The Rich Index

Where do you fall in the Rich Index from Mint.com? Definitely something to think about!
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Provided by Mint.com

Overspending

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The holidays are around the corner and it's the perfect time for overspending to occur....but if you already typically overspend, the the holidays are the perfect time to "double over spend".. for lack of a better description.

From buying gifts, to shopping for holiday parties and events, to travelling etc, the holidays can wreck havoc on our bank accounts (and diets too) but there are few ways to curb the madness and come away from it all with your sanity intact come January. You can also apply these tips to your general spending habits which will help you think twice before you spend that extra dollar you didnt plan for.

Tip #1
Make a reasonable budget for gift buying and travel based on what you can afford and commit to not exceeding it. Websites like Etsy.com and eBay.com are great for finding great gifts at great prices. Kayak.com is great for getting good deals on travel and hotels.

Tip #2
Review your budget more often - daily if necessary. Seeing the list of bills you still have to pay might jolt you back to the reality that you cannot afford to overspend.

Tip #3
Take a few days to think about an unplanned purchase if it costs over $100.00. You'll probably realise you didnt really want that spur of the moment item.

Tip #4
Don't carry extra cash around. Giving yourself less access to spend money by carrying less cash or putting spare cash in a savings account not linked to your bank card will help you walk away.

Tip #5
Do other more rewarding things like read a book, catch up on home movies, clean out your closet and rearrange your clothes. 


Hopefully these tips help you curb overspending especially during the holidays!

Get Motivated: Marie Joseph of FirstGenerationWhiteCollar.com talks personal finance

Marie's personal fiance blog, First Generation White Collar is one of our absolute favorites! Her posts are thought provoking, matter of fact and straight to the point. She helps you assess where you need to be financially and post excellent topics that every woman needs to check out immediately!She's also an author and you'll find out more details about her book below. Enjoy her interview!

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Tell us a bit about yourself and why you started blogging about personal finance?
I'm a personal finance blogger that lives in Atlanta and the Author of the book, First Generation White Collar. I started blogging about personal finance because I always had a love for it. I mastered how money works and why some people tend to have more than others. Blogging was a way to share my thoughts and opinions about money without following bs rules that fits into a certain box. I wanted to speak not only tell you what to do but how to do it.

What does financial freedom mean to you and how has working towards it impacted your life? Freedom means that I have options. It's simply mean that I have the freedom to choose and not accept what's given to me by default. It makes me have more power and control over my life instead someone controlling my life

What is your favorite personal finance post that you've ever written and why?
My favorite post is "The trouble with being a First Generation White Collar"  because I it was more personal. I ranted about the difference it makes when your parents have college degrees and connections and how we as first generation college grads not having the same privileges or options

Why did you decide to write a book about personal finance? I decided to write a book because I became restless of the personal finance books that was currently on the market. Most were written by middle age white men that could not relate to generation X and Y audience of color.

  What are 3 things you wish women of color knew more about in terms of personal finance? Please stop showing off your wealth via a luxury car, wardrobe and shoes. There's nothing wrong with having those things just make sure your bank account is more than the things that in your closet and garage
Don't be scared of "investing".  Start by investing 10% of your income in yourself or anything else that increase in value such as stocks or a business. Enhance your financial education by reading literature such as Forbes, Black Enterprise, Barron's and The Wall St. Journal. Familiarize yourself with money and how to grow it. Pay yourself first, then pay bills and then consume!

What is your biggest financial goal?I would love to purchase my next home cash or pay it off within 7 years

What advice would you give to women about paying off debt? Focus on the entire balance, not just the minimum payment. Stop consuming temporary and put all extra monies towards your debt. The less debt your have the more money you have to save and invest.

 What advice would you give to women about saving money?
It maybe hard but it's worth it. There is an African proverb that I love to quote "Save your money and one day it will save you". Think about "why" you're saving money. You may want a formal college education for your daughter/son or take that dream vacation to  St. Tropez . Whatever it may be we all have something we want in life. Make it the reason why you're saving and imagine the end in mind and how good you'll feel once your goal is reached.


What advice would you give to aspiring female small business owners? Persistence is key, you will find several roadblocks. Don't give up, sometimes you just need to change your methodology. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working,  it just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. Improve your products, exploit new markets and take calculated risks. In order to get something you never had before you must do something you've never done before. And please don't be scared to ask for help. If you ask enough people someone will step in and help you. And last be not least be prepared to accept mistakes and setbacks it's a great learning experience

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Thank you so much for your time Marie!
Readers - Make sure you subscribe to  firstgenerationwhitecollar.com/blog/ to stay up to date with Marie's posts - there's also a wealth of info in her archives.

