Money Tips Network

Ever since I started my financial turnaround many years ago, one of my favorite things to do has been to calculate my net worth and compare it to my balance from a month before or from a year before, just to see that I’m still going in the right direction.

Often, it’s hard to see financial improvement in my day to day life because, well, I’m still working every day and my wife is as well. We don’t have enough to retire. At the same time, we have enough put aside that we can handle almost any emergency life might throw at is, including a big job loss. Our money stress is low and there’s not much that could change to make it lower.

So, looking at numbers is often the only way I have to make sure we’re still marching toward our biggest goals – retiring early, paying for a significant part of our children’s educations, and so on.

Are we still moving toward our goals?

One of my favorite simple ways to save money is to just repurpose things that I might otherwise throw out. There are many things that seem to have lived out their primary purpose that, rather than tossing them in the trash, I’d far rather find a second use for them.

This past weekend, while puttering around the house doing a lot of little tasks, I kept noticing all of these different things I had repurposed over time and I started making a list of them. Here are 14 of those things. I hope you’ll find some of them useful.

Use old t-shirts for household cleaning and window washing. If a t-shirt starts to get too beat up to wear, I like to toss it in a rag bag that we keep in the laundry room. Then, whenever we’re doing household cleaning, like washing windows or cleaning the walls, I’ll go there first.

Can’t remember the last time you went into a physical bank branch? That might mean Chime, or a bank like it, is for you. Designed originally as a bank for millennials, Chime can be a good bank for nearly anyone interested in mobile banking.

The bank was created in 2013 by Chris Britt and Ryan King. It’s completely online, so there are no branches or ATMs of its own, but it does offer a large fee-free ATM network through partner banks. For most users, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Accounts are protected by the FDIC just like the branch on the corner, so you still have all the security of a traditional bank without all the fees and fluff.

And that’s really where Chime shines: banking there is as fee-free as you can get. Here’s a bit more about the bank and how it works.

The following is a guest post from Kevin at Just Start Investing.

Today we have a title fight between robo-advisors and online brokers.

In one corner, we have the fresh rookie looking to shake up the investing world. Their speciality is automation and giving you an end to end experience to save you time and stress. Put your hands together for… Robo-advisors!

In the other corner, we have a seasoned verteran. They’ve been around a few years and know how to deliver a customizable portfolio for cheap. That is, if you’re willing to put in the work. Give it up for… online brokers!

Stick with us to see who will win this evenly matched fight. But first, a quick backstory on each competitor is below.

What is an Online Broker?

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life. Please enjoy the archives of earlier collections of inspirational things.

1. Harry Truman on credit

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry Truman

Part of the reasoning for my goal of financial independence is that I want to reach a point where I don’t need or even want the credit. I just want to do good stuff.

Synchrony Bank is an online only bank established in 1988. Synchrony isn’t the biggest bank on the market — it has just over $92 million in assets — but it’s still of significant size and is an ideal option for someone who does not want to use in-person banking.

Synchrony Bank deals exclusively in high-yield savings, money markets and CDs.  Customers can access their cash online or through an ATM, but there is no checking account component. While offerings may be limited, these accounts all pay outstanding interest rates. At the end of the day, Synchrony may not be able to replace all of your banking needs, but it could help you seriously grow your savings.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that Americans will spend an estimated $727.9 billion to $730.7 billion on their holiday purchases in 2019.

What a long, strange couple of months it's been for me. On the blog, things have been quiet. Behind the scenes, I've been as busy as I've ever been.

The good news is that this busy-ness will (eventually) lead to a number of interesting articles. I've been reading Cal Newport's Deep Work, for instance, and have some thoughts on it. I've been thinking about the concept of “no speed limits”. Shocking but true: I'm going to write an article about my primary credit card. And I've been reading and writing a lot about “doing nothing”.

Today, though, I want to clear my head (and my inbox) by sharing five short financial anecdotes.

Join our Tweetchat this Thursday at 12:00 pm Pacific for lively conversation and a chance to win one of two $10 Amazon GCs! Use #WBChat to participate.

This week's topic: Earning Extra Money!