Skip to main content

Author Archives: Jason Butler

Avatar photo About Jason Butler

Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.

Website

Older posts
Newer posts

6 Tips to Save Money When Traveling

Posted on by 7
travel tips, travel advice, saving money while traveling

6 Tips to Save MoneyWhen TravelingHello, Dinks! If you’re like me you enjoy traveling from time to time. It is one of my favorite hobbies. There is nothing like hopping on a plane and going somewhere new. Traveling doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. I have 6 tips that should help you save money the next time you decide to travel.

Low-Cost Airlines

Traveling with a low-cost airline saves you a lot of money. Most of the time their prices are lower than the large airlines like Delta or United. Some of the low-cost airlines that fly in the US are Frontier, Spirit and Southwest. If you choose to fly with a low-cost airline please make sure that you check their policies. Some of those airlines charge for carry-on bags so you want to make sure you are getting the best deal.

Travel Dates

You can save a lot of money depending on your travel dates. It typically costs more to travel during a holiday or big event weekend. The hotel and flight prices tend to rise during those times because the supply and demand are higher. Don’t believe me? Do a quick hotel search for the city of Las Vegas during Memorial Day Weekend. Now, search for hotels the week after. If you did that you can see that some of the hotels are nearly $100 cheaper. Make sure you choose your travel dates wisely.

Forgo the hotel

In the past staying at a hotel or motel was the only way to lodge if you didn’t want to stay with family while you traveled. That isn’t the case anymore.  People all over the world rent out vacation homes, apartments and even rooms in their own homes to travelers these days.  In many cases, these homes and apartments are cheaper than hotels in that area.  Two sites that you should visit are Airbnb and HomeAway. They are two of the leaders in this new type of lodging.

Discount travel sites

The next thing that you can do is book your vacation on a discount travel website. There are a lot of different sites to choose from. Some of my favorites are Priceline, Expedia, Hotwire, and Orbitz. A lot of these sites have cheap vacation packages as well as other deals. My personal favorite is Priceline.

Priceline has saved me a lot of money over the years. They have this feature where you can name your own prices for flights, hotels, and rental cars. If your price is accepted your flight, hotel or rental is then booked. There is a small catch, though. When you are using this feature for flights you don’t know the airline or the time of the flight until after its book. The only thing you know is that your departing flight could be anytime between 6 am and 10 pm. When you use this feature with hotels you the area of the city that you will be in and the amount of stars the hotel has, but not the hotel brand. I’ve used the name your own price feature a lot of times. I’ve never had a problem with it.

Travel during the week

My last tip is that you can travel during the week. I know this isn’t possible for everyone because most people work from 9-5. Most flights are hotel rooms are cheaper from Monday through Thursday.

How do you save money traveling?

brokeGIRLrich

My Take on the Lottery

Posted on by 3
lottery tips, lottery advice, lottery opinion

My Take on the LotteryDid you win the $1.6 billion last Wednesday? I didn’t think so. I didn’t win either. Heck, I didn’t even play. Don’t get me wrong I could definitely use the money, but I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than winning the Powerball jackpot. I have played the lottery a few times in the past. I’ve never spent more than $5 on tickets at one time. I don’t think there is nothing wrong with playing every once in a while. My problem is with the people that waste hundreds of dollars on it every month, but that’s another post for another day. In today’s post, I share several reasons why I didn’t play Powerball last week.

I live in a state where the winner can’t remain anonymous. If I won the lottery why would I want the world to know? That makes zero sense to me. I try to be a pretty private person especially when it comes to finances. All of my privacy would be gone if I would have won the jackpot. Once you’re announced to the world as the winner your life changes forever.

I was a contestant on The Price is Right a few years ago. I actually ended up winning a few prizes on the show. I received a couple of interesting Facebook and text messages from people asking me to share a couple of my prizes with them. The funny thing is that these people didn’t even speak to me on a weekly basis before then. If I would have played Powerball and won those messages would have increased by 1000%. I don’t have the time to duck and dodge people for the rest of my life. Another thing that I would have to worry about is family members coming out of the woodwork. I could imagine 4th and 5th cousins that I’ve never met before asking me for a handout. That is not cool in my book.

