My Grocery Shopping Philosophy: How to Live Well on less than 100 dollars a Month

For the longest time, I've been spending much less on food than other people, but eating both a higher quality diet and enjoying the food that I eat. While I would attribute at least a portion of  this success to my character, I think that it might also have something to do with what I choose to eat and how I shop for food. I have been on a higher than average calorie diet in order to gain some weight, so keep in mind that I am not shopping to minimize calories, but rather to maximize nutritional value at a relatively low price.

It is also worth mentioning that there is a significant portion that could, in a crisis or if my circumstances changed, be reduced or removed from this spending plan without negatively impacting my health, but this is a comfortable way for me to shop for food without spending a great deal of time to do so.

I spend about 100 bucks on food for myself each month, and I'm finally gaining a little bit of weight.

I recommend getting in a good high fiber carbohydrate to use as your base for calories. I like to mix rice with beans, but potatoes are also a good base, and are quite economical. I actually recommend getting both potatoes and rice, since they are cheap and keep well. Oats are also nice.

Next up we should tackle vegetables. I don't know what you like, but you probably do. Buy those and cook them cheaply, by steaming or baking them until edible. I usually pick a price that I am willing to pay per pound or unit, and then only buy vegetables in amounts that I am definitely going to consume when under that unit price. In general, I get leafy vegetables and root vegetables of some kind every month.

Fruits are also subject to the unit price phenomenon. I like to buy under 1 dollar per pound for fruit, but for certain things I will go over that, like berries or dried fruit, either because I love them (dried fruit) or I can use them sparingly compared to other fruits (berries).

Meats are a great way to hit a number of nutritional goals and potentially gain weight, but there is a lot that you need to be concerned with when it comes to meat from both a procedural and a budgetary standpoint. Comfort with the supply chain that the meat takes from conception to the market, handling between your purchase and your storage, and processing in your home can be somewhat daunting, especially if you are not a confident cook or have some qualms with the current state of things. And on a purely budgetary basis, meats can be really expensive if you don't shop smart. I try to pay well under 5 dollars a pound per meat, and prefer to stay as close as possible to 1 dollar per pound. I like to buy chicken (bone in if possible, so that I can make soup), beef (also bone in if available, because marrow is delicious), and lamb (bone in if possible, which is almost all the time because I usually get lamb from an abattoir). If you watch for sales or have good relations with a slaughterhouse or butcher, meats are eventually available for around a dollar to three dollars per pound depending on the type of meat (chicken, beef, etc). That is when I stock up. Once I get meat home, I usually do one of a few things with it. I will either immediately put it into the refrigerator for use within the next 2-3 days (before the sell by date on the package), put it into the freezer for use within the next couple of months (food in the freezer is good for up to a year if processed correctly), or I will prepare it immediately for use that day. I like to poach or bake my meats, to ensure that they are thoroughly cooked.

Dairy is a great way to improve the variety of your meals, and add additional vitamins and minerals to your diet. I buy milk at its regular price, which is already pretty low considering that a gallon of milk is 3.7 liters and less than 4 dollars for me no matter where I shop. Cheese is pretty expensive, but if you use it sparingly it lasts for quite some time. I recommend being price conscious when buying any dairy other than milk though, because most other forms are ridiculously expensive.

I like to buy eggs, for several reasons. I enjoy using them to add additional protein and exciting textures to a dish, they are very quick and easy to cook (5 minutes or less, stovetop or microwave), and nutritionally they are quite valuable sources of essential B vitamins.

It is important to note, however, that fresh fruit, vegetables, and milk will usually not last a month in your home, so you might want to schedule several trips or buy more durable forms of those (dehydrated milk, dry fruit, frozen vegetables) to use after the fresh ones are consumed.

Taking the Fine Grained Approach to Budgeting Can Yield Fantastic Results

In the majority of the United States, minimum wage is about $7.25 per hour.

A person that makes this wage, working 40 hours a week, 4 weeks a month, with no taxes included, makes about $1,160 dollars every month.

In my current setting, I actually spend more than the gross income of a minimum wage worker every month, and I am considered frugal compared to most people living in the United states. As a result, I consider it well worth my time to manage my spending, since I have the potential to save just as much money as a minimum wage worker earns, every month, just by paying close attention to spending.

By taking the time to investigate the details of your expenses, you can identify higher value options, patterns of behavior that are likely to become destructive to your financial wellness, and opportunities to reduce expenses in a way to save the most money with the least effort.

For illustrative purposes, I will share three examples from my own recent budgeting efforts that highlight these principles.

Identifying Higher Value Options

As a creature of habit, I tend to like to cook certain things at certain times, and this manifests itself in my purchasing a number of staple groceries. One of the most highly acclaimed among them is the humble chicken egg, which I buy every week or two. After gathering price data over a few months, I found that eggs, when not on sale, are reliably 1-2 dollars cheaper at store A than they are at store B or store C for the number of eggs that I buy. Only buying eggs at store A results in monthly savings of 3-6 dollars, and offers virtually no opportunity cost since store A is collocated with stores B and C in the same complexes. I actually do the same math for all of my groceries, and as a result average slightly less than $1 per pound, on average, for all of the food that I buy.

Identifying Patterns of Destructive Behavior

If you are like me, you know the value of good habits, but you also can recognize the damage done by bad habits. Bad financial habits can eat deeply into your overall financial well-being, erode your savings, and lead to negative cash flow.
After I relocated to my current town, I rented a car to get around town. I quickly realized that I couldn't afford to continue to do so for even a single week without spending far too much money, so 16 hours after I rented that car I drove to the bus station and bought a bus pass. I ended up making it a 1 day rental, instead of the 7 that I had anticipated, and the savings financed 3 months worth of bus passes, three cab rides, a stay at the hotel, and my first month's utilities.

Keeping a close eye on the expenses of transport allowed me to save myself from the massive waste that I could have made of this resource.

Identifying Opportunities to Reduce Expenses

One of the most powerful means of taking control of your finances is minimizing your repeated expenses, which are more effectively visualized as annual or biannual costs instead of monthly costs.
I was looking at purchasing a car, and even though I would come out ahead on a financed vehicle in terms of resale value and operating expenses, the cost of insuring a financed car was well over four times the cost of insuring a cash purchase, which would obliterate not only the lower cost of operation but also any potential resale value if I kept the car for over two years.

