Category Archives: Finance

Boosting Your Income: How to Earn Money on the Side

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Boosting Your Income: How to Earn Money on the Side

It feels like our money never quite stretches far enough these days. With wages stagnating while inflation rises, it is getting harder and harder to meet our expected standard of living; and that’s before we start even considering taking levels of debt into account. Due to this, more and more people have now started trying to earn money on the side. From betting to arts and crafts to car boot sales, there are a number of ways that this can be done. Due to the technology involved in 21st century life, however, you can now earn money without even leaving the house. Here are three ways that you can boost your income all from the comfort of your own home.

Start Your Very Own eBay/ Amazon Business

Online businesses are now all the rage and, with sites like eBay growing daily, it is no wonder that hundreds of thousands of people are flocking there in an attempt to make a quick buck. The truth with sites like eBay and Amazon is that if you have the right stock at the right price you’ll always sell because the volume of traffic is so high. Plus, what’s more, it’s cheap and simple as well, and all you’ll need is an eBay seller’s account. Admittedly, you may have to leave the house to post your items, but that’s a small price to pay.

 

Get Rid of Those Old CDs and DVDs

You’d be amazed at how much money you have in boxes up in the attic. Although most CDs and DVDs aren’t worth a lot, there’s always the odd limited edition gem mixed in there and, if there’s something that’s almost brand new, it’ll almost certainly be worth enough for it to be worth your while selling it.

If you’ve got a job lot to get rid of then you can make a quick buck fairly easily. Of course, selling all these items takes time, but it is well worth the effort in the end. Compare and contrast a number of online sites that offer to take these items and that way, you know you’re guaranteed to get the best price. All you have to do is scan the barcode of the items on your phone for an instant valuation, what could be simpler than that?

Start Trading on the Side

If you’re not interested in getting your hands dirty, then online Forex trading may be for you. Once again, this is an incredibly cheap option, and all you’ll need to get started is an ECN account. Trading currencies online is quite technical, and is only advised if you’re already quite studious and brainy. In addition to this, it is also the highest risk of all the options, and there’s a potential to lose money as well as earn money. Incredibly lucrative if done well, Forex trading is practiced all over the world, but you’ll need to put the research in to earn some money.

Using such techniques described above could help you increase your income class as I have done with my personal finance pyramid.  While it’s not easy to move to each level once you get higher up in the pyramid, extra income definitely will move you more quickly on the lower levels!

So, there you have it, three ways you can earn money without leaving your home. What’s stopping you?

Scott

Why Does The Media Still Print Stuff About Madoff?

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The man committed a Ponzi scheme of unbelievable proportions…

So again I have to ask why does the media still print what Bernie Madoff says, knowing that he committed one of the largest frauds in history?  Basically hiding the truth for years, as he robbed many a life savings from investors all along…

To me, I would think that the media would realize that Madoff committed a huge crime that alone would demand that anything the man says is not to be trusted and definitely not publicized!  Me, as just a normal Joe, even I would think that the man is just trying to get attention because life sucks behind bars, or even worse, he’s trying to get less time in Prison by creating a story and hoping that somehow he can make a deal with the justice system.  This is a fantasy of a man in prison and should be ignored.  Such coverage and attention paying to Madoff gives the man attention that isn’t warranted.  Shoot, there was a documentary about how Madoff looks for TV and new coverage about himself in prison.  Isn’t it obvious that this is just an attempt to feed his own fetish?

This isn’t the first thing that Madoff has said that was unbelievable, so why should he be believable now?  Does the media channels really believe what he is saying is newsworthy?  Are they really that naive, don’t they realize that printing such garbage lessens the respect people have for the media channel?

Don’t believe this garbage out there about Bernie…  Madoff is just playing with everybody for his own jollies.  Be the smarter person and ignore any Madoff news or better yet, write to any Madoff news media outlets chastising them of their folly in covering this horrible man!

Sad times…

 

 

My 401k Contribution Mistake This Past Year

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It’s December, and I have to admit I’m hurting financial, but in more of a good way than a bad way.  Still, I’m very stressed out!

