Have you ever seen that TV commercial that advertises a service where you can text message a question, any question, and receive a timely answer? Well, this service is provided by KGB. IIIII have just recently signed up as a Secret Agent for this company. I havn't began working yet, but I'm midway through the hiring process. This seems like it could be a legitimate way of making money!
KGB pays its members on a per-answer, to a question basis. As of now, the rate is 10 cents per answer. To become a member, you must start by taking the Secret Agent test, which took me a few times to pass. It can be taken here http://kgb.com/index. After that, you will be allowed to apply for the position, pick your preferred hours, and then begin training. Working for this company requires a 6.5 hour/week minimum work time, which isn't too bad considering there are 168 hours in a week!
In the coming weeks, I will post how my experience as a full fledged secret agent has been!
http://kgb.com/index
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Update on the Battle against smoking
Its been a little over a month since the last time I've posted. For the past month, I've experienced a somewhat long bout of a lack of motivation. Slowly, I feel I'm becoming myself again, so the posting WILL resume!
However, I just wanna let ya know about my plans of quitting smoking, and how it has gone. As I said in the last post, I got that drug "Chantix" from my doctor, which is a smoke-cessation aid. It has proven to be extremely effective for me. While I have occasionally had a few cigarettes a week, I have NOT bought one pack of cigarettes since january 10th! It has been a hard few months and has felt like FOREVER, but I plan on sticking with this. Wish me luck!!
However, I just wanna let ya know about my plans of quitting smoking, and how it has gone. As I said in the last post, I got that drug "Chantix" from my doctor, which is a smoke-cessation aid. It has proven to be extremely effective for me. While I have occasionally had a few cigarettes a week, I have NOT bought one pack of cigarettes since january 10th! It has been a hard few months and has felt like FOREVER, but I plan on sticking with this. Wish me luck!!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Ever Heard Of IFW?
Thought I went missing did ya!? Nope, it just took me a little while to get adjusted to the dorm life once again. Anyways, I have recently stumbled upon a very interesting way to make a few dollars on the Internet. Recently, (or perhaps for quite sometime) people have profited through the use of “Incentivized Freebie Websites.” Veterans of these websites shorten the name to IFW.
First, I must explain how these websites function before I explain how money is to be made. These “IFW” websites are paid by other companies to advertise for them. These companies offer the IFW website a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of “leads.” From here, the IFW takes a portion of that money received from the company and offers it as a prize. In order to win this price, an individual must sign up for that paying companies service (In most cases, it is a free or inexpensive trial). Along with this, the individual must refer other individuals to sign up. When the original person gains enough “referrals,” the IFW then gives away the price.
From this explanation, one can see that the IFW website profits from the extra cash from the companies, the companies receive the subscriptions it seeks, and the individual received the price from the IFW website. What about the people that the individual refers? They are paid a portion of the price that is received from the IFW. This way, EVERYBODY PROFITS.
Have you heard of Project Payday? Project Payday claims that by becoming a member, they will let you in on a BIG secret way to make money. That BIG secret way of making money has been explained above! Project Payday, in my own opinion, offers the consumer absolutely nothing that they can’t find and research themselves.
Give it a try if you are interested. To get started, sign up at http://www.freelunchroom.com , where you can match up with people to complete these offers. One Warning however, Carefully research the company you are signing up for to make sure they are a legitimate company. Also, remember to cancel before your trial subscription is up. If you would like some more info, or would like to do this with myself, send me an email. I’m definitely no pro, but I have a pretty good grasp on it.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
When Traditional Budgeting Fails Us
I have spend a great deal of time researching the various methods of setting up a budget. One thing, that I have found in common between all of them, is they are all based around strict percentages. Although this may function flawlessly for the majority of the population that have a consistent cashflow, I believe that this method completely fails us undergrads.
Most of us do not have a steady job that provides a consistent paycheck. Speaking for myself, my paycheck runs anywhere between $200 and $399 every two-weeks. If I was to use a traditional budgeting template, which is based on percentages, I would many times not have enough money to survive until the next paycheck, which is two weeks away. Is there a solution?
