The fewer debts you have the easier it is to keep track. I found my life and managing my finances to be so much simpler by just leaving my credit cards at home when I go out. I use cash for everything and only use my credit card for big items like a new iphone or laptop. I use my rewards card to buy these so I can accumulate points and I pay it off usually a day or 2 after the purchase.
Asides from paying utility bills and the mortgage every month, I never have to worry about my credit card balance or wonder if I will be late in paying. Not using plastic have definitely simplified my finances.
By far, my smartest investment has been my MBA degree. It's opened doors for me several times, helping me get in the door and be seen by incredible organizations. While I can give a great interview, I wouldn't have ever had the chance without this degree under my belt. As a result, I'm in my best career with an organization I love.
The smartest investment I've made so far is the house I bought in 1985. I got it cheap because it was in a slightly rundown, but stable, neighborhood a few blocks from the downtown area of my small town. At that time my mortgage was the same as what I was paying for rent. Everything had moved out to the north of town, following the mall and the big box stores. Downtown was trying to revitalize. This house is about 1/4 mile from a 4-year state college and a junior college. I originally bought it as a home for my daughter and me, lived there several years and moved just before the mortgage was paid off. Since then I have been able to rent it to college students and have more than made back my initial investment plus the property has greatly appreciated in the time I've had it as the downtown has come back stronger than ever and both the colleges have grown by leaps and bounds.
You could also just zip tie all the wires attached to the pc. In case of fire, you just YANK all those wires out from behind the ziptie. That should remove ALL wires, except for the ethernet, and monitor cable.
For those, you can just leave the monitor cable "unscrewed" but plugged in through sheer friction. you can also snap off the little plastic tab thingy on the ethernet cable... though I'm not sure how well the retention is without it.
I've had the monitor cable in my PC "unscrewed" many times. Your desktop doesn't move around at all so there is little chance of it coming out.
With your PC completely free of all cables, you can carry it out just like you would a laptop. Though admittedly a desktop, being bulkier/heavier, would mean it would likely be the ONLY thing you carry out. Though Perhaps you can get a custom PC case that has a carry handle.
My recommendation for people who are at least somewhat tech savy? BUILD YOUR OWN!
You save so much more money, get more out of it, and get longer warranties on the individual components than you would get on a whole store bought PC. My motherboard has a 5 year warranty, as does the CPU, and the power supply. That beats the heck out of the 1 year warranty that comes with most CPUs.
If your into gaming, you can have a really good gaming setup for much less than you could buy as a completed product.
If you really need a laptop... my suggestion is to build a decent desktop, and get a cheap netbook. The desktop would be for your day to day work, entertainment, websurfing, gaming, etc. Your netbook would be for the odd business trip or vacation.
If the idea of building a PC is that much of a problem for you... you can still be way ahead by just buying a decent desktop, and buying a cheap laptop.
I think this article is a bit... wrong. There is no need to abandon urban living for the rural life style. Oftentimes, many things in the rural areas become way more expensive.
I lived in Casper, WY for 5 years... and I just moved to Phoenix. My monthly expenses will go down from what they were in Casper... at least once my house up in Casper sells and I buy my next one here in Phoenix (debt free I might add).
I see that rentals here are VERY reasonable, phoenix has lots of modern ammenities and things to do, and because of it being a big city, there is a larger market for second hand goods on craigslist. There is also way more to choose from in terms of "free stuff" on craigslist and freecycle.
In summary... just move from your expensive city to a less expensive city.
Great article! Just what I, too, have been looking for for a long time now! Now I know what ingredients to search recipes for and how to better plan my weekly menu. As the previous commenter stated...not all of us have been doing this "all our life" and need a boost to help us out!
This is BS...people living in poverty don't have enough money to be "liquid". One major crisis can take them out of the game. Rich people can get loans from their rich friends/bankers/etc. Puh-leeze! Scale, is the issue here, not nickels and dimes!
