Money Tips Network

Back in the pre-2008, pre-financial-crash world, you could land a job with a mediocre cover letter and decent resume. Not so in today's competitive market. In 2014, you need to be creative to find your dream job. It's still a good idea to use job search sites and take advantage of your personal network, but going a step further will increase your chances of landing a gig you'll love. Here are six unusual ways to kick up your job search. (See also: Job Hunting Tools More Important Than LinkedIn)

Here's the latest in my series of millionaire interviews, discussions with everyday people who have practical tips and insights into growing and managing wealth.

My questions are in bold italics and their responses follow in black.

Let's get started...

How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you've been married)?

I am 58 and my wife is 56. We have been married 14 years, a second marriage for both of us.

Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?

I have two grown children from my previous marriage ages 35 and 33.

What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?

My wife and I live in the Northeast in a suburban area of a mid-size city.

What is your current net worth?

I would estimate that as many as 10% of the emails I receive from readers reference the books, classes, or radio shows of Dave Ramsey. For those unfamiliar, Dave Ramsey hosts a weekly radio show on personal finance topics and focuses on straightforward but tough plans for handling personal finance challenges.

The centerpiece of Dave’s philosophy is what he calls the “seven baby steps.” The “baby steps” form a step-by-step framework for people to move from living a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle (usually with lots of debt) to a lifestyle of financial independence.

It’s a solid plan to follow, but I see lots of emails from people who are struggling with particular aspects of the plan, so I thought it would make sense to walk through Dave’s “seven baby steps” and offer up some thoughts on each step.

My three year old son loves to cuddle with me first thing in the morning. He’ll climb into bed, find a warm spot next to me, and then lay there for a while. He’ll whisper things in my ear and squirm around, but he mostly lays still and sometimes dozes a little bit.

I’ll see Sarah brushing her hair while looking in the mirror, so I’ll sneak up behind her and put my arms around her for a moment. She looks at me in the mirror and smiles.

My daughter is in the basement practicing her musical skills on our old keyboard. I can hear her struggling to make chords and then, sometimes, succeeding. Even if she’s playing something melancholy, her beginner’s style and enthusiasm makes it seem brighter and happier.

I’ll curl up on the couch with a library book and get lost in a new idea or a story. Reading works like yawning in our house; within fifteen minutes or so, everyone else will be in the room with a book in their hands.

The process of moving from spending all that you earn (or more) to spending significantly less than you earn is an absolutely essential part of gaining control over your finances – and it’s not easy. It involves upsetting a lot of the habits that you’ve established in your life. At the same time, you also have to establish new routines as well. Some of them seem difficult at the start, but it’s easy to see the long term rewards.

If you stop spending money on non-essential things, you’re going to have money left for more important things, but establishing new routines with less spending can be really hard, especially at first.

Maria writes in:

Do you ever write about the political and social implications of frugality? When you choose not to spend and instead invest your money, you’re either supporting the banking industry or brokerages. Every dollar you have makes some sort of statement, even when you choose to save it.

Maria makes a good point. As long as we live in a society where money is used for goods and services, our dollars are going to have an impact. Every dollar we spend affects the products that are available, because products that do sell will take up more of the marketplace and products that don’t sell shrivel away. Even when you invest, you’re still buying a product, one that theoretically has the ability to return money to you.

It’s worth asking ourselves what that actually means.

If you've gone shopping for clothes lately, you know that making a few new additions to your wardrobe can involve dropping some serious cash. I mean, who decided that regular button-up oxford shirts are worth $45 each? And on what remote mist-covered island are monks weaving denim that makes jeans worth $155 a pair? (See also: Refresh Your Wardrobe for Under $25)

This is a guest post from Mitch Anthony. Mitch is a sought-after financial services consultant, popular speaker, and host of The Daily Dose radio program. His RetireMentors column appears regularly on CBS marketwatch.com. Mitch earned Financial Planning Magazine’s “Mover & Shaker” award for his pioneering retirement and financial planning work. He has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, and The New York Times. His book Storyselling for Financial Advisors was acclaimed by Financial Planning magazine as its No. 1 essential read.

A recent research study shows that the odds of a child moving to a higher socioeconomic bracket as an adult have remained relatively stable over the past 20 years. But the study also showed that a significant factor determining where a child winds up on the earnings ladder is where they start. Rich kids are more likely to wind up rich than poor kids are. We have to be careful when we hear this kind of headline because by nature these studies with very large samples sizes are looking for trends in broad strokes.