Looking for people in your 20s, 30s, and 40s — what do you wish you’d saved for?

Lots of people leave comments on this site saying, “Ramit, I’ve already handled the basics, so what am I supposed to do with my money now?”

I’m working on a new post to give you a strategy to leave your friends in the financial dust.

But first, I need your help to tell me what you wish you’d saved for 10 years ago (surveys take less than 1 minute).

• If you’re in your 20s, click here.
• If you’re in your 30s, click here.
• If you’re in your 40s, click here.

Look for the post soon.

Guy is scared of calling companies, calls them, negotiates fees successfully

Another one from Ramit’s Inbox on negotiating a fee away…

Here’s a good example of how you can get many fees waived in 2 minutes with a phone call. (It’s kind of curious that people email me instead of the company directly, but…)

From: Stephen T.
To: Ramit

Hey Ramit, enjoyed your book and it’s been a great help.

I signed up at myfico.com to get my credit information, and this morning (a month later) got a happy note from them telling me they’d billed me $89 for the next year. I’d rather not use their service for the next year.

Perfectly reasonable request. So what should he do?

From: Ramit
To: Stephen T.

Call them

Sent from my iPhone

Let’s see what happens…

From: Stephen T.
To: Ramit

Hey, just an update on the MyFICO billing. I called them per your suggestion and they immediately offered a refund, and processed the refund while I was on the line. Impressive customer service.

Thanks!

Since you’ll be setting up an automatic monthly review of your finances (as I illustrate in extreme detail in my personal finance book), charges like this will never, ever slip past you.

Also, CALL COMPANIES — it saves you a LOT of money. No need to be scared. In fact, when I call companies, they get scared. Once you realize that you have the skills and leverage to get most fees reversed, your interactions with companies will be a lot more pleasant (since you’ll dominate them). Read more about negotiating fees.

* * *

The Most Common Roth 401K Misconception

Why would anyone choose a Traditional 401K over a Roth 401K?? After all, your company paid match is equivalent and if it’s post tax with a Roth, you’re really getting more money from your employer.

WRONG!

Your employer’s match on Traditional 401K’s AND Roth 401K’s is pre-taxed and always automatically put into a separate Traditional 401K account. Your match will be worth the same amount today and in the future, whether you contribute to the Traditional or the Roth. If you thought you were being clever by going with the Roth to get more of a match, well…. sorry.

To the Readers:

Did you think that by contributing to a Roth 401K you were getting a bigger match?

If you found this article helpful, subscribe to my free RSS feed, or sign up for free email updates! You may also find the following articles of interest:

The Complete Guide to Choosing Between a Traditional 401K and a Roth 401K

Choosing Between a Traditional 401K and a Roth 401K, Part II: How will my Choice Effect Early Retirement?

Roth IRA Basics in a Question and Answer Format

Share and Enjoy (and comment below):

- www.CharlesDunbar.com

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How to Retire Early

To retire early, you must be financially prepared and organized for the many years that lay before you. Find out how you can retire early.

20 Backpacking Tips to Turn you Into Lewis & Clark

Hopefully, the catchy title sucked you in. We previously covered what backpacking gear to purchase, what food and clothing to bring, and how to properly train for backpacking. All of that stuff is great and necessary, but it doesn’t exactly prepare you for some of the situations that you encounter while out on the trail. Here are 20 of the top backpacking tips and lessons that I’ve learned from personal experience and the experts. 

Food

1. Do not leave any food behind. Animals will find it and you will create problems for future backpackers as they become more interested in human food and activity. Be conscious of how you are impacting others.

2. Store everything properly. Anything scented, including lip balm, toothpaste, deodorant, and your toothbrush needs special storage consideration. I’ve seen three different types of backcountry animal deterrent systems. Some parks have a large metal trunk that you can store these materials in. Others have a pulley system to pull your bag up. A third system consists of a pole that you raise and hang your backpack on. At night, this is where all scented products and food should go. These animal avoidance systems are also a strong incentive to stay at designated campsites.

3. Keep critters out of your food. Think your food is safe 20 feet in the air? I did too. That is, until I woke up, pulled my bag down for breakfast, and noticed a hole in it. A rodent had eaten a hole in my bag to get to food. I don’t know how the little critter ate everything that he did, but he really did cut into my food supplies for the trip. Lesson learned: store your food in a steel mesh bag or other animal proof container.

4. Keep your food waste under conrol. Pack all of your meals in ziplock bags. That way, when you’re done, you can put all waste in them. This keeps things clean and simple and cuts down on scents that can be picked up by animals.

