Money Tips Network

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My parents immigrated to the US, separately, in 1980 and ’81. They met, married, and started a family while they were still trying to navigate the unfamiliar waters of a brand new country.

Their immigrant experience is an integral part of who they are — and because they raised me, it’s a big part of who I am, too. I’ve learned many valuable lessons from them, including a few that involve spending and saving.

Forget the Joneses. Spend on what’s meaningful to you.

Money magazine released the following stats in their April issue. This set is for households making below $100,000 a year:

• 55% are living paycheck to paycheck
• 66% couldn't handle an unexpected $10,000 expense
• 47% couldn't live comfortably even three months if breadwinner lost his job
• 47% would find it tough to get new job if laid off

Now here are the percentages for households making more than $100,000 a year:

• 37% are living paycheck to paycheck
• 38% couldn't handle an unexpected $10,000 expense
• 32% couldn't live comfortably even three months if breadwinner lost his job
• 37% would find it tough to get new job if laid off

And my results:

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some fantastic articles on ways to make money to fill your fridge, bills you can cut from your budget, and things to bring to a job interview.

Top 5 Articles

Fifteen ways to make money to fill your fridge: make £300/$500 per month — Mending computers or dog sitting can help you make enough money to fill your fridge. [The Money Principle]

Much has been written about the concept of success… oodles, in fact, all claiming to deliver the proverbial key that will help you get from here to there.

Proper planning is apparently crucial for example, as is unyielding determination. Setting goals that are measurable is also said to be important, as it allows you to monitor your progress and celebrate your milestones. (See also: Build on Your Strengths to Succeed)

This post comes from Anna Williams at our partner site LearnVest.com.

There are dozens of factors to consider when it comes to buying a new car—everything from safety features to the length of the loan.

But if durability is high on your lists of musts, a new study might help steer you in the right direction.

Automobile website ISeeCars.com sifted through 30 million used car listings over nearly 30 years to pinpoint which models were most likely to have at least 200,000 miles clocked in—and still be on the road.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. New company 401(k) question
2. Freezing in plastic
3. Eating cheap on road trip
4. Leasing an electric vehicle
5. Too much money into retirement?
6. Midlife crisis?
7. Pay mortgage or start investing?
8. Nonstick pans
9. Hunting for food

Sponsored by Skype — Use Skype Credit to call mobiles and landlines home and abroad at low rates.

Skype is famous for free instant messaging and online voice calls, and I love using Skype to keep in touch with my friends and family. But Skype offers so much more than messages and online calls. Here are 9 cool ways Skype can make your life easier.

1. Send and Receive Files

Skype is helpful for sending and receiving files quickly. I use Skype to send photos, spreadsheets, screenshots, PDFs, and other files to my coworkers on a daily basis.

Personalization is the next big thing in tech. Google customizes your search results when you're logged in to your Google account. And if you often see the same ads on multiple websites, it's because the ad network's algorithms suggest that you'd be interested in those products. (See also: 10 Surprising Marketing Tricks)

All this personalization is supposed to provide you with a better browsing experience. But in reality, its main purpose is to sell you the most relevant products and improve the bottom line for e-businesses.

Two or three times a month, my family enjoys an evening meal that features pasta of some kind. We might enjoy spaghetti or lasagna or something else, depending on the mood.

However, when I go to the store to buy pasta sauce, I absolutely cringe at the prices. The “cheap” sauces are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and taste overly sweet. Some of the other sauces taste great, but you’re paying $7 (or more) for a single jar of the sauce.

Sure, such sauce is convenient, but it really adds up quick. If you buy the cheap stuff at $2 per jar, you’re adding a ton of corn syrup to your diet – even more than soda in some of the sauces.