Money Tips Network
9 Ways to Invest in Yourself
You are your own greatest asset.
Think about it. Who you are, how you feel about yourself, how you present yourself, what you know, your overall physical and mental health… it all contributes to how you perform at work, at home, and in the things you do for fun.
Of course, you're also a lot more than an asset — a machine that either performs its function well or does not. You are also a person, someone who feels better, lives better, and loves better from a place of all-over health. You are worth investment simply because you are alive. (See also: 52 Great Weekend Projects to Improve Your Life)
The sad news about disability insurance
I don’t hang out at money.stackexchange as much as I used to. No hard feelings, though: I’m glad to see that the site finally made it out of the 3+ year beta purgatory it was stuck in. They even sent me a cute little green piggy bank for being one of the more active users (for a time, anyway).
The people there — myself included, I hope — genuinely do want to be helpful. And I give a lot of credit to people who come with basic questions and who are humble enough to ask.
Questions that make you flinch a bit
There were a couple of questions recently for which giving the answer is a bit hard. The questions were basic, and you just knew that the person wasn’t going to like what you had to say, even if it was exactly correct, and what they needed to hear.
The Employment Guide
Finding new employment is essentially a full-time job in itself. Depending on your personal circumstances, be prepared to dedicate up to 40 hours a week. The whole process could take several months. Fortunately, you have an abundance of resources and tools at your fingertips to facilitate the job-search process. Using these tools effectively can drastically reduce the time it takes to find a job.
Landing a job that suits your career and lifestyle goals is more than simply applying to a few jobs on search engines. Especially in the current environment, you need to devise a thoughtfully planned job search strategy that can give you a real advantage. Once you do so, you can execute your strategy to maximize your chances of success.
The path to employment involves:
8 Ways to Take a Break at Work (and Still Look Busy)
If you spend your day in an office, a cubicle, a dark room, or behind a desk, chances are good that — at some point — you are going to lose focus, your productivity is going to decrease, and your energy level will plummet. Combating those problems can mean the difference between staying ahead of your work or getting behind, getting out of the office on time or staying late, or even impressing your boss or getting on her bad side. (See also: Science Shows You Need to Work Less)
If you can work in breaks, whether they are small ones or a full hour, it is possible to keep your level of productivity and attention to detail at its peak. Here are eight ways you can do just that.
The Value of Handwritten Notes
Whenever I happen to stop in a Hallmark store, I’m just astounded as to the wide variety of greeting cards on display in there.
There are cards for birthdays, wedding anniversaries, bridal showers, engagements, weddings, new babies, job promotions, new jobs, good-byes, graduations, passing a big test, recovering from illness or surgery, sympathy, apology, christenings, baptisms, bar mitzvahs… and that doesn’t even touch the seasonal cards, like Veteran’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, and so on.
All of these cards are there to express the same basic sentiment: that you’re thinking of someone during some special occasion.
Don’t get me wrong, that sentiment is a great thing. It’s wonderful when people take the time to think of each other on important occasions.
4 Financial Mistakes That Limit Your Freedom
Whether you are at home, at work, or out with friends, there's no escaping financial stress. It's the kind of stress that stays with you until you do something about it. It takes over your life. You end up spending a lot of time thinking about your finances which causes you to be unproductive in other areas… and not present in life. It limits your freedom. (See also: The 7 Worst Money Mistakes Married People Make)
Let's take a look at some of the specific mistakes that you may be making that add stress and frustration and limit your time and enjoyment!
Making Excess Purchases on Your Credit Card
This can also fall under a category called "careless spending."
State Park Parking Fees For Parks In All 50 States
Below is a summary of state park parking fees for parks in all 50 states. This is an update to a summary from 4 years ago. We love our state parks here in Georgia – and we enjoy visiting state parks when we travel. I thought this list might be helpful for others. Information is subject to change, so please check with the individual park you plan to visit, prior to your trip. For some states, the state park parking fees are referred to as daily-use fees or entrance fees.
Ask the Readers: Are these good enough reasons to buy life insurance?
This article is by staff writer April Dykman.
There are a lot of really good reasons to have a life insurance policy, no doubt.
If you have children, they’re dependent on your income. You want them to be taken care of should something ever happen to you. If your spouse stays at home with the kids, he or she is dependent on your income. If you stay home with the kids, your spouse is dependent on your “childcare services.” (Obviously, you’re more than just a service provider when it’s your own children, but should something happen to you, your spouse would have to pay for childcare, which, as most parents can tell you, isn’t cheap.)
Those are just a few examples of why life insurance might make sense.
6 Things That Seem Like Splurges But Are Actually Savvy Buys
To splurge, or not to splurge, that is the question.
