Employer or Company Paid Insurance Pros and Cons

This article does a great job of explaining all the things that need to be considered when looking into buying life insurance and you have the option of buy additional amounts from your employer. This is the first article I saw that explained that you have to pay taxes on coverage your employer pays for that is above a certain amount. This complicates things a little, but if you think through it you will be fine. The basic idea is that if you are in good health you should find a better deal outside your employer and along with the cheaper rate you get to keep the coverage if you ever leave the company. (Pros, Cons Of Company-Paid Insurance)

10 Financial Planning Steps You Shouldn't Put Off

This article starts off by telling you that 25% of people report themselves as chronic procrastinators. The article then proceeds to give ten places where you can't afford to wait in your financial planning. Procrastination is a financial plan killer. Not starting to save is your biggest mistake when you are in your 20's. So along with a lot of the classic items such as starting to save. This article brings up a few less typical items. Take a second to read this and then get to work on your financial planning. Taking the time today, not waiting is always worth something. (10 Financial Steps You Can't Afford to Put Off)

Before Baby Set Up Costs

The following has the costs of individual items required before bringing a baby home. The ranges are varied for simple reasons. You can go all out on every little thing or can get reasonable pieces that work.

Nursery Setup: $2,000

Crib with a mattress ($160 and $750)
Bedding set ($35-$270)
Crib blankets and sheets ($8-$20 each)
Mattress cover ($10-$20).
Changing table ($70 and $600) then add $40 for a changing pad and cover.
Dresser ($90 and $650)
Rocking chair ($90-$500).

Ways to save: Do your nursery furniture research and prioritize. You may want to spend more on the rocking chair to use for future generations, and less on the crib and dresser.


Items for outside the nursery: $1,500

Stroller ($30-$300)
Car seat ($35-$280)
Playpen or portable crib ($60-$180)
Baby carrier or sling ($20- $140)

For at home:
Swing ($45-$130)
Play center ($50-$125)
Bouncer seat ($30-$90).
Monitor (about $80)
High chair ($45-$240)
Diaper bag (about $35)
Baby gate ($35-$250).

Ways to save: Buy double-duty gear. Some strollers convert to high chairs for an easy switch at the restaurant; and many diaper bags can take you from newborn to toddler in function and style.

Retire Early: Here's Some Advice

(Cash Out Early) This article explains what a few people are doing to obtain their dream of retiring early. I like this article because it gives both examples of actual people and what exactly they are doing, but it also give a generic example of a 35 year person and how much more they would have to save to retire 10 years earlier. Everyone would love to retire early, but as the article points out it takes a lot more savings to retire 10 years earlier.

Retiring early also presents problems with health insurance. Most people wh0 retire don't get health benefits from their previous employer. The cost of health insurance can be a huge hurtle to overcome when retiring early. Medicare won't cover you till you turn 65 and that is the current requirement. The age could raise as the program digs its self deeper and deeper into a hole. Looking for part-time work that provides benefits could be the perfect situation. But if you truly want to quit working, you are going to need to do a lot of planning and saving.

Retire Rich: Beat the Market by Doing Nothing

(Retire Rich: Beat the Market by Doing Nothing) Here is a good article for our now volatile market. It is the first article in a while that I have read that talks about dollar cost averaging. This is a good concept to keep in mind as the market turns down and you have a long horizon for your retirement earnings to work themselves out.

College Credit Card Debt

(Buy Now, Pay Forever) This is a great article for young people to think about before getting into credit card debt. It is something that is very hard to get out of. This article talks about some developments with college students and credit card debt.

Two New 401K Options

(Harvest a Rich 401(k)) This article talks about two new options for 401K's. The first is a Roth 401K which lets you take tax free withdraws in retirement, but there is no tax advantage up front. The second options is a 401K annuity. This is a product you buy through your 401K that gives you guaranteed income for the rest of your life once you retire. The article does a good job of explaining where each of these could make sense in your retirement planning. They also do a good job of giving you numbers for how much a good amount to stick in the 401K annuity would be. This article gives a good amount of advice along with producing the facts on these products.

