Why Shoulder Bags Make Perfect Sense

by melissa on March 20, 2013

To bag, or not to bag, that is the question. Not for me the carefree summers spent wondering around town in a miniskirt, clasping a tiny purse. As a headstrong, permanently-perplexed teenager, I denied myself the simple pleasure of taking a few key items to the beach. Often too worried about leaving something important at home, I was always the one frantically running to catch up with her friends, weighed down by the carrier equivalent of an albatross around my neck. How I longed for the day when I would find a bag to suit.

You see, bags you carry by hand, such as the tote bag, are just not for me. They are too easily lost, in my opinion, whilst also weighing down your arms unnecessarily. I also often end up banging them into people accidentally whilst shopping! For a long time I used to use a handbag and carrier bags as my main method of transporting items, until I realized that there probably was a better way of doing things! Shoulder bags, I eventually realised, make me feel more secure, as I know that all my stuff is safely tucked under my arm. With lots of compartments to fit everything in, shoulder bags are a practical choice of bag wear.

You can take a shoulder bag to work, as they look smart and ultra-organised. Or, you look just as glamorous wearing them out at night to complement your fantastic outfit. Equally useful at the weekends, shoulder bags make ideal bags for shopping trips or short breaks away, as you can fit lots in them without encumbering yourself unnecessarily. Shoulder bags are more practical than rucksacks, as you can access their contents more quickly. Likewise, they are more useful than briefcases, for the same reason.

Shoulder bags are a cost effective choice of bag for the busy working woman. You only need to invest in one good bag and you will be sorted for a long while. A high quality shoulder bag will make a good accessory, whatever the colour.

There are some fabulous shoulder bag collections to choose from this season. Long or short straps, round shaped, shopper or messenger-style are all popular choices. In terms of design, you can find bags adorned with tassels, studs, sequins, bows or lace. With a shoulder bag, you can experiment with different looks and perhaps be a little more daring than you would be with your choice of outfits. Sometimes, it’s fun to play!

Likewise, this spring there are opportunities to work your shoulder bag into an on-trend look. For example, choose a black and white striped shoulder bag and wear it to pay homage to the monochrome trend. Or, choose an outlandish graphic print shoulder bag and clash it with an ethnic print scarf.

Author Bio:

Louise Smith is a fashion blogger who has an impressive collection of shoulder bags to call her own.

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Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #251 – August 24, 2012

by melissa on August 24, 2012

Welcome to the August 24, 2012 Edition #251 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

The Carnival of Financial Planning takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals and families. We focus on efficient and sustainable personal financial planning practices that can lead to lifetime financial security.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting and Economics

Crystal presents Budgeting Can Change Your Life And Get You Out Of The Debt Hole posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, saying, “Budgets and budgeting are the key to savings and getting out of debt.

krantcents presents Start a Business at 59 Years Old? posted at KrantCents, saying, “Would you start a business at 59 years old? Bob Chinn did! His seafood restaurant is the highest grossing restaurant in the United States. It is not in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles! It is in Wheeling, Illinois. It is just thirty 30 miles from Chicago.

Ryan presents How Solar Power Can Make You a Passive Income posted at Early Retirement Investments, saying, “Learn how solar power can make you passive income. I bet your in for a small surprise!

Liana presents Another Mobile Wallet? Are You Kidding? posted at Card Hub, saying, “The latest in mobile wallets is a team effort from more than 12 of the nation’s largest retailers. But does the new joint company – Merchant Customer Exchange- have what it takes to climb the mobile wallet mountain and claim the crown as King?

Janet presents Expense budgets posted at Independent Financial Planner , saying, ” Many people do not track their living expenses and do not understand the magnitude of their consumption.”

SBB presents Is Budgeting Worth Your Time? posted at Simple Budget Blog, saying, “Find out how you can keep budgeting simple and avoid the time consuming tasks that are often associated with managing your finances.

PITR presents Negotiating Your Salary and Benefits posted at Passive Income To Retire, saying, “Find out important career tips and what you can do to negotiate your way to a better job.

