Archive for November, 2007

Carnival Sightings

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 20, 2007 (10:21 am)

 

Photo Credit: digitaloxygen.ca

Well I entered 2 posts this past week to some carnivals that I enjoy and one of them, Family and Finances made it on two carnivals. We’ll about see other the post later this week (hopefully).

Moolanomy is hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance#124. If you haven’t checked out Moolanomy, you really should. It has lots of helpful information and it’s just written well.  

All Women Blogging Carnival is up and Jo Beaufoix is hosting it. This carnival is interesting because it goes just personal finance and it has a lot of interesting posts. Try it out when you have some time.

As for the trip, I’m going to use my lunch break from classes to pack and to finish cleaning the apartment. I’m worried it won’t be ready in time, as we’re scheduled to leave at 4am tomorrow. (Hey, it’s a 12 hour drive)  We’ll see how this goes. I’m charging my camera tonight, so I’ll be ready to document our ‘adventure’.

»crosslinked«

Frugal Vacation, Happy Times

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 19, 2007 (11:36 am)
Photo Credit:  Aaron Edwards (Both Pictures)

As you probably figured from the title, we’re going out of town this week. My husband and I are going on an early 1 year anniversary vacation. We’re going to Disney World and I’m excited. My husband has never been there, so it’ll make this trip extra special.  The good news is the place where we’re staying at has high speed internet included, so I’ll post the activities on a daily basis. The goal for the vacation is to have a great and memorable time while still being frugal with our money. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive, they can complement each other.

I think I might change my word choice to make it less confusing. For me frugal has a connotation of being conscious of where your money is going. You’re making sure you’re not wasting on frivolous things and saving for valuable things. What’s frivolous and what’s valuable is mainly subjective to each individual. We want to spend money to enjoy the trip and get gifts for family and friends, while not feeling guilty by overspending. It’s a vacation well needed and I’ll try to include some photos of our fun.

 

Some topics on my mind:

  • Packing/Preparing for a Road Trip (approx. 12 hour drive!)
  • Souvenir Shopping
  • Not Going Broke at Disney World
  • Sightseeing Inexpensively
  • Nightlife

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment.

17 Tips to Be Productive with Instant Messaging

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 16, 2007 (5:44 pm)

When I’m at work, school, or home (I’ve actually reduced this a lot), I use instant messaging to keep in contact with others. i know that it can help productivity, but most times I find that it limits what I can do through the day. I thought it would be a good idea to include some tips I found on digg.

Top 5 Tips

1. Limit your time. Get to the point. While it may seem friendlier to start out by asking about the person’s day, and their family, and their job, and their cat … it wastes a lot of time if you do this many times a day.

2. Have a purpose. Unless you have time to kill, don’t chat just to chat.

3. Get to the point. While it may seem friendlier to start out by asking about the person’s day, and their family, and their job, and their cat … it wastes a lot of time if you do this many times a day.

4. Be concise. While it’s important to be concise in email, in IM it’s even more important.

5. Know when to use IM. There are times when IM is best, when email is best, when the phone is best, etc. Get to know when IM is the best way to communicate.

Check out the rest on digg.

read more | digg story

Internships: Money or Experience?

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 14, 2007 (2:30 pm)

Why I Loved My Internship

One of the best experiences I had going to the University is having an internship before I graduate. My internship was extended from one semester to almost one year. In case you’re not familiar with internships, it’s a job in your field of interest with an actual company. The goal is to give students some practical experience to see if this career is something they’re really interested in. You’d be surprised by the differences from classroom to office.

Why Most Internships Offered in College Just Don’t Cut It

Most internships, though, are low level jobs in your field that include little else than running some paperwork  and ‘errand boy’ duties. Training is not organized and you don’t get to absorb as much as you planned. Many internships I had seen on my university’s career management site were either unpaid or around $6- 7/hour. My living situation as an independent student put me in an either/or spot.  I would prefer an internship, but the fact of the matter was I need a job to pay my bills while I was in school.

I was working at a job that was barely meeting my needs, but the flexibility of hours (office was open 6am-1am) made it convenient for a student’s class schedule. I was pretty much at the point that I couldn’t take some jobs because of the pay.

