Finance Friday - PocketSmith

You may remember my previous post about Mint.com. Well, if that site didn't strike your fancy, then maybe PocketSmith will. PocketSmith has many of the same benefits of Mint.com to help you with your budgeting, but with more of a focus on financial forecasting. It has some pretty neat features that show you your account balances on a calendar, to truly show you where you stand in the future. You can even forecast to see if you fix your car today, will you have enough money to get through the month. Pretty cool stuff.

Source: PocketSmith

Stash Hotel Rewards - stay independent

Would you like the benefits of a hotel rewards program without the restrictions of having to use a specific hotel chain? Or maybe you just prefer staying at independent hotels because of the more meaningful experience they can offer. Whatever the reason, Stash Hotel Rewards offers a great new hotel rewards program for independent hotels. With their program, you can earn reward points to be redeemed at their independent hotels, from historic hotels to landmark hotels, all across the U.S.

Finance Friday - Free Shipping Kits Delivered

Everyone say thanks to the United States Postal Office. USPS is offering a Free Flat Rate Holiday Shipping Kit that includes four Flat Rate Boxes, a Gift Card Envelope, and Flat Rate shipping tips. Simply go to www.prioritymail.com/myholiday, and they'll send you the kit. The holiday season is stressful enough as it is; now you take going to the post office off that list!

Flat Rate Postage Rates:
Flat Rate Gift Card Envelope, 10" x 17" = $4.90
Small Flat Rate Box, 8 5/8" x 5 3/8" x 1 5/8" = $4.95
Medium Flat Rate Box, 11" x 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" = $10.70
Medium Flat Rate Box, 13 5/8" x 11 7/8" x 3 3/8" = $10.70
Large Flat Rate Box, 12" x 12" x 5 1/2" = $14.50

Holiday Joy - free in-flight wifi

If you are flying home for the holidays, make sure you bring your laptop along, as you'll now be able to get free in-flight wifi on Delta, Airtran, and Virgin America airlines! From November 20th, 2010 through January 2nd, 2011 you'll get free internet on every single domestic flight with these three airlines. Who do we have to thank for this? Well, the all mighty Google! Check out the details here - FreeHolidayWiFi.com.

Finance Friday - Charity Navigator & Guidestar

If you want to get a better understanding of the charities you are currently giving to, or maybe one you're thinking about giving to, you can check them out on Charity Navigator and Guidestar. Both of these organizations compile tons of data, mostly financials, on thousands of charities. Whether you want to know how much their CEO makes or how much goes to programming versus administration, you can find it all here. Just remember, at the end of the day, it's not about the dollars, it's about the impact those dollars actually have on the community. Some charities have low administration costs, but also low impact, while others have high administration costs, but also huge impacts. So, just be sure to look at the whole picture.

Calcmoolator - calculate anything financial

Wondering how the numbers would work out if you stay on unemployment versus get that part time job? Or want to calculate if it's worth buying that more expensive, yet much more efficient car? Well, you can calculate those as well as tons of other things with the Calcmoolator! So, as they put it, "Math is Hard, Calcmoolator is Easy!" So, if your parents or spouse won't let you get a dog because they think it's too expensive, now you can calculate it out and show them exactly what it will cost! Start calculating!

Homeminders - home reminders

Do you have trouble remembering the last time you changed your home's air filter? Or maybe you've been searching for the manual for one of your appliances, and you can't find it anywhere. Or another good one we never remember until we are already on the road heading out of town is turning down the hot water heater. Wouldn't it be nice if there we some fool proof system that would remind us to do all these things and keep up with all our house information? Well, there is! It's a site called Homeminders. From a monthly maintenance schedule emails to weather alerts, and vacation reminders to document vaulting, Homeminders is the ultimate service for every homeowner.

Rentometer - rentals made easy

Are you a landlord or a tenant? If you answered "yes," then you should check out Rentometer. From the tenant side, you can compare your rent with other local properties to make sure you're not paying too much. You may even be able to send maintenance requests to your landlord through them; reducing the hassle of tracking down your landlord. For landlords, there's a plethora of services designed to help you manage your rentals, from Craigslist posting and tenant screening to a dashboard to manage all your rentals in one place. So, if you're a landlord or a tenant, check them out and see if they're right for you.

Own an Island - your piece of the world

Ever thought about owning your own island? Well, Private Islands Online allows you to search and view private islands for sale across the world. And if your pockets aren't yet deep enough to purchase an island, you can search for island rentals as well. Hey, and if you're pockets still aren't deep enough (like mine!), you can check out the site and just have some fun daydreaming!

Finance Friday - Life Insurance

Do you have life insurance? Do you even need life insurance? If you're single and have no dependents or family to speak of probably not, but if you have a family that depends on you, you definitely need it. From all the research I've done, here's what I would recommend - a term life insurance policy worth about 10 times your annual salary. This is typically enough to help cover the costs of your burial, paying off the house, covering the kids' colleges, and a few other things to help take the pressure off. And if you're a spouse that does not work? Well, yes, you probably need life insurance too. It's a little harder to calculate how much you would need, but think through what the other spouse would have to pay for if you were gone - childcare costs, etc. Term life insurance is really not that expensive, and it is totally worth it! If you need help calculating it, let me know. I have a spreadsheet that I got from one of my personal finance classes that really helps you put it all together.

Finance Friday - Stay At Home Vs. Work

I ran across this really interesting blog post the other day on Money Help For Christians entitled "Stay At Home Mom Math Analysis - What’s a Paycheck Worth?" It gives a sample chart of how much a parent would really make if they worked outside the home rather than stayed home with their kids. It's a pretty eye-opening chart when you look at the numbers. I've never seen it truly laid out in numbers quite so plainly, so it was pretty neat to see. My wife stays home, and I always think in the back of my mind about the "what ifs" if she went back to work, so it's "good" to see that we've made the right choice (financially speaking) to have her stay home (Thanks for all you do babe! I know it's more work than any job would ever be! I appreciate you!). Check it out and see where your family stands on the chart.

