What is Digg?67 Comments
- unicornhunter, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22I don't need these tips, my mom handles all the finances.
- ticktock4, on 10/12/2007, -8/+23Financial advice for women by women.
PULEEEZE.
Way to prolong stupid gender issues in an area that doesn't exist. All for the sake of marketing. - chr0mekitten, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12My mom did teach me a lot of this stuff, and now that I'm 30, I wish I'd have listened to more of that advice when I was younger. It's never too late to start being wise with your money, though.
- madnessism, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I did just that and all but one of my 63 credit hours transferred. You just have to be smart about it and research which classes will transfer. It also helps if you stay in the same state.
- dootisterhans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9In Florida the community college system syncs up with the state university system to avoid just what you are talking about. The requirements are standardized and the course numbers are even the same.
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10#47: Live in in your parent's basement into your 40s; hey it's rent free and you get free food too!
- omatsei, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11I'm a capitalist, but if there's one type of companies I'd love to see go out of business, it'd be the credit card companies. They invest in people's stupidity, and they're getting a really good return. If I had to come up with #47, it'd be "If possible, get rid of all your credit cards except one, and pay it off every month." Some things can't be purchased without a credit card, like some monthly subscriptions or things online, but everyone I know gets into trouble when they buy something, then don't pay it off at the end of the month. The perception that using plastic isn't really money has to go.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9read the URL. Not the title, the actual URL.
- Teaboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8If you buy stuff, you should pay for it. So either use a credit card that you can afford, or, as I do, a debit card. I've never been refused using it anywhere online.
- mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10www.womenspersonalfinance.net
- TubaTechno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7so basically what you should learn in high school but don't...
- omatsei, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Important Note on Digg Etiquette: Only copy relatively small amounts of text into a comment. If your comment has more than 3 paragraphs of copied text, don't bother. That's why we have mirrors.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Why Mom? What about Dad? My Dad taught me everything I needed to know about money.
- thejohnfloyd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Most Major schools have partnerships with local community colleges in their area, but otherwise you are basically screwed.
- lukas88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7He figured most people on the internet would already know that from experience.
- inkyblue2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Always Try to Pay More than the Minimum Mortgage Payment."
what?! on what planet? in most cases, your mortgage is going to be a very low interest debt, and effectively even lower because of the tax savings. pay down your highest interest debts first, then instead of paying down your mortgage, start investing! if you're young enough to be thinking 23-30 years ahead, you're young enough to make some moderately aggressive investments. - mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I don't know why he's being dugg down for that. People don't like to hear the truth, or a second opinion on here.
- octbit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@omatsei
You like capitalism, be a capitalistic consumer. Credit cards are actually great tools if you know how to manage your finances. I put EVERYTHING on my credit card, but pay it off every month. In return, I made over $1000 in cash back last year. Not to mention most offer fraud protection, built in warranty extensions, buyer protection if the service you receive wasn't as promised, supplemental car rental insurance - and the list goes on. Someone will argue that you pay for this because the retailers jack up their prices because of credit card fees, but you can still easily come out ahead.
Most every company feeds on people's stupidity or gullibility. Just watch any commercial. The misconception that credit cards are "free money" is as much of a problem as it is for overweight people who consume 1200 calories as a reward for walking a half mile. This doesn't mean a rational person should be "protected" from cake. - Artifez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Really good recomendations
Buy index funds or ETFs, seriously, its one of the best investments. - dgendreau, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I dont think the site authors are deliberately prolonging gender issues.
I think the rationale here is more along the lines of: Women wont read something like "www.personalfinance.com", so lets make a "www.womenspersonalfinance.com", sprinkle it with female references and maybe they will be more comfortable reading it in that context. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yea I did the same thing. Basically they have a whole list of what classes you need to take to waive your general education requirements. I would highly recommend going to talk with a counselor at your desired school of transfer and they will make it so all your units transfer. That is what I did and all my units transferred. You really have to plan it out and not just go and take any old classes.
- kmedlin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm pretty surprised at how dismissive the article is regarding investing!
