Survival+
Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation
|
Living (and Working) in Abundance
Guest post by Ed Burns
Have you ever asked yourself the question: “What the heck am I doing in this job?” We all go through it. Tomorrow morning as you sit in traffic or slowly make your way to your cubicle, and look around—you will realize that you are not alone. Do the faces staring back at you look like they are living their passions and callings?
Probably not, yet millions of people each day are convinced that work and one’s passion are two entirely different things. Many brush this issue aside claiming “work is work and it was never meant to be enjoyable.”
Continue reading What Can Career Coaching Do For You? →
By Kevin M
What does energy use in China have to do with your personal financial situation here in the Western World?
Many of us prefer to believe this is an issue best left to politicians or economists, but hardly worthy of serious analysis or concern by the rest of us. After all, things will play out the way they will right?
Maybe not. We spend time and money planning for any number of future outcomes—our retirement, our health, our careers, paying off our mortgages, our children’s futures—why not map out and plan a viable energy future? World leadership hasn’t done such a good job of this so far, and if energy follows the pattern of the last few years with steadily rising prices over the long term, it won’t be politicians and economists who will suffer the brunt of the problem—it’ll be us.
Continue reading China is the No. 1 energy user – what does that mean for your car? →
By Kevin M
There’s a “stealth expense” that chews through budgets and often leaves us with an empty bank account or even a little deeper in debt each month; its called entertainment expense, and at least part of the problem may lay in the fact that we’re usually reluctant to even view it as an “expense”.
Maybe this is the case because entertainment has a way of defining us—it’s often who we are, which has to be something more significant than just an ordinary expense, doesn’t it?
We can be meticulous about budgeting for housing, groceries, utilities and a host of other expenses, but entertainment is often—to borrow a political phrase—“off budget”.
Continue reading Entertainment For Less →
By Kevin M
Companies are always trying to get us to take their bundle plans, neat packages that promise a veritable one-stop shopping trip for all of our communication needs. Cable TV, internet, land lines, cell phones—they’ll load them all into a pretty little bundle for us and provide a nice discount for dealing in bulk.
It’s easy to see why we’re drawn to these arrangements. Not only do we get the lower rate for the package deal, but we can also consolidate several monthly bills into one and, we might reason, with so much of our business placed with one provider, we’ll have clout! After all, surely a provider won’t want to lose ALL of our business if we’re unsatisfied with any single service.
As attractive as that might sound—especially from a life’s simplification standpoint—my experience with bundles hasn’t been terribly positive. As good as the bundle plans might look from time to time, I’ll keep my communication services spread over three or four different providers.
Here’s why…
Continue reading Why Bundling Services Might be a Bad Deal →
The following is a guest post by Kevin Craig
Bad spending habits are something that every spend-thrift American is addicted to. Easy availability of credit cards and quick access to loans has fanned this fiery practice all the more. And the result is deep debt crisis faced by almost every second person in the US. Though there are several debt settlement companies across different states in the US your own endeavors can save you and keep out of debt.
Does your careless spending habit take a toll on your finances every month and leave you at the mercy of creditors? Why not start taking a little initiative to put a check on reckless expenditures and avoid unpleasant debt problems? Breaking bad spending habits is not a Herculean task. It is all about imposing discipline on your expenses.
Just check out the following three tips to kick-start your cost-curtailment plan:
Continue reading How to Control Your Spending Habits and Avoid Debt →
This is a guest post by Brian Garvin, a commenter here on OutOfYourRut.com. He runs an online business so I asked him to write a post describing what it is he’s doing to make that happen.
If you’ve worked in the Brick & Mortar world for any length of time, chances are you’ve picked up a skill that could be applied to the internet to start your own blog. Basically an Authority Blog is a large, content based blog lots of other bloggers and the Internet Community at large visit and respect as one of the larger blogs in that particular niche.
Most people think of Authority Blogs as being run by just large companies, but that’s not the truth. In fact many single people are running some of the largest Authority Blogs in some of the most competitive industries, such as Internet Marketing, Real Estate, Forex, Health & Wellness and Dating. So the main question to be asked is if building this type of blog is right for you. We’re gonna go over a list of questions you should answer. Answering the questions below will determine if setting up a blog is right for you.
Continue reading How to Make Money with an “Authority” Blog →
Better control of your time means more control of your income and your finances
By Dave Kelly
So, I have been thinking about this… wait just a minute, someone is calling me on my cell phone. “Hello, this is Dave Kelly. Yup. Um-huh. Real World: Motivational Speakers? I like it. Send me an email. Thanks.”
Sorry about that. Anyway, I was going to say… wait, now my phone is buzzing. A text message. Oh, that’s good. Gotta text back. “U R kidding. LOL. HA!”
So, the thing with distractions is… A tweet! Let me see, what is my friend, who tweets his every move fifty-plus times a day, up to?
Getting the point?
Continue reading Manage Your Distractions to Take Control of Your Time →
By Kevin M
The state of the economy over the past few years has called into question on our cultural love affair with debt of nearly all types. The once unassailable notion that home mortgages in nearly any type and in almost any amount were “good debt” has all but crumbled. A mailbox stuffed with credit card pre-approvals—once seen not only as evidence of a sterling credit rating but also as a symbol of our status as solid citizens—is now considered a temptation on a magnitude not seen since the infamous apple caper in the Garden of Eden—resist we must!
But reversals in the job market and collapses in asset values have all served to bring home a point that seemed to be virtually ignored in recent decades: debt has to be paid back!
As had become our happy little way, debts were seldom extinguished outright by full payoff in the time honored way, but rather by rollover, consolidation or the sale of the securing assets. When those avenues are exhausted we’re left with two unpleasant options—payoff or default. OUCH!
Continue reading How Much Student Loan Debt Is Too Much? →
|
OutOfYourRut.com Disclaimers
General: Any information in regard to money, credit, personal finance, or in regard to any other monetary topic, provided or shared on OutOfYourRut.com is presented for information and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. It is intended to provide general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice in regard to your specific circumstances...MORE-->
Survival+
Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation
|
Should You Give Even If You’re In Debt?
By Kevin M
Is it OK to give money to charities and religious institutions if you owe money? This isn’t just a question for people of faith (which I am myself) but for anyone who gives charitably and is in debt at the same time.
I recognize that there are different kinds of debt, and even different types of giving, so it’s hard to be general with an answer to this question. But I think that—at a minimum—giving needs to be considered in light of the different types of debt.
Generally speaking, there are four different kinds of debt that may have an impact on our giving:
Continue reading Should You Give Even If You’re In Debt? →