I’d like to think I have a pretty good peace of mind right now. If I’d have won the Powerball jackpot that peace of mind would be a thing of the past. To be honest, I would be paranoid. Besides family and friends coming out of the woodwork, I’d have to worry about strangers too since I couldn’t remain anonymous. Have you read the stories of lottery winners Abraham Shakespeare and Jack Whitaker? I don’t need that type of stuff to happen to me or my loved ones.

The stress is also something that I would not want to deal with. You may have that one family member that thinks they are entitled to more money than you’re willing to give them. There is also the stress of having to take care of the legal issues that come with winning the lottery.

Could you imagine spending hundreds of dollars on tickets? I’ve read several stories where people did just that. That money could have gone towards debt, savings, or books that could educate you. I look at things like the Powerball as fast money (if you win). It’s not necessarily good.

As you can see I didn’t play the lottery this time. I may play a couple bucks the next time there is a large jackpot, but don’t hold me to it.

Did you play the Powerball? If so, how much did you spend?

Understanding Your Credit Card Statement

Posted on by 2
credit card statement, understanding your credit bill, credit card advice

card statementMany of us have credit cards that we use in one way or the other. Have you ever taken the time to actually read and understand your credit card statement? I’ve had a credit card with one of the well-known banks for nearly 10 years now. Unfortunately, I didn’t start paying serious attention to my statement until 3 years ago. That is when I realized that a credit card statement was separated into several important sections. In today’s post, I will explain how one of my credit card statements is set up.

Payment Info

The first section of my credit card statement has the payment info listed. It shows you the balance total as well as the current payment that is due. Under that, it shows the total minimum payment that is due that month. It also has a late payment warning that explains to you the late fees that are associated with the account. There is also the total minimum payment warning that lets you know that it will take a longer time to pay off your balance if you only make the minimum payment. Below that is a box of that shows how much you’d pay if you only paid the minimum balance and then it shows how long it would take you to pay off if you made a larger amount. That area is good because it shows you that by paying only a little more on each bill you will be able to pay less in interest fees and you will pay the card off faster! That part of the statement is simple and very easy to read.

Account Summary

credit card statement
An example of one of my credit card statements.

The next section is the account summary. The account summary shows you the previous balance. It also lists the payments & other credits, the purchases and the interest charged. Below that is the new balance total. Finally, the bill shows you the total credit line, the total credit that is available, the credit line, the portion of the credit that is available for cash, the statement closing date and the number of days in the billing cycle. All of that is information that you should pay attention to.

 

Transactions

The next area is the transactions section. It shows all of the payments and other credits to your account by the transaction date. It also shows the date the interest was charged to your account as well. Below that is a “totals for year to date” box. It shows you the amount of total fees that were charged for the particular year. It also shows you how much interest was charged. It is good to pay your card off each month so that you don’t have any interest charged.

Interest

The next area goes over the interest in detail. It gives you the APR for the purchases, balance transfers, direct deposit and cash advances. As always, the lower the interest rates the less your payment will be. Unfortunately, my APR for this particular credit card is pretty high. Because of past mistakes, I’m paying entirely too much interest for a credit card that I rarely use. At least, I’m not paying as much as this guy. If you have a credit card or decide to apply for one please pay attention to the interest rates.

Reward Points

The next section shows me my rewards points information. It also shows me the total amount of awards that I have as well as any that I earned that month.

Important Info

The last page of the statement has important info about the account. It gives you tips on how to dispute items if you ever need to. This page also gives you different ways that you can contact them if you have any inquiries. There is also miscellaneous info about interest and payments too.

Everyone that has a credit card should take a few minutes to read their statements every month. Understanding it can help you pay it off quick.

Disease Called Debt

Things I Would Have Done Differently with Money in My Early 20’s

Posted on by 4

Money in 20sI’m not sure about you, but my early 20’s were a heck of a time. I was in college until I was 24. I was having the time of my life or so I thought. I will be the 1st to say that I made quite a few mistakes, especially with my money. Looking back, I know that there were some things that I could have done differently. Continue reading to find out the 5 things that I would have done differently with money in my early 20’s.

