Welcome to the -whatever the number is now- edition of the Under 30 Personal Finance Carnival-Plane of Excitement Edition!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain Jeremie has turned on the Read Up sign. If you haven’t already done so, please get your reading glasses on and sit comfortably in a chair of your choice. And also make sure your seat back and keyboard are in their full upright position.

If you don’t like an article please use the emergency exit located on the top right of your navigation bar indicated by the big bright red “X”. If you do not wish to perform the functions described in the event of a bad article emergency, please complain to the blogger attendant and not eFIPO.com airlines.

At this time, we request that all cellular phones, pagers, radios and remote controlled toys be turned off for the full duration of this blog carnival, as these items might interfere with the navigational and communication and reading equipment on this blog. We request that all other electronic devices be turned off (except your computer and computer screen..duh) until you read every article below. We will notify you when it is safe to use such devices. Thanks again for joining eFIPO.com today and I hope you enjoy the carnival!

Your feature presentation/my favorite article this week is brought to you by Aridni (don’t worry. I don’t know how you say that name either). Katie is starring in her first major role as the damsel in distress. She tells her story on How to Buy Your First House.

Ask Uncle Bill has issued a warning. Thinking Outside The Box might save your corporate life. So please read this article to find out how to keep your job!

There is slight chance of turbulence involving this week’s carnival. Please enjoy an article by Erek Ostrowski, Getting Out of Debt (Part 3.5: More on Expenses), while we try to fix this problem.

Worldwide Success Inc. is supplying the meals for this week’s carnival. David is serving a heaping pile of 10 Simple Ideas to Save Thousands of Dollars per Year with a side of rice pilaf.

Holy crap! We have a celebrity on board people! Foro Juan from Millionster.com is sitting behind the crying baby and the drunk business man. Foro is the guy that keeps on screaming “I Want to Be a Millionaire.” I think his dating one of the Olsen twins now! I may be wrong though…

I don’t want to alarm anyone on board, but Silicon Valley Blogger, from The Digerati Life, said There’s Gold In Mysterious Storage Bins onboard this freakin’ carnival plane! Jeremie, your captain, found a million dollars and jumped out of the plane with all the parachutes.

Sagar Satapathy runs to the front of the plane and yells “Does anyone know how to fly a plane? Anyone? Anybody? Bueller? Okay! Never mind then. Here’s a second question then. Is Haste Good In Student Loan Repayment?

“Wait a minute!” yells a Big Cajun Man as he rises from his seat. “Does anyone hear that drip, DRIP: How’s that again?”

“That sounds like a bomb!” Screams a woman sitting in the back of the carnival plane. “Ask the Advisor if he thinks it’s a bomb”a man replies. Jimmy Atkinson, the advisor, says “I don’t know, but I do have one statement for everyone on this plane. How to: Make Money with Balance Transfer Arbitrage.“ “He’s not a bomb expert, his a financial guru” screams the woman. We’re dead. We’re dead!”

“Man, this is just number twelve out of 11 Things You Do Not Learn In School“, says Grad Money Matters.

“I think I have a plan” shouts Mr. Credit Card. “What if we could Reduce Your Student Loan Using a Credit Card?” This has nothing to do with the actual story.

Elizabeth tells the passengers that they should just be Putting Off Now for Later and let the airline co-pilot take over. “Great idea” says a neighboring passenger.

“Don’t worry people! I’m the co-pilot of this carnival. My name is also Jeremie and we will be landing this plane shortly. The dripping sound was actually just a leaky faucet in the bathroom. Please just sit down and Investors, Start Your Engines!“

I hope you enjoyed the carnival as much as I did. Thanks again for stopping by!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of festival of under 30 finances using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t been writing posts this week. I’ve had and still having a really hectic month. I’m transitioning to a new job, so right now I have two of them. I’m also going through some midterm exams and papers which are taken all my writing energy and talents. It should be back to normal on Saturday. Jane and I will have some good posts coming up for the rest of February. Thanks for bearing with me through this stressful time.

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Say you won a million dollars (after tax) and you got to do whatever you wanted with it. What would you do? Being the responsible types, I imagine you’d invest it. But in what? Do you have any idea how to really invest a million?