Sometimes it pays money and sometimes it doesn’t. You have to decide if you take a job that pays the bills (and have some extra money) or do you get the unique experience that can help your career in the long run? I was looking at this question square in the face last year.

Then one day after doing my daily review of job postings, I noticed an internship in my field. What’s better it was a paid internship. Than I realized it was for several dollars more per hour than my current job! I went and applied immediately and I was fortunate to get the internship. Now that was a fantastic opportunity, but most of the time it doesn’t happen like this. What if I didn’t find this great opportunity; what would have I done?

Why I Waited for the Right Internship

I know a lot of people would say I’m being short sighted, but I’d take the higher paying job over the lower paying internship. Increasing my debt load is not something I would want to do. It’s tough to turn down a wonderful learning experience, but that’s a price of being in debt. In fact, waiting for a higher paying job, lead me to a great paying and learning internship.

I’m not saying just say ‘no’ to every good opportunity. You do have to take some chances in life, but do it with some plan in mind. Some people can take a lower paying job even when having debt because they choose to cut other expenses to compensate for the loss in pay. If you can do that, then great. If you can not, though, and are pretty much lean in terms of your budget, then stick with the higher paying job.

It’s not over if you decide to go for the higher paying job. Sometimes you can create a win-win situation simply by asking. Try to see if you can convert this job into an internship experience or build skills in your intended career choice.

If you take the internship, be sure to make the most of it. You can network with people in different departments and get an idea of how your prospective career runs.

Questions to Ask at the “Regular Job” Interview

  • Is there a project that I can do in addition to my job to qualify this as an internship?
  • Can I get written feedback and commendation for the project?
  • Are raises merit based or time based? (See if you can improve your income situation)

I wish everyone could find a great paying internship in their field of interest that offers a great chance of learning something challenging and possible their career calling. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Often we have to create these situations or compromise. How do you feel about it? Should you go for the money or should you go for your career?

Your Thoughts

If you’re debt free (no credit card debt, auto loans, etc) then by all means take chances now when you have fewer constraints. Let me know if you faced a similar situation. How did you deal with it?

Photo Credit: stanrandom

Rich College Student: Understand Your Credit Cards

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 12, 2007 (2:26 pm)
Credit Card
Photo Credit: The Consumerist

My weekend was eventful: we had a great time celebrating our friends’ 3 year anniversary on Friday, Saturday we joined in on another friend’s baby shower (her first child!), and Sunday we went over to another friend’s house for an intense game night. I hope everyone had a great time this weekend.

Anyways, my brother asked for some advice and help with his budgeting. He’d like to set it up where he deposits his check (no direct deposit at his job) and the account automatically pays his bills. He’s your typical 19 years old, he wants things easy. I don’t blame him. Having online bill pay is a time saver and it reduced a lot of fees for payments. He gave me his credit card bill for the month and I saw that he needs some help to get his finances in order.

Now credit cards are a part of our American culture. I carry some cash in my wallet, but use my debit card (use ‘credit’ feature to avoid transactions fees) for most of my purchases. My brother had a great introductory offer with this credit card, but now the interest rate jump to 26.74%. He’s now committed to paying this off as soon as possible. He didn’t realize it could jump so quickly.

Thinking about how many people are in the same boat, I thought I’d give a few pointers on keeping credit card debt at bay.

Read the box that comes with credit offers and updates.

The complete disclosure about fees is long and verbose. Some lawyers can’t even completely understand it. My advice is to check the box that gives the basic information like:

  • Introductory Rate
  • ‘Regular Rate’
  • Annual Fees (if any)
  • Over the limit fee
  • Late Fees

Companies are required by law to have that. If there is an annual fee for your card, I’d get another card or negotiate that off. Why should you be charged a fee to be a cardholder? Most student credit cards don’t have rewards or low interest rates, so I don’t see the benefit of having an annual fee on a card. Check your bills to see if they changed any of the rates or fees, since they can do this at any time.

Calculate the Real Interest Rate (on a $1000 balance, approx. $200-$280/year).

