Natural gas prices changed direction and rallied by 3.8% during last week. Moreover, United States Natural Gas (UNG) also rose by 3%. Will UNG and natural gas keep recovering? In the meantime, the ongoing increase in Contango in the natural…
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In Asia, Japan will release the Household Spending y/y, Unemployment Rate, Prelim Industrial Production m/m, Retail Sales y/y, Average Cash Earnings y/y, Housing Starts y/y and the US will release some economic data such as S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI y/y, Chicago PMI, CB Consumer Confidence. So there is a big probability the USD/JPY will move with low to medium volatility during the day.
TODAY TECHNICAL LEVELS:
Resistance. 3: 109.98.
Resistance. 2: 109.77.
Resistance. 1: 109.55.
Support. 1: 109.28.
Support. 2: 109.07.
Support. 3: 108.85.
Best regards,
Arief Makmur
Official Analyst of InstaForexGroup
InstaForex Group
http://instaforex.com
email: Arief.jakarta@indo.instaforex.com
Disclaimer: Trading Forex (foreign exchange) on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to invest in foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com
Forex analysis review
The post Technical analysis of USD/JPY for September 30, 2014 appeared first on FX FOREX.
Shares Silver Trust (SLV) resumed its downward trend last week as the silver ETF lost 1.7% of its value. This week’s non-farm payroll report and ECB rate decision could play a role in the direction of SLV in particular and…
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Evolving technology, changing supply chain models and consumers empowered with information on retailers’ business practices are each impacting retail and changing long-established standards in the industry. As more favorable economic conditions slowly return, retailers envision a prosperous and profitable future but must manage growth while accounting for these and other disruptive forces to maintain margins […]
Environmental Management & Sustainability News
The post 5 Forces Impacting Retail Sustainability appeared first on FX FOREX.
This post is by staff writer Honey Smith.
I’ve written about the power of personal networks before. Unfortunately, lots of people find networking intimidating for a variety of reasons. Certainly, I used to! For me, breaking networking down into a system that I can follow helps me overcome nervousness and network effectively. Here are the two main networking strategies that I use.
Networking via “keeping it warm”
What it is: Keeping it warm is a pretty straightforward strategy. It means that you don’t wait until you need something before getting in touch with your professional connections.
I try to meet my grad school friends in the area every so often for lunch or a quick drink. I ask questions about their careers and lives and tell them about mine. If I hear about an opportunity that they’d be perfect for, I am proactive about letting them know.
Challenges with keeping it warm: This strategy assumes that you have the time, energy/health, at least a little bit of discretionary money, skills you are interested to market, and connections other people would find interesting. However, there are ways to get around these challenges. Setting calendar reminders can ensure people don’t drop off your radar. If you’re busy or sick or can’t afford lunch right now, an email may work just as well. This GRS article on job search advice even gives you some email scripts!
Why it works: Putting effort into keeping up with someone’s life and career, even when everything’s going great for you, has a couple of advantages. First, it means that they don’t view you as self-centered. Second, it means that their image of you is of someone competent and in control of their life. This prevents you from being the person who only contacts them when you need help. Regular contact also keeps you on the forefront of their mind if they hear of an opportunity that you’d be perfect for. Additionally, if you can help them first, they will be invested in returning the favor.
Who it works on: The main target for the keeping-it-warm strategy is former colleagues or even supervisors that you were friendly with. These are people who are familiar with your skill set. It’s like my friend said:
I already know you’re an excellent writer, so I don’t have to interview you. I just have to show you the nuts and bolts, and you’ll pick it up fast.
A significant percentage of jobs are either never advertised in the first place or are advertised but the company already has someone in mind for the position. That’s evidence of people out there keeping it warm.
My results: While the freelance work that my friend set me up with did peter out eventually, I earned almost $ 5,000 before that happened. I’d call that a success! And I’ve been able to send some work his way as well.
Traditional networking via group memberships and websites
What it is: This is what people usually think of when they think of networking. While you may have something in common with these individuals, they’re probably not anyone that you ever worked with directly. This may include people that you know socially but not professionally, or individuals you’ve never met but have something in common with as a result of your group membership (an example might be a college alum club or a professional conference).
Challenges with networking groups and websites: The issue with these sorts of groups is twofold. First, it’s easy to join (or be part of) a group, only to fail to put in the work (whether due to introversion, lack of time, or other factors) and then wonder why it’s not paying off. Second, even if you are putting in the work, it is challenging to come across as genuine when the whole point of the group is to (awkwardly) put people who (allegedly) have something (superficial) in common in the same space, whether physical or virtual.
Why it works: One of the reasons that this strategy can work is that everyone’s on the same page: If someone contacts you and references the group, then you don’t have to wonder what their motive is. Additionally, many people in these groups are ready and willing to help, but due to introversion, lack of time, or other factors, don’t end up reaching out themselves. They may be relieved if you take the initiative! Bonus points if you are friendly and attempt to make a personal connection so the exchange doesn’t feel clinical or self-serving.
Who it works on: People who are members of the group or website, natch. This approach does require a little more work in terms of demonstrating your fit, since the person doesn’t necessarily know who you are. Once a connection has been made, it’s important that you keep it warm. In other words, you want to think about making long-term connections. Since 9-to-5 jobs may be getting harder to come by, these types of connections may become increasingly important.
My results: In 2009, I joined the networking site LinkedIn and connected to everyone in my address book who also had an account. Within weeks, an alumna from my sorority who lived on the opposite side of the country had passed my name along to an editor who hired me to design an online writing course. At the time, my day job was furloughing workers due to the economic meltdown, and I made enough money with that one freelance gig to replace 10 percent of the salary that I’d lost.
