Owner: Saving to Invest URL:www.savingtoinvest.com Join Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:44:05 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Ideas and Thoughts on the Journey towards Financial Freedom by Saving Effectively and Investing Wisely Site statistics:Click here
Is my stimulus payment taxable? 2008-05-15 08:36:21 The answer is No. According to the IRS website - "You will not owe tax on your payment when you file your 2008 federal income tax return. But you should keep a copy of the IRS letter you receive later this year listing the amount of your payment." That's a relief. I am still waiting for my check, but over the last few weeks the stimulus check has been a very hot topic with some stuff being said wa
Are you using these 10 online financial security measures? 2008-05-16 08:43:14 Like a number of you, I regularly get official looking emails asking me to verify my user name and password details by clicking a link which takes me to a site that looks something like my bank's actual site. In today's cyber-age these type of scams and phishing emails are growing and unfortunately new victims are found every day. However there are a number of easy and cost effective ways you can Read more:online
, security
Tipping Philosophy 2008-05-18 10:42:46 Are you a generous tipper or do you give the minimum tip possible? Do you tip extra for good service or not at all for bad service? Well, everyone has their own tipping philosophy and it does vary by where you live, your background and expectations. Mrs Micah's, Finance for a Freelance life had a recent post on Dining Out Frugally Without Stiffing On the Tip, where she talks about tipping etiquett Read more:Philosophy
Investment Portfolio Monthly Update - Up by 7% 2008-05-19 13:01:01 Since the last update my portfolio has gone up in value by about 7%. This handily beat the 3% rise in the Dow Jones and S&P 500 Index, which means I would classify this as a good month. Details of my portfolio and move are shown below:The gain would have been more if it was not for the Visa Sep $95 call options I bought last month. Unfortunately, I bought them when the underlying Visa stock wa Read more:Monthly
, Portfolio
, Update
Why Online High Yield Savings Accounts are Poor Investments 2008-05-20 14:17:31 One of my underlying financial philosophies for wealth building is to effectively combine saving and investing activities (hence the name of this blog) to create a viable source of passive income thereby enabling financial freedom. Your savings must work for you to provide passive income and this can be only be done via investing. Over the last few years there has been a lot of talk and promotion Read more:Accounts
, Investments
, Savings
, Savings Accounts
, Yield
So you think Gas is expensive in America.... 2008-05-23 07:23:01 "Gas (& Oil) prices rise to new records". Seems like this headline appears in the news media every day. Oil and gas prices seem to be a topic everyone is discussing and complaining about nowadays. As national average gas prices approach $4 (I am already paying more than that where I live), we should count ourselves fortunate compared to some of our global community who are paying much more. Th Read more:America
, think
Embrace fear for financial freedom 2008-05-22 20:01:55 FEAR is one of the most powerful forces in investing, as it is in life. One of the biggest universal fears is that of losing money, particularly when it can be so tough to earn in the first place. Yet those who fail to embrace fear run the risk of never being financially free.Fear and greed are the two biggest forces driving investment markets, and fear has had the upper hand since the markets bec
Blog Stats Addiction 2008-05-22 20:01:15 I have a confession to make - "I have become addicted to checking my blog statistics every 10 minutes or so!". This has been exasperated by the recent purchase of my iPhone which allows me to check my stats anywhere I have a signal. When I started this blog a few months it was one of the highlights to have visitors come and see what I had written, but now I need to know where they came from, which Read more:Stats
Bikini car wash controversy 2008-05-24 13:25:43 I am always amazed how far some entrepreneurs go to make a buck. Sex sells is a time old marketing adage and looks like this concept is being taken to the extreme with the opening of racy Bikini
car washes around country this summer. Just recently a San Antonio car wash featuring bikini-clad women created such stir amongst the locals that it had to be closed for code violations, but reopened a wee
The meaning of work 2008-05-27 09:05:51 Finding meaning from your job is something, like a lot of people, I struggle with. One of the most common complaints by people working is "the money may be good but where is the meaning? How can I make a difference?". There are two things that give work meaning. First is the satisfaction that comes from the work itself. Yet this simple pleasure in the job is not open to most people: the majority o