It was (and is) actually much cheaper for me to purchase a car with high maintenance costs and low fuel efficiency, but cheaper insurance costs, than it is to purchase a car with no maintenance costs and high fuel efficiency.

Not only car insurance, but utilities, fuel, maintenance, mortgages, rental fees, cleaning services, and many other recurring expenses can be reduced or eliminated to reduce your expenses. You don't need to be a poorly dressed hobo shuffling down the street, but there is a tremendous comfort knowing that you have positive cash flow every week, month, and year.

I recently looked into the average cost of living in the city where I live, and on a monthly basis the average single person spends nearly twice as much as I do. The funny thing is, I'm looking to save even further!

An Analytical Approach to Grocery Shopping Can Save Serious Cash

I currently shop around at a mix of convenience grocers (Safeway, etc) and more expensive stores (local co-op, more expensive department store)

I recommend having a set of goods you like to purchase, and investigating the prices for those goods. The creation and analysis of this set, called a "market basket", is actually the same method used to generate consumer inflation data and analyze changes in food pricing. You can be "hard" about this by carrying a smartphone or a notebook to the different local stores to document prices, or you can be "soft" and just try to remember how much things cost wherever you are shopping (my preferred method), but it's a good way to find out whether you're getting a good deal on your regular items.

For instance, the stores in my area are pretty ridiculous on eggs right now.

One store charges around 5 dollars for an 18 pack, the next store charges $4.00, a third charges $3.3x, and the last store charges $2.1x for 18 eggs.

So while store 4 is a great choice for eggs, it's also across town, and store 1 and 2 have better prices on potatoes and milk.

Also, keep in mind prices of goods and derivative goods for perspective on value.

I can buy cheese for 3 or 4 dollars a pound on sale, or I can buy milk for 42 cents a pound but I'll get about 8 pounds of it (1 gallon). For the nutrition (from my perspective, anyway), milk provides a better value for the money in this case.

This also applies to a whole meal. Buying a pizza is the same as buying the cheese, sauce, crust, toppings and seasonings for a pizza and then paying someone to cook it for you. If all you want is to eat pizza, you can usually save money by cutting out the part where you pay someone to cook the pizza for you, and you can enjoy eating all of the leftover ingredients in other recipes.

Just look for value in your expenses and you'll do fine.

I've applied the technique above to my own expenses after moving to a brand new area, and I've managed to keep my food costs under 100 dollars per month for just myself without depriving myself of anything, really. Comparison shopping and buying groceries at the place where they are least expensive, along with keeping my eyes open for below-market pricing on items that I personally value, allow me to eat quite well on under 1200 dollars per year.

Self Storage costs can really add up. Finding room at home can save you over $1000 per year

In the US it is extremely common to pay for one or more storage units on a month to month basis.

If you can find a space that is cheaper or you can make room in your home, you can save yourself hundreds per month and potentially thousands over a couple of years.

In this town, a cheap unit costs 110 dollars per month, so every year that you can avoid it you save yourself $1320.

Wouldn't you like that as a raise?

Are the Japanese going extinct?

There are a lot of stories across the web over the past few years potentially attributing a loss of population to the small towns in Japan, and there are a lot of people choosing to delay or to go without children.

A recent picture by Journeyman Pictures shed light on this issue, with some personal stories that highlight the challenges that face the Japanese population in the modern age. The economic environment is such that the places with jobs are usually less amenable to raising a family, and the small towns and villages are losing population quickly.

There are fewer children now than there were in the past, and the economics of Japan don't provide significant financial incentives to parents to enable women to take time away from work to raise their children or men to take time away to raise their families.

Here is the piece from Journeyman Pictures, feel free to judge for yourself.

Looking to Save Money on Haircuts? Consider doing them at home and pocketing an extra $250 annually.

I cut my own hair, and I've been doing it for years.

If you go for a haircut every three weeks and pay $15 a cut, you can end up spending 15-30 dollars each month or $270 a year on haircuts. As long as you're willing and able to take the time to learn to cut your hair and actually cut it at home, you can save nearly all of that money for the price of a set of equipment, some electricity, and your time.

I and my trusty set of clippers have likely saved well over $1000 in haircuts since In left home, and my father likely saved a similar amount on my haircuts by cutting my hair himself when I was a lad.

If you're not sure how to get started, I recently came across a great site for buzzing your own hair called Buzzcut Guide that offers a great illustrated reference for four classic home hairstyles and a rationale for the use of clippers at home.

According to the site authors, even if you don't want to cut your hair at home all the time, if you can maintain a cut and stave off going to the salon for twice as long without sacrificing your looks, you can realize savings of 50% over the standard of barbering.

So, if you're at all interested, I suggest taking a look and seeing what clippers you can find in your area.

You might be happier with a simple cut and a lower barbershop bill!

Jerry's Next Guest is Jim Carrey on Comedians in Cars getting coffee

Are you a fan of luxury cars?



What about existential conversations about the presence or absence of pulp in orange juice, or the true nature of comedy and distraction?



You can see all of that and more on the newest episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, hosted by Jerry Seinfeld on Crackle.

New Video from PBS News Hour discusses food waste and food insecurity: Why does almost half of America’s food go to waste?

As a relatively solvent inhabitant of the United States, I have an uneasy knowledge of the waste that is inherent in our society. That said, it is clear that there is a fundamental flaw when 40% of the food that is produced in this country is not consumed, and in fact goes to waste.



PBS recently released a compelling short video about this problem, with testimonial statements from some agricultural heavy hitters in the valleys of California, executives from a grocery store, and administrators and staff from a waste facility.







I've linked the video to this post, but my question is why more people aren't working to solve this problem!



I'm sure that I, and most people that I know, would be happy to buy the imperfect produce at a slightly lower than average price.



I'd probably be more inclined to purchase it than the flagship products, as I love good nutrition and saving money equally.



In fact, I'm not the only one who has been inspired to talk things over by this video.



There have been active discussions on Reddit and Youtube that really show a different perspective on this issue.



What do you think?

Can you really save money by moving to a state with no income tax?

Here in the United States,, tax time has a very unique set of challenges. Everyone shares the trials of filing for the federal tax returns, but then there is an added level of difficulty when filing for state income tax returns. Every year, in most states of the union there is an ongoing struggle to determine what is owed, what wa collected, and if there is a return due.

But it's possible to escape the state tax return process entirely, just by moving to a state that doesn't impose an income tax!

Here in the United States, nine states collect no income taxes from residents, an effective raise of anywhere from 1 to 15 percent.

