Browse by Tags

• 8 reasons to do your shopping online

  Posted Mar 25 2008, 07:07 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Spending, Taxes, Saving, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
  Rating:

  This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

  I try to do as much shopping as I can online. Nothing beats comparing a bunch of locations all at once to get the best price or taking advantage of a vendor's price-matching policy.

  What's also awesome about buying online is that you get to avoid malls, parking and dealing with people who are grumpy or had a bad day.

  Here are eight reasons why I prefer to shop online: 

  Better prices. While not always true, in general you can find better prices online because online vendors have lower overhead costs. They don't need to rent a physical store location, staff it with people, and support all the other overhead costs associated with a brick-and-mortar store. Online stores have warehousing infrastructure and distribution costs, but they save on the overhead associated with storefronts.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 18 comments) 10,040 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Economic-stimulus plan gets cool reception

  Posted Jan 18 2008, 02:38 PM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Spending, Taxes, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, Karen Datko

  Wall Street isn't alone in its lack of enthusiasm for President Bush's economic-stimulus plan. Some personal-finance bloggers wonder whether it makes sense to give tax rebates to American consumers in hopes that they'll spend it and boost the economy.

  Our partner blogger Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity writes: "With the stock market taking a pounding, with the billions in bank write-offs, with the subprime news, and all the talk of a recession -- whether we're actually in a time of economic crisis or not, people think we're in a time of economic crisis, so I'm inclined to believe they'll save any money the government decides to dole out." Referring to a Wall Street Journal blog, he notes that most people saved the money the last time the government tried the tactic, in 2001.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 2 comments) 624 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• How to calculate the value of your time

  Posted Jan 15 2008, 05:10 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Spending, Taxes, Saving, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

  This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

  During my research about flights for our honeymoon, the question of how much our time is worth has come up every single time we've compared flights. Do we want to spend an extra $100 each on flights and cut the travel time by two hours?

  The answer, in part, depends on the value of our time, and we use a simple calculation to determine that.

  Take your annual salary, divide it by 2,000, and then divide in half. The 2,000 reflects the number of hours in a year for your average professional -- 50 weeks of 40-hour workweeks  (assuming 10 holidays sprinkled throughout the year) -- and then divide that by half. That half represents taxes, Medicare, Social Security, and a bit of a fudge factor -- and because dividing by half is easy. In actuality, taxes, Medicare and Social Security will represent less than half, but you add the extra just to make it "worth your time."

  So, if you make $50,000 a year, the value of an hour of your time is $12.50 after taxes.   Read More...

  Discuss (no comments) 433 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this