Link up!

If you want to have a link to your blog just post a comment with your blog's address, and a short summary. Add a link to my site on your blog and I'll do the same.

Save time and money travelling

Save time and money while travelling with EZPass. If you travel on tollroads anywhere in the tri-state area, make sure you aren't stuck in traffic at the tollbooth. Pick up an EZPass transmitter for your car and breeze through while picking up a nice discount on some tolls.

Save money on prescription medications

Here's a quick and easy way to save money on any prescription medications that you take. Check for a mail order service that works with you health care plan. I recently enrolled in a mail order prescription plan and it will save about $100 per year. Depending on what medications you take, this could really add up, especially for those who take medications regularly. Also see if you can get the generic form of your medication, this will also save you a bundle of money. Generic medications cost considerably less than name brand drugs ask your Doctor.

How to create a high traffic website

If you build it, they will come...If you build a great site, visitors will flock to it. Sounds simple enough, but why do some people have trouble doing this. The key to any good informational site is CONTENT. Let me repeat the statement made many times before CONTENT is KING. Therefore if you want to increase the number of readers and visitors to your website, get a higher page rank, get a higher ranking in search engines, build a quality site, with excellent information that is valuable to those who come to visit. If your looks great, but has poor content, you are out of luck. It is better to provide good information than to have a fancy looking website in my opinion. In order to reach and teach more people about personal finance, tricks and tips to cut down costs and save for the future, I am determined to give you exactly what you want, current, useful information that will help you save money and hopefully help you to live a better more financially sound life. My goal is to provide readers with a unique experience. Here you will find many articles on a variety of financial subjects, take your time and look around, save this site and return often for updates. Enjoy

Budgeting Basics - Where does your money go?

This article is sponsored by www.YouNeedABudget.com

If you don't have a budget, get one today. Plan it out and put it into practice. A good start is to keep track of all your purchases. One easy way to do this is to keep all of your reciepts for one month. Create categories into which you can easily separate your reciepts such as: rent, utilities, phone, cable, food, entertainment etc. You can divide them up more if you wish. Then once you have an idea of where your money is going - you can decide were you can tighten up your finances. For example: if you notice that your cell phone bill is seriously out of control (because of talking over the amount of minutes you have) consider upgrading your plan to allow for more minutes or changing to a company that allows unlimited minutes. Keep a record of your total expenses, and income monthly, and review your purchases. Figure out an average for each category you spend money on. Your monthly income should be greater than your expenses or your headed to Brokeville on a Red Line Bus. There is a lot of budgeting software available most programs such as Microsoft Money and Quicken include budgeting tools. Get your finances under control. An excellent link to budgeting is here at www.CNNMoney.com
Another great site with a lot of information about budgeting is www.YouNeedABudget.com

Best Personal Finance Books

What are the best books on personal finance/ saving/ investing/ increasing net worth that you have read? I've read a bunch of books on money including: The Millionaire Mind, The Millionaire Next Door, both by Thomas J. Stanley, How to Retire With a Million Dollars by Elaine Zimmerman, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Retire Young, Retire Rich, both by Robert Kiyosaki, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing by Kennenth M. Morris and Virginia B. Morris. If I had to recommend one or two they would be:

1. The Millionaire Next Door

2. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanting Money & Investing

These two books will get you off to a good start, and as I find out more about Robert Kiyosaki, I would advise to be careful when reading his books, don't blindly accept everything he says as absolute truth.

Caveat emptor - Let the buyer beware!

There are a lot of shaddy people out there. It is easy to get intrigued by tall tales spun by ads over the internet. Remember, there are two types of people: those you who are honest and genuinely want to help you, and those who are only after your hard earned cash. It is difficult to research who to trust, because many top level scams develop "review websites" which recommend their products. Be careful anytime you see a webpage with pop-ups to collect your personal information - ie. name, email address, etc. It is important to protect your personal information and keep it safe from theives. I recently read an article about a Web cafe in Africa where a group of teenager hackers work 24/7 stealing people's identities, rack up huge bigs and ship goods to store houses to make money on the black market. Again, be careful. Make sure you are on a secure server, that your browser has strong encryption for any banking you do online. Don't get sucked in by lies, just because you see a video of a someone stating they made 1,000,000 dollars in the past week doing practically nothing online doesn't mean that this is true. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware!

Is the stock market headed for a crash?

In the next few years the baby boomers will be retiring. This is a very important fact to know, considering they make up a large portion of the population. How could this effect our economy. Baby boomers have a large amount of money invested in the stock market and when they start to sell their holdings - WATCH OUT! I believe that this will have a negative effect on our economy.

