Erik Folgate | Money Crashers

UPDATE: To check out my most recent post about the 2007 Hurricane preparedness salex tax holiday, GO HERE.

From now until June 1st, residents of Florida will be able to buy designated hurricane supplies with no sales tax in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season. The season officially starts June 1st, and many Florida residents are shaking in their boots after what has happened in the past two years. Natural disasters such as hurricanes can pose a huge financial threat on individuals and their families. This is a great way to save some money on supplies that you may need anyway! Things like batteries, flashlights, generators, and other related products will be tax free!

Oh How I Hate Ebay Scams

Erik Folgate

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I’ve been selling on Ebay for a while now, and I am pretty kean to sniffing out ebay scams. I know about Nigeria, fake cashier’s checks, and all of that. So anyway, we accepted a personal check from a buyer. This is where my ignorance comes into play. I thought that once a check posts into your account, it is YOUR money. I’m not talking about pending, but POSTED transaction into the account. However, this is not the case. The check still has to be verified by another bank before it is TRULY your money. Many of us think that a cleared check is a good check. Apparently, that is not the case. You are probably either saying to yourself, “Yeah, you need to learn about how checks are cashed” and some of you are saying “Really, is that true?”. Yes, it’s true.

Debt Elimination Step 5: The Importance of the Emergency Fund

Erik Folgate

This is the last step to eliminating your debt. If you have followed the first four steps, then you are already debt free. But how can you STAY debt free? The same concept of losing weight and KEEPING the weight off applies to getting and staying debt free. You must change your habits. It does you no good to lose 50lbs if you are going to stop working out and eating right as soon as you lose the pounds. The pounds will be back sooner than you lost them!

Refocusing my motivation to become wealthy

Erik Folgate

It has only been a few years that I have been so passionate about personal finance and becoming independently wealthy. I never had the drive or motivation in my teenage years to start my own business. I now feel like I focus too much on new ideas, budgeting, and where to invest my money. Balancing greed with fiscal responsibility has proven to be harder than I thought it would be.

CNN Money’s Top Ten Best Jobs In America

Erik Folgate

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Here is a list of the Top 10 best jobs in America rated based on salary, growth potential, stress levels, and other key factors that cause careers to be valued.

Software Engineer
College Professor
Financial Adviser
Human Resource Manager
Physician Assistant
Market Research Analyst
Computer IT Analyst
Real Estate Appraiser
Pharmacist
Psychologist

Marriage and Money: Men and Women Have Different Financial Wants and Needs

Erik Folgate

I have not been married for too long, but it has not taken me very long to realize that men and women are VERY different! That is okay, because it would get very boring if I lived with someone just like me for the rest of my life. In terms of money, I believe that most men and women think very differently. I think we have different wants and needs.

Disclaimer: I know that this will be a broad generalization comparing men and women, so please refrain from hate comments if you are a part of of NOW.

What Goes Into Making An Investment Decision?

Erik Folgate

I ask myself this question all the time. This not only pertains to financial investment decisions, but other life investment decisions as well. We invest our money, time, energy, and emotions into many things each and every day. Sometimes it is therapeutic to ask yourself the questions that we answer unconsciously by making split decisions. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself before making another big decision about investing your money or time into something.

The Carnival of Personal Finance #46

Erik Folgate

Go check out The Carnival of Personal Finance #46

where my article about Home Improvements is posted. Please support the carnival, it’s a free, beautiful thing!

Home Improvements: Which ones pay off and which ones are just for looks?

Erik Folgate

2 Comments

If you are a homeowner, and you are planning on making a home improvement, consider some of these tips from smart money before going ahead with mounting the plasma television in your bathroom.

The Kitchen
According to Smart Money, the home improvement that will give you the best return for your money when reselling is a Kitchen Improvement. Remodeling magazine says that the average upgrade will cost about 42 grand, but I think you can do that for cheaper if you do many of the upgrades yourself.

Have You Heard About Prosper.com?

Erik Folgate

This may be old news to you, but recently I was referred to prosper.com by a friend of mine. I started surfing around the website thinking, “Wait a second, these are real people putting up their money for other people to borrow?” The idea sounds crazy. What happens if they don’t pay? You don’t have a million other loans out there like banks do to eat your losses.

A Piece of Advice to Those Who Use Blogger and Blogspot

Erik Folgate

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I have read numerous posts lately where blogger and blogspot have been malfunctioning or kicking blog authors to the curb. One blogger said that he was reminded that blogger OWNS you and your blog. This is because these services and others are free. Don’t get me wrong, the word FREE is my favorite word in the English language. But sometimes you get what you pay for! The fact that you have little control over your blog is a scary thing.

What Are Your Financial Priorities?

Erik Folgate

I thought that I would ask all of you out there in the personal financial blogosphere a question.

What are your personal financial priorities?

I will share with you mine and my wife’s priorities to give you an idea of what I am talking about, and I would love to read what yours are in the comments section.

Pay for the necessities (food, utilities, shelter, clothing)
Pay off debts
Save for a bigger emergency fund
Save for a newer car
Give to Others.
Buy newer furniture.
Save for retirement
Pay off mortgage.

My Take On Home Equity Lines of Credit

Erik Folgate

Home equity lines of credit have been an attractive loan in the past few years due to the obscene housing boom that left homeowners sitting on gobs of equity in their homes. So, instead of sitting on their profits, homeowners borrowed against a “theoretical” amount of money. Why do I say that this is a theoretical amount of money? Well, if you owe $80,000 on your home, and you can sell it for $100,000 on the market today, then you have $20,000 in equity. Banks are allowing people to borrow $20,000 at a decent interest rate, then if you sell the house, you can break even after paying back both loans.

Carnival of Personal Finance #45

Erik Folgate

This was my first submission to the carnival of personal finance. I submitted my article about consolidating student loans. Go Check out the Carnival of Personal Finance #45 at the redirected Million Dollar Goal blog. There are some great articles posted this week.

Getting and Staying Out of Debt: Step 4

Erik Folgate

Many of us do not have a ton of disposable income, because our debt payments suck up all of our money. It would be nice to think that I could find an extra $1,000 per month to put towards paying off debt if I tightened up my budget. But in reality, there is only so much money that one can squeeze out of their budget to put towards savings or paying off debt. So what if you only have an extra $100 per month to put towards paying off debt? Do not use that as an excuse for living in debt the rest of your life.