential alternatives.

He and 4 other guys traveled around the US and interviewed more than 60 people about this topic – they’re compiling all these case studies into a full length movie called “I’m Fine Thanks”.  I’ve made some suggestions above about how to approach the dangers of a formula-based life but Adam’s movie will go into a lot more detail. 

I haven’t seen the whole movie since it’s still in the editing phase but after watching the trailer, I became a backer of the film.  His team has taken an interesting approach to funding the movie, they’re using a tool called Kickstarter that lets you contribute money to support the film, as little as $1 per person.

As you can see below, I became a supporter but you don’t have to give as much as I did in order to see the movie when it’s released next month.  For only $5 you’ll be able to download the movie after it’s July release. 

Even if you’re not interested in supporting the project I’d suggest just watching the trailer to see the kind of topics they’re delving into and see how they relate to a formula-based life.

Like I said in the beginning, I know I’ve followed many common formulas in personal finance and other areas of life. I’m not suggesting that you should ignore these time-tested sets of steps, only that you be aware of the potential implications of the actions and ways you can hedge your bets.

Do you have any personal examples of formulas you’ve followed that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped? If so, please share them in the comments below.

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3 Surprising Corporate Credit Card Lessons

I resisted opening a corporate credit card for years in fear of what it would mean for my credit score. I also preferred to charge things on my personal credit card and earn cash back on the spending.

However this Spring I paid for two conferences and the only guaranteed way to get reimbursed was to put them on a corporate card.  So under the threat of non-payment from our accounting Gestapo I filled in my social security number and opened an American Express corporate card.

Today I’ll share a few things I’ve learned since I received the card in the mail and started charging expenses on it.  As I mentioned my card is from American Express so the details on your corporate card might vary but the concepts are the same. 

One thing to note, my card is an individual payment card where I’m responsible for paying all the bills and submitting receipts for reimbursement.  If your bill is paid directly by your company then these probably don’t apply to you.

1) Corporate Card Payment Dates Might Be Flexible

Depending on when you charge something on your card and how long it takes your accounting department to approve and reimburse your expenses, you could get stuck paying out of pocket.

In my case, my statement closed a few days after I charged a conference to my card and it takes about 3 weeks to get reimbursed for the expense. I’m signed up for credit card alerts so when I got an email saying, “The payment date for your Corporate Card account is approaching” just after submitting my receipts, I called customer service to see what options I had for handling the discrepancy.

Good News About Late Payments
It turns out the card has a “pay by” date suggested by the credit card company but the date is 2 weeks before payment is actually due.  In reality, payments are are due 30 days from the close of the previous statement.  On top of that they give you a 10 day grace period because they know corporate clients have to wait on approval processes that are sometimes out of their control.

Late Payment Penalties
Once your grace period has expired they charge a $39 late fee to the card.  If 2 more weeks pass and you haven’t made payment then there’s another fee which is an interest charge on your existing balance.

The customer service lady stressed that if I’m going to be late with a payment to call them so they can note the account.  She didn’t come out and say it but I got the impression that if you’re going to pay late and let them know ahead of time they can waive the fee.  Obviously if you’re late every month they won’t keep dropping the fee but they can for isolated incidents.

So the takeaways are:

• Submit your expenses right away.
• Always call the number on the back of your card to find out when payments are actually due and to notify them if you’re going to be late.

2) Credit Score Impact Could Be Less Than You Might Fear

My primary concern when I called in about late payments on the corporate card was that I didn’t want to impact my credit score.

The customer service rep explained to me that the business backing the corporate credit card is taking most of the risk. I still had to enter my Social Security number when I applied for the card so they did check my credit. She described the application process as having the same impact on my credit history as if I were applying for a $25 credit at a jewelry store.

So the impact of opening the card is pretty low but it can drag down your credit score if you don’t make payments.  The good news is American Express doesn’t report late payments to the credit agencies for corporate cards as quickly as they do for consumer cards.

