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August 23, 2011

In Case of Emergency

The Wealth Gap
source: digitalsadhu

UPDATE: 5.9 earthquake rocks Virginia, East Coast By: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS; The Richmond Times-Dispatch

A 5.9 earthquake in Virginia was felt in Washington, New York City and North Carolina this afternoon. Buildings swayed, and damage reports began trickling in within minutes of the largest quake in Virginia in more than a century.

"What to Do if Your Bank Is Destroyed" By Justin Pritchard, About.com Guide


"Safeguarding Your Finances Against Natural Disasters" By Lynnette Khalfani-Cox; DailyFinance


"Protect your home (and finances) from disaster" By Katherine Reynolds Lewis; CNN Money


"How to Protect Important Documents" by Amy Debra Feldman; Better Homes and Garden


"Conquer the paper piles" by Consumer Reports


"What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Put in a Safe Deposit Box" by Jason Lankow; Mint.com


"Get It Done: Create a Grab-and-Go Box" by Dayana Yochim; Motley Fool


SentrySafe DS0200 Safe 1 Hour Fireproof Combination Safe, 0.8 Cubic Feet, Black

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August 12, 2011

PDC #5: Change Your Own Oil, Earn $400,000

A favorite Benjamin Franklin axiom is “Small strokes fell great oaks”. Meaning small actions, done over and over again over a long period of time, can have a meaningful and substantial impact. This is certainly the case when it comes to personal finances. Small savings here and there add up, or I should say, compound up.

One of the things I feel anyone can do to save a few bucks, here and there, over a long period is to change your own oil. It’s really a simple thing to do once you learn how. So today’s Payday Challenge is to change your own oil.

Before I get into the financial benefit of changing your own oil, let me address the most common argument against doing it: time. The common belief is going to get your oil changed at a quick lube place or a local service station saves time. Really? ‘Cause that is simply not my experience. The closest quick lube is a few miles from my house. The ride alone takes 10-15 minutes and that’s if I don’t catch any red lights on the way. Once there, for some reason the “10 minute oil change” advertised on the side of the building never seems to pan out. There’s typically a line and by the time the technicians have finished upselling me on some “Executive Service” of wiper-blade changes and new fuzzy dice for my rear view mirror, I’ve been there a half hour or more. When I have finally returned home, I’ve spent nearly an hour of my day.

A semi-experienced do-it-yourselfer however can change her own oil in 5 and certainly no more than 10 minutes without ever leaving her driveway. Now, that 45 to 60 minutes spent going to and from the quick lube spot may be worth it not to have to get a little dirty. But there’s always soap and water to remedy that situation.

Time savings aside, there is a real money savings to changing your own oil. The way I figure it, a regular oil change, with no added services typically costs about $40 in my area. On the other hand, I can purchase a 5-liter jug of Castrol High Mileage for $25 and change the oil myself. Now a $15 savings may hardly seem worth it. I mean 15 bucks barely buys a large buttered popcorn and small Diet Coke at the movies. But if you were to forego the movie popcorn and instead place the savings in a well-invested portfolio of stocks, it would make a hearty difference in your wealth over the long haul.

How long do you plan on being a driver? For most people, it’s at least 50 years. If you were to change your oil 4 times per year, invest the $15 savings in a general stock mutual fund (which return about 11% historically), at the end of your driving life, you’d have saved over $100,000. That’s the price of two or three luxury-ish cars over that period. If you were lucky enough to find an advisor or fund able to get you returns in the 15% annualized range (not unheard of), you’d have saved about $433,000 over your driving life.

Would you be willing to get a little dirt under your nails for $400,000?

Yes, fifty years is a long time. But that misses the point. Small savings, in several areas of your life, whether it be changing your oil, reducing the minutes on your cell phone, clipping coupons, foregoing a night out drinking or whatever - small changes over time mean a lot and when added together can amount to substantial savings in relatively short order. Imagine you could find 10 other cost saving actions of equal measure. Now we’re talking $4 million. Nothing to sneeze at.


