Money Tips Network

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Shelby, Queenie-May, and Ephraim for winning this week's contest!

People often say it's the little things that make life worth living: feeling the wind in your hair during your afternoon walk, sharing a laugh with your favorite people, or enjoying a good book at...

Can you believe it? A year ago today, I returned to the helm of Get Rich Slowly. Eight-and-a-half years after selling the site, I bought it back.

During the past twelve months, GRS has been through three distinct phases as I've struggled to figure out my focus and direction.

Employee stock purchase programs – ESPPs for short – are powerful employee benefit programs that, when used correctly, offer what is essentially a guaranteed investment return of at least 17.6%.

But ESPPs are often misunderstood and misused. People either fail to use them at all, which is a missed opportunity, or use them incorrectly, which adds unnecessary risk to their investment portfolio.

This article will explain exactly how ESPPs work and how to use them the right way so you can capture that guaranteed return without taking on any undue risk.

What Is an Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)?

An ESPP is an employee benefit program that allows you to buy company stock at a discounted rate.

While the specifics of ESPP plans differ from company to company, and while you should definitely refer to your company’s plan documents before taking any action, most ESPP plans looking something like the following:

Working from home can be the perfect fit for introverted professionals. Since introverts tend to recharge best by being alone, and focus best while working solo, telecommuting offers them the best possible work environment for their preferences and abilities.

Then there are the extroverts.

I count myself lucky that I made it through four decades of life without a bad landlord story.

Over the years, I’d heard countless tales from friends about their landlord nightmares, some of which ended in small claims court.

But I still maintained a naivete about landlords that was based mostly on my inability to understand wanting to blatantly rip off another human being who’s been a good tenant, simply to fatten your own bank account. Yes, I’m that naive. (I believe in karma, too. Call me crazy.)

My own run of good landlord luck ended with what I hope will be my last landlord. Ever. I recently moved into a home of my own – no small feat, particularly as a single mother living in California, one of the priciest states in the country.

One of my favorite tips to hammer home on The Simple Dollar is the value of shopping at secondhand stores. About a year ago – I think I started the note last November – I started keeping track of things that I bought at the secondhand store with the goal of someday listing them in a post to give people the idea of what kind of value I find there, and today is that day.

In general, I don’t go to secondhand stores without a purpose, but I also don’t go there with a highly specific idea in mind. For example, I won’t go there if I don’t want anything, but I also won’t go there if the only thing that will work for my purposes is a blue long-sleeved shirt in a specific size. Rather, I’ll go there if I need to pick up a few summer shirts for my daughter.

Another example: I won’t go there if I absolutely must have a specific make and model of a small household appliance, but if any sort of slow cooker is fine, I’ll start at the secondhand shops.

While I pride myself on my rationality, I can also be a hopeless romantic. I like to believe that everyone can find true love, a job they like, and a way to express their innate creativity.

I think that’s why every now and again I like to read self-help books. Reading an upbeat and motivational self-help book is like being transported back to elementary school for a few hours, when you and your classmates were all going to be astronauts and the future was unimaginably bright. In a world that can beat you over the head with its cynicism, I believe there is value in re-engaging with that childlike optimism.

The cost of entertainment shouldn't be too high. But it's also very easy to underestimate the real cost …

One of my longtime-favorite personal finance bloggers J. Money over at Budgets Are Sexy wrote a post on the “Buck an Hour” rule cost of entertainment, based on a prompting from one of his readers.

The premise of the rule is that you should get one hour of enjoyment for each dollar you spend (hence “buck an hour”).

By this measure, the $15 Spotify Premium subscription our family has should give us at least 15 hours of enjoyment per month (which it does). Our $60/month internet service gives us (at least) 60 hours of enjoyment between us.

Not all of our entertainment purchases have passed this test. Our cable television bill gave us next to no enjoyment because we hardly ever watch TV.

Yesterday’s article, The Financial Noise, was originally a very, very long draft that included several specific stories from my own life where I talked about the realization of the negative financial impact of “noise” in my life. Although it didn’t really fit in the article, I wanted to share this particular story on its own, because this one experience has really highlighted for me the value of cutting through the “financial noise.”

Recently, while cleaning out our filing cabinet, I came across a six-year-old credit card statement. I had opened it and paid the bill, but it looked like it had been opened just once and barely examined before being stuffed back in the envelope and put aside.

Ordinarily, I’d just toss such things right in the recycling bin, but for some reason, I opened up the bill and looked through it. I was curious as to how I was spending my money six years ago.