Building Wealth - Cutting Costs

I really love kids and even though I only choose to have one of my own I do what I can to help all kids especially when it comes to education. So when I was asked to look at a site called Schoolpop that offers simple elementary school fundraisers I was more then happy to do so. Now I have purchased things form kids that knock on my door or have parents bringing it to the office that range from candy to candles to popcorn and chocolate. They all have one thing in common, they are about 300% more expensive then buying the same thing from a store. Still we do it just to help out, right?

Schoolpop is totally different here is how it works strait from the Schoolpop website,

“Simply register with Schoolpop and start shopping. You don’t need to purchase anything you wouldn’t normally buy. Just shop with hundreds of Schoolpop merchants online, in stores, or through catalogs, and you’ll automatically earn contributions for your favorite school or nonprofit.  All of our merchants are committed to helping your community by contributing a percentage of your purchases to the school or nonprofit of your choice.“

The beauty is you just buy things you would buy anyway and a percentage goes to your school of choice. To make this successful PTAs and Student Groups will need to be sure to advise the students and parents of the options but it is clear a decent sized school could do very well if each parent made even two-three purchases a year. All that and we don’t need to send our kids door to door giving people an excuse to overspend and break their diets. These guys definitely make my list of recommended sites.

Item number one of the philosophy that drives everything we do on this site is “Debt sucks! Stay out of it as much as you can” and I most certainly do include “student loans” in that viewpoint. Now I realize that for some students taking some student loans will be the only way to pay for 4 years of college I just believe you should borrow the absolute minimum amount you can. Student loans are not for supporting a lifestyle they should be used to fund tuition, books and direct educational expenses.

My biggest issue is that many young people are lured into massive student loan debt while billions of dollars in college grants and scholarships go unclaimed every single year. Let me repeat that fact billions of dollars in educational grants and scholarships that never have to be paid back go unclaimed every single year while students go into deep debt to fund their educations.

That is why I am a big fan of websites like Scholarships.com that help put students in touch with those funds. So if you or someone you care about is getting ready to go off to college or is even currently in college please make sure to take advantage of every way to fund that education that is possible. Even just a few partial scholarships and grants can have a massive effect on long term debt.

I have talked to new grads that come out of school over 75,000 dollars in debt. In many places that will buy a person a starter home! Debt is cancer always remember that it must be used as a tool and only as it is needed. Right now this very second there is more then 19 Billion dollars waiting at Scholarships.com to help fund educational needs so please make sure to check out their website, set up a free account and find ways other then more debt to fund educational expenses.

For helping young people reduce debt and achieve educational goals Scholarships.com certainly makes my list of recommended sites.

I was just asked to review a web site called Finance Genius. I have to tell you I like what I saw. Basically the site is an information portal that helps consumers with a combination of advice and what amounts to a brokerage approach in connecting consumer to different options for things like insurance, mortgages, student loans and Auto Warranty services.  With automotive warranties in particular I always advise people to shop outside sources, the extended warranties offered by dealerships tend to be over priced and then simply lumped into your loan so you get to pay interest on it.  My additional advice is wait until your included warranty is almost up before paying for an extended on.  Why pay for a warranty you may not use?

Like any site that is recommending various financial products my advice is to shop what they have and compare it to other options.  Always make sure you find the best deal you can but Financial Genius certainly looks like one of the good guys so if you are in the market for any of their services have a look around their site and see what they have to offer.   Remember my view is debt is bad but when it is necessary get the best deal, with the best terms you can find.  Sites like this one are good tools for finding those types of deals.

I am a pretty upbeat guy so a lot of my friends ask why I am so sure that our economy is in the toilet. The answer is pretty damn simple! We are as a nation in debt way over our heads just at the consumer level, our government is trillions of dollars in debt with China along with a massive trade deficit and on top of that the mortgage and real estate markets are in the hole as well.

Yet my reasons are bigger then that! More because I am a student of history. I really suggest you read a book called The Forgotten Man to learn about how similar both our situation and our governments moronic reaction to it are to the years leading up to and during the great depression. This book is a fascinating and enlightening read.

It is very important for us to understand the history of our welfare state, how so many once proud Americans ended up on “the dole” because the coming problems may cause a worse knee jerk reaction. Always remember once the government creates a tax, a department or a program it never ever goes away. Check out The Forgotten Man today and plan well for the tough times to come.