Many credit cards for students today fall within the 20%-28% interest rate range. Many students don’t check after their introductory rate ends. If you pay off your balance every month, this isn’t a big issue. If you carry a balance, try getting a lower rate. Bankrate.com is a good place to start, but remember to see if they are transfer fees and introductory rate’s rules (how long and what could end it prematurely).

Avoid Fees (Save approximately $936/year).

Credit cards are notorious for charging their customers $39 for later charges and $39 for going over the limit. That can be $78/month added to the balance not including the interest. Do yourself the favor and pay on time and keep it under the limit. Another way credit card companies make their money is by charging you $15 to make a payment over the phone. I can’t think of another provider that charges you for paying them over the phone. Try to mail/send your payments a week early, but if you have to pay $15 to avoid $39 or higher, then suck it up and pay the fee. Here’s the real sucker punch, if you are late on any card for another company, some credit card companies charge you on their card even if you paid on time!

Using a credit card responsibly can help your credit history, but having bad habits can quickly destroy it. Remember it’s easier to lower your credit score than raise it. Do yourself a huge favor and be reasonable with your credit card. If you don’t have the money, then don’t spend should be a general rule of thumb. It sounds pretty basic, but if people followed this advice then credit card companies wouldn’t be as rich as they are now and people would now be in as much debt as they are in now.

How do you handle credit cards?Pay in full each other or carry a balance?

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Crazy 8 Meme

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 08, 2007 (1:29 pm)

I got tagged by wealthy_1 over at Collecting My Cash to share a little bit about myself.  I had a hard time with some of these.  I tag Krystal to try this out.


Here’s Some Crazy8 Facts about myself:

8 Things I’m Passionate About
1. God and My Faith
2. My husband
3. My family (mom, brother, and sister)
4. Writing
5. Reading
6. Helping Others
7. Strategy & RPG Video Games (Civ, KOTOR, and Rise of Nations)
8. Cats
8 Things I Say Often

1. My husband: ‘Love you’ & ‘don’t forget the dishes’
2. To my family: ‘Love you’ and ‘talk to you later’
3. At work: There’s a bat in the cave (booger in nose) or some other related phrase
4. To my friends: “Take it easy.”
5. To my professors: “But what if ___ happened?”
6. To everyone: “Cool” and “Oh Snap!”
7. When I’m upset: Shenanigans!
8. When I’m asleep: Whatever I’m dreaming about

8 Books I’ve Read Recently

1. Business Law by Samuelson
2. History of the People by Howard Zinn
3. Mankind’s Search for God
4. Star Trek Voyager Encyclopedia
5. The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver
6. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
7. Operations Management by Stvenson
8. The Bible (it’s a daily goal to read a bit of it each day)

8 Things I want to do before I die

1. Make sure my family is taken care of
2. Make giving to the community a huge part of my life
3. Start a scholarship for deserving students at my university
4. Travel to all the continents, including Antarctica.
5. Live in either Australia or New Zealand for at least a year.
6. Learn to speak 3 languages fluently
7. Write a novel
8. Have a column in the New York Times

8 Songs I can Listen to Over and Over

1. Sugar Hill Gang “Rappers Delight”
2. Singing for the Lonely by Robbie Williams
3. Father of Mine by Everclear
4. Sweet Dreams by Eurhythics
5. Hung Up by Madonna
6. Celebrate by Kool & the Gang
7. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson
8. Say It Right by Nelly Furtado

8 Things That Attract me to My Friends
1. Loyalty
2. Interesting Passions and Life
3. Creativity
4. Good Listener
5. Straight Talker
6. Don’t Gossip.
7. Heroes TV show (Just noticed this)
8. True to Themselves

8 Things I Learned This Past Year

1. Marriage is awesome and at the same time hard.
2. Sometimes the best help is letting someone figure it out on their own.
3. Find a job that can help you achieve your goals.
4. Spend less than you earn.
5. Blog about what you’ve learned and listen to the advice of others.
6. Saving is a good habit.
7. Sharing is a great habit.
8. I don’t need as much gadgets as I thought.