Donald Trump has opened his own University

Donald Trump has gotten a lot of face time on TV ever since "The Apprentice" hit the airwaves. I liked the first two seasons but have really lost interest since then. The show does have some good information for those who want to make it in the business world. Just look at the companies who partner up with "The Apprentice" just for advertising purposes - Sony, Xbox, Cadillac etc. I recently read that Trump the real estate mogul has just opened his own university. Check out TRUMP UNIVERSITY for yourself. Donald Trump shares his knowledge and secrets of success with anyone who is interested. In Trump's words "this is HUGE"

Do you have what it takes to build a billion dollar business

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When I read that 9 in 10 business end in failure, I thought that the odds of starting a successful business were not in my favor. After a lot of thought I realized that 10% odds are really not that bad considering the odds of winning a million dollars in the lottery are about 1 in a 50 million, in fact you have better odds of getting struck by lighting (1 in 600,000). Why then do not more people start their own businesses? Reasons or excuses I can think of: it's too much work, it's too risky, I'm not smart enough, why should I start my own business? I already have a stable job, laziness, I don't have enough time (but I always have time to watch American Idol every week). I will try to start one business a month for the rest of the year. So I'll need to start 8 new businesses by the end of 2006. I know that I have a good chance of failing at first, but with great failure can come great learning. Hopefully the practice of starting new businesses will help my learn what works and what does not work. I'll be brainstorming and posting ideas. I've been doing some reading about new Billion Dollar businesses on CNN Money If you already have your own business take the test to see if you have what it takes for your business to break the billion dollar mark. The Billion Dollar Business Quiz Anyone else out there start their own business?

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Get rich quick versus getting rich slow

I don't trust get rich quick schemes. People claiming they make thousands of dollars a day, no experience necessary, etc. But what is the alternative? Getting rich slowly. Is this really the way you want to do it? Save and save and save until retirement. That does not seem like any fun. Where is the happy medium between the two? Is it possible to become wealthy over a short span of 10 or 20 years, without saving every penny you earn? I believe the answer is in creating passive income. I've been reading a lot of Rich Dad, Poor Dad books recently and the term assest is starting to make some sense. Things that create a positive cashflow include: starting a successful business, writing a book, copywriting information, creating intellectual property, tenants, inventions etc. I will motivate as much of my free time to these pursuits

Real Estate - safe, secure, steady money

Real Estate can be a great assest if you're smart. If you know what to buy and when to sell, you can easily be raking in the cash. To start out in real estate you need some capital (money) in order to buy some land, or houses, or developments, or office buildings. The keys to real estate are location, market, and development. If you have little money, start out small, make do with what you got. If you get into the right markets at the right time you can trade your way up. I recently read "How to Retire with a Million Dollars" by Elaine Zimmermann which is a step by step guide to using real estate, and tenants to build your wealth and add to your assets. Check out Money Magazine
For the hot markets. They highlight Florida, Washington, and Arizona.

Wouldn't it be nice to trade Trash for Cash?

This article is sponsored by eBay!


We have all seen TV shows like Clean Sweep on TLC where a couple holds a large garage sale and nets a cool $1000 in after a day of furious selling. We have all heard of the strange items that people are able to sell on eBay! , but now I want you to think bigger, dirtier, more globally. I recently read a very interesting article on CNNMoney about a business grossing over 70 million dollars a year selling salvaged materials (fancy word for junk). Dubbed as a "digital dump" by Fortune Small Business the company SalvageSale is really proving the saying 'one man's garbage is another man's treasure." Another company with has cashed in on the JUNK business is a Canadian based company that specializes in junk removal. Call them up at 1 800 Got Junk if you need some trash taken away. Last year Got Junk got 67 million dollars for hauling and is well on its way to breaking the 1 Billion dollar mark, due to it's exponential growth.

The basics for beginners - MONEY 101

If this is your first time visiting this page and you don't have a lot of knowledge about money then this is a good place to start. If you consider yourself intermediate to advanced skip this post and scroll down to find more advanced subjects. You came here because you would like to have a million dollars. First you need to know some of the basics. CNN Money has a great article that can get you on the right track. Here's the link http://money.cnn.com/pf/101/index.html Add this site to your favorites if you are interested in increasing your net worth, I update frequently, and there is a lot of information here.

3 Recent thought provoking MONEY movies

Over the past few months I saw a few interesting movies in which large quanities of money payed a major role. I would recommend any of these movies. All three illustrate the evil and corruption that large amounts of money can create in individuals, companies, and governments.

1. Lord of War - starring Nicholas Cage as an arms dealer. He trading arms for cash and diamonds from Africa
2. The Constant Gardener - starring Ralph Fiennes. Phamacutical companies looking to profit on fear, testing drugs on humans in Africa
3. Syriana - starring George Clooney. About the Middle East, government corrruption, and oil companies.