Those states are Florida, Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, Tennessee and New Hampshire. One of the most glaring things you might notice about these states is that the cost of living is relatively low, outside of New Hampshire, and the quality of life is pretty high.

These states offer great opportunities to save money and live better, with lower than average unemployment and great opportunities for cheap housing.

When you add in the effective raise of a zero percent income tax, it makes them look like great places to relocate!

A New Credit Card Program is Saving People Money on Uber!

There have been a lot of disruptive changes in the financial business lately, from high interest online banking to the rise of the independent IRA over the 401K as the investment of choice, but there are more developments in the pipeline.

Major credit card issuer Capital One has already been offering 1-2 percent cash back with their Quicksilver line of credit cards, but now they are offering a full 20% cash back reward with their Quicksilver cards on purchases of services from Uber until April 30th, 2016.

That is a sharp departure from the norm, where up to 5% was all that consumers could expect in a special category for reimbursement purposes.

This is also unique in that it is one of the first promotions in credit company history that is targeted at Millenials that aren't necessarily in college. By focusing on Uber users, they are likely to appeal more to the demographic that hasn't invested in a car but still has a need for transportation that has supported the boom in consumer-client relationships like Uber and Lyft.

So, do you think that this is just smart marketing, or a sign of a shift in the way that credit companies are thinking about millenials?

Do you have a chimney in your house? Now's the Time to Get it Cleaned!

Here one can see an adult chimney sweep from Frankfurt, Germany, in 1959

Having your chimney swept regularly is an important step to take to improve the safety and livability of your home. An unattended chimney can accumulate deposits of soot along the entire length of the flue, and this can contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals that aren't the best to keep around. A little preventative maintenance can help to improve the longevity of your chimney and keep your home healthy.

In the old days, chimney sweeping was often performed by children, but these days they are usually bonded professionals that normally demand relatively high amounts for their work, up to $100 per flue.

Having a chimney swept can be pretty pricey though, especially in the winter time when sweepers charge high prices for an in-demand service.

If you think ahead, and make a call in the summertime to prepare for the colder season, you can save quite a bit on having your chimney cleaned out. Sometimes the rates can be half those charged in the wintertime, and you can save as much as $50 per flue on a cleaning.

I'd assume that your chimney sweep won't be named Homer Simpson. He or she probably also enjoys the job.

The best part is, you'll be supporting a local business professional when the market is poor, so it's a win win situation.

And for a final bonus, you can likely have the work done whenever you want, since the sweeper will be unoccupied most of the time.

Getting a summer sweep likely will leave you with more money in your pocket and your chimney sweep happy to have the work!

Make the Most of your Meals: Batch Cook and Save Time and Money

I may have mentioned batch cooking before, but it bears repeating.

Cooking food in larger than necessary allows you to drastically reduce the amount of time spent preparing food and at the same time take advantage of economies of scale when purchasing your ingredients.

It's entirely possible to take 15-20 dollars worth of ingredients and prepare a week's worth of lunches and dinners within the space of a few hours, just with some creativity and larger than normal portions while cooking.

I personally cook most of my meals as batches, and I have a pleasant variety of foods to choose from to last me through each week, and the comfort of knowing that I have a refrigerator well stocked with delicious meals waiting for me at home.

For example, I purchased some fresh zucchini, eggplant, and peppers last week at the grocery store. Instead of buying for single portions, I bought pounds of each of them, and instead of taking time every day to clean, chop, prep a pan, and cook them, I roasted all three types of vegetable at once in the oven.

I cooked a batch of rice on the stove at the same time, and made a crock pot full of a meaty, beany stew.

Now I have a protein rich stew, a starchy base, and three different vegetables to combine to make a variety of healthy lunches and dinners to enjoy this week, and I only had to spend one afternoon preparing them!

Cooking in batches helps to avoid the false economy of buying a smaller package at a higher unit price, because it permits bachelors like myself to obtain goods at a lower unit price and actually consume them before they go bad.

Do you cook ahead of time?

What are your favorite make-ahead recipes?

On this, National Donut Day, a Frugal Note

Today, June 5th, is apparently National Donut day, and many different businesses are offering a free donut either with no strings attached or along with the purchase of a cheap beverage.

This is a good thing, and I congratulate those of you who were able to take advantage of a promotion through Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, or another location, but it is important to point out that getting a 60 cent donut for free doesn't justify a trip out just to get it.

I wouldn't leave my house and drive to a donut shop to save 60 cents, and neither should you.

A bit of housekeeping: New Domain Name

I've decided to migrate my website to a new domain on the blogger site.

My old domain, protectoshell.blogspot.com, is no longer the home of One Man's Plans.

I will now be located at onemansplans.blogspot.com

Thank you for your understanding.

If you have to choose between your Desktop and your laptop, use your laptop and save money

I'm sure that we could all use an extra bit of money.

And it's possible to save a little every month just by being proactive about electrical use from your laptop computer, about $2.50 a month, or $30 a year.

If you take the time to unplug your laptop charging cord after you are done charging your computer, you can really save that much in electricity.

If you get rid of your desktop entirely, you can save even more, and possibly even afford a nicer laptop computer.

Four Major Cancer Patient Support Charities Spent Less Than 5% of Donations On Cancer Victims

According to CNN, four major charities have been found by United States Consumer Protection Bureau investigators to have spent 97% of over 187 million dollars of donations on a number of expenses that have nothing to do with actually helping cancer patients. These charities were all run by James Reynolds and his family, James Reynolds Jr. (his son), and Rose Perkins (his ex-wife).

James Reynolds Sr. is the CEO of Cancer Support Services and the Cancer Fund of America.

James Reynolds Jr. is the CEO of the Breast Cancer Society.

Rose Perkins is the CEO of the Children's Cancer Fund of America.

As a direct quote from CNN:

"The government says the charities claimed to provide direct support for cancer patients, breast cancer patients and children with cancer. "These were lies." "

Aside from the lavish expenditures, the charities also showed a stunning level of nepotism and cronyism, all run by the family and extended family of a single man, and employing a number of friends, family members, and extended relations in capacities that are completely unrelated to their prior experience and primarily based on a desire to give them work.

Among the expenses listed in the report as reported on CNN, donor funds were used to pay for private fundraisers for personal use or for themselves. Charity workers used donor funds to buy cars and other vehicles, consumer goods, college tuition, gym memberships, Jet Ski outings, subscriptions to dating services, luxury cruise lines, and tickets to concerts and sporting events.

