Archive for December, 2009

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

How to: The Personal Finance Blogosphere Tutorial for Millionaire Nurses!

Friday, December 18th, 2009

I have blogged for  3 months now, about” The Millionaire Nurse”. It’s been great fun to communicate with nurses and others all over the world.

When I  read other personal finance bloggers, many of whom have been around for 4,5, or 6 years or more, I am impressed, and awed by their persistence, creativity, and passion to continue to teach people about the intricacies and challenges of personal finance.

A few of the gray beards out there, for you  who are new to the genre, include: ” The Mighty Bargain Hunter” “The Simple Dollar”, “Free Money Finance”.” Wise Bread“, and “Get Rich Slowly” to name just a few that I enjoy.

Once you have read these blogs for any length of time, you get a feel for the site and the blogger.  Except in the case of Wise Bread, which has turned into a Mega-Blog, with forums, guest posts, and multiple bloggers- (Not a bad thing- the site is packed with great posts, and information, but you  just don’t get the personal feel.)

I have also gotten to know (read) a few of the new kids on the block.  They would include The Frugal Lawyer,  Living With Common Cents, and Two Dog Casa to name just a few.  Go to the “users” page at Cash Commons for several more great blogging choices.

But Dr. Dean, so many personal finance bloggers, so little time, what do I do????

Well one way to handle it, is to download a feed reader into your computer or smart-phone.  Then that orange square icon in the upper right corner will deliver new posts from whoever you sign up, don’t forget me, The Millionaire Nurse Blog , directly to you without your surfing the web.

You can also use one of the aggregators listed, except they only have the older bigger bloggers so far, rookies like me take a while to show up on their radar screen.

And to those bloggers who have preceded me, I want to thank you.  Thanks for your hard work and for setting the standard for us new guys- trying to find our voice and  break into the genre.

And for my nursing readers, new to the world of Personal Finance Blogging, check out the sites linked  above.  Use one of the aggregators listed on the right side of this column to find other bloggers that “speak” to you-that will help you  find the answers to your own financial difficulties.

And of course, don’t forget to book mark this site-although the name,  The Millionaire Nurse is hard to forget for most nurses, (that being the idea, of course!)

Tags: ,
Posted in Introduction to the Millionaire Nurse Blog | No Comments »

Top Ten List: The Things Millionaire Nurses Need to do Before January 1!

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

January 1 is fast approaching.  The charge nurse is busy fighting over who works Christmas eve/day and New Years eve/day.   Nursing students are finishing exams.  I have seen exciting post’s on Facebook about graduating!!!! Yeaaaa-but now the clock starts ticking on student loans, doesn’t it???

Sorry,  like that new admission you always get, 10 minutes before change of shift, sometimes bad things happen to good people, but we gonna be real here.

So in honor of Dave Letterman, (or should it be dishonor) here are the top ten things you need to do before the first of January:

  1. Set a time for your goals and planning-then do it.  Click the links here for earlier posts on goals.
  2. Check your free credit report at Annual Credit Report here.  Study it for inaccuracies.
  3. Do a financial statement of net worth.
  4. Review/do a budget, if you don’t have one.
  5. Find out the amount of interest on loans you paid this year, if you don’t know how, see this post.
  6. Buy term life insurance or make arrangements to do so, if you already have life insurance,- make sure the beneficiaries are correct.
  7. Make sure your will, and health care power of attorney are up to date.  Check out this post for a kit to help.
  8. Get your end of year tax documents together-get that folder now,ready for the statements, W-2′s etc you or your accountant will need.
  9. Meet/call your accountant to make sure you don’t need to change withholding, 401-k amount, and whether any of the new tax changes will affect you next year.  If you don’t have an accountant, you can run the numbers on your taxes/talk with your personnel department regarding the withholding.
  10. Review all of your bills/services to see if you can drop your monthly payments-such as car insurance, cable, internet, cell-phone.  Make a list and schedule calls, do comparison shopping to drop your bills.  Negotiate-see this post by Ramit Sethi on negotiating.  Use this technique to negotiate your cable bill, phone bill and when your are shopping, especially at stores that you are dealing with the owner.  And certainly, when you go for your year end salary and performance review, these are great things to know.

For a great accountability exercise, print this out and check things off, similar to the post made at 2 Dog Casa, with my previous post on Twelve Ways Not to be a Millionaire Nurse.

So take some time, when you finish your shopping, gift giving, partying, and eating, to look after your important financial affairs before the end of the year. If you cannot get them all done, look at your calendar, and write deadlines for each one today, that means today, before the day is over….

PS:

Housekeeping:

For my free E-book, “Emergency Money Resuscitation” click here or on the right middle, yes I said free.

For email notification of new posts-see bottom right.

For your feed reading pleasure-see the top right.