Investment money MUST be separate from your 401(k) & IRA & whatever other investment security you are building. It should be money you can afford to lose. Investment is not a bad thing, in fact, when done correctly it can make you more money than your income and vastly increase your standard of living or retirement!
There are as many pitfalls as there are ways to invest. So if you don't think you can handle it be smart about the ins and outs of investing and allow someone to manage your money, but be a SMART client. Don't just hand over money!
The point is to have fun with it, grow your money, and enjoy the satisfaction that good investment returns will bring! Don't be down on investing. It's an essential part of your financial life with even as little as 5 positions and $2,500 bucks according to Jim Cramer (though probably $5,000 would be the minimum). - mpancha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4great advice, already follow most of this, just wish my wife would do the same.
- sakuraz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4ah, that's why you are able to hunt unicorns
- NoAccounting4me, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7The advice is pretty good in general, but the article isn't very well organized.
At one point, the author says " pay yourself in savings/retirement the equivalent of one hour per work-day (or 12.5%) before anything else"... later down the page, it's "Save 10 Cents From Every Dollar you Make". Under "Retirement", the author directly mentions the tax effect of 401K deductions twice, and indirectly once.
Why are "credit and debt" a seperate section from "Loans & Borrowing Money"? Why are all the house/mortage tips in a seperate section, even though all but one relates directly to "credit and debt" and "Loans & Borrowing Money"?
It's nice to offer guidelines on how much Life Insurance you should carry, but "don't make your family millionares" is a lot less helpful than "try to carry at least enough life insurance to cover all your outstanding debts, including your mortgage" or "your life insurance policy should be equal to about 5 years of salary after taxes"
There are some very strong, useful ideas that the author misses, like differentiating between "cash spending" and "deficit spending" (here's a hint: one is something you pay once, while the other creates a payment you make every month until it goes away), or prioritizing debt repayment. (how do you decide what debts to pay off first? When should you switch over from paying down debt to investing?)
It's an OK article, but not great. - Teaboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I agree. But then I don't wear designer clothes. I buy cheap NEW clothes from eBay.
- Rivetgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is so true, I bought my house for 300k five years ago. It's now listed for 520k and getting plenty of interest. When I sell this, I'll move into a 700k house and only have a 300k mortgage
- joehobbes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just moved from Califonia to Michigan and loving it.
Sell your expensive house there, buy a mansion here and still have a pile of cash left over. - jefbob, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I can accept a long copy/paste when the article is on a site where you have to sign in to read the whole thing.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Better yet, don't get a wife (a GF is okay) and don't have kids. Just by doing that you will have saved yourself several hundred thousand dollars and a lot of nagging and headaches from the kids.
- SurferBette, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My honest reaction is that this person decided to create a website, but that a lot of the material is "knee-jerk" verbatim from certain financial "wizards". If there's a book on consumer rights and saving/making money legitimately, I've read it - Jane Bryant Quinn, the Dolans, Suze Orman, Clark Howard, National Consumer Law Center, and a host of others.
The material here is VERY knee-jerk on conventional wisdom. If you're in need of conventional wisdom, okay - but if you're in real financial trouble (you're afraid the creditors will beat your door down), you're better off getting the NCLC's book "Surviving Debt", and if you want interesting tips and reviews, Clark Howard is more your guy. I.e. he doesn't just talk up VOIP to save a buck - he talks about which service is most economical, and which seems to have more customer service issues. Best, his website features a section called "Clark Stinks" where you can take him to task if you disagree with him - and he actually hosts a segment where he reconsiders listener complaints.
Also, some of this page's advice is NOT accurate.