Indeed - find your next job here

Okay, so obviously with the world we live in today, many people are looking for jobs. So, here's a great place to go to search for one - Indeed.com. This site is basically a search engine dedicated to jobs; when you search it aggregates the jobs from all the other job search sites and lists them out for you. So, whether a company listed their job opening on Careerbuilder, Monster, or some other site, it will probably turn up in this search. I've used this site many times in the past, and when I'm looking for a job down the road some day, I'll probably use it again. If you're looking for a job right now, check out this site, and good luck in your search!

Finance Friday - Last Will and Testament

Okay, so this one is probably more to motivate myself than for anyone reading this, but, well you all may need some motivation as well. So here's my plan, my wife and I do not have an official Last Will and Testament; yes, I now that's pretty ridiculous considering we have kids. But, anyway, I plan to rectify that this weekend. I heard the other day on the radio from Dave Ramsey about his special deal through US Legal Forms - just go to www.uslegalforms.com/dave. It looks like you can get your Last Will, Living Will, and Power of Attorney for yourself and your spouse for about $44. That sounds pretty reasonable to me. So, the challenge to myself and to those who are in my same boat is to make it happen this weekend! Whether you use US Legal Forms, an attorney, or some other method, just go make it happen!

Finance Friday - Mint.com

If you're looking for a great way to manage your money, you need to check out Mint.com. Not only is it a great online tool to plan, budget, save, and do just about everything in terms of tracking your dollars, it's totally free! So, whether you're new at this whole budgeting and saving thing, or you're a pro who wants to take it to the next level, Mint.com has the tools you need to get it done - easily. And that's the key isn't it? If it's hard to do, you're not going to do it! Set-up on the site can take as little as five minutes, and then you're off and running. In this economy, every dollar counts, so don't let one get away without knowing where it went.

Identity Stronghold - keep your credit card safe

Do you have one of the new credit cards that has an RFID tag, so you can simply tap the credit card reader, rather than swipe your card? Well, it may make your purchases a little easier, but it also makes it easier for a criminal to steal your card number. If a thief with a card reader gets close enough to your purse or wallet, they can steal your card number. Check out the video on Identity Stronghold's website to see how this can happen. Luckily, this guy has come up with a pretty easy solution to the problem with a foil card sleeve. You can purchase them through their website if you have one of these cards. Also, if you have a Passport that is from 1996 or newer, then it has an RFID tag too. But don't worry, Identity Stronghold sells sleeves for those too. Now, no one has yet been caught stealing card numbers this way, but as you can see in the videos, it's an easy target. So my advice, if you are often in crowded areas where people could be getting close to your cards, then think about getting these card sleeves. If you aren't, then you you're probably all right.

Red Box - $1 movie rentals

Are you still paying $5 or more for a movie rental? I've been a loyal Red Box fan for a couple years now, but I broke down and went to Blockbuster a couple weeks ago. It cost me $5.30 to rent ONE movie! I could rent 5 movies from Red Box for the price of one from Blockbuster! Now, that's a big potential savings. Haven't heard of Red Box? Well, they are basically a vending machine for DVD movie rentals. You'll find them outside drug stores and grocery stores typically. It's really easy, you simply search for the DVD you want on the screen, insert your credit card, and for just $1 it will give you DVD rental for one night. This is a great and cheap family or date night idea.

Finance Friday - Dave Ramsey for kids!

In case you live under a rock, Dave Ramsey is a great financial advice guru who preaches some pretty sound financial advice. But what I want to focus on today is his resources for you kids! It's really never too early to start teaching your kids about money, and Dave Ramsey makes it fun and easy through numerous resources. Check out his kid's area online at Junior's Clubhouse. From online games to books, he has resources for all ages to make learning about money fun and useful!

Finance Friday - the virtual family bank

How would you like to teach your kids a little more about spending wisely, saving patiently, giving thoughtfully, and setting/achieving goals? Well, dang, what parent wouldn't! Lucky for you, FamZoo created a pretty cool Virtual Family Bank that can do all that and more. So, if you need a little help managing the allowance vs. chores relationship, want to track your kids' personal savings goals, or just want to create some family time and teachable moments around money with your kids, then you need to check them out. They have a two-month free trial period, so there's no risk...other than your kids may actually learn some life lessons that will change their lives!

Here's their video that gives you a little more detail.

Plastic Jungle - sell / buy discounted gift cards

Still have that gift card laying around from Christmas that you'll probably never use? Or maybe you just want the flexibility to use the money from that gift card anywhere, not just the company on the card? At Plastic Jungle, the folks understand the difficulties of gift cards, so they created a site where you can buy (at a discount!), sell (for cold hard cash!), exchange, or even donate gift cards!! Transactions are guaranteed, and the site is very easy to use. With money as tight as ever, don't let those gift cards go to waste, sell them at Plastic Jungle. Or do just the opposite and save money by buying gift cards to places you already go at discounts of up to 30%!

Finance Friday - compare car insurance costs

Thinking of buying that new car you been saving up for? Well, before you do, check out Insure.com's cool new interactive tool that will compares the average insurance rates for over 2,400 vehicles. That great deal you're looking at may actually cost you more than you think, and that slightly higher priced vehicle may really be the way to go. Insure.com obviously wants you to buy insurance through them as well, but you can use the interactive tool without obligation. Always search around before you buy!