Show Me the Money BYU Workshop

Here is a workshop at BYU for BYU students and Alumni to come and learn how to better finance
http://alumni.byu.edu/s/1085/03-provo-Alumni/index.aspx?sid=1085&pgid=2734&gid=7&cid=6615&ecid=6615

Between educational debt, student wages, and the precarious economic times of today, most students are concerned with how to save money, prepare for the future, and make smart financial decisions. As a service to current students and recent graduates (within 10 years of graduation), BYU Student Alumni offers Show Me the Money, a free financial planning seminar.

Guest presenters in financial planning professions and from the Marriott School of Business will address important financial topics such as these:

• investing
• repaying student loans
• loan consolidation
• buying a home
• and more...

Come join us in the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitor's Center on Saturday, March 5, from 10 a.m. till noon for this free forum of financial advice. Many financial planning seminars include an expensive registration fee, so students, enjoy this one for free while it's available! 

IT Job Opening

Go to http://emergencyessentials.iapplicants.com/searchjobs.php There are several job openings including a job that requires IT web programming and computer experience.

Here is another one to recommend for stay at home moms who want some extra spending money

So, I dont know if my readers are interested in doing things like what I mentioned in my last post (online surveys), but I think they are fun and I have another one to recommend. I have been trying out quite a few and I am starting to get to the point where I can say whether I like some of them or not (2 are still pending). But this one I just joined a week ago after hearing quite a bit about it from some trusted saving sources and it is called swagbucks. Basically it is just a toolbar that you download (and can uninstall at any time) and you get points for searching the web as normal. They have other things that you can do on their website as well like games, polls, surveys etc. I just downloaded the toolbar 1 week ago and already have 192 points. (I still have my google searchbar though and I use that a lot still because I like that search engine better) When I hit 500 points I can cash out for a $5 amazon gift card. Its a way to get some extra money while doing what I normally do. If you are interested in trying it go here to sign up. If you are one of those people who constantly play games on facebook, why not do it on this website and get free giftcards in the process?

Also this next weekend is Swag bucks 3rd birthday so if you enter the code: BirthdayFun when you register you will get extra points. 

Also, Friday is Mega Swagbucks Friday. Your odds of getting high value Swagbucks (SB) added to your account are higher on Friday than any other day! You can win up to 10,000 SB on fridays! Check Swagbucks out, download the toolbar (which can be uninstalled at any time) and start earning FREE giftcards!!! 

PS. If you use the link that I gave you then I get referral points, so if you do it, use this link. Swagbucks

Side money for stay at home moms!

Hey ward members,
If any of you would like to get some extra cash here is a survey place that I recommend. They pay $3 per survey and you get the money right after you take the survey. I have been very impressed with this survey site and have tried quite a few survey sites, but this one is my favorite by far. They are the most reliable and they never send you surveys that you can't do. If you are interested here is the info.


Only one member of each household may register. If more than one person of each household registers, it will void both memberships.
Here is the link to the registration:

www.pineconeresearch.com/signup/ds632.aspx?&sid=BGR

If your referral has any questions, they can email us at scott@pineconeresearch.com or click on the attached links to learn more about PineCone Research.
http://www.pineconeresearch.com//about.HTM
http://www.pineconeresearch.com//policy.htm

Timothy 6:10- The love of money is the root of all evil.

So apparently money is amoral. It has no morals meaning that it is neither good or bad. In the scriptures (Timothy 6:10) it doesn't say "money is the root of all evil" but "the love of money is the root of all evil". This is something important to remember as we start our careers and lives with our families (especially if we receive a high paying job) that the Lord is always first and that he wants us to be wise in our money matters.

Studies have found that after about five years of marriage the average couple begins to feel pinched in the pocketbook. They have little or no savings and start to get scared. The most common problem is simply a lack of knowledge of money and discipline.

Remember that money is active and the more that is in your bank account, the more interest you will get. If you hide your money in a case in your house it wont gather interest.

It is recommended that we build an emergency fund/savings of enough money to last 3 to 6 months on no income. For us that is about $3,000 in the bank. Now don't get scared. Some of you might not have any savings in the bank currently, but look at 2 posts ago and you will see how to develop this savings account and how just saving a small amount each month really adds up fast. Its kind of like building food storage, but with money.

Storyteller

For anyone interested, the Provo City library has posted a fun part-time position as a storyteller during the morning hours (9 - noon) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This part-time position would be great for any of the sisters in the ward who have served in Primary positions in the past, or for anyone that would be interested in having fun with children. To view the qualifications and application process for this job, click the "Provo Jobs" link at the right of this page.

This months home teaching message

We were just blessed to have our home teachers come and share a message for this month on preparing now to serve a couples mission. When we got married we were given a book called "Financial Peace Revisited" by Dave Ramsey. I always have enjoyed hearing tips on how to save my money and so I really enjoyed this book. I plan on randomly sharing pieces from this book as it has helped me to see clearly a lot of financial things.

So to go along with our home teaching message from this January it is an interesting truth that the typical American saves 2.2 percent of after-tax income, while the average Japanese saves 27.9 percent of after tax income! Wow! That is a big difference! When I heard this I thought "I've always wanted to save my money, but I just don't know the best way to do it without spending it!" I've tried saving cash and putting it in a special box, but then I wasn't earning interest.

 So what I did is I opened a second savings account as well as several money market accounts. Each account has its own purpose and each month I put money into these other accounts (you can set it up online so it is real easy to do as soon as you get your paycheck). (Don't forget to pay your tithing as well!) I have that my first priority is to put $100 each paycheck into a retirement fund (yeah I know it sounds really early, but this can go towards paying for a couples mission for us! And you dont have to do $100, you can do $50, $10, etc.) When that got to be a certain amount I put it in a CD so that I could get more interest. It is amazing how quickly the money builds up. Hopefully someday Ill learn more about interest rates and I can put it in a Roth IRA or something that builds more interest, but this was a simple way for me to start out. Then in my money market we occasionally put money in to save for other things (for example a trip to Europe, a new TV, etc.). The money market account is great because you can only withdraw 6 times (depends on the bank) a month or you are penalized, so this type of account is a great way to save money where you aren't as tempted to use the money unless absolutely necessary.

So in other words, being Latter-Day Saints, we need to try to be money smart and avoid debt and learn how to save our money for the future. Developing habits now will help us to learn the value of saving and teach us habits that we can teach our children. Even if our income is low we can always save our money even if it is just a small amount. Avoiding debt is talked about a lot by the Prophets and saving our money is a great way to avoid debt.

Have a great week!