Author Archives: Money Reasons

About Money Reasons

A offbeat personal finance blogger that comes from the tech world.

Not All Personal Financial Blogs Are A Good Fit For You

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The Good Personal Finance Advice

Before blogging I was an avid personal finance blog reader, with my favorite blog being a site called “Frugal Dad”.

Why did I gravitate to the site “Frugal Dad”?

Because it was a great site and described things that pertained to me.  When I started reading “Frugal Dad”, I was past the college phase, and I was debt free except for my house, but even then after a few years, I was mortgage free too (even before Frugal Dad was).  Frugal Dad talked about things that I was experiencing and I felt like he was more like someone journeying to the same location as I was.

But one critical thing was different with “Frugal Dad” than most other blog sites at the time…  And that difference was that he provided great financial advice advocating frugality even before it was fashionable or really even acceptable.  After getting hooked, I went into his archives and discovered that practically all of this writings about financial material more or less mirrored what I believed and practiced.  Jason (the frugal dad blogger) was a perfect financial kindred spirit to me.  The site was a perfect fit for me (too bad I was too shy at the time to comment on his articles).

The Bad Personal Finance Advice

Since the time when I started reading financial blogs the niche has become crowded with advice that isn’t what I consider good, or at least not a good fit for the majority of us.  While I realize that sometimes blog articles are written for shock value, to blatantly state incorrect or even nonsensical saddens me to a degree and I think such articles could damage the financial well-being of their readers.

Here are a few bad examples of the pf concepts that I believe aren’t really that great to follow, out in the personal finance blogosphere in the recent past.

  • Go into massive debt and buy real estate.  There is one blogger that advocated this approach, and while it did work for him at that time, such an approach is reckless and location dependent.  If I were to follow his advice, I would have lost a lot of money in the “Great Recession“.  So the concept is poor advice because it only is beneficial for a select few that have access to a great location and a lot of good luck to boot.
  • Default on your credit cards because that what the credit card companies really want to you do.  I think this statement was really a tongue in cheek sentence, but I’m still not sure to this day.  As a person that comes from a family background where owning businesses is common, the statement is incorrect.  Nobody like to lose money, that’s why rich people get upset sometimes about small money amounts such as $10.  This one still give me a good chuckle to this day.
  • Buy old and used because it’s the more financial savvy move.  To an extent this is true if the item is question is quality to begin with.  If not, it could be a money pit, and perhaps not even safe to use.  Why I don’t like buying brand new, I like to find the sweet spot for such purchases.  To me, I want to maximize the value to me, not buy the cheapest option.

Okay, I think you get my point.

While initially, I read a blogger that was in the same car as I was, I think it might have been wiser for me to read more of a site that would be the “next phase” for me in my personal finance journey.  After I outgrew the Frugal Dad blog, I went on to read the “Free Money Finance” blog.  This blogger at FMF was similar to me, but a few pages ahead of me in my personal finance journey, and a good target for me to shoot for with my personal finance goals.

So in conclusion, I’d recommend reading sites that provide a lot of value and that give great advice.  The FMF blogger seems to be successful in his real life, and blogs about his finances to share so others can follow such a path.  I have to admit, I don’t read that FMF as much either, but it’s still a great site with a lot of great advice.

Bests,

Don

My 401k Contribution Mistake This Past Year

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It’s December, and I have to admit I’m hurting financial, but in more of a good way than a bad way.  Still, I’m very stressed out!

This year I decided that I was going to try to max out both my 401k and Roth IRA contributions for the year.  Well, now it’s obvious that it’s not going to happen…

When December 15 rolls around, I will definitely slip past the maximum amount ($17,500) that I can contribution to my 401k for the year, I’m not going to max out my Roth IRA (which is a mistake too, but I won’t discuss that now).  My Money Management assessment was spot on, and if I lived more frugally this past year, I could have definitely accomplished my “maxing out my retirement contributions” goal.

Huh?

So, what happened?  Two words…

Lifestyle Creep, yep, it finally happened to me!  Listed below are my lifestyle creep causes:

  1. I bought a used but reliable with low mileage Toyota Camry last year, but I’m still making payments on it.  This alone adds $230 dollar to my monthly expenses.  I could have paid off the car, but I decided to keep the money in investments instead.
  2. My son needed braces, again!  Yep, I never heard of this but after wearing braces and getting them off, my son had to be fitted with braces yet again!?!  I’m not happy, this cost me $1,500.  It would have been more, but since it’s the second time around, the dentist gave us a discount.
  3. New Lunch habit.  I’ve been going out a few times a week for lunch with the guys, that adds over $200 more a month to my monthly bills that didn’t exist previously.
  4. Boy Scouts, while not huge, my son is enjoying Boy Scouts and the various expenses associated with such an organization..
  5. Increased monthly college savings payments.  Just a small increase, but still an increase all the same.
  6. Newer car (2012 Toyota Sienna) for my wife, $340 more each month.  This is killing me!  I’m not sure how to handle this actually, it’s a big increase and very painful for me.  I had hoped to almost have my car paid off before purchasing a new car for my wife, but my wife had other plans.
  7. The rest of the increases in spending were small (kids getting more expensive) charges.  I’m probably just going to roll with the punches on these, at least for now.

