Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Glen Craig

Working Hard For What You Want – New Jetta Ad

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Have you seen the latest commercial for the new Volkswagon Jetta? In the ad (called Moonighting), the main character, Tom, is working as a nurse (? I think) and he sees some ads for the new Jetta.  He then goes through the classified’s and proceeds to take on a number of jobs in order to afford the new car.

Here is what we see Tom doing to earn money:

  • Nurse – what appears to be his regular job.
  • Golf ball collector at a driving range – you know the guy that drives the little car that gets hit with golf balls.
  • Self-defense dummy – you see a group of women beating up on him while he wears padding.
  • Dog walker.
  • Dresses up as a hot dog and hands out ads for a food joint.
  • Bicycle cab driver.
  • Rodeo clown.
  • Nude model.

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Guaranteed Ways To Lower Your Credit Score – 5 Steps

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We know how important a credit score is these days, don’t we? Yet many people still insist on doing what they can to destroy their score.  Since some want to have a train wreck of a credit score here are five guaranteed ways to lower your score:

1) Pay your bills late. Here’s a good one to lower your score.  Pay your bills late, especially loans and credit cards.  And I’m not talking a few days late, I’m talking 90-plus days late.  Wait until you get a collection notice, why dontcha? (According to Credit.com, accounts 90-days late can damage your score up to 7 years. Bingo!)
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Sell Your Crap – Interview And New eBook From Adam Of Man Vs Debt

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I was excited to hear that Adam of Man Vs Debt was working on a new eBook.  I was even more excited to see the finished product – Sell Your Crap: Turn Your Clutter Into Cash.
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Portfolio Rebalancing – Keep Your Asset Goals In Line

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Balance
Are Your Investments In Balance?

Investors construct their portfolios based on investment goals and risk tolerance by assigning appropriate weights to different asset classes and categories (or how much dough should go to each class). Over time, as market conditions change, investment performances among asset classes change but not in the same amount at the same time.  Some assets may grow faster and become over weighted, while others fall behind and become under weighted.  As a result, the risk profile of the portfolio is altered (you have too much invested in certain classes).  Without proper adjustment, the current portfolio would have a higher or lower risk depending on the relative values of over weighted assets and under weighted assets.  Portfolio rebalancing brings a portfolio’s current asset allocation back to the original mix so that investments can be realigned to initial investment goals to maintain an appropriate risk level.
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