US dollar outlook 2008, 2009 and beyond 2008-05-28 20:12:49 For most people the direction of the US dollar should matter. Whether the impact is direct (value of foreign holdings) or indirect (oil prices) it is important to understand where the US dollar is headed because of its effect on you. For me in particular it is important as I work/live in the US, travel overseas and have a significant part of my investment portfolio abroad. Unfortunately over the l Read more:beyond
A new goal : $300 monthly passive income by year end 2008-05-28 06:20:00 Over the Memorial day weekend I had an interesting talk with a family friend regarding this blog and some of the personal finance and investing topics posted here. After a long discussion and based on his experiences I started looking at some of my financial goals a bit differently. This resulted in a new personal finance goal, which was to have $300 of monthly passive income by the end of this ye
Is now the time to buy your dream home 2008-05-29 10:58:44 Recent reports came out showing that US home prices are falling at an accelerating pace and that fewer Americans are planning to buy a home anytime soon. This suggests more home price declines in the months to come. However, taking a contrary view in that it is always darkest before dawn, this could perhaps be the bottom of the housing market and a great time to buy the home you thought was out of
Playing the Agriculture & Solar boom in one safe stock 2008-05-30 11:41:43 The spike in food and commodity prices has meant we are all feeling the pain of higher bills every time we go to the grocery store. However, some companies are actually benefiting from higher food prices and the rise in demand of all things related to food production. These are the stocks of agricultural chemical companies that include DuPont Co (DD), Dow Chemical Co (DOW), Potash Corp. of Saskatc Read more:Agriculture
, Solar
Why I hate shopping at Walmart 2008-06-01 10:43:31 Occasionally my wife will drag me along to go shopping at our local Walmart
. Normally this is in response to a big sale event they are having, where she has identified something that is a great deal and can't be found elsewhere. However every time I go there I think, " Why did I come here - just to save a few bucks?". At the end of the day I even question if I saved any money with all the extras w
RSS readership correlation with Blog Revenue 2008-05-31 09:55:44 Curt from Penny Jobs left an interesting comment on a recent post about increasing my passive income to $300 p/month. His comment related to my target of growing my blogging (passive) income to $50 p/month by year end and was:Here is a calculation for blogging income. JD of the 'Get Rich Slowly' blog posted in Nov that he has $5k income with 35000 RSS readers. Therefore, each reader is worth, 5k/3 Read more:Revenue
New coupon delivery methods 2008-06-03 10:26:32 Smart Money brings us some novel new coupon delivery methods. These are quite interesting and innovative and shows that as times get tough companies are continually finding new ways to lure shoppers to their stores via coupons. Here are some of the methods highlighted leveraging technology to its fullest (and none of them require a pair of scissors)Coupon KiosksNow shoppers can print coupons insid
Frugal ways to get and stay in shape 2008-06-03 10:25:07 For most people getting or staying in shape brings about connotations of joining a gym, getting a trainer or going on some new fad diet. This can all be quite expensive and act as a deterrent to people who are on a tight budget and don't want to spend on such luxuries. However getting fit and staying healthy has been shown not only to be good for our overall well-being, but even our finances. Luck Read more:Frugal
Your car - an asset or liability? 2008-06-02 09:26:07 When calculating your net worth, do you include your car as an asset? What value do you assign to it and what about all the running and insurance costs?According to accounting definitions, a car can only be classified as an asset if its current value is greater than what you owe on it (car loan). The other reason a car can be classified as an asset is that anything you own that can be sold for cas
Oh no....I just bought $16K worth of Apple and am already down $300! 2008-06-04 13:11:27 I bought the 85 Apple
(AAPL) shares this morning at $186.88 (see screenshot below) based on what I have been reading over the last few weeks and on the potential growth from their upcoming new I-phone, launching next week. The stock is now below $184, three hours later so I am already down $300+. Did I pull the trade trigger too early and make investing mistake 101 by buying at the top of the mark