For example, the railing against using coupons, because supposedly you'd be buying something you don't need. What bull. There's a reason that there are hard-core homemakers and families who collect and even trade coupons. (Go to Yahoo! and look at just how many coupon trading groups there are.) The received, conventional wisdom is that coupons are useless and just for junk food. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Yes, I do the coupon thing. My husband and I signed up for a service that tracks the cost of food at several nationwide grocery stores. The database tracks the cyclical cost of food and the expiration of coupons. It costs us $5 a month, billed bi-monthly, but we don't care - we save on average, 50 to 65% off our grocery bills. We get coupons. We wait for the items to drop to their lowest price, the database tells us where to look, and then we buy in bulk for our pantry. I've gotten many, many things free because of this system: kitchen sponges, hand soap, canned and tinned vegetables, condiments like ketchup, mustard ... mashed potatoes mix, etc. Then again some things I have to pay an entire $1.00 or even $1.50 for - but if the regular price is $2.50 or $3, I honestly don't mind.
If you are too good to spend $2.99 on 100 oz. of laundry detergent when it ordinarily costs $7 or $10, and quality is not a factor, then you're asking to be parted from your money. - Butros, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You need a credit card to rent a car and not get ripped off, also you will need good credit to buy a house (although building credit with credit cards takes a loooong time).
- technobarbie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2For US savers:
Paying off your car – and especially your mortgage - is not necessarily the best thing to do if you have low/normal interest rates.
I don’t think the article mentioned a ROTH IRA. ROTH (tax free earnings) is superior to a 401K unless you have an employer match. Of course you really need both, due to the limited amount you can contribute each year to a ROTH.
If you receive a tax return each year, then Uncle Sam is making money off of you. If you still want a yearly tax return, put into a ROTH each year.
It's sad how many folks don't know the basics regarding savings and investing. Interesting considering most of us will be financing our own retirement.
EDIT: This is my first post. This wasn't a response to FTBLGUY. - cBennett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1quality is the problem with your plan. Sure, you can buy aspirin or whatever for half price from a no name brand but it isn't going to be as good. The reasoning behind this is that no name companies haven't invested the millions of dollars in advertising to bring their brand to a level of high recognition. Accordingly, they have no reason to uphold the quality of their products as they do not have an image at stake. Just be aware when you by no name products. Brand name companies have higher quality standards because they have more on the line.
- Eccles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Prelude
The paying of the mortgage first refers to the monthly payment, not extra principal. Paying off extra principal is often good, but not a priority. But not paying the monthly payment could cost you the house. So pay that first. - SurferBette, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just to clarify that the "look out" I mention - for other "coupon" places - places like "Coupon Explosion" - they are scams. They claim you can buy a kit and save $90 off a $100 grocery trip, which is bunk. *That* company, World of Products, has some complaints lodged against them at the Better Business Bureau (itself not the best arbiter of company honesty and more for show... but that's another story).
The legitimate company I use, Grocery Game, you're really paying for access to their database, which spits out a HTML list of items according to their 12 week low (grocery stores run on 12 week sale cycles). So if I miss a sale or we don't shop one week, and my favorite sponge or brand of soda water was on sale, I know within the next cycle it will be discounted again. - rushiku, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Sweet, too bad the 700K house will be smaller than the one you're in ;)
- GlassUser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Good recommendations, horrible grammar.
- mikeplokta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Don't buy ETFs if you're in the UK and you're paying tax on them, because you won't get dividend tax credit and you'll end up paying more tax. They're fine if you're a non taxpayer, or if you're putting them in a tax-free vehicle such as an ISA or SIPP.
- drburk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0By whole life comment I mean, that's like saying don't buy a 1984 Oldsmobile because it gets bad gas mileage and isn’t safe. It would be better to say buy a Smart car. By saying whole life is bad that leaves a few other life insurance choices open, which aren’t good either. I need advice, building a good retirement and saving well doesn’t start with not doing something it starts with good investment advice, which this article never gets to. Listening to this advice will get you no forward progress, it won’t sink your ship but you won’t be able to do much off of it.
- rtakach, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2What about the advice of getting an associates from a community college and transferring those credits to a big name university? It says you can save over $50k doing that! From what I know, if you spend two years at a CC, chances of ALL your credits transferring to a university are slim. You'll likely get a waiver for your entry level math/english/humanities classes, and you'll probably end up taking a lot of the same classes you already took at CC because they are just not the same.
