Archive for October, 2009

Panda Budget (Very) Beta

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 30, 2009 (2:50 pm)

I know a lot of readers are college students and are looking for ways to improve their finances. Some of them may be strapped for cash, but still want to be responsible with their money. My husband was kind enough to write a program to help budget someone’s money. It’s completely free.

Panda Budget: Free Budget Tool for GPT Readers

Panda Budget: Free Budget Tool for GPT Readers

PandaBudget is a simple budget program that can help you allocate your money.

  • Create/edit monthly expenses
  • Label expenses as critical (Rent/Food), important (Car payments), or luxuries (Cable TV)
  • Note your bills as paid

Who is This For: Anyone wanting a simple budgeting tool for free (like a college student).

Who is This Not For: Someone who is looking for a A-Z program to track their budget, investments, and net worth. I would love to suggest that you try out Quicken or Mint for your needs.

System Requirements

  • .NET framework if you’re running Windows XP or
  • Windows Vista/ Windows 7
  • Use Mono if you’re running Linux or a Mac

Feedback

This is a huge part of the software as my husband would love to make a more useful tool for people. Please send your feedback on what you like and what you would want from the software.

Download Panda Budget

Way2Save Wachovia Savings Account

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 28, 2009 (9:11 am)

Last week week I signed up for Wachovia’s Way2 Save  program to try and stow away some money at a higher rate than ING Direct.  I can save some money at 5% APY and receive a bonus from the bank on my anniversary day. It’s been saving mode here at home and I want to sock away as much as possible. My temporary job is over and we managed to deposit $1,650 away in our joint savings.

We’re proud of it, but we’re hoping to build it up more by year’s end.

What are the Way2Save?

There are three ways to get money into my Way2Save account:

  • Use my Wachovia Check Card for purchases
  • Use Wachovia’s Online Bill Pay
  • Make automatic payments

Wachovia moves $1 from your checking to your savings whenever you use the bill payment service and use the debit card. You can also set up an automatic monthly deposit up to $100.

Since I use online bill pay, I thought this would be an easy way for me to deposit money into the account. If I set up some automatic transfers that would help build up the emergency fund savings just a little bit more.

What’s a Good Way2Save?

Of course, I’m just as I’m feeling good about joining this program, I catch a tweet from Consumerist today about Wachovia’s program. Someone used the basic rules to see if they could deposit more by sending several small payments. Instead it backfired and she ended up with $5,000  to pay.

Well, I’m not going to focus on using bill pay for deposits. I’ll stick with automatic deposits.

Photo Credit: Neubie

If A Panda Didn’t Look Like A Panda, Would The World Still Care?

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 27, 2009 (8:24 am)

Today’s guest post is a repost from a personal blogger that you may enjoy. Financial Samurai can be found at Financial Samurai where he’s busy slicing through money’s mysteries.  He believes in achieving financial independence sooner rather than later.  You can find him on Twitter @FinancialSamura and subscribe to his RSS feed.

There is current controversy stirring because a British Conservationist believes we should let pandas go extinct and “put them out of their misery” because they are “stupid” and possess poor survival skills.  My question is, if the Panda looked like Golem from Lord of The Rings, would there still be an uproar?  The Black Rhino and Beluga Sturgeon are equally as endangered but you never hear about them.

I was at an MBA recruiting fair the other day and I noticed several of my fellow corporate representatives spend a disproportionately longer time with one particular candidate.  Where average conversations last 3 minutes, conversations with this one candidate would last 10+ minutes.  Coincidence this candidate was probably the most physically attractive person there?  I don’t think so.

STUDIES SAY

According to a study released in 2005 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, “beautiful” people tend to earn 5 percent more an hour than people who look like me.  Economists also found that women considered obese in terms of their body mass index (BMI) in both 1981 and 1988 earned 17 percent less than women within their recommended BMI range.  Short men also are disadvantaged by 3% vs. their taller counter parts as well.

