I received an email from a gentleman on behalf of Liveperson.com with some great news for SingleGuyMoney readers. Do you have personal finance questions you would like to ask a personal finance expert? Well here's your chance.
What: Financial Chat with personal finance guru, Jean Chatzky.
When: Thursday April 2nd from 3-4pm Eastern Standard Time.
How: Logon to http://www.LivePerson.com/?
The Liveperson homepage has a link to the transcript for the last chat it hosted with Jean Chatzky.
If you haven't heard of Jean Chatzky, she has an impressive background. Jean has written for SmartMoney, Money magazine, New York Daily News and served as the featured money coach on Oprah. Jean has also written several books including: The 10 Commandments of Financial Happiness, Make Money Not Excuses, The Difference and Pay It Down.
Five reasons to pay off debt:
- Better Cash Flow. Once you pay off debt, the money you used to send to creditors every month can be used to increase your net worth. You can now use the money to increase your savings account balance or invest more money in the market.
- Interest Savings. Once you are no longer paying interest to the credit card or loan company, it gets a little easier to build wealth. Each payment you make to a bank is helping the bank to build wealth. Make those payments to yourself and build your own wealth.
- Better Financial Flexibility. It's nice to not have to figure out how to spread out your paycheck in order to cover all of your obligations each pay period.
- Better Credit Score. One of the major components of your credit score is the amount of debt you have. It's a very simple correlation; less debt = higher credit scores.
- Better Sleep. Once you have paid off a significant amount of your debt, it gets easier to go to sleep at night. You no longer toss and turn trying to figure out how you are going to make ends meet and/or get everyone paid on time.
It only took a few months for my savings account to start to reap the benefits. After I paid off my credit card debt, I had over $400 per month in extra money. It felt so good to be able to redirect my payments as deposits to my savings account instead of small payments toward my debt.
This is what one of my friends recently told me. I've known her for over 15 years and we rented an apartment together a few years ago. This is the same friend that would bring home bags of stuff she didn't need just because it was on sale (she worked at a mall). This is the same friend that gave me an $8 bad check to pay her portion of the water bill. Needless to say, my friend makes bad choices with her money.
Yesterday morning, I was sitting down on the couch with my Sunday paper and a nice cup of coffee when I get the following text message from her:
Her: Good Morning. Will you buy me an Ipod?
Me: Good Morning. No.
Her: That's mean. Ok a MP3 Player.
Me: No. Do you want me to lie to you or tell you the truth?
Her: Always lie. LOL.
Me: Sorry, that's not me. One lie turns into many more lies.
Her: Penny Pincher :-(
Me: Yep, this economy sucks.
Her: Like an Ipod will break u.
Me: No, an iPod won't break me. It's the principal.
Her: Well how much are they?
Me: I think you can get a cheap one for $49.
Her: I think I'll go get one of those.
Me: You sure about that? You were just having problems paying your gas bill.
She called me last week almost in tears because her gas was about to get disconnected and she needed to borrow the money for a couple of days. I told her no because she has borrowed hundreds of dollars from me in the past and never repaid the money.
Her: I can pay my gas bill. I only needed to borrow the money for a couple of days. I can handle my own business.
Me: Yeah, if you could handle your own business, you wouldn't be asking me for money.
Her: Whatever, it's paid now.
Me: Ok, but you still just don't get it do you?
Her: There is nothing to get. My gas bill is paid.
Me: What I'm trying to say is that you need to put a little aside so when that happens again, you won't need to call anyone or stress about it. Once you have a little money set aside, you can then enjoy those little luxuries.
Her: Ok, if I had a little extra, I would. I live paycheck to paycheck. I have expenses, blah, blah, blah. I don't make as much as you do. If I did, I would be able to save. I live way below my means so stop preaching to me about saving. I know what needs to be done, I just can't.
At this point, I was pretty tired of hearing this from her. We've had this discussion many times before and it always ends the same way. She has asked for my help in the past to get her money together. We've sat down before and completed a budget together. She stuck to the budget for about 15 minutes.
Saving money is not rocket science and it is not about how much you make. Saving money is about making sure that your expenses do not exceed your income. It could only be $5 a week or it could only be $5 a month; every little bit helps. If you aren't able to save money on your current income, you need to increase your income. If you can't increase your income, go through your expenses with a fine tooth comb and find things you can get rid of. I think if you were to examine the budget of 10 people, I am willing to bet at least 8 of them would be able to find additional money to save.
Do you not make enough to save or are you not willing to give up certain non-necessities in order to save?
Each day that we are in this financial crisis, more and more companies are having to take extreme measures to limit themselves from losing more money. Fueled by rising levels of bad debt, American Express is one of the companies taking steps to manage the risk in their credit card portfolio.
In a move to reduce the number of customers who may be considered a risk, the company is offering select customers $300 to pay the balance owed and close the account. The customers that were selected will have until April 30, 2009 to pay the balance in full.
Unfortunately, the offer was not sent out to everyone. I am an American Express cardholder but the card has a zero balance and I haven't used it in months. It seems like I would be an unprofitable customer and they would want me to close my account. Since I pay my balance in full each month (when I do use the card) and don't pay any interest (anymore), I would be one of the people that they asked to close my account.
Customers who were chosen and pay off the balance before the due date will receive a $300 pre-paid American Express card.
Many property owners find that the cost of homeowner’s insurance can make it difficult to lead the lifestyles that they want. While it is possible for them to afford monthly mortgage payments and bills, high insurance costs reduce the amount of money that they can invest and save for retirement. In following these steps, though, finding the cheapest homeowner’s insurance should be easy.
