Ben Edwards's Blog: Money Smart Life, page 20

How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill with Ting

For many Americans a family cell phone plan is a necessity to keep in contact with the hectic schedules we all have. Johnny needs a cell phone to call his mom after practice so she remembers to come pick him up, while his dad needs it to stay in touch with the family when he’s traveling for business.

As phones have gotten increasingly more complex – a good thing – the plans that support all of these features have become even more expensive – a not-so-good thing. A family of four all using cell...

My 3 Biggest Money Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them

Like most of us, I’ve made my share of money mistakes. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to recover from most of them without too much damage to my finances. However, there are a few that still affect my finances years later, even after they’ve been mostly corrected. Here they are including how you might be able to avoid falling into the same traps:

1. Piling On the Debt as a College Student

One of the most common money mistakes made is getting into debt. Indeed, many of us pile on the de...

How to Analyze Stock Performance (Fundamental Analysis)

Many investors are interested in identifying individual stocks that can add value to their portfolios. Adding individual stocks to your portfolio is a bit more hazardous than simply investing in a mutual fund or an ETF. With mutual funds and ETFs, you are investing in a group of stocks, and so the end result is influenced by a larger group of assets. When you pick an individual stock, your success relies on the performance of that one asset.

While you can limit some of your risk by adding vari...

5 Part-Time Business Ideas for College Students

You’re a college student, and money is tight, so how do you earn the money that you need in the very limited amount of time you have available? While it’s common to think about getting a part-time job, having a part-time business can actually work better for you as a college student, both in regard to money and time.

This is especially true if you have certain skills that are in demand. You can earn a lot more than minimum wage, which means that you will have to work fewer hours in order to ma...

7 Ways to Advertise Your Business on a Shoestring

Very few businesses can run strictly on referral business. In fact, if you have a startup business, there will be no referral business at all. Since most businesses need to advertise on an ongoing basis, how can you advertise your business on a shoestring?

1. Build your own website.

Having your own website is a virtual necessity for just about any business today. Even if people don’t find you through your website, they will commonly ask the question,“Can I check out your website?” If the answer...

Why You Shouldn’t Lend Money to Family or Friends

Probably every one of us – at one time or another – have been confronted with a decision of whether or not to lend money to family or friends. Though I have never seen a survey confirming this, I have a strong suspicion that most people who have gone ahead and made the loan saw it come to an unhappy end.

The time-worn warning has always been never do business with family or friends. That’s probably been one of the most bankable “old sayings” ever to make the rounds. The problem is compounded n...

How to Make Room in Your Schedule to Earn More Money

We often think of making more money in terms of having money (i.e., you need money to make money), having certain skills, or having certain assets and equipment that can generate income. In truth, making more money typically has more to do with time, and how we use it. If you think that you want to make more money, you may need to make room in your schedule.

Life seems busier than ever, so how do you make room in your schedule to make more money?

1. Learn to say “no.”

One of the biggest reasons...

How to Cut College Costs With Community College

The cost of attending college has exploded in recent years, and so has the level of student loan debt being used to pay for it. On top of that, graduates are learning the hard way that not all college degrees are equal. While jobs are plentiful for certain majors, they’re close to nonexistent for others.

There is no question that you are likely to earn more money over a lifetime with a college degree than without one. But it is equally clear that the cost/benefit ratio is not nearly as lucrati...

How to Make Room in Your Budget to Knock Out Debt

Because most of your regular income goes to paying for living expenses, there’s often no room in your budget to pay off debt. At least that’s the way appears on the surface. Most of us can cut or eliminate various expenses that will provide the ability to pay off debt.

When you actually take a close look at how and where you spend your money, it can often become obvious that there’s room to cut.

1. Put an immediate stop to all discretionary spending.

There isn’t much you can do about your basic...

5 New Skills You Can Learn on Your Daily Commute

At a minimum, most people find the daily commute to work to be a nuisance. At the extreme, it can be a major source of stress. But you can convert this into a virtue, by using your daily commute to learn new skills.

Those skills can be used to increase your income, help you move into a different career, or otherwise improve upon the quality of your life. Consider some of the ways that you can use your daily commute to make these changes happen.

1. Learn a new language.

You can sit in a classroom...