Category Budget

Back in December, I wrote an article on my switch to Skype for my calls made while at my desk, to cut back on the number of cell phone minutes I was burning through each month.  After calculating savings, I realized I was saving $631.70 per year by going with a VoIP provider as opposed to Verizon.  At the time I was using a headset connected to my desktop.  Since then, I’ve gotten a bit more technologically advanced.

I recently came across a product put out by D-Link, which plugs into the USB port on my computer and allows me to make Skype calls from a normal phone!  In addition, if I had a regular phone line, I could plug that in as well which would allow me to make and recieve phone calls from either line...

In speaking to a friend recently about credit cards, mortgages, and personal finance, he confided that he had very little knowledge of most things finance related.  The question he eventually asked me was “What is the difference between secured and unsecured debt?” Since I feel the answer could benefit more than just my friend, I decided to post it up here for all to see.

Secured Debt is debt backed by something tangiable.  Good examples of a secured debt are your vehicle and your mortgage.  There is a physical good that can be reposessed or foreclosed on to recoup losses by the lender in the event you fail to make the payments.

Unsecured Debt is debt without a tangiable asset to back it.  The best example of this would be a credit card...

When I entered the real estate arena, I decided I needed to address my phone plans.  My cell phone plan with 1,000 minutes per month was just not going to cut all the additional phone calls I was making – some calls just can’t wait until after 7PM!  Please note that any rates that I provide in this post are based on my home in Amherst, NY.

The two options I considered were having a Verizon land line phone installed, or finding an online Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service to run over top of my preexisting broadband connection.  I ended up choosing Skype as my VOIP solution.

It’s a common misconception that professional athletes such as professional football players don’t have to deal with financial strains that many average people face on a weekly basis when their paycheck comes through and the bills are sitting on the table.A recent article posted on the NFL Players Association website brought to light a situation that I never thought existed.

The average player coming into the league just out of college starts at $285,000 a year and after taxes and deductions they round that figure down to about $147,000 a year.One thing that surprises me is that many of these players are financially struggling during the off season because they only get paid 17 weeks out of a 52-week year, and stretching that money gets more and more difficult as time goes on...