How To Save Money In the Big City
July 3, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Budgeting, Money Management
This week, I am visiting my brother and his family in Los Angeles, California. To be more specific, they live in Pasadena. People from Los Angeles don’t like when you say “They’re from L.A.”. You need to be more specific, because the city is so huge. It’s a fun city. The whether is amazing, but the traffic and the cost of living is enough to keep me away. I’ve been observing some of the interesting ways that they save money in this city. Los Angeles is a little different than big cities such as New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. It is a hybrid city. It has a downtown, but very few people live there. They live in the hundreds of towns that surround the core of Los Angeles. You can’t call these smaller cities suburbs of Los Angeles, because they still feel like the big city. Los Angeles doesn’t have a great public transportation system. It’s so spread out, that a transportation system to cover every area would cost a fortune. Here are a few ways that my brother and his family save money to live well in Pasadena.
Simplify Your Finances: Organize Your Accounts
June 2, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Money Management
I’m going to run a short mini-series on simplifying your finances. I think that much of the problem sometimes with managing our money is that we tend to complicate the situation more than it needs to be. There is no reason that you should feel intimidated or overwhelmed with managing money. Money is not complicated. We are the ones tha make it complicated. So, the fist thing to do get your bank accounts organized. I am going to show you a method that works for me. Basically, I have three separate accounts for three different purposes. They are as follows:
Question From Money Crashers Reader: What Should I Pay Off First?
April 21, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Money Management
Here is a question from a Money Crashers reader. She is in a great situation, because she has a nice lump sum of money, but she doesn’t know what to do with it.
My home is worth about $375000 and I owe $62000 on it. My credit card debt is $21000 ($11000 at 3.99% for life of loan and $10000 at 10% until 11/08) and school loans of $10000. I am recently widowed and am struggling month to month with my bills. I have a lump sum of $80000. Should I pay off the credit cards and school loans which would decrease monthly payments by about $700? Thank you.
Help A Reader: Should I Pay Off My Mortgage or Pay Off My Student Loans?
March 31, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Economy, Money Management, Real Estate
Here is a good question from a Money Crasher’s reader that I thought I would share with everyone, because some of you may have the same question. Remember, don’t take my advice as gospel. Verify it with other people you trust in your life. I answer questions how I would do it and what I feel is the best thing for your personal finances.
My wife and I currently have a 6.125% 1st (30 year fixed) and a 6.65% 2nd (5 year arm interest only) (80/20 loan) mortgage on our homestead, and we also have student loans which have been consolidated at 3.75% fixed.
Four Tips On the Issue of Money and Family
February 5, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships, Kids and Money, Money Management
When I was in college, my first car had finally broken down. I needed another car, but I didn’t have any money to get another one. I didn’t want to go to a bank to get a loan for a car, because I was didn’t want to pay all of the interest and I didn’t want the possibility of it getting repossessed if I could not make the payment. After several discussions with my dad, he agreed to pay for the car and I would pay him a set amount each month until the loan was either paid off, or he felt that I had paid enough towards it for him to give me the title. I didn’t have to pay any interest, and if I was a few days late, I wouldn’t be penalized. It seemed like a sweet deal at the time, but once I started driving that car and paying payments to my dad, it just didn’t seem right. He wasn’t a jerk about it, and he didn’t hold it over my head, but I didn’t like the idea of owing my dad money. I thought to myself, “My family shouldn’t feel like my bank.” At some point in your life, your money and your family will mix together. You may not want it to, but it will. However, you can choose how you deal with money when it comes to you and your immediate and extended family. Borrowing money, lending money, and starting business from family can be very alluring, because you are close to that person and you feel like you can trust them. I understand why families borrow money from each and start businesses together, but I am going to give you a few reasons why you should not do it and how to avoid it.
The Cheapest Way To Keep Your Pet Healthy
October 30, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Budgeting, Money Management, Spending and Saving
My wife and I were sitting in the Vet’s office with our new puppy, Harley, about two years ago. This was our first pet together, and it was a new experience for both of us. You may have a pet when you’re a kid, but it’s really your parent’s pet. All you do is play withh it and feed it sometimes. When you own your first pet, you’ll realize the costs associated with owning it. A few personal finance bloggers have chronicled the high costs associated with owning a cat or dog. My first experience with it was when we were sitting in the vet’s office, and they told us that Harley was allergic to fleas and now skin mites had flared up. We walked out of the office $150 dollars less richer, and we said to ourselves, “What can we do to keep this dog healthy?”
Strategically Invest In Yourself to Build Personal Wealth
October 22, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Careers, Money Management, Personal Development
I was sitting in a computer science class back in 2004, trying to figure out the foreign language that the professor was speaking (computer language, not an actual foreign language), when I realized that this wasn’t for me. I may have been investing in myself, but it was a bad investment. I came to the realization that I liked tinkering with computers, but I hated learning binary code, writing meaningless programs, and learning about every intricacy of a processor chip. Some people love that stuff, and they are fantastic at comprehending it. It wasn’t for me. I switched my major, and moved on. Getting a college degree can be a great investment in yourself, but it can also be a very bad investment in yourself if you don’t get anything out of it. My philosophy has always been that you get more out of an undergraduate degree just by surviving for four years rather than what you actually learn. Developing writing skills, personal responsibility, setting and achieving goals, time management, and money management are all skills that you either sharpen or dull while in college.
