More Reasons to "kill your television"

I am an avid hater of TV. Most of the shows are pointless and overly dramatic. Add in the very American-centric topics and ignorance of the rest of the world. Finally the commercials drive me insane.

It still baffles me that people will pay (a lot!) to watch commercials. Cable and Satellite companies are getting paid at both ends. It's a great scam. You pay your monthly service fee AND they get paid by all of the commercials that are run. I want to run a business where both the customers AND suppliers pay me!

According to this Simple Dollar Post the average person spends around $100 per month in electricity, cable subscription, and other related costs. What a waste.

The sad part is people mentally buy into everything they watch. The ignorant keep getting more ignorant because the TV told them this is how it should be. No one can think for themselves anymore. It's a shame.

Ignore Discounts! Stop Wasting Money!

It is not secret that I get very irritated by marketing. Marketing people are no better than politicians. They use specific wording so that you hear what you want to hear. In the end they are all lies then end up with you spending money (whether it be taxes or buying a product/service).

My biggest pet peeve is when an advertisement says "Save $X dollars!". You are not "saving" anything. You are getting a discount on an already overpriced item. The simple fact is that you are being tricked into thinking it is a good deal. That may or may not be the case!

You only save money when you do not spend it. Buying at item for $5 that was "normally" $10 does not mean you saved $5. It means you spent $5. That "extra $5 saved" doesn't get automatically transferred to a savings account. You just got a lower price. Don't be fooled by advertising!

Rule 1: You only save money when you do not spend it and move it to some sort of savings vehicle like a savings account, CD, investment account, etc.

Rule 2: Discounts are good but shop around first. Just because you "save $5" or the item is 50% off does not mean you are getting a good deal. Do your homework before buying anything.

Rule 3: Ignore advertising. It's sole purpose is to make you spend more than you plan to. You are almost never getting a good deal. 50% off a price that is 4 times what it should be is still an awful deal. Knowledge is power. Self control is the only way to really save money!

Being on a tight budget really makes you look at the bottom line and not "what's on sale". If your budget is $50 it doesn't matter what the sales are. You are interested in the bottom line price. Bring a calculator and figure it out for yourself if you have too. Using Google to find out if the item is priced better elsewhere--"on sale" or not.

Valentine's Day

Today is one of those "Hallmark" holidays that I particularly dislike. It is definitely an "America Only" holiday which is just an excuse to jack up prices at restaurants, buy expensive candy, flowers, and cards, and just spend too much in general for no real reason at all. I call these types of holidays "corporate marketing" holidays as they are the only real ones who benefit form them.

Rant aside, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to curtail the financial damage from days such as these. Firstly I stay far, far away from the pre fixe menus at restaurants. They are always a horrible deal and the quality is mediocre at best. Second I wait until after Feb. 14th for flowers and candy. They will be 50% or more cheaper and just as nice. Akin to buying wrapping paper after Christmas is over.

I also select my restaurant based on if I would go there normally. This year we went to Planet Bombay which is a great (and reasonably priced) Indian place in Atlanta. As an added bonus they are part of miles for dining where I get extra United miles based on the dollar amount I spend. We had a very good meal with leftovers for lunch the next day. Now that is a frugal-ish holiday!

Holidays in general make me quite grumpy but this year wasn't so bad. I just have to stick to my beliefs and budget and move on.

Wow what a LONG weekend!

Rant:

My project, which I thought was going smoothly, fell apart quickly once I started installing the equipment on site. I had multiple failures on all fronts and it quickly became frustrating and sent my blood pressure through the roof! I ended up working two 15+ hour days and had to stay an extra day in CT taking away from my time in NYC.

It mostly worked out in the end. I got most of the stuff working thanks to Saturday delivery new parts and some much needed sleep. I am sure my girlfriend was bored out of her mind there but there was little I could do about it. The client was happy which is the important thing.

End Rant

Why do we spend so much money?

This is a question that I hear and read about a lot. The answer is simple and complex at the same time. It is not as simple as "we want to" or "I have it so I spend it". Most people do not even realize it which is a big part of the problem.

Spending too much money comes down to 2 major problems: marketing and ignorance.

Marketing is certainly responsible for at least 50% if not more of your spending. You bought a new iPad. You bought a new car. You bought a new shirt. I could go on forever. All of that is the result of subjecting yourself to marketing. TV is a huge player in this--and also why I don't own one. Marketing is very good at making spend money--even if you don't have it (debt).

Ignorance is another aspect to this problem. Most of the people I know, including most of those close to me, have no idea how they spend their money. They just know that it is gone before they get paid again. Overdraft fees come and they eat ramen for a week. They simply have no budget and do not care enough to monitor their bills/spending and end up broke. Again and again from cradle to grave.

