Contest! Income Producing Assets
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
It’s contest time!
It was once said:
The goal of living for free isn’t to live off welfare, it’s to live off income producing assets!
I’d like to encourage all of my readers to get into the habit of buying income producing assets-that’s one of the best roads that will lead you to financial freedom!
What’s an income producing asset?
It can include anything!
-Real Estate
-Stocks
-Bonds
-Funds
-A Business
-A Blog
-Goods to buy and sell
-Things you produce (books, music, art)
These assets should provide a steady stream of income (dividend income, interest income, rental income, royalties, etc).
Now for the contest!
I encourage my readers to spend $25 this week on building an income producing asset!
You can buy some stock, put it in a savings account with a goal attached to it, you can be creative and think of anything you’d love to do if you had more free time.
I would also like to see you continue with the $25 goal of buying (or saving for) more income producing assets. I don’t care if its weekly, biweekly or monthly.
Let me know (in the comments) what you decide to buy and I will use random.org to pick a winner.
You have until Friday to make your picks!
I will try my hand at legal gambling aka the stock market.
What income producing asset will you buy???
Friday Five: Google Me
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
I was doing a little bit of research and found the search terms that were used to bring people to my site.
Some were spot on and some were pretty strange!
So I am going to share with you a few of the funny ones (and my answers):
1: how to behave in business class Check out my post that’s titled How To Act in Business Class
2: why buy a mansion if single. I’d totally buy a mansion if I were ballin outta control!
3: the oldest person I know I’m thinking that’s my grandma. And I think she’s in her 80′s.
4: robeks musclemax post workout uh, say that again???
5: most expensive cereal It was a cornflake that was shaped like Illinois and sold for $1,350. That’s crazy!
Ok, enough of the weird questions!!! Do any of you have any questions that you’d like to ask-strange or not? I will answer any question that is asked!
Why I Don’t Own Any Prada
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to someone who thought they knew me very well. Our conversation went a little something like this:
Random: you don’t own any Tiffany Jewelery???
Me: no!
Random: All women have Tiffany Jewelery!
Me: ask those “women” what their retirement accounts look like, then hollar back at me!
I’ve never been facinated with material things.
I grew up wearing ProWings (the gym shoes from PayLess).
But I have people (and it’s normally men) who say, “I know you have Prada, Gucci and (they mention those red bottom shoes that I don’t even know how to spell). They say I know you always go get manicures, pedicures and massages.”
And my answer is simply, “no.”
I’m lucky enough to have grown up without those simple pleasures and I can do most of that stuff for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I treat myself whenever I feel like it. But those things are not in my normal routine and there’s nothing wrong with people who like those luxuries.
For me, the money that I would spend on Prada and Gucci can go towards paying down my mortgage (or owning their stocks).
(I think it’s a little weird that I would consider going to a nail salon a waste of my time, however I would totally spend that hour or two in front of the TV.)
I’ve actually probably spent the amount of money that a Prada purse would cost building my blog, going to blogger and Zumba conferences.
At this time in my life, those things are more important to me than carrying around a fancy pants purse or having red bottomed shoes.
Those items do not symbolize success to me at all!
We all have choices and free will.
I just want you to be smart with your money!
Has anyone ever made any assumptions about your and how you spend your money?
Quick 401k Rollover Lesson
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
I hope you all are making regular contributions to your 401k. (I don’t even care if its only 1% of your salary, that’s certainly better than nothing!)
And if your company is providing a match, you are contributing enough to get the full match (free money).
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go immediately to the human resources department and have someone walk you through the process of getting the ball rolling on your retirement! (you are not allowed to eat your lunch until you do this!)
But switching jobs can get tricky in the 401k rollover world.
You have 3 options when you switch jobs:
A: Leave your money there-I would pick this option if the fees were crazy low and you are getting a pretty great return on your investments.
2: Roll it over to your new company-I would pick this option if the fees will be lower and performance has been better.
F: Spend it! Worse option because you pay a 10% penalty if you are not age 59 1/2 and you will owe ordinary income tax on that dough too.
I have had around 4 or 5 jobs with 401ks and I’ve always picked that last option.
Why?
Because that awesome blog named SophisticatedSpender was not around and I didn’t know any better! I was young and stupid with my money and in every case, I “needed” that money for moving and living expenses.
I think I also spent the money each time because the balances were always pretty low (below $1,500). I’m thinking if the balances would have been in the $10,000 area, I would have been more excited about that balance and made an effort to not touch it. (Kind of like how it’s hard to break a big bill but easy to spend smaller ones.)
Have you ever had the same experience??? What did you do or what would you do???
Friday Five: Big Spender
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
Today’s Friday Five is short and sweet!
Tell me:
What were your last 5 purchases?
1: $5.60 Post Office. I mailed my cousin a pack of my favorite brands of lavender Epsom salt.
2: $30.00 Hair Cuttery. Unfortunately it was hard to tell that I’d gotten something done to my hair because its been constantly raining.
3: $59.43 Ulta. I bought some hair products. I had a 20% off coupon but was told at checkout that my coupon couldn’t be used on the stuff that I was buying. So instead of putting it all back, I went ahead and purchased them because those are products that I love anyway.
4: $8.00 Parking. Enough said.
5: $13.48 Post Office. I haven’t been to the post office this many times in ages! I had to mail my friend in Ohio something she’d left in my car. I also saw a blinged out lanyard for my work badge. That was totally an impulse buy.
Your turn! What are the last 5 you bought?
