I have been on Mint.com for about 2 years and 9 months. In that time, I have built up a pretty good history of where my money goes. It makes me wonder how much money (and stuff) I might have in my bank accounts had I not been a student at a private school. This is where my money has gone for the last 1003 days of my life.
It is a little shocking to see how big of a slice of the pie the $51,000 I have paid for education (tuition, books, student loans) is compared to everything else. Buying a car (fully paid off) is another big cost. The big cost of rent did not surprise me, but the $9,000 on food did a bit. The uncategorized are “Cash and ATM” and I did not input them in Mint.
If you are like most savvy web users with any common sense, you probably use the most recent version of Mozilla Firefox (or Google Chrome) for your web browsing. Firefox has the ability to be expanded through “add ons,” which are extensions that give the browser new functionality.
He specifically talks about Ookong, an add on that helps you time your Amazon purchase, InvisibleHand, a silent shopper that finds you cheaper deals around the Internet before you click purchase on popular sites, and Myibay Auction Sniper for eBay, a tool that helps you make eBay bids at the last second to get the best possible price.
Be sure to check out the original post at MakeUseOfand download any of those add ons if they sound useful for your online shopping habits. Just beware that adding too many extensions can slow your browser down, so only add what you would really use.
I often talk about credit cards on this site. I talk about how keeping them open can help your credit score, but using them irresponsibly can lower it. I also talk about reward programs.
There is another, generally more prominent issue with credit cards that I often assume you already know about, but seeing as most Americans have huge credit card debt, I wanted to dedicate a post to that issue.
First, here is why credit cards are good for many people. Keeping the accounts open for a long time can increase your average account age. That, combined with on time payments, is the easiest way to quickly establish a good credit score.
Rewards programs are another great benefit of credit cards. I get 2% cash back using my primary card. Other people get points and miles used for travel and hotels. Others get discounts on frequent purchases. The value of these rewards can add up quickly…
However (isn’t there always a however to spoil our fun), credit card rewards become a burden if you have to pay more than you get back. The two causes of this symptom are self control and carrying balances.
Self control is a real problem for many people, particularly young people, with credit cards. It can be so tempting to use that $1,000 open credit line to buy a giant TV or a trip to Costa Rica, but it is not a wise decision unless you have the cash to pay off that bill right away.
My credit card bill that I paid this morning in full would have taken 4 years and nearly $100 in interest had I only made minimum payments, and that balance is only about $600 that I spent on food and living expenses, not frivolous toys and trips. The $100 in interest is much more than the $12 in rewards.
So, credit card rewards are good unless the cost of credit is higher than the rewards. Be careful and vigilant to ensure you are not waisting more money than you get from your cards.
Last night, the United States government made possibly the biggest step forward for the American people in my lifetime. 219 United States House representatives voted to bring long overdue reforms to the US health care system. We are still behind what is being done in pretty much every other country on the planet, but at least everyone will have insurance.
I know that a huge part (about half) of the country disagrees with meon this. While I think it is great, some people think that the system works (though I argue just for rich insurance executives) or needs a different type of change, it has been passed and will impact you. Like it or not, 30 million people, about 10% of the population, that were not insured will be. Within a couple of years, the term “pre-existing condition” will be extinct. Everyone will be covered, not matter what, by a health plan.
The bill, once signed, will be rolled out over about ten years. The first changes will go into effect within the next six month. After that, each year something new will kick in. If you want to know how this impacts you, the best resource I have found is from the New York Times. They have an interactive diagram that tells you exactly what to expect.
The Wall Street Journal gives a good breakdown of what is going to happen each year. For example, the next two years have this in store:
2010
Coverage
Subsidies begin for small businesses to provide coverage to employees.
Insurance companies barred from denying coverage to children with pre-existing illness.
Children permitted to stay on their parents’ insurance policies until their 26th birthday.
2011
Coverage
Set up long-term care program under which people pay premiums into system for at least five years and become eligible for support payments if they need assistance in daily living.
Taxes and fees
Drug makers face annual fee of $2.5 billion (rises in subsequent years).
I also enjoyed Five Cent Nickel’s post on the new legislation. And, in case you missed the news and want to see how the events unfolded, here is an article from my local paper, The Denver Post, on how everything happened.
I don’t talk about politics often on this blog, I stick to the money. I don’t know how many of you are Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, libertarians or communists. I am interested to see what you all think. Please gives you opinions in the comments. I hope to see a lively discussion of health care reform here at Narrow Bridge.
In my home state, the government is looking at different ways to fix immense budget issues. Included in the proposals are a proposal to tax candy and pop (a.k.a. soda or soft drinks).
DENVER – Colorado has begun to look into eliminating or suspending $19 million in tax breaks after the governor told lawmakers the state budget needed another $50 million cut, the Associated Press reports.
On the table is taxing candy and soft drinks, which currently are exempt from a state tax. Also being considered are taxing Internet sales and reviving a state sales tax on software.
With the recession continuing, Gov. Bill Ritter urged the legislature to uncover solution to balancing the state budget. “We are living in a new economic reality, and it will take all of us working together as stubborn stewards of taxpayer dollars to adjust, adapt and succeed,” he said.
Marc Braunstein testified that adding tax to Internet sales would seriously harm his Internet advertising site, ShopAtHome. “The revenue won’t be there, but the job loss will be there,” he said.
But Democratic committee members were unsympathetic to Internet retailers, saying they should get into another business if it’s based on their customers avoiding sales tax payment.
