SavvySugar

Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Banker

SavvySugar — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:00:43 -0700

Twenty-six-year-old writer Amit Chatwani has never been a banker (he's an ex-strategy consultant), but after college he lived with a group of investment banker types in NYC and created Leveraged Sell-Out, a hilarious blog where he chronicled his hate for banking and finance culture.

The blog inspired Amit's new book, Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Banker ($12), which is available for presale and is a pleasant departure from the usually somber finance book genre.

The Leveraged Sell-Out in the book (also known as "LSO" or "Logan") is a 24-year old financier, who like Amit, attended Princeton University. Logan works at the nation's most prestigious private equity firm and shares his street banker insights along the way in chapters like "No. We do not have any 'hot stock tips' for you," "Mergers are a girl's best friend," and "Georgetown? I wouldn't let my maids' kids go there." Radar has an excerpt from the first few chapters if you can't wait for the Aug. 5 release date.

Do Our Shopping Lists Say Something About Us?

SavvySugar — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:00:27 -0700

Los Angeles-based performance artist Hillary Carlip believes our shopping lists are like mirrors to our personalities and style.

NPR featured an entertaining profile of Hillary, who has dedicated her life to searching for and decoding shopping lists she finds around town, and then turning them into characters.

Hillary began collecting lists when she was 15 and found a list for Twizzlers, peanut brittle, and gum on the back of a dental appointment reminder card in NYC. She started off her interpretations as an on-stage act (she would dress as the different characters and recite what was on the list), but recently decided to turn them into a book - A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers.

The book features Hillary's 26 favorite shopping lists and the characters she's created to go along with them (the book cover is a collection of photos of Hillary in costume and makeup). Do you think a stranger could accurately depict you based on your grocery list?

New Book Says We'll Have to Work Longer and Retire Later

SavvySugar — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:00:15 -0700

This Sunday's New York Times featured an intriguing look at a new book, Working Longer: The Solution to the Retirement Income Challenge by Alicia H. Munnell and Steven A. Sass.

The Times claims the book uses "sometimes cloistered academic terms," but does a swell job of addressing something we all fear: how under prepared most people are for their golden years. What troubled me is fact that the authors estimate that people who retire at age 65 today can expect Social Security to provide the equivalent of only 39 percent of their incomes after deductions for basic Medicare contributions. Here's more:

Ms. Munnell and Mr. Sass recommend that people postpone their retirements from age 63, the current average, to 66. Interestingly enough, 66 was the average back in 1962. They also say that it is time to look at raising the earliest eligibility age for Social Security benefits. (It is currently 62.)The authors write that four more years of work alters the ratio of retirement to working years from 1 to 2, meaning 20 years of retirement and 40 years of work, to almost 1 to 3, or 16 years of retirement and 44 years of work. The authors contend that working longer and retiring later can generate powerful benefits for aging baby boomers and the workers in their wake.

If you're wondering what those benefits are, read more.

Working longer and retiring later would delay the need for people to tap into I.R.A.’s and 401(k) plans, thereby swelling their total assets and increasing the future income they can produce, according to the book. It would also help maximize the benefits of Social Security, which are about one-third higher for recipients who are 66 than for those who are 62.

We all know sticking to our retirement savings isn't an easy thing to do, but the fact that the long haul may need to be even longer is somewhat disheartening. Do you think you are going to have to retire later than your goal date, or can you meet your marker?

Get a Free Copy of Suze Orman's Book Today

SavvySugar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:24:09 -0800

You can get a free PDF copy of Suze Orman's Women & Money today until 5 p.m. PST. Download it here - you'll need to scroll about half way down the page.

Would You Enroll in a Financial Planning Bootcamp?

SavvySugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:45:03 -0800

I’ve always been kind of intrigued by Stanford grad Ramit Sethi’s New York Times bestseller I Will Teach You to Be Rich. I dismissed the book at first because the gimmicky title brought to mind images of the question-mark guy on late-night infomercials, but the more I heard, the more interested I became. To hear why I changed my tune, read more.

Sethi recommends setting up free checking and savings accounts at dependable banks, and automating all your bill payments and transfers to savings. He thinks scrimping on things like lattes to save a couple bucks is useless financial advice, and says you should start to invest while you’re still young. Sounds pretty practical, huh?

So when I heard Sethi was holding a six-week online financial boot camp, I was actually pretty excited. It wasn’t until I was looking at the registration page, credit card in hand, that I backed out. It’s not that I didn’t think the boot camp would be helpful, but I decided spending a couple hundred bucks to find out how to save money wasn’t a wise choice for me.

