Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
Things happen in life. If we always choose to ignore the problems, it will eventually snowball into a much bigger crisis. This means that we need to take care of the issues first even if it will sometimes bring us down emotionally. In order to stay motivated through these events, it is imperative that we stop ourselves from feeling unmotivated while we take care of these problems.
One great way to do this is just discuss the problem with encouraging people. These people are easy to spot because they are happy most of the time and often have more friends than everyone else. People naturally hang around them because they offer advice and talk about solutions rather than tell you why your situation can’t work.
Talking with them about your problem is great because they make you feel better that your solution will work. In addition, they will probably offer a few suggestions of their own to help. For example, I felt bad last night because my job and blogs were all becoming a little overwhelming. What ended up happening was that my wife took me out on a nice walk where we talked about things and I felt much better afterwards, and even wrote a post about it.
Of course, encouraging people will never be able to solve your problems completely. They can only offer advices and allow their optimism to “rub off” on you. It’s still up to you to approach them, present your problem and ultimately solve them yourself. If you talk things through with encouraging people though, you will be off to a great start in solving your issues and staying motivated.
With the release of the 3G iPhone and iPhone 2.0 software, Apple has allowed 3rd party developers to write applications that work with the iPhone and iPod Touch and opened the app store to the public. With the world’s imagination at work, I’m sure there will be a ton of clever applications written for the personal finance world.
Since the app store opened for two days already, let’s take a look at all the personal finance applications available currently.
ACTCurrency – $0.99 Overview: A simple currency converter that becomes extremely useful when you are out of the country. Pro: Uses are obvious. It makes you wonder why I didn’t think of it. Con: Why doesn’t this grab the most up-to-date currency from the web is anyone’s guess.
ACTGratuity – $0.99 Overview: Great little utility that automatically adds tip to a subtotal and splits the bill for you, letting you know how much each person should pay. Pro: Easy and fast to use for people who go dutch often. Con: Don’t let anyone know that you paid for this software because you can easily do the same thing on a calculator.
BigTipper – $1.99 Overview: Exactly the same thing as ACTGratuity. I guess great minds think alike. Pro: Slightly more stylish than its competitor and multiple language support. It also offers the round function for those that care about the cents. Con: Not only will you be talked about by people who didn’t buy any of these type of apps, ACTGratuity users will send you unpleasant comments too because it’s $1 more.
Bloomberg – Free * MoneyNing recommended * Overview: App that offers stock quotes, charts, analysis and latest news from companies around the world. Pro: Free. This gives E*Trade’s Mobile Pro a run for its money. Con: Only if you work for CNBC.
Budget – $4.99 * MoneyNing recommended * Overview: Easily track your budget. Perfect for something like the iPhone because you won’t forget to input your expenses. Pro: Easy input, nice interface and offers graphs too. Con: A little expensive when compared to other iPhone Apps.
Calculators – $0.99 Overview: A car and mortgage payment calculator which lets you tests out different scenarios Pro: Finally there’s a way calculate quickly whether the car salesman is lying or not. Con: When the typing pad shows up, half the fields are blocked from input..
CheckPlease Overview: This is a ultra simple calculator for people to calculate tips, taxes and splitting of bills. Pro: Finally someone with some sense to offer this for free. Con: It doesn’t look as good as the paid versions but it does the job. It’s free so stop whining.
DutchTab – $2.99 Overview: Just like the others but adds a few other features like storing who paid what and who still needs to pay. Pro: Simple interface, and great if you have friends that always say they paid last time. Con: Not needed if you use the calculator and have decent friends.
Expense2GO – Free * MoneyNing recommended * Overview: Create expense report and optionally sync with Salesforce CRM Pro: Good use of the camera, capture expenses as you incur them and more. Con: Why didn’t they come up with this before?
GarageBuy – Free Overview: The iPhone version of GarageBuy for the mac. Pro: Great to keep track of multiple ebay bids while on the road. Con: There better not be affiliate links because ebay has its own app for the iPhone.