Be Assertive and Get Your Money's Worth

A few days ago a great thing happened to me. I was trying to tighten the handle to the shower (because it was leaking) and the handle broke off. This isn't the great part. I was angry and frustrated, and began cursing immediately after I realized that I broke off a plastic part insight of the handle. I got in my car and drove to Home Depot, because there was no way I was gonna pay for a plumber for this easy fix. Well, to my dismay I found out the the part was not in stock and the line of products had been discontinued. Then I got on my computer to look for parts, I found a wholesale store selling a total replacement shower for $179 (argh!). Then I found the website for Sterling, which is now Kohler. I found the customer service number and gave them a call. I explained my situation to the represenative and she agreed to send me the replacement part for free. Three days later I received the part in the mail and I was able to fix my shower handle for free - horray. You don't realize how important things are until they are broken. The take home lesson: it is important to be assertive with big companies, call their customer service lines, where "every call is recorded and monitored for your protection". Most of the time they will do anything within their power to help you, that's there job providing the customer {YOU} with service. This of course depends if you actually have the pleasure of speaking with a real person rather than selecting you way through 25 different electronic option menus and then being put on hold. Don't lose hope, be patient, be assertive, and get your money's worth.

To reach your goal of making a million dollars, you must stay laser focused

The only way to reach a goal is to continue to work hard with determination and tenacity until you reach it. Think of it as a race, the faster you run (the more money you save and invest) the quicker you reach the finish (the quicker you have a million dollars). Pace yourself, we learned from Aesop that slow and steady wins the race. Don't sprint for a week and give up because you are tired, stick with it. Find a pace a saving consistently that you can stick to. Start out with a small percentage of your income and increase it gradually as you able. It is not as important to sock away $4000 dollars one day, but rather more important that you make saving and investing a regular habit. It should become just another thing that you add to your daily routine, saving money can and will become as easy as getting dressed and shaving. Again I caution against being sporadic, stay focused on your goal, whatever it may be - getting out of debt, saving for retirement, paying for you kid's college education, or starting your own business. Write down that goal and place it where you will see it everyday. Post it on the refridgerator, post it on your bathroom mirror, it will be a constant reminder of what you want to accomplish. It is always easier to strive for things we can visually see. Visualize yourself once you reach your goal, think of the satisfaction and joy that you will feel. Stay laser-focused, eyes on the prize. Dangle that carrot just out of your grasp so you stay determined and stay the course. If you find yourself losing motivation, talk with others with similar goals, share your thoughts and feelings. Communicating with people who have similar goals will pick you up and help you learn ways to deal with stress and overcome obstacles. Never give up, never say die, take action and do it. There are no excuses, if you want to become wealthy, stop wishing and start getting rich. It is not impossible, anyone can do it, all you need is a little know how, and a lot of determination.

Interest Rates on the Rise Again - What does this mean?

Check out the article at www.cnnmoney.com for the whole story, but here's a quick summary.
At 2:40 pm today, the Federal Reserve raised it's short term interest rates 1/4 of point to 5%. Now what does this mean. The Federal rate has effects on the amount we pay on loans, credit cards, and home equity lines of credit. The Fed raises the rate to keep inflation down, but when rates are too high this can hurt the economy.

For example today you can get a loan for about 7% interest, if the Fed continues to raise interest rates 6 months from now you may be able to get the same exact loan for about 13% interest. Fewer people take out loans, fewer people purchase and consume etc. This is why it is important to lock in a low interest rate when you are getting a mortgage. If you don't get a low rate you end up paying thousands of dollars more and have to wait for interest rates to drop before refinancing.

Help yourself with taxes, get a CPA

If you are determined to be wealthy, then take every advantage you can by hiring a professional. If you are not well-versed in tax law, pay for someone who is. A good CPA is hard to find, but it is possible. Different CPA's specialize in a variety of areas including - small businesses, corporations, etc. Make sure you find someone who is a good fit for you. Ask for recommends from your lawyer, or financial advisor. Check the CPA's credentials, ask him about his experience. The best CPA's are usually retired IRS employees, they know the tax codes and laws inside and out.

Best Websites for Money and Personal Finance

1. Kiplinger's Personal Finance website provides tons of excellent information for those who are interested in putting their money to work. Check it out here - http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/
2. Another great site with a variety of topics is www.CNNMoney.com Their are links to the popular magazines Fortune, Money, and Business 2.0
3. MSN Money is another reliable site which I would recommend. http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp?http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp

Get paid to blog by adding text links

I just signed up for Text Link, it's a free service that finds sponsors for your website. You can either display ads for cash or buy advertising for your site, or you can choose to do both. Sign up below and get money for blogging. Add text link adds to bring in the dough.
Text Link Advertising - increase link popularity and reach top 10 listings with LinkWorth.

