Do You Really Want to Retire Early?

Do You Really Want to Retire Early?

Do you want to retire early? The following is a guest post by Donny Gamble Jr. Donny is an online entrepreneur, author, and runs investing blog Personalincome.org.  If you’d like to submit a guest post on Money Q&A, please check out the site’s guest posting guidelines. Early retirement has been a hot topic lately. It seems that many new goals are to retire early and live out their lives on a beach somewhere. While that dream sounds great, retiring early isn’t meant for everyone. For starters, you have to be able to fund this dream of yours to retire early. With more than one-third of Americans not even saving for retirement, early retirement isn’t even an option for many. For those that can … Read more

The Most Important Budgeting Tip You Are Forgetting

The Most Important Budgeting Tip You Are Forgetting

The Most Important Budgeting Tip You Are ForgettingBudgeting isn’t easy. Many people feel overwhelmed and give up before they even get going. But even among those people who don’t quit, many miss the most critical step when creating the family budget: tracking all of your expenses. And I mean down to the penny.

According to Gallup’s annual economy and personal finance survey, only 32% of American households prepare a written budget or use software for a spending plan.

There are only two sides to a budget: income and expenses. Most American workers receive a pay stub that lays out exactly how much they earn. Of course, for those on commission, small-business owners and others, income fluctuates from month to month. But the majority of us have steady wages. There may not be enough money coming in, but that’s a separate issue.

Do You Lose Track of Cash?

It’s the spending side of the  budget equation we struggle with. And that’s why you have to be vigilant.

It’s easy to lose track of cash, for example. That’s one reason that my wife and I use a credit card to budget with each month and track spending. Cash has a way of leaking out of your pocket. You don’t remember where it went, and it’s easy to toss or misplace receipts.

“Tracking every penny of expenditures with receipts and income is the first step to gaining control of your finances,” says Eric Wentworth, author “A Plan for Life: The 21st Century Guide to Success in Wealth.” “Money leaks are nearly invisible, but can ruin any attempt to get control of your finances.”

Dave Ramsey is famous for saying that every dollar of income must have a name. Families must assign every dollar in the budget a purpose at the beginning of the month. At first, families often find it burdensome to track spending that closely. But start by committing to do it for just one week.

Keep a notebook with you and write it down every time you spend cash, along with the place, and item category. Save your receipts. Odds are, after you get the hang of it, you’ll find it’s not too hard keep at it for another week, or two or three. Tracking your spending will soon start to become second nature.

Track Expenses Like You Track Calories

“If you want a successful budget, you have to be honest with yourself and figure out where all of your money is going,” says Glen Craig, author of the popular personal finance blog FreeFromBroke.com. “Too often we list out most items, but we don’t take it serious enough to find everything. And then the budget never has a chance to work.”

You will have no idea how much your family is spending every month until you keep track. Like counting calories, we focus on what we count. It has our attention. When we write the money spent or calories eaten in a journal, it helps us to visualize, monitor and change behavior.

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Financial Aggression – When it Pays Not to Save

Trading ForexFinancial writers are proponents of caution. And this is a sensible way to be. Most finance blog readers are young enough to set money aside and watch it grow for a long time.

But, this method assumes quite a lot about the individual: 1) That you won’t find a better rate of return on your investment through your own study, 2) That you are uncomfortable with bigger-than-average risk and, 3) that you don’t see yourself as your primary investment strategy.

Of course, I will always advocate a certain amount of conservativeness in investments, but I also think it pays to be a bit more aggressive with some of your money, especially if you are healthy and young.

  • Find a Better Return on Investment. If the entrepreneurial spirit runs in your blood, you may see a much better rate of return, in the long run, from starting a business than investing in mutual funds. Some people don’t know they have it in them until they try. But when you get that first taste of money that you earned through your own hard work and ingenuity, it’s hard to turn back. Consider using some of your savings or investment capital to make a business dream come true. If it pays off, you may end up living a life you never before imagined.
  • Be Willing to Accept Big Risk in Some Areas. As people age, they aren’t able to maintain the same degree of risk they did as young people. But if you have a lot of life ahead of you, you will be able to recover from a momentary stumble, if in fact you do fail. There’s a lot to learn from failure and, getting up and doing it again, you are much more likely to succeed because of your experience. In practical terms, this may look like withdrawing your IRA contributions to pay the down payment on a house, or having CIYA annuity buy up your structured settlement, using the lump sum to start a business. Generally, these aren’t actions a financial advisor would push you to, but personally, you may be able to handle it. And thrive from the choice.

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Discounts – Not Just Another Post On How To Make Money

Rob Pivnick, Author “What All Kids (and adults too) Should Know About . . . Saving & Investing

Outlet malls may not be as great a deal“How’d you get that for free?” “You got a discount on that…how?”

To use a cliché, I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard something like that – that would be a real money-making tip. Sometimes, one of those questions is followed up with advice that I should write a book about all my money saving tricks.

My response has always been that any book I wrote would just get lost in the sea of other crappy books on how to save money. I did, however, write a more thoughtful book on good saving and investment habits, “What All Kids (and adults too) Should Know About . . . Saving & Investing.

But, this article focuses on the short term win – how to get discounts when purchasing retail.

