May 2016

Is Airbnb Worth It? The Pros and Cons of Staying with AirBnB

Airbnb launched in the summer of 2008 as an affordable, practical alternative to hotel lodgings. Airbnb currently has over 1.5 million listings across 34,000 cities in 191 countries, which makes it an enormously valuable resource for budget travelers around the world. Homeowners or hosts benefit from Airbnb by listing their available rooms or properties on the website to bring in a nice side income with regular guest stays. Travelers benefit from Airbnb by finding unique accommodations beyond the usual option of hotels or motels. The concept isn’t perfect, but over 60 million guests have tried Airbnb since it first came out. A recent consumer survey found that only 40% of people who have tried Airbnb still prefer hotels. Is Airbnb Worth … Read more

Book Review – Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance by Tim Maurer

by Hank Coleman

Personal finance shouldn’t be hard. We tend to make it harder than it needs to be. We get scared to make a decision for fear that we will do something wrong and make irrevocable errors.

In “Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance” by Tim Maurer, the author breaks personal finance down into its simplest form. Tim Maurer walks the reader through his or her personal finance choices. The book makes people look at the “why” of their personal finances and money decisions.

Why do we make the financial choices that we make? What motivates us to spend or save money? These questions and much more are discussed in detail in the book.

Tim Maurer makes a statement in the beginning on the book that is very poignant. He says, “Personal finance is more personal than finance.” And, a truer statement has never been said. It is personal, and that’s what “Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance” is all about.

What choices are you making and why? What choices should you make about your finances and why? Tim Maurer breaks it down in clear, easy to read and practical advice.

Simple Money: A No-Nonsense Guide to Personal Finance Price: $10.87 Full Disclosure: We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: 10/24/2018

Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance

Many personal finance books try to teach you about money. Other books look to help you find your purpose and how money fits into that goal. It’s rare that a book tackles both and tackles them well. Dave Ramsey’s “The Total Money Makeover” is one. And, Tim Maurer’s book, Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance is another.

I can see many similarities between the two books and their philosophies. So, if you like Dave Ramsey, I think that you will really enjoy “Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance”.

The Five Parts of “Simple Money”

“Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance” is broken down into five sections that make this book a great tool for people looking to take control over their finances.

Part 1 – Planning for Life

Part 2 – Planning for Today

Part 3 – Planning for the Inevitable

Part 4 – Planning for the Unexpected

Part 5 – Planning for Action

Part 1 – Planning for Life

Not only is Simple Money – A No Nonsense Guide To Personal Finance easy to read, but it also has great graphs, charts, and illustrations to make the point hit home with the reader.

Part one is a great opening to the book that sets the stage. It walks the readers through goal setting and how to accomplish some of the many financial tasks that you will find throughout the book. Like Dave Ramsey’s book, you’ll also find chapters in this section that talk about your values and your life’s calling and how they intertwine into your finances.

Part 2 – Planning for Today

Part two talks about where you currently stand. It discusses your current financial situation and asks you to take a good, hard look at your finances. You have to know where you are starting from in order to improve.

How much debt to you have? What are the different types of debt that you have? How much are you investing? Do you have your financial priorities straight?

These are all things that you will find in this section. It sets that stage and gets the ball rolling for the rest of the book and the tools and techniques that you will need to implement.

Is Going to College Worth It Anymore?

by Hank Coleman

According to a 2014 study on the value of college from the Pew Research Center, college graduates are outpacing their peers in “virtually every measure of economic well-being and career attainment.” This includes average annual income for full-time employment, poverty and unemployment rates, and job satisfaction. For example, when study participants were asked if they were “very satisfied with their current job,” 53% of college graduates with bachelor’s degrees answered favorably, compared to 36-37% of high school graduates and people who have some college experience or an associate’s degree. Have you considered going back to college for a bachelor’s or advanced degree? Or are you debating whether college is worth it for your kids compared to jumping into the workforce … Read more