5. Cook your food at least 100 feet downwind from your tent. Otherwise, you may be encouraging animals to sneak around your tent at night because your tent will smell like the food that you cooked.

Water

6. Have enough water, but not too much. Plan your routes so that you will cross water at least once per day. If you don’t have access to water re-fill spots, you’ll have to carry a lot of it in with you. Water weighs a ton and the less you need to carry, the better.

7. Collect water from flowing water sources. Get water from flowing sources - a stream, river, spring, or lake. This helps to prevent water from being gathered near a bacterial source like a dead animal.

8. Always sterilize your water. Filter your water, boil it, or both.

Bears

9. If you’re going through thick brush, make a lot of noise. This scares bears off. They don’t want to run into you, and you don’t want to startle them without warning.

10. If you do encounter a bear, be as big and as loud as possible. Raise your pack over your head, clang your cookware together. Then back away slowly, while still facing the bear. Do not turn, and whatever you do, do not run.

11. Play dead! If, in the vary rare circumstance that you do get attacked by a bear, cover your head, roll into a ball, and play dead. Bears get bored easily. I believe you’re more likely to be hit by lightning, but still, it’s good to know what to do in the unlikely event.

12. Don’t fear the bears, but definitely be conscious if you’re in bear country. Depending on where you hike, you may run into bears. I’ve seen them, heard them at night, and have occasionally smelled them nearby. At first, it can psyche you out a bit. But remember, they are more scared of you than you are of them and want to avoid contact. Be aware of your surroundings, but don’t freak out.

Hiking

13. Keep your feet dry. Wet feet leads to more friction and potential blisters. Always have an extra pair of dry socks with you.

14. Keep your weight on your hips. True backpacking packs have a weight belt for your hips. You want the majority of the weight you are carrying to settle there vs. on your shoulders.

15. Go easy on your knees. If you’re doing a lot of downhill hiking as a result of big altitude changes, your knees can really get abused. Consider using trekking poles or a walking stick to share the weight impact with your legs.

16. Be cautious of blisters. Address blisters as soon as they start to develop. A minor irritation can quickly get a lot worse and really ruin your whole trip. Always carry blister pads with you.

Navigation

17. Always be mappin’. Always have a map of where you are hiking. Other than obviously helping to keep you on track, maps can help you figure out where you are at certain times of the day and plan out where you need to get to.

18. Get an old school compass. Carry a traditional magnetic compass. A co-worker recently told me he ended up hiking 15 miles out of the way because his iPhone compass app was unusable when his phone battery died on him. Don’t trust technology when in the woods.

19. Stay put when lost. If you are significantly lost, get to a visible area where you can send smoke or other signals and don’t move. When you try to find your way out of trouble, you usually end up getting more lost.

And Finally…

20. Have fun! It may seem tough and like a lot of work the first time out, but once you get out there, enjoy the solitude, adventure, and challenge that nature provides!

To the Readers:

• What backpacking tips do you have to share?
• What’s your funniest or craziest backpacking story?

If you found this article helpful, you can subscribe to the 20somethingfinance RSS feed, or sign up for free email updates. You may also find the following articles of interest:

The Beginner’s Guide to Backpacking: Buying Backpacking Gear and Supplies

Choose the Right Backpacking Food and Clothing

How to Train and Prepare for your Backpacking Trip

Share and Enjoy (and comment below):

The Money Diaries: The 20-something who can’t seem to get out of his parents’ house

Today is another post in the Money Diaries series, which is based off New York Magazine’s Sex Diaries. We’ve collected stories from real people about their spending habits over seven days, anonymized them, and posted them here.

Today’s post is by a 25-year-old who lives at home with his parents in an attempt to save money to buy a house. Meanwhile, he obsesses over small expenses thinking that they affect his housing fund.

