Making the Most of your Lunch Hour
If you are like me, you are obsessed with awesome time management. When you get ready in the morning, you set your alarm to 5:51 because you have determined that 5:52 will cause you to rush slightly more when getting dressed, but 5:50 will allow you to a to take it a little extra easy getting ready (honestly that’s how I set my alarms..). Time management is a H U G E skill to have, I don’t think anyone can deny that.
I think many of us would agree that time management is most notably important during working hours. I would wager that ESPECIALLY during your lunch hour -if you get one – is time management so important. Why? Because this is your one free hour throughout your entire day where you can do whatever YOU want to do. For me that is one hour out of almost 11 hours counting commute time where I can do whatever I want. I don’t know about you, but I really want to make this hour count!
Assuming the possibility of an hour long lunch DOES exist for you, I’d highly recommend you work efficiently enough to allow yourself to take that hour lunch. Why? Because since starting my new lunch routine many months back, I feel like a day without my normal routine would leave me feeling more stressed, lazy, and lacking something for the rest of the day. I feel like without my daily lunch routine by the time I get home after my hour, hour fifteen minute traffic laden commute, that I’d be stressed and ready for either a contact sport, or to just relax for the rest of the night. Either way, when I’ve got home, I have work to do, not rugby to play.
I was inspired to write this article upon having a discussion with a coworker about my lunch routine, and after having read this article from CNN. The following is a quote which speaks DIRECTLY to my point:
“Our boss eats a 10-minute lunch at his desk every day, so we all do the same. Yet, on the odd days when I take a short walk at lunchtime or (gasp) go to the gym for half an hour, I feel so much less stressed, and get so much more done in the afternoon, that I really believe our whole department would function better if everyone took a real lunch break on a regular basis”.
Like I said, I’m a LOT less stressed, and ready to begin tackling the rest of the day. You know that feeling of motivation to start work at the beginning of the day, well it’s like a fresh dose of that in my opinion.
What do I do? I loooove to go to the gym during lunch, followed by a quick bite to eat. I am fortunate enough to have a gym located right down the street from my office, taking me literally around 1 minute to reach. I am able to change, workout, shower, go across the street to Subway, eat, and get back to work all within an hour. Sure I have to move like a madman while I doing all of this – but like I said, the ability to mentally take myself away from my current tasks, the stress release, and the absence of anyone else with whom I work is, well, honestly rejuvenating. When I return to work, I feel refreshed, ready to jump back into my tasks!
A side effect from my relatively new routine, is (I’m being honest here) an increased work pace. I rely on my daily lunch routine now so much that I will work more efficiently to ensure that I have enough time to take an hour lunch. Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself an excellent employee, and I work very hard always trying to do an outstand job. But knowing that my ability to break at lunch depends on my productivity level before 11AM, means I’ll be making darn sure I’m on track for the morning. And consequently upon returning from my lunch, I’ve got the “rejuvenated spirit” – resulting in increased productivity AFTER 12PM! It’s really a WIN WIN!
My point is that taking a lunch can be a lot more useful than you may think. Many of you may just view it as a waste of an hour. Certain days, I agree with you, it is – those are the really busy days. However, I’d wager that making sure you have an hour for yourself at lunch can really boost your motivation and output at work.
September 2, 2010
· 
myfinancialobjective · 
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Posted in: Good Finds
The 800 Club
Clubs. I’m sure all of us were apart of different clubs when we were younger, and many of us are still apart of different clubs today. Aside from having my application to the cool kids club rejected due to a “lack of suave”, I’m also striving to one day become a member of the REAL cool kids club – The 800 Club.
What’s the 800 Club? Well if you are a financial blogger, work in the finance industry, are a savvy consumer, or are the CFO of a company, you probably knew what this post was about by the title. For those of who don’t know, the 800 club is not exactly a club, but it’s a way to refer to people whose credit scores are above 800. Having a credit score above 800 is a huge tool. It can reward you with all sorts of lower interest rates and therefore thousands of dollars worth of savings over a lifetime.
What am I doing to eventually become a part of the 800 club? Well, I just applied for and was accepted for a new credit card many months after my previous credit card DISASTER (which frustrates me just thinking about). With this new credit card, I plan to buy a few things I could easily afford with my debit card. I will simply pay the balance off every month! Hopefully this will act to increase my credit as I know that your FICO score is determined by various sources of credit (Auto, credit cards, a mortgage, student loans…).