This is a very well written and timely article. I will share another idea that has worked very well for me and my clients for years. When considering one of these type of purchases, figure out how many hours you will have to work to earn that item. If you have an hourly job earning $25 per hour, and that $100 pair of jeans will take four hours to earn, depending on how much you enjoy your job, you may decide four hours isn't worth the trade.
I have been really bad about aspirational spending on craft supplies for doing projects. I know that I follow through on some crafts much better than others, and even though I want to learn how to do new things, I'm just not very motivated. I'm much better about not buying anything that is not specifically needed for a something that I am currently working on for a project.
I live in Ohio, too, and when you say it that way about an underground pool, it makes me feel better about thinking about getting a little kiddie plastic pool for the dog and me! It shouldn't take too much out of my dog's college fund either!
The smartest investment I've made is one I'm currently making. I decided to go back to school, because I didn't want to answer phones for the rest of my life. So I'm just beginning a 2 year program to be a radiology technologist. I'll be taking x-rays! It's really interesting so far, and there's always going to be a demand for it.
Oooh, it annoys me! Every time I throw something out you BET in a couple of weeks I'll need it again. Typical example was a pair of gold shoes...not worn very often, so a great candidate for throw-out. Recently received as a gift; a gold bag... but now, no gold shoes to wear:( ...and how I now lament every time I use my gold bag.
Looked & looked for a new pair of gold shoes, but cannot find anything suitable.
Question: I'm looking into a mortgage refi. My current Chase mortgage is 6.125%. My bank (Wings Financial Credit Union) tells me I can get a 30 yr fixed for 4.25% through the Obama plan. Only snag is that the closing costs are around $11,000 ($7,300 of which go to Fannie May). Does this sound strange to anyone?
The smartest investment we made with uor medical practice is buying everyone in the office a tablet. We then had our EMR hosted solution installed on each device and instantly did away with over 90% of the paper in our office.
Having the same hardware and software implemented at the same time across all functions was the right solution.
The smartest investment I've ever made has been to pay off my credit card debt once and for all. Eliminating nearly $20,000 of debt has saved me hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in high interest rate finance charges. This has freed up money to invest in my retirement and emergency savings funds, something I never had previously.
thank you for this article. I don't make 100,000/year yet. I'm working on that. Right now I am the only income source in our family. My husbsnd stays at home to care for our autistic son and to home school our son. My income is close to 70,000/annually. If you re-read your post, you need to appreciate all that you are able to do. If you are able to put money into a retirement plan. That is a blessing! People who make less than you do with a family of 4 may not be able to do so. You live in a nice home, and you are probably able to eat well, and eat out often.
I'm not complaining about my income or lifestyle. I know that if I want more I need to take the necessary steps to make more without it affecting my family. I live in the suburbs of Denver (Green Valley Ranch). I could have bought the same home in Highlands Ranch (another suburb) for $20,000 more, just for the "status". Debt, I was unemployed for 10 months in 2010. How we managed to live off my unemployment check was with alot of creativity. I didn't even loose my home. Infact, since going back to work (8 months now). I have been making the regular mortgage and extra to get caught up. I have one more month left then I'll be all caught up.Yeaaa!
What it all comes down to is managing money, and thinking positive. If my husband and I can make $68,000/year work well for us. I know what we'll do with $100,000/year. I'll trade in my 14 year old toyota corolla for a toyota highlander right away! Fix up my 3 bedroom, 3 bath home, to make it fell like a mansion. Set up my retirement fund (late bloomer), and enjoy life! It's not about how much stuff you have! It's about what you do with what you have.
Last, remember, the more you make,the more the goverment takes. Your health insurance probably eats up 1/3 of what you make as well. So, inessence, you make close to 100,000/yr, but bring home 80,000.00 a year.
The fewer debts you have the easier it is to keep track. I found my life and managing my finances to be so much simpler by just leaving my credit cards at home when I go out. I use cash for everything and only use my credit card for big items like a new iphone or laptop. I use my rewards card to buy these so I can accumulate points and I pay it off usually a day or 2 after the purchase.
