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Layoff to start-up: 8 tips from a successful entrepreneur
This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle.
Ted Leonhardt’s plunge into entrepreneurship was just that — a plunge. After working for a small graphic design agency for eight years, he lost his job and was facing an uncertain future.
“I was in survival mode,” he recalls. With a mortgage and a baby, he had to do something quickly.
He caught a break when one of his former employer’s clients encouraged one of their own clients to hire Ted — if he started his own business.
He thought starting his own business was his only option to provide an income for his family, so he started his own design agency with a partner and two employees in 1976 (and $750, more on that later).
“I really enjoyed running my own business,” he says. Still, he admits that it wasn’t without challenges — or rewards.
Starting a business may insulate you more against job loss (as in Ted’s case) or help you make more money.
How to get an apprenticeship and avoid student loan debt
This article is by staff writer Honey Smith.
Given that student loan debt in the U.S. tops $1.2 trillion and the average graduate owed over $30,000 in 2015, it’s no surprise topics like how to start paying student loans are necessary.
However, if you’re still in school or are still saving for college (or you have kids or grandkids in that category), there’s an option for reducing or eliminating the amount of student loans you take out: apprenticeship programs.
How do you entertain out-of-town guests for free?
The holiday season is fast approaching, and you might be planning to travel home to spend time with family – or your family could be coming to see you. Either way, travel expenses add up quickly, leaving little to no room for entertainment once you’re together. Sometimes that’s not a problem because there’s so much to do anyway. But other times, it really could put a crimp in your budget or strain your guests’ finances. That’s why it’s a great idea to have a slate of activities and events that you could substitute into your plans so that no one has to overextend just to participate.
First, be the guinea pig
There’s a lot of free stuff out there to do, and most of it is really fun – but sometimes there’s a reason something’s free too. Whatever you decide to do, it works out best if you’ve done it yourself before your guests arrive.
How to know when to change your financial plan
This article is by staff writer Richard Barrington.
Financial planning is like taking a long car trip. You plan your route, your schedule, and your eventual destination in advance; but then you have to be prepared to adjust for detours, traffic delays, bad weather, fatigue or other unexpected changes.
When it comes to financial planning, you face this same conflict between sticking to a long-range plan and dealing with the realities of life that occur along the way. The key is being able to distinguish between legitimate reasons to change your plan and simply getting misdirected by new developments until you no longer know where you are heading.
Life happens, and you adjust
Examples of life developments that may warrant a change in your financial plan are:
Tax changes for 2015, and other tax mistakes you could easily make
This is a guest post from Amanda Argue.
Don’t you feel sometimes like income tax is the hardest subject in the world to understand? Well, it’s really nothing to be embarrassed about. That’s exactly what Albert Einstein said way back when:
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is income taxes.” – Albert Einstein
If the subject was perplexing to a genius like Einstein — and it’s only gotten more complicated since then — is it any wonder that most Americans are dazed and confused when it comes to filing their returns? So I thought it would be helpful to sort out the 2015 IRS tax code mess and make a place for quick reference available for tax planning and prep. Hope it helps!
Let’s dive in.
Year-end tax planning – 2015 checklist
This article is by staff writer Suba Iyer.
Know your taxes! I am a big fan of the philosophy: No one cares more about your money than you do. Even if a professional prepares your taxes every year, learn to do it yourself. Aside from what you’ll save in fees, here are two benefits of learning to prepare your taxes yourself:
- By doing your taxes on your own, you can learn quite a bit about your finances and get a lot of ideas on how to make your money work more for you.
- Sometimes a professional might not ask the right question because they don’t know everything that went on in your life this year. If you learn to prepare your taxes yourself, you will become more aware if a professional is missing any deductions.
Educate yourself. This is an excellent place to start – IRS tax tips.
Things you never knew were taxable
This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle.
When you order something online, does the retailer charge you sales tax? Do you pay attention to that?
I haven’t always.
Online purchases and sales tax
After we became Amazon Prime users, our online internet orders went waaaaaay up. That free shipping will getcha every time. That year, my husband and I sat in our CPA’s office, as oblivious to most tax things as, unfortunately, every other year.
“So,” said Paul, the CPA, “have you made any online purchases?”
“Yes,” I said, confidently.
“How much?”
“Um … a lot?” I said, much less confidently.
Paying online sales tax reminds me of a quagmire.
It’s confusing. It’s murky. But it’s the law in most states.
So, here’s the lowdown:
How do you budget for experiences after debt?
This article is by staff writer Megan Wells.
In college, my mind was set on becoming an ethnographic researcher. I wanted to study people and cultures that were new to me while traveling as extensively as possible. After I earned my diploma, I pooled every dollar to purchase a one-way ticket to Costa Rica.
Even with my rookie-style budgeting, I was able to make the trip happen – and it didn’t matter that my typical Costa Rican lunch had to be hand-picked avocados and stale bread. It was a life experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Saving money for practical matters always presides; but once you’ve eliminated debt from your life, you start to have choices. In my estimation, if you’re debt-free, budgeting for life experiences is totally worth it. How do you budget for them, and where do you draw the line?
Tailor your circumstances to your strategy
This article is by staff writer Honey Smith.
Tailor your circumstances to your strategy. Sounds a bit backwards, doesn’t it? Most of the time, we take the path of least resistance and tailor our strategy to our circumstances. And that can certainly work if all your finances need is some minor tweaking. But if you have a large goal in mind or you need to address debt, you may need a different approach.
Pay off student loans or invest — how to move toward funding retirement
This article is by staff writer William Cowie.
In my recent post, “Why investing can be better than paying down debt,” Dianecy’s comment raised a question faced by many: What do you do about investing when you have student loans?
It is quite the dilemma, actually, because the best time to start funding your retirement is when you’re still in your 20s. And as anyone who has been reading Get Rich Slowly for more than, say, 10 seconds would know, few things impede your progress toward getting rich (at any speed) like debt.
The reason is simple: A dollar can be spent only once — either for another person’s benefit or for yours. So it follows that repaying debt benefits the bank; investing those same dollars in a CD or index fund, on the other hand, benefits you and your future.
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