Financial Software Reviewed: Mint.com

Lately I’ve been looking for ways to make my personal finances more streamlined, and decided to give Mint.com a test drive.

I was a bit skeptical and afraid initially because I wasn’t sure if my information was safe, and second, whether Mint.com would be worthwhile because it’s a free product after all, and I’m usually a pretty firm believer in you get what you pay for.

Click here to Visit Mint.com

Mint.com Review Pros

• Mint.com is completely free
• Really easy to use
• Graphs and reports of your spending
• Easy to track personal net worth and income
• Central view of all accounts
• Large forum of members
• Great iPhone and iPad apps

Mint.com Review Cons

• Can’t reconcile all accounts at once
• All your logins and data are at a central 3rd party location
• Not much support, more of a do-it-yourself product

Mint.com Review Findings

To setup Mint.com, all you do is input your financial institution login information, i.e. credit card companies, checking and savings accounts, and investment accounts. Mint.com logs into these institutions and grabs your account information to make its reports. You can categorize the expenses yourself, or Mint makes a guess at what category your expenses falls into.

I noticed that once I set up mint, I didn’t log in constantly; the real beauty for me was in the weekly emailed reports which show where your money goes.

Also, because Mint.com creates a comprehensive picture of your past expenditures, it emails reports detailing unusual spending if the software notices discrepancies from week to week. This is useful for catching identity theft and throttling down expenses that are getting out of control.

How does Mint.com Make Money?

This is where I was originally not sure about mint.com because I figured that if they weren’t making money by selling the software, they must be making money some other way. With more research, I found that Mint.com can make money in potentially two different ways:

First, they make offers in their “Ways to Save” view. They basically show offers from other financial institutions and show you exactly how you would save money by taking said offers. For example, I had some money in a savings account that wasn’t earning any interest. Mint suggested that I switch to ETrade which would actually earn some interest. Mint.com earns a commission from ETrade if I open an account.

The other revenue stream is the possibility for Mint.com to sell anonymous information about people’s banking and spending habits to companies for research purposes.

Mint.com is owned by Intuit who produces the ultra-popular Quicken personal finance software. Intuit knows personal finance, as they have been in the financial industry for years.

Mint.com Review Conclusion

Mint.com is right for people who want a comprehensive back view of their financial habits. Mint.com shines in the categorization of expenses and ability to present at a glance where your money is going. The alerts and weekly financial summary reports are a nice bonus.

I also really appreciated that Mint.com is free.  This is especially good for people who want to make a small nest egg into a larger one.  it’s easy to commit to products with MORE fees, but I found Mint personal finance software to have a lot of power for free. When I researched the software’s security more, I was pleased with the lengths that Intuit has taken to secure the user’s financial information.

I also really like the iPhone app, and have noticed that I use that more than the actual web site. I like the weekly reports about where my money went, I’ve found these 2 parts of the software useful in curbing expenses.

With all of this said, I definitely recommend getting a free account at Mint to check it out.  Like I said before, you can’t go wrong with a free product designed to help you budget better. Thanks for checking out my Mint.com review.

Click here to Visit Mint.com

Credit cards are not a good substitute for not carrying cash. Every time you whip out your credit card to pay for something this should be the theme playing in your head. Also it would do you some good to remember the following also:

Do’s for Credit Card Usage

Pay off your cards every month if you can. If you pay your entire balance each month, you stay away from paying costly interest rates.

First, make sure you budget in advance for needs, with wants second. Needs like electricity, housing and food go first on your list, with wants a distant second. The power to decide upon a distinction can aid you in planning for household expenses more clearly.

Talk to the credit issuer if you are having issues with making payments on time or you aren’t able to pay even the minimum balance. They could re-schedule your debt payments or restructure your debt. If you decide to stop paying, that only helps to build a negative credit history and you might find yourself being denied credit next time you apply and have to pay higher interest rates if you do get accepted.

Unless it is a pinch, staying within your credit limits will help you a great deal. If you find that you must go over your credit limit, remember that you will have to shell out additional additional charges for being over your credit limit.

