|
|
|
January 14, 2011, at 6:00 am If you're new to BFS, please subscribe to my RSS feed. It shows me a vote of support and keeps me motivated to keep your attention. If you have any questions or comments for me, please contact me and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for visiting! This is a blog swap post from Joe at Retire By 40, where he writes about his journey to early retirement. Feel free to check out my post, Best Financial Advice, at his site for a comparison.
The best financial advice I’ve ever received was from my dad when I finished college and started my first job. He advised me to contribute as much as I can to the 401k plan. I didn’t want to do that because I was a starving college student for so long. I wanted to get a nice car, nice apartment, new guitar, big TV, go out, and all that good stuff. Who wants to wait 40 years before using that hard earned money?
This was an unexpected advice from my dad. He had always been self employed and never formally saved for retirement. Any money coming in was always spent on necessities, the kids’ education, and “investments.” These investments included high risk stocks, antiques, gambling, land, and more. His risk tolerance was extremely high and he never figured out how to conserve capital, so he always had to start over again and again. So imagine my surprise when he was adamant about contributing to the 401k plan right away.
In any case, I started contributing to the company’s 401k plan as soon as I started working. Looking back over the record, it took me about 4 years before I maxed out the contribution and I stayed maxed out ever since. I got married a few years after and convinced the Mrs. to max out her contribution as well. In hindsight, maxing out the 401k contribution as soon as we did was the best move we could have made at the time. The 401k is the biggest chunk of our net worth now. Here are some reasons to contributing as soon as you start a career.
- You are used to the starving student lifestyle so you won’t really notice the automatic deduction that happens every pay check. This is still the most money you’ve ever seen.
- The earlier you start saving the better off you’ll be in the future. This power of compound interest is undisputed. If you don’t know what to invest in, just put it all in a large cap index fund. When you are starting out, the amount of contribution matters much more than how well your investment does. You can adjust it later when you know more about investing.
- There are the usual reasons that the 401k is a great investment. These includes pre-tax savings, employer matching contribution, and auto deduction.
I will have to thank my dad again for this great advice the next time I see him.
Remember – Nobody thinks about quitting when they started a new career so they don’t think about retirement. It’s our responsibility to help them start saving for retirement right off the bat.
Crystal’s Comments: I want to scream when I hear that people are not contributing up to at least the minimum to get the maximum company match! Grrr…STOP GIVING AWAY FREE MONEY!!! Yep, I’m a big fan of contributing to a 401(k) and a Roth IRA so you can balance your withdrawals in retirement to stay in the lowest tax bracket possible. 
January 13, 2011, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post from Tim, a finance blogger who believes that a person can become rich with a rich mindset. More than financial freedom, he believes in changing the world by first changing himself before others.
What are the risks in business and what to do about them? Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. While I am sharing these with you, these should not intimidate or stop you, but rather prepare you for possible outcomes. Like Sun Tzu said in his Art of War, “know yourself and know your enemy and you need not worry about the outcome of a hundred battles”.
Before you go into uncharted waters, you might want to ask yourself if you have what it takes to run a successful business. I think that whether you can or not only depends on whether you can answer “yes” to all of the points below.
Possibility of Failure – The number one risk in business is definitely the possibility that your business will fail. Is it something that we can do nothing about? Absolutely not. There are ways to reduce the risk of failure and that is by equipping ourselves with as much knowledge as we can, and to make sure that we are passionate about the business that we are getting ourselves into.
Unpredictable Business Climate – Experience of course would help tell you what could happen next. However, for us rookies, this is one of our handicaps. There are times when your business will have a roller coaster ride, and what do you do when your income seems to landslide? Would your emotion also get a ride? Remember that financial decisions should not be made based on emotions, so be prepared as the market does often get mood swings.
More Responsibilities – Contrary to popular belief, having a business actually means more and bigger responsibilities. You will not be dealing with only one boss like you probably have in your job. You will actually have a lot more bosses as your customers grow in number! However, with proper delegation and careful planning, you can rid yourself of some responsibilities in exchange for a portion of your income without depriving yourself of the technical work that you love to do. It should be worth the time since you’ll have more time to think on how to grow your business rather than working in it. After all, as a business owner, growing your business is your primary responsibility.
Long Hours of Work – Contrary to popular belief, starting a start up takes a lot of hard work. They say that the start up phase is the most productive phase of a business. That also means that during the first few years of your business, you will have less sleep and work longer hours. This is why I stressed above why it is important that you’re passionate about your line of business. If you enter into a business that you don’t like, you will not work hard enough and sooner or later, you will quit and your motivation will die along with your business.
Crystal’s Questions: I don’t know whether you need more of a left or right brain to successfully run your own business, but whichever it is, I think I have it. Running all of my blogs is a joy and an addiction. Whether your dream is recycling aluminum cans or running a dog kennel, it is doable with a little finesse. Have you ever started your own business? What were some of the risks you took on?
January 12, 2011, at 6:00 am
My husband and I joined Weight Watchers Online on January 4th. My in-laws had joined the month before and were already showing results, so we jumped in (despite the cost not being covered by my Flexible Spending Account, lol).
