Nine of the world’s top money experts reveal their 2013 goals
Dr. Farrah Gray, author of Reallionaire (follow him @RealFarrahGray)
Image by Jerry Metellus.
“I’m more of a ‘think it, do it’ type of person. I think we suffer from analysis paralysis. We last [with New Year’s resolutions] for a few weeks but then completely abandon them. I save money every minute of the day. It’s not a New Year’s resolution; it’s a lifestyle. But I do have suggestions for other people. One, a lot of people are worried about the economy, so get a new job or create one. Society teaches us that our passions are our distractions, but I’ll argue that you can create another revenue stream by following them. Ask yourself what comes easily to me but harder to others, where would I work for years despite never getting paid for it, and how can I be of service to society? The answers to those questions will help you monetize your passion. Two, reduce debt and save money. We end up buying liabilities—things that are in style today but gone tomorrow—around the holidays. The best gift for loved ones is to be financially stable. Live below your means, and you won’t go broke. Put your credit card up and use cash. Reevaluate your cell phone bill. Never pay retail. Adopt more of a savvy way of shopping. Third, travel more. Use websites for vacation deals. You don’t have to be a millionaire, but you can be a ‘couponingaire.’ Exposure different cultures is everything. Fourth, I think we have to concentrate on our health. Health is wealth. People say, ‘I don’t want to waste food,’ so they eat the large portions. But you will ‘waist’ it. Get a gym membership. Do calisthenics at home. Eat a healthy diet. Fifth, be of service. Volunteer to feel useful and helpful to others.
As for investments, I’ve been a numismatist, which is a coin collector, since I was 12 years old. A lot of people think of gold, silver and platinum in terms of jewelry, but the commodities market has commercial applications. Catalytic converters use platinum. Computer chips are made of gold. Dental utensils use gold. Your wealth will grow. Gold has already outperformed the stock market. I always tell people to invest in what you know. By the time you hear about an opportunity, it’s old. I have a friend who has a Barbie collection. There’s money in that.”
Liz Weston, MSN Money columnist & author of There Are No Dumb Questions About Money (follow her @lizweston)
Image by Art Streiber.
“My resolution is not to neglect our investment portfolios in 2013. You’ve heard the saying about the cobbler’s children having no shoes? Well, too often I get so busy helping others with their financial issues that I don’t pay enough attention to how our retirement accounts are doing and whether our investments need rebalancing. So I’ll be making an appointment with our financial planner early in 2013 and following through on her recommendations.”
Dave Ramsey, host of The Dave Ramsey Show (follow him @DaveRamsey)
Image courtesy of The Lampo Group.
“No. 1: Get $1,000 in the bank, fast! Second, do a written budget. Tell your money what to do before the month begins. Third, prioritize your budget. MasterCard and Visa can wait! You should pay food, utilities, house payment, transportation and clothing first. No. 4: Use debt snowball method to become debt-free. Last, invest in growth stock mutual funds.”
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Follow him
@theRealKiyosaki)
Image courtesy of The Rich Dad Company.
“I’ll save SILVER—not money!”
Kelli Grant, SmartMoney.com & MarketWatch.com senior consumer reporter (follow her @KelliGrant)
Image by Kira Bucca Photography.
“My New Year’s resolution is to save more. I’m already stashing away a lot: I put away enough in my 401(k) to get the full match from my employer, and then some, and have automatic contributions set up for both investment and savings accounts. Twenty-thirteen, though, is going to be a year of big spending. I’m getting married, moving to a different state and buying a car. It’s an exciting time, but I don’t want those big life events to zero out my nest egg (or my fiancé’s). I plan to bump up those automatic savings while I can and check over my regular bills and other purchases to make sure I’m not spending more than needed.”
Jane Bryant Quinn, author of Making the Most of Your Money NOW (follow her @JaneBryantQuinn)
“Comb the regular bills that I pay automatically, for cuts. I just took $100 a month out of my cable bill.”
Lauren Lyons Cole, certified financial planner (follow her @laurenlyonscole)
Image by Nels Gerhardt.
“The easiest way to cut back on unnecessary spending is to have an exciting goal that you are looking forward to. At the beginning of each year, I choose one big purchase that I will focus on saving for throughout the year. Last year it was a trip to South Africa, this year it’s adopting a puppy. The benefit of this approach is I always end up saving more than I need to, which is just bonus money to put towards other financial goals.”
Sarah Lundberg, adapted from her book, Budget Savvy Diva’s Guide to Slashing Your Grocery Bill 50% or More (follow her @BudgetSavyDiva)
Image courtesy of Ulysses Press.
“Buy frozen vegetables. This strategy has saved me so much money. Frozen vegetables are much cheaper than fresh and most times are easily interchangeable in recipes. And, of course, frozen vegetables have a much longer shelf life.”
Matt Bruce, BruceBucks.com personal finance blogger (follow him @brucebucks)
Image courtesy of Matt Bruce.
“My wife’s and my biggest luxury that we enjoy is eating out with friends. In order to continue with that lifestyle and still meet our savings goals, we decided to limit the amount of beverages we purchase (two maximum), and when possible, share a meal. More often than not, the meal you order is enough food for two people. Although we enjoy eating out, there are opportunities for us to limit the amount of times we eat out each month. Inviting friends over to our house for food and drinks instead of going out, can save you close to $30. Especially if you split up the costs by asking your guests to contribute a dish to the dinner spread. This will allow us to save an extra $100 to $200 of our budget. This will allow us to save even more for our future.”
Cathy, that is annoying! We’re sorry you had to deal with that but thank you for sharing your experience with us. Here’s to happy couponing in 2013!
Decided to start the new year off by using money more efficiently. Vowed to use more coupons grocery shopping. Had 6 coupons Kroger had mailed to me, 5 coupons cut out of the paper and 12 coupons printed from Couponbug and CouponSuzy. Had a full cart, gave cashier coupons first and she started ringing up my purchases. Half way through, she said are you planning to use all of the internet coupons because she could only accept 3 coupons printed off the internet per visit. Told her no one had ever told me that and I had used internet coupons for years. She called mgr to see if he would ok it for this one purchase. If she had said something before ringing up 2/3′s of my purchase, I would have had the option of walking away. Mgr came over and said no to using more to 3 internet coupons. Said it was corporate policy (it isn’t-corporate allows individual store mgrs to set coupon policy). By now the line behind me was grumbling, my ice cream was softening but I was staying calm. When I said it was the first time I had heard this, he said I had been lucky because if he had caught a cashier letting me use more than 3 internet coupons, he would have fired the cashier on the spot. So while going through my coupons to fine 3 to use, he also started talking about counterfeit coupons being printed off the internet, causing problems for stores. Like I would counterfeit a coupon for $.40 that Kroger would double to $.80. The coupons that I wasn’t allowed to use added up to $15.20, not much but it is the principal. I spent $180 on groceries after the $70 deducted for my non counterfeit coupons and in store deals. Guess I’ll use Kroger’s ad to go shopping at Walmart or Meijers and have them match Kroger’s prices.