How to Heat Up Your Summer Finances

Summer is around the corner! The weather is starting to warm up. People are coming out of hibernation. Brunch spots are filling up. People are heading for vacations, and going to the beach. Obviously a lot of  fun is had during the summer. This also normally means that a lot of money is being spent. So I thought that it would be the perfect time to talk about some very simple ways to make sure that by the time fall comes around you come out with your finances intact.

Save for Vacations

How are you paying for your vacations? Are you swiping with your credit card? A better strategy is to have a savings account for your vacation and work towards it over the coming months so that when it comes time for your vacation you can pay for the whole thing in full and it can be something you look forward too rather than something you stress about. It will be especially stress free because you don’t have to worry about paying for it later.  We wrote blogs about The Importance of Savings and Automating Your Finances. They can help you get started.

Eat at Home

When it comes to summer, it’s often the time when you go out more because it’s nice out. With this comes eating out more. Although this is very hard to resist. It is much more cost effective to eat at home. Instead of going out to eat, perhaps you can invite your friends over to cook dinner or lunch. This is much more cost effective, along with being healthier because you know how many calories you’re taking in and exactly what’s in your food (so you don’t have to worry about hurting your beach body).  They say, muscles are made in the kitchen.

Visit a Thrift Shop

I recently visited a thrift shop for the first time, and didn’t know what to expect. I thought that it would be old and tattered clothes. I was in for a huge surprise. I saw a really awesome summer button up in the window and immediately wanted it . When I entered the  store I came to find out it was a thrift shop. When I asked for the price of the shirt I fully expected it to be 40+ dollars and came to find out it was $25, a steal! I also found a pair of shoes that I continually get complimented on that were  only 30 dollars. My point is that expensive is not always the way to go. Thrift shops offer you the ability to be stylish yet spend frugally. There are also a number of thrift shops that will buy your gently used clothes for cash or store credit. A couple thrift stores that do this are Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads.

Cut Your Gas Costs

If you live in an area like a city where everything is close by and you don’t necessarily have to drive a car, then don’t. It’s nice outside so a whole array of transportation is open to you. Take advantage of the weather and get a good workout while you’re at it. You’ll get to see things you don’t normally get to see because you’re in a car, you get to enjoy the nice weather, and your wallet with thank you when summer is over.

Lower Your Bar Tab

Summer is the time when everyone starts going out  to the bar in droves and drop a lot of money on alcohol. Obviously it can be more expensive to buy alcohol at bars then at your house. So why not try drinking at your place first, then buy inexpensive drinks at the bar when you get there. And of course drink responsibly .

Netflix and Hulu Instead of Cable

How often do you watch TV? This may be for people who don’t necessarily watch TV but have cable. I recently moved to a place where my new roommates never bothered to start up cable. I thought it was strange at first but then I came to realize they had different alternatives for watching TV. For example Hulu, Netflix, and HBO Now. With these three it’s not really necessary to have cable. You’re saving yourself a bit of money  and it will start to add up. Not to mention you can watch shows essentially on your time rather than prime time.

Start a Side Hustle

Topping off the list is starting a side hustle. A side job can often be a great and easy way to make some extra money. Having a side hustle is at an all time high because of all the easy ways you can search for opportunities. I will list a few examples  of what you can do below but you can do your own research and find out what side hustle works best for you.

House Sitting – With so many people opting to go on vacation during summer. Some would feel more at ease if they knew someone was watching their house. This can be a relatively easy and lucrative gig.

Tutoring – Many parents like to keep their children learning over the summer, whether that be SAT/ACT practice or the summer worksheets that are sent home with children, this could be a great way to make side cash and help your community.

Dog Walking/Sitting – This is a spin-off of house sitting, but more fun (depending on the dog). If you don’t have a pet this can be a good way to get your pet fix and make money while doing it.

Sell Items on etsy.com – If you are crafty with your hands, or artistic, you can make money selling your crafts on etsy.

Rent Out Your Home On AirBNB – If you are leaving on vacation,  going somewhere for an extended period of time, or have extra space, you can temporarily turn your house or apartment into a hotel and make money doing it.

Uber and Lyft – If you have a car, and a few hours to spare during the day, you could try being a uber/lyft driver. While you drive you get to meet interesting people, see places you may not normally go, and get paid on your terms.

fiverr.com and upwork.com – These websites are online freelancing sites, where people post jobs that they would like to be done, and freelancers complete the jobs. The jobs can range from writing an article to writing an app. Depending on the type of skills you have, you can make a lot of money on these sites.

