Monday, July 19, 2010

managing your personal finance

As you’ll read tomorrow (or Monday), I’ve entered a new phase in my life. After years of hard work and long hours building this blog (time that I’ve enjoyed), I’ve been shifting things around so that I have more free time. As a result, I’m going to have more time to devote to creating quality blog posts, instead of rushing around at the last minute looking for something to write about.


Because of this, it’s time yet again to take requests. I do this about once a year, and it’s a great way to get a feel for what GRS readers are interested in. I’d be grateful if you’d take the time to leave a comment below with topic suggestions or article requests. It doesn’t matter if we’ve covered the subject in the past. If you’d like me (or one of the other GRS staff) to write about it, let me know.


Have there been too many articles about credit cards? Too few articles about credit cards? Would you like to know more about individual savings accounts? Do you like the articles about the psychology of spending? Would it be helpful to have somebody come in to explain insurance concepts in plain English? Should I try to persuade my wife to share more of her recipes now and then? Let me know what you’d like to read about!


While you’re all providing feedback about the site, here are a few recent articles of note:


Over at The Simple Dollar, Trent and his readers had a thoughtful discussion about the obligations of wealth. “I think there is some inherent distrust of the rich in the mainstream of American society,” Trent writes as he describes how a wealthy person can keep from alienating his friends. There’s so much to say about this topic; I’m tempted to write an entire article about it.


GRS reader Steven writes a blog called Hundred Goals, which is about achieving your goals while managing your finances. After Sierra’s post this morning about travel, he dropped me a line to let me know that he has a recent article about how to have a great vacation.


Speaking of vacation, my pal Jason over at No Credit Needed spent time compiling day-use fees and free days for state parks across the United States. Handy page to bookmark!


And here’s more travel! At The Art of Non-Conformity, my good friend Chris Guillebeau has posted a beginner’s guide to travel hacking. I’ve been asking him to share this info for a long time; now I’ve got to take responsibility to use the knowledge he’s shared.


Finally, I’ve been giving a lot of interviews lately. I’m much more comfortable with these than I used to be. (They used to scare me to death!) Some examples:



  • Colleen from The Frisky interviewed me about how to save money even when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. This is a tough quandary, something I’m asked about a lot.


  • In an interview with BeFrugal, I discuss frugality, happiness, and conscious spending. (Note: “the ballot” should be “the balance” — I must have mumbled.)


  • Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents also interviewed me. This interview is very much about the process of writing a book, which may or may not interest you.


  • I also spoke with Beverly Harzog from Card Ratings. We chatted about credit cards, of course, but also about other aspects of personal finance.


  • Finally, USA Weekend has a short piece on how to give your 401(k) a midyear check, for which author Richard Eisenberg interviewed me back in May. This is a perfect example of how much work goes into even a small newspaper article. Eisenberg spent 20-30 minutes on the phone with me, and I’m sure he did the same with the other folks he quotes. Plus, I’ll bet he spent a lot of time writing. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 4-6 hours in this small piece.


Okay, one last thing before I go. Tim pointed me to a two-year-old New York Times series about the debt trap, which includes an interactive infographic showing average household debt loads over the past century.


That’s enough links for today. Please do leave a comment with topic requests or other feedback. Meanwhile, it’s time for me to go do some yardwork…









As you’ll read tomorrow (or Monday), I’ve entered a new phase in my life. After years of hard work and long hours building this blog (time that I’ve enjoyed), I’ve been shifting things around so that I have more free time. As a result, I’m going to have more time to devote to creating quality blog posts, instead of rushing around at the last minute looking for something to write about.


Because of this, it’s time yet again to take requests. I do this about once a year, and it’s a great way to get a feel for what GRS readers are interested in. I’d be grateful if you’d take the time to leave a comment below with topic suggestions or article requests. It doesn’t matter if we’ve covered the subject in the past. If you’d like me (or one of the other GRS staff) to write about it, let me know.


Have there been too many articles about credit cards? Too few articles about credit cards? Would you like to know more about individual savings accounts? Do you like the articles about the psychology of spending? Would it be helpful to have somebody come in to explain insurance concepts in plain English? Should I try to persuade my wife to share more of her recipes now and then? Let me know what you’d like to read about!


While you’re all providing feedback about the site, here are a few recent articles of note:


Over at The Simple Dollar, Trent and his readers had a thoughtful discussion about the obligations of wealth. “I think there is some inherent distrust of the rich in the mainstream of American society,” Trent writes as he describes how a wealthy person can keep from alienating his friends. There’s so much to say about this topic; I’m tempted to write an entire article about it.


