Your Finances - In Mint Condition

I so wish I new about this site a year or two ago. You all have to not just visit but sign up on Mint.com. As they describe themselves it is a free personal finance software.

It aggregates all your accounts into one site and helps you to analyze your spend and savings however you want to slice it and dice it - no more saving receipts and organizing into excel.

Now you maybe thinking how can this site know all of your business. Think of it as the organizer to all the log-ins of your online accounts. From credit cards to student loans to even car payments and Roth IRAs, you sign in all your log-ins so that when you log in to mint.com account it pulls all those other log ins. Your net worth is calculated in seconds.

As a user for the past month, I am blown away by this site. It definitely made it clear how much I shopped at Target *sigh*

Give it a try and let us know what you think. There is no reason to not continue in your healthy finances 2009 resolution.

Happy Savings!

Investment Time - A Market Advantage

If you have a Roth IRA; IRA; 401K or any mutual fund investment you may have noticed in your most recent statement a 30%+ drop....yes I know it hurts soo bad:(

Looking at my statement I had to place a call to my Roth IRA provider - the lovely Fidelity - and with their 24/7 service I was able to get some guidance; in addition to research and recent conversations I had with trusted financial sources.

One thing I realized is that if you have the money this is the time to buy more shares of your investments funds. We must not look at it as dollars but as shares. Some funds are running low in the $5 - $7/share range. This made me recall the time I bought Bear Sterns at $5 a share when they were going through their stuff and when they were bought the stock rose to $10 and I made a few dollars.

If you are saving in these investment funds for retirement or major life purchases like a home, you have time so go ahead and purchase. Fellow blogger WellHeeled made a good point of this in her Shares, Not Dollars article.

Free Suze Orman Book

Suze did it again, she is offering one of her books for free but of course it is in the form of a PDF.

The below image has the info go to Oprah.com for the free download. This is a great way to start planning your finances for the new year.

A $plendid Call To Make

It's the New Year and as creatures of habit we are setting plans for our '09 resolutions and goals.

Well after the ball dropped in Times Square and a day of rest I decided to open up my wallet and call all my credit cards to see if they will entertain a lower interest rate...

guess what????

THEY DID!!!

So as fashionistas and lifestyle trendsetters (and sometimes followers) add this to your savvy: Call you credit card companies and see what they will do for you - it can't make things worst but only better.

Good Luck!

Track Your Stimulus Payment

I just learned that you can track your IRS Stimulus Payment online. Many of you are probably wondering "where is my money?" Click here to begin tracking. Don't panic if it says "Sorry, no information available" because my understanding is the IRS is quite behind.

Cool Financial Tool

I just got this link via one of my favorite daily e-newsletters - Thrillist. The DollarTimes calculator helps you determine when you will be a millionaire depending on current savings, monthly contributions and your current rate of return.

For anyone that took accounting in college you may recall do a similar exercise where if you were to contribute about $85 a month starting at age 22 to an account with an average return of 10% you will have a million by your mid 40s. Basically it is not how much you save but when you start to save.

So get your save on!

Ends Tomorrow 3.31 - No Min MMDA - A Must Do

Let's talk money quickly, efficiently and effectively!

I wish I knew of this weeks ago, but we can't change the past and can only move forward. Suze Orman has teamed up with TD Ameritrade to offer a Money Market Deposit Accounts (MMDA) known as the Save Yourself Plan with no minimum deposit requirement - well sort of. Here is why and how to do it:



Why/Explanation of MMDA:
- A high-yield FDIC insured savings account that has less administrative fees, but is less liquid than a regular savings accounts, meaning there is a limit to how many checks/withdrawals can be made from the account.


- A great way to save money that you don't want to be tempted to touch. Maybe it is for an emergency account that is 3 months worth of your regular expenses in case something happens; saving for a new car or for a trip with friends overseas.