Although they won’t report you to Experian or Equifax for 30–60 days late, if your card payment is 6 months past due American Express will send it over to the credit bureaus as a late payment. Of course you’ll probably get someone from corporate accounting calling you sooner than 6 months to see why you haven’t paid.

Takeaway:

• Sign up for alerts on your corporate card so you don’t miss payments and risk eventually having it reported to the credit bureaus.

3) You Might Be Able to Earn Credit Card Rewards

One of the benefits of traveling for business is that you can rack up frequent flyer miles or whatever kind of credit card rewards you prefer.

If you’re using your corporate card earning rewards can be more difficult, but it might still be possible.  It depends on the kind of card you’re using and your employers agreement with the credit card company but with American Express you can earn Membership Rewards for purchases on your corporate card (1 point for each dollar spent).

There is a catch, you have to pay an annual fee to be able to earn rewards on your corporate card.  I know for consumer cards many companies will waive the annual fee for the first year so I asked the rep if that was the case for this fee as well.  After she told me no, I called in again to talk with someone else to see if I could get a different answer but they seemed pretty inflexible on waiving the fee.

After you pay the fee your corporate card is linked to your personal card and the personal becomes your primary for rewards. So any rewards you earn from purchases made for work on the card will be available for your consumer credit card.

The upside of this is that if you leave the company you won’t lose the rewards you’ve earned. Obviously, the downside is the annual fee. For my corporate AmEx Green Card the fee is $75, – you’d have to put a lot of expenses on your card each year to make that worthwhile. Other credit card companies may handle this differently so call the customer service number on the back of your corporate card and ask about your options for earning rewards.

Takeaway:

• If you spend a lot on your corporate card it might be worthwhile to set it up so you can earn rewards.

Get Expenses Approved

One last word of warning, make sure big purchases are approved before putting them on your card. It seems pretty obvious but I know of several cases where people charged hundreds of dollars for courses or conferences without pre-approval and ended up eating the cost. You don’t want to have to go home and explain to your spouse or your budget how you suddenly owe an extra $600 at the end of the month.

For those of you with corporate cards, what else should I have mentioned?

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How to Create a Budget in Under 10 Minutes a Day

One of the biggest reasons people don’t have a budget is because of time constraints. Especially when it comes to starting your budget, gathering all of the information you need and picking a budgeting program or designing your own budget spreadsheet can be time consuming.

Luckily, a budget doesn’t need to be very complicated to be effective. And if you follow these steps, you can easily manage your money in less than ten minutes a day. In fact, if you’re efficient, you may be able to budget in as little as ten minutes per week.

Start by Getting Your Finances Organized

Nearly all of the transactions that you need to make a budget are included in your checking account and credit card accounts. Actually, your credit card payments are also included in your checking account, so for a more simple budget, you can track your finances by simply keeping a running tab of your checking account.

Most people pay their bills a few times each month. When you do, simply list all of your transactions in a spreadsheet. In your spreadsheet, add a column for each transaction with the date, source (ATM, debit card, check number, or direct deposit), amount, account balance, budget category and description. Make sure that you check your online banking so that you can add any debit and direct transactions to your spreadsheet.

If you also want to show some detail about your credit card transactions, you can add this too, but you should use a separate list so that you don’t account for credit card spending twice. This part of your budgeting can usually be done in a few minutes per day or less than a half hour per week.

[Ben’s Note: This is one of the reasons why I ;put most of our expenses on our Blue Cash credit card and use online bill pay for most everything else. Being able to download and analyze all your spending in a spreadsheet or personal finance software makes it easy to see where your money is going.]

Summarize Your Spending Once a Month

Now that you’ve got a list of all of your major financial transactions, use it to create a monthly budget summary. A budget summary is really very simple. It shows your income and expenses for each category. To compute it, you already have all of the information in your checking spreadsheet.

If you are good with spreadsheets, you can easily create a pivot table that will summarize the transactions for you in just a few clicks of the mouse. For help with this step, you can use a video tutorial on how to create a budget spreadsheet.

