I’ve Always Been Self-Employed; Can I Even Get A Job?

You might be surprised. Even if you can’t remember the last time you got a paycheck from someone else, you are liable to find you are easily employed.
Consider the skills you’ve learned by being on your own:

1. Management: Everyone who is self-employed learns to manage projects and those who have employees also learn to manage people.

2. Self-discipline: Bosses love self-starters. They love people who show up in the morning and start work without being told what to do. Not everyone is doing that, but everyone who’s been working independently has mastered the skill.

3. Tough work: Having danced back and forth between self-employment and working for others for my entire career, it is clear to me that I never work harder than I do when I’m working for myself. Employers simply don’t expect as much as you do when your livelihood is in balance.

4. Results: For the self-employed, you can’t make it from one month to the next—forget making it for years—without getting results. Whatever your field, if you’re accustomed to getting results, someone will be eager to hire you.
5. Determination: Persistence, doggedness, stick-to-it-iveness, whatever you call it is a skill learned through years of going it alone. That attitude is invaluable and employers will pay up for the privilege of having an employee who can demonstrate the talent.

Here are some tips for finding the right job:

1. Update your resume: It may be a long time since you’ve had to update a formal resume. If that’s the case, it is a big idea to get help. You probably have talent that you don’t see clearly; a professional resume coach can help you put it all on paper in a way that will represent you well.

2. Network: Your existing professional network is ready to work for you. If you’ve developed relationships over the past decades of being self-employed, no matter the reason you’re now looking to work for someone else, those relationships will be ready to serve you. Move closer to your clients and customers, your vendors and advisors and even your peers and competitors. Tell them what you’re doing and most will be pleased to help. In fact, many will think you are helping them to solve a problem. Your talents are valuable.

3. Social Network: If you’ve been going it alone for the last decade you certainly know all about social networks like Linkedin and Facebook. Be sure to let people know you 're available for a full-time opportunity. You’ll find people eager to help immediately.

Finally, a few tips for starting work as an employee (again):

1. The Boss: The hardest part about getting a job is having a boss. It’s generally not so bad. You were a decent boss, right? There are lots of nice bosses out there. Good bosses value your experience and wisdom; they won’t ride you like a newbie. Be patient with your boss. If you show her respect, she’ll respect you, too.

2. The Schedule:, Working on your own your time was your own to manage. There are different expectations in an office. Be sure you understand the cultural norms around the work schedule before you find yourself violating them. Some offices that post an 8:30 start time see everyone rolling into the office at 9:00. Others see everyone there at 8:00. Get a nice read on the situation before you find yourself getting chewed out.

3. Colleagues: Now that you have peers and colleagues again, make it a point to get to know them. Make friends. Offer to help. Show deference and respect. The more you do here this the more that will return to you.
Returning to the world of employment after years of self-employment or freelancing can be a tough transition, but you have a lot to offer. Your network can help you find a place quickly.

My Spouse Makes $85,000 Per Year; I Make $15,000 Part Time; Can I Afford To Quit?

Here in the U.S., the tax code punishes the additional income in a household in ways that few people understand. If you are earning just $15,000 per year, working part-time, you may be surprised to know that you not only can afford to quit—you may not be able to afford to keep working!

If you like your job and love working, the question of whether or not to work isn’t purely financial. If, however, you hate working and only do it to ensure that ends meet each month, read this article carefully.

If your income is potentially optional, your income is the “marginal” income in the household that determines the tax bracket at which your income is taxable.
The effective tax rate on your spouse’s income will be much smaller than on yours. Your spouse sets the base and then your income is effectively added on top to be taxed at the highest rate applicable for your combined income. The particulars will vary by state and municipality, but the applicable rate for your spouse could be less than 15% on an $85,000 salary while your effective tax rate on $15,000 could be higher than 23%. Income tax alone doesn’t wipe out your income; it just reduces the contribution of each hour you work.

Are you donating a fixed percentage of your income to a church or other charity? If so, that is further reducing the value of your work to your family budget. Of course, if you are working and choosing to donate to your church or other charity keep it up! (Thank you!)

You should review the impact of your work on household expenses. If you own a car specifically to help you get back and forth to work, you could be spending 100% of your net pay to deal with the car. If your car is old and your commute short and infrequent, that won’t be an example. On the other hand, if you are driving a relatively new car, still making payments and is a long commute, you could be spending 100% of disposable pay to keep that car. An average new car costs $10,000 to $15,000 per year to own and function, including depreciation, insurance, maintenance, fuel and interest on the loan.

There may be counted as additional expenses associated with your employment. Are you paying someone to watch your children while you work? Are you eating lunch out several times each week? Do you need nice clothes for your job that you wouldn’t need if you didn’t have the job? You do paying a housekeeper? Anything you could cut out if you quit should be taken from your income to determine how much you’re contributing to the household budget.

If you can run at home in your sweats and your work imposes no expenses on your household, even if you go to work for a modest wage, you may be contributing a great deal.

If when you’re done doing the math you conclude that you can’t afford to keep working, I wouldn’t be surprised. You may discover that you are contributing modestly to your household budget, but that when you really add everything up, it isn’t worth the time away from your family.

Making Working From Home Work

If you are one of the increasing numbers of people working from home, whether you telecommute to work with a Fortune 500 Company or you provide a freelance service from home, building good working habits to foster success in your career and as a parent can be tough. Here are some ideas to help you master your domain.

1. Play a role to work. One key is certainly finding a place to work and teaching your family to respect the time you spend in the place. There should be the only signal needed to your family that you don’t want to be bothered than that you are in your “office.” This can work even if your office is just your favorite chair in the living room and you’re working on your laptop.

