January 2015 Awesome Article Roundup

Awesome Articles I have come across in the world of personal finance in the month of January 2015.

Derek at Life and My Finances posted House Hopping Is Keeping You Broke.  This article goes into detail and runs the numbers, Awesome!) about why moving frequently destroys equity, especially with the way most American’s buy houses.  With a 30 year mortgage and under 20% down moving frequently will usually result in you paying out of pocket at closing.  Check out my article Checklist For First Time Homebuyers to see a rundown of how to avoid that situation.

Carrie at Pocket Your Dollars wrote Don’t Do the 52 Week Money Challenge.  I am all aboard with this. I think the 52 week money challenge where you save $1 week 1, $2 week 2, culminating in saving $52 the final week of the year is misguided.  Doing this will result in around $1,300 saved.  This is an extremely gimmicky challenge which makes the early weeks very easy, and the later weeks hard.  Carrie suggests doing the challenge in reverse.  I personally think saving $25 a week, every week is a better way to go.  It’s easier to budget around and you end up with about the same amount of money at the end.

Jasmine Howard guest posting at the Broke and Beautiful Life wrote The Most Important Negotiation Tactic You Will Ever Learn. Her advice is geared towards women, but men can learn from this as well. I think her tips on how to approach things like asking for a raise will be helpful to me in the future. In the past I have caught myself essentially “negotiating with myself” by showing understanding and even giving a reason as to why they can’t give me what I want.

This is a late one from December, but it totally deserves some mention and I just came across it; A Blinkin at Funancials wrote The Impressive Numbers Behind ABC’s Hit Show Shark Tank.  There are so many interesting facts in here. This well researched piece also has a great infographic.  The most surprising thing I found in this article is that regardless of whether the sharks make a deal or not, ABC gets 5% ownership of the company or a 2% royalty.  So ABC has found another no-lose way to make money.  I suppose having your product advertised on prime time in front of 8 million viewers may very well be worth the price!

 

What other awesome articles have you come across this month?

John C. started Action Economics in 2013 as a way to gain more knowledge on personal financial planning and to share that knowledge with others. Action Economics focuses on paying off the house, reducing taxes, and building wealth. John is the author of the book For My Children's Children: A Practical Guide For Building Generational Wealth.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *