Should You Take a Year Off in Your 20s? + MORE

Thirteen people are dead and 50 folks are still missing in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic located in the southeast area of the Province of Quebec. And from the video footage and photos that we’ve all seen, it looks as if a wildfire literally engulfed and obliterated a large swath of the town…

Health care costs for services, devices, and procedures are inevitable.
Even if you’ve taken proper preventative health care measures and are covered by insurance, you WILL encounter medical bills at some point.
It might seem as though there is nothing you can do. Let’s say your physician recommends a certain procedure and even gives you the name of a doctor/place to get it done…

The following is a guest post from Martin of Studenomics — you need to check the blog out to see what sort of new projects Martin has been working on to help you gain financial freedom.
Does it ever make sense to take a year off? Should you take a year off in your teens or 20s to figure everything out?
What’s my answer?
Nope…

Less is more? Not at the grocery store.Eagle eyes over at MousePrint.org noticed new, smaller jars of Jif peanut butter are hitting shelves now. You might not spot the difference because the jars are about the same height as they were before. But if you measure, as the site did, you’ll discover the new jar “had its waistline trimmed by one-half an inch,” MousePrint…

As I was clipping the grass around the trees with hand clippers just now, it occurred to me that this was a task I used to have as a child. It was part of the chores that I did to earn my allowance. Every night I dried the dishes (Mom washed), every weekend in spring, summer and fall I trimmed up the grass around the house, gardens and trees with the hand clippers…

File this one under “much ado about nothing.”
Stocks in the most popular emerging markets are getting clobbered. Truthfully, the entire emerging markets space is taking it on the chin right now — not just Brazil, but Russia, India and China, too.
Case in point: The MSCI emerging markets index is down 10…

I follow interest rates because I have debt.  Mortgage interest rates have been rising and I have been very worried that my $14,979 HELOC (home equity line of credit) rate of prime plus a half would rise drastically.  I am currently paying 4% interest.  It seemed like it might be time to switch the HELOC to a traditional mortgage and lock in at a rate of 3…

This was probably the hardest contest I’ve had to help judge, but MAN was it fun. Y’all had some CRAZZZZZY good ideas out there! I couldn’t even come up with half of them if I tried, haha… Seriously, check some of these out (full details are in the giveaway entries):Re-starting up a balloon animal/shape making business
Updating a CPR training biz with new mannequins for students to train on
Adding to a non-GMO farming pasture raising rabbits for meat and goats for dairy
Launching a new voice-over side business
Revamping a hand crochet beanie hat store
Adding a paint booth in the back yard of a custom bicycle shop!
And, one of my favorites cuz it’s so old-school, building a new arcade from scratch by hustling gumball machines 🙂 You don’t hear about those businesses much these days! (Perhaps cuz there’s not much money in them anymore?)

Half of those up there became our runner-ups 🙂 At the end of the day though, Deals2Buy and I had to go through all 100+ of them and whittle them down to our fave handful, and eventually all the way down to our favorite of the bunch…

Here’s our latest Reader Profile Update. Many of you asked for this type of post — a progress report on where past Reader Profile readers are these days financially. I think you’ll really enjoy this. (BTW, if you do enjoy it, you can submit your own update, hint, hint.) :)Today’s post is from Jack, who gave us his reader profile a couple years ago…

If someone handed you $500, what would you do with it? A whopping 70 percent of those in Generation Z say they’d save at least part of it, and among them, 34 percent would save it for college. That’s just one of the findings in TD Ameritrade’s 2nd Annual Generation Z Survey that shows that teens and early 20-somethings* are refreshingly money-savvy…

We all need to be investing toward our future. There are many different types of investments you can look at, don’t forget to invest in yourself, but the stock market can be one of best for many of us. When you first start out investing in stocks it can seem daunting and complex, but you should not let that stop you…

A few weeks ago we had a nasty storm here in Minnesota. I honestly have never seen so much water and such high winds in such a short period of time. I was stranded in the Target parking lot and decided to try to make it home. I made it but honestly thought I was going to get stuck somewhere in the flash flood conditions…

We’re surrounded by gadgets, both high-tech and low, that usually aim to make our lives easier or better in some way. We all have our favorites — some are undeniably useful, while others are just plain cool.
What is your favorite gadget? Do you use it for work, pleasure, or everyday living? Has it improved your life in any surprising ways?
Tell us about your favorite gadget and we’ll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!
Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards
We’re doing three giveaways — here’s how you can win!
Mandatory Entry:

Post your answer in the comments below…

An economic outlook report released by the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday suggests that global economic growth for the remainder of 2013 and moving into 2014 will remain stagnant.
According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook Update, the world economy will grow at 3.1 percent this year, the same rate as last year…

This is an article by Sam Lustgarten, a doctoral student a midwestern university.
Is the promise of home appreciation just as dangerous as the mythical dragon?The real estate market is changing.
After years of record-low rates for mortgages, the interest market is beginning to heat up.
Homebuyers are suddenly second-guessing their decision to buy…

The summer vacation is considered a staple of the American experience. Not all of us, however, can take off for a full two weeks. Whether money is tight or you have obligations at work, a full-blown vacation might not be an option.
At times when you just can’t take off for a vacation, why not go camping? When you’re camping, you’re not only enjoying time with family and nature, but you’re also spending very little money…

Credit cards offer a lot of convenience. It’s possible to make purchases quickly and easily. And, when you make a large purchase that you don’t have the cash for, a credit card allows you to get the item immediately, and make small, manageable payments over time.
Unfortunately, it’s just this convenience that can cause problems for some consumers…

Not too long ago, a person I know showed me a very nice bag they had purchased. It was actually a really nice bag – sized almost perfectly for carrying about six board games and structured with aluminum bars to help keep its shape, yet also folding down wonderfully for storage.
This person was very proud of the deal they had received for this bag – in fact, the deal was so good that my friend had purchased two of the bags…