2. Establish hours. It is not hard to establish hours that you’ll be working; it is a lot harder to actually work those hours. It needs to be disciplined about starting work on a schedule—even if there is no one around to implement it. It adds that you have to quit work to “come home” and be with the family on schedule.

3. Set phone rules. You and your family need to know how to optimize the use of the phone. Even if you have separate lines, you may need to have a system or signal to indicate when making noise is not acceptable. While working at home is commonplace, it is still distracting to be on a phone call about work when children are whining for attention, playing loud music, or using noisy appliances.

4. Take breaks. You and your family will be happier if you emerge from your office once in a while for a respite. Use of time to catch up on what’s going on around you. Be sure to share lots of hugs and kisses. These bursts of family time can replenish their emotional batteries—and yours!

5. Make fridge rules, too. Working at home features another distraction that is absent from most offices—a refrigerator full of all of your favorite food. Ensure that you have set the rules for yourself so that you don’t eat your way into a larger size, blowing your budget at the same time. If need be, have your spouse help to enforce the rules.

6. Get childcare. According to employer, you’re getting to do something other than care for the children. If your kids speak in an age where they require care, do not forget to make appropriate arrangements. If that can take place in your home where you can still have interaction with them on your breaks, you’ll still get many of the emotional benefits of working at home without all the distractions.

Working at home can be a huge boost to budgets. Not only does it eliminate commuting expense, but it may also reduce expenses associated with eating out and dressing for the office. Making it work well can also bring families closer together.

Five Ideas For Working From Home

The world of “work from home” opportunities is full of opportunity for the people who sign you up. Some are legitimate opportunities that will take years of hard work to prepare; others are scams. More and more, however, there are real jobs available for people who work from home. Often such jobs are low paying, but as they require virtually no commuting expense, no office clothes, no lunches out with colleagues, you may be keeping more while earning less.
The following is ideas to help you find the right work from home opportunity for you and your family.

1. Professional services: if you are a lawyer, CPA, graphic designer or have an advanced degree in business or a related field, even if you’ve been out of the work force for a while, you may be able to begin making money. If you no longer have a network to approach, you can start by listing your services on Odesk.com, a website for freelancers to ply their trade. Note than much of the competition is international from low wage countries so this is not likely to become a source for the best paying gigs, but it may be a way to make you started right now.

2. Call center jobs: visit monster.com, the giant job board, and search for “work-from-home call center” and you’ll see a list of available jobs. If you search just “work-from-home”, you’ll see many more jobs. Research any works from home employer carefully. Pay no fees to get a job. No legitimate employer will be required to pay the company!

3. Network marketing: many people love network marketing and make a good living at it. Many more do not. It is difficult work and requires, above all, the ability to become a self-starter. If you are always busy, always organizing fundraisers, charity drives, and all the rest, you may be perfect. If you are following the plot of more than one soap opera, chances are network marketing will be a black hole for you.

4. Freelance writing: if you love to write, maybe you already have a blog with lots of followers, there may be a chance for you to earn some money by writing. There are plenty of people out there willing to respond to your money to tell you how to make money, but actually earning a living as a freelance writer is tough. If you are thinking you’d love to write, but haven’t written anything for publication—not even a blog post—for years, look somewhere else. There are too many people who are excellent writers desperate to make a living for you to complete if you aren’t deadly serious about it. If you’ve written a novel and don’t are aware next, publish it on the Kindle(it.Ly/finynO) and get it from there.

5. Freelance photography: Old school professional photographers are annoyed these days by the growing ranks of amateur photographers joining the professional ranks. They often refer to folks in this group as MWACs (Mom With A Camera). The fact remains, however, if you have decent gear (really nice gear) and talent, you may be able to at least support your hobby by looking for opportunities to shoot for a fee. Camera gear is very expensive and learning to shoot well takes years. If you don’t yet know what a DSLR is, this probably isn’t the path for you now.
These five ideas don’t represent the full range of opportunities for working from home, but they may get you started thinking and researching opportunities that would ask you. Just remember, if your goal is tantamount to earn a living, be cautious when considering help from people who, for a fee, will tell you how to make a fortune working from home.

What You Need To Know About Your Car Insurance But Were Afraid To Ask

Even if you have car insurance, your coverage may be sufficient to protect you and your family in case of an accident. Car insurance terms often seem like a secret code that you can’t understand and hope you’ll never need.
There are two key parts to your insurance: liability insurance that provides financial help to other people when you cause the accident and collision and comprehensive insurance that covers your car from accidents, broken windows, theft, etc.

There are a few key terms that you need in order to fully understand.
Liability limits:

Every state (it.Ly/3qDgG3) sets minimum limits to define how much liability insurance you need. The limits are shown as three numbers—your agent may have mentioned them to you when you bought your policy. In California, the smallest limits are 15/30/5, meaning that you must have bodily injury coverage of at least $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident, plus at least $5,000 for property damage. If you buy only the minimum required policy, you may be in trouble. If you cause an accident with anything other than a 1972 pick-up truck with bolted on wooden bumpers, you’ll be paying for someone else’s car out of your savings account—or future earnings. If more than two people were on that car and needed more than $30,000 in care, again, you’ll be getting the bills.

Deductibles:

The deductible is the portion of the damage that you are under an obligation to pay. Deductibles don’t apply on the liability insurance; they apply only to you and your car. If you back your car into a concrete pillar in a parking lot (I use that example speaking from experience) you’ll be sentenced to pay the deductible. The insurance company will be in charge of the rest of the cost of the repair.

