Open Low Minimum Roth IRAs for Kids (Kiplinger’s).  Kids who contribute to a Roth IRA will head into adulthood with a great financial advantage.  Here are three companies with kid-friendly requirements.

How to Master the Art of Negotiation (US News).  It’s amazing what you can get if you just speak up.  We recently had a not-so-great hotel experience, so I brought it to the attention of the chain’s customer service department.  I didn’t even make a specific request, but they credited my loyalty account with 50,000 points!

5 Things I Look for In a Great Job Interview (Inc).  Words of wisdom from one who has interviewed lots of candidates.

Job Hunters Still Not Careful on Social Media: Study (MSNBC).  Your resume is a carefully crafted work of art, but what about your social media presence?

Tweet Your Way to a New Job: 8 Twitter Templates (CBS MoneyWatch).  Are you using Twitter as part of your job search?

And from the blogosphere…

What’s Next After Debt Freedom? (The Simple Dollar).  It’s always encouraging to hear about people gaining true financial freedom.  This post also reinforces the importance of Knowing the Why Behind Your Goals.

Financial Goals That Are Easy to Accomplish (Canadian Finance Blog). This list includes several important steps people often put off.  It’s well worth it to review this list and schedule these activities.

A Crash Course in Couponing 101 (One Money Design).  Good advice for getting value from using coupons without making it a second job.

The Ins and Outs of Getting and Using Your Free Credit Report (The Consumerist).  When was the last time you checked your credit reports?  Here’s how to do it and what to look for.

9 Healthy Habits to Help You Manage E-Mail Overload (Lifehack).  It’s so tempting to check e-mail throughout the day, but the advice in this post is consistent with that of other productivity experts.

Got a question or a response to any of the above?  Be sure to leave a comment.

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

As you’ll see in the following video, now you’re ready to start truly managing money with Mint.

If you have any questions about Mint.com, meet me in the comments section.

Related Posts:

• The Key to Getting the Most from Mint.com
• Getting Started With Mint.com
• How Does Mint.com Keep User Information Safe?

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

If you’re not familiar with a blog carnival, it’s a showcase of some of the best writing from throughout the blogosphere, with bloggers submitting one of their best recent posts.  This particular carnival, which features rotating hosts, has been in operation since the summer of 2005.

I thought it would be fitting to intersperse this week’s picks with quotes that feature additional words of wisdom or points to ponder.

Editor’s Picks

“The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.” – John F. Kennedy

There were lots of great entries in this week’s carnival, but I thought the following two were especially good.

Bob at ChristianPF shares an important idea he calls Get Your Financial Life on One Page, which recasts what can be a tiresome financial chore into an act of love.

Roshawn Watson at Watson Inc asks Do You Have the Courage to be Wealthy?, pointing to a key character trait that can either hold us back in so many areas of life or propel us forward.

Money Management

“Action expresses priorities.” –Mahatma Gandhi

Laura Edgar from NerdWallet offers some good guidance for Sticking to Your Resolutions, along with a quiz to see which of two approaches may be best for you.

SB at One Cent at a Time says resolutions aren’t enough; you need to become obsessed with what you want.  Read more at 5 Obsessions Towards Financial Freedom and Becoming Rich.

Sustainable PF offers rational ways for Beating Irrational Financial Behavior.

Jon the Saver from Free $ Wisdom shares 3 Financial Lessons I’ve Learned From Angry Birds.  Don’t worry, you don’t need to have played the game to get the lessons.

Jeffrey at Saving Advice provides Money Lessons Learned From “The Firm,” a movie that demonstrates in many ways the old adage: money changes people.

Investing

“October:  This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” – Mark Twain

Diva at Diva in Debt covers the latest personal finance controversy with More Bad News for Suze Orman.

Div Guy at The Dividend Guy Blog helps clear the fog from our economic binoculars with If You Want to Know Where the Stock Market is Heading, Read the Following.

Philip at PT Money brings us up to date on 2012 Traditional and Roth IRA Contribution Limits.

FIRE Finance offers Three Good Habits of Successful Retirees, reviewing the traits of successful long-term investors.