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
Today I’d like to show you what it’s like to be the Sophisticated Spender for a day.
Unfortunately, I don’t have to fight off a huge crowd of fans as I leave my house in the mornings.
I think I have a pretty routine and boring normal life!
Enjoy!
Tuesday
5:05 Alarm goes off (I hit snooze like 10 times).
6:50 Get up, turn on WTOP news radio, shower, get dressed & pack a lunch (salmon, chicken shish kabobs and some chocolates).
7:27 Out the door.
7:49 Get on the train.
8:33 Get to my desk.
9:00 Make some tea.
9:10 Plan the rest of my work week (oh, and do some work).
10:00 Snack time (granola bar).
11:00 Break time!
12:00 Lunch! Warm up leftovers and meet up with my lunch crew (help a member of the lunch crew finish their lunch).
1:30 Back to my desk (short lunch today because the end of the quarter is quickly approaching).
3:00 Chat it up with a few attorneys and do some work.
3:58 Chat room time! Invite as many friends as possible to a group chat about “work” aka tomorrow’s happy hour.
4:48 Leave for train.
5:03 Get on the train (standing room only).
5:50 Arrive at home to change into my Zumba gear!
6:30 Zumba!!!
7:30 Chat it up with everybody and squeeze in a little bit of food (some of a friend’s homemade chili) before…
8:15 Bootcamp/circuit class at the club house.
9:25 Head home (Tired and thinking about ice cream).
9:35 Shower and then multitask: relax, turn on tv (hope Big Bang Theory is on), read, blog, I usually don’t remember when I actually fall asleep. I try to get 8 hours (that’s where the snooze button comes in).
You are probably wondering why in the heck would I set my alarm for 5 am and not actually get out of bed till 7 am. Let me explain: I normally catch the 5:49 train on Tuesdays so that I can make it to Bootcamp at work by 7. But lazy won (again) and that Tuesday class hasn’t seen my smiling face in a few weeks!
Your turn!!!!
What did you do yesterday??? Or pick any day and tell me about it!
I Hung Out With Tiger Woods Y’all
Hello SophisticatedSpenders!
Today will be driving home from my old college town, Columbus, Ohio!
I drove down to visit my best friend and hang out with Tiger Woods at the Memorial Tournament.
This was my first time at a golf tournament and I wasn’t as dull as it looks on TV!
We walked a lot!!! And we walked uphill, downhill, over the river and through the woods.
It was pretty hot and exhausting.
And for some strange reason, cell phones aren’t allowed, so I had to be clever with my Tiger Woods shots.
But it was really great to hang out with Tiger (as long as I stayed at least 600 feet away from him).
Enjoy my cool pictures!
What did you guys do last weekend???
Friday Five: Unlivable Conditions
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
The other day I was thinking about how awesome cookie dough ice cream is and that I couldn’t possibly imagine a world without it.
Which made me wonder about all of the other awesome creations that I wouldn’t want to live without….
Name 5 things that you wouldn’t want to live without!
1: Cookie Dough Ice Cream-enough said. Well, I only like Ben & Jerry’s or Graeter’s Cookie Dough ice cream.
2: Schoop’s Burgers-Schoops is a borderline hole in the wall restaurant in the Chicago/Northwestern Indiana area. Their burgers are awesome! If you ever travel to Chicago with me, we will have a burger there for sure.
3: Giordanos Pizza-Another Chicago favorite of mine. Their deep dish pizza is amazing and I normally bring at least 1 or 2 of these frozen puppies (not real puppies) back to Virginia with me.
4: Donatoes Mariachi Beef Pizza-I fell in love with this pizza while in college in Columbus, Ohio. This is the only pizza that you eat with sour cream. I recently found out that there is a Donatoes somewhere in Virginia. So my Virginia peeps are about to experience this awesome pizza too! (Am I using the word “awesome” too much?)
5: The Internet! This awesome blog wouldn’t be possible without the Internet. I also get countless amounts of entertainment and information online.
OK, your turn!!! What can’t you live
R.I.P. Credit Card Debt
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
I wanted to give you guys a brief look into my crazy experience with credit cards.
I’m lucky and disciplined enough to pay off my balance in full each month, but that certainly didn’t happen overnight!
When I was 18, I got my first credit card. It was a Marshall Fields credit card with a $800 credit limit. I was super excited, didn’t have a job and went and bought lots of clothes…
Then the bill was due.
I knew nothing about credit or why I cared if I paid that bill or not. And my mom and big brother tried to warn me.
I totally ignored all of the letters and phone calls that I received from them and then…
Off to college I went!
I signed up for almost every credit card on campus because they were giving away free t-shirts. And I was also relieved when I’d get declined, because I only wanted the t-shirt anyway.
I had NO idea that getting turned down for those cards was bad for my credit history.
Fast forward to college graduation and all of a sudden, I care about my credit.
So I contact Marshall Fields to finally pay off that card.
I also get a secured credit card to start the process of rebuilding my credit. I had to pay an annual fee of $69 AND send them $300 and the credit limit was only $300.
And after a few years, I was finally able to get approved for a “real” credit card (American Express) and cancel that secured card.
Now, I’m borderline obsessed with my credit and I check almost all of my accounts every day!
What’s your credit story??? Where are you in this timeline???
Are you in the process of building, messing up, or re-building your credit???
Bloggiversary Giveaway Winner!
Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
I used Random.org to select a winner for my 2 year bloggiversary giveaway.
Congratulations Commenter #4 Andrew!
Send me an email with your Paypal info to claim your prize!
Do something smart with that money!
