Preparing for Zer0’s economic bust.
1. What fluff expenses can we eliminate and still have a good life?
2. Eliminate as much monthly outflow as you can. Today I spent about an hour with a live AT&T rep. I’m saving $10/month with the same DSL service and eliminated another $10 extra phone service my wife got and doesn’t use. I discontinued a so called cheaper phone long distance service and got a flat 5 cents / minute from AT&T. Total monthly savings equal about $30 per month.
3. I will be doing the same with Dish. If they don’t lower and their rates and lock them in. I will go to Direct TV. Expected monthly savings about $25.
4. Get out of credit card debt. Don’t buy it if you can’t pay for it with your next bill.
5. Go to a yearly cell phone contract with a good phone without buying a mini computer to carry.
6. Shop at Walmark, Costco and get a Safeway savings card to buy Safeway’s specials. The savings can be very good.
7. If you can save 5% or more on a necessary item, that beats what your bank is paying.
8. Go to Dollar Savings Direct or ING to keep your savings at better rate. You can get to it via the iternet and transfer money from and to DSG. DSG is currently paying 4% and you can have basically any amount in their account.
I don’t give investment advise only suggestions. Personally, I would not be in any mutual fund with the exception of a low cost S&P 500 mutual fund in Iras and 401 k’s. Bond funds have been spooky and not very transparent. If you have a self directed IRA, you can invest in TLT and TIP bond etf funds. You can buy them and any ETF and sell them like stock. Beware of house owned mixed funds sold by the investment funds , often they are composed of their junk they can’t sell by itself. So they market them as no brainer funds with goals 10/20/30 years away. Usually their result is terrible when compared to just the plain jane S&P.
Our Fido self directed Ira investments are mainly in bank CDs and about 5% in Gld, the gold etf.
Last but not least the old rule of having 6 months of expenses in a savings account is still imporatant, and maybe a year depending on the area and job skill.
Don’t lock your money up re long term, as we will probably have Jimmy Carter runaway inflation starting sometime next year. That is where savings accts like the Dollar Savings Direct are good. We got in a couple of months ago @3.7 something, and today their apr is now 4%. Their rates is will increase as the cost of money increases. Locked in rates can cripple your money in Carter/Zero runaway inflation.
Thank you for your suggestions. It is time to prepare FAST!