Carnival of Money Stories #15
June 25, 2007
Welcome to the 15th edition of the Carnival of Money Stories. Andy has asked that I only include personal money stories and money experience - always be sure to check the submission guidelines! I had a very long list of articles to get through, but was able to find some new and interesting blogs. One lesson I learned was that a touch of humor helps to make your article stand out from the others.
My New Choice will be hosting the next carnival and you can submit your articles here.
Real Estate
Daniel asks whether he should get into the Thai property market: Jumping into Thai real estate market head first
Midnight Raider writes why they decided to buy their own property instead of renting: Homeownership Made Sense For Us
Mr Credit Card writes how his mortgage feels like credit card debt: My Mortgage Feels Like Credit Card Debt (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog)
Banking
MoneyChangesThings writes how her honesty resulted in his account actually being credited $300: My Ethics Reward: $300!.
Scams
Sheppard Salter writes on some new business scams: More Scams That Sabotage The Simple Life
Investing
Super Saver writes about his latest stock purchases: Buy Stocks Now? - Build Intestinal Fortitude
Allen Taylor looks at which years are better for investing: Making Big Money By Looking At The Seasons Of Investment.
Saving Money
MoneyNing has an interesting article on whether we actually waste time trying to save money: Maybe We Spend Too Much Time Saving Money
Smith has an interesting article on why getting a summer job is not always the best option for students: The Economics of a High School Student
Silicon Valley Blogger has an interesting article on the costs of beauty: How To Look Good On A Budget: The Business of Beauty
Frugal Living
Christine Kane has a very thought provoking article, something which I can strongly relate to: Are You Saving Money or Wasting Time?
Eric Stanley writes how he saves money by using coupons and making his own meals: Free Up 2,000 A Month - Easily
Matthew Paulson has an article on buying second hand jewlery, but I don’t think many women will agree with him: Buying Jewelry On the Secondary Market: It’ll Save You Thousands
Brett McKay has a funny article on why he hates cars: I Hate Cars
Personal Finance
Nina writes about her first argument over money with her partner: Sleeping with Money: Our First Big Money Fight
And to finish on a touch of humor:
Madeleine Begun Kane writes a limerick: Married To Money
Just saving is not enough
May 1, 2007
On a follow up to my previous post, I would like to talk about savings and wealth a little. Saving is imperative to financial independence, but simply having money in the bank is not enough to improve your financial situation. I agree that having money in the bank can help you get out of tight situations, but you should be able to budget for most of life’s surprises.
For several years, I made the mistake of simply saving money into a separate bank account, and not actually investing the money in way I could get a decent return and capitol gain on the money. Eventually the money went on personal expenses and whatever I needed money for at the time.
The times in my life that I have been able to significantly increase my wealth was when I took a certain amount of money and invested it in either stocks or property. During these times, I extended myself a little, but in the long run I was able to increase my wealth by taking on a small amount of risk. Fortunately most of my investments have gone well, so I believe I have done fairly well with only a small amount of upfront investment.
I would like to add at one stage of my life, I was on pretty shakey ground, the whole story, is probably best left for another post. The point I am trying to make however, is that savings are great, but you need to actually invest those savings in something that is going to appreciate in value, to create real wealth.
Getting financial advice from professionals is good advice, but if you care enough about you and your familiy’s future, I believe you need to carry out your own throrough research to find out what you are interested and comfortable with investing in.
Paying yourself first
April 29, 2007
One piece of advice you often hear finance pundits making is “paying yourself first”. I know Robert Kiyosaki repeated the phrase throughout his books, but I am not sure if he was the first one to come up with the phrase.
The idea is that you set aside a percentage of your salary every month automatically putting it into a separate account. I have no trouble with this, but I have trouble labelling it “paying yourself first”.
The first time I heard this, I thought it meant to spend money on what you want first and then pay your bills and creditors last. Is possible that other people read it this way?
Why don’t they just refer to it as “automatically saving 10 per cent of your salary every month”?
I would seem ludicrous if people were setting up some saving plan, if they were already carrying personal debt.
I think it is possible that finance gurus that appear on television telling people to pay themselves first are misleading people in finance education. The basic principle of personal finance is to spend less than you earn and invest the difference and I can’t see how they get “paying yourself first” from this.
Australia heading for a bust?
April 15, 2007
It is strange after spending so many years out of Australia, I have been catching up on the Australian news while in Cambodia. For $2 a night you can get a basic room, but for $5 a night you can get your own bathroom and cable TV.
Australia’s economy is booming, thanks mainly to a export lead mining boom. Unemployment is at an all-time low. The stock market is also at an all-time high. Whoever thought Australia’s unemployment rate would rival Japan’s? Most of the growth is coming from China’s own economic boom.
Several high profile companies are being sold to private equity funds. Like all booms, at some point there is going to be readjustment of the economy. I wonder when we can expect it to happen - late 2007, early 2008. Perhaps, post Beijing Olympics 2008.
Tips for protecting your ATM cards while traveling overseas
February 21, 2007
Travelers to developing countries are often seen as ‘walking ATMs’ with enough money in their account to support a whole village for a year. It is not uncommon to hear of people who have had their drinks spiked at a nightclub and woken up with a sore head, empty wallet and an empty bank account to match. ATMs may also not work as reliably as those in your home country.
With a few simple precautions you can protect yourself and your bank account.
1. Where possible only use a bank’s ATMs to withdraw money, preferably during business hours. If you have any problems with the ATM, you can easily report the problem to the bank. Non-bank ATMs also carry higher charges.
2. Inform your bank that you are traveling as some banks may block transactions made from overseas.
3. Check your bank’s policy on unauthorized withdrawals. Not every bank will give refunds for unauthorized transactions.
4. Report any unusual transactions immediately to your bank.
5. Keep all of your receipts from your withdrawals.
6. Check if the ATM has English instructions before inserting your card.
7. It is not uncommon for ATMs in developing countries to run out of cash. Again it is important to keep receipts in case your account was debited when you didn’t actually receive any money.
8. Not all ATMs accept foreign cards, even if they have the familiar Visa card sign. Check for international card symbols like Plus or Maestro.
9. If you go into a bank to make a withdrawal sometimes you will need identification for security, so take your passport with you.
10. And be careful of over friendly people willing to buy you drinks in a bar or nightclub!