Your 5-minute guide to money in your 20s

(Your 5-minute guide to money in your 20s) Good quick read article. Article name explains it all.

10 Little Expenses That Add Up

Coffee: According to the National Coffee Association, the average price for a cup of brewed coffee is $1.38. There are roughly 260 weekdays per year, so buying one coffee every weekday morning costs almost $360 per year.

Cigarettes: The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids reports that the average price for a pack of cigarettes in the United States is $4.54. Pack-a-day smokers fork out $1,650 a year. Weekend smoker? Buying a pack once a week adds up, too: $236.

Alcohol: Drink prices vary based on the location. But assuming an average of $5 per beer including tip, buying two beers per day adds up to $3,650 per year. Figure twice that for two mixed drinks a day at the local bar. That's not chump change.

Bottled water from convenience stores: A 20-ounce bottle of Aquafina bottled water costs about $1. One bottle of water per day costs $365 per year. It costs the environment plenty, too.

Manicures: The Day Spa Magazine Price Survey of 2004 found that the average cost of a manicure is $20.53. A weekly manicure sets you back about $1,068 per year.

Car washes: The average cost for a basic auto detailing package is $58, according to Costhelper.com. The tab for getting your car detailed every two months: $348 per year.

Weekday lunches out: $9 will generally cover a decent lunch most workdays. If you buy, rather than pack, a lunch five days a week for one year, you shell out about $2,340 a year.

Vending-machines snacks: The average vending machine snack costs $1. Buy a pack of cookies every afternoon at work and pay $260 per year.

Interest charges on credit card bills: According to a survey released at the end of May, the median amount of credit card debt carried by Americans is $6,600. The average interest rate on a standard card is about 13%. Making the minimum payment each month, it will take 250 months (almost 21 years) to pay off the debt and cost $4,868 in interest. Ouch!

Unused gym memberships: Costhelper.com reports that the monthly service fee at gyms averages between $35 and $40. At $40 per month, an unused gym membership runs $480 per year.

Happy Halloween, Savings Tips

Here is a quick read article about how to save a few dollars when decorating and throwing a party at Halloween. (Throwing a Halloween party)

The Subprime Mess

(The United States of Subprime Loans) Here is an interesting article with lots of good facts on the subprime mortgage problems that currently plague the nation. I think we have all heard too much about this topic, but this article is the first I have read that claims the "rich" are suffering form this mess too. I like the hard numbers this article brings to the table. Give it a read if you are bored or are looking for more numbers about the subprime mess.

Make Your Money Last as Long as You Do

(Make Your Money Last as Long as You Do) Here is an article that describes some new products that are aimed at getting you a monthly check for the rest of your life after you retire. This is just something to keep your eye on. It appears that companies are moving past the annuities to funds that provide income for life. These new funds are at their beginning stages and seem to have some things that need smoothed out. This is just a good article with some information about a new choice when you retire.

Mistakes in Retirement Planning

(Nine Dumbest Retirement Moves) This article has a good list of common mistakes that take place on the way to retiring. It brings out some good points about what people do and what people think about retirement that can change how they exist in retirement. It also mentions several times that miss planning for retirement can turn your dream into a nightmare. When you don't save and plan adequately your dream of life in the beach house can turn in to a place of struggling to make your payments and looking for help from your family. Even when you are young simple things like cashing out of a 401K plan when leaving your job can create a financial hole when you retire. When you are young you should consider how your descisions are going to affect the long term.
The key to this advice is to learn from the problems that are being found commonly in those that have already retired. People struggling from payment to payment due to inflation is a lot more common then you might think.

Holiday Shopping Tips

(5 tips for smarter holiday shopping) Here is a quick read article with some very good tips to keep in mind when holiday shopping. Good fugal tips in this article for those of you looking for those.

Dress for Success on a Budget

(Dress for Success -- for Less) This article give great tips on how to start your collection of professional attire. She gives both strategies and places to go to start your collection.

Make Your Advice Column Change Me.

