The last two weeks here I’ve been really getting into the core of money management topics. I shared with you why I think that earning more money trumps frugality and I went into the importance of saving money in your 20s.

Today I wanted to dive into some money management tips that you likely won’t find anywhere else. I wanted to think outside of the box and to dig deeper when it comes to money management. I wanted to look past the typical “invest in yourself” and “brew your own coffee” sort of tips that we can easily find anywhere else. Let’s get started:

Travel lots in your 20s.

While it’s very important that you save some money in your 20s, there’s just something amazing about getting out there and actually seeing the world.I think that every 20-something should find a way to travel once in a while or even attempt to work overseas for a little bit of time.

There are many benefits to traveling in your 20s. You might find a new place you want to live in. One of my friends ended up in Toronto because he traveled here one time to visit friends. He quickly found out that he enjoyed the lifestyle in the city and was impressed by the amount of work opportunities. Now because of one trip to the next province, he finds himself living somewhere he never imagined. Now think of the possibilities when you visit exotic parts of the world?

You’ll also explore opportunities you never knew existed with traveling. My trips to Cuba have shown me that there’s more to life than constantly working and chasing the dollars. My trips to Europe have provided me with an insight to different  cultures and ways of life. You really can’t quantify the lessons that travel WILL bring you. On a beach vacation you can meet amazing people with strong business connections from other parts of the world. Working abroad you can experience a new culture that you might want to adopt. I think that all 20-somethings need to find a way to experience the world.

Don’t be afraid to use credit cards to your advantage.

Credit cards are not evil and they don’t have to ruin your financial picture. Just because there are many horror stories out there from those that have gone into massive amounts of debt due to not using a credit card properly, it doesn’t mean that you have to suffer the same fate.

You need to find different ways that you can take advantage of credits. What are some of these options?

• Automate all of your monthly payments. This will prove that you have the ability to make prompt payments. In turn you should see an increase in your credit score.
• Use relevant rewards. I currently use the basic cashback rewards style credit card. I can a few hundred dollars back each year. You can get a points based card where after enough usage you can find yourself with free flights.
• Take advantage of hidden perks. Some credit cards will automatically extend your warranty or provide you with insurance for a car rental. Find out what perks you have and take advantage of them.

You don’t have to go into debt with a credit. If you’re wise, you can use that piece of plastic to your advantage.

Learn to cut your losses.

I find that all of us have a tough time with cutting losses. It’s critical that you understand the concept of a sunk cost.

This means that there are  certain costs that once you incur them, you’ll never see the money again. You need to just accept this. An example of a sunk cost would be your college education. You can never get the money refunded that you spent to earn your degree. You can use your degree to make more money and to improve your earning potential. You can’t get the direct costs back. If you learn to cut your losses, that means that you’ll comprehend that you don’t have to work directly in the field of your degree just because you paid for it.

There are also many other areas in life where we need to cut our losses. A few more areas include:

1. Relationships. If you’re not happy and there’s no solution, you should get out.
2. Investments. If you make a poor investment, learn from your mistakes and move on.
3. Food. If you’re not happy with a meal, forget about it and think about your next meal.

Pay someone to do the boring stuff.

Do you hate accounting? Do you hate blog design work? I hate both. This is why I outsource both of these tasks with a smile on my face. There are “money experts” out there that advise us to learn these skills so that we can save a few bucks. In reality that’s not how us human beings work. You need to focus on your strengths. I nearly lost my mind when I tried to work on my own blog design. I’m much happier paying someone to do the boring stuff, while I focus on doing the things that I enjoy and bring higher value.

Those are the best unconventional money management tips that I could think of. Is there any rarely-shared advice on the topic that you would love to mention? What personal finance advice are you tired of?

(photo credit: f-4000)

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For those who have been following The Financial Blogger for a while, you will know that this is our 3rd design. The first one was a free theme we got from a Word Press site. The second one was our very first “professional” design. And now, we are moving forward to another design.

This time, we didn’t change much as we liked the existing layout. This layout allows us a lot of flexibility to publish ads while putting the content in the main area. However, the logo and the top header weren’t fulfilling our needs anymore.

We wanted to change the look to fit the new direction

After a good discussion with Baker, I’ve decided to modify the order of presentation with my sidebars. For example, I put my newsletter box on the top as one of my priorities is to gain subscribers. Those are small changes that we made in order to improve the readership’s experience.