More recently, I attended my local sorority alum club’s annual membership brunch. I ended up talking with a woman who used to work in a position very similar to mine before leaving to start her own business in a related industry. I made sure to get her contact information and sent a follow-up email. She’s already responded and we’re setting up a lunch. I’m looking forward to picking her brain about our mutual interests and sharing what I know in return!
Networking can be intimidating — but it doesn’t have to be
I really didn’t feel comfortable networking at first. But I found that, the more I practiced, the less intimidating it became. It didn’t take too long for me to build confidence and overcome my fear. Recently, by engaging in “pre-emptive networking,” I am starting to make connections before I need them. That way by the time I find myself in need, the groundwork has already been laid and all I will need to do is to reach out and ask for help.
Do you network regularly? What strategies did you find to be successful? Did you ever have reservations about networking, and were you able to overcome them? If so, how?
Get Rich Slowly – Personal Finance That Makes Sense.
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Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog
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Gold for Tuesday, September 30, 2014
For more than a week now Gold has thoroughly enjoyed solid support at $ 1215 after falling strongly a couple of weeks ago from $ 1240 to just below $ 1215. The next obvious level of potential support remains at $ 1200 which is a long term key level. If gold was to fail at this level, then it is likely the flood gates will open and the shine will have definitely worn off. Several weeks ago Gold was enjoying a resurgence as it moved strongly higher off the support level at $ 1275, however it then ran into resistance at $ 1290. In the week prior, Gold had been falling lower back towards the medium term support level at $ 1290 however to finish out last week it fell sharply down to the previous key level at $ 1275. Over the last month or so the $ 1290 level has shown some signs of support and held gold up until its recent sharp decline. During the second half of June, gold steadily moved higher but showed numerous incidents of indecision with its multiple doji candlestick patterns on the daily chart. This happened around $ 1320 and $ 1330.
The OANDA long position ratio for Gold has steadied around 70% as gold finds solid support around $ 1215. At the beginning of June, gold did very well to repair some damage and return to the key $ 1275 level, then it has continued the momentum pushing a higher to its recent four month high. After moving so little for an extended period, gold dropped sharply back in May from above the well established support level at $ 1275 as it completely shattered this level falling to a four month low around $ 1240. It remained around support at $ 1240 for several days before its strong rally higher. It pushed down towards $ 1280 before sling shotting back and also had an excursion above $ 1300 for a short period before moving quickly back to the $ 1293 area again. Over the last few weeks gold has eased back from around $ 1315 to establish its recent narrow trading range below $ 1295 before its recent slump.
Way back since March, the $ 1275 level has established itself as a level of support and on several occasions has propped up the price of gold after reasonable falls. Throughout the second half of March gold fell heavily from resistance around $ 1400 back down to a several week low near support at $ 1275. Both these levels remain relevant as $ 1275 continues to offer support and the $ 1400 level is likely to play a role again should gold move up higher. Through the first couple of months of this year, gold moved very well from a longer term support level around $ 1200 up towards a six month higher near $ 1400 before returning to its present trading levels closer to $ 1300.
Gold settled modestly higher on Monday, but the metal’s gains were capped as the dollar seesawed between negative an positive territory. U.S. gold futures finished the session $ 3.40 higher at $ 1,219.80 an ounce. Spot gold was last down 0.2 percent to $ 1,217 an ounce. Cash prices had reached a nine-month low of $ 1,206.85 on Thursday, before recovering slightly. The dollar was unchanged against a basket of major currencies and still close to a four-year peak hit earlier in the day as the market looked ahead to a series of important economic data, culminating in the release on Friday of U.S. September non-farm payrolls. The bigger impact on gold prices could still come from U.S. data as market players seek to gauge the strength of the economy and its impact on Federal Reserve policy. Strong economic data could prompt the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates faster and sooner than expected, which could boost the dollar and hurt non-interest-bearing bullion.
(Daily chart / 4 hourly chart below)
Gold September 30 at 00:40 GMT 1216.1 H: 1223.3 L: 1214.9
Gold Technical
| S3 | S2 | S1 | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 1215 | 1200 | — | 1240 | 1290 | — |
During the early hours of the Asian trading session on Tuesday, Gold is remaining quite steady right above the support level at $ 1215 after finishing last week falling sharply back down towards the support at $ 1215. Current range: trading right around $ 1216.
Further levels in both directions:
• Below: 1215 and 1200.
• Above: 1240 and 1290.
OANDA’s Open Position Ratios
(Shows the ratio of long vs. short positions held for Gold among all OANDA clients. The left percentage (blue) shows long positions; the right percentage (orange) shows short positions.)
The long position ratio for Gold has steadied around 70% as gold finds solid support around $ 1215. The trader sentiment is strongly in favour of long positions.
Economic Releases
* All release times are GMT
This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.
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The Swiss National Bank does not rule out the use of negative interest rates to defend its cap on the Swiss franc and ward off deflation, Chairman Thomas Jordan said on Monday.
The central bank imposed a ceiling on the value of the franc in September 2011, after investors fleeing the euro zone crisis bid the safe-haven currency up to record levels, threatening to snuff out inflation.
Jordan reiterated the SNB’s quarterly statement of Sept. 18, which he was presenting at a news conference in Geneva, and said the central bank was ready to take additional action immediately, if necessary, to defend its lid on the franc at 1.20 per euro.
“There is no measure that is excluded, a whole series of measures are discussed,” Jordan said. “Recently there has been a discussion of negative rates in the news. These are also not excluded.”
Jordan cautioned the risks of deflation have grown in Switzerland, citing the SNB’s 2016 inflation forecast of 0.5 percent, even with rates at zero for the next three years.
“As a result, the risk of deflation increases,” Jordan said.
