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July 20, 2011, at 4:00 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! The following is a guest post on behalf of Money Supermarket.
You have several different options when it comes to setting aside some money to save. While you can place your money in a traditional savings account or in a retirement plan, you may be interested in looking for ways to invest the money to get interest.
Here’s a ton about bonds:
- If you don’t mind waiting, bonds are a great way to get a return (or interest) on your original amount.
- You purchase a bond for a certain amount of money. On a future date, when your investment has matured, you can redeem the bond. You are then given the original investment back as well as the interest that was gained.
- On a positive note, there is little risk in this investment and it is a secure system. On the negative side, bond maturation can vary and usually it takes a while.
- Typically, bonds have a better return on interest. If you stick the same amount of money in a savings account, you aren’t going to come close to making the amount of interest that a bond would generate.
- If you have the cash and you don’t need access to it any time soon, this can be a sound venture. You can stagger your investments if you are worried about cash flow.
- If you aren’t sure that you want to have all of your money put away and inaccessible at the same amount of time, purchase bonds every once in a while. They will all reach maturation at different times and all of your money won’t be out of reach.
- You aren’t going to invest in bonds today and be a millionaire at the end of the year. In fact, this type of investment probably isn’t ever going to turn you into a millionaire.
- However, it is an uncomplicated way for you to put money aside and earn interest. Some bonds are set at a fixed interest rate. Because of this, you will have some idea of what you are going to get back for this bond.
- There are also instances where the interest rate can be flexible and will change based on economic conditions and other variables.
- Before taking on this type of investment, it is important to find out as much as possible about the specifics.
- Typically, short term investments come with a lot of risk. If you see yourself with some real long term goals, bonds are a viable option. The risk is low and you are in it for the long haul.
- Because of the length of time it takes for a bond to mature, many people choose to give them as a gift to children, or even grandchildren. The younger generation has the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of bond ownership.
- Before you rush out and start looking for bonds to invest in, check out the web to get the latest rates and to find out more about how you can obtain this type of investment.
- You can purchase directly from institutions such as the federal government and even the bank, but the more information you have about the investment, the better decision you will be able to make.
July 19, 2011, at 6:00 am
The following guest post is by Paula at AffordAnything.org. Thanks Paula!
I’m tired of saving money. I’ve saved ever since the Tooth Fairy was my sole source of income.
As a child, I stashed my allowance in a drawer. As a 15-year-old working at a McDonalds drive-thru, I stashed my paycheck in a savings account. When I was 17, I asked for a parent signature so I could open a brokerage account as a minor.
Well, guess what. Now I’m a grown-up. Now is when I start dealing with larger sums of money. Now is the time savings start to matter.
And I’m sick of it.
I recently was digging through some childhood items and I came across an old purse with $11 inside. I must have saved that, quarter by painstaking quarter, when I was a little kid.
All the grown-ups around me praised saving, so I saved. I never saved for a goal. I saved for the sake of saving. I thought it was the “right” thing to do.
I saved for the sake of saving. I imagined it would somehow – in some intangible way – benefit me as an adult. I imagined myself in 20 years, tall and well-groomed, proud of my young self for having the foresight to save her allowance.
Instead, my modern-day adult self thinks: “$11 is nothing. I’ve paid more than that for one day’s worth of event parking. Why didn’t my younger self just loosen up?”
DON’T MISS YOUR LIFE
Years ago I read an article – I think in Money Magazine? – about saving for retirement.
It was probably the 2,499,249,398th retirement article I’ve read, but it said something that I’ve never read anywhere else, which I’ll paraphrase:
Make sure you save enough for retirement, but also make sure you don’t save too much, or you will have spent your life living more frugally than you needed to.
That’s when it hit me: That’s exactly what I’ve been doing!
I had been saving not for a goal, because saving is my default method for handling money.
Savings help me feel secure, and that feeling of security is worth more than the “high” of a purchase.
But I might have been missing out on some crucial, enjoyable moments in life – some of which include things I can’t do when I’m older. I might be living too frugally, missing life.
Worse yet, I was at risk of snapping. I was at risk of knee-jerk splurging to overcompensate.
ALWAYS SAVE FOR A GOAL
The trick, I realized, is to save with intention. Saving for saving’s sake is hoarding.
I still save for long-term goals: retirement, creating passive income streams.
But I balance that by saving for short-term experiences, like flying to Europe or renovating my kitchen (both of which I plan on doing in 2012).
And I further balance it with spending on quality items: I work out at the best gym, not the cheapest one. I buy clothes because they’re well-tailored, not because they’re on the clearance rack.
No matter how your natural inclination leans – towards saving or spending – you’re best off doing a balance of both. We all know that spending indiscriminately is dangerous. Saving indiscriminately can be just as bad.
Crystal’s Comments: I am a big fan of savings goals. I am so glad Paula is allowing herself a little leeway now! Have you ever had to remind yourself to take a step back to see a big picture?
