False Economies

With turmoil apparently back in the stock market (although I think more of a minor blip, let's see).

After reading an article over at bbc news they proposed that this was simply a correction and that the American stock market was simply correcting the over valued entities within it.

This got me thinking about valuations, people are always talking about buying quality products that will last you a long time.

However like with these recent stock corrections how do we know when we're buying something that's not going to blow up in our face.

With stocks we can do research digging through reports on individual companies at the companies house website. This can be incredibly tedious as there are various filing reports that have different levels of helpfulness from the annual report through to when the company was opened.

If you want to download any of this information it costs you £1 a pop, Not a cheap business. It may be wiser to use an aggregation site such as www.duedil.com this pay for service I've been using professionally for many years. Just to let you know I've never paid for it's services as they used to give them all away for free as long as you were registered. More recently they have restricted access to more and more of the information and put it behind the pay wall. Disappointing for me as I don't like paying for things when I don't have to!

I've also heard good things about iii's and morningstar's investor tools although I've not used them myself.

When buying products we can always read reviews. This however will only get you so far. Buying bin bags that don't break can be useful. But reducing the amount of waste you produce by buying less things that you have to throw away (this includes packaging! the bane of my life).

Then there's the designer problem, there seems to be brand power at work everywhere I go at the moment. From getting petrol at BP to doing the weekly shop at tesco, we're being pushed into staying with a particular shop because it makes us feel like we are getting a better experience.

Now I can agree that picking up a can of beans from the pallet in aldi isn't as nice as picking it from a shelf in Sainsbury's but I'm still picking a bleeding can of beans off a shelf. Surely this is what it all boils down to whether a company can make you so comfortable that you couldn't think it possible to go to one of it's cheaper competitors.

Until of course they push it a little too far and either increase the price so much that you then it becomes uncomfortable for you to shop, or external circumstances do this for them, (see Tesco in the recent recession). This could also happen as instead of increasing prices to create a better profit the company decides to reduce the quality of experience they are giving. This has the same affect as once the consumer realises the experience is no longer worth the premium price tag they then look for alternatives.

Don't even get me started on designer clothing.

The one thing that has propelled my earning potential

There's one thing that's made the biggest difference when it comes to my current earnings.

It's not my ruggedly handsome good looks (although it was nice of you to think so).

You could say that working hard has paid it's part, especially in the first couple of years of my career but it has not been the biggest factor.

To quantify it I would say working hard whilst at work has contributed around 10% of what I earn. However hard work matters little if it's not being noticed and matters even less if it's being noticed but by the wrong person.

Let's give an example of this.

 You've asked your boss for more responsibility, good for you! What you didn't realise is now you have to do your current job and the new work as well. So you start working late. Ok, this is bad, but surely you tell yourself this is only for the short term to show your boss what you've got in the tank and then they will give you the promotion you deserve and you can take that money to the bank sucker! So who else is there seeing you work late? Well there's the janitor and a few other colleagues who all look tired and caffeine dependent.

This goes on for a few weeks until you hand a piece of work into your boss. A few days later he calls you into a meeting, as they're a nice person they wanted to tell you privately that the big promotion has gone to Sally in purchasing as they've noticed a decline in your work and to be honest you look tired and that's not the look the higher ups want to see.

Epic fail. The strategy you used, working longer/ harder back fired, you worked yourself into a hole and lost the promotion because of it.

So whats the main reason I've been able to triple my earnings in only a few short years?

Studying has probably brought me the biggest rewards. Joining a relevant chartered institute has really propelled my career forward.

It's brought me respect - people recognise this qualification as being one difficult to gain, they presume I worked hard to get it (I did!).

A lot of my peers have a similar qualification, this brings familiarity, they believe that I must be like them, people like people who are similar to themselves.

They know I'm willing to work hard for a long time. As above it was a battle to complete the requirements for this qualification with lots of exams spanning almost 2 years which was the fast track route it normally takes 3-4 years.

Whilst I admit it was hard going, it is the most rewarding thing I could have done at the time.

Looking back I wish I had done it earlier in my career and I could reap the rewards for a lot longer.

Other than that I can't put my self down I worked hard and chose the right option and it worked out well for me.

What things have you done to boost your career? What have I not done that I should have done by now?

Selfish plug

Hello,

How are you today?

I'm fine thanks, been keeping myself busy (although my bathroom is still not finished, story for another day!).

So you think you've got life pretty summed up at the moment, you have your financial life under control, you save plenty each month.

