by Silicon Valley Blogger on 2012-02-2218
While many people in the workforce tend to emphasize their base pay, I believe it’s also important to factor in benefits like vacation pay. The amount of vacation time you take can contribute to your well being. And for some workers, the right combination of employee benefits can make a lower-paying job more attractive than a slightly better-paying job elsewhere.
But here’s an interesting fact: the U.S. Department of Labor informs us that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) actually doesn’t require employers to pay their employees for vacations, sick time or holidays. But as you’ll see from my report below, there are those employers who will go the other extreme (and the extra mile) with compensating their employees for vacation time.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on 2012-02-219
How do your friendly personal finance bloggers invest?
Quite some time ago, I had the great opportunity to gain some insights on how a few financially savvy bloggers were constructing their investment portfolios. I thought that it was worth bringing this topic back to the surface, as a way to investigate different ways a portfolio can be set up, and to find out what motivates people into allocating their long term assets in a particular manner. What more, I’m also quite curious about how others have been investing their funds, especially since I may pick up some ideas this way. Now it’s important to take note that these portfolios were created at one point in time, and are basically a snapshot of how people’s investments have been (or were once) allocated. In fact, this information was culled some years ago, but may still be useful as a way to shed light on how people approach investing for the future. It’s also important to realize that portfolios are hardly ever permanent or static, and can actually be quite fluid.
Here are the questions I posed to my blogging colleagues: What are your investing strategies and how have you decided to allocate your money? What does your portfolio look like?
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on 2012-02-1918
If you subscribe to the do-it-yourself approach to managing money, then we’re on the same page. Many people have asked me through the years the same questions: What should I do with my money? Should I borrow more and build my credit? How do I invest what I have? How did YOU create your financial plan?
For me, it all started right after I got my first job, with my mother handing me a book called Making The Most Of Your Money by Jane Bryant Quinn and some other book that covered financial topics and concerns for people under 30. The title escapes me now, but it was geared toward the younger crowd. But when all this came to pass, there was no internet so I gleaned all my information from books, magazines and periodicals.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on 2012-02-1716
We’ve got another coupon code giveaway, this time, care of TurboTax. Sometimes, handling the tax implications of investment losses, donations, medical expenses and other taxable transactions can be a little complicated to manage. However, if you want to get the most out of your tax deductions and get the refunds that you deserve, you’ll need to properly account for them. That’s where TurboTax comes in. Whether you want to review your last year’s tax information or deduct some investment losses, TurboTax will help you through the process. Better yet, they offer exciting bonus services for free.
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In recent years, Roth IRAs have become very popular with investors. The Roth IRA is named after Senator William Roth of Delaware, who sponsored the 1997 legislation that created them. The basic idea behind the Roth IRA is pretty simple — you invest after-tax money into your Roth IRA, and are not taxed on the money when you withdraw it. Conversely, with a 401(k) (or a traditional IRA), you invest pre-tax money, but pay taxes on everything when you withdraw. I’ll compare and contrast the Roth with a 401(k), since that’s what I’m most familiar with.
Investing in a Roth IRA means you will pay less in taxes.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on 2012-02-1311
There have been some high profile cases featured in the news about people passing away and leaving behind more than sweet memories and a beautiful legacy for their loved ones. It’s sad enough when someone goes, but when the deceased’s family and friends end up with difficult issues to work through, then it’s even sadder.
It’s my opinion that fighting over inheritance matters and getting caught without disability or life insurance when you need it most are up there as scary scenarios that can easily spell the most disaster for anyone, especially while the family is at its most vulnerable. Get hit by any other disaster and you can bounce back much more quickly, when your family is whole. But losing a breadwinner unexpectedly is like running a race on one leg. It’ll take a while to get over and will require a lot of training, therapy and painful recovery before you can return to normal living.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on 2012-02-1214
Who wouldn’t want to score free airline tickets or travel for free? I’d consider travel as a big ticket expense, especially because I deal with a 5 member family and have to figure out how to transport an entire household from one point to another. One way I save? I just don’t travel too often. But then those who do travel a lot turn out to become so savvy at cutting costs that I get pretty jealous of what they can do. One of our contributors, Millie Kay G., shares a few tips on how we can fly for free.
Getting to our favorite destinations by air can be expensive these days, but there’s little reason to pay full price. Using different tactics can lower the cost of some of your future flights or even get you down to $0 cost, so read on for ideas on how to get free flights.
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For most people, committing to a mortgage is one of the scariest moments of their lives. Our cave man ancestors would be stunned to see people working for thirty years just to own a home. Back in the old days, you just found a cave, chased the bats out of it, and moved in. We didn’t need a stinkin’ mortgage!
However, in the modern era, the vast majority of home purchasers are going to require a mortgage. Not only is a mortgage expensive, but it can be frustratingly complex for many people. Let’s take a look at some common questions about mortgages.
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