Many people have unclaimed money just waiting to be claimed. In fact, there is an average of nearly $200 being held by state government for every US resident. Is there any for you? Well, you have to search to find out. You can also search for unclaimed money for family members and friends. While I only have 29 cents (that’s right - $0.29) awaiting my claim, I found $15.99 for one family member and five different claims totaling nearly $200 for another. How To Find Unclaimed Money How do you find out if there’s any money waiting for you? It’s easy! The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) has links for every state where you can search for your unclaimed money. Choose a state and then enter the required … [Read more...]
Last Minute Christmas Gifts From Your Local Auto Parts Store
Are you having trouble finding the perfect gift for any of the adults on your list, especially the guys? If so, look no further than your local auto parts store. Based on over 30 years of experience at Napa Auto Parts in far Northern California, my local parts person offers the following last minute Christmas gift suggestions: Emergency kit – Every vehicle should have an emergency kit with flares, a survival blanket, flashlight, gloves, knife, etc. Your auto parts store likely carries these kits housed in a convenient carrying case. Or you can buy the components you want and make up your own kit. Oil change – Apparently, many folks fail to change their oil as often as they should. For the DIYer, you can buy the oil and a new filter … [Read more...]
3 Favorite Games For Families With Kids
Affordable and having stood the test of time, these three games are a must for every home with children. If you have kids or know someone who does and one or more of the following is missing, put it on your Christmas list now! Monopoly I fondly remember the Monopoly marathons my siblings and I had during Christmas vacation each year. After the initial scuffle over who got the horse game piece, we’d settle down for hours of fun, learning how to increase our wealth while navigating the board and dealing with random consequences when drawing Chance or Community Chest cards. Monopoly is a great game for learning how to count money, cooperate and deal with setbacks. Yahtzee Rolling five dice out of a cup is something even a small child can … [Read more...]
Analyze Your Spending to Discover Your True Priorities
I just downloaded The Purpose and Passion Guidebook: 6 Steps to Doing Good, Feeling Good, and Achieving Your Dreams! by Stacy Curnow, aka the Midwife for Your Life. Stacy says the first step to discovering your purpose is find out what makes you happy. And the way you find out what makes you happy is by defining your top values. Do you know your top values? I mean, do you REALLY know? Are you clear on your true values? Can you actually define them? Simple Value-Defining Exercise To find your true top values, just look at your spending. Where you spend your money gives a clear picture of what is important to you. So go through your check register and credit card statements and identify the three things that are obviously your values … [Read more...]
Can You Retire with One Million Dollars or Less?
Reading "Does One Million Dollars Make You Rich?" got me to thinking about how far a million dollars might actually go. As the author accurately points out, it certainly doesn’t make you rich, and in fact, won’t even get you very far in retirement if you’re spending $200,000 per year. Even at $40,000 per year, you’re $1,000,000 might likely run out before the end of your life. Many people, however, could easily retire if they had $1,000,000. Even if you hid the cash in your mattress or buried it in the yard and earned no interest, you could take out $20,000 per year and your $1,000,000 would last 50 years. But what about inflation? Well, since you probably wouldn’t really need your income to last 50 years, you could probably safely bump … [Read more...]
Do You Want to be a DIY Landlord?
So you think you might like to own some rental property. You imagine cash and checks rolling in around the first of each month as your happy and responsible tenants pay their rent on time. In your mind’s eye, you can actually see your bank account growing. Life is good and your financial future looks secure! Well, hold on just a minute, OK? Some Questions To Consider Upfront If you are considering becoming a DIY landlord, you must be realistic about the time and expense involved. While there is certainly money to be made by owning rental property, there is also the potential for financial disaster. Ask yourself whether you have the ability to go totally DIY. Do you possess the necessary skills, tools and time to manage and maintain … [Read more...]
Does Your Home Own You?
In response to Why I May Never Buy a House by Brandon Tryon, I stated, “If you have a mortgage, you don’t own your home, it owns you.” I would now like to go further and say that if you own a house at all, even mortgage-free, your house still owns you. Am I against home ownership? Heavens no! In fact, I am a diehard homeowner and will probably never be otherwise. I bought my first “home” at age 20, a 28-foot travel trailer. Three years and a couple of kids later, I sold it for the down payment on a singlewide mobile with an expando living room. When the fourth child was two, I traded that mobile home for half the down payment on a real house. Seventeen years later when the kids were all grown and gone, I sold that home and paid off … [Read more...]
How Much Money Do You Really NEED For Retirement
Estimates of the amount of money needed for retirement vary by source but one thing is clear no matter which formula you use – it is a LOT. In fact, it is so much money that many people have absolutely no hope of ever saving and investing enough. That’s right – NO HOPE. But wait! There actually IS hope! While retirement calculations have a place, they are certainly not the final word. With estimates ranging from “Well, maybe I can save that much…” to “Are you kidding me? I might as well die young!” it can be unnerving to contemplate the future. The reality is that many people will never be able to save what the estimates project is required for retirement. So where is the hope? The fact is that how much money you actually NEED in … [Read more...]