- SurferBette, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0CBennett, I politely but very much disagree with you regarding "generics", although you have well encapsulated the argument of the pharmaceutical companies for why we should pay more. Of course, insurance companies and doctors have something to say about brand names. Your comment, though...that might have been true fifteen years ago when generics were usually packaged in yellow with big brown block letters... like you were eating C rations or something.
The truth is that today, generics are often made by the brand name company. Check the bottle or box, and you may find that it is made by the same brand-name manufacturer - perhaps the only difference being a single flavor or fragrance. Also, that ignores that the bulk of generics today are store brands - and the grocery store certainly has an image to maintain, and plenty of advertising. There's a reason why HEB stores, for example, or Trader Joes, have a fanatical following for their store brands.
I feel real bad for other gals who spend money buying Lancome cosmetics at the department store, when they could get the same quality buying L'Oreal at the drugstore or supermarket. YEP - you guessed it - they are one and the same company, and use the same manufacturer. Only Lancome charges $20 for a lipstick you could get for less than half with L'Oreal.
To really know quality, you're going to have to test items out, or get a subscription to Consumer Reports. Personally, I'd rather eat brand name Cheerios because I like the taste better, but I am perfectly happy to buy store brand cookies or club soda because there's no difference in taste. - SurferBette, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thuktun, they made their point not in a general section talking about saving money on food, but by putting it under a subheading recommending not to spend much time saving coupons. It starts with a negative suggestion.
The advice about the supposed time and energy coupons would entail, and all the time you're supposed to take vetting their usefulness, is at the expense of a solid strategy for saving money. A lot of people will read the summary and conclude that coupons aren't worth the effort. The deck was stacked by the writer against this type of strategy. The most positive thing they say is: "If you were planning on buying an item and have a coupon, great! But if not, don’t even bother- it’s money spent on something you don’t need, which is considered to be a waste."
That's just not good advice (and "weasel words" ... "considered to be a waste"? Well either it is, or it isn't.). If the item has a steep discount, you use it, and you can store it in your pantry, and it would cost only 30%-50% of what you would normally pay, it's smarter to buy ahead. I'm not talking about junk food, but stuff like toilet paper, spices, canned goods, oils, mixes, and so on. It's been great for us because we typically check our own stocks before running to the store.
What I see often is I'm standing in the grocery store next to someone, and they buy the offbrand of say, olive oil for $6.99, without even looking at the others. I waited until the sale price dropped on a quality brand to $5.99, used a $1.00 or $1.50 coupon, and bought it for $4.99 - which is still cheaper than buying it in bulk. We used to be like that - loyal offbrand shoppers. In their minds, they don't even check the price - it's like people who don't realize that Wal-Mart is not always the lowest priced place for certain items. They automatically see "offbrand" and think it's the best deal. Just like people who buy bulk items at CostCo (a store I personally love) but who can't possibly use certain perishables in time to make it worth their money.
The database I use, by the way, is called the Grocery Game. Look out for others, by the way - there are a couple of places that claim to sell coupons that can bring your grocery bill down by 90%, or who sell counterfeit Internet style coupons. If you go to a site called Taylortown Preview, you can see what coupons are coming out before each weekend; there's another called Kachina Coupons, I believe, for another part of the country. - Thuktun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I think the point the article was making was that generic or store-brand alternatives may already give you those kinds of savings over name-brand.
- technobarbie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I agree with you, but I think these things get lumped with retirement because most people are in debt and don't save. Many can barely contribute to their 401K and save for an emergency fund, much less have enough money to lose.
- Thuktun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Ummm, the article suggests you stay away from whole life. I'm unclear how you disagree with that since you say "whole life isn't good insurance" and "whole life isn't the best type of life insurance".
- SurferBette, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0beeudoublez, my reply is further down. whoops!
- beeudoublez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1What site is this?
- adventuregurl, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2In California, we don't pay off our mortgages, we move up!!!! Don't waste your money paying off a mortgage!
- dagnabbit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This site has to be a first for the digg homepage.
Edit: ah, the "digg this" button at the top of the article explains it. BTW, what kind of list stops at 46? Couldn't come up with 4 more? -
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