Fortune Watch

No more greasy burgers for you. No more frothy Frappucinos, hold the whip. No more fresh new duds just because you deserve it. All great decisions, but you must also ask yourself, “how much am I really saving?”

Are you saving enough to pay off all your bills? Are you significantly reducing the strain on your wallet?

Probably not. Saving $10-15 a week will never make you rich. It will help to ease your burden a bit, but little else.

Frugality gets billed as a well built road that will move you from rags to riches when traveled, but if you look deeper into the stories behind the people who pulled off amazing feats of frugality that left them swimming in riches, you’ll find far more than squeezing extra life from a few hundred pennies.

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Stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing at new all-time highs as Federal Reserve officials’ comments eased some concerns that the central bank could start reducing its stimulus program.

Dow component Home Depot gave the market a lift after the world’s largest home improvement chain raised its profit outlook, driving its stock to a record intraday high.

JPMorgan also bolstered the Dow, rising more than 1 percent to a 52-week high after the bank’s chief executive won a vote of confidence from shareholders.

Stocks extended gains in afternoon trade after New York Fed President William Dudley said he cannot be sure whether policymakers will next reduce or increase the amount of purchases, due to the “uncertain” economic outlook.

Earlier, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, had urged the European Central Bank to consider employing a U.S.-style quantitative easing program to counter slowing inflation and recession in the euro zone.

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A rally is a beautiful thing, particularly when the correction preceding it was embraced enthusiastically. This is the time to harvest your profits — pipe dreams of great wealth and inflated ego aside — jump on those profits before they erode before your disbelieving eyes. If you over think the environment or over cook the research, you’ll absolutely miss the party.

Unlike many things in life, stock market realities need to be dealt with quickly, decisively, and with zero hindsight — and this market reality? No rally in financial market history has ever escaped the ensuing correction. In the real world of investing, most unrealized profits eventually hit the tax return as realized losses

Here’s a list of ten things to do and to think about right now to protect yourself better than you did the last time a correction blindsided you:

1. Your present asset allocation should have been tuned in to your goals and objectives. Resist the urge to increase your equity allocation because you expect a further rise in stock prices. That would be an attempt to time the market, which is, rather obviously, impossible.

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Most of us are always striving to save money, but it can be very difficult to stick to strict saving efforts. However, in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, January is a fine time to re-evaluate your financial strategy and design a few ways to generate savings. With that in mind, here are ten miscellaneous tips for increasing your savings this year.

1. 1. Turn Off The Water – Reducing your water waste can significantly bring down your water bill. Additionally, it’s not difficult to do. You can reduce the amount of water you use at home simply by turning off the tap while you wash dishes or brush your teeth, and taking shorter showers.

1. 2. Turn Off The Lights – Similar to water waste, electricity is easy to cut back on, and can save you money on your bills. Keep lights and other electronics turned off when not needed, and you may be shocked at the positive financial effect.

1. 3. Keep Financial Records – This little trick is common among university students, but can serve anyone just as well. By simply writing down all of your expenses, you may find that you are far less likely to over-spend.

1. 4. Shop Online – Internet shopping has become an extremely broad experience offering a massive variety of products and services. And, you can often find prices online so much better than those in stores that you save significant amounts.

1. 5. Track Your Subscriptions – These days, it is so easy to sign up for services and subscriptions online that many people lose track of their subscriptions and pay monthly fees for services they don’t use. Avoid this problem by carefully tracking your subscription expenses.

1. 6. Invest To Save – Most investment opportunities are geared toward generating income. However, you can also look to certain types of investments to preserve and protect your existing finances. For example, try something like BullionVault, where you can purchase gold bullion – often seen as a means of saving your money from potential deflation of currency value.

1. 7. Get More Rest – This may not seem financially related, but it makes a great deal of sense. When you are better rested, your body will not feel the need for external energy sources, which means you will likely spend less on snacks, sodas, coffee, etc.

1. 8. Filter Your Water – Purchasing a filter provides you with clean, drinkable water at home, which in turn saves you from having to buy alternative beverages such as bottled water, juices, etc. You don’t need to drink only water, of course, but a filter can save money on a large portion of grocery costs.

1. 9. Eat At Home – Leading a busy life, it is always tempting to simply grab food outside of the house. In most cases, however, this adds up over time, whereas preparing and eating food from the store can be more financially efficient.

1. 10. Sell Old Items – Finally, consider selling old items. From used books, to outdated electronics, these extra sales can boost your finances each month, and contribute to savings at no cost.

This guest post was written by freelancer Brad Nelson, on behalf of BullionVault.

Fascinating, isn’t it, this stock market of ours, with its unpredictability, promise, and unscripted daily drama. But individual investors are even more interesting. We’ve become the product of a media driven culture that must have reasons, predictability, blame, scapegoats, and even that four-letter word, certainty.

We are a culture of investors where hindsight is rapidly replacing the reality-based foresight that once was flowing in our now real-time veins — just like in basketball, golf, and football.

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There are so many times when you need to give gifts, it is a good idea to stock up on gifts from your favorite online retailers. There are so many retailers with gift ideas that you can use to stock your gift closet so you are always ready to give a great gift.

Stock Your Closet with Gifts

Some nice ideas to include in your closet include wine and wine accessories as well as beautiful jewelry. If you have friends or family that enjoys memorabilia from favorite musicians or sporting events, then you can always buy a few pieces that you think they would like and save them for the upcoming birthdays or other events that will require gifts.