Now you have the chance, welcome to the eFIPO Stock Game. Courtesy of Virtual Stock Exchange (Click Here to Join the Game), we have given you each a virtual million dollars to invest as you please over the next six months. Just sign up for a VSE account (it’s free!), join our game (Game name: efipochallenge Game ID: efipocom), and start your investing engines.

Tell your friends and family! The more, the merrier! The competition starts March 1st and ends September 1st. At the end of each quarter (other than the last quarter), the person with the highest amount of money in their portfolio will receive a $25 gift card. The winner of the last quarter will receive a $100 dollar gift card!!! The winner of the first quarter will also receive a free copy of “The Automatic Millionaire : A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich.” The only way I will be able to honor these programs is if we have enough people signing up to join the investment group; WHICH IS FREE!

Here are the game details:

Starting cash: $1,000,000.00
Allow selling short: Yes
Allow stop orders: Yes
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Maximum % trading volume: 100%
Credit interest rate: 4%
Can users join after the game begins? : Yes
Allow private portfolios: No
Allow limit orders: Yes
Allow margin: Yes
Maximum trade price: No maximum
Commission per trade: $29.95
Debit interest rate: 6%

Happy investing!

Easy way to join

Use the information and directions below to join the game.

Game ID: efipocom

Open this link and read the competition summary:
HERE

Click on the ‘Join Game’ link.

If you are an existing Virtual Stock Exchange member, enter your Email address and Password in the login panel and get set to trade. If you are a new user, follow the link to register - it’s easy!

Follow the instructions and start trading!

Join now, and see if you can win my efipochallenge competition! The more participants the higher the level of competition. Can you master the market?

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Well I know what you’re thinking¦ it’s been a long time since I’ve had something to say, right? Actually, I’ve had tonnes to say, I’ve just been so busy I’ve hardly had time to throw together any posts. But I have a few good ones in the works, so prepare yourselves.

Let’s review a few of the reasons that I have been so busy (because I think that they’ll give you a flavor of what to expect from my upcoming post):

1. I’m planning my wedding (so I have to budget and manage my personal time and finances like mad right now).
2. I’m taking accounting courses to work towards gaining my accounting certificate from UC Berkeley (so I am finally understanding why Assets= Liabilities + Shareholders Equity, which has totally transformed my understanding of investing and the stock market. Really).
3. I’m contemplating a career change, and might possibly start my own company in the next year (so I’m completely obsessed with entrepreneurs and business plans for the time being).
4. I’m doing some web design for some vacation rental places (so I’m spending hours figuring out CSS coding and browser compatibility those of you who do web design will understand how frustrating this can be).

And I’m working. My real full time job!

So stay tuned. I think it’s going to get interesting really soon

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I’ve always wondered who’s on the top of everyone’s browser list. What sites are you checking on a daily basis via bookmarking?

The sites that I check on a daily basis are:

2million
The Simple Dollar
AllFinancialMatters
Generation X Finance
Money Smart Life
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
Lazy Man & Money

Are you a regular commenter on the sites you check, or do you just like to read what they have to say? I try to comment on the things that I feel strongly about and I think that providing comments really makes the blogger happy (whether it’s negative or positive). So comment more on my site!

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Now that I am a full time landlord (I’m not a slumlord) there are many things that I wish I knew before jumping into the real estate renting market. Screening is the most important part of renting and doing it improperly could cost you a lot of money and increase your stress level.

Screening: Tenant screening is perhaps a landlord’s most crucial task. You may think your gut is your best ally for this job, but there are two important reasons this isn’t a good idea:

• It doesn’t work.

• It’s not legal.

Even if you think you have a great judge of character, you need to screen. You can’t always judge a renter by the way they dress and present themselves. They might have a lot of skeletons in their closets; which will come out a few months after you give them the keys.

If you don’t end up screening your renters, disaster will surely follow. You can expect late payments, non-payments, damages and complaints from the neighbors. Having a rental property can be a very rewarding experience. Protecting yourself and your investment should be top priority.

Here are the things you look for when you screen a candidate.

• Applicant’s full identity
• Rental history
• Credit picture

Here’s a wonderful rental application that you should use to screen your future tenants.

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Part one of the Money Quadrant Series- Are You a Debtor?