I have constructed a new type of budgeting method! This method will include some of the traits of traditional budgeting, but new ideas will be introduced, to help cater towards inconsistent life of the college-aged population. Continue reading for the explanation and methodogy behind my "invention."
Most of us do not have a steady job that provides a consistent paycheck. Speaking for myself, my paycheck runs anywhere between $200 and $399 every two-weeks. If I was to use a traditional budgeting template, which is based on percentages, I would many times not have enough money to survive until the next paycheck, which is two weeks away. Is there a solution?
I have constructed a new type of budgeting method! This method will include some of the traits of traditional budgeting, but new ideas will be introduced, to help cater towards inconsistent life of the college-aged population. Continue reading for the explanation and methodogy behind my "invention."
- Realize how much you spend, on day-to-day purchases and spending. (for recreational purposes)
- Realize what is the bare minimum amount of money you will need to sustain yourself until the next paycheck.
- Realize how much money will be required to pay bills this pay period
Once these are complete, implementation of my budget tactic will then begin.
- Open an ING Direct account
- Once opened, create 2 more sub-accounts. The first should be an electric orange checking named Bills, the second should be an account named savings, and the third account shall be named Investment.
With all of this set in place, you just have to wait until you get paid. When you get paid, follow these steps in strict order.
- Pay off any bills/debt that have accrued first.
- Fund your "spending account," and once funded, realize that this is your only source of "fun" money until your next paycheck.
- with the remaining balance from your check, deposit it equally between a savings account and an investment account.
For step#3, I recommend depositing all of the remaining money into a savings account until you have enough in their sustain yourself for 2-months should anything prevent you from working. Once you hit that mark, begin to divide it equally between savings and investments.
Personally, once I hit my 2-month savings mark, I would cut down my savings to 25%, and put 75% towards investments. Remember, at our age, we have many years to sit on investments. Although they may drop significantly sometimes, we have the benefit of having time on our hands. We can weather the storm until our investments become profitable again. It has been proven that on average, the stock market has made a return on investment of 10% annually.
In conclusion, I cannot guarantee the success of this type of budgeting technique, however, I will give it a try and I will report back on my success or unsuccess.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year
Heyy, I've been away from The Long Road to Financial Freedom, so that I could devote more of my time to my family over the holidays. I would like to say merry belated Christmas to you, and in a few days, HAPPY NEWYEAR!!
For now, I will be posting a little big irregularly, but come the New Year, I will resume my daily postings for you. I have come up with quite a few ideas for future posts. Among them, are 2 postings that I think you may find especially interesting. The first, I believe I spoke about in an earlier post, is to give a daily update on my battle to become smoke free in the coming New Year. The second one I think you may like more. In one of my earliest posts, I spoke about ways for college kids to make money. What I plan on doing, is to take a practical look into these money-making ways by showing exactly how much money I have made so far from these different ways.
I plan to touch base with you before the New Year, but JUST in case I don't, HAPPY NEW YEAR
Frank
For now, I will be posting a little big irregularly, but come the New Year, I will resume my daily postings for you. I have come up with quite a few ideas for future posts. Among them, are 2 postings that I think you may find especially interesting. The first, I believe I spoke about in an earlier post, is to give a daily update on my battle to become smoke free in the coming New Year. The second one I think you may like more. In one of my earliest posts, I spoke about ways for college kids to make money. What I plan on doing, is to take a practical look into these money-making ways by showing exactly how much money I have made so far from these different ways.