How To:
It is GREAT news and HUGE opportunity that Suze Orman and TD Ameritrade teamed up for this offer. Almost all, at least all of MMDA's I have seen, require a minimum deposit to open an account. Sometimes $500 but usually $1K or more. Why? Because MMDAs are designed for those that have substantial money in their savings account, and can put their money in a higher yielding (a higher interest rate) account to make more money.



Important Notes:
- No minimum deposit is necessary to open a Save Yourself Plan account, but you have to setup an automatic deposit for at least $50 a month. The first $50 has to be made within 30 days of opening the account - which is not bad at all.
- The GOOD CATCH is that after 12 consecutive months of deposits TD Ameritrade will deposit $100 into your account.



Additional Details:
- I did some research on BankRate.com and the MMDA yield ranged from 1.25% to 3.30% so TD Ameritrade's current 2.78% as of February 1st is on the higher end.
- You will get regular emails form Suze Orman to encourage you on your saving endeavours along the way.



Very Important:
- You need a code inside her book to get started, but of course I googled and found it. It is 701


This is a great way to open an MMDA without having to wait until you have $2,500 on hand.
Definitely take advantage of this offer you only have a day left to do so!

Tax Time Freebies

It is about a month before taxes need to be filed in time for the April 15th deadline.

This may not be applicable to you all, but do remember that there are quite a number of online tax filing services - free of charge - based on your state and gross income.

You can learn more about them here.

For those of you that didn't have any unique situations during 2007 that requires a tax genius, try one of these sites for a free and quick tax return (that is if you are getting dollars back). Myself and several friends have used TaxAct over the years and it has been great. I definitely suggest, but once again only if your tax issues are not complicated.

Random but related note about Exemption/Allowances:

This topic keeps coming up in conversations these days. When you were hired and you filled out the W4 form and answered a couple questions with a "1" or "0" which you then totalled. Some of you single folks may have been told to put "0" while others followed directions and had a total of "2". So the number basically means how much taxes will be taken out per paycheck. It is legal to put "0" even if your total is not. You end up paying more taxes per check with a better chance of getting a tax refund. The higher that number on the W4 is the less taxes you pay per check and the result can be getting little to no refund to having to pay the government back.

Free Light Bulbs = Lowered Electric Bill

Everyone is trying to do their part for the environment, and doing so can also make your bank account happy too.

Make sure to take advantage of ConEd’s Lighting Express Program. They are working with the department of Quality Conservation Services (private contractors) to install energy efficient light bulbs – FOR FREE – in homes of qualified neighborhoods.

To find out if your residence qualifies call 866-364-8269. Simply give them your zip code and street address and in seconds you will know.

Learn more here

Suze Orman's Book - Free on Orpah.com til 2/14 8PM

Hey Everyone,
As much as we love to all shop and have nice things and to wine and dine at cool places, we have to also be mindful of our financial health for the present and the future. I just got an email about Suze Orman's book Women & Money and that it is free on Oprah.com til 8PM 2/14. What a loving gift. Do keep in mind that "free" here means that you can download the PDF version and go from there.

Personally, I wish they giving away the paperback version. The good side of it is you can check out the table of content and print out what you are interested and read in sections.

Click here for the PDF link. If that link becomes an issue click here for location on Oprah's site.

Cool Personal Finance Web Tool

When your finances are staring you in the face, you can't ignore it.

It's safe to assume that one of your top resolutions for this year, which is probably a carry-over from last year, is getting your finances to the point to achieve goals like buying a car, purchasing a home, paying off student loans or taking a trip overseas.

While reading through a ton of mags over the holidays, I just learned of this cool site: Wesabe

The site's description:

Wesabe is a community site that makes managing your money easy. Enjoy secure access to all your accounts, painless tools for taking control of your money and reaching your goals, and members’ tips and discussions to help you find the best values.

It's a pretty neat tool that let's you upload bank or credit card accounts to see everything one time on one page, BUT you also set financial goals. Based on your goals and on the type of transactions you make it gives you tips from other users; don't panic no one can see your account info.

Think of this as social network like citysearch/yelp meets financial savvy-ness.