(Is Carrie Bradshaw a Crock?) More interesting than the article this time are the comments about the article. The article talks about gender pay gaps and how women should prepare themselves for financial success. It has some great points that should motivate women to start savings now and look beyond some of the typical reasons they aren't saving. The article should be taken at face value the author is giving good information to women in their 20's. I'm not sure the article takes the best approach. She seems to forget that you can't just point out the problems without providing a solution. Everyone in a America can see and knows that Social Security is in trouble, but no one can seems to set out a plan to fix it. If you are going to write an advice column I want more than what the problems are I want to know how to fix them. Her article seems to tell you to ignore every feeling you might have against starting savings today and there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of why I should do that. The whole idea of an advice article to show me how to move past all my worries and stumbling blocks.

The Declining Dollar

(What the falling dollar means for you) I keep hearing about the declining dollar and no one will stop to take the time to explain what it means to the average person. This article gives a short list of how this affects the average person.

Saving When Your in Your 20s

(Financial Tips for 20-Somethings) Here is a quick read article talking to a guy with some good insight into personal finance in your 20s.

Retirement is More Than a 401K Plan

(The Five Stages of Retirement) When your saving all your life for your retirement keep in mind what you are going to do for the potentially 35 years after you retire. This article talk about what to expect through retirement. It breaks retirement up into pieces and explains how the people surveyed felt in each of these stages. The article also shows how the average person needs to remember that there is a lot of time in retirement and TV will not produce a happy and healthy person. You need to consider how you will keep your body and maybe even more importantly your mind in good condition.

Hanging with the money crowd

(Hanging with the money crowd) Your mother's advice of making good friends could go beyond keeping you out of trouble as a teen. This article shows a studies that found out that when the people around you do something you are more likely to do that same things. The article discusses how this works with finances. This is a good read and something to think about when trying to make good financial habits. You friend could be part of the reason you aren't savings as much as you want to.

Tips for Saving

(How to save $200,000 in 6 months) Here is an article with few personal example stories and some simple advice for savings. The 2nd page has the tips if you would like to skip the personal stories.

Subprime: Bailout backlash

(Subprime: Bailout backlash) I'll never understand why people who took bad loans deserve anything. They took loans. They were presented with the same information I was presented with when I signed my loan. Every term in black and white. The right to have an attorney review the contract. The right to refuse the contract. I don't care what irresponsible bad intentioned mortgage broker told them. They had all the right tools to prevent themselves from getting in this mess. No one forced anyone to take out a loan. Why can't we let the market runs its course? Why do investors in mortgages deserve a bailout? When you take risk and get burned we don't give you a refund. When is the government going to start backing every investment on the market against lose? Why should I lose money in a mutual fund? It will hurt the American public when I can't afford my own retirement. Sign me up for a government backed no loss portfolio.

New Rules of Credit Crunch

(The new rules of the credit crunch) Here is a quick read article about how the credit crunch is affecting the average consumer so far.

The Cost of Student Loans

(High-Priced Student Loans Spell Trouble) This article bring up how common and severe students loan problems are becoming. With the cost of college sky rocketing and the rate of savings for the nation shrinking it seems to be a place where people are coming up short in funds. The story brings up examples of what people's payments are for student loans. It is a lot harder to live when you are paying 15% of your take home pay to a student loan. The article goes on to discuss how if the economy were to go downward that it could be expected that student loan defaults are going to rise dramatically.

401K Information

(Five Things You Should Know About Your 401(k)) Here is a quick read with some good information that you should think about for your 401K plan.

Wedding or a Million Dollars?

(Want $1 Million? Elope) When you are looking at the front end of getting married you should remember the aftermath of your decisions. Your wedding day is only one day of your life. The debt you accumulate can literally affect the rest of your life. This is an article that points out that if the average amount spent on a wedding was invested, that by the time the couple retires they could easily have a million dollars. The article points out that the typical wedding involves debt to cover the costs. This debts pulls the opposite effect of the investing your wedding fund money and ends up costing you even more and impacting your life for even longer. The article then gives some tips on how to manage your spending for your wedding day, because not having to tell your mother your eloped last weekend can easily be worth the cost of your wedding.