Saving money:

Your policy gets cheaper as you retain more risk and asks the insurance company to take less risk. You can do so in two ways. You can raise your deductible or lower the liability limits.

Raising the deductible. The ultimate way to save money is to not purchase collision and comprehensive insurance at all. If you drive a clunker, as I’ve done at times over the years, you may need to be able to afford to assume all the risk of repairing or replacing your car if it is damaged or stolen. If you drive a nice car—anything but a clunker—you’ll want to have collision and comprehensive insurance, but you can choose a higher deductible.

Lowering the limits. Many people purchase only the state-required insurance limits. This is extremely risky. Not only are the same for your current assets at risk, but so is your earning capacity. You can have an obligation to pay damages from your income for years into the future. Raising your liability limits above what most people in your state but is good practice for anyone who has a good job or good savings. If you are focusing on frugal living and providing for your family, you likely have a home with equity, college savings and other assets. All of these are in danger. Insuring yourself with unusually high limits is remarkably inexpensive—once you’re past 30—if you have a safe driving record. The odds of your having a major accident with lots of injuries and extensive property damage are low. The insurance company understands this and they won’t charge you much for taking this risk of your hands.

As a general rule, when buying insurance, it makes sense to pay others to take risks you can do not possess the means to pay yourself. Similarly, it doesn’t make much sense to pay someone else to take risks you can not afford to take. So, raise your deductible to a level you can afford and use the premium savings to increase your liability limits to cover the risks you can’t afford. Talk to your insurance agent today to be sure does not leave the coverage you need.

Two Ways That Doing Nothing Makes You Big Money

There are for two ways that doing nothing saves you big money that can make all the difference in your life and retirement.

The first is when you decide not to sell your car and have a new one. Most people will be doing this dozens of times over their lives. We all know someone who buys a new car every year or two, perhaps even the same model in the same color. This is only an expensive habit.

Imagine this hypothetical, nonsensical transaction. Let’s say Bob has a year old blue car (pick your favorite make and model). Let’s assume that Bob would like a red one but is otherwise perfectly happy with the car. So Bob heads down to the dealer to trade his blue car for the red car (let’s assume they have a used red car otherwise identical to him on the lot).

In theory, of course, the two cars are economically indistinguishable and Bob should be in a position to trade one for the other at no charge. That won’t happen. The dealer will offer Bob a warranty of some sort, financing, a fancy place in which to perform the transaction, a welcome cup of coffee and perhaps a hot dog. Bob offers the dealer a used car that may or may not have problems he doesn’t disclose, if only because he doesn’t know they exist. For these and other reasons, Bob will get about 20% less for the trade in than he pays for the car he drives out.

On top of that, he’ll pay registration fees, sales tax on the difference and anything else the dealer and the state can think of to charge him while he’s got his checkbook out. When he leaves, Bob has an economically identical car to the one he drove in with, but he’s giving up 20 to 25% of the value in transaction costs to the dealer. (Bob wouldn’t do much if any better selling his car in the newspaper, on Craigslist, eBay, or parked on the corner.)

Of course, Bob would never make this trade—he’d paint the car instead. However, the hypothetical transaction serves to highlight a key point. The transaction of buying a car is expected to be very costly. By reducing the number of times you buy and sell a car, you are putting money in your wallet. When you buy a car, plan to drive it for at least seven years and preferably for ten or more.
Given that buying a new car costs about $4,000 in transaction related expenses, if you reduce the number of times you do that in your lifetime from 25 to 10, you’ll save $60,000 over your lifetime—by doing nothing.

The extra time when doing nothing pays, is when you get the itch to sell your home and get a new one. Some people move around town in a frantic hopscotch hoping to be able to find the perfect home, the perfect neighborhood or the perfect school. Each purchase and sale costs about 10% of the value of the homes, easily $20,000 today. If you do that twice in your lifetime instead of ten times in your lifetime you’ll easily save $160,000—by doing nothing!

Walking Or Biking Can Save More Money Than You May Think!

According to one source (it.Ly/VwIRc0), 10% of automotive trips are for distances of less than one mile and more than 20% are less than two miles. If you went to walk or bike for some of these trips, you’d use your car less, save money, protect the environment and get something worthwhile exercise. Here are a few ideas to help you walk more and drive less.

1.  Prepare a list of places you’ll walk rather than drive. You may need to keep track of where you drive for a while for this to work, but note not only those places where driving requires a trip of less than a mile or two, but also note where you can walk shorter distances than you can drive—many subdivisions feature bike and walking paths where you can’t legally drive, allowing you to shortcut a driving trip. (for instance, to drive to the grocery store is about 1 mile from my home, but the walk is almost exactly half as far.)

2.  Measure the distance you’d drive to each of the places you choose to walk or ride.

3.  Measure the distance you walk or ride to go to each of these places.

4.  Follow up the miles you avoided driving. If walking and biking enables you to get rid of a car, you’re saving more than 50 cents per mile; if you keep the car, you’re still likely saving about a quarter (unless you have a plugin electric vehicle).

5.  Follow up the miles you walk or ride. Note that a typical person burns more than 100 calories (it.Ly/Ee4T7) per mile walked and up to 50 calories (it.Ly/YNNxSa) per mile on a bike.

6.  Make walking and biking for your errands a key part of your exercise program. Instead of walking 30 minutes on a treadmill or riding an hour on your spin cycle, go walk or ride an errand instead.

7.  If nothing else, the money you cut down on gas can go to something much more fun, like a donut or ice cream while you’re out and about. If you’re disciplined, the money can be kept for something much more meaningful and the calories burned can translate into a skinnier, healthier you.

By systematically organizing your exercise plan to be productive you can save time and money and lose weight too—all while you do something tangible to help the environment!