It's quite lamentable to hear that people are willing not only to appropriate money from their businesses, but to take money away from people who arguably need it the most: men, women, and children afflicted with cancer and in need of help.

For more information, refer to the Federal Trade Commission newsletter, which I will also reproduce below.

FTC, All 50 States and D.C. Charge Four Cancer Charities With Bilking Over $187 Million from Consumers

Complaint Alleges Defendants Falsely Claimed Donations Would Help Pay For Pain Medication, Hospice Care & Other Services; But Spent Donations on Cars, Trips, Sports Tickets, & Professional Fundraisers

FOR RELEASE

May 19, 2015

TAGS:

 

• deceptive/misleading conduct
 
• Bureau of Consumer Protection
 
• Northwest Region
• Consumer Protection
 
• Charity

The Federal Trade Commission and 58 law enforcement partners from every state and the District of Columbia have charged four sham cancer charities and their operators with bilking more than $187 million from consumers. The defendants told donors their money would help cancer patients, including children and women suffering from breast cancer, but the overwhelming majority of donations benefitted only the perpetrators, their families and friends, and fundraisers. This is one of the largest actions brought to date by enforcers against charity fraud.

Sham Cancer Charities infographic – click to view full-size.

Named in the federal court complaint are Cancer Fund of America, Inc. (CFA), Cancer Support Services Inc. (CSS), their president, James Reynolds, Sr., and their chief financial officer and CSS’s former president, Kyle Effler; Children’s Cancer Fund of America Inc. (CCFOA) and its president and executive director, Rose Perkins; and The Breast Cancer Society Inc. (BCS) and its executive director and former president, James Reynolds II.

CCFOA and Perkins, BCS, Reynolds II and Effler have agreed to settle the charges against them. Under the proposed settlement orders, Effler, Perkins and Reynolds II will be banned from fundraising, charity management, and oversight of charitable assets, and CCFOA and BCS will be dissolved.  Litigation will continue against CFA, CSS and James Reynolds Sr.

“Cancer is a debilitating disease that impacts millions of Americans and their families every year. The defendants’ egregious scheme effectively deprived legitimate cancer charities and cancer patients of much-needed funds and support,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The defendants took in millions of dollars in donations meant to help cancer patients, but spent it on themselves and their fundraisers. I’m pleased that the FTC and our state partners are acting to end this appalling scheme.”

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said, “The allegations of fundraising for personal gain in the name of children with cancer and women battling breast cancer are simply shameful. This is the first time the FTC, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia have filed a joint enforcement action alleging deceptive solicitations by charities and I hope it serves as a strong warning for anyone trying to exploit the kindness and generosity of others.”

South Carolina Secretary of State Mark Hammond said, “When charities lie to donors, it is our duty to step in to protect them. At the same time, however, this historic action should remind everyone to be vigilant when giving to charity. This case is an unfortunate example of why I always tell my constituents to give from the heart, but give smart.”

According to the complaint, the defendants used telemarketing calls, direct mail, websites, and materials distributed by the Combined Federal Campaign, which raises money from federal employees for non-profit organizations, to portray themselves as legitimate charities with substantial programs that provided direct support to cancer patients in the United States, such as providing patients with pain medication, transportation to chemotherapy, and hospice care. In fact, the complaint alleges that these claims were deceptive and that the charities “operated as personal fiefdoms characterized by rampant nepotism, flagrant conflicts of interest, and excessive insider compensation, with none of the financial and governance controls that any bona fidecharity would have adopted.”

According to the complaint, the defendants used the organizations for lucrative employment for family members and friends, and spent consumer donations on cars, trips, luxury cruises, college tuition, gym memberships, jet ski outings, sporting event and concert tickets, and dating site memberships. They hired professional fundraisers who often received 85 percent or more of every donation.

The complaint alleges that, to hide their high administrative and fundraising costs from donors and regulators, the defendants falsely inflated their revenues by reporting in publicly filed financial documents more than $223 million in donated “gifts in kind” which they claimed to distribute to international recipients. In fact, the defendants were merely pass-through agents for such goods. By reporting the inflated “gift in kind” donations, the defendants created the illusion that they were larger and more efficient with donors’ dollars than they actually were. Thirty-five states alleged that the defendants filed false and misleading financial statements with state charities regulators.

In addition, the FTC and 36 states charged CFA, CCFOA and BCS with providing professional fundraisers with deceptive fundraising materials. The FTC and the attorneys general also charged the defendants with violating the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), CFA, CCFOA and BCS with assisting and facilitating in TSR violations, and CSS with making deceptive charitable solicitations.

In addition to the bans imposed on charity work by the settling individual defendants and the dissolution of two corporations, CCFOA and BCS, the proposed final order against CCFOA and Rose Perkins imposes a judgment of $30,079,821, the amount consumers donated between 2008 and 2012. The judgment against CCFOA will be partially satisfied via liquidation of its assets; the judgment against Perkins will be suspended based upon her inability to pay.

The proposed final orders against BCS and Reynolds II impose a $65,564,360 judgment, the amount consumers donated between 2008 and 2012. The BCS order provides an option, subject to court approval, for spinning off its Hope Supply Warehouses program to a legitimate, qualified charity. BCS’s remaining assets will be liquidated and used to partially satisfy the judgment. The judgment against Reynolds II will be suspended when he pays $75,000.

The proposed final order against Effler will impose a judgment of $41,152,231, the amount consumers donated to CSS between 2008 and 2012. The judgment will be suspended upon payment of $60,000. The full judgment amounts against the individuals will become due immediately if they are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and proposed stipulated final orders was 5-0. The documents were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The proposed orders are subject to court approval.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

Before giving to a charity, read the FTC’s Charity Scams.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.  To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook(link is external), follow us on Twitter(link is external), and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.

CONTACT INFORMATION

MEDIA CONTACT:  
Frank Dorman,
FTC Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2674

STAFF CONTACT: 
Charles Harwood, Director
FTC Northwest Region
206-220-6350

Tracy Thorleifson,
FTC Northwest Region
206-220-4481

Need to get some work done on your AC? Schedule the labor for winter and save.

While the costs of whole house air conditioning units can vary from region to region based on labor costs, you will likely be looking at several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars for a serious repair or replacement air conditioning unit.

