Personal Finance Archives - Page 4 of 11

Why Do We have Unexpected Expenses

On occasion I have to deal with unexpected expenses that throws off my budget. What can I say this is how life works and we either have to be ready or not to deal with the issues. How many times have you heard the phrase Murphy’s law, which references anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The emergencies or events almost always happen at inopportune times. Why do we have unexpected expenses? (No one knows but they sure stink)

Well this recently happened to me and it really makes it difficult to think optimistically. Challenging times are not easy but also completely help you realize a fire within you to push forward. The incident that made my heart skip a beat, was a major car accident. Another driver fell asleep and hit my parked car at 6 a.m. last Saturday morning.

Continue reading Why Do We have Unexpected Expenses

The Personal Finance Ratios that Matter

Let’s just imagine you actually had the opportunity to run personal finance ratios for your situation. If you handled your personal life like a business I’m sure things will run smoothly and efficiently compared to how you handled your dollars beforehand. A budget is for the most part in disarray before running the household finances within the personal finance ratios that matter.

When I say within I mean keep things in a preferred range for each ratio. Now a days some people think that paying for vacations which equals 30% of the yearly income is financially smart. I will tell you this person is not being financially aware of the personal finance ratios that matter. Because if they did, the vacation ratio which falls under entertainment and or vacation category should only be 15% of the annual income.

For a simple example let’s assume this person makes $3,000 dollars a month, net pay or about 50K monthly off annual income. (About the national Average)

Continue reading The Personal Finance Ratios that Matter

What is Savings

If I said before I’ll say it again, savings is a means to an end. What end that will be is completely dependent on what you value for your money life. What is Savings? Something as simple as taking 3 years off to raise you’re kids, can be a savings goal. Another one can be saving for a business venture. We tend to over assume things will just work out, and we don’t prepare enough with finances. What is savings defined in my life, well you will soon read below.

When you have long term savings goals, life gets interesting because you’ll usually achieve them, but without a plan you will most likely just get by completing smaller savings goal. Lets rev up our internal engines or brain waves and save some cold hard cash.

No excuses here for this topic because having savings is and should be a priority even above paying Chase. Because Chase will never cover your monthly expenses if you lose a job. Find out below why you need savings today.

Continue reading What is Savings

The 3 Emergency Fund Accounts

Let’s jump right into this one and begin to discuss the purpose behind the 3 emergency fund accounts. An emergency can happen at any given moment, but will you be prepared to fight through the financial snow storm? In my situation I have about 3 accounts that I can tap if an emergency arises. It helps me sleep better at night because it’s a safety net waiting to catch me if I fall on hard times. Now what is considered hard times is up for debate, as some people feel a trip to the beach for a week is considered hard times.

Continue reading The 3 Emergency Fund Accounts

The Last Hundred Dollars

A new series is born today, with the premise that now I will let you in to see what things I spent my last hundred dollars on. Imagine if you had only a hundred dollars to your name, what would you spend it on?

Would you go to the Mall and splurge? Or Maybe you get happy saving some of it before its all gone?

The last hundred is a way to lighten up the financial blogosphere with something unique. Yeah I could give you a bunch of boring spreadsheets showing my monthly net worth, but that’s been done a thousand times over. As of right now I still don’t feel 100% showing you guys all my pennies and cents, but with these posts you get a sneak peak at some random expenses. See below for the fun.

Continue reading The Last Hundred Dollars

The Minimum Wage Debate

The minimum wage debate

Hey you do you think the minimum wage amount should be raised? If yes is your answer or no is your answer, let’s have the minimum wage debate today. The current minimum wage in my state is 8.25 cents an hour, or 330 dollars per week, or 1320 per month. This is the amount prior to taking out federal and state taxes. I don’t know about you but 330 dollars a week doesn’t go far to support anyone in 2015.

From my research the average rent in my area for a 1 bedroom apartment is 850 – 1200 dollars per month. Now can someone making 1320 per month successfully pay for shelter, including food, utilities, and transportation costs? Unfortunately it is impossible for many people who oppose raising the minimum wage to do a simple budget. Thanks to a coworker I got a flyer from the national low income housing coalition, and it states a housing wage should be 25.17 per hour as the minimum in order to afford a two bedroom fair market rent in NJ. I can add and subtract with ease, and if you take 25.17 -8.25 = 16.92. That is how much we are off per hour for someone making minimum wage to afford a two bedroom rent.

Continue reading The Minimum Wage Debate

What is Wealth

This post will be a short one as I am swamped with work and in addition have crazy demands on the family front. It will be about the best topic in the personal finance world to discuss, and it is called what is wealth.

Wealth has been defined by Investopedia as: A measure of the value of all of the assets of worth owned by a person, community, company or country. Wealth is found by taking the total market value of all the physical and intangible assets of the entity and then subtracting all debts.

If you do this money management exercise it will reveal a positive number and you might be ecstatic. On the flip side for some, it will reveal a negative number, and a feeling to turn things around to eventually bring things on the positive side of money.

Now I leave you with what is wealth to me and hopefully you can relate to how I described wealth below in Acrostic writing style.

Continue reading What is Wealth

Does Money Trump Looks

Does money trump looks

I’ve seen thousands of examples of money being placed above looks in this society. Which leads me to wonder does money trump looks when seeking a mate? This is a financial blog, so I will give my two cents when it comes to this subject and the pessimist in me has me thinking that money has a greater weighting than looks now a days.

But what is a person to do if they want to date consistently, and they have no money and are lacking in the attractiveness department? I don’t have the answer, but I can help you fix one of the two problems, if you consistently read this blog. Having money will help you land more dates because money can make you look sexier for some strange reason. (Mind you I don’t know if the people money attracts is actually good for you in the end)

How about personality traits? Do you prefer that above looks or above money? I think personality plays a part in the discussion but it happens after people get over the first impressions of looks and after the financial issues as well. Because personality has more weighting for long term relationship success. But let’s focus on the money or attractiveness character traits for the purpose of this blog post.

When speaking to some folks about this topic, most agree that first there has to be at a minimum some attraction, and then money is an overwhelming deciding factor if a second or third date will take place. Then many factors including money life, values, personality, etc. must be aligned if they will eventually get into the longer term relationship status.

Random feedback by Interviewees on Does Money Trump Looks:

I think it’s because women have gotten burned by men with looks before and money is a big reason for a lot of arguments so now when looking they ask about the job or financial status first.

Women choose or look for financial security and if the other person has some attractive features it will lead to more dates.

Men choose looks first, and then decide later if they will pursue relationship, and financial status of mate is a factor in that decision making process.

People for the most part want free things, and are willing to give up on the attractiveness in order to have a lifestyle that comes with free things and experiences.

Continue reading Does Money Trump Looks