Coinage Personal Finance

Take It From Anthony Bourdain

Coinage Team — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 13:10:09 +0000

In a great article about Anthony Bourdain, a renown chef turned TV personality, does something unthinkable: is open about his finances.

Few in our society are honest about where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going, when it comes to their finances. It’s refreshing to hear anybody talk openly about their finances, but even more so from Hollywood, where we’re made to think life is all glam and beauty.

Check out the full article on Anthony Bourdain’s outlook on finances over on Wealth Simple: https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-us/magazine/money-diary-anthony-bourdain.

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Top 5 Dead Simple Cheap Gift Ideas

Coinage Team — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 10:45:19 +0000

I once heard a great line that the most expensive gifts were those that had no thought behind them, which is so true. Have you ever overspent trying to buy for that impossible someone? I know I have. Let’s checkout some cheap gift ideas.

These dead simple gift ideas will help you stay under budget and are so thoughtful, you’ll get a silent “Thank you” mouthed from across the room.

1. Food Gifts
This is my favorite gift hack. Seriously, we didn’t get to be one of the fattest nations on earth for no reason… we love food. Especially if you’re a good cook, food gifts can be very affordable. Gourmet coffee, fine chocolates, and hard-to-find craft beer can all be had for around $10 and say, “I get you”.

Want to up your game? Think re-packaging for super cheap gift ideas. Throw some sugar, salt, and chili-powder on a pound of pecans, roast them in the oven at 350º for about 7 minutes, pour into 8oz mason jars, tie on a decorative ribbon and boom, $3 per gift.

2. Group Gifts
This is a super handy trick for cheap gift ideas for family or groups. Let’s say you spend a modest $15 per person on a family of 5, you’re in for at least $75 bucks, but with the group gift hack, you can buy a board game for $30 bucks that brings family together and only costs you $6 bucks a person. Another example is a gift card for an hour of Top Golf, costs $40 and covers six people(and it’s loads of fun), also about $6 per person.

The key to this hack is to think about common interests that bring the group together.

3. Sentimental Gifts
It’s hard to refute the power of sentiment. I’ve never heard a grandparent say, this is a terrible photo of my grandkids, I’d like to exchange it.

Sentimental gifts work wonders on parents, grandparents, older (mature) children who appreciate the sentiment, and close friends.

Need some ideas? Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received were nicely framed photos, family heirlooms, or a hand-written, heart-felt card.

4. DIY Gifts
You don’t have to be a Pinterest guru to put together some DIY gifts this holiday. Can you knit or crochet? Paint? Woodwork?

Whatever your skill set, often your time is cheaper than the money spent on retail items. Not to mention, you get bonus sentimental points for DIY gifts.

5. Funny Gifts
When all else fails, make someone laugh.

A Squatty Potty, Drink Coasters with a cheesy photo of yourself, Custom Dog Outfit, Bathroom Trivia Book, you get the idea.

My personal favorite this year: A t-shirt with a huge photo of my dog’s face on it.

Bonus Hack!

Let’s get real, one of the simplest, cheapest gifts you can give, is the gift card, slightly more thoughtful than cash, much less thoughtful than a handcrafted rocking chair… so how can you jazz it up and still be considered thoughtful(while being frugal)? Personalize it.

Put that Starbucks gift card in a greeting card and write a message suggesting your favorite off-menu drink to try.

This adds a nice touch to an otherwise impersonal gift.

That’s all for now!

Have any hacks to share with fellow readers? We’d love to hear them.

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Preparing Financially for the Holidays

Coinage Team — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 13:38:22 +0000

Between office holiday parties, potluck dinners, buying gifts for eight additional family members you only see once a year, and generally higher ticket items being gifted to your loved ones, preparing for the holiday season can be a stressful financial time.

In 2016, shopper’s in the US plan to spend on average $929 dollars this year on gifts according to American Research Group, all while 55% of us are living paycheck to paycheck.

Where are we planning on getting this extra $929 bucks!?

Hopefully, the answer for all of our readers is preparedness. I mean, every year we all know the holidays are coming, it’s not a surprise expense, so surely we don’t wait until the paycheck before to “get prepared” do we?

In our household, it’s real simple, we tally up the number of those near and dear to us and set a budget for each person, multiply, divide by the number of paychecks per year, and boom, budget. Here’s an example:

12 loved ones x $50 per person = $600 for loved ones

Add in a little love for the wife and I…

2 x $150 = $300 for ourselves

So that’s $900 in gifts for the holiday season, now to budget:

$900 / 24 paychecks per year = $37.50 per paycheck

And there you go, definitely not down to the penny, but come every holiday season, we’re prepared to shower our family with gifts, and you can do this in advance with a little foresight.

Need an extra little budget hack? In our budget, we just take this number and double it in a category appropriately named “Gifts”. Why? Birthdays! We figure, all the folks we buy for during the holidays, we’ll buy for on their birthday, why not be prepared!?