If you can manage to limp through the summer with an older unit, you can reap quite significant savings on a large project during the autumn or winter, often to the tune of 400 to 500 dollars.

Even better, you'll be providing people with work during a slow season, and help them make it until next summer.

As a bonus, many manufacturers offer rebates on air conditioning equipment during the winter time to encourage sales, so you might even be able to pocket a little cash.

Replace your Air Filters Frequently to Cut down on Utilities

The average home has one or two filters inhabiting the heating and cooling ducts, and they can easily clog up and impede the flow of air throughout the home.

Freely flowing air is a great factor in keeping heating and cooling costs low, by allowing your climate control system to be efficient and effective.

If you are able to scrape together 10 or 11 dollars for the necessary filters at your local or online retailer, you might be able to save $40 a year or more in energy costs.

As a bonus, cleaner filters help to prevent accumulation of dust and mold on the condensers in an air conditioner, and extend the life of the system as a whole. Not to mention that you will be breathing much cleaner air.

Being Frugal about my Restaurant Expenses With Loyalty and Reward Programs

I don't eat out much, and when I do I think that it's important to limit the cost of my food and beverages. It's a cliche, but eating out in the United States can be much more expensive than cooking food at home, even when you take into account potentially costly ingredients and the hassle of acquiring them.

The cost of labor to cook and serve food is added onto the price of the meal and the upkeep for the infrastructure used to prepare it, and the business owners usually profit from the meal as well, all contributing to the cost of food before it gets to your plate.

Then to complicate matters in many restaurants a diner is expected to pay a gratuity to the serving and waitstaff.

I personally try to limit my excursions to places in which it is not customary to tip, like a quick service restaurant, and then further reduce my expenditure by financing my visits with gift cards that I earn from reward services like Google Screenwise Trends, Bing Rewards, and Swagbucks. All in all I am usually able to finance a few visits per month to a location of my choice.

To make the visits even more useful, I am sure to sign up for any applicable loyalty rewards programs, and I prefer to frequent areas with local Wi-fi service so that I can continue to do work to earn a little extra cash while I'm there.

At this point, I am a Starbucks Gold Card member, which permits me to get free refills, access to discounts and special offers, and a free drink after accumulating 12 stars. The cool thing is, I can actually get stars by referring friends and family to the My Starbucks Rewards program, so I can essentially earn infinite free drinks. The only limitation on it is that I can only refer so many people for stars each month.

I also joined the membership programs for Panera Bread, Dunkin Donuts, and a few other quick service restaurants.

At this point, I can grab a sandwich or a cup of coffee from any one of over 3 dozen locations around town without paying a dime out of pocket.

Are there any ways that you are frugal with your restaurant expenses?

5 Easy Ways to Turn Gift Cards into Cash

One of the most common problems that people deal with these days is how to make effective use of gift cards. Among the most common items purchased as gifts and given as rewards, literally hundreds of retailers are offering gift cards for use in their own or multiple stores, and as a country it has been reported that well over a billion dollars of value has gone unspent in the United States due to being locked into gift cards. Major players have even entered the arena, with many credit card companies offering prepaid gift cards for sale in large retailers such as Visa’s Vanilla prepaid gift card, American Express prepaid gift cards, and more. While similar to a prepaid debit card, these gift cards differ in that they often do not permit a cash withdrawal from an ATM, and therefore usually must be spent on a purchase.

Many websites and services that offer rewards for use, such as Swagbucks, Perk, and Google Screenwise Trends make gift cards more easily accessible than cash or cash equivalent payments, so that people that use their services are able to get a greater dollar value of gift cards for a retailer or restaurant than they are of PayPal or Payza payments. This often leads people to have a greater access to gift cards than money.

In any case, regardless of how you acquired your gift card, you are likely interested in converting it into cash. Luckily, there are a number of easy and straightforward methods for accomplishing this, if you are willing and able to make use of the services that I will describe below.

·         Selling the Card to Coinstar

o   If you have never seen the large green Coinstar machines in a grocery store or local business, Coinstar operates machines that accept loose change and offer a cash voucher that can be redeemed at the checkout counter for real money. These days, taking your change in to the Coinstar machine is a quick and easy way to get bills in your hand, without the hassle of having to count and wrap the coins yourself and take them into the bank. Although this service comes at a price, around 9% of the value of the coins, the convenience and speed are worth the price for many people, and it’s not uncommon to see people with jars of change cashing in for anything from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars. What a lot of people are not aware of is that Coinstar machines will now accept a number of gift cards for major retailers, and give you a certain percentage of the value of the gift card as a cash voucher that can be redeemed at the checkout counter.

This service, called Coinstar Exchange, allows you to scan or even swipe your gift card at a kiosk and trade it in for a cash voucher. At this point, over 150 retailers are being accepted, and there are probably going to be even more in the future! While there is little chance that you will get the full cash value of the gift card, you will at least get something, and it is nice to have cash in hand instead of waiting for a PayPal transaction to clear, check to arrive in the mail and be deposited, or any other option.

Just so you know, Coinstar Exchange requires sellers to verify their identity before selling the card, which means you need to provide a phone number, photo ID, credit or debit card, and email address when you redeem your cash voucher at the register.

·         Selling a Gift Card Online

o   There are a lot of options for selling a gift card online, and many different websites that you can use to do it.

o   Craigslist allows you to make a post to sell pretty much whatever you would like, and for many that constitutes an open license to sell unwanted or unused gift cards. People selling gift cards on Craigslist can sell a physical gift card or a gift card code, and are free to ask for any form of payment that they desire, whether it is cash, a check, a money order or even another gift card or a service like mowing the lawn. You can often get up to the full value of the gift card when selling on Craigslist, if you are patient and are willing to meet with the buyer, but you are more likely to make a quick sale if you offer your card for a lowered price, so that the buyer feels like he or she is getting a deal.

o   Ebay allows sellers to sell a gift card. You are able to sell the physical card with delivery through the mail, or the numerical code from the card just by sending the image of the front and back of the card through an email to the buyer.

Ebay is a great way to get money from an e-gift card, which is usually intended for use online and is often delivered without a physical card at all, only a claim code. The only thing that you must be careful about is  taking pictures of your card, you cannot expose the numbers on the card or the card’s value could be claimed by people before the card has been purchased.

Many people are willing to purchase a gift card on Ebay for close to face value, especially if they are for in-demand places like Starbucks and Target. While a person’s motivation for doing so likely varies, some conjecture that they are purchasing with a rewards credit card anyway, so anything that is bought comes with a certain amount of cash back.