Jordan repeated the central bank has not had to intervene in foreign exchange markets to defend the cap since September 2012.
via Reuters
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Chipotle shares (CMG) are forming an “EMA Compression” trade set-up which is a specific type of breakout pattern.
Let’s see the chart, note the trigger levels, and plan a strategy for those interested in this high-priced stock.
A few things jump off the chart at us at first glance.
First, there’s the price pivot point at the $ 600 per share level (yellow highlight) which serves as a downside target on a bearish breakdown.
The second factor is the retest of the gap near $ 645 and the current “EMA Compression” pattern.
The “EMA Compression” pattern refers to price holding support at the rising 50 day EMA (blue) but finding resistance slightly overhead from the declining 20 day EMA.
As the saying goes, “Something’s gotta give” which means that traders can use breakout strategies on a firm movement above the falling 20 day EMA or beneath the rising 50 day EMA.
The simple “Bullish Breakout” (and trend continuity) pathway suggests a rally toward or even above the prior high above $ 680 while a “Bearish Breakdown” (steeper retracement) pathway targets the $ 600 support confluence.
Treat breakout patterns as neutral and don’t assign a bull or bear bias until price “proves itself” and forces traders to act on the breakout (rather than trying to predict the breakout while price remains in consolidation).
We can see the picture clearer on the intraday chart:
A pure price plus Fibonacci Retracement grid shows the key inflection point now – along with the 50 day EMA – is the $ 650 level which is the 38.2% Fibonacci Level as drawn.
Again, it is also the “gap fill” price from August 22.
In sum, a bearish breakdown (that isn’t a bull trap) under $ 650 suggests an immediate downside play toward the $ 637 “halfway” point, then $ 622, and finally the $ 600 per share level.
And of course the upside breakout pathway with a trigger beyond $ 670 suggests a play to the highs near $ 690 per share.
Focus on these levels and the breakout/impulse trades that may benefit from a successful breakout and movement toward one of these targets.
Follow along with members of the Daily Commentary and Idealized Trades summaries for real-time updates and additional trade planning.
Corey Rosenbloom, CMT
Afraid to Trade.com
Follow Corey on Twitter: http://ift.tt/178Lhrq
Corey’s book The Complete Trading Course (Wiley Finance) is now available along with the newly released Profiting from the Life Cycle of a Stock Trend presentation (also from Wiley).
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What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Hospital bills and 529 plans
2. Planning with constant challenges
3. Using old baseball cards
4. Frugal yoga tip
5. Baking bread at home
6. Frugality and “ripping off” businesses
7. Buy it for life: underwear
8. Old stamps
9. Reliable car brands
10. College savings and ill child
11. Wondering about a 401(k)
12. Time management insight
13. Flipping stuff on Craigslist
14. Timing of new car purchase
15. Frugal way to practice chess
Our family usually goes camping several times during the year, with these weekends spread across the spring, summer, and fall.
When I was younger, I used to relish the summer camping trips because of the really long days. Now that I have children and am in my thirties, I actually prefer the spring and especially the fall camping trips. The days are shorter, which means that the children can enjoy some campfire time without completely wrecking their bedtime, and the weather is more palatable in that the daytimes aren’t scorching hot and the evenings and nighttimes have just a bit of chill in the air.
I hope that we get a few more chances to camp before 2014 is over.
My wife and I are not big spenders. We cook at home, drive 10 year old cars, no cable TV, and budget a dollar amount for savings. My wife and I have a municipal funded pension and 401k. We have 7k in our savings and would like to start investing in a 529 plan for our newborn and personal investment of index funds for a better return than our savings account.
One issue that’s holding me back from this is that our newborn baby required extensive open-heart surgery. With that, came a large hospital bill of 8k after insurance deductibles. I have already made calls to the hospital for a discounted rate of roughly 5-6k.
The hospital gave us two options. Do a payment plan of the roughly 8k? Or pay a discounted rate of 5-6k in one lump sum? And after that is taken care of, what is a good amount of money to start the 529 and personal investment? Isn’t it best to invest most of the money than keep it in the savings account, knowing we will continue saving?
– Steve
If it’s only $ 5,000, I’d make the lump sum payment. That would leave you with a $ 2,000 emergency fund for the moment, which is low with a newborn baby with health issues, but not dangerously so.
If the lump payment is $ 6,000, you start cutting that emergency fund very, very tight. I would be nervous to be in a situation with a sick child and only $ 1,000 in the emergency fund.
If the emergency fund were a non-factor, of course, the lump sum would be far and away the better choice.
So my husband and I have a debt repayment plan and we have a retirement plan too that we’re contributing to each month. As far as I can tell we are set to retire at age 62 or so. Sounds great, right?
The problem is that I seem to have terrible luck. It seems like at least once a year some sort of disaster befalls me or our family. I’ve had two different types of cancer (both in remission). We have three children, two of which are autistic and the third one requires a number of medications to help with her breathing. I’ve lost six jobs in the last nine years all because the business folded up not because of my performance. My husband has had several long stretches of unemployment including one for an accident that broke a bunch of bones.
I feel like making plans is useless because something else is going to happen any day now.
– Janine
If you’re planning for the future in a way that involves reducing debt and saving money, don’t worry about those kinds of “terrible luck.”
Less debt and more savings will help you no matter what happens in your life. You will never, ever regret having more money in the bank. You will never, ever regret having less debt.
What you will regret is spending money in a way that doesn’t bring some value into your life. Debt reduction and savings both reduce stress and reduce the impact of anything that happens, both of which have a lot of value.