How Much Can You Really Save By Using Public Transportation?

The average commute in America is about 15 miles each way, meaning that a typical commuter drives 30 miles every day to get to and from work. How much could you really save by parking your car and taking public transportation? Let’s do the math together. It may surprise you.

First, we have responsibility for determining whether you’ll get rid of your car altogether or just park it while you’re at work instead of driving it. If do away with the car altogether, you’ll save a great deal more than if you park it.
Let’s consider all of the costs of owning a car, presuming you drive a total of 1,000 miles per month (meaning you’re driving 400 miles per month on top of the commute and you’ll have to find some other way to cover those miles, too).

If your car gets about 30 miles per gallon, you’ll burn about 33 gallons of gas each month, which at $4 per gallon results in a cost of $132 per month. Car insurance varies wildly from person to person, but could be easily $100 per month, depending upon your car, your age and your driving record. Maintenance costs are generally low for new cars and sharp for old cars, but can easily exceed $100 per month, remembering that one set of tires or new brakes will cost hundreds of dollars.

The biggest cost of all is the cost of owning the car, really the depreciation. Roughly 80% of the car’s values will be gone after 10 years. The simplest way to examine this is that the car will depreciate approximately 15% each year. The average price of a new car in 2012 is a shade over $30,000. Depending on the model and condition, five years older cars might be worth only $13,000. The depreciation for the year will be close to $2000 or $167 per month. If do not leave a car loan with a 5% interest rate and a $10,000 balance, the interest is costing about $40 per month.

The total of all these costs would be $539, assuming you own a fairly mediocre car or about $0.54 per mile. If your car is bigger, newer, fancier or gets worse gas mileage or if, you have a poor driving record the cost could be significantly higher.

What it may cost to use public transportation in your city should be simple to find out. In mine, commuting would cost $78.50 per month or less than $3.60 per day, meaning that I would save $460 per month if I could jettison the car and use public transportation instead. That would give me plenty of room to use a car share, a taxi cab or even an occasional rental car for special occasions and still be money ahead.

If you don’t sell the car, but park it, you can’t get rid of the depreciation, interest or insurance, but you can reduce the fuel and maintenance proportionally. Fuel and maintenance combine for an average of $0.23 per mile in our example (more if your car is older or larger than average). The fuel and maintenance costs per mile totals about $7 per day for 30 miles of commuting. So, using public transportation at a cost of $3.60 per day would save you almost half or $3.40 per day—and it’s very green. If you are provided for parking, the savings will add up even faster.

How To Master Money So It Doesn’t Master You

Interest is relentless, whether it is about work for you or against you. You can ensure that the principles of compound interest are working for you. For instance, if you invest $1,000 each month, earning only 5% interest, you will accumulate a value of more than $830,000. On the other hand, if you borrow money at 5% and make monthly payments for 30 years, as with a mortgage, you can only borrow $186,000.

Most of us will be obliged to borrow money in order to buy a home. That is wise, notwithstanding the experiences of the past five years. Homes do tend to appreciate in value over long periods of time (though there are no guarantee). More importantly, home ownership is often help improve the stability of the home. That’s what you’re really about.

Most people choose to drive cars that require car loans. It isn’t, however, that hard to purchase a car in cash. A new car payment could easily reach $500. In just six months of saving that amount, you can buy a car that runs and will likely continue to run for several years with regular maintenance, but with no car payment and very little depreciation

If you save $400 each month for your next car (spending the extra $100 on maintenance) after two years you’ll have put $9,600 into savings on which you’ll have earned some interest, so you’ll likely have $10,000 of cash, plus a $1,000 clunker for a trade in. You’re not buying a clunker any more. Sure, you’ll be purchasing a used car, but likely one that you can drive with pride for five years or more. Along the way, you’ll keep saving and at the rate of $400 per month with a little interest, you’ll accumulate $25,000 of cash, plus your trade in so now you can get a new car if you want. Drive that for seven to ten years, and your next car will be one you’ll be pleased to be purchasing!

This same principle and pattern apply to almost anything. It applies to your vacations (OK, you can’t trade-in a used vacation), a new set of golf clubs for your husband, a new bicycle for you—just about anything that threatens to stretch your spending budget. The impact of savings for smaller purchases can be even greater than for your car because the interest you are paid to credit cards—the way you borrow money for bicycles and golf clubs—is a lot higher than the interest rate on a typical car loan.

Plenty of people let their consumer debt accumulate until it looks like a car loan and all they have to show for it is used stuff that would be difficult to sell at a garage sale and some photos from vacation. You can take control of money by saving for things you make up for instead of using credit cards and loans. If you do, you’ll find that money works for you and makes your life easier, not harder. You’ll be investing in stocks, bonds and real estate and planning for a wonderful retirement while your friends hold garage sales.

I Just Paid Off My Car; Should I Trade It In Now?

Congratulations on paying back your car. There were likely to be days along the way when you worried the car wouldn’t last as long as the loan of the car. But it made it! You have been raised to be a huge financial step forward. Now what?

Follow this simple system and you’ll never have a car payment again!

1.  Go on the car you have just. Take care of it. You want everything baby to continue years. (If you haven’t told your car lately that you love her. Now might be a good time.)

2.  Need to ensure that the car payment. What!?! Make the car payment into a savings account. Keep the money sacred for your next car.

3.  Buy a “new” car. When the cash accumulated plus the value of your trade-in (which we know is going down every day) combine to buy you a car you’d like, one that you can drive comfortably for years to come (even if it’s a used car), go ahead and buy it.

