The Roundup - Busy Weekend Edition

This was a really busy weekend for us. We had several friends and some family over to the house the last couple of days. One of our friends came over and we helped her with her wedding album and to look for her first house. I think she’s really excited about searching for the new house. Saturday night, Melissa’s parents came into town unexpectedly (they were going to drive in on Sunday morning). Not only did they come in early, they had a serious car problem on the way down and we had to find a new part for them. Everything worked out great in the end, and we had a fabulous dinner and a great time visiting. Overall, I’d say it was a pretty darn good weekend.

I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to catch up on my blogging or keeping up with my blog reading, but here are a few of the articles I read :

Golbguru at Money, Matter, and more Musings, brings up some great things to consider about your security online. This is an area I feel very strongly about, and I wrote several posts on how to protect your finances online earlier this year.

Pinyo at Moolanomy has become “obsessed” with checking his blogging statistics. I have to admit I’ve been feeling this lately too. He put together some great goals to help overcome this, and I think I might do the same. It’s just not productive.

Nickel at Five Cent Nickel blogged about his experiences with Bank Of America’s high yield money market accounts. My current bank is the credit union I joined when I started my first job after college. I’ve been wondering about changing banks, and this post has me thinking of checking out BoA.

Brip Blap posted an absolutely great list of simple things you can do to improve your happiness and productivity. I do actually make an effort to follow a lot of what’s in his list, but not all of it. I think there is a word of wisdom there for everyone. I think this week I’m going to make an effort to take at least a 15 minute walk outside in the sunlight every day during the work day.

Whew! Now I have a chance to recover a bit from the weekend and catch up on some reading. Have a great week this upcoming week, and try and take some of Brip Blap’s advice this week. I know I will.

Image by givepeasachance

Investing In My Roth IRA

Is this enough to retire on? Recently, I talked about how I have switched my Roth IRA from the insurance company to my brokerage account. I started doing some research on where I was going to invest things, and came to the conclusion that I would be investing all of it in Vanguard Exchange Traded Funds after doing some math. The Vanguard ETFs have the lowest expense rations, even lower than their mutual funds, and offer a reasonably diverse portfolio.

There is only one problem, and that is brokerage fees. When I started calculating if ETFs or Mutual Funds would be better, ETFs won out easily for large investments, but with the smaller investments (like $1000 or less), if I had to figure in the brokerage fee, the mutual funds came out ahead. There weren’t huge differences, but because this money is going to be invested for 25 or more years, I wanted to ensure that I would lose as little as possible to expenses and fees.

So, I’ve been taking some time to find out the best place to put my Roth IRA (I’m moving it again I think - I only have so many free trades with my current broker).

I’ve been debating opening the Roth IRA at Zecco.com because there are free trades. I’m just not sure it’s going to make sense though. There appears to be a fee charged on Roth IRA accounts from what I can tell, and I might need to do a bit more research before I consider this option. The fee is likely to eat into my savings one way or another.

I’ve also been looking at opening up a Vanguard account directly because, at least right now, I think I’m going to stick only to Vanguard funds. This might change in the future, when I may want to diversify, but for now, after reading The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio, I think I’ll stick with Vanguard Index funds. But because I don’t have a large amount of money, I’m going to be hit with fees again. Even if I stick with mutual funds here, unless I have $3000 in each fund, there is another fee I’ll be charged at Vanguard.

It seems the more I learn, I find there is even more to learn. Investing can seem very straightforward one second, and then incredibly complex the next. In the end, it’s just a matter of sitting down, figuring out all of your costs and fees, properly diversifying, determining your acceptable level of risk, and then generally just letting your money sit and earn until you need it.

I feel like I’m back to square one today. I had convinced myself that my Ameritrade was not the best option here, and I might still be right, but the other two options that seemed to be better have more going on than I expected. I’m going to be taking some more time to do the math today, and if I discover anything else interesting, I’ll post it. In the meantime, my Roth is at least making something in the money market account, but it’s not going to make as much as I want if I let it sit there very long.

Photo by CheesePicklesCheese

Reducipe - Chicken Divan

Reducipe
Pronunciation: ri-doos-uh-pee
Function: noun
1 : a recipe that can help lower your food costs in a variety of ways
     a : by scaling back an expensive recipe to be less pricey but still just as tasty
     b : by turning an already inexpensive meal into something special
     c : by using leftovers in creative ways to stretch their use

There are many different interpretations of the classic Chicken Divan casserole; most of them have some combination of chicken, broccoli, and cheese. I love the creaminess of this dish and we happen to favor the kind that uses curry powder. Paired with rice it makes a very satisfying meal. It also reheats very well for leftover lunches.

