April 29th, 2009
When comparing pay between various jobs, it’s always easier to compare apples to apples. Below are two simple calculations that you can use to compare salaries vs. wages.
Calculating Hourly Wage
If you are paid a salary, a simple way to calculate how much you make per an hour is to divide your salary by 2000. For example, if you make $40,000 a year, that would equal $20/hour ($40,000/2,000 hours).
Calculating Annual Salary
The above calculation also works in reverse; if you are paid an annual salary, you can calculate how much you make per year by multiplying your hourly wage by 2000. For example, if you make $20/hour, that would equal $40,000/year ($20*2,000 hours).
The above calculations are based on the assumption that you work 40 hours week for 50 weeks out of the year (40 hours *50 weeks = 2000 hours). If you know the number of hours that you’ll work in a year, you can subsitute that number in place of 2000.
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timadmin
Categories: Work
April 22nd, 2009
I often get asked for stock recommendations but rarely mention a specific stock due to risks of investing in individual stocks; instead I tell people to buy the market. If you are just getting started in the stock market, buying a broad-based ETF such as the SPDR S&P 500 may be a good choice.
What is an ETF
An ETF is an Exchange Traded Fund which is a fund that follows that mimics the performance of a basket of stocks but trades like a single stock
What is the SPDR S&P 500
It’s an ETF that mimics the performance of the S&P 500. The S&P 500 is an index that tracks the performance of stocks of 500 of the largest publicly traded American companies. It’s ticker symbol is SPY.
Diversification
By purchasing a broad-based ETF, there’s no need to buy 20 other stocks to have a well diversified portfolio.
Lower Fees
ETFs have lower fees than actively managed funds and have no minimum investment requirements. There is also little or no capital gains distribution taxes until you actually sell the ETF, as is common among actively managed funds.
Perform at Par to the Market
You”ll perform just as well as the market (less the brokerage fees and ETF fees, which for the SPDR S&P 500 is just 0.09%). While ideally everyone would like to beat the market, performing at par with the market is pretty decent, considering that most mutual funds under perform the market.
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timadmin
Categories: Investing
April 15th, 2009
There are many ways in which you can reduce your daily, weekly, or monthly costs. Below are a few ideas on how you can cut back your spending and save a few dollars.
Make Your Own Coffee
Instead of a cup of gourmet/specialty coffee at Starbucks or another coffee shop, invest in a coffee maker and brew it at home instead. If you can’t brew your own coffee consider trading down to McDonald’s coffee or somewhere else that offers more competitive prices.
Bottled Water
Don’t buy bottled water. Instead fill up a reusable bottle with filtered tap water from home. Numerous bottled water companies get their water from the same water source that you get your tap water from anyways.
Breakfast from Home
Instead of going out and buying breakfast in the morning, make your breakfast at home or bring a breakfast bar to eat on your commute to work.
Brown Bag It
Bring your lunch to work instead of going out to eat or buying from the cafeteria; this will almost always be cheaper (unless your place of employment offers free food). You don’t need to bring your lunch everyday; just brining your lunch 1-2 times a week can save you hundreds of dollars a year and help to enforce healthier habbits.
Avoid Vending Machines
Don’t buy snacks from vending machines, delis, or convenience stores. You can get the same items from your local grocery store at a much better price, so stock up on these snacks and store them at work or in your car.
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timadmin
Categories: Frugal Living, Saving Money
April 9th, 2009
Having trouble saving money? Start by saving $3.
$3 may not seem like a lot, but if you cut your spending by $3 every day, that will equate to over $1000/year in savings.
$3/day x 365 days = $1095/year
The same holds true for $20/week
$20/week x 52 weeks = $1040/year
…and $85/month
$85/month x 12 months = $1020/year
Take a close look at your spending; are there any daily, weekly, or monthly expenses that you can cut out?
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timadmin
Categories: Frugal Living, Saving Money
April 5th, 2009
Despite historically low mortgage rates and an $8000 first time home buyers credit, buying your own home may not be a good investment. You should consider a number of factors before buying a home.
Time Frame
In order to break even, you’ll need to live in your home long enough so that the equity you’ve gained from your home will offset the closing costs. In a normal housing market this will take around 5 years.
Location
Real estate prices tend to be localized; if you decide to buy a home where the local economy is depressed, it is unlikely that your home price increase will keep up with inflation over the long run.
Your Financial Situation
Before buying a home, you should have at least enough for a 20% downpayment (to avoid paying for private mortgage insurance) and closing costs which run around 2%-4% of the purchase price.
You’ll also need to ensure that your monthly income is sufficient to cover your mortgage, HOA fees, maintenance costs, property taxes, property insurance, and utilities along with all your other living expenses. Having a stable job is key, if you don’t, be sure that you have a large enough Emergency Savings Fund to cover any months when income will not be sufficient.
Lifestyle Choice
Many first time home buyers typically make the transition from renting an apartment to owning a single family home. Because of this there will be additional maintenance costs and higher utility bills due to the larger living area. It is also common for people to spend more money on furnishing and fixing up the place that they own. Generally the upkeep costs will be higher in the place you own than a place that you rent.
Buying your own place is a big decision, so be sure to do your due dillegence. Check out the NYT Buy vs. Rent Calculator to see if it makes financial sense to buy a home.
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timadmin
Categories: Housing