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January 26, 2018
By Kate Ashford Courtesy of Forbes Full Article here Cliff Note Version: 2 out of 5 millenials, 39% prefer cash as their long-term investment.”Millenials actually get the importance of saving; They’re just not willing to take the risks with it, particularly with regard to long-term savings.” Cash is not a good pick for saving/investing money because it loses value over time due to inflation. The S&P 500 has gained 17% over the past 12 months versus 0% for cash. Millenials came of age during turbulent financial times With the financial crisis and tech bubble, young adults had a front row seat to see both events. “Even though it didn’t effect them directly, they saw the impact it had on their parents and other family members and friends.” Millenials have a poor appetite for risk, which is ironic because they are the age group most able to take on risk “Even with something as severe as the financial crisis, if you hung in there and continued contributing throughout, you not only recovered your losses, but you came out well ahead.” Millenials are the generation that most needs to get agressive with savings as they have the biggest retirement savings burden of all time. Young adults “life expectencies are longer, their healthcare cost are going to be higher, they don’t have the pensions thier parents did, and the future of Social Security is more uncertain than its been for any of their predecessors.” Young Adults are going to need a bigger nest egg, and they are not going to get there with cash in a savings account. “A key part of this is getting people to think long-term, getting them to see the power of compounding over those periods of time.”
January 18, 2018
Blog: Flying vs. Driving from Syracuse to NYC Let’s say you live in Syracuse and have to go to NYC for an overnight trip. You have two options flying or driving. A round trip plane ticket from Syracuse to NYC was $106.60. This price is from using JetBlue, which was the cheapest airline and buying coach seats with no stops. In the City you will need to buy a cab to JFK airport and the city. The cab rate plus tolls and a tip would run about $70 one-way or $140 round trip. This brings the total to $246.6. To figure out how much it costs to drive I used the going price of gas in Syracuse, which is $2.55. The road trip is 254.2 miles one way, and I used the average 2015 car model’s miles per gallon at 24.8. Dividing the 254.2 miles by 24.8 mpg to find the amount of gallons used which are 10.25. Taking the 10.25 gallons used and multiplying the price of gas, $2.55, to get a total cost of $26.14 one way. Double the one-way cost of $26.14 to get a round trip total of $52.28 to drive to NYC and back. Remember that prices for you could be different depending on your cars mpg and the price of gas in your area and the shifting of airline prices. This is just for the trip however, in NYC you will need to park your car overnight. Let’s say you need 24 hours of parking that would cost an additional $45 approximately. This brings the total to $97.28 It is $149.32 cheaper to drive then fly, but this assumes that your time is worth nothing. It takes 2 hours and 36 minutes round trip to fly, plus the hour early you have to […]
January 11, 2018
So it’s the end of September and I am pretty much freaking out about money for my trip. Not only do I have to fly across the world by myself but I need to be able to afford this trip without setting myself too far back financially. As of now I have been able to save$1,400 out of my $2,500 goal. That money is strictly going to my ticket which was about $1,500. I have two more pay checks before the big trip which are basically going to go to regular bills and paying bills while I’m gone. I really need to come up with a way to make more money and FAST. I started looking at my monthly expenses and tried to eliminate some of my bills. The first thing I saw was my loans which I can’t change because I am already paying the minimum on them. The next was my gym membership which is at $30 a month. Now it’s not that expensive but I won’t really even be using it for the next two months with all the travel I will be doing. I called and asked if I could freeze the account for two months. This saves me $40 and I don’t have to pay the initiation fee when I reactivate it in December. The other bills I have are bills I can’t really do much about like cable, internet, gas and electric, and my Birchbox account (yes for the $10 a month I am not going to cancel my Birchbox account). I am still doing private lessons for volleyball and I will get paid this weekend another $110. So I have another $150 to add to my account. That still leaves me $950 short towards my goal. I have to come up with another […]
January 11, 2018
Like many young professionals, I recently found myself in the market for a new Toyota Camry. While deciding which model to choose I was hit with quite the moral dilemma, do I take into account my carbon footprint and buy a hybrid or do I try to put some money away for my fraternity reunion in Panama City next spring and purchase the less expensive gas version. To make matters worst I had recently seen Al Gore’s new movie An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power and was made painfully aware of our societies ever deteriorating environmental situation. However, ice-cold beachfront Corona’s in Panama City was enough to force even the strongest willed environmentalist to swallow their pride and go with the gas version. To make a long story short, I decided to do a cash benefit analysis to decide which model I would purchase. While doing this analysis, I had to take into account several variables: The first phase of my cost benefit analysis involved the difference in price between the two models. There was a substantial difference in price between the regular Toyota Camry and the Toyota Camry Hybrid. To provide you with the specifics a 2018 Toyota Camry starts at $24,000, while the 2018 Camry Hybrid comes off the lot at $27,800. Given this substantial difference in price I was initially tempted to go with the regular Toyota Camry. However, there were still several other variables I had to take into account, those being the price of gas, mileage and number of miles I planned on driving the car for. The second phase of my cost benefit analysis involved how many miles I planned on driving the car for. Putting myself in the shoes of the average suburban American who often commutes 50 miles to work […]
November 6, 2017
Coming out of college and entering the real world can be a very scary time. Not only do you have to find a job but you also have to find a job that will cover all your expenses for rent, groceries, nights out on the town and most importantly your student loans. Student loans on average take up about 30% of your monthly salary. The companies don’t even really give you too much of a grace period before they are breathing down your necks wanting that first payment. And depending on how much you had to take, your entire paycheck could be equivalent to the amount you have to pay back. Although it all looks doom and gloom, there are many ways to get ahead of your loans and to pay it off before your five-year reunion. Look at the big picture: Do you have more than one loan? If so, which loan is the smallest? You want to go after this one first and pay it off as quickly as possible. Can you consolidate any of your loans into one loan? Can you get a lower interest rate? Once you see where all the moving parts are it will be easier for you to create an overall goal… Create a goal and stick to it: Make a goal for each loan you have. This goal must be realistic; you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. Make a plan that fits your lifestyle and leaves you not eating ramen on a weekly basis. Set a time line of when you want each loan or loan to be paid off by. You want to pay it off in 6 months? Okay how much does that come to on a monthly basis… Set an amount: Each loan will […]