Market

"Why I'm Still Buying Stocks" by Knight Kiplinger, Editor in Chief, Kiplinger publications


Portfolio:

Forest Laboratories Sends Open Letter to Shareholders

"Forest Labs: Proxy Firm Backs Its Entire Board Slate" by Wall Street Journal

"Forest Labs CEO Won’t Be Barred on U.S. Government Contracts, Company Says" by Jef Feeley; Bloomberg


Life:

"Sesame Workshop: Bert And Ernie Just Friends, Have No Sexual Orientation" by Eyder Peralta; NPR

"How Obama Can Win The Fall" by Andrew Sullivan; The Daily Beast

"Whatever You Do, Don't Buy an Airline Ticket On …" by Scott McCartney; Wall Street Journal

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February 18, 2011

In Defense of Frugal: The Happy Home

Fortune cookie: small house, big happy
source: Myra Matos

One bit of financial advice my father gave me when I was younger was, “Son, you can’t drive your house but you can sleep in your car.” I didn’t really get it at the time but I definitely do now. Essentially he was saying don’t spend too much on a home, you’ll be financially better off if you don’t. Without getting too much into my parents’ finances, on a teacher’s and painting contractor’s income, they have been able to save and invest where their capital will kick off enough income in retirement as they earned when they were working. They live modestly but do not need to. They could actually increase their lifestyle substantially if they wanted, but are satisfied making cookies with my daughters, their grandchildren, and going on the occasional vacation.

Originally, as I promised to do in “Are You A Millionaire?”, I was going to post about the second measure of wealth. I talked about the first in “Your Wealth Ratio”. But some conversations recently prompted me to find out if my father’s advice stood up to muster. I went back and skimmed some of Thomas Stanley’s books, including his most recent, Stop Acting Rich. One of the tidbits I found very interesting is that Stanley’s research revealed that most millionaires carry mortgages despite the ability to pay them off in full. I thought it’d be interesting to see, given recent years’ turmoil in the mortgage and real estate markets, if these numbers still held up.

Using the information in Stanley’s recent work and two of Stanley’s earlier works, The Millionaire Mind and The Millionaire Next Door, somewhere between 50% and 60% of the millionaires surveyed hold mortgages on homes purchased 23 years prior. Additionally, the current outstanding mortgage on homes belonging to deca-millionaires (those with $10 million in or more in net worth) is equal to 7% of the home’s current value while the typical millionaire (50% have less than $2 million) has a mortgage balance of just under a third of the home’s market value. Thus, I assumed a mortgage of 15% of the home’s value for milionaires between $3.5 to $10 million and overall of 30% for those under $3.5 million. I used the IRS Personal Wealth Statistics from 2004 (http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=185880,00.html) The below chart shows that millionaires still have more than enough cash to pay off the mortgages whenever they want. (Please click the table or here for a larger view.)

In other words, according the IRS study and Stanley, millionaires on average hold nearly five times the value of their outstanding mortgage in cash and cash equivalent securities. They can pay off their mortgage at any time.

Continue reading "In Defense of Frugal: The Happy Home" »

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February 09, 2011

In Defense of Frugal: Your Wealth Ratio

The Benz
source: topdeluxe

In this second installment of the “In Defense of Frugal” series or the IDF series I will tackle what I said was the first measure of wealth. In the first post, “Are You A Millionaire?”, I tried to illustrate how frugality lent itself to wealth getting. In other words I tried to show success in building wealth is in large part due to how efficient one is at converting earned dollars into wealth dollars. Further, I said someone who earns a modest income may be much better at income-to-wealth conversion than someone who makes a handsome income. In fact, as I mentioned in the previous post, folks of moderate income tend to become wealthier than high income earners over the long haul. Of course it doesn’t have to be that way. High income earners have an advantage in that they have more funds available to invest. But that’s on a “gross” level. They “net” less of their funds because the majority instead spend those funds on items of little or no lasting value.

The concept that moderate income earners may be better at income-to-wealth converting than high-income earners is hard for most of us to wrap our minds around. Considering the high-income earners are driving luxury autos, live in large homes and spend lavishly on clothing, entertainment and travel. Most of us think, if these folks can buy all that stuff, how are they not rich? Well, they aren’t rich because they buy all that stuff. It is true, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. They’ve traded their potential wealth (and independence) for trinkets. Here are the facts as culled together by Dr. Thomas Stanley and American Express Publishing /Harrison Group:


  • 87% of luxury motor vehicles are driven by non-millionaires. The most popular vehicles among high-income non-millionaires are Mercedes Benz and BMW. Most are leased. The most popular vehicle among millionaires is Toyota followed closely by Ford. Millionaires tend to purchase their cars.