Nightlife spending

I never was one to spend a crazy amount of money on clothes or jewelry. My big problem was spending money on nightlife activities. I used to go out nearly every weekend at one point in my early 20’s. I’m glad I stopped doing that. There were plenty of times when I spent money that I could have used for something else instead of drinks or entry into a club. There were also several times where I purchased rounds of drinks for my friends and me with my credit card. Looking back, I realized that I wasted too much money. There was no reason for me to spend that money.

Save More

My saving patterns in my early 20’s were all over the place. One minute I’d have a decent amount saved and then the next moment it would be gone. I made decent money working part time as a college student, but I didn’t take the time to focus on saving. If I would have saved more I would have been more prepared for a couple situations that I dealt with in my mid-twenties.

Paid more attention in class

The third thing that I would have done is paid more attention in certain classes such as accounting and economics. When I took those classes I wasn’t focused and to be honest, I was a bit immature. I was happy to pass both of those classes with C’s. Looking back, I missed out on learning some valuable information in the classes.

Pay on student loans

In college, I didn’t take the maximum amount of student loans out. A few times I didn’t even need to take out the loans, but I did it anyway to get a small refund. I worked a part time job and had a couple of side hustles during this time. I should have applied some of my earnings from those gigs to my student loan balance. I didn’t do that, though, I basically ignored them. That should not have happened. If I would have paid just a little bit back then my debt would be lower than it is today.

Got serious about money

The final thing that I would have done differently in my early 20’s is that I would have gotten serious about understanding money. I figured that I would always have it and be able to make a quick buck so I never took it as serious as I should have. As I stated earlier, I didn’t save enough and that came back to haunt me in my latter twenties. I also didn’t think about how I would consistently make money after college until I had already graduated. After being out of school nearly 8 years, I can say that things are finally on the right track.

Is there anything that you would have done differently with your money in your 20’s?

10 Job Search Sites You Should Use

Posted on by
career advice, career tips, job search

10 Job Search Sites You Should UseA few weeks ago I wrote a post going over what you should do if you want a career change. One thing that I didn’t mention is that you should also check out job search websites. Today, I have 10 job search sites that you should check out. I’m sure you will find a new job with one of them.

Indeed

According to Indeed, they are the world’s number 1 job site. They have job opportunities all over the world. This was one of my favorite sites to visit when I was looking for work. Their site is very user-friendly. It also takes relatively no time for you to upload your resume to it.

CareerBuilder

CareerBuilder is the next website that is on my list. They were founded in 1995. CareerBuilder states that they work with 92% of the Fortune 500 companies. They have an area on their site called recommended jobs. Those jobs are based on previous jobs that you looked at on their site. That feature is pretty nice. It can help you find something that you may like quicker.

USAJobs

USAJobs is the biggest job board for finding federal job listings. Applying to jobs on this site can take time, though. Make sure that you have an hour or two to fill out the applications for these jobs in their entirety.

Monster

The fourth site on my list is Monster. Monster is one of the biggest job search sites in the world. Besides being able to apply for thousands of jobs on the site, they also have a career resources section. The section features career advice and resume advice.

Simply Hired

Simply Hired has jobs open in nearly 1000 different occupations in the US. You can also find employment opportunities from 24 countries as well.

The Ladders

The Ladders is a job site that began as a way to help job seekers find $100K and up jobs. They offer a basic membership which is free and a premium membership which costs $25.

Snag a Job

Snag a Job is another site that I’ve used in the past. They are a site that helps people find hourly jobs. They also have a good source of part-time jobs too.

Diversity Working

The 8th website on this list is Diversity Working. They specialize in bringing diversity into the workplace. they provide jobs for women, veterans, people with disabilities, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics just to name a few. They also have several career sections that you can browse such as banking, education, marketing and public relations to choose from.

