Financial Fellow

Written by J.P. Wicklein
     Whether you’re looking to create wealth, or just add a few bucks to your bottom line, I’d suggest exploring sources of residual income. 
What is residual income?
     Residual income is money you earn over and over again without performing any work.  A common example of residual income is the interest paid [...]

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

The University of Iowa has launched a federally-funded study of America’s drivers. What could this mean for you? They’re looking for drivers and are offering $895 to entice participants.

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

I’ve been thinking about buying some land recently. I’d like to construct a small home on the land and grow food. My ideal slice of land is at least 10 acres, farmable, wooded, and has a pond or stream on it. I don’t plan on moving there. Rather, I’d like to have a place within a 3 hour drive that I can escape to periodically.

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

ING Direct is offering a $50 bonus for new Electric Orange online checking account customers. Here are the details of their promotion:

· The online checking account must be opened by June 30, 2009.

· You’re required to make 3 debit card signature transactions within 45 days of opening your account. (When making a purchase hit the “credit” button, instead of the “debit” button, so you produce a receipt that needs to be signed.)

· On the 50^th day after your account is opened ING Direct will deposit $50.

· To receive the promotion you must enter the promo code EM282 during the signup process. You can sign up here or by clicking on the ING logo above.

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

     Too often Americans stretch themselves to buy the nicest house they can qualify for, go out of their way to drive a luxury car, or borrow to the hilt just to keep up with the Jones’s. In the process these people place themselves in a situation with few options. They can’t afford to lose their job, stay home with kids, change careers, or retire early. Often, they find themselves worrying or arguing about money. I don’t want to go down that road. I’m willing to forgo many of the trappings of an upper middle class life in exchange for the freedom to make decisions that aren’t driven by money. Here’s how I plan to do it:

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

     Periodically I think about ways to make more money.  One idea I consider every now and again is getting a second job. Currently, I work 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday at my primary job. If I took a second job I could reasonably work another 20 hours a week. My new, 60-hour work week would look something like this:

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…………………….Photo by zieak……………..…………………….Written by J.P. Wicklein

…..Recently I came across an article on The LRC Blog that provided a list of U.S. Banks that are near collapse. The article lists over 8,000 U.S. Banks along with their Texas Ratio (a measure of a bank’s credit problems). In short, the higher a bank’s Texas Ratio the worse their credit troubles. One could infer that banks with more severe credit problems are more vulnerable to collapse.

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…………………Photo by: urban data………………………………  Written by J.P. Wicklein

…..Recently I wrote a post on my biggest financial blunders. In the article I discussed buying a home too soon, maintaining a credit card balance, having minimal short term savings, and battling a short stint with gambling. Those actions were far from the smartest things I’ve ever done. That said every coin has two sides. Here’s the other side – my biggest financial achievements:

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………………..Written by J.P. Wicklein…………………………………..Photo by Waffler

…..Throughout the course of my adult life I’ve made smart financial decisions. On occasion, though, I’ve made some mistakes. With that in mind here are my biggest financial blunders:

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

     We are becoming an increasingly cashless society.  Several years ago if you paid for your lunch at Subway with a credit card you’d get strange looks. Now, when I go to lunch at Subway it seems like half the people in line opt to pay with plastic instead of cash. It appears to have become just as acceptable to pay for $5 - $10 purchases with a credit or debit card as it is to use cash. Further, it’s becoming increasingly rare for me to see anyone paying cash for more expensive purchases. Why is this?

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