Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
The two boxes looked identical, except for the price. Both contained a sound system we were considering purchasing, but the price sticker on one said, “Open Box,” and had a price of $90 less than the other.
My gut told me the right choice was to save the money and buy the Open Box item. My wife, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. She wanted more information before we decided. So I found an employee, and asked some questions.
Before buying an Open Box item, make sure you understand any risk associated with it, even if you are able to save a bit of money.
Too often, we complacently think that difficult times can’t affect us. We are sure that terrible things won’t happen to us and that they only happen to others. And, for many of us, that ends up being true. However, the case is likely to be different when it comes to the possibility of experiencing a financial shock.
According to recent information from the Pew Charitable Trusts, 60% of American households experienced a financial shock last year — many of whom were not prepared.
Every week, your friends and colleagues ask you to go out for a few drinks or dinner but you always make an excuse. Your parents are in town, or you’re too sick, or you have to dog sit. The reason you give these excuses is because you just don’t have the money in your budget. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone.
For young professionals especially, budgets are tight, and sometimes it can be really difficult to find money to spend on socializing. But at the same time, you want to hang out with friends and have fun every once-in-awhile.
While socializing can definitely get expensive, you can still very much do it on a budget. Here are 5 tips that any young professional can do to have fun with friends without spending too much.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of E*TRADE for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
Saying yes was easy when I was given the opportunity to write a piece related to E*TRADE because I moved my small business’ Individual 401(k) to the firm not that long ago.
The reason why I moved the accounts over were three folds. First, they were offering a cash incentive to transfer my assets over, which was essentially free money. Second, there was a quirk with my original small business 401(k) where we were charged higher fees for the same investment, so moving to another firm automatically meant paying less investment fees. Third, E*TRADE allowed me to move all my previous pre-tax IRA money into a 401(k), simplifying management and allowing for a backdoor Roth maneuver without paying taxes prematurely.
My son worked hard to save his money so he could buy his own entry-level gaming computer. Over the last year-and-a-half he’s upgraded some components, leaving him with a small stash of used computer parts.
To raise some extra cash, he’s interested in selling those extra parts, since they’re not doing him any good just collecting dust on his closet shelf. He asked me to help him put the items on Craigslist, but he’s not sure how much he should ask for his used electronic components.
We came up with a reasonable asking price for his items by following these five steps.
While health care spending isn’t the biggest component of most household budgets, it’s still a significant monthly expenditure.
In September 2013, The Atlantic published information from the Bureau of Labor statistics, indicating that Americans spend 7% of their monthly income on health care. Their latest press release (September 2014) on the subject of consumer expenditures in 2013, indicates that household spending on health care increased by 2.1% from 2012 to 2013.
Health care spending continues to rise, and Americans are paying more out of pocket as many employers shift some of the costs to workers through co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles. Many companies are pushing high-deductible plans for employees, since it means lower premiums all the way around.
With health care costs likely to keep rising, what can you do to keep these costs from overwhelming your budget?
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