Daily Investment Tips

I came across the following story that parents can use to teach their children the importance of saving money and hardwork.

To Work Today Is To Eat Tomorrow

The fable concerns a grasshopper who has spent the warm months singing away while the ant (or ants in some editions) worked to store up food for winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger, and upon asking the ant for food is only rebuked for its idleness. The story is used to teach the virtues of hard work and saving, and the perils of improvidence. Some versions of the fable state a moral at the end, along the lines of: “Idleness brings want”, “To work today is to eat tomorrow”, “Prepare for want before it comes”.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Ants, Fable, Grasshopper, Hunger, Importance Of Saving Money, Money Work, Parents, Perils, Tips On Saving Money, Virtues

Long time ago if you wanted free cash for college you just needed to apply for a scholarship, if you were lucky to get it, you were set for college. Another free source for free college cash was cash from parents and relatives.

Thanks to declining economy this sources of free college cash have dried up. Other sources of free college cash have come up.

Free College Cash Websites.

Websites such as Babymint.com, Littlegrad.com, Futuretrust.com and Upromise.com, allow registered users to earn points that go towards a a college saving account.

Credit Cards

Fidelity offers an American Express card that will rebate 2 percent of all purchases to a Fidelity 529. The money will be withdrawn to finance college education. Upromise also have a credit card where registered users can earn back upto 1% of every amount spent using the upromise credit card.

Another fabulous article on the subject is at USNEWS

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: American Express, American Express Card, College Education, College Websites, Credit Card, Credit Cards, Declining Economy, Fabulous Article, Fidelity 529, Finance Education, Free Source, Free Websites, Futuretrust, Littlegrad, Long Time, Money, Parents, Relatives, Scholarship, Upromise, Upto

Upromise.com allows parents to save college money for their kids. The college money is generated by rewarding parents for shopping at Upromise website or by using upromise credit card.

This is how Upromise college saving program works.

Parents and anyone else they recruit can register their grocery loyalty cards for free at Upromise.com. Anywhere from 1 to 3 percent of the value of the purchases will be rebated to a Upromise 529 college savings account in the name of the student the customer chooses.

To supercharge college savings, parents and others can also apply for and use a Upromise credit card linked to the student’s account. Those cards generate additional rebates of at least 1 percent of all purchases.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 529 College Savings, College Money, Credit Card, Kids Money, Loyalty Cards, Parents, Rebates, Savings Account, Shopping, Upromise

One money saving tip is reducing the amount of money you spend on energy bills. You need to get an home energy audit to determine how much money you can save. An audit of your energy use can show you areas you can use to reduce your energy bill.

For a few hundred dollars, experts using high-tech gadgets, and computer models will analyze your home, work out in detail all the ways it’s wasting energy and tell you what you can do to stop it.

How An Audit can reduce your energy bills

1. An audit can help you rethink your heating and water systems,
2. Identify possible sources of renewable energy, from solar paneling to a geothermal heat pump.

Implementing the above changes can help you save money over time. Another thing is you will be playing your part in helping the environment.

To find a home energy auditor check for credited auditors at Building Performance Institute

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amount Of Money, Computer Models, Energy Auditor, Energy Bill, Energy Bills, Energy Saving, Energy Use, Geothermal Heat Pump, Helping The Environment, High Tech Gadgets, Home Energy Audit, How Much Money, Money Saving, Paneling, Performance Institute, Sources Of Renewable Energy, Wasting Energy, Water Systems

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Cable Bill, Cable Bills, Cable One, Comcast, Corporate Giant, Customer Representatives, Email, Exisiting Customers, Household, Insight, Live Chat, Money Investing, Monthly Expense, One Don, Promotions, Subscribers, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, Transcripts, Two Guys

One of the biggest monthly expense for a US household is the cost of cable bill. Most subscribers never think of negotiating their fees down they just pay what the bill says. After all we all assume the small guy has no chance against a corporate giant!

