Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Why Aren't You Switching Careers?

By this point in your life, it’s pretty safe to say that you’ve heard every bit of financial “wisdom” out there, maybe tried to follow some of it, and likely failed to do so successfully. There are plenty of reasons that financial advice falls short in your personal life, not least of which is that for the most part, financial advice is garbage. it’s useless to 99% of the population because it’s trying to distill into snippets an overall theme of personal money management that just doesn’t take into account the very specific details of your personal financial situation. You might think it’s going a bit overboard to say that financial advice these days is garbage, but hear me out. When was the last time you took financial advice and always stuck with it? Right. Probably been a while.

First up is one of the biggest offenders going. It’s catchy, and sounds great, but simply doesn’t work for most people. For this reason alone, it has to die. This advice is to “Pay yourself first.” See? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it overlooks a bit of a life complication all together. Most people these days are up to their ears in debt, mired down in bills, and scraping to get by every month. In fact, about 76% of Americans today are living paycheck-to-paycheck, stuck with student loans, credit debt, and overpriced mortgages and car payments. With all this outstanding debt, if you pay yourself first, you’ll have collections agencies beating down your door in no time at all. Instead, try this out: Get your debts paid first. Pay what you owe, and pay it on time. Once your loans are paid, then start paying yourself first when you’re dealing with normal bills like utilities and insurance. That way, you’ll actually have money after you’ve paid yourself to pay your bills.

Next, we have to address the new car/ used car debate. Some people swear by new, others used. Either way, it’s garbage. There’s only one thing that should be taken into account when you’re buying a new or used car, and that’s mileage. A great deal on a used car doesn’t mean you’re getting a great car if it’s got 100,000 miles on it. Sure, it may have been taken care of, but it’s unlikely that it will get another 100,000 miles before it really starts costing you some serious money. Today’s cars a re chock-full of complicated electronics and sensors that are EXTREMELY expensive and cannot be serviced. Many times, units that used to be replaceable are built in such a way that they must be replaced along with other components. Take fuel pumps for example. As late as the early 2000s, fuel pumps were replaceable by themselves, and weren’t very expensive. Now, though, a fuel pump is often a unit along with the fuel filter, fuel level sensor, and other fuel line components, and must be replaced together, costing hundreds of dollars. 

A new car, though, while more likely to last 250,000 miles if you take care of it and do the regular maintenance, seems an expensive proposition until you take this later repair cost into account. The truth is that it may cost you less per mile these days to buy a new car than a used car.


Clearly, these two examples aren’t the end-all of the garbage that financial professionals pass your way, but they can be pretty troublesome given that so many people believe them to be true. All you can really do, then, is do your best to figure out what’s best for you, and stick to what works.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Garbage Financial Advice That May Not Work For You!

By this point in your life, it’s pretty safe to say that you’ve heard every bit of financial “wisdom” out there, maybe tried to follow some of it, and likely failed to do so successfully. There are plenty of reasons that financial advice falls short in your personal life, not least of which is that for the most part, financial advice is garbage. it’s useless to 99% of the population because it’s trying to distill into snippets an overall theme of personal money management that just doesn’t take into account the very specific details of your personal financial situation. You might think it’s going a bit overboard to say that financial advice these days is garbage, but hear me out. When was the last time you took financial advice and always stuck with it? Right. Probably been a while.

First up is one of the biggest offenders going. It’s catchy, and sounds great, but simply doesn’t work for most people. For this reason alone, it has to die. This advice is to “Pay yourself first.” See? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it overlooks a bit of a life complication all together. Most people these days are up to their ears in debt, mired down in bills, and scraping to get by every month. In fact, about 76% of Americans today are living paycheck-to-paycheck, stuck with student loans, credit debt, and overpriced mortgages and car payments. With all this outstanding debt, if you pay yourself first, you’ll have collections agencies beating down your door in no time at all. Instead, try this out: Get your debts paid first. Pay what you owe, and pay it on time. Once your loans are paid, then start paying yourself first when you’re dealing with normal bills like utilities and insurance. That way, you’ll actually have money after you’ve paid yourself to pay your bills.

Next, we have to address the new car/ used car debate. Some people swear by new, others used. Either way, it’s garbage. There’s only one thing that should be taken into account when you’re buying a new or used car, and that’s mileage. A great deal on a used car doesn’t mean you’re getting a great car if it’s got 100,000 miles on it. Sure, it may have been taken care of, but it’s unlikely that it will get another 100,000 miles before it really starts costing you some serious money. Today’s cars a re chock-full of complicated electronics and sensors that are EXTREMELY expensive and cannot be serviced. Many times, units that used to be replaceable are built in such a way that they must be replaced along with other components. Take fuel pumps for example. As late as the early 2000s, fuel pumps were replaceable by themselves, and weren’t very expensive. Now, though, a fuel pump is often a unit along with the fuel filter, fuel level sensor, and other fuel line components, and must be replaced together, costing hundreds of dollars. 

A new car, though, while more likely to last 250,000 miles if you take care of it and do the regular maintenance, seems an expensive proposition until you take this later repair cost into account. The truth is that it may cost you less per mile these days to buy a new car than a used car.


Clearly, these two examples aren’t the end-all of the garbage that financial professionals pass your way, but they can be pretty troublesome given that so many people believe them to be true. All you can really do, then, is do your best to figure out what’s best for you, and stick to what works.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

You Won't Believe these Easy Tips for Cutting Electric Bills!

Admit it, you’ve stomped around the house yourself, madly shutting off lights, turning down (or up) the thermostat, and asking “Who left the refrigerator door open?” at least once, more like once per day if you’re a parent. Electric bills aren’t pretty, regardless of how much you’re paying every month in comparison to everyone else you know. Maybe it’s because they’re so variable- during the autumn and spring, when temperatures are mild, electric bills are often not too bad. It’s when the air conditioner kicks on in the summer and the furnace gets used in the winter that those bills start feeling egregious. So how do you trim those bills down to size? As it happens, there are a couple of ways, and they aren’t all that hard to accomplish, taken a few at a time.

First up is one of the least obvious, but the most expensive energy waster, and thus, one you should take care of sooner than later. Insulating your home means more than rolling Owens-Corning in your attic (though that’s a pretty good first step if it isn’t already done…) It means making sure there aren’t any serious air gaps in your home. Check for drafts under the doors and around the windows. If necessary, seal the drafts up with expanding foam insulation in the cracks you find, and you can install draft shields to keep drafts out of doorways.

While sealing up drafts and insulating is the big fix that should cut your electric bill significantly every month, little fixes work as well. Take light bulbs for instance. While CFL’s can be a bit contentious and LED bulbs expensive compared with incandescent bulbs, they provide a significant savings that really adds up over time. Your best bet when switching to these more efficient, more expensive bulbs (especially LEDs) is to pay attention to when they go on sale from your local retailers. This will reduce your initial outlay of cash, and maximize their value. Using about 1/10th of the power of an incandescent bulb, though, they’ll pay for themselves eventually. Given that they last about 40x longer than a standard bulb, that’ll be long before they’re not any good any more.

Another tip that’s easy to deal with for most people is to insulate yourself. Get to know sweaters and cozy bedroom slippers in the winter, and you’ll be able to crank down that thermostat by 5 or 10 degrees without too much trouble.


In the future, renewable energy sources are destined to bring down electric prices, to the point that our great- grandchildren may well live in a world in which electrical power is seen as a fundamental human right that could be free to taxpayers in all the first world countries. Maybe. We’re almost on the point of calling internet access a basic right, so crazier things have happened, right?