4.  Don’t borrow any money. When you purchase your car, don’t borrow any money. If your savings are only $5,000 and your trade in is only worth $5,000 either buys a $10,000 used car or awaits your savings to accumulate a little more.

5.  Need to ensure that the car payment. What!?! I know, I pointed out that this before, but you just bought a perfectly good used car for cash and you might be able stop doing just payment. Don’t stop. Keep putting the car payment into your savings account month after month. In five years, you’ll have enough to purchase a very nice used car or an affordable modern car.

6.  Don’t borrow any money. You’re beginning to see the pattern, aren’t you? Now that your car is paid off, you never have to obtain a car loan again. Just be disciplined enough not to buy a car you can’t afford to purchase for cash.

Let’s put some numbers to this example. If your car payment was $500, you can save $12,000 in two years—plus you’ll earn interest on that. If you had a five year loans on a new car, your car is located in a position to seven years old—still in very nice shape. It may be useful to $10,000. You can now buy a car costing about $22,000. Yes, it may be a used car, but likely only a few years old. You can easily file an application with another five years. At the end of the five years, you’ll have $30,000 plus interest in savings and a car worth about $10,000 as a trade in. You’ll be in a position to purchase a car as virtuous—or nicer—than the one you bought five years ago—, but this time for Cash! Just do your $500 per month car payment to yourself for the next seven years and the neighbors will really be struck with the care you bring home.

Chances are, however, when you start spending your hard-earned savings for your cars instead of the bank’s money, you’ll find you have less interest in the fancy car and more interest in the other things you can get through with the money. You have kids who need to get to college. You want to retire. Pursuing this system will put you in financial control of your life and empower you to better plan your family.

Seven Tips For Buying And Driving A Car You Can Really Afford

Chances are you really can’t afford the car you’re driving. Most Americans spend too much on cars, reconciled that they must always have at least one and perhaps two (or more) cars payments. If your car is good to more than you have in your retirement savings, you really can’t afford it.

You can—and should—drive a car that doesn’t require that you borrow the money. Here are some tips to help you do just that:

1.  Drive the car you have already for a long time. If you still be making payments on your car, plan to keep driving it for several years after you pay it off so that you can save up for its replacement. When you replace the car, limit your purchase to your savings plus the value of your trade-in, even if that means you have to buy a used car.

2.  Take good care of the car, you have so you don’t have to buy a new one. Don’t defer maintenance; take care of problems while they are small.

3.  Don’t is to try to keep up with the Joneses. It is always tempting to buy a new car, much more so when the neighbors all upgrade. Don’t let your neighbors decide when you need another car; you decide when you have the money saved and try to make that purchase.

4.  Remember that virtually every car is discovered in the same place: the wrecking yard. Cars are not investments. They do not build equity—even if your husband says they do. They are productive but depreciating assets. Buy a car for the utility it provides and not the style it evokes.

5.  Just looks for a car that is affordable to own and operate. When you buy a car again someday (see number above) look for a car that is affordable. Intellichoice.com provides ownership cost estimates that can help you compare the cars you’re considering. Sometimes the cheapest car isn’t the cheapest. Sometimes the car with the lowest sticker price isn’t the car with the lowest total ownership cost. However, be sure to buy a cute cat you’ll be happy to drive for a long time!

6.  Educate yourself before do not leave a car. When you purchase a car, be sure to educate yourself thoroughly before going to see a dealer (consider seeing multiple dealers to get the best deal). You should have a good idea about the car you wish to purchase, the price of the options you want and especially the factory incentives available on new cars. A number of web sites, including MSN Autos (on-msn.com/gQxonM), offer this information, some for a small fee. Arm yourself so that you don’t over pay for that new car.

7. The best car is no car. If you can eliminate a card from your garage by using public transportation, car sharing, walking, bicycling or car pooling, you will find yourself saving so much money you’ll never want to have a car again.

29 Keys To Financial Happiness

1. Having enough money makes people happier than not having enough; having more money doesn’t make people even happier.

2. The key to financial happiness may be wanting less rather than having more.

3. Don’t spend more than you earn.

4. Don’t be not scared of hard work.

5. A college education is imperative in today’s “knowledge” economy.

6. Think about saving for the future; it will be there soon enough.

7. Teach your children the value of money; let them want something badly enough to purchase it themselves.

8. Purchase a house you can afford and that you’ll want to live in for a long time.

9. Don’t let what other people think of your car dictate what you drive; you really don’t care what someone thinks who would judge your worth by the price of your car.

10. Take good care of your stuff.

11. Don’t be scared of public transportation.

12. People who understand interest collect more than they pay.

13. Paying off your mortgage really is a matter of celebration.

14. Credit cards are a convenient way to be paid for things you want, but only if you actually have the money to pay the credit card bill.

15. Saving 20% on something you don’t need is an 80% waste of money.

16. Don’t torture yourself; shopping is torture when you don’t have the money to purchase what you want.

17. Work is supposed to be working; that’s why they pay you to do it.

18. If it’s not raining, you better be saving, because the rain will come.

19. You've been working for money until you can get money to push for you; keep saving and investing.

20. Make coming out of debt something you do and not just something you do not think that.

21. Stop borrowing and start saving; you’ll thank yourself someday.

22. Family finances are a family affair; let everyone help to conserve and save.

23. You can be eco-wise by being environmentally friendly and economically minded.

24. You really will die without food and shelter; you really won’t perish without Prada.

25. A new $300 driver may not do nearly as much for your drive as a $5 bucket of balls at the driving range.

26. Quality family time can happen just as easily camping in a National Park as at Disney World; choose the vacation that meets your budget best.

