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Personal Finance

I believe that Personal finance encompasses all the decisions a person might make when it comes to cash flow, budgeting, retirement, investments, multiple streams of income, and insurance protection. Every adult is bombarded with decisions to make when it comes to all these areas of life and I try to help with my thoughts and opinions on the various topics.

Personal Finance

Do You Spend Too Much Money on Sports? Here Are Some Smart Tips

by Evan

Author: Robert Bell

Table set with munchies for a Super Bowl party. White background.

If you love watching sports, then it is probably a hobby you don’t want to give up. Yet, what if you find that you are currently spending too much on going to the games?

The good news is that there are fairly simple pieces of advice that will allow you to carry on enjoying your favorite sports without it costing you a fortune.

Don’t Buy Food and Drink in the Stadium

It is no secret that most big sports stadiums charge a lot for their food and drinks. A piece of research carried out on NFL Super bowl menus showed that only the 2019 event in Atlanta’s
Mercedes-Benz Stadium charged reasonable amounts.

The chances are that you will need to pay way over the odds to buy something simple like a hot dog and a beer at a game. While this does feel like part of the overall fun of going, if you attend a lot of games then it will add up to a tidy sum over the season.

A far more sensible idea is to eat at home before you leave. It might not be as exciting, but it will save you cash.

Go Straight Home After the Game

Another way that some fans spend too much is by hanging around after the game is over. Most stadiums have some great bars near them where it is easy to either celebrate or else drown your tears.

If you get into this habit, then you could end up spending far more after the event than during it. Therefore, making a plan to go straight at the end is a sound decision.

Look for Last Minute Tickets

The price of tickets for the likes of NBA, NFL, and NHL games is pretty steep. For the 2018-19 season, the average NBA ticket price rose to $89 on the secondary market. In terms of the NFL, expect to pay an average of $130 to $150 just to get into the stadium.

If you prefer to see ice hockey in Canada then expect to pay from $51 US to get a seat. This lowest price is to see the Ottawa Senators. The highest is $96 US at the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Searching online for last-minute ticket deals can help you to pay less. Of course, it all comes down to demand so you might miss out sometimes and get a really low price on other occasions.

Use Your Knowledge to Win Money

Keen sports fans tend to gather a huge database of knowledge without even realizing it. This is fantastic for impressing friends at quizzes, but could you also use your knowledge to win some money too?

What about betting on the outcomes of games involving teams that you know a lot about? There is a good chance that you can correctly predict what is going to happen a lot of the time.

If you choose to bet on football, basketball, or any other sport there is no guarantee of winning. However, it does give you an opportunity to see whether you are able to do so regularly.

Invite Friends Over to Watch Games

We have seen that going out to watch games can be very expensive. In fact, we haven’t even considered the cost of transport or parking yet.

Because of this, it can make sense to stay at home and invite some friends over to watch a game on the television. If everyone brings along snacks and something to drink, then it can be a brilliant night in that doesn’t cost anyone a lot of money.

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saving money
Personal Finance

Saving Money 101: How Do You Save The Easy Way?

by Evan

One of the trickiest questions in the realm of personal finance would be finding the most efficient way to save. And a lot of experts and professionals will often answer that this really depends on your current financial situation. That much is true – because it really depends on how much you earn, what sorts of debts you have, what you pay for, and what you want to do with your savings. However, just because the process can be complex doesn’t mean it’s impossible to accomplish. If you want to find the most efficient ways to save money, then you’ve come to the right place. Here are some of the most efficient methods to save money:

Adjust your lifestyle.

Part of the reason why a lot of people find it hard to save money is because of their chosen lifestyle. Sometimes, what we think are “safe” nights out, or gatherings with friends, or parties, and even the occasional smartphone or two, can actually have a huge impact on our savings. Try to look at your lifestyle and eliminate components that require unnecessary spending. This might not be much at first, but a lifestyle adjustment can have a huge payoff in the form of less spending in the long run.

Record your expenses. An important part of being able to save money is to know exactly what you’re spending, and if there are adjustments you can do in the process. Are you spending too much on your transportation? Maybe commute. Are you spending too much time on eating out? Maybe you can eat at home. Noting your expenses allows you to have a better understanding of how much money you might be wasting or spending into unnecessary things.