Please comment if you have questions or suggestions-thanks.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Quality of Life, goal setting, personal finance | 2 Comments »

Get Excited!

Monday, December 14th, 2009

To make significant change in your financial life, you need to get excited.

  • Get excited about being able to pay your bills without worrying about finance charges, bounced checks, or when you get paid again.
  • Get excited about the giving you will be able to do when you have your bills under control.
  • Get excited about a great vacation, paid for before you leave town.
  • Get excited about the legacy you will leave your children when they understand money without going through the pain you went through.
  • Get excited about the joy your job will bring, when you are doing it because you enjoy it, and not for the paycheck.
  • Get excited about teaching others about their money.
  • Get excited about spending less, enjoying your friends, not stuff!
  • Get excited about tomorrow.
  • Get excited about………..

Your next step is to fill in the blank on that last statement.  What will it take to get you excited to learn/study/deal with your poor money management habits, and make changes, REAL CHANGES, not New Year’s Resolutions-forgotten the moment they were uttered.  Why is “passion” the most common word in romance novel’s titles?  Passion sells. That is what “The Millionaire Nurse” is doing, making real changes, getting excited and passionate about the future.  Join “The Millionaire Nurse’s journey!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized, goal setting, personal finance | 2 Comments »

A Disney Themed Carnival

Monday, December 14th, 2009

The Carnival of Personal Finance (#235) , using a Disney Theme is up at Well Heeled.  Check it out, even if you are not a mouse fan.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

New Year's Resolutions: Do Millionaire Nurses Need Em?

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

I will be honest, I am not a New Year’s resolution guy.  I do think goal setting is the first step in gaining control of your money.  So what’s the difference?

New Year’s Resolutions are usually:

  1. Poorly thought out-How many resolutions have you heard your friends and co-workers spout out as they had their third glass of champagne or beer-”I am going to quit drinking…..(insert- lose weight, exercise, get out of debt, write a journal….)
  2. Non-specific-”Losing weight is a thought, not a goal or a plan-” I am going to lose 15 lbs. this year”- better.  I am going to lose 15 lbs. this year by losing 1/4 pound a week, by cutting out my starch’s, while exercising 30 minutes per day/5 days a week-Now you are getting it!
  3. Superficial-Many New Year’s Resolutions are done because you are supposed to do em.  So the smoker says he is going to quit smoking, the drinker says he will quit drinking, the spender says he will quit spending-not because he wants to change, but because he thinks society/friends/co-workers think he should.
  4. Short-term/short sighted-Spending less is a good fleeting notion, but why-what is it about your relationship with  money that you would like to change?  Do you want a comfortable retirement, send your kids to college, buy a car?  A clear long term definition/vision of where you want to be is necessary.

So, do I think New Years Resolutions are evil?  Of course not.  Do I think they have about as much value as opening a fortune cookie-yep, thats about right.

So instead of a New Years Resolution, how about developing your goals and a plan.  See this post about goal setting.

When you have done a thoughtful/deliberate job of goal setting, then the next step is accountability-”How do I do that, Dr Dean?”

I am so glad you asked!

  • Set up a monthly accountability session-a time you set aside to review your goals and how you stand-if your goals are of a very long-term nature-quarterly or semi-annual reviews are ok. Make an appointment with yourself and spouse/partner.
  • Publish your goals-except maybe the one about taking your bosses job,–that one may need to be your little secret goal…. You needed something to do with that refrigerator magnet you got for Christmas last year.
  • Write them down-not quite the same as publish-publish means put them out for others to see, writing them down means the process of making them real-you need to do both.
  • An accountability partner-no that is not the same as a CPA lover-just someone to hold your feet to the fire.  If your goal is to be a better public speaker-join Toastmaster and let them abuse you.  Lose weight-Weight Watchers comes to mind. Hire a coach-if you can afford one.  The YMCA here used to have a wandering personal trainer-believe me I worked harder when he was yelling-”one more, one more!”

So go forth and make a plan, Stan.  Try to do more, Roy!  Set yourself free, Lee!

Sorry, got carried away.  Let me know if you are setting goals to improve your financial situation, and if you need an accountability partner, you can probably find one here. Good Luck!

Housekeeping:

If you want email notification about posts, go to the bottom right and sign up.

If you want to feed read-see top right.

If you want a free ebook with money saving tips, push the link here.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Quality of Life, goal setting | 1 Comment »

Retirement Account Balances: Like Watching Paint Dry!

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Retirement Accounts-401-k, 403-b: Is your balance going up or down?

I don’t deliver babies any more.  Do I miss it? Occasionally.  I miss the joy and interaction with those patients who you connect with.  I don’t miss the malpractice worries, the babies having babies, and families who don’t appreciate the responsibility involved in raising a child.