Shop Around When You Buy Your Homeowner’s Insurance
Comparison shopping is one of the most important things that you can do when buying homeowner’s insurance. You might think that all insurance providers are alike, but the truth is that rates can vary substantially. Conducting some research can help you determine which policies meet your budget requirements.
Bundle Your Policies With the Same Provider
Lots of companies offer discounted rates when you buy multiple policies from them. Bundling your homeowner’s, auto, health and other insurance policies can help you save a lot of money. If you buy flood, fire, earthquake and other policies for additional protection, be sure to ask your provider if you qualify for discounted rates.
Raise the Deductible on Your Homeowner’s Insurance Policy
Raising your deductible by a few thousand dollars can lower your monthly payments. Choosing your deductible is kind of like walking a tightrope. You want to be sure that your deductible is low enough to help with any home repairs, but you also want it high enough to lower your monthly payments.
Make Home Improvements
Many insurance companies give homeowners discounts when they install security systems, replace old windows and upgrade fire detectors and sprinkler systems. Contact your insurance company to discuss home improvements that will help you reduce your monthly payments. Doing so can lower your bill and increase the value of your house.
Review Your Homeowner’s Insurance Policy Annually
You will get the cheapest homeowner’s insurance if you review it annually and make any necessary changes. This is especially true if you have extra coverage for high-cost items in your home. The computer that was worth a couple of thousand dollars 10 years ago might be worth very little today. You can cut costs by eliminating items that you do not want to cover anymore or reevaluating items to make sure you do not overpay.
February was once again an excellent month for the savings challenge. There were a couple of unexpected payments received in February that I deposited directly to the savings challenge account.
Once monthly budget obligations are met, any additional income goes towards the savings challenge account.
My goal is to get to $50,000 by December 2010.
January 31, 2009
Beginning Balance...............$25,131.32
Deposits:
- Pinecone Surveys -- $9 (3 seperate surveys @ $3/each)
- Health Savings Account Reimbursement -- $134.49
- Verification Deposits -- $0.77 (external bank account links)
- ING Referrals -- $30.00
- Ebates -- $52.82
- Repaid Loan -- $1500.00 (This was very unexpected. Loaned to family member last year.)
- Ga State Tax Refund -- $1000.00 (will offset amount owed to Federal taxes).
- Regular Savings Contributions -- $856.36
- Misc Deposits -- $86.39
Ending Balance...............$29,452.43
Balance Change Amount...............$4321.11
Change Percentage........................14.7%
Amount Remaining towards $50,000 Goal = $20,457.57/22 months = $933.98 required amount to be saved each month in order to reach my goal.
The next few months will be a little challenging for the savings challenge. I have to pay the feds next month for my federal tax bill. There is also some work that needs to be done at my rental property. Both of these will result in a lower savings account balance which means I'll need to save more money each month to meet my goal.
Related Posts:
January Savings Challenge Update
December Savings Challenge Update
Savings Challenge
WT Direct - High Yield Savings
Hyundai Motors was the first company to offer a great warranty program for their cars. It was a smart move to help build brand recognition and get more people to buy their cars. The company is now coming up with another first. Hyundai will be the first company to allow you to return your car if you lose your job (within the first year). I think this is a pretty good move to try and get people to buy a car when car sales are in the crapper. It's called the Hyundai Assurance program and I first heard about on the radio during a commercial. Thinking this is too good to be true, I decided to look into the program a little further.
The Good
- Coverage is available on all new Hyundai vehicles.
- Available to everyone regardless of age, health or employment history.
- 12 months complimentary on every new Hyundai loan or lease. Is there a charge after the first year?
- Coverage available for involuntary unemployment, physical disability, self employed personal bankruptcy, international employment transfer or accidental death.
- Only covers up to $7500 negative equity (diff between value of car - what you owe)
- The dealer determines the value of your vehicle.
- To be eligible, you must be current on your loan and you must have made at least 2 scheduled payments.
Let's say that you purchase a $20,000 car and put above average miles on the vehicle. You lose your job and take the vehicle back to the dealer under the Assurance program. The dealer appraises your car and determines the value to now be $10,000. The Assurance plan will only cover up to $7500 in negative equity. What happens to the additional $2,500? You are on the hook for it or you don't pay it and ruin your credit. I really would like to know more about this program such as:
- Can you extend the plan past the first year? What is the cost to do so?
- Does the max negative equity they will pay increase or decrease?
Once again, I forgot to do a site review for January so I wanted to be sure I did one for February. I won't lie you and say that it was because of work or some other personal issue going on. The truth is that I've been a little lazy with the blog. Things will get better though. I enjoy working on the blog and I don't plan on giving it up anytime soon.
Without my readers and fellow bloggers, I would not have been able to continue to make SingleGuyMoney grow. Doing my monthly site reviews is one way to thank you for your help.
Carnivals
I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance #193 hosted by Broke Grad Student. My post was titled, "Quitting Smoking - One Month Later".
RSS Subscribers
My goal for 2009 was to get at least 1500 subscribers to SingleGuyMoney. As of February 28, 2009, my total number of subscribers crossed the 1,000 mark!!! Tell all of your friends and family to subscribe today!
Top 10 Blogs Sending Traffic to SingleGuyMoney
1. Fabulous Financials - #1 as always! Thanks SingleMa!
2. Wisebread
3. Being Frugal
4. Cash Money Life
5. My Dollar Plan
6. Mrs Micah
7. Moolanomy
8. Frugal Dad
9. Frugal Bachelor
10. Blogging Away Debt
Total Site Visitors in February: 12, 424
Top 5 Most Popular Posts:
1. I'm Ready to Quit Smoking and Save Money
2. Most Reliable Used Cars
3. Interesting Phone Call From My Tenant
4. Made Offer on Another Investment Property
5. Are You Really Ready to Buy a Home?