With your budget in mind and your savings goal in your head, try to see if there are ways you can adjust your lifestyle to help you save as much money as possible. When we say “adjust your lifestyle,” we don’t mean go totally away from your means. Rather, adjust your lifestyle in such a way that lets you spend less without sacrificing comfort and quality of life. Maybe you can opt for disposable utensils to save water, or use less electricity.

If you need to have extra money, maybe you can get extra shifts, extra workload, or even a part-time job to increase the money you have on-hand. This can get in handy for paying for debt, adding into your emergency fund, your insurance, or your savings overall. Such a situation can be helpful, especially now that there’s a ton of services like my-estub login that can help you keep track of how much you’re paid by employers without having to use complicated software.

Eliminate debt as soon as possible

This might be the hardest – but perhaps the most important – element of your quest for saving money. While you might think this can be a bit detrimental to the goal of this article, this tip might also be the most meaningful. How can you properly save money on your own terms if you have looming debt? Part of the process of saving money is to develop good financial habits, and you can develop such habits while in the process of paying off your debt. Imagine, once you focus on “saving” a particular amount of money to pay your debt, you’ll likely be able to focus on “saving” a particular amount of money to actual savings in the future. It’s all in the habit.

  • Take note of what debts you currently have, and focus on eliminating the largest debt you have. This largest debt will likely have the biggest interest rate, and will likely demand the most attention on your finances. Having this gone will allow you to spend more time allocating money into your savings and your other debt without worrying about not meeting your monthly dues. This will likely hinder you from actually saving substantial money for a while, but once your debt is fully paid, you’ll not have much to worry about. This is also good for your credit score.
  • Once you’ve paid off your debt, get a “new” one – in this case, a savings goal. It’s hard for others to save money because they only think of the action of “saving” and not what you want to use it for. It might help to actually visualize what you want to save up for, as well as setting up a timeline for you to achieve it. Do you want to buy a house within a few years? Do you want to get a car? You can use the same principle as “paying off debt” to “paying off your savings.”

Focus on an emergency fund

Again, this might be another tricky thing to do – after all, why save money if you can’t immediately spend it on relevant things? However, it’s important to be able to set up emergency precautions should accidents or other things happen that might immediately affect your financial status. Accidents, family and even professional situations might have some form of impact on your financial status. Not being prepared for such an eventuality might ruin your savings plan.

  • If you can, try modifying your savings and checking account to do something called auto debit every payday. This allows you to automatically move money from your paycheck to your savings, which essentially sets up an emergency fund without you knowing it.

Invest on saving

Another efficient way you can save money is to spend it – weird choice of words, right? The thing is, you can actually save more money by investing in smarter choices around you – be it with yourself, or with the overall household. For instance, if you want to lessen your utility costs, don’t wait for the utility companies to lower prices for you. Instead, make measures to ensure your household doesn’t consume that much electricity and water. If you make many of these smart investments, not only will you “reclaim” what you’ve spent in a few months or years, but even save more money naturally.

  • Invest in improving aspects of your day-to-day operations, especially at home. If you have extra money, you can invest in rainwater storage tanks, renewable energy sources such as solar power, and even repair broken utility tools at home. This might be costly, but it’s an investment that can help you save money for years to come.
  • Invest in insurance, especially life and accident insurance. Aside from an emergency fund, having insurance for you and the family will allow you to be able to have financial assistance in the case of emergencies that would otherwise be too costly. Having insurance also allows you to seek the services of professionals for free, provided you get to pay your premium.

Smarter Choices, Planning Make More Money

Remember, with the tips above, you’ll likely be able to save quite a bit of money with a few lifestyle adjustments. These might not make you immediately save a ton of money on the get-go, but developing a habit of decreasing your spending this way can at least help you slowly save up money to meet your spending goals. The idea here is to slowly cultivate habits that will enable you to save up but not necessarily ruin the lifestyle you’ve set for yourself. And always remember to adjust the tips above to your needs so you’ll still live the kind of life you want with important financial adjustments.

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Personal Finance

The Best Kept Secrets of the World’s Most Successful Self-Made Millionaires

by Evan

Maybe it’s not your specific goal to become a self-made millionaire, but there’s a good chance that one of your goals is to become financially comfortable. Whether you hope to earn millions of dollars or you merely wish to pay your bills, we all have the urge to make more money. This is just the way that humans are wired, especially humans living in Western consumerist societies.

