Every once in a while, I’m reminded how being assertive really pays off. For me, being assertive is really just a strategic way of being aggressive. The end result is still the same – I don’t take “no” for an answer. But I accomplish it with the right mix of psychology and candor. If you’re afraid of conformation, consider these stories: … [Read more...] about It Pays to be Assertive
Personal Finance
Browsing for Stocks – January 2012
It’s a new year and I’m optimistic that new opportunities are out there. In keeping with that enthusiasm, I’d like to add a few more individual stocks to my portfolio. Traditionally, I stick with mutual funds to stay diversified, keep my costs down, and avoid the turbulence of the market. However, last year I had a great time with Apple (AAPL) (up 26% from my initial purchase) and I’m hoping I can use the same care and attention to pick another winner. Going After Dividends As part of my ongoing initiative to add passive income streams, I’ve decided that my next set of stocks should be dividend stocks. There are a lot of reasons why to look at dividend stocks for my next purchase: … [Read more...] about Browsing for Stocks – January 2012
Is Your Job Awesome?
Does your job have outstanding perks? Fortune just released their 2012 list of the “Top 100 Best Companies to Work For”. These companies offer everything from big paychecks to free gourmet food to good-ole classic job security! Here are the Top 10 of the list and their headlining benefits. You can also checkout the entire list here. … [Read more...] about Is Your Job Awesome?
How to Budget – Download My Excel Budget Template
In the preceding chapters, we've covered quite a few strategies for successfully creating a budget that will work for you. Now enough talk! Let's put the pen to paper and get down to business! As promised, here is the last post in the series containing my free Excel budget template. If you've got Microsoft Excel installed on your computer, then you should be in good shape. The file was created in an older version of Excel so it should open with no trouble. … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Download My Excel Budget Template
How to Budget – Making It Easy with Mint
At many times throughout this series and especially in Part 2, I told you not to worry just yet about your individual credit card purchases and to treat them all as one “big category”. The reason I did this is because I didn’t want our lesson to get hung up on analyzing credit card purchases to death. You have a lot of other bills besides a credit card, and most of them are fixed each month. As we’ve already shown, knowing what you’re going to spend each month versus what you’re going to take in is extremely helpful in creating a budget. But in no way does this mean that we should ignore your credit card purchases. In fact, hitting the credit card category is the first place I usually look to cut my spending and re-direct the money … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Making It Easy with Mint
How to Budget – Step 7 – Sticking to the Plan!
Time to test the gold in fire. Earlier I told you that a well designed budget would be the key to money management and staying within your means. This is still true. If you’ve created something that is tailored for you, meets your goals, and is comfortable enough for you to live with, then you should do well. All of this would be great if “you” were the only person this budget was for. The problem is that it’s not just “you”. A budget is usually for you, your spouse, and your family. Although that doesn’t sound like a lot, there’s a lot going on inside that group. Just like how a company sets a budget, each department will likely have competing goals and agendas. Similarly, sometimes each person in the family feels differently about … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Step 7 – Sticking to the Plan!
How to Budget – Step 6 – Adding In Your Investment Goals
So after Step 5, does your budget meet our goals? Did you make adjustments and sacrifices? Do you have a positive balance for each month throughout the year? Is less money going out than is coming in? If so, then you are ready to move on to adding in your investment goals. Notice we didn’t do this in any of the previous steps. This is because you have get your business in order before you can start getting advanced with your budget - You have to walk before you can run. After we’re meeting our basic set of goals, let’s start digging a little deeper and adding in our investment goals. … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Step 6 – Adding In Your Investment Goals
How to Budget – Step 5 – Apply the Formula for Success
Every great budget follows one simple formula: • [ Money In > Money Out ] = Good Or in other words … • [ Money In – Money Out > $0 ] = Good Basically you’ve got to have more money “coming in” than “going out”. Any other way is just a recipe for disaster! Don’t under-estimate how incredibly powerful this equation is. Everyday, people make the mistake of buying things on credit that they can’t afford or taking on payments when their income simply can’t sustain it. It’s simple physics that you can never have more going out than coming in. … [Read more...] about How to Budget – Step 5 – Apply the Formula for Success