With a bit of insight into the mind of a salesperson, this post sheds light into why people might agree to give something for free – that allows us to more successfully seek items for free or obtain discounts. And since not too many of us on are on unlimited budgets, with holiday shopping upon us, you might actually save yourself some real dollars.

These are real money saving tips, strategies and methods that work – based on tried and true experience and human nature. It isn’t a narrative on wants versus needs. Nor does this article touch on life advise ideas like “set a budget and stick to it,” “downsize your house,” “don’t buy the latest expensive trend” or “cut back on your vacations.”

If that’s what you’re looking for, buy a self-help book. This article details a concrete method to save money on just about every purchase thanks to asking for a discount.

And it is simple: Just ask. Really, just ask for a discount.

Aside from the other beneficial coupons and discounts detailed elsewhere on the Living on the Cheap site, this simple technique works for various reasons:

  1. the general foundation of customer service is to please the consumer,
  2. most folks who work retail either (a) don’t have an ownership interest and don’t care if they give something away or (b) simply don’t know that they may not be allowed to give you the discount you’re seeking,
  3. people generally want to make others happy and will gladly give you free stuff just for asking, and
  4. people don’t like confrontation and will avoid it at all costs (which means giving you the discount you’re seeking).

Ben Franklin was way off when he said that a penny saved is a penny earned. If you pay any taxes, then a penny saved is actually much more than a penny earned . . . that’s because it would take you much more than a penny to net a penny for your savings.

For example, if you’re in the 15% federal tax bracket, you have to earn close to $1.18 to put $1.00 in your pocket – so you would actually “earn” much more than the amount you save.

Ask For a Discount and Ye Shall Receive

People want to be accommodating. And people generally don’t like conflict. So you’ll find that more often than you thought you would, you’ll get free stuff just for asking. Ask nicely. And smile. It will make your wallet fatter.

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The Budget Traveler: Travel Tricks on the Internet

Cheap Cruise Tips for Your Summer

To Save Money On Your Next VacationThe following post was written by Jeffery Hernandez. Coming from a Humble Background, Jeffery completed his Master’s in Business Administration and now works as an Independent Financial Advisor. He loves playing chess, reading novels and spending time with his wife and kids.  Follow him on Twitter @_JeffHernandez0

Getting out and hitting the open road is a common American fantasy, maybe the most common one there is. But how many of us are actually taking the time to get out there and experience the wonderful diversity of the world. The truth is probably fewer than we’d like to admit.

Of course traveling isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do. It requires some expendable income and a flexible work schedule that just isn’t attainable for a lot of people.

I’ve always wanted to do some more traveling myself, but paying for rent, groceries, and car payments always gets in the way. I couldn’t help but wonder, are we really unable to afford travel, or are we just not looking in the right places for ways to do it inexpensively?

I did a little investigating around the web and found some tools that make traveling accessible to the masses. Thankfully, the Internet provides prospective travelers a great source for new tools that can help to make traveling an affordable and feasible reality. Let’s take a look at what I found to make seeing the world a little bit easier on the wallet.

Sharing Economy Apps

As the tech industry continues to dominate economic headlines with an ever increasing number of smartphone apps to save the world, it can be hard to parse out the quality ones from the not-so-impressive (We’re looking at you, Yo).

However, startup companies like Uber, Lyft, and AirBnb are making traveling more affordable and accessible to a lower tier of the economic bracket. Although these rapidly growing companies are seeing their fair share of critics, they can save users a fortune when compared to the traditional stalwarts they seek to replace.

Take AirBnb for example, those looking for a cheap place to stay in a new city can temporarily rent out a regular person’s apartment, often for significant lower prices than those charged by hotels. While hostels are always an option for travelers on a budget, AirBnB gives its users the opportunity to rent an apartment without dealing with raucous bunkmates who want to party until the wee hours of the morning.

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Earn More Money by Thinking Outside the Box

How You Can Earn More Money by Thinking Outside the Box

Earn More Money by Thinking Outside the BoxThere are many people making mediocre wages out there, and they aren’t happy with it. However, instead of improving themselves and finding ways to increase their income, they simply blame the economy or take out their frustrations on the government. While they bellyache about their hard times and lack of opportunities, others that were in their same position just a few years ago are earning twice the national average. How is this possible?

Those that are successful rarely feel sorry for themselves or drop their head because of their failures. Nope, they continue to act on their dreams and often find themselves earn more than they ever thought possible.

When I think about the phrase, “Thinking outside the box,” I typically think about the company Apple. Again and again they seem to come out with a product that is leaps and bounds ahead of the current industry (although, in my opinion, it seems as though they are slowing down recently). But, there are many others that we have never even heard of that are defying the odds because of their outside the box thinking.

One that came to my attention recently could come in very handy if my upstairs shower ever starts leaking water through the tiles. Instead of painstakingly lifting my tile floor and relaying new tile with new grout and sealer, I can just by one unit of MegaBloc, apply it to the tiles and it will reseal the entire surface for me! Not only has this product recently won an award, but it is instantly generating monster profits. Don’t you wish that you had thought outside the box and invented this product?

Think Outside the Box with Your Earnings

When in need of money, too many of us resort to either cutting expenses or asking for a raise. These options may help today, but they are not a great solution for the short term. Instead of finding the short term solution, why not step back and think outside the box for a moment? How could you generate more money today and also in the distant future? In order to discover this extra source of income, ask yourself these questions:

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