This is a tip for those of you with old baseball cards. What we’ve done with them is turn them into interesting decorations. We’ve taken team sets of baseball cards from 1986-1992 and turned them into framed art. So, for example, we took all of the cards out of his complete set of 1986 Topps and sorted them by team, then we took the pile of 30 or so cards for each team and arranged them in a multi-picture frame. We have sold a bunch of these for the nearby teams and a few from the other teams. I’ve even sold some of them on Etsy and Ebay. If you have old cards lying around that won’t sell on their own, try something like this.
– Denise
This is a simply brilliant idea.
A friend of mine has an uncut sheet of 1987 Topps baseball cards framed in his living room. It’s actually a great little piece of art that is invariably a conversation starter.
Simply taking cards from that era and turning them into a conversation starter wall hanging like this is simply genius. I already want a 1989 Topps one that features all of the Cubs from that year.
I greatly enjoy group yoga classes at a local studio, but individual classes range from $ 10-17 each (for one hour) and even with all possible discounts, $ 75 per month for an unlimited membership.
I explained to the front desk ambassador at the yoga studio that a financial commitment like that is not in my budget, and she suggested that I participate in the “trade” or “karma yoga” program. I come into the studio 2.5 hours per week to tidy up the space and work the front desk and I get unlimited free classes! What’s really nice about this arrangement is that “trading” makes me accountable for showing up to multiple classes a week (to get my “money’s” worth) and it has helped me make great friends that are also trading!
If any of your readers love yoga, have a bit of extra time, and want to save a lot of money, I suggest they inquire at their area studio about this great opportunity. Most yoga studios have a “trade” program! Some don’t require cleaning, some ask for cleaning, web site design, and other types of help for free classes!
– Kelly
This is a great idea!
In fact, this is a reasonable thing to check on with any community organization, not just a yoga studio. Many such businesses have staffing challenges which means that exchanges like this can sometimes bring value to such a business.
Of course, businesses won’t necessarily agree to this type of arrangement. It really depends on what they need to keep the doors open and if they’re not interested, harassing them about it will do the opposite of helping. Still, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
I tried your recipe for baking bread at home and it seems pretty labor intensive. My wrists couldn’t take doing that very often. I’ve tried some of the no-knead recipes too and they never turn out well. I would like to make bread at home because the ingredient cost blows away store bread and the bread is just way better (and better for you without all the junk in it). What is a low cost frugal way to make bread without tons of kneading and labor?
– Karen
A bread machine bought at Goodwill seems like a great idea here, but unfortunately, my experience has been that if you don’t like the no-knead breads, you’ll probably not like the bread that comes out of a bread machine. It often has a questionable texture.
My best suggestion is to get a very sturdy stand mixer, like the ones made by Kitchen Aid. Avoid Kitchen Aid mixers made between 2006 and 2011, however, as they have a vinyl gear inside of them that breaks down – they switched back to metal in 2011. The nice thing with a stand mixer is that it can be used for tons of things from making bread to mashing potatoes.
That’s really the best alternative for homemade bread that actually tastes good. The secret is in the kneading and the only mechanical solution I’ve found is a stand mixer.
I think a lot of your frugality tips are great like taking advantage of sales and bulk buying and stuff. What turns me off are stories from people who do things like basically rip off businesses like asking for constant “extras” at sandwich and burrito places or taking tons of sauce packets at restaurants and putting them in their purse. What do you think about those tactics?
– Stephen
This type of behavior leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Businesses offer these types of services under an obvious social contract. They leave out sauces and such things for people to use on the food they just bought, not to fill their pockets and bottles at home. They allow you options on your sandwich so you can have it the way you like it, not so you can jam on so many toppings that you never have to buy a meal for the rest of the week.
I view people who do things like that to be leeches who take advantage of customer-friendly businesses. It’s not frugal in the least.
I never buy underwear, but my current rotation is on its last legs. What’s the best, affordable, long lasting underwear?
– Gary
This is a question I never thought I’d answer in a reader mailbag, but here goes.
Honestly, my experience has been that the best “bang for the buck” in men’s underwear – and it’s not even close – is the C9 brand sold at Target. It’s usually labeled “C9 by Champion.”
The cost is a little high compared to the other items sold there, but these things just last and last and last. I’m really impressed with them. They’re comfortable and they’re incredibly cheap in terms of cost per use.
Gary has a second question.
I have a few 46 cent stamps. Does it make sense to put two 46 cent stamps on my envelope and drop it in the mailbox at work instead of making a special trip 1.5 miles to and from the post office just for a 49 cent stamp? I hardly ever mail anything. I would compare this to driving out of your way for gas that’s 3 cents cheaper.
– Gary
If you live on a rural route, you can actually buy the stamps from your mail carrier. Just call the post office and see what they can do for you. My experience has been that it involves leaving an envelope in the mailbox for the carrier to pick up and the carrier leaves behind stamps.
Even if you’re not rural, a quick call to the post office might help you to find a solution here that doesn’t involve you wasting those stamps.
You can also buy stamps at USPS.com, but that may involve a shipping charge that eats up the benefit.
What is a “reliable car brand”? Whenever you mention buying cars you talk about cars that are from reliable brands. What do you mean by that? The only brands I think of as “reliable” are super expensive (like BMW).
– Tim
I usually trust the reliability information in Consumer Reports. In their annual car issue, they usually have a ranking of different car manufacturers in terms of their long term reliability as reported to CR by their readers via their survey system.
Over the last several years, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan have almost always been near the top of these lists. CR usually separates them by brand, so Lexus (for example) is near the top though they are made by Toyota.
If you’re interested, I suggest hitting your local library and finding the most recent Consumer Reports car-buying issue.