I plan to touch base with you before the New Year, but JUST in case I don't, HAPPY NEW YEAR
Frank
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Experiment #1: Analysis
Ok, it's been a while since i've been on here. Thankfully, finals are over and I can continue posting. I just added up everything and put them into categories. I broke it into needs/wants, and then from there, I broke the categories down further into sub categories. Here is my finding
Needs- $181.95
- Gas- $50.50
- Other Expenses- $131.45
Wants- $110.08
- Cigarettes- $32.50
- Coffee- $9.41
- Food- $21.19
- Fun/Going out- $46.98
Looking at this, I spent a total of $292.03. Below is the percentage make-up of needs/wants
Needs- 62.31%
Wants- 37.69%
Total- 100%
When I was looking at different budgets, I decided that I don't want my wants to be any more than 30% of my total check. I'm not too far off, only 7.69% off. Out of the wants, I am looking at what I can cut out of my budget, so that my wants will only be between 25%-30%
My most costly want is obviously smoking. I am taking a big step to quitting. Recently at my doctors, I received a prescription for a drug called Chantix. The purpose of it is to reduce the physical side-effects of smoking cessation. I've planned to start taking that and quit for my new years resolution.
If I remove smoking from the list, my wants would be reduced to $77.58, which would make my wants only be 26.57%.
Conclusion- I will be able to meet my goal of spending under 30% of my budget on wants by quitting smoking. Considering smoking is related to my finances, I have decided to post about the progress I will have made quitting smoking. These posts will begin in the new year.
I highly recommend you to try this experiment if you have not already done so. I have become a lot more aware of my spending habits through tracking my weekly spending.
Needs- $181.95
- Gas- $50.50
- Other Expenses- $131.45
Wants- $110.08
- Cigarettes- $32.50
- Coffee- $9.41
- Food- $21.19
- Fun/Going out- $46.98
Looking at this, I spent a total of $292.03. Below is the percentage make-up of needs/wants
Needs- 62.31%
Wants- 37.69%
Total- 100%
When I was looking at different budgets, I decided that I don't want my wants to be any more than 30% of my total check. I'm not too far off, only 7.69% off. Out of the wants, I am looking at what I can cut out of my budget, so that my wants will only be between 25%-30%
My most costly want is obviously smoking. I am taking a big step to quitting. Recently at my doctors, I received a prescription for a drug called Chantix. The purpose of it is to reduce the physical side-effects of smoking cessation. I've planned to start taking that and quit for my new years resolution.
If I remove smoking from the list, my wants would be reduced to $77.58, which would make my wants only be 26.57%.
Conclusion- I will be able to meet my goal of spending under 30% of my budget on wants by quitting smoking. Considering smoking is related to my finances, I have decided to post about the progress I will have made quitting smoking. These posts will begin in the new year.
I highly recommend you to try this experiment if you have not already done so. I have become a lot more aware of my spending habits through tracking my weekly spending.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Experiment #1 Day #7
Expenditures for Day #7 12/11/08
12:00 - Doctor Co-Pay - $10.00
12:45 - Prescription Co-Pay - $10.00
14:20 - Gas - $15
19:30 - Coors Light Thirty Rack - $24.99
19:35 - Wendy's Dollar Menu Items - $3.15
Total - $63.14
Total So Far - $299.16
12:00 - Doctor Co-Pay - $10.00
12:45 - Prescription Co-Pay - $10.00
14:20 - Gas - $15
19:30 - Coors Light Thirty Rack - $24.99
19:35 - Wendy's Dollar Menu Items - $3.15
Total - $63.14
Total So Far - $299.16
Experiment #1 Day#6
Hey, I've been MIA for a few days. I decided to head home for the weekend to relax before finals this week. I have two tests tomorrow (Monday), and then one on Wednesday & Thursday. So I may not be posting too much between now and Thursday. I have decided to cut the length that I track my spending to 7 days. By the weekend, I will have analyzed the data and I will put it up in a post for you.