Every time I hear some variation of this story I want to just shake my head. I personally blame it on them since they are the one carelessly spending their money and the fact that they can't even realize they are doing it because of the cable TV they watch. I find it baffling that people pay money to watch commercials. It is no different than walking up to a salesman at Best Buy and saying "Here is 5 dollars. Please tell me about the features of this laptop."

But this is America! Materialism has gone way overboard. We have 2 iPads while people starve elsewhere. We have an average of $18,000+ in household credit card debt on top of mortgages, car notes, and student loans. Marketing has told us that we need a 20 bedroom house with 5 SUV's, 4 dogs/cats, and every gadget that ever comes out. People continue to buy into it and here we are.

When it rains, it pours

As if having major car problems weren't enough I am also sick this week. It is just a sinus infection but it certainly brings my energy level down to near zero. Just in time for our office move at work and I have a lot of project deadlines closing in too. Excellent.

Complaining aside I still believe that my "luck" comes in waves. Things are good for a good long wall then it all seems to hit the fan at once. It takes roughly a month to get to normal again. That has been my past experience. If this holds true I should be back to the usual in early June.

Time to load up on meds and vitamin C and chicken based soups. This is a long week...

Why Pay to Watch/Read Advertisements?

The title of this post is to make you think. People are spending around $100 USD per month on cable or satellite TV. They are essentially paying to be forced to watch the ads and relentless marketing that makes you buy more stuff. This is a very good scam in my opinion.

The same goes for magazine subscriptions. You are paying for them to mail you ads to read. Sure there may be a couple of interesting articles. But you are slammed with ads for the 20 pages between the articles you read. How else could they afford to send you the magazines for $3 per year?

The point is to ditch cable and magazines. They are 100% unnecessary and are a drain the money away from your true goals in life. If you must watch shows find alternate sources such as Netflix, Hulu, or the particular TV network's website. If you are a sports fan (which is also overrun by marketing) then I suggest looking for streaming online packages for the games you want. I promise they are less than $100 per month!

Start today! Cut the cord and move on with life!

Tip: Avoid the US Mail if possible!

First off I want to say the mail has its uses. Good for sending letters, documents, checks, and so on. On the flip side they do a horrible job with packages and their tracking is horrible.

Long story short I ordered a new Garmin GPS unit to replace the one I stupidly left in a rental car. I put in my home address for billing and work address for shipping so I could be present to sign for it. I put the wrong zip code on the shipping address. It got sent out anyway--via US mail.

It is now nearly 3 weeks later and the item eventually went back to the shipper. I credit this problem to a few things:

• I made a mistake. I will take some of the blame.
• The website I purchased from did not cross-check the city/state and zip code. The zip code I entered was for a different city! A lot of online retailers do this check in background and ask you if something looks off.
• The post office couldn't make any changes. They just sent it back. If I make a mistake with Fedex or UPS all I have to do is call to get the address corrected. For almost a week the tracking said it was in "Atlanta, GA". I called the postal service and by the time I got a call back the item was already returned the the person didn't tell me any information I didn't already have.

Bottom line is I will use the mail as a last resort. They are the most archaic and inefficient shipping service in the world. I would rather pay more for UPS or Fedex and know it will get there within a reasonable amount of time and have someone to call if things go wrong somehow. If I have no other choice then I will mail it but I will purchase delivery confirmation or even certified mail to be sure it gets there. The people who work at the US Mail have zero incentive to improve and that is why it is so bad in the first place.

Shipper/Receiver beware! US Mail is a gamble at best!

Getting control of your finances: You have to be willing to put in the effort!

I have a few friends, who will remain nameless, who always say things like:

• "I wish I could save more money"
• "I spend too much on ________"
• "I need to open a savings account"

And many more similar items I hear. They all have one thing in common: These are empty statements that they never do anything about. They are always running out of money before the next paycheck and are probably behind on their bills.

The source of the problem: They do not track their money in any way. Most of them spend without thought and just log into online banking once in a while so see if they are overdrawn. I cringe every time I hear about when they are overdrawn or have 47 cents left with 10 days until payday.

The issue is that either they don't care enough to track their money or lazy or simply do not know how. I am not sure which is the case with my friends but frankly it doesn't matter. It bothers me to see them like this as I cannot even fathom being like that myself. I am a very conscious spender and know where I stand at all times.

The bottom line is that in order to get ahead you have to put in time and effort to actively track your spending. Every day. No exceptions. You have to budget your money and know when to stop. Some of my friends were laid off, fell way behind, and still struggle even with new jobs. They easily make twice what I make and have nothing to show for it. I have tried to convince them to change their ways but it falls on deaf ears.

