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Don’t have savings? Quit making excuses
This guest post is from former GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes for a number of websites, including Money Talks News and Retail Me Not, and blogs about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving.
I’m back, and I sound just like your mom: Save that damned emergency fund, already.
This week (Feb. 24-March 1) is America Saves Week. And not a moment too soon: As a nation, we’re losing ground. An ASW survey shows that just 51 percent of us have a savings plan with specific goals; four years ago that number was 55 percent. (Still too low, IMHO.) Just 40 percent of us have budgets that allow for savings at all, compared with 46 percent in 2010.
Finding the road out of poverty
This article is by staff writer Lisa Aberle.
Until I reached my early 20s, I believed that my childhood had fewer financial advantages than the average childhood. Once I gained more life experience, I saw that my family hadn’t been as poor as I thought we were.
That doesn’t mean we weren’t poor, though. We wore hand-me-downs, didn’t go on vacations much, qualified for reduced school lunches, things like that. But we were “poor with potential.” When I arrived, my parents were in their very early 20s, and my dad was at the beginning of establishing his farm. While they didn’t have much money at that point, they knew how to manage it. And while they didn’t have much income coming in from jobs, they knew what to do to make that happen. Things started to change when I was a teenager. In fact, my youngest sibling remembers a completely different childhood — vacations and new carpet, but nothing about the really difficult times.
Maximizing your dollar: Renovating a historic house for the rental market
This story comes from Anastasia Mann. Anastasia Mann is an associate at Trimark Properties, a leading provider of historic house rentals, student housing and apartments in Gainesville, FL. To check out their historic infill developments, visit their website.
Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.
Ask the Readers: 5 questions about your taxes
It’s that dreaded time of year, but we all must face it. So let’s talk about taxes today. I’ve got some questions (and offer my answers).
1) Do you get a refund or max out your withholding? A recent Moneyrates.com survey found that 31 percent of the 2,000 people surveyed prefer to get a refund. I confess – I get a refund every year.
If you want to stop the refund madness for tax year 2014, just go to IRS Publication 919 and see how to change your withholding.
Which Online High-Yield Money Market & High-Interest Savings Account is Best?
Savings Account Rates
An online savings account is a helpful tool in your financial life. When you want to set up an emergency fund or other savings account for short-term liquidity, an online savings account usually offers higher interest rates than many brick-and-mortar banks. In addition, many consumers think online banking is much more convenient.
Even though rates are low right now, they will eventually rise as the economy recovers. An online savings account, money market account, certificate of deposit (CD), interest checking or rewards checking account can help you make the most of your funds on deposit. Don’t throw your money away by saving it somewhere that doesn’t pay. An online savings account is a safe and convenient way to earn interest on funds that you may need easy access to, and it is far better than simply keeping extra sums in cash or in a checking account.
How to handle a windfall
Note: This article is from J.D. Roth, who founded Get Rich Slowly in 2006. J.D.’s non-financial writing can be found at More Than Money, where he recently wrote about the difference between moderators and abstainers.
When my father died in 1995, he left behind a small life insurance policy that awarded each family member $5,000. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could do based on the fact that he had cancer. He hadn’t been much of a planner, and hadn’t been good with money, so that $5,000 per person was actually a significant amount.
A case for “hard work pays off”
This article is by staff writer Kristin Wong.
Over the weekend, a friend of mine came to visit. She’s a career counselor and, while I wasn’t looking for free advice, the conversation naturally turned to my job hunt.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“It’s bleak,” I complained.
“Oh, I know.” She told me about clients she’s worked with who went on second and third interviews. Those clients were sure they got the job. Then they found out they just…didn’t.
“Employers can choose from the cream of the crop right now,” she told me. “Some companies aren’t even actively hiring. They put out job ads just to see what else is out there.”
She’s gotta be kidding, right? I might be applying to companies that are, for all intents and purposes, keeping their options open?
“That’s like asking someone out when you’re married,” I joked.
Your future … seriously
This post is from staff writer William Cowie.
The science fiction author Isaac Asimov, inspired by his visit to the New York World’s Fair back in 1964, wrote down some predictions of life 50 years hence. Fifty years from 1964 brings us to today, and the New York Times recently re-published the piece in honor of the occasion.
What did Mr. Asimov foresee that came true? To me, his most impressive predictions were flat-screen televisions and Skype on iPads. However, anyone projecting life 50 years hence can be expected to whiff on a few calls, and Mr. Asimov didn’t disappoint. We do not have colonies on the moon and Mars, which means we’re spared the communication problems Mr. Asimov predicted we’d have.
How long?
Pick your hobbies strategically and save
This article is by staff writer Honey Smith.
For the most part, we think of hobbies as activities that we naturally gravitate toward. The idea of being strategic in our selection of hobbies may seem contradictory to their very nature! However, I think that being strategic in the selection and pursuit of hobbies isn’t mutually exclusive with enjoying yourself. What’s more, you have options in how to strategize.
The hobby-as-side-gig option
Help with your retirement plan — free!
Our friends over at Kiplinger have enlisted the help of the National Association of Financial Advisors (NAPFA) to help consumers with their retirement planning. They asked me if the Get Rich Slowly readers would like to participate in their live Q&A and I said, “Yes!”
Called “Jump-Start Your Retirement Plan,” the one-day program — this Thursday, Feb. 20 — will feature 20 financial planners answering your questions about your retirement. Go to the website now to register your email address to get a reminder for the event.
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