If you are seeing more deals than you can afford on your current credit limit, you can ask for higher credit lines or decreased interest rates. Since credit card companies need to keep you as a customer, they are likely to help you out with better terms.

Don’ts- Credit Cards

Don’t use your credit card for regular household purchases. It’s costly in the long run.

Do not only stop at forking over minimum payments. If you do this, you will end up paying outrageous interest rates. The faster you clear your debt the better.

Do not use the credit card to get things you can’t afford to pay off monthly.

* Penny- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States 1861-1865

* Nickel- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States 1801-1809

* Dime- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States 1933-1945

* Quarter- George Washington, 1st President of the United States 1789-1797

* 50 Cent Piece- John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States 1961-1963

* Dollar Coin- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States 1953-1961

* Susan B. Anthony Dollar- American civil rights leader, important for the woman’s suffrage movement lived from 1820-1906

* Sacagawea Golden Dollar- Native American woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their exploration of America. Lived from 1787-1812

* Dollar Bill- George Washington, 1st President of the United States 1789-1797

* Two Dollar Bill- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States 1801-1809

* Five Dollar Bill- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States 1861-1865

* Ten Dollar Bill- Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury from 1789-1795

* Twenty Dollar Bill- Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States 1829-1837
What presidents are on money?

* Fifty Dollar Bill- Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States 18th 1869-1877

* 100 Dollar Bill- Benjamin Franklin, author, inventor and statesman who lived from 1706-1790

* 500 Dollar Bill- William McKinley, 25th President of the United States 1897-1901

* 1,000 Dollar Bill- Grover Cleveland, 22nd President of the United States 1885-1889

* 5,000 Dollar Bill- James Madison, 4th President of the United States 1809-1817

* 10,000 Dollar Bill- Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States from 1864-1873

* 100,000 Dollar Bill- Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States 1913-1921

* Save gas and postage on each trip that you would have spend going to the post office to buy stamps or mail bills.

* Streamline each step involved with paying your bills, and this pays off through reduced stress levels and worry about getting everything paid on time.

* Reduce identity theft risk. Most identity theft occurs as a result of stolen statements, either left in the home, or stolen from the mail box or trash.

* Reduce Paper statement waste. Paper statements contribute to millions of pounds of paper usage each year. Imagine the benefit if we stopped using paper resources for this purpose.

* Save time. Once you get bill payment set up, you can make the same payment happen automatically every month. This means you don’t have to think about it or worry if you paid on time.

* Make it nearly impossible to make late payments unless you alter the bill payment schedule after you have already set it up. This makes it easier to have better credit and reduces late fees.

These are some compelling reasons for me. I really like the freedom of having my bills being paid on time every month in the background. I never liked the drudgery of writing checks, putting stamps on envelopes and going to the post office to wait in line.

Traditional IRA Benefits

First, you get an immediate break in your taxes depending several factors, including how you file your taxes and your current income.

Second, if you expect to be in a lower tax bracket after you retire, then you may have a larger tax benefit than using a Roth IRA.

Since your tax break is immediate, you don’t have to worry that congress might change the rules in the future, as with Roth IRAs.

Traditional IRA Rules

To contribute to either type of retirement account (traditional or Roth IRA) you must have earned at least an equal amount of taxable compensation as the amount that you intend to contribute to the retirement account.

You may only contribute up to the current yearly IRA contribution limits.

You must begin taking required distributions by 70 1/2 years old. If you don’t take the mandatory withdrawal, half of the required distribution will be confiscated by the IRS.

If you have an employer sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k), you might not be able to deduct your traditional IRA contribution at all.

When you withdraw the money at retirement, your withdrawals are taxed at your current ordinary income tax rate.

If you take withdrawals before 59 1/2 years old, you will pay a 10% penalty. It is possible to get this penalty waived in certain cases, but it isn’t as easy as with the Roth IRA where you can withdraw your contributions at any time without penalty.

Advantages of a Traditional vs Roth IRA

* You get an immediate tax deduction as long as you fall under certain income limits and don’t already contribute to an employer sponsored 401(k).