Summer time is the time when people go outside to celebrate the warm weather. Whether that means spending times with friends, going out, going to brunch, or going on vacation. However, there are many ways to make sure that your finances are in order while doing all these things. Hopefully this list was helpful to you. What are some good summer finance tips that you’ve used before? comment below and let us know.

 

How You Actually Start Saving for Retirement

We know we’re  supposed to save for retirement but getting to the golden number of 10-15% of your income can seem unachievable. So let’s break it down.

If you are in your early 20’s you have about 40 years before retirement. In those 40 years let’s say your savings will have a good annual return rate of 7% (according to Investopedia that’s the S&P 500’s annual rate of return over the past 40 years with an adjustment for inflation). Now, where does that money come from? Well let’s take a look at some of the most common expenses to see where you can change things.

All calculations were completed using Compound Interest Calculator with a 7% interest rate, a 40 year calculation period, a base amount as the average monthly cost, and a regular monthly investment of the monthly cost. The average spending habits of Americans is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep in mind you may not have all of these expense but I am sure you have at least one of them. If you cannot commit to eliminating an expense, consider at least relaxing it a bit and putting the extra you have towards your retirement. Something is better than nothing and if you get it invested early on then you have more time for your money to work for you! Are there any expenses we missed? Share with us the expense you plan to relax on or that you assessed to help you grow your retirement!

Is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

What’s the New Chip on My Card?

A few weeks ago I was emailed by my banking institution that they were sending me a new card and that my old one would soon be deactivated. What was different about this new card? Nothing, except that the new card now had a small chip on it. Come to think about it, my credit card had a chip on it too. And all of a sudden, when I went to places like target they would ask me to pay with the chip and insert it into a new slot. What was going on? After all these encounters I decided to do a little digging.

What are EMV chips and why is there a major push for these new cards?

EMV chips which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa are seen as a solution to recent large scale data breaches, and numerous counterfeit card fraud occurrences. Card companies are using EMV chips to reduce the amount and cost of  fraud. Perhaps you’ve noticed that checkout card readers in your local store have an additional entry point for cards now. This is because retailers are required to add new technology that is compliant with EMV chips and they also must be compliant to new liability rules. As of October 1, 2015, if a retailer hasn’t upgraded to being EMV compliant, and an instance of fraud occurs,  they will be held accountable instead of your card company for the financial damages. Overall EMV chips are an additional measure to combat card fraud.

What makes EMV cards safer than regular cards?

The new golden chip you see on your card may be small, but it makes a big difference in the case of protecting you against fraud. Traditional cards with magnetic strips contain data that doesn’t change. This means that whoever accesses this data will gain sensitive information that they can easily use to make purchases over and over again. However, when EMV cards are used for payment, it creates a unique transaction ID that can’t be used again. This means that if someone stole the chips information from a transaction, the code couldn’t be reused for any other transaction. In addition to this EMV cards use a four digit pin to verify the user’s identity, which is more secure than someone’s signature.

How do I make purchases with an EMV card?

Instead of swiping your card, you’re going to insert your card into the bottom slot of the same machine you would have swiped your card on and wait for the machine to process the purchase, this is called ‘card dipping’. While the machine is processing the purchase, data is being sent to the card’s financial institution to make sure that the card is legitimate. If the institution deems it as legitimate, it will create a unique transaction ID. In comparison to swiping, this process is much slower but may speed up as EMV card dipping becomes the standard across the US.

Can EMV cards still be swiped?

The first iteration of EMV cards will have both EMV chip and magnetic strip purchase capabilities. This means that you will still be able to use your card at any store that you’ve been able to use your old card at before. According to creditcards.com, “EMV-readiness may not reach a 90 percent adoption threshold until 2017”. So it may be awhile until you start worrying about store not having card swiping functionality.

Can I use my EMV card when I travel?

Because the U.S. is the last of the major markets to convert to EMV chips, it is very likely that you will be able to use your card when you travel outside of the country. EMV chips are a norm for many other countries, most notably Europe, so the transition should not be too noticeable.

EMV cards are essentially the next step in evolution when it comes to keeping our financial security. The process isn’t much different from what we’re currently using. However, this new technology will exponentially protect us from card fraud. For more information on protecting your financial information check out What is Identify Theft and how to Protect Yourself From it.

 

Is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

The Secrets to a Higher Credit Score

Your credit score can be a bit of a mystery, so can knowing how to improve it. Check out our infographic below on four ways you can improve your credit score. You can also check out our article on the 5 Things You Need to Know About Your Credit Score.