Financial Planning

Eddie presents The Cold Hard Truth On Being a Personal Finance Blogger – What I Learned In Less Than 2 Years! posted at Finance Fox, saying, “Looking back now at your blogging journey, you can agree with me on this: Being a blogger and blogging is anything but easy.

Young presents How Far Would You Go to Score a Deal? posted at Young And Thrifty, saying, “This is my journey to get myself 16,500 free Aeroplan points. It took a while, but in the end I was able to take a mini vacation!

Suba presents Brown Bag It: Tips For Making Cheap Lunch posted at Broke Professionals, saying, “Deciding to brown bag it doesn’t meal relegating yourself to a life of school lunches with PB&J and baby carrots. Here are my favorite adult lunch ideas.

Marie at Family Money Values presents Kids and Money posted at Family Money Values, saying, “Make sure your kids know the basics of money management so your estate will not be squandered. Learn about 5 things you can teach your 5 – 8 year old child.

DL presents Global Financial Markets  posted at Nerds on Wall Street , saying, ” Stock markets are almost perfectly transparent, with full information available to all, and the best electronic clearing and settlement in history. These technologies were omitted in building the skyscraper of cards (“house of cards” seems too mild) out of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), credit default swaps (CDSs), synthetic collateralized debt obligations (SCDOs), and the rest.”

Parker presents Index Funds posted at Preferred Funds, saying, “Some mutual funds and ETFs must be better than others, but which ones are they? How can you tell beforehand.”

CCS presents Are Those Credit Card Rewards Worth It? posted at Credit Card Smarts, saying, “Who doesn’t like a credit card with generous rewards? But sometimes those credit card rewards may not be worth it. See when credit card rewards aren’t worth it.

Income

Ray @ Financial Highway presents How to Make Money with Amazon posted at Financial Highway, saying, “There are dozens of different ways for you to make extra money online, and you don’t need to spend any money on an expensive course to teach you how to do it either.

Insurance and Risk

Jeremy presents Vehicle Insurance Better Safe Than Sorry posted at Modest Money, saying, “I am sure none of you are guilty of this, but amazingly some people take the risk of driving without insurance. Here in BC that is illegal and a pretty dumb risk regardless where you live.

Lawrence presents ID theft protection posted at Best Financial Planner, saying, “As a threat to your financial security, you should take the potential for identity theft very seriously. Identity theft sometimes entails a loss of your money, but whether or not you lose money, it can take a very large amount of your time to rectify.”

Investing

Squeezer presents Dividend basics and important dates to remember posted at Personal Finance Success, saying, “Dividends are when companies pay shareholders (investors) for owning a portion of the company. Money must be invested by a specific date to earn the dividend.

Ted Jenkin presents Getting Your Children Started With Stock Investing posted at Your Smart Money Moves, saying, “It was important to me for my children to learn about stock investing from an early age. We all know how grandparents try to get back at us by overloading our kids with holidays full of latest gadgets and electronics that money can buy. Whether you have $20 or $200 stashed away in your kid’s drawer, there is an opportunity to get your children started in the stock market.

Dividend Growth Investor presents How to get dividend investment ideas posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “Some of the dividend paying companies in my portfolio are corporations, whose products I and millions of other consumers worldwide use on a daily basis. Here is a summary of how my daily routine provides me with dividend stock ideas for further research. The narrative is rather simplistic, but the point is that we are surrounded by investment ideas everywhere. Only after training ourselves to spot these opportunities, will investors be able to capitalize on them.

Passive Income Earner presents Is RIM a Good Investment? posted at The Passive Income Earner, saying, “Research In Motion RIM for short has been an icon for Canada with their Blackberry but the fierce competition it has faced since Apple came out with the iPhone has challenged their market hold on the smartphone. Not only has Apple taken a bite of their market but so has the Android based smartphones.

Kelly presents Investment risk tolerance posted at Investment Risk, saying, ” Individual investors with different levels of investment risk tolerance for financial risks tend to be more satisfied with risk management strategies, which are better aligned with their financial risk and return profile.”

