It always surprises people to learn that about 30 percent of the tenants of self storage facilities are small businesses. I am not sure why — businesses need, if anything, more storage than the average family. I find that many of our small business tenants have turned to self storage either because they need to minimize the overhead costs for their business, and must keep the official retail or office space small or home-based, or because they need a simple way to merge storage and shipping. Small businesses that need to arrange their own regular shipping or local deliveries often prefer to rent space at a facility that offers moving trucks for rent as well. That way, the business does not have to invest in a delivery truck (which then has to be stored as well, in addition to needing maintenance, insurance, and licensing).

The obvious example of an entrepreneur using storage space is an online retail business, such as an eBay store. However, I find that many entrepreneurs are using self-storage units in ways that are not so obvious:

Watercraft Detailing & Winterization: At one of our North Carolina facilities that offers winter boat storage, I met a man who told me that he figured out that he had a budget for space for a boat cleaning and repair business, but only for a few months out of the year. He was delighted to learn that self storage units do not have to be rented year round — they can be rented on a month to month basis, or only when you need them. He now uses a self storage space at a facility near a marina to offer boat cleaning and maintenance to boat owners who are about to put their boats in storage for the winter. He offers the service for two months in the fall. Then he packs up his tools and takes them home — he needs the space primarily for the boats he works on, as the tools themselves are fairly compact. In the spring, he rents another unit and offers the same service to boat owners who are taking their boats out of storage.

Wine Delivery: I chatted with a northern California business owner who is the middleman between wineries and local businesses and wine collectors. She needed trucks, but only occasionally, to transport wine. It streamlined her business considerably to be able to transport wine via truck to a climate-controlled facility, and to unload the wine and return the truck simultaneously. Then she rented the truck again later, when she went out to make deliveries. She was glad to be able to cut costs on shipping, since she also had to comply with state regulations related to shipping alcohol.

Hand Crafted Signs: An Oregon woodworker who rented a self-storage unit last year told me that he was glad to find a facility that also had trucks for rent. He produces custom handmade wooden signs for local businesses, and then delivers them. If he can, he deliver the signs using his own car, but occasionally he has a sign that is quite large and must be moved using a truck. In addition to using the trucks to deliver his signs, he told me that it is very nice to be able to rent one occasionally when he needs to bring in new materials, or when he participates in art fairs over the summer. For art fairs, he not only loads quite a few of his latest signs, but he also brings shelves and tables to display them on, and a large tent (in case of rain). The rest of the time, though, he tells me that he doesn’t need a truck — nor does he need to be budgeting part of his business income every month to pay for parking, maintenance or insurance.

Computer Solutions: Some of our tenants, on the other hand, have their own trucks, but they need a secure place to park them because they keep their trucks full of expensive equipment. One of our Chicago units is rented by a business that does IT consulting for larger corporations. They travel to sites where businesses are having trouble with their computer networks (in this recession, many companies have laid off their information technology (IT) departments). When they travel to a business site, they bring a van full of computers that can run diagnostic tests on a system. They also bring commonly used replacement parts, network cables, and the like. But they don’t want to park that van, full of electronics, out on the street. Moreover, it’s easier for the “Geeks” — there are two of them — to drive to our self storage facility and park in our parking lot, which is usually not full because most tenants don’t stay all day. Then they take the van out and drive to the site where they will be working for the day. As a result, they not only get affordable security for their business equipment, but they also save on parking for their private vehicles. I thought it was an ingenious way to solve the perennial Chicago parking problem.

Sometimes business owners have to think creatively to stay out of debt. I used to think that anyone starting a new business would have to go into debt just to have the start up capital to provide a place of business, equipment, and/or inventory (depending on the business). But I’ve come to realize that it is possible to start a business with very little capital. No one wants to think that their business is going to be the one to fail, but if your business does fail, you will be far better off walking away from it free and clear — rather than with a mountain of debt. I’ve grown to admire entrepreneurs who refuse to let the excitement of a new business sway their judgment when it comes to personal finance. In my experience, those entrepreneurs who stick to their principles become more than just successful businessmen and women — they become leaders in their community. And we need leaders like that — leaders who have a strong sense of personal responsibility, and who will take the motto “borrow from none,” and apply it whenever possible to our state and local governments.

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Being aware of the various tax penalties the IRS could impose will help you avoid them. Here are four tax penalties every taxpayer should be aware of and avoid:

Failure to File Penalty

The Failure to File Penalty is imposed on taxpayers who do not file their tax return or request a tax filing deadline by the due date of April 15th. If you are unable to complete your return before the deadline, make sure you request an extension which will give you until October 15th to file. If an extension is granted, and you still do not file your taxes by the new deadline, you will be charged a Failure to File Penalty which is 5% of the total amount of tax liability per month for a maximum of 25% of your total tax liability.

If it is found that you didn’t file your taxes for fraudulent or negligent reasons, your fine can be increased as much as 75% of your original, total tax liability.

Avoid having to pay this penalty simply by submitting your tax return on time.

Failure to Pay Penalty

The Failure to Pay Penalty is calculated from the original payment deadline of April 15th, and is .5% per month for each month you don’t pay your owed taxes in their entirety. This penalty can exceed 25% of the unpaid balance on your taxes.

This penalty is in addition to the interest rate charged to taxes owed. The average IRS interest rate for underpayment of tax liabilities is around 4% currently, but the rate changes every three months.