Gratuity – $0.99 Overview: Just another gratuity calculator Pro: Another choice for us consumers Con: Get in line. At least ACTGratuity knows he will be on top if they are sorted alphabetically.
iGold – $9.99 Overview: Displays gold, silver, and platinum prices. Pro: Top honors for the one of the most expensive but useless iPhone App. Con: Yahoo Finance?
iSoroban – $1.99 Overview: iPhone version of Soroban – a japanese calculator used way before the calculator was invented. This is more a game than a real useful tool. Pro: If you are a die hard Soroban fan, then this is for you. Con: The main benefit of Soroban is the speed of calculation and you cannot get this with the iPhone touchscreen.
iSpend – $15.99 Overview: Another expense tracker Pro: Organized interface, easy to use. Con: Winner of the most expensive personal finance app award.
iTip – $0.99 Overview: Yawn… Pro: People searching tip might get this one first. It’s all in the name. Con: I love the originality of adding the “i” in front. Here’s one. iwillnotbuythis
iXpenseIt – $4.99 Overview: Another expense tracking software. Pro: This one offers a picture taking feature so you can take a pic of the actual receipt. Con: Categories are too general and not easily customizable.
Loan Calc – $0.99 Overview: Simple loan calculator. Pro: Simple and easy to use Con: Over simplified. Looks like a way to make money off people more than a useful app.
Loan Sim – $0.99 Overview: Nice graphical loan calculator that’s very similar to Loan Calc Pro: If $0.99 is going to save yourself from foreclosure, go for this graphical calculator. Con: Do I really need this on an iPhone?
Mini Mortgage Manager – $1.99 Overview: Another way of saying “loan calculator”. Pro: The graphics are nicer than others. Con: It’s the same thing for more money…
Mobile Banking – Free * MoneyNing recommended * Overview: A nice little app for Bank of America customers. Pro: Quick way to find the closest ATM machine. Con: No one knows where this is as secure as going through the online website. Too bad this only works for Bank of America customers.
Nexonia Expenses – Free Overview: Expense Tracker. Yes another one. Pro: Free for users of Nexonia.com, email PDFs to yourself. Con: Can’t be used for people who don’t use Nexonia.com.
PayPal – Free Overview: Allows you to use PayPal with this app to check your balance or pay someone quickly. Pro: Easy and quick. Con: When was the last time you used PayPal outside of your house?
PocketMoney – $9.99 * MoneyNing recommended * Overview: A port from Palm, this is yet another expense tracker for the iPhone Pro: Years of experience working on the Palm version, this is the most feature-rich expense tracker available on the iPhone so far Con: Much more expensive than other solutions and no free trial.
Puluwai Real Estate Search Overview: Now you can quickly search for houses for sale in your area. Pro: Perfect for the realtor. Con: Good luck with this app in the current market. The reason why you didn’t sell those houses aren’t because of the lack of this app.
Save Benjis – Free * MoneyNing recommended * Overview: Quickly search online for the latest low prices for anything in the market. Pro: Amazingly simple app. Just what everyone’s been waiting for, not to mention it’s free. Con: Input your keywords carefully or else you will get information overload. I’m surprised that not many people have thought of this app yet so this is the only choice (even though it’s a good one).
ShoppingList – Free Overview: Keep track of your shopping list conveniently on the iPhone Pro: Easy to use, easily keep track of what you already bought and haven’t Con: You can do all this for free with notes but it’s only $0.99 so it might be worth the price. Inputting everything you need before you leave the house might be a pain though.
Spend – $1.99 Overview: Budget tracker Pro: Cheap Con: Better solutions out there. For such an important app, paying more for the best might be worth it.
SplashMoney – $9.99 Overview: Budget……tracker…… Pro: Password protection, wirelessly connect to online banks, quick shortcut. Con: There are so many of these it’s hard to choose one.
