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saving

174 Past Due – The Non-Conformist Family Is Making Progress!

by Derek Sisterhen on September 25, 2011

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Past Due: Radio 174 – The Non-Conformist Family Is Making Progress!

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The Non-Conformist Family is back! We’re checking in with Josh and Sarah Gordon as they are five weeks into their action plan (they were the focus of Episode #169).

First Month Review:

During our cross-interview (Josh asked me questions about financial coaching, then I asked him questions about the last month), we learned a few important success factors:

1) A spending plan is just another piece of paper (or spreadsheet) until you know how much you’ve been spending. Josh and Sarah discovered their passion for coffee was a significant monthly expense.

2) Sometimes you just have to say “No”! The Gordons made a tough call by cancelling an impromptu trip with family, but they saved some money in the process.

Next Month’s Action Steps:

1) Continue to track spending, looking for continued patterns and behaviors that encourage or limit success.

2) Place every single penny of leftover cash flow into the emergency fund. (Josh even had a great plan to move $2 to the emergency fund every time he felt tempted to go out for coffee; sometimes we have to reward ourselves in other ways!)

We’ll look forward to checking in with The Non-Conformist Family in another month!

If you have a specific question, I’d be happy to answer it and further cultivate the wisdom of the Past Due Radio masses. The experiences of our listener base provide plenty of insight we all can learn from; don’t hesitate to ask – I’m happy to help!

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Try Budgeting Backwards

by jgordon on August 16, 2011

In true non-conformist fashion, Joshua Gordon takes a process that’s been done from top-to-bottom for thousands of years and makes it bottom-to-top. I think you’ll find his perspective intriguing (unless – like me – you actually do like eating broccoli). ~D.S.

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I hate budgeting.

Always have. Sort of like eating broccoli – no fun, but necessary. Budgeting feels cramped and sterile; I don’t love being told what to do, so when my budget tells me I can’t spend money on something, well, I don’t like the feeling. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad for the structure and intention our budget gives our finances, but… I just think broccoli. Blech.

Now, I like both-and solutions. I like to ‘have my ~~broccoli~~ cake and eat it too’. So I’ve been thinking: Can I have the structure and intention of budgeting without the restrictive-feeling baggage?

Reverse Budgeting. That’s the term I’ve coined to describe the mindset my wife and I have adopted. It’s a fresh way of looking at money: It’s conventional budgeting flipped on its head. Reverse Budgeting is really only a slight shift in thinking, but the ramifications are huge.

See, conventional budgeting says, “I have this much money; I can only purchase A and B, but not C”. Reverse Budgeting says, “I want to purchase A, B, and C – therefore, I will make $X”.

Did you catch that?

Budgeting uses your current resources to limit your actions. Reverse Budgeting uses your actions to determine what resources you need. After defining and embracing Reverse Budgeting, I’m living with a new perspective that encourages me to expand my income to meet my needs.

Here’s what reverse budgeting has done for me:

Encourages industriousness in my business endeavors
Inspires creative problem solving and money stretching
Reminds me that my job doesn’t control my income, I do

If you want to realign your priorities towards entrepreneurship and fantastic greatness, give Reverse Budgeting a shot.

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Joshua Gordon is Head Man of Awesome at TheNonConformistFamily.com. Together with his wildly hot wife, he’s leading his family of four on an epic trek out of Boring Template Life. Josh needs friends (his words, not mine), so hit him up on twitter and facebook.

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168 Past Due – Should We Repair Or Replace The Car?

by Derek Sisterhen on August 12, 2011

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Past Due: Radio 168 – Should We Repair Or Replace The Car?

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Jane and Bill wrote in this week in the midst of an all-too-familiar conundrum: “Should we shell out the money to repair an aging vehicle, or throw in the towel and buy a new one?”

Right now, they have a large, four-wheeled paperweight in the driveway that requires about $1,500 worth of repairs to make it road ready again. They’re concerned that spending that kind of cash on repairs – money that has to come from the emergency fund because they haven’t been saving for ongoing vehicle expenses – will be a waste. Especially if they can use it toward a new, more reliable vehicle.

Today we discussed:

1) The two typical reactions for most people in this situation: A) Put the repairs on a credit card, B) Go buy a brand new car.

