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Erik Folgate
Erik and his wife, Lindzee, live in Orlando, Florida with a baby boy on the way. Erik works as an account manager for a marketing company, and considers counseling friends, family and the readers of Money Crashers his personal ministry to others. Erik became passionate about personal finance and helping others make wise financial decisions after racking up over $20k in credit card and student loan debt within the first two years of college.

Five Businuesses To Start With $200

Erik Folgate

Professional Consulting

Are you an expert at something?  You may be able to start a professional consulting business by giving your expert advice.  Some examples of successful consulting firms are business, financial, computer, advertising, and tax consulting.  This is a service industry so start-up costs can be very low.  There is no inventory and if you already have a computer and basic office software, then all you need is a budget for advertising and a web presence

$100 for web domain and web hosting package

$100 for printed business cards, brochures, and direct mailers

Computer Repair

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The Entrepreneur Inside of You

Erik Folgate

The entrepreneurial spirit lives inside all of us.  You may not have found it yet, but it is there.  I am confident about this statement, because the great country of the United States was founded upon the principles of freedom, democracy, and entrepreneurship.  Most of you work for someone else, but you can still be an entrepreneur!

Answer these Questions:

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  1. Have you ever daydreamed about being your own boss?
  2. Have you ever provided a service and collected a fee for it?
  3. Have you ever held a garage sale?
  4. Have you ever sold something on Ebay?

Money Crasher’s Quick Guide to Insurance

Erik Folgate

This blog is geared primarily toward twentysomethings, so my insurance recommendations will be answered based on the assumption that you are a college student, recent graduate, or similar young adult.

Car Insurance

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Give Yourself the Chance to Give

Erik Folgate

The reason that I am so passionate about being financially wise about money is not so that I can hold onto all of it until the day that I die.  Someone who does that is foolish.  A wise, sensible person will do three things with money according to Dave Ramsey, “Save it, Have Fun with it, and Give it”. 

We have no problems at ALL having fun with money, we have a decent problem with saving money, but we have a HUGE problem with giving money.  And this is not because people are greedy.  In fact, most people are not greedy.  The problem is that they do not set themselves up to be in a position to give.

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The Millionaire Next Door

Erik Folgate

There are quite a few critcs of this book, but I think that you need to understand the overall message of this book, regardless of the validity of the research done.  Read my review of this book that was posted on my personal website. 

The Wonderful World of Mortgages

Erik Folgate

Are you ready to buy a home, but you are dreading trying to find a mortgage that fits you?  Understanding mortgages is not scary as long as you understand how they behave.  Buying a home is a big step and making sure that you can afford a house is very important.  Due to the recent housing boom, many mortgage lenders have been very creative with selling loans to folks by making it look like they can afford a certain house when in reality those people are becoming house poor.  It is very easy to become house poor if you get creative with certain mortgage products out there.  The definition of house poor is when a mortgage payment is more than 25% of one’s household income.  To make sure that you do not become house poor, let’s look at the two most common mortgage products and figure out which one is right for you.

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College: A big decision

Erik Folgate

Going to college is a big step in a young person’s life.  For the first time, that young person goes off on his or her own to conquer life without mom and dad standing over his or her shoulder.  The problem is that too many college bound seniors in high school are ill prepared to manage their money while in college.  Some college students are still fully supported by their parent while going through college which delays the realities of managing money even further.

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25 Reasons Not to Save For Retirement

Erik Folgate

Here is a humorous list of reasons why you should NOT save for retirement.  The sad thing is that I bet there are people out there who actually use these excuses.

401k vs. Roth IRA’s

Erik Folgate

It is never too early to be thinking about retirement.  Obviously, if you start early, then the earlier you can retire and the more money you will have working for you.  There are a number of ways to save for retirement, but the two most advantageous from a tax stand point are the company sponsored 401k and the government sponsored Roth IRA.  So which is better?  It depends…

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How to Build Your Credit Without Going into Debt

Erik Folgate

Many people, including financial professionals, believe that the only way to build your credit is by going into debt.  This is simply not true.  It is not necessary for an 18 year old man or woman to open up a credit card in order to build his or her credit.  There is no need to simply take out a loan for a car in order to qualify for a mortgage later. 

Our financial culture worships the FICO score.  Our culture believes that our FICO score is a good indicator of our financial well-being, but it has nothing to do with that.  Here are the factors that go into calculating the FICO score: 

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The Credit Card Lie

Erik Folgate

Lie:  Credit cards are a good financial tool and they will help you to build prosperity.

Truth:  In the end, credit cards only make the banks rich, and they make you poor.

The credit card epidemic probably started in the 1980′s and it is has run so rampant that dogs and dead people receive credit card applications every day.  Over 4 billion credit cards were issued last year according to Nellie Mae fiinancial services.  The problem is that millions of those credit card recipients cannot afford to be using them — including college undergraduates and recent college graduates.  Here are some alarming statistics taken from a 2002 statistical pool.

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Five Steps to Effective Budgeting

Erik Folgate

The foundation of developing good financial habits as a college graduate or recent graduate is creating solid budgeting skills. Budgeting is not an art, it is a skill that is taught by practicing over and over again. You do not need a degree in finance to create and maintain a budget. Follow these simple steps to create a solid budget.

Step 1: Gather Information.

Gather together all of your bank statements, receipts, and credit card statements for a given month. Create a number of categories for living expenses such as food, gas, rent/mortgage, utilities, clothing, loan payments, etc. Based on the information you gathered, make an educated estimate for the amount that you spend in each category. Also, figure out your take home income (total monthly income minus taxes).

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Taxes for First Timers

Erik Folgate

It’s that time of year again!  Everybody get excited, because it’s tax time!  Okay, there’s really no way to excite you about it, unless you know that you’re getting a tax return.  But even then, all you did was give the government an interest free loan for the year. 

There is a great article in Kiplinger’s magazine for guiding young people that are new to taxes.  Read it and pay attention to the deductions and credits that you may be elible for. 

The Fool’s Take on Retirement

Erik Folgate

Motley Fool gains my respect more and more every time I read an article from their website.  They are wise when it comes to investment.  They are even more wise when it comes to saving for retirement.  This article

is a must read for twenty-somethings.  The columnist outlines the secret behind retiring early.  This secret is no big surprise, but it is commonly overlooked — Save, Save, and SAVE more!!!!  Trying to “beat” the market by picking the right stocks is never more important than contributing more money to a retirement plan as a young investor.  This article gives a great illustration of the savings involved by cutting back on every-day small luxuries that we take for granted.  Pinch a penny, and you might be grabbing a wad of cash in the future.

Real Estate Bubble statistics

Erik Folgate

Everyone talks about the real estate bubble like it is a real, living human being.  They talk about it like this “bubble” has a mind of its own.  When I look at the statistics, it looks like things are not going to “pop”, they are just going to settle down.  Here are some statistics to substantiate that things are definitely settling down. 

This comes from the National Association of Realtors:

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  • From Oct. 2004 to Oct. 2005 — Single family homes on the market increased from 4.3  million  to 5.3 million.  Basically, the supply is rising significantly, but the demand is not
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