The second way I intend to reach 801 on my FICO score, is to never miss a payment. This really is not hard at all, it’s just a matter of being responsible. I’m almost always waiting for the payoff date to expire so I can quickly set up the next payment for my debts. What can I say, I hate debt! Hope this will benefit me in the long run with a credit score above 800!
Thirdly, I will NO LONGER max out ANY credit cards. I made this HUGE mistake before I really delved into personal finance with a Best Buy 18 month no interest credit card. I’m still paying it off now seeing as how I put everything on it that I got approved for. Rookie mistake, won’t happen again – I’m 800 bound…
Finally, I’m paying off debt left, right, up and down, side to side. Yup, ever month that passes is a month where I have taken another big stab in my total debt. I’ve devoted my life for the next year or so to paying off debt and saving for a house. I can see it now: “MFO: 800 club member, debt free, and a home owner…..” Someday….someday I’ll get there!
I was inspired to write this due to an article I read over at CNN. It is about a professional poker player who is striving to achieve the coveted 850 credit score. Pretty interesting video if you care to check it out!
Something to keep in mind though, according to the article, only about 0.5% of Americans are able to obtain an 850 credit score. So I wish this dude all the best.
And I think I’ll end on a bit of a motivational note… This is a quote from the article (doesn’t it just make you want to pay off debt?): “And that can translate into real money: On a $300,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the most credit-worthy borrowers will pay $14,200 less than those one tier below, $25,600 less than those two tiers below”.
Now, after that don’t you want a credit score above 800? What are you guys doing to improve your credit score?
August 31, 2010
· myfinancialobjective · One Comment
Posted in: Objectives
Yakezie Link Rally!
Ahh Mondays….What else can I say? 4 more days until the weekend…32 more working hours (or 36 in my case), 18 more hours of free time, 7.6 more hours of commuting, and 4 more dull lunches at subway (unless of course I go to the Indian Buffet on Friday!!) until Friday at 4PM. Looking forward to it!
Until then, let’s get to some other great PF blogs! Most of the time I read and comment on the articles I list in my link rally, so rest assured, if I’m posting it here, I think it’s worth the read!
What is An Economic Bubble Anyway? @ Bible Money Matters
20 Signs You Need a Financial Makeover @ Budgets are Sexy
When Companies Go Too Far @ CashMoneyLife
Forex Training Guide: A Disciplined Approach is the Right Way to Start @ Cool to be Frugal
Starting your own business costs less than ever before @ My Journey to Millions
Free Online Checking Accounts @ ptMoneys
Frugal Entertaining Without Breaking Your Budget @ Eventual Millionaire
Tips and Tricks to Getting Auto Insurance Discounts @ Financial Samurai
Dumb Money Strategies Exposed @ Studenomics
The Ups and Downs of Selling and iPhone of Craigslist @ Sweating the Big Stuff
DebtGoal Review for online Debt Management @ The Digerati Life
The Summer Doldrums @ MoneyCrush
Carnival of Personal Finance #272 – yogi Berra Edition at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
Happy Reading!
August 30, 2010
· myfinancialobjective · 3 Comments
Tags: Yakezie Challenge · Posted in: Good Finds
New Philadelphia Blogger Tax
NPR
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We all know that the federal government is not the only governing body that is hurting for funds. State and local authorities are hurting just as bad, just look at California – or in this case Philadelphia. Yes Philadelphia has instituted a new “business privilege license”, requiring bloggers to pay either $50 per year or $300 for a lifetime business license.
What’s even better about this awesome new blogger tax, is that there is no minimum. That means if a blogger happens to make under $50 for their blog per month, their blog is actually costing them money. Does this make sense to you: Blogger A. makes $1.00 per month from their blog, they are required to either buy the $300 lifetime business license or $50 a month, resulting in a net loss of -$49. Bloggers B,C,D,E,F…every other blogger in every other part of the country makes anywhere from .50 cents to $1,000,000+, and are required no blogger tax, or should I say “business privilege license”.
Obviously I think this is a bad idea. I really hope that other states don’t pick up onto the blogger tax. First of all, I’m sure there are a lot of teenage bloggers who are quite happy blogging who may not be able to continue to do so due to this new fee. It is just my opinion, but I feel that blogging is an incredibly constructive activity. It improves your reading/writing skills, your knowledge of whatever subject you are blogging about, and gives you a lot of general knowledge concerning what’s going on in the internet/marketing world. This is not only especially important for our fellow teenage bloggers, but the older bloggers too!
