Where and how do you invest your monthly salary?
Hi All,Awasum answers across from many intellectuals. Thank you for that.My answer’s context is India.Here is my answer and I KIS (keep it simple).Here is some back ground, a married with one 9 year old and staying with my parents. House is paid off and no loans.Age: 36Working Experience- 13 yearsQualification- M.TechI generally do not believe in loans until recent. one of my adviser told me to take home loan and use that money for buying another property as it will give me money at effective rate of 7 % after deducting Tax benefits.I have bought a real estate property again in tier 1 metro city (1.1 Cr.) which is on rent. No loans and fully paid off property.Pointers-I do not buy new phones, all my and wife’s cell phones are used one, I take utmost care while getting a used one, mostly from online portals. I straight away save 30% as I find some phones which are used for just 2- 3 months and available at very cheap rates, I bought a VIVO NEX almost new at 28KWe live frugal, lower middle class life style. Not much fancy and sometime boringMe and wife both believe in simple living and high thinking, we invest in books, holidays, great and quality food and experiencesWe invest in health and things which adds value to life and not lifestyle, we have joined a gym which is nearby but the cheapest in our area. Primary reason is, if the gym is far after a while it will be boring to go everyday. I have never missed 4 days gym in past 5 yearsMy son goes to international board, again nearby my home so no bus expenses, wife goes to drop and pick himSon goes to extra curricular activities everyday- learning chess, guitar, grammars and spoken English etc.No expenses for parents, they take care of them selvesNo liabilities, no loans~70% income goes in savingsPeople say I am miser, I believe them :-)Wife earns 60K a year, she does not invest, she mostly spends in charity, miscellaneous expensesI drive a Honda 2012 model, one of my bike is 12 year old and other one is 1 year oldI use bike going to office, I read some where that “If you are going alone in a car everyday to your workplace, do not consider your self educated”Suggestions are always welcome.Thank you!Edit1: thank you Venkatesh for the suggested edit
I want to save Money .... Please Advise me a better Plan .?
1- want less 2- mycoupons.com 3-avoid shopping on the first day of the month they jack up the prices 4-do bakery shopping in the a.m. for markdowns up to 50% 5-if you eat meat buy it the night before it expires 6-shop with a calculator 7-plan your recipes so you dont buy things you 'think' you need and end up with 5 mandarin oranges or 6 cream corns 8-join a warehouse club with a friend you can split the bulk items and share the savings 9-dont fall for fancy packages its usually the same stuff (like shampoo and toothpaste) 10-see what kinda vegetables are on sale or in season in your newspaper!!! and use them 11- frequent shopper cards 12- avoid buying nonfood items at grocery stores, the jack up the prices 13- shop the bottom shelf 14- buy a fliter for your faucet- dont buy bottled water, bottle your own water 15- dont buy packaged salads (just look up a recipe on recipezaar if you stink at cooking) its way cheaper 16- buy spices in bulk at a health food store theyre cheaper 17- dont shop hungry 18- buying clothes and shoes on the internet can be risky and look different in person 19- buy bulk 20-cigarettes (if you smoke) are really expensive youll see if you do the math.... if you do smoke roll your won cigs... it will help you cut back and youll feel better too well I hope that helps! :)
Buying Engagement Ring: Pay Cash or Use Store Credit Card?
no interest for a year is a scam, a con. most people don't pay it off in that time and owe interest, paying more for the item. lets say the ring is $1000.... you can go in there with $900 cash, and negotiate a deal. A bargin. Can't do that with credit. if you are considering credit, I am assuming you can't afford a ring for 10K... so I hope your not spending that much.
How does Rent-A-Center work?
You are renting to own. You could try to rent it for a certain amount of time, not to pay it off completely and return it, however they most likely will stipulate a minimum term you must rent it for. 90 days same as cash, means that you have 90 days to pay whatever their cash price is for that item. So If you want a PS4, which they sell for $699.99 (example pricing - it's probably MUCH higher than that) then you would have 90 days to fork up the $699.99 without paying the extended rental fees and such, but would still be required to make minimum weekly payments, or bi-weekly, depending on how often you get paid. If you did not however pay the total cash price off in 90 days (and the minimum payments WILL be less than what you would have to pay to only pay the minimum and own it within 90 days) then you will be paying whatever the minimum weekly payment was for however many more weeks it would take for you to own the merchandise. It IS NOT a dollar saving idea to go to Rent-A-Center or Aarons or any of those other places which do this. This is specifically designed for people who do not have credit, or what credit they did have they totally trashed and couldn't get a can of peas financed to them if their lives depended on it. I once was going to go through an affiliate of Rent-A-Center (I didn't know until the documentation was shown to me they were actually the parent company of acceptance now) buy a washer and dryer. $1325 cash is what I ended up paying at Lowes for the same washer and dryer, but had I went through this bs deal with Rent-A-Center and paid all the payments as scheduled I would have paid $4,000 by the time it was all said and done for that washer and dryer I give $1325 cash for. If you can save up the money to buy whatever you want for cash then do it.
What is easy to do and will save you money?
Travel where the airline tickets are cheap, if you have to go somewhere tomorrow you will pay the max possible.Have a few destinations in mind, when a Promotion comes up ( you give budget airlines your email ) fish for the cheap airfare that maybe 1 to 12 months ahead.If your a time in money person forget this, if you enjoy the thrill of the chase you will be rewarded, bear in mind such cheap airfares need to treated as disposable as if you try to change dates it is not doable for a fair price. Also note this is carry on only.Example if the price is right i will go to bali from the philippines for 1 or 2 months Normal price $USD255 each way, promo $29 also have paid $60.If your a full service type person paying to get back all the stripped out items of a budget airline it is usually not worth it, look at full service airlines only. Use Skyscanner | Find the cheapest flights fast: save time, save money!Be prepared to look at many promotions and not find a winner, promo fares are scattered around the travel period and you may not be able to get back at the low price. It's a game that takes lots of time and discipline to win. Because you're often buying tickets so far in advance you could take advantage of a promo getting you there and then wait for the return promo to come up, or use a different airline to return. Typically budget airline have major promos at the same time so using different airlines is easyHappy travels and bragging rights to those crazy low airfares you snapped up.
400 per month to live...is this enough?
It really comes down to how badly you want that car. Where there is a will there is a way, so you will find a way to save money for that car. - Try cutting your satellite bill down. - Cut your phone bill down. - Don't go misc shopping, like for clothes or stuff that you don't really need 911 - Eat at home and cook for yourself. - If you can, walk to where you can, look at it as exercise, not a budget. - have a garage sale for items you no longer need or want. - I do agree with the other person, pick up another part time job or something, or be a dog walker so you can enjoy the park and have some exercise and yet still get paid for it all at the same time. I know you can do it. Congratulations in advance and good luck.