I.O.U.S.A. is a documentary film about our national debt. The film’s web site is kindly offering up a condensed 30-minute version of the film for free (see below).
I.O.U.S.A. uses candid interviews, archival footage, and economic data to tell the story of America’s mounting debts. Interview subjects include noted investor Warren Buffett, former Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, former U.S. Treasury Secretaries Paul O’Neill and Robert Rubin and many others.
The conclusion of the film offers suggestions for how best to recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.
Many people fighting to be debt free focus on getting more for less. But there’s another side of the story, and Jeff Yeager is the man telling it to America.
Yeager, who is the author of the insanely popular blog Wise Bread and the new book, The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches believes happiness comes not from getting good deals, but from having less in the first place.
Fresh off his appearance on the NBC Today Show, Yeager hit the road on the Tour de Cheapskate. Traveling by bicycle, Yeager he stayed with fellow cheapskates along the way and donating his expense savings to local libraries. That’s putting your money where your book and blog is.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to Yeager Up and ditch your cell phone (among other things) to reduce expenses? It’s a common sense idea, although radical for our time. Personally, I wouldn’t miss the phone much, but the camera and hand held computing device would be a deprivation of sorts.
Music fans—like everyone else—are feeling the pinch. But thanks to page after page of free MP3s from Amazon.com, it’s easy to stay current with new releases without paying a single cent to Steve Jobs, or anyone else for that matter.
There are currently 744 free tracks on Amazon. That’s hours and hours of free listening care of the Seattle online retailer. And the songs are not from obscure artists far down the long tail. Take a quick glance at Amazon’s free MP3 pages and you’ll find new music from Neko Case, Iron & Wine, Great Lake Swimmers, Fleet Foxes, Bob Mould, Beirut, Michael Franti and many others.
CheapTweet and CouponTweet are mentioned in a SmartMoney article on companies utilizing social media to offer price incentives to customers–a very prudent use of the platform, in my opinion.
The article also points to Twitter accounts from the following sites:
Coupons.com
DealNews.com
FatWallet.com
TechBargains.com
Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University in New York City, says “It doesn’t pay for consumers to go out of their way and sign up just to look for coupons.” But if you’re already on these sites and don’t mind a few extra notifications, it can’t hurt to connect with companies you already do business with. After all, you might just find an extra discount on a purchase you would have made anyway.
I beg to differ with the good professor. Signing up for Twitter, Facebook and all the rest is free, so it’s well worth the price of admission to find the things you need to help you save money. I might add that there are also many frugal-minded people wandering through these networked communities, so the opportunity to connect with people facing the same challenges that you are is large.
To begin, you might search Twitter for “frugal” to find people to follow.
Money Management International has created a step-by-step plan to help improve your financial life. It is a simple, well-done, 30-day plan complete with expert advice, tips, worksheets, and even budget webinars to help you achieve your goals. It covers the gamut from setting goals, to paying off debt to building your emergency fund.
Here is step 22, showing us once again that small changes can help big time.
Identify ways to reduce spending
To create a balanced budget or increase savings, most people will have to find a way to earn more or spend less. If the idea of spending less sounds challenging, try starting small.
It’s important to understand that every purchase we make—excluding such absolute necessities as food, rent, and gas for the car—is a choice. The America Saves coalition offers the following examples of how making some small changes can save you an impressive $150 per month.
Tip
Monthly Saving
Save $.50 in loose change
$18
Cut soda consumption by one liter a week
$6
Bring lunch to work
$60
Send one free eCard per month instead of buying a card
$4
Buy generic grocery store brands
$10
Use fewer phone features
$10
Eliminate premium cable channels
$20
Borrow, rather than buy, one book per month
$15
Hand wash, rather than dry clean, one shirt per month
$15
Comparison shop for gas (saving an estimated $.25/gallon)
$4
Total Savings
$150
That’s an extra $1800 in your pocket every year!
Click here to make the commitment to spend a little time each day this month improving your financial future. Remember, no one plans to fail, they simply fail to plan.
Allan Roth shatters the myth that investing is too complicated for ordinary people in his new book How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street. His common sense, easy to understand guide can save you money on your investment costs and maybe your investments.
Some quotes from the book:
“Design a portfolio composed of a few basic building blocks than can be ‘tweaked’ to fit your personal needs.”
“Reengineer your portfolio to stop needlessly paying taxes.”
“A simpler approach to today’s market can put you on the path to financial independence.”
“Morningstar’s ability to turn large amounts of data into simple, understandable information helps investors make better decisions.”
“Cut through the baloney that Wall Street wants us to believe and return to basic simplicity.”
“It is what we learn after second grade that turns out to be so destructive.”
“Kevin’s magic portfolio: Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund; Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund; Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund.”
“By ‘Wall Street,’ I mean everybody who’s after your money, not just the large brokerage houses.”
