More Wine for All We Say

Millennials are changing the wine industry.  Money quote: "In the same way [millennials] don’t trust the banks, insurance companies or the government, they don’t care what critics say about a wine or how many medals a bottle has won.”  They are more about the experience of finding and drinking the wine, how they found it and how it tastes, not how much it costs or how many medals it earned.

The New Normal

MarketWatch has a story on the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s latest study that suggests that the current, standard age of retirement is going the way to of the dodo bird.  We had to see this coming.  With the average life expectancy of both men and women increasing over the years, men current at 76 years old and women at 81 years old, living on a combination of government assistance that’s dwindling and personal savings that getting harder and harder to accumulate, it’s no wonder.  What is a Money Conscience person supposed to do?

There are several weapons in our arsenal, but they revolve around two factors: saving more and spending less.  Yuck!  That doesn’t sound fun.  Do not fret.  It’s not as bad as it sounds. 

First and foremost, set your savings aside before you budget any of your spending for the month, pay period, week or whatever regular interval you budget your money.  This is most ideally done by your employer portioning a set amount of money to be put into your retirement savings plan.  This way you don’t see and can’t get to it. 

Next, cut back on dining out and cook at home, whether with friends or family.  Stop spending $50 to go to the movies, but rather stream a movie from Netflix at home.  Netflix’s streaming plan is $8 a month now and there are thousands of movies from which to choose.  Go to the grocery store with a grocery list and a menu already created for the week and stick to it.  This helps make sure you don’t waste food and make rash purchases that you and your family don’t really need.  This summer, plan a staycation.  There are numerous websites that highlight free or relatively cheap events in your local area.  Take advantage of this.  Drive strategically.  This mean car pooling when we can, mapping out our routes when running errands so we don’t back track or so we’re not running out for only one reason.  Finally, consider the “Not So Expensive” (NSE).  These are the non-name brand items that are just as good as name brand, they’re the Yellow Tails of the world. 

With any money we have left over from practicing some, all or more of these money saving ideas, set aside in a Roth IRA, increase your company sponsored retirement plan savings or set aside in a brokerage account.  In all accounts, invest wisely, considering your time horizon, risk tolerance and your short and long-term financial goals. 

MarketWatch

Stretching Your Dollar with the NSE

More and more people are looking for ways to make their money go further. Sites like Groupon and LivingSocial offer coupons or deals for items or services that are up to 75% off. These can be a great way to stretch your dollar as long as it is on something you already need.  There was a story on Yahoo this morning, though, that caught my interest in one of the facets of the principle Living Below Your Means; the NSE.

The NSE is the Not So Expensive. The idea here is that there are almost always replacements or substitute items that we can purchase instead of buying that top of the line brand new “must have”.  The Yahoo story points out how one man lives the Six Figure life on a $30k salary. His NSEs have been a foreclosed on home purchased in a prime neighborhood that needed a little work and a Mustang that he purchased on Craigslist from someone who was desperate to sell and thus willing to cut him a bargain.

We did something similar in 2007. When all the new high rise condos were going up, we also wanted in on the game, but at a price of $350-450k for 800-1000 square feet we were looking at being house poor. With a little searching, we found a place on the 12^th floor of a building built in 1962 that needed some TLC. We have a fantastic view of the city and mountains that we never could have come close to affording in a new building; all this for $130k and a mortgage that we can now pay off in less than 30 years.

What about other NSEs? Think about items you purchase regularly like food and clothing. Are there ways to focus on items of similar quality, but at a lower price? We don’t need to buy gourmet food all the time.  Can we shop around for better deals on clothes, maybe even looking at second hand or consignment shops?

Living the life you want can be had, especially if we find ways to get what we want at a price we can afford.

Living A Six Figure Lifestyle