Money Tips Network

Over the course of my career, my single biggest fear – and obstacle – has been “lock in.”

What’s “lock in”? It’s probably easiest to explain it with a story.

Early on in my career, I found myself working at a pretty nice job. I enjoyed the work and enjoyed going into the office almost every day. I was freshly out of college and facing down a pile of student loans, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed.

Roll forward a few years. I transitioned this first job into a second job, one that paid a little more and offered more long-term security but that I didn’t enjoy nearly as much. At the same time, I found myself enjoying the large income quite a bit more. I went out on the town a lot, bought a lot of expensive things, and made very little progress on my student loans – in fact, I actually built up a bit of credit card debt. I was also facing a car loan, as was Sarah.

This article is by staff writer Kristin Wong.

When I first started writing for Get Rich Slowly, I’d just become interested in my finances. While I’ve always been frugal, I started to realize there was much more to personal finance than finding ways to save money.

Here’s where I was, financially, at that time:

• I was rebuilding my recently depleted emergency fund.

• I had just started to earn more.

• I was working hard for my money, but I had no idea how to make my money work for me. I still didn’t feel in control.

Lifehacker shares a post from Budgets are Sexy (a site I love, BTW) that guarantees you'll become wealthy if you just take one of these simple steps:

1. Max out your ROTH IRA every year ($5,500)
2. Max out your 401(k) every year ($17,500)
3. Max out BOTH your IRA and your 401(k) every year! ($23,000)
4. Pay off your entire mortgage and save the future payments

And here's the thinking behind this:

You do any of those on rotation year in and year out, and I guarantee you'll reach financial freedom in 20-30-40 years from now. All depending on your expenses, and lifestyle, yada yada… (And if you're not in a position to invest large amount of money every month/year, at least start with SOMETHING. Even just $100 or $200 a month can do enough to snowball you towards your goals faster!)

A few years ago, I was living paycheck to paycheck and was seriously trying to get my finances under control. I read all the tips and tricks to curb spending, yet I was failing month after month. I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong. I never entered the grocery store without a list; I never bought expensive, brand name shoes or purses; I never obsessed with changing my wardrobe based on the season. On the surface, I never had any problems — but, at the end of the month, I always ended up broke. Finally, after a lot of agonizing over various revisions of my budget, it hit me: I didn’t have a budgeting problem; I had a shopping problem.

I shopped when I was feeling angry or stressed out. I shopped to get along with my roommates. I shopped to make me happy. I shopped to take advantage of sales. I shopped because I felt the need to own stuff. I shopped to relax.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some of the best articles around the web on everything related to your home!

Top 5 Articles

7 Home Repairs You Can Do Yourself — Chances are you don't need a professional to do caulking or fix a squeaky door in your home. [PopSugar Smart Living]

10 Tips Most First-Time Home Buyers Don't Consider — Most first-time home buyers don't look beyond home staging or research grants or other forms of funding. [Five Cent Nickel]

Water conservation is a big deal here in California these days. But even if your area isn't suffering from drought, saving money and reducing our impact on the environment are still good reasons to use less water.

How do you use less water? What is your main reason for conserving water — financial, environmental, practical? Is there any part of your life that might be considered wasting water, but you just can't give up?

Tell us how you use less water and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards

We're doing three giveaways — here's how you can win!

Americans today owe over $11 trillion in debt and that number is on the rise. On a household level, that averages out to $15,191 in credit card debt, $154,365 in mortgage debt, and $33,607 in student loan debt — per indebted household.

Carrying a large debt load may seem like a necessity for some, but for many it also keeps them from reaching their dreams. Bulky monthly payments to creditors deplete funds you could be using to fund your dreams for tomorrow. (See also: The Most Valuable Thing Debt Is Costing You Isn't Money)

Intelligence manifests itself in many different ways: financial success, fancy degrees from Ivy League schools, and the ability to solve problems may all indicate "smart."

Perhaps most interestingly, though, intelligence can be indicated by doing some very dumb things. Specifically, the dumb things on this list. (See also: Good and Bad Habits of Smart People)

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we are featuring some of the best articles from around the web about technology, ranging from apps to smartphones to green tech and more!

Top 5 Articles

Save Thousands by Cutting Dying Tech from Your Life — Cutting your landline and ditching cable can help you save thousands. [Money Talks News]

From Mobile Apps To Online Storage: 10 Techy Ways to Save Money — Using TextFree can save you money on text messages while Skype can save you money on VoIP. [Learnvest]