Avoid the Failure to Pay Penalty by paying your taxes by the due date. If you cannot pay your total tax liabilities in full, then it is best to pay what you can in order to reduce the failure to pay penalty.

Accuracy Penalty

If the IRS finds that your tax return is inaccurate, there will be accuracy penalties and interest imposed. If the mistakes do not appear to be intentional, the accuracy penalty is normally 20% of the total understatement of tax. If the mistakes appear to be fraudulent or there were gross valuation misstatements, the penalty may be as much as 40%.

If you believe the penalty you receive for inaccurate information on your tax return is due to inaccurate advice you received from an IRS employee, you may be able to file a penalty abatement and have the penalty removed.

There are some other situations which may result in the removal of the penalty as well, and a tax professional can assist you with determining if your reason for the inaccurate information would be considered with reasonable cause or a valid excuse.

You can avoid the Accuracy Penalty by checking your tax return carefully to ensure everything on it is correct. Use the assistance of tax professionals if you need help filing your tax return.

Tax Fraud Penalty

If you have underpaid taxes owed due to fraud, you will receive a tax fraud penalty of 75% of the underpayment. The IRS will examine each return with a tax underpayment to determine whether or not there is evidence of fraud. Negligence, or not understanding tax laws is not considered fraud. You can avoid a tax fraud penalty by completing your tax return with accurate information, and following IRS rules.

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Thought you might be interested in weighing in on the decision we are needing to make. We are nearly entirely on a fixed income now, so there is no cash from the working budget for any large purchase. Our clothes washer is at least 13 years old and has been making strange noises for some time. The repair man said not to put any more money into it if breaks down again. So here is the decision: do we gamble and wait for the thing to die and then possibly have to pay a larger amount (from savings) for a new one OR do we take the money (again from savings) and purchase a new one now, hopefully on sale and while we can get a little Energy Star appliance “clunker” rebate from the government? Which move is more financially prudent?

I think the key here is to not have to put the purchase on a credit card and pay a high interest rate on it thus making a difficult purchase even more so.  In either case you describe, you are using your own money to purchase the washer.  If you were saving up to be able to buy one later but had to use a credit card to buy one now, I would say wait and save.  That is not the case for you.

Let’s look at the details a bit more.  We’ve already established that you are using money from your savings.  The question is should you wait or do it now.  The advantages of buying now are that you can be proactive about finding a sale and use the appliance clunker rebate (of course, each state handles this differently).  Another advantage of waiting would be to earn interest on the money in your savings account while it sits there.  That is not going to amount to a significant amount of money even if you do get another year or two out of your washer.  At $1000 with current rates maybe at 1%, that’s $10 a year – not very much.  As long as we’re talking small sums of money, don’t forget to consider how much more energy efficient a new washer would be compared to one that is 13 years old.  A new one will most likely save you some energy costs and the sooner you purchase one the sooner you’ll start realizing those savings.

On the flip-side, the pros for waiting are that your washer could in fact continue to work for a long time thus saving you that cash outlay for months or possibly years.  I guess that’s all I can come up with as a pro for waiting (I’d have a better argument for waiting if you told me you were going to charge it and pay it off over the next 24 months!)

Again, I think the overarching key to this question is whether you can make the purchase now with your own money or if you have to use a credit card.  If I were in your position with money in the bank to purchase a new washer, I would start looking for one.  Do your research for price, effectiveness, and reliability, check out different stores, search for coupons and sales, etc.  Basically, I’m suggesting that you prepare yourself ahead of time so you can take your time but still be ready to pounce when you find a great deal.  Good luck!

I’d love to hear if any readers would like to chime in with some (possibly different) advice…

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Numbers, with dollar signs in front of them, started wracking up in my head (and up and up).  The last time someone came to repair our refrigerator, it was $90 just to come to the door.  Then there would be the cost of the part(s), and the labor to take the thing apart, fix the offending piece, and put it back together.

I’ll fix it myself!

So, I told my wife I would look into fixing it myself.  It was Saturday afternoon and this was our last load until the middle of next week, so I could buy myself some time.  Actually, it took just a few seconds on Google to find what was most likely the problem and the part would only cost $10-$20!  I’m all in now, I decided.  I was going to go for it and try to repair it myself!  Now, I had never even attempted to do such a repair before.  Sure, I occasionally take electronic equipment apart for tinkering purposes, but I’ve never successfully repaired anything that I’d taken apart (when I was a kid I made a flashlight, does that count?).  This would be different, though; this washing machine had to be repaired!  (I thought: worst case scenario I would have to pay someone to fix it, but that’s where I was already…just maybe I could make it work).

Fixed!

And I did!  I fixed it!  I took it apart and fixed it and I have the pictures to prove it!  By the grace of God, I was able to disassemble it without hurting myself or anyone else, replace the part, put it back together, and make it work!  Let me tell you, accomplishing that was a phenomenal feeling! (Not spending money while simultaneously finding that feeling of accomplishment – now that is a win-win!)

I saved $200!

So what did I end up saving?  Let’s see, I wildly guess that the repair would have cost somewhere between $150-$200.  Ok, so I spent $20 for the part plus I donated $10 to the guy who put the pictures up on his website that showed all the steps to complete this repair (This is the site you want to check out if you need to repair a Kenmore washing machine!).  So, that saves me about $170 – time to celebrate!!  Let’s hit the town for a celebratory dinner maybe?  Maybe I’ll get me some bike gear that I’ve been coveting.  Oh, I know, how about a tuner for my guitar. Man, that extra $170 is going to come in handy!