Economy

“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” – Ronald Reagan

PK at Don’t Quit Your Day Job submitted Another Salary By Major Chart, which may help those headed for college choose a productive path.

Taxes

“Did you ever notice that when you put the words ‘The’ and ‘IRS’ together, it spells ‘THEIRS?’”  – Author Unknown

Glen Craig at Free From Broke encourages us not to pay more in taxes than we have to with 10 Common Overlooked Tax Deductions.

Career

“Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.” – Henri-Frederic Amiel

Mike at The Financial Blogger shows other bloggers what’s made a big difference in his success with This Image Will Make You a Believer.

For business owners, Peter at Bible Money Matters has a helpful reminder on How to Prepare and File A 1099 For Contract and Freelance Workers.

Credit

“Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.” – American Proverb

Erik at DollarVersity opens up a bit of a debate with Are Credit Scores Still Relevant?

Real Estate

“A man builds a fine house, and now he has a master, and a task for life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Martin at Passive Income Now has advice for landlords in Maintaining Your Rental Property Once You Hand the Keys Over.

Frugality

“Economy is half the battle of life; it is not so hard to earn money as to spend it well.” – C.H. Spurgeon

Squirrelers offers 12 Expenses to Cut, reminding us of some discretionary spending that we may have re-categorized as essential.

Finance

“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.”  – Woody Allen

Roger Wohlner at Chicago Financial Planner offers The Similarities Between Buying Coffee and Choosing a Financial Planner.  A key to choosing well in both cases is knowing what you’re getting for your money.

Budgeting

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” –Alan Lakein

Dan Meyers from Your Life, Their Life explains Why We Use a Cash Budget, backing up lots of research that shows people tend to spend less when they pitch the plastic.

Saving

“In the old days a man who saved money was a miser; nowadays he’s a wonder.” –Author Unknown

Martin at Studenomics reminds us of a classic way to start building savings in What’s the Best Way to Start Saving Money Right Now?

Other

“Plans are worthless.  Planning is essential.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Money Beagle has ambitions to get lots of stuff done this year.  Hence, My List of 500 Things To Do This Year.  It may sound overwhelming, but when you break the idea down month by month, it may just help you stay organized, reduce clutter, and avoid buying things you don’t need.

Thanks to everyone who submitted posts for this week’s carnival.

If a tool was available that served as a financial roadmap, showing you clearly how to live within your means, be generous, and save or invest for future goals, wouldn’t you use it?

And if this same tool helped create a sense of financial teamwork and trust in your marriage, wouldn’t you use it?

What is this magical tool?

Why, of course, it’s the lowly, much maligned, much misunderstood budget – or, as I prefer, Cash Flow Plan.

It’s what enables us to live out the third of my 11 principles for simple, meaningful success: Plan to Succeed.

What Rich People Know

When some people think of a budget, they think only certain types need one. People with lots of debt.  People with a low income.

The wealthy?  No way, or so they think.

In fact, one of the most interesting findings from the classic book, “The Millionaire Next Door,” is that over half of all millionaire households use a budget to guide their finances.

As authors Thomas Stanley and Wiliam Danko explain, “Planning and controlling consumption are key factors underlying wealth accumulation…Operating a household without a budget is akin to operating a business without a plan, without goals, and without direction.”

Succeeding to Plan is Planning to Succeed

Haven’t ever used a budget?  You could start today.

I walk through the four steps to setting up and using a budget in the Budget Quick Start Guide that’s available for free on the Resources tab of my site, so I’m not going to repeat them here.  You’ll find my Recommended Spending Guidelines there as well, which will help you develop your plan.

The Guidelines cover four different size households (1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-person households) and nine different incomes, ranging from $30,000 to $150,000.  Just find the one that most closely resembles your circumstances.

You’ll see that these are ideal plans, meaning they assume no debt other than a reasonable mortgage.

If you have other debts, you’ll have to adjust your spending in other categories to allow for the debt payments.

But, But, But…

Whenever someone comes to me with a financial dilemma – they’re deep in debt, can’t find any money to save, can’t stop fighting about money with their spouse – I always ask whether they’re using a Cash Flow Plan to guide their household finances.  The vast majority of the time, the answer is no.