When our daughter was born, we started a 529 plan almost immediately, putting $ 150 a month into the plan. A few months ago, our daughter (now age 4) was diagnosed with leukemia which she may not survive. We continued funding the 529 without really thinking about it since it was automatic. Given that her long-term prognosis is not good, should we continue to fund the account? What kind of penalties are involved? I am just trying to get our finances in order no matter what happens. I have become accepting that we may not get to see her grow up.
– Dallas
If I were in your shoes, I would assume that your daughter will grow up just fine. No matter how bad the situation, keep acting as though she’ll skate right through it. Usually, you’ll be fine doing this.
For example, with the 529 account, if the beneficiary were to pass away, this just becomes a normal investment account as there’s no penalty for taking the money out (assuming you stop contributions at that point). You have to pay taxes on the gains as normal, but that’s all.
I’d just keep contributing like normal. If something does happen, you can get the money out as if it were a normal investment. If everything goes according to plan, then you’ll have plenty of money for her when she goes off to college.
I am employed full time at a small family owned business. They do offer a 401(k) program. However, instead of matching funds, the owners can decide to make a “discretionary contribution” to the 401(k) based on company profitability once a year. Below is the exact wording:
“*****. may elect to make a discretionary matching contribution equal to a percentage of your elected salary deferral. In addition, ***** may make a discretionary qualified non-elective contribution allocated as a percentage of compensation; and/or a discretionary profit sharing contribution which will be allocated to eligible participants in proportion of their compensation to compensation of all eligible participants. Forfeitures will be used to reduce any employer contribution.”
In the past 5 years, they have made contributions twice. As far as I can verbally research the contribution is always based on percentage of compensation. Out of 36 employees I rank about 29th in compensation level by my best estimate and I’m only investing minimally ($ 20/wk) as I pull out of debt and bankruptcy. Therefore my portion of the contribution has been minimal. ($ 1,600 last time).
My question is should I stop contributing to the 401(k) but leave it open so that it will receive any company contributions and it will continue to “grow” based on investment returns and open an IRA and make my weekly contributions to it? Essentially – the major benefit (as I understand it) to a company 401(k) is the matching funds – since that is negligible, would I be better in an IRA?
Part of the reason for the concern is that my husband owns his own sole proprietorship and has no employees and no retirement savings. The current 401(k) is all we have so I’m trying to maximize my dollar since I am 42 and he is 46.
– Stan
That’s probably what I would do in your situation. I’d leave it open for company contributions but if there is no matching, I’d invest elsewhere in a situation where you have more control over things.
Your best route would be to open a Roth IRA, in my opinion. I have one through Vanguard and I’m extremely pleased with their offerings. Regardless of where you choose to open it up, it’s pretty simple to do and if you set up automatic contributions, you can practically forget about it while it builds up money for retirement.
That would be my plan in your situation. Naturally, if your employer changes their policy and starts matching, I’d take advantage of that, but that doesn’t sound like that’s what’s happening.
I love your articles on time management and the different systems you’ve tried out and tools you’ve experimented with. One quick thought: I’ve found that most people either succeed or fail at time management regardless of the system. Some people are just better time managers than others. In other words, little tricks to help improve time management are probably more useful than starting from scratch.
– Dean
I know what you mean, but it’s a double-edged sword.
I didn’t really discover the idea of time management until I was well out of college and into my career. I made it through college with almost no time management at all and certainly no formal system for it. At times, things were really chaotic for me and time management would have helped greatly.
In other words, even people that are in successful jobs after earning a degree are still largely unaware of how time management can help them.
I do agree with you that tips are more interesting at this point, but I can often extract tips from articles describing time management from scratch. I generally try to write a little bit of both because I find time management incredibly helpful in my day to day life.
My husband had a really good “side business” going that he’s stopping because we’re going to travel a lot now. Here’s what he did. He would buy items off of Craigslist that were used or not working well that he knew how to fix. He would negotiate with them and buy the not-working items for cheap. Then he would bring them home and fix them. Then he would list them again on Craigslist. He could sometimes make $ 50/hour doing this but it was pretty irregular as he had to find items with problems that he knew he could fix. Anyway it did make him a lot of pocket money and some nice dinners and helped our savings out on the home stretch to retirement. Since he is out of the business I thought why not share it with The Simple Dollar?
– Annie
This is a great little side business idea for someone who’s a little bit handy.
Many devices like lawnmowers and toasters can be fixed with a bit of work and some knowledge of how they operate. It’s usually just a piece or two that’s broken in them so if you can figure out what’s wrong and fix it, you can usually get the parts for a song and turn a non-working item into something really useful.
The problem is finding stuff that’s in good shape except for one or two problems. I sometimes see stuff like that on Craigslist, but it’s usually all stuff that works. People seem to assume broken stuff won’t sell so they just send it to the dump.
Still, if you’re willing to watch Craigslist, this is certainly a way to make a few bucks.
My husband and I both work full-time currently, though his job is PR for a ministry that runs until Christmas time, so he’ll be finding a new job before the end of the year (we’re not too horribly worried about that – he’s already got leads from this job). We currently live a little over 10 miles away from his work, but almost 30 miles from mine (almost a 45 minute commute). He drives a 1997 Grand Prix (250k+ miles) and I drive a 1999 Corolla (200k+ miles). His gets kind of sad gas mileage (at least compared with my little clunker), and the transmission is failing, among other smaller problems like rust. My Corolla seems to keep developing both small and large problems which would cost far more to repair than it’s worth, and if the Grand Prix’s transmission dies, the same will be true for it.
We want to go down to a one-car family, but because he works a standard 8-5 job and I work second shift at a hospital, there is no feasible way to do this. We’re going to get a Prius, but we’re not sure if we should wait until we can go down to a one-car family and risk one or both of the cars dying (and thus having to buy a car anyways, on a time crunch, which I want to avoid), or trading in one of the cars now and figuring out a way to sell the second one later without having to offload a dying car on a probably semi-unaware (since stuff the seller and buyer didn’t know about always seems to crop up later) private buyer.