Okay, let's step it up a gear. There are some expenses you just can't get away from (or shouldn't), death and taxes they always say. Well there are some others  as well. Home insurance, life insurance, food shopping, the occasional treat (woah there, are we going a little too far now?). Insert your own list of "needs".

As these costs cannot be avoided it's often cited to look around for the cheapest deals. But sometimes the cheapest isn't good enough. Another casual saying is "buy cheap, buy twice"!

So you may want to look elsewhere, this is where a new idea has come forward to me, Cashback.

I've heard about it before but never utilised it fully. My sister was the first to point this out when she bought her home insurance. She told me her renewal was X, she used a comparison site to find the best deal for her, then went through a cashback site and basically halved the cost to her of the insurance.

Pretty snazzy I thought, but maybe too good to be true?

So I checked it out, there does seem to be some pitfalls, the cashback isn't instantaneous, it is never guaranteed until it's in your bank and it scares me a little too.

By scaring me what I mean is, I've used it so far to reduce the cost of my home insurance by £70ish which is pretty good, but I was never 100% sure I would be getting that money until it hit my bank account.

Therefore I would only ever recommend using sites like this when you definitely want the exact service that the company is offering cashback for. To clarify, it seems some service providers have very similar products, with similar names, with one being available to earn cashback on and the other you cannot. The pricing on the products can differ wildly, so make sure you double check before signing up for any new products.

Always remember spending money on anything other than necessities is a luxury! You will always be better off keeping the money in your pocket!

Even with these warnings I still think cashback sites are worthwhile and definitely worth a browse, if you'd llike to help my blog then you can sign up though my affiliate link for Topcashback here,

PS goodbye winamp, you served us well :'(

Cycling for freedom

I have to say that moving house has been the biggest money saving idea I have ever done.

I used to travel for 45 mins to do 15 miles.
Now I travel 25 mins to do 3.5 miles.

Seems strange, but in the first I drove, in the second I cycle!

I do still drive, unfortunately I haven't been able to give it up completely quite yet, but it is definitely an ongoing process to reduce how much I drive. On the occasions I end up driving to work due to PURE LAZINESS, I do feel bad as I step out of the car.

And I feel it in my pocket too. Let's run the numbers:

A mile in my car which kicks out a pretty crappy 35mpg costs me 18pence with petrol at its current crazy price of £1.37/ litre

Therefore:
15 miles x 2 x 18p = ~£5.40 near enough

3.5 miles x 2 x 18p = ~£1.25 pretty much

So even if I drove everyday to work I would save (5.40-1.25 = 4.15)

£4.15 x 230 (working days)  = £954.50 PER YEAR!

That's with no cycling whatsoever, so everyday I get in that car I waste £1.25 or £287.50 a year.

Better get on me bike then!

And if you're not impressed by saving a grand a year, just think if I did this for the whole of my career, that's 40-45 years or £40-45 THOUSAND POUNDS.

Even only ten years is £10K, not too shabby I say!

PS: ordered my brewing kit today, will hopefully have my first ale in a few weeks :):)


Loving the cycling shorts! Pic By Nova

Looking for a side hustle

What a week it's been. The weather has been crap, mostly. So like a lot of people it has made me look inward. 

I've pretty much got my budget in order, so what next? 

Well as MMM says, it's spending and income or income and spending. So income then. I'm pretty settled in my job. Ha guess what I'm not paid enough though! So I could either work harder on cutting my costs, or get a side hustle!!

Side hustles can range from a fully blown part-time job, which works well for some, to earning a few quid filling in questionnaires.

I've done both in the past and enjoyed neither very much. Probably because I have this little thought constantly ticking along in my head that I'm worth more!! $25 doesn't seem like that much though, I was thinking more like £50. 

So what side hustles could stand up to my (probably inflated) sense of worth? Well  £50 translates to £104k a year. I think earning that much is probably a little out of my league at the moment. Unless I break it down.

So today I did some painting. No, I'm not the new Van Gogh, it was more for decoration purposes. So what's this got to do with side hustles? Well I had a look on myhammer and to paint a four bedroom flat they were quoting £1000! Shit I thought, I effectively saved that much today. Although we did only one room, so only £250, but how long did it take us? 5 hours, woohoo that's £50 an hour! Where's the champagne?

Yes, this is simplistic, it ignores the cost of the paint we bought and there was two of us doing it. 

So maybe not quite living the dream yet, but I guess it depends on your dream.