27. Did you babysit, deliver papers or mow lawns as a teenager? Do your kids?

28. Don’t compare your former home to the home your parents own now; compare your former home to their former home.

29. Money’s only valid value is the good you can be made.

Seven Ways Honesty Is Key To Frugal Living

You and your family would wish to live more comfortably and more frugally. One of the keys to successful frugality is honesty. These are just a few specific examples.

1.  Honest with yourself: in order to live frugally, you are under an obligation to live within a budget. This requires you to be honest with yourself about your spending. You can call a haircut “groceries” but you can’t feed your kids a haircut.

2.  Honest with your spouse: Successful frugality requires peace at home, which requires honesty between spouses. If you decide that you won’t spend more than $100 without the approval of your spouse, you need to be truthful about it and hold yourself accountable just as you will hold your spouse accountable.

3.  Honest with your employer: Earning a living is very important to your lifestyle. Nothing will get an employee fired faster than a breach of trust. Whether it be petty things like not working a full shift, “borrowing” office supplies, fudging on a expense report or lying about who drained the coffee pot without putting a new one on, any of these can violate a trust that leaves your job in jeopardy. Be scrupulous.

4.  Honest with creditors: When you borrow money, you have an obligation to accept that obligation as a literal, moral obligation to repay the money—not just eventually—but on the agreed upon terms. All your obligations are tracked carefully by those whom you owe and failure to be paid on time and as agreed can have long lasting and painful implications. Don’t borrow money you can not afford to repay.

5.  Honest with merchants: as you go through your day making purchases of all sorts, you demand absolute integrity and honesty from the merchants where you shop. If the price tag says $19.99, you are supposed to pay $19.99. If the system pulls it up to $24.99, you’ll call them on the error. Let the street run both ways. If the merchant makes an error in your favor, get to know. Not because your kids are watching, or even because its good karma. Do it ' cause it’s the right thing to do?

6.  Honest with your children: kids have a difficult time understanding money and limits. They may not understand why you don’t have $10 for milkshakes on the way to the grocery store where you’ll spend $100 on groceries. Don’t lie to them. Explain honestly that as a family you must have priorities and that in order to be in a position to afford essential things, sometimes giving up less worthy things is required. Honest dialog with your kids will make them your allies in saving money.

7.  Honesty in reporting: As you seek to live frugally, to save for the future and maintain a happy home, you need in order to measure your progress. Be scrupulous in the preparation of your reports. Follow up where the money goes, how much you do in savings and what your assets are worth compared to what you owe. Keep track in an honest way so that you and your spouse can use of reports to better plan and organize for the future.

Being honest with yourself and others regarding money will contribute meaningfully to have a prosperous home and family. Operating as a family, communicating honestly with one another about money, and treating your employer and merchants with integrity will tip the scales in your favor in the long run.

What You Expect May Determine Financial Contentedness

Everyone hopes to be able to have a little more than they have now. It is human nature. Having reasonable expectations for your stage of life, for your retirement and your children’s education can get a big influence on how content you feel with what you have.

Consider the following examples:

1.  Your home: If your parents live in a 6,000 square foot homes on a half-acre lot in a gated community and you think that you should be in a position to start out the same thing, you are likely to be disappointed and frustrated. Figure out where your parents had their first home. Go sees it if you can. Set expectations for what a primary home should be. If your parents were both MDs and you’re a school teacher married to an artist just launching a career, you may need further adjustment to your expectations. Take some time to really understand what lifestyle you can afford and work to align your expectations with what’s real.

2.  Your car: Cars are crazy. Some people would rather own a nice car and live in a tent than drive an old clunker and have a home with a garage to park (or hide) it in. That means that you can find some unusual reference points, like the kid delivering pizzas in a BMW. You have a duty to set your expectations for your car in the context of your personal priorities. If you want to do a home and that’s a stretch, you’ll probably be driving a modest car for the next several years. Own your choices and don’t be ashamed to drive an affordable car.

3.  Your kids''s college: You may want to send your kids to college at Cornell. But Ivy League tuition isn’t cheap. Even if you get an above average household income, tuition, books, room and board at an Ivy League school may be now a man with no reach—at least without piling on the debt. On the other hand, attending a state school near home may provide a much more affordable education and one that still open doors of opportunity. Many people have found that an undergraduate degree from a good state school can still qualify students for elite graduate school programs.

4.  Your retirement: You may want to retire at 50 and live between the beach and the golf course in Hawaii, but unless you have extraordinary good fortune, retirement will come closer to 70 and you’ll find it wise to move to a smaller home or condominium when you do. If you plan and prepare well for the equitable retirement plan, you’ll be the most likely to take advantage of it when it comes. If you have dreams of extraordinary luxury and an early retirement, you might coax yourself into taking investment risks that not only don’t achieve the goal of providing for an early retirement, they could instead leave you without the resources to have the reasonable retirement you deserve.

As you get a little look at your circumstances, it is advantageous to aspire to have a little more, to work and save and plan for the future. You may doom yourself to a perpetual state of disappointment if you expect things to obtain much better than you can reasonably expect. If fortune smiles on you, it will be not difficult to adjust to having more money; plan and prepare for less and you’ll enjoy life more.

Ten Ways To Feel Richer By Wanting Less

No matter how much money we have, it never appears to be enough. This is true for the wealthiest people I know in the same way that it is true for most average folks. One thing I’ve seen, however, is that a few people are satisfied with what they have and as a result they manage it better. Those who are so focused on keeping up with the Joneses tend to frustrate their financial futures by buying too much stuff and spending too much on fancy vacations.

Here are a few tips to help you live life wanting less and enjoying what you have a lot more!