“Our emotions consistently steer us toward the path that leads only to giving away our hard-earned nest egg.”
“I’m a strong believer in the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid).”
“There are two types of investors when it comes to predicting next year’s stock market: 1) Those who don’t know. 2) Those who don’t know they don’t know.”
“Over a 20-year period, the stock market has always bested inflation.”
MoneyAisle.com is a new online service that allows small and medium size banks to compete for your business though internet auctions.
You enter the type of savings product you want and watch the auction unfold in real time as banks compete for your money. In about a minute you’ll have the best possible rate and can open an account online or by phone directly with the winning bank. You can even access the advanced features to ladder CDs for one of the safest ways to invest your hard earned dollars. The service is free and every participating bank is FDIC insured up to $250,000 per account.
MoneyAisle makes it easy too.
PICK YOUR PRODUCT
Select your financial product (CD or High-Yield Savings), the amount of money you wish to invest and, if you’re investing in a CD, the maturity duration.
BANKS BID LIVE
Within seconds, MoneyAisle generates a live auction among the participating banks for your business.
MoneyAisle captures the highest rate offered by these banks and then repeats the process to see if any other participating banks will beat it. Each auction round pushes the rate higher.
This process is repeated as many times as necessary until one bank is left. If two or more banks tie for the winning bid, MoneyAisle will break the tie on a random basis. The winning bank’s rate is the highest rate offered during your auction. The entire live process typically takes only a couple of minutes.
You watch the auction live and see the number of rounds, the number of bids and the increasingly higher rate appear in real-time.
GET A GREAT RATE
You get the highest rate available at the moment you apply for your CD or High-Yield Savings account.
If you are satisfied with the rate and wish to complete the transaction, provide your contact information and accept the rate.
Once you’ve entered your contact information, a representative from the winning bank will contact you about opening your CD or High-Yield Savings account.
WORKS FOR ME!
I just scored 2.87% on a one year CD! Sure beats my local BofA branch. When every dollar counts, this site sure helps find the winners.
Individuals aren’t the only ones seeking to conquer their debt. Businesses too must come to terms with their spending and eliminate any and all waste in order to maximize profits and stay afloat.
As part of its makeover series, Fortune Small Business sends specialists to one small company in order to provide cost-saving recommendations. Absolute Tile & Stone in St. Louis is FSB’s current focus.
One of the key points in the feature on Absolute Tile & Stone is how the company can save money by going green. Jean Ponzi, green resources manager at EarthWays Center, suggests that the company find a way to reuse or recycle thousands of pounds of stone remnants that currently go to landfill.
“Zero waste is a sustainability principle,” Ponzi says. “So you need to find uses for these pieces of stone.” She suggests that Absolute sign up with a local industrial-materials exchange, an online listings service that pairs waste producers with waste users.
“You’d have to sell at a low price, and there may be transportation costs, but hopefully you’d spend less than you do for disposal,” she says.
The demand for Absolute’s waste could be great. Several emerging firms make green countertops out of composite materials. The use of these coutertops can satisfy a green building guideline established by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system, which awards points to builders who use local scrap materials.
Dr. Kathleen Connell, a professor at Haas Graduate Business School at University of California, Berkeley writes in The Christian Science Monitor that “many American families are forging a new frugal lifestyle, shopping in second-hand stores, using coupons, and sharing housing.”
She also addresses the need to “reboot” the American dream and offers seven rules for regaining your financial security:
1. Manage risk.
2. Secure your short-term financial stability.
3. Make time your ally.
4. Create a net worth profile.
5. Adopt an ‘unretirement’ mentality.
6. Establish priorities to protect your retirement.
7. Engage in a lifetime pursuit of financial knowledge.
She adds, “Don’t be a spectator in a volatile economy. It is essential to respond to life’s challenges with energy, focus, and knowledge.” I like that. Energy, focus and knowledge (EFK).
Have you heard of Yapta.com? It’s an information service that exists to save people who travel serious money by making sure they do not overpay for airline tickets.
If the price of your airline ticket drops below what you originally paid, Yapta alerts you when you’re eligible for a refund from the airline. Yapta.com also alerts travelers when a frequent-flier award seat becomes available on the flight they want. Just do a normal online search for airfare on the site and click ‘include award tickets’ to begin tracking the flight. So far, award-seat alerts are offered for five major airlines: Alaska, Continental, Delta, United and US Airways.
Yapta links travelers directly to the awards section of an airline’s Web site to redeem miles and book tickets, according to The Seattle Times.
Airlines typically release award seats 11 months in advance but can release more at any time based on cancellations, changes or demand. Carriers often release seats a few days before a flight’s scheduled departure.
“One of the biggest frustrations for frequent travelers is not knowing when they can actually redeem their miles to book an award seat,” said Tom Romary, a former Alaska Airlines executive and president & CEO of Seattle-based Yapta.
