Archive for October 31, 2012

SCARY Retirement Statistics – Don’t Let Lack of Planning Haunt You!

Scary Retirement StatisticsHappy Halloween everyone! Since most people will be out celebrating Trick or Treating tonight, I thought we’d do a very brief post of something truly alarming! No, it’s not about ghosts, monsters, or anything else from the paranormal.  This is something much more frightening – These are scary retirement statistics!

The reason these should terrify you is because, unlike a superstitious  ghost story, these statistics tell a very real story.  And if they are any indication of things to come, reality is going to be pretty grim for a lot of people.  Read these numbers and tell me they don’t paint a pretty chilling picture of the future to come!

The following figures are from Statistic Brain and are overwhelmingly alarming:

 

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What’s Your Scariest Money Story?

scariest money storyIn keeping with the Halloween theme this week and the fact that this is a personal finance blog, I thought I’d combine those two aspects into a topic question for the day: What’s your scariest money story? It could be a story about something that happened to you in real life or an actual nightmare you had money. Either way will work.

 

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How to Make the Most of Your Small Business Budget

Small Business BudgetWhen you are starting out in business for the first time, you are likely to encounter a wide range of both expected and unexpected costs, with even just one seemingly small oversight having the potential for a big impact on the finances of your company.  Whether you’d like to save money on all of that vital office equipment or would be interested in knowing how to obtain the best business savings accounts, here are some of the top tips for making those dollars go further in those vital early days in of your small business budget.

 

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Weekend Wind Down 10/27/2012 – Welcome to the MMD Haunted House!

I can’t wait until Halloween! Last year I raised the bar pretty high. I got the bright idea to go from simply passing out candy to turning my garage into a miniature haunted house. Pretty cool, right? That’s the blueprint on the left. Basically I hang up large black vinyl drop cloths to create a short dark maze, add a lot of flashing lights (purple circles) and smoke from a fog machine, play some scary music in the background, and then add in as many props as I can. Oh yeah, and my Dad occasionally jumps out at you from around the corner (skulls).

The haunted house was a big hit last year from small children to adults, so I’ve made several improvements and we’re going full steam ahead again this year. Unfortunately, as much as I’d love to share pictures, all the ones I took of the night turned out terrible because it was either too light outside (and it would just look like a bunch of garbage bags draped in my garage) and not scary, or too dark at night and you couldn’t see anything.  We’ll have to see if I can do better on Wednesday!

 

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Resume Screening Tips and Confessions from Someone Who Interviews

Resume ScreeningFor about 99% of us, nothing will be more crucial to our finances and money design than landing a great job. And for most working professionals, that will all start with getting picked for the interview. As someone who has done a great deal of interviews in his day, there are a great deal of resume screening tips and other things I can confess to you about the whole process.

Do you agonize over creating the perfect resume? If you do, that’s great that you’re taking the job prospect so seriously. But you might be disappointed to learn that going above and beyond with your resume doesn’t usually add a whole lot to your chances for an interview. In fact, the extra investment may yield very little return.

 

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Weekend Wind Down 10/20/2012 – Back Home

There is nothing like being back home after a long business trip. This week I was traveling the east side of the country through NY State and then back through Canada. Everything was going smoothly until I hit the 401 highway to come home and got stuck in a wallop of traffic. I could not believe how business the road was on a Friday. Even the service station I stopped at for a quick bite was busier than a mall on Christmas Eve. Who knew that’s where everyone hangs out?

 

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My Favorite Scary Movies – Have Some Cheap Halloween Fun!

Favorite Scary MoviesOne of the best (and cheapest) things I like to do around Halloween time is to rent a whole bunch of my favorite scary movies. I just love them! I’m always on the lookout for new ones that are well written, brilliantly performed, and … well … scary! While I can admit that a lot of the mainstream horror movies out there fall short of this mark, there have been a few that were exceptionally good.

IMDB ranks some of the most well known titles like PoltergeistThe ShiningThe Exorcist, and lots of other classic titles as the best scary movies of all time. But what about some of the more recent movies that have came out over the past decade? Aren’t there any newer ones that are any good?

Yes there are! And here is my list of somewhat recent movies that were pretty decent. So don’t break your money design and treat yourself to some cheap Halloween fun by checking out these titles:

 

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My Money Design – October 2012 Update

Money DesignThe website isn’t called My Money Design for nothing! It’s been almost 10 months since my last Money Design update and a lot has changed. Not only have I learned a ton of new tricks from my fellow personal finance bloggers on making and investing money, I have also taken a number of important steps at home and at work that I believe will further benefit my family’s efforts to reach financial freedom.

So with that in mind and in anticipation of my usual Money Design update, I have decided to get to work early with the revisions to my plan.

 

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Weekend Wind Down 10/13/2012 – Going to the Lego Kids Fest

Lego Kids FestWe’re going to make the dreams of our two kids come true this weekend by taking them to the promise-land: We’re going to the Lego Kids Fest! If you don’t know what that is, think of something like an “auto show” but everything is made out of Legos. There’s going to be classes from Master Lego builders, a museum, challenges, a huge brick pile, races, etc. My kids might explode when they get there. It’s going to be awesome.

 

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