Educating yourself is the key phrase in this installment of the “11 Principles of a Money Crasher” series. If you want to save money and ultimately be wealthy when you retire, then you need to be an educated consumer. Educated consumers get better deals on the large purchases made during the course of one’s life. I’m talking about cars, real estate, boats, and also insurance products. Insurance is a HUGE expense over the span of one’s life, because you will ALWAYS need to carry auto, homeowner’s, and health insurance. There’s also term life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and renter’s insurance that people pay every year. The people that just randomly point at a car or an insurance product are the ones that get ripped off. I’m not saying that you need to become the ultimate negotiator and take courses at your local community college about insurance, but you need to get familiar with these large purchases. The power of the internet has made it so absolutely no one has the excuse that he or she could not do any research on cars, real estate, insurance, or other big ticket items. The information is there at your fingertips. If you decided to cut your internet out of your house, you can STILL get it for free at the library. This article would be brutal to go into great detail about these big ticket items, so I will give you a brief overview of each and reference some of my most popular articles in these subjects for you to reference.
The 11 Principles Series: Educate Yourself About Buying Cars, Real Estate, and Financial Products
Erik Folgate
Giving Back To The Community In Your Retirement Years
Erik Folgate
I was watching the weekend edition of the NBC Nightly News Sunday night, and there was a segment that struck me about a retired physician who started a free clinic for the poor in Hilton Head, South Carolina. This man came to Hilton Head almost two decades ago in hopes of living the normal retirement with plenty of golf, going out to eat, and laying on the beach. But, after a few years, he realized that fully retiring was boring. He saw a need where many of the blue collar workers in Hilton Head could not afford health care. He decided to start a walk-in clinic, and all patients that met the low income requirements were treated for free. The clinic helped take pressure off of the local emergency rooms to treat these individuals and the retired physician found a whole new meaning to his life when he started giving back to the community with his professional expertise.
The 11 Principles Series: Keeping it Simple When Investing For the Long Term
Erik Folgate
Being debt free is a great indication that you are doing well with managing your finances, but it’s not the only benchmark for good financial health. You may be debt free, but are you saving for retirement? Are you stashing away enough money to retire comfortably and sustain a good lifestyle for 25 to 30 years? Investing can be a very controversial subject. Everyone seems to have their own opinion about long term investing. Stock brokers, financial advisors, and other financial professionals make a killing to do one thing, maximize your long term return on investment. Here’s my question, is investing really as complicated as some people make it sound? Can an auto mechanic figure out how to invest for his or her retirement?
Over 700,000 iPhones Sell Over The Weekend
Erik Folgate
I read this articleabout the wonderful success that Apple has had with the iPhone. So far, it has lived up to the hype about being the most popular phone on the market. Will the sales continue? I can’t imagine that they will. The phone goes for $599 and $499, so basically all of the people that can afford it, bought it, and all of the people that can’t afford it but still wanted it, bought it. I don’t understand why people don’t just wait a year. I bet you they’ll be $399 by Christmas, and $299 in a year. I’ll put a link to this post when they become $299. I’ll buy one, and they’ll probably be better, because the first batch of people that buy these phones are the guinea pigs. Apple will get their feedback, improve the phone, and relaunch it with better features.
The 11 Principles Series: Paying For Education with Cash
Erik Folgate
Pay for your college education with cash. That sentence sounds so simple, but it is one of the toughest things to do in the 21st century. College tuition continues to rise, the cost of living continues to rise, and the demand to have that magical piece of paper called a degree continues to be more important. I will be honest from the beginning, I currently carry student loans. So this is not an article to preach to you all about paying cash for your education. I understand if you take out a loan. Most of my loans were taken in the first year and a half of my college degree, because I made the wrong decision of going to a private school that I could not afford. I realized that I was doing, quickly withdrew, and enrolled in a community college to finish my A.A. This is a challenge. I am challenging you to make a goal to pay cash for your education and your child’s education if you plan far enough ahead. I’m challenging you because I know you’ll thank me later on in life.
Universal Review and Default Rate Disclosure
Erik Folgate
Did you know that if you’re close to reaching your credit limits on some of your credit cards, the interest rate on a completely unrelated credit card can get jacked up? Or if you miss a payment on one credit card, your other credit cards can increase your interest rates?
For example, let’s say you have a credit card with U.S. Bank and you’ve reached your credit limit. Not only can U.S. Bank increase the interest rate on the credit card, but also if you have a credit card with another bankâ€â€let’s say, Washington Mutualâ€â€they can mess with your terms by increasing your interest rates and lowering your credit limit, even though you may not even be using that card!
