Smart Personal Finance For The College Grad

By Matt & Jon:

The ladies over at Life Before Noon were kind enough to offer the chance to write a guest post for their blog, and we were happy to oblige. As a blog geared toward graduating college students we thought we'd offer up some financial advice from the perspective of young professionals now a few years removed from college life...

If you guys are anything like us, you suffered through college scrimping and saving, squeezing every last ounce out of every dollar you earned. You’ve eaten more bags of Ramen than Tokugawa Mitsukuni and the promise of ‘free food’ has conditioned a response remiscent of Pavlov's Scotch terrier. After all these years of (forced) discipline you’re going to want to live it up a little once you land that first job....

Drop by Life Before Noon to read more, and thanks for the opportunity to contribute!

Smart Personal Finance for the College Grad

A New Twist On Del.icio.us

By Matt:

Del.icio.us, the social bookmarking manager, has been around for a while now helping us share all our favorite online destinations. However, I've recently been using del.icio.us in a way that doesn't so much emphasize it's social nature, but instead takes advantage of it's ability to help me more efficiently get things done online.

Here's a quick look at how I use del.icio.us to write blog posts, pay my bills, and buy birthday presents for my wife:

First, a couple notes that are important to maximize the usability of del.icio.us. Firefox and deli.icio.us are the perfect pair, primarily because of these two features only available via the del.icio.us Firefox extension:

• Del.icio.us Sidebar: When you click on the del.icio.us icon in Firefox it brings up a handy sidebar panel that allows you to quickly search through your bookmarks, and browse your existing tag categories... 10 times easier than going to the actual website and wandering through your links.
  
• Do Not Share Function: When clicking on the tag icon in Firefox, the pop-up offers a 'Do Not Share' option which effectively hides the listing on your public del.icio.us profile. You will still be able to see the saved private links when logged into your account, but others will not.

Getting Things Done With Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us is a powerful tool for the productivity-minded. Here are just a few of the ways I put the power of del.icio.us to use...

• Writing Blog Posts: As I'm browsing across the internet, often I'll stumble across articles, posts, or websites that inspire an idea for a post. When I do, I save the page using my deli.ico.us browser button, being sure to add a few quick thoughts in the Notes box about my post idea, and then tagging it using a unique tag name. Later on, when I'm trying to think of topics to write about I simply review the pages I have tagged for post ideas.

• Paying My Bills: I have multiple financial accounts online, from bank accounts to student loan accounts, and so on... all with a different website and their own unique username and password. I don't claim to have the best memory in the world, so I've tagged all of these sites and I have included important log-in information in the Notes section. To protect my identity I always select 'Do Not Share' so that the information is not made public. Furthermore, you may want to make your notes somewhat "cryptic", so that only you can understand them, as I can't vouch for the security of del.icio.us' servers.

• Shopping For My Wife: Bad memory coupled with the difficulty of finding something new and unique to give your spouse at each holiday is a difficult conundrum, but del.icio.us makes it a little easier. If my wife mentions something that she would like, or if I stumble across something I think would suit her well, I save it with a "Gift Ideas" tag. And to make sure she doesn't stumble across the things plan to buy for her, I select 'Do Not Share' on these as well.

That's Del.icio.us
If you haven't experimented with del.icio.us yet, now is a good time to get started. Take a quick tour of the capabilities here, and then be sure to download the new Firefox extension. Do you have any tips and tricks on the way you use social bookmarking? We would love to hear your thoughts!

Hack Your Expense Reports While Traveling

By Matt:

I hate expense reports as much as the next hack, and I absolutely despise trying to keep track of all my expenses when I'm traveling. Keeping track of hotel receipts, eating out, and toll-road fees, all while lugging my possessions for the week around on a wobbly-little two wheeled suitcase in a city I don't know is almost too much to deal with.

So how do you hack your expense reports?

Step 1: Prepare. Well first you need an organizational system for all the receipts you get. Before you leave on the trip grab an empty letter-sized envelope. Label it if you want - "Receipts" - and place it in a bag that you are going to have on you at all times, like your laptop bag, or your purse, or a backpack. NOT your suitcase - that's going to sit in a hotel most of the time. Sometimes the hardest part of doing expense reports is finding all the receipts once you get back - now you have a place to put them.

Step 2: Collect diligently. Every time you buy something - whether it's food or taxi fares - immediately put the receipt in the envelope. Make sure you get a receipt whenever you buy something. Taxi drivers, toll-booth operators, and valets can all generally provide receipts - ask for it, even if it takes a couple extra minutes, and it will save you from headaches explaining things away later. Finally, if the reciept you get is a little vague, "tag" it on the back by notating it as food, or parking, or tolls, etc.

Step 3: Expedite. When you get back home, do your expense report as soon as possible... just block out 30 minutes of your day and get it done. It's a pain, but if you've been diligent about filing and cataloging all your receipts, it should be a breeze.

My company is incredibly strict about how expense reports are done (I've been chastised for putting staples in the wrong corner), and before I had a method of collecting receipts I couldn't keep track of anything... I can't tell you how many times I've been on the phone with hotels asking them to fax me copies of my receipts. Expense reports are certainly not the most exciting activity in the world, but hopefully these tips will take some of the pain out of your next one.

Protect Your Identity

By Matt:

As a follow-up to Jon's post on shredding all your clutter, check out this great post from J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly on how to prevent identity theft. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, and as the post points out, in 2005 3.7% of American's were victims... with a population of 303 million people, that's over 11 million victims! Yikes!

Take a minute and learn what you can do to keep your personal information safe, and be sure to shred those credit card statements!

How To Prevent Identity Theft - Deter, Detect, Defend