Whether we like it or not, better looking people have an advantage over normal looking people with all things being equal.  If you had a 5% advantage over the house, you could literally bankrupt any major Vegas casino. In fact, as one who’s studied publicly traded gambling companies such as Wynn and Las Vegas Sands, any customer win percentage greater than 3% leads to massive losses for the quarter.

WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?

We shouldn’t hate good looking people for being beautiful.  After all, looks are an exogenous variable that nobody can control.  Instead, we need to accept our attributes and improve on what we have, the endogenous variables if you will.

1) Work out. If you wanted to lose the spare tire, you know you can.  Just look at all the contestants on “The Biggest Loser.”  They all lost at least 30% of their body weight after 3 months!

2) Eat right. Donut, latte, ice cream, pizza say goodbye.  More than working out, eating right is the most effective way to lose weight.  See “Losing Your Way To More Money.”

3) Groom. Wash your face, pop your zits, smell nice, get a tight haircut or professional style, and make sure there is no broccoli in your teeth.  Ask one of your closest friends or family members to give you an honest opinion of how you look.

4) Invest in a modern wardrobe. You need an outfit that blends in with your manager or potential employer. Wear nice shoes too. There’s something about a beautiful pair of shoes for both men and women, that just stands out and says success.  Women love to check out guys shoes, as well as other women’s shoes.  Feet are our foundation, strap some nice leather on them.  Looking the part lets you earn the part!

5) Keep your hands dry. Sweaty palms really leave an impression; a bad, sickly, clammy impression!  Hence keep a small towel in your pocket to dry off your hands right before you’re about to shake.  Some talcum or baby powder in the other pocket works well too!

CONCLUSION

Life isn’t fair, but unattractive people have a tremendous advantage over beautiful people. Attractive people can’t get that much better looking, but we can!  Why do you think the “ugly duckling formula” in movies always works so well?  Let’s use our comeliness to our advantage and wow our colleagues.  From every line of work, you will find very successful not so attractive people.  Perez Hilton, celebrity Blogger is a great example and blogging phenom.  Not that attractive,  he decided to do something about it and lost 40 pounds.  We’ve been so used to his sloppiness, he now looks relatively handsome with his new weight and threads!

Since the original thesis is that better looking people earn more, we rationally should want to look better, and we can!  Let’s not let the beautiful people beat us out on things we equally deserve!  Unattractive people of the world unite!

Weekly Round-Up: Runaway Cat

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 24, 2009 (6:50 pm)

Yeah, last Friday our cat ran away. He’s never done this and I was scared that he’d get hit by a car. The good news is that he’s now back in the apartment and he’s alright. Thanks to my sweet husband and all the help from my Twitter buddies. We had search around the apartment complex for days and nights, hoping to spot him. I contacted SPCA and my county’s animal shelter that he was lost and visited them to see if he was taken in. I placed a post on Craigslist and posted flyers.

How did we catch him? We used a humane trap and followed some tips we found and heard from others. Centsible Life offered a helpful advice on Twitter. She told me to leave out his litter box out. I did so and included some of his favorite wet food. The next morning he was there waiting for us.

Enough with my week, here are some carnivals and posts I enjoyed and wanted to share.

Personal Finance Carnivals

Top Personal Finance Posts:

Have a great weekend!

¤¤Quicken 2010 Home and Business Review¤¤

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 23, 2009 (7:50 am)

I received Quicken 2010 Home and Business in the mail last week to review. I have moved over our finances over to test it out and look at the features it offers. I had used Quicken 2006 Home and Business, so I was especially curious to see what has changed with Quicken’s new release.

With Microsoft Money no longer an option, finding a program that can handle all of your finances is a big deal. Matt Krantz recently looked at the Quicken 2010 from the perspective of a MS Money user. I think he made a good case for the switch.

What are the features of different Quicken 2010 versions?

While I’m reviewing the Home and Business edition, there are other editions that may be a better fit for your finances. Here is a chart to give an idea of the features each addition have.

