Personal Finance Archives - Page 21 of 21

Friday Quotes VII

I wanted to share with you a few quotes today and hopefully this will get you motivated to start the weekend right. These financial quotes will help you get motivation in your life, whether it may be you are working a part-time / side job, looking at growing a business, taking care of a real estate property, or attempting to save a number of pesos this weekend by not making it rain in the clubs. Either way I wanted to share with you these excellent quotes and you guys can take the message any which way your mind desires.

Friday’s Best Quotes:

Action is the foundational key to all success. -Pablo Picasso

Working 8 hours a day for others then relaxing another 4 at home will never do much for success- RichUncle EL

Believing you can do it is always the first action towards success-RichUncle EL

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. -George Edward Woodberry

As you can see the theme of today’s quotes are based on success and how to really grab it and make it a part of your routine. People work for themselves everyday and provide for their families by doing what they enjoy doing. Have you ever met somebody who was self employed and did not enjoy what they did to provide for themselves? I have not, and I consider those individuals as truly successful in their own ways. You make a trinket and sell it on Etsy, amazon, or EBay that is an excellent way to succeed in a small way. If you sell a thousand of those trinkets then you are really winning.

Blogging is also a way to work for yourself by writing original pieces of literature that you can pimp out to the world. Some get paid to offer excellent advice on personal finance and others do it for the love of the game. Either way I am doing something I like to do and that is sharing with all of you what’s in my head relating to personal finance.

The content this week in the PF blog world has been a bit lacking but I will share with you a few that I enjoyed reading.

Best PF Blog Posts:

The Money Counselor-Intimidated by Investing Jargon

Mr. Money Mustache-Tim Ferris vs. MMM (Old Post)

AddVodka- Why PF Bloggers are self centered

I hope you enjoy the posts as I did. Comment below if you have any favorites you would like to share with the moneywatch101 readers.

RichUncle EL

Summer Fun On a Budget

This is a guest post by a moneywatch101 reader.

Remember when we were children and played in the backyard for hours during our summer vacations? Even though this wasn’t much, we stood entertained by the simplest things such as a piece of chalk or a jump rope.

Well, the summer is upon us and our kids will be out of school soon which means more free-time and spending a bit more. As a single parent, I know I’m working on a tight budget so I did some research and came up with a few money-saving activities on how to enjoy this summer. I think it’s time to show our newer generation how to have cheap (often free) summer fun. I have enjoyed a few on this list so far and I’m hoping you can too!

SUMMER MOVIE PROGRAMS

Did you know that most cinemas run summer promotions with big discounts? Yup ALMOST free movie tickets at your local theaters. Here are a few listed below.

Cinemark -Summer Movie Clubhouse: A 10 movie show pass for $5, or one movie show for $1. (Cinemark.com)

Regal -Summer Movie Express: Selected PG or G rated movies for $1 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. (regmovies.com)

Marquee cinemas –Kids Summer Movie Program: A special selection of family films brought to you each week during the summer at no charge. (marqueecinemas.com)

LOWES FREE KIDS CLINICS

Enjoy building a FREE wooden project with your kids that will keep them entertained for hours. Not only do they get to take these home but they can also take home the free apron, goggles, and patch to make them feel like real “handymen”. (lowesbuildandgrow.com)

ZOOS/MUSEUMS

These are always fun and often provide free admission. Check out the websites below to find a list of zoo/museums near you.

(Pettingzoofarm.com) (www.museumlink.com/states.htm)

SUMMER READING PROGRAMS

We often forget about education during the summer. With free programs provided by local libraries and book stores such as Barnes and Nobles, our kids can enjoy several books and activities.

One of my favorite is, being read to for free. Contact your local library/ book store and ask about “circle time” where your kids can enjoy a book or two with a group of friends.

They can also participate in the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program. This consists of reading eight aged-related books, writing them down on a list, and then receiving a FREE book as a reward.

This is a guest post by a moneywatch101 reader and she wanted to share how to save and have fun locally.
Thanks for the guest post, Mrs Real. Its great to have many affordable options for the kids. Also if you are in the NY area Wednesdays I believe the Bronx Zoo has free admissions for kids. Go to their website for more details. Be safe and watch those kids.