  • 73% of homes valued at over $1,000,000 are occupied by non-millionaires. They are purchased with jumbo mortgages with very little equity in place. In fact, many are under water right now. Millionaires on the other hand live in much more modest homes. 90% of millionaires live in homes valued at less than $1,000,000 and 28% live in homes valued at less than $300,000. Millionaires understand buying a more expensive home is likely to decrease the odds of becoming financially independent.

  • Surveys conducted by Stanley and AmEx/Harrison showed similar results. Each survey focused on millionaires and high income earning non-millionaires on the subject of retailers frequented. Millionaires mentioned Target, Kohl’s, Costco and T.J. Maxx as most frequented. High income non-millionaires most cited stores were Banana Republic, Saks Fifth Ave, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.

I hear the boo birds chirping. Many of you reading this are probably saying, "What’s the point in having money if you can’t spend it on the finer things? Can’t I spend on the finer things and still get rich? After all, money is for spending, right?" I have to say I have a hard time arguing against this point. But over the years I’ve come to understand there is a time and a place for everything. Again, it is fine to spend. But not to the point that is sabotages your wealth building. This is where The Brick Wealth Ratio© comes in. It let's us know if our current lifestyle will allow us to become financially independent.

Continue reading "In Defense of Frugal: Your Wealth Ratio" »

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January 28, 2011

Mattress Money Or Millionaire Money

One financial tenet I try to follow on my personal quest to become wealthy is to “do what money does.” What that means to me is to follow and mimic the behaviors, as best as I can decipher them, of people who have become wealthy themselves. Overwhelmingly, the research shows people who are wealthy or likely to become wealthy to be very economical with the dollars they’ve earned – read frugal.

According to Thomas Stanley, in his book Stop Acting Rich, the wealthy and those who are likely to become so spend very few of their dollars on “the impediments to building wealth: income taxes, homes, clothing and accessories, motor vehicles, interest or personal loans, club dues and vacations”, wine and spirits, and entertainment. They also do not practice what Stanley calls “economic outpatient care” which is financially supporting other able bodied adults which includes, children, parents, girlfriends, long lost cousins and war buddies down on their luck. In other words, they make junior get his own place after college on his own dime.

The wealthy and those that are likely to be do however allocate a large portion of their money to the “foundation stones of accumulating wealth, including investments, pension or annuity contributions, and fees for professional advice and asset-management services.” Millionaires are also typically generous with allocating money to their grandchildren’s education, charities meaningful to them and on events that enhance the time they spend with loved ones. It is not until after they’ve put themselves on stable financial ground that they begin to spend on “the frivolities of life.”

The above shopping lists of items of where the wealthy do and do not spend their money puts in perspective the “wealth mindset”. The wealthy are not penny-pinchers or Scrooges. They are not penny wise and pound foolish. They are not risk averse but know how to take prudent risks. In fact, millionaires spend heavily on things that return monetary value to them and avoid spending on things that do not.

This includes investments. Two years ago, when the economic sky was falling, most of America took whatever money they had in the stock market and put it into cash. Or worse, they spent their money on personal items – “the frivolities of life”. In other words, most people put their money under the proverbial mattress. However, this is not what people who possess this wealth mindset did. In fact one of the wealthiest in the world, Warren Buffet, told us what we should do with our investments in a New York Times Op-Ed piece in October 2008: (Continue reading more)

Continue reading "Mattress Money Or Millionaire Money" »

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November 05, 2010

Payday Challenge #3: Get Drunk For Cheap

Wine Shop by Paul Goyett
source: Paul Goyette

Most of us get a cash infusion into our bank account every other Friday and promptly do things with our money that are ill-advised. At least for those of us who’d like to be financially independent one day. But so many of us feel to do anything other than spend our money like it will self destruct in seconds if we don’t, makes us the 21st century version of Scrooge. Very few of us realize there is a vast difference between frugal and cheap. Frugal will eventually make you rich. Cheap will have the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future visiting you in the middle of the night.