Sleeping all night is a wonderful thing-although a certain nurse woke me up at 2:30 this morning…..

Fortunately, I don’t have to miss the Ob nurses-because our Gyn wing connects to the Ob wing, and we share the same nurses.  They do a great job.

And to get around to the title of this post,  as we often do, the nurses and I were talking money when I made rounds this morning.  One of the night nurses was lamenting that her account balance in her 403-b seemed to never go up, although she increased her amount every year, and the hospital was matching part of it.

This phenomenon is very common in retirement accounts recently.  As everyone is aware, the stock market has taken a huge hit in the last few years.  And though the market has averaged 12% growth or so over the last 50 years, it has seen almost nothing in the past decade.  And has been down 30-50 % in some aggressive accounts last year alone.

However, since March the growth has been over 25% depending on which index you use.

What do you do when your  403-b balance is stagnant?

So the secret is to keep on keeping on.  No one knows when the market takes off, and it has been proven time and time again, that those people who try to time the market by going into and out of stocks, usually miss the biggest up days.

So even though watching your balance is like watching paint dry-don’t stop funding the account. You would just spend that money on something inconsequential, wouldn’t you?????

Now does that mean that the market will go gang-busters the next 10 years?  I wish I knew. If I did I probably wouldn’t be treating bladder infections in the middle of the night!!!!!

But I do know that putting away small amounts of money over your working career is the only way to significant wealth for most people.  Having the results of  stock market and interest rate growth work on your money will result in a healthier retirement account than:

  • No retirement savings
  • Depending on Social Security
  • Depending on your kids to support you in your old age

The secret here is to continue to put as much as you can afford in your retirement account each year, and try to increase that amount- until you are saving 15% of your income in some sort of retirement vehicle.  (I will discuss the options such as Roth IRA’s in another post.)

Of course, to be able to do this, you must have your spending under control, and your debts knocked out-I know, easier said than done.

So let us hear your retirement account questions-and if you need “Emergency Money Resuscitation” then hit the link, don’t delay, hit the link.  If you don’t know what the link is, then hit the comment button, and ask, and I will post on how to hit a link in a blog…. If you do hit the link, you can sign up for my free e-book, and also receive my mini-course on personal finance delivered straight to your email box.  Free, you can’t beat free!

Tags: ,
Posted in Retirement savings, Wealth building | 2 Comments »

Your Local Library: The Millionaire Nurse's Money Saving Place

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Your local library-as a Millionaire Nurse, if you don’t have a library card, then you are missing out on so many money-saving options.

Let’s forget for a minute the fundamental purpose of libraries-as a depository of books available to the public for nothing!  Yes, nothing.  Does that sound like something Millionaire Nurses would be interested in?

If you are not a big reader, then your road to the Millionaire Nurse will be long, and perhaps impossible.  To be successful in changing habits, you need to continue to educate yourself about money!

But the local library is so much more than books.  Here are just a few of the other available savings available at our local library:

  • Recent videos and DVD’s to check out-both educational and entertainment
  • Books on CD’s
  • Computers to use
  • Basic computer courses
  • Software use classes
  • Visits with Santa
  • Author talks and book signings
  • Genealogy resources
  • Journal article research
  • Children’s reading programs

Free Money Finance, a popular personal finance blog, recently posted about the availability of “Consumer Reports” online through his local library.  Our library, at this time, does not have that service available, but as you can see above, they have much to offer.

The library also can get books that they don’t have in their collection-you can even request them online.

A Millionaire Nurse understands when to spend, and when to save money.  I am a frequent visitor to our local library, and did much of the research for my book “The Millionaire Nurse” there.  Saving money along the way. I have fond memories of “story time”, a reading program when I was a kid-yes they had books back then too!

So make sure you visit your local library soon, and begin your savings right away.

Thanks to Catherine,Assistant Director at our local library,(which has been honored with national awards) for this information.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the use of the library.

Please use the email box on the right to be notified of new posts to the blog.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Planned spending aka budget, personal finance | 3 Comments »

Goal Setting: Time to Get Started

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

In my soon to be released book, “The Millionaire Nurse“, I emphasize that goal setting is the number one attribute of successful people.  If you don’t have direction in your life, you will get lost-that part is simple.

While the idea of goal setting makes sense, doing so is  difficult.  Just as no smoking, eating too much, not exercising are obvious behaviors we need to change-doing so is hard.

So consider today your kick in the pants moment-write down your goals for next year-if you can’t stop what you are doing, right now, then set a time, right now, do it, don’t put it off.  You need time for thinking for yourself, then time with your spouse.

Now my recommendation is to develop and write  down your  family goals first.  Use those personal goals to help you develop your financial priorities.

For example, you are a two-year RN and would like to move up in management-that is your personal goal this year. To do so, you need a BSN.  So do you buy a new car, boat, or have plastic surgery this year?  NOOOOO.

