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The FTC warns that scammers can clone legitimate dealership websites, including vehicle photos, listings, logos and customer testimonials, so buyers should independently verify the dealer and vehicle before paying – Shutterstock Buying a car through a dealership website can feel wonderfully efficient. You find the vehicle, review the price, arrange financing and maybe even start the paperwork without leaving the couch. The problem is that a convincing website does not necessarily mean a real dealership […]
Next year’s garden may already be hiding inside this year’s harvest. Saving fully mature seeds from open-pollinated beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers and easy annual flowers can reduce the number of seed packets you need to buy next spring—as long as the seeds are thoroughly dried, labeled and stored properly. Maria Evseyeva/Shutterstock Gardeners routinely pull up plants in fall and throw away something they’ll pay money to replace a few months later: seeds. One healthy tomato, […]
Life can really hamper your creativity. Being stuck in a rut and staring at your four walls doesn’t exactly get the creative juices flowing. This is really a problem if you need to do any sort of creative work for your job. Having little interaction with people outside a computer or phone, and not experiencing different activities, can make your brain juices run a little slowly. I put together a list of 10 activities to inspire creativity on a budget. Getting a massage may work, as may jetting off on a private plane, but if you are on a tight budget like me, we need to get our creativity from other cheaper sources. I’ve been struggling thinking of creative ideas to do with my kids ALL DAY LONG, and I find that having a list to go to makes it easier. Once you start doing SOMETHING, then the ideas begin to flow. Use these ideas as a sounding board to force yourself into a creative state of mind. It may sound counterintuitive, but it works! If you don’t need inspiration to be creative, these ideas can still help you think of things to do when you are in a funk and just feel like lying on your bed and staring at your phone. Not that there is anything wrong with that! Sometimes we need to sit and do nothing! However, too much of that is not a good idea. So take one of these ideas and let your creativity be inspired! 10 Activities To Inspire Creativity on a Budget Take a Shower Nothing beats a long, hot shower to get your brain racing! Whenever I feel stuck mentally, I like to take a shower and let my mind unwind. To enhance the experience, buy some eucalyptus stalks and tie them to your shower head. The smell will be refreshing! The only problem is what to do when a fantastic idea, line, or solution hits you mid-shower! (I know some creatives who keep a phone in the bathroom so they can jump out and leave a quick voice note to themselves when needed). Take a Walk in Nature Nature is all around us. It’s beautiful, and there is nothing that inspires the poetic creativity inside us more than looking out at the beauty in nature. If you are lucky enough to live in or near a place with unsullied nature, enjoy it! If you, like me, live in urban sprawl, do your best to find someplace where you can look at nature uninterrupted (or only slightly interrupted). Parks, beaches, a street median- nature can surprise you and inspire you like nothing else. Make Inspirational Posters and Sayings Surrounding yourself with inspiring ideas and sayings can be a great way to trigger creativity in your everyday life. Making the posters yourself (instead of buying them) will save you money. The act of creating something will also bring creativity. Have a Dance Party Forcing your body to take over your mind and give
Starting vegetables from seed can cost more than expected when trays, growing mix and supplemental lighting are needed, but the economics improve when gardeners produce many plants and reuse equipment for multiple seasons. Direct-sown crops such as radishes and carrots offer an even clearer savings opportunity because they require no indoor seed-starting setup at all. olesia basova/Shutterstock A $4 tomato plant doesn’t sound expensive until you need six tomatoes, four peppers, a tray of lettuce, […]
My Sweet Retirement Endowment Plan Singapore: How They Work and What to Check First A guide to endowment plans in Singapore, covering participating vs non-participating plans, current guaranteed rates, how they compare to fixed deposits and SSBs, and what to check before buying. Endowment Plan Singapore: How They Work and What to Check First My Sweet Retirement
In June, we launched NaviPlan: a privacy-focused multi-asset tracker and Goal Planner. Developed by Gokul of Naviran Technologies in association with freefincal, this tool lets users track mutual funds, stocks, FDs, global assets, NPS, pension funds, and insurance policies! The user can tag these to financial goals and track their progress. The tool also offers… The post NaviPlan v1.5.8 — Tradebook Import for 8 Brokers and support for SIFs appeared first on freefincal.