2) How to calculate your true ongoing vehicle expenses (covering everything from tires, brakes, batteries, wiper blades, filters, and alternators), and how to save for them every month in a clean, easy way.

3) The rule-of-thumb (and the exception to the rule) that I use when determining whether it makes sense to bite the bullet and repair an aging car, and when to move on to greener highways.

Cars are typically the largest purchases we make outside of our homes. You have to do your due diligence to make a wise decision on this issue in order to avoid car accidents of financial proportions!

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161 Past Due – Downsize or Refinance to Boost Nest Egg?

by Derek Sisterhen on June 12, 2011

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Past Due: Radio 161 – Downsize or Refinance to Boost Nest Egg?

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Tom and Denise are dealing with a conundrum: Should they refinance their house to a great, low interest rate and pay it off in 15 years, or should they sell it, downsize, and use the freed up cash flow to fund other retirement savings? They’re in their mid-fifties and are beginning to feel the pressure of retirement.

The situation they find themselves in is very common among American couples in this age group. We’ve believed for a long time that having a house – especially a paid-for house – at retirement is a crucial component of our retirement nest egg. However, given the recent upheaval in the real estate market, many have found themselves staring at a cracked and scrambled nest egg.

Today we addressed:

1) Whether real estate should play as significant a role in our retirement portfolio as previous generations believed.

2) What the net gain in value to their overall retirement portfolio would be if they refinanced.

3) What the potential for gains would be if they chose to downsize.

Sometimes we have to be reminded of simple investing concepts like diversification in order to make the best decisions for our long-term financial plan.

Kids & Money Contest: I’m looking for stories of parents teaching their kids about managing money and understanding how money works. If you have a great story (humorous, big life lesson, etc) of what to do – even what not to do – please send it to mailbag@pastdueradio.com by Sunday, June 19th with “Kids Money Content” in the subject line. Entries will be gathered for the next few weeks and the winner will receive Junior’s Adventures, the boxed set of money lessons for children by Dave Ramsey, and a copy of my book, Get Naked: Stripping Down to Money & Marriage.

Today’s Mentionables:

Episode 154 – Robert Kiyosaki’s Dad & Credit Scores Banks Like – In this episode, we discussed all the expenses that go into owning a home that we typically ignore when considering our “return on investment”

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160 Past Due – How To Expect “Unexpected” Expenses

June 3, 2011

Past Due: Radio 160 – How To Expect “Unexpected” Expenses Right-click to download Send me your feedback or leave me a voice mail: (919) 374-0501 Leave a review on iTunes Daniel and Lori heard last week’s show and wrote in a few questions. They seem to continually get knocked down by vehicle and medical expenses, […]

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153 Past Due – Wrestling With Graduate School Loans, Investing

April 15, 2011

Past Due: Radio 153 – Wrestling With Graduate School Loans, Investing Right-click to download Send me your feedback or leave me a voice mail: (919) 374-0501 Leave a review on iTunes Paul and Kristina in Morrisville, NC wrote in a question about balancing the repayment of Paul’s grad school loan with their goal of buying […]

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Unsubscribe

February 16, 2011

How many e-mails do you get a day from companies promoting ongoing or upcoming sales and specials? I’m talking about the e-mails that hit your inbox because you subscribed to them. Now how many times have you purchased items you weren’t intending to purchase because you received one of these e-mails? My guess is more […]

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141 Past Due – Never Beyond Saving

January 21, 2011

Past Due: Radio 141 – Never Beyond Saving Right-click to download Send me your feedback or leave me a voice mail: (919) 374-0501 Leave a review on iTunes We love the idea of saving money, don’t we? We love knowing that there is peace, hope, and a future for our finances (and our lives, really) […]

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Food….A Four Letter Word

January 14, 2011

Last week I touched on how to save (or really spend less) on “stuff”. One of the biggest budget busters for people is food, so I think it’s worth discussing some ways to keep those costs minimized as well. You have to eat, I’m not going to deny you that, so how can we keep […]

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Don’t Pay Full Price

January 7, 2011

I recently had a client ask if I had any “how to save” advice to help her adjust to her new lifestyle of taking control of her money and where it goes. The best advice I could offer was “Don’t pay full price for anything…ever”. I’ll let grocery items be the exception to this rule […]

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