1.  Volunteer at a food pantry or homeless shelter where you will have the opportunity to interact with people who have a lot less than you.

2.  Don’t ever move to a neighborhood where most of your neighbors have more money, drive nicer cars, travel to more exotic places for vacation and wear nicer clothes than you do.

3.  Seek out friends who have less money than you have, who’ll be happy to go to dinner at less expensive restaurants, who’ll want to catch a matinee with you rather than pay full price for a movie.

4.  Take good care of the things, you have so that you don’t feel so much pressure to replace them, especially your car(s).

5.  Make regular contributions to your savings account and focus on the progress you’re making there so you are less distracted by fake savings opportunities in department stores—purchasing something you don’t need at 20% off is an 80% waste of money.

6.  Donate some of your hard-earned money to a cause that you are passionate about to help put your discretionary spending into a different context (think Oskar Schindler slowly evaporating his wealth to save his Jewish friends—though you don’t have to give away all of your money to gain a greater appreciation for what you do have).

7.  Join an organization that includes people from all walks of life, including some who have much less than you; you’ll find that you don’t feel nearly so much pressure to pull up to an event with a diverse group of people in a brand new car if some of the folks in the group don’t even own cars.

8.  When you purchase a home, have two goals in mind: find a home where you can live “forever” and that you can easily afford so you won’t be immediately tempted to move and so your home doesn’t make you feel so inferior.

9.  Walk somewhere you normally drive (especially if the round trip is shorter than a mile) to save money and remind you what a luxury your car really is—most of the people in the world don’t own cars.

10. Plan your next vacation as a service vacation, building homes for Habitat for Humanity or, if you can easily afford it, in a desperately poor country on the other side of the world where you can see abject poverty, do something to relieve it, and come home with an even greater appreciation for things you have.

Buy This, Not That! 16 Examples Of Money Saving Tradeoffs

Every day we face purchase decisions that at the end of the month we’ll have to face in the form of a bank statement being a reminder of how little money is entrusted. Here are some ideas to help you spend less:

1.  Buy cell phone service from a prepay vendor like Virgin Mobile (it.Ly/iwWxN) rather than one of the big two cell phone providers who charge twice as much for the privilege of paying 30 days later.

2.  Purchase is $5 bucket of balls at the driving range rather than $300 on a new driver—it may have the same effect on your game.

3.  Buy the store brand rather than the national brand (after you double check the price to be sure you actually save money).

4.  Buy a bag of old school popcorn you pop on the stove or in a popcorn popper instead of microwave popcorn.

5.  See the last matinee of the day and have dinner afterward rather than having dinner before the movie and then paying full price for the evening showing.

6.  Better still, rent the DVD and fix a nice dinner at home rather than talking about the movie in the theater and eating out.

7.  Purchase a $199 Google Nexus (it.Ly/OtVIMZ) instead of a $499 iPad (it.Ly/JviKN7). Don’t let anyone tell you’re not cool enough.

8.  Read ebooks rather than print books; many ebooks are available for free!

9. Golf municipal courses rather than private courses.

9.  Run instead of making a bike for fun and exercise—it’s much cheaper.

10.Buy a car that is a year or two older rather than a new one (be sure to keep it as long as you would have kept the new one to get the maximum benefit).

11.Buy designer clothes in consignment shops no department stores.

12.Buy what you need but don’t want (a purple tie for your brother’s wedding) at a thrift store when you can.

13.Buy the McDouble (it.Ly/okO8b3) off the dollar menu rather than a Quarter Pounder with cheese; you get almost the same taste, fat, calories and cholesterol to less than half the price!

14.Drink water in restaurants where soda is grossly overpriced and drinks soda at home from two-liter bottles you buy for a book on sale at the grocery store.

16. Buy a few nice clothes for work rather than piles of extra cheap clothes; your boss and your colleagues whon’t care that you look familiar in your favorite outfit if you look nice and clean.

16 Tips To Help You Spend Less Than You Earn

Everyone understands the goal of living together with their means, spending less than they earn and saving for a rainy day. Most people don’t do it. Here are some simple tips to help you break the pattern:

1.  Live in a neighborhood where most people make a little less than you do so you won’t feel so much pressure to be devoted.

2.  Contribute to your 401k at work so you don’t have a chance to spend the money you’re saving.

3.  Use Mint.com, free on-line budgeting system, to track your spending and allow you to manage your financial goals. (Don’t like Mint.com? Try another system.)

4.  Find yourself an allowance for discretionary spending—in cash. When the cash is a state party, stop spending—no credit cards!

5.  Don’t shop when you don’t have money left in your budget; build your willpower by staying away

6.  Proudly drives the old car you’ve got and play it so it will last a long time. It may be that nothing hurts a budget more than buying a new car.

7.  Walk to perform errands that can be made by foot—stop laughing at yourself for driving two blocks for this or three blocks for that.

8. Eat out less; eat more.

8.  Eat lunch preparation marathon once or twice a month, preparing meals in bulk that can be frozen and reheated later, saving money and time.

9.  Look for cheaper hobbies or cheaper ways to enjoy the hobbies you have. Running is cheaper than booking (no bike, less gear). Golfing at the municipal course is cheaper than at the club.

10.Use coupons, watch sales, and shop smart to purchase the things you need.

11.Don’t buy things you don’t need that doesn’t fit in your budget no matter how good the sale, no matter how big the discount! Set for yourself the difference between a “needs” and a “wants.”

12.Engage the entire family. Let everyone be a part of the plan to save money; everyone will benefit so let everyone share the sacrifice.

13.Don’t utilize credit cards, pay-day loans or other borrowed money to close the gaps in each paycheck. Borrowing will only make the next paycheck cycle harder.

