Personal Finance Resources

Just last week, I talked about how we are going to start growing our own food, and I want you to know that I do my best to act upon what I say. Well, just last Thursday, we started putting the plan into action. I was thinking of what I could use to set the outline of the garden, when my wife told me that there were a few railroad ties that the previous owner of the house used to set against the fence between our property and the neighbor’s property. I assume at some point in the past the neighbors had dogs, or something that was getting under the fence. But anyways, I drug those railroad ties, along with some 4 x 4 treated lumber that I found near the same area, and created the outside edge of the garden.

I did not have enough railroad ties and 4 x 4 pieces of wood to finish the garden in the size that I wanted, so I had to get creative. So what I figured out was to take from the large limb that we had cut up and put back behind the house to be picked up by the trash man, cut that limb to size, and used it to fill the gaps so I could get the size garden I wanted. With the way the materials lined out and looking at my original plan, I decided to build a 15 x 16 foot garden, instead of the 16 x 16 foot garden I had originally planned. It worked great, and here is the result:

Now, before we get to the problems here, I wanted to point out the good things. First, we did not have to buy any railroad ties or lumber to get this garden laid out and ready to go. Further, the leaves that we put in the garden to fertilize the ground weren’t paid for either, we have a couple of live oak trees (see right) that provide us plenty of leaves that we can rake up and use for fertilizer.

But, as you probably can tell, we have a problem here. The problem is that the live oaks and other trees that are providing us with the free fertilizer are also giving us too much shade. I took this picture during the middle of the day, and I am going to have to solve the problem of too much shade. As you may know, most vegetables need direct sunlight to do well, and only part of the day does the garden really get the good, direct sunshine.

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I saw this post and thought about my community. This post has input from users around the personal finance internet community and solid steps they took to getting their finances in order, as well as links to other articles that would be of help. Check it out and let me know what your thoughts are.

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To really obtain wealth and/or financial freedom, there must be a change in our mindset. From our youth in America, we are taught to spend, spend, spend and pay for it later. The concept of having it all — right now is what most everyone wants in this country. Unfortunately, unless you have an 80″ vertical and can dunk a basketball, it will take time, patience and careful investing to unmask any substantial wealth. But I am just going to take a moment and give you a few pointers on how you can gear up for improving your financial health:

1. Ignore Advertisements
   TV is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. It is totally commercialized these days and offers nothing wholesome, only product pushing programs. TV is at the heart of our debt-ridden society. If you can bear it, get rid of it. In my house, we don’t even have cable, so if we want to watch something, it is a movie that we have pre-selected on DVD.
2. Track Your Goals
   It may not sound like it will help, but if you have a written budget, and written income goals it will help you to focus for the future. Take a few minutes to write down all of your expenses and come up with some reasonable income goals (challenge yourself, don’t just put down what you are currently making).
3. Seek Out Help from People Who Have Done What You Want to Do
   There’s nothing like having someone near you that has been where you want to go. Start out with blogs like this one, and find professionals that are in a market that you want to participate in. Don’t try to think of something everyone needs but doesn’t have, as you will never get anywhere that way. There is nothing new under the sun. I like real estate, and have had some success in both. If you want to get into those markets, I can help. Sign up for my RSS feed (it’s free) and begin learning about real estate investing and property management.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them at the bottom of this page. Stay tuned for more great insight to treating your financial health…

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Just a quick update and moral support on a Friday night. Focus on tracking all expenses, resist your urge to go to the vending machine to get a soda/snack, and concentrate on saving money. If you can, avoid going out to eat and taking long trips; conserve that gas money and lost dollars on high priced meals. Take advantage of coupons that you see coming in the mail for the grocery store, and also for some of your favorite fast food places.

You don’t have to pay full price for anything! I just bought a laptop online that is a brand new Lenovo (Lenovo bought IBM’s laptop business recently) for $644.99. Expensive you think? Not for a Pentium Core Duo 2.0 GHz, 1 GB DDR RAM, 120 GB hard disk, 15.4″ glossy screen, webcam, fingerprint reader, built-in blue tooth, and wireless LAN. I bought it on eBay completely new with a full one year warranty (I verified it with Lenovo), and it showed up in the mail 3 days later. I own a Dell Inspiron 6400 currently, but now that I have quit my job, I needed another laptop so that my wife and I can push forward on websites, real estate and other en devours simultaneously.

So guys, just to reiterate, keep plugin, focus on your long term goals, and invest, invest, invest!

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No doubt about it, gas prices are high these days. But what is the problem, why are gas prices so high? Well it started with Hurricane Katrina. Most of the petroleum refineries in the U.S. are in the gulf coast region. When the hurricane hit, it wiped out many of those refineries, thus drastically shifting the supply of gasoline. With a shortened supply and no dramatic effect in demand for gasoline, prices soared. The U.S. refineries still haven’t recovered, but here is the most amazing part - U.S. citizens did not lower their demand for gas.

Question: But gasoline is a must have, how can I lower my demand / consumption of it?

Answer: By buying a more fuel efficient car and reducing unnecessary travel.

But the problem is, most Americans do not know how to downgrade. We think that we should always increase, and never decrease. Over the last 2-3 years, there has been no significant change in the sale of large automobiles such as full sized trucks and SUVs. Commercialism and the media have pounded it into our heads that must, absolutely buy the best and largest car we can (and usually cannot) afford. All advertisements focus on payment and interest rate only, nothing about maintenance, gasoline consumption, or longevity. So we as Americans just blindly follow the herd, trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” and buying that vehicle that is way too big, and way too costly.