Weight Watchers Offers Balance
I immediately liked the idea more than I normally like diets because I knew Weight Watchers is about balance. I wouldn’t appreciate having to give up my favorite foods completely and now I don’t have to, yay! My yeast roll and other bread cravings may cost me a fourth of my points every week, but at least I can eat as many fruits and veggies as my heart desires without having to worry too much about the calorie count.
Weight Watchers Didn’t Cost Too Much
The price for Weight Watchers wasn’t too bad either. It is $17.95 a month paid 3 months in advance and then it goes to month-to-month thereafter. Granted, $107.70 (three months for two of us) is a good sum of cash up front AND it will end up costing us $430.80 if we use it for a full year. BUT, if it helps me to actually lose the 26 pounds I made a resolution to lose by the end of the year, then I think it is well worth it.
Weight Watchers Benefits
I have very little willpower when it comes to food, so accountability is worth a bunch to me. Weight Watchers Online has a point tracking system that assigns each person a certain number of daily/weekly points. It requires me to enter everything I eat every day and tracks the points I have already used and the ones I have left. It is literally a budget for food points. With some prioritization, I can still eat all of my favorite foods without continuing to gain weight. For some reason, that appeals to me.
Having my husband on board helps too. All of my weight loss attempts in the past fell through for me after a few months since I’d still eat huge portions at home. Now that my husband has to budget his food points just like me, we’re eating healthier choices and not stuffing ourselves silly every night.
Weight Watchers Results So Far
I started January 4th at 176 pounds. I am now down to 172. Not bad for a little more than a week!
I am shooting for 163 pounds by July 4th and 150 pounds by December 31st. You can keep up with my progress through the updates I post every Saturday. Feel free to join the Crystal Light Challenge if you need a little support to exercise more too.
Have you ever participated in Weight Watchers? Any other plans?
January 11, 2011, at 6:00 am
The way I see it, we had one heck of a year!
Financially Better
My husband finished graduate school last summer, so we were able to stop forking over that cash. PLUS, he was able to get a school librarian position that pays about $4000 more a year than his old teaching job.
I discovered blogging and made more than $5000 after expenses in 2010. After taxes, I should still come out ahead by at least $3000. My husband continued reffing high school football as a hobby job and brought in another $2000.
Overall, our net worth went from $124,700 to $166,900 - up $42,200 overall! In short, this was our best financial year ever!
Emotionally Better
2010 was a great year for us mentally as well. We both made new friends, which is an emotional life saver in and of itself. I found the best hobby ever through blogging (thank you all). Mr. BFS discovered the joys of a new hobby too – Curling.
We also found out that he was suffering from a mild depression due to his old job – he’s felt like a new man since becoming a librarian in late August. Lastly, we both learned to communicate a little better and support each other even more, so our home life is better than ever.
Tough Parts
Of course, there were some very hard parts of 2010 as well. My husband’s maternal grandmother passed away in May. She was the first close family member that either one of us has ever lost. She was a great woman - extremely loving, positive, and friendly despite the pain she had been in for years. I’m glad she isn’t suffering anymore, but saying goodbye wasn’t easy for anybody. The toughest part to handle was that she and hubby’s grandpa had been married for about 60 years – the death of a spouse in a relationship that long is mind boggling. Grandpa is getting along better than expected, but it is obvious he feels like he is missing his other half.
That loss was by far the worst part of 2010. Graduate school and job hunting for Mr. BFS was our only other really bad time. Mr. BFS took way more hours than a normal graduate student for librarian sciences since he wanted to finish in 15 months instead of 2 years. That meant we had to come up with $15,000 over 15 months. Between January-August, hubby was finishing the last semester of teaching, taking 5 classes for graduate school, job hunting, and he lost his grandma. That was a very difficult part of the year.
Overall
If I had a drink on me, I’d raise my glass right now to the tough times and great times of 2010. We made it through and are better for it. Our happiness increased, we didn’t fall for a Paypal email scam, and we are doing better than ever. Here’s to a great 2011 as well!
How was your 2010?
January 10, 2011, at 6:00 am
Welcome the the FIRST EVER Totally Money Blog Carnival!!! My sincere thanks to everybody who submitted to this inaugural edition! I’ve riddled this one with fun New Year’s quotes in honor of a new beginning. I hope to make you smile enough to see you all next week too!
To my regular readers, I will be hosting this carnival every Monday in January, but today is the only day I will not have another post too. So if blog carnivals aren’t your thing, don’t worry, I’ll have some regular BFS every Monday after this one too.
Editor’s Picks
“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.” ~ Anonymous
Budgeting
“I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit rounder, but still none the wiser.” ~ Robert Paul
Saving
“May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!” ~ Joey Adams
Money Management
“New Year’s Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” ~ Mark Twain
Frugality
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” ~ Bill Vaughan
Finance
“New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.” ~ James Agate
Debt
“Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average… which means, you have met your New Year’s resolution.” ~ Jay Leno
Credit
“The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.” ~ P.J. O’Rourke
Taxes
“New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.” ~ Mark Twain
Careers and Economy
“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” ~ Bill Vaughan
Other
Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go. ~ Brooks Atkinson
Thanks so much!!!