 

Is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

What’s Your Net Worth?

Have you ever Googled a famous person to find out their net worth? I know I have. Do you know what it means? Do you know how it’s calculated? Most importantly do you know that you have one? In this week’s post, we are going to go over the basics of what a net worth is and why you should pay attention to it.

What’s a Net Worth?

A net worth is essentially the sum of your assets subtract your liabilities. Assets being the things you own such as cars, cash, homes, investments, anything of substantial value. Then liabilities being the thing you owe to others,this can include credit card debt, your mortgage, student loans,etc.

How to Calculate Your Net Worth

Calculating your net worth is an easy process. All you have to do is add up all the assets you possess, then subtract  the total sum of assets from your liabilities to get the final amount. For instance, imagine you own a house that’s worth $100,000. And a car that’s worth $40,000. Now imagine  you have $30,000 dollars worth of student loans. To calculate your net worth you add the house and car amount together to get your total assets which is $140,000 and subtract the student loans debt of $30,000 which would make your net worth $110,000. Based on the results you may find that you have a positive net worth if you have little debt, and  a negative net worth if you have a lot of debt. So, why is this important?

The Importance of Net Worth

It’s good to check your net worth from time to time because it will let you know if you’re on track to achieving your financial goals. Think of checking your net worth like checking how much you weigh. When you check out how much you weigh you have an accurate idea of if your workout and diet plans are effective. likewise checking your net worth will let you know if you will have an effective financial plan and strategy for investments, savings, and retirement.

Increasing Your Net Worth

The simplest way to increase your net worth over time is to diminish your debt and increase your assets. There are many ways to do this. Methods include paying off your debts, reducing your spending, and increasing your savings, investments, or income. However, whichever strategy you use, make sure you stick to it and stay consistent.

Net worths are not just for the rich. Although it’s a simple calculation. It’s an invaluable tool to check in with yourself to see how you are doing financially.  It will allow you to see if your strategy for accumulating wealth is working or if you need to reassess your financial plans. And who knows, if you check in with your net worth long enough and tweak your strategy, you may eventually find yourself among the very rich.

Is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

Stock 101

When investing in stocks it is critical to not “put all your eggs in one basket.” In other words, it’s important  to keep your portfolio diversified. Check out infographic on the four ways you can diversify your stock investment portfolio.

Size:

A company’s size is measured by their current stock price multiplied by the number of share it has. This is called its market capitalization. Based on how big the company is, it is divided into three different categories. These are “large-cap”, “mid-cap”, and “small-cap”. The larger the capitalization the more stable the growth of a stock is expected to be. For example, it is less likely for a company like Microsoft to experience big jumps in it’s share price in relation to a new company that might have a lot of growth potential because Microsoft is established in the technology industry while a newer company is not.

Industry:

Stocks can belong to many different types of industries or sectors. These industries  include retail, technology, food, infrastructure, energy, and many more.

Geography:

Stocks are not only contained to  U.S., companies overseas also offer shares in their company. Purchasing stocks overseas can offer a great opportunity to increase your chances of an increased return on your investment as other countries might have larger developing markets.

Growth vs Value:

Stocks generally can be classified as a growth stock or a value stock. Value stocks can be described as having a low price and tend to belong to bigger, established companies. Value stocks are normally purchased because the purchaser believes the stock’s price is a bargain because they believe the price is less than what it will be worth in the future.

Growth stocks are generally smaller, new companies, in fast growing industries. Their price also tends to move up and down a lot more than value stocks. Growth stocks are purchased because the purchaser believes that a company’s earnings will grow significantly in the future.

To read even more about stock investment check out our post on What you Need to Know About Stocks.

 

Is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

What you Need to Know About Stocks

At one point in your life you have probably heard about stocks. whether you were watching the news, listening to the radio, working at your job, or talking with friends. You hear things like “The stock market is looking good!” or “The stock market crashed!” But what does it all mean? What is a stock? Maybe the most you’ve heard is don’t buy stocks because it’s too risky. But rather than turning away from something that could help you become financially free because it is confusing why not learn more about it. I would like to explain the basics of what a stock is so you can gain a basic understanding of it. This is important because no matter what happens in your life, if you would like to be financially free, you will at one point or another buy a stock. So then, what is a stock?

What are Stocks?

A stock, also known as shares or equity, is an item that represents partial ownership of a company’s assets and earnings. This means that if you purchase a company’s stock, you are considered to be a partial owner of the company. The more stocks of a company you own, technically, the more of the company you own. Think of a company as a pie with 8 pieces, and each piece of the pie represents a stock in the company. If you own four pieces, you own half of the company. Now that’s all well and good but why would a company sell stocks?