Then, after those changes, we thought it was time to upgrade our logo with a tag line that fits the new direction we are taking. Our previous tag line was “Got Money?” which was cool but it wasn’t telling much about the site. I was actually referring to a previous Milk marketing campaign (Got Milk?).

Our new tag line “Making 6 figure income, Working 4 days a week” is much strong in its message. The goal of this blog is to show you how to improve your income while improving your lifestyle quality at the same time. I don’t believe in working harder, but I do believe in working smarter!

I also want to add a START HERE section (will be added soon!) which offers the best articles published on The Financial Blogger since the very beginning. This also gives a true feel of what this blog is about. I want people who read The Financial Blogger to get what they are expecting.

What do you think?

Do you like our new design? Do you think that other things could be improved? Let me know, it’s never too late to change

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RIM will be deploying its new PlayBook next week; the iPad is dead!… Well… humphr… I may be a RIM die hard fan, I’m not that stupid . But I actually think that the iPad is dead for another reason; I have a better idea!

The iPad is nothing but a cool toy

When I think about the iPad and other “Pads” of the world, I see nothing but a gadget. It’s a “cool” toy where you can play some games, have fun with applications and go on the internet. I see a true usage when you talk about video conferencing and reading books. However, the Pads have so many “fun” options that I don’t think it is really designed to work with. You can surely hang out but you can’t really work with an iPad and be productive (I’m losing enough time with my iPod Touch to realize how the iPad could become a time eater in my day!).

The iPad at Halloween

My idea came while seeing all the additional gadgets you can buy for your iPad. One of them is literally a suitcase to protect your iPad and provide access to a keyboard. When I saw that, I just saw an iPad disguised as a laptop… so what’s the point?

Why the iPad is soo cool

The iPad is soo cool because it has an amazing touch screen. This offers you a world of opportunities that we haven’t been able to explore yet. Wow… you can interact with a screen by the tip of your finger. How cool is that?

This is what makes the good ol’ laptop so old fashioned (I’m typing this post while I am at the pool for William’s swimming classes and while most people are staring at me because I type like a demon with my semi-broken laptop… while they are playing with their iPads and iTouches ).

So what is the solution to make the laptop cool again?

So here’s my idea: why don’t we take a laptop and integrate a touch screen on the surface? When opened, the tool would act as a regular laptop. When closed, the user would have access to a touch screen with the very same function as the iPad.  This would make it the perfect device according to me.

It would combine the work utility and the power of a computer combined with the multimedia and screen enhancement of a touch pad. It just sounds like the perfect device to control your whole geek world .

The fact of adding a double face touch screen on a laptop would enable you to play, work and manage all your application from a single device. For those who like the small size of the iPad, we can surely do it with small notebooks as well . If Apple can design a MacBook almost as thin as a sheet of paper, I’m sure they can incorporate 2 screens on a laptop! I could call it the iTop? Or the iMacBook?… but I hope RIM gets the idea first and call it the BlackBook

I wonder if my idea is good or not, what do you think? Would you buy a BlackBook?

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Hey, here’s a confession: I’m scared.

The funny thing is that if you know me, you would probably say that I am the guy the most over confident dude you have ever seen in your life. I am truly over confident most of the time. I am so over confident that my friends always pick on me with my “famous quote” about optimism in my life. They just like laughing at the fact that there is never a challenge too big or a task too complicated. Everything seems simple and easy to me… I guess this is the definition of being over confident.

But right now, I’m scared.

I’m scared because I am entering in one of the biggest adventures ever; I made some important statements this year. I told you that I will crush it, I told you that I will generate 10K income per month with my sites, that I will pay off my debts and that I will reach several milestones.

In order to achieve it, I have committed to some serious expenses. I now have 2 full time VAs, I have borrowed a significant amount of money to grow my business and have several projects that have been started.

Why am I scared? Because I really want to succeed. Besides being over confident, I have another flaw; I can’t stand failure. Therefore, this whole venture is putting a lot of pressure on my shoulders. What if my next blog income report is below my expectations? What if my business model reaches a plateau and I can’t grow anymore?