Saying that you wish to become a millionaire is a lofty goal, but it’s certainly not impossible. As long as you have the education, determination, and passion for what you’re doing, making a million dollars is feasible. The road will be long and challenging, but these best-kept secrets from the world’s most successful self-made millionaires will help you get there.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks

There’s nothing wrong with playing it safe. Billions of people choose to play it safe every single day by going in to work at a dead-end job, just to pay the bills. Playing it safe can even eventually make you a million dollars. But taking this path will take time, and you might not get there before it’s time to retire.

If you want to become a millionaire during your youthful years and actually enjoy the money you’ve earned, you need to learn how to take calculated risks. Taking calculated risks means that you’ve thought long and hard about a course of action. You eventually decide that, albeit risky, it is worth the risk.

The majority of the world’s self-made millionaires earned their money by taking a calculated risk. When we talk about risk, we’re not referring to spinning online slots for free. No, we’re talking about furthering your business career with an action that has the potential to bring you to the next level.

Stop Spending, Start Investing

In order to make money, you need to spend money. But in order to make millions of dollars, you need to invest money. Although the rich do indeed spend money, they also understand that the best way to continue being rich – or become richer – is to make wise investments. Part of the reason for this is that the rich understand that US tax laws favor investing over spending.

Just think about it…When you purchase a new house for personal use, you can’t simply write it off when it comes time to file property taxes. But when you invest in a property that produces income, it’s possible to write off the appreciation of the property. The same goes for purchasing luxury cars for personal use as opposed to company use. If you want to become a millionaire, start investing rather than spending.

Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People

This does not mean you need to surround yourself with millionaires and only millionaires. But you should at least be spending time with driven people who share a similar mindset. In other words, stop spending time with people who are complacent with living paycheck to paycheck. Becoming a millionaire isn’t just about hard work and smart investments; it’s also about who you choose to spend your time with.

Stop Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket

Focusing on one revenue stream or one source of income is fairly normal for the average person. But not for self-made millionaires. Most wealthy people of the world create multiple flows of income and never place all of their eggs in one single basket. Even if a multi-million dollar company has consistently been successful, that does not mean it will always remain that way.

Once you have a good amount of money in your bank account, think of an additional option for generating an income. Maybe this means investing in real estate, or perhaps it means playing around with stocks. Whatever you do, just remember that having one source of income is never a good idea, especially if you want to remain a millionaire for years to come.

Transform Weakness into Strength

We’ve all been asked that question at an interview. The one that goes something like, “Can you tell me about your weaknesses?” Most of us try to turn the question around by listing off weaknesses that could also be perceived as strengths. But this is actually not the best way to answer that question.

It is important to actually acknowledge that every human has weaknesses. Becoming aware of your weaknesses is an essential step to becoming a self-made millionaire. Once you have identified what your flaws are, you can work to improve those flaws, and eventually, you may even be able to transform them into strengths.

Take public speaking as an example. When it comes to speaking in front of an audience, you fumble over your words and begin to sweat profusely. As soon as you become aware of this flaw, you decide to take a public speaking class. After the 6-week course, you finally master the art of speaking in front of a crowd. In fact, you have acquired to tools and skills necessary to speak in front of others flawlessly.

Look at Millionaire Status as a Duty, Not a Goal

So many people view “becoming rich” as a goal, something to accomplish over time. If you want to earn millions, you need to get rid of this attitude and start treating it as a duty. You have a duty to fulfill, and that is to reach your fullest potential. Becoming a self-made millionaire is one of the best ways to accomplish that.

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Personal Finance

Four Smart Ways to Lower Monthly Expenses

by Evan

It happens – you did your budget meticulously, but shopping here, a high bill there, and you’re breaking the bank once again. It doesn’t have to occur, though, and there are steps you can take to smart expense management.

The best part – you won’t feel it in the long run.

Everyone’s life is different, but most have some overlapping fields that eat up your salary. Here are four areas where you can lower your expenses with very little work.

Do Some Energy Efficiency Checks

Does your electricity bill always come a bit higher than expected? There are ways to fix that.

Replace your regular light bulbs with energy-saving ones – LEDs are affordable and save up to $20 per piece. You could also install a thermostat which you can program to shut off the cooling and heating when you’re not home.

A DIY project of sealing your home is another option – it will lower your energy bill and make your home more weatherproof.

