Summer is prime time for superhero movies at the theater. After taking in Wonder Woman and Spiderman: Homecoming, I can’t help but think that the qualities these heroes and heroines display can be applied to managing our personal finances.
While most of us don’t have the seemingly unlimited financial resources of some superheroes (like Tony Stark, Ironman or Bruce Wayne, Batman), we can model their superhero qualities by managing the money we have in “heroic” ways.
Buying gifts for others can be rewarding, or it can be stressful. If you haven’t prepared for a holiday or other gift-giving occasion, you’ll most likely be stressed out and at a loss for ideas. There are a few ways you can prepare so that you’ll be ready to buy the perfect gift — at the perfect price:
Whether it’s growing up seeing the family struggle through the financial crisis, or how millennials are graduating college carrying more student loan debt than ever (probably both!), millennials (who are contributing to a 401k plan) as a group are so far showing better financial habits than baby boomers when it comes to saving in their 401k. T. Rowe Price recently released a fun quiz titled “Do You Act Your (Savings) Age?” based on a survey they conducted with more than 2,000 participants with 401ks* that uncovered differences between how the generations are going about building their path towards financial freedom.
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Now that summer is here, that means two things for your lawn and garden for most of you. Either you will have a brown lawn and save money on your water bill, or you will have a beautiful, green yard and an enormous water bill to match.
But there’s a third way. Here are a few solutions to keep in your yard looking nice during the summer without spending a lot of money on water.
We have been using the Rachio Smart Sprinkler System, and it makes a huge difference in our water bill and how nice our lawn looks. We are currently under strict drought regulations, so it is very important for us to stick to a certain water usage. Since switching to a smart irrigation system, we regularly save $30-40 each month on our water bill, our lawn looks greener, and our water usage is under the average usage for our city.
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Have you ever wondered where the term “nest egg” comes from? Not surprisingly, it’s a farming term. In order to motivate hens to begin laying eggs, or to lay more of them, farmers placed eggs (both real and fake) in their nests.
In finances, this term refers to any funds set aside for a specific purpose, so they can grow and be used later in life.
When you’ve heard the term nest egg before, you may have thought only of retirement savings. This is just one of the many purposes for which people start and contribute to a nest egg.
Nest eggs can be created for funding any large investment, including your child’s education. College is expensive. Personally, I want to learn my from own experience of being forced to rely on student loans when it comes to planning for my own children.
Spending more than you can afford doesn’t sound like a smart idea, but the reality is that most people in our country fall into this trap. According to a recent survey by CareerBuilder, 78 percent of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck and more than 1 in every 4 workers do not set aside any savings each month. That’s a really scary statistic, considering most Americans aren’t saving for retirement.
The easy answer to fixing this situation for most people is living below your means. It’s, of course, much easier said than done though. How do you live below your means when it already feels like you’re barely scraping by? The answer isn’t easy, but here are 4 things you can do to ACTUALLY live below your means:
We know how important it is to have a budget and stick to the numbers. Most of us have some kind of category in our budget for discretionary spending, whether it’s on gizmos and gadgets or entertainment, but many of us don’t really know what exactly goes into your discretionary spending category though. Look at every transaction and try to understand exactly what you’re spending your extra money on.
You might be surprised to find that many of those transactions are totally unnecessary and some might even make you mad. Remember that feeling because it’s time to start making cuts. Keep a few things you spend on monthly that makes you tick but double check that this category doesn’t represent a significant part of your budget.
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