Guest posts Archives - Page 3 of 9

A stolen piano and other robberies: How to be safe when traveling

November 14, 2012 by Jana 16 Comments

The following is a guest post from Pauline Paquin, a French girl who has recently started to blog over at Reach Financial Independence (and one of the mentees in the Bloggers Helping Bloggers program. My mentee, actually. She’s awesome). Born and raised in Paris, Pauline blogs about how she has been traveling the world for the past 10 years, while trying to build wealth and achieve financial independence, and how you can follow your dreams and reach your goals too. You can follow Pauline on Twitter @RFIndependence.

I don’t care much about material things. Being safe and healthy is what matters most to me. It is a good
thing to have, considering all the stuff that I have lost, damaged, or have been stolen over the years.

The piano
My piano was stolen when I was living in Guatemala. I know, it’s not something you can sneak up your
sleeve and leave my house with. I was about to move out of the country after living there for three
years, and selling my stuff on the local ads website. A guy contacted me , saying he would send movers
over, they would hand me a bank certified check and leave with my piano. This is common practice
here, so I accepted. When they arrived bright and early at 7am, I didn’t realize that it was so I couldn’t
call the bank and confirm the check. Until the fake check bounced a few days later.

WHAT I DID: Call the bank who ”issued” the check to warn them. They knew about the scam. In my
defense, how many of you know what a certified check from bank X looks like? Call the police. They knew too, and told me to put other ads under another name with their cellphone number, and they would call when they catch the thieves. They never called.

The first robbery
Guatemala is known mostly for its robberies. During the three years I lived there, I heard all kind of
scary stories happening to my friends. Getting mugged at gunpoint, or kidnapped as a kid, most upper
class families lived in fear, with bodyguards and houses surrounded by barbwire. I thought I was
smarter. I didn’t show off. I cycled around, I had no schedule to track me, and as a foreigner I could be
making minimum wage working for a non profit. Not the best target.

It worked. Until I started thinking I was untouchable. Once, I withdrew about $400 to buy a fridge
(didn’t have a credit card yet), went to the shoe shop next door, left my purse on the floor while I tried
the shoes on, and found the money missing.

[Read more…]

How This One Receipt Generated $75 Dollars in Savings in a Month.

November 1, 2012 by Jana 2 Comments

This is a guest post from Karen, a lifelong Money Saving Enthusiast with an MS in Education and a blackbelt in grocery shopping. She shares her knowledge on her blog and as a contributor to Mamiverse. She was recently featured on a Fox News Website. In her spare time, Karen enjoys travel, photography, and reading. For tips like this, check out her website, Money Saving Enthusiast.

receipt_reference-_technique2 — Photo taken from Karen’s website, MoneySavingEnthusiast.com

You’re about to see how Minha Boneca Doll owner, Melissa Scala used the Receipt Reference Technique™ to save 75 dollars a month in 3 easy steps. And then I’ll walk you through exactly how she did it, so that you can potentially get similar or better results.

1. Melissa put her grocery receipt on her fridge after going grocery shopping. Melissa explains “I used it to determine what I was wasting in an effort to spend less money on groceries.” After putting away items from the grocery store, put the receipt right on the fridge to use as an informal inventory like Melissa.

2. She then referred to the receipt before opening the fridge. “I used the receipt to figure out what my family and I were eating and what was ending up in the garbage can. I can’t believe how many bananas and tomatoes I was throwing out!” You too can look at the receipt to prioritize your meal planning.

3. After checking off items that she used, “I realized I wasn’t going to be able to use all of the groceries before they expired. I knew I had to plan my grocery trip better. I now buy fewer bananas and tomatoes. I spend less money and make sure I use what I purchase. It also made me more aware of the cost of groceries in general. I actively pay attention to where the better deals are on the items I buy. I shaved 75 dollars a month off of my grocery bill by using the receipt reference technique.” Checking off items helps you figure out what you used and what is still in the fridge. The date on the receipt helps you to remember when you purchased the items, so you can finish them before they expire in an effort to save money and not waste food.

Melissa shaved 75 dollars a month off of her grocery bill. That’s $900 a year. Here’s another person who had great results using this technique.