I’m sure plenty of others felt differently, though, and you might, too. So tell me, have you ever paid for a workshop, class, or boot camp to whip your finances in shape? Or would you ever consider it?

Source: Flickr User Kyle T. Ramirez

I'm Asking: Have You Ever Canceled a Vacation?

SavvySugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:01 -0800

After the oft-annoying planning and booking process, the last thing on my mind is canceling a vacation. However, I once preliminarily booked hotel rooms for a pal's birthday with a 24-hour-notice cancellation policy directly from the resort's website. I knew I'd secured something at a good price while I diligently monitored my favorite travel sites to see if a room at a more desirable hotel would significantly drop in price (it did) or if I changed my mind and decided to go a different weekend (did that, too.).

Sadly my parents have to cancel their planned Caribbean vacation next week - however, since the doctor won't let my father fly, he's faxed notes to the hotel and, thankfully, they'll be fully refunded and the card credited for their flights.

Whether intentional or not, have you ever backed out of a trip (and, if so, did you lose any money in the process)?

Got a cost-saving travel tip? Join our Savvy Travel Tips group and share your expertise!

Ask Savvy: Should I Buy a New Car?

SavvySugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:57 -0800

Dear Savvy,

I recently got a letter in the mail from a local car dealership requesting that I trade in my 2001 VW Passat, saying that they are getting lots of requests and stating the blue book value for my car. I wouldn't mind buying a new car, but promised myself I would drive my car until it is unrepairable or I graduate from college, whichever comes first. I still have two more years to go, but if this offer is legitimate, I don't want to let the opportunity go. Any advice?

Savvy says: The car dealership is reaching out to people who aren't in the market for a new car and convincing them to consider busting an auto move. That's a pretty successful campaign on its part, but are your best interests at hand? Find out what I think when you read more.

You have a car that isn't causing you headaches and you're still in school, which makes me assume that you're probably better off without the additional expense of an updated vehicle. While trading in your car would reduce the cost of the newer one, I'd put money on you walking out of the dealership with more bills to pay than when you walked in.

Car dealerships are fantastic at making us think the deals they're advertising right now are once-in-a-lifetime bargains that won't be seen again. They want you to worry that you'll regret not jumping on their current offerings so that you buy now instead of later, and as you put it, you don't want to "let the opportunity go."

Bottom line, a deal isn't a deal unless you're shopping for something in the first place and can afford the terms. And that lost opportunity? Think about the money you'll save by keeping your current ride for the next couple years, and don't be surprised when there are deals to be had when you're in the market for something different.

Have a question for me? Ask away by posting your questions in my Ask Savvy group and I may answer it on the site!

What Does Rich Mean to You?

SavvySugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:00:07 -0700

Finance expert and author of the best-selling book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi, has loads of savvy tips to make you money-wise and wealthy. His thickest piece of advice? While it's hard to narrow it down to just one of his strategies, the best get-rich tip may just be to do a little self-evaluation and find out how you think of wealth.

We all have our expensive must-haves and hang-ups - I will never surrender my addiction to designer jeans or manicures, for one. I have friends who might be convinced to curb their retail spending in favor of travel, or a great apartment, but when it comes down to it, I know very few people my age that can have it all. Instead of griping about what you can't have - Ramit suggests we prioritize to buy or do the things we see as having real worth to us.

Making concessions, like finding a roommate to cut your rent in half, can make it possible for you to splurge on other things. The key takeaway is that you don't have to wait years to live a wealthy lifestyle, but you must prioritize how to spend - and that means that defining how you see wealth is step one. So tell me, what does being rich mean to you?

Have You Ever Purchased a Personal Finance Book?

SavvySugar — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:00:25 -0800

There are books available to guide us on everything from gardening and self-help to personal finance. The latter can be tough to select because there are so many titles telling us they can best fix our finances or get us rich. Have you ever bought a personal finance book?

Source

Money Tip: Hit the Spa For a Half-Session

SavvySugar — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:15:32 -0700

There's nothing like stepping out of a stress-relieving, 60-minute massage that makes you wonder if your feet are touching the floor. Whether it's worrying about losing the job you have or feeling concerned about finding work, most of us could use some spa love right about now. The benefits are appealing, but the price tags, not so much.

Find a compromise between your budget and your bodily needs by booking an appointment for half the time. Thirty-minute treatments will still make you feel pampered and lighter on your feet, but they won't stretch your budget so far that you end up more stressed about the money you spent. It's all about finding balance in your life and learning how to spend in moderation.