This is partly the fault of our education system. I personally believe that everyone should have a mandatory personal finance class in high school and/or college. I did it as an elective and learned a lot more than I imagined!

Rant: Calculating how much I need to "retire"

I am not a fan of the word "retirement." It has a bad connotation of working until you cannot work anymore to have enough money to live out the rest of your life. That doesn't sound very good to me. I prefer financially independent where I don't necessarily have to collect social security to stop working. I am currently working on my target net worth number to mark the day I quit working full time.

I have found that a lot of other things have to be considered than just the total amount. I also have to include:

• Expected income from investments
• Income from other sources (side work, contracting, etc.)
• What the other income sources are
• Cost to travel (I want to do this as much as possible)
• Expenses that have to be paid after I stop full time work
• Making sure I am happy with all the above choices

This seems simple enough but each of the above items has a lot of complexity. I have to make estimates on what I will earn from my investments. What sort of side work would I do, how often, and how much could it potentially pay? Travel costs fluctuate wildly. I have to decided where to travel, for how long, and get a reasonable estimate of costs. Expenses are the easiest to predict but not completely. And most of all I want to be happy with my choices and no stressing over these items all the time. Everything has to fit right!

As it stands now I am nowhere close to being able to say with 100% or even 75% assurance of what each in the above list should be. All I do know at this point is that I want to travel at least half the year to various countries worldwide. I have a good grasp on the home-side expenses but still working on the travel part. The expected income from investments is like trying to see the future. I know what sort of returns I would want but attaining them is another story. I am also working on ideas for side work, projects, and contracting to help me fill the gaps.

Being able to stop 100% relying on salary is a long process. I do know that saving as much as I can everyday will get me closer. I am a person who likes numbers and measurable goals so I am going to come up with a target and put 110% of my effort into it. I have a lot of variables to juggle. It's called life. I have to take a step back and not worry about every detail being hammered out. With plan A, B, & C I will make it work somehow. Time to get to work!

Tighter credit policies are good for us!

Their has been a lot of talk about the fact that credit for most people is harder to get these days. Some say it is a bad thing and will hurt our economy and others disagree. I too disagree as having less access to credit keeps us that much more out of debt. The banks are getting hit hard with defaults and really pulling back. I am glad!

Rewind a few years and think about all the different credit card and personal loan offers we got. Also remember the housing prices skyrocketing and banks lending to practically anyone who had a paycheck. Fast forward to today and look at the mess they are in. Credit limits are dropping, interest rates on consumer debt skyrocketing upwards, and foreclosures are left and right. Both banks and people got in over their heads and this is the fallout.

Based on these events it is now more difficult to obtain credit. I like this because it forces us to save for what we want and not senselessly borrow for it. I cannot think of a better reason to accelerate our debt repayments (aside from saving on interest) than the very fact that it is now a lot harder to get more credit! I hope it stays this way for a long time.

America really needs to get their savings rate up. We cannot rely on government bailouts and social security to carry our weight forever. If we lose at least some access to credit we will be forced to save or go without which I think is a great thing. Get out of the paycheck to paycheck rat race and act like we have a future to save for!

Want to curb spending? STOP watching TV!!

I have heard lots of people (who are in debt or "can't" save money) tell me they are not being affected by advertising. These same people watch TV regularly and have little to no savings. I firmly believe there is a connection. They are bombarded with commercials on a constant basis. It has been proven that if you tell someone the same thing repeatedly they start to believe it. Guess what commercials do?

Cable and satellite companies make most of their money from advertisers and home viewers. You pay every month to watch shows and you pay to watch advertisements. These commercials are what convince you to buy something the next time you are out shopping. Most people don't realize it at all!

My theory is that if you drop cable or satellite television completely then you will save money. For sure, you will save the money you spend on the monthly service right away. Secondly, you will not be subject to nearly as much advertising and will slow your spending. If you do not watch the commercials that get you excited over the latest and greatest product you don't really need then you won't buy it.

The biggest argument against canceling your TV service is that you will miss their favorite show or the news or sports. My response is to read the news on Google or a newspaper, Netflix DVDs of your show with no commercials, and watch the sports games on line, with friends, or go without. You also have sites like hulu to watch TV shows for free with minimal advertising.

I have been without any sort of subscriber TV for over 6 years. I do not miss it at all and now actually refuse to even own a TV. I despise the advertising and what it does to people's finances so much that I won't even have the device in my house. In my opinion it is a waste of time, money, and brains to watch TV. I obviously have a strong opinion on the subject!

The bottom line is that dropping TV will 100% without a doubt save you money. I dare you to try and and I am sure after a month or two you won't even miss it at all. You will suddenly have time to do all the things you "didn't have time to do before." You can spend time with family and friends, finish projects around the house, read more, etc. Cut the cord today!