* This tax break may allow you to contribute more than if you used a Roth IRA because the money that you are contributing has not already been taxed.

Disadvantages of a Traditional vs Roth IRA

* If you withdraw money from a traditional retirement account early, you are forced to pay a 10% penalty. With the Roth, there is no penalty for withdrawing your contributions (but you will pay a penalty for withdrawing your gains).

* You are forced to take mandatory withdrawals. With a Roth, you can choose to never take withdrawals and pass your account on to your beneficiaries at your death without them incurring income taxes on the money.

* If you contribute to your employer’s 401(k), you lose the immediate tax deduction for the traditional IRA AND your money is taxed at retirement. If you contribute to a 401(k) and a Roth IRA, you are still eligible to withdraw your money at retirement tax free because you used after tax dollars to fund the account.

* When you withdraw from your traditional retirement account at retirement, the withdrawals are taxed at your current ordinary income tax rate. This means that instead of being taxed at the regular capital gains tax rate (less), your entire wad is taxed at your ordinary income tax rate.

* Your beneficiaries must pay income taxes on withdrawals from your traditional retirement account if they inherit it from you at your death

* If you are not eligible for the current income tax deduction (too much income or employer sponsored 401(k) contributions) there is absolutely no reason to use a traditional IRA over a Roth IRA or even a normal (non-retirement) brokerage account. There is simply no benefit.

Check out Roth IRA benefits here.  Also, take a look at Roth IRA vs Traditional IRA information.

Bollinger on Bollinger Bands by John Bollinger

Mastering the Trade: Proven Techniques for Profiting from Intraday and Swing Trading Setupsby John Carter

Trend Following (Updated Edition): Learn to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets by Michael W. Covel

The Complete TurtleTrader: How 23 Novice Investors Became Overnight Millionaires by Michael W. Covel

Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude by Mark Douglas

The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes by Mark Douglas

The Complete Trading for a Living: The Legendary Approach to Trading with the Companion Study Guide by Alexander Elder

Come Into My Trading Room: A Complete Guide to Trading by Alexander Elder

Entries & Exits: Visits to 16 Trading Rooms by Alexander Elder

Trading Rules: Strategies for Success by William F. Eng

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications by John J. Murphy

Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques, Second Edition by Steve Nilson

How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad, Fourth Edition by William J. O’Neil

A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets: Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, Trading, Spreads, and Options by Jack D. Schwager

Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager

The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America’s Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager

Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America’s Top Stock Traders by Jack D. Schwager

Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street’s Champion Day Trader by Martin “Buzzy” Schwartz

Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master by Victor Sperandeo

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp

Martin Zweig’s Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig

Back to Books on Personal Finance

Return from Trading Books to Personal Finance Home

The best way to invest money is the one which you want to learn the most about. Some people want to learn about stocks, currencies, real estate and bonds. Other people are afraid of market swings and would rather accept a lower return like with a certificate of deposit (CD) and go do something else besides learn about investing money.

Think about what you are most interested in. In the words of Robert Kiyosaki, “to make a lot of money investing, you must first invest a lot of time.” What would you like to spend your time learning about? If you don’t want to spend your time learning about investing, are you willing to settle for a lower return? Sometimes the best way to invest money is in plain old certificates of deposit (CDs). Currently, CDs return anywhere from 3.5%-4.5%.

The basic premise of a CD is that your money earns a guaranteed return over a specific period of time as long as you leave the money in the account. If your bank is FDIC insured, the CDs there are FDIC insured, so if the bank goes belly-up, your money is still safe under the current limit of $250,000 per depositor. CDs are good if your time period is rather short (1-2 years) and you would just have the money sitting in a savings account anyway.

If you can tolerate more volatility, stocks are a good choice. Stocks represent equity in a company, so when you buy a stock, you are essentially buying a tiny piece of a company. It is possible to make money through stock dividends or appreciation of the stock price. If the price of the stock goes down, your investment is worth less, if it goes up, your investment is worth more. If the stock pays dividends, these are paid at intervals throughout a year. If you chose to reinvest your dividends, the value of your investment will grow this way. If you want the dividends paid in cash, this is another option.