Glassdoor

Glassdoor hasn’t been around as long as some of the other job search websites, but they are not letting that stop them from helping job seekers. They are one of the fastest growing sites around. Their database has over 8 million company reviews, real life salary reports, and interview reviews.

Craigslist

Craigslist isn’t a job search engine, but they have a huge section for job postings. The bigger the city that you live in, the more opportunities you are bound to find. Some of the types of jobs that are posted are customer service, business, retail, and sales. I actually found a job that I had in 2014 on Craigslist. I would definitely recommend you to check them out.

What sites have you used to find jobs?

8 Things You May Be Wasting Money On

Posted on by 4
money wasters, wasting money, money advice

8 Things You May Be Wasting Money OnHello, Dinks! When people are getting their finances in order they must take a step back and look at everything. Everyone has a few things that they may be wasting money on. In today’s post, I go over 8 of them.

Gym membership

Raise your hands if you purchased a gym membership a few months ago, but only used it once or twice. Hopefully, no one raised their hands. If you did raise your hand you should either use it or cancel it. Some gym memberships are expensive. Going to the gym isn’t the only way to get your work out on. You can exercise at home or outside depending on where you live.

Cable

I’ve discussed cutting cable a few times on this site. It can be a huge waste of money. There are so many options out there that it doesn’t make much sense to have cable unless you love sports.

Fast Food

Fast food is very convenient, but it can easily add up in cost. I’ve had co-workers over the years go out to eat at least four times a week for lunch. If their meals averaged $7 each time they go out they are paying $28 a week and $112 per month. That’s $112 just for lunch. We haven’t even discussed breakfast or dinner. You could use the money that is spent on lunch and go to the grocery store. I’m sure you will come out much cheaper by making your own lunch.

Morning Coffee

People love their morning cup of joe. Coffee shops make a killing every day. If you go to a coffee shop each day you can save between $30 – $35 each week by brewing your on. It’s not hard and it should only take an extra 5-10 minutes each morning to do that.

Phone Service

If you are still paying over $100 for a single phone line you are doing it wrong. I’m sure if you check with your phone provider you will see a better plan out there. If not, check with their competitors.

Lottery

Playing the lottery every once in a while is fine. Playing it five days out of the week isn’t. The odds of you winning any serious money are not that good. People don’t win the big bucks that often. I’ve heard of people spending $20 a day on lottery tickets. That just isn’t smart. The money wasted on the lottery could be saved or invested into something that could actually help or educate you.

Bank Fees

Many people waste money on bank fees. With some accounts, you can only withdraw a certain amount of money each month. With others, you have to have a certain balance in the account each month or they will charge you a fee. Every bank doesn’t have those fees. When you get a chance, research a few different banks until you find one that you like. If you don’t see any banks that you like you do have the option of looking into a credit union.

Clothes

Another thing that you may be wasting money on is clothes. Certain brands are nice, but they can be expensive. If you’re going to buy them check online or see if they have an outlet store. There is no reason for you to be paying ridiculous prices for clothes.

What are you wasting money on?

Disease Called Debt

5 Things You Can do to Become Financially Independent

Posted on by 3
financially independent, financial advice, financial tips

Financially IndependentIf you’re reading this site I know one of your goals may be to become financially independent. According to Bankrate, financial independence is a term that is used to describe the state of having sufficient personal wealth and to live without having to work actively for your basic necessities. There are several things that you can do to help you become financially independent. In today’s post, I will go over five of them.



Eliminating your debt

Eliminating your debt is one of the 1st things that needs to be done to become financially independent. You should take the time to create a plan and pay off your loans and credit cards as soon as possible.

Lower your expenses

Lowering your expenses is the next item that needs to be done to become financially independent. You should ask yourself a few questions. Do you need a large house? Can you downsize? Does your family need 2 or 3 cars? Do you need cable? Depending on how you answer those questions, you may realize that some of your expenses can be lowered. This should be done as soon as possible.

Invest

Investing is crucial if you want to become financially independent. Become a student of the investment game. There are several types of investments out there. Take the time to learn one that you’re really interested in and become a master at it.