This recipe is a favorite for using up leftover shredded chicken. It is perfect if you are running low on leftover chicken since it tastes great even with very little chicken in it. To me, the chicken is simply an ingredient in this dish, not the star. This week I only had one chicken leg leftover for this dinner and it turned out fine. Eric remarked that it could even go without chicken entirely, just add more broccoli instead.

This recipe is also good to use in weeks where you are having multiple chicken dishes and you need several different flavor profiles. The curry powder lends a different and unique flavor and will help give the variety you need to keep the leftovers tasting new and fresh.

Chicken Divan

2-3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/3 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 (10oz) package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
2 cups shredded chicken, cooked
½ -1 (10 3/4oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cheddar, shredded
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs (a piece of torn up bread works great)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter and oil in a hot pan. Sauté mushrooms and onions until the onions are almost translucent and the mushrooms are nicely browned. Remove from heat. Cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl add the broccoli, chicken, and sautéed mushrooms and onions.

In a medium bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, mayonnaise, cheddar, lemon juice, wine, curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, salt and pepper. Whisk together and pour the mixture over the broccoli and chicken. Mix well.

Place the mixture in a buttered casserole dish (I use a glass 9×9) and smooth with a spatula. Combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs and melted butter and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and the breadcrumbs are toasty. Serve with rice. Crusty bread is also nice for any extra sauce. Makes about 4 servings (or 6 if you stretch it).

There may be a lot of ingredients, but it’s really easy to assemble them together. Check it out :

To save money some weeks, we will purchase a whole chicken, and butcher it into pieces at home, and then roast it. On those weeks, where we have lots of shredded chicken, we always try to make a chicken divan as one of our casseroles. By buying chicken in bulk, roasting it and then shredding it, we are able to get more meals out of it than if we ate the chicken as-is. Enjoy and let me know what you think of it!

Is Total Debt Avoidance Really Best?

“All debt should be avoided”, “We should all try to live completely debt free”, “Don’t pay interest for anything”.

I feel like I’ve been hearing this debt-free mantra everywhere lately. Living debt-free is a fantastic goal to strive for.

Debt, as a general concept, is a negative thing to have. Having no financial obligations and enjoying complete freedom in how you spend your money is ideal. But when going into debt is the only way to achieve something you feel is truly worthwhile (within a reasonable time frame) is it still to be avoided at all costs?

I think there is a balance to be found; a balance between living below your means and enjoying life and what’s important to you. While debt can have a negative impact by decreasing your ability to build savings, some debt can actually enable you to further your career, build wealth, and acquire property. Following blanket statements like “never incur any debt” could mean missing out on these opportunities.

Let’s look at two situations where a no-tolerance debt avoidance policy could mean serious sacrifices:

Higher Education

Graduation Day! Many people rely on student loans in order to attend college. College is expensive and many students straight out of high school have a relatively low earning potential. At that age, it can be a real challenge to have the money to attend a university without financial support. Even for those who do get scholarships and grants sometimes it isn’t enough to cover all the costs.

Should people who do not have the money saved up to attend college simply forgo seeking that higher education to avoid student debt? Is remaining completely debt free worth passing up the opportunities having a degree could give?

Granted, you don’t need a degree to do well for yourself in this world. But a degree does help open doors, especially when more jobs are requiring a college degree now. An education can increase your earning potential and allow you to pursue specific career aspirations (like becoming a doctor). Being saddled with debt after leaving school is difficult but if having a degree can help you reach your career goals (and potentially your life goals) perhaps that is a debt worth enduring.

Mortgages

Many people simply can’t afford to buy a home outright. Home ownership is a common and deeply ingrained dream for many Americans. The reasons for wanting a home vary and in my opinion home ownership is a good goal to have. Over time, real estate generally increases in value and there are many benefits (not only financial) to being a home owner.

Should families whose dream is to have their own home really postpone home ownership until they can save up the entire cost of a home to avoid a mortgage?

New Home I was able to find some 1960’s fixer-upper homes for sale for about $80K near the city. That was the absolute low end of the scale excluding mobile homes and condos. $80K is a lot of money to save up in addition to other saving goals like retirement, especially if you earn less than the median household income in our area of $43K a year. It can be done, of course, but it would likely take years and serious sacrifice.

We live in a modest home in the suburbs outside a major city. The homes in our neighborhood are about 8 years old and average for around $160K now. If we were to save aggressively - $1K a month - it would take us almost 17 years to reach that amount (assuming 4% interest and 3% inflation). That’s a long time to wait just to avoid that mortgage and every year home prices continue to rise.

