Hope for your financial life and beyond

Guess Which Age Group Is Starting To Save?

June 30, 2014 by 30 Comments
Young woman with broken down car

Will you have enough saved if this emergency happens?

You may have seen this article last week in the Wall Street Journal that detailed the current status of Americans and their emergency savings. I probably don’t have to describe to you the article’s tone. Your intuition tells you it was filled with negative statistics.

The study from Bankrate.com showed that:

26% of Americans have no emergency savings…

66% of Americans don’t have the recommended six months of expenses saved…

Those with enough saved to cover expenses for three months shrank to 40% in 2014, compared to 45% in 2013 and…

Only 46% of those earning $75,000 or above have six months of expenses saved.

That last one is especially disturbing. $75,000 is a fine yearly income. That equates to 300k earned in 4 years time, assuming no raises or bonuses. Throw a tax refund or two in there and you are telling me 54% of the people in this situation can’t save six months of expenses in four years? That’s fascinating.

Of particular note, guess who the most likely savers are turning out to be according to the study?

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How to Play the “Take This Money - No Thanks - I Insist” Game

June 27, 2014 by 13 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #46 - “But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” - II Samuel 24:24

I insistNo doubt at one point or another, you’ve been caught up in the verbal posturing known as the “Take this money” game.

The conflict in this game centers around one person’s refusal to take a sum of money being offered. The format can be played in two directions. In one scenario, you are the person offering the money. In scenario two, you are the person receiving the money.

In either configuration, the person being offered the money refuses it, thus leading to some tricky verbal exchanges:

“Here, take this.”

“No thanks.”

“I insist.”

“No really, that’s not necessary.”

“No, I have too…you went through so much trouble” (said while thrusting the money at the other party).

“I don’t want it…really, it was no trouble” (said with hands held head high and palms outward in the “stick-em-up” position).

“Here, you must…” (said with a hyper voice while trying to physically put money in the person’s hand or jacket pocket).

“No, please…I’m not taking it…” (tone starting to get defensive).

And on the exchange can endlessly go.

As a child, I watched several of these exchanges devolve into heated arguments. I never understood why either side would be so stubborn. More than anything, it boggled my mind that someone would refuse money of any amount being offered them. Why? “It’s money for crying out loud. Take it already!” I remember thinking.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Random Fun Tagged With: , ,

The 3 Money Topics Teenagers Most Like to Discuss

June 25, 2014 by 3 Comments

Today I’m guest posting at The Heavy Purse, a blog that focuses on parents teaching their kids about money. Click the link below to read the rest of this post.

Teenage student holding credit card

Image at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’ve had the privilege for the past 17 years to be engaged in a challenging and never-dull career, the educational instruction of teenagers. Until giving up my high school teaching position recently to become a stay at home dad, part of my instructional responsibility was teaching Basic Economics and Personal Finance classes. I used some really good material over the years, including the high school curriculum published by Dave Ramsey’s team.

My economics classes were enjoyable enough. The students were able to understand the historical trends of economics, the basic concepts of supply and demand, and how governments can promote or hinder economic growth. I would say as a whole, that class was met with only average, C+ levels of enthusiasm.

But mention the words “Personal Finance” and the kid’s eyes would light up…

Continue reading at The Heavy Purse…

Next Post: How to Play the “Take This Money - No Thanks - I Insist” Game

Prior Post: How I Increased My Facebook Reach For Blog Posts By Over 700 Percent

 

Filed Under: Kids and Money Tagged With: , , ,

How I Increased My Facebook Reach For Blog Posts By Over 700 Percent

June 23, 2014 by 27 Comments

Do you have a Facebook strategy for your blog or business? Is it flopping? If so, don’t feel bad. From my reading, countless others seem to be frustrated their Facebook page reach is decreasing.

the Facebook logo I don’t understand the technicalities of how Facebook’s algorithms determine whether or not an update shows up in a news feed. At the simplest level though, it seems the more I like someone’s content, the more I get fed their life. Those who I choose not to like are eventually filtered out, their status updates never to show again. That’s frustrating when you want to keep up with friends or, like me, are trying to reach them with my blog topics.

I’m a small player on Facebook, having only 210 page likes for this blog and 448 friends connected to my personal page. Honestly I haven’t engaged much there over the years, only becoming interested recently when I started Luke1428. Facebook is the #2 ranked site in the world for traffic, so the potential to reach people is definitely there.

Those who have been using Facebook for promotion know it’s not easy. I noticed last year that not many fans who liked my page were seeing my posts…less than 10 views on some days. Not knowing what to do, I decided to track it for six months as I worked on developing strategies to increase total views per post - the ultimate goal of course being to convert those Facebook views into regular blog visits.

The results for me have been interesting and encouraging. For the 40 blog articles I posted to Facebook from January to March, I averaged 22 views per post. As my strategies began to unfold, I saw an increase to 176 views for my 39 posts from April through June. That’s an increase of 705%.

Here’s how I did it.

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The Two-Faced Giver: When It Looks Like Rain It’s Supposed to Pour

June 21, 2014 by 3 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #45- “Whoever falsely boasts of giving is like clouds and wind without rain.” - Proverbs 25:14

the dark clouds of a thunderstormPopup thunderstorms dot the landscape of summertime. You know the kind that develop as the afternoon heat and humidity build. Atmospheric conditions can change quickly producing dark clouds and high winds. The next thing you know, a torrential downpour is watering your garden or causing gridlock on the roadways as you drive home from work.

When an entire weather system crosses through your area, it is obviously going to rain. The front can extend for hundreds of miles, drenching everything in its path. When we see the prediction of 100% rain on the morning news it’s easier to plan the day around the approaching weather. We anticipate and know almost for certain rain is going to come.

Not so with the pop up thunderstorm.

