I recently read that the key to financial success is to save more, make more and make wiser choices and decisions pertaining to your money. I would definitely save more if I were to make more money. However, I don’t. So, I think the key at this time is not to make more to save more. The key is to cut expenses and reorganize our expenses to fit our income, our economy and the unknown.
Here are 5 basic things that we overlook:
Give your car a check-up.
Finding yourself without transportation is not as painful as having to pay unexpected expenses to fix your car. Keep your car in good health. Do change your oil as requested by the car manufacturer, and make sure you give your car a good check up to identify early upcoming expenses.
Review your cell phone plan.
It is incredible how many people have cell phones with monthly plans that do not accurately represent their monthly usage. Don’t be a fool. If most of the months you are going over your minutes, it is time for an upgrade. At the end it is a money saver.
Get rid of your home phone.
This may sound crazy. But, my brother in law cancelled his home phone service because he realized that he really was not using it. Most people would call his cell phone first anyway, and he had a good cell phone plan that would allow him enough minutes to easily get by every month without having to pay for additional minutes. Because of this, he is now saving around $40 a month.
Cancel memberships that you do not need.
Magazines that you do not really read, that gym membership that you do not use, etc. Get rid of all of them and you will have extra money.
Do not go to the mall.
Okay, I know this will be a hard one, but every time I go to the mall, even if it is to just do window shopping, I always end up spending at least $20 either on food, coffee, magazines or things that I really do not need.
About two weeks ago a colleague of mine was laid off. I was really sad for her because I knew she was a single parent with two kids. I called her last night because I wanted to see how she was doing, and to my surprise I found out she was doing well after all. She told me she kind of suspected that she was going to be laid off, and in anticipation of that, she had set up a small Virtual Administrative Assistance office in her home!
A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an entrepreneur who works closely with a limited number of clients from home, communicating via the Internet, phone or fax. VA’s use outstanding administrative and organizational skills to handle a variety of projects such as bookkeeping, desktop publishing, research, meeting and travel planning, project management and public relations.
Here are the tips I got from my colleague:
1. Decide what services you are going to offer and to whom you would like to offer those services.
2. Name and register your business. It is really important to always have a legal entity before you conduct business. This will make sure that in case of any liability, your personal assets are protected. I absolutely recommend that you use an attorney to create the business for you.
3. Buy your equipment. You will need to have the basics: fax, telephone line, computer, printer, cell phone, computer programs, pens, pencils, papers and tons of sticky notes.
4. Have a Website. A website is a must in today’s internet era. Your clients will want to learn more about you, and having a website is a way for them to do that. You can have all the information that a client may need on your website, including your contact information.
5. Market yourself. This tough economy is making life difficult for many companies. Employers that are downsizing are looking to hire independent contractors, people that can do the work without the responsibility of having to pay benefits. Your marketing campaigns should include but not be limited to: cold call letters, postcards, newsletters, press releases, referral programs, ads in local news papers, etc. You can also bid for jobs at job market places such as Monster.com or Guru.com.
7. Do a good job. The only way to keep a client is to make sure to complete you tasks in a timely and friendly manner. As a VA, you must be very organized. Always send a thank you card to your clients after each new project. This will give you the opportunity to ask for referrals to their friends and family.
With all the lay-offs and downsizing happening over the past several months, many employees who had invested in their company’s 401(k) are left wondering about what to do with the 401(k) plan they invested in. Suze Orman, author of several books on personal finance offers the following advice in her book – The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke:
Do not cash out your 401(k).
Why, you are wondering shouldn’t you cash out? Now is the time when you could use the extra cash. Well, Suze says if you cash out now, you will pay an income tax penalty on that withdrawal, in addition you will also pay a 10 % penalty for making an early withdrawal. Finally, if you withdraw or cash out, you will no longer have that money working and growing for you for your retirement.
Do not leave the money where it is.
Again, you ask, why not? Well, if you leave the money in your old company’s plan, you will be limited by the funds offered in that plan. By rolling the money over into an IRA, you will be able to invest your money in anything you want.
If you recently got a new job, Suze also cautions against rolling over your 401(k) from your old employer plan to the new employer’s plan. Why? Again you will be limited by the funds offered in the new employer’s plan rather than being able to invest freely into funds of your choice.