RichUncle EL

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Hello As I think back I have seen many episodes of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and frankly who hasn’t. But I started to think how to incorporate what I saw on the show with finance, business and entrepreneurship. One of the important factors on the show was Will’s ultimate desire to succeed with his business ventures.

Will Smith:
-He never stopped striving to succeed
-He had multiple business partners-Carlton / Jazzy Jeff / His Uncle-Phil
-If he failed, that didn’t stop his drive, he tried again and again
-He mixed hard work with a little bit of fun
-He saw opportunities for a business idea that people overlooked
-Even though he lived comfortably he did not give up to make his own path

What is your take on how you perceive the ideas that are hidden within you. Do you write them down and take a few action steps towards attempting to achieve them or do you just have that great idea and forget about it. Things cross my mind for a split second and I for the most part make a reference somewhere as to record it so that I will never forget it. Even if you feel that an idea is not good enough now then maybe when the time is right you can and should act on it. It all boils down to how much motivation you have and how you can embrace it to better yourself. I have a couple of ideas in the works on how I can find my own path and make a mark in this world. Success can be measured by what you have accomplished in life that you set a goal for and it doesn’t have to be publicized for all to see.

Maybe you do not have sufficient capital to begin a project or maybe lacking in the knowledge to make it happen, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking the first steps to attempt them. Well first you can figure out how much it will take and begin saving as soon as possible. Next thing you can do is to find a mentor who will provide you with some value added feed back for the business you want to see yourself doing in the future. See below for the common barriers I noticed for anybody looking to break into a business.

Common Barriers to Entrepreneurship:

Capital or Invest-able Assets
Experience Limitations
Difficulty in Establishing a Business Plan
Hiring a team of Legal, Accounting, and other experts
Finding the right Marketing Plan
Time Restrictions

Comment below if you have hidden business Ideas that you would like to succeed at? Also if you remember a few of the crazy business ideas that you saw on the fresh prince of Bel Air.

RichUncle EL

Friday Quotes VI

Friday’s Best Quotes:

-If money was my only motivation, I would organize myself differently. -Placido Domingo

-For me I save money to be secure and to give in life not to be greedy. -RichUncle EL

-If saving money is wrong, I don’t want to be right! -Wiliam Shatner

-Spend an hour a day learning about Personal Finance and you will reap rewards with returns-RichUncle EL

All of these quotes have excellent meanings behind them. Who knew that Placido Domingo and William Shatner quoted these awesome money quotes. Hopefully one day I can create a few quotes that will compare with such excellence to their quotes mentioned above. These quotes are becoming a great motivation for me and I hope for my readers as well. All you can do in this life is strive for better security and freedom while being a philanthropist in your own way.

For example in my first quote above my 1st priority in life is to take care of my family and to provide, but when I have accomplished this I will look for as much opportunities to help others if it may involve donating time, money or advice. I feel like I already do give my time and advice through this blog. But if I have the freedom to do it on a full time basis then I would feel more complete in life.

Best PF Posts of the Week:

Best Dividend Stocks 2012– @Dividend Growth Investor
The Number One Way Car Owners- @Careful Scents
Theres More than 1 way out of Credit Card Debt- @AskLizWeston
Networth Update – @Iam1percent (click on the link in this post to see the numbers)

The posts above offer some great simple and practical advice so get your read on.

Thanks for reading.

RichUncle EL

Personal Finance

What does this title mean to you? Do you want to know what it means to me? It means being in control of your financial life. The standard definition by Wikipedia is:

Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future life events.

I think that definition in its entirety said exactly the same thing I said in the sentence above just with a bit more fluff. Being in complete control over your finances is proving to be an extremely difficult task, as people every day are taking a step forward and two steps backwards. A shift in how we handle money needs to be taken into serious consideration because people still have not gotten the memo. Granted nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes in life, you and I are included. I am still paying for student loans that I did not want to take out, but did allow me to graduate within 2.5 years from beginning to end. Those student loans are the only thing left on my list of life debts and they are not cheap as interest charges are 6.8% of the total. I hope I can stick to my goal of paying it off in two years.

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