So few of us understand the power of thrift, saving and investing for the rainy (or even the sunny) day. Having “it” now is the only thing most of us know. Waiting for the proverbial “it” is simply boring and most of us are unwilling to be bored even if in the long (sometimes not so long) run we are far better off. The truth is getting wealthy is not boring. And the art of wealth getting has always been earn, conserve, invest, repeat. Heck, Benjamin Franklin wrote of the same formula in The Way to Wealth about 250 years ago in one issue of Poor Richard’s Almanac:

"If you would be wealthy, says (Poor Richard), think of saving as well as of getting: the Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than her incomes. Away then with your expensive follies, and you will not have so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable families; for, as Poor Dick says, 'Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small, and the wants great'."

What Benjamin Franklin, through Poor Richard, espoused was simply living frugally and investing the difference. Does living frugally equate to living like a pauper? Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of us just need a little education, need a little information, for us to understand we can enjoy ourselves without disturbing the “way to wealth” formula. We can actually have a little fun in the process. So a couple of weeks ago I starting posting a Payday Challenge on Twitter (link) with the goal of informing about saving and investing with the hope we might all be able to see the process of wealth getting can be fun along the way.

The first two Payday Challenges on Twitter were:

Continue reading "Payday Challenge #3: Get Drunk For Cheap" »

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November 27, 2008

5 Things To Be Thankful For In This Market (Part 4)

Source: Flickr by Egan Snow; http://www.flickr.com/photos/egansnow/343535886/

Over the last week or so I have been listing things to be thankful for in this market. So far I have covered three things. They are:

1. The Teachings of Benjamin Graham

2. Low P/E Ratios

3. The Inevitable Market Rebound

And now I am listing numbers 4 and 5:

4.     Black Eyed Peas, and
5.     Collard Greens

Seriously, do I really need to say more? There are few things in life that beat mom’s collard greens and pop’s black eyed peas thrown in with a little Jamaican corn bread. And with today's economy and the burden it is putting on the pocket book, a cheap meal is hard to come by. In fact, with Americans on food stamps reaching an all-time high, a cheap nutritious meal is just what the doctor ordered.

Southern folklore suggests, that a meal of black eyed peas and collard greens will bring with it good luck and financial prosperity. The peas represent coins and the greens represent folding money. Both foods are dependable sources of nutrients and antioxidants that protect your heart and maybe prevent cancer and both are great sources of folic acid.

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving and my hope we can all get a little more luck and wealth in our lives, I have decided to share a recipe from the Homesick Texan for black eyed peas:

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2006/12/black-eyed-peas-for-new-years-day.html

And another for collard greens from Ms. Financial Savvy:

http://www.msfinancialsavvy.com/article.php?aId=141 

Good eats and Happy Thanksgiving!

Disclosure: I do not, nor do the clients of Brick Financial Management, LLC, own any securities mentioned in this article. But positions may change at any time.

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September 30, 2008

What You Should Do In This Market

Perhaps you have been startled by what has been going on in the stock market this year, and in the last few days in particular. It is understandable if you have been. This is an unusual time. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the financial sector. Bear Stearns and Lehman have failed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been taken over by the government, AIG had to take accept an $85 billion loan from the government with steep terms, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs converted to conventional banks, the FDIC stepped in to save Wachovia and Washington Mutual, and the Treasury Department is asking Congress to pass a $700 billion bailout of the financial system.

If you watched any news program or read any paper yesterday you know that Congress did not pass the plan proposed by the Treasury. The stock market reacted. Yesterday, the S&P 500 fell 8.9%. As a relative measure, the day the market opened after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the S&P fell 4.9% on September 17, 2001. It was the biggest one day drop since Black Monday in October of 1987 when the market fell more than 20% in one day.

All of this turmoil is likely to leave most investors in the market biting their nails and pulling their hair out. These folks, not knowing what to do, will do nothing. Others might react by immediately selling all their investments, pulling their money out of their bank, and burying everything they own under the shed in their backyard. I understand both reactions, as both are simply human. But neither is what should be done.

As you have heard (or read) me say time and time again, it is best to act in the way Warren Buffett would. In Berkshire Hathaway’s 2004 Letter to Shareholders, he shares:
“Over the 35 years, American business has delivered terrific results. It should therefore have been easy for investors to earn juicy returns: All they had to do was piggyback Corporate America in a diversified, low-expense way. An index fund that they never touched would have done the job. Instead many investors have had experiences ranging from mediocre to disastrous.