July 18, 2011, at 6:00 am
Yes, even though blogging is now officially paying me more than my day job ever did, I will be budgeting in self-employment. Specifically, I really dislike the idea of irregular paychecks.
My Plan’s Beginning
You may have noticed in my weekly savings updates that I have been building up a blogging income account at ING. My hope was to get it to $10,000 by the time I quit my day job so I’d have more than enough padding on months that I don’t bring in enough. I made it to $9200 as of July 15th and it looks like it will definitely be at $10,000 or more before I receive my last day job direct deposit on August 3rd.
I will be paying myself a biweekly paycheck directly from this accout so we never experience a budget crunch at all. In order for this plan to work, I have decided to pay myself $1500 every two weeks.
Taxes
From that biweekly paycheck of $1500, I will be transferring $400 directly into our tax account. I know that is only looks like about 27% set aside for taxes, but based on my monthly spending for blogging, it will actually come to about 30%-33% of my profits. Plus we already throw an extra $150 a month into the tax account just in case there are any nasty surprises in April (now quarterly), which there hasn’t been since we started doing that 4 years ago. In short, I am 99.9% sure that our taxes are covered with $400 from each of my biweekly contributions.
Insurance
Of the $1100 left, it looks like we’ll be spending about $125 with me on my husband’s insurance plan. That $125 biweekly should cover my health insurance, dental insurance, vision plan, and a basic life insurance policy. It’s not a fantastic plan – the deductibles aren’t great – but we have enough in our emergency fund to more than cover them.
I will know all of the details for sure in a few weeks. If I’m right based on last year’s info, then I should have about $975 left out of the original $1500 every two weeks. I was taking home $970 every two weeks at my day job, so I’ll have a $5 raise! Woot! Hahaha. 
Leftovers
If my the numbers from the past couple of months are any indication, there is a great chance that I will be bringing in more than $1500 every 2 weeks. All of my blog income is transferred into my blogging income account, which I want to keep above $10,000. If I have paid myself all of my paychecks in a month and there is more than $10,000 left, we plan on dividing up the extra similarly to our normal monthly extra. The only difference will be taxes.
In short, this is how we plan to break the extra in the blogging income account down: Taxes (30%), Emergency Fund/Savings account (15%), the Extra Cash for Investments account (25%), the Vacation account (15%), and our two individual Fun Money accounts (7.5% each).
This is all tentative until I have some hard numbers, but you know me, I like plans. 
What do you think? Is there a big hole I’m missing?
July 17, 2011, at 6:00 pm
The following is a guest post by Rob Clymo, who writes on behalf of www.officegenie.co.uk, the UK’s first proper online marketplace for desk space and shared office space.
Although the recession continues to rumble on across the country, some areas are seeing plenty of business activity despite the troubled economic conditions. One of the plus points about the downturn has been that office space is actually now more affordable than ever and there’s also a lot more availability then ever before.
Landlords with office areas to rent are keener than ever to farm out their otherwise dead space to fledgling businesses and start-ups that need to keep a firm grip on costs. Thanks to the power of the internet, and office rental comparison websites, finding the available space is now also quicker and easier than ever.
On the Up
Small businesses in the UK are often caught in the middle when it comes to getting the right office space for rent, but by shopping around it’s now possible to find property to suit any kind of need. For people just starting out, there is a plethora of desk space rental options, which are essentially just desks in shared offices. This is a great way to getting out of the working from home mentality and into the world of networking.
Being in an office environment like this will give you basic utilities and broadband internet, but it also means that if you’re looking to expand a venture then you can add extra desk space for either yourself or new employees whenever you wish. The added benefit of this is that contracts are often rolling and highly flexible, so you’re not tied into a deal that will run over years.
Another Direction
If things have grown past that and you’re in a position whereby your business is expanding at a rate of knots then look at the other options when doing a comparison on the web. Cheap serviced office space is becoming increasingly popular for many ventures. These take the desk space rental theme and go one step further by offering receptionists, post and IT support.
The other handy factor with any of these desk or office rental options is that many locations are often situated in prime inner city areas or on plush business parks. This, of course, means that you’ll instantly give your business a very respectable locale along with a decent address and postcode to add to letterheads and other business stationary.
Better still, much of this office availability comes with very little in the way of hassle attached. By shopping around it’s quickly and easily possible to find an office that suits your requirements. Then, once you’ve moved in and have got yourself up and running you’ll find that there is very little in the way of administrative effort needed to keep things ticking over nicely.
In a shared office environment the landlord carries out all of the building upkeep and maintenance. This effectively frees you up to concentrate on growing your business on a daily basis. With that extra time and those lower overheads you’ll hopefully be able to see your business expand despite all the recessionary doo and gloom.
July 17, 2011, at 6:00 am
The Saved Quarter Challenge Update
I joined The Saved Quarter Challenge this year and was aiming to save at least $21,000 by the end of 2011, but we hit that goal in mid-June!!! My new goal is to save a cool $42,000 by the end of 2011 instead! That would be a tiny bit more than 50% of our GROSS pay from our two full time jobs!!!