* * *

Day 1
3:45 p.m.: I read my email while taking a break from work and I find out I’ve been chosen to do the Money Diaries. Oh jeez! Why today? I just spent $107.00 on the Inazuman DVD Box Set. I suppose I still have time to cancel the order but the demand for Japanese TV shows in America is small so I think I’ll make this my only real purchase of the week.
4:30 p.m.: I left work at 4 and carpooled home. It’s been a month since the coworker chipped in anything, so he gave me $20. I think what with gas going down I might want to tell him he now only has to pay me once every 5 weeks or so. Sure that’s less money coming in but honestly, I feel bad taking too much money for what is essentially a mile out of my normal commute.
4:45 p.m.: I get home and the giant box from DeepDiscount’s DVD sale is on my bed. Luckily they are all presents (Christmas time) bought by my siblings for each other under my credit card account. This of course means that I have now find a way to collect almost $400 from them. Why I lend money to relatives I will never know. My brother will probably pay me back after the first of the year unless he gets some seasonal work or sells something on eBay, but everyone else should pay me back within a week.
5:56 p.m.: Dinner is over and I finished my exercising. I’ve decided that even though there are a few things I could buy that I genuinely need, I’m not making a special trip out. I resigned myself to the comfort of my bedroom, my TV and DVD player for some entertainment. Ah yes, that TV was literally funded with my first paycheck at my current job. Why I didn’t save that money and buy it later I don’t know. At least I didn’t put it on a credit card. Total Spent Today: $106.95

Day 2
7:38 a.m.: I check my budget for the month on my work PC while I wait for some of my systems to come up. It looks like buying all my Christmas presents in November was as dumb an idea as buying them all in December except I get to skip the stores for a month. While I’m nowhere near maxed out, I will probably have to tap into savings to cover the bills next month. I guess I should just leave the CC home for a few weeks. Also on the way to work I debated going through the drive-thru at some fast food place to get a breakfast sandwich but for the sake of my wallet and my waistline I didn’t. I also got my eBay invoice. $22 in fees this month. Not too bad but it’s been a slow month for acquiring merchandise I guess.
9:02 a.m.: After getting a big project at work rolling, I check the email yet again and find out that the Inazuman set has shipped so no chance to cancel it now. Oh well, if I don’t like it I suppose I can sell it.
10:30 a.m.: I give in to my hunger and eat an apple from my lunch. This of course means that I now have an inadequate lunch and since tonight I work late I will have to pick up a side dish somewhere.
1 p.m.: I got back from lunch without too much damage. I walked around the mall eyeing a few items here and there. Steve & Berry’s was having a final closeout of shirts for $1 a piece as they are closing tomorrow. While it is tempting to find a few shirts for lounging around, none are work appropriate and I pretty much picked out all the casual ones I wanted last week. I also walked around the dollar store and Target. Normally I love to browse their stationery and pen section to see if there are any good new pens on the market. I instead went straight for the cafeteria and bought a Popcorn Combo for $1.58 including tax. I ate half of the popcorn and put it in the back seat of my car. I’ll save that for tomorrow’s snack I guess.
5:30 p.m.: I’m getting my haircut tonight by the same barber who cut my hair when I was one year old. At least she gives us all a good deal so I paid about $8 for mine.
8 p.m.: Same old nightly routine in my parents’ house. I live in my bedroom as I have since I was back in school. Despite making more money than both my parents combined, I just can’t seem to find a place. Perhaps it’s because I refuse to buy into slums, or maybe because I spent every dime I had in college.
10 p.m.: After talking with a friend about car insurance, I decided to give Progressive a try. Looks like my insurance can be cut in half next year from what I paid this year. I’m not sure if it’s because I turned 26 or because my car will be paid off, but I look to pay about half with Progressive compared to what I paid last year with Encompass. That will certainly be nice as my car insurance is set to expire in April and that’s also tax time. Total spent today: $9.58

Day 3
9:38 a.m.: A coworker mentions that GMAC is desperate for money and their CDs are much higher than even ING Direct. This may be worth looking into. Granted with what little savings I have, it may just make more sense to stick with ING. The differences equal only a few dollars but I’ll have to look into it and do the math. Still, I should work on a rent/housing fund if I ever want to get out of my parents’ house this decade.
10:23 p.m.: I just got the $25 from Amazon refunded to my credit card for the DVD they never sent me. I’m kind of glad they didn’t give me store credit as I would’ve spent that so fast it would make your head swim. I have $75 in Amazon gift certificates now. I don’t know what I’m saving them for (maybe a Kitchen Aid Mixer?) but it seems silly to give Amazon free interest on holding my money. Perhaps I should just use them along with my next order and put the cash in a separate account at ING. That might make sense I guess. Of course the worst part was my CC has about $1,500 charged to it this month. Eek!
1 p.m.: I had a craving for a Wendy’s Frosty but it was too packed so instead I ate the leftover popcorn. At least I didn’t spend any money outside of maybe 3 miles worth of gas, which is pretty cheap now.
2:58 p.m.: I’m thinking of converting my Electric Orange I just started a couple weeks ago to get the $25 sign up bonus into a future housing fund. Maybe if I can get my car paid off I can start making say $400 a fortnight to it to pay for housing. The only problem is that it doesn’t earn all that much interest but I do need to keep it somewhat liquid, I guess. I am so envious of my friend in Nebraska with her lovely apartment at $350 a month. Why is it that everything here is $650 a month and up for garbage? I don’t even live in a city!
5:20 p.m.: I filled up my gas tank at $2.099 for regular at Mobil. Of course after I drive another 3 miles or so towards home I realize that Shell just dropped down to $1.999! So basically I spent 81.29 cents more because I didn’t wait to check the price. I guess that’s just more bad luck than anything else. Still, it’s amazing to fill my tank up from half way for less than $20.
5:45 p.m.: In today’s mail I found out the hinges I bought to repair my desk’s keyboard drawer came in. While I did have to pay $20 including the shipping, I guess they are worth it since these are solid brass and were the only ones I could find (online or off) that were the same size. The only problem is the brass doesn’t match the rest of the black hardware and I am tempted to replace all the other hardware since the brass looks much nicer. Total spent today: $17.06

