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Time or money?
It’s a common dilemma: When you are young, say just getting out of college, you tend to have plenty of free time but little money. Later, as your career takes off, you start to have more money but less time.
It would be nice to have both time and money at the same stage of your life. But if you had to choose, which would you pick? This post will look at a few ways that time-or-money choice is a fundamental characteristic of the job market.
Compensation stagnation
First, let’s start by acknowledging that, for many Americans, the choice of more money has been taken off the table. Adjusted for inflation, the total value of the compensation received by Americans grew by just 11.3 percent in the 20 years from 1992 to 2012, or less than 1 percent a year.
Getting into golf without going broke
This article comes from Nate Segall from the Quicken Loans Zing! blog.
With spring around the corner and warm weather (hopefully) on its way, it’s about time to start thinking about getting back onto the golf course. If you’re not a regular Golden Bear, or if you don’t know who the Golden Bear is, then it’s time for you to start playing the great game of golf. Now, golf is not a cheap sport. It’s not like basketball where you can play with just a ball and a hoop; there’s a lot of necessary equipment needed to even begin to play golf. So if you’re tired of playing virtual golf on your Xbox, or if your boss invited you to play a round and you don’t want to embarrass yourself, the Zing Blog is here to advise you and offer you the best tips and advice for stepping into the world of golf.
BUY USED EQUIPMENT
All-star-cash-management lessons from the diamond
If you’re a baseball fan like me, it’s a good bet you read the Michael Lewis book “Moneyball” well before it spawned a Brad Pitt movie. The tome is a laugh-out-loud chronicle of how free-thinking general manager Billy Beane brought some respectability to his woebegone, small-market, tiny-budgeted Oakland Athletics.
But linking money and baseball is nothing new, as Lewis would likely be among the first to tell you. Throughout its history, the grand old game has been just as much about greenbacks as it has been about hits, runs and errors. No wonder the cash-rich New York Yankees, summering within a few miles of America’s financial epicenter and traditionally profiting from the game’s fattest television contract, have captured more World Series crowns than any other team.
Expensive tax mistakes to avoid
Tax season is in full swing. Thanks to tax preparation software, a lot of the common mistakes (i.e., missing social security numbers) are now automatically detected. Still, they are only capable of checking for math accuracy and missing fields. They can’t optimize a tax return to get the maximum amount possible or compensate for our misunderstanding of the complicated tax code. I have been using tax software and/or tax professionals ever since I started filing in 2003. In these ten years, I have learned that no matter what software or tax professional I use, the onus is on me to know what is best for me and what mistakes to avoid. Here is a list of dos and don’ts based on the mistakes that I have personally made or have come across in recent years. Use this as a checklist to make sure you avoid them too.
Three low-cost ways to capture your wedding day
This article comes from Christine Bilger from the Quicken Loans Zing! blog.
You know what’s expensive? Wedding photography. You know what’s even more expensive? Videography.
I’m not going to deny that I had more than a little sticker shock when I started looking for a wedding photographer. Unfortunately, I also really want a videographer – which isn’t in the budget. Unless I win the lottery or locate a long-lost wealthy relative between now and July, I’m definitely not having a videographer at my wedding.
What you need to know about the impending Obamacare deadline
Tick, tick, tick – March 31 is the new deadline to get health insurance coverage. This time, the government is digging in its heels. There will be no extension. Some say the government will cave in (again) and move the deadline, but that’s by no means a certainty. The April Fool’s joke might be on you if you don’t have a qualified health insurance plan locked up the night before, and the deadline ends up staying in place.
For about 80 percent of you, that’s a non-event, because you’re covered already either through work, Medicare, or with private policies you bought. For the rest, Obamacare is something you will need to come to grips with, like it or not. This is the first of a two-part look at the new medical insurance landscape, and your best options.
The deadline
Sympathy for the banker
Bankers are not easy to love. In fact, from the mean old man in “It’s a Wonderful Life” to the bonus-baby CEOs who put the world through the financial crisis a few years ago, bankers have become a class of citizen that people love to hate. Like a lot of hatred, though, that sentiment might come back to haunt the hater — specifically, bank customers.
Bankers almost seem to be the inspiration for the concept of schadenfreude: the feeling of enjoyment that comes from the misfortunes of others. For example, I recently read two stories about bankers that most people would react to with something between an indifferent shrug and a satisfied chuckle:
Documents you need to bring to your tax appointment
This post comes from Victoria Araj from the Quicken Loans Zing! blog.
It’s tax season, and that means it’s time to sort through your shoebox of receipts, those envelopes of stock statements and that drawer of paperwork that hasn’t been touched in 12 months.
Depending on your income, assets, marital status and a host of other life factors, making sure you have all of the necessary documents needed to file for your specific situation can seem daunting.
Here’s a quick checklist of items you may need to gather before meeting with your tax professional.
INCOME
Putting the brakes on aggressive driving’s exorbitant cost
According to a new survey from Insure.com, the most expensive 2014 car to insure in the United States is the $110,000 Nissan GT-R Track Edition, which requires a few bucks less than $3,200 in premiums to cover for 12 months.
The super car is better known in some quarters as “Godzilla,” for it is a monster that emigrates from Japan. Sporting a twin turbocharged V6 engine that boasts 545 horsepower, the lighting quick GT-R Track Edition rockets from zero to 60 in a scant three seconds, and touches speeds of 190 to 200 miles per hour.
So what kind of person buys and drives Godzilla? A well-heeled one no doubt. But also a guy, for it is inevitably a male buyer, who just adores aggression.
How to save money on road trips
It is time to plan summer vacations. If you are planning to fly to your destination, now is the best time to start setting up price alerts for the plane tickets and signing up for credit cards if you want to use the miles and perks that come with carrying a particular airline card. With an infant, we don’t relish the thought of flying; so this year we’re looking into a road trip for vacation. Just because we can drive to our destination doesn’t mean we don’t have to plan for it. A road trip can easily break the budget too. Here are some of the best tips I compiled to help us keep our expenses low.
PREPARE YOUR CAR
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