A key drawback is that it takes a long time to receive the money from a gift card sale, which can be a problem if you “need cash now”.

o   Gift Card selling sites

There are a number of gift card buying and selling sites online, which either act as marketplaces for a gift card to be bought and sold directly by individuals, or act as intermediates and buy unwanted gift cards at a fixed price and sell them at a slightly higher fixed price to people who are looking to buy gift cards. Rates are highly variable between these sites, and while it is possible to approach full face value with compensation rates of up to 90% for certain cards on certain sites, the amounts paid will differ depending on the time of year, level of demand for the card that you have, and interestingly the face value of the card. The methods of payment vary, with some sites offering a little bit more for each card being sold if you opt to receive a check in the mail versus an instant PayPal payment, and other sites offering different rates, as well as the policies in place regarding physical gift cards versus e-gift cards.

·         Selling the Gift Card to a Pawn Shop

o   Many pawn shops now will purchase gift cards for major and local stores, to be sold out of the shop to other customers. The amount offered by the pawn shop will vary store to store and card to card, and will likely depend on what the store employee believes that the card can be easily sold for.

The primary upside to selling a gift card to a pawn shop is the ability to get cash immediately, without the work of trying to find a buyer, and without the burden of verifying your identity with a Coinstar machine.

The primary downside is that the store may give you a low offer, and there is no guarantee that the pawn shop will take your gift card at all.

·         Trading your Gift Card for Other Gift Cards

o   There are a number of ways to trade a gift card for another gift card. One is to advertise that you are interested in doing so on Craigslist or in the local classifieds, which would either be free in the former case or of minimal cost in the latter, but another way would be to use a Gift Card Exchange. There is a thriving community on Reddit.com of individuals willing to trade gift cards for other gift cards, often at equal value or rates approaching equal value, and while it might take a bit of time, it is possible to get the full face value of your card in the form of another card.

Since many of the people trading gift cards are interested in a quick sale, there is often a discount applied to the asking price, and it’s not impossible to get even more value than your card’s face value in exchange, especially if you have a gift card for a retailer or restaurant that is in demand.

You are free to request any form of payment in exchange for your gift card, including a different kind of gift card, cash, or cryptocurrency on a forum based exchange, but at the same time there is a chance that nobody is interested in your offer.

·         Offering to Pay for the Purchases of Others

o   While not usually the fastest way to liquidate your gift cards, when you offer to pay or shop for other people and just have them give you cash in exchange, you can get 100% of your face value of the card, and you get to assist someone at the same time. This method is long honored, and goes back to the days when gift cards were unheard of and gift certificates were common.

Chatting for fun and a bit of gas money on ChatAbout

Are you looking for a website that let's you socialize, take surveys, and enter contests and pays you for doing it?

I was about a year ago, and I joined http://chatabout.com. Since then I have made well over 200 dollars for what I consider to be no real work at all.

I have posted the same type of content that I share for free on sites like Yahoo Answers, 4Chan, Reddit and City-data and get chances to be paid for it. I can even take surveys or enter sweepstakes for even more compensation. It's quite easy for me to check in on the site once or twice a day and do a few activities quickly to rack up points, and the surveys can be a good way to fill up time.

I also like to ask and answer questions to get help or collect useful tips and tricks for personal use.

There are people from all over the world that use the site regularly, and with minimal effort one can easily make the necessary points to cash in for rewards, which currently are PayPal deposits and Amazon gift cards in denominations of $5, $10, and $25 at a rate of 1000 points: $1.

If you are interested in signing up, I request that you do so with my link above, as I receive a percentage of the points that you earn if you sign up with my referral link.

Have you had experience with Chat about or a similar site? Please let me know in the comments! Spare no details.

For me, it is just another part of my daily routine to check out what people are chatting about, if anything looks interesting in the news section on the site, if any surveys are available, and to chat a little, so that I can have some fun and make a little money too. At this point I make at least 50 points a day and usually closer to 100-200, but I have made 10,000 in one day before by completing an offer, so it all depends.

Ever think about just checking out of society? This man does it, on $5000 dollars a year. This is Dan Price, the Man in the Hobbit Hole

Dan Price is a man in his fifties as of now from Kentucky. He had a wife, children, a home and a job and a life, but he left all of that behind to move out and be free.

He currently lives in a place that he has described to the media as his "Hobbit Hole", and makes his way through life for only $5000 a year.

All in all, it's rather impressive that he is able to make it on so little, but it turns out you can do a lot when you are willing to downsize your lifestyle.

What's his secret to making his money last?

Well, for starters he doesn't have most of the luxuries or comforts that we all take for granted, like indoor plumbing, more than one room, or refrigeration.

One of his most common meals is cereal or granola eaten with water instead of milk.

And as for his day to day activities, he works as a caretaker for a local cemetery, clears trees from the land on which he lives for only $100 a year, and works on his hobbies, which include the publication of a small book on a semi-regular basis.

If you're interested in supporting Dan, you can purchase his book called My Tiny House, his journal called the Moonlight Chronicles, or look around the net for more of his work!

He isn't a man of the stone age, though. He pays $53 a month for a cell phone, and has a MacBook Air, an iPad, and an annual round trip to Hawaii where he spends his winters.

Not a terrible way to live, if you can manage it.

Have you ever heard of something similar?

Reward Banking: Making Money by Saving Money!

I am always on the lookout for a great deal, and when I found out that it was possible to get a bonus, a real cash payment as a result of opening a simple bank account, I was really intrigued. at the time I had been using the same couple of banks for many years and I didn't really have a reason to change my habits but I found out that I could receive an actual cash bonus a whole $50 if I just opened up a checking account and used it as a checking account. that was almost 1 year ago and I have been a loyal customer with Capital One Bank ever since.

I like the ability to open multiple accounts and transfer funds between them to meet my savings goals, and I especially like that I can earn money by referring my friends and family to the bank!

I am sharing this opportunity with all of my readers not only to make the initial 50 dollars as a bonus payment, but also to refer your friends to open and account with Capital One and make 20 dollars per referral.

I still use the bank accounts that I had before I joined Capital One, but I like the Capital One MasterCard and the ease of access to my money in checking to transfer into my Capital One ShareBuilder Roth IRA, which lets users transfer funds for free from checking and savings accounts, and even offers free trades to buy and sell securities.

