Save Money by Living in a Small Town
We visited my mother this weekend. My sister, who is in the Navy and stationed in California, was also there visiting. My sister plans to retire from the Navy in three years after twenty years of service. When she retires she will move to the small town where my mother lives. There are several advantages of retiring to a small town and I might do the same myself.
The biggest advantage is that real estate is cheap. My mom bought a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath house a few years ago for only $70,000. Houses are still cheap there and rent is very low as well. You also save money on transportation because everything is within a ten minute drive. If something you want to do isn’t within a ten minute drive you’ll be saving money by doing that activity less often. Car insurance is generally cheaper than in the city too. That is just a few of the ways you can save money by living in a small town.
The biggest drawback to living in a small town is that most local jobs don’t pay very well. If you’re retired then that isn’t a big deal. Another drawback is the lack of diversity and exposure to other cultures. I plan to travel often when I retire so I’ll get my culture and diversity during my travels.
Even with the financial advantages of living in a small town I probably wouldn’t live in one if I didn’t have family there. If I do end up retiring to a small town it will probably be more of a pit stop between hiking and travels than a permanent residence.
My Bank Was Bought Out
Wachovia’s banking operations were bought by Citi today. I have an account at Wachovia. It isn’t my primary account but I do use it on a regular basis. Looking over the information Wachovia has provided about the sale it looks like the sale won’t affect me at all. This is the first that the financial turmoil has directly affected one of my financial accounts but it just isn’t a big deal. The only thing I’m somewhat concerned about is whether they will honor the Way2Save bonus.
My advice on handling the current financial turmoil. Pay attention but don’t freak out.
FBN Roundup- No Internet Edition
I’m out of town this weekend visiting my mother and she doesn’t have internet. I’ve scheduled this post in advance but won’t be on to check comments or emails until Sunday evening.
Here are some posts I enjoyed from the Frugal Blog Network and beyond this week.
Almost Frugal shares “three life lessons” she learned last week. It seems there are always more lessons to learn.
Frugal Babe now has a “finished greenhouse“. I was impressed with their creativity making the greenhouse cheaply.
Not Made of Money is cashing in on the “fall garage sales.” My mom and aunts are garage sale maniacs and I often benefit from their bargain finds.
The Frugal Duchess tells us “what happens when your bank goes under“. I had my money in a bank that went under back in the early 90’s. It was a non-event. On Friday my money was in one bank and on Monday it was in a different bank. The branches, account numbers, and everything else was the same. The only difference to me was that my bank now had a different name.
From beyond the Frugal Blog Network I enjoyed:
My Dollar Plan’s post “29 Steps I took to Leave the Workforce at 29.” I wish I had taken these steps back when I was in my 20’s.
And some bonuses for those of you who like free money:
At Bank Bonuses I posted about how you can get “over $300 in bonuses from Sovereign Bank.”
At Credit Card Bonuses there is a post about a “$100 American Express Bonus.”
That is all for now. October is going to be an extremely busy month for me at school so I’ll probably be posting less frequently. I’ll still post at least three times a week though.
The Requisite Financial Bailout Post
There are plenty of posts about the financial bailout already but since I’m writing a personal finance blog I feel required to write about it as well, but I’ll keep it short.
I’m against the bailout but I think it is inevitable that some form of bailout will happen. I’m not too worried about it right now. I’ll probably be more worried about it when the bill for the bailout comes due. Many are saying that if we don’t have a bailout it will be bad for everyone. I don’t know if that is true or not but it seems hard to believe.
So far all the financial turmoil hasn’t affected me personally and I don’t think it will. I can understand people being ticked off about the bailout but it doesn’t really do any good to worry that the economy is going to collapse. My life was good at the beginning of the year and it is still good now. Until that changes for the worse or looks like it is going to I’m not going to worry.
Zecco Offering Free Stock Trades in October
Zecco is offering free stock and option trades in October. Some details from their website:
* There is no minimum equity balance requirement or minimum trade volume restriction.
* All account types are eligible, including IRA.
* The offer is effective for equity and option trades placed and executed 10/1/08 through 10/31/08. The standard free trading program and options pricing will resume 11/1/08.
I think I’m going to take advantage of this deal since I won’t need to have the $2,500 minimum to get the free commissions. I probably shouldn’t be investing in individual stocks since I don’t have that much to invest but I’ve had good luck in the past buying individual stocks and I’m comfortable with the risk. If you’d like to open a Zecco account please use this referral link. You’ll receive free trades and a free book and I’ll receive a referral fee, all at no cost to you.
