Chasing the Bull

Like most people, I sell my old stuff on eBay. All of my items are small and I do not make much money from them. What I really hate is that after eBay takes their fees, paypal takes even more for the same transaction. After all is said and done, I end up making about $2 per transaction, which almost not worth my time.

I have been searching for an alternative to paypal to increase the amount of money that I actually receive after ALL fees. Today I found a possible answer. Revolution Money is similar to paypal except for one thing - NO FEES!

From their website, Revolution Money is:
FREE to register for an account
FREE to add money to your bank account
FREE to send money
FREE to receive money
FREE to request money
FREE to transfer money to your bank account

When you sign up, you immediately get a $25 bonus. Most sites make you wait until you get $50 or so before you can withdraw any money. With Revolution Money you can request your sign-up bonus immediately. That’s what I did. After the $2.50 check charge, I ended up making $22.50 for 5 minutes of my time. Additionally, I know have a cheaper alternative when selling items on eBay. I may even stop accepting paypal altogether if I like this site better.

Please note that these are affiliate links and that I a small bonus for each person that signs up. I do not feel this is a bad thing, since you can immediately earn $22.50 just by signing up. If you do sign-up and take advantage of this free cash, please use one of these links. It truly won’t hurt you to help me out a bit.

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“Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” - Luke 12:15

I would have loved to retire a millionaire. I would probably sleep better at night if I knew that our future was secure. The more I think about it, however, the more I have come to realize that my personal net worth does not define who I am as a person, as a dad, or as a husband.

This does not mean that I have suddenly stopped caring about our finances. Unfortunately, I tend to spend a tremendous amount of time worrying about them. What this does mean, is that I have finally forgiven myself for the financial mistakes I made in the past. I cannot go back ten years and correct these mistakes. I can change my future, if I start now.

We are not in terrible fiscal condition. Our net worth is relatively modest at $93,462. We do not really have a ton of assets, we have simply minimized our liabilities. We basically have our mortgage, my student loan, and another personal loan (which I took at 6% to pay off every one of our high-interest credit cards).

The main problem with our fiscal plan is that our expenses equal our income, almost to the penny. At the end of the month there is nothing left. We stick to our budget within 5 to 10% and have cut out just about everything that we can (and still maintain the lifestyle that we have agreed upon). We have 2 old cell phones with the minimum amount of minutes for emergencies, have basic cable that is bundled with high speed internet, and cable phone (Yeah for free long distance calls), and only eat out once a month. My wife and I go to movies about twice a year, and rent movies even less than that. It is just so hard to find anything else to cut out.

Just this week, I have began Snowflaking and will send this money off to our Roth IRAs. Additionally, with any money left over from my My Diet Coke Challenge will also be sent to our retirement accounts. I guess this is as good a start as possible.

Will we retire as millionaires? I have no idea, but I would love it if you joined me on this adventure. Please consider subscribing to my feed.

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I have to admit I really like NBC’s “ The Biggest Loser“. It is very motivating, inspirational, and yes, even educational. As it turns out, some of the things I have learned relate very well to personal finance. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think!

5. Stop Complaining - Jillian always tells her students to stop complaining. She does not want to hear the word “can’t”. How many times have we blamed our situation on someone else? If only VISA would have rejected my credit card application when I was in college. If only the US mail system was faster, I would not have another late fee. If my high school would have actually taught us more about personal finance. It does not matter how you got to where you are! Stop complaining and take an objective assessment of where you are now. Only then can you start to make progress.

4. Strive for Consistency - Losing one hundred pounds is not something that will happen overnight. It takes discipline and a tremendous amount of effort, day-in and day-out, to see results. The same can be said about saving for retirement. You will not be able to save a million dollars this year. You can, however, retire with that much if you save and invest a little bit each month for the next 30 years. If you are still in your 20s, it will be much easier if you start now.

3. Accept Mistakes - With the exception of Neil’s 17 pound gain last season (which he did on purpose), mistakes happen. Every now and then, a contestant will bust their butts all week, only to gain a pound or two. The only thing they could do was to evaluate their diets and correct this going forward. Investing is very similar. Last November, I purchased shares in Force Protection, or what I call “The Worst Investing Decision Ever”. I purchased it around $17 and proceeded to watch it sink to $1.50. I cannot let this single thing affect my confidence in the stock market. I simply revisited my purchase analysis to see if there was anything I missed when I decided to buy FRPT. Turns out, there is now a class action lawsuit against them for accounting irregularities. Yes! The worst stock pick ever.

2. Think Long Term - The main reason I want Mark to be in the finals is because of the way his family makes him feel. He loves them and you can see it and feel it when he talks. Mark had to sacrifice months of his life, away from his family, in order to add years to the end of his life. He realized that short term wants should sometimes be secondary to his overall life plan. I relate this to investing for my future. Sure, I would love to buy my wife a new wardrobe. She deserves it as hard as she works to raise my son. We have agreed, however, to postpone these “desires” for a few years, in order to secure our future.

1. It does not matter where you are - JUST START TODAY - Kelly tipped the scales at 271 pounds when she started The Biggest Loser. Can you even imagine how she must feel now. She has lost almost 100 pounds. This did not happen overnight, but I can tell you with absolute certainty, that she is glad she got off the sofa and started. This is the same with saving, eliminating debt, and investing. It does not matter whether you have a negative net worth or not. You can change your circumstances, but to do so, you have to start somewhere.

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