Top ten myths about buying a franchise - Part 3 2008-06-05 17:38:21 This is the final in my three part series around the myths of buying a franchise
. All this is based on real experience and I hope it helps folks out there who are looking to buy a franchise, or want to know more about the franchising business model. Thanks to the readers of this series for all your feedback and making it a popular search item.~ Myths 1 to 3 can be found in part one of the series a
Getting out of your car lease 2008-06-07 00:14:42 There is an interesting new service available for people trying to get out of their car lease
without having to pay a penalty. It is from a company called SwapaLease.com that is essentially an on-line marketplace which brings together individuals who are looking to enter and/or exit car and truck leases. They are a pretty well established company that has been featured in various leading media cha
My shiny new iPhone and why I bought Apple 2008-06-06 08:19:01 I recently bought $16,000 worth of Apple
stock, which I covered in a post two days ago. The way the post was written, and based on some of the comments I got on it, may have led to the impression that it was a speculative or uninformed buy. It definitely wasn't. Firstly, I would not invest that amount of money without doing some real research, following the stock for a while and be comfortable wit Read more:iPhone
Confirmed. We are getting poorer as a nation 2008-06-09 10:17:02 As a nation
our net worth declined by $1.7 trillion in Q1 2008, according to the Federal Reserve's flow of funds report. That’s $1.7 Trillion! A trillion is equal to a thousand billion, or a million millions. To put this in perspective, the market capitalization of America's 3 largest companies (Exxon Mobil, GE and Wal-Mart) is less than this amount. Simply put, its like wiping out these compani Read more:Confirmed
Ask your employer to ease your gas burden 2008-06-08 11:22:06 I have seen a number of articles recently on ways for people to combat rising gas prices. One of the more practical ways coming to the fore is employers subsidizing driving costs to work or to allow employee telecommuting - i.e. working from home. The average U.S. commute is now about 30 miles and with gas at a record $4 per gallon, it's hard for most people not to feel the pain. Unfortunately $4
Preparing for a Layoff 2008-06-10 13:26:20 You get into work tomorrow and you are told that your position has been made redundant. Are you prepared for this scenario and its likely impacts on your financial security?In these weak economic times with lower company profits and unemployment rising, you need to be prepared for adverse circumstances such as losing your job. Whether you are in a dual income or single income household, you need t
Why the worlds central banks (including the Fed) can't save the markets 2008-06-14 08:46:08 Financial markets are disintegrating around the world. Professionals and regular investors are seeing red all over the screens and portfolio values are dropping faster than during the dot.com bubble burst or after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Central banks
(which includes the federal and reserve banks) around the world, along with governments, are trying to stem the tide - but to no avail.
Managing Credit Card Debt effectively 2008-06-16 08:22:01 In tight economic times like we have now, many people turn to their credit cards or home equity when they need money. But racking up extra debt to deal with financial difficulties is a strategy that's almost sure to backfire. Even when you have less money in your wallet, you should remember that the most important thing is paying off debt should still be your top priority. The following are the th
Invest childcare money in your child's future 2008-06-18 12:08:12 The cost of child
care for preschool age children can be one of the most significant expenses parents face. According to information collected in 2005 by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, a family with a 4 year old child could pay average prices of between $3,016 and $9,628 a year for center-based child care. I pay close to $15,000 a year as I live in a metro ar
World Wealth Report : Ten million millionaires and counting 2008-06-27 08:51:40 The number of million
aires (high net worth individuals) in the world hit 10.1 million last year according to the 2008 WorldWealth
Report. A high net worth individual (HNWI) is someone with net assets of at least $1 million, not including their primary residence. It would be great to join this list someday, though with the way my investment portfolio has been hammered from falling equity markets,
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