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Filed Under: Giving, Hidden Nuggets Series Tagged With: , ,

Four Big Money Issues For Couples to Settle Before Marriage

June 19, 2014 by 2 Comments

Today I am guest posting and commenting at Young Adult Money. Please follow the link below and enjoy the rest of this post.

My wife and I spent a lot of time getting ready for marriage. We dated for several years, attended pre-marriage counseling, and talked for countless hours about likes and dislikes, our families, children and careers.

We didn’t talk a lot about money though. We might have touched on it briefly during our counseling sessions but I cannot remember sharing deep discussions about our views on debt, spending, or saving. It simply wasn’t on our radar.

I believe our experience is representative of many couples…

Continue reading at Young Adult Money…

Next Post: The Two-Faced Giver: When It Looks Like Rain It’s Supposed to Pour

Prior Post: How Being Flexible Saved Our Vacation

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How Being Flexible Saved Our Vacation

June 18, 2014 by 27 Comments
Todd Frazier signing autographs

Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier

Two Saturdays ago, I’m standing along the first base wall at Great American Ballpark watching my daughter get an autograph from Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier. It’s the first day of our family’s 8-day vacation that will take us to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, OH, on to Niagara Falls, NY and back through the Smokey Mountains as we return home. The weather is warm and sunny and the look of excitement on my daughter’s face as she gets the autograph makes me realize why I love vacations. What a memory she will have of that moment. I can’t think of a better way to get our vacation started.

I strike up a conversation with a couple standing next to us who were visiting from Columbus, OH. I’m interested in asking them how long the drive is from Cincinnati to Columbus because we intended to drive there after the game and spend the night on our way to Cedar Point. What they said next shattered my “this-vacation-is-starting-out-so-well” feeling.

According to a news report, Cedar Point had a major water main break. The park was closed Saturday and would be Sunday and possibly Monday. “Nooooooo!” I screamed on the inside. “Those are the exact days we plan to be there!”

The kids were going to have so much fun and now would be incredibly disappointed. Perhaps the couple misheard the report and it’s not as bad as they let on. I tried to console myself with this notion.

During the 6th inning my wife received an email from Cedar Point stating that it was indeed as bad as we had heard. Our reservations to stay at the park had been cancelled. Our plans foiled.

What would we do now?

Flexibility Can Make or Break A Vacation

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Filed Under: Current Events, Planning Tagged With: , , ,

After 7 Years of Wedded Bliss We Are Dumping Costco

June 16, 2014 by 40 Comments

Costco wholesale warehouse entranceSeven years ago, I was introduced to and fell in love with Costco. For those who may not be familiar with its format, Costco is a membership only wholesale warehouse club that sells a wide selection of merchandise in bulk sizes. It’s a giant of a company coming in only behind Walmart on the 2014 list of largest U.S. based retail stores for total worldwide sales.

The allure of Costco is palpable the moment you walk in the doors. Big open spaces, big shopping carts, big packaging, big slices of pizza at the food court…it’s all big. Add to that the big savings of buying in bulk and you have a shoppers dream.

Indeed, I was intoxicated all those years ago at its format and the prospect of saving money. “Look how much we are saving on diapers!” I remember exclaiming the first time we shopped there. It only took one trip for me to become hooked.

Two years ago the unthinkable happened. I began to fall out of love with Costco. The reason was simple…the company began to rethink its target audience.

Costco Business Centers

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Filed Under: Spending Tagged With: , , ,

Beware: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

June 13, 2014 by 9 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #44 - “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.” - Joshua 7:21

Indiana Jones stealing golden treasureYou could see in his eyes the burning desire to possess the golden treasure. The moment he had waited for his entire life had now come. The reward was within his grasp and nothing could stop him now.

Accept the chain reaction that occurred once Indiana Jones lifted that little idol off its intended resting place. You just knew that bag of sand he used to replace the idol when he picked it up was not going to work.

In the next few moments, he would face a collapsing cave roof, poison darts shooting from the cave walls, a giant rolling boulder, and natives with spears. The worst part is he didn’t even get to keep the idol, having to turn it over to his treasure-seeking arch rival. Sure does seem like something bad happens when we try to attain something that we are not supposed to have.

The Eyes Are The Window to the Soul

Of all our senses I believe we are most enticed by what we see. We see people with power…we want it. We see wealth…we pursue it. We see people take shortcuts to get ahead…we attempt them. We see fame…we crave it, even if just for 15 minutes.

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This One Trick Started Our Process of Doing Successful Budgets

June 11, 2014 by 27 Comments

Magnifying glass highlighting the word budgetThe first attempt we made at budgeting years ago was a nightmare. Our intentions were good and what we did seemed logical at the time. However, after a few short months it became apparent our strategy wasn’t going to work in the long run.

For those first budgets, we calculated what we wanted to spend per category for the entire year. These numbers were based on our income and what we knew (or thought) our expenditures would be. The next step was to divide by twelve to get the budget number for each month.

Seems easy enough, right?

Well, there was one big problem that showed up rather quickly that forced us to conclude this type of process was not going to work.

Every Month Is Not The Same

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Spending Tagged With: , ,

Our Local Target Is Showing How to Rock Customer Service

June 9, 2014 by 38 Comments

Shopping at Target department storeEnjoy this guest post by Kim Fourman, aka Mrs. Luke1428.

I recently had a great experience with Target’s customer service – and it wasn’t the first time.

Where’s My Kid?

About three years ago, I was shopping at our local Target (or Tar-jay if you’re cool like that) with my then 3 year old son. I was up at the kids’ clothing section near the front of the store when all of a sudden – I can’t find the 3 year old. Gone. I look around calmly at first, and then with a little more panic.

If you’re a parent, you know the feeling of dread that grows and grows when you can’t find your child.

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