For me, I’d choose to get a mortgage I can safely afford and pay it down aggressively. Yes, I’ll incur interest and that is “wasted money” but I see it as a fact of life in order to achieve the goal of home ownership for my family. In my mind it becomes a choice between wasting money paying interest and wasting time by holding off for years until I can afford to buy the home in full. I guess it depends on what you see as more important.

Really, it boils down to choice and finding what is important to you. Blanket statements like “never go into debt” might not be the best path for everyone if that means missing out on potential wealth building opportunities like going to college or owning a home.

I think the key is allowing for debt that is “wealth-building” while trying to pay it down as soon as possible. Avoiding all other debt that decreases in worth (e.g. credit card debt and car loans) is absolutely essential.

Image Sources: omniNate, yellowbkpk

Smooth AND Solvent: Make The Moisturizer Switch

So many choices! Now that we know some ways companies try to artificially inflate the value of their products, how do we decide if we can happily switch to a cheaper brand?

Everybody sees the value of things differently. Some people might even tie their confidence in their looks to a using a specific product. That kind of brand loyalty is hard to overcome. As a rule of thumb, don’t buy any luxury item without comparing the actual benefits to what you could get from the cheaper competition. Let’s look at ways to find a good replacement for that pricey moisturizer.

Look at the ingredients

Make sure you are getting what you think you are from your pricey moisturizer and are not falling prey to “fairy dusting”. The products are listed in descending order based on the amount used in the product’s formulation. If the active ingredients you are looking for appear at the end of the ingredient list it is unlikely to have much of it. Also, more ingredients doesn’t necessarily mean that the product is any better for your skin than a simple formulation. Complexity doesn’t always equal superiority.

Cosmetic grade ingredients by their nature are considered “high quality” - even the ingredients used in cheaper products. Determine the main ingredients in your favorite product and try to find a cheaper alternative with the same core formulation.

Figure out what you actually like about that high-end product

Apart from the specific brand, determine the actual qualities you like so you can look for those same features in cheaper products. Do you like its texture, the feel on your skin, the way it absorbs, or maybe the fragrance? Get down to what about that product really impresses you and figure out the specific benefits you like.

For me, I realized what I liked so much about the La Mer crème was the feel of it on my skin. Really, nothing else was more important to me than that. It was thick and didn’t absorb quickly which was great for my dry skin. By determining what I actually liked about the product I was able to then look for an inexpensive moisturizer that had similar properties.

Now I use Olay Total Effects. It doesn’t have the exact same feel as the La Mer crème, but it is thicker than many moisturizers. It is a decent substitute at a fraction of the cost. If you honestly evaluate why you love a certain product and you can not find those qualities anywhere else then maybe the luxury product is actually *worth* it to you. Just be sure you aren’t being swayed by brand loyalty or marketing in that decision.

Don’t get swept up in the hype

Try to stay away from the sales counters and avoid the latest hot trend. Trendy items are notoriously expensive. Many of the new ingredients are just variations on a theme (e.g. the same kind of antioxidant just from a different source). Are the exotic ingredients the only way to get that benefit or are there cheaper alternatives that will get the same results?

Look it up

Research your favorite product to determine if there could be an alternative out there that could get you similar results for less money. Why spend more if you don’t have to, right? Check out Paula’s site for some of her product reviews. She even points out “drugstore doubles” to some of the higher end products.

If you are looking for a cheaper anti-wrinkle product consider alpha hydroxy acids as opposed to prescription strength products like Retin-A. The eHow Fashion. Style, & Personal Care Editor says to:

Sample other weaker, nonprescription vitamin A relatives like alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) and beta hydroxy acids (BHAs). You need at least 8 percent AHA for any visible results, though, which is just as likely to be present in a cheap drugstore product as in an expensive brand.

Be Realistic

Keep in mind that if you use a moisturizer everyday (any moisturizer really) you can improve the appearance of your skin. A good moisturizer for your skin type, sun protection, and exfoliation are the essentials for putting your best face forward. Extras are nice but likely won’t have the same impact that those core skincare practices will. Are the luxury moisturizers’ higher prices really worth it when it comes to actual results? Or do you start to see diminishing returns on your investment? At least give the cheaper stuff a try.

In all honesty, if I had unlimited funds I’d probably start using the La Mer crème again. Not because of the hype or because it was a “miracle worker”, but simply because I liked the way it felt on my skin and I haven’t found a product that does the same thing yet.

However, I don’t have unlimited funds so I must weigh the benefits against the cost of the product. If I look at it through unbiased eyes, the benefits weren’t justifying the price tag. I only appreciated it for being a good facial moisturizer. That isn’t really anything unique. Maybe if it actually performed miracles I’d feel differently. I think I’ll stick with the cheaper brands, at least until I figure out how to get the unlimited funds.

My skin still looks pretty good except now, so does my bank account.