There have been three primary causes: first, high costs, usually because investors traded excessively or spent far too much on investment management; second, portfolio decisions based on tips and fads rather than on thoughtful, quantified evaluation of businesses; and third, a start-and-stop approach to the market marked by untimely entries (after an advance has been long underway) and exits (after periods of stagnation or decline). Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.”

Recently, Buffett invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs on very favorable terms. He did so in the midst of all the turmoil in the financial sector of the market. In essence, he followed his own advice.

This method of buying into fear has proven fruitful over time. How does an investor know when others are fearful?

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) manages a volatility index called the VIX. The VIX is an excellent indicator of the sentiment, bearish (fearful) or bullish (greedy), in the stock market. It captures the level of uncertainty reflected in option contract premiums. These contracts allow fund managers to insure themselves against sudden share price movements. A high VIX reading indicates investors are fearful and are willing to pay more for this downside protection.

History has shown that when the VIX reaches levels above 25 – 30 (above the red line), it has been a good time to buy. Yesterday the VIX reached nearly 50 and for the last 18 months has regularly reached levels above 25. [Click here for a larger image.]

Click to see larger image

Additionally, we are in a bear market for stocks. The likelihood of precipitous declines from these levels is somewhat low (though not impossible). Given current valuations, U.S. stocks may be the safest place to put money right now. The S&P 500 now trades at 14x earnings estimates for 2008 EPS. This is well below historical PE levels. Another thing to keep in mind is earnings may be somewhat depressed due to a harsh economy. In other words, when earnings return to normal, prices may prove to be even cheaper than it is currently estimated.

High volatility begets cheaper stocks which begets high returns for those who are greedy when others are fearful. 

So what should you do now?

For money you need within 5 years: Keep those funds in an interest bearing account at your bank of choice. Even with all that is going on, the bank is still the best option for your cash funds. If those deposits are below $100,000 ($200,000 in a joint account), they are insured by the FDIC. And the news today is the FDIC is applying to increase those limits. I speculate they will increase them to at least $250,000. 

For money you need beyond 5 years: Invest or keep your money in a diversified (at least 20, no more than 30) portfolio of stocks of low leverage (companies that don’t make use of debt), high return on capital companies. If you have cash available, you should consider adding to your portfolio. Years from now, you will wish you did.

Write your congressman: Write your congressman a letter urging him or her to pass the legislation to infuse $700 billion in the banking system.

Disclosure: I and the clients of Brick Financial Management, LLC owned share of Berkshire Hathaway at the time of this writing.

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September 02, 2008

10 Signs Your Financial Advisor Is Stealing Your Money (Part 1)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. The weather in the Northeast was great and considering how bad things could have been, Gustav thankfully spared most of New Orleans. As well as enjoying the weather I was able to watch the U.S. Open, take in the movie The Longshots (you know for the kid) followed up with a visit to the park and was able to catch up with old and new friends online (there’s this new thing called social media…).

In catching up with one of those friends, we got to talking about investing and personal finances. Big surprise right? She alerted me to a story of which I was unaware at the time. The story was simultaneously tragic and unbelievable. When I went to Google to read more about it, it then became all too familiar. What I found was yet another story of fraud and deception and the stealing of investor money.

As I read more of the details of this particular yet hardly unique story, the warnings signs seemed so clear to me. I thought to myself, “Some of these investors should have known better!” But alas, even so-called sophisticated investors can be had. No one is immune from making mistakes or getting taken by a sophisticated or savvy charlatan (like the one in the video).

All that said there are steps that can be taken to protect yourself from dishonest (or just plain bad) financial ‘professionals”. It is as important to know what makes a bad financial professional as it is a good one. In at least another two follow up posts I will cover warning signs that should alert any investor their advisor may not be on the up and up.

Have you had a not so pleasant experience with a financial professional? Share it in the comments are of this post.

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August 27, 2008

5 Ways to Handle Your Personal Trade Deficit

An interesting documentary called “I.O.U.S.A.” premiered August 22nd in a few cities around the country. According to the filmmakers, the country is on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. examines the national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. The subject of America’s financial woes is a subject Warren Buffett, who is featured in the movie, has tackled in the past.

Although I have not seen the movie, I will definitely check it out. In the meantime the folks at The Peter G. Peterson Foundation offer some advice on how to handle your personal financial deficit:

  1. Establish a personal budget

  2. Create a financial plan that considers your long-term financial objectives, major milestones in your life and what you will need in retirement.