Colorado has already slashed $2.1 billion from the state budget over the last 18 months and the state faces an additional $1 billion deficit in next year’s fiscal budget, which starts July 1.
But the question is not really about the budget, it is about the consumer. People in Colorado have made high profile comments. Some support the idea for the potential health benefits for children. Others loathe the thought of new taxes. But would I give up the Sprite I take to lunch every day if it cost 20% more?
I don’t think I would, but there are more price sensitive people out there who would quickly cut off the candy and pop from their diet for a price increase.
What would you do? Please give your thoughts in the comments.
A new website popped up recently that lets you post jobs you would do for $5, or find people willing to do things for you for $5.
People are willing to do everything from settling an argument or sending you a postcard from an exotic location to graphic design, social media, and SEO projects for five bucks.
On the other hand, you can create an account and post jobs that you are willing to do for others. You get $4 and Fiverr keeps $1 as a transaction fee. You get your $4 deposited by PayPal once everyone agrees that the a satisfactory job was done and everything is complete as advertised.
I posted a very specific blog consulting gig on the site, but no one is interested yet. If you can get on the featured jobs on the front page, I imagine you can make $5 a lot of times very quickly. If you post any jobs, let us know in the comments so we can take a look. Who knows, you might even make five bucks!
This is part two in my look back at my various efforts to make money online.
Amazon Affiliates – While this could have been a subset of blogging, I put it on its own. It was a miserable failure for me. I didn’t make one affiliate sale despite a handful of positive book reviews. But now, that doesn’t matter anyway.
Past Web Sites- I started my first website in high school. I will admit, it was a professional wrestling fan site. I just deleted it from Yahoo! GeoCities a few months ago actually. While a webmaster about ten years ago, I signed up for Yahoo’s pay per click advertising. I made about $5 from that one.
Selling Rap CDs – I am a professional Jewish rapper. I don’t mention that much on this site. Maybe if I did, I would sell more CDs. I have sold enough HWChet albums to pay for the costs, but those were all sold in person. I have never made an online sale, but I do have PayPal on the site if you are interested. A CD is just $5 plus shipping.
Paid Surveys- I used to try to fill out a lot of surveys online at Survey Savvy. Over several years and many, many rejections from the screening process, I have earned about $60 on Survey Savvy. If you are interested in signing up, please do so through my referral link. Or, contact me for a referral e-mail. I have referred two friends who have also been paid out for their surveys.
Honorable Mention – Swag Bucks
I have earned enough from Swagbucks to buy a season of one of my favorite shows on DVD for free. Swagbucks is a hybrid Google search engine that rewards you in Swagbucks for searching. For doing nothing more than I normally would, I have earned seven $5 gift cards for Amazon.com. There are thousands of prizes. You can also cash your bucks in for cash through PayPal. If you want to take advantage of this one, sign up through my link to give matching Swagbucks for your first 1000 bucks earned from search. I have had a friend sign up and she was thrilled with the site too.
Honorable Mentions – Free Stuff
I have earned lots of free stuff from e-Rewards. To join the site, you need a referral from one of the sponsoring companies. I got my invite through the Priority Club rewards program (Holiday Inn), though I have seen friends join up through the book store Borders as well. You can cash out for miles, hotel reward points, free magazines, and gift cards.
Ideas – Freelancing and eBook
In the future, I am planning to do a little online freelancing. I plan to do a combination of finance and writing projects. Sites like Elance show opportunity. I have also completed an eBook and I am in the final stages of editing and production. Expect to see it on the site in the near future.
Over the last eighteen months, you have read about my education many times. I have discussed student debt. I have discussed working while going to school at the same time. Well, my tone is about to change a bit. About 2o minutes ago, I finished my MBA program!
I was going to include the Amazon affiliate program with just a short blurb in my next post on how I make money online, but it is now in the list of how I don’t make money online in a big way. My account was closed along with every other affiliate in Colorado.
I know of many bloggers, such as Darren at ProBlogger, who make a lot of money from Amazon referrals. In my neck of the woods, that program is no more. Here is the letter from Amazon:
Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to “voluntarily” collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won’t take.
We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.
There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.
You may express your views of Colorado’s new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill.
Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.
We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.
Best Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team
To recap: “We don’t love you anymore because of something someone else did. Now fuck off.” My account has been closed. While Amazon was not a big money maker for me, it was an option. Now it is not.
I decided to join the “wolf pack” of the Yakezie Challenge. I was inspired while avoiding studying for finals. Well Heeled wrote a fun post on the challenge (see “wolf pack” link above.
The Yakezei Challenge is a group personal finance blogging effort started by the Finance Samurai to help personal finance bloggers join together in search of higher Alexa rankings.
For my first Yakezie post by giving away random links to other members with Alexa ranks lower than mine.
First on the list is Anastasia, who has a beautifully built blog on a platform notorious for ugly blogs that look the same.
The Stay at Home Mom CFO brings an opposite world view to my finance posts. I am a guy living alone in an apartment worried about myself. She has triplets!
Beating Broke is trying to, well, beat being broke. The site says that the borrower is slave to the lender. There is some truth to that wisdom.
The Rat is trying to end the rat race. It looks like the site has some great investing advice too.
I would keep linking all night, but I have yet again used blogging to avoid what I really should be doing right now: school work. On the bright side, I GRADUATE ON WEDNESDAY! If I can make it through my international finance final, I think everything will be okay. I will let you all know when you can call me Eric, MBA.
I decided to join the “