Survival+
Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation
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By Kevin M
If you have teenagers who play musical instruments or if you’re into instruments yourself, your wallet will love a company called Musician’s Friend.
My son got into playing drums when he was ten years old, not just through the school music program, but as a personal hobby and passion. If your kids are musical types, you know only too well the heavy costs involved in sustaining their hobby: musical instruments aren’t cheap!
Not only are the instruments themselves pricey, but the cost of accessories and replacement parts can rate a line item in your budget by themselves.
In the beginning, we followed the herds into the local music shops and paid top dollar for instruments for our kids. As one example, our daughters’ violin cost $1100; that was four years ago, and now she’s ready to give it up! We originally rented the violin just in case she did decide to quit, but after a couple of years when it looked like she’d keep at it, we converted the lease to a purchase.
Continue reading Save Money Buying Musical Instruments →
By Kevin M
Frugality is practically THE staple topic of the personal finance world. Hundreds of posts come out each week telling us how to save money on this or that expense, how to cut costs with more do-it-yourself efforts, where to get the best rates and rewards on credit cards, how to cut your taxes—you name it. And I confess that I regularly write of such topics myself.
But at some level at least, it seems like we may be doing a disservice by focusing so heavily on only one side of the personal finance ledger, while giving short shrift to the other major component: income.
I’ve actually seen the earning more vs. frugality debate written about in a few places, buried among the scores of posts written on frugality and thrift. Maybe the reason is that frugality is easier to write about than making more money. What ever the reason, more balance is certainly needed.
Here are two facts inherent in the earning more money vs. frugality analysis:
1. Expenses can be cut only so far, short of “living off the grid”
2. Income, at least in theory, has no limit
The bottom line is that while frugality can enable us to maintain our current financial status, only by increasing our income can we elevate ourselves.
Continue reading Why Earning More Money is More Important than Frugality →
Rising gas prices might rain on the car buying decisions of those with
short memories
By Kevin M
It’s almost hard to conceive that only a couple of years ago we were struggling to come to grips with the relentless rise in the cost of gasoline, as prices rose from the nearly constant level of a dollar and change a gallon, to over $4 in a space of just a few short years.
$5 a gallon was looking inevitable, and maybe the new standard. SUVs and other large vehicles had become un-salable and were plunging in value.
In the intervening two years we’ve had a mortgage meltdown, a wave of bank failures, a presidential election and a killer recession—it’s no wonder the still relatively recent gas price spike is barely a shadowy memory.
But as much as we may have forgotten that crisis for newer ones, it’s left its mark on our finances. Though gas prices have fallen back from their peak, they’re still at least twice as high as they were before the spike began. And if we’re completely honest, they’re not all that far off the peak any more either. $2.75 to $3 a gallon only looks good because we were paying $4+ a couple of years earlier.
So should we put fuel economy aside as we celebrate an apparent recovery? Are “high” ($4+) gas prices a thing of the past? Is the world now safe for your Escalade?
Continue reading Why Fuel Economy Still Matters →
By Kevin M
A few months ago a friend of mine was tooling around on our home computers and made a discovery that stunned me.
“Someone else is using your connection” he said, almost casually.
I of course, was anything but casual at the news. “Who would be doing that?” I asked, trying to sound intelligent, but failing miserably.
“Just about anybody with a laptop computer within a couple hundred feet of the house” he answered. “Someone with a laptop in their car parked on the street near the house could do it.”
Have you ever heard news that was so shocking that logic failed you? This was one of those moments for me. I couldn’t think of a series of questions that would glean the information that would put my mind at ease. The implications of what had been revealed that day were so far reaching that I did what humans have been doing for thousands of years upon hearing disturbing news: I put it out of my mind.
Now if you’ve ever read any of my previous posts, you know that I’m a self declared techno-idiot, and I’m not joking about that. The average high school student knows more about computer related matters than I do, so if I make any comments that seem ridiculous, or pose questions where the answer is obvious, just consider the source!
