Gather Little by Little

Ever look at your bank account and ask “Where in the world did my money go?”  I do that often. As a matter of fact, my wife and i were looking at our checking account balance the other night and asking that very same question. Fortunately for us, we budget and I track all of our expenses, so the answer was only a double click away by opening up You Need a Budget. Ours had gone to medical payments, as we still haven’t met our deductibles for the year yet. Unfortunately there were all unplanned expenses (son cut his hand, sick child, and a sports physical we didn’t plan on needing so soon) so we had to tap the emergency fund, but that’s what it’s there for.

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Author: Mike

When we talk about personal finance, there are several rules of thumb that can help you build a solid financial plan. Here are a few numbers to remember when you want to improve your personal financial situation.

Aim for a Credit Score of 750

A credit score may vary from 300 to 900 but most people have a score between 600 and 800. A great credit score will open the doors to get better rates on:

- credit cards,

- insurance (car, home, life, etc),

- personal loans including car loans,

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I get many emails each month from people asking for financial help and advice. A very common theme in these emails is something along the lines of: “I am very frugal and spend little to nothing, but still don’t have enough money to make ends meet“. My reply? You don’t have a spending problem, you have an income crisis. At some point you can only reduce expenses so far. Once there you are faced with only one option: increasing your income. Surprisingly, that may not be as hard as you think.

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It has been a while since we talked about giving here at Gather Little by Little. The Bible speaks about the subject of money on many, many occasions. Each time that the subject is mentioned we learn a bit more of how God wants us to order our finances. It is a little bit funny, because almost every bit of advice that comes from the personal finance bloggers of today has root in Scripture. Even one of the most revolutionary personal finance ideas of the last ten years, the so-called “latte factor” is just a repackaging of an idea first proposed in the verse that inspired the name of this blog: “He who gathers money, little by little makes it grow.” Proverbs 13:11

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Making money online, even in today’s economy isn’t difficult. But like anything else, it requires hard work. Here are just a few simple ways you can start making money online:

Start a blog

Contrary to what many say, blogs to make money. If you obtain decent search engine traffic and establish a good reader base, they can actually earn a full-time revenue. The trick to having a successful blog is finding a niche that you’re interested (and knowledgeable) on AND that people are interested in reading about. A great way to find what people are interested in is by using Google Trends. The other important part of building an online community and blog is to be authoritative but be personal.

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I wrote an article a few weeks back asking you for input on an Apple vs. a PC. First off, thanks for all the input, you all gave me a great deal to think about and consider. I ended up buying an Apple Macbook Pro 15″. It was really a tough decision, especially given the price difference, but here’s why I ended up going with the Mac:

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I previously mentioned that I have been with the same girlfriend since the age of 15. We actually moved in together at a young age. As I was the only child in my family, I was fortunate enough to have my parents’ basement entirely to myself. I had a small kitchen, a pool table (that was actually my dining room table ;-) ), my TV with PlayStation and a huge double sized bedroom. I had asked my dad if we could remove the wall between 2 small bedrooms. I was lucky enough to have my own entrance and garage (the previous owner was renting the basement as a bachelor apartment). Life was great as a 16 year old teenager :-D

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At the beginning of the month, the most recent unemployment statistic was published. The USA reached double digits while Canada was close behind with 8.8% (as of June). The scariest aspect about these statistics is to think that once you stop receiving unemployment support payments; you don’t count as “unemployed” anymore. Therefore, the unemployment rate might be 10% in the States, but it is even higher in the “real world”. People stop receiving unemployment support but not necessarily because they have gotten a job.

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Neither I, nor my wife are all that excited about her taking a full-time job this fall, but she is going to do it anyway. There are a thousand reasons for her to take the job that she has been offered – and a thousand reason for her not to take the job.

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For

• The job will increase our household income by almost forty percent.
• The job will allow us to maximize our 401K employer match.
• The job will provide free private school education for our children.
• If she does not take the job, we would have to homeschool.

I’m pretty confident most if not all of you know that we’re currently in a recession or as the more politically correct like to call it: “An economic downturn”. When I say everyone, I mean everyone…even the crooks and scammers. During these lean times, con artists are out in masses looking for opportunities to scam people by offering what seems like legitamate solutions. These scammers aren’t just taking money from people, but from our economy as well.

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