Am I sure I saved $200?

Now hold on a second, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might know what I’m going to say next.  Let’s ask the question again: How much money did I save today?  $0…in fact, I actually spent $30.  Sure, I do have a working washing machine.  God provided for us such that it only cost $30 instead of $200.  That’s all true.  But that doesn’t mean I should go and spend the amount I “saved.”  I’m sill worse off by $30 than I was Saturday morning.

I know, I’m being a total buzz-kill.  I’m not trying to be completely goofy about this.  Fixing the washing machine was an awesome feeling!  I came into the family room yelling about it (much to my wife’s chagrin as she was trying to talk to her sister on the phone….and later to her mother on the phone…yes, the yelling went on for some time).  Just remember not to tell yourself these little lies about money that get us into trouble.  You can’t save money by spending money (even with a coupon!).

That’s what we tend to do, though, right?  Look up to the title of the post, “I saved $200!”  Did I really save that much?  First, I just guessed the repair would be $150-$200.  Of course, I then rounded up and started touting the higher number but that’s not even correct as I spent $30 to do the repair.  Ok, so I saved $170, I’m going to go spend that $170!  No!  In situations like this, people tend to feel like they made $170…no, no, no!  Be honest with yourself and don’t play these games with money.  I’m thrilled to not have spent $150 or $170 or $200 on the washing machine repair, but that does not mean I now have an extra $170 to go spend!  Again, I do not now have $170 more compared to Saturday morning, I have $30 less!

Did I really fix it?

I took pictures to prove that I fixed it.  Unfortunately, it didn’t strike me until afterward that I was the one taking the pictures so none of them show me actually working on the machine!  You’ll have to take my word for it!  Here’s proof that it was actually working after the repair (ignore all the shoes floating at the top, I have no idea what my wife was doing with those in there…yes, yes, washing them, of course, but it just looks strange!).

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Of course the new year is a time when people typically evaluate their current life, compare it to their ideal life and make a bunch of resolutions to try to help them bridge the gap between the two (or bridge the chasm, as it were).  I usually don’t get too much into the resolution stuff (though I did make one last year and actually made two this year (actually, the first one is the same as last year’s)), but since any time is a good time to reevaluate how things are going for you, that does make now a great time to do it.

Whether you are feeling pretty good about where you are or you have a host of resolutions that you made to get back on the right track, the most important task is not making the resolution but actually following through on it.  In hopes of providing you with a little more motivation to follow through, I thought I’d share some of the lyrics from a song that I have found pretty inspirational over the past year.  Hopefully reflecting on the words can act as a catalyst to help you turn your resolutions into reality this coming year…

The Motions written by Matthew West, Sam Mizell, and Jason Houser

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

Thanks so much for reading BorrowFromNone in 2009 (if this wasn’t the first post you read!) and I will continue to try to improve the content and the writing so that you’re still reading at the beginning of 2011!

I do hope that you have had a great 2009 and that 2010 is even better – in fact, I hope that 2010 is your best year yet. May God richly bless you in 2010!

Happy New Year!

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In March 2009 President Obama launched a mortgage assistance program designed to help struggling home owners keep up with the mortgage payments and avoid painful foreclosures. The program got extended due to its success, and you may still qualify today.

How to know if you are eligible for the Making Homes Affordable Program?

Just answer 4 simple questions:

• Is your home your primary residence?

• Is the amount you owe on your first mortgage equal to or less than $729,750?

• Are you having trouble paying your mortgage?

• Did you get your current mortgage before January 1, 2009?

If you answered yes to all, you will most likely qualify for a Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

Keep in mind that vacation and commercial properties are not included in the program. The property you are refinancing must be your primary residence, such as a house, a condo, a town house, a co-op or a manufactured home.

Mortgage refinance rates with the Home Affordable Refinance Program go as low as 2% – the lowest in the country.

To learn how to save on monthly mortgage payments with refinance visit the Making Homes Affordable website at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov

Will I Save Money with Refinance?

In order to reap the best returns on refinancing, make sure that the new interest rate is at least 2% lower than your current rate; you must also know in advance that you will live in your home for the next several years. If you are planning on moving out in a year or two, then do not refinance, since the process will not save you any money, and may actually leave you with a negative. Mortgage refinancing is a long term savings strategy, not a quick fix, although an instant difference in monthly payments can be felt right away.

To calculate the amount you will save on a mortgage refinancing, find out your closing costs. Once you know the closing costs, combine the monthly savings until you reach the closing costs sum. Then count the months it took your new savings to cover the closing costs and you will know the break even period.

For example, if your old mortgage payment was $1,442 and your new payment is $1,003, then your monthly savings after mortgage refinancing are $439. If the closing fees were $4,500 it will take approximately 10 and half months to break even, after which you will truly start saving money.

Your Home is NO ATM

A big mistake many people made, is they used their home like an ATM machine to pay for fancy cars, vacations, renovations and other joys of life. It is all fun, no doubt, but if it’s not your money – don’t spend it, because in the end the debt will come back to bite in your bottom. It has in fact bitten thousands of people, who were either reckless with their home equity or who opted for high risk mortgages such as interest only and balloon home loans. Don’t touch your home equity, unless you really have to (kids education, medical bills, or emergency issues).

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My bank is awesome!