GRS reader Steven writes a blog called Hundred Goals, which is about achieving your goals while managing your finances. After Sierra’s post this morning about travel, he dropped me a line to let me know that he has a recent article about how to have a great vacation.


Speaking of vacation, my pal Jason over at No Credit Needed spent time compiling day-use fees and free days for state parks across the United States. Handy page to bookmark!


And here’s more travel! At The Art of Non-Conformity, my good friend Chris Guillebeau has posted a beginner’s guide to travel hacking. I’ve been asking him to share this info for a long time; now I’ve got to take responsibility to use the knowledge he’s shared.


Finally, I’ve been giving a lot of interviews lately. I’m much more comfortable with these than I used to be. (They used to scare me to death!) Some examples:



  • Colleen from The Frisky interviewed me about how to save money even when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. This is a tough quandary, something I’m asked about a lot.


  • In an interview with BeFrugal, I discuss frugality, happiness, and conscious spending. (Note: “the ballot” should be “the balance” — I must have mumbled.)


  • Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents also interviewed me. This interview is very much about the process of writing a book, which may or may not interest you.


  • I also spoke with Beverly Harzog from Card Ratings. We chatted about credit cards, of course, but also about other aspects of personal finance.


  • Finally, USA Weekend has a short piece on how to give your 401(k) a midyear check, for which author Richard Eisenberg interviewed me back in May. This is a perfect example of how much work goes into even a small newspaper article. Eisenberg spent 20-30 minutes on the phone with me, and I’m sure he did the same with the other folks he quotes. Plus, I’ll bet he spent a lot of time writing. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 4-6 hours in this small piece.


Okay, one last thing before I go. Tim pointed me to a two-year-old New York Times series about the debt trap, which includes an interactive infographic showing average household debt loads over the past century.


That’s enough links for today. Please do leave a comment with topic requests or other feedback. Meanwhile, it’s time for me to go do some yardwork…










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If you're an adult, there's a pretty good chance you have a small group of munchkins running around that you sometimes admit are your children. They maybe young now, but some day in the future, they're going to have to have to leave the nest, and go to some sort of college or technical school. Of course these things are not free, college costs money, and it's costing more money every year.

The cost of tuition increases on average 7% annually. This means that you will have to save 2 to 3 times the amount of money the child would if he or she went to college today. It might be a bit less than that if your student is already a teenager. So where is this money going to come from? The way I see it, you have a few different options.

When going into this, just remember that it's not mandatory to pay for all of your children's college. In some cases, you are better off to make them pay for it themselves. This will force them to learn what they need to know about personal finance so that they can continue to afford go to school. It will also better encourage them to apply for scholarships if they have to pay for it themselves. When you pay for a child's college entirely, often times it get wasted and your son or daughter will end up drinking themselves out of school and it does happen more often than you think.

This doesn't mean that you can't pay for some of your student's college education. A good compromise is to pay for half. This way your student will either have to work hard and get scholarships for the rest, or they will have to find a part-time job. If you remember your consumer math, you can figure out how much it will cost for your student to go to school by seeing how much tuition, fees, books and board would go for today at an in state school and multiplying that by 2 or so. Next put out a savings calculator and see how much you would have to save at with about 10% interest. Go open up a 529 college savings plan or an educational savings account, and start putting a set amount in that each month for your children's college. When their times has come to go to college, them money will be there for them.

There are some instances when it is okay to pay for all of your children's school, but these cases are few and far between. If your child has taken an active interest in money and are good at managing what they have, and has demonstrated that they are committed to their education (scholarships, good ACT scores, good grades), then there's not much of a problem paying for your children's college, because then you will know that they won't mess it up. It's also a good idea to say that you'll only pay for their college if they maintain a 3.0 grade point average, and if they don't, the mom and dad scholarship goes away. This will help keep them focused on their schoolwork.





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The Taiwanese <b>News</b> Animates the iPhone 4 Antenna Saga (With Very <b>...</b>

The same Taiwanese outlet that does those Sims-style animations to better illustrate the news has done it again for Steve Jobs and the iPhone 4 antenna saga. No spoilers, but there's a very special guest this time. [Thanks Michael!]

Muhammad Cartoon Activist Molly Norris Lands on al-Qaida Hit List

(July 12) -- Molly Norris, the American cartoonist who started Everybody Draw Mohammad Day, has been placed on the hit list of radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

This Week&#39;s Health Industry <b>News</b> - Prescriptions Blog - NYTimes.com

Congress and FDA are to review genetic testing this week while some major drug makers report their second-quarter earnings.


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