http://www.millionaireorbust.com teaching you how to think about your finances Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:07:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 2006-2009 david@millionaireorbust.com (Flying Squirrel Media) david@millionaireorbust.com (Flying Squirrel Media) personal finance 1440 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/images/podcastlogosmall.jpg http://www.millionaireorbust.com 144 144 teaching you how to think about your finances teaching you how to think about your finances personal finance, business news Flying Squirrel Media Flying Squirrel Media david@millionaireorbust.com no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show7-millionaire-or-bust-first-steps/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show7-millionaire-or-bust-first-steps/#comments Fri, 21 Jul 2006 07:07:28 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/2006/07/21/show7-millionaire-or-bust-first-steps/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show7-millionaire-or-bust-first-steps/feed/ 0 0:07:23 Topic of the Week This week we talk about the first step towards building wealth. For those of you with credit card debt, paying that off is what we’ll be talking about. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week Replace all the incandes[...] Topic of the Week This week we talk about the first step towards building wealth. For those of you with credit card debt, paying that off is what we’ll be talking about. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week Replace all the incandescent light bulbs in your house with fluorescent. The price has really come down and the quality and selection are great. Not only will you save money on your electricity bills (within the first year after the cost of the bulbs), but they last up to ten times longer. Shop for ones with guarantees – some are for as long as five years. Fluorescents will cost you less in the long run. They will also help keep your house cooler in the summer — another savings if you use air conditioning. Bulbs are now made to fit into regular sockets and come in every brightness you could ask for. Talli’s Tightwad Tip of the Week To see your electric bill take a nosedive, make it a habit to unplug non-essential appliances when not in use. When away from home or on vacation, these appliances can add dollars to your electric bill. It’s worth the extra savings. Money Making Tip Craigslist.org Sell some of the larger items you have that you don’t want on Craigslist.org. You’ll get a lot more for them than you would at a garage sale, especially if you set a price ahead of time. It’ll get you more than you would at a garage sale, save you time and be easier than trying to sell furniture on eBay. Tool of the Week Credit Card Minimum Payment Interest Calculator This tool will tell you how much interest you will pay if you only pay the minimum on your credit card. It will also tell you how long it will take to pay off your debt. This way you can see how much your debt is costing you. Financial Psychology This week we talk about putting purchases in perspective. How long do you have to work to make enough to buy an item? Remember to use your after tax income for this calculation. A $50,000 income might only become $36,000 after taxes in some states. A $1000 purchase here in the bay area becomes $1087.50 after sales tax. With those numbers, you would need to work for 63 hours to pay for that item. Is it worth it at that price. That’s your call. If it is, buy it. If not, don’t. Make frugal choices, but ones you can live with, so you don’t feel deprived. podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show5-millionaire-or-bust-real-estate/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show5-millionaire-or-bust-real-estate/#comments Fri, 07 Jul 2006 16:54:03 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/2006/07/07/show5-millionaire-or-bust-real-estate/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show5-millionaire-or-bust-real-estate/feed/ 1 0:08:53 Topic of the Week This week we talk about real estate myths that people fall victim to. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week Make sure you have the appropriate car & homeowner’s insurance. Have a reasonable deductible in order[...] Topic of the Week This week we talk about real estate myths that people fall victim to. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week Make sure you have the appropriate car & homeowner’s insurance. Have a reasonable deductible in order to have lower premiums, especially with older cars that you are more likely to want to replace anyway. Talli’s Tightwad Tip of the Week Going on vacation? Sign up for email notifications from discount travel sites. Often, you can get your flight and hotels for much cheaper than you could get them on your own. They have negotiated deals. Here are a couple sites we use: www.travelzoo.com www.shermanstravel.com Money Making Tip If you have a large emergency fund, maybe putting a portion of it into a cd to earn a higher return on it is a good idea for you. www.scottrade.com (5 month cd 5.31%) www.bankrate.com (to check for rates) Tool of the Week Salvation Army donation valuation tool(value your donations appropriately) Salvation Army Financial Darwinism These might sound common sense, but people do them… People get emotional about investments. Then they buy high and sell low because they don’t have a strategy. Instead of picking good times to buy and sell, they buy when an investment is on fire and sell after it has fallen like a stone for a while. If you don’t know if you should be buying, you shouldn’t be because you’d be gambling. Instead get a yourself a financial adviser. podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show4-millionaire-or-bust-shopping/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show4-millionaire-or-bust-shopping/#comments Fri, 30 Jun 2006 17:35:39 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/2006/06/30/show4-millionaire-or-bust-shopping/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show4-millionaire-or-bust-shopping/feed/ 2 0:10:38 Topic of the Week This week we talk about some of the psychology of shopping and how to save money by curbing your purchasing psychology. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week: Check the prices at checkout. Watch the register and check re[...] Topic of the Week This week we talk about some of the psychology of shopping and how to save money by curbing your purchasing psychology. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week: Check the prices at checkout. Watch the register and check receipts. A checker may scan an item too many times, the sale price may not come up or the price might be wrong. Talli’s Tightwad Tip of the Week Keep your receipts and check them against your credit card bill. Sometimes the amount is wrong or duplicated. Other times, when you return an item, they might miss a credit to your account. Money Making Tip Make back some of your spent money by using credit cards with bonuses. We’ll give you a few tips. One of the sites we mentioned on the show was: citibank.com (no we get no commission) Weekly Statistic Almost 45% of working-age households are “at risk” of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living in retirement, according to the new National Retirement Risk Index. Younger households are particularly vulnerable, as are those with low incomes or no pensions. This is caused by a rapidly changing retirement landscape defined by a rising Social Security retirement age, a sharp decline in traditional pensions coupled with modest 401(k) balances, low savings rates, and longer lifespans. That number goes up to (49%) for Generation Xers born between 1965 and1972. Tool of the Week Shopping comparison sites: shopping.yahoo.com www.mysimon.com www.shopper.com (tech purchases) Financial Darwinism These might sound common sense, but people do them… Putting off saving…”until we can afford it.” Don’t do it. If you wait to save until you have free cash, you never will. There are always multiple things competing for your cash. Pay yourself first. podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show3-millionaire-or-bust-budgets/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show3-millionaire-or-bust-budgets/#comments Fri, 23 Jun 2006 16:41:26 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/2006/06/23/show3-millionaire-or-bust-budgets/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show3-millionaire-or-bust-budgets/feed/ 2 0:14:20 Topic of the Week We discuss budgets in today’s show. What they’re for, how to make one, how to use it and how it can help your finances. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week: Evaluate your phone service and the features you [...] Topic of the Week We discuss budgets in today’s show. What they’re for, how to make one, how to use it and how it can help your finances. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week: Evaluate your phone service and the features you have. Get what you need. Maybe even strip all the extras off the home phone and use it only for receiving calls. Then, get an answering machine instead of voice mail. They’re cheap, around $15-20. Often they pay for themselves in the first few months. Talli’s Tightwad Tip of the Week: Try to cut down your garbage removal expense. Call the garbage company and inquire about the pickup charges for a smaller can. Money Making Tip Save for college through your purchases: www.upromise.com Weekly Statistic For the first 5 months of this year, consumer prices galloped at an annual rate of 5.2%, outpacing the 3.4% rise for 2005. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, are rising at a 3.1% pace this year. That compares with a 2.2% increase in 2005 and suggests the prices of many goods and services are increasing. Tool of the Week Here’s an article that discusses some free budget software that you can use. They’ve been researched by about.com. Don’t like those programs? You can always use the spreadsheet software you have on your computer. If you don’t have any, you can download a free one at www.OpenOffice.org. Financial Darwinism These might sound common sense, but people do them… Don’t buy cars too frequently. When you drive off the lot, you lose a few thousand dollars of value. On top of that, cars depreciate. With expensive cars, you are losing thousands of dollars of value right away and thousands more over the first few years. Remember that the first few years you own a car, you lose more value than you do later on. So, by selling cars frequently you’re losing lots of money with each car. personal, finance, business, news Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show2-millionaire-or-bust-goals/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show2-millionaire-or-bust-goals/#comments Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:35:32 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/2006/06/16/show2-millionaire-or-bust-goals/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/show2-millionaire-or-bust-goals/feed/ 1 0:12:47 Topic of the Week We discuss goals in today’s show. We discuss what they are, setting them and prioritizing them as a part of your financial future. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week: Utilize group discounts. Before making a pu[...] Topic of the Week We discuss goals in today’s show. We discuss what they are, setting them and prioritizing them as a part of your financial future. Money Saving Tips Money Saving Tip of the Week: Utilize group discounts. Before making a purchase, check to see if you have a discount through a club or association membership. Talli’s Tightwad Tip of the Week: Recycle. Take your aluminum, glass and plastic to a recycling center near you or your grocery store. Get some of your money back. Money Making Tip The AmericanDream Savings Account with a 4.65% interest rate from www.emigrantdirect.com. Citibank’s e-savings account with a 4.75% interest rate from direct.citibank.com. Weekly Statistic Personal saving – Disposable Personal Income(DPI) less personal spending was a -$146.8 billion in April, 2006, compared with a -$128.2 billion in March, 2006. Personal saving as a percentage of DPI was -1.6% in April, compared with a -1.4% in March. - Bureau of Economic Analysis US Dept. of Commerce http://www.economicindicators.gov/ Tool of the Week Check interest, CD, mortgage and lending rates online using www.bankrate.com. Financial Darwinism These might sound like common sense, but people do them… Don’t make large purchases on your credit card if you don’t have the money to pay it off. If an emergency comes up, you’ll be over leveraged and you’ll have to carry a balance that will force you to pay interest on your credit card. *We’re not sponsored by any of the products or companies that we are mentioning or linking to in this episode. podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no