Financial stuff: Currently we have the income stream to be able to pay off a new Prius (and yes, it will be brand new, because with the rates we can get, it actually would cost almost exactly the same to buy used, and we’d pay less interest in the end) in about half the loan term, though I have a worker’s comp-related health issue that may force me to find another job soon or finally start a business. We are legacy USAA members, so we have access to their amazing auto loan rates (we might be able to get 1.49% rate on 60 months, depending on when we buy), as well as their car buying service, which would save us somewhere around $ 4k off MSRP. Both our cars have been paid in full for a long time, and pretty much the only other debt we have right now is student loans (on income-based repayment plans), though we would like to get a fixer-upper (or something along those lines) house in a couple years, once we figure out where we’re settling down. We also tend to drive our cars until they die, as our parents all have (and my folks’ 2005 Prius is still going strong, and has only been in the shop ONCE in its lifetime – for a front-end alignment!), so this would be a relatively buy-it-for-life kind of thing… we just can’t figure out when to actually buy it. Please help!
– Carly
In your situation, I’m not really sure how a one-car system would work. Are your shifts opposing enough that you can both drive the single car to work? If that’s not the case, then it seems impossible unless you live in an area with a transit system. My guess is that you’re looking at changing jobs given the “worker’s comp” issue you discuss in the final paragraph, which would take away the need for a second car.
It sounds to me like you’re on a “buy it new, drive it into the ground” cycle. I wholly agree with the “drive it into the ground” part of the cycle. The “buy it new” part can be questionable – late model used are typically better deals – but there are situations where new purchases can make sense.
My suggestion to you is to bank it all on reliability. What does your life look like if one of those cars fails right now? Would there be job endangerment? If so, I’d sell quickly and get a stable car at home. If there’s not, I’d probably wait. Soon, you’ll need only one car (apparently), so if you can make it until then, the decision gets easier because there’s no pressure.
I am 61 years old and retired for a few years after selling my business. I am the guardian of my grandson because both of his parents passed away in an accident several years ago. My grandson is twelve years old and is active in his school chess club and the community chess club. I used to be very good at chess but haven’t played in 20 years other than playing with him. His skill is growing rapidly and although I can still win most games, I realize that if I want to keep playing with him I need to practice during the day as he is constantly practicing.
I have a reasonably modern Windows computer with an internet connection and access to a library. What can I do on the cheap (say $ 20 or less) to polish my chess skills?
– David
Short of a grandmaster level, everything you really need to learn how to play chess is available at chess.com. You can play against the computer, against other people, and try out chess problems.
When I was really into chess a while back, I found a great deal of value in the “computer workout” section of chess.com. It does a great job of teaching you how to handle various situations and get the most out of your pieces.
I think it’s just about perfect for what you’re wanting to do.
Got any questions? The best way to ask is to email me – trent at thesimpledollar dot com. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.
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The bullion market didn’t perform well again last week: Silver lost 1.7% off its value, while the price of gold inched down by 0.1%. As a result, the gold to silver ratio rose again by 1.6% to around the 70…
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The dollar pared earlier losses and gained against the yen on Friday after Japan’s welfare minister said reforms for the country’s giant pension fund would continue as planned.
The greenback also held near a four-year high against a basket of major currencies, and further gains looked likely for the U.S. currency as it boasted its the biggest yield advantage over the euro in 15 years.
The dollar had stumbled overnight as a sell off on Wall Street favoured the safe-haven yen.
The dollar recovered, however, after Japan’s Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki denied media reports that suggested Tokyo would delay reforming its $ 1.26 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF)
Reform of the fund is expected to result in more investment being channelled into Japanese equities and overseas assets, and reports of a possibe delay had given the yen a bullish nudge, until the minister spoke out.
via Reuters
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When you’re facing a giant mountain of debt, it feels almost impossible to overcome it. When your total debt exceeds your household income, it can feel like debt is just going to be a part of your life. It can seem as though, in order to live your life, you’re going to have to constantly hand money to the banks until you’re old and grey.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Sarah and I paid off more than $ 10,000 in credit card debt, two car loans, several student loans that totaled more than $ 30,000, and a home mortgage over the course of about five and a half years, taking us to complete debt freedom. We did this with three children and with a car replacement cycle right in the middle of that five year period.
Snowflakes were a big part of that success. What are snowflakes? Well… let’s step back from that a bit first.
If you’re facing a big pile of debt, the first and most important thing you can do is to build a debt repayment plan. This comes before anything else.
The process is pretty easy. You simply take all of your debts, seek ways to consolidate them and reduce their interest rates, and then order them by interest rate with the highest rate first. Then, you make a minimum payment to all of your debts, then strive to make a big extra payment to that debt with the highest interest rate.
For more information, read my detailed guide to making your own debt repayment plans.
The idea of a debt repayment plan was in part popularized by radio host Dave Ramsey, who modified the idea a little bit (by encouraging people to sort their debt by balance size) and referred to it as a “debt snowball.”
Snowflaking is just a cute term for an idea that works well in conjunction with any debt repayment plan.
In simplest terms, snowflaking refers to any little action you take that immediately saves money, then that money is directly applied to the debt on top of your debt repayment plan.
Here’s a simple example. Let’s say you usually spend $ 5 buying food from the food cart outside of your workplace. One day, instead of spending $ 5 at that cart, you heat up your leftovers from the night before. Boom – there’s a $ 5 snowflake. You then add $ 5 to your next extra debt payment.
The real trick with snowflakes is to make sure that you actually use that money for extra payments. There are a lot of ways to do this.