Quicken 2010 Edition Starter Edition Deluxe Premier Home & Business
GET ORGANIZED
Step by Step Guidance X X X X
Bank and Credit Card Accounts in 1 place X X X X
Import Data from Financial Institution X X X X
Automatically categorizes expenses X X X X
Bill Alerts to help avoid late fees X X X X
Schedule recurring and upcoming bills to show impact to income X X X X
SAVINGS/DEBT REDUCTION GOALS
Import from all versions of Quicken X X X
Investment Accounts, 401(k), IRA, 529, bank, credit cards, etc. X X X
Create a Debt Reduction Plan X X X
Retirement Savings Tools X X X
Create Savings Plans for college, house or other purchases X X X
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT & TAX PLANNING
Consolidate All investment accounts in one place X X
Comprehensive investing, planning and savings tools X X
Morningstar Ratings for mutual funds to help make informed decisions X X
Track cost basis and estimate capital gains to help minimize taxes X X
Show changes in assets, liabilities and net worth X X
MANAGE YOUR BUSINESS
Auto categorization of Business or Personal Expenses X
Show your Business Profit or Loss X
Run Schedule C Reports to ease Tax Preparation X
Highlights tax-deductible business expenses X
Create invoices and estimates X

Registering For Quicken 2010

Before using the software, you are required to register with Intuit. It took a minute to fill out and it was done. I was able to immediately get started with the program.

As you get started with the program, Quicken gives you estimates with how long it will take. It’s nice touch for those who are time sensitive.

It's 3 steps to see where your money is going with Quicken 2010.

It's 3 steps to see where your money is going with Quicken 2010.

Downloading Our Bank Data

One concern for me was the direct download. While I love having Quicken automatically grab my data, I had been burned by Wachovia with a fee for this privilege. I’d love for Wachovia to drop this charge.

I just download from Wachovia my data and it was fine. I also went ahead and got our finances from ING Direct added easily. It was such a painless process and Quicken did a get job organizing most of the categories correctly for our transactions.

Features I Enjoy With Quicken

Financial calendar. I found this tool surprisingly useful as you can quickly see the cash flow of your finances. As expected I eat out more than I thought for lunch, but the amounts are still within my budget. I think if you are having difficulty keeping a spending journal, this can help a bit.

Setting up a budget. Speaking of which, after you examined your spending habits, Quicken can help you create a workable budget based on the data collected.

Tax planning. Since Quicken is owned by the same people (Intuit) as TurboTax, there is a seamless way to import that information come tax time.

Organize your investments. I’m excited that Quicken 2010 can analyze our portfolios’ asset allocation and estimate capital gains.

Helpful for tax planning. Since Quicken is owned by the same people (Intuit) as TurboTax, there is a seamless way to import that information come tax time.

Organize your investments. I’m excited that Quicken 2010 can analyze our portfolios’ asset allocation and estimate capital gains.

Ideal Quicken User

I think Quicken is best described as a swiss army knife. It has many features and can be used for tracking all of your personal finances. If you have a side business, I really think this program can be helpful for you to keep on top of your business and personal finances.

If you only want the basics, like an online register  of transaction you can try out Mint.com, which was bought by Intuit or you can use Quicken Online. Both are free options.

How Much for Quicken 2010?

I know that this question is on your mind. Here are the prices currently for Quicken 2010 as well as a free option.

Other Quicken 2010 Reviews

If you want to see some other bloggers’ reviews for Quicken to help you, check out the links below:

I’ll update this review as I use the program more to point out some pros and cons.

Money Hacks Carnival #87

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 21, 2009 (7:35 am)

Welcome to the 87th edition of the Money Hacks Carnival. Today’s blog Carnival has a lot of helpful tips and personal lessons learned for people looking for personal finance information in topics from investing, money management, and being frugal.

Editor’s Choice

I really enjoyed these posts and think that they offer some practical tips for many people.

Banking and Money Management

Planning ahead is a way to have more control over your future.When managing your money, you need a cool head and a strategy.