Fear is as good as gasoline but Panic is like sugar in the gas tank

The whole point of this article is the following; you can use fear as a source of motivation. However, you must not let it grow into anxiety or panic. This would completely freeze your actions and lead you towards the brick wall.

It’s normal to be afraid when you are entering a big project. However, one must not let his mind race through all the worst case scenarios. This will lead to panic…and then will lead to paralysis. As soon as you feel the fear inside of you, you must ask yourself the following question:

What can I do in order to avoid the worst case scenario?

The answers will make you work on actionable steps instead of worrying about bad scenarios. This will also help you set up a plan B while working hard on your plan A. This is actually part of my big plan to succeed this year; be damn afraid to fail!

So what am I going to do to succeed in 2011?

The very first answer that comes to my mind is the following: WORK!

I have worked on my annual plan and how I will achieve my goals. The most important part of it is to concentrate on actionable steps, those which will create value within my company and generate more income. Steps such as creating my first niche website about home security system. Steps such as working with the Yakezie members to build my brand. Steps such as starting to write my first ebook (still working on the writing plan though…).

The key is to set a mental alert when you feel fear or getting anxious; a mental alert that will direct your brain towards practical solutions. I must warn you; this is counter intuitive, the brain would prefer to explore bad scenarios and transform your fear into panic. You have to take yourself back to the right track and work on solutions.  Keep a notebook close so you can write down your fears and write down what you can do to succeed instead of failing.

This is what I just did this morning, and I feel better already .

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As the summer approaches and the college semester ends people will be making some major changes in life. Some folks will move across the country. Some will start a new job. Some will move in with their significant other. Moving in with someone in your 20s is a major life decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. I personally couldn’t imagine getting married or moving in with someone any time soon. For those of you that are moving in with your partner, this post is for you.

What to consider before moving in with someone?

Will you rent or buy?

You first need to decide if you as a couple will purchase a property or if you will start off by renting. Don’t take this decision lightly because it can have major implications if you end up buying a place and then break up a few months down the road (it happens). A friend of mine bought a condo with his girlfriend of two years. Everything was going well until they realized that they had different goals in life and ended up breaking up. This is where things got sticky. Selling a condo shortly after you’ve purchased it can cause a severe major loss for the moving that you need to spending on lawyers, closings costs, and taxes.

Renting is usually a safe bet when you first move in with someone that you’ve been dating for a short while. Well that’s unless you decide to be a little more traditional and choose to wait until marriage before moving in.

How will you split expenses?

Will the higher income earner pay more for expenses? Will everything be split right down the middle 50/50. This is a discussion that you need to have before you move in together. Some important expenses to consider are:

• Mortgage/rent.
• Taxes (if applicable).
• Food.
• Utilities.
• Cellphone.
• Cable.
• Car fees.

My friend’s live-in girlfriend recently complained about not paying her half of the rent because of her individual subscriptions that are eating up her budget. What you do at this point is solely up to you since every relationship is unique.

How much debt do you each have?

What debt does each person bring to the table? Just because you’re moving in together it doesn’t mean that you’re getting married and sharing debt. With that being said debt is really important because it will affect the amount of extra money (disposable income) that the person has to play around with each month. Your girlfriend may want to go on a nice weekend getaway every month, while you’re stressing about paying off your student loans or credit card debt.

Join bank account or separate?

How will your finances work now that you live together? Will you give this person access to your banking information? These are sensitive topics that you need to approach respectfully so that you don’t end up sleeping on the couch. The idea that most financially conscious couples recommend is that you each have your own banking account, but you split a “household account” where you each put in money to pay for the household expenses.

I had a former girlfriend get upset with me when I wouldn’t share my pin number with her. Will you share your pin number with your girlfriend when she moves in?

What are your financial goals?

Do you share financial goals as a couple? My friend moved in with his long term girlfriend without really discussing goals. He wants to own nice toys. She wants to save up for kids. Ooops. If you have similar goals (save up for a home) then you guys can work together as a couple to reach these goals. If you have individual goals then you’re going to have to figure out how this will impact your financial situation at the moment.

Moving in with the person that you’re dating can be very challenging, both emotionally and financially. If you cover your bases and discuss the sensitive topics now, you can save yourself lots of trouble down the line.

Do you guys have any interesting stories to share about moving in with someone?

(photo credit: Jessa BC)

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