The Amateur Financier

It’s nearly here; in less than a week, Christmas will be upon us, an event which many of us have been planning and attempting to prepare for since Thanksgiving (if not earlier). Among the many, many other issues you need to consider in the final run up to the big day is the issue of holiday tipping. After all, there are probably more than a few service providers in your life that you would like to thank and to whom you’d like to show your appreciation.

Trying to keep all the rules regarding tipping and the advice provided can prove to be a bit tricky, however. There are some many different people you want to show your appreciation for, and so many different sources of advice on how much they each deserve. To try to sort through the muddle, here’s the Amateur Financier guide to end-of-the-year tipping and rewarding of service providers:

Don’t Tip if You Can’t Afford It: There’s a fair to good chance that money is a bit tight right now. That’s understandable; it’s been a rough period for many people (myself included), and tipping all the people who provide us services can be expensive even at the best of times. Luckily, no less an authority than Emily Post notes that you aren’t expected to go beyond your personal budget when tipping for the holidays. How do you show your appreciation, then? Well…

Send Thank You Cards to Those You Cannot Tip: Given the many, many service providers most of us deal with on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis, all but the richest of us are going to prove unable to give substantial monetary tips to everyone. Instead, consider sending a thoughtful, hand-written card to those you cannot provide a monetary tip. You’ll still show your appreciation, while paying a fraction of the cost of even a modest tip.

Consider Gifts Instead of Tips: Another possible option to save money, giving a gift can also serve as a means of showing that you know what your service providers need and want for the holiday season. It can be a tricky option to pull off in practice, though, as some of the people to whom you want to give gifts may not be truly forthcoming with ideas, and you are less likely to have discussed personal hobbies with, say, your doctor than your friends and family. Still, if you know that your regular babysitter is a huge Justin Bieber fan, maybe his newest CD would be more appreciated for the holidays than a check.

Or a Gingerbread House; Everyone Loves Gingerbread Houses, Right?

Know the Standard Tips: Alright, if thank you cards or other gifts aren’t on the table, tips are certainly likely to be appreciated, particularly at this time of year when everyone is a bit strapped for cash. Different service providers expect different levels of tips, though, and knowing what is typical can help you to derive the proper level for the tip you want to give. For more on the proper level, make sure to:

Know the Rules: Different organizations have different rules about what their members can accept in terms of gifts. The US Postal Service, for example, does not allow its members to accept cash, and gifts must be worth under $20. Similarly, your school district might limit gifts to teachers, or your other service providers might be unable to accept gifts. In that case, a card expressing your heartfelt thanks might be more than enough (just check to make sure that such a card would not be against the rules, as well).

There’s quite a few rules to consider while trying to tip for the holidays. For all those who expect holiday tips, thanks for your service, and here’s hoping you get some nice tips.

Alright, I’m going to keep this short and sweet, because there’s not a whole lot of time left (even less by the time you finish reading this).  Adam Baker, the genius between Man Vs. Debt, and his business partner, Karol Gajda, of Ridiculously Extraordinary, are having another sale on eBooks and other media via their Only72 site.  The site gets its name from the fact that their sales last ONLY 72 hours, and this latest one started at noon, EST, on Monday, greatly decreasing the amount of time you have available to take advantage of it.

Now, I know what many of you are thinking: ‘What’s the point of a sale if it has nothing I want to buy?’  To say nothing of: ‘Why bother to pay for eBooks and similar merchandise when there is tons of free material online in almost any subject imaginable (and some that aren’t), including this very blog?’  But there’s the rub; good material is worth the price, and proliferation of poor material is all the more reason that good material is worth the cost.

Which brings us back to the Only72 sale.  This is the third such sale from Baker and Karol, and the third one I’ve purchased, with very few regrets (other than a lack of time in which to put all the great suggestions into practice).  This time, they have two packages put together, both focusing on the potential business owner.  There’s a ‘Business Amplifier’ package, focusing on taking your business to the next level at a cost of $497 (still a discount from the $4344 needed to buy all the components separately), and for those, like me, who are rather tight on money, there’s the ‘Business Launcher’ package coming in at $97 (a savings from the $1033 expense of the individual components).