Well, not exactly.  There is the little matter of the “convenience fee” that the bank takes for providing you this service – something on the order of $35.  Now that might not sound like a huge deal (although if you are scraping so close to the bottom of your account balance that you are overdrawing it, $35 is probably a significant penalty!).  But this adds up to big business for the banks.  According to Forbes.com, Bank of America took in $692 Million on overdraft fees in only THREE months this year! Almost 20% of customers end up getting charged an overdraft fee while almost 4% rack up 5 or more in a year!  Read that again – $692 Million in three months for a single, albeit large, bank!

What to do?

Clearly, you really want to avoid ponying up some of your dough into BoA’s billion-dollar-kitty of overdraft fees.  One step would be to simply not sign up for overdraft protection (or un-sign-up if necessary).  Interestingly, congress is changing the way this works next year and not allowing banks to automatically opt customers in for overdraft protection.  Instead, a customer would have to explicitly sign up.  But all of this is really just treating the symptom and ignoring the real problem, right? 

Let’s be frank here, accruing one of these fees is really a matter of your personal negligence.  Obviously you know that you should not be trying to take out more money than what currently resides your account (you do know that, right?).  So if you do that, it’s most likely a matter of you not keeping abreast of your account balances.  In this day and age of internet banking and smartphones, you do not have a good excuse for not knowing your account balances when you are out making purchases or hitting the ATM.

So, keep up to date on your current balance.  Try to build in a little bit of cushion into your account so you don’t have to worry about negative numbers (I know, that’s not possible for everyone).

And remember: $692 Million in three months!!

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If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept criticism, you will be honored. Proverbs 13:18 (NLT)

Ignoring criticism leads you to poverty and disgrace.  In other translations of the Bible, the word translated here as “criticism” is translated “discipline,” “instruction,” and “correction.”  If you ignore those around you who are trying to help you through instruction and correction, simply put, you are being foolish.  As the remainder of the proverb states, those who do heed the instruction/criticism/correction will end up not in poverty and disgrace but will be honored instead.

We all know that criticism or discipline (yet another translation) is not fun to accept.  No one wants to be criticized.  It is usually uncomfortable and sometimes painful.  At the same time, as shown here, it is beneficial for your long term success (I’m all for avoiding poverty and disgrace).  So, when a friend offers you some advice or correction, listen and learn as you’ll be better off for it in the long run.

God bless and have a great week…

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Not every millionaire was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, nor does every millionaire live the lavish lifestyle often associated with the title. In fact, many millionaires live very reasonable, unassuming lifestyles, often combining frugal spending habits with wise investment choices to build immense wealth. It’s important to remember that being frugal doesn’t necessarily mean you are cheap, it just means you make well-informed and smart choices regarding your money. For many millionaires, it isn’t necessarily their lofty incomes that create their fortunes so much as their frugality and ability to save and invest the money they do earn. Here are a just a few examples of prodigious savers who turned their frugal savings into fortunes.

1. Warren Buffett

It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t heard of Warren Buffett, either because of his extreme wealth or the amazing way he achieved that wealth. This Nebraska native turned successful investor and business owner, came from a working-class family in Omaha, and even joined a fraternity (Alpha Sigma Phi) during his college days at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Along his path to millionaire and then billionaire status, he never lost sight of living frugally and making level headed business decisions. According to Forbes Magazine, after losing $25 billion (USD) in 2008-09 Buffett is still the second wealthiest man in the world at a net worth of $38 billion. On his Wikipedia.com profile his annual salary — $100,000 (USD). Talk about living frugally in the overall scheme of things — wow!

2. Marjorie Kennedy & Jack Lynch

You might not remember their names, but you might remember hearing their stories or ones similar to them. Both were unassuming librarians, (Marjorie in Scotland and Jack in North Carolina). Both of them lived unassuming lives, saving and investing well, and living within their means. At the end of their lives, both were able to leave vast fortunes (well over a million dollars), far larger than their librarian salaries would belie. These are the typical ‘millionaire next door’ type stories you never expect due to the relatively normal and unassuming lifestyles these people live. See, it doesn’t take a huge salary and fancy job title to becomes rich!

3. Ingvar Kamprad

What, this name doesn’t ring a bell? How about IKEA? Ah yes, now you’re making the connection. He is the Swedish billionaire, one of the richest men on the planet, who not only grew IKEA into a name recognizable worldwide, but also maintained the characteristics of a frugal millionaire in the process. In his Testament of a Furniture Dealer Ingvar states, ‘Expensive solutions to any kind of problem are usually the work of mediocrity. We have no respect for a solution until we know what it costs.

4. Jen Smith: ‘Millionaire Mommy Next Door’

On her website, Millionairemommynextdoor.com, Jan chronicles her path from minimum wage earner to self-made millionaire. It is a remarkable, yet for most of us, very attainable path that made her a success. Unlike Warren Buffet who, while starting small has built a nearly unimaginable fortune compared to the everyday investor, Jen Smith’s story gives us all hope that hard work, common sense, and learning to do things yourself rather than paying others to do them for you, can lead to financial independence and success. Here are two quotes from Jen’s website that I think sum up the lifestyles of many frugal millionaires:

“We tend to be do-ers, not have-ers. For instance, we don’t care much for ’stuff’ (a McMansion home, fancy cars, clothes or jewelry), but we spend generously on recreational pursuits, organic foods and long trips to faraway places.”

“The morning I calculated our net worth to be over one million dollars, we were living in a rented apartment, driving a six-year-old car, and wearing used consignment store clothes. At age 40, we were ‘closet millionaires’.”