Day 4
8:30 a.m.: I’m sitting at work completely and totally exhausted. I guess it will be a frugal Friday as my friend I usually hang out with at least once a week is at seminary in Pennsylvania this weekend. Perhaps I’ll take her our for lunch/dinner next Wednesday as I have the whole day off.
1 p.m.: Since I didn’t pack a decent lunch, and I desired something hot, I got three breadsticks from the Pizza Hut Express. Not only is that $1.78 spent that I did not plan, but it’s also 450 calories I now have to burn off.
3:32 p.m.: Well, I get to leave in 28 minutes and while the prospect of spending a Friday night home with my family is not my idea of a good time, unfortunately none of my friends seem to want to go out or even come over to my place. Of course, when you live at home in your mid 20s your friends start to get the idea and stop coming over. Total spent today: $1.78

Day 5
1:30 p.m.: Slept in today and outside of going to Stop & Shop to take advantage of their sale on Pepsi, I haven’t spent any money. This morning my parents and I went for a drive to look at the neighborhoods of some houses for sale as well as some apartments. More than half of the houses needed a lot of work (something I’m really not ready to do at this point in my life) and quite a few were in areas where kids are constantly hanging out. I don’t have a problem with kids normally but honestly I’d rather live in a neighborhood full of old people. They make less noise and cause less trouble. Plus my town has a bit of a juvenile delinquent problem and they tend to congregate closer to downtown so I guess I should look more towards the higher priced outskirts.
2:30 p.m.: I realized with all the spending I’ve done this month I’ll be getting something around $50 in rewards from my credit card. I have made a vow that I will put all these rewards together and use them on something I really, really want and thus use them as a sort of forced savings plan. I wouldn’t mind a Kitchen Aid mixer, despite not having my own kitchen yet. I just have to be good and not spend it on DVDs, books, video games or other forms of entertainment. Honestly, I just need to keep my eye on my spending and I’ll be fine. Total Spent today: $4.20 - Hmm, maybe I won’t do so bad this week.

Day 6
I am so glad this week is about over. I did manage to go an entire day without spending money. I decided to play handyman and went to my grandmother’s house to get some projects done that she’s been needing help on. I did some weatherstripping as well as moving some stuff out of her garage into the basement. The best part was that I got to stay for dinner. I did check some sales papers and outside of a few non-essential items, I don’t see anything I really need to buy this week. Total spent today: Nothing!

Day 7
1 p.m.: I took a trip to Best Buy on my lunch break and picked up two 50 packs of DVD-Rs for $10 each. Including tax I spent $20.98, which is a fairly good price. I debated on not buying these but I figured they are at least $14 less than the Taiyo Yudens I normally buy and they don’t go bad so it was certainly worth it, to me.
4 p.m.: Well, I’m going to go straight home tonight and just relax doing nothing. I can’t really go out and I can’t really spend any more money. I can tentatively say, unless I go out to eat on Wednesday, that I won’t be spending any more this week. I can at least guarantee today, though. Total spent today: $20.98

In Sum:
All in all I spent a grand total of $160.55 this week. What’s even more sad is that the depreciation of those items are pretty close to 100%. Granted, I did have daily living expenses such as food, gas and a haircut but this week keeps me $160.55 further away from ever getting out of here. In my defense I have some automatic savings already in place for the house but still, that $160 would be better in my high interest savings account than in the form of DVDs and cheap snacks. Maybe though, I’m being too hard on myself. Perhaps I’m viewing this as an all or nothing game where I must either spend it all or save it all. Where is that happy medium? I hope someday to find out.