I haven’t had the opportunity to fully absorb all the information available in the parts of the package; given that there are 8 ebooks, two mailing lists, and three memberships in organizations to help start and promote your business, 72 hours would barely start to cover all the information provided.  I have had a chance to look everything over, though, and there’s plenty to see:

• How to Email Important People: Being able to get in touch with the movers and shakers of the world, particularly those who can positively impact your business or cause, is a valuable skill.  Here’s some advice on how to do so in a respectful, genuinely connecting manner.
• LinkedIn and Webinar eBook Package: Get lost on LinkedIn?  No idea how to do a webinar (or not even sure what one is)?  Here’s some helpful advice to get you going.
• Twixplode: Twitter has, in just a few years, become one of the the biggest social media outlets.  Want to know how to actually put it to work for you?  (I know that I did.)
• BlogCastFM Premium Membership: Want to hear from some of the biggest bloggers in the world just how they managed to get that way?  Well, pull up a chair and get out a notepad, as you have the chance to listen to many of them as they share their stories in recorded interviews.
• True Strengths & The Metrics of Ease: The hardest part of any business attempt is getting started.  This excerpt will help you get over that hump and make progress with your business idea.
• Master Your List: If you are attempting to build a business online, one piece of advice you’ll hear again and again is to build your email list.  But if you don’t use your list properly, what’s the point?  Here’s some advice on what to do with your email list, even if it is fairly small.
• Make More Progress: My regular readers probably know that one of my bigger problems is procrastination.  If you hope to make progress in life, though, you need to be able to kick the procrastination habit, as this eBook promises to help you do.
• Location Rebel Guide to SEO: For us online types, search engine optimization (SEO) is vital; how well potential readers/buyers/partners can find you can be the make or break factor in your online success.  Here’s a guide to improving your SEO, regardless of where you choose to live.
• Niche Finding Bible and JetSetLife Audio Modules: If you want to work online, you need to decide what portion of the market (‘niche’) you want to target.  Advice on whether to go broad or focus on a narrow niche is tackled, along with so much more.
• The Meaningful Business Book: Want to not only make money, but also have a positive influence on people’s lives with your business?  This eBook looks at how to build a business that can be truly meaningful.
• Think Outside the Cubicle: Few people want to spend the rest of their lives in a cubicle.  (Although, it can be fun to watch it happen to Dilbert.)  This eBook looks at ways to escape the cubicle, as well as preventing yourself from imposing a cubicle style life on yourself at home.
• Guerrilla Influence Formula: If you hope to accomplish much in your goal, whether that goal is to save the world or simply build enough of a side business to quit your job, you’ll need to know how to influence people.  Look here for some advice on how to do exactly that.
• Traffic & Trust: Affiliate marketing is one of the most commonly recommended ways to get into online businesses; unfortunately, it’s sometimes a one-way ticket to questionable actions.  Find ways to work as an affiliate while still maintaining the (legitimate) trust people should have in you.

That’s just a sample of all the information available.  I’m still working my way through it all, and I’m sure you could spend many an hour doing the same.  So, stop on by Only72  and check it out!

(Note: the Only72 links provided here are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase the packages offered after clicking, I will earn a portion of the sale.  I have tried not to let that fact influence my writing; as mentioned, I have purchased this package, do think it is good, and would recommend it to others looking to get (deeper) into online business.  I just wanted to be up front about how I might benefit from your purchasing decisions.)

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So, you’ve decided to invest; good for you.  It’s (almost) always a good idea to start putting away money for the future, whether for retirement or some other goal.  Chances are that the first place you should start investing is in your 401(k) (or equivalent) plan at work.  Not only will you get a nice tax break, but your company might even match a portion of your contributions; if that’s the case, you’re giving up free money by not contributing.

Once you’ve maximized your contributions to your 401(k) (or at least, invested enough to get the maximum match from your employer), though, you might find yourself with more money that you’d like to invest.  If that’s the case (and again, good for you if it is), you’ll need to open an account with an investment company in order to keep investing.  Which brings up the obvious question, which investment firm?

How To Choose The Right Firm

After all, there are quite a few choices out there, each offering different investment styles and services, to say nothing of different investments.  How can you be sure that you make a wise decision about where to invest?  Well, luckily, there are steps that you can take to help ensure you choose the right investment firm for your needs and your goals.  The first step to doing so is, of course…

1. Knowing your investment goals and needs: There’s any number of reasons you might want to invest, from saving for retirement to wanting to test your ability to ‘pick’ the most profitable stocks.  Likewise, your needs as an investor can run a wide range; you could be a seasoned pro who just wants to be left to your own devices, or you could be an investing novice who wants a lot of hand holding.  There are brokerage firms who cater to each end of this spectrum, as well as plenty that hit various points in between.

And of course, your broker should be able to avoid this kind of situation.

A major decision at this step is whether you want a discount or full service broker; that is, one who will provide you with little, if any, personal consultation (a discount broker) or one that can provide you with much more assistance (a full service broker).  Which one you choose will determine not only how much assistance you get, but everything from the level of fees you pay (discount brokers, as you might guess, tend to be cheaper) to how much research you have access.

