Many of us grew up in two car families, and more recently, even three car families. A car for each adult (and sometimes teenaged) member of the family seems to be a necessity, but is it? Are there transportation alternatives for one car families?
We live on the outskirts of a major urban area and have lived happily with one car our entire married life. By not having a second car we have saved thousands of dollars. Consider the following:
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Do you recall the days when you needed to call up a stock broker in order to make a stock trade?
And you needed to make the trade in a “round lot” (you had to buy 100 shares)?
Did I just date myself?
Thanks to the internet that’s no longer the case and it’s easy for anyone to invest in stocks with an online brokerage.
But where do you go to trade online?
You want a brokerage that’s easy to use, has cheap trading costs, and has tools to help you track your trades and the market in general.
So what are the best online discount brokerages for cheap trades?
Take a look below and see which one is best for you: Continue Reading
One of the biggest purchases you make is your home. It is an expensive item to own, and its protection is quite important if you want to maintain financial freedom. After all, if something happens to your home, it can be quite expensive to fix. Insurance is purchased to help you afford unexpected problems, and this includes homeowners insurance. However, it is important to realize that not every situation is always covered by homeowners insurance.
Before you consider that your entire home, and everything in it is covered, it is important to double check what is actually covered by your policy. You may need to purchase additional insurance coverage if your homeowners policy is lacking. Here are some of the more common items not covered by some homeowners insurance policies:
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The east coast is getting hammered with its second natural disaster in a week. For the usually calm area (from a nature perspective), many are not sure how to react. Some in the coastal regions of the impacted states are ignoring warnings to evacuate at significant risk to their own lives. An earthquake happened earlier in the week, Steve Jobs resigned from Apple, and now a hurricane. Quite the eventful week.
If a student decides to go to a college one or more hours away from home, a large part of their living expense is room and board. Of course, there are the traditional dorm rooms and meal plans or off campus apartments. But both of these options are rather expensive. At my Alma mater, the University of Michigan, a dorm room and a meal plan can run a student anywhere from $8,370 for a triple to $12,530 for a single with a private bath. A studio off campus can run $650 per month and a 3 bedroom apartment $1,500 a month. Neither of the apartment options includes heat, electricity or food.
However, if a student is willing to take the non-traditional route, there are a few options available that will cost the student less out of pocket and ultimately reduce the amount of student loan debt they may have to acquire. Continue Reading
Do you ever find yourself dreaming of having your own business? I think most people do at one time or another (that is, those who aren’t already self-employed). Striking out on your own to blaze an independent career path is an integral part of the American Dream. But is being your own boss something for everyone to pursue? Should you start your own business?
Being self-employed requires, as much as anything else, a different mindset. What makes up that mindset?
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We hear a lot about what we CAN hold within our individual IRA accounts, but never anything about what we CAN’T hold within them. A Roth IRA or Traditional IRA is an appealing financial vehicle since you have a wide range of choices versus something like a 401(k) plan where you are limited to a number of mutual funds to pick from. We all know that investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, ETF’s, and annuities can be held within an IRA. The list goes on and on but you should be aware of the types of investments that are barred from these accounts. Watch out for the following investments, since they’re not allowed in a tax deferred retirement account!
In many ways, we are conditioned to believe that anything boring is undesirable. However, in some cases, “boring” can be a good thing. I like to think that investing is one of those things that can be better when it’s boring, rather than exciting. I consider myself a rather boring investor, focusing mainly on index funds and dividend aristocrats. Here’s why when it comes to investing, why boring is good: Continue Reading
A little while back, Internet subscription service Netflix, known for providing movies and television shows by DVD or streaming option, informed their 25 million users that they would be increasing the prices of their plans. Netflix was a popular option for movie buffs, as they had affordable options to watch movies, first by sending DVD rentals to the subscriber’s mailbox. They then offered virtual streaming of movies and television shows through the Internet and other media devices and game consoles. Fans of Netflix were furious to know that popular plans would now be more expensive. What Netflix alternatives are out there now that they raised their prices? Continue Reading
I have a friend whose husband travels frequently for work. After one of these trips, she mentioned how poorly she had slept because she had been listening for intruders. I knew that she had a home security system, so I asked the obvious, “Didn’t the security system make you feel better?”
“I don’t use that!” she said in a voice filled with disdain. “I don’t want to pay $30 a month for that!” (She and her husband bought the house about five years ago, and the system was already installed.)
I bit my tongue from saying more, but by not using the security system she already has, I think she is making a big mistake. People have the tendency to think they are safe in their homes and that other people’s houses get broken into, not theirs. However, it only takes one incident to shake this view. Still, many want to know — Is a home security system worth the expense? Continue Reading
