Money Questions and Answers

6 Incredible Back To School Savings Ideas For Parents

For many kids, back to school shopping is way more exciting than school itself. But, for the parents paying for cartloads of new school supplies, back to school shopping is a delicate and anxious balance between staying within budget and appeasing your kids’ desires to acquire the latest and greatest stuff to show off to their classmates. But, there are many ways to find back to school savings to help you stay on track with your budget.

School supplies aren’t exactly cheap, after all: the National Retail Federation’s “Top Trends for 2016 Back-to-School and College Shopping” report published this summer found that parents with K-12 kids in the U.S. were spending an average of $673.57 on clothing, shoes, and school supplies in 2016, which is a $43 increase over the 2015 average figure.

6 Useful Back To School Savings Ideas

If your children are starting school soon and you’re looking for ways to save money on school supplies in the meantime, then don’t miss these useful back to school savings ideas.

Set Firm Limits

Kids want to jump in on all the latest trends, whether it’s Pokémon GO, Kylie Jenner’s new cosmetic line, or even smart watches. But buying a bunch of branded school supplies and cool but unnecessary gadgets (does your 4^th grader really need a $90 calculator?) can really put a dent in your back to school budget.

Rather than caving into their pleas for a bunch of Pokémon binders, pencils, and backpacks, set a limit of one or two fun items and buy cheaper, generic school supplies for whatever else is on your shopping list. Back to school shopping should be a fun experience to get the kids pumped up for the new academic year.

But, setting firm budgetary limits and buying only what’s on your shopping list will help you save money by avoiding impulse purchases.

According to RetailMeNot, parents plan to spend an average of $273 on their children’s return to school this fall. That’s $27 more than parents anticipated spending last year.

According to RetailMeNot, parents plan to spend an average of $273 on back to school supplies in 2016.Click To Tweet

Find End-of-Summer Sales

If you live in an area that’ll stay warm for another couple weeks or months, then don’t miss the clearance racks at Target, Gap Kids, Macy’s and Old Navy for their end-of-summer sales on clothing. You’ll find everything from shorts and sandals to t-shirts and tank tops heavily discounted so these stores can make more room for their cold weather collections.

But, if winter isn’t coming just yet, then take advantage of the opportunity to score some great deals on summery clothing for your kids’ first couple months back at school.

Bring Coupons

Coupon clipping is mostly a thing of the past. Nowadays, you can find printable back to school savings within seconds through websites like Passion for Savings or The Krazy Coupon Lady.

There are also plenty of couponing apps out there to help you find coupons that will save you money on everything from backpacks and water bottles to pencils and notebooks. As an added bonus, incentivize your kids help find coupons for their own school shopping lists.

Let them spend the savings on something special, such as a new pencil bag with their favorite heroes or celebrities on it. For example, if they find $10 worth of savings in coupons, then they just earned $10 in extra spending money.

How to Trade Commodities and Earn a Profit

by Guest Contributor

Commodities represent a massive market for investors. Whether referring to oil, gold, coffee or soybeans, these physical assets can have an equally physical influence on any wealth management system. Still, there is much more involved than simply buying and selling a certain position at a discrete price when learning how to trade commodities.

Commodities trading takes years to master and nothing replaces experience. There are nonetheless a few tips and hints which can shorten the learning curve while providing the trader with valuable guidelines to follow. What are a handful of “golden rules” that professionals have embraced for years?

How to Trade Commodities

The Dangers of Over-Trading

Unlike the mantra espoused by Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street, greed is not always good. One common and potentially fatal mistake that many traders make is to over-trade a certain position. To put this another way, the investor will risk entirely too much capital within a single trade.

Many experts recommend risking no more than 2% of one’s entire holdings at any given time. Even if the position moves in the wrong direction, one’s finances will not be completely wiped away. The point of commodities trading is not to look for a “clean sweep”, but rather to amass wealth over time.

The Almighty Dollar

Always follow the value of the United States dollar in relation to other currencies. As the majority of commodities are valued in dollars, their physical worth is ultimately determined by any movements that this currency makes.