2. Knowing what do you want to invest in: Different firms specialize in different types of investments; the ideal firm for a mutual fund investor will frequently be a poor choice for a stock investor, and a firm that’s great for an active trader might not be well suited at all for a buy and hold investor.  Knowing what the firms you are considering specialize in is important in narrowing down your options, and eventually choosing the best firm for your needs.  You can use on and offline resources, such as SmartMoney’s annual broker survey, to get a better idea of what the firms you’re considering do well, or not so well.  On that note…

3. Knowing the history and reputation of the firms: Once you’ve narrowed down your options to a few of the most promising candidates, it’s time for the real research to begin.  Using online reviews, magazine articles, and perhaps even friends and relatives, find out what you can about the firms you are considering, and whether they are right for you.  Even try calling or otherwise contacting their service department for more information; not only will you learn more about the company, but you can get an idea of how they respond to requests from customer in the process.

If you follow all these steps, you should have a pretty good idea of what firm will be the best for you.  When you do, you’ll be all set to start your investment journey.  Good luck, and here’s hoping you have a profitable time!

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Chances are, you’ve gone out to eat in a nice restaurant before, and intend to do so again.  Hopefully, when you go out, you leave the wait staff a nice tip, at least if the service is average or better.  (Especially if you live in a state like Pennsylvania, which allows employers to pay less than minimum wage to wait staff and other workers who can expect to get tips in addition to their hourly wages.)  But how can you calculate the tip?

If you’re in luck, the restaurant will print tip suggestions on the bottom of the page; several I visit regularly have begun to do so.  You might also have a tip calculator on your phone or PDA; given the ubitquous nature of these products and the high number with these programs, you may never have to calculate a tip again.

But just in case you don’t have access to any of these tools (or simply want to refresh some of your algebra skills), there are a few methods you can use to make the calculations simpler.  A few tricks I’ve used myself:

1) Multiply the Tax – Probably the easiest and most widely recommended method, you can take the amount of tax you owe, multiply by an appropriate number, and end up with an amount near the typical tip amount.  Consider if you have a dinner that costs $63.54 before tax (like the meal I had with six of my friends on Saturday night).  In Pennsylvania, where there’s a 6% sales tax, the tax would be:

$3.81

We can multiply this amount by 3 in order to come up with a decent, albeit 18%, tip amount (note: I just use the dollars and the dimes columns for my calculations; it makes things a bit simpler and does not cut down the tip amount too much) :

$11.40

The advantage of this method is that it is fairly easy, as long as you remember your multiplication tables.  (Good thing you listened when your teachers told that stuff would be important in the future!)  The disadvantages are that it limits you to multiples of your state’s sales tax; so in Pennsylvania, you could tip calculate 12% or 18%, but you’d have a little trouble coming up with a 15% tip.  Furthermore, you have to be aware of the state sales tax in any sales you visit and adjust the multiple accordingly; in California, for example, the sales tax rate is 7.25%, so multiplying by three would yield a 21.75% tip (and make you the most popular patron in the restaurant).  Other states have no sales tax at all, making this method impossible.  If you want to use this method, be sure to know the sales tax rates in every state you intend to visit, and multiply accordingly.

2) One Tenth plus One Half: This is my preferred method; it can work even in places where there is no sales tax, and isn’t that much harder to compute than the method above.  First, if we consider the example above, and add together the tax and the sales price, we get:

$67.35

We can then slide the decimal one place to the left, giving us:

$6.74

Now, of course, this is just a ten percent tip, which is low for service that is not absolutely horrible.  So, we can take half of this value, (roughly $3.35, to simplify our math a bit) add it to our ten percent value, giving us:

$10.09

Here, we’ve got a solid fifteen percent tip, without too much work.  The pro is that the calculation isn’t too hard; just slide a decimal place, cut the value in half, and add.  It’s not that hard to do quickly on the bottom of your receipt.  The downside is that it is not that flexible; you can only calculate fifteen percent tips, which makes it hard if you want to tip a bit more or less.  (You can multiply by two after you do the decimal shift, yielding about $13.50 (20%); however, that might be a bit high, and it’s still a bit inflexible.)

3) One Percent, Multiplied: As you can see, both of these methods, while useful, do have the limitation of being rather inflexible; you can only calculate multiples of your state’s sales tax or 15% (20% if you multiply by two).  If you want to be able to more closely fine-turn your tipping, you need to take a more complex approach.  Start by shifting the decimal place of your total two places to the left, to get:

$0.67 (Round to $0.70)

At this point, we can multiply by any value we want, to come up with a decent tip value.  Now, because we rounded up, our tips are going to be a little more generous than the percentage would indicate.  If we multiply by 15, for example, we have a total of

$10.50

Which is slightly higher than the 15% we would be tipping without rounding.  Another problem is that, although this method allows you to tip almost any amount, it is the hardest of any of these methods.  If you don’t like math, you’re probably best sticking with one of the other methods (or making sure you have a tip calculator handy when you go out to dinner).

There you have it; three different ways to calculate your tip amount with relatively simple math.  Now, next time you go out to dinner, you’ll have a few new tricks in your bag!

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