Secondly, blogs are making huge inroads in the news field. More and more often to you hear about some conservative blog getting the word out about some “horrible thing this democrat did”, or whatever the case may be. The fact is, the big names in news often miss a LOT of stuff, either on due to sheer lack of time, or on purpose due to political slant. Bloggers FILL that gap! Go to a conservative blog and you will find news and information you’d never find on MSNBC. Go to a liberal blog and you’ll find news and information you will never find on Fox News. That’s the way it is! Bloggers are gaining more and more respect as a community I feel…… maybe that’s why Philadelphia feels the need to tax us.
Obviously the city needs to raise some money, everyone is broke, and everyone has a budget deficit. But a tax on bloggers? I’d be willing to guess that the majority of blogs out there from the Philadelphia area make under $50 per month. Therefore I’m guessing that there are going to be a lot of blogs either closing up shop, wait, yeah that’s about all I’m guessing – that a lot of Philadelphia Blogs are going to close their doors.
What do you guys make of this news? Is this one more avenue of free speech being forced out by the government? Should Philadelphia leave bloggers alone? What about freelance writers – They are taxed. I wonder how much they expect to make from this new blog tax anyway. Any guesses?
August 25, 2010
· myfinancialobjective · 6 Comments
Tags: Income, Money, Taxes · Posted in: Economy, Good Finds
Retirement Savings Plan / Debt Snowball
I find saving for retirement to be a fun activity….honestly – I love watching my money grow. When I describe my hobbies to people it often goes something like this: “Tennis, Movies, hanging out with friends, saving for retirement, eating out, etc.”. Not only do I love to save for retirement in that I love watching my net worth grow (hopefully), but I love to talk about the topic.
Recently at work a coworker of mine (who I often bore with blogging facts and tid bits, retirement calculator spreadsheets, and savings goals), told me of his plan to save for retirement and payoff his debt. I really liked his plan, and thought that it was quite clever, something a financial advisor (or financial blogger) may come up with. My reaction was something like this: “WHAT!? Are you serious with me right now dude!? That is awesome! Holy crap! Dude, can I write a blog post about this!?!?!” He said yes and here we are. I’m pretty excited to tell you about his plan to increase his retirement savings contribution while paying down debt. It’s short, simple, and makes perfect sense to me. Let’s take a look shall we.
A few months back, my coworker finally started contributing to his retirement account, months after I first broached the subject with him. This, of course, was excellent news – Anytime someone makes the decision to start saving for retirement, an angle gets its wings (anyone know that quote?). But seriously this made me happy because I’m sure I was a constant annoyance always bragging about the “free extra money” I was getting due to taxes and the employer match (of course this was one of my methods of trying to convince him to start his contribution).
This coworker also has 5 different debts that he is snowballing. This brings us to his retirement savings/debt dilemma. He wants to increase his 401k contribution but he ALSO wants to continue to snowball his 5 debts. I’ve come up with a short little catchy name for it.
The Retirement Savings Incremental Increase and Gradual Debt Snowball Reduction Plan, or RSIIGDSRP for short.
How it works
Every time he knocks off one of his debts in his debt snowball, he is going to increase his 401k contribution by 2%. Currently he is at 5% which mean that by the time he has no debt, he will be contributing 15% of his salary to his 401K. A 15% contribution to his retirement account and a debt snowball ending in debt freedom? Sounds like a pretty good plan to me. Here’s a little chart to put it into perspective.
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Why do I like RSIIGDSRP so much?
His plan is simple, and yet makes perfect sense – Gradually increasing his retirement savings contribution while paying off debt. This way he will still be able to enjoy some extra cash thrown at his next debt objective, and yet he will also be saving more towards retirement. I like it!
Yes today was a good day, and I’m pretty happy that my coworker has decided to make some serious steps forward in his path to a comfortable retirement and debt freedom. I still contest that one of the best feelings is to watch your retirement account grow every two weeks. Or to log into your loan companies’ website way more times than you have to just to look over the extra principal payments you are making.
What do you guys think? Is his plan for gradually increasing his retirement savings percentage as he moves forward with his debt snowball a good idea? Have you ever tried/heard of anything similar?
August 23, 2010
· myfinancialobjective · One Comment
Tags: 401k, determination, Financial Objectives, Loan Payoff, Retirement, Savings · Posted in: Good Finds, Objectives
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