5. Dave Ramsey

Ramsey is the host of a nationally syndicated radio program and podcaster giving live, one-to-one personal finance advice to callers. Dave made a fortune from real estate in his 20’s but he went broke. With lessons learned and a resolve to do it the right way he started again and made his second million from real estate. Now, Dave is renowned for his Christian background and no nonsense approach to personal finance, especially when it comes to getting out of debt, staying out of debt, and living financially free. So, if you listen to Dave’s advice, you’ll be taking personal finance advice from a wealthy man, not your broke friends or family.

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The home buying process can be made less cumbersome if you plan out the course of action well in advance. An important factor that needs to be addressed when you take out a mortgage is to determine the monthly payments on mortgage. Why is it important to determine your monthly mortgage payments beforehand?

When you take out a mortgage, you are required to make payments each month. This payment will continue throughout the term of the loan. So, your payments should be affordable. And you should be able to continue making payments regularly without defaulting on the same. This is because you may have to lose your home in foreclosure if you miss your monthly mortgage payments.

What are the factors that impact your monthly payments on a mortgage?
There are various factors that determine the amount you have to pay each month for your mortgage. Some of the factors that affect your payments each month are as follows –

Principal amount
The principal amount of the mortgage loan is important. This is because the greater is your principal; the amount you pay each month will also be higher.

Rate of interest
Whether you are selecting ARM or adjustable-rate mortgage or FRM (fixed-rate mortgage) will impact your monthly payments on mortgage. For instance, if you opt for ARM, your payments initially will be much lower. But ARM changes according to the prevailing rates in the market. So, if the mortgage rates increase in the market, the monthly payments will rise too.

Loan term
Selecting the loan term will also impact your monthly payments on mortgage. If you opt for 15-year loan term, you will be paying more every month but the interest rate will be less. If the loan term you choose is 30 years, the amount you pay each month is less but the rate of interest your mortgage will attract is very high.

The best way to find out your monthly payments on mortgage is to use mortgage calculators that can accurately evaluate your financial condition. You must remember that you are settling for a deal that will affect your finances for the next couple of years. So, plan out your finances accordingly.

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Buy More, Save More!!

Sounds great, right?  Here are some more details:

Take $25 off when you spend $150 to $249.99

(Wait, it gets better…)

Take $50 off when you spend $250 or more!

Woohoo – so are you ready to go shopping and “save some money?”

Well, I guess technically (in the strictest sense of the word), you are “saving” more money but on earth (where I currently reside) it seems like you’re actually just spending more.  Here’s a fun quiz for you:

Q: If I buy something for $175, how much money will I save using this offer?

A: NOTHING – I will have spent $150!

I know that you see this kind of advertising all over the place but let’s get real here – my credit card company is not trying to save me money.  Rather, they are trying to get me to spend more money (using their card, of course).  But we are bombarded with these and numerous other similar artifices day in and day out.  It is almost to the point where we are blind to the truth of the matter (or the math of the matter in this case).  So, keep you eyes open out there and, of course, beware of credit card companies bearing gifts…

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Woohoo! BFN celebrated its one-year anniversary last week. Well, I say “celebrated” but no one actually celebrated anything (and there was not a gift anywhere in sight!). In fact, I actually missed the date. I happened to be thinking late last week “hey, when did I do my first post last year?”

The very first BFN post hit the internet on July 26, 2008. That wasn’t a very exciting post – the first “real” post, about caviar, came out the next day. Hopefully you’ll agree that the posts that followed over the next 12 months contained a lot more useful and interesting information!

So much has happened since those first few posts. Since then I’ve made a number of friends through my blogging activities, I’ve started up some web-related business ventures with a friend (though we’re still trying to hit that home run!), I’ve published 125 posts, had 66,000 visitors, 105,000 page views, learned a TON of stuff, and hopefully helped a few people. Phew, it has been quite a year!

Some of my early inspirations were sites such as ChristianPF, The Simple Dollar, The Happy Rock, and Bible Money Matters. There are so many great sites out there that I’ve come across over the past 12+ months…that has been probably the most profitable side effect of getting involved with personal finance blogging.

Thanks so much for your faithful reading. It doesn’t do much good to be writing if no one is reading! I do so much appreciate everyone visiting, reading, commenting (especially), putting me in their RSS reader, and helping BFN to grow over the past year. Please drop me a line on the contact page if you have any questions or general comments or suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered.

Things are a lot different now than they were a year ago and I’m sure they will be much, much different another year from now…who knows where this all will lead, but I’m looking forward to the adventure

God bless and have a great year(?)…

Here’s some interesting and/or intriguing reading for you:

• Revisiting the lost art of “haggling” at Gather Little by Little
• Do you really want to “get rich quick?” (Money Help for Christians)
• A good review from Christian PF about the basics of creating wealth
• Wise Money Matters asks great job/poor pay or bad job/good pay?
• Some good tips if you are interesting in doing some real estate investing (guest post at Moolanomy)
• Here’s an intriguing view of the recession from Christian Money Mountain (I happen to think his basic premise is solid)

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No, I didn’t just win the Super Bowl (though it was a good year for the pro teams I root for as both my football and hockey favs won their respective championships) but we are planning our first trip as a family to Disney World this fall.  Honestly, I’m not sure who is more excited about it – my wife and I or the kids!