Would Paying for Everything with Cash Work for You?

by Hank Coleman

Would Living the Cash Only Lifestyle Work for You?

According to a new Gallup poll published in July 2016, just 24% of Americans reportedly use cash for all or most of their purchases, which is a significant drop from the 36% figure reported for the all/most category in 2011. In this survey, just 10% of Americans reported in 2016 that they lived the cash only lifestyle using cash for all of their purchases, while that figure was 19% five years ago.

These statistics suggest that Americans are relying less on cash now more than ever, but this isn’t necessarily a good change. Just look at the March 2016 The New York Times story about how credit cards encourage extra spending as the cash habit fades away. Not only are credit cards more costly for the average American – those transaction fees, interest payments, and missed payment penalties add up, after all – but we’ve become so reliant on credit that 66% of us don’t even have the cash to cover a $1,000 unexpected bill.

According to @Gallup poll, only 24% of Americans use cash for all or most of their purchases.Click To Tweet

Although online retail sales only account for 7.7% of total retail sales, many of us mistakenly believe we’d be cut off from a world of shopping opportunities if we made the switch to a cash only lifestyle. In reality, this would only happen if you switched 100% to cold, hard cash, instead of balancing debit cards, checks, and cash in your new financial approach (none of these methods use credit, after all).

Would Living the Cash Only Lifestyle Work for You?

There’s nothing wrong with swimming against the current in a world obsessed with credit and drowning in debt. If you’ve considered adopting a cash only approach to your finances, here are a few things to consider before fully committing:

Who Would Benefit from Switching to Cash?

If you’re the type of person who treats their credit card just like a debit or charge card – by paying off the statement balance every month – and you don’t have impulsive spending habits, then there’s not much of a need to only use cash. That’s how my wife and I budget using an American Express card.

This isn’t to say that switching to cash is only useful for people with bad or poor credit, impulse shopping problems, and seemingly insurmountable debt burdens. If you encounter these difficulties with your own personal financial management, then you could very well benefit from only using cash, temporarily or permanently. It’s up to you – but there are many financially-savvy people who also opt for cash over cards as well.

Switching to a cash only lifestyle forces you to account for every dollar you spend, so some degree of organization and self-motivation is required. These skills are necessary for money management throughout your life, but the cash only method might not work as well for twenty-somethings.

Many parents encourage their kids to spend within their means by only using cash, but this financial management method might do more harm than good for young adults because their credit history will barely exist and they won’t get in a pattern of making payments (which could be useful later when they have long-term debts, like a mortgage or student loans).

How To Save A Ton of Money Shopping For Christmas In July

by Hank Coleman

If you haven’t done so already, now is the time that you should start thinking about your Christmas gift-giving plan to your friends and family. Christmas in July has many benefits that you can take advantage of in order to save money on holiday gifts.

“If you tacked on unexpected expenses to your debit or credit card or veered from your shopping list, a little early planning could go a long way toward keeping you on track this year,” says Joe Buhrmann, manager of financial security at COUNTRY Financial®.

Take Advantage of Christmas In July

Boost Your Income Now

Most people look to budgeting to help them prepare for holiday gift giving. If you wait until December to start thinking about your Christmas and holiday gift giving, you will often blow your budget and spend more than you wanted to. There are two sides to every budgeting equation.

While you should look to create a budget and stick to it this holiday season, you should also consider increasing your income. Can you find a part time job? Can you start driving for a ride sharing service like Uber or Lyft? Using the Christmas in July mentality is a great way to stay on budget and buy the gifts that you want. But, you need to consider adding to your income in order to be successful.

There are many great ways to earn extra income now to help you pay for your spending with cash this December.

Stick To Cash For Buying Gifts

You should make it a goal this holiday season not to add to your credit card debt. Do you have a list of everyone that you want to give a gift to? Do you know the amount of money that you want to spend?

You’ve got six months to start setting aside cash. Pull out an envelope and start adding cash to it. Do you save your spare change in a jar? These can be a great resource to help you easily save money for holiday gifts.

