The Eisenhower Box

We all try to make the best use of our short time here on Earth.  It is important to manage our time wisely to maximize its value, so I thought I'd spend a post talking about how to become more productive and how best to plan ways to budget your time to reach your goals.  I thought I'd focus on a really interesting method to prioritize your to-do lists called the Eisenhower Box.  I will also talk about Pareto analysis and the POSEC method in a future post.

How to Apply for a Credit Card

So although my first few posts were about why you should use a credit card and my recommendations for credit cards, I have yet to actually describe the process of applying for one.  I thought I'd spend this week's post explaining the process in detail, specifically applying online and receiving the card in the mail a few weeks later.

Retirement Investment Strategies

Dreaming about vacation spots on beaches or taking a trip on a cruise ship?  Imagining the future when you aren't working and don't have a care in the world with all the money you need already saved up from years of work?  If you answered yes then you are probably thinking about an ideal retirement scenario.  Aside from my initial post introducing The Smart Nickel, it seems like my retirement post has been one of the most viewed.  In order to make some of those dreams more realistically achievable, I thought I'd write another post looking at my idea of an ideal retirement strategy.  I will talk about the basic strategies that go into investment planning and how that will apply to planning for retirement.

The Small Balance Credit

Recently, I decided to forgo maximizing my rewards (since this usually amounted to getting an extra quarter each month) to using each and every one of my cards at least once a month.  This way, I can hopefully start focusing on building a better credit score which should benefit me in the future after graduating.  I raise my credit score by charging a small balance on each one and keep these balances low relative to my credit limit.  This helps show credit companies that I know how to manage my credit effectively with low risk which in turn raises my credit score.  This often results in balances of maybe a couple dollars since I just buy one thing from the grocery store or a fast food restaurant.  Amazingly, after just one month of starting this, I came across a very interesting phenomenon.