———-
Please submit your posts to the January 17th edition of the Totally Money Blog Carnival using the carnival submission form. Please remember that this carnival will only include recent, original posts about personal finance or money AND that a description MUST be included when you submit. Thank you!
Also, I am opening up Totally Money to outside hosts starting the week of February 7th, so feel free to throw your name in the ring if you match the qualifications. After looking at the qualifications and the Hosting Schedule, please contact me with your top 3 date preferences if you are interested!
January 9, 2011, at 6:00 am
During the Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge, you helped BFS soar from an Alexa ranking of more than 8 million in March 2010 to 49,852 on October 31, 2010. Thank you!!!
Then, after seeing all the interest for my blog stats and income updates, I created a new challenge to complete by January 1st, 2011. You helped me get an Alexa ranking of 43,055, 28,687 total visits, 239 RSS Subscribers, and 228 Twitter Followers!!! WOOT!
Since I do plan on blogging full time by 2012, this is the year for a HUGE push. I have come up with new goals to keep us on the right track!
Here are my Goals for July 4th, 2011:
Here is what we are shooting for by the Fourth of July – July 4th, 2011:
Alexa – Maintain a Ranking at or around 37,500
Visits – 60,000 total visits (I started BFS on February 20th, 2010)
Feedburner Subscribers – 500
Twitter Followers – 500
Today’s Update
Alexa – 41,674 (We are already so close!)
Visits – 29,437 (30,563 to go…we can do it!)
Feedburner Subscribers – 239 (261 to go)
Twitter Followers - 261 (239 to go)
As always, thank you so much for being my supporters! Obviously, I could not do any of this without you and I never forget that!!!
Now for the new updates! I joined The Saved Quarter Challenge this year and am aiming to save at least $21,000 by the end of 2011! That would be a tiny bit more than 25% of our GROSS pay from our two full time jobs.
Here’s how I’ve done this week for the Saved Quarter Challenge ($21,000 Goal):
I’m going to have better updates after the 13th of every month, because that is when our billing periods end and I’ll know for sure what’s left. But in the mean time, I’ll highlight any money events of the week:
This week I was able to close a blogging deal for $75, so woot for a little push! Of course, my husband and I also joined Weight Watchers Online and bought a few little items for that (more fruit and a kitchen scale), so I’m not sure how much of that $75 will end up seeing a savings account after the 13th, lol. Our mortgage overpayment of $160 has already been withdrawn so that’s banked! I also contribute about $80 (6%) on paydays to my 401(k) and that was taken out this week.
Total to date: $240 guaranteed, $20,760 to go.
Additonal Info
I will continue posting monthly and yearly blog statistics and income updates from here on out, so stay tuned at the beginning of every month!
In case you didn’t know, Alexa traffic rankings are determined by the numbers of hits a site gets by people with the Alexa toolbar. If you want to be part of this ranking community, you can download the Alexa toolbar here.
If you don’t already, you can follow me via RSS or Twitter by following those links.
To learn more about the Yakezie, check out my Yakezie page! Feel free to email me if you are a Yakezie member or challenger and don’t see yourself on the list!
If you are interested in seeing how I went from an 8 million plus Alexa rank to about 50,000 in less than 8 months, you can see My Blogging Schedule, which breaks down everything I do related to blogging.
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING THE BEST READERS EVER!!!
January 8, 2011, at 6:00 am
My Favorite Posts this Week
Guest Posts at BFS
Thank you both so much for the day off! I truly appreciate it!
If you would like to guest post on BFS, please contact me with your idea or post and I’d love to have you over for the day! If you are a business, please contact me here for more details. Thanks!
Giveaways and Other Info
I didn’t participate in any this week, but I did start my own -
Totally Money Blog Carnival
Please check it out and submit here every week!
If you are hosting a carnival that will include BFS, please email me so I can include it in my roundup. Thanks!
Top 5 Referring Sites to BFS in the Last Week:
I list the top 25 on the first Saturday of every month
- Yakezie
- Free Money Finance
- Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured
- Everyday Tips and Thoughts
- Punch Debt in the Face tied with Modern Tightwad
Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions. I’d love to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list or at least give a shout-out for great posts or contests.
As always, thanks to all the bloggers that teach me something new every day. Thanks to all my commenters for making this blog the community I want it to be. Thanks to all my “lurkers” too.  I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as me!
|
|
DISCLAIMER I am not a professional or a financial advisor. BFS posts are informational opinions only. Please make your own financial decisions based on personal research or see a financial advisor.
Also, there are paid links on this site. There is no obligation on your part to purchase any products advertised on this website.
|
http://www.budgetinginthefunstuff.com/the-best-financial-advice-i-ever-received/ http://www.budgetinginthefunstuff.com/the-best-financial-advice-i-ever-received/trackback/
