Cashola

Happy Mother’s Day

Just thought I’d take the time out of my weekend to wish all you mother’s out there a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! For those of you thinking of frugal money-saving idea’s for your own Mother, here are a couple idea’s that I found courtesy of Betterbudgeting.com - “Great Gift Ideas for Mother’s Day“. Hey…just because it’s frugal, doesn’t mean you love her any less.

How to get a better interest rate on Savings

There is one sure way to get a better interest rate on your savings account than what you’re getting at your local bank, and it’s ::drumroll:: ONLINE BANKING! These online banks encourage you to put your hard earned money with them by offering high yield interest rates ranging anywhere from 2.6% all the way up to 4.05% APY. So what’s the catch? After a Google search for “disadvantages of online banking”, an article caught my eye: “3 Reasons Not to Use Online Bank Accounts“. Mr. Pritchard’s 3 reasons not to use online banking are:

1. Customer Service with Online Bank Accounts
” One reason to avoid online banks is that you may run into bad customer service. With a brick-and-mortar bank, you’ll likely have some familiarity with the staff”…

2. Online Bank Accounts and Speed of Clearing
“The internet is supposed to make things faster. However, you might have to wait a long time for checks to clear.” and “Likewise, deposits to your online bank account can be really slow. If you get a big check and want to start earning interest, you can expect to wait. Now, the higher APY you earn may still make it worth your while, but it’s just no fun to wait.”
3. You Can’t Spend It From Your Online Bank Account
You can’t take it with you when you go, so why not use some of that money? Online bank accounts make it hard to spend your money. You really have to plan on keeping your money in the account.

Now he may have some valid points, but there is a way to have all the benefits of Online Banking without the disadvantages. Enroll in online banking with the institution you already bank with. I currently have my savings and checking with Washington Mutual. Washington Mutual’s Online Banking offers:

• Free checks for life**
• Free ATM cash withdrawals (foreign and domestic)**
• A $0.03 reward on debit card purchases**
• Free Personal Bill Pay® service
• Safe storage for your stash—deposits are FDIC insured

At 3.30% APY, Washington Mutual offers one of the best interest rates for online banking savings accounts. Tough to beat. So for my rebuttal to Mr. Pritchard’s reasoning:

1. With plenty of brick and mortar Washington Mutual locations throughout the United States, you can readily talk to a teller for any support you may need. I have had some issues concerning my debit and checking account and Washington Mutual had excellent customer service and helped to resolve all of my concerns.

2. The speed of clearing a deposit into your online savings account will be just as quick as depositing into your regular bank account since the accounts are all under Washington Mutual. If you need money, you can simply go to a teller and make a withdrawl or use their Free ATM Cash withdrawl service. The only time I could foresee it being slow in clearing is if you transfer funds to an external checking/savings account with another bank.

3. As mentioned in #2, as long as you have a Washington Mutual branch wherever you are (which you more than likely will), you will have no problem accessing your money. Actually, unless I really needed my money for an emergency, I wish Online Banking would make it harder for me to spend my money. It would help prevent all those head slapping impulsive buy moments.

Oh yeah…Free Personal Bill Pay rules!

A Future Boglehead?

After I wrote my “Self-Made Millionaires’ Secrets” post the other day, I decided to work on Self-Made Millionaire Secret #2: Educate Yourself. I already have my sight set on where I want to go, but lack the real knowledge to do so. I decided to research Investing books out there that scored great reviews and found “The Boglehead’s Guide to Investing”. This book is awesome so far; however, It made me feel frustrated at times when I look back at all the things I did wrong financially, but at least I know better now. I receive my first paycheck this Friday. It’s time to put this new knowledge to use! Am I a future Boglehead? Quite possibly! I will continue to review the book as I get through it so stay tuned! Off to visit Diehards.org!

Yahoo bid dropped, Market set to fall

The stock market as a whole is set to open lower today due to Microsoft backing out of it’s bid for Yahoo. This bid retraction put a blow to investor confidence and has “clouded” the outlook for mergers and acquisitions. Yahoo is now down more than 21%. Read the full article on Reuters.com.

Self-Made Millionaires’ Secrets

A couple months back, there was an article written by Kristyn Kusek Lewis for Reader’s Digest that discussed the “Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires“. This article has been discussed and featured in other personal finance blogs but felt the concepts are timeless and offers lessons to be learned by all (especially me):

1. Set your sights on where you’re going.
You must think BIG and have a vision of what you would like to achieve. Envisioning your goal and wholeheartedly believing that you can achieve that goal is half the battle. Remember, “A journey of a thousand miles beings with a single step”. Know where you want to go, and do whatever it takes to get there.