Spend less money than you earn

The 4th item on the list is to spend less money than you earn. For some people, this is easier said than done. This is where paying yourself first comes into play. You can have money automatically deducted from your paycheck each month to go into a specific savings account. Another way to help you spend less is to create a budget and follow it. It may not be the easiest thing to do in the beginning, but staying on your budget will pay off for you in the long run.

Create multiple streams of income

Creating multiple streams of income is something that should get you on the fast track of becoming financially independent. It is said that the average millionaire has seven streams of income. Depending on what your goals are, you may not need that many streams of income, but you definitely need more than one. Some things that can be considered multiple streams are investments, money making assets, or any side businesses that you have.

Set specific goals

Setting specific goals may be the most important thing that you can do to become financially independent. Your goals should help you decide a lot of things. You should have a timeframe for everything that you want to achieve. Your goals should also be detailed enough so that they keep you motivated.

To summarize, the 5 things you can do to become financially independent are eliminating your debt, lowering your expenses, investing, spending less money than you earn, creating multiple streams of income and setting specific goals.

Is becoming financially independent a goal of yours? What do you think one of the important steps to getting there is?

One Phone Call You Should Make

Posted on by 3
phone call, family, staying connected

One Phone Call You Should MakeHello, Dinks! I hope all is well with you. Is it me or are the prices of certain things such as cable and your internet service rising? In today’s day and age most people need to have an internet connection. You don’t really need cable unless you like certain shows or are a huge sports fan. There are several cheaper options out there than cable, but I haven’t found any of them that will let you stream the NBA, NFL and MLB channels yet. For that reason, I still have cable. What if I told you that there is one call that you can make to your cable and internet providers that may save you money?

For the last few years, I’ve called my cable and internet providers every 6-8 months to check with them and see if they have any deals available. It’s a relatively easy call that doesn’t take longer than five minutes. Every time I’ve called I’ve been able to get my bill lowered. Below is a sample script of what I usually say:

Representative: “Hello, This is __ with XYZ cable company. How can I help you?”

Me: “Hello, My name is Jason. I’ve been with XYZ for years. I love your service. I see that the prices have gone up a little bit. I want to stay with you, but I’m thinking about canceling my service. Is there anything that you can do for me?”

That little script has saved me over a couple hundred dollars the last 2 years. Why does the script work?

I’m not 100% sure, but I think it works because these companies have so much competition. Cable companies are not only losing customers to each other, but to Hulu and Roku. They want to keep their existing customers by any means necessary. Giving a customer a $15 – $20 discount per month is better than losing that customer completely.

Another reason that I’ve found is that a lot of people don’t really look at their statements. They just pay their bill and continue on with their day to day activities. I have an associate that used to work for a cable company. He told me that they didn’t get too many calls from people trying to get a discount. That’s a shame.

You should call these companies at least once or twice a year. Rates change without us knowing sometimes. In a perfect world, the companies would send us some type of correspondence letting us know that the prices are changing. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Besides the rates changing, there are sometimes other deals out there. An example of that is if you work for a certain company they may give you a 10% discount on your phone bill. Some of the deals may not even be publicized. A customer service rep should be able to tell you what they are offering at the moment.

I’ve personally had success calling my cable, internet, phone and auto insurance providers over the years. Those phone calls have allowed me to put a nice amount of change back into my pocket.

Have you ever called any of your providers and received a discount?

5 Ways to Bring in The New Year

Posted on by 1
New Year, new goals, bringing in the New Year ahead

5 Ways to BringIn the New YearIn a few days we will be bringing in another year. A new year can mean so much for so many people. What happened in the previous one doesn’t matter anymore. The new year is a fresh start to so many of us. In today’s post I discuss 5 different ways to bring the new year in.