Investing

Smart people ask questions and financial geniuses apply the answer. Learn to be proactive and successful with your investing.

Getting a Good Deal

Don’t deny the fears, habits,and goals you have with money. Look for ways to get a good deal with what you have.

Credit Cards

Frugality & Saving Money

Keep more of your cash in your pocket by watching where you spend.Spend on what you love and be thrifty on what doesn’t matter.

I hope you enjoy the Carnival today. Next week’s host is Amateur Asset Allocator!

Photo Credit: {meagen}

Beware of Modeling Scams

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 19, 2009 (1:18 pm)

I just had a young friend ‘discovered’ by a modeling agency at the mall. They wanted her to pay money for photos, but after they balked at amount, the studio lowered it substantially. I warned them to check  with the Better Business Bureau on the company, but they are convinced it’s legit and don’t need to check.

I hate to see this being a scam, but I’m not sure this will work out. Some models and actors have been discovered while going about their day to day business, but this is the exception, not the rule. The majority of models and actors have to work hard to get noticed and have to deal with rejections before they get a break.

Look out for modeling scams with photoshoots.

Look out for modeling scams with photoshoots.

If you’re looking at becoming a model or an actress, read up all you can on the scams in the industry to avoid being ripped off.

Modeling Scammers Will Say Anything to Get Your Money

The FTC has some information on what many scammers say to potential victims.

  • “We’re scouting for people with your ‘look’ to model and act.”
    I need to sign up as many people as possible. My commission depends on it.
  • “Your deposit is totally refundable.”
    Your deposit is refundable only if you meet very strict refund conditions.
  • “You must be specially selected for our program. Our talent experts will carefully evaluate your chances at success in the field and will only accept a few people into our program.”
    We take almost everyone.
  • “There’s a guaranteed refund if you’re not accepted into the program.”
    Everyone’s accepted into the program. Forget the refund.
  • “You can’t afford our fees? No problem. You can work them off with the high-paying jobs we’ll get you.”
    We demand payment, whether or not you get work.
  • “Commissions from our clients are our major source of income.”
    Our income comes from the fees we charge you.

When you are at the agency, ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask, especially if they are asking for your money.

    What to Look Out For with Modeling Scams

    Being informed about the modeling industry is your best defense. Check with your local Better Business Bureau about the company to see if there are any issues. Look at their successful clients and check to see if their claims are legit.

    If you have to pay fees upfront for photos and have no guarantee of getting work, walk away. If they insist on a photographer, that is a warning sign. Shop around and compare rates with local photographers if you want to get a portfolio. They may offer a free photo shoot, but you have to pay for professional make-up for the photographs. Be leery of the arrangement and walk away. Remember, if they can’t make enough from from modeling to avoid charging upfront fees, how can you make enough?

    If they only accept cash or money orders for payment, walk away. Having a trail may be needed later if you are scammed. Never sign contracts until you have reviewed them. Tell them you would like to review the paperwork with your lawyer or take them home for at least 24 hours and see their reaction. Legit businesses understand that you need to check.

    Filing Complaints

    If you’ve think you’ve been scammed, please contact your local Better Business Bureau or state Attorney General.

    Hard work and talent can pay off. It’s not easy, but it is the most reliable way to be successful. Like anything, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

    Photo Credit: Latente

Weekly Round-up: Socking Money Away

By: Green Panda | Date posted: October 17, 2009 (9:00 am)

I received my second paycheck from the temporary job.  The goal is dump as much as we can into savings to build up our emergency fund. After taxes were taken out, I received $719.17 for take home pay. Out of this paycheck, 76% or $550 will be go towards savings.  I just created another automatic transfer to ensure it gets done. If I even wait, I can sometimes come up with excuses with the cash.

A portion of the money is being redirected towards my savings for his anniversary gift. Not saying what it is, but I will start calling places in the next few weeks to update prices on it.

Personal Finance Carnivals

Top Personal Finance Posts This Week

This blog uses the cross-linker plugin developed by Web-Developers.Net