Whether you are happy with your current banks, currently unbanked, or looking for a better bank, Capital One can compete, and it will pay you money!

If you are interested, again I request you to sign up as my referral.

Do you have any similar reward banking deals? Have you had experience with any of them? Please share in the comments below!

How much money do you really need to get started with real estate investment?

So, say that I wanted to acquire a rental property. How much money would I need to get one?

Is it better to find a place with units enough to house me and tenants, or to begin with a single family home?

Should I be targeting areas with cheaper real estate in general, or aiming for more costly areas where property is far more expensive but can command higher rent?

Habits can Make you or Break You

Habits are what end up dictating the course of our days and can often contribute to the outcomes in our lives. We can change them and the best ways to achieve the goals that we set for ourselves are often related to changing and hopefully improving our habitual behaviors.

We can save money by breaking the habits of eating out and over shopping.

We can become healthier by developing the habits of working out and taking vitamins and other healthy goods instead of unhealthy ones.

It's straightforward, and terribly difficult. Living a life that is completely intentional instead of just doing what "seems natural" or what we habitually do is both hard to do and not how we are wired.

But if we can triumph over our nature and psychology, we can really achieve some amazing results.

How to Save Money by Cooking Your Own Food

It might be worth your while to buy a set of freezer containers for individual portions. From there, identity and prepare batches of things that you like, like lasagna, tortilla soup, fajitas, or burritos and freeze them.

I'm planning a big cook for myself tomorrow, and I will make 2 kinds of soup, bread, and a pasta dish for the week to come.

The thing about free advice on the internet is that it might not fit you perfectly or be just right. In the end you have to decide what works for the two of you.

Also, if you decide to do a big cook tell people ahead of time so that they don't constantly try to use the other burner or whatever. And you might have to reserve fridge and freezer space.

Instant Win Games offer a chance to make a quick buck

I don't bother with a lot of contests. While popular sweepstakes can be a ticket to major winnings, they also have unearthly waiting times of six months or more between your entry and the time when the winner is selected and the prizes are awarded.

I like to play instant win games, especially as a substitute for the expensive alternative of scratch off tickets.

There are a lot of them available from innumerable sources, but the ones that I've been using lately are those featured on the websites for tobacco companies, the Kmart and Sears loyalty program Shop Your Way Rewards, the instant game to win an Amazon Gift Card on Survey Monkey Contribute, and the occasional contest on PayPal.

While my winnings have been meager, I don't have to wonder whether I'll win in some far off drawing, because I know that I've either won or not.

So far I've won a few prizes, including a wallet, a lighter, keychains, and some hot sauce, but I also enjoy winning cash, points towards rewards, and digital trophies to show off to my friends.

Prime Opportunities May be Available for Cheap Summer Living

If you are close to a college town, you might want to consider taking a summer sublet. Lots of them are supremely cheap, I have seen a few as low as 300 dollars a month plus utilities

Looking to Save on Groceries? Try Shopping for Stores!

There are often a few major grocery stores in a given area, and the prices on individual items can vary pretty widely from tore to store. While some might say it all evens out, others argue that there must be a store that is "cheap" and a store that is "expensive".

Whether or not that is true, it is quite possible to identify which store will cost you less. It might take a couple of hours, but you could end up saving quite a bit over the course of your stay in your neighborhood by taking the time to look things over.

The method that I propose is the same one that the Feds use to determine inflation. You will have to critically look at your purchasing patterns for groceries and household supplies for whatever your major interval of purchasing is, whether that is by week, month, or year for you folks on the outskirts of civilization. Anyway, get a good idea of what you're buying and then visit the stores on your list.

Write down the numbers of each item you plan on buying, and the cost at the store. Once you get home, you can compare the total costs and the costs of each item. By doing so I found out that my local grocery chain has cheaper produce than Walmart, but the meats are more expensive, and Walmart has a better price for rice and wheat flour than the grocery store. But if I were to shop in only one place, I would get a better price at Walmart.

The neat thing is, the lower cost store will likely remain lower price for a while. Ideally you would reassess costs frequently, but I only do a price check with the market basket technique once a year or so.

If you are willing to visit multiple stores, however, you can buy the lower priced items at both places and save even more!

Going Shopping This Week?

I just looked through the circular for Target this week, and there are a few sales that I might take advantage of.

FYI, you can look at the mail circulars online these days by visiting the store websites. I went to Target.com for this one, and I was pretty satisfied.

Almond milk is selling for $2.50 per half gallon, so I might pick up a couple of cartons of that to go along with my morning oats. The nice thing about almond milk is that you don't need to refrigerate it, so you can save on fridge space.

Processed cheese is on sale as well at 5 dollars for two 10 piece packages, and a loaf of bread is usually less than 3 dollars for over 20 pieces, so even if I'm feeling lazy and don't cook my own bread this week, I could still make 20 cheese sandwiches for about 40 cents a sandwich. The circular was advertising gluten free bread, but I don't have a need to avoid gluten and glutinous bread is usually cheaper, so I might go with that.

Any big plans for your grocery this week?

Where do you usually shop?

Feel free to comment below, or share with your friends.

A New Use for Freezer Burned Foods

Apparently there are a whole host of households across America that throw out foods that have been chilling in the freezer for too long.

Corn, peas, whole grains, and even some frozen meats can become unappetizing over time in the freezer, and while you could always chop it up for stew, another use could be to replace bread when you go to the park to feed the ducks.

If you've been keeping your ear to the ground, you might have heard that bread isn't really all that good for ducks. The Guardian published an article in March about this, apparently excesses of bread have no value for the ducks nutritionally, can result in the development of "angel wing", a serious deformity for this kind of bird that prevents normal flight and can even hinder flight entirely, and the increases in algal blooms in freshwater and rats on dry land.

If you are interested, here is the author's list of Safe For Ducks and Not Safe For Ducks foods:

Sfd (Safe for ducks)

• Cracked corn
• Wheat, barley or similar grains
• Oats
• Rice (cooked or uncooked)
• Birdseed (any type or mix)
• Grapes (cut in half)
• Frozen peas or corn (defrosted, no need to cook)
• Earthworms
• Mealworms
• Chopped lettuce or other greens or salad mixes
• Chopped vegetable trimmings or peels
• Duck pellets

Nsfd (Not safe for ducks)

• Bread
• Chips
• Crackers and biscuits
• Popcorn
• Sugary food - sweets, chocolate

Is it feasible to start an online co-op?