How to Protect Your Job from Robots Stealing It with Automation

by Hank Coleman

How can you protect your job from robots stealing it with technology and workforce automation? It may take you learning new skills in order to help you protect your job and career. Stephen Hawking once said, “Success in creating artificial intelligence would be the biggest event in human history…unfortunately it might also be the last.” The idea of robots performing things like cleaning, writing, driving, and just about any task you can imagine has been popular in Hollywood films and sci-fi novels for decades, but this robotic future is closer than we think. We already have self-driving cars thanks to Google – and more companies have self-driving car developments on the way for everyday consumers – we have non-military drones … Read more

Top 7 Practical Alternatives to Giving Grads Monetary Gifts

by Hank Coleman

School graduations are celebrated at many different levels (even kindergarten nowadays). But, there’s only one thing many people tend to rely on for graduation gift giving: money. Sure, most kids and college students love seeing cash flutter out of their congratulatory cards. But, cash is not a great gift, especially when there are more ideas for exciting and practical graduation gifts out there.

Cool Alternatives to Giving Money As Graduation Gifts

Here are a few exciting and practical ideas for graduation gifts that you can use to surprise your new graduate no matter the age.

DIY “Tuition Gift Certificate”

At this point, most of us are uncomfortably aware of the dire student loan statistics. Seven out of 10 college students finishing their degrees only with the help of loans? The $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loans as of 2015? Yikes.

If you want to give a truly helpful graduation gift to a college-bound high school grad, then why not a DIY gift certificate promising to pay for a certain amount of their tuition? This is way more valuable than just giving them money and hoping they use it for tuition (hint: most college freshman won’t). The only issues are the lack of accountability (unless the parents are paying for some of the tuition and you send money their way) and lack of excitement.

Let’s face it: “I’ll help you pay for tuition so you’re not drowning in debt in 5+ years!” doesn’t have the same “wow” factor for a high school graduate as a pile of cash would because they won’t notice just how much this gift helps them until they finish their degree and the student loan repayments begin.

Alternatively, you can give the new grad your own gift certificate promising to pay for textbooks or campus parking for their first semester or school year. These are more feasible options because you’re reimbursing the student for an expense that comes with a receipt, which guarantees your money will be spent on something school-related.

To add an educational benefit to your gift for a high school student, you could give them a basic personal finance book with the promise of paying for something (tuition, textbooks, parking, etc.) after they prove they’ve read it. It’s not the most exciting gift, but they’ll thank you later on for a lesson that most other students learn the hard way during college.

Grocery Gift Basket

A grocery gift basket is perfect for high school grads and college grads alike. You can be as creative as you’d like, throwing in staple items like pasta and sauces, chips, energy drinks, and protein bars, along with basic cookware and dishes, which are perfect for a high school grad moving into their first apartment.

Or, giving a small appliance is perfect for a college grad upgrading to a nicer lifestyle in the “real world”. You can’t go wrong with a grocery gift card either, because this is a great back-up plan if they run out of money and would have to survive on ramen noodles and dollar menu items otherwise.

How Realistic Is The Cash Only Lifestyle?

by Guest Contributor

The following is a guest post by Steve Repak, CFP™. Steve is the author of “6 Week Money Challenge For Your Personal Finances“, a simple, step-by-step program founded on biblical principles paired with a CFP®’s understanding of modern wealth-management strategies.

How realistic is the cash only lifestyle? If you are in debt, you have probably heard over and over again that you should quit using credit cards and stick to cash only purchases.

In a previous article, I explained that for some people it actually hurts to break a large bill like a $20 so only using cash may help you get your spending under control. I wanted to share some of the risks and benefits of a cash only lifestyle and also show that you can still get out of debt if you want to use credit cards. If getting out of debt is your goal, there are three things you must do in order to succeed regardless of whether you use cash or credit:

Spend less money than you take home each week
Build an emergency savings
Develop and follow a get-out-of-debt plan

How Realistic Is The Cash Only Lifestyle?

Cons of using cash

One of the biggest disadvantages of carrying cash is that you can lose it! If you lose your credit card you can cancel it and order a new one but I am afraid you just can’t do that if you lose your cash.

If you use an ATM to withdraw cash you may be charged fees, which is like throwing money away. Worse yet, flashing cash can make you a target for thieves.