Lots of people invest in mutual funds. These are pools of investor funds managed by a manager or tied to an index like the S&P 500. Like all other investments, mutual funds can be profitable or unprofitable, depending on the mutual fund manager and the length of time invested.

It is possible to buy a mutual fund through a brokerage firm and invest that way. Mutual funds can hold stocks, bonds, real estate, and other mutual funds among their holdings. There are thousands of mutual funds and each has their own method of investment, so it is important to read the mutual fund prospectus to determine what the fund invests in, what fees are charged, and what kind of tax liabilities will be incurred through the fund.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are very similar to mutual funds in that they are a pool of investor’s funds used to invest in many different vehicles. Contrary to mutual funds, ETFs trade throughout the day like stocks and charge less fees than mutual funds.

Another way to invest money is through bonds. Bonds are debt that is repaid with interest, called the coupon rate of the bond, which is a percentage of the principal. Coupon rates can range anywhere from zero, (called zero coupons) to in the double digit percentages for more risky corporate debt. There are federal bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds.

Treasury bonds are the safest, released by the Us government. The interest rates are lower than municipal or corporate bonds, but these are the safest types. Blue chip companies with long, established track records are also considered very safe bonds. Junk bonds are the most risky, these are bonds rated “BB” and lower because of their higher risk.

Investment real estate is another way to invest money, but it is a lot more time intensive than more passive investments like stocks or bonds. The time required to learn about the local market, look for properties, put them under contract and buy is large, but the payoffs can be huge. Once the property is bought and sold or bought and rented out, the time requirement is less. Investing in real estate could almost qualify as a part time job, so if you don’t have the time to learn about the local market where you are considering buying, I would avoid real estate. Since I like to make the time to devote to it, I really like real estate. Also, since a building is a great business system, it can definitely be the best way to invest money.

Foreign Exchange (forex) is yet another way to invest. When you trade forex, you are trading currencies against each other. You can bet that the British pound will rise or fall against the dollar, or on the moves of a whole bunch of different currency relationships. The forex market is larger than the stock market, it encompasses a multi-trillion dollar worldwide market. It is possible to trade forex nearly 24 hours a day, but the market doesn’t necessarily move well all 24 hours. I wouldn’t start investing for the first time ever with forex, but it is fascinating to learn about the way that currencies move and how to take advantage of the moves.

Trading commodity futures are another vehicle. Investing in commodities involves opening an account at a futures broker and trading contracts of things like wheat, corn and sugar. A nice thing about commodities is the ability to go short, i.e., bet that the commodity will go down, without needing an uptick. Commodity contracts end at a specific date, so they require more active trading than stocks or bonds. It is also possible to trade other types of futures, like currency futures, S&P futures or precious metals.

Ultimately, the best way to invest money is the one that you want to learn the most about. If you pick something and specialize in it, you’ll always know more than if you spread yourself thinner by choosing a lot of different strategies that you know little about.

You must determine the best way to invest money for you, and stick with that. No matter which way you chose to invest your money, take the time to read and learn about it.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of time learning about investing, I would recommend choosing a mutual fund that tracks the total market, and buying a set dollar amount of the mutual fund at predetermined intervals (dollar cost averaging). Then hold the money until you need it, preferably 5-10 years in the future to ride out possible market swings. In my opinion, this method falls very short, but everything, including investment returns, comes at a price.

I hope you enjoyed the best way to invest money.

When I was a teenager, I was apathetic, bored and jaded, probably just like your teenager. But I was great at saving money. The reason was that I rarely got things I wanted unless it was a holiday or my birthday. Now, I have very kind, generous parents, but they were smart. They simply didn’t just give me anything besides clothes, and if I wanted clothes, I couldn’t go for the expensive designer kind or they would balk at that as well.

Even when I was much younger, I got a few surprises, but for the most part, the holiday/birthday rule was in effect. It was in this way that I learned to appreciate what I had, and that if I wanted something I had to either save my allowance (which peaked at $20 a week when I was 13 but averaged from $5-10) or find another way to make money. If I wanted something and I told my parents about it, they would say “save your money”. From that second on, I was on my own to get whatever item I wanted.