One approach is to immediately make a money transfer (on your phone) each time you make a “snowflake.” In other words, you sit down at your desk and immediately execute a $ 5 extra debt payment. Most banks will allow you to make several small payments like this to the same company each day.
Since that meant stopping for a few minutes each time I had a snowflake, I used a different approach during my own financial turnaround. I kept a pocket notebook and whenever I had a snowflake, I wrote it down in that notebook. At the end of the week – I usually did it on Saturday – I’d sit down, add up all of my snowflakes from the past week, and then make a single extra debt payment for that total amount.
I don’t really advocate waiting longer than a week to take some kind of action on that snowflake. If you wait longer, you’re greatly increasing the chances that you’ll forget about the snowflake or that you’ll find that you have “extra” money in your checking account and spend it on something else.
Our lives are chock full of spending decisions. Not only do we have lots of situations where we open our wallets to spend money, we also make tons of choices where we choose not to spend money or when we choose to use a resource that we’ll have to pay for later.
Thus, we have tons of opportunities to choose to spend less. Sometimes, those choices won’t affect our life quality at all. At other times, it might not be worth it and we’ll choose to spend money anyway.
The real key here is mindfulness. The more aware we become of our choices and what we would do if we weren’t focused on paying off debt, the more snowflakes we’ll see and accumulate.
For example, some people might be so caught in the routine of heading to the food truck and spending $ 5 for lunch that they don’t even think about it or consider it a moment where they could make a different choice. They’ll buy little things at the checkout or leave lights on when no one is awake or home, never thinking about how a slightly different action could save them money without affecting their quality of life.
You have to be mindful of what you’re doing all the time in order to get the most out of snowflaking.
For me, the benefits of snowflaking went far beyond the money. The psychology of it was just as valuable.
What do I mean by that? Snowflaking made it feel like I was truly taking action on my debts several times each day. This left me feeling in control of the situation. I wasn’t just hoping for the future for this problem to go away. I was doing something right now to make it better.
Need some ideas for getting started? Here are thirty six ways in which you might find snowflakes in your own life.
1. You can save aluminum cans. In states where there’s a nickel or dime refund, you can turn ten or twenty cans into a dollar. In other states, you can still recycle your cans and make a few pennies per can.
2. Try having a yard sale. Go through your closet and find the things that you don’t really use any more. Then plan a yard sale where you put up a few advertisements and then sell all of those things right in your driveway or front lawn, putting all of the proceeds toward your debts.
3. Alternately, sell that stuff on Craigslist.
4. Make several identical meals in advance. This lets you take advantage of bulk buying as you’ll be able to buy the large container of noodles or sauce or cheese. Put the saved money from those bulk purchases toward your debt. For example, if buying in bulk causes you to buy a big container of lasagna noodles for $ 5 when the smaller packages would have cost you $ 8 for that many noodles, put the saved $ 3 toward your debt.
5. Air up your car tires, then put 1% of your fuel costs toward your debts for the next month. Most Americans keep their tires underinflated and each PSI that you’re lacking eats up 1/8th of 1% of your fuel efficiency. If you add just two PSI to each tire, your fuel efficiency goes up by 1%. If you spend $ 100 on gas thanks to commuting each month, then there’s an extra dollar each month toward your debt.
6. Make a bunch of bottled coffee at home so you can grab a drink and go each morning instead of stopping at the coffee shop. Just make a big batch on the weekend and pour it into five individual bottles, then warm one up each morning just before you leave. If you can make a $ 2 latte at home when it normally costs $ 5 at the coffee shop, that’s $ 3 a day.
7. Keep your eyes on the ground and pick up change. Save your extra change in a change jar and then cash it in every few months, putting that cash toward your debt.
8. Skip a regular meal you’d eat out and make something very simple at home, like spiced beans and rice. You’ll save $ 10 (or more) on your meal which you can immediately snowflake.
9. Talk to your physician about generic medications if you have a regular prescription. Switching to a generic medicine can save you a shocking amount each month.
10. Shop around for insurance. If you can save $ 100 a year on your insurance costs by shopping around and finding a more cost-efficient provider, you can apply that savings as a snowflake. Just use the amount you save on each subsequent insurance payment.
11. Skip a beverage and drink water instead. If you typically drink a soda each day, skip that soda and drink some water instead, then bank the money you saved by not drinking that soda.
12. Buy store brands as much as possible. When you actively choose to buy a store brand instead of a name brand, you can put the difference in price directly toward your debt. Generic ketchup can make a surprising difference.
13. Make convenient snacks in advance. For example, you can make microwaveable pockets quite easily at home for less than a dollar’s worth of ingredients. Make a bunch and put them in the freezer, then “snowflake” the money you saved compared to buying that number of convenient foods at the store.
14. Don’t smoke. Every time you smoke a cigarette, you’re essentially burning a quarter (or more). Whenever you’d normally light up, avoid the temptation and drop a quarter into your snowflake jar.
15. Do a careful price comparison and find the best grocery store bargain. Make a list of the twenty five most common things you buy, then see how much those items cost at different grocery stores. Switch to the cheapest one and then each time you buy a week’s worth of groceries, bank the difference between the prices of those items versus your old store.
16. Make some bread. Try making a loaf of bread from flour and yeast. It’ll be at least a dollar cheaper than a loaf from a store, so put that dollar in the kitty and enjoy some truly delicious bread.
17. Shop used when you need an item. For example, does your son or daughter need a hockey stick? Instead of buying online, hit a secondhand sporting goods store and see if anything meets your needs there. If you can save $ 10 by buying something used versus buying the new version, that’s $ 10 that goes toward your debts.