This year I decided that I was going to try to max out both my 401k and Roth IRA contributions for the year.  Well, now it’s obvious that it’s not going to happen…

When December 15 rolls around, I will definitely slip past the maximum amount ($17,500) that I can contribution to my 401k for the year, I’m not going to max out my Roth IRA (which is a mistake too, but I won’t discuss that now).  My Money Management assessment was spot on, and if I lived more frugally this past year, I could have definitely accomplished my “maxing out my retirement contributions” goal.

Huh?

So, what happened?  Two words…

Lifestyle Creep, yep, it finally happened to me!  Listed below are my lifestyle creep causes:

  1. I bought a used but reliable with low mileage Toyota Camry last year, but I’m still making payments on it.  This alone adds $230 dollar to my monthly expenses.  I could have paid off the car, but I decided to keep the money in investments instead.
  2. My son needed braces, again!  Yep, I never heard of this but after wearing braces and getting them off, my son had to be fitted with braces yet again!?!  I’m not happy, this cost me $1,500.  It would have been more, but since it’s the second time around, the dentist gave us a discount.
  3. New Lunch habit.  I’ve been going out a few times a week for lunch with the guys, that adds over $200 more a month to my monthly bills that didn’t exist previously.
  4. Boy Scouts, while not huge, my son is enjoying Boy Scouts and the various expenses associated with such an organization..
  5. Increased monthly college savings payments.  Just a small increase, but still an increase all the same.
  6. Newer car (2012 Toyota Sienna) for my wife, $340 more each month.  This is killing me!  I’m not sure how to handle this actually, it’s a big increase and very painful for me.  I had hoped to almost have my car paid off before purchasing a new car for my wife, but my wife had other plans.
  7. The rest of the increases in spending were small (kids getting more expensive) charges.  I’m probably just going to roll with the punches on these, at least for now.

So, even with my list of budget breakers, this year I will still be able to max out my 401k, and I’m still planning on putting 2k towards my Roth IRA.

Next year, I’m changing the entire plan, more to come in a future post about that!

Wish me luck,

Don

Both Best and Worst Personal Financial Times This Year So Far

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times“, the quote from the book: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens best described my cash flow activity pattern for this year, so far.

Let me explain…

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“Best of Time” Financial Perspective

First, I now consider myself at the threshold of barely being in the “Upper Middle Class” as I wrote in my article called “My Personal Finance Pyramid Update Lower (Upper Middle Class)“.

I’m doing much, much better than last year in the stock market.  In fact, I’ve already beaten my “secret wealth goal” of increasing my by increasing my net worth this year by more than my annual salary.  In fact, I met this goal a few months ago before the market started to go sideways.  So a big booyah on the net worth increase for this year!

I’m trying to max out both my 401k and my Roth IRA for the year.  This isn’t an easy task, but so far I’m on track to do both.  While this is a positive action for the year, I have to admit, I’m really starting to rethink this goal.

While saving like a mad man, I’m also having my employer take out an ESPP contribution so I can earn that sweet 15% per quarter (not I said quarter, not year!) that program offers as an incentive!  Because of the bull market and my delaying my sale of the stock option, I’ve been able to achieve a bit more than 15% return on each quarterly contribution (not to mentioned that gain off of the money I reinvested after selling my ESPP options for the year).  While there is no doubt that the ESPP is sweet, I think it has more of an impact during a slow or even a bear market.  There would be nothing sweater than gaining 15% per quarter on the money than when the market is down 10%…

“Worst of Times” Financial Perspective:

So looks like I’m doing pretty good from the “Best of Times” piece above, and I am, no questioning it, it’s been a good year for everybody…

The main problem that I have is that I’m “Cash Flow” constrained.  Actually, cash flow constrained might be an understatement.  You see, each month I’m about 600 dollar short from break even.  Now a negative 600 hundred dollars cash flow adds up and hit one hard about… right now!  Yes, my checking account cash buffer has been depleted and it looks like I’m going to have to hit some of my investments to make it through the year!

Eating my investments, is definitely a negative, and feels a bit like I’m moving backwards (because I am).  Now I probably won’t need more than $2,000 to tide me over for the rest of the year, but I need to change my financial plans now instead of later, since it’s a self-induced financial problem instead of a spending/earning problem.

My next post will have a more detailed financial action plan, to reverse my cash flow stream, making it a positive flow again instead of a negative one.