I witnessed a news story that reported the answers that people gave to being questioned about their vacations and trips during a summer with expected increases in gasoline prices, and must responded by saying they would just grit and bear it. We must wake up if we are ever going to see any real changes. I know you have to buy gas, but limit your trips and joyriding. If we all cut back, then gas prices will fall to encourage more buying.

Political Problems

Another problem that is facing the gasoline market is potential pressures issued by democratic politicians. These politicians hope to reverse the tax break given to companies for oil exploration. Currently, most of the exploration expense can be depreciated over just a few years, giving companies an advantage to seek out new oil, and bring it to the market. But the democrats want to take this away to “”preserve the Eco-system”". This is ridiculous, and will cause oil producers to stop seeking out new oil deposits, and drive the price of gas through the roof!! We must not let this sort of legislation pass. Contact your representatives, and get the scoop on the latest legislation that is anti-oil and tell them you want low gas prices, not to save some species no one has ever heard about before.

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College kids and credit cards are a dangerous mix, especially these days. Children in today’s society are more irresponsible than ever before. I wouldn’t even trust most adults in their early twenties to take $20 down to the store to get milk and bread. Kids just do not have any sense of responsibility or care in the world, and it is mostly due to bad parenting. Families today have both parents working, and typically a solid income that will allow for some extra spending money, and debt in the five digit range - yes I said five digits, as in over $10,000 in debt. What happened to our morals, where is our sense of financial management? These are core issues here at Personal Finance Resources. But let’s discuss some key points that will help your child to be aware of their spending, and have a notion of what the value of a dollar really is.

Teach Them How Debt is Like a Prison

Debt really does enslave the borrower. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:7 “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” What would happen to you if you lost your job? Would your finances crumble? Would you lose your house and car(s)? These are very important points that you can discuss with your children. Let them know how dangerous it is, and how it is like a house of cards that can fall at any moment.

Train Them in Personal Finance Management

Small amounts of debt (like a few hundred dollars on 1 or 2 credit cards) can be very beneficial to a first time borrower, like a college kid. This will help them to establish credit, and later they will be able to get approved for a loan for a house, car if necessary, and other things. Running these small balances allows the credit card company to earn a little interest, while building up the college kid’s credit rating. But be very, very cautious and monitor your credit card account, because all too often we fall into the trap that the credit card companies set, “Go ahead and buy it now, you won’t have to worry about paying for it until much later.”

Set Low Balance Maximums

This will help to curb the bliss notion of using a piece of plastic as a license to go on a shopping spree. If you as a parent are helping your child to build credit, set a balance of maybe $250-500 on your child’s credit card, thus forcing them to come to you for additional funds, and allowing you the opportunity to further teach them about financial responsibility.

Today’s lesson, in a nutshell, is focused around teaching. As a parent, we must teach our children all things, including financial responsibility. The earlier they learn, the better off they will be. Take the time to teach them, setup chores and allowances, make them work for things they want to buy. It will make them place the appropriate value on a dollar, and they will need that training later in life.

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As some of you may know, I live in Texas, and the Texas electricity industry has been deregulated. Thus, Texas electricity rates have become a “shop able” commodity. But why does TXU still get the lion’s share of the electricity market? Because people do not know that they have a choice. I want to address this, and tell you which company I am currently with, why it is so great to go with a different electrical provider, and how much money you can save. I am even going to provide you with a link to be able to shop today’s rate for many different electrical providers.

• Will Another Energy Company Have Blackouts?
  A lot of people have this concern, and therefore do not want to switch. But in Texas, the generation of the electricity is still regulated. Thus, regardless of the provider, the electricity comes from the same power plant, along the same electrical lines, and if there is a failure, you would call the same 800 number to have the lines repaired. So, the only thing that changes is who the bill comes from, how much they charge you per kilowatt hour, and the terms of the contract. So let your mind at ease, each energy company out there provides the same delivery of electricity.
• Making the Switch is Too Much Trouble
  I assure you, it isn’t, just make the call to the new company (some even allow sign ups online), complete the contract within a few minutes, and presto, done. Just make sure that you get all the details like how long the contract term is, how much per kilowatt hour, is it a flat/progressive/average kilowatt hour charge, are there any early termination fees, is there a guaranteed kilowatt hour price, etc. I recommend going month-to-month, at least in the beginning, to try the company out.
• Which Electrical Provider am I With?
  Well, to me, price was the most compelling factor is my choice of electrical providers. After that, I did not want to commit to a one year contract, so I chose Star Tex Power as my provider. At the time, there was only one company cheaper than them, but the name of the company was Amigo Energy. I just couldn’t trust a name like that, so I went with Star Tex Power. One simple phone call, and I was up and running. They also have free online payment processing, which makes the billing very simple.

To sum up, since the deregulation of the energy industry in Texas, electricity rates have been a lot better. If I were you, I would definitely make the switch. You may shop the rates of many providers at powertochoose.org. Sign up for my RSS feed for more great personal finance tips and help to come in the near future! So long for now…

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Before continuing, you may want to catch the previous entry:

Tips for Monthly Saving Part 1

In the previous entry, I focused on small changes that you could make on a daily or a monthly basis that could save you significant money over time. Now I want to address larger savings that could be made. The key concept that is the hardest for Americans to learn is to delay gratification - you really don’t need it, at least not right now. The following is not rocket science, but it sure does make sense:

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