Another way to earn extra money is to sell stuff online. Craigslist started this trend. But what if you want to try other options? In this article, we will share with you the best alternatives to Craigslist. Selling stuff online is a booming business. Be it an individual or a company, the internet has become a virtual mall for anyone who wants to advertise their product. And people will always find online shopping more comfortable […]
Don’t miss an episode of our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. Available on all podcast players. Here’s the latest episode: Small change, giant impact. One challenge in financial planning is when a “small” decision creates much bigger than we assumed. “End of Plan” is one such decision. Some planning software might call it “planning horizon” or “life expectancy” or any number of other euphemisms for “when might you die?” Yes, death is scary to consider. And it’s obvious how our lifespan affects our finances. The longer we live, the more money we need to live a successful retirement. But there’s so much more! If you’ve ever dabbled with financial planning software (Boldin, Pralana, eMoney, RightCapital, Empower, etc.), you might be unaware of the unintended side effects that “age at death” is creating in your plan. Defining the “Problem”… The (frequent) “problem” I witness follows this logic: Running out of money is a scary idea. I don’t want to underestimate when we’ll die. I’ll overestimate instead…I’ll live until 90. My wife, 95. Boom. I’ve “solved” the problem of running out of money. [Narrator: But they were completely unaware of the unintended side effects…] I agree that it’s important to “stress test” whether you’ll run out of money. Changing your assumed age of death is a good idea. But what else are people missing? Let’s dive into what people often miss. Side Effect 1: Social Security Claiming Extending your End of Plan to age ~85+ almost assuredly pushes your Social Security claiming strategy out to age 70. If you live a long time, you wouldn’t want to claim Social Security early. This one is straightforward. In fact, it might be less of an “unintended side effect” and more of a “known headliner.” Plenty of couples should be claiming Social Security before 70 — at least for one of the two spouses. But if you model your End of Plans out at 85, 90, etc., then the planning software might encourage you both to delay until age 70. Side Effect 2: Roth Conversions Roth conversions are tricky. Decades of unknowns lie ahead, and you need to account for them in today’s Roth conversion math. It’s a gray area. Nevertheless, what’s the effect of assuming someone lives until age 95? The main effect is that said person would have 20+ years of required minimum distributions, the last of which would be more than 10% of their account value. These RMDs would push this person into higher and higher tax brackets, likely making present-day Roth conversions more and more attractive. Said succinctly: later death = more Roth conversions today. But if that same person dies at 75? Roth conversions might be outright bad. If they die at 80? Perhaps much smaller Roth conversions would be appropriate. The choice of modeling death at age 85, 90, or 95 can encourage
You’ve decided to buy a house. Congratulations! Now comes the hard part. Buying a home in Jamaica can be exciting, but if this is your first time doing it, the process can also feel overwhelming. Between finding the property, getting a mortgage, paying closing costs, dealing with lawyers, valuations, surveys and trying to figure out exactly how much house you can actually afford, there is a lot to think about. I bought my first home […]
12 Ways to Reduce the Cost of Moving Interstate Moving interstate is one of those costs that sneaks up on people. A quote arrives, it says three and a half thousand dollars, and suddenly the fresh start feels expensive before it has begun. Here is the part worth knowing: most of that number is negotiable, […] The post How to Move Interstate Without Blowing the Budget: 12 Ways to Cut Costs appeared first on The […]
Homeownership has felt out of reach for many but with recent changes and some knowledge, it might be easier than you think. Anish Puri from Perth founded NestPath which is free and can help you with everything you need to get into the property market. What is your side hustle? NestPath is a free education […] The post Tips For First Home Buyers from NestPath appeared first on The Thrifty Issue.
WiseStacker Where to Buy Non VBV Data in 2026: What Non VBV Bin Security Means Where to Buy Non VBV Data & What Non VBV Bin Security Means The phrase “non VBV” gets used like it describes something permanent about a card. It does not. In 2026 the meaning has drifted, and the places people source these ranges are not the same as they were even a year ago. This guide breaks down what non […]
Earlier this month, news broke that somebody was selling scans of more than 153 million drivers licenses. It appears that it’s the result of a breach at a company (IDscan.net) that provides ID scanning services for other businesses, such as Hertz car rental, Target, and FedEx. This is up there with the 2017 Equifax breach in terms of total number of people affected (i.e., almost half the U.S. population). It’s depressing/infuriating that we have so […]