TapExpense – $4.99 Overview: Another one… Pro: Doesn’t need the input keyboard Con: There are better ones out there.
Tip Calc – $0.99 Overview: Tip Calculator #83 Pro: Simple, small form footprint Con: Maybe too simple to warrant paying for it
TipCalc – $0.99 Overview: Tip Calculator #83 (this isn’t a typo) Pro: See above Con: See above
Tipper – $1.99 Overview: Was there a group competition to write the tip software? Pro: The author is welcome to contact me to change this section because I don’t know what to write Con: More expensive and the name should be changed to tip calculator #83
Tips – $1.99 Overview: He must be the first person to come up with this or something because he got the name. Pro: The interface is simple and it looks pretty good. Con: More money for the same thing.
Tipulator – $0.99 Overview: Tip calculator #83 Pro: Optional tip rounding to the nearest dollar. Wow. Con: Split checks among several people. Oh is this the section for disadvantages?
TripLog/1040 – $12.99 Overview: A way to keep track of your business expenses Pro: Perfect for salespeople. Allows you to email yourself a log so data can be transferred to the computer unlike most other apps currently. Con: No one knows all the features because no one can figure out the UI yet.
Currently, not many applications exists for the iPhone but as Apple’s 100M development fund is put into use, better and better applications will be written. I’m excited to see the potential of the app store and foresee more and more companies writing free extensions of their website to work with the iPhone to provide better, faster and more convenient services.
If you haven’t already, perhaps now is the time to line up to buy a new iPhone.
Summer is here and while things are just as unpredictable in these 3 short months as any other season, one thing for certain is the heat. Just the other day, it was so hot in my apartment that I almost passed out. The easy solution was to turn on the air conditioner but with the cost of living rising so much lately, I feel compelled to be stubborn and leave the A/C off. Instead, I managed to focus all the braincells that was left and came up with these frugal ideas to stay cool.
Library The first place I thought about going was the library as they have air conditioning and lots of books. The last time I went there, I was able to catch up on community news by reading the bulletin and also update myself on the latest by reading free newspaper and magazines.
Some libraries are even equipped with free WiFi access so anyone who has a laptop really has no excuse not to go there.
Go to the Mall The shopping center isn’t only for shopping. What I really like to do at the mall is people watch to get blogging ideas. I find that people are all very unique in their own way and everyone is an inspiration. In the summer of course, there’s the added advantage of air conditioning. If you are lucky, you can even find a good seat where you can relax and rest.
Work out For those with gym memberships or access to a fitness center, why not workout? I know a hot day doesn’t really promote doing something that makes you sweat but gyms actually have pretty good cooling systems in place where this becomes a non-issue. You will be surprised with the added motivation to workout longer once you get used to the cool environment.
I Need Water Summer is the seasons of water. Swimming, snorkeling, and even going to the water park are great ideas during the months of extreme heat. Those with kids are certainly familiar with these activities as they simply love being close to water.
Believe it or not, large bodies of water (like the ocean) can actually lower the temperature by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) so you will instantly feel cooler by going to the beach. You can even people watch (no honey… I didn’t mean it that way… next topic).
Take Bus Tours There are actually free bus tours that you can go on. For example, I know that when I was in Toronto, there were bus tours that go to a nearby casino. Not only did they let you ride for free, they even give you a $5 chip to play within the casino that you can cash. Take advantage of companies trying to lure you into their facility.
There are tons of ways to stay cool, have fun and keep your hard earned cash in your pockets at the same time. Look for them while you feel hot this summer, and don’t give in to the temptation to turn on the air conditioning.
With the stock market struggling, it’s easy for us to think about not investing at all and keeping all our money in cash. I remember a year ago when personal finance bloggers all over the world were blogging about their success in the stock market, encouraging everyone to keep investing and talking about how stocks are the best performing asset class over any 20-year period. These days however, no one really shares their stories anymore.