Check Casher-

Do you know people that rush to the back on payday to cash their check? Do you rush to the bank to cash your check? Well, in the banking world we call this type of person a check casher. They work hard all week to get that paycheck that seems to disappear by the next payday. There are a few that do manage to save some money before they pay their bills, but most live paycheck to paycheck. The three different kinds of check cashers that I’ve managed to differentiate are the true check cashers, filed for bankruptcy check cashers, and low income check cashers.

A true check cashier usually just likes carrying a ton of money on hand at all times. I think it gives them a sense of power (even though if they were ever robbed or misplaced their wallets they would be so screwed). I’ve seen a few that just cash checks at the bank that the check is drawn on, then bring it to their bank, but it was minimal. They are usually on a fixed budget, and don’t like to get themselves into any kind of debt (not a bad philosophy).

The filed for bankruptcy check cashier usually hates banks or any kind of financial institutions because they believe they are out to get their money. They live by the slogan “They’ve do it once. They’ll do it again.” A lot of the ones I’ve met also have managed to get the IRS on their backs because they don’t pay all their taxes. I’ve been able to discuss some form of personal finance with the ones that want to express their problems. Usually they get a credit card or checking account and overdraft their account within the first month. They’ve never learned cash management in their youth and it’s reflected by how many times they use their credit/check card. They just don’t remember how much is in their account and end up with tons of overdrafts. They are forced to close their account and they evade paying the overdraft fees by never opening up another checking account or credit card. Some that piled large amounts of credit card debt were forced into bankruptcy because they weren’t able to pay for the minimum payment.

A low income check casher is in very tight situation. Their jobs do not pay enough to make ends meat. They’re on a very tight fixed budget and can’t have many of life’s luxuries. Most of them do not have a high school education which puts a cap on their earning potential. My only advice for the low income check casher is getting a G.E.D. Education and hard work can really turn around your financial situation. You do not have to settle for a low paying job for the rest of your life.

The similarities between 97% of check cashers are:

• They don’t end up saving a dime
• Fixed budget
• They do not splurge on big purchases
• They spend every penny before their next paycheck
• A lot of wasteful spending

Solution-

When I left the bank and decided to get an easier job (the high-end liquor/wine retailer), I noticed a ton of check cashers purchasing large amounts of alcohol and cigarettes. Originally, I was kind of sad for the individuals that were stuck on a fixed budget, but this brought a new light to the situation. You cannot spend money on liquor or cigarettes when you can’t even afford car insurance! Stop smoking and drinking and make your life better. They would usually spend about $50 a week on booze and cigarettes which turns into a yearly amount of $2600. That’s a lot money that you could be putting into a retirement account… You need to find your latte factor and eliminate it from your life A.S.A.P.

You need to save all the money you would have spent on your latte and throw it into a high yield savings account. I would highly consider paying yourself first before you start spending when you’re on a fixed budget. This worked wonders for me. I could save 15% of my income then blow the rest on whatever I wanted. Once you’ve mastered this skill, you will now be considered a Super Saver.

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After sifting through dozens of articles this week, I found one that really caught my eye. Jim, the owner and writer at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, did some financial blog investigating and listed the top 60 blogs according to Alexa Rankings. Unfortunately, I am not a very popular member of the online community *yet*. But the good thing is that some of my buddies did end up on the list. Here are some of my favorite fellow bloggers, in no particular order, with a quick reason why I think they made it.

 
Lazy Man and Money – Lazy Man is dedicated to be financial free at a younger age than most. Just like me! His new site is very clean and extremely easy to navigate. The reason why I think he was on the list is because he writes with passion. Even though he calls himself “lazy”, he is being regarded as one of the fastest growing financial blogs on the net. Congrats Lazy Man.

The Simple Dollar – Trent is one of the few financial bloggers that updates his site on a daily basis. Wait… no… HOURLY basis. This guy is a mad writer and loves every minute of it. Have you ever heard of the term “writer’s block”? Well, Trent is an exception to that rule. He blew up faster than the movie Titanic. Trent is a great guy and deserves credit for his accomplishments. Here is one of his many great articles that relates to what we discuss here on eFIPO.