14.Just look for substitutes in the grocery store that save considerable dollars each month, but won’t impact your pleasure much. Think two-liter bottles of soda instead of cans, store brand products instead of the name brands. You get rid of the same food and the same pleasure, but at a lower cost.

Applying even a handful of these ideas consistently, over time will make a massive impact on your budget.

Nine Tips For Selling Your Valuable “Junk” Online

For most household items that you can no longer use but that have some useful life remaining, donating them to a charitable organization like a homeless shelter or thrift store can be a lot easier. Of your valuable goods, however, you may like to take the time and effort to sell them online.

Here are some tips to help you maximize the sales proceeds for the items you sell:

1.  Pricing: Before you sell it, look carefully for similar items for sale to see what the fair and reasonable price is.

2.  Big Items: If it is too big to ship, carry or move easily (like an old sofa or a bed) Craigslist.org works great. It is all just an online local classified advertising that is free for most listings. It is not difficult to use. (I generally price things low to get someone with a pickup truck to show up quickly with a friend to haul my old stuff away, saving me the trouble.)

3.  Shipping Efficient Items: If your item is compact and light enough to ship efficiently and especially if it is unlikely to break in transit, you can try eBay. Bay (it.Ly/FSAEQ) listings give you national and international reach for things that you can ship. What you can ship may surprise you.

4.  Cars: There is rather a market for cars on eBay. If your car could be considered rare or collectible, you should certainly consider selling your car on eBay. If your car has graduated to clunker status, just trading it may be the best bet. You can also list cars for sale on Craigslist.org (cheaper and easier than eBay).

5.  Free Stuff: If you’re like me, there are some things that are so big and ugly you’d give them to anyone who’d show up to haul it away. You can list such things as Craigslist.org or Freecycle.org.

6.  Ay: Because eBay tracks feedback and allows both buyers and sellers to rate one another, it is a good idea to buy a few things on-line before you try to sell something so that you can validate your good name. Purchase cheap things; pay promptly. Request feedback if none is provided automatically. Give the seller feedback. Then, sell your least valuable things first and find out to something like a car where feedback would be key.

7.  Racialist: Craigslist is not eBay. There is not any feedback mechanism. Do not agree to anything other than cold, hard cash as payment from anyone from Craigslist. Ever. Do not take things for Craigslist buyers; chances are very good you’d hold them forever. Tell everyone the same thing—the first one to prove up with the cash gets the goods.

8.  Good photos: Whether you are selling an item on Craigslist or eBay, you need good photos. You can get wonderful photos with a cheap camera if you have excellent light. Try taking photos with and without flash, inside and outside and then choose the photos with the truest colors and the sharpest focus.

9.  Don’t Lie: Don’t ever lie about your stuff. The cultural ethic on eBay will punish fibbers harshly. Provide complete and accurate descriptions of your stuff to prevent negative feedback. Remember, on Craigslist, someone who lives in your town will come to your home to provide you with cash; you’d hate to make a tall guy with a pickup truck and a lofty friend mad because you weren’t honest about your stuff.

You can quickly and easily sell your old stuff on-line, converting old junk into cash. You can’t retire on the proceeds, but selling old junk to cash sure beats renting a storage unit to it!

What Does It Mean To Be “Tax Deductible” And Why Does It Matter?

As go through life, you’ll often hear references to things being “tax deductible.” All kinds of different things are. Figuring out what tax deductible could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year.

Being tax deductible allows you to deduct the expense (a charitable gift, your mortgage interest, business expenses, etc.) from your income on your tax return. If you give $100 to charity, that will not cut taxes by $100. It will reduce taxable income by $100. If your marginal tax rate is 28%, then you would save $28 on your taxes by donating $100—under certain circumstances. Many Americans have an effective tax rate of zero so a tax deduction does not have value.

Note the following examples to illustrate how tax deductions work.

Charitable Contributions: A donation to charity is deductible (subject to some limitations that rarely apply) so long as your total deductions for medical care, mortgage interest, and charitable contributions (along with a few other categories) total more than the standard deduction (1.usa.gov/UtEQpw) ($12,750 for 2011 for most married couples filing jointly). In other words, if your total mortgage interest, charitable donations and other eligible expenses total less than $12,750 for most couples, there is no benefit to having tax deductible expenses.

Mortgage Interest: Mortgage interest on your primary residence works just like charitable contributions to offset income if the sum of eligible deductions exceeds the standard deduction. Interest on a second home is not usually deductible. Mortgage interest on an investment property is deductible on another form; it isn’t impacted by the standard deduction threshold.

Medical Expenses: Medical expenses are only deductible to the extent that they are more than 7.5% (1. Usa. Gov/2DQ4Q5) of your income; you can only deduct the portion that exceeds 7.5%. They, together with charitable contributions and mortgage interest must exceed the standard deduction in order to be done deductible.

Business Expenses: If you have a small business you may deduct customary business expenses on your tax return. If you manage a day care center in your home, for instance, you may be located in a position to deduct food and other supplies used by the children in your care against the income you generate with the business. Under some circumstances, you can deduct depreciation on the space in your home dedicated to the business. If the business loses money, you may be located in a position to offset other income of business losses (this won’t work if the IRS thinks your business is a hobby).

Understanding these basic concepts won’t make it easy for you to produce your personal tax return—especially if you make a business. Knowing how tax deductions work, however, may allow you to make better spending decisions during the year. If you are positioned in a situation where you can deduct your charitable contributions, for instance, you now understand that charitable contributions are effectively cheaper for you because of the tax savings.

Before you file your tax return, seek help form an experienced CPA.