If you’re like me when I was in high school or in my earlier college years, then you will want to spend your summer earning (and saving) as much money as possible. The main problem at the beginning of the summer is that we realize we have no money and everyone knows the classic saying- you need money to make money. Well, you guys are in luck because I will provide you with a few jobs that require very little start up money.
I will not include the typical jobs that college students go for (retail work or restaurant server) because you already know about them. Instead, I want to talk about some of the summer jobs I have had that require very little funding:
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It could be argued that being lazy is built into us because we are just trying to do less. One way to look at it is that we are actually trying to be clever. However, if you believe that waiting until the last minute to do everything is smart, you are just dead wrong.
My friend (we will call him Joe in the article) recently said:
My home value lost 20% already so I don’t think I can refinance. Instead, I will just get a loan modification.
Joe doesn’t fit the subprime profile at all. He is highly educated, capable, and have a well paying job. He is making his monthly payments currently, but just feel stretched paying $3,000 every month towards his mortgage alone.
The False Sense of Security
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After deciding how much of your portfolio should be in each asset class (stocks, bonds, commodities, etc.), the next asset allocation decision to make is how much of your portfolio should be invested in your own country’s stock market and how much should be invested abroad.
Weighting by market capitalization
A common sense starting point would be to weight each country’s stock market according to its current market capitalization. That is, do the same thing with countries that index funds do with companies: Weight them according to size.
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No thanks. I will stay home for lunch since I want to save money
It felt good hearing myself say those words and saving money always sound like a good idea. Yet, quite often, some of us feel bad doing it.
Most frugalist I know asked themselves at some point whether he/she is missing out by not participating (insert your own activity here). I feel like this question is impossible to answer because without actually going, how will I know whether or not it would be beneficial? If I have to ask myself, I will always go because I don’t want to analyze a problem I will never be able to solve.
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There’s one question that I’ve seen asked more times than any other over the last several months: “Should I keep investing in the market given how much it’s going down right now?”
To me, this question suggests a fundamental misunderstanding. The market isn’t “going down.” A more precise way to explain the situation is to say that the market “has gone down.”
Given that most of us don’t spend time on the trading floor of the NYSE or watching minute-by-minute price changes online, we don’t really know what the market is doing right now. In reality, all we know is what has already occurred. That is, we can only see the past.
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Last week, I saved $100 off my auto insurance policy. It’s really pretty easy and there’s probably nothing you don’t already know. All I did was take action. Call, comparison shop, and keep calling.
While I was looking through different options and telling my insurance agent again that his price was too high, I made a list of what could save us more money on auto insurance.
May you find more savings than I do by calling your agent today.
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