When I wanted a TV in my room, I had to save up to buy it myself. I remember at the time I was getting $5 a week in allowance, and it took me quite a while, probably six months to get enough money together. I was so proud when I finally announced to my Dad that I was ready to go buy my $161 13″ tv. I still have that TV, its in my living room right now. It was the first “large” item that I ever bought.

Sometimes my parents offered me a small hourly rate to do chores outside of my normal ones, things like hauling wheelbarrows of mulch all over the yard or spending a whole day picking weeds. These were free choice, and that was something that stuck with me. I could choose whether I wanted to make money or not. But when I was making those choices I was also saying that I wanted to work hard for the money I made.

If I wanted more than the money I already had, I had to get it as allowance, earn it or borrow it from them, they didn’t just give it to me. On the rare occasion where they just gave me money, it was totally random and never when I actually thought I needed it. I was always surprised in these cases, and it was clear that I shouldn’t expect it, but it was given in a spirit of generosity.

When I was about 15, my Dad started taking me to stock seminars. I had always liked the idea of making my money grow, and had saved about $1000 by that point. $1000 was a lot because I didn’t have a job yet, and I could have spent the money on anything I wanted. Mostly, I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to spend it on because I had developed a mindset that was conducive to amassing large quantities of cash, mainly that I liked the process of accumulating the money more than I liked spending it.

I loved going to those seminars with him, even though I never really told him that. I liked sitting in a room with a notepad, usually being the only woman learning about fundamental and technical analysis from a securities broker. It made me feel good and grown up and like he had no doubt that I’d be able to keep up or know what the people were talking about. If I had questions, he answered them, and we usually spent the whole rest of the night talking about money.

This made a big impression and made me want to learn, practice investing and save even more. He took me to Charles Schwab to open my first custodial brokerage account. We sat down with a consultant and the consultant showed me that if I invested $100 once a month starting that moment, it would grow into 1.2 million after a certain period of time. I was hooked.

I also didn’t want to disappoint him, so I made it a point to tell him if I did a good job at an investment, or saved a lot. He never made me feel bad or ashamed if I had a question, and was always available to explain anything I wanted to know. No matter what I wanted to buy or do with my money, he never judged, but if I saved, he was extremely proud. If he had been judgmental when I spent money, I would have spent to rebel (yeah, I was that difficult).

My relationships with my parents were shaky at the time. This caused a lot of emotional resentment. Although, when it came to investing and money, we always dropped that and talked plainly. In hindsight, the ambiance of safety and lack of judgment around those financial conversations smoothed things over a great deal. In the long run, the conversations made it much easier for me to develop an attitude of abundance.

Accumulating money had been made into a game that I only won if I found new ways to create it myself. Games are irresistible to kids. If you make the game real by making them think for themselves, they win in more ways than one. Teaching teens to save money doesn’t have to be such a struggle if you let the kids think for themselves and decide what they actually want to make their saving goal.
What I Learned

* If you want something big or different, you have to save for it.

* If you want more money, you have to find a way to go out and get it yourself, but how you do this is all up to you.

* Money is fun to save on its own without something to spend it on.

* Investing is fun, and to learn it well is a point of pride.

* No matter what you do with your money, that is ok, but things like making money grow are what you should be most interested in.

* No one will just give you money, and if you borrow it, you have to pay it back.

* Money should be a safe, non-emotional topic to talk about. If you have questions, there is no reason to be afraid to find answers.

By taking the emotion out of teaching their teen to save money, and being generous with their time and attention rather than their pocketbook, this was how my parents taught me to save money.

Teaching teens to save money is not as hard as it seems.

Do’s and Don’ts- Teaching Teens to Save Money

1. Learn about money yourself and have non-judgmental, positive conversations from the time that they are young.

2. Celebrate when they save but avoid negative comments when they spend. You will never teach a teen to save money by nagging them about the things they enjoy. Keep your mouth shut when they buy something they enjoy. Your opportunity to teach and praise is when they have little questions about investing, checking, money management and what to do with their personal finances.