Travel

Bringing in the new year in a different city is very exciting. I haven’t been in my home state to celebrate the new year in 10 years. During that time I’ve been lucky enough to visit cities such as Las Vegas and New Orleans. Both cities are already fun to visit throughout the year, but they do it even bigger for NYE (New Year’s Eve). Many cities have events planned for NYE to help bring more tourism to the area. New Orleans and Las Vegas are no different. New Orleans has a bigger party than normal in the French Quarter area. They also light fireworks at midnight. Las Vegas closes the strip at 6 pm on NYE. People from all over gather on the strip to watch the huge fireworks show. The fireworks show starts at midnight. They are detonated from 7 different hotels so that you can see some from anywhere on the strip. I’ve celebrated the new year twice in Las Vegas. Another city that is on a lot of folks list for NYE is New York City. They have one of the biggest celebrations in the world. I have always wanted to visit New York and see the ball drop in person.

Church Service

If you’re religious, attending a watch night church service can be a nice way to bring in the new year. Different religions have different ways that they celebrate. Some have their service all night while others have a quick sermon. If you plan on going to a watch night service plan to get there early because they are usually packed.

Night out on the town

Another fun way to bring in the new year is by enjoying a night out on the town. If you live a large city you may have dozens of things to choose from. For example, Atlanta has multiple concerts, plays, parties and the yearly Peach Drop (The Peach Drop is similar to the Ball Drop in NYC. Instead of a ball dropping you have a peach). You want to plan your night in advance because there will be a lot of people out that night. Also give yourself enough time to get where you’re going because every place may be crowded.

Celebrate with family and friends

The 4th thing that you can do for NYE is to celebrate with your family or your friends. There are several options for y’all to choose from. You can go out to a restaurant or a lounge. Also, one of your friends can decide to do something at one of their homes and everyone can celebrate together.

Stay home

The final way that you can bring in the new year is to stay home and celebrate with your significant other. You can have a game night together or watch movies. After that, you can watch the ball drop on TV and celebrate 2016 with a toast at midnight.

 

6 Things to Keep You Motivated

Posted on by 1
ethics, motivation, being motivated

motivation1Good morning. How many of y’all are motivated to make things happen? I know I am. Now, how many of you lose that motivation every once in a while? Unfortunately, I raised my hand again. I think a lot of us deal with this every once in a while. It’s normal. Today, I discuss 6 things that you should think about that will keep you motivated.




Stay positive

The 1st thing that will keep you motivated is staying positive. Is everything easy? No, but you have the ability to decide how you view things.  Staying positive should allow you to see things with the glass being half full. Even if things aren’t going your way right now you realize that things will get better.

Your goal

Remembering your goal is the next item on the list that will keep you motivated. At times, you may fall down, but this is when you should take a moment and step back. During this time, you should think about your goal and remember why you started whatever it is you are doing. That should give you the kick in the pants that you need. If you’re still not motivated you may need to readjust your goals slightly.

Your significant other

Your significant other should definitely keep you motivated. They should be your number one cheerleader. If you are having a down moment, you should be able to confide in them. Good partners usually know what to say to get you back on track.

Naysayers

The 4th item on the list is naysayers. They are out there. Those are the people that have bad things to say about anything that you do. Constructive criticism is good, but the naysayers are flat out haters. Don’t let them get you down. Let them be your motivators! If you can’t eliminate the naysayers out of your circle completely try to deal with them only during certain times of the year. I’ve had people telling me that I couldn’t do certain things all my life. I could cry about it or let it motivate me to be great. I choose to do the latter. I know you will do the same the thing.

Family members

Family members are something else that will keep you motivated. I’m currently in the process of paying off a lot of debt. It hasn’t been the easiest, but things have been picking up as of late. Once I pay off my debt I know that I will be able to help my family get their finances in order. I also will be able to pay for a family vacation by myself. That is something that I really want to do. Hopefully, your family motivates you as much as mines do.

Someone working harder than you

The final thing that should motivate you is to remember that there is someone out there working harder than you. Whenever you feel unmotivated or in the mood to procrastinate remember that there is someone out there busting their tail to make things happen for then and their family. The question that you should ask yourself is how come it’s not me?

How do you stay motivated?

Older posts
Newer posts

Boost Your Brand – Advertise with Us!

Advertise With Us

You cannot copy content of this page