Now, one entity that is not quite as ecstatic about the trip is our bank account (he’s greedy).  Disney vacations are expensive!  But we have our vacation fund setup with money from bonuses and such and we transfer more in each month so we have enough saved up to do the trip without going into debt.  Besides, as I’ve said before, life needs to be lived.  You need to have some fun every now and again.  That’s not an excuse to spend extravagantly and recklessly, rather, that’s a challenge to be diligent about responsibly providing these opportunities for building memories with your family while also providing for your family.

And how is this post related to personal finances?

Well, like I said, Disney vacations are expensive.  At the same time, Disney World is just a fun place to be.  I was there about a year ago on business.  Though I didn’t go into any parks, I did go to Downtown Disney a couple times and it has a really great vibe there.  So, you want to do a fun vacation but you don’t want to go into debt to do it…I hope, in this post and probably a few more, to help out with some tips and tricks and things I’ve learned so you can create an awesome and affordable vacation.

Don’t get overwhelmed

It is unbelievable how many resources there are out there surrounding trips to Disney.  I’m not an expert at this, but here are some tips I’ve picked up from others and some suggestions for you if you are also considering or actively planning a trip to Disney.  BTW, we are going to Disney World in Florida, so all of this information is geared towards that park.

1. Start on-line for planning and money-saving tips

Disney has a fully featured site (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/) with a wealth of information on everything Disney World.  I have also found some other  independent sites that are even more useful for learning about the parks, the resorts, and discounts for everything.  The two that I have been frequently lately are MouseSavers.com and AllEars.net.  These free sites have an unbelievable amount of information and somehow always seem to be up-to-date with the latest news and discount opportunities.  Mouse Savers also offers a monthly email newsletter and intermittent “hot deals” emails to help you be aware of the latest discounts.  If you are thinking of doing a Disney vacation I would recommend visiting Disney’s site to get excited and then starting at these other two sites to get into the details.

2. Consider when you will go

The biggest factor on the overall cost of your vacation is when you choose to go.  Going during the value season will be much, much (much) less expensive than going around Christmas time.  Click on any of the resorts listed on this page to see the room rate differences at the various times of the year: http://www.mousesavers.com/roomrates2009.html

3. Check out the current deals

Due to the sluggish economy, Disney has had some really good deals lately.  For the past few years, they have been offering free dining packages during the late summer (that’s what we signed up for). Very recently they released a similar offer for later in the fall.  The best place to check this out is the Disney site itself.  From the home page, click on the dog-ear on the upper-right of the splash page to see the latest deals.  From there you can click the “Get Started” button to price out an example vacation.  Of course, taking advantage of one of the Disney packages requires you to stay at a Disney property which is typically the most expensive way to do the vacation.  See #4…

4. Consider where you will stay

Staying at a Disney resort provides the most convenience for you and also some great “theming” as each resort has a different look and feel.  Of course, it is probably the most expensive way to stay though there is quite a range of prices available at the various Disney resorts.  Staying off of the Disney property can provide for a much less expensive vacation.  Check out this list of things to consider when making this decision: http://allears.net/acc/onoff.htm

5. Consider getting professional help

You might feel like you need professional help after spending mucho dinero to walk around in the hot Florida summer all day stalking a dude dressed up as a mouse, but that’s not the kind of help I’m talking about here.  We decided to book our vacation through a travel agent (that’s what I mean by professional help).  It did not cost us anything extra (or less than what I could have found on the Disney site) but now I have a resource who is much more knowledgeable than I as we prepare for a great vacation.  We chose Small World Vacations as they specialize in Disney vacations.  They were recommended by the Mouse Savers site and our agent, Caylie, has been very helpful in giving us information and making reservations, etc.

This is only scratching the surface of the myriad resources available for planning a Disney vacation.  There are books, ebooks, discussion forums, many other sites, friends and family and so on and so forth.  In fact, it is quite overwhelming.

For our vacation, we have chosen to stay at one of the moderate Disney properties and are getting the free Disney dining plan as part of the our vacation package.  We have three young kids so we have decided the convenience of staying on the Disney property is what is most important to us.  As I mentioned, this is our first trip as family so if you have any tips for resources or things to do or ways to do them, please leave a comment below.

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So how did he end up with debts of $31 Million and assets of less than $50,000?  I don’t have the slightest idea!  For me, I’m thinking if I could earn $2 Million dollars, I would probably be set for the rest of my life and if I was worried it would run out before retirement, I could easily make that stretch far enough by working for a few more years.  Of course, I probably wouldn’t be living in a mansion, flying around in my private jet, and driving a Rolls Royce as reported by cnnsi.com (I guess that answers my previous question!).

Seriously, is it just me or are you also astounded by how some of these incredibly wealthy athletes and entertainers can run through tens of millions of dollars and end up broke (a la MC Hammer)?  This isn’t common, but it’s not ultra rare either.  In fact, Sports Illustrated ran an article discussing how and why athletes go broke just a few months ago.  It seems like they would be smart enough to at least sock away a little bit of it somewhere safe so they could fall back on it if they needed to?  No?  Private jet just too enticing?  (I don’t know much about private jets, maybe they are an appreciating asset…but I doubt it – but they sure do seem convenient!)

There’s my tip of the day to you, my faithful reader, if (let’s think positively -”when”) you come into a few million bucks, take a bit of it and store it somewhere nice and safe – think emergency fund on steroids.  Granted, it’s not as easy as just sticking your millions into a savings account at your local bank (”Sorry, John, our bank went under with $10 Million in your account, but luckily it was an FDIC-insured account so here’s your $250,000″) so maybe I’m just being naive.  Well, I’ll be sure to do a series of posts on how to safely diversify and protect your millions of dollars if I ever have that much.

