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Posted
Oct 08 2008, 04:48 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Regret over past financial decisions can have a powerful hold on you.
At 23, you may regret running up $20,000 in credit card debt during college. At 35, you may regret never having gone to college. At 45, you may regret having never started that consulting business you always dreamed of pursing. And at 65, you may regret not having saved more for retirement. In recent days, many financial chickens have come home to roost.
Regret, financial or otherwise, can have a powerful grip on your life. For most, the question is not whether you have financial regret. The question is how you harness the power of that regret to make sound financial decisions today that you will not regret tomorrow.
Here are some ideas to help you do just that:
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Posted
Sep 24 2008, 03:54 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Are you on your way to becoming a millionaire? For some, the thought of having a million bucks seems ridiculous. But the fact is that becoming a millionaire is simple, even on a modest income. If you have the discipline, building your net worth to $1 million or more takes nothing more than time. If you do not have the discipline, then even a $100,000 job will not help you reach a seven-figure goal. You've probably seen the show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Believe it or not, it is easier to become a millionaire in real life than it is on TV.
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Posted
Sep 09 2008, 09:34 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Successfully managing your money comes down to one thing -- control. For all the things we talk about here at The Dough Roller -- from retirement to investing and taxes to credit cards -- financial freedom and sound money management come down to whether you control your money, or whether it controls you. The good news is that sound, wealth-building money management is simple. The reality check, however, is that managing your money, while simple, is not always so easy.
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Posted
Aug 27 2008, 05:06 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. You've decided to invest in your future. You've picked the perfect mutual fund. You're ready to go. Now what? How do you actually go about buying shares of a mutual fund? The good news is that buying shares is quick and easy. If you've never invested in a mutual fund outside of your employer's 401(k), the process can seem overwhelming. But the truth is that for DIY investors there are only two options to consider, and both options are inexpensive. I'll cover them both in this article.
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Posted
Aug 20 2008, 01:44 AM
by
Ryan MacClanathan
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Whether it comes to investing, making money blogging or just about
anything else in life, popularity can come with a hefty price tag.
With investing, following the crowd is a surefire way to lose a
lot of money as you repeatedly sell low and buy high out of fear of market
losses. With blogging, sometimes the rush of a "popular" article can
keep you writing content that is popular with social media sites like Digg or
Reddit but generates little income or lasting readership.
With spending, keeping up with the Joneses can drain your bank
account faster than a Kevin Trudeau infomercial. So what follows are nine ways
to become the least popular -- but most profitable -- person you can be.
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Posted
May 21 2008, 05:58 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Mistakes are a part of life. We all make them. But like turning lemons into lemonade, we can benefit from our mistakes and make the most of them, or we can run from them and pretend they don't exist. This hit home for me recently in an e-mail exchange I had with a reader. In a recent post about peer-to-peer lending, I made a mistake.
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Posted
Apr 09 2008, 05:29 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Fear of change can be a powerful, all-consuming force in our lives. It can keep us from pursuing our dreams. It can keep us in a destructive relationship. And fear of change can cause us to make some really bad investing choices. I had to confront my own fear of change six years ago. At that time I was partner at a very large firm. I had worked eight hard years to make partner and had enjoyed the fruits of my labor for two years as a partner. And then I quit. I quit because I was tired of choosing my career over my family. So I took a six-figure pay cut and accepted a job that wasn't nearly as prestigious. It was one of the most frightening things I've ever done. I kept asking myself -- am I nuts for doing this? I went from a corner office to a windowless office literally the size of a broom closet. I went from being the boss to being an absolute nobody. And it was the best career choice I ever made. The decision taught me a lot about confronting my fear of change. From that experience, I learned five steps that can help anybody overcome a debilitating fear of change.
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Posted
Mar 19 2008, 05:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. So let's not waste ours today. Here are four useful financial calculations that you can perform in your head: What am I giving up in retirement savings when I spend money today? This is an easy one: Add a zero to the price tag. Assuming you have 30 years until retirement and earn 8% annually on your investments, that $3,000 watch would have been worth $30,000 in retirement if you had invested the money instead. Coming down to earth a bit, the $4 latte (it's always the latte) purchased five days a week costs about $1,040 a year, or $10,040 in your retirement account 30 years later. How much do I need to earn before taxes to buy stuff that I want? Assuming you're in the 28% federal tax bracket, multiply the cost by 1.4. That means a $20,000 car costs $28,000 before taxes. Yikes! Of course, this doesn't account for state tax and Social Security and Medicare taxes, all of which would make the multiplier even higher.
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Posted
Mar 12 2008, 06:30 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. As Roth IRA and Roth 401(k) retirement plans gain in popularity, unsuspecting investors may fall prey to a potentially expensive mistake. Money in a Roth 401(k) or Roth IRA account can be withdrawn tax-free, assuming the withdrawal meets IRS requirements. In contrast, withdrawals from traditional 401(k)s and IRAs are taxed as ordinary income when you take the money out. As a result, a dollar in a Roth account is worth a dollar at retirement, but a dollar in a traditional retirement account is worth a dollar minus the taxes you'll pay when you withdraw the money. What's the potential gremlin lurking in your 401(k)? It's treating Roth retirement savings the same as traditional retirement savings when making your investment decisions. Let's look at an example to see how this mistake could impact your investments.
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Posted
Feb 20 2008, 05:50 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." -- Aristotle So often we define our lives by the big events. Graduation, marriage, children, a big promotion and retirement are some of the milestones that many of us remember -- or will remember -- as defining moments in our lives. What often gets neglected, however, are the little things we do each and every day that make the big events possible. As Aristotle said, it's what we "repeatedly do" that produces excellence. So when it comes to money and wealth, what do you repeatedly do? Financial security cannot be reduced to a simple formula. But, like excellence, it is the result of our daily habits. This can perhaps best be seen in the high-income individual who, due to daily habits, fails to achieve financial security. It also can be seen in the individual who, with relatively low income, achieves financial freedom. So what are the seven habits of wealth?
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