Think about the last time you shook your head or rolled your eyes at another’s financial decisions.
Ever felt like your parents spent too much on one of your siblings?
Money has a special way of bringing out our sense of fairness and our frustrations.
Michelle Singletary for The Washington Post points out that we have two choices when dealing with our feelings about others money decisions, and both require acceptance. Family and money: A lesson in accepting what you cannot change
Ever read an article with tips for saving money and thought how easy it could be to reign in your budget? This couple saved over $50,000 in 2014 by downsizing, eating at home more often, canceling unused subscriptions and going car free. Although the last one is feasible only if you live in an area with public transportation, the rest are simple and applicable to all.
8 strategies for saving money from a couple that banked $50,000 last year
“We stopped a nasty habit we had of reading about great tips and then failing to implement them,” Matt writes. “Avoid our mistakes. … Literally, do something today from this list and start saving money.”
Millennials are often seen as “financial freewheelers,” Zach Witcher says in the first line of his New York Times article, For Millennials, It’s Never Too Early to Save for Retirement. This label actually doesn’t fit all of the 20-30 year olds currently in the workforce, many of whom are already putting money into savings. One important aspect of beginning to save early in life is the amount of time your investment has to grow. Check out the five examples in this article and see how your savings plan stacks up to these young workers.
Is one of your New Year’s goals to better manage your money? Do you often find yourself stressed about your budget, or lack there of? Want to make a real go of saving, paying-off debt and creating financial solvency? Stephen B. Smith for Young Money offers nine suggestions to better manage your finances and to achieve your goals. 9 Nifty New Year’s Resolutions .
May you have health, wealth and happiness in 2017.
The statistics show that many more older men are married than older women. Although there is the fact of womens vs. mens longevity, but Paula Span for the New York Times felt this could not be the only reason. What she found was that women, both widowed and divorced were better able to navigate the single life. With already supportive groups of friends, events, book clubs and volunteer jobs, women’s networks helped them blossom. Read more about her fascinating and somewhat familiar findings here, The Gray Gender Gap: Older Women Are Likelier to Go It Alone.
Long term care insurance is quickly losing its shine. In the 1990s these policies were sold in large numbers and seen as the best way to preserve your style of living as you aged. Since that time, premium rate increases due to high claim volumes and low lapse rates have made the plans much less affordable. Darla Mercado for CNBC examines when these policies may be right for you and what other ways you can plan for unexpected care needs in Less is more: The dilemma over long term care insurance.
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2% of mobile phone users feel that banking apps leave personal information in some way unsafe. This doesn’t appear to actually stop them from using the convenient, snap and post check depositing services that most offer. Amit Ashbel, a cybersecurity expert, in the article, From download to deposit, mobile banking only as safe as your app, identifies the following safety practices as integral to a secure network.
–Solid password policies for apps.
–Out-of-band authentication.
–Tiered authentication.
–Limited log-in attempts.
–Proper error handling.
He also advises users to read all the fine print. Next time you need to make a deposit, take a moment to see if your app is up to these security standards.
Ever feel convicted about wasting food when you clean out the refrigerator?
Then try the ideas offered in, Tips to Reduce Food Waste. Practices as simple as letting vegetables have room to breathe in the cripser drawer and using leftover seafoods and meats to make stock can greatly reduce the amount of food that spoils before it can be consumed. This article not only offers food saving alternatives but better ways to use all parts of fruits and vegetables, including recipes to try at home. Imagine the feeling of opening an empty fridge and knowing that you and your family ate everything that was in there leaving no waste.
Grow up, get married, own land…
That’s been the American dream for ages. Owning a home or piece of property has always been viewed as a sign of wealth and as a good investment. What if that is no longer true? Robert J. Shiller for the Economic View section of the New York Times brings this idea to light in his article, Why Land and Homes Actually Tend to Be Disappointing Investments. Shiller points to many causes but one of the most intriguing is the decrease for demand of urban land, specifically home plots; with the development of micro-housing. A current trend that is changing the way many live in “downtown” areas. Where this movement will be in ten or even twenty years still remains to be seen, but if it goes the way Shiller predicts, the need for rural land will be so low that farmland may be converted back into wildlife preserves.
Give yourself time to think about every purchase. That’s what Carl Richards, for the New York Times suggests in his article, New Rule: All Purchases Subject to a 7-Day Mental Quarantine. We have a similar process in our house for purchases made at Goodwill. If you bring it home, you must clean it and incorporate it into your life within seven days or it goes back to Goodwill. In many ways, this compares to the seven-day item quarantine Carl’s family is currently using.
During the quarantine, the person desiring the object must answer the following questions: How much did it cost? Are you replacing something you already own? Why do you think it’s amazing? And if it’s food, are you sure you’ll eat it? Once the time limit has passed, it is much easier to make an ‘informed’ decision and not end up with something you’ll never wear, use or eat. Give it a try and let us know if it works for you in the comments.