So, even with my list of budget breakers, this year I will still be able to max out my 401k, and I’m still planning on putting 2k towards my Roth IRA.

Next year, I’m changing the entire plan, more to come in a future post about that!

Wish me luck,

Don

The Beauty Of Robotics and Technology

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In my last article called the Pros and Cons Of Automation, I think I let the Cons win over the Pros.

I can envision a future world where cameras will be able to record practically everything in a city or even towns.  It’s not as far-fetched as you would imagine.  Some may say, that the cost wouldn’t make it feasible, but I bet a similar argument was presented with respect to street lights in the distant past.  In fact thinking about it, it might even be possible to leverage street lights poles and wiring for such monitoring system today.

Another example is that we are able to do practically everything through our computer!  For example, I’ve recently heard of a way to buy life insurance online, whereas just a few years ago when I applied for more life insurance through my employer, they sent out a nurse for blood work tests and I had to mail a form into my workplace.  My how times have changed!

Someday, we might even all have robotic servants that manage and protect us, our homes and property.  Why have watch dogs when you can have security robots patrolling your yard for practically the cost of just charging their battery or whatever power system is in place at that future time.  If these security robots or systems detect an intruder, they can call the authorities and act as a defensive deterrent.  Hopefully, such systems won’t be outfitted with any type of lethal weaponry.

Are they are in control?

Are they are in control?

Let’s say that your home fire alarm system detects a fire, well perhaps you have a robotic system that can handle putting out the fire right away.  Such a robotic system could be specialized or just a general robot with such functionality built-in.  Personally, I’d rather have small robotic systems that are specialized to handle such emergencies.

Robots could do such things as help you remember important dates, change the oil in your car, do shopping for you when your inventory in the host get’s low, do labor that use to be manual such as mowing the lawn, or dishes, or practically anything that you use to do yourself.  Google has already created a car that can drive itself (although it’s still a decent way from becoming reality).

I could even see it come to a point where robots start to perform medical and legal assistance for their owners.  Perhaps a medical robot could do tests to monitor your health, including blood work and the like.  The tasks that robots can perform could be very empowering, especially if you are disabled or elderly.

I’ve just scratched the surface about what is possible with Robotics and Technology!  For example, what if robots pushed their experiences to some kind of tech cloud?  Then all robots of a particular model type could use such shared knowledge to increase their value to their owners.  Shoot, the procedures could even be discarded after the task is complete, and then downloaded again when needed.  Kind of spooky but cool huh!

The future could be pretty amazing!

Don

Slow Sale Zone Concerns

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Do you Live in a Slow Sale Zone?

When buying a property, there are many factors that will influence your decision. Potential buyers may consider whether the property in question will increase in value over time, but there are many more questions to ask before making a commitment. The area itself can have an effect on the speed at which your property sells, so if you are struggling to sell a home, this could perhaps be the reason. Do you live in a slow sale zone?

School Catchment Area

There are many factors that contribute to your area being a slow sale zone and one of these is not living in a school catchment area. If you do not live near a grammar school, you could find that families or young couples may not be very interested in viewing your property. Being based near a reputable school is one of the main factors that influence a property buyer who has small children, and if the school they have their heart set on is too far away, this will lower your chances of making a sale. This may mean that you don’t get as many viewings as you had hoped for, but you can turn this around by making your home more appealing to students and professionals.

Crime Hotspot

If you live in an area that has a high crime rate, this could mean that you are looking at a slow sale. If your home has a higher than average crime rate, this will be a red flag for many potential buyers and it could prolong the sale process. The best way to put buyers’ minds at rest and increase the chances of a sale is to kit out your home with high quality security solutions. An alarm system, security gates and CCTV can make your home instantly more appealing and set your home apart from the other properties that are for sale in your area.

Nightmare Neighbors

It’s not just the area that can put potential buyers off purchasing your home.  The people that live nearby can also put doubts in buyers’ minds. Problem neighbors can drive down the value of your home and it is your responsibility as a seller to inform potential buyers of any disputes that have occurred. For example, if you have had disputes over land, it is essential that you put potential buyers in the picture as this directly affects the property in question. Nightmare neighbors needn’t ruin your chances of selling your property fast.