2 Million Blog – He is one of the first financial blogs that originally got me thinking about starting my own site. He has a precise goal and openly talks about it on his site. His site is not only informative, but realistic. *I think* we have a lot of similarities with the way we view our financial lives. Invest for the long haul and reap the benefits of starting early. As you can see he is killing my net worth, but his got some years on me. Congrats for being on the list!

GenerationXFinance – I think I was one of the first people to find his site (I may be wrong, but I think I’m right). Yes, he is serving the generation above mine, but we still believe in the same principles. He has a great site, and his new look is hip and happenin’. I’m sorry if my readers don’t understand what hip and happenin’ means, but it was a sentence used back in his day. Just kidding! He is currently busy writing something for About.com, so please cheer him on and take a look at his Friday Five. Jeremy congratulations on your success

Money Smart Life – Ben, the man of the hour! He just started his blog in September and is already getting some great attention from the online community. I mean it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize why his blog performs so well. Ben was my last guest on the Voice of eFIPO and we will be having him on again very soon. I wish him continued success at Money Smart Life and can’t wait to have him as a guest again.  

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First Quadrant- Debtor

Whether you’re in college borrowing student loans, or you’re in the workforce with a ton of credit cards, you will be regarded as a debtor to all bankers. Why do some people fall in a hole of debt, while others manage to rise above it all? Sometimes you can’t really stop it. You were born into a lower income family and you’ve had to pay your way through life. I call these debtors the diamonds in the rough. These types of people have the ability to transform their debt to knowledge later on in their lives. They know the true value of a dollar and they usually try their best not to blow their money on random things.

On the other hand, you have this type of debtor that ends up blowing even more money on stupid things because they don’t know any different. They will spend all their money on a depreciating asset¹ and then use their credit cards and loans to make it “pimped out”. “Pimped out”is just another word for stupid spending. Usually, these types of people are very generous to their friends at a young age. They usually pay for drinks at the bar, fast-food for friends after the bar, and have massive parties at their place when the bar is closed. I call these types of people the live-in-the-now debtors. They don’t think of the long term liability they are getting themselves into. I worry a lot about the live-in-the-now debtors. Unfortunately, they are usually the ones that file for bankruptcy before their 26^th birthday.

Similarities between most debtors

• Look at their minimum payment as their actual payment.
• Spend 15-20% more than what they make.
• Eat out more than they eat in.
• Present thinkers instead of long term thinkers
• Postpone paying off their credit cards and keep more cash on hand.
• Have trouble sleeping at night because they worry about paying credit card bills
• They have addictive personalities i.e. drinking, gambling, and so on

Solution

The first step to reach the Check Casher quadrant is regulating your spending habits. Stop using credit cards to pay for things. Go on a cash only budget. If you need help if your budget, please take a look at this post. When you’re on a cash only budget, once you run out of money, you run out of money! You can’t rely on credit cards to bail you out this time. A cash only budget teaches self-discipline and can cure your debtor type of personality. Your big bills need to be paid before you start paying for the small stuff. Your rent or mortgage, food and necessary bills come first! Here’s a rough budget for reference purposes.

Slowly pay for your credit cards till they reach $0 balance. This might take three months or even three years depending on your debt level. After you reach the $0 balance, you can jump to the Super-Savers quadrant. Give yourself a high five! Now you have to learn how to become an Intelligent Investor.

*eFIPO’s Rule* When you’re a debtor, do not buy any thing you don’t absolutely need!

¹ Cars, TV’s, stereo systems

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In the personal finance world, people are either classified as rich or poor. You’re either rich enough to buy expansive things, or you don’t have the money to purchase fine luxuries.  At eFIPO, I always encourage people to invest as much money as you can. But what about all the other people that are too far into debt or that live paycheck to paycheck to invest? This week, I will be discussing the ways to jump from the poorer side of the quadrants to the richer side. This will not be an immediate process for everyone. Every person’s financial life is unique, but there are core similarities that can be found if you dig deep enough.

Why should you take my advice when I am just a twenty three year old soon to be college student? First, I’ve been in three of the four quadrants and I am planning on moving to the fourth quadrant very soon. Secondly, I could throw in about fifty people in each quadrant and tell you their unique stories, but this will be more about the similarities that every group posses; which will paint a much more vivid picture.

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