When you are finished with this step, you will have a summarized list of each expense and income category. It is essentially a simplified budget, but it is all you really need. If you want to create a more detailed or easier to read budget, continue to the next step.

Enter the Summarized Information Into a Budget Template

The previous steps shouldn’t have taken long to execute, so you may have some time left to make your budget a little more detailed and easier to read. After all, one month’s worth of expenses typically doesn’t include things like your annual property taxes, income taxes, and insurance payments. That’s because many expenses only come up once or twice a year.

To account for these, you can enter the information you calculated in the step above to a household budget template. This will add a portion of the annual fees into each month’s budget so you can have a better picture of where you stand financially. This step could take as long as an hour or two to set up the first time, but each month after that you should be able to do it in just a few minutes.

While this method of budgeting is very simple, it is effective because you can easily customize it and keep it as simple as possible. This will save you a lot of time as compared to other budgeting techniques, and is a great way to start organizing your finances in the hopes of saving more money.

Chris Snelling has been writing articles about money related topics for over twelve years. His most recent endeavor has been creating Budget Ways, a resource devoted to budgeting and saving money.

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Why Your Investments Care if You Use a Broker vs Fiduciary

[I know advisors at Registered Investment Adivsors (RIA) firms who frequently emphasize the difference between what they do as a fiduciary and the role that brokers fill – and what that distinction means for you as investor.  Jeremy Brenn’s firm is a RIA and today I’ve asked him to explain why your kid’s college fund or your retirement accounts might care which you choose to work with a broker or a fiduciary.]

Finding an Advisor
Most people find a financial advisor by word-of-mouth. You might ask a friend or colleague who they hired when it was time to start thinking about retirement. Or, perhaps a family member left you a sizable inheritance and you are not sure what to do so you ask around for a recommendation. Either way, when you begin to search for a financial advisor you want to work with a professional that you can trust and that has your best interests at heart; especially since you will most likely be working with that person for many years. So, how best can you determine whether you are making the most appropriate decision? One important item to consider is the difference between a “broker” and a “fiduciary”.

What’s the difference?
It can be difficult to explain just what fiduciary is and means, and how there’s a difference between brokers who sell products and fiduciaries who give advice. In industry parlance we call this the “suitability standard” versus the “fiduciary standard”. Generally, brokers make money by getting a commission off of the financial products they sell. They are only obligated by law to recommend what may be “suitable” for a client. A “fiduciary” advisor earns a living by providing advice and charging a fee based on the percentage of the investments being managed. They are legally bound to recommend what is strictly in their clients’ best interests.
Here are some examples

To further clarify, check out a recent video that illustrates the point by comparing butchers who sell meat to dieticians who give advice about what to eat.

Brokers vs Fiduciaries
This is not to say that all brokers are bad but it highlights the fact that, as compared to fiduciary advisors, there is a considerable difference in their legal obligations to provide advice. For example, let us assume you have the choice between Investment A and Investment B. Both options are identical, but Investment B carries a broker commission fee while Investment A is a low-cost alternative. Because both options are identical, Investment A is the choice that a fiduciary advisor would be legally obligated to recommend. As a client, you may not receive the same recommendation from someone operating under the brokerage model.

The chart below is another way to visualize this difference. The brokerage model on the left puts the customer on the bottom, behind commissions and products. The fiduciary advisor model on the right puts the client at the top, ahead of everything else.
 

When looking for an advisor, keep this in mind…
Financial advisors are not all created equal. The main difference can be found in the way they provide advice. You are either a broker or a fiduciary. A broker is only required to recommend suitable investments while a fiduciary is obligated to recommend whatever might be best for you and your own individual, unique situation.

A firm entrusted with managing your wealth should view you as a partner instead of merely another sales transaction. Therefore, when you sit down and meet with a potential advisor make certain you ask under which capacity they operate. It’s not something that most people know to look for, but it makes all the difference in the world.

Jeremy C. Brenn is Vice President at Sensenig Capital Advisors, a wealth management firm in the Philadelphia suburbs. He holds an MBA in Finance, as well as the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation.