But back to Dykstra for a moment – $31 Million in debt and less than $50,000 in the bank?!?  How is that possible?  I mean, who was still loaning this guy money?  “Ok, Mr. Dykstra….can I call you ‘Nails?’ Anyway, let’s see here….$25 Million in debts, no income, no assets, ummmm, sure, here’s another $6 Million to buy another mansion.”   What the?!?

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BFN was created in late July 2008 and I have been publishing articles since then.  I started off at 5 per week but had to drop that number down due to time constraints.  The original reason for starting this blog was to indulge my passion for personal finance while also trying to diversify my income streams.  I’ve made a little bit of money from the blog but have spawned off a number of side projects as a result my involvement in ths space – so I’m moving in the right direction on the multiple income streams, I guess (well, I have multiple streams …  now I have to work on growing them to be consistent and measurable!).

I wanted to say thank you to all who contributed to making this goal possible by reading (of course!) BFN regularly, commenting, and especially linking to some of my posts.  Please check out my blogroll in the sidebar for some great PF blogs to read (oh, and please keep coming back here too!)

Here are some great articles:

• ChristianPF’s monster article on making money with a blog .  The subtitle says it all "How I replaced my day-job with earnings from this blog."
• A great reminder from BibleMoneyMatters of the importance of a budget in fat times as well as lean.
• Spilling Buckets (and John Bogle) on investment philosophy – does "Buy and Hold" no longer work as a strategy?
• Remember this when buying a car from Christian Finance Blog.
• Tough Money Love isn’t so excited about the new General Obama Motors
• Some great tips on simplifying your life on Debt Free Adventure.
• That One Caveman reminds us to always be looking a few steps ahead when it comes to your next job .
• Wise Money Matter discusses time as your most valuable resource .

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There are a couple of events coming up this week that you might want to check out.

Town Hall For Hope

From TownHallForHope.com: Tired of hearing the fear, doom and gloom that’s filling the airwaves? Join Dave Ramsey for a nationwide town hall meeting and discover what’s happening with the economy, how we got here, and where we’re going.

If that piques your interest, then check out Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope.  This is a free event that will take place on Thursday, April 23rd at 8 PM eastern time.  You can watch it at one of the many locations throughout the country to which it will be broadcast.

Dave will spend the first 30 minutes or so discussing the current state of the economy and will then answer questions from viewers live for the next hour.  If you are interested in attending, check out Dave’s TownHallForHope site for more information on the event, FAQs, and a tool to find places near you that will broadcast the event.

Thrivent Financial’s Teach Your Kids to Share Day

Another event that might interest those with young kids or grandkids ages 6-10 is Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Teach Your Kids to Share Day taking place on Friday, April 24.  This event will focus on learning of the importance of a values-based approach to money management.  Some info from the site:

Together, families will:

• Explore ways kids can share, save and spend.
• Discuss the importance of being responsible with money.
• Build a financial foundation for children that will last a lifetime.

This event costs $10 which includes dinner, activities, educational materials and "stuff to take home!"  In light of the dearth of financial education that our children learn in school (the extent of my personal financial education was learning how to write a check), this is a worthwhile topic to teach to your kids and this event sounds like a good way to get a little education on it.  To find a location near you, check out this page .

For full disclosure, Thrivent Financial is a faith-based, not-for-profit membership organization that provides financial services.  Frankly, I don’t know a whole lot about the organization but it does sound like a worthwhile event and this dislaimer is on their site:"This event is open to adults (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) and children ages 6–10. You do not have to be a member of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. No products or services will be sold."  Read more about Thrivent Financial here.

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If you’re mailing it, remember that your tax return is considered filed on time if you get it postmarked today (a tip from usps.com : Use First-Class Mail® postage. The IRS recognizes the First-Class Mail letter postmark as proof that a return has been mailed on time).  A number of post offices stay open late to make that easier to accomplish.  Check out the USPS post office locator to find the number for your post office and give them a call to see how late they’re staying open on tax day today. (Their site claims you can see which post offices have extended hours today but I couldn’t find that info while looking…so just give them a call)

While on the topic of taxes…

Today is also TEA Party Day.  TEA = Taxed Enough Already.  Here are some highlights from the Official Tax Day TEA Party site (or so it names itself):

Are you fed up with a Congress and a president who:

• vote for a $500 billion tax bill without even reading it?
• are spending trillions of borrowed dollars, leaving a debt our great-grandchildren will be paying?
• consistently give special interest groups billions of dollars in earmarks to help get themselves re-elected?
• want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others?
• punish those who practice responsible financial behavior and reward those who do not?
• admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda?
• run up trillions of dollars of debt and then sell that debt to countries such as China

If you are interested in reading more of the concerns of the TEA Party, check out the site where you can get information on TEA Party rallies scheduled throughout the country today and you can also see a disturbing widget at the top of the page showing the current (and ever-increasing) value of our gross national debt.

And while we’re on this topic, here’s a hilarious (and unfortunately quite sad) Tweet from John McCain yesterday:

Met with the Mayors of Goodyear, Mesa, and Scottsdale. Budget challenges are serious – unlike the feds they can’t print their own money.

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I have already started reading my new book; I’m about a third of the way through (yes, you are correct that I need to update my Currently Reading widget).  It’s a pretty good read so far and I’m curious to see if when I complete reading it I will be Underworked, Correctly-whelmed, and Overpaid (we can dream, I guess).  Anyway, I will do a review of the book when I finish.