Tushar presents How Are Stocks Classified? posted at Start Investing Money, saying, “Read my article to learn how Stock are classified, and in the process gain a possible new perspective on them.

Teacher Man presents Investing In Yourself Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive posted at My University Money, saying, “There is plenty of buzz out there these days about “investing in yourself”. Usually it is in reference to some magical product that you should buy. The logic is that by investing in what they have to offer, you are really just spending the money to improve themselves, and really, who doesn’t want that?

Willie presents Superior Fund Performance posted at NoLoad Funds , saying, ” Screen out inferior mutual fund performance — but only after using other ETF and mutual fund selection criteria. Superior or even average mutual fund performance in the past simply does not predict similar fund performance in the future.”

Echo presents Fee Only Financial Planner Vs. Commission Based Advisor posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, “A fee only financial planner is a worthwhile investment, especially as you get older and your income, investments and tax situation becomes more complex.

Managing Debt

Ben Feldman presents Car Loan or Home Loan: Which Would You Pay First? posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, ” Is it wiser to pay your car loan or your mortgage? It might seem like a silly question – after all, ideally you want to pay both – but if you had to choose, which would you pay first?

Luke presents Emerging Market Debt: Having Your Cake and Eating it Too posted at Learn Bonds, saying, “Emerging market debt trades at – twice the yield of developed country debt and triple the fundamentals.

Jon the Saver presents Lack of Liquidity May Be Why You Don’t Feel Rich posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, “Having a lack of liquidity has real negative consequences that can be really bad for your finances.

Real Estate

John presents Do You Know Your Mortgage Credit Score? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, “So you’re applying for a mortgage? Did you know that there is a special credit score used just for that? You better have a good record for paying your utilities on time.

Jen presents Preparing Our Finances 4 Home Ownership posted at Master the Art of Saving, saying, “By estimating our mortgage and bills and preparing our finances for home ownership now, we can begin to adjust our budget to avoid a financial apocalypse later.

YFS presents 2 Home Buying Tips That People Never Tell You! posted at Your Finances Simplified, saying, “I would like to talk about home ownership, in particular, mortgages. Now everyone tells you that home ownership is better than renting.

Retirement

FMF presents Delaying Social Security Payments is Worth 7% posted at Free Money Finance, saying, ” The Wall Street Journal has an interesting take on the value of Social Security. Specifically they look at what it’s worth to delay taking benefits. They calculate the value of the delay and give it a return percentage as if it was any other investment you might make. What makes this compelling is that under certain circumstances, the value of Social Security is the same as that of a bond yielding 7%.

IMB presents Investing Money is Important posted at Investing Money, saying, “Find out why investing money is important. You could be missing out on a lot of money.

Brock presents Retirement Spreadsheet posted at IRA Account Investment, saying, “Whether or not to make investments into “traditional” tax-advantaged employer accounts and IRAs versus investing in “Roth” tax-advantaged employer accounts and personal IRAs is never a straightforward nor simple financial planning decision.”

Paul Vachon presents Deciding When to Retire posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, “Deciding when to retire can be a difficult decision to make. Will I have enough income from my retirement accounts, pension, and social security to live comfortably in retirement?

Knowles presents SandP 500 Funds posted at Large Cap Index Funds, saying, “The no load index fund strategy of the Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund tracks the S and P 500 stock index. This no load index fund was listed as one of the top 25 lowest cost index mutual funds in a research study.”

Corey presents Young Adult Retirement Planning – Benefits of Saving a Lot Early posted at 20s Finances, saying, “Find out when you should start saving for retirement and how much you should be saving for retirement.

Savings

Charles Davis presents Is it time to Refinance Your Mortgage? posted at Wallet Hub Blog, saying, “We’ve all heard how mortgage rates are at record lows, but will refinancing actually save you any money? Hint: The answer isn’t as clear-cut as you might think.