And the “no” is often accompanied by a quizzical look as if I didn’t understand the question.  “But what I was really asking…”

I did understand.  It’s just that I need more information.  Objective, factual information.

To be sure, there’s a ton of emotional stuff involved in managing money – temperaments, moods, stressful circumstances, the emotional imagery used in advertising.  We often get in trouble with money when emotion overrides logic.

A well-designed Cash Flow Plan gives us the logical, factual information we need to live within our means, be generous, save and invest, avoid debt, and spend smart.  Assuming there’s enough income to meet basic needs, that’s true for every income level and household size.

Are You the Type?

I firmly believe everyone would benefit from the use of a budget.  Rich or poor, young or old.  Everyone.

It isn’t drudgery, and it isn’t something you go on like a diet.  It’s simply the single most powerful tool available for successful money management.  Why not start putting this tool to work in your life today?

What questions do you have about using a budget?

Other posts in this series on the 11 principles that lead to simple, meaningful success:

• The Purpose of Money (Principle One: Know Who You Are)
• How to Recession-Proof Your Career (Principle Two: Earn Diligently)

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

For those interested in giving Mint a try, I’m showing how in a series of short instructional videos.  In the video below, I’ll show you one of the most important steps for getting the most from Mint – how to set up a plan for your income and expenses.

If you have any questions about using Mint, ask away in the comments section.

Related Posts:

• Getting Started With Mint.com
• How Does Mint.com Keep User Information Safe?
• How a Budget Leads to Financial Freedom
• Avoiding a Common, Costly Budget Mistake

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

Of course, there’s no such thing as guaranteed employment anymore.  But there is such a thing as guaranteed employability.

It comes about by putting into practice the second of my 11 core principles for simple, meaningful success: Earn Diligently.

Learn to Earn

In most jobs, if we’re standing still with our skill set, we’re quickly falling behind.  Things are just advancing too quickly – technology, cultural trends, ideas.  A key to keeping up is continuous learning.

Many employers offer some form of tuition reimbursement, and yet a tiny fraction of eligible employees typically take advantage of that benefit.  If your employer will foot the bill for more education, don’t leave that money on the table.  The skills you learn may lead to advancement opportunities, and they will very likely help you land a new job if necessary.

Even if your employer won’t cover the cost of school, there are no- and low-cost ways to keep your skills sharp, like the software training available from Lynda.com and the lectures on iTunes U.  Of course, you can check out the latest books in your field from the library, follow industry blogs, listen to audio books and podcasts, and more.

One of the best forms of professional development is being mentored.  I’ve been blessed to have some great mentors during my days in corporate America (Thanks, Carl!) and in my current work (Thanks, Dick!).

To find a mentor, seek out someone in your field who’s more experienced and/or successful than you are and ask if you could connect on some type of regular basis.  Very often, successful people enjoy coming alongside someone who’s at an earlier phase of their career.

When you approach a prospective mentor, though, make sure you’re ready to explain why you’re reaching out to them and what you hope to learn.

Be Great at Being Yourself

If two people have the exact same professional skill set and experience, what’s left to set one apart from the other?  Interpersonal skills.

Communication skills (especially asking good questions and listening), relationship building, time management, project management, and the various facets of Emotional Intelligence can help keep you in demand.  All of these skills can be honed through the no- and low-cost options mentioned earlier.

Other personal habits matter to your career as well – from grooming to your use of social media. Staying physically fit can also make a big difference.  Doing so gives you energy and communicates a lot about your discipline, life balance, and self-respect.

Cast a Wide Net

By some estimates, 80 percent of available jobs are not posted.  They get filled through referrals.  If you find yourself between jobs, having a great network is essential.

Of course, LinkedIn is today’s networking platform of choice.  When you connect with someone – a co-worker, former co-worker, former classmate, friend from church – you gain potential access to their network.  At very least, you could ask your connection for an introduction to someone in their network.

Once you have a network of 100-200 people, it’s amazing how easy it is to find someone who knows someone in a company where you’d like to work.