2. Educate yourself.
Those uneducated about personal finance and investing often find themselves in bad debt, living from paycheck to paycheck, and without enough money to live comfortably when they retire. Read books, magazines, websites, blogs, forums, etc. etc. etc. on personal finance. The information is all there, you just have to use it.

3. Passion pays off.
While everyone wants to make as much money as possible, most do so at the expense of pursuing their true passion. A large portion of those who are successful do what they love. Pursue your dreams and the money will follow. Taken directly from the article: “According to research by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80 percent of millionaires say they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.”

4. Grow your money.
Pay yourself first! Instead of spending money on useless or unnecessary things, invest that money in yourself. It’s imperative you do so. Whether it’s your IRA, business, or investments, put that extra money where it will work for you.

5. No guts, no glory.
This speaks for itself. You must take risks if you want to achieve everything and anything you ever dreamed of. Investing and risks go hand in hand. The same goes for putting aside a secure stable job that you hate for pursuing one that you’re passionate about. Successful people are not concerned about failure. The only thing that counts is the payoff. Achieving their goal. Thomas Edison said it best: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

The Biggest Secret
STOP SPENDING! Every millionaire has one common denominator: they do not spend needlessly. This is a very important concept to understand. Some of the richest people spend their money with a middle-class mind-set. Clip coupons, wait for sales, buy used, check craigslist and ebay for items - Do whatever it takes to stop spending needlessly and spend intelligently on items you do need. When you stop spending, the more money you have to invest. Here are a couple examples taken directly from the article:

Talk show host Tyra Banks calls herself the Queen of Cheap and keeps perfume samples from magazine ads in her purse for quick touch-ups.

Sara Blakely, founder of the $100 million shapewear company Spanx, gets her hair trimmed at Supercuts.

And Warren Buffett, the third richest person in the world, according to Forbes, lives in the same Omaha, Nebraska, home he bought four decades ago for $31,500.

The Cure for High Interest Credit Card Blues

To add to my lack of wealth, I have $900 worth of credit card debt compounded with a 21% interest rate. This is much better than where I was less then 2 months ago when I had a $2700 balance paying $75 dollars monthly to satisfy the minimum payment. I’ve had a long history with this card, it being the first one I got when I hit the ripe age of 18. Sentiment aside, I think it’s time to move on to bigger and better things…it’s time for a balance transfer! There are plenty of attractive Low or 0% APR Balance transfer credit card offers out there, you just have to choose which one is best for you. Here are a couple I have found:

1.) Discover More - No annual fee, 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months with a 3% balance transfer fee with a $75 cap, 0% APR on purchases for 6 months.

2.) Citi Upromise Mastercard - 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months with a 3% balance transfer fee with a $75 cap.

3.) American Express Blue Card - No annual fee, 0% introductory APR on purchases for up to 15 months, 4.99% APR on balance transfers with a 3% balance transfer fee with a $75 cap.

Ultimately, I think I will be going with American Express. The 4.99% APR on the balance transfer applies until you completely pay it off, unlike other cards that offer you the 0% APR balance transfer for an allotted amount of time. I plan on paying off this balance within 2 months regardless. The 0% introductory APR on purchases for up to 15 months just sweetens the deal (even though I will be sure to get in the habit of spending only what I can pay off in total at the end of the month). Lastly, the automatic enrollment in their rewards program with no annual fee is great. American Express is a great company known for their superb customer support which is important when choosing any service pertaining to your finances.

Broke to Ballin’

At least that’s what I’m aiming for. I’ve decided to start this blog to document and track my goal to go from rags to riches. Let’s start with a little info about me: I recently landed my first full time job working in I.T. (a tad late being twenty-six years of age), and currently have less than 500 dollars in savings. Luckily *for now*, I don’t have to worry about housing and transportation expenses. I’ve been spoiled rotten, but all that is about to change. I plan on making the best of my $15/hour wage and have my eyes set on taking my first steps to financial freedom and responsibility. As you can see, I have a long journey ahead, but as they say: “better late than never”.

First Post!

Greetings everyone and welcome to Cashola.org! I finally got WordPress up and running on my site. The trouble was not necessarily installing it rather than choosing a theme. There are so many WordPress themes to choose from. I opted for a clean simplistic look. Plenty of thanks go to BlogohBlog.com for supplying me with this fantastic theme. Now I need to get some rest. This work week seemed to drag on! Stay tuned…