Money Questions and Answers

The Biggest Mistake You Can Make After a Business Conference

I have talked briefly for the last few days that I have spent the past weekend in Schaumburg, Illinois outside of Chicago for the first annual Financial Blogger Conference (FINCON11). Two hundred and eighty of my favorite personal finance bloggers came together at a business conference to learn from each other, swap ideas, trade business cards, and garner insight into how we can make our personal finance blogs better in order to ultimately help you, our readers, take better control of our finances.

But, all of the networking and idea exchange will all be for naught if you make one of the biggest mistakes immediately after a business conference. We all forget one of the best techniques immediately after a conference or network event that can have a big impact…the follow-up.

You Must Follow Up To Build On Those Relationships

If you do not follow up on the contacts that you made and the ideas that you floated at a conference, you are making the biggest mistake. One of the most important steps after a conference or convention is not following up with the people that you met.

Did you talk to people about a collaborative project? Did you ask someone for a piece of advice or someone ask you for help later? You took the first step of planting a seed in order to build a relationship with someone. Now that the conference is over, it is the perfect time to follow up with that contact.

How To Using PE Ratio And Growth Rate To Find Cheap Stocks

by Hank Coleman

There are many different ways that investors use to try and determine a stock’s share price and what it is really worth. Typically, investors fall into one of two categories. They are either financial analysis investors or technical analysis investors.

Investors who use financial analysis use many means to price a stock’s shares. Two of the most popular methods are the price to earnings ratio simply called the PE ratio and growth rate.

What Is A PE Ratio? And, How Do You Calculate It?

A PE ratio is the value of the price of a share of stock divided by the company’s earnings per share. For example, if you look at one of my favorite stocks that I personally own, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (Ticker Symbol: DPS), its current PE ratio is 15.67 as of September 25th, 2011.

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step Four – Invest 15% of Your Income for Retirement

by Hank Coleman

Baby Step 4 - Save 15% Of Your Income For Retirement

The last week, I wrote an overview of Dave Ramsey’s baby steps system from his book, The Total Money Makeover, and I have been dissecting each of his individual baby steps as well. The Total Money Makeover is a personal finance book that I highly recommend and one of the greatest personal finance books to read. Baby step 4 talks about investing for your retirement. Today, we will look at Baby Step 4 in more detail which is to invest 15% of your income for retirement. There are seven Dave Ramsey baby steps that you should follow in order that will lead you to financial peace. Dave Ramsey’s baby steps are… Baby Step 1 – $1,000 Emergency FundBaby Step 2 – Pay Off All Of Your Debt With … Read more

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step Three – Fully Funded Emergency Fund

by Hank Coleman

The other day I wrote an overview of Dave Ramsey’s baby steps system from his book, The Total Money Makeover. There are seven baby steps that you should follow in order that will lead you to financial peace that he discusses in his book which is one of the Top Ten Personal Finance Books of all time that you should be reading. Today, we’re going to focus on baby step 3. Dave Ramsey’s baby steps are… Baby Step 1 – $1,000 Emergency FundBaby Step 2 – Pay Off All Of Your Debt With A Debt SnowballBaby Step 3 – Fully Fund Your Emergency FundBaby Step 4 – Save 15% of Your Income For RetirementBaby Step 5 – Save For Your Children’s College EducationBaby Step 6– Pay Off Your … Read more

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step 2 – Pay Off Your Debt With A Debt Snowball

by Hank Coleman

The second baby step in Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover is to pay off all of your debts except your mortgage. He recommends doing this by using a debt snowball. It is his baby step 2. When Dave Ramsey talks about paying off all of your debts except your home, he means precisely that, all of your debts. This is where you list all of your debts in order from the smallest balance to the largest balance. You should include all of your credit card debt, student loans, car loans, loans to parents, debt to the IRS, money borrowed from your parents or family, late payments that you still owe hospitals, and all of your other debts. If you haven’t read The … Read more

How Debt Can Ruin Your Retirement

by Guest Contributor

This is a guest post by Mike Egan who is the author of “Your Stronger Financial Future”.

A recent article in the New York Times focuses on seniors who are considering mortgages on new homes when they retire. The article is a good summary of what seniors (or anyone considering a mortgage application) should expect and the specific items to have handy, such as proof of income and a good credit score.

What the article doesn’t address is the question of whether a mortgage is a good idea, either for a senior (65 and older) or anyone else. Think about this – no matter what the term of the home loan, or mortgage, you’ll be paying interest to the lender, plus repaying the principal (the $$ you borrowed) for some period of time. Home mortgages and student loans are the two main examples of what I call “good debt” – which are loans that result in you owning something of value at the end. So, given that a mortgage generally results in you owning the house or condo when you’ve paid back the loan, let’s examine the math involved in a home mortgage.