Jana’s note: I think this is an interesting idea. Most people use their receipts to see how much money they saved on a particular purchase, not on what’s being wasted when they clean out their fridge or notice that something has gone bad. At least that’s what I do. However, if you’re concerned with food waste or simply just spending money on food that your family doesn’t eat, this could be a beneficial technique. It makes you focus on what you’ve bought that’s been wasted and then you can use the receipt to see the money that literally goes in the trash.

A few statistics about women and debt

October 24, 2012 by Jana 7 Comments

This is a guest post from my friend, Suzanne Cramer, Certified Personal Finance Counselor® for CareOne Services, Inc. and a Social Media Specialist. You can follow Suzanne on Twitter where she shares the latest debt industry news, and tips to keep your finances in check @CareOneWorks. Follow Suzanne on Twitter or connect with Suzanne on Google+

As a woman I speak first hand when I say that times are tough! Over the past two years I have gone through a divorce, the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes in my son, and major surgery leaving me with some hefty medical bills. As a working, single mom staying out of debt is a challenge especially when we are still not on an equal playing field with the guys.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time working women earned 81 percent of what full-time working men earned in 2010 leaving a “gap” of 19 percent between the sexes.

Why?

There are numerous factors that affect pay.

Men and women tend to gravitate toward different industries.
Women tend to seek jobs with regular hours, more comfortable conditions, little travel, and greater personal fulfillment.
Women are willing to trade higher pay for jobs with other characteristics that they find attractive.
Men often take jobs with less desirable conditions to achieve higher pay.
Women who have or plan to have children are often willing to trade higher pay for a more kid-friendly position.
In today’s world women are no longer “just staying home” to raise their children; we are actually working two full-time jobs out of necessity for our family; working outside the home and raising our kids.

Statistically lower wages and more family responsibility make it more difficult for women to get out of debt..

Debt Statistics

Since my friend Jana lives in the fantastic state of Delaware (Go Blue Hens! Jana’s note: I am a proud Blue Hen. Twice. For my Bachelor’s and my Master’s. And now I live here. It’s a little weird.) I am going to share some debt statics for those living in Delaware.

Many women are struggling financially and looking for debt relief. According to internal data, from the providers of CareOne Debt Relief Services® women make up the majority of debt-relief seekers in Delaware.
The number of woman is on the rise, increasing by 3% from 2010 to 2011, and coming in at 3% higher than the national average.
The number of Delaware residents seeking debt relief who claim one or more dependants increased 72% from 2010 to 2011.

These women are not only struggling to free themselves from debt, they’re also raising a family on limited means.

Since the odds are stacked against women it is crucial to their financial health to stay on top of their debt, budget, and think twice before spending those hard earned dollars.

Readers, how do you feel about these statistics?

Jana’s input: I want to say I’m surprised by the Delaware statistics but sadly, I’m not. We’ve had a number of major businesses leave the state, including several factories and plants. While new businesses are opening on what seems like a weekly basis, I know that they are much lower paying jobs than what was lost. However, I’ve noticed that our mall and outlets are always bustling, as are the restaurants. I can only assume that many of these people are using credit to maintain the standard of living they once had. I may be wrong but I’d bet that I’m not.

Investing basics, part 4

October 17, 2012 by Jana 3 Comments

This is the fourth post in the Investing Basics series, written by Jennifer from To My Girlfriends. I’m thrilled to have her guest posting here, particularly on this subject. It’s been quite informative!

Before I opened my first IRA (individual retirement account), the CFP (certified financial planner) who worked at my local bank gave me a few items to peruse. I was given Morningstar reports on a couple of different funds. I needed to decide if I wanted to invest in a mutual fund that was considered a “value fund” or a “growth fund.” I took these papers home with me and made an “educated” decision based on what was given to me. There was no internet at the time to do any googling so I had to rely solely on this man’s advice, expertise, and these papers.