Do an IRA rollover.
Suze suggests that this is the best possible move. Doing a traditional IRA rollover means that you can transfer your 401(k) balance out of your old employer’s plan into an IRA account that you set up at a discount brokerage firm or a no-load mutual fund company that has low expenses. The advantage to doing a roll-over into an IRA is that you will not incur any taxes or penalties. Why? Because you are simply moving your money from one tax-deferred retirement plan to another.
If you found this advice helpful and wanted to find out more, you can pick up a copy of Suze Orman’s book The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke, or watch her on CNBC-TV on Saturdays, check your local listings for air time.
In these difficult economic times it is very intimidating to ask for a pay raise. But, you have worked diligently over the last few years and believe that a raise is warranted. You are wondering, is this the right time to ask for a raise? Here are a few things you should consider before asking for that pay raise:
1. Research the market rate of your current position. Knowing the market rate is a good starting point, and will be a handy bargaining tool in your later negotiations. There are two websites that are helpful sources for determining how competitive your pay is in your particular industry. These are salary.com or payscale.com. However, if you wanted to get more specific to your local area, or if you are not comfortable with using an online source, then you may want to consider using a local recruiter. A local recruiter will be able to give you a good idea of the current pay rate for your position in your city or county.
2. After completing your market rate research, you should compile a list of contributions you have made to the business to illustrate to your boss why you deserve a pay increase. Your contributions can include things like:
• cost savings measures to your company that you have implemented;
• any successful project or projects that you spearheaded at your company;
• productivity improvements that occurred as a result of your suggestions;
• continual superior customer service;
• ways that you have gone above and beyond what the job required.
3. In addition to your list of contributions, you should also make a list of all the additional responsibilities that you have incorporated into the job. For example:
• were you supervising more employees;
• had you taken on additional special projects; or
• had you assumed further responsibilities.
Having this list ready will be helpful for you to rebut those objections that you will likely hear from your boss.
4. Your next step will be to set up a meeting time with your boss. Giving your boss a heads up as to the topic of the meeting will ensure that he will be prepared to have a serious discussion with you about your request for a pay increase.
5. Once in the meeting, the tone of the discussion should be conversational. If you have received recognition for a job well done by others or even your boss, bring it up in that meeting. Have documentation to back up your claims. If you sense resistance to the request for the pay raise, do not become hostile. Position yourself as a team player and leader, and do not talk about why you need more money. Rather, emphasize how your contributions have benefited the company.
6. If it continues to be a tough conversation, offer options that add value for you, and would still be manageable for your boss. Make it a win-win situation for all. For example:
• you could suggest a change in your benefit plan versus your hourly rate;
• you could suggest a flex-time arrangement; or
• you could suggest extra vacation days instead of an increase in your hourly rate.
Have you successfully negotiated a recent pay raise? If so, please share with us your strategy to achieving your pay raise.
A few posts ago I wrote about brown bagging as one way to save a few dollars. Well, ladies as I was making my usual trek to the vending machine, I thought to myself, gee, I wonder how much money I feed every week into this vending monster.
Every day after lunch, I usually like to have a snack, something small and sweet – I admit I have a sweet tooth. So what do I do, I head to the vending machine and get some M & M’s or some type of candy bar. The average price for one of these is about .50 to .75 cents. So on average I spend approximately $2.50 per week on snacks, which works out to about $10.00 per month.
Now, ladies, you might be saying, yeah, it’s only $10.00 per month, but, think about it? If you dropped those 10 bucks into a piggy bank every month for 12 months, you will have $120.00 saved towards buying yourself that really cool Christmas present that you may have had to put off buying because your Christmas budget would not allow for it. Yes, I see the light bulbs turning on! So, my solution was to buy healthy snacks in bulk. Now, I drop a snack bar, or a yogurt, or a piece of fruit into my lunch bag, so when my sweet tooth craving kicks in I reach into my brown bag instead of doing the usual walk of shame to the vending beast.
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as one way to save a few dollars. Well, ladies as I was making my usual trek to the vending machine, I thought to myself, gee, I wonder how much money I feed every week into this vending monster. 
instead of doing the usual walk of shame to the vending beast.