So, build your network.  You’ll be able to see your connections’ updates – promotions, new employers, and more. But stay in touch with some of your contacts via an occasional e-mail or phone call as well.  Find out the latest.  See if there are ways you could help them.

Keep Your Career Insurance in Force

When the job market gets tough, it’s the person who’s been taking the steps above that will make it, either with his or her current employer or another one.  It’s like holding an insurance policy on your career.

Of course, you could experience times of transition between employers, but those times will tend to be far shorter than average.  And if you’re following all 11 principles I’m covering in this series, you’ll be financially prepared to ride out those periods between jobs.

What other factors have helped you stay employable?

Other posts in this series on the 11 principles that lead to simple, meaningful success:

• The Purpose of Money (Principle One: Know Who You Are)

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

People who’ve never used a budget usually hate the idea.   They think of a budget as the wicked witch of personal finance whose sole purpose is to drive any semblance of fun right out of their financial life.

In truth, it’s just the opposite.  A budget, or as I prefer, a Cash Flow Plan, is the single most powerful tool we can use for wise, effective, even joyful money management.

There are several different budget tools available.  The one we’ve chosen in our household is Mint.com, which automates a lot of the tasks related to using a budget.  If you’d like to try it, this video will show you how to get set up.

Mint is free.  The service makes its money through advertising.  Since it sees which bank or credit card you use, it might recommend one of its sponsors that offers better rates.  But I don’t find those recommendations intrusive at all.  To me, it’s a small price to pay for a great service.

If you have any concerns about security, watch this interview I conducted with Mint’s security architect.

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

How to Land a New Job in 2012 (US News).  There are some great nuggets here, including one that a lot of job seekers don’t pay enough attention to: preparing great questions to ask.

How to Stand Out When Applying for Jobs Online (Kiplinger).  It’s all in how you interpret the questions.

Five Expenses That Take Half Our Lifetime Earnings (MSNBC).  What’s the better strategy – obsessively avoiding lattes or buying a house you can truly afford?  I think you know the answer.  My main issue with this article is that it says to keep housing costs to no more than 30 percent of monthly gross income.  I say keep it to no more than 25 percent.

4 Risky Places to Swipe Your Debit Card (Bankrate.com).  There have been some major identity thefts tied to debit cards in the recent past.  Here are the places where using a debit card may put you at the greatest risk.

Is Your Kid Saving for Retirement? (MSN).  Why contributing to a Roth IRA should become as common a kid goal as the latest LEGO set or a new bike – even for kids as young as six.

And from the blogosphere…

How to  Create a Financial Vision Board (LearnVest).  I love this idea for staying motivated as we pursue our goals.

Three Free Ways to Make Your Child’s Life Better in 2012 (Money Ning).  Great ideas for building into our kids without tearing into our wallets.

The 3/50 Project: Help Your Local Economy (Consumerism Commentary).  One of the more interesting personal finance articles I’ve read recently – how our spending choices can do good while being personally beneficial as well.

5 Things Angry Birds Has Taught Me About Life (Wise Bread).  Some surprising life lessons from one of the hottest games.

How to Write & Publish an eBook and Sell It For Profit (Money Crashers).  Lots of people dream of writing a book.  Through the wonders of eBooks, that dream is well within your reach.

Got a question or a response to any of the above?  Be sure to leave a comment.

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.

It’s cool to be anti-goal.  I’m okay with being uncool.

I love the start of a New Year.  It always feels like a chance to begin again, to wipe the slate clean if things haven’t gone well in the previous year or to build on what has gone well.

But one thing has changed in my approach to goal setting.  My goals list has become smaller.  A lot smaller.

I recently saw a headline for a post promising “50 Ways to Improve Your Finances.”  Just reading the headline made my head hurt.  I couldn’t bear to read the article.

I don’t want 50 things to do.  I want to focus on a much smaller number of things that’ll make the biggest difference in my life.

