Personal Finance Blog, Your Guide to Financial Fitness
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David Bakke
David Bakke
I recently had a chance to have a conversation with Kimberly Palmer, author of Generation Earn, and writer for the US News. What an insightful, personable, and refreshing interview! I could tell after only a few minutes that Kimberly has combined both her personal experiences in “life” and extensive knowledge in personal finance to formulate her opinions. And some of her answers may surprise you! I’ve included an excerpt of the interview below:
David Bakke
OK, so we all know that we can find out what the hottest movie start had for breakfast this morning on Twitter. Personally, I find this type of information on the nauseating side. A lot of the stuff that I see on Twitter is an absolute waste of time to me. Also, I think that Twitter has run its course in a lot of ways as a marketing avenue. I mean, sure, it is an option and can be an effective tool, but trust me, it takes a long time to build up a list of followers and the “return on investment”is quite low.
David Bakke
One of the latest products to be rolled out by the insurance industry is divorce insurance. Yes, you heard me correctly, divorce insurance. The question is, what exactly is it and should you consider it?
Is Divorce In Your Future?
First of all, let’s be clear on one thing. Divorce insurance is not something you should consider if you are currently in a divorce proceeding or if you think that divorce may be on the horizon for you. It’s not that simple. If it were, I think that people would be signing up left and right for it.
David Bakke
I recently came across the website ThreeJars, where you can set up an allowance account for your children. I found the site to be both intriguing and innovative, so I thought I would crystallize and share what I found out about it with you.
The Basic Concept
David Bakke
About the only thing that I hate more than common household bugs is the money that I have to spend to rid my house of them. The house that I live in is getting up there in age (it’s about 15 years old), so there are plenty of cracks and crevices throughout. I already do my best to go green with natural household cleaners which can help with the cause, but getting rid of these household bugs can get expensive.
David Bakke
A co-worker of mine recently came into work with one of those viral emails that stated that our local law enforcement was going to pull over one driver for every hour they worked for various traffic violations starting in the month of September. The message stated that the government would raise $8 million in revenues based on this project.
I immediately dismissed the whole thing as a bunch of crap, and teased her about it for the next several days.
David Bakke
One thing that really drives me, that motivates me like you wouldn’t believe, is trying to find ways to be frugal when it comes to the “everyday” and “mundane” stuff. Saving money on things that you would never think that you could save money on is very motivating for me.
Why Bother?
David Bakke
For those of us that have children, I think it’s pretty common knowledge that the cost of raising a child is by no means cheap. Also, for us first-time parents, we don’t have the luxury of “hindsight” so I am sure there are quite a few things we have “wasted” our money on during a child’s lifetime. Therefore, what I want to do in this post is identify as many ways as I could to save on the expenses of raising a baby.
David Bakke
One of the biggest benefits that I have ever gained from getting myself out of debt is to have the financial means to travel internationally. Of course it is a matter of personal taste, but if my choices are driving a brand new sports car or taking several trips to foreign countries, it’s an easy decision. Buy the latest flat screen TV or take a sightseeing trip through Europe? It’s a no brainer. There is nothing as fulfilling to me as being able to experience a new part of the world.
David Bakke
In this day and age of trying to deal with the recent economic downturn, more and more people are looking to sell unwanted or unused items that they have in their homes. People that have never before even thought of selling these items on the internet are now exploring the possibility.
There are many options out there, but the two biggest players in the game are eBay and Amazon. For both places, you basically list the item at the price you want to sell it for, and then wait for someone to decide that they want to buy it at your price. However, both sites have their advantages and disadvantages and I want to go over the highlights of each.
David Bakke
The best piece of advice that I can give you when it comes to the use of ATM/debit cards is this: be careful.
Personally, I own a debit card and I do carry it with me, but mainly for emergency purposes and because it’s a debit card that can actually generate rewards. Believe it or not, I would say I use it maybe one time per year because of the huge dangers involved.
Paranoia?
Am I sounding paranoid? Am I just spouting off and making a mountain out of a molehill? Here are 4 reasons to help you understand my perspective:
David Bakke
Recently, I had the pleasure of reviewing the website FreshBooks. It is basically an online billing service that allows you to bill your clients and track your staff’s time as well. Although admittedly I don’t have a use for such a service for either of the two side businesses that I run, I can tell you that if I had the opportunity to introduce FreshBooks to my “day” job, that it would be quite the breath of fresh air.
Advantages
FreshBooks offers what they like to call “painless billing.” With the service, you can bill your clients with just a few clicks.
David Bakke
If you haven’t been exposed recently to at least some form of advertisement regarding what to do with your unwanted gold, you have probably been living under a rock. The “great ideas” range from sending it through the mail, to dropping it off at a “We Buy Gold” place, to attending a gold buying party.
Where To Go To Sell Your Gold?
Little pop-up walk-in gold stores have flooded my town over the past several months. They are literally everywhere.
David Bakke
When I think of carpooling, the first thing that comes to mind is that it’s not feasible or convenient, so why bother looking into it? The way my work schedule is, there aren’t too many people that drive into the city when I do and go home when I do. Moreover, while some people live fairly close to me, it’s still a bit of a trek. I think we all know that carpooling can free up our budget a little, but is it really worth it?
David Bakke
I recently had an opportunity to review the website Mvelopes, which features an online home budgeting system. A few things that I immediately liked were two of the phrases I read on their home page. The first one is “Take back your time” and the second one I included in the title: “Managing your money shouldn’t be a full time job.” I like these phrases because I think one thing preventing a lot of people from even attempting to corral their finances is that they think it will take hours out of their day. It won’t. And secondly, any tool that I can introduce into my life that will save me time is something I am always interested in.