Good Reads

Finance

• Save that money via Design Love Fest
• Poor, Rich, Middle Class via First Generation White Collar
• What happened to the american dream? via Clutch Magazine Online
• 3 secrets to financial success via Think Simple Now
• The gender wage gap could cost you $2 Million via Black Enterprise

Fashion

• Fajr Muhammad's Stylish Thought

Beauty

• Homemade deep conditioner recipe via Curly Nikki

A proper assessment of where to cut back makes all the difference

 

Image Source

Most of us just want to get our savings up, cut back on over-spending and pay off debt but sometimes we can loose track of the big picture and instead spend too much time and effort focusing on the smaller things that have less of an impact. Take for example Brenda:

Brenda has a large amount of credit card debt and decides she needs to cut back  so she can put more money towards her debt each month. She cancels her $9.99 a month Netflix subscription  and cuts out her daily $2.99 latte. Doing this saves her almost $100 dollars a month.

 Sounds great huh? She's taking small steps to save money right? Well...read on.....

BUT, Brenda has a gym membership that costs $109.00 a month and she pays $30.00 every week to get her nails done. She also has a premium cable TV package that costs her $149.00 and she buys lunch at work everyday which is approximately $10.00 a day.

 hmmmm doesn't sound so great now does it...do you see where this is going?
Brenda needs to reassess her plan to cut back spending and do something like the following instead:

• Reduce her monthly cable package to a basic plan and keep her Netflix subscription (for days when she wants more to watch). If the basic cable plan costs $79.99 a month and Netflix costs her $9.99 she's still reducing her monthly TV entertainment by $60
• She should cancel her gym membership and work out with friends or investment in one of two work out DVDs and workout at home - savings $109.00
• Instead of getting a manicure 4 times a month she should get one every other week and learn to do her manicure at home on her own - savings $30.00
• And finally instead of eating lunch out everyday she can take lunch to work twice a week - savings $20.00 a week or $80.00 a month

So which would you choose? Cutting back to gain an extra $100 a month or cutting back to gain an extra $280.00 a month? How can you take the example above and apply it to your own situation? Definitely something to think about!

Take sometime today to reassess where you need to cut back - It could make a huge difference!

Get Motivated: Briana of 20andEngaged.com talks personal finance

We are so excited to present our very first personal finance interview! Today we are featuring the lovely Briana, a 20 year old newlywed and freelance writer/blogger who amongst many things, writes some great personal finance articles on her website 20andEngaged.com.

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Briana and her hubby

Tell us a bit about yourself and why you started blogging about personal finance?
At 19 I was overwhelmed by college and looked for a job to help me figure out what I was going to do in life. I got an internship that turned into a full time job as a Social Media Coordinator right before I turned 20. I started a personal blog about life as a fiance, including the financial issues we were going through, partly to document my experience and partly to get closer to other bloggers I was working with. I got laid off shortly after my 90 day probation, and knew I had to find a way to make money since I now had an apartment, a fiance, and bills to pay. I took the contacts I made at my job and asked just about everyone I had a contact for if they needed help with anything at all. I got a break when one contact, Tom Drake, offered me a staff writing position for one of his newly purchased blogs, Stupid Cents. I found more and more after that.

What does financial freedom mean to you and how has working towards it impacted your life?
Financial freedom to me means not having to worry about making ends meet. If you think about it, when you have bills to pay and have a goal to save for, you're on edge, and it makes you really feel enslaved to your debts and your income. When you're financially free, you don't have to worry about that; you are confident that you have it. Working toward it has changed the way I think about money (it's a tool), how I use it (sparingly) and what it can get me (a peace of mind).

What is your favorite personal finance post that you've ever written and why?
My favorite personal finance post I ever wrote is "Having Faith in Your Marriage and Your Wallet". It was my debut post on The Christian Dollar, a personal finance site with a Christian spin. Writing it really taught me how to trust that things would be alright financially and in my marriage.