3. Set a good example when you talk about your own cash flow. Do not show anxiety about your finances in front of your kids.

4. If things aren’t going well financially, instead of allowing an attitude of negativity to invade the house, involve them in frugal decision making.

5. Avoid negative financial comments about other people. If someone wins a million dollars on TV, say positive things.

6. Don’t make money a source of shame.

7. Make it clear that they are totally on their own if they want to purchase something big. Tell them “save your money” and say nothing else when they say they want that big thing.

8. Do not break down and buy something for them after you told them to “save their money”. This item is now off limits for you. You can’t buy it for Christmas, their Birthday, or Columbus day. They must find a way to buy it themselves. Once they do, make it clear how proud you are that they did it all by themselves. Take them to the store and share in their excitement. This is not to teach them consumerism, you are celebrating the fact that they saved the money. If they never get the money together, just drop it.

9. Encourage them to learn about money. Be available when they want to talk about it.

10. Ask their opinion on business or investing ideas (within reason). Discuss whatever they suggest openly. If they are wrong about anything in their analysis, be very gentle.

11. Encourage entrepreneurship. If they want to start their own business of any kind, be their biggest cheerleader.

12. Explain credit cards thoroughly, way before they are old enough to qualify. Emphasize pitfalls and dangers. Explain the concept of paying interest and how much it actually costs in real dollar terms.

13. Show them financial calculators on the internet. Point out how much their money will grow over time with compound interest. The idea of making money while they sleep is very compelling. Compare this to how hard it is to make money hauling wheelbarrows of mulch throughout the yard.

14. On a gift giving occasion, give your teen some shares of stock or books about money. Be ready to follow the stock and talk about the books, but only when they want to talk about it. If you drag them or push too hard, they’ll rebel and go the opposite way, just to irritate you. Teaching teens to save money is less of a one time act than a constant guiding process where you lead by example.

15. Do not treat money like it is boring or act like they would be bored by you talking about it. When they are adults, they will spend a great deal of time dealing with their own money. If you make it fun for them when they are teens, they are so much more likely to do well and be independent when they are grown-ups. Unless you want them living with you until they are 40, this is a great thing.

I hope you enjoyed my article about teaching teens to save money. Comment, gripe or leave your own ideas about teaching teens to save money below.

Here are tips to help you with surviving a layoff.

First, take a few deep breaths and collect yourself. If you handle this right, you can be out of job hell as soon as possible.

Immediately Following the Layoff Notice

1. Remain calm, cool and collected. After recent layoffs at my job, one woman was crying so hysterically that she had to have security guards help CARRY her to her car. Your life is not being terminated, your job is. There are lots of jobs. You will be just fine, especially if you took steps to shore up your personal finances before you ever needed information about surviving a layoff.
2. Take accurate and thorough notes on everything that your employer says or promises you during the exit process.

Get contact information and phone numbers of human resources representatives to ask for information later in case you need clarification of benefit information or you missed something that was said during the exit interview.

Write down:

* Specific information about severance benefits, including important phone numbers of individuals responsible
* Outplacement benefits
* How and when you’ll get paid
* What benefits (like health and life insurance) will continue and what it will cost you to extend coverage
* Contact information from people involved with benefits
* Retirement account, pension and 401(k) information

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You aren’t likely to see these people again if you can help it. Now is not the time to worry about sounding dumb by asking a lot of questions.

3. Email your co-workers and superiors. If you can, write a very nice mass email where you thank everyone for working with them and say that you hope to keep in touch.

K.I.S.S.. don’t ramble about the good times by the water cooler.

Leave your personal email address (a professional sounding one, not dragonwarz99@bot.com) and express that you enjoyed working with them- even if you didn’t.

If you have the time, go around and get key personnel’s contact information. Go see your superiors and ask if you can use them for references. Write down their phone numbers.

Your co-workers- even if you hung out with Bert and Ernie every day at lunch, you didn’t necessarily call them at home. Now is your chance to get their information in case it will come in handy later during the job search.
When You Get Home
4. Resist the temptation to go on a shopping spree or drinking binge to let off steam. Surviving a layoff with your finances and dignity intact is hard enough without a bad hangover or more credit card bills to make it more difficult. Be nice to yourself.