While we’re on the subject, you should check out Henry’s Christian Finance Blog. He’s got a good mix of posts, observations, lots of giveaways recently, and interesting quotes.  This comic strip he posted is hilarious and sad at the same time – and definitely worth a look.

Thanks again for the book, Henry!

PS: I updated my Currently Reading widget.

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I finally bought some stocks through ETRADE

I previously disclosed my intention to purchase a pair of stocks through ETRADE .  ETRADE finally allowed me to purchase the stocks I wanted last week.  It actually worked out well for me as both stocks I purchased cost me a bit less than they would have when I first opened the account.  Again, this is not part of my long-term investing strategy as I am just using a little bit of money to speculate with these two stocks that are priced drastically lower than they were last year.  I would not be thrilled about it, but it would not cause us undue financial harm if we lost all the money we invested in these stocks (and if you’re not comfortable with that prospect in this economy, I would suggest you not buy individual stocks right now).

At the same time, this is a long-term play on my part.  I’m not looking to sell them anytime soon.  In fact, yesterday one of the stocks I purchased was up almost 40%.  I am not interested in a 40% gain on the small amount of money I invested.  I’m going to sit on them and hopefully they will return to their previous values (or close to it) which would be a 4000% gain.  Whether that takes 1 year, 3 years, or 10 years (or infinity), I’m not sure.  I am sure that I will just hold these stocks long-term and periodically check to see where they are trading.

Even after waiting an entire week, I still bought an iPhone

I put the Dave Ramsey advice of waiting overnight before making a purchase to the test last week.  In fact, I stretched it out all the way to a week.  If you remember, two weeks ago I detailed the steps that took me from being satisfied with my current mp3 player all the way to considering an iPhone .  Well, I waited an entire week and then ended up buying an iPhone anyway!  I’m actually just trying one out right now.  I’m taking advantage of the 30 day return policy to see how well it works, how much I like it, and what the cell coverage is in the areas I use it most often.

At this point, I do not see myself giving back the iPhone!  This is the first time I’ve had a cell phone that wasn’t one of the free ones you get for signing up.  I am really wowed by this thing – the phenomenal interface, the array of useful features, and all the apps (I’ve even started tweeting from my iPhone) (yeah, I’m thinking this evaluation will end a lot sooner than 30 days!).

So, waiting didn’t actually save me any money as I still opted for an expensive option but at least I can say it wasn’t an impulse buy!

If you have any recommendations for iPhone apps, please let me know!

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On a course to excess

I immediately started investigating replacement options for my Zen.  My wife has a Zen V (it’s nicer than my Microphoto was) which she likes well enough but she does have complaints about it, mostly surrounding the user interface.  Since I’ve always heard the hype about how great the iPod interfaces are, I thought I might check them out.

My first mistake

I started by checking out the price of the iPod Nano which I didn’t think was exorbitantly priced.  I then did what every responsible shopper does, I asked some friends if they had any advice (it seemed reasonable at the time but turned out to be a mistake).  A friend from work told me that his wife used to have a Nano and that he now had an iPod Touch and was adamant that I needed to get one too.  Too expensive I said so he told me to look into one of the 8 GB models.

My second mistake

Now came a big mistake…I went to the store and played with one.  I am not one for hyperbole, but man, that touch screen interface is awesome.  At this point, I’m checking the price at various places and quite interested in buying one of these iPod Touches.

My third (and biggest) mistake

The next morning, my wife and I were in Panera which just happens to be next to the AT&T Wireless store (you see where this is going, don’t you?)  Without thinking it through, I said, "Hey, let’s stop in next door and let me show you the iPhone because it has the same interface as the Touch."  Well, after that….of course, now I want an iPhone (and so does my wife!)  It’s strange that the iPhone actually costs slightly less than the Touch but naturally you have to buy it with a two-year contract for cell phone service.  A comparable plan, even with unlimited data for the iPhone is only a few bucks more a month than our current plan, so it is feasible.  But it would mean that I’d have to move mine, my wife’s, my mother-in-law’s, and my father-in-law’s phones all over to AT&T since we have a family plan.

Finally some sanity

Discussing it that evening, my wife gave me some excellent advice.  She told me to just do nothing for a week or so.  "Aren’t you always talking about Dave Ramsey or somebody – didn’t you tell me he says that you should wait a few days before making any significant purchases?"  To which I naturally replied, "BUT IT"S SO QUIET IN MY OFFICE AND I NEED AN MP3 PLAYER…RIGHT NOW!"  But I knew that she was right, even if I didn’t want to immediately admit it.

Of course she was absolutely correct and I have heard that piece of advice from multiple sources.  Dave Ramsey specifically states that you should always wait overnight before making a significant purchase.  And on a related note, he also suggests that you never make a purchase of more than $300 (or whatever you set it at for your family) without consulting with your spouse.  I think this is very, very good advice (even though I didn’t really want to hear it at the time) and I would definitely recommend it to anyone in a similar situation.

So I begrudgingly decided to do nothing and see how much I really need an iPhone or Touch or whatever later this week.  I am putting this oft-repeated technique into practice to see if it enables me to make a level-headed and informed decision.  I will let you know how it goes.

Two things I’ve learned from this experience.  First, at some point, my wife has actually listened to some of the financial talk I’m usually spouting off to her!  Second, and listen closely to this advice: if you do not want to buy an iPhone, do not ever play with one!

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