Thanks for the invite wealthy_1!

In other good news, Green Panda made it into another blog carnival. This time it’s the Carnival of College Bloggers. Please check it out and read the other articles written.

Family and Finances: Would You Co-sign for Family?

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 07, 2007 (11:13 am)

Sometimes being successful in personal finance is about sharing what you know with others. Sometimes you feel great about sharing ‘the wealth’; other times, you feel pretty rotten. Like this guy in the picture.

Cars and Family

Last week my younger brother moved into the area and he wanted some help to settle in. He’s 19 and he is a part-time college student trying studying towards an associates degree in architecture technology. He’s learning CAD. I’m not exactly sure what that entails, but it’s something that he’s excited about, so I’m happy.

He made temporary arrangements for a place to stay (first with my husband and I in our small apartment and now with an old friend). Yesterday he started a job as a carpet cleaning technician with a good family friend.

His goals in clued getting a permanent place and get a car. He has a monthly bus pass and he is very lives and works close to bus stops, so it’s not too bad.

Do You Co-sign a Loan For Family?

The other day we were talking about how much to save to get a car and he mentioned getting a car loan. My alarm bell went off. He’s 19 and he just recently got his license. My mom couldn’t afford an extra $250/month to add him to her policy while she’s go back to school (during the evenings) to get her masters degree. He wants to get a car loan for around $4000 to get a Honda or an Acura (‘94-‘97). He then asked me to co-sign the car loan for him.

Why I Didn’t Co-Sign the Car Loan

I love my brother very much. He’s a really good guy. If you met him, chances are you’d love him. He’s just that kind of person. That said, I told him that I would not co-sign. I don’t want to be mean. I genuinely felt that the best way to help my brother was by not co-signing with him and giving him the lesson of learning to budget his money and save up for buying the car himself.

This decision is done out of genuine concern for my brother. As I see it, there’s no urgent need for  a car because he has public transportation to serve him now. It’s not fantastic. The area needs to improve it the reliability of some of its routes. Fortunately my brother’s trip from home to work is 25 minutes and is on one bus. It’s about the same time if he took a car with the traffic around here. His monthly expenses are $50 for a monthly bus pass.

The Math For Buying The Car vs Having a Car Loan

Here’s what he would pay if he did get a car loan (very rough idea):

  • Car loan payment:  $159
  • Car Insurance:   $250
  • Gasoline:  $120
  • Monthly Car Expenses: $529
  • This would probably be for 3 years, so the total is approximately: $19,044

Here’s how much the car would cost if he save and then bought it:

  • Car Amount: $4,000
  • Car insurance: $111 (36 months)
  • Gasoline: $120
  • Total Amount spent in 3 years:  $12,316

He’d save $6,728.00 by saving a few months for his car.

Family and Money: Why I’m Torn About This

I feel bad because when my car was totalled a few years ago, my mom co-signed a car loan for me. While I’m grateful for the help and I have never been late with the payment, I think it was a bad decision. The loan amount was reasonable, but the interest rate was pretty high.

I offered to show him my car loan contract so he can visually see the insane charges and interests that are included in getting a car loan from a dealership. He said he was ok and he said he’ll save up for his car.

Did the information get through to him? Only time will tell. I hope my little brother goes ahead and saves for his future. It would be a shame for him to quit school, because he needs the job to pay his car expenses.

Your Take

What are your ideas on this? Would you have co-signed? Let me know. I’d be interested I hearing your thoughts and ideas.

Photo Credit: Delgoff [soirée RH le 10/11]

Carnival Reviews: Green Panda Picks

By: Green Panda | Date posted: November 06, 2007 (10:14 am)

Photo Credit: digitaloxygen.ca

An article I submitted was accepted into the Carnival of Debt Reduction # 112. Cash Money Life is hosting this week and Patrick does a fantastic job organizing it. Here’s some articles I enjoyed.

Philip Brewer had an excellent article on Wise Bread regarding when NOT to put money into your 401(k). I enjoy reading what he writes. Check out his post on when to drop collision on your car.

Please check out these posts when you have some time. I’ll update you as more carnivals come out!

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