Maybe you should start considering the 52 Week Challenge. While you only have about 26 weeks left in the year, as of right now, you can

Download the Money Q&A 52 Week Challenge Worksheet here! It’s an easy way to start saving money each week for your Christmas shopping this year. If you start right now, you’ll be able to save $1,027 with the Money Q&A 52 Week Challenge Worksheet.

If you budget $50 per gift, $1,027 will let you buy over 20 gifts for your friends and family!

Buy Your Gifts Now With Christmas In July

It may seem a little counter intuitive, but now can be a great time to buy a Christmas gift for your loved ones. I like to walk through malls or stores with my wife and listen to things that she points out that she likes. It makes gift buying easy instead of having to ask her at the last minute what she might like.

I’ve got a Wunderlist set up with gift ideas for my wife and children based on off hand comments that they make throughout the year. And, if the item is on sale at some point, like a Christmas in July sale, now is the perfect time to buy the gift and save a lot of money.

I also love to stalk my wife on Pinterest and Etsy. Look at what your wife pins and adds to her favorites in Etsy. These are easy, no-brainer gifts that you know she wants.

6 Things to Immediately Do When Your Wallet Is Stolen

by Hank Coleman

What to do Do When Your Wallet Is Stolen

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ most recent figures, 17.6 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2014. The bulk of these incidents arose from unauthorized activity on existing credit cards or bank accounts, which can be a great cause for alarm if you happen to lose your wallet to a thief. Have you ever lost a wallet or gotten a wallet stolen? Do you know what to do when your wallet is stolen? What to do Do When Your Wallet Is Stolen If you can’t find your wallet, credit and ATM cards, driver’s license, and other personal information and you suspect they were stolen rather than misplaced, there are a few steps you should take (immediately) to protect yourself: … Read more

For The Love Of Money: A Memoir by Sam Polk – Book Review

by Hank Coleman

“For The Love of Money: A Memoir” by Sam Polk is a brand new book telling the behind the scenes story of a Wall Street trader, focusing on credit default swaps, distressed assets, and all of the shenanigans that captured America’s attention during the 2008 financial crisis.

How much money is too much? How large of a salary are you willing to walk away from because of your core beliefs? Sam Polk was put to the test on Wall Street, and his book paints an incredible picture of what it takes to be a stock and bond trader.

“For The Love Of Money” by Sam Polk

In 2014, a former hedge fund trader’s New York Times Sunday Review front page article about wealth addiction instantly went viral. This is his unflinching memoir a coming of age story about Sam Polk’s life on Wall Street. The memoir is telling and focuses on his fight to overcome his addictions (drugs, alcohol, women, etc.) and find a new way to define success based on his deep core values and beliefs.

At just thirty years old, Sam Polk was a senior trader for one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street. He was on the verge of making it to the very top of the Wall Street ladder and earning hundreds of millions of dollars.

When he was offered an annual bonus of $3.75 million, he grew angry because it was not enough. In that moment he knew he had lost himself in his obsessive pursuit of money. He came to despise the Wall Street culture that he had grown up in with its shallowness, sexism, crude machismo, and the use of wealth as the sole measure of a person’s worth.

For the Love of Money: A Memoir Price: 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

Despite making millions each year as a young man and the very real possibility of earning much more, Sam Polk decided to walk away from Wall Street and his life.

For Sam Polk, becoming a Wall Street trader was the fulfillment of his life-long dream. But, in reality, it was just the culmination of a life of addictive and self-destructive behaviors, overeating, bulimia, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Like “Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis and “Barbarians at the Gate” by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar (both books are also Honorable Mentions in my Top 10 Personal Finance Books list that you should read), Sam Polk brings readers into the rarefied world of Wall Street trading floors in “For The Love of Money: A Memoir“.

Sam Polk captures the frustrations of young college graduates who are drawn to Wall Street in the lure of fast riches. The book explores the creation of a young hedge fund trader, his disillusionment with life on Wall Street, and the radical new way he has come to define success.

How much money is too much? How large of a salary are you willing to walk away from because of your core beliefs?Click To Tweet