The Morningstar report I was given had information on what the top 10 stocks of the fund were, how many stars this Morningstar agency gave the fund (5 being the best), and a list of past returns. I honestly don’t remember what fund my original IRA was invested in other than it was in the Putnam family of funds. I looked at the list of companies that the fund was invested in at the time and made my choice based on my opinion of where I thought the most value was. Have you ever done this? In my experience I have found that what I did to choose my investment is not unheard of. One of the other very common dilemmas is that people are so overwhelmed with their choices that they do nothing for fear of making a wrong decision.

Now I know that what I originally based my decision on is called investment style. A lot of time you will see this box on an analyst’s report:

The Size on the left hand side refers to the size or the company in market capitalization. So let’s discuss what a Large Cap, Mid-Cap, or Small Cap fund is and then we will cover Value, Blend, and Growth.

A Large Cap company is a company that has over $10 billion in market capitalization. For example, Wal-Mart, GE, McDonald’s would all fall in this category.
A Mid-Cap company is a company that has $2-$10 billion in market capitalization.
And then there are the Small-Cap companies that have between $300 million – $2 billion in market capitalization.

Keep in mind that most large and mid-cap companies started out as small cap companies. The dollar amounts I inserted are industry standards overall. The valuations of a company change over time. Small cap companies are considered riskier than more established large cap companies, but the advantage of investing in one is the possibility of being on the bottom floor of an up and coming company. The disadvantage is that they aren’t very well-established and could disappear tomorrow.

A Value Fund will invest mainly in companies whose stock is “undervalued” to the industry. The company has fallen out of favor usually because of poor earnings. A lot of value stocks pay dividends.
A Growth Fund will invest mainly in companies whose earnings are supposed to grow faster than their industry standard.
A Blend Fund is a mix of both value stocks and growth stocks.

The biggest challenges for most people is figuring out their style. By this I mean what level of risk can you tolerate. And this will change over time. I have found, through experience, that the less money a person has in investments the more risk they are willing to take on to grow that investment. As the investment grows, the investor will become more cautious to protect their dollars. Of course this is a generalization and totally based on my personal experience with clients and myself.

Investing basics, part 3

October 10, 2012 by Jana 1 Comment

This is the third post in the Investing Basics series, written by Jennifer from To My Girlfriends. I’m thrilled to have her guest posting here, particularly on this subject. It’s been quite informative!

Let’s talk about the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ. It is important to know the difference between the three and also what they represent.

The S&P 500 is an index of the top 500 publicly traded companies. “The index does include a handful (15 as of May 8, 2012) of non-U.S. companies.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500) There is a committee that selects which companies are allowed into the 500. The S&P 500 is “representative of the industries in the United States economy.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500) This is very simplistic. There are weightings of the different industries, but for our purposes we just need simplistic.

One of the things you may hear about or read about is an S&P 500 Index fund. What that means is that the fund is attempting to mimic the returns of the S&P by having the same stocks in their portfolio. There are a lot of brokerage firms that offer an S&P index fund.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Dow is quoted all the time in regards to the market. “It is an index that shows how 30 large publicly-owned companies based in the United States have traded during a standard trading session in the stock market.^[1]^” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has very little resemblance to the Industrial in its name. It was originally founded to measure the performance of heavy industry in America. Now it is the go-to index to gauge how the stock market is doing even though it only follows 30 stocks, albeit large companies in their industries. When I want to know how the market is REALLY doing I check the S&P 500 ticker. The DJIA ticker is a good indicator of the stock market movements but 30 companies do not make a market, in my humble opinion.

The NASDAQ is also an indices like the S&P and the Dow. Like both of them, the NASDAQ “is a statistical measure of a portion of the market.” (http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/03/072403.asp#axzz28COYuRP2) As with the S&P, you can have a mutual fund that tracks the NASDAQ.

All of this is very confusing to most people. I have found one of the best places for no-nonsense definitions is here: http://budgeting.about.com/od/budget_definitions/a/The-S-and-p-500-Nasdaq-Dow-Jones-market-index.htm I know I am inserting a lot of links today, but that is because I am not as eloquent as a writer in defining the indexes. I don’t want to give you the wrong information. Besides, why re-invent the wheel.

I hope this brings a little more clarity to some more of those mysterious acronyms and words you hear bandied about.