  3. Act on that financial plan immediately.

  4. If you must use credit, use it responsibly.

  5. Pass on what you have learned to your children.

 

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August 26, 2008

5 Ways to Use Your Friends for Fun and Profit

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britannia/2471752889

I recently received an email from a college buddy and former football teammate regarding our alma mater’s upcoming fall classic with our school’s arch rival. Yes, I played college ball and have the knees to prove it. About fifty of my former teammates and some boosters of the program were on the email string. Basically, along with regular guy talk and crude remembrances of embarrassing moments long gone, there was the point of the email which was to organize hotel reservations and a tailgate party for the weekend of the upcoming game.

My buddy who initiated the email, the resourceful guy that he is booked 20 rooms at a local hotel to ensure any of us who wanted to go would have a cheap room to stay. Not to mention a place to crash after too much beer and bratwurst at the tailgate. But the email got me to thinking of other ways to have fun and profit by banding together with others.

1. Group Discounts

I just mentioned one form of group discount - savings on hotel and travel. But group discounts do not have to be reserved to destination weddings and weekend hotel reservations for the big game. Discounts can be had in almost any situation. Want a little nip and tuck? Get a couple of friends together and have your surgery on the same day with the same doctor. Want to save on insurance rates? Often groups such as employers, alumni associations and other clubs have worked out group discount rates with a particular insurance agency.  You might save anywhere from 5-20% as a result of a group rate discount.

2. Investment Clubs

Joining an investment club seems so ‘90s. The costs of investing in the stock market have dramatically fallen over the last decade and financial news and information seems like it’s everywhere. This blog is a good example. However, significant costs to investing still exist. Investment clubs help to spread those costs over several individuals. However, this is not the only benefit to joining or forming a club. Besides the money cost benefits, are the educational and social benefits of the club. You may find your club mates saving you from costly investment mistakes you may have made on your own.

3. Price Clubs

Discount price clubs, like Sam’s Club a division of Walmart (WMT), BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) and Costco (COST), offer a prime opportunity to save on purchases made repeatedly. The stores essentially allow you to pool your consumer dollar with a few million of your like minded “friends”. The result is googobs of savings. I have belonged to Costco for a number of years and recover my membership fee within the first few purchases of bottled water, chicken breasts and orange juice.

You can even take this a little further by starting a bulk-buying co-op with your friends and neighbors. Basically, you can share your or share someone else’s membership. Whenever one of you makes a trek to the club, you simply double, triple or quadruple buy your items and distribute them amongst your partners. Although doing it this way may cut down on your fun quotient, it will definitely up the savings quotient.

4. Carpools

I hate carpools. Not because they don’t save money but they can be a little inconvenient. That said, I have always opted to either drive myself or alternatively, have taken public transportation to work. But for many, carpooling makes sense. If you find yourself driving 15 or more miles to work everyday and you live within 2 to 5 miles of a coworker or two, you should consider sharing a ride.

According to the Department of Energy, as of today (August 25th) a gallon of gas is $3.69 per gallon. A quick calculation says a person that works 15 miles from work and whose car gets $20 miles to the gallon will spend almost $1,400 per year simply traveling to and from work. Feel free to check my math. With budgets tight it seems to make sense to spread those costs to three others if you can. Besides saving money and the environment you will be cutting down on the frequency of your road rage, given you will now be sharing the driving duties.

5. Team Sports

Ok, ok. Ya got me. Some of these things do not necessarily seem all that fun. But they will save you time and money in most cases. So number 5 will be all about using the money you have saved and the time you have freed up to simply have some fun. Why not participate in a team sport? Try a bowling league or a softball team. And let us not forget one of the greatest team sports there is – roller derby! With team names like the Hissy Fits, how could it not be fun?

Disclosure: I and the clients of Brick Financial did not own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of this writing.

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About Brick Financial Management, LLC

Blogged by Brick Financial

160 Maplewood Ave, P.O. Box 263
Maplewood, NJ 07040
973-486-9860
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Brick Financial Management, LLC specializes in providing investment management services to individuals, families, organizations and institutions. We implement highly focused stock, bond, and balanced portfolios using an investment approach commonly referred to as value investing. Disclosure

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