Asides from paying utility bills and the mortgage every month, I never have to worry about my credit card balance or wonder if I will be late in paying. Not using plastic have definitely simplified my finances.
Buying a house at the age of 20. Best investment I've ever made
My best investment has been in my education, both traditional in the form of college and graduate school, and on my own through reading.
My best investment is a yearyly fee to OLS. Paybacks galore every year!
By far, my smartest investment has been my MBA degree. It's opened doors for me several times, helping me get in the door and be seen by incredible organizations. While I can give a great interview, I wouldn't have ever had the chance without this degree under my belt. As a result, I'm in my best career with an organization I love.
The smartest investment I've made so far is the house I bought in 1985. I got it cheap because it was in a slightly rundown, but stable, neighborhood a few blocks from the downtown area of my small town. At that time my mortgage was the same as what I was paying for rent. Everything had moved out to the north of town, following the mall and the big box stores. Downtown was trying to revitalize. This house is about 1/4 mile from a 4-year state college and a junior college. I originally bought it as a home for my daughter and me, lived there several years and moved just before the mortgage was paid off. Since then I have been able to rent it to college students and have more than made back my initial investment plus the property has greatly appreciated in the time I've had it as the downtown has come back stronger than ever and both the colleges have grown by leaps and bounds.
Upgraded technology is my best investment. It allows me to get my job done more efficiently.
I don't even think upgrading anything beyond the RAM is even possible with laptops...
You could also just zip tie all the wires attached to the pc. In case of fire, you just YANK all those wires out from behind the ziptie. That should remove ALL wires, except for the ethernet, and monitor cable.
For those, you can just leave the monitor cable "unscrewed" but plugged in through sheer friction. you can also snap off the little plastic tab thingy on the ethernet cable... though I'm not sure how well the retention is without it.
I've had the monitor cable in my PC "unscrewed" many times. Your desktop doesn't move around at all so there is little chance of it coming out.
With your PC completely free of all cables, you can carry it out just like you would a laptop. Though admittedly a desktop, being bulkier/heavier, would mean it would likely be the ONLY thing you carry out. Though Perhaps you can get a custom PC case that has a carry handle.
My recommendation for people who are at least somewhat tech savy? BUILD YOUR OWN!
You save so much more money, get more out of it, and get longer warranties on the individual components than you would get on a whole store bought PC. My motherboard has a 5 year warranty, as does the CPU, and the power supply. That beats the heck out of the 1 year warranty that comes with most CPUs.
If your into gaming, you can have a really good gaming setup for much less than you could buy as a completed product.
If you really need a laptop... my suggestion is to build a decent desktop, and get a cheap netbook. The desktop would be for your day to day work, entertainment, websurfing, gaming, etc. Your netbook would be for the odd business trip or vacation.
If the idea of building a PC is that much of a problem for you... you can still be way ahead by just buying a decent desktop, and buying a cheap laptop.
I think this article is a bit... wrong. There is no need to abandon urban living for the rural life style. Oftentimes, many things in the rural areas become way more expensive.
I lived in Casper, WY for 5 years... and I just moved to Phoenix. My monthly expenses will go down from what they were in Casper... at least once my house up in Casper sells and I buy my next one here in Phoenix (debt free I might add).
I see that rentals here are VERY reasonable, phoenix has lots of modern ammenities and things to do, and because of it being a big city, there is a larger market for second hand goods on craigslist. There is also way more to choose from in terms of "free stuff" on craigslist and freecycle.
In summary... just move from your expensive city to a less expensive city.
What card do you have that gives you 2% back?
Thanks!
Great article! Just what I, too, have been looking for for a long time now! Now I know what ingredients to search recipes for and how to better plan my weekly menu. As the previous commenter stated...not all of us have been doing this "all our life" and need a boost to help us out!
This is BS...people living in poverty don't have enough money to be "liquid". One major crisis can take them out of the game. Rich people can get loans from their rich friends/bankers/etc. Puh-leeze! Scale, is the issue here, not nickels and dimes!