If you are worried about the security of your accounts, the site boasts making that a top priority. The way I look at it too if you have proper protection on your cards and FDIC insured...you should be just fine.

A Must-Read - Increase Your Financial Savvy

We all work for corporate companies and maybe non-profit organizations. Whatever you do there is a financial side that you should not ignore. Your work affects it just as much as it affects you.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been reading the book Financial Intelligence and it is a must read. You don't have to be a wizard on accounting or even have experience in the financial world. It is designed for anyone, regardless of your job role, who wants to be smarter of what the number mean.

It is the easiest financial read I have come across. It breaks down everything in layman terms and ties in the importance of understanding certain terms and concepts. Even the book layout and text size is pleasant to the eye.

Please read this, it will definitely increase your career success as you would understand you boss and your boss's boss concerns.

Check it out on Amazon.com and also read the free excerpt too.

By the name it is totally applicable to your personal life too.

Volatile Markets - Part 1

I used to watch CNBC in awe, hoping that one day I could sit back and kick up my feet while a stock market correspondent gushed over an investment direction that I took advantage of. However, I didn't understand what they said 80% of the time. My next move was to get a savvy financial advisor to help me make those decisions, so I called up my local top investment bank (TIB):

True Story

KC: "Hi, I'm looking for a financial advisor to help me build a portfolio."
TIB: "Great! We can set you up with someone. How much are you looking to invest? "
KC: "500."
TIB: "500 thousand?"
KC: "No, 500 dollars."
TIB: "Ummmm.....well...how about you just check our website. *CLICK*"

I knew then at that moment that I either need to hit the lottery or teach myself how make a $1 out of .15 cents. With the help of money conscious friends, I created a very rewarding investment portfolio with very little overhead costs. With a little patience so can you! Here are the steps I took:

1. Learn what Stocks, Bonds, Indices, Mutual Funds and ETFs are. A well balanced, or diversified, portfolio should have a mixture of these easy to attain investments. Some investments are riskier than others, so don't put all your eggs in one basket!
   
2. Get free trustworthy investment help. You wouldn't let the cable guy give you plumbing advice so don't let just anyone advise your investment direction. There are plenty of paid professionals out there who get paid to write articles about investing - consult them before you listen to ole' Uncle Jim. I am a Motley Fool fan. Their advice led me to pick a super hot stock with over a 18% return on investment in the past year. That is 3 times the return of a 5% CD!
   
3. Get an online broker. Low fees and a low investment minimum is what you are looking for. For your first time around, you just want to dabble with a few bucks to get the hang of it. My broker is ShareBuilder.com because there are no minimums, no account fees, and trades are as little a $4 each! You can purchase Goverment securities straight from the government at TreasuryDirect.gov.
4. You are looking for growth over time. Don't get so impressed when you see a stock who has gone up $50 per share in a year. If the stock costs $10,000 p/s then that's only a 0.5% increase. Now if the stock was $25 per share, then that's a 200% increase!!! Check out the stock's 52 week performance on Yahoo! or Google Finance.
5. Never stop learning!
   

Make a hobby out of it. That is the best way to get going with out getting overwhelmed. Also, find a money buddy who is willing learn with you and share experiences. Can't find one?? Shoot me an email, I could gab about this all day ;-)

The best part is, the next time you're at a cocktail party and people start talking about the volatile market, you can wow them and say: "I took advantage of market speculation and bought low. However, I did hedge my risk by selling several commodities."

Rule #72 - A Financial Lesson

Here is a simple financial rule to add to your knowledge bank. It is the Rule of 72. It is a way to calculate compound interest in a nice easy estimated way.

All the rule does it help you determine the number of years needed to double your money at a given interest rate. So if you have saving account and the current balance is $3,500 at an interest rate of 3% this rule will let you know how long it will take to get to $7,000 (minus the deposits you will be making during that time).

Formula: 72 divided by the interest rate = number of years to double.

Or just go here and use a Rule of 72 calculator.

- Because there is nothing worst than a broke savvy lady:(