Disclaimer: The information contained herein is intended to be educational and informational in nature only and has been obtained from sources believed reliable but is not necessarily complete and cannot be guaranteed. This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax, legal or investment planning advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with their accountant, financial advisor, attorney or other professional. The opinions expressed herein are dated and subject to change over a period of time. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a representation by Sensenig Capital Advisors, Inc. or a solicitation of the purchase or sale of securities. No professional services are deemed rendered to the readers of this blog.

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Build Your Dream Fund for Your Next Big Idea

If you think you’ll never have a million dollar idea, watch Shark Tank on Friday nights and you might change your mind. I think I relate the most to the parents of little kids who come up with cool business ideas inspired by their children.

On Shark Tank, current or aspiring entrepreneurs present their products to a panel of investors (the Sharks) and ask for money in exchange for a stake in the product.

Show Me the Money

One of the questions the Sharks always ask the entrepreneurs is how much cash they’ve invested into the venture.  I’m impressed by how many people have already invested $50K, $100K, or $200K of their own money into their idea.  It takes courage to take that kind of risk with your money and some of the people are barely scraping by in order to fund their business.

To me, this illustrates the importance of building up a “just-in-case” fund to cover unforeseen events that might develop in the future.  For many of us those unexpected costs come in the form of some accident or misfortune and we spend our “just-in-case” fund to cover some kind of emergency.  However, there’s nothing to say that your unexpected need couldn’t come in the form of some amazing business idea.

Money When You Need It

For example, there have been several cases of mothers on the show who were doing simple things with their kids and had a flash of inspiration that led to a successful product.  As simple as taking their kids to the pool or having a Friday night nail party with their daughters.

Having the money to turn a Eureka moment into a prototype can be the difference between having a great idea that gathers dust in your brain vs creating something cool that helps people and makes your family a lot of money.  You might not be planning on becoming an entrepreneur but if the opportunity arises having some funding to get you started will help you gain momentum.

You can always look for investors but most people are going to want something more tangible than just an idea before they’ll hand over their money – and it costs you money to prototype and test to create something tangible. 

Finding the Money

There are obviously multiple ways to raise money and entrepreneurs have used them all – take out a mortgage on your home, raid your retirement account, sell your soul to your in-laws for startup capital, sell your house and move into your car, etc.

It’s cool that tools like Kickstarter or Lending Club make it easier these days to get some seed money and launch your idea but not every loan or project gets funded.  It’s even more unlikely that you’ll get an opportunity like getting the exposure and the chance to pitch big investors on Shark Tank.

Shelly Ehler, one mom who found success on the show was one of only 52 entrepreneurs who were selected out of 24,000 to make a pitch on Shark Tank – not great odds.

I’m guessing Ehler probably didn’t have a big fund to dip into to start her business since her family was going through tough economic times.  I imagine the deal she made with QVC pro Lori Greiner to fund and advise her business was amazing, but not everyone can land a deal like that.

On her blog, Ehler shares one story of how she promoted her product before Shark Tank.  She traveled from her home in California to New Orleans to show as a vendor at the World Waterpark Association’s Annual Trade show.  Trips like that are great for getting the word out about your vision but obviously they cost money (airfare, hotel, vendor fees, presentation materials, prototypes, etc).

What I’m getting at here is that there are ways to raise money to get your idea off the ground, but you’d have more momentum if you already had a fund established you could dip into.

Your Dream Fund

I know it’s hard enough sometimes just to pay the bills, let alone put away money for things like college or your retirement account.  Most of us can’t really afford to have a “in-case-I-have-a-big-idea-someday” fund but what about starting a “dream fund”? Maybe you’ll never have a killer idea and you’ll just end up using your fund someday in retirement to buy a Harley or take a cooking tour of France.  Or maybe you’ll fund a great idea and make enough money to retire early….