Why do Companies Sell Stocks?

A company sells stocks because they want to raise money for activities and projects  to grow their company. Consider this example video What Are Stocks? from Investopedia.  In the video you meet Steve. Steve is opening a pie company. He needs $100,000 but doesn’t want to borrow the funds from a bank. Instead, Steve invests $10,000 of his own money and finds 9 other investors who are willing to each invest $10,000. In return he give each investor a certificate that represents 10% of his pie company, each certificate represents 10% of the company’s assets (e.g. the building, the pie pans, and the backing material, and 10% of any future earnings). Because of this, Steve has raised enough money to implement his projects.

Why do you Want to Own Stocks?

You may be asking what’s in it for me if I am pay money to own stocks? Well remember how you own the assets and earnings of a company? If a company does well, their business will grow which means that their ventures will become larger. As a result, their value increases, which means that your original investment in the company will grow. Because of this increase, you can sell your share of the company for a profit. Let’s go back to investopedia’s example. After a year, Steve’s pie company is doing well and the company’s total value increases to $200,000 this means that each share of the company is now worth $20,000. The original investors can sell their stock in the company to other investors for a $10,000 profit.

The Risk in Owning Stocks

While the up side to stocks is that it’s value can increase, you should also know that it has a downside. If a company’s venture doesn’t go well or something happens to the company’s value, it’s value will go down which means that if you sell your stock it will be worth less than what you  originally paid. For example, I’m sure in 2015 you heard about the e. coli scare for Chipotle. Prior to this, Chipotle’s stock did nothing but increase. At it’s height it’s stock price was over $700 per share! Once the news of it’s e. coli scare broke out, it’s stock gradually fell to the $400’s in early 2016. Such is the risks of owning stocks. There is however a way to reduce the risk of own stocks. This is called diversifying your portfolio.

Diversification and Types of Stock

First of all what is a portfolio? A portfolio is just the collection of stocks that you own. Diversifying your portfolio is when you own a different range of stocks. This is key to success in the stock market because not all stocks are the same, therefore they do not all perform the same. For example, if you have $170 to invest and you purchase type A of a stock at $100 a share and type B at $70 a share; then type A decreased to $90 a share, and type B increased to $110 a share you still made a profit of $30 ($100-$90=$10 lost for stock A, $110-$70=$40 gained from stock B, balancing out to $30 in profit because $40 profit -$10  lost = $30).  There are many different types of stocks but I’ll just tell you about five basics ones:

Size:

A company’s size is measured by their current stock price multiplied by the number of share it has. This is called its market capitalization. Based on how big the company is, it is divided into three different categories. These are “large-cap”, “mid-cap”, and “small-cap”. The larger the capitalization the more stable the growth of a stock will be. For example it is less likely for a company like Microsoft to make big jumps in it’s share price in relation to a new company that might have a lot of growth potential.

Industry:

Stocks can belong to many different types of industries or sectors. These industries  include retail, technology, food, infrastructure, energy, and many more.

Geography:

Stocks are not only contained to  U.S., companies overseas also offer shares in their company. Purchasing stocks overseas can offer a great opportunity to increase your chances of an increased return on your investment as other countries might have larger developing markets.

Growth vs Value:

Stocks can generally be classified as a growth or value stock. Value stocks can be described as have a low price. They tend to belong to bigger, established companies. Value stocks are normally purchased because the purchaser believes that the stock’s price is less than what it will be worth in the future. In other words it’s a bargain.

Growth stocks are generally smaller, new companies, in fast growing industries. Their price also tends to move up and down a lot more than value stocks. Growth stocks are purchased because the purchaser believes that a company’s earnings will grow significantly in the future.

Index Funds

Essentially an index fund is an investment fund that tries to imitate the performance of a group of stocks or investment type. Instead of purchasing different types of individual stocks, you invest in an index fund which reduces the risk of the amount of money you lose because it follows the ebb and flow of the whole stock market rather depending on the performance of one company. For example, you could have an index fund that contains stocks in many different industries such as technology, retail, restaurants, etc. because of this the price of it’s stock is more likely to rise steadily because it’s averaging the price of each of those different industries. One of the most popular indexes is the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) which is an index of 500 stocks chosen for market capitalization, industry, and other factors. However, there is one caveat to owning a stock index instead of an individual stock. Because you are owning the average of multiple different stocks, it is much less likely to grow faster than an individual stock. But, the less you risk the less you will be rewarded.

