Membership Programs and Mailing Lists

There are always two sides to the budget equation: revenues and expenses.  If you want more spending power, you have to look toward increasing the revenue side of the equation, meaning you have to either get a raise at your job (or get a job if you don't have one) or find alternate sources of income.  This is generally pretty difficult considering you have no direct control over how much you can move this bar.  However, increasing your revenues will often lead to a bigger change in your budget than penny-pinching your expenses, which is often much easier to do.  This post is going to look at a couple benefits you can get by finding some discounts right under your nose to help with the expense side.

Credit Card for 2012

After looking at my credit cards in 2011, I have decided to pick my favorite for those of you looking for a new card in 2012.  Keep in mind that if you are new to credit cards, you may want to try to get a student credit card first or ask your parents to add you to one of their credit lines before applying for your own. Well, without further ado, my pick for 2012 is the Chase Freedom card.

Buy Fear and Sell Euphoria

I can't quite remember this quote originated, but I quite like the idea of "buying fear and selling euphoria."  It goes along with Warren Buffet's quote: "You should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."  It essentially means when other investors worry and sell their assets in a panic, the people who buy and hold tend to do very well.  When everything is going great and people are putting all their money into the markets, those who get out tend to take advantage of the higher prices and do very well again.  This past year, the markets have been very fearful with all the volatility but those who were greedy and bought when everyone else was selling would be sitting on some gains right now.

Cars: Benefits of Leasing

For those of us looking at cars entering into college or graduating out of college, we may not be all to familiar with the process of buying a car.  I haven't bought my own car yet so I can't say I am an expert in the area, but a friend of mine is looking to get a car soon and I will eventually need to look into it as well.  I thought I'd post some information about an alternative to buying a car: leasing one.  What is a lease?  A lease is kind of like renting a car but you have some restrictions for what you can do with the car (like stay within a certain mileage for a specified period of time) and you have the option of purchasing the car you lease at the end of the term.  If you fulfill your side of the contract, you can return your car and just walk away.