To give you a little context, this isn’t just an idea that I’m suggesting.  The money I’ve made from Money Smart Life since I’ve started the site has gone into my dream fund (after paying taxes of course, blech).  I have plans and projects in the works, all made possible by my dream fund.  You’ll never see me on Shark Tank because my ideas so far have a different slant than what those investors are looking for, but if you’d like to be in that position someday you should consider starting your own dream fund.

What kind of product would you pitch if you were on Shark Tank?

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5 Ways to Save Money If You Hate Negotiating

Negotiating is a skill that can save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. But bartering can also be a stressful, anxiety-filled experience for many people. If you hate haggling over price and just can’t bring yourself to do it, there are some ways you can save money without having to suffer through the back and forth of a negotiation.

Have Someone Negotiate for You

Outsourcing your negotiating sounds like an off the wall idea, but in reality this happens all of the time. Your real estate agent handles the actual negotiation of the price of the house you are buying. A recruiter can handle the contract or salary negotiations for a skilled professional. And you can have someone negotiate a purchase for you.

Granted, you probably don’t want to hire someone to negotiate for the potted plants you want to buy, but even in that case you can have a friend do it for you. Everyone knows someone who gets a kick out of negotiating. Ask them to handle the negotiation for you and offer a cut of the savings to them in return. A friend could help you negotiate the price of a car and keep you from losing your cool during the process.

Participate in a Group Buy

Merchants are willing to be flexible on price if they discover they can suddenly sell 50 of an item rather than just 1. Getting a group buy together on something you want to purchase — whether it be a car part, some electronics, or some interior painting — can lead to better prices. The more people that are willing to buy, the more the merchant is willing to discount the price. It’s a win-win: you get a lower price without negotiating, and the vendor gets to sell more product and increase their revenues more than they would have from just selling to one person.

Use Your Membership

Being a member of a group sometimes gets you access to special pricing.  For example, some employers have agreements with merchants that qualify you for a lower rate on things like new computers or software. When you go to buy all you have to do is give them your employer code and you get the discounted rate.

Some credit cards come with built in membership perks that give automatic discounts at select merchants. Most people think this applies to only to travel credit cards, but there are some programs that have a pre-set price for vehicles and if you are a cardholder of that credit card you get the lower price without having to negotiate. An example of this type of program is American Express’ partnership with Zag.com

Use Coupons and Entertainment Books

Manufacturers will automatically give out discounts for products if you know where to look. There is an entire sub-section of the web that is all about maximizing coupon use. You’ve heard the stories of a single mom buying $150 worth of groceries for $3 in the past and it seems too good to be true. It can take a lot of time and organizing, but maximizing your coupons and store reward programs can rack up this kind of savings.

Also, you can get pre-negotiated discounts with coupon books like the Entertainment Book that schools sell as fundraisers. The pre-printed coupons are for local businesses and feature discounts and buy-one-get-one-free opportunities.

Go to Thrift Stores, Consignment Shops, and Garage Sales

Don’t want to pay top dollar for items you need? Thrift stores, consignment shops, and garage sales are prime places to score significant discounts on used items. A thrift store or consignment shop will usually charge more than someone selling stuff out of their garage, but it is usually a little bit more well vetted as well. Nonetheless for certain types of items like kids clothing and toys you can save significant amounts of money — and then sell them back yourself!

If you’re not a fan of negotiating face to face, what are some other ways you use to save money and avoid haggling in person?

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5 Ways to Get Costco Membership Discounts

Costco Membership Discounts 2012

Costco membership certainly has rewards, such as discounts & deals on your purchases and cashback with the TrueEarnings Card; but access to these benefits does require an annual fee. 

Fortunately there are Costo membership discounts and promotions where you can save money on the fee, with the right offer or coupon code you could even get a free Costco membership. If you’re trying to decide if Costco is worth it to your family, the lower the fee the more likely it is your membership will pay for itself. 

There are five different ways you can find Costco membership deals to lower your fee for Gold Star or Executive members.  Costco has three different types of memberships: Gold Star memberships, Business memberships, and Executive memberships.  We’ve only been Gold Star and Executive members so so I don’t know if any of these Costo membership discounts will apply for the Business card.

Costco Employer Discounts

The company I work for has a relationship with Costco Wholesale; once or twice a year Costco reps setup shop at a table in our lunch room and offer discounted Costco memberships for a few hours. 

You actually pay the full membership fee and then they give you a Costco gift card for $10 or $20 depending on your plan and the company discount.

Be aware you’ll need to pay for the membership with cash or check unless you have an American Express card.  There were a few people who wanted to sign up but couldn’t because all they had with them were Visa or Mastercard.  Of course, I had our Blue Cash card with me so I didn’t have to leave empty handed.

In some cases they’ll raffle off free stuff, everyone who becomes a member is entered into the raffle.  When I signed up I won something; nothing major, just a $10–15 free gift but still a nice little perk.

Costco Association Discounts

When my wife was a full time teacher she was a member of the National Eductation Association.  Because it’s such a large organization, many companies will offer a special discount in order to be promoted to the millions of members.  The NEA offers a Costco discount, if you’re part of any large associations check to see if they have any special Costco coupon codes that will save you money on membership.

Costco Direct Membership Deals 

Periodically you’ll find Costco membership promotions where you can get more membership for your money.  For example, a recent one on their website offered two months of free Costco membership for new members when you signed up online and entered a specific coupon code.

In this case, although the fee you pay isn’t reduced, you’re getting 14 months for the price of 12 so your cost per month is lower. 

Discount & Deal Websites

Rewards sites like MyPoints have been known to offer discounts.  The most recent promotion allowed you to purchase a Costco membership certificate through MyPoints and get a $50 coupon in return; basically the same as a year of free Costco membership. Also, keep an eye on deal sites like FatWallet, new Costco promotions are likely to turn up there.

Costco Amex TrueEarnings Card

If you’re already a Costco member and you sign up for the TrueEarnings card or setup your Costco membership to be automatically renewed each year on your TrueEarnings card you’ll get two free of months Costco membership. There’s no annual fee for the card for Costco members and in a recent survey shoppers at Costco rated their overall satisfaction with the card at 4.5 out of 5 stars, so customers are happy with it.

Once you open the TrueEarnings card it’s both a credit card and your Costco membership card. TrueEarnings is one of the best gas credit cards, earning you 3% cashback on gas plus 2% for restaurants, 2% for travel, 1% everywhere else – More Info.

Costco Memberships

As I mentioned earlier Costco has three different types of memberships:

• Gold Star Member
• Business Member
• Executive Member

We started off with a Costco Gold Star membership but then later upgraded to an Executive membership because we made some big purchases from Costco and Executive members earn cash back on purchases.

The Executive membership has a higher annual fee, which is why I avoided it when we first signed up for Costco.  However, once I saw how we used the card and the money we were saving I ran the numbers for our family and figured out that we would save enough with an Executive Membership to cover the cost of the higher annual fee.

Costco Cashback

One of the main benefits of the Executive membership is that you can earn 2% cash back on your Costco purchases.  If you combine that with the money you earn using the True Earnings card the cash back can add up over the course of a year. 

The only type of credit card that Costco accepts are AmEx cards.  You don’t have to open a new credit card to shop at Costco if you already own an American Express card.  For example, we have a Blue Cash card that we can use as well.

Hopefully some of the tips will save you some money on membership if you decide you want to give Costco a try.

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4 Productivity Mistakes You Might Be Making Too

I’ve been a case study for what not to do in terms of productivity over the last several months. Today I’ll share my mistakes so you can try and avoid them.

1) Spreading Your Focus Too Thin

If you want to cross things off your list, it’s best to remain focused on the top item until it’s complete.  If you can block out distractions and focus your energy on a specific task then your odds of completing it go up significantly.

As you might remember, we had a baby girl a few months back.  The combination of a newborn and our other two young kids have turned my life into one constant distraction.  I haven’t focused on any one thing so its not surprising that I haven’t gotten anything accomplished.