Stocks, can often be seen as a mystical subject that people don’t understand. As a result you may want to avoid them. However, I hoped by at least learning the basics of what a stock is, I have demystified stocks a little bit for you. Learning, about stocks, and eventually investing in stocks is one of the easiest, and most rewarding investment moves that you can make to increase your wealth!

Is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

5 Things You Need to Know About Your Credit Score

We all know our credit score is important but it can be difficult to understand how we’re scored and how to improve it. Check out our infographic below to learn about the 5 factors that make up your credit score, what they mean, and what can harm these factors.

If you want to learn more about why your credit score is so important check out our infographic on What you Need to Know About Your Credit Score.

 

Do you have any great tips about improving your credit score? Or is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

What is Identity Theft, and how to Prevent it

Normally at Stash we talk about strategies on how to maintain and increase your wealth. However, this week we’re gonna talk about preventing your wealth and reputation from being stolen and tarnished. Identity theft is when an imposter steals your personal information such as your social security number, driver’s license, or credit card and pretends to be you. You can imagine why this can be so bad. So we are going to talk about what criminals can do with your information once they have it, tactics they use to get your information, and how to stop them from getting it.

What can They do With it?

When someone steals your identity they can do many things at your expense. For one they can use your credit card or even worse order a new credit card and make purchases that essentially you will have to pay for. They can use your name to open a phone or utilities account such as gas or electric. They can use your identity to get medicare, or pretend they are you when they get arrested. Worst of all in my opinion they can edit your information so that it is hard for you to access your own information. Now you may be thinking but if I didn’t make those charges or open those accounts then how can all of this be linked back to me? Until you actually know what is happening all actions associated with your accounts are on you.  Even after you find out it still takes time to straighten things out and these financial actions that were not even your own will show up in your credit history. As you can imagine all these things can make your life a living hell, and even worse credit companies will expect you to pay for the actions of others. This is why you need to be vigilant and make sure that you don’t give criminals the opportunity to get your information.

How to Prevent Identity Theft

Social Security Number (SSN)

This one may seem obvious, but don’t give out your social security number freely. Only give it out for tax/credit reasons or to verify employment. This way your SSN isn’t in too many places where other can find it.

Passwords

When it comes to passwords, make sure to choose one that is hard to guess. This means including numbers, words, capitals, and symbols. To make it easier for you, you can even translate your password into a word written with letters and symbols. For example protection can become Pr0t3cT10n. In addition to this you also do not want to use the same password for different accounts, because if a criminal cracks one, they will have access to more than one account.

Securing Passwords

Make sure to store your password in a secure location that you are sure no one would be able to reach, in addition to this make sure not to store important passwords or sensitive information on our computer because they can be hacked.

Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are when an email is sent to you asking you for personal information such as passwords, ssn, or account numbers in such a way that it doesn’t look suspicious. For example a hacker can disguise an email to look like it was sent from your bank, or a company you work for. One notorious phishing scam that you may know is the one about a Nigerian prince that will give you money in return for sending them some cash. In these situations it’s best to be vigilant with your email and be suspicious of any email that asks you to give them something. To be sure you may want to call the company that emailed you and verify that the email is real. And seriously don’t respond to the Nigerian scammers 😉

Selling Personal Items

When you’re selling or giving away old items like computers, be sure they don’t contain any sensitive or personal information. Before selling a computer be sure to restore it to it’s factory settings. If you’re not sure how to do this, take your computer to a professional company that  specializes in computers.

Shopping Online

Be careful when you’re shopping online. check that you are on an https website instead of an http website. Https means that it’s a secure website. Also, make sure not to save your information on websites because in the event that the website gets hacked, your information will be in jeopardy.

Properly get rid of Personal Information

When it comes to documents with your personal information on it, use a shredder or rip it up in such a way that the information is not decipherable. This way even if anyone were  to dig through your trash cans, they wouldn’t be able to piece together your information.  

Being a victim to identity theft is a horrific experience. For a time your privacy is compromised, your credit is highly questioned and it can be a very long and arduous process to resolve. Taking the steps now to avoid being a victim later will pay dividends for you in the long run. . You’ll save yourself, pain, sleepless nights, and frustration. So, be sure to keep yourself and personal information safe to avoid this situation altogether.

Do you have any great tips for helping protect your identity? Or is there another personal financial topic you would like to learn more about? Comment below or send your inquiries to stashadvisor@gmail.com. We are all about bringing you the most value!

This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.