Jason presents 4 Ways to Build an Emergency Fund Faster posted at Work Save Live, saying, “Should You Have an Emergency Fund? Despite conventional wisdom suggesting that it would be wise to have a stash of savings set aside for unforeseen events that life could throw your way, many Americans opt to forgo the safety net and face lifes challenges on a whim.

TSI presents Hard work and wealth posted at The Skilled Investor, saying, ” How much you earn, spend, budget, and save are by far the most dominant determinants of your long-term financial well-being. Self-control in your financial decision-making regarding budgeting and consumption is far more important than clever investing.”

Taxes

MR presents Is A Roth IRA One Of The Best Protection Against High Future Tax Rates? posted at Money Reasons, saying, “With tax hikes more than likely in the future, is a Roth IRA your best protection against the government being able to tax all of your money?

A Blinkin presents Should I Die This Year or Next Year? posted at Funancials, saying, ” 2013 Federal Estate Taxes. When you are dealing with a death in your family, the last thing you want to think about is what fraction of the estate goes to the United States government. Whats remarkable is that depending on WHEN you die, that fraction could be significantly higher or lower.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Financial Planning using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Two Roads to Affluence: Produce More or Be Satisfied with Less

by melissa on June 11, 2012

Photo complements of Nedoho via Flickr.

A cultural anthropologist, Allen Johnson (UCLA), wrote an article over 30 years ago in 1978, called “In Search of the Affluent Society.”  He conducted his field work among the Machiguenga, living with them for 18 months.  The Machiguenga are native Indians living in the Amazonian rainforest in Peru, who subsist on food from gardens, hunting, fishing, and other wide food they collect in the forest.

After learning cultures in other societies, anthropologists often critically look at our own culture.  In the article, he critically looks at materialist culture in the western societies.

How Western Societies Compare to the Machiguenga

According to Johnson, comparing the western societies with Machiguenga society, we, people in the Western societies, spend more time working away from home than the Machiguenga people, and we also spend more time consuming than them.  As a result, we have less time for free time.  The Machiguenga people have more free time than us, and they spend their free time with their family members and friends.

The Machiguenga are not unique.  Richard Lee, a cultural anthropologists (University of Toronto), who conducted a field work among the !Kung, hunter-gatherers from South African, also observed that the !Kung have more free time than us (they work for 4 days, and they have 3 days of free time).  They spend their free time visiting family members and friends.

What We Can Learn from Other Societies

There is something we can learn from this.  First, as we work harder and have more stress from work, we consume more, or we feel that we are entitled to consume more.  We go out to eat regularly, go shopping and buy more materials than probably we actually need.

Our closet, basement, and garage are filled with materials that we do not use any more.  Then, we get stressed out from cleaning and getting rid of clutter in our house.

Second, should we spend more time with family members and friends?  We say that we spend time together as a family, but we do that when we go out to eat or go shopping.  Is it really the quality time you need with your family members?

The Machiguenga and !Kung people are spending time with their family members when they are consuming (eating at home) and during their free time.  I wonder if the Machiguenga and !Kiung have problems with their children, as we do in our society.

It has been our way of life for over 30 years, but probably a lot longer.  Since we were born, many of us have lived like this.  We feel it is natural to go away for work for a long time and spend a lot of time for consumption in the weekend.  We believe that we have a better life than people in these traditional societies.  However, if we choose not to follow this kind of lifestyle and decide not to consume too much, then we feel deprived or embarrassed not having things that everybody else have.

At one point, Johnson cites another cultural anthropologist, Marshall Sahlins (University of Chicago), “…there are two roads to affluence: our own, which is to produce more, and what he [Sahlins] calls the Buddhist path, which is to be satisfied with less.”  In this society, we have material wealth, but we are often stressed from work, from not finding enough time for kids, and from worrying about not being able to afford things we want.

Maybe, the Machguenga and !Kung people are happier than a lot of us.

This is a post by Ken.