Baskets Loved by All

When you need ideas that show you care, you can always send gift baskets. There are baskets with popcorn and great accessories. You can also send baskets filled with coffee, creamers, and mugs. Another fun basket idea includes gourmet meats and cheeses.

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Everyone who is reading this because he/she wants to know how to get rich quick needs to realize that there’s no calculated way of doing so. Every day, there are many people who all of a sudden become rich whether it’s because of the lottery or betting big on the right stock which skyrocketed. Unfortunately for us though, these are mostly based on luck and can never be repeated systematically.

So, in order to get rich, the first thing we have to learn is be patient. Time my friends. That’s the only fixed variable in the get rich formula.

If we want to get rich, we first need to start saving to create a positive cash flow. Whether it’s a dollar or a thousand dollars, we need to save as much as we can. There will be sacrifices like not being able to buy that 50-inch LCD TV or the latest Gucci bag, but everything we buy is just an obstacle to our road of becoming rich.

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Coin collectors and dealers collect metallic money that is rare, old, unique and which has historical significance. The rare ones are collected by historians and artisans because they can find more information like geography, artistry, philosophy and the culture to which the buck belonged. Historians can analyze them by looking at them. Artisans are interested in finding out about their uniqueness, design and beauty.

The value of the rare ones is always higher, especially if the demand is high. If they are scarce in circulation, the demand is high which in turns raises the value, but abundance of the same in the market, means a lower value. In ancient times, kings and Aristocrats produced coins with their faces printed on them to leave a legacy in history. The collectors weren’t able to judge the face value of the same.

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We all have that ‘wow’ moment when we realize that we have a lot stuff in our closets that we don’t wear and most likely won’t ever use again. There’s that dress that you simply wore to a friend’s party, several pant suits which don’t fit right any longer, numerous shoes, t-shirts, jackets and trousers. After you have done your spring cleaning you probably were left with a large pile of things that you don’t want to maintain cluttering up your life. The question now is how to proceed with it all.

ClothesForCash is a revolutionary way to dispose of your old clothes and profit at the same time. ClothesForCash are based in the UK and run a national service that will collect, recycle and pay you for your unwanted clothing items; giving you the perfect win-win situation.

With the rise in environmental awareness and the need for us all to do our part in saving the planet recycling has turned into a major factor in all of our lives. Ensuring that your unwanted clothes will be recycled is one step in a great battle to limit the quantity of waste we create.

Textile recycling is set being very big business approximately around 70% of the world’s population wear second-hand clothing and that 92% of the UK population have clothes within their wardrobes that they no more wear.
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You are getting married soon and want to lead a successful life with respect to finances. Setting up a financial plan beforehand works better for both partners in the long run. Not many people would approve of it, but practicality lies in the fact that both partners discuss their short term and long term financial goals in advance. Clear financial goals lead to better lives later because people are so busy living the relationship in their early days of marriage that they do not want to look at his crucial aspect of married life.

1. Count What You Have Financially

Both earning partners would have something in their respective bank accounts other than what they intend to spend at the wedding. Besides the money in bank accounts, count all worthy items each of you own, like, jewels, property, saving certificates, shares, bonds, etc. Assess your financial worth keeping in view two things; one, your sources of income, and two, your long term investments. Never build you financial independence on the basis of market shares since these are subject to market volatility. Now that your financial stance is clearly in front of your partner, you can decide upon the major financial decisions with them, for example the next financial move keeping in view the longer term goals.

2. Do Not Divide Living Expenses between Yourselves

Many people find it easier to run their households on the basis of income earning potential of each partner. This sounds alright, but practically it might not be. There have been instances when marriages have failed only due to financial discrepancies. Dividing household income amongst yourselves creates issues because each partner has their own needs and everything has a price tag. If there is a staggering difference in the salaries of the two partners, then it is not advisable to split the ratio into two halves because the one with the lower income will be left with a meager sum of money.

3. Never Create a Joint Bank/Credit Card Account

Never make this choice unless very necessary. No matter how high your partner’s monthly income maybe, if s/he has a bad credit history, it is better not to make them joint account holders. Bear this in mind, that if your partner is poor with financial decisions, then it can difficult for you to get a better credit score. In order to resolve this issue, sit down with your spouse and discuss about utility bills, grocery bills, interest on savings account, auto insurance premiums, auto loan payments, etc.

4. Make Your Goals Clear to Each Other

Just as mentioned in number 2 above, both partners have their own needs and everything has a cost. It might be that your partner intends to go back to school and finish a degree, which is definitely going to cost them a huge proportion of their salary. Similarly, it might be that one of you wants to setup a business and needs to save more for some time.

However, let your partner steer clear of the fact if you intend to switch career since it can have an impact on the amount of salary you are currently withdrawing. This means that discussing each other’s goals and financial needs will help you lead a prosperous married life.

5. Do Not Make Temptations Your Necessities

Though you have savings in your account, this does not give you an upper hand to spend as much as you want. There could be times when you would partake in spending in luxurious items. There are many things that we buy just because we fall into their temptations like a new laptop, LCD TV, designer furniture items etc.

Since you will shop impulsively every now and then, this can prevent you from saving more and leading financial independent lives later on. For example, credit card debt relief is very important later in life when you will need to pay for your children’s expenses too.

Conclusion

Just because you both earn higher sums of money, don’t allow yourself and your partner to go onto becoming compulsive shoppers or squander away money elsewhere. Keep your finances and financial goals as clear as you can to avoid falling into a troublesome marriage later.

About the Author:

The above article is written by Eva who is an expert finance columnist for many sites and blogs. In her free time she advises people on various finance subjects.