Guest Contributor on Money Questions and Answers Blog

How To Live In A Tiny House – One Woman’s Incredible Story To Change Her Life

The following is a guest post by MargaretAnn “Muffy” Morris, a courageous woman who is chronicling her adventures on her blog, Muffy On The Move. If you’d like to submit a guest post on Money Q&A, please check out the site’s guest posting guidelines.

Note from Hank – I’ve known Muffy for years. We went to college together. And, I have to admit, I was skeptical like many of our friends when she said she wanted to live in a tiny house.

But, we could see how serious she was when she sold all of her possessions, sold her house, and bought an RV in order to get ready to build the tiny house of her dreams. While tiny house living isn’t for everyone, you have to admire someone for going for it and following their dreams.

Be sure to follow along and learn more about her adventures on her blog, on Instagram, and Facebook.

How To Live In A Tiny House

I didn’t want debt to control my life. In fact, I decided I didn’t want debt at all. There are a billion advice columns on how to save: get a part time job or skip Starbucks. What I really heard them say was “be miserable, exhausted, and have no free time” or “deny yourself the little things you enjoy.”

The thought rattled around for awhile until I just couldn’t shake it. My possessions began to suffocate me. Time to redefine my own success. I was downsizing my life. Send over HGTV, I was going tiny!

While I’m not a hipster or “crunchy,” my gypsy soul is pretty recognizable. Always been one to dive right in instead of ease into cold water. For me, once the idea struck, it was time to put it into action. I had a complete life turnaround in under 3 weeks.

After deciding mortgages weren’t for me, there was no way I was going to lay down $60k for a tiny house. These hands of mine are going to build that sucker themselves. I set a goal of 3 months to learn how to build and how to live in a tiny home and $3,000 to get it done.

Diversify Your Investment Portfolio with Forex via XTrade

by Guest Contributor

No matter what stage of your life you are in, it is important to consider your investments and to think forward with regards to your money. Whether you are a young professional that is just starting their career, or an experienced veteran with a diversified portfolio, you want to be sure your money is safe by investing in as many different places as possible.

This means keeping a rich portfolio of mutual funds, stocks, government bonds, and other investments. But did you know that forex and online currency exchanges can also be a great investment tool for savvy traders?

Read on to discover how forex trading can help you round out your portfolio and successfully grow your savings.

Why Use XTrade?

There are so many different currency traders available online nowadays. So how do you know which one to choose? Without a doubt, one of the best platforms to choose is XTrade. This platform is quickly growing and has a large online following, as you can see on their Linkedin page here.

The broker offers its traders tons of tools on their online portfolio to help them successfully make forex trades. The platform is available 24/7 on both mobile and desktop applications which means that you have access to their service whenever you need. Similarly, they have an extensive support team to help walk you through any problems you may encounter with the platform.

The Importance of Talking About Money (Even When It’s Hard)

by Guest Contributor

The following is a guest post by Rachel Cruze, who you may know also as Dave Ramsey’s daughter. An incredible speaker and author in her own right, Rachel has a new book coming out in October, “Love Your Life, Not Theirs“. If you’d like to submit a guest post on Money Q&A, please check out the site’s guest posting guidelines.

Some of the most difficult conversations you’ll ever have will probably involve money. For example, consider these statements:

“How much did you spend on that dress? You didn’t even tell me about it!”

“Retirement is only five years away, Dad. Do you think you’ll be ready?”

“Josh, I can’t keep loaning you money if you aren’t going to pay me back. Sorry, I know you’re my brother, but I can’t do it again.”

Ouch. Those are probably going to be difficult discussions, right? But even though they’re difficult, those money conversations are absolutely necessary.

The Importance of Talking About Money

In my upcoming book, “Love Your Life, Not Theirs“, I discuss the seven money habits you need to live the life you want. One of them is simply this: Talk about money, even when it’s hard.

What should you do when . . .

Your husband won’t stick to the budget? Talk about it.

Your parents aren’t prepared to live a comfortable retirement? Talk about it.

Your brother won’t stop asking you for money? Talk about it.

Yes, it won’t be easy. You may even have “words” or shed a few tears. But, ultimately, it’s one of the habits you have to practice to have a healthy relationship with money.

How to Repair Your Finances as a First Priority

by Guest Contributor

Financial Management is not an academic subject. No one gets exam marks to indicate how they are progressing with the subject. It is a matter of making good decisions and learning from any mistakes which hopefully are not too costly. The USA consumer finance statistics are fairly disturbing. There are too much credit card debt and certainly insufficient retirement savings in society. Some people must be stressed every time they open their credit card statement or read about the Social Security System’s problems and the fact that an insufficient number of people are saving enough for a comfortable retirement. The sooner you get into the habit of saving and spending sensibly the better your chances of living a trouble-free future. … Read more

This Is One Apple That May Not Keep The Doctor Away

by Guest Contributor

Essential Tech for Currency Trading Online While the internet is abuzz with news of the imminent iPhone 7 launch – boasting, among other things, the end of the Headphone jack that we have all come to love, waterproof abilities and an improved camera – you would be forgiven for leaving mouth agape and light-headed at the ‘prescribed’ price tag at which the device will be offered to the UK consumer market.

As traders and spread betting companies will be well aware, the Pound has taken a rather intense beating thanks to the successful Brexit vote, and while recent sentiment has been positive in the market place, it seems that Apple has decided to take no prisoners when it comes to their latest release.

While the US has seen limited changes to their original price tags, the loss of a 16GB version means that the entry model for the iPhone 7 is now £599 and their top spec version is £799. Should you opt for the ‘Plus’ option instead however, you can expect to fork out even more, spending somewhere in the region of £719 to £919 dependent on your choice of Internal Storage space.

Top 5 Ways to Save Money on Health Insurance

by Guest Contributor

Top 5 Ways to Save Money on Health Insurance What do you think is the best and most industrious way to ensure the protection of your health? I bet a health insurance policy because of the unprecedented benefits.

If you have health insurance, then you do not necessarily need to worry about your medical expenses and hospital bills. However, things are not ideal every time and you cannot escape extreme atmospheric conditions and so do health issues.

Before we proceed further, let me ask you, do you have a health insurance policy? I suppose not.

What could be the reason you never experienced the need of health insurance? Well, not just one but there could be many reasons why you never purchased a health plan. One of those reasons could be affordability of the premium. For more details, read below:

Understanding Premium & Making It Affordable

The term premium refers to the amount of money you are liable to pay to your insurer so as to avail certain benefits in particular. A health insurance policy provides assured benefits, such as cashless hospitalization, claim reimbursement and more such features to the policyholder. In exchange for that, the company seeks an annual premium.