Continue reading How Do You Stop Others From Using Your Wireless Internet? →
By Kevin M
When ever we start looking to save money, the first place we tend to look is the grocery budget. One of the reasons we do this is because, unlike a house payment or a car loan, grocery shopping is a true variable expense. It’s an expense we have a large measure of control over which makes it a natural target for reduction.
It can be a rich source of savings as well. If you normally average $200 per week on groceries, and you can cut that by 20%, or $40, you can save over $2000 per year. There aren’t many expenses you can cut to save so much money without experiencing real sacrifice either.
Grocery shopping is a multifaceted endeavor, so there are a lot of ways to save money. I’ve come up with a list of 15 that my wife and I use on a regular basis:
Continue reading 15 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill to the Bone →
By Art Forrest
The recent (and ongoing) health care debate has illustrated how expensive health care is, regardless of whether it’s financed by insurance premiums, higher taxes by the government, or cash out of your pocket. It’s important, then, for both individuals and small & large businesses to choose the most appropriate and cost effective coverage for their needs. Here are a few general comments and things to think about…
Health INSURANCE vs. Health Care FINANCING
Most health insurance plans are health care “financing,” NOT health care “insurance.” Insurance is, by definition, the pooling of risk for an unexpected financial loss–like your house catching fire or a tree falling on your car during a tornado, or, health-wise, having heart surgery for $145,000.
Continue reading How to Buy Health Insurance Without Paying Too Much →
By Alban (Guest Post)
A standard credit card gives you the security and ease of use to access funds at anytime, anywhere, online, over the phone or in person, and while not all credit cards can be opened for business use, there is a wide range of business credit cards to choose from to keep your corporate spending documented, and give your business the same purchasing freedom you have come to rely on with your personal credit cards.
Benefits of Business Credit Cards
Don’t worry that your business is too small or doesn’t make enough purchases to warrant a business credit card, because there are so many different types of business credit cards available you are sure to find one to suit your business. So check out all the benefits your business can get from using a corporate credit card:
Continue reading Advantages of Business Credit Cards →
By Kevin M
Let’s get this point out of the way upfront: everyone should have health insurance. We all know this without anyone emphasizing the point. But with job losses in recent years, companies canceling their coverage, and the cost of independent plans spiraling out of control, millions of people have been forced to drop coverage in favor of just surviving.
If you’re one of them, or think you might be in the near future, here are some suggestions that might help in the event that you absolutely can’t afford a traditional health insurance plan. One or a combination of several may at least partially offset the loss of the typical $1000-plus per month plans that cover all of the things we’re used to.
Continue reading What to do if You Absolutely Can’t Afford Health Insurance →
Tickets, fines and penalties cost real money
By Kevin M
An article this week from USA Today (Speeding ‘cushion’ may dwindle due to recession) reports that the 5-10-mph speeding “cushion” we’ve been enjoying most of our lives may be disappearing as cities and states work to close budget gaps.
The article confirms what many of us have suspected for some time: “…it’s clear that many communities are turning to traffic citations for added revenue in tough financial times.”
This news highlights an expense most of us rarely think about: non-compliance expense. What ever we think of it, it’s very real and never more than now.
Is this actually an expense?
OK, this isn’t a category most people think of as an expense in the conventional sense, but we live in a society which is heavily regulated and there are more laws regarding ordinary behavior than most of us can imagine. It’s important to realize that there are fines attached to our non-compliance with those laws and regulations, so we need to keep that fact in mind even in those moments when we may be feeling a bit, shall we say, rebellious.
Continue reading Avoiding “Non-Compliance Expense” →
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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-->
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OutOfYourRut Friday Personal Finance Round Up #3
By Kevin M
For only the third time (am I lazy or what???) in the brief history of OutOfYourRut, herewith is yet another attempt to capture some of the most inspiring posts from the personal finance blogosphere.
Continue reading OutOfYourRut Friday Personal Finance Round Up #3 →