Within the Next Three Days

5. Go through your packet thoroughly. You will likely get a lot of paperwork from your ex-employer during the exit process. Write down any questions that you have and call the Human Resources department to get them answered.

6. Go to any outplacement meetings scheduled by Human Resources. You may feel dehumanized, angry and like you don’t ever want to walk through the doorway of XYZ Widgets ever again. That is fine, but resist the urge to avoid help just to spite them. You might learn something you didn’t know at these meetings.

What else do you have to do?

7. Apply for Unemployment Insurance. This is a benefit that you’ve been paying for for YEARS through your taxes. It isn’t welfare or food stamps, put your pride back in your pocket and just apply.

To file for unemployment insurance, you will need your:

* Social Security Number
* W-2 Form
* Hire/recent layoff date
* Approximate Weekly Wage

8. Change your Budget. Knock out temporary expenses you don’t need. Consider roommates, canceling your cable, and cutting everything you can down to the level that Unemployment Insurance pays you.

Check out Financial Crisis Help for other ideas about surviving a layoff, and ways to cut your budget.

9. Check out your insurance options. Apply to COBRA to keep your employer’s group health coverage– but be prepared to pay up to 102% of the full insurance premium. You must apply within 60 days. This is one expense that you should budget for, because you never know when your health might go on the blink. Surviving a layoff won’t matter if you are killed by cancer because you don’t have health insurance.

10. Back away from your retirement funds. Do not touch your retirement money. If you can possibly avoid it, stay away from any money that you have reserved for retirement.

“But its a CRISIS,” you say. I say, the real crisis will be running out of money at 85 because you raided that money right now. The younger you are, the more adaptable you are to job searching. Doing it at 85 is going to be MUCH worse than doing it now. There is an inverse relationship between the coolness of eating Top Ramen for survival and advanced age. At 32, its a setback necessity. At 82, its just sad.

See, surviving a layoff isn’t as bad now that we’re comparing it with being 82 and needing money. That is what I’m talking about… peace of mind.

One of the best ways you can save money is to notice the difference between a need and a want. Whenever you are going to buy something, and are considering it, ask yourself, “do I NEED this” or “do I WANT this”. This sounds simple, but in reality, we’re used to buying anything we want most of the time. Its easy to blur the lines between needs and wants, but this is the most basic way to save money.

You need food. You don’t NEED filet mignon. You need transportation to work or a way to create your own business. You don’t NEED a Ferrari to get yourself there. Needs and wants exist in a space that is filled with levels.

The more often you satisfy your wants without being mindful of the difference, the more the lines blur and you start thinking that the new Gucci coat you’re buying is a necessary winter expense. You could buy a cheaper coat, food, transportation, most of the time. Ask why you’re choosing the more expensive item. Is it for true quality or status?

Saving Money by Buying Quality

While you’re here for strategies to save money, be mindful of the fact that sometimes the better choice and money saving item isn’t always the lowest priced. If you can get an item that you’ll have to replace later for less money now, are you really saving money when you have to replace it sooner than the better quality item?

Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish, but use these strategies to save money above for a real leg up on your reoccurring expenses. Always ask to save!

Save Money by Negotiating

You will never save money if you don’t ask. The salesperson is more than happy to let you pay full price for everything you encounter, but there are lots of discounts available if you just ask. Ask everyone if they can do any better on price. Offer to pay cash or refer friends.

If an item is a little bit damaged, get the salesperson to discount it. Always remember that they can always say no, but never be embarrassed for trying to negotiate. If you make a fool out of yourself in front of strangers, remember that they are likely to remain strangers anyway, and who cares what they think? More likely than not, you’ll save some money in the process.

Here is everything you need to:

* Save Money on Groceries and Food

* Save Money on Gas

* Save Money Cleaning Your Car

* Save Money in the Kitchen

* Cheap Laundry Tips

* Teaching Teens to Save Money

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