CD's Certificates of Deposit

In Clover Excerpt
Well in my search for the best CD rates in my area I found that I nearly missed a place that had better rates for the time limit I was searching for. The Credit Union. While the first locations CD rate at my local bank is for a 36 mo. CD at 2.225% interest, I found that the Credit Union had the same 36 mo. CD for 2.39% interest. That's nearly 17 points difference. Then looking more I found that the Credit Union's 39 mo. CD was 2.43% interest. For three more months I could raise the interest from 39 to 43, yes it's only 4 more points but if you do the math that would be an extra dollar or two!

I use this handy piece of technology whenever I have to figure out several different rates for my money. Certificates of Deposit Calculator best little item to use when wanting to know what your end results will be. For an extra six dollars at the end of my term going the 39 months instead of 36 I'm willing to wait! Needless to say I'm really considering the 39 months.

When doing finances you need to be aware of all institutions around you and be cautious where you place your money. Rates Change rapidly, if you're considering opening a CD check to see when their rates change and then compare when the new rates are posted.

UPDATE
Good thing that I checked my bank again, the 2.225% dropped to 2.20% so I will definately be getting a CD set up at the 2.42% rate. Not only that but I also found that the Credit Union also has a higher Christmas Club account! So they're going to be getting some business from me to gain some extra cash.
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CD DETAIL

Earlier in the making your first 1-5k I mentioned CD's, or Certificates of Deposit. They have thier own set of rates and interest but once your money goes into them you can't get it back out until the times up. Unless you'd like to face a pentaly fee which can be as much as 4 months worth of interest taken away.

I like to think of CD's as money ovens. You put your money (batter) in them for a certain amount of time and when the times up your money's done and you have (cake) more money than what you put in there.

The shortest time you can have a CD is 91Days and you can't touch that money until the times up, but in that time your money gained a special amount of interest that differs from every CD offering location.

Use the Calculator linked in this post to figure out how much you can earn by placing in the interest, the time the CD lasts for and how much you're going to place in. Check with the locations to see how often the intrest is added on typically it would be daily or annually.

Making your First 1K & 5K

As I said before in GET SET GO- JOB I made nearly $5000 dollars working just the weekends at minimum wage flipping burgers or in this case making tacos. In three years time. That's not too shabby when you have all week off for school and homework and your evenings free. This is a great way to get started on building up that savings account to your first k. K meaning thousand. Just like how M means Million. Want to know more about SI prefixes check out this link and the chart on Wikipedia.

STEP 1: TAKE HALF
If you want to make it big you have to start saving now in order for it to grow. Since you may still be living at home and this job is simply for you to learn those good old life lessons and responsibilities mom and dad want to teach you. Start by taking that paycheck when you get it and slice it in half. Placing half of it into Savings and the rest into your pocket or your checking.

I was a little more frugal with my saving habits. When I got a paycheck nearly all of it went into Savings. Say my paycheck was $253.89 I got to keep $53.89 in my pocket for myself to spend. The rest went into savings. A big cut but guess who's savings account will be bigger at the end of the year?

STEP 2: WORK WITH IT
If you have to spend money for gas to get to work try to be aware of cheaper alternatives. See if anyone from where you work at is coming from the same direction as you and hitch a ride. If not see if public transit is cheaper to buy once than to keep refilling your tank. Are you able to walk to work when it's nice? Could you ride your bike? These little cut backs can save you more than $10 when you go to fill up your gas tank.

Can you make that $53.89 or so last till your next pay? If so great! You've already started to become aware of your spending habits! But don't think that just because you have it in savings means that you can go dipping in it whenever you run out. That's not what your savings is there for. If you have a problem with this and know that there isn't going to be any real emergencies on your part then open up a short term CD and put your money in there.

CD's are Certificates of Deposit that have thier own set of rates and interest but once your money goes into them you can't get it back out until the times up. Think of them as money ovens you put your money in them for a certain amount of time. The shortest being 91Days and you can't touch that money until the times up but in that time your money gained a special amount of interest.

GET SET GO- JOB! And a Story about Me

First Job! Fast Food*Waitressing*Receptionist

We've all experienced or are about to experience our first Job. You know the one, the burger flipper, video rental, ticket vendor at the movies, parking lot buggy gathering, paper delivery job. The simple one that only pays minimum wage and for most of us "sucks" because we'd much rather be doing something else.