What should your financial goals look like?

  1. You put money aside this year for tuition-have a written number, do your homework.
  2. You look at the amount of hours you will be able to work, while going to school, and be setting aside money to live on to supplement your smaller paycheck.
  3. You cut back on your other expenses, less eating out, cut down from 200 channels to 45 (yea, I know, what a sacrifice-45 channels of nothing….)

I think you get the picture, you develop your goals for your life, then see how they affect your personal finances and adjust those goals accordingly.  The financial goals-say saving $1500 for tuition- then get broken down to monthly goals-say$125/month into your tuition savings account-not to be spent on a big-screen TV.

Now your goals and plans for life obviously can change-maybe you decide instead of being a nurse manager, you and your husband want to open a restaurant or other small business.  You use the same process-break the big picture into small action items, and scratch them off one at the time.

So, use the time between Christmas and New Years to do your goal setting.  A few of my goals for the year:

  1. To grow this blog audience-(I have a number written down).
  2. To sell 1,000 copies of my book (minimum).
  3. To speak to at least two nursing groups per month in 2009.
  4. Increase my giving-by 5%.

Now these are just preliminary goals, as I have to sit down with my bride of 29 years. We will fine-tune them to make them our’s (not mine or her’s) and I strongly suggest you do the same.

So let me know your goals for the new year, and if you have questions or suggestions for topics of discussion please make a comment.

If you need help with saving money, my free ebook, “Emergency Money Rescucitation” is available here, with a follow-up mini-course on suggestions on credit card management, banking, and other financial management tools.  My early Christmas present for you…..

Tags: , ,
Posted in Planned spending aka budget, Quality of Life, Uncategorized, personal finance | 1 Comment »

Christmas Shopping: What Would a Millionaire Nurse Do?

Monday, December 7th, 2009

A Millionaire Nurse is kind, gentle, frugal, loving, generous, a leader, and well-read. (Sounds kind of  like the Boy Scout oath)  So what are millionaire nurses doing for their Christmas shopping.

  • They are shopping by a list with spending limit on each person-agreed upon by both adults in your family (although many of us act like kids this time of year).
  • They make sure they pay for their purchases with cash, or debit card-no credit cards allowed unless they can easily be paid off -no cheating allowed!
  • They give money or time to charitable organizations  in honor of their recipients, and not a tie, or another sweater – thrown in the closet or re-gifted next year.
  • They understand the reason for the season, and avoid the hype/materialism and consumerism and focus on being a better friend, mother, father, son or daughter.
  • They make a list of all their friends and relatives and send them a note, or a phone call just to let them know they are thinking about them.

Brent Arands in the Wall Street Journal has an article detailing the savings that could be had by cutting back on our holiday spending.  The amount of money that you could save over your life time by cutting back on your purchases by just 20% should open your eyes.  Saving over 10,000 bucks over the next 35 years if you are an average spender of $600 each Christmas.

So make the difficult first step towards becoming a millionaire nurse.  That step is to vow to begin to change your spending habits and grab ahold of your finances.

Please share with us your giving plans this Christmas, and if you are spending more or less than usual.  And check out this Christmas related spending question on Cash Commons-a great financial question and answer site.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Planned spending aka budget, Uncategorized, credit cards, personal finance | 1 Comment »

Christmas Spending:Payback Time Will Be Here Soon!

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Christmas is here again- I love this time of year.  I try to keep my focus on the reason for the season-it is easy to get into the materialism thing with the ads-Black Friday/Cyber Monday hype.

Today my focus is getting my Christmas tree up with minimal stress/foul language.  We still buy a real tree every year-found a good buy at Home Depot yesterday-and the sales person even trimmed the bottom limbs and cut off the bottom of the tree for me.  I usually cut it two or three times till I get a flat cut, that will stand up in the tree stand-I will let you know how she did with that small electric chain saw-looked flat to me.

I am using a budget I found at HomeEverAfter.com for our Christmas list this year.  We have in the past just used a list with numbers by names, but I am trying this spreadsheet this year.  It needed a few tweaks but so far seems are working just fine.  I will let you know how well we do in staying within the limits we have self-imposed.   I am not a spread sheet geek, can barely find my way around them.  Fortunately for me I have a CPA for a brother and a son-so my spreadsheet questions are answered pretty quickly, except at tax season, when they will disappear for a couple of months.

Check out these earlier posts if you missed them about budget busters and this one about ways to decrease stress around the holidays to make sure you keep in mind the reason for the season.

And remember, that any overspending you do this month, will come back to haunt you with a vengeance in January, so be careful out there.

If you hear someone yelling today/ignore me-it’s just me fighting with the Christmas tree.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Planned spending aka budget, personal finance | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »