Five Memberships You Can Save Money With Today

May 7, 2016 Posted by Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves In Featured Articles, Money Saving Ideas Tagged Best Gen X Financial Advisors, Best Gen X Financial Planning, Best Gen X Money Manager, Complimentary Consultation, Financial Advice, financial advice to the X and Y Generation, financial advisor for gen x, Financial Decisions, financial planner for gen x, Five Memberships You Can Save Money With Today, Gen X & Y Financial Advice, get a financial plan in place to learn how to pay yourself first, Money, oXYGen Financial, OxygenFinancial, Personal Finance 101, profitable, Retirement, Save Money, Ted Jenkin, What are some good programs to save money, your smart money moves Comments 0

There are many types of membership models, but gym memberships are probably the most popular type of membership. As most of you know, gyms often sell (or give) away many more memberships than the gym can actually hold. Membership companies love to sell to people who they know either won’t use it, won’t show up, or just plain forget that they have the membership. In doing my research, here are five membership ideas that can really save you money without breaking your wallet. AAA- (aaa.com) AAA is a membership that has been around for a long time. Most consumers think about AAA as the ‘car’ company. You buy a AAA membership in case you have a flat tire, battery dies, you need a tow, or you get locked out of your car. What most people don’t think about are the hundreds of discounts that the AAA card offers. One of the biggest ones that I have used over the years ...

Socks Are The New Ties

In 1991, I distinctly remember shopping for my very first real suit purchase in Filene’s Basement in downtown Boston. How I longed to start my career a la the Alex Keaton days of Family Ties and come dressed up to work in my spiffy brand new suit. Of all the major accessories that come with a suit, you could easily turn an average suit into a great look with a spectacular tie. The tie is what really brought everything together. You could turn a plain old gray or blue suit with a white shirt into some eye popping candy with a tie that jumps out off of the dull canvas of the plain old suit. I was never one for spending tons of money on clothes, but when I hit my first stride of success, I knew that one stop in the Ermenegildo Zegna store would truly show the level of success I was having. It wouldn’t seem like prudent ...

Dealing With Inheritances

Topic: Dealing With Inheritances Taped 5/03/16 Listen every Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. on ROCK 100.5 | Atlanta’s Rock Station to “Your Smart Money Moves” with The Rock 100.5 Morning Show and oXYGen Financial. Ted Jenkin, CFP® and Kile Lewis, CRPC® are the founders of oXYGen Financial, and our chief financial officers. All your money questions answered Breathe easier at http://oXYGenFinancial.net ...

Why Your Teenager Shouldn’t Have A New Car

If it is your idea, as a parent, to help your teenagers set realistic financial goals and be financially successful in life, one of the worst decisions you can make is to buy them a new automobile. When my daughter was ready to drive, I bought my mother’s 2008 Hyundai Tucson. Funny thing is that it gets my daughter to school and her jobs just as well as any other vehicle. We focus more on teaching her how good the inside of her bank account looks than how the outside of her car looks. She is already well on her way to financial independence–and not making this mistake will help your children get there quicker as well. Specifically, here’s why a new car is such a colossal mistake: The laws of depreciation vs. appreciation. The fact is that cars are guaranteed to depreciate. And the financial lesson you want to teach your children is to buy assets that can appreciate ...

Lil Dicky Top 10 Money Tips

Your Smart Money Moves officially crosses over to the world of cutting edge hip hop. However, there is a reason. A good, good reason. David Andrew Burd[1] (born March 15, 1988) better known by his stage name Lil Dicky or LD, is an American rapper and comedian. He came to prominence with the release of the music video to his song “Ex-Boyfriend”, which went viral with more than one million views on YouTube in 24 hours. (source: Wikipedia). However, what Burd released that really got my engines revved up was a YouTube video called $ave Dat Money feat. Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan (side note: this video should only be watched if you are ready for lots of profanity! http://bit.ly/1ijDPCb). Essentially, Lil Dicky made this video in the really smart money move fashion by asking for everything for FREE! He literally knocked on the doors of mansions, went to high end car dealers, and even stole part of the set on another high end rap video that ...

What Happens If You DIE Without A Will

Topic: What Happens If You DIE Without A Will Taped 4/26/16 Listen every Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. on ROCK 100.5 | Atlanta’s Rock Station to “Your Smart Money Moves” with The Rock 100.5 Morning Show and oXYGen Financial. Ted Jenkin, CFP® and Kile Lewis, CRPC® are the founders of oXYGen Financial, and our chief financial officers. All your money questions answered Breathe easier at http://oXYGenFinancial.net ...

Should You Invest In That Collectible Car?

Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a tremendously powerful article http://snip.ly/hm9s0 about how bonds have outperformed stocks since 12/31/1999. Over long periods of time, historically stocks are more volatile than bonds but also outperform bonds over the long term. The question is will this trend continue this century? Since 2000, investors have turned to adding an additional asset class to the cash, stock, and bond mix by putting more money into ‘alternative investments’. These include investments such as REIT’s, commodities, and precious metals. Increasingly I am getting asked questions about other types of investments. One couple was debating the question about whether it would be better to put $75,000 more into improving their home for long term equity value or would it be better to put $75,000 toward repairing and restoring a 1970 Chevelle that they owned. Without delving into the question of what would get more use, the home or the car, my immediate challenge was around what would provide ...

The 15 Minute Plan

Have you seen those commercials for fitness programs that say all you have to do is spend 15 mins a day in their program and you will get lean and fit. You know, they show a before and after picture of someone that has been through the program. Now, I do not know if they work, but I do know if you stick with any kind of plan you will see some kind of results. It is no different with your finances. You have to have a plan and stick to it. Here are some steps to your 15 minute plan. The start of any plan revolves around cash flow management. In the 17 years that I have been in financial planning, I have found that the most successful people are those that can create, manage and read an Income-Expense statement. You start with a system for collecting your data. You can use pen and paper; an Excel spreadsheet; a ...

Three Investment Lessons To Teach Your Children

While many families across America are struggling to figure out how to save for retirement and handle their monthly budgets, it becomes more and more important to teach our children important investing lessons for their financial future. 21% of Americans think the best way to save for retirement is winning the lottery (http://www.retirementplanblog.com/defined-benefit-pension-plans/gambling-on-retirement/). That’s no surprise because everyone pretty much scrounged up money to buy a recent Powerball ticket. Here are three different lessons you can teach your children about investing to make money. Win A Guinness Book Of World Records- This lesson is actually about teaching your kids the very valuable concept of investing in themselves. We know that setting goals and achieving them have a very high correlation to financial success. What about challenging your child to win a Guinness Record? How would that be for a confidence and resume builder? One of our very good friends Mike and Courtney Hoffman recently had their daughter Jace Hoffman win ...

You Should Get To Know The Self Directed Brokerage 401(k)

You would think that because I’ve been doing financial planning for 25 years that I would be a flat out 100% advocate for 401(k) plans. With the ability today to put away money on a pre-tax basis in your 401(k) or now the use of a Roth 401(k) there are many different ways to save for your future. Many employers even offer a ‘match’ of some of the funds that you put away into your plan as an incentive and some companies even give a year end profit sharing contribution if the company has done well. The 401(k) has now become the Gibraltar Rock for most people in their 30’s and 40’s as the main driving force for their future retirement. In most 401(k) plans, the problem is that you are generally limited to choices of five or six target date/retirement date funds and with limited index fund choices you could be left in an absolute mess in retirement if ...