Registrations on the national Do Not Call Registry, which prevents telemarketing calls, expire after five years. If you signed up when the registry first came out, in June of 2003, then your registration will be expiring soon. The website to register, or re-register, your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry is https://www.donotcall.gov/.

Want to stop most of those junk mail offers for pre-approved credit cards? The Federal Trade Commission has established methods to allow you to opt out of prescreened offers. In addition to requiring card issuers to clearly disclose how to stop receiving offers, the FTC endorses an official phone number and website to allow you to opt out. The FTC website recommends calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) or visiting www.optoutprescreen.com for details. Through either method you will have the option to opt out of prescreened offers for 5 years or permanently.

Most companies that offer 401K plans to their employees also offer some kind of company matching. They may give you a dollar for dollar match, a 50 cents on the dollar match, or similar up to a certain percentage.

Whatever amount you contribute to you 401K, you should contribute at least enough to get the full company match. This match is basically free money that can add significantly to your portfolio gains. Imagine you put $1000 into your 401K and your company matched 50%. The match could make up for otherwise poor performance. Even if your portfolio didn’t appreciate over the course of a year, on your investment of $1000, your account would be worth $1500 thanks to the match, which amounts to a sizable 50% gain.

If the portfolio did appreciate, the gain would be even larger. The extra funds from your company match will continue to grow as the interest compounds between now and when you make withdrawals at retirement. There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but company matching is about as close as you can get.

One of the most important things I learned from the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, is that our traditional education system is severely lacking in the area of financial education. As a result, even people highly educated in the traditional sense often lack basic financial literacy. That thought has caused me to start a reading rampage on the topic of money, wealth, and of course investing and the stock market. Included below are the four best books that I have read in this subject area.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Jim Cramer’s Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World

The Millionaire Next Door : The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5,Live Anywhere,and Join the New Rich

I would consider these the foundation of my financial education and mindset. In addition, I highly recommend other books in the Rich Dad series. Some other interesting books that I’ve read on the subject of money and investing are “The Little Book that Beats the Market”, “Stock Market Miracles”, and William O’Neil’s classic “How to Make Money in Stocks.” I also read Jim Cramer’s autobiography, “Confessions of a Street Addict” just because I find him interesting.

The point is, the more that I read, the more that I learn. Take “Stock Market Miracles”, for instance. It reads like it was written by an illiterate moron. But if you can get past the poor English and awful grammar, there are actually some good ideas in there. It just goes to show you that having good investment ideas does not mean that you are able to write well about them. So at times even poorly written books are still good books, if they generate ideas that can make you money.

I recently relocated and cannot stress enough the value of a good library. If you don’t live near a quality library, it’s worth the drive to one. My old local library has a handful of books on the subjects of investment and wealth, and most had copyrights from the Sixties. My new library has thousand of books on the subjects, and seems to get more every time I go. I’ve been reading twice as many books as I used to since I’m no longer shelling out twenty bucks every time a new one comes along.

When you come to the realization that you’d like to create a budget, it may be difficult to know where to start. For a classic budget, the best way to go is to write down all of your income and expenses over the course of a few months. You should try to capture where each and every penny goes. The more specific you can be, the better.

Once you have the raw data, you’ll need to decide how to organize it. You can use pen and paper, but using a computer is much easier. I use Microsoft Money, but there are many other comparable programs available.

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When people hear the word budget, they usually think of limits to their spending. While a good budget will allow you to set reasonable spending limits, its greatest value is the visibility into your finances that it affords you. By tracking where all of your money comes from and where it goes, you will gain perspective over your personal finance situation. This perspective will help you to optimize your spending habits in order to more easily meet your financial goals.

As an added bonus, having an accurate budget will allow you to set achievable savings goals. By knowing the amount of extra cash you have available each month, you will be able to earmark that money as you desire. You’ll know that you will be able to achieve your savings goals if your budget shows that it’s possible. In this way, you won’t be faced with the disappointment of not reaching a goal that isn’t possible.

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This post will be used to list favorite calculators, etc

Quick Calculations
Karl’s Mortgage Calculator
Baby’s First Year Cost Calculator
I Volatility Options Calculator
What Your Time is Worth Calculator
Price Comparisons Over the Phone