The New Right is celebrating a milestone today. Sometime this morning, we received our 1000th visitor. Thanks for all your support, and please keep spreading the word.
To help commemorate this milestone, I am pleased to present a new column to you. You may remember that a while back I wrote about a forthcoming financial columnist. Here is his first article for the New Right. It is about everyday ways to build your wealth. Please read and comment with your own everyday money saving tips (I know some of you readers can stretch a dollar i.e., reader BS). Also comment with any other column ideas you would like our financial guru to comment on. Until he gives me a different name, I am calling his column "HokanCENTS." Enjoy.
Are you looking to expand your wealth, who isn’t? Saving while you are young allows your two best friends, time and interest, to grow your net worth. Below are everyday expenses that I avoid at all costs.
Who would give up upwards of $4 simply for not mindfully planning where your closest home ATM is located? Luckily, nearly every piece of merchandise or service performed today accepts credit cards; however, some holdouts will require cash money. Identify these places and make sure you visit your ATM in advance to avoid this fee.
Dry cleaning:
Spending $6 a pop to get a shirt pressed and “feeling clean” sure doesn’t add up to me. I have actually found that the cheaper a shirt is, the easier it is to throw it in your own laundry and clean it yourself. Besides, for all I know, when I take a shirt to the dry cleaner, the owner wears my shirt out that night, spills beer on it, cleans it, and gets it back to me in 3-4 days after my drop off (reminiscent of Ferris Buellers friend Cameron’s car getting taken for a ride). It’s no risk to the dry cleaner because if you take it home, notice they messed something up, they’ll always deny it was their fault.
High Expense Ratio’s on Mutual Funds:
The whole goal of investing your money instead of spending it is to gain incremental money on your principal. With that being said, any mutual fund charging more than 0.80% should be passed on for a lower alternative. Return rates will vary; expenses do not and should be minimal.
Coffee:
Coffee addictions although not as harmful to your health as smoking, can be nearly as expensive. The best suggestion is to not start. If you are known as “the coffee guy” you’ll feel compelled and obligated to walk with coworkers and pick up your $3 a day (nearly $1,000 yearly) money waster. Spend your money on a more expensive mattress and get to bed a half hour earlier.
Under very limited circumstances should you ever pay for parking. To quote Mr. George Costanza in regards to parking in a garage, “It’s like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free. ” This past weekend I was forced to pay $48 for 4 days of parking at an airport parking lot. This parking fee was roughly 30% of my airline ticket. Sure, having your car handy is plenty convenient, but I would much rather leave my money in a mutual fund gaining interest so I can spend it on things that provide me much greater intrinsic value. Swallow your pride and ride a bus, find a meter after peak hours that is free, get dropped off by a friend, find a lot that is farther away but much cheaper, or at least ask a retailer if they supply parking vouchers if you spend more than x amount. Don’t consider parking a sunk cost, it can be avoided.
7 comments:
I will add one. You can save thousands per year by packing your own lunch for work.
I think "HokanCENTS" may disagree with this though. He makes a pretty persausive argument about the networking benifits from eating out with others.
You can also save hundreds by not getting cable. You save the monthly cable bill and it takes a lot of electricity to run the t.v.
Just get internet and spend more time reading. You don't need t.v. for news because we now have the new right.
You can also plan out your evening meals for the week and only buy the groceries you need.
Finally, Uncle John would agree, ride your bike whenever possible instead of driving your car.
P.S. I also really enjoy this segment. Very nice.
BS.
This is why you are a New Right All Star.
Good article. But this next thing is for NT. (On 'Lost'), Why didn't Charlie just run out of that control room and shut the door behind him. He could have lived and only the control room would have flooded. It seemed to me he had time. Plus, I don't understand if the flashback (or was it forward) for Jack was showing what his life became after a rescue?
- Jethro
Also, another new feature that NT doesn't know about. Look for my Cardinals Trivia Tidbits Comments every time we get a new letter from Uncle John.
- Jarrod
Jethro and Jarrod,
First, I agree about being upset about the whole Charlie thing. I think he could have gotten out of the door. Even if he couldn't have, why didn't he just swim out the window that was shattered to let the water in.
As for Jack's flashes, I think they were forward looking. That is the first time we have seen anything like that though, and it was unclear until the end. I wonder if from now on we will have future flashes instead of flashbacks.
Jarrod, bring on the Cardinals trivia. I am not sure if Uncle John even reads this thing. I am sure he would respond if he did.
-NT
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