Curly’s Secret to Success

In the movie City Slickers, three urban-dwelling, middle-aged guys going through a mid-life crisis decide to go on a cattle drive.  There they meet a grizzled cowboy played by Jack Palance with the unlikely name of Curly who teaches them how to rope a cow, and in one memorable scene, an important life lesson:

Curly: “Do you know what the secret of life is?  This (holding up one finger).”

Mitch (played by Billy Crystal): “Your finger?”

Curly:  “One thing. Just one thing.  You stick to that and the rest don’t mean anything (okay, he actually used a more colorful word at the end).”

Mitch: “But what is the one thing?”

Curly: “That’s what you have to find out.”

What Is It For You?

Think about your finances.  What one thing – what single change – would make the biggest difference in your life in 2012?

It Isn’t Rocket Science

When it comes right down to it, accomplishing a goal, even a big one, isn’t really that difficult.

Seth Godin recently revised, repackaged, and really encouraged people to buy Zig Ziglar’s “legendary” goals program Pick Four.  So I did.

It consists of four simple spiral bound books in which you write down all the goals you can think of.  Then you whittle the list down to just four, preferably with some balance across various aspects of your life – career, family, etc.

Most of the rest of the books are diary pages where you keep track of what you did each day to pursue your goals.

The idea couldn’t be simpler.  Focus on a small number of goals, take meaningful action toward their accomplishment each day, and you stand a very good chance of accomplishing those goals.

You just do the work.  Every day.

Taking Your Financial Life From Good to Great

In his business classic Good to Great, Jim Collins says companies that achieve remarkable success take the same route.  They pursue their vision day by day over a long period of time.

He calls it “turning the flywheel.”

A flywheel is a heavy disk that helps to maintain a constant speed of rotation in a machine or to store energy.  Collins describes it as “a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds.”

Imagine trying to get it to turn.

It takes every bit of muscle you can muster.  You push and push.  After several hours you get it to make one full rotation.  You keep pushing.  Eventually it moves a little faster – a little faster.  Hours later you’re getting that crazy contraption to make two rotations per hour.

Finally it becomes easier.  In fact, at some point you notice that the wheel is moving under the power of its own momentum.

Turning a Financial Flywheel

When I took on the task of paying off $20,000 of credit card debt, it seemed overwhelming at first.  There were many days when I was deeply discouraged.  Progress came slowly.  I wanted to quit.  But I kept going, kept pushing.

Every month I worked as hard as I could to make as much money as I could, and then I sent a big portion of what I earned to my creditors.

It was a heavy, heavy flywheel.  It took time to build momentum. It took consistency.  Hard work every day.  Big checks sent to creditors every month. Then one day – four and a half years after starting – all of the debt was gone.

What is it for you?  If you could accomplish just one financial goal this year – one goal that would radically improve your life – what would you choose?

Are you willing to go after it?  Are you willing to do the work?  Even when it doesn’t feel good?  Even when you can’t see any progress?  Every single day?

My One Thing

My single most important financial goal this year is income consistency. I have been too dependent on in-person speaking engagements.  I love teaching workshops, but it’s very seasonal work.  There are busy times of the year and there are slow times.  That means my income fluctuates.  But bills don’t fluctuate.  They are disturbingly consistent.

So, I have several opportunities I’m pursuing that I’m very excited about that have the potential to steady things out.  Some of them may bear fruit early in the year.  Others aren’t likely to show progress until later in the year.  But they’ll all require daily work.  Consistency.  Pushing the flywheel even when I don’t want to.

I’ll share more details about each of these opportunities throughout the year.

Your One Thing

What’s your one thing?  Be bold and go public with your single most important financial goal for 2012 by leaving a comment.  I’d love to cheer you on.  My intention for this blog is for it to be a safe place where we can have scary conversations about changing our lives.  Radically.  One day at a time.  Starting now.

Who else should read this article?  Why not send them a link?  And if someone forwarded this post to you, I’d love for you to become part of this community by signing up for a free subscription.

The service mentioned on this edition of the Two-Minute Money Toolkit was Simplee.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Who else would benefit from this post?  Why not forward a link to my site? And if you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.  Two or three times a week, you’ll receive ideas and encouragement for using money well.