The holiday season is just around the corner and the year has been difficult for electronic retailers. People are putting off buying electronics knowing that come Thanksgiving the prices are going to drop like a rock to entice us to part with our money. If, for some reason, you need to buy now, be relieved that there are some great ways to get your electronics for less even without the holiday season sales.
Go Online
Not only is the internet a great place to find reviews of specific items, it is the best way to comparison shop without leaving the house. Additionally, many stores offer larger discounts online than in the store. If you are shipping your item from out of state, you also avoid paying tax, which can be 10% of the total price of an item. With many companies offering free shipping to long distance customers, the appeal of not having to drag a huge box out to your car is clear.
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One of the ways we measure our financial success (and, in some cases, success as a person) in our society is to look at our salary. However, just looking at your salary provides an incomplete picture or your financial situation. This is because your salary does not always provide an accurate representation of how much discretionary income you have.
Discretionary Income
In the most traditional sense, disposable income is meant by what you bring home for saving or spending after taxes are paid. Discretionary income takes it a bit further, including what you have at your disposal for saving or enjoyment after you have made your credit card payments, your housing payments, loan payments (such as a car loan or student loan), your utility bills, insurance and maybe even your groceries. If you have money automatically deducted from your paycheck for savings or retirement investing, this is also taken out before you calculate your discretionary income.
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Remodeling your home is often just wishful thinking, but you can turn that dream into reality without going bankrupt if you make a few wise decisions. There are places where you can save money without compromising quality, and other areas where you should plan to spend more to ensure a good result. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Make Complete Plans
Before you start calling around to shop for contractors, figure out exactly what you want to accomplish. If you have any unusual elements you want to include in your design, sketch it out, preferably with measurements, and present it to the contractor when you first meet. Figure out your budget in advance, then add 10% minimum to deal with the unexpected, and set up your financing. Do as much research as you can before you meet with the contractors. The more knowledge you possess, the less likely you will get a quote with a high price.
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Are you planning for a child or expecting one soon? Perhaps this guest post will help.
When you find out you are going to be parents, it can be a very exciting, yet stressful time- especially financially. However, if you stay calm, budget, and create a sensible financial plan, you can eliminate your fears and move on to actually enjoying your precious’ arrival.
I remember my first experience all too well. There I was quietly downstairs watching the soccer results one Saturday afternoon, when my name was called from the bathroom upstairs.
My partner sounded very startled, and as I climbed the stairs I half expected to see a giant spider in the bathtub. What I was greeted with was initially much more frightening than that! My fiancee was standing there holding what was obviously a pregnancy test. Positive!
We had not planned to have a child yet, and a wave of fear, worry, and anxiety swept over me. I was going to be a father.
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Do you use a financial adviser to help you manage your finances? I don’t. I’m a self-educated investor. I’ve been managing my family’s financial portfolio for over a decade now, and I’ve been doing a good job – I periodically compare my portfolio’s performance to the performance of major financial benchmarks, and so far, I’m pleased with the results.
You CAN Manage Your Own Portfolio
I believe that most of us can learn the basics of investing and manage our own portfolios. I believe that investing is not rocket science, and that the basic principles are easy to understand. If you tend to be a buy-and-hold investor, viewing the stock market not as a playground but as one of the best ways to grow your money long term and fund your retirement, then you can absolutely do it on your own.
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It took Sean, today’s guest post contributor, a great deal of pain before he realized that simple money tips can go a long way…
Two years ago I burned my business to the ground and hitched my horse toward a sunset of unlimited potential. Well, okay, that’s maybe a bit hyperbolic, though my wife and I did close a successful business so I could become a full-time writer and see if there was gold in the online hills.
It’s not that we love risk, or thought ourselves invincible. It’s just, sometimes a dream is worth buying, even on credit. And unlike the Great Depression, many Americans could lean on credit these last few years. We were no exception.
With mortgages slapping the plastic of our cards, two, three, sometimes four months in a row, credit was both our saving grace and dangling noose. We blew through our savings (a decent sum), lost our house, and ended with heaping debt, all in 18 months.
But we’re hacking this debt a trio of digits at a time, and at an admirable clip.
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