Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

5 Things a Groundhogs Shadow Won’t Tell You Today

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Happy Groundhogs Day everyone! Today’s the day! Good ol’ Puxi.. let’s just call him Phil, shall we? Good ol’ Phil is gonna come on up out of his hidey hole and do his annual weather forecast for us.

Whether you believe in the Phils shadow or not, here’s 5 things that he’s not going to be able to determine for you.

  1. No matter what the weather will hold for the next 6 weeks, only you can determine what you do with them.  Determine to break away from your broke habits, and see what you can do in those 6 weeks!
  2. Your tax refund!  It’s tax time.  If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, it’s time to get all your paperwork together and get your forms all filled out and sent in.  Don’t be one of those people waiting in line in April to get your envelope postmarked!
  3. Your happiness!  You know whether you’re truly happy or not.  If you are unhappy with your situation, whether it be at work, school, or just with your finances, TODAY is the day to find a way to be happier!  Make those changes and be a happier person!
  4. Your wealth!  What does wealth mean to you?  It it lots of zeros on your bank balance?  Or is it being debt free and living the life you want to live, doing what you want to be doing?
  5. Your health!  6 more weeks of winter?  Don’t crawl back into your hole like Phil!  Spend some time determining the changes to your health that you want to make.  Now’s a great time to revisit your new years resolutions, if you made any, and get back on track!

Have a great Groundhogs Day!

Ask for the Special

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I’m not a very outgoing person.  I have a hard time going up to people I’ve never met.  I have a hard time even talking to people I’ve never met.  So, I have a very hard time following the old advice that you have to ask for the real discount.  Luckily, not everything has to be done in person, so I can send emails for some things.  Which is exactly how I proved that old adage true.

For Christmas, instead of receiving gifts from all of our relatives, we asked them to put in the money that they would normally have spent to a mini-vacation fund for us.  We all have set spending limits for our Christmas presents, so it was pretty easy for them to do that.  Then, we took a nice little weekend trip the day after Thanksgiving.

We wanted someplace nice that would be within the budget, but would still count as a vacation.  In other words, Super 8 just wasn’t going to cut it.  We had originally settled on one place, but, being the curious fella that I am, I kept looking for a better deal.  And, as luck would have it I found one.  In fact, for what it would have cost us for one night at the original place, we stayed for two at the next place.  And, if you want my honest opinion, I think the place I found was a lot nicer.  How did we get such a deal?  I asked for it.

Simple really.  I emailed the manager who was listed on the website.  He forwarded my email on to the guy in charge of reservations.  In my email, I simply told him what days we were planning on staying, and asked if there were any specials that would be active for that weekend.  At this point, he could have easily just said no.  But, he didn’t.  And he earned a customer.

IMG_2154The place was very nice. (Here’s a link and a picture of the living room area if you’re curious: Chase on the Lake, I highly recommend it.) They called the room we stayed in a “condotel”.  Basically, it was a two bedroom, two bathroom, suite with a full kitchen and living room.  Everything was way above the typical standards that we have for a hotel room.  Overall, it was incredible.  We spent the whole weekend relaxing (kid-free, thanks to Grandma) and came home refreshed.

We would have gone on the trip in any case.  But, because I asked for the special, it became a lot cheaper than we had planned on it being.  And, if we plan on doing it again (we will), I think we’ve found our place.  Next time you’re making plans for a trip, or just trying to buy something special, make sure you at least ask for a special.  You might just surprise yourself and get one!

Advice for College Graduates

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When I entered college, I had no debt. Well, I guess I had some as I’d already signed the papers, but hadn’t received the money, for the loans I was going to be using to partially finance my education. When I finally graduated, 7 and a half years later, I had mountains of the stuff. Nearly 30k in college loans, close to 10k in credit card debt, a car loan, and a mortgage.

For the high school graduates: If you learn nothing in college, learn to avoid debt.  That single thing will make the rest of your life so much easier.  It allows you to start ahead of every single one of your college peers, and will make it so much easier to achieve the goals that you want in life.

If you’re reading this, and you’re a college graduate that never got the above bit of advice, you’ve likely ended up like I did.  Lots of debt.  Here’s my advice to you (and roundabouts to my past self).

  1. Learn how to budget.  Creating and maintaining a budget opened my eyes to the ways that I was spending (and wasting) my money.  Create a budget for yourself and stick to it.
  2. Learn how to avoid debt.  Very few of you will be able to completely avoid debt.  Minimize it.  Pretend it’s your leprous uncle.  Instill an aversion to debt.
  3. Learn the meaning of appreciation.  If you’re going to add debt, only do so to buy something that you expect to appreciate.  New furniture doesn’t count. Houses sorta count.  Cars absolutely, positively, do not count.
  4. Learn the value of shared costs.  Just because you’re a big boy (or girl) now with a fancy diploma (with fancy calligraphy), does not mean that you’re above having a roommate.   In fact, I would encourage it (unless you’re married, because that’s just a bit weird).  It doesn’t even take a calculator to figure out that rent/2 is better than rent/1.
  5. Learn the value of patience.  Just because you can get a mortgage or a car loan, or whatever, does not mean you should.  Statistically speaking, you’ll change jobs several times over the first 5 years of  your career.  Do you really want to be tied down to a house if you need to move to another city?  Slow down and ease yourself into your adult life.  It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be anyways.
  6. Learn the word Retirement.  Sure, your all excited about your newly earned earning potential and your fancy new career, but, if you’re like every other person on the planet, you’ll want to retire at some point.  Start saving now to make that dream come true later.
  7. Remember to have fun.  Just because you’re all grown up and joining the “real world” doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun.  Your hobbies and activities are what make the “real world” worthwhile.
  8. Wear sunscreen.  None of you will get this reference as you were probably 8 at the time.  The rest us do and it’s not that important. (in case you’re curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_Sunscreen)

The preceding is, by no means, an exhaustive list.  In fact, it can’t even really be considered a quick and dirty list.  It is, merely, a list of a few things that I have come to think of as some tenets for post college life.  Some, I have learned, others I wish I had.

Congratulations on your graduation, and best wishes as you join the rest of us in the real world.