My understanding and beliefs about money began at the same place most do - with one’s parents. My parents' handling of their personal financial life was truly a work of art. Transferring money from one budget envelope to the next to meet a need, hitting all the local auctions and thrift stores, and using the credit card for emergencies were all the norm in our household. One can’t help but carry those same patterns of behavior into early adulthood. Parental modeling of behavior has that much impact. So after college, I tried to follow the conventional wisdom about money by being as frugal and disciplined with spending just the same as it was instilled in me during childhood. I also became more in tune with what society had to say … [Read more...] about When Conventional Wisdom About Money Clashes With Conviction
Niche Website Update 17 – How I Went From Spot 500 to 14 in the Google Search Ranks!
One of the most frustrating things about starting a new niche website or building up the one you have now is getting little-to-no traffic! Taking it a step further, “little-to-traffic” can be EXTRA frustrating if the whole point of that website you’re working so hard on is intended to be one of your “money sites”. In other words, you were counting on it to earn a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars each month. But obviously that isn’t happening. For any money site, it’s a numbers game. The higher the targeted traffic, the more likely you are to get more clicks on products you’re promoting and the more conversions (or sales) it will lead to. Little-to-traffic is a killer. It equals zero conversions. No money for … [Read more...] about Niche Website Update 17 – How I Went From Spot 500 to 14 in the Google Search Ranks!
Why You’re Not Making Any Website Income and The One Thing You’re Not Doing About It
Stop me when this sounds familiar … You read about all the money everyone else is making on their websites. You get all excited because it sounds like a great and extremely easy wealth generation strategy. You convince yourself that you could make that same amount of website income too. You slap some ads up. Nothing happens. You write some bigger, longer articles. Your traffic is basically the same. You start a second blog or website. No one visits it. Depressing. Isn’t it? You’re trying so very hard to make some extra money for yourself. And you know that your website and posts are just as good as everyone else’s. But for some reason you can’t seem to make more than a few bucks a month at what you’re doing. So … [Read more...] about Why You’re Not Making Any Website Income and The One Thing You’re Not Doing About It
Can the Experts Really Help Us Find Good Stocks to Invest In? Let’s See for Ourselves
One of the most thrilling and scary things you can do with your money is to buy individual stocks. I like to hold a small portion of my investments in individual stocks because I have found it to be a very useful component to my overall plan for financial freedom (my money design as I call it). Plus I’ve been investing for a long time so I have a pretty good idea of what to do. Unlike when you own a mutual fund, you lose the safety and security of owning 100’s of stocks at one time when you buy pick and buy stocks one a time. (Of course the experts have also said that you really only need 10-12 stocks to be adequately diversified). But then there’s a pretty lucrative up-side to stock investing: Your winners could be unbound! … [Read more...] about Can the Experts Really Help Us Find Good Stocks to Invest In? Let’s See for Ourselves
14 Easy Ways How to Cut Power Bill Expenses During the Winter
The winter-time can be a very challenging time for most people. It’s cold. It’s dark. And it’s hard to travel. Unfortunately all of those things can make people want to stay indoors during that time. And that can lead to a big increase in your energy bill. All of the sudden you’re dealing with drafty windows, more hot water treatment, and a whole more electricity usage than you ever would have during the Summer-time. Luckily there are lots of effective ways how to cut power bill costs that are easy to do. All it just takes a little bit of planning and a few basic things to remember. Helpful Ways How to Cut Power Bill Costs: Lower the thermostat. Each degree that you turn down your thermostat will result in 5% … [Read more...] about 14 Easy Ways How to Cut Power Bill Expenses During the Winter
Niche Website Update 16 – NS4 is Growing – Plus My Passive Income Report
Welcome to the March edition of my niche website update. Every month we review the progress of my growing website collection and how they are performing financially. Building these websites and making money from my blogs is a very important part of enhancing my personal finance goals. This ongoing side hustle is just one of the ways I create passive income streams in addition to my normal working income and becoming financially independent. March was a busy month for us. We worked really hard to build up my latest (fourth) niche site NS4. NS4 is a music niche website that will use Amazon as its primary source for monetization. We also did a little maintenance on the old websites and had a few welcomed surprises. Here’s … [Read more...] about Niche Website Update 16 – NS4 is Growing – Plus My Passive Income Report
Why Is It Important to Save Money Instead of Enjoying It All Now?
The life of a child is so simple relative to that of an adult. I realize this over and over again whenever I go out to the store with my; especially my 8-year-old son. He has a severe problem where the second he gets a dollar, he has to spend it! It doesn’t really matter on what. He just has to spend it. “Do you really need it?” I’ll ask him. “I thought you were saving your money for the bigger one?” He might try to argue. He may even try to justify making this purchase. But as his parents we still challenge him because we know that it will be a very important lesson to understand why it’s important to save money for the things we really want later in life. … [Read more...] about Why Is It Important to Save Money Instead of Enjoying It All Now?
How Should I Set Up My Financial Plan?
How much thought have you ever given to your financial plan? Throughout my career, if there's one thing I've learned about successful businesses, its that they have a solid financial plan at the core. When it comes to our own personal finances, we could all benefit by doing exactly the same. This is why I strongly recommend that every house sets up their own financial plan for success. But how do you do this? What are the "correct" numbers to strive for? And what goals should you even be working towards? In this post, we'll seek to answer these questions and give you a sample financial plan that will kick your budget into shape! Your Personalized Sample Financial Plan: Over time we’ve collected a number of … [Read more...] about How Should I Set Up My Financial Plan?