Expenditures for Day#6 12/10/08
16:40 - Dunkin Donuts Large Coffee - $2.15
20:15 - Cigarettes - $6.50
20:15 - Amp Energy Drink + Large DD coffee - $4.60
Total - $13.25
Total So Far - $236.55
Expenditures for Day#6 12/10/08
16:40 - Dunkin Donuts Large Coffee - $2.15
20:15 - Cigarettes - $6.50
20:15 - Amp Energy Drink + Large DD coffee - $4.60
Total - $13.25
Total So Far - $236.55
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Experiment #1 Day #5
Expenditures for Day#5 12/09/08
12:40 - Dunkin Donut's Large Hot Coffee - $2.15
16:50 - Dunkin Donut's Large Hot Coffee - $.96 (she charged for me a donut! =))
16:50 - Amp Energy Drink - $2.25
21:05 - Cigarettes - $6.50
Total - $ 11.86
Total So Far -$ 223.30
***Today I received $15 Dollars, via paypal, from completed surveys***
IF YOU STUMBLED UPON THIS EXPERIMENT RECENTLY, YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE PAGE THAT INTRODUCES THIS EXPERIMENT HERE
12:40 - Dunkin Donut's Large Hot Coffee - $2.15
16:50 - Dunkin Donut's Large Hot Coffee - $.96 (she charged for me a donut! =))
16:50 - Amp Energy Drink - $2.25
21:05 - Cigarettes - $6.50
Total - $ 11.86
Total So Far -$ 223.30
***Today I received $15 Dollars, via paypal, from completed surveys***
IF YOU STUMBLED UPON THIS EXPERIMENT RECENTLY, YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE PAGE THAT INTRODUCES THIS EXPERIMENT HERE
ING Direct: The Orange Savings Review
You've heard of ING Direct. You may not have an account there for many reasons. I will be giving an in-depth review of the online Savings Account, the "Orange Savings," that ING Direct offers.
ING Direct is a subsidiary of the dutch based ING Group. ING Direct first opened for business in Canada in 1997. Soon after, in 2000, ING Direct made its way to the U.S.
I opened my own "Orange Savings" about a year ago. I decided to give it a try after being bombarded by ING Direct advertising. They had a very aggressive advertising campaign, and I wanted to try them out, to see if they are everything they claim to be.
Signing up was extremely straight forward. They ask the basic info required to open any bank, Name, DOB, SS#, and a few other things. However, the whole website is EXTREMELY user-friendly.
After my account was opened, it had to be linked to one of my other banking accounts, via a check link. All that you have to do it to give the bank account # and the check routing # to ING Direct. Soon, they will deposit 2 small amounts into your checking. You just have to confirm the 2 small amounts and then your all set!
BENEFITS OF THE ORANGE SAVINGS ACCOUNT
High Interest.
ING Offers many other services.
It takes a few days, from the time you request funds, until the time they are available to use. This helps cut down on those pesky impulsive purchases!
Offers Direct-Deposit.
You can submit a Direct-Deposit form, to your employer, so you can automatically have a percentage of your paycheck automatically deposited into your Orange Savings Account.
Ability to create Sub-Accounts + Name them
Overall, I would recommend this as your sole savings account. It is definitely mine. If anyone is interested in opening an account AND receiving $25 dollars for opening that account. Email me and I can refer to the site!
ING Direct is a subsidiary of the dutch based ING Group. ING Direct first opened for business in Canada in 1997. Soon after, in 2000, ING Direct made its way to the U.S.
I opened my own "Orange Savings" about a year ago. I decided to give it a try after being bombarded by ING Direct advertising. They had a very aggressive advertising campaign, and I wanted to try them out, to see if they are everything they claim to be.
Signing up was extremely straight forward. They ask the basic info required to open any bank, Name, DOB, SS#, and a few other things. However, the whole website is EXTREMELY user-friendly.
After my account was opened, it had to be linked to one of my other banking accounts, via a check link. All that you have to do it to give the bank account # and the check routing # to ING Direct. Soon, they will deposit 2 small amounts into your checking. You just have to confirm the 2 small amounts and then your all set!
BENEFITS OF THE ORANGE SAVINGS ACCOUNT
High Interest.
Compare for yourself.