If you’re one of the readers that isn’t prepared this year(tisk tisk), we’d recommend these two guides to help you along your way:

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The Truth Behind 0% Interest Credit Cards

Coinage Team — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 14:16:59 +0000

The Odds are NOT in Your Favor

Ever stopped to wonder why companies are so happy to offer you 0% interest credit cards? Or why they are so pleased to let you borrow hundreds or thousands of dollars? All while you walk away with their product?

Is it because they want you to have the latest Super HD TV, or because your old couch doesn’t quite “go” with your coffee table?

I’m afraid to say, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. They aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. The truth is quite the opposite, they’re counting on you failing.

Underneath all the marketing glam surrounding 0% interest credit cards, is a term known as deferred interest. Deferred interest can be an amazing tool for building credit, smart debt payoff, and getting through unforeseen emergencies, but it can also be a sneaky threat to overcome.

Lets say you sign up for a 0% interest for 18 months offer through your local electronics store. You get approved and buy the latest and greatest TV for $3,000, all at 0% interest! Win-win right?

For the electronics store, definitely. For you, maybe…

You see, if you don’t pay off the $3,000 within the 18 month promotional period, YOU GET CHARGED WITH 18 MONTHS OF INTEREST!

Now, you’re $3,000 TV costs $1,000 more, not to mention the interest charged on the remainder of your payoff plan (likely another $1,000).

And it happens ALL THE TIME.

The electronics store would rather you NOT pay on time. They get their profit on the TV, now they make a profit on lending you money. Instead, you’ll find uncharacteristically low minimum payments. This ensures you won’t pay off the balance within the promotional period.

The game is stacked against you, but you CAN win if you’re prepared.

Winning the 0% Interest Credit Card Game

Before you ever sign up for a 0% interest credit card offer, or spend a single dollar, make sure you can afford the item. You should base this on the amount of the item divided by the promotional period, NOT based on the minimum payment. So in the example, we wanted a $3,000 TV over an 18 month promotional period, that’s $167 per month.

If you can work this $167 in to your budget, good news, you can likely beat the system. That means a $3,000 TV with no added interest. If $167 per month is outside of your financial reach, you may want to reconsider. Unless of course you love supporting your local electronics store.

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Track Your Holiday Spending with Smart Notes

Coinage Team — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 16:32:49 +0000

The holidays bring a unique complication to smartly managing your finances. Budgeting for things like bills is easy, you just tally them up and you’re good to go, but things like fancy dinners and gifts are a different story.

One of the best tools you have for managing your personal finances is your own history. My family uses the hash tagging feature of Smart Notes to hashtag all of our holiday spending as either #thanksgiving or #christmas.

We do this every year so we can easily look back at the previous year, and see what we spent last year, and use that as a baseline for the new year. A quick search for #christmas lets us know how to budget for the year.

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Coinage 1.3 is Live!

Coinage Team — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 19:11:16 +0000

What’s new:

Smart Notes!
Add hashtags to your transaction notes for better record keeping
Learn More
Receipts!
Attach receipts to your transactions
Learn More
Last Chance Notifications!
New setting for last minute transaction notifications
Learn More
Search!
Now you can search all of your transactions with ease
Learn More

You’ll also find:

You can now get the details of each milestone on your transaction activity timeline
Major performance increases

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Check Coinage Status

Coinage Team — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 15:31:44 +0000

Pro tip! You can check the status of Coinage at any time by visiting our status page.

The post Check Coinage Status appeared first on Coinage Personal Finance.

Just released! Version 1.2 of the best bill tracker around

Coinage Team — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 14:29:46 +0000

In our drive to be the best, we focused v1.2 on making sure Coinage reigns supreme as the best bill tracker out there. Check out our new features below.

What’s New?

Great Historical Insights
The transaction detail view now shows a summary of your payment history. From there, you can see the full history with the beautiful bill payment history report.
Beautiful Activity Timeline
When is the transaction scheduled? Has it been completed? Quickly glimpse the status of a transaction with the new activity timeline.
Smart Notes
Whether you want to make note of a payment confirmation number or remember your favorite waitress at the burger joint, notes have you covered.

Along with our standard features like beautiful bill reminders, powerful cash flow forecasting and multi-platform data syncing, it’s our hope that the new and improved features introduced in v1.2 cause our users to share our sentiment that Coinage is the best bill tracker available for iPhone, iPad, Android and the web.

If you’re not already using Coinage as a bill tracker or for some of the many other personal finance features, we’d love to have you try us out at no charge. Sign up free.

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Manage your Personal Finances Online

Coinage Team — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 13:12:07 +0000

Now you can use Coinage on the web to manage your personal finances online!

Yes, you can do it all from your mobile devices, but take advantage of the extra screen space and put the cheater glasses away for a bit, use Coinage from your full-size computer by visiting app.coinageapp.com.

If you’re new to Coinage, sign up today and start managing your finances with a purpose.

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Track your spending in iOS!

Coinage Team — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 12:59:23 +0000

Coinage is now available on the iOS App Store!

Now you iOS folks can quickly see your account and budget balances, any upcoming transactions and add new transactions while you’re on the go, all from one place.

If you’re new to Coinage, create your account today!

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