This is a very well written and timely article. I will share another idea that has worked very well for me and my clients for years. When considering one of these type of purchases, figure out how many hours you will have to work to earn that item. If you have an hourly job earning $25 per hour, and that $100 pair of jeans will take four hours to earn, depending on how much you enjoy your job, you may decide four hours isn't worth the trade.
I have been really bad about aspirational spending on craft supplies for doing projects. I know that I follow through on some crafts much better than others, and even though I want to learn how to do new things, I'm just not very motivated. I'm much better about not buying anything that is not specifically needed for a something that I am currently working on for a project.
I live in Ohio, too, and when you say it that way about an underground pool, it makes me feel better about thinking about getting a little kiddie plastic pool for the dog and me! It shouldn't take too much out of my dog's college fund either!
The smartest investment I've made is one I'm currently making. I decided to go back to school, because I didn't want to answer phones for the rest of my life. So I'm just beginning a 2 year program to be a radiology technologist. I'll be taking x-rays! It's really interesting so far, and there's always going to be a demand for it.
Oooh, it annoys me! Every time I throw something out you BET in a couple of weeks I'll need it again. Typical example was a pair of gold shoes...not worn very often, so a great candidate for throw-out. Recently received as a gift; a gold bag... but now, no gold shoes to wear:( ...and how I now lament every time I use my gold bag.
Looked & looked for a new pair of gold shoes, but cannot find anything suitable.
Question: I'm looking into a mortgage refi. My current Chase mortgage is 6.125%. My bank (Wings Financial Credit Union) tells me I can get a 30 yr fixed for 4.25% through the Obama plan. Only snag is that the closing costs are around $11,000 ($7,300 of which go to Fannie May). Does this sound strange to anyone?
The smartest investment we made with uor medical practice is buying everyone in the office a tablet. We then had our EMR hosted solution installed on each device and instantly did away with over 90% of the paper in our office.
Having the same hardware and software implemented at the same time across all functions was the right solution.
The smartest investment I've ever made has been to pay off my credit card debt once and for all. Eliminating nearly $20,000 of debt has saved me hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in high interest rate finance charges. This has freed up money to invest in my retirement and emergency savings funds, something I never had previously.
I invested in gold. It has risen a lot lately.
thank you for this article. I don't make 100,000/year yet. I'm working on that. Right now I am the only income source in our family. My husbsnd stays at home to care for our autistic son and to home school our son. My income is close to 70,000/annually. If you re-read your post, you need to appreciate all that you are able to do. If you are able to put money into a retirement plan. That is a blessing! People who make less than you do with a family of 4 may not be able to do so. You live in a nice home, and you are probably able to eat well, and eat out often.
I'm not complaining about my income or lifestyle. I know that if I want more I need to take the necessary steps to make more without it affecting my family. I live in the suburbs of Denver (Green Valley Ranch). I could have bought the same home in Highlands Ranch (another suburb) for $20,000 more, just for the "status". Debt, I was unemployed for 10 months in 2010. How we managed to live off my unemployment check was with alot of creativity. I didn't even loose my home. Infact, since going back to work (8 months now). I have been making the regular mortgage and extra to get caught up. I have one more month left then I'll be all caught up.Yeaaa!
What it all comes down to is managing money, and thinking positive. If my husband and I can make $68,000/year work well for us. I know what we'll do with $100,000/year. I'll trade in my 14 year old toyota corolla for a toyota highlander right away! Fix up my 3 bedroom, 3 bath home, to make it fell like a mansion. Set up my retirement fund (late bloomer), and enjoy life! It's not about how much stuff you have! It's about what you do with what you have.
Last, remember, the more you make,the more the goverment takes. Your health insurance probably eats up 1/3 of what you make as well. So, inessence, you make close to 100,000/yr, but bring home 80,000.00 a year.
http://twitter.com/#!/oshkoshbgosh123/status/112511529760464896