Investment Project

I've started a little investment project to demonstrate how, no matter what kind of income, a person can save up and meet modest goals to help secure their financial future. This is how I currently have everything setup. I created a stock portfolio about six months ago. I used the company Sharebuilder.com because of their low trade prices. I received my first six trades free. I put $100.00 in, and it's now valued at $110.69(as of this article.). Not a lot of money, but that's a decent return on $100.00, let's hope it keeps going. I also have $30.00 of each of my paychecks direct depositing to this savings account. Once again, not a large investment, but it will build over time, and trust me you won't miss the $30.00.

I also have 6% of each paycheck being taken out and going into my 401K and it's being matched @ 50% by my employer. Many companies offer a 401k(even matching dollar for dollar!), and if you turn it down, you're turning down free money. That's how I'm currently investing in this project. If you notice to the right I have a little graph to keep track of everything. If you'll notice to the right, I also have an area for CDs. These are very conservative investment vehicles offered by banks and credit unions. I will most likely be purchasing some soon, so be sure to watch that category over the coming months. See my below article for a neat way on investing in CDs, it's called "laddering."

My hopes are to get to $1,000 dollars by the end of December. I set a modest goal as to not become discouraged. This is a discipline that many do not try to refine. I'll keep this updated so you can see how things scoot along. Depending on how fast things move, I may change goal dates to make things a bit harder.

Minimize Debt - Credit Cards / Student Loans

I'm going to compile a list of ways to minimize debt, some will be obvious, but I'm really going to try my best to come up with some creative ways.

1. Consolidate Credit Debt - Try to put all of your credit card balances on to one low interest credit card. This is called a balance transfer. Many financial institutions actually offer great rates if you do balance transfers over to their card.

2. Pay off necessary credit debt - Figure out which credit cards have the highest interest rate, then pay those off.

3. Don't use your credit card! - Many people think that credit cards equal free money, they don't. In fact, you're paying to use someone else's money. Credit cards are costly money. Once you pay a credit card off, cut it in half if you must, but don't use it unless it is an emergency.

4. Don't carry a balance - Almost all, if not all, credit cards give you a 25 day grace period. What does this mean? You have 25 days to pay off whatever you charged to your credit card without accruing interest.

5. Student Loans - If you have multiple federal student loans, they actually have a program for consolidating those(Here). If you have other student loans then there are programs out there. I'm working on compiling a list to help.That is all I have for now, but when I have more time and get more ideas, I'll be sure to post them. Have a great day.