I’ve just opened my Zecco account so I’m interested in hearing other’s experiences with them.
Making Money on the Side
One part of my plan to retire at 50 is to continue to make money on the side. That might more properly be called semi-retirement. However, if I don’t have to work and can make money when I choose to that is good enough for me. Any money I earned would be to do things beyond my ordinary budget or to provide a larger cushion of savings.
There are many ways to make extra money. I’ve covered a few of them with my alternative income ideas. There are a lot of blog posts out there on how to make extra money. Here are a few of them:
“Need extra income? Here are some ideas” from MSN Smart Spending.
“11 Great Ways to Earn More Money” from Free Money Finance.
“5 Ways to Earn Extra Cash” from Get Rich Slowly.
“26 Ways to Earn Extra Money” from The Wisdom Journal.
Not all the ideas are non-job ways to make money but there should be a few ideas there that will work for you. If you focus on thinking of ways to earn extra money more ideas will probably come to you.
The Frugal Duchess Has Joined FBN
I’m pleased to announce The Frugal Duchess has become the newest member of the Frugal Blog Network. For those few of you who are not familiar with her I’ve included some information about her from her web page. In addition to writing The Frugal Duchess,Sharon Harvey Rosenberg is a write-at-home mom with three kids, one husband, one dog and five blogs. An award-winning journalist, she writes the Frugal Duchess column that appears weekly in the Miami Herald and regularly in about 25 other newspapers.
She has also written a book,“The Frugal Duchess of South Beach
She will be a great addition to the Frugal Blog Network and I invite everyone to visit her blog.
FBN Roundup- Birthday Edition
My birthday is Tuesday and I’ll be 41 years old. I don’t feel that old and I hope I don’t for a long time.
Here are some of my favorite posts from the Frugal Blog Network and beyond this week.
Almost Frugal gave some advice on moving in to your first apartment. It seems like a very long time ago when I moved in to my first apartment. This advice would have been helpful.
Frugal Babe says frugal living makes goals easier to achieve. I agree completely.
Frugal Zeitgeist wonders who pays for hurricane evacuations. If people ignore warnings to evacuate it does seem reasonable to charge them for the cost of rescue.
Not Made of Money talks about finding a reliable car mechanic. This can save you a lot of money. I have a mechanic I use in the small town where my mother lives. His repair costs are always much cheaper than I’m quoted locally and he’s kept my car running a long time.
I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance this week which was hosted by The Personal Financier. It included my post about my “Plan to Retire at 50.” Just because I plan to retire then doesn’t mean I won’t be doing anything. I plan to stay active physically and mentally.
I participated in the Festival of Frugality which was hosted by Living Almost Large. My post was about saving money by buying gift cards online. I was pleased that the host uses this method to save money also.
There were other posts I liked this week but this is plenty of links for one post.
What Should You Do With Your Money Now?
With the turmoil in the financial markets many people are wondering what they should do with their money. I don’t know what you should do with your money but I can tell you what I am doing. I just invested a little more in my Roth IRA which is 100% invested in a value stock mutual fund. I figure if the stocks were undervalued before they should really be undervalued now. It is a bit disconcerting to see my balance go down but I have faith that the market will eventually rebound. On the theory that stocks are cheap right now I hope to max out my IRA before the end of the month if I have enough cash flow.
If you’re worried about safety than putting your money in an online savings account is a safe way to go. As long as you put your money in an FDIC insured account you’re protected up to $100,000. This is a case where less risk doesn’t lead to less return when you compare them to money market mutual funds. The Reserve money market mutual fund recently broke a buck causing investors to lose part of their principal and the fund is paying less than 2%. In an online savings account such as FNBO Direct you don’t have to worry about losing your principal and it pays 3.50% APY. Why would you invest in a money market mutual fund?
I’ll end with the standard disclaimer. I’m not a financial professional and I’m not advising you how to invest your money. I’m just telling you what I am doing with my money.
September Credit Score
My credit score for this month went up to 731 from 725 last month. My credit score has been going up steadily the past few months after it went down earlier this year when I used a balance transfer from a credit card to pay down one of my student loans. I don’t plan on using my credit any time soon but having a high credit score can also affect how much you pay for insurance and other things and if I do decide to apply for more credit having a high credit score should make it cheaper . I get my credit score for free with my credit card from WaMu.
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