Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
Video games have been sparking the interest of kids and adults since the Atari was born in 1972. From the original games like Pong and Pacman, to newer games seen in high definition, the video game market is constantly evolving.
I’ve been a video game lover my entire life, sticking almost entirely to the sports games that are released each year. I’ve spent countless hours in front of a television screen, sometimes alone, sometimes with family and friends. Was this all wasted time? Are video games worth the time they consume and the money they cost? [ continue reading… ]
Investment fees erode your real returns. Instead of getting the most from your investment, these fees cut into what you’re earning. If your money is going toward fees, it also reduces the principal in your account. Over time, this can be a real issue, since it reduces the long-term effectiveness of the compound interest working on your behalf.
Here are 3 investment fees that could be draining your wealth: [ continue reading… ]
Bankruptcy is the nuclear option of debt relief: it may solve some of your debt problems, but it causes a host of others. So how do you decide whether you should file bankruptcy or continue trying to pay down your debt?
If you’re considering filing for bankruptcy, here’s what you need to know to determine if the potential benefits will outweigh the certain negatives:
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 is the most common type of personal bankruptcy filed, and it requires a debtor to surrender all of their non-exempt property to a trustee for liquidation. (Exempt property generally includes things like household goods, clothing, etc.) The money generated from this liquidation is given to the creditors in exchange for discharging the rest of the debt. However, any creditors for secured assets, such as cars, have the right to repossess the collateral even if the debt has been discharged.
We all have little habits that tend to drain our finances. Perhaps it’s soda pop, online games, cigarettes, beer, magazine subscriptions, gambling, wine, or movies. No matter what your poison, if it costs you time or money, it’s worthy of a close examination.
Health and moral concerns aside, the wise consumer will examine his or her habits to determine if the benefits outweigh the costs, or if cutbacks are necessary to restore a healthy balance in one’s budget.
One of the first steps in this process is to determine what you get out of your habits, and try to place a monetary value on those benefits.
For example, if you like to get a weekly massage, you could list several potential benefits: [ continue reading… ]
My fiancée and I will be moving south this winter, but we plan on returning to the midwest at the end of the baseball season. This presents an interesting problem for us. We’ve furnished an apartment at our current location, but it’d be difficult to transport all of our belongings.
Should we store or sell our possessions that can’t make the trip? What’s the correct choice?
Selling: Make a Little Extra Cash
While selling may take some time and effort, it would provide my fiancée and me with a little extra money in our pockets. We’d only consider selling bigger items that won’t fit in our sedan on the way down, such as our bed, couch, desk, dresser, and TV stand. They’d take up too much space (or not fit at all) and it’d be too costly to find alternate transportation for them.
We could probably get around $500 for all of our items, which could be nice for buying or renting furniture when we get to our new home.
The down side of selling would be the extra cost of purchasing new furniture when we returned after the baseball season. If we make a similar trip for a number of years in a row, this would get quite expensive — and would be a big waste of time.
Have you ever sold your belongings before a big move? How was your experience?
Storing: Convenience on the Back End
Storing our bigger items would be nice upon our return to the midwest. We’d be able to furnish another apartment without buying anything new. My fiancée’s mother has a storage unit with a lot of open space; she told us that we could split the cost with her if we wanted. For around $50 per month over 8 months, we could store everything and have it waiting for us when we return.
But that’s still $400 for our possessions to sit for months on end. Though it seems like a waste, it may still turn out to be a money-saving move. The up-side is that we’d be helping my future mother-in-law save a bit of money in the process.
What’s Best?
My fiancée and I will need to find out what’s best for us. While an extra $500 would be nice, it wouldn’t be much towards buying new furniture when we return at the end of the summer. There will also be extra temptation for us to spend the perceived windfall (even though it’s not free cash at all). Storing our items would be nice when we get back, but spending $400 to store furniture seems a bit wasteful.
What do you think is our best option? Have you ever been in a similar situation and had to make the same decision?
While your teenager may be the one to show you how to use Facebook, download apps for your new smartphone, or explain (with a little too much patience) how to access the YouTube video of your toddler nephew, it’s a mistake for both of you to assume that you have nothing to teach your technological know-it-all.
Because when it comes to teens and technology, they may know how to access everything, but they may not know how to protect themselves.
In fact, according to the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, “kids under the age of 18 are 51 times more likely to become victims of identity theft than their parents.”
Here’s what you need to know about teens and identity theft to make sure that your child doesn’t become a victim. [ continue reading… ]
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