There are a lot of things that aren't really perishable that you can buy at ridiculously cheap prices in bulk.

Many seeds, nuts, and grains are sold wholesale for less than half of what they sell retail, but you have to buy massive quantities to realize savings.

Examples include Almonds,Raisins, and Walnuts  but there are many more products like this.

Would anyone be interested in joining an online co-op for goods like this, so that we could coordinate massive purchases, store and process the goods, and then ship them out to end users?

Getting bulk fruit and nuts for 60 cents a pound, and then processing them and shipping them out might end up costing a lot more than you'd think, but a lot of people are spending 5 dollars a pound or more on this kind of stuff.

The primary downside is the massive number of people who would need to sign up before it would be worth doing.

I don't eat more than 2 pounds of nuts in a month, and even at that relatively high rate of consumption I would only eat 24 pounds a year. If I could find people that ate just as much as me, that would require 1,667 people just to use up 1 minimum shipment of 20 tons from a wholesaler.

Here's my math, easily computed using either mental math or the knowledge engine of Wolfram Alpha.

I like to eat nuts, around 2 pounds of them in a month.

2 lbs of nuts per month works out to be 24 pounds of nuts a year (2 *12=24)

24 lbs of nuts a year versus the minimum purchase amount on Alibaba of 20 tons works out to 1,667 eaters minimum to finish all the nuts in one year (20 tons*2000 pounds / 1 ton / 24 pounds per person =1,666.6 repeating, and half of a person doesn't eat any nuts so I rounded up)

With more people than 1,667 I could have reduce the single person's cost to participate, achieve shorter intervals between orders, increase the variety of orders, i.e. send out nuts and raisins, seeds, or dates instead of just nuts, and make orders smaller.

So, if you know anyone looking to provide some seed funding, I guess that I'm interested.

Cut your Power Use with a Smart Powerstrip

You may not have been aware that about 75% of the electrical power used by our devices is consumed after they are switched off. Charging capacitors, batteries, and background processes can consume a large quantity of power, and it is necessary to interrupt the flow of electricity to stop that consumption.

You can monitor and cut off power use by using a smart powerstrip, which also serves to protect your electronics from power surges.

Just by plugging your appliances into smart strips and shutting them off entirely when not in use, you could save yourself well over 20 dollars a month, and that adds up to $240 a year or more!

Smart powerstrips will run you approximately 30 dollars online at SmartHomeUSA, but there are many competing products on the market. Evaluate your options and choose what works best for you!

Cool Post

It's feeling like winter all over again, with bracing cold and bitter winds, carrying a soft snow and a hard promise of wind chills below 0 degrees, car accidents, and bad situations.

The only upside to mention of the terrible cold is my choices in midwintery couture. I have a bespoke cotton coat that belonged to my father, along with a crew neck woolen sweater from J.Crewe and Nike sweat pants that I have been using as snow pants.

All of these are in addition to my Covington shirts, cotton Docker slacks, and Jockey thermal under clothes.

So, in summary, I'm looking cool, staying warm, and dreading the cold.

I hope all of you out there have been taking care of yourselves!

A Quick Study

I usually attribute a number of positive qualities to myself, among them my capacity to study up and learn pretty much anything that I need to within a relatively short period of time.

This has served me well many times, and allowed me to succeed in a number of less than perfect situation. That said, it is usually a good idea to get a grasp of a situation to learn the basics prior to starting out in a new situation in life.

Along with my work and my hobbies, and the process of filling out application after application, I've been doing self study on a few online courses.

Hopefully a few of the skills contained therein prove useful to me.

The Power of Poaching Can Save You Time and Money

Say what you will about cooking meat, but it is kind of a hassle. You have to worry about the temperature of your pans, the time that you keep your ingredients at room temperature, the length of cooking, and the overall safety of your kitchen to a much greater degree than you do for simple vegetables.

I actually like to eat meat, and I cook with it pretty frequently, so I have found a method that works for me.

I cook large batches of food, and store them for future consumption as a regular practice to save me some time and prevent me from running out to grab a ready made meal, so I usually have one or two cooking days a week, usually over the weekend.

On these days, I will poach the meat that I plan to eat over the course of the upcoming week. I boil it in hot water until thoroughly cooked, and then process it further into whatever form I plan on eating it in. I can quickly sear the sides of a piece of poached meat before slicing it up over some pasta, chop it up and toss it into a pan of fried rice or a pot of stew, or even just pour some sauce over it and freeze it for a future entree.

It really keeps the workload down, and I can poach whole pieces of meat, so I don't have to cut raw meat unless I'm receiving primal cuts from the butcher, which rarely ever happens.

Does anyone else out there poach their meats?

I realize that I might catch some flak from people that like to eat their meat anywhere below well done, but that is fine. I just prefer thoroughly cooked meat.

Angel Investing: Big Risk, Big Rewards if you have the money and the friends

As a recent college graduate with my own financial issues, I've had a lot of time to think about the way that money exchanges hands. I've learned about the different financial instruments available to the average person, from the different tax sheltered retirement vehicles, tax credits and deductions for business owners, employees, students and families, and evena number of different securities.

I am always looking to learn more, and not too long ago I came across the phenomenon of Venture Capital, and more specifically investing clubs for venture capital.

The ideas behind angel investment, or venture capital, are reasonable. These days, businesses can undergo meteoric growth within a relatively short period of time, and an early investment in a successful company like Reddit, Youtube, PayPal or Google can pay back well over 300x the initial sum within only a few years.

The problem with venture capital, however, is that it is extremely risky. Companies might like to be the next Google, but there are hundreds of thousands of websites and web based businesses and entrepreneurs that are making peanuts, or losing money every year on hosting fees.

So, much like any savvy investor, these venture capitalists have decided to diversify their investments. Instead of spending $500,000 on a single company to boost it into a profitable position and prepare it for an IPO where you stand to make nothing, or $60 million, these investors find 9 like minded individuals to each contribute $50,000, and each get their share of $6 million. And they will be able to invest in 10 companies instead of just 1.

While the risk may not be reduced in each individual case, the investor will not be broken by the failure of a single business, but rather by the failure of all 10 of the businesses.

For more information, please consult the following:

http://www.angel-investor-clubs.com/

http://www.cbeid.org/Angel%20InvestmentClubsSummary.pdf

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Inside-Entrepreneurship-Angel-investment-clubs-1265773.php

http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/