But instead of looking at it as a time filler or waste of time think of it as an investment. That job will give you money to put in your own pocket. Yeah, it'll teach you responsibility and all the other good stuff that mom and dad hope you experience along the way to prepare you for real life, but the biggest part about that job is that it will get you money!


STEP 1: MONEY IS GREAT!
It's what makes people RICH! It's just not always glamorous. One of my first jobs was at a fast food restaurant, the second one as a waitress. Although I only worked Friday night, Sat and Sunday when I was in high school at minimum wage, I still managed to make nearly $5,000 in three years. However, because of unfortunate circumstances, I lost nearly all of it and had to start from scratch. Just think about that, in 3 years working minimum wage on the weekends at a fast food establishment I accumulated nearly $5,000! That could've been a new starter car! Or the start of a college fund!

Then off to college full time needed only a few hours here and there to give myself gas money, my mind not even thinking about saving up or budgets or the future. I was a waitress then working the weekends and a couple of days during the week here and there. Waitressing had its ups and downs as well as the fast food establishment but one thing that the waitressing job had that it didn't was TIPS. GLORIOUS TIPS!

Saving up those dollars and change left on the table after people ate was the best thing ever! I saved up $500 dollars for Christmas! And over $700 for my first two week vacation to the ocean! Just in TIPS!! If I was smart I should've invested that money into Savings or a CD and watched it grow instead of getting all over zealous of my big spending.

But can you see what I mean by getting your first job and making it into an investment? You have to take the good with the bad. Think of your first job as a start, no it's not going to be glamorous or the greatest thing ever. That's why it's a start. You have to learn the ropes somewhere in order to make it big in real life. Every job is a stepping stone and every stone you step on should be higher than the last one.

After that job I took a four year stint. Yes, you heard me. FOUR YEARS with NO WORK. Perhaps I was just catching up on my second childhood or I hadn't grown out of the first one. With four younger sisters to take care of, being the eldest, going to school and working nearly every weekend I didn't have much of a social life. In fact I had no social life. So when my only student loan came back to collect I was in trouble. I was broke and didn't have a dime to pay them and I couldn't go to school until I paid them back. What a corner to back myself into right? Only option was to get a job but without a car and no one hiring within walking distance I was in a pickle, a big bitter dill pickle. I was depressed, I was worried and I was broke. Then just as I thought things couldn't get any worse for me a miracle happened. I went into see one of my friends at their job at a gambling "cafe", I walked in through the door and just as I did my friend smiled big at me and the woman she was tending to walked over and handed me nearly half of her winnings saying "I said I'd share with the next person who came in through this door." I was in tears as this woman just paid off my student loan and I was out of debt. I couldn't thank her enough for it and immediately the next day I deposited the cash and called and paid off the loan within 20 minutes of one another. In fact I still have the date and time saved of when I did it. Nov.17, 2008 12:38pm was the day I got my life back and decided to start accomplishing something.

My current job for the moment is a receptionist at a bank. Answering phones all day and balancing between Customer Service and Front Desk at the town’s biggest bank. It gets hectic, it gets annoying and it gets down right stupid sometimes to the point I want to just walk out the door and not come back. Yet it's money. I'm making something instead of NOTHING.

Remember it's always better to make something even if you hate it, all jobs have their bad days and their loathed parts. Just make it through and relish over that paycheck and know that money from that paycheck also went in for retirement. Which we'll talk about later on in the blog at some point.

Gas Guzzler

DO A LOOP NOT A MAZE

Another thing we can do to set a budget is, if you're not online shopping savvy yet, learn to plan your routes in advance to use the less amount of gas. Plan your day or times out so that you aren't repeating the same route twice or back tracking. This not only wastes gas but your own time and money. If you plan your route so that it loops and you can hit everything in one go on your way, you're not only saving youself money, time and getting the most out of your gas milage but also doing a bit of green for the envoirnment! Another thing to help you to get the most out of your tank is Gas Buddy. Gas Buddy requires you to know your Zip code or a few zip codes that surround you. Simply enter them in and find the cheaptest gas station to stop at and fill up your tank!