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The Basics of Covered Calls

by LaTisha on May 29, 2012

I’ve mentioned options before when I talked about short selling. There are advanced option strategies that I won’t get into here, but there is also a beginner option strategy that is a nice way to protect your portfolio. You should definitely learn as much as you can about options before getting into buying or selling option contracts. A great resource is the Chicago Board of Options Exchange which is not only the largest options exchange but also provides webinars, video classes and an option blog written by real option traders.

What is an Option?

An option is a derivative which is a big word that describes how an option functions. The value of an option is ‘derived’ from the underlying asset. So a stock option has value based on the value of the stock. When the stock price moves, the price of the option moves. This type of derivative is a financial instrument with no tangible value except what the option contract states. For example, when you buy a stock, you are buying ownership in a company. When you buy or sell an option, you are entering into a contract. So let’s look at what you get when buying or selling an option.

The Long and Short of It

There are two types of options contracts, calls and puts. A call gives the buyer the right to buy the underlying stock at a specific price. A put gives the buyer the right to sell the underlying stock at a specific price. On the other side, a call gives the seller the obligation to sell and the put requires the seller to buy at a certain price. There are various levels of option buying and selling that your broker would have to approve you for. The first level of options trading is covered calls. This is level 1. Each time you write a covered call, you will receive a premium for taking on the risk that your stocks might get called away.

How Does a Covered Call Option Work?

Instead of going into detail on all of the possible option strategies, I will focus on a call and how it works for the buyer and the seller. The buyer of a call chooses a strike price, that is the price that triggers the option. If a stock is trading at 12 dollars and the option strike price is 13 dollars, the buyer of the call will not be able to exercise their call until the price of the stock gets to at least 12 dollars. If the price of the stock continues to go higher, the buyer of the call has already locked in their purchase price at 13 dollars. They had to pay a small premium in order to get this option.

From the seller’s perspective, they received the premium from selling the option. So if the buyer decides to cash in, the seller of the call option must follow through with what the contract states. In this case, they must sell the underlying stocks for 13 dollars a share. So why would anyone ever write/sell a call option? Time is on their side. Based on the simple fact that most options expire worthless, the seller of the option can take advantage of the fact that they will receive the cash premium without having to deliver the actual stocks. And in this way they can create income from their portfolio.

Are you using covered calls in your portfolio?

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Prior to buying or selling an option, a person must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (ODD). Copies of the ODD are available from your broker, by calling 1-888-OPTIONS, or from The Options Clearing Corporation, One North Wacker Drive, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60606.

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Intro to Order Types

by LaTisha on May 10, 2012

I’ve mentioned short selling and I’m sure you are familiar with buying or going long a stock but it never hurts to have a refresher and learn more about the markets. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at types of stock market orders.

Types of Stock Market Orders

Buy Order

This is one of the basics. When you want to buy a stock, you put some cash in your stock market account that is placed with a broker and you place an order to buy. If the price of the stock goes up, you will make money and if the price goes down, you will lose money. It’s pretty straightforward here.

Sell Order

Another one of the basics. After you have purchased a stock and you are ready to get rid of it, you would place a sell order with your broker and they would sell the stock on your behalf and deposit the cash from the sell back in your account.

Short Sell and Buy to Cover

One quick variation on the buy and sell is the short sell and the buy to cover. With these two trades you are selling a stock that you don’t own, shorting, and when you are ready to exit the trade, you would buy to cover the trade. The borrowing of the stock to short is handled by your broker as well as when it is time to buy to cover the short.

Timing of Trades

There are two time periods that you can trade, during market hours and after market hours. Pretty simple. But most of the time, orders that go in when the market is open are completed pretty quickly, while orders that are placed during after hours or when the market is closed are filled as needed. There is trading before the market opens and after the market closes but you will need to place a special type of order.

Limit Orders and Stop Orders

After hours trading requires special orders. A limit order is placed at a specific price and is an order to buy or sell a stock at a specific price or better. Limit orders are not guaranteed to execute. It depends on if the stock market’s price reaches the limit price. This type of order is good if you want to specify a price. Stop orders are instructions to buy or sell once a trigger price is hit. This order is also does not guarantee execution and the actual execution price could be far away from the stop price.