The 11 Principles Series: Saving Money For the Unexpected
Erik Folgate
One of the most important characteristics of a wealthy person is that he or she saves for the unexpected. You will have a time in your life when something goes wrong. Your car’s alternator breaks, the water heater in your house needs replacement, or you break your arm and your health insurance carries a high deductible. These are all incidents that we cannot predict. We can budget for car repairs and health insurance deductibles, but some accidents are impossible to foresee. When credit cards started to become more popular, you might have heard people say that they carry a credit card for emergencies. While I understand that some situations make credit cards a convenient way to get yourself out of a jam, I don’t think it’s wise to rely on credit for emergencies. Having said that, if you carry a credit card for emergencies, but you carry an emergency fund in a separate savings account, then there is nothing wrong with that. You would simply pay the credit card bill with that emergency fund. But, if you are living paycheck to paycheck with absolutely no cash cushion, life’s little emergencies will quickly send you into credit card debt that is out of your control.
The 11 Principles Series: Get Out of Debt and Stay Out of Debt
Erik Folgate
Getting out of debt and staying out of debt is an essential principle to becoming wealthy. Millionaires don’t have car payments, and they don’t carry a credit card balance. They don’t need to borrow money, because they HAVE money. If you minimize the monthly payments that you pay every month, you’ll have more money to invest and pay for large purchases. Fortunately, I have already written a debt elimination plan on Money Crashers, and I will reference those posts for you to read again or for the first time. Here are my five steps to getting and staying out of debt.
The 11 Principles Series: Do Not Believe In Money Myths
Erik Folgate
There are many myths about money and how to handle it. The key is identifying those myths and not falling into the trap that many other people fall into when it comes to money myths. I have identified four myths about money, and I will explain why I believe they are myths and how you can avoid being deceived by them.
Myth #1: Debt is a Tool, and you can use it to become wealthy
The 11 Principles Series: Always Spend Less Money Than You Make
Erik Folgate
Over the next two weeks, I’ll be writing a series based on the Money Crashers 11 Principles to guide you to personal financial fitness and success. I created these 11 financial principles to live by when I first created the Money Crashers blog. However, I never formally explained each one and my philosophy for each principle. I figured that now is as good of a time as any to do a series on my 11 principles and why I believe they are essential to follow if you want to win with money.
The 1st Principle: Always Spend Less Money Than You Make
Beware of Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC)
Erik Folgate
When it’s time to tap the equity in your home, you usually have two options: a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a home equity installment loan (HEIL). Both will get you the money you want, but one may lower your credit scores, which will make everything you buy on credit more expensive – be careful.
So, which one is dangerous and which one is safe? A HELOC can potentially lower your credit scores. Here’s how. HELOC accounts can look exactly like a credit card account on your credit reports, and that can be a bad thing
Upcoming Money Crasher’s Blog Series
Erik Folgate
Starting June 20th and running until about July 6th, Money Crasher’s will be running a blog series based on the 11 principles of a money crasher to help you achieve financial success. You can view the 11 principles here to see the entire list. I put together these 11 financial principles when I first started this blog. These 11 principles serve as the thesis for this blog, and I truly believe that if you follow these principles, you WILL find yourself winning with money. You’ll enjoy life to its fullest, and you’ll be wise with your money.
Should You Pay Off a Student Loan With a 0% Interest Credit Card?
Erik Folgate
This is a question that a friend of mine asked me recently, and I thought it would be a good question to throw out there to the readers of Money Crashers. If you are in your twenties, it seems like you’re a weirdo if you DO NOT have a student loan. The reality is that college is not getting cheaper, and many of our parents did not pass along a college fund for us. I have about $18,000 in student loan debt, and my wife will have even more than that. She’s in physician assistant school right now, so her student loans will definitely be worth it in another 12 to 18 months. The National Center of Education Statistics shows that a little more than 50% of students hold student loans at an average of about $10,000.
A List of the Best Careers for 2007
Erik Folgate
U.S. News and World Report has come up with this list of the 25 best careers of 2007. There are the obvious ones like a doctor, dentist, engineer, and professor. But, there are also some surprising ones like medical scientist, librarian, urban/regional planner, and a fundraiser. The four criteria they graded the jobs on are Job Market Outlook, Attainability, Prestige, and Quality of Life.