2) Failing to Find Your Optimal Time

Have you ever noticed that a task that takes you half an hour to finish in the late afternoon can actually be completed in 10 minutes first thing in the morning?  Everyone’s optimal work time is different but if you can schedule your most important and/or challenging tasks for the times when you’re most alert and “in the zone” then you’ll get them done much faster.

In the past my productive time was once the rest of the family was in bed.  After everyone else was tucked in I knew I had several hours to get things done.  Unfortunately the unpredictable nature of a newborn baby means they could wake up crying at any point. 

At the end of the day I’ve been physically and mentally exhausted; so even if the baby is not crying I’ve been going to sleep during what used to be my most productive time (in anticipation she’ll wake up at some point in the night).

3) Not Breaking Up Your Tasks

I don’t know about you but I always seem to have more to do, than I do time to complete it in.  A good way to beat this problem is by breaking down your to-do into smaller tasks and completing them a little at a time.

The danger if you don’t take this approach is that you could get overwhelmed by the larger tasks, come to a deadlock, and not take any action at all.

Using this approach is always something I’ve been good at, until the last few months.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I’ve been kind of exhausted. I can still identify the times it would be appropriate to squeeze in some work.  Although I see them as a prime opportunity to get something done I’ve been having a tough time getting my brain into gear “on demand”.

4) Placing Blame for Your Lack of Productivity

As you can see I’m guilty of this one, blaming it all on the baby.  The problem with placing blame is that the focus is on the problem and not what you can do to avoid or resolve it.

There will always be something that we can blame our productivity issues on.  Instead of using them as an excuse to be unproductive, you get a lot more done if you come up with a plan to work through the roadblocks.

I’m afraid I’ve probably used our newborn as somewhat of an excuse to be unproductive so here’s my plan to break out of my productivity tailspin.

Focus

I have a project that I’ve been working on for a long time that’s pretty close to being ready for prime time.  I’m going to make that my top priority and focus my effort on getting it out the door.

I’m also going to weed out distractions.  I can’t make a crying baby disappear but I can use the time I do have without kids wisely.  When I have a block of time I’m going to say no to distractions like my email inbox and I’ll ignore the urge to prop my feet up and relax.

Optimal Time

The unpreditable schedule shouldn’t be an excuse not to get things done.  I’m going to set aside half an hour each night, from 10–10:30, to make things happen.  If that time doesn’t work out due to kid duties then I’ll have a backup time of 11–11:30.

Of course it’s best to stick with the same time but that’s not always possible.  As our daughter gets older and more scheduled I’ll stick more closely to the 10 PM time block and extend it out to an hour.

Smaller Tasks

On my drive to work each morning I’ll think about what needs to be done that night and I’ll break it out into smaller tasks.  I’ll capture the list on my new handy-dandy iPad when I roll into the office and tackle a piece at a time that night in my time block.

Being More Productive Despite Your Distractions

Of course not everyone is dealing with a new baby right now but chances are you have something that’s dragging your productivity down.  Hopefully you picked up a few nuggets from my exercise in fixing my productivity mistakes and can apply it to whatever is slowing you down.

The first three strategies I covered can be used in conjunction so making just little progress towards having better focus, working during an optimal time, and breaking a goal into smaller tasks can combine for big productivity gains.

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TurboTax vs H&R Block at Home Feedback

Now that the tax deadline has passed and you’ve all (hopefully) paid your taxes, I wanted to share some feedback from a reader who won one of the tax prep software giveaways. One giveaway was for access to TurboTax online and the other was for H&R Block at Home (formerly named TaxCut). Joe was one of the winners of the TurboTax contest and just sent me the following email yesterday about his experience.

Thank you for the code for using TurboTax, I have filed my federal and one of my state returns with the code. I appreciate it, but also want to give you some feedback on my experience with TurboTax vs. Taxcut.

I have used TaxCut (H&R Block at Home) in the past and I have to say that I like their product much better. TurboTax (online) could NOT handle a relatively simple deduction for legal expenses properly and their technical support wasn’t very helpful.