Good for the Day and Good Til Canceled

When you place an order with your broker, they will typically ask you to select if you want this order to be good for the day or good til canceled. Good for the day orders will stay live until the market closes, then they will be erased from the books. If you designate your order as good til canceled, it will stay live on the books until it is canceled by the market maker. Each brokerage firm has a different amount of time designated for GTC orders. One broker I am familiar with allows one month for good til canceled orders.

Congrats! Now you know a little more about the different trade types available to you. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has a great tutorial for investors that covers trade execution. Be sure you learn before you invest.

Do you use different types of orders when you are trading and investing?

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Yakezie Blog Swap #20 Round Up

by melissa on May 6, 2012

This month Fiscal Phoenix participated in the 20th Yakezie blog swap.  The topic selected for us all to write about was as follows relating to wedding spending. According to the Huffington Post, the average wedding cost in 2011 was $27,021. Looking at this statistic, why do you think people spend so much on weddings? Do you think it’s worth the money? How do people afford weddings that cost $27k if the national savings rate is so bad? What are the long-term financial ramifications of an expensive wedding? What tips do you have to help people save money on weddings?

There were 10 bloggers who participated in the swap this time around. The various posts written are described below:

My Post

eemusings from Musings of an Abstract Aucklander shares some thoughts about how she intends to save money on her upcoming wedding on this site.
I shared that our  250 person wedding cost only $6,000 on Musings of an Abstract Aucklander.

The Rest

Kathleen from Frugal Portland wrote about if a wedding is worth the down payment on a house on My Personal Finance Journey.

My Personal Finance Journey wrote about why people spend so much on weddings and possible ways to save some money on Frugal Portland.

Nick from Step Away from the Mall writes a fascinating article about his first-hand experiences with inviting 350-400 people to his wedding and how it can easily cost a ton of money on Daily Money Shot.

Jana from Daily Money Shot wrote about the various ways she saved money on her wedding on Step Away from the Mall.

Edward Antrobus wrote about why weddings cost so much these days and how he kept the cost of his wedding to $200 on Evolving Personal Finance.
Emily from Evolving Personal Finance shares first-hand experiences from her wedding planning about why weddings cost so much, how people finance weddings, and also money saving tips on Edward Antrobus. I really liked how she placed on emphasis on the importance of prioritizing what is important to the bride and groom in the wedding in order to maximize value.
Marissa from Thirty Six Months shares several tips to save money on a wedding on Call Me What You Want Even Cheap.
Call Me What You Want Even Cheap wrote about how weddings don’t need to cost an arm and a leg on Thirty Six Months.
How about you all? Why do you think people spend so much money on weddings these days? Is it worth it? What tips do you know of that people have used to save some money?

Share your experiences by commenting below!

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How I Plan to Reduce My Wedding Expense – A Guest Post

May 4, 2012

This post is part of a Yakezie blog swap where all participating bloggers answer the question, “Why do you think so many people spend so much on weddings?  Do you think it’s worth the money?”   You can read my post at Musings of an Abstract Aucklander. I’ve never been the kind of girl who [...]

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5 Ways to Advance Your Skills At Work

April 17, 2012

One of the dangers of working in a government job is previously accumulated and sharp skills languish. In many positions, the skills acquired prior to the job lapse as we become more acclimated to the systems, paperwork and language of our new job.  It’s easy to become complacent and forget that there’s a whole world [...]

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Is Short Selling Bad?

April 13, 2012

I have to admit, short selling gets a bad name. Mostly because people associate it with negativity. When you buy or go long a stock, you are expecting the price to rise and you will make money if it does. If the company does a great job running the business, there is a great chance [...]

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What Not to Wear to Work

April 10, 2012

My workplace has a very lax dress code. It started a couple of winters ago when the weather was really bad. Our cabinet secretary relaxed the business casual dress to code to allow us to wear jeans every day (since no one really wanted to ruin their nice clothes in the snow and slush). She [...]

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