These won’t change your life quality, but they will make a difference in your bills. The money you save can go towards more important matters.

Make your home more cost-efficient with our tips

Be Smart About Your Loans

Sometimes, we have to take out a loan to handle an immediate concern. As a result, the interest rate of the loan becomes our next immediate concern. However, there are smart loopholes that can let you pay less in the long run.

First of all,  even if money is tight, do your best not to miss your monthly payment. It could lead to even higher interest rates in the future, and that’s the opposite of what you need.

Then, you should check if your loan comes with a prepayment penalty. Most do, and it can be so high that it makes no financial sense to repay it earlier. This situation is especially true for those high interest, easy fixes such as title loans.

If you want to pay off your title loan early, you could take out another loan, although it might sound counterintuitive. Consolidation loans are a great way to handle several smaller liabilities in one batch.

Make smarter financial decisions with only a few easy steps

Shop Wisely

When grocery shopping, be careful not to go to extremes and buy too much or too little of any ingredient. Ideally, you will buy in bulk when you’re sure you will use up the purchased item. Only buy as much of everything else as you will need.

If you regularly shop at a particular place, you could check if they have a customer reward program. It could be a hassle to fill out their forms, but such offers most often result in coupons and discounts without continuous effort on your end.

On the other hand, if you do your shopping at several places, keep the bills from each of them. After a month, compare them to see where you can get the most for your money. Afterward, become a regular at that store.

Becoming a regular in a store or a chain can help you save money

Switch Your Phone Deal

Most phone deals come with unlimited minutes and messages you won’t use since most communication happens online. Nonetheless, you may still be paying for the contract you made years ago.

One option is to switch to a cheaper deal, which gives you data but not as many messages and minutes. Another is to drop the contract altogether and pay as you use – most places have WiFi nowadays, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

 

Switch to a more inexpensive phone plan, but keep the data

Final Thoughts

Of course, there are many other techniques to budget your expenses, but the fields we mentioned are close to universal. Besides, once you introduce them, you won’t need to think about it a lot. Follow them and alleviate your money-related concerns at least to some extent.

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Personal Finance

How Big Data Influences Personal Finances

by Evan

It’s relatively apparent these days how the sheer amount of information has changed the way both big and small companies do business and make their money. Indeed, big data has so altered the modern business model that new regulations in the U.S. (various legislation at the federal and state levels) and abroad (GDPR), are increasingly being introduced to effectuate tighter and better control of the massive amount of personal data now available via the Internet, the World Wide Web and beyond. What might not be so apparent, however, is how big data has also changed the way we, as individuals, manage our private lives, especially our private finances. Like big business decisions, our personal ones are being impacted by the massive loads of data we can now all access. Take a look at just a few of the ways big data is influencing our personal finances:

Algorithmic Trading

Whether we enlist the help of a professional or attempt to make our own trades, big data often influences our options, as well as our ultimate choices. Algorithmic trading is an automated process whereby a computer program applies a mathematical algorithm to big data in order to generate the best price and time for a trade. It removes human influences from the trading process (and the unintentional biases that come with them) in the hopes that the resulting trades will be the most profitable for the people investing in them. Indeed, the large variety and amount of real-time information that is used in algorithmic trading makes it possible for traders of all kinds to forgo the constant manual monitoring of daily stock fluctuations. The result: near instantaneous retrieval and application of information that can produce monetary benefit for individual investors.

Personal Intelligence

Big data also informs our own research findings. Exposure to more information means we can conceive better solutions. Whereas we might once have been stymied by too little data or data that was too vague, we now have easy access to massive quantities of facts and figures on which we can base our decisions. No longer do we have to go to a library and scroll through rolls of microfiche or wait for books to be delivered and studied. We have all kinds of personal and consumer insights at our fingertips. We can seek advice on how to reduce our debt or manage our portfolios by researching how others like us do it. We can also use our own data to facilitate better decision-making, as most banks now provide personalized banking metrics that enable us to see how we send our money each month. Automatically tracking how and when and where we spend our money can help us pinpoint and address any alarming trends.

Our Own Financial Marketability

We know big data directly affects business decisions, but many business decisions also indirectly affect us. With access to more information, financial institutions have more opportunity to deny us a product or service. We need to remain vigilant as we share personal details, recognizing that every data point we release into the world could be used in many different, and not always advantageous, ways, affecting our credit and our access to financial services.

 

 

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