Here’s how I’ve done this week for the Saved Quarter Challenge:
I usually have better updates after the 13th of every month since that is when our billing periods end, but we had a fraudulent charge on one of our cards, so we won’t be able to move around our money until that is cleared up next week. Here’s how we did this week:
- Blogging Income – $2250 banked
- Roth IRA – $300
That blogging income was a combo of freelance work and regular ads (see that shiny new Adaptu ad on the left sidebar? That helped. Thanks Adaptu!). This will be my second to last contribution before I start having to pay myself from that account since I am now blogging full time!!! I only get one more regular paycheck – after that, my blogging income will not be considered savings automatically!!!
The new $42,000 goal is hopefully going to be reached solely through 100% true savings – 401(k), Roth IRA, emergency fund/savings, home and auto maintenance account, extra cash for investments, and blogging income before the end of July 2011.
Total This Week: $2550
We can save what we do because we live off of a little more than my husband’s salary as a school librarian ($38,000 take home pay). That means we save most of what I make ($26,000 take home pay a year) and all of our hobby job incomes (reffing for Mr. BFS and blogging for me). Reffing usually brings in $2000-$3000 a year and blogging is bringing in $20,000 or more a year (we’ve already hit more than $20,000 for January-July 2011).
Total to date: $27,818 guaranteed, $14,182 to go.
Additonal Info
I will continue posting monthly and yearly blog statistics and income updates, 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, the blogging group that has helped me in SO many ways, 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 and 3 readers to where I am today, you can see My Blogging Checklists, which breaks down everything I do related to blogging. If you want to see how I have started bringing in more than $3000 a month in less than 18 months, you can check out How I Make Money Blogging.
I have also started a new site, http://howimakemoneyblogging.com/, which will cover how I currently make money blogging and my transition to a work-from-home blogger!
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING THE BEST READERS EVER!!!
July 16, 2011, at 6:00 am
For those of you who missed it this week, I am now self-employed!!!
Yesterday was my last work day at my day job and I am now a full time blogger!!!
My Favorite Posts this Week
Guest Posts at BFS
I was out of town from July 4th through July 8th, so those awesome guest posters are in this list too.
Thank you all!!!
Staff Writing
Giveaways
Blog Carnivals
If you are hosting a carnival that includes Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, please email me so I can include it in my roundup. Thanks!
Top 5 Referring Sites to BFS from Last Week:
- Free Money Finance
- Early Retirement Extreme
- Everyday Tips and Thoughts
- Debt Free by 30
- Get Rich Slowly
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!
My Other Sites
I have started a new site, How I Make Money Blogging!
Let me know what you think!
I also own and manage Crystal Clear Thoughts, About Life Insurance, and Dog’s Life For Me
July 15, 2011, at 6:00 am
I wrote this while Mr. BFS and I were on the plane on the way to Las Vegas last week…
I am super excited but airports and flying stresses me out. There are too many people, way too many authority figures, my ears always hurt by the time that we land (yes, I have tried everything), and the extra costs are nuts!
First, the tickets were a pretty penny. It was $800 for two roundtrip tickets and 4 nights at the Golden Nugget. Since the listed prices at the Nugget is $39 a night right now, that means we paid about $640 for two roundtrip tickets that only cost about $400 6 years ago.
Then parking was a pain at 5:45am. One lot was full and we barely made it into another. Then we had to wait for 15 minutes while a lady asked the poor driver all sorts of questions about baggage that he really didn’t know. Overall, it will cost another $5 a day, which I don’t think is too bad at all.
Once we actually got into the airport itself, we were immediately told to check everything we could for $25 a bag. We didn’t have any check-ons, so we hustled into the security line. Then we were put through a visual pat down in case we might be carrying an illegal $1 soda since they much rather you buy the $4 sodas while you wait to depart.
Then there is the plane itself. “Want to upgrade to First Class for an additional $529?” It’s a 2 1/2 hour trip…ummm…no. “How about some extra leg room for $39?” No thanks. “$8 for some tv for 2 hours?” No. “$7.50 for a ‘premium beverage’? “ No thank you.
Fine, then here is your tiny seat with some guy who wants to recline ALL-THE-WAY back in front of you (seriously, I am typing this nearly blind since my monitor is pretty much forced to face my crotch) and your free water. But wait, you get one ice cube. That’s it.
Since I am afraid to ask how much a few more ice cubes would cost, I have sipped down my room temperature water in silence and decided to vent to all of you instead.
I’m done whining – believe it or not, I am still super excited and pretty happy. I just thought the annoyance factors could be entertaining.
I’ll be posting a full Vegas cost rundown in the next week. I also found out on the way back that there are a variety of free drinks available on Continental, but I was just too scared to ask on the way, lol.
Have any of you had any amazing visits to an airport recently? Do you know how much the ice cubes cost?
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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.
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