Money Tips Network

The old saying "you have to speculate to accumulate" does not just apply to those in the investment industries. If you're spending a little more to get a return on your initial outlay, that works in all aspects of life; and the purchases you make are equally applicable. (See also: 15 Items to Pay More For)

Now, the word expensive is relative. What's costly for one person is peanuts to another. So in this article, expensive refers to the competitive products in the marketplace. Why should you shell out your hard earned money on a brand or product that has a much higher price tag than those in the same category?

Here's the latest in my series of six figure interviews, discussions with everyday people who have grown their incomes to at least $100,000 annually.

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

Let's get started...

Tell us a bit about yourself (age, marital status, kids, where you live, etc.)

I am 43 years old, happily married and have 5 children (elementary to college). My wife has been a stay at home mom since our first child was 18 months old. We live in the Intermountain West.
 
What do you do for a living?

I’m a financial controller for a $100 million dollar division at a software company.
 
How much do you earn annually?

$170,000

How does this amount break down (salary, bonuses, etc.)?

Our life has become so economic and practical in its orientation that, as you get older, the claims of the moment upon you are so great, you hardly know where [...] you are, or what it is you intended. You are always doing something that is required of you. Where is your bliss station? You have to try to find it. Get a phonograph and put on the music that you really love, even if it’s corny music that nobody else respects. – Joseph Campbell

I love playing tabletop games. There is nothing that makes me happier than sitting around a table with friends new and old, playing a game together. The puzzle of the game makes my brain cells work a little, but the social interaction with the people around the table makes it sublime. For me, that’s one of my “bliss stations.” It really brings me joy.

A bit ago Alan Corey was kind enough to send me a copy of his newest book, The Subversive Job Search: How to Overcome a Lousy Job, Sluggish Economy, and Useless Degree to Create a Six-Figure Career.  (Now, that’s a subtitle!)  I was glad to receive it because I enjoyed his first book, A Million Bucks by 30.

The one thing I noticed about this book is that he seemed so much happier in his author photo on this book than he did on the first one.  He agreed, and credited it to having a little bit more notice of needing one on the second book.  I guess that the first one, um, caught him unawares.

Starting over is painful

Each week, I highlight ten things each week that inspired me to greater financial, personal, and professional success. Hopefully, they will inspire you as well.

1. Harold Whitman on being alive

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Harold Whitman

Every time I’ve had a great life experience, it’s almost always involved someone who has “come alive” with passion for something they’re doing or involved with. It might be hard to make a living with passion, but it makes the world go around.

2. Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

It is easy to become comfortable and complacent.

You get a job. You work there for a few years. You get to know the people there and the routine. You earn a few perks for being there for a while, such as a bit of additional vacation. It’s easy to just settle in and ride.

You wake up to your financial situation. You make a bunch of moves to pay down debt and establish some new routines that aren’t as costly. Eventually, you start to simply enjoy the lower bills and it all seems to come easily. You just settle in and ride.

Settling in is the easy thing to do. Usually, it’s the path of least resistance, so unless you’re consciously making other choices, you’ll probably wind up doing just that.

The problem is that “settling in and riding” is more dangerous than you think. Settling in assumes that the thing that comes easy today will last forever.

This post comes from Sean T. Johnston at our partner site Zing.

If you’re like most Americans, you probably don’t pay much attention to creating impenetrable passwords for your online accounts. According to Splashdata, an online password provider, the list of the top online passwords are just terrible from a security standpoint.

The good news is that “password” is no longer the number one password online (it’s now number two!). The bad news is that “123456” took the top spot; “abc123” and “111111” were also among the top 10.

C’mon people, really? Your financial information, emails and personal data are online, and the only thing protecting your information from people with nefarious intentions is “123456”?

Claes Bell

You probably know someone (or multiple people if you’re particularly unlucky) who has tried to sell you so-called “multilevel marketing” products such as Herbalife, Amway, Juice Plus, Avon, Mona Vie, Vemma or Arbonne. If you’re even more unlucky, they’ve tried to recruit you to sell the product, too, waxing poetic about the amazing quality of [...]

‘Multilevel marketing’ schemes like Herbalife, Amway and Juice Plus are bullshit and here’s why from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

This blog was posted by Claes Bell

A few years ago, I wrote about how to lend money to friends without letting it ruin the friendship. To quickly recap, a friend needed help paying the rent. She had never asked me for money in all the years we’d been friends, so I knew she had to be in a pretty desperate situation. In fact, she was even on medical leave and tried to return to work early, but her doctor (and therefore her employer) refused to sign off on it.