The Money Dish

Associated Content and the Pros and Cons of the Brother HL-4040CN Color Laser Printer

2008-09-04T11:05:00.004-05:00

I write occasionally for Associated Content . It is a website where you can create original content and publish it for either exclusive or non-exclusive use by the site for various outlets. You are either paid by performance (pay per page view) only or with an upfront payment (after a review) and subsequent performance pay.

In addition, you may come up with your own ideas, or answer their "calls for content" which are ideas in which they need something written. Right now, for instance, they are looking for political news, recipes and local issue news. These "calls" might be paid by performance only or by an upfront payment. A recipe article might be performance only, while first-person Democratic National Convention accounts might go for $10.00.

Anyway, here is one of my latest articles, Pros and Cons of the Brother HL-4040CN Color Laser Printer

A Good Bargain, He Says

2008-09-03T17:04:00.004-05:00

This past week, my (very generous) parents offered me a deal. If I gave them what I had saved from my student loans, they'd pay off the loan amounts altogether.

*Numbers changed for privacy*
Let's say my outstanding loan amount totaled $30,000. Since I had saved the student loan money I received that did not go to tuition, I actually had half of that amount sitting in some CDs and a money market account. The money was just sitting there, earning VERY small interest, and waiting for me to do something with it.

The idea was to invest some of it in an investment with a higher rate of return than the interest rate on the loan, while keeping some of the money back to actually make the loan payments. Of course, I never did get around to that.

Last week, my parents told me to give them $15,000. Of course, my first reaction was "hell, no!", followed by "what for?" They said that they would match my $15,000 to get my loan paid off. Can you believe that?

So, on Tuesday I trotted off to the bank to withdraw my money and transfer it to my parents. When I told the banker what I was doing with the money, and what my parents were doing, he told me, "now that's a good bargain!" Tomorrow, they are writing a check for the WHOLE AMOUNT to the financial institution, and I will be DEBT FREE save for like $400 in credit card debt!

This is an amazing feeling. Makes me want to buy a house. (HA.)

ING Referrals

2008-08-27T12:47:00.003-05:00

As a proud ING Direct account holder, I offer you a few account referrals!

The way these work is as follows:

I supply you with the link, and you click on it. When you open an account with at least $250, you receive a $25 bonus for signing up, and I receive $10 for the referral.

If you would like to open an ING Direct Savings or Electric Orange checking account and receive the bonus, please comment with your email and I will send you a referral.

We win all around. Not to mention that ING Direct is a great online bank with a very good interest rate (3.o% currently). The customer service is great and the ease of use and security features make me feel comfortable with doing my banking with them.

Cheap Art Creation

2008-08-21T20:07:00.003-05:00

How to Create Cheap Art for Your Home

First Post

2008-08-20T12:17:00.002-05:00

This is my first post as a "personal finance blogger"! Okay, so really I'm just reviewing and recapping my daily struggles as a twenty-something trying to balance saving with having a life. It's not as easy as I think it should be!

Frugal Dad's blog How To Become a Millionaire in 10 Years got me thinking. That's a lot of money you'd have to save to become a millionaire. Of course, 10 years is a short period of time. I'm not that ambitious! Twenty years (or even thirty!) would be a better estimate for me.

So what to do? Well, I certainly cannot put $996 per week into a high-yield investment. It is simply not possible at this time. I can't even do $996 per month! What I can do, and what I have been doing, is putting a few hundred dollars per month into my ING Direct high-yield savings account.

First step accomplished.