* * *

To be featured anonymously in a future Money Diary, click here.

Cash for Clunkers Credit Incentive Details

The “Cash for Clunkers” bill has passed both the House and the Senate and is expected to be signed by President Obama shortly. The bill is intended to boost U.S. auto sales while encouraging people to buy vehicles that have a mpg improvement over their existing ones.

If you have a vehicle that was made in 1984 or after and has an average fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less, than your vehicle may be eligible for an immediate tax credit at the time of your purchase. I immediately had the thought of buying a piece of shit car (thanks Adam Sandler) for a few hundred dollars and dragging it into the dealership. After looking into it though, you have to have had the car registered and insured for at least a year in your name. Bummer. 

As I highlighted in the Chrysler Fire Sale post, now might be a good time to get a new vehicle due to dealer incentives, tax credits, high supply/low demand, and zero percent financing. If you have a P.O.S. car that you’ve been meaning to trade in, this “Cash for Clunkers” program might be one of those rare times where you could actually land a new vehicle at a price lower than a used vehicle that is a few years old and has wear and tear on it.

If you’re going to take advantage of this, you’ll want to move quick. From what I have read, the bill has set aside only $1 billion, and once it’s gone, you’re out of luck. However, the program hasn’t officially started, so stay tuned and be ready for when it does.

Cash for Clunkers Incentive Details
New Vehicle Type  | New Vehicle MPG | Trade-In Type | New Veh. MPG Increase | Incentive
Passenger Car           | 22 MPG+                  |       –                 | 4 MPG+ (10 MPG+)           | $3,500 ($4,500)
Category 1 Trucks    | 18 MPG+                  |       —                 | 2 MPG+ (5 MPG+)             | $3,500 ($4,500)
Category 2 Trucks    | 15 MPG+                  | Cat. 2/3 Truck    | 1 MPG+ (2 MPG+)             | $3,500 ($4,500)
Category 3 Trucks    | N/A                          | Cat. 3 Truck        | Similar in size                  | $3,500

Cash for Clunkers Question and Answer

The above incentive details and below questions and answers are based on the latest version of the bill and may change once the bill is enacted.

Q: How do I find out my Vehicle’s Average MPG? Is that the city or highway mileage?
A: Go to fueleconomy.gov, ‘find a car’, and look for the combined ‘Estimated New EPA MPG’. It’s the average overall mpg of the vehicle.

Q: Does this apply for used vehicles that I might want to buy?
A: Only new.

Q: Is there a price limit on the vehicle I’m buying?
A: Yes, the vehicle you buy must be $45,000 or less.

Q: What dates can I buy a qualifying vehicle and get the incentive?
A: At the latest update from July 1, 2009 to November 1, 2009, or the incentive money runs out, whatever comes first.

Q: Is their an income limit?
A: No.

Q: Is this retroactive?
A: No

Q: Is this totally separate from other deal incentives?
A: Yes. If you buy a vehicle, negotiate for the best price, and once you’ve negotiated, tell them you are trading in a clunker. I would not recommend mentioning this prior to your negotiated price, as the deal will probably use it as leverage against you (even though they have no validity in doing so as they don’t pay for the incentive).

Q: Is this U.S. made vehicles only?
A: No. Both foreign and domestic.

Q: What if I want to lease?
A: Your lease must be at least 5 years long.

Q: Is the credit mailed to me? How do I get it?
A: The dealer subtracts the credit from your final negotiated buy price and gets the funds sent to them directly from the government.

Q: Is the incentive taxable?
A: No.

To the Readers:

• Do you plan to cash in on “Cash for Clunkers”?
• What MPG vehicle would you be trading in and what do you plan on getting in return?

If you found this article helpful, subscribe to my free RSS feed, or sign up for free email updates! You may also find the following articles of interest:

How to Benefit from Chrysler’s Fire Sale

12 Tips on how to get a Good Deal on a New Car

Share and Enjoy (and comment below):

Baby Boomer Retirement Planning - Retire Early - Retire Wealthy

http://www.theidealretirement.com Create the ideal retirement with proper retirement planning ensures you have the right level of retirement ...

Baby Boomer Retirement Planning - Retire Early - Retire Wea

http://www.theidealretirement.com Create the ideal retirement with proper retirement planning ensures you have the right level of retirement ...

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