Because of that, I am going to have to do an ammended return to properly get all the credit I can for the legal expense and then refile my PA return and do the other states by hand. I filled out a TurboTax survey to give them feedback on the program and service as well.

Again, thanks for the free code, I did appreciate it, even despite the issues I had with the TurboTax program. You may want to consider the H&R Block program as an alternative, if you do the same type of offer next year.

I’m curious to hear your experience with H&R Block at Home and/or TurboTax. What did you like or dislike about the tax prep software you used? Would you use it again?

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Las Vegas on a Payment Plan

Las Vegas can be an expensive place to visit, especially when you go for a big event like a bachelor party. I was there with a bunch of good friends last weekend and although bringing together a big group like that can be a big and expensive task you can make it a success with the right amount of planning. I want to share some tips that the organizer of our trip used to pull it off so someday you can plan your own group Vegas getaway.

1) Get Everyone to Buy Their Plane Ticket Early

A verbal commitment doesn’t do you much good when you’re trying to plan a group trip.  Once people spend money to buy a plane ticket they’re probably going to show up, so remind them early and often to get their airline booked. Here’s me earning my Southwest rapid rewards!

 

2) Negotiate a Group Hotel Rate

Once enough people have bought their airline ticket you know the minimum number of rooms you’ll need and you can start calling hotels and asking for their group rates. Of course some people will want to choose their own place and use their hotel credit card to earn rewards points but its more fun if you all stay in the same place and you can get group rates.

The days we were in Vegas were over a busy weekend so not many hotels would cut us a deal but he kept trying and finally got a group rate at the Cosmopolitan. (Check out the cool lobby below)

 

3) Checkout Daily Deals Sites

We did get a group rate but some of us flew in early the night before to get a head start on the trip.  With fewer people we didn’t qualify for the group rate on the first night but the organizer found a great package deal through Groupon that got us low rates, unlimited drinks, and an afternoon at the spa at the Hard Rock.

 

4) Offer Scholarships

Not everyone will be able to afford the trip and if there’s a person (or people) you really want to come along you might be able to work some money into the trip budget for a “scholarship”.  If everyone who’s going chips in a little bit extra you might be able to bring along your buddy you’ve all known since fifth grade who always seems to be down on their luck.

5) Budget in Bulk Buys

The organizer also built money into the trip budget so we could hit the grocery store once we landed and stock up on food and drinks.  Obviously the benefit of this is that you’re all paying grocery store prices instead of each paying tourist gouging prices. Don’t forget your Costo membership card!

6) Setup a Payment Plan

Once you know the # of ticketed people who are going and the total cost of the hotel and other costs from above, you can figure out how much it will cost per person.  Then you break that amount down into 3–4 payments and put each person on a monthly payment plan. 

There are two good reasons for doing this.  First, you know if you wait until you’re on the trip to try and collect you’ll get stuck eating a lot of the cost.  Second, people are much more likely to be able to afford the trip if you ask for some money each month in advance, rather than asking for it all at once.

Payment Plan

The payment plan can simply be an e-mail you send out every few weeks reminding everybody of what they owe and how much of the total is left.  It’s best to give multiple payment options, like mailing in a check or paying with PayPal.

If you’re worried about the emails getting annoying, just include some details or comments about the upcoming trip to get people excited.

7) Check Your Bill

Since all the rooms are in your name you want to be sure to review the bill when it comes time to check out.  In our case we were missing legitimate discounts and had extra charges on the room.

So before you check out, make sure you look through the charges and make sure you are not missing any discounts that you were supposed to get and there were no extra charges on the room.

Is it Worth It?

Although the whole thing is a lot of work for the person that does the arrangements, the Las Vegas payment plan does make for a pretty good experience. 

If you told everyone to make their own arrangements and meet you in Vegas you might get a few people to show up.  But if you coordinate the trip, get some discounts, and get people on a payment plan you can get a great turn out and put together a pretty memorable trip.

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