How much does a baby cost?

Msn ran a great article this morning about the cost of raising a child. Many new parents are not prepared for the costs. The article states that it costs about $250,000 to raise a child from 0 to 17 years of age, and that is not even counting the expenses of a college education. It is a very interesting article if you're thinking about having kids in the near future http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Raisekids/P150437.asp?GT1=8200

Sifting through Information

There is an enormous amount of information floating around cyberspace these days. Anyone who can use a computer can sign up for a free webpage and publish their thoughts on the internet. This can be good in some cases and bad in others. It is good when someone publishes relevant information that others can find useful, but it is bad when someone publishes useless information that causes people to waste time. Yes reading some people's random thoughts can be amusing at times and a form of entainment along the lines of reality TV, but over time, good information will be harder to find because bad information is being published at a much faster rate. Search engines like Google have tried to help with tools and research that help you find the "best" pages the fastest, but now there are programs anyone can buy to help increase the popularity of their webpage. Relevant, reliable, information is valuable, and I will do my best to provide it. Hopefully this site will make it easier for you to sift through the gigabytes of info to find the gems that you are looking for. Next week I will be publishing a series called "Internet Suckers." The series will highlight ways to protect yourself, your identity and your hard earned money from self-proclaimed "experts and gurus."

1. How internet marketers prey on unsuspecting victims
2. Don't take the bait - phishing for personal information
3. How to avoid marketing scams

How to Make a Million Dollars - Websites

Here are the top websites when searching for How to Make a Million Dollars in Google

1. http://marshallbrain.com/million.htm - a slideshow with various ways to make money, focusing on starting your own business by Brian Marshall
2. http://http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Savemoney/P103041.asp - a link to MSN Money article by Klipinger's Personal Finance, talks about 9 different people who made a million dollars in different ways

If you search in MSN this website comes up as #2 after Marshall Brain's, I hope to make it to the top spot. Yes there are a lot of other million dollar websites but most of these are trying to sell a product. I want to provide the best information I can here.

Google Adsense and Adwords can be profitable

Google adsense and adwords are great. Add them to your site and put extra money in your pocket. I added them to my blog about a week after I started posting and I've been bringing in extra cash ever since. There are many websites that tell you how to place them in your site for optimization. Just read and learn. My net worth increased last month because I was able to pay down some debt. I hope to be debt free by next year.

Read, Think, Act, Grow Wealthy

The best thing you can do if you want to become wealthier, is learn everything that you can about the subject. Ever hear the saying knowledge is power, I'm sure you have, well it holds when it comes to money. If you don't know how you spend your money, then you have a big problem, and until you get a budget in place and your spending under control you will always be scrambling to pay bills on time. Once you get a handle on your finances, you can take a step back and look at the whole picture. I recently read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" an excellent book that explains why most people work for money, instead of having money work for them. It talks about building your assests through owning rental properties and buying stocks before companies go public. Yes there is risk involved, and no there is never a sure thing, but the point is the more knowledge you have about a company, an investment, an opportunity the better your chances are.

The Concept of Trading Up

Some people have made their fortunes just by trading. They could be trading a number of things: stocks, cars, real estate, or other items for money. The idea of trading up is an important concept to learn and apply. If possible you always what to trade something that is less valuable to you for something of more value. A great example of trading up can be found here at http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ . This blog is about a guy who's goal is to trade a paperclip for a house. Sounds ridiculous, but he's getting closer each day. Look at some of the trades he's made, and now look at the amount of offers he has.

The Psychology of the Bad Deal

Everyone is always looking for a deal. Everyone wants to be on the better side of the deal. Nobody goes to the store stating "I hope I get ripped off today." Nobody wants to find out that they got a bad deal, in fact many people will rationalize until they convince themselves that they have made a good purchase, even if they paid $1000's of dollars more for a car, or house. It is human nature to try to save face, and we hate to make mistakes, especially when it comes to money.

How much you should be making at work?

First find out what you are worth to the company. Can anybody do your job? If you think that you should be getting paid more for the job you're doing check out what the average salary is at www.salary.com Here you can enter your job title, area code and state to compare. Larger companies, pay larger salaries.

The Rich Pay Less Tax than the Middle Class

I don't know about you, be right now I'm in the middle class. This means that my federal tax rate is 26%, a hefty chunk comes out of my paycheck weekly. How is it that the rich pay less tax? The secret is where they put their money. If you have a large amount of income from qualified dividends, that money will have a lower tax rate 10-15%. This is just one area where you can save some money. The more income you have from your salary, the more income is directly taxed, unless you defer money into a 401K, in that case you will be taxed at a later date, hopefully at a lower rate. The middle class pay the highest taxes. The key is to find assests that will increase in value.