- ING Orange Savings - 2.75% apy
- Citizens Bank - 0.25% apy
- Eastern Bank - 0.25% apy
- Sovereign Bank - 0.25% apy
- Rockland Trust - 0.25% apy
- Bank Of America Savings - 0.20% apy
- Century Bank - 0.10% apy
ING Offers many other services.
- Sharebuilder
- Electric Orange Checking Account
- Orange CDs
- Orange Mortgage Accounts
- Orange Home Equity Loans
- Orange Investment Mutual Fund Accounts
- Orange Retirement Accounts (IRAs)
It takes a few days, from the time you request funds, until the time they are available to use. This helps cut down on those pesky impulsive purchases!
Offers Direct-Deposit.
You can submit a Direct-Deposit form, to your employer, so you can automatically have a percentage of your paycheck automatically deposited into your Orange Savings Account.
Ability to create Sub-Accounts + Name them
Overall, I would recommend this as your sole savings account. It is definitely mine. If anyone is interested in opening an account AND receiving $25 dollars for opening that account. Email me and I can refer to the site!
Experiment #1 Day #4
Expenditures for Day #4 12/08/09
Just two bags of Doritos Chips - $2.00
Total - $2.00
Total so far - $211.44
Just two bags of Doritos Chips - $2.00
Total - $2.00
Total so far - $211.44
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Experiment #1 Day#3
Expenditures for Day #3 12/7/08
18:00 - Stamp - $.45
Total - $.45
Total So Far - $209.44
18:00 - Stamp - $.45
Total - $.45
Total So Far - $209.44
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Experiment #1 Day #2
Expenditures for Day #2 12/6/08
13:30 - Atm Fee - $2.00
13:45 - Contact Lenses - $95.00
20:00 - Marlboro Menthol Lights - $6.50
Total Spent on 12/6/08 - $103.50
Total So Far - $208.99
It is only the second day and I'm starting to get a little worried. Out of my $270 check, I only have $61.01 remaining. I'm going to have to conserve a LOT! Luckily, thanks to some surveys I've recently redeemed, I will have around $15.00 dollars coming in before the end of the week.
13:30 - Atm Fee - $2.00
13:45 - Contact Lenses - $95.00
20:00 - Marlboro Menthol Lights - $6.50
Total Spent on 12/6/08 - $103.50
Total So Far - $208.99
It is only the second day and I'm starting to get a little worried. Out of my $270 check, I only have $61.01 remaining. I'm going to have to conserve a LOT! Luckily, thanks to some surveys I've recently redeemed, I will have around $15.00 dollars coming in before the end of the week.
Experiment #1 Day #1
Below are the expenditures on 12/05/08
11:15 - Medium Coffee from Dunkin Donuts - $2.00
11:15 - Marlboro Menthol Lights - $6.50
11:30 - Gas - $35.50
11:30 - Coca-Cola - $1.75
11:15 - ATM Fee - $3.00
12:52 - McDonalds - $5.00
15:30 - Haircut + Tip - $16.00
18:30 - Atm Fee - $1.75
18:30 - 375 mL Smirnoff Vodka - $6.99
18:30 - 2 Red Bulls - $5.50
18:30 - Coors Light 18pk - $15.00
21:00 - Marlboro Menthol Lights - $6.50
Total for 9/5/08 - 105.49
11:15 - Medium Coffee from Dunkin Donuts - $2.00
11:15 - Marlboro Menthol Lights - $6.50
11:30 - Gas - $35.50
11:30 - Coca-Cola - $1.75
11:15 - ATM Fee - $3.00
12:52 - McDonalds - $5.00
15:30 - Haircut + Tip - $16.00
18:30 - Atm Fee - $1.75
18:30 - 375 mL Smirnoff Vodka - $6.99
18:30 - 2 Red Bulls - $5.50
18:30 - Coors Light 18pk - $15.00
21:00 - Marlboro Menthol Lights - $6.50
Total for 9/5/08 - 105.49
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