So what now? Do we just stop investing? What about our automatic contributions like 401ks and IRAs?
Since there are only three possible answers to this question, let’s talk about all of them here: Staying Steady These are probably the set it and forget it types. Some of these people might not care too much about their investments, only to find out at a later point in their lives that the majority of their net worth is made up of the investments that they forgot about. They keep investing through the good and bad times, which is exactly what we recommend here at MoneyNing. By the way, I kept my 401k contribution rate at 15% this year.
Decreasing the Contribution Rate Many people fall into this category. They do it because gas has gone up, they do it because their homes have decreased in value, they do it because they want that new car. In reality, they did it because they are emotional and saw the great big fall in the stock market. They saw their investments tank and couldn’t bear anymore pain. Some people usually learn one day that this is not the way to invest, but most will never learn and end up missing the opportunity to create real wealth through investing.
Increasing the Contribution Rate These are opportunists, and probably someone who don’t need the money in the short term. They like the stock market, and will try to adjust their contributions to take advantage of market declines. Eventually, they will be better off because they contributed more money than they otherwise would have.
So which approach did you take with this market decline? Which one would you take if you were given the choice again? If the answer to the two questions were different, is there a reason why?
Would there be any benefits if I thought of saving money as a source of income? The similarities are not exactly obvious between the two but there are actually a few advantages of doing so. Let’s think together here and see what we come up with.
Why It Makes Sense to Think Of Saving Money as Making Money
Although you can argue on which is more effective to building wealth, saving money is really just the same as making money. If I have to buy a TV and I get a good deal by saving $400. Mathematically, it works out the same as getting a $400 windfall.
Doing so forces you to focus on what is most important, the bottom line. It doesn’t matter whether you saved money, made money or spent money because all you care about is incoming and outgoing of wealth.
It puts a higher emphasis on saving money because people who budget will have to log down how much they saved as a source of income, forcing them to think about those activities when they do their budget analysis.
Why It Makes No Sense
Most of the money saving tips are really about spending less money. While it may let you keep more cash in the bank, the most effective way to keep all your money is not to use it in the beginning. Creating a link between saving and making money does nothing to keep you from spending it.
You might end up buying more things because it puts way too much emphasis on the savings that you made. It might make you feel that you are actually making the money that you save. In a push to increase the amount of earnings, you may end up spending more money.
After listing out the pros and cons, I feel that if you have the discipline, you can make this work in your favor. However, if you do not, then you will likely end up buying more things. The important point to remember is that keeping the most money ultimately what we are after, whether it’s money saved or money made.
The idea just popped into my head so I just started writing it down in a form of a blog post as a way to brainstorm. What do you think of this idea? Is it doable and are there any advantages or disadvantges other than the ones I’ve listed?
One morning while I was saying something to my wife, I realized that perhaps the way we think about wealth is way too complicated. It happened when I was telling her that for the first month in a long time, I spent more money than I made. We were going through the list of expenses for June when I said “It’s just simple. You save money when you make more than you use.”
Money management is just as easy as that isn’t it? Make more in a given time period than you spend and you will be ahead. No complications, no 101 list of ways to do this and that, no messy calculators and no need to use complex software.
I wasn’t even thinking too much about it when I made the statement, which meant that I knew this golden and simple fact all along. As a PF blogger, I am guilty of complicating the personal finance subject all the time. I think about another 45 ways to save that extra dollar, 32 ways to invest in the next stock and find the next 87 ways to motivate myself to make more money. I let all these minor issues cloud the main focus, which is really to just make more money than I spend.
With about 150 personal finance blogs, 15 PF magazines out there and tons more ways to read about money matters, it is so easy to get consumed in the little things that we forget about what’s the most important.
Today, I want to alert and remind everyone of something we all know about money managment.
Make more money than we spend. It’s as easy as that.
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