There's a certain set that thinks the word "splurge" should be deleted from our vocabulary. Some people take frugality and smart spending to an entirely new level, and if a purchase is too extravagant for their liking, or if they feel that it's unnecessary, they'll walk away with no remorse. To each his own. (See also: Want to Cut Costs? Get Yourself a Frugal Filter)
A Simple Way to Calculate Your Retirement Number
In How Much Money Do I Need to Retire? (60 Minute Financial Solutions)the author provides a simple way to calculate your retirement number as follows:
(Retirement Income Needs - Social Security and Pension Income) / Investment Return after Inflation = Simple Retirement Number
Let's use the following assumptions to calculate a retirement number:
The WORST Time of Day to Do Everything
We all know that there tend to be optimal times during the day for everything from scheduling a doctor's appointment to taking a nap to making the most of a workout to having a productive meeting at work. There are plenty of guides out there telling you when you should do these things to get the ideal result. (See also: The Best Time of Day to Do Everything)
However, these guides ignore the other side of the time puzzle: when is the worst time of day to do various activities? Because missing out on an optimal time for an activity is certainly less than ideal, but actually choosing the worst possible time could be frustrating, inefficient, and counterproductive.
Must-Have Websites and Apps for Parents
This post comes from Dawn Jamison at our partner site Zing!
One of the most exciting things about being a new parent is learning about all of the wonderful toys and technologies that exist for kids! The apps and websites my friends have told me about have truly been lifesavers. I don’t know what I would do without having these great resources at my fingertips. Whether I’ve had questions about my daughter’s development or questions about my sick baby, these have come in handy.
Here are four web sites well worth saving to your favorites list.
3 Ways to Get a Legit Business Education Online
Business majors are in demand. A recent survey by Millennial Branding and Beyond.com found that 18% of companies are interested in hiring business majors — second only to the 27% of companies looking to hire engineering and computer majors.
There's a need for people with business degrees, or at least business skills. And the Internet offers a dizzying number of flexible, low-cost options for learning the ways of business. (See also: 8 Cheap Ways to Continue Your Education Without Going Back to School)
Here are three approaches to getting a quality business education online.
Best Money Tips: Benefits of Thrift Shopping
Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some fantastic articles on the benefits of thrift shops, ways to challenge yourself every day, and things financially successful people avoid doing.
Top 5 Articles
20 Amazing Benefits of Thrift Shopping You Probably Never Expected — Did you know that when you thrift shop, you may discover designer products at a fraction of the price? [Lifehack]
What I Learned on Father’s Day
On Father’s Day, I visited my dad, who is in the process of moving out of the house he has shared with his long-time girlfriend for the past thirteen or so years; she had been living in the house for about forty years, if I remember correctly. We met at the house, which was clear of almost all of its furniture, and walked into town.
Maplewood is a township in New Jersey with a cute downtown area, with several good restaurants and shops. There’s a convenient train to New York City. It’s not a cheap place to live, though. In 2011, the mean price for detached houses in the township was $570,158, and property taxes are typical for New Jersey. In other words, high.
Don't Ruin the Party: 11 Things Guests With Good Social Skills Never Do
Most parties don't require you to sign a contract at the front door.
But all the same: by showing up, you've committed to a contract, albeit a non-verbal one. Your hosts agree to do everything reasonable to ensure your good time, and, basically, you agree to do everything reasonable to not make it blow up in their faces. (See also: 18 Things People With Good Social Skills Never Do)
So take a look at this list and make sure you're not unintentionally committing any party fouls. Your hosts (and your social calendar) will thank you for it.
Naked With Cash: Laura and Leon, May 2014
Naked With Cash is an ongoing series at Consumerism Commentary in which readers share their households’ finances with other readers. These participants benefit from the accountability that comes from tracking their finances publicly and the feedback of the four expert Certified Financial Planners (CFPs).
Simple Ways To Save Money While On Vacation
My family and I just recently returned from a week at the beach. We had an awesome time – and we even figured out some simple ways to save money while on vacation.
Check online for attraction discounts, coupons, and codes. Our three kids like putt-putt and the water-park. A simple online search, and I found coupons for both attractions. We saved 50% on the putt-putt – and 60% at the water-park!
Side note – By visiting the water-park’s website, we were able to better plan our visit. We avoided a particularly busy day at the park – and the kids were able to ride the slides without waiting in super-long lines.
50 Fun Free Activities My Family Enjoys
One of the most popular articles I’ve ever written for The Simple Dollar is 100 Things to Do During a Money-Free Weekend. In it, I touch upon the idea of a “money-free weekend” – one in which you consciously avoid the active spending of money – and then drop a long list of activities you can take on during such a weekend.
Sarah and I often did “money-free weekends” when we first started our financial recovery and we still do them every once in a while. When we first began, however, we had only a single child at home, a baby, who we could simply take along to many of the more adult-oriented activities that we would do. If you’ll notice, that list is mostly full of stuff that works best for adults.
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