What are 3 things you wish women of color knew more about in terms of personal finance?
I wish women of color knew:

• There are so many different ways to make money outside of a traditional 9 to 5
• You can stick to a budget and not have to sacrifice too much, like having nice things and having fun
• No one is going to care more about your money than you are, so stay on it

What is your biggest financial goal?
My biggest financial goal right now is to pay off my debt. If I can pay off my debt, I can use that money to build up savings, then have enough money saved to buy a home. It'll be a snowball effect after that.

What advice would you give to a young couple planning their wedding on a limited budget?
To the young couples planning their wedding on a limited budget, have your wedding for YOU, not for other people. So many people end up spending a bunch of money on their wedding to please others. Please yourselves. Remember it's not about your guests; it's about your union. Only invite people who support you, and do things your way. Also, if you can't afford something you really want, remember you can always renew your vows when you have the money.

What advice would you give to aspiring female small business owners?
To aspiring female business owners, never stop networking. Most of my business is generated from referrals, so I always tell people what I do, and always do my best for my clients so they can refer me to others. Word of mouth is the best form of marketing and lead generation you'll ever receive.

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Thank you for the wonderful interview!
Readers - Make sure you subscribe to  20andEngaged.com to stay up to date on Briana's latest posts.

Steps to starting your small business

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Starting a small business or side business is a great way to earn additional income and has also helped many people achieve their dream of doing what they love! That being said, a lot of work goes into owning a small business but with good planning, dedication and hard work, you can make it a success. 


Create a business plan
First things first you need to create your business plan and outline your goals. Your business plan should cover:

• Your mission
• What your business is about
• Your target market
• Market research you've done and why your business is a good idea
• How you plan to finance your business and how long it will take you to recover your initial investment
• Income forecasts
• Your short and long term goals

There are lots of resources online to help you get started with writing your business plan e.g visit entrepreneur.com and soyouwanna.com and search for "Business Plan".

Create your brand 

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do you have a logo?Is your logo a good representative of your business? Is it a work in progress? What would you like your logo to look like? Have you researched logo designers?
• Do you have a website and is it easy for your potential customers to use? Do they get the necessary info they need about your business in the first few seconds they are on your site? Is the layout/design clean?
• Do you have/need a blog? Does it match your website? Are you updating it regularly? Are you posting relevant content?
• Do you have business cards?
• Is your business set up and actively updated on the various social media platforms? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc?

Here are a couple links to help you get started on your brand or help you work on your existing brand:

Branding - Entrepreneur.com
http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/

Market your business
Marketing your small business ties really closely to your branding because when people finally learn who you are, your look and feel, trustworthiness, reviews etc are what they'll use to make their decision on whether to do business with you or not. I think this is one of the big areas many small businesses struggle with.

• Your marketing strategy will vary based on your business type and Entrepreneur.com has a great marketing resource section so make sure you check it out. 
• Use google.com  to do searches on how businesses similar to yours have been successful with their marketing. 
• As mentioned above in the branding section - start taking advantage of the various social media outlets you have access to. Make frequent updates, network with other users and have them help spread the news about your business!

Manage your money

Having money for your small business is imperative. Below are a few money pointers:

• Open a business account - you need to keep your business finances separate from your personal finances.
• Create a plan to pay off any consumer debt you have - this is most important step to being independent! Google the "snowball method" if you need help coming up with a plan
• Small business owners need to be cash rich so an emergency fund AND a liquid savings accounts (both business and personal) are essential. 
• Your emergency fund should be personal money you don't touch unless there's an emergency. 
• Your business savings should be money you put away for your long term business goals and your personal savings should be your money your put away towards your dreams!
• You might also want to consider long term stock investment options for self employed people - perhaps an IRA or something along the lines of that.
• When considering how much to save in each of these accounts think of what your short and long terms goals are, how much income you have coming in and how much it would take for you to transition to being fully self employed and how much you'd need to weather a slow business season.
• Cut your costs/expenses - transitioning from a fancy full time job to an up and coming small business is not easy an you'll need to cut out a few extravagances and focus on your end goals.

Stay motivated

• Don't get discouraged during down time or when business is slow; instead use that time to work on improving your branding or business model.
• Network with a mix of people - those starting out just like you and those with well established businesses that have been around for a while - be inspired by them.
• Embrace change - don't think because you've made a bunch of changes now you'll never have to make anymore.
• Never stop learning - read books, stay on top of your industry's news and always keep improving
• Take some time to give yourself credit for the goals you've already been able to accomplish. You've worked really hard at them.