As I was reading across the internet I came across two subscribers of Comcast who explained how they managed to cut their comcast bills. Guy No 1 cut his Comcast bill by 33%. Guy No. 2 cut his Comcast bill by by 44%. All done without losing their service.

The two guys posted a detailed chat transcript with Comcast customer representatives on their blogs. The transcripts gave an insight on how to negotiate for lower cable fees.

This is what learnt from the two guys On How to Negotiate for Lower Comcast Bill

1. Negotiate one on one, don’t send an email, call the company directly or use a live chat.

2. Make it clear from the start that you want a lower cable bill.

3. During the conversation mention the rates of competitors.

4. Be nice, dont threaten to live directly, mentioning the rates of competitors is enough to keep them on notice.

5. Know the promotions that are being run for new and exisiting customers. Their is a chance they could be running a promotion and you are not aware.

The beauty of negotiating for lower monthly cable bills is that the money saved can be used to boost your savings which means more money available for investing.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Blogs, Cable Bill, Cable Bills, Comcast, Comcast Cable, Corporate Giant, Customer Representatives, Email, Exisiting Customers, Household, Insight, Live Chat, Money, Monthly Expense, One Don, Promotions, Subscribers, Transcripts, Two Guys

The following cost saving strategies will help you minimize the cost of commuting. This ideas are very simple, you just need to make adjustments to your lifestyle and you will see more money into your pockets

1. Moving closer to work. If you live miles from work your work place it means you spend more fuel driving to work. By moving near your work place you could save money on fuel.
2. Sign up for and use a gas station card
3. If possible run errands at stores close to work so that you can reduce the amount of time you spend driving around.
4. Find the shortest route to your work place. Tools such as google maps have made this easy.
5. Ask about subsidies at work for commuters. Some places of employment offer benefits for commuters, such as reimbursement for miles driven.
6. Look into working from home. If your job allows it (and the workplace allows it), consider telecommuting a day or two a week.
7. Consider Car pooling, talk to your neighbours about sharing your cars.

I hope this money saving tips will live you with more money in your pocket. Remember to get the most out of the money you save, you have to invest the money. Let your money work for you.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amount Of Time, Cars, Commuters, Gas Station, Google, Google Maps, Invest Money, Job, Lifestyle, Money In Your Pocket, Money Saving Tips, Money Tips, Money Work, Neighbours, Pockets, Run Errands, Shortest Route, Subsidies, Working From Home

One of the simplest saving idea is to treat saving as one of your bills. When your paycheck comes in each month, you pay your bills, right? So treat investing like a bill.

Some of your monthly bills are rent / mortgage, food, clothes etc. On that list include saving on it.

You can allocate a percentage of your pay for saving, it could something like 10%. That 10% can be deposited into a savings account or an investment account. You can collect your money yourself and deposit it into the account or If you want to make it easier, then go to the finance office and set up an automatic allotment from your paycheck and you’ll never think about it again.

When you treat saving and investing as part of your bill it forces you to budget for it. When you start looking at saving from this angle you will never again complain how it is hard to save or you dont have money to save.

To your success

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Allotment, Budget, Clothes, Finance Office, Investment Account, Money Saving Ideas, Money Tips, Mortgage, Paycheck, Savings Account, Young Adults

The number one money saving tip is to buy used goods. But when it comes to laptops, buying a used laptop is not a smart idea.

Because of their ability to be moved around, laptops are prone to all sorts of abuse and problems.

Disadvantages of buying a second hand / used laptop

1. When you buy a used laptop, unless it’s refurbished, you have no idea what it’s been through or when important parts will die on you.
2. You also don’t get the warranties and tech support that come with buying new.
3. The cost of fixing or replacing some parts is high, sometimes it can be as high as buying a second hand laptop.

If your idea of saving money is buying a used laptop please reconsider your decision because that cheap laptop you might get could end up disappointing you. You might end up spending more money fixing some dead parts.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: All Sorts, Buy Laptop, Cheap Laptop, Laptops, Money Saving, Saving Money, Second Hand Laptop, Smart Idea, Tech Support, Warranties