18. Buy holiday supplies right after the previous year’s holiday. For example, buy all of your Christmas decorations and wrapping paper for the next year on December 28th of the previous year. Everything will be on sale, so bank the amount you saved for your next extra debt payment.
19. If you get a magazine or newspaper that you rarely read, cancel that subscription. Then contribute that $ 10 or $ 20 (or more) each year toward your snowflake payment.
20. Create some low cost snacks around your house. Do you like munching on those little “100 calorie” packs? Use a bunch of small Ziplocs and a big bag (or box) of that treat to make your own 100 calorie packs (by weighing the snack). It’s way cheaper to buy the big container and make your own little packs and you can save the difference.
21. Get into a brown bag lunch routine. Take leftovers to work each day and, if that doesn’t work, take a very simple lunch that you like. For me, my “default” lunch is two poached eggs and toast, which costs less than a dollar and can actually be reheated really easily. Compare that cost to the cost of your normal lunch and put the difference toward your debt.
22. If you have kids, try a babysitting swap. Rather than hiring a babysitter, talk to friends that also have children and see if they will do a “swap” with you where you watch their kids one evening, then they watch your kids for an evening. That eliminates the cost of a babysitter, which you can then bank toward your debts. (Of course, don’t turn this into a more expensive date!)
23. If something’s broken, like a toilet or a toaster, try repairing it yourself. If you succeed, you can turn the money you saved by not needing a repairman into a great extra debt payment. If not, then you’re stuck calling a repairman anyway.
24. Replace your incandescent light bulbs with LEDs. Modern LEDs have amazing light quality that’s comparable to normal incandescents. They also use only a fraction of the energy. So, whenever you replace a regular incandescent with an LED, your energy bill should see a little dip. You can capitalize on that with snowflaking by contributing the difference between your most recent energy bill and the one from the year before (or the month before) to your debt repayment.
25. Move. This might seem like a stiff life change, but it’s one that can really make a difference with your debts. If you can save $ 100 or $ 200 a month on rent or house payments just by moving, you can push all of that straight toward your debts.
26. Try out a free community event instead of going out. If you’re tempted to go out to the movies or do anything that costs money, look at what’s on your local community calendar instead. Are there any free activities going on that would be quite fun, too? If you choose the free one, you’ll still get to have a ton of fun while also putting some money toward your debts.
27. Hit the library. A book checked out from the library is one that you didn’t buy, so you can apply that savings toward your debts. The same is true for the DVDs that many libraries provide – checking out a DVD instead of buying one is pure savings.
28. If you’re about to go on a road trip, pack food and water. If you can stow away $ 2 worth of food and water and it replaces a $ 10 or $ 20 stop at a fast food restaurant or a gas station, then you can easily put that $ 10 or $ 15 toward your debts.
29. Spend some time parsing your bills. Look for line items that you don’t understand, then call up your cell phone provider or your energy company (or the provider of whatever bill you’re looking at) and ask to have those fees and charges removed. If they drop even one charge, then you have an amount that you can contribute each month to your debt repayment.
30. Practice good razor usage. Make sure your razor is dry after every use and sharpen it every once in a while using a RazorPit. If you can move from buying ten razors a month to buying three or four, you’ve suddenly found more money for your debt payments.
31. Make your own household supplies. Make your own window cleaner by just putting vinegar in an empty spray bottle. Make your own homemade laundry soap by shaving a bar of soap and mixing it with half as much borax and half as much washing soda. There are countless recipes out there and each will shave a little bit of spending out of your life.
32. Don’t speed when you drive. In general, fuel efficiency decreases rapidly over 50 miles per hour, reducing your efficiency by 1% or so for each additional mph. On top of that, braking and accelerating devours your fuel efficiency. If you can keep your speed below or at the speed limit and maybe reduce your braking and accelerating in town, you’ll easily be able to save 5% of your fuel bill.
33. If your home is drafty at all, air sealing your home can reduce your energy bill by 20% or more. It’s a simple process (well explained by this guide) that just eliminates those drafts and keeps your heat (and your cool air) from simply vanishing out the door. That means your furnace or your air conditioner doesn’t have to work nearly as hard.
34. Alter your commute. If you can find a different route that uses a bit less fuel than your previous route, then that’s going to be a daily savings. Start by trying to figure out the shortest possible route to work and then figure out how much gas you’re saving.
35. Try reducing or eliminating your cable bill. Not only will you find a bunch of additional free time, you’ll also have a nice healthy lump of cash to save each month. Still want television? Over the air signals are free and Netflix is only $ 9 a month.
36. Refinance your debts. If you can get a lower interest rate on your debts over the same term, your monthly payments will go down with no drawback. Then, you can take that savings and apply it to whichever debt has the highest interest rate, double dipping on your savings.
Snowflaking is valuable in so many ways.
First, it gives a very direct sense of “taking action” on your debts, usually several times a day. Your debt isn’t some nebulous thing you encounter once a month. It’s something that you actually get the chance to reduce over and over each day.
Second, it’s flexible in that you can decide whether a particular snowflaking tactic is “worth it” right now or not.
Third, it can establish new patterns in your life. You might discover better ways of doing things which will reduce your spending permanently and make it easier to escape debt and never go back.
Finally, it directly eliminates your debt. A single snowflake directly means a reduction in your debt, no doubt about it.
Yes, these steps are little, but that’s the point. They’re simple choices you can make without completely altering your life. Instead, it empowers you to make better choices every day and really take charge of your debt.
Plus, it also works for saving for any goal. Trying to build up an emergency fund? Snowflake. Trying to save for vacation or for a car purchase? Snowflake. The only difference is you dump money into a savings account instead of into a debt payment.
Don’t let those little moments slide by. Take action. You’ll feel great and your debt will shrink a little. What’s not to love?
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